3 & Out - Bo Nix, Denver Broncos topple Jameis Winston’s Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football - The Volume

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we
doing on this beautiful Tuesday morning, lunchtime, afternoon, whenever you

(00:23):
may be listening to the show. It is Monday night
and I just watched pretty good Monday night football game.
Jamis Winston throws for five hundred yards six touchdowns. Two
of them just happened to go to Denver two pick
six is bo Nix and Sean Payton. We'll dive into

(00:44):
this game. The Browns, their situation with with Watson and Jamis.
Obviously with Jamis, they look like a different team, a
competitive team that was. That was a really enjoyable Monday
night football game. Little penthouse and out house, as well
as some thoughts on Kevin Warren and Brian Poles had

(01:04):
a press conference today about the coaching search, Trevor Lawrence
and the knockout hit. A lot of different takes flying around,
so we will dive into that. We will also talk
a little Ryan Day and Steve Sarkisian as well as
a mail bag at John middlecoff Is the Instagram fire
in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show.

(01:28):
Very easy to do. Other than that, we had I
went on with Colin as I do every Sunday. You
can hear that. Yesterday we did a reaction pod to
the Bills Niner game and a little Sunday night podcast.
Since then, we've learned that McCaffrey torn pcl out for
the year. So that's pretty rough in the forty nine

(01:51):
Ers seasons pretty much over, kind of like the Bears
this weekend against the Niners. But we will talk about
that as the week goes on. And yeah, so we
will have more podcasts come, but make sure you subscribe
if you listen on Collins Feed, and definitely subscribe to
the YouTube channel as well. The YouTube channel just type
in John three and out everything is there. You know,

(02:12):
I got to tell you about my friends, my partners,
the official ticketing app of this podcast. I was texting
with a buddy who works in radio was going to
the Warriors game tonight or tomorrow night and is in
Denver for it. And he was at the game to
night and he said it was awesome the atmosphere. I
was like, you know, I've always wanted to go to
Mile High. I think Troy Aikman mentioned tonight that they

(02:34):
have not had a winning season in eleven years. I
mean it's been a long time. I guess since Peyton
Manning hung them up in twenty sixteen. Honestly, does that
even add up? Didn't they win the Super Bowl? Maybe
in twenty fifteen. Bottom line, it's been a while, and
they're going to have a winning season this year. They're
now eight and five. Looks like they're headed at minimum

(02:56):
to ten wins. So if you want to go to
a game, if you want to go to a concert,
if you want to go to a comedy show, if
you want to get out of the house and go
have some fun, Christmas is right around the corner. Last
year for Christmas, got my brother concert tickets. He loved
it in Sacramento, had a good time. I got him
basically front row. He texted me the next day, I

(03:17):
don't think I can ever go to a concert again,
sitting in normal people's seats. I said, yeah, Well, that's
where my friend's Game Time come in. So take the
guests work out of buying tickets with game Time. Download
the game Time app, created an account, use the code
John for twenty dollars off your first purchase terms to
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minute ticket's lowest prices guarantee. You know what's funny about

(03:40):
the NFL is Tonight's a good example. I don't know
about you, but around four thirty, so you know, the
Monday night game kicks off at six point twenty. I'm
in Mountain Time in Arizona, and I wasn't feeling it
at all. Usually on Monday, especially toward the afternoons, I'm
just pretty exhausted. Sundays are long day Saturdays. I don't

(04:01):
sleep much over the weekend. I'm not even drinking. It's
just quick turnarounds. And this game on paper, I was like, listen,
I'm kind of excited to watch bo Nicks, but I
don't know. I've just noted that into it. And then
halfway through you're like, did it to me again? Because
just when you least expect it, all of a sudden

(04:22):
you get Jameis Winston and Jerry Judy looking like Joe
Montana and Jerry Rice. That was really fun and I
had a blast in a game that I'll be honest.
We were on a text chain for this podcast where
I said I wish they would just cancel this game.
That was before kickoff and now it's it's almost ten o'clock,

(04:42):
so we're usually an hour later as of recording this
because the game wins along because they were throwing it
all over the yard. That was extremely enjoyable. It really was.
I mean a Bronco or excuse me, a Browns team
that is three and nine that I gotta be honest,
might be the best three and nine team I've ever seen.
And I would say this before we dive into the

(05:02):
Broncos if I was a Browns fan and they are
a passionate group. They have supported this team. Obviously, that
franchise left them once upon a time, and since they
come back, it has been tough sledding. I would be
furious because you watched tonight and listen, Jamis throws for
almost five hundred yards. He throws six touchdowns. Two of

(05:24):
them just happened to be to the other team. But
I go, there is not a chance we are three
to nine if Jamis starts like after week one and
you shoved Deshaun Watson down our throats because of the contract,
when we all know he is the worst starting quarterback
in the NFL. He is an unplayable player, and it

(05:44):
took him getting a major injury to insert Jamis and
giving us a fighting chance on a weekly basis. Why
we have great players all over the field, awesome dbs,
one of the best pass rushers, awesome skill guys, Nadjokusen,
incredible tight end, and Jamis will just sling it. And
early on in the game, they put up the visual

(06:06):
of the yardages, the points, the yards per play compared
Jamis to DeShawn and it looked like an undrafted free
agent versus Pro Bowl player. And you watch tonight, the
only reason they have a chance in this game is
because the dudes throwing for five hundred yards and slinging
it all over the yard. Now, listen, he's a roller

(06:28):
coaster player and he will throw it to the other team. Now,
I do believe the first pick six to Benito was
more of an incredible play by the defender than it
was a terrible pass. The second pick six, which essentially
ended the game, that's got Jamis written all over him.
But if I was a Browns fan, I'd be like,

(06:49):
what are we doing? We can't listen. I'm not acting
like Jamis is the answer to all your problems, But
I would rather see that for the next couple of
years than ever go back to what we had to
experience in that short whatever twelve thirteen game stretch of
last year and this year of Deshaun Watson. Because you

(07:09):
got these guys, and we always say this about Monday Night,
you throw out the records because in December, for these
shitty teams, this is their super Bowl. You're playing a
team that has playoff aspirations on the road. It's a
really big deal. You obviously have a lot of highly
paid players, a lot of pride. You got Miles Garrett

(07:30):
who's looked like he was battling about eight injuries, Denzel
Ward playing his balls off, and that was just that
was fun. That was really an enjoyable experience, Jamie. I mean,
how cool is it this? Jerry Judy's drafted whatever fifteenth overall,
they ship him out of town. I mean, let's face it,
he was a major underachiever. It felt like a bust

(07:52):
in Denver, and then he goes out tonight. I mean
feels like has one of the best Monday Night games
I've ever seen. He has nine catches for two hundred
and thirty five yards. Now some of these plays he's
completely uncovered, which was hard to fathom after a while,
It's like, you might want to cover that guy that
used to be on your team who is eviscerating you tonight.

