3 & Out - Monday Night Football Reaction, Jayden Daniels shines, Week 3 QB recap - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (02:01):
What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? Probably
as good as me because I just hit a big
parlay on DraftKings. Feels good because we just watched a
doubleheader and the Buffalo Bills, I mean, ended that game
by halftime. Josh Allen shined, the Jags. We got to

(02:24):
dive into Trevor Lawrence because that is a disaster. And
Jayden Daniels, what a performance that was really fun to watch.
He is Adam Peters, the Washington brass has to feel
pretty good about themselves. That last touchdown to McLaurin in

(02:46):
the end zone, that's as good as you get. That's
as good of a throw as there's been this year
in the NFL. That was a thing of beauty. I
mean that kid, the athleticism, the arm strength, the accuracy,
the poise. He even slid. So we'll dive into that game.
And I think the tough part for the Bengals is
Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase kind of dominated tonight bro

(03:07):
through three touchdowns, no picks. The offense was good running
the ball down their throat, and their defense was atrocious.
So I don't really know what the answer is for
the Bengals. They're zwing three. They've had games where their
offense has been off, They've had games where they choked
it away, and then they had a game where their
defense was a disaster. So we'll dive into Jayden, we'll

(03:28):
dive into the Bengals. Not much to say about the
Bills beside, I don't know. They look like a super
Bowl team and they got you could argue in twenty
twenty four the best player in the NFL right now,
and the Trevor Lawrence situation probably is gonna end Trampalke
and Doug Peterson's tenure with the Jags. But yeah, man's
that's a lot of football. Not gonna be negative tonight,

(03:50):
but doubleheader Monday night unneeded. But I guess you know,
it could be worse, So we're gonna We're gonna stay positive.
It could be no football, And make sure you subscribe
to the podcast if you listen on Collins feed. We
got a YouTube channel. All of our content is there.
We do instant reactions to this game, which I'm doing
right now, but it goes right up on the YouTube
channel after the games on Monday, Thursday and Sunday night.

(04:14):
I went on with Colin if you missed that after
some of the games on Sunday, so you can check
that out as well on his podcast feed. We'll talk
about some other stuff as well. But before we dive
in to tonight's action, you know, I got to tell
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(05:24):
I think we'll start with the rookie and the Washington Commanders,
which are now two and one, and their quarterback had
an incredible night. You watched that game and you go, well,
what can he not do? And the one thing we
knew coming out of LSU is that he was a

(05:45):
great deep ball thrower. He had Mo League neighbors and
Brian Thomas junior and he I mean, he won the
Heisman for a reason. No One last year in college football,
you could argue in the NFL threw a better deep
ball and that was on full display tonight. And that's
been I think a point of contention for you know,
falling different people that cover the team is like they

(06:07):
weren't pushing the ball down the field. They even mentioned
tonight Terry McLaurin, high character. Guy wasn't going into the tank.
He's like, listen, I'm a veteran, I make a lot
of money. We're good. And he was fed tonight. And
that pass that sealed the game in the back corner
of the right end zone is the best throw so

(06:27):
far of the NFL season, or it's on par with
Anthony Richardson's throw Week one. The difficulty of that, the
accuracy of that staring down the gun barrel as a
defender is coming full speed right at you about to
hit you in the chest. It couldn't be any more
perfect like that. That's a video game level throw. And

(06:48):
he hit McLaurin way earlier in the game down the
middle of the field for a huge gain. He was
twenty one or twenty three today. It felt like seven
on seven for him. The Bengals defense, which was clearly struggling,
he destroyed them. And the one thing you see with Jayden,
we know how good of an athlete he is.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
He slid.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
The guy finally slid, and he slid kind of on
like a I would say, of all the plays that
he's made so far this season, a pretty innocuous one.
Not one you're gonna remember, three or four yard scramble.
He hit that slide like he was, you know, playing
for the Washington Nationals, and the entire bench lit up.

(07:32):
His offensive lineman, lit up Dan Quinn and that backwards hat.
You know, Colin Coward's pissed off at him. Huge smile,
because the only negative thing that I have to say
about the guy is that he takes a lot of
unneeded hits. The one thing the good quarterbacks do is
they slide, and Jayden Daniels isn't exactly you know, two

(07:53):
hundred and fifty pounds of muscles, So any hit that
he can avoid when he's scrambling, because that is a huge, huge,
huge strength of his You saw he had a rushing
touchdown tonight because on that zone read with Brian Robinson,
who is a really good player, It's like Cliff Kingsbury
was awesome tonight. He's clearly been really good for Jaden

(08:16):
and I don't even know. I'm kind of speechless, you know.
I remember watching him early on in Arizona State, and honestly,
my first reaction was, I don't see it. I remember
watching him early on at LSU and I thought, I
don't see it. And then last year you really couldn't debate.
I mean, they had one of the most historical potent
offenses in the history of college football, and his deep

(08:41):
ball throwing, like we've talked about, was excellent. Clearly that
has translated. You knew his athleticism would translate, but tonight,
being calm within the pocket tonight being calm as a
scramble guy moving from your spot, but keeping your eyes
down the field is something we hear a lot with
quarterback play. Is when the eyes drop, you know you're

(09:03):
in trouble, and the best athletes at quarterback scramble and
keep their eyes up. You watch Josh Allen, He's the
best at that. He's moving left, he's moving right, eyes
are up, looking down the field, who's open Boom delivers
a strike And you saw Jaden do that over and
over tonight. So listen. Cliff's never been my favorite from

(09:26):
an offensive philosophical standpoint, But in terms of working with
a quarterback like this, like listen, I don't vibe with
their short yardage running game. It's not my style that
the quarterback and the gun that the running back right
next to them. Like, I get, it's gonna work sometimes,
but that's not what I grew up on. It's not

(09:46):
what I've been around in my professional career. But I
won't dispute like it helped Kyler Murray get going, and
it clearly Jayden is very comfortable in this offense. Listen
that touchdown they threw to the offensive lineman. Hat tip
to Cliff Kingsbury. But that is a massive win for
Washington to go on the road with a rookie quarterback

(10:06):
with a team that is zero and two fighting for
their lives. Now, listen the seventeen game season short sample size.
You know, if teams that can make the playoffs at
oho and two, I don't need along sample size at
oh to three, you are in a major fucking hole.
Let's call a spade a spade, and tonight Washington, you know,

(10:29):
I don't want to say put a nail in their coffin,
but we might look back. Really derailed their season and
it started ending with Jayden Daniels, who they showed Adam
Peters sitting next to the owner, like that's a moment
where the rookie quarterbacks. Let's face it, Kaylo's been up
and down. Bo Nick's first two weeks were terrible. He

(10:49):
was good at Tampa. That was like star quarterback in
the making on an individual game basis. The physical attributes,
the throws obviously, the the touchdown passed at the end
of the game that was. That was freaking awesome to watch.
And for the Bengals, it's like, you lose Week one

(11:09):
sixteen to ten. Your offense scores ten points against the
Patriots that are probably gonna end up winning three or
four games. The second week you go toe to toe
with the champs. You easily could have won that game.
Let's face it, you kind of choke the game away.
Then this game, Joe Burrow is awesome, throws for well
over three hundred yards, hitting Jamar Chase left and right
for multiple touchdowns. Is playing a Joe Burrow level game

(11:34):
and your defense gives up thirty eight points. Like I
to me, it's like, what do we need to well?
Our offense was bad one game, our defense was bad
another game. The other game we just couldn't close it out.
It's one thing when you just have a major question
mark at a specific position or with a specific unit

