Colin Cowherd Podcast - Allen Outduels Mahomes, Dodgers “Best Run” Team In Sports? Caleb Williams Showing Growth, Rams Best In NFC?

Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down all the week 9 NFL  action.

They start with the Bills beating the Chiefs and Colin credits the huge amount of pressure the Bills defense was able to apply to Patrick Mahomes and they debate whether Buffalo has the right strengths to beat the Chiefs in the postseason (3:30).

They move to the Bears beating the Bengals in a wild shootout and Colin argues that he’s seeing growth in Caleb Williams and he’s learning to eliminate some of the bad plays (13:00). They give their reviews of JJ McCarthy after a huge Vikings win over the Lions and give credit to Brian Flores calling a great defense (25:00).

They highlight the “feast or famine” nature of the Steelers defense that feasted on the Colts and Colin believes Aaron Rodgers looks comfortable and might return for another season (32:15). Colin explains that the Packers offense is suffering from an identity crisis after losing to the Panthers (40:15).

They break down the 49ers win over the Giants and Colin argues the Giants have found their long-term quarterback in Jaxson Dart and they give props to Kyle Shanahan for keeping the Niners winning and in the mix with Mac Jones under center (51:00).

Colin explains that the Rams might be the best team in the NFC and  yet still flying under the radar, and they debate where Matt Stafford lands on the all-time QB list if he wins a second Super Bowl (55:30).

They recap an insane finish in Game 7 of the World Series and Colin argues that with their trio of Japanese stars, they’ve separated financially from other teams and that they may be the best run franchise in American sports (1:02:00). 

Finally, the break down USC’s win over Nebraska (1:13:00). 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right. I'm a football fan for a
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Speaker 2 (01:07):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:09):
John Middlecoff former NFL scout has his own podcast, Three
and Out. Can't tell you how many people come up
to me in Chicago GMS. They're like, oh, I love
I love middle Cough so much. They never say that
about me. They love you.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
To tell him. I don't know if middle Coff's going
to the Hall of Fame, like like you so congratulations,
by the way, that's that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
I appreciate it. Buffalo twenty eight Kansas City twenty one.
I looked at this number today. To me, this was
this was really the game is that Mahomes was uncomfortable
and Josh Allen was really comfortable. He was sacked three times,
hit fifteen times. And when Mahomes John doesn't trust his

(01:54):
offensive line, it changes, it changes the way he plays,
He presses, takes more risks. And I thought the game
really came down to that is that. I just thought
Josh was really comfortable and Patrick wasn't.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I just know this, if the Bills can find a
way to play like they do against the Kansas City
Chiefs in the regular season in the postseason, they will
win the Super Bowl because they thoroughly outplayed him today,
outgained to by one hundred yards. We're up double digits
in the fourth quarter. I mean it took a fourth
and seventeen, which well, only Andy Reid would have a
fourth and seventeen play that would come wide open. But listen,

(02:31):
that Bills team that we just saw. That team can
win the Super Bowl. Yeah, but we see them on
a weekly basis now look as good on defense, the
pass rush isn't always there. Joey Bosa looked like, I
don't know his third year with the Chargers today, so
I don't know where that version of the Bills is
always because they make a ton of plays when they
have to against the Ravens and in the regular season.

(02:53):
I mean, Colin, this is now kind of a theme
obviously at home and this is why I've been I've
said from the jump, getting a home field for the
Bills is really big, and today was a bigger game
for them because at the end of the day, like
Chiefs have already won Super Bowl, so I think they
will eventually win another one. But if they get bounced
in the first or second round one year, whatever. This
year for the Bills, you just have to hold serve.

(03:14):
With the Patriots, they have an easier schedule than you
they keep taking care of business. If they would have
lost today, they would have been out of one game
Deficis and they've already lost to them, So there was
a lot of pressure. And in fairness, I thought they
answered the bell. Beside a couple of plays in the
second half, right, they were really good going.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Well, I mean, and the other thing that's I mean,
Bosa is healthy. He's thirty, Greg Russo is twenty five,
aj Epeniza is twenty seven. These guys are in their
athletic prime and they've drafted pretty well in the back end.
So Denver is now on a heater. Denver's nine and
two and now plays Kansas City next, and Kansas City

(03:53):
is five and four, and so now Joe all got
banged up today, but the Chargers are six and three.
So you get into a really weird situation here where
if Denver beats, I mean, that was the worst thing
possible for Denver. I don't know what the line is,
I'm taking Kansas City against Denver when Kansas City loses.

(04:14):
But I think the thing that jumped out to me
today was, you know, we've talked a lot about the
defense at Oliver didn't play, but we talk a lot
about Buffalo's defense all year. So much of defense is
effort right. Like I was talking to somebody the other
day about this, is that you know, offensive players on

(04:36):
a high school they'll follow a coach. Offensive players want
the coach. You know. Defensive players, you know they high schoolers,
they want to go to big schools, right they most
defensive coaches they see is the same thing. Defensive players
are about wrecking things. And I do think when you
take that Buffalo defensive front and they play Mahomes, they

(04:59):
play differently. It's just a different It's different than playing
Michael Pennix. And I've always felt offense is about choreography.
But I felt like I felt like the defensive front
today for Buffalo knew the red light was on. That's
what it felt like to me. It felt like they
played with way more energy. Many of the same players

(05:21):
played above what they've been playing at all year. I
just I feel like defensive players can play at a
different intensity level depending on the opponent. Ten times they've
played five and five, and I don't know, I thought
that was the difference. I thought the defensive line for
Buffalo was great.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, can I piggyback off what you just said about
the defense, I think, and I've said this now for
a while that when you look at the NFL and
they've tried to clean up the game, right, so now
when you watch, you know, guys are much safer. They
take a very conscious effort to officiate dirty calls. And
I think most guys, now, if you're twenty five, you

(05:59):
have gone through college in the NFL being taught how
to hit right and not use your helmet. But I
do think if we miked up defensive coordinators, like if
you got the defensive meeting room on Saturday night and
before the team came out this week and probably all week,
fans would be uncomfortable what's being said in there, especially
from the Buffalo side, And you could go around the league.

(06:20):
I bet if you got Brian Flores micd up this
week on Wednesday night, on Saturday night, it would make
a lot of people uncomfortable with what they want. I
enjoy that, and I know what I'm on, but I
still think that the way they talk and what they
preach is still has similarities going back to the eighties
and the nineties. Yeah, and you know, Buffalo's front is
really talented and they just lost at Oliver the first

(06:44):
round draft pick from Kentucky. I mean Patrick Mahomes. Listen,
I'm with you. His offensive line was at tatters. You
can't throw that interception late in the game because they
never got the ball back, you know, essentially, right, So
it's like that was killer and they just need some
more impact plays on defense. We'll talk about the Steelers, well,
what happened today. Their high priced guys, especially upfront, made

(07:05):
huge play huge. So when you're playing in playoff games,
I'm sure we'll talk about the baseball game too. Sometimes
you just need a random guy to make a big
ass play, whether that's a tip ball for a pick,
whether that's a fumble, and obviously your stars to make
big plays. So you know, Buffalo in coach Reid and
all the Bret Veatz, all those guys will tell you
Josh Allen is the best player they play, Yeah, and

(07:25):
has been for now five years. I mean he because
not only he matches his play against the other randoms
against them, and he's one of the rare ones, if
not the only guy who has consistently done that now
for four or five years.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Well, they were sixty percent on third down. They had
one hundred forty yards rushing. I thought, you know, and
I thought it was going to be high scoring, and
I said, I'll take Kansas City. But when these two
teams play, you know, you never count Kansas City out.
But I felt like today this was this was Buffalo's
day because Buffalo had lost at home to New England.

