3 & Out - Jayden Daniels hype, Nick Foles retires, Fugazi Friday

John opens the show talking about how everyone from his own teammates and coaches to players on other teams have been praising Jayden Daniels and how if he has a good season, it could drastically change the outlook for the Commanders. Later, John dives into what the pre-season means for players on the bubble and how many realistic open roster spots there are heading into the season, the reaction to Nick Foles retiring, a story about Aaron Rodgers and his relationship with his father, and lastly, the return of Fugazi Friday.

Later, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.

8:20 - Jayden Daniel hype

20:20 - Pre-season roster spots

34:20 - Nick Foles retires

39:06 - Aaron Rodgers and his family

45:23 - Fugazi Friday

53:11 - Mailbag

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (02:00):
What is going on my people? Happy Fugazi Friday. Well,
everyone's doing good, doing well. Ready for the weekend. Get
a little sweat on because it's hot probably wherever you are,
maybe if you're in Alaska, which I think is hot
during the summer too. But today we got a little
football going on and a lot of hype coming out

(02:23):
of Washington on Jayden Daniels. So we want to discuss
that with the preseason game starting. I'm recording this before
Thursday night preseason, but we got preseason games Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
so football is going to be on all of our
TVs in the background, NFL network, whatever, depending on what
city you live in, the local team, the local broadcast,

(02:44):
which is pretty special. There's nothing like local broadcasts in
the NFL. You get like the radio crew. You know,
you're play by play guy, which you don't get in
football because it's all national. It kind of becomes a
little more like the NBA or baseball, where it's like propaganda,
but you know, no matter what's going on, you get
the president and the GM. It's enjoyable. I like it.

(03:08):
I couldn't do it for the whole season, but it's
it's an enjoyable experience for the month of August. And
now there's only three games. So we'll talk a little preseason,
what to look for, what matters, what doesn't, Nick Foles,
Philly Special retired, and something I saw on Aaron Rodgers,
as well as the biggest Fugazi of the week, which
involves Jim Harbaugh in the NCAA. We will also do

(03:31):
a little mail bag at John Middlecoff. I need mailback questions,
so keep firing in at John Middlecoff is the mail
bag is My Instagram is where I get the mailbag questions.
I know some of you email me and stuff. I
just I just go to the to the instagram. If
you don't have one. I've had many people use their wives.
That's always acceptable to you. Won't get me in any trouble.

(03:54):
She's like, why is Julie messaging you? And then you
show It's like, well it's it's Jim's wife. So I
count and he's asking about the Seattle Seahawks linebacker depth chart.
But fire in those dms and you guys know the drill.
Subscribe to the podcast three and out feed. We got
a YouTube feed. Everything is up there and we're rocking

(04:15):
and rolling, baby, So buckle up. But first, if you
want to go to one of these football games, an
NFL game, probably a real one, probably one once the
regular season starts, a college football game. They don't even
play free season games. I cannot recommend my friends, my
partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast. Game time, concerts,
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(04:39):
sometimes and I'm bad at this. You gotta get out
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your girlfriend, take your wife, take your son, take your daughter,
take a friend, and go enjoy yourself and do it
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(05:01):
code John John John for twenty dollars off your first
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code John for twenty dollars off. Download the game Time
app today, Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. If you
watched Hard Knocks, you saw Nick Saban talk about hype

(05:21):
and expectations from the outside and how that doesn't matter
internally when you're trying to develop a quarterback, and he
discussed why so many quarterbacks fail because of their expectations.
I'm gonna disagree. I think a lot of quarterbacks fail
because they're not good enough. This pro football it is
really really difficult. They go to bad teams, they get

(05:44):
bad coordinators, they get bad talent. Like any young person,
you lose any confidence you have, you can get destroyed.
And you know the way and the speed in which
the NFL works, you don't have time. There are small
examples of guys that just didn't care, you know, JaMarcus
Russell's probably the best example of all time of a

(06:05):
guy who literally did not give a shit. But I
think most guys, at least over the last decade plus
tried put in good effort and they simply were not
good enough. Like this is the best of the best.
This is a one percent of the one percent. It
is difficult to play in the NFL. I say it
all the time. I am much more comfortable being critical

(06:25):
of coaches because I think it is much easier to
become a coach in the NFL than it is to
become a player. And listen, Guys fumble, Guys make a
bad pass, Guys misatackle. Football is hard now when you
consistently make mistakes, I'd argue it's on the coach pull
them out of the game. But the hype machine, listen,
it doesn't matter that much if you're a GM or

(06:48):
you're a coach, or you're a player. You ultimately have
to produce and that's all that matters. But us on
the outside, us that talk about football fans kind of
like it. I mean it kind of. It makes this
whole thing fun. I was just watching the Team USA game.
Part of what made that game so riveting. It was fantastic.

(07:09):
Was because the hype around the team, right, and there
was substance behind it. We have some of the greatest
players in the history of the game on it and
it's like they're gonna lose to Joker and a bunch
of other guys that none of us could point out
of a lineup. It was incredible television and the cool part.
And this is why I always defend the draft. The
draft is part of the business model of the NFL.
That moment, the hype train of the players coming in,

(07:33):
the excitement that it gives fans of hope that they
can turn things around, that's real, and that plays a
part into the revenue stream that ultimately the players essentially
get a fifty to fifty split up. So I've always
defended like the excitement around draft time. It's why whenever
a player is drafted, especially in the first round, you

(07:54):
will never not see an ecstatic draft room. Even though
we know, you know, on average, sixteen of the thirty
two guys will not get second contracts with the team,
let alone becomes star players. Even the guys that get
second contracts, that doesn't mean you become JJ Watt, Right,

(08:15):
or Patrick Mahomes. That just means you're a really good player, right,
maybe you make a Pro Bowl or two. But when
I draft a guy in the top ten, the top five,
my expectations are for you to become a star. From
the team, from the owner, from the fans, from us
talking about it. That's the way this whole thing works.
And there is an incredible amount of hype around Caleb Williams.

(08:40):
Part of that started years ago when he kicks Spencer
Rattler to the curb. Who's about to be Derek Carr's
backup quarterback in New Orleans? Turned out like, actually, he's
not terrible, pretty good player than what he did at
USC two years ago, winning the Heisman Trophy and obviously
his physical gifts. But I do think the hype around
Jayden Daniels, I wouldn't put it on Caleb's level, but

(09:03):
it's pretty high and a lot like Caleb Williams, he
is entrusted with saving a franchise, saving a franchise. Now,
the Bears over the last twenty years have had good teams.
I mean some of those Brian Urlacker teams. Help. They
went to a Super Bowl, right, and they had countless
guys who were the best in the league and their

(09:23):
defense was awesome. Then they went to an NFC championship
game the year Jay Cutler got hurt and Aaron Rodgers
ended up winning the Super Bowl. And then what six
seven years ago, Matt Naggie's first year with Vic Fangio,
the Doink Game, they were hosting a playoff game. So
they have had more success than the Washington franchise. But