(11:55):
right now in different games. Everything has gone wrong. So
I don't really know where they go from here. I
think on the bright side, is Chase got going to
Higgins's back. Their offense looks fine, you know, even if
you remove that last touchdown, which is a little hollow.
If you're the Commanders, you're just kind of like playing

(12:16):
the little prevent defense. But they had twenty six points.
You could give them twenty seven because they went for
two trying to tie the game. When you have twenty
six twenty seven points and you're on pace to lose
the game by double digit like, you got issues on defense,
And lou Amaruno has been widely considered one of the

(12:39):
better defensive coordinators. But sometimes on defense, you know, obviously
the ex'es nos really matter. You're seeing that with Brian
Flores and Steve Spagnola. But defense is also about the
jimmies and the jokes. You can out scheme people offensively
with a random talent. It's difficult to do that on
defense if your corners in your safeties can't cover, Like,

(13:00):
what are you supposed to do at? What defense are
you supposed to cover? Or call? And you saw tonight
guys just getting wide open, especially in Keith spots. Zach
Hertz was one of the last players I scouted when
I worked in the NFL. That was a long time ago.
He's pretty old and he was shredding them to night.
And when you can't cover him, let alone McLaurin. Let alone,

(13:22):
is that Christian? Oh no, that's Luke McCaffrey. So they
they got worked and I just I don't know what
you do. You try to circle the wagons, but like
you're not screaming at Burrow in the offense and the
defense over the last couple of weeks had played well.
I don't know if they ran out of gas, but
zero to three, I think we can borderline right since

(13:47):
the off as a playoff team, it's going to be
very very difficult to make it now. Luckily for them,
you know, the Ravens are a little behind the eight ball.
One into the brown suck and uh. But we'll see
how the rest of the AFC plays out, because Houston's
gonna be good, you know, and he's a question mark.
So maybe you can get to nine to eight and

(14:08):
get that seven seed. But I don't know the Bengals.
You just never know what you're gonna get week to week.
So fantastic win by the Commanders Bill's Jacks. Let me
say this, nothing after halftime mattered, not a thing. The
Bills stepped on their throat and ended their season. No

(14:31):
one can take the Jags seriously again. That was the
type performance in the first half by Josh Allen, who
I've been saying for a long time is the second
best quarterback in the NFL. I think it's fair to say,
given Mahomes has had some bad interceptions this year, no
one has played better than Josh Allen this season at quarterback.

(14:54):
Sam Darnold's a cute story and he's played well. Josh
Allen's on a different level. Like right now, that is
the best player in the National Football League. Mahomes still
the guy you don't bet against in the playoffs. Mahomes
clearly has the best resume, but currently through three weeks,
it's that cat in Buffalo. Four touchdowns first half, said

(15:16):
Doug Peterson. Trent Balk, You guys can probably clean out
your offices. And I think we saw in that game
two max players, two guys making hundreds of millions of dollars.
One guy is dramatically underpaid and there is no amount
of money the Bills could pay him where they wouldn't

(15:36):
feel good about it because their franchise can't function without
that human being and their GM and obviously their coach.
They've done a good job because everyone's like, what are
they gonna do without Diggs. I don't know. Khalil Shakir
one of the better slot wide receivers in the league.
Cook has changed their offense since last year, Kinkaid the

(15:57):
tight end, really good player, Coleman first round pick, touchdown,
Like they're gonna be okay. And I would say over
the last two weeks, no team in the NFL has
played better. But that's a Super Bowl contender right there,
which we knew A lot of people question coming into
the season thinking they would take a step back when
you have that guy playing quarterback and an organization that

(16:20):
has now proven they know what you're doing, Like that's
what you get, and that was that was a massacre.
It really was, and I think what we found out.
So congrats to the Bills who have just dominated the
competition these last two weeks. You know what Trevor Lawrence is,
He's a high character. Deshaun Watson as just someone that

(16:43):
likes watching football on my couch that would be doing it,
whether I did this for a living or not. They
are terrible watches. They are terrible for the consumer. You
just sit there and watch and you go, this is awful.
How am I watching this? What is going on? And
I think we can officially say Trevor Lawrence is one

(17:06):
of the most overhyped players in the history of the league.
The hype that followed him coming into the NFL was
insane and through three years and three games it has
been beyond underwhelming. But the craziest thing is, and this
is what bad organizations do in the NBA. The NBA

(17:27):
gives out max contracts like you know, a home in
a cul de sac gives out candy on Halloween Night.
Some guys are worth it. Jokic, Luka, Curry, Lebron and
then there are a ton of guys that you go,
we just won thirty games and didn't sniff the playoffs.
It's like, yeah, he gave that guy two hundred and
forty million dollars. I could have told you that was

(17:47):
a terrible contract, the Jags giving him two hundred million
dollars after last season when he was going into year four.
It's not like, well, he's going to be a free
you got a franchise. He wasn't even he wasn't even
close to his fifth year option. He still had another
year to get there. Is one of the most insane

(18:09):
things I've ever seen when it comes to the economics
of the NFL, when you're talking that type of money.
I thought both quarterback contracts this summer were pretty embarrassing
for the franchises. But there's a reason the Dolphins don't
really win anything ever, and there's definitely a reason the
Jags since Shad Khan has owned the team constantly suck

(18:32):
because giving this guy that much money, Yeah, he's got
some talent. But there was a moment in the second
half he had a couple drives and Orlowsky was like,
he's really just kind of letting it rip and play. Well, yeah,
he's down thirty four to fucking three, nothing matters. He
could just play free. But in the heat of the

(18:52):
moment when they got down really quick, like thirteen to nothing,
you felt a little pressure and the balls are just
flying all over the map. The interception he throws to
Damar Hamlin, which dude dies on a field two years
later is picking off a two hundred million dollar quarterback
starting for a Super Bowl contender. Incredible story. Was an

(19:13):
atrocious throw. The dude is wide open, running down the
middle of the field, cutting across the field, drive the
ball into him. Instead, he tries to like layer a
throw and the ball air mails the wide receiver tips
and overthrows, hits Hamlin in the bread basket. Easy as
interception he's probably ever had. Go dating back to like

(19:35):
pee wee football and listen, seems like a nice guy,
never gets in trouble, but like this is him and
Deshaun Watson made a combined four hundred and thirty million
dollars and you can't win with either of them. You cannot.
We all watch enough football. We saw three quarterbacks out
of the four tonight, and you're like, that's a really
good player. Josh Allen transcendent talent, Jade and Daniel Oozing

(20:01):
with ability. Joe Burrow was like, that's the guy. That's
the Joe Burrow that I remember, Like that that's the
guy tonight. And then there's Trevor Lawrence, who you know
people have been pushing. He's got talent, he's got ability.
He's like, okay, let's just see it. Like I'm not
asking for four touchdowns a game. I'm just asking like,
can I just watch a couple series when the game

(20:23):
is in, you know, not out of hand, and have
him make throws that matter. It's not like he's throwing
to me and you. They have good offensive pieces and
he's just he just looks awful. He just looks terrible.
Like there's not even a discussion to be had about
Deshaun Watson anymore. Awful guy, beyond question marks off the field.

