3 & Out - The Importance of Coaching, What's wrong with Trevor Lawrence, Kauff on Campus

John opens the podcast talking about the importance of coaching for NFL teams with young quarterbacks and why Jayden Daniels has a better shot at success with Dan Quinn than Caleb Williams may have with Matt Eberflus. Next, John dives into a comment that Trevor Larence made about how he's not obsessed with football and how that could play a role into why he's been struggling in the league. Later, John has his latest installment of "Kauff on Campus."

Finally, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag segment.

6:32 - The importance of coaching

14:00 - Jerry Jones needs to stop talking

17:32 - What's wrong with Trevor Lawrence

28:38 - Kauff of Campus

42:34 - Mailbag

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, what is happening my people? How are we doing
on this beautiful Wednesday? We've got a podcast for you,
because that's what we do. We record podcasts. And got
me thinking today talking to somebody at the gym about
the difference between the Bears and the Commanders, who both
the quarterbacks really high, but both teams look a little

(02:21):
different right now when it comes to their offensive operation.
Jerry Jones says, put it all on me, guys, gotta
be thinking it's got to be hard to overcome an
owner who's also your GM that talks every single week
multiple times to the public. And then something a scouting

(02:44):
buddy sent me on a story that came out when
Trevor was in the draft process about his lack of
obsession with football and football not being everything kind of
hit me last night pretty clear. And then of course
we do this every Wednesday. Cough on campus. Want to
hit some college football stuff really quick, about conference re alignment,

(03:09):
Kaylin Duborg's first massive game at Alabama against Georgia and
some quarterback changes going on in Oklahoma. And then of
course the Middlecoff mailbag. Make sure you fire in there
at John Middlecoff is the Instagram DM's wide open. You
listen on Collins feed. Make sure you subscribe to the
three and Now podcast YouTube page Rocking and Rolling. Subscribe

(03:31):
to that as well all the content up there. Right now,
before we discuss some football, you know, I got to
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was working out today, getting a little pump on, trying

(04:35):
to build a little muscle mass, you know, look a
little better. You need to lose about fifteen for the
wedding here in about five months. Just in general, I
mean just a little fat right now. More my diet
than working out. But at the gym, the chiropractor who
is a big fan of the Bears, and he listens

(04:57):
to Colin and I on Sunday nights and he came up.
I didn't even see him coming, and he just went
on a rant about the Bears coaching staff. Like many
Bears fans, they're not happy and listen, you can't beat
a dead horse. I said last year that was the
time to make a change, start fresh. They didn't do it.
They're a cheap organization. Maybe Poles believed in him, maybe didn't.

(05:21):
Maybe they just wanted to see what they had. Clearly, offensively,
they looked terrible. And it got me thinking because we
spend a lot of time and listen. As a former personnel,
guy love talking, players love talking whose roster is better
than other rosters. But this is not baseball. Gms don't
control the lineup that they don't run the sport. In basketball,

(05:43):
Darryl Morriy's in charge, the coach isn't. In football, the
coach and specifically the coordinators control so much. Part of
the reason I didn't like Washington as much as some
people because I was like, I don't think their rosters
good enough. Even if Jaden is like Rookie of the Year,
I'm just saying I don't know if their roster is
good enough. And through two weeks or like week two.

(06:06):
In week three, I didn't realize this till after I
finished podcasting. They have not punted. They have not punted
since Week one. Part of the reason last week they
kicked so many field goals because in the red zone
their offensive line kept jumping off sides before the snap.
Against the Giants last night clearly wasn't a problem. They
were much more potent, scored a bunch of touchdowns. But

(06:29):
it got me thinking about dan Quinn, think about Eberflus,
who has done a complete kind of rebrand, grew out
the beard, lengked in his hair, just tried to look cool.
No one cares how you look. In the NFL, Andy
Reid's been overweight for twenty five years. He's out coached
basically every guy in the league not named Belichick over
that period of time. This is not college football, This

(06:52):
is not college sports. Coach K's like seventy five years old.
He still got dark black hair. It's like, Coach K,
you're not recruiting anymore. You can let the gray come in.
We don't need to use the just for men anymore.
Sabing same thing, which listen as someone that doesn't have
any hair, no judgment. But part of the reason they
do that, I think is less about insecurity and more

(07:12):
they want to look young for recruiting, and it matters
and it works. No one cares how you look, no
one cares where you're from. In pro sports, can you win?
And I think when you look at iber Flus looks
completely over his head. And when I started thinking about
Dan Quinn, who obviously had ended poorly in Atlanta but
like was pretty successful, took the Atlanta Falcons franchise that,

(07:38):
let's face it, mostly has not been very successful for
the majority of my life to the Super Bowl and
had a twenty eight to three lead, partly because he's
good at two things. One, he's great with players. Well,
when he was the head coach for the Falcons, he
had one of the highest priced quarterbacks who not Manning

(08:00):
Brady level star, but Matt Ryan was a pretty big
NFL star, so he clearly can manage that guy. And
he's pretty good at picking offensive coordinators. Think about the
two guys he had for back to back you know,
four years essentially, two with Kyle and two with Steve Sarkizian,
two pretty good offensive mines. Well, Cliff Kingsbury was people
forget this, but it was like, he's the Raiders offensive coordinator.

