October 20, 2025 • 49 mins
Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is reacting LIVE immediately following the Week 7 Sunday Night Football matchup between Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons vs. Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers. John then recaps NFL Week 7 starting with a last second Denver Broncos win vs. the New York Giants, the Indianapolis Colts dominant win vs. the Los Angeles Chargers, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys demolishing the Washington Commanders, and if Miami Dolphins QB Tua & Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray are done playing for their respective teams. John wraps up discussing how head coaching jobs are changing with the landscape. John reacts to the top plays of the night, recap a wild Week 7 throughout the NFL, and much more! 03:15 - Falcons-49ers 29:25 - Giants-Broncos 35:35 - Colts-Chargers 37:30 - Commanders-Cowboys 39:45 - Tua & Kyler Murray eras are over 42:10 - Head coaching carousel
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on? Everybody just finished watching?
(00:22):
As Chris Collinsworth called it a startling game because I'm
with them. Listen, you have that many injuries. We'll dive
into the coaching mismatch McCaffrey, but given how well Beijon
had played last week, you just thought this was gonna
be tough. And the forty nine Ers win by ten points,
(00:42):
twenty to ten. Sunday Night football, they go to five
and two to hold serve with the Rams, but because
they've beat them, they are technically in first place. Same
with even if Seattle wins on Monday Night, the Saverers
go forty nine Ers. Who's star midtal linebacker was up
in a box and a cast Bosa who he knows
where he is nursing an acl Kittles coming back from
(01:04):
injury with Mac Jones winning his fourth game as the
forty nine ers starting quarterback in the middle of October.
What a performance. So the forty nine ers get a
massive win. We'll dive into that game. Atlanta did Denny
Green once famously say they are who we thought they were.
That's very true. The Atlanta Falcons are who we thought
they were. Some other craziness today. Obviously I go on
(01:27):
with Colin after the Sunday game, so we talked a
little bit about the Denver I mean, it's one of
the most bananas game of all time. Had some times
to think about that. A couple other things that just
stood out today, from Shane steike In to Brian Schottenheimer
to I think we have a couple eras when it
comes to quarterbacks that we can just kind of just
(01:47):
unofficially that they ended today. And then a couple things
with college. Lane Kiffin is kind of the talk of
the town. Will he go to Florida who fired their
coach today? James Franklin did a hit on college game day.
He clearly plans on continue coaching, and I'm sure he
wants to be in the mix for a job like Florida.
(02:09):
So we'll talk a little college before we get out
of here. But obviously we got to start with an
incredible performance. And you know, in the pros, unlike college,
so much of it is about the x's and the
o's because in like just all around the league, most
(02:31):
teams are pretty beat up. I don't care where you look.
Everyone's dealing with injuries. Guys are dropping like flies, and
the overwhelming majority of matchups. The difference in talent is
not that great, but the coaching mismatch in the NFL,
and you see it on a weekly basis countless times
on Sunday, can be so wide and tonight, like, the
(02:52):
reason Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala make a combined twenty
to twenty five million dollars was for that right there.
Kyle Shanahan now has won four games We're not even
too Halloween with Mac Jones. He won four games with
Mac Jones. I stand by this. If you win a
(03:14):
game as a backup quarterback, you've earned your contract. If
you've win too, if you win to you could argue
that you are an underpaid player. What Mac Jones is
doing is he's proving like I could be a functional starter.
I mean, he had an interception tonight, wasn't his fault
bounced off Juwan Jennings hands. But Kyle Shanahan and Robert
(03:34):
Sala doing this with randos all over the place. It
just was an incredible accomplishment tonight. Like, listen, I don't
think that Raheem Morris and Zach Robinson by any means,
and Jeff Olbrick are their equals. But when I just
based it on the way they were playing, they were
much healthier, at least in theory they lost some guys
(03:56):
during the game that the forty nine Ers are going
to be at a disadvantage and somehow they're just not
because coaching really matters, leadership really matters, culture really matters.
And like at the end of the day, the Atlanta
Falcons have a lot of talented players, but they're not
winners and it's not necessarily their fault, right, I do
(04:17):
think under the right players like the Chiefs, the forty
nine Ers, the Rams, the Lions, all these good teams
around the NFL. Like a normal year with the Ravens,
the Bills would love a ton of guys on their roster,
and if you put them on their roster and that culture,
they would be winners. But there is just something about
that franchise and it was on full display tonight with
(04:40):
Kyle Shanahan coming in with his backup quarterback with backups
all over his defense and Robert Salah and just going,
you know what, physically, we are going to kick your ass,
and that's what they did. They just out toughed them,
They out physicaled them and they said, you know what,
our best player tonight, we are going to just completely
(05:01):
rely on him. And he was fantastic. That's the best
McCaffrey game in two years. Obviously, he didn't really have
a season last year and in this season though, he's
been productive and the forty nine ers have leaned on him,
you know, to get four wins, especially in the passing game.
He hadn't had that type night and tonight he was
simply spectacular. Twenty four carries for one hundred and thirty yards,
two touchdowns on the ground. He had another seven catches
(05:25):
in a huge spot on third and long down in
the red zone where a field goal makes a six
point game, a touchdown basically ends it. Mac Jones hits him.
And that's the thing with Christian McCaffrey, is he at
any moment could just turn into Wes Welker or Julian Edelman.
He's one of the greatest Swiss Army knifs you'll ever see.
(05:45):
And does he quite look as fast as he wants
it in his prime? I don't know. But he was
excellent and Kyle Shanahan wrote him like secretary tonight and
they needed to They needed every one of those yards.
They needed every one of those touches, and he was
simply spectacular. And the difference tonight is the forty nine
ers were gonna go. We had twenty four carries, seven catches,
(06:08):
eight targets, so I mean they tried to get him
the ball well over thirty times. Yet you look at
Bijon Robinson, who was also an elite player, I mean,
pound for pound, one of the most talented players in
the sport. Fourteen carries and six catches, so twenty total touches.
Meanwhile McCaffrey had over thirty. Like, if I'm Raheem Morris
(06:31):
and I'm looking at Zach Robinson, how do we not
match the amount of touches for our best player as
they do their best player. And there was one time
the night on a short yardage play where they went
to Kyle Hugheschek and he got stuffed, and I would
imagine Kyle Shanahan immediately regretted it because he got too cute.
And this is the type game like in the NFL,
(06:53):
that differs a lot from Saturday, Like you play in
these games, it's like thirteen to ten going into the
fourth quarter. I mean you're gonna determined by a first
down here, a field goal there, that this is not
going back and forth scoring touchdowns on every possession, every
every decision matters, Every second and five matters, every third
(07:13):
and one matters. And there was a spot in this
game fourth and one. There was like little under nine
minutes to go and b John Robinson wasn't on the field.
It was like and the forty nine ers like back
up slot corner Lucas made a great play on Drake London,
who's also a really good player, but like, how could you, like,
(07:34):
what what are you doing? And this is what we
talked about with coaching. The forty nine ers didn't overthink tonight.
They said, get the ball to McCaffrey and let's play defense.
We're gonna tackle. Well, that was gonna be a huge
part of clearly their game plan. We're gonna tackle and
play really physical and their defensive line was flying around
Bryce Huff. You know who they got from the Jets? Who?
(07:56):
I guess, Well, the Eagles got from the Jets, who
obviously Robert Solid really liked. They had eleven sacks two
years ago. You know, the forty nine ers didn't have
to give up much to get them, and I don't
know where they would be without that acquisition. Because Bosa
is hurt, they don't have much edge pressure. And obviously
Tatum Bethom, the Florida State linebacker who filled in for
Fred Warner to night. When you talk about culture and
(08:19):
when you talk about a standard, you know, Tomlin loves
saying this standard is the standard. And listen, I think
people make fun of them because their standard has diminished.
But I think part of that doesn't even just mean
like winning is the only thing around here. It's like,
this is the way we play right, win or loose.
Because it's the NFL. You could have a great season
(08:40):
and lose six times, right and win eleven games. The
Chiefs two years ago went to the Super Bowl. They
went eleven and six. But this is the standard for
if you're going to be a starter on this team.
This is the bare minimum is to play your ass
off and hit fucking people hard. And you saw the
forty nine ers throw in random guys, young players. They
are a team and their culture has started. And this
(09:02):
is where I give Kyle a lot of credit. We
can disagree with his mindset when it comes to offensive
lineman not big undrafting them, right, which, listen, who am
I to tell him how to build a football team.
I would like him to pivot a little bit on
that stance. But one thing I've always appreciated for an
offensive guy, his value of defensive players is extremely high.
(09:25):
He not only values them highly, the type guys they
like and listen, obviously his general manager is a legendary badass.
I mean, one of the hardest hitters in the history
of the league, John Lynch. They got a pretty good
and you go back to Mike Shanahan. Like Mike Shanahan
and his heyday in Denver had some very physical defenses.
They were an old school, hard hitting team. They value
(09:48):
those type guys and when you build teams full of
people with high competitive character, physicality is something that they
enjoy doing. You know, they got rid of Who last year,
which I understood, right, awesome player. You watch him on Denver.
He is a he looks like an All Pro. But
they had replacements and you saw Tonight Mustafa, who is
(10:11):
battling back from a knee injury. They hit people so hard,
their linebackers, their safeties, the two d linemen that they
drafted really high Mikel Williams and Alfred Collins. Their corners
all hit and there is a standard on defense. And
this you know, you bring Robert Sala, who they liked
the most out of all the guys since Demiko Ryans, Right,
(10:33):
we saw with Steve Wilkes didn't fit in. We saw
with the dude last year didn't fit in. There's something
about the messaging with Sala, but the type of guys
haven't changed now. There is no replacing Fred Warner over
the course of the season. He's one of the best
players in the league. But in a situation like tonight,
you get him there, he's there on a scooter. They
were flying around with their hair on fire and they
(10:53):
were crushing people. How many times to night on outside
zone runs did their linebackers fill and they had guys
flying around from every angle, And that's what I thought
they were going to be able to replace. It's why
I was like, listen, I don't like picking against the
Niners in a primetime game. Kyle's proven this, But you
just miss enough bodies and you get Bejon Robinson. You
give them the ball thirty five times, gonna have two
hundred yards. Well, it turns out they didn't give the
(11:15):
ball thirty five times, and even when they did, their
linebackers were filling in the whole. Honestly, the only time
he kind of got in space were some of those
like you know plays where they kind of motioned him
out and threw him the ball like almost like a
wheel route, and he scored a touchdown on it. But
like as a runner, what was his long run of
the night? It was long run was eight yards. If
(11:38):
you would have told me that Bjon Robinson's long of
running the ball would be eight yards, I wouldn't have
believed you. And that's a testament to you know, listen,
Robert sala is gonna get a lot of credit, but
Fred Warner is a constant that has been around this team.
