3 & Out - Jayden and Bo make a statement, Penix doesn't play, Tua SOUNDS OFF

John dives into the different coaching styles between many different coaches during the preseason, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix making the most of their first two preseason games and living up to the hype, is sitting Penix the right move for Atlanta, Tua goes off on his former coach, and a classic story of urinating on a plane.

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

7:24 - Preseason coaching styles

18:48 - Penix sits the preseason

21:51 - Tua sounds off

32:43 - Peeing on a place

40:42 - Mailbag

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (01:38):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecalf Three and Out podcast.
Hopefully everyone is doing well, having a good day, having
a good start to your week. Jade Daniels having a
good start to his week. He was named the starting quarterback.
I think the question is is bo Nicks next in line?

(02:00):
Michael Pennix meanwhile, didn't play in the last preseason game,
won't play in the next. The Falcons have seen enough,
have a little theory on why they're trying to avoid
that controversy coming coming down the train tracks. But the
Falcons will not play Penix in either one of the
final two preseason games. Didn't play last weekend, won't play

(02:21):
in this upcoming one. And then Tua Tonguaailoa had some
interesting comments on Brian Flores, who I think this one
will is going to be tough for him to shake
because you don't treat the quarterback well, which is something
me and Colin talked about when it came to Belichick
and his assistants, who clearly struggle and it's why they

(02:44):
fail so hard. Because most guys are not Tom Brady
and can take the berating every single day from a
head coach. Most guys are treated a little different. And
I think Flores attacked Tua like he was a practice
squad guard. And we'll play some of the audio because
it was pretty eye opening. And then a story I

(03:06):
saw today about a former NFL player urinating all over
a passenger on a flight that just, honestly, after I
read the entire story, I do think there is a
defense there for him. I can relate not to the situation,
but how if you are on what he claims he

(03:28):
was potentially on, it could be it could throw you
for a loop. Let's just say that. And then, of course,
the Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire
in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show.
Very very easy to do. Just fire in those dms.
We will answer some of your mail bag questions. Today.
Me and Colin did a podcast on Sunday afternoon. You

(03:51):
can find that on his feet. It's up YouTube. I
also reacted after the Sunday night games, so we did
a podcast yesterday YouTube as well, so go check that out.
You know, subscribe to three and Out podcasts if you
listen on Collins as well as the YouTube page. All
of our content is up there. And recording some interviews

(04:11):
this week for next so we'll have a couple we'll
have a good betting preview next week with my guy Stucky.
We'll do a little college football preview with a couple
guys and we'll be off and running. So buckle up
because football is right around the corner. But first got
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last minute takets, lowest prices guaranteed. One thing I think
we've noticed in the preseason is these coaches have different
ways of doing things right, Andy, no hesitation, rolling out

(05:34):
mahomes and Kelsey going we're playing our ones for several series.
Some teams don't play a soul. Other teams, you know,
Kyle a little weird, puts Purty out there with some randos.
Every coach does it a little different, and like most industries,
there is not one right way to do things. There

(05:54):
are different approaches. I know personally, you know if I
owned a team, if I ran a team, I would
be scared to play my high priced players. But I
get the old school mentality. Belichick did it. Andy still
does it. Mike Tomlin does it. Guys do it, and
I completely understand it. I also fall under the category of, like,

(06:15):
I get why not playing anyone makes sense, But some coaches,
and I think this is definitely an old school mentality,
want to make a young player earn it, which makes sense.
You're bringing them into a locker room just because they
were drafted high and immediately get a huge signing bonus
because of their draft slot does not make them a

(06:36):
great leader, does not make them be a guy someone
resonates with. They have to earn that. And the Bears
Caleb Williams before the first Ota practice, They're like, he's
our starter, He's the guy. I got it. Why would
you not. We've been talking about the guy for three years.
Look who else was on the roster. What are they
gonna say, Like, We're gonna have him and Tyson badget

(06:58):
battle it out? Like come on, but you look at Washington.
They signed Marcus Mariota, who great guy, not very good player.
I get Listen, this guy has a lot of experience.
We're gonna have not necessarily a quarterback competition, but Jayden
Daniels is gonna have to earn it. Sean Payton also
old school guy, same approach. No one's acting like Jared

(07:18):
Siddams the next Tom Brady. But it's like, listen, Jared
Siddams are starter coming into camp, and we'll let the
chips fall where they may. And I think all you
can ask for, if you're a coach, if you're a GM,
or if you're a fan in that situation, just have
the guy go take it, have him go earn it.
And obviously with quarterback play, when you watch in the
preseason games, it's hard with context who's actually playing, who's

(07:42):
in the game. Preseason is just a wild experience. Last night,
after I recorded the podcast, I go out to the
living room and I'm watching the second half of the
forty nine er Saints camp and there'd be guys and Maria,
my fiance'd be like, who's that guy? He looks decent. Honestly,
I have no clue, no clue. I had to google him.

(08:04):
Tanner Mordecai, the four stringer for the forty nine ers,
played at like seven different schools, had a little some
success at SMU, finished his career Wisconsin, did not go
well and look kind of good. Didn't know anything about him,
and then you watch some guys, you're like, I know
the whole guy's life story. He's playing like five minutes
left in a preseason game, like Jay Kyner. He's from Danville,

(08:25):
went to Washington, transferred to Fresno State. Me and him
text about golf and you just know a lot about him.
And it also speaks like random guys a bigger programs.
And it's quite the exercise because you see guys got God.
I remember watching him on Saturdays for the last three years,
and you'll see other guys like where is this guy from?
So it's hard to put it all into context. And

(08:45):
depending on who you're playing, even if you start the game,
you never know. They might be playing their twos and
threes right off the jump. But Jaden Daniels the moment.
Listen the hype and we've been talking about this for
a while. It has only grown and grown and grown,
and then you watch him in the game and it's
clearly going to translate. There was no discussion. They make
him the starting quarterback Sean Payton, which I think was

(09:08):
even driving a harder bargain when it came to just
announcing it. Because as of recording this on Monday, afternoon.
He still hasn't like the decision was made. I'd argue
the decision was made the moment they drafted him, as
long as he just did what he's been doing. But
he's exceeded expectations because obviously Caleb high Huge didn't have
to earn the job, was handed it and he deserved it,

(09:30):
like he was the best quarterback on the roster. Jaden
also super talented, running, passing, deep balls, elite, great guy,
everyone loves him. Boom, Just what are we waiting for?
To me? The bo Nicks, like the nail in the
coffin was Sunday night. It's like, what are we talking
about here? The movement, the arm strength, the accuracy, the playmaking.