(08:22):
I thought it, You thought it. It was being reported online.
Then all of a sudden was like, not so fast.
He's in Washington, and listen, maybe Cliff is destined to
just ben oc. He's clearly pretty comfortable with that. And
he's not a head coach. He's pretty good offensive coordinator.
He's pretty good with athletic quarterbacks. He knows what he's doing,

(08:43):
like kinda has a track record scoring a lot of
points college and the pros. So dan Quinn won really
good with the players, has been successful leading in operation,
and hires pretty good coordinators, specifically offense, where he's gonna
have nothing to do with it besides just managing the personnelity.
And you look at Eberflus, who hires Shane Waldron, and

(09:04):
now it feels like they're both kind of swimming. And
this just speaks to and I make this mistake a
lot you can have. Obviously, if you just have an
all star team, it's gonna be hard to fuck that up.
Like I could coach Ohio State, I could coach Texas
and it'd be impossible for us to go six and
six probably wouldn't win the national championship, but we're gonna

(09:25):
win a lot of games on talent alone. In the NFL,
the margins are really small, and everyone's gonna have some weaknesses,
and everyone's gonna battle injuries. So when you're playing a team,
regardless where they rank, like worst defense, best defense, you
can win the game. It happens every single Sunday. Hell,
so far this season, a lot of underdogs have been winning.

(09:47):
But when your coach is over his head, I don't
care how much talent your rookie quarterback has, how much
talent your general manager has accumulated, You're doud. You have
no shot. And to me, a big difference so far
in the number one overall pick and then number two
overall pick is one went to an organization with some

(10:08):
people that know what they're doing, and the other one.
I've said this over and over. I believe in Ryan Pulse.
He's proven to be a good personnel guy. But as
a GM, you're only as strong as your head coach,
and you're only as strong as the coordinators he hires.
Because in baseball, Billy Bean I can set the lineup
every single day, I can tell you exactly when the

(10:28):
yank guys and when to put guys in. And that
happens all over baseball. That's why the GMS are in control.
That's why managers, a lot of them don't even make
a million dollars in the big leagues, but in football,
coordinators make three and four million dollars for a reason,
they're really really important. And on game day every GM
will say this, I do nothing. I just sit there

(10:49):
and watch. It's why most times when you see the
GM during the game, what are they doing. Most of
them sit with the owner and are drinking a diet
coke eating some popcorn. Honestly, not that much different than
me and you during a game. So you are so
dependent on the guys running your organization, i e. The coaches,
and if you have the wrong one or you don't

(11:10):
have a good enough one, unless you have Peyton Manning
in his prime, you got no shot. So I think
this is gonna be a really, really rocky year for
the Bears, not because they don't have good players, not
because Caleb doesn't have a chance to be a really
good player, but because their coaching staff sucks in Washington,
like dan Quinn Solid and who knows maybe if Jayden

(11:32):
Hits could like resurrect his career and we could be
talking about like Dan Quinn one day like we do
Dan Campbell or Mike Tomlin or the Hardball Brothers. Like
he's clearly a really good leader who's really good with players.
Eber Flus doesn't feel like any of those, especially just
watching The Hard Knocks. He just seems like I'd have

(11:54):
a beer with him or whatever. But when I want
that guy coaching my team, no chance. You know what's
hard about the Cowboys is like during the season, like
a GM will go on a podcast or you know,
do a radio interview or go on with McAfee or whatever.
But that is few and far between. That is not

(12:15):
a weekly occurrence. The moment the season starts, the coach
and really the quarterback slash players are the voice of
your team and the coordinators. The GMS do not talk weekly,
let alone, some don't talk at all, and the majority
of teams we don't hear a peep from their owner.
The message comes from the coach, and I find Jerry

(12:38):
extremely entertaining. He has been a big, big reason the NFL,
you know hit the way he looks at it, the ideas.
He has the popularity of it becoming a TV show
and it treats the Cowboys like that. And the business
right now in Dallas in the NFL is booming. But
for some reason, the Cowboys, which I don't want to

(13:01):
say it's must win week three when you're one and
two at the Giants, but you are a big favorite.
But I look at their schedule after the Giants at Steelers,
Lions at Niners at Falcons Philly, Houston, like that's I mean,
if you don't win this game, like I might have

(13:24):
to change my tune and be like, this team's not
gonna be a playoff team. But I do wonder. Mike
McCarthy's not exactly Bill Walsh, but he clearly knows what
he's doing. And Jerry, I understand, like I cut the checks,
I want to pick the players. And it's not like
Jerry's banging out all the film. He is relying on
other people, but he is obsessed with getting their credit.

(13:48):
He is obsessed with being in the limelight. And I
almost wonder if we've crossed the line of diminishing returns,
Like they had some moments these last couple of years
they weren't able to get it done, and now it
feels like kind of over and Jerry's eighty one years
old and they have a head coach that does not
have a contract that let's face it, I don't think

(14:08):
he'd get fired in the middle of the season, but
this season go off the rails really really quickly. I
wonder if it's impossible to win like this, because we
have now twenty five years of evidence when your owner
slash GM slash just patriarch of everything that happens, never
shuts up, which is great if you're in the business

(14:29):
I'm in. If you're a radio host in Dallas, like
he talks after every single game and then he does
a weekly radio show, it's clearly not necessary and I
think it's pretty tangible now that it's counterproductive. It really is. Now,
I'm not saying you have to go the extreme like

