October 5, 2024 • 53 mins
John opens the weekend with a massive mailbag. He answers your questions about how to limit injuries, should Hurts deserve some blame in Philly, could Kirk Cousins go in the Falcons Ring of Fame, and much more during today's podcast that is exclusively mailbag questions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I wanted to do a little weekend mail bag
because we didn't get to do one on Friday because
Stuckey went long and wanted to bang went out today.
Got a bunch of questions. You guys know the drill
at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is my Instagram. Firing
those dms and get your question answered here on the show.
(02:21):
Very very easy to do to execute, and a lot
of you guys do so fire in those DMS and
keep those questions coming. I want to start with Chris.
He actually sent me an email. I usually don't read
emails on here, but it was just I was just
going through emails trying to clear the old inbox, and
he was at the top of the list. So I
(02:42):
know a lot of you have sent emails over the years,
or not the years, but definitely the last I don't know,
definitely the last year. And don't make a happy of
this because they're usually it's just it's not usually going
to get red. But this one right timing, right place,
right time. So we'll go to Chris listening to your
(03:02):
Cowboys Giants breakdown about injuries. Would love to hear your
thoughts on the following. NFL shortens to two preseason games,
expands rosters. Pick a number seventy three. Let me pump
the brakes there. Part of expanding rosters means paying way
more even minimum salaries. So if you go from fifty
(03:25):
three to seventy three, that's an extra twenty million. I'm
just picking an even number of million dollars for players
a year like that's you know, I just don't know
if they're going to just do that that definitely plays
a factor. So whenever we hear the conversation about college
rosters NFL rosters, I mean they're paying premiums, right I
(03:47):
would imagine the average salary cap right now in terms
of U space is give or take a couple hundred
million dollars. So you start adding twenty million dollar increments,
you're talking about a ten percent increase. That's a pretty
high increase on many of you guys would know, just
like your overhead, which by far is the NFL's biggest expense,
(04:08):
right is the players, rightfully, so, I mean the product
can't exist without them, but that extra twenty guys, like,
are they going to pay an extra twenty million dollars?
To let's face it mostly guys that are not gonna play,
because if you add twenty, I mean you're talking about
three deep and then you give everyone two buys.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That way, Thursday night football.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Game can never be scheduled on a short week and
fresh players extend the regular season to Super Bowl Sunday.
I hear what you're saying, and a lot of people
throw this type stuff out there, but I think we
have to agree that they have not been very inclined
to do this type stuff. Now, I do think they're
(04:49):
going to two preseason games because they're gonna go to eighteen.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Game regular season rights.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's inevitable with the way kind of the preseason has
essentially played out, which no one cares and how much money.
I mean even I saw the Titans Dolphins game. Obviously
it was a double header on Monday night, but did
like less than six million people, which for any other
sport you would be doing cartwheels down the office halls.
(05:20):
But for the NFL, that's just I just think that
they're so into these television ratings. I don't think they care.
They don't They do not care that much in terms
about that extra buy for guys, and we kind of
have information that they're never gonna change. I honestly think
(05:42):
that the injuries have much more to do with the
constant training, the lack of training camp. Obviously there are
a lot of variables, but they don't really play football
beside regular season games, where I bet if we just
went to nineteen ninety six and you just went around
the league like training camps were just full on football
(06:02):
for weeks. So by the time these guys got to
the regular season, even if they came into training camp
out of shape. I just think they were much more
physically prepared. Now you're going from like fifty percent to
one hundred percent when everyone when top to bottom, no
one's ever ran faster. And while guys like linebackers aren't
(06:22):
as big as they used to be, the speed in
the collisions is just so much different. So I think
that's a way bigger issue.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Okay, question for the POD.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I keep hearing discussions how Sirianni isn't getting the job
done in Philly, and I agree, but I don't think
enough of the focus is on Hurts. Let's not forget
he had to be benched in the Natty because he
could not throw the football. In the NFL, has been
given the most insane offensive roster, offensive line, receivers, tight ends.
(06:56):
Now sakwan I had it that part for him to
have success. I feel like every time he makes a mistake,
he shakes his head and looks to blame everyone else,
Like I see with Kyler. Maybe both you're really doing
some body language breakdown. Maybe both of the see. I
see a player that one of his strengths is he
(07:17):
never gets that excited and he never gets that low,
which obviously in Philly can piss off fans because.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They would you know, you throw a pick.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They wouldn't mind seeing like a helmet toss into the
front row. But I listen, I don't get as caught
up like everyone's personality is a little different, right, Tom Brady,
Peyton Manning, pretty fiery, Aaron Rodgers a little passive aggressive.
I'm nitpicking the top guys you see Lamar, Josh, Patrick Mahomes.
All their personalities are different. To me, It's just about
(07:47):
the play and one thing in football when Sirianni or
now Kellen, just like last year Brian Johnson lost his job.
So much of it is on the play calling. And
when you've seen a guy have success, they start wondering,
like why can't it happen again, even if maybe that
(08:08):
year was just a complete outlier. And the more and
more they take away the things he's good at, he
just he has such flaws. Him turning the ball over
at pretty rapid race is obviously concerned.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
He's had a pretty stack deck. Everyone talks so much
about brock Perty He's.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Had all these guys.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Well, Deebo can't really run routes. I think we all agree.
I you good player. I mean, his career high was
seventy five catches. Kittle, you know, isn't exactly Travis Kelcey.
Now he's an outstanding player, but he gets banged up
a lot. And beside Trent Williams, they haven't had many
guys over the last couple of years that you would
be like, yes, that guy's a fifteen year pro at
(08:52):
offensive lineman. But the coach is a big part and
he gets a lot of credit for Perty. And obviously
Perty has gotten beat better and better. I was texting
with a buddy the other day because we were talking
about Jalen and I brought up Party, like, neither guy
has Josh Allen or mahomes right, and you know he
can run. Both guys can run. Jalen's a much more
(09:16):
powerful runner, but Perty's a really good runner. The one
thing Perty can really do is dominate from within the
pocket when he's on. And I think right now we're
seeing Jalen Hurts really really struggle.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We really are.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
He does not look comfortable in the pocket, and it's
really hard to win when you can't do that. It's
just that simple. At the highest level, consistently you can
have games like. Part of the reason Lamar has become
a dominant player and he deserves a shitload of credit
for this as well as his coaching staff is he's
got so much better as a thrower. He's so much
(09:52):
more accurate and you can throw any number you want
at me. Like I remember early on his career, I
was like, I don't think he's gonna be accurate enough,
and he really has. Why I'm so difficult or hard
on him for his difficult, poor playoff performances because he's
looked like a different guy. But when he's humming, he
can make a lot of throws and you're comfortable when
(10:13):
the ball leaves his hand that it's gonna be a
good it's gonna be a good throw. And a lot
of times the last couple of weeks it has been.
And obviously the running element to his game. Well, Jalen
like he's ran a little more this year. Uh, He's
definitely it's been a big part of his game in
a couple uh in that Atlanta game for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
But it's the pocket passing.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You can't just live on the ad Lib place. And
the other thing is once you lose aj Brown and
DeVante Smith and listen, it's not I'm not putting the
Tampa game on him. The defense was atrocious, but like,
I gotta be able to rely on you to like, yeah,
we might have a stretch where we got a bunch
(10:59):
of injur can you carry the team to like a
three to one month like where you're just putting us
on your back. And it does not feel like he
can do that right now, which is a major problem
for everyone in business with him, the coaching staff and
obviously Howie. Just wondering will kirk Cousins be inducted into
(11:21):
the Ring of Honor in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
He's worthy.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I think if you were placing a bet right now,
will kirk Cousins have his name up on.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The Ring of Honor? I would say that is.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
If it was like a game, right, if you were
doing like a spread on it, it'd be a pick them,
It'd be a coin flip. He has a couple more
like that wins a playoff game. To me, he's a
Ring of Honor player. We know Arthur Smith loves putting
those guys in the Ring of Honor. Hey, John, love
your show every single episode. Shame about the hair. My man,
(11:55):
everybody has something to hide except bald people. What are
y'all not hiding under that shiny head?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That is a joke. Hey, you know we can't.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
God didn't give me great height.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
My dad was probably six 'in one. You know, I'm
pushing five to ten. My brother's probably close to six.
I would have liked a couple more inches of the hair,
if I'm being fully transparent, I didn't have great hair.
Like it wasn't one of those where it's like, you know,
at one point in time, I had flow like Brad
(12:29):
pitt I saw. I forget what team he's on, but
I was watching the game and he was on the sideline.
I think he's on Washington. Sam Hartman, the Notre Dame
quarterback last year, has I mean an elite head of lettis.
I mean it's pretty special and if I would have
had that, it would be really hard. I'd be thinking
a lot about what could have been. And now that
(12:52):
I got a little more coin, I probably would have
got a transplant or some sort of surgery. But like,
if they only can save the hair that I had,
it's not worth I've heard different numbers on the procedure
which is not guaranteed to work. Like I'm not spending
twenty five K on the hair that I used to have.
(13:15):
Now if you say, hey, I can give you Sam
Hartman's hair, we'd have a consultation immediately.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Why don't the.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Falcons have Bjon Robinson in on every play? I almost
pulled the trigger, but I didn't. I was going to
do a little touchdown parlay of Mike Evans and Drake
London and Bjon Robinson to get a touchdown in that game.
I like doing that sometimes on the primetime games. Gives
(13:42):
me a little little action on the game. When I
didn't feel comfortable betting, I probably would have been inclined
to take the bucks like plus two and a half.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Obviously glad I did not.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
But it's for whatever reason the Falcons listen Bjon like pits.
We talked about on Thursday after the game, A little
bit of a bizarre player. I know he's been very
polarizing about using him right, not using him right. Why
I think he's got some serious flaws. I don't really
see flaws in Bijon Robinson. I think he's basically starting
(14:15):
for every team in the league that doesn't have I
don't know. I mean if McCaffrey's achilles worked, and maybe Saquan,
but he is an elite player, definitely an elite talent.
