December 9, 2024 • 52 mins
John is back reacting to a loaded Week 14 NFL Sunday, capped by Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs narrowly avoiding defeat to Justin Herbert, Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers on an epic Sunday Night Football matchup. Middlekauff proceeds to recap an awesome weekend of football, breaking down Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce stepping up late in the game to cap a 19-17 Kansas City Chiefs victory as the AFC West powerhouse improves to 12-1 on the season. John tips his cap to Andy Reid and co. in Kansas City for silencing the doubters this season, who have been critical of the Chiefs despite doing nothing but winning Super Bowls, and explains why the squad is “f*cking insane” as they look well on their way to another Lombardi Trophy.
Next, Middlekauff gives us some weekend NFL thoughts and talks about Saquon Barkley and the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles winning a close game against former Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young & the Carolina Panthers, Justin Jefferson, Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings defeating the struggling Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons, thoughts on Bryce Young’s improving play at quarterback and the state of the New York Giants and a “fan” flying an airplane over the stadium begging for “Mr. Mara to save the Giants.”
Then, John gives some quick thoughts on College Football and the expanded 12-team playoff ahead of some epic matchups across the sport. Middlekauff sounds off on the Alabama Crimson Tide being left out of the field, and explains why the SEC is still much more dominant than other conferences in CFB.
6:35 - SNF Reaction
28:19 - Week 14 thoughts
40:07 - Bryce Young is a decent QB in the NFL
53:03 - College Football thoughts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
My people? Hopefully everyone is having a great day, great morning,
(00:24):
great night, whenever you're listening to this. I just watched
Charger Chiefs and the Chiefs when they're ninth straight AFC
title and one another close, one score game. Mahomes made
some crazy plays down the stretch. The Chargers gave it
all they got, came up a little short, but still
(00:45):
look poised and headed toward the playoffs in a fantastic year.
One for a Hardball and the Boys. But yeah, the
Chiefs just keep on rolling, and I would say all
signs kind of point to them now with the Bills losing,
very likely to get the number one seat, and we
know how hard it's gonna be to win a game
at Arrowhead in the middle of January. So congrats to
(01:07):
Andy and we'll dive into that game. Some other stuff
around the NFL, from Bryce Young to aj Brown Poudin.
Despite the Eagles just winning every game, Cousins is just
imploding right now. I mean in the Falcons are in shambles,
and then college football, we had, we had the playoffs.
(01:28):
I did a podcast in a video yesterday on Saturday night,
reacting to the games, and so we're just we're busy,
we're working. As Maria says, you're just a professional couch
TV watcher. I'm like, yes, It's what we do around here.
We watch games, then we then we podcast about them.
(01:49):
So yeah, a lot, a lot of football talk. This week.
We will have a we'll do a deep dive on
college with my intern Jackson, who's just crushing it for
us on for Wednesday show. For sure, we'll dive in
deep to that. And other than that, we'll have a
podcast out after Monday night football Bengals Cowboys. Yeah, fired
(02:15):
up for that one. Other than that, make sure you
subscribe to three and Out on the podcast. If you
listen on Collins Feed, make sure you subscribe to the
YouTube page if you haven't yet. A lot of content
up there. Should have my second nine Holes. I posted
some golf video last week, post another one this week,
so keep an eye out for that. But before we
(02:36):
dive into some football, you know, I got to tell
you about my friends, my partners. I had a family
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(03:21):
a college football playoff game? Do you want to go
to a Monster Truck Rally? Do you want to go
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(04:01):
account readeeing the coach Jowey Jen for twenty dollars off
down on the game Time out today last minute ticket's
lowest prices guarantee. It's funny. I don't remember a championship
team like a team with legit resume, three Super Bowls
in the last five years, being more criticized about winning
(04:25):
in my life than the Chiefs. Now, we have seen
paper champs before teams pumped their chests. It's like, well,
you haven't really done anything. I remember in the peak
of the Warriors dynasty it was the Houston Rockets and
Darryl Morey used to get on as high and mighty
about James Harden being better than Michael Jordan and how
their statistics and the percentages chances of them winning the titles,
(04:49):
like you're not gonna win it one and two, Like
let's pump the brakes before you actually do anything, But
anytime you see a squad full of this many good players,
one of the greatest coaches of all time continue to
win games. And the only thing I ever hear, and
(05:09):
the only thing I ever read, and when I say read,
I meet on Instagram or Twitter, is just negativity surrounding
the Chiefs. And then you look up. They're twelve and one,
like the Bills did last week. They've clinched the division
on December eighth. They have not lost a home game
at Arrowhead. The Bills lose today, So now the Bills
(05:34):
and the Steelers both have three losses and they still
play the Steelers. If they beat they basically will ensure
that they're gonna be the home field the number one
overall seed for the playoffs. You go listen. Is this
team as good as some of their previous teams? Of
course not, But is what they're doing right now fucking insane?
(05:56):
It's crazy. I mean, it feels like every single game
comes down to literally the last possession, but that happens
to a lot of NFL teams. That happens in a
lot of NFL games. The difference with the Chiefs then
the majority of other teams is they literally win every game.
And I get it because when you get someone ultra successful,
whether it's an athlete, whether it's a team, whether it's
(06:20):
an individual in business, the haters are gonna come. Why
because it's so much easier to hate than go. This
is remarkable, what is happening. This is kind of unprecedented.
Since Peyton Manning's arms stopped working and he had to
retire Slash, no one wanted him anymore. The Chiefs happened
just dominated this division, They've dominated the AFC, and now
(06:45):
you're looking at a team again. I'm not acting like
this is the seven Patriots in the sense of it's like,
how are they going to lose? Because every week you're
watching it, in the back of your mind you think
they might lose, right, their margin for error is very slim.
Yet they always win and they're going to have home
field advantage. So here's what I know that, Yes, this
(07:08):
team's gonna struggle to score, and if they get back
to the super Bowl, they're probably gonna have to win
multiple playoff games by scoring in the high teens, low twenties.
They're not gonna win a game thirty five to thirty.
They're not built to play like that. They literally do
not play like that. But at home in January when
they're the one seed meeting, they only got to win
two games. Good luck trying to beat them. And I've
(07:30):
been saying it does feel like this is the year.
And just a couple of weeks ago when Buffalo beat them,
and you start looking at the big picture, you go, well,
maybe they would have to you know, maybe they wouldn't
end up getting the number one overall seed. But then
you have the swing of the last six hours where
the Bills, you know, I don't want to say lose
a heartbreaker because they were kind of always down and
(07:53):
Josh tried to drag them back, you know, laid an
egg early in the game that set them back and
cause them to lose the game. And then Josh House
of five touchdowns and you lose and you're kind of
scratching your head. And then the Chiefs are winning thirteen
to nothing. Then all of a sudden they don't have
the lead. They're down fourteen to thirteen. You're thinking, like God,
this is the reason Brian Day always loses. Look at
(08:15):
this hardball team. I don't know who he's throwing to.
Maconkey's nowhere to be found. It's starting running backs at
home watching the game on television. He's got Mac and
Mosa giving it all. He's got, he's got some young linebackers.
He's just got a tough squad. You're like, this is
fucking Jim Harball, tough guy, just winning with grit and toughness.
But it's like they're kind of the poor man's version
(08:37):
of the Chiefs. Herbert's really good, not quite as good
as Mahomes, and they just don't have as many playmakers
as the Chiefs. And also the other difference is like
you're just not gonna beat a mid airwhead. So while
I've been saying in pretty consistent, it does feel like
this is the year the Chiefs lose in the second
or the AFC Championship game, and then you watch today,
(09:00):
you go, I don't know, like they're gonna be at home.
I would imagine unless they have a major injury in one,
you know, leading up to one of the games, they're
going to be favored in both the games, and playing
at Arrowhead in these conditions, they are very comfortable in
those moments and in that spot, and sometimes the other
(09:20):
opponent feels a little uncomfortable so I just think, what Andy,
what veach? What Mahomes? I mean, down the stretch of
that game, on that game winning drive of just being able,
I mean, the first couple of plays of that drive
is like incompletion. Incompletion, I start thinking like are they
gonna have to punt? That crossed my mind? Are they
gonna have to punt? Then all of a sudden, he
(09:42):
pulls a couple of plays out of his rs. That's
what the guy does. I think both these two quarterbacks
to night like, if you appreciate football, if you admire football, like,
this is not gonna be some big ten thirty eight
to thirty five shootout, That's not how these teams play.
But if you can't watch the those two guys play
in big spots and go, those two guys are badasses.
(10:04):
Those two guys could play for my team any day.
And I get Mahomes has a lot of hate just
because people are tired of them, but like you can't
watch them and go, this guy's remarkable. I mean that
game winning play. Even Collins Wor said it for him
to juke that guy out, running full speed at him,
cut back, and then throw the little lollipop to Kelsey
(10:25):
to ice the game. I mean, that's why the guy's
got three championships and is going to be favored this
year to get another one. Now does that mean it's
gonna happen? Brady won six and he lost a lot
of time in the playoffs. Hell, he got beat at
home by the Rex Ryan Jets. So you're not guaranteed
anything but the championship medal, the championship pedigree. They're just
(10:49):
ability to make huge plays, because that's how you win
all these tight one score games, one ten of them
right that come down to the final drive. It's because
they make a play or two when they have to
on third and five, on third and six. I mean,
what Andy did on that final play, I guess it
wasn't technically the final play, the play before they started
kneeling it is. He easily could have just ran it.
(11:12):
He could have just ran it and taken off forty
seconds and give it back to the Chargers with like whatever,
a buck ten and go justin, can you beat us
with this random tight end? Eighty four, who actually looks
not bad. Johnston, the TCU kid who actually made some plays,
had a touchdown tonight. Palmer who kind of like as well,
But can you beat us on the road? Can you
(11:33):
drive forty or fifty yards? I don't know if you can't.
And one of the reasons that benefited the Chiefs on
that final drive is I don't quite understand what dicker
the kicker was doing. You know, they kind of got
a little cute. He tried to hit the line drive,
it landed way too early. They get it at the
forty I mean, that's a pretty massive mistake, especially with
(11:56):
an offense who I still believe would have gotten field
goal range. But if they didn't get as close as
they did and they were forced to kick like a
forty eight fifty yard field goal with that guy easily
could have missed. I'm that guy. I have to look
up exactly what the kick was. What twenty eight thirty yards?