Obviously he's injured right now, but just in terms of
his messaging and what he means as a vocal leader,
(12:00):
like you talk about a guy that sets the standard,
and coaches have been saying this since the beginning of
the time. My message only goes so far. I need
the players. Like the reason coaches love players that act
like coaches on the field is because they regurgitate their
message and it goes like to you know, in any situation, right,
(12:22):
you work hard for the guy next to you in
the trenches, whether it's one of our you know, whatever
industry you're in, whether you're in the military, whether you're
an athlete. Whoever is the boss, is the general, is
the coach. Even if you respect them to the nth
degree and you know you revere their messaging, there is
(12:43):
something special about being hand in hand with the guy
that you're actually doing it with. And I think you
saw that tonight with the forty nine ers. There guys
somehow bonded together obviously Sola's messaging, you know, kind of
getting together for Fred Warner. And what did Kyle Shanahan
They mentioned it tonight on the broadcast. I had read
about it this year or I mean this week, is
(13:06):
that they had taken Fred Warner's rookie snaps and showed
it to some of the young guys on the team.
Like this guy didn't just start out being an All Pro,
He didn't just start out being a Hall of Fame guy.
He was once an unproven rookie. Then no one really
knew who he was, that he was this hybrid positionless
player coming out of BYU. Was he gonna be a safety.
(13:28):
Was he gonna be a linebacker? Inside? Outside? Where was
he gonna play? And there was a culture in a
mindset of listen, we're gonna figure it out, or we're
gonna figure it out, going one hundred miles an hour
and fucking people up. And that's what the forty nine
ers have done for a long period of time on
defense and why they've won a lot of games because
when they're really humming, they have elite players doing that.
(13:49):
But they have had a lot of injuries over the
course of seven eight years under Kyle Shanahan. It's one
of the craziest eras I've ever seen because it's been
really successful. Yet the amount of people that go into
the Blue Tent and have their careers altered is borderline unprecedented.
It never stops even a night they lost the center,
middle of the game, hamstring out rights, Rinardo Green starting
(14:11):
corner out. Like they play a game, they will lose
multiple starters in that game. But the standard of their
physicality and when Kyle's on from a play calling standpoint,
let's face it, he is a much better play caller
and he became like, you know, one of the I
would say top guys in the league over the course
(14:33):
of his career as someone that called runs and his
offense hums. When the running game is working, they struggle
as an offense, whether it's Purty, whether it's Jimmy g
whether it's Mac Jones, whoever's playing quarterback for him, when
they become a pass heavy offense. What you saw to
the Atlanta Falcons to night, how many attempts do they have?
(14:54):
Thirty eight? Michael Pennix was twenty one of thirty eight,
So I mean, what's that fifty five per fifty four percent?
Not great? Kyle Shannan does not want to play like
that tonight. Mac Jones seventeen of twenty six, so they
had they had seventeen or they had twenty six pass
attempts and thirty nine rushers. Now five of those you
(15:17):
know were Mac. I guess one of those was a
true run. Some of those were scrambles. So let's say
between McCaffrey and Brian Robinson they had thirty four carries
they had and used check almost ten more rushing attempts
than pass attempts. That's how he wants to play, and
when his guys historically have interviewed with other franchises about listen,
(15:42):
I'm gonna be the head coach. These are my philosophies.
This is my offensive philosophy. They want to have more
rush attempts than pass attempts. It makes it easier on
the quarterback. It's why when we talk about this being
a quarterback friendly offense, it's that because we're gonna lean
on a running back, we're not gonna lean on you.
(16:03):
And what happens when you are being successful rushing the football,
you're not in second and nine. You're not in third
and twelve. Because even if you have Tyreek Hill and
Travis Kelcey in their prime or Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison,
third nine and third and twelve's are really really difficult.
They put you in a you know, in a you
(16:25):
just had a disadvantage. And tonight they were very, very successful,
you know, on early downs, and at one point in
time I looked they were excellent on third down. Tonight
they were nine to fifteen on third down, Like that's
really really good. At one point in time when Denver
didn't have a point, they were well under thirty percent
on third downs. And that's over the course I saw
(16:47):
three three weeks, they were the worst third down offense
in the NFL. And if you're doing that, your offense
is gonna suck. If you're successful on third down, your
offense is gonna be good because who who also does
that help? That helps your defense, keeps them off the field,
lets them rest, lets them be fresher when they do
come in harder for the other offense to get into
(17:08):
a rhythm. And that that was a coaching clinic tonight
by Shanahan, by Sala, by John Lynch. The type players
they bring in, because we talked a lot about this
with the Miami Dolphins. Everyone shitting on Tua over the
course of the last couple of weeks. Obviously he's not
playing well, but for his comments about the players only meeting, like,
(17:30):
you create a culture by the people, you know. We
hear this a lot about different cultures with different companies.
The culture is not the building, right It's like the
Apples building or Amazon's headquarters or you name it. It's
the people in those buildings, right, Like the culture with
San Francisco has been created by Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.
(17:53):
It is not on Brock Purdy or Fred Warner to
discipline everybody. Obviously, if you're a great leader, you help
and you are additive to the room and to the
message and to like the plight of a given season,
of the success or failure. But it all starts with
the guy at the top of the food chain, and
(18:14):
in football, it's the coach and obviously the GM and
the personnel people of bringing in the right type guys.
And one thing the forty nine ers have done consistently
is get the right type guys. And I think at
the end of the day, they they've always leaned to
the side of being physical because it's hard to not
love football and be a physical player. You cannot love
(18:36):
football and be a talented player and be a guy
that's playing in the NFL and have a good career.
But it is hard to be a football junkie and
be the type guy that every GM talks about around
the combine of the type players they're looking for and
being a guy that has to buckle up his chin
strap because he's looking to crack skulls every single play,
(18:57):
because that's who wants to do that. You got to
really be into it, and the forty nine ers have
a lot of guys who are just physicality is really
what they hang their hat on. And tonight was an
absolute clinic. And listen, one thing I can't get around
is somehow the forty nine ers, with all their injuries,
are five and two right there with the Rams, and
(19:19):
if Seattle wins tomorrow, they're five and two. And this division, honestly,
the Arizona Cardinals are not gonna end up winning that
many games. They've actually been pretty competitive. They're gonna be
one of those teams as five wins and they could
have easily won like eleven games. But the NFC West
is shaping up to be really, really good. It's a
well coached league. It's a very physical division. You know,
(19:43):
the Rams their front bunch of badasses. McVeigh elite coach.
Mike McDonald I think one of the best defensive coaches
in the NFL. I've been saying this forever. If he
was an offensive play caller, he would be thought of
extremely highly. Think about Mike McDonald compared to Morris. Like, listen,
every one of the Shanahan guys doesn't like they love
(20:05):
Raheem Morris. I've never met him, but I've never heard
a bad word about him. People love the guy you
would love to have him on your staff as a
defensive coordinator. Does feel like he's a little over his
head as the head coach. Even at the end of
the game when it looked like Pennix his knees heard,
He's kind of limping around. He like Cousins is right
next to him. He doesn't quite know what to do,
(20:26):
and it was just kind of bizarre. And it just
feels like he never is that confident. And listen, when
you are in his shoes, you're gonna be a CEO
head coach. Whoever you hires your offensive coordinator, you're gonna
be pretty beholden to their skills, it working or not.
And Zach Robinson, like every time that I think, oh
he finally got it last week, I was like, really impressive,
(20:47):
and then you watch tonight You're like, what the fuck's
going on? What was happening here? Where is b Jon Robinson?
How are you not giving him the ball? Like every
single play I've even watching, I mean, the forty nine
ers have like DeMarcus Robinson dropping balls in the bread
basket that should be easy, like forty yard completions, but
they shouldn't even have to throw it. To him. But
(21:07):
the reason they do is Ricky Piersoll's knees messed up.
Juwan Jennings drops every other ball that gets thrown at him.
You got Brandon Aiyuk whose leg got ripped off last season.
I mean, their injuries left and right, so they're depending
on this guy. It can't even catch. Meanwhile, you look
at the Falcons, You're like, Drake London's a badass. Kyle Pitts,
we could argue that clearly shouldn't have been drafted as
(21:28):
high as he was, but he's definitely really talented. I'll
promise you this, when Kyle Pitts ends up on another
team next year or in some time in the future,
he will have a very productive season. But you're watching
him on Land and like this, this isn't working. You
got Bijeon, who, pound for pound, is one of the
most talented players in the NFL. Moody comes back, He's
flying around, he's getting open all over the place, and
(21:49):
they score ten points. Now, Mi guy, Pennis, I don't
know sums off. I can't quite put my finger on it.
Collinsworth was showing tonight that how he doesn't really step
into the ball. I've always wondered this because Pennix really
good athlete, right if him and he I think he
ran at the combine like a four or five two.
(22:10):
If he just race Mac Jones, he would beat him
running backwards. Yet when you watch Pennix play, he does
not play like a good athlete. And when you watch
him play in the pocket, he's just very erect. So
when you see these guys fall into him, you think,
at any moment he's gonna get his leg snapped, and
you start thinking, like, I wonder if over the course
of his career he's torn a bunch of acls because
(22:30):
of the way he does not step into throws. He
uses hips almost like a golf swing to generate power
with his arm, and he does throw a beautiful ball.
But I've also thought people have always like got almost
confused the power of an arm and the and the
beautiful spiral, Like he throws a nice deep ball, But
(22:54):
I don't think he has like a super powerful arm
like Matt Staffer or Josh Allen. To me, like his
arm strength relative to Mac Jones' arm strength isn't that different.
And if you watch some of his over the middle throws,
especially when people around his feet. He leaves a lot
really really short deep ball throwing. He's very natural with that,
(23:15):
like outside the numbers, like Jalen Hurts. That thing leaves
his hands just beautiful in the air. But some of
the drive throws, if there's any sort of I would
just say mess or just action around him, you're like
the end of result, You're like, what just happened there?
How did that? Something's just a little off and it
might not be all his fault. I've seen him with
(23:35):
good offensive coordinator, be good. I had a lot of friends,
like maybe I'm biased. I gambled on his team a
lot of Washington I loved a boor. I'm just a fan.
