3 & Out - Thursday Night Football Preview, Packers QB situation, Marty Smith joins the podcast - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (01:58):
What is going on? Everybody? Happy? Thursday Night? Amazon Prime Football.
The Miami Dolphins host the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen, who's
had some serious ownage over the Dolphins. There's a good one.
There's a really good one. So we're gonna dive into that.

(02:19):
My excitement. I think the pressure is on a specific team.
I think the Packers are kind of nuts if they
plan on starting Malik Willis during Jordan Love's absence, so
I kind of want to dive into. I just think
you can dig yourself a hole early in the season,
as you know, a playoff contender, when you get an

(02:42):
injury like this, it's hard to dig out of. And
then I just wanted to dive into some I saw
the Manning cast, the popularity in terms of the viewerships
down a little bit. Some thoughts there why I think
people are gravitating more towards the normal broadcast, and then
just some overall thoughts on on football, which has had
a really really big week one in terms of ratings

(03:05):
and interest. It just feels like it's at an all
time high. We will have Marty Smith from ESPN. You
probably if you like NASCAR, He's been doing that for
twenty five years. He obviously plays a big role at
Augusta National every year, and he's heavily involved in the SEC.
He has a show on the SEC Network. You see

(03:28):
him all the games. He's always interviewing the coaches. So
we will have him on to talk a little SEC football,
and I'll bang out a couple of mailbag questions as
well at the end. So at John Middlecoffins the Instagram
at John Middlecoffin is the Instagram fire in the dms
and get your question answered on the show. Other than that,
we will have Stucky on tomorrow for Friday. I don't

(03:51):
like this late, I kind of love it. Feel pretty
confident this week and YouTube go follow that channel. We
had a YouTube channel. All our contents up there as
well as subscribe to three and Out pod if you
listen on Collins Feed exciting times. It's just football's in
the air, makes you smile, gets you excited. But before

(04:11):
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loa first Josh Allen, Mike McDaniel offensive coach, Sean McDermott
defensive coach. It's a good matchup. This is really enjoyable.

(05:16):
I'm very excited for Thursday night football. It wasn't that
many years ago where half the games were like, eh,
I gotta do this for work. This is one where
whether I did this for a living or not, I
could be selling insurance or digging ditches. I would be
locked into the couch for this one. And big picture wise,
last week, those are two gritty wins. Week one is weird,

(05:41):
you know, playing the Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray running around.
Not an easy opponent. I think they're going to be
feisty all year long. I mean, the Rams right now
are pretty banged up. That's not an easy opponent. With
the Cardinals their home opener this Sunday, but both teams,
the Dolphins were down seventeen to seven. The Bills were
down seven team three. It's week one. All of a sudden,

(06:02):
you look around, like coaches say this all the time
and it sounds cliche, but it is true. Like every
year you start fresh. So just because you've been going
to the playoffs, you've had winning records, it doesn't mean
shit when the next season starts. The stats speak for themselves.
Every year we get a ton of turnover in the playoffs,
even though this year when you looked, you're like, I

(06:23):
don't know if there's gonna be that much turnover, Like
the Ravens, the Chiefs, the Niners, the Lions, the Eagles,
the Cowboys, the Bills. Like, I think it's kind of
gonna be the same cast of characters. And I still
believe that after Week one, but like, it's not inconceivable
to drop a weird game early in the season, and
it was on the table for both those two teams.
And the Dolphins, who one of my big question marks

(06:46):
for them this season, when I thought they would come
back to earth defense. They got a huge stop on
fourth down when Doug I don't know why he went
for it. They had a huge play when they were
down seventeen to seven to force etn fumble that went
out of the end zone, and obviously they came storming
back and Waddle and Hill, I mean Hill's I'll say
it every single time I ever talked about them, is

(07:07):
one of the best football players I've ever seen. And
Wattle is a fantastic number two wide receiver. They combined
for twelve catches two hundred and forty yards and obviously
Tyree touchdown. I mean, they're hell to deal with, and
Tua has a very very good cohesion with those two
guys when it's sunny and warm out and right now
when you're playing in Miami, beautiful weather, and the Bills

(07:27):
like a lot of question marks, what offensive pieces are
they going to rely on. They're clearly more comfortable running
the ball last year down the stretch and even in
that game on Sunday against the Cards. Obviously, Josh is
one of the more dynamic players you know, we've ever
seen from ability to pass and run the football. Found
a way to come flying back was an easy I

(07:50):
had a couple buddies texting me like, should I hammer
them live money line? They were an underdog when it
looked pretty bleak I'm like, yeah, and then boom, they
rat off a couple of touchdowns and the rest is history.
But I think when you look at this game, right,
I mean, the Dolphins since Mike has been there, they've
been back to back playoff games. Now they've lost them both,
but they're franchised a lot like the Bills before Josh

(08:10):
and Sean McDermott showed up, kind of were irrelevant most
of the two thousands and twenty tens, especially the Bills,
I mean, they were mainly terrible. The Dolphins had the
wildcat season. But this game, since Josh has become the starter,
they're eleven and two versus the Miami Dolphins, like they

(08:31):
haven't just this hasn't been we have your number, like
we've owned you eleven and two as the starter against
the Miami Dolphins. So I do think there's some pressure
on the Dolphins. It's at home now, a short week
to me, especially in September. But the first true Thursday

(08:52):
night game, right because even the Chiefs and the Ravens
that wasn't a true Thursday night game. They got to
cut down their roster, they had more time to prepare.
This is you play on Sunday and then you play
again on Thursday. This is it's impossible to be any
more fresh than a Thursday night game than week two.
So not many excuses for the Dolphins. I do think, like,

(09:13):
if you're not gonna beat him, now, when you're gonna
beat him? Right, they don't play the Bills in crazy
potential weather because the game is the first weekend. It's
like eleven three, so it's not even a week into
November the way the calendar sets, So it could be
a weather game, but it also couldn't be not that
bad because if you told me that game was like

(09:34):
in the middle of December, I'd be like, that's a
lock Bills win. But like, this is a team that
has talked about and Mike McDaniel talked about this offseason
like finishing, finishing, finishing, When are you gonna get these guys? Now?
You guys know where I stand. The Bills were an
auto division winner, like without hesitation. Honestly, them and the
Chiefs are the easiest, just like auto locks, and it's

(09:57):
gonna be that way until they prove otherwise. I think
you're just insane. I think I would have agreement. It's
why it was so crazy from the betting market that
the Jets were favored, and everyone I read some of
the YouTube comments, people are like middle Golf, you're overreacting
to the Jets their schedule, Like I don't think the
Jets are good enough and have enough history and their

(10:20):
coach has proven anything just to make them lock wins
regardless who they're playing. Like yeah, in theory, should they
beat the Patriots or the Titans, Sure, but like you
don't get the treatment as a really good team if
you tell me the Dolphins are playing the Titans this week. Yeah,
I like the Dolphins. Obviously the Bills are playing the
Patriots this week, Like, yeah, I like the Bills. But

(10:44):
I'm not just like outo win for the Jets, not
saying they won't win, but they have proven nothing nothing,
So this is the cream of the division because of
their history, because of their coaching. That's the thing with
the Jets. And again I'm pro Robert Sahl, love my
but like, I don't know, And I think Mike McDaniel

(11:05):
is a tad bit overrated given that he's never won
a big game. And this it's weird, like can you
have a big game in Week two? For most teams?
You can't. But given this is a divisional opponent and
a team that you have to beat to win the division,
like you have to go through Buffalo, Like, yeah, this
is a pretty big game, and to me, the pressure's

(11:26):
on Miami. But like I said, that was a gretty
win last week. That was a game, Like I bet
on the Jags and when you're watching that game, I
thought it was in my back pocket, and they showed
a little heart, they showed a little fight. Now this
is a different level again eleven and two in the
Josh Allen era. The weather's not gonna get any better

(11:47):
than this situation. So I like the Bills in this
spot just based on history, based on I like the
Bills more. But this is a big spot for Miami.
And if you're a Miami fan, I think you would agree,
like can beat these guys? Can this happen right now? Please?
Like can we take advantage of the situation? We're at home?
So the Bills have to travel on the short week,

(12:08):
like they're the ones getting in a in a plane
on Wednesday afternoon to fly down here. So I'm excited,
I really am. There's some props kind of like Josh
Allen and two of both to have good games. I
think it's gonna be a lot of fun the Packers.
There's nothing you can do when your quarterback gets injured.

