May 12, 2023 • 38 mins
John gives his initial reaction to the NFL schedule release, and his thoughts on Aaron Rodgers and the Jets draw. He also explains why Titans look ready to bail on the Malik Willis project, if the ‘Punt God’ Matt Araiza will draw interest after rape exoneration.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody, John Middlecops three
and out podcast. That's the show and that's me. I
hope everyone's doing well. It's about six o'clock on Thursday afternoon.
(00:25):
Waited because I wanted to do some initial reactions to
the schedule. I went through and broke down every single
game for every single team, just kidding, there's no chance
on God's screen earth. I did that, but give some
initial thoughts, you know, to start the season. We'll dive
into it a little bit deeper as over the next
(00:47):
couple of weeks, specific teams schedules, you know, obviously you
know travel when your Thursday night game is your divisional games.
I mean, it's just we'll go through it as the
summer come individually with some teams, definitely over the next
couple of weeks. But I just tried to give my
initial reactions definitely to that, you know, kind of some
(01:07):
of the opener stuff on Thursday, Sunday and Monday is
a pretty sweet game Aaron Rodgers. So we will dive
into all that Middlecoff mailbag. I will put one out
over the weekend like I always do on Sunday at
John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in
those dms and get your question answered here on the show.
(01:28):
We like to work on the weekend here, no big deal.
We don't even need a good job, just what we do.
And yeah, the volume dot com you can check out
some go lo merch three and out hat is still
being developed. So hopefully we get that bad boy figured
out sooner than later. We're live on AMP, Live on app,
download Amazon Amp. And yeah, what else? Any other housekeeping?
(01:52):
I think that's probably it. So you know you're probably
looking at your team schedule and thinking, you know, eleven
wins minimum. Hell, that's you know, a Jags fan, So
every fan base is excited. You should be. No sport
quite like football, beside a couple teams. You know, everyone,
if you told me the Bears won like nine games,
it's believable. You know, you go from the number one
(02:13):
overall pick to competing to make a wild card. Shits
makes the NFL the best that way, we always get,
you know, teams that win the division come back to Earth,
and teams that haven't made the playoffs make the playoffs.
So it's the great part about the sport. And do
you want to go to one of these games. If
you're listening right now and you're a fan of whatever
team the Bengals, Seattle, you got some buzz. You're a
(02:34):
Houston Texans fan, the Cowboys, this is our year. I
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(02:55):
of tickets you want to go to a game before that.
Obviously the football doesn't start dull September. Just use the
game Time at Baseball, basketball, concerts, comedy shows. They got
You Covered promo code John. Where do we start? The
NFL over the last I don't know, definitely decade, but
(03:16):
the last five six years has entered into a different
stratosphere than these other leagues in terms of viewership. It's
well documented, right the amount of people that watch football
relative to other sports. And I think sometimes and I
really fight against as people think I'm like a hater
and I'm not. I'm a huge sports fan. I love basketball,
(03:38):
I love baseball. I just as life has gone on,
I don't watch as much of it as I used
to relative obviously to football. It's my job. But the
numbers speak for themselves, the record viewership, the amount of
people to just watch Thursday night football. As I talked
about earlier this week, Amazon and the NFL trying to
(04:00):
figure out a way to get them better ratings, to
get more people to watch. It's like, well, how many
people watch? Uh nine and a half million people on average?
And let's face it, Thursday night games have been pretty
hit or miss, and part of it, you could argue,
was didn't feel like al was super locked in and
Herb Street. I like Kirkhurve Street a lot. He's fantastic
on college, but you know, I don't need him calling
(04:22):
my NFL games. You know, I like Troy I like
Chris Collinsworth, not the biggest romo guy, but he's an
NFL guy. I like my NFL guys calling my NFL
just like I like my college guys calling my college guys.
I don't want a pigeonhole anyone, but sometimes once you've
been doing something for a while, you kind of get pigeonhole.
Football is very, very difficult to call because of the
amount of people, the moving the amount of turnover with
(04:44):
coaches and rosters. And think about Week one, the NFL
is I wouldn't say got cocky, but they went, you
know what, we got this guy named Patrick Mahomes and
the Kansas City Chiefs, which kind of feel like the
Golden State Warriors because Mahomes, like Curry, just feels like
the ultimate superstar right now, all the kids like him.
(05:06):
You put them on TV. The ratings are enormous. Steph
Curry and the Warriors when they played the Kings in
the first round shattered records. Highest rated first round series
in like thirty plus years. It's not complicated to figure
this out. It's not the Sacramento Kings, they hadn't been
to the playoffs in seventeen years. It's Steph. People like
(05:29):
watching Steph Curry play basketball, no different than Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes could play Arizona State next week if he
was the quarterback. Ten million people are watching without hesitation.
He's that big of a rock star. But when you
look at the chief schedule, you could have thrown a
lot of games. Right. They play the Bills, they play
the Bengals, that's an easy one. But I bet the
(05:50):
networks go, you know what, let's put one in October,
in another one in December. Right, you could have been
like the Chargers. The Raiders are a rivalry with Jimmy
Garoppolo now and McDaniels. Definitely the Broncos, who now don't
just have Russell Wilson who may or may not be washed,
but they added Sean Payton week one, that's a fantastic
just game for our eyes, and they went, you know what,
(06:12):
let's take this up and coming pesky team that historically
is not very good. The Lions like kind of a
cocky move, and I'm bullsh on the Lions. I'm gonna
pick them to win the division. But let's be real.
You are going in on Thursday night football to a
team that has been to three Super Bowls in five years,
one two of them, and let's face it feels like
(06:34):
they could go on a dynasty type run. A ton
of people, probably including myself, are going to pick them
to win the Super Bowl. They have a loaded team.
All those rookies last year that started all those games
at the end of the season and through the playoffs
and won the Super Bowl. They're back. They have the
best player in the sport, and they have the best
coach currently in the sport, and Travis Kelsey still feels
(06:57):
like he's in the peak of his powers. And you
go with the Lis who, like I said, bullesh on them.
But here's a reality. Patrick Mahomes and Andy are used
to being the hunted. They take every team's best shot, right,
everyone's coming for him, just like Alabama football or Duke basketball,
or Tom Brady and Belichick all those years, or every
(07:20):
time you know a Pedro Martinez or Roger Clemens or
whoever in the peak of their power, justin Verlander pitched
in their prime. You're getting the other teams, the other players,
the other coaches, all their energy. And it's going to
be very very interesting with the Lions, not just this
game but this season, how they handle it. And from
(07:41):
a rating standpoint, this game will be fine. But I'm
very interested to watch this team now that hasn't accomplished anything.
I mean, they won eight of their last whatever nine
or ten games last year and had a lot of
momentum and ended Aaron Rodgers run in Green Bay. But
every year is a brand new year. Player will tell
you that, every coach will tell you that. Anyone associated
(08:03):
with the NFL to a man reiterates that why because
there's so much turnover every single season. We all think
the Eagles are freaking awesome because they are. Look at
their roster. They lost both coordinators. They lost a guy
that had eleven sacks last year in Javon Hargrain, like
they lost players at the end of the season. Lane
(08:25):
Johnson was duct taped together. He's an older player who's
just been things change. I think the Eagles are gonna
be really good, but it's just hard year to year
to year. Like it's why it's so impressive what Andy's done,
what Belichick and Brady did all those years, and it's
gonna be fascinating to watch. Everyone's gonna be talking about
the Lions all preseason. Last year it was because of
(08:49):
hard knocks and what happened. They started one to six.
Well this year, obviously Week one you could play the
Houston Texans. You're getting the team's best shot. But every
single game people are gonna be watching this team, especially
early on. How do they handle the expectations. Look what
happened already. Jamison Williams, who they drafted last year in
the top fifteen, suspended because he bet on a game
(09:10):
at the facility, not an NFL game, a college football game. Jamison,
you do understand that these companies track you and they
don't want to get in trouble and they'll turn you in.
So you know, listen, that place is gonna be going bananas.
Kansas City is essentially like an SEC town for the
(09:30):
NFL when it comes to football. Their passion, their team's incredible.
