September 5, 2024 • 56 mins
John opens the podcast talking about how football is finally back! He dives into the Thursday Night Football match-up between the Ravens and the Chiefs and how even though this should be a great game and very exciting, it won't tell us much about KC since they likely don't "turn it on" until about Week 4. Next John gives you his season predictions by going over his top 5 and worst 5 teams in the NFL, along with his division winners..
Later, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.
644 - Football is back
11:53 - Chiefs vs. Ravens
24:58 - season Predictions
45:18 - Mailbag
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:43):
What is going on everybody? The National Football League makes
its long awaited return. We got a real game. Week
one is here and we got the Chief Ravens, So
I want to celebrate that because it's been a long
time coming. It's a long offseason, you know, combine free
(02:04):
agency the draft are kind of fun. OTA's summer break
well needed, and then you get into training camp and
it's cool, Football's back, and then you kind of like
I'm ready for the real thing and it's finally here.
It always comes way faster than you realize. And we
got Chiefs Ravens, so we'll dive into some quick thoughts
on that game, and then we'll just kind of fire
(02:24):
around and do some predictions on you know, division predictions
and kind of my playoff thoughts on the year. Hard
to bet against the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl,
though it's never happened. I think, you know, they're definitely
gonna be some teams that regress. We know that happens
every year. Yeah, so I'll kind of do my power
(02:45):
five and bottom five in the NFL and then which
will change on a weekly basis, but maybe we'll change
the name. I don't love that, but I just kind
of wanted to get my mind right and as we
head into week one, and we'll do a little male
bag as well at John middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire
into those dms, easiest way to get your question answered
(03:07):
here on the show. And yeah, we're rocking and rolling, baby.
So it's great time of year. There's nothing quite like
football in the air. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. A
lot of content up there, actually going out shooting a
little golf video today which I hope to have up
there next week. Subscribe to the podcast three and Out podcasts.
If you listen on Collins feed and we're just gonna
(03:29):
keep ripping and rocking. I don't even know if that's
a saying, but we'll have a reaction after the Chiefs game.
We'll have a reaction after the Eagles Packers game. So
football is back and I'm excited. Put a smile on
my face. But before we dive in, do you want
to go to a game? College or pro? I'd highly
recommend it. Been to a lot of football games in
(03:51):
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especially if you're going to your team, shared experience with
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and you do it because of my friends. At game Time,
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This is beautiful day. It really is. My favorite part
about football season is just how different your interactions are
(04:54):
with your friends, with people you see at the gym,
people if you play a little golf, people you see
at the golf everyone's talking football and in a society
that many say in my life, everyone's pretty friendly, but
I guess it's divided out there on the streets if
you live on the internet. A lot of division football
brings people together, and it's the one thing that we
(05:15):
all have in common. Number one television show in America
for a reason. It's the only thing that we can
agree on that we can all watch. And obviously the
NFL college football, I mean was doing Georgia and Clemson
and Texas A and M and Notre Dame did NBA
finals numbers. The NFL obviously dwarfs college football in terms
(05:36):
of the amount of people that watch, and college football
is a massive, massive product in terms of interest right now,
So the amount of people that are paying attention. A
lot of people have talked about this, but I think
there is a massive growth in the NFL with women.
People like me have been watching since I don't know,
(05:57):
I can walk and talk. But the popularity this sport
has only grown. And I think one thing that separates
the NFL definitely and has really helped them lap the
other sports in terms of popularity. They're not dependent on market.
They're really not. I mean, the Chiefs clearly are not
some massive market in America. It's not Los Angeles, it's
(06:18):
not the Bay Area, it's not Chicago, it's not New York.
And yet they're the biggest brand in football right now. Now,
there are variables. They have one of the greatest coaches
of all time, they have one of the greatest quarterbacks
of all time. Their star tight end is dating. You
could argue one of the most famous women singers of
(06:38):
all time. But that's football. They're not dependent like the NBA.
For example, if Curry and Lebron aren't playing come April
and May, the NBA has got problems in terms of numbers,
and the NFL, whether the Jags and the Texans play
in the first round or whether it's Cowboys or Packers.
It's the one thing we agree on. We're gonna watch
(07:01):
and listen. It's sad we used to when I was
a kid, we didn't have as many channels. Hell, I
didn't even get cable till I was in high school.
That everyone kind of watched the same things. We all
watched the same games, we all watched the same television shows.
Now I could pull ten different people walking down the
street and they're all watching a different television show. Why
we got seven million streaming options, and I mean, I
(07:22):
have so many streaming different platforms. I can't find anything
to watch at nine thirty at night, But when football
is on, I can. And I know when I'm watching
obviously these one off games in primetime, but even come
the weekend, a lot of other people are watching it.
And that's something cool about America that we still have
in common, that we all like football. And I'm glad.
(07:45):
It's been my favorite sport to watch since I was
a little kid, had a little cup of coffee playing
in high school and have loved it ever since. And
there's not really a game, and I can't speak to HOWK,
but the combination of the studying, the practice The difference
of hockey is you only play it once a week.
(08:07):
Right in football, the lead up, the closeness you develop
with your team, the intensity of getting coached and screamed
at at every level. I mean, you go to a
pee wee practice somewhere in America and kids are getting
yelled at, and that's it might be a little different
than maybe something you would have seen in the sixties
and seventies, but you're not going to NFL in college
practice and seeing everyone holding hands and that there's just
(08:30):
an appreciation for you know, as a fan, and you
know as a consumer if you're paying for a ticket
to go to a game, that everyone's gonna play if
they physically can't, and if they're playing, they're giving you
everything they have. And that's I think all anyone can
ask for. Your team's gonna lose games. Some teams are
obviously way shittier than others, are gonna lose a lot,
(08:52):
but especially early on in the season, before teams actually
know they're bad, everyone's throwing the kitchen sink at each other.
It's just awesome. We got so many characters in this
television show that is the NFL. Obviously, the star players
led by the quarterbacks. The coaches are really really famous,
the owners are really really famous. The commissioner is famous,
(09:15):
and they all play a role in this thing that
we call the NFL, which is the number one television
show in America by a pretty wide margin for a reason.
It's incredible entertainment. There are things that people complain about.
It's not as physical. I do sometimes I miss elements
of the football I grew up on, but I'm still glued.
(09:36):
I still have a good time. And maybe I'll bitch
and moan about some calls, especially if I'm gambling on
a team and think of ref screws me. But there's
nothing I'd rather be doing on Thursday night than watching
the Chiefs Ravens Week one opening kickoff. And let's speak
of the game. The Chiefs proved last year this opening
week meant nothing to them. They lost to the Lions. Now, granted,
(09:57):
remember Kelsey was hurt during training camp and went on
to win a Super Bowl. So this game, in any
individual regular season game you are, the regular season no
longer means anything to the Chiefs. Obviously, they have to
win enough games to make the playoffs and they'll win
the division because that's what they've been doing for six
or seven straight years. But in terms of overreacting, I'm
(10:21):
done doing that. They had never played a road playoff
game till last year, and then they rattled off two
as big underdogs in Buffalo and in Kansas and in Baltimore.
So they are to me now the Kevin Durant Golden
State Warriors. They can pick their spots in the regular season.
I expect them, obviously to try in this game and
want to win it, but they are judged simply. They're
(10:43):
the only team in the league that can say this,
anything less than a Super Bowl is a devastating blow.
It sucks. It's a letdown in college football. For a
long period of time, only Alabama could say it, then
Clemson in Georgia through their hat in the ring, but
no one else in the NFL. Like obviously, losing in
the Super Bowl sucks. Ask any forty nine er fan,
(11:06):
but that was still an extremely impressive season. It sucks
to Luce. Tip your hat to Mahomes, tip your hat
to Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan. Probably you don't want
to kick off or accept the ball in overtime, but
like that is a great season the Chiefs have that
same season. It's devastating because they got three rings now
(11:26):
in the last five years, and for a reason. They
have one of the best players we've ever seen in
any sport in Patrick Mahomes. They have the best tight
end of all time. And here's the difference of this
Chiefs team than some of those early iterations, and we
saw it on full display last year. Their defense is
awesome and one of the great advantages Andy has is
(11:48):
a lot of head coaches when they have an elite coordinator,
they have to worry about losing them. It just happened
to John Harbaugh Mike McDonald after two years, like this
guy's boy, genius, best defense in the league, Boom Interviews,
Seattle hired, gone, and now they have to go with
or a thirty two year old former player who's been
coaching with them basically since twenty seventeen. But in a
(12:11):
perfect world, if John harbucket Choo's, he would just have
Mike McDonald not become a head coach and keep his
defensive coordinator and he doesn't need to worry about that.
Fair or not. Steve Spagnola is not going to become
a head coach again. So as long as Andy Reid
is there and Spags wants to just keep being an
assistant coach and make millions of dollars being the DC,
he has to keep his coordinator. So the play caller
(12:34):
is never gonna leave because that's Andy, and their defensive
coordinator is now a stal word in the operation is
not going anywhere. So enormous advantage for the Chiefs big picture.
They've proven they shipped Tyreek out boom back to back
super Bowls. Why because Veach nailed the draft, Trent McDuffie
became a stud, Chris Jones obviously was already on the squad,
and the overall defense is just really really good and
(12:56):
they're really deep at defensive back and Spags moved it
down the stretch last year. His game planning in these
big games is elite. And anytime you have a coordinator
who you feel very, very confident on in big games,
it's a huge, huge advantage. And he took Lamar and
he took Todd munkin to the woodshed. So my expectations
(13:20):
for the Chiefs. You had Xavier Worthy. I was looking
at this Tyreek Hill as a rookie. Obviously he was
a later round pick, but that was because he had
gotten a lot of trouble. He was clearly like a
top forty player. You know, he's become one of the
best players in the history of the game. But coming
out of the draft that year, just Town alone, he's
probably a top thirty forty player in that draft if
(13:42):
the character stuff, and he's become an all time great.
His rookie year, here's what he did. Sixty one catches,
almost six hundred yards and six touchdowns receiving the ball.
He had two hundred and seventy yards and three touchdowns
rushing the ball. He also had three more touchdowns. I
think two is a pump returner and one is a
kickoff returner. So as a rookie, Tyreek Hill had twelve touchdowns.
(14:07):
Now I don't expect Xavier Worthy to do that. I
think that's a little unfair. But if Xavier Worthy can
give them seven eight touchdowns, maybe six in the air,
and a couple more end rounds, you know, handoff tight plays,
that's big advantage for the Chiefs. And I think they
(14:28):
clearly lacked this guy the last couple of years since
Tyreek rightfully, so they got rid of them and they
just didn't have as much speed on the outside. Well,
you add this guy who the Chiefs are really really
high on, because I remember when I got hired in Philadelphia,
everyone just thought of DeShawn Jackson like this unreal go
route guy. He actually was a really good route runner
(14:50):
and had elite hands. So when you get a guy
who's more than just a speed guy, who can run
routes and has good ball skills slash hands, it's a great,
massive advantage when you have I don't know, the second
or third best quarterback of all time in the prime
of his career. So I expect the Chiefs to be
a lot better on offense, and they already have one
(15:10):
of the best defenses. That's where you look at the
Ravens and you go, that's one of the most devastating
playoff losses I've ever seen. It really is, And as
a kid I saw a couple. It was when the
Cowboys beat the forty nine ers. When you lose at
home in a championship game, I don't care who you're playing,
former champion, the defending champs, whatever, and you're the favorite,
(15:32):
it is the biggest kick in the nuts you can
possibly have as a fan. I'd argue losing in the
championship game at home is it's worse than going to
Super Bowl and losing. I don't think there's any worse
feeling than championship game. To go to the Super Bowl
as a favorite and losing. Now, you could argue losing
(15:53):
in the Super Bowl as a favorite as the Niners sucks.
