November 15, 2025 • 55 mins
Colin’s top takes of the week.
First, he’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down all the NFL action.
They start with the Rams and Matthew Stafford's incredible play at QB and why the 49ers could be mired in a QB controversy between Mac Jones and Brock Purdy (3:15). They laud the steady improvement of Caleb Williams and the Bears (1:00), and wonder if the Bills could be searching for a head coach in the offseason after a brutal loss to the Dolphins (25:00). They also point to the Seahawks roster as potentially being the best in the league and can’t identify one weakness (30:45).
Then, Colin is joined by Josh Pate to react to the latest in college football. They start off talking about Fernando Mendoza's game winning drive for Indiana against Penn State. Was that Mendoza's Heisman moment and how will that impact Indiana's season going forward (39:00)? They talk about the job Kalen DeBoer has done at Alabama taking over for Nick Saban (48:00) and debate whether Lane Kiffin could leave Ole Miss for the NFL (56:00).
All lines provided by hardrock.bet
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)
Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!
#Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
I'm a football fan for a long time, since the seventies.
I don't watch football without something to eat and drink.
Trust me, it's a whole different ballgame when you're eating.
Right now, I got two things today from Uber Eats.
Right now. When you buy one large extra most BESTUS
Pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars like this one, you get
another one free. By the way, one of these has
(00:24):
already been eaten like me and my wife fifteen minutes ago. Yes,
that's right, an extra extra most bestest pizza thrown in there,
extra cheese, extra pepperoni, all for the price of just one.
And since Uber each is the official on demand food
delivery partner of the NFL, you know all the gamed
ideals keep coming all season long. Wings and tacos and
(00:46):
subs and pizzas, chips and dips, whatever whatever it is.
Uber Eats delivers right to your door. So when your
team puts up the extra point, reward yourself with an
extra pizza order Little Caesars on Uber Eats today. We
did the terms apply see the app for details. Pizza, pizza,
extra extra, something's going on here, all right, We're ready
(01:08):
for an hour plus. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, has
his own podcasts three and Out. It is Sunday. There's
a lot to talk about. Listen, Let's let's start with
a non competitive game. Rams forty two, Niners twenty. It's
just amazing. The Rams are the least penalized team in
the league. No penalties in this This is one of
(01:30):
those things when I used to cover the Patriots, right,
I was when I was on the East Coast. They
went years and I was always like, nobody fumbles for
New England and I used to tell friends, I'm like,
is it a stickham thing? People would field on the ball?
An they're well coached the Rams for the second year
of the least penalized team, you go into a heated
(01:52):
rivalry game, no penalties, no turnovers. My take is obviously
the Niners were all banged up, but it is so efficient.
You can see the coaching with the Rams. That's what
I feel like.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, I mean the forty nine ers, their defense is
a mass unit. But when you play a mass unit
and you're a good team, you score in every drive
and that's essentially what the Rams did. And Stafford is
a dominant player, right now. I mean, he's a legitimate
He's probably had some years. I have to really dive in,
but this feels like his highest level of play consistently
week in week out, especially when you factor in his age.
(02:29):
Remember McVeigh all offseason said, listen, we value what because
of our money situation, we are underpaying Matt Stafford and
we know it. They approach this offseason with him much
different than they did years ago with the golf situation.
They were just transparent about it. They're like, we know
we technically have to underpay him. We know he's better
than what we're He's maying forty million dollars a year.
(02:50):
I mean, Trevor Lawrence makes more than him, right, Tua
makes more than him, Perty makes more than him. So
he is Pukah is an incredible talent and and him
have that. He has like a Rogers level rapport with.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Him immediately immediately he had no training camp. I mean,
give me a break.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, well yeah, I forgot about that because the back
didn't work. So you try they are. It feels like
we're on a collision course right now. We're recording this
obviously before the Monday night game, so we'll see the
Eagles and the Packers. But I would say the Rams
in Seattle look like they're playing at a really high level.
The forty nine ers offense actually is playing at a
really high level. It's just defense that they're rolling out
(03:28):
me and you, and they got no chance to stop
a good team.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I was gonna say, if you looked at the box
score and didn't look at the score and watch the game, Niners,
move the ball. I'll say this about Mac Jones. You know,
Mac Jones is a big, sturdy kid. I think he
throws a really nice ball. He's not super athletic, but
like I get when I watch him, like I get
why he was a great high school college and a
(03:53):
pro bowler. Like Mac throws a real ball. He makes
good decisions, tight spiral. You know, he moved out and
threw a touchdown pass, you know, scrambling to a tight end.
It's like I would have no problem as a bridge
quarterback for a couple of years going with Mac Jones
if I was an NFLGM or a coach. He's one
(04:14):
of the better bridge guys in a law and to
me in a while.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I'd even argue he's probably better than that. You know, Like,
clearly you watch Sam Darnold, his physical traits are that
of a guy that was drafted really high in any draft.
Quarterback inflation are back in the nineties. Mac doesn't have
those physical attributes. But he's an NFL starting quarterback. But
he's on a two year contract. Count did you see
the clip with Brady when they asked him on the
(04:38):
pregame show about you know Mac Jones and he said, well,
once upon a time, you know, you can't not go
to Mac Jones the way he's playing. And I found
myself in a situation a long time ago, and I
look at me now, I'm probably not here if I wasn't,
and I just went. I actually don't think it's that
controversial to say Pretty's tow doesn't work. He can't even
dress for games. Mac Jones is the quarterback for the
(05:02):
entire season. Like, I don't expect Perdy to play, and
if he does, he'll immediately just reinjure his toe. That's
what happened LT. That's the injury he has. He's got
a unique injury. It's not one of those things that
just heals. He's never gonna be one hundred percent. So
if he's compromised. Mac Jones is keep playing to me,
Mac Jones plays the rest of the season. And you know,
the crazy thing is, Colin, we're not that far away
(05:23):
from the Bears and the forty nine. Ers play in
about four or five weeks, and that could potentially be
for the seventh seed. Now the Niners, they play the Cards,
the Titans, the Browns. Remember we talked about at the
beginning of the season, the Patriots and the Niners. There's
the Bear schedule gets a little more difficult, Packers a
couple of times, the Steelers, even the Vikings, I think
next week in Minnesota, so the Niners, but they all
(05:46):
they play each other. So if the Bears can just
kind of hold serve, we could have a pseudo, you know,
December playoff game for that seventh seed Niners Bears, which
would be pretty fun. It'd be I'm also the Mac
Jones thing. Let's say you could trade him this offseason.
I think he's too valuable to the forty nine. He
makes no money, He's on a two year, seven million
dollar contract, and perty is, let's face it, he ripped
(06:07):
up his arm. Granted that was the last game of
the season, but if that happens in October. He missed
the season this year. I mean, onces he goain to
end up playing two or three games. Mac Jones value
to the forty nine ers, I'd argue, is more valuable
unless you're getting like a first round pick, which you're
probably not. I'm not giving them away. I'm just holding
him for the next this year, next year until perty
proves that he can stay on the field.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Oh and the Niners will get calls on Matt Jones.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And they'll say and Kyle, Kyle's been open about it.
He wanted to take him, and then I think as
the process went on, he kind of went to the
guy with in quotes more upside. But there's no way
Kyle does like him. Now. You know he's well today,
he's just slink. He didn't have incompletions, I mean hitting
guys on the hill, and beside Kittle and McCaffrey, there's
a lot of DeMarcus Robinson's and Kendrick Bourne. He's not
(06:51):
throwing to Jerry Rice and John Taylor out there.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Colin no, no, I mean I'm impressed with mac Jones.
And the other thing we saw in the late window
when raw usters get depleted, which they do November on
elite quarterbacks Golf Stafford and look at the way late
window Darnald blowout wins when you have a b quarterback
(07:15):
and Mac, I'm telling you max If Max a backup,
he's the best backup in the league. To me, he's
a he's a bridge or a franchise guy. And he
struggled to compete today. So what you saw in the
late window, this is something I've been on now for years. John.
The bottom of the NFL by November looks like the
bottom of the NBA. It's unwatchable because the league is
so quarterback dependent when if you don't have a star quarterback,
(07:40):
because everybody's I mean the Rams are lucky, they don't
get penalties, they don't get hurt. I mean, nobody's hurt,
Buy and large. Everybody's banged up right now. Everybody's dinged up.
The Packers are dinged up, the Niners are dinged up.
You know, it's just the way the league is. It
really helps to have a horse quarterback. And you saw
it today. So you know, Rams in a blowout win
(08:02):
forty to twenty six as we went on the air,
and that game wasn't quite done. I want to talk
about the Bears for a second. So Chicago beats New
York twenty four to twenty and so it was Kayleb
Williams and Jackson Dart, and Jackson Dart out played him
for the first three quarters. But there is something I've
said this about Kayleb Williams multiple times. John he doesn't
(08:24):
get hurt and he doesn't throw interceptions. Jackson Dart gets
hurt a lot, and he'll throw picks. Now Jackson, I
thought he plays with a ton of confidence. He throws
a nice ball. Jackson played really really well. He had
a couple of touchdown runs. One was a twenty four
yard run. It was a big time run. Both those
quarterbacks can really way above average movement, way above average.
(08:44):
Now again, Caleb had a great fourth quarter. But when
I watched the game, and you have to watch the
whole game, there's becoming an issue with Jackson Dart. He's
blue tenttonent. He's getting banged up a lot. This is
my brock Purty thing. If you're a little smaller or
you play with a lot of confidence. Baker Mayfield used
to do that. First couple of years. He played with
(09:05):
more confidence than he should have. Somebody would pick him off.
He'd square them up. It's like, bro, you're a quarterback,
You're not a free safety.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Would it worry you?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The Jackson Dart concussion today, the constant blue tent visits
and the injuries.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I think it worries me. With all these young quarterbacks,
they all have a style. You know, I would say
Caleb Williams style is the same thing. He's just built
more like a like a tank. They all scramble around
and run around. I mean, Jaden Daniels nowhere to be found.
Where did he get hurt running? You know? I mean
this is the new age. We watch football every Saturday
for four plus months and it's fantastic. But they're all
(09:43):
moving around. So back in the day, Peyton Manning, Tom
Brady one, all those guys are huge. The quarterbacks now
are smaller. I mean they're definitely smaller, but they move around.
To me, the Jackson Dart the play that he got
injured on, the one that he fumbled, it was like
a quarterback power which had worked earlier in the game.
So when you're calling those plays and the guy's name's
(10:04):
not Cam Newton, you know this is the NFL. You
know he got rocked by like three guys, And I
mean there were a lot of plays. The strength of
Caleb was on full display today. How many sacks did
you break out of? I actually think there's an element
that it's like, I'm not gonna sound critical, but he
almost throws too hard. There were so many balls that
(10:25):
were dropped by those guys throughout the game. It's probably
you know you're there, right, how cold is it in Chicago?
You probably can't feel your hands. Balls are probably I
bet some of those guys are gonna wake up in
the morning with sore hands. But on the balls where
Jackson Dart was completing him, it was more rollout lobs.
It's hard to complete. The Brett farv Farvest players used
to talk about this in Green Bay, like it is
hard to yes in December and November, and I just thought, like,
(10:50):
it's not that Rome is a bad player, but you
catch that. I would say Caleb Williams has right now
as strong of an arm as anyone. In the end,
he led a couple rip today where you're is like,
that's Josh Allen, if not stronger, it was Jesus.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
How about he rolled right?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I was impressed. I've been hard on him. I thought
I was impressed today with how he played in the
weather too.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
He rolled right. He threw a ball to Dj Moore
in the end zone. He caught it, but he was
out of bounds. John. It was forty yards. I swear
to god, it was a line drive to left field.
It was about as high as the shortstop. It was
a freaking rope in a windy, cold environment, and DJ Moore,
to his credit, caught it, but it was out of bounds.
His the word I always use with Caleb, and I'd
(11:33):
never used it with any quarterback before, is just horsepower.
He is a V eight. I mean it is he is.
And here's the air thing. The knock on him Caleb
is he holds the ball too long. But I was
thinking about this today. He doesn't throw picks, so in
his mind is yeah, I'm gonna hold it longer than
other guys because my escapability outside of Lamar Jackson is
(11:53):
probably second best in the league. So first of all,
I'm stronger than Lamar Jackson. So if I do get hit,
I mean he rolls.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You can't if your breaks like a younger Russ Wisley.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, or big ben where a defensive player gets on
his shoulder and he just brushes him off. So I
think a lot of him holding the ball is I
just trust that I'm going to escape. And you know,
I watched it a couple of times today. When he
had that big run down the sideline, I'm like, if
he was a running back, you wouldn't want to size
him up if you were a safety.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I mean, he's a big dude.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I remember we did this maybe like week two and one.