(09:53):
And clearly Sean Payton likes him. And I saw Diana Russini,
I think wrote it in the Athletic it will be
announced in the next couple of days get ready, and
I would imagine she's good buddies with Sean Payton. Like
it's over. And I think if if you're a fan
of the Denver Broncos or Washington, you should be excited
because these guys showed up. They did everything the coach

(10:15):
wanted them, and then in the preseason games, they flash
their serious talent. Now preseason to the regular season is
dramatically different, right, They're game planning against you a little
more difficult with a rookie quarterback. You got to go
back to the probably college to really nitpick their strengths
and weaknesses because you don't have much film on what

(10:36):
you think they're gonna do against you. I mean, they're
just running relatively basic plays in the preseason. But you
want to attack like any player in an NFL game
or a college game. A player's weaknesses, right, and you
want to try to get him not be in positions
where he can excel and play to his strengths. So

(10:56):
I think this class has a chance to be awesome.
And these two guys on top of Caleb just answered
the bell and they answered it quick, and I think
it's cool, it's fun. It makes the league more intriguing.
I mean, these guys think about Caleb Oklahoma s c
he was a superstar really from this freshman year when
they were going to lose to Kansas and he ripped

(11:16):
the ball out of the dude's hands the running back
to get that first down. That's my first memory of
the guy and maybe my first memory, I don't know
if that game was after the Texas game when he
came in a halftime and it was awesome. But Jaden's
won the heightsman at LSU, played in a few big
ones last year, and obviously bo Nicks from the hype
that he had when he started that Auburn game as

(11:37):
a true freshman against Justin Herbert and Oregon to where
it ended up these last two years playing at Oregon,
one of the best programs in the country and dominated now.
I think the thing with Jayden is You're like, God,
great deep ball, big time athlete, just coached this guy up.
This is everything you want. That's why he went to
bow was pretty polarizing. And I remember going back before

(11:58):
the draft, or maybe it was after the draft, watching
some cut ups. I'm like, I don't know this guy's talent.
Like I've seen Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr, guys like
that come out of school, and I thought he was
of that mold. He's a better athlete than both and
Derek when he was younger definitely had a much better
arm than Jimmy. Jimmy's arm is not good anymore. I
thought Jimmy's arm in the middle of his career was solid,

(12:20):
and Derek's arm to me is still I would say
slightly above average relative to the top guns in the NFL.
I would say Bo Nicks, it feels like has just
as good of an arm as Derek, if not better.
So arm strength obviously, the quick release, and then the
stuff that we don't know is like, you got to
get alonger your teammates. You got to understand the offense.

(12:42):
You have to be on the same page with your coordinator,
your quarterback coach, the offensive unit as a whole. Your
offensive lineman got to believe in you. And I think
that's a huge key. And I don't want to keep
beating a dead horse here, but I saw it firsthand
with the forty nine ers when they tried to hand
the job to Trey Lance and the other guys on

(13:03):
the team just were not feeling it. I mean they
were just not on board. Why Because the thing in
football practice is kind of important, and in training camp,
your practices are pretty serious and you can tell like, yeah,
this guy's got something. I don't think it's gonna be
good enough now, depending on the status of your team
and who's around how good you are. Obviously you listen

(13:24):
to those guys more than others depending on the situation.
But it's pretty clear all these guys have come in
and hit the ground running. And that's to me the
most head scratching part about the Falcons because I look
back and I went well, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. Right,
Lamar was drafted, Flacco was on the team, Mahomes obviously drafted,

(13:44):
Alex on the team. Neither guy was gonna start. Andy's like,
we're red shirting this guy, no matter what. That was
the Ravens plan at the time. And then it was
clear Flacco was kind of falling apart, and Lamar came
in the middle of the season. I went back and
I looked at both those guys preseason locks because it
was if they're not going to start, they're gonna be
the backup quarterback, both of them. Mahomes drafted a little

(14:05):
higher separate years, but still one guy in the top fifteen,
the other guy the last pick in the first round.
There's a lot of hype on that player once he
comes to your team, So no one wants a quarterback controversy, right.
The worst thing I would say in any football situation
is when you have a quarterback controversy, because that usually
means you have a problem at that position. Now, sometimes

(14:28):
when you draft a guy high of quarterback controversy is
just is this guy better than the other guy? And
I look at Patrick Mahomes, he threw fifty four passes
and played in all four preseason games through four touchdowns,
no picks. Was I think objectively pretty good and pretty
eye opening. In the preseason. Lamar Jackson, they actually had

(14:49):
the Hall of Fame game that year, so he played
in all five through sixty eight passes and several touchdowns.
So it's like, listen, obviously there's gonna be a lot
of hype on this guy. We got established players, they
make a lot of money. But still we are playing
these guys to get reps in the preseason. Why because
ideally in the regular season they're not gonna play. So

(15:11):
this is the only time, like part of being a
backup quarterback, I get questions about it a lot in
the mailbag, like what is the logic behind a backup
quarterback during this time of year? Well, usually you give
them a lot of reps because this is the last
time that they truly get to rep because once practice
situation comes, if your starting quarterback is healthy, that guy
is with the scout team, so his reps aren't with

(15:33):
the starters. He's actually playing. And it might change a
little bit as they've adapted these rules. The practice squad
quarterback is allowed now to be active on game day
type thing. But still that guy could go over with
the starters. What the hell is he gonna do. I
mean most starters are notorious for like, I'm not giving
up a rep. We don't have that much practice time

(15:56):
on the field, and I need these to get ready
for playing the steel playing the Bucks, playing the Cowboys,
whoever our opponent is that week. I mean, Brady Manning,
these guys were famous. They never give a snap to
the other guy, so really they get the work on
the other side of the field against the defense. And
Raheem Moore says, yeah, we saw enough. Pennix is good.

(16:17):
We're scrapping him for the season. And it's like, at
first you see that because I went to click on
the game, I'm like, where's Pennix. It's like, oh, Taylor
Heineke's slinging it around, like what's going on? Is he injured?
And then Raheem Moore said, no, we're good, We've seen enough.
And then I started thinking, because that's what I do.
I spend a lot of time thinking about football, and
I went, I got a little theory on this one

(16:38):
because I remember watching a week ago his first preseason game,
and you know what Michael Penix looked like, Michael Pennix
sitting in the pocket, slinging it around, slinging that pill.
And I went, well, they got a young, impressionable team.
This is why we read flag the whole situation. It's like, well,
the majority of their players, skill guys on offense are young.

(16:59):
Who are they going to more to Pennix or Cole's cash?
And listen, a healthy Kirk Cousins is a really good player,
but he's coming up a major injury. He has no
equity with the franchise and let's face it, the fan
base and just people talking about the team would be
if he struggles. Hey, remember how good Penix looked in

(17:19):
the preseason. You got a problem. And they have the
ability to kind of mitigate the conversation by doing this.
So not allowing him to play actually is hurting him
because he's gonna be your backup quarterback and this is
a good time to just get NFL reps. But they
don't want to do that. Why because the better he looks,

(17:41):
the more touchdown throws that happened, the more loud the
conversation would be in terms of why don't you just
go to Michael Pennox and you can say, hey, we
ideally this guy doesn't play for two or three years.
Easy to say, now what happens all of a sudden
if you're three and three and it's not looking quite
as smooth, and a lot of people like middleclif you

(18:01):
have an axe to grind with the Falcons, I do
not Raheem Moore seems like a good guy. Kirk Cousins
really come around with a guy, have a lot of
admiration for what he's done with his career. But we've
seen this song and dance before these type situations, and
this is not a franchise that you just feel confident
chuck them up to win the division because that's all
everyone's doing. Oh they're gonna win it. The odds reflect

(18:24):
that the way everyone talks about it. What have they
done to earn that status? They got good players, They've
just made a couple moves last week that were pretty impressive, right,
added a sweet safety add Matt Judon, who's like, listen,
not even gonna ask for more money, coming here to work,
coming here to prove my worth, seems like he's in
good spirits. Honestly, it just seems like I don't want

(18:45):
to play in New England. I don't want to risk
my last contract being on this trash team and people
looking at me. I'm one of the best players, is
not the best player on the team, and it just
ruined my value. Get me out of here. Smart move
on his part, but come on, let's call a spade
a spade here. They did this for a reason. They