The way to become an elite player is give him
the ball constantly. I go on Gottlieb's Fox Sports show
every week, and he asked me, like, what do they
(14:36):
have to do to get Bejon to going? Just keep
giving him the ball. Like one thing, if I had
a guy like bijon Is, I would force feed him
the rock. Now, last night, Cousins was a rolling. They
couldn't cover it ultimately didn't cost him. But a guy
like that, at any moment, you get a fifty yard run.
(14:57):
That was my thing with the Eagles. Like handing Saquon
the football. You could call it kind of extreme. But
one thing Kyle does when McCaffrey is humming, and maybe
this is the reason his legs are falling apart, is
just feeds in the pill like I would throw it
to him. I would give him inside of runs, I'd
(15:18):
give him outside of runs.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He is just I remember a.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Buddy who was scouting him coming out was like, I
think he's one of the more talented players. I've ever scouted,
like he kind of had his at all. And from
everything I know, he's a great guy, team guy, knows
a shit. It's not like, well, he just doesn't know
the offense, Like I don't know the excuse. Like I
get the excuse with Pitts. It's like, well, we can't
line him up on the line of scrimmage. We can't
(15:42):
really put him outside all game long, so he kind
of has to be our slot receiver. But then that
kind of messes with our offense a little bit. The
Beijon thing, like just put him in the game. Just
put the dude in the game. Mail Bag, amidst all
the DeVante Adams trade talk, do you think a trade
(16:06):
involving T Higgins is on the table? Wasn't long ago
reports were swirling that he wanted a trade. We know
about the Bengals financial tendencies. Could he be on the
move Bengals get a draft capital. My question with him
is he's been injured so this year and wasn't he hurt.
(16:28):
Let me go to his game log last year. I know,
was it two years ago? So the year obviously, his
first three years were really good, sixty seven six touchdowns,
seventy four six touchdowns in twenty twenty two. The year
they I guess the two years they lost or one
year they beat the Chiefs went to the super Bowl.
(16:48):
The other years they lost to the Chiefs in the
AFC Championship Game, but they their two best teams. He
was basically seventy four catches a year and six seven touchdowns,
which is a really solid receipt. Uh, Brandon Ayuk just
got thirty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
A year for that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Now he had more yards and Brandon is a more
fluid player. You know, one thing when you watch T Higgins.
Obviously his body is unique because he's big, but he's
a little stiff.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So if I'm trading for a guy for a rental,
is he good enough? Like what am I giving up?
I think his trade value for the Bengals now, if
they were out of it makes sense to just probably
trade him. But are they getting more than a third
(17:40):
round pick? And based on you know that he's banged
up and I he was productive? What was it two
games ago? Was it the Washington game? I didn't really
watch much of Carolina game, but I don't know. I
don't know if today any team's given up a third
round or for I guess that's a long winded way
(18:01):
of saying he might have more value to the Bengals.
Just ride it out, let him hit free agency and
then get the compick, which I would imagine is essentially
what's gonna end up happening? Mail bag kind of crazy one.
But what do you think the odds are Dion ends
up at Florida State after this year? Colorado is two
(18:24):
of the best players in the nation. One's a sun,
so you know, I think that's part of the unique
aspect of talking about Obviously, Deon Landing Travis Hunter was
a really big deal stolen from Florida State. I don't
know the entire backstory. I'd probably read a deep dive
on it, but pretty sure he's known him forever. But
(18:45):
you get credit for that? Do I give you credit
for your son?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
If they had if Shador was just Shador middle cough,
I think that would play a bigger role. I actually
think Colorado has had an incredible year so far. I
thought they were headed for an under six wins and
not make a Bowl game, and now they look like
god could they win eight, eight games, nine games? But
(19:11):
one big picture question mark is what happens when shaduur leaves,
Like the Dion will be able to land another traps
hunter and you know he's left tackle sweet, like he's
gonna be able to recruit players.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Position, I mean he doesn't. It's not lucky because ultimately
it's his elite jeans and sperm that's that created Shador Like,
that's that's literally his creation. Uh. But like it's a
big difference when like Saban landing, Bryce Young and Tua
and Jalen and you know in Lincoln Land and Kleb,
(19:46):
like there's no family ties. I just I just gotta
I just gotta go cruit. Now, part of recruiting is money.
So Florida State has money. Listen, I'm biased. We know
I might have jinked their entire sy, but he went
thirteen and one last year. Now it looks like they're
headed toward I don't know, an awful season. There's no
(20:10):
really argument that two three wins is clearly on the
table when you've been as bad as they have. Now
we'll see if this new quarterback, if DJ's out, maybe
DJ never plays, gives them a little life, But you
go thirteen and one, and really the only reason you
were thirteen to zero and the reason you didn't make
the playoffs because your quarterback had his leg snapped. Otherwise
(20:31):
you're literally in the fourteen playoff. Doesn't that buy you
another year? I also think for Dion, I don't think
six and six, which is possible. I mean their next
game's Kse State. I think they still play Utah. It
gets they play some solid teams. Right, he beat the
(20:53):
shit out of UCF and that that was an awesome win,
especially if you had the buff plus fourteen. But let
me just pull up their schedule because so they're on
a bye, then they play Kansas State. Then they play Arizona,
which is not gonna be a great matchup for them
(21:14):
because Arizona can really throw. So if they win one
of those two games, that's pretty big, and then they would.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Be five and two.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Then they have a stretch of Cincinnati at Texas Tech,
Utah at Kansas Oklahoma State. Like what would he have
to win to feel really good about like owning social media?
And it is kind of irrelevant now if you're hiring Dion,
it's more like if I hire this guy, if I'm Florida,
(21:43):
Florida State, whoever is gonna come after him. You know,
there was talk last year about Auburn is this guy
can he compete to win nine ten games? And I
think if he gets to eight or nine wins this year,
it'd be it'd be a crowning a chief. And I
think these teams would one sniff around. I think he
(22:04):
goes six and his second best player is his son,
who is not obviously going to be gone in the
NFL next year. I think if you and I were
athletic directors, you know there is a clear boost that
Prime brings to your program right of relevancy, of just
he clearly can recruit. But like what's he look like
(22:28):
without Shador? Like that position which we see is kind
of the I mean, wi's Florida State terrible this year.
They couldn't find a quarterback. I'm watching Auburn like they
got quarterback issues. You get quarterback issues fast. And now
if you go to one of those schools and you
got a big cash flow, but you still only really
like in the transfer portal, for example, you're only landing
(22:51):
one free agent. So could he land a cam.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Ward or whatever?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Probably could if he had the money to compete with
the big boys. I think he's a pretty fascinating case.
I don't think Norvell should lose his job after one
awful season, given that he just went thirteen and one.
But I don't pretend to know the dynamics of Florida State.
It's not gonna go over well, right, you go three
(23:16):
to nine or something like that. At a program like that,
people are gonna be pissed off. I got a lot
of people asking about Philly. How does Kellen Moore getting
away with being a garbage offensive coordinator? Just last year,
the Cowboys offense got better after he left to the
Chargers that got remarkably worse once he got there. Following
getting pushed out by Harbaugh, he goes to Philly, where
(23:39):
he calls plays for the most expensive offense in the
league that has played like straight dog shit this year,
even with the recent acquisition of Saquon Barkley. All of
the blame being put on Hurts and Sirianni. But he
keeps his hands clean.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
How is he getting away with it? You could argue
that I do.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I'm gonna give him a little bit of a pass.
With the Chargers, Herbert got hurt. He worked for Brandon Saley,
who I don't give him a pass on this, like
he's good buddies with him, like that's you hit your wagon.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To him, it's a disaster.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
I've always been a defender of Kellen Moore. I think
he's pretty good, but one knock on him was his
unwillingness to pound the rock. And to me, part of
this offense has to be to leano on Saquon Barkley.
Just remove who's making what Like I'm running this guy
twenty plus times a game, and part of it is
(24:42):
if my defense sucks. Now, this is also on Sirianne
to kind of map out overall big picture game plans
for an opponent. Well, for our defense sucks, what's the
easiest way to make them better? Keep them off the field,
what's the easiest way to shorten the game? Run the ball,
run the clock? Because right now Jalen isn't exactly Drew Brees,
(25:04):
so you're having, incompletions obviously turnovers coming from him. I
am writing Saquon Barkley like Secretariat, and he's shown that
you can't write him like that. So if he asked me,
I'd be like, whatever your game plan is to run
it this week at seven eight of them. I was
wondering if the Chiefs could go and sign Michael Thomas.
(25:26):
If they did, do you think he could make a
fraction of the player? No, absolutely not. I think Michael
Thomas is clearly kind of untouchable for a lot of teams.
That thing got weird, and that thing got weird fast,
and Michael Thomas went from like, God, this guy's a
ball or two kind of toxic. Who do you think
(25:48):
is leading the race for Rookie of the Year Jaden
Daniels or Malik Neighbors. Would they give it to a
non court I think it's a little like the Heisman,
a little like the MVP. If Jade has sixty seventy
percent of the season, which he's having moving forward, and
has some moments against the Cowboys and Eagles.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
He would feel like a pretty big lock.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I would say, like, if this is a mile, right,
you're running a mile in every lap is like a
quarter of the season. You know, we're headed to week five,
so it's about quarter of the season. I know seventeen
games is not a flush four four four four, but
let's just call this quarter of the season. He's definitely
up a lap on Caleb like he ran, and Caleb
(26:35):
hasn't even taken off yet. Malik Naghbors now is concussed,
which is not I mean, obviously he didn't choose to
be concussed, but he's gonna miss a game. I think
if Jalen plays seventeen games, it's I think he's gonna
win it. And I just think we're just so inclined quarterbacks.
