8-0 Niners; Week 9 Preview; Guest - Carson Palmer On Retirement, Andrew Luck, Raiders/Cardinals Cultures; Bengals Exit - 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecock Ring Out Podcast, Halloween,
Happy Halloween. I'd be lying if I said, all, I
live in this condo complex, so I have a I
have like an indoor you know, probably like eight or
nine rooms on my floor, and people put you know,

(00:30):
candy out there for the kids, and you know, during
the Niner Cardinal game, I may or may not have
made about eight different runs to my neighbors and just
jacked a bunch of recess. I've I'm pretty sugar and
chocolate it up right now fired up, We'll dive into
the Niners game, of course. And then I had I
had Carson Palmer talked to him on Wednesday for about

(00:52):
an hour. He's, you know, probably as cool as a
guest as all ever get, just in terms of he
me an hour of his time just talking a little
bit of everything from his career to play in the position,
to you know, what a work week entails, what time
he gets up to play in some of those Steeler Ravens,
Niners and Seattle defenses, to just you know what he

(01:15):
thinks about different players. He was awesome. I mean it
was it was cool of an interview as I've ever done. Uh,
it was. It was really really cool. So I'm gonna
dive into the game. Then I'll go to that, and
then I uh went through all the weekends games. I
went through all the weekends games at the end, No
middle Cooff mail bag at John Middlecoff is usually slide

(01:37):
up into those d m s. But just the podcast
so long. It's already you know, gonna be about an
hour and a half. So you know, I know, younger millennials,
you know, it's hard to keep everyone's attention, but the
Palmer interviews about an hour just in itself, it's it's awesome.
He's he's the man. Uh, but so the Niners and

(01:58):
I've been thinking a lot about it this week. Is
when Coward compared to the Kyle to Belichick like he
was the next Belichick earlier this year, I thought it
was kind of nuts. And if you've listened to me,
you know, like I I've supported Kyle even when they
were losing, just because it was clear he was a
genius coach. But now looking back, like think about the

(02:20):
Falcons we all have, like know that buddy that gets
married to the girl that kind of keeps his life
just just locked and loaded, like the moment she leaves
on vacation, the house and shambles. If the kids are there,
you can't watch the skills Like he's just he's a wreck,
Like he needs that person. Think about dan Quinn's career.

(02:40):
When Kyle Shanahand was with him, they took on the world.
I mean they they were kicking the Patriots ass in
the Super Bowl. Like if Kyle Shanahan stays with them
for three or four years, dan Quinn isn't about to
get fired. Kyle leaves them that they have crumbled. I mean,
they're just in shambles and Kyle is just kicking and
take a name. His team's eight no. Two years ago

(03:03):
on the date of recording this, they traded for Jimmy
Garoppolo and they were oh and eight two years later
or eight no. Like we knew Kyle was coming years
ago with dan Quinn, like he was taking a league
by storm with his play calling. I was thinking about
it the other day talking with a buddy in the league.
When I first got in the NFL, and like two thousand,

(03:23):
ten and eleven before Mike Shanahan got the Redskins job,
Maybe Mike Shanahand just got the Redskins job the Houston Texans,
and that thing was rolling. They were unreal. They were
so good on offense. They were the number one rushing offense,
and obviously Kyle and Kubiak. You know, we're just kicking
everyone's ass now. They couldn't beat the Patriots, but those

(03:44):
offenses were awesome. Like Kyle Shanahan, it's just an incredible
offensive coach. I don't know anyway else to say it.
If if I needed one guy to call me a play,
he might, you know, he'd be in the mix. Coach
read Sean Payton, Josh mcdan, and its like he's on
that level. It's as good as it gets. And I
was difficult on Kyle because I thought he was being

(04:06):
a little difficult on Jimmy early in training camp when
when it was just like god, Jimmy's throwing five picks
in practice, He's thrown back to back pick sixes, and
just hearing stories that Kyle's really hard on him, which
I'm good at. I like coaches to be on guys, right,
we all do. That's that's healthy. But I did think
Jimmy was a little fragile coming off an a c

(04:26):
L injury and Kyle was just smothering him. But his
style works. Even Matt Ryan that first year said, you know,
Kyle was driving him uts. The offense was hard. The
next year, Matt Ryan had the greatest year he'll ever
have in his life, won the freaking m v P.
Like Jimmy Garoppolo tonight looks like a top five or
six quarterback in the NFL. And who would have thought
this five or six weeks ago. Now, Obviously, Jimmy's unique.

(04:49):
He has a bass and fundamentals learned from Josh and
Belichick and Brady, and then he gets to go to Kyle.
He should thank the football gods every day that in
Jimmy Garoppolo's football life in the National Football League, he
has gone from the New England Patriots to Kyle Shanahan
Like that is not normal. I talked to Kyle, or
when I talked to Carza Palmber, he went from the

(05:11):
Bengals to the Raiders before we went to Bruce Areas.
So not everyone gets a smooth landing, but the Niners
are coming and they ain't going away for a while
because they clearly got a really special head coach and
the scary thing as you saw tonight is if Jimmy's
gonna be that good? And he was I think thirty
eight or twenty or thirty seven, but really had multiple drops.

(05:33):
That number easily could have been thirty or thirty one
of thirty seven four touchdowns. He looked like a dude,
and I listen, I they're my team in the backyard,
I talked about him cover them. Uh. I think about
him a lot. I know this team better than any
team in the NFL, and my reservation has just been,

(05:53):
like it is, Jimmy gonna be good enough in the
playoffs when you play Drew Brees, when you play Aaron Rodgers,
when you play Russell Wilson, and we just don't know.
I mean, the guy has only made nineteen career starts,
so it would be unfair to even think like we had.
We don't have a definitive answer, and we won't know
until he doesn't. But I had forgotten, like he's got
some of that in the bag. And when you're playing
like they're playing with two backup tackles, so they're getting

(06:16):
pressure with Chanlon Jones one of the best pass rush
in the league, and Jimmy sitting in that pocket, he's
you know, slowly moving to the left, moving to the right,
sliding up, and just delivering darts. Because when Jimmy is
on and he's in the rhythm, he's a really, really
accurate quarterback. And I talked about this last week about
the trade deadline when they gave a third and a

(06:37):
fourth for Emmanuel Sanders. Yeah, they overpaid. They needed overpaid though,
because they desperately needed this position. And I mean, Amanel
Sanders looks like Jerry Rice on this team, just because
they were so desperate for a wide receiver. But then
Deebo and Kittle and they're running backs like they're just
really good. This team, the forty Niners, you know, I
think I can I think I can confidently say it

(06:59):
now is a super Bowl level contender. Like they are
going to be tough to beat because there ain't no
so as long as they go four and four down
the stretch, they're gonna be twelve and four, and I
mean there'll be a lock to win the division. Now,
if somehow they can go six and two in the
second half, depending on who they lose to, they may
get the number one seed. Now, Levi's in some huge

(07:20):
home field advantage, but to me, The bigger issue for
them would be going on the road to Lamboat or
going on the road to New Orleans. That would be
very difficult to win. Though, if you can run the
ball and you can play defense, you have a chance
because those things travel, so they have that going for him. Now.
I'm giving him somewhat of a past Thursday Night short
week Kyler. Kyler is actually not terrible. I'm actually kind

(07:42):
of bullish on Kyler. You watch him, you were like,
this guy is not only not gonna be a bust.
I think he's gonna be pretty good. He's gonna be hell.
He might be a problem even though I hate the
spread offense, but it works for him. They were missing
David Johnson, they're missing the Edmunds kid that they gave.
The Nighter is a pretty good game. Theseers and had
games are weird. But the Niners man at one point

(08:03):
in time in the second half, they were all double diges. Uh,
they had the ball, they just couldn't kind of put
it away, and then they hit a big play at
the end to make the game a little closer. But
the Forts and Kyle Shanahan, there can I say I
forced to be reckoned with like they're the real deal.
You know, this is just I don't I'm not saying
this is their year, but by no means are they

(08:26):
just going away or some flash in the pan. And
clearly for the big picture, Jimmy doesn't make that much money.
They have a ton of young talent on their team,
like this is a team that's gonna be around for
a couple of years. They have a star head coach,
a stud defensive coordinator, which maybe they lose after the season,
maybe they don't. Uh I still be a little shocked
of defensive coordinators are getting jobs. Coaches still want, owners

(08:49):
still want offensive coaches. But as long as you got
Kyle Shanahan, who's the bread winner in this family right now,
and the way he's got Jimmy playing, and Jimmy there's
a lot of credit to Jimmy worked at it and
created this coming off the a c L. But man,
they are they're a fun team to watch. Well, I'd
like to welcome uh my guest here, and he just

(09:12):
happened to play in the NFL for a long time.
Was the number one overall pick who is now living
the retired life, Carson Palmer. What is going on? John?
How are you I'm doing good? How's life good? Life
is good? Life is good. You know, I'm I'm retired
from football. Um, And you know, I get that question

(09:36):
a lot. What are you doing now? What are you
doing now? You know, all the time obviously, and I
always have something going on. It's it's actually not as
relaxing and leisurely as it sounded, even to myself. As
as you know, I was back in two thousand and sixteen,
I believe is my last year, and I was thinking
about just retirement and what to do next and really

(09:58):
looking forward to like everything, just kind of settling down
and not doing a whole lot. And then all of
a sudden, I retire, and I've had opportunities to do
a bunch of really cool stuff, and I'm I'm as
busy now, um as I was before. But the key
is I'm not traveling as much, which, as everybody knows,
traveling really stinks after a while. So I'm happy not

(10:21):
to not have to travel as much, but um still
finding different things to keep me extremely busy and challenged.
When's the first time retirement cross your mind, like like
seriously across your mind? Obviously? You know, the Cincinnati stuff
happened a long, long time ago. But as you got
older in the Arizona situation, yeah, I think, um, twenty fifteen. Um,

(10:46):
I think I was thirty five at the time, and
my body really started telling me, you know, it's not
as easy to do this anymore, and it's a lot
more painful. And and I could just I noticed certain things.
We're starting to slow down. Um. Um. So I started
looking at it in my life and I really were
talking about it, and you know, it's just so hard

(11:08):
to come to grips and decide when when you're fortunate
enough to not be forced into retirement and and cut basically. Um.
And you you know, you see it all the time
with with Brady and Drew Brees and and you know,
you looked at Peyton. At Peyton, you could tell that
was his last year, right that that last year they
won the Super Bowl. You knew, you knew his body

(11:30):
was telling them, Hey, this is it, this is all
you got. But you look at these guys like like, uh,
you know, Roethlisberger coming off this injury, and Brady and Breeze,
and it's so hard for these guys. It's there's so
much unknown because you're so just used to going to
work and used to training an offseason, and you know
all the things that come with getting your body ready

(11:52):
for a football season and the film study and the
preparation and all that, and it's just it's who you are.
It's all you've known, and you can still play and
you can still play better than you know a handful
of guys or a majority of the league, depending on
who you're talking about. So it's just such a difficult
thing for these older guys in their late thirties and

(12:13):
early forties too, to finally decide, you know, this is it.
If you get cut and you get traded and you
go to a place where you know you don't have
a chance to win, um, that that makes it easy.
But when you still have a contract in front of
you and years left on your contract and the team
that wants you, in a fan base that wants you,
it's really really difficult to come to grips with that.