Thing that jumped out to me, you know, because last
year their games were just so I mean they had
what like a ten game losing streak. I mean, they
didn't matter bad. You watch him this year. He is
way more athletic than I think people thought coming out. Also,
you know, when you're judging him against Arizona and Arizona
State and Colorado right in college, you see him against
(12:47):
these NFL guys, He's running faster than them. Now. You know,
I'm not saying he's Lamar Jackson in the open field,
but he is way faster than I expected.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I thought he kind of won them the game down
the strets today. He may he did play after a
huge play four It flipped when dark gets hurt. Russell Wilson,
who's just man, it's hard to come in in a
game where it's freezing cold, but god.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
He looks terrible.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So Caleb's fourth game winning drive in six weeks. And
my whole life, I have watched the Bears lose games
like they're winning. And this, by the way, it's different.
Denver's winning. But the quarterback plays awful. The quarterback play
with Chicago's wildly dynamic. And what's interesting, Caleb's gotten better
(13:34):
late in games. He may not be as good on
the script that he was in the first four weeks.
Like now he's doing stuff on his own. And I
mean right now this season, in the fourth day, he
had seventy seven yards passing, a passing touchdown, one hundred
and nine passer rating, fifty two yards rushing, and a
rushing touchdown. Okay, and again that's not the script, that's
(13:59):
the opposite of script. Those were crucial drives to win
the game with a ton of pressure. Yeah, I think, well, I.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I think he's a hit.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I listen, winning games is like today I watched the
Colts ough, God drove me crazy. They won the game.
This is that's why with analytics. Sometimes I'm like, I'm
gonna get points sometimes not the touchdown. I need to
win the game so we all keep our mortgage right.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, well, to me, the Bears game, if that had
been a probably its priority in Chicago. But let's say
it's a seventy five degree November early November game. You know,
perfect weather, let's even say like sixty. I like, well,
the Giants are terrible when it's freezing cold. That makes
the game very difficult. I don't care who you're playing.
I'm sure you saw some of that Wisconsin. You know,
(14:45):
Washington game. I owe an Oregon game. It is hard
to play in those environments. No one can feel their hands,
hard to breathe. I have way more respect, Like I
don't judge scores. You know you're not gonna hit many
explosive plays in the passing game. What is all? But
you know, if you go back and I saw it
firsthand because they played the Niners when Lafour got there
and they resurrected Rogers' career, they were playing these home
(15:08):
games in Green Bay. It's freezing cold, so your vaunted
pass attack does not work as well. And you know,
University of Washington has one of the best wide receivers
in the league, one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
They could not operate. They have a great offense, it
doesn't function. Or you know, Oregon has NFL players everywhere,
they couldn't come function. So it's like, I just go, hey,
(15:29):
if you got to win a game thirteen to ten,
I actually think and it's an awesome Listen, if you're
a Bears fan, you apologize that nobody about winning games.
After the last the Giants, this thing I defended probably
three or four weeks ago. I'm like, listen, he went
all in on this quarterback. He was right, right, I mean,
there is if you just pull gms right now, I
(15:50):
think thirty two of them would take Jackson Dart over
cam Ward today. Now their careers aren't written, but today
Brian Daboll was right about the quarterback he liked. Problem
is his team. I mean that's I think I read
the Day of stat that that's his fourth game in
which he had a second half lead of ten plus
points and obviously he's had now multiple double digit leads
(16:11):
in the fourth quarter in which they employed I mean
today he kicked the field goal they had twelve men
on the field, but Russell's in the game, not Dart.
He declines the penalty and takes the points instead of
just getting the first down because and listen, I thought like, hey,
you don't want to risk fumbling. You're up twenty to ten.
How are the Bears going to score? But then it
bit him in the ass. And there were reports, you know,
(16:31):
local radio people have connections to ownership that said the
ownership was close after the Denver Bronco game. And this feels,
you know, you're up twenty to ten, you're cruising. Maybe
they give him a little break because darts in the tent.
But man's it's hard to it's hard to kind of
fend off the arrows, Colin, when you keep having these
devastating losses.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, it's nothing on these New York football teams. It's
just it's just it's a football swamp. Like I think
people just go to drown in these places.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I think didn't have one hundred yards today total and
they won. Didn't total running, hand passing.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That's so bad, all right. Today's show is brought to
you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. They're
a great partner on Hard rock Bet. There's always something
to bet on. If you haven't tried your first bet
on hard rock bet yet, there's still time for you
to get one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets
if you win. Just place a five dollars bet. That's
five bucks. If it hits, you not only get your winnings,
(17:33):
but you get one hundred and fifty dollars in extra
bonus bets. The NBA is back, which means it's time
to shoot your shot on hard rock Bet your home
for all the hoops action all season long. If you
need little help with your first bet, check out the
streaks heating up inside the hard Rock bet stats Hub.
You can find live odds to bet on all of
these streaks right in the hard rock Bet app. Download
(17:57):
the hard Rock Bet app today and make first deposit
payable and bonus betts not a cash offer offered by
the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In Florida, offered by Seminole
hard Rock Digital LLC and Alder States, must be twenty
one plus and physically president in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and
conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call one eighty eight.
(18:19):
Admit it in Indiana. If you are somebody you know
as a problem wants help, call one eight hundred and
nine with it. Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. This week's Crunch Time performer,
brought to you by McDonald's New Buffalo Ranch Sauce, is
Jonathan Taylor. Wow was he great? Went to Berlin, carried
(18:39):
the Colts on his back two hundred and forty four
rushing yards, three touchdowns, and the Colts wild come from
behind overtime went over the Falcons. Taylor's performance was satisfying,
just like the first bight of the Bacon Creamy Buffalo
MA Crispy Miami thirty Buffalo thirteen. It was sixteen nothing
(19:03):
Dolphins at half. An interesting number is Josh Allen had
three point five to three seconds to throw. That's his
highest since twenty eighteen. Nobody's open, so they didn't make
a big move at the trade deadline, and I think
everybody thought they should probably add a piece because Kansas
City's defense but they had ninety yards at half. They
(19:26):
didn't have they didn't pick up a first down on
third in the first half. And this is a Miami
team we thought quit three weeks ago. We always talk
about quarterbacks. You get until the second year, Thanksgiving, second year.
I think we've just got to be brutally honest with
Sean McDermott here. It's not just Kansas City. There's just
(19:50):
too many games where you're just like, I mean, Buffalo
should never look like that. Ever, they should never look
like that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I understand in college when you have a two top
ten teams play each other, and then the following week
you're playing a two win team and you're tied at halftime,
Like these are nineteen year old guys. This is a
team that's now for the last five years been one
of the top what two or three teams in the
entire league.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
And they've got older players here. I mean, they've got
a lot of twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine year olds.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
The coach has been there, I think since twenty seventeen.
Josh has now been the starter for a long time.
It's not just on Sean, it's also you know, the quarterback.
You know Peyton Manning, Tom Brady. They take a lot
of that responsibility as well. So today was embarrassing. I
mean it truly well it was. It should have been
fourteen nothing. I think the kicker missed an extra point.
It was fourteen nothing or thirteen nothing for you even
(20:42):
blinked two had a couple. He threw a beautiful touchdown
pass to Jalen Waddle, yes, and it was like, okay,
fourteen nothing or thirteen nothing. Bill starts slow. I've seen
them happen and then ended up winning thirty five to
twenty or something, and they never got out of the
malaise and it started raining. It was probably human and
they just look lifeless. Josh threw one of the worst
(21:03):
interceptions I've ever seen him throw. I don't know if
he's on the wrong page with the wider You just
threw it right to the wide receipt or to the cornerback.
They had an awful fumble early in the game when
they were driving. They just looked lost. And that's the
type game when your main rival, now who's back, is
winning and now has a lead, kind of a commanding
(21:23):
lead because they already beat you and their scheduled so
easy so they're not going away. Andy, you just look
big picture, this is going to be the worst team
of the Verbel Era for the next couple of years
when you factor in how young it is. Right, you
just listened to a couple of guys that just started
playing their left tackle. It's his rookie year. Their quarterback
is his second year. This is the first year of
the coaching staffs together. So like their ros pointing up,
(21:45):
and I think it kind of reflects that the Bills
can really get up for the Chiefs. And for whatever reason,
I remember hearing like Houston Rockets, maybe because Kenny Smith say,
you know, the sad part is right when we got
good Jordan retired. They could never stop a keep and
we always played the Bulls well and if we ever
saw them, we would have stopped that streak because they
would have had no shot because they had no center.
(22:05):
We were a team that we played them really well.
And some in basketball it happens a lot, right, your
matchup football kind of happens sometimes, but if you're good
enough whatever, for whatever reason, the Bills match up because
their pass rush is good. They treat that game in
the regular season like the Super Bowl. They just look
like the best team in the league when they play
the Chiefs, yep, before and after then they look much
more pedestrian. Today though, was I don't know. I mean,
(22:29):
I felt like it was one of the more embarrassing
performances of the Allen Sean McDermott little air or I
think it may be the most.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I thought maybe they lost a few years ago at
home on the opener to the Steelers and they were
a favorite, and I was like, what in the hell
is that? I thought that game against the Saints this
year it was competitive. I was like, Oh, what would
bother me today? Is that Miami in the first half
average six and a half yards to play. So in
(22:57):
my take is it would be one thing if the
offence sputtered your defensive coach, John, I've been on this forever.
What do you do with your side of the ball?
That wasn't just Josh Allen like that defense had no energy.
That defense, I mean it just they generated this incredible
pass rush against Kansas City and really, I mean two
(23:18):
is one of the easiest guys to rush in the league,
and he had time to throw. They ran the ball.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Is in New England? Are you taking New England. As
we said here today, do you think New England.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
New England's got the better coach. I think New England
and now with Williams and Trayvon Henderson, it's like, oh,
I feel like New England now is on the up,
like they're an AS sending team. I don't think Buffalo is.
I mean, we forget before that Kansas City game, I
mean we'd seen them Buffalo go to Atlanta and get worked.
(23:53):
I mean, they've had that Saints game they want at
home was troubling, Like they've had a lot of Somebody
told me this in the league at the beginning of
the year. They said, Buffalo doesn't have nearly the roster
people give it credit for. They're like James Cook, Josh
Allen Oliver, the defensive lineman, who's like, who's hurt. They're like,
(24:15):
you know, Dawkins the left tackle. I was talking to
it an executive league and he's like, you know, he
goes the better rosters or the Rams and the Eagles
and the Lions and the Packers, and Kansas City's like Ravens.
He's like, Buffalo's roster's not that good. Josh left tackle, quarterback,
running back, interior d Lineman. That's why they went and
(24:36):
got Bosa. I mean, they've drafted a lot, a lot
of draft capital on their defense. That's why they went
and got Bosa, who played well against you know, Kansas City,
Seattle forty four, Arizona twenty two. It was thirty five nothing,
So you know, it's just impossible to keep that up.
And Darnold had a couple of just like funny like
bizarre turnovers that ball bounces off a tight ends helmet.
(25:00):
You know, I'm gonna throw this to you. I got
Pete Carroll and John Snyder. You know this battled. They battled,
and there was a little tug of war on Pete's
kid and John Snyder. And I'm not going to go
into too many details, but Pete and John John almost
(25:22):
left for Detroit, remember that years ago because he wanted
his final say. Well, since Pete's been out of the building,
John Snyder's two drafts have been a plus, a plus
he is now doing and I think John Jason Light,
Howie Roseman, how he's a deal maker. I'm not sure
there's many guys better than John Snyder at just personnel
college personnel drafting it there's not a lot of guys better. Again,
(25:46):
I think Jason light and Tampa's are really good. That's
Seattle roster. I wrote this down young, fast, physical. You
can turn the sound down. John against Washington and against Arizona,
it looks like a college mismatch. They are so fast,
they are so physical. Donald's in total control of the offense.
(26:11):
Play action, run game, deep game. I don't see the whole.
I really don't see the whole with this team. They
drafted that safety. That kid's a banger of the South
Carolina safety. I don't see the weakness with a team.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I think the point of difference they have that obviously
play the Rams is upcoming week, which is an incredible game,
is their dbs are good and the Rams aren't. I
think that's the difference because the offenses are both elite.
Pass rushes are awesome. Coaching staff's high end. If you
and me were the NFL, like in college, how they
have the College Football Committee and he rank them one
through twelve. I would rank Seattle after this week number one.