(08:13):
And then they finally put certain on him that made
a couple of plays, but him getting into it with
the crowd like them just throwing bombs. I mean, how
many times, even with bow knicks, are they running go routes?
Are they running post routes? Like tonight was all about
just pushing the ball down the field, which was very,
very entertaining to watch. And obviously Jamis is Taylor made

(08:36):
for that level of play, and you watch and we'll
get into the Broncos here one second, but you know,
one major difference in these two franchises is clearly Kevin
Stefanski is a good coach. He's not two time Coach
of the Year for no reason. And Andrew Berry, their GM,
is a really dynamic personnel. Man. I think we all

(08:59):
blamed the Sean Watsons situation on the owner. And we've
been talking so much about dysfunctional organizations and good organizations
and the weird part about Cleveland, a team that now
has made the playoffs several times over the last three
or four years because of their head coach and the
front office, who are really good. But what stops them

(09:22):
in their tracks the owner because he meddled he said yes,
I'll guarantee the contract. Those guys didn't want to do that,
and then once it starts going poorly, they start forcing
you know, you can't keep Flacco because we've got to
go back to DeShawn or it's like, no, we can't
bench to Shan for Jamis Winston because we're paying them
all this money. Like that's on the ownership. And it's

(09:44):
one thing if you're the Bears and you're like, our
coach sucks, our front office, what the hell is going on?
Or the Jets or some of these situations. If you're
a Browns fan, you go, I mean, our coach pretty good,
Like our defense is pretty good, our GM is pretty good.
And yet we have this owner who has a law
a resume now of just being a disaster for the franchise.
And they're three and nine. They clearly are a really

(10:06):
talented squad. But I put this season squarely on the owner.
And on the flip side, you look at the Broncos
got a new owner. They have unlimited wealth because you know,
they're the Walton family for Walmart, and it's just they
got like six kids who were in the top ten
of wealthiest humans alive, and they're like, we need a
real coach, and they go out and get Sean Payton

(10:28):
and listen, last year was up and down, and then
the Russell Wilson thing. They cut him, they take all
the dead money, and then he goes out and gets
bo Nicks and listen, he rubs a lot of people
the wrong way. Pretty arrogant. A lot of people in
the football world think his cockiness takes the cake over
everyone in the league. I've never had any personal interaction
with him. He always kind of entertains me. I love
his intensity on the sideline. But they said, here are

(10:51):
the keys, here are the keys to our franchise. You
save us, unlike the Browns, whose owner like kind of
gives them the keys but then takes them back whenever
he wants them. They go, Sean, you run it. And
then he takes a quarterback who, let's face it, universally
around football most people thought it was a crazy pick,
a complete overdraft, a guy that just was a dink

(11:11):
and dunker in college, and you watch him tonight. One
Sean Payton is doing a fantastic job of calling plays tonight,
the ebb and flow of running. One thing bo Nicks
is really good at are those quick screens, because he
excelled at him throughout college the quick game and also
getting him on the move. He's a really good athlete.

(11:33):
And you saw him multiple times rolling to his right
where he can get his body into it like he's
got a lot of arm strength. And obviously one thing,
and listen Bronco fans. Over the last couple of weeks,
I haven't watched every one of your snaps, but you
watched the night they were taking shots down the field. Now,
one of them was not an ideal throw, you know,

(11:54):
I think he kind of forced it to Mimes and
you could argue, you know, it's tough. Mims is backpedaling,
he's not able to get any air on it, and
the ball goes right over and it's an easy interception
for Denzel Ward that then led to a Jamis touchdown,
which the Browns took the lead. Now bo Nick drives
him right down the field and they take the lead
on the field goal. But that could have been that
could have cost them the game, but they're eight and

(12:16):
five right now. With tonight the defense was atrocious, but
for most of the year the defense has been fantastic
and a young quarterback that, let's face it, athletic ability,
pretty impressive arm strength, much more impressive than any of
us thought. And all the haters that were like, oh,
he's got an average arm. I'm watching tonight the one

(12:37):
throw he made to the tight end in the second
half that was honestly a better catch than a throw
because he threw like one hundred mile an hour fastball.
Tight end made a great catch, Like he's got a
good arm, Like he's a pretty explosive player. And here's
the thing. It's like everyone keeps saying about Michigan Ohio State,
why Ryan Day is so screwed, Because if you can't

(12:57):
get him now, you're never gonna get him. This is
probably gonna be the worst Michigan team clearly of the
last five years, but of the next five years, it'll
never be this bad. And you watch the Broncos like,
this is gonna be the worst version of the bow Knicks.
Sean Payton, Broncos, they got all their picks next year.

(13:19):
They're gonna slowly get off this cap situation of Russell
Wilson's contract over the next couple of years. That will
free up let them take a deep breath and give
them more cap space to make some deals. So this
is as bad as it gets. And they're eight and five.
Obviously they're over under was five and a half. But
you see, and this is the thing, and this is

(13:41):
when we talk about the Bears with a coach. When
you get a head coach who goes all in on
his quarterback and then he's also the play caller, it's
such a big advantage. It's not the end all be all.
Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers is not calling the plays.
Mike Tomlin hasn't had a losing season like seventy five years,
doesn't call any offensive place. John Harbaugh obviously no offensive place,

(14:04):
but one huge advantage. When you watch the Broncos, it's
like that's his baby, the offense and now that quarterback,
and he's a work in progress. Like you see the good,
bad and the ugly. There are Sometimes it's like bo
take a deep preth. There was a click quick slant
that would have been an easy first down that he
threw it behind him. I think that was when they
ended up kicking the field goal to Lutz to take

(14:25):
the two point lead instead of scoring a touchdown because
they didn't get the first down then on third down.
But I'm pretty impressed. I mean, I think, if you're
a Bronco fan, like Listen is the guy Josh Allen
or Patrick Mahomes, we got a long long way to
go before we talk about him as like a top
you know, eight to ten quarterback. But I would be

(14:47):
pretty fucking optimistic when you're watching this guy play. Obviously
he's not turning the ball. I guess he had the
turnover tonight, first one in a while. But he's an
explosive player and as someone like part of the Oregon
offense wasn't really to play like that. And maybe as
time has gone on this season, Sean Payton has just
gett like the Bronco or excuse me, the Browns to

(15:09):
night have nothing to lose. Part of Jamis's skill set
is pushing the ball down the field, running go routes,
running post routes, just letting it rip like That's been
Jamis's game, probably since he was ten years old. Part
of bow Knicks is like the knock on him at
least was you know, he just kind of picks and
chooses around the line of scrimmage. Well, he's not the
guy calling the plays an Oregon that's kind of an

(15:31):
Oregon scheme offense. Then you give him to Sean Payton,
who you know for a long time with Drew Brees,
I think that was the knock, you know, not a knock.
Obviously they were historic offense, but I think most people
just talked about Drew Brees. They weren't throwing bombs, even
though early on in Drew Brees' career with the Saints,
they definitely pushed the ball down the field. You saw
it to night like And I don't know if these

(15:53):
are call shots at this bow, Nick's going a little rogue,
but he is pushing the ball down the field. So
is this team that's gonna win a playoff game? I
don't know. I mean, they will surely be an underdog,
as I thought they were locked to be the seventh seed,
and I said it coming into this week. If they
win this game, and especially the way it played out,
Miami lost, So they have five wins and the Colts,

(16:16):
who won on going for two on the last whatever
thirty seconds against the Pats have six wins, so the
Broncos have two more wins and they're go finally going
on their by than the Colts. So even though the
Colts who play this week, they would still be a
game behind them, and the Broncos still play the Raiders.
I think the Broncos are a lock to get to ten.