(09:44):
part of like you could argue, it's harder to save
the Washington franchise than it is the Bears franchise. Now,
they have not had a quarterback in Chicago really ever,
and there's a new owner in Washington, so you don't
have the stink of Daniel Snyder. But still there is
going to be a ton of pressure. I worked for

(10:04):
the Eagles when RG III was drafted, it was like
he was the savior. Now he answered the bell immediately
and then clearly messed up his knee and was never
the same. But coaches, GMS, scouts, they're gonna have a
lot of opinions over the next month. Who's playing well,
who's not playing well, who's good, who's not good. That's
part of August. But when opposing players who are really

(10:28):
good come out and make bold statements like it makes
you go could this be real? And sas Gardner they
just practiced for a couple of days, said that he
went up to Jayden Daniels. This is what he told
the reporters and told him you were gonna be really good.
And I don't think you do that randomly just to
be nice to a guy. You're playing dB against him

(10:49):
in all these drills, You're like, God, this guy's pretty sweet.
Earlier this week, zach Ertz said, stop saying he's going
to be good. He's good now. And I was just
reading a bunch of quotes from Cliff Kingsbury how he's
just blown away by the way this guy's work, like
his work ethic, how focused he is, and his study habits.

(11:10):
Because a lot of guys, I think can't handle the
mental aspect of being a quarterback. It's really hard transitioning
from college where you can get by with talent to
the NFL, where you obviously have to have the talent,
but you also have to have this insane amount of
mental focus slash mental toughness because you're gonna have rough days.

(11:33):
It's a much longer season. Obviously, from a football standpoint,
they're throwing so much shit at you it can be very,
very overwhelming. But like the hype on this guy so
far has been pretty strong, and I'm fascinated. And now
it all falls on the head coach and the GM.
Can they coach well enough over the next several years

(11:55):
and put enough players around this guy to give him
a shot. I'm excited to watch, like it makes it fun.
And from talking to all my buddies when I went
to the combine, like they thought he was incredible this season.
Throws is a great deep ball. His arm strength has
gotten way better over the years. His decision making standing
in the pocket is way better. Obviously, he's a great

(12:17):
athlete moving around the one knock on him and we
talked about it on the Fantasy podcast, like this is
what Caleb brings the table. He is just thick. We've
said it forever about Kyler running quarterback. While he's short,
he has built like a little tank. And Jaden is
really thin. And I remember when he got the Heisman
and he's there standing with the other guys, You're like, God,

(12:37):
this guy is really really skinny, Which there's nothing wrong
with being a young guy and being skinny at any position.
Sometimes it happens. It takes a little time to put
on weight. But if you are gonna be a runner,
you have to avoid the hits. Cause even in twenty
twenty four where everyone's like, oh, they're just a bunch
of you know what, this league is so soft? Well, yeah,
relative to the seventies, eighties, and nineties, it is a

(12:59):
different and sport. It doesn't mean you won't get hit,
and get hit really hard when you're running around. Well,
linebackers aren't as big as they once were, right, you
don't have a many two hundred and sixty pound middle
linebackers plugging the hole against Lorenzo O'Neil in the ISO block.
That's not how the game is, I would say, consistently
played now. But you get two hundred and forty pound

(13:20):
guys or two hundred and thirty five pound guys that
can run four four four or five forties. And if
you're running four four, even if you weigh two hundred
and thirty five pounds. I've never been hit in the NFL,
but I can't imagine that feels good. And once you
cross that line of scrimmage and you're not gonna slide,
You're gonna die forward. You were gonna get molly wopped.
So that's something. And I've always believed you either have

(13:43):
this kind of innate feel as a runner that you
can avoid hits, and that goes for running backs too.
I always thought Frank Gore was definitely not the fastest
running back we've seen the last twenty years. Remember you
had like eight knee surgeries before it even came out.
But he had this incredible knack from not taking big hits,

(14:04):
and I think that's a big reason why he played
such a long time. And we've seen quarterbacks. Michael Vick's
a good example that just wasn't that good at that.
He didn't know how to slide, he didn't have a
great feel for contact. He was such a tough guy,
he wasn't afraid of it, but you were gonna lose
those battles. So clearly, this guy from a throwing perspective,

(14:25):
took a gigantic leap, I mean a gigantic leap last year.
Now it's gonna be about staying healthy and the team
building it around him, because let's face it, I was
thinking about this today. I was I go back and forth.
I'm like, I'm gonna probably pick him to finish last
in the division if he is good, Like, if he
has a really good rookie year, their quarterback position is

(14:47):
much better off than the Giants their quarterback position, depending
on how this Dack situation goes, Like, I'd still be shocked.
But as long as he doesn't have a contract and
they can't franchise him, who knows if he's on the
team next year. Now you could argue if they are
offering anywhere near what he would get in the open market,
it pays to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback literally and

(15:08):
figuratively off the field. But if he were to leave
all of a sudden, Washington, if he just shows signs,
They're like, God, they got a real chance, because listen,
all this what Saban is right about. We're not playing
any games, even the preseason. That doesn't count. You are
judged on the seventeen regular season games and how you
improve over that period of time. But in theory, this

(15:31):
team should be a lot better off next year in
two years, and if you do it right, and this
guy answers the bell, that's why Caleb gets this incredible
situation he goes to the Chicago Bears, who were not
drafting one. They just fleece the Panthers. They already had
a sweet wide receiver, they had their own pick, so

(15:51):
they draft another guy and then they trade for Keenan Allen,
so he goes to his place with three sweet wide receivers.
They sign on running back. They already have a solid defense,
Like it's one of the better landing spots for a
number one quarterback in the history of the league. You
never go usually go to the commanders, a team that
had cut guys, trade guys last year. Kind of starting
over is gonna depend on a lot of young guys

(16:12):
and just kind of be a work in progress. That's fine.
That's usually how it goes. And if you do a
good enough job as the front office and the head coach,
like you can be in great position. And there was
a lot of talk before the draft, you know about
and even I kind of threw it out there because
I'm a big swing guy, like what if Drake may hits?
Could he be like Josh Allen? Could he be like

(16:34):
Justin Herbert? Well, everyone that I knew in the league
that has scouted both of them were like this guy's
just better, and there's just no way you take that
risk when this guy. This guy has a high ceiling too,
and when you watch him in the SEC, he's a baller.
So I'm fascinated to watch this guy. I get excited
when I see these quotes because I know the way
coaches and GMS talk with reporters. One, they're gonna be

(16:57):
really positive during this period of time. But when other
players starts saying that, like zach Ertz won a Super Bowl,
zach Ertz played with Carson Wentzho at one point in time,
looked like he was gonna be the MVP. Zach Ertz
played with Kyler Murray. You know, Sas Gardner plays elite
quarterbacks basically every week or every other week, like he
kind of knows what it looks like. So I put
value in that. Let's talk about the preseason, because I

(17:19):
think there's once these games happen and guys go viral
for incredible plays. People like this guy's gotta make the team.
You know, when a guy rushes for one hundred yards
in the second half against four stringers, it's like this
guy is the next star running back in the NFL.
Let's just talk overall, the majority of NFL teams, especially