I mean, should have missed the doink? Your heart kind
of drops and then you kind of see it once
it kind of bounced in even before they put their
(12:18):
hands up. But what a play by Herbert and ninth
trade titles. You know, we talked so much about culture,
We talked so much about you know, drafting the right
type guys, building the right type team. Listen, if you
like football. I don't see how you don't admire everything
the Chiefs stand for, how they do it, who they're
(12:42):
doing it with. Right, It's one thing when you just
have a team that's unfair. It happened sometimes in baseball,
and we'll talk about that contract that happened the night
a little bit later. But you go, this is stupid.
I understood why everyone hated the Kevin Durant Warriors. You're like,
this isn't even fair. That's not this Chiefs team. I mean,
he's got DeAndre Hopkins out there that anyone could add,
(13:06):
Juju Smith, a rookie. He's handing the ball to Samaji
p Ryan and Kareem hunt So and they have multiple
defenders on the back end injured. Just awesome. I mean, Andy,
these are big moments in a dynasty because it's a
(13:27):
huge muscle flex. It's a huge muscle flex. It was
open for people to steal it, and the Chiefs somehow
are they going to be the number one seed. It's
gonna be a long flight home for the Bills. And
on the flip side of when they came storming back
in that game down thirteen to nothing and kind of understandable,
I mean, when I got done recording with Colin, I
(13:50):
go out to the living room and I think it
was it was three to nothing. It was three nothing
Chiefs and Herbert had already I think rolled his ankle
or something because they had taped more. Then he got
hit in the knee I think by Bolton, and he's
down on the ground. He's limping around. The backup has
to come in for a play. He just looks bruising, battered.
(14:11):
It's thirteen to nothing at half, and you're like, listen,
this this guy like twenty to three written all over it,
where they just kind of choke them out like a
bowl constrictor. It's just not the Charger's night. You hold
your head high, tough spot, and then they come storming
back and you go that third quarter. It's like, this
is why Ohio State with Ryan Day always gets their
(14:31):
ass kicked by this guy in this culture because they
are just simply tougher than you. The toughness that the
Chargers have under this guy, it'd be like having me
as your bodyguard for like a couple of years. I
don't really know what I'd be able to do to
protect you, and then firing me and getting Seal Team six.
That's what it has to feel like, going like from
(14:54):
Brandon Staley to Jim Harbaugh. It has to be one
of the single greatest upgrades in the his history of sport,
not football, not the NFL. I'm talking sport. How tough
this team is, how well coached this team is. They
should not be this good. Look who they're playing with,
(15:15):
and it all starts with the coach, who is a
certified badass. And one thing I think Jim has done
these last couple of years at Michigan, and you see
it now, he's calmed down a lot. He used to
be more of a wild card up and down, and
he does feel I'm not saying he's andy in terms
of his body language and the way he carries himself,
(15:35):
but he's much closer to that than he is to
what you know. He used to be like a Kirby smart,
like what Nick Saban was when he was younger, just
a maniac on the sideline. And he's calmed down and
I think his team reflects it. And like I said
with Mahomes, if you watch Justin Herbert play and your
(15:56):
takeaway isn't this guy is freaking awesome. We're not watching
the same sport. If we were having beers sitting at
a bar, I don't know if I'd be able to
talk to you for long. And I get it. We
argue over players. It's what makes this also fun. And
some players you can have legitimate arguments about Dak Prescott,
(16:18):
brock Purty, but like at this point, if you watch
Herbert play under Harball, I don't know what the argument is.
Obviously he's an elite talent. His toughness is proving this
year to be second to none, and then his just
straight ability on the road in Kansas City. It's like,
holy fuck, this guy's good to me. This franchise like
(16:40):
they're gonna have problems, like probably not gonna be able
to win a playoff game. It's gonna be very difficult
depending on the matchup. Maybe they can keep it close
for a half, but they're not gonna have enough on offense.
To me, if you watch the Penn State Oregon game
first round, if you're drafting, like pick early twenties, Tyler Warren,
the tight end has the Chargers written all over them.
(17:01):
Can you imagine that guy on that offense in this
draft one position it's completely loaded with is running backs
for when I've talking to scouts watching football, my guess
is there'd be eight to ten guys go in the
top one hundred during that game in the second half
when they were coming back and they're forcing to like
(17:23):
give Gus Edwards carries. I google their picks. They have
all their picks, so to me, in the second or
third round draft, one of these running backs. Iowa has one,
Washington has one, Ohio State has one. Beside even genty
the ASU kid Scataboo, get one of these guys like
they are tight end and a running back away from
(17:44):
building this team, Like they're never gonna draft wide receivers high.
That's not the way Harbaugh operates. And it was so
clear at the end of the game when Mac takes
out Bosa. It's like, remember when we're like, I wonder
what players they're gonna get rid of, it was four,
the two receivers and the two linemen. It's like, well, yeah,
no shit, he kept the two linemen. Jim Harbaugh and
(18:07):
their defense is the number one scoring defense in the NFL.
It's awesome. It's really good, and they're gonna need some
help on offense. McConkey good pick all, good pick, but
they need help a running back. They need, you know,
either a big outside wide receiver, which he's just not
gonna invest high. Ind I just have a hard time
(18:29):
seeing him do that. So if he's not gonna do that,
take the tight end and you know he looks like
six six out there. Give Herbert a massive target. That's
what Mahomes has used for you know, six seven years now.
So props to the Chargers this last stretch. To me,
they just got to win two of their last four games.
They're in the playoffs. They should be able to do that.
(18:52):
It doesn't get much more difficult than playing the Chiefs
at Arrowhead. They're eight and five, they won five games
last year. Their next game is the Buccaneers at home,
then they get the Broncos at home, then they go
to the Patriots and to the Raiders. So to me,
if they win one of these next two games, they're
probably sweeping those last two. So they would go three
(19:14):
to one and they would win eleven games. But I
think when you look at their schedule, they're basically a
lock for ten games. And since they like that's that's
an awesome accomplishment. Wild card and they're gonna be a
team with Jim Harbad justin Herbert that no one's gonna
want to play. But it's tough for them to run
the ball, not because their offensive line isn't good, not
(19:35):
because their teams not tough because their running backs kind
of suck with JK. Dobbins being at home, and then
when they're forced to pass, like it's just difficult. They
don't have that much skill. Jim Harbad because of his personality,
and he's good at this. He's big at talking a
guy up and giving him almost fake confidence. Like Quentin
Johnson does not have very good hands, but he clearly
(19:56):
is a very skilled player. And Harball all year long
has has propped him up, propped him up, and tonight
he came through. He's let him down in some games.
I wouldn't even say let them down. Balls are going
to go through his hands. That's what happens when you
don't have great, you know, ability to catch. Some people
believe like if a wide receiver is questionable hands, they're
(20:18):
off the board because literally their job is to catch.
I think some people in the scouting world and even
coaches you know there are like DK Metcalf does not
have great hands hell. Terrell Owens never had great To me,
there are physical freaks that you make exceptions for. Now
DK went at the end of the second round. Terrell
was what like a third or fourth round pick. Quinn
(20:40):
Johnson was drafted in the first round. Now you do
see glimpses of like his size, his physical ability at
a touchdown tonight, Like he's very, very talented, but when
catching is to coin flip, it can be difficult to
rely on a player that probably is your most skilled
guy out there. Now. Luckily like they just inherit him.
(21:01):
You just keep him around, keep working with him. But
he kind of is what it is. Other than that,
I'm a sucker. Like listen, the Big Ten Championship game
was really fun. What was the final score like forty
five to forty or forty two to thirty eight or
whatever it was, and just seeing touchdown have to touchdown,
Like listen, I have no problem with those games. I'm
(21:23):
a sucker. Maybe it's the football I grew up on
in the nineties. Like I don't mind a game like
Sunday Night, a game that just feels at any moment,
every single player that's tackled is going to need help
up off the ground for the sport that has, you know,
officiated and regulated the violence out of it. It's a
(21:46):
lot different game than in the nineties and the two thousands,
but there are still moments and stretches and games like
tonight that just feel like this is a violent game.
This is a game where if you're an offensive player,
you better have your chin strap buckle in both spots
because you are going to get hit. If you're a
running back coming downhill, there are going to be three
people coming downhill at you. Everyone is flying around, and
(22:10):
I appreciate that tight football. I don't need every one
of my games to be thirty one to twenty eight.
I was fine with that. Some might call it ugly football.
Some might call no offense. I call that just like
I call that the NFL so enjoyable. Congrats to the Chiefs.
Nine straight AFC titles and looks like they're headed straight
(22:31):
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Speaker 1 (24:22):
Okay, let's get some weekend thoughts. It hit me today
at halftime of it was three to nothing. I'm looking
for the final score. Jacksonville won ten to six. You
have to be a psychopath if you listen. If you
are a fan of one of these teams, it is
(24:43):
what it is. You watch your team, even if you
gamble like you're probably gambling on other games as well.
You don't need to have that game on television. If
you watched the Jags Titans in its entirety and you're
not one a fan of one of those teams, or
don't have a lot of money, like if you put
(25:05):
five dollars on the game, I'm sorry. You don't need
to watch the game. You're nuts, You're a cycle. But
I love football. That is one of those games where
I don't think any human being will ever talk about
it ever again, watching Mac Jones and Will Levis, it
was three to nothing at halftime. This morning Slate was tough.
(25:26):
This morning Slate really was, especially coming off all the
college games. We had the SEC Championship go to overtime,
we had the Oregon Penn State game, which was awesome
in the second half, and we had the ACC Championship game,
which was pretty incredible. I had a walk off whatever
fifty five yard field goal to then go to like
Bucks Raiders. You're like, I'm trying to get into this
(25:47):
is this It's like Eagles Carolina who. It is the
craziest part about wide receivers. No matter they're shape or size.
They could be small, skinny guys, they could be tall,
big guys. It does not matter. They all come back
to the same human being. The Eagles have won nine
(26:12):
straight games, tying a record in the franchise. If they
win next week, which is a tough game against Steelers,
they will break a franchise record for ten straight wins.
That's an incredible accomplishment. If you win like five straight
games in the NFL, you're gonna be in pretty good
shape because most time you're over under five hundred by
(26:33):
a game or two. So if you go on a
five game winning streak, you're more likely to be six
to seven games over five hundred. You go on a
nine game winning streak, you're whatever, eleven and two. I mean,
it's just you're in cruise control. Get after the game.