I'm rooting for the guy. But I watch him, I go,
I don't know, you know, like this guy might be
part of your problem. And let's face it, they drafted
him ete overall to be a franchise quarterback, and you
watch some of these other guys, you go the physical skills,
(23:58):
Like I know a lot of people, they did not
have first grades on them. They just thought the physical
skills were not there. And he just has a bunch
of injuries. He's hurt his shoulder multiple times, He's torn Acls.
You just watch him early on in his career, he's
getting the shit kicked out of him. You're like, he
feels more when you just watch the way he moves
like a thirty year old than someone who's in a
(24:18):
second year in the NFL and hasn't even made seventeen
career starts. So there's just something missing with the Atlanta Falcons.
It's a franchise issue as much as a Raheem Morris
or a Michael Pennix or a Bejon Robinson issue. I
mean this is this goes back to the Arthur Smith era.
There's just something in the building. There's a culture, there's
a standard that is just hasn't been there in a
(24:41):
long time that there's no really way to argue anything else.
Because you watch him, you go they should be better.
They have a bunch of guys. The Niners would take
half their starters yesterday without blinking. Get the forty nine
ers just beat him by ten points and honestly kind
of handled them, like physically shoved him around a little bit.
(25:02):
What a win. Incredible moment. I mean, Kyle Shanahan, every
time that people want to say something bad about him,
he just all of a sudden five and two with
a group full of randoms in mac Jones playing quarterback.
I mean, let's face it, they kind of have a
disaster on their hands with Brock Purdy in the sense
that they give Purty two hundred plus million dollars and
(25:24):
they were kind of describing the toe injury, and even
Brock says like, if you make the wrong move left
or right, not even straight on the pain, it can
set you back. He's like, I don't even know what
to do. It's like day to day that could just
last months that there's no guarantee that we see perty
next week in three weeks. Who knows that this is
one of those that is just kind of keep your
fingers crossed. Maybe it goes away. And even if it
(25:46):
does go away, it kind of did last time he
played and set him back, and now he's been out
several games since. So they've got like how many teams
throwing their backup quarterback and completely melt and the forty
nine ers bringing mac Jones and he can not only
function like he does a really really good job. He
has been you know, what Daniel Jones is doing with
(26:09):
Indianapolis has been amazing, But I give a lot of
credit to Shane Steiken. Obviously, their offensive weapons are just incredible,
and Daniel Jones is a more physically gifted player than
Mac Jones. But not if you would have told me
that through seven games Mack would have made all these starts,
what would happen to the forty nine ers, I'd be like,
(26:30):
they'd be three and four best case scenario, especially if
you factored in a bunch of injuries. He'd be like, no, John,
Actually they're five and two, and he's like single handedly
won them some games, made huge throws on third and
long tonight. I wouldn't have seen it coming. And it
also shows you why. And I think collins Worth talked
about tonight. They were talking to Mac and he's like,
(26:52):
I kind of it was healthy to kind of get
drug through the mud and go through a lot of
shit and hit a lot of adversity, learn a lot
about myself, because if you think about it, like Mack
led a pretty charm football life, surely was a good
high school player, goes to Alabama to it, gets hurt,
gets inserted a year later, wins the national championship, then
gets drafted fifteenth overall, then goes to the Patriots rookie
(27:16):
year makes the playoffs. It's like kind of riding high
and then everything changes and everyone's making fun of him,
and everyone just thinks he sucks and I'm probably guilty
of that too. Turns out he doesn't. Turned out he's
pretty good, not great, you know, not a top ten player,
shouldn't probably get drafted in the first round. But he's
a legitimate starter, and if he's with the right coach
(27:39):
and the right organization, can more than function, can win
you games on Sunday night football against a really good
defense against essentially two defensive coordinators Rahe Morris defensive coordinator,
Jeff Ulberg defensive coordinator. I mean, they're head coach, defensive guy,
and they have a legit defensive coordinator, like they are
a well run defensive operation. And he just triculating the
(28:00):
ball with Christian McCaffrey down the field in Kyle Shanahan,
and it looks like a more than functional player. So
congrats to him for just not tapping out and just
keep on swinging and turn it into a good player.
So wan to win five and two San Fransco forty
nine ers who would have thought today's show is brought
(28:25):
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Thirty three points in the fourth quarter is not a record.
Turns out, it was thirty four, But the only way
(30:14):
you can come back when you are in a situation
like the Titans a couple weeks ago, with the Arizona Cardinals,
today with the Denver Broncos against the Giants, it's impossible
to just score on your own possessions. You're going to
need a free possession, which is a turnover. It's the
only way to make one of these comebacks, and in
(30:35):
the Titans case, it was the De Marcado fumble at
the goal line, they got a free possession out of
it instead of a touchdown. And on the Broncos case tonight,
it was Jackson Dart throwing them a ball, basically hitting
their defensive player right in the hands. But I thought
there were a couple of moments to night and I'm
on the side of like, at this point in time,
(30:56):
Brian day Ball, who's gonna be a polarizing guy. Like,
it's pretty clear Mike and Daniel's gonna get fired, right,
Jonathan Gannon's in major, major trouble. I don't think you
can just transition to Jackson Dart and have this success
scataboo the team, Like they have been a pretty capable
team since they've put Jackson Dart in there. Firing Brian
(31:18):
day Ball is pretty risky, right. I think we see
this over and over the Titans currently. I saw a
headline today they're already starting their coaching search. If you're
starting a coaching search in the NFL before Halloween, I
just can't take your organization seriously. You know, during the
work week, everyone else is game planning, you know, watching
draft picks, watching free like everyone in the NFL kind
(31:39):
of fallows the same schedule. Meanwhile, the Titans president in
GM are orchestrating a coaching search, like, I just can't
take your franchise seriously. So when I look up today
and Mike Vrabel is just ruining your organization, just completely
clowning them up and down the field, like you kind
of brought this upon yourself. I do think the Giants
(32:01):
have tried to do it the right way. Their ownership
was very clear, like it was so embarrassing, but we
just wanted to give these guys a little more time.
And then you let them handpick the quarterback and then
he shows life. Now we can argue the coaching. They
got way too pass happy at the end of the game.
Just run the ball, kill some clock. Listen, if you're
(32:22):
gonna fumble on a run, so be it. Shit happens,
but do not put it on this young quarterback who
obviously threw the bad pick. And then the next series
that they're throwing like Jalen Hurts to aj Brown trying
to hit these balls down the seam, It's like, what
are you doing? Just run the ball. You can nippick
the play calling. Totally agree, but I do think that like,
(32:44):
I keep them, They're not gonna win many games. But
I think I would just give him a little bit longer,
leash just one more year with the guy. I just
think it's pretty risky because all of a sudden, you
get in this cycle and you become the Titans fast,
and you almost take one step forward and you're like,
oh Jackson Dark, cam scataboo. Then all of a sudden,
you bring in this next coach, because what's the coach
(33:05):
gonna do? You'll see it with the Titans. I want
to like cam Ward. I've been watching his career since
he's been at Washington State. Last year was awesome to watch.
He looks fucking terrible right now, looks atrocious, looks like
one of the worst players in the NFL. Is his fault.
I don't know that organization. You got people getting fired,
you got new coordinators. It's not like he's absent a blame.
(33:29):
But it's hard to know how much falls on his shoulders.
But here's what I do know. It's gonna be a
chaotic this year and probably next year. Right and even
when you get the right coach, Look at Caleb Williams.
I watched Caleb today I think he looks pretty bad.
I don't think he looks I don't think he looks
good at all. Not comfortable in the pocket, always scrambling
(33:50):
and running around. But they run the ball well, they
play defense. Ben Johnson good coach right now? Is Brian
Dave all good coach? I don't know, but I do
think he's shown enough with this quarterback. He's an offensive guy.
I would just give them a little more growth together.
And I just think that Sean Payton's very lucky because
(34:11):
through three quarters it looked like their offense was completely broken,
like it was just this is not gonna work. You
guys went all in for this quarterback, this offense has
I think they had the worst third down percentage over
a three game period in the entire league. They were
trending the wrong way. They they could not complete passes,
(34:33):
they could not get first downs, and then all of
a sudden, it just flipped and now you look, they
score thirty three points, they're five and two. Their defense
is obviously really good, and they have life and today
felt a little t bow ish. If you remember years
ago when Tebow came in for Denver, they pulled games
out of nowhere. They had no business winning. There was
(34:55):
a famous one at Miami. That's what today felt like
a little bit and how sustainable is that? And this
is where I think winning sometimes can band aid your issues.
Because the Broncos like didn't fix everything in one quarter.
They had like the football gods through them a bone.
But those first three quarters have kind of been a
(35:18):
consistent theme. And listen, I would imagine John Payton has
to be pretty frustrated. You have to wonder like his
play calling and the rhythm with bon Nicks. It's completely off.
They keep calling these deeper breaking routes that are just
simply not working. Bo Nicks is not hitting them. It's like,
what is Kyle Shanahan call for Mac Jones? Like outbreaking
routes like deep outs thee've comebacks or breaking you know,
(35:40):
routes over the middle. Stuff he's comfortable with. Yet they
keep calling go routes for bo Nicks and he not
only doesn't hit them, they're not even close. It feels
like he's overthrowing him by five yards. You could have
Randy Moss meets Kevin Garnett. I don't even think you
get a fingertip on the ball. So I just think
the Broncos, and I'm someone that has a lot of
(36:00):
exposure on them to win the division. Clearly, the Chiefs
are playing better right now. They just got to figure
out some sort of consistent offense if they want any
shot to compete in the AFC. Because one offense that
has figured it out, I think by far start to finish,
he's been the best offensive coordinator in the NFL this year. Seinstichen, Well,
(36:22):
what he has done is just remarkable and he was
so fired up today watching him on the sideline. Jonathan
Taylor pound for pounds, one of the best players in
the league right now, just a dominant force. And it
kind of makes me sad. You know, Wisconsin guy, their
programs and shambles, kind of the last of a one
of that last generation of good Wisconsin players till they've
kind of gone through this downturn. But whatever's happened to him,
(36:46):
Remember we're not that far removed from him being mad
about money a couple of years ago that might have
even been last year, to what he's doing right now.
Like he is, he's a dominant force. He is two
years ago. Is mccaf last year goes Last year it
was Saquon and this year it feels like it's him,
Like I'm the best running back in the league right now.