(17:43):
the top I would say fifteen eighteen teams in the
league don't have that many open spots on the roster
coming into training camp. I would say that number varies
anywhere from two to three to four, that kind of
that range. Coming into the camp, you don't have that
many open spots. I think a lot of people think
because listen, football is a meritocracy, and if you are

(18:04):
better than a guy, you will beat him out. But
there are complications. If all things are the same, and
this guy's a five year veteran and you've got guaranteed
money on his contract, you will just roll with the
veteran guy. Clearly, some coaches feel more comfortable and confident
with older players. So coming into most of these cranes. Now,
some teams, you know, if you tell me the Arizona

(18:26):
Cardinals or any team with a new coach, yeah, there
might be new spots up for graps. The Washington Commanders,
a whole new operation. Anything could happen, right, the New
England Patriots. You never know that that number is not
two or three. That number could get as high as ten. Now, ultimately,
if training camp goes and the veterans take care of

(18:47):
and outperform younger players, that number might go down to
like five pretty quickly. But going into training camp and
up until the preseason games, the number isn't that high.
It's not what I think the casual person talks when
they're bsing about training camp. But here's the thing, speaking
of veteran players, if I have a veteran player any

(19:08):
scheduled to make let's just not crazy amount, but let's
say like seven million dollars. But that number is not guaranteed.
And I have a young guard, he's a guard, and
I have a young guard that I drafted in the
fifth round, So that guy is a fifth rounder, is
no guarantee to make the team. Either if that guy
is equal or I view like within a couple months

(19:30):
that guy might be better. I usually cut the veteran player,
and that happens a lot all over the league. It's
why every front office they're evaluating all the rookies. But
they also have a list of guys because of their
contract that could essentially be cap casualties could get cut,
not because they can't play. They would start on a
lot of teams in the NFL. They're gonna get cut

(19:52):
on their team because of the amount of money they make. Now,
just because you play well in practice does not mean
you're guaranteed to win that spot the preseason games for
that young player, that young guard, that young corner, that
young linebacker, whatever position they play. Especially in a lot
of these times, depending on the team you're on, you

(20:13):
might get the opportunity to start. You might, you know,
be immediately in after they yank the starters after a
series or two. You do have to perform. So acting
like these preseason games mean nothing, they do mean something
from the sense of you can't just go out there
and ship the bed and then I'd be comfortable with
cutting a veteran player who I've seen play for me.

(20:33):
Let's say he's been my starter in the last two years,
and take this fifth rounder who's been good in practice,
but then the games some of the stuff on the fly,
he was a little overwhelmed. It's why a lot of
those players you just kind of chalk up, I'm gonna
take him to the pre I'm gonna take him to
the practice squad. Now he can move his way off,
but he has to play well in the preseason games.
You cannot just shit the bed and have a coach

(20:55):
or a front office feel comfortable about making that move.
So to me that or and with linemen sometimes it
can be tough. And just because a guy like this
happens a lot a pass rusher, it's like, God, we
played three preseason games he had seven sacks. Well, one
of the games he had four against a right tackle
who might not start in the UFL, who was just

(21:17):
filling a spot in the second half for a team.
So you gotta be careful about production, right. Not all
production is the same. That's why it's hard with evaluating
these quarterbacks, especially the rookie quarterbacks. To me, a lot
of it's like poise, how does he look? But also
who's his offensive line? If he's running for his life,
it's hard to act like, well he's getting jittery in

(21:38):
the pocket. Well, no shit. The right tackle, you know,
can't block anybody. He's a turnstile over there, so the
guy has to move. That's where you have to be
very very careful about overreacting to a guy not looking
good or a guy looking great, because you go to
these preseason games, they're not showing you a lot. If
a team runs a lot of cover two or whatever

(21:59):
cover is there, go too. They might just consistently run
that all the second half. So after a couple throws,
that quarterback, that offensive coordinator and you know, the skill
guys know like, hey, they're just doing the same thing.
Let's run this play over and over and over and
it starts working, and all of a sudden, this guy
throws two touchdowns. You go, well, is that real? Two touchdowns?

(22:21):
That would happen in the game, you know, a regular
season game, because in a regular season game, you game plan. Now,
some coaches, especially with their starters, like Andy Reid, ain't
just going out there and calling plays for his starters.
They'll game play in a little bit like they'll have
like six seven specific plays against an opponent in the
defense that they think they're gonna see. But after that,

(22:42):
it's a lot of just calling what we've installed during practice,
no different than the other side of the ball, and
it just basically goes who can execute more than the other.
But that's not the way Sunday football is. It's all
about game planning. It's all about knowing, you know, certain schemes,
things to attack. That's not happening here as much. My
first I actually think I don't know if the Eagles

(23:05):
played a game before I went to this game, but
I think there's a chance. The first NFL game I
ever attended is when I worked for the Eagles, and
it might have been Jets Giants, which was a preseason
I think it was Monday Night Football preseason game and
Victor Cruz, I looked up a stat line before the podcast,
caught six balls, had almost one hundred and fifty yards,

(23:26):
and caught three touchdowns. And he's a good example. He
was an undrafted free agent from UMS, and they're gonna
be undrafted free agents all over the league that make teams,
and that's where preseason games are huge. He was so good. Honestly,
I had never even heard of the guy at the time,
and he went on before his injuries to become a
really high level player. But when you do things that

(23:48):
are so eye opening, and and I think he went
on to continue to dominate throughout the preseason, you can't
keep the guy off the roster because the other thing
that makes teams worried, like ideally he's a he's a
bad exam in this situation, but like you would love
to get a guy to a preseason and I think
before you know, in like the eighties and the nineties,
they used to call stashing a guy. You basically wouldn't

(24:10):
play him in the preseason. And if you don't play
in the preseason, you're like a six round pick. Because
once I cut a guy at the fifty three man cuts,
unlike once you go to a practice squad, which we
explain the other day. If I'm gonna take you from
another team's practice squad, I have to cut someone off
my roster, or a guy you know, got injured in
a game during the season, so I put him on

(24:30):
ir Then I have a spot opening, and I can
take a guy from another practice squad. But that team
can either match, you know, pay him enough money to
stay on the practice squad, elevate them to their own team.
It's not a shoeing that you get the guy at
the fifty three man cut down. When you cut, however
many players, it varies team the team because some teams
cut players before that spot. If another team, if you

(24:53):
cut him and he goes through waivers and another team
claims him he's gone, you do not get that guy.
So Victor Cruz is a good example that even if
they wanted to get him to the practice squad. He
never would have made it. He would have one million
percent been claimed. So even if internally they thought, you know,
he's not quite ready, even though he was great in
the preseason, and I remember early on in his career

(25:15):
it might have been like Manningham or Steve Smith ended
up getting injured and then he started playing. I don't
think he played a lot early in that season, and
then a couple years later he's on the super Bowl team. Uh.
But you have to be willing if you're going to
cut a guy to lose him at the big cutdown,
and if a guy plays well enough in these preseason games.
It's much harder now because every team in the league

(25:38):
basically cuts up all the teams throughout the league to
their pro scouts, and they're not just monitoring the game
tape you read every day. We used to get this
thing called the clips. It essentially was like a mix
of Pro Football Talk meets Twitter, and whoever your teams were.
You would get every article written about him, and you
would go through and a guy's having success, a guy's

(25:59):
not out. That's just based on what reporters and press
conference you're saying, but you're monitoring that stuff closely. So
if they're highing a young guy and then he starts
making plays in the preseason game, and then they and
then he gets cut, and you're like, well, we really
need a defensive tackle. This guy was really good in
the preseason. The coach talked him up. They clearly want
this guy in the practice squad. But I think he

(26:20):
might be our backup right now. And you got to
be very very careful with that because that's a hard
balance to run. And I think at this point in time,
what most teams do is the stashing at least, this
is my belief, is kind of done. You just play
the guy and if he's good enough, you keep him,
and if you don't think he's good enough, you cut
him and hope to get him back on the practice squad.

