Lane Kiffin Bolts For LSU, Cowboys Defense BETTER After Parsons Trade, Ben Johnson Best Young Coach Since McVay

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

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Daniel Craig returns as Ben Waugh Blank in Wake Up
dead Man, A Knives Out Mystery with an all star
ensemble cast for his most dangerous case yet. When young
priest Judd du Plentasy is sent to assist charismatic fire
Brown Mond senor Jefferson Wicks, it's clear that all is
not well in the Pews. Written and directed by Ryan Johnson,

(00:26):
critics are calling it the sharpest knives Out movie yet.
Watch Wake Up dead Man, A Knives Out Mystery and
select theaters November twenty sixth and on Netflix December twelfth,
rated PG thirteen. All Right, it's always weird doing the
Sunday Show after Thanksgiving because there's like thirty two topics

(00:49):
and nobody really cares about discussing rams Panthers. Do they
not really listen? I think we've Let's just address a
massive college football story that you and I care about.
So college football, what you saw Lane Kiffin do feels

(01:11):
a little different now because of the College Football Playoff.
You used to leave a program, you know, and they
were going to a bowl game. They weren't playing for
a national championship. And I don't think Ole Miss was
going to win a Natty. But it wouldn't have shocked
me with Lane Kiffen if they won two or three
games and finished in the top two or three. So
it does feel a little gross, But big picture is

(01:34):
if you think about, if you really think about what happened,
the NCUBA four or five years ago was rigid, and
you went from that, the rigidity of the NCUBLEA to
pure unadulterated HGH infused capitalism and there's no boundaries, and
it's the wild wild West, just like the wild Wild

(01:56):
West in the eighteen hundreds you had territorial governors and
commissioners of conferences. But everybody's in their own self interest.
And so listen, this is harbaughto Michigan, Lane Kiffn to LSU.
It's massive, it'll be controversial, it'll be great for the sport,
and one of the little guys gets burned. I don't

(02:16):
lose sleep on this stuff because I've been watching it
my entire life. But wasn't this bound to happen if
you hired Kiffin?

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah? I just think there's no easy way to leave
a school anymore, you know. I mean these schools now
are paying fifty million dollars for a guy to go
away in the middle of October, so you have lsu
out to poach your coach for the last month and
a half. That's abnormal. You know, these buyouts got so extreme.
Were like you and I kept saying, well, these guys

(02:42):
are safe. Turns out they're not. They're getting bought out
left and right. I also think part of the problem
for Lane is he's a controversial and polarizing figure, and
he's really done a lot to change his image, right
to the documentary that he did. You just look at
him physically, what do you think he's lost thirty pounds
he's politically, he's talked a big game how this place

(03:04):
changed his life, gets them into the playoffs, and then
leaves them for essentially their big brother, who. I think
it's hard. I understand where their fans are mad, but
like I understand both sides. I just think these are
these things are ugly. It's pretty rare. Remember a couple
of years ago when Sabin retired right after the National
Championship Game and Debor just left Washington and it was
a pretty seamless you know, from Washington Alabama because everyone

(03:27):
was done. You're seeing, you know, this cycle all these
Penn State doesn't even have a coach that we can
argue whether they are a top ten five I don't
know where they land, but they could easily steal a
guy in the next couple days, and that could be weird.
Who's to say that it's not a top fifteen program
that they steal a guy from. So it's just it's
a lot different in the NFL. Like you said, there
are regulations, there are rules. The New York Giants can't

(03:50):
steal Sean McVay, but LSU can steal Lang Kiffin. Honestly,
it looked like kind of easily.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well. Yeah, and Rick Patino noted this on social media.
He said, it's a calendar Is that.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Actually, Rick Patino? I almost didn't even believe. I thought
it was like a fake account. I didn't realize it's
actually Rick.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, And he said it's a calendar issue. He goes,
I wouldn't build my team to be a number one
seed with a chance to win national championship and you know,
a day before the tournament March madness bail. He said,
you couldn't do that. It's a calendar issue, and college
football allows it for years and years. I was on
my radio show on TV show John, I'm sure at

(04:27):
least once you heard me say this, it's an eight
billion dollar sport with no CEO. It was boxing like
of course, every boxer was out for itself and every promoter,
Bob Aerm and Don King ran boxing, the SEC commissioner
ran the sport. And then you have ESPN and Fox saying, guys,
it's an eight billion dollar industry. We're going to make

(04:49):
this more like pro football. We're going to have like
an AFC and NFC, the SEC in the big ten.
So don't I don't. If you are a college football
program and you hire Lane Kiffen and you don't understand
the reality of your calendar and understanding this can happen,
then you're naive. And I can feel for an ole

(05:10):
miss fan, but this is a calendar issue. And I
said last week, aggressive men, if Wall Street did not
have a regulatory board, you would see if you didn't
have regulations at companies, if we didn't have an IRS,
what do you think it would be like for aggressive

(05:31):
men in this country? They would be taking big swings
and doing something, doing many things that felt skeevy and unethical.
So until college football in the NCAA put up boundaries.
I mean we put up some boundaries in the portal.
We put up some boundaries in NIL. There's no boundaries
on coaches leaving.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
I think what people have a problem with, you know,
it's mainly the Ole miss fanss not like LSU fans
care at all. They're a static is that we have
this team who he has a chance to win a
national championship. I don't necessarily agree. They don't play any defense,
but then this guy kind of plays us. It plays
us would be strong. But as he says in this

(06:10):
outgoing statement that the ad wouldn't let him coach, Well, yeah, Lane,
no school worth their salt that has any respect LSU, Alabama, Georgia,
Ohio State, Texas. It's very understandable why they wouldn't let
you coach. But then you steal Charlie Weiss's kid, who's
with Lane the offensive mastermind. Well this is an offensive

(06:31):
juggernaut as a program right going into this playoffs. Well
I remove Lane and I remove Charlie Weiss. If I
am not like, if I could remove a little emotion
and take a deep breath, I'd go we have no
chance in the playoffs, especially if we get a decent matchup,
because they're going to get dropped in the playoffs. You
are ruining our dream season. I mean it's you know,
in college more than the pros. Right, a bad program

(06:54):
in the NFL, if they get the right quarterback, the
right coach, they can immediately be good. The Rams are
a clown show. They getigh, look at them the last
ten years. Right in college, you get the right coach,
you gotta strike while of the irons hot because that
guy's probably gonna leave. But now, I think, you know,
fans would say, well, what the hell's the difference. We're
paying these players, We're giving you money for the coaches,

(07:15):
we're doing everything LSU tried to do, and we're kicking
their ass every year. We beat Georgia last year. Why
do you need to go? And I do think that's
a fair argument that we're gonna learn. Is there a
big difference? And I know you said about I think
you know Lane would probably agree with you. It's the
defensive guys. Like I can get the offensive guys to come.
But for every Walter Nolan that I got last year,
it's gonna be very hit or miss. For if I'm

(07:35):
at LSU, if I'm at Georgia, fine, at Ohio State,
I could get five or six of those guys. And
then I think the other area that people have a
hard time with is like Nick Saban. You know, Nick,
you fired Lane for causing problems inside your program and
it does feel very and listen, I have a lot
of respect for Jimmy Sexton created this business for nothing
and became what he became. It's not his fault that

(07:57):
academia struggles with negotiating with these guys, and it's a
it's a one sided fight, but it clearly feels we're
in the NFL, there's a lot of pushback if you
want to negotiate with Howie or you want to negotiate
with the forty nine, like, it's not easy. And with
these schools, it just seems like one couple guys have
all this juice and are just playing puppet master within
the in the sport. And that gets back to what

(08:18):
you said, there's no rules, there's no regulations. Bob and
Don King take over the business they need. DA's happened
because UFC passed them right, because they got a data white. Well,
I think we're still a while a while away from
college football. Kind of having that structure though, right, I mean,
it doesn't feel like it's tomorrow coming in. No.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
I mean, listen, if you look at pre Kiffen, Matt
Luke ed or Jeron Houston Nutt, Hugh Freeze cheated like
a you know what. The bottom line, it was a losing,
irrelevant program. If they knew Kiffen was going to burn them,
if they knew it going in, then he was going
to do this. They'd still take fifty five and nineteen

(08:57):
relevance and the number one scoring offense country by a
wide margin. They would have signed up for it today.
So I don't have any their last SEC titles nineteen
sixty three. It's an irrelevant program. And Lane may I
watched four miss games the last four this year for

