He begins by doubling down on his take that Brock Purdy is a “good, not great” quarterback after throwing two crucial interceptions to sink the 49ers against the Lions, (4:00) and credits his huge stat line to Kyle Shanahan scheming guys open (7:45). He examines the NFC playoff picture and explains why the playoffs are WIDE open and warns that the Lions could be in real trouble if they can’t secure the #1 seed in their upcoming game against the Vikings (10:30).
He pivots to the NBA and the lack of criticism of the league by the media. He argues that the league DESERVES criticism, needs major changes and has been coddled by friendly media for too long (13:30).
Then, Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the College Football Playoff and the top storylines from the NFL!
They agree that the Vikings CAN’T move on from Sam Darnold under any circumstances (23:00), that Bills head coach Sean McDermott is under huge pressure and could be on the hot seat if they don’t reach the conference championship (29:30) and examine the rash of really BAD teams at the bottom of the NFL standings (35:00)
They pivot to the College Football Playoff with the Oregon Ducks being absolutely cooked by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and why Ohio State looks to be in a class of their own compared to the rest of the field (45:30). They laud the Arizona State coaching staff for taking a much more talented Texas team down to the wire, and attempt to dissect why Steve Sarkisian’s teams look “loose” (55:45).
Finally, they debate whether Penn State can win the national championship (1:04:00) and what to make of Ashton Jeanty and Drew Aller as NFL prospects (1:07:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. Our Week seventeen reaction is presented by Uber eats.
Get game day deals all season long on uber eats.
Forty to thirty four. The Lions roar back in the
second half thanks to two brock pretty interceptions, and you know,
(00:26):
I just it really cracks me up. If you're listening
to this, you have a team, and you're a fan,
many of your Niner fans, some of your Lion fans.
You have to be an adult. If you're a general manager.
You're watching John Lynch on TV tonight. How did he
react with those brock Purty picks? Baker Mayfield's making thirty
three million this year. Brock Purty is not nearly as
(00:48):
talented as Baker Mayfield. One's a first round pick. You know,
one's number one pick. One's the last guy picked. Baker's
got a better arm. I think Baker's a better athlete.
Baker leads the NFL in touchdown passes the entire NFL,
including Josh Allen and Joe Burrow since he started in Tampa. Well,
(01:08):
he's got Mike Evans. Everybody's got a receiver. Everybody's got
at least one decent receiver. So here's a prime example,
so defensive players in the NFL get hurt more than
offensive players statistically, and Detroit's down like seven or eight starters.
So this was a moment to really seize an opportunity
(01:31):
to beat Detroit. I thought Detroit would win, and my
takeaway was because I trusted Golf on the road more
than brock pretty at home. I thought it would be
a high scoring game just because the Lions, that's all
they can play now. They have so many players down
and listen, it doesn't help that Jake Moody missed a
fifty one yarder and a fifty eight yarder and a
pat But folks, there's a reason they were settling for
(01:55):
fifty one yarders and fifty eight yarders because there was,
for instance, a key third pass by brock Purty in
the second half the Juwan Jennings that was behind him.
I just don't understand how you can watch brock Purty.
In fact, I'd argue, when he got hurt, he'll be fine.
But when he got dinged up, they put in Josh Dobbs,
who ran for a touchdown that athletically brock Purty would
(02:17):
not have raced to the corner and got into the
end zone. He could have scrambled, but he's not as
fast as athletic as Josh Dobbs, who's a pretty remarkable
player who just bounces around the league and he's always
pretty effective. But people get so caught up on statistics. Well,
he had three hundred and seventy seven yards. First of all,
Shanahan is one of the great play scriptors in the league.
(02:37):
Andy Reid and Shanahan are probably one and two in
the league. Sean Payton's probably third those three guys. Bow
Next played Justin Herbert a week ago. Bo Nicks looked
way better in the first half than Justin Herbert. Why
because the first half is scripted. In the second half
against the Chargers defense, bow Knicks didn't look as good.
That's about talent in the first half. Brock Purty on
(02:58):
Kyle Shanahan's script is remarkable. In the second half, two
picks behind Jowan Jennings on a key third down throw.