(26:41):
But I think that was a big Al Davis move,
and I think a lot of people copied him. So listen,
the preseason is an exciting time. You can't bury any
first round pick because he struggles in a preseason game.
That does not determine your career. Now, it can bring
up just hesitation, if a DB's getting smoked or a

(27:01):
wide receiver's dropping the ball or a tackle you know,
can't block edge rushers that are you know, practice squad
level players. It for sure can bring up concern, but
you gotta be very careful. You got to put everything
in context. Who's he going against? What plays are they calling.
That's why it's a very complicated time during the season
is very black and white. This guy's either good enough

(27:23):
or he's not. The scheme and the play calling is
either good enough and it's or it's not. But in
these situations, there's so much that were like, are they
even calling are they just calling the same three plays?
Is this guy? And who knows? Maybe he makes a
great play and the coach would be like, he didn't
even know what he was doing. He did, he did
the wrong thing, but it worked out. And those are
things that's the hard part about football. You never know.

(27:45):
So I'm gonna watch a decent amount of preseason, I'm sure,
partly because I'm bored and there's nothing really else on
television beside the final basketball game here in a couple
of days. But yeah, that's just a little breakdown of
things I thought about. I think what makes sports pretty fun.

(28:11):
I was thinking about this watching Steph Curry. He went
nuts today scored thirty six points. Is do you know
that Virginia Tech where Dell Curry went to college, which
obviously is in some college basketball blue blood. I'm pretty
sure Dell was a season ticket holder as well. Like
when Steph was a kid, they would not offer Steph

(28:33):
Curry a contract or I mean at the time, they're
not contracts, they were scholarships. Couldn't get a scholarship to
Virginia Tech. Part of the reason he ended up with
Davidson and then went on to have I would say,
one of the most unique college careers, given that he
was playing at this random school and kind of became
a legend because of the tournament, and obviously the rest
is history. But what's cool about sports is Tom Brady,

(28:59):
a six round can have a better career than Peyton Manning,
the number one overall pick and one of the most
hype prospects of all time. You never know, and historically
in football we've had just random things happen. Right. Trent
Dilfer won a Super Bowl as a starting quarterback for
the Baltimore Ravens. Now Once upon a time, Trent Dilfer
was a top ten pick, but his career got derailed

(29:21):
in Tampa and it was ugly. Brad Johnson same thing
won a Super Bowl. When you close your eyes and
think Super Bowl champions, you think Brady, you think Manning,
you think Montana, you think Farv you know, you think
the greats Mames, but you get other random guys. And
the Nick Foles story is something that was pretty storybook.

(29:42):
And I was there when we drafted him. Obviously he's
a great guy. Everyone loves him. But the reason he
was on I mean a dogshit team at the University Arizona,
and I remember that Marty morning Wig and Andy really
liked him is they were getting destroyed a lot and
Bob Stoop's brother was the coach, and I think got

(30:02):
fired mid season next senior year, and in a lot
of games they were just getting killed and he would
bring them back in the second half, and those guys
love like his mental toughness and his just will to compete. Now,
at the time, we loved Russell Wilson and we're hoping
to draft him. Obviously misplayed that but got Nick Foles,

(30:24):
and long after Andy was gone. Nixt moment for the
Eagles is just something that was pretty special. I mean,
Carson Wentz was having a MVP season, tears his acl
in Los Angeles, and let's face it, everyone thinks the
season is over because most times in that situation, the
season is over. You have no chance. Best case scenario,

(30:48):
you get like a guy like Flacco out of the
pen and he just keeps your season alive and you
make the playoffs, but you're one and done like the
Browns were the season. But that doesn't take away from
how cool the Joe Flack story was. Nick Foles helped
lead the Eagles to a super Bowl. It'd be one
thing if it was the Steelers or the Niners or

(31:12):
just the Cowboys some franchise. Obviously would have been a
big deal with the Cowboys because they haven't been Super
Bowl a long time, but just a franchise with a
lot of Super Bowls. Eagles had never won a Super Bowl.
He leads them to a super Bowl. He makes some
historic plays. He's obviously a huge reason. I mean, he
looks at Doug Peterson and goes, how about Philly Special.

(31:32):
I think they called it special Special or whatever. The
specific name he said is a little different, I think
than the one we said. But regardless. I would say
it's one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history.
I would say the most memorable play, at least in
my lifetime, is the Malcolm Butler interception, but the Philly
special play is just an all timer. He got a statue.

(31:53):
He was the backup quarterback. How often does the backup
quarterback get a statue? And he earned it. And I
just think sometimes legends are made. A lot of times
legends are great players, right Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, just
go around Roger Federer, you know, usually like all time greats,
and then there's this guy. I think you can just

(32:14):
ask yourself, was Nick Foles any good? And I think
you'd get a million answers like, yeah, he had a
great moment, but was he a good player in the NFL?
He had a really good season in the one year
with Chip Kelly, But for the most part his career
was like, yeah, man started, I think under sixty games
after that Eagle season was clearly never the same. Did
Get had a bad injury? Jacksonville made a bunch of money,

(32:36):
but he had a moment that made him a legend
in the football world and a legend specifically in Philadelphia,
and let's face it, that was the beginning of the
end of Carson Wentz because Carson could never overcome Nick Foles,
let alone himself, and which led them, you know, eventually
to Jalen Hurts. But I think Foles is to me

(32:59):
and I say, it's all like, I don't apologize for this.
I watch Sports for the Stars, just watching the basketball game,
like Maria, this is this is gonna be the biggest
loss I've ever seen. You cannot lose to Serbia when
they got like two NBA players obviously got you could
argue the best player in the world. But this USA
team cannot lose this game. And there was I mean

(33:21):
going to the fourth quarter like they're gonna lose. They
could not lose this game. You have to win. This
would be in the history of sports, one of the
worst losses of all time. And then the dust Hittles
they didn't lose, so it's behind us. But ELI beat
him twice. And that's the other crazy part about the
Patriot dynasty, which is stuff a legend, right six super Bowls, Hell,

