August 5, 2024 • 54 mins
John opens the week with his thoughts on the Olympics as well as a massive mailbag. He answers your questions during today's podcast starting with a question about two of the top QB's in the league. Also, now that Miami has paid Tua, should people back off of the criticism surrounding him, could Rugby ever become like the NFL in America, the craziness that is the large amounts of money that gets thrown around to QB's, and how bad certain owners are in the NFL. Those questions and more are answered in this mailbag episode.
7:11 - Takes on the Olympics
17:08 - Mailbag
31:30 - Time to back off Tua
35:33 - Can Rugby ever be like the NFL
40:19 - Crazy money is getting thrown around
43:49 - Bad owners in the NFL
51:49 - Off-season Hard Knocks
Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow - for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #Herd
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. Not playing best Ball at DraftKings, you're missing out.
Here's what you need to know. DraftKings Best Ball Millionaire
Contest is their biggest fantasy contest ever. We're talking fifteen
million guaranteed price pool with two that's right, two millionaires
(00:23):
being crowned for the first and second place. If you're
set it and forget it type, then best Ball is
for you. No waiver wires, no roster management, bigger rosters,
so injuries won't end your season. Only the draft and
that's it. You're set for the year. Fifteen million prize pool.
(00:45):
Still not convinced, check this out. This year, DraftKings is
offering everyone a Draft one get one special. Your twenty
dollars entry fee scores you a bonus ticket get in
on all the best fall action. Download the DraftKings app
and use the code John. That's code John for all
(01:06):
customers who entered the NFL Best Ball fifteen Millionaire Contest
to get a bonus ticket and get a shot at
being crowned one of the two millionaires only on DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
call eight seven seven eight open wire text Hope and
wy at four six seven three sixty nine In Connecticut.
Help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org eighteen and over in most eligible states, but
age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer
(01:37):
enter the Best Ball fifteen million dollar Contest by nine
to five twenty four to get one bonus entry twenty
dollars entry fee required. Reward expires at contest lock on
nine five, twenty four. See terms at DraftKings dot com
slash dfs. What is going on? Everybody? Happy Monday?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Probably really hot where you are, because I know it
is scorching hot where I am feels about one hundred
and fifty degrees outside. Somehow I survived air conditioning. Bill's
going to be high today is gonna be a mail
bag only. So at John Middlecoff is my Instagram fire
in those dms. I might lead off with a little
just a quick thought on the Olympics, but it's gonna
(02:26):
be a mail bag show. So at John Middlecoff. Fire
in those dms went on with Colin as well, so
go check that out on his podcast and then we're
often running this week with I think there are a
ton of joint practices this week, which is mandated by
the league to be open to the press, to the media.
So there's gonna be a lot of stuff flying these
(02:48):
next four or five days of these joint practices, at
least I know some definitely some teams start them. But
over the next couple of weeks that's happening a lot.
And then the Hall of Fame game, which was rained
out lightning doubt, which I have nothing but respect. If
you're a football fan and you go to a game
that neither team is from the region and the weather's
(03:09):
going to be terrible. I mean, it was jumping rain
before the lightning started. And that's as in the audio business,
you call it a p one that's a top one
percenter that is a fantastic football fan. Obviously football's huge
in Ohio. I know, I understand it's Hall of Fame weekend,
but still pouring rain at a football game and outdoors
(03:29):
that's for preseason and not just any preseason game like
the Hall of Fame game, which notoriously is like third stringers,
though there were some plays made other than that, very
very excited for the football season. So how do you
not get excited? Do you? Guys? Know the drill? Subscribe
to the podcast We're Off and Running, Baby. But before
we dive into football, I was thinking, I have seen
(03:51):
so many people I follow on Instagram, not that I
know them, but like celebrities at this event, the Olympics,
and I saw Brady was posting. Obviously Peyton's been there,
just a bunch of people went. Tom Cruise was watching
Simon and I started thinking to myself, when the Olympics
come here, it feels like an event that you almost
have to check off the bucket list, like a lot
(04:13):
of events. I've said it last week, We'll see if
we can make it happen. Go to the Red Rivel
Rivalry this year Texas, Oklahoma. If you want to go
to a big game, whether it be college or Pro NFL,
like I said, the World Series, if your team's in
the mix playoff baseball games are freaking awesome concerts. Every
time Morgan Wallen does his walk out with Troy Aikman
(04:35):
or Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, it
always gets me excited. I saw Luke Combs did a
shotgun to beer with Trey Hendricks of the Cincinnati Bengals
when he was playing at the Bengals Stadium. So if
you want to go enjoy yourself, do it on us
because the official ticketing partner of this podcast helps you
take the guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time.
(04:57):
Download the game Time app, create an account and use
the code John for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
Terms apply again, create an account and redeem the code
John for twenty dollars off down on the game Time app.
Today last minute ticket's lowest price is guaranteed. Before we
dive into the mailbag, I just want to say that
this Olympics has been really good. It's just clearly in
(05:21):
the way that we consume sports, it has to feel
big and I don't know if the Olympics took a
little dip fifteen twenty years ago, but it felt like
not as powerful. I mean when I was a kid,
from Kerrie Shrug to Michael Johnson at the in ninety
six in the two hundred and the four hundred with
the gold cleats, to obviously the Dream Team in ninety two.
(05:43):
But maybe it's star power and listen I say it
all the time. I watch sports not for the Johnny Tryharts,
like I don't watch for the fifty second guy on
the NFL roster. Not saying I don't respect it and
think it's a good story, but I watched for Patrick Mahomes,
Tom Brady and Baton Manning and Aaron Rodgers. I watched
golf because of Tiger Woods, right, like I like the
San Fransco Giants when they were humming for Tim Linz
(06:03):
to come and bust her posey the I'm a star guy,
and it's proven that most people are. They're the ones
that move the needle. And this Olympics has been driven,
at least from an American standpoint, by superstars. I mean
Simone Biles. I have a newfound respect for her because
I watched the Netflix documentary on a thing called the
twisties for all golfersus like the thing when you get
(06:26):
the yips. You know in golf, it could happen in
putting or chipping. You know, Charles Barkley had it with
his swing. You get it in gymnastics when like your
head and your body aren't at the in the same spot.
And obviously in gymnastics, when you're jumping as high as
she's jumping, and she's a freak athlete, you could break
your neck, you could die. And she had to bow
out of the two thousand and I guess was it
(06:48):
twenty twenty one whenever they held that the old vid Olympics,
and it was like, yeah, I completely understand if your
mind is not on board. And you know, Maria, my fiance,
did a gymnastics growing up, so she loves it. She's
been getting up early. We've been recorded on YouTube TV
and it's been awesome. Now, Like I said, I think
(07:10):
it's star driven, which is cooler because it has someone
really famous. Katie Ldeki is just thumping people. I mean
she's winning, she's out of the pool, drying off, hugging
her family before anyone finishes. And today the golf, which
I don't love that it's just the same as a
normal tournament. But today we got what felt like a major.
(07:33):
The final group was John Rahm, Xander Schoffley, and Tommy
Fleetwood and they got chased down by Scotty Scheffler. And
I said, a couple of weeks ago on Go Lo,
after Xander won the second Major, I think I was
up in Tylo when the Open took place, so like,
let's not get it twisted. Xander would not trade his
year for Scotty. You would take two majors over anything.
(07:53):
And obviously the money Scotty had made more money. But
today was a pretty big day for Scotty. And this
is the best part about sports things kind of ebb
and flow, because Scotty's chased him down twice twice. He
did it the players when I think, you know, Xander
shot seventy and Scottie shot like sixty two or sixty
three and won the players basically on Sunday, and he
(08:15):
did today. My buddy at Orlando, who a little lefty
from UC Davis who's worked at TPC Scottsdale where they
have the waste management forever, congratulations to him, is headed
to DraftKings for a new gig, texted me last night.
He's like, bro, I'm looking at these Scottie chefflerrods and
they are awfully tasty. And my response was like, I
don't know, it feels like Xander and Rom was playing well,
(08:38):
maybe this isn't this week. And because it kicked off
where I was at three in the morning, I rolled
kind of over on Sunday morning, probably five forty five
six and gen Ram had a four shot lead and
then all of a sudden, I kind of kept watching
and Scotty got hot. He shot six under on the
back and today was pretty legendary and pretty cool. Now,
(08:59):
Xander won the gold medal the last time they had it,
but today was a pretty big moment. Now, I think
still you would take two majors in a year over
everything else, assuming you're already really rich. With Xander is
because Scotty's gonna make fifty five million dollars. Now Xander's
gonna end up with twenty five or thirty on the year.
But the gold medal today was a pretty big moment
for him. And obviously the tears, the crying, the anthem,
(09:22):
his wife there with the little baby. That was fun.
And like I said, Ladecki Simone and I'm leaving people out,
I'm not acting like I'm mister Olympian here, but it's
been it's felt big. And we say this whole time
about football is one advantage they have is scarcity just
once a week and it's not every night, and every
(09:43):
game matters to the coaches, to the players, to the fans.
We all agree every game is big. Doesn't mean your
season is made on that game. But Week three, if
you're the Giants, if you're the Eagles, or you're the
Arizona Cardinals, it feels massive. In baseball a long time ago,
there is not a baseball game that happened to day
(10:03):
that matters unless someone obviously like Aaron Judge gets injured
or whatever. There is not an outcome the day that matters.
It's just not an opinion, this is a fact. And
obviously basketball, the players don't even give a shit about
the regular season, so why would us as the consumer.
It's why the Olympics, they're not called the dream team,
(10:24):
but whatever. The Olympic team, which is historically loaded, I
think their first game against Serbia, which has Jokic, did
eleven million people. I'm pretty sure the NBA Finals has
been struggling to get close to ten. Why because these
games feel big. Obviously there's a patriotic element, but there's
something been cool about this Olympics. And I think I
(10:46):
had to take a couple of weeks ago and I
stand by this. It does feel like we've kind of
shoehorned a lot of sports into this handball, just in sports, like,
are we really doing this? We're gonna do flag football?
Maybe it's just fun. Maybe just enjoy this. Obviously there
are the staples of swimming, of gymnastics. I even said, like,
(11:08):
is golf really an Olympics sport? But washing today? How
much it meant to these people? I mean, these are
all John Rahm got four hundred million dollars and you
could tell her he was not happy, not even meddling.
It meant a lot to him. Hadeki Matsiyama is I
wouldn't say he's quite Shoho Tani, but he's a pretty
big deal in Japan. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars.
(11:29):
And he was furious when he missed a putt today.
I think it was on eighteen. It would have, you know,
given him a shot. Maybe maybe it was sixteen or seventeen.
He actually, if he just could putt today, probably wins
it pretty easily. Might have wanted to buy a couple
of shots. But there's something in a world. And listen,
I'm a capitalist. I fucking love money, not that it
means much to my soul, but like I got expensive habits,
(11:52):
and like I'm never against doing anything for money. I
totally understand in college football, these players want to get paid.
It is what it is to the real world. But
there is still this element of there's this pure element,
even if it is a little jaded in modern times,
which is still cool about the Olympics that we don't
quite get anywhere else. Now. If you're successful in the Olympics,
(12:14):
like Michael Phelps has a multimillion dollar pad in Paradise Valley,
like he's a multimillionaire. Simone Biles is going to make
a ton like not that you don't get the profit
off it, but the actual kind of ethos of the
event and the competition is just twant trying to win
this gold medal. Or what makes it cool too is
even if you lose, there's something to be said, like
(12:37):
I won a silver or a bronze medal, which is
game changing. Like the chick from Brazil that can't take
down Simone, like she's pretty happy when she won the silver.