They're led by the best coach they've ever had, the
best player they've ever had. It's gonna be fascinating to
watch the Lions go in there because listen, they don't
have to win, they're gonna be I'm sure the Lions
are already out. They're gonna be an underdog by probably
six or seven points. But do they just look respectable, right,
(09:50):
or do they kind of like first game of the year,
just kind of get boat raced, get overwhelmed by it
something I'm fascinated by. It feels like, and I could
be wrong on this. Over the last twenty plus years,
if NBC had their choice, they would go with some
combination of Cowboys at Giants, Giants at Cowboys, Right, Cowboys
(10:11):
biggest brand, best TV product, not in terms of best team,
I just mean the most people watch. It's not arguable.
I'm not saying that I'm not a Cowboy fan, it's
just a fact. And the Giants win. They're good. Play
in New York City with fan bases are just based on, well,
how many people follow your team, and it's pretty clear
the biggest brands have the most fans. So when you
(10:31):
put when the Steelers are good, when the Packers are good,
when the Niners are good, when the Giants are good,
obviously when the Cowboys are good, they just have more
fans than these other teams. Like the Jags this year
could go sixteen to one, but their ceiling as a
franchise is only so high because of the quantity of
the amount of fans that they have. Well, now, the
Giants went through one of the most embarrassing stretches in
(10:53):
franchise history, right from Schrmer to Joe Judge. It was
a joke and you couldn't put them on Sunday Night
Football with a straight face. One season of being very
respectable getting to the playoffs, boom, they get that. No,
and that's a really good game. You know. The Cowboys.
I just saw on Twitter right before I hopped on.
(11:13):
They get three Sunday Night football games. I got news
for you. If Sunday Night in NBC, which is the
number one television show in America, could have fifteen of
the seventeen Cowboy games they would like, they would not hesitate.
So this game, you know, the Giants, they love the
NFC East because of the markets Dallas, New York. You know,
(11:35):
people want Washington to be bad, you know, very very
badly around the league because of their they have a
blarge fan base. They've just been relatively irrelevant, and obviously Philadelphia,
so they love Pigeonholing and rightfully so the NFC East
into that game. And then the most fascinating game to
me of the three primetime games by a mile, is
(11:57):
this New York Jets hosting the Bills on It's on
nine to eleven. So the game was gonna be whether
it's be the Giants game, whether it be the Jets game.
The Jets actually played the Giants, you could have done
that game as well, but that game was gonna be
in New York City on Monday Night football. That was
a lock. My producer James hit me up. He's a
(12:17):
big Giants fan. He's like, don't you think Giants Jets,
you know, for the anniversary of nine to eleven, And
I said, yeah, definitely possible. For sure, it was gonna
be one of the two New York teams. Could you
could have gone Pats at Jets. I thought that because
if you remember nine to eleven, you know, one of
the players for the Patriots, Andrewsi his brother was a fireman,
(12:39):
could have easily done that. But I think this is
pretty damn good too. I also think from a football
standpoint beside, it's gonna be just a big emotional night
right nine to eleven in New York City, Aaron Rodgers
first game, you're playing one of the best teams in
the league. In no particular order. You have to put
the Chiefs one. I think there's like a big five
(13:00):
or six. It's basically the Chiefs, then Eagles, Niners, Bengals, Bills.
I would be tempted to throw the Cowboys in there.
We'll see how they look, but they're right there on
the cusp. That's no order. I'm just saying that the
Chiefs are won because the Super Bowl champs, and then
that five or six if you want to include the Cowboys.
To me, is my group headed into this season. So
(13:21):
you're playing one of the best teams in the league
who has been consistently very very good, and he's kind
of taking control of your division. And let's face it,
you've been really, really shitty for a long time. Now,
you showed signs last year, and now you add Aaron
Rodgers and the big question for me is, I'm bullets
on this team. I'm gonna pick this team to make
the playoffs. But a lot of people and I already
(13:42):
saw Coward tweet. You know, he's not the biggest Roger
guy is gonna be We Aaron missed the playoffs last year,
trending down, and now there's all this pressure of all
the teams. We talked about this last week, Right, the
Broncos are gonna have some pressure, but it's kind of unique. Right,
If Russell stinks, no one's gonna blame Sean Payton and
they'll just move on from Russell Wilson, Like if Deshaun
(14:03):
Watson is now just bad. Like there's pressure on the
Browns because of that contract. They're just kind of sol
they're screwed. I mean, I don't know what you can do, right,
you know, if the Lions stink. Everyone kind of annoyed
it them like whatever. Like if Jordan Love stinks, I
think people would be like, listen, you made a move.
You had to do it. See if you can find
another quarterback. But with Aaron Rodgers, like the pressure's on
(14:26):
Aaron Rodgers, Robert Sala, Joe Douglas. I mean jobs are
on the line, and you start this game, everyone's gonna
be watching. Like I'd argue, this game to me is
much bigger to the landscape of the league and kind
of how we'll judge than even Cowboys Gibs right, Like
I view this game as probably the marquee game of
(14:49):
Week one, as just like what's this thing going to
look like? And then you look And this is what
Coward was alluding to on his tweet. The Jets playing
six primetime games this year. The schedule starts really really difficulty.
Start with the Bills, who you know. I don't know
how you set the line, but if you tell me
the Bills are favored even on the road, I think
(15:10):
that's very believable. Then you go to Dallas. Even if
New England turns out to not be that great, still
got Belichick a good defense. He hates the Jets. I mean,
Belichick despises the Jets. What was one of the stories
why Belichick made a trade during the draft on Thursday night.
It's like, well, he didn't even get good value, but
(15:32):
he wanted the Steelers to get a player so he
could screw the Jets. Then they go to Kansas City.
Then they go or excuse me, they get Kansas City
at home, which the Chiefs is better than you, and
then at Denver, which I don't know if they're going
to be good or not, but that's just a tough
place to play, and then Philadelphia before the bye week.
So you get Philly, the Chiefs, Dallas, and Buffalo. I
(15:54):
mean it is We're gonna find out really really fast
if this Jets team. I have no reservation when I
think about Aaron Rodgers handling expectations. He's been the starting
quarter he you know, replaced Brett Favre, became the best
player in the history of a franchise that you could
argue in all of sports, is one of the most
(16:15):
historic and definitely one of the most important to the NFL.
He has been the hunted as a player and as
a leader of a team. Now for a decade plus.
He's used to playing in primetime games left and right.
He has played in some of the highest rated games
of the last twelve thirteen years. So I don't If
Aaron's healthy, I have confidence in him. But what about
(16:38):
the other guys, Like they have this young nucleus who Yeah,
I like Garrett Wilson a lot, But you know, it's
a little different animal playing Northwestern than it is Buffalo.
You know, I like bris Hall and some of these players,
but they've never had the expectation in the league. Think
about their coach, love Robert salim fell a bald guy.
Root for him. I'm I'm going to root for the
Jets this year. Hadn't had much success as a head coach.
(17:02):
Not totally his fault, I mean, they picked the wrong quarterback,
but you know, I would imagine some Jets fans and
just football fans are like, is Robert Solil really that good?
And we're about to find out, right, And then just
the pressure of that city. It's going to be very
very interesting to watch how it all handles itself in
terms of the play, the young nucleus and the coaching staff.
(17:24):
And I viewed Detroit very simple, A lot like the Jets.
That's a town that can turn negative fast, right Like
I been in California the majority of my life. When
the team sucks, people just tune out your ratings as
a radio host, as a podcast when it comes to
the Bay Area or southern California. Teams don't thrive if
(17:47):
the team's irrelevant. If it's a basketball team and they
win twenty games, or it's a football team and they're
winning three or four games, no one cares. People tune
you out. But I saw it in Philadelphia. I know
New York's very similar. Obviously Detroit kind of thrive in misery. Now,
obviously they want to win. If you're a Jets fan,
if you're a Lions fan, you want to go to
the playoffs. But if it goes the other way, people
(18:09):
enjoy the negativity that surrounds a disaster in that Northeast corridor,
you know, And it'd be very fascinating if things went
the wrong way. That would be the one thing I
would say. How Rogers handled that something to keep an
eye on. If you know what if they started. I mean,
you could argue one in three is on the table. Buffalo, Dallas,
(18:30):
New England, Kansas city. That's a very very difficult start.