(20:47):
Trevor Lawrence, good guy. People like him, below average player
and currently right now he doesn't make more money into
Sean because he got more guaranteed. But you know, the
second most overpaid player in the NFL. I mean that
contract currently looks like a disaster. And I said this

(21:08):
a little while ago that hey, like Doug Peterson and
Trent Balkey are done. I like Doug's a good guy.
Like I'm not rooting for him to get fired, but
let's call what it is. I mean, you can't get
your ass kicked and lose the games in which they've
been losing when your owner said what he said coming
into the season, and have a chance. And there's no
way you're letting Trent Balkey pick another coach. It's like

(21:31):
it's over, it's over and done with there. But it's like, oh,
they'll be go after Belichick. Well, if you're Belichick, if
you do, like, listen, who knows how many opportunities is
gonna have this offseason? What if he thinks this guy's terrible,
and it's not like, well, just cut him this offseason.
These gave him two undred million dollars guaranteed, you're kind

(21:51):
of stuck with him. And even though these owners now
are willing to like cut guys with these, it ruins
your cap or puts huge limitations on you in the
short So you're you're kinda, you know, upstream without a paddle,
and this guy's sitting on your boat and you just
got to figure it out, so you could argue, you know, hey,
these guys are gonna get fired. Kind of an intriguing

(22:13):
job because they have a quarterback. But based on what
we've seen through three games, yeah, they have a quarterback
who's making a ton of money that isn't very good.
So you could almost say that's a detriment to the job.
And it was on full display tonight. We had two
games going with two quarterbacks on mac salaries Josh Allen,

(22:34):
Joe Burrow, awesome players, Jayden Daniels, the second pick in
the draft. You're like, holy Moley, this kid's good. And
then there's Trevor Lawrence, who my mom, you, my fiance,
my neighbor. Anyone that's watching all has the same take
like is this guy supposed to be good? Like we've

(22:55):
all watched enough football at this point, even just based
on this season to know like, hey show me then,
and he shows you nothing. So the drives in the
third quarter down thirty four to three coming out of
halftime don't matter one. I owe it to me. I
would put negative stock in that it's irrelevant in terms

(23:18):
of judging, like, oh there's something there, like bull shit.
There were some big spots in the first half, and
he melted like putting ice outside in Scottsdale. Once it's
one hundred and ten degrees, the cube never has a
chance melts like that. And that's what Trevor Lawrence and
that offense and just the Doug Peterson, Trent Bulkey ERAFL like.

(23:39):
Because this thing's a wrap. Okay, let's dive into some
quarterback play around the NFL today on the old Staremaster.
I watched a couple of games. I watched them yesterday
on Sunday, but it's hard when you got eight game

(24:00):
going at once to really dial in. And the Vikings
game was really such a blowout. They went back to
back wins over the forty nine ers in the Texans, Like,
I'm sorry, there can't be two better back to back
wins so far this season than those two. And they
destroyed Houston, and I mean they kind of worked the

(24:21):
Niners as well. And the talk of the town is
Sam Darnold, who leads the league in touchdown passes, who's
been fantastic, who is it's early, but is truly an
MVP candidate, throwing touchdowns left and right, looks really really good.
And I texted around some buddies in the league, and

(24:41):
I think consistent theme that came back and we all agree.
He plays for a well run, high level coaching team.
Right Kevin O'Connell one of the better offensive coaches in
the league. Clearly Brian Flores is a dominant defensive coordinator.
It is a good situation, but we can't really argue
that confidence is a powerful tool and having people that

(25:03):
believe in you, Having the right people that believe in
you is a game changer in life. I get asked
all the time, want to start a podcast, want to
do football? Do you have any advice? I say, yeah,
just get Coward, Bill Simmons or Portinoy behind you, or
be two Hall of famers one guy Dayton, Taylor Swift
or else. You got no shot. And when you do

(25:25):
have the right people who believe in you and are
behind you, then it's on you to take advantage of
it and listen. Sam Darnold is six three and a half.
He's two hundred and twenty pounds. He is a solid
I wouldn't call him a great athlete, but he's definitely
average to above for NFL standards, and the knock has

(25:48):
always been he's been really erratic and you will just
look back. It's like he played for fucking Adam Gase
and Matt Ruhle, who I think Matt Rule is a
good college coach, but he was kind of an embarrassment
in the NFL. And Kyle Shanahan and the forty nine
ers changed him, and Kevin O'Connell has taken him to
another level. And right now the Vikings looked fantastic. They
look real, Like I don't think this is a fluke.

(26:10):
They're excellent on defense. Their quarterback is not only playing
like under control, he's an explosive player, like this guy
has a big explosive arm. And they got weapons, and
they got a good running back, and they got a
star left tackle. Like this is a real team. Now,
I wouldn't just chuck them up in the Super Bowl
for the NFC, but I don't see how. Obviously Donald

(26:33):
who had a little bit of a knee scare with
JJ out, you know, their backup quarterback situation if he
were to go down, I think would be obviously problematic.
But let's face it, Cousin's a good player, right, He's
made a ton of money in this league. He's been
to Pro Bowls, like he's had an excellent career, especially
given where he started. Sam Donald is much more talented

(26:56):
and to me, their team is now more dynamic. Cousin,
I would say, over the course of the season is
going to be a more accurate player. But what do
we talk all the time about. We saw it last
night again, he can't add lib so if you pressure him,
he's da Sam Darnald can move like that is a
huge element to modern day offenses. It's why all these

(27:19):
quarterbacks they're excelling in the NFL are all good to
elite athletes. I mean, that's that's just a fact, and
it doesn't mean that like when we're never gonna see
the Peyton Mannings and the Tom Brady's again. But those guys,
the type players that have come into the NFL over
the last I don't know, six seven years, have all

(27:40):
been athletic guys. Have all been guys that you can
run movement plays with. And if he's not gonna turn
the ball over and he's gonna throw a ton of touchdowns,
the Vikings are this isn't a fluke. As a buddy
in the league, text me today like they're real. This
is not smoking mirrors and the Sam Darnal trade or

(28:00):
not trade, but signing in a weird way could get
complicated for them because if he wins, if the team
wins twelve games and he's excellent and they win a
playoff game, you're just gonna let him walk. I know
you drafted JJ McCarthy told this to Coward yesterday, Like,
it's not like they traded up three first round picks
to get this guy. Kind of fell in their lap,

(28:24):
and which was good. Good job by their GM knowing
the market, know where you can get the player. I
think they traded up one spot, but I don't know
it's gonna get complicated. It's a good problem to have.
Speaking of a good problem to have, is the Steelers
landed two quarterbacks who they're not paying any money. And

(28:44):
I think they got lucky when Russell Wilson got hurt,
because I thought to begin with that Russell was never
gonna work in Pittsburgh. He's a dink and dunk quarterback
who's kind of a weirdo that is not Pittsburgh's style,
and Justin Fields had at this point in time, there's
just more to work with, and this is a player

(29:07):
who the Steelers are three to zero. And obviously they're
led by their defense, which like the Chiefs, has been elite.
I mean, they are dominating defensively, and that game, to
me was a coin flip game until Justin Herbert reinjured
his foot and based on the line this week, probably
won't play. I thought halfway through that game, like this

(29:29):
Charger team is a playoff team if Herbert's fully healthy
and he plays seventeen games. If he's in and out
of the lineup, they got no shot. But that was
a solid win by Pittsburgh and their defense as long
as TJ. Watts on the field is going to be
top notch all season long. And the question mark has
been with them the last couple of years, like quarterback play,

(29:51):
and they've just had guys that bring no juice, Like
there's Kenny Pickett's got nothing. He's throwing eighty eight mile
an hour fastballs and it's not like he's a big
time athlete. So you get fields who their first touchdown
little zone reed boom walks right in the end zone.
Didn't have a big rushing game. I think you only
rushed for like six or seven yards yesterday, But that's