Here are the numbers for Brock Purtty in the second
half this year and again the first half, especially when
you have elite offensive coordinators or elite play designers like
Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Shanahan McVeigh, by the way, is
(03:21):
not an elite play designer. The Rams have been an
average offense all first half. Nick Sirianni's an offensive coach.
He's not an elite play designer. Not all offensive coaches are.
Dan Campbell's more offensive side, He's not an elite play designer.
Pretty in the second half. First half off and on script.
Second half is talent pretty second half this year eight touchdowns,
(03:43):
ten picks. That's bad. Jayden Daniels is remarkable in the
fourth quarter. Broock Perty's awful. This is not his first
year in the league. He's got Kyle Shanahan. And the
other thing is Shanahan you get so many open Ricky
Pearsall and George Kill opportunities. And this is what Andy
Reid does. I mean Andy Reid in a Super Bowl
(04:04):
a couple of years ago, in their first Super Bowl
win without Tyreek Hill. He's getting Sky Moore wide open
looks in the red zone, that congested area. That's what
great play designers do. By the way, Ben Johnson's very
good tonight in the red zone down near the goal line.
You know Jared Goff had open receivers. That's what clever
(04:25):
coaches do. So you know, and I'm not saying Jared
Goff isn't benefiting from a good old line and an
excellent play designer. But this is the second team Goff
has done that with. And McVay is not known as
a brilliant play designer. He is a culture guy. He's
got a great eye for personnel, he's a motivator, he
(04:46):
designs excellent run games. But so many of the completions
for brock Prudy are two wide open players. But the
difference between good and great in this league is squeezing
the ball in these little holes. Darnold did that yesterday
multiple times. Jayden Daniels did that. Hell, Michael Pennix had
(05:07):
a throw like that yesterday for a touchdown for Atlanta.
The opening was the size of a football. And Pennis
has real velocity. I mean, he can really cut it loose.
So brock Purdy isn't big, isn't super athletic, doesn't have
a big arm, and benefits greatly from Shanahan's play calling.
He's good, he's functional. But the idea, I'm gonna pay
(05:27):
him forty and fifty million, Baker's make him thirty three million.
You got to be kidding me. Yeah, it's just eight touchdowns,
ten picks in the second half this year, and he
was the difference in the game tonight. Don't blame the kicker,
those two second half picks, that was the difference. So yeah,
(05:48):
when you and you know, listen, Detroit is one of
those teams like Minnesota right now where they've got spectacular
offensive players and excellent coaching Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores
Glenn defensive coordinator for Detroit Ben Johnson. So a lot
of this stuff is coaching, a lot of this stuff
when you look at the teams in this league, Spags
(06:09):
and Andy Reid. I mean, look at San Francisco when
they had Demiko Ryans and Shanahan. That was their best
staff in my opinion. Look at the results. You're getting
the Super Bowls, you're getting the conference championships. So I
think with Purty, you just have to be totally honest.
I would just play it out. I'm not gonna pay him.
You want to sit out, go ahead, but I need
to see another year. There's no way I'm paying him early,
(06:31):
no shot. Don't care what he does, don't care if
he sits. If Sam Darnold's available, go pay for him.
But I'm and this is not hate. Second half numbers abysmal.
Second half is off script. That's when the true talent
comes out. That's when you see Mahomes win Super Bowls.
Second half ad libbing, that's when Justin Herbert has been
pretty spectacular. That's when Josh Allen takes over games. The
(06:56):
other thing about Detroit that's fascinating, there's this sense that
the AFC, because it's got the Bills and the Ravens
and the Chiefs, is much better than the NFC. But
the NFC is wide open. I mean, the Bucks are
three to ohero against NFC playoff teams. They beat Washington, Detroit,
and Philly, and the Lions could potentially. They've been media
(07:18):
darlings all year. They're a one loss on Sunday Night
against Minnesota from being the number five seed going to
Tampa or LA, and they beat LA. Remember earlier this
year in overtime, LA was all beat up. LA is
now the healthiest team in the league. The Rams are
the healthiest team in the league. All their starters are back,
and they gave Detroit pushback when they were all banged up.
(07:41):
Now Detroit's all banged up. So Detroit's been this media
darling all year long. Can you imagine going to Tampa
and facing that defensive line which doesn't allow you to run,
and you know Montgomery comes back. Maybe that's the difference.