(26:48):
They would be my number one team, and you just
if you just watch them without the sound on. Obviously today,
but over the last couple of weeks, the team speed
in which they had. I think the the Lob team
with Pete was probably the most physical team I've ever
seen live. I do think the fastest team I've ever
(27:08):
seen live is the Peyton Manning Denver Broncos. Their defense,
every single guy could run fast defensive lot. It was
DeMarcus Ware, von Miller, Wolf, Malik Jackson, Trevathan they had
a key to leap, but their speed and physicality was
just I've never seen anything, and I've saw him live
a bunch of times. This team has some similarities to
those two teams who are kind of taken the league
(27:30):
by storm. Every guy, I mean, like you said, em
and Worry he's like six. He is their potential Kyle Hamilton.
But they already had some good dbs right they drafted
the kid Witherspoon from Illinois. They already had Woolan. Obviously,
their their linebacker play is fast. Once they got Ernest Jones,
they're they're head coach. I mean, we talked so much,
(27:50):
and rightfully so about these offensive coaches. He's got a
chance to be pretty special. His demeanor, he has a
very modern demeanor, you know, like when you watch Vrabel.
Rabel is not the throwback of like what I grew
up on guys screaming he doesn't he's not is maybe
he's a players coach. Yeah, when the doors are shut.
I think he's on him in the meetings. But on
(28:10):
the sideline, he's very common collected. I would say, Mike McDonald.
It almost feels like is he on a couple of
zanies or something like it?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Show?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But he he there's no he because he knows like
he is. He is very common. His team reflects that.
And I would say this their personnel move of trading
Gino and signing Sam has got a chance to be
an all timer. I mean that's got a chance to
be because they didn't give Sam. I mean he's gonna
end up probably. I mean he's not going anywhere for
a while. They gave him one hundred million dollars over
(28:39):
three years. I mean it's relative to the other contracts
we've seen Colin around five million guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
So the salary, the cap hit is just nothing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
JSN looks like Jerry Rice. I knew the guy was good,
but this year he is. It's like Pooka by the way,
right when but now this guy was we knew more
about Jsn Than pooka Ohio State and first round pick.
But you knew after a couple of weeks Puka was
a rookie, Like is this real? And then it just
never stopped. You know jas N like, is he really
this good? In every single week? It's like he's unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
And Jaysen was like a five star recruit first round
I think it was a first round receiver. I think yeah,
the only question was is he a one? Everybody knew
it was really good. Now you're like, yeah, he's just
contested catches speed. Then they go get Rashid's heat from
New Orleans and you know that he now has the
(29:32):
offensive coordinator that he had in New Orleans. Now he's
in Seattle again. This is a big play offense. What
I like about Seattle they can grind you down. If
they have a lead, they can run the football up
they have a lead. They're a big play offense. They
can play from behind. You know, I'm just I'm writing
this down throughout the course of the game. Jasn first
(29:53):
receiver to one thousand. It's not that weird with Seattle
where they averaged six and a half to seven yard
to play like it happens regularly, and there is something
to be said of trusting your eyes. I think this
is now even more than Mike McDonald. I think it's
John Snyder's organization. And I've texted Snyder a couple of times.
(30:18):
He travels. I mean he's at every weekend. He is
a you got to go to these games. Like they
always say, to sell a company, you have to take
a thousand meetings. John Snyder's on a plane every weekend.
He doesn't scout off the TV or film. He wants
to go to the games. And I mean they're just
when I watch them play. I'm like, when you're a
(30:40):
big playoffense and your quarterback has mobility, so you can
go down the field. The quarterback, you can move the pocket,
you can grind people with a lead. You know, it's
like Detroit if GoF had mobility, and that's the whole
Like GoF doesn't, but Detroit's a big playoffense and can
grind you down. Just think of Detroit's offense and then
if Jared Goff could move, you'd be like, shit, what
(31:03):
do you do? But we've seen Detroit do that for
three years. I think Seattle, like if you don't pay
attention like we do. Obviously, people that do this for
a living shit, man, they're they're embarrassing teams these How
often do you get a thirty five nothing lead in
the first half of a pro football game?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And Arizona had been playing well, even their records not
that great, they have been in every single game they
played this year. A week ago they easily could be
you know, coming into this game, they could have been
six and three. I would say the thing with John Schneider,
when you think about we talk about offensive coaches, You're like,
if JJ can't play for Kevin O'Connell, that's a JJ issue,
not a Kevin issue, Right, If you can't play for
(31:43):
Kyle Shanahan, that's a you issue because and and that
skill is why those guys are going to be paid
at the top of the market until they retire from
the NFL. John Schneider start, he was the guy that
pounded the table for peak against Pete Carroll for Brussell
Wilson and ultimately got him to relent and draft him. Obviously,
that changed the course of their franchise when they pivoted
off Russell, and remember John wanted to do it earlier.
(32:05):
Try to trade him to the Cleveland Browns so he
could draft Josh Allen. That's what he was gonna take.
Then he trades for Gino or he gets Gino as
the backup, and they were cool with like, I think
we can handle this for a little bit, and he
was right. Gino was actually and they got Drew Locke.
Remember they won a Monday night football game against the
Eagles with Drew lock who is the worst of this
whole group. And then he pivots to Sam Darnold. Like
(32:25):
I would say, as a quarterback evaluator, John schniders as
good as it gets from a GM perspective. And if
that's going to be the guy that you're going to
invest most of your money into as a franchise, his skill,
let alone his ability to build the team, it's I mean,
this is now like how many different iterations of the team,
the lob team. Remember then they transitioned in the late
twenty tens. They were still good, you know, they weren't
(32:49):
they weren't going to Super Bowls, but they were never
They didn't have four win seasons, they were winning nine
to eleven games. And now, I mean, what do they
look like to you? A fourteen win team. I mean,
who's there if Devine to Adams who kind of hurt
his back at the end of the game. We have
to monitor that throughout the week. I like see. I
think that's gonna be a tough way.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Tough, sharpest young boys in college football. Josh Paate. I
love having him on. I got to tell you, through
the years, when I talked to most of my sources
aren't players or coaches. They've always been executives. Because I
probably absurdly of Oa's fashion myself is if I didn't
do this, I'd want to be a GM, not a coach,
(33:29):
not a player. I like all the architecture of building stuff,
and when you talk to them about players. I remember
when Josh Allen came out of Wyoming and I would
talk to gms and they're like, Okay, did you see
the throw against You know it wasn't against Oregon or Iowa.
There's a throw and it was. It's remarkable how often
(33:49):
it's a play, a moment, a drive and a scout
goes Okay. The Penn State game for Sam Darnold at
the Rose Bowl, that's the one everybody went, whoa, whoa,
this is? This is different Fernando Mendoza. So first of all,
he was going to go to Yale. He settled on
col So the kids obviously in Indiana's a good school.
So we know he's got brain power. We know he's
(34:11):
six five, we know all that stuff. That last drive
on the road, Penn State couldn't run face. The defense
made three throws, the one in the back of the
end zone. Like I'm like, Okay, that's a Sunday player.
That's not normal. That's Herbert at Oregon, you know, carrying
(34:32):
average people around him. Not average, but cause I think
I think Indiana's got good players. They don't have Ohio
State guys. Maybe, But I watched that drive and I'm like, oh,
he has to come out. That's the number one player
in college football. I don't care about Ohio State's linebackers
and corners. That's the impression it had on me. It
was just sitting on the couch going, oh my god,
(34:52):
this looks like Sunday. What was your takeaway on it?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I thought it was there are very few moments like this,
But I was watching it in an airport. First off,
seeing a big sporting moment, seeing a big football moment
in an airport. It's always unique because it's really a
unique setting and you're not there often if you cover
the game. So that was Number one, was just to
take away of how surreal it is that, Wow, the
(35:16):
entire world's fixated on Indiana football in this moment. I
thought it was one of those moments where you see
someone come of age, like you know someone's got potential
and then all of a sudden, it just happens. Right,
And sometimes it's just a moment, Like sometimes guys just
hit a lucky shot or make a lucky throat, but
it's rare. You don't get lucky three times like that
(35:37):
on the same drive. It's something that's in you. It's
potential you have, and it's not that he hasn't shown flashes.
If you're paying attention to college football, right, you knew
about him. If you're paying attention to the Mott drafts,
you know about him. But you've been waiting for that. Okay, So,
like you were talking about scouting there, I've always sort
of disagreed with the approach of boiling down a player
(35:58):
in your mind to like highlight culture, like I think
of one or two grows. I've always wanted to shave
the best and the worst off and take what's in
the middle, and that's the player. And that's hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of plays. But with Mendoza, he's lesser
known to the general public. You just I guarantee you
there's a whole army of college football fans out there
that know the name Fernando Mendoza and they know he's
(36:20):
the quarterback in Indiana. They probably hadn't even watched him
a whole lot. That was when they saw him, and
that that matters for your Heisman crowd, But that also
matters for that locker room. It's one thing to go
in there and win thirty eight to ten like A
and M just went and took care of Missouri and
Marcel Reid didn't have to do on that Saturday what
Fernando Mendoza did. And I just could not help. But
(36:42):
in the moments afterwards, go back to Oregon. Last year,
Oregon just goes wire to wire undefeated. Yeah, that one,
like close games early before they got their act together
and they go undefeated and they're totally clean, and they
go in the playoff first round by and then they
get Ohio State and they just get drug and that
was the first time and they really tasted their blood,
and Indiana looked like they were on a trajectory to
(37:04):
maybe do that, and instead they didn't have to suffer
the consequences of loss, but they dealt with something. They
dealt with having a crawl over broken glass to get
a win. And I mean, I'm never going to be
in a major college football locker room as a player,
but I cannot imagine what that flight home was like.
I can't imagine what it's like to look in the mirror.
Man as him, Just look in the mirror. Everyone's been
(37:24):
talking you up. But sometimes there can be a little
imposter syndrome, there can be a little self doubt. There
can be none of that with him anymore. It was
amazing to watch.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Yeah, great second half. Penn State marched up and down
the field with their backup quarterback over and over and over,
and you were like, oh my, we got, we got.
I almost tweeted, who's your daddy? I was so close
to the play on words. I was like, we're gonna,
We're gonna get an upset. And then he took that
ball and I was just like, wow, that's impressive. You know,
(37:54):
the this weekend. Oklahoma Bama. I like Bama, Iowa, USC
take the points. I think it's twenty seven twenty six
either way. Iowa was a tough matchup on USC, Texas, Georgia.
I'll take Georgia. I want to talk about Kaylen de Bor.
(38:15):
That's all I want to talk about. So I said,
when Saban left and Kaylen de Bor took over, I said,
that's the greatest handoff in the history of college football. Generally,
you give it to somebody on the staff because that's
what the players want. It doesn't work where you bring
in somebody and the culture doesn't work. He's just a
winning guy and Kaylen de boor Sioux falls, Fresno State,
(38:41):
but Washington he was twenty five and three people assumed, well,
it's Bama. He didn't have to rebuild anything. I said, no,
the time out. Now it's a whole different ballgame. This
is Bama nil. That's a whole different ballgame. Secondly, he
is different than Nick and there's going to be things
he likes coordinators he does doesn't. I'm like he was
almost punished because everybody thought Nick handed him a Rolls
(39:04):
Royce and I'm like, no, he handed him A used
Rolls Royce. It wasn't as dominant as it was two
years earlier. Georgia now had as good or better players,
and the nil world had changed. Texas now could just
buy players. So if you watch Bama and you watch
Kaylin de boor with quarterbacks, I think Ohio State's the
(39:28):
best team I've seen. I think Bama's too. I think
Bama is the second best team in the country. I
don't think Indiana quite has the personnel, and M's beaten
a lot of teams that fire their coaches, so I'm
not quite sure I buy that. Yet they haven't played
like Ole, Miss, Oklahoma, Georgia, Bama. What do you make
of Kaylin de boor the doubters, the critics, and where
(39:49):
they are.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I mean, a lot of the doubt and the criticism
was just folks wanting Alabama to fall off. It's been
a long time since you could really take reasonable shots
at Alabama up in the South. So, like, I know
the vibe about Alabama around the South. So there's some
of it where people are kind of wishcasting they're hoping
that they're right about doubting Kaylin to bore. And then
there was another crowd that just flat out you know,
(40:13):
thought that he took, like you said, a seamless baton
handoff and it should be full stride in any kind
of fall off, any kind of looking at the clock
and oah, we're off pace a little bit. That indicates
that he's an impost. And then you get to backfill
with all these pre cooked theories people have in the
South about how well, if you're not from here, you
can't recruit here, and how's he going to recruit at Alabama?