(09:18):
last year. Maybe I'd watched the egg Bowl every year
for a half. Like, I'm sorry, you were an irrelevant program.
Hugh Freeze cheated to make you sort of interesting. But
Nick Saban said he stopped recruiting his last couple of
years in Mississippi because Hugh Freeze was cheating so bad.
Players were getting paid at the end near signing day,

(09:39):
and they were losing him. So I mean, you would
have signed up for fifty five and nineteen when you
had the coaching opening if you knew he was If
I said number one offense, top five program, fifty five
and nineteen, he'll bail on you, you'd a signed up
for it.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
You know, you used to have that statement that the
thing make smart men dumb or women in money. And
I think the hard part is for the program is
that this not really money, right. Ole miss was paying
him ten million, they were willing to pay him fourteen.
It's almost a you know, a revelation from Lane in
his belief that your program simply isn't as good as

(10:17):
LSU right, And I think that hurts, and that's where
you're getting it really like you're in the playoffs. But
big picture, you know, I'm the reason. And historically in
college basketball and football, do you lose the coach, you're
in major trouble like the guy that's replacing him. I
remember when he was the offense or defensive coordinator, Alabama
was not going well as defensive coordinator, and clearly they

(10:40):
were in a desperate situation. But I think over the
next couple of years, relative to what they've been. If
ole Miss was a stock, you'd probably short them, and
you would probably buy stock in LSU the next couple
of years.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Right, yeah, all right, let's talk as we do this.
It's in the fourth quarter. But Buffalo leads going away
against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Aaron Rodgers got hurt. He
got smoked by Joey Bosa, bloody bridge of his nose

(11:13):
left the game came back. You know, it's funny because
Sean McDermott and Mike Tomlin are both defensive coaches, and
I could make a strong argument that their message has
sort of worn thin, like three points in the first
half for Buffalo making a mistake down near the goal line.

(11:36):
It's like, guys, you got a veteran staff, you got
a veteran quarterback, you got a veteran left tackle. You
can't be making these mistakes. But I do. I look
at Pittsburgh right now, and they have no quarterback for
the future. Aaron looks in cold weather, really old. Aaron's
letting go of that ball John so quickly. I don't

(11:57):
blame him. He doesn't want to get hit. He does
never run game. I thought this was a bad fit.
I said he should go to Minnesota or he should retire.
I never thought, you know, in warm weather early in
the season, but Mike Comlin's teams I haven't won a
playoff game. I could be wrong. Eight plus years. They're
not a viable franchise. They get really bad at the

(12:17):
end of seasons. I don't know. I mean, I yeh,
Buffalo just scored. It's going to be now twenty three
to seven. What do you do with McDermott and what
do we do with Comlin?

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, I think McDermott's still you know, these next whatever
five six games in the playoffs are going to be
huge form. I mean, as of right now, it's going
to be an uphill battle for them, just assuming that
New England wins on Monday Night to win the division.
They were heavy favorites at the beginning of the year,
not just to win their division, they had the best
betting odds with the Ravens to win the Super Bowl.
I mean, they have one of the best players in

(12:50):
the league. You know, I'd say Josh been a little
up and down this year. Part of that, to me's
on the GM and I think when you look at
these two franchises, you know, Brandon Bean for the Bills
Kean Coleman. It was inactive the last two games. He
was there, essentially their first round pick last year, pick
thirty three. Right, they trained had.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
A touchdown today that help he did.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
But I mean it's you're in a position where you're
still like teaching him life lessons a year and a
half in. That's not ideal. I think the Steelers, I've
been texting around the league obviously, Tomlin, I think it's
fair to say you're there seventeen years. Back in the sixties,
they would have said that's a long time, let let
alone modern day the Internet age, so it's unprecedented. I
don't think we're gonna see that very often ever again.

(13:30):
But I think their GM in their front office. You know,
it used to be with Kevin Colbert, the Steelers and
going back to the Bill Coward days, just always had
one of the best rosters in the league, right defensively,
top to bottom. Offensively, they always had multiple piece I
always just had like super reliable people all over the place,
right and then star power. They don't even feel remotely

(13:52):
close to that. I actually gained a lot of respect
for Rogers today. He's gonna be forty two in less
than a month. He's out there with a cast on
his left hand, which that's a hand that used to
brace yourself. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars. He
does not need to be doing this. So I give
him a lot of respect for saying it's not like
he has a lot of equity with this franchise that
he needs to try to earn their respect. So he's trying.

(14:13):
He's given them all they have. But Tomlin takes a
lot of shit. Now I've been saying for a while
it's probably time for a breakup. If you're Mike Toalman,
you go to the Giants, you would be getting a
standing ovation walking into that press conference. But the front
office in the GM, when you look at the team,
Cam Hayward's been there for a decade and a half.
That has nothing to do with this group. TJ. Wat's
been there for ten years. Right. The talent on that

(14:36):
roster and the philosophy of the moves like you're trading
for DK Metcalf, Like he's a number two guys and
you're gonna him a hundred fifty million dollars. Like what
are you guys doing? No position I'm watching the Bears
make some seventh round running back go for one hundred
and thirty yards with his eyes closed. And you guys
can't find a running back like you guys, you're the
guy you draft in the third round, can't sniff the field?

(14:59):
Your front office? Who I would say the Steelers for
a long long time. Just they were the most reliable franchise,
just doing it right, year in year out, for decade,
my entire life. I look now, I see, like got it.
Something's off kilter there, and maybe the family's getting a
lot older, you know, it's just things change. They're so
rich now, maybe you lose touch a little bit, have

(15:20):
the same chip on your shoulder. But to me, the
talent on the on the rock, and I'd say, listen,
it's not like Buffalo we've talked about. This is some
greatly talented They had injuries today, missing some players, but
even when healthier, I would consider them the Seven Paths.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
No. I mean the Lakers sold, it felt very mom
and pop, and then they bring in the Dodgers group
and it already feels they're getting rid of bus family members.
I think would the Roonies ever sell? They feel? I
mean that division now has the Brown family mom and pop.
The Rooneys feel outdated little mom and pop. Baltimore's got

(15:57):
excellent ownership and management throughout out Cleveland a bit of
a mess, although I like the coach, I like the GM,
I like the roster actually, but it's just watching this today.
You have two defensive coaches. You know, it's seven three
or ten three and a half, whatever it was, and
it was like, God, there's just nothing creative. I mean,
Buffalo basically, if you look at their game plan, they

(16:20):
just it was pretty clear they were just wanted to
get into a slug fest and they just kind of
figured they would over the course of time.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Score it's twenty points. You can't match us.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
That's what it felt like. It almost felt like what
Ohio State did against Michigan, Like that first half. Ohio
State was so conservative, and their take is we got
better players, We're gonna win this game. It's just going
to take three and a half hours to win the
football game. So I you know, I feel like I'm
always beating up on the Steelers. But small market Green
Bay is so smart, so cutting edge. Offensive coaches do

(16:54):
a very good job in the sport of solving problems
in season. I've said this John A McVeigh a, read
a Sean Payton. I think those guys. Shanahan has done
a great job this year solve problems middle of the
season takes a couple of weeks. I feel like defensive
coaches need an off season to solve problems. Pete Carroll

(17:15):
will need an off season, Tomlin McDermott. When things go sideways,
they don't rebound quickly. I mean, you watch Denver struggles
struggle in their first half offense, then they play the
Chiefs and they get on the board in the first
half and they kind of clean it up. I mean,
Ben Johnson has an identity. There are a number one
seed now Chicago. I mean the defense leads and takeaways,

(17:37):
the offense leads in rushing. There are a number one seed.
These offensive coaches come in. Ben Johnson has been tweaking
this mother every two weeks, like you've seen improvement. And
Pittsburgh Lee, you know, I feel like they think, like, Okay,
you play the season, then the season's over, and then
you take the wrenches out and you fix it. You
gotta fix it every week in pro football now, the

(17:58):
coaching's too smart.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, I think also the organization like the way they
view football is the defense can carry us. And I
still believe you need a good defense to win in
college or the pros. But it's an offensive sport. I
mean didn't save and say this a decade ago when
he hired lang Kiff, and I had to adapt because
of the rules. So you can't even the Texans. I mean,
the Texans have what looks like to be an all