(07:58):
So again I watched that game. The intensity felt different today.
It feels different in the stadium when Kansas City plays there,
you get Nancy, get Romo. It just feels different. And
you know, Josh Allen, they said this during the game,
seventy nine rushing touchdowns in eight years. Jesus, that's just insane.

(08:20):
He is one of the things when I watch, and
I feel this way to a lesser degree with Lamar Jackson,
but I do think there are certain things I guess
I would say this. I feel generally Kansas City has
slightly better personnel than Buffalo, But right now, does Buffalo

(08:41):
have the right ingredients star running back Mahomes doesn't better
defensive front with more high level guys. Right Chris Jones
has not had a great year. So we know Buffalo
and Kansas City have good gms and great quarterbacks and
We know Andy's very clever in these games, but a
lot of times John it's units. You know, the two

(09:04):
times Mahomes has been blown out in Super Bowls, he
had a bad old line. The old lines are both fine.
Although Kansas City's got overwhelmed today, but that defensive front
right now for Buffalo, it reminds me. It just there's
just a lot of guys. I feel like there's just
a lot of guys that play. I must throw Milano
in there when he's healthy. I mean, Josh is only

(09:28):
twenty nine. He's going to have six more cracks at
the super Bowl minimum. But I felt today watching him,
I'm like, that's they've got it. They've had it before.
But Cook playing at this level, Buffalo's got all the ingredients.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I would say this too. If Kincaid is going to
look like that, SHA's what they drafted him high, to
look like a Laporta, to look like a Tucker Craft, Yes,
a kittle Kelsey. So if he's going to play like that,
I mean Cook, if you had to look at twenty
twenty five, you would say Jonathan Taylor's had the best
year at running back. McCaffrey is just week in, week out, bringing,
and you would put Cook. I mean, he's been one

(10:02):
of the best running backs in the NFL this year,
and you watch him on a weekly basis not really debatable.
So you get high level tight end play, you get
high level running back play. I would say since Cook
has become a high end starter, it's really changed the
Bills offense and it's made Joe Brady look a lot better.
The other thing is if you have a good defensive line.
The Chiefs are missing their star rookie left tackle who's

(10:24):
been gone now for several weeks. Today they had multiple
injuries at right guard, at right or at left guard,
and at right tackle. Well, if that means your backup
left tackle is starting because Simmons is gone, so you
actually are going to like a backups backup. The Domino
effect was pretty big, and you just saw him kind
of under duress, and the reality is sometimes when he's

(10:45):
under duress, he will make decisions like you know, other
run of the mill quarterbacks and not one of the
great players we've ever seen. And he did today.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
All right, Chicago Bears forty seven, Bengals forty two.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
What a game.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I mean, it shouldn't have come to this. I mean,
Chicago had it raft. I was thinking about this with
the Bears. So they got that block field goal to
beat the Raiders, the Jade and Daniels fumble to beat Washington,
the fifty eight yard touchdown to beat Cincinnati. You make
your own breaks mostly. But I thought, the really the
thing that I've noticed about Caleb, and I said this

(11:22):
Friday in the Herd, is that against I like the
Bears today against Cincinnati and Dallas, when he gets that
extra beat and a better run game, he's very effective
today while trailing, Caleb about one hundred and twenty four
passer rating, three touchdowns, no picks. No, it's the Bengals defense.

(11:44):
But I think what we're seeing with this Bears team,
they're winning these weird games. John, the Bears lose weird games.
It's like what they do. They're winning all these weird games.
When they lose, they're out class by Baltimore right up.
But he couldn't run the ball. But they're winning the
weird games. And I mean Caleb today is twenty to

(12:06):
thirty four. He's never thrown a lot of picks. He
had five carries, eleven yards of carry. I do see growth,
I absolutely do operationally. There was another moment that I
just drives me nuts. But there's a there's something to
be said for a losing organization. You saw the horsepower.

(12:28):
He does not throw a lot of picks. I just
think there is value in winning games you have lost
for the last decade, you know, blocking a field goal
when they hit that big play to lovel and I'm like,
oh my god, they just would not have done that
in the last ten years. So I'm gonna give the

(12:49):
Bears credit. By the way, with the Packers and Lions losing,
NFC North is wide open today.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Massive day for the Vikings. In JJ McCarthy and Caleb Williams,
I wrote this down probably early in the third quarter.
Can you win a shootout? Because we've seen them win
some ugly games, right, their defense was leading the league
in turnovers and I didn't know, and they did and
it shouldn't have been as they were up double digits
right when DJ Morse they went to challenge it and

(13:15):
ended up being a touchdown, which was an explosive play.
Ben Johnson's a stud you know when. Part of the
reason I like the Bengals in this game because like
oh DeAndre Swift's out, Well, he's been one of the
hottest players in the league and then he turns this
Rutger seventh round pick. I think he ran for one
hundred and seventy yards Colin. Yeah, so he was fantastic.
The Bears defense morphed into the Bengals defense. Yeah, so

(13:38):
it even put more pressure on Ben Johnson and Caleb
Williams and they were awesome. The other thing is there's
kind of the elephant in the room with Tyler Warren
looking like one of the best tight ends in the league. Like, hey,
you guys drafted Loveland. Huge day for him. I think
Loveland got the game ball Loveland and the running back. So, yes,
you had two rookies come through. Good day for pace.

(14:00):
I'd taken some heat with the Drake May emergence and
people are kind of looking at his at his draft
so lovelynd the rookie running back, and overall, like, the
thing that has stood out to me has been how
good Ben Johnson is. And he's really kind of saying
to me, Caleb, when he scrambles around, Yeah, it doesn't
really work. He's got to learn to kind of calm
down a little bit. But like you said, doesn't turn

(14:21):
the ball over, hit explosive plays. Today, John and Lovelin
and the running back were excellent.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
They had five hundred and eighty yards. Jesus, that's a
lot of yars. They averaged seven point six yards of play,
dominated time of possession, and you know they were much
you know, they were very good on third down. So
again they had to shootout with the Cowboys. Blew him out,
shoot out with the Bengals on the road, pick up
a w There's value in all this stuff. And I think,

(14:48):
you know, the other thing is we've seen it with
bow Nicks. He's tremendous in the fourth, but he has
he has long gaps where he struggles. Drake May didn't
have a great day to that. He had some he
struggled a bit. Pennix made some really good nice throws today.
I think all these young guys, the difference between a
great quarterback like Alan and Drake May is, you know,

(15:12):
almost exactly what you get with Josh Allen's like Steph Curry.
He may have a every eighth game, he just may
be off. And it's choose me for a half the
great players real Kobe and his prime was you got
the same damn guy every night. And I think with
Caleb Williams, I think it's official. I can see growth.
There's no question he is a better football player this
year than last. Would you agree that that you can

(15:33):
see you can see growth.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, he's definitely better. He's he's solid. He has not been.
It's his bad plays. When he scrambles around, it feels
like the offense is just so out of sync because
it's like, could he just sit in the pocket for
an extra second even throw the ball away? And a
lot of his scrambles don't turn into explosive plays. But
today when I can live with the bad if you're

(15:58):
making explosive plays and throwing touchdowns. I'll say the same
thing with JJ McCarthy. Yeah, I can live through growing
pains if you're accounting for several touchdowns a game. Right,
And I think you saw today with both guys is
they're good our scoring plays. So if you're giving me
touchdowns or big chunk plays in the passing game, I

(16:18):
can live with a bad sack or a misplay on
third and seven. Right that it's when you're not getting either,
you're not getting the layup stuff and you're not having
you know, scoring touchdown level explosive plays. So yeah, Caleb,
they have explosive players on off.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Oh, there's no question. I like Chicago skill players like
him a lot. I mean to be able to go
to a backup running back. And he's kind of a
gender bug. He's a smaller game, might be kind of
the pitter patter of his.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Feet, he's he's on a fascinate Yeah, he.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
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(19:01):
Detroit twenty four. Before we get to JJ McCarthy, goff
got sacks, five times, hit eleven ten tackles for loss.
Brian Flores was on his game today. They couldn't run
the football at all, so it was amor on. Saint
Brown and Sam Laporta were excellent, but Detroit could not
run the ball. And that's kind of the engine that
makes everything slick and click. There. JJ McCarthy was after

