Colin Cowherd Podcast - Bears Light It Up, Packers Cause For Concern, Epic Texas Comeback vs. Ohio State, Josh Allen Dominant

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out’ on The Volume.

They start with Caleb Williams and the Bears hanging 59 points on the Panthers and Colin believes Caleb will be a top 5 quarterback by the end of the season (2:30). They compare the performances of Josh Allen and CJ Stroud in the Bills win over the Texans and Colin is highly impressed with the Bills offense (10:30).

They move to the Ravens drubbing the Colts and Colin thinks Ravens coach Jesse Minter might be the new “hot coordinator” to star young coach in the league & they marvel at Derrick Henry’s longevity (16:30). Colin argues the Bengals are a candidate to double their win total from last season after beating the Bucs and improving their defense, and criticizes Baker Mayfield for causing too many turnovers (29:00).

They react to the Chargers being lit up by the Cardinals (35:00), the Lions narrowly escaping the Saints in OT (40:45), and the Eagles hanging on to beat the Commanders (50:00). Colin criticizes the Packers as being a bad fourth quarter team after their loss to the Vikings, and they see serious cause for concern for Green Bay (56:00). 

Finally, they move to college football and react to Texas completing a massive come from behind win to beat Ohio State, and break down the play of Arch Manning (1:10:00).

Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title
sponsor of the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. This
podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
All right, John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. His podcast is
three and out. Well, the top teams in the NFC,

(00:24):
the Rams... ugly loss. Sam Darnold hurt for the Seahawks.
The Eagles offense is anemic, shocker again, and the Lions
blew a 21-0 lead and held on to beat the
Saints at home despite Tyler Shuck having a first half
that was as bad as you could play in the NFL.
So the NFC, which felt like the heavy, the loaded conference,

(00:50):
has had a very wild week one. Here's what wasn't
disappointing about Bears 59, Carolina 37. So last year, Ben
Johnson comes in and says, we've got to clean up
the sacks. They did. This year, Ben Johnson comes in
and says, we got to get the accuracy up. Caleb

(01:11):
goes 21 to 29, 124 passer rating, 72% completion percentage
in a game that was tied at 24 all at half.
Chicago came out. I mean, first of all, When I
went to the Bears practice, Caleb's speed, because he'd lost
about 12 pounds, was noticeable. He had two runs today.

(01:33):
One of them looked like a wide receiver. Secondly, John,
let's start with this. I mean, when Ben came out
and said, we want to be the greatest offense ever,
it sounded a little like Mike Martz would say something
like that. But you're watching today, and you're like, Roma
Dunze now looks like a first-round pick. And, I mean,
Cole Komet had a touchdown yesterday. Listen, Carolina's not great,

(01:56):
but the spread was three. It was on the road.
I was blown away by the Bears' O-line, their efficiency.
What say you?

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I mean, 59 points in an NFL game, especially week one,
is absolutely incredible. I don't care if you're playing a
college team, Colin. I mean, that was... I mean, coming
into the season, I think we all had high hopes
for Caleb, right? An MVP contender. This was, I mean,
those touchdown runs, like you said, that pass he had
to commit, which was a great catch. But how about

(02:27):
the touch on that ball? Colin, last year it was
clear when they really got going. Ben Johnson is not
Andy Reid or Sean McVay. He's not trying to throw
it 50 times a game. He loves running the football game.
they had almost 300 yards rushing today, you know, and it's,
it's Caleb had two big runs, but he only ran

(02:48):
for 65 yards. They had 200 yard runners. They just
extend Swift. But none GI looks fantastic. He had the
long run. I called him this last year. I feel
even better about it this year. He is the Midwest
version of Kyle. He now he has, you know, Caleb
is such an explosive playmaker, but Ben Johnson wants to

(03:09):
run the bowl. Like they scored 59 points kind of
playing like a Cignetti style that he threw. He had
29 pass attempts. If I would have told you the
bears had a game this season where they scored 59 points,
he'd probably been like Caleb has 40, 45 attempts and,
you know, throws for 400 yards. 29 pass attempts, 59

(03:29):
yard or 59 points. That's, I couldn't get out now.
I'm not trying to diminish the performance, but I do
think we have to, the Bears defense, you know, just
be like, this is some powerhouse Super Bowl lock. I mean,
their defense got some issues, but man, that offense, maybe
Ben was on to something. Their offense might shatter some records.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, the Bears first two drives, they had 10
rushes and three passes. So your first two drives of
the game generally tell you what the offense and the
head coach and the coordinators think. They sort of lay
out what they want to do. It was going to
be a 70-30 run Sunday. Eight touchdowns in any NFL game.
And again, say what you want about Carolina. Playoff team,

(04:14):
Bryce Young was pretty good today. I mean, they have three. Coker, Leggett, T-Mac,
they have three giant receivers. they move the ball. I think,
you know, Jalen Johnson, I think it's like a top
10 corner Malik Muhammad. They draft out of Texas. So they,
and then they went and got the Oregon safety. They
know their issues. Like they know they're not very good

(04:35):
in the back end. And I do think Carolina presents
challenges that most teams don't. They're gigantic at wide receiver.
So I think, I think Carolina's offense, I mean, they
have the Rams problems last year. Like if you have
average corners, Carolina is a problem. Dave Canales is a
clever offensive coach, but I, I'm, I said this on

(04:56):
FS1 not long ago. I said by the end of
the year, Caleb will be a top four or five quarterback.
That's how we will view him. And, you know, I'm
watching Jared Goff today, and you just can't do. Kirk
Cousins with Las Vegas, who had a couple of picks.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I'm watching.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
I'm like, you're just kind of limited. Jared Goff, you're
kind of limited in what you can do. If you're not,
you know, Jameer Gibbs had a good day. But if
you're running games not going, you're kind of stuck. And
I'm watching Caleb and I'm like, and we saw Josh
Allen today. You're given another 30% of playbook, John. You
have so many options in Chicago. And the other thing is,

(05:35):
All these young offensive guys, Roma Dunce, Luther Burden, Colston Loveland,
a young guy, DeAndre Swift makes a pretty good living.
But there are a lot of these guys are on
rookie contracts. So you haven't had to pay them yet.
Most are in like year two. So I just look
at Chicago and I'm like, we're watching. This is an
ascending group. This isn't the ceiling.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, I mean, when you have all these games going
and you're kind of looking at all these different boxes,
you know, Lamar and Josh today look like they are just,
they're ready. I mean, those two guys. I mean, Josh is,
I never saw Elway in his prime beside the highlights
and the Netflix documentaries. I mean, was he that? what
Josh brings to the table as a runner is like, gee,

(06:18):
and Lamar, I was a little out on the Ravens,
but I might need to change my tune. But those
two guys, I mean, they're, I know they haven't gotten
to the Superbowl, but they're two of the greatest regular
season players we've ever seen. Caleb is, you know, his
talent is right there with those guys. And remember last year,
wasn't he running like 22 miles an hour? So speed
as a runner is incredible. And now the accuracy, the commit,

(06:41):
the touches. He had a great pass to Rome that
Rome kind of mossed the guy, went over him. 59 points.
That's almost statistically impossible in the NFL without a couple
defensive touchdowns. It's not like they're getting pick sixes or
fumble sixes. I mean, look at the Steelers. I mean,
almost half their points come from TJ Watts pick six.