But if he loses the underdog of all my life
watching these good Ravens teams my adult life, that has
to be I don't know. I think they had a bad,
bad loss the year before they won the Super Bowl
to Brady. I think that was twenty eleven. Ray Lewis
(16:13):
kind of gave a famous speech in the locker room
where he says, Joe, hold your head up, and he
kind of gave Joe confidence. Next year, Joe comes back,
they go in the Super Bowl run. But it doesn't
get much worse, especially given that Lamar had won the MVP. Now,
granted it was a down MVP year like his MVP
that he won years before. What was that twenty nineteen
(16:35):
was way more impressive than last year? They were that Yeah,
last year was led by the defense, one of the
great defenses of the Internet era. I mean, it was incredible,
but to lose like that, Todd, Munkin and Lamar they
thought about that moment and hopefully so if you're a
Ravens fan every single day, a lot of the day
up until the schedule came out, and then the moment
(16:57):
the schedule comes out, you find out we get these
guys game one. To me, this game is all about
the Ravens, right if the Chiefs win, of course they win.
Favorite defending champs is what they do. But it's like,
I don't know, man, this is I'm someone I'm not
gonna act like the Ravens are gonna stink because they
never do. They're just a high level operation. But I
(17:20):
think they're coming back to earth a little bit, the
days of just kicking everybody's ass. And I think I mean,
I can think of four or five blowouts against great
teams off the top of my head. I mean last year,
the two teams in the NFC Championship, the Lions and
the forty nine Ers. I don't know what the total
score of those two games were, but if I had
to guess, it'd be like, I don't know, seventy five
(17:41):
to twenty. I mean, they housed people last year. Mike
McDonald's gone, and I think the pressure on this squad,
their offensive line clearly is a little bit younger, I
think DaCosta said, because salary caps part of the world
we live in this modern day NFL. But to me,
Monk and Lamar, like, Lamar's at the point now, like,
(18:02):
what's he gonna do win another MVP? Like, yeah, he might,
and that's he's a great regular season player, but you
don't want to turn into like the James Harden version
of the NFL. Lamar is way more likable and definitely
more enjoyable to watch, but just this great regular season
player that something's off in the playoffs. We've also seen
this before Peyton Manning, and people push back, it's not true.
(18:25):
It was true. We fucking watched Peyton Manning up until
he finally got the Monkey office back on the big
comeback against the Pats in the six AFC Championship game,
look like a different human. In the playoffs, he did
not look the same. Now, some of those games were
against Belichick, so somewhat understandable, just like Lamar's like, well,
if they weren't playing the Chiefs, the Chiefs exist and
(18:47):
whether you got to go there or they come to you,
you're going through them in this modern day football. So
I'm fascinated to watch this yead Derrick Henry. I don't
know I've said this before. I close my eyes and
I try to envision Lamar and Dereck Henry. It doesn't
really feel like that's kind of a match, right, I
just I don't know. It feels like Lamar is more
(19:07):
likely to be with I don't know, more of a
scap back. Maybe that's unfair, but that's just my gut
feeling fascinated to see what it looks like. Loved watching
Derrick Henry. But to me, part of Derrick Henry is
you give him twenty carricks because the first thirteen he
may have thirty yards, and then the next two he
totaled seventy eight, and then all of a sudden you're like, damn,
(19:30):
he's already over one hundred. It's like, yeata, he started slow.
Then he just eats you alive. And is that you know?
Lamar runs a lot. I don't know. It's gonna be
fascinating to watch. So my big question is just how
Lamar and Monkin who munkin for as bad as Lamar played,
Munkin was even worse in that game, an absolute embarrassment
(19:52):
to any gambler. Josh Allen ha just ran all over
the Chiefs and then he stopped calling runs. And Lamar's
skipping passes and throwing picks in the end zone. It
was just if I'm a Ravens fan, like, this game's
cool if I'm the Chiefs, just because as long as
we've got Patrick Mahomes, like having Steph Curry, It's like,
let's just play some football, Like we're gonna see guys
(20:13):
in January. Let's just enjoy the fun. Where's the if
you're a Ravens fan, Like, can we fucking answer the bell? Guys?
I mean, what happened to us last year should be
something we never forget. Last time we had one of
those moments. I gave that Ray Lewis example. They came
back and they won a Super Bowl. So I mean,
we're just looking for Lamar to win a couple of
playoff games before we can even talk Super Bowl. And uh,
(20:34):
I don't know. I wouldn't gamble on this game, cause,
like I couldn't bet on the Ravens to take on
the Chiefs. But I'm also not a huge fan of
taking favorites week one. It just can be weird. Can't
wait to watch, can't wait to watch. Okay, let's do
(20:59):
some predictions, because that's what everyone wants to know. I
got the New York Giants win the Supernomins. Kidding, Okay,
let go. Let's just go AFC, NFC. Let's start with this. Actually,
I'll go with my power five. These are my top
top five teams in the National Football League. Obviously number
one cemented in the Chiefs. Number two also pretty easy
(21:20):
for me. The forty nine Ers number three. I'm going Detroit,
who easily could have beat the forty nine Ers in
the NFC Championship game and had already beat the Chiefs
week one. Like I think Lions are for real, I
kind of expect the Lions to be the number one
overall seed. I'm throwing the Texans in there. I'm really
(21:41):
thrown off by the AFC North if the Ravens come
back to Earth a little bit. Steelers quarterback situation, it's
hard for me to get behind Russell Wilson the Browns.
No way I can get behind Deshaun Watson. I mean,
let's face it, part of the reason they had success
last year was a guy that they refused to resign
because they didn't want to make it weird the moment
(22:02):
de Shaan suck that everyone's asking for Joe Flacco. So
I understand Miles Garrett is an all time great talent.
And the Bengals, I just I guess I'm gonna pick
them to win the division. But I don't feel great
about Burl's health. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I just
like watching the guy play, but I think the Texans
are gonna be a major problem, and I like the
(22:24):
Texans to win the division. I like the Texans to
compete with the Chiefs for the conference. I like CJ.
Stroud to be I would bet on him to be
the MVP. I think betting on them to win the
AFC or the number one seed you can get it
like eight plus eight fifty on DraftKings. I like that
to me. I struggled with the fifth. You could have
(22:46):
gone Eagles, Cowboys. I like the Cowboys more than most.
I already told you about those AFC North teams, like
I'm kind of out. I went with the Packers because
this is a little bit like a little bit of
a flyer. I mean, clearly they were good last year,
especially down the stretch. But if Jordan Love is just
a top ten quarterback this year, that offense is gonna
(23:07):
be awesome and defensively, it's just hard to be as
shitty as they've been. So I bet against them last
year and I was proven wrong simply by going who
goes from Rogers or excuse me far to Rogers to
another really good quarterback. It's like, statistically that's impossible, Like
Montana to Young de Garcia is like an all time trio,
(23:32):
probably the best of all time. How Alex Smith the
Mahomes is one of the greatest handoffs we've ever seen,
So to go from that, I just kind of believe
in Lafour as an offensive coach. He showed me a
lot last year. So I'm going with the Packers in
my top five. My bottom five is pretty easy. I
think there are some bad teams. The Pats are atrocious.
(23:54):
I mean they are they are. If they're on TV
and they're playing another non playoff team, you might not
even give that a box. They're not even worth watching.
I think Carolinea is gonna be pretty bad. I know
a lot of people are trying to zag. I still
think they're gonna be pretty terrible until proven otherwise. It's
(24:15):
hard for me to get behind a quarterback who's that tiny.
It really is. And listen, I liked them coming out
of college. I did, but when you see the visual
of the body next to other NFL players, it's pretty jarring.
The Raiders, I know they caught lightning in a bottle.
The moment they cost fired, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce
(24:37):
took over. But I just think this thing is gonna
be a disaster. I really do. There's already a lot
of buzz about DeVante getting traded. It's hard to win
when your quarterback room is Garner Minshew and Aid O'Connell.
And here's the thing. O'Connell beat the Chiefs. They literally
beat the Chiefs, who had one of the worst games
(24:59):
they've ever had in the Andy Reid era. Aidan O'Connell
did not complete a pass in the second quarter, the
third quarter, or the fourth quarter. I'd say that's a
pretty an all time fluky NFL win. Not that fluky.
The defense kicked mahomes ass. I'm just saying, how often
does a team win when that is the case, and
(25:20):
I just think the quarterback play. I'm sorry, I can't
get behind. Washington is a team so many people are
really high on. I'm not not because Adam Peters rooting
for him like them. Jayden Daniels clearly a big time talent.
Their rosters just not very good and they're gonna be
depending on a lot of young players. Cowboys and Eagles
are good. I think the hype on this thing, I
(25:40):
understand it because it's exciting, but I don't see it.
I don't see it at all. I think they are
competing to be a top five drafting team with positivity,
like you can still draft in the top five and
have a lot of moments with the quarterback. To me,
that's the best case scenario. You'd rather win four games
(26:00):
then win seven. What would a seven and ten do
for you? Four gets you in the mix to get
a sweet player in the draft, and then next year, boom,
your eight or nine wins. But they got a long
way to go. The kid's gonna be running for his life,
and you know, I kinda it's hard. I mean, there
are a lot of teams that kind of feel that
six to seven win games that's kind of the Giants
to me. I don't think they're as bad as those
(26:22):
teams I just listed, but I think when Daniel Jones
is your quarterback, it's just hard to win. So their
defense should be pretty solid. Obviously, my league neighbors is
a hard player not to like. But over the course
of the season, I'm just out on Daniel Jones. I mean,
somehow they won nine games. He threw fifteen touchdowns two
years ago. When you look at divisions, the Bills easiest
(26:44):
pick on the board, Like, you couldn't pay me to
pick Miami after last year, and they're worst. Obviously the Jets,
I mean, at any moment, a couple injuries, see you,
and the Pats suck. I had waffled back and forth
on the AFC North thinking, you know, like go with
the Colts, and then one morning during the preseason, flipped
(27:06):
on NFL Network and the culture plan playing the Bengals.
Maybe I forget other Bears, forget the game. But Anthy
Richards started, so I'm like, okay, and he's just throwing
a hundred mile an hour fast balls two guys that
were within a ten yard radius of them, and it's like,
this is gonna be a pretty big work in progress
for Shane Ssych who's an excellent coach, and I think
(27:28):
if he can just corral him like he did Jalen
Hurts a couple of years ago. Not might not be
an MVP candidate right away, but you can make the playoffs.
But it's hard for me to pick you to win
the division when the Texans have a quarterback who dominates
from within the pocket tank. Dell's a stud Nico Collins.
If you don't know about him, you're gonna know about
him fast. And I just think they're gonna be excellent
(27:51):
to me. Demiko's just one of those guys. He was
just meant to win, and that's what the guy does.
He won as a player, he's won as an assistant coach.
He won immediately as a head coach. Everyone around him
wants to either promote him as a team captain. They
want to promote him from a position coach to a coordinator,
from a coordinator to a head coach. He's just a
(28:11):
rocket ship, and I don't bet against rocket ships. I'm
telling you, I think the Texans, if that defense can
come along and these offensive skill guys, can take the
next step. I think they're a sleeper to compete with
the Chiefs to win the AFC the North's really hard
for me. I went the Bengals. I don't feel great
about this. If them, probably the Bengals and the Ravens
(28:33):
or the playoff teams from that division. Steelers are always winning.