I was watching the other day, and we just don't
get that many other places, you know. So it's it's
kind of fun to a little throwback event that it
feels big because, like we said, the scarcity of it
(12:57):
happens once every four years.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well, then
you need to check out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
When you sink your fantasy football league with draft Wizard,
you'll get an instant report that shows you how the
rest of your league drafts. You'll see who overdrafts rookies
in early rounds, who's gonna be the person to take
that first QB off the board, and which manager is
going to always reach for that hometown player every single time.
(13:27):
And then you can take those patterns directly into the
draft simulator and make your mock draft feel like the
real thing. When your real draft comes around, you're gonna
be ready and the draft assistant will be there for
you to give you live pick by pick insights and
expert recommendations of who to draft and when to draft them.
You can see all of this and more at fantasypros
dot com slash volume today.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Okay, let's get in the mailbag. Question for the mailbag realistically,
what do you think the gap is between Allen and Mahomes. Obviously,
Mahomes has the vast majority of success so far, but
I think they were to switch teams and more importantly,
offensive coaching staffs. Alan would be the one with championships.
Everyone universally agrees Alan is more gifted, and I don't
(14:14):
think the gap in football IQ is that large. Maybe
I'm just biased because I predicted Allen would be the
best in the class the year he was drafted. I
think Patrick Mahomes football IQ at this point is elite,
like I think his ability and he proved it last
year when he had to kind of manage games and
not turn the ball over in the playoffs like that
was Peyton Manning Tom Brady level stuff like it doesn't
(14:37):
get any better now. Josh Allen hasn't been able to
do that because of his defense has let him down.
But I don't think anyone with a fucking brain would
argue that Josh Allen could win a Super Bowl with
Andy Reid. So with Andy Reid if he had Josh
Allen the last five years, we have three super Bowls.
I don't know. I can't say that it's really really
(14:58):
hard to win three super Bowls? Would he have won?
There is no doubt in my mind, and there shouldn't
be a doubt in anyone's mind. He's the second best
quarterback in this league. I actually think there's a pretty
wide gap. I mean, we want to see on Joe
Burrow's health, which is a big question mark. Lamar's playoffs
struggles are not debatable anymore. That performance that he had
(15:21):
in that AFC Championship game will be something my DraftKings
account will never forget. And I do think Josh Allen
has proven to be a fantastic playoff quarterback. Here's the
other thing. I know all these guys with the Chiefs
and I was texting him the night of the Chiefs
Bills game, and listen, not that they didn't fear Lamar,
(15:42):
but like they know they can beat Lamar. Josh Allen
terrifies them. Josh Allen scares them more than Lamar does.
So it's not acting like Lamar is not a scary player,
but Josh Allen's is on another level. And the other
thing is they know he doesn't fold in the playoffs.
They know he's unf flappable in terms of like the
moment hasn't been too big for him. His defense has
(16:03):
let him down. So the gap, let's face it, like
this is kind of the world we live in. It's
pretty black and white. Do you win or do you lose?
And when you don't win it even though it's a
team game and you can't. This isn't golf for tennis,
like you don't control everything, but like you get more
credit when you start rattling off super Bowls. It's just
(16:27):
a reality. We would not talk about Mahomes the same
if instead of three, he only had one, we would
still hold him in super high regard. But he went
to from a sports standpoint, like rare air right in
a rare group of people, and Josh, all Josh has
to do is win one, and then I think he'll
(16:48):
easily be considered one of the best players from all time.
Like because Farv has one, Rogers has one, I think
both those guys would be considered top seven eight quarterbacks
of all times in unique category because anyone that played
against him said he's one of the best players ever,
and I don't dispute that. But he doesn't have one,
and he only got to one, So I mean, Josh,
(17:10):
it's art. The other thing is that there are times
in certain sports. I think basketball is an example of this.
I think golf and tennis have been examples of this,
and football has been an example of this where it's like, yeah,
we couldn't beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. I just
I couldn't beat Roger Federer. I couldn't beat rath On Clay.
(17:31):
I played in Tiger Woods era. I have three PGA
Tour victories and two top twos in majors. I probably
have three majors and ten wins if Tiger doesn't exist.
Just the reality of the situation. If Tom Brady and
the Patriots hadn't materialized, think how different I mean, does
(17:53):
Peyton have four Super Bowls? Does Roethlisberger have two? The
world would just be different. But that's what makes sports
so cool is like there becomes this dominant Think about
the Warriors teams with staff and once they got KD
it's like, you ain't beating us. Now that's the difference
in football, Like the Patriots were beatable. They could have
(18:13):
lost some of these games. The Chiefs could have lost
some of these games, but they usually don't for whatever reason.
Better coaching, better players, better scheme, better mental focus, more tough.
I don't know. When it comes to talent, it's from
Eli at the quarterback position in the AFC during the
Mahomes era. How do you think this will affect the
(18:35):
goat debate between Mahomes and Brady? Could you rank your
top ten AFC quarterbacks since the year two thousand and
I take Joe Burrow over Peyton Manning in the playoffs.
If Mahomes ends with five, the talent of guys he
has to go through in and out has to add
value to the debate. Well, I think Burrow's got a
(18:59):
long way to go before he passes paid Manning. Peyton
Manning went to four Super Bowls. I know it feels
and early on his playoff play was a little underwhelming.
Oh granted, some of that was Belichick and Vrabel and
Bruski and Richard C. Morman. It was a tough team
to go against, Like they're beating a lot of people
if you're playing those rules. Brow's been to one and lost,
(19:22):
Peyton's been a four. So it's he's got a long
way to go to say hey, he's a better playoff player,
like we gotta I'd pump the brakes there. I do
think Brady's trump card it's gonna be nearly think how remarkable.
And if I tell you right now, Mahomes ends up
with five Super Bowls never forget Belichick and Brady won
(19:47):
three early in the two thousands, and they did not
win another one. I think for was it nine years now?
They went to a couple throughout two thousand and seven
twenty eleven, the two Giants losses. But wasn't that five.
They didn't win it again till the Seattle one, which
would have been in like February of two thousand fifteen.
(20:08):
I think could be could be a year off then.
I think they won fifteen sixteen because they played the
Falcons the next year, so that would have been February.
I might be off on my years, but you get
the point, like there was a long gap. Maybe it
was twenty fourteen. I mean, we're talking the difference if
(20:29):
if Andy right now was fifty five, I think everything
would be on the table. He'd be like this thing
go on fifteen years. You're talking about a guy in
his mid sixties. You know, Belichick in two thousand and
five or whatever, he's seventy two now is twenty years ago,
was fifty three or something right fifty two, so he
still had he was relatively young in terms of coaching,
(20:52):
like he had a lot of coaching left. If to
me if Andy was fifty five fifty eight, the guy
ten more years. I mean, is Andy coaching at seventy
two seventy three? I don't know. I don't think he's
like quick to retire by any means, but just something
(21:12):
to keep a thought on, because if I tell you
that Andy in three years is not the coach, you
just don't look at it. The same part of a
dynasty is continuent in football, the coach quarterback. In this
modern day game, which we've really only seen two right,
we've seen a lot of good teams. Packers were good
(21:35):
for a long time. The Steelers were good for a
long time. But it's not like they got multiple super Bowls.
I'm talking in post Bridge. I know that they both
won super Bowls before. I'm talking in the last fifteen years.
Do you think the negativity towards the Giants is a
bit overstated. It seems like every sports talk show has
written the Giants off is horrible, terrible, and basically every
(21:56):
negative adjective imaginable. I'm a Giants fan, a little biased,
but I could see them being pretty decent. But he
sent I mean, finishing around five hundred and playing meaningful
games around Thanksgiving. They should have a solid defense and
upgraded the line, and they have a receiver group with
a lot of young talent. If Daniel Jones is just
(22:16):
average and plays like he did two years ago, I
think they could be decent, although I think them being
seriously competitive is probably a few years and a new
quarterback away. I agree, Like I listen, I've already decided
who I'm picking in the East and the order of
the division. I'm going Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Washington. That's my
(22:37):
one through four. I think the same teams that made
the playoffs las year made the playoffs again, Philly and
the Cowboys when they alternate, win the division. I'm not
dooming gloom on the Cowboys as much as everybody else.
And I think the Giants are one of those third
place teams. Like if Daniel Jones is just atrocious, they
win six seven. If he kind of goes out Alex Smithy,
(23:01):
they could go nine to eight, eight to nine, kind
of that range, which is the difference of like a
makedfield goal or a fumble. I don't love the roster,
but I've seen the coach over a chief. I think
the problem is Daniel Jones when they made the playoffs
at nine to eight. One, they really got to sneak
up on everybody. Not that they wouldn't necessarily this year,
but if they were just competitive early, I think everyone
would take them seriously. Two, they got some pretty big
(23:23):
name guys on defense, so every offense is going to
take their defense very seriously coming into the season. But
Daniel Jones through I think fifteen touchdowns that year, fifteen,
I think that is just an outlier, anomaly year. They
were very dependent on Saquon that year. Here's a running
back groom going to be as good. Listen, Eligue Neighbors.
(23:45):
Every time you see a highlight of him in training camp,
he looks awesome. He is awesome. He was my number
one guy just based on watching the three of them,
because his upside. Marvin Harrison's upside is not that it
doesn't mean Marvin Harrison won't be the best of the group,
but I think most people you talked to thought either
one two Malik Harrison or Harrison Malik. And then there
(24:08):
was a little gap, and again little gaps difference of
like I take this guy in the top five and
this guy's probably more somewhere like ten to fifteen on
a typical year value scale. In Rome, Rome's really good.
I like him a lot, like he's gonna be solid
in the NFL. But Malik's ceiling is just that was
the thing with like Odell, you knew right away, like
his high end is so freaking high because the explosion,
(24:32):
the willingness, the ball skills. But can't Daniel Jones get
him the ball? If I told you Malik Neighbors was
with Kyler, You're like, shit, there could be some serious
fireworks here or some bombs. Just go deep, baby, right
you put Malik Nighbors, It's like what happened with DK
DK got drafted. It's like, who's this guy that runs
really fast and a super jacked Oh, he's just going
(24:52):
And this at the time when Russell was good with
one of the best deep ball throwers we've ever seen,
and what happened they were awesome. So I just don't
love the fit because best case scenario, Daniel Jones a
poor man's Alex Smith. Alex never thrived with guys like that.
And the difference is like even Tyreek Hill, you could
(25:13):
hand the ball off and throw them quick screens, and
obviously Tyreek blew up really when they kind of went
from Mahomes or Alex to Mahomes. I don't know if
you saw that picture of the viral video. I was
just scrolling the other night and saw it and I
just scrolled right by Alex's leg. Did's just talk about
a crazy story when he almost lost his leg and
(25:34):
they had that they were gonna amputate it and his
wife talked him out of it. Anyone that hasn't seen
that thirty for thirty. If you want a good cry,
that's that's a good watch. But that leg, man, it's
it's remarkable what modern medicine can do to keep something
on because that does not look like a lower leg.