But if Montgomery's not ready for a playoff game, yikes.
I mean the NFC. I mean you got the Commanders
(08:04):
at the bottom of the NFC. I mean, Houston won
a division in the AFC. Houston's a mess right now.
Washington is sneaking in. I would want no part of
Jaden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Cliff Kingsbury and Washington. I would
want no part of that. So the NFC is deeper.
Their bottom is much stronger than the AFC, whereas the
(08:26):
AFC's tops probably better. But you know it's funny. We've
been watching all year just the NFC North is fascinating.
So all year we're like, Detroit's the team, green Bay
second little young, and Minnesota is a great story. If
Minnesota beats Detroit, they're the best team. Green Bay is
still a little young. And Detroit goes to La or
(08:47):
Tampa all beat up defensively, and I want to go
back to that, you gotta win this game tonight if
you're San Francisco, I don't want excuses. I mean, how
many backups are playing for Troy on the defensive side.
They were there for the taking. Detroit was there for
the taking tonight. I know you guys think I'm not
(09:09):
a rock pretty guy. I am for thirty two million
dollars after next season. But if you want me to
pay him big boy money now a year early, not
remotely interested, not gonna happen. Let him sit out. I mean,
I've been saying this for eight weeks. I think the
Niners are in a rebuild. They just don't know it yet.
(09:30):
I mean, if you can't beat Detroit at home the
week before their game of the year, when they were
there for the taking, you're not that close. Forty thirty
four Detroit. How good is football? I want to add
one NBA topic, So Adam Silver. I was told the
(09:51):
NBA got a hold of me and said, Adam Silver
is going to be in LA. Like to come on
my show. I'd love to have him. He's the guest
I've been asking to get for about a year. And
j Mac got people riled up when he said one
of the problems that the NBA has been having is
their most popular show with Barkley and Jack, Kenny Smith
and Ernie Johnson. They're very, very critical of the NBA
(10:13):
and every time you tune in, you know they're super
critical of the NBA. And to that, I would say
time out, because the top reporters in the NBA do
not want to lose access to the top agents, and
they break all these stories that by and large NBA
coverage is can border on pandering. It's really really pretty tame.
(10:40):
I mean NFL coverage. NFL reporters and talk show hosts
crush NFL players, crush them. I think the Barkley Shack
Show works because it's the only coverage of the NBA
that is critical. NBA TV is not. I think ESPN
(11:00):
feels like they are the they are the network of
the NBA, and it feels like it very complimentary. So
Shack and Barkley and Kenny are the one critical place
for NBA coverage and they should be. The league's got issues.
There's too many three point shots. The domestic players, the
(11:22):
young players don't feel like they're as skilled or as
focused as many of the international players. Those that's not
negative criticism. That's that's forthright, up front and completely honest
to me. I like the NBA, especially the playoffs, but I,
for instance, baseball is a very tough sport for a
(11:42):
reporter to be critical because one hundred and sixty two
games spring training, you're with these players around the clock.
They'll shut you out. I've had friends. I wrote a
couple books with a guy named Tim Kune who used
to cover the San Francisco Giants, and he's like, listen, man,
you get in the bad side of players, like you're
a virus, like it, they will just stay away from you.
(12:05):
They'll shut you out for the season. NBA is different.
There's half as many games. There's also a lot of
times even on your own team, the stars have their
separate agents and separate camps, and there's more divisions. But
NBA coverage by and large is very favorable. Home announcing
(12:26):
teams aren't critical the big your Shams woes when he
worked in it, you know they're not beating guys over
the head. It's a pretty tame media landscape in the NBA.
The one show that's critical is that one, and the
audience likes it. Fans like it. It's also it's not
all critical. I mean, I watch inside the NBA in
(12:49):
a regular basis. There have been nights I watched that
more than the game. I'll literally tune in it's on TV.
I'll watch the halftime show or the pregame show. I'll
watch fifteen minutes of the game, get bored and leave.
I watch more of the pregame sho show and the
halftime show in the game, especially in like you know, October, November, December, January.