I'm shorten them this season. I don't think they're gonna
be terrible, but maybe this is the year that they
go eight to nine, not nine to eight or ten
and seven. And then obviously the AFC North. You don't
even need or excuse me, the AFC West. Do we
even need to talk about it. It's not who's gonna
win the division. We know who's gonna win the division.
(28:54):
I think the question mark is could the Chargers or
the Broncos make the playoffs? And rowing these bets out right, Denver,
you get six to one to make the playoffs, the
Chargers were asleep. I think like four or five to
one to make the playoffs. If you can find a
way to parlay Chargers or the Broncos to make the playoffs,
I think one of those two teams makes it. Now,
(29:15):
anytime you got a rookie quarterback, there could be ups
and downs. Love them, Love the Broncos. Week one, get
six points on the road in Seattle. But I think
one of those two teams make it. Look around the AFC,
Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh are two of the best
coaches in the conference, hell in the league. If you
did a coach draft from scratch, I mean, Jim Harbass
(29:37):
probably going in the top four or five. Sean Payton
just because a little bigger, you know, kind of a
little crazier, likes a little more power, still going in
the top ten. So this is a coaching quarterback league.
We know Herbert's a good player, and if bo Nicks
becomes a good player like him as offensive rookie the
year ten to one, it's gonna work. When I look
(29:58):
at the NFC East, I've gone back and forth. I'm
pro both the teams. I think we see what we've
seen the last couple of years. They're both good, and
the other two teams in the division just aren't good.
And what we've seen when the Eagles and Cowboys play
each other, games are really close, games are really fun.
I ended up going just I guess a little counterculture.
(30:20):
Everyone's picking the Eagles. I like the Eagles. I think
whoever doesn't win this division is more than likely the
fifth seed in the playoffs, so probably playing my Saints.
But I went with Dallas, and I think he's gonna
be close, come down in the last couple of weeks.
But I think Dallas one advantage they have over the
(30:41):
Eagles because this matters to me, who's your coach, who's
your quarterback? Well, what coach do you like? More macarthy
or Sirianni? Well? I see McCarthy rattling off twelve wins
every year for Dallas, and now he calls place and
unlike Sirianni, he's proven he can call the place now.
I like Kellen Moore a lot too. The dynamics there.
It can just get i lived in Philly for a
(31:03):
couple of years. I've seen how weird things get for
the Eagles. It's just it's hard now their talent top
to bottom roster. I'd probably lean the Eagles, But Cowboys coaching.
The other thing is Cowboys. Eagles draft well. Cowboys draft
well too, Like they have a long history. Said what
about their running backs? Guys, this isn't nineteen eighty nine.
(31:24):
They were not depending on you know, Walter Payton and
Barry Sanders to carry my franchise passing league. You can
go who are their extra wide receivers? But I like Ferguson.
And here's the other thing, Mike Zimmer. So you lose
Dan Quinn, which in theory can be a big blow.
He was excellent beside the playoff game for the Cowboys,
but like Mike Zimmer's kind of a big time. I
think they're gonna be okay. So I gave the Cowboys
(31:47):
the slight edge. Also like the Eagles to make the playoffs.
And this is a division that the NFC South every
one of their mother's picking Atlanta. I'm sorry, I'm not.
I said I think the best value you you could
argue in the entire NFL is the Saints. They went
nine to eight last year. They hired a real offensive
coordinator this year. Their defense is really really good, and
(32:11):
the division is not great. Like everyone annoying thing in Atlanta,
like their Belichick and Brady, give me a fucking break.
I like Cousins, he's gotten a lot better, but for
a lot of his careers like this, Kirk Cousins, what's
his deal? And now we're just annoying him, like signing
Peyton Manning or something. It's a good signing for them.
They didn't have a choice, but they also used a
first round pick if someone that's not even gonna play,
(32:34):
So they had a top ten pick and they get
nothing out of it in theory if Cousins keeps playing.
So I like the Saints. I've liked the Saints for
a long time, and I like them even stronger now.
And everyone that wants to short short the Saints, I
don't know. Maybe I'm high on drugs. We'll find out,
but I like the Saints a lot and then a
lot Like the Cowboys and the Packers, I think there's
(32:55):
a little bit more separation here, Like I think the
net Lions or the clear pick for me to win
the division, but I think like whoever doesn't win it
out of Dallas in Philly, I like the Packers right there,
you know, as a five to six seed, So I
think the Packers if Jordan Love is really good. The
one thing the difference of Dallas and Philly, Like if
Jordan Love looks like he did the last eight games,
(33:16):
I'm taking Jordan Love over Daker Jalen ERDs without question.
And in theory he's more talented than Jared Goff, but
the way Jared what Jared Goff has in that offensive
line and those skill guys, I mean, Jared Goff's top
ten quarterback in the NFL. So if their defense, especially
the secondary, is better than it was last year, I mean,
I think Lion's can win the Super Bowl. So that's
(33:38):
just you got to see it play out. But I
would expect Adon Hudchinson to have a massive, massive season,
I mean massive year, and I think we end up
looking back and go, why didn't he go number one overall?
How did that happen? And then the NFC West, I'm
picking the Niners. I think it's pretty simple. Kyle Shanahan
(34:00):
has in that defense, has owned Geno Smith, beat him
five straight times. Obviously McVeigh got him in the biggest
game they ever played, in the NFC Championship. But Kyle
owns McVeigh and you know, Kyler's tough. But you're talking
a team that's gonna go four and two, five and
one in the division, like the Niners are winning it again.
You know now they have It's funny they have one
(34:23):
of the oldest teams in the NFL. It's like twenty
seven point one years old, right, and then like the
fourteenth oldest team, so like you cut it in half,
is like twenty six point one. So I've been twenty six,
I've been twenty seven. There's no difference. Now. If you
want to say Trent wins thirty six, that's fair. George
(34:45):
Kittle's thirty A lot of wear and tear. That's those
two individual players. But deebo I Yuku, you know, McCaffrey
has been pretty healthy since he's been a forty nine er.
And Fred Warner like a keep an eye on a
guy named Diamadoor or Leonora. He is going to become
(35:05):
a star corner this year. Tarvarius like, they have the
difference to me between them and the Rams. Obviously, if
Stafford is humming, he is a better player than Party
but one. Stafford is pretty hit or miss in terms
of like he can be really streaky. He can have
like two or three weeks where he leads the league interceptions,
(35:25):
and they're very, very dependent on some young guys. I
like Jared Vers, I think Braydon Fisk, the defensive tackle
that obviously Florida State misses those two guys, but like
pretty dependent on some young guys. You know you lose.
I don't know someone pretty important. Well, oh, Aaron Donald.
Aaron Donald. Now I like the Rams to make the playoffs.
(35:45):
I think, to me, Eagles, Cowboys, Lions, Packers, Niners, Rams.
That's division winners and the wildcards. But I think a
lot of people there's still some question marks with the MS.
I think there are less question marks with the forty
nine ers, and then just based on their success in
the division against the people, I feel pretty good about it.
(36:07):
So I think the two wild card teams in the
AFC and NFC. For the AFC, it's the Colts. As
we talked about, just what does Anthony Richardson look like?
If you could tell me he has games where he
throws for four touchdowns and runs for another two, and
you can tell me he has games where he throws
five interceptions, I don't know. And he's probably gonna have
(36:28):
some of those games like you just see Anthony Richardson
bust off a seventy yard run and then he's gonna
have a game like did Anthony Richardson just throw back
to back passes that were pick sixes? And how they
balance that because they do have a really talented team.
Their defense is gonna be good, I think, but I
don't know. I don't know what to expect, and I
think the Bears are another team. The hype on them
is outrageous. Everybody and their mother is gonna bet on them.
(36:50):
I would imagine Week one against the Titans me not
because I don't like the Bears, just because I think
Week ones we gotta pump the brakes a little bit.
The hype is pretty nuts. But to me, the Bears
can be a really really solid eight to nine win team,
or if Caleb just has the CJ. Stroud type year,
because their defense is good, because the weapons they have
(37:10):
on offense, they could win eleven games. But I think
that I don't know, and it's never as easy for
rookie quarterbacks as we think it's gonna be. Given the hype.
What CJ. Stroud did, what Andrew Luck did typically doesn't happen.
Doesn't mean it can't with Caleb. I definitely think that
with Jayden, like everyone wants to pump the brakes a
little bit, doesn't mean they're not gonna have great games,
doesn't mean they can't win like Week one, but over
(37:32):
the course of a season, every single week seeing good
teams game. The more film that gets out of about you,
the more they know what you know, your weaknesses are
and force you to that this is no one's going
to class in this league. No one's fucking going to
study hall, the study halls in the meeting room twenty
(37:53):
four to seven, three sixty five. These coaches are getting
paid millions of dollars. It is just really really hard
for young players, especially ones with the weight of the
world on their shoulders. And Caleb's I think he's an
impressive guy, and I think Ryan Poles has done a
great job. But it's gonna be really really intense, especially
given their division, Like the Lions are fucking good. The
(38:17):
Packers have been winning for thirty years. You know, It's
just it's hard. It's like Caleb save us, which I understand.
I don't blame any Bears fan for saying that, but
I think they could have a positive like next three years,
and this year doesn't go win lost record as well
as people think, and overall this is just a home
(38:37):
run kind of you know, team building exercise for the team,
like in two years, Like damn, the Bears are really good.
But I just think we're kinda Sometimes you gotta walk
before you run, and I feel like we've put the
cart in front of the horse, like Bears super Bowl contender,
or could the Bears win the division? Like I don't know,
they got a rookie quarterback. You know how difficult that is,
(38:58):
even if this is one of the best situas ever
for a rookie tour. When you're playing, you could argue
that it's the best division in football. So buckle up, baby, Okay,
let's dive it in the mailbag at John Middlecoff is
(39:19):
the Instagram firing those dms get questions answered here on
the show. A lot of you guys are firing in there.
I try to get to everybody I can. Instagram makes
it a little weird too. You know, it's not really
in an Excel spreadsheet. But I try my best. I
honestly do. We'll start with Austin two questions for the mailbag.
Are we still one head injury away from Tua being
(39:42):
done with football? I'll just answer that question. I don't know.
I mean, I'm never like one of these media guys
like it's no football for him. Guy wants to play football.
It's his choice, it's his life. He's a grown up.
He's getting paid a lot of money. If he got
a concussion, I would imagine he would just go into
the proto call and if he cleared, didn't come back.
So now the reaction by the Big Jays would.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Be like, this is not right.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
He doesn't care what they think, and listen, I'm not
I'm the doctor. Obviously. You know the way that he
got knocked out in that one game was that Christmas.
I can't was that Christmas against the Packers. It was bad,
but it felt like he had had a concussion the
previous week and they didn't check him out. I don't know.
I mean, I don't think he's one headed injury, but
(40:31):
if that is something that doesn't go away, I mean,
it happened to Keikley, but his position is obviously different
than some of these guys that you know, running backs
or linebackers. To get hit every play is the media craziness,
a setup for Dion to have an out after this
year and take the Cowboys job or another NFL job. Well,
I saw a lot of people like let's say Mike Norvel.
(40:53):
They have a terrible season, they win like five six
games in Florida State's mad at him now, granted he
just went thirteen and one. Dion's job next year. How
many games Deon gonna win? Is he gonna beat Nebraska
this Saturday? I'd imagine he does not. Is he gonna
win a lot of big twelve games? Is he beating Arizona?