(19:08):
want to avoid controversy and they want the early part
of the season. If Cousins, I don't know, is a
little rusty why torn Achilles last year? They don't want
everyone chirping, and let's face it, people still will be,
but there is less to do that. If Pennix plays
these last two preseason games, throws an extra couple of touchdowns,

(19:28):
throws that beautiful deep ball down the sideline, it's like,
why don't we insert this guy? They don't want that,
and let's face it, it's gonna be hard to avoid, but
I think it's pretty clear what they did. Oh, we've
seen enough in practice. He's a rookie. I mean, Mahomes,
Lamar Jackson, all these guys play a ton in the
preseason and they weren't even the starters. So come on,

(19:50):
come on, guys. Me and Coward we discussed Belichick on
Sunday and the situation, you know, when it comes to
defense of coaches, and kind of his fall from grace
in the situation once Brady left, how bad it got,
and also the reflection of his assistants, because I guess

(20:11):
the way the conversation started was comparing him to Andy,
and if Andy wins another super Bowl, how good is
Andy's been? I mean he's gone to the playoffs with
like McNabb, Garcia, He's feely, Alex Mahomes, Michael Vick. I mean,
he's one with a lot of different quarterbacks, has won
super bowls with them all, but went to the playoffs.

(20:31):
We saw Belichick moments Brady left. Is like JESU, what
the hell is going on here? And I still defend
Belichick because I know what I saw for almost twenty
years was an elite coach. Obviously him and Brady perfect marriage,
but you get out of that marriage, like some people
out kick their coverage right and then you make them
single again. It's like, Okay, do that again. And some

(20:54):
can do it no problem. Other struggle, and clearly Belichick
when it comes to the quarterback position, you could argue
there are some question marks, but I think when you
look at as assistance, one thing Bill really benefited from
is the relationship he had with Tom. He could coach
him like he was a backup guard, scream at him,

(21:16):
mfam call him out. That just doesn't typically happen. It
doesn't mean Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar, Peyton, Manning, Roethlisberger, you
name all the best quarterback Rogers aren't getting coached hard
over the course of their career. They are treated differently
because they are different. They're the most important guy on

(21:36):
the team, they're the highest paid guy on the team,
and you can't really function without that guy. And there
was a story, it wasn't even a story. There was
a video that kind of went viral today and it
was Tua who people probably listen to this think I
hate Tua. A lot of respect for the guy Honestly,
I think he's a really high character guy and he

(21:57):
is maximizing all of his potential in the My issue
with the to A situation is don't love paying him
fifty million dollars a year. But that's more of a
salary cap team building standpoint. He's proven more than a
functional NFL starter. I think we could debate where he lands,
you know, in terms of the thirty two starters, but

(22:18):
he's a legitimate NFL starter. Will I've never said otherwise.
I also think Tua came from Alabama. You would say
Nick Saban's pretty old school, and he's a hard ass
on most people. He coaches people hard and Toua was

(22:39):
taken back by Brian Flores. Let's just take a listen
to to A describe the difference of his new coach
McDaniel and what his experience was like before.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up
every morning and I told you you sucked at what
you did, that you don't belong doing what you do,
that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here,
that you haven't earned this right, and then you have

(23:11):
somebody else come in and tell you, dude, you are
the best fit for this, Like you are accurate, you
are the best whatever you are this you are that,
Like how would it make you feel listening to one
or the other? You see what I'm saying, and then
you hear it. You hear it regardless of what it is,
the good or the bad, and you hear it more

(23:32):
and more. You start to actually believe that, I don't
care who you are, you can be the president of
the United States. You have a terrible person that's telling
you things that you don't want to hear or that
you probably shouldn't be hearing, You're going to start to
believe that about yourself. And so that's sort of like
what ended up happening, and it was, I mean, it's

(23:53):
basically been what two years of training that out of
not just me, but you know, a couple of the
guys as well that have been years since my rookie year,
all the way Towne now.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Well, on the president thing, I don't know if Biden's
remembering much negative or positive that he's hearing. But on
a serious note, I think one overarching angle that all
these Belichick assistants take is clearly they just try to
copy Bill and are awful with quarterbacks. Patricia didn't get

(24:27):
along with Stafford. Obviously, Flores was a royal a hole
the Tua. Josh McDaniels that situation when it came to
quarterback and Derek Carr blew up after a year. We
can debate Derek all we want. He gets along with
everybody because I think they saw the way Bill treated
Tom and they try to do the same. That doesn't work,

(24:49):
and Flores became pretty polarizing the lawsuit. He claimed Stephen
Ross tried to pay him to tank, which I got
news for you. He should have because that would have
led to Joe Burrow. But what that changed in anything,
like would he had treated Joe Burrow that much different
than Tua? I don't know. I remember talking to assistant
years ago about Flores and all these assistant coaches know

(25:13):
other assistants, they talk to each other NonStop, and he
was like, I can't even explain to you the things
I'm hearing from the Miami offensive coaches how terrible Flores
is with those guys, and clearly that included Tua. And listen,
I'm not acting, you know me, like Tua is some
star here. But what's the point of beating the guy

(25:36):
down every day like he's on your team. You kind
of need the guy. Are you questioning his mental toughness?
He just comes from Nick Saban. This guy's not coming
from cal Pauly or UC Davis. He's clearly been pushed
and driven pretty hard. And if you can't deal with
the offensive coaching staff slash quarterback, you will never be

(26:00):
a head coach in this league. So even if you
remove the lawsuits and everything that happened with the alleged
being paid six figures to tank, once you get the
label of being awful with quarterbacks and awful with offensive

(26:20):
staff members and you're a defensive guy, you're untouchable. You
really are. I mean, we can debate all we want
about some of these defensive coaches. Mike Tomlin might have
an awful season this year. It's because his quarterbacks suck,
not that he can't deal with him. Russell's just not
good enough neither, justin fields. And if they end up
going seven to ten and it's a disaster, it won't

(26:43):
be because Mike can't handle that unit in that group
and deal with those guys as human beings. Look at
John Harbaugh the way he deals with Lamar. He said,
like two weeks ago, I wanted to be the best
quarterback of all time. Any young person, if you make
it to the NFL as a quarterback and you're highly drafted, guy,
more than likely like you got some metal toughness to you.

(27:07):
You really do. And if I'm gonna draft you fifth overall,
like I have to believe in some of your intangible characteristics.
And this goes back to Patricia Matt Stafford was established,
couldn't stand the guy, Josh McDaniels and Derek Carr. That
thing was a disaster and it was it was bad fast.
This to me, though, is like I don't view to

(27:30):
us some like hot take just throwing things out there.
You see it in his eyes, like this guy beat
me down every single day. And if you're a young
person in any walk of life, no matter what your
industry is, no matter if you're the fifth pick in
the draft or you're like an intern you know at
some firm, having some people to give you some positive

(27:52):
reinforcement does help. It doesn't mean they can't be on
your ass and push you to be better. Anyone worth
their salt can take some of that. But if all
you hear every single day twenty four to seven is
negative stuff. Bill could pull it off because no matter
what they were gonna be in the AFC Championship Game

(28:12):
or win, well, when you're not winning and you just
have to deal with negativity all the time, no one
can overcome that. It's not possible. It really isn't because
it's already negative that you're losing, and then it's just
negative in your building. Like I heard when Josh McDaniels
with the Raiders, the atmosphere in the building couldn't have

(28:34):
been any worse like that. That's not a way to
operate in twenty twenty four. Like times do change in
terms of I believe that guys in the NFL now
still like to be pushed hard. Most of the good
players have no problem being coached hard, getting screamed. Most
of them, depending on your position, get yelled at all

(28:55):
the time. But like, is there anything substance behind it
or is it just yelling to yell? Is it just
being a dick to be a dick? And all I
ever heard from people in the league like that's what
was happening, And clearly you just listen to two it,
Like what do you expect and I'm telling you, like
Brian Flores, how could you hire him? After watching that?

