Colin’s top takes of the week.
First, Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the week 4 NFL Sunday slate.
They break down why the Chiefs are in Lamar Jackson’s head (3:00) and why the Chiefs are poised to recapture their dominant form as they get reinforcements in their wide receiver room (9:00). They laud Jaxson Dart’s win over the Chargers in his NFL debut (13:30) and worry that injuries could derail a strong start to the season for the Chargers (17:00). Colin argues the Steelers win over the Vikings was one of their best in years (18:00) and explains why he’s incredibly high on the Broncos & Bo Nix after their dominating performance on Monday Night Football (29:00).
Then, Colin’s joined by college football guru Josh Pate, host of “Josh Pate’s College Football Show”.
They start with Penn State’s loss to Oregon and the unfair criticism of James Franklin and Colin argues that he’s still a top ten coach, and Josh explains why the loss was the beginning of a brand new timeline for Franklin and Penn State because their best still wasn’t good enough (36:30).
Finally, they discuss the huge lift for Kalen DeBoer following in Nick Saban’s footsteps, and why Alabama’s win over Georgia was one of their biggest of the past decade (47:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
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tap ticket, go download the game Time app. Today. All right,
John Middlecoff and I we had a lot to talk about.
We may slip in some Oregon, Penn State, and Ryder
Cup in about an hour. Yeah, let's start with the
(01:09):
big game of the day. Let's break down six or
seven big games, Chiefs thirty seven, Ravens twenty. They tacked
on a late touchdown. Lamar's now one in six against
Kansas City. They had a lot of defensive injuries, but
that's not the story. The story is Lamar. I mean,
to me, John, Kansas City is in his head. You know,
(01:30):
obviously when you're missing six defensive starters. I mean, Mahomes
four drives, four scores to start, like four touchdown passes.
He broke the all time record fastest quarterback to two
hundred and fifty touchdowns, which we all knew he was
going to do. So the defense it doesn't help. But
I feel that Kansas City is in Lamar's head, do
you definitely?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I mean, the Steelers have been over the years and
now Kansas City. It's undebatable. I also think this, and listen,
he's a fantastic player in credible talent, but these last
two weeks he's led a pretty You talk a lot
about privileged lives at quarterback. On offense, like the real
sports starts when your tight end chatters his leg, your
(02:12):
right guard gets the dui, he gets suspended, and then
a wide receiver goes down. In the first series of
the game, It's like, then what do you do? Yeah,
and we've seen mahomes now for two years. But I'd say,
also look at Josh Allen. His defense has been average
at best over the years, Lamar, I would imagine his
worst defense was last year and by the end of
the year it was really good. Two years ago, they
(02:32):
had the number one defense in the league most of
his career because of the team he got drafted by. Right,
it's basically like defense U in football. The Baltimore Ravens, well,
what's going on right now? A bunch of injuries. Their
two best defensive lineman, Van Oy's kind of a hybrid.
Yeah gone, Roquand gets hurt today. I mean, their defense
is just a shell of itself. It's like, okay, and
listen to the Ravens. How many times did they win games?
(02:54):
I bet if we looked over the last three or
four years, like forty five thirteen. Yeah, so they roll
you when they get up, but it's like, Okay, you
gotta have to win this game. The Lions are used
to that, thirty five thirty two, let's go the Ravens.
You know, that's just he doesn't have to do that
a lot over the Tryers and all of a sudden,
he's looking. It's like you're back on the field. You know,
(03:15):
they just scored another point. It's just it's a different
that they don't feel like the Purple team we're used
to watching because defensively and that has to throw him
off and it puts more pressure on him and they've
kind of cracked. I would say the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, yeah, you had two first half turnovers. I mean
they got themselves into a hole and I let me
throw this at you. I've always said the reason he
dominates the NFC, and he is. No, he's it's like
twenty five and yeah, yeah, they don't see him. Spags
has now seen him seven times. So in my take
(03:48):
on Lamar, I remember the first year he started playing.
He I think he beat the Chargers the first time
he played him, that first rookie year. Then in the
second time he played the Chargers in the playoffs, if
I recall, they had a little bit better beat on him.
And it's all fuzzy to me, but I was told
very early on you do get a little bit of
(04:10):
a beat on him. He's just so dynamic. You can't
get your arms run him. Well, Spags has seen him
now so many times. It's a very good and very
healthy and a fast defense, and then all of a
sudden you jump out to a lead. And I mean,
I think some of this is not that there's a
secret sauce, but Spags is great, his defense is great,
(04:30):
and they kind of mostly contained him tonight.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, because the last two weeks, you know, Dan Campbell
set the blueprint and you went, well, you know, Spags,
who already had a blueprint, is going to utilize that
throughout the week of basically corralling him. Now again, he
might juke you out and make a move every once
in a while, but if you don't just run up
aimlessly and let him just get an easy ten yards
with his eyes closed, it's harder for him to operate.
(04:55):
And remember, for a long time, you know, DA's team
now stinks, but it was like when he didn't when
he got to pass the ball less than they ran it,
he was really really effective. Lamar had that stat going forever.
When the Ravens have more rushing attempts than pass attempts,
they're gonna be really dangerous. Why is that they up
in the second half, handing the ball off and they
(05:15):
just kind of roll you. They lean on you. Well,
today seventeen rush attempts, twenty pass attempts like that is
not their formula, the way they're playing. And obviously you
know the turnovers, I mean, when he's turning the ball over.
Now we have and he's not the only culpert. Derek
Henry has been a major problem for him this year.
They're out of sink and they they have these injuries.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Like you know, the.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Chiefs, you could tell it's like, Okay, they beat the Giants,
they win this game, they get right back into the mix.
I'm sure we'll talk about the Chargers. They got a
million injuries right now. Like it's open again for the Chiefs.
You look at the Ravens and you go, could this
kind of be their year from hell? Like the forty
nine Ers last year where he just lose a million
players and all of a sudden, you're seven and ten.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, And to your point, I joke with jamac All Week,
I'm like, he does it. People don't understand it. It's
not like Xavier Worthy is a one, but when you
don't have a one, two or a three, he's a
damn good two. So he had a ton of targets,
nice catches a couple of men. He was wide open
on a couple of them. So to me, when you
watch Zavier Worthy, they still don't have a run game.
(06:16):
But check o, huh, that's not gonna work big picture.
But not every team that gets to the playoffs, it's Philadelphia.
Not everybody's a great run team. What the run team
does it picks up first downs and it helps your defense.
So I think they're gonna have to establish that. But
when I watched them today with Thornton, Juju Smith, Zavier Worthy,
my take was, and I'm not sure if yours was, well,
(06:38):
if they get Rashi Rice Back, okay, now Thornton, now Worthy,
now Rice, Juju Smith, Travis Kelce, okay, that's more than
good enough. With Patrick Mahomes if they can just be
average running the ball. But Worthy today it was pretty
clear that he has a relationship with Mahomes and it's
it's it's pretty good. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
One thing I wrote down is, you know, Taekwon Thornton
was once a second round pick. You know now it
was a late second round pick by the Patriots. But
he has a touchdown in each of the last three weeks.
So you get Worthy back, you get this guy who
can fly, yeah, get him some confidence. You get Rice back.
Hollywood Brown is just a solid contributing member. Like he
can get you five six catches every game. Juju can
(07:22):
just do some dirty work over the middle of the field.
Their passing game looks a little bit better. Big picture,
this is why they win today. They're two and two.
You look at the rest of you know, the AFC,
some of the injuries their own in their own division,
and the Chargers. I mean, you just you can't just
start overcoming missing elite players, especially at the offensive line.
You go, got it. I like their offense now again,
(07:43):
we talked about this last week with the Bears. I
just said, let's pump the brakes on the you know,
against the Cowboys defense he signed day, it was like
the Bears offense is going to be up and down.
And I will say the same thing with his Chiefs
against this Baltimore defense, which is have major issues, but
they also have one of the greatest quarter of all
time and one of the greatest coaches of all time
and coaches the offense. Yes, so I would be bullish
(08:05):
on the unit moving forward for sure. From an explosive standpoint,
and you add worthy to go with Thornton's speed, you
can just stretch the field and those possession receivers in
Brown and Juju and even Travis who clearly gets up
for bigger games, clearly Kennet, and you just keep him
healthy towards you know, a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I mean, everybody's got a hole outside of Philadelphia, so
their defense is good. They have the best head coach
coordinator combo in the league. Once they get Rice back,
more than adequate, probably above average receiving corps superstar head
coach quarterback. I thought the O line was good. Andy
Reid has rebuilt it three times since since Mahomes arrived.
Like if they've been patchworking it, you know, they lose Tuney,
(08:47):
It's gonna take a while. They don't have a great
run game. I'm not even sure how serviceable it will be.
But as I watched them today, I'm like, Okay, they're
a game back of the Chargers and the Chargers now,
I mean, I don't know what's happening with Joealt, but
you're not with a division if you don't have Joealt
or Rashaan Slater, not even Harbaugh can pull that rabbit out. So,
(09:09):
I mean, I looked at him today and maybe I'm
overly optimistic, but I said it all week. I said, Worthy,
we'll get ten targets, six seven catches, and then Travis
Kelcey And it's just like anything else. When you've been
in any industry fifteen years. You and I, you know,
our Sunday pod feels different than one in May, right,
(09:30):
Like it's like Travis Kelsey's been around multiple surgeries. I
watch him in these spots and I'm like, Okay, it's different.
He's fine.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I came out of it. And again, the injuries are
part of it. But I and I have defended Lamar forever.
But he had two turnovers. It's pretty clear there's an
anxiety that he I don't know if it's a therapy thing.
He just say what you want about Josh Allen. He's
been highly effective against Belichick. Against the Chiefs, Josh Allen loses.
