Colin Cowherd Podcast - Stafford Best QB In NFC? Rookie QB’s Struggle, DeShaun Is A Disaster, McCarthy’s Masterclass - The Colin Cowherd Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, is about to stop by.
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Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Let's start with the Rams Lions. These standalone own NFL
games are insane. I mean, you had over seven hundred
yards of offense tonight, over five hundred passing yards between
the Lions and the Rams, Matt Stafford and Jared Goff
about five and a half yards of play if you

(01:16):
avered the two teams. Let's see forty six first downs
and no fumbles. Each quarterback threw a pick. Time of
possession was even. First of all, Sean McVay and Matt
Stafford and Cooper Cup. No Puka Nakua, he got hurt.
Both your offensive tackles are out makeshift offensive line. To

(01:39):
go into Detroit Sunday night football against the super Bowl
level team in Detroit, and really I thought they had
the game one in regulation. What a performance by Stafford,
Cooper Cup and Sean McVay, who's a rock star. And
in the end though, I felt like Detroit when it
went to overtime, I'm like, Okay, now it's Detroit's game.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Look tired.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Sometimes at Chris Collinsworth made a great point, you're not
really built in week one to go to overtime in
a game that's a track meet. There's just only so much.
I don't know who. I don't have the betting lines
next week, but I mean the Rams and the Lions.
They if they were a little off next week, you'd
understand it. But my first take is the Rams. I mean,
I wrote these numbers down. At one point they had

(02:22):
a twenty eight to twelve first down advantage on the road,
four hundred yards, three hundred passing yard, dominating time of possession,
and a seventy eight to forty five total play advantage
at one point in this game. But credit a very deep,
now experienced Lions team, Like they're not new kids on
the block. Green Bay still young. The Rams are actually

(02:42):
pretty young. San Francisco is older, but the Detroit's got
a veteran club here and now a veteran coaching staff
with Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell. So I think it
was just a team like the Rams gave it everything
they had, but they they looked really shot in over time,
and to the Lions credit, they just ran the ball
right at them. They didn't f around at all. They

(03:04):
went right at the Rams interior d line and it worked.
I think one of the things I'm always taken by
is how good Matt Stafford is. And we all know
he's good. But I've said this before. If Matt Stafford
and the Rams, and remember what you saw from the
Rams night's impressive, Puka Nakool will be back. They'll have
both their offensive tackles, their guard will go back to

(03:27):
playing center. They'll be a better team. Plus they're incredibly
young on the defensive side. I mean they got two
rookies starting on that defensive front. Give those guys twelve
to fifteen games. This Ram team by the end of
the year, you don't want any part of This is
a really good team. The difference is the Lions are
supposed to be good now and they got out played
for big chunks of this football game. One of the
things I worry about with the Lions is they don't

(03:49):
have a ton of wide receiver depth, so they got
to keep amar On Saint Brown healthy. They don't have
a lot of depth there, and the Rams did pick
him up. Even though I think they're a better team
in the back end Rams, and maybe it's just the
Rams Cooper Cup can do that. Rams kind of picked
them apart for long stretches in that football game. Again,
the Rams had a seventy eight to forty five play

(04:11):
advantage at one point and were dominating time of possession.
So it's one of those things. Detroit I didn't think
played particularly well in the second half and they won
the game. I thought the Rams were brilliant. A heartbreaking
loss when you really outplayed a team on the road,
a great team on Sunday night football, and you lose,
that's a long flight back to LA But I think

(04:32):
what you're looking at is two excellent teams, two teams
that could meet again in the NFC Championship. Wouldn't be
surprised in the least. Would not be surprised in the least.
You know the other thing the Rams, and I wouldn't
call this a problem, but it's fascinating. So there's a
lot of discussion because he's gotten nicked up last couple

(04:52):
of years. What do you do with Stafford? Do you
draft another quarterback? But you're watching Stafford tonight he went
thirty four for forty nine for three hundred and seventeen
yards and a touchdown the pass rush in his face.
In the second half, he went eighteen to twenty three
for two hundred yards, and again he's under duress. Jared
Goff had a much cleaner pocket. And I'm sitting there

(05:14):
watching Matt Stafford, and I'm thinking, if you're the Rams
for the next couple of years, in the draft, why
draft a quarterback? Just stack the roster. Who are you
going to get in the draft that's as good as
this guy. I know he's older, but when I watched
him tonight on the road pass rush, I mean it's
basically Cooper Cup. He didn't have Tyler Higbee his top

(05:37):
tight end. He's banged up, he didn't have Pooka Nakua,
he didn't have his tackles. He's putting on a clinic.
You're not going to face many pass rushes, certainly tonight.
You're not going to face many environments in this league
harder than that. And this guy's eighteen for twenty three
in the second half. So you know, I was sitting

(05:58):
as I watched the game, and I'm thinking, what I mean,
He's never been a big mover. He moves well enough
in the pocket, his arm's great. I mean, he's clearly
going on thousand miles an hour cognitively. Upstairs, he's got
an incredible relationship with Cooper Cup and Pouka Nakua. Now
they got Jordan Winningham, this other receiver. They bring in

(06:18):
Tyler Johnson, who I thought was kind of a cast off.
I think he was in Tampa at one point. He
had a huge play to night, And I'm just saying,
I'm looking at this team and I'm thinking the defense
is young. Stafford's the old guy. But I don't know
if I draft a quarterback. If I'm the Rams, I
would definitely draft to tackle. Robin Havenstein died in play
the night right tackle. He's getting up there, and I
would get another wide receiver. But I mean last year,

(06:41):
five of their six top picks or defense, so there's
no reason you know they they are very close. I
think they could get to the super Bowl. I don't
know if there as good as Kansas City. I don't
know if there's good as Baltimore. I don't know. But
they're certainly in a group of four or five teams
that could get there, five or six teams maybe. So
I just you're watching Stafford. I'm watching Stafford. That guy

(07:05):
doesn't look close to retirement. He doesn't look close. Everybody
loves Aaron Rodgers. He's up a major surgery. Kirk Cousin's
off a major surgery. Stafford's gotten his hand banged on
the helmet and his shoulders been banged up. But I'm
just looking at these numbers tonight in that pass rush
on the road, in that environment. She I'm just loading
the roster up. I'm I'm redoing his contract. You gonna

(07:28):
pay you, gonna pay Dak sixty million dollars a year.
I'm writing checks for Stafford the next two years Seriously,
I'm not drafting on our quarterback. I'm not wasting my
time on a draft pick at the top.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Gil.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
I'll get him another tackle, another receiver, another edge rusher.
He didn't look close to being over I think there's
a I think there's a real argument he's the best
quarterback in the NFC. I'm trying to think. I mean,
you watched him with golf tonight. Stafford's better Rock Purty,
give me a break, Dak, Stafford's more talented, better arm talent,

(08:02):
Jalen Hurts Stafford. I mean, just you know, you tell
me I think he's the best quarterback in the NFC. Oh,
by the way, with McVeigh, which is I mean, if
you're if you're if you're taking everything into consideration on
if you're going to move off a quarterback, and you say, well,
he does have maybe the smartest offensive coach. I think
that can that can extend it another year or two. Shit,

(08:23):
if you told me that Matt Stafford's starting upright in
three years, he's not forty. I don't know you're watching tonight.
I don't think he's close to over f them picks.
Go get him help, don't draft the quarterback you know
the other thing I think is fair to say what

(08:43):
we saw in Week one, week one's crazy. I mean
I thought I had the right side of the Titans
game and Will levis el was that a bad pick?
Week one's crazy again. Dallas looked sensational, Cincinnati looked awful.
You don't take too much from it, but I do

(09:04):
feel like tonight watching that game, I'm watching two super
Bowl level teams. Once the Rams get their offensive line
healthy and everybody's back watch out, they draft and develop
so well. They got so many good young players on
that team. They're really really young, not Green Bay young,
but really really young. And I guess my overall take
now the San Francisco plays the Jets tomorrow, but my
overall take on Sunday, Thursday, and Friday is, you know,

(09:29):
outside of Cincinnati, the teams we think are going to
be pretty good or good, and the teams that we
think are going to be bad, like the New York
Giants are pretty bad. We'll get into New England later.
I don't know what to make of it. I mean,
you don't have a lot of the weaponry for Cincinnati,
so you know, you just don't you know, it's hard
to make a big sweeping judgment. But I feel like

(09:51):
tonight in a weird way, I look at what the
Rams did without their tackles and their makeshift on line
against that Detroit team starting two rookies up front defensively,
that's the most impressive loss. I mean, Baltimore losing on
Thursday's an impressive loss. That Ram lost tonight, that's pretty

(10:11):
good loss.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
You can lose like Cleveland lost, or like Carolina lost,
or like the Giants lost or Washington lost. But this tonight,
I mean, you go back and look at film. You
did a lot right against an excellent Lions team. The
fact you could block that front at all with backups
everywhere is a testament to how well coached the Rams are.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
And that was fun.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
The Thursday stand alone, the Friday standalone, this, and then
tomorrow we get Aaron Rodgers against the Niners. You want
to know why this league is king?