(30:11):
a huge element of his game, and it does feel
like he's a little more under control throwing the ball.
And maybe this we talk about confidence, we talk about leadership,
like Kevin O'Connell looking at Sam Darnold, I believe in you.
Mike Tomlin looking at Justin Fields, I believe in you.
Is just a little bit different than Matt Rule or

(30:31):
Matt Eberflus telling you that. And I think it's showing.
Now can the Steelers win a Super Bowl with Justin Fields?
Clearly they're gonna have to be a little more potent
on offense in these bigger games in December and in January.
But like this is why you start them, which again
they weren't planning on, but because of the Russell Wilson

(30:52):
calf injury, they got granted that ability. Like if Justin
Fields stays healthy, we're not seeing Russell Wilson this entire season,
which is a whole nother conversation like what happens in
that guy's career, But this is not the time for it.
And you got to give Justin Field's credit. You got
to give Sam Donald the credit. When you get these
opportunities and you get with a good team, like everyone's like,

(31:15):
oh their receiver suck. Their receiver suck well. Obviously, George
Pickens really talented. This Calvin Austen looks pretty good to me.
Friar move's good. They got a couple backs, and they
don't need to score that many points. I mean, they're
gonna be games where they're gonna have to score more
than eighteen to twenty points, clearly, but I do think
they will have that capability as the season goes on,

(31:35):
as this quarterback gets more comfortable, big explosive arm can
throw on the move. Throwing over the middle of the
field is something they're gonna have to become a little
more comfortable with. He had a pick yesterday, but it's
kind of tipped up in the air, like I'm a
believer and listen, you guys know where I stood on Pittsburgh.
I was out. They've kind of wrote me back in

(31:56):
because their style translates, it really does. I would say
if I had to bet on one of the two teams,
I think the Vikings I would feel a little more
confident in because just their passing games much more explosive,
and their defense has been equally as dominant, and their
defensive coordinator floores right there with Spags is so far

(32:17):
through three weeks, best in the league. But the Steelers
are real too, man. This is they're very comfortable. I
think the Chiefs have proven this the last couple of years. Now.
The swing vote with the Chiefs is they got Patrick Mahomes,
you got Justin Fields, but they got no problem being
in games when it's thirteen to ten in the second half.
Like they're comfortable in that environment. So props to the Steelers.

(32:40):
Some other thoughts on quarterback play. I rewatched or just
you know, independently on the StairMaster the Colts and the
Bears game, and I had two big takeaways because yesterday
with Colin, my take was like, God, Fields is all
over the place. Obviously he has some stuff to work on.
He's missing some deep ball, he gets a little fernetic

(33:01):
in the pocket, but he did make a lot of
great throws in that game. They have no running game.
I mean they're asking him, I'm sorry in a game
that it's one thing being down thirty to nothing and
you have to throw At no point was this game
ever bigger than like it was like fourteen to three.
It's like, can we just take a deep breath here?
Run the ball a little bit and they're just asking

(33:22):
him to throw every single play. But he had some
great passes to roam. There's a difference in struggling and
losing like Bryce Young was and going I don't see
anything there. That wasn't my takeaway from Caleb. You know,
to me, there is so much there to work with.

(33:43):
Need to calm down a little bit. You can't ask
him to do this much like it's kind of crazy.
But I think most of the reaction is like, oh,
he sucks, he's terrible. It's he's over his head to
hype and that was kind of my reaction watching him
on a four box situation. But when you really watch
the game, I was more glass half full. The guy

(34:03):
I was glass half empty on would be Anthony Richardson,
who is a complete train wreck. I mean, making throws
off platform, fading to his left, hitting bears in stride.
You can't function with this at quarterback. It is not
sustainable and stiching. They play the Steelers this week, you

(34:29):
know they played the Steelers. That is a tough spot
for a r because right now the balls are coming
out of his hand and you have no clue where
it's gonna go, he had a couple big plays in
that game against the Bears, or you could tell he
throttled off a little bit because he was afraid to
overthrow the guy. And whether this guy is all out

(34:51):
of whack or whether this is just what he is.
You talk about earning your money. If you're Shane Stikeen,
this is a project's project. Now. Luckily, if you are
gonna have a project, you want a guy six '
four that is that powerful, that fast and with that
big of an arm. But the accuracy issues. Like to me, Caleb,
when he's overthrowing some stuff and then you see him

(35:13):
make just a couple of great throws hit guys in stride,
You're like, this guy can be accurate. He did throw
a bad pick six or not. It wasn't a pick
six the guy went out of bounce, but a pick
on an out route, hold on the ball a little
too long. That happens to the young quarterbacks. When I
watch Anthony Richardson young quarterback, the accuracy isn't a concern.

(35:35):
I mean, it's probably one of the biggest liabilities right
now in the NFL. So the Colts clearly are gonna
have questions on defense to Forrest Buckner's not there. They
played a pretty good game all things, you know, being
equal yesterday with their backs against the wall. But I
think the quarterback, when you play better teams, I just
don't see how you win if he's gonna play like

(35:57):
he has through the first three games. I mean, there
was a play in the red zone where they rolled
him out and there was a guy open in the
back of the end zone. The ball did get tipped,
but you didn't have any faith when he was rolling
out like this is pretty risky and the ball gets
tipped and goes right into Edmund's hands, You're like, man,

(36:18):
this guy, there's one thing to be a roller coaster
and there's another thing to be what Anthony Richardson is
right now to feel like a train wreck. And I listen,
I know you won the game if you're a Colts fan,
but I think we all have to agree that this
is pretty freaking ugly right now. And I was a believer,
or I wanted to believe. I mean, hell, I was

(36:40):
tempted to bet on them to win the division, and
the preseason spooked me. And it's been way worse in
the regular season. So if Shane Syching can work his magic.
He deserves an extension. If he can get this team
in playoff contention come December and have this quarterback improve,
it'll be like Lafleura with Malik Willis. I will tip

(37:01):
my hat. I'm not sure it's possible, U bo Nicks.
I watched that game back two things. Denver came to play.
Denver showed up to kick acid and take their defense
was flying around. I mean they got up a couple
scores before you could even blink to me. The difference

(37:24):
between bo Nix and Caleb is they were asking him
to get and this is what we talked about coming
into the season. Snap the ball, get rid of the
ball quick. And he did that a couple of times,
and he found himself in a rhythm. And this is
the big question mark with Eberflus, who when you're watching
the Bears and they keep showing him and he's screwing
up challenges or he's not challenging the ball, you just

(37:46):
feel a guy you talk about we talk about it
with players all the time, you know, gaining confidence, losing confidence.
Eva Flus looks like a guy that's swimming completely in
over his head. That's why I think most people, if
you're gambling on it, if you're a fan of it,
you're like, I'm out on this guy. This is not
gonna work. Then you watch Bo Nicks and you just
feel the confidence in the quotes from Sean Payton. It's

(38:07):
like he's been there, done that, Like he's been around
the block a few times, kind of knows what he's
doing now. His offense in terms of the verbia, it's very,
very complicated. But with time you find a place like, hey,
I gotta cut this out. I need to make this
a little easier for my guy. The best thing that
can happen to a young quarterback play solid defense, make

(38:31):
plays on defense, turn the ball over and run the ball,
slow down the game. And the Broncos did that. I
mean they went into Tampa and completely punked him. Now
was Tampa feeling themselves at two and zero? Did they underestimate?
I say this all the time because there are massive
upsets in November and December every single year. These people

