January 18, 2025 • 45 mins
John opens the weekend with a big mailbag show. John answers all of your questions on the NFL Divisional Match-up's, which teams should which GM and coach, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
How are we doing?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
My people happy? Uh? Football Saturday and football Sunday gonna
be some happy people. Gonna be some angry people. No.
I guess if you're a Texans fan or a comedy fan,
you can't be mad if your squad loses. You know,
Bill's raven. Someone's gonna be pissed off there. And I
(00:41):
would say the it's gonna be hard for a Rams
fan to be mad. I would say the Eagles would
be uh might not be happy. Uh. So yeah, we
might have some angry people, but hopefully you guys are
enjoying football, enjoying life and join your family. Probably a
little chili wherever you are. It's like nine in the
more on Friday, and I said, you know what, having
(01:03):
like my third cup of coffee, let's bang out a
little mailbag and we try to do one on the weekend.
So make sure you subscribe. If you listen on Collins
Feed to the three and out feed, make sure you
subscribe to the YouTube channel. A ton of content up there.
We will be reacting live tonight to the games after
the night game, so after the fighting. Dan Campbell's take
(01:25):
on the Commies we will have stuff on YouTube and
then have the podcast out first thing in the morning,
so go check that out as well. But let's just
braning out some mailbag questions. Hey John, I'm from Brazil.
I've been an NFL fan and an avid football podcast
listener for the past eight years. Ravens at Bills. If
(01:47):
the Bills lose, it likely will be because of their defense,
which has been struggling lately. With that in mind, my
question is, what would your strategy be to stop or
at least slow down Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense. Personally,
I'd focus on stopping the run at all costs and
(02:09):
forced Lamar to beat us. I think he's a Bills
fan from the pocket. I think that's easy to say.
And you know, I was watching. I clicked on Dan
Campbell's press conference and he talked about and Stucky brought
this up, how they've struggled against running quarterbacks. I thought
(02:31):
Dan Campbell had a pretty good response. He's like, find
me a team who plays running quarterbacks, especially the good
ones who does well. Like there was a reason Lamar Jackson,
Josh Allen Kyler can have moments. Obviously, Jayden this season
they're tough to prepare for, and I think it's easy
to be like, well, just corral them and force them
(02:53):
to just get rid of the ball fast. That's easier
said than done for your defensive lineman. I also think
the hard part about stopping quote unquote the running game
when it comes to the Ravens. It's not like you
can send two guys each to Derrick Henry and Lamar
Jackson on some of these plays. And we've seen the
(03:13):
Steelers sell out on Lamar Henry go nuts, sell out
on Henry Lamargo nuts. I don't know if they're you
basically just need him to fumble. He basically also probably
need to hit him really hard, which is hard to
do because he's not like Jayden, and some of these
guys can be a little more reckless when they're running,
(03:33):
Like Lamar's great at doing that little PLoP, like he'll
just PLoP to the ground. So I don't know, I
think I think you've got to try to create a turnover.
You can just to me if you had to pick one,
like Lamar's gonna have a couple explosive runs. And that's
one thing Dan Campbell mentioned. He's like, yeah, Jayden might
(03:53):
hit a couple of twenty yard runs, tip you're hat
and move on. I do think it's really hard. I
don't think the Bills can win if Derrick Henry's going
for I don't know, one to fifty plus, because if
he's going for one to fifty plus, he's probably running
the ball twenty three to twenty eight times, and it
(04:16):
just completely controls the clock you're off the field. I
just I'm trying to looking up the Steelers game. He
had twenty six carries for one to eighty six. I
think anything with Derrick Henry over twenty plus carries is
a problem for the bag. Big Packer fan in Pennsylvania,
(04:39):
Love Pa, Where do you think the Packers' biggest error is?
With the injury set aside, it's hard to complain about
love when the transition is from FARV Great Rogers great
and love good slash competitive. I agree. I think it'd
be like going from first class first class. You're still
sitting in business class. You might not be flying on
(05:01):
a private jet, but you're not exactly in the back
of Spirit airlines. Like life's pretty good. I think everyone
just needs to take a deep breath and say, hey,
this could be a lot worse. The defense improved this year,
and the Eagles matchup in the playoffs was probably the
worst matchup they could have had. You know, I thought
(05:23):
I saw Jeff Haffley interviewed. Who do the interviewed the Jets,
the Bears, some of these teams, I mean the Jets
and the Bears. Holy shit, they interview a lot of people.
I mean, my god, So I don't even think I've
seen anyone. Have the Jags interviewed a soul? The Jets
and the Bears have interviewed a combined five hundred people,
(05:44):
And I don't know if I've seen one headline with
the Jaguars. Obviously, the Patriots has banged it out and
looks like the Raiders are gonna hire Ben Johnson. I
just think you need some of your younger players to
just become better. Right. You need one of those wide
receivers to become an All Star. Right, you need Jordan
Love to be a top ten quarterback. And if your
(06:06):
defense is just solid, like you should be able to
compete in the NFC. It's really that simple, Like one thing,
look at the look at the two teams above you
in your own division. You know, Justin Jefferson is an
elite player. Jordan Addison is a high, high end player.
Darrisow before he got hurt, was like a big time
left tackle. So it's like you need some of your
(06:28):
guys to become like, oh, that guy's a star. Obviously
the Lions are full of them. Nider fan here, I
think we need more draft picks, something around ten. The
defense needs fresh players, talent. We're miles off teams like
the Eagles, Texans and Chiefs. Defensively, yes, we have Botsa
and Warner who are excellent. Lenora and Greenlaw are good too,
(06:49):
and Mustafa and Green seem like good players, but around
them we are mid or even bad. I miss Buckner,
Armstead and others. Would you trade back with the eleventh
pick to accumulate picks or would you trade a player
with value? I see only Bosa having big trade value.
Would you trade him? No? I would not. I think
(07:12):
we've talked about this before. They're gonna pay party. They
have some guys. You know, green Law's a free agent.
So if you have Bosa and you have Warner as cornerstones,
Lenore is a really really good starting corner. Ernardo Green
who was their second round pick from Florida State is
looks like he's got a chance to be a good starter.
(07:32):
You got a bunch of safety depth they you know,
Leonard Floyd. Leonard Floyd came on at the end, but
their defensive line in the first two picks. To me,
you got to go offensive a defensive line in one
of the two orders. Ideally you take a left tackle
at pick eleven. I don't know if a guy's gonna
(07:53):
be there, but that's what I would do, and I
would try to take a defensive lineman with my second
round pick. It's hard to say trade back and accumulate,
you know, it's it becomes difficult to trade back, you know,
for non quarterbacks and stuff like that. There's just not
a guarantee that it can happen. And sometimes like, oh,
I'll go eleven to fourteen for you know, a fourth
(08:15):
round pick. It's like, Okay, get an extra pick. But
what if I really like two players there at eleven,
and when I go to fourteen, neither of them might
be there. It's a no brainer when you're draft in
one and you don't need a quarterback, and you could
trade back four spots and accumulate like two first round
picks and a second and a third. It's like, yeah,
some of these picks and the teams when you do
(08:36):
swaps like that, aren't it sexy. I listen to you
and others, and all I hear is the draft class sucks. Listen,
I before I read the rest of your question, I
think it's easy. And I was like this sometimes when
I scouted, and even now when I talk about football,
(08:59):
like you can be jaded when you say it sucks.
It doesn't suck. Obviously they are gonna be All these
guys in the first round are very talented players, but
there is an element relative to other drafts, like, yeah,
that's not Micah Parsons, Pinasul Jamar Chase, right, you know
guys Lane Johnson, Trent Williams, JJ Watt, Julio Jones sitting
(09:22):
in the top fifteen picks. So it's a lot more unknown.
I think that's better than sucks because there are I mean,
I watch Abdul Carter's really good, Warren's really good, Gent's
really good player. I mean, I don't know some of
these guys are gonna go hire anothers, but you know
what I mean. The wide receiver from Arizona is a
good player. The wide receiver from Missouri is a good player.
(09:45):
There are good players, solid tackle prospects Texas Banks, Campbell
lsu Like. There are the running back from North Carolina
as a stud. However, I can't remember a draft that
has this many later pick project type guys Riley Lanyard,
Will Howard, Jackson Dart, Milroe and to a degree, Quin Yours.
(10:09):
I think the draft will showcase those organizations who excel
with projection and development. Can you speak to the difference
between a top prospect with relatively average skills or a
late round pick talent who is elite at one thing
and needs to be developed. I'd personally rather have Jackson
Dart in the third round than Shador in the top
three picks. I had a scouting buddy text me yesterday.
(10:33):
I mean, he's just a friend who's a scout, and
he's like, he's like, I'm just watching Miami right now.