I think it's fair to say that Rogers and the
Jets are you know, like, what's the story with the Chiefs?
Can they repeat? Can they win their third right Buffalo?
Can they finally get over the hump right there? I
mean those are interesting. Can the Bengals maintain this high
level play? Like who's going to be the quarterback for
(18:51):
the forty nine ers? Can Mike McCarthy, Like can he
win multiple playoff games and get a contract extension? Like
Aaron Rodgers and the Jets? Will this work? You know,
is this gonna be? Is he gonna win eleven games? Like?
I'm gonna pick them to win ten eleven games? But
let's be real, if they were to go like seven
and ten again, some injuries, it looked wrong. Their schedule
(19:14):
just beats them up. It's easily one of the bigger
stories in the league, and it's something we'll just talk
about a lot. It's something I'll talk about a lot.
I mean, I find it fascinating and interesting to begin with.
But just the trade, the brand, you know, how's Jordan
Love doing that? That's something to keep an eye on, Like,
is Jordan Love have a really good season. Before we
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the giant schedule you know, speaking of teams that sometimes
(20:45):
it's hard. You know, the reason why I would have
voted Brian Daball Coach of the Year. I guess he
won it, but why even throughout the season, I'm like,
his roster wasn't that good. What he was doing was incredible.
I still don't think is roster that great. It's not
like he improved that much year to year. Now, maybe
some of the younger guys that they drafted. Maybe Cavon
this year is a Tensac guy, right, maybe Daniel Jones
(21:09):
is that much better. You can have improvement with some guys,
but let's not act like their roster looks like some
of the top teams in the league. And then when
you look at their schedule they got a ton of
road games. We'll find early on they got a Thursday
night game against the forty nine ers, you know, fascinated
to watch that play out. And like I said, speaking
of the Niners, like who's their starting quarterback when the
season starts. One thing with the schedule, which which is hard.
(21:31):
I mean I could do if I wanted to run
a first take show. You know, I think we can
assume relative health early in the season. But it's so
difficult after like October first, you know, just from basic
things like the guy pulled a hamstring, guy rolled an ankle,
to bad injuries, to quarterbacks missing play, to teams that
(21:52):
you thought were going to be good aren't good being
teams you thought were going to be bad. I mean
I penciled in last year Seattle and the Giants as
the two worst teams in the league. Both of them
made the playoffs, right, I mean, it's just I would
have said the Packers, locked to win that division, didn't
make it. The Vikings, who I'll give coward credit on
(22:13):
that picked them, didn't see that one coming. That's another one,
like do they just have another ten to eleven win team.
I don't know. You know, I think that's what makes
this sport so awesome, right, Like I said, there's a
hierarchy of five six teams, which I think everyone, you know,
if they remove their bias, just have to acknowledge the
final four teams last year are going to be good again.
(22:35):
I would put the Bills right there, even though they
did get their ass kicked by the Bengals, but they're good.
And then the Cowboys. I actually Cowboys earned my respect
for how well they played the Niners in that game.
They're so physical on defense. It's just I don't totally
trust their quarterback in the big spots. But throughout a
season like they can win twelve games easily. Hell, I
mean they've won They did that last year with missing
(22:56):
their starting quarterback for a minute. Yeah. I just think
that's it's cool about the NFL is that there are
going to be so many teams that are coming. Are
the Jags now just some playoffs stalwart a basis team
for the next several years? Lock to win the division
should be. I mean, they have one of the best
young quarterbacks in the division or in the in the
in all of the NFL. They have a Super Bowl
winning coach. You know, a guy that just crossed my mind,
(23:19):
and you know where I stand on this guy throughout
the season is Brandon Staley. You know, guy coaching for
his job. Can Can he win a playoff game? Because
anything less than going to the playoffs with Justin Herbert?
Can they compete to win the division? That's one thing
The Chiefs are kind of at the point now where
if you told me to you know, let's say the
Chargers won twelve games and they won eleven. It's not
like the Chiefs can't win the division on the road.
(23:39):
I mean, they have a huge advantage at home. But
if you told me eventually the Chiefs are a five
seed one year, as long as they got Patrick Mallomes
and Travis Kelsey Andy Reid, I'm still taking them very
very seriously. So exciting times this is this is a
fun time of year when you see the schedule, but
it's it can be difficult just because things change so
(24:00):
fast with injuries. Okay, let's dive into a couple of
stories around the NFL that don't relate to the schedule.
Let's go down to Nashville, Tennessee and the Tennessee Titans.
There was a headline I saw that Malik Willis, who
they drafted last year in the third round, his job
status is in major jeopardy, as in he might not
(24:21):
make the team. And my first reaction to that, of course,
it is like they just drafted a quarterback in the
second round. The general manager, John Robinson, who drafted him,
is no longer there. They have a new guy in
charge in ran Carthin with Mike Rable. It's like, well,
same head coach, well that same head coach last year,
when Malik Willis couldn't hit water if he was sitting
(24:42):
in a boat, benched him for Josh Dobbs, who wasn't
even on their team, who's on the Lions practice squad
in a game at the end of the season that
I don't know kind of mattered. Remember they were playing
to get into the playoffs, and he wouldn't play the guy.
So I think it's clear that the way that season ended.
Now you get a new GM, does he have a
(25:04):
support system? Does he have people in the building who
support and advocate and want to see him succeed, because
if he doesn't, then he's done. Here's what I know
about will Levis. The GM and the head coach clearly
liked him for them to pull the trigger to draft
him early in the second round, and by all accounts,
they were trying to trade in at the end of
(25:25):
Thursday night in the first round in the late twenties
to draft will Levis. So Will Levis has supporters in
the building. Pretty clear Malik Willis doesn't. Really I've been
in situations in the NFL in radio when my support
system left. Do you know what happened? I got fired?
You know, I lost my job. It happens all the
(25:48):
time in pro sports or just in a lot of
industries when the guy you work for leaves or gets
let go and they bring in new people and you
are not their guy. The moment things get weird. Honestly,
some things might be out of control. They just don't
want to deal with you. And whenever I see the
response of well, what do you think happens when you
(26:10):
bring in a developmental project and you don't give them
time to develop? To me, there are different types of development.
When Josh Allen was drafted, it was clear that year
one needed some time to develop. Same with Patrick Mahomes.
But both of them, if you watch that, you know
the first year with Josh Allen and the one game
with Patrick Mahomes there were just like okay, you could
(26:32):
see it. With Malik Willis, I think he was easily
the worst quarterback in the NFL that played last season.
I mean, think about Zach Wilson for example. I'm all
for development, but he couldn't complete wheel routes. He couldn't
complete a slant route like the most If I'm an
NBA player and I can't make a layup like I
(26:53):
can't play like wait, you can't make a layup like
in football, especially at the highest level when you're playing
on Sundays, go routes are hard. You're going to hit those.
I don't even know what the percentage is for the
good quarterbacks fifty percent of the time, right, but there
are going to be some routes that should be a
very very high percentage, and Milik Willis had no shot
(27:14):
to complete those. It looked like does this guy even
should this guy be playing quarterback? And I don't know
if he's a good enough athlete to change positions, but
from what I witnessed, he's a year away from being
a year away. And some quarterbacks change positions for whatever reasons.
And to me, Edelman did it. Terrell Pryor did it.
I remember watching Terrell Pryor when I had when I
(27:35):
did the Raiders postgame show, and Terrell Pryor was their quarterback,
and ultimately he just had no chance to He was
athletic enough as a runner, but as a thrower. It wasn't.
It was a joke. I mean it was, and he
transitioned and he went on to play wide receiver. Now
I don't know if Malik Willis is that level of
an athlete. But what we win is last year, even
(27:56):
if he improved, you know, twenty percent, he's still not
remotely close to being an NFL quarterback and a guy
it's the one position, right whoever your backup is, there's
a chance, you know, he might not play a snap
all season long. And then there's a chance, I don't know,
Patrick Mahomes rolls his ankle and the guy has to
start a game or come in and play in a
(28:18):
tight game. And that clearly happened last year with the Titans,
and it was a disaster. And I'm not trying to
act like Ryan Tannehill as a savior. I wouldn't want
him to be my quarterback either. But the support system
for Malik Willis John Robinson never told me this, but
it was pretty clear. Mike Frable's not big on him.