(10:02):
It's usually on the defense. I think it's totally in
Lamar's head.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, I mean, if you gave the Chiefs Andy and
Spags the opportunity, who would you rather play at quarterback?
They wouldn't even hesitate and say, lamar right, the dad
is in check Josh's data versus them in the regular
season and in the playoffs. He has been excellent against
Kansas City. But yeah, I mean, I think Kansas City
has to be I thought the whole time. I know
(10:27):
his numbers haven't looked good, But watching Patrick Mahomes last week,
in the second half, early in the season, a couple
in a couple of the losses, the one against Phildel,
I think he's played really well.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
The same here.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's just completely under control. I bet if you went
to sitting in Andy's office tomorrow, he's like, I was
not worried at all over the losses with how a quarterback.
I felt good. Yeah, I thought it was on the
other guys. You know, so I actually think, you know,
Patrick has been a little up and down in previous years.
Remember he had an awful interception streaks. Yeah, I think
for the most part, he's he's been playing at a really,
really high level. His numbers just don't look like fifty
(10:59):
tons downs anymore. But I just go, that's one of
the best players in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, the numbers don't reflect his quality of play. I
thought he had two throws today and a scramble. The
one where he ran over the line and came back
didn't count, but it was like it was really a
clever play to set up time. I also thought he
had a side arm throw to Juju Smith Schuster. It
was so quick and so fast, was such velocity, and
(11:24):
I'm like, nobody else can do that. Stafford does it.
It doesn't look like that, so I'm with you. I
think Kansas City now is again a top six team
and maybe five. The Giants beat the Chargers twenty one
pint eighteen, so elite neighbors could be out for the year.
But the story, which I thought was pretty substantial, is
(11:44):
if you look at the numbers and you didn't watch
the game, you wouldn't be impressed with Jackson Dart. But
the Giants between Dart and Scataboo rushed for over one
hundred and sixty yards. He had seven rushes. They were
excellent on down. I thought Jackson Dart was pretty damn good.
Neighbors hurt early so you don't have that. He had
(12:07):
ten scrambles for fifty five yards. I thought he was clever,
kind of worked between the tackles. We know he has
a decent arm. I don't know. Again, this the Chargers
had Herbert was hit fourteen times, so this is like
a problem. Last week he was hit fourteen times. But
I thought Jackson Dart, I mean, I'm watching all these
(12:29):
college quarterbacks. Dante Moore looks like a great quarterback. C J. Carrett,
Notre Dame, the rest of them, I would sell some stock.
I thought Jackson Dart looked pretty good.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, he definitely gave him an energy to start the game.
I mean they get upset to nothing. He has that,
you know, the quarterback draw made some throws. Obviously throughout
the game. He keeps plays alive with his legs. Yes,
that Russell no longer was doing. There's all. There was
also like a youthful I don't know, craziness to him.
(13:00):
I mean he's trying to run guys over. He had
the one play that got called back on the hole
where he's he gotta be. I mean he could have
broke his hand, he could have broke his finger. It's
his throwing hand. But he I think he's so amped up.
He's playing like he would be against Mississippi State or Tennessee.
It's like you gotta be a little more careful in
the NFL, especially against this team. But he definitely, I
(13:21):
mean you skataboo the moment he's gotten in the games
last couple of weeks. You can feel his energy and
his physicality. He just adds something right. He is looking
to hit someone hard, and I think the team feeds
off it. And today you know their passing game now
a neighbors, I would assume his knee's done. The passing
game is going to be a struggle. The numbers are
not going to look pretty good or good at all,
(13:42):
but it definitely dark gives it something that Russell no
longer does. So I also think when you look at
the Chargers, they're the defensive line for the for the
for the Giants is excellent. I mean, Burns is a
fantastic player. Monster Cavon is even better. I think that
he's played earlier in his career. And obviously they just
(14:02):
they fly around, so you start losing. The Chargers have
a domino effect problem because Alt is there because the
left tackles down he's supposed to play right tackle, so
the backup right tackle is at right tackle. Well, then
he goes down Beck to you know, you start shuffling.
All of a sudden, you got backups and third stringers
in different spots against I mean, I don't know how
(14:23):
much they may combined. But the Giants defense, they're paying
a lot of money, yes, and they've invested a lot
of resources, so he is. I thought Herbert Mason throws
a day where it looked like he was gonna lose
knees and limbs. I he's just getting cut off, He's
getting destroyed. That's not as sustainable. Now. I like the
Giants today because I went, well, you go thirteen and
four East Coast game, early morning, the juice of the
(14:46):
new quarterback. So I thought they were going to lose
or at least this game was going to be close.
But then now, when you look big picture, you go
alt high ankle sprain for a big guy that could
be a month. So it's like you got problems, you know,
And it feels Herbert's gonna have to be running for
his life. He can do that, yeah, but man, I
don't feel as good as I did about them a
week ago.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Now, Hampton o Mario Hampton had a couple of big runs.
He looked it was funny. I wrote this down he
had a fifty four yard touchdown run, and I wrote, Okay,
he's worth the number one pick. They need a horse.
Nagie Harris is done for the year, so I thought,
Amrio Hampton like Ashton genty who will get to in
a minute. Ashton looked the part today. He had a
very good day, his best day as a pro. I
(15:27):
thought Hampton had his best day. And again, the Chargers
had three hundred and forty yards. Giants only had two fifty.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
So they're passing game this year. To me, that won.
Greg Romas is calling passes non stop. Yeah two because
you know Keenan Allen adds with McConkey and then Johnston
the TCU kid is been fantastic this year relative to
the bar.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All Right, Pittsburgh, I thought it was one of the
shocking performances of the day, But in hindsight it's sort
of explainable. Pittsburgh twenty four Minnesota twenty one started for
me eight thirty in the more. I thought it was
my favorite bet of the week, but then all of
a sudden they had three backup offensive linemen and the
(16:09):
Steelers I felt Kevin O'Connell came into the game of
the game plan, and so did Brian Flores, and they
didn't adjust. But I think Kevin O'Connell couldn't adjust. Listen,
Aaron played the best game I think Aaron's played in
a couple of years. I really did. He and DK
Metcalf have a clear connection. I thought the Steelers offensive
(16:32):
line today, John, the Steelers have not developed a consistent
wrong game in six years. I thought they ran the
ball today effectively. I don't know. I looked at Pittsburgh
and I'm like, Jesus, this is the best Steeler performance.
And again they were missing three linemen. Vikings were a
mess on the old line. But we can't make excuses
(16:53):
Baltimore's defense. You got to make plays. I thought, Pittsburgh,
that was a great performance by the him.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
If you would have told me at the beginning of
the day, and I have some of this was a
little bit garbage time, but wentz through for three hundred
and fifty yards, I'd be like, I would have had
a lot more money on the Vikings. You know, I'm
with you. I thought for the first time in four
games a little bit last week, but they look like
a physical team. Started to finish. Yes, you know, they
gain Well ran for ninety nine yards. If you just
(17:23):
gave the Steelers every week one hundred yard rusher, they're
gonna have a chance, because you know, the days of
Aaron throwing for three hundred and seventy five yards are done.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
They're done.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
But what he can do is a little bit like
today twenty to twenty four, two hundred and twenty yards.
And part of giving DK a lot of money, which
was pretty risky every once in a while is gonna
take it eighty yards yep, and cut across the field
and run by every money. So if over the course
of the season DK gives you ten touchdowns and three
or four of them are like that today they usually are,
that's a huge But but you got to play good defense.
(17:52):
They had six sacks, They were all over WinCE and
you know, they were hitting really hard. Now, they did
lose Ramsey at the end of the game, but to me,
there was a physical to their team start to finish
that had kind of been lacking. And I do wonder,
you know if Tomlin, I mean part of him is
that raw raw, What's what is going on here? And
I think the defense kind of been getting called out yep,
(18:12):
and came to play today, and I would say the
same thing for their offensive line because part of the
reason every single human alive love Minnesota. It's like, well
flores against this offense.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Steelers and run game has been a six year disappointment.
I mean, I'm watching the DAN and I'm like this
now again. Have I watched every Steeler drive in every
Steeler game, but over the last six years, I honestly
felt watching that game that was the most hopeful Steeler win.
(18:44):
I'm like, well, that thven was totally I agree. They
could go on the road and win a playoff game
like I was. I mean, so much of this league,
in a passing league, is can you consistently run the ball? First? Like, first,
you don't want your quarterback throwing forty times, especially in
an old quarter. Secondly, it keeps your defense off the field.
And I think Pittsburgh's defense you have some older players.
(19:05):
JJ Watt was great today, but you you have some
older players and new players, so you don't want your
you don't want your guys on the field for sixty
six plays. I mean I wrote down four or five
different times, Wow, impressed Steeter Oline dot dot dog really
great today. Yeah, I mean, at one point the game
was twenty one to six.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, to me, they were creating turnovers. They had a
bunch of sacks. I can't imagine endlessen. I know the
Vikings won one hundred and nothing last week against Jake
Browning and the Bengals, but every single person with the
Steelers said, We're not flying to Dublin, Ireland to lose
to Carson Wentz like that, that is not happening on
our watch. Well, I woke up. The game started at
six thirty for me, and it was fourteen to three,
(19:49):
and DK just had that play, and then you just
watched the rest of the game, and again it was
they got some late touchdowns. You know, Rogers is screaming
to go forward at the end, they get denied, like
the one yard line, right when he wanted to basically
ice the game, and a couple of plays later they score,
so all of a sudden, I think it was like
twenty four to fourteen, and then all of a sudden,
it's twenty four to twenty one. And they still got
(20:11):
a couple a minute or two before the two minute warning.
You're like, WHOA, And I think, you know, Rogers, I
think is trying to make the Tomlin a little unconservative.