A J. Brown, who is highly paid, who is one
(26:53):
of what I thought, one of Jalen's best friend. Listen,
the Eagles passing game isn't very good. It isn't very good.
Jalen Hurts is not exactly Herbert or Mahomes from the pocket.
That's not the way he's gonna play. And they haven't
really had to because Saquon is dominating. Saquon is headed
for a two thousand yard season. Usually when you have
a two thousand yard rusher, you're gonna have a lot
(27:16):
of passing performances that the guy's number is gonna start
with a one one point fifty one sixty one twenty
cause the other guy's going for one hundred and eighty
two hundred yards and for aj Brown, depending on what
tweet or Instagram you see, some headlines are a little salacious,
but like he's just kind of acting like a diva.
(27:38):
Like the whole point of this is to win, and
the whole point of a player is to be a
winning player and a productive player and get paid. Well,
he's been a winning player, he's been a productive player,
and he's literally paid really high. Yet the moment you
don't get the ball as a wide receiver, they all
do this, they start moping. It's like it isn't the
(27:59):
whole like you are an incredible position, like you were
in position to literally compete to win the Super Bowl.
It's crazy. I just I don't get it. But he's
not alone. This happens to them all. It's like a
character trade of them, maybe because they're isolated out there.
I know cowards always have the theory they're like the
NBA player of football. But how could you be mad? Like,
(28:23):
who cares? You're running some routes, you're winning games, You're
netting a couple million dollars per game. Life is good.
One game that actually I was excited to watch in
the morning window was Falcons Minnesota, which I think was
the best game on paper and one of the more
(28:44):
entertaining games till about the fourth quarter. And in that game,
Cousins who now is not throwing a touchdown in four
straight games and I think has seven or eight interceptions
over that period of time. He had two interceptions today
and it's just playing bad football. He does not look good.
Some people in the NFL. I was texting during the
College of Games. We ended up talking about NFL stuff.
(29:07):
Some people think he's cooked, and I think if you've
watched in the last couple of weeks, you could come
to that conclusion. I remember former GM told me about
a quarterback they signed this, you know, probably fifteen twenty
years ago. But when the guy was running a team
and he signed an older quarterback and he said, you
know what, John, in training camp, the guy looked like
(29:27):
his former you know, Pro Bowl self. And then the
first month of the season, I was like, we might
have had the signing of the off season. He's like,
but you know what happened. As the season went on,
his thirty six thirty seven year old body started a show,
and he slowly became one of the worst players in
the NFL. And it was a disaster, and I do
(29:50):
wonder if Cousin's coming off this injury early on in
the season, once he kind of got his footing looked up,
look solid, looked good, made some plays Falcons, We're decent.
And then as time went on, his age kind of
caught up to him. Because remember he hurts his achilles
last year with whatever, six seven weeks ago, five six weeks,
(30:11):
does not do anything all off season up until training camp,
so he's kind of fresh. Well now he's not fresh anymore,
and he's looking old. And then Greg Olsen as he's
throwing interceptions, it's kind of unraveling. There's seasons literally unraveling.
They've lost four straight games, they're six and seven, they're
not even in first place in their division. The Tampa
Bay Buccaneers are. And it kind of comes up like
(30:35):
should they go to Pennix? Is it time? And Greg
Olsen's like, yeah, I don't think they will turn on
them this fast, turn on them this fast. We're December eighth,
we've lost four straight games. This is not a player
that has any equity with anybody. He has no equity
with the fans, he has no equity with these coaches,
(30:56):
Raheem Morris literally said when asked, why is your coaching
staff so big, he said, because we're gonna win. And
when you win in this league, your coaches get poached,
and we want to have backup coaches on our staff,
so when our coaches get poached, we don't have to
retrain guys, which in theory makes a lot of sense.
(31:16):
The problem is no one's poaching anyone from the Atlanta Falcons.
They fucking suck in the Minnesota Vikings. On the flip side,
you saw a quarterback who looks like he's coming into
his own. Sam Darnold looks like a forty million dollar
quarterback in the NFL through five touchdowns to day, scrambled around,
makes huge plays, throws the ball downfield. The Vikings two
(31:38):
best players constantly get the ball because Sam can get
them the ball. And we talked about the worst contract
in the history of sports for the NFL, Deshaun Watson.
You could say one of the great moves in recent
business in football is letting Cousins walk off at Achilles
(31:58):
for one hundred million dollar that you didn't have to
give him to then sign Sam Donald for ten million dollars.
So if you just look at it purely on guaranteed money.
You guarantee him ten Cousins gets one hundred. That's a
ninety million dollar difference. And your guy, you are whatever,
you are, twelve and two, twelve and two, that'd be
(32:21):
three games. You're eleven and two, and he has thrown
twenty eight touchdowns and you currently are right behind Detroit,
who's having the greatest season they've ever had. You're one
game back and they played this week the Bills, and
you play them the last game of the season. So
if you can just hold, serve like you got a shot.
(32:44):
And Sam Donald right now has to be on the
short list of best quarterbacks in the NFC. He's playing fantastic.
And when you just watch him play, like, I just
don't see how you let this guy walk. He's twenty
seven years old, he's got a huge arm, he can move.
He's clearly high character guy. He knows your offense. Okay,
it's always my thing with interceptions, like, oh I throw
(33:04):
some picks, Well does he make up for it? Well? Yeah,
he's got a three to one interception ratio. Wow, live
with that all day long. It's one thing if you
throw twelve interceptions you only throw twenty two touchdowns, like
that's a problem if you throw fifteen interceptions, like, damn,
that's a lot. Well, I also throw forty touchdowns. It's like, oh,
I can live with that. I can win with that.
So at this point in time, Atlanta is insane to
(33:30):
let Cousins go down with the ship. Anyone that's watched baseball, like,
it's time to go to the bullpen. And if you
can hear, if you're listening to this on the podcast version,
I'm tapping my left arm, it's time to go to
the lefty. What do you gotta lose now? But more games, like,
you can't function with this guy? Is Michael Panick's gonna
(33:52):
be awesome if you dis insert him right now. I'm
not saying that. But you can't keep rolling this out.
You cannot. And this was the part about this whole
scenario of like, well, when we think Panix is ready,
we'll just ship Cousins out, Ship Cousins out. One, he's
got a no trade clause. In two. He averages like
(34:13):
forty plus million dollars a year. Find me a team
that could watch the last four games of a thirty six,
thirty seven year old who has always been a polarizing
player and now feels like his arrow is pointed straight
into the ground. Is going to trade to give you
a six round pick for this guy to pay him
that much money. If you told me Cousins made eleven
(34:36):
million dollars, okay, yeah, someone would take a flat. He
makes forty plus million dollars next year. Who is trading
for that guy? Like, it was just this move. It
was a head scratcher at the time when they did
their situation. It just feels it's backfired. I understood why
they signed Cousins pretty desperate, but like I think a
(34:58):
rule of thumb in the business world and just life,
be very very careful when you make deals out of desperation. Right,
You're not always gonna have total leverage. You're not always
gonna be Juan Soto doing a deal, But like, try
to be able to have a little bit of levity.
Try to be able to take a deep breath and
just see the big picture. They did not. They were
(35:19):
so desperate for a quarterback. Here's one hundred million dollars
and now we're thirteen games into the season and Cousins
is killing them. Talk about a guy who's not killing
them is this has to be one of the better
comeback stories in recent memory because of how bad this
guy was when he played, Like, there is no way
(35:42):
to watch this guy. Let's even throw away his rookie year,
let's just watch early on this season, you had to
have the thought like, is Bryce Young gonna be out
of the NFL? Like is Bryce Young not an NFL player?
If you had that statement or that conversation with somebody,
if you just watched half of them somewhere in the
first three or four weeks, you would not have been crazy.
(36:05):
That was the only conversation to really have, Like it's crazy,
how awful this player is, this version that we have
seen since he's come back. After Andy Dalton got in
the car accident, I thought, like the first couple of weeks,
I got a fun story. Like today, I thought he
was good today. His ability to like scramble around and
(36:25):
make plays, this is what Sam Darnold is doing such
a good job of. Obviously, as a quarterback, you got
to be able to sit there and hit basic passes,
a wheel route, an out route, a slant route, you know,
just be able to do basic football things at the
NFL level. So sit in the pocket a couple steps, boom,
hit a guy, or get the ball out and put
(36:46):
it in position where the guy can catch it right
then it's onto the receiver, get open, all that stuff.
But you gotta be able to do that. Welcome to football.
A lot. I would say half your passing intems, especially
on second and third and long, you're gonna be moved
around little bit, whether one of your offensive line gets
smoked and you kind of got a scramble, or you
just naturally have to move out of the pocket to
(37:07):
keep a play alive. And you're watching him play right now,
and you're going, this little dude is a playmaker. Where
was We saw no shades of this? And today he
made a winning throw. He made a throw that should
have won them the game. And Xavier Leaguett, who's got
one of the great accents in the history of humans,
(37:30):
who also had a couple drops today, just dropped the ball,
which you know, I kind of look like catch, look
like a drop. The ball definitely hit the ground. Did
he have full control of it? They didn't. They called
it essentially, you know, they called it an incompletion that
he dropped the ball, but Bryce hit him in the
hands and if he catches that ball, like, the Panthers
(37:51):
win the game. And it's no shame one if you're
the Eagles being in a game with the Panthers. They're
literally in the game with everyone. And whenever I hear
someone say like, and this was talked about all your long, Oh,
it's like they got the Panthers as one of their
last games. Well yeah, four or five weeks ago. That
was a locke w Like they're a real team right
(38:13):
now and it's because of him. And I don't know
what happened. I don't know if the lights, some you know,
light went off in his head, whether he just gained
his confidence, maybe he stopped giving a shit whatever other
people thought. Maybe he just kind of relaxed. Maybe he
just said, screw it, I'm just gonna go back to
my Alabama days and just play. Not think I have
(38:35):
no clue, but whatever he did, whatever they did to
infuse some of this belief, Like, this guy looks like
a real player. I mean, this guy looks like someone
you can compete to win games with. So I think
he deserves the most credit because it People can try
(38:57):
to give you confidence, people can build you up, but
eventually you got to go out there and do it.