It really does. Even Tiger Wood's leg went viral like
a couple weeks ago, it doesn't look nearly like that.
(25:56):
And it doesn't look great. It doesn't look good. You
really sometimes take a step back and have some gratitude.
Just man.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The NFL seasons right around the corner. We'll be breaking
down all the off season storylines on the Colin Cowherd
podcast My best takes guests like my buddy Nick Wright.
Check out the Colin Coward Podcast, part of the Volume Network,
available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Mail Bag made an account to ask you this question.
Following tools Deal, you went pretty hard. You are shorting
the Fins the next three or four years. My question
is are you shorting the Jags in the same way.
Two has been objectively better than Trevor. The Jags are
equally dysfunctioned in the last twenty years. You could argue
Trevor won a playoff game. I would argue Staley choked
(26:56):
that playoff game. I agree though Trevor played pretty good,
but the guys were wide open. I just wonder if
you view them as the same potential wise, both guys
who will never be in the top five in their
own conference and have a quarterback in their division who
is clearly much better if you wanted to to take
thirty something MILLI year, I feel Trevor should have given
the exact same treatment. I didn't love either deal. I
(27:18):
thought the Jags were crazy, and I don't like the
Jags that much either, but I'm not I don't take
the Jags add seriously to begin with. Like to me,
they are clearly the third best team in that division,
and if Callahan and those guys in Tennessee can just
turn Will Levis into a top fifteen quarterback. Like who
to say the Jacks couldn't be last. So I'm not
(27:40):
high on the Jacks. I don't act like the Jags
or some serious operation. My thing with Tua is, like
you said, objectively the stats. Yeah, you're just going to
pull up the stats and they look oh good. You're like,
this is just the numbers. If you just let the
stat sheet his box scores, go to wiki and see
(28:00):
the year by year, you're like, oh, he's the last
couple of years. I know that's a guy. As Tommy
Lasorda once famously said that if you have a big
game and you're the Bengals, you're the Chiefs, you're the Ravens,
you're the Bills, you want to send a limo to
his hotel to pick him up, to make sure he's
on the sideline when the kickoff starts, because you can't
(28:21):
wait to play him. I'm not talking about October tenth, which,
like I said, games in the NFL matter. That's why
they make the playoffs because they win a lot of
games September in October when it starts getting cold and
it starts getting windy and it starts getting rainy, and
I'm one of the big boys. I'm licking my lips.
And that's not me being a hater. That's actually what
has happened. We just saw it. How do you ever
(28:45):
forget what happened last year? The Bills were six and six,
the Dolphins were cruising and the dust settled. They had
lost the division. Bills are hosting playoff games. Dolphins get
didn't even have a snowballs chances in Alaska. I mean,
let alone, hell, it was never gonna work. You'd be like,
(29:08):
what this snope? I don't even know what I meant
by Alaska. But you get my point that they got embarrassed.
They got embarrassed, and it's hard for me to take
two as seriously once you start getting paid a lot.
When I see him in a game against the other
top quarterbacks, that's my thing with brock perty Like, I've
(29:28):
seen him against other good competition. Obviously he's had bad games,
but I've also seen him answer the bell. I have
not seen to answer the bell. Hey, John, just listen
to your comments on US athletes moving on from American
football into other sports like rugby. Fun fact, the USA
won the Olympic gold medal in the nineteen twenty and
nineteen twenty four. My dad is from New Zealand and
(29:50):
I grew up watching and playing rugby. I played in
the under nineteen Las Vegas sevens. This guy could play
a little. I agree with your take, and we have
seen some athletes like carl And Aisles move from springing
football to rugby with success. If the US had a
more established rugby pipeline and could monetize the sport better,
the USA could become a powerhouse in the sport in
(30:13):
short order. Here's my question. The Major League Rugby has
made some progress, but at times looks like a second
rate XFLAFL. How would the Major League Rugby become like
the NFL on a social and business level. I think
it's very, very difficult for sports to just become popular
(30:37):
in twenty twenty four in America. So rugby is definitely
more kind of a niche thing than soccer. But you
have seen the way we emphasize soccer. We claim to try,
but we don't care nearly enough as these other countries,
which it's a way oflife. It's a waylife like if
(30:58):
you go to the South and you meet a good athlete.
At eight, nine, ten, twelve years old, they're thinking about
probably more likely playing in the SEC football and making
it to the NFL, and maybe if they're good, maybe basketball,
but it's it's an American sport. Or if you went
to Brazil or Spain or England, obviously soccer would be
(31:19):
a huge thing, and then there'd be a percentage of
people that you know, tennis or rugby. It's about priorities
and our priorities. Just as long as football round will
never be rugby, it just won't. And I'd say the
same thing with soccer. We just will never care enough
even remotely, partly because the best league in the world,
(31:43):
even though the world when it comes to ability to
consume stuff is easier than ever, Like if I want
to watch Manchester United, or I want to watch the
Japanese Baseball League, like I can get access to anything
when it's not in your homeland, and you see people
(32:04):
that like, hey, like I'm from Davis, California, where when
I was a kid, it was a big deal for
my dad, who went to UC Davis, that Ken O'Brien
was drafted in the first round of the Jets, or
when I was coming up in high school that Dustin
Pedroia was going to the big leagues or Nick Watney
(32:25):
was going to be a PGA Tour golfer. So the relatability,
like if you grow up in a certain area, it's
like Wayne Rooney is from twenty minutes away where I
grew up. I think that's an underrated element of sports
with the youth, right were you, like, Hey, DJ Williams
(32:46):
went to Miami from DALYs Al. I remember that being
a big, big deal when I was like a freshman
or sophomore in high school, played high school football. And
when you can relate to people around you, it helps you.
I mean, and I think part of you know, dreaming
about this. I was watching the Roger Federer documentary and
(33:06):
he was like a ball boy in tennis and just
loved tennis and he could kind of see these guys
and it probably it definitely did. He talk about it
helped inspire him to want to be there one day.
And it's hard for rugby, even if you watch the championships,
like it's we don't have anything to relate if you're
a fifteen year old kid, so it's easier to go.
(33:28):
I want to be Patrick Mahomes or Nick Bosa or
Justin Jefferson or Steph Curry or hell, you know, even
Scotty Scheffler. Like if you're from Texas, right, you're more
likely to be like, yeah, you know, Rice and d
Schambeau lives here, Scotti Scheffler lives here. If you love football,
this is where Kyler Murray's from. Baker Mayfield, Drew Brees.
(33:49):
I think that's an underrated element that impacts people because
it impacted me as a kid. It impacted the way
my family and friends talked about sports. Even when I
moved to Philly. It was a big sense of pride
someone from Philly. What's a big thing with Saquon going
to the Eagles, Not that they're stealing from the Giants,
but that it's like the hometown kit. It was like
(34:12):
that with Shady McCoy, Pennsylvania guy. It resonates with people,
and it really impacts younger people. How wild is it?
The guys like two and Lawrence are signing four and
five year deals. Were two hundred and fifteen two hundred
and seventy five million dollars and one combined playoff win.
While Roethlisberger played eighteen years when two super Bowls and
(34:34):
his career earnings sits around two hundred and seventy million.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
Did Roethlisberger win two Super Bowls?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
I'm pretty sure he won one? My blanket right now,
he went to I guess Cower. I guess Cower one
one and Tomlin won one. Let me just it's been
a while, big Ben Roethlisberger. I guess you're right because
Krad definitely has one and Tomlin has the one. I
(35:04):
guess they lost one to two against the Packers, so
they beat the Cardinals. How many super Bowls this guy have? Yeah,
you're right too, I knew that. Just it's crazy. It's
a long time separation since he won the Super Bowls.
(35:24):
Good call a little brain feart there Cower and Tomlin
and sits around two hundred and seventy million in career earnings.
It's just kind of strange to me how these teams
don't gamble a bit more on the cycling through these
mid tier quarterbacks like Tua to save money via the draft.
Will allow these guys to go in the open market
(35:46):
to get a real feel on what they're actually worth.
Big fan Steeler fans gonna be pissed. I know you guys.
You guys got six.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
I think the problem is, let's use they are two
separate examples. One, I think the Jags are betting on
the com that he's going to be better than the
guy we've seen, and then that deal will feel cheap
if he's awesome this year, which to me is too
big of a risk to do at that amount of money.
But they clearly like the guy his work ethic. He's
(36:22):
not as talented as the hype had made him out
to be, like we see the elite talents. Doesn't move
like Lamar, doesn't throw it like Josh or Patrick what
he's got a solid arm. I wouldn't call him mister
make plays with his feet. I wouldn't call him mister
never turns the ball over? Like what are his defining attributes?
(36:44):
Where Tua is just slow and steady and dominates in
good weather against average to below competition and play better
competition late bad weather, got no shot. And again it
sounds like I'm being really critical, like I'm I've seen
this guy interviewed, like I think he's a really good person,
Like it's not like he'd be easy to root against
if he was a bad guy, and I'm not rooting
(37:06):
against him, but when you put all your ships in
the middle of the table on that version of a player,
I don't see the upside there in the conference. There
in I would understand it more if the Dolphins were
in the NFC.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
They're like, we could win a couple playoff games, and
maybe they'd be right if we get the Niners or
the Rams or the Lions and a Dome, as long
as we avoid going to Green Bay Dallas, like we're
not gonna play in crazy weather games.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Actually they played the Chiefs. Brett Beach told me it's
the coldest game he's ever been a part of. The
guy's been in the league for twenty years, so it
was fucking freezing. You couldn't feel any body part the
moment you walked out the tunnel in pregame warmups, they
knew that the game won. Oh yeah, I ain't doing
this here. He didn't say that. I did question for
the mailbag. By the way, I just saw you proposed
(37:54):
to your girlfriend. Congrats, Thank you, buddy. My question is
about bad NFL ownership. We see so many teams switch
head coaches every two to three years. Allah. My Raiders.
I saw to day that you know, one big thing
in Raiderland is once a Raider, always a Raider, and
whether you get cut, whether you get traded, whether you
get fired. As a coach, John Gruden, who coached the
(38:18):
Raiders not once but twice, and they're it's hard to
call it a rivalry. Definitely with Andy Reid because the
Chiefs are winning Super Bowls and I think Patrick Mahomes
like ten and two against them, But historically it is
a rivalry. John Gruden was at Chiefs practice, decked out
in chief gear, hanging with the coaches. Obviously him and
Andy go back thirty years, but still that's a tough
(38:41):
little stretch. The Raiders had to host the Chiefs at
their building, which my buddy Greg Poppo is a longtime
voice of the Raiders said, Al Davis turned over in
his grave five hundred times over that one, and then
the Chiefs won it in the building, and now they're
hosting his coach, Sean Gruden. No, granted, I don't blame John.