I don't think it's all negative. It's probably fifty to
fifty split, but you remember the negative stuff more than
(13:10):
the positive stuff. But leagues are covered differently, you know,
like international soccer. I've read some of the coverage of
international soccer. Those guys are rock stars. There's really strong
opinions in international soccer from the people who cover it.
The NFL, college football, very strong opinions on coaches. Maybe
(13:31):
that's just a football culture in America. We're more critical.
But usually basketball, you know, it's a long season. Not
a lot of reporters have fangs and much of a bite.
That's not a criticism, it's just the reality of my
entire life of watching NBA basketball and the media that
covers it. So if inside the NBA is the one
guys that occasionally bring out the anvil, eh, But I mean,
(13:55):
just do you watch listen to listen to NFL porters
and former players of the NFL highly critical on a
regular basis of the NFL any show. Anytime I bring
somebody on my show, and I don't think they're negative people,
they'll be critical regularly, be critical of players and coaches.
(14:16):
It comes with a territory. It's so infrequent in the NBA.
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Speaker 1 (15:49):
All Right, here we go. Former NFL scout John Middlecoff.
He has a podcast. Three and Out Minnesota twenty seven,
Green Bay twenty five. So I had a conversation yesterday
with a general manager in the league who said, yeah,
you can forget. You can forget Sam Darnold at forty million.
(16:09):
He said, you're not getting Sam Darnal. Look for forty million.
Sam's moved into the five five oh five to one,
and I watched him today even after his pick five
for five fifty five yards touchdown final drive. You know,
he got a little bit lucky. Some play calling. You know,
let's just be honest here. Kevin O'Connell's development and play
(16:30):
calling is substantial, and between Jefferson, Addison and Naylor the
Michigan State kid, they have incredible wide receiving group. So
I'm not taking anything away. But Sam, here's the thing
I take away John and you as a former scout.
They're asking him to make big boy throws. Some of
this shit is these are hard. Even when they were
(16:51):
leading late in the fourth. I'm like, guys, screen passes
lighting up. They're asking Sam, this is not dink and dunk.
These are tough throws.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah. I mean, he's treating this guy like Mahomes meets
Joe Montana in terms of his play calling. Complete trust.
I mean Honestly, you remove two throws, the interception where
he got greedy and the throw toward the end of
the game that he airmailed Addison that could have been
a disaster. Yeah, he was as good as the josh
Allen mahomes lamar. I mean, that's a dominant, dominant, dominant performance.
(17:24):
I thought, given the hype in this game and the pressure,
and we know Minnesota's got to be one of the
better home field advantages, how loud.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It is maybe the best.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You know, sometimes you can be overjuiced to go seventeen
of twenty two in the first half and just slice
and dice this team. Do you know what I had
to do immediately? I had to google Jordan Love's contract
because I'm thinking and listen, Jordan Love, for whatever reason,
for a good player. He is a slow starter in
these games. Yeah, but I googled he got a seventy
five million dollars signing bonus and one hundred and sixty
million dollars guaranteed. And if I'm Sam Darnold and we
(17:54):
beat Detroit next week and we're the number one seed,
I don't see how you could take anything less than that.
It's like, because Jordan love got paid really off eight games.
Remember the first half of the season, he was atrocious,
and obviously he had been there longer, and they liked
him and they know him. But every time I hear
Kevin O'Connell talk about Sam Darnold, it's like the way
I hear Andy talk about Mahomes. I mean, they love
(18:15):
the guy, and listen, they didn't. This is not a
clunky Atlanta Falcons situation. This was good business. They paid
a guy ten million dollars and they drafted a guy
essentially fell into their lap that they liked as well
JJ McCarthy. Things changed throughout the course of the year.
This is not a thirty five year old strike and
oil late in his career, right, This is not a
Geno Smith situation. Twenty seven years old. He was one
(18:36):
of the younger players to come in the league right
when he was drafted. Today was and they've been doing
this all season. I was like, this is not It's
not like they've peaking. They were blowing out teams immediately.
The Giants they destroyed, they destroyed the forty nine ers,
they destroyed the Texans, and in their fourth game they
were up twenty eight to nothing on this Packer team
in Green Bay, and the Green Bay came back, but
they've been dominating start to finish with him at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Look at the twenty eighteen draft class, Baker, Darnold, Josh Allen,
Lamar all having last year's and it's funny, Like we
used to always talk about the Marino and Lway class,
We've had two classes now that have been like four
star quarterbacks out of it, you know. And it's funny, John,
because in baseball, we understand even if you're Bryce Harper,
(19:23):
you go to the miners and it takes a while
to get it going. In the NBA, even if you're Yiannis,
it takes three to four years to build into something.