(12:35):
And it's almost easier. I almost look at Roethlisberger's situation
and it's almost easy for him. It's gonna be tough
to come back that from that elbow injury. It's it's
a long road. He's he's not had a significant injury
where he really had to rehab and really had to
work harder than he's ever worked before in his life.
Because that's what happens when you get old, you know,

(12:57):
at the end of your career and you have a
season ending surgery or a knee injury or an elbow injury,
you end up having to work so much harder than
you ever have before. And I really, I really see it,
you know, it being a difficult thing for Roethlisberger to
continue to play. It's almost a blessing in disguise, like, look,
your elbow gave out. That's all it had, that's all

(13:17):
your arm had left. It's time to move on that
That situation for Roethlisberger is almost easier than than Drew's
situation or Tom Brady's situation, where you know, hopefully they
end the season healthy and after a bunch of wins
in a successful year, and then they got to decide,
you do I really want to do this one more time?
Is is a team good enough to do this? You know,

(13:38):
there's so many things the factor into that city that's
into that decision. It's almost easier to have your body
makes the decision for you like Peyton Manning's body did,
and it looks like Roethlisberger's body has. It's kind of
crazy that you're a little older than the Roethlisberger Eli
Rivers group, but they're, like you said, they're coming down
the home stretch. Was Drew Brees, your draft class was

(13:59):
eat a year before four No, he was either one
year before I think two years before me. So, like,
I mean, all these guys are I mean, these are
your peers. I mean, this was the group that you
played with and around you talk to any of them
about this, I mean there even like you said, Drew Brees,
I watched that game against Arizona. He looked pretty good
coming off the injury. But at the end of the day,

(14:21):
he is forty years old. And I think sometimes kind
of like what Adrian Peterson did too, a c L
injuries and you've gone through this. We just saw a
c L injury, No big deal. I think we think
the same thing kind of with age now because of
what Brady is doing. But it is still pretty nuts, right,
I mean, some of these guys playing you get to
thirty seven, thirty eight, let alone forty. How long can

(14:42):
these guys keep going yeah, I mean, that's that's that's
the million dollar question. I mean, I don't know if
they know. No, I think they keep going. Man, I
still feel pretty good. I might as well go one more,
you know, and then they get to the one more
and they go I still feel pretty good. Like I said,
it's almost an injury that you need to tell. Yeah,
it's it that it was an amazing run. That's it.

(15:03):
Go home, figure out what's next, to move on to
the next phase of your career. So you know, it's
just it's just so difficult to make that decision. And yeah,
I mean, I'm I'm absolutely in awe of what what
Drew Brees has done throughout his career, what Tom Brady
has done throughout his career. Brady's I mean, Brady has

(15:24):
played for possibly the best offensive line coach that this
league has seen. And you know, he's played so many
games but hasn't taken all the hits that some guys have.
You look at the hits roethlisbergers taken, and granted, part
of that is because of his play just always moving
and extending plays. Um, but you watch Brady Brady play now,

(15:46):
and you know there's games where he doesn't get knocked
on the ground, you let alone get backed. There's games
where he doesn't, he doesn't get hammered and just drilled
into the ground. So it's almost like that's you know,
those ads, days and games and months and years onto
your career when you can go a handful of weeks
regardless of getting stacked without getting just just not getting hit.

(16:09):
I mean, those games, um, are so big where you're
getting the locker room after the game and you take
off your shoulder pads and you're like, oh my jersey's clean,
and then you take off your football pants you're like,
oh my butt still. You know, in his case, Gray,
there's no grass names on my butt. Um, you know
that those games are worth their weight in gold because

(16:29):
those just extend your career. And what's so amazing about
Brady's career is how many games he's played extra I mean,
he's played a couple of extra seasons in just the
playoffs alone, where where those games he's getting hit. You know,
there's no playoff games where he walked out and goes,
oh my jersey's clean, and you know, I feel great.
So I mean maybe those outweigh all the regular season

(16:51):
games he's played that he hasn't gotten hit. But there's
no doubt. I mean the quickness that that Drew Brees
gets rid of the ball, with the fact that that
in England, no matter who plays up front, they consistently
do a really really good job picking up different stunts
and and different blitzes and pressures and and those those
games that both of those guys have played where they're

(17:13):
not getting hammered and drilled into the ground, you know, six, seven, eight,
ten times a game that that's extended their careers. Also,
you missed football at all, you know I miss I
don't miss playing, Um, I don't miss I missed practice.
I don't miss um Wednesday practices or Thursday practices. But

(17:36):
I missed being out there on the field and and
and goofing around and having fun and competing against you know,
the defensive backs and seven on seven drills and competing
against the other quarterbacks and competition drills throughout practice. So
I missed some of those things. Obviously, you miss every
guy misses game day. Um, you missed the games. I
just don't miss all the in between stuff. UM, you

(17:59):
know us the constant, you know, all the different stuff
that comes with the media and the silly questions and
the consistent press conferences where you know, you just want
to get on with your day and move on to
the next thing. UM. I don't miss the hits and
and the soreness, and the injuries and the rehabs and
you know, all the things that you know, Andrew Luck
complained about UM going into retirement. I don't miss any

(18:23):
of that stuff. But but I do miss the weight
of an organization and the pressure UM and the expectations,
and I miss you know, you know, as a quarterback,
you walk into the facility every single day. You've got
to be the same guy, whether you have the flu,
whether you just had a baby the night before, your

(18:44):
wife just had a baby the night before in the hospital,
the highs, the lows, ups, the bounds, the good the bad.
I just missed that that pressure of walking in every
day and having to be the guy and the guy
that guys are looking to for leadership for whatever it is.
Just that that pressure of being the face of the franchise. UM.

(19:05):
I do miss that. But along with that pressure comes
the soreness from from playing on game days and the
aches and pains, And I definitely don't miss that part. Well,
you mentioned Andrew Luck. I would imagine when you saw
that all go down as someone that's battled through two
major injuries, like you said, I mean, you're just talking
about the pain. Is that something that kind of resonated
with you? When when he just you know, because it

(19:26):
was kind of polar rising obviously when you know he
got booed off the field and in the way it
all played out, but just his decision, and I mean,
how did that say with you? You know, I couldn't
stand it. It really frustrated me hearing the people say
the things they said about him. Um, it really really,
it really pissed me off. Um because I know him.

(19:51):
Do you know him personally? I do know him. He's
an amazing He's an amazing man, an amazing teammate, everything
you want in your franchise quarterback. And the way you
know what he brought with stability. You know, at a
time of complete turmoil, you know, Peyton Manning, but you know,
maybe the greatest ever walks out the door and in

(20:11):
comes a guy that just completely stabilized your organization for
the next handful of years and put everything he had
on the field. And unfortunately that that was the organization's fault.
I mean, you don't, you don't draft that guy and
let him take he got He got sacked fifty times.

(20:32):
I think in year two and forty eight, he got
sacked a couple hundred times in his first couple of years.
You just can't. You can't do that. You can't. You
have to the organization, and and the GM at the
time did such a horrific job that they literally ruined
his career. He wants to play, he loves the game,

(20:53):
but you can't have your franchise quarterback get hit like that.
It's just it's unacceptable. And and I couldn't stand listening
to all the people bad mouth Andrew Luck and say
the things they said when they have no idea what
he'd been through, regardless of I mean I and everybody
points the money, Well, you're making million dollars a year,

(21:14):
no doubt, And I get that argument, But that guy
wasn't playing for the money. That guy was playing for
his teammates. He was playing for the organization, his coaches,
the fans. I mean, he uh, he he embodied being
an NFL quarterback, in the franchise quarterback and to see
him get booted off the field, and to hear the
things that some people were popping off and saying about

(21:35):
him really really pissed me off. And um, people don't
know what it's. I mean, you're you're constantly in pain,
and you're twenty five years old and you're constantly rehabbing,
trying to get healthy and doing everything you can to
get healthy. And then you come back and you play, uh,
you know, before you're even healthy, and you make injuries

(21:56):
worse and you intensify pain and uh again, I mean
that falls solely on the organization. The organization did a
dreadful job protecting him and an awful job protecting their future.
And and there you know, they got they kind of
lucked into Jacoby Pursett and and and Chris Ballard their

(22:17):
new GM. Thank god that that those kind of stars aligned,
because they should be in turmoil again after you lose
a player like Andrew Luck to retirement. They should be
two and five right now, Um, one and six, you
know whatever that is. And everything worked out because now
they're they're they're you know, being steered in the right

(22:38):
direction by Ballard and and what they have going organizationally.
But um, it was just awful to watch him take
the pounding. He took those first handful of years, and
that's why he's not not, you know, not wearing number
twelve right now. You know one thing I find fascinating.
When I was in Philly, Michael Vick was our quarterback
and he was a smaller guy, and he took a

(22:58):
lot of hits, so it was it was you to
see why he was always injured. But when I see
before I mentioned person, I'd seen you alive and been
on the field when you come out from warm ups
and knew how big you were. I've seen luck. I mean,
you guys are massive. But it you know, Philip Rivers
is like this, Ellies like this. But it doesn't necessarily matter,
does it? The size? If you're just getting pelt at

(23:18):
every game? You could be Shaquille O'Neil size, Is it
fair to say if you're getting hit constantly in NFL
games throughout a season. Roethlisberger is another good example. The pain,
I guess still feel the same. I've never been in
an NFL game playing quarterback, So you tell me it
doesn't seem like your size necessarily protects you as much
as maybe someone like me might think yeah. I mean,

(23:41):
everybody breaks at some point, unfortunately. And that's what's so
tough about watching DeShawn Watson and and Lamar Jackson right
now is the pounding that they're taking. And it's granted
it's not so much in the pocket, uh, it's it's
outside the pocket. But you know, back back to Mike Vick.
I love Vic and one of the biggest Mike Vick fans,