(19:24):
the first couple of drives, he was about fifty percent again,
but I got two touchdowns, ran for another okay on
third down. I thought he was very good in the
script and stuff early. Overall, he moves well, he looks
It's funny about size. He looks a little small to me.
It's so funny. Mahomes is six one and a half.
He feels huge to me, I don't. Aaron Rodgers is

(19:46):
six one and a half. He feels six to four. McCarthy,
it sometimes feels like he gets engulfed. But overall, I
thought he moved well and played pretty well. Did you
have a strong take on him.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
I think your take on the wight, I think it's
a girl thing of the side in the thickness, because
Russell Wilson never felt like he was small, right, even
though he's five ten year old, because's two hundred twenty pounds. Yeah,
Caleb's a good example. Yeah, shorter, but feels like he's
two fifteen.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
And Caleb's six feet t I'm taller than Caleb by
like an inch.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
One thing we said about JJ last year during the injury,
and I think Albert Breer and a bunch of guys
he lost a bunch of weight and was like one
hundred and eighty five pounds, so I think it's harder
for Mahomes probably wised to hundred thirty pounds, So I
think that factors in the number one thing with JJ
today were the good plays were touchdowns. So if you're
gonna count for three touchdowns, you could have twenty in

(20:35):
completions and have some terrible plays. It's when you're not
scoring and bringing none of that to the table, it's
just a complete disaster. Flora As I thought, if you're
gonna give one game ball to a coach, same it'd
probably have to go to him because you're on the
road in Detroit. That was that was excellent. I mean,

(20:55):
his guys were flying around. GOP's good against the blitz,
and early on I think they had blitz like five
or six times. It sacked him on two of them.
Goff was all out of sink. Their offense was out
of sink, and it felt like he gave the speech,
we're going to have to win this thing because in
fairness coming into that game, and they kept hitting on
it on the broadcast of I thought Tom did a

(21:18):
good job. He said, there's no one disputing his arm strength,
but you know, Burkhart must have come in late from
the baseball game last night. Was there talking about a
guy grinding, and Brady's big thing was clearly he knows
Kevin pretty well. It's like, sometimes you need to do
a change up, Sometimes we need to get some off speed.
Sometimes you need touch balls. Yes, because you watch the

(21:41):
arm strength is fine, but on some of these balls
over the middle on third and eight, and even at
his interception was a little behind. His accuracy like some
of these guys is a work in progress.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, JJ's interception was low and down it and the
Lions player came over it. No, that's that's Matt Stafford
is the master tempo. Like he can sling it side arm,
he can throw a heat and I think of it.
It's just it is a little bit like being a
baseball pitcher. I what I worry about what JJ McCarthy is.
And I felt like this was brock Purty. You know

(22:13):
when the Niners Christian McCaffrey is upright, I don't even
care who the quarterback is. I mean like, if Christian
McCaffrey plays today at half their yards, it doesn't matter
if it's mac Jones or Brock pretty I do feel
with Kevin O'Connell, Justin Jefferson, good left tackle. I kind
of feel like it's hard to evaluate JJ because the coach,

(22:35):
the left tackle, and the receiver are so good. It's
like San Francisco with Kyle and Christian McCaffrey. And then
when Kittle is healthy and Jennings can be, you know,
highly productive, how valuable is the quarterback? So this is
an anti JJ McCarthy. I just think I think again,
I think I just need more of him. I just

(22:56):
have to see more games. I thought Brian Flores was
gay ball Brian Flores.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
That's why I think it's fair for JJ McCarthy. The
bar of how he's being judged should be higher than
a lot of random young quarterbacks on bad teams. When
you play for crappy franchises and you lose, I expect that.
Like whoever the Carolina Panthers draft, I don't expect it
to look great. But when you get Justin Jefferson in
his prime, Howkinson, Jordan Addison, Kevin o'connoff. We had a

(23:25):
coaching draft, where would Kevin o' he'd go in the
top five? Yes, so everything, And this was Trey Lance's
thing when you get drafted to a team whose expectations are, yeah,
let's win fourteen games and compete for the conference championship,
you just get judged a lot differently. And I'll give
JJ credit in the Bears game, he had huge moments
in a big time today. At the end of the game,

(23:47):
with the game on the line, his coach put in
his hands and he delivered. And that's where I think
a lot of his defenders go with the quote unquote
he's a winner. There is some winning characteristics when you're
comfortable in big moments. You go back to that moment
against Alabama where it looked like Harbaugh had this all
time great roster and he was gonna lose in the
playoffs to Nick saban On, probably, I bet Nick would

(24:09):
say one of his worst ever playoff teams. JJ made
some great plays. You watched his first start against the Bears,
Big spot, made some great plays. And today on I
thought they were just gonna run it and just hey,
lean it on floors. They put in his hands. Great throw, Colin,
not a good throw, a great deal. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Well, when I watched him at Michigan, that was always
my take. Moves, Well, gritty kid didn't make a ton
of big throws, but he'd make one or two NFL
Sunday throws. He can make the big throws. So I
just don't have a ton, you know. I mean, like,
say what you want about bow Knicks. I've got like
a six game winning streak and he's got a one
nineteen passer rating, nine touchdowns, no pick in the fourth quarter.

(24:49):
I've got a lot of samples of bow Knicks. He
can have gaps, but late he's really good. So I
with JJ, I've never been a huge believer, but I thought,
you know what, to go to Detroit, you got the deal. Well,
you know, you win in a lot of different ways.
Not every Sunday for Brady was great. That Teddy Bruski crew.

(25:10):
There were days that Tom didn't do a lot of
heavy lifting. He was twenty to twenty eight with a
lot of underneath stuff.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
So yeah, if I was going to defend, you know,
JJ hasn't been playing Carson has or, but definitely Caleb Williams.
They're i mean Caleb's defense. Sometimes you watch the Bears
on defense and they just look atrocious in Minnesota. Till today,
they had been pretty bad this season. Colin, I mean
today was and even today they gave it. It's not

(25:37):
like they gave up ten points. I mean, and they
had some drop balls. I mean there were plays to
be made. Like the defense is on those two teams,
I mean, Bo Knicks. We might have just watched the
two best defense in the league play each other today, right,
The physicality of Denver and Houston and how good their
defensive lines are. So anytime you have a defense that
is that good does back you up when you're not

(25:58):
making plays. But I'd say all three of these guys
have one thing going for him JJ McCarthy. Now, obviously
Caleb and bow Knicks making plays in big spots. And
I think when you look at Caleb and bo Nicks,
they've had a lot of snaps now in their career.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Well, Sean Payton, I mean, look at the coaches, Kevin O'Connell,
Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson. Such an advantage, such a huge advantage.
Steelers twenty seven, Colts twenty Pittsburgh's defense again is completely
feast or famine. In the two best wins for the Steelers,
New England and Indy eleven takeaways, and the other games

(26:35):
they can be the Bengals, they have huge Holes. So
I'll say this, Aaron Rodgers, I've defended a ball year
Aaron Brett Farv's first season with the Vikings. Remember that
magical season Brett Farv had with the Vikings. Farv had
thirty three touchdowns and completed sixty eight percent of his throws.
Aaron is on pace to have thirty six touchdowns and

(26:58):
complete sixty eight percent of his throws. Both struggled with
the Jets, which is Siberia, right, Nobody, Darnold Farv, Rogers,
nobody can win with the Jets. But this was a
great example. Daniel Jones did not have a consistent run game.
You know, the Steelers defense, and again we saw it