(26:58):
It's not really a fair fight. Question for the mailbag,
any chance the Chargers trade for Tyreek Killer Devonte Adams
or any trades mid season that you think could dramatically
improve the team. I know you said before that the
Chargers don't value wide receiver, but I feel like how
(27:19):
awful their offense has been and how fantastic their defense is,
they have a real chance to make a run if
they can get a boost to their offense and give
it some juice.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Thanks for your.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Time, I would say there is no way unless the
Chiefs or the Chargers would give up a first round pick,
that Mark Davis would allow Tom to LESCo to trade
DeVante to Andy Reid Er Jim Harbaugh, It's just a
non starter. It's not gonna happen. I also think they
(27:52):
would not be inclined to trade a lot of draft
capital for these players. Like ultimately Harbaugh once he leaves Michigan.
It's hard to put absolutes on things, but it's hard
to see him like this is his last job, like
this is where he's gonna be. So those that draft
capital a second and third round pick, we'll see. How
(28:15):
you know they have a bye this week. I just
think they're gonna utilize those picks, and they've got.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Some cap issues, so to trade for a player?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
To me, when has Jim Harbai ever had a player
like Tyreek Hill? Not that he doesn't think he's good,
but I don't know. I don't see it. I'm an
American living in Austria, and it helps keep me connected
to the American culture.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
He's talking about the podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I used to root for the Raiders, but have recently
decided until they can win ten games consistently.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
I'll just watch football.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I used to wait for Al Davis to pass, and
now I'm waiting for Mark Davis to do the same.
I feel like nothing will change until A Davis doesn't
own the team. Since Mark has no offspring and has
never and he never sold the team. How would new
ownership be established. That's a question for the league, and.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I think Mark. I think Al's wife, Carol, I'm pretty
sure she's still around. I think she's still alive. So
obviously Mark is the controlling owner. Once Al passed away,
she just lets him run it. You know, Mark's Mark's
not forty. I think Mark Davis is close to seventy.
(29:46):
And I don't know what would he's sixty nine years old.
I don't have the answer to that. I know this,
if Mark Davis would ever sell the team, which he won't,
and if the team were to be sold, you know,
one day when the Davis there are no Davis family
members around, Las Vegas Raiders would go for a lot,
(30:10):
no state income tax, stadium, the city, the money that's there.
I think, what did the Commanders go for?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Six five?
Speaker 1 (30:24):
I think the Vegas Raiders would go would go for
a lot. I think they would get a have an
astronomical asking price, and I think people would be lined
up to buy that thing.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I don't I'm not rooting for Mark to pass away here,
but I hear your pain. I mean, it's been a disaster.
Since he's on the team and it's it's had a
little bit of a feel it's been less crazy because
he is not like the patriarch of a guy that
knows a bunch of football in the sense of Al
(30:58):
who was a Hall of Fame legend, who was a
huge part of just the ethos and the sport of
the NFL and just pro football. He was a larger
than life character. I mean, he's on the short list
in like NFL history.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Of just famous names, right.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I mean, if you think about it, when you just
close your eyes, if you think football, Vince Lombardi, pro football.
I feel like Vince Lombardi is kind of the Babe
Ruth of football. But when you talk coaches, owners, people
that non players, I think it'd be hard to make
it past five or six without Al Davis. I mean
(31:40):
you're talking Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Jerry Jones, Al Davis.
I mean, it's a short list, and Mark is obviously
a lot different than his father. But the one thing
that happened towards the end of ours life is it
got really chaotic, and it feels like the Raiders are
consistently more chaotic despite now moving to Vegas having way
(32:03):
more money than they've ever had. Nothing has really changed, really,
nothing has really changed, which is which sucks if you're
a Raider fan, because you're just looking at like it's
different because Al Davis comparing him to Dan Snyder is not.
(32:23):
It's not, you cannot do that. But the last four
or five years of Al Davis with the Projectors, with
Lane Kiffin and just how embarrassing post the Gruden trade
was Dan Snyder like. And it still kind of feels
like it's rolling over. And you look at Washington who
(32:44):
got a new ownership, and just feels like people just
know what they're doing and it's way less chaotic. So
I gave Mark a lot of credit for attempting to
spend a lot of money on guys that other people wanted.
You know, some people wanted John Gruden for a decade,
and he was the guy that gave him ten years,
one hundred million dollars, and then Gruden got fired on
(33:07):
that Monday night football game, I think it was the
Ravens and the Colts. I remember sitting on my couch
watching the game when the story broke, and even the
Josh McDaniels Ziegler thing the forty nine Ers wanted Josh
McDaniels in twenty seventeen, he said no, and they got
Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So it's hard for me to fault him on that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I give him credit for like, we got to
get rid of this guy. But for whatever reason, he
just can't make a right move.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
He just can't.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And it just feels like the same thing over and
over again. And the problem is you have the new
dynasty in your division with Andy Mahomes. You add Jim Harbaugh,
who's all he does throughout his coaching life is win,
and then Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, which clearly
(33:57):
are going to be better than they've been post Payton
right over the next two or three years. Like Google
Sean Payton's resume, it's pretty good. So now you've got
Antonio Pierce who's liking things on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
It's just it's just very Raiders.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You know, the Raiders are gonna raider. Do you think
NFL players should get suspended for off the field issues
such as duys and such. I totally get suspensions for pedes,
But why can't we just let the legal system deal
with these punishments? And justice instead of having basically prosecute
a player. I think it depends for those of you
(34:36):
listening in like a corporate job. If you got a
duy right on a just whatever on any given night
and you didn't miss any work, do you get in trouble?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Like let's say I got a duy tonight. I won't.
I'm not gonna drink and drive, but let's just say
I did.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
How would anyone ever know? And nothing would ever change
even if it got pub like nothing. I would still
do a podcast Sunday with Colin and I recorded another
one Sunday Night Football. So I think if we use
duy specifically, you could argue you're getting fined, You're getting
in trouble, like with the law.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Do you need to.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Get just like a basic dui? Obviously if someone's injured, listen,
it's it's the reality of the result of the dui.
You know, if there's a crash and I'm not I'm
not trying to defend duys here. I've never got one.
When I was in high school, should have got one.
I happened to get pulled over right in front of
(35:35):
my house.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It was it was a tough scene.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It really was and for whatever reason, you know, my
parents used to go to bed relatively early, so in
high school I didn't really have a curfew, but I
mean I wasn't coming home at the.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Crack of dawn.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
But for whatever reason, that night, my dad was just
wearing me out and he was waiting up for me.
And then I get pulled over over and he comes
out and it was a scene. So the cop is
gonna pull a gun on him, and fair as the cop,
he didn't quite know what was going on. And it
(36:09):
was bad, it really was, and we kind of had
a pow wow.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Luckily I don't there.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
He didn't call for backup, because once the second cop comes,
you're getting the DUI. And this is my senior year
in high school. During Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving break, you know,
usually in high school you get like Wednesday through the
rest of the weekend off. And yeah, it was bad,
but I ended up not getting one.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Cop obviously.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
He's like I told the cop, I said, take me,
do not give me to my dad. I'll go to
jail with you. Will you just take me to jail
and I'll spend the night in the drunk tank or
wherever you're gonna take me. I don't want to go
with him. I could see the look in his I like,
this is gonna be bad. And it was not good.
It was really bad, but obviously better than getting a DUI,
(36:59):
which I don't even know I was.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Was I eighteen, I think might have been seventeen at
the time.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I didn't have any money, so it would have come
out of his pocket anyway. But I think it all
stems back to when the league was going through having
a bunch of guys get in trouble in the two
thousands that they've just they just kind of have a
universal policy, like if you get in trouble, they just
come at you. And I think we could nitpick it,
(37:25):
but I think they're.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Just like.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I don't know, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I don't think it's gonna change.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Been a huge fan of the pod. Listening to the
previous day's podcast has become part of my routine. I'm
a feeling native living in New York while witnessing sa
Quan's early success has been sweet. I feel like I'm
seeing a lot of the same, a lot of the
same between this year's Eagle Squad and last year's. The
(37:56):
optimist in me feels like the offense will eventually figure
it out, but the defense remains a concern. This may
be a reach. Do you think Fangio being in the
skybox during the game has an impact on the defense?
On one end, I understand that being up there provides
a perspective that you simply won't get on the sideline.
(38:17):
That being said, I do wonder if a more hands
on approach is needed in working speaking with specific players,
especially given Sirianni's CEO. I don't know wtf you even
do a role. I know it's likely he's in the
locker room at halftime. He is any coach you see
(38:38):
in the skybox takes the elevator down and goes in
the locker room at half time. I remember when Fangio
got hired for the Denver game, or excuting not the
Denver game, but for the Denver head coaching job. I
remember in his introductory press conference or early on his
career said, one of the biggest changes going to be
my entire career has been up in the box.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
So as a defensive.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Coordinator with Harball with the Bears last year with my
like he's a box guy.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's where he is.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Ultimately, the downfall, Like, if your corner can't cover, if
Darius Lay can't cover anybody, there is nothing Fangio can
tell him on the sideline.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Nothing, So I.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Hear what you're saying. In last year with the forty
nine ers, who Warner and Bosa made a big deal
of their coordinator being in the box because Sala and
Demico were on the sidelines. So middle of the year
Kyle Shanahan made Steve Wilkes come to the sideline. That's
not gonna happen here. It's just not I think as
(39:44):
of right now, their players are just not playing very well.
So if your DB's specifically your corners can't cover, and
Jordan Davis is not a good player, there is not
much Fanjo can do beside benching him. So I guess
what I'm saying is now we can argue if that
scheme is right for the personnel, but he's not coming
(40:07):
down to the sideline.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Would be my guess.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I don't think that's gonna be a change that's gonna happen.
It's awesome that you're heading to the Red River for
the first time. I challenge you to come back next
week and say it's not the coolest college football atmosphere
you've ever experienced, Texas and know you fans love to
laugh at other rivalry comparisons. You mentioned having some doubts
(40:33):
about Sark's ability to build a tough, hard nosed team.
