Pats' Darnold Demolition; Cowboys/Eagles; Sean Payton Flex; Abandon Trubisky; Lamar Longevity; Ramsey Quit

In this episode, Middlekauff looks at the Patriots complete and total domination of the Jets on MNF, his takeaways from the Cowboys convincing win over Philly on SNF, why Sean Payton getting the Saints rolling without Brees is the ultimate coaching flex, why Matt LaFleur's biggest accomplishment is making Aaron Rodgers happy, why Lamar Jackson can't last as a run first QB, why Jalen Ramsey quitting on Jacksonville to protect his trade value isn't outrageous, and answers listener questions in Middlekauff's Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now!

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is going on everybody? How's everyone dealing Tuesday October? Well,
it's actually October twenty one where I'm at because it's
Monday night and the Monday Night football has basically been
over since the first quarter when it was seventeen nothing,
the game was officially over. So we'll dive into that.

(00:30):
Uh don't know really have that much takeaway from this
Monday night game, but you know, you know, we'll dive
into the paths. Obviously, Dallas Eagles the Sunday night game.
Some thoughts there. The Saints have they established themselves the
best team in the league. The Bears officially have a
Mitch ro Bisky problem. It's for some people they've had
the problem for a while. But I mean, I it's over. Uh.

(00:54):
Aaron Rodgers. I've been hard on Matt Lafleur before I
even tom coach a game. I didn't love to hire
as anyone that's listened to show for a while nose,
but I have to give him credit because he's done
one thing with Aaron Rodgers, which might be the most
important thing to happen in Roger's life in in a
long time. Lamar Jackson, um listen, you know he ran

(01:15):
around like a high school quarterback, made a ton of plays.
But it is throwing for a hundred yards on the
road against good teams a sustainable strategy. Time will tell
I bet against it, but I give the credit where
credits due. The Baltimore Ravens or five and two. We'll
dive into that Jalen Ramsey. You know, Albert Brewer wrote

(01:36):
about this. Sean Cohn was mad about his back injury.
I mean, let's call what it is. He officially quit
on the Jacksonville Jaguars, and at the end of the day,
I don't hold any ill will against him. You know,
I might have done the same thing if I if
I wanted out. So we'll dive into Jalen Ramsey and
his new team in the l A. Rams. Then, of course,
the Middlecoff mail bag at John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle,

(01:57):
same as my Twitter handle. My Instagram m s are
wide freaking open. You slide up in them and you
get on the show. Easiest way to get on the
show as you slide up in those d m s.
But let's start with tonight and I listen. I don't
think there's any hyperbole with the Patriots. I feel very
confident saying this, Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in

(02:18):
the history of team sports, any sport. I I honestly
don't even think there's a close second right now. I
think this Patriot team, you know, takes a lot of
heat because oh they play in the a f C. East. Well,
aren't we all pretty confident they would win every single
division in the NFL because I am more. I mean

(02:39):
what they've done over this last ten plus year stretch
of this quote unquote modern day free agency, and then
they are being able to sustain this has been incredible
to watch. Is there any team that you are consistently
more confident in in big games? Like more consistently deli

(03:00):
evers in big games. It's like when you go to
a Leonardo DiCaprio movie, it's always pretty good. He Hell,
he got me to the theater with that movie he
just did with Brad Pitt Tarantino movie or whatever it was.
It was fantastic because I know when and I've been
to two movies in the last like seven years. But
if if if DiCaprio's in it and he's given me

(03:21):
an A plus effort, well one, I know I'm getting
an A plus effort and the movie is gonna be good.
If I turned on the Patriots on a primetime game,
they're gonna kick the crap out of someone. When they're
playing someone in the a f C. East, they got
no shot. But I think it's very easy and almost
at this point in time, kind of lazy to be like, oh,
the a f C. East. I just saw the Jets

(03:42):
last week blast the Cowboys, who, as we saw on
Sunday A Football, aren't that bad. The Bills a flawed team.
They're five and one. You know what the Bills are
gonna be. They're gonna be in the playoffs. The Patriots
kick their ass. No matter who the Patriots play, there
gonna win more often than not, because that's all the

(04:02):
Patriots do. Now. Did I expect to turn on the
television and five minutes in the game to be over, No,
that was a little quick. Did I expect them to
make Sam Donald look like he's from U C. Davis
and a practice squad player. No? I did not, because
I just saw Sam Donald last week look like Joe
freaking Nameth against the Dallas Cowboys. What Belichick is able

(04:24):
to do weekend week out on his game plan, offensively, defensively,
special teams, you name it. Just his team prepared. It's
unlike anything I've ever seen. And I started thinking about
the most successful humans in the history of this world.
It's just the best of their craft. Just find me
someone who's better at their craft than Bill Belichick, because

(04:48):
you can find me people at quarterback, like this guy
is a stronger arm than Tom. This guy might have
a quicker release than Tom. Now I would go to
the mat. And I think most people agree Tom's the
greatest quarterback ever. But he's not greatest, Like, he doesn't
have the greatest physical attributes ever. He's just won the
most Super Bowls and he's been really one of my
favorite players ever, just because he's the ultimate winner and

(05:08):
he's a great teammate. He's just a badass. I'm a
huge Brady guy, but I really think Belichick. If I
had to pick between one of the two of them,
like twenty years ago, you say you get Tom, you
gotta split them up. You get Belichick or you get Brady,
I'd go Well, I'd probablyly Bill because while Tom is
basically impossible to find. Given them these greatest quarterback ever,

(05:31):
I can't find quarterbacks. So what if I just get
Belichick Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, But if I find him
a Rodgers or Russell Wilson, because I just look how
prepared his team consistently is. He lost his defensive coordinator
back to back years. This is their best defense since

(05:51):
like the early two thousands. I don't have the box
score in front of me, but I swear to God,
there's five minutes left in the game, or maybe a
little more, or they have fifteen turnovers to night. I've
witnessed four picks and a fumble, so I adminimum it's five.
If you told me that at night's end they had
ten turnovers, I'd believe you. This defense is incredible, and

(06:13):
I love this notion Belichick he just gets rid of
all his players. He never signs guys. That's just false.
That's not a true statement. Even going back, like greater
fans love telling me Belichick would have got rid of
Clio mac two. Well, he actually broke Richard Seymour off.
When you're good, he keeps you for a while. Logan Mankins,

(06:33):
he gave a huge contract to Maybe he'll sell you
your eight, nine, ten. As you're trending down. But if
he values you and your abilities elite, he keeps you,
he extends you, he wins with you. He did it
with Richard Seymour, did with Logan Mankins. Look at this
crew of guys. He's had the same core. Uh Slater
has been on the team for like thirteen years now. Obviously,
Brady has been there forever. High Tower has been there forever,

(06:55):
mccordy has been there forever. Edelman has been there forever.
They would have let be there for a long time,
but he retired good players. He keeps, high level teammates,
he keeps and then he finally broke off a guy
the last four or five years to enormous money. It
was Stefan Gilmore, a guy from his division, and that
guy is now the best quarterback in football. Guys, a genius.