(27:20):
with I mean it's amazing. We saw it with Minnesota today.
Their defense is like, oh, we're in Detroit. JJ McCarthy's starting.
This is on us. We saw it with the Steelers today.
It's like, oh, here come the Colts. They're favored over us.
This is the hottest team in the league. And that
offensive line for Indy for the first time this year

(27:42):
got pushed around a little bit. So and you know,
Daniel Jones thirty one fifty. Again, I don't think Daniel
Jones should be throwing fifty times when you don't run
the ball, that's what you have to do. But this
was another example. We've talked about this all all day
today Buffalo, those defense playing Mahomes defense is about like

(28:04):
energy and juice. And I thought Pittsburgh just feasted today.
Looked like a different defense than they had in most
of the weeks this year.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
You uh bringing up that Minnesota team with farv I
think it was nine. I just looked Jared Allen, who
just went to the Hall of Fame, had fifteen sacks
that year. And I think the last couple of weeks
you've been watching. You just gave TJ one hundred million dollars?
Where's he been? And today I thought their season was
on the line this game. You know this is a
Tomlin spot as an underdog. He was just in the

(28:34):
same spot against the Packers and got killed. So if
you would have played the results before the game kicked
off and said, well, the Steelers lose. So I've seen
him losing home to Seattle, Green Bay and Indy three
playoff teams like you got Baltimore running you down written
all over you. You need to win this game because
all of a sudden you lose. You have four wins,
the Ravens have three, and they are trending up and

(28:55):
you are trending down. I thought this was a kitchen
sink game and it was seven to nothing. Indie had
the ball and they were driving. I went, I feel
like they scored a touchdown here and go down fourteen
to nothing. The Steelers seasons basically over around Halloween. Yeah,
and TJ. Watt made the play, force the fumble, they
got the ball back, they scored, and then I think
they scored like ten more points, seventeen to seven and

(29:16):
a half. You're like, okay, and then they just started
creating turnover sacks, picks. It's like, well, if their defense
plays like this, they can be a terror. They could
be a ten to eleven win team. That could make
them that could win a playoff game. But the defense
we've seen the previous two weeks, Colin, they not only
have no shot in the playoffs, they weren't gonna win
the division. So it's just what TJ. Watt, who's kind

(29:37):
of the heart beat really of their team, which is
classic Steelers right, a pass rusher, but when he plays
like that, the other guy's feed off them. Yeah, they
could beat They didn't just make Indye look bad. I
mean they were killing him. They made Daniel Jones I
wrote down like, does this give you any pause because
if he plays a good defense, he I don't want
to say he just completely melted, but it was because

(29:59):
he's getting hit a lot. Man. It did not look good.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Gon No, he didn't play you know, the RAMS game again,
he wasn't as dominant the I think it's really interesting that,
you know, Mike Tomlin, I don't think is terribly current
in terms of you know, online development and run game.
And this is where I think Aaron deserves a lot
of credit. Aaron. Aaron didn't play safe much in his

(30:25):
career unless he uncorked a couple of bad interceptions and
then Aaron would like bring it down in a game
like he was protecting a passer rating and I noticed it.
But I don't think this team. I think he's playing
this team. I've said ten times. I think he's really
playing the position the way a steener quarterback should play
the position. This is a high completion percentage offense with

(30:49):
big targets that you can get the ball that can
break a tackle. This kind of team and I think
Aaron has to lead the offense. Tomlin on his own
over the last seven years has not shown an ability
to get the old line of the run game right.
But Pittsburgh's Ahlwa has been under Tomlin such a good dog.

(31:11):
And also the Ravens one Thursday night, so that put
more pressure on the Steelers as they watched the Ravens
blow out the Dolphins. So it's like, oh crap. So
I think a lot of things. I mean, Daniel Jones
had one touchdown and three picks today, and I thought
it was fairly obvious that from the very get go

(31:32):
there was a different attitude when you back Tomlin into
a corner. His teams have always played differently.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
That's why I thought they were And he was kind
of at a fork in the road spot because if
he couldn't win this game, his time with the Steelers
is over because this is his spot. The other thing
looking at obviously they couldn't. I mean they had the
lead all the second half. They ran for thirty eight
yards column they average under two yards to carry. Did
you see Diana? She put out a bunch of like
trade scuttle butt I think yesterday and one of the

(32:00):
things were Breze Hall with the Jets, who Aaron knows, Like, listen,
you miss on Caleb Caleb Johnson. Maybe in a couple
of years he's fine, but right now he can't help you.
You're all in on this season. If Aaron goes listen,
I like that guy a lot. I think you would help.
Shouldn't they be really interested in that because they feel
like they need a running back desperately. Well, you're asking

(32:21):
Jalen Warren to carry the load and that's just not
really his thing.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah. I mean they've done a great job through the
years to draft edge rushers and wide receivers. They're hitt
and miss on quarterbacks. I could make an argument it's
go time. I honestly think Aaron's gonna play this year
and next. Do you I think he's gonna I think
he's comfortable. I think I don't know. I just he's
not getting hit a lot. I kind of feel like

(32:46):
this is about you know, I said before the season,
I thought they went andering on games. It's gone better
than I thought. For Erin, I really have one. It's
a little smoother.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
I totally agree. I thought he would look older. He's
he's been a little bit of a fountain of youth. Yes,
you know, he's just moving around a little bit younger.
I expected it to get worse. I know people say
second year off in Achilles. It's one thing when you're
twenty eight, another thing when you're forty one. I do
think when you look at Tomlin, because he's a good
example what you're saying, why Aaron might return, I think

(33:16):
a lot of people go, why wouldn't you want a
fresh start? Because he's coaching the Steelers. It's kind of
a sweet job. Just like I've been, Aaron who's been
with the Packers realizes this is pretty awesome. Like playing
for Ohio State or Alabama football doesn't suck. I think
most guys that played basketball at Kansas or North Carolina
enjoy the experience. You know, being the coach or the
quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers kind of has its perks.

(33:39):
So if you're Aaron, you feel pretty good. It's like, hey,
we'll pay another fifteen million dollars. The other thing is
they have a lot of old guys on the team. Yes,
part of the reason, you know, Tom, I think that
Tampa Bay experience went well because by a second year
there most of those guys, even the Tampa Bay guys
are veteran players. He got to bring some other veterans,
a lot of like minded people, married kids, multiple kids,

(34:02):
pickup lines at school. So I think Aaron looks around TJ.
Watt's over thirty, Cam Hayward's thirty five, thirty six, Tomlin's
like this player version of a coach. Yep, they just
it's it's pretty tailor made for a veteran type quarterback
to go in and enjoy his time there, I would say.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
And now for our next segment, Whiskey business. Yes, Whiskey business,
brought to you by Green River Whiskey, the official whiskey
of the Colin Coward Podcast. Carolina Panthers beat Green Bay
sixteen to thirteen. I had set on FS one Friday.
I think I said it three times. I said, this
has a weird trap game vibe for green Bay. It's

(34:41):
really weird. Green Bay average six yards of play, had
four hundred yards and thirteen points. They were good on
third down. You know when I and Packer fans are
just can't they're just beside themselves. With Matt Lafleur, I
was watching green Bay today and my take was Tucker Craft,
by the way, looks like he could be out for

(35:01):
the year. Torney c brutal, He's a great player. They're
not running the ball very well. I don't know why
this is, but I feel with this wide receiver and
tight end group, I feel they should you just give
the offense to Jordan Love. Now, you made a horrific
throw that was dropped in the end zone by Carolina

(35:22):
Bryce Young. I mean what's disappointing is Bryce Young didn't
even play well. I mean this was not yet a
weather advantage. It was a little cool and windy. Bryce
Young did not play particularly well. Rico Dabble, by the way,
is the most underrated player in the league. Carolinea is
running back former Cowboys great. But I feel like this
is why I think the Rams are the best team
in the NFC. Philadelphia and green Bay have an identity crisis.