(29:21):
How could you hire him? You're telling me the most
important guy in my position or on my team, the quarterback,
the guy. If it goes well, I am going to
pay by far, the most money in the history of
my team, and we're gonna treat that guy crappy. It
doesn't mean that you have to circle jerk them every day.
It doesn't mean every day Andy and Veach come into

(29:43):
the office, they get on their knees and they bow
to Patrick Mahomes. But you kinda not everyone should be
treated the same. In some of these high end industries,
some people are more valuable than others. That's just a reality.
And when I saw this, I was like, I had
heard rumblings obviously, but when you hear it coming from

(30:04):
to his mouth, you go, yeah, I get it. I
would have ran him out of town too. Don't expect
to get hired when that's on your resume. I'm sorry,
because the other thing is we can debate how much
too his worth and should they have paid him. But
another coach came in, who's an offensive guy, treated him well,
and they've gone to the playoffs two three years. Because

(30:26):
no one can argue flor is really good defensive coordinator,
knows what he's doing. How when he was in Miami
they were good on defense, Like Forlorest is really good.
But if you can't deal with the quarterback, how can
anyone trust you to run the team? Head? Shaky? Really
is okay? This story I we had to talk about.

(30:48):
It's just I don't even know where to start. But
Goster Cherlis, former high pick offensive lineman massive dude, was
on a plane flight. He was going from Boss to Ireland.
It was an overnight flight and I guess the flight
had been delayed a lot. And the headline I saw

(31:09):
is that former offensive lineman is arrested for emptying his
entire bladder for twenty seconds on the person sitting next
to him. I mean, I'm sorry, like it's not funny,
but it kinda is funny. I mean, you're telling me

(31:29):
on a flight, this dude that used to listen. I
don't even if you were sitting in first class. A
dude six ' six three eighty pounds is by far
the biggest human on the plane. And then he gets
up in the middle of the flight and he takes
a leak on you al timer, and I thought, is
this guy just annihilated wasted? And then I saw his

(31:51):
statement because he rested got in trouble clearly, and it
kind of made sense. He said that the flight was
unexpected delayed for a plox approximately four hours. In preparation
for the expected overnight flight, I took sleeping medication that
I don't normally use, which resulted in behavior that is

(32:14):
not representative of my character. I would like to apologize
to the passengers and the flight crew. I guess he
was uh that they tried to get him to leave
the plane, but he became irate and uncooperative. I will
say this, I've used ambient a few times in my life.

(32:34):
Not a huge sleep aid guy, because I hate that
feeling in the morning of not being super fresh. But
I remember, probably seven eight years ago, I wasn't sleeping well.
I had a buddy told me about it. Obviously a
lot of people use it, and uh, I used it
for a little bit. I had a prescription and I
didn't really like it one because like I could take
melotonein or something and I can still watch TV and

(32:57):
kind of doze off in am with and I'm gonna
assume that's what he took. If you're not used to
taking it, if you stay up for a little bit
after taking it, when you're kind of feeling tired, you
don't remember anything. I remember there were times I had
a phone call and some other stuff on it, and
you realize you don't remember a thing. So it is

(33:19):
not inconceivable that if you had to take a leak
and you were on a plane and you're an ambient
and you're not used to taking it, like there could
be video of you just taking a leak on you know,
on Julie sitting next to you, and you're like, I
have no recollection of any of that. That is not me.
I didn't mean to do that. I didn't try to

(33:40):
do that. I wouldn't do that. That was not actually
me as a human being. So while the headline it's
pretty hilarious because I can't imagine sitting like on the
next row and looking over and just seeing this dude,
because I would imagine she's asleep, just emptying the tank
her and obviously when you're that big, the tank ain't small,

(34:04):
and then realizing like, guys, this is gonna sound crazy,
and I don't know. Maybe he's got checkered past. I
don't know much about his history. From a character standpoint,
I'm assuming good guy. Listen, guys, we're going on a
long flight. Wanted to pop an ambient, take a little
take a little snooze, Get up Ireland, be ready to
rock and roll. I don't remember doing that. That ain't

(34:26):
me so sucked for him, man, because I there's no excuse.
You're probably banned for life on that airline. Okay, Middlecoff
mail back time at John Middlecoff Instagram. Fire in those dms.

(34:49):
Get your question answered here on this little show we
call three and out at John Middlecoff Instagram. Eric, Big
Bills fan, I'll understand the Bill's love for Trubisky. The
Bill signed him to be a backup, even after a
terrible couple years in Pittsburgh, struggles with throws down the field,
and his pocket awareness is poor. I understand the Bills

(35:13):
can't sign Burrow or Jordan Love to back up Allen,
but Trubisky gives the Bills zero chance to compete if
Alan goes down. Bill's legend Steve Tasker states that the
Bills value the backup quarterback what he can do in
the locker room and in the film room. That is
why Trubisky is valued by the Bills. You know. Sometimes

(35:35):
I'll just be like hanging around watching TV or whatever
and scroll through dms, and a lot of them I
end up reading on the show. Sometimes I'll just manually answer,
and I saw one recently that the guy wanted the
question answered on the show, and who knows, I might
not get to it or refine it. But under the

(35:55):
same vein as what goes into evaluating a backup quarterback. Now,
the reality is is you're not looking to find your
future wife right Your starter's already established most of the time,
So a backup is really just a contingency plan that

(36:16):
you want to avoid at all costs. There aren't that
many options, like a bar at two in the morning,
you know. Tom Moore was famously asked one time by
John Gruden, who was at a practice I think for
Monday Night Football, right, like the Monday Night Football was
doing the Colts games. So they were at a Colts
practice on like Saturday, and went up to Tom Moore,

(36:39):
legendary coach, and asked them why the backup got zero
reps during practice? And Tom looked at him and he said,
if eighteen goes down, we're fucked, and we don't practice fucked.
So it's easy to have the logic. And clearly we
saw Peyton went down. They had the number one overall pick,

(37:00):
and I think that would happen for a lot of teams,
right like if Patrick Mahomes went down for two months
and he's great, but he could only do so much.
With Carson Wentz. We saw when Matt Stafford went down.
You're at a disadvantage, no matter what I do think
when you value this stuff, and obviously economics play a

(37:21):
part in it. Once you have a highly paid quarterback
and a highly paid team, you're gonna want to sign
a backup for probably less than three four million dollars.
Ideally you'd like to get a guy for like one
and a half two million dollars. But I'm with you
on Trubisky. If Mitch Trubisky has to play, we saw
last year, you will lose. It's an automatic loss. I

(37:46):
know people that have worked with Mitch in terms of
being in a building which he was a team of,
really well liked, and this goes We talk about this
a lot. Being well liked is kind of important in
most professions, it goes a long way having people vouch
for you. I do understand the problem in this situation
of like and I think I read it a trubisky

(38:07):
got hurt, gonna miss a couple of weeks. But you
have a guy like that on your roster automatic L
auto L. So he's great in the film room, which
I mean, I think that means helps Josh just in
terms of like almost like another coach there. He's great
in the locker room. Okay, he's a good guy like

(38:30):
that can't be my barometer if the guy can't play
dead in the Western And I think that's a tough
balance to kind of strike because, like you said, what
if Josh has not a season ender but just high
ankle spring out for a month? Can the guy go
two and two? That's the way I would ask it
if I was a coach in GM, can we go

(38:50):
two and two in a situation with this? Obviously we'd
have to play well, we'd have to help him out.
But can we go two and two? Or does it
feel like an auto zero to four best case one
in three? If that's the case, I just think you can't.
He can't be the backup quarterback can't happen, but the
value of being a good guy goes a long way.