Could you elaborate on that and those doubts rooted in
his demeanor or more about the style of offense defense
he runs. It's been rooted in his teams. So you
go to Washington and then at USC when I watched
him as a head coach, and then he got to Texas,
(40:56):
they were just really soft. So it's not necessarily a
scheme things specific. It's like Lincoln Riley. His teams up
until this year have just always been kind of soft.
Now you can relate that to is it because of
his offensive style and practicing against that offensive style isn't
(41:17):
conducive to creating a physical defense. But I can just
judge you what I see on Saturdays or Sundays. Now,
once nil comes into play, you can just purchase the
best players, and that's a huge advantage for SIRK. So
if I can just purchase sweet players on defense, even
(41:40):
if my practice styles like part of the reason Harbaugh's
teams and Saban's teams I'd use Kirby as well, historically
have been so physical. Is because of the way they
practice and because of their offensive You know, historically Saban
was a run the ball up the middle, same thing
with Harball.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Obviously he's changed a little bit.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And that just creates a physical culture and passing oriented teams,
especially in college. It's just it's why why is Texas Tech?
And that style of offense always had hideous defenses. Obviously
they've never recruited five.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Star guys, but look what you practice against every day.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Like, even when you split up and you go scout
team for offensive defense, you still end up practicing ones
versus ones in practice, and when you see that offense,
it just is not conducive. Now, one thing about Sark,
I remember two years ago he had John Robinson and
I forget what game he lost, a bad game. It's
(42:41):
like he just got pass happy down the stretch because
at his core he kind of wants to pass the ball.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Which I'm not opposed to, right.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I mean, Andy Reid loves to pass the ball, but
you can't really argue most of his career like defense
means a lot to him. He's a very defensive oriented
guy now in pro football because you can sign guys
draft certain players. You know, in college football up until
the transfer portal nil. Even when you're getting the best
(43:11):
of the best, you still need to develop them heavily
once they get on campus. And no one did a
better job of that over the years than Save It Right,
Dabbo did a good job of that, and so did
Kirby with a lot of big time defensive players, and
you know, go into the Red River grame. I mean,
I think there's a very good chance to Texas be's
to piss out of them just because they're way better,
(43:34):
especially on offense. Now, look at Oklahoma this year. Their
offenses and shambles. They've benched the starting quarterback, they've gone
to the true freshmen, they have a bunch of injuries.
But one thing they're hanging their hat on a couple
of years into Venibles, who is a defensive guy who
became the highest paid defensive coordinator for most of his
(43:55):
career when he went to Clemson, is now.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Their defense is good.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
That's just not random. Ultimately, you are what you preach
and you care about you just are, I would say,
in any walk of life, right, whatever, you do for
a living, the things you put emphasis on in that industry,
in your business, in your position, you probably are pretty
good at it, and things that you avoid or don't
(44:22):
care that much about, Like it's hard to be good
at that. So it's clear when you watch Venables, Like
when you think of Texas, what do you think of
dynamic offensive team? Same Ryan Day offensive guy, what have
they been most of his career since Urban left? Incredible
passing offensive team? When I think Venables one thing we're
(44:45):
learning now, it's hard to totally judge because like they're
going to be able to recruit offensive players, but they're
good on defense. When's the last time Oklahoma's been good
on defense? They were terrible in the twenty tens under
Bob Stoops, Under Lincoln it was always their downfall, and
now then a Bowls a couple years in, they're excellent
on defense. If they had one of Lincoln's offensive or
(45:07):
Sark's offenses with their defense, they'd be like a national
championship contender.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
In same thing.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
You know Sark in Ohio State, like Ohio State got
bad on defense relative to their elite teams over the
last twenty five years under Ryan Day, well, what now
changed nil transfer portal. I can buy sweet players.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
So what do they do?
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Alabama? One of their best players, Saving Leaves, puts his
name in the portal.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
What do they do they buy him?
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Which again I'm pro buying guys. If I was Sark,
if I was Ryan Day, like, I can't change who
I am most of us once you hit a certain
age and both those guys are forty five fifty years old.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Ryan Days might be like forty four forty five, Sark
probably close.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
To fifty now, like you are who you are, so
once you have a floor, and luckily as a coach,
it's pretty easy to see like what my flaw is.
But yeah, maybe we're never gonna develop incredible dominant defense.
We're never gonna look like the two thousand and one
Miami Hurricanes. Well we can add to the personnel. You
(46:15):
give me a ten million dollar budget on defense, boom,
I'll buy three or four of the best defensive players.
So and that's a huge advantage that they have. My
name is John in Portuguese. I'm from Rio, Brazil. I
guess his name is jow jo Ao. Is that how
you say it?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Jow?
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Is how we say our name in Portuguese, big fan
of your work. Do you think DeVante's comments about Washington
fans stadium could affect a potential trade? Honestly, never saw it,
but some of these story you're coming at me with
Michael Jordan story a DeVante comment on Washington, I would
(46:57):
say about the stadium. I don't know exactly what he said,
but I do think it's fair to say that there
are certain stadiums you're not getting judged for what you say.
Right if you want to rip on where the Raiders
and As used to play like, no one's holding that
against you. Washington's current stadium is a complete shittle. I
(47:18):
think we would I don't have to really think, but
probably worse in the NFL, probably one of the worst
in the three major sports. I don't know what he
said about the fans. That's always an easy one you
can run back. I don't think that's a deal breaker. Okay,
last question, lifelong Wisconsin football fan. In my thirty three
(47:40):
years on this planet, I don't remember seeing a Badger
team looking this awful and inconsistent. I know Fickle and
his coaching staff or trying to implement a completely new offense,
and I know that takes time, But when is it
time to say it isn't working in the head coaching direction.
I was thinking about this. What game was I watching? Well,
(48:04):
they got their ass kicked by Bama? Did they just
play USC? Yeah, they play USC and they were up
in the first half and then USC just beat the
brakes out of him the last like thirty minutes of
the game. And I was texting with someone I don't
know if he works in college football. Who was I
Texan with was the NFL scout and we were just
kind of talking about the Wisconsin situation, and I do
(48:24):
wonder it's one of those that, you know, you leave
Cincinnati for Wisconsin, you say that out loud, You're like,
of course, Wisconsin football, and you say it out loud again,
and you're like, what do you regret that? Is that
one of those situations where if he could have a
do over, he just would have stayed at Cincinnati, because
I do think Wisconsin's a pretty unique job. And I
(48:45):
do wonder if he's trying to play in his mind
the style of Big Ten football that he grew up
on playing at Ohio State, and it's the world's kind
of changed, you know, like Michigan would not be able
to do what they are doing and even sniff nine
wins if they weren't recruiting the best players. Like it's
(49:08):
I was talking to Stucky about this a little bit
off air. How could you be Michigan and not have
a quarterback on the roster. I'm not saying Michael Pennix
or you know, to a tongaai looa like it's that
version of college player, but not have a guy that's like, oh,
this guy's just a credible starter and you know what,
(49:29):
best case will be like a fifth round pick. Worst
case he'll be an undrafted free agent, but he's a
legitimate college starter for a.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Year or two. Like they don't have that. How's that possible?
Speaker 1 (49:41):
And you watch Wisconsin offensively, they're just a knemic and
one issue they've had is just quarterbacks, like they're quarterbacks.
Graham Merch was their guy. What was that was Graham
Merch like a huge, huge recruit if I remember correctly,
And it just didn't work. So they're gonna be We
had a disadvantage that Ohio State has an unlimited budget.
(50:04):
Michigan is just gonna recruit better players than so is
penn State. So how can you find a niche of
something you do well where financially you can't keep up
with those guys? And to me, part of hanging your
hat would be for example, Utah, Utah was never gonna
have the budget of Oregon or USC back when the
(50:25):
Pac twelve existed, but their coach created this niche. Like, listen,
our offense is never gonna look like Lincoln rileyes. It's
never gonna be like lang Kiffin and Sarks was at Alabama. Right,
it's never gonna look like Texas. But we're gonna have
NFL players all over our defense. And even if our
quarterback can't throw it backwards, you're gonna be in for
(50:46):
a fistfight every time you play us. And if we
just get a solid quarterback, we're going to be a
mother Well, Fickles a defensive guy, so shouldn't their defense
be just be dominant? Look at Beilama and this, you
know the the tiers when we talk about coaching. It's
pretty crazy because a couple of years ago you thought fickle,
(51:08):
this guy's shooting star does feel a little over his head.
Beilama goes to Illinois, which has way less recent history
of being good than Wisconsin, and they're just good. You
just watch them, it's like, yeah, they kind of just
know what they're doing. They're just a solid, solid team,
and Wisconsin is like, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (51:32):
What's our direction here?
Speaker 1 (51:35):
So obviously it's never it's gonna be more difficult in
this new era, especially in your conference.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
I also I forgot USC and Oregon are in that
conference too. They're gonna have big budgets, But how can
you not hang your hat? Like to me, when I
think Luke Fickle like closed my eyes. I think they
want to play like Utah football, and you watch them,
they just I don't think, you know, USC was kind
of shredding them down the stretch and offensively. You know,
(52:02):
I don't know if you can rely on when Wisconsin
was good, when Michigan State was good, they kind of
just ran the pro style offense and the pro style offense.
And when I was at Fresno State, we ran the
pro style offense. A tight end, a full back, a
running back, a quarterback who was truly kind of ideally
a game manager, a couple of receivers. I was kind
of boring, ran power a lot. You know, now worked
(52:26):
when we had Ryan Matthews. But I just I think
the world has dramatically changed. And I'm not saying I
don't even know what offense you're running, but maybe Jesus
a little over his head and maybe it's just a
bad fit for whatever reason. But to me, when I
think Luke fickle, I would think that he would want
(52:47):
to kind of be like Kyle whitting him, Like that's
what he would want to operate like, and it's just
not working. Volume
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Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, I wanted to do a little weekend mail bag
because we didn't get to do one on Friday because
Stuckey went long and wanted to bang went out today.