(41:14):
Is he beating Oklahoma State? Is he beating Kansas or
Kansas State? Is he beating Utah? Like? What if he
goes five and seven, You're just gonna hire him? How
many games would he have to win for Jerry to
feel good about hiring You made a ball game, he
went six and six, You're to hire the guy. I
(41:35):
don't know. You know, this is not one of those
situations like you hire Jalen Brunson's dad and you get
him as a free agent, Like ultimately, shadoor I has
to go into the draft and if he's really good,
someone's gonna draft him high. I at the Cowboys a
decent So I I don't know, man, I I think
we gotta pump the brakes on Deon jumping jobs until
(41:56):
he proves he can win like seven eight games. I
mean there they're defense and he's a defensive guy. I
know he's like a CEO head coach, but he's a
defensive guy. They can't tackle a soul question for the back, well,
it's more of an idea that I need somebody to
publicly call stupid before I keep talking about it. I'll
play that role. Although I don't think tanking is a
(42:17):
massive problem in the league, I do believe most top
five draft pick teams are better than their record shows.
If you're a crappy team, there's obviously way more incentive
to be in the top three than in the six
to seven range, where you can't get a quarterback. I'm
not saying those teams are trying to lose, but there's
not much incentive to win either, especially at the end
(42:37):
of the year. Here's my solution, draft lottery, but slightly
different from the NBA. The most lottery tickets goes to
a non playoff team with the best record. They won't
get as many tickets as the top NBA pick, but
enough to give them a real shot at the number
one overall spot. However, there's still enough slice of the
(42:58):
pie tickets for the worst record to get the number
one spot. Slowly based on chance This creates a true
competition incentive to win up until the last game of
the season. And I truly believe no NFL team is
bad enough to win two or three games Carolina was
last year. I don't think it's a problem though in
(43:18):
the NFL, like teams, how often do we see The
Dolphins offered Flores allegedly one hundred K a game to lose,
and he won three of his last five games, and
it was the difference of getting Joe Burrow and they
ended up with a fifth overall pick, and he's not alone.
(43:40):
Like all these teams try extremely hard till the last moment.
It really doesn't parallel the NBA at all. Maybe you know,
obviously teams like teams rest starters week seventeen or eighteen
if they're going to the playoffs in the seating set.
But I I don't feel unless you have injuries, it's
(44:03):
an issue at all. I don't hear anyone, honestly. I
hear fans complaining the other way. It's like, guys, we
do not need to win this game. It happens all
the time. So I just think the conversation in the NBA,
it has to happen because you already hear like Winhorse, Well,
everyone's got Cooper Flagg circled. About five teams are already
(44:24):
trying to tank. It's like guys, you guys haven't even
opened up training camp. Nobody talks like that in the NFL.
I'm a diehard fan from Brazil. I visited the USA
more than a dozen times and even attended NFL games.
I heard what you said about playing a game in
Brazil on your last podcast. To be honest, if I
were an Eagles fan, indeed, I would be pissed if
the leagues took away the home game to play another
(44:47):
to play in another country, taking that out of the way. However,
most of what is being said about Brazil on the
perspective of safety is bs. Brazil is a large country,
like the US. Most of what people know of about
Brazil is about Rio. Rio is a tragedy. I don't
feel safe there either, But the game is going to
(45:07):
be hosted in sal Paulo, which isn't that bad at all.
Is violence indexes, for example, are better than Dota dot.
Philly Uh no one said, you know, uh what is it?
Is it? East Philly past Temple can get kind of sketchy.
The big issue with San Piolo has to do with pickpocketing,
(45:31):
which is also a problem in Europe. Try to attribute
the violence of one specific city in Brazil to another. Listen.
I have no geopolitical take on Brazil. Never been there.
I was just going based on one. Like you said,
they should have just played this game, whoever's home game
it was, it should have been in Lambeau or Philly.
(45:52):
And two AJ Brown's being told don't They're not allowed
to leave the hotel. So it's like, if that's the measure,
I'm with you, Like you know, most of us talking
about it. I would imagine most the overwhelming majority of
people that will watch the Eagles in America that will
(46:14):
watch the Eagles play the Packers have never been to Brazil.
I think it's more about making these teams fly eight
nine hours to a game. It just seems a little egregious.
Keep doing your thing. I like this guy already. What
about this rule change proposal? Thirty yard field goals and
then two points thirty one to sixty three points, sixty
(46:39):
plus yard field goals four points? Don't hate it? Yeah,
I'm in question for the mailbag. What does being a
scout look like, as far as day to day, are
you traveling to watch players or is it almost all digital?
Does the team assign you just scout the offense or
(47:01):
the defense or certain positions. Also, I think you could
do something like Collins Blazing five during the season. Yeah,
I don't hate that idea. We'll do that. Come. I
have Stucky on every Thursday, and maybe I'll do something Friday.
I need some fun names, so hit me with names
for either my you know heard Hierarchy, he's a great name.
(47:25):
Blazing five, He's got some good names. I'll give him that.
I struggle sometimes with that day to day. I think
as it depends, you have a region, right, so you
have like the SEC, so you would have Arkansas to Florida,
maybe up to North Carolina and kind of that region,
which is obviously all the SEC teams, you know, the
(47:47):
Appalachian State type team, some of the D one Double
A teams, and you clearly spend more time at the
Alabama's and the Georgia's than the smaller schools. But when
I was scouting and when I worked in people would
come to your school and watch tape. Now, because of
the iPad and you can download everything from talking to buddies.
(48:09):
People don't watch tape as much at the schools. A
lot of guys don't do it at all. So you
evaluate the players on your own in your hotel room
at night, you do your own reports where I think
historically a lot of people used to do that part
at the school. So you show up to the school
(48:30):
when they tell you that you can meet up with
the pro liaison, and every school has something called a
pro liaison, and a lot of the big schools now
it's either their GM or their director of football OPS.
And you basically go through all their draftable players and
he kind of goes, this is John Middlecoff. He's from Davis, California.
He's a great kid. People love him. I'd let him
(48:51):
date my daughter. Team captain, great leader, just an incredible person,
incredible player, great work ethic. Or it's like, hey, we
got this guy John Middlecoff. He's fucking driving us nuts.
He doesn't listen. He might be the most talented guy
on the team, but his study habits are shitty, you know.
He just he's had some issues around campus. Volatile individual.
(49:14):
Our strength coach says he's lazy, you know, So you
just get kind of gained that information. In some places,
if you don't know the people, they can be less
less forthcoming with information. So you got to know who
you can trust, and then you kind of make the rounds.
You go from that guy you know, to position coaches
if you can, to coordinators, to the strength coach, to
(49:37):
the trainer, to the academic advisor, and you're kind of
like a detective. You know. It's like if you're watching
one of those like murder shows, when a detective just
starts kind of working different people. It's kind of what
you're doing, just trying to accumulate information, and that's obviously separate.
You just give the guy a greade off playing, and
then you try to figure out, like Jalen Carter, everyone's
(49:59):
great on Jalen Carter as a player, was like this
guy could be the best player in the draft, but
that wasn't the work you're putting in. The work you're
putting in is like you got to get people to talk.
That's your job to be a detective, so that that's
the majority of your job, and you spend a lot
of time on campus, especially when you're talking about talented players.
(50:19):
You know, guys in the first three rounds. You better
have as much information as humanly possible. So you spend
a lot of time on campus doing that stuff. You
go to practice, you look at the bodies, you know,
you get a good feel for him. You might hell,
you might even talk to them if you see them,
you know, around the facility. And that's kind of your job.
And then you drive to the next school and do
(50:39):
it again. I mean, it's kind of monotonous. I was
telling someone the other day, oh, what oh, I was
at the gym, and I this gym that I used
to go to in Walnut Creek was pretty big locker
room and it wasn't like you couldn't even get your
own locker. Every locker was up for grabs. It just
had its own digital code. And I would kind of
(51:00):
rotate between three or four lockers. But sometimes I would
just completely forget where I put my stuff, so I'd
be like punching the code. It wasn't that lock or
punching another code. I have to go get a guy
at the front. And it happened to this guy the
other day at the gym here in Scottsdale, and I'm like,
hey man, that used to happen to me. All the time.
And then we started sharing some stories and I said,
you know, it's funny. And this guy was a pilot.
(51:21):
It's flying pj's not like American airlines. And I was like,
when I used to I didn't tell him scout, but
this job I used to have, I used to be
in a hotel every different night for like two weeks
on end. When you stay in a different hotel for
potentially eleven straight twelve straight days, by the time you
get to like your fifth or sixth room, especially if
(51:43):
there are similar properties, like if you're staying at like
basic Marriotts or spring Hill Suites or whatever, you start,
it starts messing with your mind. You're like two twelve,
and then you go to the room, You're like, no,
I'm actually in three thirty. Just you kind of get wharfed.
So it's just a lot of time, you know, eating
cliff bars, slamming coffees, and diet mountain dew and zens
(52:06):
didn't even exist. My friend zones these are great. I
would fire those things down. But back then, yeah, I'm
just eat a lot of beef jerky and subway sandwiches.
But you don't have a you evaluate every player did
I get blackballed. This was a question he had. My
question since you haven't used the dac one crying emoji.
(52:27):
If the Rams are rolling this year and Donald decides
to come out of retirement, how does that contract work?
Pretty sure this is his contract. Like what it would
have been like that he would just unretire, He would
go from the retirement and I NFI list or whatever,
and he would just come back up in. That contract
(52:48):
would kick in. And because they gave him a bunch
of guaranteed money like they're I think he's still on
the books from dead cap space. But I'm pretty sure
that's how it works. You don't have to like sign
them to a new contract. I know your take on
college football is that elite programs shouldn't be playing small
programs in the early weeks. But until they expanded the
(53:10):
college football Playoff even further, I don't think that will change.
We will have to see how this season plays out,
but I could see a few two loss teams not
making the playoff. Just take LSU and USC as an example.
Great game for the casual fan, but if you're an
LSU fan, you probably want at least one warm up
game to work out the kinks. I couldn't disagree more.
(53:34):
We will well from the two conferences that have all
the teams, we will not have a two loss team
from the Big ten or the SEC left out. Could
there be a two loss team from the ACC or
the Big twelve left out potentially, But that's why those
conferences are going to keep getting I would say combined
(53:57):
and condensed. I think it's more that the TV money
is paying for all this stuff, and the more the
ratings go up, the more TV's going to be willing
to pay. Nobody wants to see any of these teams.
Like this week, n C State is, Who's NC State
planned playing someone good? Miami? No, that's a conference game,
(54:21):
It's a game I want to watch. But Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Michigan.
Like that's what that's what the consumer wants, that news free.
The consumer is always right. The reason these ratings were
so high Nebraska, Colorado, Like, I can't be more excited
for these games. So like, if you just look at
(54:43):
the top twenty five this week, if I just bring
up the schedule, let's n CAA football, Texas Michigan, awesome game,
Penn State Bowling Green Well Bowling Green I can live
with that. To me, you're allowed to play power non
(55:03):
Power five programs. I just have an issue with playing
the D one double A programs. Oklahoma State, Arkansas real game,
k State two lane real game, Tennessee Tech, Georgia not
a real game, Utah, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Louisville, Jackson State, Ole,
(55:31):
miss MTSU. Don't quote me on this, but his MTSU A.
I don't know if that's Division one or not. Miami
Florida A and m Bama South Florida real game, Missouri
Buffalo real game, Kansas, Illinois real game. Oh, it's NC State,
(55:55):
Tennessee awesome game. Houston might suck, but Houston Oklahoma real game.
Even Clemson is playing app State sneaky hard one, Oregon,
Boise State, USC, Utah State. I am fine with USC
playing Utah State, Oregon playing Boise State. I have an
issue with USC playing UC Davis. We're Oregon playing Cal
(56:18):
paul A or Sack State. That's my issue. I know
the D one DOAA program is better on the West
coast than I do. Obviously they exist on the South,
but we kind of run it north Dakota State West.