(14:50):
Belichick wouldn't let his coordinators talk. He never really even
named guy's coordinators, right, he just left them call plays.
But he would kind of circumvent that, like he was
the only voice in New England. You could say that's
a little overkill. Other teams that are successful let their OC,
their DC and their special teams coach talk. Hell, even
let position coaches talk throughout the week, but having your

(15:11):
owner speak multiple times a week all season long. I
don't think it's random. The Dallas just hasn't been able
to get over the hump. Obviously, there are specific inans.
Is Dak playing bad defense, letting him down. It is
hard to overcome just kind of the weird environment that
is the Dallas Cowboys. I had a scouting buddy shoot

(15:35):
me the screenshot of an article a couple of years
ago when Trevor Lawrence was coming out of college and
Trevor told Sports Illustrated I'm not obsessed with football, and
it kind of went away. We don't talk about it
that much anymore. But after watching him playing Monday Night

(15:56):
in Buffalo, he played like a guy that's not obsessed
with football, and it got me thinking. Most good players. Hell,
two huge contracts that were signed this summer that I
don't agree with. I would not have done, and I
think we're insane were Tua and Trevor Lawrence. But let's

(16:20):
use two as an example. When I think about Tua
since following his career at Alabama and hell, even coming
out of high school, new people at the Alabama program.
I would never say that all of his chips aren't
in the middle of the table. Hell, you could argue, like, hey,
take some of those off, take a deep breath, take
a step back. Being obsessed with football and giving one

(16:41):
hundred percent of your entire being to the sport has
not been Toua's problem. His downfall, obviously now is the concussions.
It's just not talented enough. But all the best players
at the quarterback position in recent memory I would consider
football junkies. Obviously, the two of the last twenty five years,

(17:01):
Peyton and Tom lived Breeze slept. I mean, it was
their life. It kind of still is. I mean Tom's
calling games now, Peyton manning football. He just walked out
with Morgan Wallen in a full UNI in Tennessee, put
on a helmet. Those guys like football as much as
they do their family. And this always happens during the draft,

(17:27):
And this is such a big pet peeve of mine
when the media pushes back. There aren't many jobs in
this world that pay premiums like professional sports, and there
aren't many positions in all of team sports that require

(17:47):
as much effort mentally and physically as quarterback. Like in basketball,
you're not studying twenty four to seven shop shoot around
you play. In football, you play once a week, six
days a week. Is practice, film study, doing, studying on
your own, lifting, working on your body. It's like a

(18:08):
twenty four to seven job for six months a year.
And it's not like now in the off season. It's
the seventies where you're just drinking beer and eating hot dugs.
All these guys train, I would say at most they
take a couple weeks off total. They are doing something
for the majority of the year non season, let alone
once the season starts, and as a quarterback, every player

(18:32):
gets an off day Tuesday. Most quarterbacks are doing some
football related activity, probably film study, game planning. On Tuesday.
Trevor Lawrence told you who he was. You know, a
lot of times guys get in trouble a lot and
you go like, he's telling you who he is. Now.
Sometimes with guys you're immature, depending on what the issue was,

(18:55):
he can't mature and grow above it. I say it
all the time. Tyron Matthews kicked out of school, kick
out LSU. He's literally been a team captain on every
team he's ever been on. So it's like, guys change right.
So I'm very hesitant with immaturity stuff. But when you

(19:15):
tell me like football is not everything, under no circumstances
could I pay you two hundred million dollars. Look at
Josh Allen. Josh Allen begged for a football scholarship coming
out of high school. People laughed at him. He went
to junior college and then begged Fresno State to give
him a scholarship. Tim Deruter would not had to go

(19:38):
to Wyoming to play college football. Joe Burrow obviously was
pretty good in high school. Urban Myers says, you're never
gonna play here. I don't care you ain't. It had
to transfer to LSU. To just look around the history
of the position, all the best players, even the flawed ones.

(20:02):
I saw far of the day has Parkinson's. He was
a flawed player, would make some terrible decisions. The number
one thing you would say to describe Brett Farv is
I don't think you could have liked playing the game
of football anymore. I would say no player in my
life felt like he loved playing the game more. Tom,

(20:24):
Tom and Peyton took it the most seriously, but there
was a joy to far that. I don't think any
player has matched Mahomes did early on in his career,
but I think that was something special. And if you're
not obsessed with football as the quarterback, I don't care
how much talent you have, I will short your career.

(20:49):
I've gone into these buildings every day for years. I
worked in the Eagles facility Andy Reid two years. My
third year, I did college scouting. The amount of time, effort,
and energy it takes to even have a chance to
be competitive is insane. I say it all the time.
Football is Wall Street on grass, like he told us

(21:15):
years ago. So I'm kind of done talking about this.
In terms of the letdown with this player, I think
it's poor management because they were the one. I don't
blame him for signing the contract. If someone gave me
two hundred million dollars, I would sign it too, But
like this on the Jags as much as it's on

(21:36):
Trevor Lawrence. He told everybody years ago, but he was
so talented, and let's face it, these Clemson quarterbacks have
been pretty underwhelming in terms of a lot of different elements.
So I just think that sometimes when this football stuff
during the draft, I mean, there are certain comments that
should hold a little more weight than others, Like no

(21:58):
one could argue do you think Travis Hunter likes football?
He plays ninety eight percent of the snaps in the game.
There is no way you would go both ways in
Division I college if you weren't obsessed with the sport obsessed.
So it's like, I don't know, man, hearing some of