But in the NFL we figure it. Well, you know,
you're twenty two. You went to college, but it's very
similar if you don't get a good fit. I mean,
Mahomes didn't play his first year, you know, Josh Allen
was rough his first year. Like and if you go
(19:43):
to a bad organization, I mean, so it's like you
look at Sam now you're like, Sam has four to
five more minimum peak years. Here's the other thing. I'm
never going to talk about a guy's money. Right, Like,
but if you could take a little less to stay
with Minnesota even though they have Jay J. McCarthy in
(20:04):
the offing, it's weird like like, I mean, listen again,
if somebody offers you fifty two and you know I'm Minnesota,
I don't let him go. I think you and I agree,
I'm not letting him go. But if he goes to
the if he goes to the market and somebody offers
fifty one, but it's like the Raiders, or you can
go to a place that's got better players and better personnel.
(20:28):
Because I think what Sam has learned is Wow, coaching
and weapons really matter, really matter, because I think, I mean,
we can talk about Justin Jefferson, but Hell Naylor today, TJ. Hockinson,
the run game, Addison, Kevin O'Connor. You know we haven't
(20:48):
talked about this. Is Kevin O'Connell the coach.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Of the year. You know, I'm sure we'll talk about
Harball a little bit later, But to me, it's Kevin
O'Connell or Jim Harbaugh. I mean, Jim Harbaugh took over
a five win team. Kevin O'Connell. They started slow last year,
but before Cousins Tours Achilles. They were really coming on
and two years ago, if memory serves me correct, I
think they were the two seed. Now they lost the
(21:12):
Giants in the first round. But this team has been
good for a couple of years. This is the best
version of it. But you know, I always say about
play callers, you know certain people in any industry. Obviously
you get better at whatever you're doing with reps and experience,
but certain people are just much there's like an innate
quality to them at what they're doing. Immediately McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, Lafloor,
(21:36):
you could just see it. We see some of these
guys become play callers and you're like, yeah, this is
just not gonna work. Not because if you got him
on a whiteboard they would know any less than Kevin O'Connell,
but the flow of a game, maybe they freak out,
maybe they get stressed, maybe they lose it. Whatever it
is he today was it was like he would call
the screen at the perfect time, he would call a
(21:56):
perfect zone beating route in the perfect time, and him
in the quarterback. I don't see how you could ever
pivot off when you're a play caller and you get
a quarterback who's young and has these physical skills, and
it's working with your weapons who are all under contract.
Why you would want to mess with that is because
you drafted a quarterback who cares.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Okay Bill's forty Jets fourteen Jets had sixteen penalties.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
It's over.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
So I will say this about Buffalo. I think these
are the Sean McDermott playoffs. So Josh Allen, I looked
it up today, in ten playoff games, has a passer
rating of one hundred, twenty one touchdowns, four picks. This
is not a Lamar Jackson situation. He has been a
B plus to a quarterback in the playoffs. And again,
(22:44):
I don't expect you to be as good as you
are in the regular season because you're not playing Carolina
and you're not playing shitty teams. So if you're one
hundred passer rating quarterback in the playoffs, that's exceptional. And
Lamar has gotten tight, like you can see it, he's tight.
That's not Josh. Josh has been excellent. If they get
bound sturly in the playoffs, and I know this sounds crazy,
(23:05):
and I like Sean McDermott, john if they lost, if
they got if Cincinnati got in and played Buffalo in
the first round and Cincinnati won, I'm telling you I
think with dermott's in trouble because when I watch this team,
I don't want to hear about Josh Allen. Okay, this
is not a Josh Allen referendum. He lost a game
because he scored a touchdown with thirteen seconds left to Mahomes.
(23:27):
He's been fine in the playoffs. This team, this coaching
staff has real pressure on. I mean, think about this.
