November 2, 2024 • 60 mins
John opens the weekend with a massive mailbag. He answers your questions about the Steelers QB position, the RB pay scale, getting a potato on Halloween, and much more during today's podcast that is exclusively mailbag questions.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Okay, let's dive into a little thing we
like to call the Middle Cough mail bag.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We like to do these on Saturdays.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Little Saturday bag for the people at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get your questions
answered on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Very very easy to do.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So we're gonna try to bang out a bunch of
questions and do it right now. Is it just me?
Whereas offensive play calling feel like it's almost the most
important thing in football behind the quarterback. I mean, people
are saying Rogers can't run anymore, and then you look
at Detroit and goff, he's a statue. You're telling me
the Jets don't have comparable weapons to Detroit. If the Jets, Bengal, Seahawks,
(01:00):
Saints Falcons had the guy from Detroit calling plays, whichever team,
that would easily be a top five offense in football.
Is that a crazy opinion to have a little bit
because I think you are underestimating a little thing we
like to call the offensive line. And one thing Detroit
has is an excellent offensive line. Now your play calling
(01:24):
can overcome I would say average offensive lineman. You know
the Shanahan guys for example, let's use Kyle Trent Williams
Hall of Famer. But for the most part during the era,
they have not whether it's Joe Staley or Trent Williams,
their offensive line has had several holes. And now they
(01:45):
drafted this guy Pooney who's a really good player, but he's.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
A right guard.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Their right tackle is not good. Their center is very
very average. In their left guard position, I would say
is probably league average as well when it comes to
pass protection. So you look at the Jets, like last night,
they're playing multiple tackles at guard, and then Tyron Smith
they're starting left tackle, who is, you know, an all
(02:12):
time great talent and in the peak of his powers
was an elite player, is no longer that good. So
you look at the Saints, for example, they had so
many injuries on their offensive line and their quarterback position,
which once Derek got hurt, became terrible. You're just getting
Look look at CJ.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Stroud. CJ.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Stroud is getting peppered right now. His offensive line is
not playing that well.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I was texting with someone who used to play in
the NFL today and he's saying, how could eight sacks
that this guy is the franchise meal ticket, How is
he getting hit so much? And I'd argue, like last night,
Joe Mixon is running the ball really well. He looks fantastic.
I mean, he's just how many I'm pulling up the
(02:58):
box score right now. He had twenty four carries for
one hundred and six yards, and if you remove Stroud's
eight runs, which off the top of my head, feels like,
I mean, they're not any design runs. It's a lot
of him just scrambling. They had twenty four they had
twenty eight carries. Shouldn't you be running the ball thirty
(03:19):
seven to forty times in that game, especially you're playing
an offense that can't really score. I know they did.
They had two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but through
three quarters they had seven points. The offense had been
pretty anemic for weeks. Like, shouldn't you have the mindset
like we can win this thing seventeen to ten and
(03:40):
just try to rush for I mean, there are two
running backs had one hundred and six yards twenty three yards,
so they basically had one hundred and thirty yards. Shouldn't
you try to get one hundred and seventy five yards
on the ground that's where to me, I think you
would be right. Your offensive coordinator can influence the game.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Like CJ.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Stroud did not need to have thirty attempts, should have
had twenty, especially because he wasn't playing that well because
he's constantly getting hit. So I think you're onto something.
You can play with a quarterback who can't move, but
you can't run these deep breaking routes. Now CJ can
move like you said Aaron can't, but now they got
(04:22):
good weapons. I do think you have to factor in
the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
You really do.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I mean Jared's Goff's offensive line is awesome. Kirk Cousins,
for the most part the last couple of years, has
had a pretty good offensive line. This is from Angus.
It's a very Australian name. I've only been watching the
NFL for three years. I just can't wrap my head
around the market for running backs. Why are players like
Henry getting paid eight million dollars per year? With how
(04:49):
dominant running backs can change a game, I just don't get.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Why they are so cheap. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Ultimately, contracts with players becomes an economic exercise. I was
thinking this the other day watching the World Series. And
I'm guilty of this too, Like no one's watching baseball
like they used to, right, regular season television ratings, like
Sunday Night Baseball in America, no one watches. It took
the Yankees and the Dodgers to really move the needle.
(05:21):
But like, if you're a player in baseball, right, a
good player, you're gonna make a hundred million dollars, you know,
as a contract. If you're a high end like all star,
not like an all time great, your contract's gonna be
like two hundred and fifty million dollars. If you are
a game changer, Hall of Fame talent, I mean Mookie
Betts and Aaron Judge making three hundred and fifty million dollars.
(05:43):
Otani and his buddy Yamamoto signed for a combined a
billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
They say Soto's.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Gonna get I don't know, five hundred to six hundred
million dollars. So it's because they're value to the team,
Like that's what the teams are willing to pay. So
when you look at the wide receiver market, it kind
of jumped the shark, and I think it's pretty clear,
Like you got to be pretty careful giving guys thirty
million dollars. I can give Justin Jefferson thirty million dollars,
(06:12):
But like the Brandon Auk contracting, obviously he's injured right now,
Like should you be paying him twenty eight million dollars?
Is that good business? And it's why some of these
teams have gotten more aggressive on the running backs because
their market kind of just stopped it literally just hit
the brakes. So you saw last year Howie gives Sequon
(06:33):
Barkley twenty seven million dollars, But like, is Saquon Barkley
more valuable than Brandon Ayuk? I think you could make
the argument, right, is Derrick Henry more valuable than Brandon Ayuk?
Like yeah, I or at least equals. So it's just
it's just supplied demand. And like this, this is what
(06:55):
the teams have created, Like this is a GM thing.
And if you're a GM, like you should be all
over these guys. What are you overpaying a running back
eleven million dollars? Like who cares relative to these receivers?
Like and if your guy's not a super high end
game changing star, you might regret that question For the mailbag,
(07:16):
have you seen this situation where the high school coach
was forced to resign and apologize because he used swear
words when talking to his teams and one of his
kids recorded it and then leaked it out. It's one
of the softest, most pathetic and embarrassing things I have
ever seen in my life. He didn't even raise his
(07:37):
voice or yell. Anyone who's playing team sports knows this
isn't even in the same universe of when coaches go
off actually looks like and even then, what are coaches
supposed to do? I love your rantsom society sports getting softer.
I have not seen this story.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Let's pull it up. So here's this coach.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
By a bunch of fucking kids that fucking want it
more than we did. That's why they're fucking coptating the rason.
That's why that's why we're bottom of the fucking skill
because we think we just deserved it. We don't want
to get a fucking urb. Okay, that's why you're getting
your asking every goddamn game. That's why you're gonna get
your ASKI it's not and ever get you goddamn asking
excited that their god damn grill doing this fucking stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Like what are we doing?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We had no common sense. We're playing back so far
that we can't even fucking do nothing jam and you're
playing all the way back here like what the fuck
extended up? There's nothing up here? And didn't see the
goddamn guy like what are we doing? Like we can't
burn an offense and said, okay, like what our offense
(08:47):
is about to be a ball stream for he and
every goddamn time that's what's about to be because we
can't right a god in marks Like, boy, I don't
understand it. I don't get it. Twelve points a hat at.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Uh, honestly, I don't even know what to say. This
is the first time hearing of this story. Uh, if
you guys could hear, I try to put it next
to the microphone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I don't. I am just at a loss, like I I.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Really am, Like listen, I guess there are humans that
don't swear, which doesn't bother me, Like that's if you
don't want to swear, you don't want to swear. I
don't know if they had like rules, is this like
a private school? But even then, like like this is
football and I think at its core, at its core,
(09:49):
the one thing sports, especially as you get into high school,
really teaches you is like life lessons, Like guess what
life is? A motherfucker? It throws you curveballs adverse the
problems every single day to apologize. Now, I would get
if you were a parent and this was like pee
(10:10):
wee football, But for a high school football team, I'm
just I can't even. I have nothing in common with
this type society or world.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So if my.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Son had played for that team in this coach, again,
I don't know, like does this guy have any clue
what he's doing? Like there's probably, I hope, some other
variables here, But if he just got fired or had
to resign strictly for saying the F word ten times
(10:48):
over a two minute rant, It's one of the most
embarrassing things I've ever seen for that school.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
For the the like.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Those kids and listen, you can soften, you know, participation
trophies and all that stuff. I don't have children, so
I'm not really in that world yet beside what I
read about. But like once you leave the nest and
whether you go to college or after college, like nobody
cares what was Lamar's shirt? Nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Work harder?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Like buckle up, because the one thing you'll learn fast
in this world, a lot of people are out to
fuck you. When you get into business. People are trying
to ruin your business because they want to have success
in their business. Most of these industries, Like whether it's
a zero sum game or not, that's how a lot
of people think. This world is just not fair.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And if you're.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Offended by some f words in a football environment, I
really don't know what to say. And I know most
people listening or not, but I don't know. I mean, again,
this is just pulling up that the link you sent me, Like, hey, guys,
(12:02):
the real world everyone talks different, and I don't know.
I'd argue it's a pretty bad lesson for these guys
and listen. One thing I definitely can't relate to is
when I was young, even through college, like we didn't
have camera phones. So now everything getting recorded has just
(12:26):
kind of changed society, but in terms of this type stuff,
but it hasn't changed the way the world works and
how cutthroat the world is. Whether you play college football
and if you don't produce, you'll get benched. If in
the real world, if you get a sales job and
you don't hit quotas, you will get fired. Like that
(12:46):
ain't gonna change. It will not change, not in this
capitalistic society which anyone with some stones and some balls
and joyce because the cream usually rises. And if you're
constantly and if you get on the internet, everyone's constant offended, like.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Who are these humans? Like I don't know them?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And maybe it's all fake for Instagram or Twitter. I mean,
sometimes you see a post on anything, sports, politics, life,
and the comments section, like I think sometimes gets overblown.
Ninety percent of people are kind of messing around, and
then people are arguing it's like what, nothing is getting accomplished.
(13:26):
So I guess it's a long winded way of saying, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I just I can't. I can't relate to that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I really can't. I mean my family, like my dad,
I don't know. I mean, if I would have posted
that and then the reason the guy got fired, I
think my phone would have been thrown in the lake.
I'm from Fresno and a USC alumni. This dude made
it out of the five five nine to the private
school elites. Colin always stresses the importance of having an
(13:56):
offensive head coach in the NFL. For quarterback development and
annuity for.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
The coaching staff.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Your OC isn't getting poached every year. In my opinion,
college is the exact opposite. Because the hash marks are wider,
there is more fuel to play with in more ways
to attack the defense. This creates a greater degree of
variance in big plays like the Vandy Alabama game. As
a USC fan, Danton Lynn has been a revelation, but
(14:25):
he will one hundred percent be back in the NFL
in a couple of years and Lincoln will be back
to square one. Finding young offensive coaching gurus and skill
players in modern football, especially in California, is relatively easy,
but building and maintaining a solid defensive culture is much harder.
Is this a hot take or am I onto something?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Well, I'm trying to think.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You know, if you think about the best coaches of
the last twenty five years in college right, the two
most dominant coaches were Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Obviously,
Nick Saban is a is a defensive guy. Urban Meyer
technically is an offensive guy, but like when you watch
his teams, he kind of has like horrball, Like I
(15:11):
know he came up as an offensive coach.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He's a wide receiver coach.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I feel his culture collegiately was just tough guy. It's
why he could go toe to toe with Nick Saban,
Pete Carroll his little mini dynasty in the two thousands.