(07:18):
I don't even I don't even know where this ramps
going beside him, looking actually it's the third quarter still,
it's twenty six nothing. He's huddling his team early in
the game and they were up twenty four nothing. He's
talking to his kid and Brett Bielimo right now, they're
just they're just so ahead of the curve and I'm
getting a lot of like is Adam Gates one and
done to Sam Donald suck? I don't know. I I

(07:40):
can never really make a strong opinion on the team
Belichick is playing unless you're like close to being a
worthy foe, like last year the Chiefs, a couple of
years ago the Broncos, Because if you're inferior and he's
truly locked in and trying, you're done, He's going to
curb stomp you. And that's what he did. I can't

(08:02):
imagine being a Jets fan and watching this game, just
how what what are we even doing in this sport?
This sucks? We got no chance against this guy. If
he what if he was in the NFC West, he'd
win the NFC West. What if he was in the
a f C North, he'd win the a f C North.
Like go around the divisions, he'd win them all. And
if he was in the all these if he rotated

(08:24):
divisions for the last ten years, a different division every year,
he'd probably end up at the end of ten years
with at minimum eight division championships. He might not win
them all because one year, you know, he might have
a Chiefs team that goes fourteen and two, or you
might have a you know that Falcons team to win
fifteen and one. There will be a couple of outliers
here and there if he was in the right division,

(08:44):
but he'd win the majority of him. I promise you that.
Because it's become has he become too easy for him?
Maybe because tonight was a bludgeoning Tonight was I was
high on Sam Donald after last week, and tonight feel
bad for him a little bit. He's miked up. ESPN
catches him saying I'm seeing ghosts. It's gonna be hard

(09:07):
to shake that comment for a while. But man, the
Patriots are just, I think the greatest machine I've ever
seen in professional sports. And I'm not even sure there's
a close second. Okay, let's dive in New Uh the
Sunday night football game, and it was big in terms
of the implication of the winner versus the loser. Eagles

(09:30):
at Dallas. Now let's kick their ass. And I kept
thinking about this game for the last twenty four hours.
And the thing I keep coming back to is like
Collins always had this thing. You know, like rich people
they don't really have excuses. When when you grow up
with every advantage your parents are rich, you go to
good schools like you should be successful. You know, you

(09:51):
really should. If you're six ft four and two pounds
in high school like you're, You're you don't really have
an excuse not to be a Division one athlete, assuming
you play sports. But there are some people in this
world that do have excuses. Right if you grow up
in much much difficult times, let's say then I grow up,
your ability to be successful in life is more of

(10:14):
a challenge, just like the Cowboys. When you look at
the Cowboys and the Eagles, one team legitimately has some excuses.
The other team does not. It's why when Dallas lost
back to back to back games it was such a
head scratcher. They were my pick coming into the season
to win the NFC. I clearly don't feel as good
about that anymore. But as you saw last night, the

(10:36):
talent on their team is immense. Even with some nicks
and bruises, Vander Esh gets hurt and they roll in
Sean Lee, who's a backup four time pro bowler, actually
might be his best role because you keep healthy. Like
you see how good Amari is Zeke has been dominant.
They should have kicked the crap out of the Jets
that that that loss was embarrassing. You shouldn't lose to

(10:59):
the Jet. I don't care if Sam Donald you know
it was back. That's inexcusable. The Cowboys have had no
excuses none. It's why I think so many people around
football were kind of show shocked that the Cowboys were
getting their butts beat in after they started three and out.
And I get the schedule changed a little bit, but
come on, you shouldn't lose the Teddy Bridgewater. And we'll

(11:21):
get into the Saints later. And they're really good. Hell,
they might be the best team in the NFC. But
like I'm watching the Eagles last night, they do have
some excuses. One of their best players on defense, Malik Jackson,
out for the year. Deshan Jackson has been m i
A with whatever injury since Week one when he dominated.
Their corners stink. Their corners are not very good, but

(11:42):
it's really hard. The problem was in this like they
did draft several corners the last couple of years in
the early rounds. They turned out to not be very good,
Like Sidney Jones is not very good player. You miss
on picks, like why didn't the sign one in free agency?
Corners don't really hit free agency. And then in the
draft they took a left tackle in the first round

(12:02):
instead of maybe taking a corner, which I'm sure many
Eagles fans wanted them to do. But Jason Peters probably
the last year on the Eagles. Andre Dillard will be
the next tackle for the Eagles, So that was a
pretty important pick. But their secondary stinks. Mainly, their corners
are not any good where the cow you look at
Cowboys defense, they don't really have many holes. They can
rush the passer. And here's another reality with the Eagles,

(12:24):
Like Brandon Graham's is getting old. Fletcher Cox is just
a little older. Sometimes your players just get kind of older. Now,
Carson Wentz can only do so much, and he didn't
have a great game. It's on the road, the environment
was tough. But I do think the Eagles have some
legitimate excuses. Everyone's like people, I get all these d
m s like Helle and Doug. They want a playoff
game last year, they won the Super Bowl two years ago. Like, yes,

(12:46):
it's hard. I think that speaks to what New England does.
Why it's so crazy. It is very, very difficult to
sustain winning in the NFL. At a super super high level.
But in the last two years they've on one, two, three,
four playoff games, and one of those the Super Bowl.
So if they quote unquote missed the playoffs, which if

(13:07):
they're in a tough position right now, it's not that
big of a deal when you look at the big picture,
because you know what the Eagles will do. I've been
around how and unlike a lot of analytical people who
love the tank, like tanking is the right thing to do,
the Sam hinkies that that word wouldn't cross his mind,
that that philosophy with the Eagles would never be said.

(13:29):
That they would jump off the Walt Whitman Bridge before
they started selling off pieces. This is not their philosophical
belief on how to build the team. That's why if
I was an Eagle fan, like, yeah, there's been a
tough couple of games. You know what, I'll hold my
head high because I know I have one of the
most aggressive and smartest gems in the league. I have
one of the most progressive, forward thinking owners that will

(13:50):
give you whatever you need to succeed and have a
star quarterback. Yeah, this might be a season you go
eight and eight because you had major flaws and got
hit with some injuries. Shit happens. But I think back
to Dallas, like they don't get a ship happened season.
You have too many good players at every freaking position
to not make the playoffs and then make an impact
in the playoffs. Like Dallas shouldn't just get to the

(14:10):
playoffs and not think that they can't beat Green Bay,
beat New Orleans, beat San Francisco. I'm not saying they will,
but you see the talent on that team. And the
other thing is, you go ten and six and let's
say you win the NFC West or I mean, excuse me,
the NFC East and you're the four seed. You still
get a home playoff game. Then you're gonna have to
go on the road and win a playoff game after that.

(14:30):
But they're gonna get a home playoff game as long
as they win the division, which they're kind of in
the driver's seat now to win the thing. So when
I watched yesterday, I really I was shocked because I
didn't necessarily see in the Cowboys blow them out, but
I had been My idea of them had changed so
much over the last three games. Like I try not

(14:52):
to overreact to one game. You know, everyone's like, and
we'll get into Lamar a little later, like middle Coff,
you canna eat Crow and Lamar why because he threw
from hunt for to the yards and the defense scored
fourteen touchdowns and they won a game by fourteen. I
think I'm going over react to that, or but I
am gonna re overreact to like a month stretch, and
the Cowboys were pretty embarrassing over a month stretch. Like

(15:13):
I listen, Dak kind of like Jared Goff, has his flaws.
I wouldn't want to pay him a hundred and ten
million dollars. I think their numbers somewhere in the eighties,
even though I understand the way the economics and the
sport work. But he's good enough to win you eleven
twelve games with this freaking roster as long as Jason
Garrett just gets out of the way and let's killing more.
Call the you know, call the offense, and let's that

(15:35):
defense just play really fast, kick ass and take names
like Dallas should be better than the Eagles right now
when you put the rosters side by side and the
players they're rolling out, Dallas has a huge advantage. Then
we get down to coaching, and I'll give Jason Garrett credit.
He did a good job. As I watched Doug Peterson's
postgame press conference and they're like, did you guys think
all those turnovers you weren't prepared. He's like, yeah, I