(12:30):
That's nobody's fault. Well, it might be because the field
was atrocious, but he gets caught between two guys, his
knee pops. Obviously they're very very lucky that he avoided
an ACL injury. Sometimes you just get lucky, right. I
saw Romadonsay saying heard like a pop in his knee,
and even Eberflus is like, yeah, we feel very fortunate

(12:51):
that it wasn't something serious. And he's he's even up
in the air for this week, like still could play,
which if I was a betting man, I would imagine
Rome does not play. But even like I've never even
hurt my knee, then all of a sudden, I look
down or I hear something, I feel funny, and I
try to play through it, and like something's off, and
he sprained his MCL. And there's a big difference in
spraining your MCL and giving it a couple of weeks
to rehab than tearing your ACL and being out for

(13:13):
the season. So they avoid a disaster. Whether he misses
three games, or six games. In theory, it's not the
end of the world because he's not missing the season.
But this was a team that had big time playoff aspirations,
and let's face it, like wasn't thrilled with what we
saw with their defense last week. But it's only week one.

(13:35):
Like it's about peaking at the right time. That if
you told me Jordan Love was just healthy, I wouldn't
just write them off. But you can lose a spot
in the playoffs right now. And it almost happened years
ago with the Packers when Aaron Rodgers what was he
broke his collarbone and missed a bunch of time and
they barely kept afloat and then he came back and

(13:55):
they made a little run in the playoffs. I think
they ended up losing to Atlanta in the NFC Championship game.
But to start Malik Willis, and I understand that they
traded for him right at the end of training camp,
I think that's insane. I really do. This is a
guy that I'm all for, and I was pro Malik
Willis coming out of college because I like projects with

(14:17):
a lot of physical tools. But the overwhelming majority of
those guys, whether you draft him in the first round
or the third round. Don't hit because of how difficult
the quarterback position is, like talking about the Bills in Miami.
To read defenses, to be comfortable in the pocket, to
be accurate, Like, listen, we can nitpick two all we want.

(14:37):
He plays a different sport than Malik Willis, and this
guy's barely played, I mean his rookie season. They tried
to throw him out there and they basically just found
Josh Dobbs on the street and started him immediately because
Varibel's like, we can't do this, can't happen. And I
love the Colts this week simply because I don't think
you can win a game with Malik Willis no matter

(14:59):
how much time you have on offense, and they have
a lot. But Lafleur, who I've said before, has been
really impressive in his tenure in Green Bay. Last year
was an eye opening season for the guy. And I
get just because you draft a guy or you have
him on your roster like they did with Clifford, and
I forget the other guy's name. I think they drafted

(15:20):
Layton the draft last year from Tulane that they cut
if you don't like him, you don't like him, but
I don't think a team like they lost Week one,
so all of a sudden you lose the Colts, you
find yourself behind the eight ball, and next week you
go on the road to Tennessee. Then you play the
Vikings in the Rams. So if Jordan Love doesn't play
in that period of time, you could find yourself. I

(15:43):
don't know one in five pretty quick, or I guess
one in four, depending on what happens this week. And
I think that's really risky because it's really hard to
dig yourself out of a hole, and then all of
a sudden the second half of the season you have
no margin for error, Like if you have an eight
game stretch, you might be forced if you're way under

(16:03):
five hundred, to go like seven and one, to give
yourself an opportunity to go nine and eight or ten
and seven and get that six or seven seat. And
it's not easy. One thing I do not miss about
the NFL is when you have a serious injury to
a legitimate player, it is difficult to plug that hole.

(16:24):
And clearly no hole is harder to plug than quarterback,
especially when you have a lot of question marks with
your backup quarterback, which clearly they had. They didn't like
any of the guys in the preseason, and to trade
for Malik Willis and then to potentially roll them out.
It'd be one thing if Malik, like you had traded

(16:44):
for him around the draft and he had been on
your team during OTA's in training camp and you felt comfortable.
He's kind of just showed up. I just I think
this is crazy.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Man.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Now it's the NFL. He's awful. They could easily pivot.
I know there were conversations the same agent as Gudakins.
Could they sign Ryan Tannehill? Not like that is you know,
the end all be all that's gonna save your season,
and who knows, you know in terms of his training
where he's at. But I'd take Ryan Tannehill right off
the couch, just like the Browns did last year with

(17:17):
Joe Flacco right off the couch any day of the
week and fifty times on a Sunday overalling this guy out,
which history would show us this type situation is usually
pretty ugly, so very very risky spot for the Packers,
and depending on Jordan Love's injury status, this thing can
get ugly and this thing get ugly fast.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
You know.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Part of why I was disappointed in Tom Brady, even
though it was week one. I'm not saying the guy's
career is gonna suck is because part of just turning
on a game when there's a famous announcer, just an
announcer in general, the analyst, you kind of get to
hang out with him. It's like, I'm gonna get three
and a half hours watching the Cowboy game with Tom Brady,
and it didn't really materialize that way. I remember years ago, whatever,

(18:04):
three or four years ago, whenever they started the Manning cast,
the Monday Night Football Crew was so terrible. It was unwatchable.
They had lost Gruden to the Raiders and they couldn't
figure out the booth and it was bad. I mean
it was really really but it was tough to watch.
And I like Lewis Riddick. I worked with Louis Reddick,
consider him a friend. Just the cohesion and that was

(18:24):
toward the end. Remember it was Booger Jason Witten. It
was a hard watch. So it was easy to go
to Peyton and Eli and they would have on all
these famous guests and it was just fun. It was
a much easier experience, because you're like, wait, I just
get to hang out with Peyton and Eli in these garages,
of these mansions, of them just in jeans and a pullover,

(18:48):
shooting the shit, and then all of a sudden, like
Patrick Mahomes or Kevin Hart or whoever. Even though their
audio was a little off with the guests, it was
fun and it was such an upgrade from the actual
broadcast of Monday Night Football. Well then ESPN clearly felt
a lot of pressure, right, so they give Troy Aikman

(19:09):
and Joe Buck I don't even know the combined it
was like one hundred and fifty million dollars. They gave
those two guys a ton of money, and they stole
them from Fox. And I remember last year, whether I
cared about the game or not, obviously I watch every
Monday Night football game. It was like, yeah, this few
thing feels big again, like it did with Tarico and Gruden.
It feels like a must watch situation. It feels like

(19:30):
a primetime game. And I stopped going to Peyton and Eli,
even though I loved hanging out with them. And I
saw today a report that the broadcast is down forty
two percent. Now ultimately it is a separate broadcast. It's
almost like an extra. So I don't know if they're
living and dying with the numbers to begin with, but

(19:51):
I think you're gonna see this thing go down and down,
partly because Joe and Troy are big time. They have
been doing the biggest games for what feels like two decades.
They're a super Bowl level crew, not level, they are
super Bowl crew like they call super Bowls. So when
I'm watching Jets forty nine ers, it doesn't even enter

(20:13):
my head to go to paydon Eli. And one big
thing they got this year is Belichick's gonna join him
for every broadcast. Well a couple of years ago, when
you don't get much Bill Belichick, that's a no brainer,
Like what's Bill gonna say? You could argue. Now, Bill's
a little overexposed. I saw on my YouTube feed algorithm.

(20:34):
It pumped me out. His podcast, which is Matt Patricia
who looks like he's lost about forty pounds in Mike
Lombardi and they just bullshit about football for like forty
five minutes. Now Lombardi will let it fly. The other
two guys are talking like, yeah, we plan on coming
back into the League, they're very guarded. It's honestly not
very good because Belichick doesn't really say anything. But I

(20:57):
can find Bill Belichick every Monday with patafe like he's
kind of everywhere, So the like scarcity of him is
not what it once would have been. And I just
think that you got to give ESPN credit for given Aikman,
who got more money than Joe all that coin, because

(21:21):
it's made their main broadcast the thing you want to watch.
So when the Eagles play the Falcons on Monday night,
it won't cross my head to change the Peyton and Eli,
even though I would pay to sit down with those
two guys and watch some football and have some beers.
But when it comes to my consumption, habits and what
I'm gonna watch, like, I'm just not watching him anymore.