(18:22):
time great defense. I mean, their defense is fantastic, but
if their offense plays like that that, they're not going anywhere,
even if they make the playoffs. And that's the one
thing I will say about the Bills is the FC
does look pretty wide open. I mean, there are a
lot of random teams gonna make it that as long
as you got that quarterback, I think we'd both agree
they would have a chance in every game. If the
pass rushers are healthy and Josh is healthy, they would

(18:44):
have a chance. For the Steelers, I've been saying this
for the month. I mean, clearly they are. They have
been in a free fall for a month. I mean
ever since Flacco beat them on that Thursday night game.
They have not been good. But even did last year
you say one hundred, but this is even starting earlier
this year, the attrition of the age. Listen, it's just
it's not Tomblin will probably assuming that. I mean they'll

(19:05):
get a divorce one of these days. It is an
organizational thing. And you bring up the Packers. They have
a much better front office like Gudakin's. I got news free.
I know Rogers butted heads with him, but he kind
of was right on that transaction. He's pretty good at
his job, you know, like the power. I don't know
football is quite baseball, but your GM is pretty important
because it's not obviously the quarterback, but it's a lot

(19:27):
of auxiliary moves of you know, backup defensive linemen. Who's
your slot receiver, who's your slot corner? You can make
moves in season. You know one thing, you know Howie
has done that. I think a lot of Lions fans
go like, where are trades mids? You like, you can
be aggressive now in this modern day NFL. So I'd
say the Steelers just kind of ran into age attrition

(19:48):
and just a coach that you know, it's just time.
There's nothing wrong with that. Andy Reid was fired in Philadelphia.
Ask him how that turned out.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
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Time aut today. Okay, I want to talk about because
the biggest games were Thursday and Friday in the NFL.

(22:24):
I don't think Cleveland San Francisco is a highlighter. We'll
get to that. I want to talk about Dallas beating
Kansas City Chiefs now six and six, and it's very
likely if you look at Jacksonville and Houston's record and
you start looking at New England and Buffalo, it's like
Kansas City's probably not making the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
And I think the Charger's gonna have eight wins after
they beat the Raiders.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
So I think Kansas City's listen. I said at the
start of the year, I said, Kansas City, the dynasty's over.
They'll win a Super Bowl, but the dynasty's over. Once
you start paying quarterbacks four hundred million bucks. You have
to manipulate the cap. You have to let people go.
They had to let Joe Toney go. The old line.
The last several years it feels like it's been patchwork,
and then it gets into later in the season. They
lose somebody to injury, it to mess. Here's the thing

(23:05):
about Dallas. I can't figure out why this is so
hard for people to figure out. I said when they
traded Micah, Jerry Jones is a deal maker. What deal
makers need is flexibility. And if they signed Micah, and
we know this the previous year they were waiting to
they had no flexibility. They couldn't get Dereck Henry for
eight million dollars at the trade deadline. They are a

(23:27):
much better defense without Micah. Why because it allowed them
to get Kenny Clark and Quentin Williams run stoppers. When
they had Micah, they were an atrocious run defense. The
problem with that is you lose time of possession. Dak
sits and watches the game from the sideline. Well, now
with the Marvin overshown getting healthy. They still have electric

(23:51):
athletic ability on the edge. Sam Williams played well, Quentinn Williams,
Kenny Clark, well, now they're still getting quarter back pressures.
They're gonna go get an edge, Yeah, clowny, they're gonna
go get an edge with their first pick in the draft,
which is a edge rich draft. And simultaneously, Michael was
good for greenback. But it's the idea that you win

(24:13):
the trade and we lose it. Dallas had no flexibility.
You watch them play now, John, their pressure is excellent.
You can't run on them. They're healthy, they're athletic. Like
it's like guys sometimes, you know, I mean, it doesn't
matter what the company is. You lose a high profile

(24:35):
person and maybe they were high maintenance, or maybe they
were expensive, or they were temperamental and they're great somewhere else.
But it allows you to elevate other employees, to show
off other employees, to manage other low maintenance employees, like
I liked Micah, but it was a lot and edge

(24:56):
rushers are easier to find than Quinn Williams. It just
seems so obvious to me that Mike a deal was
good for Dallas two. You get it, right, Like everybody
gets this.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
I just think oftentimes in a trade, we want a
loser in a winner, right. I think you look at
the Luca trade, you know, we love when there's a
loser and a winner in a trade. The Bears and
the Panthers, the big trade they made. It looks like
Bryant Poles won that thing, right. The Bears would like
a redo. Why can't we just have a winner and
a winner. I'm watching Micah Parsons fly around on Thanksgiving Day.

(25:28):
Obviously he's been awesome for the Packers and they do
not regret doing that at all. The other thing that
someone in the league texted me, do you know where
Jerry also deserves credit? Is I thought he was wrong
for this. I'd be like, you know, I just keep
rolling with McCarthy. He said, you know what, Mike, I'm
not giving you another contract. I'm going to take your
number two, replace him with you, and not skip a beat.

(25:49):
And now you look at McCarthy, who I've been saying
like I think he'll get a job. Well, the Packers
replaced him with Ease. Haven't skipped a beat, right, I
have not looked back, and now the Cowboys replace McCarthy
and haven't thought twice about it with Brian Schottenheimer. So
like Jerry took a lot of shit. I was very outspoken.
I know you were too. How could you not be
when he hired Brian Schottenheimer. Looks like it's done a

(26:11):
pretty good job, you know, excellent offensive play caller. His
rapport with Dak, a big personality in George Pickens, handled
him perfectly. Weird situations with Micah Parsons. I mean, he
had nothing to do with that gets thrown on him.
Handle that thing perfectly. And is there how many teams
are hotter than Dallas right now? The Texans? I mean
they Dallas looks. I mean that has to be one

(26:34):
of the better two week stretches when you go Monday night,
Sunday and Thursday night of like Jerry's last twenty years. Yes,
I mean they absolutely destroy the Raiders. They historically come
back on the Eagles and then they essentially kind of
end the Chiefs little you know, Mini Die. I don't
think the Chiefs have done big picture like you say,
but they're not making the playoffs this year because of

(26:56):
Dallas and really outplay them like you couldn't stop them
on offense. And I just think Jerry, I think he
puts himself out there a lot. He's got a little
lane Kiff in quality. So anytime you do that, you know,
most owners don't say a peep. Most owners do not
interview or ever publicly say anything. Maybe once a year,
maybe at the owners meetings. Most gms don't even talk

(27:18):
during the season. Jerry's talking twice a week. He's doing
the radio interview, and he's talking postgame and he's he
was right. And here's the other thing you gotta say
about Dallas. They've kind of been well run for a
little while now, like they've had good rosters. Now they
have not done well in the playoffs. But like the
McCarthy era, why they didn't do it well in the
playoffs was not because the front office. Dak kind of

(27:39):
shited the bed. He played bad.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Baltimore's exquisitely run. They haven't been very good in the
playoffs recently. They had the Flacco year, right, they had
the Trent dil for a year. Baltimore's lost a lot
of big playoff games. They've lost it to New England
or a Buffalo or a Kansas City. They're unbelievably well run.
It's hard to win e fan playoff games, right, DAK
was losing to I mean, go look at when DAK

(28:02):
and Dallas were losing at a playoff games. Well, you
had the Seattle team in the San Francisco Harbaugh team,
and you have Aaron Rodgers in his prime, and yeah,
it's hard to win playoff games. Okay, I want to
talk about this game that happened on Thanksgiving. Green Bay
thirty one, Detroit twenty one. Two big takeaways, one's an
easy one again, Matt Lafleur. The Packers offense looked a

(28:27):
little broken. Matt Lafleur. This is what offensive coaches do.
Fix shit in the middle of a season, and all
of a sudden, Jordan Love four touchdowns, no picks, one
hundred and twenty four passer rating, go to Detroit and win,
Jordan Love eighteen to thirty. This is what I've said.
This green Bay offense was broken about three weeks ago,

(28:49):
and he fixed it. The Pittsburgh's has been broken for
eight years. They can't fix it. So they got better
offensive line play. But I think the bigger issue is
something like Lane Leaves. They're going to hire somebody in
the building. Mistake. Jim Harbaugh leaves, they give it to
somebody in the building. You watch Michigan, they weren't even competitive.
I mean they is no ingenuity at all with that offense.