Got a bunch of questions. You guys know the drill
at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is my Instagram. Firing
those dms and get your question answered here on the show.
(02:21):
Very very easy to do to execute, and a lot
of you guys do so fire in those DMS and
keep those questions coming. I want to start with Chris.
He actually sent me an email. I usually don't read
emails on here, but it was just I was just
going through emails trying to clear the old inbox, and
he was at the top of the list. So I
(02:42):
know a lot of you have sent emails over the years,
or not the years, but definitely the last I don't know,
definitely the last year. And don't make a happy of
this because they're usually it's just it's not usually going
to get red. But this one right timing, right place,
right time. So we'll go to Chris listening to your
(03:02):
Cowboys Giants breakdown about injuries. Would love to hear your
thoughts on the following. NFL shortens to two preseason games,
expands rosters. Pick a number seventy three. Let me pump
the brakes there. Part of expanding rosters means paying way
more even minimum salaries. So if you go from fifty
(03:25):
three to seventy three, that's an extra twenty million. I'm
just picking an even number of million dollars for players
a year like that's you know, I just don't know
if they're going to just do that that definitely plays
a factor. So whenever we hear the conversation about college
rosters NFL rosters, I mean they're paying premiums, right I
(03:47):
would imagine the average salary cap right now in terms
of U space is give or take a couple hundred
million dollars. So you start adding twenty million dollar increments,
you're talking about a ten percent increase. That's a pretty
high increase on many of you guys would know, just
like your overhead, which by far is the NFL's biggest expense,
(04:08):
right is the players, rightfully, so, I mean the product
can't exist without them, but that extra twenty guys, like,
are they going to pay an extra twenty million dollars?
To let's face it mostly guys that are not gonna play,
because if you add twenty, I mean you're talking about
three deep and then you give everyone two buys.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That way, Thursday night football.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Game can never be scheduled on a short week and
fresh players extend the regular season to Super Bowl Sunday.
I hear what you're saying, and a lot of people
throw this type stuff out there, but I think we
have to agree that they have not been very inclined
to do this type stuff. Now, I do think they're
(04:49):
going to two preseason games because they're gonna go to eighteen.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Game regular season rights.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's inevitable with the way kind of the preseason has
essentially played out, which no one cares and how much money.
I mean even I saw the Titans Dolphins game. Obviously
it was a double header on Monday night, but did
like less than six million people, which for any other
sport you would be doing cartwheels down the office halls.
(05:20):
But for the NFL, that's just I just think that
they're so into these television ratings. I don't think they care.
They don't They do not care that much in terms
about that extra buy for guys, and we kind of
have information that they're never gonna change. I honestly think
(05:42):
that the injuries have much more to do with the
constant training, the lack of training camp. Obviously there are
a lot of variables, but they don't really play football
beside regular season games, where I bet if we just
went to nineteen ninety six and you just went around
the league like training camps were just full on football
(06:02):
for weeks. So by the time these guys got to
the regular season, even if they came into training camp
out of shape. I just think they were much more
physically prepared. Now you're going from like fifty percent to
one hundred percent when everyone when top to bottom, no
one's ever ran faster. And while guys like linebackers aren't
(06:22):
as big as they used to be, the speed in
the collisions is just so much different. So I think
that's a way bigger issue.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Okay, question for the POD.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I keep hearing discussions how Sirianni isn't getting the job
done in Philly, and I agree, but I don't think
enough of the focus is on Hurts. Let's not forget
he had to be benched in the Natty because he
could not throw the football. In the NFL, has been
given the most insane offensive roster, offensive line, receivers, tight ends.
(06:56):
Now sakwan I had it that part for him to
have success. I feel like every time he makes a mistake,
he shakes his head and looks to blame everyone else,
Like I see with Kyler. Maybe both you're really doing
some body language breakdown. Maybe both of the see. I
see a player that one of his strengths is he
(07:17):
never gets that excited and he never gets that low,
which obviously in Philly can piss off fans because.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They would you know, you throw a pick.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
They wouldn't mind seeing like a helmet toss into the
front row. But I listen, I don't get as caught
up like everyone's personality is a little different, right, Tom Brady,
Peyton Manning, pretty fiery, Aaron Rodgers a little passive aggressive.
I'm nitpicking the top guys you see Lamar, Josh, Patrick Mahomes.
All their personalities are different. To me, It's just about
(07:47):
the play and one thing in football when Sirianni or
now Kellen, just like last year Brian Johnson lost his job.
So much of it is on the play calling. And
when you've seen a guy have success, they start wondering,
like why can't it happen again, even if maybe that
(08:08):
year was just a complete outlier. And the more and
more they take away the things he's good at, he
just he has such flaws. Him turning the ball over
at pretty rapid race is obviously concerned.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
He's had a pretty stack deck. Everyone talks so much
about brock Perty He's.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Had all these guys.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Well, Deebo can't really run routes. I think we all agree.
I you good player. I mean, his career high was
seventy five catches. Kittle, you know, isn't exactly Travis Kelcey.
Now he's an outstanding player, but he gets banged up
a lot. And beside Trent Williams, they haven't had many
guys over the last couple of years that you would
be like, yes, that guy's a fifteen year pro at
(08:52):
offensive lineman. But the coach is a big part and
he gets a lot of credit for Perty. And obviously
Perty has gotten beat better and better. I was texting
with a buddy the other day because we were talking
about Jalen and I brought up Party, like, neither guy
has Josh Allen or mahomes right, and you know he
can run. Both guys can run. Jalen's a much more
(09:16):
powerful runner, but Perty's a really good runner. The one
thing Perty can really do is dominate from within the
pocket when he's on. And I think right now we're
seeing Jalen Hurts really really struggle.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We really are.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
He does not look comfortable in the pocket, and it's
really hard to win when you can't do that. It's
just that simple. At the highest level, consistently you can
have games like. Part of the reason Lamar has become
a dominant player and he deserves a shitload of credit
for this as well as his coaching staff is he's
got so much better as a thrower. He's so much
(09:52):
more accurate and you can throw any number you want
at me. Like I remember early on his career, I
was like, I don't think he's gonna be accurate enough,
and he really has. Why I'm so difficult or hard
on him for his difficult, poor playoff performances because he's
looked like a different guy. But when he's humming, he
can make a lot of throws and you're comfortable when
(10:13):
the ball leaves his hand that it's gonna be a
good it's gonna be a good throw. And a lot
of times the last couple of weeks it has been.
And obviously the running element to his game. Well, Jalen
like he's ran a little more this year. Uh, He's
definitely it's been a big part of his game in
a couple uh in that Atlanta game for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
But it's the pocket passing.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You can't just live on the ad Lib place. And
the other thing is once you lose aj Brown and
DeVante Smith and listen, it's not I'm not putting the
Tampa game on him. The defense was atrocious, but like,
I gotta be able to rely on you to like, yeah,
we might have a stretch where we got a bunch
(10:59):
of injur can you carry the team to like a
three to one month like where you're just putting us
on your back. And it does not feel like he
can do that right now, which is a major problem
for everyone in business with him, the coaching staff and
obviously Howie. Just wondering will kirk Cousins be inducted into
(11:21):
the Ring of Honor in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
He's worthy.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
I think if you were placing a bet right now,
will kirk Cousins have his name up on.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The Ring of Honor? I would say that is.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
If it was like a game, right, if you were
doing like a spread on it, it'd be a pick them,
It'd be a coin flip. He has a couple more
like that wins a playoff game. To me, he's a
Ring of Honor player. We know Arthur Smith loves putting
those guys in the Ring of Honor. Hey, John, love
your show every single episode. Shame about the hair. My man,
(11:55):
everybody has something to hide except bald people. What are
y'all not hiding under that shiny head?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That is a joke. Hey, you know we can't.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
God didn't give me great height.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
My dad was probably six 'in one. You know, I'm
pushing five to ten. My brother's probably close to six.
I would have liked a couple more inches of the hair,
if I'm being fully transparent, I didn't have great hair.
Like it wasn't one of those where it's like, you know,
at one point in time, I had flow like Brad
(12:29):
pitt I saw. I forget what team he's on, but
I was watching the game and he was on the sideline.
I think he's on Washington. Sam Hartman, the Notre Dame
quarterback last year, has I mean an elite head of lettis.
I mean it's pretty special and if I would have
had that, it would be really hard. I'd be thinking
a lot about what could have been. And now that
(12:52):
I got a little more coin, I probably would have
got a transplant or some sort of surgery. But like,
if they only can save the hair that I had,
it's not worth I've heard different numbers on the procedure
which is not guaranteed to work. Like I'm not spending
twenty five K on the hair that I used to have.
(13:15):
Now if you say, hey, I can give you Sam
Hartman's hair, we'd have a consultation immediately.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Why don't the.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Falcons have Bjon Robinson in on every play? I almost
pulled the trigger, but I didn't. I was going to
do a little touchdown parlay of Mike Evans and Drake
London and Bjon Robinson to get a touchdown in that game.
I like doing that sometimes on the primetime games. Gives
(13:42):
me a little little action on the game. When I
didn't feel comfortable betting, I probably would have been inclined
to take the bucks like plus two and a half.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Obviously glad I did not.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
But it's for whatever reason the Falcons listen Bjon like pits.
We talked about on Thursday after the game, A little
bit of a bizarre player. I know he's been very
polarizing about using him right, not using him right. Why
I think he's got some serious flaws. I don't really
see flaws in Bijon Robinson. I think he's basically starting
(14:15):
for every team in the league that doesn't have I
don't know. I mean if McCaffrey's achilles worked, and maybe Saquan,
but he is an elite player, definitely an elite talent.