John was fired by Mark Davis, which was a little
(39:01):
out of Mark Davis's control, a ton of public pressure,
but still a little weird. It's a little weird. We
see so many. I know you have to fire a
guy if he's not doing well, but it seems like
every team who's successful has a coach they stuck out
with even through tough times, like Dan Campbell. How many
coaches do you think actually deserve to get fired. I
(39:23):
think here's the hard problem. Dan Campbell didn't really have
tough times. I mean, he inherited an awful team and
they were terrible his first year. In the second year,
they won nine to eight and ended Roger's career in
Green Bay. So by the end of year two, what
the Lions finished that second half of the season, like
seven and two or something like that, they were really
good down the stretch. So I think coaches are a
(39:46):
little bit like relationships. And as someone who's about to
get married later in life, you know, I'll be forty
in October. Is you date a lot of people and
I would say, in my experience, you know relatively quickly,
like I'm not getting married to this girl, but got
nothing else going on. I like her, she's fun, but
(40:07):
you know right away. It's not usually one of those
things where you go, well, let's just see if this
can work. Now. Sometimes that happens. But for the most part,
I think you kind of know early we got something
special or we don't, and it's less about you know,
in relationships, it's about a couple of specific things. But
with a football coach, I think you can have a
(40:29):
rough first year and go, we got something this is
this is a dude like, this is someone we want
to And then then there are guys that make you
question themselves. And obviously it's to bottom line business. Winning
and losing is how these guys are judged. But I
think early on for some guys, you know, okay, it's
hard for me. Use the Raiders as an example, Josh
(40:51):
McDaniel was fucking terrible. We all knew it. We all
saw it. You didn't need to be Mark Davis or
DeVante Adams to know like, you gotta fire that guy.
So I can't give Obviously, you don't usually want to
fire a coach after a year and a half, but
it was clear this ain't gonna work. And these are
extreme cases. But you know, the Giants have fired some guys. Now,
(41:13):
if you want to be critical of it, it's hard
for me to be critical of Mark Davis for hiring
Josh Usually guys get second chances. There was a long gap.
I would have hired him too if I was Mark,
So I think that was the right move, And I
also think the right move was firing him.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
If you want to be critical, let's use the Giants
for an example, like, what in what world did you
think Pat Schumer was going to be good? Joe Judge
is one of the craziest hires in the history of
the league. The forty nine ers, Jim tom Sula, Chip Kelly,
who mailed it in three years previously, what did you
think the outcomes were going to be? But you know
(41:49):
you gotta fire him, You have to fire him. It's
sometimes that's where the relationship analogy kind of breaks. That
if no one's cheating on each other and you're not
screaming at each other, it's easy to kind of ride
it out for a while, where in football it's you
gotta draw a line in the sand. And usually sooner
than later, I hear what you're saying, and logically it
(42:11):
makes a lot of sense. But I think most of
these teams that fire coaches quickly, how often are they wrong?
Like how often you're like, ah, he didn't deserve that,
Like Arthur Smith last year with the with the Atlanta Falcons.
I think he's a good coordinator. We had three straight
(42:32):
years win seven games, and last year was tough to watch.
So even if you liked the guy, which I think
clearly they did, and he's gonna be very successful coordinator,
I think in Pittsburgh or wherever he ends up moving
forward just the rest of his career. But you're just
like you're supposed to ride it out. That's where I
(42:52):
think it's hard. It's easy when you get Urban Meyer,
like what is this clown show? Or Jim tom Sula.
Those ones are no brainers. I think it gets more
difficult when you kind of like the guy, like let's
assume the Giants, like I like Joe Judge, but I
can't be running quarterback sneaks on third and nine pinned
into my own goal line like that. Can't have That's
(43:13):
that's that's embarrassing the brand. And you can embarrass the
brand in the NFL or any company several different ways,
right by doing a bad job and then by doing
things like that where it's like, this is an embarrassment
to my consumer. And I think I think it's a
good thing because this happens more and more now now
(43:34):
Davis that lasts like ten years was kind of rare
firing dudes left and right in this modern day. A
lot of teams wouldn't do it forever in pro sports
because it was very expensive to do in these teams
in like eighties and nineties. Way more people would have
been fired in pro sports over the last fifty years
(43:54):
if the money was all like the last ten but
a lot of it was like, yeah, I'm not paying
this guy at the time a couple of million dollars
for two years to go away. I don't want to
just waste my money. Now it's a line item, trust me.
I'm looking at getting someone to come play for my wedding.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
I was thinking, Yah, maybe maybe I don't think of
you know, dabble into somewhat of a big name wedding
is going to be in Nashville. How much would it
cost to get you know, I'm not looking for Garth
Brooks or Morgan Walling there, but you know, someone with
some albums, someone that everyone would know. And I started
making some calls, you get some numbers back, You're like,
(44:34):
holy shit, I'd play more of.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
These if I was these guys. But it's like anything.
As money changes, so does everything. So I think that
has led to the world we live in where guys
get canned fast. But I don't remember many guys getting
canned in football that didn't deserve it. I really can't.
(44:59):
Let's just think the last couple of years, right, who
got fired Washington, Ron Rivera, I mean, no brainer, Atlanta,
no brainer, the Tennessee thing. I would not be in
the business of firing Mike Vrabel, but clearly that thing
was out of whack. And I think best thing for
(45:19):
Mike Rabel is to go away. But that's one of
the rare ones where he's gonna get another head coaching job.
Something was off that I can't pretend to have all
the details. And Mike, you've heard him in some interviews,
he's kind of he's good with his words about it.
But I think maybe one day when he gets another job,
he'll probably talk a little shit, which I'm excited for.
(45:41):
You know, the Belichick thing, it was just it was time.
It was definitely time. So I think you see some
of these firings, most of the time are are pretty justified.
John Ian here, longtime listener, love the pod. I have
a mailback question regarding the off season Hard Knocks. Do
you think fewer teams will be willing to participate in
(46:03):
the future. If they do, do you expect them to
be less transparent as the Giants showed a lot on
the first iteration of the show. Although the Giants didn't
reveal their plans, I believe they did show enough that
made them look bad and potentially put off a lot
of free agents. Regarding the handling of Saquon, I was
(46:27):
talking someone in the league the other day and he
brought up the point that said the Giants wouldn't have allowed,
even for like theatrical buzz, to let the NFL films
(46:47):
create stuff that's out of order, to just create more drama.
So you have to take it at face value that
if the Giants are allowing it, it is happening in
the sequence that it's happening. There was a scene I
think on Saturday or Sunday before free agency was starting
on the Monday, and in that scene, it's just Dayball
(47:08):
and Joe Shane. Now, if this conversation happened three weeks previously,
it would not be as weird. But when it was
happening the day or two before free agency, and Joe
Shane was like, so, Dave's who you like? What are
you thinking? O? Line over running backs and d Line
over mckinn's this guy and that guy. You're like, wait,
(47:31):
they're having this conversation the day before free agency starts.
I only have experience in one organization. There is no
chance did Howie has ever had that conversation the day
before free agency started. That conversation with any well run
(47:52):
organization would be like, listen, so we've narrowed it down
to these four guys for offensive line. If we resigned Saquon,
then we can't make the burn trade. If we don't
resign Saquon, then hopefully we can execute the Burns trade.
We're trying to get Tyrod. That's your number one guy, right,
And it was not communicated like that in that room.
And again I'm allowing the potential chance that it was
(48:17):
done for cinematic reasons, But why would the giants have
okayed that they'd be like this, You can't put this
stuff out of order. It makes us look like idiots.
So if I have to assume the giants are okaying it,
because that's the way it happened, that's insane. So what
are you thinking? Like O line, they're talking like me
and you would be over a couple beers at the bar. Yeah,
(48:41):
I think we need like this tight end and let's
hope to get a running back and see if Morgan will. Yeah,
we'll see how that goes. It's obviously you don't know,
but the way, just how kind of cavalier and loose
they were about it. Nothing specific, especially because it was
gonna be aired well after, so it wasn't like gonna
(49:03):
give their secrets away that they wanted those couple offensive
linemen and what they were willing to trade for burns.
But just the way, I'll never forget the way he
looks at day Ball AND's.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Like, ah, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'd be like, tonight, Maria, what do you what do
you want for dinner? Man? What are you thinking? Do
you want to get Chinese or maybe Mexican, I don't know, cheeseburger.
This is this is a pretty big deal. It's a
pretty how do you not have it? Specifically? And maybe
they just did that for the cameras, but I can't
even imagine they would. I don't know. Maybe if that
(49:37):
was fake, then they fooled me. They fooled me. I
thought that part was crazy. I think it's gonna be very,
very difficult to get anyone to ever agree with that
that was so good in terms of the entertainment value
for us, because I kept thinking, I can't believe they're
showing this. I can't believe they're showing this. Everyone shows
(49:59):
the draft room or calling Malik neighbors like that, that's
not that weird. But the level of conversations between Shane,
the coaching staff and his scouts with the owner, we've
never seen at the levels in which we saw, and
that conversation with Dave Ball was an eye opener for
people around the league because it embarrassed them. And listen,
(50:22):
I think Joe Shane seems like a really good guy
and seems like someone you'd want to be friends with,
have a beer with, hang out with this family. Like
seem like really good people. Clearly, he's smart, successful guy,
but it does feel a little bit like he's over
his head at being the lead dog because his skill set,
(50:44):
like there's a hard part about being a scout coming up,
the skill set of doing everything the job. You're managing
a two hundred and fifty million dollars payroll. Think about that.
Your job is a GM, and I know you don't
write up the specific contracts, but you are choosing how
to allocate the funds. A lot of people that become
(51:08):
CEOs have some sort of either financial or marketing background
that specifically impacts the product where you scout, which is
extremely important. But unless you are taught in depth on
how to manage the negotiations, who the hell teaches you
(51:28):
how to negotiate. I never negotiated till I got really
into radio, and even early on I had an agent,
which I did not need. It's like a eighty thousand
dollars contract. Given it someone ten percent was one of
the worst business decisions I've ever made. But like when
I deal with Colin even before the volume started, like
it's good to work on those skills and you have
(51:49):
to work on them and you feel more confident. You
got to just be prepared. You never negotiate, and all
of a sudden, now you're negotiating and the information it
could I would completely understand being overwhelmed. And that's why
a lot of gms do get overwhelmed because you're dealing
with something you're not comfortable dealing with. Now, some teams
(52:13):
allow that guy to do a lot of that stuff, right, Like,
ultimately Casario with Belichick was doing a lot of things
that you needed to do when he was going to
become the GM. Take it off Bill's plate, But that's
because he was a coach, right, let a lot to
else to do if you're the GM, Like that's you're
not outsourcing a lot of stuff in terms of like
(52:36):
you want to do the negotiation. And it just feels
like him and Brandon Brown, it's felt like they were
just over their head and it was I think the
way the league views it as pretty embarrassing. Now, if
you win games, none of that matters. None of it matters.
But in recent memory, what would push toward Yeah, they're
(53:01):
gonna start winning games. They've really struggled for a long
time now. They had the one year where they had
an incredible season, they won nine games. So I think
I've said this before. I'm not rooting for anyone to
lose their job, but it's pretty clear if they're not
good and Saquon is freaking awesome in their division and
(53:24):
the Eagles win eleven games and win the division and
are in the playoffs. We saw the owner, how's it
gonna be happy? I don't blame them. Put yourself in
his shoes, like, okay, listen, I understand running backs. This
guy's our best player. If he went to the Bears.
It's why Joe Shane was hoping to go to the Bears.