(29:13):
So Ben Johnson is the most talked about OC in
the league for three years. He leaves and Dan Campbell
loyal guy, you know, very relatable, almost a working class
feel to him, like he's a guys guy. Hires a
guy in the building. Last year year before, unbelievable third

(29:35):
down team, fourth down team. They're now with that offensive line,
those weapons, Jimmy or Gibbs, seventeenth best in the league
on third down. That's coaching. That's not personnel. That's not golf.
That's not Amoran Saint Brown or Gibbs. I'll go back
to it. It's the Colin was right. Colin was wrong.
I said, when you lose an icon Harbaugh, you know

(29:58):
Lane Kiffin's offense that's number one in the country by
a mile. You lose Ben Johnson, you don't go in
the building. You go on a domestic If McVeigh retired
tomorrow for the Rams, you don't give it to a coordinator.
If Shanahan left. You don't give it to a coordinator.
I think Detroit it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

(30:19):
What's say you, Well.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
I think Detroit seasons on the line come Thursday against
the Cowboys, and I don't know about you, but I
like the Cowboys same and I think once Detroit loses
on Thursday, I mean their defense is really falling apart.
Offense isn't quite the same, but defensively they clearly have
missed on some picks their scheme. I don't know what's
going on, but they are. They've been getting shredded now
the second half of last year with the injuries, and

(30:42):
they kind of looked the same thing all over again.
They lose to Dallas Colin on Thursday, which I think
most people with the brain are gonna pick the Cowboys.
I think the NFC playoffs are pretty much set, and
the Bears and the forty nine ers are in, right,
the Rams, Seattle are in, the Packers are in. Let's
assume Tampa wins the division they're in, and you know,

(31:05):
the Eagles would have to have a full on collapse,
but the Eagles are probably in that that's your playoffs,
so you know the Bears and the Niners right now.
I mean the Bears technically are the number one seat,
which I don't know about you, but after Thursday Night, like,
what Mike Grabel's doing is incredible. I got no problem
every once in a while, like Brett Favre Barry Sanders,
you share the MVP. I think those guys share the
Coach of the year. What those guys are doing where

(31:27):
those two franchises have been. Frabel didn't take over the
Bill Belichick twenty eighteen team. I mean they had been
bad for a while and the Bears were a joke.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Listen, Frabel's still on a rebuild. I mean, I would
argue they're not finished yet. They need another seven draft picks,
they needed another two acquisitions because Drake may still in
the rookie contract. New England's not even a complete team.
I mean, don't just think about this. For those who
defend Sean McDermott, how long did it take with Josh Allen,

(31:57):
You still never quite sure what you get weekend to weekend,
half to half with their offense, Mike Rables turned it around.
I'd say Buffalo's got at least as good or better
personnel wise, Yeah, Vrabel's an unbelievable coach. I think, I
look at Detroit, They're still going to be fine because
I think the GM Brad Holmes is so good. I

(32:19):
do like Campbell, but Campbell Nick Sirianni similarly, are not
known as great scheme guys. I think Campbell's better than Sirianni.
But when you miss on a coordinator higher offensively, it's punitive.
It's not for McVeigh, Shanahan, Peyton, Andy Reid. They move

(32:39):
off those guys. Guys like Sirianni and guys like Dan
Campbell are much more coordinator dependent.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
I think one thing Sirianni has going for him is
Howie's aggression is really second to none. So let's just
say that they know go eleven and six and get
bounced in the first round. He'll do fifty things to
try to improve where I think Brad Holmes, the shit
he takes from his fan bases. He can be a
little conservative. It's like, where were your moves right? And
I think that's fair. And I think it's very easy

(33:10):
for GM to always look big picture, and I think
Howie would say it's easier for me to think more
short term. Now with a couple of rings on my fingers, right,
I have more equity, so I can be more aggressive.
Look at the Rams, Like, the Rams will always be
in the mix. They got two picks that Atlanta Falcons pick.
If you tell me they flip pick eleven for some
incredible for Max Crosby, you know, just whoever insert the

(33:32):
star player get ready, because they will not hesitate to
do that, right, But it's easier for Sean and Less
to do that because they got a lot of equity
in the you know, with the franchise. So I think
I think there are a lot of different var variables
in football. You're very dependent on your GM as your
coach and that working relationship. It's why I like, listen,
I'm not selling my chief stock big picture, like they'll

(33:53):
be fine. Like they need a little bit of a
reset year. And guess what, Drafting eighteenth in every round
will be a little easier for Vich and Ady than
thirty second, so they can go maybe in the first round.
All of a sudden, you're like, well, the Chiefs are
now picking seven because they trade next year's first and
go from eighteen to seven to get best player X, right,
and that they can do things like that. So the

(34:15):
other thing that's on full display this year, and you
really saw it on Thanksgiving with Ben Johnson is obviously football.
The power of a quarterback speaks for itself, but I
still think that the coach is equally, if not more important.
And what Ben Johnson is doing in Chicago is that
was remarkable that that game. That feel like he's the
Midwest Kyle Shanahan.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
And now for our next segment, Whiskey Business. Yes, Whiskey Business,
brought to you by Green River Whiskey, the official whiskey
of the Colin Coward Podcast. Chicago twenty four, Philadelphia fifteen.
Right now, Chicago's number one in rushing, number one in
the NFC North, number one of the NFC, number one
in takeaways. That's not just the roster, and he still
has a quarterback who I think is a work in progress.

(34:57):
Who but again this goes back to Nick Sirianni is
scheme dependent. Philadelphia has been spiraling this entire season. Offensively,
has been an uneven mess. He can't fix it because
he doesn't have the right oc Ben Johnson. We don't

(35:18):
even think the quarterback's a great fit. We didn't think
going into this season. Ugh. This defense, it's a magnet
for turnovers.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Nobody thought that they're number one of the NFL in takeaways.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
We didn't even like their secondary. Jalen Johnson got hurt.
We were like, they're screwed. No, they Nashan Wright. They
find all these guys now they like lead the NFL.
Their secondary is just pansy picking it off one handed catches.
So I mean, I think I wrote this down during
the game that Ben Johnson's the best young head coaching

(35:50):
higher since McVeigh. That's what it feels like. Like Shanahan
was a great Higher. But Shanahan's been like winning season,
losing season, winning season, losing seasons in San Francisco always
had a heartbeat because it's got good ownership. The Rams
were with Jeff Fisher unwatchable, two double digit wins. I

(36:13):
still think Caleb's completing fifty eight and a half percent
of his throws. I still think this has so much
more room to grow offensively.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
See I would say he's a combination of the two
because Shanahan was much more heralded as an offensive coordinator
right with Atlanta. Where McVeigh was coaching in Washington, they
weren't winning as many games. He was like this shooting
star within the league, but everyone when he hired him
was thirty one. But that first year they were immediately
awesome and in the playoffs, juck what after? Jared Goff

(36:43):
honestly looked like he was going to be out of
the league his rookie year. Yet, if I would have
told you that going into December that the Bears would
be the NFC's top seed with their quarterback throwing for
under sixty percent of a completion percentage, not a soul
would have believed you. Right, that's the thing. They are
winning all these games. Their quarterback's pretty inaccurate. Now, the

(37:05):
touchdown throw that he made was like that was USC
Oklahoma Heisman Trophy. He still has some remarkable highlight plays,
but he still misses a ton of just like random
out routes overthrowing guys. And it gets back to the
thing that Shanahan did and McVeigh did this early too,
because he had gurly he would just run the ball
unlimited runs, just as two running backs had forty carries.

(37:28):
In that game where you watched the other night against
the Panthers, Canalis Rico o'doudl he had six carries.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
It's like, I know, the.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Guy had like nine hundred yards coming into the game.
It's middle of October or middle of November. What are
you doing? Bet Johnson can't even relate. Shanahan can't relate
to that. They will just keep giving young McVeigh until
he got Stafford will just hand it off, handed off,
handed off. They're your quarterback's best friend. And it makes
the game so much easier on Caleb, and then you
can use Caleb's legs. But the running game that the scheme,

(37:57):
I mean, Vic Fangio's making five six million dollars a year.
I mean they got Jordan Davis first round pick, Jalen
Carter first round pick, all their linebackers. I mean, they
got really good players up front, and they had no
clue what was called. It felt like, you know sometimes
when you watch like a Navy, you know, coaches always talk, hey,
whenever you play one of those service academies, it's hard
to practice for him because you know the different misdirection

(38:19):
and they're chop blocking you. The Eagles were just all
they didn't know where. It was like they were playing
the wing tea and you could tell early on You're
like this is a pretty special game plan here from
Ben Jones, He's I've been blown away. And I always say,
like going from a coordinator job to a head coach,
havn't seen it firsthand. When I was in Philly, Sean
McDermott was our defensive coordinator. Andy Ree was the head coach.