(38:51):
are humans. Like when you're playing a one in seventeen
and you are six and two, it's horrid to practice
the same way as when you're six and two. When
you're playing another six and two team on Monday night
or Sunday night football when you're playing that morning game,
like this team stinks, Like I do get and I

(39:12):
understand coaches harp on this take it seriously work hard.
It's hard for players when they remember Belichick over decades
when they would play just horrendous teams and he'd be
like the peak of the dynasty and he'd be like,
you know, I know this team's zero and ten, but
their special teams is one of the best units I've
ever seen. And he would go on some long diatribe

(39:34):
for like ten minutes. He'd be like, he is trying
to psych himself in to this team being a real
opponent because he has to communicate with his own team,
and that's hard. That is a difficult proposition. And it
felt like Tampa just thought. I would guess their practice
was pretty hit or miss, their focus was pretty hit
or miss, and they showed up thinking they could win

(39:55):
the game, and all of a sudden, it's like a
Mike Tyson shot across the the chin and you're down,
but bo Nick's getting rid of the ball quick. One
thing that's pretty evident is he's a pretty good athlete.
He made some fantastic plays with his legs. He had
an early touchdown, he had another great scramble. He looked really,
really good, and I think they just got him calm

(40:17):
where you watch Caleb. What's weird about the Bears and
Colin and I talked about this on Sunday night, is
like they start really slow. So whatever their scripted plays are,
that is something you harp on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You
feel pretty confident on how the game is going to
open up. You practice those plays over and over. You

(40:38):
go over it as the offensive coordinator. Very rocky early.
There's no rhythm to it. Like honestly, that game, the
score looks a lot closer. They score a couple of
late touchdowns. You know, the score doesn't indicate how poorly
they played on offense. Part of it was just kind
of Caleb freelancing, which is part of the problem. It's

(41:00):
hard to freelance in the NFL because even if you
got all the Colts suck on defense. Their defenders, when
they have angles on you and you're doing three sixties
in the backfield, will catch you. And if they don't
catch you, they will force you back into more help
and it will just turn into these disasters. It's why
we talk about all the time with quarterback play, get

(41:22):
rid of the ball. Shador Sanders really big time talent,
and I would put a lot like their offense. When
you're watching it, you're like, I think Pat Shermer is
one of the biggest scam artists going in POWERFY Football
or the NFL. His offense is a joke. It's like
you can't block and you are asking your offensive line

(41:42):
on four and five wides every single series, like what
in tight games when you're down and Chador just had
to pull plays out of as you know what, well
in college you can pull that off. Caleb was able
to pull that off the last couple of years. Terrible
offenseive line because most of the defense who are chasing
you around are not going to be playing on Sundays.

(42:03):
So like Schador made just remarkable plays. It's harder to
do that in the NFL because even some random backup
is still like a fourth round pick, still a guy
that might play in the NFL for five or six years.
So you're seeing Caleb do all this stuff and you're like, bro,
you either if it's not there, you got to throw
it away. You have to balance some of the hero

(42:25):
ball that works in college that in football it's much
more or in the pros on rhythm and timing. That's
the only way an offense can operate. And that's where
you watch bo Nicks. You know, the first game, no
rhythm and timing against Seattle Steelers overwhelmed them early. As
the game went on, it felt like he settled in
and this game felt much closer to what we saw

(42:48):
during the preseason. A couple steps, get rid of the ball.
Couple steps your first options out there, look, get rid
of the ball. And that's how you can be successful
in the NFL, because when you are going back there
and no one's open, you're like, shit, I'm just gonna
do a three sixty. I'm gonna scramble the left and
then if something I'll open, I'll scramble back to the right.

(43:08):
That can lead to crazy interceptions, that can lead to
crazy sacks that could just lead to problems. And this
gets back to avoid some of these crazy second and
third and long. You have to function in the run game.
You have to have i would say, productive plays on
first and tent because it makes it easier on everybody

(43:32):
and the Bears are like, I don't know, like an
NFL blitz team. They just want to pass the ball
non stop. Unless I'm pro the pass. But when you're
asking a rookie quarterback to pass the ball fifty times
in a game where you are not down three or
four scores, you're asking for problems and you gotta find

(43:57):
a way to get an early lead. That's what the
Broncos did. That's why they dominated that game. Get an
early lead, have your defense settle in, and everyone can
take a deep breath when you find yourself behind the
eight ball. And some of these coaches it can be
like fourteen to six or nine to nothing, and they
start calling plays like they're down twenty one to three

(44:22):
in the third quarters. Like, guys, it's the second quarter,
you're down nine points. Can we just run the plays
that we talked about on Wednesday and Thursday that have
a chance to just gain six yards, Like we don't
need thirty or forty yards. And I think sometimes that's
a huge difference you just see between coordinators their inability

(44:42):
to like stick with the run, their inability to just
run basic plays. It's my issue with Pat Shermer. I mean,
I'm sitting there. I'm rooting for Dion and I'm going pat.
Every play does not have to be obviously the Hail
Mary play, but on the previous series, it's like, just
run a slit out, just run a quick screen, make

(45:03):
it a little easy on your offensive lineman. Make it
so Chador is not running for his life. And some
of these coades like pass past pass, pass pass, go deep,
go deep, go deep, go deep, which is what we
all want to do in Madden. It's not realistic in
Power five football or the NFL. And in the NFL
the difference of Power five. If you have an elite

(45:25):
talent at quarterback, he can run around and make shit happen.
And Shadoor did and Caleb used to do that in
college where in the pros it can unravel on you fast.
Anthony Richdson's doing it right now, and then just throwing
the ball to the other team. It's why when they
had control of that game, what were they doing. They
were handing the ball off and getting productive plays to

(45:46):
Jonathan Taylor. That's how they took the lead. Because it
just settles everyone in And what has Andy Reid done
these last couple of years as his passing game has
been hit or miss. He's ran the football, like how
do the Ravens have a lot of success over the years.
They run the ball down your throat. And that's why
I have a lot of respect for the running back

(46:06):
position coming back into vote, because we've talked forever the
tight end is the quarterback's best friend. I'd argue the
running game is the quarterback's best friend. It makes it
easier on everyone, especially the offensive line, because a lot
of offensive linemen are going to struggle in pass pro
if you ask them to pass protect forty five times
a game. But there are a lot of alignment who

(46:29):
can be averaged to above average in the run game,
who are liabilities in the pass game. But you can
play function and win with them if your running game
is successful and you can say, oh, they have no
running game. A lot of these coaches will not stick
with it. They just will not. They will be so

(46:51):
quick to pivot away from it because they always got
stuffed once. We'll just stick with it. That's how you
lean on a defense. Tired them out, and the teams
that are willing to do that, I think just have
a better chance to be successful when you're passing game,
and it's like this all over the league is out
of whack and not really functioning, and your offensive lineman.

(47:14):
Probably most teams have multiple guys out of their five
who are liabilities in the pass game. I understand, like
the Cowboys, you're down twenty eight to six, you have
no choice, you have to pass. But if you're down
like seven to three or ten to three or fourteen
to six and there's two quarters and five minutes left

(47:37):
in the first half, it's like, guys, we got some time,
Like why are we rushing to try to gain a
comeback in one play. Let's take a deep breath, Let's
just sustain a drive, just settle everyone down. And I
think a lot of offensive coordinators, which listen most of
us if we're just playing video games or screaming at

(47:59):
the TV, we all like the past. But I think
some of these guys are becoming so obsessed that it's
leading to this erratic quarterback play when the offensive linemen
are completely overwhelmed. Okay, mail bag time, you guys know
the drill at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff little Instagram account,

(48:24):
fire in those dms. Get your question answered here on
the podcast we will start with Jacoby question for the bag.
With Pierce saying there could be a quarterback change, it
got me thinking with the Raiders trade Davante for JJ McCarthy.