(33:45):
they went to nine. It felt I don't have the
exact number in front of me, but if I had
to guess I'd guess sixteen AFC Championship games, maybe a
fourteen to fifteen. I mean, it felt like they were
in the AFC Championship Game every year and maybe Peyton
beat him, right, the Flacco beat him, but it was
rare that they lost. And Eli has a chance of

(34:09):
the Hall of Fame. I think he's pretty polarizing to me, Like,
I'm not gonna argue if he goes in. If he doesn't,
I had no problem with it, But like, he has
two of the biggest wins in the history of league,
and it's almost his win against the undefeated Patriots, you
could argue is the biggest win in the history of
the league, because who do I see this? Os Antonio

(34:32):
Pierce is all the part of my take, guys, and
he's like, I know we beat him, but I still
think that's the best team of all time. Now, you
could argue saying that makes his win look better, but
I don't think he was bullshitting. I mean, they're pretty
good and Foles didn't beat that version of the team,
but he did beat a pretty damn good team. He
did beat a really good team, and he changed Philadelphia

(34:55):
the franchises the way we discuss that franchise forever before
we get into Fugazi Friday and Harbom. I saw a
story that it's close to home, and I don't care
that much about Rogers and his parents. But there's a
book coming out about Aaron Rodgers. You O'Connor, who's I think?

(35:16):
I read? His Patriot book is really good. It might
have been a Belichick in the Patriots. It was really good.
He's a good writer. He's written about the Yankees, and
he got Aaron to talk about the book. And there's
obviously there's been a long story about Aaron and his family.
And listen, I no one knows, like I've seen a

(35:38):
lot of family drama in my life, and I've seen
people not talk forever. And I'm sure many people listening
have gone through a lot with uncles, aunts, grandparents. Like
it's difficult when people pass away. I say it all
the time. I was when I was in Tahoe, I
was with some family friends and they were discussing some
drama going on in their family. I don't care if

(36:01):
people die and they're leaving a dollar or one hundred
million dollars. People family, people that are close will have
problems it's a pretty consistent theme, and it's broken up
many of families. Now that doesn't seem to be the
situation here. Obviously, they're still alive. I don't know what happened.
And I remember hearing Darius Rucker. I was watching an

(36:24):
interview I think he did with Bobby Bones, and he
talked about his dad, who was not around when he
was young. I think left his family really, really, really
really young. I don't think Darius knew his dad really
at all growing up. But it's not like he moved
to different state, like I think he lived in the community,
started a new family, didn't give a shit about him.

(36:45):
And then when Darius and who he got big the
way I might be butchering this story a little bit,
but like Darius saw him at a concert I don't
know if it was a big concert, that might have
been a smaller venue, and went up and talked and
it was a big deal. It's like, that's my dad,
And I think Darius pretty young at this point. It
was a powerful moment for him. And I don't know
if he had given him his number, if he had

(37:06):
already had it, And he said, like a day or
two later, I got a voicemail from my dad, so
this would have been the mid nineties, and basically on
that voicemail it said could I get fifty thousand dollars?
And Darius was just crushed. And clearly, if your family
is not around growing up, you get to choose how
you want to view that, and that is completely on you.

(37:27):
And I don't blame anybody, but as someone that had
lost his dad, because Aaron told this story about then
talked in a while clearly, and he saw him at
the American Century Golf Tournament last year, and Aaron's first
thought was like, I'm not even gonna go up to
see him and listen. If your parents, in his position,
steal money from you, try to fuck you financially, I

(37:50):
get there sometimes a point of no return in life,
but this sure feels like and they alluded to this
in the article that I read then it was a
lot over a girlfriend and some religious beliefs. It's just
some weirdness, like that's what you're gonna throw away your
relationship with your father and your mother. That seems pretty

(38:10):
crazy to me because as someone whose dad's not around
and I don't get to talk to him and haven't
got talked to him since twenty eighteen. Lost my dad
when I was thirty four, thirty three years old. Like
that seems pretty dumb and pretty petty. So Aaron ended
up going talk to him and their relationship. I don't
know if it's been completely mended, but it's clearly not

(38:32):
as bad, and that's that's the right thing to do,
because life is too short. As Kyle Shanahana once said,
we all could, we could die tomorrow and listen for
as funny as that comment was at the time, it's true.
Anything can happen at any moment with anybody and in
life and people listening to this. As you get older,

(38:54):
you go through friends, you cycle through different people in business.
In your life, I would say your parents, your brothers
and sisters. Obviously once you have kids, there is a
small community of people that I mean just are on
a different level of your life and you. We all

(39:15):
go through problems. Me and my dad butted heads a
million freaking times. We did not always agree in life,
starting at a very young age. Once you get older,
a little lighter, you don't care as much. But life
is too short to let just stupid things splinter your family.
It's just so, like honestly, reading that kind of made

(39:37):
me happy. I was like, this, this has been one
of the dumber stories. And I get like that moment
on The Bachelor when Jordan and Jordan Rogers and his
wife forget his name, her name follow on Instagram, set
a place at the table, Like if I was Aaron,
I would have been like, you guys are such losers.

(40:01):
You guys screwed you. I totally I supported him on
that one, and I didn't even know what was going on,
Like that was egregious. I mean, that was embarrassing for
their family, like you can't do that. But eventually they
say time heals wounds, it should, especially when it comes
to family, because as you get older, you're like, I
don't have the energy for this. And last, but not

(40:24):
least for Gazi Friday, Jim Harbaugh has been suspended by
the NCAA for a year. He has been giving a
show cause penalty, which I think essentially doesn't allow you
to recruit, which makes it impossible to be a college
head coach for almost half a decade. For four years,

(40:46):
and I thought this has to be the stupidest thing
I've ever seen, And then I was actually upped because
Florio was like, will the NFL do it? Will they
suspend him? Because they did once with Terrell Pryor and
Jim Tressel. Now, first and foremost, the suspension of Terrell

(41:06):
Pryor looking back over the tattoos is pretty stupid. We
all agree with that. That is dumb, like I look nothing,
that age like like rotten milk. That's bad, like who.
But I would say Jim Harbaugh is on a completely
different level than those two cats. He is what you

(41:26):
call a cash cow and an important person in the NFL.
Here's the other thing. The NFL in business with the
nc double A. They don't give a shit. Plus they're
a private entity. They can do whatever they want. I
promise you this, Jim Harbaugh will not be suspended, and
he shouldn't. But the NCAA doing this they hate Michigan

(41:49):
that much is you can't even argue it. They have
an agenda. They're biased on this one because he gave
a cheeseburger to a recruit during the VID when you
weren't supposed to have recruiting, and I would say that
time also aged pretty poorly. But when it comes to
the NCUBLEA, I've said this, and I'll keep saying this.