And right now he's doing that and little fucker's making
some play, so he's fun to watch today. The Giants.
Whenever this happens, it's usually the end for everyone involved
except the guy that owns the team, whether that's it's
(39:21):
usually in baseball or football, because it's an outdoor arena
and someone rents a little puddle jumper and they print
something behind it and the thing flies over the stadium.
And today before the Giants game or they lost again,
they flew a plane that said, please, mister Mara, fix
(39:42):
this dumpster fire. And at first I said, wow, this
is typical. I've seen this before, like when I was
in the Bay Area. It happened in that I think
the Jim Tom Suley year. It happens when things are
going really bad. And then I started thinking, who in
New York talks like that, Please mister Mara, fix this
dumpster fire? If I found someone from Queen's or you know,
(40:08):
Long Island or Jersey, some big Giants fan, not in
a million years would they talk like fans don't talk
like that. That feels you know. My theory on this,
John Mara paid for that John Mara had that up
there because it's been well reported. John Marr does not
(40:29):
want to fire these guys. He doesn't want to, and
I understand like he doesn't. Going through a search has
to be the big pain in the ass. And he
hired these guys because he believed in them. They were
a big part of the Buffalo Bills regime that turned
the franchise around. I believe in you guys, and it
couldn't be going any worse. They lost today to the Saints,
(40:50):
a team that also sucks fourteen to eleven. I mean,
the Giants are really really rough. Watch their offensive line
is horrendous. Whenever I looked up, they were on one
of the boxes. I kept seeing Joe Shane. He was
sitting there in the box like with his with his binoculars,
like he's a scout, you know, he's scouting around. It's like, Joe,
(41:11):
I can't imagine one thing I would never miss about
working in the NFL. When you're part of just a
god awful team and you have to pretend like we
got a chance, Like no, we got no chance to
beat anybody. Honestly, we might not be able to beat
Ohio State, Notre Dame or Oregon. Right now, we stink
(41:32):
and I got blood on my hands as the guy
that built this thing. So Joe Shane, I think John
Marr is making it look so ugly. Again, this is
just theory I'm throwing out there. Then it makes it
a little easier, like, look, fans are turning on me,
they're buying planes. I know this if I had the means,
and who knows. I have no clue what it would
cost to pay that puddle jumper to fly around for
(41:54):
an hour before the game. Maybe it's not as expensive
you think, maybe cost a couple grand, but let's just
maybe it's fifty grand. I have no clue. I couldn't
even I wouldn't even know where to start. But John would.
He knows a lot of people in aviation why he
hasn't been to a commercial airport probably in his entire life.
And if you're him, you want to make it look
even worse. It's why I go back to that video
(42:15):
that came out this offseason of him sitting there saying
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Well, if
Joe Shane and day Ball had the final say on
everything in what world? If you were in their shoes.
Would you look at the guys in the NFL films
and be like, yeah, leave that on there. Yeah, just yeah,
put put hbo. Yeah, give it to him. Just let
him play that to the world. Yes, that's that's gonna play. Well,
(42:39):
that's gonna yeah, that's a good idea. Oh of me laughing.
That's Sakawa. He's not going to the Eagles. He's not
going to the Eagles with a smile. In what world
if you were Joe Shane, would you have given the
thumbs up? I felt, and I've said it from the
moment that I started watching that show, that felt like
John Marrow wanted some of that stuff out there, Like, hey, listen,
I'm trying to be the good guy. I'm not you know,
(43:02):
Al Davis in two thousand and eight, I'm not trying
to fire people every couple of years. But listen, I
screwed up. I screwed up, and I might have to
do it again. So you guys are all gonna call me,
you know looney now that every two couple of years,
I'm just fire or fire. I don't want to. I'm
trying to hire the right guy, but I keep hiring
the wrong people, and I want you to see the incompetence.
(43:22):
I'm dealing with it right now. I told him, I
spoke for all you guys. I won't be able to sleep.
My guy middlecough up and like tal while he's recording
a podcast, said Saquad's gonna chatter records this year. He's
going to dominate in everyone on social media. Told those
guys at the volume, Middle coff, this guy's an idiot.
Come on, he's gonna dominate. Yeah, he is, and now
(43:43):
he might be headed toward like Eric Dickerson Barry Sanders records.
I didn't think it was gonna be that good, but
holy shit, just broke Leshawn McCoy's record December eight. I
just wonder if John Mora is the guy throwing kerosene
on this fire because he does not want to look
like an idiot. And anytime you fire people over and over,
(44:06):
people are just gonna say that it's you. And it
might be. But I do think he's trying to do
the right thing. I understood why he hired those two guys.
It is not worked. The GM is completely over his head.
The team sucks. I mean, they are terrible. I saw
a clip I think on YouTube of Brian Baldinger. I
(44:31):
don't know he call into like Rich Eisen Show or
I don't know where I maybe I saw it on
Instagram where he's like, listen, I played offensive line. I'm
not trying to be this raging you know what a
hole here, but I think the game that Evan Neil
played against the Dallas Cowboys is the worst game I've
seen played by any player this year in the NFL.
(44:52):
And this is the guy that watches All twenty two
every game every week and he's like, listen, I'm not
I had some cutups. I didn't even put him out
on Twitter. I'm not trying to be that guy. I'm
not trying to kick the eye when he's down. Maybe
he's just injured, but this guy is the worst player
currently in the NFL playing. I mean, he played the
worst game I've seen this year by any offensive lineman.
(45:14):
That's what they're rolling out. So I just I think
the Giants got issues, and I think John Mohra knows it,
and I think he's trying to set up a situation
where you can fire everybody and almost make it look
worse before the offseason even starts. A couple quick things
(45:35):
on college football. We did a video reaction on Saturday
night after the championship games. We now have the bracket,
which I'll get me and intern Jackson will go over
on Tuesday and break it down. I mentioned this to Colin.
I think anyone with a brain agrees there is no reason,
(45:58):
I mean none, to go college basketball style. You're locked
into your bracket, right, which in college basketball can be
awesome if there's a huge upset and you're a team
and you get a shittier team, you get a huge break.
In football, use the NFL we reseed. So if you're
the number one overall seed and the seventh seed upsets
(46:22):
the two seed, you play them in the next round.
You're not locked into a bracket. And I think when
you look at this bracket that Oregon, who had the
best season this year in college football. They're the only
team that did not lose a game. They beat two
of the best teams in the country in Ohio State
(46:43):
and Penn State. And they beat Penn State essentially as
a road game on Saturday night in Indianapolis, and they were
a big before Penn State kind of rally to come
back for them having to play the winner of Ohio
State and Tennessee, while boys in Arizona State, you could argue,
get easier games. To me is insane. What Oregon should
(47:08):
get is whoever is the lowest seed remaining after the
first round games. That's who they should play to not
be locked into a bracket. So before we get into
all the other stuff that has to happen. And the
other thing is Alabama, I have no problem with them
not making the tournament, though I do believe that the
(47:29):
SEC is in a different universe than the ACC. So
saying I got three losses, you got two losses, you
got one loss in the regular season, I got three.
I am playing so many more NFL players on a
weekly basis than you are. Honestly, it's not even close.
So us trying to compare. How do you do that?
(47:51):
Or it's pretty easy in the NFL, like the Atlanta
Minnesota game, the Steeler Bengal game, we all view it
kind of as equals, even though some records are better.
It's all hard. That's not the case in college football.
And if I ran the ACC and I was George Sank,
like listen, we in really Ohio State, Oregon and Penn
state rating for the Big Ten in Michigan are carrying
(48:13):
this sport. Our games do by far the biggest numbers,
And unlike the NFL, where we're all under the same umbre.
So if I'm the Raiders or I'm the Patriots and
I suck and you're the Chiefs and you're the Lions
and your games are doing Sunday night and Monday Night
and huge primetime games, we're all in the same world.
(48:34):
We're all profiting from it equally. That's not the way
college works. Like the SEC, we make different money than
the ACC, than the Big Ten. We're all kind of
independent that way, and then we get huge raises or
huge bonuses based on the college football playoffs. If I'm
the SEC moving forward, like everyone's arguing right now, why
(48:56):
play tough games anymore? Which they're basically talking about out
of conference games when the reality is Alabama didn't make
the playoffs because they lost to Vanderbilt in Oklahoma. You're
just trying to make an excuse. But I would say
I need a guarantee amount of teams every single year
because the sport is being put on our backs. Google
(49:16):
the ratings this year. The reason for this explosion and
interest in our sport really started with Save in the
last fifteen years, but now is being carried by us
these night games for ESPN, which is one of the
great television deals probably since like nineteen ninety three when
Fox bought the NFL. But I can't have one more
(49:37):
team than the ACC, like that shit ain't gonna fly
for me. So we either figure this out or fuck
we'll go our own way because this will this is
not good business for us, and you need us more
than we need you, and you guys all know that.
So I think Greg Zankee, like, we've got to figure
(49:57):
some things out, and this is where I think the
Big Ten and the ACC start going. We need guarantees
how many teams we're getting in every year, and ideally
it'd be unwritten, but if we got to get in
writing and let the world know we don't care because
this sport doesn't function without us that big new game,
which is mainly Ohio State this year, and all the
(50:19):
SEC games are the games that are rating. No one
is watching Miami play North Carolina, nobody is watching Utah
play Kansas State relative to those games, So like, are
we all in this together? Kind of not really, but
where we make our huge, huge money is these playoffs,
(50:40):
and we can't carry the sport for three months to
then get asked out at the end for the ACC
where Clemson, Florida State, and Miami and North Carolina would
leave in a New York minute to join the SEC
so fast your head would spin. But they have some
crazy deal that they can't even buy out of. They
(51:02):
want no part of it because they know this is
where the cash flows. But then when it's time to
get our big bonuses, we get screwed. You can see
problems in the head wind coming and right now they
can't technically do anything because I think, in fairness to them,
they were so cocky and arrogant that they thought for
sure they they probably thought they were gonna get five
(51:23):
teams and then dust edtles and they only get three.
And you got a school like Indiana in the Big
ten getting an extra school. It's gotta piss them off.
And usually when you're pissed off in business, and this
is not something that you're just gonna get over in
a couple of days. It's gonna create change. And you watch,
I bet the SEC it's one thing to make a
(51:45):
stink like putting out press releases in tweet. It's another
thing to like, we're gonna need to change on this.