(24:04):
absolutely loved watching and play. But every time you ripped
off a forty yard run, I just wanted to step
out of bounds and not hit the ground. But he
always went for that extra couple of yards and got
shoved running four two and went head over heels and
did three somersaults into a cameraman. You know, you just
see that enough times. And Vic is as solid and

(24:25):
strong and tough of dude as there is. But those
take a toll. And they may not Undershawn Watson and
Lamar Jackson when they're twenty three, but when they're twenty six,
and that's when you start to really see. You know,
he's gonna miss a week or two with an a
c spring in his shoulder and he's got a deep
fibrus and in uh, in his right claud and he's

(24:47):
gonna miss a week here like that. That's where you
start to see those injuries creep up. Because guys in
there twenty three are invincible and they're not really thinking
about their next contract yet. They are, but they're really not.
But when you're twenty five and you're you're a year
away from free agency and you're not bouncing back the
same way you were two years ago, and you've got
another forty or forty five sacks since you were twenty three,

(25:10):
that's when you start to see guys they're gonna miss
a week here. Maybe it's gonna be two weeks with
a hamstring or this with an elbow. Um. You know,
like you said, it doesn't matter how big and how
strong you are. You can put you know, Mr Olympia
back there, you know, a weightlifting guy or whatever you
want back there. But if you continuously take hits, they're

(25:32):
gonna add up. Maybe not three, but at seven. Those
those things, those small injuries and and that pain over
time really starts to add up on guys. There's a
reason Peyton Manning used to just hit the ground when
anyone got close. You know, that helps you play twenty
plus years, right. The best thing I learned from Peyton

(25:54):
was I studied Peyton every week of my career. And
when there was a false start, he was in shotgun.
He had the ball in his hands, he threw it
and they blew the whistle. He threw it directly into
the ground. He didn't want to hold it and take
a chance that somebody didn't hear a whissel and allowed
stadium and the defensive end came off the corner and
lit him up. He was not taking any extra hits

(26:15):
um And that's something I watched and learned right away.
And you can't. You just can't take those hits. You can't.
There's the quarterback means so much the organization. The organization
only really goes as far as the quarterback goes, and
you've got to protect them. You know, That's why I
love um. You know, I love what what San Francisco

(26:37):
is doing, and a handful of teams are doing. I
would do the exact same thing. I would build from
the offensive defensive line. If you can put pressure on
the quarterback and you can hit the quarterback enough times,
it doesn't matter how good or bad your your corners are.
If they if a quarterback can drop back and hold
on the ball for five, six, seven seconds, it doesn't
matter if you have Jalen Ramsey and and Dion Stroy

(27:00):
Palmalo and Ed Reid in your second day. Nobody can
cover for five or six seconds. So I really like
the way some teams are A handful of teams are
being built, which it's from the defensive line because you
gotta put pressure on the quarterback and the offensive line.
You gotta build that offensive lineup and protect your quarterback
and the gate. You know, these Miles Garretts and Aaron

(27:21):
Donald and some of these guys that just eat bad
offensive lineman. Uh. I mean, you put Aaron Donald in
in there against an average offensive line, he goes off.
But you put him up against somebody that's pretty good.
He's gonna get to the quarterback, he holds it for
five seconds, but if the ball is out in three,
he's gonna have a tough time getting there against some
of these better offensive lines. And you look at it

(27:42):
kind of like we're just talking about in uh in Indie.
I mean, I think Indie learned their lessons. They're watched
Andrew Luck walk out the door. Now you watch that
offensive line played. Offensive line is really good. They've paid
some guys, they've drafted some guys high. They're building that
offensive lineup, which is exactly what I would do if
I was running the team. You know one thing I

(28:02):
wanted to do with you and and I remember years ago,
and I told you this last week that I read
that thing you did with Peter King about how he
kind of went through your week. And I know so
many people listening, I'll always hit me up. And I
got to see it firsthand from a coaching standpoint, the
hours coach read and now some of his guys like
Doug Peterson and Matt Naggy put in during the week.

(28:22):
And you know you've seen these coaches. I mean, they're crazy,
but like you said, the quarterback is kind of like
also a coach. It's insane. So could we kind of
do a cliff note version of like Monday? You know,
you finish the game Sunday afternoon to go home Monday
to like Saturday morning, Let's say a home game, Carson

(28:44):
Palmer starting quarterback, getting ready for the hardball forty nine
ers Monday. What's the week? How does it go? Well?
Sunday night? You know, I'd always tried to get get
put back together Sunday night after the game and and
get whether it was acupuncture on a spasm I'm having
in my back, or chiropractor or just a massage to

(29:07):
flush out the lack of acid and the bumps and
bruises from the game, and then I would watch that
game from that day. I always thought that was super
important to watch yourself because I wanted to know what
guys were watching. I wanted to know what my next
opponent was watching of me, how are how are my eyes?
I listened to the TV cut up just to hear
my cadences and any audibles I used, And then I

(29:28):
would watch the coaches cut up to watch the kind
of forty thousand foot view of the field to see
what I was doing versus certain pressures. Because you get
home from a Sunday game and it's you know, it's midnight,
and you can't sleep anyways because you're still hype from
the game. So that's when I would get a lot
of film study from that previous week, because I wanted
to know what guys were watching and me, what tendencies

(29:49):
I was giving them, what audibles that I could maybe
bait a defensive front into UM and and change up
in audible UM. But also really just kind of study
what guys were studying of me, UM, because at the
end of the game, you know, you play sixty seventy
five snaps, you don't remember every one of them. You know,
you remember a majority of them, but there's always something

(30:11):
that that you forget. So I think it's really really
important to study yourself. But then Monday, I would knock
out Monday morning before I would go in and lift
and have meetings and all that. I would knock out
the next opponents previous four games. UM. Go in, we'd
have meetings and we kind of get briefed on the

(30:31):
upcoming opponent for the next Sunday UM. And then Tuesday
I would I would start with third down cut ups
from UM from every game that team and played that year,
or any outliers from the previous year if it's the
same coordinator. So if I was watching third down cut
ups and I saw a bunch of Cover one, some

(30:53):
Cover two and very little pressure, I would go back
previous years that weren't in the last four weeks cut ups.
I would go back from the year before. If it
was the same coordinator and see if there was any
cover zero, all out blitzes, or any just outliers that
hadn't showed up this year UM. And then watch watch
basically all first and second down passing put ups, so

(31:17):
any past plays, UM, just to get a familiarity, feel
familiarity with the defense we're seeing before Wednesday's practice. Then
you go into Wednesday, you have your normal work day.
You try to watch as much film during the day
as you can so that you don't have too much
to do when you get home at night. And then
when I get home at night, I would draw up
all the blitzes and where they came from. So, for instance,

(31:41):
we're playing the Seattle Seahawks and on third and six,
like if you see a tendency in a certain field zone,
so let's say it's on the minus twenty uh. The
last six weeks they've brought Sam Mike Blitz, so a
two linebacker pressure on third and six between the minus

(32:03):
fifteen and the minus twenty five. There's a tendency there
right like they're trying to they're trying to make you punt,
get a sack and make you punt. So they have
a short field to work with on third down when
year in that field zone, if that makes sense. So
there's a tendency there that from a quarterback standpoint, I'm going, Okay,
when I get in this game and we received the
kickoff that first third down, if it's third and five

(32:26):
or six, be ready. They're going to try to get
a sack pressure here and pin us down. So we're
putting out of our own end zone and they have
a short field to work with, So I would be
ready whatever calls we had on third and six. If
I knew I was in minus territory like the minus
twenty yard line, I knew I needed to be ready
for Stad Mike pressure, so my alerts would go up,
here comes Sam Mike. Possibly be ready to redirect this

(32:48):
production to pick it up and gash them on the
backside with a backside post or whatever that that route
would be. So I'd really try to kind of figure
out Wednesday where this coordinator likes to bring certain pressure
and what he's thinking. You know, if if you're on
the plus forty, you just crossed the fifty yard line
and you run it on first and second down for

(33:09):
no yardage, and it's third and ten and in that
blitz cut up. I keep seeing plus forty cover zero blitzes.
I know that defensive coordinator doesn't want to let you
on third and ten get eight yards and kick a
field goal. They're gonna try to keep you out of
field goal territory, if that makes sense. So really focused

(33:30):
on on my wednesdays. Where does this coordinator like to
bring pressure and what is he probably thinking in the
back of his head when you see something that If
you see something like that and you're just studying it
by yourself, would you immediately text b A or would
you jot a note so you can bring it up
when you guys in the next meeting, or was there
just I mean, if you guys were separated at the time,
when you notice when you pick up something or vice versa,

(33:53):
he sees something the line of communication there, No, I
just he knows that if that if I get in
that situation ration and I checked a screen because I
think cover zero is coming, that I make sure I
would hit it during the week in practice or I
would ask for it in practice, like hey, make sure
in red zone drills we get a cover zero blitz.

(34:14):
I want to check to exit screen because it's out
the gate if we get the ball off, and he
had enough trust in me, and I had enough trust
in him that he knew I would never he trusted
if I was getting to something out of the ordinary,
there's a reason for it, and you got to you
gotta earn that trust, you know I had. That wasn't
something I did in year one of Ba's offense, But

(34:36):
in year five there was a trust between the two
of us. If I was doing something like that, there
was a reason for it, and I had built that
trust with him. But no, no, I'm not. I'm not
watching stuff. Quarterbacks really typically aren't watching stuff during the
early part of the week and texting the coach about
certain stuff. Most quarterbacks and head coaches get together on

(34:56):
Saturday night before the big team meeting in in the hotel.
And if I had something like that or and and
it had held true throughout the week as I continue
to study on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, that would be something
that that a quarterback will bring up on a Saturday
night before the game, like, hey, this guy has a
tendency to bring cover zero right here? Are you cool?

(35:18):
If I check to this this play or this play
or this play it's either yea or nay at that point.
If it's any I'll probably do it anyways. And if
it's a touchdown, we'll hug it out on the sideline.
And if it's a a I know, I'm good to go.
Because there's so much that the older you get in,
the more experience you have as a quarterback, there's so
much feel that comes into a game, and there's so

(35:39):
many things that you don't really plan on doing on
Wednesday and practice. Then you get in the game and
you just have a feel for it and and it
just kind of comes to you. It just naturally comes out. UM.
So there's things like that that just kind of don't
don't you know, get covered or talked about between coach
and coordinator or or player and coordinator and code. Um.