He's like this Cam war buzz feels a little crazy
to me. He's like, I can't see him as the
number one overall pick. Now. It's all relative because it's
the quarterback class, but I think there are a lot
(10:54):
of question marks with the high end guys. So I
think when you talk about drafting a guy really high,
it has to be a no brain or the guy's
going to be your franchise quarterback. Like look at this
we've talked about this weekend. You know all these guys
in the first round. You know, Lamar is a first
round pick, but when you take a guy thirty two,
it's like Jordan Love like you're hoping. But when you
(11:15):
look at the other guys Mahomes ten, Josh Allen seven,
Golf one, Stroud to Jaden two, you know those guys
were projected to be your franchise guy. The expectation for
those guys are stupid high. They really are. And I
think that's why you take Shador and cam Ward, Like
can the guy be c J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels,
(11:38):
Because if you can't, then I'd have I would just
take Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter. So when you look
at the other guys, when you look at like third
and fourth round quarterbacks, usually the coaching staff plays a
big role. Obviously, the GM and your scouts should like
the player. But when you look at non like top
(11:59):
fifty quarterback, usually someone's banging the table and feels very
passionate about the player. You know, famously, Russell Wilson was
pushed heavily.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
By John Schneider.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Pete Carroll looked at him and was like, this guy's
too short. I mean, this guy he would have been
the smallest player at USC, so I think he had
to be convinced, and ultimately he was and they made
the right decision.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
The story on Brock Purdy, who obviously was drafted even
later was Brian Greasy loved him, loved him, and maybe
like Kubiak or Slowick or one other guy really liked him.
But you have to have someone as a proponent for
you in the building. Cause let's just pick a number.
(12:45):
Let's say there are six boxes to check as a
quarterback that define your ability, size, speed, you know, just
your your your body type is one, your arm strength
is too and I'm not this is no order accuracy, processing, production,
(13:07):
like all these checks. Maybe you're just good at a
couple of them and you're missing, like, you know, he
wasn't that productive. He's kind of small, it doesn't have
a great arm, but he's really accurate and he's really smart.
You have to have someone fighting because it is easy,
and I think this is just a natural, you know,
something that humans do. Right, It's so easy to pick
(13:28):
the negative side, well he can't do this, Well he
can't do that, And I can be like that sometimes
in life, like you want to do this, No, I'm
not really feeling that you want to do that. Think
how many people that you do business with? Yeah, if
we shouldn't do that, yeah, it's it's the easiest thing
to do is essentially to say no. It always is.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is like yeah, I
(13:50):
see that, Yeah, let's do that. As crazy as that sounds,
it's no different scouting, it's no different life. So I
think these guys will Howard's, Riley, Leonard's Jackson Darts wherever
they get drafted, they are gonna have people internally, it's
it's gonna be split, right, They're gonna be people like ah,
(14:11):
I don't really see it, and they're gonna be a
couple people, and clearly they are gonna have some influence
that truly believe, Like I see something here, and I
think with quarterback, one separator that is impossible to quantify
is the kid like the wiring of the player, Like
(14:34):
just look at some of these guys that are still
playing in the NFL. You know, either they're like Jimmy
Garoppolo is just really well liked in the locker room,
even Davante, who hated him as a players, like, yeah,
I really like Jimmy. You know, there's something I watched
Joshua Dobbs on the forty nine ers, like, yeah, this
guy's just people just like this guy. People just really
(14:55):
really Marcus Mariota. Mariota is a great example. I've never
met a human being that has spent one second round Mary.
Others like yeah, I really like the guy, or I
mean the opposite, like I don't like the guy. He
is his approval ratings really really high. And that stuff
matters when you're talking about guys that are definitely they
(15:17):
might become starters, but they're drafted to compete to be
the backup. John kirk Cousins is literally so much better
than Donald and he got bench this year, and like
you said, all they do is throw. Even Alex Smith
fell into a thirty touchdown season. I got to push
back on that. I'm not sure Alex ever threw thirty touchdowns,
(15:40):
but kirk Cousins in twenty twenty five is not better
than Sam Donald. Alex Smith never had a thirty touchdown season.
His best season was twenty six touchdowns. I only push
back on that because I've looked at that number up
so many times. I watched Donald sucks every big game
(16:01):
that he is hidden by multiple games going on. He's horrible,
He's terrible, bright lights, he sucks. I watched him at
USC played Notre Dame. I was in the stands watching
the game. They lost forty two to fourteen. Aller just
lost to Notre Dame in the playoff, and you say
he's undraftable. Sam Donald was dramatically better than Drew Aller
(16:24):
in college. And Sam Donald also just had a really
good season down the stretch of the season. He went
on the road in Green Bay, which is clearly a
good defense, and on the road in Seattle and made
big plays. He did not play well in the last
two games. The Lions game, he was completely overwhelmed the
next game, like, I'm sorry, it was on both of them,
(16:47):
and I watched I'm a sicko, but I watch a
lot of coaches press conferences, and I watched Kevin O'Connell
discuss those last two games and he was obviously asked
a lot of questions about Sam Donald. You know, Kevin's
kind of a smooth cat. You know, he's good looking. Dude, man,
you're just like, damn, I kind of just say, I
(17:09):
understand why people like the guy, but you know, he's
not a huge take full responsibility kind of did. But
even he said, like, listen, we should have had more
answers in the quick game to get rid of the ball.
Everything didn't have to be a deep breaking route when
our offensive line was getting smoked and me and the
quarterback kind of fell apart. The other thing is, okay,
(17:29):
he's not great in big games. We don't even know.
My pushback on JJ McCarthy is is he going to
be good in the NFL in regular games? Like if
you're just playing the Jacks or the Titans, or the Cardinals,
or just just pick a team, the Niners, the Packer,
Like can he just function? I have no clue. So, yeah,
(17:52):
Sam Donald, can we win a super Bowl with this guy?
If you want to tell me, no, what am I
going to argue with you? One you're the mist Vikings.
You don't win super Bowls? And two this guy just
legend in the playoffs, Tody Kirk, Cousins legend in the
playoffs could do way worse. You could do way worse
than Cousins and donald. One big difference with Cousins and
(18:14):
Donald is Cousins can't move, Donalds can't. Now. We can
discuss like Donald is a long way to go to
be as consistently good over the course of his career
as Cousins. But I don't think we can just act
like Sam Donald is now Will Levis because he had
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(18:43):
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Speaker 1 (20:12):
I would love to see a conversation on I'm a
RAMS fan and it is my hope that other fan
bases are seeing the genius of Less Sneak and what
he's quietly done for this organization. Would you put Less
up on the mount Rushmore of gms. And secondly, what
are the mount Rushmore gms like him and Howie doing
so well and put them above ineffective gms. That's a
(20:38):
good question. You know, him and Howie deal a little differently,
you know. I mean he's got and I'm not trying
to Less sneak. Clearly it's an awesome GM. I mean,
the first time they got high draft picks, they crush it.
He's got Sean McVay. So as a GM, you look
way better when you have a good coach. Bret veachuld
be the first tell you I'm infinitely better as a
(21:00):
GM and gonna have a long GM career because I
worked for Andy Reid than if I had some random coach.
So you look better as a GM when you got
a good coach. But you know, I've never been around Less.
I just know how he there was just like a
relentless energy to always be like finding more information, and
(21:21):
I think there's never you're not quick. And this gets
back to like say no, like let's keep asking questions
about stuff and listen how he's pivoted over the years.
I think one thing he's done recently is he actually
made it pretty simple I mean he really did. Let's
(21:41):
just draft the best players from the best teams instead
of trying to overthink this. And it started when he
made the Jalen Ragor pick when he got a little cute.
It's like, just take Justin Jefferson from LSU. The team
just won the Natty and what have they done since?
Just take elite Blue Chippers, Carter Georgia, Nolan Smith Georgia,
(22:02):
Nikobe Dean Georgia, Sa Kwan's available boom Penn State number
two overall, pick elite talent. Let's take him. Let's get
Makai Beckton, a former blue chip guy and move him
to guard. Obviously got to get lucky. I mean the
Zach bond Vic Fangio thing I no one saw coming.
(22:23):
I don't have a great answer for you, I really don't.
I just think I don't know if there's like a
specific process that separates them. I think Jared Versu and Fisk. Yeah,
let's just who's one of the best defense in the country.
Last year Florida State, who are their two of their
best players? I mean three of their players went from
(22:45):
pick like whatever Verse was seventeen or eighteen. It was him.
Who's awesome, Rinaldo Green, who the Niners took, who's one
of their starting corners now? And Fisk It's like, yeah,
these players are really good. I guess sometimes it's like,
let's good, let's look at a cow Pauly No, I
(23:05):
went there, You should not who's playing at Ohio State, Alabama,
Notre Dame, LSU Georgia, Texas's that's don't don't overthink this.