(40:35):
And he didn't know this place, he didn't know the culture.
So you know, the same stuff they said about Brian
Kelly ended up being valid, not because he wasn't from
the South, it's because he didn't work to the degree
you need to work at ls. So the thing about
Kaylan is the style he won with at Washington's what
you need to pay the most attention to the twenty
twenty three Washington season. What they have like seven to
(40:55):
one possession wins or something like that. So they were
winning a bunch of close games, but there's so much
there's some randomized nature to that. But when you get
a big sample size of one possession games and you're
that good in one possession games. There's more than just
luck to that that skill Bama had been used to
win in forty two to ten, and so he's come
(41:16):
down here and even in the games where they're winning,
it's a lot of what he did at Washington. It's
one possession games, and it aggravates people so much because
they want to run for two hundred and fifty yards
and they can't run the ball this year, and yet
they're still scaling their offense despite not being able to
run the ball, which I think is the biggest feather
in the cap of ty Simpson. Mendoza's doing it with
a ground game, Julian's doing it with a ground game.
(41:38):
Bama can't run, and Ty Simpson still does it. That's
all I would say about him if I were promoting
him for the Heisman. But deboor year one in that
building this week, Colin a year ago, they were in
the thick of the playoff race, They're going to go
to Oklahoma. They get their doors blown off, blown off,
and that was really when the ant bed got kicked.
That's really when all the rumors started filling out. That's
(42:00):
when all the you know, the truth started getting dealt
because they didn't feel like they had anything left to
play for. So you start hearing some grumbling and you
start really finding out how oil and water that building
had been. Some of the old guards, some of the
new guard. And he walked in, and I want to
remind everyone he walked in the weirdest possible time, maybe
(42:22):
in the recent history of college athletics, because he takes
the job. Saban retires and it was weird, like an
early January kind of thing. So he takes the job,
and the portal opens for thirty days, but they can't
take They can only lose for thirty days, that's right,
and then you patch it up as best you can't.
Julian saying, was there by the way he leaves? Caleb
(42:42):
Downs was there? He leaves? Well, then you go through
spring ball, and I remember talking to him about this
after it happened, and he didn't make any excuses. I
was almost trying to make excuses for him. But it
was a situation where you had to run your spring
practice knowing that after ball, when you really want to
get down guys throats and you want to try and
(43:03):
install as much culture as you can, they could just leave.
There's a post spring portal window and they could bail
on you. These aren't your players, you didn't recruit them.
How are you going to have a roster going into
the season. So they had to kid glove their way
through spring ball a little bit. And even then, like
you get to the fall and you're kind of you're
trying to build the plane in the air, and it
(43:24):
used to be a nice plane, and so no one's
going to accept any kind of turbulence up there. And
that Oklahoma game is where it really came undone a
little bit, and that's where you really started hearing it.
So it's so crazy to fast forward a year from now.
It just so happens to be they're in the thick
of it again. Oklahoma's coming in again. I'm interested that
you said you like Bama because a lot of people
like Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
This week.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
I love Bama this week. I'm interested in why it
is you like Bama because I got one reason.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Well, I guess my take is, I think I think
the offensive coaching at Bama. I tend to believe that
offensive coaches are tinkers. So I think Deborr and his coordinator,
you know, like when they went to Georgia, you're like, oh,
that's a that's a perfect game plan. I think defensive
(44:13):
coaches venables tend to have this is what we are,
and we're just gonna be more forceful. I tend to
think with defensive teams, you often get what you get,
and you get it by like week four. I think
offensive coaches Ryan Day is a great example. Last year. God,
you watched the Michigan game, then a week later you
watch Tennessee and then a week later you watch Oregon.
You're like, oh shit, they didn't peak until the second
(44:35):
week of the playoff. They're tinkers. Chip Kelly was always that,
he was always tinkering. So I tend to think Alabama
is just getting better. They're just every week. I feel
like they're two possessions better, whereas I feel kind of like,
I know what Oklahoma is. I've seen the best of Oklahoma.
That's very good, but I think zero ten being the
(44:59):
best one on being not good. I think Alabama is
about a seven. I think they're going to get to
about an eight and a half. Now Ohio State's a
nine and they may just stay there. But it's why
I think Bama's the second best team in the country.
I think they've got a tinker as a coach. I
watched them at I watched them at Washington. Just manipulate,
Tinker improve Anyway, That's my take is that I think
(45:22):
four weeks ago I may have felt differently. I think
the offensive coach over the defensive culture.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
I like Bama, So I'm with you. They are beating
people on Saturday a lot, staff wise, like they are.
They got one of the best stats in the country offensively, especially,
So's here's what's interesting about that. If you watch the
LSU game last week, they're coming out of a by theoretically,
you should just be shot out of a cannon. We're
ready to peak in November they won twenty to nine.
(45:49):
I think it was if you watch the game, you
saw how much meat was left on the bone. Offensively,
you saw how much like just off the fingertips type
explosive passes they missed on, And I think that is
part one of the separation. Saturday. You just you focus
on precision and accuracy all week after a game like that,
and then number two, Oklahoma's real hallmark is they can
(46:12):
shut you down running the ball. I'd almost feel more
uncomfortable for Alabama if part of their offense was built
on the ground game. They already don't do anything on
the ground. Lesser teams have shut them down running the ball.
So what Oklahoma's built to take away you can't take
away from Bama because they already don't do it. And
yet they still scale their passing game anyway. And the
two other offenses that they've seen that can do through
(46:34):
the air what bamacam or Ole Miss and Tennessee and
I think one of them through for three nineteen and
the other one through for three to eighty or something
like that against them. So it's going to be a
real high profile game. It'll be a good fight. I
think Alabama's going to have one in the thing by
double digits in the end.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
So Lane Kiffen, I've known Lane for a long time
and I think Lane's smart. I think he's again gotten
better and better. I made this argument is that you
can bounce around ole Miss LSU. You can bounce around
They're all I mean these guys these days. If ole
Miss can pay ten, LSU pays eleven, there's less pressure
at ol Miss. I'd stay. I'd stay Ole Miss. It's
(47:09):
Oxford's beautiful that I said. I think actually he could
be an NFL coach and like Harball, he'd walk into
the sport for the first three years. He knows all
these players way better than your GM does. Also, like
a Miami to because of the contractual situation, is going
to be your quarterback for a year, but you probably
(47:29):
got to draft your next quarterback. And most of these
guys are second round quarterbacks. Well, he knows nuss Meyer,
and he knows Simpson. He knows all these guys. South
Carolina kid, he knows all of them. So by the
second round, nobody's going to know those quarterbacks better than
Lane Kiffin. Either recruited him, played them, played against him.
(47:51):
Do you think Lane Kiffin do you think he's considering
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Yeah, I think he is. I think several of them are.
I think there's some names considering the NFL that would
totally completely put jaws on the ground if the names
ever got public. I think these guys are always considering
the NFL. Now, you'd never get the truth out of
most of them, but yeah, I mean, look, you know
the kind of mentality it takes to succeed at the
(48:21):
highest level of college football, especially if you specialize on
a side of the ball goes hand in hand with
the kind of mentality that thinks I could win in
the NFL. I could win on Sundays. I want to
test myself against the best. I want to see how
my offense does. And especially with Lane, like you've got
the Oakland Raiders chapter in his past, you don't think
(48:41):
he wants to make good on that. Yeah, I'm a believer.
I'm a believer. Saban never did it. I'm a believer
he wanted to make good on the Miami Dolphins part.
Didn't like all of the other extracurricular that comes along
with the NFL relative to college. But yeah, I think
he would consider it. I think they actively consider it
all the time. What I don't know, and I think
(49:02):
this is really what the decision comes down to, is
what do you personally value the most beyond football. Like
some guys hate recruiting, they're looking at the first exit
door to get to the NFL. Right, Others they think
it's their wheelhouse. They think that's one of their strongest suits.
They actually love being around young people. I will never
forget when I was coming out of college down in
(49:22):
Columbus and I heard you talking about Parcels one day
and you described him as a meatball with arms. That
is what stuck with me. That is what NFL coaches
look like relative to college coaches, because you're around adults
all day instead of younger adults. So past that, yeah,
I think he is considering it.
Speaker 3 (49:41):
You know, let me throw this at you. I had
a really smart guy tell me this, a current college coach,
and he was talking about ole Miss and the limitations.
He said, offensive recruits will follow the coach. Right, They'll
follow Sark Lane Kaitlin to offensive players. They want to
(50:02):
know who the coach is, what the system is. Great
defensive players. They want to go to Georgia, Texas, LSU.
Not about scheme. I want to get taken care of.
I want nil check. I got to play in the trenches.
That's the limitation of ole Miss. When I asked somebody
about Old Miss, they said, Lane's always gonna get offensive guys.
(50:23):
He go. Offensive guys follow the coach. Defensive guys don't.
He's never gonna have Georgia's defensive personnel. He never gonna
have Bamas. He's never gonna have Ohio States defensive guys
go to the big schools. You see all sorts of
great offenses in the history at college football. You can
go to Hawaii, you go to BYU, you can go
Indiana and see a lot of the top ten college
(50:44):
defensive all time. There's a lot of Georgia, Bama, LSU, Michigan.
And so this coach said, Lane knows he's limited. When
he faces the big dogs in the SEC, he'll have
to upscore him. They're not stopping them. And so that's
just something that's something to think about. I thought it
was very very wise.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
I think it's been taken into consideration. And when you
do your pros and cons, there's not going to be
a clean list under the cons for any of these jobs, right,
so it all missed. That's what you have to ask.
But then what if you're Lane Kiffin, you have to ask,
all right, but what state do I reside in? I
reside in Mississippi. The one thing that you're gonna say
about Mississippi is it pumps out NFL front future NFL
(51:28):
front defensive talent every year. Now, historically they've gone to
other schools, but that's why it's been case by case
a nightmare to play Mississippi state role. Miss in certain
given years because they're just freak shows out of Scuba
and Philadelphia and Columbus and you've never heard of those
places Yazoo City, Mississippi. But they got future first round
NFL draft picks coming out of there. I would think
(51:48):
to myself, Man, if I can keep enough of those
guys home, I'm gonna get the offensive guys. But like
you're right that that is the case. If I'm representing
him and selfishly, I want him at LSU or I
want him at Florida. I want him at Florida because
I'm saying, dude, they've got the track record of offense
like you want Spurrier even when Urban was there. The
(52:10):
difference is you can get the defensive talent down there
as well. That's what i'd sell him on. Yes, Sark
told me this when he was at Washington.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
He said, we I can get first round receivers and
tight ends and quarterbacks at Washington. It's defensive tackles. You
can't get him in the Northwest. We just don't. We
may have one every other year who's an elite defensive tackle,
and so you know that's why, you know, I just
think it's a reality of even in southern California as
(52:37):
great as that state is right now, USC, if you
look at their interior d line recruiting, there's Texas, there's
an Oklahoma kid, there's a Texas kid, there's a Minnesota kid,
and not a lot of LA kids on that defensive front. Now,
Lemon the receiver lanes from Arizona. You know, may Ava,
they got in Vegas, a running back walk gone from Calabasas.
(53:01):
USC's offensive talent, you know, it's a lot of LA
kids and West Coast kids. But no, I think Lane's
a great example of the willingness to evolve as a
human being. I think Lane today is just a much
better human being. Not that I know him that well,
but there were a lot of people out on Lane
(53:23):
and he went small school one, and I think Nick
Saban deserves a lot of credit. You know, Saban took
a beat up Lane and a beat up Sark. I mean,
I tell you a lot about Nick Saban. Those guys
were not They had lost a lot of glare in
college sports.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
I think. I mean that twenty fifteen teen he had
alone just doing a deep dive on that staff alone,
pretty unbelievable at Alabama, that Saban had, But I mean,
I remember when Lane was at Alabama, I remember when
Sark had gotten to Alabama, and you're hearing the stories
behind the scenes and thinking to yourself. I mean, like
(54:01):
one of the greatest magician tricks that I thought about
Nick Saban when I first came to sort of see
behind the curtain is everyone watched them and they're this
machine and they're winning, and so you think, oh, they're
free of all the crap that everyone else has to
deal with, and then you find out there's tons of
infighting there. All of these coaches are alphas, all of
(54:21):
these coaches are type a's, and he's just it's like
herding cats, and he somehow did it. But to do
what he did for Lane Slash with Lane, to do
the same thing for Slash with Sark, that's pretty unbelievable.