(16:37):
Are the Colts getting to ten? I have a hard
time seeing it. The other thing is the Ravens injuries.
I would be shell shocked if they missed the playoffs.
But I think you're just like something's missing there, incredible accomplishment.
I said it at the beginning of the season. It's like,
I love the Chargers to make the playoffs and a

(16:59):
lot of you guys talking me up out of it.
It's like, no, I had people in the league. He's like,
I don't think they have enough talent. They're not enough
skill guys. I never thought the Broncos would be good enough.
Won this defense. That Benito guy, who was a second
rounder two years ago from Oklahoma, what a fantastic just
wrecking ball the pick he had. Like most dbs, i'd

(17:24):
say it's a coin flip fifty to fifty if they
have serviceable hands. Certain dbs have fantastic hands for the
most part, corner safeties, I would say below average hands
relative to NFL players. The pick that Benito made the
pick six, he has better hands than I would say
fifty sixty percent of the dbs in the NFL. And

(17:46):
then as a pass rusher, he showed a three to
sixty move, he showed a speed move, he showed some power.
He's obviously long, he's got an instinctive. Jim Washburn, when
I was with the Eagles, used to always say, you
either kind of have an innate feel as a pass
rusher or you're just robotic and it's just all just
you know, you don't really know what you're doing. You

(18:08):
either have like the physical attributes and you get close sometimes,
but it's not innate. You watch that guy, You're like,
this guy was kind of born to rush the passer. Here.
So we know how good their dbs are. I mean
mcmill in the last pick six, it's not even their
best dB, which is certained, which is clearly one of
the best dbs in the NFL. So depending on the matchup,

(18:28):
Like if you told me that it was Broncos Steelers
as the three six. I go, yeah, I mean I
could see that same thing with Chargers. If it's the
Chargers Steelers, Chargers Texans. That's what happens. Like both these
two organizations who were a joke. I mean they were
so bad Russell Wilson's first year with Nathaniel Hackett. The

(18:52):
Chargers won five games last year? What did the two
teams do? Sean Payton got eighteen million dollars a year,
Jim Harbaugh, you know, rumors are sixteen seventeen million dollars
a year. What do they have combined right now? Chargers
have what do they have? Nine wins? Obviously the Broncos
have eight? And you're just looking at two teams that,

(19:14):
you know, if we go to the playoff picture right now,
you got the Chargers. I guess Chargers are eight in
four and the Broncos are eight in five. So amazing.
What happens when you hire a good coach because they
can make guys that we don't even know that much about,
and let's face it, they make controversial moves. Sean Payton's like,
I don't want Judy, who's clearly a good player, but

(19:36):
He's like, this is not gonna work here. What does
Hardbad do? Like, yeah, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, you're not
gonna work here, and a lot of people and I'm
guilty this too, Like I don't know, man, I don't
know if I do that. That seems a little risky.
It's like, yeah, these guys kind of know what they're doing,
like they have a clear vision for what they want.
Like this isn't a guessing game we all do in life.
Sometimes you're like, yeah, I think there's gonna work, and

(19:58):
you try things, try things all the time. On this podcast,
sure most people listening, like you know, as you're coming
up and whether whatever industry you're in, you're like, you're
trying shit. Jim Harbout sixty years old. I don't know
how If I had to guess how old John Payton is,
I'd probably say the same, fifty six, fifty seven years old.
Like there's no guessing, Like, this is what I wanted,

(20:19):
this position, This is what I need out of disposition.
This guy fits, this guy does not fit this this
amount of money for this position, we don't want it
that there's no feeling shit out And you saw at
the end of the game when they put out the
division and the Raiders are two to nine, they are
winlessening to the It's like they don't have a shot.
They got no shot. They're just spinning their wheels against

(20:42):
Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh, and all three
of them have a quarterback. I mean, Mahomes and Andy
are one of the great combinations we've ever seen. I'll
promise you this in five years, the way we talk
about Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert, if Justin says healthy,
will probably blow your mind. How just the power behind
what's gonna happen. Because I'll promise you if they're gonna win,

(21:05):
and they're gonna win big, and it's hard to want
not to say, you know, yeah, I think Sean paying
the boneecks are gonna work, you know. And that's the
thing with the Browns, well run, they have good offensive pieces,
but now their quarterback situation. I was thinking about this today.
I wrote it down. Obviously, some of these Fortune five
hundred companies make, you know, billion dollar acquisitions, right. They

(21:29):
buy something and for the most part, they have a
pretty good idea that it will work. I remember when
Jeff Bezos bought Whole Foods. I don't know how many
years ago, that was five or six or four or whatever.
He spent billions of dollars to acquire it, and that
day the stock went up so much they're like, actually,
he made money on the transaction the day that it

(21:49):
was announced. There obviously are decisions that anyone makes, whether
it's buying a home in two thousand and seven, all
of a sudden a year later, you're fucked. You have
to foreclose on the thing, and it's gone. Right. It happens.
Some stuff's out of your control. I would say that
Deshaun Watson will go down is one of the greatest

(22:10):
liabilities in the history of business, especially if you're just
factoring in like a non company, just a human being.
And it's clearly one of the worst transactions in the
history of sports. And it feels like they're stuck with
them because the owner, unlike the Broncos, the Broncos ownership
wasn't there when the trade was made. Sean Payton comes in,
they gave it, they let him do whatever, and it's like, yeah,

(22:32):
they kind of had a liability to and Russell Wilson
is clearly light years better than the diversion of Deshaun
Watson we've seen the last couple of years. But it
just wasn't gonna work. And why do you want to
force something in football that's not gonna work. If you
hire a coach, if you hire a GM. If if
I owned a team, like I would just let them
do whatever they wanted to do. Now if it didn't work,

(22:53):
they would be accountable for it. But part of being
an owner, like I wouldn't want to play GM or
I would just name myself the GM. That's part of
hiring them. I would be on a boat, I would
be on a golf course. Tell me when Sundays aren't
like I wouldn't go to practice practices were boring When
I worked in football, if I was an owner, it's like,
just do you man, and I'll pay you a lot

(23:14):
of money. Whoever the best of the best. I'll give
you the resources get it done. When you meddle, then
it fucks with them and it doesn't. It's like micromanaging
in any business. But like the part of the reason
you hire these guys. And the thing with football is
like most people don't know what's going on. It's a
foreign language, you can't speak their language, you don't know

(23:35):
the playbook, you're not around the team. Most of these
owners aren't in the office every day, so you come
in like as a helicopter parent, and all of a sudden,
it's like, what are you even talking about? And you
throw off the equilibrium of any chance it can work,
and this is what you get. Right, Russell Wilson would
have been a problem for Denver because of the mix

(23:57):
with the coach, and it wasn't I'm sure popular. When
he broach the idea of like, yeah, we should cut
this player. Like what, like we're gonna cut him? It's like, well,
we hired you. Okay, you don't think Stefanski and Andrew
Berry have thought like, yeah, we should probably bench this player.
But clearly it's not in their control. So I feel

(24:18):
for them under that element of their job. Okay, before
I think the penthouse is pretty clear, right, we said
Forever the Chiefs have aloft. They have a giant, giant penthouse,
and they are living well, even though it's very hard
on a weekly basis. Eleven and one's eleven and one,

(24:38):
eleven and one is eleven and one. And I actually
heard sal with Bill Simmons. I thought he brought up
a good point. Gambling culture, which I love. I do
think has made us look at the Chiefs a little
bit different. If this was when I was a kid,
all you'd be saying it is like eleven and one.
It's like one of the great starts in NFL history.
How does it get any better? The only thing is
the way we talk about the Chiefs twenty two. It's

(25:00):
like they can't cover a spread against the Chiefs. If
you get a large number, hammer the opponent. It's all
we talk about. It's like they're eleven to one. Yeah,
it has been difficult. I've said over and over. I
probably don't think they're gonna win the Super Bowl this year.
I think this is probably the time when they lose
a playoff game. It happens, happened to Brady and Belichick
a lot. But they're gonna be in the playoffs, and

(25:22):
there's a decent chance. We talked about it yesterday it
still could be the number one overall seed. I do
think the best team in the AFC right now, which
not really debatable, is the Bills. They look pretty special
and I do think it's really really important for them
obviously it's and Sean McDermott talked about this, it's out
of their control. Think how funny it was, and this
is one that I feel pretty happy that I thought

(25:46):
this is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.
About a week before kickoff, when the New York Jets
were favored to win the AFC East. I think in
all of the gambling discussion over the last several years,
that has to be one of the crazier visuals I've
seen with futures over unders, Super Bowl odds, MVP odds.