(48:47):
Straight up, Davante is shown multiple times he doesn't seem
happy in Vegas with Sam ballin. It just got me wondering, well,
I would imagine the Raid would gladly take JJ McCarthy.
I think that's an immediate no from the Vikings. One.
They don't need a wide receiver. They gave Justin Jefferson

(49:10):
the biggest contract in the history of the league non quarterback.
I think maybe Bose is a little higher guaranteed, maybe not.
I have to really look at those numbers, but obviously
they just gave him an astronomical amount of money. They
have Jordan Addison, they had another wide receiver eighty three
making some plays. They just they don't need them. And

(49:32):
despite Sam bawling, which is a problem for them in
terms of are they just gonna let him walk, they
would not do that deal. And the reality is JJ
McCarthy's out for the year, so he doesn't really do
you any good. I do think two guys though, that
are trade candidates, like DeVante if this team is going

(49:56):
to be bad. And what's crazy is that comeback win
against the Ravens was pretty impressive. But I think that's
a little more outlier than it is what we're gonna
see now. Max Crosby's banged up, Davante has no value
on that team. He still can play. Could you trade him,
you know, for like a second and a third round pick.

(50:17):
I think you'd have to entertain that. Obviously Crosby's untouchable,
but I think Davante you'd have to think about it.
And to me the other guy, and I understand they
gave him a little more money before the season. Maybe
did they give him an extension or rework his contract?
Added a bunch of guaranteed money. You could easily get
a first round pick for Tyreek Hill. Should we just

(50:38):
start over? Should we just press the ejec button? Because
that's what I do. If I was the Dolphins, I'm
not remotely close win healthy two winning playoff games. Now
I don't think they do that. I'm not speaking. I
don't know the cap implications, which are obviously, you know,
not ideal when you give guys a large amount of

(51:01):
guaranteed money. But those two guys don't make sense on
the team at this point in time with the quarterback
play in Miami, assuming Tua, who knows if he comes back,
and Gardner Minshew and at O'Connell like, give me a break. Listen,
I'm not a Raider hater. Gardner Minshew made no sense
on the Raiders. He makes sense as a backup. He
does not make sense as someone that you go into

(51:22):
the season week one. These guy's are starter out on you?
Is Jackson Dart a sleeper number one? He's having a
season that's going under the Raider. I think part of
it is ole Miss hasn't played anybody yet. I have
not watched a snap of ole Miss, partly because their
opponents are a joke when they play the real teams.

(51:45):
He's got a lot of money in the line. I
mean when they're playing Bama, when they're playing Georgia, when
they're playing Tennessee. I don't know their schedule in front
of me, but Bama Georgia is this week, so that's
an incredible game. So you guys have played Furman Mtsu,

(52:06):
I don't want to click on it, Wake Forest and
Georgia Southern. You've won seventy six nothing, fifty two to three,
forty to six, and fifty two to thirteen, So listen.
Schedules a joke dominated everybody. Then you go Kentucky South Carolina,
so you should be six and oh, I don't even
know if you're an old Miss fan. Then it gets

(52:27):
interesting at LSU Oklahoma at Arkansas, who's sneaky, not bad.
They easily could have beat Oklahoma State. They're running back.
Number twenty two is a really good player. You don't
play Tennessee, but you do play Georgia. I think there's
a very decent chance that will Miss. Let's just give
them an L to Georgia goes eleven and one, so

(52:52):
that means they could be in the SEC championship game,
played Georgia again, Tennessee or who you know, play someone
else again and be in the playoffs. So yes, one,
Jackson Dark could be the number one overall pick. Clearly,
the best players in college football right now are not
quarterbacks in terms of like just the best pure players

(53:17):
are Travis Henry, who is remarkable. I mean he had
a sweet open field tackle, he had the game winning
fumble forced. He's a great player on offense. Will Johnson,
the corner from Michigan who got banged up in that
game at another pick six. He's elite. I think Tennessee
has a defensive lineman who's elite. You know, the quarterbacks

(53:40):
are Shador who has a lot of NFL attributes. It's
hard to judge him in that offense because Pat Shermer.
I mean, it's so funny everyone the discourse on Dion,
because of course the media gets mad when you rip
the media, and Dion's constantly going back and forth. To me,
I don't care at all about that. I don't pay

(54:03):
any attention. I refuse to even comment. I don't even
give a shit. You'd have to pay me to give
a shit, and even then I wouldn't care. But to me,
the thing to be critical on Dion is like and
what I mean is like banning the reporter, saying the
reporters are jealous of the players getting paid. Like, I'm sorry,
I think there's some merit to that. I'm not saying

(54:24):
he's one hundred percent accurate with that. But I texted
with a scouting buddy the other day, or was talking
to him on the phone, and I was like, what
is a player parking lot at these Power five schools
look like right now, He's like, bro, it looks like
the NFL. I mean these guys, but you know what
the average uh you know, reporter dude working on a

(54:47):
newspaper makes. He makes nothing, So I don't think he's
totally off base. Now, Dion brings a lot on himself.
But the thing, no one's ever critical on him. He's like,
you hired Pat Shermer to be euroc like that, that's
a there's substance behind that criticism. Wait, you went into
a season with a quarterback who might go in the

(55:11):
top five, who is your son, and Travis Hunter, who
more than likely is the most talented player you'll ever coach,
and you named Pat Schrmer as your oc.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
DED.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
I'm pretty sure you don't drink or do drugs, Like
what were you on when you made that decision? But no,
everyone's so consumed with and he's so being into the media.
I got news for you, No one cares. Got a
question for the mailbag. I think one of the most
underrated storylines right now is DeVante and I wanted to
get your thoughts on the situation. Do you think he

(55:46):
was sold to Bill of goods by his hometown Raiders
with Jimmy g at the same time a promising roster.
Or is he also to blame for making the move
to a doom franchise. He's one of the great wide
receiver talents of his generation, but he obviously is unhappy
in Las Vegas, and it seems like anyone could have
foretold the situation. How do you think it relates to

(56:07):
other top talents and their evaluation of landing spots when
it's time to move on from their current team. I
think it's a good lesson is I think for most
athletes and most high level people in business, the longer

(56:28):
you do something, the easier it is to be unemotional
about it. Because when you make emotional decisions, it's when
I think you make bad decisions. It's why family businesses
can have their challenges because there's money involved and there's
emotional you know, situations involved with brothers, sisters, parents, whatever.