Defensive guy. It doesn't mean you can't be a good
offensive coach. But Bob Stoops lasted for twenty years, win
a lot of games. Defensive guy. So Jim Harbaugh what
(15:41):
he turned Michigan into former quarterback, but like what do
his teams hang their hat on? Great defense? I think
part of the problem and the difference in college than
the pros is if I have Ben Johnson, if I'm
Dan Campbell, the only way I lose him is.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
To a head coaching job.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
In college football, you can poach coaches from other staffs,
even if they're under contract. So that's an element in
an angle that doesn't really exist in pro football. The
number one thing you have to be good at in
college football is recruiting. I think it's less about offensive
and defensive coaching. Like Steve Sarkisian is not some tough guy,
(16:28):
but because of nil he can buy a bunch of
defensive guys and he, I would say, is an excellent recruiter,
like the one thing you see with Lincoln like is he.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
A great recruiter? Like is that really his thing? You know?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
The thing went viral of someone sent it to me
yesterday Stanford Steve, who was telling a story I think
the Scott van Pelt or Ryan Rosillo or something about
when they got to the air and they drove from
the Oakland Airport to Berkeley, and Nick Saban looks at
(17:06):
him and goes, because that drive, I means it's.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Pretty gross barrier drive.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You drive right past the Oakland Colseum. It's basically through Oakland.
I mean it's it's not some scenic drive. And Saban
looks at everyone like, how the hell do you recruit here?
And the answer is cal doesn't. I mean, they don't
recruit very good players. But in the two thousands they
were really good with Jeff Tedford and what was he
doing to compete? Like I got a dirty little secret. They,
(17:33):
like a lot of the good programs sc BAMA, LSU,
Urban Meyer were throwing brown bags around, and I think.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Part of this is.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Like you gotta be with nil with back in the
day brown bagging kids effort, Like recruiting is every bit
as important as the scheme. Now, the scheme comes into
play in college football in the final four or the
bowl games, when you're playing teams with equal talent. But
(18:06):
you can consistently win ten to eleven games if you
are an elite recruiter and an average schematic guy, and
if you're at a big program like you have unlimited
resources to buy coaches. So it's like, Boom, we need
to a defensive coordinator. I'll steal UCLAs Danton Lynn. Let's
say he goes to the Ravens this offseason where he's
coached before he becomes their defensive coordinator. I'm just using
(18:28):
hypothetical here. Well, okay, usc who's the best defensive coordinator
in the country. Well, this dude at Indiana looks fantastic.
He's thirty eight years old. Okay, let's go buy him.
How much you're making, bro, I'm making a million dollars. Well,
we'll give you a three year contract at seven million dollars,
not a year but total. Can Indiana match that?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Doubt it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
We'll just pay you more than Indiana can pay you.
So you can do that in college football unlike the pros.
So I think there are more angles and elements and
variables and college football than just the like the NFL
is it's a thinking Obviously, you've got to have good players,
but Monday through Saturday is a thinking man's game. It's
(19:10):
one hundred percent of chess game. College football is more
like do we have good enough players? Because if we're
a good program, most of the teams we're playing are
not going to have the same amount of talent. Like
how many teams does Ohio State does, Oregon does?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Texas?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Right now, Georgia take the field against and see an
equal It happens more now because of conference realignment, but
still at most of a twelve game season, it used
to be like two or three. Now maybe it's four
or five. But so half of your games you are
going to out talent the roster by a wide margin.
(19:48):
They're just not gonna be able to keep up with you.
Ohio State has been keep you know, feasting on this
for a long long time. Once Urban got there and
they started recruiting. Just the level of athlete which they recruit,
especially at wide receiver, their speed relative to their opponent
is just typically night and day. Beside when they play
(20:08):
a Georgia A Harbaugh Michigan team.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
I mean, I'm recording this on Friday, you know how
them against this version of Penn State. But like the Iowa's,
the Wisconsin's, even Nebraska. The reason people are being so
critical Ohio State against Nebraska's like they don't know if
your talent bro middle cooff mailbag question. If I caught
the ball in the middle of the field and threw
(20:33):
its sideways backwards to the sideline, would the clock stop
if it was under two minutes? If you could, then
why not with ten seconds left in the game, with
no timeouts and you need ten to fifteen yards for
field goal range? Would I not catch the ball in
the middle of the field and fumble throw the ball
out a bounce? Never thought about that. So you're saying,
(20:59):
could you, like when guys lateral the ball when they're
being tackled or when someone's behind them, couldn't they just
throw that out of bounds and the clock just stop zero.
I'm not a rules expert. I don't know if there's
a rule against that. I don't know. Honestly, I don't
(21:19):
have a great answer for you, because you do make
some sense. You do bring up a valid point. I
don't know if there's a rule against that with a
clock run off or something.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Not quite sure.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I don't want to say something that is incorrect. I
don't know the answer to that. We'd have to get
Belichick on the horn. When is the merch dropping? Well,
we just I got a little phone call with Travis
Matthews next week expanding the brains. Baby, buckle up, get ready.
(21:51):
Question for the bag in European. In Europe football aka soccer,
players transfer to other teams if they do not see
a future Rinaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Why
is it not the same in the NFL? Example, Joe
Burrow is with a bad franchise, why would he extend
(22:12):
beyond his current contract?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Love the show because at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Money talks and shit walks, and they offered him hundreds
of millions of dollars and he signed the contract and
the Bengals don't plan on letting him go, right. So
even if Joe had a wandering eye, he is under
contract and stuck. So I don't pretend to know how
(22:42):
the transferring works in soccer. Like my question would be,
if you're Manchester United and you have Rinaldo under contract
and you sell him to another team. Is it Is
it because you need them? Is it because you don't
(23:03):
see a future with the current team and it can
help you pivot? Like, I what's the mindset behind that?
I'm naive, slash, I just don't fall, I don't I
don't know. I don't get it the point of it.
But in football with a quarterback, specifically, because they do
trade other players, right if you're not going anywhere, Like
(23:24):
if the Raiders wanted to trade Max Crosby, it would
not be that crazy. It's like, hey, we get two ones,
we need to reset our franchise. We're not going anywhere.
People would understand it, even if Raider fans would be mad,
and rightfully so with the quarterback, like, Okay, I'm gonna
get let's just in this world, I'll trade Joe Burrow
to just pick a team. Let's say just let's use
(23:45):
the Raiders, and the Raiders will give me three first
round picks. Well, ultimately, my whole goal with those picks
is to find then another Joe Burrow. And the chances
that I can find Joe Burrow, I mean, hell, just
look at the college quarterbacks feels very slim than none.
So I think that's a big part of it is Ultimately,
in soccer, if you're in Manchester United or Real Madrid
(24:08):
or whoever, because you have so much money, you can
always at least have a good opportunity to buy the Rinaldo,
the MESSI, the whoever. In the NFL, the only way
you can get a Mahomes, a Josh Allen or whatever
is through the draft, and that is a total crapshoot,
as we see with all these quarterbacks becoming a disaster.
(24:33):
If you were an NFL owner or GM, would you
be opposed to an allowing underdeveloped players who may not
see the field in the regular season to get reps
needed in the spring. I believe the Rock characterized the
UFL as a developmental league, and there's a lot of
talk about quarterbacks in olignment needed the need development. Why
(24:55):
not work more closely with the UFL to increase the
quality of play in the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
That's a good question.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I think part of it is like, let's just use
minor league baseball or the G League in basketball. The
injury rate in those sports is so much lower. So
when I invest a pick right a first round pick
in basketball, or baseball, and I send the guy up
through one.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I control those teams.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Right Like, if I'm the Dodgers and my first round
pick is in the minors, that's under my umbrella.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So the guys.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Working with them are paid by us, like the roving instructors,
the managers, like, we have a lot of control over that.
So they're doing specifically what we want them to do.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
And then the injury.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Factor, it's like it's just way less in football. Okay,
the UFL's a developmental league. You're right, I send if
I'm the Colts Anthony Richardson to the development league. Well,
it's not like I'm in control of the coaching staff.
Do I get to pick the offense? Because if they're
(26:08):
running an offense that's not my offense, what does that
do for me? What is exactly happening at practice three
or four days a week, the individual, the team, the group,
all the different work that goes on throughout the periods
of practice.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Who controls that?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Because I want if I'm Shane Seiken, I want him
doing what I want him to do. But maybe the
coach in the UFL doesn't do that, doesn't run that offense,
doesn't coach the position that way, which is why if
I was a coach, I wouldn't risk doing that. And
then the other thing is we're using quarterbacks for example,
(26:48):
because you're telling me an offensive guard wouldn't care a
linebacker or slot receiver, okay, but the quarterback, it's like,
who's blocking for him? Because if the defensive line isn't good,
every dude on that defensive side of the ball, whatever
quarterback I throw that way is going to try to
kill the quarterback. Why because that makes a name for himself.
(27:13):
So I do think there are a lot of risks
involved that aren't worth it when you've invested a high
pick and paying the guy money. If you watch bow
Nick's tape from the Panther game, I think you'll feel
better about him night and day from New Orleans. I
have not watched a snap of that game. I think
(27:33):
here's the problem, and I think most people would agree
that game's pretty irrelevant. I mean, that's how bad that
team is. It's really one of the worst football teams
over the last twenty years. So yeah, I mean it's positive.
You get game reps, you have success, you throw some touchdowns,
you don't turn the ball over. But as Sean Payton said,
essentially like that's a G League team.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
To me, I'd put more stock even if they lose
these games. If he puts good tape the next couple
weeks against the Ravens and the Chiefs, I think you
could play, you know, show stuff in a losing effort,
even if your numbers look worse, and you put way
more validity into that than you do the Panther game.
(28:18):
Because let's you use the draft analogy. When I'm evaluating
a quarterback to draft him and I look at a schedule,
I don't think I would watch the equivalent of the
Panther game. The games I would watch would be the Chiefs,
the Ravens, the Chargers. How does he look in those games?
(28:41):
Frequent listener in my mid twenties. I have been a
Bengals fan since the Carson Palmer Ojo Sinko days. There
isn't an NFL team from where I grew up. But
I'm starting to feel like I choose the wrong franchise
to be a fan of. I'm too far into it
now and we'll never switch. But I would like your
thoughts on the organ team, if you have any stories
(29:02):
about them. I don't know much about the Bengals internally,
beside obviously their owner Mike Brown is very involved. You know,
the team has not been as bad. I think sometimes
is the way they've been talked about. They were good
in the two thousands with Carson Palmer before he got injured.
(29:23):
They were very, very competitive with Marvin Lewis. I know
they couldn't win a playoff game, but they were just
a well run, good players at every position. I remember
seeing them live one year against the Raiders, thinking, like
their offensive line, this was when they had Whitworth. Their
offensive line is good, their running backs are good, their
(29:45):
receivers and tight end it was like Iffert was Eifert
was either quarterback or tight end. They had obviously Aj Green.
They were just good. And defensively they were actullent. They
were huge on the defensive line. They had Burfett, Their
linebackers were good, and their secondary was good. In the
(30:06):
team the last couple of years, I mean three years ago,
you guys won the Super Bowl. Two years ago you
went to the AFC Championship Game. There are a lot
worse teams you could roof for as long as you
got Joe Burrow. I think the big question mark is
if they go seven and ten or six and eleven
or something, are they going to fire the coach? And
(30:27):
if they fire the coach, they're gonna find themselves in
a Charger situation that all those years with Philip Rivers.