(26:07):
One year, Justin Field's MVP odds were a little crazy,
but the Jets were favored over the Buffalo Bills to
win the AFC East. The Buffalo Bills clinched the division
on December one. There are five games that's fucking insane,
but props to them and they look awesome. I've been

(26:30):
saying this and that a lot of people have. It's
crazy how great of a season the Lions have had,
and it still feels like they're fighting, not just for
the number one seed for the division, and I think
this week like they're in it. They've deserved it. It's
been an incredible one from last year, a run from
last year into this year. I do think there's like

(26:50):
tangible pressure on them at home with all these injuries
against the Packers if they are to lose this game. Obviously,
Minnesota is very much in the mix, so is Green Bay.
And I'm telling you, with all these injuries for the Lions,
I would expect Green Bay to look pretty good. If
Dan Campbell can win this game against the Packers with

(27:11):
these injuries, it might be his most impressive like non
playoff victory achievement so far in his you know, short
career as a head coach. And obviously the Eagles, who
Saquon Barkley has really changed their team because it's taken
so much pressure off Jalen Hurts and really Nick Sirianni.

(27:34):
Someone said, like Middlecoff, you were called Sirianni an idiot
two months ago. Well, yeah, it's not like I think
Sirianni's Bill Belichick. But his team's ten and two. They
just went on the road to Baltimore and beat the
shit out of them. The final score does not reflect
the game we witnessed. They work the Ravens like there's

(27:55):
no dispute. They look really good. So yeah, I mean,
I've said it over and old, or like if they
fired it tomorrow. I don't think he's getting hired this cycle.
I don't believe that he is just safe just because
they make the playoffs or even get the one seed.
If he were to lose in like the second round
is the number one overall seed, I don't think he
would be a lock to return. We watched the Eagles,

(28:17):
and this is why I believed in them coming into
the season. One. I like their coordinators. I mean, Fangio
is one of the best defensive coordinators in the league.
And I think Kellen Moore is good and clearly he's
emphasized the run more. Whether that's the offensive line who
banged down Sirianni's door to tell him to do it,
whether it's Kellen Moore evolving, whether it's just we got
Saquon Barkley, we might as well feed him the pill. Regardless,

(28:39):
it's working. And they're gonna be a problem because they
have competitive like their guys have been in these big moments.
AJ Brown, Saquon Barkley, DeVante's or not Sequon, but actually
Saquon's been the playoffs with the Giants, but most of
the Eagles core guys have and a lot of their
younger players Guess where they played University of Georgia, guess

(29:01):
what George did. Played in a lot of big fucking games,
won multiple national titles. So these guys are used to
a ton of pressure, which is a huge, huge advantage.
And I think the Eagles man, if I was Howie
I be, I'd be feeling pretty confidence. It's just like snick,
stay out of the way. When it comes to the
worst teams in the league. I think there is one

(29:23):
team that is on an island. You watch the Jacks.
Every time I looked up against the Texans, it felt
like they were kind of in the game, even after
Trevor Lawrence got knocked out. We talked about the Raiders
on Thanksgiving like they were they played a pretty good game.
They're still trying really, really hard. The Titans did not
look good against Washington. But I just find the Titans

(29:44):
completely irrelevant right now. Like I think, if you outside
of Nashville, no one even realizes they're in the NFL
this season. I do think the Giants are in their
own little bucket, partly because it's the franchise, it's huge brand,
the market the offseason hard knocks. I saw a clip today.

(30:06):
I don't know if this was after the game or
last week during a lead up to the game, but
Cavon Thibodeau basically said, if you don't make plays, you're
not allowed to speak in our locker room. And then
like Lawrence Time's and some other former Giants kind of
chimed in like that's kind of a loser thing to say, right, Like,

(30:27):
if you're on the team, like your voice should matter.
Obviously you're not leading pregame speeches if you're you know,
the seventh guy on special teams kick coverage. But like
that's a mindset. It feels like they are just completely
off and it is getting uglier by the week. And
that Thanksgiving night game when they insert Drew Locke, who

(30:49):
is better than DeVito, and honestly they could have had
Kerrie Collins or Eli Manning back there. That offensive line
right now is going to get someone killed. I think
if I had, if I was a betting man right now,
I would say the Giants not only do not win
a game the rest of the season, but end up
with the number one pick. I don't think there is

(31:10):
a team that is worse than the New York Giants.
Right now, Dexter Lawrence out for the season. He's the
best player on the team by a mile. So right now,
when you look at look at the Panthers, we were
making fun of them, they were the porta potty Panthers.
All of a sudden, Andy Dalton gets in a car accident.
Bryce Young comes back. You watch them like, they look
like a real football team. They look like a real

(31:32):
football team. You watch the Giants, You're like, this can't
be real right now. Listen, even the Jets, Like, the
Jets had a twenty one seven lead. Now they blew
it and Aaron Rodgers falls apart and he kind of
points a finger to other people. But they thought a
twenty one seven lead. If you tell me from this
point forward the Giants do not have another lead in
a game, I'd believe you. So I think the Giants

(31:54):
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Speaker 1 (33:30):
Okay, let's dive into a couple things around the NFL.
I saw today that Kevin Warren said that the Bears
job would be the most coveted this offseason. So I realized, oh,
Kevin Warren's talking. Went and watched the Bears press conference,
and the one thing that really jumped out to me
is it looked like a boss in his employee. An

(33:54):
owner and his employee were up on the dais. One
guy was driving the other road shotgun and it turns
out that the general manager, the guy that Kevin Warren
said was in charge of finding the next head coach,
was riding shotgun while Kevin Warren, the president, who's in

(34:15):
charge of nothing football wise, want to get a new stadium.
That's why they hired Kevin Warren, sells sponsorship and make
the franchise money. Like in a lot of organizations, it's
split into two. Acted like he was essentially the owner,
because at this point in time, it's not really arguable

(34:36):
that Kevin Warren is essentially in charge of the Bears.
I've watched a lot of press conferences over the years,
when a coach is fired, either in season or you know,
in early January or sometime during the playoffs, you know,
Black Monday, or whenever it happens. Typically what happens if
the general manager is kept, it is either an owner

(34:59):
by himself elf giving the press conference explaining himself kind
of speaking to the fans, or the owner and the
GM up there together. And there have been a lot
of articles written. I've even referenced some of them and listen,
I kind of take them at face value. Why because
I want to. But I've said before, you got to
be very careful with this stuff. Sources. You never know

(35:21):
what is actually true, because I've heard enough stories about
articles that are written. Talk to people in those buildings
and they're like, Eh, that's that's not really the case.
But the Kevin Warren thing, every article has been pretty consistent.
But I've always said, I, you know, words, just in
any walk of life, I judge you on actions. And
when you click on today's Bears press conference, there is

(35:44):
no one who could argue who is in charge, and
it sure as hell is not Ryan Poles. Honestly, it
was a pretty crazy thing to watch for the first
five or six minutes, Ryan Poles didn't say a word.
It was honestly kind of awkward. And here's what's bullshit
about this whole thing, and why all these future head

(36:05):
coaches would say most coveted job while me and Ryan
Poles are in the trenches. When things go well, you're
gonna be standing right next to us, and when things
go shitty, you are going to be nowhere to be
found and pointing the finger at us. This is why
business people, the ones you don't want to be around
in this industry, you know, want to act like we're

(36:27):
just in charge of the operation when it comes to
the stadium, the sponsorship, all that stuff. But when things
go well, I'm a part of football because it's so easy.
When things don't go well, I don't have my hands
in it at all. And I will say this, there
are clearly a lot of crazy owners, right. We're seeing
it with Woody Johnson, right with the New York Jets.
We've seen it over the years with a lot of

(36:49):
different franchises. But at least you know, if you're the
coach or the GM like, listen, this is this guy
signs my checks. I work for this guy. When you're
a kid and your parents are mad at you, and
the older you get and you're getting in trouble whatever,
you know that like, well, they provide me a home,
they provide me food, they provide me a life. Right,