(22:20):
these stories about these guys getting huge amount of nil
money and it's like, yeah, you go into the program,
They're like, he's still the first guy here his wark ethic.
I've heard some stories about Will Johnson at Michigan. It's like,
how is this guy so serious? You know, making all
this money in college? And it's like I'd bet the
farm on those type guys. Like if you see the

(22:41):
effort in which these guys are playing, knowing they're making
this much money in college football, I feel pretty good
about their love. Once it comes to the NFL. Look
at all the top quarterbacks in the NFL, you don't
question any of their love of the sport. Mahomes Alan Lamar.
I mean, Herbert's out there limping around against the best

(23:01):
defense in the league. So it's just CJ. Stroud and
you ever hear him talking about football, Dude's a junkie.
The best athletes of my life have been addicted to
the competition. Tiger Jordan Brady Lebron still grinding his ass
off at forty years old with a billion dollars in

(23:21):
the bank. This stuff's too hard. So if you ain't
all in and listen, let's face it. This speaks for
most industries. There are some jobs you can get away
with it at and still make a lot of money.
I saw the dude that Starbucks hired as their CEO
from Chipotle kind of went viral. He gave the speech

(23:42):
about his daily routine. It's like get up, work out,
take my kids to school, do some meetings, lunch, a
couple more meetings, and I'm home every day at five.
And Starbucks gave him one hundred million dollars, twenty five
million dollars signing bonus and a private jet and he
had to move his office to his home and new
I'd say he's an outlier. I mean, he may be

(24:04):
just so talented it doesn't matter, but most people are
just It takes a lot of energy and effort, and
the only way you can consistently give the energy and effort.
Whether it's business, whether it's football, whether it's whatever you're
doing music, you gotta be obsessed. And when you're not obsessed,

(24:24):
it's gonna weed you out because you're gonna be going
up against people that are. Okay, let's do a little
cough on campus. God, I love college football. I saw
that the Michigan USC game did the highest rating on

(24:49):
a CBS Day game in ten years. I think well
over six million people watched it. And this is twelve
thirty Pacific standard time. That's I mentioned this to Colin
the other day. And it's not even arguable conference re alignment.
We can get mad at it if you're of a

(25:12):
certain age. It sucks. I mean, there are elements of
it that suck, but there's no disputing this is better.
Like these teams used to play each other occasionally, but
now that this is a conference game, USC versus Michigan,
and it just felt bigger. Like conference re alignment. You

(25:33):
got Tennessee going to Oklahoma. How do you beat that?
Texas is going to be playing Georgia, Oregon is going
to be playing Ohio State. These matchups just would not
have happened and now they not only they're happening every
single year. So conference re alignment pissed a lot of

(25:53):
people off, especially us on the West coast, but it's
the right thing. Obviously, the TV NETW works played had
a heavy hand in this because they benefit the most. Ultimately,
like Ohio State's gonna make a ton of money no
matter what, but you do this, everyone's making more money
in this America. We like making more money and we'll

(26:15):
do whatever we have to do to make more money.
And that's how college football happened, or the realignment happened,
and that's the new era of college football. But it's
working and to me, the success that it's gonna have
over the next couple of years is only gonna lead
to more consolidation. And that's like the PAC twelve discussion

(26:35):
that I see constantly is so dumb. I'm a President
State guy. I love Fresden State. I love Tim Skipper,
who is quote unquote the interim coach, and if he
wins this week at UNOV, if that ad does not
give him a contract, I'm gonna start tweeting be pissed
off because Tim Skipper deserves a four year deal today.

(26:58):
But this PAC twelve discussion adding these teams, and I
got people in Fresno like this is gonna mean a lot.
They're already playing each other, Like, where's the inventory. The
PAC twelve died the moment USC and UCLA and then
Oregon and Utah and Colorado and the Arizona schools went
their separate way. Washington State against San Diego State is

(27:23):
not a valuable television property. It just is not. You
can call it the PAC twelve, you could call it Nike,
you could call it my feet. It does not matter.
It's still that game versus USC and Michigan, or Texas
and Georgia, or Utah versus Oklahoma State. It ain't the same.

(27:47):
And I just this conversation won't die because Oregon State
and Washington State they own the rights of the PAC twelve.
To me, it's completely irrelevant. You can call the conference
whatever you want. I've said this forever, and this is
no shot at these programs because in fairness, they care.
Like I don't believe UCLA cares about football. I'm not

(28:08):
saying the players and coaches, I'm talking about the school.
I know for a fact the school cal does not
give a shit about football. Let alone sports. Again, I'm
not talking will Cox and the players. I'm talking to the university.
Oregon State and Washington State care that they do, but
they're little towns that they play in and their markets
are relevant. They do not matter. They belong playing Presdent

(28:32):
State in Boise State and San Diego State and those programs,
if they're lucky once every five years, might get a
seat at the dance. But for the most most given
on just your average year, the door will not be
open to them. And you know what doesn't deserve to
be open to them. It's just the reality of this

(28:54):
business and of the college football because playing New Mexico
and San Diego State and Utah State on a weekly
basis is simply not the same as playing Texas A
and M, even the bad SEC teams. It's a different world.
But at the end of the day, this all comes

(29:14):
back to television, and television does not care about Washington
State and Oregon State. So you can call it the
Pac twelve. You could have just gone to the Mountain West.
However the finances work. I don't believe their valuable property
because the schools are still the schools. I do think,