I think their nature would never have been to do that,
but he kind of got to overrule him there, and
which I didn't mind. They had to go ninety nine
yards with Carson Wentz and then all of a sudden,
they I think they blew a coverage to Jordan Addison.
(20:31):
They got lucky that he didn't score. You know, the
guy made a great play to kind of b line
him down at the end. But I'm with you. Beside
a couple of free plays, the Steelers not only got
they leaned on Minnesota, who I think we'd all agreed,
pretty tough, physical team. It's not like they are soft
by any means, especially for you could look they kept
showing Flora Flores. Had to look like what is going on?
And listen, Sometimes you fly across these international games. What
(20:55):
Minnesota is playing back to back international games in two
different countries. You know that could really throw you off.
And I heard you talking about it last week on TV,
like you draft this guy really high. He misses all
season last year and now he's out for six or
seven games on the ankle. Like, let's let's call it
what it is. Sam Darnold's leading game winn he drives
kind of a disastrous situation. Well, John, it's early. We've
(21:16):
talked a lot about you don't get much time anymore,
no like, and you just let a quarterback go. It's
it's a problem. And Carson Wentz is actually more impressive
than I thought. I mean, it's the guy was just
on his couch. He's actually pretty got some talent in
his body still. But like, you drafted this guy in
the top fifteen to be your quarterback of a fourteen
win team and he's just sitting there eating sunflower. Sea's like,
it's kind of a big problem.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
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(23:08):
First of all, you know, I'm a huge fan of
Sean Payton and bow Nicks, the combination. But I mean,
tonight twenty eight to three over Cincinnati, there's a couple
of minutes left when I'm doing this, I just think
when you watch bow Nicks play with Sean Payton, bo
Nicks does so many little things well that nobody pays
(23:29):
attention to. Have you noticed when you watch bow Nixt tonight,
when his receivers or his backs are out in the flat,
that ball one hundred for one hundred times is right
out in front. They catch it moving forward. It is accurate,
It is on a line. It's not a loopy pass
where they have to wait for it. That's NFL quarterback play.
(23:52):
That's Tom Brady. The ability to get the ball out
quickly the receiver has the ball running. And I mean
between Mims and Franklin and Harvey and Courtland Sutton, they
just have a lot of guys who can run and
catch and bow Nix is athletic and he had a
bad pick tonight. But you know, people forget this. Go
(24:14):
look at the go Look at Drew Brees second ear
with Sean Payton, his interceptions went up. Sean Payton puts
a ton on his quarterbacks that that tonight they had
motion on thirty five percent of their plays. There is
no hand holding, there is no babysitting. You gotta be smart,
(24:35):
you gotta be focused. If you if you're if it's
important for you to be cool, if it's important for
you to look this way or that way, it's not
going to work. This is an adult offense for a smart, intense,
laser focus quarterback. Drew Brees is intense. He still is
bo Nicks. You don't see a lot of smiles during
(24:56):
the game. It's all business, and that's what Sean Payton
offense demands. I really like what they've done he and
the GM. I like what they've done with the offense.
You know, JK Dobbins was a late ad. Jk's excellent.
Troy Aikman talked about it tonight. When JK is healthy,
and you know there's guys in this league that can't
make it through a seventeen game schedule. But JK. Dobbins
(25:18):
is an excellent running back. He's got great instincts, really
nice vision his instincts. I always feel JK. Dobbins is
one of those running backs that's looking like eight to
ten yards ahead. He sets everything up really well. But
I really like watching Denver play the Colts game. You know,
on that final kick penalty, they should have won that game.
(25:39):
I think the roster is one of the four or
five best rosters in the league, and I think it
goes It may not be Philadelphia, but I think it's
in the Detroit, Kansas City, Buffalo, Green Bay class. I
think it's that good. The pass rush doesn't feel quite
as dominant now Cincinnati, you know, bad offensive line. The
(26:02):
Colt shut down the Broncos pass rush. But that's a
really good Colts offensive line. I think the Colts are
going to win that division. I think they may want
it going away. It's no shame in losing to Indianapolis.
That's a good team, but I like everything they do.
I just think Sean Payton, you know, you know what,
I find a lot of times, and the media does
this a lot Fans do it all the time. But
(26:23):
I don't hold the fans to a higher standard. I
hold the media to a higher standard. A lot of times,
the media, it's really pervasive. If they don't like a guy,
then they'll criticize him that they let their bias get
in the way. Sean Payton is better than ninety nine
percent of the coaches in this league, and he's got
a great eye for personnel, and a lot of coaches don't.
(26:44):
Andy Reid doesn't want to do personnel. Jimmy Johnson was legendary,
added Sean Payton's great with personnel. Jim Harbaugh's very good
with personnel, Shawn's excellent. I mean, look at these skill
get they don't miss on these guys. Franklin Troy Franklin
at a again, bo Nix's teammate feels like a number
three to me. There were four drop passes tonight. He
(27:06):
had one of them, but bon Nick still want twenty
nine to forty two for three hundred and twenty six yards.
So in that last touchdown out in the flat, they
just are always prepared. And again bon Nix throws the
ball down the field. It's not justin field's dink and dunk.
You know it's it is. It's a big boy offense.
(27:27):
They're throwing that ball down the field aggressively and you
get some interceptions. Lway throw him, Nama throw him. Brady
threw him, Peyton Manning threw him, Josh Allen threw him.
I like my quarterbacks throwing the ball aggressively down the field.
And I think bo Nix is not only a better
athlete than his draft preview, I think I think he's
(27:49):
got a better arm. I thought he had kind of
a Derek Carr arm in college. I think it's gotten stronger.
But I just like his temperament. There's just no bullshit
with Bonix, just laser focused. He can take to coaching.
He'll bark right back. It's all ball, all the time.
So I like Denver a lot. I think they cleaned
(28:10):
up some things tonight. Cincinnati's a mess, but again, if
Joe Burrow played, they'd be a borderline playoff team, but
not a great team. Zach Taylor's fine. I don't think
he's necessarily special. I think he's fine as a coach.
I think the owner is the cheapest in the league.
I think the front office is mediocre. They don't have
a big scouting department, and I feel like Denver's got
(28:33):
now I think the richest owner in the sport first
or second. They're totally committed to Sean Payton in the
front office and the roster. So I think I think
Denver is on a short list of teams. I don't know.
I look at their personnel. I think I think if
you look at their schedule. Now, you look at their schedule,
they got a lot of w's coming. And I talked
(28:53):
about this last week. Sean Payton's record in September and
his career is thirty and thirty. Now think about that.
Think how good Sean Payton all the success he's had,
his worst month easily easily October on he wins like
seventy five percent of his games is September. Why he
comes in massive playbook, a lot of motion, a lot
of sets, and he is demanding on his quarterbacks. And
(29:15):
what did you get in the first couple of weeks. Mistakes, penalties,
they just they just quite didn't have it all buttoned up.
Love what I see from Denver, Just love it. I
mean JK. Dobbins and Harvey Courtland Sutton who I think
Courtland Sutton's really good. I think he's a number one.
Got Franklin, Mims and Bonex. Great athlete. So a nice
(29:39):
win for Denver, a team I really really like. And
you know, Sean Payton can be a kurt and glib
for some people, but you know, I mean that's the reality.
Some people are smart and they've got strong opinions. You know,
people I found in my career people love strong opinions
only when they agree with him. And Sean Payton called
(29:59):
out Nathaniel he was right, and he called out Russell Wilson.
He was right. He called out the previous regime. He
was right. He was right across the board. You just
don't have You don't have to like how it sounds,
but you can't watch that offense and not see the
play design, the play calling. Bo Nix is a hit.
(30:20):
He just that kid just fires. You know him from
the Josh Py College Football Show. He's great. Comes on
the Herd volume as many times as we can get
him on. We're going to. I don't know if you've
been on the Herd yet. We'll get you on, I promise.
So I defended James Franklin for years. I was like, listen,
he's losing to Ohio State and Michigan. You know, he's
(30:42):
losing to the right people. I thought, you're a favorite.
You've got a lot of high end first round draft guys.
You gotta win that game. But it was funny because
I'm you know, I was watching. I don't go online
very much, especially to like fan boards, but I did.
I went to Penn State fan boards just to see
their reaction and then we want him out of here.
(31:06):
He's a bum. And my take is James Franklin is
kind of what I think most college football coaches are.
There's Kirby, there's Pete Carroll, there's Nick Saban, there's Urban Meyer.
(31:26):
I think Chris Peterson's one of those. There's Dabbo, there's
like in any industry, there's like one percent, and then
there's a bunch of guys that are almost as good
but may not recruit as well or they're not schematically
as good. And I think James Franklin's in that. And
I think if you gave James Franklin Dante More and
(31:48):
Dan Lanning Drew Aller, they would have won the game.
So I still think Franklin is a top of the class,
not a top six, but somewhere seven to fifteen in
a sport with one hundred and forty you know, FBS schools.
Or if you lost faith in him after a game
in which your a favorite at home, probably the better
(32:09):
backfield and NFL quarterback prospect, where do you land on
him today?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I don't think any differently of him, But I treated
the Oregon game way way bigger than I've ever treated
a football game. And so I got to tell you
a little backstory. You and I have apparently been singing
out of the same hymnal as me mol would say
about James Franklin, because he is very very good. Never
used the word elite, never used the word great, just
very very good, an eighth thrunger what we would call him,
(32:35):
an eighth thrunger on a ten run ladder. So I remember,
even in the spring. I've been up there a couple
of times over the past few months. They never shied
away from this concept that this year we're all in,
kind of what Ohio State sounded like last year when
I visited them in spring. We're all in. We're making
no excuses or apologies about it. We're all in, all right.
So every every external dynamic edge imaginable you have on
(33:00):
that organ game. They got a travel cross country, you
got the buye, you got the experienced roster, they got
newness everywhere you should. You got a way more experienced
than veteran coaching staff. So all of that winde out
you finally got it in primetime. I just felt like
it was such a referendum moment. It's such an inflection
point in time in the James Franklin Penn State era.