The GM has zero ties to him and just drafted
(28:40):
a quarterback. He's done, you know, he's completely done to
me playing quarterback in Tennessee. Now, can he do something else?
Can he bring other stuff to the table, because if
he can, then maybe could survive. But what I witnessed
last year, now maybe some team would put him on
the practice squad. But I have a very very hard time,
and I mean very hard time seeing him being an
active rightster quarterback in the NFL, let alone on the Titans.
(29:03):
So to me, it's kind of a non story. I
think the story would be if Malik Willis is able
to survive in twenty twenty three, the amount of money
these teams have. You know, no one waits, like Trey
Lanson is already battling to be the backup. Zach Wilson
is like to thank god everyone had. You know, Land
is like he doesn't have to start anymore. Guys for
(29:25):
the second and third pick in the draft a couple
of years ago. We're moving at rapid speed. People aren't
worried about signing bonuses and cash. You just move on.
And then the way the league works is every year
new players are coming through. It's the fastest turnover. It's
the fastest cycle of kind of working through guys that
can't play. So just always a third round pick. Who cares.
(29:46):
Rock Purty was a seventh round pick, right. I mean,
if you flip those two, it would have been dramatically different.
The Niners would have been screwed. Maybe the Titans would
have been okay. Another story Matt Ariza, who's known as
the punt God, was it came out last week. He
was cut last year allegedly in a gang rape. He
(30:08):
was there was I don't know all the legal terms.
There was an accuser that said that he and other
guys at San Diego State gang raped her. And it
turns out not only it wasn't true, I don't know
if the other guys did, but he was not there.
He wasn't present. He had nothing to do with it.
And I remember last year when he was cut, everyone was,
(30:30):
you know, the media and we'll get into them here
in a second. Was freaking out, and I said, the
Bills are not cutting him because they know he did it,
or they know he did not do it. They have
no clue. They cut him simply because he's a punter.
And it's like, we can't deal with the potential of
this being true, even if we believe you at the
position you play. I said it if he had been
(30:54):
the quarterback, if he had been the pass rusher, if
he had been the star tackle, it would have been different.
They would have let it play out. When you're a
six round punter, you just don't have the juice. Now
there's a bigger picture thing here. And I've always said this,
and this goes back to Deshaun Watson. Listen, no one
ever has any clue when it's a he said, she
(31:14):
said thing beside those two people or in this situation,
several people I don't know, you don't know, and definitely
these big Jay journals don't know. But last year the
reaction with him was very typical, like, you know, if
I tell you a story, if I just make up
a hypothetical story, you have a pretty good idea in
(31:36):
twenty twenty three what the media reaction is going to be.
And I've seen a lot of like former players that
are now in the media, like where's all the people apologizing,
all those people that wrote articles. They're not going to apologize,
That's not what they do. You know, if that's your expectation,
like we're all going to be waiting a while. Do
(31:57):
you remember the last couple of years. You remember all
the tweets and the articles from everyone in the media
about everything that went on in twenty twenty and twenty
twenty one, and then as we've learned that actually they
were wrong on the majority of it. Have they said
a peep? Of course not. They just move on. So
if you think you're gonna get some article from the
(32:18):
Washington Post or the New York Times that says my bad,
next time, we should give it a deep breath. Let's
see how it plays out. They ain't gonna fucking happen,
and it never will. So like when these situation happened
and you get wrongfully accused, you know, it's just you're
(32:39):
in major trouble with public opinion and the people that
have I was gonna say pens but that write these
articles for a living because we all know what those
articles are gonna say. And then if it goes on,
you're proven that it wasn't true. You're not gonna get
articles saying we fucked up, we apologize. You should come
back to the NFL, which is a screwed up system.
(33:01):
It's why you can't. I don't get caught up in
what these people say one way or the other, because
they're the most predictable group in this country. You can
just give a situation and you know the angle they're
gonna take. And with him specifically, it's bullshit. Really, I mean,
his career, his life was I don't want to say
(33:22):
his life's ruined because he's twenty two to twenty three.
His career was clearly derailed. Now will someone take a
chance on him now that he has been cleared of wrongdoings?
I would imagine so, But there's still is like, and
this is the BS part is I don't want to
say a stigma, but the elephant in the room that
(33:42):
follows him even though he didn't do it. And it
gets back to the reaction a year ago. It's just
a screwed up cycle and you go, well, John, you've
been hard on Deshan Watson over the years. Well, yeah,
it's like seventy five massage therapists. If it was just
one or two, I'd say, listen, I feel uncomfortable commenting
on things that no one could know beside these two people.
(34:03):
But it was just person after person after person. It's
like drip drip, drip, Like I mean, let's all use
some common sense here. But last year, like the reaction
by so many people that cover the sport, it was
just it was very predictable, and it's always going to
be predictable in these situations, and when it comes out
after the fact that actually it was completely wrong. He
(34:24):
didn't do a goddamn thing. It's I can't even imagine
being in those shoes of Mattaisa. Now we'll just see,
like I would imagine, because he is that talented in
some of the punts that he had last year in
the preseason, I remember he had like an eighty two
yard punt, that he will get another shot. I say,
history shows us that, especially when he has been cleared,
(34:48):
like this guy's not a criminal, but it's still you know,
it's such a hot button issue. I don't know, it's
going to be very, very interesting just to see how
it plays out. I would say, whether it be in
the short term, but definitely in the next couple of
years he will get a shot. And last but not least,
I read an article while I was reading Albert Breers.
(35:10):
He kind of does this Q and A. And in
the Q and A, someone asks, like, will there be
tanking this fall because of these quarterbacks and specifically Caleb.
I mean, Caleb's one of the best prospects going into
his junior season of my life. His size, his playmaking,
his production, his arm, the total package. I mean he is.
(35:33):
I know people that have seen him play live and
They're just like, bro, this is not this is not
a hype machine. And we see hype machines a lot,
and listen, I can be guilty of that, like I was.
I pounded the table a little bit last year for
Will Levis. He saw it this year with Anthony Richardson.
You just see it, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance. Hype machine
happens with quarterbacks. This is not a hype machine thing.
(35:54):
This is Jesus Christ. This guy is incredible. Like, this
guy is a baller, you know, well, I mean, this
guy is just an elite prospect, period, point blank, end
of story. It's very, very difficult to tank in the NFL.
You can tank a roster and put together the crappiest
version of your roster possible. And that's happened. Remember the
(36:15):
Miami Dolphins did it years ago. They won three of
their last five games and they beat the Patriots. Remember
at the end of the season. That ultimately led them
to get in the three seed, which then the Titans
beat him in the first round, and the Brady era ended.
And I've actually always kind of defended Stephen Ross, like
we've come this far, keep tanking. And then they beat
(36:36):
the Bengals, which I don't know led to Joe Burrow.
It's kind of changed their franchise. The Dolphins lost to
the Bengals, or excuse me, the Dolphins beat the Bengals
in overtime. So, you know, in basketball, it's so much
easier to tank, it really is, because you can just
put the crappiest roster humanly possible out there. In football,
(36:56):
you know, you see it every year, even these terrible
teams at the end of the season. Coaches try hard,
random players try hard. The teams you're playing sometimes don't
take you seriously. It's just of all the sports, a
tank it's definitely the hardest. I mean, we saw it
last year the Texans to win those what they win
like two of their last four games. They definitely won
(37:18):
their last game and Chicago ended up getting the number
one pick. Lovey Smith like what did he care? And
he clearly didn't like the coaches, the assistant coaches. They try,
so a lot of people are gonna walk Kayleb Williams
and by the middle of the season, you know, when
you're one to nine or two and twelve, you're gonna
you know, your fan base is going to have him circled,
(37:39):
but it's difficult to attain that it really is, and
we see it year after year, like, ah, this team
is the worst team in the NFL, they end up
drafting four, So you know, I mean, the Colts were
in absolute shambles last year. They couldn't have been any
worse for the majority of the season. They drafted fourth.
Difficult to get that top pick, you know, it really is,
no matter how hard you try to suck or even
(38:02):
you're trying to win. So, you know, the tanking thing.