(56:50):
That's why it gets complicated. And I think DeVante one
he is really really good friends with Derek Carr, and
he wanted to play with Derek Carr, which I don't
totally blame him. He's like Derek's thrown twenty five thirty touchdowns,
like we can have success. And he grew up a
raiderstand and I'm pretty sure you know it was hard

(57:15):
for certain family members to come to Green Bay games.
I think he has an older grandparents that couldn't make
it the game. So it was a lot easier as
family with Raider fans. And they obviously paid him a
ton of money, which was very lucrative no state income
tax in Vegas, Like it's been lucrative to him, but
it's been a little Randy Moss for the Raiders twenty

(57:37):
years ago, like kind of forces you into relevancy, which
is crazy because think how many wide receivers are you know,
shiny and he was a superstar with Aaron And I
think if he could listen, I don't think he'd changed
his decision. But I think anyone that wasn't emotionally tied

(57:59):
to the city situation on what it told him, this
isn't a good idea. And I think looking back, like,
let's face it, the Raiders weren't in position to make
that trade. I mean they were because they had the
assets of trade for him, but it didn't make sense
there were so many players away just one of those
bad deals for everyone involved. Even though the Raiders get

(58:23):
to sell more jerseys, Davante gets to make a lot
more money, but it felt like everyone lost, you know,
and it's sad. I like Davonte a lot. I don't
know him personally, but I'm close with his his mentor slash.
You know, a long time offseason coach who's now in
New Orleans coaching wide receivers, Keith Williams. I obviously knew

(58:49):
all those people at Present State when he came. Like
he's just a high level cat, and I think he
made an emotional decision because there were elements outside of
business that were there, Like I think a lot of
teams would have been willing to pay him a lot
of money, but he only wanted to go to the Raiders,
and the Raiders willing to trade for him, and kind
of the rest is history, and he's just it's just

(59:11):
sad because he should be playing for big time game,
you know, in big time games. It would be fun
to see him on the Steelers, the Chiefs, some of
the Bills, like some of these really good teams right now.
Lifelong Packer fan, it feels like Lafleur gets left out
of the conversation when talking about the best coaches in

(59:31):
the league. I think the list goes Andy McVeigh, Kyle Lafleur.
Why do you think he gets left out of the conversation.
Colin and I talked about this the other day. Is one.
I think that first year he was overshadowed by or
the first couple of years Rogers, and that just happens.

(59:55):
Rogers wins MVPs, Aaron gets all the credit and Matt
didn't get that much, even though I remember when he
got the award he thanked Matt and in a weird way,
he didn't get enough credit for last year with Jordan Love.
But I just threw on the highlights before I press record,
like a twelve minute YouTube package that the NFL puts out.

(01:00:20):
It's crazy how good he had Malik Willis looking, but
also the stuff he was running. You know, some quick hitters,
motion guys, get him in the flat, Malik hitting him
in stride, having Malik run around Milke Willis. Malik Willis
looked like the Colts want Anthony Richardson to look like.
Think about that one guy was had for a seventh

(01:00:43):
round pick three weeks ago. The other guy went fourth
in the draft. First of all, enjoy the show. Thank you, Blake.
I appreciate that big Vikings fan and have been thinking
about the game against the Falcons later in the year
that me and some buddies might go to it. That'll

(01:01:05):
be fun. And if you think Flores will have Cousins
number having practiced against him, or if Kirk will be
able to succeed against his scheme with the way we're
playing right now, I personally think it will be a
long day for Cousins without a clean pocket. If the
pocket is not clean, Cousins could be playing Georgia or Alabama.

(01:01:28):
He is going to make mistakes, So fooling Cousins if
you're not hitting him is not the end of the
world for Kirk. So the scheme stuff moving guys back
and forth, he can manage that. It's about getting him
off the spot and making a move in the moment
he has to move that he has problems. I know

(01:01:49):
this if I was a Vikings fan sitting here today,
It's like, Wait, we got a quarterback who looks better
than the other guy for ten million dollars and the
other guy wanted forty to forty five million dollars, and
we also drafted a player who looks pretty promising. I'd

(01:02:10):
feel pretty good about our situation. I think optimism should
be really, really high. It's like, wait, do we kind
of have guys that know what they're doing right now?
Because that's what it feels like. That's a huge economic swing.
Think how much money the Falcons are paying Cousins these
next couple of years. Now, Maybe if Donold throws forty

(01:02:33):
touchdowns and you guys win twelve thirteen games, what are
you gonna do? Let him walk, so you'd have to
pay him. But he's a more dynamic player than Cousins. Now.
Cousins has been doing it at a longer, higher level
for longer. It seems like kickers have been or had
a surprisingly good start the year. It's clear that kickers
are stronger and more accurate than ever. Example, Brandon Aubrey

(01:02:59):
made a sixty five yard field goal look like a
chip shot and nobody was surprised. Is it possible in
the next three to five years the NFL makes the
goal posts closer together. I saw a guy, I mean,
I saw Jake Moody miss a fifty yard field goal.
I think sometimes we overreact to this. Obviously, training and

(01:03:23):
strength training is probably never been better for specific things.
I think it's fair to say these kickers are probably
stronger than they have been in years past. The isolated training,
maybe it's different. I mean, I don't pretend to be
some kicking expert, but I've read some headlines, I know
some blog posts about we need to put the goal

(01:03:46):
posts and make the posts a smaller distance, like let's
just pump the brakes. Let's just why if a guy
can kick sixty of our yard field goal, a guy
can kiss sixty five yard field goal, what's wrong with that?
I have no problem with it. I'm not one of
those people that say we need to change. We're three

(01:04:08):
weeks in two coming from a Bears fan, did the
team screw up in hiring Shane Waldron over Clint Kubiak?
I saw some of Seattle fans actually happy with the
offense this year compared to last season. Waldron looks to
be the problem, and I think he's gonna get ebra
Flues fired. How bad the offense looks. Do you think

(01:04:31):
the Bears have a chance at landing Ben Johnson? If
I'm a Bears fan and let's face it. I mean,
as of the day, you'd say Eberflus is a dead
man walking. I don't think we can afford to risk
hiring one of these coordinators because what if they are

(01:04:52):
over their head. I think the guy I would hire
would be Mike Vrabel. Get Mike Vrabel and have him
hire an offensive, good offensive coordinator. Now you go, John
that stands for everything that you're against. I think you're
so invested into Caleb Williams that if you hire Slowick

(01:05:13):
or you hire Clint Kubiak, and if they are not
a good quote unquote head coach that is that's very,
very risky. Now it's easy. It's like, well, we got
the next Kyle or McVeigh or Andy Reid. What if
you got the next the litany of guys that have failed,

(01:05:36):
I would try to hit a double. I think sometimes
the Bears and just teams in general, when they're in
a situation like that, like, you guys have a lot
of good players, Let's just get the train on the tracks,
because I think the variants on a Slowick or a
Kubiak or a Ben Johnson who has been scared to

(01:05:57):
become a head coach could be a home run. But
it could be a fucking disaster. I mean a disaster.
Or if I tell you Mike Vrabel is your next
head coach, is it safe to say you're gonna be
pretty good over the next two or three years, and
then if in three years you're like, this isn't good enough,

(01:06:19):
that's a good problem to have. But to me, in
your situation with Caleb, who to me needs to be
corralled and just kind of like settled down a little bit,
I think Vrabel's a safe option if I'm one of
these teams with just nothing going for me. Yeah, whatever,
you guys have something going for you. The other thing

(01:06:42):
is you need a good Your division is well coached. Lafour,
Kevin O'Connell, Dan Campbell, like it's these guys are gonna
be there for a while. So if you get it
wrong with the coordinator spot, that's pretty risky. And I
get like, well, what if Vrabel's offensive coordinator does a
good job, he leaves. I understand that, but I don't know.