(21:44):
And I think I read today that the ratings from
last year, which or like historic highs, are up twelve percent.
And obviously I work in this business, so when I
talk to people, it comes up a lot. But I
play golf this morning with a couple guys. One guy
was from Texas. He runs a TPC San Antonio. Another

(22:06):
guy's from Missouri runs the course out here. The waste
management course. It's crazy how much football we end up talking.
One guy's a big Cheese fan, knows their whole roster,
had opinions on trades. The other guy's obviously a big
Cowboys fan, giving me his opinions on Dak Prescott. There
letdowns in the playoffs, and I think football has just

(22:26):
become kind of like a universal language for guys, Like
you don't meet that many people, whether you go to
a party, whether you go to a happy hour, whether
you're in the office shooting the shit, whether you're on
a golf course meeting some new people, where football probably
isn't going to come up. If people like sports. And

(22:47):
when I was a kid, if you're my age, ear
old or America's pastime was always considered baseball, And I
don't even think it's debatable anymore. America's pastime is now football,
and it feels like the gap between everything else and
that sport is only gonna widen as we go on. Like,
let's face it, the Slate last week wasn't that good.

(23:11):
I'm looking at the Slate this week. It's not great.
But I don't know if there's any place i'd rather be.
I don't know if there's any place most of people
that I associate or that listen to this podcast, or
just casual sports fans would rather be than on a
Sunday with the NFL on in the background, whether your
team's playing or not. And the thing football, I think,

(23:34):
is really separated from everyone else, Like baseball is a
very localized sport. If you like Picotee, the Saint Louis Cardinals,
you'll watch their games, but you're not watching other games.
Basketball has really become that you watch your team, not
really much else until the playoffs. Football is the one
sport where if you don't give a shit about the

(23:57):
Bills or the Dolphins. Let's just say you're a c
Battle Seahawks fan, you're watching that game. If you don't
care at all about the Bears Texans, guess what's on
Sunday night at your house that game Eagles Falcons. And
that's where football has you is you will watch other teams.
And this is what we talk a lot about with

(24:18):
college football, the ladder that is pumping these players in
that they have to stay in college for years. Like
when I was a kid, college basketball was so big
because all the NBA players were in college for minimum
a couple of years, like Allen Iverson was there for
multiple years, Like what Steph Curry did fifteen years ago,

(24:40):
being a Davidson for several years. That doesn't happen anymore.
All these guys are won and done. They don't even
feel connected to their program. It's just it's diminished the
product because you don't get to build up stars. But like,
I'm really excited this week to see the rookie quarterbacks again. Like,
does Bo Knicks just get his ass kicked by the Steelers?

(25:03):
What does Caleb do if Keidan Allen and Roma Dunes
they aren't able to play against the Houston Texans? Does
he bounce back from last week? Jade Daniels like, is
he just good enough to beat a shitty Giants team? Well,
I wouldn't care if they were just kind of random
people that I didn't know about. I've been following Caleb's
career for three plus years. I've been hearing about Bo

(25:24):
Nixon's He started as a freshman against Oregon in a
primetime Saturday game that was on ABC. I think kerk
herbs Street and Chris Fauer called the game. Jadan Damers
has won the Heisman. He's a multi multi year starter
at LSU. So it's like the college football's exploding. Hate
him or love him. Like Colorado's got two elite NFL

(25:46):
prospects that we have talked about, Shador Sanders and Travis
Hunter now four years. So when next year happens and
both those two guys are on different teams, you will
have a built in history with both of the guys.
I saw so many opinions like Marvin Harrison, Marvin Harrison, Marvin,
how do you only get one catch? Because we've been
freaking talking about Marvin Harrison for years, separate even from

(26:10):
his dad, just him as a player, And that's cool.
Like I feel very, very lucky to be involved in
this of the explosion of the interest, even if the
game suck. I mean, that's that's the crazy part. It's like, yeah,
Sunday Morning Slate's not great, I'm gonna want I'm gonna
have multiple TVs with four boxes on keeping eyes on

(26:30):
all of them. And I'd be doing that whether I
did this for a living or not. So the NFL
man is just rolling, very very excited. I've been following
this man for a long time. He's he's coming today

(26:53):
brought to you by Game Change, which we'll get into
in a little bit. But uh, you know, I first,
I'm not a big car racing guy, but it's hard
to not know, especially as a big Dale earn our
junior guy. I know your buddies with him. He's all
over the SEC. But what's near and dear to my
heart is Augusta National and you know you come, you
know in early April you can find Marty Smith on

(27:15):
the grounds and he always you know him, and Ronaldi
always gets my kind of juices flowing. But now that
Ronaldi's not even around, I got Marty Smith. That's me
going Marty, what's up, bro? How you doing.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
I'm wonderful, so grateful to spend this time with John
and you're right man there. Very blessed to go all
around the SEC in football and basketball, meet a lot
of amazing people and be immersed in a lot of
great energy. But there's just nowhere quite like Augusta. It's
a singular event. Every year. The energy is wonderful. You

(27:48):
feel the ghost says you're walking the grounds, and I
love walking in there every year because even though I've
covered the tournament for so many years, now for ESPN
and for the club. I work for the club as well.
While I'm there, I host their official master's podcast called
four Please Now Driving. And we walk in there and

(28:10):
I hate to sound trite, but I almost have my
breath taking every time I walk in there every year
because you just look around and you can't believe it.
Like you, I'll never get used to the fact that
I get to be there, and I'm so grateful.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, I mean I think, you know, obviously you're a
big part of SEC football, and there's such a pageantry
to that. It's you know, Augusta National. There's such a
connection really obviously with the South, but even just you know,
as a football guy seeing all those guys, you know,
Peyton Manning's a member there, you know, you see the
coaches that get to play, and it's just I love

(28:46):
I'm from northern California and I've had this theory that
you know, Nick obviously what he meant to the sport,
but specifically the South and the SEC, which you know
you've been around there at the think your whole life
from Virginia originally, right, but the power of that conference
football has always been king college football. But to me,

(29:07):
he took it on a national level and made it cool.
And I can't tell you how many people that might,
like family, friends whose kids go to the SEC. And
I watch more SEC now than forever. I mean, you
look at Tennessee's quarterback Nico. You can't tell me if
Nico was coming out in two thousand and four. He's
not playing for Pete Carroll right question? And Bryce Young?

(29:27):
Where's he from? Los Angeles? Georgia suspends their running back?
Who do they roll out? Week one? Kids from LA
I just don't know if that happens fifteen twenty years ago.
Is that fair? As someone that's lived it.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
It's certainly not debatable that Nick Saban rewrote the standard
that it takes to be nationally dominant and consistently relevant
in the national narrative. The way that Nick Saban did,
that whole process that he injected into Alabama, the standard

(30:02):
that he demanded every single day, that every one of
his players demand best of self and seek best of self,
because thereby by doing that, their brother can do the
same thing. And I love what he told me. I
wrote a book last year called Sideline CEO, and in
that book, he told me that on the goal on

(30:25):
the goals pyramid on the wall in the Alabama football
facility there in Tuscaloosa. It does not say win an
SEC championship. It does not say win a national championship.
It says be the best, because if you be the best,
then you can have the opportunity to win those other accolades.