And I know, coming out of it, if you really
(33:21):
want to just you know, shred the arguments. You could
say it's just one game. It's just one conference game,
they went to overtime. It's so much more than that.
Anyone pretending otherwise it is just ignorant of Penn State
football and ignorant of the situation. So I think a
whole new timeline started the other night. I said this
on the following night's show. It may sound hyperbolic, but
I'm dead serious about it. I think a whole new
(33:43):
timeline got started. Now here's what we cannot know yet.
We can't know which flavor of timeline it is, because
you could sell me on either of these things being
the case in twenty twenty nine, and I could believe you,
You could sell me number one, Franklin's no longer at
Penn State because that organ game precipitated this really ugly
slip down this slope where eventually neither wanted anything to
(34:05):
do with the other. Maybe they just cut ties, maybe
it got really contentious. But he's not there in a
couple of years. I could see that. I could also
see him believing everything that I'm saying and you're saying
about that game that was the referendum game. This is
where it's going to be the ultimate test of my
way of doing things, the way I've built Penn State.
(34:26):
And I think it was such a reminder that your best,
given your current modus operandi, is not going to be
good enough.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
That's the absolute peak of this version of you of
Penn State football, and it got taken down by probably Oregon,
not even close to ascending to what they will become.
So I could see him driving home that night. I
could see him waking up the next morning just it's
just you and you in the bathroom mirror and saying
(34:53):
to yourself, this is it. Several degrees of change are
needed here here there rigid principles you've never bent on,
you're willing to bend on. Now there's a third rail
where he doesn't know to do any of that, and
it just is what it is. I don't know where
we're going with it, but I sense the same thing
you did, even the portion of the fan base, Like
(35:14):
I've got some Penn State folks on my staff who
were the last holdouts who always sort of shouted down
the radical portion of the fan base when they would
criticize him. Fire James Franklin after a loss, and they
they didn't get overly emotional, which is what I noticed.
They were almost I don't know, they were apathetic afterwards,
and it was kind of a shrug and well, we
(35:36):
know he's never going to be bad enough to fire,
but we were also resigned to the fact that this
is this confirmation we're never going to see the mountaintop.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
When Kaylin de Bor got hired, Greg Byrne text me
after a tweet I said, kind of thank me a
little bit for the perspective I had, because after Kaylan
beat George, I said, you know, the media, myself included
in fans. Success is hard and it doesn't come as
fast as we want, and so it's it's difficult and
(36:13):
it gets people get worked up. And I'm like, Kaylin
Debor was a hard hire. Dan Lanning's from the South,
Dabbo Sweeney was popular. I mean, they're they're Lane Kiffin.
There were a lot of potential hires post Saban. You
could you could have argued they weren't going to get
Sark because Texas money. But you could have gone after
a Lane, a dabble, a Dan Lanning, and he didn't.
(36:35):
He went and got a Midwest guy that was at
Washington three thousand miles away, and it's easy to go, oh,
he's got a great resume. The South is different, the
intensity is different. Some Midwest Western people like Chip Kelly.
One time when they were I think he was offered Florida.
He's like, that's too much. I thought Philadelphia was rough,
but it's too much for me. And Jim McElwain, who
I knew from college, is like, yeah, this is different.
(36:57):
I'm more West, Midwest guy, but I don't. People tend
to think Josh. Everybody knows that if you're Jim Harbaugh
and you go to the Chargers to replace Brandon Staley,
you have to change the culture. It's a disaster. But
people think it's easy when you go to Alabama and
you'll replace save it. Well, you don't have to change
the culture. Well, yes you do. You have to be
authentic to yourself. You have to be author. It doesn't
(37:20):
matter what I replaced Tony Corneiser. He was great. I
still didn't do the same show Tony did, right, I
did a different show, so I had there were elements
of the show you have to change. You have to
change certain things. And that's not a knock, It's just
that's the reality is. I think Alabama was a tougher
job than you think. The pressure is enormous. They were
struggling in the NIL to play to go to the top,
(37:44):
wrong with some Ohio states and Georgia's And when they
won that game, I found myself rooting for Alabama on
that first half. I was like, God, this is good coaching, Jesus,
this is good play calling, this is this is as
big a regular season when including say but in like
five years, I thought it was so significant and they've
(38:04):
beaten Georgia plenty of times. Did you feel it felt
more like that, a more of a beyond just a
win at Georgia, it felt like, Okay, this is the moment.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
I think it's one of the biggest games for the
program this decade. That goes back to Yes. I could
not you cannot overstate the impact. I mean, think about
where we are. We were talking about inflection point with
James Franklin. Okay, different standard at Alabama. They've won their championships,
but it was under the previous guy, new guy, you
don't know really, and go into the alternate universe where
(38:36):
they lose that game and they're coming out of Athens
already a two loss team and you still got the
rest of your conference schedule to go. You probably have
four minimum losses staring you in the face, and what
do you do. You mentioned Greg Byrn, buddy only I
wish you could have seen his face walking off that
field Saturday night. Greg Byrne was the most relieved person
in the entire building. That's the athletic director at Alabama
(38:59):
for those on familiar like because his reputations on the
line with this higher as well. And the thing is,
Greg Burns never doubted for a second that Kaylin de
Boor is made of the right stuff. But you don't
play one hundred and sixty two college football games. So
it just comes down to these moments like these, these
key third downs, and you know a sequence here and
(39:22):
there that's going to determine whether you're a success or
a failure that season. I got to tell you about
Debor when he got there. I use the word ignorant.
Ignorant is not lack of intelligence. Ignorance is sometimes you
haven't experienced something. And I think he was maybe a
little bit ignorant to what you're talking about, the true
Southern football dynamic. Like I think he looked at it.
(39:43):
And I know this because I talked to him about it.
I mean, he just talked about winning principles, and he's right,
the same stuff wins everywhere. It's just the surroundings, the
externals are way different in the South than they are
anywhere not named Ohio State based outside.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I said that for years, Ohio State's and SEC team
North that's the only one.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, So he got thrown into that, and I just
as much as you're try and wall yourself off from it,
it's really impossible, you cannot wall yourself off from it.
So I got to tell you now, people who have
observed him from the outside may not see this. If
you've been around Kaylan, or even if you're just like
a fan of the program, you follow him closer. He
(40:23):
since that Florida State game earlier this year, has been
like the third verse of lose yourself, the part where
it's just it's no more games. I've been cut. I'm
bleeding all over the place. But I kind of get
it now. I kind of understand, like you get thrown
into the pot and it starts to boil, and it
either consumes you or you adjust and then you thrive
(40:44):
in that environment. That's what I wondered about him, because
I knew this time was coming. It doesn't Saban didn't
avoid it at Alabama, and he may be the greatest
of all time. Urban didn't avoid it at Florida. No
one avoids it. It's do you adapt to it and
thrive in it? Because that's the one or two percent
that are cut out to coach in the SEC in
major college football. And I'm telling you, it's like it's
(41:06):
like putting new keys in the ignition and it's kind
of turned in him. And there's a lot of what
we would call degaffness dgaf neis that he kind of
has about himself that is very indicative of someone who
is now adjusted and who is acclimated to their surroundings.
And basically looked back and said, all right, game on,
(41:26):
if this is how it works down here, game on.
You mentioned the coaching job they did the other night, Buddy,
that's an NFL coaching staff on that offensive side of
the ball. I think got I mean, Ryan Grubb literally
came there when it didn't work out in Seattle, but
they they worked Georgia's defensive staff pretty thoroughly. And think
about the sentence that just came out of my mouth,
because you don't really say that about anyone. And so
(41:48):
now you know their reward is they get to play
Vandy this week. And what stood out to me the most,
and I can't believe this is a sentence coming out
of my mouth either, to just give you an idea
of how that program's wired right now, off the field
in Athens, huge win, and they're no more headed into
the locker room than half the locker rooms talking about
(42:08):
the Vandy game. Half of them are in the locker room,
they're in Sanford Stadium. They're already looking ahead to the
Vandy game. Because that was the cattle pride to their
neck last year that they never fully recovered from. So
as much as the public circle at Georgia game, they
were already well aware before they left the building of
what's next week, Diego Pavia coming in there next week,
(42:30):
their super Bowl last year. All right, they come into
our building, college game days going to be there. So
it was an eye opener to me because I hadn't
I hadn't been to a BAMA game this year in person,
so I hadn't been around them in person. Yeah, I
think that FSU game did something to them and it
may end up being the biggest blessing they could ever
suffer from, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Yeah. When I worked in Tampa for two years, I
really learned because I love college football, but i'd grown
up around Oregon. Washington was a great program, and I
Kevin O'Connell was a photographer. He's still employee at at
WTVT I think it is Channel thirteen, And we went
to do a story on like Tuesday or Wednesday. Spurry
(43:12):
Or was the coach of Florida, and we went down
there and there were already fans parked in the parking.
It was Wednesday, and I'm like, I go to Husky
games like Friday night, maybe late Friday afternoon. You'd show
up at Husky Stadium. They were there Wednesday, and they'd
been there. I mean they had the they had their
(43:34):
you know, they're cooking utensils out. They were sitting in
the chairs playing you know, poker, and I'm like, wow,
that's different. And then the funny thing is i remember
listening to Southern smaller market radio and I'm like, bro,
it is is March and that's all they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Like, yeah, you got it. It's you gotta live it.
You have to have experienced it. Because the first job
I ever got on air was fifteen eighty is wiol
in Columbus, Georgia, and it's in the heart. It's right there. Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, FSU, Florida, Clemson,
South Carolina. The most underrated market in the South. It's
like market one pint thirty something in the country. But
(44:16):
in the South, if you want to talk college football,
it's great. And you could take a random Wednesday in June.
