3 & Out - Jets-49ers Reaction, QB Play in Week 1, Cowboys owned Sunday - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:57):
What is going on, every buddy, Happy Monday Night Football.
This is John Middlecoff three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone
is doing well and better than the Jets Robert Sala
Aaron Rodgers, and hopefully we're doing as well as the
forty nine ers who absolutely shellack, shove around destroy the

(02:21):
New York Jets to night. That was a beatdown physically,
mentally and on the scoreboard. Forty nine Ers win and
the Jets hype comes to a crashing halt. So I
want to dive in game ball. Obviously, Jordan Mason will
dive into that. The forty nine ers kind of flex
their muscles. I think you're gonna hear a lot of

(02:43):
positive spin on how Aaron Rodgers looks. Obviously, his arm
still looks normal. But I saw something the night that
made me pretty concerned and is a pretty big red
flag for the guy that I think we came to
know over the years. A style of play which I
I think it's heir to say, it's kind of gone,
which is a big picture problem for the Jets that

(03:04):
had high hopes which I don't really see. And then
I also wanted to do thanks to a listener who
gave me an idea, a little penthouse in the outhouse.
What teams I would put in Middlecop's penhouse. Obviously there
are a couple that have to go in the outhouse
because we saw some stinkers on Sunday, that's for sure.

(03:25):
We did a podcast yesterday reacting the Sunday night game
I went on with Colin. You can find that as
well as Yeah, this podcast, So make sure you subscribe
if you listen on Collins Feed to three and out.
Make sure you go subscribe to the YouTube page. I
got a shot a golf video last week. I got
my guy Luis working on it right now, so hopefully

(03:45):
that'll be out relatively soon. I'll keep you updated when
that comes out. An opportunity for some birdies. Couldn't make
a putt. But other than that, yeah, we're rocking and rolling.
But first, I knew a lot of people at the
game tonight. I don't want to say I had because
there's it's hard to beat from your own couch, but
I've been to a lot of games at Levi's, several

(04:05):
Monday night games. Anyone listening that's been to a Monday
night football game, especially for your squad, they are always
a lot of fun. There's always a lot of anticipation
all day Monday when you know your roll into the game.
Especially us on the West Coast get you know, if
you get to leave work a little bit earlier. For
those of you guys on the East coast, shoot even
get there the game doesn't I've lived at Philly. Games
will kick off to eight fifteen. Don't know how you
do it, but college pro concerts tennis match. I saw

(04:29):
Taylor Swift and the mahomes is at the US Open.
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(04:52):
code John John for twenty dollars off. Download the game
Time app today, last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. It's
funny hype, and I buy into it. Sometimes. I'm a fan.
I get excited. I love sports, so I never have
a problem with people being excited. But you see it

(05:13):
in football all the time, and certain brands and a
lot of people are tweeting me, why do the Jets
get so much hype? In My first take always is well,
a large percentage of the media is based in that
area and they would love for the Jets to be good.
Yet in this offseason, and listen, I probably overreacted a
little bit because the Niners had multiple holdouts of the

(05:35):
McCaffrey injury is very concerning. We'll dive into a second.
Everyone's like the Niners, they're done. And then they play
the Jets and they absolutely thoroughly work them. They kicked
their ass quick game ball. Maybe we'll start doing some
game balls on Monday night. Christian McCaffrey is inactive a

(05:56):
couple hours before the game with a calf slash achille,
which is very, very scary. Anytime that Achilles pops up
on injury reports. I always look at those and listen.
I'm not a doctor. It just was nag business major
and barely listened in school. Is that it feels like
and I saw it last year with Dre Greenlaw. I
remember Richard Sherman with Seattle. It pops up, it pops up,

(06:17):
and then it goes. But I've been singing this guy's
praises because I've watched him in practice for two years.
And Kyle at the halftime was like, we've been using
this guy a lot the last couple of years. No,
you haven't, Kyle. This guy's really really good. And he
destroyed the Jets. I mean he looked like and we
talked about this last night with the Rams, the mark

(06:37):
of a really good team and a really good culture,
like good teams have great players. You look at the
Chiefs like Travis Kelcey, Chris Jones, Patrick Mahomes, Trent McDuffie.
But what happens when one of those guys gets hurt?
What happens when one of your consistent stalwart starters is
not around? What's the backup look like? And the good

(06:57):
teams usually the backup looks like high levels starters. Why
because to compete in the organization, to operate in the operation,
you gotta be really good at football. You got to
take it seriously, not just on the practice field, in
terms of training, in terms of your mental work. This summer,
Jordan Mason one reason that I think Kyle wouldn't put

(07:18):
him on the field because there were a lot of
question marks. Could he catch the ball? What did he do?
He spent like four thousand dollars on a jugs machine?
Who did he have shooting balls? His mother now tonight.
They didn't really need him to catch the ball because
he ran it right down your throat. And one of
the best part about Kyle's run scheme and the Shanahan's,
including Kubiak, who I include as a Shanahan family member,

(07:39):
nobody schemes would run better because when they get you
off balance in the zone running scheme. Obviously Trent Williams
has the power to shove you around, but you don't
need powerful offensive linemen. It's about positional blocking and then
the running back chooses where to go. It's why when
you get a great player like a Christian McCaffrey in

(08:00):
that scheme, they can dominate. I remember when I got
to the league and the Houston Texans were leading the
league in rushing. Aaron Foster was unreal in that scheme,
and you saw Jordan Mason. You gotta do two things
to play for Kyle. Run downhill at a physical pace
and know the hole to hit. And he was doing
that all night long, breaking tackles, running through guys, running hard,

(08:21):
running with very good instincts. When a little gap hit,
he hit it. And you don't dance around. Dancing in
the zone scheme is death, and he didn't do it.
So twenty eight carries one hundred and forty seven yards
a touchdown, replacing not just one of the best players
on the team, but one of the best players on
the league. And let's face it, like one of the

(08:42):
question marks is who knows when we're gonna see Christian
McCaffrey again, because, as Adam Scheffer said on the pregame,
he's not gonna play. But the best part about being
a well run organization and drafting good players developing good players.
Jordan Mason is an undrafted free agent, is yeah, he
might have to play for a long time. And you
know what he'll do if he can stay on the field,
He'll run for fourteen hundred yards. So congrat to Jordan Mason,

(09:05):
who I've give him the game ball. I'm sure Kyle
and the team will give him the game ball. He
embarrassed the Jets, who will dive into in a second,
and the pretty conversation is never gonna die. But how
can you watch that guy play? Beside one bad drive
to night he was excellent. Do you watch how calm
he is in the pocket? Look how many guys and

(09:29):
I'm not even gonna count the rookies, it's unfair to
put them in, but look how many starting quarterbacks who
have played in the NFL for a long time get
so skittish in the pocket, who quickly run around when
they don't have to. And you watch him, you just
see a calm, collected confident player, and I don't understand
the conversation, like, can't it just kind of die? Can't

(09:50):
we just acknowledge Party is one of the better quarterbacks
in the NFL. He's been awesome for the forty nine ers,
and I thought, for the most part, he was awesome tonight.
If Brandon Ayuk, I don't know, if he was working
on his diving catches during his holdout hold in but
doesn't drop the ball in the corner of the end

(10:11):
zone perty STATLEI would have looked even better. I thought
Party was fantastic. Debo was a man amongst boys. Fred
Warner is to me the best linebacker in the league.
I've been talking about their secondary. It's awesome. They have
two legitimate corners. Most good teams have one. They have two,
Tarvarius Ward and now Leonore. Their safety plays good, Their

(10:34):
defensive line is good. The Jets defense is all I
hear from the media, the Jets defense. The Jets defense bullshit.
You saw one real defense and you saw one overhype defense.
The Jets have good players, but are they a good unit?
The Niners are both. They have good players, and they've
been a good unit now for like five straight years.