(30:50):
And it's just such an inside out perspective that he
injected into that. And then on top of that, he
was willing to be malle He was against He was
not a big fan of rpo offenses, up tempo, slinging
it all over the place, and then all of a
sudden it started beating him, and he went, oh, I

(31:12):
guess I'd better go get Lane Kiffin and then Steve
Sarkesian and we'll start doing that. And so I could
go on and on about the man. He's the greatest
to ever do it. He's impacted my life personally and
professionally in a very deep way. And by the way,
he's killing it on TV now.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Oh, he's awesome, which shouldn't be shocking to anybody, you know.
Speaking of Augusta Nashville, I think Tiger the thing I
always admired most about him is he was so rich,
so famous, and so good fast like what kept him
driving to win like in twenty nineteen, right, And I
think Nick and Belichick, and I think you see it

(31:52):
now with Andy Reid. You know you spent a lot
of time around Nick. What do you think it is?
Is it just that kid that grew up in West
Virginia that just has this He's just terrified in the
back of his head that it's all going to come
crumbling down, Like how does he get stay motivated up
until last year? Wish I'd argue that's one of his
better coaching jobs National Championship or not of his career.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Right, completely agree, and he'll tell you that. And by
the way, I might have misspoke right there. It's be
a champion is what it says on the Alabama goals pyramid.
I might have said be the best, but be a
champion is what it is. I think that he subconsciously
is still that kid watching his father work at that

(32:36):
gas station that his father owned and really understand what
true hard work is while also having the selfless kindness
to just give somebody gas if they didn't have the change,
to fill up the tank and watch his dad bust

(32:57):
his ass to make sure that that business was viol
and remained sustainable, and then coach. You know, he's a
fascinating study. But I think about Tiger as you were
talking about him there for a second. I'll never forget
twenty eighteen. In March of twenty eighteen, after Tiger had

(33:19):
had his back fused, I set across from him at
Medalist Golf Club down in Hope Sound, Florida, and I
asked him, why were you so dominant for so long?
And he said, I just want to beat you. And
I said, man, it can't be that simple, Like, of
course you want to win, he said, Marty. I didn't
say I wanted to win. I said I wanted to

(33:42):
beat you. And to look in his eyes when he
said that made the hair stand up on the back
of my neck because it said all that needs saying
about the mental approach that he had. He wasn't there
to win golf tournaments. He was there to beat people's ass.
He was there to impose his will on the competition.
And it's the same thing. MJ has, same thing, Kobe had,

(34:06):
same thing, Saban has, same thing, Kirby has. There are
certain people who are wired different than we are there's
a competitive nature and a competitive stamina. Then most people
can't understand. And I say this sometimes when I'm doing
motivational speaking. If you are wired like that to demand

(34:26):
best of self every single day and that is your
personal standard, there will be people who don't understand you.
They can't understand that way of living your life. They
will mock you. They will ridicule you based on their
own insecurity. But I always say, I tell my son
this all the time, who's a freshman in college. If

(34:49):
they're mocking you, that's a them problem, not a you problem.
It means they don't live on your frequency. And if
they don't live on your frequency, then their static tune
them out.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, I mean, I've been thinking a lot about these guys. Obviously,
you know, growing up on the West coast, Big Pac
twelve guy in fald Sark and Lane's career, and you
had the I think you posted on Instagram or Twitter
sitting down with Lane and his father passed. But I'm
sure you've got a chance to read that article that
came out a couple of weeks ago about Lane, and

(35:21):
obviously the change in his life doesn't hasn't had a
drink in three and a half years and the maturation.
But it all kind of started with Nick throwing him
a lifeline and changing his life. But even he talked
about I was still really immature. Looking back, I would
have hated me even in that version of me. Now
you talk about a guy that just feels kind of
in the zone right now. Right, Obviously his dad's one

(35:42):
of the greatest assistants in the history of the NFL.
But what he learned from his Nick and the way
he's attacked this transfer portal in that quarterback, I mean
that team, I think, first team in Old Miss history,
right to win back to back double digit win teams,
and this team's better in the last two years, right?
Is that for her to say?

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Definitely?

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Deep?

Speaker 1 (36:01):
I really liked their quarterback, Jackson Dart and I did
a profile feature on Jackson last year and I went
down to Oxford and asked him, you know there's another
California here. Well, I think he's from Utah, Utah, but
he went to Southern Cala ends up transferring over to
Old Miss, And I asked him, you know why Old
Miss and he said, well, I saw the relationship that

(36:23):
Lane Kiffin had with Matt Corral, and that relationship was
also born from that decision to get sober. And Lane
decided that he was gonna not drink during the season,
he was gonna eat well. Well. Matt Corral sees this
and says, hey, I want to join you in this,
and so they did that together and the mental clarity

(36:46):
that they achieved with one another based on that decision
of sobriety, eating better, making sure that they're doing what
is another savingism. Brother comes down every single day to
two decisions. There's something over there that I really want
to do, but I know I'm not supposed to do.

(37:07):
Do you do it? And then over here there's something
I know I have to do, but I don't want
to do. Do you do it? And with that mental
clarity that came with the sobriety and the brotherhood of Lane,
Kiffin and mac corral, they did what they were supposed
to do when they were supposed to do it. And
the proof was on the football field. And Jack Stark

(37:28):
saw that and he came to Old Miss for that reason.
And now now you look at Lane, I'm so proud
of him. Man, we're pretty close.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
How good does he look? I mean physically he looks
like he's lost twenty five thirty pounds.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
He looks well, he's got bright eyes. Yeah, got bright eyes, man,
And it's a beautiful soul. And him sharing with Ryan McGee,
my colleague, and Island Marty McGee. Him sharing so vulnerable,
with such great vulnerability about his father Monty, just days
after Monty passed away in a moment when he really

(38:05):
didn't want to because he didn't think he had the
emotional ability to make his way through those thoughts. Was
remarkable to witness real time. It impacted millions of people
once we put it out there into the world, but
real time for Ryan and me sitting there watching him
process this, him process this in the moment, and then

(38:27):
him verbally saying to us, I'm not ready for this.
I don't want to do this, but then continuing on
and then in the middle of a thought saying to
us both, thank you. This was very therapeutic. That was
a remarkable thing to see, man.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, it was it really And you know, getting being
comfortable in your own skin and feeling good about yourself.
I mean some of these things sound pretty basic, but
the power they have, and obviously you know alcohol and
you know I think him and Sark clearly Sark more,
I guess, i'd say more publicly than Lane.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
But Dark saved not only did coach save and save
his career, saved his say he's like he saved my life.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Because he made it in at physicals right, all the coaches.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
I you look at those two guys and they are
such player coaches and one of the reasons why these
young people are choosing to play for them, whether that's portal,
whether that's in old school standard high school recruiting. Yeah,
nil plays into it in today's iteration of transactional college football.

(39:35):
But they look at those guys and they go they
are that vulnerable and they're willing to strip the veneer
that much and be that transparent. I want to be
a part of that.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Well, Marty, think about that. How many guys can say
I worked for the two greatest teams in the last
twenty five years, and the two coaches couldn't have been
more polar opposite. So I've seen Pete kick everyone's ass
up and down the field, and then I went to
Nick and I saw the same thing. Yet as coaches,
obviously they're successful coach, but the way they operate are
on both ends of the spectrum, so they get to

(40:08):
yank from them both be their own guy. I mean,
how many people have that wealth of knowledge in their
back pocket.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
I mean, just going to again, going back to that
book I was talking about a moment ago. I'll interviewed
Lane in that book as well, and he goes on
and on about how coach Saban specifically, a lot of
guys set a standard. They expect those within their program

(40:36):
to live by that standard and uphold that standard, but
sometimes they might not be the example of that standard
that they're verbalizing, if that makes sense. He said, Nick
Saban has the right to say that to us every
single day because he lives it every single day. Because

(40:57):
his level of self discipline, his level of being willing
to outwork yesterday, his level of demanding to going back
to be a champion, doing the things that you have
to do every day to be a champion, You're probably
gonna have the opportunity to win a championship. And it's

(41:18):
easy to say it, it ain't easy to do. And
Lane was like, he did it every day.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
You know, I never thought i'd say this. You probably
consider me a Texas hater. They look pretty darn good.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Well, they're real good man.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
If you would have told me two years ago, by
the time they got to the SEC they'd be ready
to rock and roll, I would have been like, I
don't know that they are as good as Georgia or
House State. In my mind, that quarterback talk about a
guy who's gotten better. I mean, he looked fantastic the
other day, didn't he.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
He his command of what so Sark is probably the
most brilliant mind in the game at the collegiate level
for sure, of creating spaces and taking advantage of holes
and defenses through various motions and scheme to get his