(37:11):
So at the end of the day, you can be
frustrated with your parents, you can be frustrated with your owners.
You all know they're in charge. I think it gets difficult,
and I've been in this situation. I would imagine many
people have as well, where you have like middle management.
You're like, wait, you're not really in charge, but you
kind of control the budget, but not really, I have
to ask you, but you ultimately don't have the final

(37:33):
decision making power. You have to go above yourself. It
finds yourself in this no man's land. And I think
when you look around the best teams in the NFL,
let's start with the Chiefs. They are run by Andy
Reid and Breadbeach when it comes to all things football.
Look at the Ravens, Eric Acosta and John Harball. Look

(37:54):
at the Steelers from the Rooney to the GM to Tomlin.
They're all in it together. It's a football operation. Go
to the NFC, Dan Campbell Brad Holmes, Gudakin's Lafleur right,
the Niners suck this year, but for a long time,
John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan, less need, Sean McVay, Howie Roseman

(38:16):
and Nick Sirianni or Doug Peterson the business guy, well
he's a part of it and he's friends with everybody.
Should not be the guy running point on all this stuff.
And I thought it was an insane visual of Kevin
Warren being the complete alpha in that press conference. There
is no one who could watch that and question or

(38:39):
even ask, like I wonder who's in charge? We all know,
so all the articles that have been written which have
all pointed the fingers like Kevin Warren, this is kind
of weird. It is what it is, and I think
this is a recipe for disaster. If Kevin Warren did
not exist and it was Ryan Poles in the ownership
and whoever I'm gonna er, we're all in it together.

(39:01):
I do agree, it would be a very coveted job,
young quarterback, ton of talent, a lot of talent on
the roster, big city, great fan base, a lot of history,
awesome division to play in. But you can't tell me
it will be a highly coveted job, especially with an
organization that is notoriously cheap. When the guy in charge

(39:21):
is a non football guy who does not own the team.
I actually think that is one of the biggest red
flags for any team in recent memory. You could argue
it's a joke and an embarrassment, and if I was
a Bears fan, I'd be fucking pissed, like what are
we doing? The Trevor Lawrence hit. I've said forever I

(39:45):
will not apologize for enjoying violence in football, and I
think most of society agrees with me. We like violence.
There's a reason, you know, depending on what numbers you believe,
seventy eighty one hundred million people watched Mike Tyson versus
Jake Paul. We wanted to watch Mike Tyson be violent.

(40:07):
There's a reason that UFC, over the course of the
last ten twenty years has turned into a billion dollar operation.
Humans like watching other humans be violent to each other.
There is no just It goes back to when you're
a kid in junior high in high school, when a
fight happens, everyone surrounds it and watches. Now, I mean,

(40:28):
I grew up in a time without camera phones and
everyone pulls out their phone. A little different, but still,
I mean, we're drawn to it, and for most of
my life, football was extremely violent. Anyone that played at
any level, whether it's pee wee's, whether it's JV, whether
it's varsity, college or pros. There is a feeling you
get inside the first day of pads, when you put

(40:50):
on you're going through tackling drills. I'll never forget being
in ninth grade playing JV football thinking like, God, we're
hitting today. It's just it's an undescribable feeling that as
you get older and you know, most of the violent
warfare you conduct is all mental, right, whether it's some
sort of negotiation in business, physical like you don't really

(41:14):
most human beings aren't fighting as they get in their thirties,
forties and fifties. The only way we kind of live
vicariously through it. Whether you like UFC, whether you like
boxing or football. I understand. Once the NFL went through
the situation with concussions and ct and the lawsuits of
hundreds of millions of dollars, they tried to cover their ass.

(41:35):
So the rules got extreme when it came to protecting
the quarterbacks specifically partly because those guys are a huge
part of the business model. When you turn on a
game and it's Bill's Chiefs, having Josh Allen and Patrick
Mahomes in that game is a really big deal. Having

(41:55):
backup quarterbacks being forced into action is a problem for
the NFL in how they make their money because ratings
start going down. It's not as good. Even if the
game is bad and you have star quarterbacks, people can
live with it. I do think we've kind of got
to this blurry area of There was a play on

(42:16):
Thanksgiving where, you know, earlier this season, Patrick Mahomes against
the forty nine ers had a run where he went
to the sideline fake like he was going to go
out of bounds. All the forty nine ers stopped and
he cut it back and he got more yards. And
it's happened countless times, not just him, but in football
the last several years. There was a famous play several

(42:36):
years ago of Kenny Pickett when he was in college
breaking a run, pretending to slide. The defender stops and
he keeps going and he scores a touchdown. Well, Caleb
Williams on Thursday was going out of bounds and the
defender was leaping to hit him. Now he probably would
have got out of bounds, might not have touched him.

(42:56):
And I don't know if Caleb knew that he was
gonna jump and thought maybe he might stop and look
to cut it back and ended up getting blasted. And
it was one on Caleb Williams. And I think when
you watch Trevor Lawrence and is a bad example because
al Shire, who destroys Trevor Lawrence, knocked him out and

(43:16):
then created a huge brawl and Demko got mad. That's
saying that, like, you know, the Jags attacked him like
it's part of what you do when your quarterback gets destroyed.
I do think it's a very slippery slope with these
guys in the open field. And if you watch the
hit in slow motion, Alshire basically takes off right as

(43:39):
Trevor Lawrence is about to start his slide. These situations
are very bang bang. And he didn't hit him in
the head. He didn't get flagged for targeting. Why he
didn't target him. He hit him in the shoulder. Now
the impact he had and you obviously are not supposed
to hit anybody when they're in their slide. Forced his
body back and it cracked his head on the on
the grass and can Custom knocked him out. But I

(44:05):
just think, big picture, the defensive players in the NFL
are at such a big disadvantage and the offensive players
are starting to take advantage of it. You know, Brady
went on this rant a couple of years ago about
quarterback play and everyone freaked out, like he's just a
bitter old man. No. Back in the day, if you
made a bad pass, your wide receiver was going to

(44:28):
the hospital. That's why they called it a hospital ball.
Last year, Gardner Minshew got Michael Pittman killed. No one
talked about Gardner Minshew though, and the defender got suspended
for the season. And I think that I get it,
and if I was in the NFL shoes, I would

(44:49):
do everything to protect the paycheck. But one half of
this sport is getting completely railroaded. And I don't know
what they're supposed to do because their job is to
literally tackle people. And when the quarterback runs outside the
tackle box, he becomes like a wide receiver or a
running back. Yet he's treated completely different. And it'd be

(45:13):
one thing if, like, well, Tom Brady runs like a
five five forty. It's like, just pull up. Trevor Lawrence
is a big time athlete in the open field. I
think he runs like a four to six. Running in
his legs are a big part of his game. He's
also not some tiny dude. The guy's six six, two
hundred and twenty five pounds. So I don't have an
answer to this. I just think we go so hard

(45:36):
one way. It's like, I don't know. I've always defended
the defensive players on this. I'm not sure what they're
supposed to do. It happens whenever you see a quarterback
slammed into the ground, it's like he put his weight
on him. It's like, well, the guy weighs three hundred
and twenty pounds. Once he starts tackling him, what's he
supposed to do? Float away? He's not superman. I just

(46:00):
think that it's only gonna get worse. And here's another
big picture problem. These guys, the quarterbacks get paid exponentially
more money than ninety percent of the guys on the field.
There's only a couple guys even remotely close. Trevor Lawrence
makes two hundred million dollars a year, two hundred or