(07:02):
The Bears, they do nothing. Now, Muhammad did have a pick,
but their defense, they're going to have some games where
they're going to need him to score a lot of
these points.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, yeah, and the thing about that division now, Kyler's hurt.
Green Bay, kind of a tough watch today. Detroit, I mean,
the Saints kind of, I thought the Saints both lines
of scrimmage were really good.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Saints might be good. I mean, they started slow, but they,
I mean, you and I both like them this year.
I think they're going to be pretty good.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Let's remember, the Bears led the NFL in big plays
last year. So, like, this is just an extension. It's
year two of Ben Johnson. Yeah, I just Bears clobber Carolina,
and I don't think it's a, well, Carolina's no good.
Carolina's fine. Carolina's, you know, again, Carolina played some good
teams close last year. Okay, the game of the day,

(07:58):
Bills 36, Texans 31. I'll give you an example. This
is the difference. I was telling my guys, because we're
here at the volume offices, and I said, C.J. Stroud's
a solid quarterback, but the last drive for both, the
last drive of the game, Josh Allen was four of five,
82 yards, never sacked, and a perfect passer rating of 158.3. C.J.

(08:21):
Stroud's last drive against the lesser of the two defenses,
and he was at home, four of seven, 46 yards,
sacked twice, and an 83 passer rating. Those last drives,
watching those two quarterbacks, the gap in talent between a
very solid playoff quarterback, C.J. Stroud, And Josh Allen, it

(08:45):
is the Grand Canyon. I mean, I'm watching, I think
Josh Allen, I did watch Elway. I would say Josh
Allen is the most talented player in the NFL right now.
The gap's pretty large. And then I would, I think,
and I was watching him today and we were kind
of talking about it. I, I, Just raw talent. Run, throw, accuracy,

(09:08):
playmaking is Josh Allen the greatest talent in the history
of the league. Talent at any position is close. He
was a man amongst boys. And that's, for my money,
at least coming into the season, the best defense in
the league.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
They have it all. Speed, coverage. And it's not like
he's throwing to Andre Reid out there. It's a lot
of Palmer's game-winning touchdowns. I mean, Kincaid's a good player. But, man,
he was– I like Houston coming into this game. I
saw a stat on your show last week. They're 1-4
the last five games. Remember last year in the game

(09:45):
he was sacked like eight times and it felt like 30.
And today he was just on a different level. Now,
on that final drive, you said 4-5. He did have
a far kind of just throw it up there and
got lucky, Lassiter dropped the ball. I mean, that was Josh,
what are you doing? But the very next play hits
Palmer right over the middle game winning touchdown. And that's

(10:05):
kind of the Paul he missed going kind of the
other direction last year against Denver, right? For basically a
game winning touchdown in the playoff game.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Think about this. So Joe Brady takes over. We don't
know if he's a good head coach. It's about a
50-50 hit rate on coordinators. But in Houston, against the
best defense, Daniil Hunter didn't do much, but against the
best defense in the league, in the first half, the
Bills averaged 10 yards a play. That's insane. Nobody moved
the ball like that last year. So DJ Moore had

(10:39):
a touchdown. Boy, him and Jonathan Kincaid obviously work. Palmer
was like a number four receiver. I think he's their
fourth receiver. You know, Brandon Bean gets a lot of heat.
And he is thin-skinned. I mean, he can be thin-skinned.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
He likes to meet you. He listens.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, I mean, listen, it's Buffalo. It's the only game
in town of note. So, you know, the GM of
the Bills is going to get hammered, and he probably
gets tired of it. And the fans are frustrated because
they have the best player in the world, and they
can't win a Super Bowl. I totally get it. But
I'm going to defend him. I think their offensive talent's
pretty good. I mean, I'm watching today. If Josh Palmer's
your four, DJ Moore I thought was a good pickup,

(11:19):
James Cook. They have really, really good tight ends. I
thought their O-line handled themselves okay today. Like, I think–
I picked Buffalo to win the Super Bowl. I picked
Buffalo to get to the Super Bowl. I also thought
Detroit could get there, Seattle, Rams. So, you know. But
my take today watching the Bills is– I also thought

(11:40):
they may be looking ahead to their stadium debut next week, John.
I thought, oh, I could see them looking ahead. I
was blown away.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
I really was.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I sat there and I'm like, they just, they kept,
Houston kept throwing big punches and they kept answering. I
don't know. Listen, I'm kind of rooting for them because
I think the city deserves it. But I think that's, again,
it's the first week. I was talking to a GM today.

(12:11):
Fundamentals are lousy in the first week. You're kind of guessing.
Nobody plays. The Texans' defense will be better. But there
will not be another quarterback that plays like this all
year against Houston. I would bet a significant amount of
money nobody will look this good against Houston's defense the
rest of the year.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
See, I came away on the Houston side of, like,
their offense, I thought, was so putrid most of last year. Now,
I don't know how great the Bills' defense is going
to be, but if C.J. Stroud plays like he did
in this game against most teams that don't have Josh Allen,
they will just be fine. And there was an early
moment on the Buffalo side. He went for it on

(12:52):
fourth down. Joe Brady did. Kind of felt like the
antithesis of Sean McDermott and the kind of the organizational
credo in the organization was more conservative. It's like, guys,
you have Josh Allen. Now they didn't even get it,
but I went, okay, there's kind of a new sheriff
in town. There's a new mindset in town. There's a

(13:13):
new philosophical belief of around the NFL that we're not
just going to play conservative with this guy. And it
was the first series of the game kind of set
the tone for the season. And I think you can
kind of pick up on little things like that in
the first game, just around if there's a new coach,
if there's a new scheme, there was a nugget on
the bears broadcast that Ben Johnson told Caleb, like you're

(13:35):
a little more free to run this year. You don't,
you don't just add lib when you need to do it.
You've proven yourself and it showed right. And I think
Joe Brady is like, Josh, this is, this is, this
is your ship. You're our LeBron. You're our Curry. You know,
it's like Steve Kerr can be a little rigid, but
guess who he's not rigid on Steph, Steph, you do you.
And I think that's part of Josh is, And this

(13:57):
is like the Lamar thing. You kind of just got
to let them be them. There was a play today
with Lamar, like duck two guys. Like you got to
let these, this league now is, this is not 1988
football where these guys can get killed. It is very
rare that these defenders all kind of hesitate. It is
a huge advantage for these dual threat guys. And Josh's

(14:21):
arm talent is just, I mean, the package he's bringing,
there is a lot of pressure on this team. And
I've followed Jim Leonard's career since he was a player.
I think they will get better as time goes on.
And this Bills team, I mean, mentally, think how many guys–
they've been through the ringer columns like they've seen a

(14:42):
lot they're not going to be scared and i like
you said the home opener i think they had something
to prove specifically against this team like hughes is going
to be in the playoffs i i think we all
feel pretty good they'll probably might see him again round
one round two we ain't going in there getting you
know losing 14 to 10 here we're gonna freaking let

(15:02):
it fly and they were letting it fly All right.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Let's talk about probably the most impressive team today. The
Ravens beat the Colts 41-23. Colts have a good roster.
I mean, Derrick Henry. Okay, you probably don't remember this.
Nolan Ryan, baseball pitcher, was an all-star at 42. He
threw six complete games at 42 and 240 innings. That

(15:27):
is Derrick Henry. I see no regression. I don't know
how he does it. In the position in the NFL
that everybody ages... overnight. Like everybody ages overnight. Derrick Henry
is still a monster. 32 touchdowns last two years. Today,
I mean, it was a 32-yard touchdown run, a bully.

(15:49):
Jesse Minter, to your point. So when they got, I
said all offseason, the Ravens, I picked them to win
their division. I think Cincinnati will double their win total.
I said, I just respect the organization. I don't know
if Jesse will be great But my take is generally
the hot coordinator that gets the head job, Kyle, Ben Johnson,
Jesse Mentor, they usually work. The other group that works

(16:11):
is the proven head coach, Sean Payton, Mike Frable. Mike
McDonald was a very hot coordinator when he took the
Seahawk job. So generally the guys we know, Jim Harbaugh,
John Harbaugh, they work. Mike McCarthy, he'll win games in Pittsburgh.
And then the hot coordinator generally hits. So my guess
is it's a well-run, Steve Busciotti, good front office, Lamar Jackson.