(10:56):
So they have a really good quarterback, they have an
elite play They have replaceable players like oh, who's this guy? Oh,
Juwan Jennings seventh round pick, one of the better third
wide receivers in the league, Deebo Samuel Christian McCaffrey's out,
Jordan Mason needs to blow. Oh, he can just play
running back. Oh. They also have George Kittle, Trent Williams,
who's really big right now and needs to get back

(11:17):
in shape, but the best left tackle in the league.
That's a loaded team and one question mark, honestly they
had last year was their third round kicker who was
extremely erratic and what was he doing tonight? Splitting the uprights.
He actually almost missed the one, but it was like
a baby cut on the right fairway. They just came
right in to the left side of the fairway. It worked,

(11:38):
hit the upright boom scored. I think had a bunch
of field goals night out of the box score in
front of me. But he was automatic and he saw
one of the best teams in the league. I'd argue
the second best team in the league. There are two
teams to me, clearly on their own tier. They both
dominate their conference now for several years, and the forty
nine Ers, like the Chiefs, looked every bit as good
as they've been. And it'll all come down two key

(12:00):
players staying healthy. It's football. Guys are gonna get banged up.
And I think the only big big picture question mark
right now with the forty nine Ers is Christian McCaffrey.
And is that Achilles gonna go? Is it just the
calf and the Achilles are working together and something's just
a little weird and off and it's gonna be okay.
I'm pretty concerned, But I think the bright side as

(12:20):
when you watch tonight, and this is what good teams do,
specifically the Shanahan family is their backup running running back
can immediately be inserted and dominate. Now. Are the Jets
a top five defense? I don't think so, but they're
definitely pretty solid. And the Niners shove them around the night,
absolutely ragged all them up and down the field. So

(12:43):
a lot of people are down on this team. A
lot of people want to question the quarterback. All they
do is keep winning. I mean they just rattle off
win after win after win after win. I don't know
what else to say. Like sometimes it's not pretty. Sometimes
they do some weird stuff, but a whole shit do
they win a lot. And the other thing they have
guys their physicality, And this goes to John Lynch and

(13:07):
the scouting staff, the type guys they draft. Who are
the guys laying on the ground to night after big hits.
There was a lot of Jets, and the Jets are
quote unquote a physical team and they were getting smashed
so and that's what happens when you know your sixty
million dollar wide receiver can also be a running back
who a lower shoulder over guys the Jordan Mason, the

(13:28):
power in which he runs. You put the ball in
George Kittle's hands, He's lowering his shoulder. Even if you
have a guy wrapped around his legs, the next guy
hitting him is also gonna feel pain. They just have
a very very physical team. And how long is this sustainable?
Like is it five more years? Probably not, But right
now with all these guys on the field, they are

(13:52):
They got a bunch of tough sobs out there who
are elite players who have won a ton and if
they can just hold the lead the Super Bowl, they're
clearly as good as it gets right there with Kansas
City and very very impressive night from from Kyle the offense,
the new defensive coordinator to just kick the Jets ass. Now,

(14:14):
one thing I would imagine you're gonna hear a lot
on the television shows and the poweredcasts, and if you
listen to local radio, which is holding on by a
shoe string, Aaron Rodgers looks like Aaron Rodgers. I gotta
pump the brakes on that one. Yes, his arm is fantastic.

(14:35):
He's going to be able to throw ninety five mile
inar fastballs until he's seventy five years old. Dan Marino,
John Elway. Right now, if you put him out on
a field, could throw a twenty yard out route. That
looks like an NFL player. The arm is not gonna
go on Aaron Rodgers. But did you notice one thing?
Because I did. I've watched a lot of Aaron Rodgers,

(14:56):
like a lot of people, but living on the West Coast,
I just watch a lot. I watched a lot more
NFC football than AFC football, depending on where you live
over the years. Just those are the big games before
these four box situations. Most of us five years ago previously,
you're just watching one main game and you're just obviously
Aaron Rodgers and McCarthy and the Packers were just one

(15:18):
of the main go to national games. What made him
a great player, and I've seen him live probably four
or five times in my life, was he was the
total package. He could dominate as a pocket quarterback Brady
Manning breestyle, and then he could scramble around and make
throws as good as any player ever. And you watch

(15:38):
them the night in the pocket. Can still throw darts,
can still throw bebies, still has a fantastic arm. But
did you notice him moving around? Oh wait, you didn't
because he didn't move. He was stationary. Do you know
what he looked like tonight, a more powerful armed Jared Goff.

(15:58):
And this is what I've been wanting all off season long,
is the mobility. Because when they traded for Aaron Rodgers
and before he tore his achilles, even if he was
an older, thirty nine to forty year old guy, he
still could move, maybe not like when he was thirty,
but he wasn't some stationary player like Philip Rivers. He
wasn't moving the night at all. Beside in the little

(16:20):
pocket radius, they weren't doing rollouts he wasn't scrambling and
making plays, and I asked myself, are those days gone?
And based off one week, I'm not gonna write it
in sharpie, but I feel pretty confident that we see
a new version of this player moving forward. And big
picture for the Jets, who countless people, they were the

(16:42):
betting favorite to win the AFCs. People picked this team
to compete for the super Bowl. They're going to struggle
to win ten games if this is the version of him,
because he's just solid pocket guy. But their team as
a whole, that defense is clearly a little overrated. They

(17:02):
lost Bryce Huff to the Eagles, who gave them ten
sacks and twenty one quarterback hits last year, so they
replaced him with a son Reddick, who had eleven sacks
and twenty three quarterback hits. The problem is, Hassan Reddick
is just giving away and it's fluid because it's not
necessarily ending unless he shows up six million dollars. So

(17:26):
that player doesn't exist. So you watch their defensive line
the night. Quinn Williams is excellent, but where's their extra pressure. Well,
huffsnow are to be found because he's gone and his
replacement is at home eating cheetohs like me and you
on the couch. So their defensive line is just not
as good and their secondary like Sascott banged up. It's

(17:48):
it's solid, but it's not exactly Dion and Reevis back there.
So this team starting with Robert Sala, who we have
major question marks on. Good looking guy. He does a
lot for the bald community by just looking good in
shape on national TV. I like him, high character, human being.
Is he any good as a head coach? To me?

(18:09):
This team, like, I don't think they're bad, but tad
bit overrated might be an understatement. Do you notice a
couple other things tonight? And Troykman said he's like Rogers
told us we're gonna feed Breese Hall and Garrett Wilson,
which I get, but you need more than that against
good teams. So when you can't feed Garrett Wilson, what

(18:30):
else can you do? Now? Rogers is great at it,
but not everyone is gonna jump at that hardcount and
you're gonna get free plays to the wizard. Their passing
game is kind of suspect outside of Garrett Wilson. That's
why I think the elephant in the room is like,
if they are competitive, would they trade a first round
pick for Devonte Adams. I think the answer is yes.
I also would say I don't know if that'd be

(18:51):
a great idea because you're dealing with a quarterback who
has aged a lot post Achilles. Honestly, he was aging
before he got hurt, but now he's a pretty stagnant player.
Still good, still a massive upgrade over what they were
playing with. And Aikman said it tonight. Their quarterback play
without Rogers over the last couple years has been some

(19:12):
of the worst in the NFL, and at times the
worst in the NFL. So it's better. I'm not disputing that.
But the guy that they thought they were getting that
I was like, damn, they just traded for Aaron Rodgers.
I guess the trade. We knew it was gonna happen,
and then it took forever. But you know what I mean,
the moment we found out the Jets were gonna get
Aaron Rodgers, even well before the trade, it's gonna make

(19:33):
them real, well, that guy's not the same guy anymore.
You have a guy that can't really move, and then
you have a defense that's clearly overrated, and the head
coach that might not know what he's doing. So I'm
not acting like the Jets are gonna beat the Giants here,
but this notion that they can be a super Bowl
contender bullshit. Let's just work on can they get the

(19:54):
seven seed? And I have questions. I do not think
that's a lock by an he means, because one there
margin Ferrera, with all these older players who get injured
a lot is very small and even this version of
Aaron when they play better teams, he can't put on
the Superman cap anymore. Those days are over. And then

(20:15):
the team around him, as we saw tonight, might be
a little overrated. So they're gonna have to play much
better football. I would say to compete to get to
that nine to ten mark to put him in the
wild card mix. And I think we learned that hype
is just that. This is what Belichick was talking about
Caleb Williams in preseason, and I'm not acting like I'm

(20:37):
not guilty of it. I get excited just like everyone
else listening. But like Notre Dame, the Jets are the
classic team where the hype constantly exceeds reality. I get
the hype on the Dallas Cowboys, like they've been winning
twelve games. They just get a fumble and a good
defensive series or two to go their way, like they
could win a playoff game that they lost. But this

(20:58):
team has a long, longest running playoff drought in American
team sports speaks to the organization. It's the total package.
What happened tonight They kind of got into a tough spot.
The forty nine ers started beating on them. Did they
match it? No, they kind of wilted and the Niners
knew it. And what did Kyle tel Aikman. Yeah, we're
gonna try to run it thirty five to forty times

(21:19):
tonight between the tackles. What's he basically saying, we don't
think they're that tough. We don't think they can match that.
He wouldn't say that about the Chiefs or the Ravens
or a team that is as equal physically. But when
he finds a weakness and he sniffs you out, he's
going to exploit it. And they tapped out, and they

(21:41):
tapped out early, So pretty concerning that. You lose. The
Ravens lost, the Rams lost. It's the NFL. Sometimes you
just tip your hat. What are you gonna do. It's
another thing to get your ass kick like that. So
dominant Dominant forty nine or win muscle flex for the
NFC champs and pretty embarrassing performance by the Jets, And

(22:03):
let's face it, it's gonna be some finers getting tight
in that place if they lose some tight games. So
the pressure on this team is immense, and we'll see
how they respond. I want to do a little something
because I've been trying to figure out how to call
my top ten, my top five by bottom ten. Someone
hit me up and I'm like, I kind of like this.
They're like, how about the penthouse in the outhouse. I'm like, yeah,

(22:25):
I kind of like that, So let's do middle cough
or coughs penhouse and outhouse. I think this is a
pretty easy one because I only got two teams in
my penhouse. I'm not opening the doors of the penhouse
to everybody, and I'm not saying that the teams I'm
leaving out aren't good and aren't even Super Bowl contenders,
But based on a Week one, two teams stand out
to me, Kansas City and San Francisco, and those are

(22:46):
the two teams that met in the Super Bowl so
it's like, what about the Eagles, Like still got some
question marks there? What about all the Ravens? Like can
Lamar throw from within the pocket? The Bills like a
little too close for me? At home against the Arizona Cardinals,
Pittsburgh didn't even score a touchdown defensive elite five field goals.