The way to become an elite player is give him
the ball constantly. I go on Gottlieb's Fox Sports show
every week, and he asked me, like, what do they
(14:36):
have to do to get Bejon to going? Just keep
giving him the ball. Like one thing, if I had
a guy like bijon Is, I would force feed him
the rock. Now, last night, Cousins was a rolling. They
couldn't cover it ultimately didn't cost him. But a guy
like that, at any moment, you get a fifty yard run.
(14:57):
That was my thing with the Eagles. Like handing Saquon
the football. You could call it kind of extreme. But
one thing Kyle does when McCaffrey is humming, and maybe
this is the reason his legs are falling apart, is
just feeds in the pill like I would throw it
to him. I would give him inside of runs, I'd
(15:18):
give him outside of runs.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
He is just I remember a.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Buddy who was scouting him coming out was like, I
think he's one of the more talented players. I've ever scouted,
like he kind of had his at all. And from
everything I know, he's a great guy, team guy, knows
a shit. It's not like, well, he just doesn't know
the offense, Like I don't know the excuse. Like I
get the excuse with Pitts. It's like, well, we can't
line him up on the line of scrimmage. We can't
(15:42):
really put him outside all game long, so he kind
of has to be our slot receiver. But then that
kind of messes with our offense a little bit. The
Beijon thing, like just put him in the game. Just
put the dude in the game. Mail Bag, amidst all
the DeVante Adams trade talk, do you think a trade
(16:06):
involving T Higgins is on the table? Wasn't long ago
reports were swirling that he wanted a trade. We know
about the Bengals financial tendencies. Could he be on the
move Bengals get a draft capital. My question with him
is he's been injured so this year and wasn't he hurt.
(16:28):
Let me go to his game log last year. I know,
was it two years ago? So the year obviously, his
first three years were really good, sixty seven six touchdowns,
seventy four six touchdowns in twenty twenty two. The year
they I guess the two years they lost or one
year they beat the Chiefs went to the super Bowl.
(16:48):
The other years they lost to the Chiefs in the
AFC Championship Game, but they their two best teams. He
was basically seventy four catches a year and six seven touchdowns,
which is a really solid receipt. Uh, Brandon Ayuk just
got thirty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
A year for that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Now he had more yards and Brandon is a more
fluid player. You know, one thing when you watch T Higgins.
Obviously his body is unique because he's big, but he's
a little stiff.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So if I'm trading for a guy for a rental,
is he good enough? Like what am I giving up?
I think his trade value for the Bengals now, if
they were out of it makes sense to just probably
trade him. But are they getting more than a third
(17:40):
round pick? And based on you know that he's banged
up and I he was productive? What was it two
games ago? Was it the Washington game? I didn't really
watch much of Carolina game, but I don't know. I
don't know if today any team's given up a third
round or for I guess that's a long winded way
(18:01):
of saying he might have more value to the Bengals.
Just ride it out, let him hit free agency and
then get the compick, which I would imagine is essentially
what's gonna end up happening? Mail bag kind of crazy one.
But what do you think the odds are Dion ends
up at Florida State after this year? Colorado is two
(18:24):
of the best players in the nation. One's a sun,
so you know, I think that's part of the unique
aspect of talking about Obviously, Deon Landing Travis Hunter was
a really big deal stolen from Florida State. I don't
know the entire backstory. I'd probably read a deep dive
on it, but pretty sure he's known him forever. But
(18:45):
you get credit for that? Do I give you credit
for your son?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
If they had if Shador was just Shador middle cough,
I think that would play a bigger role. I actually
think Colorado has had an incredible year so far. I
thought they were headed for an under six wins and
not make a Bowl game, and now they look like
god could they win eight, eight games, nine games? But
(19:11):
one big picture question mark is what happens when shaduur leaves,
Like the Dion will be able to land another traps
hunter and you know he's left tackle sweet, like he's
gonna be able to recruit players.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Position, I mean he doesn't. It's not lucky because ultimately
it's his elite jeans and sperm that's that created Shador Like,
that's that's literally his creation. Uh. But like it's a
big difference when like Saban landing, Bryce Young and Tua
and Jalen and you know in Lincoln Land and Kleb,
(19:46):
like there's no family ties. I just I just gotta
I just gotta go cruit. Now, part of recruiting is money.
So Florida State has money. Listen, I'm biased. We know
I might have jinked their entire sy, but he went
thirteen and one last year. Now it looks like they're
headed toward I don't know, an awful season. There's no
(20:10):
really argument that two three wins is clearly on the
table when you've been as bad as they have. Now
we'll see if this new quarterback, if DJ's out, maybe
DJ never plays, gives them a little life, But you
go thirteen and one, and really the only reason you
were thirteen to zero and the reason you didn't make
the playoffs because your quarterback had his leg snapped. Otherwise
(20:31):
you're literally in the fourteen playoff. Doesn't that buy you
another year? I also think for Dion, I don't think
six and six, which is possible. I mean their next
game's Kse State. I think they still play Utah. It
gets they play some solid teams. Right, he beat the
(20:53):
shit out of UCF and that that was an awesome win,
especially if you had the buff plus fourteen. But let
me just pull up their schedule because so they're on
a bye, then they play Kansas State. Then they play Arizona,
which is not gonna be a great matchup for them
(21:14):
because Arizona can really throw. So if they win one
of those two games, that's pretty big, and then they would.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Be five and two.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Then they have a stretch of Cincinnati at Texas Tech,
Utah at Kansas Oklahoma State. Like what would he have
to win to feel really good about like owning social media?
And it is kind of irrelevant now if you're hiring Dion,
it's more like if I hire this guy, if I'm Florida,
(21:43):
Florida State, whoever is gonna come after him. You know,
there was talk last year about Auburn is this guy
can he compete to win nine ten games? And I
think if he gets to eight or nine wins this year,
it'd be it'd be a crowning a chief. And I
think these teams would one sniff around. I think he
(22:04):
goes six and his second best player is his son,
who is not obviously going to be gone in the
NFL next year. I think if you and I were
athletic directors, you know there is a clear boost that
Prime brings to your program right of relevancy, of just
he clearly can recruit. But like what's he look like
(22:28):
without Shador? Like that position which we see is kind
of the I mean, wi's Florida State terrible this year.
They couldn't find a quarterback. I'm watching Auburn like they
got quarterback issues. You get quarterback issues fast. And now
if you go to one of those schools and you
got a big cash flow, but you still only really
like in the transfer portal, for example, you're only landing
(22:51):
one free agent. So could he land a cam.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Ward or whatever?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Probably could if he had the money to compete with
the big boys. I think he's a pretty fascinating case.
I don't think Norvell should lose his job after one
awful season, given that he just went thirteen and one.
But I don't pretend to know the dynamics of Florida State.
It's not gonna go over well, right, you go three
(23:16):
to nine or something like that. At a program like that,
people are gonna be pissed off. I got a lot
of people asking about Philly. How does Kellen Moore getting
away with being a garbage offensive coordinator? Just last year,
the Cowboys offense got better after he left to the
Chargers that got remarkably worse once he got there. Following
getting pushed out by Harbaugh, he goes to Philly, where
(23:39):
he calls plays for the most expensive offense in the
league that has played like straight dog shit this year,
even with the recent acquisition of Saquon Barkley. All of
the blame being put on Hurts and Sirianni. But he
keeps his hands clean.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
How is he getting away with it? You could argue
that I do.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I'm gonna give him a little bit of a pass.
With the Chargers, Herbert got hurt. He worked for Brandon Saley,
who I don't give him a pass on this, like
he's good buddies with him, like that's you hit your wagon.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To him, it's a disaster.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
I've always been a defender of Kellen Moore. I think
he's pretty good, but one knock on him was his
unwillingness to pound the rock. And to me, part of
this offense has to be to leano on Saquon Barkley.
Just remove who's making what Like I'm running this guy
twenty plus times a game, and part of it is
(24:42):
if my defense sucks. Now, this is also on Sirianne
to kind of map out overall big picture game plans
for an opponent. Well, for our defense sucks, what's the
easiest way to make them better? Keep them off the field,
what's the easiest way to shorten the game? Run the ball,
run the clock? Because right now Jalen isn't exactly Drew Brees,
(25:04):
so you're having, incompletions obviously turnovers coming from him. I
am writing Saquon Barkley like Secretariat, and he's shown that
you can't write him like that. So if he asked me,
I'd be like, whatever your game plan is to run
it this week at seven eight of them. I was
wondering if the Chiefs could go and sign Michael Thomas.
(25:26):
If they did, do you think he could make a
fraction of the player? No, absolutely not. I think Michael
Thomas is clearly kind of untouchable for a lot of teams.
That thing got weird, and that thing got weird fast,
and Michael Thomas went from like, God, this guy's a
ball or two kind of toxic. Who do you think
(25:48):
is leading the race for Rookie of the Year Jaden
Daniels or Malik Neighbors. Would they give it to a
non court I think it's a little like the Heisman,
a little like the MVP. If Jade has sixty seventy
percent of the season, which he's having moving forward, and
has some moments against the Cowboys and Eagles.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
He would feel like a pretty big lock.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I would say, like, if this is a mile, right,
you're running a mile in every lap is like a
quarter of the season. You know, we're headed to week five,
so it's about quarter of the season. I know seventeen
games is not a flush four four four four, but
let's just call this quarter of the season. He's definitely
up a lap on Caleb like he ran, and Caleb
(26:35):
hasn't even taken off yet. Malik Naghbors now is concussed,
which is not I mean, obviously he didn't choose to
be concussed, but he's gonna miss a game. I think
if Jalen plays seventeen games, it's I think he's gonna
win it. And I just think we're just so inclined quarterbacks.