(37:07):
And what Shane the rhythm and how good he is
at getting Daniel Jones on the move. Like one of
Daniel Jones' strengths is his athleticism. So and he's not
like some power thrower, like he actually has pretty good touch.
And there are plays today, some play action plays getting
him on the move, some dump offs they get Tyler
Warren in space all the time. They had a great
(37:29):
play in the red zone like a play action a
little dump off to Pittman for a touchdown. His play
calling is just spectacular. Now. They picked Herbert off a
couple of times, but they were scoring at will today.
And the Colts, I don't know how good their defense
is relative to like can they be a true AFC,
(37:49):
like win the AFC. Their offense right now though, is
and you win enough games like you control like you
get that thing in the dome. They have multiple receivers,
they got a study tight end, they got an elite back,
and they got a quarterback who's very very confident. The
other offensive coordinator that listen, everyone shit on this guy,
every single person, Brian Schottenheimer is gonna be one and done.
(38:10):
Brian Schottenheimer doesn't deserve the job. Jerry Jones has lost it.
I probably said half those things. Brian Schottenheimer this year
as an offensive coordinator has been dominant. What he has
done to lose And I told this to Coward. To
have Micah Parsons traded a couple days before Week one
is not easy if you are Andy Reid or Pete
(38:33):
Carroll or Sean McVay, let alone a first time head coach.
And not only did he handle that well, he's also
taking in George Pickens, who is at least it felt
like one of the great wild card person out. Mike
Toms like, I'm out, I can't do this. I'll go
I'd rather give DK metcalp one hundred and fifty million dollars,
which is kind of crazy, and just get rid of
(38:54):
George Pickens, who's basically free right now. And Jerry's like, here, here,
here you go, Brian, no problem. He's gonna have eighty
catches this year in ten touchdowns and just dominant play
after dominant play after dominant play, and then CD comes
back ferguson how well Dak's playing. They look, they look
like the Rams. He just like, watch the Rams play.
(39:16):
It's like touchdown, first down, first down, chunk play. That's
how the Cowboys look. Now their defense stinks and that
limits their ceiling of probably being a wild card team.
But they have been a revelation this year because on
the flip side, like Washington looks terrible. Obviously Jaden's injured again. Defensively,
they can't stop a soul. Offensively, they got a bunch
(39:39):
of injuries. They look like the Magic from twenty twenty
four is. You know, I almost ran out of gas
the other day. It was one of those like I
was on empty. It was like a Tuesday, and I
didn't drive that much on a Wednesday, and then I
realized I had to do some stuff on a Thursday.
And then all of a sudden, like I'm blow empty.
And that's what it feels like now with the Commanders,
(40:01):
like they're below empty. They got nothing. You know, they're
like a pitcher in the eighth inning, who you know,
starts off throwing about ninety three and by the sixth
or seventh is thrown about eighty five. Tim Linscomb used
to be like this toward the end of his career.
It's like, all of a sudden, his fastball is going
like eighty two years old. It's like skip, we gotta
go the pen here. And I don't know what the
commanders supposed to do. Players are their players. They look
(40:22):
they look really bad. Something's just really really off. Two
things I think we can unofficially say the Tua and
the Kyler Murray eras are over. Tua got benched. I
wasn't super locked into that game, but that whole thing
is just obviously he's had an awful season. The franchise
is falling apart. I don't really know what you do
(40:45):
because his contract is still pretty big. It's not like
you could trade him. You wouldn't think maybe you could
eat some of the money. Maybe a team could use
him as a bridge. I'd say the same thing for
Kyler Murray. You know, the difference for Tua and Kyler
is the backup comes in who everyone likes. Jacoby Weresett,
from Bill Parcells to the cafeteria guy at every organization
(41:09):
he's ever played for. Jacoby Weresett is probably one of
the more consistently respected guys in the NFL. Never thought
he was that good of a player. And I'm watching
him come in for the Cardinals and not only look good,
like they're a well run operation when he's playing quarterback
for them, and they have looked way better these last
two weeks with him playing offense, same with Marvin Harrison
(41:29):
than when Kyler's played, And I just think, like they're
two and five. Cardinals are headed nowhere. Obviously, the Dolphins
just got ransacked by the Cleveland Browns. It's just over.
And this is a good example of I understand, like,
when you have a quarterback, you need to invest in them,
But if you're not super confident in your quarterback, why
(41:52):
would you pay them? Like just play it out. I
don't think we do that enough. Just play it out
for every Dak Prescott's Like, well, we played Dak Prescott
out and we had to pay him a lot of money, Okay,
But like, would you have given Kyler this huge contract?
Did you need to do it after year three? And
the answer, of course is no same thing with Tua,
Like who are you bidding against at the time. I
(42:12):
never quite understand this, And I think two teams that
were burned so bad were the Cardinals and the Dolphins.
And they find themselves in this situation where they have
this quarterback albatross. You know, I wouldn't be shocked at
all if like they just kind of ride with Jacoby,
because that's what I would do watching them play that
they feel like a much more efficient operation when Brissett
(42:33):
is in there than when Kyler, who can make spectacular plays,
but there's no cohesion snap to snap, one play could
be fifty yards, the next three plays could be you know,
negative ten, and to us just who just wants to
watch him play at this point in time. We will
(43:03):
end with this one thing I think we're about to learn,
Like in the NFL, not all jobs are equal. Right?
Who am I answering to? How much you're gonna pay me?
Do I have say over the roster? Right do I
have to if the Tennessee job, Well, it's like you
have a president who's a football guy, and you have
a GM who's a football guy, and you have an
(43:23):
impulsive owner. So like, who am I answering to and
how much you're paying me? Because you paid your last
coach three million dollars and he had to deal with
all this bullshit and he got fired. So if I'm
even interested in the Tennessee job, and I have any
sort of leverage, I'm gonna need a lot of money
to even entertain you. Right, And I think in football
it's very easy to see hierarchies like who am I
answering to? Who's in charge? In college? That's not the
(43:45):
case when you hire all these top college coaches, they're
the boss. Ryan Day, the GM at Ohio State works
for him, The GM at Oregon works for Dan Lanning,
the GM at Notre Dame works for Marcus Freeman, the
GM at Texas works for Sark. Now, you got to
deal with some boosters and provosts and some but like
(44:06):
you're the boss of your football team, there is not
a player on the team that you don't sign off on. Right,
And historically it was clear some jobs are better than
others that there's not a time in the history of
the sport when Penn State was viewed as an equal
to Indiana, let alone not a vastly superior job and
(44:28):
location to work as a head coach. Yet Kurt Signetti
basically just said, not only am I not interested, I'll
take eleven and a half million dollars to stay at
Indiana because the world's changed. Nil revenue it's it's different
than it was five six years ago, where obviously the
top programs, a lot of them are still going to
be the top programs. But like it wasn't difficult for
(44:50):
Alabama to give someone thirty thousand dollars, it's a big
difference to give five guys. What game was I watching
a couple weeks ago where the coach said that the
posing coach said that they had seven or eight players
making over a million dollars. So it's like before, yeah,
people got brown bags and some free car leases. Now
it's like they also need the car lease to go
(45:10):
on top of the million dollars that you have to
pay him. And that's just your linebacker, your quarterback, Carson Beck,
who just threw four interceptions, is making millions upon millions
of dollars. Hell the shitty quarterback for North Carolina, the
little left, he's making one point five. This is going right,
whether we agree or not. And Florida just fired billion
Napier and all signs. There was a CBS report that
(45:32):
the ad at Florida has already done a lot of
research on Lane Kiffin, who has clearly changed the narrative
and just the way we view him as a human being.
He is one of the most likable guys in college football.
You know, a lot of people say I've cleaned up
my act. He looks sober, right, Some people like claim
they're sober might be lying. Like Lane kiffn looks sober,
(45:56):
looks really healthy, lost a ton of weight, obviously does
hot yoga seven days a week. Is just got a
vibrant feel to him that when I scouted, when I
went I went through USC when he was there, he
was like angry and grouchy. He was not this big personality.
He actually talked to nobody. I would say he was
pretty miserable back then. The guy you see now that
(46:17):
honestly had Georgia on the ropes a couple days ago
is a completely different human being. And there have been
a lot of question marks over the last couple of
years with off the field stuff with Lane Kiffin. He
wanted to interview for Oregon and wanted that job. The
year Dan land and got it, they wouldn't even entertain him.
They would not entertain him. Alabama was open when Nick
(46:39):
Sabin retired, they didn't call Lane Kifvin. He had worked
there for three years. Nick Saban and him pretend to
be friends. They were never gonna hire Lane Kifn and
they went to Kaylin Duboor that was from the Dakotas
who was working at Washington in Fresno State. Lane Kivin
had been in the building, knew the Nick Saban blueprint
and look at Lane. He has taken all and turn
(47:00):
them into a power. He's fucking competing with the Division
two quarterback at ole Miss. But I don't know job,
Like I know Ohio State's better than every job. I know.
Texas is better than because the amount of money, the recruits,
the whole thing. But then we get into like is
Florida great job anymore? In theory, yeah, they're in this
state with a bunch of recruits, but like we've been
(47:21):
watching them for a long time now, not winning. They've
had a bunch of nil it's not really working. So
we're gonna find out that do you need to leave? Like,
is there a big difference between Ole Miss and Florida?
A lot of people would say yes, there is and historically,
but in twenty twenty five, I don't know, right, I
(47:41):
know this, there is a big difference. Working for the
Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Titans. There is a
major difference working for the Kansasy Chiefs and the Arizona Cardinals.
There are well run organizations, there are well run ownerships.
There are well run uh just franchise. This is in
terms of their resources and the way they think about
(48:02):
the business. And then they're the shitty ones. And we
see it all the time. It's why the same teams
draft Hie every single year. One In college football, now
it's like Texas time. I'm watching the ASU Texas Tech game.
The announcers like, Texas Tech's paying twenty eight million dollars
for their roster. So it's like if you have big
nil and collectives in revenue, that's a good job. Historically,
(48:26):
Texas Tech would be one of the worst jobs in Texas.
Texas be better, TEXA, A and M would be better.
Could argue SMU and TCU were better. Well, they're gonna
give you twenty eight to thirty million dollars a year
to spend on players. You could argue that job is
every bit as good as the other jobs. You know,
and uh, I think we're about to find out. My
guess would be Lane Kiffin will be the next head
(48:48):
coach of Florida. But I wouldn't bet a lot on
it because he's winning and having more success at all
miss And one thing he's talked about is being around family.
His life is changed. Uh So, what we're gonna find out?