(23:09):
The Lions. The Lions to me were pretty close. I
had the Lions and actually Dallas pretty close and they
could easily get in. But right now, the penhouse, it's
gonna be hard to crack this door. You win a
couple of games impressive, FASHION have no problem opening it up,
but I also have a hard problem putting teams in there.
Then I don't believe can win the super Bowl. And

(23:31):
as I said last week, like I don't believe the
Ravens can win the Super Bowl. I don't see it happening.
So if I don't see it happening, how am I
gonna put him in the penhouse? Even if they're gonna
win eleven twelve games, which I still think probably more
of a ten win team than the twelve thirteen win team.
I respect them. I'm not a Ravens hater, but Houston
would be another team that was a really really good win,

(23:53):
really good win. Watch that they would be knocking on
that door big time. They only have one playoff victory,
but that win on the road Nindy was really impressive.
But gotta do a little bit more before I let
you in. The outhouse, though, is packed, and it stinks
because let's start with probably the least like negative would

(24:16):
just be the Panthers, because we already knew they weren't
any good, so it wasn't shocking. I couldn't believe how
many different people I heard in the gambling space that
liked the Panthers. One problem for me is I loved
the Saints and the Buccaneers this weekend to cover, but
I used a bunch of parlays to try to get

(24:37):
the odds up, and the Titans completely screwed me. But
I love those two games. It's like rookie quarterback, I
gets a playoff team, and you know where I stand.
On the Saints, I think they're pretty good. Against the Panthers,
they lost by thirty seven points. I kind of stopped
paying attention in the fourth quarter. I looked at the
score today, I was like, forty seven to ten, Is

(25:00):
this real? He threw a pick to start the game,
a pick to start the second half. He went thirteen
to thirty and two. Obviously those two picks, like it
is a disaster. And then today Derek Brown, who is
a big time player who would start for every team
in the NFL, probably gone for the season. He's going
to get a second opinion. But even Canalis was like, yeah,

(25:24):
this is not ideal. This is a problem. So the
one thing you felt kind of good is like, hey,
the front might be good. You lose your best player,
your quarterback sucks, Your coach, I don't know, might be
a little over his head. Weren't too good looking for me,
you know, he's just too good looking. But they got
David Tepper that that operation is in shambles right now

(25:46):
and it's going to be a long season. Cincinnati. I
don't know if Burrow's injured, if they got some weird
juju going on with their wide receivers. They obviously consistently
lose Week one, but to be at home against a
team that universally has agreed upon is not gonna be
any good and score ten points and lose the game,

(26:10):
and the other coach, like a lot of coaches, get
their first win. Jim harbad, Just did you get a
game ball? In the locker room? Everyone celebrates, it's fun.
He got a gatorade bath. You only give a gatorade
bath to a first time head coach if you're in
a situation where no one thought you could win. And
I mean you talk about survivor pools. I can't even

(26:31):
imagine how many people took Cincinnati to win that game,
because if I was in a survivor pool, they would
have been near the top of my list. And they
didn't just lose. I mean they looked, they looked awful.
Here's the other thing. It'd be one thing if Jacoby well,
it's like you know, Jacoby threw for two sixty and
three touchdowns through for one hundred and twenty one yards.

(26:52):
One hundred and twenty one yards. You can't be losing
to a team when we hold you to the regard
of like, yeah, you could be a Super Bowl contender
if you're heal lose did Jacobe were said he throws
for one hundred and twenty one yards. Well, let's get
to really stinking up the outhouse. Let's start with the Giants.

(27:13):
The offseason Hard Knocks was not kind to them. And
that viral video of John Morrow. When we were watching
it this offseason, I remember doing a podcast like the
owner said, are you guys sure on this one? Just
are we sure we're handling this correctly? And two, I
won't be able to sleep if he goes to Philadelphia.

(27:35):
Then not only does he go to Philadelphia in his
first night, in his first game for the Eagles, he
scores three touchdowns on national television on a Friday night
in a standalone game. And then two days later, you're
not playing Joe Montana or Tom Brady, You're playing Sam
Darnold and he fucking eviscerates you. And Daniel Jones throws

(27:57):
another pick six, gets booed, fans are ripping him as
he's leaving the stadium. It couldn't have been more embarrassing.
And those guys feel like nice guys. I don't see
how they survived this. If they just suck this season
and Barkley has twenty touchdowns and the Eagles win eleven games,

(28:17):
I think that's gonna be bad. Because the owner, the
guy that signs everyone checked, literally told them in a room,
I don't know if this is a good idea, And
I give him credit. I'm paying you guys. I'm gonna
let you make the decision. I'm not gonna meddle here,
but holy shit, you better be right, because there are
repercussions for mist evaluations and missed decisions, and people are

(28:41):
gonna be held accountable. And this is not the Rooney family.
John Marra has been firing people left and right, and
rightfully so. Joe Judge was awful. Pat Schumer's worse macadoo
got weird, but he's been running coaches in gms out
of the building. So if this sakauon Barkley, they play

(29:03):
him twice. What if he rushes for two hundred yards
against him and has a game at met Life and
they lose thirty to three and he kind of dances
all over their grave. I that thing could even get
a lot worse. And last, but not least, the Cleveland Browns.

(29:24):
I can't even imagine being a Browns fan and like
even attempting to root for Deshaun Watson everything you read about,
every situation that has come out about him with the
massage therapists, and then today on Monday, after an absolute
embarrassment of a performance, and just I mean such low

(29:45):
level quarterback play, Like you don't need to be a
coach or a GM to just watch that and go
this is pitiful. Like this, this is sad. And just
as a football fan, if Deshaun Watson's on your TV
just to watch a ball player, you will change the
channel to go to a different game. But like if
Kyler Murray's on TV, or I mean, there are certain
players like I'm gonna watch this guy that's an immediate

(30:08):
channel change. So he's unwatchable player who his question marks
off the field are pretty insane, and I, like I
said earlier, I don't like getting into the he said,
she said only no, but those two people, and it's
happened to a lot of people and it's all been bs.
But how many people have you ever met that have

(30:29):
had that many lawsuits that have all had consistent themes
against an individual like eventually like walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck might be a duck, And he
just feels like a complete loser, I mean on and
off the field. So you are forced to root for
this guy because I can't get rid of them. His
number is so massive that it makes Russell Wilson's look

(30:53):
kind of small. You're just stuck with this player. And
they kind of could see it coming because why wouldn't
they have just re signed Joe Flacco. Well, because they
didn't want the drama because if this guy struggled, what
would everyone want? Throw Joe Flacco in the game. So
what do they do? They go sign Jameis Winston, who's
funny and has some viral clips, but we all agree

(31:14):
is not very good. So it's like they're just gonna
keep rolling them out and to get embarrassed like that
the morning Dak signed for two hundred and thirty million
dollars and McCarthy and Dak are just stomping all over
your field. It's hard like the panther stink. We knew
it coming. In the Bengals, that was shocking. I think

(31:35):
the Giants, we all expected it was worse given how
good Darnold looked in the Saquon situation. But I think
no one has had a worse twenty four hours when
you factor in the character uneasiness, just disgusting of the
whole situation. Okay, I wanted to into something because I

(32:01):
noticed this yesterday on Sunday. Is there weren't many quarterbacks
throwing for two hundred and fifty three hundred yards. Only
two guys eclipsed three bills. One was Tua, who threw
for almost three hundred and forty yards, but eighty of
them came on a vintage Tyreek Hill pass over the
middle take another fifty sixty yards. And Matt Stafford, who

(32:22):
was for the most part brilliant on Sunday night. But
a lot of guys were two fifty and below. And
I think we've become accustomed to just expecting guys to
throw for two hundred and seventy five three hundred yards
with their eyes closed. And I remember, probably three or
three to four weeks into training camp, maybe mid like

(32:43):
August twentieth range, I was texting with a friend who's
an exec on a team, and he's a team with
a highly paid star quarterback. I said, how does he look?
He said, honestly, John clearly throws the ball well, but
you can't tell. And this is a guy that had
been in the league since the early nineties. He's like,

(33:05):
training camp now in the preseason is a complete joke.
It's impossible to tell. No one gets hit, no one tackles,
and for the most part Beside a couple teams, no
high end players play in the preseason game. I know
everyone was like drafting Marvin Harrison junior high in fantasy.