It's like, you got a really good quarterback. A lot
of people would want to coach this quarterback. But there's
a market for the coaching salaries Like Zach Taylor, let's
face it, relative to the rest of the NFL probably doesn't.
(30:47):
I bet he's not even in the top half of salaries.
So like, if you want a big time coach, like,
they're not cheap. And the Chargers battled with this forever
and what they finally do, yeah, we.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Just we need to get serious about this.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
And they gave Jim Harbaugh a ton millions upon millions
of dollars, and they gave his staff millions upon millions
of dollars, and they're gonna go to the playoffs this year,
and then they're gonna go to the playoffs next year,
and then if they do a good enough job of
building this team, like, they're gonna be a Super Bowl
contender for years to come. So if you're the Bengals
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Speaker 1 (32:57):
Is the hot commodity in NFL teams draft quarterback way
high also overpay them with no success in the NFL.
Regarding the Anthony Richardson mess and the Watson mess, Trevor
Lawrence ever gonna change with the NFL going forward. I
think this year is gonna be a litmus test because
by all accounts, most people you talk to these quarterbacks,
(33:20):
even Shador, who I like Shador, but you text around
the teams, especially a team that just doesn't need a quarterback,
a guy that just can evaluate him objectively, like, yeah,
he's a good player, he's really accurate, throws a nice ball,
but he's not a great athlete. And a lot of
his stuff, you know, he add libs a lot.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Again, I like him.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I'm just saying like, you talk to a lot of people,
they go, this guy's.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
The number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You know, historically even a guy like that might go
in the twenties, but now it feels like he's a
lock to be the first, you know, overall pick. Or
in the mix cam Ward, you talk to a lot
of scouts like, this guy's the biggest roller coaster ever. Again,
fantastic talent, but you watch him play on one given
play can look like a number one overall pick. You
can watch another player like got this take this guy
in the fourth round. So you just don't have great
(34:09):
quarterback prospects right now. Yours no chance, Beck, no chance.
Even Arch Manning.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I was talking to.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
A buddy the other day that was at the Texas
Georgia game, And do you know an underrated thing with
Arch who I can't wait to watch as a full
time starter next year, doesn't have a big arm. Honestly,
his arm's probably pretty average now, granted so was Peyton's.
But you watched him play in that Geordian like he
I think he thinks he's got a stronger arm than
(34:37):
he does. No, he's an excellent athlete. He's six foot five,
he's young, maybe he can his arm can improve.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
But like.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He's got a long long way to go before we
talk about.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Him being a top ten pick.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
My point is that when you over when you draft
these guys one, two, three that historically never would have
been drafted that high, it amplifies the pressure one hundredfold.
And that's why we've gotten these crazy situations about these
guys underachieving and failing, because it's like, if this guy
(35:11):
was a second or third round pick, we wouldn't talk
about him the same.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
There wasn't the same.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Pressure on Derek Carr when he was a second round pick,
or Jimmy Garoppolo when he was a late second round pick,
or Russell Wilson when he was a third round pick,
or Kirk Cousins when he was or Dak when they're
third fourth round picks. I think both those guys were fourth.
But now Dak, you remember, I think got a DUI
within a month of the draft. Probably hurt him around.
(35:37):
I mean, he probably would have gone a little higher.
I've seen a lot of people saying Stiking might get
fired this year if things go bad for Indy. Do
you think the Colts fire Stiking? He would get another
job somewhere else right away. Everyone seems to think that
he's a good coach. I don't understand why he would
be fired.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I'd be shocked if he was fired.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I mean, this is year two, has had him on
the brink of the playoffs with Gardner Minshew and after
watching the Texans right now, they're gonna be right in
the mix.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
So I would not prepare for Shane Stiking to get fired.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Plus, you guys, if you're a Colts fan, like your
team's gonna be competitive, Your team like last year is
gonna be right in the mix.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Where they could get weird is if Anthony Richardson is
just a total Like I keep hearing this, like, how
could you do this? This guy is the future of
your franchise. No, this guy could be the future of
the franchise. Currently he is not the future of the franchise.
He has not shown that he's the future of the franchise.
(36:40):
That's why they benched him. Doesn't mean he can't be,
but right now he is not. So I think the
question marks moving forward is that situation could get weird.
That to me like him Ballard? What's Ballard status? Is
he just a made man? If the Buffalo Bills fall
(37:03):
short again to the Chiefs or the Ravens. And assuming
Josh plays well, do you think McDermott should be gone?
I think he's a good defense, a great defensive coach,
and has reinvigorated the culture. But I question him situationally
thirteen seconds in the game, clock management issues. Who would
you hire to replace him? Although Joe Brady has done
(37:26):
a great job, I don't think he's ready to be
a head coach. It'd be real fascinating to see Josh
playing for a great offensive mind.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well at this.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Point, like why would you fire Sean McDermott for belichicker Vrabel?
Two defensive minded coaches? Which, like is their defense going
to get that much better with one of those guys?
Like Sean does a really good job, and like you said,
he's a culture guy. So it's like if you fired him,
ideally you would try to get your version of McVeigh, Lafleur, Shanahan,
(38:00):
like that type guy, Well, find me that guy. Where
does that guy exist? Because Kobiak can slow it through
the first couple of weeks is like, oh my god,
you couldn't do that. Now, Like you said, maybe you
saw Joe Brady as being the next Sean Payton. I
don't know him, doesn't feel like that's his personality, but
(38:22):
that would be the only move you could make. I
would not fire Sean McDermott. Obviously there's pressure on the
Bills to step up, right, But there's pressure on the
Ravens too, Like, what do the Ravens lose to one
of those teams? You're not firing John Harbaugh. And their
defense is terrible, and he's a defensive guy. He was
(38:42):
a dB coach. Their DBS are awful, So these are
tough situations. But I don't see how they don't. It'd
be a pretty big risk to do an offensive move
for the Bills because of it backfired and their defense
got worse, and their culture got worse. Their team actually
(39:04):
would be worse. Even if you felt like, are they more?
I mean, I think their office is good right now,
so I don't know. I would just roll with Sean McDermott.
Now you have another thirteen second type moment. You have
another one of these things, like the game against the
Houston Texans, which is a pretty big loss because if
you look at the Bills right now, if they had
(39:25):
won that game, which they should have. So they win
the Texans game, they would be instead of six to two,
they'd be seven and one. They play this week the Dolphins,
that's to win, then.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
The Colts, then the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Well, that Chiefs game, you'd be like, they're playing for
the number one overall seed, and we know how important
that is when it comes to, you know, them trying
to make a run. It's not the end all be
all because they lost at home last year. But if
you could choose, right, if you just looked at the Ravens,
Chiefs and Bills and the Steelers, it's like, do you
(39:58):
want home games or do you want road games in Jai? Anyway,
they all want to play at home.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Love the show.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I saw what you said about Rex, and I felt
for the guy after listening to him on the Pivot podcast.
The guy has certainly wanted to be back so bad
based on what he says weekend week out on ESPN.
But why nobody has given him a shot when he clearly,
at minimum can scheme on defense at an elite level?
Is it rookie coaches are afraid he will take their
(40:28):
job and outshine them.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Oh, why isn't it hired?
Speaker 1 (40:31):
As the DC our owners just scared of his personality.
Like Jerry for instance, would love to hear your thoughts.
I think sometimes in the NFL it's like the equivalent
of getting canceled. And I feel like after the Rex
situation happened with the Bills, He's an older guy who's
(40:52):
made a lot of money, so his price point is really,
really high.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
It's almost like he.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Got canceled from the NFL, like teams don't want to
mess with him. He costs so much money. Like you said,
a lot of younger coaches, he's a pretty intimidating presence,
like he's not just going to keep his mouth shut
even if he's, you know, not the number one, you know,
being the defensive coordinator. You're not the top guy on
the food chain. But is Rex at this point in
(41:20):
time really a number two? I don't really know. I
feel like Rex is either a head coach or nothing.
Now there are question marks. The way it ended in
Buffalo was really bad, I mean really bad and embarrassing.
So you have that stink on you. You have the ego
like you see it with Wink Martindale, Like people think
his ego outweighs his talent and obviously his talent as
(41:42):
a defensive coordinator. Some people think, like Bro, you don't
need to blitz that much. You can't just play man
Deman on the outside blitzing heavy all the time in college.
Question for the mailbag Raider fan from the Central Valley.
My people, I've seen enough of Pierce. I don't ever
see a world where he doesn't get out coached by
(42:03):
Andy Harbon Payton, we need to cut bait after this
year and hire a coach. I tried to get Ben
Johnson or Vrabel. Who would you your top options be
for the Raiders head coach. I had someone in the
football world tell me that they they thought Pierce would
be one and done. I listen, I don't have any
(42:26):
inside information. I'd be a little surprised you're telling me
Mark Davis. I don't know exactly what the Gruden situation
is with the lawsuit, if he has to pay him
or not, but he's obviously paying Josh McDaniels a ton
of money. I think it was reported when he fired
those two guys, Josh and Ziegler, he owed them a
combine like sixty million dollars. Now you could argue sixty
(42:49):
million in this modern day NFL world is a line item,
and obviously Mark moving to Vegas has a lot more money,
but you would think he'd give it at least two years.
I do not think he wants to go on another
coaching search. And also, then would you fire Tom to LESCo?
I don't know. I don't expect him to be fired
(43:14):
regardless how bad they are, because I also think it's
pretty easy for Mark to go, Well, we had Gardner,
Minshew and Adan O'Connell. But this always gets back to like,
how do they get a quarterback? They signed Sam Darnold
as a free agent. They I don't know what they
do seriously, because they're gonna end up winning a couple
(43:34):
games that are gonna get them out of the top.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Like to me, they are not gonna be the first
or second pick.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I think they are much more likely to be like
the sixth pick than they are the second pick. Look
at the Giants last year, awful season, but they couldn't
play with the quarterbacks because they just weren't high enough.
So the top three guys go off the board. My
guess is not really an option. I could be wrong.
(44:00):
I hope for your sake as Raider fans, I am
wrong because I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
This is.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I see no circumstances this works out. I'm obviously biased
about Brock because I'm a lifelong Niner fan, and I
feel like he's consistently shown elite processing, timing, and accuracy.
I know he's had bad games against quality opponents and
that makes people question whether he's a franchise quarterback, but
all franchise quarterbacks struggle.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
His elite skill set.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Reminds me of a lot of Breeze in how he
sustained success, not the most athletic, and didn't have an
elite arm. My question is, at what point were you
convinced that he's a franchise quarterback. He obviously didn't convince
people in San Diego and took time in New Orleans
to earn that reputation. What's your take on the Breeze
(44:51):
Prety comparison. I mean, when Breeze got in the league
when I was in high school, so his situation early
on his career, I can't even I don't even really
remember how good or bad he was. He had a
major injury, like part of his shoulder injury was a
big reason, Like if he had not been injured, they
don't end up with Philip Rivers and he leaves as
(45:13):
a free agent. He would have been their quarterback for
a while. I think, you know, Drew Brees was an
elite college player. His numbers were like pretty historic at
the time. Purdy's a better athlete than Breeze. I think
Breees a better thrower of the football, the younger version.
I think they're similar in the sense of very serious
(45:35):
cats and all in on football, and like you said,
the processing stuff. I think the hard part with Purdy
is this looming question mark, like are you gonna give
him two hundred million dollars? And I just honestly can't say, like,
I want brock Purty as my quarterback. If I'm Kyle Shanahan,
totally understand that he's by far their best option. But
(45:56):
that's where I'm just like, well, let's just keep getting
gaining more information.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
If I told you you had to you had to invest.