(15:57):
don't know what preparate Like the turnovers, you just bumble
the ball. They had two fumbles early in the game
and it led to touchdowns for the Cowboys. I don't
think that has much to do with like preparation. They
do like every NFL team, ball security drills every day.
Sometimes you bumble sometimes you don't, you know, especially a
team that's had a lot of success, Like, I don't
think they have like sub preparation problem. I've seen Doug

(16:19):
Peterson and the biggest games in America, and he's out
coached some of the best multiple times. Like hell, he
did fan Jail last year down the stretch, he did
Belichick once upon a time. The guys had some pretty
big Zimmer two years ago in the NFC Championship game.
Like I don't My thought process doesn't change more because
once you watch them side by side, you kind of realized, well,

(16:42):
the Cowboys should win this division. This is the year
that they should win this division. Now, can they get
this thing right and start rattling off some wins and
being eleven or twelve win team, or are they gonna
be just win the NFC East at nine and seven
and being under achieving team. That's where I think the
bigger picture when it gets to Jason Garrett and and
Jerry Jones, because Jerry just gonna give him some courtesy
two year extension if he just makes the playoffs or

(17:04):
does he legitimately have to win two playoff games to
get to the NFC Championship game. But I think that's fair.
You get him to the NFC Championship game, you get
like a two year extension, but if you don't, you're gone.
I think the problem for Jerry, We've talked a lot
about this, I'm not gonna rehash it is Jerry doesn't
want to go on a coaching search, and if Lincoln
Riley turns them down, maybe Urban Meyer wouldn't. I'd hire
a Meyer over Jason Garrett. But maybe you could just

(17:27):
get Urban Meyer. Maybe maybe he'd do it. But the
problem for Urban Meyers he has this stress thing that
he always you know, blacks out and freaks out and
has to quit. So Jerry, can you think the pressures
hired Ohio State in Florida? The Dallas Cowboys are another level?
And I wouldn't say that about many NFL teams, you know,
like the Eagles. There's a shortlist of teams like the

(17:48):
pressure for listen that the Niners are the biggest team
in the California for football. The pressure for the forty
Niners is not the same pressure at like Florida or
Ohio State. I feel confident and pure enough to say
that we just we're not quite as passionate out here.
But the Cowboys a different animal, and I you know,
I think there is some pressure now on Jason Garrett,

(18:09):
especially as they keep playing this season. Like, Bro, you're
gonna have to make a legitimate run in the playoffs.
This is kind of like the NBA. Like James Harden,
I don't care how many points you score in March
against the Memphis Grizzlies. Can you can you consistently do
it against the Warriors and get to the next round
and make it to the finals, Because that's what I
judge you on. No one gives a shit about your

(18:30):
game against Phoenix in December. No one cares like Jason,
give you a thumbs up there, but at the end
of the day, we're judging you come January. That that
that's where the Cowboys are gonna be judged, and as
you saw last night, that's where they should be judged.
They have a playoff level roster they have they have
a top four or five roster maybe in the NFL.
Put up or shut up year for Jason Garrett. We

(18:52):
all know that. But you know, I think at the
end of the day, probably gonna let us all down. Okay,
let's dive into uh Bears hosting the Saints, and I'm
gonna start with the Saints. I think, Yeah, I'm sure
most people listening have had shitty things happen to them

(19:13):
in their life, right, and you you find out a
lot more about yourself personally, professionally when bad things happen,
just just the reality of life. It's it's hard to
be like self critical when business is booming, your relationships great,
just the way the world works. When you get fired,
I have, you know, you gotta do some soul searching

(19:36):
when you lose I lost my dad last year. Not easy,
you know, but I've lost people before. It's tough. You realize,
like the sun comes up the next day and things
just don't stop for you. It sucks. And obviously being
fired and losing your dad aren't even in the same world.
But we all have bad stuff happened to us all

(19:57):
the time. And I think the older you get, you
realize you're no different. Like everyone goes through bad stuff,
and it's easier to put perspective when bad things happen.
I also think when bad things go down, you can
learn a lot about some someone. Some people don't handle
it well. Some people aren't equipped to handle it well,
others are. And I think Sean Payton has had the

(20:19):
ultimate muscle flex this season. He lost Drew Brees in
the middle of the Rams game. I like most people
were thinking they're done, they are screwed. Teddy looked bad
in that game. I thought they had an excellent team,
but I just this, this team's done, you know, especially
when you didn't know what it was on with the

(20:40):
snumb You're like, they're gonna go eight and eight. Well,
it turns out Drew Brees eventually gonna come back. But
they haven't flinched that. They not only haven't like lost
a step after that Rams game. They put the pedal
of the metal and they have been wrecking shop. They
went into Chicago yesterday or guess if you're listening to
this on Tuesday or Wednesday, a couple of days ago,
and beat the living crap out of him. That was

(21:03):
an old school ass whooping. They went to Dallas, they
took care of business there. They went to Seattle, beat
the crap out of him there, beat the crap out
of the Jacksonville Jaguars a week ago. They have dominated.
I have so much respect and I always did, and
my coaching buddies in the NFL would tell me they
think Sean Payton is as good as it gets. He's

(21:23):
a little crazy, but you know, hell, who's most people
that are really good at a profession might are a
little have a couple of screws loose. Yeah, you have
to be. And he's had, you know, some blackishes on
his resume, and he went through that period of time
when he couldn't get a defense. And they were going
seven and nine, eight and eight, even though Drew Brees
is putting up historic numbers. But what they've done these
last couple of years, putting this team together, they were

(21:45):
equipped to handle when Drew Brees went down. But I
didn't think Eddie Bridgewater was good enough. He made him
good enough because he actually looked really good against the Bears.
But their defense is unreal. He's empowered Dennis Allen. They
lost Alvin Kamara, who's one of the best non quarterbacks
in the league. And Lottavius Murray looked freaking awesome. And
I've been watching Ottavious Murray since he was a rookie

(22:06):
for the Raiders. He has gotten a lot better, but
he's a solid backup. They have a very, very, very
well put together team. If I'm ranking the NFC now,
we're gonna know. Here. Here's why it's kind of stupid,
because the Niners played the Saints and the Packers so
in like two months, and obviously Seattle and the ram
they all played each other. So we're going to have

(22:27):
an idea like when the seating comes at the end
of the year in the NFC, we're gonna know exactly
who the top teams are. Now. That doesn't mean those
teams won't be upset when they play each other again
in the playoffs, but the Niners and the Packers and
the Saints will have all played each other, and obviously
Minnesota plays Green Bay multiple times, and Seattle in l
A then played the Niners, so we will understand. Plus

(22:50):
the Niners, the NFC West plays the NFC South, so
the Rams in Seattle will also played New Orleans. Seattle
already played. I guess they've all played him. The Rams
beat him. That was a weird game. And we've seen
the Saints that they got their ship together in the
next game and they pounded Seattle, So I guess now
I'm talking through it. I realized those teams have already played. Uh,

(23:10):
so the Niners game is gonna be big because I
assumed Drew Brees is gonna be back. But I think
this get We have learned so much about Sean Payton.
This has been the ultimate muscle flex back to what
I said about just his coaching career. To be able
to do this and to lose your I mean, the
best player in the history of the franchise, and to
have a team this just well equipped. And this tough

(23:30):
because I think sometimes when you get an offensive coach,
the teams aren't as tough. But I'm watching the Saints,
so they throw haymakers, they dominate on defense they're running
scheme is excellent. The way they used Taysom Hill. They
ran a play against the Bears. There was like a
triple option. It was incredible. I mean, Sean Payton, remember

(23:51):
when you remember when Tom Brady was last game one, two, eight,
and they proceeded to go eleven and five. Now, granted
they missed the playoffs. It was a weird year, but
they went to eleven and five with Matt Castle. This
team are they gonna go fourteen and two with Drew
Brees and Teddy Bridgewater And you have the number one
to see it because they sure have the ability to
do it in front of them. They play the Niners,

(24:12):
so they control their own destiny. And I think right
now they're the best and most complete team in the NFC. Uh.
And then we look at the Bears, who are the opposite.
Mr Bisky stinks like it's listen, Naggie's my guy. Naggie
didn't draft him like this is on Ryan Pace. He
drafted them number two overall in a draft that had

(24:34):
Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. Now ultimately Patrick Mahomes I
view a somewhat of an outlier. If you read stories
about it. There were really a couple of coaches that
were really all in on them, and that was Sean
Payton and Andy Reid. Those guys are the best in
the business at offense. So most team like Kyle Shanahan,
didn't like him. A lot of teams didn't like him.
They just they were turned off by his his playing style.