(33:27):
It's like, Guys, he didn't do anything all training camp,
he doesn't play any preseason games, so you think he's
just gonna go on the road against Buffalo, one of
the best teams in the league, and have seven for
one to ten and two touchdowns. It's difficult. We saw
it with the rookie quarterbacks, so we'll get into it
here in a little bit. But football is not like
basketball or baseball. In baseball, right if I'm a hitter

(33:51):
anytime of the year three sixty five, I can get
a major league pitcher and we can just run a
live batting practice and just pitch me like he would
in a game. And while there's no we could be
in a batting cage or we could be on a field,
it doesn't matter. I can get a look like I
normally would in a major league baseball game, in the

(34:13):
NBA or in college basketball, I can get ten other
guys or nine, I guess if I'm one of them,
and play a simulated game, even if it might not
be exactly the tempo and the pace of a normal
NBA game or normal college game. We can get a
legit running that is actual basketball, right play to twenty

(34:33):
one ones and twos do whatever, but like you're garden people,
you're running, you're moving them all you're trying. Football is
the one sport that the only way you actually play
it are the games. Practice doesn't even simulate the games
because nobody tackles to the ground, and I would say

(34:54):
half the teams barely even touch each other. Some teams
do a thing called thud where you kind of run
into each other, hands up. No one goes to the
ground and the offensive guy gets to keep running. Obviously,
you can't hit the quarterback. They wear a different colored
jersey in practice, so those guys get used to why
can never get sacked? Even my joint practices, the defender

(35:18):
knows can't test quarterback. It's like the number one rule
right now in football. I don't know how they do
in high school, but definitely Division I college football and
the NFL live practices which aren't actually live because you're
not tackling the ground, quarterback is off limits. If anything,
As a defender, you run right by him. Maybe you
tap him on the ass. So that's not like the game,

(35:38):
because the game starts like you could get molly wopped,
you get destroyed. We saw guys yesterday getting destroyed left
and right, so you can't simulate that. And now the
majority of the league doesn't even play any of the
preseason snaps, so you go into the week one like
it's a different speed. And the one thing that jumped
off the screen yesterday was the speed of defensive players.

(36:03):
They are so fast and we see it every year
at the combine, speeds have never been quicker. I'm talking
defensive linemen. Linebackers are smaller now than they were thirty
years ago, but they're all faster. Every dB worth assault
is running a four or five zero or faster, especially
corners and safeties like yeah, John Lynch and Steve Atwater

(36:24):
might not exist, but those guys aren't as fast as
most of the guys starting right now in the NFL.
And their speed also when you mix in the schemes,
you get and this is where Belichick was critical of Caleb, Like,
preseason's kind of a joke from a schematic standpoint on defense,
they're just running the same coverage over and over and
maybe they run one of their go to blitzes, but

(36:47):
you're not getting a lot of looks that are gonna
make you that uncomfortable. And then you get these regular
season games, it's like shit's flying all over the place.
So I do think it's tougher, Like no matter what
you do, when you're in the mode of doing something,
it's easier to keep doing that when all of a
sudden you go zero to sixty. If you take anyone

(37:08):
that's taken a vacation for a week, two weeks when
you come back, it's like you can be a little rusty.
I give the number one sales guy in America six
months off that first week back, is he going to
be super dialed? It's hard. So imagine being a quarterback
that hasn't played anything like what you're gonna play week
one for nine months, even if the rules are on

(37:29):
your side, even if the referees are on your side.
Still really hard. And this is where I said about
the rookie quarterbacks of like, guys, we need to pump
the brakes. We haven't seen a guy held to such
a high regard of Caleb since Luck, and there has
been a very very short group of guys. They were
just like this guy's can't miss. He's going to be

(37:51):
a superstar. It's like, this shit is really really hard.
These defensive coordinators making millions, the other guys the eleven
lining up on like Jeffrey Simmons drives a range rover
and lives in a mansion and goes to the Pro
Bowl even though it's not a game, and they just
do activities now like they got real players, Like it's

(38:11):
it's really hard. I remember asking about the wide receivers
at during the combine to a buddy of mine that's
a wide receiver coach. It's like, what do you think
of Marvin Harrison. Obviously he's really good, but he's playing
Iowa Rutgers, Wisconsin every week in the NFL every week

(38:32):
or every other week. He's going to be playing a
guy that makes thirteen million dollars, who's bendo a couple
of Pro Bowls, who's got two kids, and who lives
in one of the biggest houses in his neighborhood and
likes that lifestyle and ain't trying to give it up,
and is going to try to take the kid's lunch.
And it's not like he has a group of a

(38:52):
bunch of friends in that unit to like take pressure
off them. So every time he plays a team with
a good corner, highly paid corner, highly paid defensive guy,
they are gonna zone in on him. It's hard. It's
a tough transition. It's not easy. No different for quarterbacks.
You don't think all week long. The Tennessee Defenders circled

(39:14):
Caleb Williams, Seattle circled bow Knicks Tampa. Think how many
guys on Tampa have a Super Bowl ring played for
years with Tom Brady. They've been going to the playoffs
four straight years. They just won a playoff game. They
embarrassed Jalen Hurts, who makes forty five million dollars a
year on national television, in the wildcard round. It was

(39:36):
Monday night football. You think they just went, oh yeah,
but we'll just we'll let Jayden light us up. We're intimidated.
Fuck no. So it is hard, and the key with
these young guys is like sometimes I think the easiest
time to kind of assess yourself or look in the
mirror is when shit hits the fan. I've been fired

(39:58):
a couple of times. It's probably when I was my
most ambitious, and I fought the hardest Why because I
was at my lowest spot. When times are good, sometimes
it's hard to find motivation and have that same fire
burning into you. It's why we admire like the crazy
successful people, whether it's Michael Jordan or Tom Brady or

(40:18):
Tiger Woods or you know, Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett.
It's like what keeps them going? How do they keep
and they tell these stories how they like make things
up in their head to keep the desire, or a
super successful business guy goes every night I think about
being broke, you know, and you have to do that well.
When you struggle as a rookie quarterback, you don't need

(40:41):
to manipulate anything. It's like you got embarrassed and when
your coaches coach you hard throughout the next week, like
this is hard. Guys like you got to listen to
what I'm telling you. You need to calm down, you
need to take the check down. In college, especially for
Jaden and Caleb, they could be superhuman, it was really easy.

(41:04):
It was like, at any moment, I can run around
and make something happen, and I'm better than ninety nine
point nine percent of people that I'm playing against my
physical attribute to my talent. We're in the NFL. Even
playing bad teams have guys that can eat your lunch
and a coordinator who can just throw you off. And
the other thing with the coordinator. Once they find something

(41:26):
that's kind of working, they will just go to that
well over and over and over again. So all three
of these guys struggled. I think it's kind of a
good thing, especially if you're Sean Payton, eber Flus and
the offensive staff Dan Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury. You can
kind of just like, hey, guys, this is going to
be difficult. This is not easy. Like Caleb and Jayden

(41:47):
Daniels we saw on Hard Knocks when he gets up
in front of the room and says the signing bonus.
His signing bonus was twenty five million dollars. And I
understand Caleb's made good money when he was at USC,
It wasn't twenty five million dollars in your bank, Acount Rich.
So it's like, listen, we all got money, and a
lot of guys you're gonna play have a lot more
money than you, so we gotta figure this out. Like

(42:11):
next week, the Bears are playing the Houston Texans. They
got Derek Stingley, who's gonna be one hundred million dollar corner.
They got multiple defensive linemen who are high millions level
guys like this is. They got a head coach Demiko,
who has played and coach in this league for a

(42:31):
long period of time, who I call very good. Schematically,
it ain't gonna be easy in the next week and
the next week and the next week. There are not
off weeks. This is not college football, where when you
do lose to an inferior opponent, it's a complete embarrassment.
In the NFL, like Patriots can beat the Bengals, massive lines.

(42:54):
Massive lines for Week one were like not even a touchdown.
It was Denver six points. It's on the road in Seattle.
Rookie quarterback Arizona six and a half points on the
road in Buffalo. Buffalo's a team that's won double digit
games four straight years, goes to playoffs every year, wins
playoff games. Arizona has to sniff the playoffs in a while.