(46:22):
not a year, but two hundred million dollar plus contract.
Who's the highest paid guy in the Texans like the
Neil Hunter with a forty eight million dollar contract. So
it's like these guys are in a different stratosphere, yet
they don't have much risk. I get paid all the money.
If I'm Trevor Lawrence, I didn't have to play well,
and I really don't risk anything because you're not allowed
to touch me, and if you do screw up, you're

(46:45):
making way less. I'm gonna suspend you. I'm gonna suspend
you without pay. Hell, I might kick you out of league.
I just think it's starting to get a little out
of whack. And it's been like that for a while,
and it's only gonna get worse because the league will
do everything in their power to protect the product, which
in their mind starts with the quarterback. And listen, you

(47:06):
can't disagree and say that's one of the most malicious
hits you'll ever see. Obviously it doesn't look good, but
I think before everyone just goes kick him out of
the league, he's we see this a lot, man. I
think these are a little more bang bang than we realize.
While we're sitting on the couch, eating pretzels and drinking
a Coke zero. And last but not least, sark in

(47:31):
Ryan Day. Two guys that I've been I've talked a
lot about over the years, and obviously Ryan Day is
front and center right now. He just lost what many
would consider the worst game we've ever seen in our
entire lives. I think he was. I think it depending
you know, DraftKings. I didn't see it where it closed
like twenty two and a half, twenty three points. It

(47:54):
wasn't just that he was a three plus touchdown favorite.
It's that you couldn't find a soul who watches football
biggest Michigan fan. You could have found people's parents from
the Michigan's team that would have been, Yeah, we're gonna
lose this game, like it's whatever. I mean, we'll just
as long as we playhim close for a half. It'd
be commendable that would have picked the Wolverines. No one

(48:18):
gave them a shot, probably beside the players and the coach.
To lose that game is something that you'll never shake.
And I was thinking about this today because it goes
back to Harbaugh's comment about being born on third base.
Let's you Steve Sarkisian who over the years, you know,

(48:40):
I thought was pretty overrated. He just never really won.
And then last year took his team to the playoffs
and honestly, you know, pretty valiant effort against Washington. And
then this year, first year in the SEC, was the
regular season champion and obviously as in the SEC championship
game with a chance, you know, probably to be the

(49:00):
two seed in the upcoming playoff. Had a fantastic year. Well,
sark before he got the Texas job, was the offensive
coordinator for one of the most famous teams of my life,
the USC Trojans. Then goes to Washington. Well, you know,
he we could argue how well it actually went. What

(49:22):
was winning seven and eight games a lot, but took
over a really shitty program and then went to USC
and flamed out, but at least he was a head coach.
Then he had to go resurrect his career with Nick
Saban in the Atlanta Falcons before he became the head
coach of the Texas Longhorns. Ryan Day had never called
plays until he worked for Urban Meyer in like twenty seventeen.

(49:45):
In twenty eighteen, and then when Urban just taps out
essentially hands him the job. So you look at the
Texas in Ohio state, which most people would consider two
of the top three or four jobs in the country.
On guy's resume looks completely different than the other guy's resume,
But you go listen, these are both offensive gurus. Only

(50:09):
one of them calls plays. And when I was at
the Red River game, and I've watched a lot of
Texas games the last couple of years, like probably many
of you, because they're playing in big ass games. When
it's Texas on offense, Sark is dialed no different than
if he was Matt Lafleur, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Ben Jonson.
He's the offensive coordinator. He is the guy calling the offense,

(50:32):
the offense, the quarterback, the skill guy. That's his baby,
and he controls it. And he has way more experience
doing this because he's been doing it for twenty plus
years than Ryan Day. Yet Ryan Day, at forty five
years old, who's five years younger than Sark, somehow just
became a CEO. It's like, I'm just gonna have other

(50:54):
people do the jobs, and I'm just gonna be the boss.
In what world did he qualify to be the CEO.
We could argue all day long, should he be the
head coach or should he not? He definitely should be
calling the If you're gonna hire Ryan Day to be
your head coach, I don't want him. Just like, Hey,
I know your buddy hates being the head coach at
UCLA and wants essentially a golden parachute where he doesn't

(51:17):
have to do dick, he doesn't have to recruit. He
just wants to call some plays. It's like, is that
a good idea? Would Steve Sarkeys he'd have done that?
Would Nick Saban have done that? Like when you just
factor in how Chip Kelly ends up there and the
reasoning behind it little questionable, And I think we have

(51:37):
to go back to the root is like Ryan, why
aren't you calling the place? Part of being a CEO?
And we have a lot of them, whether it be
in college football or the NFL. Kind of tough guys,
Dan Campbell, Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin,
Like these fucking guys are leaders. Follow me to freedom,

(51:58):
as Charlie Steiner once said on the esp IN Sports
Center commercial, and you're like, show me where to start walking.
You lead the way. Big guy. Ryan Day does not
exactly scream leader of men. Honestly, neither is Sark. But
what Sark does really well is because they have a
huge budget, we can hire top coaches all call the offense,

(52:20):
will buy sweet players, and I'll just try to give
a consistent message. Yet Ryan Day somehow thinks he's Jim Harbaugh,
where his teams consistently show extremely soft and it's like, well,
who actually called the plays? Was a chip? Ryan Day.
When you watch Texas and they look shitty on offense,
you know exactly who's in control of Same thing with

(52:41):
Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin, same thing with Lincoln Riley
and usc. Part of the reason I'm hiring you is
because of your offensive mind, not just to hand some
two million dollars a year job to your former head
coach back at some tiny little school in the Northeast
who's just over at all, who wants to keep casting checks.
Like I said, like people think I'm some bitter asshole,

(53:02):
I don't give a fuck. The best thing that ever
happened to me was actually leaving the football business and
doing this financially personally, my whole there's nothing that I
would do over again. But I think we have to
acknowledge Chip Kelly has not been good at his job
in close to a decade now. And if in any
other situation, some of these other program people would be like,

(53:23):
how is this happening? Why aren't you calling the place?
In what world on your resume does it say this guy,
this guy can control it all? The program obviously has regressed,
and I would say he is. He's in major trouble

(53:43):
because you don't ever shake that game. You don't ever
shake that visual of them planning the flag and you
standing there like a deer in the headlights because you're
in shock, because you had previously said during the week,
we can't ever lose to these guys again. Ever, it
can never happen. And then you did, and they ran

(54:04):
all over your field, tried to plan a flag into
a turf that doesn't actually work, and you, guys, embarrass yourself.
And it starts with you, the CEO, who somehow forty
five years old. I don't know where you acquired these skills,
but you clearly lack them. Okay, let's dive into a

(54:29):
little thing we like to call the middle cough mail
bag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram firing those dms
and get your questions answered here on the show. Just
my name at John Middlecoff firing those dms questions here
on the show. Now, the McCaffrey has sustained another serious injury.
What are your thoughts about transitioning him from running back

(54:52):
to full time slot receiver. He's had an amazing career,
has outperformed all expectations, but his draft day size and
durability concerns are coming to a head. I think at
best he has two to three solid seasons at running back,
but I believe he could be a top end receiver
slot receiver for another five plus years. It's a good question,

(55:16):
I guess I would say this. The reason he missed
all of training camp and then missed the majority of
the season were these achilles injuries. And he made some
comments getting mad at like Twitter, doctors for guessing about
his injuries or people on TV. I don't think it's
really debatable that it's pretty serious that whether you're a
doctor or not a doctor, you know that is not

(55:36):
normal to have both achilles cause problems, not be able
to practice, miss all of training camp, miss half the
season when you're a guy who's already been injured a lot,
like I think that's pretty concerning. And I think if
the Niners knew what they know now I'm talking before
this knee injury, they would not have given him a
big extension, which I thought he had earned right because

(55:59):
this guy had become a had just resurrected his career,
was fully healthy, was durable. Then they give him like
this extension, add a bunch of money because he's quote
unquote underpaid, and then his legs just go out on him. Now,
did him and his agent know that before they signed
the contract, I don't know, but it's a major problem
now for the forty nine ers. He's obviously on injured reserve.