We're out and I would expect something bold to happen
like this offseason. Appreciate everyone listening. I will see you
tomorrow after the Monday night football game. It's the Cowboys
(52:05):
and the Bengals. I think. I think the Cowboys mangles,
so it should be Bengals. Maybe could be the Browns.
I guess the Browns play today. I don't know. I
don't really care, but i'll see after the money in
the game. Have a great day. See you the volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
My people? Hopefully everyone is having a great day, great morning,
(00:24):
great night, whenever you're listening to this. I just watched
Charger Chiefs and the Chiefs when they're ninth straight AFC
title and one another close, one score game. Mahomes made
some crazy plays down the stretch. The Chargers gave it
all they got, came up a little short, but still
(00:45):
look poised and headed toward the playoffs in a fantastic year.
One for a Hardball and the Boys. But yeah, the
Chiefs just keep on rolling, and I would say all
signs kind of point to them now with the Bills losing,
very likely to get the number one seat, and we
know how hard it's gonna be to win a game
at Arrowhead in the middle of January. So congrats to
(01:07):
Andy and we'll dive into that game. Some other stuff
around the NFL, from Bryce Young to aj Brown Poudin.
Despite the Eagles just winning every game, Cousins is just
imploding right now. I mean in the Falcons are in shambles,
and then college football, we had, we had the playoffs.
(01:28):
I did a podcast in a video yesterday on Saturday night,
reacting to the games, and so we're just we're busy,
we're working. As Maria says, you're just a professional couch
TV watcher. I'm like, yes, It's what we do around here.
We watch games, then we then we podcast about them.
(01:49):
So yeah, a lot, a lot of football talk. This week.
We will have a we'll do a deep dive on
college with my intern Jackson, who's just crushing it for
us on for Wednesday show. For sure, we'll dive in
deep to that. And other than that, we'll have a
podcast out after Monday night football Bengals Cowboys. Yeah, fired
(02:15):
up for that one. Other than that, make sure you
subscribe to three and Out on the podcast. If you
listen on Collins Feed, make sure you subscribe to the
YouTube page if you haven't yet. A lot of content
up there. Should have my second nine Holes. I posted
some golf video last week, post another one this week,
so keep an eye out for that. But before we
(02:36):
dive into some football, you know, I got to tell
you about my friends, my partners. I had a family
member text me today and said, listen, what's your promo
code for that app? Game Time, the number one ticketing
app in America. I said, Oh, it's promo code John.
I'm like, what are you looking to do? She's like, well,
I want to get young David, who happens to be
my nephew, tickets to go to the Monster Cup Carl
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Rally in Sacramento. He would love it. That's right up
David's alley. We'll just download the app Promo code John,
get yourself some Monster Tuck Truck Rally tickets. And here's
the thing, Game time has it all? Do you want
to go to see I had another buddy text me like,
I just booked my tickets. I'm going to South Bend,
going to Notre Dame. Do you want to go to
(03:21):
a college football playoff game? Do you want to go
to a Monster Truck Rally? Do you want to go
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want to go to a comedy show and laugh a
little bit? I just watched Jessel Nick's latest Netflix special
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go see anything, you just download this app. You type
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team like a team with legit resume, three Super Bowls
in the last five years, being more criticized about winning
(04:25):
in my life than the Chiefs. Now, we have seen
paper champs before teams pumped their chests. It's like, well,
you haven't really done anything. I remember in the peak
of the Warriors dynasty it was the Houston Rockets and
Darryl Morey used to get on as high and mighty
about James Harden being better than Michael Jordan and how
their statistics and the percentages chances of them winning the titles,
(04:49):
like you're not gonna win it one and two, Like
let's pump the brakes before you actually do anything, But
anytime you see a squad full of this many good players,
one of the greatest coaches of all time continue to
win games. And the only thing I ever hear, and
(05:09):
the only thing I ever read, and when I say read,
I meet on Instagram or Twitter, is just negativity surrounding
the Chiefs. And then you look up. They're twelve and one,
like the Bills did last week. They've clinched the division
on December eighth. They have not lost a home game
at Arrowhead. The Bills lose today, So now the Bills
(05:34):
and the Steelers both have three losses and they still
play the Steelers. If they beat they basically will ensure
that they're gonna be the home field the number one
overall seed for the playoffs. You go listen. Is this
team as good as some of their previous teams? Of
course not, But is what they're doing right now fucking insane?
(05:56):
It's crazy. I mean, it feels like every single game
comes down to literally the last possession, but that happens
to a lot of NFL teams. That happens in a
lot of NFL games. The difference with the Chiefs then
the majority of other teams is they literally win every game.
And I get it because when you get someone ultra successful,
whether it's an athlete, whether it's a team, whether it's
(06:20):
an individual in business, the haters are gonna come. Why
because it's so much easier to hate than go. This
is remarkable, what is happening. This is kind of unprecedented.
Since Peyton Manning's arms stopped working and he had to
retire Slash, no one wanted him anymore. The Chiefs happened
just dominated this division, They've dominated the AFC, and now
(06:45):
you're looking at a team again. I'm not acting like
this is the seven Patriots in the sense of it's like,
how are they going to lose? Because every week you're
watching it, in the back of your mind you think
they might lose, right, their margin for error is very slim.
Yet they always win and they're going to have home
field advantage. So here's what I know that, Yes, this
(07:08):
team's gonna struggle to score, and if they get back
to the super Bowl, they're probably gonna have to win
multiple playoff games by scoring in the high teens, low twenties.
They're not gonna win a game thirty five to thirty.
They're not built to play like that. They literally do
not play like that. But at home in January when
they're the one seed meeting, they only got to win
two games. Good luck trying to beat them. And I've
(07:30):
been saying it does feel like this is the year.
And just a couple of weeks ago when Buffalo beat them,
and you start looking at the big picture, you go, well,
maybe they would have to you know, maybe they wouldn't
end up getting the number one overall seed. But then
you have the swing of the last six hours where
the Bills, you know, I don't want to say lose
a heartbreaker because they were kind of always down and
(07:53):
Josh tried to drag them back, you know, laid an
egg early in the game that set them back and
cause them to lose the game. And then Josh House
of five touchdowns and you lose and you're kind of
scratching your head. And then the Chiefs are winning thirteen
to nothing. Then all of a sudden they don't have
the lead. They're down fourteen to thirteen. You're thinking, like God,
this is the reason Brian Day always loses. Look at
(08:15):
this hardball team. I don't know who he's throwing to.
Maconkey's nowhere to be found. It's starting running backs at
home watching the game on television. He's got Mac and
Mosa giving it all. He's got, he's got some young linebackers.
He's just got a tough squad. You're like, this is
fucking Jim Harball, tough guy, just winning with grit and toughness.
But it's like they're kind of the poor man's version
(08:37):
of the Chiefs. Herbert's really good, not quite as good
as Mahomes, and they just don't have as many playmakers
as the Chiefs. And also the other difference is like
you're just not gonna beat a mid airwhead. So while
I've been saying in pretty consistent, it does feel like
this is the year the Chiefs lose in the second
or the AFC Championship game, and then you watch today,
(09:00):
you go, I don't know, like they're gonna be at home.
I would imagine unless they have a major injury in one,
you know, leading up to one of the games, they're
going to be favored in both the games, and playing
at Arrowhead in these conditions, they are very comfortable in
those moments and in that spot, and sometimes the other
(09:20):
opponent feels a little uncomfortable so I just think, what Andy,
what veach? What Mahomes? I mean, down the stretch of
that game, on that game winning drive of just being able,
I mean, the first couple of plays of that drive
is like incompletion. Incompletion, I start thinking like are they
gonna have to punt? That crossed my mind? Are they
gonna have to punt? Then all of a sudden, he
(09:42):
pulls a couple of plays out of his rs. That's
what the guy does. I think both these two quarterbacks
to night like, if you appreciate football, if you admire football, like,
this is not gonna be some big ten thirty eight
to thirty five shootout, That's not how these teams play.
But if you can't watch the those two guys play
in big spots and go, those two guys are badasses.
(10:04):
Those two guys could play for my team any day.
And I get Mahomes has a lot of hate just
because people are tired of them, but like you can't
watch them and go, this guy's remarkable. I mean that
game winning play. Even Collins Wor said it for him
to juke that guy out, running full speed at him,
cut back, and then throw the little lollipop to Kelsey
(10:25):
to ice the game. I mean, that's why the guy's
got three championships and is going to be favored this
year to get another one. Now does that mean it's
gonna happen? Brady won six and he lost a lot
of time in the playoffs. Hell, he got beat at
home by the Rex Ryan Jets. So you're not guaranteed
anything but the championship medal, the championship pedigree. They're just
(10:49):
ability to make huge plays, because that's how you win
all these tight one score games, one ten of them
right that come down to the final drive. It's because
they make a play or two when they have to
on third and five, on third and six. I mean,
what Andy did on that final play, I guess it
wasn't technically the final play, the play before they started
kneeling it is. He easily could have just ran it.
(11:12):
He could have just ran it and taken off forty
seconds and give it back to the Chargers with like whatever,
a buck ten and go justin, can you beat us
with this random tight end? Eighty four, who actually looks
not bad. Johnston, the TCU kid who actually made some plays,
had a touchdown tonight. Palmer who kind of like as well,
But can you beat us on the road? Can you
(11:33):
drive forty or fifty yards? I don't know if you can't.
And one of the reasons that benefited the Chiefs on
that final drive is I don't quite understand what dicker
the kicker was doing. You know, they kind of got
a little cute. He tried to hit the line drive,
it landed way too early. They get it at the
forty I mean, that's a pretty massive mistake, especially with
(11:56):
an offense who I still believe would have gotten field
goal range. But if they didn't get as close as
they did and they were forced to kick like a
forty eight fifty yard field goal with that guy easily
could have missed. I'm that guy. I have to look
up exactly what the kick was. What twenty eight thirty yards?
I mean, should have missed the doink? Your heart kind
of drops and then you kind of see it once
it kind of bounced in even before they put their
(12:18):
hands up. But what a play by Herbert and ninth
trade titles. You know, we talked so much about culture,
We talked so much about you know, drafting the right
type guys, building the right type team. Listen, if you
like football. I don't see how you don't admire everything
the Chiefs stand for, how they do it, who they're
(12:42):
doing it with. Right, It's one thing when you just
have a team that's unfair. It happened sometimes in baseball,
and we'll talk about that contract that happened the night
a little bit later. But you go, this is stupid.