That's all I want just real games. That's what we
all want, not that complicated. Appreciate everyone. Listen the volume
The volume. NFL Week one is here, and a new
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Speaker 1 (01:43):
What is going on everybody? The National Football League makes
its long awaited return. We got a real game. Week
one is here and we got the Chief Ravens, So
I want to celebrate that because it's been a long
time coming. It's a long offseason, you know, combine free
(02:04):
agency the draft are kind of fun. OTA's summer break
well needed, and then you get into training camp and
it's cool, Football's back, and then you kind of like
I'm ready for the real thing and it's finally here.
It always comes way faster than you realize. And we
got Chiefs Ravens, so we'll dive into some quick thoughts
on that game, and then we'll just kind of fire
(02:24):
around and do some predictions on you know, division predictions
and kind of my playoff thoughts on the year. Hard
to bet against the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl,
though it's never happened. I think, you know, they're definitely
gonna be some teams that regress. We know that happens
every year. Yeah, so I'll kind of do my power
(02:45):
five and bottom five in the NFL and then which
will change on a weekly basis, but maybe we'll change
the name. I don't love that, but I just kind
of wanted to get my mind right and as we
head into week one, and we'll do a little male
bag as well at John middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire
into those dms, easiest way to get your question answered
(03:07):
here on the show. And yeah, we're rocking and rolling, baby.
So it's great time of year. There's nothing quite like
football in the air. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. A
lot of content up there, actually going out shooting a
little golf video today which I hope to have up
there next week. Subscribe to the podcast three and Out podcasts.
If you listen on Collins feed and we're just gonna
(03:29):
keep ripping and rocking. I don't even know if that's
a saying, but we'll have a reaction after the Chiefs game.
We'll have a reaction after the Eagles Packers game. So
football is back and I'm excited. Put a smile on
my face. But before we dive in, do you want
to go to a game? College or pro? I'd highly
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This is beautiful day. It really is. My favorite part
about football season is just how different your interactions are
(04:54):
with your friends, with people you see at the gym,
people if you play a little golf, people you see
at the golf everyone's talking football and in a society
that many say in my life, everyone's pretty friendly, but
I guess it's divided out there on the streets if
you live on the internet. A lot of division football
brings people together, and it's the one thing that we
(05:15):
all have in common. Number one television show in America
for a reason. It's the only thing that we can
agree on that we can all watch. And obviously the
NFL college football, I mean was doing Georgia and Clemson
and Texas A and M and Notre Dame did NBA
finals numbers. The NFL obviously dwarfs college football in terms
(05:36):
of the amount of people that watch, and college football
is a massive, massive product in terms of interest right now,
So the amount of people that are paying attention. A
lot of people have talked about this, but I think
there is a massive growth in the NFL with women.
People like me have been watching since I don't know,
(05:57):
I can walk and talk. But the popularity this sport
has only grown. And I think one thing that separates
the NFL definitely and has really helped them lap the
other sports in terms of popularity. They're not dependent on market.
They're really not. I mean, the Chiefs clearly are not
some massive market in America. It's not Los Angeles, it's
(06:18):
not the Bay Area, it's not Chicago, it's not New York.
And yet they're the biggest brand in football right now. Now,
there are variables. They have one of the greatest coaches
of all time, they have one of the greatest quarterbacks
of all time. Their star tight end is dating. You
could argue one of the most famous women singers of
(06:38):
all time. But that's football. They're not dependent like the NBA.
For example, if Curry and Lebron aren't playing come April
and May, the NBA has got problems in terms of numbers,
and the NFL, whether the Jags and the Texans play
in the first round or whether it's Cowboys or Packers.
It's the one thing we agree on. We're gonna watch
(07:01):
and listen. It's sad we used to when I was
a kid, we didn't have as many channels. Hell, I
didn't even get cable till I was in high school.
That everyone kind of watched the same things. We all
watched the same games, we all watched the same television shows.
Now I could pull ten different people walking down the
street and they're all watching a different television show. Why
we got seven million streaming options, and I mean, I
(07:22):
have so many streaming different platforms. I can't find anything
to watch at nine thirty at night, But when football
is on, I can. And I know when I'm watching
obviously these one off games in primetime, but even come
the weekend, a lot of other people are watching it.
And that's something cool about America that we still have
in common, that we all like football. And I'm glad.
(07:45):
It's been my favorite sport to watch since I was
a little kid, had a little cup of coffee playing
in high school and have loved it ever since. And
there's not really a game, and I can't speak to HOWK,
but the combination of the studying, the practice The difference
of hockey is you only play it once a week.
(08:07):
Right in football, the lead up, the closeness you develop
with your team, the intensity of getting coached and screamed
at at every level. I mean, you go to a
pee wee practice somewhere in America and kids are getting
yelled at, and that's it might be a little different
than maybe something you would have seen in the sixties
and seventies, but you're not going to NFL in college
practice and seeing everyone holding hands and that there's just
(08:30):
an appreciation for you know, as a fan, and you
know as a consumer if you're paying for a ticket
to go to a game, that everyone's gonna play if
they physically can't, and if they're playing, they're giving you
everything they have. And that's I think all anyone can
ask for. Your team's gonna lose games. Some teams are
obviously way shittier than others, are gonna lose a lot,
(08:52):
but especially early on in the season, before teams actually
know they're bad, everyone's throwing the kitchen sink at each other.
It's just awesome. We got so many characters in this
television show that is the NFL. Obviously, the star players
led by the quarterbacks. The coaches are really really famous,
the owners are really really famous. The commissioner is famous,
(09:15):
and they all play a role in this thing that
we call the NFL, which is the number one television
show in America by a pretty wide margin for a reason.
It's incredible entertainment. There are things that people complain about.
It's not as physical. I do sometimes I miss elements
of the football I grew up on, but I'm still glued.
(09:36):
I still have a good time. And maybe I'll bitch
and moan about some calls, especially if I'm gambling on
a team and think of ref screws me. But there's
nothing I'd rather be doing on Thursday night than watching
the Chiefs Ravens Week one opening kickoff. And let's speak
of the game. The Chiefs proved last year this opening
week meant nothing to them. They lost to the Lions. Now, granted,
(09:57):
remember Kelsey was hurt during training camp and went on
to win a Super Bowl. So this game, in any
individual regular season game you are, the regular season no
longer means anything to the Chiefs. Obviously, they have to
win enough games to make the playoffs and they'll win
the division because that's what they've been doing for six
or seven straight years. But in terms of overreacting, I'm
(10:21):
done doing that. They had never played a road playoff
game till last year, and then they rattled off two
as big underdogs in Buffalo and in Kansas and in Baltimore.
So they are to me now the Kevin Durant Golden
State Warriors. They can pick their spots in the regular season.
I expect them, obviously to try in this game and
want to win it, but they are judged simply. They're
(10:43):
the only team in the league that can say this,
anything less than a Super Bowl is a devastating blow.
It sucks. It's a letdown in college football. For a
long period of time, only Alabama could say it, then
Clemson in Georgia through their hat in the ring, but
no one else in the NFL. Like obviously, losing in
the Super Bowl sucks. Ask any forty nine er fan,
(11:06):
but that was still an extremely impressive season. It sucks
to Luce. Tip your hat to Mahomes, tip your hat
to Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan. Probably you don't want
to kick off or accept the ball in overtime, but
like that is a great season the Chiefs have that
same season. It's devastating because they got three rings now
(11:26):
in the last five years, and for a reason. They
have one of the best players we've ever seen in
any sport in Patrick Mahomes. They have the best tight
end of all time. And here's the difference of this
Chiefs team than some of those early iterations, and we
saw it on full display last year. Their defense is
awesome and one of the great advantages Andy has is
(11:48):
a lot of head coaches when they have an elite coordinator,
they have to worry about losing them. It just happened
to John Harbaugh Mike McDonald after two years, like this
guy's boy, genius, best defense in the league, Boom Interviews,
Seattle hired, gone, and now they have to go with
or a thirty two year old former player who's been
coaching with them basically since twenty seventeen. But in a
(12:11):
perfect world, if John harbucket Choo's, he would just have
Mike McDonald not become a head coach and keep his
defensive coordinator and he doesn't need to worry about that.
Fair or not. Steve Spagnola is not going to become
a head coach again. So as long as Andy Reid
is there and Spags wants to just keep being an
assistant coach and make millions of dollars being the DC,
he has to keep his coordinator. So the play caller
(12:34):
is never gonna leave because that's Andy, and their defensive
coordinator is now a stal word in the operation is
not going anywhere. So enormous advantage for the Chiefs big picture.
They've proven they shipped Tyreek out boom back to back
super Bowls. Why because Veach nailed the draft, Trent McDuffie
became a stud, Chris Jones obviously was already on the squad,
and the overall defense is just really really good and
(12:56):
they're really deep at defensive back and Spags moved it
down the stretch last year. His game planning in these
big games is elite. And anytime you have a coordinator
who you feel very, very confident on in big games,
it's a huge, huge advantage. And he took Lamar and
he took Todd munkin to the woodshed. So my expectations
(13:20):
for the Chiefs. You had Xavier Worthy. I was looking
at this Tyreek Hill as a rookie. Obviously he was
a later round pick, but that was because he had
gotten a lot of trouble. He was clearly like a
top forty player. You know, he's become one of the
best players in the history of the game. But coming
out of the draft that year, just Town alone, he's
probably a top thirty forty player in that draft if
(13:42):
the character stuff, and he's become an all time great.
His rookie year, here's what he did. Sixty one catches,
almost six hundred yards and six touchdowns receiving the ball.
He had two hundred and seventy yards and three touchdowns
rushing the ball. He also had three more touchdowns. I
think two is a pump returner and one is a
kickoff returner. So as a rookie, Tyreek Hill had twelve touchdowns.
(14:07):
Now I don't expect Xavier Worthy to do that. I
think that's a little unfair. But if Xavier Worthy can
give them seven eight touchdowns, maybe six in the air,
and a couple more end rounds, you know, handoff tight plays,
that's big advantage for the Chiefs. And I think they
(14:28):
clearly lacked this guy the last couple of years since
Tyreek rightfully, so they got rid of them and they
just didn't have as much speed on the outside. Well,
you add this guy who the Chiefs are really really
high on, because I remember when I got hired in Philadelphia,
everyone just thought of DeShawn Jackson like this unreal go
route guy. He actually was a really good route runner
(14:50):
and had elite hands. So when you get a guy
who's more than just a speed guy, who can run
routes and has good ball skills slash hands, it's a great,
massive advantage when you have I don't know, the second
or third best quarterback of all time in the prime
of his career. So I expect the Chiefs to be
a lot better on offense, and they already have one
(15:10):
of the best defenses. That's where you look at the
Ravens and you go, that's one of the most devastating
playoff losses I've ever seen. It really is, And as
a kid I saw a couple. It was when the
Cowboys beat the forty nine ers. When you lose at
home in a championship game, I don't care who you're playing,
former champion, the defending champs, whatever, and you're the favorite,
(15:32):
it is the biggest kick in the nuts you can
possibly have as a fan. I'd argue losing in the
championship game at home is it's worse than going to
Super Bowl and losing. I don't think there's any worse
feeling than championship game. To go to the Super Bowl
as a favorite and losing. Now, you could argue losing
(15:53):
in the Super Bowl as a favorite as the Niners sucks.