(35:48):
Green Bay does not know what they are offensive I
watched the Rams today and they know exactly what they are.
They are fast and aggressive defensively. Offensively, it's all about
efficiency to run the ball. It's highly efficient. I watched
the Rams and I feel like they just they just
lean into what they are. They absolutely have complete utter

(36:09):
confidence in what they are. I don't know if Green
Bay knows yet, and I kind of feel like Matt
is being conservative. That's my take, that you're picking up
the yards. But they were just it was weird today.
They had a fourth and like eight a't the thirteen

(36:29):
or fourteen yard line, and they went for it instead
of kicking a field goal, which is I wrote that down.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
I may have the I was thirteen to six. That
was when he threw it across his body and the
guy drost a pick.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yeah, just so that was like, what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
I'm not.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
I just don't think they know what they are.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
They were the most disappointing team of the weekend by far.
I mean, coming off the momentum they had. They had
such a great half last week against the Steelers. I
mean they flipped a switch. It's like, this is one
of the best teams in the league. I would have
said coming in today, we're doing this before Seattle, but
Seattle the Rams. It's hard to include the Niners with

(37:07):
their injuries, so I'd go Seattle, Rams, Pittsburgh or excuse me, Philadelphia,
and then the two teams from the North. But you
watch obviously the Lions. Their quarterback can't really move and
if you can hit them, and then whatever goes on
with this Green Bay offense. At one point in time
I looked down. They had like almost two hundred and

(37:28):
fifty yards of offense and six points and they were
zero and four in the red zone. They were just
atrocious in the red zone. I saw Matt LaForce after
the games, like, hey, they're taking away our explosive plays.
We're just dinking and dunkin to death. But I don't know.
I mean, I obviously Carolina is a little better than
we thought. I mean they were five and four, and
I think the dust's gonna settle and they're gonna win
eight nine games, be very competitive and have some upsets.

(37:50):
But at home that should be a huge advantage for
Green Bay. Yeah, they were atrocious.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, the he miss t Mac was wide open. Xavier
la Get Bryce Young did not play particularly well. This
should be and you have four hundred yards and average
six yards of play. This was not a game in
which you couldn't move the ball. I will say I
do think Carolina defensively is fast. Like Carolina's draft, you know,
they've had a lot of high draft picks and you know,

(38:17):
people always look at the first round pick, but you're
drafting high on the second and the third, and the
fourth and the fifth and the sixth. So Carolina's got
some guys. I mean they can they can get really physical,
they're quick. But I just I think this is something
that is really under discussed in sports. What are you?
I remember when we started the volume, I would tell
my guys, barstool is something you know, I Ringer is,

(38:42):
we have to become what are we? Like? You have
to identify what are you? And without doing a big
branding campaign, you just have to become something. And I
look at the best teams in this league. Buffalo I
think has a real sense of what they are right now.
I don't think Green Bay knows. And I and it's
weird because Matt's an offensive guy, he should have a
greater sense of what they are. Offensive coaches generally, like

(39:05):
like Sean Payton, Andy Reid McVeigh, I rarely doubt the
identity of the offense. I mean, Kyle Shanahan knows basically,
Christian McCaffrey is the offense. The quarterback's less relevant than
the star running back. But I look at Green Bay
right now, and I think they have to. That's a
team that needs like a bye week or a come

(39:27):
to Jesus meeting. That's what it feels like. Matt Lafleur
needs to come to Jesus meeting with Jordan Love, give
him the keys. They're not running the ball consistently and
go for it. Well.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I think in their two losses against the Browns and
obviously today, their offense really let them down because their
defense is not allowing points. I mean, I think the
Browns game they lost thirteen to ten. In this one
they lost sixteen to thirteen. So that is squarely on
your head coach's side of the ball. And ultimately a
quarterback who you're paying a lot of money, who we

(39:58):
just saw last week. I mean, I understand the Steelers
defense was a little off, but how good did Jordan
Love look last week? How is there a more you know,
Jekyll and Hyde player right now in the league that
on any given game he can look like the MVP
of the league and then today you go, what the
hell was that? And part of it, I think it's
very fair to combine him with the coach. I do
think at the end of the day, Lafleur has proven

(40:20):
he's more like Kyle. He wants to run the ball. Yes,
that he is an Andy or a McVeigh.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Jos, I mean Josh Jacobs is a very good player.
He's a top ten twelve running back. He's a very
very good player.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
If Craft is injured, that's that's devastating.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
It is I I it's not that Green Bay can't
run the ball, but they don't to me when I
watch them, I don't feel like that's their identity. To
be honest with you, I think there. I think craft
and love sometimes like that's who I trust.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
No, I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
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a legend in a bottle. Today. Forty nine ers, thirty

(41:19):
four New York Giants twenty four. Christian McCaffrey had twenty
eight carries. He led San Francisco in catches rushing rushing
touchdowns fifty percent of total yards. He's so good they
dominate time of possession. I will say this Jackson Dart again.
It was I talked to Jason McIntyre today and he's

(41:41):
a Jets fan, so he's like, I don't know what
he is. He moves really well, he plays. You can
see his confidence. He hit seven different receivers. I mean
to me, I feel like they found their guy. That's
what I mean that no neighbors, no Skataboo. I watched
him today. I don't think personnel wise this is a

(42:02):
great forty nine ers defense. But I don't know. My
take is I just see the confidence, kind of the thickness,
the arm. He moves well. If I'm the New York Giants, honestly,
I don't care if I win games. I want another
great draft pick. I think they found their guy.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
Yeah. I think the big picture question mark with them
is Didestable get another year because this was his guy?
Or do you just blow it up and you get
him on the cycle of all these young quarterbacks over
the last three or four years that derails their career.
And to me, he's shown enough that you can make
the argument either way. I think that's Skataboo injury. Yeah,

(42:42):
from an energetic just there was some oomph that he
brought to the team. That is, you can't replace once
you lose that to go hand in hand with Dart,
and they've already lost neighbors. So he's throwing I mean,
look at the guys he's throwing to here, Darius Slayton, one,
Dale Robinson. It's not now you can say the same
thing for the Niners. But the Niners still have more
healthy players. And Kyle's a better coach than Table. So

(43:03):
you saw Kyle Shanahan roll in with Mac Jones and
control the game.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
The other thing is, you know Mac Jones a good
example that after that first year in New England when
Josh was there, they won ten games. Over the next
two years when he was the starter, and he got
banged up a little bit during that time. He won
a total of eight games over his last two seasons
in New England. He's won five this year for Kyle Shanahan.
And I think Kyle mentioned after the game with Perty's
turf toe like it's all year. If he is able

(43:30):
to come back, he's just going to reinjury. It's not
one of those things to go away. There's a decent
chance that Mac Jones is just starts the rest of
the season and they win ten games. Some years, Shawn's
had a couple of these the last couple of years
when you're not gonna win the Super Bowl or even
get there. But it's kind of a you know, a
little bit of a pelt on the wall. This is
a big year for Kyle, kind of muscle flex winning
all these games with Mac Jones, because you watch all

(43:51):
these teams get to their backup quarterback and they just crumble,
and he should beat the Giants. But to just go
in and handle a team on the road with your
backup quarterback like that is it's really been pretty This
is a team that ceiling is limited now because of
the injuries, but they look like they're barreling toward ten
and seven with they might all have just lost their

(44:12):
first round pick today to an ACL the kids in Georgia.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Yeah, you know, I'll die on this hill. I think
Max throws a prettier ball than Brock Pretty. I think
he's a little less reckless, and I think he throws
a prettier ball. I think he throws a first round
draft pick ball. I think Pretty moves better. I think
Purty sees the field really, really exceptionally well. But when
I watch Mac Jones and he's got time to throw,