And this isn't an apples to apples analogy, but your
life savings into something and if you invest in the
right thing with your life savings, it would.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Fifty x your life savings.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
You would spend so much time reading, looking into it,
asking people about it before you pulled the trigger, so
and you would want more and more information. I never
understand when people rush to non like historic players, like
Brock Purty's not a historic player in terms of talent
(46:38):
and just play. He's a good player and has a
chance to be a franchise quarterback, but relative to how
much franchise quarterbacks get paid, Like do you want to
be in a Dak Prescott situation where you're just paying
a guy all this money and it's like it's hard
to build a team and he's not quite good enough,
and maybe Purty keeps getting better and I'm again I'm
pro Rock party, but once we start growing around he's
(47:01):
making fifty five million dollars a year, Like I like
my fifty five million dollars a year. Players to be
lock Pro Bowlers every year. You don't have to be
Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes or Peyton Manning. But I
want to feel pretty good, like if you're healthy, you're
going to be in.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
The Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
And he was last year, and we'll see how the
rest of the year. Like it's we still got eight games,
so they got more than half the season in front
of them. I think he just has to play well
in these bigger games. You win the division again with him?
He lights up the Rams, the Cardinals and Seattle the
(47:37):
second time he plays all these teams because right now
he just they can't afford.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
To have him turn the ball over. As one thing.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Question for the POD, what do you think the Steelers
do at the end of the year, obviously still a
lot of ball. Do they let fields walk if Russ
plays well? Sign Russ to.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
A three year contract?
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Just curious what your thoughts are. Also now, with the
injuries of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, I think this
is a best.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
A big test for Baker.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well it is, but he just signed a hundred million
dollar contract, So Baker's going to be their quarterback now
for a couple of years. I honestly have it even
you're kind of putting the cart before the horse. This
gets back to the party conversation, like, we gotta see
how this plays out, right, If Russ keep throwing multiple
touchdowns a game and they win the division, Like, yeah,
they will give Russell I almost said Russell Westbrook Russell
(48:37):
Wilson a contract extension.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Now how much money?
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Like can we sign him like two years, forty million
dollars guarantee twenty five Like I'd probably do something like that,
But am I giving Russell Wilson one hundred million dollars?
Like I gotta see a little more before I feel
comfortable doing something like that. And the other thing is
he's still getting paid a bunch of money from Denver,
So I think we got a long way to go.
(49:02):
I haven't even I haven't even crossed that bridge. Justin
Field's got benched. Justin Fields will not be on the
team next year unless he resigns for like two million
dollars to be the backup. But I don't see like
they're not giving him any substantial money to stay around.
Let's face it, like these guys have kind of shown
what they are. Mac Jones a backup. Zach Wilson is
(49:25):
a third stringer. Fields is a backup, Trey Lance a
third stringer. Is that kind of crazy that Zack Wilson
and Trey Lance are third string quarterbacks? I think I
had mentioned that on a podcast earlier when we were
like when I was rolling and I wasn't quite sure
if he was the second or third, and then I
googled it I guess technically, I mean Bronco fans, you
(49:45):
know Stidham has been their second quarterback. Uh would love
to hear your thoughts on why last year's edition with
Zach Wilson and Roberts was better than this year's. Well,
(50:05):
if they the offense that we saw in the second
half was you know that you could have a potent
passing game. I think the reason your I mean your
defense just.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Had better players. They lost a lot of depth on
the defensive line.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
And Reddick is like, I don't know, man, he's just
kind of a sack hunter, doesn't play within the construct
of the defense, doesn't really care. I mean, that was
one reason Philly turned on him.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
He runs up.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Field, goes after the quarterback, and if he loses contain,
if he runs way by, it's like whatever, he's trying
to get my sacks, Like this isn't the NBA just
you don't just need twelve sacks to get a big contract.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Like, if you play well, people will pay you.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
You're better off having a couple less sacks and being
a good player. Like I actually think he's hurting himself
for a guy that wants a lot of money this offseason.
But I think it just gets down to their defense
was healthier and just deeper and way better. Question for
(51:13):
the bag in an era where endless online draft nerds,
I wanted your take. As a former scout, there seems
to be this notion that it's unwise to use higher
round picks on middle linebackers and that you can find
productive players in the middle or later rounds. Yet, if
you look at the best all pro guys of the
(51:33):
last several years, you'll see Queen first round pick, Rokuwan
first round pick, Bolton second round pick, Wagner second round pick,
to Mario Davis, third round pick, CJ. Mosley, first round pick,
Fred Warner third round pick. These guys have been absolute
anchors on some of the better defenses over the years.
Where do you stand with picking middle linebackers in the draft.
(51:56):
I would take a middle linebacker in the first round
if I'm confident the guy's gonna be Luke Keigley, Roquan Smith,
Fred Warner, because in twenty twenty four, that guy think
out his importance. He makes every tackle in the run
game or is a major factor in the run game.
He's gonna get you ten plus tackles in the run game. Well,
(52:18):
if they run at thirty you know, twenty eight times
a game, he's getting a third of the tackles. He
covers the tight end and the running back who you
look around the league like a lot of good pass
catching tight ends and good pass catching running backs. And
then he's the leader of your team. He's the heartbeat
of your squad. He sets the tone both from a
(52:41):
speed standpoint, when your middle linebacker's fast, you usually your
defense feels faster, and then from a physicality standpoint, when
that dude's cracking skulls. It's like you see some of
these teams with bad linebacker play, It's like God, defense
is bad, even if they have good players and other positions.
I think the hard part is is like Fred Warner
(53:02):
went in the third round for a reason. People thought
he was kind of a tweener. Like it's just hard
if people knew Fred Warner was gonna be this good,
Like Fred Warner would go in the top ten of
the draft, Like.
Speaker 2 (53:14):
Rokwan was what pick? So we picked ten? Am I wrong? There?
Speaker 1 (53:20):
He was a pretty high pick, but he was such
an elite player in college, Like Rokwan was better in
college than Fred. Obviously, Luke Keighley was what the eighth pick.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
In the draft.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I'm just pulling up Rokwon right now. Rocann was the
eighth pick. So you've seen guys that I can't miss
guys like Rocann was.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
The eighth pick. Luke Keigley was the eighth pick. Hell
ray Lewis back in the day was a first round pick. Well,
I'm with you. I never I like.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I disagree with the Eagles philosophy that middle linebackers aren't
important to me. If I get if I get Fred Warner,
or I could get Who's the or Sauce Gardener. I
would take Fred Warner all day long, and I'll just
draft two corners throughout the drafts and hopefully one of
them becomes a solid starter. I value the middle linebacker
position more than most. Listen to the pot today about
(54:16):
arresting people who give out fruit or toothbrushes. Some guy
was giving out potatoes last night. Not sure what that
is all about, but my daughter got a potato.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
That person is a loser. That person needs help. I
went on this ran.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
If you missed it at just about you either there
are two options during Halloween. As you know, a home
that's gonna give something out. You either give out candy. Now,
I won't judge. If you want to get King Size,
if you want to get minis, if you want to
do milky ways, if you want to do fruity stuff, skittle,
sour patch, that's that's your prerogative. I'm not one to shame.
(54:55):
We all like different candies. Some people like more fruity,
some people like more chocolate. I'm not here point fingers
that way. But you either give out candy or you
turn your lights out and you give out nothing. You
do not give out potatoes, toothbrushes, fruit.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
We need, we need to send help to these people.
We really do.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
Why is NFL safety played down so much the past
few years. I grew up watching Ed Reied, Troy Paula Malo,
and then Earl Thomas and Cam Chancellor. I feel like
there's no one remotely close to those four guys. I
do think it's a lot harder to play that position.
I do think Kyle Hamilton is I mean, he's kind
(55:40):
of like this hybrid player, but he's.
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Pretty damn good.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
I mean, I think Kyle Hamilton's like, got a chance
to go to the Hall of Fame. He's twenty three
years old. I think he's a pretty special player. So yeah,
to me, I would put mean's to me, Hamilton's in
that mold of like just this hybrid star player. It
(56:05):
is hard to play because part of what made all
those guys special, I mean Earl and Cam you didn't
go over the middle of the field because you would
have to be prepared to go to the hospital or
go to the blue tent, or your season would end
or your game would end. And the physicality. Because of
the rules, it's a lot harder to play, so you're
(56:28):
more like a cornerback there. I mean, Hamilton's like this
ht he can turn into a linebacker at any moment,
and that drop ball the other day's you know, wide
plays defense. But he can play for my team any day.
And I do think back in the day when the
rules were you could light guys up like a Christmas tree,
he would have been awesome at it.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
And I think there are a lot of players like that.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
I think the forty nine ers with with Ufunga, who's
been banged up, but he would have been perfect.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
In the nineties, he would fucking split your chin open,
but you're not allowed to do that.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
Anymore.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
So you're in space playing the wide receivers on the outside,
and part of your game with those guys, I mean,
I think their most famous plays are going sideline to sideline,
obviously picking the ball, but also just contacting the offensive player. Well,
now those guys are to me are way more hesitant
to do that because they get in trouble and they
(57:23):
get they get penalties. So you could argue it's way
harder to play, you know. I think sometimes the rules,
like if you're in an industry and then all of
a sudden a regulation happens, it's like it's going to
be a lot harder to do business. Like why a
lot of these businesses like pay all these lobbyists all
that money to not have rule changes and to either
(57:50):
you know, that would slow down, neutralize, or even ruin
a business. And this would have been the number one
thing if you were dB or linebacker. They never would
have voted for this stuff, right, not in a million years.
If this was the business world, the defensive coaches, the
defensive players, they would have lobbied against this. But ultimately
(58:11):
the league doesn't want to get sued for CTE because
the big payout and they want to avoid it, and
they want to be you know, this is all you know.
Part of life is covering your ass in business, right,
no one wants to get sued. Clearly, they pretended nothing
happen forever and then they almost went too far the
other way, and college obviously has followed because they don't
(58:34):
want to. I would say, put a stop to their
honey hoole of cash flowing in so that they've even
gotten more extreme. You get a targeting and get kicked
out of the game. Nothing angers me more. It's like, guys,
most of these kids are not going to play in
the NFL. If I'm a two year starter at Texas
A and M and I'm not an NFL player, Like
(58:56):
I'm only getting twenty five games or twenty six games
in my college career, and you're gonna toss me out
of this game, and then I got to sit out
the first half.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
Of the next game.
Speaker 1 (59:05):
That that to me, you could argue the most extreme part.
It's like, okay, even if you are gonna be extroggressive,
kick him out of the game. Why does he have
to miss the next game? Thank God? If the NFL,
they couldn't go that far because the players Union. The
college players have no one fighting for them like that.
That's that's ludicrous. At this point in time, no one's
trying I think for a long period of time, and
(59:27):
this is the violence of the game in which we love.
Speaker 2 (59:29):
Like people are trying to hurt other people.
Speaker 1 (59:32):
You know, it's like UFC, like I'm not I'm not
trying to like send you to the hospital, but I'm
trying to knock you out of the game. I clearly
that has changed through the rules and I think through
the coaching. So like, no one's trying to hurt anybody.
Everyone's moving at rapid speed. If someone goes helmet to
helmet at this point in time, to me, like it's
(59:52):
basically an accident, like no one meant to do that. Hopefully,
I answered a lot of you guys questions. Appreciate everyone
for firing in the vms. Have a great weekend, and
I will talk to you soon. The volume
The volume. Okay, let's dive into a little thing we
like to call the Middle Cough mail bag.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
We like to do these on Saturdays.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Little Saturday bag for the people at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get your questions
answered on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Very very easy to do.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
So we're gonna try to bang out a bunch of
questions and do it right now. Is it just me?