But if he loses the underdog of all my life
watching these good Ravens teams my adult life, that has
to be I don't know. I think they had a bad,
bad loss the year before they won the Super Bowl
to Brady. I think that was twenty eleven. Ray Lewis
(16:13):
kind of gave a famous speech in the locker room
where he says, Joe, hold your head up, and he
kind of gave Joe confidence. Next year, Joe comes back,
they go in the Super Bowl run. But it doesn't
get much worse, especially given that Lamar had won the MVP. Now,
granted it was a down MVP year like his MVP
that he won years before. What was that twenty nineteen
(16:35):
was way more impressive than last year? They were that Yeah,
last year was led by the defense, one of the
great defenses of the Internet era. I mean, it was incredible,
but to lose like that, Todd, Munkin and Lamar they
thought about that moment and hopefully so if you're a
Ravens fan every single day, a lot of the day
up until the schedule came out, and then the moment
(16:57):
the schedule comes out, you find out we get these
guys game one. To me, this game is all about
the Ravens, right if the Chiefs win, of course they win.
Favorite defending champs is what they do. But it's like,
I don't know, man, this is I'm someone I'm not
gonna act like the Ravens are gonna stink because they
never do. They're just a high level operation. But I
(17:20):
think they're coming back to earth a little bit, the
days of just kicking everybody's ass. And I think I mean,
I can think of four or five blowouts against great
teams off the top of my head. I mean last year,
the two teams in the NFC Championship, the Lions and
the forty nine Ers. I don't know what the total
score of those two games were, but if I had
to guess, it'd be like, I don't know, seventy five
(17:41):
to twenty. I mean, they housed people last year. Mike
McDonald's gone, and I think the pressure on this squad,
their offensive line clearly is a little bit younger, I
think DaCosta said, because salary caps part of the world
we live in this modern day NFL. But to me,
Monk and Lamar, like, Lamar's at the point now, like,
(18:02):
what's he gonna do win another MVP? Like, yeah, he might,
and that's he's a great regular season player, but you
don't want to turn into like the James Harden version
of the NFL. Lamar is way more likable and definitely
more enjoyable to watch, but just this great regular season
player that something's off in the playoffs. We've also seen
this before Peyton Manning, and people push back, it's not true.
(18:25):
It was true. We fucking watched Peyton Manning up until
he finally got the Monkey office back on the big
comeback against the Pats in the six AFC Championship game,
look like a different human. In the playoffs, he did
not look the same. Now, some of those games were
against Belichick, so somewhat understandable, just like Lamar's like, well,
if they weren't playing the Chiefs, the Chiefs exist and
(18:47):
whether you got to go there or they come to you,
you're going through them in this modern day football. So
I'm fascinated to watch this yead Derrick Henry. I don't
know I've said this before. I close my eyes and
I try to envision Lamar and Dereck Henry. It doesn't
really feel like that's kind of a match, right, I
just I don't know. It feels like Lamar is more
(19:07):
likely to be with I don't know, more of a
scap back. Maybe that's unfair, but that's just my gut
feeling fascinated to see what it looks like. Loved watching
Derrick Henry. But to me, part of Derrick Henry is
you give him twenty carricks because the first thirteen he
may have thirty yards, and then the next two he
totaled seventy eight, and then all of a sudden you're like, damn,
(19:30):
he's already over one hundred. It's like, yeata, he started slow.
Then he just eats you alive. And is that you know?
Lamar runs a lot. I don't know. It's gonna be
fascinating to watch. So my big question is just how
Lamar and Monkin who munkin for as bad as Lamar played,
Munkin was even worse in that game, an absolute embarrassment
(19:52):
to any gambler. Josh Allen ha just ran all over
the Chiefs and then he stopped calling runs. And Lamar's
skipping passes and throwing picks in the end zone. It
was just if I'm a Ravens fan, like, this game's
cool if I'm the Chiefs, just because as long as
we've got Patrick Mahomes, like having Steph Curry, It's like,
let's just play some football, Like we're gonna see guys
(20:13):
in January. Let's just enjoy the fun. Where's the if
you're a Ravens fan, Like, can we fucking answer the bell? Guys?
I mean, what happened to us last year should be
something we never forget. Last time we had one of
those moments. I gave that Ray Lewis example. They came
back and they won a Super Bowl. So I mean,
we're just looking for Lamar to win a couple of
playoff games before we can even talk Super Bowl. And uh,
(20:34):
I don't know. I wouldn't gamble on this game, cause,
like I couldn't bet on the Ravens to take on
the Chiefs. But I'm also not a huge fan of
taking favorites week one. It just can be weird. Can't
wait to watch, can't wait to watch. Okay, let's do
(20:59):
some predictions, because that's what everyone wants to know. I
got the New York Giants win the Supernomins. Kidding, Okay,
let go. Let's just go AFC, NFC. Let's start with this. Actually,
I'll go with my power five. These are my top
top five teams in the National Football League. Obviously number
one cemented in the Chiefs. Number two also pretty easy
(21:20):
for me. The forty nine Ers number three. I'm going Detroit,
who easily could have beat the forty nine Ers in
the NFC Championship game and had already beat the Chiefs
week one. Like I think Lions are for real, I
kind of expect the Lions to be the number one
overall seed. I'm throwing the Texans in there. I'm really
(21:41):
thrown off by the AFC North if the Ravens come
back to Earth a little bit. Steelers quarterback situation, it's
hard for me to get behind Russell Wilson the Browns.
No way I can get behind Deshaun Watson. I mean,
let's face it, part of the reason they had success
last year was a guy that they refused to resign
because they didn't want to make it weird the moment
(22:02):
de Shaan suck that everyone's asking for Joe Flacco. So
I understand Miles Garrett is an all time great talent.
And the Bengals, I just I guess I'm gonna pick
them to win the division. But I don't feel great
about Burl's health. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I just
like watching the guy play, but I think the Texans
are gonna be a major problem, and I like the
(22:24):
Texans to win the division. I like the Texans to
compete with the Chiefs for the conference. I like CJ.
Stroud to be I would bet on him to be
the MVP. I think betting on them to win the
AFC or the number one seed you can get it
like eight plus eight fifty on DraftKings. I like that
to me. I struggled with the fifth. You could have
(22:46):
gone Eagles, Cowboys. I like the Cowboys more than most.
I already told you about those AFC North teams, like
I'm kind of out. I went with the Packers because
this is a little bit like a little bit of
a flyer. I mean, clearly they were good last year,
especially down the stretch. But if Jordan Love is just
a top ten quarterback this year, that offense is gonna
(23:07):
be awesome and defensively, it's just hard to be as
shitty as they've been. So I bet against them last
year and I was proven wrong simply by going who
goes from Rogers or excuse me far to Rogers to
another really good quarterback. It's like, statistically that's impossible, Like
Montana to Young de Garcia is like an all time trio,
(23:32):
probably the best of all time. How Alex Smith the
Mahomes is one of the greatest handoffs we've ever seen,
So to go from that, I just kind of believe
in Lafour as an offensive coach. He showed me a
lot last year. So I'm going with the Packers in
my top five. My bottom five is pretty easy. I
think there are some bad teams. The Pats are atrocious.
(23:54):
I mean they are they are. If they're on TV
and they're playing another non playoff team, you might not
even give that a box. They're not even worth watching.
I think Carolinea is gonna be pretty bad. I know
a lot of people are trying to zag. I still
think they're gonna be pretty terrible until proven otherwise. It's
(24:15):
hard for me to get behind a quarterback who's that tiny.
It really is. And listen, I liked them coming out
of college. I did, but when you see the visual
of the body next to other NFL players, it's pretty jarring.
The Raiders, I know they caught lightning in a bottle.
The moment they cost fired, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce
(24:37):
took over. But I just think this thing is gonna
be a disaster. I really do. There's already a lot
of buzz about DeVante getting traded. It's hard to win
when your quarterback room is Garner Minshew and Aid O'Connell.
And here's the thing. O'Connell beat the Chiefs. They literally
beat the Chiefs, who had one of the worst games
(24:59):
they've ever had in the Andy Reid era. Aidan O'Connell
did not complete a pass in the second quarter, the
third quarter, or the fourth quarter. I'd say that's a
pretty an all time fluky NFL win. Not that fluky.
The defense kicked mahomes ass. I'm just saying, how often
does a team win when that is the case, and
(25:20):
I just think the quarterback play. I'm sorry, I can't
get behind. Washington is a team so many people are
really high on. I'm not not because Adam Peters rooting
for him like them. Jayden Daniels clearly a big time talent.
Their rosters just not very good and they're gonna be
depending on a lot of young players. Cowboys and Eagles
are good. I think the hype on this thing, I
(25:40):
understand it because it's exciting, but I don't see it.
I don't see it at all. I think they are
competing to be a top five drafting team with positivity,
like you can still draft in the top five and
have a lot of moments with the quarterback. To me,
that's the best case scenario. You'd rather win four games
(26:00):
then win seven. What would a seven and ten do
for you? Four gets you in the mix to get
a sweet player in the draft, and then next year, boom,
your eight or nine wins. But they got a long
way to go. The kid's gonna be running for his life,
and you know, I kinda it's hard. I mean, there
are a lot of teams that kind of feel that
six to seven win games that's kind of the Giants
to me. I don't think they're as bad as those
(26:22):
teams I just listed, but I think when Daniel Jones
is your quarterback, it's just hard to win. So their
defense should be pretty solid. Obviously, my league neighbors is
a hard player not to like. But over the course
of the season, I'm just out on Daniel Jones. I mean,
somehow they won nine games. He threw fifteen touchdowns two
years ago. When you look at divisions, the Bills easiest
(26:44):
pick on the board, Like, you couldn't pay me to
pick Miami after last year, and they're worst. Obviously the Jets,
I mean, at any moment, a couple injuries, see you,
and the Pats suck. I had waffled back and forth
on the AFC North thinking, you know, like go with
the Colts, and then one morning during the preseason, flipped
(27:06):
on NFL Network and the culture plan playing the Bengals.
Maybe I forget other Bears, forget the game. But Anthy
Richards started, so I'm like, okay, and he's just throwing
a hundred mile an hour fast balls two guys that
were within a ten yard radius of them, and it's like,
this is gonna be a pretty big work in progress
for Shane Ssych who's an excellent coach, and I think
(27:28):
if he can just corral him like he did Jalen
Hurts a couple of years ago. Not might not be
an MVP candidate right away, but you can make the playoffs.
But it's hard for me to pick you to win
the division when the Texans have a quarterback who dominates
from within the pocket tank. Dell's a stud Nico Collins.
If you don't know about him, you're gonna know about
him fast. And I just think they're gonna be excellent
(27:51):
to me. Demiko's just one of those guys. He was
just meant to win, and that's what the guy does.
He won as a player, he's won as an assistant coach.
He won immediately as a head coach. Everyone around him
wants to either promote him as a team captain. They
want to promote him from a position coach to a coordinator,
from a coordinator to a head coach. He's just a
(28:11):
rocket ship, and I don't bet against rocket ships. I'm
telling you, I think the Texans, if that defense can
come along and these offensive skill guys, can take the
next step. I think they're a sleeper to compete with
the Chiefs to win the AFC the North's really hard
for me. I went the Bengals. I don't feel great
about this. If them, probably the Bengals and the Ravens
(28:33):
or the playoff teams from that division. Steelers are always winning.
I'm shorten them this season. I don't think they're gonna
be terrible, but maybe this is the year that they
go eight to nine, not nine to eight or ten
and seven. And then obviously the AFC North. You don't
even need or excuse me, the AFC West. Do we
even need to talk about it. It's not who's gonna
win the division. We know who's gonna win the division.