Speaker 1 (10:46):
You watched it tonight.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
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Speaker 1 (11:43):
All right.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Former NFL Scout three and out podcaster John Middelkoff of
the Volume Week one reaction presented by Uber eats get
almost almost anything for Game Day. All right, let's start
with Tom Brady's debut. Good God, Cleveland's a disaster. I
was sitting there thinking, as I'm watching that game, if
you're gonna sign a contract to a quarterback, to a

(12:04):
guaranteed contract, which you you know, Kirk Cousins got one
and Deshaun Watson, I not only want a great player.
I want a great leader, I want great health. I
want an ascending player. He's virtually none of those. I mean,
it's just typical Cleveland. What's ironic after watching Baker today?
Baker's a much better quarterback today, John than Deshaun Watson.

(12:27):
I mean, Baker was a rock star today. I'm sitting
there and I'm like, we know it's not Stefanski. We
know he's a really bright guy and a good play caller.
I mean, I don't even know what Deshaun Watson is.
I mean, changing uniforms. He's a bottom ten quarterback.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
You know, as funny as I had on the Redskins
or the Commander's game on a little TV and I
wrote down about ten minutes before we jumped on, Baker's
in a different universe. Not just as a thrower, his touch,
I mean, Deshaun's throwing balls into the stands constantly, but
it swag, the way he carries himself, the way his teammates,

(13:03):
and even as a playmaker. I mean, it's not like
Baker some elite athlete, but moving around Deshaun Watson Dak
Prescott signed the same contract, essentially two hundred and thirty
million dollars guaranteed. How could you pay a player who
has character question marks and who has a short resume.
I mean, I'm getting text constantly. I'm sure you are.
It has to go down immediately as one of the

(13:25):
worst deals in the history of pro sports. You look
at Dak has his flaws in January, very consistent regular
season player, super smart guy, Yeah, high character leader. Everyone
that knows him like him. Deshaun Watson, I was out
on him last year today, what an embarrassment? Where's the
playmaking column? He doesn't make any plays well?

Speaker 2 (13:47):
And he was never a hyper athletic or he was
never a hyper accurate thrower. That was always the beat
on him. I can remember his first year. Everybody liked him.
He would skip throws. He's not a pretty thrower. He's
not an easy thrower. Everything looks like it's a struggle downfield.
You know, he was a wildly dynamic athlete. You take

(14:07):
that out, and I mean, he's no more athletic today
than Dak Prescott. And I've always thought Dak's sort of
a b athlete and a b arm But I was
watching Daxon and I'm like, oh, Dak's a much much
better player than Deshaun Watson. And the thing about Dak,
Dak is a guy that even when he has his faults,
you do feel like he is the soul of the organization.

(14:29):
He's the soldier Deshaun Watson. If you went through that
locker room and have half the guy, asked half the
guys and you go, you could move off the contract.
So I look at Cleveland and I think desperate franchises,
desperate owners do dumb things. They're sunk. You can't go
anywhere in the AFC with Deshaun Watson.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well, the reason they won eleven games was Joe Flacco
last year. That's right, right, he resurrected him and they
refused to resign him because they didn't want any drama.
Let's face it, if I was a Browns fan today,
I wouldn't want to watch this any more. He as
just a consumer, So I didn't have any money on
the game or anything. Just an awful, terrible watch. Like
who wants to consume that player? Like you said, he

(15:10):
used to be able to scramble around and do things.
That's gone. Listen, has he lost his confidence? One? But
whatever that is that we witnessed today was a fish
out of water, and they're going to be former players.
I'm sure they come to his defense. Well, they were
missing offensive lineman. They gave him two hundred and thirty
million dollars to elevate above that as a playmaker, and
that's gone.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
I thought, I wrote this down. I thought Mike McCarthy
in terms of play calling today, I thought it was sensational.
They had a drive in the second quarter. They did everything.
I mean it was. It was shovel passes, it was screens,
it was counters and traps, and I'm sitting there watching
and I'm like, this is art. Like, you know, we

(15:50):
bang on Mike McCarthy, but he's a five hundred playoff coach.
He's a sixty percent winning coach. And you could say,
well he had he had Aaron Rodgers. Well he's also
had Cooper Rush, guys who are not considered superstar throwers
of the football. I thought Dallas today and I had
my questions looked so buttoned up. Offensively. I thought the
play calling was good. I thought Dak was in a zone. Listen,

(16:14):
I pay defense was awesome, excellent pass rush.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Listen.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
I don't want to pay Dak sixty million, But good god,
two hundred and thirty was guaranteed, so it takes out
the salary cap issues when you guarantee the whole damn thing.
And my take is, if you're going to have a
quarterback for the questions, just guarantee it. Like I saw
this week the Niners converted somebody's contract to a signing bonus.
Like if if you can guarantee the stuff and get it,

(16:39):
you know, help you out in the salary cap. But
that if you'd have told me one team today played
flawless football. It was the Dallas Cowboys in Cleveland with
a rookie left tackle against Miles Garrett. It would have
been one of the bottom guesses I would have had.
That's as good as Dallas can play offensively and defensively.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
To me, how about Jerry, there's no chance. They just
got this deal done late Saturday night. He stole the
morning with this announcement of this contract. You talk about
a showman, and then they answered the bell. You know,
the first thing that came because there have been rumblings
when you say this last week, like something might happen here,
he might get a contract extension. I thought the moment

(17:18):
that contract was extended. I'm like, I think that's good
for Mike McCarthy because the success DAK has had under him, right,
Mike's calling the plays unlike a lot of these coaches
all over the league that just are CEO head coaches,
So he directly impacts him. And if DAK continues to
have success, let's say they lose in the second round,
cause I had pivoted on McCarthy. He was easy to

(17:39):
beat up a couple years ago, and then he just
kept rattling off twelve wins and then we're annoyting guys
like Mike McDaniel who have never won a big game
in their entire life and can't win the division. I
think the Cowboys have a pretty good chance to win
the division this year. Hell, I picked him before the season,
like him just as much now. But if they win
eleven twelve games again, you're gonna pivot off the guy
who's your offensive play caller and, like you said, proven

(18:01):
to be a pretty good head coach. Okay, he's not
Bill Walsher, you know, Andy Reid, we get that, But
you're gonna bring in Bill Belichick, right, I mean that
seems like, especially now that you're so invested in Dak,
and let's face it, Dak over and over answers the
bell in the regular season at a really high level,
and he's proven that he can win big games. Unlike

(18:23):
Lawrence and Tua, who got paid this offseason in December.
He just has to get hot like an Eli Manning
or Joe Flacco to really kind of cement his legacy.
That will always be a question mark, but I don't
think there are any more question marks. Like compare Dak
to Kirk Cousins, like, I think there's a little bit
of a gap there. I know their numbers are similar, yeah,
but I think that's especially as Kirk's getting older. You know,