(24:58):
You had to be a unique fens of mind to
see it. So I'll even throw Patrick Mahomes in the trash.
But I heard Michael Lombardi on his podcast make a
great point. Ryan Pace drafted Mitch dr Whisky, who was
from the same conference the a c C as DeShawn

(25:18):
Watson from the same freaking conference Clemson North Carolina played
each other every year, one guy one year starter, the
other guy multiplely year starter, National champion, one of the
best coaches in the country compared to Michael Jordan's. Now,
sometimes that hyperbole gets thrown around with prospects from college coaches,

(25:39):
but Deshaun Watson was clearly really good. He watched the
tape of Deshaun Watson and of Mr Whisky and thought
Mr Bisky was better. Well, three years later, I'm not
this water into the bridge. They have Mr Bisky. It's
pretty Mitch is just not good enough. If you continue
to start Mr. Whisky, you will lose. It's really that simple.

(25:59):
It is def aiding their defense because they are looking
worse and worse by the week, because they know their
margin for error is zero. Is nothing there marked. It's
like if you have a baseball team. And I saw
it for for years with the Giants, the San Francico Giants,
they had elite pitching around these parts. We called it

(26:19):
Giants torture. And they had Linsecum, They had Matt Came,
they had Madison bum Gardener. They acquired this guy named
Ryan vogel Song who made an All Star. They were
the best pitching staff. I think they had the lowest
e r A in baseball. They couldn't score runs. And
this baseball is way different now everyone scores runs. But
like in two thousand and ten, two thousands, they couldn't
score runs. So if if a starting pitcher gave up

(26:42):
three or four runs, the Giants were gonna lose. Their
margin for error was nothing. Now baseball is a little different.
They were able to consistently do it now. Granted they
were never winning like a hundred five games. They were
winning like low nineties. But it's like the Bears. The
Bears know if they give up two touchdowns the games over.
Because Trubisky it's just not capable of making plays. And
I don't count plays in the fourth quarter when you're

(27:02):
down thirty points. That's just that's just garbage time points.
And there the NFL is a garbage time point league
where where final scores consistently don't reflect the game. I've
two things I've noticed this year, and I'm sure they've
been happening forever, but they stick out like a sore
thumb to me is one at the garbage time yards

(27:25):
and points that are given in the NFL. Why it's
somewhat difficult to bet. It happens every week, multiple games
where a final score will be like forty to thirty two.
You're like, oh, that was kind of a close game,
when really the final score felt like forty to three.
You also, I put zero stock now in the first drives.
Every decent coach has a good first drive, your first drive.

(27:47):
If you don't have a first good first drive, I
read flag you like every coach can move the ball
on the first drive. I put I put little the
Redskins drove right down the field on the forty in
the first drive. It doesn't mean anything to me. But
what does mean something to me is Mr Whiskey. Because
when you draft a guy in the first round, between
your third and your fourth year, you have to pick

(28:10):
up their fifth year option. So this offseason they're gonna
have to pick up Mr Whisky's fifth year option. I
think I can break the news now. The Bears will
not pick up his fifth year option. Right to this,
the man on the Moon could have told you that.
But are they gonna keep playing him? Here's the thing.
You can't bench him because Chase Daniel stinks to So
you're not gonna bench Mr Whiskey for Chase Daniels. At

(28:32):
least Mitch has more talent than Chase. I think the
question is do you trade for a guy? Would you
trade for Nany Dalton? Would you trade from Marcus Mariotta?
When you just look around the league and maybe get
I don't know, even try at Josh Roseen, try something,
because if you just get any decent player out of
your quarterback Allen Robinson is a good player, their defense
is still really good. I mean, yesterday, quarterall Patterson was

(28:53):
making plays like they got players on their team if
they had an above average quarterback, Like if you flip
flop Kirk Cousins and Mr Bisky, the Bears are winning
tenny games and the Vikings would be screwed. Right, So,
I I think the hard part about this is is
that the general manager picked this player, the head coach
and the coaching staff did not. So Naggie is a

(29:14):
great guy. He's gonna say all the right things, but
at the end of the day, Mr Whisky is starting
to make Matt Naggie look like an idiot. And I'm
getting a lot of people DM me like middle cuff,
why aren't you hard on Matt Naggie because his quarterback's
terrible and he had nothing to do with acquiring the guy,
and he's never told me anything about the guy beside
positive things. I'm not gonna text him in times of
turmoil right now, and he wouldn't tell me anyway. I

(29:35):
wouldn't even put him in that situation. But if you're
Ryan Pace, you gotta bite the bullet on this one
and just tell him. Listen, Matt, I screwed up. Let's
let's get our scouting staff. Let's pick three or four
players and we'll rank them and we'll try to trade
for him because we're gonna try to make the playoffs
this year and we may not. But we keep rolling out, Mitch,

(29:57):
we're not making it like that's we have evidence now
it's not gonna work. The lead has him figured out.
He's just not good enough. It's over. Like you saw
the Saints, Teddy Bridgewater was running circles around Mr Biskit
and he's a six million dollar backup maybe seven million,
actually seven million well spent. It's like they were playing
different sports. So the Bears just have to ask themselves
a question. And it starts with Ryan Pace, like, just

(30:19):
you gotta take the L on this one. You know what,
the quicker you can take els in life, the quicker
you can move on to a W. But when you
hold onto an L and you refuse to admit it,
you're only screwing your organization. So to me, this is
on the general manager to look at the organ to
look at the owner, look at the head coach, look
at the team, and be like, I'm sorry, guys, Mitch,

(30:41):
you're going to the bench. Jase, She'll just be the
third trainer. We're gonna go attempt to trade for someone,
and hell, it might not work, but we're at least
gonna try, because if we keep doing the same thing
over and what's the definition of insanity trying to do
the same thing over and over. That's kind of what's
going on now. And I'm putting this on the general manager,
not the coach. Okay, let's get into uh my man,

(31:03):
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. I watched that
game pretty intently yesterday, uh here in the Bay Area,
and you know, the Raiders actually played him tough until
Derek Carr just made a just just a terrible decision
trying to reach the ball over the pylon, which I
never understand the the NFL media hates when you reach

(31:24):
the ball over the pylon and then you fumble and
it goes out of bounds and then the other team
gets it at the twenty like it's welcome to life.
You risk a lot, and he's risking a lot to
score touchdown, and the risk the risk first reward, so
you can get a touchdown or you get a touchback.
It's I don't understand why people freak out about that
penalty like it's it's a it's a harsh penalty for

(31:48):
trying to score touchdown. Don't do it if you don't
want to take the risk, just run out of bounds.
It doesn't bother me at all. But this isn't about
the Raiders, is about the Packers. And it got me
thinking watching him play yesterday and really the last several games,
and I, you know, I was someone that thought Matt
Lafleur would not be a good head coach. And I