(29:37):
you know, the crazy part about Nil. I was wrong
about Jackson Arnold. I thought Jackson Arnold was going to
be a really good player. Well, he not only got
benched during the Tennessee game, Venables announced yesterday that Michael
Hawkins Junior, who's like a smaller you know, he's like
six to one, but he's like an athletic run around guy,
is going to be their starting quarterback. And my first

(30:01):
reaction during the game, and listen, Oklahoma's defense caused two
turnovers in the first half, and then immediately Jackson Arnold
turned the ball over again. One he fumbled and won.
He threw backwards, so he was a disaster and their
defense is clearly good. I think maybe I was just

(30:22):
like this is kind of crazy. Texting around today was
like no brainer. We didn't have a choice pass to
do it. And like the NIL, I think the pressure
once you start cutting guys checks if you do not perform,
like whatever, see you later go to the transfer portal

(30:42):
at the end of the year. We don't care. It's
actually an easy way to be like, we don't even
want this guy on the team anymore. And I'm not
necessarily saying like Venables hasn't said that but like you
make a move like this, it's pretty clear the light
at the end of the tunnel in this situation, like
if you're betting the day with Jackson Arnold. They started
the season at quarterback for Oklahoma. The guy that Venables

(31:04):
and the staff basically told Dylan Gabriel, you're not gonna
start here next year. We're going with Jackson Arnold. Four
weeks into his Oklahoma starting career. It's already over and
we all know where this is headed. He'll be playing
next year like Syracuse or Wake Forest or like Utah.

(31:24):
I mean, that's that's just that's inevitable. And I kind
of like that, I really do. And that's what makes
I think college football a lot of the transfer portal
with some of the random positions their hit or miss.
I do think that the college football quarterback movement has
made the sport much more interesting now. Sometimes like who's

(31:48):
the dude Riley Leonard, the quarterback at Notre Dame. I
was texta with a couple scouting buddies that have gone
through there. They're like, he's just worse this year than
he was last year at Duke. They're like, I don't
think it's crazy that they paid him a bunch of money,
Like he gets seven figures and it's not like he's
making one hundred grad. I mean, this is like a
millionaire to be their starting quarterback and he can barely throw.

(32:12):
Like I'm not necessarily a Notre Dame hater. I am
a hater relative to the hype that they get, because
then you watch them and you never quite see the
hype match what you see on the field. But they
went all in on the quarterback and he's just not
good enough. They will lose again. I don't think it's

(32:33):
inconceivable that they lose twice. But if they go ten
and two, and one of their losses in Northern Illinois U,
let's say they lose the USC. Their schedule is not
very good. They don't play in a conference. You're not
getting into the playoffs. You don't deserve to be in
the playoffs. No one wants to see you in the playoffs.
Kaylin Duborg has a pretty big moment this weekend. Look

(32:57):
at the guy's career record. He has won a lot. Now,
a lot of these wins are at two falls Fresno State. Obviously,
the last two years of Washington really kind of validated
his career right once you go It's like, you know,
Brian Kelly, did he get that much credit for winning
in like one Double A or Division two in Michigan

(33:17):
early on in his career a little bit. Then he
went I think to Central or Western Michigan, he got
a little more credit. But then he went to Cincinnati
and they were in a BCS game. You're like, this
guy's good. Then he goes Notre Dame and he wins
a lot. It's like, Okay, this guy's winning everywhere. If
Klen Dubor wins this game, I think we have to
talk about this guy's the best coach in college football.

(33:39):
Obviously he does have the best resume. Kirby's won Natties,
Dabbles won Natties. But like currently, Harbaugh's gone, I'm not
putting Ryan Day up there. You win this game. First
year at Alabama, you beat Georgia. I think he immediately
has to be in the discussion this game, Like, listen,

(34:01):
you just top five to six coach and we'll see
what happens the rest of the season, how he looks
in the playoffs. But you and this thing, this is
this feels like an NFL game. I am really really
excited to watch because, let's face it, Georgia look terrible
against Kentucky. Now they get a bye week, so they
get to come in rested. You know, Alabama has played

(34:24):
South Florida weird two years in a row. I mean
they almost lost two years ago when Saban was a coach.
But I don't know, you know, this is I guess
I would bet on Georgia. But one thing I've learned
is Kaylin Dubor is much better than you think. And
every time you think, oh, this is he's gonna lose

(34:44):
to Oregon nine point underdog beat the shit out of
him in the back twelve championship. Oh sark, Texas favorite.
See how that goes. Obviously Michigan overwhelmed them, but he
has an equal team, or close to an equal. That
Michigan Washington game was not equal when it came to talent.

(35:04):
The gap here, even if George is slightly better, is
still pretty small. Like he's got NFL guys basically at
most positions. And I'm interested to watch Kaylin Duborr. And
you know, this is obviously the National Championship Games, the
biggest game he's ever coached. But this has got to
be right up there near the second biggest game he's

(35:24):
ever coached. KMO back time at John Middlcoff Instagram. Fire
in those dms. Get your question answered here on the show.
Start with Taylor with your experience inside the building. How

(35:46):
big of an impact does the media coverage of players
influence the team's decision making? Personally, I feel the media
fawning over every quarterback each year and labeling everyone dot
dot dot the next is having a negative impact on
the league. Teams don't feel like they're building a complimentary roster,

(36:10):
just searching for a savior. I mean, I think everyone's
been looking for quarterbacks forever. At the end of the day,
I would say most quote unquote narratives. Obviously, the hype
machine in the off season is real. I think media
coverage and mock drafts and that type stuff have a
bigger impact in the off season than they do in