(39:12):
Marcus Mariota, Mitch Trubisky, Mark Sanchez fell into this category.
Chase Daniel. When they really like you in the other
quarterback who's the star likes you, that's usually the trump
card and you just do Tom Moore Pray doesn't get hurt.
Trying to figure out why Perdy was the only starter
to play in the weeks two in the preseason for

(39:34):
the forty nine ers. Is the idea that Kyle Shanahan
is still a little unsure about Brock Purty Well, Kyle
gave the answer that Brock wanted to play and Brox
a need the reps, which I understand I get, Like
I support any quarterback, go I value this time. I
want to get some reps. I want to get hit.

(39:56):
I heard I was talking to an offensive coordinator in
a quarterback took a hit and they were getting on
him the next day in the meeting room and the
quarterback was like, I wanted to feel it. I wanted
to feel the pads. And they're like, I get it,
but you can't take that hit. But the point is,
like you don't get hit in practice. You want to

(40:16):
get the live ut all for it. My issue with
the forty nine ers was simply like, if he's going
to be out there, Deebo and Kittle got to be
out there with him. Andy ain't putting my homes out
there with Kelsey and all the starting receivers sitting next
to him in sweats. So if Perty wants to do it,
if Kyle's cool with it, I get it. But you
got to give him the guys that are sitting in

(40:38):
sweats eating sunflower seats. That was my whole question. They
literally played another team who rolled out of their starting
offense with the starters, so it gives the quarterback a
chance to be successful, like Trent's not there. I get it,
But Andy plays the starters. He plays everybody. Tomlin plays everybody.

(41:00):
I don't know doesn't I'm still baffled by that one
big van packer guy Senegal West Africa International show baby.
If Green Bay makes it to the NFC Championship Game
and Love puts up MVP numbers this year, is he
definitely a top five quarterback in the league for you.

(41:21):
I feel like he was unfairly criticized in the first
half of the season. Granted he wasn't great, but he
was working with the rookies and inconsistent sophomores and was
always going to struggle. I think we struggle. I think
Ryan Rossillo is really good at this about we overreact

(41:43):
to half a season to one year over bodies of work.
Like it's pretty hard if Burle comes back and is healthy. Like,
there are just some stalwarts right now that are playing
at a really high level. Right. Mahome's been doing it
for how many years now, eighteen to twenty four, Josh

(42:04):
Allen's been doing it now four or five straight years.
Lamar Jackson's been doing it since twenty nineteen. Right, So
Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, like these guys resume to be
a great player. It's about doing it for a long
period of time. You could argue if CJ does it again,
I mean, he's got two full years of playing at
a high level. So is he a top five quarterback?

(42:25):
He definitely has top five talent characteristics. But to me,
to consider you a top five quarterback, you have to
do it over and over and over again. That's where
I think Herbert becomes such a polarizing individual because his
teams haven't won. I blame Brendon Staley a big year
for him to kind of either shut everyone up or
continue to be polarizing. It's my defensive party. Like if

(42:47):
perty has another good season, the Niners win eleven twelve
games and throws thirty plus touchdowns, Like you can nitpick
him because he's short. I mean, but it was drafted late.
But it's hard to dispute what he's doing playing well
in big games because I could see someone like, well,
you toua, you gotta play well in big games. Got
to play well in the playoff games. In playoff games

(43:09):
also factor in December when you're playing for seed and
playing for the division. I saw to day that I
don't even was it a real headline? I say you
on Instagram. Gino Smith wants a new contract. Mike Garrilfalla
might have said that. I just I just laughed, like you,
good luck, buddy, and I like Geno Smith, But new contract?

(43:30):
Come on? What do you think the NFL's dream Super
Bowl matchup would be for viewership for the brand. I
think it would be Chiefs versus Cowboys Mahomes going for
the three peat to make history in the Cowboys, the
biggest brand in North America sports, making their long awaited
return to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I would say this
year would be the Chiefs going for the three peat.

(43:52):
I mean, the Cowboys are the biggest brand in the NFL,
so it'd be them. I mean, the Niners are up
there and they got one hundred and twenty five million people,
So how many Cowboy fans didn't watch the Super Bowl?
To be my question? Like the Super Bowl you need stars,
but like, would there be that big of a difference
if it was Chiefs, Packers, Chiefs, Chiefs, Lions. You know,

(44:13):
how many more people from one hundred and twenty five million,
which is a very strong educated guest, But clearly a
lot of people are watching the super Bowl? Like how
many more people can watch Super Bowl?

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Now?

Speaker 2 (44:21):
My question is if you're not watching the Super Bowl,
what are you doing on that given day? Reading? Maybe
trying to get more intelligent? Maybe, I don't know, what
do you do? I often think about and people, I
think you watch so much sports, imagine what you're missing

(44:42):
out in life. There's probably some truth to that. I'm
sure if I didn't watch as much football as I watch,
and definitely as much golf as I watch, I'd probably
read more books. I'd probably I'd go on a decent
amount of walks. I just don't know what else I
would do. Beside you could say you would read more, okay,
but other than that, like, what else would I do?

(45:02):
Not a big hobby guy. I play golf. That's it now.
That takes up some time, but never gonna get the
pick a ball, just refuse. What do people do? Often
wondered that it's like Jerry, what do they do? Mail
back question? As the preseason winds down and with your

(45:25):
scouting experience, what do teams look for in their stre
This was the question in their second string quarterback. I
think ideally most teams want a guy that they can win.
They look at it like a month right, because if Mahomes,
Josh Allen, Lamar, those guys go down for the season,
you're in major trouble. We all acknowledge that. But if

(45:46):
I lose my guy for three weeks, can if I
do a good enough job coaching, if my defense plays well,
can we go two and three? Depending on the schedule,
can we win a game? Like I bet Andy right
now and veach Field pretty good? They're like we could
win a game with Carson Wentz. I think the forty

(46:08):
nine ers feel good, like we could win a game
with Joshua adopts a game, and then like the Bills,
guy hit me, we can't win a game with mitchter Bisky.
I saw him with the Steelers last year. They couldn't
win a game. I mean it was what was was
it the Colts on Christmas or maybe it was a

(46:29):
Saturday game? I mean it was. It was embarrassing. It
was unwatchable. So I think you try to find the
balance of can we win a game. That's why the
Eagles got Kenny Pickett because they go, can we just
win a game with this guy? Then you watching the
preseason go, I don't know. You have to check the

(46:49):
other boxes. Low maintenance, zero issues. Starting. Quarterback likes you,
Quarterback coach OC likes you. You're well versed in football,
you know, oh the playbook, you can help guys out.
You're a good teammate. I would say positive. I need
good vibes. So ideally, first I can win a game
with you, and then there's a ton of intangibles. You're