(32:08):
still am gonna stand on the island of I'm not
exactly sure what he's what he's doing, but I do
know one thing he's doing, and this is very important.
Have you ever been miserable in life, whether you're at
a job you hated, think about I've been in a
position where I was at a job where I couldn't
stand being around the people I was working with. I

(32:31):
didn't trust them. I didn't think they were capable of
doing what I wanted to do. I hated the guy
I worked for, despise the guy I worked for, hated it.
It is a miserable experience. And texting around the league
and obviously some of the stories that have come out
over the last year, everyone in the league knew Rogers
couldn't stand McCarthy. They had a toxic relationship. And when

(32:53):
you're in a professional toxic relationship, you know, and sometimes
a lot you're just kind of stuck. You know, you
got a family. It's a little different. Like Rogers, he
can't just be like I want to be a free agent.
He's just stuck there. You know, even if you have
a job that doesn't pay you an eighty million, like
Rogers got a signing bonus last year, But even if
you're making a hunter grand, you might not just be

(33:13):
able to afford to just leave. If you have a
couple of kids at homes, life's tough. Sometimes you're stuck.
You gotta you gotta suck it up, but you're still miserable.
And being miserable is miserable. I think we all can
agree on that. And Rogers looked miserable these last couple
of years, especially last year. It was clear when you
watch the Packers and he wasn't playing that well, but

(33:34):
you kind of take a step back. Was he just
so mad and miserable of playing for Mike McCarthy that,
you know, some of your ambition I don't even know
if he ambitions the right word, but you're just drive
can get sucked out of you. I've had it happened
to me and and I'm sure many of you have
had it happened to you. Now it doesn't hopefully it

(33:56):
doesn't stay that way. It might only happen for a month,
maybe six months, but it can be really, really draining,
and it ruins your mood. And then you know when
you come home, you know you're around your wife, your girlfriend,
your family, you're just miserable. It just it, it impacts
you greatly. And I think you can see it on
Roger's face the last several years. So I will give

(34:17):
Matt Lafleur credit on this. Rogers looks really happy, and
yesterday is a good example. They've started blowing out the
Raiders and la Fleur kept calling past plays in the
red zone and let kept letting him. I don't want
to say Patti stats, because he was gonna ball out
no matter what he was dialed yesterday. But he instead
of having a five touchdown, five passing touchdowns and a

(34:40):
rushing touchdown, he could have easily had maybe three touchdowns.
And then they mix in a couple of rush touchdowns
for the running back they didn't do that, and Rogers
had a huge smile on his face, and it's clear
he feels like the weight of McCarthy and that toxic
relationship is out there. Now, does that mean that him
and Matt Lafleur agree on everything, that he loved his offense.

(35:00):
I'm not saying that at all, but he looks happy.
And so whatever Matt Laflour is doing, it's working because yesterday,
actually the defense wasn't good. The Raiders were gashing, slicing
and dicing them, Josh Jacobs running all over them. Darren
Waller was making plays them. Maybe Darren Wallers is really good.
Maybe Josh Jacobs the rookie of the year. So maybe

(35:20):
we'll look back at the end of the year and go, well,
those two guys are Pro bowlers and they might be
like it looks like Wallers headed to the Pro Bowl.
What an incredible story from drug addict to probably the
comeback player of the year in the NFL. Just incredible,
the very symbolic of what the Raiders stand for. That
type guy they just don't They haven't hit on a
guy like that in years. They finally did, and Josh
Jacobs is stud so their defense was getting gashed. And really,

(35:42):
before the car fumbled the ball, he was playing well,
and he did play pretty well for the most part
of the game, but Rogers was in a completely different planet.
Now I understand he's playing really well, he's gonna be happy.
But I watch a good amount of his press conferences.
How how could you not you? Just if you follow
the NFL, Rogers is one of the its biggest stars,

(36:03):
and he seems to have a different vibe to him
this year and now winning cure's all, there's no if
they were two and four instead of five and one,
is that even? Yeah? That adds up? Would he have
the same expressions? No? But I do think if you could,
and you know, he's pretty guarded at this point in
time in his life and his career, if you could
have some beers with him and just talk life, I'd

(36:25):
be shocked if he didn't tell you how much more
joyful it is to come into the office now, how
much freer he feels to have McCarthy out of there.
And sometimes you know, besides, hopefully the relationship you have,
like with your wife and obviously like your kids, most
relationships are usually meant end right professionally. Uh, even even

(36:45):
many personal relationships you kind of separate from people as
you grow, you go down a different past. But definitely professionally,
most professional relationships don't last forever. And when you're in
such an intense partnership as a head coach and a
star quarterback like go, ten plus years is a lot.
It's what's pretty nuts about Brady and Belichick. They've just
won so much that they've overcome probably their differences over

(37:08):
the years. But you saw those last two years when
they started losing. You can't even fake it anymore. And
so Matt Lafleur, whatever he's doing to keep his star
quarterback happy, it's working. And Rogers looks like kind of
a new human being right now. Okay, let's get into
the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson and a lot of

(37:31):
people have been damn ing and tweeting at me middle
are you ready to eat Crow? Are you gonna eat Crow?
And uh no, I'm not because I don't even necessarily
think I'm wrong. Yet, let me stay by saying this,
I would not have drafted Lamar Jackson. I also would
not have drafted Josh Allen. I've said this many, many times.

(37:54):
This is this is a business for me, This is
not personal. I've actually grown to really really like Lamar
Jackson watching the game yesterday. Like something you appreciate the
older you get when you're in this business of evaluating
and talking about people. Is when you meet people or
when you know people that are around people and they
speak highly of them, it's hard to not like him.

(38:15):
It's easy to root against people that you think are
slap dicks. It's easy to root against the douches, especially
when you don't like him. As players gets a little
more complicated when the guy is a good player, you know,
and kind of a bad guy, It's easy for me
to root on Lamar Jackson. He seems like a fantastic guy.
Yesterday on a delay of game he went ape ship,

(38:38):
so clearly his give a damn is really really high.
You can't not watch him and feel that. I think
Colin tweeted it like he's got some flaws, but his
energy and effort and give a damn, you just it.
It jumps through the screen. But he has a fundamental flaw.
He's not very accurate. So to sustain quarterback in the

(39:00):
National Football League, I'm not talking high school football, and
I'm not talking college football, talking about Sundays, and to
be consistent on Sunday for the long term, you gotta
be able to complete passes at a really high rate
in today's day and age because of your ability and
the way the rules, because of the rules make it
for quarterbacks ability to just have easy lay up passes,

(39:22):
You're gonna get a ton of laps. They can't touch
your wide receivers. There's this term called uh defenseless players.
Even though the receivers running over the middle of the
field can't touch them, can't them cantet the quarterback can
ht the receivers pitch and catch. It's a receiver quarterback
league more than ever, just because of the rules. I
I feel for defenders. Yesterday completed nine passes. Let me

(39:45):
repeat that, nine passes on the road in Seattle. In
what world in the last of this Pete Carroll era,
could you ever have gone to Seattle and complete nine
passes and win the game. It's not happening. Now. He
made some plays with his legs that were just badass.