I understood why everyone hated the Kevin Durant Warriors. You're like,
this isn't even fair. That's not this Chiefs team. I mean,
he's got DeAndre Hopkins out there that anyone could add,
(13:06):
Juju Smith, a rookie. He's handing the ball to Samaji
p Ryan and Kareem hunt So and they have multiple
defenders on the back end injured. Just awesome. I mean, Andy,
these are big moments in a dynasty because it's a
(13:27):
huge muscle flex. It's a huge muscle flex. It was
open for people to steal it, and the Chiefs somehow
are they going to be the number one seed. It's
gonna be a long flight home for the Bills. And
on the flip side of when they came storming back
in that game down thirteen to nothing and kind of understandable,
I mean, when I got done recording with Colin, I
(13:50):
go out to the living room and I think it
was it was three to nothing. It was three nothing
Chiefs and Herbert had already I think rolled his ankle
or something because they had taped more. Then he got
hit in the knee I think by Bolton, and he's
down on the ground. He's limping around. The backup has
to come in for a play. He just looks bruising, battered.
(14:11):
It's thirteen to nothing at half, and you're like, listen,
this this guy like twenty to three written all over it,
where they just kind of choke them out like a
bowl constrictor. It's just not the Charger's night. You hold
your head high, tough spot, and then they come storming
back and you go that third quarter. It's like, this
is why Ohio State with Ryan Day always gets their
(14:31):
ass kicked by this guy in this culture because they
are just simply tougher than you. The toughness that the
Chargers have under this guy, it'd be like having me
as your bodyguard for like a couple of years. I
don't really know what I'd be able to do to
protect you, and then firing me and getting Seal Team six.
That's what it has to feel like, going like from
(14:54):
Brandon Staley to Jim Harbaugh. It has to be one
of the single greatest upgrades in the his history of sport,
not football, not the NFL. I'm talking sport. How tough
this team is, how well coached this team is. They
should not be this good. Look who they're playing with,
(15:15):
and it all starts with the coach, who is a
certified badass. And one thing I think Jim has done
these last couple of years at Michigan, and you see
it now, he's calmed down a lot. He used to
be more of a wild card up and down, and
he does feel I'm not saying he's andy in terms
of his body language and the way he carries himself,
(15:35):
but he's much closer to that than he is to
what you know. He used to be like a Kirby smart,
like what Nick Saban was when he was younger, just
a maniac on the sideline. And he's calmed down and
I think his team reflects it. And like I said
with Mahomes, if you watch Justin Herbert play and your
(15:56):
takeaway isn't this guy is freaking awesome. We're not watching
the same sport. If we were having beers sitting at
a bar, I don't know if I'd be able to
talk to you for long. And I get it. We
argue over players. It's what makes this also fun. And
some players you can have legitimate arguments about Dak Prescott,
(16:18):
brock Purty, but like at this point, if you watch
Herbert play under Harball, I don't know what the argument is.
Obviously he's an elite talent. His toughness is proving this
year to be second to none, and then his just
straight ability on the road in Kansas City. It's like,
holy fuck, this guy's good to me. This franchise like
(16:40):
they're gonna have problems, like probably not gonna be able
to win a playoff game. It's gonna be very difficult
depending on the matchup. Maybe they can keep it close
for a half, but they're not gonna have enough on offense.
To me, if you watch the Penn State Oregon game
first round, if you're drafting, like pick early twenties, Tyler Warren,
the tight end has the Chargers written all over them.
(17:01):
Can you imagine that guy on that offense in this
draft one position it's completely loaded with is running backs
for when I've talking to scouts watching football, my guess
is there'd be eight to ten guys go in the
top one hundred during that game in the second half
when they were coming back and they're forcing to like
(17:23):
give Gus Edwards carries. I google their picks. They have
all their picks, so to me, in the second or
third round draft, one of these running backs. Iowa has one,
Washington has one, Ohio State has one. Beside even genty
the ASU kid Scataboo, get one of these guys like
they are tight end and a running back away from
(17:44):
building this team, Like they're never gonna draft wide receivers high.
That's not the way Harbaugh operates. And it was so
clear at the end of the game when Mac takes
out Bosa. It's like, remember when we're like, I wonder
what players they're gonna get rid of, it was four,
the two receivers and the two linemen. It's like, well, yeah,
no shit, he kept the two linemen. Jim Harbaugh and
(18:07):
their defense is the number one scoring defense in the NFL.
It's awesome. It's really good, and they're gonna need some
help on offense. McConkey good pick all, good pick, but
they need help a running back. They need, you know,
either a big outside wide receiver, which he's just not
gonna invest high. Ind I just have a hard time
(18:29):
seeing him do that. So if he's not gonna do that,
take the tight end and you know he looks like
six six out there. Give Herbert a massive target. That's
what Mahomes has used for you know, six seven years now.
So props to the Chargers this last stretch. To me,
they just got to win two of their last four games.
They're in the playoffs. They should be able to do that.
(18:52):
It doesn't get much more difficult than playing the Chiefs
at Arrowhead. They're eight and five, they won five games
last year. Their next game is the Buccaneers at home,
then they get the Broncos at home, then they go
to the Patriots and to the Raiders. So to me,
if they win one of these next two games, they're
probably sweeping those last two. So they would go three
(19:14):
to one and they would win eleven games. But I
think when you look at their schedule, they're basically a
lock for ten games. And since they like that's that's
an awesome accomplishment. Wild card and they're gonna be a
team with Jim Harbad justin Herbert that no one's gonna
want to play. But it's tough for them to run
the ball, not because their offensive line isn't good, not
(19:35):
because their teams not tough because their running backs kind
of suck with JK. Dobbins being at home, and then
when they're forced to pass, like it's just difficult. They
don't have that much skill. Jim Harbad because of his personality,
and he's good at this. He's big at talking a
guy up and giving him almost fake confidence. Like Quentin
Johnson does not have very good hands, but he clearly
(19:56):
is a very skilled player. And Harball all year long
has has propped him up, propped him up, and tonight
he came through. He's let him down in some games.
I wouldn't even say let them down. Balls are going
to go through his hands. That's what happens when you
don't have great, you know, ability to catch. Some people
believe like if a wide receiver is questionable hands, they're
(20:18):
off the board because literally their job is to catch.
I think some people in the scouting world and even
coaches you know there are like DK Metcalf does not
have great hands hell. Terrell Owens never had great To me,
there are physical freaks that you make exceptions for. Now
DK went at the end of the second round. Terrell
was what like a third or fourth round pick. Quinn
(20:40):
Johnson was drafted in the first round. Now you do
see glimpses of like his size, his physical ability at
a touchdown tonight, Like he's very, very talented, but when
catching is to coin flip, it can be difficult to
rely on a player that probably is your most skilled
guy out there. Now. Luckily like they just inherit him.
(21:01):
You just keep him around, keep working with him. But
he kind of is what it is. Other than that,
I'm a sucker. Like listen, the Big Ten Championship game
was really fun. What was the final score like forty
five to forty or forty two to thirty eight or
whatever it was, and just seeing touchdown have to touchdown,
Like listen, I have no problem with those games. I'm
(21:23):
a sucker. Maybe it's the football I grew up on
in the nineties. Like I don't mind a game like
Sunday Night, a game that just feels at any moment,
every single player that's tackled is going to need help
up off the ground for the sport that has, you know,
officiated and regulated the violence out of it. It's a
(21:46):
lot different game than in the nineties and the two thousands,
but there are still moments and stretches and games like
tonight that just feel like this is a violent game.
This is a game where if you're an offensive player,
you better have your chin strap buckle in both spots
because you are going to get hit. If you're a
running back coming downhill, there are going to be three
people coming downhill at you. Everyone is flying around, and
(22:10):
I appreciate that tight football. I don't need every one
of my games to be thirty one to twenty eight.
I was fine with that. Some might call it ugly football.
Some might call no offense. I call that just like
I call that the NFL so enjoyable. Congrats to the Chiefs.
Nine straight AFC titles and looks like they're headed straight
(22:31):
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Speaker 1 (24:22):
Okay, let's get some weekend thoughts. It hit me today
at halftime of it was three to nothing. I'm looking
for the final score. Jacksonville won ten to six. You
have to be a psychopath if you listen. If you
are a fan of one of these teams, it is
(24:43):
what it is. You watch your team, even if you
gamble like you're probably gambling on other games as well.
You don't need to have that game on television. If
you watched the Jags Titans in its entirety and you're
not one a fan of one of those teams, or
don't have a lot of money, like if you put
(25:05):
five dollars on the game, I'm sorry. You don't need
to watch the game. You're nuts, You're a cycle. But
I love football. That is one of those games where
I don't think any human being will ever talk about
it ever again, watching Mac Jones and Will Levis, it
was three to nothing at halftime. This morning Slate was tough.
(25:26):
This morning Slate really was, especially coming off all the
college games. We had the SEC Championship go to overtime,
we had the Oregon Penn State game, which was awesome
in the second half, and we had the ACC Championship game,
which was pretty incredible. I had a walk off whatever
fifty five yard field goal to then go to like
Bucks Raiders. You're like, I'm trying to get into this
(25:47):
is this It's like Eagles Carolina who. It is the
craziest part about wide receivers. No matter they're shape or size.
They could be small, skinny guys, they could be tall,
big guys. It does not matter. They all come back
to the same human being. The Eagles have won nine
(26:12):
straight games, tying a record in the franchise. If they
win next week, which is a tough game against Steelers,
they will break a franchise record for ten straight wins.
That's an incredible accomplishment. If you win like five straight
games in the NFL, you're gonna be in pretty good
shape because most time you're over under five hundred by
(26:33):
a game or two. So if you go on a
five game winning streak, you're more likely to be six
to seven games over five hundred. You go on a
nine game winning streak, you're whatever, eleven and two. I mean,
it's just you're in cruise control. Get after the game.
A J. Brown, who is highly paid, who is one
(26:53):
of what I thought, one of Jalen's best friend. Listen,
the Eagles passing game isn't very good. It isn't very good.
Jalen Hurts is not exactly Herbert or Mahomes from the pocket.