The NFL is very very lucky that that's an issue
that they just don't have to worry about. The volume
The volume. What is going on everybody, John Middlecops three
and out podcast. That's the show and that's me. I
hope everyone's doing well. It's about six o'clock on Thursday afternoon.
(00:25):
Waited because I wanted to do some initial reactions to
the schedule. I went through and broke down every single
game for every single team, just kidding, there's no chance
on God's screen earth. I did that, but give some
initial thoughts, you know, to start the season. We'll dive
into it a little bit deeper as over the next
(00:47):
couple of weeks, specific teams schedules, you know, obviously you
know travel when your Thursday night game is your divisional games.
I mean, it's just we'll go through it as the
summer come individually with some teams, definitely over the next
couple of weeks. But I just tried to give my
initial reactions definitely to that, you know, kind of some
(01:07):
of the opener stuff on Thursday, Sunday and Monday is
a pretty sweet game Aaron Rodgers. So we will dive
into all that Middlecoff mailbag. I will put one out
over the weekend like I always do on Sunday at
John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in
those dms and get your question answered here on the show.
(01:28):
We like to work on the weekend here, no big deal.
We don't even need a good job, just what we do.
And yeah, the volume dot com you can check out
some go lo merch three and out hat is still
being developed. So hopefully we get that bad boy figured
out sooner than later. We're live on AMP, Live on app,
download Amazon Amp. And yeah, what else? Any other housekeeping?
(01:52):
I think that's probably it. So you know you're probably
looking at your team schedule and thinking, you know, eleven
wins minimum. Hell, that's you know, a Jags fan, So
every fan base is excited. You should be. No sport
quite like football, beside a couple teams. You know, everyone,
if you told me the Bears won like nine games,
it's believable. You know, you go from the number one
(02:13):
overall pick to competing to make a wild card. Shits
makes the NFL the best that way, we always get,
you know, teams that win the division come back to Earth,
and teams that haven't made the playoffs make the playoffs.
So it's the great part about the sport. And do
you want to go to one of these games. If
you're listening right now and you're a fan of whatever
team the Bengals, Seattle, you got some buzz. You're a
(02:34):
Houston Texans fan, the Cowboys, this is our year. I
got you covered. You want to buy some tickets, download
the official ticketing app of this show, game Time. Very
easy to do. Just go to your smartphone, download game
Time and use the promo code John that j o
HN John John, and get twenty dollars off any pair
(02:55):
of tickets you want to go to a game before that.
Obviously the football doesn't start dull September. Just use the
game Time at Baseball, basketball, concerts, comedy shows. They got
You Covered promo code John. Where do we start? The
NFL over the last I don't know, definitely decade, but
(03:16):
the last five six years has entered into a different
stratosphere than these other leagues in terms of viewership. It's
well documented, right the amount of people that watch football
relative to other sports. And I think sometimes and I
really fight against as people think I'm like a hater
and I'm not. I'm a huge sports fan. I love basketball,
(03:38):
I love baseball. I just as life has gone on,
I don't watch as much of it as I used
to relative obviously to football. It's my job. But the
numbers speak for themselves, the record viewership, the amount of
people to just watch Thursday night football. As I talked
about earlier this week, Amazon and the NFL trying to
(04:00):
figure out a way to get them better ratings, to
get more people to watch. It's like, well, how many
people watch? Uh nine and a half million people on average?
And let's face it, Thursday night games have been pretty
hit or miss, and part of it, you could argue,
was didn't feel like al was super locked in and
Herb Street. I like Kirkhurve Street a lot. He's fantastic
on college, but you know, I don't need him calling
(04:22):
my NFL games. You know, I like Troy I like
Chris Collinsworth, not the biggest romo guy, but he's an
NFL guy. I like my NFL guys calling my NFL
just like I like my college guys calling my college guys.
I don't want a pigeonhole anyone, but sometimes once you've
been doing something for a while, you kind of get pigeonhole.
Football is very, very difficult to call because of the
amount of people, the moving the amount of turnover with
(04:44):
coaches and rosters. And think about Week one, the NFL
is I wouldn't say got cocky, but they went, you
know what, we got this guy named Patrick Mahomes and
the Kansas City Chiefs, which kind of feel like the
Golden State Warriors because Mahomes, like Curry, just feels like
the ultimate superstar right now, all the kids like him.
(05:06):
You put them on TV. The ratings are enormous. Steph
Curry and the Warriors when they played the Kings in
the first round shattered records. Highest rated first round series
in like thirty plus years. It's not complicated to figure
this out. It's not the Sacramento Kings, they hadn't been
to the playoffs in seventeen years. It's Steph. People like
(05:29):
watching Steph Curry play basketball, no different than Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes could play Arizona State next week if he
was the quarterback. Ten million people are watching without hesitation.
He's that big of a rock star. But when you
look at the chief schedule, you could have thrown a
lot of games. Right. They play the Bills, they play
the Bengals, that's an easy one. But I bet the
(05:50):
networks go, you know what, let's put one in October,
in another one in December. Right, you could have been
like the Chargers. The Raiders are a rivalry with Jimmy
Garoppolo now and McDaniels. Definitely the Broncos, who now don't
just have Russell Wilson who may or may not be washed,
but they added Sean Payton week one, that's a fantastic
just game for our eyes, and they went, you know what,
(06:12):
let's take this up and coming pesky team that historically
is not very good. The Lions like kind of a
cocky move, and I'm bullsh on the Lions. I'm gonna
pick them to win the division. But let's be real.
You are going in on Thursday night football to a
team that has been to three Super Bowls in five years,
one two of them, and let's face it feels like
(06:34):
they could go on a dynasty type run. A ton
of people, probably including myself, are going to pick them
to win the Super Bowl. They have a loaded team.
All those rookies last year that started all those games
at the end of the season and through the playoffs
and won the Super Bowl. They're back. They have the
best player in the sport, and they have the best
coach currently in the sport, and Travis Kelsey still feels
(06:57):
like he's in the peak of his powers. And you
go with the Lis who, like I said, bullesh on them.
But here's a reality. Patrick Mahomes and Andy are used
to being the hunted. They take every team's best shot, right,
everyone's coming for him, just like Alabama football or Duke basketball,
or Tom Brady and Belichick all those years, or every
(07:20):
time you know a Pedro Martinez or Roger Clemens or
whoever in the peak of their power, justin Verlander pitched
in their prime. You're getting the other teams, the other players,
the other coaches, all their energy. And it's going to
be very very interesting with the Lions, not just this
game but this season, how they handle it. And from
(07:41):
a rating standpoint, this game will be fine. But I'm
very interested to watch this team now that hasn't accomplished anything.
I mean, they won eight of their last whatever nine
or ten games last year and had a lot of
momentum and ended Aaron Rodgers run in Green Bay. But
every year is a brand new year. Player will tell
you that, every coach will tell you that. Anyone associated
(08:03):
with the NFL to a man reiterates that why because
there's so much turnover every single season. We all think
the Eagles are freaking awesome because they are. Look at
their roster. They lost both coordinators. They lost a guy
that had eleven sacks last year in Javon Hargrain, like
they lost players at the end of the season. Lane
(08:25):
Johnson was duct taped together. He's an older player who's
just been things change. I think the Eagles are gonna
be really good, but it's just hard year to year
to year. Like it's why it's so impressive what Andy's done,
what Belichick and Brady did all those years, and it's
gonna be fascinating to watch. Everyone's gonna be talking about
the Lions all preseason. Last year it was because of
(08:49):
hard knocks and what happened. They started one to six.
Well this year, obviously Week one you could play the
Houston Texans. You're getting the team's best shot. But every
single game people are gonna be watching this team, especially
early on. How do they handle the expectations. Look what
happened already. Jamison Williams, who they drafted last year in
the top fifteen, suspended because he bet on a game
(09:10):
at the facility, not an NFL game, a college football game. Jamison,
you do understand that these companies track you and they
don't want to get in trouble and they'll turn you in.
So you know, listen, that place is gonna be going bananas.
Kansas City is essentially like an SEC town for the
(09:30):
NFL when it comes to football. Their passion, their team's incredible.