NBA Finals could be going on, it doesn't matter. We're
talking about the right side of the offensive line, not
the one deep Colin. We're talking about rotational pieces over there,
and we're talking about do we really think this juco
kid from Pearl River, Mississippi is really going to be
(44:39):
able to shine there? And it's just so intense you
could back off, You can just shut up and let
guys go for ten minutes, and they're as worst on
it as they would be their own children and their
own family and their own financial situation. It's really amazing
Speaker 2 (44:54):
The volume
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
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tap ticket, go download the game Time app. Today. All right,
John Middlecoff and I we had a lot to talk about.
We may slip in some Oregon, Penn State, and Ryder
Cup in about an hour. Yeah, let's start with the
(01:09):
big game of the day. Let's break down six or
seven big games, Chiefs thirty seven, Ravens twenty. They tacked
on a late touchdown. Lamar's now one in six against
Kansas City. They had a lot of defensive injuries, but
that's not the story. The story is Lamar. I mean,
to me, John, Kansas City is in his head. You know,
(01:30):
obviously when you're missing six defensive starters. I mean, Mahomes
four drives, four scores to start, like four touchdown passes.
He broke the all time record fastest quarterback to two
hundred and fifty touchdowns, which we all knew he was
going to do. So the defense it doesn't help. But
I feel that Kansas City is in Lamar's head, do
you definitely?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I mean, the Steelers have been over the years and
now Kansas City. It's undebatable. I also think this, and listen,
he's a fantastic player in credible talent, but these last
two weeks he's led a pretty You talk a lot
about privileged lives at quarterback. On offense, like the real
sports starts when your tight end chatters his leg, your
(02:12):
right guard gets the dui, he gets suspended, and then
a wide receiver goes down. In the first series of
the game, It's like, then what do you do? Yeah,
and we've seen mahomes now for two years. But I'd say,
also look at Josh Allen. His defense has been average
at best over the years, Lamar, I would imagine his
worst defense was last year and by the end of
the year it was really good. Two years ago, they
(02:32):
had the number one defense in the league most of
his career because of the team he got drafted by. Right,
it's basically like defense U in football. The Baltimore Ravens, well,
what's going on right now? A bunch of injuries. Their
two best defensive lineman, Van Oy's kind of a hybrid.
Yeah gone, Roquand gets hurt today. I mean, their defense
is just a shell of itself. It's like, okay, and
listen to the Ravens. How many times did they win games?
(02:54):
I bet if we looked over the last three or
four years, like forty five thirteen. Yeah, so they roll
you when they get up, but it's like, Okay, you
gotta have to win this game. The Lions are used
to that, thirty five thirty two, let's go the Ravens.
You know, that's just he doesn't have to do that
a lot over the Tryers and all of a sudden,
he's looking. It's like you're back on the field. You know,
(03:15):
they just scored another point. It's just it's a different
that they don't feel like the Purple team we're used
to watching because defensively and that has to throw him
off and it puts more pressure on him and they've
kind of cracked. I would say the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, yeah, you had two first half turnovers. I mean
they got themselves into a hole and I let me
throw this at you. I've always said the reason he
dominates the NFC, and he is. No, he's it's like
twenty five and yeah, yeah, they don't see him. Spags
has now seen him seven times. So in my take
(03:48):
on Lamar, I remember the first year he started playing.
He I think he beat the Chargers the first time
he played him, that first rookie year. Then in the
second time he played the Chargers in the playoffs, if
I recall, they had a little bit better beat on him.
And it's all fuzzy to me, but I was told
very early on you do get a little bit of
(04:10):
a beat on him. He's just so dynamic. You can't
get your arms run him. Well, Spags has seen him
now so many times. It's a very good and very
healthy and a fast defense, and then all of a
sudden you jump out to a lead. And I mean,
I think some of this is not that there's a
secret sauce, but Spags is great, his defense is great,
(04:30):
and they kind of mostly contained him tonight.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, because the last two weeks, you know, Dan Campbell
set the blueprint and you went, well, you know, Spags,
who already had a blueprint, is going to utilize that
throughout the week of basically corralling him. Now again, he
might juke you out and make a move every once
in a while, but if you don't just run up
aimlessly and let him just get an easy ten yards
with his eyes closed, it's harder for him to operate.
(04:55):
And remember, for a long time, you know, DA's team
now stinks, but it was like when he didn't when
he got to pass the ball less than they ran it,
he was really really effective. Lamar had that stat going forever.
When the Ravens have more rushing attempts than pass attempts,
they're gonna be really dangerous. Why is that they up
in the second half, handing the ball off and they
(05:15):
just kind of roll you. They lean on you. Well,
today seventeen rush attempts, twenty pass attempts like that is
not their formula, the way they're playing. And obviously you
know the turnovers, I mean, when he's turning the ball over.
Now we have and he's not the only culpert. Derek
Henry has been a major problem for him this year.
They're out of sink and they they have these injuries.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Like you know, the.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Chiefs, you could tell it's like, Okay, they beat the Giants,
they win this game, they get right back into the mix.
I'm sure we'll talk about the Chargers. They got a
million injuries right now. Like it's open again for the Chiefs.
You look at the Ravens and you go, could this
kind of be their year from hell? Like the forty
nine Ers last year where he just lose a million
players and all of a sudden, you're seven and ten.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, And to your point, I joke with jamac All Week,
I'm like, he does it. People don't understand it. It's
not like Xavier Worthy is a one, but when you
don't have a one, two or a three, he's a
damn good two. So he had a ton of targets,
nice catches a couple of men. He was wide open
on a couple of them. So to me, when you
watch Zavier Worthy, they still don't have a run game.
(06:16):
But check o, huh, that's not gonna work big picture.
But not every team that gets to the playoffs, it's Philadelphia.
Not everybody's a great run team. What the run team
does it picks up first downs and it helps your defense.
So I think they're gonna have to establish that. But
when I watched them today with Thornton, Juju Smith, Zavier Worthy,
my take was, and I'm not sure if yours was, well,
(06:38):
if they get Rashi Rice Back, okay, now Thornton, now Worthy,
now Rice, Juju Smith, Travis Kelce, okay, that's more than
good enough. With Patrick Mahomes if they can just be
average running the ball. But Worthy today it was pretty
clear that he has a relationship with Mahomes and it's
it's it's pretty good. Well.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
One thing I wrote down is, you know, Taekwon Thornton
was once a second round pick. You know now it
was a late second round pick by the Patriots. But
he has a touchdown in each of the last three weeks.
So you get Worthy back, you get this guy who
can fly, yeah, get him some confidence. You get Rice back.
Hollywood Brown is just a solid contributing member. Like he
can get you five six catches every game. Juju can
(07:22):
just do some dirty work over the middle of the field.
Their passing game looks a little bit better. Big picture,
this is why they win today. They're two and two.
You look at the rest of you know, the AFC,
some of the injuries their own in their own division,
and the Chargers. I mean, you just you can't just
start overcoming missing elite players, especially at the offensive line.
You go, got it. I like their offense now again,
(07:43):
we talked about this last week with the Bears. I
just said, let's pump the brakes on the you know,
against the Cowboys defense he signed day, it was like
the Bears offense is going to be up and down.
And I will say the same thing with his Chiefs
against this Baltimore defense, which is have major issues, but
they also have one of the greatest quarter of all
time and one of the greatest coaches of all time
and coaches the offense. Yes, so I would be bullish
(08:05):
on the unit moving forward for sure. From an explosive standpoint,
and you add worthy to go with Thornton's speed, you
can just stretch the field and those possession receivers in
Brown and Juju and even Travis who clearly gets up
for bigger games, clearly Kennet, and you just keep him
healthy towards you know, a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I mean, everybody's got a hole outside of Philadelphia, so
their defense is good. They have the best head coach
coordinator combo in the league. Once they get Rice back,
more than adequate, probably above average receiving corps superstar head
coach quarterback. I thought the O line was good. Andy
Reid has rebuilt it three times since since Mahomes arrived.
Like if they've been patchworking it, you know, they lose Tuney,
(08:47):
It's gonna take a while. They don't have a great
run game. I'm not even sure how serviceable it will be.
But as I watched them today, I'm like, Okay, they're
a game back of the Chargers and the Chargers now,
I mean, I don't know what's happening with Joealt, but
you're not with a division if you don't have Joealt
or Rashaan Slater, not even Harbaugh can pull that rabbit out. So,
(09:09):
I mean, I looked at him today and maybe I'm
overly optimistic, but I said it all week. I said, Worthy,
we'll get ten targets, six seven catches, and then Travis
Kelcey And it's just like anything else. When you've been
in any industry fifteen years. You and I, you know,
our Sunday pod feels different than one in May, right,
(09:30):
Like it's like Travis Kelsey's been around multiple surgeries. I
watch him in these spots and I'm like, Okay, it's different.
He's fine.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I came out of it. And again, the injuries are
part of it. But I and I have defended Lamar forever.
But he had two turnovers. It's pretty clear there's an
anxiety that he I don't know if it's a therapy thing.
He just say what you want about Josh Allen. He's
been highly effective against Belichick. Against the Chiefs, Josh Allen loses.
(10:02):
It's usually on the defense. I think it's totally in
Lamar's head.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, I mean, if you gave the Chiefs Andy and
Spags the opportunity, who would you rather play at quarterback?
They wouldn't even hesitate and say, lamar right, the dad
is in check Josh's data versus them in the regular
season and in the playoffs. He has been excellent against
Kansas City. But yeah, I mean, I think Kansas City
has to be I thought the whole time. I know
(10:27):
his numbers haven't looked good, But watching Patrick Mahomes last week,
in the second half, early in the season, a couple
in a couple of the losses, the one against Phildel,
I think he's played really well.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
The same here.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's just completely under control. I bet if you went
to sitting in Andy's office tomorrow, he's like, I was
not worried at all over the losses with how a quarterback.