(18:43):
Jared Goff, he's playing after we talk, but he doesn't
move as well. I mean, da, Dak's really good. He's
never gonna be the second best quarterback, but you feel
pretty good about just putting a minute number eight. And
then all the character stuff and the intangibles and the
leadership are a really big deal in the sport football. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
No, there's no question that he is an adult, and
I think from the very first year in the NFL,
you always felt like you could trust Dak in the
locker room, to make smart decisions, stay out of trouble,
and you know it sounds like, you know, oh, that
doesn't really matter. You could hear Tom Brady on the
broadcast today, so much of it as being able to
handle hard coaching, to get yelled at. I mean, I

(19:21):
can remember during some cultural movements in America, you know,
Dak was front and center. I just think he is
that soul of the franchise. Speaking of Brady, I always
said when Tony Romo took the job, everybody fell in
love with him. Three years later, we're like, eh, Brady's
broadcasting career is going to be his playing career. You're
going to just watch him work really hard, and you're

(19:43):
gonna say he can't do this, can't do this, can't
do this as a player. You look up, You're like,
he does everything. I thought he was nervous today, especially
in the first half. But my takeaway is go to
week eight. Tom's gonna literally go home tonight. It's been
the entire night and the next day studying the film.
So im on Tom. You know, everybody was talking about it.
I thought he was really nervous to start.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
It was funny.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
I talked to him last week off the air, and
I said, listen, you're you're gonna be nervous. I don't
care what anybody says. You're not playing. You can't control it.
It's just and it's and and for the record, it
is so hard to do well. You basically have to succinctly,
three hundred times in an afternoon talk for eight seconds,
and you have no idea what you're going to talk

(20:25):
about ten seconds before you talk about it. It's a
really hard job. And so that was kind of my
take on Brady.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
You got any thoughts, Yeah, I'm not going to try
to be a hater. I admire Tom everything he's accomplished
in his career. People I know that know him, and
I'm not trying to overreact to one game. But I
thought he was pretty bad. Yeah. I just thought, you know,
he's very tight. You know, he's with Kevin who's been
doing this since he was like five, who's very smooth.
Aaron Ronaldi, I mean, Ronaldi is one of the great

(20:57):
greats of all time. Tough spot. He's gonna have to
find a lane. Yeah, because I think the casual person
and if you're getting twenty thirty million people watching these games,
most of them are not diehard football people, right. They
want to be entertained. Madden's personality, Gruden's eccentric craziness, that's
not really gonna be even Romo was just very excited

(21:20):
and turned on him. But he has a lane. You know,
I don't necessarily like is Tom. He didn't really let
it fly today on Deshaun Watson, which I thought was
a BP fastball, though I don't know if that's gonna
be his thing. I just thought he was kind of tight,
which is understandable. Yeah, but I don't quite know what's

(21:40):
gonna be like. I don't think people want like let
the personality come out that everyone that you're Gronk and
Edelmant and these guys love you, like be one of
the guys, which he obviously has in there. I just
think he was kind of stuck in no man's land.
And obviously I'm sure you'd over prepared the majority of
people text I'm getting it. I'm sure we'll see it tomorrow.
People will be critical love him. It's a tough spot.

(22:02):
But I just I'm interested to see what lane he
figures out, because today I thought he was kind of
a no man's lane. And again I like to I'm
a Tom Brady guy. I'm not rooting against him, but
it was tough, tough spot.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, No, it was. He was choppy and he just
didn't quite listen. I've talked for a living. It takes rhythm.
If I take ten days off, I come back to
following Monday, I'm rusty, like I need an hour to
get back into my rhythm. So it's not the easiest thing. Okay,
I want to talk about the Bears game. First of all,
the fact that they won a game and passed for

(22:37):
sixty four yards, so it was interesting. Belichick said something
last week. I took the Titans to win that game,
and basically I was on the right side. I felt
for almost the entire game. But Belichick said something this
week and I took it to heart. Belichick said, I
wasn't impressed. He was like ten for twenty and I
went back and I text somebody who was I know

(23:00):
who's in the NFL who's been critical of him. And
the big question with Caleb is high school and college.
He can really get in the weeds with his accuracy.
He can really get into the high grass and if
you recall Mahomes could do that a little bit in
his first three years, and then Andy would pull him
back in. Mahomes would get really off mechanically. Stafford's done

(23:24):
that in his career where it's so easy for Mahomes
and Stafford. They start side arming two out of three throws,
the mechanics get sloppy. And I thought with Caleb, he's
got a defensive coach. So Mahomes has Andy. Stafford at
one point had an offensive coordinator he really connected with.
Now he has McVeigh. But I think with Caleb is

(23:46):
when he gets sloppy mechanically, who brings him back on
the fairway? Because I thought today he struggled at times
to see things. You know, I thought his decision making
late in the game and not making mistakes and taking
what was given forum was fine, but it I mean,
all these guys struggled today. Bo Nicks was as good
as anybody, and he threw two picks. What did you

(24:07):
make of Caleb overall today?

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Well, I think if you go back to Bill's comments,
He's like, listen, I'm not being a hater, but I
don't put anything into preseason. And when you're inaccurate in
the preseason, do you know what hit me today watching
about ten games in the morning on different TVs and screens.
You know how the NBA once the playoffs start, You're like,
what we just witnessed for the last six months doesn't
even look like the same sport. That's kind of the preseason.

(24:31):
I mean, the first ten minutes of like ten am
to like ten thirty, You're watching the Steeler game, the
Houston Indie game. Guys are flying around and I'm like,
this doesn't even resemble what we just witnessed. Right, So
the defensive game plans, all these defensive coordinators, even the
average ones, are making one and a half two million dollars.
They're paid a lot of money to do this. The

(24:52):
physicality of the game rams up the question on Caleb
he is going to be able to make spectacular throws
though he wasn't doing that today. I think he was
really rattled and his confidence was all shot. But can
he just make basic throws from in the pocket, whether
it's a fastball or whether it's a layered throw. And
it kind of unraveled on him and unraveled on him fast.
Now the tight Jeffrey Simmons is probably one of the

(25:14):
better players that the casual fan doesn't know that much
about because he plays for the Titans. You put him
on the Cowboys or the Eagles or something, he'd be
a star. And they were hitting his ass hard and
he was he was thrown off and will Levis bailed
their team out. Because if will Levis does him self implode,
the Titans not only easily should have covered, they should
win the game. I mean, he looked like Daniel Jones there,

(25:35):
but Caleb was. He was atrocious today. I mean he
really was, which is fair because this is what Bill
and Bill's an old school guy, Sean Payton's all these
guys that come from the eighties, the nineties, the Bill Parcells.
They hate hype, you know you and I I like
some hype, Yeah, I enjoy it. Those guys do not
like it because it doesn't mean anything once you kick

(25:55):
off week one, and that, like all that hype was
meaningless today if on third and seven he's skipping a
ball and he was, and it unraveled fast. The arm strength,
all the talent doesn't mean shit. And like you said,
it gets back to Jayden Daniels. Beside his running didn't
look great. Bo Nicks, who has an offensive play caller.
Now he was on the road. Granted was looked overwhelmed

(26:16):
a lot of the time. Yep, it's hard. This is
really really. This is why I've said pump the brakes,
especially on Caleb and the Bears. I don't know, like
Nick Wright picked him to win the Super Bowl. A
lot of people are hot, you know. He threw that
out there. I don't know if he actually picked. But
my point is he could make serious strides as the
year goes on and they could win seven games. This
is really Look at Sam Darnolly, He's been the league

(26:38):
for like seven years. Has taken him forever to figure
it out. Yeah, no, I'm not easy.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, I said this. I did a piece for Fox
Sunday and I said, be careful on Caleb Williams. This
is one of the best divisions. This is a franchise
that ran Trubisky out of town and he made the
playoffs twice with Aaron Rodgers and Stafford in their prime.
This media is rough, the weather gets rough by Thanksgiving.