Whereas offensive play calling feel like it's almost the most
important thing in football behind the quarterback. I mean, people
are saying Rogers can't run anymore, and then you look
at Detroit and goff, he's a statue. You're telling me
the Jets don't have comparable weapons to Detroit. If the Jets, Bengal, Seahawks,
(01:00):
Saints Falcons had the guy from Detroit calling plays, whichever team,
that would easily be a top five offense in football.
Is that a crazy opinion to have a little bit
because I think you are underestimating a little thing we
like to call the offensive line. And one thing Detroit
has is an excellent offensive line. Now your play calling
(01:24):
can overcome I would say average offensive lineman. You know
the Shanahan guys for example, let's use Kyle Trent Williams
Hall of Famer. But for the most part during the era,
they have not whether it's Joe Staley or Trent Williams,
their offensive line has had several holes. And now they
(01:45):
drafted this guy Pooney who's a really good player, but he's.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
A right guard.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Their right tackle is not good. Their center is very
very average. In their left guard position, I would say
is probably league average as well when it comes to
pass protection. So you look at the Jets, like last night,
they're playing multiple tackles at guard, and then Tyron Smith
they're starting left tackle, who is, you know, an all
(02:12):
time great talent and in the peak of his powers
was an elite player, is no longer that good. So
you look at the Saints, for example, they had so
many injuries on their offensive line and their quarterback position,
which once Derek got hurt, became terrible. You're just getting
Look look at CJ.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Stroud. CJ.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Stroud is getting peppered right now. His offensive line is
not playing that well.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I was texting with someone who used to play in
the NFL today and he's saying, how could eight sacks
that this guy is the franchise meal ticket, How is
he getting hit so much? And I'd argue, like last night,
Joe Mixon is running the ball really well. He looks fantastic.
I mean, he's just how many I'm pulling up the
(02:58):
box score right now. He had twenty four carries for
one hundred and six yards, and if you remove Stroud's
eight runs, which off the top of my head, feels like,
I mean, they're not any design runs. It's a lot
of him just scrambling. They had twenty four they had
twenty eight carries. Shouldn't you be running the ball thirty
(03:19):
seven to forty times in that game, especially you're playing
an offense that can't really score. I know they did.
They had two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but through
three quarters they had seven points. The offense had been
pretty anemic for weeks. Like, shouldn't you have the mindset
like we can win this thing seventeen to ten and
(03:40):
just try to rush for I mean, there are two
running backs had one hundred and six yards twenty three yards,
so they basically had one hundred and thirty yards. Shouldn't
you try to get one hundred and seventy five yards
on the ground that's where to me, I think you
would be right. Your offensive coordinator can influence the game.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Like CJ.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Stroud did not need to have thirty attempts, should have
had twenty, especially because he wasn't playing that well because
he's constantly getting hit. So I think you're onto something.
You can play with a quarterback who can't move, but
you can't run these deep breaking routes. Now CJ can
move like you said Aaron can't, but now they got
(04:22):
good weapons. I do think you have to factor in
the offensive line.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
You really do.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I mean Jared's Goff's offensive line is awesome. Kirk Cousins,
for the most part the last couple of years, has
had a pretty good offensive line. This is from Angus.
It's a very Australian name. I've only been watching the
NFL for three years. I just can't wrap my head
around the market for running backs. Why are players like
Henry getting paid eight million dollars per year? With how
(04:49):
dominant running backs can change a game, I just don't get.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Why they are so cheap. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Ultimately, contracts with players becomes an economic exercise. I was
thinking this the other day watching the World Series. And
I'm guilty of this too, Like no one's watching baseball
like they used to, right, regular season television ratings, like
Sunday Night Baseball in America, no one watches. It took
the Yankees and the Dodgers to really move the needle.
(05:21):
But like, if you're a player in baseball, right, a
good player, you're gonna make a hundred million dollars, you know,
as a contract. If you're a high end like all star,
not like an all time great, your contract's gonna be
like two hundred and fifty million dollars. If you are
a game changer, Hall of Fame talent, I mean Mookie
Betts and Aaron Judge making three hundred and fifty million dollars.
(05:43):
Otani and his buddy Yamamoto signed for a combined a
billion dollars.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
They say Soto's.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Gonna get I don't know, five hundred to six hundred
million dollars. So it's because they're value to the team,
Like that's what the teams are willing to pay. So
when you look at the wide receiver market, it kind
of jumped the shark, and I think it's pretty clear,
Like you got to be pretty careful giving guys thirty
million dollars. I can give Justin Jefferson thirty million dollars,
(06:12):
But like the Brandon Auk contracting, obviously he's injured right now,
Like should you be paying him twenty eight million dollars?
Is that good business? And it's why some of these
teams have gotten more aggressive on the running backs because
their market kind of just stopped it literally just hit
the brakes. So you saw last year Howie gives Sequon
(06:33):
Barkley twenty seven million dollars, But like, is Saquon Barkley
more valuable than Brandon Ayuk? I think you could make
the argument, right, is Derrick Henry more valuable than Brandon Ayuk?
Like yeah, I or at least equals. So it's just
it's just supplied demand. And like this, this is what
(06:55):
the teams have created, Like this is a GM thing.
And if you're a GM, like you should be all
over these guys. What are you overpaying a running back
eleven million dollars? Like who cares relative to these receivers?
Like and if your guy's not a super high end
game changing star, you might regret that question For the mailbag,
(07:16):
have you seen this situation where the high school coach
was forced to resign and apologize because he used swear
words when talking to his teams and one of his
kids recorded it and then leaked it out. It's one
of the softest, most pathetic and embarrassing things I have
ever seen in my life. He didn't even raise his
(07:37):
voice or yell. Anyone who's playing team sports knows this
isn't even in the same universe of when coaches go
off actually looks like and even then, what are coaches
supposed to do? I love your rantsom society sports getting softer.
I have not seen this story.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Let's pull it up. So here's this coach.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
By a bunch of fucking kids that fucking want it
more than we did. That's why they're fucking coptating the rason.
That's why that's why we're bottom of the fucking skill
because we think we just deserved it. We don't want
to get a fucking urb. Okay, that's why you're getting
your asking every goddamn game. That's why you're gonna get
your ASKI it's not and ever get you goddamn asking
excited that their god damn grill doing this fucking stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Like what are we doing?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We had no common sense. We're playing back so far
that we can't even fucking do nothing jam and you're
playing all the way back here like what the fuck
extended up? There's nothing up here? And didn't see the
goddamn guy like what are we doing? Like we can't
burn an offense and said, okay, like what our offense
(08:47):
is about to be a ball stream for he and
every goddamn time that's what's about to be because we
can't right a god in marks Like, boy, I don't
understand it. I don't get it. Twelve points a hat at.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Uh, honestly, I don't even know what to say. This
is the first time hearing of this story. Uh, if
you guys could hear, I try to put it next
to the microphone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I don't. I am just at a loss, like I I.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Really am, Like listen, I guess there are humans that
don't swear, which doesn't bother me, Like that's if you
don't want to swear, you don't want to swear. I
don't know if they had like rules, is this like
a private school? But even then, like like this is
football and I think at its core, at its core,
(09:49):
the one thing sports, especially as you get into high school,
really teaches you is like life lessons, Like guess what
life is? A motherfucker? It throws you curveballs adverse the
problems every single day to apologize. Now, I would get
if you were a parent and this was like pee
(10:10):
wee football, But for a high school football team, I'm
just I can't even. I have nothing in common with
this type society or world.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So if my.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Son had played for that team in this coach, again,
I don't know, like does this guy have any clue
what he's doing? Like there's probably, I hope, some other
variables here, But if he just got fired or had
to resign strictly for saying the F word ten times
(10:48):
over a two minute rant, It's one of the most
embarrassing things I've ever seen for that school.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
For the the like.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Those kids and listen, you can soften, you know, participation
trophies and all that stuff. I don't have children, so
I'm not really in that world yet beside what I
read about. But like once you leave the nest and
whether you go to college or after college, like nobody
cares what was Lamar's shirt? Nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Work harder?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Like buckle up, because the one thing you'll learn fast
in this world, a lot of people are out to
fuck you. When you get into business. People are trying
to ruin your business because they want to have success
in their business. Most of these industries, Like whether it's
a zero sum game or not, that's how a lot
of people think. This world is just not fair.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And if you're.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Offended by some f words in a football environment, I
really don't know what to say. And I know most
people listening or not, but I don't know. I mean, again,
this is just pulling up that the link you sent me, Like, hey, guys,
(12:02):
the real world everyone talks different, and I don't know.
I'd argue it's a pretty bad lesson for these guys
and listen. One thing I definitely can't relate to is
when I was young, even through college, like we didn't
have camera phones. So now everything getting recorded has just
(12:26):
kind of changed society, but in terms of this type stuff,
but it hasn't changed the way the world works and
how cutthroat the world is. Whether you play college football
and if you don't produce, you'll get benched. If in
the real world, if you get a sales job and
you don't hit quotas, you will get fired. Like that
(12:46):
ain't gonna change. It will not change, not in this
capitalistic society which anyone with some stones and some balls
and joyce because the cream usually rises. And if you're
constantly and if you get on the internet, everyone's constant offended, like.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Who are these humans? Like I don't know them?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And maybe it's all fake for Instagram or Twitter. I mean,
sometimes you see a post on anything, sports, politics, life,
and the comments section, like I think sometimes gets overblown.
Ninety percent of people are kind of messing around, and
then people are arguing it's like what, nothing is getting accomplished.
(13:26):
So I guess it's a long winded way of saying, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I just I can't. I can't relate to that.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I really can't. I mean my family, like my dad,
I don't know. I mean, if I would have posted
that and then the reason the guy got fired, I
think my phone would have been thrown in the lake.
I'm from Fresno and a USC alumni. This dude made
it out of the five five nine to the private
school elites. Colin always stresses the importance of having an
(13:56):
offensive head coach in the NFL. For quarterback development and
annuity for.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
The coaching staff.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Your OC isn't getting poached every year. In my opinion,
college is the exact opposite. Because the hash marks are wider,
there is more fuel to play with in more ways
to attack the defense. This creates a greater degree of
variance in big plays like the Vandy Alabama game. As
a USC fan, Danton Lynn has been a revelation, but
(14:25):
he will one hundred percent be back in the NFL
in a couple of years and Lincoln will be back
to square one. Finding young offensive coaching gurus and skill
players in modern football, especially in California, is relatively easy,
but building and maintaining a solid defensive culture is much harder.
Is this a hot take or am I onto something?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Well, I'm trying to think.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
You know, if you think about the best coaches of
the last twenty five years in college right, the two
most dominant coaches were Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Obviously,
Nick Saban is a is a defensive guy. Urban Meyer
technically is an offensive guy, but like when you watch
his teams, he kind of has like horrball, Like I
(15:11):
know he came up as an offensive coach.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
He's a wide receiver coach.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I feel his culture collegiately was just tough guy. It's
why he could go toe to toe with Nick Saban,
Pete Carroll his little mini dynasty in the two thousands.