(28:54):
I think the question mark is could the Chargers or
the Broncos make the playoffs? And rowing these bets out right, Denver,
you get six to one to make the playoffs, the
Chargers were asleep. I think like four or five to
one to make the playoffs. If you can find a
way to parlay Chargers or the Broncos to make the playoffs,
I think one of those two teams makes it. Now,
(29:15):
anytime you got a rookie quarterback, there could be ups
and downs. Love them, Love the Broncos. Week one, get
six points on the road in Seattle. But I think
one of those two teams make it. Look around the AFC,
Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh are two of the best
coaches in the conference, hell in the league. If you
did a coach draft from scratch, I mean, Jim Harbass
(29:37):
probably going in the top four or five. Sean Payton
just because a little bigger, you know, kind of a
little crazier, likes a little more power, still going in
the top ten. So this is a coaching quarterback league.
We know Herbert's a good player, and if bo Nicks
becomes a good player like him as offensive rookie the
year ten to one, it's gonna work. When I look
(29:58):
at the NFC East, I've gone back and forth. I'm
pro both the teams. I think we see what we've
seen the last couple of years. They're both good, and
the other two teams in the division just aren't good.
And what we've seen when the Eagles and Cowboys play
each other, games are really close, games are really fun.
I ended up going just I guess a little counterculture.
(30:20):
Everyone's picking the Eagles. I like the Eagles. I think
whoever doesn't win this division is more than likely the
fifth seed in the playoffs, so probably playing my Saints.
But I went with Dallas, and I think he's gonna
be close, come down in the last couple of weeks.
But I think Dallas one advantage they have over the
(30:41):
Eagles because this matters to me, who's your coach, who's
your quarterback? Well, what coach do you like? More macarthy
or Sirianni? Well? I see McCarthy rattling off twelve wins
every year for Dallas, and now he calls place and
unlike Sirianni, he's proven he can call the place now.
I like Kellen Moore a lot too. The dynamics there.
It can just get i lived in Philly for a
(31:03):
couple of years. I've seen how weird things get for
the Eagles. It's just it's hard now their talent top
to bottom roster. I'd probably lean the Eagles, But Cowboys coaching.
The other thing is Cowboys. Eagles draft well. Cowboys draft
well too, Like they have a long history. Said what
about their running backs? Guys, this isn't nineteen eighty nine.
(31:24):
They were not depending on you know, Walter Payton and
Barry Sanders to carry my franchise passing league. You can
go who are their extra wide receivers? But I like Ferguson.
And here's the other thing, Mike Zimmer. So you lose
Dan Quinn, which in theory can be a big blow.
He was excellent beside the playoff game for the Cowboys,
but like Mike Zimmer's kind of a big time. I
think they're gonna be okay. So I gave the Cowboys
(31:47):
the slight edge. Also like the Eagles to make the playoffs.
And this is a division that the NFC South every
one of their mother's picking Atlanta. I'm sorry, I'm not.
I said I think the best value you you could
argue in the entire NFL is the Saints. They went
nine to eight last year. They hired a real offensive
coordinator this year. Their defense is really really good, and
(32:11):
the division is not great. Like everyone annoying thing in Atlanta,
like their Belichick and Brady, give me a fucking break.
I like Cousins, he's gotten a lot better, but for
a lot of his careers like this, Kirk Cousins, what's
his deal? And now we're just annoying him, like signing
Peyton Manning or something. It's a good signing for them.
They didn't have a choice, but they also used a
first round pick if someone that's not even gonna play,
(32:34):
So they had a top ten pick and they get
nothing out of it in theory if Cousins keeps playing.
So I like the Saints. I've liked the Saints for
a long time, and I like them even stronger now.
And everyone that wants to short short the Saints, I
don't know. Maybe I'm high on drugs. We'll find out,
but I like the Saints a lot and then a
lot Like the Cowboys and the Packers, I think there's
(32:55):
a little bit more separation here, Like I think the
net Lions or the clear pick for me to win
the division, but I think like whoever doesn't win it
out of Dallas in Philly, I like the Packers right there,
you know, as a five to six seed, So I
think the Packers if Jordan Love is really good. The
one thing the difference of Dallas and Philly, Like if
Jordan Love looks like he did the last eight games,
(33:16):
I'm taking Jordan Love over Daker Jalen ERDs without question.
And in theory he's more talented than Jared Goff, but
the way Jared what Jared Goff has in that offensive
line and those skill guys, I mean, Jared Goff's top
ten quarterback in the NFL. So if their defense, especially
the secondary, is better than it was last year, I mean,
I think Lion's can win the Super Bowl. So that's
(33:38):
just you got to see it play out. But I
would expect Adon Hudchinson to have a massive, massive season,
I mean massive year, and I think we end up
looking back and go, why didn't he go number one overall?
How did that happen? And then the NFC West, I'm
picking the Niners. I think it's pretty simple. Kyle Shanahan
(34:00):
has in that defense, has owned Geno Smith, beat him
five straight times. Obviously McVeigh got him in the biggest
game they ever played, in the NFC Championship. But Kyle
owns McVeigh and you know, Kyler's tough. But you're talking
a team that's gonna go four and two, five and
one in the division, like the Niners are winning it again.
You know now they have It's funny they have one
(34:23):
of the oldest teams in the NFL. It's like twenty
seven point one years old, right, and then like the
fourteenth oldest team, so like you cut it in half,
is like twenty six point one. So I've been twenty six,
I've been twenty seven. There's no difference. Now. If you
want to say Trent wins thirty six, that's fair. George
(34:45):
Kittle's thirty A lot of wear and tear. That's those
two individual players. But deebo I Yuku, you know, McCaffrey
has been pretty healthy since he's been a forty nine er.
And Fred Warner like a keep an eye on a
guy named Diamadoor or Leonora. He is going to become
(35:05):
a star corner this year. Tarvarius like, they have the
difference to me between them and the Rams. Obviously, if
Stafford is humming, he is a better player than Party
but one. Stafford is pretty hit or miss in terms
of like he can be really streaky. He can have
like two or three weeks where he leads the league interceptions,
(35:25):
and they're very, very dependent on some young guys. I
like Jared Vers, I think Braydon Fisk, the defensive tackle
that obviously Florida State misses those two guys, but like
pretty dependent on some young guys. You know you lose.
I don't know someone pretty important. Well, oh, Aaron Donald.
Aaron Donald. Now I like the Rams to make the playoffs.
(35:45):
I think, to me, Eagles, Cowboys, Lions, Packers, Niners, Rams.
That's division winners and the wildcards. But I think a
lot of people there's still some question marks with the MS.
I think there are less question marks with the forty
nine ers, and then just based on their success in
the division against the people, I feel pretty good about it.
(36:07):
So I think the two wild card teams in the
AFC and NFC. For the AFC, it's the Colts. As
we talked about, just what does Anthony Richardson look like?
If you could tell me he has games where he
throws for four touchdowns and runs for another two, and
you can tell me he has games where he throws
five interceptions, I don't know. And he's probably gonna have
(36:28):
some of those games like you just see Anthony Richardson
bust off a seventy yard run and then he's gonna
have a game like did Anthony Richardson just throw back
to back passes that were pick sixes? And how they
balance that because they do have a really talented team.
Their defense is gonna be good, I think, but I
don't know. I don't know what to expect, and I
think the Bears are another team. The hype on them
is outrageous. Everybody and their mother is gonna bet on them.
(36:50):
I would imagine Week one against the Titans me not
because I don't like the Bears, just because I think
Week ones we gotta pump the brakes a little bit.
The hype is pretty nuts. But to me, the Bears
can be a really really solid eight to nine win team,
or if Caleb just has the CJ. Stroud type year,
because their defense is good, because the weapons they have
(37:10):
on offense, they could win eleven games. But I think
that I don't know, and it's never as easy for
rookie quarterbacks as we think it's gonna be. Given the hype.
What CJ. Stroud did, what Andrew Luck did typically doesn't happen.
Doesn't mean it can't with Caleb. I definitely think that
with Jayden, like everyone wants to pump the brakes a
little bit, doesn't mean they're not gonna have great games,
doesn't mean they can't win like Week one, but over
(37:32):
the course of a season, every single week seeing good
teams game. The more film that gets out of about you,
the more they know what you know, your weaknesses are
and force you to that this is no one's going
to class in this league. No one's fucking going to
study hall, the study halls in the meeting room twenty
(37:53):
four to seven, three sixty five. These coaches are getting
paid millions of dollars. It is just really really hard
for young players, especially ones with the weight of the
world on their shoulders. And Caleb's I think he's an
impressive guy, and I think Ryan Poles has done a
great job. But it's gonna be really really intense, especially
given their division, Like the Lions are fucking good. The
(38:17):
Packers have been winning for thirty years. You know, It's
just it's hard. It's like Caleb save us, which I understand.
I don't blame any Bears fan for saying that, but
I think they could have a positive like next three years,
and this year doesn't go win lost record as well
as people think, and overall this is just a home
(38:37):
run kind of you know, team building exercise for the team,
like in two years, Like damn, the Bears are really good.
But I just think we're kinda Sometimes you gotta walk
before you run, and I feel like we've put the
cart in front of the horse, like Bears super Bowl contender,
or could the Bears win the division? Like I don't know,
they got a rookie quarterback. You know how difficult that is,
(38:58):
even if this is one of the best situas ever
for a rookie tour. When you're playing, you could argue
that it's the best division in football. So buckle up, baby, Okay,
let's dive it in the mailbag at John Middlecoff is
(39:19):
the Instagram firing those dms get questions answered here on
the show. A lot of you guys are firing in there.
I try to get to everybody I can. Instagram makes
it a little weird too. You know, it's not really
in an Excel spreadsheet. But I try my best. I
honestly do. We'll start with Austin two questions for the mailbag.
Are we still one head injury away from Tua being
(39:42):
done with football? I'll just answer that question. I don't know.
I mean, I'm never like one of these media guys
like it's no football for him. Guy wants to play football.
It's his choice, it's his life. He's a grown up.
He's getting paid a lot of money. If he got
a concussion, I would imagine he would just go into
the proto call and if he cleared, didn't come back.
So now the reaction by the Big Jays would.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Be like, this is not right.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
He doesn't care what they think, and listen, I'm not
I'm the doctor. Obviously. You know the way that he
got knocked out in that one game was that Christmas.
I can't was that Christmas against the Packers. It was bad,
but it felt like he had had a concussion the
previous week and they didn't check him out. I don't know.
I mean, I don't think he's one headed injury, but
(40:31):
if that is something that doesn't go away, I mean,
it happened to Keikley, but his position is obviously different
than some of these guys that you know, running backs
or linebackers. To get hit every play is the media craziness,
a setup for Dion to have an out after this
year and take the Cowboys job or another NFL job. Well,
I saw a lot of people like let's say Mike Norvel.
(40:53):
They have a terrible season, they win like five six
games in Florida State's mad at him now, granted he
just went thirteen and one. Dion's job next year. How
many games Deon gonna win? Is he gonna beat Nebraska
this Saturday? I'd imagine he does not. Is he gonna
win a lot of big twelve games? Is he beating Arizona?