I felt good. Yeah, I thought it was on the
other guys. You know, so I actually think, you know,
Patrick has been a little up and down in previous years.
Remember he had an awful interception streaks. Yeah, I think
for the most part, he's he's been playing at a really,
really high level. His numbers just don't look like fifty
(10:59):
tons downs anymore. But I just go, that's one of
the best players in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, the numbers don't reflect his quality of play. I
thought he had two throws today and a scramble. The
one where he ran over the line and came back
didn't count, but it was like it was really a
clever play to set up time. I also thought he
had a side arm throw to Juju Smith Schuster. It
was so quick and so fast, was such velocity, and
(11:24):
I'm like, nobody else can do that. Stafford does it.
It doesn't look like that, so I'm with you. I
think Kansas City now is again a top six team
and maybe five. The Giants beat the Chargers twenty one
pint eighteen, so elite neighbors could be out for the year.
But the story, which I thought was pretty substantial, is
(11:44):
if you look at the numbers and you didn't watch
the game, you wouldn't be impressed with Jackson Dart. But
the Giants between Dart and Scataboo rushed for over one
hundred and sixty yards. He had seven rushes. They were
excellent on down. I thought Jackson Dart was pretty damn good.
Neighbors hurt early so you don't have that. He had
(12:07):
ten scrambles for fifty five yards. I thought he was clever,
kind of worked between the tackles. We know he has
a decent arm. I don't know. Again, this the Chargers
had Herbert was hit fourteen times, so this is like
a problem. Last week he was hit fourteen times. But
I thought Jackson Dart, I mean, I'm watching all these
(12:29):
college quarterbacks. Dante Moore looks like a great quarterback. C J. Carrett,
Notre Dame, the rest of them, I would sell some stock.
I thought Jackson Dart looked pretty good.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, he definitely gave him an energy to start the game.
I mean they get upset to nothing. He has that,
you know, the quarterback draw made some throws. Obviously throughout
the game. He keeps plays alive with his legs. Yes,
that Russell no longer was doing. There's all. There was
also like a youthful I don't know, craziness to him.
(13:00):
I mean he's trying to run guys over. He had
the one play that got called back on the hole
where he's he gotta be. I mean he could have
broke his hand, he could have broke his finger. It's
his throwing hand. But he I think he's so amped up.
He's playing like he would be against Mississippi State or Tennessee.
It's like you gotta be a little more careful in
the NFL, especially against this team. But he definitely, I
(13:21):
mean you skataboo the moment he's gotten in the games
last couple of weeks. You can feel his energy and
his physicality. He just adds something right. He is looking
to hit someone hard, and I think the team feeds
off it. And today you know their passing game now
a neighbors, I would assume his knee's done. The passing
game is going to be a struggle. The numbers are
not going to look pretty good or good at all,
(13:42):
but it definitely dark gives it something that Russell no
longer does. So I also think when you look at
the Chargers, they're the defensive line for the for the
for the Giants is excellent. I mean, Burns is a
fantastic player. Monster Cavon is even better. I think that
he's played earlier in his career. And obviously they just
(14:02):
they fly around, so you start losing. The Chargers have
a domino effect problem because Alt is there because the
left tackles down he's supposed to play right tackle, so
the backup right tackle is at right tackle. Well, then
he goes down Beck to you know, you start shuffling.
All of a sudden, you got backups and third stringers
in different spots against I mean, I don't know how
(14:23):
much they may combined. But the Giants defense, they're paying
a lot of money, yes, and they've invested a lot
of resources, so he is. I thought Herbert Mason throws
a day where it looked like he was gonna lose
knees and limbs. I he's just getting cut off, He's
getting destroyed. That's not as sustainable. Now. I like the
Giants today because I went, well, you go thirteen and
four East Coast game, early morning, the juice of the
(14:46):
new quarterback. So I thought they were going to lose
or at least this game was going to be close.
But then now, when you look big picture, you go
alt high ankle sprain for a big guy that could
be a month. So it's like you got problems, you know,
And it feels Herbert's gonna have to be running for
his life. He can do that, yeah, but man, I
don't feel as good as I did about them a
week ago.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Now, Hampton o Mario Hampton had a couple of big runs.
He looked it was funny. I wrote this down he
had a fifty four yard touchdown run, and I wrote, Okay,
he's worth the number one pick. They need a horse.
Nagie Harris is done for the year, so I thought,
Amrio Hampton like Ashton genty who will get to in
a minute. Ashton looked the part today. He had a
very good day, his best day as a pro. I
(15:27):
thought Hampton had his best day. And again, the Chargers
had three hundred and forty yards. Giants only had two fifty.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
So they're passing game this year. To me, that won.
Greg Romas is calling passes non stop. Yeah two because
you know Keenan Allen adds with McConkey and then Johnston
the TCU kid is been fantastic this year relative to
the bar.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All Right, Pittsburgh, I thought it was one of the
shocking performances of the day, But in hindsight it's sort
of explainable. Pittsburgh twenty four Minnesota twenty one started for
me eight thirty in the more. I thought it was
my favorite bet of the week, but then all of
a sudden they had three backup offensive linemen and the
(16:09):
Steelers I felt Kevin O'Connell came into the game of
the game plan, and so did Brian Flores, and they
didn't adjust. But I think Kevin O'Connell couldn't adjust. Listen,
Aaron played the best game I think Aaron's played in
a couple of years. I really did. He and DK
Metcalf have a clear connection. I thought the Steelers offensive
(16:32):
line today, John, the Steelers have not developed a consistent
wrong game in six years. I thought they ran the
ball today effectively. I don't know. I looked at Pittsburgh
and I'm like, Jesus, this is the best Steeler performance.
And again they were missing three linemen. Vikings were a
mess on the old line. But we can't make excuses
(16:53):
Baltimore's defense. You got to make plays. I thought, Pittsburgh,
that was a great performance by the him.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
If you would have told me at the beginning of
the day, and I have some of this was a
little bit garbage time, but wentz through for three hundred
and fifty yards, I'd be like, I would have had
a lot more money on the Vikings. You know, I'm
with you. I thought for the first time in four
games a little bit last week, but they look like
a physical team. Started to finish. Yes, you know, they
gain Well ran for ninety nine yards. If you just
(17:23):
gave the Steelers every week one hundred yard rusher, they're
gonna have a chance, because you know, the days of
Aaron throwing for three hundred and seventy five yards are done.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
They're done.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
But what he can do is a little bit like
today twenty to twenty four, two hundred and twenty yards.
And part of giving DK a lot of money, which
was pretty risky every once in a while is gonna
take it eighty yards yep, and cut across the field
and run by every money. So if over the course
of the season DK gives you ten touchdowns and three
or four of them are like that today they usually are,
that's a huge But but you got to play good defense.
(17:52):
They had six sacks, They were all over WinCE and
you know, they were hitting really hard. Now, they did
lose Ramsey at the end of the game, but to me,
there was a physical to their team start to finish
that had kind of been lacking. And I do wonder,
you know if Tomlin, I mean part of him is
that raw raw, What's what is going on here? And
I think the defense kind of been getting called out yep,
(18:12):
and came to play today, and I would say the
same thing for their offensive line because part of the
reason every single human alive love Minnesota. It's like, well
flores against this offense.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Steelers and run game has been a six year disappointment.
I mean, I'm watching the DAN and I'm like this
now again. Have I watched every Steeler drive in every
Steeler game, but over the last six years, I honestly
felt watching that game that was the most hopeful Steeler win.
(18:44):
I'm like, well, that thven was totally I agree. They
could go on the road and win a playoff game
like I was. I mean, so much of this league,
in a passing league, is can you consistently run the ball? First? Like, first,
you don't want your quarterback throwing forty times, especially in
an old quarter. Secondly, it keeps your defense off the field.
And I think Pittsburgh's defense you have some older players.
(19:05):
JJ Watt was great today, but you you have some
older players and new players, so you don't want your
you don't want your guys on the field for sixty
six plays. I mean I wrote down four or five
different times, Wow, impressed Steeter Oline dot dot dog really
great today. Yeah, I mean, at one point the game
was twenty one to six.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, to me, they were creating turnovers. They had a
bunch of sacks. I can't imagine endlessen. I know the
Vikings won one hundred and nothing last week against Jake
Browning and the Bengals, but every single person with the
Steelers said, We're not flying to Dublin, Ireland to lose
to Carson Wentz like that, that is not happening on
our watch. Well, I woke up. The game started at
six thirty for me, and it was fourteen to three,
(19:49):
and DK just had that play, and then you just
watched the rest of the game, and again it was
they got some late touchdowns. You know, Rogers is screaming
to go forward at the end, they get denied, like
the one yard line, right when he wanted to basically
ice the game, and a couple of plays later they score,
so all of a sudden, I think it was like
twenty four to fourteen, and then all of a sudden,
it's twenty four to twenty one. And they still got
(20:11):
a couple a minute or two before the two minute warning.
You're like, WHOA, And I think, you know, Rogers, I
think is trying to make the Tomlin a little unconservative.
I think their nature would never have been to do that,
but he kind of got to overrule him there, and
which I didn't mind. They had to go ninety nine
yards with Carson Wentz and then all of a sudden,
they I think they blew a coverage to Jordan Addison.
(20:31):
They got lucky that he didn't score. You know, the
guy made a great play to kind of b line
him down at the end. But I'm with you. Beside
a couple of free plays, the Steelers not only got
they leaned on Minnesota, who I think we'd all agreed,
pretty tough, physical team. It's not like they are soft
by any means, especially for you could look they kept
showing Flora Flores. Had to look like what is going on?
And listen, Sometimes you fly across these international games. What
(20:55):
Minnesota is playing back to back international games in two
different countries. You know that could really throw you off.