And if Penn State in Florida can't get guys to leave,
maybe we need to rethink and relook at the way
(49:08):
we've always kind of put the hierarchy of jobs these
You know, I'm not just talking Ohio State in text,
I'm talking the next fifteen jobs. Maybe. Actually it's much
more open ended and there's forty jobs that are all
kind of in the same ballpark. Have a great night,
See you later. The volume
The volume. What is going on? Everybody just finished watching?
(00:22):
As Chris Collinsworth called it a startling game because I'm
with them. Listen, you have that many injuries. We'll dive
into the coaching mismatch McCaffrey, but given how well Beijon
had played last week, you just thought this was gonna
be tough. And the forty nine Ers win by ten points,
(00:42):
twenty to ten. Sunday Night football, they go to five
and two to hold serve with the Rams, but because
they've beat them, they are technically in first place. Same
with even if Seattle wins on Monday Night, the Saverers
go forty nine Ers. Who's star midtal linebacker was up
in a box and a cast Bosa who he knows
where he is nursing an acl Kittles coming back from
(01:04):
injury with Mac Jones winning his fourth game as the
forty nine ers starting quarterback in the middle of October.
What a performance. So the forty nine ers get a
massive win. We'll dive into that game. Atlanta did Denny
Green once famously say they are who we thought they were.
That's very true. The Atlanta Falcons are who we thought
they were. Some other craziness today. Obviously I go on
(01:27):
with Colin after the Sunday game, so we talked a
little bit about the Denver I mean, it's one of
the most bananas game of all time. Had some times
to think about that. A couple other things that just
stood out today, from Shane steike In to Brian Schottenheimer
to I think we have a couple eras when it
comes to quarterbacks that we can just kind of just
(01:47):
unofficially that they ended today. And then a couple things
with college. Lane Kiffin is kind of the talk of
the town. Will he go to Florida who fired their
coach today? James Franklin did a hit on college game day.
He clearly plans on continue coaching, and I'm sure he
wants to be in the mix for a job like Florida.
(02:09):
So we'll talk a little college before we get out
of here. But obviously we got to start with an
incredible performance. And you know, in the pros, unlike college,
so much of it is about the x's and the
o's because in like just all around the league, most
(02:31):
teams are pretty beat up. I don't care where you look.
Everyone's dealing with injuries. Guys are dropping like flies, and
the overwhelming majority of matchups. The difference in talent is
not that great, but the coaching mismatch in the NFL,
and you see it on a weekly basis countless times
on Sunday, can be so wide and tonight, like, the
(02:52):
reason Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala make a combined twenty
to twenty five million dollars was for that right there.
Kyle Shanahan now has won four games We're not even
too Halloween with Mac Jones. He won four games with
Mac Jones. I stand by this. If you win a
(03:14):
game as a backup quarterback, you've earned your contract. If
you've win too, if you win to you could argue
that you are an underpaid player. What Mac Jones is
doing is he's proving like I could be a functional starter.
I mean, he had an interception tonight, wasn't his fault
bounced off Juwan Jennings hands. But Kyle Shanahan and Robert
(03:34):
Sala doing this with randos all over the place. It
just was an incredible accomplishment tonight. Like, listen, I don't
think that Raheem Morris and Zach Robinson by any means,
and Jeff Olbrick are their equals. But when I just
based it on the way they were playing, they were
much healthier, at least in theory they lost some guys
(03:56):
during the game that the forty nine Ers are going
to be at a disadvantage and somehow they're just not
because coaching really matters, leadership really matters, culture really matters.
And like at the end of the day, the Atlanta
Falcons have a lot of talented players, but they're not
winners and it's not necessarily their fault, right, I do
(04:17):
think under the right players like the Chiefs, the forty
nine Ers, the Rams, the Lions, all these good teams
around the NFL. Like a normal year with the Ravens,
the Bills would love a ton of guys on their roster,
and if you put them on their roster and that culture,
they would be winners. But there is just something about
that franchise and it was on full display tonight with
(04:40):
Kyle Shanahan coming in with his backup quarterback with backups
all over his defense and Robert Salah and just going,
you know what, physically, we are going to kick your ass,
and that's what they did. They just out toughed them,
They out physicaled them and they said, you know what,
our best player tonight, we are going to just completely
(05:01):
rely on him. And he was fantastic. That's the best
McCaffrey game in two years. Obviously, he didn't really have
a season last year and in this season though, he's
been productive and the forty nine ers have leaned on him,
you know, to get four wins, especially in the passing game.
He hadn't had that type night and tonight he was
simply spectacular. Twenty four carries for one hundred and thirty yards,
two touchdowns on the ground. He had another seven catches
(05:25):
in a huge spot on third and long down in
the red zone where a field goal makes a six
point game, a touchdown basically ends it. Mac Jones hits him.
And that's the thing with Christian McCaffrey, is he at
any moment could just turn into Wes Welker or Julian Edelman.
He's one of the greatest Swiss Army knifs you'll ever see.
(05:45):
And does he quite look as fast as he wants
it in his prime? I don't know. But he was
excellent and Kyle Shanahan wrote him like secretary tonight and
they needed to They needed every one of those yards.
They needed every one of those touches, and he was
simply spectacular. And the difference tonight is the forty nine
ers were gonna go. We had twenty four carries, seven catches,
(06:08):
eight targets, so I mean they tried to get him
the ball well over thirty times. Yet you look at
Bijon Robinson, who was also an elite player, I mean,
pound for pound, one of the most talented players in
the sport. Fourteen carries and six catches, so twenty total touches.
Meanwhile McCaffrey had over thirty. Like, if I'm Raheem Morris
(06:31):
and I'm looking at Zach Robinson, how do we not
match the amount of touches for our best player as
they do their best player. And there was one time
the night on a short yardage play where they went
to Kyle Hugheschek and he got stuffed, and I would
imagine Kyle Shanahan immediately regretted it because he got too cute.
And this is the type game like in the NFL,
(06:53):
that differs a lot from Saturday, Like you play in
these games, it's like thirteen to ten going into the
fourth quarter. I mean you're gonna determined by a first
down here, a field goal there, that this is not
going back and forth scoring touchdowns on every possession, every
every decision matters, Every second and five matters, every third
(07:13):
and one matters. And there was a spot in this
game fourth and one. There was like little under nine
minutes to go and b John Robinson wasn't on the field.
It was like and the forty nine ers like back
up slot corner Lucas made a great play on Drake London,
who's also a really good player, but like, how could you, like,
(07:34):
what what are you doing? And this is what we
talked about with coaching. The forty nine ers didn't overthink tonight.
They said, get the ball to McCaffrey and let's play defense.
We're gonna tackle. Well, that was gonna be a huge
part of clearly their game plan. We're gonna tackle and
play really physical and their defensive line was flying around
Bryce Huff. You know who they got from the Jets? Who?
(07:56):
I guess, Well, the Eagles got from the Jets, who
obviously Robert Solid really liked. They had eleven sacks two
years ago. You know, the forty nine ers didn't have
to give up much to get them, and I don't
know where they would be without that acquisition. Because Bosa
is hurt, they don't have much edge pressure. And obviously
Tatum Bethom, the Florida State linebacker who filled in for
Fred Warner to night. When you talk about culture and
(08:19):
when you talk about a standard, you know, Tomlin loves
saying this standard is the standard. And listen, I think
people make fun of them because their standard has diminished.
But I think part of that doesn't even just mean
like winning is the only thing around here. It's like,
this is the way we play right, win or loose.
Because it's the NFL. You could have a great season
(08:40):
and lose six times, right and win eleven games. The
Chiefs two years ago went to the Super Bowl. They
went eleven and six. But this is the standard for
if you're going to be a starter on this team.
This is the bare minimum is to play your ass
off and hit fucking people hard. And you saw the
forty nine ers throw in random guys, young players. They
are a team and their culture has started. And this
(09:02):
is where I give Kyle a lot of credit. We
can disagree with his mindset when it comes to offensive
lineman not big undrafting them, right, which, listen, who am
I to tell him how to build a football team.
I would like him to pivot a little bit on
that stance. But one thing I've always appreciated for an
offensive guy, his value of defensive players is extremely high.
(09:25):
He not only values them highly, the type guys they
like and listen, obviously his general manager is a legendary badass.
I mean, one of the hardest hitters in the history
of the league, John Lynch. They got a pretty good
and you go back to Mike Shanahan. Like Mike Shanahan
and his heyday in Denver had some very physical defenses.
They were an old school, hard hitting team. They value
(09:48):
those type guys and when you build teams full of
people with high competitive character, physicality is something that they
enjoy doing. You know, they got rid of Who last year,
which I understood, right, awesome player. You watch him on Denver.
He is a he looks like an All Pro. But
they had replacements and you saw Tonight Mustafa, who is
(10:11):
battling back from a knee injury. They hit people so hard,
their linebackers, their safeties, the two d linemen that they
drafted really high Mikel Williams and Alfred Collins. Their corners
all hit and there is a standard on defense. And
this you know, you bring Robert Sala, who they liked
the most out of all the guys since Demiko Ryans, Right,
(10:33):
we saw with Steve Wilkes didn't fit in. We saw
with the dude last year didn't fit in. There's something
about the messaging with Sala, but the type of guys
haven't changed now. There is no replacing Fred Warner over
the course of the season. He's one of the best
players in the league. But in a situation like tonight,
you get him there, he's there on a scooter. They
were flying around with their hair on fire and they
(10:53):
were crushing people. How many times to night on outside
zone runs did their linebackers fill and they had guys
flying around from every angle, And that's what I thought
they were going to be able to replace. It's why
I was like, listen, I don't like picking against the
Niners in a primetime game. Kyle's proven this, But you
just miss enough bodies and you get Bejon Robinson. You
give them the ball thirty five times, gonna have two
hundred yards. Well, it turns out they didn't give the
(11:15):
ball thirty five times, and even when they did, their
linebackers were filling in the whole. Honestly, the only time
he kind of got in space were some of those
like you know plays where they kind of motioned him
out and threw him the ball like almost like a
wheel route, and he scored a touchdown on it. But
like as a runner, what was his long run of
the night? It was long run was eight yards. If
(11:38):
you would have told me that Bjon Robinson's long of
running the ball would be eight yards, I wouldn't have
believed you. And that's a testament to you know, listen,
Robert sala is gonna get a lot of credit, but
Fred Warner is a constant that has been around this team.