(38:41):
When someone got in trouble, Big Dom walked to Andy's office,
not Sean McDermott's. So as a coordinator, you just you're
not dealing with so many other things in the building. Besides,
I'm not even talking football, And clearly he's able to
handle the pressure of this city, the divisions were. He's
now beating really good teams, right, It's like, okay, who
he's beating the Giants last couple weeks. It's like that
Steeler game, even if they end up nine to eight,

(39:03):
that was a real win. And obviously the Eagles on
the road in Philadelphia a short week with Philly just
coming off that loss to just I mean, they worked them.
I mean that was they kicked their ass. That was
honestly one of those situations where you went, am I
kind of out on Philly because something's off. It does
feel a little bit not quite as bad. But remember

(39:25):
a couple of years ago when they free fell something.
You can't have a working situation with aj and Jalen
having it be that public, that palpable, even if like well,
on the field, we just put our head downs. Eventually
that stuff carries over to other people and creates some
sort of rift. Right.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
No, And the other thing is Greg co Sell. Ohas
he's truth serum. Greg co Sell watches film. He doesn't
really have strong opinions based on anything other than film.
And he always says this. The Philadelphia pass game is
really very simple. It's not hard to defend. They just
have great athletes and theirs throws Jalen Hurts can't make

(40:02):
because he can't see. So that's why this offense is
so uneven. So when Barkley Sha Kwan, Barkley's not getting
these run gaps, it becomes very Jalen Hurts dependent. Well,
that's a limited offense, Saquon Barkley's humm and now it's
second and three. Yeah, the offense is better, but you
put Jalen Hurts into have to throw situations. It's a

(40:24):
simple offense. He doesn't see some stuff. I mean, he's
better than Tua because he's more athletic, he's tougher. But
there's limitations. And I also think we go back to
Nick Siriani when he got the job. I had two people,
I just say what do you think? And they're like,
he's not ready to be a head coach. He needs
to get great coordinators. Well he got Shane Steiken, and

(40:47):
he didn't let Steiken call plays. Remember that you do.
They were awful, then he gave it up. Then they
were fine. Now he hires Brian Johnson, it's a disaster.
Then hires this his new guy, Kevin what's the last
name Petula? But Kevin Petula. Kevin Petula obviously struggling with

(41:10):
either relationships or play calling. There's nothing that can do.
Nick's almost got an aggressive defensive coordinator mentality. He's not
remotely close to a scheme guy. So to me, they
have problems they can't solve in season. Most great offensive
coaches can solve their shit in season. I don't think
Sirianni only solved it with Shane Stiken when he just

(41:33):
handed over the play calling. So what are they gonna do?
Do we really think this team? I mean, john this
has been a nine week eleven week twelve week issue.
This isn't going away.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
The one thing they got going for him is I
did this after the Bears game. They still got the Raiders,
the Commanders, and the Commanders on the schedule, and even
next week they play the Chargers on Monday Night, who
just have a lot of injuries and just are a
beatable you know, eight and fourteen. But to me, if
you lose to the Chargers, they do feel fickle enough

(42:05):
to lose, Danny. You know, you could get beat to
a random Commander game. I mean, we saw it happen
a couple of years ago. So I would say next week,
Monday Night football in Los Angeles, which I would guess
we'll have a lot of Eagles fans there kind of
must win, especially if the Cowboys, because you got all
the Cowboys don't have enough, you know, there's not enough
space for them to catch up. Well, all of a sudden,

(42:26):
you beat the Lions and the hottest team in the league.
The Eagles lose on Monday Night, then they got a
short week against the Raiders, and all of a sudden,
this pressure and it starts getting weird, and these guys,
it's gonna be hard for aj. I mean, he's already
not keeping his mouth shut. You know, during the week
he started, He's like, what do I even care anymore?
I'm not gonna be on this team next year. And
the thing in Philly, you know they started. I knew

(42:50):
going into that game. I'm like, if this thing is
like seven to six or something in the first half,
that crowd is gonna be on edge because they already
come in with apprehension that we're not actually that good, Like,
I know, we're the defending champs, but we feel way off.
And then when you start getting physically shoved around, because
the one thing you'd say Philly has they had that
stretch when Fanjo got a couple of players back, it's like, yeah,

(43:11):
one of the best defense in the league. And then
you start getting worked on defense. You go, well, we're
gonna have problems if we're not holding you, you know,
to ten thirteen points, we're gonna be in for it.
And then all of a sudden they're up ten to three,
and you go the Eagles team, I mean, if it
wasn't I mean, they fumble a tush push, I don't
know they are. The story of the game, obviously was

(43:32):
Ben Johnson. But I do think that, Kevin. But here's
the problem. So you're gonna this season, you go eleven
and six, you lose in the first round, you fire
your offensive coordinator. You just bringing another guy and you
have you know, it's Jalen's whatever tenth offensive coordinator ten
years or whatever the stat will be. It's like and
you just hope you get a Kellen Moore or Shane Sikein,
But I don't know.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Well, you're saving on Sirianni's contract, so and the Jalen
hurts steals very team friendly, So you probably go spend
three million dollars outbid people for the best coordinator. When
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(44:13):
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Hop on over to Greenriver Whiskey dot com and discover
a legend in a bottle. Today San Francisco forty nine
ers twenty six, Cleveland eight, the forty nine ers nine
and four heading into the latest bye in the Kyle

(44:35):
Shanahan era, I think it's a great time for a
buy these late buys are perfect. I have said this.
I think the coaching staff of the year is San
Francisco to be nine and four. That's a good division.
Even going to Arizona has historically been tough for all
the teams in that division, always been tough, even as

(44:55):
wonky and weird and strangely owned and quarterbacked in coach.
I know everybody wants to talk about Shador. You know,
they had two hundred and fifty three yards of total offense.
That's about what the Niners had. You know, Christian McCaffrey
twenty carries, four catches. Brock Purty was more than solid.

(45:16):
You know, Cleveland butchered a punt that helped a lot.
But you know, my take was San Francisco this year
had been very bad after wins, and I know you
can roll your eyes at Carolina, but they thumped him,
and Carolina beat the Rams today and Cleveland won last week,
So you can say what you want, but going to
Cleveland winning bad weather not built for brock Purty, I

(45:40):
was really impressed. I feel like I have to reevaluate.
I bet the Niners for third. Now Seattle won and
the Rams are gonna win the division. Do you think
San Francisco is a playoff team.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Oh yeah, I mean I think the playoffs are set now.
Like I said, I think all three teams in the
West are clearly in ram Seattle, the Niners, and I
think pretty much if the Lions loose, Thursday's the Bears
and the Packers, and that's in some more of those
are your three wild cards to me, the Niners today
was an organization organization will win. I mean, the Browns
are such a cluster, you know what I mean, what

(46:10):
an embarrassment of a franchise. It really And the forty
nine Ers are the complete opposite. They're playing. Their front
seven is like a UFL team. I mean, all there,
they showed the all the guys on injy reserve. I mean,
Fred Warner and Nick Bosa may combined like fifty million dollars.
They're two of Fred's one of the best defensive players
in the league.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Ohos to look like, Yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Most of early this season looked fantastic. Before he tore
his ACL their first round pick they had, they were
six to eleven. They had the eleventh pick was the
kid from Georgia towards ACL. He's six ft and eighty pounds.
I mean, so we were moving through. They're playing with
Cleland Ferrell, who they let walk a couple of years,
who was on a practice squad, and he's flying around
Sack and Shador. Meanwhile, you got Stefanski and Barry have

(46:52):
this quarterback controversy with two guys they've drafted the third
and the fifth round, and the forty nine ers are
just clowning them in a like you said, brock Purty
has not been good in weather, even the day. He's
wearing something on his elbow that he heard a couple
of years ago against the Eagles, because in cold weather
it kind of stiffens up. I'm like, did he hurt
his elbow? No, that's just a holdover from his previous injury.