(56:20):
He's out for the season, and that's not even his achilles.
If I would have told you a month ago that
McCaffrey would come back and then he would get injured,
he'd be out for the season, I think we'd all
say that I bet his achilles ripped. Now it's a
knee injury. It's just it's pretty concerning. So before you
can worry about slot receiver running back like, we got
to figure out are his legs betraying him, which it's

(56:43):
not anyone's fault. It's just to wear and tear. I
don't know. But if is the achilles thing just gone?
He showed some life last night of looking like himself
again before he got injured. But was that a byproduct
of the snow and everyone on defense basically moving half speed?
I don't know, and now we won't know the answer,

(57:04):
And I think coming this off season, there are a
ton of question marks when it comes to McCaffrey's health.
So I think before you can think of a slot
receiver move, it's like, well, what about his legs or
his achilles just healed? Now? Is this an issue that's
not going to take place? I hope, But even if
you move him to a wide receiver, it would still
be a problem if it's not completely gone. What do

(57:27):
you think the Niners should do if they don't pay
party who's accomplished more than many already who said that
they have to pay him. Now he still has another
year of his contract. Yes, he's accomplished a lot. This
year was pretty concerning, and I would have no problem
giving him like the Daniel Jones Kirk Cousins contract. But

(57:49):
I cannot give him Trevor Lawrence contract. I can't. I
can't do it as we sit here today, That's just
bad business. There's no way anyone could argue otherwise. That
be very very it'd be extremely risky, and it feels
like the wrist side would outweigh the potential success side

(58:12):
based on the information we have right now. I've always
even last year coming into the season, like, wait, this
guy's You're gonna pay them the same as Josh Allen,
Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. He definitely deserves a race.
No one argues that, but at what like and at
the end of the day, this business so like, can
I pay you thirty million dollars a year? I've said forever.

(58:34):
Why does everyone just automatically get the max? Because if
you have Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes
or Justin Herbert, hey, you feel pretty good. But if
you have the next tier guys and I gotta pay
him the same as that guy, Like, it's not ideal.
There's a reason different sized homes cost different amounts of money.

(58:55):
Yet when it comes to quarterbacks, like every guy just
gets forty fifty million dollars. What the fuck. Can we
take a deep breath? That's my thing. Can we just
take a deep breath. I'm not opposed to paying him money,
but I cannot pay him the money that some of
these other guys have gotten based on the information that
I have right now, because it's like, wait, he's gonna

(59:16):
get the same contract Josh Allen. I just I've seen
these guys on the same field, and it's like one
guy's in a different universe. Well, of course he is,
Josh Allen's way better. But I gotta pay this guy
the same just because he plays the same position. Can
I pay him twenty eight million dollars a year? I
don't see why that's not an option. After the draft,
I claimed that if Howie Roseman had picks number one

(59:37):
and two overall in the draft, that he might have
taken Mitchell and Cooper de Gene. You counter that how
he would have probably taken Ault. I don't think you
are necessarily wrong, but I do think it worked out
quite well for the Birds. Those two rookies have outpaced
my hope so far. And while it would be nice

(59:59):
to I have Joe Alt in the trenches, we had
desperation need in the secondary If this team can figure
out how to play offense in the first quarter, I
don't see how they can lose the rest of the year.
Love the show. I think if he had the number
one and number two overall pick, I think you're right
he probably would have used one of the picks. If

(01:00:21):
he knows what he knows now, he would have taken
Mitchell with one of the two because he has a
superstar corner for the next decade. Ideally, I think it
would be between Alt and probably like a Jared Verse,
he would take someone in the trenches over Degene who's awesome,
But you're not gonna take a slot corner when I
could get Lane Johnson's replacement or Brandon Graham's replacement. But

(01:00:44):
those two guys have helped transition the Eagles big time.
I mean, their off season is paying dividends right now.
Zach baughn is I don't know one of the best
offseason signings. Obviously, Saquan might win the MVP. Fangio and
k and more crushing the draft picks look awesome. It's
going pretty well. It's going pretty well. There's going to

(01:01:07):
be a lot of talk this week about Lawrence. To me,
these quarterbacks have been spoiled playing touch football their whole lives.
They've never faced repercussions for it. They manipulate the sidelines
and defenders are scared to touch them because the quarterback
will flop and draw a penalty. We see this with
Mahomes every week. I see a lot of people saying

(01:01:28):
Jackson is a top ten quarterback all the time, and
to me, these guys need to be greatered on a
curve because they basically play football on easy mode. It's
disrespectful moving these modern guys past all the older quarterbacks
that had the rules stacked against them. Many quarterbacks like
Montana Aikman had to retire early because they were so

(01:01:51):
beat down. This same play on Lawrence yesterday would have
been celebrated as the hit of the Year in nineteen
eighty eight. In my quarterbacks should be allowed to be
hit on the sideline. It's too close with these calls,
and it allows them to pick up extra yards and
first downs. I say they should have to be all
the way past outside part of the white line for

(01:02:13):
it to be a penalty. That would fix a lot
of these problems. You see in this old play, the
quarterback weaves in and out indecisive and wants to get
out of bounds or not, he pays the price no flag,
I hear you. I mean, we talked about it on
the podcast. It's just there's a fine line. And the

(01:02:34):
quarterbacks have all the advantages in the world, from the
amount of money they're making, to the rules on their side,
to no one's allowed to touch them. And I think
when you manipulate the sideline, that's fucking egregious. And if
you manipulate the sideline, you should be penalized fifteen yards.
And when you run in the open field, like I'm sorry,

(01:02:58):
you shouldn't get treated when you run outside the tackle box.
You should be treated like an offensive player, like a
running back would, like a wide receiver would. If you
choose to run, that's on you, which I'm all for.
I want an athletic quarterback. But I would always preach
like we slide, and we slide extra early. We are

(01:03:20):
sliding five yards before you even get close to the defender.
And these guys like want their cake and eat it too,
and they get right up against it and it's created,
you know, it's it's just a big problem for the
defensive players. I feel bad for him. I really do.

(01:03:42):
Why would Minnesota care about Darnold's market instead of doing
the Kirk cousins and franchise them once or twice? I
mean they easily could. Why I would extend them? Like
what if you just want to keep them? What if
you think he's just good and you want them to
be your starting quarterback? Like that's what I would entertain,

(01:04:04):
Like can you just consistently win with this guy for
the next three or four years? And I think that
would have to be at play, So I would imagine
franchising him is on the table. I would imagine, like
how much can we extend this guy for? What is
the number? Would have to be on the table as well.
I'm curious what's the appeal to be a head coach

(01:04:26):
if you're an elite coordinator? Obviously more money, But if
you're a guy like Ben Johnson, why move from where
you are now? Which could be the next dynasty. As
a Ravens fan, we miss Mike McDonald dearly and can
only imagine what we'd look like with him still as
the coordinator, maybe an actual super Bowl team. Well, I

(01:04:47):
think you get to a point where you would just
like to sit at the head of the table. You
just want to be in charge, right Any single guy
listening to this, if you've been in a relationship where
it's just like, hey, we're kind of sleeping together, nothing serious,
no titles, there comes to a point where it's like
are we going to make this happen or not? Like

(01:05:09):
are we going to be dating? Are we going to
be exclusive? And I think it's like that with a coach.
It's like I want to try it. I want to
see if I have what it takes. Like Ben Johnson's
proven he's an elite defensive or an offensive coordinator. Mike
McDonald proved that with defense. It's like, can I be
the head guy? Can I be the guy making all