(36:31):
the regular season. Like Bryce Young got benched because he
was playing terrible, not because people were, you know, writing
articles or podcasting about them. Right, the season speaks for
itself because the eye in the sky doesn't lie. But
I do think in the off season it can have

(36:52):
a bigger impact. Like you say, the media creation of
who you need to sign, who you shouldn't sign. But
I would say the good team teams are completely unfazed
by that. Love the pod, big time Bengals fan. How
is an organization? Can a team turn around scouting, improved
draft selection, engage performance of your scouts? I look at

(37:13):
the Bengals draft classes since Burrow entered the league. Outside
of the obvious choice in twenty one with Chase, he
wasn't the obvious choice. They could have taken Pinay Sool,
But I know what you mean. They were Whoever they
picked there was gonna be good. You can't find a
single player that is high level, anemic pass rush, an
O line and D line entirely built through free agency,

(37:35):
and a secondary that can't even cover an O lineman
streaking out as a wide receiver. How do teams decide
who screwed up the draft process? The GM gets fired,
the scouts rotate like mercenaries do other teams. That's the
hard part about this business is it's much more do

(37:55):
I like you or do I not like you? Based
on how well you are as an evaluator. Clearly, like
in any industry, certain people are much better than others,
but their owner plays such a huge role during the draft,
so if he likes an individual scout, he's not gonna

(38:16):
fire that guy. And you might have a guy who's
good at his job that the owner likes or doesn't like,
and he gets fired. So how good you are as
a scout is not like as a coach or definitely
as a player, where if you play well, you're not
gonna get They're not gonna get rid of you, and

(38:36):
if they do, someone else is gonna be willing to
pay you. If you're a coach and you do a
good job with your unit, it's going to be clear.
Obviously as a coordinator, if you're doing a good job,
it speaks for itself. It's hard to quantify the scouts,
it really is. And that's where I would say scouting
is much more like corporate America. Do they like you?

(38:57):
Do they want you around? Your performance isn't as important
as long as you're trying and you're decent. But like
most industries, I mean, there are a ton of scouts
who probably aren't that good, and there are a ton
that are probably pretty good that maybe their personalities don't mesh.
They don't get elevated, so I don't know what to

(39:20):
tell you. Beside, your owner plays such a big role
that there's not much like he's in control. You know,
he's just a less I would say outspoken Jerry Jones
in terms of his role with building your team. Been
watching the show for a couple of years, quickly become
a fan. I do have one gripe. I think everyone

(39:42):
needs to slow down on Anthony Richardson. He's twenty two
with only seven NFL starts. Though he looked way more
polished at the start of last year, he's now coming
off shoulder surgery on his throwing arm. Coach Stichen is
also leaving the playbook open, and I love that because

(40:04):
he needs to learn how to navigate through some adversity.
He's making the first reads aside from the end zone
pick against the Bears, and in time, I think he
will be fine. I want to go into way more detail,
but I have to keep it somewhat short. No one's
arguing that he's not a really good kid. Like you said,

(40:26):
he's young. His physical attributes jump off the television screen,
and it's fair to say the shoulder injury is something
to monitor now. The shoulder injury different point and time
in their career happened to Cam Newton, and he never
threw the same. Now, his arm strength was never the same.
That's clearly not an issue with ar. I do just

(40:49):
think it's fair like when you watch him play through
these first three weeks, beside a couple throws, it's been
mostly really really bad. That doesn't mean his career's over.
Doesn't mean he's going to get benched. But I think
two things can be true. You're obviously gonna keep working
with him, like this guy's getting a couple of years
to them, just work through it. But history would say

(41:09):
most of those guys don't work. First off, I never
missed an episode, So as a Colt fan, I've argued
that you can teach accuracy. Richardson makes the right read
and his pocket presence is there. There are traits I
think that are under Those are traits I think are unteachable.
Here's the thing. He ain't scared, and he doesn't you're

(41:30):
you're right. He's not like Fluttery in the pocket in
terms of he doesn't feel scared. It's just the ball
when it leaves his hands is not getting remotely close
Josh Allen's first season was twelve games, ten touchdowns, twelve interceptions.
So based on that, ar is fixable considering what we've

(41:52):
seen this before. I do think whenever you compare yourself
to the best case scenario, you're letting yourself. You're giving
yourself the opportunity to be let down. I think trying
to make him the next Josh Allen, we might not

(42:14):
see another Josh Allen for years. To me, like, can
you just become Cam Newton, who was never very accurate
but was obviously a really good player. If he becomes
Cam Newton with Shane Sikein, you'd be in good shape
trying to become Josh Allen, who's just I mean, like

(42:35):
four or five straight years now of just dominating and listen,
I know Cam Newton won an MVP that year was
clearly an outlier. But we're Josh Allen. You can just
chalk every year we're going to the playoff. We're going
the playoffs, we're growing the playoffs. The difference is if
he becomes Cam Newton, think how much better Cam Newton
would have been with Shane Sykein than he was with
Ron Rivera, who was a defensive head coach. I'm getting

(42:58):
a lot of Anthony Richardson's. Someone asks, I don't know
if I'm gonna be able to find it, but if
Travis Hunter. The question was, is it gonna be possible
for Travis Hunter to play both ways in the NFL
like he's doing in college. And I think two things