Obviously he's injured right now, but just in terms of
his messaging and what he means as a vocal leader,
(12:00):
like you talk about a guy that sets the standard,
and coaches have been saying this since the beginning of
the time. My message only goes so far. I need
the players. Like the reason coaches love players that act
like coaches on the field is because they regurgitate their
message and it goes like to you know, in any situation, right,
(12:22):
you work hard for the guy next to you in
the trenches, whether it's one of our you know, whatever
industry you're in, whether you're in the military, whether you're
an athlete. Whoever is the boss, is the general, is
the coach. Even if you respect them to the nth
degree and you know you revere their messaging, there is
(12:43):
something special about being hand in hand with the guy
that you're actually doing it with. And I think you
saw that tonight with the forty nine ers. There guys
somehow bonded together obviously Sola's messaging, you know, kind of
getting together for Fred Warner. And what did Kyle Shanahan
They mentioned it tonight on the broadcast. I had read
about it this year or I mean this week, is
(13:06):
that they had taken Fred Warner's rookie snaps and showed
it to some of the young guys on the team.
Like this guy didn't just start out being an All Pro,
He didn't just start out being a Hall of Fame guy.
He was once an unproven rookie. Then no one really
knew who he was, that he was this hybrid positionless
player coming out of BYU. Was he gonna be a safety.
(13:28):
Was he gonna be a linebacker? Inside? Outside? Where was
he gonna play? And there was a culture in a
mindset of listen, we're gonna figure it out, or we're
gonna figure it out, going one hundred miles an hour
and fucking people up. And that's what the forty nine
ers have done for a long period of time on
defense and why they've won a lot of games because
when they're really humming, they have elite players doing that.
(13:49):
But they have had a lot of injuries over the
course of seven eight years under Kyle Shanahan. It's one
of the craziest eras I've ever seen because it's been
really successful. Yet the amount of people that go into
the Blue Tent and have their careers altered is borderline unprecedented.
It never stops even a night they lost the center,
middle of the game, hamstring out rights, Rinardo Green starting
(14:11):
corner out. Like they play a game, they will lose
multiple starters in that game. But the standard of their
physicality and when Kyle's on from a play calling standpoint,
let's face it, he is a much better play caller
and he became like, you know, one of the I
would say top guys in the league over the course
(14:33):
of his career as someone that called runs and his
offense hums. When the running game is working, they struggle
as an offense, whether it's Purty, whether it's Jimmy g
whether it's Mac Jones, whoever's playing quarterback for him, when
they become a pass heavy offense. What you saw to
the Atlanta Falcons to night, how many attempts do they have?
(14:54):
Thirty eight? Michael Pennix was twenty one of thirty eight,
So I mean, what's that fifty five per fifty four percent?
Not great? Kyle Shannan does not want to play like
that tonight. Mac Jones seventeen of twenty six, so they
had they had seventeen or they had twenty six pass
attempts and thirty nine rushers. Now five of those you
(15:17):
know were Mac. I guess one of those was a
true run. Some of those were scrambles. So let's say
between McCaffrey and Brian Robinson they had thirty four carries
they had and used check almost ten more rushing attempts
than pass attempts. That's how he wants to play, and
when his guys historically have interviewed with other franchises about listen,
(15:42):
I'm gonna be the head coach. These are my philosophies.
This is my offensive philosophy. They want to have more
rush attempts than pass attempts. It makes it easier on
the quarterback. It's why when we talk about this being
a quarterback friendly offense, it's that because we're gonna lean
on a running back, we're not gonna lean on you.
(16:03):
And what happens when you are being successful rushing the football,
you're not in second and nine. You're not in third
and twelve. Because even if you have Tyreek Hill and
Travis Kelcey in their prime or Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison,
third nine and third and twelve's are really really difficult.
They put you in a you know, in a you
(16:25):
just had a disadvantage. And tonight they were very, very successful,
you know, on early downs, and at one point in
time I looked they were excellent on third down. Tonight
they were nine to fifteen on third down, Like that's
really really good. At one point in time when Denver
didn't have a point, they were well under thirty percent
on third downs. And that's over the course I saw
(16:47):
three three weeks, they were the worst third down offense
in the NFL. And if you're doing that, your offense
is gonna suck. If you're successful on third down, your
offense is gonna be good because who who also does
that help? That helps your defense, keeps them off the field,
lets them rest, lets them be fresher when they do
come in harder for the other offense to get into
(17:08):
a rhythm. And that that was a coaching clinic tonight
by Shanahan, by Sala, by John Lynch. The type players
they bring in, because we talked a lot about this
with the Miami Dolphins. Everyone shitting on Tua over the
course of the last couple of weeks. Obviously he's not
playing well, but for his comments about the players only meeting, like,
(17:30):
you create a culture by the people, you know. We
hear this a lot about different cultures with different companies.
The culture is not the building, right It's like the
Apples building or Amazon's headquarters or you name it. It's
the people in those buildings, right, Like the culture with
San Francisco has been created by Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.
(17:53):
It is not on Brock Purdy or Fred Warner to
discipline everybody. Obviously, if you're a great leader, you help
and you are additive to the room and to the
message and to like the plight of a given season,
of the success or failure. But it all starts with
the guy at the top of the food chain, and
(18:14):
in football, it's the coach and obviously the GM and
the personnel people of bringing in the right type guys.
And one thing the forty nine ers have done consistently
is get the right type guys. And I think at
the end of the day, they they've always leaned to
the side of being physical because it's hard to not
love football and be a physical player. You cannot love
(18:36):
football and be a talented player and be a guy
that's playing in the NFL and have a good career.
But it is hard to be a football junkie and
be the type guy that every GM talks about around
the combine of the type players they're looking for and
being a guy that has to buckle up his chin
strap because he's looking to crack skulls every single play,
(18:57):
because that's who wants to do that. You got to
really be into it, and the forty nine ers have
a lot of guys who are just physicality is really
what they hang their hat on. And tonight was an
absolute clinic. And listen, one thing I can't get around
is somehow the forty nine ers, with all their injuries,
are five and two right there with the Rams, and
(19:19):
if Seattle wins tomorrow, they're five and two. And this division, honestly,
the Arizona Cardinals are not gonna end up winning that
many games. They've actually been pretty competitive. They're gonna be
one of those teams as five wins and they could
have easily won like eleven games. But the NFC West
is shaping up to be really, really good. It's a
well coached league. It's a very physical division. You know,
(19:43):
the Rams their front bunch of badasses. McVeigh elite coach.
Mike McDonald I think one of the best defensive coaches
in the NFL. I've been saying this forever. If he
was an offensive play caller, he would be thought of
extremely highly. Think about Mike McDonald compared to Morris. Like, listen,
every one of the Shanahan guys doesn't like they love
(20:05):
Raheem Morris. I've never met him, but I've never heard
a bad word about him. People love the guy you
would love to have him on your staff as a
defensive coordinator. Does feel like he's a little over his
head as the head coach. Even at the end of
the game when it looked like Pennix his knees heard,
He's kind of limping around. He like Cousins is right
next to him. He doesn't quite know what to do,
(20:26):
and it was just kind of bizarre. And it just
feels like he never is that confident. And listen, when
you are in his shoes, you're gonna be a CEO
head coach. Whoever you hires your offensive coordinator, you're gonna
be pretty beholden to their skills, it working or not.
And Zach Robinson, like every time that I think, oh
he finally got it last week, I was like, really impressive,
(20:47):
and then you watch tonight You're like, what the fuck's
going on? What was happening here? Where is b Jon Robinson?
How are you not giving him the ball? Like every
single play I've even watching, I mean, the forty nine
ers have like DeMarcus Robinson dropping balls in the bread
basket that should be easy, like forty yard completions, but
they shouldn't even have to throw it. To him. But
(21:07):
the reason they do is Ricky Piersoll's knees messed up.
Juwan Jennings drops every other ball that gets thrown at him.
You got Brandon Aiyuk whose leg got ripped off last season.
I mean, their injuries left and right, so they're depending
on this guy. It can't even catch. Meanwhile, you look
at the Falcons, You're like, Drake London's a badass. Kyle Pitts,
we could argue that clearly shouldn't have been drafted as
(21:28):
high as he was, but he's definitely really talented. I'll
promise you this, when Kyle Pitts ends up on another
team next year or in some time in the future,
he will have a very productive season. But you're watching
him on Land and like this, this isn't working. You
got Bijeon, who, pound for pound, is one of the
most talented players in the NFL. Moody comes back, He's
flying around, he's getting open all over the place, and
(21:49):
they score ten points. Now, Mi guy, Pennis, I don't
know sums off. I can't quite put my finger on it.
Collinsworth was showing tonight that how he doesn't really step
into the ball. I've always wondered this because Pennix really
good athlete, right if him and he I think he
ran at the combine like a four or five two.
(22:10):
If he just race Mac Jones, he would beat him
running backwards. Yet when you watch Pennix play, he does
not play like a good athlete. And when you watch
him play in the pocket, he's just very erect. So
when you see these guys fall into him, you think,
at any moment he's gonna get his leg snapped, and
you start thinking, like, I wonder if over the course
of his career he's torn a bunch of acls because
(22:30):
of the way he does not step into throws. He
uses hips almost like a golf swing to generate power
with his arm, and he does throw a beautiful ball.
But I've also thought people have always like got almost
confused the power of an arm and the and the
beautiful spiral, Like he throws a nice deep ball, But
(22:54):
I don't think he has like a super powerful arm
like Matt Staffer or Josh Allen. To me, like his
arm strength relative to Mac Jones' arm strength isn't that different.
And if you watch some of his over the middle throws,
especially when people around his feet. He leaves a lot
really really short deep ball throwing. He's very natural with that,
(23:15):
like outside the numbers, like Jalen Hurts. That thing leaves
his hands just beautiful in the air. But some of
the drive throws, if there's any sort of I would
just say mess or just action around him, you're like
the end of result, You're like, what just happened there?
How did that? Something's just a little off and it
might not be all his fault. I've seen him with
(23:35):
good offensive coordinator, be good. I had a lot of friends,
like maybe I'm biased. I gambled on his team a
lot of Washington I loved a boor. I'm just a fan.
I'm rooting for the guy. But I watch him, I go,
I don't know, you know, like this guy might be
part of your problem. And let's face it, they drafted
him ete overall to be a franchise quarterback, and you
watch some of these other guys, you go the physical skills,
(23:58):
Like I know a lot of people, they did not
have first grades on them. They just thought the physical
skills were not there. And he just has a bunch
of injuries. He's hurt his shoulder multiple times, He's torn Acls.