And like I said, I can't speak to the individual
separating processes. Besides, they're just some people are just better
(23:28):
at their jobs. Like I'm just better than you for
whatever reason. I have more talent. I have more of
an I don't know, I don't know if it's innate,
but a natural skill to figure this stuff out. You know.
One thing how he's a lite at is understanding value.
(23:49):
And I think some of these scouts that kind of
grow up just scout scout scout scout don't quite understand finances.
And when you're the GM, I mean a huge part
of your job is obviously managing the salary cap with talent.
And then the draft is essentially just an economic exercise.
(24:09):
What do I need to pay for this player? Do
I need to trade up and get him, or can
I wait to get him, or can I trade back
to get him and accumulate more. It's basically the stock
market and how he's really smart that way. One thing
how he is a lead at I can't speak to
less is his ability to accumulate information of his relationships
(24:31):
with agents, media and other gms. He's pretty good at that.
And it's, you know, the job, you need to spend
a lot of time talking to people on the phone
and texting, Like if your if you tell me a
GM is just sitting in his office watching tape all day,
that's it's not gonna work. I heired Cowboy fan from Memphis.
(24:53):
Coward is my all time favorite, but I must admit
the only time I shake my head at his takes
is when he crushes Deck. I remember he predicted he
wouldn't do much and we ended up scoring the most
points per game in the league. Then after Kellen left,
everyone acted like we fall off a cliff, only for
us again to have the top offense in the league,
with Dak arguably getting cheated out of the MVP seeing
(25:14):
as the stats were far superior to Lamar Jackson's. My
point is that y'all are way too low on Dak,
and it's a bit of an insult to put guys
like Herbert or Kyler Murray above him. I don't know.
I don't know who's putting Kyler Murray above Dak. I
would you find me that human. My theory on why
people lowball Dak's greatness is because of a stocky, almost
(25:37):
full back built that some are blinded by. And just
how beautiful of a bal he throws is this Dak Prescott.
I get that he had to down year, and I
also get that he has led us to the promise
and he hasn't led us to the Promised Land. But
I truly believe that Dak is a top five quarterback. Okay,
I don't really know where we're going with this. I
just got to disagree there. Dak's a good player, and
you guys have won a lot of games with him.
(25:58):
The reason people are heart on Dak is because he
has been terrible in the playoffs that three year stretch
where they win twelve games every year, he threw a
combined five interceptions, so statistically, and these weren't balls tipped
up in the air freak. I mean he was hitting
dudes in the Niners in stride. He was not good
(26:20):
last year. Wasn't totally as fault against the Packers, but
we have to admit he was atrocious in the playoffs.
And one thing with Herbert comparing him, if you just
pulled every GM in the league, who you would rather have,
(26:42):
Dak Prescott or Justin Herbert, I think it would be unanimous.
Jerry might be the only guy, but Justin Herbert's also
five years younger than Dak. Now part of it, too
is like you play for the Cowboys, you play for
the Yankees, you play for the Lakers, like you just
get talked about more. If Dak Prescott played for the
Jackson was doing the same thing, we would probably talk
(27:04):
about him differently. I'm an Eagles fan. I feel like
nobody in the media acknowledges how challenging it is for
quarterbacks to constantly have new coordinators and expect to make
so much significant progress. Since Hurst has entered the league,
he's had four different coordinators in five years. It looks
like he will be on his fifth, with Kellen Moore
(27:26):
potentially getting the Cowboys job. The only time Hirts has
had two years with a coordinator with Shane Steichen and
the Eagles won to a Super Bowl. What are your
thoughts on this? It is difficult, and this is an
underlying issue with the Eagles is like they have.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
It's gonna look how old, it's amazing, how powerful Wikipedia is.
They have this forty three year old offensive coach who
can't call plays. So it's like, let's say, as we
sit here jan seventeenth, Kellen Moore is the next cowboy
head coach. They have to get a new coordinator because
(28:07):
their forty three year old offensive coach cannot call plays. Like,
that's just kind of an issue. Yeah, it's not an
ideal situation. And even if you quote unquote keep the
same scheme, keep the same terminology you fit into our offense,
you're still getting a new voice. It's like if you
have a business partner for a year, every day you
(28:27):
work together, every single day, and then all of a sudden,
the year ends January one, and I take Jim away
and I insert Bill, and then for two years you
and Bill work together, and you and Bill do a
really good job.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
He's good at sales, you're good at the accounting and
the structure of the business, and it just goes well,
and then all of a sudden Bill looks at you
and goes, I'm out, and then you get Sam. So yeah,
even if you keep some of the same processes in
(29:07):
place in your business, there are still just a communication
And let's face it, we all are wired differently. So
whatever we do, if you were in my business with me,
in the podcasting world, in the digital space of talking
about sports, if you're in finance, if you're in architecture,
(29:27):
we all have some just philosophical beliefs on the way
we do things after a while and the right and
wrong way to be successful. So it's tough. There's no
way around it. I don't know what else to say,
but I do think it gets back to the root
of the problem. Sean McVay can lose a coach, Kyle Shanahan,
(29:50):
Matt Lafleur, Kevin O'Connell can lose offensive coaches, it does
not change their offense or their communication with the quarterback
because it's them. And I'm not trying to just shit
on Siriani, but he's essentially like Jim and John Harbaugh,
(30:10):
except he's twenty years younger. What would be the bigger
story the Chiefs three Pete or the Lions win the
Super Bowl. It's a good question. I'd argue if the
Lions were to beat the Chiefs, that would probably be
(30:33):
the biggest story. The Bills winning, I think the biggest
story would be the Chiefs losing in the Super Bowl.
So if that meant the Eagles or the Lions beating them,
I think that would be the biggest story. Now, given
that the Eagles went to a Super Bowl two years ago,
they won a Super Bowl in seventeen, you could argue
(30:54):
the biggest story possible would be the Detroit Lions winning
a Super Bowl and beating this team in the middle
of their dynasty. Quick question, what step would you take
in making the Jets a team that can compete yearly?
What coaches gms would you bring in? What trades would
(31:16):
you make? Well, I don't know if you've seen I'm
sure you have because you're probably a Jets fan. They
have interviewed so many people. You could argue at this point,
when you see a situation like that, like I give
the Crafts credit, it's like they fired drid Mail because
(31:36):
they knew who they were going to hire. It's why
I have an issue when people freak out about the
Rooney rule. To me, when you have specific people that
you're going to hire, like, I have a hard time
getting up in arms for doing fake interviews, which the
Crafts clearly did. They wanted Mike Vrabel, you know, the
(31:56):
Hall of Fame player that played for them. No different
then last year they wanted Gerrod Mail, you know, their
former team captain player. It's like, if that's who you want,
I got no issue with you. I don't have a
problem if you circumvent red tape and the last two
years now doesn't. Mike Rabele might not work. I bet
he will, but I got no issue in that situation.
(32:19):
I also think if you're a Super Bowl winner, I
should just be able to hire you immediately. I remember
when when when Mark Davis hired John Gruden, they kind
of did the same thing. It's like Mark Davis knew
he was gonna hire John Gruden six months ago. Who
gives a fuck. The Jets have absolutely no clue who
they're gonna hire, and you could argue that represents the organization.
(32:41):
I think the organization is just lost at see and
it might not be fixable. When Woody Johnson owns the
team and he's going to continue to own the team,
So I'd argue, there's not much you can do, you know,
and who knows maybe the end up. If I was them,
(33:02):
I would just try to get a guy that already
had experience, so I could just get the trade back
on the tracks. I thought Rex Ryan was gonna be
the coach. It doesn't look like it's probably gonna happen.
But Rex Ryan, Pete Carroll, Mike McCarthy. I would do
something like that over hiring some random coordinator. Clearly you're
(33:23):
not getting Mike Rabel and obviously you're not getting you know,
you're not getting Ben Johnson. So I would just hire
a guy with experience, and if we could just have
a couple of years where we win like eight nine games,
that would feel like a win. What do you think
of Kyle McCord? Also, how do you think Syracuse will
be next year? I have no clue on Syracuse next year.
(33:46):
I watched a couple of Syracuse games. He obviously looked
really good, and it's weird. And this is the hard
part about scouting, or even when you do what I do,
is last year, when Ryan Day kicked Kyle McCord out
of the program, I just kind of lean like, yeah,
he's not that good. Ohio State thinks he can't play
and moved on, and they were clearly justified for doing it.
(34:10):
And obviously they're having success this year, so it's not
like they made the wrong move. But I thought they
just shorted a player who just wasn't that good. And
you look at his numbers last year. He threw twenty
four touchdowns and six interceptions, and he was sixty six
percent completion percentage, so he wasn't that bad. Now, there
(34:32):
were some games where you watched him, he definitely left
to be something to be desired. He goes to Syracuse,
he throws thirty four touchdown. Now he did throw twelve picks.