(16:32):
I pick on win to the division, but I'm like
11 and a half win total. Jesus, that's in the AFC.
I watched them today. I mean, they have eight yards
of play, 500 yards. Now, I didn't, I said, I've
seen Lamar. In fact, I looked this up. Do you
know what Lamar Jackson's weak when he's healthiest? You know

(16:55):
what his weak one is? in his career. Lamar, 16 touchdowns,
two picks and 120 pass already. So Lamar's like the 49ers.
In September, when he's healthy, you can't touch him. And then,
you know, he gets dinged. Zay Flowers was a monster.
He's hurt. We'll see where that goes. But my takeaway

(17:16):
was this was the one good team in the league
that I'm like, pump the brakes. I don't know. At
one point, I'm sitting there watching the Colts defense. I'm like, guys,
They're giving it to Derrick Henry. Couldn't stop them. And
they lost Tyler Linderbaum. Remember, they lost their Pro Bowl center.
I mean, it's week one. Lamar has always been a

(17:38):
great week one quarterback, but it was really impressive.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
If you told me I had to do an AP
top 25 for the NFL, I don't see how you
wouldn't put the Ravens one. I agree. The score doesn't
even justify what we witnessed. Kind of like the Niners, 27-7.
It was way worse than that. This thing, though, was
a bludgeoning. Someone asked me the other day, how did

(18:04):
George Kittle return so fast from the Achilles? And I said...
There are older veterans in the NFL. I don't think
you understand how seriously they take this and how seriously
Derrick Henry must take training, diet, rehab, rest and recovery.
This is their full-time job. And that guy looks no

(18:27):
different than he did in the peak of his powers
with Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, whatever, six, seven years ago. Colin,
his speed, his explosion, his power. It's one thing he's
so big up the middle. He's beating guys to the
corner on outside. These are DBs. And I went, obviously,
like you said, Lamar's fresh. He looked fantastic. Declan Doyle,
Ben Johnson, maybe his. I'm always hesitant with these coordinators

(18:49):
that have never called plays. You just never know.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Good start for Declan. Ben Johnson's little spider webs might grow.
But you're right. The organization, I mean, DaCosta's on the
sideline of the game.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
I think they just wanted to see. They get rid
of Harbaugh. I think it's a big moment for the
Steelers and the Ravens. You get rid of these two
guys combined, almost been there 40 years. McCarthy, you kind
of know what you're going to get. Over time, today
was ugly. But like, you know, mentor, there's some pressure.
I'm with you. I kind of thought the Colts would
be feisty. That was that felt like USC Fresno State.

(19:26):
I mean, it wasn't it wasn't even close. It is
the other thing to go on the road in that dome,
the place I'm sure is loud to start. And they
just took the air out of it immediately. You blinked
and they're up 14 to six or whatever. Daniel Jones
coming back off the Achilles. I mean, we've got to
we'll have to see on that one. But, yeah, I
think the Ravens today physically the 190. last year was

(19:51):
like Harbaugh and Munkin, they would get away from Henry,
just keep giving him the ball. He's built like a secretariat.
And today, just feed him the ball, feed him the ball,
feed him the ball. And then every once in a while,
Lamar was just very poised, made a couple miraculous plays.
There's a Flowers touchdown. He looked like Jerry Rice in
his prime going over the middle and running. Listen, I

(20:11):
crushed that contract. You're going to make plays like that.
You're going to shut up a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, he didn't get hurt last year. He's a smaller
wide receiver. That's also the Ravens are an organization that
drafts well, but they've kind of missed.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Everybody does.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
For the record, everybody misses on wide receivers. Brett Veach
in Kansas City, great GM, missed on wide receivers. It's
a hard position, especially when you're a good team and
you're drafting end of the first round and you're like,
all right, Xavier Worthy, he's a gadget guy, but we'll
take a gadget guy. I mean, what do you expect
to get at the end of the first round? Two
of the last four drafts have been weak. So you're

(20:44):
out of stars by about the 13th pick.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
I mean, I, I just.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
If Lamar is going to pass for over 300 yards
and Derek Henry is going to rush for 130, 140 yards,
they will win every single game they play. They will
be unbeatable. And the other thing, Lamar, like watching Jalen hurts,
you know, Lamar still is like any time. And Caleb's
young and in his prime and same with Josh, any moment,
they'll just be like, I'll run. I'll take over. That's

(21:11):
the one thing, like, when I watch Jalen, like, run, bro.
Sometimes you gotta run. I would say Josh and Lamar,
I don't think they necessarily, if you asked them, would
they rather throw a touchdown for sure, but it's like,
sometimes I just gotta do it, and they both just like, okay,
and they do it. Josh is more power, Lamar's more
outside finesse speed, but both of them can just take
over with their legs.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Do you know what I noticed today? The three offenses
that have impressed you today. Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, Chicago
with Caleb, Buffalo with Josh, why is that? Because offensive
line play sucks for the first month of the season
because nobody plays in the preseason. It is the hardest
unit to create cohesion. So the three offenses we loved

(21:55):
have the three most talented athletic quarterbacks in the league.
The Bears, the Bills, and the Ravens look great. I mean,
Philadelphia's O-line today. The Eagles' O-line got pushed around by Washington.
Because they're a very offensive line-reliant franchise. And so if
you look at the teams that kind of like the
Rams offensive line, that's an important thing with an old quarterback.

(22:18):
So think about the offenses that didn't look great in
week one. Stafford Rams, Lions golf, right? Like guys that
don't move particularly well. So the truth is, Allen, Caleb,
and Lamar, as O-lines are trying to kind of get,
I mean, just September's a bad O-line month in college
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(25:19):
and clearing organization. So speaking of that, the Bengals beat
the Buccaneers 33-27. Baker Mayfield did take off a lot,
much to the chagrin of his staff. There's a delta between,
and Baker's not a bad athlete, obviously, but there is

(25:40):
a delta between what Baker thinks he is and what
he is. I think he runs too much. The Bengals' defense,
and I mean literally forced four turnovers, big hits, and
Dexter Lawrence got a sack. The first thing that jumped
out to me is the Bengals ran the ball, Burrow
had a defense that forced turnovers, and Burrow had a

(26:03):
run game. And it's like, okay, Cincinnati, I thought it
was a pretty easy prediction. Cincinnati's going to be a
double-your-win total team, potentially. I have them in the playoffs.
And I thought, you know, Baker kind of, you know,
he just signed that contract, and Mike Evans is gone,
so Baker's going to have to add a little. They
were really dependent on Bucky Irving today. It's like, Bucky Irving,

(26:25):
my take was Baker was trying to sort of augment
the offense kind of making stuff up and it costs
the team.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Well he had three fumbles and he lost all three
of them you know and i think the problem is
he also had a rushing touchdown so he's like and
he like you said he's he's weird he's not the
level of the top guys athletically but he does make
plays with his feet the problem today is i thought
cincinnati's defensive line jumped off the screen the physicality that

(26:55):
they had not have because i would say one thing
One thing about the Bengals today, we talked about Lamar
and Josh and Caleb. Joe did not. I mean, he
wasn't bad, but he threw ahead a pick six.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
You know, their offense just looked a little out of
sync for having Jamar Chase and T.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Higgins.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
I mean, T. Higgins had three catches and Chase had two.
Chase had two catches for 12 yards.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Well, Burrell threw his tight ends a lot today. A lot.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Gusecki, a ton. Yep.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Dump it down to the running backs a ton. So
this was, if you're a Bengal fan, if you assume
Joe's going to be back to being an elite guy,
I think you feel pretty good about this. You know,
because they have not been a balanced operation. They have been, well,
if Joe doesn't throw three or four touchdowns, we lose.
And especially if I would have said, hey, if I
would have told you coming into the game that the
Bucs are going to score 27 points and Burrow's going

(27:45):
to have like a C plus B minus game for
Burrow standards. You'd be like, oh, we'll see. But honestly,
the Bengals were in complete control the whole game. because
their defense was making plays on the ball. They forced
these fumbles. I mean, they forced four fumbles and got
them all. So you would say that that won't be
every game, but you would say there are going to
be games when Burrow should be throwing three, four, five touchdowns, right?