But the other part of that is, at some point,
it don't matter how much someone else is trying to
help you if you don't want to help yourself. So yeah,
a ton of credit to Nick Saban. Absolutely, It's not
(54:43):
like Kiffin's having to rediscover himself at publics like he is.
He is coaching major college football. But at some point
you got to look in the mirror and realize I'm
a full grown adult, like it's up to me, and
thankfully he did that.
Speaker 3 (55:02):
M
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right.
Speaker 3 (00:03):
I'm a football fan for a long time, since the seventies.
I don't watch football without something to eat and drink.
Trust me, it's a whole different ballgame when you're eating.
Right now, I got two things today from Uber Eats.
Right now. When you buy one large extra most BESTUS
Pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars like this one, you get
another one free. By the way, one of these has
(00:24):
already been eaten like me and my wife fifteen minutes ago. Yes,
that's right, an extra extra most bestest pizza thrown in there,
extra cheese, extra pepperoni, all for the price of just one.
And since Uber each is the official on demand food
delivery partner of the NFL, you know all the gamed
ideals keep coming all season long. Wings and tacos and
(00:46):
subs and pizzas, chips and dips, whatever whatever it is.
Uber Eats delivers right to your door. So when your
team puts up the extra point, reward yourself with an
extra pizza order Little Caesars on Uber Eats today. We
did the terms apply see the app for details. Pizza, pizza,
extra extra, something's going on here, all right, We're ready
(01:08):
for an hour plus. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, has
his own podcasts three and Out. It is Sunday. There's
a lot to talk about. Listen, Let's let's start with
a non competitive game. Rams forty two, Niners twenty. It's
just amazing. The Rams are the least penalized team in
the league. No penalties in this This is one of
(01:30):
those things when I used to cover the Patriots, right,
I was when I was on the East Coast. They
went years and I was always like, nobody fumbles for
New England and I used to tell friends, I'm like,
is it a stickham thing? People would field on the ball?
An they're well coached the Rams for the second year
of the least penalized team, you go into a heated
(01:52):
rivalry game, no penalties, no turnovers. My take is obviously
the Niners were all banged up, but it is so efficient.
You can see the coaching with the Rams. That's what
I feel like.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, I mean the forty nine ers, their defense is
a mass unit. But when you play a mass unit
and you're a good team, you score in every drive
and that's essentially what the Rams did. And Stafford is
a dominant player, right now. I mean, he's a legitimate
He's probably had some years. I have to really dive in,
but this feels like his highest level of play consistently
week in week out, especially when you factor in his age.
(02:29):
Remember McVeigh all offseason said, listen, we value what because
of our money situation, we are underpaying Matt Stafford and
we know it. They approach this offseason with him much
different than they did years ago with the golf situation.
They were just transparent about it. They're like, we know
we technically have to underpay him. We know he's better
than what we're He's maying forty million dollars a year.
(02:50):
I mean, Trevor Lawrence makes more than him, right, Tua
makes more than him, Perty makes more than him. So
he is Pukah is an incredible talent and and him
have that. He has like a Rogers level rapport with.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Him immediately immediately he had no training camp. I mean,
give me a break.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, well yeah, I forgot about that because the back
didn't work. So you try they are. It feels like
we're on a collision course right now. We're recording this
obviously before the Monday night game, so we'll see the
Eagles and the Packers. But I would say the Rams
in Seattle look like they're playing at a really high level.
The forty nine ers offense actually is playing at a
really high level. It's just defense that they're rolling out
(03:28):
me and you, and they got no chance to stop
a good team.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I was gonna say, if you looked at the box
score and didn't look at the score and watch the game, Niners,
move the ball. I'll say this about Mac Jones. You know,
Mac Jones is a big, sturdy kid. I think he
throws a really nice ball. He's not super athletic, but
like I get when I watch him, like I get
why he was a great high school college and a
(03:53):
pro bowler. Like Mac throws a real ball. He makes
good decisions, tight spiral. You know, he moved out and
threw a touchdown pass, you know, scrambling to a tight end.
It's like I would have no problem as a bridge
quarterback for a couple of years going with Mac Jones
if I was an NFLGM or a coach. He's one
(04:14):
of the better bridge guys in a law and to
me in a while.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I'd even argue he's probably better than that. You know, Like,
clearly you watch Sam Darnold, his physical traits are that
of a guy that was drafted really high in any draft.
Quarterback inflation are back in the nineties. Mac doesn't have
those physical attributes. But he's an NFL starting quarterback. But
he's on a two year contract. Count did you see
the clip with Brady when they asked him on the
(04:38):
pregame show about you know Mac Jones and he said, well,
once upon a time, you know, you can't not go
to Mac Jones the way he's playing. And I found
myself in a situation a long time ago, and I
look at me now, I'm probably not here if I wasn't,
and I just went. I actually don't think it's that
controversial to say Pretty's tow doesn't work. He can't even
dress for games. Mac Jones is the quarterback for the
(05:02):
entire season. Like, I don't expect Perdy to play, and
if he does, he'll immediately just reinjure his toe. That's
what happened LT. That's the injury he has. He's got
a unique injury. It's not one of those things that
just heals. He's never gonna be one hundred percent. So
if he's compromised. Mac Jones is keep playing to me,
Mac Jones plays the rest of the season. And you know,
the crazy thing is, Colin, we're not that far away
(05:23):
from the Bears and the forty nine. Ers play in
about four or five weeks, and that could potentially be
for the seventh seed. Now the Niners, they play the Cards,
the Titans, the Browns. Remember we talked about at the
beginning of the season, the Patriots and the Niners. There's
the Bear schedule gets a little more difficult, Packers a
couple of times, the Steelers, even the Vikings, I think
next week in Minnesota, so the Niners, but they all
(05:46):
they play each other. So if the Bears can just
kind of hold serve, we could have a pseudo, you know,
December playoff game for that seventh seed Niners Bears, which
would be pretty fun. It'd be I'm also the Mac
Jones thing. Let's say you could trade him this offseason.
I think he's too valuable to the forty nine. He
makes no money, He's on a two year, seven million
dollar contract, and perty is, let's face it, he ripped
(06:07):
up his arm. Granted that was the last game of
the season, but if that happens in October. He missed
the season this year. I mean, onces he goain to
end up playing two or three games. Mac Jones value
to the forty nine ers, I'd argue, is more valuable
unless you're getting like a first round pick, which you're
probably not. I'm not giving them away. I'm just holding
him for the next this year, next year until perty
proves that he can stay on the field.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Oh and the Niners will get calls on Matt Jones.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And they'll say and Kyle, Kyle's been open about it.
He wanted to take him, and then I think as
the process went on, he kind of went to the
guy with in quotes more upside. But there's no way
Kyle does like him. Now. You know he's well today,
he's just slink. He didn't have incompletions, I mean hitting
guys on the hill, and beside Kittle and McCaffrey, there's
a lot of DeMarcus Robinson's and Kendrick Bourne. He's not
(06:51):
throwing to Jerry Rice and John Taylor out there.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Colin no, no, I mean I'm impressed with mac Jones.
And the other thing we saw in the late window
when raw usters get depleted, which they do November on
elite quarterbacks Golf Stafford and look at the way late
window Darnald blowout wins when you have a b quarterback
(07:15):
and Mac, I'm telling you max If Max a backup,
he's the best backup in the league. To me, he's
a he's a bridge or a franchise guy. And he
struggled to compete today. So what you saw in the
late window, this is something I've been on now for years. John.
The bottom of the NFL by November looks like the
bottom of the NBA. It's unwatchable because the league is
so quarterback dependent when if you don't have a star quarterback,
(07:40):
because everybody's I mean the Rams are lucky, they don't
get penalties, they don't get hurt. I mean, nobody's hurt,
Buy and large. Everybody's banged up right now. Everybody's dinged up.
The Packers are dinged up, the Niners are dinged up.
You know, it's just the way the league is. It
really helps to have a horse quarterback. And you saw
it today. So you know, Rams in a blowout win
(08:02):
forty to twenty six as we went on the air,
and that game wasn't quite done. I want to talk
about the Bears for a second. So Chicago beats New
York twenty four to twenty and so it was Kayleb
Williams and Jackson Dart, and Jackson Dart out played him
for the first three quarters. But there is something I've
said this about Kayleb Williams multiple times. John he doesn't
(08:24):
get hurt and he doesn't throw interceptions. Jackson Dart gets
hurt a lot, and he'll throw picks. Now Jackson, I
thought he plays with a ton of confidence. He throws
a nice ball. Jackson played really really well. He had
a couple of touchdown runs. One was a twenty four
yard run. It was a big time run. Both those
quarterbacks can really way above average movement, way above average.
(08:44):
Now again, Caleb had a great fourth quarter. But when
I watched the game, and you have to watch the
whole game, there's becoming an issue with Jackson Dart. He's
blue tenttonent. He's getting banged up a lot. This is
my brock Purty thing. If you're a little smaller or
you play with a lot of confidence. Baker Mayfield used
to do that. First couple of years. He played with
(09:05):
more confidence than he should have. Somebody would pick him off.
He'd square them up. It's like, bro, you're a quarterback,
You're not a free safety.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Would it worry you?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The Jackson Dart concussion today, the constant blue tent visits
and the injuries.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I think it worries me. With all these young quarterbacks,
they all have a style. You know, I would say
Caleb Williams style is the same thing. He's just built
more like a like a tank. They all scramble around
and run around. I mean, Jaden Daniels nowhere to be found.
Where did he get hurt running? You know? I mean
this is the new age. We watch football every Saturday
for four plus months and it's fantastic. But they're all
(09:43):
moving around. So back in the day, Peyton Manning, Tom
Brady one, all those guys are huge. The quarterbacks now
are smaller. I mean they're definitely smaller, but they move around.
To me, the Jackson Dart the play that he got
injured on, the one that he fumbled, it was like
a quarterback power which had worked earlier in the game.
So when you're calling those plays and the guy's name's
(10:04):
not Cam Newton, you know this is the NFL. You
know he got rocked by like three guys, And I
mean there were a lot of plays. The strength of
Caleb was on full display today. How many sacks did
you break out of? I actually think there's an element
that it's like, I'm not gonna sound critical, but he
almost throws too hard. There were so many balls that
(10:25):
were dropped by those guys throughout the game. It's probably
you know you're there, right, how cold is it in Chicago?
You probably can't feel your hands. Balls are probably I
bet some of those guys are gonna wake up in
the morning with sore hands. But on the balls where
Jackson Dart was completing him, it was more rollout lobs.
It's hard to complete. The Brett farv Farvest players used
to talk about this in Green Bay, like it is
hard to yes in December and November, and I just thought, like,
(10:50):
it's not that Rome is a bad player, but you
catch that. I would say Caleb Williams has right now
as strong of an arm as anyone. In the end,
he led a couple rip today where you're is like,
that's Josh Allen, if not stronger, it was Jesus.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
How about he rolled right?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I was impressed. I've been hard on him. I thought
I was impressed today with how he played in the
weather too.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
He rolled right. He threw a ball to Dj Moore
in the end zone. He caught it, but he was
out of bounds. John. It was forty yards. I swear
to god, it was a line drive to left field.
It was about as high as the shortstop. It was
a freaking rope in a windy, cold environment, and DJ Moore,
to his credit, caught it, but it was out of bounds.
His the word I always use with Caleb, and I'd
(11:33):
never used it with any quarterback before, is just horsepower.
He is a V eight. I mean it is he is.
And here's the air thing. The knock on him Caleb
is he holds the ball too long. But I was
thinking about this today. He doesn't throw picks, so in
his mind is yeah, I'm gonna hold it longer than
other guys because my escapability outside of Lamar Jackson is
(11:53):
probably second best in the league. So first of all,
I'm stronger than Lamar Jackson. So if I do get hit,
I mean he rolls.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
You can't if your breaks like a younger Russ Wisley.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, or big ben where a defensive player gets on
his shoulder and he just brushes him off. So I
think a lot of him holding the ball is I
just trust that I'm going to escape. And you know,
I watched it a couple of times today. When he
had that big run down the sideline, I'm like, if
he was a running back, you wouldn't want to size
him up if you were a safety.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I mean, he's a big dude.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I remember we did this maybe like week two and one.