I probably only watched a couple of your games. I
definitely watched the game against against UNLV. I remember thinking game, damn,
he's he's slinging the pill. I think I watched your
bowl game too. Who you guys playing the bowl game?
(34:53):
Were you guys in the Holiday Bowl? He throws a
nice ball, he's got a he's got a live arm, like,
he's got a strong long arm. I could see him
being like a third or fourth round pick for sure.
I don't see why he couldn't be a backup in
the NFL. I just got done with your reaction video
to the Rams and Viking game. Although I usually agree
(35:13):
with most of your takes, I have to disagree with
your take on Kevin O'Connell. I understand that he's zero
to two in the playoffs, but this team was supposed
to only win six and a half games. If anything,
this team overachieved. Sometimes you just need to find your
franchise guy. Andy Reid may have had some success with
McNabb back in the day, but he was one and
four with Alex Smith. Andy Reid didn't win his first
(35:35):
Super Bowl until his twenty first season as a head coach.
He didn't even make the playoffs until his third season.
I do agree with you that KOC needs to figure
out his running game, but that game was mostly on
Sam Donald. Pretty obvious that Sam Donald has issue has
an issue of holding onto the ball. Listen. I think
(35:58):
when you react live five minutes after game, sometimes I
think people can take the uh just the headline of
what you said away and kind of project that on everything.
I don't think Kevin O'Connell is a bad coach, obviously,
he is a dynamic young coach with a bright future.
(36:18):
I think I've really kind of come to the conclusion
he's the better version of what everyone told me Mike
McDaniel is. But he still gets put in a category
with the guys who have won a lot of playoff games.
And he's played three big games in his life. Even
he said this, the game against the Giants, the Lions game,
(36:40):
and the Rams game, and he's lost them all. Now
you can say, hey, they were only supposed to win
six games, true, and then they turned out to be good.
Why because their quarterback turned out to be a pro bowler,
and obviously their defense is good and they were just
a good team. So you're in a game. And again
these aren't my words, these are his. Is. We have
(37:01):
to be able to be in these close games, the
Lions and the Rams, even if we're losing, to be
in the game. Once the game gets away, it's a waste.
You're fucked. Why can't we keep these games clubs? In
my take, I put the Lions game on Sam Darnold.
(37:22):
But in that game, when you're down ten to three,
even seventeen to three, sustaining a drive and scoring a
touchdown to make it seventeen to ten, or hell a
field goal seventeen to six. Maybe you forced Matt Stafford
to throw an interception. I don't know, he's been known
to do that. All of a sudden, you get a
(37:42):
pick six or a fumble six, and damn, it's seventeen
to thirteen and you're back in the game. But when
you just are obsessed not just with throwing but throwing
deep balls, when your offensive line sucks, that's on the coach.
That's all I was saying. I thought he coached a
poor game. You can be a Andy Reid's coach poor games.
(38:07):
Mike Tomlin coaches bad games all the time. Kyle Shanahan
was an embarrassment most of this season. It happens like
I'm not I'm not acting like you should fire the guy.
But we can't just pick the fall guy and say
Kevin O'Connell had nothing to do with it. Kevin O'Connell
had a good season, so did Sam Darnold, and then
(38:28):
they got in the big moment and they both kind
of cratered against a Hall of fame quarterback and a
Hall of fame coach worked him. I saw this post
asking what's the worst combination of teams to be a
fan of. I'm a Cowboy fan, Longhorm, Texas Ranger fan,
(38:49):
and Miami Heat fan. Up until last year, the Rangers
pretty awful and recent memory for all my teams just
based on expectation and what actually happened. Curious your thoughts are?
I mean, I would say the Miami Heat. You guys
went to four straight finals with Lebron James. I don't
know how old you are, won two titles. Haven't you
(39:10):
been to the finals a couple times with Jimmy Butler.
That's not a bad team to be a fan of.
The Cowboys have three straight years of winning twelve games.
The Texas Longhorns have been in the Final four two
years in a row. The Texas Rangers, you guys just
hired Boaching won a World Series. That's not even close.
(39:31):
I do think a lot of people throw Minnesota in there.
Minnesota would be tough. I don't know, you're doing like
a mix and mash. So if you just pick an
area and go like Chicago, right, the Bears, the Bulls,
the Cubs like that, that'd be tough. But you can't
(39:55):
be like, well, you know, I'm like a I'm a
Rams fan. I like No Dame. I fucked with the Mavericks.
You know, it's like I like Alabama football. If you
do that, it's hard. I mean, I think a lot
of people have elements of that. So I guess for
you specific like, you're living pretty well. Okay, well I
(40:17):
done this. If you've got a chance to watch the
TGL debut, what are your thoughts. I live in Scottsdale,
like playing casually and I'm a pretty avid follower of
what goes on the course Pgavers Live. I thought the
debut was well executed in a traditional sport. It's something
new that said. I wonder about the sustainability each week,
Even as a pretty avid follower of Tiger and Rory,
(40:38):
I could see the novelty wearing off thoughts on where
it may fit. A couple of people have asked texted
me buddies of mine, like what is this. I'm like,
it's just a made for TV money grab for Tiger
Rory and ESPN. They're just trying to get some to
(41:00):
put on television on Tuesdays and Mondays in the spring
and the summer when there's nothing going on. ESPN's not
going to carry baseball for much longer. The NBA, like
people aren't really watching, so it's like, might as well
try some other stuff. And golf simulation is pretty fun.
Even if you don't like golf. If I take you
(41:22):
to a simulator, you will enjoy it. Now, when you
get famous people I e. Tiger in the event, yeah,
I'll pay attention, but I'm with you the screen. If
I just take you to a simulator. The screen that
they have at the TGL, I think is twenty four
times the size of enormous normal simulator, which are obviously big.
(41:43):
So it's cool watching the simulator, but after they hit
a couple of shots, it's like okay. And I am
a golf sicko. I consume every single event on the
PGA Tour. I consume golf podcasts. I follow the sport
very very closely. And I had it on and Maria
looked at me. She's like, are we really gonna watch
(42:06):
this every week? I'm like, this is not something you know.
I'm not gonna fight for this on the television on
Tuesdays every single week. But I was like, hey, well
I'm watching two weeks in a row. I'm watching the
debut and then I'm watching Tiger play and it was
just an easy watch in the background. I mean, for me,
it'd be the equivalent of like a guy that watches
baseball but doesn't really watch baseball, he just has it
(42:28):
on the background. That's what I did pay attention a
little bit see some social clips. Do I think it's
gonna become some moment, No, I honestly, I think at
the end of the day, it'll be closer to you know,
when you see like cornhole championships on television, when you
see like pickleball, the explosion of that on television. Even
(42:51):
like saying volleyball, you know on a weekend, if you
go to the gym and you're like on the treadmill
and you're flipping around channels like Saturday Morning or Saturday
you know at New in the in the summer and
volleyballs on I think it's kind of like that just
on TV. They created this. It probably is a huge
help to their corporate connections to take care of those guys.
(43:13):
But I guess a long winded way of saying that
it's got a ceiling, it's probably gonna peak early and
just kind of be there on TV for someone that
when nothing else is on television. Do I think it's
going to be some transcendent thing. I do not, And
it's cool to watch for the first you know, for me,
(43:37):
like thirty minutes, For probably a casual person five ten minutes,
and then the novelty wears off really really fast. To me,
the key is for them to fuck around and not
take it that seriously, and that happened a little bit
with Tiger. I think an element that would definitely help
bust out the booze. Like if you and me went
(43:59):
to this thing, it's essentially like a digital top golf,
we would probably have a cocktail or two. It would
be very It's a fun event, so have the guys
have like, hey, if you want to have a cocktail,
I have a cocktail. Honestly, it's probably better if it
could be on YouTube and they could swear. That feels
(44:22):
like it would have a higher ceiling then the version
of this it's a little more corporate. But listen, I
appreciate them for trying something different. I just don't know
if we're going to look back in like five years
and this thing is gonna still be rolling. The actual
thing they built definitely will corporate events. I think they
(44:42):
could charge a ton per hour for people to hit
on it during the day when no one's there. You know,
they will expand to Scottsdale, probably Vegas, Dallas, They'll have
other spots and they'll be able to make a bunch
of money. It will work that way. But just in
terms of the television event, I don't know how big
it'll be over the course of three four years. I
(45:04):
do think the business behind it bars there. Hell, I
could go, you know, if there was one in Scottsdale,
and there have been rumors out them building one here. Hey,
not doing anything today, Take go there with some buddies,
take your wife or girlfriend, go have a couple of drinks,
hit some balls into the into the screen. It'd be cool.