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Yeah, I mean, it's easier to buy a defense. Like,
you could go buy Dexter Lawrence, right? And you're like, okay,
he's going to be an enforcer. It's hard to buy
an offense because if you do buy a quarterback, then
it limits the rest of your roster because it's going
to be really expensive. And you also, you can have
a great quarterback, but if you don't have the right
offensive whiz, like a Ben Johnson or a Shanahan, it

(28:32):
mutes the signing. It's hard to buy an offense. But
you can go out and buy Dexter Lawrence. You can
go Boye Moffay. You can go draft a second round
Cassius Howe. And you look up and you're like, oh,
those guys. And also defense, as you know, John, is
not as choreographed. Offense is hard. It's efficiency. It's timing.
A lot of defense is blowing shit up, like just

(28:53):
being big, strong, and pushing back. And I thought Cincinnati,
I don't know if there's any question, if you watch
the game on TV, Cincinnati looked bigger, faster, stronger, and
more violent. They were just pushing the Buccaneers around.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I did think this was a must-win for the Bengals,
given the way Burrow's been talking. the urgency of the
franchise after trading for Dexter Lawrence, how slow they've started
over the years.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
This game's at home. You're playing Tampa, not, you know,
some sugar. Not, I mean, I think Tampa would be
okay and be fine, but this was a game that
they had to win. And at halftime, they were up
24 to 10 and in complete control. And honestly, the
game wouldn't have been as close if bro doesn't throw
the pick six. I mean, they were in complete control

(29:38):
and he handed them seven points. So it, it felt
a little bit closer. I'm with you, too, like watching
their offense. And then you go back to Thursday watching
Mike Evans. We all know how good he is. We've
seen him for health since Johnny Manziel lighting up Nick
Saban 15 years ago. But I think sometimes when a
guy leaves and you see him somewhere else, you're like, God,

(29:58):
he's even better than I thought. And Ibuka's not the
biggest guy, right? You know, Godwin had a solid game,
but that's a big loss for a guy that they
have been very dependent on as a franchise with Brady
and Baker to have a lot of success. And I
do think there's going to be a little bit of a...

(30:19):
I think we got to temper some expectations because I
do think... I don't know where you fell on this,
but when they gave Baker the extension, I actually gave
him a lot of credit personally because he said at
the beginning of camp, I'm not going to talk about this.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
I'm on.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
For Jason Light to feel comfortable to do that 45
days later, he's watching this guy just be focused, work hard. Clearly,
Baker's come a long way maturity-wise, and Jason's very comfortable
with it. But as a player... he's still a little reckless.
You know, he still kind of plays like he's playing
Texas tech on a Saturday night playing for Oklahoma. Just,

(30:56):
I could do whatever I want. And, uh, you might
be able to get away with it in the NFC.
I'm pretty sure the NFC South right now, Colin, is
0-4 because the Bucs lost, Saints lost, the Panthers lost.
They all lost. So you're not, as long as you
win a couple games a month in the South, I
think you'll just hold serve. But the Mike Evans thing

(31:16):
as the season goes on, I mean, Godwin's been banged
up a lot in his career, is definitely something to
keep an eye on. And if you're a Bengal fan,
you're like, Well, Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins are going
to have games where they combine for four touchdowns and
300 yards because they've done it before. And they were basically,
I mean, non-factors today. I mean, Jamar Chase was definitely
a non-factor, which is pretty rare.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Okay, our upset of the day. The Cardinals, Arizona goes
to L.A., thumps the Chargers 26-14. Jesse Minter....

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Clearly missed.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Arizona had 400 yards of offense, passed for almost 300
yards with Jacoby Brissett. Excellent on third down. Dominated time
of possession, almost 38 minutes. And the Chargers had fewer
total yards than the Browns, Jets, and Tyler Shuck. A
shocking game. The Chargers' special teams were bad. They had

(32:09):
a punt blocked. I mean, this is, again, when Ben Johnson...
left the Lions, the Lions offense, despite all the talent,
wasn't the same. So suddenly Jesse Minter leaves the Chargers
defense and Arizona lights it up for almost 400 yards,

(32:33):
23 first downs, didn't lose a fumble, didn't throw an interception.
It could have been worse. They were only two for
five in the red zone. Um, I, I think you
got to look at this, the time of possession. If
you watch that game jumped off the charts, the chargers
could not, they just, they were really off. And we

(32:58):
talked a lot about Mike McDaniel, but the coordinator, we
didn't talk about much with the chargers was the, uh,
exit of Jesse mentor and the chargers were the most disappointing.
By the way, both LA teams stunk, uh, in week one,
what did you make of the chargers loss?

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well, I think we talked about this with the Ravens,
and I would include the Bengals. The score does not
reflect what I witnessed. The Cardinals kicked their ass. That
was not a close game. I was texting with Daniel Jeremiah,
who's their radio guy. I don't love O'Marion Hampton. I
don't think there's that much there. I know they think
he's a big physical guy. I mean, he had 12

(33:36):
carries for 40 yards. I see nothing special for a
first-round back. Jeremiah Love popped right off the screen making
a couple plays. And I just think you kind of
know it with a running back when you see he's
been in the league now. It's not like this is
the first game of his career. And then the rest
of their offensive weapons, the Cardinals have better offensive weapons.
I mean, Trey McBride's one of the best tight ends

(33:57):
in the league. Jacoby Bursette, they lost a lot of
games down the stretch, but remember, they benched Kyler Murray
for him.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Right?

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Dude, he was 27- of.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
37 today for almost he's a good player yes he's
a good player Trey McBride's a good player Mike Wilson
just got an extension he's.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
A good player Harrison Kendrick Bourne Kendrick Bourne out of
nowhere and eight catches for 75 yards but the thing
that's pretty eye-opening is like you're pretty dependent on Ladd
McConkie who gets KO'd out of this game when he
gets blasted in the side David Najoku. I mean, so
you're running back who drafted in the first round to
me is just kind of meh. And you're, you know,

(34:36):
your best wide receiver by far is a slot guy.
So it's not exactly just Jefferson or Jamar Chase can
take over a game. I just look at their offensive weapons. Uh,
what's his name? Justin Herbert had an awful interception today,
just throwing the ball down the middle of the field.
So you have an awful interception. You have a punt

(34:57):
block basically on what the five yard line. So you just,
I mean, that was really, they got, they got honestly
got lucky. Their guy fell on it, or that typically
is like a scoop at score right there by.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
The goal line.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
26-14, that game felt to me, Colin, more like 35-7.
They strangled him out from the jump. Jacoby Bursette has
been just an above-average quarterback now for the 10-plus games
he started last year. Today, he was just solid.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Yeah, he feels like if you took the interceptions out
of Geno Smith, you'd have a big, strong guy who
can move a little bit, who's got a bunch of
NFL starts. Gino just throws too many damn picks, but
Jacoby Brissett, you don't get, he's got better decision-making skills.
Like he makes better decisions. And I like to your point,
Arizona's got an offensive coach now and they've got, they

(35:46):
got players.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
So, yeah, I mean, the other thing was Brissette to
knock on his athleticism. I saw today a couple of
times he kept plays alive. Like he's not I wouldn't
say he's gone for Stafford. He's not he's not Lamar
Jackson or anything, but he he's probably slightly above you
right around average. He can at least keep a play alive.
And he did a couple of times today.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
OK, so I picked the Lions to win their division
and the Saints to win theirs. But I did think
the Lions at home, Tyler Shuck on the road. Detroit's
a very good home team. A lot of underdogs covered today.
The Lions in overtime beat the Saints 31-30. But I
thought the story of the day was Tyler Shuck, who

(36:27):
was awful in the first half, but he has a
number one receiver with Chris Olave. I thought he had
a great overtime drive. He can do a little sidearm.
I was good with New Orleans going for two for
the win in overtime. My take was the Lions defense
was gassed. And I'll be honest with you, Peyton Manning
said this one time, not all analytics are the same.