(44:36):
I think he throws a really good ball.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, I would say neither of them. Where I would
disagree is neither of them have first round ball out
of their hand. But I think Mac is probably more
natural because he's a little taller throwing from within the pocket. Yeah,
and Perty's just a dynamic thrower on the run and
pretty accurate down the field. But Mac over the middle
of the field. I mean, they just signed Kendrick Bourne
off the Literally, he was just in the airport, didn't

(45:00):
have a job. They signed him. He just every single
game makes place. But like you said, McCaffrey, it's pretty crazy.
I mean they have they play the Rams this week
at home, which they probably shouldn't win with their injuries,
but that they're even in this position. If Kyle does
win a game like that and sweeps the Rams and
just has them more than ten wins, it's I'm probably

(45:20):
not gonna win Coach of the Year, but he should
be in the mix because what he's doing with the team,
he's rolling out. The difference of his team and the
Giants team injuries is not much. All the guys he's lost.
He's probably lost more. I don't think any team in
the league has lost more guys in than nine maybe
maybe the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
You know what's remarkable to me, and maybe it's I
was thinking about this today. So the Rams beat the
Saints thirty four to ten. Time of possession was forty
three minutes to seventeen. I mean it was. It almost
fell like a practice. Is that? Whereas Philadelphia and Green
Bay kind of struggle to figure out what they are
because the Dodgers are taking so much glare in Los

(46:00):
Angeles away from football and should the Rams are really good.
I mean, we forget they went in London and they
blow out Jacksonville like thirty five to seven. Rams. Right now,
John are really really good. Puka came back today, Korum

(46:21):
played okay. They have a two headed run game. Now,
they have four healthy tight ends. Jordan Winningham, that sixth
round draft pick. They have a sixth and a seventh
round wide receiver that can play a little bit. The
defense is excellent up front, I think quietly, I mean,
if you took and I really believe this, I think

(46:42):
the Rams are the most consistent, best coached right now,
healthiest team. I don't think the old line is great.
I think it's very good. I think they have a
great guard tandem. But I you know, and I had
this was a lower right hand corner game as I
was watching Kansas City and Buffalo. But Jesus, I mean

(47:05):
it was. I mean, we've seen a lot of upsets
this year and a lot of weird shit. That thing
today was a practice. It was just it was just
easy peasy, and I mean it's Stafford. At one point,
I don't know what he finished. He had four touchdowns,
no picks. Jesus, they were getting seven yards of carry.

(47:25):
The rams are really good.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
He was thirty four to thirty two for two hundred
eighty yards and four touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Thirty four.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
The other or no, twenty four to thirty two, oh
for two eighty so he had eight incompletions. I'd say
the scary thing these last couple games is DeVante has
five touchdowns. So when that you figure out that report
to go along with Puka. Now, Pook at any moment,
you know, take some vicious hits. He runs guys over.
You know, can this guy stay healthy? But those two

(47:56):
guys are on the field right now, they're as good
of a one to two combos, like in terms of
production and what they bring to the tables, like chasing Higgins.
They're on kind of unstoppable. And the one thing with DeVante,
he's very comfortable with the high end veteran quarterback in
his prime. With Aaron, it's kind of starting to feel
like that those guys cohesion, especially in the in the

(48:17):
red zone, has Matt Stafford kind of quietly because you know, today,
I don't think a lot of people are dialed into
the Saints game, right, but four touchdowns, five touchdowns he
hit the exacton. I think he threw three in that
loss against the Niners. He's got to be directly in
the mix.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
So I have said this before. This sounds crazy. So
he was better than Aaron Rodgers in high school, and
he was better than Aaron in college, and he was
better than Aaron for the first four years of his
NFL career. He's been better than Aaron for the last
four years of his NFL career. Aaron had a ten
eleven year stratch at Green Bay where Matt Stafford was.

(48:54):
You know, he was with a losing organization and Aaron
had the well run outfit. What if Matt Stafford wins
another super Bowl, now think about that. He's got a
better playoff record. He was better early, better late. If
Matt Stafford win, well, he's already a hall I think

(49:15):
he's a Hall of Famer now right, Matt Stafford's a
Hall of Fame right now.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
I put him. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
What if Matt Stafford wins a second Super Bowl? He's
always been considered one of the best arm talents of
our generation. That's indisputable. You could ask anybody the Brady's
ask Aaron asked far they all go, yes, Stafford's it.
Where do you put him all the time? Serious question?
Matt Stafford wins a second Super Bowl. I'm telling you

(49:41):
there's not a lot of guys I'd put above him.
I mean, he didn't have he didn't have quite the
gravitass of your Brady, Montana, Manning and Elway. But Marino's
got no super Bowls, He's got two. I don't know.
I Stafford is watching him this season? Shit, man, he is.
He is dialed in, He's comfortable.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
What do you do with him all time? If he
wins a second.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Well, to me, it's hard. I mean you could make
the argument, Aaron's a top five guy, you know, with Manning, Montana,
Brady Elway, pretty short list. To me, I don't think
most people would include Stafford in the top ten of quarterbacks. Now,
granted he played for the Lions and not the Dan
Campbell Lions.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Would you have put him if he has a second
Super Bowl? He's a better arm talent than Drew Brees.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Matt, Yeah, to me, there is not. If I could
get here, here's the argument. If you could get twenty
three year old Matt Stafford or and start listing out quarterbacks,
he would go ahead of a lot of guys because
he's showing that what if Matt Stafford had been drafted
by a hardball brother, an Andy Reid, a Sean Payton
right when he was twenty three, instead of going to

(50:51):
the Lions, who always drafted high right, and they're two
best players beside him quit at thirty years old. I mean,
it's a pretty the Lions that if you're a twelve
year old kid right now, you can't even comprehend this conversation.
But I do think that the time with the Lions,
he has had years where he's thrown a lot of
picks he can be a little reckless the way he's

(51:12):
playing right now, though, like his ceiling. The one thing
I will say about this, his ceiling is as high
as any player.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Ever, like he can go toe to toe when he's on.
I say this about Camp. Camp can have individual games
where he can outplay any guy in the league, and
that was Prian Brady, Prian Manning. Now Stafford's a better
player than Camp, but in that same vein of like,
if you get Stafford in the right day or the
right month, he can just be the best player in
the league now. And I do think this second kind

(51:40):
of iteration of his career with Sean is going to
be a really powerful moment for his career, and he'll
have like the Kurt Warner type the individual seasons. I
just think it's hard to shake that that lion stretch,
because while winning and losing isn't a quarterback statistic, most
good quarterbacks win a lot, not all his fault. But
I do think he probably developed some bad habits there

(52:02):
because he had.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Yeah, let's talk some World series. So that's about as
good a World series, especially Game six and seven, as
I've ever seen in my life. So I you know,
I thought it was really interesting. You know, Dave Roberts
pulled all these levers, uh, you know, like he just
pulled all these levers and to win a World Series

(52:25):
where you know, he puts in Rojas and then out
the defensive outfielder in the ninth and he goes with
Yoshi again. Everything worked. But I think, you know, as
I was, I was talking to a friend about this,
is that Otani, Roki and Yoshi, and right now Yoshi
is arguably the best pitcher and Otani is the best player.