You just watch him early on in his career, he's
getting the shit kicked out of him. You're like, he
feels more when you just watch the way he moves
like a thirty year old than someone who's in a
(24:18):
second year in the NFL and hasn't even made seventeen
career starts. So there's just something missing with the Atlanta Falcons.
It's a franchise issue as much as a Raheem Morris
or a Michael Pennix or a Bejon Robinson issue. I
mean this is this goes back to the Arthur Smith era.
There's just something in the building. There's a culture, there's
a standard that is just hasn't been there in a
(24:41):
long time that there's no really way to argue anything else.
Because you watch him, you go they should be better.
They have a bunch of guys. The Niners would take
half their starters yesterday without blinking. Get the forty nine
ers just beat him by ten points and honestly kind
of handled them, like physically shoved him around a little bit.
(25:02):
What a win. Incredible moment. I mean, Kyle Shanahan, every
time that people want to say something bad about him,
he just all of a sudden five and two with
a group full of randoms in mac Jones playing quarterback.
I mean, let's face it, they kind of have a
disaster on their hands with Brock Purdy in the sense
that they give Purty two hundred plus million dollars and
(25:24):
they were kind of describing the toe injury, and even
Brock says like, if you make the wrong move left
or right, not even straight on the pain, it can
set you back. He's like, I don't even know what
to do. It's like day to day that could just
last months that there's no guarantee that we see perty
next week in three weeks. Who knows that this is
one of those that is just kind of keep your
fingers crossed. Maybe it goes away. And even if it
(25:46):
does go away, it kind of did last time he
played and set him back, and now he's been out
several games since. So they've got like how many teams
throwing their backup quarterback and completely melt and the forty
nine ers bringing mac Jones and he can not only
function like he does a really really good job. He
has been you know, what Daniel Jones is doing with
(26:09):
Indianapolis has been amazing, But I give a lot of
credit to Shane Steiken. Obviously, their offensive weapons are just incredible,
and Daniel Jones is a more physically gifted player than
Mac Jones. But not if you would have told me
that through seven games Mack would have made all these starts,
what would happen to the forty nine ers, I'd be like,
(26:30):
they'd be three and four best case scenario, especially if
you factored in a bunch of injuries. He'd be like, no, John,
Actually they're five and two, and he's like single handedly
won them some games, made huge throws on third and
long tonight. I wouldn't have seen it coming. And it
also shows you why. And I think collins Worth talked
about tonight. They were talking to Mac and he's like,
(26:52):
I kind of it was healthy to kind of get
drug through the mud and go through a lot of
shit and hit a lot of adversity, learn a lot
about myself, because if you think about it, like Mack
led a pretty charm football life, surely was a good
high school player, goes to Alabama to it, gets hurt,
gets inserted a year later, wins the national championship, then
gets drafted fifteenth overall, then goes to the Patriots rookie
(27:16):
year makes the playoffs. It's like kind of riding high
and then everything changes and everyone's making fun of him,
and everyone just thinks he sucks and I'm probably guilty
of that too. Turns out he doesn't. Turned out he's
pretty good, not great, you know, not a top ten player,
shouldn't probably get drafted in the first round. But he's
a legitimate starter, and if he's with the right coach
(27:39):
and the right organization, can more than function, can win
you games on Sunday night football against a really good
defense against essentially two defensive coordinators Rahe Morris defensive coordinator,
Jeff Ulberg defensive coordinator. I mean, they're head coach, defensive guy,
and they have a legit defensive coordinator, like they are
a well run defensive operation. And he just triculating the
(28:00):
ball with Christian McCaffrey down the field in Kyle Shanahan,
and it looks like a more than functional player. So
congrats to him for just not tapping out and just
keep on swinging and turn it into a good player.
So wan to win five and two San Fransco forty
nine ers who would have thought today's show is brought
(28:25):
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Thirty three points in the fourth quarter is not a record.
Turns out, it was thirty four, But the only way
(30:14):
you can come back when you are in a situation
like the Titans a couple weeks ago, with the Arizona Cardinals,
today with the Denver Broncos against the Giants, it's impossible
to just score on your own possessions. You're going to
need a free possession, which is a turnover. It's the
only way to make one of these comebacks, and in
(30:35):
the Titans case, it was the De Marcado fumble at
the goal line, they got a free possession out of
it instead of a touchdown. And on the Broncos case tonight,
it was Jackson Dart throwing them a ball, basically hitting
their defensive player right in the hands. But I thought
there were a couple of moments to night and I'm
on the side of like, at this point in time,
(30:56):
Brian day Ball, who's gonna be a polarizing guy. Like,
it's pretty clear Mike and Daniel's gonna get fired, right,
Jonathan Gannon's in major, major trouble. I don't think you
can just transition to Jackson Dart and have this success
scataboo the team, Like they have been a pretty capable
team since they've put Jackson Dart in there. Firing Brian
(31:18):
day Ball is pretty risky, right. I think we see
this over and over the Titans currently. I saw a
headline today they're already starting their coaching search. If you're
starting a coaching search in the NFL before Halloween, I
just can't take your organization seriously. You know, during the
work week, everyone else is game planning, you know, watching
draft picks, watching free like everyone in the NFL kind
(31:39):
of fallows the same schedule. Meanwhile, the Titans president in
GM are orchestrating a coaching search, like, I just can't
take your franchise seriously. So when I look up today
and Mike Vrabel is just ruining your organization, just completely
clowning them up and down the field, like you kind
of brought this upon yourself. I do think the Giants
(32:01):
have tried to do it the right way. Their ownership
was very clear, like it was so embarrassing, but we
just wanted to give these guys a little more time.
And then you let them handpick the quarterback and then
he shows life. Now we can argue the coaching. They
got way too pass happy at the end of the game.
Just run the ball, kill some clock. Listen, if you're
(32:22):
gonna fumble on a run, so be it. Shit happens,
but do not put it on this young quarterback who
obviously threw the bad pick. And then the next series
that they're throwing like Jalen Hurts to aj Brown trying
to hit these balls down the seam, It's like, what
are you doing? Just run the ball. You can nippick
the play calling. Totally agree, but I do think that like,
(32:44):
I keep them, They're not gonna win many games. But
I think I would just give him a little bit longer,
leash just one more year with the guy. I just
think it's pretty risky because all of a sudden, you
get in this cycle and you become the Titans fast,
and you almost take one step forward and you're like,
oh Jackson Dark, cam scataboo. Then all of a sudden,
you bring in this next coach, because what's the coach
(33:05):
gonna do? You'll see it with the Titans. I want
to like cam Ward. I've been watching his career since
he's been at Washington State. Last year was awesome to watch.
He looks fucking terrible right now, looks atrocious, looks like
one of the worst players in the NFL. Is his fault.
I don't know that organization. You got people getting fired,
you got new coordinators. It's not like he's absent a blame.
(33:29):
But it's hard to know how much falls on his shoulders.
But here's what I do know. It's gonna be a
chaotic this year and probably next year. Right and even
when you get the right coach, Look at Caleb Williams.
I watched Caleb today I think he looks pretty bad.
I don't think he looks I don't think he looks
good at all. Not comfortable in the pocket, always scrambling
(33:50):
and running around. But they run the ball well, they
play defense. Ben Johnson good coach right now? Is Brian
Dave all good coach? I don't know, but I do
think he's shown enough with this quarterback. He's an offensive guy.
I would just give them a little more growth together.
And I just think that Sean Payton's very lucky because
(34:11):
through three quarters it looked like their offense was completely broken,
like it was just this is not gonna work. You
guys went all in for this quarterback, this offense has
I think they had the worst third down percentage over
a three game period in the entire league. They were
trending the wrong way. They they could not complete passes,
(34:33):
they could not get first downs, and then all of
a sudden, it just flipped and now you look, they
score thirty three points, they're five and two. Their defense
is obviously really good, and they have life and today
felt a little t bow ish. If you remember years
ago when Tebow came in for Denver, they pulled games
out of nowhere. They had no business winning. There was
(34:55):
a famous one at Miami. That's what today felt like
a little bit and how sustainable is that? And this
is where I think winning sometimes can band aid your issues.
Because the Broncos like didn't fix everything in one quarter.
They had like the football gods through them a bone.
But those first three quarters have kind of been a
(35:18):
consistent theme. And listen, I would imagine John Payton has
to be pretty frustrated. You have to wonder like his
play calling and the rhythm with bon Nicks. It's completely off.
They keep calling these deeper breaking routes that are just
simply not working. Bo Nicks is not hitting them. It's like,
what is Kyle Shanahan call for Mac Jones? Like outbreaking
routes like deep outs thee've comebacks or breaking you know,
(35:40):
routes over the middle. Stuff he's comfortable with. Yet they
keep calling go routes for bo Nicks and he not
only doesn't hit them, they're not even close. It feels
like he's overthrowing him by five yards. You could have
Randy Moss meets Kevin Garnett. I don't even think you
get a fingertip on the ball. So I just think
the Broncos, and I'm someone that has a lot of
(36:00):
exposure on them to win the division. Clearly, the Chiefs
are playing better right now. They just got to figure
out some sort of consistent offense if they want any
shot to compete in the AFC. Because one offense that
has figured it out, I think by far start to finish,
he's been the best offensive coordinator in the NFL this year. Seinstichen, Well,
(36:22):
what he has done is just remarkable and he was
so fired up today watching him on the sideline. Jonathan
Taylor pound for pounds, one of the best players in
the league right now, just a dominant force. And it
kind of makes me sad. You know, Wisconsin guy, their
programs and shambles, kind of the last of a one
of that last generation of good Wisconsin players till they've
kind of gone through this downturn. But whatever's happened to him,
(36:46):
Remember we're not that far removed from him being mad
about money a couple of years ago that might have
even been last year, to what he's doing right now.
Like he is, he's a dominant force. He is two
years ago. Is mccaf last year goes Last year it
was Saquon and this year it feels like it's him,
Like I'm the best running back in the league right now.
(37:07):
And what Shane the rhythm and how good he is
at getting Daniel Jones on the move. Like one of
Daniel Jones' strengths is his athleticism. So and he's not
like some power thrower, like he actually has pretty good touch.
And there are plays today, some play action plays getting
him on the move, some dump offs they get Tyler
Warren in space all the time. They had a great
(37:29):
play in the red zone like a play action a
little dump off to Pittman for a touchdown. His play
calling is just spectacular. Now. They picked Herbert off a
couple of times, but they were scoring at will today.