(36:49):
Like if your team is playing confidently, you're moving the ball,
you're on the road, you can, you don't want to,
you don't, listen, you're on the road, get out of
there with a win. I'm always like pro road team
that's an underdog going for the win. If you're home,
you're a favorite, like the Seahawks against New England, you're like,
we got a better roster, we're at home, let's go
to overtime, we'll win. I had no problem. The game's

(37:12):
in overtime. Saints are like, we're going to go for two.
And I also think it sends a message in week one,
which is, guys, it's not a divisional game. We're going
to be aggressive. I mean, that's what Dan Campbell did
when he took the Lions over. I was impressed with
the Saints. I thought their line play, I mean, Jameer Gibbs, listen,
the Lions had a 10-play overtime drive. So, I mean,

(37:33):
by that point, the Saints were a little gassed. But
my take in this game was, The Saints are going
to win their division. I really believe Tyler Shuck. I
think they found their guy.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
This game reminded me a lot of Ohio State, Texas.
It's 21-0. Shuck looked unplayable. I was like, I don't
know my Saints pick here. And then the second half
in overtime, he was... He had a lot of signs
of the guy that we saw last year that people
didn't know quite what to do with. But I'm with you.
I thought the Saints showed a lot of moxie, a

(38:06):
lot of heart. I mean, Chuck was slinging that thing around.
Alave's a really good player. They're tight end, Juwan Johnson,
I think is one of the more underrated players in
the NFL. He is number 83 on the Saints, is
a stud. I love that guy. And, you know, Kamara
didn't play today. He's banged up. If he comes back,
you go with ETN, like, They got some firepower on offense.

(38:29):
The concerning part to me about the Lions is twofold.
Gibbs might lead the league in touches this year. I mean,
they felt like they were giving the ball to him
every time. Their secondary stinks. I mean, they are defensively,
it is just guys wide open, rotating guys you've never
heard of. If Aiden Hutchinson isn't getting close to the quarterback,

(38:50):
you have no confidence that they can cover a soul.
And in that division with some of the wide receivers
they have to play against the Bears offense, that to
me is a major, major concern. And this goes back
to the Stafford thing. You just don't watch football, high-level
football on Saturday or Sunday, beside Goff and Stafford, where
guys can't move at all. I didn't know anything about

(39:12):
this Oklahoma State quarterback. But as the game went on,
I'm like, this guy can kind of move. I need
my guy to have some– Jacoby Brissett can get out
of something. When you can't move at all, it's hard
to playmake, right? Because not everything is going to be like, oh, St.
Brown's wide open. In fairness to Goff– Jamison Williams had
a couple of bad drops. They were definitely a little

(39:33):
off offensively. And Gibbs is I mean, Gibbs is a star.
I mean, they were treating that guy like, you know,
prime insert Hall of Famer. He had twenty nine carries
for one hundred fifty six yards. I would have guessed
before I looked at the box score, he had 40 touches,
40 carries. I mean, they feed him. So can he last?
He's never been the lead dog. He's always had, you know,
David Montgomery right there with him. But Jamison Williams, they

(39:56):
paid him. He has, I mean, he dropped multiple balls.
He's not the most reliable guy. You always feel good
about St.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Brown.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Like, I feel good about Goff. But in some of
these situations against some of these teams, when you can't move,
if the offensive play call is not perfect– I mean,
Kyle Shanahan, best offensive coordinator in the league, right? Sometimes
it doesn't work. Pretty bails them out. Ben Johnson. It
looks like Kyle Shanahan, 2.0. Caleb, like do some crazy moves,

(40:24):
bail them out. Goff just physically is incapable of that.
And you just have drives where that can show. And
then he'll, you know, when they're, when they're blocking for him,
he is as good as it gets just sitting in
the pocket and delivering a ball accurately and But their defense,
which I would say has kind of been the defining
downfall of this franchise over the course of the last

(40:45):
four or five years. They drafted Terryon Arnold. They have
to cut him. Brian Branch, you know, tears Achilles last year.
They just need Aiden Hutchinson to basically be Reggie White
for them to have a shot.

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(42:33):
the app today. All right. Underdogs did very well. I
took some big favorites. Now my Jags beat the Browns
34 to 10, but other than that led 31, nothing.
The Eagles, holding on for dear life, beat the Commanders 24-22.

(42:54):
The Eagles' offense had three touchdowns, but four three-and-outs. Nick
Cerione has never lost an opener. He's 6-0. They lost
time of possession. At one point, their first eight possessions,
they six ended in punts. Three were three-and-outs. So, now,
without A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts didn't mix it up more.

(43:14):
First couple of drives, he threw to five different receivers.
I like that. D'Antonio... Don Wicks, the wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Don Terry Wicks. Don Terry Wicks.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Don Terry Wicks. I thought Wicks had a presence. Like, okay,
he's going to matter. Makai Lemon, the rookie, had a
bad camp. We'll see where that goes. I will say
this for Washington. They ran off Cliff Kingsbury. Hasn't been
as good since. Their line, again, the Eagles' old line,
best or second best in the league, did not perform well.

(43:45):
But I got to tell you, you know, we keep,
We keep giving Jalen Hurts, let's get rid of this coordinator.
Let's get rid of A.J. Brown. Let's upgrade at running back.
Let's draft another wide receiver. It's not that they only
scored 24 points. It's all the three and outs. John,
you can't go three and out four times against the

(44:07):
commander's defense. It's just not that kind of defense. And,
you know, Sirianni's not known as a great game play
designer or play caller. So they're very coordinator dependent, but
it's a little bit like last year. It's when they're offensively,
they'll go back to back to back drives. They won't

(44:28):
have a first down. Like the talent's too good. And
the quarterback, frankly, is too athletic for that to be
the case. I don't know where you go with Philadelphia.
I mean, they've moved off from Super Bowl winning coaches.
They moved off from a Super Bowl winning quarterback in
Nick Foles. I think with Hurts, I think everybody's, like,
honest now about Hurts. Like, there are things we like

(44:50):
about Jalen. Last two years in the NFL, I don't
think any team, except maybe the Jets, has this many
three and outs. It's just inexplicable.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Well, the crazy part is early in that game, he
makes a couple beautiful passes. Which is the longest pass
catch of his career. Hits Goddard in the back of
the end zone. And you're like, God, when the ball
comes out of his hand on a deeper route, it
does look beautiful. And then they'll be up like 14-3
and they'll have a stretch. Punt, five plays. Punt, three plays. Punt,

(45:22):
three plays. Punt, three plays. Field goal, seven plays. It's
just like, what? And I think this gets back to
when they can't run the ball. Saquon had a 40-yard run, which,
you know, you're like, okay, Saquon last year was not
very explosive. You remove that one run, he had 14
carries for 40 yards. And they were talking about in

(45:44):
the broadcast, he's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage.
Every time he does, he averages less than a yard
of carry. Their offensive line a couple years ago when
he ran for what felt like 5,000 yards, we're just opening,
we're splitting things like the Red Sea. And now you're
watching Saquon. It's much more difficult for him to find some,
you know, running lanes, some space, some daylight. And to me,

(46:08):
Jalen hurts, especially with this offense with Sean Mannion coming
more of a Kyle, like they want to run the
outside zone, run the ball and then bootleg Jalen. But
if you're not a running or, you know, you're there,
don't have to honor the run or you're not being successful.
It doesn't really work. So 15 for 83 doesn't look bad,
but he had one run that was 40 yards. Like