Thing that jumped out to me, you know, because last
year their games were just so I mean they had
what like a ten game losing streak. I mean, they
didn't matter bad. You watch him this year. He is
way more athletic than I think people thought coming out. Also,
you know, when you're judging him against Arizona and Arizona
State and Colorado right in college, you see him against
(12:47):
these NFL guys, He's running faster than them. Now. You know,
I'm not saying he's Lamar Jackson in the open field,
but he is way faster than I expected.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I thought he kind of won them the game down
the strets today. He may he did play after a
huge play four It flipped when dark gets hurt. Russell Wilson,
who's just man, it's hard to come in in a
game where it's freezing cold, but god.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
He looks terrible.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
So Caleb's fourth game winning drive in six weeks. And
my whole life, I have watched the Bears lose games
like they're winning. And this, by the way, it's different.
Denver's winning. But the quarterback plays awful. The quarterback play
with Chicago's wildly dynamic. And what's interesting, Caleb's gotten better
(13:34):
late in games. He may not be as good on
the script that he was in the first four weeks.
Like now he's doing stuff on his own. And I
mean right now this season, in the fourth day, he
had seventy seven yards passing, a passing touchdown, one hundred
and nine passer rating, fifty two yards rushing, and a
rushing touchdown. Okay, and again that's not the script, that's
(13:59):
the opposite of script. Those were crucial drives to win
the game with a ton of pressure. Yeah, I think, well, I.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I think he's a hit.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I listen, winning games is like today I watched the
Colts ough, God drove me crazy. They won the game.
This is that's why with analytics. Sometimes I'm like, I'm
gonna get points sometimes not the touchdown. I need to
win the game so we all keep our mortgage right.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, well, to me, the Bears game, if that had
been a probably its priority in Chicago. But let's say
it's a seventy five degree November early November game. You know,
perfect weather, let's even say like sixty. I like, well,
the Giants are terrible when it's freezing cold. That makes
the game very difficult. I don't care who you're playing.
I'm sure you saw some of that Wisconsin. You know,
(14:45):
Washington game. I owe an Oregon game. It is hard
to play in those environments. No one can feel their hands,
hard to breathe. I have way more respect, Like I
don't judge scores. You know you're not gonna hit many
explosive plays in the passing game. What is all? But
you know, if you go back and I saw it
firsthand because they played the Niners when Lafour got there
and they resurrected Rogers' career, they were playing these home
(15:08):
games in Green Bay. It's freezing cold, so your vaunted
pass attack does not work as well. And you know,
University of Washington has one of the best wide receivers
in the league, one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
They could not operate. They have a great offense, it
doesn't function. Or you know, Oregon has NFL players everywhere,
they couldn't come function. So it's like, I just go, hey,
(15:29):
if you got to win a game thirteen to ten,
I actually think and it's an awesome Listen, if you're
a Bears fan, you apologize that nobody about winning games.
After the last the Giants, this thing I defended probably
three or four weeks ago. I'm like, listen, he went
all in on this quarterback. He was right, right, I mean,
there is if you just pull gms right now, I
(15:50):
think thirty two of them would take Jackson Dart over
cam Ward today. Now their careers aren't written, but today
Brian Daboll was right about the quarterback he liked. Problem
is his team. I mean that's I think I read
the Day of stat that that's his fourth game in
which he had a second half lead of ten plus
points and obviously he's had now multiple double digit leads
(16:11):
in the fourth quarter in which they employed I mean
today he kicked the field goal they had twelve men
on the field, but Russell's in the game, not Dart.
He declines the penalty and takes the points instead of
just getting the first down because and listen, I thought like, hey,
you don't want to risk fumbling. You're up twenty to ten.
How are the Bears going to score? But then it
bit him in the ass. And there were reports, you know,
(16:31):
local radio people have connections to ownership that said the
ownership was close after the Denver Bronco game. And this feels,
you know, you're up twenty to ten, you're cruising. Maybe
they give him a little break because darts in the tent.
But man's it's hard to it's hard to kind of
fend off the arrows, Colin, when you keep having these
devastating losses.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yeah, it's nothing on these New York football teams. It's
just it's just it's a football swamp. Like I think
people just go to drown in these places.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I think didn't have one hundred yards today total and
they won. Didn't total running, hand passing.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That's so bad, all right. Today's show is brought to
you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. They're
a great partner on Hard rock Bet. There's always something
to bet on. If you haven't tried your first bet
on hard rock bet yet, there's still time for you
to get one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets
if you win. Just place a five dollars bet. That's
five bucks. If it hits, you not only get your winnings,
(17:33):
but you get one hundred and fifty dollars in extra
bonus bets. The NBA is back, which means it's time
to shoot your shot on hard rock Bet your home
for all the hoops action all season long. If you
need little help with your first bet, check out the
streaks heating up inside the hard Rock bet stats Hub.
You can find live odds to bet on all of
these streaks right in the hard rock Bet app. Download
(17:57):
the hard Rock Bet app today and make first deposit
payable and bonus betts not a cash offer offered by
the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In Florida, offered by Seminole
hard Rock Digital LLC and Alder States, must be twenty
one plus and physically president in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and
conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call one eighty eight.
(18:19):
Admit it in Indiana. If you are somebody you know
as a problem wants help, call one eight hundred and
nine with it. Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. This week's Crunch Time performer,
brought to you by McDonald's New Buffalo Ranch Sauce, is
Jonathan Taylor. Wow was he great? Went to Berlin, carried
(18:39):
the Colts on his back two hundred and forty four
rushing yards, three touchdowns, and the Colts wild come from
behind overtime went over the Falcons. Taylor's performance was satisfying,
just like the first bight of the Bacon Creamy Buffalo
MA Crispy Miami thirty Buffalo thirteen. It was sixteen nothing
(19:03):
Dolphins at half. An interesting number is Josh Allen had
three point five to three seconds to throw. That's his
highest since twenty eighteen. Nobody's open, so they didn't make
a big move at the trade deadline, and I think
everybody thought they should probably add a piece because Kansas
City's defense but they had ninety yards at half. They
(19:26):
didn't have they didn't pick up a first down on
third in the first half. And this is a Miami
team we thought quit three weeks ago. We always talk
about quarterbacks. You get until the second year, Thanksgiving, second year.
I think we've just got to be brutally honest with
Sean McDermott here. It's not just Kansas City. There's just
(19:50):
too many games where you're just like, I mean, Buffalo
should never look like that. Ever, they should never look
like that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I understand in college when you have a two top
ten teams play each other, and then the following week
you're playing a two win team and you're tied at halftime,
Like these are nineteen year old guys. This is a
team that's now for the last five years been one
of the top what two or three teams in the
entire league.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
And they've got older players here. I mean, they've got
a lot of twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine year olds.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
The coach has been there, I think since twenty seventeen.
Josh has now been the starter for a long time.
It's not just on Sean, it's also you know, the quarterback.
You know Peyton Manning, Tom Brady. They take a lot
of that responsibility as well. So today was embarrassing. I
mean it truly well it was. It should have been
fourteen nothing. I think the kicker missed an extra point.
It was fourteen nothing or thirteen nothing for you even
(20:42):
blinked two had a couple. He threw a beautiful touchdown
pass to Jalen Waddle, yes, and it was like, okay,
fourteen nothing or thirteen nothing. Bill starts slow. I've seen
them happen and then ended up winning thirty five to
twenty or something, and they never got out of the
malaise and it started raining. It was probably human and
they just look lifeless. Josh threw one of the worst
(21:03):
interceptions I've ever seen him throw. I don't know if
he's on the wrong page with the wider You just
threw it right to the wide receipt or to the cornerback.
They had an awful fumble early in the game when
they were driving. They just looked lost. And that's the
type game when your main rival, now who's back, is
winning and now has a lead, kind of a commanding
(21:23):
lead because they already beat you and their scheduled so
easy so they're not going away. Andy, you just look
big picture, this is going to be the worst team
of the Verbel Era for the next couple of years
when you factor in how young it is. Right, you
just listened to a couple of guys that just started
playing their left tackle. It's his rookie year. Their quarterback
is his second year. This is the first year of
the coaching staffs together. So like their ros pointing up,
(21:45):
and I think it kind of reflects that the Bills
can really get up for the Chiefs. And for whatever reason,
I remember hearing like Houston Rockets, maybe because Kenny Smith say,
you know, the sad part is right when we got
good Jordan retired. They could never stop a keep and
we always played the Bulls well and if we ever
saw them, we would have stopped that streak because they
would have had no shot because they had no center.
(22:05):
We were a team that we played them really well.
And some in basketball it happens a lot, right, your
matchup football kind of happens sometimes, but if you're good
enough whatever, for whatever reason, the Bills match up because
their pass rush is good. They treat that game in
the regular season like the Super Bowl. They just look
like the best team in the league when they play
the Chiefs, yep, before and after then they look much
more pedestrian. Today though, was I don't know. I mean,
(22:29):
I felt like it was one of the more embarrassing
performances of the Allen Sean McDermott little air or I
think it may be the most.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I thought maybe they lost a few years ago at
home on the opener to the Steelers and they were
a favorite, and I was like, what in the hell
is that? I thought that game against the Saints this
year it was competitive. I was like, Oh, what would
bother me today? Is that Miami in the first half
average six and a half yards to play. So in
(22:57):
my take is it would be one thing if the
offence sputtered your defensive coach, John, I've been on this forever.
What do you do with your side of the ball?
That wasn't just Josh Allen like that defense had no energy.
That defense, I mean it just they generated this incredible
pass rush against Kansas City and really, I mean two
(23:18):
is one of the easiest guys to rush in the league,
and he had time to throw. They ran the ball.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Is in New England? Are you taking New England. As
we said here today, do you think New England.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
New England's got the better coach. I think New England
and now with Williams and Trayvon Henderson, it's like, oh,
I feel like New England now is on the up,
like they're an AS sending team. I don't think Buffalo is.
I mean, we forget before that Kansas City game, I
mean we'd seen them Buffalo go to Atlanta and get worked.
(23:53):
I mean, they've had that Saints game they want at
home was troubling, Like they've had a lot of Somebody
told me this in the league at the beginning of
the year. They said, Buffalo doesn't have nearly the roster
people give it credit for. They're like James Cook, Josh
Allen Oliver, the defensive lineman, who's like, who's hurt. They're like,
(24:15):
you know, Dawkins the left tackle. I was talking to
it an executive league and he's like, you know, he
goes the better rosters or the Rams and the Eagles
and the Lions and the Packers, and Kansas City's like Ravens.
He's like, Buffalo's roster's not that good. Josh left tackle, quarterback,
running back, interior d Lineman. That's why they went and
(24:36):
got Bosa. I mean, they've drafted a lot, a lot
of draft capital on their defense. That's why they went
and got Bosa, who played well against you know, Kansas City,
Seattle forty four, Arizona twenty two. It was thirty five nothing,
So you know, it's just impossible to keep that up.
And Darnold had a couple of just like funny like
bizarre turnovers that ball bounces off a tight ends helmet.
(25:00):
You know, I'm gonna throw this to you. I got
Pete Carroll and John Snyder. You know this battled. They battled,
and there was a little tug of war on Pete's
kid and John Snyder. And I'm not going to go
into too many details, but Pete and John John almost
(25:22):
left for Detroit, remember that years ago because he wanted
his final say. Well, since Pete's been out of the building,
John Snyder's two drafts have been a plus, a plus
he is now doing and I think John Jason Light,
Howie Roseman, how he's a deal maker. I'm not sure
there's many guys better than John Snyder at just personnel
college personnel drafting it there's not a lot of guys better. Again,
(25:46):
I think Jason light and Tampa's are really good. That's
Seattle roster. I wrote this down young, fast, physical. You
can turn the sound down. John against Washington and against Arizona,
it looks like a college mismatch. They are so fast,
they are so physical. Donald's in total control of the offense.
(26:11):
Play action, run game, deep game. I don't see the whole.
I really don't see the whole with this team. They
drafted that safety. That kid's a banger of the South
Carolina safety. I don't see the weakness with a team.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I think the point of difference they have that obviously
play the Rams is upcoming week, which is an incredible game,
is their dbs are good and the Rams aren't. I
think that's the difference because the offenses are both elite.
Pass rushes are awesome. Coaching staff's high end. If you
and me were the NFL, like in college, how they
have the College Football Committee and he rank them one
through twelve. I would rank Seattle after this week number one.
(26:48):
They would be my number one team, and you just
if you just watch them without the sound on. Obviously today,
but over the last couple of weeks, the team speed
in which they had. I think the the Lob team
with Pete was probably the most physical team I've ever
seen live. I do think the fastest team I've ever
(27:08):
seen live is the Peyton Manning Denver Broncos. Their defense,
every single guy could run fast defensive lot. It was
DeMarcus Ware, von Miller, Wolf, Malik Jackson, Trevathan they had
a key to leap, but their speed and physicality was
just I've never seen anything, and I've saw him live
a bunch of times. This team has some similarities to
those two teams who are kind of taken the league
(27:30):
by storm. Every guy, I mean, like you said, em
and Worry he's like six. He is their potential Kyle Hamilton.