Go to the Bears, go to the Vikings, go to
the Texans. He went to the Eagles, the best run
(53:48):
team in his division. To me, he could not go
to the Eagles or the Cowboys, or you got problems
because if he's successful in one of those two places
and you're not, you are done. I don't know how
else anyone could see it any other way. When you
watch the owner like this is I'm not making up
(54:08):
this opinion. I'm just watching the owner, and you go,
that's clearly how he's acting. I mean, he's said he
said he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if
he went to Philly. I don't blame him. Is his
star player who they drafted number two overall. Who's listen,
He's not Walter Payton or Barry Sanders, but clearly, when
he's healthy, he's a high end player. And the Eagles,
(54:30):
who are well Run won him the volume
The volume. Not playing best Ball at DraftKings, you're missing out.
Here's what you need to know. DraftKings Best Ball Millionaire
Contest is their biggest fantasy contest ever. We're talking fifteen
million guaranteed price pool with two that's right, two millionaires
(00:23):
being crowned for the first and second place. If you're
set it and forget it type, then best Ball is
for you. No waiver wires, no roster management, bigger rosters,
so injuries won't end your season. Only the draft and
that's it. You're set for the year. Fifteen million prize pool.
(00:45):
Still not convinced, check this out. This year, DraftKings is
offering everyone a Draft one get one special. Your twenty
dollars entry fee scores you a bonus ticket get in
on all the best fall action. Download the DraftKings app
and use the code John. That's code John for all
(01:06):
customers who entered the NFL Best Ball fifteen Millionaire Contest
to get a bonus ticket and get a shot at
being crowned one of the two millionaires only on DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
call eight seven seven eight open wire text Hope and
wy at four six seven three sixty nine In Connecticut.
Help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org eighteen and over in most eligible states, but
age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer
(01:37):
enter the Best Ball fifteen million dollar Contest by nine
to five twenty four to get one bonus entry twenty
dollars entry fee required. Reward expires at contest lock on
nine five, twenty four. See terms at DraftKings dot com
slash dfs. What is going on? Everybody? Happy Monday?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Probably really hot where you are, because I know it
is scorching hot where I am feels about one hundred
and fifty degrees outside. Somehow I survived air conditioning. Bill's
going to be high today is gonna be a mail
bag only. So at John Middlecoff is my Instagram fire
in those dms. I might lead off with a little
just a quick thought on the Olympics, but it's gonna
(02:26):
be a mail bag show. So at John Middlecoff. Fire
in those dms went on with Colin as well, so
go check that out on his podcast and then we're
often running this week with I think there are a
ton of joint practices this week, which is mandated by
the league to be open to the press, to the media.
So there's gonna be a lot of stuff flying these
(02:48):
next four or five days of these joint practices, at
least I know some definitely some teams start them. But
over the next couple of weeks that's happening a lot.
And then the Hall of Fame game, which was rained
out lightning doubt, which I have nothing but respect. If
you're a football fan and you go to a game
that neither team is from the region and the weather's
(03:09):
going to be terrible. I mean, it was jumping rain
before the lightning started. And that's as in the audio business,
you call it a p one that's a top one
percenter that is a fantastic football fan. Obviously football's huge
in Ohio. I know, I understand it's Hall of Fame weekend,
but still pouring rain at a football game and outdoors
(03:29):
that's for preseason and not just any preseason game like
the Hall of Fame game, which notoriously is like third stringers,
though there were some plays made other than that, very
very excited for the football season. So how do you
not get excited? Do you? Guys? Know the drill? Subscribe
to the podcast We're Off and Running, Baby. But before
we dive into football, I was thinking, I have seen
(03:51):
so many people I follow on Instagram, not that I
know them, but like celebrities at this event, the Olympics,
and I saw Brady was posting. Obviously Peyton's been there,
just a bunch of people went. Tom Cruise was watching
Simon and I started thinking to myself, when the Olympics
come here, it feels like an event that you almost
have to check off the bucket list, like a lot
(04:13):
of events. I've said it last week, We'll see if
we can make it happen. Go to the Red Rivel
Rivalry this year Texas, Oklahoma. If you want to go
to a big game, whether it be college or Pro NFL,
like I said, the World Series, if your team's in
the mix playoff baseball games are freaking awesome concerts. Every
time Morgan Wallen does his walk out with Troy Aikman
(04:35):
or Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, it
always gets me excited. I saw Luke Combs did a
shotgun to beer with Trey Hendricks of the Cincinnati Bengals
when he was playing at the Bengals Stadium. So if
you want to go enjoy yourself, do it on us
because the official ticketing partner of this podcast helps you
take the guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time.
(04:57):
Download the game Time app, create an account and use
the code John for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
Terms apply again, create an account and redeem the code
John for twenty dollars off down on the game Time app.
Today last minute ticket's lowest price is guaranteed. Before we
dive into the mailbag, I just want to say that
this Olympics has been really good. It's just clearly in
(05:21):
the way that we consume sports, it has to feel
big and I don't know if the Olympics took a
little dip fifteen twenty years ago, but it felt like
not as powerful. I mean when I was a kid,
from Kerrie Shrug to Michael Johnson at the in ninety
six in the two hundred and the four hundred with
the gold cleats, to obviously the Dream Team in ninety two.
(05:43):
But maybe it's star power and listen I say it
all the time. I watch sports not for the Johnny Tryharts,
like I don't watch for the fifty second guy on
the NFL roster. Not saying I don't respect it and
think it's a good story, but I watched for Patrick Mahomes,
Tom Brady and Baton Manning and Aaron Rodgers. I watched
golf because of Tiger Woods, right, like I like the
San Fransco Giants when they were humming for Tim Linz
(06:03):
to come and bust her posey the I'm a star guy,
and it's proven that most people are. They're the ones
that move the needle. And this Olympics has been driven,
at least from an American standpoint, by superstars. I mean
Simone Biles. I have a newfound respect for her because
I watched the Netflix documentary on a thing called the
twisties for all golfersus like the thing when you get
(06:26):
the yips. You know in golf, it could happen in
putting or chipping. You know, Charles Barkley had it with
his swing. You get it in gymnastics when like your
head and your body aren't at the in the same spot.
And obviously in gymnastics, when you're jumping as high as
she's jumping, and she's a freak athlete, you could break
your neck, you could die. And she had to bow
out of the two thousand and I guess was it
(06:48):
twenty twenty one whenever they held that the old vid Olympics,
and it was like, yeah, I completely understand if your
mind is not on board. And you know, Maria, my fiance,
did a gymnastics growing up, so she loves it. She's
been getting up early. We've been recorded on YouTube TV
and it's been awesome. Now, Like I said, I think
(07:10):
it's star driven, which is cooler because it has someone
really famous. Katie Ldeki is just thumping people. I mean
she's winning, she's out of the pool, drying off, hugging
her family before anyone finishes. And today the golf, which
I don't love that it's just the same as a
normal tournament. But today we got what felt like a major.
(07:33):
The final group was John Rahm, Xander Schoffley, and Tommy
Fleetwood and they got chased down by Scotty Scheffler. And
I said, a couple of weeks ago on Go Lo,
after Xander won the second Major, I think I was
up in Tylo when the Open took place, so like,
let's not get it twisted. Xander would not trade his
year for Scotty. You would take two majors over anything.
(07:53):
And obviously the money Scotty had made more money. But
today was a pretty big day for Scotty. And this
is the best part about sports things kind of ebb
and flow, because Scotty's chased him down twice twice. He
did it the players when I think, you know, Xander
shot seventy and Scottie shot like sixty two or sixty
three and won the players basically on Sunday, and he
(08:15):
did today. My buddy at Orlando, who a little lefty
from UC Davis who's worked at TPC Scottsdale where they
have the waste management forever, congratulations to him, is headed
to DraftKings for a new gig, texted me last night.
He's like, bro, I'm looking at these Scottie chefflerrods and
they are awfully tasty. And my response was like, I
don't know, it feels like Xander and Rom was playing well,
(08:38):
maybe this isn't this week. And because it kicked off
where I was at three in the morning, I rolled
kind of over on Sunday morning, probably five forty five
six and gen Ram had a four shot lead and
then all of a sudden, I kind of kept watching
and Scotty got hot. He shot six under on the
back and today was pretty legendary and pretty cool. Now,
(08:59):
Xander won the gold medal the last time they had it,
but today was a pretty big moment. Now, I think
still you would take two majors in a year over
everything else, assuming you're already really rich. With Xander is
because Scotty's gonna make fifty five million dollars. Now Xander's
gonna end up with twenty five or thirty on the year.
But the gold medal today was a pretty big moment
for him. And obviously the tears, the crying, the anthem,
(09:22):
his wife there with the little baby. That was fun.
And like I said, Ladecki Simone and I'm leaving people out,
I'm not acting like I'm mister Olympian here, but it's
been it's felt big. And we say this whole time
about football is one advantage they have is scarcity just
once a week and it's not every night, and every
(09:43):
game matters to the coaches, to the players, to the fans.
We all agree every game is big. Doesn't mean your
season is made on that game. But Week three, if
you're the Giants, if you're the Eagles, or you're the
Arizona Cardinals, it feels massive. In baseball a long time ago,
there is not a baseball game that happened to day
(10:03):
that matters unless someone obviously like Aaron Judge gets injured
or whatever. There is not an outcome the day that matters.
It's just not an opinion, this is a fact. And
obviously basketball, the players don't even give a shit about
the regular season, so why would us as the consumer.
It's why the Olympics, they're not called the dream team,
(10:24):
but whatever. The Olympic team, which is historically loaded, I
think their first game against Serbia, which has Jokic, did
eleven million people. I'm pretty sure the NBA Finals has
been struggling to get close to ten. Why because these
games feel big. Obviously there's a patriotic element, but there's
something been cool about this Olympics. And I think I
(10:46):
had to take a couple of weeks ago and I
stand by this. It does feel like we've kind of
shoehorned a lot of sports into this handball, just in sports, like,
are we really doing this? We're gonna do flag football?
Maybe it's just fun. Maybe just enjoy this. Obviously there
are the staples of swimming, of gymnastics. I even said, like,
(11:08):
is golf really an Olympics sport? But washing today? How
much it meant to these people? I mean, these are
all John Rahm got four hundred million dollars and you
could tell her he was not happy, not even meddling.
It meant a lot to him. Hadeki Matsiyama is I
wouldn't say he's quite Shoho Tani, but he's a pretty
big deal in Japan. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars.
(11:29):
And he was furious when he missed a putt today.
I think it was on eighteen. It would have, you know,
given him a shot. Maybe maybe it was sixteen or seventeen.
He actually, if he just could putt today, probably wins
it pretty easily. Might have wanted to buy a couple
of shots. But there's something in a world. And listen,
I'm a capitalist. I fucking love money, not that it
means much to my soul, but like I got expensive habits,
(11:52):
and like I'm never against doing anything for money. I
totally understand in college football, these players want to get paid.
It is what it is to the real world. But
there is still this element of there's this pure element,
even if it is a little jaded in modern times,
which is still cool about the Olympics that we don't
quite get anywhere else. Now. If you're successful in the Olympics,
(12:14):
like Michael Phelps has a multimillion dollar pad in Paradise Valley,
like he's a multimillionaire. Simone Biles is going to make
a ton like not that you don't get the profit
off it, but the actual kind of ethos of the
event and the competition is just twant trying to win
this gold medal. Or what makes it cool too is
even if you lose, there's something to be said, like
(12:37):
I won a silver or a bronze medal, which is
game changing. Like the chick from Brazil that can't take
down Simone, like she's pretty happy when she won the silver.