Is it gonna be great for TV? I you know,
(45:25):
I think we've got to be realistic. Probably not. Audios,
have a great day, See you later. The volume
The volume. What is going on everybody?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
How are we doing?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
My people happy? Uh? Football Saturday and football Sunday gonna
be some happy people. Gonna be some angry people. No.
I guess if you're a Texans fan or a comedy fan,
you can't be mad if your squad loses. You know,
Bill's raven. Someone's gonna be pissed off there. And I
(00:41):
would say the it's gonna be hard for a Rams
fan to be mad. I would say the Eagles would
be uh might not be happy. Uh. So yeah, we
might have some angry people, but hopefully you guys are
enjoying football, enjoying life and join your family. Probably a
little chili wherever you are. It's like nine in the
more on Friday, and I said, you know what, having
(01:03):
like my third cup of coffee, let's bang out a
little mailbag and we try to do one on the weekend.
So make sure you subscribe. If you listen on Collins
Feed to the three and out feed, make sure you
subscribe to the YouTube channel. A ton of content up there.
We will be reacting live tonight to the games after
the night game, so after the fighting. Dan Campbell's take
(01:25):
on the Commies we will have stuff on YouTube and
then have the podcast out first thing in the morning,
so go check that out as well. But let's just
braning out some mailbag questions. Hey John, I'm from Brazil.
I've been an NFL fan and an avid football podcast
listener for the past eight years. Ravens at Bills. If
(01:47):
the Bills lose, it likely will be because of their defense,
which has been struggling lately. With that in mind, my
question is, what would your strategy be to stop or
at least slow down Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense. Personally,
I'd focus on stopping the run at all costs and
(02:09):
forced Lamar to beat us. I think he's a Bills
fan from the pocket. I think that's easy to say.
And you know, I was watching. I clicked on Dan
Campbell's press conference and he talked about and Stucky brought
this up, how they've struggled against running quarterbacks. I thought
(02:31):
Dan Campbell had a pretty good response. He's like, find
me a team who plays running quarterbacks, especially the good
ones who does well. Like there was a reason Lamar Jackson,
Josh Allen Kyler can have moments. Obviously, Jayden this season
they're tough to prepare for, and I think it's easy
to be like, well, just corral them and force them
(02:53):
to just get rid of the ball fast. That's easier
said than done for your defensive lineman. I also think
the hard part about stopping quote unquote the running game
when it comes to the Ravens. It's not like you
can send two guys each to Derrick Henry and Lamar
Jackson on some of these plays. And we've seen the
(03:13):
Steelers sell out on Lamar Henry go nuts, sell out
on Henry Lamargo nuts. I don't know if they're you
basically just need him to fumble. He basically also probably
need to hit him really hard, which is hard to
do because he's not like Jayden, and some of these
guys can be a little more reckless when they're running,
(03:33):
Like Lamar's great at doing that little PLoP, like he'll
just PLoP to the ground. So I don't know, I
think I think you've got to try to create a turnover.
You can just to me if you had to pick one,
like Lamar's gonna have a couple explosive runs. And that's
one thing Dan Campbell mentioned. He's like, yeah, Jayden might
(03:53):
hit a couple of twenty yard runs, tip you're hat
and move on. I do think it's really hard. I
don't think the Bills can win if Derrick Henry's going
for I don't know, one to fifty plus, because if
he's going for one to fifty plus, he's probably running
the ball twenty three to twenty eight times, and it
(04:16):
just completely controls the clock you're off the field. I
just I'm trying to looking up the Steelers game. He
had twenty six carries for one to eighty six. I
think anything with Derrick Henry over twenty plus carries is
a problem for the bag. Big Packer fan in Pennsylvania,
(04:39):
Love Pa, Where do you think the Packers' biggest error is?
With the injury set aside, it's hard to complain about
love when the transition is from FARV Great Rogers great
and love good slash competitive. I agree. I think it'd
be like going from first class first class. You're still
sitting in business class. You might not be flying on
(05:01):
a private jet, but you're not exactly in the back
of Spirit airlines. Like life's pretty good. I think everyone
just needs to take a deep breath and say, hey,
this could be a lot worse. The defense improved this year,
and the Eagles matchup in the playoffs was probably the
worst matchup they could have had. You know, I thought
(05:23):
I saw Jeff Haffley interviewed. Who do the interviewed the Jets,
the Bears, some of these teams, I mean the Jets
and the Bears. Holy shit, they interview a lot of people.
I mean, my god, So I don't even think I've
seen anyone. Have the Jags interviewed a soul? The Jets
and the Bears have interviewed a combined five hundred people,
(05:44):
And I don't know if I've seen one headline with
the Jaguars. Obviously, the Patriots has banged it out and
looks like the Raiders are gonna hire Ben Johnson. I
just think you need some of your younger players to
just become better. Right. You need one of those wide
receivers to become an All Star. Right, you need Jordan
Love to be a top ten quarterback. And if your
(06:06):
defense is just solid, like you should be able to
compete in the NFC. It's really that simple, Like one thing,
look at the look at the two teams above you
in your own division. You know, Justin Jefferson is an
elite player. Jordan Addison is a high, high end player.
Darrisow before he got hurt, was like a big time
left tackle. So it's like you need some of your
(06:28):
guys to become like, oh, that guy's a star. Obviously
the Lions are full of them. Nider fan here, I
think we need more draft picks, something around ten. The
defense needs fresh players, talent. We're miles off teams like
the Eagles, Texans and Chiefs. Defensively, yes, we have Botsa
and Warner who are excellent. Lenora and Greenlaw are good too,
(06:49):
and Mustafa and Green seem like good players, but around
them we are mid or even bad. I miss Buckner,
Armstead and others. Would you trade back with the eleventh
pick to accumulate picks or would you trade a player
with value? I see only Bosa having big trade value.
Would you trade him? No? I would not. I think
(07:12):
we've talked about this before. They're gonna pay party. They
have some guys. You know, green Law's a free agent.
So if you have Bosa and you have Warner as cornerstones,
Lenore is a really really good starting corner. Ernardo Green
who was their second round pick from Florida State is
looks like he's got a chance to be a good starter.
(07:32):
You got a bunch of safety depth they you know,
Leonard Floyd. Leonard Floyd came on at the end, but
their defensive line in the first two picks. To me,
you got to go offensive a defensive line in one
of the two orders. Ideally you take a left tackle
at pick eleven. I don't know if a guy's gonna
(07:53):
be there, but that's what I would do, and I
would try to take a defensive lineman with my second
round pick. It's hard to say trade back and accumulate,
you know, it's it becomes difficult to trade back, you know,
for non quarterbacks and stuff like that. There's just not
a guarantee that it can happen. And sometimes like, oh,
I'll go eleven to fourteen for you know, a fourth
(08:15):
round pick. It's like, Okay, get an extra pick. But
what if I really like two players there at eleven,
and when I go to fourteen, neither of them might
be there. It's a no brainer when you're draft in
one and you don't need a quarterback, and you could
trade back four spots and accumulate like two first round
picks and a second and a third. It's like, yeah,
some of these picks and the teams when you do
(08:36):
swaps like that, aren't it sexy. I listen to you
and others, and all I hear is the draft class sucks. Listen,
I before I read the rest of your question, I
think it's easy. And I was like this sometimes when
I scouted, and even now when I talk about football,
(08:59):
like you can be jaded when you say it sucks.
It doesn't suck. Obviously they are gonna be All these
guys in the first round are very talented players, but
there is an element relative to other drafts, like, yeah,
that's not Micah Parsons, Pinasul Jamar Chase, right, you know
guys Lane Johnson, Trent Williams, JJ Watt, Julio Jones sitting
(09:22):
in the top fifteen picks. So it's a lot more unknown.
I think that's better than sucks because there are I mean,
I watch Abdul Carter's really good, Warren's really good, Gent's
really good player. I mean, I don't know some of
these guys are gonna go hire anothers, but you know
what I mean. The wide receiver from Arizona is a
good player. The wide receiver from Missouri is a good player.
(09:45):
There are good players, solid tackle prospects Texas Banks, Campbell
lsu Like. There are the running back from North Carolina
as a stud. However, I can't remember a draft that
has this many later pick project type guys Riley Lanyard,
Will Howard, Jackson Dart, Milroe and to a degree, Quin Yours.
(10:09):
I think the draft will showcase those organizations who excel
with projection and development. Can you speak to the difference
between a top prospect with relatively average skills or a
late round pick talent who is elite at one thing
and needs to be developed. I'd personally rather have Jackson
Dart in the third round than Shador in the top
three picks. I had a scouting buddy text me yesterday.
(10:33):
I mean, he's just a friend who's a scout, and
he's like, he's like, I'm just watching Miami right now.