(47:12):
cheap for NFL standards, a couple of million bucks, you're
positive guy, optimistic, Come in, you're not negative. You know
the playbook, you practice and work hard, and again I
never think of you. You are the last guy I
would expect that in the morning, my PR guy, my
SICATA security, my GM walks in the door and goes,

(47:35):
we got a problem. You have to be last on
the list of we expect this to be the last
human to get in trouble here. So it's why I said,
a lot of the guys that play for all this
time saw Colt McCoy retired today. I would imagine Colt
McCoy's approval rating with offensive coordinators, with his teammates, with

(47:59):
his quarterback rooms is really high. I mean close to
a ten out of ten. That's how you play twelve
years as a backup. And I would imagine a lot
of offensive coordinators and head coaches go, yeah, we probably could
have won a couple games with them if we had to.
For our team's good first time messaging listening for over

(48:21):
two years. Great job. I like this guy, Jake, appreciate
you lifelong Raiders fan living in your old neck of
the woods near Walnut Creek. Know that area. Will My
question to you is, after watching the Netflix doc and
seeing what we've seen out of the Raiders quarterback play
this preseason, would you blame Adams requesting a trade if

(48:44):
they start slow. He seems like a great human being,
a real professional, and I feel like he deserves a
chance elsewhere beside Kansas City to win before he's done.
Obviously hurts to say is a Raider fan, but that's
the truth. Plus, they would get a haul for him.
Your thoughts, I think there's a slippery slope right now
with him that if this goes poorly, his value just

(49:09):
naturally goes down a little bit. If you think about
when the Raiders traded for him, they gave up a lot,
didn't they give up? I don't know the trade in
front of me. It was at a one and a
two and like a five, and he was worth it.
I mean, he was in the peak of his powers.
He's still really good. If you put DeVante Adams on

(49:30):
the Ravens, on the Bills, on the Chiefs, on the Niners,
on the Rams, he'd fucking dominate. But when you're on
a bad team and you just don't get as many
opportunities in the offensive, disaster like, your value goes down.
It doesn't mean you're still not an excellent player. I
remember seeing this thing on Instagram where Jeff Bezos was
talking about like two thousand during the dot com crash.

(49:53):
He's like, I could tell our business was taken off,
our revenue was going up. It was like, we are
going to be something big. He's like, our stock plum
price plummeted, It hit all time lows, and I was
never more confident in the business. But the value of
the company, when your public company was based on the

(50:14):
stock price, wasn't very good and it was brought down by,
you know, the the environment. And I think DeVante Adams.
You could argue, if you put him in the right situation,
he'd be a first team All Pro this year, assuming
he could stay healthy. First team All Pro right now.
But you put him on the Raiders and it's ugly.

(50:36):
Can you get a first round pickback for him? I
don't know, which is crazy to say, because I still
think he's a first round pick value. But when your
play diminishes because of the circumstances, it just drives you down.
So I don't know how it's gonna go. I really don't.
I mean, I have a pretty good idea the Raiders

(50:58):
aren't any good because I just think that quarterback room
and Raider fans not you, Jake, but you know, the
fan base sometimes gets so mad. It's like, guys, take
a step back. Your quarterback room is Gardner Minshew and
Aidan O'Connell. You had a couple very serviceable years where

(51:18):
you made the playoffs with Derek Carr, who played at
a Pro Bowl level that year. That's not gonna happen
this year. So how are you gonna function in that situation?
The answer is you're not. It's gonna be tough. This

(51:44):
is a long one for the back. This is a
bit long. Even said it as a Bears fan. I,
like most of us, still in awe of the fleecing
of the Panthers getting Caleb, But I fear that there's
a systematic incompetence within the organization developing quarterbacks. Caleb can
manage the pocket well, but we haven't seen many throws

(52:06):
where he's gotten multiple reads in the pocket. I would
agree if you examine the last few guys, I think
justin regressed over time. I just I think he's got
some clear flaws. Under Naggie, he had his best all
round games see the Niners and the Steelers. But once
Getzy and Eberflu showed up, they changed his footwork and

(52:28):
he got gunshy, which is not what we saw at all.
Year one, Trubisky, you clearly went close to an NFL starter,
at least we all agree. You know, there are some
polarizing players and there's just ones like this, ain't it?
And he's one of those. I know. Fangio led the
defense in eighteen historic run. We seem to be headed

(52:51):
in the right direction with plenty of money draft capital,
and I don't know, good players, something Fields had almost
none of. But I fear with the deep defensive head coach,
he may never fully develop and reach his potential. Also,
I'm in full agreement with you on waking up and
having no interest in talking to a soul. Got a

(53:11):
good laugh out of that tangent. What's funny is Maria
had a bunch of stuff to do this morning, hit
the gym. I was kind of tired this morning. My
alarm went off at six am. Snooze that bad boy
for about an hour, so she fired out to the
gym pretty early. So, you know, I'll take the dog
for a walk probably, you know, six forty five seven

(53:31):
am and just just a little groggy and didn't see
a soul on the walk. I was like, oh, this
is so great to have my headphones in. And then
all of a sudden we're at this little grass area
and another little dog comes up to me, Brody. I'm like,
oh my god. I turn around the owners there, and
I sometimes I wonder do people because Maria so kind

(53:54):
knows all these people's names, and I was like, I
just I'm just not in the mood. And I'm not
trying to be a dick, like you don't want to
talk to me either, I'm not. We don't have anything
to talk about. We haven't had our coffee yet, I
haven't got my sweat in. Let's just let's just go
our separate ways. And the hard part about that situation

(54:14):
with the dog is obviously the dogs start talking with
the other dogs, and then you can't really get her
to go, and you're kind of stuck in no man's
land and you're forced to take your air pods out
and have the most meaningless conversations humanly possible. Sometimes you
have good ones, but if you're not in the mood,
and then you got you're like God, is that person
think I'm just the worst human alive? I would. I

(54:42):
think the way you should look at this season overall
is to be very, very excited and have a good time.
I do think when you look at the Bears Hard
Knocks Eberflus, I like his look. If you've got hair,
I have no problem with you rock in a cool look,
regardless of how old you are. I'm in no position

(55:03):
as a bald guy to judge anyone's hair flow. Everyone
was talking about Mark Sanchez's flow the other night on television.
If you got a rocket, if you can do a
cool beard, do what you do. I never understand people
ripping other people's facial hair hair when they want to
mix it up a little bit. I do think when
you watch Eberflu's coach in Hard Knocks, you go like,

(55:28):
what's his thing? Right when we've seen Hard Knocks with coaches,
or you knew exactly what Dan Campbell's thing is, or
Billy O'Brien or even Robert Salah. You watch Ebra Flutes
like kind of players coach, kind of good guy, like
he's a defensive guy, but he's he's always with Kleb.

(55:50):
He's kind of lost in he's kind of in no
man's land. If you go, John, what does Eberflus hang
his hat on? I'd go, seems like a nice guy.
That's what I would say. Right, you just go around
to like other good coach. You just go in his
own division. Dan Campbell, you'd be like leader of men.