(46:30):
That's the Derrick. You watch Derrick Henry today. You're just
or the Bears. You have to put so many people
down there. It opens up the passing game and then
you get lit up like a Christmas tree. And this
was the issue last year. I know it's easy. Like
this coordinator was the dumbest guy in the history of America.
But I think sometimes your offensive line, you know, Lane
Johnson's really old now. Their interior offensive line is just

(46:52):
not as good. Kelsey retires. It's kind of a drop off.
over just attrition, maybe guys age a little bit. It's football.
Most guys hit a point where their trajectory either plateaus
or starts going the other way, but you've paid guys,
you can't cut them for dead caps, so they're just
kind of your starters. In a perfect world, you'd probably
replace them or think about maneuvering off of them, but

(47:14):
you're kind of stuck. They're just not as dominant up
front as they once were. I love Sonny Stiles coming
out in the draft. He made a couple plays today. Oh,
my God. He hit Saquon on a pass pro where
Saquon flew back. And Saquon is a guy that what?
a thousand pounds. It's not like he's, you know, physically
just some tiny little running back. He had a couple

(47:36):
other tackles. You want to, if you're a commander fan,
that was a bright spot. Their roster. I think if
you're an Eagle fan, you go, I don't think Washington,
I'm looking at their roster. Like what, what's going on here?
We should be way better than them. The Eagles defense
is good. I mean, they're secondary with Dejean Mitchell, Fangio's,
The bond, their defensive line is just stout. Their defense

(48:00):
is going to be fine. It's going to come down
to when these bigger games against the better teams, that
stretch of punts and three and outs and five play drives.
It did feel a little repetitive from last year. It's
like new scheme, new guys. Like, well, I think that's
kind of Jalen. It's just, he just, he just feels
the same. Now, he hit a couple more big plays

(48:22):
than a lot of stretches of last year today, which
I think is good. And, like, you know, Lemon, in theory,
should become more involved as time goes, young player. But
I think for this offense to take a step, they're
going to have to be a team that runs the ball.
You're not going to be able to– Saquon's going to
have to have some games, maybe not those 200-yard games,
but can he have more 130-yard games where he can

(48:44):
just lean on them?

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Or in a game that will get talked about almost
more than any, And as we started this, the game
wasn't quite over. Vikings 39, Packers 22. Minnesota scores three
touchdowns in two minutes and 42 seconds. The Packers, three
straight losses when leading by 10 in the fourth quarter. Remember,
they lost to the Bears in the playoffs. Over 400 yards.

(49:10):
This has been the knock on Matt LaFleur, is that
his teams start very well. Smart teams take leads. Tough
teams finish them. So what's really concerning about this is
that Kyler Murray gets dinged. You know, he'll be in
concussion protocol and gets hurt early in the game. That's

(49:31):
part and partial to Kyler is a smaller player. He
doesn't like physical contact. He gets injured. So they bring
in Carson Wentz. And Carson is what he is. He
misses easy throws. He misses on laps. But he's big.
He's strong. He's got a good arm. Well, Carson Wentz
comes in against the Vikings. Only had to throw it

(49:51):
19 times. Completed 12 for three touchdowns, no picks, and
123 passer rating. So this goes to what we've said
about the Packers. Jeff Halfley leaves. Micah Parsons, not available.
Rashawn Gary, now with the Cowboys. So the knock on
this franchise has been they get leads. They're pretty. It's

(50:13):
a little Lincoln Riley. You know, they're well coached offensively.
They're clever. They take leads. They're a bad fourth quarter team.
They do not now. Josh Jacobs to be announced. We
don't know what's going to go on.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Doesn't look good.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Does not look good. So this one to me. I mean, listen,
you're going to your back up quarterback. and you house
them scoring three touchdowns in two and a half minutes.
I think I said it before the season started. I
said it about two weeks ago. Matt LaFleur is on

(50:49):
the quietest, coolest hot seat to start a season, I
can remember. He's not in the hot seat, but it's percolating.
And I'm sorry, now that Chicago drops 59, The Vikings
just dropped 39. And you know the Lions have firepower.
I mean, there's no other conclusion after watching this weekend

(51:12):
that Green Bay looks like a fourth-place team if you
can't beat a backup in Carson Wentz.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I think the major issue today was they had him
against the ropes. They should have done what Baltimore did
and been up instead of 19-10. The score should have
been 28-10 or 31-10. Collin, they were 3-12 on third down.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Awful.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
The Vikings were 8-15, so better than 50%. And obviously
they got 0-2 on fourth down. They were not good
in big spots. And Jordan Love was making crazy big plays.
They were hitting huge plays on offense. Couldn't convert them
into touchdowns. You know, we hop on, it's like 23-22.
You look up, they've scored back. It looks like they

(51:56):
got blown out. It looked like they got blown out
where the majority of the game I watched, the Packers
were in full control. Jordan loves making plays. He's looking
like Aaron Rodgers' light. And you lose by multiple touchdowns,
like you said, against Carson Wentz, which, you know, if
you were told Vikings fans two months ago, they would

(52:17):
have been like, well, JG doesn't win the job. He'll
be the backup. He's not even active. He's inactive today.
And Carson Wentz comes in. You know why? Because McCown
and Kevin O'Connell just trust this guy. And they're not
even asking him to do that much. But he hit
Justin Jefferson on a deep bomb, which was a beautiful,
beautiful pass. Beautiful catch. And the Vikings, they're a well-coached team.

(52:39):
I mean, Flores is blitzing, blitzing. I keep thinking like, Brian,
this is not really working out right now with your
backup quarterback in, but it pays off at the end.
You know, Jordan Love throws a pick late. What a
win by Minnesota. I'm on a text chain with a
Minnesota fan. He was ready to jump off a bridge
after the first half, Colin. He thought the season, because
I kind of believe this too. It felt like the
Viking season was over almost before it started. Like their

(53:02):
season was over. I was starting thinking like, are they
going to be drafted in the top five? And now
that you win 39-22, you start thinking, like, can we
just be a pretty– can we get nine, ten wins?

Speaker 2 (53:13):
So you lose Wicks. You move off Romeo Dobbs. Reed
did not play a big part. I don't know how
many catches he– I ask. I'm going to look at Reed,
how many catches he had.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
He had three catches for 20 yards. I mean, Christian
Watson carried the day for them today.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Christian Watson. But, again, he's not healthy much. I thought
Matthew Golden from Texas had an– he's a really spectacular– player.
He's going to be a really, really good player. But
now you don't have Josh Jacobs, Christian Watson. Okay, Dobbs
is gone. Wicks is gone. Josh Jacobs probably not going
to play. Tucker Kraft is back and Golden's there. So
those are your two stars. You know, it's just interesting.

(53:55):
I feel like with Matt LaFleur is that You know, he, McVay,
and Shanahan work together. Shanahan's the genius schematically. McVay's the
Super Bowl guy culture builder. If you told me, what

(54:17):
is Matt LaFleur absolutely great at? I don't know the answer.
That is not to say he's not good at a
lot of things. He's not a culture builder. He's not rah-rah.
He doesn't have McVeigh's personality or gravitas or presence. He
just doesn't. He's more quiet. He doesn't have Shanahan, and
maybe nobody does. He doesn't have Shanahan's play design and
play calling. He doesn't. He's not Ben Johnson in terms

(54:43):
of intensity. I mean, Ben, Chicago's feisty when you go
to their practices. Up-tempo, intense, loud. celebratory. They play like
a college team. Green Bay is under control. They're kind
of cerebral. They're smart. But there is something to say
in this league. San Francisco, they've got an attitude. I mean,

(55:06):
they really have an attitude. And I thought Halfley and
Micah brought a little bit of that. Brought a little toughness,
a little reckless, I would say, John. Almost like Seattle.
Seattle gets penalized a lot. Seattle is at times a
reckless team. But they play with an attitude. Green Bay
comes off. I've said this. It's like USC. I know