Hardball's not going to get fired if they lose in
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And he's not.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I mean, think of a coach that you know, I mean,
Sirianni real pressure. Sean McDermott, real pressure. I am fascinated
to watch Buffalo. They have to at minimum get to
the conference championship. At minimum, in my opinion, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
I mean what they're going to be a more than likely.
I think Denver's gonna win next week. If Andy rest
everybody and it's a kitchen sink game for them, they
would be a huge favorite in that game. I mean
we're talking touchdown plus maybe eight nine points. I'm pretty
confident Buffalo wins that game. Game the next game though
it gets real. I mean, you're playing Baltimore, who feels
like they're really coming on, right. I don't know what
(24:20):
Baltimore did, their defense looks better. That would be a
make or breaker because then if you win that game
all of a sudden, you'd have a lot of momentum
going into Kansas City, right, and you've beat them already
this year. So I think it go one to two ways.
I think they're winning Week one or you know that
that first in Buffalo, no matter what. I have a
hard time, but that Week two game against Baltimore is
(24:43):
a massive, massive games because I because I would say this,
if they go to Kansas City and they have another
one of those and I listen, he's had some weird
moments with clock management. If it feels like he blows
the game, maybe, but if you get beats like some
people just couldn't be Michael Jordan, some people just couldn't
beat Tiger Woods, I don't think it. I think lose
to Baltimore, you already lost to him this season. You
get him at home in the second round. I think
(25:04):
you've got to be in the conference championship game. I
think you can lose to the Chiefs and keep your
head high. Yeah, even though it would start to feel
like are we just always going to be second fiddle?
Or us in Baltimore is always gonna be second? And
the fact is, yeah, you might. You know, that was
kind of like Pittsburgh and some of these other teams
to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, you just played for
second in your conference. But I think they'd have to
(25:24):
win that game or else it could be weird because
and listen, I think it's hard. I mean, what do
you even make of the Jets? The Jets are a joke?
I mean, and I give the Bills credit. It was
a little weird early and then it was forty to
nothing and it's like, okay, you guys are just toying
with him.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Well we learned this. Maddy Eberflus and Robert saw I
got fired and their teams got worse. So I always
believe be very careful about firing a coach in season,
because if the interim coach wins, you get fan and
player pressure to hire in him coach, and if he loses,
then you lose the locker room. So they're two and
(26:00):
nine since Robert Sala left. But I have always felt
that Solo wasn't the problem. There's an argument he was
not the solution, but I never thought he was the problem.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
But really quick, before the Jets on the Bills, if
you and I own the team and we were sitting down,
like going to the playoffs, like, what are our different
options if things go south? Our division is a disaster.
The Jets couldn't be any more of a laughingstock. The
Patriots are not even a year away from being a
year away from winning nine games, and the Dolphins, I mean,
(26:31):
I just don't really take the franchise safely, and we
own them. So it's like, now, you know, trying to
go from really good to great. Totally admire anyone who's
willing to do that, but it is a pretty risky proposition. Now,
if that job became open, everyone and their mother would
be calling them. But I just think that, like, you
do have a pretty good thing going, yes, And to me,
(26:52):
especially if you lose the Chiefs, you're gonna keep winning
twelve thirteen games every year in this division, and you
know you have a capable guy. I'm just saying it's
pretty yes, I do you just say you do? You
ride the course a little bit because the Jets could
go backwards from here and the Patriots could be stuck
here for a couple of years. Yeah, no, I think
I think it's I think it is something you got
to take into account.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, I'm not saying I had fire Sean McDermott, but
I do believe the pressure is on Sean McDermott notre
whereas in Baltimore the pressure's on Lamar. John Harbaugh's got
a ring the pressure with Joe Flacco. Lamar needs to
play better. That's that's indisputable. He's got to play better.