I was watching the other day, and we just don't
get that many other places, you know. So it's it's
kind of fun to a little throwback event that it
feels big because, like we said, the scarcity of it
(12:57):
happens once every four years.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft, well, then
you need to check out the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
When you sink your fantasy football league with draft Wizard,
you'll get an instant report that shows you how the
rest of your league drafts. You'll see who overdrafts rookies
in early rounds, who's gonna be the person to take
that first QB off the board, and which manager is
going to always reach for that hometown player every single time.
(13:27):
And then you can take those patterns directly into the
draft simulator and make your mock draft feel like the
real thing. When your real draft comes around, you're gonna
be ready and the draft assistant will be there for
you to give you live pick by pick insights and
expert recommendations of who to draft and when to draft them.
You can see all of this and more at fantasypros
dot com slash volume today.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Okay, let's get in the mailbag. Question for the mailbag realistically,
what do you think the gap is between Allen and Mahomes. Obviously,
Mahomes has the vast majority of success so far, but
I think they were to switch teams and more importantly,
offensive coaching staffs. Alan would be the one with championships.
Everyone universally agrees Alan is more gifted, and I don't
(14:14):
think the gap in football IQ is that large. Maybe
I'm just biased because I predicted Allen would be the
best in the class the year he was drafted. I
think Patrick Mahomes football IQ at this point is elite,
like I think his ability and he proved it last
year when he had to kind of manage games and
not turn the ball over in the playoffs like that
was Peyton Manning Tom Brady level stuff like it doesn't
(14:37):
get any better now. Josh Allen hasn't been able to
do that because of his defense has let him down.
But I don't think anyone with a fucking brain would
argue that Josh Allen could win a Super Bowl with
Andy Reid. So with Andy Reid if he had Josh
Allen the last five years, we have three super Bowls.
I don't know. I can't say that it's really really
(14:58):
hard to win three super Bowls? Would he have won?
There is no doubt in my mind, and there shouldn't
be a doubt in anyone's mind. He's the second best
quarterback in this league. I actually think there's a pretty
wide gap. I mean, we want to see on Joe
Burrow's health, which is a big question mark. Lamar's playoffs
struggles are not debatable anymore. That performance that he had
(15:21):
in that AFC Championship game will be something my DraftKings
account will never forget. And I do think Josh Allen
has proven to be a fantastic playoff quarterback. Here's the
other thing. I know all these guys with the Chiefs
and I was texting him the night of the Chiefs
Bills game, and listen, not that they didn't fear Lamar,
(15:42):
but like they know they can beat Lamar. Josh Allen
terrifies them. Josh Allen scares them more than Lamar does.
So it's not acting like Lamar is not a scary player,
but Josh Allen's is on another level. And the other
thing is they know he doesn't fold in the playoffs.
They know he's unf flappable in terms of like the
moment hasn't been too big for him. His defense has
(16:03):
let him down. So the gap, let's face it, like
this is kind of the world we live in. It's
pretty black and white. Do you win or do you lose?
And when you don't win it even though it's a
team game and you can't. This isn't golf for tennis,
like you don't control everything, but like you get more
credit when you start rattling off super Bowls. It's just
(16:27):
a reality. We would not talk about Mahomes the same
if instead of three, he only had one, we would
still hold him in super high regard. But he went
to from a sports standpoint, like rare air right in
a rare group of people, and Josh, all Josh has
to do is win one, and then I think he'll
(16:48):
easily be considered one of the best players from all time.
Like because Farv has one, Rogers has one, I think
both those guys would be considered top seven eight quarterbacks
of all times in unique category because anyone that played
against him said he's one of the best players ever,
and I don't dispute that. But he doesn't have one,
and he only got to one, So I mean, Josh,
(17:10):
it's art. The other thing is that there are times
in certain sports. I think basketball is an example of this.
I think golf and tennis have been examples of this,
and football has been an example of this where it's like, yeah,
we couldn't beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. I just
I couldn't beat Roger Federer. I couldn't beat rath On Clay.
(17:31):
I played in Tiger Woods era. I have three PGA
Tour victories and two top twos in majors. I probably
have three majors and ten wins if Tiger doesn't exist.
Just the reality of the situation. If Tom Brady and
the Patriots hadn't materialized, think how different I mean, does
(17:53):
Peyton have four Super Bowls? Does Roethlisberger have two? The
world would just be different. But that's what makes sports
so cool is like there becomes this dominant Think about
the Warriors teams with staff and once they got KD
it's like, you ain't beating us. Now that's the difference
in football, Like the Patriots were beatable. They could have
(18:13):
lost some of these games. The Chiefs could have lost
some of these games, but they usually don't for whatever reason.
Better coaching, better players, better scheme, better mental focus, more tough.
I don't know. When it comes to talent, it's from
Eli at the quarterback position in the AFC during the
Mahomes era. How do you think this will affect the
(18:35):
goat debate between Mahomes and Brady? Could you rank your
top ten AFC quarterbacks since the year two thousand and
I take Joe Burrow over Peyton Manning in the playoffs.
If Mahomes ends with five, the talent of guys he
has to go through in and out has to add
value to the debate. Well, I think Burrow's got a
(18:59):
long way to go before he passes paid Manning. Peyton
Manning went to four Super Bowls. I know it feels
and early on his playoff play was a little underwhelming.
Oh granted, some of that was Belichick and Vrabel and
Bruski and Richard C. Morman. It was a tough team
to go against, Like they're beating a lot of people
if you're playing those rules. Brow's been to one and lost,
(19:22):
Peyton's been a four. So it's he's got a long
way to go to say hey, he's a better playoff player,
like we gotta I'd pump the brakes there. I do
think Brady's trump card it's gonna be nearly think how remarkable.
And if I tell you right now, Mahomes ends up
with five Super Bowls never forget Belichick and Brady won
(19:47):
three early in the two thousands, and they did not
win another one. I think for was it nine years now?
They went to a couple throughout two thousand and seven
twenty eleven, the two Giants losses. But wasn't that five.
They didn't win it again till the Seattle one, which
would have been in like February of two thousand fifteen.
(20:08):
I think could be could be a year off then.
I think they won fifteen sixteen because they played the
Falcons the next year, so that would have been February.
I might be off on my years, but you get
the point, like there was a long gap. Maybe it
was twenty fourteen. I mean, we're talking the difference if
(20:29):
if Andy right now was fifty five, I think everything
would be on the table. He'd be like this thing
go on fifteen years. You're talking about a guy in
his mid sixties. You know, Belichick in two thousand and
five or whatever, he's seventy two now is twenty years ago,
was fifty three or something right fifty two, so he
still had he was relatively young in terms of coaching,
(20:52):
like he had a lot of coaching left. If to
me if Andy was fifty five fifty eight, the guy
ten more years. I mean, is Andy coaching at seventy
two seventy three? I don't know. I don't think he's
like quick to retire by any means, but just something
(21:12):
to keep a thought on, because if I tell you
that Andy in three years is not the coach, you
just don't look at it. The same part of a
dynasty is continuent in football, the coach quarterback. In this
modern day game, which we've really only seen two right,
we've seen a lot of good teams. Packers were good
(21:35):
for a long time. The Steelers were good for a
long time. But it's not like they got multiple super Bowls.
I'm talking in post Bridge. I know that they both
won super Bowls before. I'm talking in the last fifteen years.
Do you think the negativity towards the Giants is a
bit overstated. It seems like every sports talk show has
written the Giants off is horrible, terrible, and basically every
(21:56):
negative adjective imaginable. I'm a Giants fan, a little biased,
but I could see them being pretty decent. But he
sent I mean, finishing around five hundred and playing meaningful
games around Thanksgiving. They should have a solid defense and
upgraded the line, and they have a receiver group with
a lot of young talent. If Daniel Jones is just
(22:16):
average and plays like he did two years ago, I
think they could be decent, although I think them being
seriously competitive is probably a few years and a new
quarterback away. I agree, Like I listen, I've already decided
who I'm picking in the East and the order of
the division. I'm going Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Washington. That's my
(22:37):
one through four. I think the same teams that made
the playoffs las year made the playoffs again, Philly and
the Cowboys when they alternate, win the division. I'm not
dooming gloom on the Cowboys as much as everybody else.
And I think the Giants are one of those third
place teams. Like if Daniel Jones is just atrocious, they
win six seven. If he kind of goes out Alex Smithy,
(23:01):
they could go nine to eight, eight to nine, kind
of that range, which is the difference of like a
makedfield goal or a fumble. I don't love the roster,
but I've seen the coach over a chief. I think
the problem is Daniel Jones when they made the playoffs
at nine to eight. One, they really got to sneak
up on everybody. Not that they wouldn't necessarily this year,
but if they were just competitive early, I think everyone
would take them seriously. Two, they got some pretty big
(23:23):
name guys on defense, so every offense is going to
take their defense very seriously coming into the season. But
Daniel Jones through I think fifteen touchdowns that year, fifteen,
I think that is just an outlier, anomaly year. They
were very dependent on Saquon that year. Here's a running
back groom going to be as good. Listen, Eligue Neighbors.
(23:45):
Every time you see a highlight of him in training camp,
he looks awesome. He is awesome. He was my number
one guy just based on watching the three of them,
because his upside. Marvin Harrison's upside is not that it
doesn't mean Marvin Harrison won't be the best of the group,
but I think most people you talked to thought either
one two Malik Harrison or Harrison Malik. And then there
(24:08):
was a little gap, and again little gaps difference of
like I take this guy in the top five and
this guy's probably more somewhere like ten to fifteen on
a typical year value scale. In Rome, Rome's really good.
I like him a lot, like he's gonna be solid
in the NFL. But Malik's ceiling is just that was
the thing with like Odell, you knew right away, like
his high end is so freaking high because the explosion,
(24:32):
the willingness, the ball skills. But can't Daniel Jones get
him the ball? If I told you Malik Neighbors was
with Kyler, You're like, shit, there could be some serious
fireworks here or some bombs. Just go deep, baby, right
you put Malik Nighbors, It's like what happened with DK
DK got drafted. It's like, who's this guy that runs
really fast and a super jacked Oh, he's just going
(24:52):
And this at the time when Russell was good with
one of the best deep ball throwers we've ever seen,
and what happened they were awesome. So I just don't
love the fit because best case scenario, Daniel Jones a
poor man's Alex Smith. Alex never thrived with guys like that.
And the difference is like even Tyreek Hill, you could
(25:13):
hand the ball off and throw them quick screens, and
obviously Tyreek blew up really when they kind of went
from Mahomes or Alex to Mahomes. I don't know if
you saw that picture of the viral video. I was
just scrolling the other night and saw it and I
just scrolled right by Alex's leg. Did's just talk about
a crazy story when he almost lost his leg and
(25:34):
they had that they were gonna amputate it and his
wife talked him out of it. Anyone that hasn't seen
that thirty for thirty. If you want a good cry,
that's that's a good watch. But that leg, man, it's
it's remarkable what modern medicine can do to keep something
on because that does not look like a lower leg.
It really does. Even Tiger Wood's leg went viral like
a couple weeks ago, it doesn't look nearly like that.
(25:56):
And it doesn't look great. It doesn't look good. You
really sometimes take a step back and have some gratitude.
Just man.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The NFL seasons right around the corner. We'll be breaking
down all the off season storylines on the Colin Cowherd
podcast My best takes guests like my buddy Nick Wright.