(40:05):
They were incredible. He he was making plays on his legs.
With his legs, it looks like a high school quarterback.
He's an exceptional runner. I take a little offense when
I see Ryan Clark say he's the best running quarterback ever.
Now that's Michael Vick. Like google Michael Vick to check
out YouTube. That's not a criticism of Lamar. Like Michael
was faster, he had a better arm. Who's a better

(40:27):
version of Lamar? Now? Lamar might be slightly more accurate.
Lamar and some rough drops. I'm not saying that all
his nine completions should have been like twelve, but he's
just not the most accurate player. And they're telling you
like they want to run the ball, and they want
Lamar to run the ball. But when you when some
of your go to plays or quarterback power or just
to have him kind of freelance and make plays with

(40:49):
his legs, that that's not something that's gonna work for
ten plus years now, can't I get some of the
playoffs and back to back years. Yes, are the Ravens
now at five and two and the Browns suck? Steelers
are done? Then the Bengals are awful, gonna make the playoffs?
Yes they are. Am I gonna bet the house on
them to lose that playoff game. If they play the
Bills or the Texans, you bet your ass. I am
did it last year against the Chargers, and Lamar was

(41:11):
terrible because you have to throw to win big games. Now,
yesterday it was a big game. They got fourteen points
off turnovers. People like, look at Lamar. Give Lamar his credit.
He threw for a hundred yards, he ran for a
hunter almost a hundred fifty, and he was sensational on
the ground making play. But you don't do that like
you're gonna do that against New England. You're gonna do

(41:33):
that against Remember the last year against the Chargers. You
think you're gonna get into a shooting contest with Andy
Reid and Patrick Mahomes. You're gonna beat the Colts that way. No, No,
you beat the Saints, you beat the Niners. No, it's
not the way you win in this league. Like you
can lose weight because you just don't eat or fast.

(41:55):
That's not a sustainable way to live. Try working out
and just eating healthy. It's easier. It's like try completing passes.
We saw Cam Newton who is physically the like and
I'm not saying Cam's this way, but I'm just saying,
like the steroid version of Lamar. Again, Cam is just
a born that way. I'm not I have no problem

(42:15):
calling out, you know, baseball players steroid you. I'm not
saying Cam Newton just steroid easier. I'm just saying, like
that's if you went into the lab and and supersize
Lamar Jackson, you get Cam Newton who's way bigger, stronger, arm,
just physically much more complete, and he was able to
do it for seven eight years and his body just
basically tapped out on him. All these injuries, all these

(42:39):
years running quarterback power, running around done over. And I
don't think anyone would argue that Cam Newton was a
much more talented prospect, even early on his career than
Lamar Jackson. You can be blown away by the quarterback runs.
They're awesome. I do like them, and I'm not anti
him doing that. I enjoy watching him run around. I

(43:00):
just don't think you can do like. Is he gonna
be the quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens for the next
ten years? How's he gonna sustain doing this? You watch
Russell Wilson when he slides and he gets out of bounds.
You watch Lamar Jackson, who dives forward. You know, when
you do dive forward, you're not giving yourself up. When
you're in the air and in like parallel to the ground,
these defenders will try to hit you and hit you

(43:22):
hard and inflict pain because the only time in the
week they get to hit you it's the and and
they can't touch you when you slide where you go
out of bounds. Look, that's not really Lamar style. So
unless Lamar dramatically changes the style and learns to win
within the pocket, this is not a long term experiment.
This is going to be short term. Now, I'm not
telling you not to enjoy it. And it's not fun

(43:44):
to watch. It's not fun to watch just his energy.
I like it. I like I'm a hard I'm a
hard Bob family from Jack Hardball to John and Jim.
I like the I root for the Hardball family. I
like they're just crazy s O B s. And I
like him. So I like seeing John Wynn teams are
just He's crazy. But this, do I think they're gonna

(44:05):
be able to sustain being able to do this forever? No,
and maybe they do not even think. Maybe just ride him,
run him into the ground and then we'll figure it
out after. Maybe that's their plan, but I just hope
everyone realizes that this this is a short term fix
and it's not gonna work in the playoffs. It just
it doesn't. So if you lamar Jackson Truthers, if you're

(44:25):
if you're expecting an apology, you're gonna be waiting a
while for me. Okay, let's dive into something that I saw. Well,
I saw it yesterday and it was most of you
probably did too. I didn't really even watch the whole game,
but I saw the highlights, Jalen Ramsey making plays, Rams
beat the crap out of you know, a team that's quit.

(44:47):
Let's just call let's call the Falcons what they are.
They're a team that's quit and they have officially quit
on dan Quinn and the Rams went in there and
kick the living crap out of them. And Jalen Ramsey
was making place I think he forced to fumble, might
have had a PVU. We started he played, and I
read this morning Albert Brier, who now writes the MMQB

(45:10):
that Peter King used to write, and he said some
interesting things. He said the shot Khan, which we all
knew didn't want to trade him but his last and
final straw was this back injury that he went three
straight games without playing, and Jalen Ramsey gave some quotes
to back to Albert, basically saying, I don't know why

(45:32):
they were getting mad that I wasn't playing. I clearly
wasn't practicing. And then he plays for the Rams a
week after being traded less than that, right, he was
traded what Monday? So he played on Sunday. I watched
his thing that he did with Dion Sanders after the game,
and they kind of mocked it and they laughed at it.
I don't care how Jalen Ramsey handled his business to

(45:54):
get out of there. He hates Tom Coflin. You do
whatever you want, but let's just call a spade a spade.
He bit in Jacksonville. He quit, tapped out, had enough. Quit.
And I do understand where Shod Cohn's coming from. He
got paid those weeks and he just refused to work,
you know. And I think Shan Khan has a right

(46:14):
to be a little mad because paid him thinking that
he could work it out and keep him there. And
Rams you gotta play them, and I don't think you
very often see this that Ramsey. In the NFL, it's
hard to strong arm your way out of somewhere. I
know Gruden loves to say that's what Mac did. He
didn't really though, because he wanted to say there. They

(46:38):
just refused to pay him. And they were never gonna
pay him because Gruden, you know, potentially the owner didn't
have money. Whatever. There's conflicting reports, but Mac would have
taken their ninety million dollars that was the going rate.
Clearly the Jacksonville Jaguars were okay with paying him. Jalen
didn't want to be there anymore, and he quit on him.
You know that Kauai did the same thing a couple

(46:58):
of years ago to San Antonius Spurs. He quit. He
quit like it's it's okay to say that. And again
I'm not offended by it. I really don't even care. Uh,
I mean, Kauai didn't even show up to playoff games
when the Spurs were playing the Warriors that year. You
could argue at least Jalen was still coming around the
team functions. But he quitnly got his way, and it's

(47:21):
rare you see this in the league. You know, Chok
went up for the player empowerment because I saw Peter King,
I think tweeted either Sunday night or Monday morning. You
know sometimes on Twitter you get tweets from days before,
but you think it's that morning. And he said an
NBA an NFL executive at texted him like the NFL

(47:43):
is becoming like the NBA. And I will always throw
a red flag on that same thing. With the NBA.
You don't have to let the player push you around.
If he's under contract, you just say screw you, you're
gonna play. It's what you know happens in business. A
lot of people just kind of puss out. Now. I
don't necessarily think the Jaguars did in this instance, because

(48:06):
the guy just will stop playing. I think a lot
of times like okay, like Kyrie Irving a couple of
years ago, demanded a trade and the Cleveland Cavaliers just
gave him away for basically nothing. That to me as
player in powerment, because they didn't have to just get
shoved around like that. Paul George like, I want out, Well,
you could have just said no, we're not trading you.
Jalen Ramsey, We're not trading you. He's just gonna keep

(48:28):
faking his back injury and there's nothing really you can do.
But how many players in the NFL really can strong
arm their way out of places like Cleil? Like I said,
with Cleil Mack, he was just asking for ninety million
dollars that was the going rate. Once Donald got his cash.
Jalen Ramsey just hated Tom Conflin. Most players in the
NFL are good with staying somewhere as long as they

(48:49):
get paid. Clowney just wanted to get paid. He knew
Houston wasn't gonna pay him, so this holdout was never
gonna end. Even Melvin Gordon, who held out, kind of realized, like,
might as well show back up and get my money.
I I think making blanket statements like the league's dramatically
gonna change. I'm just calling BS on that a little bit,
but I do appreciate. I guess I get a laugh