(26:58):
It's not really a fair fight. Question for the mailbag,
any chance the Chargers trade for Tyreek Killer Devonte Adams
or any trades mid season that you think could dramatically
improve the team. I know you said before that the
Chargers don't value wide receiver, but I feel like how
(27:19):
awful their offense has been and how fantastic their defense is,
they have a real chance to make a run if
they can get a boost to their offense and give
it some juice.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Thanks for your.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Time, I would say there is no way unless the
Chiefs or the Chargers would give up a first round pick,
that Mark Davis would allow Tom to LESCo to trade
DeVante to Andy Reid Er Jim Harbaugh, It's just a
non starter. It's not gonna happen. I also think they
(27:52):
would not be inclined to trade a lot of draft
capital for these players. Like ultimately Harbaugh once he leaves Michigan.
It's hard to put absolutes on things, but it's hard
to see him like this is his last job, like
this is where he's gonna be. So those that draft
capital a second and third round pick, we'll see. How
(28:15):
you know they have a bye this week. I just
think they're gonna utilize those picks, and they've got.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Some cap issues, so to trade for a player?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
To me, when has Jim Harbai ever had a player
like Tyreek Hill? Not that he doesn't think he's good,
but I don't know. I don't see it. I'm an
American living in Austria, and it helps keep me connected
to the American culture.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
He's talking about the podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I used to root for the Raiders, but have recently
decided until they can win ten games consistently.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
I'll just watch football.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I used to wait for Al Davis to pass, and
now I'm waiting for Mark Davis to do the same.
I feel like nothing will change until A Davis doesn't
own the team. Since Mark has no offspring and has
never and he never sold the team. How would new
ownership be established. That's a question for the league, and.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I think Mark. I think Al's wife, Carol, I'm pretty
sure she's still around. I think she's still alive. So
obviously Mark is the controlling owner. Once Al passed away,
she just lets him run it. You know, Mark's Mark's
not forty. I think Mark Davis is close to seventy.
(29:46):
And I don't know what would he's sixty nine years old.
I don't have the answer to that. I know this,
if Mark Davis would ever sell the team, which he won't,
and if the team were to be sold, you know,
one day when the Davis there are no Davis family
members around, Las Vegas Raiders would go for a lot,
(30:10):
no state income tax, stadium, the city, the money that's there.
I think, what did the Commanders go for?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Six five?
Speaker 1 (30:24):
I think the Vegas Raiders would go would go for
a lot. I think they would get a have an
astronomical asking price, and I think people would be lined
up to buy that thing.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I don't I'm not rooting for Mark to pass away here,
but I hear your pain. I mean, it's been a disaster.
Since he's on the team and it's it's had a
little bit of a feel it's been less crazy because
he is not like the patriarch of a guy that
knows a bunch of football in the sense of Al
(30:58):
who was a Hall of Fame legend, who was a
huge part of just the ethos and the sport of
the NFL and just pro football. He was a larger
than life character. I mean, he's on the short list
in like NFL history.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Of just famous names, right.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I mean, if you think about it, when you just
close your eyes, if you think football, Vince Lombardi, pro football.
I feel like Vince Lombardi is kind of the Babe
Ruth of football. But when you talk coaches, owners, people
that non players, I think it'd be hard to make
it past five or six without Al Davis. I mean
(31:40):
you're talking Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Jerry Jones, Al Davis.
I mean, it's a short list, and Mark is obviously
a lot different than his father. But the one thing
that happened towards the end of ours life is it
got really chaotic, and it feels like the Raiders are
consistently more chaotic despite now moving to Vegas having way
(32:03):
more money than they've ever had. Nothing has really changed, really,
nothing has really changed, which is which sucks if you're
a Raider fan, because you're just looking at like it's
different because Al Davis comparing him to Dan Snyder is not.
(32:23):
It's not, you cannot do that. But the last four
or five years of Al Davis with the Projectors, with
Lane Kiffin and just how embarrassing post the Gruden trade
was Dan Snyder like. And it still kind of feels
like it's rolling over. And you look at Washington who
(32:44):
got a new ownership, and just feels like people just
know what they're doing and it's way less chaotic. So
I gave Mark a lot of credit for attempting to
spend a lot of money on guys that other people wanted.
You know, some people wanted John Gruden for a decade,
and he was the guy that gave him ten years,
one hundred million dollars, and then Gruden got fired on
(33:07):
that Monday night football game, I think it was the
Ravens and the Colts. I remember sitting on my couch
watching the game when the story broke, and even the
Josh McDaniels Ziegler thing the forty nine Ers wanted Josh
McDaniels in twenty seventeen, he said no, and they got
Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
So it's hard for me to fault him on that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I give him credit for like, we got to
get rid of this guy. But for whatever reason, he
just can't make a right move.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
He just can't.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
And it just feels like the same thing over and
over again. And the problem is you have the new
dynasty in your division with Andy Mahomes. You add Jim Harbaugh,
who's all he does throughout his coaching life is win,
and then Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, which clearly
(33:57):
are going to be better than they've been post Payton
right over the next two or three years. Like Google
Sean Payton's resume, it's pretty good. So now you've got
Antonio Pierce who's liking things on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
It's just it's just very Raiders.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You know, the Raiders are gonna raider. Do you think
NFL players should get suspended for off the field issues
such as duys and such. I totally get suspensions for pedes,
But why can't we just let the legal system deal
with these punishments? And justice instead of having basically prosecute
a player. I think it depends for those of you
(34:36):
listening in like a corporate job. If you got a
duy right on a just whatever on any given night
and you didn't miss any work, do you get in trouble?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Like let's say I got a duy tonight. I won't.
I'm not gonna drink and drive, but let's just say
I did.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
How would anyone ever know? And nothing would ever change
even if it got pub like nothing. I would still
do a podcast Sunday with Colin and I recorded another
one Sunday Night Football. So I think if we use
duy specifically, you could argue you're getting fined, You're getting
in trouble, like with the law.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Do you need to.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Get just like a basic dui? Obviously if someone's injured, listen,
it's it's the reality of the result of the dui.
You know, if there's a crash and I'm not I'm
not trying to defend duys here. I've never got one.
When I was in high school, should have got one.
I happened to get pulled over right in front of
(35:35):
my house.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
It was it was a tough scene.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It really was and for whatever reason, you know, my
parents used to go to bed relatively early, so in
high school I didn't really have a curfew, but I
mean I wasn't coming home at the.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Crack of dawn.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
But for whatever reason, that night, my dad was just
wearing me out and he was waiting up for me.
And then I get pulled over over and he comes
out and it was a scene. So the cop is
gonna pull a gun on him, and fair as the cop,
he didn't quite know what was going on. And it
(36:09):
was bad, it really was, and we kind of had
a pow wow.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Luckily I don't there.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
He didn't call for backup, because once the second cop comes,
you're getting the DUI. And this is my senior year
in high school. During Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving break, you know,
usually in high school you get like Wednesday through the
rest of the weekend off. And yeah, it was bad,
but I ended up not getting one.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Cop obviously.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
He's like I told the cop, I said, take me,
do not give me to my dad. I'll go to
jail with you. Will you just take me to jail
and I'll spend the night in the drunk tank or
wherever you're gonna take me. I don't want to go
with him. I could see the look in his I like,
this is gonna be bad. And it was not good.
It was really bad, but obviously better than getting a DUI,
(36:59):
which I don't even know I was.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Was I eighteen, I think might have been seventeen at
the time.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I didn't have any money, so it would have come
out of his pocket anyway. But I think it all
stems back to when the league was going through having
a bunch of guys get in trouble in the two
thousands that they've just they just kind of have a
universal policy, like if you get in trouble, they just
come at you. And I think we could nitpick it,
(37:25):
but I think they're.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Just like.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
I don't know, I mean, I.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I don't think it's gonna change.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Been a huge fan of the pod. Listening to the
previous day's podcast has become part of my routine. I'm
a feeling native living in New York while witnessing sa
Quan's early success has been sweet. I feel like I'm
seeing a lot of the same, a lot of the
same between this year's Eagle Squad and last year's. The
(37:56):
optimist in me feels like the offense will eventually figure
it out, but the defense remains a concern. This may
be a reach. Do you think Fangio being in the
skybox during the game has an impact on the defense?
On one end, I understand that being up there provides
a perspective that you simply won't get on the sideline.
(38:17):
That being said, I do wonder if a more hands
on approach is needed in working speaking with specific players,
especially given Sirianni's CEO. I don't know wtf you even
do a role. I know it's likely he's in the
locker room at halftime. He is any coach you see
(38:38):
in the skybox takes the elevator down and goes in
the locker room at half time. I remember when Fangio
got hired for the Denver game, or excuting not the
Denver game, but for the Denver head coaching job. I
remember in his introductory press conference or early on his
career said, one of the biggest changes going to be
my entire career has been up in the box.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
So as a defensive.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Coordinator with Harball with the Bears last year with my
like he's a box guy.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's where he is.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Ultimately, the downfall, Like, if your corner can't cover, if
Darius Lay can't cover anybody, there is nothing Fangio can
tell him on the sideline.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Nothing, So I.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Hear what you're saying. In last year with the forty
nine ers, who Warner and Bosa made a big deal
of their coordinator being in the box because Sala and
Demico were on the sidelines. So middle of the year
Kyle Shanahan made Steve Wilkes come to the sideline. That's
not gonna happen here. It's just not I think as
(39:44):
of right now, their players are just not playing very well.
So if your DB's specifically your corners can't cover, and
Jordan Davis is not a good player, there is not
much Fanjo can do beside benching him. So I guess
what I'm saying is now we can argue if that
scheme is right for the personnel, but he's not coming
(40:07):
down to the sideline.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Would be my guess.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I don't think that's gonna be a change that's gonna happen.
It's awesome that you're heading to the Red River for
the first time. I challenge you to come back next
week and say it's not the coolest college football atmosphere
you've ever experienced, Texas and know you fans love to
laugh at other rivalry comparisons. You mentioned having some doubts
(40:33):
about Sark's ability to build a tough, hard nosed team.