(42:06):
skill guys the football in space. We've seen it everywhere
he's been. And when you got a guy like quinn
Ewers who is able to feel pressure, move around the pocket,
step up, never take his eyes off of being downfield
and going through those progressions, and he's willing to be

(42:27):
not only willing, but capable of being that lethal off script,
it's a problem. And oh, by the way, the fact
that they had Malik Murphy and arch Manning behind him.
Of course, now Murphy's gone on to Duke arch Manning's

(42:47):
willingness to continue to sit in today's college football. What
an incredible blessing for Steve.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Big time, big time If you would have told me
last here at this time and I don't know if
he can hold him off. Now it's like, of course
he's hold him off. He looked, he looked like a
Heisman player the other night. Two more guys I want
to ask you about. I was a graduate assistant at
Fresno State, so I follow that program closely. So Dubor's career.
Have you been to his new office.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
I'm actually going, as you and I sit here right now, tomorrow.
On Wednesday, I'm going to Tuscaloosa. I'm gonna sit down
with Kaylin and sit down with Jalen Milroe ahead of
their game against Wisconsin and Camp Randall this weekend. But
I've not been in there yet. I was in Savings
a ton.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
It looks very different, and it really speaks though to
the difference in culture. You know, John, you've heard it,
and you've heard it and everybody's heard it. You don't
want to be the guy following the guy. But they
Greg Byrne could not have hired a better person and
demeanor to follow Nick Sabany Because I have myriad countless

(44:03):
friends in that program that walk in those doors every day,
and the energy's very different. It's more relaxed. But there's
optimum respect for coach de Boor because of the way
that he treats people, because of his obvious acumen, because
he's won everywhere he's been, and so perfect guy to follow.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Coach Saban, he's clearly like an old school hard ass,
but he's got this California vibe to him. It's kind
of a unique. But he's very cerebral, but he's not
really a yeller and screamer like Nick. But he's clearly
intense because you don't win at football as much as
he's been winning. So it's and it's hard. Like even
USF it was a close game, but Saban, they didn't

(44:45):
play him well last year, so that's never schedule those
guys again, right.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
No doubt. I mean it was a squeaker last year
and this year at least Alabama pulled away. But I
think one thing that we'll see specific to this season
is great maturation and evolution and development as a quarterback
for Jalen Milrow. I personally don't believe Tommy Reese gets

(45:09):
enough credit for the difference in Jalen Milrow at Week
two in twenty twenty three and the guy we saw
against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. That was fascinating to
see his growth. So kudos to coach Reese and those guys.
But Kaylin, what he did with Penix and those guys,
it's really good for Jalen and he should be very

(45:31):
good in the offense. The scheme that Debor wants to use.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
It's weird. I want to ask you about one more guy.
You know obviously Nick, we just got to know him
so well through ten million features. He's winning so many
national titles. I even think the same with Urban, he
was just so front and center. Well, Kirby is a
massive name. Even Dabo would put in that category. Like
I feel like I know him so well. I've never
met Kirby. I know a lot of people that know
him and love him, you know, whenever his personality comes out,

(45:58):
if he's at like a PGA Tour event and he's
in a Wednesday program, a pro amure like, this guy's
the man. But it does feel like relative to some
of those names I just listed, he still flies under
a little bit of the radar in terms of just
celebrity status. I understand locally, but I'm talking on a
national level. You've been around him probably for decades. What

(46:19):
makes him so freaking awesome because he's got that thing.
I mean, he feels a little in his own version
save in two point zero. Obviously he was a right
hand man for a long time.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
Completely agree with that. He took the process. He took
the messaging. One thing Kirby is brilliant at which I
hate to keep going back to the book, but he
talked to me about this in that book, Sideline CEO.
He's a brilliant communicator and he takes he likened it
to Okay. He has these experts in messaging that he

(46:51):
leans on, whether that's sports psychologists, whether that is authors,
leadership experts that he speaks with, and then he distills
these philosophical approaches down into short chunks of very digestible
messaging and drills it into his player's heads. He's the

(47:14):
best there is in the country at that kind of
communication at the player level. He also is extremely demanding,
very intense. He's saving two point He's baby saving and
I can tell you that this year, I believe it's
a reckoning. I think that that is their approach in Athens,

(47:35):
Georgia because the fact that they lost the SEC championship game.
I was just there right before they played Clemson in
Week one to do a feature on Carson Beck, their quarterback.
I also sat down Jalen Walker, who's going to be
an All American Number eleven, the linebacker. I sat down
Kirby Smart, and they all told me, Yeah, we don't
really think about last year. We don't care what happened

(47:56):
in the SEC championship game. That's not fuel for us
this year. I don't believe him. I know Kirby too well.
I know he uses every single thing he can to
find the edge. And to me, they're the best team
in the country as you and I sit here in
chat right now, and I think that it's going to
be hell to pay for people to play them now

(48:19):
in It's That's what I was about to say. In
this iteration of college football where we have a twelve
team playoff, I honestly think it might be harder to
win the SEC than it is to make the playoff,
because I think Georgia could lose twice and still be
a playoff team.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
Do you think if you had to, I mean, is
Ole Miss their biggest contender is Tennessee. I mean that
that Nico.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Well, Georgia goes look special and oh yeah, I forget
tex Georgia goes to Texas.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Man, how would you how would you rank the SEC
outside of Georgia? The next three teams that could legitimately
be Georgia Texas one.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
One Texas for sure on any given day. Now, like
you know, Lane has a lot of talent, A lot
of us have very high expectations, like he's won a
lot of games over the past couple of years. But
now it's time to take that next step? Can you
go beat to Georgia? Can you go beat in Alabama?

(49:21):
We shall see. Missouri's very good. Tennessee is very good.
I saw them Saturday night. But there's a lot of
really good teams. I would say it's Georgia and Texas.
I would then put Ole miss and then I would
have probably Missouri, Bama, Tennessee all there kind of together.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
One brand you left out and I don't blame you
because they've lost a bad game Week one, But are
we sure the LSU actually isn't pretty good? And you
think out there just an eleven win team.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
I think they're really good. I really like their quarterback
a lot, he can really rip it. I'm a huge
Brian Kelly believer. I think he's a great football coach
who has you know, his personal evolution is is well documented. Now.
I so enjoyed. I was there before Week one as well,
had a great conversation with him.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
And how much talent is on that team. Those two tackles, defense, Harold.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
Perkins a freak Nuss Myers, a very good quarterback. Mason Taylor, uh,
he will be a Mackie finalist. They got Will Campbell,
who's the best offensive lineman in the country. You could
go on and on. They're loaded, and it just so
happened that that Week one game didn't go their way.
And so yeah, I think they're very good. Who this

(50:39):
he sees one of these leagues, now, man, where you're
you're gonna have to be so it would be exhausting
because the physicality is you.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
See the highlights of the South Carolina pass rusher of
the five star freshman.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Kid he looks like a triple team and Lawrence Taylor
or something like dude do through a ten horn. And
I mean they're just and look like that LSU South
Carolina game this weekend Game Day will be there. They're
gonna have a lot of juice, man, and I love it.
I mean, what a blessing to get to be immersed
in that all the time. It's just awesome.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Yeah, So tell me, tell me about game Change company
you're working with, and I know it means a lot
to you, and obviously that the world of college athletics
is dramatically changing at the I mean by the day.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Super grateful for the platform, brother, thank you for letting
me take a moment. I'm grateful to partner with game Change.
When they first approached me with it, I wanted to
study them first. Okay, what is this? And as I
looked into it, met with them extensively, I went, Okay,
not only is this a brilliant business idea, this is
gonna work. This is gonna help student athletes and athletic departments.