(49:12):
out of the way that Jalen Ramsey just quit on
the Jacks, just stop playing and then faked an injury
and one of those injuries that it's like you can't
say you got a broken hand or you know, a
pulled hammy. They can run m r I you just
say I gotta hurt back They're like, what do you
mean he's like back, hurts stiff. There's nothing really they
can do. So Jalen Ramsey achieved his goal and now

(49:35):
he's l a ram Okay, let's get into the Middlecoff
mail bag where we take your questions and we answer him.
I just got a Belichick coaching. Until he beach Don
Shula's record, maybe I wouldn't put it past him. Is
belichicking a quick coaching anytime soon? Because it's sure hard

(49:58):
to see that. Okay, Big Big Fan Weekly listener, do
you think Travis Kelsey has been somewhat underperforming? If so,
do you think he will start getting more opportunities now
that Hill is back? I thought, when did I see him?
I guess I saw him, saw him live when he
played Oakland week two. I thought he looked fantastic. I
thought he looked good early in the season, you know,

(50:19):
the first couple of games. Maybe I wasn't super locked in.
I guess he probably wasn't that productive against the Colts
did they just they have the Denver game. I think
he's been fine. I I also think, like you said,
with Hill out, he's their number one weapon, so he's
I would imagine if you went down and broke down
the All twenty two. He was taking a lot of heat.

(50:41):
Hill should help him out. Sammy Watkins has been banged up.
They've had injuries of their running game, so I I
definitely think that it'll be uh, it'll be okay when
it all plays out like he's he's an excellent he's
an elite player. See if I can got some of these,
you guys send some long questions. Eighteen I and T

(51:02):
s in today's NFL is unacceptable. How did Winston throw
that vine at Florida State in thirteen games to get
drafted number one overall? It's a hell of a question.
I assumed the Mannings forced the ELI trade to the
Giants to have him and Peyton and separate conferences and
play each other only rarely, But now I wonder if
they didn't trust the Spanos ownership the Chargers. Okay, let's

(51:22):
start with a second question. Dean Spanos one of the
reasons the Chargers are always in these tight games for
the last ten plush years ever since Marty Schottenheimer left
because Dean Spanos pays you know, tiny wages to his coaches.
He always has the lowest paid coach in the NFL,
whether it's Mike McCoy now Anthony Lynn. He likes cheap coaches.

(51:43):
He do you think Dean Spanos in a million years
would ever offer Sean Payton ten million dollars or go
after a Lincoln Riley or Erman Meyer. Of course not
that is not his m oh Dean Spanos gets off
looking at his savings account. Can you imagine being born
rich and then inherit a football team and still pinch

(52:05):
pennies nothing more? In life? I I resent than rich
people that are that are cheap. And I don't mean
necessarily like smart decisions with their money, but legitimately cheap
with everything they do. And when I look at Dean Spanos,
it just screams I'm cheap everything about him. It's like, bro,
you deserve to lose. The only reason I don't necessarily

(52:27):
root for them to lose because I like Philip Rivers
uh and I like some of their other players to
Keenan Allen Boson Ingram, but man, he just his cheapness
is is is disgusting from if you're an NFL fan,
especially if you're a Charger fan. Winston, I think a
lot had to do with just his attributes. You know,
he was huge. He actually was really smart. You know,

(52:48):
he academically qualified for a dumb player, because you go, god,
he's a low i Q football player, and he is.
He's a really smart guy. He was an academic qualifier
to Stanford. Like, he's bright. You know, that's what I
think drives people nuts as you get around him. People
like him. His teammates liked him, but yeah, he just
it's looking back, it was an enormous red flag. You usually,

(53:10):
you know what they say, a leopard doesn't change the spots.
He showed you who he was. We just and I
was the same. I would have drafted their number one
as well. I liked him more than Mariota. It's not
like Mariota is any good, but you just when you
throw that many picks, it's just something he does. That's
a crazy stat. Eighteen picks in thirteen games, eighteen interceptions

(53:31):
in college for a guy who went number one overall. God,
that's that's a hell of stat. By you. This seems
obvious to me, But why can't we have an eight
team playoff in college football? The five champions from Power
five get in, as well as three wild cards from
this gets conference played to mean, which the n C
Double A is worried about, and also might let the

(53:51):
talent balance out with high level recruise. Choosing to play
in a weaker conferences like the PAC twelve because it
increases their chances of getting into the tournament not a
terrible idea. So this year would probably be either Utah,
Oregon would be in Oklahoma, Clemson, probably Ohio State, but
don't sleep on Penn State and Alabama or l s U.

(54:13):
But I think we know right away. So let's say
Utah would get Let's say Utah beats Oregon. Let's for
ships and giggles, let's say Oregon beats Utah. I know
my guy, Jeff Schwartz, Oregon guy. Say Oregon wins the
PAC twelve, they're in Alabama wins the SEC, they're in
Clemson wins, They're in Ohio State wins, they're in and
Oklahoma wins. There. That's five. Then I think you go.
Probably L s U and Penn State would also get

(54:34):
a nod. How sweet would that be? Like Penn States
the eight seed playing Alabama in round one? L S
used the seven seed playing Clemson or Ohio State. In
round one. Sign me up for that. Oklahoma, you know,
verse Oregon round one. We we could get some great matchups.
That's that's a that's a good question. I like that.

(54:55):
I think we'll definitely head that way in the not
so not so near future. Does that make sense in
the near future, I would imagine maybe three or four years.
While of eight teams, I do think the four teams
those pretty solid. It makes all these games matter. When
Georgia get upset gets upset, we all kind of freak.

(55:15):
So yeah, I can see it. Detroit Native Lions fan,
can you do me a big favor? Simply acknowledge on
the next three and out that the Lion should have
beat the Cardinals, had the game versus the Chiefs one,
and had the game versus Green Bay one. Somehow they
are two two and one. We easily could be five
and oh, just acknowledge that one time for me. You're great,

(55:36):
have a great day. Well, didn't the Lions just lose
the Vikings? Yeah, it's just I feel for you guys, man,
I really do. Because I'm a Matt Stafford guy. I
was telling on my other podcast with Guy Habraman, Haybroman,
Middlecoff go subscribe that the Lions are basically the Chargers
of the Northeast. They just playing, but they lose a
lot more of the Chargers. They play in all these

(55:57):
tight games, they have all these games one and they
just managed to lose so many of them. I I
can understand if I'm a Lions fan, like we're so
damn close and we just never get over the hump.
For whatever reason, I feel you. I will acknowledge that
you did have the Chiefs. You did have the Chiefs
beat you the Green Bay game? When was that? Oh? Yeah,

(56:19):
do you have the green Bay You had that game? One? Yeah?
You you easily could be You're gonna be a six
win team. And saying we shouldn't be in the playoffs.
I they just put the NFC North stats on the
on the Monday night football game. You guys are in
last place and oh to the division, I feel your pain.
Approximately ten percent of the population is left handed, yet

(56:41):
there are zero quarterbacks in the NFL that are left handed.
That's including quarterbacks. Wait, oh, that's including backups. Excuse me,
that's not a coincidence? Right? Does two of being left
handed drop his draft stock? Or is it something? Is
it something teams shouldn't worry shouldn't worry about. I get.
I get so far it up. I try to read
faster than my brain can inhale. The knowledge shows you.