(43:15):
They're not even getting a touchdown. That's how difficult this is.
I remember sitting there. People might laugh at this name,
but David Kelly, who was an excellent position coach when
I was with the Eagles, and I used to my
first year, I had a random task and I don't
know if it was the injury report or maybe the
weather report, or I was taking them something and we

(43:35):
were playing the Bills at the time are really bad,
and we were playing the Bills, and I'm like, ah,
kind of an easy week here. And he wasn't happy
with that comment. He's like, son, they got a lot
of guys, they drive really nice cars on that team.
They got good players, and if you ever have that

(43:57):
mindset as a coach or a player in this league,
you lose. And he was right, It's true. So as
a rookie quarterback, this is not gonna be what CJ.
Stroud did last year is an outlier, So I'm not
jumping off the ship on Caleb, but I do expect
it to be a lot more difficult than everyone thinks.

(44:19):
Like even Justin Fields, who was all over the map
last year for the Bears, had played in the NFL
for a while, understood the speed of guys, understood like
throws that he could attempt to make, had experience on
his side. None of these guys have any experience. Think
of the first time you ever walk into a job,

(44:40):
whether it's when you're young, in your early twenties, or
whether you've done it recently. At first, early on, like
there's a feeling out process. You just start putting your
feet on your desk, so maybe six months a year
in then you get comfortable. You know everyone's name, Hey, Bill, James,
how's a weekend? It doesn't happen day one, And that's
what Sunday was for these guys. Day one. In the

(45:03):
most competitive physical sport we have in this country, I'd
include hockey, but newfound hockey guy two other things. I
watched him Indian Houston Monday afternoon because while I had
it on my TV, I wasn't super locked in. I
was like, that's too good of a game not to
just watch back and on NFL Plus, it's like ninety

(45:23):
nine dollars a year you can watch these condensed games,
So you can watch the TV copy condensed game in
like thirty minutes. I just have it on my computer, boom,
I can be shooting a couple of emails with why
of plays, watch it and it's over quick. It's been
doing that forever and was blown away first and foremost
the Texans. I feel even better about them. CJ is

(45:47):
really a throwback player. Last night we were watching the
Sunday Night game and Maria looked at me after Jared
Goff had his running first down. She's like, Jeezy's really slow.
I was like, Yeah, he's kind of a throwback player type.
Guys don't really exist anymore. He was much more like
the players that I grew up on six four sixty five.
Couldn't really move, sits in the pocket and throws. He's

(46:09):
not a runner. Those guys don't really exist. And what
makes CJ. Stroud kind of unique is he's a better
athlete than golf, but he's a pocket passer. He wants
to sit in the pocket and make throws. That is
his game, which usually can sustain for a long period
of time. It's why Jared Go's gonna have an eighteen
year career, same with CJ. Stroud. If they don't get

(46:30):
injured like it, and they're less likely to get injured
because they're not run around getting crushed like Lamar Jackson
or Jayden Daniels. Can't slide. It's getting hit constantly, say
Anthony richardson getting popped all the time, and Houston's really good.
Nico Collins and Tank Dell has to be one of
the better one to two wide receiver combos young. I
mean Nico, I didn't know much about him till last

(46:53):
year when he kind of broke out. That was texting
with a buddy who's in the loop, and he basically said, like,
not only is he a awesome player, he's super humble,
super high character, just the type guy you want on
your team. And when I watched the Houston Texans, they
feel like a group that just has a bunch of
Dimico types, a bunch of physical guys that like football. Obviously,

(47:13):
they have a lot of talent. They're a smart team,
Like it's a really really high level team, and they
got a good young quarterback. Like that's a team that
should win thirteen plus games. And I actually don't think
INDI's that far off. I've been watching football for thirty
plus years, been doing it for a living now for
about fifteen maybe even a little longer since two thousand

(47:34):
and eight, so sixteen years college and pro. And Anthony
Richardson's first touchdown pass to uh I forget who it
was even to might have been one of the best
individual throws I've ever seen in the sport. He was
He's a right handed quarterback. He's rolling to his left
off his back foot. Like on Twitter the blogs, they

(47:57):
keep writing a sixty yard pass, It actually was like
sixty eight yards, So I'm gonna round up and call
it a seventy yard pass. Did he hit the guy
in stride? There is a short list of human beings
that have ever played the sport that could pull that
off in my lifetime, like Elway was a little before
my time, at least in his prime, it would obviously

(48:19):
be Farv Rogers, Mahomes, Allen. I mean, it is a
not a long list of guys. They could do it.
Like Brady and Manning could not do it because they're
not athletic enough and they don't have the I mean,
Brady has a good arm when his feet is set.
Manning could not have made that throw. It is just

(48:41):
such a dip. Like of the top ten quarterbacks of
like the Steve Youngs and the Joe Montanas, they couldn't
do it. Obviously Elway and Marino when they were his
age could pull that off. But it is a small
small group of people forever. It was like JaMarcus Russell
could throw at seven hundred yards, but he couldn't play
like Anthony Richardson, who is a work in progress. Like c. J.

(49:04):
Stroud's not really a work in progress. Obviously you can
get better when you're young, but his style is kind
of a style where Anthony Richardson's still a little erratic.
Balls fly. He went nine of nineteen yesterday for like
two hundred yards and two touchdowns. Threw a bad pick,
but his second touchdown over the middle on like a
deep in where the defender for most guys probably picks

(49:26):
it off because a guy's not throwing one hundred and
fifty miles an hour, but he throws just an absolute
rope that hits the wide receiver faster than you can
even blink. Like, his physical attributes are everything you want
in a quote unquote project. Then you just hope he's
willing to work. He's because if you work hard at

(49:47):
it and you have the football smarts, you can naturally improve. Now,
was he ever gonna be you know, Drew Brees accuracy
or Steve Young? Probably not, but that is a very
talented player. Houston w I think Houston's headed toward thirteen
fourteen wins. I think the Colts are ten to eleven
win team like that, that's a playoff team. And the

(50:07):
physicality in that game, I mean, Joe Mixon running for
one hundred and sixty yards looked fantastic. If the Texans
are gonna get that running back Diggs had a couple
of touchdowns. He's really their third wide receiver. That's a
good squad. Love de Miko, love Slowck. That was a
fun game. And last but not least, and I mentioned
this to Colin, Props to Jerry, who just understands TV,

(50:30):
understands marketing. He put that story out for a reason
on Sunday morning, like this is our day, boys, We're
gonna own the morning before anyone kicks off with the
number one story. And then obviously we got the Tom
Brady game, so they're gonna be talking about Dallas not
just for the four hours of the game, but for
like two and a half before it. And to think

(50:50):
that like, yeah, we just we'll just sign them and
they start doing it on Friday. Clearly they had been
working on this thing for a while and I would
imagine it's basically been done. List what was said this
was this was a marketing ploy which works, and Jerry
likes being in the headlines, even if he's naturally in
the headlines anyway. But sometimes, you know, Colin had an

(51:14):
old saying, don't try to be happier than happy, And
sometimes we always try to upgrade coaches. It's a cool
part about football, like can we do better? Should we
fire this guy? In all off season it was like,
is McCarthy and Sirianni on the hot seat? Why get
the Sirianni thing? Because you go, what's he really doing?

(51:36):
Where you look at Mike McCarthy, who has won a
Super Bowl and was you know, the head coach slash
offensive mine for one of the greatest quarterbacks we've ever
seen in Rogers in Green Bay. And now he's currently
the offensive coordinator as well as the head coach for
the Dallas Cowboys. And in twenty twenty three, Dak had
the best year of his career through thirty six touchdowns

(51:57):
and nine interceptions. Now, until they answer the bell and Jamnuary,
that conversation isn't gonna go away. But he's won twelve
games three straight years. I think they got a very
good chance to win the division again. Them and the
Eagles to me are a coin flip, and his quarterback
excels under him. So like, Bill's out there and it's
a conversation that's not gonna go away. But let's say

(52:19):
McCarthy wins twelve games again and lose in the second round,
you're gonna fire him for Bill. Well, Bill's not the
offensive coordinator. Bill's gonna bring in Josh McDaniels. You just
gave Dak Prescott two hundred and thirty million dollars, which
he now, by far is your most important asset in
your franchise. It's not even close. So whenever you invest

(52:40):
highly into something in any industry, you kind of got
to put all your focus toward that thing because you
needed to succeed. It's what the Browns try to do
with Deshaan Watson turns out he's unsalvagable. Well, this is
working with Dak. You know this is one million percent working.
Why would you mess with it? Is it inconceivable? If
the Cowboys just have a solid start, doesn't Jerry just

(53:02):
go like, is it really gonna get that much better
in this? Why would I risk this thing going the
other way? Because right now I know for a fact
I'm a playoff team every year with Mike and Dak,
Why would I just want to keep that rolling? And
as I've said, football is a little weird, Like the
only thing we've really learned the last twenty five years
is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. If you're playing them
in January, or Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, they're gonna

(53:24):
beat you. But everyone else, like Eli got hot a
couple times, Joe Flacco got hot, Cam Newton one year,
got Matt Ryan got hot, like Dak is capable of
just two good games. All of a sudden, you're in
the NFC Championship Game. It is very plaus It has
not happened. It doesn't mean it won't happen. Who would
have thought two years ago Brock Purdy would have been

(53:45):
a starting quarterback in a Super Bowl. This Dallas team
is really good. They do a great job, and Mike
deserves credit for drafting offensive lineman high and then immediately
inserting them and having them function. They started a rookie
left tackle who's a late first round pick who coming
out of college was viewed as very raw against the
defensive player of the year, and it went pretty damn well.