They're led by the best coach they've ever had, the
best player they've ever had. It's gonna be fascinating to
watch the Lions go in there because listen, they don't
have to win, they're gonna be I'm sure the Lions
are already out. They're gonna be an underdog by probably
six or seven points. But do they just look respectable, right,
(09:50):
or do they kind of like first game of the year,
just kind of get boat raced, get overwhelmed by it
something I'm fascinated by. It feels like, and I could
be wrong on this. Over the last twenty plus years,
if NBC had their choice, they would go with some
combination of Cowboys at Giants, Giants at Cowboys, Right, Cowboys
(10:11):
biggest brand, best TV product, not in terms of best team,
I just mean the most people watch. It's not arguable.
I'm not saying that I'm not a Cowboy fan, it's
just a fact. And the Giants win. They're good. Play
in New York City with fan bases are just based on, well,
how many people follow your team, and it's pretty clear
the biggest brands have the most fans. So when you
(10:31):
put when the Steelers are good, when the Packers are good,
when the Niners are good, when the Giants are good,
obviously when the Cowboys are good, they just have more
fans than these other teams. Like the Jags this year
could go sixteen to one, but their ceiling as a
franchise is only so high because of the quantity of
the amount of fans that they have. Well, now, the
Giants went through one of the most embarrassing stretches in
(10:53):
franchise history, right from Schrmer to Joe Judge. It was
a joke and you couldn't put them on Sunday Night
Football with a straight face. One season of being very
respectable getting to the playoffs, boom, they get that. No,
and that's a really good game. You know. The Cowboys.
I just saw on Twitter right before I hopped on.
(11:13):
They get three Sunday Night football games. I got news
for you. If Sunday Night in NBC, which is the
number one television show in America, could have fifteen of
the seventeen Cowboy games they would like, they would not hesitate.
So this game, you know, the Giants, they love the
NFC East because of the markets Dallas, New York. You know,
(11:35):
people want Washington to be bad, you know, very very
badly around the league because of their they have a
blarge fan base. They've just been relatively irrelevant, and obviously Philadelphia,
so they love Pigeonholing and rightfully so the NFC East
into that game. And then the most fascinating game to
me of the three primetime games by a mile, is
(11:57):
this New York Jets hosting the Bills on It's on
nine to eleven. So the game was gonna be whether
it's be the Giants game, whether it be the Jets game.
The Jets actually played the Giants, you could have done
that game as well, but that game was gonna be
in New York City on Monday Night football. That was
a lock. My producer James hit me up. He's a
(12:17):
big Giants fan. He's like, don't you think Giants Jets,
you know, for the anniversary of nine to eleven, And
I said, yeah, definitely possible. For sure, it was gonna
be one of the two New York teams. Could you
could have gone Pats at Jets. I thought that because
if you remember nine to eleven, you know, one of
the players for the Patriots, Andrewsi his brother was a fireman,
(12:39):
could have easily done that. But I think this is
pretty damn good too. I also think from a football
standpoint beside, it's gonna be just a big emotional night
right nine to eleven in New York City, Aaron Rodgers
first game, you're playing one of the best teams in
the league. In no particular order. You have to put
the Chiefs one. I think there's like a big five
(13:00):
or six. It's basically the Chiefs, then Eagles, Niners, Bengals, Bills.
I would be tempted to throw the Cowboys in there.
We'll see how they look, but they're right there on
the cusp. That's no order. I'm just saying that the
Chiefs are won because the Super Bowl champs, and then
that five or six if you want to include the Cowboys.
To me, is my group headed into this season. So
(13:21):
you're playing one of the best teams in the league
who has been consistently very very good, and he's kind
of taking control of your division. And let's face it,
you've been really, really shitty for a long time. Now,
you showed signs last year, and now you add Aaron
Rodgers and the big question for me is, I'm bullets
on this team. I'm gonna pick this team to make
the playoffs. But a lot of people and I already
(13:42):
saw Coward tweet. You know, he's not the biggest Roger
guy is gonna be We Aaron missed the playoffs last year,
trending down, and now there's all this pressure of all
the teams. We talked about this last week, Right, the
Broncos are gonna have some pressure, but it's kind of unique. Right,
If Russell stinks, no one's gonna blame Sean Payton and
they'll just move on from Russell Wilson, Like if Deshaun
(14:03):
Watson is now just bad. Like there's pressure on the
Browns because of that contract. They're just kind of sol
they're screwed. I mean, I don't know what you can do, right,
you know, if the Lions stink. Everyone kind of annoyed
it them like whatever. Like if Jordan Love stinks, I
think people would be like, listen, you made a move.
You had to do it. See if you can find
another quarterback. But with Aaron Rodgers, like the pressure's on
(14:26):
Aaron Rodgers, Robert Sala, Joe Douglas. I mean jobs are
on the line, and you start this game, everyone's gonna
be watching. Like I'd argue, this game to me is
much bigger to the landscape of the league and kind
of how we'll judge than even Cowboys Gibs right, Like
I view this game as probably the marquee game of
(14:49):
Week one, as just like what's this thing going to
look like? And then you look And this is what
Coward was alluding to on his tweet. The Jets playing
six primetime games this year. The schedule starts really really difficulty.
Start with the Bills, who you know. I don't know
how you set the line, but if you tell me
the Bills are favored even on the road, I think
(15:10):
that's very believable. Then you go to Dallas. Even if
New England turns out to not be that great, still
got Belichick a good defense. He hates the Jets. I mean,
Belichick despises the Jets. What was one of the stories
why Belichick made a trade during the draft on Thursday night.
It's like, well, he didn't even get good value, but
(15:32):
he wanted the Steelers to get a player so he
could screw the Jets. Then they go to Kansas City.
Then they go or excuse me, they get Kansas City
at home, which the Chiefs is better than you, and
then at Denver, which I don't know if they're going
to be good or not, but that's just a tough
place to play, and then Philadelphia before the bye week.
So you get Philly, the Chiefs, Dallas, and Buffalo. I
(15:54):
mean it is We're gonna find out really really fast
if this Jets team. I have no reservation when I
think about Aaron Rodgers handling expectations. He's been the starting
quarter he you know, replaced Brett Favre, became the best
player in the history of a franchise that you could
argue in all of sports, is one of the most
(16:15):
historic and definitely one of the most important to the NFL.
He has been the hunted as a player and as
a leader of a team. Now for a decade plus.
He's used to playing in primetime games left and right.
He has played in some of the highest rated games
of the last twelve thirteen years. So I don't If
Aaron's healthy, I have confidence in him. But what about
(16:38):
the other guys, Like they have this young nucleus who Yeah,
I like Garrett Wilson a lot, But you know, it's
a little different animal playing Northwestern than it is Buffalo.
You know, I like bris Hall and some of these players,
but they've never had the expectation in the league. Think
about their coach, love Robert salim fell a bald guy.
Root for him. I'm I'm going to root for the
Jets this year. Hadn't had much success as a head coach.
(17:02):
Not totally his fault, I mean, they picked the wrong quarterback,
but you know, I would imagine some Jets fans and
just football fans are like, is Robert Solil really that good?
And we're about to find out, right, And then just
the pressure of that city. It's going to be very
very interesting to watch how it all handles itself in
terms of the play, the young nucleus and the coaching staff.
(17:24):
And I viewed Detroit very simple, A lot like the Jets.
That's a town that can turn negative fast, right Like
I been in California the majority of my life. When
the team sucks, people just tune out your ratings as
a radio host, as a podcast when it comes to
the Bay Area or southern California. Teams don't thrive if
(17:47):
the team's irrelevant. If it's a basketball team and they
win twenty games, or it's a football team and they're
winning three or four games, no one cares. People tune
you out. But I saw it in Philadelphia. I know
New York's very similar. Obviously Detroit kind of thrive in misery. Now,
obviously they want to win. If you're a Jets fan,
if you're a Lions fan, you want to go to
the playoffs. But if it goes the other way, people
(18:09):
enjoy the negativity that surrounds a disaster in that Northeast corridor,
you know, And it'd be very fascinating if things went
the wrong way. That would be the one thing I
would say. How Rogers handled that something to keep an
eye on. If you know what if they started. I mean,
you could argue one in three is on the table. Buffalo, Dallas,
(18:30):
New England, Kansas city. That's a very very difficult start.
I think it's fair to say that Rogers and the
Jets are you know, like, what's the story with the Chiefs?