(51:49):
Here's what it is, all right. You go to go
game change dot com. Go game change dot com, You
input the credit or debit card of your choice, you
choose the university of your choice, and then every purchase
that you make with that credit or debit card automatically
rounds up to the next dollar, and the difference automatically

(52:13):
goes to the athletic department you choose, it comes to
the athletic department, and then they can disperse that funding
how they so choose. It's considered a charitable donation, so
it's a write off at the end of the year
for doing it. You also, then by enrolling in game Change,
enter yourself with every single purchase the opportunity to win

(52:37):
cash prizes and all kinds of awesome opportunities. And so
it's just such a cool initiative. Like I think about
in this era of college sports, whether you're Texas, Texas
A and m Ohio State Michigan, they are loaded with resources,
whether that's television revenue, nil influx, their collectives, whatever that is,

(53:00):
but they want more. This is a way for those
of us who don't have five million dollars to put
on our name on a building to help out. But
I think more like my alma mater is Radford Universe.
You talk about going to Fresno, Okay, take Fresno. Y'all
ain'tloaded Yeah, y'all ain't loaded down with a bunch of
TV revenue Bubbo and I went to Radford. Man, we're

(53:21):
loaded big South Division one and we're sitting here trying
to figure out as a collective unit. I'm working with
the athletic department, what can we do, not just to
help pay our guys and get recruits into Radford, but dang,
stay alive, survive. Yeah, And so I believe that's why

(53:41):
I partner with game Change. I think it's a real
opportunity for all of us to just go game change
dot com, put in your credit card. It automatically rounds
up and sends it straight to the school, and you
have a lot of opportunity to help your institution and
get that tax right off and possibly win surprises too.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
That's awesome, Marty. Did Bryson de Chambau figure something out
last year at Agusta before you get out of here?

Speaker 1 (54:04):
I so I have always appre my every dealing I've
ever had with him. Yeah, thoroughly enjoy him. I like
him a lot as a person. I'm gonna tell you something, man,
I think that when he went to live I think
something happened in his psyche that he I mean, he's

(54:29):
such a unique mind. You know, He's always been about
the math, and the GYA all that. I mean, with
all of his club links being the same and all
those things. He's just a different type of mind. But
he almost won the PGA. Xander. You know, toilet bowled
that final putt there at eighteen and Jeff Darlington and

(54:51):
I were standing there watching it, and then you know,
he Bryson almost won that thing. And then he comes
back at Pinehurst has one of the greatest bunker shots
of any of us have ever seen in our lives,
while Rory fell apart and now I mean, he's he's

(55:12):
he's a problem for those guys. And I think it's
great for golf. Like I think it's so great for golf.
And I'm I'm I'm a big Brooks Keopka guy too.
Brooks and I are close these Brooks just has this
he has this different gear. Yeah, he's won and live

(55:35):
and whatnot, but he turns into an assassin when he
gets to a major championship and it's thrilling theater. And
you know, then you got what Scotty's doing, you got
what Xander's doing. I think it's a great time for golf,
even though some people will tell you different. I am.
I think the sport is just awesome right now. Can't

(55:57):
wait until TVL starts.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
The major anywhere. Majors have never felt more awesome right
now and greatly. I think over the next year, these
guys are all going to get back together and we'll
look back hopefully in five years and go. And that
was actually a springboard to you know, the buzz of
maybe instead of just four times a year, be fifteen
times a year they're all playing together.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
It's indisputable that the Live movement completely rewrote the financial
structure of the PGA Tour. You look at what Scotty
made this year, and there's all these memes and graphics
and whatnot about what Ted Scott his caddy made this year.
Presuming that's a ten percent commission as his caddy, even.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
If you low balled him, it's still if it's not
six and a half, it's five. I mean, he's making
He's a top thirty guy on the PGA Tour as
a player, well, and he's a caddy, you know Scotty.
Scotty loves Scott.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
He's doing up close is just I mean, being there
the day you know, of course, the day he got
arrested and all those things. That Valhalla is wild and
just to watch his ability to compartmentalize that and all
the emotion and fear and hurt and worry and go
shoot sixty six just just an alien amazing.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
I don't mean to keep you so long, but you've
been to ten million of the biggest events ever. Is
that one of the craziest things you've ever seen in
your life?

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Darlington and I both from a sports standpoint, without a doubt,
And so Jeff just happened to be there, you know.
And just if they're handing out him, he's they should
just go ahead and hand him one because.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
He got it. He was, he was at the Miami
Dolphins game yesterday. He's got Rose House on the sideline.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
We've been We've been texting about it.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
I'm he's a phenomenal person. He's a great friend of
mine and a great reporter. And what he did at Valhalla,
just having the presence of mind to capture it and
then to go on television with all of that emotion,
his heart's probably beaten out of his check and have
the measured approach to report the way he did was

(58:05):
a clinic and then you know, I show up and
they kind of put me on Scotty duty, and I'm
charged with trying to get comment and of course the
I love you Marty thing happens, and I'm sort of
following him around and all day long. He was just
a wild It was a wild day.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
What did shoot five under?

Speaker 1 (58:29):
He was? He shot sixty six that day, shot six hundred.
What a day, Absolute rock star.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
I can't thank you enough for staying this long, Marty.
Have a great day, enjoy Bama and have a good
weekend and we'll keep crushing.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Bro pleasures all mine. Brother, I appreciate you giving me
the platform. Have a great day.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Thanks Marty, have a great one. Appreciate you. Let's bang
out a couple of male bag questions, Little Middlecoff mail bag,
because I have a lot, so I thought i'd answer
a few. Easiest way to get involved my Instagram at

(59:11):
John Middlecoff Instagram. Fire in those dms start with Christian
starts off with some kind words. I appreciate you. Question
for the back and it's a long one and not
too bad. After watching film on the Bears offense last week,
this guy's an all twenty two junkie. Everyone from the
O line to the wide receivers of the QB and

(59:32):
the backs were messing up left and right. Just a
sloppy performance all around. It was one of those games
where everyone is taking their turn screwing up and there's
just poor execution. A lot of it was piss poor
blocking as well. I know Kyle Shanahan is a master
at scheming plays along with having great talented skill position players.

(59:55):
But more than anything, it seems like it's teams execute
at a high level. There's town and all around the NFL, take,
for example, to Bear skill position players, but rarely does
an offense look and sync like Kyle's. My question simply
how does he do it?

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Well?

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
More specifically, how does he get players to execute his
vision at such a high level. He's mastered an offense, right,
so once you master your craft, he's been doing it.
Think about it. His whole life grew up around his
dad that ran the offense. He was obviously a football
player in high school and college, so I would imagine

(01:00:34):
his conversations with his dad weren't all just you know
what's for dinner? I mean probably nerding out on that.
And he's been an offensive coordinator in the NFL for
a decade and a half. So he's been doing it
for a long long time. And I think when you've
mastered what you want people to do, you know, and

(01:00:58):
good coaches then know how to teach. And part of
that is teaching your coaches. Part of that is being
a good communicator. Every player learns different, you know, the
forty nine ers are a good example. Like, let's use
the Bears. Your quarterback just made his first start, Keenan
Allen has never played with Caleb Williams in a regular

(01:01:20):
season game. Roll Madonza is a rookie. Dj Moore also
brand new quarterback. So like you guys, just the cohesion
slash experience, and you know, Seattle loves the shit on
Shane Waldron. Last time I checked, every offensive coordinator Seattle

(01:01:40):
ever had under Russell Wilson got fired. That's not an opinion,
that's a fact, which is unheard of with any good
Pro Bowl level quarterback in his prime. Those guys get jobs,
they always blame the offensive coordinator. It was never Russell's fault.
Let him cook, and then then for try to let
him cook and the kitchen burned down. But like George Kittle,

(01:02:02):
Brandon Aiyuk Deebo Samuel Trent Williams played for Kyle before
we got to San Francisco. Like, these guys have been
playing with each other a long time, and I think
when you look at Kelsey and Mahomes, like, think of
the cohesion those two had because of how much time
they've spent together. And some teams are able to overcome

(01:02:25):
it fast, like when Peyton Mannon got to Denver, Tom
Brady got to Tampa Bay. But I'd say those situations
are outliars. Usually the best offenses play together for a
little while at least a core group of the guys
and their offensive coordinator just knows what he's doing. Now,
Like look at Mike Zimmer's defense the other day. Now

(01:02:47):
we can say to Shawn Socks or whatever, but like
he's kind of knows what he's doing. He knows how
to coach guys, and he knows how to communicate what
he wants. So and their guy have a lot of experience,
Like he's playing with guys. You know Eric Hendricks out
there right now, We'll think how much time Kendricks and
Zimmer spent together in Minnesota. I know he's new to