(57:04):
I'm not Bill Gates. I think it's pretty random. I've
been asked this a lot, like did you guys knock
guys in the front office for being left handed? I
never heard that come up once. Never once. I'm trying
to think of a good left handed quarterback there was
either coming out or that we liked in the league. Yeah,
I just I don't know. Just law of averages, that's

(57:26):
a that's a hell of a stat. I don't really
know what to say beside it is kind of random,
because if you're a sweet left handed player Steve Young
my missing something. Who's someone kind of recent, who's a
left hander Mark Brunell. I mean, if you're a good
left hand or teams will take you. I don't think
that I've never heard it even come up. I swear

(57:49):
I've never heard of coach mentioned it. One time Chargers
fan from MT I think that's Montana. Is this team
beyond lost or are the injuries have stacked up this
much and set us back the old line isn't shambles.
I understand injuries are part of the game. Ours just
seemed to be all impact players. With Mahomes out for
a few games, can we crawl back up the ladder

(58:11):
and salvage a playoff berth with the lack of depth
in the f C, Well, I think we have a
loser lease Town game coming up this weekend right against
the Bears. Now that you guys lost to the Titans,
you're two and five, but you started slow before last
year the Colts went oh and five and they end
up making the playoffs. Now, you're not gonna be able

(58:31):
to win the division at two and five, but could
you get to ten and six and have yourself a chance?
For sure? It just feels like this is not the
Chargers year. I'm sure, I know we've said that before,
but it sure feels like is this year they go
six and ten? Because I'm starting to feel that way
the way that game ended the other day where Melvin Gord,
where Eckler scores, gets turned over. They get stuffed. Melvin

(58:54):
Gordon scores, he gets uh stuff short, then he scores again,
or he doesn't score, but he fumbles the ball. I've
never in the history of crazy Charger games, and they've
had a lot of crazy Charger games. I would argue
it maybe a diehard Charger fan might have. You guys
might have a couple of better endings. Remember one time

(59:16):
there's like a fourth and twenty and Ray Rice got
a first down on you like ten years ago. Might
have been less than that, like eight or nine years ago.
That one is pretty nuts. This one might take the cake, though,
multiple plays overturned and then a fumble on the goal line,
all at the goal line, all at the goal line.
That's the most Charger sequence. I tweeted it the other day,

(59:38):
that's the most Chargers game ever, all Caps ever. And
I I really do thinking back, and I've watched a
lot of them because I I just stumble upon the
CBS Late Game. I I watch a lot of Chargers
ending and I think that one takes the cake. Thoughts
on what Indies should do with Jacobe lifelong Colts fan,
and I didn't see Jacobe being a long term answer.
How long should the Colts wait until they draft the future? Well,

(01:00:01):
you did just throw four touchdowns and they are in
first place, so I just think you take a year
by a year if you win the division and you
win a playoff game. What more do you want? You
just draft good players. You got a team that could once.
You know. Adam Schefter said tonight on Monday Night Countdown
that maybe that Tom Brady how his houses for sale,

(01:00:21):
Alex Kawero's houses for sale, and he can be a
free agent. Maybe he's gonna leave. Then Randy Moss said,
like Adam, where is he gonna go? That is a
good point, Like where is he He's not going to
the Bengals, he ain't going to the Atlanta Falcons, he
ain't going to Tampa Bay. So where's he gonna go?
Would he go to the Niners? Will they kick Jimmy
to the curb for Tom Brady? I think they might.
But yeah, I would imagine maybe they draft a guy

(01:00:44):
this year, like in the mid rounds. But I think
you're pretty confident with Jacobe. I mean, I only watched
half the game. I gotta watch the second half and
I do that when I send this podcast off. But yeah,
I just you throw four touchdowns and you beat the
Houston Texans. You go back to back ends against the
Houston Texans and the knpaee Chiefs. I'm not saying he's
Andrew Lucker, Peyton Manning, but he's pretty damn good. Why

(01:01:06):
why can't he be Kirk Cousins or Jimmy Garoppolo. Put
him on a good team and win games. That's that's
really all you want out your quarterback. Hey, John, big
fan out of Australia, and I think you fucking rock Hell, yeah,
I do. I appreciate that. I'm kidding. I'm not that
that cocky. What do you think the chances are the

(01:01:27):
NFL ever being bringing a game to Australia, either preseason
or regular season? Also, thoughts on the Pats d and
if it is legit as it seems. I'm a big fan,
but doesn't seem to me like they've played a legit quarterback? Well,
I think they showed the night on the Monday night broadcast.
They got a lot of legit quarterbacks coming up. I

(01:01:47):
think the problem with Australia. I went to New Zealand
once when I was like thirteen with my dad. It
was a long, long fight. I I remember I he
was already there. I met him. Shows you I don't
even know if you could do this. I would have
been twelve years old, so this would have been like
mid nineties. I literally flew at twelve years old. I

(01:02:09):
might have been eleven. I was in I think sixth
grade all the way from Sacramento, California to New Zealand.
Now I know New Zealand's not Australia, but it's a
similar length and it took forever. Now it's a little different.
You charter a jet, but it's still what a fifteen
hour flight? That's what I think the problem is. Like
even England, how far is that from the West coast?
Ten hours? That extra five hours basically like America. Right,

(01:02:32):
So I just think that the time is the problem.
I also think the you know, they can, they can
still grow domestically, and I think sometimes it's hard when
you spread your wings a little too wide. You've seen
that with the NBA, you get yourself in trouble. Now,
I'm not saying you guys don't have problems like China
in Australia. I I think the biggest problem with Australia

(01:02:54):
would just be logistically, it's just really really far. I
mean really really far. Because when they played games before
in Japan, and maybe Japan is the same distance for
California to Japan is California and Australia. I don't know.
I've never been to Japan, but they usually take West
Coast teams like it will be Seattle Verse l A

(01:03:15):
or l A or San Francisco. I think they're playing
a preseason game there next year, so I I guess
to wrap this up, I don't think you're gonna see
an NFL game in Australia anytime soon. See if I
can get one more question here, Hey John, lifelong Bears
fan here. I've been a Mitch defender since we drafted him,
but the subpart quarterback play is becoming all too common

(01:03:36):
with him. PACES put offensive weapons around him, and we
have the defensive personnel that has carried us and will
continue to. Is there any chance the Bears would move
off of Mitch going into fourth year of his rookie contract.
I don't feel like we are going to have a
good enough draft pick to draft a quarterback. Well, obviously
don't have the first round because of clil Mac. Seems
like Mariotta will be out of Tennessee this office season.

(01:04:01):
Would that be a viailable option to pursue since we
have his former offensive coordinator from his time in Oregon
is mits the future or what are the other Bears options? Well,
let's think about the Mitch is not the future. So
if you don't pick up his fourth year option and
you replace him, can you make miss Robiski the backup?
I don't think you can. You probably just gotta bite
the bullet and cut him. Well, then what are your options?

(01:04:23):
Mariotta would be an option. Jamis would get cut, he
would be an option. I think uh Andy Dalton would
be a potential option. Adam Schefter did mention that Tom
Brady selling his house and he's gonna be a free agent.
If you're the Bears, would you after Tom Brady? Of
course you would. Would Tom Brady be the quarterback of

(01:04:43):
the Bears? I don't know, but I would say tom
Brady be the number one option if he was available.
But there's not gonna be that many quarterbacks available when
you just kind of look around the landscape. So it
would be Mariotta, Dalton, It would be kind of a
short list. I just don't think you can roll through
Bisky back if they go seven and nine and he

(01:05:04):
continues to play like crap. They're just their teams too talented.
They have good players on offense, they have good they
have great players on defense, and you just need better
player at the quarterback. Appreciate everyone listening. Go share with
your friends, uh, tweet it, retweet it, and thanks again.
Keep shooting me your Instagram's at John middlecoff d MS

(01:05:26):
wide open and have a great week. Have a have
a great freaking week. Audios.