(54:08):
So like, if I was Jerry, honestly, I would extend
Mike McCarthy and maybe if you're Mike, Like, I'm not
taking a low ball because if you were to fire me,
I'm better than ninety ninety percent of anyone that's going
to be out on the open market. Look at my resume.
So I think the situation yesterday Dak getting the extension
was really really good for Mike. And if I had

(54:29):
to make a prediction, I bet Mike has a contract
extension before midway of the season if the Cowboys are
winning football games, which I would expect them to do. Okay,
let's do a little mailbag at John middlecoff is the

(54:52):
Instagram fire in those dms, get your questions answered on
the show. Someone sent me this app. I have to
go relook up the app. But like you know, famous
people charge. Some people charge like ten grand to have
a conversation. Now these are celebrities, these are like life coaches.
But you can also text and send text messages. Some

(55:13):
people charge like five bucks. Some people, you know, super
famous people like fifty bucks. I was thinking maybe I
could do that app, and I have to look into
that and guarantee you get on the show. I would
still do the Instagram that is free, but obviously some
people just don't get their question to answered, and some
people keep hitting me up. It's like it's just the
way the Instagram set up works. It's I'm just gonna

(55:38):
miss some It's not like Excel spreadsheet. But I'll start
with Willie have a question for the mailbag. Why does
it seem like anytime Burrow has a stinker, the media
just glosses over it. He was awful against the Patriots,
and I think we're starting to see that Burrow looks
like without the Avengers in his wide receiver room. How

(56:00):
long will he keep living off the fluke win against
the Chiefs from three years ago. He's not in the
top three mahomes Alan lamar Uh I would say this,
Let's use yesterday as an example, which is has to

(56:21):
be one of the worst losses of the day. At
home Patriots, you score ten points. Jacobe Brisquette throws for
one hundred and twenty yards, no way around it. Props
to drid Mail had the boys ready. That was one
of the least interesting games for me as a consumer.
I didn't really pay attention. It was on one of
my boxes, but I was rarely looking over there, and

(56:43):
I think I speak for most of the country. Most
people are not watching that game, and that includes people
that talk about football for a living. So when you
think about the games you're going to discuss, that's not
a big story after week one because like Caleb and
the Bears, obviously the Steelers and Justin Fields beating Atlanta clearly,

(57:05):
Dak and Deshaun Watson, when you play the Patriots and listen,
great win for the Patriots, I don't think they're going
to be any good. So that game in the hierarchy
of importance, in the business of talking about stuff, in
the business of the masses watching it is low on
the totem pole. This week it changes. He plays the Chiefs.

(57:28):
So if they do that again against the Chiefs, which
is in a primetime slot, not primetime, but Sunday afternoon window,
which is one of the biggest games in America, Nanson Romo,
there are gonna be a lot of people watching that
thing Sunday afternoon. If they look like that again and
get boat raced, it will be one of the biggest
stories on Monday morning. Oh and two, bur looks like shit.

(57:51):
His wrist. Is he okay, what's up with Jamar Chase
saying that he wants more money than Justin Jefferson. It
would just get weird. But I do think they get
to skate under the radar a little bit because of
the team they play. If they had just played the Ravens,
if they had just played the Chiefs, if they had
just played the Cowboys, if they had just played the Packers,
it would be a bigger story. Part of it is

(58:13):
like the post Belichick Jacoby Brissett Patriots. This is I'm
not saying this like with any malicious intent. Are kind
of irrelevant. Big Broncos fan is from Brad been following
since the Manning trade free agent signing. But I hear
what you're saying. In twelve, I'm twenty four. In the

(58:33):
past decade has been terrible question for the pod. Do
you put the Broncos offensive struggles against Seattle on bow
knicks and their lack of skill positions or Seattle's defense
better than expected with a tough road environment. I would
say any rookies first road start is a difficult proposition.

(58:55):
Now they covered, so props to them. I had a
little cash on them plus six and it was getting
dice seated near the end. Places loud and Mike McDonald
is a really good defensive coordinator. Their personnel on defense
is better than it is performed. But their pass rush
was pretty feisty and they got good dbs. But bo
Nicks looked like a rookie and did some stupid shit.

(59:17):
I mean, the one Picky threw in to the front
of the pylon with is a novel throw. He looked
a little frenetic, inaccurate. He looked like a rookie, and
we talked about it earlier on the podcast, like that's
how rookies look sometimes. They looked overwhelmed. Now, you guys
don't exactly have Julius Thomas, de Marius Thomas and Wes

(59:39):
Woker run around out there, so it's a little more
difficult in a road environment. It's still gonna be a
really tough start to the season for Denver because they
played Pittsburgh this week. Big picture, though, I would try
to be pretty optimistic, and I am optimistic, like I
believe in this duo even if it's gonna be rough,

(01:00:00):
invest in socks that are going down when I believe
in him, and you just have to have the stomach
to take twenty thirty forty downturns, And that's what I
would imagine. Maybe the first month of the season is
like for Bonnecks and Sean Payton. But I'm gonna keep buying.
I'm not gonna fade off like, oh I was wrong there,
because I think I'll be proven right over the long term.

(01:00:22):
You'll be able to get me early. How am I
supposed to believe in my coach when he's scared to
go forward on fourth and one when you're over midfield
and there's a chance you don't get the ball back.
The defense was clearly gassed. Where is his feel for
the game? Feels like a DeVante trade is inevitable and
we're going to be terrible for the next two years minimum.

(01:00:45):
You know what's funny is Antonio Pierce, who middle linebacker,
tough guy, badass right, Like you'd want him in your
foot on your football team when he was playing. You'd
want him if you were gonna get into a tussle
in real life, you'd want him in a dark alley
by your side. And he talks that way right, A
lot of bravado, a lot of cockiness because in his

(01:01:07):
life he's been able to beat up basically anyone he sees.
He's a super Bowl champion, like he's a tough guy.
Yet when those guys become coaches, they get put in
some of these situations and they act like complete puss
because their defensive background and the way he's been taught,
like that's the right football play, but in twenty twenty four,

(01:01:31):
it's a joke to do that. So I saw that
when his quote after the game because he punted back
on a fourth and one is it was like the
most there's a coward ranking that this company puts out
and they usually tweet it out, and I see it
retweeted in my timeline over the worst decisions on some
of these, Like there's a difference to me between being

(01:01:52):
reckless Doug Peterson was in the Jags Miami game and
doing this. You have nothing to lose but the game,
and you're not winning it. In your quarterback's Gardner Minshew,
So when you get a spot to be aggressive, you
have to take advantage. And this is not a situation
where either team's scoring a lot of points, so getting

(01:02:13):
in position, you're not getting there very often. And then
he tried to justify by saying, you know what, we
did what we wanted to do. We pinned them back.
They just broke a big run. Well yeah, part of
when you punt. Even if you pin them, they're one
mistackle away from getting a fifty yard game and you're
completely screwed. So I never understand, though we see it

(01:02:36):
time and time again, these big tough guys to talk
that way, that carry themselves that way because they've earned
it in life, and then coach like a coward. You know,
I was just to give Dan Campbell credit. I don't
always agree with him, but he walks the walk. He
talks the talk, and then he lives it like we're

(01:02:59):
gonna be a tough guy, aggressive team, and sometimes you
could argue to reckless, but he ain't scared. And he
said that when he got the Detroit job. I vividly
remember watching an interview he did. He's like my core
as a football player, I've been trained to be conservative.
I came up in that era I played under Bill Parcells.