But they already had some good dbs right they drafted
the kid Witherspoon from Illinois. They already had Woolan. Obviously,
their their linebacker play is fast. Once they got Ernest Jones,
they're they're head coach. I mean, we talked so much,
(27:50):
and rightfully so about these offensive coaches. He's got a
chance to be pretty special. His demeanor, he has a
very modern demeanor, you know, like when you watch Vrabel.
Rabel is not the throwback of like what I grew
up on guys screaming he doesn't he's not is maybe
he's a players coach. Yeah, when the doors are shut.
I think he's on him in the meetings. But on
(28:10):
the sideline, he's very common collected. I would say, Mike McDonald.
It almost feels like is he on a couple of
zanies or something like it?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Show?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
But he he there's no he because he knows like
he is. He is very common. His team reflects that.
And I would say this their personnel move of trading
Gino and signing Sam has got a chance to be
an all timer. I mean that's got a chance to
be because they didn't give Sam. I mean he's gonna
end up probably. I mean he's not going anywhere for
a while. They gave him one hundred million dollars over
(28:39):
three years. I mean it's relative to the other contracts
we've seen Colin around five million guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
So the salary, the cap hit is just nothing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
JSN looks like Jerry Rice. I knew the guy was good,
but this year he is. It's like Pooka by the way,
right when but now this guy was we knew more
about Jsn Than pooka Ohio State and first round pick.
But you knew after a couple of weeks Puka was
a rookie, Like is this real? And then it just
never stopped. You know jas N like, is he really
this good? In every single week? It's like he's unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
And Jaysen was like a five star recruit first round
I think it was a first round receiver. I think yeah,
the only question was is he a one? Everybody knew
it was really good. Now you're like, yeah, he's just
contested catches speed. Then they go get Rashid's heat from
New Orleans and you know that he now has the
(29:32):
offensive coordinator that he had in New Orleans. Now he's
in Seattle again. This is a big play offense. What
I like about Seattle they can grind you down. If
they have a lead, they can run the football up
they have a lead. They're a big play offense. They
can play from behind. You know, I'm just I'm writing
this down throughout the course of the game. Jasn first
(29:53):
receiver to one thousand. It's not that weird with Seattle
where they averaged six and a half to seven yard
to play like it happens regularly, and there is something
to be said of trusting your eyes. I think this
is now even more than Mike McDonald. I think it's
John Snyder's organization. And I've texted Snyder a couple of times.
(30:18):
He travels. I mean he's at every weekend. He is
a you got to go to these games. Like they
always say, to sell a company, you have to take
a thousand meetings. John Snyder's on a plane every weekend.
He doesn't scout off the TV or film. He wants
to go to the games. And I mean they're just
when I watch them play. I'm like, when you're a
(30:40):
big playoffense and your quarterback has mobility, so you can
go down the field. The quarterback, you can move the pocket,
you can grind people with a lead. You know, it's
like Detroit if GoF had mobility, and that's the whole
Like GoF doesn't, but Detroit's a big playoffense and can
grind you down. Just think of Detroit's offense and then
if Jared Goff could move, you'd be like, shit, what
(31:03):
do you do? But we've seen Detroit do that for
three years. I think Seattle, like if you don't pay
attention like we do. Obviously, people that do this for
a living shit, man, they're they're embarrassing teams these How
often do you get a thirty five nothing lead in
the first half of a pro football game?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And Arizona had been playing well, even their records not
that great, they have been in every single game they
played this year. A week ago they easily could be
you know, coming into this game, they could have been
six and three. I would say the thing with John Schneider,
when you think about we talk about offensive coaches, You're like,
if JJ can't play for Kevin O'Connell, that's a JJ issue,
not a Kevin issue, Right, If you can't play for
(31:43):
Kyle Shanahan, that's a you issue because and and that
skill is why those guys are going to be paid
at the top of the market until they retire from
the NFL. John Schneider start, he was the guy that
pounded the table for peak against Pete Carroll for Brussell
Wilson and ultimately got him to relent and draft him. Obviously,
that changed the course of their franchise when they pivoted
off Russell, and remember John wanted to do it earlier.
(32:05):
Try to trade him to the Cleveland Browns so he
could draft Josh Allen. That's what he was gonna take.
Then he trades for Gino or he gets Gino as
the backup, and they were cool with like, I think
we can handle this for a little bit, and he
was right. Gino was actually and they got Drew Locke.
Remember they won a Monday night football game against the
Eagles with Drew lock who is the worst of this
whole group. And then he pivots to Sam Darnold. Like
(32:25):
I would say, as a quarterback evaluator, John schniders as
good as it gets from a GM perspective. And if
that's going to be the guy that you're going to
invest most of your money into as a franchise, his skill,
let alone his ability to build the team, it's I mean,
this is now like how many different iterations of the team,
the lob team. Remember then they transitioned in the late
twenty tens. They were still good, you know, they weren't
(32:49):
they weren't going to Super Bowls, but they were never
They didn't have four win seasons, they were winning nine
to eleven games. And now, I mean, what do they
look like to you? A fourteen win team. I mean,
who's there if Devine to Adams who kind of hurt
his back at the end of the game. We have
to monitor that throughout the week. I like see. I
think that's gonna be a tough way.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Tough, sharpest young boys in college football. Josh Paate. I
love having him on. I got to tell you, through
the years, when I talked to most of my sources
aren't players or coaches. They've always been executives. Because I
probably absurdly of Oa's fashion myself is if I didn't
do this, I'd want to be a GM, not a coach,
(33:29):
not a player. I like all the architecture of building stuff,
and when you talk to them about players. I remember
when Josh Allen came out of Wyoming and I would
talk to gms and they're like, Okay, did you see
the throw against You know it wasn't against Oregon or Iowa.
There's a throw and it was. It's remarkable how often
(33:49):
it's a play, a moment, a drive and a scout
goes Okay. The Penn State game for Sam Darnold at
the Rose Bowl, that's the one everybody went, whoa, whoa,
this is? This is different Fernando Mendoza. So first of all,
he was going to go to Yale. He settled on
col So the kids obviously in Indiana's a good school.
So we know he's got brain power. We know he's
(34:11):
six five, we know all that stuff. That last drive
on the road, Penn State couldn't run face. The defense
made three throws, the one in the back of the
end zone. Like I'm like, Okay, that's a Sunday player.
That's not normal. That's Herbert at Oregon, you know, carrying
(34:32):
average people around him. Not average, but cause I think
I think Indiana's got good players. They don't have Ohio
State guys. Maybe, But I watched that drive and I'm like, oh,
he has to come out. That's the number one player
in college football. I don't care about Ohio State's linebackers
and corners. That's the impression it had on me. It
was just sitting on the couch going, oh my god,
(34:52):
this looks like Sunday. What was your takeaway on it?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I thought it was there are very few moments like this,
But I was watching it in an airport. First off,
seeing a big sporting moment, seeing a big football moment
in an airport. It's always unique because it's really a
unique setting and you're not there often if you cover
the game. So that was Number one, was just to
take away of how surreal it is that, Wow, the
(35:16):
entire world's fixated on Indiana football in this moment. I
thought it was one of those moments where you see
someone come of age, like you know someone's got potential
and then all of a sudden, it just happens. Right,
And sometimes it's just a moment, Like sometimes guys just
hit a lucky shot or make a lucky throat, but
it's rare. You don't get lucky three times like that
(35:37):
on the same drive. It's something that's in you. It's
potential you have, and it's not that he hasn't shown flashes.
If you're paying attention to college football, right, you knew
about him. If you're paying attention to the Mott drafts,
you know about him. But you've been waiting for that. Okay, So,
like you were talking about scouting there, I've always sort
of disagreed with the approach of boiling down a player
(35:58):
in your mind to like highlight culture, like I think
of one or two grows. I've always wanted to shave
the best and the worst off and take what's in
the middle, and that's the player. And that's hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of plays. But with Mendoza, he's lesser
known to the general public. You just I guarantee you
there's a whole army of college football fans out there
that know the name Fernando Mendoza and they know he's
(36:20):
the quarterback in Indiana. They probably hadn't even watched him
a whole lot. That was when they saw him, and
that that matters for your Heisman crowd, But that also
matters for that locker room. It's one thing to go
in there and win thirty eight to ten like A
and M just went and took care of Missouri and
Marcel Reid didn't have to do on that Saturday what
Fernando Mendoza did. And I just could not help. But
(36:42):
in the moments afterwards, go back to Oregon. Last year,
Oregon just goes wire to wire undefeated. Yeah, that one,
like close games early before they got their act together
and they go undefeated and they're totally clean, and they
go in the playoff first round by and then they
get Ohio State and they just get drug and that
was the first time and they really tasted their blood,
and Indiana looked like they were on a trajectory to
(37:04):
maybe do that, and instead they didn't have to suffer
the consequences of loss, but they dealt with something. They
dealt with having a crawl over broken glass to get
a win. And I mean, I'm never going to be
in a major college football locker room as a player,
but I cannot imagine what that flight home was like.
I can't imagine what it's like to look in the mirror.
Man as him, Just look in the mirror. Everyone's been
(37:24):
talking you up. But sometimes there can be a little
imposter syndrome, there can be a little self doubt. There
can be none of that with him anymore. It was
amazing to watch.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
Yeah, great second half. Penn State marched up and down
the field with their backup quarterback over and over and over,
and you were like, oh my, we got, we got.
I almost tweeted, who's your daddy? I was so close
to the play on words. I was like, we're gonna,
We're gonna get an upset. And then he took that
ball and I was just like, wow, that's impressive. You know,
(37:54):
the this weekend. Oklahoma Bama. I like Bama, Iowa, USC
take the points. I think it's twenty seven twenty six
either way. Iowa was a tough matchup on USC, Texas, Georgia.
I'll take Georgia. I want to talk about Kaylen de Bor.
(38:15):
That's all I want to talk about. So I said,
when Saban left and Kaylen de Bor took over, I said,
that's the greatest handoff in the history of college football. Generally,
you give it to somebody on the staff because that's
what the players want. It doesn't work where you bring
in somebody and the culture doesn't work. He's just a
winning guy and Kaylen de boor Sioux falls, Fresno State,
(38:41):
but Washington he was twenty five and three people assumed, well,
it's Bama. He didn't have to rebuild anything. I said, no,
the time out. Now it's a whole different ballgame. This
is Bama nil. That's a whole different ballgame. Secondly, he
is different than Nick and there's going to be things
he likes coordinators he does doesn't. I'm like he was
almost punished because everybody thought Nick handed him a Rolls
(39:04):
Royce and I'm like, no, he handed him A used
Rolls Royce. It wasn't as dominant as it was two
years earlier. Georgia now had as good or better players,
and the nil world had changed. Texas now could just
buy players. So if you watch Bama and you watch
Kaylin de boor with quarterbacks, I think Ohio State's the
(39:28):
best team I've seen. I think Bama's too. I think
Bama is the second best team in the country. I
don't think Indiana quite has the personnel, and M's beaten
a lot of teams that fire their coaches, so I'm
not quite sure I buy that. Yet they haven't played
like Ole, Miss, Oklahoma, Georgia, Bama. What do you make
of Kaylin de boor the doubters, the critics, and where
(39:49):
they are.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I mean, a lot of the doubt and the criticism
was just folks wanting Alabama to fall off. It's been
a long time since you could really take reasonable shots
at Alabama up in the South. So, like, I know
the vibe about Alabama around the South. So there's some
of it where people are kind of wishcasting they're hoping
that they're right about doubting Kaylin to bore. And then
there was another crowd that just flat out you know,
(40:13):
thought that he took, like you said, a seamless baton
handoff and it should be full stride in any kind
of fall off, any kind of looking at the clock
and oah, we're off pace a little bit. That indicates
that he's an impost. And then you get to backfill
with all these pre cooked theories people have in the
South about how well, if you're not from here, you
can't recruit here, and how's he going to recruit at Alabama?
(40:35):
And he didn't know this place, he didn't know the culture.