(36:00):
That just kind of seemed to work out on on
game days and sometimes they don't. Um. But but that's
the game. What time you get into the facility on
like Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during a work week. So yeah,
so Wednesday, UM, I would get in it like I
probably got on it six Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, UM, And

(36:22):
just as the weeks start, I kind of got off
topic there as as the week progressed, Um, you know
when Wednesday's was first and second down and third down,
Thursdays was red zone, and then Friday's I kind of
went through everything and anything I wasn't feeling really good about, Like, man,
these guys are showing quarters coverage and they're bluffing you.

(36:44):
Then they're rolling the single high zone or they're rolling
the single high man that if I didn't feel comfortable that,
I would just watch that over and over again until
I felt like, Okay, I can see Earl Thomas right here.
He really wants to get to the middle of the
field and he's trying to hold it to the last second.
I would just really try to clean up Thursday and Friday,
UM my feel for disguises and coverages or bluffs and

(37:06):
blitzes where they're they're up in the line scrimmage and
it looks like they're coming, they're bluffing you, they're getting
out to drop eight and coverage. And then Saturday, my
favorite things to do Saturday would really um, I tried
to feel as prepared as as you know I could,
like I was ready to play on Saturday. If I wasn't,
you know, I did not I was not comfortable. I

(37:28):
did not like that feeling. So I tried to get
everything done by Saturday, like it was it was game day,
even though I had another day. Um. So I really
tried to knock everything out on Saturdays. And as I
would lay in bed and go to sleep in whatever
hotel we were staying in, I would have my iPod
and my iPad and I would just watch all the
explosive pass gings. So we're getting ready to play Seattle

(37:52):
the next morning. And this is Legion of Boom day.
This is the height Allegian. This is Browner and Sherman
and you know, go on and on down Cam Camp Chancellor,
Earl Michael Bennett cliff A. You know this is that team,
um where you can it's easy to go into those games.
And I tell young quarterbacks this all the time. It's
easy to go in plan Legion to Boom in two
thousand and thirteen and the number one in past defense,

(38:16):
number one in rush defense, number one in sacks, number
one in red zone, number one and third down, It's
it's easy to go into that game. Laying in bed
at night, gone, man, how you know, how are we
gonna just a drop in this game. You know, you
can easily get overcome with Man, these guys are really good.
I gotta be really, really smart. I gotta be really
careful in this situation. So what I would do is

(38:36):
I would sit there and watch cut ups of all
touchdown passes, big runs, big plays, forty yard past you know,
cut ups, And that always helped me fall asleep easier, Like, well,
they threw a go ball in Sherman right here, and
so and so ran a dig versus cover two, and
that was just forty yard game, and so and so
on the red zone ran four verts and hit it

(38:58):
twice versus them in the red zone. And man, I
look at this checkdown, this checkdown you know on third
and twenty went for twenty eight. They were just checking
it down and dumping into the back. But they were
so soft in coverage. Don't forget that. Remember that on
third and long situation. So it was kind of like
a a confidence booster, a confidence builder. As I'm falling
asleep at night watching the defense I'm getting ready to play,

(39:19):
get gashed from weeks, you know, the previous weeks. Help
me sleep better, help me feel better about our game plan. Um,
whatever that was. It did for me. I really enjoyed
doing that as I was falling asleep on Saturday nights.
That positive reinforcement right to be like Tiger Woods before
he hits a drive thinking about hitting a great shot.

(39:40):
I mean ideally want to watch it. But you know
that that that the power of the mind, even if
it's not you, really is a powerful thing, is it not. No,
I mean tiger envisioning. You see Jason Day do it
all the time. He closes his eyes and he envisions
the shape of the shot. You know, it's a big
dog leg left. He hits a big high draw. Uh,

(40:00):
it's a twenty foot double breaking put. You know those
guys in vision the ball is going in before they
step up and hit. It's the same thing I was doing.
I was envisioning myself throwing that ball to Julio Jones
for sixty yard touchdown or dumping it, you know, to
the to the running back, uh for you know, an
eight yard gain on third and four. You know all
those things you're watching on film, you're kind of, oh,

(40:23):
that looks like the play we're running, you know when
we get in the red zone, or that looks similar
to so and so play and that looks like what
we have planned on third down. You know that there's
all those just confidence boosters that that are so important.
Whether you're Tom Brady or Josh Allen and Buffalo, you know,
whether you've got twenty years experience or a year two,

(40:43):
it's so good. I always felt it's so good to
see somebody else beating them and see somebody else that
you're watching another offense on film, going, Man, I'm better
than that quarterback, and we're better than them at the
receiver and tight end, so we can do that, and
we can do that, and we can do that, and
it's just you're right, it's just seeing somebody else do it.
You're almost envisioning yourself doing it. Is that something you

(41:04):
always did or did you learn how did someone show
you that in Arizona? Or is that just something you
came up with? No. I actually when I got to Oakland,
we were really bad. When I was kind of there
and A we were just bad. We didn't we traded
away all of our good players, cut all the guys
that were making any money. We're playing. You know, we

(41:25):
had tons of injuries, were playing with guys that we
signed on Wednesdays and we're expecting to start on Sundays.
And it was just one of those teams that very
few guys UM have opportunity experience that I did, where
you just know, getting off the bus, they're better than
us there. They have better players at most positions, and

(41:47):
in order for us to win this game, we have
to play absolutely perfectly and play our best game of
the year and they have to play abysmal and they
have to play their worst game of the year. And
that was the kind of that, you know, that's just
where we were as an organis zation at the time, UM.
And so I started doing it in Oakland because I
remember going into games and you know, we were at

(42:07):
a point where, you know, our number one receiver was
Darius Hayward Bay Um. Well he he actually had a
good year. He have thousand yards that year, so um.
But you know, we we were Darren McFadden was our
best player and he was out for the year with
Liz Frank and you just, you know, we were just

(42:29):
a young team that just didn't have players. And you
know I was I had just been traded there. I've
been there for a couple of weeks and I was
looking for some confidence and guys around me, and and
some confidence to go into games with. And and that's
something I did on Saturday nights. And I would watch
the big play cut ups. That's what I had our
film got Hey, give me sixty big play cut ups.
I want to see sixty plays from this year, last year,

(42:50):
however many years it takes, depending on how good that
defense was. I want to see big games, twenty plus
thirty plus yard games. And that's something I did in
Oakland to help me fall asleep a little bit, a
little bit more sound before we woke up and play
on Sunday. So so was it safe to say? And
I talked about it all the time. Sometimes when you
go through failures or just tough times, you learn a

(43:11):
lot more about yourself that benefits you when you go
through the good times. So that experience in Oakland those
couple of years led to you know what, the best
you know, three or four years definitely a team success
of your career in Arizona. Did you think that Catapult
died you just to kind of change your mindset and
help you can maybe grow mentally more than even physically. Definitely,

(43:32):
I mean I think, um, you know, it was such
an odd. My year and a half in Oakland was
so odd in every way, from you know, two different
coaches in the year and a half, you know, firing coaches.
Al Davis had just died, the organization was in complete turmoil. Um.
And then I got to Oakland, right, I got to

(43:54):
Arizona and man, new coach, new GM but just solid,
just solid people. You know, everybody was solid owners, solid,
wants to win, not not worried about the move and
the least of the stadium and and all these different
things that that that Mark Davis has been worrying about

(44:15):
for five years now, ten years now. Um, you know,
just a solid organization. Just this. This is the way
they're gonna do it. They're gonna build it this way,
they're gonna stay true to it. Um. And we built
something special. I mean we we got better every year.
We won ten games than eleven games than you know,
we we continue to improve and make strides. And so

(44:37):
it was just so comforting coming from Cincinnati, who is
a whole another kind of mess and disaster. Um. So
coming from that and then going to Oakland and then
all of a sudden I got to Arizona. I was like, man,
this is the NFL. This is how it's this is
how you're supposed to do it, this is this is right,
And it was just so comforting and so much less

(44:58):
stress and pressure. Just there's so much pressure on quarterbacks
as it is when you have to worry about some
idiot making a decision on a roster move, or hiring
coaches or some of the some of the stuff you
have to worry about. When when in all of sports,
when when you're a you know, one of the stars
of the team and there's so much pressure on you

(45:19):
to make sure that you win that game, whether it's
a basketball player, football player, at quarterback, when you have
that added pressure and stress of not trusting the organization
and knowing that they don't know what they're doing, that's
just an added amount of stress you don't need as
a young player. Um and and going through that and

(45:39):
and seeing that, and then getting to Arizona and going
through what I went through in Cincinnati, what I went
through in Oakland, and then winning and appreciating the wins,
and then winning a bunch and winning a bunch of
games in a row and winning your division and going
to play and you know, all those things that came
with winning, it really let me really enjoy each win.

(46:01):
I mean, my five years in Arizona were so much
fun because we were winning, and I knew how to
enjoy it because I knew the other side of it.
I knew what it was like to be bad and
and and be on a bad, bad team and know that,
like I said, you had to play absolutely perfect order
to win, and they had to play their worst game
of the year in order for you to win. UM
to getting to Arizona and getting to a good organization

(46:23):
where you don't have to play the game of your
life every week. You know you can. You don't have
to throw for four and fifty yards in order to win.
You can take checkdowns, you can, you know what I mean,
you you had some room for error. Um And and
having that feeling and getting to experience that really helped
me relish those good times and those wins because I've

(46:46):
been through some of the really bad stuff. You had
to feel like Andy Duffraine and Shawshank when he gets
out of the pipe, you know, when about mid season
that first year with Arians, You're like, oh my god,
this is what this is what Brady and and all
these guys feel like this is what Yeah, this is
how it's supposed to be. You know, this is this
is what the NFL is, this is this is you know.
Unfortunately it took me too long to get to get there. Um,

(47:10):
but it was. It was refreshing, no doubt. You were
a little ahead of your time. You know. It was
before Twitter. I mean, the Internet was around, but it
was I'm sure for you personally in the vacuum of
Cincinnati you felt it. But your sports fan, you see
the NBA and just Jalen Ramsey, guys demand and trades
left and right. Back then, it was definitely more polarizing

(47:32):
and I would imagine a little more venomous on the player.
Do you remember was there a specific tipping point? Because
I was reading some stuff yesterday and I couldn't find
it was just an accumulation of things being in Cincinnati,
but a moment where you just said, I can't do
this anymore. I I gotta go. And I read some
quotes of this isn't about the money. I got enough money.