(42:12):
I can't even fathom being a college football coach, being
a college assistant coach and having to pretend that what
they say matters. Now. Someone DM me the other day
and was like, middle coffee, you're talking about football getting away,
what about the other sports? Well, I think we're at
the point in time where football goes. What's the point

(42:36):
of this? Why are we doing why are we subsidizing everything?
It's why. I think it's pretty inevitable the way this
is trending, that they will break away from the NCUBLEA.
I don't pretend to know how it's all going to
shake out, privatize, run their own operation, maybe still send
maybe a percentage to the school, and still be the

(42:58):
Michigan Wolverines or the Texas Longhorns, but they will not
be under the umbrella of these loser administrators somewhere in Indianapolis.
Most of them have nothing to do with sports, right.
They weren't former coaches, they weren't former players. They're administrators

(43:18):
who somehow get to have their hand in the piggy
bank because they wouldn't be making any money if it
wasn't for the revenue football and obviously basketball generates them,
but they've also been hard on basketball. They've suspended a
lot of coaches and got them in trouble over the years.
So to suspend the guy Listen, it'd be one thing

(43:38):
to drop the hammer if he was still the coach
of Michigan. And I've never understood this. I've always thought
this was a giant FOODGAUSI when something happens in a
program with a player or a coach and then two
or three years later they popped that program and those
players have to suffer from something that they had nothing

(44:02):
to do with. Remember Penn State, which I was living
in Philly at the time. It was a salacious story.
Jerry Sandusky all time scumbag, loser, and Mike mcquery seeing
him with the kids and running the uh, you know,
I forget exactly what it was, but like the charity

(44:24):
to funnel kids, do them like it was, doesn't get
any worse. But stuff that happened decade, two, three decades ago.
To pop a program that is going to hurt the
current players that had absolutely nothing to do with Jerry
Sandusky always seemed nuts to me. And I remember going

(44:47):
to a practice when Bill O'Brien took over and it
was like, this seems kind of unfair. I'm not saying
there shouldn't be repercussion somewhere like Jerry Sandusky going to jail,
maybe firing anyone president or administrator that was in charge
of his employment. But some red shirt freshman wide receiver

(45:09):
or quarterback or tackle. This has nothing to do with
any of us. We didn't do any of this crap.
I always thought that was insane. It happens all the time.
It's like, well, you cheated four years ago, Pete Carroll,
Reggie Bush, all those guys left and then USC got
in trouble. It's like, how is this fair to any
of these people? And I think those like in the NFL.

(45:32):
If some of these guys that got in trouble, right,
Jordan Addison gets a dy or she Rice is racing
around like he's Lewis Hamilton, probably high or drunk, but
ran away after the crash, he gets in trouble, like
those are his problems, right when anything happened Tom Brady

(45:54):
with the deflated footballs, which I think is one of
the stupidest stories of all time. The New England Patriot
Organization h might get fine, but Tom gets suspended or
Bill gets fined. It's why should anyone else like you
just four feit three games. I always thought that just like,
what is the how does this like? What's the point

(46:18):
of all this? And I've always thought there is no point.
And I would say the dumbest thing that you could
argue the NCAA has ever done is just throw this
hammer at Jim Harbaugh like you got him. Guys really
nailed this one. Todd him a lesson. As Jim said
the other day, I do not apologize, which is one

(46:40):
of the great lines of all time. And I understand
people going switch the Ohio State fans. How could he
not have known? Even though I'm pretty sure all this
stuff doesn't stem from any of that. But regardless, I
do not apologize. I think that's what all these football
teams will say when they break away from this eyeing

(47:00):
organization known as the NCAA. Okay, mail bag time at
John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those direct messages,
need your questions fire away. We are wide open, open

(47:22):
for business. Just my name, DM's wide open. We will
start with Alex I heard you and Colin go into
it a little but I've seriously been asking Eagles fans
for months, why would you possibly want se Rianni if
the guy is in an OC or a DC and
acts like a bonehead at halftime. No one is the

(47:44):
proper answer to that question, and am curious a sort
of in depth opinion from your position or yourself. Well,
I think this one's pretty simple. He's won. If the
team had not been winning, he would have been fired
pretty quickly. He was in trouble his first year when

(48:06):
he was the OC and the team looked awful. He
might not have made it through the first year, but
then he made the playoffs. Then the next year he
went to the Super Bowl. And while last year was
an embarrassment for the franchise and the owner, they still
were in the playoffs and won eleven games. Obviously they
were a disaster down the stretch. But someone DM me

(48:30):
the other day, and probably a Raider fan, and he's like,
why the Niners. There's the front office. They don't take
any shit a one. They do in two like, well
they win. Ultimately, what happens in January through August if
you win double digit games or in the playoffs shuts

(48:52):
everybody up. The reason things get louder. Like the Giants,
for example, if they have a rocky season, everything that
happened over the last couple of years continues to be
talked about. But when you win, no one can say anything.
We just won eleven games one our division. The whole

(49:13):
point of the sport is to win games. On Sunday,
I don't have Sirianne's record in front of me, but
he what nine games his first year, second year he
went fourteen, and last year won eleven. I could have
been fifteen, I could have been thirteen. I kind of
forget their record, but they were the number one seed.
I mean, they hosted the NFC Championship game, knock pretty

(49:34):
out and cruise in the championship, and then almost won
the Super Bowl. So, like, listen, he's a polarizing figure.
That article was pretty salacious with Wait, you and your
quarterback got issues. He doesn't respect you schematically. That's kind
of weird. But like, if they win twelve games and

(49:55):
he wins a playoff game, what's Jeffrey Leurry supposed to do?
Fire him? It becomes very It's easy to fire people
when they lose. It was easy last year to fire
brands daily. It was easy, especially after Thursday Night when
they lost ninety seven to three to the Raiders on
Thursday Night football in front of the entire country. But

(50:16):
when you win, it just that's the goal. That's the
whole point of this whole thing. I know, it's a
business and the goal is to make money if you're
an owner, but you make money by winning. And as
long as they're in big games like obviously, if it
looked like it did last year and they start and
lose a bunch of games at the end and get
bounced in the first round, he get fired. But if

(50:38):
they have a normal eleven and six season and win
the division and then win a playoff game, it is
it is difficult. It is difficult to fire a guy.
Question for the bag is from DiAngelo. Is it possible
to let a head coach go and immediately promote a
coordinator from your own staff to head coach? More specifically,

(51:03):
if a lot of Eagles stock, If Kellen Moore shines
this year, could the Eagles bump him up to head
coach and fire Sirianni? Hell yeah, one percent. If Kellen
Moore is good and the team still kind of struggles,
but it's clear they love Kellen Moore, they could name him. Now,

(51:24):
there are Rooney rules. You have to go through an
interview search. We just saw it with Antonio Pierce. He
wasn't technically the coordinator, but he became the interim coach
and then he got a job. You do have to
go the league's big on a process in interviewing other people,
like you have to fault. There are specific rules, but yeah,
you can do that, and I think that. I think

(51:47):
for Sirianni to get fired and Kellen Moore to get
the job, there would have to be some pretty unique
circumstances because if Sirianni's getting fired, something went pretty badly,
and it'd be hard for it to go really badly
if the offense is kicking ass. So if the offense
is struggling, then Kellen, Like, what is the scenario in