(43:19):
can be true. One, he is capable of playing both positions.
He could be an NFL wide receiver or he could
be an NFL dB. That's why he's gonna go in
the top five picks of the draft. No scout, no coach,
no one's arguing that he could play either position. Then
the next question is can he do it both? And

(43:41):
I think it's kind of physically impossible because if we
use Otani as an example, you only have to pitch
every five days, so it's not like you do it
all the time. Well, when you play corner and wide receiver,
you just never come off the field every single game,
and you're getting tackled as a wide receiver slash blocking,

(44:03):
so there's a lot of wear and tear on you,
and then the tackling that is asked of you at
the NFL level. Powerful running backs, tight ends, offensive lineman
pulling out there, I think you'd I just think it's
too much on your body. Now. If he plays dB,
could he play some wide receiver throughout the year? Could

(44:26):
he play wide receiver? And then if you had some injuries,
help you out as dB? For sure. I don't think
it's realistic to go both ways. In the NFL seventeen games,
one hundred plays a game. I just think it's borderline
impossible to keep a guy healthy. To keep a guy healthy.

(44:46):
Lifelong Chiefs fan, we know Andy is under contract through
twenty twenty nine. Hypothetically, if Andy were to hang it
up earlier than twenty twenty nine, and you were Clark Hunt,
would you stay in house to hire the replacement or
look external? If in house, would you prefer Naggy or Spags.

(45:12):
It's a good question on Naggy and Spags. If I
was Clark Hunt, here's what I would do. Brett Veach.
Part of the best part about being an owner and
a good franchise. You're making so much money and you're
paying Andy and Veach. You know, let's say Andy makes
twenty plus million, Beach makes four or five. That's the

(45:35):
easiest employees you'll ever pay. In your entire life. Think
how much money those two individuals with mahomes are making you.
So at this point in time, Veach has earned a
ton of equity with the fan base, with the owner,
with the players. Butt do whatever you want to do,

(45:57):
and you I trust. So if Andy he retires, if
I'm Clark Hunt, I let Brett Veach hire whoever he
wants to hire. Now, remember this, Brett Veach played wide
receiver in college at a little school called Delaware. His
quarterback was a man named Matt Naggy, So I would

(46:22):
imagine Matt Naggi would be their head coach. I also
think if Andy were to retire, let's just say in
the next couple of years, they would hire in house.
Is that the right move? Depends what your options are,
But I think Brett Veach has earned the right to

(46:43):
be the guy pulling the trigger. Oh here was the question,
could Travis Hunter play both ways? I think realistically it's
just too much. Look how gassed like some wide receivers
are after a couple of routes when they're kind of
tapping their head and they need to go out. They
just need a blow. Obviously, as a corner you don't rotate,

(47:04):
you never come out, and now with teams running the
ball so much like they got to tackle, I just
don't think it's realistic to keep the guy healthy. Could
he do it, He definitely could do it in individual games.
Could he play ten years of being a wide receiver
in a corner every single play in every single game.

(47:25):
I think it's physically impossible to avoid injury. I don't
think it's possible. I think he's gonna have to pick
a position and then he'll obviously still have the talents
to the other position. If he ever, you know, they
need him to do stuff, I would recommend playing corner.

(47:47):
But obviously the money wide receivers are making, which could
we see a slowdown at that? Like Brandon and I,
you just got thirty million dollars a year, clearly's not
worth that. I was saying that forever. It's like he's
worth like twenty four million dollars the market. It's like, yeah,
if you pay Brandon a thirty million dollars, you're gonna
be let down that justin Jefferson's a very rare player.

(48:12):
As a Cowboys fan, should we trade Micah at the
deadline and get picks we need a running back and
a wide receiver two bad We resemble the DeVante Adams
Las Vegas situation, except we are a defensive version with Micah.
In the last three home games, we have given up
ten touchdowns on eleven drives and the first half. In

(48:33):
the first half of those games, no quarterback or offense
can overcome that. Why not spend all your resources into
getting a badass offense for Dak and going into shootouts
with other teams if we have to, because our defense
is not capable of playing with teams who will go
twenty one personnel and pound the rock. It's not a

(48:54):
perfect team building strategy, but it's much less flawed than
what we've got right now. Like, from a team building standpoint,
if you could get two ones in a two from
or two ones and two twos for Micah Parsons, does
that make sense? Yes. From a overall philosophical standpoint, the

(49:21):
entire point of drafting is to try to find a
Micah Parsons, right, so you get rid of them, you're
just gonna try to draft another one now, Like you said, well,
this is our team right now, and having Micah Parsons
on this team that cannot stop the run is kind
of irrelevant because we're gonna get down, They're gonna control

(49:42):
the clock, and it's gonna neutralize his talents, so they won't.
I don't see a snowballs chance in hell that Jerry
would trade him. But I think you're kind of talking
some sense because the team is not just flawed right now.
It doesn't even make sense if they can't stop the run,

(50:04):
because that's all any team is gonna do. I know,
when the Giants game happens, I'd put like Molik Neighbors
at running back, Like, hey, Malik, you're gonna play running
back this game. I've been a Bengals fan my entire life.
I'm twenty five years old. It's been a rough ride,
and it seems like there was finally hope for our franchise.
We drafted a top quarterback, top wide receiver. However, it

(50:26):
seems like our coaching staff in front office for holding
us back Taylor seems to be carried by the talent,
especially in our Super Bowl run. His play calling is
very bad at times. What are your thoughts on the
Bengals coaching and ownership and what you think will happen
with the franchise this year? And going forward. Well, Mike
Brown is never gonna pay top money for a coach.