He's like this Cam war buzz feels a little crazy
to me. He's like, I can't see him as the
number one overall pick. Now. It's all relative because it's
the quarterback class, but I think there are a lot
(10:54):
of question marks with the high end guys. So I
think when you talk about drafting a guy really high,
it has to be a no brain or the guy's
going to be your franchise quarterback. Like look at this
we've talked about this weekend. You know all these guys
in the first round. You know, Lamar is a first
round pick, but when you take a guy thirty two,
it's like Jordan Love like you're hoping. But when you
(11:15):
look at the other guys Mahomes ten, Josh Allen seven,
Golf one, Stroud to Jaden two, you know those guys
were projected to be your franchise guy. The expectation for
those guys are stupid high. They really are. And I
think that's why you take Shador and cam Ward, Like
can the guy be c J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels,
(11:38):
Because if you can't, then I'd have I would just
take Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter. So when you look
at the other guys, when you look at like third
and fourth round quarterbacks, usually the coaching staff plays a
big role. Obviously, the GM and your scouts should like
the player. But when you look at non like top
(11:59):
fifty quarterback, usually someone's banging the table and feels very
passionate about the player. You know, famously, Russell Wilson was
pushed heavily.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
By John Schneider.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Pete Carroll looked at him and was like, this guy's
too short. I mean, this guy he would have been
the smallest player at USC, so I think he had
to be convinced, and ultimately he was and they made
the right decision.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
The story on Brock Purdy, who obviously was drafted even
later was Brian Greasy loved him, loved him, and maybe
like Kubiak or Slowick or one other guy really liked him.
But you have to have someone as a proponent for
you in the building. Cause let's just pick a number.
(12:45):
Let's say there are six boxes to check as a
quarterback that define your ability, size, speed, you know, just
your your your body type is one, your arm strength
is too and I'm not this is no order accuracy, processing, production,
(13:07):
like all these checks. Maybe you're just good at a
couple of them and you're missing, like, you know, he
wasn't that productive. He's kind of small, it doesn't have
a great arm, but he's really accurate and he's really smart.
You have to have someone fighting because it is easy,
and I think this is just a natural, you know,
something that humans do. Right, It's so easy to pick
(13:28):
the negative side, well he can't do this, Well he
can't do that, And I can be like that sometimes
in life, like you want to do this, No, I'm
not really feeling that you want to do that. Think
how many people that you do business with? Yeah, if
we shouldn't do that, yeah, it's it's the easiest thing
to do is essentially to say no. It always is.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is like yeah, I
(13:50):
see that, Yeah, let's do that. As crazy as that sounds,
it's no different scouting, it's no different life. So I
think these guys will Howard's, Riley, Leonard's Jackson Darts wherever
they get drafted, they are gonna have people internally, it's
it's gonna be split, right, They're gonna be people like ah,
(14:11):
I don't really see it, and they're gonna be a
couple people, and clearly they are gonna have some influence
that truly believe, Like I see something here, and I
think with quarterback, one separator that is impossible to quantify
is the kid like the wiring of the player, Like
(14:34):
just look at some of these guys that are still
playing in the NFL. You know, either they're like Jimmy
Garoppolo is just really well liked in the locker room,
even Davante, who hated him as a players, like, yeah,
I really like Jimmy. You know, there's something I watched
Joshua Dobbs on the forty nine ers, like, yeah, this
guy's just people just like this guy. People just really
(14:55):
really Marcus Mariota. Mariota is a great example. I've never
met a human being that has spent one second round Mary.
Others like yeah, I really like the guy, or I
mean the opposite, like I don't like the guy. He
is his approval ratings really really high. And that stuff
matters when you're talking about guys that are definitely they
(15:17):
might become starters, but they're drafted to compete to be
the backup. John kirk Cousins is literally so much better
than Donald and he got bench this year, and like
you said, all they do is throw. Even Alex Smith
fell into a thirty touchdown season. I got to push
back on that. I'm not sure Alex ever threw thirty touchdowns,
(15:40):
but kirk Cousins in twenty twenty five is not better
than Sam Donald. Alex Smith never had a thirty touchdown season.
His best season was twenty six touchdowns. I only push
back on that because I've looked at that number up
so many times. I watched Donald sucks every big game
(16:01):
that he is hidden by multiple games going on. He's horrible,
He's terrible, bright lights, he sucks. I watched him at
USC played Notre Dame. I was in the stands watching
the game. They lost forty two to fourteen. Aller just
lost to Notre Dame in the playoff, and you say
he's undraftable. Sam Donald was dramatically better than Drew Aller
(16:24):
in college. And Sam Donald also just had a really
good season down the stretch of the season. He went
on the road in Green Bay, which is clearly a
good defense, and on the road in Seattle and made
big plays. He did not play well in the last
two games. The Lions game, he was completely overwhelmed the
next game, like, I'm sorry, it was on both of them,
(16:47):
and I watched I'm a sicko, but I watch a
lot of coaches press conferences, and I watched Kevin O'Connell
discuss those last two games and he was obviously asked
a lot of questions about Sam Donald. You know, Kevin's
kind of a smooth cat. You know, he's good looking. Dude, man,
you're just like, damn, I kind of just say, I
(17:09):
understand why people like the guy, but you know, he's
not a huge take full responsibility kind of did. But
even he said, like, listen, we should have had more
answers in the quick game to get rid of the ball.
Everything didn't have to be a deep breaking route when
our offensive line was getting smoked and me and the
quarterback kind of fell apart. The other thing is, okay,
(17:29):
he's not great in big games. We don't even know.
My pushback on JJ McCarthy is is he going to
be good in the NFL in regular games? Like if
you're just playing the Jacks or the Titans, or the Cardinals,
or just just pick a team, the Niners, the Packer,
Like can he just function? I have no clue. So, yeah,
(17:52):
Sam Donald, can we win a super Bowl with this guy?
If you want to tell me, no, what am I
going to argue with you? One you're the mist Vikings.
You don't win super Bowls? And two this guy just
legend in the playoffs, Tody Kirk, Cousins legend in the
playoffs could do way worse. You could do way worse
than Cousins and donald. One big difference with Cousins and
(18:14):
Donald is Cousins can't move, Donalds can't. Now. We can
discuss like Donald is a long way to go to
be as consistently good over the course of his career
as Cousins. But I don't think we can just act
like Sam Donald is now Will Levis because he had
two bad games NFL playoffs. We're talking about the NFL playoffs.
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Speaker 1 (20:12):
I would love to see a conversation on I'm a
RAMS fan and it is my hope that other fan
bases are seeing the genius of Less Sneak and what
he's quietly done for this organization. Would you put Less
up on the mount Rushmore of gms. And secondly, what
are the mount Rushmore gms like him and Howie doing
so well and put them above ineffective gms. That's a
(20:38):
good question. You know, him and Howie deal a little differently,
you know. I mean he's got and I'm not trying
to Less sneak. Clearly it's an awesome GM. I mean,
the first time they got high draft picks, they crush it.
He's got Sean McVay. So as a GM, you look
way better when you have a good coach. Bret veachuld
be the first tell you I'm infinitely better as a
(21:00):
GM and gonna have a long GM career because I
worked for Andy Reid than if I had some random coach.
So you look better as a GM when you got
a good coach. But you know, I've never been around Less.
I just know how he there was just like a
relentless energy to always be like finding more information, and
(21:21):
I think there's never you're not quick. And this gets
back to like say no, like let's keep asking questions
about stuff and listen how he's pivoted over the years.
I think one thing he's done recently is he actually
made it pretty simple I mean he really did. Let's
(21:41):
just draft the best players from the best teams instead
of trying to overthink this. And it started when he
made the Jalen Ragor pick when he got a little cute.
It's like, just take Justin Jefferson from LSU. The team
just won the Natty and what have they done since?
Just take elite Blue Chippers, Carter Georgia, Nolan Smith Georgia,
(22:02):
Nikobe Dean Georgia, Sa Kwan's available boom Penn State number
two overall, pick elite talent. Let's take him. Let's get
Makai Beckton, a former blue chip guy and move him
to guard. Obviously got to get lucky. I mean the
Zach bond Vic Fangio thing I no one saw coming.
(22:23):
I don't have a great answer for you, I really don't.
I just think I don't know if there's like a
specific process that separates them. I think Jared Versu and Fisk. Yeah,
let's just who's one of the best defense in the country.
Last year Florida State, who are their two of their
best players? I mean three of their players went from
(22:45):
pick like whatever Verse was seventeen or eighteen. It was him.
Who's awesome, Rinaldo Green, who the Niners took, who's one
of their starting corners now? And Fisk It's like, yeah,
these players are really good. I guess sometimes it's like,
let's good, let's look at a cow Pauly No, I
(23:05):
went there, You should not who's playing at Ohio State, Alabama,
Notre Dame, LSU Georgia, Texas's that's don't don't overthink this.