(52:09):
which they missed the playoffs? If they missed the playoffs,
I don't see how Kellen Moore get the job. If
they make the playoffs, it'd probably have to be a
one and done. But like, what if the offense is awesome,
the defense lets him down and they just like him.
But I still think they would be very interested in
William Belichick and even Mike vrabel So I don't think

(52:32):
it would be a showing that Kellen Moore would get
the job in that scenario that he gets fired. Comment
as a Steelers fan, I thought you were making a
joke about Ben only winning one super Bowl. I honestly
just forgot because he was awful in the first Super
Bowl win versus Seattle. Love the show. I was thinking

(52:53):
about this the other day because I actually saw this
DM probably a couple days ago. Oh, I forgot that
Super Bowl existed, and I think about, like, over the
last let's say twenty years, is that one of the
least memorable super Bowls? And maybe it's because like the
Seattle team was not like the Seattle teams that played

(53:16):
Denver and that played New England were much more memorable
than that home Grin team. Like you just close your
eyes and you think super Bowls over, you know, pre Mahomes.
Let's say you remember Aaron Rodgers, the Peyton Manning ones,
the Tom Brady ones, the Eli Flacco, the Niners. I

(53:37):
just don't really think of that one. You think of
the three pt not three, but they won three and
four years the Patriots. You think of the Rams, back
in the day. I just you even think of the
one you guys won against the against the Cardinals where
James Harrison made one of the greatest plays in the
history of the sport, the chase down. I think Larry did.

(53:59):
He still Store was out at the one. I think
he scored, but that that play is one of the
best plays ever or no, Larry chased James down. Warner
throws the pick to James, and that's that might be
my favorite play. Sometimes I'll just go on to YouTube
and just type that play it and watch it. Just

(54:19):
it's remarkable. But I just don't remember any part of
that game. I don't know where I was, Like, I
remember where I was at the Cardinals Steeler won. I
was at Pat Hill's house. He threw a party. I
think it was just for coach. I don't know if
players are there, but it was like a just all
the coaches went over. I had like a barbecue. It
was fun, drinking beers, hanging. Let's watch that game and

(54:42):
it was awesome. Was that man loved the content. I'm
a comedy fan twenty years old, and I've been around
the worst of Dan Snyder and cousins leaving us the
stadium being bad or firing Shanahan and with him went McVeigh,
Kyle and Lafleur. Happy we got a new owner. But

(55:02):
what is the time frame we're talking on success and
overall effect on this team. This guy's like, I'm fucking
tired of sucking. I'm tired of it, Like how long
do I have to wait? Even this year is one
giant question mark with new everything. I'm on the edge
of my seat with Jaden. Will it pan out? Or

(55:22):
should we have chosen May instead of RG three or
Chase Young all over again? Or and it's RG three
or Chase Young all over again. I would just enjoy
it this year. I wouldn't get your expectations too high
and just pray that this kid looks like he's got
a chance to be special, because if he's special, your

(55:43):
entire franchise is change. I think it all revolves around him.
If he's great, you're in great shape. And if he's great,
let's face it, your timeline speeds up at rapid speed.
There isn't a soul. I would imagine even Casario and

(56:07):
cal McNair, who thought the Texans wouldn't just be in
the playoffs, they would have won a playoff game at
this point in time last year. Now your division is
better in theory, so I wouldn't be thinking playoffs quite yet.
But you never know. And that's the power of the
National Football League. What if this guy does pop? What

(56:29):
if I tell you right now Jaden and Daniels Rookie
of the Year. If I told you right now Jaden
Daniels wins Rookie of the Year, you'd be like, well,
does he throw twenty four touchdowns and run for another ten?
Are we a nine win team and the seventh seed?
That'd be on the table. Obviously, if he has an
up and down season, you got no shot. But even
if he has an up and down season, if those

(56:50):
ups are like you know, Jadan Daniels, ceiling is elite.
One more offseason, another draft, you guys could be in
pretty good shape. I think the most powerful thing you
have right now is hope and optimism. But it's real,
right Get Dan Snyder out of there, get a new
owner in who's cutting big ass checks. You get a

(57:11):
GM who worked with John Lynch, John Elway, and Bill Belichick.
Who'd you work for, Adam? I don't know. I've been
to I don't even know how many super Bowls he's
been do. He won a couple with the Patriots. He
went to two with Denver, and he went to I
guess technically he didn't go last year with the forty
nine ers, but I mean he was.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
A part of it.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
It's been a part of a lot of winning, and
your head coach has proven like as a head like
he took the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl, so
I'd be pretty excited. Messaging from my wife's account. Deleted
my social media four years ago and ended up being
one of the better decisions I've made. I think about
a lot just deleting my Twitter. I think about it.

(57:58):
I mean, like, what good do I get? Now? Sometimes
for me get a story, but I get most of
my topics. I would say, not from Twitter, but every
once in a while I do. It's like, ugh, but
I'm jealous. I can on it. I still like Instagram,
though I probably waste too much time on it. But

(58:20):
I'm legit jealous. I'm legit jealous of you. I rewatched
Super Bowl from last year and there is one play
that doesn't get enough attention. With three point thirty left
in overtime, Mahomes was just about to chuck it deep
but held at the last second and checked it down.
A younger Mahomes would have slung that thing, but the

(58:42):
guy has matured in such a smart player. They never
showed that was down, They never showed what was down there,
But I have to imagine it might have changed the
outcome of the game. If you have access to the
end zone version, I'd love to hear what you saw.
I might have to go check that down. And this
is whenever I get pushed back, like, is there's too
much hype on Mahomes iss he mastered the game because

(59:07):
early on in his career he was like a young farv.
The gun slinging he had Tyreek Andy was in his
bag and it was like, what is this? What he's
become last playoffs and last season is is mastery because
part of mastering football isn't always throwing the forty yard pass.

(59:29):
Maybe in double coverage that could get picked, like you
can check it down all drive along. Joe Montana won
a Super Bowl doing that against the Bengals. Dunkin and
duncan play smart, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning what made
them great? Obviously they have incredible highlight plays, But on
like third and four, they wouldn't force it into an

(59:50):
area and throw an interception. They would check it down
to their running back and get a first down and
keep the drive alive. Happened a lot question for the mailbag.
I'm a Panther fan, Unfortunately, do you think Bryce will
make any significant progress if he doesn't improve? Should the
Panthers drafted in the quarterback. I'm assuming they will have

(01:00:13):
a pick in the top three. I heard from a
little birdies at a good camp. Obviously you're not going
against the greatest team, but I've heard he's at a
good camp, So listen. It's hard to unsee what we
saw last year, but we've seen this happen before Jared
Goff's rookie season. I don't have their statu sheet in

(01:00:34):
front of me, but you could argue it was worse.
You could argue as worse or equally as bad. And
look at Jared Goff, He's a top ten quarterback in
the NFL and in the NFC. He's one of the
better quarterbacks in the NFC. So I'm biased because all
I can get out of my head is what I

(01:00:55):
witnessed last year. So it's like it's hard for me
to be bullish and be like, yeah, you know, this
guy's gonna turn around. He's gonna look like CJ. Stroud
this year. But I do think it's fair to go, hey, man,
you get an offensive play caller in here, you add
the dude in the second or I guess you traded

(01:01:15):
up in the first round to get South Carolina guy,
which Maria loves followed him on Instagram because he's just
his Southern accent talking about horses. He's an explosive player,
so maybe you could just be better. Big Philly fan here,
it seems like my team and a few others have
a lot of noise going on within their organization this offseason,

(01:01:38):
Philly of course being alleged tension between Hurts and Sirianni,
although they claim they have moved on on the West Coast.
It's hard to imagine a noisier offseason than the Niners
have had, contract disputes, the lingering Super Bowl loss, the
future contract of party, along with the age of a
team getting older, and many seeing this as one of

(01:02:01):
their last chances to win with this core. As someone
who's had been in an organization, how can things affect
the team and a front office from the top to
the bottom. A lot of time in interviews they feign
ignorance or say that's all noise and don't care about
Is that true or is the back of everyone's mind?