And I heard you talking about it last week on TV,
like you draft this guy really high. He misses all
season last year and now he's out for six or
seven games on the ankle. Like, let's let's call it
what it is. Sam Darnold's leading game winn he drives
kind of a disastrous situation. Well, John, it's early. We've
(21:16):
talked a lot about you don't get much time anymore,
no like, and you just let a quarterback go. It's
it's a problem. And Carson Wentz is actually more impressive
than I thought. I mean, it's the guy was just
on his couch. He's actually pretty got some talent in
his body still. But like, you drafted this guy in
the top fifteen to be your quarterback of a fourteen
win team and he's just sitting there eating sunflower. Sea's like,
it's kind of a big problem.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
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(23:08):
First of all, you know, I'm a huge fan of
Sean Payton and bow Nicks, the combination. But I mean,
tonight twenty eight to three over Cincinnati, there's a couple
of minutes left when I'm doing this, I just think
when you watch bow Nicks play with Sean Payton, bo
Nicks does so many little things well that nobody pays
(23:29):
attention to. Have you noticed when you watch bow Nixt tonight,
when his receivers or his backs are out in the flat,
that ball one hundred for one hundred times is right
out in front. They catch it moving forward. It is accurate,
It is on a line. It's not a loopy pass
where they have to wait for it. That's NFL quarterback play.
(23:52):
That's Tom Brady. The ability to get the ball out
quickly the receiver has the ball running. And I mean
between Mims and Franklin and Harvey and Courtland Sutton, they
just have a lot of guys who can run and
catch and bow Nix is athletic and he had a
bad pick tonight. But you know, people forget this. Go
(24:14):
look at the go Look at Drew Brees second ear
with Sean Payton, his interceptions went up. Sean Payton puts
a ton on his quarterbacks that that tonight they had
motion on thirty five percent of their plays. There is
no hand holding, there is no babysitting. You gotta be smart,
(24:35):
you gotta be focused. If you if you're if it's
important for you to be cool, if it's important for
you to look this way or that way, it's not
going to work. This is an adult offense for a smart, intense,
laser focus quarterback. Drew Brees is intense. He still is
bo Nicks. You don't see a lot of smiles during
(24:56):
the game. It's all business, and that's what Sean Payton
offense demands. I really like what they've done he and
the GM. I like what they've done with the offense.
You know, JK Dobbins was a late ad. Jk's excellent.
Troy Aikman talked about it tonight. When JK is healthy,
and you know there's guys in this league that can't
make it through a seventeen game schedule. But JK. Dobbins
(25:18):
is an excellent running back. He's got great instincts, really
nice vision his instincts. I always feel JK. Dobbins is
one of those running backs that's looking like eight to
ten yards ahead. He sets everything up really well. But
I really like watching Denver play the Colts game. You know,
on that final kick penalty, they should have won that game.
(25:39):
I think the roster is one of the four or
five best rosters in the league, and I think it
goes It may not be Philadelphia, but I think it's
in the Detroit, Kansas City, Buffalo, Green Bay class. I
think it's that good. The pass rush doesn't feel quite
as dominant now Cincinnati, you know, bad offensive line. The
(26:02):
Colt shut down the Broncos pass rush. But that's a
really good Colts offensive line. I think the Colts are
going to win that division. I think they may want
it going away. It's no shame in losing to Indianapolis.
That's a good team, but I like everything they do.
I just think Sean Payton, you know, you know what,
I find a lot of times, and the media does
this a lot Fans do it all the time. But
(26:23):
I don't hold the fans to a higher standard. I
hold the media to a higher standard. A lot of times,
the media, it's really pervasive. If they don't like a guy,
then they'll criticize him that they let their bias get
in the way. Sean Payton is better than ninety nine
percent of the coaches in this league, and he's got
a great eye for personnel, and a lot of coaches don't.
(26:44):
Andy Reid doesn't want to do personnel. Jimmy Johnson was legendary,
added Sean Payton's great with personnel. Jim Harbaugh's very good
with personnel, Shawn's excellent. I mean, look at these skill
get they don't miss on these guys. Franklin Troy Franklin
at a again, bo Nix's teammate feels like a number
three to me. There were four drop passes tonight. He
(27:06):
had one of them, but bon Nick still want twenty
nine to forty two for three hundred and twenty six yards.
So in that last touchdown out in the flat, they
just are always prepared. And again bon Nix throws the
ball down the field. It's not justin field's dink and dunk.
You know it's it is. It's a big boy offense.
(27:27):
They're throwing that ball down the field aggressively and you
get some interceptions. Lway throw him, Nama throw him. Brady
threw him, Peyton Manning threw him, Josh Allen threw him.
I like my quarterbacks throwing the ball aggressively down the field.
And I think bo Nix is not only a better
athlete than his draft preview, I think I think he's
(27:49):
got a better arm. I thought he had kind of
a Derek Carr arm in college. I think it's gotten stronger.
But I just like his temperament. There's just no bullshit
with Bonix, just laser focused. He can take to coaching.
He'll bark right back. It's all ball, all the time.
So I like Denver a lot. I think they cleaned
(28:10):
up some things tonight. Cincinnati's a mess, but again, if
Joe Burrow played, they'd be a borderline playoff team, but
not a great team. Zach Taylor's fine. I don't think
he's necessarily special. I think he's fine as a coach.
I think the owner is the cheapest in the league.
I think the front office is mediocre. They don't have
a big scouting department, and I feel like Denver's got
(28:33):
now I think the richest owner in the sport first
or second. They're totally committed to Sean Payton in the
front office and the roster. So I think I think
Denver is on a short list of teams. I don't know.
I look at their personnel. I think I think if
you look at their schedule. Now, you look at their schedule,
they got a lot of w's coming. And I talked
(28:53):
about this last week. Sean Payton's record in September and
his career is thirty and thirty. Now think about that.
Think how good Sean Payton all the success he's had,
his worst month easily easily October on he wins like
seventy five percent of his games is September. Why he
comes in massive playbook, a lot of motion, a lot
of sets, and he is demanding on his quarterbacks. And
(29:15):
what did you get in the first couple of weeks. Mistakes, penalties,
they just they just quite didn't have it all buttoned up.
Love what I see from Denver, Just love it. I
mean JK. Dobbins and Harvey Courtland Sutton who I think
Courtland Sutton's really good. I think he's a number one.
Got Franklin, Mims and Bonex. Great athlete. So a nice
(29:39):
win for Denver, a team I really really like. And
you know, Sean Payton can be a kurt and glib
for some people, but you know, I mean that's the reality.
Some people are smart and they've got strong opinions. You know,
people I found in my career people love strong opinions
only when they agree with him. And Sean Payton called
(29:59):
out Nathaniel he was right, and he called out Russell Wilson.
He was right. He called out the previous regime. He
was right. He was right across the board. You just
don't have You don't have to like how it sounds,
but you can't watch that offense and not see the
play design, the play calling. Bo Nix is a hit.
(30:20):
He just that kid just fires. You know him from
the Josh Py College Football Show. He's great. Comes on
the Herd volume as many times as we can get
him on. We're going to. I don't know if you've
been on the Herd yet. We'll get you on, I promise.
So I defended James Franklin for years. I was like, listen,
he's losing to Ohio State and Michigan. You know, he's
(30:42):
losing to the right people. I thought, you're a favorite.
You've got a lot of high end first round draft guys.
You gotta win that game. But it was funny because
I'm you know, I was watching. I don't go online
very much, especially to like fan boards, but I did.
I went to Penn State fan boards just to see
their reaction and then we want him out of here.
(31:06):
He's a bum. And my take is James Franklin is
kind of what I think most college football coaches are.
There's Kirby, there's Pete Carroll, there's Nick Saban, there's Urban Meyer.
(31:26):
I think Chris Peterson's one of those. There's Dabbo, there's
like in any industry, there's like one percent, and then
there's a bunch of guys that are almost as good
but may not recruit as well or they're not schematically
as good. And I think James Franklin's in that. And
I think if you gave James Franklin Dante More and
(31:48):
Dan Lanning Drew Aller, they would have won the game.
So I still think Franklin is a top of the class,
not a top six, but somewhere seven to fifteen in
a sport with one hundred and forty you know, FBS schools.
Or if you lost faith in him after a game
in which your a favorite at home, probably the better
(32:09):
backfield and NFL quarterback prospect, where do you land on
him today?
Speaker 1 (32:15):
I don't think any differently of him, But I treated
the Oregon game way way bigger than I've ever treated
a football game. And so I got to tell you
a little backstory. You and I have apparently been singing
out of the same hymnal as me mol would say
about James Franklin, because he is very very good. Never
used the word elite, never used the word great, just
very very good, an eighth thrunger what we would call him,
(32:35):
an eighth thrunger on a ten run ladder. So I remember,
even in the spring. I've been up there a couple
of times over the past few months. They never shied
away from this concept that this year we're all in,
kind of what Ohio State sounded like last year when
I visited them in spring. We're all in. We're making
no excuses or apologies about it. We're all in, all right.
So every every external dynamic edge imaginable you have on
(33:00):
that organ game. They got a travel cross country, you
got the buye, you got the experienced roster, they got
newness everywhere you should. You got a way more experienced
than veteran coaching staff. So all of that winde out
you finally got it in primetime. I just felt like
it was such a referendum moment. It's such an inflection
point in time in the James Franklin Penn State era.
And I know, coming out of it, if you really
(33:21):
want to just you know, shred the arguments. You could
say it's just one game. It's just one conference game,
they went to overtime. It's so much more than that.
Anyone pretending otherwise it is just ignorant of Penn State
football and ignorant of the situation. So I think a
whole new timeline started the other night. I said this
on the following night's show. It may sound hyperbolic, but
I'm dead serious about it. I think a whole new
(33:43):
timeline got started. Now here's what we cannot know yet.