Defensive guy. It doesn't mean you can't be a good
offensive coach. But Bob Stoops lasted for twenty years, win
a lot of games. Defensive guy. So Jim Harbaugh what
(15:41):
he turned Michigan into former quarterback, but like what do
his teams hang their hat on? Great defense? I think
part of the problem and the difference in college than
the pros is if I have Ben Johnson, if I'm
Dan Campbell, the only way I lose him is.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
To a head coaching job.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
In college football, you can poach coaches from other staffs,
even if they're under contract. So that's an element in
an angle that doesn't really exist in pro football. The
number one thing you have to be good at in
college football is recruiting. I think it's less about offensive
and defensive coaching. Like Steve Sarkisian is not some tough guy,
(16:28):
but because of nil he can buy a bunch of
defensive guys and he, I would say, is an excellent recruiter,
like the one thing you see with Lincoln like is he.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
A great recruiter? Like is that really his thing? You know?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
The thing went viral of someone sent it to me
yesterday Stanford Steve, who was telling a story I think
the Scott van Pelt or Ryan Rosillo or something about
when they got to the air and they drove from
the Oakland Airport to Berkeley, and Nick Saban looks at
(17:06):
him and goes, because that drive, I means it's.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Pretty gross barrier drive.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You drive right past the Oakland Colseum. It's basically through Oakland.
I mean it's it's not some scenic drive. And Saban
looks at everyone like, how the hell do you recruit here?
And the answer is cal doesn't. I mean, they don't
recruit very good players. But in the two thousands they
were really good with Jeff Tedford and what was he
doing to compete? Like I got a dirty little secret. They,
(17:33):
like a lot of the good programs sc BAMA, LSU,
Urban Meyer were throwing brown bags around, and I think.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Part of this is.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Like you gotta be with nil with back in the
day brown bagging kids effort, Like recruiting is every bit
as important as the scheme. Now, the scheme comes into
play in college football in the final four or the
bowl games, when you're playing teams with equal talent. But
(18:06):
you can consistently win ten to eleven games if you
are an elite recruiter and an average schematic guy, and
if you're at a big program like you have unlimited
resources to buy coaches. So it's like, Boom, we need
to a defensive coordinator. I'll steal UCLAs Danton Lynn. Let's
say he goes to the Ravens this offseason where he's
coached before he becomes their defensive coordinator. I'm just using
(18:28):
hypothetical here. Well, okay, usc who's the best defensive coordinator
in the country. Well, this dude at Indiana looks fantastic.
He's thirty eight years old. Okay, let's go buy him.
How much you're making, bro, I'm making a million dollars. Well,
we'll give you a three year contract at seven million dollars,
not a year but total. Can Indiana match that?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Doubt it.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
We'll just pay you more than Indiana can pay you.
So you can do that in college football unlike the pros.
So I think there are more angles and elements and
variables and college football than just the like the NFL
is it's a thinking Obviously, you've got to have good players,
but Monday through Saturday is a thinking man's game. It's
(19:10):
one hundred percent of chess game. College football is more
like do we have good enough players? Because if we're
a good program, most of the teams we're playing are
not going to have the same amount of talent. Like
how many teams does Ohio State does, Oregon does?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Texas?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Right now, Georgia take the field against and see an
equal It happens more now because of conference realignment, but
still at most of a twelve game season, it used
to be like two or three. Now maybe it's four
or five. But so half of your games you are
going to out talent the roster by a wide margin.
(19:48):
They're just not gonna be able to keep up with you.
Ohio State has been keep you know, feasting on this
for a long long time. Once Urban got there and
they started recruiting. Just the level of athlete which they recruit,
especially at wide receiver, their speed relative to their opponent
is just typically night and day. Beside when they play
(20:08):
a Georgia A Harbaugh Michigan team.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
I mean, I'm recording this on Friday, you know how
them against this version of Penn State. But like the Iowa's,
the Wisconsin's, even Nebraska. The reason people are being so
critical Ohio State against Nebraska's like they don't know if
your talent bro middle cooff mailbag question. If I caught
the ball in the middle of the field and threw
(20:33):
its sideways backwards to the sideline, would the clock stop
if it was under two minutes? If you could, then
why not with ten seconds left in the game, with
no timeouts and you need ten to fifteen yards for
field goal range? Would I not catch the ball in
the middle of the field and fumble throw the ball
out a bounce? Never thought about that. So you're saying,
(20:59):
could you, like when guys lateral the ball when they're
being tackled or when someone's behind them, couldn't they just
throw that out of bounds and the clock just stop zero.
I'm not a rules expert. I don't know if there's
a rule against that. I don't know. Honestly, I don't
(21:19):
have a great answer for you, because you do make
some sense. You do bring up a valid point. I
don't know if there's a rule against that with a
clock run off or something.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Not quite sure.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I don't want to say something that is incorrect. I
don't know the answer to that. We'd have to get
Belichick on the horn. When is the merch dropping? Well,
we just I got a little phone call with Travis
Matthews next week expanding the brains. Baby, buckle up, get ready.
(21:51):
Question for the bag in European. In Europe football aka soccer,
players transfer to other teams if they do not see
a future Rinaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Why
is it not the same in the NFL? Example, Joe
Burrow is with a bad franchise, why would he extend
(22:12):
beyond his current contract?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Love the show because at the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Money talks and shit walks, and they offered him hundreds
of millions of dollars and he signed the contract and
the Bengals don't plan on letting him go, right. So
even if Joe had a wandering eye, he is under
contract and stuck. So I don't pretend to know how
(22:42):
the transferring works in soccer. Like my question would be,
if you're Manchester United and you have Rinaldo under contract
and you sell him to another team. Is it Is
it because you need them? Is it because you don't
(23:03):
see a future with the current team and it can
help you pivot? Like, I what's the mindset behind that?
I'm naive, slash, I just don't fall, I don't I
don't know. I don't get it the point of it.
But in football with a quarterback, specifically, because they do
trade other players, right if you're not going anywhere, Like
(23:24):
if the Raiders wanted to trade Max Crosby, it would
not be that crazy. It's like, hey, we get two ones,
we need to reset our franchise. We're not going anywhere.
People would understand it, even if Raider fans would be mad,
and rightfully so with the quarterback, like, Okay, I'm gonna
get let's just in this world, I'll trade Joe Burrow
to just pick a team. Let's say just let's use
(23:45):
the Raiders, and the Raiders will give me three first
round picks. Well, ultimately, my whole goal with those picks
is to find then another Joe Burrow. And the chances
that I can find Joe Burrow, I mean, hell, just
look at the college quarterbacks feels very slim than none.
So I think that's a big part of it is Ultimately,
in soccer, if you're in Manchester United or Real Madrid
(24:08):
or whoever, because you have so much money, you can
always at least have a good opportunity to buy the Rinaldo,
the MESSI, the whoever. In the NFL, the only way
you can get a Mahomes, a Josh Allen or whatever
is through the draft, and that is a total crapshoot,
as we see with all these quarterbacks becoming a disaster.
(24:33):
If you were an NFL owner or GM, would you
be opposed to an allowing underdeveloped players who may not
see the field in the regular season to get reps
needed in the spring. I believe the Rock characterized the
UFL as a developmental league, and there's a lot of
talk about quarterbacks in olignment needed the need development. Why
(24:55):
not work more closely with the UFL to increase the
quality of play in the big leagues.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
That's a good question.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I think part of it is like, let's just use
minor league baseball or the G League in basketball. The
injury rate in those sports is so much lower. So
when I invest a pick right a first round pick
in basketball, or baseball, and I send the guy up
through one.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I control those teams.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Right Like, if I'm the Dodgers and my first round
pick is in the minors, that's under my umbrella.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So the guys.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Working with them are paid by us, like the roving instructors,
the managers, like, we have a lot of control over that.
So they're doing specifically what we want them to do.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
And then the injury.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Factor, it's like it's just way less in football. Okay,
the UFL's a developmental league. You're right, I send if
I'm the Colts Anthony Richardson to the development league. Well,
it's not like I'm in control of the coaching staff.
Do I get to pick the offense? Because if they're
(26:08):
running an offense that's not my offense, what does that
do for me? What is exactly happening at practice three
or four days a week, the individual, the team, the group,
all the different work that goes on throughout the periods
of practice.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Who controls that?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Because I want if I'm Shane Seiken, I want him
doing what I want him to do. But maybe the
coach in the UFL doesn't do that, doesn't run that offense,
doesn't coach the position that way, which is why if
I was a coach, I wouldn't risk doing that. And
then the other thing is we're using quarterbacks for example,
(26:48):
because you're telling me an offensive guard wouldn't care a
linebacker or slot receiver, okay, but the quarterback, it's like,
who's blocking for him? Because if the defensive line isn't good,
every dude on that defensive side of the ball, whatever
quarterback I throw that way is going to try to
kill the quarterback. Why because that makes a name for himself.
(27:13):
So I do think there are a lot of risks
involved that aren't worth it when you've invested a high
pick and paying the guy money. If you watch bow
Nick's tape from the Panther game, I think you'll feel
better about him night and day from New Orleans. I
have not watched a snap of that game. I think
(27:33):
here's the problem, and I think most people would agree
that game's pretty irrelevant. I mean, that's how bad that
team is. It's really one of the worst football teams
over the last twenty years. So yeah, I mean it's positive.
You get game reps, you have success, you throw some touchdowns,
you don't turn the ball over. But as Sean Payton said,
essentially like that's a G League team.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
To me, I'd put more stock even if they lose
these games. If he puts good tape the next couple
weeks against the Ravens and the Chiefs, I think you
could play, you know, show stuff in a losing effort,
even if your numbers look worse, and you put way
more validity into that than you do the Panther game.
(28:18):
Because let's you use the draft analogy. When I'm evaluating
a quarterback to draft him and I look at a schedule,
I don't think I would watch the equivalent of the
Panther game. The games I would watch would be the Chiefs,
the Ravens, the Chargers. How does he look in those games?
(28:41):
Frequent listener in my mid twenties. I have been a
Bengals fan since the Carson Palmer Ojo Sinko days. There
isn't an NFL team from where I grew up. But
I'm starting to feel like I choose the wrong franchise
to be a fan of. I'm too far into it
now and we'll never switch. But I would like your
thoughts on the organ team, if you have any stories
(29:02):
about them. I don't know much about the Bengals internally,
beside obviously their owner Mike Brown is very involved. You know,
the team has not been as bad. I think sometimes
is the way they've been talked about. They were good
in the two thousands with Carson Palmer before he got injured.
(29:23):
They were very, very competitive with Marvin Lewis. I know
they couldn't win a playoff game, but they were just
a well run, good players at every position. I remember
seeing them live one year against the Raiders, thinking, like
their offensive line, this was when they had Whitworth. Their
offensive line is good, their running backs are good, their
(29:45):
receivers and tight end it was like Iffert was Eifert
was either quarterback or tight end. They had obviously Aj Green.
They were just good. And defensively they were actullent. They
were huge on the defensive line. They had Burfett, Their
linebackers were good, and their secondary was good. In the
(30:06):
team the last couple of years, I mean three years ago,
you guys won the Super Bowl. Two years ago you
went to the AFC Championship Game. There are a lot
worse teams you could roof for as long as you
got Joe Burrow. I think the big question mark is
if they go seven and ten or six and eleven
or something, are they going to fire the coach? And
(30:27):
if they fire the coach, they're gonna find themselves in
a Charger situation that all those years with Philip Rivers.
It's like, you got a really good quarterback. A lot
of people would want to coach this quarterback. But there's
a market for the coaching salaries Like Zach Taylor, let's
face it, relative to the rest of the NFL probably doesn't.
(30:47):
I bet he's not even in the top half of salaries.