(01:03:10):
Michael Parkson's but Michael Parkson been playing for a long
time now, so even if it's new terminology, like he
kind of knows what he's doing, and I think it
could just be rocky for the Bears early on, I
don't think it's like this isn't rocket science. Now there's

(01:03:33):
also a balance of we have some non negotiables, Like
I know with Kyle just because I follow them so closely,
you have to block as a wide receiver, and if
you do not, you're just not gonna play. Brandon Ayuk
like one thing. I think early on they butted heads

(01:03:53):
over and then he became one of the better guys
in the league. He has to block his ass off.
Juwan Jennings gets in fight. It's like every week, why
because Kyle demands that. Even DeVante Adams was it on
receiver or was it on a podcast? Maybe it was
it was on some interview. I saw they were asking him,
like yeah, not oh. It was like him and Saint Brown,
we're doing this like DeVante made amen Ross Saint Brown,

(01:04:17):
He's like, list a couple of things I don't do well.
It was kind of hard and even you could tell
it's like uh, and he hit him like you know,
you don't have elite speed, and you know blocking is
if he and even Dvante's like, yeah, I'm not a
big blocker, and I don't blame him, you know, like
Dion says, I don't get paid to tackle, pay to cover.
So but if you're gonna play for Kyle, you got
a block. And I just think certain coaches have non

(01:04:40):
negotiables on certain things and then it just kind of
and then he obviously just knows his offense inside it out,
like Andy Reid has mastered his offense for thirty plus years.
You know you can't. I think sometimes when you bounce
around as a coordinator, it's hard to get cohesion. I mean,
let's fa Usually the best coordinators find themselves in a spot,

(01:05:04):
master it in that spot, and then become a head coach.
That's a pretty consistent kind of trajectory. Pats fans from Chad,
I know where you stand on the Patriots outlook, but
their win this week got me thinking if the Pats
are somehow able to have some immediate success under mail

(01:05:24):
five hundred ish or better, would it hurt Belichick's stock
for head coaching positions or does his resume speak for itself?
If I were an owner, and the Pats exceeding expectations
this season would really amplify BB's share of the blame
for everything post Brady. Love Bill and think he's an

(01:05:45):
all timer, but he made some pretty head scratching decisions
as the GM and the head coach at the end
of his tenure in New England. Not deniable, but it
was really bad. The Patricia thing. He loves Patricia. I mean,
somehow I end up on that podcast and Patricia sitting
next right next to him, and even when Patricia talks

(01:06:05):
about Bill, everything's like Bill, Bill, Bill. When Bill did this,
It's like Jesus, all the guys that hit your wagon, Dude, Like, listen,
I understand Josh is a bad head coach, but he's
feels like he's a really good offensive coordinator. But he
just loves Patricia. I just think he loves the certain guys.
I'm not trying to poopoo Gerrod Mayo, and he's like

(01:06:29):
every player that ever played with him loves him. He
obviously is a really high level guy. I'd say the
same thing about Antonio Pierce when you talk about team
captains leaders. If the Raiders or the Patriots win eight
to nine or nine and eight. I would those guys
should get Coaches of the Year votes. I wouldn't get

(01:06:52):
too ahead of ourselves on one game against the Bengals,
who look like shit. Everyone's like middle coffee.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
We're so easy on Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Yeah it was shitty. What do you want me to say?
Fucking cut him? Like, you're you're harder. I saw a
lot you're harder on Lamar? Well, yeah, I saw Joe
Burrow beat Patrick Mahomes in a playoff game, go to
the super Bowl and have the lead, like that's that's
the trump card in this whole thing, and then the
following year go toe to toe with Mahomes again. Obviously
they lost, but like when the other guy does that,

(01:07:22):
I'll give him his credit. Now, this version of Joe Burrow,
if he's banged up, he's not the same guy. So
then the Bengals obviously have problems. So if jet Joe
Burrow is gonna be like the guy we saw the
other day, then yeah, Lamar's a better player and the
Bengals have no shot in the playoffs. But again, like
when we talk about the highest level of these guys,
like what am I seen in January games? When all

(01:07:43):
the money's on the line, when all the chips are
in the middle of the table. It was a good win.
I'll take nothing away from drowd Mao and the Patriots.
Whether you win two to nothing or sixteen to ten
like that, that's an impressive win. We'll see if they
can keep it up. I would say no, but I listen.
I don't not know, Sir Damas here question for the back.

(01:08:05):
Do you think we will ever see an era of
Patrick Mahomes without Andy Reid? Do you see Patrick retiring
when Andy does?

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
I mean Patrick's what twenty eight years old? I mean
he has fifty sixty seventy million dollars a year reasons
to not quit playing. You don't give up unless you're
a son Reddick. Millions of dollars to not play. And
Andy just age is not necessarily on his side. So
if you go, let me look up how old Patrick

(01:08:35):
Mahomes is. I think he's twenty eight. He's twenty eight
years old and he turns twenty nine September seventeenth, So
rogers playing right now at forty So does he have
Let's just be conservative, he's got ten more years. Again conservative,

(01:08:56):
the way these guys are playing now he'd be thirty nine. Well,
I think Andy is what sixty six? He's sixty six.
He turned sixty seven in March. So is Andy Reid
coaching at seventy seven? You never say never, but I

(01:09:17):
think if you're a Chiefs fan, you feel pretty good
as long as Andy's health's good, that at minimum you
got five more years. Like Andy ain't playing golf, like
Andy ain't like aspiring to call games on TV, and
you don't leave this rocket ship which you and Patrick
are driving. So I don't even think you need to

(01:09:37):
worry about like will it happen? More than likely? If
you're just betting on ages, you would say yes, Like
Bill and Tom linked up. I think when Bill was
fifty or maybe even forty eight. If Andy had linked
up like that, I'd say one hundred percent. But these
guys linked up when Andy was sixty. So if Mahome's
gonna play eighteen years, you just the numbers. But I

(01:10:01):
would say for the foreseeable future, Andy Reider coach, which
means you're gonna be good. Conspiratorial mailbag question, big fan,
when it comes to to Shawn's latest lawsuit, do you
think there is any possible way. This could be an
inside job from the Browns or someone affiliated with the

(01:10:25):
Browns in an attempt to have an opportunity to avoid
the rest of his guarantees. I know it's unlikely, but
as soon as I heard about the lawsuit, I read
a little bit of the write up today on Florio,
who had quotes from Harden and Busby, the attorneys representing
DeShawn and this and the UH is the defendant. The

(01:10:47):
plaintiff didn't go to law school. This I guess got
brought to their attention ten months ago, So I don't
think this has anything to do with the Browns. I
started reading it, and then I was like, I am
so tired of Deshaun Watson massage, handy content, content like
I don't even I don't even I don't even want

(01:11:09):
to read it, I don't even care, Like that's I
just I stopped reading it. About three or four sentences
through the attorney statement, I'm like, this is I'm not
wasting my time doing this. But having read that and
just read the first part of the statement talked about
the timeline. I don't think the Browns have anything to
do with this, because he talked about all the other

(01:11:32):
women that came forward. He was part of that too.
I remember all this stuff like this links back to
twenty twenty. In twenty like this, this goes back to
the Texans time, which I think is pretty clear that
the trade request was trying to run away from his problems,

(01:11:53):
which is just a disaster for the Browns. I mean,
it really is. I saw when I was playing golf,
I why when I'd done, I was eating lunch and
sitting in the car, had to order a couple of
things and was scrolling through Twitter and saw some comments
from the press conference. It was like, this is cringe.
This is tough feel for your Browns fans. My question is,

(01:12:15):
what do you think the biggest problem with the Ravens
is lack of being able to draft receivers or Lebarr's
inability to play from the pocket in the playoffs. I
think last year during the season, he had played so well,
and in that specific game, he just got tighter as
the game went on, and it looked like he let

(01:12:38):
the moment the Patrick Mahomes, how well they had done
in the first half, really affect them, and he looked
much worse than he had just done that game that
he played against the forty nine ers on Christmas. It
was like, this guy is in a really good spot.
The way this guy is playing right now is going
to translate. I mean, I had money and then to
win the Super Bowl, and then it's like you're playing