Can they repeat? Can they win their third right Buffalo?
Can they finally get over the hump right there? I
mean those are interesting. Can the Bengals maintain this high
level play? Like who's going to be the quarterback for
(18:51):
the forty nine ers? Can Mike McCarthy, Like can he
win multiple playoff games and get a contract extension? Like
Aaron Rodgers and the Jets? Will this work? You know,
is this gonna be? Is he gonna win eleven games? Like?
I'm gonna pick them to win ten eleven games? But
let's be real, if they were to go like seven
and ten again, some injuries, it looked wrong. Their schedule
(19:14):
just beats them up. It's easily one of the bigger
stories in the league, and it's something we'll just talk
about a lot. It's something I'll talk about a lot.
I mean, I find it fascinating and interesting to begin with.
But just the trade, the brand, you know, how's Jordan
Love doing that? That's something to keep an eye on, Like,
is Jordan Love have a really good season. Before we
dive into what's next, do you know that Angie's list
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the giant schedule you know, speaking of teams that sometimes
(20:45):
it's hard. You know, the reason why I would have
voted Brian Daball Coach of the Year. I guess he
won it, but why even throughout the season, I'm like,
his roster wasn't that good. What he was doing was incredible.
I still don't think is roster that great. It's not
like he improved that much year to year. Now, maybe
some of the younger guys that they drafted. Maybe Cavon
this year is a Tensac guy, right, maybe Daniel Jones
(21:09):
is that much better. You can have improvement with some guys,
but let's not act like their roster looks like some
of the top teams in the league. And then when
you look at their schedule they got a ton of
road games. We'll find early on they got a Thursday
night game against the forty nine ers, you know, fascinated
to watch that play out. And like I said, speaking
of the Niners, like who's their starting quarterback when the
season starts. One thing with the schedule, which which is hard.
(21:31):
I mean I could do if I wanted to run
a first take show. You know, I think we can
assume relative health early in the season. But it's so
difficult after like October first, you know, just from basic
things like the guy pulled a hamstring, guy rolled an ankle,
to bad injuries, to quarterbacks missing play, to teams that
(21:52):
you thought were going to be good aren't good being
teams you thought were going to be bad. I mean
I penciled in last year Seattle and the Giants as
the two worst teams in the league. Both of them
made the playoffs, right, I mean, it's just I would
have said the Packers, locked to win that division, didn't
make it. The Vikings, who I'll give coward credit on
(22:13):
that picked them, didn't see that one coming. That's another one,
like do they just have another ten to eleven win team.
I don't know. You know, I think that's what makes
this sport so awesome, right, Like I said, there's a
hierarchy of five six teams, which I think everyone, you know,
if they remove their bias, just have to acknowledge the
final four teams last year are going to be good again.
(22:35):
I would put the Bills right there, even though they
did get their ass kicked by the Bengals, but they're good.
And then the Cowboys. I actually Cowboys earned my respect
for how well they played the Niners in that game.
They're so physical on defense. It's just I don't totally
trust their quarterback in the big spots. But throughout a
season like they can win twelve games easily. Hell, I
mean they've won They did that last year with missing
(22:56):
their starting quarterback for a minute. Yeah. I just think
that's it's cool about the NFL is that there are
going to be so many teams that are coming. Are
the Jags now just some playoffs stalwart a basis team
for the next several years? Lock to win the division
should be. I mean, they have one of the best
young quarterbacks in the division or in the in the
in all of the NFL. They have a Super Bowl
winning coach. You know, a guy that just crossed my mind,
(23:19):
and you know where I stand on this guy throughout
the season is Brandon Staley. You know, guy coaching for
his job. Can Can he win a playoff game? Because
anything less than going to the playoffs with Justin Herbert?
Can they compete to win the division? That's one thing
The Chiefs are kind of at the point now where
if you told me to you know, let's say the
Chargers won twelve games and they won eleven. It's not
like the Chiefs can't win the division on the road.
(23:39):
I mean, they have a huge advantage at home. But
if you told me eventually the Chiefs are a five
seed one year, as long as they got Patrick Mallomes
and Travis Kelsey Andy Reid, I'm still taking them very
very seriously. So exciting times this is this is a
fun time of year when you see the schedule, but
it's it can be difficult just because things change so
(24:00):
fast with injuries. Okay, let's dive into a couple of
stories around the NFL that don't relate to the schedule.
Let's go down to Nashville, Tennessee and the Tennessee Titans.
There was a headline I saw that Malik Willis, who
they drafted last year in the third round, his job
status is in major jeopardy, as in he might not
(24:21):
make the team. And my first reaction to that, of course,
it is like they just drafted a quarterback in the
second round. The general manager, John Robinson, who drafted him,
is no longer there. They have a new guy in
charge in ran Carthin with Mike Rable. It's like, well,
same head coach, well that same head coach last year,
when Malik Willis couldn't hit water if he was sitting
(24:42):
in a boat, benched him for Josh Dobbs, who wasn't
even on their team, who's on the Lions practice squad
in a game at the end of the season that
I don't know kind of mattered. Remember they were playing
to get into the playoffs, and he wouldn't play the guy.
So I think it's clear that the way that season ended.
Now you get a new GM, does he have a
(25:04):
support system? Does he have people in the building who
support and advocate and want to see him succeed, because
if he doesn't, then he's done. Here's what I know
about will Levis. The GM and the head coach clearly
liked him for them to pull the trigger to draft
him early in the second round, and by all accounts,
they were trying to trade in at the end of
(25:25):
Thursday night in the first round in the late twenties
to draft will Levis. So Will Levis has supporters in
the building. Pretty clear Malik Willis doesn't. Really I've been
in situations in the NFL in radio when my support
system left. Do you know what happened? I got fired?
You know, I lost my job. It happens all the
(25:48):
time in pro sports or just in a lot of
industries when the guy you work for leaves or gets
let go and they bring in new people and you
are not their guy. The moment things get weird. Honestly,
some things might be out of control. They just don't
want to deal with you. And whenever I see the
response of well, what do you think happens when you
(26:10):
bring in a developmental project and you don't give them
time to develop? To me, there are different types of development.
When Josh Allen was drafted, it was clear that year
one needed some time to develop. Same with Patrick Mahomes.
But both of them, if you watch that, you know
the first year with Josh Allen and the one game
with Patrick Mahomes there were just like okay, you could
(26:32):
see it. With Malik Willis, I think he was easily
the worst quarterback in the NFL that played last season.
I mean, think about Zach Wilson for example. I'm all
for development, but he couldn't complete wheel routes. He couldn't
complete a slant route like the most If I'm an
NBA player and I can't make a layup like I
(26:53):
can't play like wait, you can't make a layup like
in football, especially at the highest level when you're playing
on Sundays, go routes are hard. You're going to hit those.
I don't even know what the percentage is for the
good quarterbacks fifty percent of the time, right, but there
are going to be some routes that should be a
very very high percentage, and Milik Willis had no shot
(27:14):
to complete those. It looked like does this guy even
should this guy be playing quarterback? And I don't know
if he's a good enough athlete to change positions, but
from what I witnessed, he's a year away from being
a year away. And some quarterbacks change positions for whatever reasons.
And to me, Edelman did it. Terrell Pryor did it.
I remember watching Terrell Pryor when I had when I
(27:35):
did the Raiders postgame show, and Terrell Pryor was their quarterback,
and ultimately he just had no chance to He was
athletic enough as a runner, but as a thrower. It wasn't.
It was a joke. I mean it was, and he
transitioned and he went on to play wide receiver. Now
I don't know if Malik Willis is that level of
an athlete. But what we win is last year, even
(27:56):
if he improved, you know, twenty percent, he's still not
remotely close to being an NFL quarterback and a guy
it's the one position, right whoever your backup is, there's
a chance, you know, he might not play a snap
all season long. And then there's a chance, I don't know,
Patrick Mahomes rolls his ankle and the guy has to
start a game or come in and play in a
(28:18):
tight game. And that clearly happened last year with the Titans,
and it was a disaster. And I'm not trying to
act like Ryan Tannehill as a savior. I wouldn't want
him to be my quarterback either. But the support system
for Malik Willis John Robinson never told me this, but
it was pretty clear. Mike Frable's not big on him.