(27:03):
If they win eight games and he gets better, take it.
If you could take that today and say he's significantly better,
we win at games we finished third, take it, because
what success looks like to Dak is not what success
looks like. You know, years ago, you and I grew up,
the hardest thing to do was hit a baseball. Now

(27:24):
that's still really hard. It's still really hard. But quarterback
now has entered that space because it's not a run
centric league. It's a sixty forty sixty two to thirty
eight passing league, and I mean it's even g You know,
Smith a veteran today, his best play was a run,

(27:45):
Like this stuff is hard, and I think we just
have to understand. I thought all the quarterbacks looked overwhelmed.
I thought bow Nicks had a little rhythm at one
point in the game where he felt like I felt
like bow seeing the game. It wasn't doing much, but
he was seeing the game, he was seeing the field,
and he was facing a new defensive head coach. So

(28:07):
all twenty four points today were scored by defense and
special teams. Will Levis to me, is done. He's baked.
I don't think his college game looks like his pro game.
Doesn't see the field. Terrible judgment. I think Caleb's going
to be fine, But to your point, he looked overwhelmed.
And I think the other thing is if you opened

(28:28):
up on the road, It's different, dude. He opened up
in Chicago. The weather was perfect. That a buddy at
the game like there was a lot of fricking heat
on Caleb today, like a lot of pressure on Caleb.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Well, that's where if you know, if you take bo Nicks,
you take Caleb. Bo Nix is in Seattle where the
place is really loud and he could barely hear himself.
Think Caleb gets a pretty BP fastball of twelve o'clock
kickoff in Chicago. I'm a huge believer in two things.
For young people, whether you're a professional athlete or just
a normal person in society, confidence can be lost really quickly,

(29:00):
and it can be hard to gain. I would say,
you know in your early twenties and when you are
everyone's looking at you. When you start losing confidence, it
can spiral and the only thing you ever have to
go back on is your experience. But as a young player,
you don't have any experience. Like Geno today, you're watching
early on, You're like gott Seattle looks weird, He's been
through it. Dak today. All these guys have so much

(29:21):
experience that they don't freak out over one drive. They
don't freak out over a bad quarter. And you just
watch Kleb. You just felt it snowballing and what does
he have to go back on? Nothing? And it's not
like he can look over there and Bill Walsh's on
the sideline and be like, listen, I've been doing this
for thirty years, won a couple of Super Bowls. I'm
gonna call three plays, get you a couple of layups.

(29:42):
And they were just they were very scattered. Yes, they
felt very I mean there was one point in time
in that game before Will Levis just pooped down his
own leg where you're like, are they gonna lose twenty
eight to ten? Yeah, and just be the number one
story of the day tomorrow morning that the Bears and
Caleb specifically are not nearly as good as we think

(30:05):
because now and I really think that you can defensive turnovers,
like if they're playing a top, if they're playing just
Baker Mayfield or Genus.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
They have blown out, they get killed.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Yeah, So I mean they get killed. And I'm not
jumping on Caleb here, which I would imagine is going
to happen a lot this week. I just think everyone
this is so much more difficult at the NFL level
than college, even if you're playing at a high level
of college. And Caleb was playing a lot of good
teams in college, but the level of athlete, the level
of speed, he just did the rhythm. I mean, it

(30:39):
was just it was glaring.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
And the level of coaching, you know, there's no grad
assistance on these staffs. Man, you're talking about the very best.
I mean, Jesus, you look at USC this year with
the same defensive players, upgraded coach. I mean there's so many.
There are bad college coaches. I mean guys like Mike
Zimmer or X and he's been fired. Mike Zimmer is

(31:02):
a great coach. So in the NFL, it's very rare.
When you get up Brandon Staley, you're like, Okay, that
guy's over his skis completely Freddie Kitchens, Yep, that's not
gonna work. Overwhelmingly, almost everybody in this league is excellent.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Well, one of my favorite bests today was Tampa over Washington,
just one. I don't think Washington is any good. Tampa's
made the playoffs for four years. They are loaded with
NFL players all over the place, and Baker and I
was close to where you stood on him. The change
he's had as just the way he carries himself. Obviously,
the way he plays Washington is they just don't have

(31:40):
the talent, right. And I think you saw all these
three rookie quarterbacks. The difference of Jayden and the other two.
He can really take off. I mean he can really run,
and that kind of neutralized and kept the game somewhat
close for a while. But these coaches are gonna put
you You're just gonna end up in third and long.
And this is not college, like you're gonna have to
sit in there and there's gonna be your You don't

(32:00):
have seven seconds, like there's gonna be plays where you
gotta get rid of it in two and a half.
That's why watching Deshaun Watson, who's been a pronown for
a while, it's like he has no clock. It's like
you either got to throw the ball away. I bet
Tom Brady's in there thinking like, what the hell am
I watching get rid of the ball? I understand those
young quarterbacks not knowing the time. To me, that's more
than fair. I think it also shows how difficult it

(32:22):
is for young quarterbacks. And I know a lot of
the listen I was high on Denver. It's gonna be
a roller coaster ride for all three guys, which is
more than fair in the history of the league.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
It's time for this week's player I thought might give
almost almost anything to redo his game. Brought to you
by Uber Eats. This week, Will Levis Titans quarterback Oh
brutal Titans blew a seventeen oh lead over Chicago. That
was this week's Uber Eats Player of the Week. Get
almost almost anything for game time delivered with Uber eats,

(32:55):
the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Order.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Right now, I want to talk Raiders Chargers. It was
the most predictable, at least stylistically, it was the most
predictable game.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
It was a rock fight. It was just.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Physical, brutal, tough. I mean, it was not pretty. But
my favorite part of this game is basically the same
defense as last year. They were in the right spot.
I mean, they had one kind of mistackle on a
play that ended up being a big play for the Raiders.
But justin Herbert goes sixteen of twenty five for one
hundred and thirty five yards, no touchdowns, no picks, and

(33:34):
I'm like, he's going to do that several times this year,
and people are going to bang on Justin Herbert. I
watched that game and I'm like, Hardbaugh's looking at that talent.
Pretty light at tight end and wide receiver, not a
lot of game breakers. Okay at running back, better than average,
maybe not great. Harbaugh looked at that game today and thought,

(33:57):
and I think they're going to win this. Stylistically, this
is how the Chargers will win. They'll ugly it up.
Herbert won't make any mistakes, He'll make four to five
big throws, no interceptions, make the right reads. This felt
It almost felt like Harbaugh his first year at Michigan,
taken over for Brady Hope. He didn't have a lot
of elite playmakers, but he won ten games on just

(34:20):
situational field position, toughness. And then over the course of
two or three years, he couldn't beat Ohio State. He
was losing games you think they should win, but they
didn't have NFL players. The Chargers boss great Derwin James
is fantastic, so was Herbert. Rashaun Slater's a good left
tackle and not a lot of guys everybody would vie

(34:41):
for if they were on the market. I thought that
game was exactly how you have to win if you're
the Chargers with Harbaugh this year.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
With that talent. Yeah, I think if you remove the quarterbacks,
they're the same team, right, They're very similar. Herbert I
didn't even know his box score. I thought he I
ate some big, big throws down the stretch. Yeah, he
made some big throws down the stretch. And then I
had the game on mute was a Dobbins busted the
big run. That is Listen, their team is not going

(35:12):
to be a sexy watch this year. And the Raiders
if they had justin Herbert, would be the same thing.
They'd have to win a lot of games, kind of
like the Chiefs did last year. Mucky it up, ugly
it up, and try to win nineteen to fourteen, nineteen
to seventeen. And I think when you watch, you know,
let's look at that division. Right, Like I had either
Denver the Chargers making the playoffs. I kind of waffled