(01:13:01):
Tiger Woods in his prime and all of a sudden,
you're two shots down after four holes, You're like, holy shit,
what am I gonna do? And you get tight And
he got tight like the other night, I don't think
he got tight. He just missedcuble throws and he ran
around like he's just kind of playing it. He's just
doing what he has to do to win. I think
one big question mark with this team this year is

(01:13:21):
gonna be that offensive line, Like if they struggle to
block all the good teams in the AFC have a
good pass rush, right, I mean, the Bills have a
good especially an edge rush. The Texans are gonna have
a good pass rush. We saw the Chiefs. So the
teams you're gonna have to beat the Steelers. I mean TJ.
Watt looked like fucking Lawrence Taylor the other day watching

(01:13:42):
that game the other day. Back He's like Jesus, this
guy shot out of a rocket now the question that
he's been banged up, like can he just if he
stays healthy? I mean, he's got Defensive Player of the
Year written all over him. Even the Browns, I mean
their quarterback situation is a disaster, but Miles Garrett can
wreck your world. He could do that fast. So it's like,
are you gonna be able to block these guys or

(01:14:03):
is Lamar just gonna have to run around for his life?
And I think the question mark is if he has
to run around for his life, which turns into sweet
plays because he's one of the greatest runners we've ever seen.
Can he just sustain all season having double digit runs
against every good team they play. He's pretty good at

(01:14:25):
like kind of getting down. He's not really a slider,
but kind of doing the PLoP when he's running. But
you just inevitably take extra hits and then it just
adds up over the course of time. Taking my kids
to see the Razorbacks first UAB Saturday Arkansas versus Oklahoma
State was a fantastic watch on Saturday morning. I was

(01:14:47):
glued overtime. It was good. Sam Pittman, you know, got
the chubby, the boobs hanging Gundhy just hair flowing. I
love a stadium. It doesn't really happen in the NFL,
but in college when there's no room, when a dude
catches it and he like runs into the wall. It

(01:15:08):
just keeps you on the edge of your seat. Enjoy
the game. Do you think with all the prop bets
it opens up the possibility of guys cheating on stats.
We have seen examples of point shaving and I can't
imagine how many stories of cheating we never knew about.
What are the chances that stat shaving is going on?

(01:15:28):
Or will? Would love to hear your take on it. Also,
I did a game parlay where you can manipulate the lines.
I moved the line from the forty nine ers minus
nine and a half under fifty one points and the
back door TD with twenty five seconds left. It made
the total fifty one. Have you ever seen a game
in that spot where they went for two? No, it

(01:15:48):
was wild. I won sixteen hundred bucks. Aggress to you
the example in the NBA where the dude was shaving
the prop bets and having guys bet a lot of
money on his unders. He was a two way player.
And in the NBA you can really control that. In
the NFL, one let's use a lot of the prop

(01:16:10):
betting guys. It would be wide receivers and running backs. Well,
running backs have been bitching, moaning for years. They don't
make that much money. All the good ones are making
ten to thirteen fourteen million, right, they all make Any
established player that is gonna take a lot of action
is making big coin. The receivers, now, like, in what

(01:16:30):
world would it make sense for any receiver worth their
salt to even contemplate doing that? I mean low paid
guys like Nico Collins twenty four million dollars a year.
And with the prop bets, there are limits on how
much you can bet on a prop bet. Like I
can bet a million dollars on a game, I can't
do that on a prop. So I don't think it's

(01:16:52):
a big concert in the NFL, just like in the NBA, Like,
why would any dude risk that when I'm making average guys?
The average salary in the NBA is like eight million dollars.
Obviously all the good players are making minimum. Like Klay
Thompson took a pay cut. He's making like nineteen Obviously,
all the stars make between thirty and sixty love this show.

(01:17:17):
I listened to your feed and now Collins on CMC
Jordan Mason topic. A lot of people care because of
prop bets, not money line or spread. Well, okay, the
moment a guy is inactive, you're if you had money
on Christian with a prop bet, you would just get
your money back and like the once it becomes an

(01:17:39):
option or you figure out Jordan Mason is going to start,
his odds change. So yeah, I mean if you if
he knew he was gonna start, you could have hammered him,
I guess because his odds are really good. But Christian
McCaffrey again today limited in practice. You know he's injured.
So when I was looking at the prop bets, you

(01:18:00):
would have hit them. So if you if you took
Jordan Mason like he hit them all, like the most
yards on DraftKings you could have bet was like plus
was over one hundred and twenty yards. I looked at
that right when I saw Christian McCaffrey was inactive. But
you see this all the time around the NFL. You
don't know, like there are guys on the injury like
Roll ma Adonday, Keenan Allen, are they gonna play this

(01:18:23):
week or not. Eberflus doesn't need to tell you they're
on the injury report. One might play, both might play,
neither might play. So you can take their prod bets
you could not. But there's like this is there's a
risk in all this, Like they are not I'm all
for transparency. There is a limit in which they a
competitive disadvantage. They don't need to tell who's starting. It'd

(01:18:45):
be like, what's the game plan? If you had every
team's game plan right, you would go, God, keep an
eye on this guy today. That's not the way it works.
Like that's part of the game we're all playing, which
is part of the fun. Okay, brock Perty this is
from Jude brock. Purty led the league last year in
complete a percentage of throws of twenty plus air yards.

(01:19:07):
That's not hitches, check downs, bubble screens, or yakyards. This
is factual data sourced on PFF. He was literally the
freaking best in the NFL at dotting receivers down the field.
But he still has a consideration as a big arm quarterback.
Colin has praised the Ravens for years of building a

(01:19:28):
team and then inserting Lamar. Lamar gets all the credit.
The forty nine Ers also built a good team and
Brock took advantage of it, but gets no credit. Well,
there are two things can be true. He is a
very accurate passer, but he doesn't have a big arm.
He plays a starting quarterback in the NFL. He has

(01:19:50):
an NFL arm, but like relative to NFL quarterbacks, I
would not say he has an above average arm. But
just because you have an above average arm, Anthony Rige
and just threw one sixty five seventy yards off his
back foot, but he went nine of nineteen. He's had
the most accurate passer. So, like, two things can be true. Right,
you don't need a big arm twenty yards down the

(01:20:11):
field like he hat Jennings the other night. Great throw
I yuke in the corner of the end zone, which
I you dropped. But I would not consider Brock Purdy
as a big arm guy. I think the difference of
Lamar and Purdy is the Ravens had been struggling with
Flacco and Lamar came and they started winning again. The

(01:20:34):
forty nine Ers had been winning before Brock was inserted
into the starting lineup. So if you're just using those
two examples, like without Lamar and Joe Flacco, they were losing.
I'm pretty sure they had a couple of hundred five
hundred seasons, and that year in which Lamar got inserted
throughout the middle of the season for Flacco saved their

(01:20:55):
season and then led him into the playoffs. You know,
the forty nine have been in the Super Bowl with Jimmy.
They had been to the NFC Championship the year before
with Jimmy. When Jimmy broke his foot or whatever the
hell happened, some bone or I don't even ankle, I
forget exactly. I guess Trey was the ankle. Jimmy was
the foot. They had been winning that year as well.

(01:21:17):
So that's I think that's a part of the pushback
on Purty too, is like his team was losing, or
excuse me, his team had been winning, where Lamar in
your example had not. But like two things can be true,
Brock does not have Josh Allen's arm. He's a very
accurate down the field passer, extremely and it's been a

(01:21:37):
reason why the forty nine ers are by far the
best version of the Kyle Shanahan forty nine ers with
him over Jimmy who definitely was not accurate down the field,
and as time went on, it got less and less accurate.
And the other thing is, you know, Kyle didn't trust
Jimmy down the field rightfully, so he does with Purdy.

(01:21:58):
So when you have trust in your quarterback to make
the throws down the field because he's accurate, you call
more place, which they clearly do for him. Audios everybody,
the volume

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Thursday Night Football Preview, Packers QB situation, Marty Smith joins the podcast