(01:03:21):
It wasn't until I worked under Sean Payton. Know, sometimes
you gotta put your nuts on the table, especially week one.
It's week one. Why would you not be aggressive? So
embarrassing moment for him. It really is. I think the
Raiders have They're just in trouble. Gardner Minshew's is not

(01:03:41):
gonna be good enough for him, not even close. Matthew
Stafford played unbelievable. I mean in the second half, he
was slinging it. No look passes amazing arm talent and
he's a little old but clearly still has it. Could
he be a dark horse for MVP depending on how
the Niners play, how deep a playoff run? Could you

(01:04:02):
see the Rams making well? Health is a major major concern,
you know, to play out of your mind like he
was playing with all the injuries that happened to them
and still loses a pretty big kick in the nuts
because I read it a Puka has a PCL injury.
They placed him on injured reserve and McVeigh said, this

(01:04:24):
is a similar injury that he had earlier, but it's
way worse. That's a that's a problem, and it's it's
it's any guy that plays in the NFL, it's a
backup or a practice squad. Guy can play a solid game,
but usually the reason that guy's a backup and not
a starter is because over the course of time. If

(01:04:44):
that player has to play for a month instead of
half a game, he gets exposed. And Stafford was getting
hit and hit hard last night. So can they play.
I don't have their updated injury, but we'll know as
the week goes on. Like are they to be missing
a bunch offensive linemen because it's it's really hard to win.

(01:05:05):
Does he have MVP capabilities if they're healthy? One, let's
look at their early schedule. So they get the Cardinals
this week in Arizona. Okay, winnable game, but that's not
easy because Kyler's a tough little guy to play. That'll
be a tough game. Then they play the Niners at home,

(01:05:27):
which will be a forty nine er home game. Then
they got to go to Chicago. It has a pretty
good defense. So let's just see how they handle it.
Because if you win that game last, if you pull
that out, you're a lock to be like two and two. Now,
it's like you can play pretty well and all of
a sudden, are you one and two going into that
Bears game on the road. So I like the team,

(01:05:51):
I like their competitive character, love Stafford, but that was
a tough loss last night. Given they had the lead,
they had all the injuries. It's tough. What are your
thoughts in the overtime rules? I wasn't a fan of
any team in Sunday night game, so coming at this
from a neutral position, how can they improve it and

(01:06:11):
not puts so much at stake on the coin toss.
I've had a couple ideas, like make each team kick
increasing long field goals, or give each team two minutes
and two timeouts on each side of the ball. You
know what sucks is why change the rule for the
postseason and not do it for the regular season. Why

(01:06:32):
not just do it all season long, regular season in postseason.
I'm with you. I don't like a touchdown wins the game.
But if you kick a field goal they get the ball.
That feels kind of arbitrary and pulled out of your ass, Like,
why don't we just like kick a field goal then
the other team gets the opportunity to kick the same

(01:06:53):
field goal. Like, you could make up any rule you
want it, so I would just have it simply like
the playoff r if both teams get the ball like now,
I think the Rams were pretty gassed at that time,
so more than likely the right team won in overtime.

(01:07:14):
But my first reaction last night when they kind of
said right away touchdown wins it, It's like, oh yeah,
we're not playing the playoff rules in the regular season.
I think it sucks. It's why Andy Reid fought for it.
You should both get a chance. For some reason. I've
been a Browns fan since I was thirteen. I'm thirty now,

(01:07:35):
there hasn't been a whole lot to be excited about.
Is this year likely their only chance for success? Their
roster is pretty good at least I think is Watson
going to ruin any shot of a playoff run and
the Browns future for years to come? Do I need
to give up on being a Browns fan? Thanks? Ps,
tried to get this in last week. Seems fitting now.

(01:07:59):
I think as long as de Shan Watsons your quarterback,
you have no shot. He's played one half of good
football in all of his Browns games. He's a disaster.
And I saw Stefanski was like, we got our protection
was terrible, we got a block better. Part of paying
him all that money was to overcome poor blocking because

(01:08:23):
he was a great athlete, he was a playmaker. Well
he's a terrible playmaker now, you know, the craziest part
I thought of yesterday's game that no one's really going
to talk about how many times on go routes or
deep end zone shots did he just would let leave
his hand. They're like, oh, this is a bomb? Would
the ball go fifty yards past the wide receiver? In dB,

(01:08:47):
he threw a couple into the stands? Now, even if
he's is he trying to throw every single ball away?
Maybe he would say he was, but I would doubt it,
Like has he just lost all his touch? He feels
like anyone that plays golf can relate to this. When
you're just in the middle of a round and you're like,
I've lost my swing, Like what do you mean? Like

(01:09:08):
I don't really even know how to swing, I have
no confidence in anything. That's what he feels like when
he's playing. It's like he just is lost, which is
crazy because he was always such like an instinctive, innate player,
and now it feels like that's completely gone. He's never
been a guy that plays in the construct of just
a normal offense. He's always kind of been a freelance guy.

(01:09:29):
But if you can't freelance and that's your type player,
you're kind of screwed like Russell can't freelance anymore, but
he can still think and duncan around like Deshaun doesn't
really do that well either, So hard to look at him.
Body language is terrible. Looks like his teammates hate him.
The amount of money you guys are paying him, and

(01:09:50):
I think they moved money around recently to like change
up salary cap. You're just screwed. So the reason you
guys were good, Let's face his Flacco came in and
was incredible. He was way better Deshaun Watson one. He
would get rid of the ball fast. This guy just
holds onto the ball. Falcons fan who has a question

(01:10:11):
for the mailbag after watching Kirk play out of the
pistol and shotgun for most of the game while also
not looking very mobile, I'm very worried that we burned
one hundred million dollars on a guy that doesn't look
much better in Big Ben in his twilight years? Is
this Kirk shaking out the Russ for week one? We

(01:10:32):
start calling for Pennix to play. He's not a good athlete,
never has been, so putting him in situations where he
has to run for his life. He's screwed. The way
Cousins plays well is when he's getting rid of the
ball fast, or you can protect like Goff. Goff's good

(01:10:52):
when he has a good offensive line because he can
sit there in the pocket. Same with Derek Carr. If
you ask Cousins to ad lib, there is no ad lib.
He doesn't have the capability. So yesterday TJ. Watt, Highsmith,
those guys were in his shit. He screwed. If you
can rush Cousins, this is where he has a lot
in common with car It's over, and it's overfast, and

(01:11:14):
then he gets rattled and he completely falls apart. When
he's getting untouched and he gets a rhythm, that's where
he looks like a forty million dollar guy. My whole
take was I had no problem with signing him, but
this then then draft Pennix. It's like, well, were we
sure that Pennis wouldn't be equally as I think Patrick's
gonna be a good NFL player. So if I was

(01:11:35):
a Falcons fan, I got a short leash on this.
I don't want to watch much if historically most people
that have this injury were never the same most people
that get injured like this, I'm recording this part before
Rogers plays. But Rogers was an infinitely better athlete than Cousins.

(01:11:55):
One of his great attributes was moving around. Was never
that Cousins was a bad end of it, because like
Tom Brady running the forty at the combine. So once
you draft Panics, it gets weird. I think your offensive
skill guys are a little overrated. We talk about some
of these guys before they've done anything like wow, they

(01:12:16):
got like Marshall fall two point zero and Tony Gonzalez
and uh Julio Jones. It's like, no, not quite. Raheem
Morris has done what that was. If I could do
yesterday over, I would have two teams I wish I
would have emptied the clip on more and put all

(01:12:36):
my money that I've been willing to bet on. Would
have been the Steelers and the Cowboys. I love those
two spots. Jags. I can't believe I bet on the Jags.
I'm an idiot. Tomlin that spot against Cousins and Raheem
Morris and the Cowboys against Deshan Watson. I liked him before,
and I should have loved him even more. So I'd

(01:13:01):
have to go back and look what Cousins two years ago.
It feels like an O'Connell's offense under center. I don't know.
I just I think it's gonna get weird. I think
it's gonna get really weird. But regardless who you're playing
and whether he's under center or in the gun, if
your team is getting smoked up front, Cousins is done.

(01:13:23):
And that goes when he played in Washington, when he
played in Minnesota. When he plays for you, guys, if
you can't protect him, and it's hard. I mean TJ. Watt,
you could argue was the best player in the NFL yesterday.
It's a short list like Josh Micah Parsons, right, I mean,
he was that good. When you get him in those
spots like Cousins, is is a sitting duck. You think

(01:13:46):
Dak gets that contract. If Trey Lance showed any potential, well,
he showed no potential. So I think that they knew
last year that it wasn't really a conversation. They had
to see him in practice. But I would imagine that
five interception game against the Chargers seven string players cemented it.