We can't know which flavor of timeline it is, because
you could sell me on either of these things being
the case in twenty twenty nine, and I could believe you,
You could sell me number one, Franklin's no longer at
Penn State because that organ game precipitated this really ugly
slip down this slope where eventually neither wanted anything to
(34:05):
do with the other. Maybe they just cut ties, maybe
it got really contentious. But he's not there in a
couple of years. I could see that. I could also
see him believing everything that I'm saying and you're saying
about that game that was the referendum game. This is
where it's going to be the ultimate test of my
way of doing things, the way I've built Penn State.
(34:26):
And I think it was such a reminder that your best,
given your current modus operandi, is not going to be
good enough.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
That's the absolute peak of this version of you of
Penn State football, and it got taken down by probably Oregon,
not even close to ascending to what they will become.
So I could see him driving home that night. I
could see him waking up the next morning just it's
just you and you in the bathroom mirror and saying
(34:53):
to yourself, this is it. Several degrees of change are
needed here here there rigid principles you've never bent on,
you're willing to bend on. Now there's a third rail
where he doesn't know to do any of that, and
it just is what it is. I don't know where
we're going with it, but I sense the same thing
you did, even the portion of the fan base, Like
(35:14):
I've got some Penn State folks on my staff who
were the last holdouts who always sort of shouted down
the radical portion of the fan base when they would
criticize him. Fire James Franklin after a loss, and they
they didn't get overly emotional, which is what I noticed.
They were almost I don't know, they were apathetic afterwards,
and it was kind of a shrug and well, we
(35:36):
know he's never going to be bad enough to fire,
but we were also resigned to the fact that this
is this confirmation we're never going to see the mountaintop.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
When Kaylin de Bor got hired, Greg Byrne text me
after a tweet I said, kind of thank me a
little bit for the perspective I had, because after Kaylan
beat George, I said, you know, the media, myself included
in fans. Success is hard and it doesn't come as
fast as we want, and so it's it's difficult and
(36:13):
it gets people get worked up. And I'm like, Kaylin
Debor was a hard hire. Dan Lanning's from the South,
Dabbo Sweeney was popular. I mean, they're they're Lane Kiffin.
There were a lot of potential hires post Saban. You
could you could have argued they weren't going to get
Sark because Texas money. But you could have gone after
a Lane, a dabble, a Dan Lanning, and he didn't.
(36:35):
He went and got a Midwest guy that was at
Washington three thousand miles away, and it's easy to go, oh,
he's got a great resume. The South is different, the
intensity is different. Some Midwest Western people like Chip Kelly.
One time when they were I think he was offered Florida.
He's like, that's too much. I thought Philadelphia was rough,
but it's too much for me. And Jim McElwain, who
I knew from college, is like, yeah, this is different.
(36:57):
I'm more West, Midwest guy, but I don't. People tend
to think Josh. Everybody knows that if you're Jim Harbaugh
and you go to the Chargers to replace Brandon Staley,
you have to change the culture. It's a disaster. But
people think it's easy when you go to Alabama and
you'll replace save it. Well, you don't have to change
the culture. Well, yes you do. You have to be
authentic to yourself. You have to be author. It doesn't
(37:20):
matter what I replaced Tony Corneiser. He was great. I
still didn't do the same show Tony did, right, I
did a different show, so I had there were elements
of the show you have to change. You have to
change certain things. And that's not a knock, It's just
that's the reality is. I think Alabama was a tougher
job than you think. The pressure is enormous. They were
struggling in the NIL to play to go to the top,
(37:44):
wrong with some Ohio states and Georgia's And when they
won that game, I found myself rooting for Alabama on
that first half. I was like, God, this is good coaching, Jesus,
this is good play calling, this is this is as
big a regular season when including say but in like
five years, I thought it was so significant and they've
(38:04):
beaten Georgia plenty of times. Did you feel it felt
more like that, a more of a beyond just a
win at Georgia, it felt like, Okay, this is the moment.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
I think it's one of the biggest games for the
program this decade. That goes back to Yes. I could
not you cannot overstate the impact. I mean, think about
where we are. We were talking about inflection point with
James Franklin. Okay, different standard at Alabama. They've won their championships,
but it was under the previous guy, new guy, you
don't know really, and go into the alternate universe where
(38:36):
they lose that game and they're coming out of Athens
already a two loss team and you still got the
rest of your conference schedule to go. You probably have
four minimum losses staring you in the face, and what
do you do. You mentioned Greg Byrn, buddy only I
wish you could have seen his face walking off that
field Saturday night. Greg Byrne was the most relieved person
in the entire building. That's the athletic director at Alabama
(38:59):
for those on familiar like because his reputations on the
line with this higher as well. And the thing is,
Greg Burns never doubted for a second that Kaylin de
Boor is made of the right stuff. But you don't
play one hundred and sixty two college football games. So
it just comes down to these moments like these, these
key third downs, and you know a sequence here and
(39:22):
there that's going to determine whether you're a success or
a failure that season. I got to tell you about
Debor when he got there. I use the word ignorant.
Ignorant is not lack of intelligence. Ignorance is sometimes you
haven't experienced something. And I think he was maybe a
little bit ignorant to what you're talking about, the true
Southern football dynamic. Like I think he looked at it.
(39:43):
And I know this because I talked to him about it.
I mean, he just talked about winning principles, and he's right,
the same stuff wins everywhere. It's just the surroundings, the
externals are way different in the South than they are
anywhere not named Ohio State based outside.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
I said that for years, Ohio State's and SEC team
North that's the only one.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, So he got thrown into that, and I just
as much as you're try and wall yourself off from it,
it's really impossible, you cannot wall yourself off from it.
So I got to tell you now, people who have
observed him from the outside may not see this. If
you've been around Kaylan, or even if you're just like
a fan of the program, you follow him closer. He
(40:23):
since that Florida State game earlier this year, has been
like the third verse of lose yourself, the part where
it's just it's no more games. I've been cut. I'm
bleeding all over the place. But I kind of get
it now. I kind of understand, like you get thrown
into the pot and it starts to boil, and it
either consumes you or you adjust and then you thrive
(40:44):
in that environment. That's what I wondered about him, because
I knew this time was coming. It doesn't Saban didn't
avoid it at Alabama, and he may be the greatest
of all time. Urban didn't avoid it at Florida. No
one avoids it. It's do you adapt to it and
thrive in it? Because that's the one or two percent
that are cut out to coach in the SEC in
major college football. And I'm telling you, it's like it's
(41:06):
like putting new keys in the ignition and it's kind
of turned in him. And there's a lot of what
we would call degaffness dgaf neis that he kind of
has about himself that is very indicative of someone who
is now adjusted and who is acclimated to their surroundings.
And basically looked back and said, all right, game on,
(41:26):
if this is how it works down here, game on.
You mentioned the coaching job they did the other night, Buddy,
that's an NFL coaching staff on that offensive side of
the ball. I think got I mean, Ryan Grubb literally
came there when it didn't work out in Seattle, but
they they worked Georgia's defensive staff pretty thoroughly. And think
about the sentence that just came out of my mouth,
because you don't really say that about anyone. And so
(41:48):
now you know their reward is they get to play
Vandy this week. And what stood out to me the most,
and I can't believe this is a sentence coming out
of my mouth either, to just give you an idea
of how that program's wired right now, off the field
in Athens, huge win, and they're no more headed into
the locker room than half the locker rooms talking about
(42:08):
the Vandy game. Half of them are in the locker room,
they're in Sanford Stadium. They're already looking ahead to the
Vandy game. Because that was the cattle pride to their
neck last year that they never fully recovered from. So
as much as the public circle at Georgia game, they
were already well aware before they left the building of
what's next week, Diego Pavia coming in there next week,
(42:30):
their super Bowl last year. All right, they come into
our building, college game days going to be there. So
it was an eye opener to me because I hadn't
I hadn't been to a BAMA game this year in person,
so I hadn't been around them in person. Yeah, I
think that FSU game did something to them and it
may end up being the biggest blessing they could ever
suffer from, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Yeah. When I worked in Tampa for two years, I
really learned because I love college football, but i'd grown
up around Oregon. Washington was a great program, and I
Kevin O'Connell was a photographer. He's still employee at at
WTVT I think it is Channel thirteen, And we went
to do a story on like Tuesday or Wednesday. Spurry
(43:12):
Or was the coach of Florida, and we went down
there and there were already fans parked in the parking.
It was Wednesday, and I'm like, I go to Husky
games like Friday night, maybe late Friday afternoon. You'd show
up at Husky Stadium. They were there Wednesday, and they'd
been there. I mean they had the they had their
(43:34):
you know, they're cooking utensils out. They were sitting in
the chairs playing you know, poker, and I'm like, wow,
that's different. And then the funny thing is i remember
listening to Southern smaller market radio and I'm like, bro,
it is is March and that's all they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Like, yeah, you got it. It's you gotta live it.
You have to have experienced it. Because the first job
I ever got on air was fifteen eighty is wiol
in Columbus, Georgia, and it's in the heart. It's right there. Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, FSU, Florida, Clemson,
South Carolina. The most underrated market in the South. It's
like market one pint thirty something in the country. But
(44:16):
in the South, if you want to talk college football,
it's great. And you could take a random Wednesday in June.
NBA Finals could be going on, it doesn't matter. We're
talking about the right side of the offensive line, not
the one deep Colin. We're talking about rotational pieces over there,
and we're talking about do we really think this juco
kid from Pearl River, Mississippi is really going to be
(44:39):
able to shine there? And it's just so intense you
could back off, You can just shut up and let
guys go for ten minutes, and they're as worst on
it as they would be their own children and their
own family and their own financial situation. It's really amazing
Speaker 2 (44:54):
The volume
Host
Colin Cowherd
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