(52:48):
Roki's been moved to the pen. But these Japanese stars
and Japanese baseball is like really high high Triple A.
It's not quite the Bigs, but it's there's great players,
and it's a The Dodgers have so separated financially from
everybody else on I mean on the West coast that

(53:08):
I mean, they always had money. But the gap now
between the Dodgers and the Giants and everybody else, the
Angels and the Mariners, is that these Japanese stars between
weather and proximity and how well run the organization is.
And the Dodgers are smart, so they said, listen, the
only downside the taxes just to fer the payment, so
you can get paid when you've retired and lived somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (53:33):
A friend of mine in New York was saying, God,
our teams are bad, But I said, New York, it
is cold, it's intense, a much harsher media, the city
tax LA has spread out. You can hide. I mean,
I never see I was in LA nine years. I'm
here right now. You never see pro athletes in LA.
You can just ht. You never see celebrities in LA,

(53:53):
and they're everywhere. There's writers, directors, star i mean, look
how many pro teams were in LA. You never see
athletes ever. It's just so spread out. There's so many
gated communities. Calabasa's Hidden Hills, Malibu. You know, everybody's got
these enclaves, Beverly Hills, bel Air, Windy Roads. You can
hide thousand oaks, and I think they I think the

(54:16):
Dodgers right now, Steve Cohen's got money with the Mets,
the Yankees have money. They just feel like with these
Japanese stars. And you know the other thing, John, those
guys don't listen to our media. It's like international NBA players.
They come here, they play, and then they go home,
they don't get caught up. They play so I mean,

(54:39):
Yoshi plays so loose in these big spots. He's so
unaffected by the intensity and the chaos of the World Series.
I don't know. I just look at the Dodgers and
I'm not sure there's another organization in North America that's
run like they are.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
One of my best friends played college baseball and one
of his teammates, you know, it was like a friend,
big leaguer, triple A guy, and signed a deal with
the Japanese team when Otani right before he came over,
when he was alleged over there, and they went over
and visited and went to the games, and they were
at the highest level, and they said that it felt
like an SEC football game. The intensity in the environment

(55:17):
in Japan, the way these Yamamoto and Otani grew up playing,
I mean, they make it right. When they're sixteen, seventeen,
eighteen years old started playing in that league, and they
just said the intensity of the crowd would be like
going to Alabama Auburn. How much these people know about
baseball and how much they care. So these guys, the
bright light's completely unfazed. When Otani was like one of

(55:38):
twenty five through the first whatever of the playoffs. It
wasn't because he was overwhelmed. He couldn't see the baseball right.
But the difference I would say of baseball, like the
Warriors can't win unless Steph is incredible during the playoffs. Right.
In the NFL, you could have a random guy make
a big play in a Super Bowl or an NFC championship,
but your stars, your star quarterback, your star pass rusher

(56:00):
have to come through or you were lose. In baseball,
that's not really how it works. Yeah, I mean I
was a Giants fan. Cody Ross in twenty ten hit
home runs off Roy Halliday that no one saw coming.
In Philadelphia, the Dodgers won the World Series last night.
You could argue because they rolled out four guys they're
paying a combined one point five billion dollars two or
because their ninth hitter in the in the ninth inning

(56:20):
hits a game tying home run where they were going
to lose the World Series, and then that same guy
almost falls throws home and then their backup center fielder
who had been benched. I'm watching with my wife, she
falls out of her chair. She's like, what just happened.
That had to be one of the crazier plays in
World Series because it looked like he was going to

(56:42):
basket catch it and this random center fielder tackles him
like he's ed red across the middle and saves the game.
But that's baseball, it's not. It wasn't no tany hitting.
The walk up was Will Smith, Will Smith, Rojas and
that big guy in center field.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Yeah, it's and that's what makes.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Bay pretty unique in the playoffs. It's not just your stars.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Yeah, and I think and again, even when if you
go back and look at the great Yankee teams with
Jeter and Bernie and Posada, you know it was Scott
Brocious from mcmnville, Oregon coming up big. So like nobody
had a problem when the Yankees were buying the best
players because people understood that Posada and Jeter that was

(57:24):
part of the Yankee farm system. Well go look at
the Dodgers. They haven't missed. I mean, they they draft.
I mean Max Munsey was released from Oakland. I think
they traded for Blake Snell. I mean, these guys are
available on the market. The Steinbrenners could have afforded to
buy Yoshi. They spent three hundred million. The Dodgers said

(57:45):
three thirty five. They don't win the series without him,
so they they identify who they want. They are aggressive.
I think were the Dodgers where I see their money
being an advantage because Mookie Betts did not outside of September,
just didn't hit this year, played a very good short stuff,
didn't hit. Freddie Freeman's more offensive the defensive player, and

(58:06):
Otani had real struggles at the plate throughout the playoffs.
Where the Dodgers have an advantage a the Asian Stars obviously,
but it's to get to get a glass Now or
a Snell who may not give you a ton of
starts during the regular season. Most teams cannot afford to
pay a guy if he's not giving you twenty five.
I mean, Yoshi's the only guy that he never misses

(58:29):
a start, like he's a true bona fide ace like
verlind Or in his prime. You're getting thirty starts. They
can go get a Snell and a glass now remarkably
talented guys and get ten twelve starts in the regular
season and just push him off to September. That's the
advantage they have. But you can also, lots of teams
could defer payments and they don't. The Dodgers do. So. Yes,

(58:50):
money is clearly an ex but I think to your point,
Yoshi was great, but there are a lot of guys slumping.
I mean, if you go back to this World Series,
the Blue Jay out hit the Dodgers, I mean the
Dodgers in Game six to one. I think they had
four hits. I mean they struggled the whole series to hit.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
I actually think baseball is much closer to football in
terms of the Dodgers was two years ago. I mean
almost got beat by the Padres in the play. It's
the baseball. I don't care how good your team is
in basketball. When I got the Kevin Durant Warriors, I'm
gonna need Achilles tears and acl teares to loose. Other
than that, I'm a lock to win. Shaq, Kobe Laker,
some of these teams, it's gonna be ninety percent chance.

(59:29):
I went the Dodgers roster can't get much better, and
it was really difficult for them to win. I was
just say they probably should have lost. You know, that's
that's baseball.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Though they won a World Series last year with really
average starting pitching, and they won a World Series this
year with a really average bullpen, which is virtually impossible
to do if you're leaking in the back end. I mean,
Yoshi basically is why they won the World Series. But
I will say, having spent nine years full time in
Los Angeles, they just don't make a lot of mistakes.

(01:00:00):
They don't. I mean, they let Zach Grinkey go. They
could have made a big bid for him, he went
to Arizona. They let Manny Machado go. They don't make
a lot of mistakes. And they've also let Cody Bellinger go.
They've let good players, you know, leave. So money's obviously apart,

(01:00:23):
but you know, I mean the truth is in the NBA,
during the David Stern years, money was apart, but the
New York Knicks weren't winning. Some people don't spend the
money as wisely. I mean, we know game day revenue,
the Giants and the Jets have much greater game day
revenue than green Bay. Green Bay spends their money more wisely.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
When I was working in radio, I got to go
to a lot of the A's were really good then,
kind of in Billy Bean's prime and the Giants were
winning a bunch of World Series. And I think sometimes
in baseball, especially probably over the last decade, it gets
overlooked because we spend so much time talking about these
kind of the quote unquote nerds running the sport. I
do think the best kind of nerds understand character and cohesion.

(01:01:04):
And one thing you watch with the Dodgers, like feels
like all these guys like each other and they had
a good I would say with the Blue Jays, it
jumped off the screen. It was like, this team looks
like a college team all playing together. The San Franco Giants,
you always had that Billy Bean always did a really
good job of finding the right mix of guys. Baseball
is about more and you watch the Yankees, it seems
like missing a little something that's the knock. Like at

(01:01:25):
the end of the day in baseball, you still got
to have some fast guys that can run. And you
watch the Dodgers. Definitely the Blue Jays, they got their
best players are athletes. The Yankees are a good example.
Their best players all look like, you know, move like
defensive tackles. It's like you doesn't need a little speech.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Well, the Yankees strike out too much. They don't play
small ball. The Dodgers have the ability to. I mean, listen,
Toronto hit the ball more consistently. The Dodgers had the
better starting pitching. I mean, if you go back to
the last year's World Series, the only time the Yankees
competed with the Dodgers is when Garrett Cole pitched. The
Yankees didn't look athletic enough, didn't run the bases. Well,

(01:02:00):
they're not a very good defensive team. The Yankee strikeout
too much, and they have tons of money, so you know,
I mean, I think that's.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
One of the most thrilling endings to a World Series.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
Oh, I think Game six and Game seven, the final
innings are the greatest, most drama field. You have to
go back to the seventy five I think it was
seventy five World Series. It was Reds against the Red Sox.
It's that Carlton fiskomer at Fenway where he's you know, yeah,
waving at it, and I remember watching that as a kid.