(01:02:21):
It's hard to imagine guys like Sirianni or Debo not
caring about the stuff, considering how we're all human beings,
so the ignorance pretending you don't care is always bullshit.
How could you be Nick Sirianni and go up to
the podium the next time he gives a press conference

(01:02:42):
and not be just not nervous but kind of worked out,
knowing what's coming. Brandon Aiyuk is walking around the building
every day as everyone's talking about where he's going to
get traded. So noise is real. Now what you can control.
Let's use the Eagles of the Niners example. They have

(01:03:02):
a ton of guys who are high level players who
make a lot of money that they depend on for
being focused and working hard. So for the Niners, like
you can depend on McCaffrey, on Kittle, on Fred Warner.
I was gonna say Trent, but he's not around. Deebo
this year's having a great camp. If you're the Eagles,

(01:03:24):
Lane Johnson, AJ Brown, DeVante Smith, right, Brandon Graham, these
guys to just be laser focused every day working and
you just kind of like once the game start, it's
just about the games. Now. The key is to win
and win early and it quiets everything. That's a key

(01:03:44):
in the NFL win because when you lose. We talked
about this earlier, and there's some weird stuff going on.
Things can snowball and things can get weird. But if
you lose. Look at the Jets last year, it was
taking time bomb. He gets hurt, it blew up immediately.
Now they don't have any success like these the Eagles

(01:04:06):
and the Niners, but like ultimately they're gonna pay Tret
and he's gonna come. But I would say the Eagles
the Sirianna Jalen thing, it's gonna be a story all
year long. If a yuk is traded, that situation is
something that lingers all year long. Did you have to
do that? Did that ruin your offense? Did that limit party?

(01:04:29):
His favorite target? So it's like there are these tipping
points that what if Jalen doesn't play well? The first
couple of weeks. Well, okay, Nick Sirianna gets asked, well,
are you guys buddies? Can you even talk to him?
Imagine the forty nine Ers their offense struggles the first
couple of weeks could have use Brandon Ayuk. He's on

(01:04:50):
the Steelers, that first round pick can't play for you
right now. So yeah, I mean, I think it's something
one thing I've always said, and I've been doing this
a lot long longer now than I worked in the NFL.
But the conversations we used to have in the building,
you know, the other scouts or assistant coaches are no
different than the conversations we have. Like you just talk

(01:05:13):
about the same shit. Now you gotta be careful. I mean,
you know, the Syrianic thing would be a little you'd
have to that's probably not an open conversation. Uh, But like,
what do you think the conversation with Ayuk is going
on in the building, Like let's just talk about this
undrafted free agent. It's like, what are we gonna do?

(01:05:35):
You see the guy every day in the cafeteria. So
I would imagine, I mean, through my experience and what
I would imagine, the Patriots were unique because everyone's kind
of like on Edge. But most of these places are
having the same conversations we're having. Obviously they got more
information or some of the conversations about like this dude's

(01:05:58):
gonna make the team when everyone in the building knows
he's not going to make the team. Shit like that.
But if you're with the forty nine ers, like I
would imagine, Brandy comes up in the building literally all
the time. Love the podcast. I discover it when you
are on with Bobby Bones. Love Bobby. I'm a Native Texan,
but I live near Phoenix. I'm probably one of the

(01:06:19):
only Native Texans that hates the Cowboys. I grew up
a massive Joe Montana fan because of my dad. My
dad loved Joe too. My question is, do you see
a world where McCarthy and Nick Sirianni keep their jobs.
Both of them are on the hot seat for different reasons.
With them being in the same division, it's hard to

(01:06:40):
imagine that both could do enough to keep their jobs
by the end of the season. Maybe if they both
win ten twelve games and face each other in the
NFC Championship Game. I think if they both win twelve
games and face each other in the Championship game. They
will both be back next year. McCarthy for sure. If
McCarthy gets the Cowboys to the NFC championship game for

(01:07:02):
the first time since nineteen ninety six, he is going
to be the Cowboys coach. And Dak Prescott was awesome
last year. Mike McCarthy called the place so like. Mike
is a head coach, which he's clearly pretty good at
in the regular season, and he can call the place
like he Mike's more valuable than Sirianni. Let's not argue that.

(01:07:26):
I think Sirianni's a little more different, you know. I mean,
what if they get to the second round of the
playoffs and get destroyed by like the Lions, Packers, or
Niners or the Cowboys. I think he's a little more fickle.
McCarthy cannot lose in the first round. But if McCarthy
wins a playoff game, I could see Jerry rolling it back.

(01:07:49):
I would say if both guys, if we're in the
second week of the playoffs, so there's wild card week
and then there's a divisional round and both guys are
not there for whatever reason, one misses the play If
you miss if you're not in the playoffs, they're gone.
We know that. Like that, that's a fact. If either
one of these teams miss the playoffs, they will get

(01:08:10):
a new head coach. I will say this, Sirianni is
not that hard to replace, because, like we said, what's
he really doing? If they got Belichick? I don't understand it,
But I don't think McCarthy is the easiest coach to replace.
He clearly knows what he's doing, and he can be
your play color. He's better than Jason Garrett. And Jason

(01:08:33):
Garrett kept his job for fucking eight years or ten
years or whatever his coach there forever nine years, ten years,
Like you upgraded with Jason Garrett. You know with McCarthy
from Jason, what's your upgrade? If you can't get Bill
like is there? I'll give you an example. Would you
fire him for Mike Vrabel? Like I don't know if

(01:08:55):
I do that, And I like Mike Veribel a lot,
But if McCarthy's getting to the playoffs every year, it's
not like Vrabels won a Super Bowl as a head coach.
Is Rabel gonna have a better play caller than McCarthy
and his relationship with Dak assuming you keep dak, it
gets complicated fast. So I mean, there are two of
the bigger stories in the league, the coaches for the

(01:09:17):
Eagles and the Cowboys on the hot seat. Both of
them playoff teams coming off double digit win seasons. And
that's what's cool about the sport. Super high expectations, super
high standards, and these teams man the volume