(01:14:07):
But Trey Lance was their third stringer last year, and
he was either third stringer again. So I I think
Trey Lance like that conversation, that connection was a little overblown.
I think ideally Jerry was thinking that when he made
the trade. I think they knew before this offseason never

(01:14:27):
started that, like, yeah, this guy's not he can't be
a backup. He's not a backup quarterback. He's not a
top I think he's like a bottom five quarterback in
the entire NFL, including third stringers. He's obviously not one
of the top sixty four guys in the NFL, and
he's not He's not one of the best sixty four
guys in the NFL. It's like, if he's your backup,
you will lose. It's like when I see the Bills

(01:14:49):
when Josh hurts his hand, It's like, you guys are
gonna put Trubisky in the game. If you play Trubisky,
you will lose. I never understand that. I'd rather just
rotate through my backups than I have a guy that
I know if my starting quarterback is injured in a
game or he's got to start for a month, we're
gonna lose every eight I love the podcast. Would love
to shave my head to join the Bald brotherhood, but
I'd look like an egg. So there you go. As

(01:15:11):
much as I like your football takes, some financial advice
has really caught my attention. What are some podcasts or
other media outlets you would suggest for any quick advice.
I would listen to a lot of financial books and
any business book from I was just listening to. I
haven't I've probably got halfway through. I end up listening

(01:15:31):
to podcasts, so I don't finish audio books. But the
business Sam Walton made in America, he's got to start
with Walmart about like in the sixties and seventies when
he's building up that business is incredible. I love Josh
Brown and he has this thing called the Compound. I
watch a lot of his YouTube videos and listen to
with their podcast. There just solid financial advice. And you're

(01:15:55):
you're a lot younger than me. Start investing now. I
mean it'll pay dividends as the older you get From
my girlfriend's Instagram, don't have one. Do you think Sean
Payton could get fired at the end of the year
if the Broncos win four or five games and Knicks
looks poorly, No chance. I think Sean's getting like three
years with Nicks. They're paying him a lot of money,

(01:16:17):
and what are you going to fire him for? Who?
Speaking of Nicks, wanted to start off by letting you
know I appreciate your insight. You're one of the best
talkers of pure ball on the internet. That being said,
you're in Collins. Anointment of Knicks was ridiculous. I get
he as Peyton, but man, I watched him in Oregon
and Auburn and he struggles to push the ball downfield.

(01:16:39):
You saw that yesterday or today. Also, you and Klatt
are the only people I've seen take Coward school. Twenty
six completions for under one hundred and fifty yards is insane.
Check down merchant. At least he's accurate under ten yards.
There's only one Drew Brees. Like I said, I'm not

(01:17:00):
given up. I'm not giving up. I don't expect him
to be Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen pushing the ball
down the field. I think he's gonna be. Okay, did
I anoint him? Maybe I did, But again, sometimes I
got caught up in the hype. I'm a human. Why
did the Raiders opt for Luke Getsy as their offensive

(01:17:20):
coordinator over someone like Kingsbury. Considering Getsy's offense struggled with
the Bears and now seems underperforming with Vegas. I would
say yesterday he did not underperform. His quarterback play is
gonna be bad. Their offensive line is not good. So
I don't know Luke Getsy. This is not personal. I'm

(01:17:41):
not like supporting a guy that i've known. I've never
met the guy. I know nothing about him beside when
he was the Bears offensive coordinator. But I think if
you gave Andy Reid the Raiders offense for the rest
of the season, while they would look better, they're not
gonna be any good. They're not gonna be good. Tried
to hire Cliff Kingsbury, and then Adam Peters got his

(01:18:03):
owner to give him way more money and they took
him to Washington. But I don't think Kingsbury would have
changed much either, So I don't think it really would
have mattered. Honestly, when your quarterback room is Aidan O'Connell
in Gardner Minshew and you're the Raiders, it'd be one thing.
It's like, well McVeigh or Kyle or Andy still probably

(01:18:26):
not be great, but they would have some moments like
I don't expect you guys to have moments. It's not
gonna be pretty that there's nothing you can really do
about it. I've been listening to you for a long time.
I'm originally from a royal grande. Both my parents went
to cal Poly Central Coast Baby, but now I live
out in Arizona. I actually worked for the owner of

(01:18:47):
The Thumb. Saw your post a day and couldn't help
but reach out. Thanks for my entertainment. This place. Maria's
been telling me about it for a while. It's a
gas station. Guy Fieri went there and it did a
Triple D episode and she's like, let's go there. They
have great barbecue. When you pull up, it's just a

(01:19:07):
gas I posted on my Instagram. I did a little
reel you pull it's just a gas station. So if
you didn't know, if you were just driving down the
street and needed gas, unless you went inside, you would
have no clue. You go in. It is a full
on restaurant. It's a barbecue joint, which is really good,
especially relative to gas stations, and it has an unreal

(01:19:29):
like ice cream pastry spot, so you go inside. I
got this thing called the Hangover. I wasn't even hungover,
but the lady at the front said, get it and
you can turn it into a burrito. It's like brisket onions, cheese,
home fries topped with cheese. Maria got like a barbecue
chicken sandwich. Onion rings were incredible. To Mac and Cheese,

(01:19:50):
I didn't get, but a couple of people DM me
that live around here that say that Mac and Cheese
is elite place is sweet. So if you ever get
a chance you're in North Scottsdale, it's kind of close
to like TPC Scottsdale where the waste management is type
into the thumb barbecue joint blown away. It's cool. I'm
a sucker for I like a good hole in the wall.

(01:20:13):
Technically this is a hole in the wall because it's
a legitimate gas station and a car wash. You get gas,
your car washed, and you get a brisket sandwich. But
it's not like you know sometimes gas station food. It's
not like that. It's a restaurant. I mean there are chefs,
people of the cooks. It was good. I purchased a
subscription to Peacock Tonight to watch the Eagles and the packers.

(01:20:36):
It's a couple of days old. However, after purchasing found
out that Peacock does not allow recording of live TV programs,
I literally canceled my subscription immediately. I work at an
IT job overnight and I'm a huge NFL fan, so
I could not watch the game live and therefore could
not watch the game. Peacock has its head up its

(01:20:58):
ass and they are likely missing out on an additional
twenty million people getting this app. Sorry for the long message,
but this is just a way and absolutely ridiculous on
Peacock's behalf. Yeah, it sucks. I didn't know that I've
been pro Peacock, but I've watched I guess every Peacock

(01:21:20):
game that the NFL has had, and I watched the
Oregon Bois a game live. I'm not a big watch
games back guy. For the first time, I might watch
a game back to see something that I missed. But
so I'm a bad person to run that off. But
you know, we all have different struggles in life. I

(01:21:41):
had a mail back question about the Ravens. John Harbaugh.
You've mentioned many times how you believe the Steelers should
move on from Tomlin, as the standard of success shouldn't
be just making the playoffs. At what point do we
start holding Harball to the same standard as he is
the CEO head coach. Well, they were the one seed
last year and hosted the AFC Championship game as a favorite.

(01:22:06):
Like I would say that's if Tomlin had just done that,
I would never have thrown out the Steelers should move on.
He just keeps barely making the playoffs and then getting
beat The Ravens dominated last year and then hosted the
AFC championship game. If you're doing that, like you not
in the hot seat, you're doing a really good job.

(01:22:29):
So I would say that Harbaugh wins more. Harbaugh's been
the number one overall seed. I think a couple times
with Lamar Jackson didn't happen. Then now he lost. But
when's the last time the Steelers. I guess they had
a home playoff game the Corona year and the Browns

(01:22:52):
kicked their ass. So in twenty nineteen they went fourteen
to two, number one seed twenty twenty eleven and five
second round twenty twenty two. Remember Lamar got hurt. They
still went ten and seven. Lost to the Bengals in
a pretty good game. Last year, I mean they went

(01:23:13):
thirteen to four. I would say that Harbaugh's just winning
more than Tomlin right now. Honestly, that to me would
would be the biggest difference between those two. If Harbaugh
wins the division again this year, he's having more success
if Tomlin was doing exactly what Harbad done the last

(01:23:35):
five years. Obviously he has Lamar and Tomlin doesn't. But
if Tomlin goes twelve wins this year and wins the division,
nothing anyone can say. It's a pretty you know, cut
and dry league. Right, only one person's winning the super Bowl.
But like, are you winning divisions? Are you hosting playoff games?

(01:23:58):
Are you putting yourself in position to to win the conference?
How do you look throughout the regular season? I think
Hardboss team's just been much better over the last five
years than Tomlins. Obviously that's quarterback play. But one team
took Kenny Pickett number twentieth overall, and the other team
took Lamar Jackson thirty second overall. If you one thing,

(01:24:19):
if Lamar was the number one pick, he'd be like, well,
of course they got him thirty second. The Steelers took
Kenny Pickett twenty one of the worst picks of all
turnament thanks For listening, the volume

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3 & Out - Jets-49ers Reaction, QB Play in Week 1, Cowboys owned Sunday

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