Check out the Colin Coward Podcast, part of the Volume Network,
available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Mail Bag made an account to ask you this question.
Following tools Deal, you went pretty hard. You are shorting
the Fins the next three or four years. My question
is are you shorting the Jags in the same way.
Two has been objectively better than Trevor. The Jags are
equally dysfunctioned in the last twenty years. You could argue
Trevor won a playoff game. I would argue Staley choked
(26:56):
that playoff game. I agree though Trevor played pretty good,
but the guys were wide open. I just wonder if
you view them as the same potential wise, both guys
who will never be in the top five in their
own conference and have a quarterback in their division who
is clearly much better if you wanted to to take
thirty something MILLI year, I feel Trevor should have given
the exact same treatment. I didn't love either deal. I
(27:18):
thought the Jags were crazy, and I don't like the
Jags that much either, but I'm not I don't take
the Jags add seriously to begin with. Like to me,
they are clearly the third best team in that division,
and if Callahan and those guys in Tennessee can just
turn Will Levis into a top fifteen quarterback. Like who
to say the Jacks couldn't be last. So I'm not
(27:40):
high on the Jacks. I don't act like the Jags
or some serious operation. My thing with Tua is, like
you said, objectively the stats. Yeah, you're just going to
pull up the stats and they look oh good. You're like,
this is just the numbers. If you just let the
stat sheet his box scores, go to wiki and see
(28:00):
the year by year, you're like, oh, he's the last
couple of years. I know that's a guy. As Tommy
Lasorda once famously said that if you have a big
game and you're the Bengals, you're the Chiefs, you're the Ravens,
you're the Bills, you want to send a limo to
his hotel to pick him up, to make sure he's
on the sideline when the kickoff starts, because you can't
(28:21):
wait to play him. I'm not talking about October tenth, which,
like I said, games in the NFL matter. That's why
they make the playoffs because they win a lot of
games September in October when it starts getting cold and
it starts getting windy and it starts getting rainy, and
I'm one of the big boys. I'm licking my lips.
And that's not me being a hater. That's actually what
has happened. We just saw it. How do you ever
(28:45):
forget what happened last year? The Bills were six and six,
the Dolphins were cruising and the dust settled. They had
lost the division. Bills are hosting playoff games. Dolphins get
didn't even have a snowballs chances in Alaska. I mean,
let alone, hell, it was never gonna work. You'd be like,
(29:08):
what this snope? I don't even know what I meant
by Alaska. But you get my point that they got embarrassed.
They got embarrassed, and it's hard for me to take
two as seriously once you start getting paid a lot.
When I see him in a game against the other
top quarterbacks, that's my thing with brock perty Like, I've
(29:28):
seen him against other good competition. Obviously he's had bad games,
but I've also seen him answer the bell. I have
not seen to answer the bell. Hey, John, just listen
to your comments on US athletes moving on from American
football into other sports like rugby. Fun fact, the USA
won the Olympic gold medal in the nineteen twenty and
nineteen twenty four. My dad is from New Zealand and
(29:50):
I grew up watching and playing rugby. I played in
the under nineteen Las Vegas sevens. This guy could play
a little. I agree with your take, and we have
seen some athletes like carl And Aisles move from springing
football to rugby with success. If the US had a
more established rugby pipeline and could monetize the sport better,
the USA could become a powerhouse in the sport in
(30:13):
short order. Here's my question. The Major League Rugby has
made some progress, but at times looks like a second
rate XFLAFL. How would the Major League Rugby become like
the NFL on a social and business level. I think
it's very, very difficult for sports to just become popular
(30:37):
in twenty twenty four in America. So rugby is definitely
more kind of a niche thing than soccer. But you
have seen the way we emphasize soccer. We claim to try,
but we don't care nearly enough as these other countries,
which it's a way oflife. It's a waylife like if
(30:58):
you go to the South and you meet a good athlete.
At eight, nine, ten, twelve years old, they're thinking about
probably more likely playing in the SEC football and making
it to the NFL, and maybe if they're good, maybe basketball,
but it's it's an American sport. Or if you went
to Brazil or Spain or England, obviously soccer would be
(31:19):
a huge thing, and then there'd be a percentage of
people that you know, tennis or rugby. It's about priorities
and our priorities. Just as long as football round will
never be rugby, it just won't. And I'd say the
same thing with soccer. We just will never care enough
even remotely, partly because the best league in the world,
(31:43):
even though the world when it comes to ability to
consume stuff is easier than ever, Like if I want
to watch Manchester United, or I want to watch the
Japanese Baseball League, like I can get access to anything
when it's not in your homeland, and you see people
(32:04):
that like, hey, like I'm from Davis, California, where when
I was a kid, it was a big deal for
my dad, who went to UC Davis, that Ken O'Brien
was drafted in the first round of the Jets, or
when I was coming up in high school that Dustin
Pedroia was going to the big leagues or Nick Watney
(32:25):
was going to be a PGA Tour golfer. So the relatability,
like if you grow up in a certain area, it's
like Wayne Rooney is from twenty minutes away where I
grew up. I think that's an underrated element of sports
with the youth, right were you, like, Hey, DJ Williams
(32:46):
went to Miami from DALYs Al. I remember that being
a big, big deal when I was like a freshman
or sophomore in high school, played high school football. And
when you can relate to people around you, it helps you.
I mean, and I think part of you know, dreaming
about this. I was watching the Roger Federer documentary and
(33:06):
he was like a ball boy in tennis and just
loved tennis and he could kind of see these guys
and it probably it definitely did. He talk about it
helped inspire him to want to be there one day.
And it's hard for rugby, even if you watch the championships,
like it's we don't have anything to relate if you're
a fifteen year old kid, so it's easier to go.
(33:28):
I want to be Patrick Mahomes or Nick Bosa or
Justin Jefferson or Steph Curry or hell, you know, even
Scotty Scheffler. Like if you're from Texas, right, you're more
likely to be like, yeah, you know, Rice and d
Schambeau lives here, Scotti Scheffler lives here. If you love football,
this is where Kyler Murray's from. Baker Mayfield, Drew Brees.
(33:49):
I think that's an underrated element that impacts people because
it impacted me as a kid. It impacted the way
my family and friends talked about sports. Even when I
moved to Philly. It was a big sense of pride
someone from Philly. What's a big thing with Saquon going
to the Eagles, Not that they're stealing from the Giants,
but that it's like the hometown kit. It was like
(34:12):
that with Shady McCoy, Pennsylvania guy. It resonates with people,
and it really impacts younger people. How wild is it?
The guys like two and Lawrence are signing four and
five year deals. Were two hundred and fifteen two hundred
and seventy five million dollars and one combined playoff win.
While Roethlisberger played eighteen years when two super Bowls and
(34:34):
his career earnings sits around two hundred and seventy million.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
Did Roethlisberger win two Super Bowls?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
I'm pretty sure he won one? My blanket right now,
he went to I guess Cower. I guess Cower one
one and Tomlin won one. Let me just it's been
a while, big Ben Roethlisberger. I guess you're right because
Krad definitely has one and Tomlin has the one. I
(35:04):
guess they lost one to two against the Packers, so
they beat the Cardinals. How many super Bowls this guy have? Yeah,
you're right too, I knew that. Just it's crazy. It's
a long time separation since he won the Super Bowls.
(35:24):
Good call a little brain feart there Cower and Tomlin
and sits around two hundred and seventy million in career earnings.
It's just kind of strange to me how these teams
don't gamble a bit more on the cycling through these
mid tier quarterbacks like Tua to save money via the draft.
Will allow these guys to go in the open market
(35:46):
to get a real feel on what they're actually worth.
Big fan Steeler fans gonna be pissed. I know you guys.
You guys got six.
Speaker 6 (35:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
I think the problem is, let's use they are two
separate examples. One, I think the Jags are betting on
the com that he's going to be better than the
guy we've seen, and then that deal will feel cheap
if he's awesome this year, which to me is too
big of a risk to do at that amount of money.
But they clearly like the guy his work ethic. He's
(36:22):
not as talented as the hype had made him out
to be, like we see the elite talents. Doesn't move
like Lamar, doesn't throw it like Josh or Patrick what
he's got a solid arm. I wouldn't call him mister
make plays with his feet. I wouldn't call him mister
never turns the ball over? Like what are his defining attributes?
(36:44):
Where Tua is just slow and steady and dominates in
good weather against average to below competition and play better
competition late bad weather, got no shot. And again it
sounds like I'm being really critical, like I'm I've seen
this guy interviewed, like I think he's a really good person,
Like it's not like he'd be easy to root against
if he was a bad guy, and I'm not rooting
(37:06):
against him, but when you put all your ships in
the middle of the table on that version of a player,
I don't see the upside there in the conference. There
in I would understand it more if the Dolphins were
in the NFC.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
They're like, we could win a couple playoff games, and
maybe they'd be right if we get the Niners or
the Rams or the Lions and a Dome, as long
as we avoid going to Green Bay Dallas, like we're
not gonna play in crazy weather games.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Actually they played the Chiefs. Brett Beach told me it's
the coldest game he's ever been a part of. The
guy's been in the league for twenty years, so it
was fucking freezing. You couldn't feel any body part the
moment you walked out the tunnel in pregame warmups, they
knew that the game won. Oh yeah, I ain't doing
this here. He didn't say that. I did question for
the mailbag. By the way, I just saw you proposed
(37:54):
to your girlfriend. Congrats, Thank you, buddy. My question is
about bad NFL ownership. We see so many teams switch
head coaches every two to three years. Allah. My Raiders.
I saw to day that you know, one big thing
in Raiderland is once a Raider, always a Raider, and
whether you get cut, whether you get traded, whether you
get fired. As a coach, John Gruden, who coached the
(38:18):
Raiders not once but twice, and they're it's hard to
call it a rivalry. Definitely with Andy Reid because the
Chiefs are winning Super Bowls and I think Patrick Mahomes
like ten and two against them, But historically it is
a rivalry. John Gruden was at Chiefs practice, decked out
in chief gear, hanging with the coaches. Obviously him and
Andy go back thirty years, but still that's a tough
(38:41):
little stretch. The Raiders had to host the Chiefs at
their building, which my buddy Greg Poppo is a longtime
voice of the Raiders said, Al Davis turned over in
his grave five hundred times over that one, and then
the Chiefs won it in the building, and now they're
hosting his coach, Sean Gruden. No, granted, I don't blame John.
John was fired by Mark Davis, which was a little
(39:01):
out of Mark Davis's control, a ton of public pressure,
but still a little weird. It's a little weird. We
see so many. I know you have to fire a
guy if he's not doing well, but it seems like
every team who's successful has a coach they stuck out
with even through tough times, like Dan Campbell. How many
coaches do you think actually deserve to get fired. I
(39:23):
think here's the hard problem. Dan Campbell didn't really have
tough times. I mean, he inherited an awful team and
they were terrible his first year. In the second year,
they won nine to eight and ended Roger's career in
Green Bay. So by the end of year two, what
the Lions finished that second half of the season, like
seven and two or something like that, they were really
good down the stretch. So I think coaches are a
(39:46):
little bit like relationships. And as someone who's about to
get married later in life, you know, I'll be forty
in October. Is you date a lot of people and
I would say, in my experience, you know relatively quickly,
like I'm not getting married to this girl, but got
nothing else going on. I like her, she's fun, but
(40:07):
you know right away. It's not usually one of those
things where you go, well, let's just see if this
can work. Now. Sometimes that happens. But for the most part,
I think you kind of know early we got something
special or we don't, and it's less about you know,
in relationships, it's about a couple of specific things. But
with a football coach, I think you can have a
(40:29):
rough first year and go, we got something this is
this is a dude like, this is someone we want
to And then then there are guys that make you
question themselves. And obviously it's to bottom line business. Winning
and losing is how these guys are judged. But I
think early on for some guys, you know, okay, it's
hard for me. Use the Raiders as an example, Josh
(40:51):
McDaniel was fucking terrible. We all knew it. We all
saw it. You didn't need to be Mark Davis or
DeVante Adams to know like, you gotta fire that guy.