(01:02:31):
I mean, that's the first baseball memory I have is
like the seventy four, seventy five, seventy six Cincinnati Reds.
Because I was in Seattle, we didn't have the Mariners yet,
and that's when I fell in love with football over baseball.
But the mid seventies, the Big Red Machine, I fell
in love with it, and that had I mean, I
can go back to that series and throw names that
you guys you've never heard. But I thought the magnitude

(01:02:52):
it was just so I mean, you had Dave Roberts
had to pull so many damn levers, you know, going
with Rojas like old guy. I'm not even sure when
his last home run was, Dave Roberts said, after his
wife kept telling Rojas the whole series, you're going to
hit a home run in this series? You are. And
he's like, I'm not playing, I'm not kidding up. She's like,

(01:03:15):
you're gonna hit a home run tonight. So I just
thought it was it was just everything. The announcing, the imagery, Fox,
the Blue Jays, I mean Blue Jays over under. It
was like seventy eight and a half talk about a
team that just mashed and overachieved. Good for them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Before you get out of here, though, we do got
to mention, you know, last night was a pretty big
win for the Trojans. Where not gonna lie at halftime
fourteen to six, it felt pretty bleak. It went, is
Lincoln about to be the skinny Brian Kelly here because
he can't win a road game?

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Listen, so us he beats Nebraska. I thought it was
an uncreative, uninspiring effort. I mean, they completed nine passes.
Not Nebraska's corners are pretty good, so.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Environment to play.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
It was a walk on right guard and a walk
on running back, so they they were off a bye.
They're still beat up at running back. They found this
kid out of Calabasas High. This walk on is as
good a walk on. I mean, it's just amazing how
good this running back is. It's a is it Miller

(01:04:22):
King or King?

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
King, Miller King, Mill, Miller King, I'm sorry King Mill.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
You know you USC. When they're humming, they get random
guys like it was Clay Matthews a walk on, so
they they should get their walk on. Should be a
little better than some.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
But I think watching USC last night, this was my
big takeaway is that they're always offensively clever. Lincoln runs
the football may way more than people give him credit for.
He loves to run the football. He's pretty much Sean
McVay you think of smart guy high energy, up tempo.

(01:04:54):
Sean McVay loves to run the football. Lincoln Riley loves
to run the football, and he deserves a ton of credit.
Jade and Mayava. I watched him at UNLV, I never
even thought he was close to a pro player. Last
year at USC, he didn't start the year starting. I
thought he was sloppy and reckless. I didn't trust him.
He has been coached way up. He'll get drafted probably

(01:05:16):
second or third round, may maybe third round. He has
been coached up dramatically. But I come down to this
with USC, we're four years in. You can't just be
good at home. You can't just be good when everything
it's seventy two degrees. And I watched him in that
first half get pushed around. They couldn't throw the ball.

(01:05:39):
I don't know what they are beyond clever offensively, and
I just I feel like they're an uneven program.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
The recruiting class in twenty twenty six. Now it's high schoolers,
so a lot of guys won't make impacts. But I
think when I watch USC John, my takeaway is this
roster is a wreck result of poor Southern California recruiting
prior to next year's recruiting class. They just Lemon is

(01:06:09):
a very good player. The other kid that jumps out
is a Liah Page. They flipped him from Notre Dame.
But they just don't have a lot of great Southern
California LA kids on that roster. Held the walk on
running back, Pops Kamari Ramsey, the safety, well he's from UCLA.
They got him over. They just don't have a lot
of great LA kids. And that was the pride and

(01:06:31):
joy of Pete. They've done a much better job in
the last twelve months in that regard, but they feel
like they just don't have a ton of juice athletically.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
That's my take. Obviously, Ohio State's sacream of the crop,
and I always get forwarded these games, these big games
down in Southern California. It's like, well, this guy's going
to Ohio State. This guy's also going to Ohio State.
It's like, well, if you're ever gonna go from barely
be able to beat Nebraska with their backup quarterback who
felt a little overwhelmed, right, But once Dylan Ryola was
out and I gave a kid a lot of credit,

(01:07:03):
he looked like he wanted to come back, and he
broke his leg or foot. So it's like he was
clearly in a lot of pain. Tough kid, and it
isn't the backup quarterback for Nebraska's from southern California. So
I was like, hey, if this guy looks good, this
is this is gonna come on Lincoln. Now, luckily he
looked a little overwhelmed. I thought, whoever, that was a
massive game for whoever was going to win it, for
either one of those guys, you know, Matt ruhlead, Okay,

(01:07:25):
we keep you from going to Penn State. Here's thirty
forty more million. Let's win a big game. And hey, Lincoln,
we'll give you a little bit of a break not
being able to beat Oregon Ohio State, but can you
at least beat the Minnesota's in Nebraska's on the road.
And it felt like I didn't have much faith for you, Colin.
I thought, now, once he missed that field goal and
they drove right down and they scored that touchdown and
got that too, you could say, you know, Lincoln is

(01:07:46):
not like mister emotional Kirby smart. He got so fired
up night. I went, whoa, he knows this is this
is getting everyone off his ass a little bit. He
needs this game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
No. I kept thinking during the game, man, that flight
home is going to be dark. That is gonna be
a thought.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
It's a big win too for your conference realignment. That
game on TV's kind of poffs that that works. It's
a good TV product. It was.

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
No, it was really fun to watch. I mean I
had two screened it. I was, you know, the Dodger game.
Like I don't like like I do a lot of
Twitter stuff during the day. At night, I don't do
a lot. You know. I'll pour a cocktail, I watch
a game, I put the phone away. I want to
watch the game. But I thought there was a time

(01:08:35):
there Saturday, early Saturday night, about eight o'clock. I thought, boy,
this is going to be bleak. Jen Cohen is going
to have to sit down with him the ad because
they're gonna get They're gonna get beated Oregon. They may
win out beyond that, they'll be UCLA probably. But when
I watch USC my take is four years in, I
just don't see enough great elite LA kids.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
I don't. I think Big Ten's probably disappointed they're not
a little better because they're probably just going to get
Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon into the dance. And if
if USC had a little bar umph, you know they
would be a four four bid league.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
All right. Last week I took a big favorite, Kansas
City and covered for hard Rock bet on Monday Night football.
I'm gonna take the Cowboys at home to cover against Arizona.
Kyler Murray is healthy. They're not starting him. They're going
with Jacoby Brissett. Here's the thing about Dallas, and this
has been true for years. Dak is really really good

(01:09:32):
at home. His splits are dramatic, and I'll give credit
to Brian Schottenheimer. They have huged George Pickens excellently. Because
of Pickens and Ceedee Lamb, safeties can't cheat. The run
game is substantial. I think Arizona is a franchise that's
trying to find an identity. Cowboys have one, especially at home.

(01:09:54):
I'm going to take Dallas to win by about a
touchdown and cover that spread.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
I'm gonna take the other side colin. Jacoby Brissett almost
took down the Indianapolis Colts, so when he's played their offense,
I think Kyler got bench for a reason. Jacoby might
be better plus three against that defense. I don't mind
taking the Cowboys to win, but I think the Cardinals
cover

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
The volume.