(47:13):
It's like Jesus, you know. But in Miles Garrett's coming
off a game where he has twenty five sacks against
the Raiders, So you're like this guy, Jim Schwartz, the
stat was he was eight and one against Kyle Shanahan
is a defensive coordinator, head coach against Kyle shwarense.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
It was my second favorite bet. I had San Francisco
winning twenty four to twenty. My second favorite bet of
the day was Cleveland plus five and a half, six points.
I thought it was going to be a dog fight.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Yeah, I just think franchises. And this is what I
respect about Ben Johnson is you're either a tough coacher
or not. And not every guy is Jim Harbaugh or
Mike Frable like an actual tough guy, Dan Campbell. It's
about the way you practice. To knock on Lincoln Riley,
It's like, how do you practice and you know you
can be an offensive guy and be a tough minded
guy by the way you practice. And the forty nine.

(48:00):
I've been going to their practice for years, like it's
just a tough, old school franchise and this was a
year where honestly they should have been. Like last year,
Mac Jones has to start seven eight games, prettiest turf toe.
Look at the Bengals. They lose Burrow for a large
portion of the season and their whole franchise just melts down.

(48:20):
Like part of this is it's you're more than just one.
This is a team game like you see today, Like
you know, it's not Shador, it's not Miles Garrett. You're
a team like you're kind of the special teams unit.
You're dependent on everybody, and I just think you just
saw the forty nine ers or we talk about this
a lot during the combine. You're like, you can just
tell these teams have no shot, and this gap now

(48:43):
is it's probably like ten teams verse twenty. Yeah, and
you got the Browns who spend all this money, who
got a couple Ivy League gms and coaches just like
there are always like four or five wins. It's like,
I don't know, maybe it's the owner the forty nine
ers since they've gotten Kyle really beside the one year
last year, like they've they've been pretty consistent now and

(49:04):
this year how they're doing it now. They benefit from
an easier schedule. But man, I mean they beat Seattle
and they beat the Rams this year.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
I mean, listen, it's no I this has been if
this has been the year of coaching Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson,
Shanahan and Robert Sala. You've seen by the way Stafford
didn't practice before the season. This is the best Rams team.
Despite today's loss, mcvey's done an unbelievable job. So Rams

(49:34):
lost twenty eight thirty one. Carolina beat Some thirty one
to twenty eight. Basically Rams had three turnovers, Carolina none.
Bryce Young, you know it's fifteen for twenty, didn't make
any mistakes. Stafford, who's number one target now appears to
be Devonte Adams over Pooka at least in the end zone.
The regression I thought the Rams lost today. I was

(49:56):
texting Jason mcintyren like, you can't play seventeen eighteen weeks
without just heavy stepping in it, and it was just
all those turnovers coming into today. I think I think
Stafford had thirty touchdowns and two picks. That's like me
starting the year eighteen and one on my blazing five picks.
You're gonna do one and fours back to back. Like

(50:16):
regression of the mean. I don't take much from it.
I think the Rams have it sewed up, and I
think the Rams defense didn't play great. And I also
think the Carolina team we saw today and I watched
almost every snap of this game, they're six and six. Now,
that's the team I bet on getting a touchdown at
San Francisco. But San Francisco and Sala handcuffed Bryce Young

(50:38):
against a healthy defense. Today. Bryce Young moved the ball.
They were three for three on fourth down. I mean,
Caroline is more than functional.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Well, one thing they screwed up last weekgainst the Niners
is they did not run the ball. Today. I'm looking
right now, Hubbard and Dowdell had a combined thirty five
carries and they ran for one hundred and sixty yards.
And Hubbard had a touchdown on a wheel route, which
was essentially a run play. I mean, you get caught
the ball behind the line of scrimmage. So clearly, like

(51:09):
I will say this about Dave Canalis and the Panthers,
they are respectable franchise. Now you know that their quarterback
can be very hit or miss. Yeah, but you know
Stafford threw the pick six today, he had the fumble
which I'm pretty sure that drive led to another touchdown.
So it's like they just kind of unraveled, you could tell.
I always give people a little grace of long travel

(51:31):
if you're a West Coast team playing that early morning kickoff. Especially.
You looked up today and even my wife was like
on the main TV in the living room, the Bucks
game was on and she was trying to find the
Niner game. She's like, well, she started laughing because in
Tampa's eighty two degrees and people were sweating. Yet every
other game that was outside was like freezing cold thirty degrees.
In Carolina it was a torrential downpour and some wind.

(51:54):
Like the elements. Really you saw it in college football
the last couple of weeks. You're starting to see it
in the NFL Thanksgiving night even in Baltimore it was
thirty five degrees. I was telling my mom, It's like,
I know, it doesn't look really cold. Thirty five degrees
in the Northeast with twenty mile an hour wins is frigid.
Can't feel your fingers, you can't feel your feet. No
different in that Philly game was you know, in the
thirties with wind that's really really cold. So you start

(52:16):
getting these elements. The rams are human beings. How could
they take the Panthers that seriously? Based off the last
week short week, they probably don't have the best week
of practice. All of a sudden, you find yourself not
playing a great game and you're losing on the road,
and then like this is if you win, you know,
twelve and five or thirteen and four, one or two

(52:37):
of those losses are gonna be like I'll probably like
that one back the Patriots lost Week one to the Raiders,
Like you're just gonna have some weird outcomes. I wouldn't
sell my stock on the Rams, but the one curve
ball always for them. And I'm listen, I've been saying
Stafford MVP. He is capable every once in a while
just having a whoa, you know, yeah, hitting some guys
in stride, just throwing pick sixes. And if he plays

(53:00):
like shit, I mean, they'll just lose. And he was
for his standard. I mean, that was a really really bad,
obviously awful game.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Well, I'm looking this up. In their three losses for
the Rams, they're vulnerable to the pass. In their three losses,
opposing quarterbacks went eight touchdowns, no pick, sixty eight percent
completion percentage in one hundred and seventeen passer rating. That's
Jalen Hurts, Mac Jones and Bryce Young not exactly. Brady
Mahomes are manning. So this is the Rams do not have.

(53:29):
They have Kobe Durant, who's a really really interesting player.
Emmanuel Forbes they got from Washington. I don't even know
how they got him, Waiver wire some hell of I know.
And he's actually pretty good. They don't have a great secondary.
Their safeties are good, but I do think if they
if you can block their front, you can pick on

(53:49):
them a little bit. Here's an interesting thought. Think about this.
Eight teams had plus eleven hundred odds or better to
win the Super Bowl. The number one seeds this year
are the Patriots and the Bears. They won nine games
combined last year. Coming into the year, the consensus was Mahomes, Burrow,
Lamar Josh with the top four quarterbacks. It looks like

(54:14):
today we're not sure if Lamar, Burrow and Mahomes make
the playoffs. Just just think about that. If I would
have gone out and said Patriots and Bears are gonna
win their to bit, they're gonna be the number one seeds,
you'd be like, that's the craziest hot take I've ever
heard of in my life. Folks, that's the NFL. That's what

(54:34):
it is. By the way, Lamar, Burrow, Mahomes, and Allen,
you're paying three and four hundred million for a quarterback.
You have to have sacrifices on the rest of the roster.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
What if I would have told you when you wake
up on Black Friday that the you know late August,
I would have said the Cowboys and the Chiefs will
have the same number of wins. When you wake up
on Black Friday, there's not a soul that would have
believed you. And you know, college football is kind of
you know, there's definitely way more parody with the transfer
portal in the The NFL had kind of become top

(55:02):
heavy these last couple of years, right, it was really
the Chiefs trying to fend off the Bills in the Ravens.
You know, the NFC was the forty nine Ers have
kind of dominated, the Eagles have kind of dominated. It's
been two or three teams now, I mean, you could
make a case for six seven teams in the NFC.
I'm done saying the Bears have no chance. They just
have some going for them. Their coaches really good, their defense,

(55:25):
creets the Packers on any given day can look incredible.
The forty nine ers have good coaching.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Seattle look at this, John, What does Chicago do run
the football? You think in January when it's nine degrees
and blowing sideways and you coming in the NFC and
you're like, I'm Matt Stafford, Really, Matt Stafford nine degrees
blowing sideways, take Devonte Adams out of the game, and Puka.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
It's a run game, even if the Packers end up
getting them. You know, two of these next three weeks,
and let's say the Bears are a wild card team.
Who's to say that that translates on the road. They
couldn't go to Seattle in a rainstorm and run it
forty five times and just win a game fifteen to thirteen.
He's clearly comfortable playing like that, right, and his runs,
it's like, well they just have one. No, they were