(47:53):
It's I I can't play football here anymore. I refused
to do it. But was there a moment? Was was
there a specific incident or was it just like I said,
accumulation of things. Yeah, it was numerous moments. Um, I
mean from the jump, you know, I I got done
with my college football season. I started talking about trying

(48:13):
to hire an agent and figure out what was next.
And everybody, not every single person, NFL people, agents, um,
you know, ex quarterbacks I had talked to that were
since retired and moved on. Everybody said, you can't go
to Cincinnati. You can't go to Cincinnati's a quarterback graveyard.

(48:34):
And then I started interviewing agents, and every agent it's like,
you're not gonna go to Cincinnati. We're gonna do this.
We're gonna get you to We're gonna get you to
to Chicago was where these guys every agent wanted that
I was interviewing, was like, you're gonna get to Chicago's
I think they had the fourth pick. And I I
at the time, was arrogant, young, dumb, twenty year old kid,

(48:55):
and I was like, I'm gonna go there and make
a difference. I'm gonna go there and change it. I
don't care what all these people are saying. Oh, you know,
I'm listening to Hall of famers and great you know
coaches and X g m s and you know, I
kind of throw everything agents say out the window because
they're agents. But um, you know, I just I was

(49:15):
naive and I didn't want to believe it and want
to hear it. And I thought, you know, well, if
they haven't had me, I'll go there and change it.
And then I got there, and um, we got we
were good. My second year. You refused. I would imagine
some people wanted you to go like an Eli Manning type, say,
refused to sign that you were not going to do that. Well,

(49:39):
that I hadn't been done. And like I said, I
thought I was the difference maker. I thought the organization
doesn't matter. Was what the players in the field are
what matters. And I was percent wrong. All that matters
is the organization because great organizations get the right players.
So so I was wrong on that. And it was

(49:59):
just a it was a It was an accumulation of
so many things. I mean, we were we won our division,
we got good one year, we were close to getting good,
and we needed some key pieces. And I had gone
to the organizations like we need to add this and
this and that. You know, we need a couple of
players here and a couple of players there, and then
of course the off season comes and nothing happens and

(50:21):
nothing changes, and then you know, it was just it
was year after year. You know that in order to
in order to win in the NFL, and it feels
this way to me in all sports, but the only
thing I can speak of as the NFL, you've got
to be desperate to win a championship. You've got to
be all in you. You know, the financials and the

(50:43):
money side of it are very important obviously two owners
and to everybody that's invested in the organization. But it's
the most important thing is the financials, and the second
most important thing is winning. Then you don't have a chance.
And and it's so important that ownership is willing to

(51:05):
do what it takes to win. If they're just kind
of sitting around and hoping somebody falls to us with
the eighteenth pick that we really need, or now this
guy is a million dollars too expensive and free agency,
we're just gonna draft somebody and pay him. You know,
one that if you just kind of sit there and
hope that things fall your way, you're you gotta get

(51:27):
really really lucky to win a championship. But if you're
desperate and you're willing to do what it takes, and
you'll spend to go get this player, or you'll trade
this player because you know he's a locker room cancer
and he's really bad, but he's cheap, and you keep
him because he's cheap. That's gonna affect your team. But
if you know he's cheap, he's really really explosive and

(51:51):
and can do a lot of great things, but he's
terrible in the locker room. You gotta get rid of them.
You gotta move on. You've got to be consistently trying
to build a championship team. If you're just kind of
sitting there and hoping somebody falls in your lap, it's
hard to do it that way. You've gotta have the
ball bounce your way a number of times in the playoffs,
and you've gotta get lucky here and get lucky there.

(52:12):
And I mean, you look in New England and there's
not a lot of luck. A lot of that is built. Specifically,
you look at what what Pittsburgh has done for the
last twenty years, there's not a lot of luck involved
in that. That's consistently. You look at what Seattle has
done there's not a lot of luck. I mean, you
look at what Seattle has done. It's amazing. I mean,

(52:33):
Pete Carroll has turned over that roster four different times
since he's been there and continuously goes. But I mean
you look at the transition from Sean Alexander and Matthew
Hasselbeck into Beast Mode and Russell Wilson and then the
Legion of Boom and then nobody's left from the Legion
of Boom, and now that's it's amazing. But that's not luck.

(52:54):
That's not hoping that somebody falls to you in the draft.
That's being manipulative of the draft and moving players and
and churning up rosters and building the right the right
chemistry in the locker room, and and there's so much
that goes into it. It's just not a lucky thing.
In order to be successful in the NFL, the organization
is of utmost importance. Quarterbacks, super quarterback and an ownership

(53:17):
are about as important as each other are. I mean,
everything else down from there, I think you know works
out in the way it works out if you're building
the team right. But as important as that quarterback is,
Patrick Mahomes is so important to that team, and Tom
Brady is so important to that team. But man ownership
has gotta be really, really good, know what they're doing.

(53:40):
One thing you did in Cincinnati and it's just a
it's a dead practice now, it really is beside Mahomes
And really that was unique because Alex was there and
they were winning. But the red shirt, and you know, really,
i'd say the handful of guys the last ten plus years,
if you're drafted definitely where you were drafted, but even
late in the first round or even second round picks

(54:00):
now like Derek Carr started immediately. You know, a lot
of guys now in the second round become starters really fast.
Did the red shirt? Did you need that? And do
you think it's easier maybe now not to rend or
just because the offenses are so much more conducive to
what guys are running in college. Well, I think a

(54:21):
number of things have shaped the transition of college quarterbacks
into starters in week one and week whatever Baker was,
Week six or seven or whatever. A lot of guys
six seven, Lamar, some of those guys mid season, Yeah,
Jared got I think that right, right. I think that
is more of a reflection of the current CBA agreement, UM,

(54:44):
and the structure of rookie contracts. I mean, when I
came out, I signed a six year contract and that
was the norm. Now it's four with an option year
in five. So you know, when I was coming out,
you had six years to figure out are we gonna
pay this a hundred million bucks in his second contract?
Now with a four year deal, you have, you know,

(55:08):
you know, two years less time to figure out is
this our guy? And can we shape him in what
we want him to be in year four to pay
him in year five, where back then it was we
could shape him in six, in year five and six
and then decide after year six are we going to
pay him? So I think that's more of a reflection
of just the length of current rookie contracts, especially for

(55:31):
a second round pick. And you look at Russell Wilson, UM,
you know, you don't have much time with the second
round pick, and now with a first round pick, you
only really have three years to figure out are we
gonna pay him in year four or five? So I
think it's more a reflection of just the duration of
the contracts that that players are forced to sign now
as opposed to when I was coming out, and it

(55:52):
was really a six six year deal with a seventh
year that you could franchise a quarterback in. So it's
really been cut in half almost. It feels. It feels
that way because a lot of quarterbacks don't start week
one like Sam Donald did. They come in like Lamar
Jackson did, like Jared Goff and and uh a handful
of the other guys were you only have the second

(56:14):
half of the first year to start evaluating, and you
really can't evaluate your quarterback after eight games. You really
need a full year to see him play sixteen and
factor in the previous eight games he played from his
rookie year. But right there, if you wait till he's
played sixteen games in year two and half of year one,

(56:35):
you're halfway through his rookie contract. So you've got to
be ready to make a decision of what you're gonna
do for the future. And nothing matters more structurally to
the organization contract wise in the quarterbacks contract, because if
you're gonna pay him, he's gonna take up your salary
cap for eighteen percent of your salary cap, So you
really have to start figuring that out and do what

(56:55):
it looks like Kansas City has done with Patrick Mahomes
is they've really started structuring their roster contractually around the
future contract that they're gonna pay him. Um, because it's
going to be such a substantial pie and a piece
of that pie when when you talk about the entire
team salary caps, so um, it's just it's just changed.

(57:17):
The game has changed in such a short amount of
time from when I came out and I signed a
six year deal and now these guys are signing four. Um.
But my situation, back to the original question, my situation
was different. John Kitton, who's who's the quarterback coach in Dallas,
is doing an awesome job with Dak Prescott, and there's
an unbelievable coach and human being. But um, what he did, uh,

(57:41):
you know, when I got there, it was the perfect
scenario because John could play. He almost he almost took
us the playoffs a couple of games a where we
ended up going five hundred that year. And I had
a chance to absorb all of it. Him and meetings,
him talking to the team, him taking care of his body,
him working out, watching at this watching and watch film.

(58:01):
So I had a phenomenal coach that was doing it
on the field in front of me with the ones
in practice and then on game day as a starter.
So um you know, it was a unique situation and um,
like everybody, like every quarterback situations like Patrick from my Homes.
Situation was unique because they had Alex Holmes, we had

(58:22):
John Kittna. We went eight and eight, which was huge,
and Cincinnati eight Nates like winning the Super Bowl for
the organization in Cincinnati. So um you know that was
that was an important part of my career because I
got a chance to see that is what an NFL
quarterback does, That is what an NFL leading, a leader
in the locker room does, and that really shaped my career,

(58:44):
the opportunity to sit behind such a great guy like
John Kittna. Okay, a couple more before I get you
out of here. I wanted I wanted to ask this,
uh the thing that I wrote down the four you
know teams that you probably consistently played the most that
were great on defense, the Harbor Niners, Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks,
Ray Lewis ned Read squads and then a lot of
those Steeler defenses, and I just wanted on each one

(59:08):
the thing that probably kept you up at night. And
we'll start with the f C North. Ray Lewis ent
read Baltimore Ravens what was hard for Carson, Paul and
Sase guys. Yeah, it's funny now that you're saying that.
I'm sitting here thinking about when I was in the
a f C North for a decade that was like

(59:30):
that was number one and number two in defense. It
was number one and number two and total defense every
year between Baltimore and in Cincinnati. And then when I get,
you know, a decade later, I get to the NFC West,
and the hardball defense and and the Pete Carroll defense
were one and two. So I I have I got

(59:51):
a chance to play against the absolute best and watch
and study the absolute best, you know, over a decade
and a half career, totally different defenses. I mean, you
compare Pete what Pete Carroll did to what that Steeler
defense did and their heyday, which by the way, only
winning Super two Super Bowls was a tragedy. That defense

(01:00:12):
was so good on every level and and the fact
that they didn't win more Super Bowls is a tragedy
because that defense was that good. Man. They had everything
they could rust. They had James Harrison, they had Joey
Porter and his prime. They had Casey Hampton in the
middle who just absolutely plugged up any run game. Up front.