So you know, the same stuff they said about Brian
Kelly ended up being valid, not because he wasn't from
the South, it's because he didn't work to the degree
you need to work at ls. So the thing about
Kaylan is the style he won with at Washington's what
you need to pay the most attention to the twenty
twenty three Washington season. What they have like seven to
(40:55):
one possession wins or something like that. So they were
winning a bunch of close games, but there's so much
there's some randomized nature to that. But when you get
a big sample size of one possession games and you're
that good in one possession games. There's more than just
luck to that that skill Bama had been used to
win in forty two to ten, and so he's come
(41:16):
down here and even in the games where they're winning,
it's a lot of what he did at Washington. It's
one possession games, and it aggravates people so much because
they want to run for two hundred and fifty yards
and they can't run the ball this year, and yet
they're still scaling their offense despite not being able to
run the ball, which I think is the biggest feather
in the cap of ty Simpson. Mendoza's doing it with
a ground game, Julian's doing it with a ground game.
(41:38):
Bama can't run, and Ty Simpson still does it. That's
all I would say about him if I were promoting
him for the Heisman. But deboor year one in that
building this week, Colin a year ago, they were in
the thick of the playoff race, They're going to go
to Oklahoma. They get their doors blown off, blown off,
and that was really when the ant bed got kicked.
That's really when all the rumors started filling out. That's
(42:00):
when all the you know, the truth started getting dealt
because they didn't feel like they had anything left to
play for. So you start hearing some grumbling and you
start really finding out how oil and water that building
had been. Some of the old guards, some of the
new guard. And he walked in, and I want to
remind everyone he walked in the weirdest possible time, maybe
(42:22):
in the recent history of college athletics, because he takes
the job. Saban retires and it was weird, like an
early January kind of thing. So he takes the job,
and the portal opens for thirty days, but they can't
take They can only lose for thirty days, that's right,
and then you patch it up as best you can't.
Julian saying, was there by the way he leaves? Caleb
(42:42):
Downs was there? He leaves? Well, then you go through
spring ball, and I remember talking to him about this
after it happened, and he didn't make any excuses. I
was almost trying to make excuses for him. But it
was a situation where you had to run your spring
practice knowing that after ball, when you really want to
get down guys throats and you want to try and
(43:03):
install as much culture as you can, they could just leave.
There's a post spring portal window and they could bail
on you. These aren't your players, you didn't recruit them.
How are you going to have a roster going into
the season. So they had to kid glove their way
through spring ball a little bit. And even then, like
you get to the fall and you're kind of you're
trying to build the plane in the air, and it
(43:24):
used to be a nice plane, and so no one's
going to accept any kind of turbulence up there. And
that Oklahoma game is where it really came undone a
little bit, and that's where you really started hearing it.
So it's so crazy to fast forward a year from now.
It just so happens to be they're in the thick
of it again. Oklahoma's coming in again. I'm interested that
you said you like Bama because a lot of people
like Oklahoma.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
This week.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
I love Bama this week. I'm interested in why it
is you like Bama because I got one reason.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Well, I guess my take is, I think I think
the offensive coaching at Bama. I tend to believe that
offensive coaches are tinkers. So I think Deborr and his coordinator,
you know, like when they went to Georgia, you're like, oh,
that's a that's a perfect game plan. I think defensive
(44:13):
coaches venables tend to have this is what we are,
and we're just gonna be more forceful. I tend to
think with defensive teams, you often get what you get,
and you get it by like week four. I think
offensive coaches Ryan Day is a great example. Last year. God,
you watched the Michigan game, then a week later you
watch Tennessee and then a week later you watch Oregon.
You're like, oh shit, they didn't peak until the second
(44:35):
week of the playoff. They're tinkers. Chip Kelly was always that,
he was always tinkering. So I tend to think Alabama
is just getting better. They're just every week. I feel
like they're two possessions better, whereas I feel kind of like,
I know what Oklahoma is. I've seen the best of Oklahoma.
That's very good, but I think zero ten being the
(44:59):
best one on being not good. I think Alabama is
about a seven. I think they're going to get to
about an eight and a half. Now Ohio State's a
nine and they may just stay there. But it's why
I think Bama's the second best team in the country.
I think they've got a tinker as a coach. I
watched them at I watched them at Washington. Just manipulate,
Tinker improve Anyway, That's my take is that I think
(45:22):
four weeks ago I may have felt differently. I think
the offensive coach over the defensive culture.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
I like Bama, So I'm with you. They are beating
people on Saturday a lot, staff wise, like they are.
They got one of the best stats in the country offensively, especially,
So's here's what's interesting about that. If you watch the
LSU game last week, they're coming out of a by theoretically,
you should just be shot out of a cannon. We're
ready to peak in November they won twenty to nine.
(45:49):
I think it was if you watch the game, you
saw how much meat was left on the bone. Offensively,
you saw how much like just off the fingertips type
explosive passes they missed on, And I think that is
part one of the separation. Saturday. You just you focus
on precision and accuracy all week after a game like that,
and then number two, Oklahoma's real hallmark is they can
(46:12):
shut you down running the ball. I'd almost feel more
uncomfortable for Alabama if part of their offense was built
on the ground game. They already don't do anything on
the ground. Lesser teams have shut them down running the ball.
So what Oklahoma's built to take away you can't take
away from Bama because they already don't do it. And
yet they still scale their passing game anyway. And the
two other offenses that they've seen that can do through
(46:34):
the air what bamacam or Ole Miss and Tennessee and
I think one of them through for three nineteen and
the other one through for three to eighty or something
like that against them. So it's going to be a
real high profile game. It'll be a good fight. I
think Alabama's going to have one in the thing by
double digits in the end.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
So Lane Kiffen, I've known Lane for a long time
and I think Lane's smart. I think he's again gotten
better and better. I made this argument is that you
can bounce around ole Miss LSU. You can bounce around
They're all I mean these guys these days. If ole
Miss can pay ten, LSU pays eleven, there's less pressure
at ol Miss. I'd stay. I'd stay Ole Miss. It's
(47:09):
Oxford's beautiful that I said. I think actually he could
be an NFL coach and like Harball, he'd walk into
the sport for the first three years. He knows all
these players way better than your GM does. Also, like
a Miami to because of the contractual situation, is going
to be your quarterback for a year, but you probably
(47:29):
got to draft your next quarterback. And most of these
guys are second round quarterbacks. Well, he knows nuss Meyer,
and he knows Simpson. He knows all these guys. South
Carolina kid, he knows all of them. So by the
second round, nobody's going to know those quarterbacks better than
Lane Kiffin. Either recruited him, played them, played against him.
(47:51):
Do you think Lane Kiffin do you think he's considering
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Yeah, I think he is. I think several of them are.
I think there's some names considering the NFL that would
totally completely put jaws on the ground if the names
ever got public. I think these guys are always considering
the NFL. Now, you'd never get the truth out of
most of them, but yeah, I mean, look, you know
the kind of mentality it takes to succeed at the
(48:21):
highest level of college football, especially if you specialize on
a side of the ball goes hand in hand with
the kind of mentality that thinks I could win in
the NFL. I could win on Sundays. I want to
test myself against the best. I want to see how
my offense does. And especially with Lane, like you've got
the Oakland Raiders chapter in his past, you don't think
(48:41):
he wants to make good on that. Yeah, I'm a believer.
I'm a believer. Saban never did it. I'm a believer
he wanted to make good on the Miami Dolphins part.
Didn't like all of the other extracurricular that comes along
with the NFL relative to college. But yeah, I think
he would consider it. I think they actively consider it
all the time. What I don't know, and I think
(49:02):
this is really what the decision comes down to, is
what do you personally value the most beyond football. Like
some guys hate recruiting, they're looking at the first exit
door to get to the NFL. Right, Others they think
it's their wheelhouse. They think that's one of their strongest suits.
They actually love being around young people. I will never
forget when I was coming out of college down in
(49:22):
Columbus and I heard you talking about Parcels one day
and you described him as a meatball with arms. That
is what stuck with me. That is what NFL coaches
look like relative to college coaches, because you're around adults
all day instead of younger adults. So past that, yeah,
I think he is considering it.
Speaker 3 (49:41):
You know, let me throw this at you. I had
a really smart guy tell me this, a current college coach,
and he was talking about ole Miss and the limitations.
He said, offensive recruits will follow the coach. Right, They'll
follow Sark Lane Kaitlin to offensive players. They want to
(50:02):
know who the coach is, what the system is. Great
defensive players. They want to go to Georgia, Texas, LSU.
Not about scheme. I want to get taken care of.
I want nil check. I got to play in the trenches.
That's the limitation of ole Miss. When I asked somebody
about Old Miss, they said, Lane's always gonna get offensive guys.
(50:23):
He go. Offensive guys follow the coach. Defensive guys don't.
He's never gonna have Georgia's defensive personnel. He never gonna
have Bamas. He's never gonna have Ohio States defensive guys
go to the big schools. You see all sorts of
great offenses in the history at college football. You can
go to Hawaii, you go to BYU, you can go
Indiana and see a lot of the top ten college
(50:44):
defensive all time. There's a lot of Georgia, Bama, LSU, Michigan.
And so this coach said, Lane knows he's limited. When
he faces the big dogs in the SEC, he'll have
to upscore him. They're not stopping them. And so that's
just something that's something to think about. I thought it
was very very wise.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
I think it's been taken into consideration. And when you
do your pros and cons, there's not going to be
a clean list under the cons for any of these jobs, right,
so it all missed. That's what you have to ask.
But then what if you're Lane Kiffin, you have to ask,
all right, but what state do I reside in? I
reside in Mississippi. The one thing that you're gonna say
about Mississippi is it pumps out NFL front future NFL
(51:28):
front defensive talent every year. Now, historically they've gone to
other schools, but that's why it's been case by case
a nightmare to play Mississippi state role. Miss in certain
given years because they're just freak shows out of Scuba
and Philadelphia and Columbus and you've never heard of those
places Yazoo City, Mississippi. But they got future first round
NFL draft picks coming out of there. I would think
(51:48):
to myself, Man, if I can keep enough of those
guys home, I'm gonna get the offensive guys. But like
you're right that that is the case. If I'm representing
him and selfishly, I want him at LSU or I
want him at Florida. I want him at Florida because
I'm saying, dude, they've got the track record of offense
like you want Spurrier even when Urban was there. The
(52:10):
difference is you can get the defensive talent down there
as well. That's what i'd sell him on. Yes, Sark
told me this when he was at Washington.
Speaker 3 (52:17):
He said, we I can get first round receivers and
tight ends and quarterbacks at Washington. It's defensive tackles. You
can't get him in the Northwest. We just don't. We
may have one every other year who's an elite defensive tackle,
and so you know that's why, you know, I just
think it's a reality of even in southern California as
(52:37):
great as that state is right now, USC, if you
look at their interior d line recruiting, there's Texas, there's
an Oklahoma kid, there's a Texas kid, there's a Minnesota kid,
and not a lot of LA kids on that defensive front. Now,
Lemon the receiver lanes from Arizona. You know, may Ava,
they got in Vegas, a running back walk gone from Calabasas.
(53:01):
USC's offensive talent, you know, it's a lot of LA
kids and West Coast kids. But no, I think Lane's
a great example of the willingness to evolve as a
human being. I think Lane today is just a much
better human being. Not that I know him that well,
but there were a lot of people out on Lane
(53:23):
and he went small school one, and I think Nick
Saban deserves a lot of credit. You know, Saban took
a beat up Lane and a beat up Sark. I mean,
I tell you a lot about Nick Saban. Those guys
were not They had lost a lot of glare in
college sports.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
I think. I mean that twenty fifteen teen he had
alone just doing a deep dive on that staff alone,
pretty unbelievable at Alabama, that Saban had, But I mean,
I remember when Lane was at Alabama, I remember when
Sark had gotten to Alabama, and you're hearing the stories
behind the scenes and thinking to yourself. I mean, like
(54:01):
one of the greatest magician tricks that I thought about
Nick Saban when I first came to sort of see
behind the curtain is everyone watched them and they're this
machine and they're winning, and so you think, oh, they're
free of all the crap that everyone else has to
deal with, and then you find out there's tons of
infighting there. All of these coaches are alphas, all of
(54:21):
these coaches are type a's, and he's just it's like
herding cats, and he somehow did it. But to do
what he did for Lane Slash with Lane, to do
the same thing for Slash with Sark, that's pretty unbelievable.
But the other part of that is, at some point,
it don't matter how much someone else is trying to
help you if you don't want to help yourself. So yeah,
a ton of credit to Nick Saban. Absolutely, It's not
(54:43):
like Kiffin's having to rediscover himself at publics like he is.
He is coaching major college football. But at some point
you got to look in the mirror and realize I'm
a full grown adult, like it's up to me, and
thankfully he did that.
Speaker 3 (55:02):
M
Host
Colin Cowherd
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.