(56:12):
running all sorts of plays and their quarterback can scramble.
So listen Seattle. The wild card with them is you
know after that Rams game, he just I would feel
much more confident if I had unequivocal like confidence in
the quarterback. But he's just a little bit of a
wildcard to have a stinker.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Well, they won twenty six nothing today and Donald didn't
play well. You almost can't count the game because they
were starting a rookie quarterback for Minnesota. But Sam Darnold
today had one of those games where he was out
of rhythm, passes were getting knocked down. They win twenty
six to nothing. It was not pretty. It was very
close through three quarters. And the only reason I mean
that was a classic example where Brian Flores put the

(56:50):
heat on Sam and he got out of rhythm and
looked bad.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Well, because what as Minnesota have. They have an NFL
playoff level defensive coordinator, a playoff level defensive scheme. That's
I have a lot of respect for Flores because again,
these are human beings. You know, if you're heard on
the defensive unit and you start getting to mid late
November and their quarterback situation is what it is, how
you stay focused Like he's those guys are still playing

(57:14):
their ass off with the court. The quarterback today through
one of the worst picks you'll ever see, and in fairness,
he has no business playing. But it's like Minnesota is
a great example of like they have incredible coaching in
their quarterback play. I don't I don't watch much Titans
football anymore, but could can't be much. It's got to
be the worst in the league.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Right for the record, go look at the mock drafts. Okay,
Minnesota is too good to get a top seven or
eight pick. Dante More is probably gonna stay at Oregon,
where Phil Knight can write him a four million dollar
check and he can keep getting snaps and he loves it,
and they'll won a bunch of games. Mendoza's going high.

(57:56):
I don't know if anybody else is the top twelve talent.
I really don't.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
I think Ty Simpson at Alabama's a second rounder, maybe
late first. I don't see it.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
That seems high to me.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
He's the closer third fourth, yeah, yeah, So I like
Jayden Mayava late second, early third. Okay, the USC kid.
So my takeaway on this draft is you think I'm crazy.
I would go get Mac Jones. You may not have.
You won't have to give up a first round pick
because you do have to pay him a little bit.
But I mean, if you're in Minnesota, you can't go

(58:29):
through this again. You have two good players justin Jefferson
Jordan Addison. I mean, I'm sorry you have a left
tackle its already had a major injured injury. How long
are you going to be able to keep Brian Flores
If you're in Minnesota, I'm watching today and I'm like
JJ McCarthy, forget the inefficiency. He can't stay healthy. Yeah,
you have to go get somebody. I would go get

(58:49):
Mac Jones, I really would. I think. I think cal
Kyle Shanahan, you're going to have to give up probably
a second round pick, but you can keep your first.
But I don't know. I just I look at what
Minnesota's doing, and I know that Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVay,
Sean Payton, those guys are not the Steelers. They're just
not gonna wait until July to figure out their quarterback situation.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah, listen, they had faith in a guy that you know.
I'm with you. I think everyone's talking about his poor
metrics that are comparable to JaMarcus Russell. His biggest issue
right now is he missed all of last season where
he couldn't have played if they wanted, And now he's
got three different injuries right and some of them, I mean,
the longest ankle injury in humanity, and then listen, concussion.

(59:32):
Sometimes guys fly back on the plane and clearly he's out.
But you know, it does feel a lot of people
go conspiracy theory and be like, is he getting soft
benched all the time, which is kind of believable because
how poorly he's playing, and you just can't function with
the high priced team with high expectations with poor quarterback
play and the development. It's easy to learn on the

(59:53):
fly when my team sucks and we have no expectations, right,
Jackson Dart. Once it was clear the Giants weren't going anywhere,
you can just figure it out. The Vikings won fourteen
games last year and we're sixteen minutes away from the
number one overall seed. So even if they were gonna
take a step back, I think it's very fair to go, well, minimum,
we should win nine or ten games and be in
the mix to get a wild card spot. And they're
not even competitive in these games anymore because they can't

(01:00:15):
they can't get first downs. So yeah, I think the
power that the forty nine ers are gonna have they
sign him to a two year, seven million dollar contract.
You've been in more negotiations than me, but I've always
heard the most powerful words or no, And the one
thing the forty nine ers can keep saying is Nope,
we're good. We'll keep him because his value to the
Niners is pretty high. He saved Mac Jones, saved the
Niners season. So it's like, okay, Minnesota, Like, to me,

(01:00:37):
a second round wouldn't be worth it, maybe second a player,
maybe a fourth, Like I'm gonna need a lot because
his value to my franchise given how little money he
makes and how I know how well he can play
in my offense, He's worth more to me than he
is to everyone else. And clearly he'd be worth a
lot to you because you could function. So I think
the forty nine ers have a ton of leverage with
a backup quarterback who like, we'll see if party can

(01:00:59):
just make the rest of the year. You know, even
this year, he's wearing this brace on his arm like
he's he's not exactly built like Josh Allen. So I
think we got a long way to go. And if
I'm the forty nine ers, it would take a lot
for me to just send him your way to be
your starting quarterback and save you. So the JJ McCarthy pick,
it's got a chance to be an Alzheimer, because that's

(01:01:22):
with sometimes like Pennix, I was high on Panics. Clearly
he wasn't as good as I thought. And then also
the injuries. I had people texting me that like listen
John that never liked him. The problem was is our
doctors were very uneasy with the amount of injuries he
had in college and then he hurts himself again the
same injury he had multiple times in college, Like he
was off boards, where JJ was just a polarizing prospect

(01:01:46):
right when you play the scouting meetings at Alabama and
their heyday, like Mac Jones, he's playing with four first
round wide receivers and really every team he's playing beside
maybe one, it's such an vantage to Alabama. Michigan. Even
I saw Urban Meyer on Big Fox on the pregame show,
was like listen. They went over each of the Michigan

(01:02:08):
Ohio State games the last four years. He said, the
one game that I can't really hold against Ohio State
was the game the year that they won the National championship.
Michigan had the best team in the country. No one
would argue that, and they should have won that game.
That's what JJ won. A game against Penn State where
they didn't throw it in the second half. That's we
used to talk you know a lot about Jimmy Garoppolo.
Remember they won a NFC championship game. He didn't even attemptable.

(01:02:28):
That's unheard of. That that's not the way people played
football anymore. So I don't know, they took a swing
and it looks like it blew up in their face
really quick, Like it blew up in their face fast. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
And Minnesota has always been a like the Kansas City Chiefs,
a really solid, well run team that's always either in
the playoffs or on the precipice of getting into the playoffs.
They've won with you know, they've won a lot of
different quarterbacks and a lot of different styles. But I
don't know, I think they would go big game hunting.

(01:03:00):
I mean, I'll just say this, if I was an
older quarterback. Aaron's too old now and Stafford's not going anywhere.
Kirk Cousins feels washed. But if I was an older
quarterback or a veteran quarterback, like I've said on this
podcast and on my show, I'm Joe Burrow, can you
force your way out? I mean, honestly, it's I look
at Joe Burrow sometimes and I'm like, oh, I feel

(01:03:22):
so That's why I always I mean, Carson Palmer and
Joe Burrow are two of the greatest quarterback prototypical talents
in the last thirty years. One got to a Super Bowl.
What if Carson Palmer ends up with Andy Reid. What
if Joe Burrow ends up with a Harbaugh Like, I

(01:03:43):
feel so bad, even though Joe Burrow looked good the
other night. I think Minnesota is in a bind, and
I don't know what you do. Mac Jones feels like
the best answer in a dilemma that I'm not sure
has an easy solution.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
The problem for Joe is that owner's kind of proven
to be pretty stubborn and his answers always no ask Carson.
Turns out Carson is, you know, the next Kyle Shanahan
or Sean McVay, just dominating high school football in California,
Santa Margarita. I can't imagine being a high school player
being like, yeah, I know more than my coach, and
it turns out I'm playing for Carson Palmer. I mean,
those kids got pretty lucky. Turns out Carson Palmer. I mean,