That's not the way he's gonna play. And they haven't
really had to because Saquon is dominating. Saquon is headed
for a two thousand yard season. Usually when you have
a two thousand yard rusher, you're gonna have a lot
(27:16):
of passing performances that the guy's number is gonna start
with a one one point fifty one sixty one twenty
cause the other guy's going for one hundred and eighty
two hundred yards and for aj Brown, depending on what
tweet or Instagram you see, some headlines are a little salacious,
but like he's just kind of acting like a diva.
(27:38):
Like the whole point of this is to win, and
the whole point of a player is to be a
winning player and a productive player and get paid. Well,
he's been a winning player, he's been a productive player,
and he's literally paid really high. Yet the moment you
don't get the ball as a wide receiver, they all
do this, they start moping. It's like it isn't the
(27:59):
whole like you are an incredible position, like you were
in position to literally compete to win the Super Bowl.
It's crazy. I just I don't get it. But he's
not alone. This happens to them all. It's like a
character trade of them, maybe because they're isolated out there.
I know cowards always have the theory they're like the
NBA player of football. But how could you be mad? Like,
(28:23):
who cares? You're running some routes, you're winning games, You're
netting a couple million dollars per game. Life is good.
One game that actually I was excited to watch in
the morning window was Falcons Minnesota, which I think was
the best game on paper and one of the more
(28:44):
entertaining games till about the fourth quarter. And in that game,
Cousins who now is not throwing a touchdown in four
straight games and I think has seven or eight interceptions
over that period of time. He had two interceptions today
and it's just playing bad football. He does not look good.
Some people in the NFL. I was texting during the
College of Games. We ended up talking about NFL stuff.
(29:07):
Some people think he's cooked, and I think if you've
watched in the last couple of weeks, you could come
to that conclusion. I remember former GM told me about
a quarterback they signed this, you know, probably fifteen twenty
years ago. But when the guy was running a team
and he signed an older quarterback and he said, you
know what, John, in training camp, the guy looked like
(29:27):
his former you know, Pro Bowl self. And then the
first month of the season, I was like, we might
have had the signing of the off season. He's like,
but you know what happened. As the season went on,
his thirty six thirty seven year old body started a show,
and he slowly became one of the worst players in
the NFL. And it was a disaster, and I do
(29:50):
wonder if Cousin's coming off this injury early on in
the season, once he kind of got his footing looked up,
look solid, looked good, made some plays Falcons, We're decent.
And then as time went on, his age kind of
caught up to him. Because remember he hurts his achilles
last year with whatever, six seven weeks ago, five six weeks,
(30:11):
does not do anything all off season up until training camp,
so he's kind of fresh. Well now he's not fresh anymore,
and he's looking old. And then Greg Olsen as he's
throwing interceptions, it's kind of unraveling. There's seasons literally unraveling.
They've lost four straight games, they're six and seven, they're
not even in first place in their division. The Tampa
Bay Buccaneers are. And it kind of comes up like
(30:35):
should they go to Pennix? Is it time? And Greg
Olsen's like, yeah, I don't think they will turn on
them this fast, turn on them this fast. We're December eighth,
we've lost four straight games. This is not a player
that has any equity with anybody. He has no equity
with the fans, he has no equity with these coaches,
(30:56):
Raheem Morris literally said when asked, why is your coaching
staff so big, he said, because we're gonna win. And
when you win in this league, your coaches get poached,
and we want to have backup coaches on our staff,
so when our coaches get poached, we don't have to
retrain guys, which in theory makes a lot of sense.
(31:16):
The problem is no one's poaching anyone from the Atlanta Falcons.
They fucking suck in the Minnesota Vikings. On the flip side,
you saw a quarterback who looks like he's coming into
his own. Sam Darnold looks like a forty million dollar
quarterback in the NFL through five touchdowns to day, scrambled around,
makes huge plays, throws the ball downfield. The Vikings two
(31:38):
best players constantly get the ball because Sam can get
them the ball. And we talked about the worst contract
in the history of sports for the NFL, Deshaun Watson.
You could say one of the great moves in recent
business in football is letting Cousins walk off at Achilles
(31:58):
for one hundred million dollar that you didn't have to
give him to then sign Sam Donald for ten million dollars.
So if you just look at it purely on guaranteed money.
You guarantee him ten Cousins gets one hundred. That's a
ninety million dollar difference. And your guy, you are whatever,
you are, twelve and two, twelve and two, that'd be
(32:21):
three games. You're eleven and two, and he has thrown
twenty eight touchdowns and you currently are right behind Detroit,
who's having the greatest season they've ever had. You're one
game back and they played this week the Bills, and
you play them the last game of the season. So
if you can just hold, serve like you got a shot.
(32:44):
And Sam Donald right now has to be on the
short list of best quarterbacks in the NFC. He's playing fantastic.
And when you just watch him play, like, I just
don't see how you let this guy walk. He's twenty
seven years old, he's got a huge arm, he can move.
He's clearly high character guy. He knows your offense. Okay,
it's always my thing with interceptions, like, oh I throw
(33:04):
some picks, Well does he make up for it? Well? Yeah,
he's got a three to one interception ratio. Wow, live
with that all day long. It's one thing if you
throw twelve interceptions you only throw twenty two touchdowns, like
that's a problem if you throw fifteen interceptions, like, damn,
that's a lot. Well, I also throw forty touchdowns. It's like, oh,
I can live with that. I can win with that.
So at this point in time, Atlanta is insane to
(33:30):
let Cousins go down with the ship. Anyone that's watched baseball, like,
it's time to go to the bullpen. And if you
can hear, if you're listening to this on the podcast version,
I'm tapping my left arm, it's time to go to
the lefty. What do you gotta lose now? But more games, like,
you can't function with this guy? Is Michael Panick's gonna
(33:52):
be awesome if you dis insert him right now. I'm
not saying that. But you can't keep rolling this out.
You cannot. And this was the part about this whole
scenario of like, well, when we think Panix is ready,
we'll just ship Cousins out, Ship Cousins out. One, he's
got a no trade clause. In two. He averages like
(34:13):
forty plus million dollars a year. Find me a team
that could watch the last four games of a thirty six,
thirty seven year old who has always been a polarizing
player and now feels like his arrow is pointed straight
into the ground. Is going to trade to give you
a six round pick for this guy to pay him
that much money. If you told me Cousins made eleven
(34:36):
million dollars, okay, yeah, someone would take a flat. He
makes forty plus million dollars next year. Who is trading
for that guy? Like, it was just this move. It
was a head scratcher at the time when they did
their situation. It just feels it's backfired. I understood why
they signed Cousins pretty desperate, but like I think a
(34:58):
rule of thumb in the business world and just life,
be very very careful when you make deals out of desperation. Right,
You're not always gonna have total leverage. You're not always
gonna be Juan Soto doing a deal, But like, try
to be able to have a little bit of levity.
Try to be able to take a deep breath and
just see the big picture. They did not. They were
(35:19):
so desperate for a quarterback. Here's one hundred million dollars
and now we're thirteen games into the season and Cousins
is killing them. Talk about a guy who's not killing
them is this has to be one of the better
comeback stories in recent memory because of how bad this
guy was when he played, Like, there is no way
(35:42):
to watch this guy. Let's even throw away his rookie year,
let's just watch early on this season, you had to
have the thought like, is Bryce Young gonna be out
of the NFL? Like is Bryce Young not an NFL player?
If you had that statement or that conversation with somebody,
if you just watched half of them somewhere in the
first three or four weeks, you would not have been crazy.
(36:05):
That was the only conversation to really have, Like it's crazy,
how awful this player is, this version that we have
seen since he's come back. After Andy Dalton got in
the car accident, I thought, like the first couple of weeks,
I got a fun story. Like today, I thought he
was good today. His ability to like scramble around and
(36:25):
make plays, this is what Sam Darnold is doing such
a good job of. Obviously, as a quarterback, you got
to be able to sit there and hit basic passes,
a wheel route, an out route, a slant route, you know,
just be able to do basic football things at the
NFL level. So sit in the pocket a couple steps, boom,
hit a guy, or get the ball out and put
(36:46):
it in position where the guy can catch it right
then it's onto the receiver, get open, all that stuff.
But you gotta be able to do that. Welcome to football.
A lot. I would say half your passing intems, especially
on second and third and long, you're gonna be moved
around little bit, whether one of your offensive line gets
smoked and you kind of got a scramble, or you
just naturally have to move out of the pocket to
(37:07):
keep a play alive. And you're watching him play right now,
and you're going, this little dude is a playmaker. Where
was We saw no shades of this? And today he
made a winning throw. He made a throw that should
have won them the game. And Xavier Leaguett, who's got
one of the great accents in the history of humans,
(37:30):
who also had a couple drops today, just dropped the ball,
which you know, I kind of look like catch, look
like a drop. The ball definitely hit the ground. Did
he have full control of it? They didn't. They called
it essentially, you know, they called it an incompletion that
he dropped the ball, but Bryce hit him in the
hands and if he catches that ball, like, the Panthers
(37:51):
win the game. And it's no shame one if you're
the Eagles being in a game with the Panthers. They're
literally in the game with everyone. And whenever I hear
someone say like, and this was talked about all your long, Oh,
it's like they got the Panthers as one of their
last games. Well yeah, four or five weeks ago. That
was a locke w Like they're a real team right
(38:13):
now and it's because of him. And I don't know
what happened. I don't know if the lights, some you know,
light went off in his head, whether he just gained
his confidence, maybe he stopped giving a shit whatever other
people thought. Maybe he just kind of relaxed. Maybe he
just said, screw it, I'm just gonna go back to
my Alabama days and just play. Not think I have
(38:35):
no clue, but whatever he did, whatever they did to
infuse some of this belief, Like, this guy looks like
a real player. I mean, this guy looks like someone
you can compete to win games with. So I think
he deserves the most credit because it People can try
(38:57):
to give you confidence, people can build you up, but
eventually you got to go out there and do it.
And right now he's doing that and little fucker's making
some play, so he's fun to watch today. The Giants.
Whenever this happens, it's usually the end for everyone involved
except the guy that owns the team, whether that's it's
(39:21):
usually in baseball or football, because it's an outdoor arena
and someone rents a little puddle jumper and they print
something behind it and the thing flies over the stadium.