(55:28):
the coach is good. But sometimes, you know, football, intimidation matters.
You're never intimidated. Micah brought that. Hathley brought a little
bit of that. I think this loss is going to linger. Like,
you've got to bounce back quickly from this if you're
LeFleur and Green Bay.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Well, looking at their schedule, they play at the Jets
next week, who actually could be a little bit better.
I mean, they have a little stretch here. The Falcons
might not be any good, but that's a Thursday night game.
So they better win that Jets game because then they
got a Thursday night game against the Falcons. Then they
got a stretch at the Buccaneers, the Bears, the Cowboys,

(56:07):
the Lions. This thing without Micah Parsons, you have all
these guys that have these major injuries. that were somehow
able to make it back for week one and look
pretty normal physically. And Micah, they're like, yeah, sometime in October, hopefully.
And you're just like, because today they're up 22 to 10,
late in the third quarter. They trade the house, which

(56:29):
they never do. I mean, they are the opposite of
the LA Rams when it comes to doing moves like that. Historically,
they got crushed and criticized for never doing those type
things when they had Rodgers in this prime. And that
guy's just on the sideline and street close. Nothing you
can do about injuries. But to me, like he's the
type guy that would take over the game and he's

(56:50):
nowhere to be found for who knows how long, which
I didn't believe in this team this year. Just too
many question marks when their best player, if he's not
ready and you don't even, it'd be one thing. It's like, well,
he might not be ready week one, but we're not
going to put him on IR because maybe he'll be
ready by week two or three. And we'll just have
him inactive the first game or two. But the way

(57:11):
they did it, he clearly wasn't even close to being
ready for week one. So now I'm just going to
be like, oh, he'll be full go by mid-October?

Speaker 2 (57:18):
John, they haven't won a game without Micah since last year.
He is their closer. That's why they brought him in.
They're like, we lead, we can't finish. He is their
Mariano Rivera. He is their closer. They haven't won a
game since he got hurt.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
The other thing on the Packers is this is not
a franchise that's won– you know, 13 games, three of
the last four years. Look at their records. A lot
of nine win seasons. This is a team that was
actually much closer to 500 than they have been to
12 and 13 wins. Now you could be like, well,
last year they looked like they were headed toward 13 wins. Yeah,
they were. Until they got all these injuries and some

(57:53):
of those still linger. And Josh Jacobs, the drop off
between Josh Jacobs, they gave him a big contract and
let Aaron Jones go for a reason. He's a big
time player. I mean, it's so you start getting Marshawn
Lloyd and Chris Brooks, like the league that was reported
this morning. They are doing everything to get this video.
And if they get that video, it doesn't look good.

(58:15):
Josh Jacobs is never going to play in the NFL again.
So you can just, so he's just gone probably forever.
And Micah is just one of the biggest question marks
currently in the NFL right there with Miles Garrett. Now
you still don't know what you're going to get this year.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
And Josh Jacobs is a physical presence again. LeFleur doesn't
create that. LeFleur's offenses are pretty. Okay, now Josh Jacobs
is out. Okay, he's a physical presence. Oh, Micah, your
physical closer's out. So it's like, okay, guys, those are
two of your most kind of physical people. They're gone.

(58:47):
So you have a team that, I mean, I.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Can't believe they lost 39-22. I think that is the
most shocking score of the day. Shocking score the weekend
beside Ohio State and Texas, given how the game looked.
I can't believe that's how it played out. That is,
you were on this when I was down doing your
show about the quiet hot seat. That is a jolting loss.
sometimes you have jolting losses like it's a jolting loss

(59:13):
for ryan day but it's like i won the natty
two years ago we're gonna win 10 games this year
everything's gonna be okay this is could this season could
we be seven and ten Because Jordan Love threw for
387 yards. They were making big– well, Jordan Love actually
is regressing. No, he's making big plays.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
It's not him. He ain't your problem. No. So that's
the most jolting loss. You could say the Chargers, but, like,
let's face it. The Chargers brand, they fly under the radar. Like,
they ain't leading the radio tomorrow in L.A. In the Midwest,
the Packers– even bears radio will be chiming in on
the path. Like it's a big deal. I mean, this
franchise kind of gets derailed.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
And it's a real big deal because Chicago now is
the talk of the league. So it's like, that stings.
It's always been little Chicago pokes, big, like pokes, the
big bears in the ribs. When the little guy gets
trumped by the big guy, that stings. That gets, it's, it's, it,

(01:00:13):
Tomorrow in Green Bay is going to sound like Philadelphia radio. Okay,
Texas 24. Let's talk college. Ohio State 23. Buckeyes drop
to six. Kind of ridiculous. Texas moves to number one.

(01:00:35):
My take was after Michigan beat Oklahoma, Texas and the
SEC needed the win. I think both you and I
believed it was bigger for Texas. Both teams have tough schedules.
I thought the first half, Arthur Smith worked Will Muschamp.
I thought the Buckeyes' first half game plan was, you know, listen,
Ohio State's gone to these NFL coaches, Matt Patricia, Chip Kelly,

(01:00:59):
Arthur Smith. It's worked. And I thought Ohio State's first
half game plan was outstanding. They got conservative, especially in
the fourth quarter. Here's where I'll defend Ohio State. John,
these are 21-year-old kids. It is very difficult for 21-year-old
kids with limited practice time, with no preseason and no
joint scrimmages, to go into that environment early in the

(01:01:21):
season and play four great quarters. Ohio State was almost
flawless in the first half. That is a big ask.
I don't think Julian Sands is a Sunday player. I don't.
I think he's a good college quarterback. That game, Ohio State, listen,
they lost. Was it a fourth down at the goal line?

(01:01:42):
They almost won. To me, I don't think anything less
of Ohio State. I was shockingly, the Longhorns' defensive game
plan in the first half, kind of letting Jeremiah Smith
run free, made no sense to me. I thought that
was just unexplainable. I didn't get it. But my take
is college football needs more games like this. Georgia won 70-20.

(01:02:05):
Notre Dame won 52-0. Indiana won 55-0. Miami won 77-7.
So I'm not going to punish the loser of Texas-Ohio
State when it ends on the goal line and it's 24-23.
To me, I thought Ohio State you know, they got conservative.
College teams do this. You lead, you're on the road,

(01:02:27):
you know, you've played well, you maybe don't trust, because
Texas in the second half started, kind of got bullied
Ohio State a little bit, started pushing them around, and
Ryan Day's thinking, I don't want to put Julian Sand
in a bad spot here, so I kind of understand it,
but I don't think anything less of Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
These two teams have played a bunch over the course
of the last several years, and all the games have
been close. Yard-wise, score-wise, One big difference half to half,
Arch was horrendous in the first half. And in the
second half, he hit a lot of the passes, especially
down the stretch in the fourth quarter. There were guys,
I mean, it's not his fault that he throws the
bomb to Coleman. The guy drops it, it bounces off

(01:03:05):
of him, and it's an interception. Well, Wingo in the
end zone. Hit him in the hands. But there were
also plays over the middle of the field in the
second and third quarter with guys streaking right over, and
he's kind of airmailing them. It looked like J.J. McCarthy.
And I went, I want to root for this guy, but, man,
he just doesn't look like a good player. And then
I don't know if he had nothing to lose. They're

(01:03:25):
down big. Because, Colin, it was 23-and-a-half, but I thought
it felt like 40-to-3.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
At half, I was with friends. I'm like, is Sark
going to be in trouble?