Josh has played very well in most spots.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I would agree with that organization. I think most people
would choose the Ravens roster over the Bills roster. I
think that there's gonna be a tough that game. I mean,
we have to play it out to look at all
the different games. That's gotta be one of the better
playoff games of the entire tournament. If I tell you
Ravens that Bills, what's on the line for those two guys,
it doesn't. I mean that's Saturday or Sunday night the
(27:51):
week two. Right, that's as good as it gets.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So I've been talking about this for two weeks. Nine
teams right now have four wins or fewer less than
half of that last year four this year. It's almost
NBA like there is a lot of bad football. It
is atrocious. We also have three thirteen win teams, so
the top is bigger and the bottom's huge. Is it
(28:16):
a one off or is it the reality now? Of
two things? The league is now so quarterback centric that
again Burrows the only good quarterback, elite quarterback that's not
going to make the playoffs. If you have one, you
get in. And Cincinnati may still but if you have one,
you get in. I mean, go, look, I went I'm
going to go seven for eight I think potentially in
(28:38):
my division picks. Why because I took the best quarterbacks.
It's never been easier. And because of every owner's a billionaire,
there's more chaos and ownership, they're more impulsive. They fire
people quicker, which creates more chaos. So the bad organizations
are worse, you know, like the Giants have been bad
for six years now they're I mean, it's despite today
it's like, oh my god, this is embarrassing. Chicago's embarrassing.
(29:01):
I don't think it's a one off I think we're
gonna have a larger bottom because owners getting wealthier, wealthier,
they're writing forty eight million dollars to get coaches off
the payroll. As a rounding air, you used to just
stick it out? What do you make of this massive
bottom tier?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Now? I feel like for the last couple decades, the
quarterback thing has been pretty true. You know. I think
you've been able to get away with it in the
eighties and nineties if you built up your team. But
I think that's been a pretty consistent theme, Like the
shitty teams don't have a quarterback, that's why they're drafting high.
I think the money aspect of it and the ability
to fire whoever. And I think on the flip side,
(29:39):
you have coaches and executives doing everything humanly possible for power,
and I would imagine the league's always been relatively political.
But when there is this much money on the line
to be a general manager and pay five I mean,
how many gigs in America paid W two jobs pay
five million dollars. An assistant coach as a coordinator makes
(30:02):
two three million dollars. They're not the decision maker, they're
not near the top of the org chart, they're way down.
They don't have any responsibility really beside calling the plays
in terms of when shit hits the fan. So I
think you have a lot of Like I think it's
much more difficult. We talk about this a lot with players,
you know, building a team, and I think young people
naturally kind of gravitate toward each other and good teams
(30:23):
like everyone's kind of friends. I think coaching is just
so corporate. Everyone's trying to take out each other. You
can't trust anybody. I think the league, the amount of
money that has come in for front office and coaching
has made this completely separate from a lot of politicians
in the end, just because you work in the NFL
and I wasn't there long, but I always had this
(30:45):
asp like once you get there, everyone is such a
high level guy. It's just not the case, right. And
then the longer I've been around this, knowing a bunch
of people with a bunch of teams, you hear these stories.
It's just like any industry when there's a lot of money,
the cream will always separate. But people can still make
a lot of money being shitty. And how often do
we see I mean, the Atlanta Falcons are about to
play like McKay runs Arthur Blank's trust, you know, and
(31:10):
he like runs the football. But you know, it becomes
like these family businesses, but these are billion dollar businesses.
Most family. I've had some family business like close personal
friends that run family businesses and got bought out for
let's say twenty thirty million dollars. Like that's an American
success story. They built this business, they sold it for
thirty forty million dollars. These people have businesses that are
worth not a billion. We're talking like six seven. If
(31:34):
Mark Davis put the Raiders for sale, I mean, could
he get eight? Could he get nine? I mean, how
many companies in America are worth as much money? I think,
and the Raiders are a good example. They've always had
these people that like leads their way in because it's
just like a money training. I think it's hard for
some of these owners. And we look at all the
bad teams. It's all these owners that are listening to
the wrong people. Yeah, but you know who Steve Bushatty
(31:56):
listens to Da Costa, Ozzy and Harbaugh. You know New
York's it's New John and Kyle. It's like the I
think the chiefs Andy and Veach are very simple. They
operate like a small business. These others start operating like
fortune five hundred companies where I want it on the
board of directors, I got an idea for you. The
kids are involved, and it just becomes Wackoville. And obviously
(32:18):
because it's so public and it's a fun thing. It's
why Kevin Warren. Kevin Warren has a seven figure job,
but you know what his job, No one cares. When
he sells PSLs or sells the naming right steel for
hundreds of millions of dollars, no one will give a shit.