(01:07:05):
I get very nervous with the slowics and the Kubiaks
and those type guys, both of them, I mean Kubiaks
called plays for three games, three games, one game, against
Vic Fangio. He got punked. Flores just took Bobby Slok
to the Woodshit, he's called games for seventeen games, a

(01:07:28):
playoff game, eighteen twenty one games in his life, twenty
one games. I think you guys need experience. I mean,
I'm serious. Just get an experienced guy who just knows
what he's doing. We're not trying to win the Super Bowl.
We're just trying to go to the playoffs, like back
to back years. It's early in the season, but we're

(01:07:50):
seeing struggles from this year's rookie quarterback class and a
lot of success from previous written off quarterbacks Darnold Baker, Karr,
Malik Willis, and now even Andy Dolton. Do you think
the league will start to trend back to the days
of giving their rookie quarterbacks time to develop. I think

(01:08:11):
it's tough because I'm recording this part before Washington plays, like,
what are they supposed to do? What Jaden said behind
Marcus Mariota. I think Mariota's even hurt right now? What
were the Bears gonna sign like Gardner Minshew to start
over Caleb. I'm pro playing guys. I think it depends

(01:08:32):
who you are, and also depends on the situation of
the team. We've seen guys, I mean Peyton Manning started
right away, started immediately in nineteen ninety eight. You know,
Matt Stafford started immediately in two thousand and seven. So quarterbacks,

(01:08:52):
and you just take your lumps and you figure it out. Now,
you could argue that breaks some guys, and some of
the guys have to go other places to resurrect their career.
Jared Goff started immediately. I mean Brock Purdy got to
start as a rookie. He was a seventh round pick.
Dak Prescott immediate starter. I'm a huge believer in there

(01:09:14):
is no correct path for anything in life. My path
is different than your path. Manning's path is different than
Brady's path, is different than Aaron Rodgers' path, so that
there's no guaranteed path to success. Everyone's different. Now, some

(01:09:36):
paths are bad for that individual person and can derail
their career. But the best part about the NFL, especially
when you're a high pick, you're gonna get several chances.
Diana Russini just said that if they were willing to
trade him, there'll be four or five teams willing to
trade for him right now, which I think is a
little crazy being Bryce Young, given how much money makes

(01:09:56):
even giving up a seventh round pick based on what
we've seen, if Bryce Young had been a six round
pick and had been the Panther started the last two years,
nobody would trade for But he's the number one pick
and he has the pedigree. So when you get drafted
high and have the quote unquote pedigree, it's why teams
are going to be interested in Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold,

(01:10:16):
in Bryce Young no matter how bad you look. It's
the one big disadvantage you get. When you're a late
round pick and you struggle, people think you can't play.
Where when you're drafted high and you struggle, people think, oh,
it's a situation. It's the team, it's the coach. Yeah,

(01:10:37):
I don't know. Monday Morning Pod segment. You could do
a section on the show each Monday and call it
Monday Morning Mulligan, and that would be a team that
played poorly on the last Sunday of football. But it
doesn't change your opinion on that player or team. It
just deem it a bad game and you're willing to

(01:10:58):
give them a pass on their performance. I like the guy.
It's not a bad idea as a Jags fan. And
Doug Peterson doubter. Do you think it's possible the Jags
move off Doug if they start zero to four. I
feel like Doug's inability to move off Press Taylor has

(01:11:20):
and tied himself to Press and if you want one gone,
you must fire the other. He does have a weird
loyalty to Press Taylor. I'm obviously recording this part before
the Monday night game. I think that place could get
really weird really fast that if they don't make the playoffs.

(01:11:40):
I'd be a little shocked if he got fired early
in the season because I'd have to look at their
coaching staff, but who would they implement. But I do
think he's coaching this year for his job, and I
do think anything less than being in the playoffs come
the second week in January, he will be fired. And
I think Trent Bulky will be fired in that place

(01:12:02):
will have full court press of Bill Belichick. That would
be my guess. A lot of people are sending me
the memes and the pictures of Arthur Blank, who put
himself in his own Hall of Fame and a ring
of Honor listen to I would say pretty high percentage
chance I will never be as rich as Arthur blank

(01:12:23):
slash own an NFL team. So maybe that warps your
opinion of yourself. But I can't imagine being that rich,
that successful and needing to put my name in the
Ring of Honor. I mean, bro, what are you? It's

(01:12:45):
just the jokes right themselves? Nobody. I've listened to a
couple of podcasts today on a million text chains about it. No,
how could anyone take that? Seriously? Can you imagine some
of the text chains of employees for the Atlanta Falcons
are we really can you imagine the guy that had

(01:13:06):
to I don't know if they engrave it or they
they put, you know, big letters up there. I honestly
didn't wasn't really paying attention to halftime. I was eating dinner,
so I don't know if they showed it on TV,
but I guess it feels like a lot of people
don't necessarily engrave it into the concrete. They almost, you know,

(01:13:27):
kind of put letters on top. Why would you do that? Also,
what have you done build a stadium? Cook it cool?
I struggle understanding why more teams don't take the approach
of starting a veteran quarterback while letting their rookie quarterback develop.
As a former Panthers fan, seeing how the Bryce Young

(01:13:50):
situation has played out, my question is, why aren't more
teams interested in having veteran guys Darnald, Flaccojas Dalton, Tyrod
even compete for the starting job while letting the rookie develop.
You and others rightfully so mocked Atlanta for taking Pennix

(01:14:11):
while acquiring cousins, but seeing most of the rookie performances,
I don't know anymore contracts aside, Is there a reason
teams are more willing to throw underdeveloped rookies into the
fire instead of letting a Sam Darnold, Andy Dalton or
Jacoby Brissett or any other veteran compete to be the

(01:14:32):
immediate starter. What's an economic problem? Because the value in
having a rookie quarterback is their contract. So if I
waste two or three years while the guy sits and
we aren't competing to win the Super Bowl, I have
just wasted his greatest asset. The Packers with Jordan Love,

(01:14:55):
who cares their guy was winning MVPs and they were
impeding to win the super Bowl. But in other situations,
when a guy sits and you don't win big, it's
a waste. The Chiefs won the division, hosted a playoff game,
lost to the Titans, and immediately got rid of Alex
fir Patrick because his value with the contract was important.

(01:15:20):
They can utilize that money around him. So I think
that's a huge element that one you know right away
or within a short period of time, and then you
can utilize that contract to your benefit if the guy
is just a solid player, let alone a star. That's
a huge reason. It all comes back like this is
a business to the money in paying a guy five

(01:15:44):
six seven million dollars, what was a huge benefit of
the Houston Texans this offseason. They have a lot of
firepower to spend because their quarterback doesn't make much money
that one day CJ will make fifty sixty million dollars
a year. Now he's making like five six seven whatever
his You know, the bonus gets spread out over four years.

(01:16:05):
But you know what I mean that that is the
huge advantage to find out And I also think we
have recent examples of a lot of guys having immediate success,
So you go, why are we waiting because most of
the time, if you're a team that drafts the guy
really high and you start a Dalton, start a Flacco,

(01:16:27):
your team's not going to be that good. I mean, Dalton,
I know, looked excellent yesterday, but if they started him
for seventeen games, realistically, they're not going to look like
that most of the time. I just think it gets
back to economics, and I think it gets back to
having that rookie contract and using it to your advantage
to sign other players and make moves to build up

(01:16:48):
your team, because one day, if you do hit on
that player, you got to pay him a lot of money.
And if you don't, you want to know quickly so
you can move off and look for a new guy.
Like the clock is tick king of me. This isn't baseball.
You get to sit a guy in the minors and
until he comes up to the big leagues, his contract
doesn't start. That's not the way it works. I mean,
the moment the guy is drafted, ye're one baby. The

(01:17:14):
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