(41:14):
Is he beating Oklahoma State? Is he beating Kansas or
Kansas State? Is he beating Utah? Like? What if he
goes five and seven, You're just gonna hire him? How
many games would he have to win for Jerry to
feel good about hiring You made a ball game, he
went six and six, You're to hire the guy. I
(41:35):
don't know. You know, this is not one of those
situations like you hire Jalen Brunson's dad and you get
him as a free agent, Like ultimately, shadoor I has
to go into the draft and if he's really good,
someone's gonna draft him high. I at the Cowboys a
decent So I I don't know, man, I I think
we gotta pump the brakes on Deon jumping jobs until
(41:56):
he proves he can win like seven eight games. I
mean there they're defense and he's a defensive guy. I
know he's like a CEO head coach, but he's a
defensive guy. They can't tackle a soul question for the back, well,
it's more of an idea that I need somebody to
publicly call stupid before I keep talking about it. I'll
play that role. Although I don't think tanking is a
(42:17):
massive problem in the league, I do believe most top
five draft pick teams are better than their record shows.
If you're a crappy team, there's obviously way more incentive
to be in the top three than in the six
to seven range, where you can't get a quarterback. I'm
not saying those teams are trying to lose, but there's
not much incentive to win either, especially at the end
(42:37):
of the year. Here's my solution, draft lottery, but slightly
different from the NBA. The most lottery tickets goes to
a non playoff team with the best record. They won't
get as many tickets as the top NBA pick, but
enough to give them a real shot at the number
one overall spot. However, there's still enough slice of the
(42:58):
pie tickets for the worst record to get the number
one spot. Slowly based on chance This creates a true
competition incentive to win up until the last game of
the season. And I truly believe no NFL team is
bad enough to win two or three games Carolina was
last year. I don't think it's a problem though in
(43:18):
the NFL, like teams, how often do we see The
Dolphins offered Flores allegedly one hundred K a game to lose,
and he won three of his last five games, and
it was the difference of getting Joe Burrow and they
ended up with a fifth overall pick, and he's not alone.
(43:40):
Like all these teams try extremely hard till the last moment.
It really doesn't parallel the NBA at all. Maybe you know,
obviously teams like teams rest starters week seventeen or eighteen
if they're going to the playoffs in the seating set.
But I I don't feel unless you have injuries, it's
(44:03):
an issue at all. I don't hear anyone, honestly. I
hear fans complaining the other way. It's like, guys, we
do not need to win this game. It happens all
the time. So I just think the conversation in the NBA,
it has to happen because you already hear like Winhorse, Well,
everyone's got Cooper Flagg circled. About five teams are already
(44:24):
trying to tank. It's like guys, you guys haven't even
opened up training camp. Nobody talks like that in the NFL.
I'm a diehard fan from Brazil. I visited the USA
more than a dozen times and even attended NFL games.
I heard what you said about playing a game in
Brazil on your last podcast. To be honest, if I
were an Eagles fan, indeed, I would be pissed if
the leagues took away the home game to play another
(44:47):
to play in another country, taking that out of the way. However,
most of what is being said about Brazil on the
perspective of safety is bs. Brazil is a large country,
like the US. Most of what people know of about
Brazil is about Rio. Rio is a tragedy. I don't
feel safe there either, But the game is going to
(45:07):
be hosted in sal Paulo, which isn't that bad at all.
Is violence indexes, for example, are better than Dota dot.
Philly Uh no one said, you know, uh what is it?
Is it? East Philly past Temple can get kind of sketchy.
The big issue with San Piolo has to do with pickpocketing,
(45:31):
which is also a problem in Europe. Try to attribute
the violence of one specific city in Brazil to another. Listen.
I have no geopolitical take on Brazil. Never been there.
I was just going based on one. Like you said,
they should have just played this game, whoever's home game
it was, it should have been in Lambeau or Philly.
(45:52):
And two AJ Brown's being told don't They're not allowed
to leave the hotel. So it's like, if that's the measure,
I'm with you, Like you know, most of us talking
about it. I would imagine most the overwhelming majority of
people that will watch the Eagles in America that will
(46:14):
watch the Eagles play the Packers have never been to Brazil.
I think it's more about making these teams fly eight
nine hours to a game. It just seems a little egregious.
Keep doing your thing. I like this guy already. What
about this rule change proposal? Thirty yard field goals and
then two points thirty one to sixty three points, sixty
(46:39):
plus yard field goals four points? Don't hate it? Yeah,
I'm in question for the mailbag. What does being a
scout look like, as far as day to day, are
you traveling to watch players or is it almost all digital?
Does the team assign you just scout the offense or
(47:01):
the defense or certain positions. Also, I think you could
do something like Collins Blazing five during the season. Yeah,
I don't hate that idea. We'll do that. Come. I
have Stucky on every Thursday, and maybe I'll do something Friday.
I need some fun names, so hit me with names
for either my you know heard Hierarchy, he's a great name.
(47:25):
Blazing five, He's got some good names. I'll give him that.
I struggle sometimes with that day to day. I think
as it depends, you have a region, right, so you
have like the SEC, so you would have Arkansas to Florida,
maybe up to North Carolina and kind of that region,
which is obviously all the SEC teams, you know, the
(47:47):
Appalachian State type team, some of the D one Double
A teams, and you clearly spend more time at the
Alabama's and the Georgia's than the smaller schools. But when
I was scouting and when I worked in people would
come to your school and watch tape. Now, because of
the iPad and you can download everything from talking to buddies.
(48:09):
People don't watch tape as much at the schools. A
lot of guys don't do it at all. So you
evaluate the players on your own in your hotel room
at night, you do your own reports where I think
historically a lot of people used to do that part
at the school. So you show up to the school
(48:30):
when they tell you that you can meet up with
the pro liaison, and every school has something called a
pro liaison, and a lot of the big schools now
it's either their GM or their director of football OPS.
And you basically go through all their draftable players and
he kind of goes, this is John Middlecoff. He's from Davis, California.
He's a great kid. People love him. I'd let him
(48:51):
date my daughter. Team captain, great leader, just an incredible person,
incredible player, great work ethic. Or it's like, hey, we
got this guy John Middlecoff. He's fucking driving us nuts.
He doesn't listen. He might be the most talented guy
on the team, but his study habits are shitty, you know.
He just he's had some issues around campus. Volatile individual.
(49:14):
Our strength coach says he's lazy, you know, So you
just get kind of gained that information. In some places,
if you don't know the people, they can be less
less forthcoming with information. So you got to know who
you can trust, and then you kind of make the rounds.
You go from that guy you know, to position coaches
if you can, to coordinators, to the strength coach, to
(49:37):
the trainer, to the academic advisor, and you're kind of
like a detective. You know. It's like if you're watching
one of those like murder shows, when a detective just
starts kind of working different people. It's kind of what
you're doing, just trying to accumulate information, and that's obviously separate.
You just give the guy a greade off playing, and
then you try to figure out, like Jalen Carter, everyone's
(49:59):
great on Jalen Carter as a player, was like this
guy could be the best player in the draft, but
that wasn't the work you're putting in. The work you're
putting in is like you got to get people to talk.
That's your job to be a detective, so that that's
the majority of your job, and you spend a lot
of time on campus, especially when you're talking about talented players.
(50:19):
You know, guys in the first three rounds. You better
have as much information as humanly possible. So you spend
a lot of time on campus doing that stuff. You
go to practice, you look at the bodies, you know,
you get a good feel for him. You might hell,
you might even talk to them if you see them,
you know, around the facility. And that's kind of your job.
And then you drive to the next school and do
(50:39):
it again. I mean, it's kind of monotonous. I was
telling someone the other day, oh, what oh, I was
at the gym, and I this gym that I used
to go to in Walnut Creek was pretty big locker
room and it wasn't like you couldn't even get your
own locker. Every locker was up for grabs. It just
had its own digital code. And I would kind of
(51:00):
rotate between three or four lockers. But sometimes I would
just completely forget where I put my stuff, so I'd
be like punching the code. It wasn't that lock or
punching another code. I have to go get a guy
at the front. And it happened to this guy the
other day at the gym here in Scottsdale, and I'm like,
hey man, that used to happen to me. All the time.
And then we started sharing some stories and I said,
you know, it's funny. And this guy was a pilot.
(51:21):
It's flying pj's not like American airlines. And I was like,
when I used to I didn't tell him scout, but
this job I used to have, I used to be
in a hotel every different night for like two weeks
on end. When you stay in a different hotel for
potentially eleven straight twelve straight days, by the time you
get to like your fifth or sixth room, especially if
(51:43):
there are similar properties, like if you're staying at like
basic Marriotts or spring Hill Suites or whatever, you start,
it starts messing with your mind. You're like two twelve,
and then you go to the room, You're like, no,
I'm actually in three thirty. Just you kind of get wharfed.
So it's just a lot of time, you know, eating
cliff bars, slamming coffees, and diet mountain dew and zens
(52:06):
didn't even exist. My friend zones these are great. I
would fire those things down. But back then, yeah, I'm
just eat a lot of beef jerky and subway sandwiches.
But you don't have a you evaluate every player did
I get blackballed. This was a question he had. My
question since you haven't used the dac one crying emoji.
(52:27):
If the Rams are rolling this year and Donald decides
to come out of retirement, how does that contract work?
Pretty sure this is his contract. Like what it would
have been like that he would just unretire, He would
go from the retirement and I NFI list or whatever,
and he would just come back up in. That contract
(52:48):
would kick in. And because they gave him a bunch
of guaranteed money like they're I think he's still on
the books from dead cap space. But I'm pretty sure
that's how it works. You don't have to like sign
them to a new contract. I know your take on
college football is that elite programs shouldn't be playing small
programs in the early weeks. But until they expanded the
(53:10):
college football Playoff even further, I don't think that will change.
We will have to see how this season plays out,
but I could see a few two loss teams not
making the playoff. Just take LSU and USC as an example.
Great game for the casual fan, but if you're an
LSU fan, you probably want at least one warm up
game to work out the kinks. I couldn't disagree more.
(53:34):
We will well from the two conferences that have all
the teams, we will not have a two loss team
from the Big ten or the SEC left out. Could
there be a two loss team from the ACC or
the Big twelve left out potentially, But that's why those
conferences are going to keep getting I would say combined
(53:57):
and condensed. I think it's more that the TV money
is paying for all this stuff, and the more the
ratings go up, the more TV's going to be willing
to pay. Nobody wants to see any of these teams.
Like this week, n C State is, Who's NC State
planned playing someone good? Miami? No, that's a conference game,
(54:21):
It's a game I want to watch. But Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Michigan.
Like that's what that's what the consumer wants, that news free.
The consumer is always right. The reason these ratings were
so high Nebraska, Colorado, Like, I can't be more excited
for these games. So like, if you just look at
(54:43):
the top twenty five this week, if I just bring
up the schedule, let's n CAA football, Texas Michigan, awesome game,
Penn State Bowling Green Well Bowling Green I can live
with that. To me, you're allowed to play power non
(55:03):
Power five programs. I just have an issue with playing
the D one double A programs. Oklahoma State, Arkansas real game,
k State two lane real game, Tennessee Tech, Georgia not
a real game, Utah, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Louisville, Jackson State, Ole,
(55:31):
miss MTSU. Don't quote me on this, but his MTSU A.
I don't know if that's Division one or not. Miami
Florida A and m Bama South Florida real game, Missouri
Buffalo real game, Kansas, Illinois real game. Oh, it's NC State,
(55:55):
Tennessee awesome game. Houston might suck, but Houston Oklahoma real game.
Even Clemson is playing app State sneaky hard one, Oregon,
Boise State, USC, Utah State. I am fine with USC
playing Utah State, Oregon playing Boise State. I have an
issue with USC playing UC Davis. We're Oregon playing Cal
(56:18):
paul A or Sack State. That's my issue. I know
the D one DOAA program is better on the West
coast than I do. Obviously they exist on the South,
but we kind of run it north Dakota State West.
That's all I want just real games. That's what we
all want, not that complicated. Appreciate everyone. Listen the volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.