(01:00:35):
Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith are probably two of the
better defensive lineman that nobody really knows about. And it's
that's a tragedy in itself. I mean, Aaron Smith was
such a good three technique, one of the probably the
best three technique other than Justin Smith and uh in
San Francisco. Um, unbelievable. I mean Larry Foote, James Ferrier,

(01:00:56):
had Troy Paula Mallo, you had Ryan Clark, you had
Chris Hope, you had Ike Hilliard. Um, Um, I know
I'm gonna forget. I mean that defense was an all
star defense. And then you played then twice and then
you had to play against Ray Lewis and part Scott
and Chris McAllister and Ed Reid and you can go

(01:01:17):
on and on. Oh sugs, I mean what a problem
he was. Um yeah, I mean eller be I mean
you can go on and on. There were so many
great players on both of those defenses. Um, and then
you know, you go, you go look at that that
Justin Smith, Alden Smith. I mean that linebacker corps they

(01:01:40):
had with Patrick Willis and oh man, what's means, and
then they drafted Alden mad Broker. I mean that that
defense was so good. But then that Seattle defense, I
mean you had Cliff Avriel, Michael Bennett, Um, you know
JJ Wright, uh, Bobby Wagner, Earl Thomas, you had Cam

(01:02:05):
Chancellor who was a problem. You had Richard Serve. I mean,
those were those four defenses were so different. I mean,
you compare they were so alike in the fact that
they had great players everywhere. They didn't have a really
good linebacker corps but couldn't rush the passer or a
week secondary. But they were great up front, they were

(01:02:26):
great in the middle, and they were great on the
back end. But so different where in Pittsburgh all kinds
of pressures and zone blitzes and very little man. And
then you compare them to Pete Carroll's defense, where it's
all man and a little bit of single high zone
but no cover to very little pressure. They let their
athletes cover and their pass rushers get after the past

(01:02:47):
the pastor and that's the that kind of goes back
to my point if you build your defense or your
team around the defensive line of offensive line, and you
build it around the defensive line like like the San
Francisco forty Niners have right now, you don't have to
bring pressure. You can let your athletes cover. You can
you can put players in the field and blanket the
field with defensive players and long, long armed guys that

(01:03:10):
can get two different zones and get two different holes
and rush the passer with four guys and get pressure
on the passer with only four guys not having to
bring five and six guys like Pete Carroll has been doing,
you know for a long time. Um, that's a problem
on offenses. It's a real problem on offenses when they're
only bringing four but they have seven back there and

(01:03:32):
coverage that there's not really a hole or avoid in
the defense. Um. And and you know it's it's so
it's so different. Those two style of defenses, the Pittsburgh
zone blitz to I'm gonna cover you one on one
in Seattle, those two styles of defenses are so different,
but yet so alike. Um. They were really really good

(01:03:54):
because they had really really good players and they didn't
have to cover up any weaknesses or have any holes
or any issues because they had good players everywhere. What
defense were the best ship talkers that the Ravens or
this or Seattle Uh a little too. Seattle didn't talk much.
We were. We used to go up to Seattle and

(01:04:16):
beat him. Um, so they kind of kept quiet. Um Pittsburgh,
I mean, Joey Porter is the Hall of Fame trash talkers,
so I mean he he did enough were you had.
You had Joey Porter on one side, who was a
problem in his own right and he never shut up.
And then on the other side you had James Harrison

(01:04:38):
who was a real problem in his own right but
never said a word. And then you had Larry Foot
run in his mouth and James Ferrier that didn't really
say much, or Troy Troy Paula Maala didn't really say
anything to anybody, whether it was our team or his team.
So you had, you know a lot of different um
you know, personalities and egos and all that. But Joe

(01:05:00):
kind of carried the weight for the entire team, I
think and trash talking and he was he was really good.
It is it true that Matt Castle and Troy Paula
Malla were your college roommates. Yeah, it was castle and
I shared what was a dining room. We put our
stipends together. We barely paid rent. We lived in a

(01:05:22):
rat infested house with Troy Carry, Colbert Um, Lenny vander Meade,
Norm kat Nick who else played in the league in there,
Um a handful of other guys Matt Nichols who who
never played in the league, Charlie Landergan who played for
a little bit. But yeah, we had we had an
awesome house, not an awesome house, and aesthetically it was

(01:05:45):
a dump. But man, l a rent was so expensive
and we got the same stipend. As you know, colleges
in the middle of nowhere where went was nothing, so
we had to We had to bunk up and we
lived in When I say rat infest, I mean we
set rat traps every night, um, and it was absolute dump.
But I wouldn't change the thing about it. We had.
We had a blast in that house. As I get

(01:06:06):
you out of here, I just wrote down about ten names.
I'm just gonna go rapid fire. The first thing that
just comes to your mind. Brady best ever, Peyton Man,
the second best ever, Aaron Rodgers, Velocity, Breeze, Pinpoint, accuracy,

(01:06:30):
Bruce arians Man, there's a lot that I can only
use a couple of words. Huh. You can say whatever
you want and be a was just the best, mahomes Man, dangerous,
Larry Fitzgerald the best ever. Belichick the best ever, and

(01:07:00):
does not get enough recognition, even though he gets a
lot of recognition, still does not get enough recognition. So
really quick on him. I mean it's he's fair to
say he's on a different level. Yeah, you know what's
amazing about him When you look at the coaching the
coaching world in general, everybody's got somebody from their past.

(01:07:23):
Everybody's got somebody that scratched their back along the way
or gave him their first job, or you know, it
was a coach of the college that gave their kid
a scholarship or coached with them somewhere else and has
a familiarity with them and their wives are good friends.
But when you look at Belichick, I there's so many
coaching staffs. But when the coaching thing comes together at

(01:07:44):
the end of the season and so and so gets
fired and so and so is coming in, you have
to go into an interview with an owner in a
GM and say I'm gonna hire this, this guy, this guy,
this guy. This is my offensive coordinator, this is my
special teams coordinator. This is who I'm bringing. And it
forces coach is to make poor decisions if it forces
coaches to get comfortable and hire somebody they're comfortable with.

(01:08:08):
And one of the blessings that Belichick's has he hasn't
been fired, so he hasn't had to go into Bob
Craft's office and go, Okay, I know you're I know
you're interviewing six guys in the next week and a half.
Here's who my coaches are. What Belichick does is when
he loses Matt Patricia to um, let's say, when he

(01:08:29):
loses the Matt Patricia to the to the Detroit he interviewed.
He doesn't interview buddies or people he coached with elsewhere.
He introduced a ton of people, and I've talked to
different guys that have gone in for that interview, and
he doesn't care about, well, your wife's get along with
my wife, and you know, all the silly little things

(01:08:50):
that come up. And he interviews the mind of the
coach and can this guy teach? Can this guy teach
what we want to teach? Here. Can he deliver the message?
Is he is he really smart? Does he get it?
Does he know what he's doing? Like there's so many
He has great coaches on his staff, and he can.
If he can fill the shoes of a bliant Brian

(01:09:10):
Flores or promote somebody within, he will. But he's always
interviewing and always looking for great coaches, not just somebody
that's comfortable or somebody has worked with back in the day,
or somebody that scratched his back, but now he's gonna
scratch There's there's so much of that, and there's so
much in return. There's so much bad coaching in the NFL,

(01:09:31):
and if it's the best of the best players and
the creme de la creme players, it needs to be
that way in coaching. And too often coaches are hiring buddies,
or coaches are hiring somebody that's comfortable, or coaches are
hiring somebody that and if things go sour, this guy
won't be promoted within to take my job. And so
I'm comfortable with him being a coordinator because I know

(01:09:54):
he won't. He won't interview well with the owner if
I screw up, and I'm not not doing well, and
you know what I mean, Like there's so much of
that going on where Belichick just hires bright minds that
know the game and know how to teach, not coach.
They know how to teach and deliver messages and get
players to do exactly what they're being taught. Organizationally, how

(01:10:19):
to you know, how to how to fill in the
shoes of Stephen Gilmour when it's time to cut him
because his contracts too hired, and he's his contracts too
big and he's thirty two years old. Who's the chief
guy that they can mold and build into playing this
style of football and teach, not coach, but teach how
to play this style of football. And so he's got
great coaches and I know he gets a lot of

(01:10:40):
slack for you know, Romeo Cornell is not working out,
and man Jeanie's not working out, and some of the
guys that haven't worked out, but they haven't worked out
because they weren't great head coaches, but they were great
coordinators or they were great teachers. And he's done a
great job of only hiring who cares outside of football,

(01:11:01):
who cares what they bring to the table. He wants
guys that bring a certain amount of knowledge and the
ability to teach, and he hired great coaches and that's
why his teams are so good. I mean, the defense
is really really good because there's a bunch of really
good defensive coaches on it, and there's good players, but
there's no you know, Perennial All Pro, highest paid in

(01:11:23):
the league guys. They have a bunch of really good
players that are coached and taught really really well. And
that's you know, one of the secrets, not enough the secret,
but that's one of the the pieces of his success. Well,
I haven't asked this question, end on this because I
think you'd be a good guy to ask. I got
a couple of people tweet at me if Belichick next year,
let's hypothetically say Josh Lea's could he take over as

(01:11:45):
the offensive coordinator? And would they skip a beat? Uh? No? Yeah,
I mean, just because you're a great teacher and coach
doesn't mean you can do it all. So you you
think it would be hard for him. I definitely think
it would be hard for him. Um. I mean it's

(01:12:09):
so different offense. You look at a defensive call sheet
on on a defensive coordinator's desk, and you've got to
be ready for a number of situations. But you've probably got, uh,
six to ten coverage is ready to go in that
game plan, six to ten stunts and twists up front

(01:12:32):
for your defensive line, and games to play within the
defensive line, and you know, maybe about the same from
a linebacker situation. So you have the three levels of
the defense, the back end, the middle, and the front four.
So you've only got a handful of commodations. Offense is
so different. I mean it's it's you know you've got

(01:12:54):
I'll bet Josh McDaniels goes into a game plan with
a hundred and fifty to twenty play the potential to
call a hundred and fifty to two place. So not
that it's too much for him or he can't he
doesn't know it. But um, it's like asking a plumber
to be your electrician to some standpoint, I mean a plumber.