(35:35):
back and forth. I think it is going to be difficult.
Now we'll have to see how the rest of the
AFC plays out. It's obviously gonna be hard for Denver
with a rookie quarterback and playing on the road, the
Raiders have no shot Harbad does just because of this quarterback.
I mean, the guy's talent. Some of these guys that
hate on him. It's like, one you were either just
trying to be like counterculture and just sound different, or

(35:58):
two you know nobody in football because nobody thinks that, right.
I mean, just lest of the way Jim talks about him.
I think over the next couple of years, and when
we saw how Jim has built at Michigan, they're gonna
be a serious problem as he teaches Justin Herbert how
to win in the NFL. But they got their talent deficient. Yeah, clearly,
clearly on offense. And the one thing as the season goes,

(36:21):
and this goes back to the rookie quarterbacks, these defensive coordinators.
I mean, they worked eighteen hours a day. They're gonna
get nine guys in the box and Herbert's gonna have
to beat him with kind of random wide receivers.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Right.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
If they had Keenan Allen and Mike Williams in their prime,
to me, they would be a lock playoff team. But
they had to pivot off those guys because of the money.
But it's Jim's a winner. So betting against Jim to
me seems moronic. I mean, it's just it's not gonna work. Now.
Is he gonna win ten games this year? I don't know,
but he's gonna have a chance to go above five hundred.
I bet when the dust settles come December, how about it.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Antonio appears punting on a fourth and one late in
the game, and I thought, I thought it was interesting
because I thought, well, that's what defensive coaches do. By
the way, even Mike McDonald, the new Seahawk coach, in
a win, super conservative down the stretch Denver had a
chance to get the ball back and win the game.
It was like, defensive guys, oh my god, I'm watching

(37:17):
Antonio Pierce. I'm like, dude, you can't be conservative with
that football team. The only way the Raiders can win
six games is big swings, because you just don't. And
by the way, teams with weak quarterback play will get
worse over the season because the defense will be on
the field for more snaps. Defensive players get hurt more

(37:38):
than offensive players statistically in the league. So a team
like the Raiders, you get to like week four to
five to six when the defense is literally on the
field the whole game. You're going to be losing guys
left and right. You got to take swings.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
I think one of the elephants in the room in
that game, and you saw him a couple times on
the sideline, is DeVante Adams on that team. Makes no
sense none. And if people still think he can play,
if you his value has diminished because as time goes on,
you make a lot of money and you don't produce
it the same way, you're just not worth as much.
But if you can get rid of him at the
trade deadline for a second and a third, like to me,

(38:13):
that's it's probably time to pivot. I get not trading
Max Crosby because those guys are hard to find, but
a wide receiver with a team with no quarterback. It
also shows you that Gardner Minshew like, there's such a difference.
Sam Darnold everyone hated and right, I mean, he was
bad in the spots, but then look who believed in him.
Kyle Shanahan signed him last March and immediately Trey Lance

(38:34):
was dead on arrival. His career ended the moment he signed,
and then by he spends a year. One thing he
talked about is like I saw Purty work well. Obviously
Perdy's work ethic has to be elite for him to
have success, right with his physical tools, and he's like,
I really opened my eyes. This is a fifth six
year player saying he's watched a second year guy. He's

(38:54):
never been around that, and his physical attributes relative to
Minschew both those guys with the Bridge quarterbacks this offseason,
it's not even in the same ballpark. Minshew's a great story.
He's a good backup if you were forced to start
them week one, and now it feels like a couple
of teams have been forced to over the course of
his career. You're just done, like your season is over

(39:15):
before it even begins. And Sam Darnold like, is he
gonna sustain this all season? I don't know, but his
physical attributes and clearly people like the guy. He just
needed to get around some real offensive coaches. Now we
see back to back years, Kyle Shanahan thn Kevin o'connelly
gets a chance to play. I understand he's playing the
Giants and they suck. But Colin he looked pretty good today.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Let's talk about that. He went nineteen and twenty four
at one point, I think he was ten for ten
two hundred and eight yards two tds. Yeah, and it
really touches on something. I always have sympathy for people
like this. I got very lucky my first job out
of college. I was in Vegas and it couldn't have
been a better place for me to work. I got

(39:57):
a really good news director who believed in me. I
had good pace people around me. And if you look
at my career, I've had really smart people, agents, content people,
and my career wouldn't be like this if I didn't
get people that supported me and believed in me. And
I'm not saying, you know, Adam Gase, I thought he
would be good because Peyton Manning has said he was
going to be good and it just didn't work. But

(40:17):
I mean he's been at the Jets, he's been at Carolina.
It's like, I have sympathy for people that I know
who are talented, and I've worked with people in my
business like this. Hell, you're a great example. Every one
of my friends loves you. You've done great for us.
You got to let go by an AM radio station
in the Bay. I'm not blaming anybody, but it's like
every Yeah, by the way, at the volume we've made,

(40:40):
our business is basically finding people who we think are
really good, and we think they were a place that
doesn't understand how good they are. You were one of them.
So the thing about Sam Darnold is look at who
likes him. Shanahan liked them, Adam Gase actually liked him
a lot early. Kevin O'Connell likes him. If you start

(41:01):
asking around the league. I know when it was funny
when Christian McCaffrey had a wedding, there was like, you know,
I saw nine of the guys there to one of
them was Sam Donald like players like Sam, and I
thought today, if you watch that game, every time Sam
went back to pass, you could literally see it as

(41:21):
a viewer, as a consumer, they had Sam knew where
he was going, He wasn't ad libbing. Sam knew where
he was throwing the football. And it's like that's the difference.
I mean, go look the Jared Goff with Jeff Fisher
and then with McVeigh. He was a bust. He was
a disaster. And then you're like, oh shit, he's going
to totoe with Mahomes on Monday night football. What's going

(41:43):
on here. So I watched Donald. Their schedule's brutal. I
think they were a seven win eight win team. But
when I watched him today, I'm like, oh, he finally
got his kingmaker right.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
You know. It's funny. People ask me all the time, like,
you know, I want to get into the podcast business.
Do you have any advice? I'm like, yeah, just find
a coward, that's what you need, because, like you said,
I mean, there are players are no different than a
lot of people in a lot of different industries. There
are probably some really talented players on Carolina that no
one's gonna notice, right, And look at Carson Wentz, he

(42:16):
was out of the league. And then who was interested
last year Sean McVeigh, and what had happened to him
this offseason? Bret Veach Andy Reid signed him. So perception
becomes reality. The NFL is a lot like a high school.
People talk, you know, fair not narratives become truce and
it's hard to shake it off. And only it's rare

(42:36):
that a guy like Sam Darnold truly gets like a
cool opportunity. He has opportunity if he plays really well.
They just drafted JJ McCarthy. They have no choice but
the pivot and let's they like win the Super Bowl
or something. Who say the Raiders won't give him some
money or a team like that this offseason, right, and
like some guys are completely overwhelmed. Look at Trey Lance.
He got drafted to Kyle Shanahan and they're out. Yeah,

(42:58):
and then he goes to Mike McCarthy's great with quarterback.
He's like, he's our third string quarterback. Like I'm sorry,
I'm out on him. Right, that's not meat had defensive
guys not willing to like see your talent. Now. I
do think we have his historical similarities of guys that
were high draft picks. I remember living in the Bay Area.
You know they talk about like Jim Plunkett, high draft

(43:20):
pick fell apart and then the Raiders got him. We've
seen Rich Gannon as an example. You see guys kind
of bounce around. They get with the rights fit and
they get with the right guy to believe in them.
And the good thing for Sam is Kyle O'Connell are
the same umbrella. We'll look around the league. There's like
seventeen of them all over the price. So if you
all know the offense, his demand. He doesn't have to

(43:41):
do this every week, but if he can just prove
to have them in the wild card conversation come after Thanksgiving,
I think he's going to be a starting quarterback. I mean, Colin,
I'm watching Bryce Young and that's the organization clearly has issue.
He looks completely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. Deshaun Watson wouldn't be a
starting quarterback long if his contract was. There are a