(56:13):
Guy would lead the troops right into battle, win or lose.
They're going down swinging lafloor offense. That dude can coach offense.
Kevin O'Connell same thing, quarterback offense, quarterback. And then you're
watching eber Flus, You're like the look at family, you know,

(56:34):
nice guy, got a cool look going I don't know,
I mean, and usually just comes out right even Sola
kind of tough guy, football guy, drop some that f ForWords,
screams of people. I don't know' That's my question with
the Bears. I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy
on this one. I just I really don't know watching

(56:57):
this whenever I and I've spent a lot of time
around two coaches, Pat Hill and Andy Reid, and their
defined characteristics are very obvious, very fast. Pat Hill was
a lot like a Dan Campbell. He was just you
just felt him, you know, just an old school tough

(57:19):
sob and Andy comes off a lot like he does
on television, like just easygoing, intense when football and you
gotta know your shit, but like he's in there scheming
Ibra Fleus. I don't know clearly was Nick Saban likes him?
Is that something this from Bradley? What is the scouting

(57:42):
process like for teams around this time of year regarding
players for other teams that are fringe players to make
the roster. For example, a guy who wasn't on your
radar during the draft pops off the screen in some
of these preseason games, but you also have a good
sense that he won't make that because of the positional depth.

(58:03):
How do teams weigh not being a prisoner of the
moment but also jumping on the opportunity to find a
diamond in the rough since they are relatively low risk
in that they'd be claimed off waivers. What due diligence
is or isn't done just to get a guy in
your building? Make a full assessment on better be safe

(58:24):
than sorry. Would love to hear your thoughts. Well, if
you didn't like a guy in the draft because of
character stuff, right, like his right up as a human
you didn't want in your building, but you liked the player.
I don't think much would change. So, you know, let's
say he plays, let's pick a number fifty snaps in

(58:44):
the preseason. You're like, Holy Mully, this dude's made seventeen tackles.
He can cover the tight end. He looks even better
than I thought he was. But we thought he was
a turd coming out. We didn't want him in the
locker room, and we weren't going to draft him. I
don't think you changed there. If the character was cool

(59:05):
and you're like, yeah, we didn't love the player, and
then you're watching him play and you go, I think
this guy's a backup guard right now, but he plays
on Team X and he's not going to make the
team in our guards are not good. We liked the
guy coming out, maybe we were a little off on

(59:26):
him as a player. Again, you got to put it
in context, right, are you just dominating in the fourth quarter?
Like there are a couple there's some reps here in
the first and second preseason game or the second and
third preseason game where he's going up against some guys
that play on Sundays and he's stuffing them or vice versa,
Like we don't have very good defensive tackles in this

(59:47):
defensive tackle. We were kind of low on this fifth
round pick. I don't know if they got a spot
for him on the roster that they might have to
cut him. Pretty good pass rusher. Now. The problem is
is when guys have a lot of six cs in
the preseason, and it doesn't have to mean snaps, it
just means this guy's clearly good. Like you can see
his tangible characteristics, whether it's a corner. Maybe he doesn't

(01:00:10):
get targeted, but you can see a speed and you're like, guy,
he's pretty natural out there or safety as a tackler.
Everyone sees that tape. So it's all based like if
this guy gets cut, he's going to get claimed and
then the claim the waiver order is based on the draft,
so the Panthers, actually it doesn't, it's not still based

(01:00:33):
on the trade. The Panthers have the number one pick.
So the teams at the top, when you think about it,
the Panthers, the Commanders, the Patriots, their rosters are really bad.
So some of the top guys in there, they could
claim four or five guys and if you're the Chiefs,
if you're the Bills, if you're the Ravens, if you're
the Niners, the Rams, the Eagles, you're not picking till

(01:00:57):
the twenties or the thirties, right, So you can put
a claim in on the right guard, the fifth round
pick from I'm just making up a team here, the
Minnesota Vikings. They're gonna cut him. But if other teams
claim him as well above you in the waiver order,
you don't get him. It's relatively easy to claim players

(01:01:21):
in the regular season, depending on the situation. It's much
easier to claim guys in the regular season than it
is during this cutdown. If the guys in no doubt
about it, jump off the screen. There's certain positions to
tackle corner wide receiver. If I need a wide receiver,
because think about some of the teams, like the Chargers

(01:01:43):
wide receivers. There's a sweet wide receiver that could cut.
They might claim one. The Patriots they could claim one.
The Panthers definitely could claim one. It's usually like, you know,
I need a tackle, Like the forty nine ers are like,
we need some tackles. Well, you're definitely not claiming the
best tackle that gets cut because that guy is lock

(01:02:06):
to get picked up on waivers in the top ten.
Usually that's where it gets difficult. So you're playing a
game of keeping your fingers crossed. But when you're a
good team, it's just so far out of your control.
And for the most part, you know, the Chiefs or
any team that made the playoffs like the Lions, you
really only have room for one guy. In that situation,

(01:02:28):
you might only claim one or two guys. I remember
when the Chiefs and John Dorsey and Andy took over.
I'm pretty sure they claimed like seven guys that first
year because they had the number one pick in the
draft of the year they took Eric Fisher. So I just
don't think the diamonds exist with film. It's so easy
now with technology to watch every guy. Your scouting department

(01:02:52):
is locked in. I remember the only couple times I
ever slept in the office was during the cutdowns leading
up to it. You're just you have so many players
to watch now. It's actually it's harder and easier at
the same time because the rosters are bigger. When I
was in the league, it was only eighty guys. Now
it's ninety guys and There used to be two cuts.

(01:03:13):
There used to be I think eighty to maybe it
was always been ninety. Maybe it was ninety to seventy five,
then seventy five to fifty three. Now there's just the
one big cutdown. So there's just a lot of names.
This is a very, very busy time for the scouting
department this week because you're trying to watch every player

(01:03:34):
who you know had draftable grades or got paid. But
then you also got to keep an eye on other
random guys, right, like this was an undrafted free agent
that they basically got for free, or a guy that
they let come to a rookie tryout camp he makes
the team, or excuse me, he gets he gets a
spot to go to training camp. Then all of a

(01:03:54):
sudden he's kind of good, and they're like, shit, we
might bring this guy in the practice squad, but maybe
you want the guy in the practice squad. That's the
other thing. You let a guy go through waivers, you
can you can sign a guy with a practice squad,
it's on another team. He usually has to choose, right,
does he want to stay with the coaches that he
already knows, or does he want to go to another
team you're as a team, you can offer that guy

(01:04:15):
more money. So there's a lot of moving parts right now.
The overall number one key I would say is to
get your roster right. All that stuff doesn't matter unless
you get your roster right. You got to know the
guys that are worth keeping the guys that are not
worth keeping, because the moment you cut a guy, he
could be gone. He can get claimed. So if you

(01:04:38):
cut a guy that you're like, we really like this guy,
but we're gonna risk it, that risk better be worth
it because you might never see him again. And that's
where I think all these conversations are happening right now.
The amount of time that the head coach and the
GM over the last ten days and that will spend
over the next I forget the cutdown date. Maybe it's

(01:04:58):
Monday or Tuesday. Are just looking at their whiteboard with
the magnets, or maybe they have video versions now and
just talking about the fifty three man roster. The fifty
three man roster, I would say the overwhelming majority of teams,
good and bad, have a pretty good feel. I mean,
the good teams probably know close to fifty of like

(01:05:21):
the locks. Maybe there's a couple. They're still debating. The
bad teams are probably I would say low to mid forties,
and they're having a lot of discussions, and partly because
they're cool with claiming people too. So it's like, even
if we only feel good about forty six of our guys,
well we might put in if I'm the Panthers, ten