And like I said, I can't speak to the individual
separating processes. Besides, they're just some people are just better
(23:28):
at their jobs. Like I'm just better than you for
whatever reason. I have more talent. I have more of
an I don't know, I don't know if it's innate,
but a natural skill to figure this stuff out. You know.
One thing how he's a lite at is understanding value.
(23:49):
And I think some of these scouts that kind of
grow up just scout scout scout scout don't quite understand finances.
And when you're the GM, I mean a huge part
of your job is obviously managing the salary cap with talent.
And then the draft is essentially just an economic exercise.
(24:09):
What do I need to pay for this player? Do
I need to trade up and get him, or can
I wait to get him, or can I trade back
to get him and accumulate more. It's basically the stock
market and how he's really smart that way. One thing
how he is a lead at I can't speak to
less is his ability to accumulate information of his relationships
(24:31):
with agents, media and other gms. He's pretty good at that.
And it's, you know, the job, you need to spend
a lot of time talking to people on the phone
and texting, Like if your if you tell me a
GM is just sitting in his office watching tape all day,
that's it's not gonna work. I heired Cowboy fan from Memphis.
(24:53):
Coward is my all time favorite, but I must admit
the only time I shake my head at his takes
is when he crushes Deck. I remember he predicted he
wouldn't do much and we ended up scoring the most
points per game in the league. Then after Kellen left,
everyone acted like we fall off a cliff, only for
us again to have the top offense in the league,
with Dak arguably getting cheated out of the MVP seeing
(25:14):
as the stats were far superior to Lamar Jackson's. My
point is that y'all are way too low on Dak,
and it's a bit of an insult to put guys
like Herbert or Kyler Murray above him. I don't know.
I don't know who's putting Kyler Murray above Dak. I
would you find me that human. My theory on why
people lowball Dak's greatness is because of a stocky, almost
(25:37):
full back built that some are blinded by. And just
how beautiful of a bal he throws is this Dak Prescott.
I get that he had to down year, and I
also get that he has led us to the promise
and he hasn't led us to the Promised Land. But
I truly believe that Dak is a top five quarterback. Okay,
I don't really know where we're going with this. I
just got to disagree there. Dak's a good player, and
you guys have won a lot of games with him.
(25:58):
The reason people are heart on Dak is because he
has been terrible in the playoffs that three year stretch
where they win twelve games every year, he threw a
combined five interceptions, so statistically, and these weren't balls tipped
up in the air freak. I mean he was hitting
dudes in the Niners in stride. He was not good
(26:20):
last year. Wasn't totally as fault against the Packers, but
we have to admit he was atrocious in the playoffs.
And one thing with Herbert comparing him, if you just
pulled every GM in the league, who you would rather have,
(26:42):
Dak Prescott or Justin Herbert, I think it would be unanimous.
Jerry might be the only guy, but Justin Herbert's also
five years younger than Dak. Now part of it, too
is like you play for the Cowboys, you play for
the Yankees, you play for the Lakers, like you just
get talked about more. If Dak Prescott played for the
Jackson was doing the same thing, we would probably talk
(27:04):
about him differently. I'm an Eagles fan. I feel like
nobody in the media acknowledges how challenging it is for
quarterbacks to constantly have new coordinators and expect to make
so much significant progress. Since Hurst has entered the league,
he's had four different coordinators in five years. It looks
like he will be on his fifth, with Kellen Moore
(27:26):
potentially getting the Cowboys job. The only time Hirts has
had two years with a coordinator with Shane Steichen and
the Eagles won to a Super Bowl. What are your
thoughts on this? It is difficult, and this is an
underlying issue with the Eagles is like they have.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
It's gonna look how old, it's amazing, how powerful Wikipedia is.
They have this forty three year old offensive coach who
can't call plays. So it's like, let's say, as we
sit here jan seventeenth, Kellen Moore is the next cowboy
head coach. They have to get a new coordinator because
(28:07):
their forty three year old offensive coach cannot call plays. Like,
that's just kind of an issue. Yeah, it's not an
ideal situation. And even if you quote unquote keep the
same scheme, keep the same terminology you fit into our offense,
you're still getting a new voice. It's like if you
have a business partner for a year, every day you
(28:27):
work together, every single day, and then all of a sudden,
the year ends January one, and I take Jim away
and I insert Bill, and then for two years you
and Bill work together, and you and Bill do a
really good job.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
He's good at sales, you're good at the accounting and
the structure of the business, and it just goes well,
and then all of a sudden Bill looks at you
and goes, I'm out, and then you get Sam. So yeah,
even if you keep some of the same processes in
(29:07):
place in your business, there are still just a communication
And let's face it, we all are wired differently. So
whatever we do, if you were in my business with me,
in the podcasting world, in the digital space of talking
about sports, if you're in finance, if you're in architecture,
(29:27):
we all have some just philosophical beliefs on the way
we do things after a while and the right and
wrong way to be successful. So it's tough. There's no
way around it. I don't know what else to say,
but I do think it gets back to the root
of the problem. Sean McVay can lose a coach, Kyle Shanahan,
(29:50):
Matt Lafleur, Kevin O'Connell can lose offensive coaches, it does
not change their offense or their communication with the quarterback
because it's them. And I'm not trying to just shit
on Siriani, but he's essentially like Jim and John Harbaugh,
(30:10):
except he's twenty years younger. What would be the bigger
story the Chiefs three Pete or the Lions win the
Super Bowl. It's a good question. I'd argue if the
Lions were to beat the Chiefs, that would probably be
(30:33):
the biggest story. The Bills winning, I think the biggest
story would be the Chiefs losing in the Super Bowl.
So if that meant the Eagles or the Lions beating them,
I think that would be the biggest story. Now, given
that the Eagles went to a Super Bowl two years ago,
they won a Super Bowl in seventeen, you could argue
(30:54):
the biggest story possible would be the Detroit Lions winning
a Super Bowl and beating this team in the middle
of their dynasty. Quick question, what step would you take
in making the Jets a team that can compete yearly?
What coaches gms would you bring in? What trades would
(31:16):
you make? Well, I don't know if you've seen I'm
sure you have because you're probably a Jets fan. They
have interviewed so many people. You could argue at this point,
when you see a situation like that, like I give
the Crafts credit, it's like they fired drid Mail because
(31:36):
they knew who they were going to hire. It's why
I have an issue when people freak out about the
Rooney rule. To me, when you have specific people that
you're going to hire, like, I have a hard time
getting up in arms for doing fake interviews, which the
Crafts clearly did. They wanted Mike Vrabel, you know, the
(31:56):
Hall of Fame player that played for them. No different
then last year they wanted Gerrod Mail, you know, their
former team captain player. It's like, if that's who you want,
I got no issue with you. I don't have a
problem if you circumvent red tape and the last two
years now doesn't. Mike Rabele might not work. I bet
he will, but I got no issue in that situation.
(32:19):
I also think if you're a Super Bowl winner, I
should just be able to hire you immediately. I remember
when when when Mark Davis hired John Gruden, they kind
of did the same thing. It's like Mark Davis knew
he was gonna hire John Gruden six months ago. Who
gives a fuck. The Jets have absolutely no clue who
they're gonna hire, and you could argue that represents the organization.
(32:41):
I think the organization is just lost at see and
it might not be fixable. When Woody Johnson owns the
team and he's going to continue to own the team,
So I'd argue, there's not much you can do, you know,
and who knows maybe the end up. If I was them,
(33:02):
I would just try to get a guy that already
had experience, so I could just get the trade back
on the tracks. I thought Rex Ryan was gonna be
the coach. It doesn't look like it's probably gonna happen.
But Rex Ryan, Pete Carroll, Mike McCarthy. I would do
something like that over hiring some random coordinator. Clearly you're
(33:23):
not getting Mike Rabel and obviously you're not getting you know,
you're not getting Ben Johnson. So I would just hire
a guy with experience, and if we could just have
a couple of years where we win like eight nine games,
that would feel like a win. What do you think
of Kyle McCord? Also, how do you think Syracuse will
be next year? I have no clue on Syracuse next year.
(33:46):
I watched a couple of Syracuse games. He obviously looked
really good, and it's weird. And this is the hard
part about scouting, or even when you do what I do,
is last year, when Ryan Day kicked Kyle McCord out
of the program, I just kind of lean like, yeah,
he's not that good. Ohio State thinks he can't play
and moved on, and they were clearly justified for doing it.
(34:10):
And obviously they're having success this year, so it's not
like they made the wrong move. But I thought they
just shorted a player who just wasn't that good. And
you look at his numbers last year. He threw twenty
four touchdowns and six interceptions, and he was sixty six
percent completion percentage, so he wasn't that bad. Now, there
(34:32):
were some games where you watched him, he definitely left
to be something to be desired. He goes to Syracuse,
he throws thirty four touchdown. Now he did throw twelve picks.