(44:02):
lot of quarterbacks, Jacoby Brissett. I mean there are a lot.
And I understand he won today, but he threw for
like one hundred and twenty yards. I mean, there are
a lot of guys playing in this league today that
just are not going to be playing for long. So
when you can prove it. No one's ever disputed Sam's
physical characteristics. And if you know the Shanahan offense, which
I would say is one of the more complex, and

(44:23):
now you know, like the intricacies of O'Connell that brings
some of McVeigh, they're all kind of interconnected. I think
he's got a pretty bright future if he can just
keep building on this.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, and he had some tight window throws, red zone.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Throws when he looked good. He looked good.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
I thought, Sam, I thought he looked really good. You know,
it's I want to talk about the Broncos and Seahawks,
because again I thought Bo had his moments. I'm watching Seattle,
and I say this respectively to Pete Carroll. I think
Seattle has elite talent. I just don't think people know
the players. But walker their wide receivers, they have tremendous

(45:01):
young corners. They got a consistent pass rush. They got
the Murphy kid in the draft, the top defensive tackle
a fan left today. It's Gino is what he is, like,
He's a really solid he's a great story.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
He is what he is.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
He's not gonna lose you a lot of games. He's
not gonna win you a lot of games. But I'm
watching that game today and Sean Payton coached his ass
off for a half.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
He got them.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I mean a lot of this was Seattle do it
getting safeties, and it was quirky, and then all of
a sudden, by the second half, you're like, Okay, now
we're off script. And now Bo Nix is a rookie
quarterback and he just you know, that's the difference between
a veteran Dak in the second half and bo Nicks
in the second half. Both like, Okay, now they adjusted,
So I got the everything on the script. I figured out.
Now it's all off script. And I'm watching that Seattle team,

(45:45):
John and I think you called him one of the
surprise teams. I'll just say it right now. Maybe they're
not Baltimore. I think they are really talented. They really
They fly around the field defensively.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
I actually was kind of on the other side, but
their talent. My issue with them is they've been they
were poorly coached, but they've been winning nine games. You know,
it's not like they've been winning five. And yeah, that's
why I'm sanseled. How do they go from Do you
think they could win eleven? I still think their offensive
line has some question marks. They get today, they got punked.

(46:22):
Gino has his limitations, But you're right. I mean, Kenneth Walker,
there's a chance at the end of the year he's
a top five running back. Yeah, how about the catch
Lockett made to seal the game. He's their third wide
receiver and he's been there though.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Jesus, he's been great for ten years.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
He's got to be one of the more underappreciated players
of his generation might not even be close. I think
I could play for my team any day now. If
their defense is better, they still might be a nine
ish win team. But could they beat the forty nine
ers in again, because they haven't beat the forty nine
ers in five games him two years ago in the playoffs.
So if they if they can play at a more
physical brand, My question marks you never know where the

(46:59):
coordinator into a head coach. He's young. I think he's
thirty seven years old. And their offensive coordinator, who we
all loved in college, who was de bors right Heim,
had never coached in the NFL. They showed his resume
to day he was a Sioux Falls not that long ago.
That's a pretty quick jump. Now he clearly knows what
he's doing, and so their coaching staff might just be better.
I saw I watch John Schnyder's press conference at the

(47:21):
end of training camp. You can tell he thinks they
got something. Not he knows their team is talented, but
like he thinks the coaching staff's pretty good. So like,
can they beat McVeigh and Kyle? Can they split? Can
they go to and two? Because if they can, then
maybe they're not nine to eight, they're ten and seven,
and they're like the six or seven seed. I would
say that's possible. Not going to overreact to playing Denver

(47:42):
who It's just you could tell they're a little talent
defision still with the rookie quarterback. But yeah, I mean
it's hard not to He's an easy guy to root for.
Geno's an easy guy to root for. I just wonder
in Sunday Night Monday Night games and Tom Brady calling
it if you're both four and one, or however the
schedule and you're playing the Rams or you're playing the Niners,

(48:03):
are you I'm not picking Gino Smith Homer Away. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
I will say this about bo Nix and I had
talked about this because I saw him play live twice.
He is much more mobile than people give him credit for.
Way more mobile. He ran in for a touchdown today
on a pump fake. He you know it's he looks smallish.
You don't think you know sixty one college starts. You
don't see m as a great athlete. I thought today

(48:29):
he I know, one of the interceptions was a great play.
And I love the Seahawk corners and again, they're all overwhelmed.
They don't have a ton to work with. I don't
know how good their offensive line is. I think Bonnix
is gonna work. I don't think they want a ton
of games. But when I watched him today, I never
felt he was rattled. I thought he made two throws

(48:51):
that were like rookie throws in the second half. I'm like, oh, Jesus,
bo But I kind of like, bake that in. Like,
I don't know. When I watched him today, I fore
filthy was you know, I kind of just my low
after watching Caleb. I'm like, Jesus, this is rough. I
watched them and I was like, if you told me
by Thanksgiving it all clicked, I'd be like, all right,

(49:13):
I could see it.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Well, you know what where it's set in with me
is last night at eleven o'clock at night watching the
Big Ten play. They had multiple Big Ten games going
Oregon in usc Your Trojans look better in Oregon right now.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
That's the Organ's a mess.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
There's a drop off at quarterback. Dylan Gabriel has been
a productive player, but there is a dramatic difference between
Dylan Gabriel, who's probably not even a draft pick and
a guy that was just a top fifteen pick immediate
starter a week one, Like that's a pretty big deal.
Right when you look at Oregon, I know they got
their offensive line is a mess. But if your offensive
line is a mess, and this goes back to Cleveland,

(49:52):
if your quarterback can be mobile, you either got to
do two things what Peyton and Toalm could do forever
they played with a lot of average offensive line. Get
rid of the ball like that, yea, or run around
for your life Lamar Jackson the other night and you
get caught like Deshaun Watson. You're kind of doing neither well.
Bo Nicks can scramble, Jayden Daniels can scramble. Yeah, So
if your offensive line's gonna suck and you're not gonna

(50:12):
pick you apart in the pocket really quick, you gotta
be able to move and bow speed translates like physically
to me, Like talent wise, everyone anoints Caleb as this
all time great talent. He's really talented to me, Like
Josh Allen and John Elway are probably on their own
little tier. But I think bo Nick's physical attributes are
like a plus characteristic. Yeah, like they got that going now.

(50:35):
He threw a pick in the red zone like it's
it's it's hard. But yeah, I'm not out on him
by any means. I've actually he's really grown on me.
He's a guy that during the preseason even to day,
like that's tough to go on the road against a
defensive coordinator who's a head coach. They're flying around. Can't
hear yourself think like that's it's a tough, tough environment

(50:56):
in those spots like this is back to Caleb and
Bo they're Enviirelan's were completely different. One was home. One
was like a cater dinner, and the other one was
like make a five star meal. Here's mayonnaise and here's
a piece of beef. Right now, it's like, it's difficult.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
I want to talk about Buffalo in Arizona. So I
watched Kansas City and Baltimore play, and then I watched
Green Bay and Philadelphia. So I see those four teams
and I see all this offense. And then I watched
Houston today. It's just got nothing but ballers offensively. Then
I watched Dallas today and I'm sitting there looking around

(51:38):
watching Buffalo in Arizona. Kyler Murray's beyond clever. I mean,
he's just a little pitter patter of feet.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
He's a great watch. I don't know how many games
they'll win, but he's on TV. He's great's fun.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
But I watched Buffalo and I'm like, you're not You're
not Kansas City, Kansas you had a chance to beat
Kansas City. They have added elements now between worthy, they
have a second tight end. They brought Juju Smith, Schuster,
Hollywood Brown. They still have Isaiah Pacheco. I'm like, no,
Kansas City's got firepower, Dallas has firepower. Houston's got a

(52:10):
lot of firepower. Baltimore's got firepower. Jordan loves out for
about a month, but Green Bay and Philly have firepower.
We know the Rams and San Francisco will move the ball.
I watch Buffalo of Today and I'm like, it took
him a while to get cooking. John. I don't know
if windows closed, but I don't think they can. I
don't think they can keep up with a lot of

(52:31):
these AFC teams.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Why I would push back that I loved the Cardinals
plus six and a half because Kyler's such a difficult
guy to play week one when you haven't had no
game experience. You're not used to the speed of the
NFL as we already talked to in terms of your team,
Like the speed of Week one compared to like two
weeks ago in a preseason game is night and day.