So I can't give Obviously, you don't usually want to
fire a coach after a year and a half, but
it was clear this ain't gonna work. And these are
extreme cases. But you know, the Giants have fired some guys. Now,
(41:13):
if you want to be critical of it, it's hard
for me to be critical of Mark Davis for hiring
Josh Usually guys get second chances. There was a long gap.
I would have hired him too if I was Mark,
So I think that was the right move, And I
also think the right move was firing him.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
If you want to be critical, let's use the Giants
for an example, like, what in what world did you
think Pat Schumer was going to be good? Joe Judge
is one of the craziest hires in the history of
the league. The forty nine ers, Jim tom Sula, Chip Kelly,
who mailed it in three years previously, what did you
think the outcomes were going to be? But you know
(41:49):
you gotta fire him, You have to fire him. It's
sometimes that's where the relationship analogy kind of breaks. That
if no one's cheating on each other and you're not
screaming at each other, it's easy to kind of ride
it out for a while, where in football it's you
gotta draw a line in the sand. And usually sooner
than later, I hear what you're saying, and logically it
(42:11):
makes a lot of sense. But I think most of
these teams that fire coaches quickly, how often are they wrong?
Like how often you're like, ah, he didn't deserve that,
Like Arthur Smith last year with the with the Atlanta Falcons.
I think he's a good coordinator. We had three straight
(42:32):
years win seven games, and last year was tough to watch.
So even if you liked the guy, which I think
clearly they did, and he's gonna be very successful coordinator,
I think in Pittsburgh or wherever he ends up moving
forward just the rest of his career. But you're just
like you're supposed to ride it out. That's where I
(42:52):
think it's hard. It's easy when you get Urban Meyer,
like what is this clown show? Or Jim tom Sula.
Those ones are no brainers. I think it gets more
difficult when you kind of like the guy, like let's
assume the Giants, like I like Joe Judge, but I
can't be running quarterback sneaks on third and nine pinned
into my own goal line like that. Can't have That's
(43:13):
that's that's embarrassing the brand. And you can embarrass the
brand in the NFL or any company several different ways,
right by doing a bad job and then by doing
things like that where it's like, this is an embarrassment
to my consumer. And I think I think it's a
good thing because this happens more and more now now
(43:34):
Davis that lasts like ten years was kind of rare
firing dudes left and right in this modern day. A
lot of teams wouldn't do it forever in pro sports
because it was very expensive to do in these teams
in like eighties and nineties. Way more people would have
been fired in pro sports over the last fifty years
(43:54):
if the money was all like the last ten but
a lot of it was like, yeah, I'm not paying
this guy at the time a couple of million dollars
for two years to go away. I don't want to
just waste my money. Now it's a line item, trust me.
I'm looking at getting someone to come play for my wedding.
Speaker 5 (44:13):
I was thinking, Yah, maybe maybe I don't think of
you know, dabble into somewhat of a big name wedding
is going to be in Nashville. How much would it
cost to get you know, I'm not looking for Garth
Brooks or Morgan Walling there, but you know, someone with
some albums, someone that everyone would know. And I started
making some calls, you get some numbers back, You're like,
(44:34):
holy shit, I'd play more of.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
These if I was these guys. But it's like anything.
As money changes, so does everything. So I think that
has led to the world we live in where guys
get canned fast. But I don't remember many guys getting
canned in football that didn't deserve it. I really can't.
(44:59):
Let's just think the last couple of years, right, who
got fired Washington, Ron Rivera, I mean, no brainer, Atlanta,
no brainer, the Tennessee thing. I would not be in
the business of firing Mike Vrabel, but clearly that thing
was out of whack. And I think best thing for
(45:19):
Mike Rabel is to go away. But that's one of
the rare ones where he's gonna get another head coaching job.
Something was off that I can't pretend to have all
the details. And Mike, you've heard him in some interviews,
he's kind of he's good with his words about it.
But I think maybe one day when he gets another job,
he'll probably talk a little shit, which I'm excited for.
(45:41):
You know, the Belichick thing, it was just it was time.
It was definitely time. So I think you see some
of these firings, most of the time are are pretty justified.
John Ian here, longtime listener, love the pod. I have
a mailback question regarding the off season Hard Knocks. Do
you think fewer teams will be willing to participate in
(46:03):
the future. If they do, do you expect them to
be less transparent as the Giants showed a lot on
the first iteration of the show. Although the Giants didn't
reveal their plans, I believe they did show enough that
made them look bad and potentially put off a lot
of free agents. Regarding the handling of Saquon, I was
(46:27):
talking someone in the league the other day and he
brought up the point that said the Giants wouldn't have allowed,
even for like theatrical buzz, to let the NFL films
(46:47):
create stuff that's out of order, to just create more drama.
So you have to take it at face value that
if the Giants are allowing it, it is happening in
the sequence that it's happening. There was a scene I
think on Saturday or Sunday before free agency was starting
on the Monday, and in that scene, it's just Dayball
(47:08):
and Joe Shane. Now, if this conversation happened three weeks previously,
it would not be as weird. But when it was
happening the day or two before free agency, and Joe
Shane was like, so, Dave's who you like? What are
you thinking? O? Line over running backs and d Line
over mckinn's this guy and that guy. You're like, wait,
(47:31):
they're having this conversation the day before free agency starts.
I only have experience in one organization. There is no
chance did Howie has ever had that conversation the day
before free agency started. That conversation with any well run
(47:52):
organization would be like, listen, so we've narrowed it down
to these four guys for offensive line. If we resigned Saquon,
then we can't make the burn trade. If we don't
resign Saquon, then hopefully we can execute the Burns trade.
We're trying to get Tyrod. That's your number one guy, right,
And it was not communicated like that in that room.
And again I'm allowing the potential chance that it was
(48:17):
done for cinematic reasons, But why would the giants have
okayed that they'd be like this, You can't put this
stuff out of order. It makes us look like idiots.
So if I have to assume the giants are okaying it,
because that's the way it happened, that's insane. So what
are you thinking? Like O line, they're talking like me
and you would be over a couple beers at the bar. Yeah,
(48:41):
I think we need like this tight end and let's
hope to get a running back and see if Morgan will. Yeah,
we'll see how that goes. It's obviously you don't know,
but the way, just how kind of cavalier and loose
they were about it. Nothing specific, especially because it was
gonna be aired well after, so it wasn't like gonna
(49:03):
give their secrets away that they wanted those couple offensive
linemen and what they were willing to trade for burns.
But just the way, I'll never forget the way he
looks at day Ball AND's.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Like, ah, what are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'd be like, tonight, Maria, what do you what do
you want for dinner? Man? What are you thinking? Do
you want to get Chinese or maybe Mexican, I don't know, cheeseburger.
This is this is a pretty big deal. It's a
pretty how do you not have it? Specifically? And maybe
they just did that for the cameras, but I can't
even imagine they would. I don't know. Maybe if that
(49:37):
was fake, then they fooled me. They fooled me. I
thought that part was crazy. I think it's gonna be very,
very difficult to get anyone to ever agree with that
that was so good in terms of the entertainment value
for us, because I kept thinking, I can't believe they're
showing this. I can't believe they're showing this. Everyone shows
(49:59):
the draft room or calling Malik neighbors like that, that's
not that weird. But the level of conversations between Shane,
the coaching staff and his scouts with the owner, we've
never seen at the levels in which we saw, and
that conversation with Dave Ball was an eye opener for
people around the league because it embarrassed them. And listen,
(50:22):
I think Joe Shane seems like a really good guy
and seems like someone you'd want to be friends with,
have a beer with, hang out with this family. Like
seem like really good people. Clearly, he's smart, successful guy,
but it does feel a little bit like he's over
his head at being the lead dog because his skill set,
(50:44):
like there's a hard part about being a scout coming up,
the skill set of doing everything the job. You're managing
a two hundred and fifty million dollars payroll. Think about that.
Your job is a GM, and I know you don't
write up the specific contracts, but you are choosing how
to allocate the funds. A lot of people that become
(51:08):
CEOs have some sort of either financial or marketing background
that specifically impacts the product where you scout, which is
extremely important. But unless you are taught in depth on
how to manage the negotiations, who the hell teaches you
(51:28):
how to negotiate. I never negotiated till I got really
into radio, and even early on I had an agent,
which I did not need. It's like a eighty thousand
dollars contract. Given it someone ten percent was one of
the worst business decisions I've ever made. But like when
I deal with Colin even before the volume started, like
it's good to work on those skills and you have
(51:49):
to work on them and you feel more confident. You
got to just be prepared. You never negotiate, and all
of a sudden, now you're negotiating and the information it
could I would completely understand being overwhelmed. And that's why
a lot of gms do get overwhelmed because you're dealing
with something you're not comfortable dealing with. Now, some teams
(52:13):
allow that guy to do a lot of that stuff, right, Like,
ultimately Casario with Belichick was doing a lot of things
that you needed to do when he was going to
become the GM. Take it off Bill's plate, But that's
because he was a coach, right, let a lot to
else to do if you're the GM, Like that's you're
not outsourcing a lot of stuff in terms of like
(52:36):
you want to do the negotiation. And it just feels
like him and Brandon Brown, it's felt like they were
just over their head and it was I think the
way the league views it as pretty embarrassing. Now, if
you win games, none of that matters. None of it matters.
But in recent memory, what would push toward Yeah, they're
(53:01):
gonna start winning games. They've really struggled for a long
time now. They had the one year where they had
an incredible season, they won nine games. So I think
I've said this before. I'm not rooting for anyone to
lose their job, but it's pretty clear if they're not
good and Saquon is freaking awesome in their division and
(53:24):
the Eagles win eleven games and win the division and
are in the playoffs. We saw the owner, how's it
gonna be happy? I don't blame them. Put yourself in
his shoes, like, okay, listen, I understand running backs. This
guy's our best player. If he went to the Bears.
It's why Joe Shane was hoping to go to the Bears.
Go to the Bears, go to the Vikings, go to
the Texans. He went to the Eagles, the best run
(53:48):
team in his division. To me, he could not go
to the Eagles or the Cowboys, or you got problems
because if he's successful in one of those two places
and you're not, you are done. I don't know how
else anyone could see it any other way. When you
watch the owner like this is I'm not making up
(54:08):
this opinion. I'm just watching the owner, and you go,
that's clearly how he's acting. I mean, he's said he
said he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if
he went to Philly. I don't blame him. Is his
star player who they drafted number two overall. Who's listen,
He's not Walter Payton or Barry Sanders, but clearly, when
he's healthy, he's a high end player. And the Eagles,
(54:30):
who are well Run won him the volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.