And today before the Giants game or they lost again,
they flew a plane that said, please, mister Mara, fix
(39:42):
this dumpster fire. And at first I said, wow, this
is typical. I've seen this before, like when I was
in the Bay Area. It happened in that I think
the Jim Tom Suley year. It happens when things are
going really bad. And then I started thinking, who in
New York talks like that, Please mister Mara, fix this
dumpster fire? If I found someone from Queen's or you know,
(40:08):
Long Island or Jersey, some big Giants fan, not in
a million years would they talk like fans don't talk
like that. That feels you know. My theory on this,
John Mara paid for that John Mara had that up
there because it's been well reported. John Marr does not
(40:29):
want to fire these guys. He doesn't want to, and
I understand like he doesn't. Going through a search has
to be the big pain in the ass. And he
hired these guys because he believed in them. They were
a big part of the Buffalo Bills regime that turned
the franchise around. I believe in you guys, and it
couldn't be going any worse. They lost today to the Saints,
(40:50):
a team that also sucks fourteen to eleven. I mean,
the Giants are really really rough. Watch their offensive line
is horrendous. Whenever I looked up, they were on one
of the boxes. I kept seeing Joe Shane. He was
sitting there in the box like with his with his binoculars,
like he's a scout, you know, he's scouting around. It's like, Joe,
(41:11):
I can't imagine one thing I would never miss about
working in the NFL. When you're part of just a
god awful team and you have to pretend like we
got a chance, Like no, we got no chance to
beat anybody. Honestly, we might not be able to beat
Ohio State, Notre Dame or Oregon. Right now, we stink
(41:32):
and I got blood on my hands as the guy
that built this thing. So Joe Shane, I think John
Marr is making it look so ugly. Again, this is
just theory I'm throwing out there. Then it makes it
a little easier, like, look, fans are turning on me,
they're buying planes. I know this if I had the means,
and who knows. I have no clue what it would
cost to pay that puddle jumper to fly around for
(41:54):
an hour before the game. Maybe it's not as expensive
you think, maybe cost a couple grand, but let's just
maybe it's fifty grand. I have no clue. I couldn't
even I wouldn't even know where to start. But John would.
He knows a lot of people in aviation why he
hasn't been to a commercial airport probably in his entire life.
And if you're him, you want to make it look
even worse. It's why I go back to that video
(42:15):
that came out this offseason of him sitting there saying
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Well, if
Joe Shane and day Ball had the final say on
everything in what world? If you were in their shoes.
Would you look at the guys in the NFL films
and be like, yeah, leave that on there. Yeah, just yeah,
put put hbo. Yeah, give it to him. Just let
him play that to the world. Yes, that's that's gonna play. Well,
(42:39):
that's gonna yeah, that's a good idea. Oh of me laughing.
That's Sakawa. He's not going to the Eagles. He's not
going to the Eagles with a smile. In what world
if you were Joe Shane, would you have given the
thumbs up? I felt, and I've said it from the
moment that I started watching that show, that felt like
John Marrow wanted some of that stuff out there, Like, hey, listen,
I'm trying to be the good guy. I'm not you know,
(43:02):
Al Davis in two thousand and eight, I'm not trying
to fire people every couple of years. But listen, I
screwed up. I screwed up, and I might have to
do it again. So you guys are all gonna call me,
you know looney now that every two couple of years,
I'm just fire or fire. I don't want to. I'm
trying to hire the right guy, but I keep hiring
the wrong people, and I want you to see the incompetence.
(43:22):
I'm dealing with it right now. I told him, I
spoke for all you guys. I won't be able to sleep.
My guy middlecough up and like tal while he's recording
a podcast, said Saquad's gonna chatter records this year. He's
going to dominate in everyone on social media. Told those
guys at the volume, Middle coff, this guy's an idiot.
Come on, he's gonna dominate. Yeah, he is, and now
(43:43):
he might be headed toward like Eric Dickerson Barry Sanders records.
I didn't think it was gonna be that good, but
holy shit, just broke Leshawn McCoy's record December eight. I
just wonder if John Mora is the guy throwing kerosene
on this fire because he does not want to look
like an idiot. And anytime you fire people over and over,
(44:06):
people are just gonna say that it's you. And it
might be. But I do think he's trying to do
the right thing. I understood why he hired those two guys.
It is not worked. The GM is completely over his head.
The team sucks. I mean, they are terrible. I saw
a clip I think on YouTube of Brian Baldinger. I
(44:31):
don't know he call into like Rich Eisen Show or
I don't know where I maybe I saw it on
Instagram where he's like, listen, I played offensive line. I'm
not trying to be this raging you know what a
hole here, but I think the game that Evan Neil
played against the Dallas Cowboys is the worst game I've
seen played by any player this year in the NFL.
(44:52):
And this is the guy that watches All twenty two
every game every week and he's like, listen, I'm not
I had some cutups. I didn't even put him out
on Twitter. I'm not trying to be that guy. I'm
not trying to kick the eye when he's down. Maybe
he's just injured, but this guy is the worst player
currently in the NFL playing. I mean, he played the
worst game I've seen this year by any offensive lineman.
(45:14):
That's what they're rolling out. So I just I think
the Giants got issues, and I think John Mohra knows it,
and I think he's trying to set up a situation
where you can fire everybody and almost make it look
worse before the offseason even starts. A couple quick things
(45:35):
on college football. We did a video reaction on Saturday
night after the championship games. We now have the bracket,
which I'll get me and intern Jackson will go over
on Tuesday and break it down. I mentioned this to Colin.
I think anyone with a brain agrees there is no reason,
(45:58):
I mean none, to go college basketball style. You're locked
into your bracket, right, which in college basketball can be
awesome if there's a huge upset and you're a team
and you get a shittier team, you get a huge break.
In football, use the NFL we reseed. So if you're
the number one overall seed and the seventh seed upsets
(46:22):
the two seed, you play them in the next round.
You're not locked into a bracket. And I think when
you look at this bracket that Oregon, who had the
best season this year in college football. They're the only
team that did not lose a game. They beat two
of the best teams in the country in Ohio State
(46:43):
and Penn State. And they beat Penn State essentially as
a road game on Saturday night in Indianapolis, and they were
a big before Penn State kind of rally to come
back for them having to play the winner of Ohio
State and Tennessee, while boys in Arizona State, you could argue,
get easier games. To me is insane. What Oregon should
(47:08):
get is whoever is the lowest seed remaining after the
first round games. That's who they should play to not
be locked into a bracket. So before we get into
all the other stuff that has to happen. And the
other thing is Alabama, I have no problem with them
not making the tournament, though I do believe that the
(47:29):
SEC is in a different universe than the ACC. So
saying I got three losses, you got two losses, you
got one loss in the regular season, I got three.
I am playing so many more NFL players on a
weekly basis than you are. Honestly, it's not even close.
So us trying to compare. How do you do that?
(47:51):
Or it's pretty easy in the NFL, like the Atlanta
Minnesota game, the Steeler Bengal game, we all view it
kind of as equals, even though some records are better.
It's all hard. That's not the case in college football.
And if I ran the ACC and I was George Sank,
like listen, we in really Ohio State, Oregon and Penn
state rating for the Big Ten in Michigan are carrying
(48:13):
this sport. Our games do by far the biggest numbers,
And unlike the NFL, where we're all under the same umbre.
So if I'm the Raiders or I'm the Patriots and
I suck and you're the Chiefs and you're the Lions
and your games are doing Sunday night and Monday Night
and huge primetime games, we're all in the same world.
(48:34):
We're all profiting from it equally. That's not the way
college works. Like the SEC, we make different money than
the ACC, than the Big Ten. We're all kind of
independent that way, and then we get huge raises or
huge bonuses based on the college football playoffs. If I'm
the SEC moving forward, like everyone's arguing right now, why
(48:56):
play tough games anymore? Which they're basically talking about out
of conference games when the reality is Alabama didn't make
the playoffs because they lost to Vanderbilt in Oklahoma. You're
just trying to make an excuse. But I would say
I need a guarantee amount of teams every single year
because the sport is being put on our backs. Google
(49:16):
the ratings this year. The reason for this explosion and
interest in our sport really started with Save in the
last fifteen years, but now is being carried by us
these night games for ESPN, which is one of the
great television deals probably since like nineteen ninety three when
Fox bought the NFL. But I can't have one more
(49:37):
team than the ACC, like that shit ain't gonna fly
for me. So we either figure this out or fuck
we'll go our own way because this will this is
not good business for us, and you need us more
than we need you, and you guys all know that.
So I think Greg Zankee, like, we've got to figure
(49:57):
some things out, and this is where I think the
Big Ten and the ACC start going. We need guarantees
how many teams we're getting in every year, and ideally
it'd be unwritten, but if we got to get in
writing and let the world know we don't care because
this sport doesn't function without us that big new game,
which is mainly Ohio State this year, and all the
(50:19):
SEC games are the games that are rating. No one
is watching Miami play North Carolina, nobody is watching Utah
play Kansas State relative to those games, So like, are
we all in this together? Kind of not really, but
where we make our huge, huge money is these playoffs,
(50:40):
and we can't carry the sport for three months to
then get asked out at the end for the ACC
where Clemson, Florida State, and Miami and North Carolina would
leave in a New York minute to join the SEC
so fast your head would spin. But they have some
crazy deal that they can't even buy out of. They
(51:02):
want no part of it because they know this is
where the cash flows. But then when it's time to
get our big bonuses, we get screwed. You can see
problems in the head wind coming and right now they
can't technically do anything because I think, in fairness to them,
they were so cocky and arrogant that they thought for
sure they they probably thought they were gonna get five
(51:23):
teams and then dust edtles and they only get three.
And you got a school like Indiana in the Big
ten getting an extra school. It's gotta piss them off.
And usually when you're pissed off in business, and this
is not something that you're just gonna get over in
a couple of days. It's gonna create change. And you watch,
I bet the SEC it's one thing to make a
(51:45):
stink like putting out press releases in tweet. It's another
thing to like, we're gonna need to change on this.
We're out and I would expect something bold to happen
like this offseason. Appreciate everyone listening. I will see you
tomorrow after the Monday night football game. It's the Cowboys
(52:05):
and the Bengals. I think. I think the Cowboys mangles,
so it should be Bengals. Maybe could be the Browns.
I guess the Browns play today. I don't know. I
don't really care, but i'll see after the money in
the game. Have a great day. See you the volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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