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
I thought that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Sunday morning, is he getting called by boosters? I thought
they were going to lose. I thought Ohio State was
going to drop 40. I was like, this is embarrassing.
Sark's in trouble. But again, road teams, you can't do
four great quarters on the road in that Texas environment
with Texas talent. Sark may not be your favorite coach,
but I remember when Sark was at Washington and USC,

(01:04:01):
he tended to be a pretty good third quarter coach.
He's pretty good about throwing the play sheet out and
starting over. He's not He's not Shanahan tied to the
play sheet. He'll blow it up, rip it up, and
start over. And so Sark's always been a pretty good
third quarter, let's start again, we got outplayed.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Well, I don't know Sark personally, but I'll give him
credit this offseason on this. You know, Lane's nuts in
that the pregame or the halftime interview, like Lane's, his
dad was a defensive coach. His brother's a defensive coach.
Lane's a little tougher than I think he looks, just
in terms of the way he treats his players. Sark's
an offensive kind of pretty boy. But he brought in

(01:04:40):
Will Muschamp, who is psychotic. I mean, that guy has
looked like something is wrong with him on the sideline
for 20 years. And in the second half, they scored
three points, Ohio State did. Will Muschamp did a great
job in the second. I don't think Ohio State gets
to Jeremiah Smith enough. He had eight catches. I would
throw him the ball. Remember Mike Tice used to say,
we're going to throw it to Randy Moss like every

(01:05:01):
other play, every three plays. It was something he said
in like 1999. I would treat Jeremiah Smith like I
would throw the ball up to him every other play.
He feels like an unstoppable force. Eight catches, 164. To me,
that number should have been like 14 for 300. I mean,
and I think it gets back to Arch, who– you know,

(01:05:23):
it's not his fault that he has that last name.
His dad is not Eli or Peyton, it's Cooper.

Speaker 2 (01:05:28):
But he's treated like he's- He presses, you can see it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
And I think, you know, he's, I don't know if
he's the most natural quarterback. You know, you watch Mateer,
there is just something to a feel for an accurate ball.
We can knock Jared Goff's He's a very natural thrower
to place it in the guy's hand. You know, Purdy, right?

(01:05:54):
Very natural thrower to place it. You watch Arch. He's got,
at times, like a little bit of J.J. McCarthy. Like,
you got to throw some layups. John Mateer was only
throwing 100-mile-an-hour fastballs. Not every play. The number one thing
to play quarterback is you got to be an accurate passer.
Brady was talking about that today. It's not always about
the strongest arm. Some balls just need to hit the

(01:06:16):
guy in the hand where he can catch it is
the most important thing. And I felt like, I don't know,
he just had absolutely nothing to lose because they were
going to get embarrassed. They have the most expensive roster
from everything I've been told, Texas. I thought if they
were to got blown out when it was halftime, I'm like,
because you look at their schedule, you're like, well, they're
probably not going to make the playoffs. This is how
they're going to look. Like, Sark, you're just not going

(01:06:38):
to survive when people are stroking these checks. And then
all the videos coming out, you see him and his
wife in the box. That's the biggest win of his
career by a country mile. And the one thing I
will say, I'm not the biggest Ryan Day guy. When
Ohio State loses a football game, it is stunning. How
many other teams, pro or college, you are stunned when

(01:06:58):
Ohio State loses. I don't think you can say that
about any other, not even Georgia, not the Ravens, not
the Bills, not the Chiefs. It is stunning. That win,
that felt like an exorcism of demons for a program,
but specifically Arch and Sark. Now, they have a lot
of other good opponents. Arch needs to play better. He

(01:07:20):
needs to take that fourth quarter momentum if they're going
to go 11-1.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
But I also, Wingo dropped the touchdown pass. The other guy,
ball pops up and Ohio State picks it. So the
Arch's line would have another touchdown pass and one less interception.
But I do think the point is fair. He's pressing.
You can see he's You know, quarterback, you have to

(01:07:44):
simultaneously be academic and smart, but not overthink it. It's
really weird. Like, it's one of those things like, it's
like being a fighter pilot. You have to be so
focused and so dialed in to your protocol, but sometimes
it's just intuition. It's just feeling it. Like, it's like, what? What?
Quarterback's the same thing. Like, got to know the play.

(01:08:05):
Got to know the audibles. You got to know the checks.
You got to know where everybody's at. You've got to
be totally dialed in. It's almost an academic position. But
then go let her rip and just play naturally. And
I think Arch sometimes lets... A-Rod used to do this
as a hitter. He'd go into these slumps. Derek Jeter
one time said, somebody asked him, what are you thinking

(01:08:25):
right now? He had one of the rare slumps in
his career. And he goes, I just want to go
hit it hard. Just all I want to go. And
sometimes with Arch Manning, I feel like... And they caught
him on the sidelines saying, I'm just... He said something about,
I just got to stop worrying about it or I
just can't care this much. I think there's a family pressure,
a name pressure, a Texas pressure, a money pressure. And

(01:08:47):
I think he presses. And I so the talent's there.
But I think it's I think I said this a
few years ago. Oregon was going to beat Ohio State
at Autzen. Ohio State would beat them later in the year.
I think Ohio State, I predicted that Texas would win
close against Ohio State. Ohio State will beat Texas in

(01:09:07):
the playoff. And I feel that today. I feel Ohio
State's the better team. Texas won the game. But I
feel like I come out of that game and I'm like,
I think I like Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
I will say this, though, about Texas. If Arch plays well,
they have the horses. They are every bit Ohio State's equal.
He's got more with his legs to run around. I'm
not the biggest saying guy, but they have so much
firepower around saying that if he just plays game manager,
they can win. Do you think there's more pressure? You

(01:09:39):
use A-Rod comparing to Arch Manning. You know, there's always
been pressure if you played at Duke or North Carolina
basketball or Florida football or whatever. But now when you
factor in the NIL, social media, he used to build
like Caleb by the time he was 30 years old.
But he already won the Heisman or these guys that
win the Heisman Young, Johnny Manziel. This guy's never even
had any success, you know, but because of his name,

(01:10:00):
because everyone knows how much money his family has. He's
personally making this brand that he's at. I think you
feel it in college. I think you see Oregon imploding.
You know, there's a pressure there. They've had excellent teams.
They've never had every single person picking them to win
the national championship. Millionaires all over their roster. You know,

(01:10:22):
you feel it in the way they play. There's like
a tension.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
I think this is.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Underwood finally let loose a little bit yesterday. Like, run around, bro.
You're a great athlete. Kyle Whittingham, there's a pressure on
these guys, which... I think it's very, very hard for
those people like me that have been watching college football
my whole life. It has changed dramatically these last couple
of years with the money aspect, the social media aspect.
But the money thing is like if I don't perform,

(01:10:51):
they will just get. I know I'm getting rich personally,
but I will just get replay. I'll just get thrown away.
Like that's how you used to. You couldn't cut a
player in college. No one got cut. Maybe you got
benched or whatever. You will get cut.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
And everybody knows they're not only getting paid. but the
quarterback's making $ 3 to $ 4 million. He's the second highest
paid guy on the staff to the head coach. He
makes what the school president does. So I always said,
that's the downside. You're going to have to pay taxes.
You're going to create envy. And we're going to criticize
you now a little bit more like a pro player.

(01:11:23):
Like it's one thing. I was always like hands off
for college guys. Now it's like, no, no. Once you're
out of college going pro, then I can look back
at your college and criticize you. Now you're going to
be a pro. But in college, you don't want to
beat up a guy. Well, with Arch Manning, the name,
the money, the Texas, the talent, not that we beat
him up, but it's fair game now. And guys, you
can trade the Broncos to beat the Chiefs at 44%

(01:11:47):
on polymarket. I like Denver in that one. Left tackle
for the Chiefs. They're going to go with an undrafted rookie.
I like Denver. I did not have a great day.
I went with some favorites. The Rams got beat up.
Philadelphia escaped. The Cardinals got beat. The Packers laid an

(01:12:10):
egg in the last seven minutes of the game. So,
Pauly Market, trade the Broncos to beat Kansas City at 44%.
John Middlecoff, three and out. All right. Little hour plus, buddy.
Good talking to you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
See you, buddy.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy
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