(01:13:15):
A plumber specializes in plumbing and all that comes with
plumbing and probably knows some electrics, you know, electrician stuff
because he dealt with electricians on a remodel or a
build or whatever it is. Um, but that's not and
that's the brilliant you know, and and and what makes
Belichick so good probably is he wouldn't do that to

(01:13:36):
himself for the detriment of the team. He probably could,
he could get away with it, but he knows that
that team, in that organization is better observed with him
as the head coach, helping out on defense, but hiring
somebody that's great and brilliant on offense, like a Josh McDaniels,
and throwing his two cents in on certain things, and

(01:13:57):
and helping out on certain things. But to take over
offensive plank calling completely. Um. That would be something that
a lot of head coaches have done in the past
just because their egos get out of control. But the
one thing Belichick's done is he's kept his ego in
control and he's kept the egos of his players in control.
So that would be so unorthodox for him to try

(01:14:19):
to do. UM. But I don't think he would even
fathom trying it. Okay, what one more quick one. You
have a favorite offensive coordinator in the league, a guy
that you didn't play for, just someone that you watch
or that you've known through you know, acquaintances or former
players or former coaches. Do you just really like that.
You're he he might even be a head coach, because

(01:14:39):
a lot of them obviously now are head coaches. Play callers. Yeah,
Kyle Shanahan. I mean what I've since from his days
with Matt shob and and and just the group they
had in in Houston, um to what he did when
he went to Cleveland for minute, and then now what

(01:15:01):
he's doing in San Francisco. You know, he just the
run game is so good, the play action is so good,
the bootlegs are so good. There's so many it's really
hard to find when you're watching an NFL game easy completions,
And when you watch the San Francisco forty Niners play,
there's a lot of easy completions, and screens are easy completions,

(01:15:23):
but there's also digs that you can throw an over
routes that where the ball is traveling twenty five yards
in the air that are easy completions because guys are
that open and and just tune into one. You know,
you can watch games all Sunday long and wait for
the Monday night game where where San Francisco is playing,
and you can watch all day long and see very

(01:15:44):
watch every game and see very few easy completions, a
handful of easy completions, but you see three or four
every week every game when the forty Niners play. So
being a quarterback, I know how hard it is to
throw difficult, very very accurate passes. It's hard to throw
them into tight coverage, it's hard to fit balls in
certain spots. When you get those opportunities like oh, that

(01:16:07):
guy's wide ass open, and oh there's nobody around that.
When you have those opportunities, it's really nice in the
middle of the game. But it also it's almost like
a placebo effect, like, man, everybody's open now, Man that guy,
that guy had tons of separation, and it almost kind
of like affects you as the game goes on. When
you get those opportunities, your confidence goes up. Man, this

(01:16:29):
coach is on fire right now, everything's open, Bruce. Bruce
is the same way. We were playing a game in Cleveland,
and I told him after the game, it's the first
time in my career where we're hanging out and we
grabbed a beer in the locker room after the game
as we're waiting to get on the bus. We were
in Cleveland, so we're getting waiting to get on the
bus to the head of the airport to fly back

(01:16:50):
to Arizona, and we're hanging out the locker room and talking,
and I was just like, man, everything you called was
the perfect coverage because you have all these plays like
this play is good versus these six coverage. But if
we get this one coverage, this is a touchdown. And
then you know, and as the play is unfold, as

(01:17:10):
you're going through a game plan, you have to know
what to do if you get the worst coverage, if
you get this coverage versus this play, you have to
either throw it out of bounds, don't take a sack,
or throw it at somebody's feet because the nobody's gonna
be open. But if you get this coverage, it's a touchdown.
We're in the locker room after the game. I was
just like, man, every time you called the shot, we
got the perfect coverage. Every time there was a big

(01:17:32):
quarters beater post and you know in that play call
they were playing quarters. And every time we want to
take a shot versus Joe Hayden, who is playing with
a bad hamstring a corner, they happen to be impressed
cover one and we do an easy touchdown. Pass. So
there are some guys that that are like that. Bruce
is definitely like that, and I think Kyle Shanahan's like that.

(01:17:53):
Where you watched that offense, you go, man, I want
to play in that system. What's funny? I'm monny night
football against the Browns. Joe Stay, he told a story
after the game because he had a broken leg and
he's standing next to Kyle and he calls the play
and as they're walking to the line of scrimmage, Kyle,
they already kind of show their coverage. Kyle looks at Joe,
says touchdown, walks away. Five seconds later, Jimmy throws a

(01:18:15):
layup touchdown to George Kittle, and Joe's like, I'm speech.
I mean, what do you just say? You know what
I mean? The guys like Steph Curry calling a shot,
putting his arms up before the ball even hits the net.
You know, he's just that good. Well, it's it's just
like Michael Jordan's talking about being in the zone. I
mean that that that one game. I've never felt like
that before, but the play caller, Bruce was in the zone. Yeah,

(01:18:37):
I mean that that game against Cleveland, he was in
the zone. Every time he called a shot, we got
exactly what we had talked about getting during the week.
If they played this coverage, we got them. If they
played this coverage, touchdown. Every time he called one of
those shots, which Bruce likes to call two or three
a quarter. So you end up with, you know, a
handful of shot and every time you get you get

(01:19:00):
those shots off the place sheet. They happened to be
playing the covers they're designed for. I really felt like
I told him, man, I felt like, like, Man, you
were in the zone today. But it happens to coaches
and it happens to players, There's no doubt. Well, Carson,
I I can't thank you enough for coming on. It's
just a fan of football, I think I speak for
most people have always admired and appreciated your game. Uh,

(01:19:22):
and now I wish you had nothing but the best
in retirement and dad life and living in Idaho and
the cold stay warm, I man, I will, I will.
It was one degrees when I got out to drive
my kids in school today and it's not gonna warm
up much. But but John, I appreciate it. Man. Is good.
Good meeting the other day, and good catching up and
and I appreciate you having me on. Well that didn't suck.

(01:19:43):
You know, I could do a thousand more interviews in
my career and that's it's about as cool as you're
gonna get. And it really hit me last night after
I talked to him and I was thinking about it.
You know, we we bashed ESPN and the Monday night
broadcast many times on this on this podcast. And it's
not I don't do personal shots. If I if I'm

(01:20:03):
critical of something, it's because I believe it. This as
I say anyone, And I get text sometimes when people
are like you're being mean to me or being mean
like now, this isn't personal, as you know, it's just
it's just business as a business we chose and uh,
I get criticized to what Welcome to life. But that
would be a guy higher like if I was a
TV executive And I don't know if you do it
like he's got a ton of money, he's living a

(01:20:24):
good family life in Idaho. I think he's pretty low
key guy, but you can tell he's got some romo
to him. Guys guy gets along with everyone, knows his
ship and people just like him. I I think he
would be you know, for all the think of all
the old former players on TV, Like whenever I turn
on CBS and Dan fouts, like, what are we doing?

(01:20:47):
You know, this might have been cool for my dad
ten twenty years ago, but let's let's move on. You
know something, And I'm not like some agists, but you
can't hold on to these former players that were good
in the seventies forever. You know. It's like Hugh be
Brown own right of our chorney, he's eighty five. I
get any coach basketball, but can we get some new
blood in here? For the love of God? And again,

(01:21:08):
Carson's made so much money. I don't know, but he
would be a guy that I would immediately call if
I was a television executive. Let's get to the weekend games.
Texans at Jaguars in Europe, Europe, England, UK, wherever? Never been,
never been there. I've been to Spain in Italy, but
I've never been to England. Uh, Texas at Jaguars plus two. Listen,
the Texans got a big win on Sunday, but it

(01:21:30):
was a lot of Deshaun Watson carrying their ass. Uh.
J J. Watts out for the season now, Torn Labor
Lonnie Johnson, their starting corner. I think he's scheduled to
be out this game. The Texans are a two man
squad right now, Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, and then just
whatever else Deshaun Watson can do. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who
had been struggling a little bit. You know, when you
play the Jets, you get your mojo back a little bit.

(01:21:52):
And you've got Gardner Mins who played well, the Leonard four.
Nett's one of the leading rushers in the league. D J.
Chark has been good their dfense. Josh Allen is bawling.
I kind of like Jacksonville in this game to go
to five and four. Thing about that, they're five hundred
right now with a six round quarterback, and they can
get the five and four after this game, they'd be
in pretty good shape. Washington, Buffalo, the Redskins. I got

(01:22:13):
a text to day from someone in the NFL that
was like, wait till, wait till the real story comes
out in this Redskins Williams, it's just a debacle and
the Redskins are an embarrassment. Bruce Allen's Dan Snyder like
the Capitals and the now the Nationals. You couldn't be
any more relevant. The only thing you're relevant for in Washington,
d C. Is for bad things. I feel bad to

(01:22:34):
all the season ticket holders, to all the die hard fans.
It sucks. The Bills pretty boring, good team, but their defense.
To me, this has like seventeen nothing written all over.
It is Dwayne Haskins starting this week. I would imagine
he is like who even has opinions on the Washington Redskins?
Even if you were a die hard fan, how could
you even read about like, well, this is what they're
getting ready to game plan this week. It's like, how

(01:22:55):
could you even care? Tennessee at Carolina, Uh, you know,
Airlina just got she lacked. I think they are much
better team than they showed on Sunday against the Niners.
It might be more of a reflection how good the
Niners are. Uh Tennessee, they've been better with Ryan Tannehill.
Obviously they're you know, just their front seven's not bad.
I've always been a rebel guy, but I think Carolina

(01:23:17):
minus three and a half wins this game. You kind
of get their mojo back. Christian McCaffrey goes off. This
game is interesting Philly kind of got there, you know,
got a big win last weekend at Buffalo. The Bears
had one of the worst losses of the season at
home against the Chargers, Bears getting five points on the road.
Matt Naggy got to start in Philadelphia, saying with Doug
Peterson four coach read kind of a little uh, you know,

(01:23:39):
reuniting of the two guys that used to work for
the Eagles. Obviously Doug still does. The Bears defense played
really good against the Chargers. It was true Bisky who
had a second half pick, not a second half a
fourth quarter pick and a fourth quarter fumble that you
know lost him the game. Then obviously they missed the
kick Philly. Listen, Carson Wentz when he's on is as
good as anyone. I don't know if Deshaun Watson or not.