So like, if you want a big time coach, like,
they're not cheap. And the Chargers battled with this forever
and what they finally do, yeah, we.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Just we need to get serious about this.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
And they gave Jim Harbaugh a ton millions upon millions
of dollars, and they gave his staff millions upon millions
of dollars, and they're gonna go to the playoffs this year,
and then they're gonna go to the playoffs next year,
and then if they do a good enough job of
building this team, like, they're gonna be a Super Bowl
contender for years to come. So if you're the Bengals
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Speaker 1 (32:57):
Is the hot commodity in NFL teams draft quarterback way
high also overpay them with no success in the NFL.
Regarding the Anthony Richardson mess and the Watson mess, Trevor
Lawrence ever gonna change with the NFL going forward. I
think this year is gonna be a litmus test because
by all accounts, most people you talk to these quarterbacks,
(33:20):
even Shador, who I like Shador, but you text around
the teams, especially a team that just doesn't need a quarterback,
a guy that just can evaluate him objectively, like, yeah,
he's a good player, he's really accurate, throws a nice ball,
but he's not a great athlete. And a lot of
his stuff, you know, he add libs a lot.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Again, I like him.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I'm just saying like, you talk to a lot of people,
they go, this guy's.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
The number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You know, historically even a guy like that might go
in the twenties, but now it feels like he's a
lock to be the first, you know, overall pick. Or
in the mix cam Ward, you talk to a lot
of scouts like, this guy's the biggest roller coaster ever. Again,
fantastic talent, but you watch him play on one given
play can look like a number one overall pick. You
can watch another player like got this take this guy
in the fourth round. So you just don't have great
(34:09):
quarterback prospects right now. Yours no chance, Beck, no chance.
Even Arch Manning.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I was talking to.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
A buddy the other day that was at the Texas
Georgia game, And do you know an underrated thing with
Arch who I can't wait to watch as a full
time starter next year, doesn't have a big arm. Honestly,
his arm's probably pretty average now, granted so was Peyton's.
But you watched him play in that Geordian like he
I think he thinks he's got a stronger arm than
(34:37):
he does. No, he's an excellent athlete. He's six foot five,
he's young, maybe he can his arm can improve.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
But like.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He's got a long long way to go before we
talk about.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Him being a top ten pick.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
My point is that when you over when you draft
these guys one, two, three that historically never would have
been drafted that high, it amplifies the pressure one hundredfold.
And that's why we've gotten these crazy situations about these
guys underachieving and failing, because it's like, if this guy
(35:11):
was a second or third round pick, we wouldn't talk
about him the same.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
There wasn't the same.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Pressure on Derek Carr when he was a second round pick,
or Jimmy Garoppolo when he was a late second round pick,
or Russell Wilson when he was a third round pick,
or Kirk Cousins when he was or Dak when they're
third fourth round picks. I think both those guys were fourth.
But now Dak, you remember, I think got a DUI
within a month of the draft. Probably hurt him around.
(35:37):
I mean, he probably would have gone a little higher.
I've seen a lot of people saying Stiking might get
fired this year if things go bad for Indy. Do
you think the Colts fire Stiking? He would get another
job somewhere else right away. Everyone seems to think that
he's a good coach. I don't understand why he would
be fired.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I'd be shocked if he was fired.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I mean, this is year two, has had him on
the brink of the playoffs with Gardner Minshew and after
watching the Texans right now, they're gonna be right in
the mix.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
So I would not prepare for Shane Stiking to get fired.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Plus, you guys, if you're a Colts fan, like your
team's gonna be competitive, Your team like last year is
gonna be right in the mix.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Where they could get weird is if Anthony Richardson is
just a total Like I keep hearing this, like, how
could you do this? This guy is the future of
your franchise. No, this guy could be the future of
the franchise. Currently he is not the future of the franchise.
He has not shown that he's the future of the franchise.
(36:40):
That's why they benched him. Doesn't mean he can't be,
but right now he is not. So I think the
question marks moving forward is that situation could get weird.
That to me like him Ballard? What's Ballard status? Is
he just a made man? If the Buffalo Bills fall
(37:03):
short again to the Chiefs or the Ravens. And assuming
Josh plays well, do you think McDermott should be gone?
I think he's a good defense, a great defensive coach,
and has reinvigorated the culture. But I question him situationally
thirteen seconds in the game, clock management issues. Who would
you hire to replace him? Although Joe Brady has done
(37:26):
a great job, I don't think he's ready to be
a head coach. It'd be real fascinating to see Josh
playing for a great offensive mind.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well at this.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Point, like why would you fire Sean McDermott for belichicker Vrabel?
Two defensive minded coaches? Which, like is their defense going
to get that much better with one of those guys?
Like Sean does a really good job, and like you said,
he's a culture guy. So it's like if you fired him,
ideally you would try to get your version of McVeigh, Lafleur, Shanahan,
(38:00):
like that type guy, Well, find me that guy. Where
does that guy exist? Because Kobiak can slow it through
the first couple of weeks is like, oh my god,
you couldn't do that. Now, Like you said, maybe you
saw Joe Brady as being the next Sean Payton. I
don't know him, doesn't feel like that's his personality, but
(38:22):
that would be the only move you could make. I
would not fire Sean McDermott. Obviously there's pressure on the
Bills to step up, right, But there's pressure on the
Ravens too, Like, what do the Ravens lose to one
of those teams? You're not firing John Harbaugh. And their
defense is terrible, and he's a defensive guy. He was
(38:42):
a dB coach. Their DBS are awful, So these are
tough situations. But I don't see how they don't. It'd
be a pretty big risk to do an offensive move
for the Bills because of it backfired and their defense
got worse, and their culture got worse. Their team actually
(39:04):
would be worse. Even if you felt like, are they more?
I mean, I think their office is good right now,
so I don't know. I would just roll with Sean McDermott.
Now you have another thirteen second type moment. You have
another one of these things, like the game against the
Houston Texans, which is a pretty big loss because if
you look at the Bills right now, if they had
(39:25):
won that game, which they should have. So they win
the Texans game, they would be instead of six to two,
they'd be seven and one. They play this week the Dolphins,
that's to win, then.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
The Colts, then the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Well, that Chiefs game, you'd be like, they're playing for
the number one overall seed, and we know how important
that is when it comes to, you know, them trying
to make a run. It's not the end all be
all because they lost at home last year. But if
you could choose, right, if you just looked at the Ravens,
Chiefs and Bills and the Steelers, it's like, do you
(39:58):
want home games or do you want road games in Jai? Anyway,
they all want to play at home.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Love the show.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I saw what you said about Rex, and I felt
for the guy after listening to him on the Pivot podcast.
The guy has certainly wanted to be back so bad
based on what he says weekend week out on ESPN.
But why nobody has given him a shot when he clearly,
at minimum can scheme on defense at an elite level?
Is it rookie coaches are afraid he will take their
(40:28):
job and outshine them.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Oh, why isn't it hired?
Speaker 1 (40:31):
As the DC our owners just scared of his personality.
Like Jerry for instance, would love to hear your thoughts.
I think sometimes in the NFL it's like the equivalent
of getting canceled. And I feel like after the Rex
situation happened with the Bills, He's an older guy who's
(40:52):
made a lot of money, so his price point is really,
really high.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
It's almost like he.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Got canceled from the NFL, like teams don't want to
mess with him. He costs so much money. Like you said,
a lot of younger coaches, he's a pretty intimidating presence,
like he's not just going to keep his mouth shut
even if he's, you know, not the number one, you know,
being the defensive coordinator. You're not the top guy on
the food chain. But is Rex at this point in
(41:20):
time really a number two? I don't really know. I
feel like Rex is either a head coach or nothing.
Now there are question marks. The way it ended in
Buffalo was really bad, I mean really bad and embarrassing.
So you have that stink on you. You have the ego
like you see it with Wink Martindale, Like people think
his ego outweighs his talent and obviously his talent as
(41:42):
a defensive coordinator. Some people think, like Bro, you don't
need to blitz that much. You can't just play man
Deman on the outside blitzing heavy all the time in college.
Question for the mailbag Raider fan from the Central Valley.
My people, I've seen enough of Pierce. I don't ever
see a world where he doesn't get out coached by
(42:03):
Andy Harbon Payton, we need to cut bait after this
year and hire a coach. I tried to get Ben
Johnson or Vrabel. Who would you your top options be
for the Raiders head coach. I had someone in the
football world tell me that they they thought Pierce would
be one and done. I listen, I don't have any
(42:26):
inside information. I'd be a little surprised you're telling me
Mark Davis. I don't know exactly what the Gruden situation
is with the lawsuit, if he has to pay him
or not, but he's obviously paying Josh McDaniels a ton
of money. I think it was reported when he fired
those two guys, Josh and Ziegler, he owed them a
combine like sixty million dollars. Now you could argue sixty
(42:49):
million in this modern day NFL world is a line item,
and obviously Mark moving to Vegas has a lot more money,
but you would think he'd give it at least two years.
I do not think he wants to go on another
coaching search. And also, then would you fire Tom to LESCo?
I don't know. I don't expect him to be fired
(43:14):
regardless how bad they are, because I also think it's
pretty easy for Mark to go, Well, we had Gardner,
Minshew and Adan O'Connell. But this always gets back to like,
how do they get a quarterback? They signed Sam Darnold
as a free agent. They I don't know what they
do seriously, because they're gonna end up winning a couple
(43:34):
games that are gonna get them out of the top.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Like to me, they are not gonna be the first
or second pick.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I think they are much more likely to be like
the sixth pick than they are the second pick. Look
at the Giants last year, awful season, but they couldn't
play with the quarterbacks because they just weren't high enough.
So the top three guys go off the board. My
guess is not really an option. I could be wrong.
(44:00):
I hope for your sake as Raider fans, I am
wrong because I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
This is.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I see no circumstances this works out. I'm obviously biased
about Brock because I'm a lifelong Niner fan, and I
feel like he's consistently shown elite processing, timing, and accuracy.
I know he's had bad games against quality opponents and
that makes people question whether he's a franchise quarterback, but
all franchise quarterbacks struggle.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
His elite skill set.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Reminds me of a lot of Breeze in how he
sustained success, not the most athletic, and didn't have an
elite arm. My question is, at what point were you
convinced that he's a franchise quarterback. He obviously didn't convince
people in San Diego and took time in New Orleans
to earn that reputation. What's your take on the Breeze
(44:51):
Prety comparison. I mean, when Breeze got in the league
when I was in high school, so his situation early
on his career, I can't even I don't even really
remember how good or bad he was. He had a
major injury, like part of his shoulder injury was a
big reason, Like if he had not been injured, they
don't end up with Philip Rivers and he leaves as
(45:13):
a free agent. He would have been their quarterback for
a while. I think, you know, Drew Brees was an
elite college player. His numbers were like pretty historic at
the time. Purdy's a better athlete than Breeze. I think
Breees a better thrower of the football, the younger version.
I think they're similar in the sense of very serious
(45:35):
cats and all in on football, and like you said,
the processing stuff. I think the hard part with Purdy
is this looming question mark, like are you gonna give
him two hundred million dollars? And I just honestly can't say, like,
I want brock Purty as my quarterback. If I'm Kyle Shanahan,
totally understand that he's by far their best option. But
(45:56):
that's where I'm just like, well, let's just keep getting
gaining more information.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
If I told you you had to you had to invest.