(01:05:41):
claims right, six claims. Well, if you do that your
original fifty three, you have to cut six guys of
the guys you were awarded on the waiver wire, so
that official fifty three. You're really not feeling good if
you're the last guy on that roster for like two
or three more days, because if your team claims the guy,

(01:06:02):
you're the first to get cut and then you go
to the waiver wire and then you could get claimed
the following day or make it through and then go
back to the practice squad. I'm telling you I don't
have PTSD, but it was. It was one of the
most intense times of the years because of just the
amount of players, the amount of moving parts, getting grades

(01:06:24):
on every guy, making sure you know your GM, hey
I really like this guy, or tell your director, hey,
we should look at we need some more eyes on
this guy, and it's also based on your own team,
like you're not if you already know your quarterback room
and feel pretty good, you're not wasting too much time

(01:06:44):
on the quarterbacks you're specifically looking at, like the Chiefs,
the Ravens, whoever, the good teams, whatever position they have
a question mark on in their team, and you know
the backups they're evaluating that position very very closely during
this time of year. So it's also a fun time'me
a year right, because that guy might make the difference.
You claim that guy he's a backup. Who knows, maybe

(01:07:06):
your starter gets hurt Week three and that guy starts
fourteen games for the season and it is good. Hell
might be an upgrade. I often get the question a
hardcore Ravens fan, though I agree with the Lamar take
you have, Sadly, I often get the question will the
Ravens ever get over the hump in the playoffs? And
I always give the answer yes because the roster I

(01:07:27):
feel they get better every year. I would love the
thoughts on the Ravens roster and how they will do
this season. Also, if you have time, I get the question,
is the two thousand Ravens or the eighty five Bears better.
I don't have the Ravens roster in front of me,
though I feel pretty good about it. You let Patrick

(01:07:48):
Queen go. I mean, last year having Roquan in him
was pretty dynamic. One thing the Ravens do a really
good job of and they have for a long time.
And I don't pretend to know your roster like the
back my hand, but you guys are really really good
at letting guys hit free agency. I mean, you've always
kept your core guys right. Like you feel pretty good

(01:08:10):
about a player, you give him a contract sence, you
let him hit free agency and usually let him walk,
and you have a guy developing under him, and then
the guy that we don't know about all of a
sudden becomes a stud, kind of like the big defensive
tackle that you gave a bunch of money to last year,
a couple of years ago, Like I don't know, if
everyone was talking about him, I would say offensively, you
got to feel pretty good about your coordinator. Your quarterback,

(01:08:33):
Zay Flowers can take a huge step. I think the
curve ball this year is Derrick Henry. Is it gonna work?
I don't know, feels a little bit like a weird
fit because he is I don't know. I mean him
and Lamar when I closed my eyes and I said
this when I had the guy from the Fantasy pros

(01:08:56):
Patrick on about it's hard to kind of vision like
they've kind of had. It feels like a little more
smaller scatbacks than this big lumbering you know, seven yards
behind handed on zone runs. Not saying that they can't
do that, but like you watch Derrick Henry some games,
all of a sudden, he could have fifteen carries for

(01:09:18):
twenty three yards and then boom he hits it. Like,
is that how the Ravens are gonna play with him?
I don't know. Defensively, I think your defensive personnel is
always really good. I mean, Kyle Hamilton one of the
better young players in the league. Rokwan is a superstar.

(01:09:39):
But I do think losing Mike McDonald's a pretty big deal.
I would say one question, he was the best defensive
coordinator in the league. Obviously, you guys have good players,
but he was elite. I mean, he's I've watched some
of his press conference like he's he pretty sharp cat man.

(01:09:59):
That would be my question. Mark would be losing him
as a defensive coordinator. Schematically, do you guys take a
step back? I would say that I was born in
nineteen eighty four. I would say in my lifetime the
best defenses I've ever seen would be Seattle, would be
the Bucks with Lynch, Barber, Sap, Derek Brooks, and I

(01:10:23):
would say, you guys are the best defense I've ever seen. Now,
you guys were tailor made for that version of football,
right things changed. You were way bigger than Seattle, for example,
But Seattle was just so ready for the quarterback driven
passing it around. You guys were built with Sam Adams,

(01:10:46):
Sarah Gusa were just fucking huge. It's like you ain't
running on us, and you couldn't. So you know, Seattle
was much more like I dare you to get in
third and eight. You got no chance. All guys on
our front can rush. Our linebackers are incredible cover guys,
and we got dbs for days. So I would say

(01:11:09):
the best modern day defense was Seattle. The best defense
like two thousand Ravens could have played in the seventies, eighties,
and nineties. The Bucks defense was kind of a hybrid.
It could play in both I think they would have
been pretty good in the modern day football too. Like
the problem for you guys two thousand if you were

(01:11:30):
playing teams now, like what would Sarahgusa and Adams? When
would they? What if I just spread it out, they
wouldn't have a huge role. Okay, last question, I never
understood why spreads are more popular than prop bets when
spreads have many more variables. In the last Super Bowl,
many Niner fans could predict a bet on Juwan Jettings

(01:11:53):
hitting since Kyle loves them in big spots and the
Chiefs have two stud corners to take out Ayuk and Debo.
But fluky plays like the muff punt or missed extra
point affected the spread. You also have so many position
groups to look at with spreads. I think you're looking
at this incorrectly because I played some. I played some

(01:12:14):
prop bets in the playoffs. But if you have a
prop bet on Lamar Jackson rushing yards I did in
the AFC Championship game, I think I got one thousand
dollars on it because I went well. Josh Allen just
ran for eighty five yards against the Chiefs in the
second round. Lamar's over under to get plus money was
like sixty five yards and like he could have ninety

(01:12:35):
five yards easily. Well, if he doesn't run it or
he gets injured, your BET's done. I had debo a
prop bet one game last season against the Browns, Like
second play of the game he hurts his shoulder and
is out for the game. Where if you're betting on
the spread that team, unless the game gets canceled, you're

(01:12:57):
always alive. Obviously some games you worked, but like the
whole game is kind of interesting. Prop bet an individual guy,
he gets injured, that thing is done. The majority, Like
I think eighty five percent of NFL games are one
score on this going into the fourth quarter, So you're
in the game because you have the team. I think

(01:13:20):
it is way easier to bet safer to bet spreads.
Now it's hard, right, I mean, it's if you hit
fifty five percent of your bets as a sports gambler,
you're a star. So it's not easy. But my experience
with prop betting is it's just hard. I think I

(01:13:46):
can't tell you how many times I've done over under
steph Curry points and missed every time. I think betting
the team is way easier, takes less thought. Also, you
act like it's more variables, Ultimately it's less because like, hey,
let's talk Eagles Packers. Okay, I haven't even looked at

(01:14:11):
the spread of that game, but let's just assume it's
I could be wrong on this complete guess Packers plus two,
So I just take the Packers plus two. Well, I
can take Jordan love Over under passing yards to two
hundred and fifty yards. What if they're just running the
shit out of the ball and they still win by

(01:14:31):
seven points and Josh Jacobs goes for a buck fifty
and Jordan only throws, doesn't even get close, throws for
one hundred and ninety yards, but throws two touchdowns and
as good you don't even get close to hitting the prop,
but the team wins. I like betting the spread way
more than props. Maybe I'm scarred. Maybe it's my individual

(01:14:54):
experience that I feel like I've I feel like I've
lost ninety five percent of the prop bets bet and
I felt very good about them going in. Good question though,
mm hm