And the Colts, I don't know how good their defense
is relative to like can they be a true AFC,
(37:49):
like win the AFC. Their offense right now though, is
and you win enough games like you control like you
get that thing in the dome. They have multiple receivers,
they got a study tight end, they got an elite back,
and they got a quarterback who's very very confident. The
other offensive coordinator that listen, everyone shit on this guy,
every single person, Brian Schottenheimer is gonna be one and done.
(38:10):
Brian Schottenheimer doesn't deserve the job. Jerry Jones has lost it.
I probably said half those things. Brian Schottenheimer this year
as an offensive coordinator has been dominant. What he has
done to lose And I told this to Coward. To
have Micah Parsons traded a couple days before Week one
is not easy if you are Andy Reid or Pete
(38:33):
Carroll or Sean McVay, let alone a first time head coach.
And not only did he handle that well, he's also
taking in George Pickens, who is at least it felt
like one of the great wild card person out. Mike
Toms like, I'm out, I can't do this. I'll go
I'd rather give DK metcalp one hundred and fifty million dollars,
which is kind of crazy, and just get rid of
(38:54):
George Pickens, who's basically free right now. And Jerry's like, here, here,
here you go, Brian, no problem. He's gonna have eighty
catches this year in ten touchdowns and just dominant play
after dominant play after dominant play, and then CD comes
back ferguson how well Dak's playing. They look, they look
like the Rams. He just like, watch the Rams play.
(39:16):
It's like touchdown, first down, first down, chunk play. That's
how the Cowboys look. Now their defense stinks and that
limits their ceiling of probably being a wild card team.
But they have been a revelation this year because on
the flip side, like Washington looks terrible. Obviously Jaden's injured again. Defensively,
they can't stop a soul. Offensively, they got a bunch
(39:39):
of injuries. They look like the Magic from twenty twenty
four is. You know, I almost ran out of gas
the other day. It was one of those like I
was on empty. It was like a Tuesday, and I
didn't drive that much on a Wednesday, and then I
realized I had to do some stuff on a Thursday.
And then all of a sudden, like I'm blow empty.
And that's what it feels like now with the Commanders,
(40:01):
like they're below empty. They got nothing. You know, they're
like a pitcher in the eighth inning, who you know,
starts off throwing about ninety three and by the sixth
or seventh is thrown about eighty five. Tim Linscomb used
to be like this toward the end of his career.
It's like, all of a sudden, his fastball is going
like eighty two years old. It's like skip, we gotta
go the pen here. And I don't know what the
commanders supposed to do. Players are their players. They look
(40:22):
they look really bad. Something's just really really off. Two
things I think we can unofficially say the Tua and
the Kyler Murray eras are over. Tua got benched. I
wasn't super locked into that game, but that whole thing
is just obviously he's had an awful season. The franchise
is falling apart. I don't really know what you do
(40:45):
because his contract is still pretty big. It's not like
you could trade him. You wouldn't think maybe you could
eat some of the money. Maybe a team could use
him as a bridge. I'd say the same thing for
Kyler Murray. You know, the difference for Tua and Kyler
is the backup comes in who everyone likes. Jacoby Weresett,
from Bill Parcells to the cafeteria guy at every organization
(41:09):
he's ever played for. Jacoby Weresett is probably one of
the more consistently respected guys in the NFL. Never thought
he was that good of a player. And I'm watching
him come in for the Cardinals and not only look good,
like they're a well run operation when he's playing quarterback
for them, and they have looked way better these last
two weeks with him playing offense, same with Marvin Harrison
(41:29):
than when Kyler's played, And I just think, like they're
two and five. Cardinals are headed nowhere. Obviously, the Dolphins
just got ransacked by the Cleveland Browns. It's just over.
And this is a good example of I understand, like,
when you have a quarterback, you need to invest in them,
But if you're not super confident in your quarterback, why
(41:52):
would you pay them? Like just play it out. I
don't think we do that enough. Just play it out
for every Dak Prescott's Like, well, we played Dak Prescott
out and we had to pay him a lot of money, Okay,
But like, would you have given Kyler this huge contract?
Did you need to do it after year three? And
the answer, of course is no same thing with Tua,
Like who are you bidding against at the time. I
(42:12):
never quite understand this, And I think two teams that
were burned so bad were the Cardinals and the Dolphins.
And they find themselves in this situation where they have
this quarterback albatross. You know, I wouldn't be shocked at
all if like they just kind of ride with Jacoby,
because that's what I would do watching them play that
they feel like a much more efficient operation when Brissett
(42:33):
is in there than when Kyler, who can make spectacular plays,
but there's no cohesion snap to snap, one play could
be fifty yards, the next three plays could be you know,
negative ten, and to us just who just wants to
watch him play at this point in time. We will
(43:03):
end with this one thing I think we're about to learn,
Like in the NFL, not all jobs are equal. Right?
Who am I answering to? How much you're gonna pay me?
Do I have say over the roster? Right do I
have to if the Tennessee job, Well, it's like you
have a president who's a football guy, and you have
a GM who's a football guy, and you have an
(43:23):
impulsive owner. So like, who am I answering to and
how much you're paying me? Because you paid your last
coach three million dollars and he had to deal with
all this bullshit and he got fired. So if I'm
even interested in the Tennessee job, and I have any
sort of leverage, I'm gonna need a lot of money
to even entertain you. Right, And I think in football
it's very easy to see hierarchies like who am I
answering to? Who's in charge? In college? That's not the
(43:45):
case when you hire all these top college coaches, they're
the boss. Ryan Day, the GM at Ohio State works
for him, The GM at Oregon works for Dan Lanning,
the GM at Notre Dame works for Marcus Freeman, the
GM at Texas works for Sark. Now, you got to
deal with some boosters and provosts and some but like
(44:06):
you're the boss of your football team, there is not
a player on the team that you don't sign off on. Right,
And historically it was clear some jobs are better than
others that there's not a time in the history of
the sport when Penn State was viewed as an equal
to Indiana, let alone not a vastly superior job and
(44:28):
location to work as a head coach. Yet Kurt Signetti
basically just said, not only am I not interested, I'll
take eleven and a half million dollars to stay at
Indiana because the world's changed. Nil revenue it's it's different
than it was five six years ago, where obviously the
top programs, a lot of them are still going to
be the top programs. But like it wasn't difficult for
(44:50):
Alabama to give someone thirty thousand dollars, it's a big
difference to give five guys. What game was I watching
a couple weeks ago where the coach said that the
posing coach said that they had seven or eight players
making over a million dollars. So it's like before, yeah,
people got brown bags and some free car leases. Now
it's like they also need the car lease to go
(45:10):
on top of the million dollars that you have to
pay him. And that's just your linebacker, your quarterback, Carson Beck,
who just threw four interceptions, is making millions upon millions
of dollars. Hell the shitty quarterback for North Carolina, the
little left, he's making one point five. This is going right,
whether we agree or not. And Florida just fired billion
Napier and all signs. There was a CBS report that
(45:32):
the ad at Florida has already done a lot of
research on Lane Kiffin, who has clearly changed the narrative
and just the way we view him as a human being.
He is one of the most likable guys in college football.
You know, a lot of people say I've cleaned up
my act. He looks sober, right, Some people like claim
they're sober might be lying. Like Lane kiffn looks sober,
(45:56):
looks really healthy, lost a ton of weight, obviously does
hot yoga seven days a week. Is just got a
vibrant feel to him that when I scouted, when I
went I went through USC when he was there, he
was like angry and grouchy. He was not this big personality.
He actually talked to nobody. I would say he was
pretty miserable back then. The guy you see now that
(46:17):
honestly had Georgia on the ropes a couple days ago
is a completely different human being. And there have been
a lot of question marks over the last couple of
years with off the field stuff with Lane Kiffin. He
wanted to interview for Oregon and wanted that job. The
year Dan land and got it, they wouldn't even entertain him.
They would not entertain him. Alabama was open when Nick
(46:39):
Sabin retired, they didn't call Lane Kifvin. He had worked
there for three years. Nick Saban and him pretend to
be friends. They were never gonna hire Lane Kifn and
they went to Kaylin Duboor that was from the Dakotas
who was working at Washington in Fresno State. Lane Kivin
had been in the building, knew the Nick Saban blueprint
and look at Lane. He has taken all and turn
(47:00):
them into a power. He's fucking competing with the Division
two quarterback at ole Miss. But I don't know job,
Like I know Ohio State's better than every job. I know.
Texas is better than because the amount of money, the recruits,
the whole thing. But then we get into like is
Florida great job anymore? In theory, yeah, they're in this
state with a bunch of recruits, but like we've been
(47:21):
watching them for a long time now, not winning. They've
had a bunch of nil it's not really working. So
we're gonna find out that do you need to leave? Like,
is there a big difference between Ole Miss and Florida?
A lot of people would say yes, there is and historically,
but in twenty twenty five, I don't know, right, I
(47:41):
know this, there is a big difference. Working for the
Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Titans. There is a
major difference working for the Kansasy Chiefs and the Arizona Cardinals.
There are well run organizations, there are well run ownerships.
There are well run uh just franchise. This is in
terms of their resources and the way they think about
(48:02):
the business. And then they're the shitty ones. And we
see it all the time. It's why the same teams
draft Hie every single year. One In college football, now
it's like Texas time. I'm watching the ASU Texas Tech game.
The announcers like, Texas Tech's paying twenty eight million dollars
for their roster. So it's like if you have big
nil and collectives in revenue, that's a good job. Historically,
(48:26):
Texas Tech would be one of the worst jobs in Texas.
Texas be better, TEXA, A and M would be better.
Could argue SMU and TCU were better. Well, they're gonna
give you twenty eight to thirty million dollars a year
to spend on players. You could argue that job is
every bit as good as the other jobs. You know,
and uh, I think we're about to find out. My
guess would be Lane Kiffin will be the next head
(48:48):
coach of Florida. But I wouldn't bet a lot on
it because he's winning and having more success at all
miss And one thing he's talked about is being around family.
His life is changed. Uh So, what we're gonna find out?
And if Penn State in Florida can't get guys to leave,
maybe we need to rethink and relook at the way
(49:08):
we've always kind of put the hierarchy of jobs these
You know, I'm not just talking Ohio State in text,
I'm talking the next fifteen jobs. Maybe. Actually it's much
more open ended and there's forty jobs that are all
kind of in the same ballpark. Have a great night,
See you later. The volume
Host
John Middlekauff
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