(01:04:19):
I don't know how he's made a lot of money,
but if he really wanted to dip his tow into
doing this, he'd be a big time coach really quick.
At college football. You know the Trojans. If Lincoln were
ever leave, I mean that I'd be all over that guy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
By the way, Trojans won nine and three. If they
win a bowl game, they go ten and three with
a number one recruiting class. It doesn't feel right, but
you know, it's hard to argue. I still feel four
years in, I don't trust their defense or their special
teams on the road in a big game, but they
won so and they have an unbelievable recruiting class coming in. Okay, Well,

(01:04:58):
Lane Kiffin is the new coach of LSU. It feels big.
Ohio State looks like the best team in the country,
played conservatively still one going away. And I'll say this,
I said this on a brief podcast yesterday. I text
two people on Julian Saying and I said, footwork, release

(01:05:19):
an accuracy. He looks at twenty years old, Julian saying,
looks like a guide book on how to set, throw
and deliver the ball. If he was available this year
in the draft, knowing that he's twenty and he's not
ready to play, and you had if he was available
in the draft, and you're like Dallas and you're like,

(01:05:42):
we don't need somebody for two years, and Dallas has
two number one picks, go get in rank with your
first pick, ramsed. Although they may need somebody quickly. I
don't think I'm being hyperbolic here. I think Julian saying, dude,
his completion percentage was over seventy five. It's snow, it's
on the road, it's the second half after that early pick,

(01:06:04):
and the tight ends for this year really Okay, they're
running back. Jackson's pretty good. But this is not Ohio State.
I thought was better offensively last year. They're better defensively
this year. I could be crazy on this, but I
think we're looking potentially. I text somebody that knows him
well and has followed him from high school. They're like,
he is Stafford, keeps it simple, totally focused, good dude.

(01:06:28):
Teammates love him. Literally, came out of the womb. Let
it rip ball comes out easily, seamlessly, accuracy, accurately. That
kid blows me away.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Yeah, I mean, I would say that the experience watching
that game, We're watching the two quarterbacks beyond the polar
opposite side, I mean Brot Bryce. There's no disputing his talents,
like his physical gifts. He's got a long way to
go to play quarterback, you know, and you watch you
know saying does benefit I mean Jeremiah Smith one of
the best, you know, college players we've potentially ever seen

(01:07:00):
in the position. Date's pretty damn good their offensive just
that they've been pretty dial that offense now for a while.
I give Patricia a lot of credit. I mean, this
guy had been a lifelong NFL guy, specifically in New England,
right left for a little bit in Detroit, but to
go to college and you know in the pros, think

(01:07:20):
how many guys you know from High Tower to mccordy.
These guys he had been around on their thirty thirty two,
like they're old that he just knows exactly what they
can handle. And I get Ohio State's getting the cream
of the crop, but defensively that he is pretty seamless.
Transition it's not as easy. You don't get as much
time with the kids. You know, clearly Patricia's you know,
he's a rocket scientist to begin with, so he's pretty

(01:07:41):
sharp coming from what he's used to in New England
to be able to transition to college. I've been blown
away by how good he's been. And I could be
a skeptic of Ohio State, but I give Ryan Dale
a lot of credit for that higher I don't think
there was much carryover. But it's not like those guys
knew each other, like had worked on similar staffs. It
would have been easy for Matt two to go with
Bill a UNC to go to you know, go to

(01:08:02):
Ohio State, get away from Bill. He's really kind of
pretty big muscle flex by Matt Patricia this year of like,
you know, I'm pretty good at this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
For the record, they brought in Vrabel to be a
coach for a while. Chip Kelly and Matt Patricia. It
tells you a little bit about Ohio State's reach and
kind of the respect that has in college football where
you can a lot of these college programs would call
an NFL coach. Yeah, I'm not doing that nonsense. I mean,
Chip Kelly left a head coaching job to go to
Ohio State. Hey and Ray Ryan Day are buddies forever,

(01:08:36):
but it's Ohio State. I'll say this in past coverage,
I'm not sure I've ever seen a secondary that good.
There's no windows nobody's opening. And this is a This
isn't your typical Michigan team in the last ten years. This
team has real stars wide receiver, hard boss teams did not.
They were tight end, running back, O line they didn't
have great receiving, not deep receiving. This Michigan team, marsh

(01:08:58):
they got real players. There's nobody open like nobody open.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
I also thought on Friday Night, you know one thing,
a lot of these young guys have you know, even Shador,
I mean, the guy takes a lot of shit. He
gets hit all the time. A lot of these young
guys are pretty mentally tough, you know, And I do
wonder if growing up in the social media age, they're
just used to more noise. Arch could have melted this season.
It was getting pretty ugly. He was playing bad. I

(01:09:23):
can imagine in the insular bubble in Austin, it was
pretty negative around the program. And I just thought it
was a pretty cool moment to seeing his dad cheer
him on that place, rocking him taking text a and
m hadn't lost, right, that's that's a big game. And
he he made some I mean that run he had
for a touchdown, he threw that touchdown pass in the

(01:09:44):
back of the end zone. They just they kind of
kicked their ass in the second half. I just thought
that was a cool moment for you know, these guys.
Even That's why I wouldn't bet against Bryce Underwood. These
guys are kind of used to the way they've grown up.
If you're a big five star, the way people are
talking about you, you know, just the little newspaper article,
Like kids that I grew up with in the nineties, Like,
these guys are used to a lot of noise. They're

(01:10:05):
kind of unfazed because I think a lot of kids
that my era would have melted like an ice cube
if I arch Manning all the negativity surrounding me. And
he's kind of just held his head high and kept swinging.
So I earned my respect on Friday Night. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
I think listening to my kids, my son, my daughter,
and my step kids is I think a lot of
what's on the internet it either melts you or you
just think it's funny as hell. And I think arch
Manning's got really smart parents and he's a really good kid,
and I think he sees it as folly. Like you know,

(01:10:40):
there was one article about him. It was so bad.
It was by the guy who created a dead Spin.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Called him the worst prospect of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
Or whatever, or the biggest bust of all time. It's like, dude,
you spent too much time in New York. Do you
follow college football recruiting if there's four five star quarterbacks
annually tour whiffs every year, like total whiffs I give you.
I mean in Soutthern, California alone, USC's last ten five
stars signings, like half have just not played at all,

(01:11:08):
done anything or transferred or so like it was just
such a bad article, and it's like, give me a
just don't write it. He's a freshman, he's a Manning.
There's a lot of pressure. By the way, we now though,
we now know that arch Manning opened up against arguably
the best college defense in a decade.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
Well, look at Dante Moore two years ago at UCLA
for Chip. I mean, his freshman year couldn't have gone
much worse. He looked like this is not gonna work out.
Two years later, he's one of the best players in
college football. So I'm guilty of this, you know, I
think now because these guys are getting paid and there's
just i mean, arts are so much hype on him.
Your expectations are pretty high. It's pretty hard. These are

(01:11:45):
difficult spots. It's there are more people watching college football
now than ever. There's a lot of money on the line,
there's a lot going on, and these guys that are
able to kind of battle through it. I mean Dante
Moore is a good example, kind of put his head down,
went to be a backup. He's gonna end up if
he comes back to Oregon. I mean there's probably a
fifty to fifty shot. He's the number one pick in
twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
All Right, New England at home, Drake May number one
seed Vrabel Coach of the Year candidate, minus seven against
the New York Giants. Listen, I saw the Niners a
week ago at home, feel big and flex. I think
this is an opportunity. This is a standalone game for
Mike Rabel and Drake May. They've done some one o'clock

(01:12:27):
window stuff. I mean for a number one seed John,
they're not getting a lot of play nationally. They feel
like a regional story. They're the dunkin Donuts of the NFL.
They're huge in the New England area. This is a
flex moment for them. I'm gonna take New England to
win and cover.

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
I will say this about the Mike Kafka led Giants
these last couple of weeks, they have been very frisky
against the Packers two weeks ago. Last week, they easily
could have beat the Lions. So this is a lot
of points. You know, even bad teams on these primetime
games late in the season, it's kind of their super Bowl.
I'm gonna take the Giants with the points. I just
think these these primetime games with bad teams who actually

(01:13:03):
have a little momentum can just be pretty frisky. So
I'm with you the I think the Patriots win the game,
but it's that's a lot of points.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Jackson Dart's supposed to play yep. John Middlecoff former NFL
Scout three and out to his podcast. Nice work, buddy,
see you

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
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