Could you elaborate on that and those doubts rooted in
his demeanor or more about the style of offense defense
he runs. It's been rooted in his teams. So you
go to Washington and then at USC when I watched
him as a head coach, and then he got to Texas,
(40:56):
they were just really soft. So it's not necessarily a
scheme things specific. It's like Lincoln Riley. His teams up
until this year have just always been kind of soft.
Now you can relate that to is it because of
his offensive style and practicing against that offensive style isn't
(41:17):
conducive to creating a physical defense. But I can just
judge you what I see on Saturdays or Sundays. Now,
once nil comes into play, you can just purchase the
best players, and that's a huge advantage for SIRK. So
if I can just purchase sweet players on defense, even
(41:40):
if my practice styles like part of the reason Harbaugh's
teams and Saban's teams I'd use Kirby as well, historically
have been so physical. Is because of the way they
practice and because of their offensive You know, historically Saban
was a run the ball up the middle, same thing
with Harball.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Obviously he's changed a little bit.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
And that just creates a physical culture and passing oriented teams,
especially in college. It's just it's why why is Texas Tech?
And that style of offense always had hideous defenses. Obviously
they've never recruited five.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Star guys, but look what you practice against every day.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Like, even when you split up and you go scout
team for offensive defense, you still end up practicing ones
versus ones in practice, and when you see that offense,
it just is not conducive. Now, one thing about Sark,
I remember two years ago he had John Robinson and
I forget what game he lost, a bad game. It's
(42:41):
like he just got pass happy down the stretch because
at his core he kind of wants to pass the ball.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Which I'm not opposed to, right.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I mean, Andy Reid loves to pass the ball, but
you can't really argue most of his career like defense
means a lot to him. He's a very defensive oriented
guy now in pro football because you can sign guys
draft certain players. You know, in college football up until
the transfer portal nil. Even when you're getting the best
(43:11):
of the best, you still need to develop them heavily
once they get on campus. And no one did a
better job of that over the years than Save It Right,
Dabbo did a good job of that, and so did
Kirby with a lot of big time defensive players, and
you know, go into the Red River grame. I mean,
I think there's a very good chance to Texas be's
to piss out of them just because they're way better,
(43:34):
especially on offense. Now, look at Oklahoma this year. Their
offenses and shambles. They've benched the starting quarterback, they've gone
to the true freshmen, they have a bunch of injuries.
But one thing they're hanging their hat on a couple
of years into Venibles, who is a defensive guy who
became the highest paid defensive coordinator for most of his
(43:55):
career when he went to Clemson, is now.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Their defense is good.
Speaker 1 (44:00):
That's just not random. Ultimately, you are what you preach
and you care about you just are, I would say,
in any walk of life, right, whatever, you do for
a living, the things you put emphasis on in that industry,
in your business, in your position, you probably are pretty
good at it, and things that you avoid or don't
(44:22):
care that much about, Like it's hard to be good
at that. So it's clear when you watch Venables, Like
when you think of Texas, what do you think of
dynamic offensive team? Same Ryan Day offensive guy, what have
they been most of his career since Urban left? Incredible
passing offensive team? When I think Venables one thing we're
(44:45):
learning now, it's hard to totally judge because like they're
going to be able to recruit offensive players, but they're
good on defense. When's the last time Oklahoma's been good
on defense? They were terrible in the twenty tens under
Bob Stoops, Under Lincoln it was always their downfall, and
now then a Bowls a couple years in, they're excellent
on defense. If they had one of Lincoln's offensive or
(45:07):
Sark's offenses with their defense, they'd be like a national
championship contender.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
In same thing.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
You know Sark in Ohio State, like Ohio State got
bad on defense relative to their elite teams over the
last twenty five years under Ryan Day, well, what now
changed nil transfer portal. I can buy sweet players.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
So what do they do?
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Alabama? One of their best players, Saving Leaves, puts his
name in the portal.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
What do they do they buy him?
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Which again I'm pro buying guys. If I was Sark,
if I was Ryan Day, like, I can't change who
I am most of us once you hit a certain
age and both those guys are forty five fifty years old.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Ryan Days might be like forty four forty five, Sark
probably close.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
To fifty now, like you are who you are, so
once you have a floor, and luckily as a coach,
it's pretty easy to see like what my flaw is.
But yeah, maybe we're never gonna develop incredible dominant defense.
We're never gonna look like the two thousand and one
Miami Hurricanes. Well we can add to the personnel. You
(46:15):
give me a ten million dollar budget on defense, boom,
I'll buy three or four of the best defensive players.
So and that's a huge advantage that they have. My
name is John in Portuguese. I'm from Rio, Brazil. I
guess his name is jow jo Ao. Is that how
you say it?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
Jow?
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Is how we say our name in Portuguese, big fan
of your work. Do you think DeVante's comments about Washington
fans stadium could affect a potential trade? Honestly, never saw it,
but some of these story you're coming at me with
Michael Jordan story a DeVante comment on Washington, I would
(46:57):
say about the stadium. I don't know exactly what he said,
but I do think it's fair to say that there
are certain stadiums you're not getting judged for what you say.
Right if you want to rip on where the Raiders
and As used to play like, no one's holding that
against you. Washington's current stadium is a complete shittle. I
(47:18):
think we would I don't have to really think, but
probably worse in the NFL, probably one of the worst
in the three major sports. I don't know what he
said about the fans. That's always an easy one you
can run back. I don't think that's a deal breaker. Okay,
last question, lifelong Wisconsin football fan. In my thirty three
(47:40):
years on this planet, I don't remember seeing a Badger
team looking this awful and inconsistent. I know Fickle and
his coaching staff or trying to implement a completely new offense,
and I know that takes time, But when is it
time to say it isn't working in the head coaching direction.
I was thinking about this. What game was I watching? Well,
(48:04):
they got their ass kicked by Bama? Did they just
play USC? Yeah, they play USC and they were up
in the first half and then USC just beat the
brakes out of him the last like thirty minutes of
the game. And I was texting with someone I don't
know if he works in college football. Who was I
Texan with was the NFL scout and we were just
kind of talking about the Wisconsin situation, and I do
(48:24):
wonder it's one of those that, you know, you leave
Cincinnati for Wisconsin, you say that out loud, You're like,
of course, Wisconsin football, and you say it out loud again,
and you're like, what do you regret that? Is that
one of those situations where if he could have a
do over, he just would have stayed at Cincinnati, because
I do think Wisconsin's a pretty unique job. And I
(48:45):
do wonder if he's trying to play in his mind
the style of Big Ten football that he grew up
on playing at Ohio State, and it's the world's kind
of changed, you know, like Michigan would not be able
to do what they are doing and even sniff nine
wins if they weren't recruiting the best players. Like it's
(49:08):
I was talking to Stucky about this a little bit
off air. How could you be Michigan and not have
a quarterback on the roster. I'm not saying Michael Pennix
or you know, to a tongaai looa like it's that
version of college player, but not have a guy that's like, oh,
this guy's just a credible starter and you know what,
(49:29):
best case will be like a fifth round pick. Worst
case he'll be an undrafted free agent, but he's a
legitimate college starter for a.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Year or two. Like they don't have that. How's that possible?
Speaker 1 (49:41):
And you watch Wisconsin offensively, they're just a knemic and
one issue they've had is just quarterbacks, like they're quarterbacks.
Graham Merch was their guy. What was that was Graham
Merch like a huge, huge recruit if I remember correctly,
And it just didn't work. So they're gonna be We
had a disadvantage that Ohio State has an unlimited budget.
(50:04):
Michigan is just gonna recruit better players than so is
penn State. So how can you find a niche of
something you do well where financially you can't keep up
with those guys? And to me, part of hanging your
hat would be for example, Utah, Utah was never gonna
have the budget of Oregon or USC back when the
(50:25):
Pac twelve existed, but their coach created this niche. Like, listen,
our offense is never gonna look like Lincoln rileyes. It's
never gonna be like lang Kiffin and Sarks was at Alabama. Right,
it's never gonna look like Texas. But we're gonna have
NFL players all over our defense. And even if our
quarterback can't throw it backwards, you're gonna be in for
(50:46):
a fistfight every time you play us. And if we
just get a solid quarterback, we're going to be a
mother Well, Fickles a defensive guy, so shouldn't their defense
be just be dominant? Look at Beilama and this, you
know the the tiers when we talk about coaching. It's
pretty crazy because a couple of years ago you thought fickle,
(51:08):
this guy's shooting star does feel a little over his head.
Beilama goes to Illinois, which has way less recent history
of being good than Wisconsin, and they're just good. You
just watch them, it's like, yeah, they kind of just
know what they're doing. They're just a solid, solid team,
and Wisconsin is like, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (51:32):
What's our direction here?
Speaker 1 (51:35):
So obviously it's never it's gonna be more difficult in
this new era, especially in your conference.
Speaker 2 (51:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
I also I forgot USC and Oregon are in that
conference too. They're gonna have big budgets, But how can
you not hang your hat? Like to me, when I
think Luke Fickle like closed my eyes. I think they
want to play like Utah football, and you watch them,
they just I don't think, you know, USC was kind
of shredding them down the stretch and offensively. You know,
(52:02):
I don't know if you can rely on when Wisconsin
was good, when Michigan State was good, they kind of
just ran the pro style offense and the pro style offense.
And when I was at Fresno State, we ran the
pro style offense. A tight end, a full back, a
running back, a quarterback who was truly kind of ideally
a game manager, a couple of receivers. I was kind
of boring, ran power a lot. You know, now worked
(52:26):
when we had Ryan Matthews. But I just I think
the world has dramatically changed. And I'm not saying I
don't even know what offense you're running, but maybe Jesus
a little over his head and maybe it's just a
bad fit for whatever reason. But to me, when I
think Luke fickle, I would think that he would want
(52:47):
to kind of be like Kyle whitting him, Like that's
what he would want to operate like, and it's just
not working. Volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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