The GM has zero ties to him and just drafted
(28:40):
a quarterback. He's done, you know, he's completely done to
me playing quarterback in Tennessee. Now, can he do something else?
Can he bring other stuff to the table, because if
he can, then maybe could survive. But what I witnessed
last year, now maybe some team would put him on
the practice squad. But I have a very very hard time,
and I mean very hard time seeing him being an
active rightster quarterback in the NFL, let alone on the Titans.
(29:03):
So to me, it's kind of a non story. I
think the story would be if Malik Willis is able
to survive in twenty twenty three, the amount of money
these teams have. You know, no one waits, like Trey
Lanson is already battling to be the backup. Zach Wilson
is like to thank god everyone had. You know, Land
is like he doesn't have to start anymore. Guys for
(29:25):
the second and third pick in the draft a couple
of years ago. We're moving at rapid speed. People aren't
worried about signing bonuses and cash. You just move on.
And then the way the league works is every year
new players are coming through. It's the fastest turnover. It's
the fastest cycle of kind of working through guys that
can't play. So just always a third round pick. Who cares.
(29:46):
Rock Purty was a seventh round pick, right. I mean,
if you flip those two, it would have been dramatically different.
The Niners would have been screwed. Maybe the Titans would
have been okay. Another story Matt Ariza, who's known as
the punt God, was it came out last week. He
was cut last year allegedly in a gang rape. He
(30:08):
was there was I don't know all the legal terms.
There was an accuser that said that he and other
guys at San Diego State gang raped her. And it
turns out not only it wasn't true, I don't know
if the other guys did, but he was not there.
He wasn't present. He had nothing to do with it.
And I remember last year when he was cut, everyone was,
(30:30):
you know, the media and we'll get into them here
in a second. Was freaking out, and I said, the
Bills are not cutting him because they know he did it,
or they know he did not do it. They have
no clue. They cut him simply because he's a punter.
And it's like, we can't deal with the potential of
this being true, even if we believe you at the
position you play. I said it if he had been
(30:54):
the quarterback, if he had been the pass rusher, if
he had been the star tackle, it would have been different.
They would have let it play out. When you're a
six round punter, you just don't have the juice. Now
there's a bigger picture thing here. And I've always said this,
and this goes back to Deshaun Watson. Listen, no one
ever has any clue when it's a he said, she
(31:14):
said thing beside those two people or in this situation,
several people I don't know, you don't know, and definitely
these big Jay journals don't know. But last year the
reaction with him was very typical, like, you know, if
I tell you a story, if I just make up
a hypothetical story, you have a pretty good idea in
(31:36):
twenty twenty three what the media reaction is going to be.
And I've seen a lot of like former players that
are now in the media, like where's all the people apologizing,
all those people that wrote articles. They're not going to apologize,
That's not what they do. You know, if that's your expectation,
like we're all going to be waiting a while. Do
(31:57):
you remember the last couple of years. You remember all
the tweets and the articles from everyone in the media
about everything that went on in twenty twenty and twenty
twenty one, and then as we've learned that actually they
were wrong on the majority of it. Have they said
a peep? Of course not. They just move on. So
if you think you're gonna get some article from the
(32:18):
Washington Post or the New York Times that says my bad,
next time, we should give it a deep breath. Let's
see how it plays out. They ain't gonna fucking happen,
and it never will. So like when these situation happened
and you get wrongfully accused, you know, it's just you're
(32:39):
in major trouble with public opinion and the people that
have I was gonna say pens but that write these
articles for a living because we all know what those
articles are gonna say. And then if it goes on,
you're proven that it wasn't true. You're not gonna get
articles saying we fucked up, we apologize. You should come
back to the NFL, which is a screwed up system.
(33:01):
It's why you can't. I don't get caught up in
what these people say one way or the other, because
they're the most predictable group in this country. You can
just give a situation and you know the angle they're
gonna take. And with him specifically, it's bullshit. Really, I mean,
his career, his life was I don't want to say
(33:22):
his life's ruined because he's twenty two to twenty three.
His career was clearly derailed. Now will someone take a
chance on him now that he has been cleared of wrongdoings?
I would imagine so, But there's still is like, and
this is the BS part is I don't want to
say a stigma, but the elephant in the room that
(33:42):
follows him even though he didn't do it. And it
gets back to the reaction a year ago. It's just
a screwed up cycle and you go, well, John, you've
been hard on Deshan Watson over the years. Well, yeah,
it's like seventy five massage therapists. If it was just
one or two, I'd say, listen, I feel uncomfortable commenting
on things that no one could know beside these two people.
(34:03):
But it was just person after person after person. It's
like drip drip, drip, Like I mean, let's all use
some common sense here. But last year, like the reaction
by so many people that cover the sport, it was
just it was very predictable, and it's always going to
be predictable in these situations, and when it comes out
after the fact that actually it was completely wrong. He
(34:24):
didn't do a goddamn thing. It's I can't even imagine
being in those shoes of Mattaisa. Now we'll just see,
like I would imagine, because he is that talented in
some of the punts that he had last year in
the preseason, I remember he had like an eighty two
yard punt, that he will get another shot. I say,
history shows us that, especially when he has been cleared,
(34:48):
like this guy's not a criminal, but it's still you know,
it's such a hot button issue. I don't know, it's
going to be very, very interesting just to see how
it plays out. I would say, whether it be in
the short term, but definitely in the next couple of
years he will get a shot. And last but not least,
I read an article while I was reading Albert Breers.
(35:10):
He kind of does this Q and A. And in
the Q and A, someone asks, like, will there be
tanking this fall because of these quarterbacks and specifically Caleb.
I mean, Caleb's one of the best prospects going into
his junior season of my life. His size, his playmaking,
his production, his arm, the total package. I mean he is.
(35:33):
I know people that have seen him play live and
They're just like, bro, this is not this is not
a hype machine. And we see hype machines a lot,
and listen, I can be guilty of that, like I was.
I pounded the table a little bit last year for
Will Levis. He saw it this year with Anthony Richardson.
You just see it, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance. Hype machine
happens with quarterbacks. This is not a hype machine thing.
(35:54):
This is Jesus Christ. This guy is incredible. Like, this
guy is a baller, you know, well, I mean, this
guy is just an elite prospect, period, point blank, end
of story. It's very, very difficult to tank in the NFL.
You can tank a roster and put together the crappiest
version of your roster possible. And that's happened. Remember the
(36:15):
Miami Dolphins did it years ago. They won three of
their last five games and they beat the Patriots. Remember
at the end of the season. That ultimately led them
to get in the three seed, which then the Titans
beat him in the first round, and the Brady era ended.
And I've actually always kind of defended Stephen Ross, like
we've come this far, keep tanking. And then they beat
(36:36):
the Bengals, which I don't know led to Joe Burrow.
It's kind of changed their franchise. The Dolphins lost to
the Bengals, or excuse me, the Dolphins beat the Bengals
in overtime. So, you know, in basketball, it's so much
easier to tank, it really is, because you can just
put the crappiest roster humanly possible out there. In football,
(36:56):
you know, you see it every year, even these terrible
teams at the end of the season. Coaches try hard,
random players try hard. The teams you're playing sometimes don't
take you seriously. It's just of all the sports, a
tank it's definitely the hardest. I mean, we saw it
last year the Texans to win those what they win
like two of their last four games. They definitely won
(37:18):
their last game and Chicago ended up getting the number
one pick. Lovey Smith like what did he care? And
he clearly didn't like the coaches, the assistant coaches. They try,
so a lot of people are gonna walk Kayleb Williams
and by the middle of the season, you know, when
you're one to nine or two and twelve, you're gonna
you know, your fan base is going to have him circled,
(37:39):
but it's difficult to attain that it really is, and
we see it year after year, like, ah, this team
is the worst team in the NFL, they end up
drafting four, So you know, I mean, the Colts were
in absolute shambles last year. They couldn't have been any
worse for the majority of the season. They drafted fourth.
Difficult to get that top pick, you know, it really is,
no matter how hard you try to suck or even
(38:02):
you're trying to win. So, you know, the tanking thing.
The NFL is very very lucky that that's an issue
that they just don't have to worry about. The volume
Host
John Middlekauff
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