(01:05:29):
the decisions? Can I be the guy put together a
staff and leading the troops? Because it's it's the easy
way out in a weird way, you know. Obviously, some
guys like Vic Fangio's proven like he's more of a
defensive coordinator. But I always understand guys wanting to take
their shot, like can I do this? And then there's

(01:05:52):
the financial aspect of well, if I'm making two million
dollars to be an offensive coordinator, well they'll pay me
ten to be the head coach. Or if I'm Ben Johnson,
I'm making three or four, they'll pay me fourteen to
be the head coach. I mean, that's money's all relative, right.
If you're making one hundred grand and I go, hey,
one more responsibility here, But how about making nine hundred

(01:06:16):
grand and you get to be the boss. It's like,
we're all human beings, and you know, in competitive industries
like football, like finance, like a lot of these people
these are alphas, aggressive people, big egos, and they you know,
they're risk takers. They're risk takers. So I think that

(01:06:37):
plays a part in it, and I think they get
to a point where they go, let's put all of
our chips in the middle of the table. Lifelong die
hard cheesehead who lives in northern Michigan as the crow Flies,
I actually live closer to Lambeau than I do Detroit.
Getting pretty tired of Lions fans who act like they've

(01:07:00):
already won the Super Bowl. To me, the season just started.
Lions fans are starting to turn into Bengals fans. I've
said since the beginning of the year, I think these
two teams will play three times. When it's all said
and done. I don't put too much stock into the
upcoming game this week. Also, I've never been worried about

(01:07:20):
Jordan Love. He reminds me of a version of Josh Allen,
for lack of a better term. People forget Josh Allen
was not polished straight out of college and took the
Bills a year or two of starting him and refining
him up until a couple of years ago, we were
having the same conversations about the iNTS that we're having

(01:07:43):
with Jordan Love. Needs to clean them up, obviously, but
it's just the timing within the game and when he's
throwing them. I still feel confident in Lafloor and this
time ready to compete with anyone in January. Go pack Gous.
I mean, you guys are alive. I think you guys
are like seven to one to win the division, and

(01:08:06):
if you win this week, it's right there for you.
It really is. And you guys are built like a
dome team, so that speed you have on offense translates
and their defense, their front seven is just obliterated. So
I hear you that the Lions have not won anything yet. Now,
if they were fully healthy, they would be my clear pick.

(01:08:28):
To win the Super Bowl. Definitely the NFC, but the
injuries have taken a toll. And yeah, man, I don't
know what tell you, but good luck, because I think
it's right there on the table. And I bet Lions
fans are a little nervous right now given that they
have no separation. It's not like they got three game

(01:08:49):
lead heading into December. They got a one game lead
over Minnesota, they got a two game lead over you,
and they got half their teams on the shelf. My
name is Alex. Like you, I'm a part of the
Bald community. I'm from Socow and have enjoyed your takes.
I'm twenty nine. I've been thinking about getting into podcasting.
I've been saying for months that if Ryan Day shit

(01:09:10):
the bed this year against Michigan and or during the playoffs,
Vrabel would be the next head coach. I'm not sure
how locked in you are on college football circuit, but
do you think there is a strong chance of that happening.
I don't have a dog in the fight, but I've
been watching Michigan for the past five years hoping the

(01:09:30):
Chargers would sign them, so they've been my second favorite
college team. I don't think any coach who has NFL
options would take a college job. Now, Ohio State is
like a pseudo NFL job. It pays a shitload of money,
it has unlimited resources. It's a great gig. You get

(01:09:53):
to control everything. But it's still not as good as
an NFL head coaching job. So to me, I have
a hard time seeing Mike Vrabel, who I would imagine
is going to get a ton of interviews and have
a very very good chance of being offered NFL jobs,
taking the Ohio State job. Now he's no Ohio State guy.

(01:10:13):
He's an Ohio State legend. He obviously coached at the
program under Urban Meyer. I would be stunted. I really would. Now,
what if he gets one hundred million dollar offer. Obviously
they got a lot of money to throw at him,
and he probably wouldn't get one hundred million dollar offer
in the NFL. Right, Sean Paidon got five years, ninety

(01:10:35):
million dollars. He's Super Bowl champ. I don't see Vrabel
getting that. But would Vrabel take fifty sixty million dollars
over one hundred million dollars from Ohio State? I think
he would because deal with nil the transfer portal like
in the NFL, like people are either under contract or
they're not right you. It's just so much. And Vrabel

(01:10:58):
now has been an NFL guy coach for the Texans,
been the head coach of the Titans forever, is very
comfortable in that environment. It's an easier environment. The football
is more intense because it's harder. Right at Ohio State,
he would be favored in every game of the year.

(01:11:18):
Probably maybe every year, maybe one game he's an underdog.
But even this year, I think Ohio State was favored
in every game because they were favored at Oregon. Obviously,
they were favored in Michigan, so even the two games
they lost, they were favored. I have a hard time
seeing him going to the college. I'd be stunned, to
be honest with you, long forlorn Steeler fan who has

(01:11:42):
slowed down the fire Mike Tomlin and rhetoric this season.
A year ago, Stucky came on your show ahead of
the Eagles Bills game. The Eagles were ten and one
and the Bills were six and six. He said that statistically,
the Eagles were the luckiest team in the league and
the Bills were the most unlucky. The Bills beat the
Eagles that week and never look back the rest of

(01:12:03):
the year, and the Eagles floundered, reminiscent of the eleven
to zero twenty twenty Pittsburgh Steelers. Do you put the
twenty four Chiefs in the same boat as the twenty
three Eagles, who would be this year's twenty three Bills
unlucky but improving Bengals. Maybe no, because, like, I don't

(01:12:27):
think the Chiefs are gonna win the Super Bowl this year.
I don't even think they're gonna represent the AFC. But
they have a championship culture, a championship quarterback, and a
championship coach, so part of winning these crazy games. Like,
they don't have the talent that the Eagles had last year.
They have no offensive pieces. Pacheco came back, Kelsey's old.

(01:12:49):
But like, the Chiefs just aren't gonna win this year
because they're probably not good enough. They've had a bunch
of injuries, run out of steam. The Eagles, I'm not
quite sure how you would describe what happened last year.
I mean, they fired half their staff. Any reasons not
gonna do that, And they've won a lot of these
games because of just culture and just some people will
say the refs, I would just say mental fortitude. But yeah,

(01:13:13):
I mean I kind of expect them, you know, if
they get the number one seed, I definitely think they
could lose that second round. If they are not the
one seed and have to play in the first and
second round, like probably gonna lose one of those games,
and there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's still one
of the greatest runs and they would only retool and

(01:13:34):
restock this offseason. But I view the franchises different, Like
under Sirianni the coach who had to get rid of
a bunch of coaches. Andy Reid won't do that. I
would say a team that could get hot. I do
think the Packers are coming, and if the Packers win Thursday,

(01:13:55):
I think watch out. Yeah, I don't know if there
was a there's not a team that's five hundred that
has Josh Allen and the Ravens have a lot of
issues going on, so I don't think there is a
team that Bill's situation was kind of unique. I mean,
Josh Allens probably can win the MVP this year. So

(01:14:17):
when you have an MVP level guy and you're six
and six. They also benefited because the division they played in.
The Dolphins fall apart in the cold. But clearly you
watch the Bengals against the Seilers, I mean they're not
that team to me. The Rams who are six and
six as well, a lot of issues, some just off
with their offense. Cardinals not good enough Seattle. End of

(01:14:40):
the day, Ginos our quarterback. So yeah, I guess it's
a long winded way of saying I don't know if
we have a six and six bills currently in the NFL.
Appreciate everyone listening, Audios, talk to you soon. The volume

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Bo Nix, Denver Broncos topple Jameis Winston’s Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football