And this isn't an apples to apples analogy, but your
life savings into something and if you invest in the
right thing with your life savings, it would.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Fifty x your life savings.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
You would spend so much time reading, looking into it,
asking people about it before you pulled the trigger, so
and you would want more and more information. I never
understand when people rush to non like historic players, like
Brock Purty's not a historic player in terms of talent
(46:38):
and just play. He's a good player and has a
chance to be a franchise quarterback, but relative to how
much franchise quarterbacks get paid, Like do you want to
be in a Dak Prescott situation where you're just paying
a guy all this money and it's like it's hard
to build a team and he's not quite good enough,
and maybe Purty keeps getting better and I'm again I'm
pro Rock party, but once we start growing around he's
(47:01):
making fifty five million dollars a year, Like I like
my fifty five million dollars a year. Players to be
lock Pro Bowlers every year. You don't have to be
Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes or Peyton Manning. But I
want to feel pretty good, like if you're healthy, you're
going to be in.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
The Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
And he was last year, and we'll see how the
rest of the year. Like it's we still got eight games,
so they got more than half the season in front
of them. I think he just has to play well
in these bigger games. You win the division again with him?
He lights up the Rams, the Cardinals and Seattle the
(47:37):
second time he plays all these teams because right now
he just they can't afford.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
To have him turn the ball over. As one thing.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Question for the POD, what do you think the Steelers
do at the end of the year, obviously still a
lot of ball. Do they let fields walk if Russ
plays well? Sign Russ to.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
A three year contract?
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Just curious what your thoughts are. Also now, with the
injuries of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, I think this
is a best.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
A big test for Baker.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well it is, but he just signed a hundred million
dollar contract, So Baker's going to be their quarterback now
for a couple of years. I honestly have it even
you're kind of putting the cart before the horse. This
gets back to the party conversation, like, we gotta see
how this plays out, right, If Russ keep throwing multiple
touchdowns a game and they win the division, Like, yeah,
they will give Russell I almost said Russell Westbrook Russell
(48:37):
Wilson a contract extension.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Now how much money?
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Like can we sign him like two years, forty million
dollars guarantee twenty five Like I'd probably do something like that,
But am I giving Russell Wilson one hundred million dollars?
Like I gotta see a little more before I feel
comfortable doing something like that. And the other thing is
he's still getting paid a bunch of money from Denver,
So I think we got a long way to go.
(49:02):
I haven't even I haven't even crossed that bridge. Justin
Field's got benched. Justin Fields will not be on the
team next year unless he resigns for like two million
dollars to be the backup. But I don't see like
they're not giving him any substantial money to stay around.
Let's face it, like these guys have kind of shown
what they are. Mac Jones a backup. Zach Wilson is
(49:25):
a third stringer. Fields is a backup, Trey Lance a
third stringer. Is that kind of crazy that Zack Wilson
and Trey Lance are third string quarterbacks? I think I
had mentioned that on a podcast earlier when we were
like when I was rolling and I wasn't quite sure
if he was the second or third, and then I
googled it I guess technically, I mean Bronco fans, you
(49:45):
know Stidham has been their second quarterback. Uh would love
to hear your thoughts on why last year's edition with
Zach Wilson and Roberts was better than this year's. Well,
(50:05):
if they the offense that we saw in the second
half was you know that you could have a potent
passing game. I think the reason your I mean your
defense just.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Had better players. They lost a lot of depth on
the defensive line.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
And Reddick is like, I don't know, man, he's just
kind of a sack hunter, doesn't play within the construct
of the defense, doesn't really care. I mean, that was
one reason Philly turned on him.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
He runs up.
Speaker 1 (50:34):
Field, goes after the quarterback, and if he loses contain,
if he runs way by, it's like whatever, he's trying
to get my sacks, Like this isn't the NBA just
you don't just need twelve sacks to get a big contract.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Like, if you play well, people will pay you.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
You're better off having a couple less sacks and being
a good player. Like I actually think he's hurting himself
for a guy that wants a lot of money this offseason.
But I think it just gets down to their defense
was healthier and just deeper and way better. Question for
(51:13):
the bag in an era where endless online draft nerds,
I wanted your take. As a former scout, there seems
to be this notion that it's unwise to use higher
round picks on middle linebackers and that you can find
productive players in the middle or later rounds. Yet, if
you look at the best all pro guys of the
(51:33):
last several years, you'll see Queen first round pick, Rokuwan
first round pick, Bolton second round pick, Wagner second round pick,
to Mario Davis, third round pick, CJ. Mosley, first round pick,
Fred Warner third round pick. These guys have been absolute
anchors on some of the better defenses over the years.
Where do you stand with picking middle linebackers in the draft.
(51:56):
I would take a middle linebacker in the first round
if I'm confident the guy's gonna be Luke Keigley, Roquan Smith,
Fred Warner, because in twenty twenty four, that guy think
out his importance. He makes every tackle in the run
game or is a major factor in the run game.
He's gonna get you ten plus tackles in the run game. Well,
(52:18):
if they run at thirty you know, twenty eight times
a game, he's getting a third of the tackles. He
covers the tight end and the running back who you
look around the league like a lot of good pass
catching tight ends and good pass catching running backs. And
then he's the leader of your team. He's the heartbeat
of your squad. He sets the tone both from a
(52:41):
speed standpoint, when your middle linebacker's fast, you usually your
defense feels faster, and then from a physicality standpoint, when
that dude's cracking skulls. It's like you see some of
these teams with bad linebacker play, It's like God, defense
is bad, even if they have good players and other positions.
I think the hard part is is like Fred Warner
(53:02):
went in the third round for a reason. People thought
he was kind of a tweener. Like it's just hard
if people knew Fred Warner was gonna be this good,
Like Fred Warner would go in the top ten of
the draft, Like.
Speaker 2 (53:14):
Rokwan was what pick? So we picked ten? Am I wrong? There?
Speaker 1 (53:20):
He was a pretty high pick, but he was such
an elite player in college, Like Rokwan was better in
college than Fred. Obviously, Luke Keighley was what the eighth pick.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
In the draft.
Speaker 1 (53:32):
I'm just pulling up Rokwon right now. Rocann was the
eighth pick. So you've seen guys that I can't miss
guys like Rocann was.
Speaker 2 (53:42):
The eighth pick. Luke Keigley was the eighth pick. Hell
ray Lewis back in the day was a first round pick. Well,
I'm with you. I never I like.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I disagree with the Eagles philosophy that middle linebackers aren't
important to me. If I get if I get Fred Warner,
or I could get Who's the or Sauce Gardener. I
would take Fred Warner all day long, and I'll just
draft two corners throughout the drafts and hopefully one of
them becomes a solid starter. I value the middle linebacker
position more than most. Listen to the pot today about
(54:16):
arresting people who give out fruit or toothbrushes. Some guy
was giving out potatoes last night. Not sure what that
is all about, but my daughter got a potato.
Speaker 2 (54:27):
That person is a loser. That person needs help. I
went on this ran.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
If you missed it at just about you either there
are two options during Halloween. As you know, a home
that's gonna give something out. You either give out candy. Now,
I won't judge. If you want to get King Size,
if you want to get minis, if you want to
do milky ways, if you want to do fruity stuff, skittle,
sour patch, that's that's your prerogative. I'm not one to shame.
(54:55):
We all like different candies. Some people like more fruity,
some people like more chocolate. I'm not here point fingers
that way. But you either give out candy or you
turn your lights out and you give out nothing. You
do not give out potatoes, toothbrushes, fruit.
Speaker 2 (55:13):
We need, we need to send help to these people.
We really do.
Speaker 1 (55:18):
Why is NFL safety played down so much the past
few years. I grew up watching Ed Reied, Troy Paula Malo,
and then Earl Thomas and Cam Chancellor. I feel like
there's no one remotely close to those four guys. I
do think it's a lot harder to play that position.
I do think Kyle Hamilton is I mean, he's kind
(55:40):
of like this hybrid player, but he's.
Speaker 2 (55:42):
Pretty damn good.
Speaker 1 (55:44):
I mean, I think Kyle Hamilton's like, got a chance
to go to the Hall of Fame. He's twenty three
years old. I think he's a pretty special player. So yeah,
to me, I would put mean's to me, Hamilton's in
that mold of like just this hybrid star player. It
(56:05):
is hard to play because part of what made all
those guys special, I mean Earl and Cam you didn't
go over the middle of the field because you would
have to be prepared to go to the hospital or
go to the blue tent, or your season would end
or your game would end. And the physicality. Because of
the rules, it's a lot harder to play, so you're
(56:28):
more like a cornerback there. I mean, Hamilton's like this
ht he can turn into a linebacker at any moment,
and that drop ball the other day's you know, wide
plays defense. But he can play for my team any day.
And I do think back in the day when the
rules were you could light guys up like a Christmas tree,
he would have been awesome at it.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
And I think there are a lot of players like that.
Speaker 1 (56:50):
I think the forty nine ers with with Ufunga, who's
been banged up, but he would have been perfect.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
In the nineties, he would fucking split your chin open,
but you're not allowed to do that.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
Anymore.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
So you're in space playing the wide receivers on the outside,
and part of your game with those guys, I mean,
I think their most famous plays are going sideline to sideline,
obviously picking the ball, but also just contacting the offensive player. Well,
now those guys are to me are way more hesitant
to do that because they get in trouble and they
(57:23):
get they get penalties. So you could argue it's way
harder to play, you know. I think sometimes the rules,
like if you're in an industry and then all of
a sudden a regulation happens, it's like it's going to
be a lot harder to do business. Like why a
lot of these businesses like pay all these lobbyists all
that money to not have rule changes and to either
(57:50):
you know, that would slow down, neutralize, or even ruin
a business. And this would have been the number one
thing if you were dB or linebacker. They never would
have voted for this stuff, right, not in a million years.
If this was the business world, the defensive coaches, the
defensive players, they would have lobbied against this. But ultimately
(58:11):
the league doesn't want to get sued for CTE because
the big payout and they want to avoid it, and
they want to be you know, this is all you know.
Part of life is covering your ass in business, right,
no one wants to get sued. Clearly, they pretended nothing
happen forever and then they almost went too far the
other way, and college obviously has followed because they don't
(58:34):
want to. I would say, put a stop to their
honey hoole of cash flowing in so that they've even
gotten more extreme. You get a targeting and get kicked
out of the game. Nothing angers me more. It's like, guys,
most of these kids are not going to play in
the NFL. If I'm a two year starter at Texas
A and M and I'm not an NFL player, Like
(58:56):
I'm only getting twenty five games or twenty six games
in my college career, and you're gonna toss me out
of this game, and then I got to sit out
the first half.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
Of the next game.
Speaker 1 (59:05):
That that to me, you could argue the most extreme part.
It's like, okay, even if you are gonna be extroggressive,
kick him out of the game. Why does he have
to miss the next game? Thank God? If the NFL,
they couldn't go that far because the players Union. The
college players have no one fighting for them like that.
That's that's ludicrous. At this point in time, no one's
trying I think for a long period of time, and
(59:27):
this is the violence of the game in which we love.
Speaker 2 (59:29):
Like people are trying to hurt other people.
Speaker 1 (59:32):
You know, it's like UFC, like I'm not I'm not
trying to like send you to the hospital, but I'm
trying to knock you out of the game. I clearly
that has changed through the rules and I think through
the coaching. So like, no one's trying to hurt anybody.
Everyone's moving at rapid speed. If someone goes helmet to
helmet at this point in time, to me, like it's
(59:52):
basically an accident, like no one meant to do that. Hopefully,
I answered a lot of you guys questions. Appreciate everyone
for firing in the vms. Have a great weekend, and
I will talk to you soon. The volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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