(01:24:00):
Deshaun Watson, but Sean Jackson's gonna play in this game
or not. Fletcher Cox look a little bit better last week,
but you trust their corners. I kind of like the
Bears plus five now do. I like the Bears will
win this game. They're pretty big underdog for being a
former playoff team. You know, at a team that's what's
the Eagles right now four and four. Uh, this is
whoever loses this game just say goodbye bye to the

(01:24:22):
playoffs Jets of the Dolphins. At least the Dolphins admit
like we're tanking, we're trying to lose. The Jets have
actively tried to win games that they are beside probably
the Redskins. The biggest joke in the league this year,
the trade rumors that they can't keep in house Sam Donald,
the mono situation, and then he's playing bad again. Their
offensive lines atrocious. They're trading every player. Adam Gates Like, listen, Adam,

(01:24:46):
I get Peyton Manning loved you well, I understand that,
but Peyton Manning's not playing anymore, and your equity as
this offensive mind who I've supported over the years is
diminishing at a rapid rate. You can't hate everyone on
your fifty three man roster, like you eventually have to go.
I kind of like this player. I can attempt to

(01:25:06):
win with this player. Your negative attitude, like, try using
some optimism in your life, because it feels like you
hate every single player on your team. And listen, I
get you didn't pick the majority of them, help all
of them, but it's like welcome to life. Eventually, you
gotta like someone. God, Adam, you're killing me. Colts at
the Steelers the culture one of those teams because they

(01:25:29):
they're somewhat of an overachieving group. When they play the Chiefs,
when they play you know, uh, the Texans, you're gonna
get on effort. They are gonna be excellent. But when
they played like the Raiders, and you see when they
play the Broncos, they're not quite as laser focused because
for them to be good they have to go all
balls to the wall because they're not quite as talented

(01:25:50):
as some of these teams. But they're well coached and
they're tough, and I think you saw it last week
and a couple of weeks ago when they play the Raiders,
if they're not super locked in, they can be beat. Well,
this is the type game Pittsburgh now has kind of
got their mojo back and they're still the Steelers. I
think you're gonna get the Colt's best effort. My question
is what Mason Rudolph do I get? Do I get
the Mason Rudolf that when I flipped on the Monday

(01:26:11):
night football game, he's just throwing pick after pick, or
when I watched him against the forty Niners in the
first half, you go, is this guy a practice squad
player or is he the guy in the second half
where you go, Oh, that's a third round pick. That's
a guy that could be a starter in the NFL.
He did the same thing a'inst the Niners through a
touchdown past You're like, God, this guy can make some plays.
And maybe maybe it's just the nature having a young quarterback.

(01:26:31):
But the one thing you say about the Steelers is
they do have some weapons. Juju is a good player.
The kid from Tulane that scored that sweet touchdown on
Monday night football can fly. Uh last night check. I
don't know James Conner status for this game, but you
can piece mail running backs to me. It's about Mason
throwing the football. Uh. I kind of like the Steelers
plus one in five, one in five plus one and

(01:26:54):
a half. Uh. And if they win this game, they'd
be four and four, And to have Roethlisberger being out
with Tommy John surgery or whatever the hell surgery had
him his elbow shot and to be four and four
would be an incredible accomplishment for the Steelers and I
would tip my hat to him. Lions at the Raiders.
This game is interesting because clearly the Raiders are good
offensive team. They can run the ball, Derek Harsman playing

(01:27:15):
really well, Waller's balling. Their defense stinks that they had
a swing and a miss on the fourth overall pick.
They passed on Josh Allen, who Schefter tweeted out yesterday.
You compare him and Nick Bosa. They have both dominated
for Cleveland. Farrell who is who is probably the most
untradable player in the league. He makes like six seven
million dollars a year and as one pressure on the season,

(01:27:37):
he is not good. If they would have drafted Josh Allen,
the Raiders might be a playoff team, But instead they
don't have Josh Allen and they're not going to be.
This is a tough matchup for him because they can't
really cover and Matt Stafford's having statistically through I think
seven games, the best season of his career. He's got
sixteen touchdowns, only four picks. They're passing game is awesome.
Now they're running game. The kid from Auburn carry On

(01:27:58):
Johnson's on injury reserve. I think rap sheet I saw
on Twitter said that they tried to trade for DeVante
Freeman and it almost went through, and it fell through
last minute. That would have been big. But I don't
know if you necessarily need them to need him to
beat the Raiders. I think that Stafford has a field day.
It kind of looks like Roger is a couple of
weeks back in Lambeau. Now the Raiders are playing at
home for the first time and like seven months longest

(01:28:20):
road trip in the history of professional sports. But I
just I think it's a tight game. I'm not acting
like the Raiders don't belong with the Lions. I just
think I like the I like the Lions plus two
in this game. Tampat Seattle, Uh, this is setting up
for next week Monday Night football. Seattle is gonna be
seven and two. I mean, you're gonna trust Jameis Winston,

(01:28:42):
who leads the league in interceptions, who is just a
turnover machine, to go into Seattle and even compete. I
I just don't see it, you know. And Uh, Seattle
with Chris Carson, with the Ray Russell's playing just that crowd,
I think they kicked their ass. I I really do.
Cleveland at Denver, listen, I I get Flacco's hurt his

(01:29:04):
neck and they're playing some random guy at quarterback because
the Drew lock is still hurt and he can't start.
I think everyone's just chucking up Cleveland for a win
at Denver. And I'm gonna say, pump the brakes again.
I this quarterback they're starting, I've never even heard of
the guy. But to think that Cleveland, with everything that's
going on, Baker flipping out their two and five, they're

(01:29:26):
just an absolute shambles, is just going to go to Denver. Now,
I'm not saying Denver is good. They they've earned their
record there two and six. They've lost the majority of
their games. I think all of their freaking games have
come down to a one score game. They are in
every game. They are a They are a really good
bad team. And listen, Vic Fangio, first time your head coach,

(01:29:46):
say what you want about him. I will take Vic
Fangil every day of the week and five times on
Sunday over Freddie Kitchens. So I just like Denver plus
three and a half. Now, I don't know necessarily if
Denver wins out right, but I know, Colin, you just listen,
They're gonna go in Denver and kick the ship out
of them. I don't know. Denver's a weird place to play.

(01:30:06):
It always has been, even when their teams haven't been good.
And and who the hell is Cleveland to get some
benefit of the doubts, Like, oh, Baker's just gonna figure
this out. Baker's having a mental breakdown, you know, as
as a good friend of mine, Lorenz O'Neil, maybe a
future Hall of Fame fullback, told me pressure just two things.
It creates diamonds, and it burst pipes. And right now
it feels like it's bursting every single pipe in bre Ohio.

(01:30:30):
So I'm telling you, I think this game in Denver
is gonna be a lot weirder than people think. Packers
at the Chargers Chargers fired Ken wizzen Hunt like Dean Spanos,
what are you doing? Just sell your team, get out
of the NFL. You are a you are a just
a black mark right now in the NFL. You're just

(01:30:50):
you're unbecoming of what the NFL stands for. Right now.
You're cheap, You're just you're piggybacking off Cronkey. Just leave
leave us all alone. We'll just go sell your team.
Make your billions, do whatever the hell you want. I
know you hate the thought of even selling your team
because of the tax bill. That that just makes your
the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

(01:31:11):
But just get out of here. We've had enough of you.
You're gonna host the Packers this weekend at your little
concert stadium, and it holds thirty thousand people. I will
be shocked if there aren't twenty nine thousand Packer fans
it is going to. It might be one Packer. There
might not be a Charger fan beside Chargers employees in

(01:31:33):
this thirty you know, home depot center. I think the
Packers just kicked the ship out of him. Uh. Anthony
Lynn is not a very good head coach. I've been
saying it for two years. I had to back off
a little bit because they got hot. But let's call
it what it is. He doesn't call the defense, which
was really good last year. That was Gus Bradley and offensively,
I mean, Philip Rivers carries the team when they were good.

(01:31:53):
So Anthony len is gonna get fired at the end
of this year. I would imagine they go after Josh McDaniels.
But are they really gonna pay Josh McDaniels eight or
nine million dollars to be their head coach. That is
not the way Dean Spanos operates because he loves looking
at money in his savings account. But love the Packers
this weekend Pats at Baltimore. The more I've thought about
this game, I'm pretty interested to watch because when's the

(01:32:14):
last time the Packers. Excuse me, the Patriots faced a
real running quarterback that was really good, and you know,
I mean, I'm critical Lamar Jackson. Don't love his ability
to throw the football. But I was listening to my
guy Lancer line on with Daniel Jeremiah on his podcast
the other day. He had a good point. He said,
the one thing you gotta look at Lamar like is

(01:32:36):
looking at him like a home run hitter that hits
two forty. Well, I can live with you hitting two
forty if you hit forty seven home runs. And the
one thing you'll give Lamar's he makes big plays. So
maybe and listen, I am I am never I'm not
Skip Bayless. I'm not just gonna hold onto a take
forever like I I am more than open to be fluid.

(01:32:56):
And it got me thinking, like Okay. My main issue
with lam Are is eventually you're gonna have to complete
balls in big games. And they're gonna play in big
games because they're gonna be a playoff team on third
night in a playoff game, and when you run and
you always die forward, you're gonna get hurt. Like, that's
not a sustainable way to play. So I'll never change
that mindset that that that's that's a tried and true formula.

(01:33:17):
In the NFL third Night, you can't run. You gotta
complete a pass in a in a tie game against
the New England Patriots in the playoffs. Now in this game,
we'll see and I love the chess. The chess match.
Bill Belichick, greatest defensive coordinator in the history of the league,
up against Lamar Jackson, who just you know, runs around.
I'm fascinated to watch this thing. You know, Belichick is

(01:33:37):
gonna have his defensive lineman, you know, playing very very cautious,
like they're not just sprinting up the field and letting
him take off through lanes that that ain't that ain't happening.
You know, they're hammering that right now as I speak
in practice about staying flat footed, about being on your toes,
not firing up the few. You're not playing Philip Rivers
here or Eli Manning. You're playing a guy that's basically

(01:33:58):
a running back. And can the pass offense get going
a little bit this week? You know, they traded for
Mohamed Sanu eventually to kill Harry is gonna be back. Uh,
this is a fun Sunday night game. I I would
lean take the Ravens plus four. You know because historically
you always say, well, the Ravens are the one team
that aren't scared of the the Patriots. Well, i'd say, well,

(01:34:18):
and Reid's not walking through that door. Ray Lewis isn't
walking through that door. Flacco, who always played pretty well
against the Patriots in big games, ain't walking through that door.
I wouldn't still say that they They've there's a lot
of new players here. But this is this is a
fun game. I'm really excited. I'd probably lean the Ravens
plus four, though I don't feel very good about it
at all. Uh No MIDDLECLFF mail back this week just

(01:34:40):
because the podcast was so long. Thanks everyone for listening,
and UH share with your friends, retweeted, share on social media.
Have a great weekend. Enjoyed the football and uh happy
Halloween audios.

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8-0 Niners; Week 9 Preview; Guest - Carson Palmer On Retirement, Andrew Luck, Raiders/Cardinals Cultures; Bengals Exit

Episode Transcript

Host

John Middlekauff

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}8-0 Niners; Week 9 Preview; Guest - Carson Palmer On Retirement, Andrew Luck, Raiders/Cardinals Cultures; Bengals Exit