(52:53):
So I give you a pass of just running around
because they do have a good pass rush. They're just
gonna eat up a lot more immobile quarterbacks like Tua.
And if we're gonna give Baltimore credit, Lamar happened to
pull stuff out of his you know what, every other
play because their offensive line isn't good. Josh is doing
the same thing. And I think the question mark with
both guys. You know, by the end of the game,

(53:14):
I'm looking up. I got him on a muted TV.
They're wrapping his arm. I mean, he's just taken shot
after shot. He is. I didn't I was too young
to remember, like the young, physical dominant Lway, but that
is as dominant of a physical specimen who can run
and pass. You know, Cam was always hit or missed
with the pass. Yeah, as a runner, he's probably the
most dominant runner of all time. Josh is the ultimate

(53:36):
combo of them both because he's a better pass than Lamar.
Lamar's faster than him, But I mean, you can truck
basically any linebacker on the defensive back. You've been talking
about this for a while. You just get worried when
you play like that. Yeah, eventually you're gonna get a
broken arm or a broken clavical. But I think that there.
I think there's a grittiness of that team. Like there
was a moment you looked up and it was like,

(53:57):
are they gonna get their ass kicked? And then the boom.
I had a buddy text, He's like, should I hammer
the money line? You get him like plus one eighty
right now, Like I don't hate it? And then boom,
they scored two touchdowns. Yes, and then all of a
sudden they had the lead. Now granted it was at home,
but I thought once they kind of realized the speed
of Murray, they sacked them a couple times in the
second half. I think their front's gonna be pretty good.
And I'm just I'm just a Josh Diehard believer. I mean,

(54:18):
I think he's just one of been watching football now
thirty years. I think he's one of the best talents
I've ever seen. Oh, he's just turned into a great player.
That he could Shakir. The Boise State Ride receivers really good. Yeah,
their run game is the best it's been. And I
do think they built like they did show something last year.
I'm with you, like, can they beat Kansas City in
a playoff game? If they played right now? Kansasity is

(54:39):
much better team.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
You know, it's funny. I'm looking at you.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
I think there's a greatness to the squad, though it's.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
They were not very good on third down. It's funny.
I looked at him today and I just thought, I
don't know if they can keep up. Now, everybody goes,
we'll call them. They scored thirty four points, are gonna
be fine. It's more than that. But you know, it's
funny when I look at them, they only average cook
on the ever's three point seven yards per rush, three

(55:04):
for nine on third down.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
You know what they have going for him, Colin, Let's
remove Kansas City, who was like the Jordan Bulls right now?
Who The Bengals look like absolute dog poop today. I mean,
what an awful I mean, that's got to be the
worst loss of the day to lose to the Patriots
at home.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
So, you know, I think Houston I think that win
today was much more impressive than people give it credit for.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Totally great. I think Indy's good, Yeah, I think I
think that was a playoff level game between those are
two good teams. You know, the Steelers are gonna have
to win a lot of games eighteen to twelve, right,
the Browns have a ton of issues. We'll see the
Jets Monday night. I know the Dolphins pulled out a win.
I think Doug Peterson did a couple of weird things

(55:50):
play Colin Wise, I think that game was That game
was bizarre. But I am not a believer in the Dolphins.
So one thing the Bills have going for him Texas
was some people in Kansas City, They're like, god, Lamar
is really hard to play, But can you play like
that throughout the entire season? Now, Obviously you're not playing
the Chiefs every week, so he's not gonna need one hundred
and fifty yards, But whenever they play a good team,
they're gonna need Lamar to be this incredible. So you

(56:12):
just look around the AFC, like, I just think the
NFC is better, right, I mean, Philly's still figuring things out.
Dallas today, we'll see the Niners, we'll see the Lion. Like.
I just think the NFC is pretty stacked. So you
look for the Bills, you go, Yeah, they got some
young players they're relying on, but they still got the
second best quarterback in the NFL, right, and a coach
that kind of knows how to win. They've won the
division four straight years, yea, and a group of kind

(56:35):
of core guys. So I'm still a believer. No, I mean,
I know if I pick them to win the Super Bowl,
and I wouldn't pick them to beat the Chiefs, but
I think they could beat any other team in the AFC.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Yeah, I'm probably too hard on them. I found the
game wildly entertaining. I guess they you know, it's funny.
As I watched them, I kept thinking, God, they're so
Josh Allen freaking reliant, and then I look at it
and it's, you know, in fairness, Coleman had cash Is
Shakier's a clever player. Yeah, and you know you start
looking at it cook. Yeah, I think their yards per

(57:06):
catch were greater than I give them credit for. The
Other thing about Buffalo, They're just in a lot of
crazy ass games. Houston's in a lot of those they are.
Buffalo's just in a lot of big games, crazy games,
and I think that's just sort of their hallmark. Now
we've seen them in so many memorable games.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Well, I think if you look at Buffalo, they play
in the offensive version of the Steelers, who play in
the defensive version of the same game. It's like going
back and forth. Anything could happen, fumble sixes, crazy sacks
for Buffalo's games, or just a lot of touchdowns and
it's Josh scoring a lot. They're more likely to be
in a game it's thirty three to twenty nine and

(57:44):
the Steelers are playing, like what a win by the
Steelers and they win twelve to seven, and they both
win a lot of games, you trust. I just believe
in this modern day the way the sports played, when
your quarterbacks that good, I just have to believe in.
And that's where you go the Steelers, you go God CJ.
Watton on quarterback. Hell, he might be the best. I mean,

(58:06):
there's a short list of guys that are as good
as him or better than him. Their defense is so physical,
but their quarterback situation, you know, I would imagine Field
starts again next week. But they got this Russell situation
hanging over them where it's like, if you're the Bills,
it's like, yeah, we got you could argue the best
player in the history of our franchise. And they've had,
you know, Bruce Smith, Thurmanton, They've had great players. But

(58:26):
like Josh, given his position and what he means over
the last three or four years, it's like those teams
won a Super Bowl. Now they got there.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
I should but I I should probably look at the
Bills and have a different feeling, which is they were
outplayed in the first half and they ended up winning
the game. Like there were moments in that game I
was like, God, Arizona's just playing them tough. And then
at the end they won the game. But it's not
like Chicago, where Tennessee gave you the game. It was
like Buffalo earned the win. I mean they put up points.
It is, you know, Josh eighteen to twenty three. That's

(58:56):
actually twenty three attempts because he's so vital as a
on her is a very reasonable number. Like I think
Buffalo wants to become less Josh centric, but it's hard.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
They want to run the ball. They want to run
the ball. Today they got down yes, I anytime you
get down in a game, even in the NFL, Like
you looked around beside the Saints and the Panthers, most
of these games are relatively close, even when it's fourteen
seven or fourteen three. I mean, you're a play away
from being right back in it. But you kind of
have to get a little pass happy when you're down
seventeen to three at home late in the second quarter.