(50:49):
So if you were to fire Zach Taylor, let's just
say at the end of this year, you would hire
another Zach Taylor. Now maybe that guy's good, right, Maybe
you hire Clint Kubiak or Bobby Slowick, assuming they would
take the job, which would be hard not to if
you got Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. The problem with
the Bengals is is their owner we just talked about

(51:13):
this is a lot like Jerry Jones, except he has
way less money and is very, very involved with picking players.
So it's not an easy job. But when you got
a quarterback who's that good, it's pretty intriguing. I think
I just saw a clip earlier today that after the game.

(51:33):
I guess they got asked about this in the press
conference that Burrow and Zach Taylor instead of going to
the locker room, went right to Zach Taylor's like game
day office, and they talked before they went to the
locker room. And what can they be talking about? What's
going on there? I don't know. I mean, Burrow, I

(51:56):
don't blame you, but like, you're not going anywhere so
maybe this is like if Joe stops believing in Zach
Taylor Zach Stunn like it's over, he will be fired immediately.
So to me, the biggest question mark now is does
the quarterback believe in the coach? Because if he doesn't,

(52:18):
then the Bengals will be open at the end of
the year. Here's a good question for the pod. Is
it against league rules to have radio communication in every
player's helmets rather than just the quarterback or the middle linebacker.
I was thinking, and especially on defense, it could allow
cornerbacks to be communicated when the ball is in the

(52:40):
air or if there's a playfake players can be told
from up top, leading to much faster play recognition. I
was thinking this would be Jim Harbaugh style tactic. If
you're not cheating, you're not trying well. If this was available,
every team in the league would be doing this. You

(53:02):
are allowed two green dots, obviously one on defense, which
is typically your middle linebacker and your quarterback, and so
you get only one person you know when your team
is out there on the field has communication and that
communication gets cut off with fifteen seconds left in the
play clock. So once the play is going on, there

(53:25):
is no communication. But I like your ideas there. You're
an idea guy, big cowboy fan. Is the defense or
is it the players or is it the defensive coordinator?
I think it's fair to say if you can't stop
the run, that's a player issue. Your defensive tackles and

(53:50):
your linebacker play is not good. It's pretty simple, and
you're in. You know, Mike is not a great run player.
He's he's a pass rusher who's an excellent pass rusher
who's a great athlete. But if you just have a
good tackle, like they can block them, so your defensive
tackles suck. Your best defensive player is not a big

(54:13):
point of attack run stuffer, and your linebacking play is
not very good. I mean, I look at Zimmer, He's
had good defenses. They played well against the run. It's
a personnel thing, which is a Jerry thing and a
front office thing. It's also hard to change, Like, what

(54:35):
are you supposed to do in October find two defensive
tackles at home on the couch and just add them
to your team. It's not realistic. Question for the pod
Monday Night had two games and chose the Bengals and
the Bills both at home. Hamblin is having a great season.

(54:55):
Any chance the NFL planed this duo of home games
to put wish the Damar Hamlin story to get some
easy positive publicity since he was carted off in Cincinnati.
Great planning if so? Just curious if the NFL really
is thinking about that when planning out the season. Well,

(55:16):
I would never say never. With the NFL, they're always
into that, you know, But do they what positive publicity
do they need? They had? It wasn't their fault that
he almost died on the field, and if anything, they
got a lot of credit for their teams, their team personnel,
the doctors, like everyone handled it as well as humanly possible. Now,

(55:39):
the starting when the schedule came out, they don't know
he's starting, So when they make the schedule in the offseason,
Damar Hamlin is not anointed as starter. Bill's fan fans,
you can correct me on this, but pretty sure didn't
he just win the job during training camp? Obviously he
would have had a chance to start once they let
the two safeties go, but he wasn't. Like it's not

(56:02):
like Josh Allen, right, you know, it's not He's not
Tyron Matthew where you're like, you know he's gonna be
a starting safety. So I hear what you're saying. Not
a crazy theory, but I I don't get the logic
behind a Monday night football doubleheader because you just put

(56:22):
one Monday night game on. I would understand a little
bit more if they just said, hey, one game kicks
off at three and the other one kicks off at
five thirty or whatever. You know, So it's just they're
going independent of each other, like we're gonna go two
games on Monday night. Hell, one game starts at three
and the other game starts at six, so you know,
Eastern time, one game starts at six and the other

(56:43):
one starts at nine. One is more of an East
Coast game. The other guy games a West Coast game.
I'd be listen. I think it's kind of crazy, but
I get it. I don't understand starting one at four
thirty Pacific and the other one at FI pint fifteen,
so they're both going on simultaneously. Obviously there's something there

(57:05):
that there's some advantage that they view big picture financially
to do that. I don't see it. I don't like it,
but I don't think they're just randomly. They're clearly not
randomly doing it. I think it's less about the matchup,
Like I don't think the Bengals and the Bills handling thing,

(57:28):
my guess, has had nothing to do with it. But
I do think there's something that they see that clearly
has not gone public yet for the reason for doing this,
which maybe we'll find out one day, maybe we won't.
But it's hard for me to comprehend the benefit of
having two games going on at the same time on

(57:48):
Monday Night football, but clearly Rog and his crew see
some benefit there the volume