I probably only watched a couple of your games. I
definitely watched the game against against UNLV. I remember thinking game, damn,
he's he's slinging the pill. I think I watched your
bowl game too. Who you guys playing the bowl game?
(34:53):
Were you guys in the Holiday Bowl? He throws a
nice ball, he's got a he's got a live arm, like,
he's got a strong long arm. I could see him
being like a third or fourth round pick for sure.
I don't see why he couldn't be a backup in
the NFL. I just got done with your reaction video
to the Rams and Viking game. Although I usually agree
(35:13):
with most of your takes, I have to disagree with
your take on Kevin O'Connell. I understand that he's zero
to two in the playoffs, but this team was supposed
to only win six and a half games. If anything,
this team overachieved. Sometimes you just need to find your
franchise guy. Andy Reid may have had some success with
McNabb back in the day, but he was one and
four with Alex Smith. Andy Reid didn't win his first
(35:35):
Super Bowl until his twenty first season as a head coach.
He didn't even make the playoffs until his third season.
I do agree with you that KOC needs to figure
out his running game, but that game was mostly on
Sam Donald. Pretty obvious that Sam Donald has issue has
an issue of holding onto the ball. Listen. I think
(35:58):
when you react live five minutes after game, sometimes I
think people can take the uh just the headline of
what you said away and kind of project that on everything.
I don't think Kevin O'Connell is a bad coach, obviously,
he is a dynamic young coach with a bright future.
(36:18):
I think I've really kind of come to the conclusion
he's the better version of what everyone told me Mike
McDaniel is. But he still gets put in a category
with the guys who have won a lot of playoff games.
And he's played three big games in his life. Even
he said this, the game against the Giants, the Lions game,
(36:40):
and the Rams game, and he's lost them all. Now
you can say, hey, they were only supposed to win
six games, true, and then they turned out to be good.
Why because their quarterback turned out to be a pro bowler,
and obviously their defense is good and they were just
a good team. So you're in a game. And again
these aren't my words, these are his. Is. We have
(37:01):
to be able to be in these close games, the
Lions and the Rams, even if we're losing, to be
in the game. Once the game gets away, it's a waste.
You're fucked. Why can't we keep these games clubs? In
my take, I put the Lions game on Sam Darnold.
(37:22):
But in that game, when you're down ten to three,
even seventeen to three, sustaining a drive and scoring a
touchdown to make it seventeen to ten, or hell a
field goal seventeen to six. Maybe you forced Matt Stafford
to throw an interception. I don't know, he's been known
to do that. All of a sudden, you get a
(37:42):
pick six or a fumble six, and damn, it's seventeen
to thirteen and you're back in the game. But when
you just are obsessed not just with throwing but throwing
deep balls, when your offensive line sucks, that's on the coach.
That's all I was saying. I thought he coached a
poor game. You can be a Andy Reid's coach poor games.
(38:07):
Mike Tomlin coaches bad games all the time. Kyle Shanahan
was an embarrassment most of this season. It happens like
I'm not I'm not acting like you should fire the guy.
But we can't just pick the fall guy and say
Kevin O'Connell had nothing to do with it. Kevin O'Connell
had a good season, so did Sam Darnold, and then
(38:28):
they got in the big moment and they both kind
of cratered against a Hall of fame quarterback and a
Hall of fame coach worked him. I saw this post
asking what's the worst combination of teams to be a
fan of. I'm a Cowboy fan, Longhorm, Texas Ranger fan,
(38:49):
and Miami Heat fan. Up until last year, the Rangers
pretty awful and recent memory for all my teams just
based on expectation and what actually happened. Curious your thoughts are?
I mean, I would say the Miami Heat. You guys
went to four straight finals with Lebron James. I don't
know how old you are, won two titles. Haven't you
(39:10):
been to the finals a couple times with Jimmy Butler.
That's not a bad team to be a fan of.
The Cowboys have three straight years of winning twelve games.
The Texas Longhorns have been in the Final four two
years in a row. The Texas Rangers, you guys just
hired Boaching won a World Series. That's not even close.
(39:31):
I do think a lot of people throw Minnesota in there.
Minnesota would be tough. I don't know, you're doing like
a mix and mash. So if you just pick an
area and go like Chicago, right, the Bears, the Bulls,
the Cubs like that, that'd be tough. But you can't
(39:55):
be like, well, you know, I'm like a I'm a
Rams fan. I like No Dame. I fucked with the Mavericks.
You know, it's like I like Alabama football. If you
do that, it's hard. I mean, I think a lot
of people have elements of that. So I guess for
you specific like, you're living pretty well. Okay, well I
(40:17):
done this. If you've got a chance to watch the
TGL debut, what are your thoughts. I live in Scottsdale,
like playing casually and I'm a pretty avid follower of
what goes on the course Pgavers Live. I thought the
debut was well executed in a traditional sport. It's something
new that said. I wonder about the sustainability each week,
Even as a pretty avid follower of Tiger and Rory,
(40:38):
I could see the novelty wearing off thoughts on where
it may fit. A couple of people have asked texted
me buddies of mine, like what is this. I'm like,
it's just a made for TV money grab for Tiger
Rory and ESPN. They're just trying to get some to
(41:00):
put on television on Tuesdays and Mondays in the spring
and the summer when there's nothing going on. ESPN's not
going to carry baseball for much longer. The NBA, like
people aren't really watching, so it's like, might as well
try some other stuff. And golf simulation is pretty fun.
Even if you don't like golf. If I take you
(41:22):
to a simulator, you will enjoy it. Now, when you
get famous people I e. Tiger in the event, yeah,
I'll pay attention, but I'm with you the screen. If
I just take you to a simulator. The screen that
they have at the TGL, I think is twenty four
times the size of enormous normal simulator, which are obviously big.
(41:43):
So it's cool watching the simulator, but after they hit
a couple of shots, it's like okay. And I am
a golf sicko. I consume every single event on the
PGA Tour. I consume golf podcasts. I follow the sport
very very closely. And I had it on and Maria
looked at me. She's like, are we really gonna watch
(42:06):
this every week? I'm like, this is not something you know.
I'm not gonna fight for this on the television on
Tuesdays every single week. But I was like, hey, well
I'm watching two weeks in a row. I'm watching the
debut and then I'm watching Tiger play and it was
just an easy watch in the background. I mean, for me,
it'd be the equivalent of like a guy that watches
baseball but doesn't really watch baseball, he just has it
(42:28):
on the background. That's what I did pay attention a
little bit see some social clips. Do I think it's
gonna become some moment, No, I honestly, I think at
the end of the day, it'll be closer to you know,
when you see like cornhole championships on television, when you
see like pickleball, the explosion of that on television. Even
(42:51):
like saying volleyball, you know on a weekend, if you
go to the gym and you're like on the treadmill
and you're flipping around channels like Saturday Morning or Saturday
you know at New in the in the summer and
volleyballs on I think it's kind of like that just
on TV. They created this. It probably is a huge
help to their corporate connections to take care of those guys.
(43:13):
But I guess a long winded way of saying that
it's got a ceiling, it's probably gonna peak early and
just kind of be there on TV for someone that
when nothing else is on television. Do I think it's
going to be some transcendent thing. I do not, And
it's cool to watch for the first you know, for me,
(43:37):
like thirty minutes, For probably a casual person five ten minutes,
and then the novelty wears off really really fast. To me,
the key is for them to fuck around and not
take it that seriously, and that happened a little bit
with Tiger. I think an element that would definitely help
bust out the booze. Like if you and me went
(43:59):
to this thing, it's essentially like a digital top golf,
we would probably have a cocktail or two. It would
be very It's a fun event, so have the guys
have like, hey, if you want to have a cocktail,
I have a cocktail. Honestly, it's probably better if it
could be on YouTube and they could swear. That feels
(44:22):
like it would have a higher ceiling then the version
of this it's a little more corporate. But listen, I
appreciate them for trying something different. I just don't know
if we're going to look back in like five years
and this thing is gonna still be rolling. The actual
thing they built definitely will corporate events. I think they
(44:42):
could charge a ton per hour for people to hit
on it during the day when no one's there. You know,
they will expand to Scottsdale, probably Vegas, Dallas, They'll have
other spots and they'll be able to make a bunch
of money. It will work that way. But just in
terms of the television event, I don't know how big
it'll be over the course of three four years. I
(45:04):
do think the business behind it bars there. Hell, I
could go, you know, if there was one in Scottsdale,
and there have been rumors out them building one here. Hey,
not doing anything today, Take go there with some buddies,
take your wife or girlfriend, go have a couple of drinks,
hit some balls into the into the screen. It'd be cool.
Is it gonna be great for TV? I you know,
(45:25):
I think we've got to be realistic. Probably not. Audios,
have a great day, See you later. The volume
Host
John Middlekauff
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