(59:31):
And then they did and it worked, and then you
just double down on what's working the rest of the game.
You just worry to me him and Lamar like, I understand,
this isn't nineteen eighty seven and Ronnie Lot hitting you
every play, but you're still getting hit pretty hard. And
these guys have never been faster. I would imagine the
body fat on the average defender has never been lower. Right,

(59:51):
so the compact nature of these guys and the speeds
have never been faster. Both of them are you know,
similar age twenty seven to twenty nine years old. You
just under like, how long? And I don't blame him.
How would they not be confident running because they know
it works. But one time you're gonna get a hit
and you're not gonna get up and something's gonna be Shatwill.
We've seen it happen to Rodgers earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
In this time, Drew Bloodshell almost died on a football
field when he got laid out Drew Bledsoe six, five
and a half to thirty. I mean, it's just it's
the I mean, Cam Newton's career thirty two, he was done.
Cam's huge.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Do you think you're I kind of like your thing
about by the second year Thanksgiving, It's like, yeah, we're
kind of out the Panthers thing. I know they got
a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Of Will Levice, Bryce Young. I watched today. I'm like,
I don't think it works. I don't think it works.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
This is why I like the Saints. I'm like, people
are hard on Derek. He was bad for a lot
of last year. Well he gets the Shanahan guy when
he gets a good offensive coach. I think they got
a good defense. I'm like, you watch Saints from my
pick to win the division. Now, I know understand they're
playing the Panthers, But what did Derek Carr look like today?
Really good? Through three touchdowns? He looks good and Bryce
Young look like lost someone that shouldn't be on a field.

(01:01:07):
That's try one. Physically one. Physically, he's the smallest looking
guy in the league by a mile at that position.
Because even Kyler at the moment's notice, he can take
off Bryce can't. Arm's not great, and then he's clearly
not that accurate. That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
Today's struggles. Well, Will Levis today, there was a play
when Will Levis was rolling right and he is too muscular.
He was rolling right and he should have just rolled
and thrown it. He rolled satuh, And I'm like, Will,
you got to throw in the move. You can't set
every time you throw the football. You got to be

(01:01:40):
able to run and just sling it. And I watched
Will Levis today. He's too rigid, he's too tight, he's
not fluid. He's not going to make it in this league.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Everything the GM tell you that. His pictures at the
combine are like what is this guy doing? Like, get
out of the weight room.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
He's not a fluid thrower. Everything is just like solid,
everything's mechanical. He's not gonna work in this league. Everything
needs set up. And he's got these weird ticks when
he throws it. It's like he watched it. He looks
at himself in the mirror too much. He likes to
look pretty when he throws. Dude, sometimes this shit's ugly.
Move throw it. And Bryce Young to your point, I

(01:02:18):
thought he was incredibly accurate. He's not strong. He missed
two guys today by eight yards open. I mean miss
them badly. It's like, okay, you can't that's the NFL.
And Caleb, by the way, I missed a couple of
open guys that was a little problematic. But Bryce Young
to I'm like, Bryce, you don't have the size. You
have to be accurate.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
That's it for you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Like bo Knicks has to be accurate.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
He's not.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
He's not six ' five and running over people. Will
levis too mechanical, not gonna work. Daniel Jones too mechanical,
doesn't see the field, not gonna work. Bryce Young small
not as accurate as I thought.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
I just think it's unraveling on him. You know, last
year they fired all these coaches, get a new guy in,
and then today. I don't think it could go any
worse because even the giants like they get their ass kicked.
Everyone thought Daniel Jones is awful. Yeah, Like people are like, oh,
let's give Bryce a kind of a mulligain. He gets
his offensive play caller. Before you even blinkets twenty to nothing.
Balls are flying over Honey Badger and all the dbs

(01:03:17):
are laughing. I mean they weren't even close. And that's
the thing. Like Deshaun Watson's shoulder injury, is he trying
to throw every ball seventy five yards pass?

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
I give Caleb the first NFL game Like, yeah, he
some balls flying all over the place Game one, Deshaun
even Bryce, Like, you got a full season last year
and you've played this team before, but that confidence goes.
You start questioning yourself and then all of a sudden,
you know, it's like a golf swing. If you start
guiding it, the ball is gonna go out of bounce.

(01:03:46):
Just let it rip. Dak Prescott is just letting it rip. Yeah,
doesn't mean every pass is going to be perfect, but
you can't be thinking. And you watch Bryce, it's like
he's totally thinking and then his physical skills aren't great
and it just goes. This is I think the Panthers
are gonna be really really bad because that division. I

(01:04:07):
know Atlanta lost today, but they were I'll give you
Alanta credit. They were flying around, hitting people pretty Tampa
was pretty loaded with talent. Saints are gonna be solid.
Like that's everyone thinks that division is gonna suck. I'm
actually on the opposite. I think it's gonna be pretty
competitive beside Carolina, Like, who are they beaten out of
those three teams? That could be an oh and six
in the division.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
John Middlecuff, I'm gonna go watch Lions rams every Sunday
at least an hour. Chop it up. Former NFL scout.
His podcast is three and out. Well we got one
in the books, my man.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
We do. And the Trojans look like a playoff team
early on Colin they really I'm not I would never
have said that two weeks ago, but how do you
deny it? Now?

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
You know what you notice about usc Is Danton Lynn
is the defensive coordinator they went and the way they
went and found like guys who had been head coaches.
I mean they they literally improved on every coach and
the staff. And you know what they do defensively. They
don't give you any cheap stuff. They don't blow any coverages,

(01:05:07):
Like half of what coaching is about. Are you lined
up in the right spot in the last four or
five years, you're like Jesus, we just don't have the
guys in the right. I said this, a screen pass
the last two years before this year, a screen pass
against USC might as well have been a double reverse.

(01:05:29):
They were completely flummixed by basic I mean like jet sweeps,
screen passes. They were out of sorts. They're you're not
going to FOOLO. Nothing you can do offensively. You can
tell they're really well drilled. They play fast, they play smart,
they're lined up. Sometimes I think people forget this in

(01:05:51):
every industry. They're bad pilots. I mean, you know Sully
Sullenberger when he landed that plane on the Hudson. Not
every pilot can do that. That is a top one
percent a pilot. I've had multiple doctors in my career,
you know, like all of us. I've had bad agents.
I've had bad attorneys. I had a bad doctor. Like
just because people make a lot of money, you start

(01:06:12):
looking at some of these coaches, especially at the college level, John,
there are bad, bad coaches. USC had won the previous
two years. I don't think they have great talent. I
don't think they're defensive talents close to Georgia Ohio State.
They never I've watched every snap from two games. I've
yet to see them in the wrong spot.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
To me, what jumps out their skill guys look a
lot better and I don't fall recruiting that close, So
I don't know all these guys beside the one little
returner who's obviously pretty darktch. But their group of wide
receivers and running back they just look like a well coached,
explosive unit. If they're playing Oregon this week on a
neutral field, they blow them out, what would the line be?

(01:06:56):
How could you give USC points? Everyone would be USC.
They would beat Oregon today. I don't. We'll see how
that plays out in three months. But right now they
are a better team than Oregon. Who would have thought
anyone would be able to say that, even if you were,
like yourself, a believer and where they were headed. Think
how crazy and fast that turned, I mean in fourteen days.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Yeah, and you know, it's funny about the transfer portal.
They did a really good job. They went and got
two giits from Oregon State brothers LA kids. It was like,
really smart, a middle linebacker and a safety, brothers the
best two Oregon State defenders. They went and they used
their money in the transfer portal smart smartly, they just
went and got a lot of solid guys that two

(01:07:41):
from UCLA, two from Oregon State players who had played
together on defenses that got along. So it was like
the chemistry as they brought. They weren't like four guys
from forty.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
It wasn't a mercenary signing guys left and right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
Two UCLA guys from the secondary, a couple of Mississippi
State guys, a couple of Oregon State guys. So it's
like the team that it's very unified. There is no superstar,
no superman. You can just tell the team. You watch
the sideline for USC, it's like these guys are all
like we're the same high school class four years ago.
They like each other.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
You can now they got a good they got They
got a good vibe, a really good vibe.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
It's a very unified vibe. Good stuff on all right, buddy.
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Colin Cowherd Podcast - Stafford Best QB In NFC? Rookie QB’s Struggle, DeShaun Is A Disaster, McCarthy’s Masterclass

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Colin Cowherd

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Colin Cowherd Podcast - Stafford Best QB In NFC? Rookie QB’s Struggle, DeShaun Is A Disaster, McCarthy’s Masterclass