But you know what people care about your third round
pick the offensive coordinator. And so when you can start
getting involved with that, and I think that has permeated
(32:41):
all over the league, or at least you know, all
these crappy teams, and I think they struggle with that.
And these owners have money. Everyone's just trying to leach
on because the money right now is I mean, it's
like outrageous. I mean it's crazy. If you could bring
back Lamar Hunt and Al Davis and Eddie de Barbelow
and I would have told these guys in the eighties
what this would become. No one could have foreseen what
(33:03):
it has become. I mean we've seen it come in
the last decade, but forty years when I was a
kid in football. I mean the teller capt one point time.
I think when it first started, it wasn't like thirty
forty million dollars. Yeah, that was thirty years ago. John
Madden was being paid eight million dollars, making more than
like all the players.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So listen to thirteen member committee selected, you know, the
teams to get in. And this is what bureaucrats and
you know, people who are political create. Is that nobody
thought SMU and Boise State they didn't look the part
in the regular season. You know they play in weaker conferences.
(33:49):
But the thing that really outraged me was Oregon's first
game against the winner of Ohio State Tennessee, which is
a much tougher path than Penn State. It's against SMU
and Boise State. So the failing of the committee and
committees are created to innately fail. I mean, it's thirteen
(34:09):
different people with thirteen different opinions. We know, juries in
this country have let the wrong people walk. In my life,
I just look at Oregon season and they were the
best team on the field, and it's very hard to
ask somebody to beat somebody for a second time. I
picked Ohio State to win it. I didn't think it
(34:30):
would look like this. But that's not the inclusion of
Boise State or SMU. This is what bothered me.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I mean, I clearly Oregon got a raw deal.
But let's face it, the Walehio State has played the
first game, and the way they look in the second game,
I don't think anyone would sniff them right now. They
would beat everyone in the country easily. But I hear you.
I mean, I think part of it is they were
so there's so much cya of not getting sued. We
had to include a non power forward program showed out decently,
(35:01):
I thought, yeah, right, and so today a shoe who
plays in the Power Fife Conference. But we all look
at Big twelve like, are they any good?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Right?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I think you could argue also, Oregon, these teams, you're
all tied in with the bulls, with this money, so
many people with their hands in the cookie jar. How
does Oregon not get a home game? How do these
teams Texas? I mean, it's a pretty big advantage to
play in these neutral site games. What's the point of
play it all season?
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, I mean Oregon did not get a home game.
That to me is just you gotta be kidding me.
I mean Notre Dame lost to a directional school and
got one crazy not even a good directional school. Let's
talk about Ohio State and listen, when you go to
a movie, if you went to a movie that took
a while to build up but the ending was great,
I always thought that was usual suspects. It's a good movie,
(35:46):
you go home feeling great. If a movie starts fast
and dies out, you never feel satisfied. College football now
has a bigger, more dynamic ending to the season. But
it does, and we knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
John.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
It's not that the regular season doesn't matter, but Ohio
State not only lost a horrible game, they lost it late,
and they looked like garbage against Michigan and they still
got in. Now I don't have a problem with them
getting in. I don't mind the regular season meaningless because
I'm still gonna watch the games. I watch the NFL.
I know that you can start off one and four
(36:22):
and make the playoffs. I still watch the games. I
think we put I think the narrative that it's going
to kill college football. College football ratings this year were good.
It's just what it means is if you're a good
team with lots of blowouts, you can even lose a
really ugly game late and you get in. And my
(36:44):
take is, yeah, the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Raiders
late in the season last year and won the Super Bowl.
You shouldn't be punished severely if you're excellent just because
you lose in November and not in September. So I'm
that part of it has never bothered me that the
regular season will mean less. I'm still watching the games.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
I think there's a magnifying glass. I was just thinking
to listen to you talk. I don't think there's a
game that actually means more a non playoff game in
college football or the NFL than Ohio State versus Michigan.
I think it's clearly separated as the game that means
the most. Saban recently went off. He can't comprehend because
even in his mind, he was able to make every
game the same, even though they had Auburn as one
(37:28):
of the biggest rivalries in college football. Tennessee is a
big rivalry but it never felt any different than when
they played Ole Miss than when they played LSU. He
was BELICHICKI in that way, every opponent meant a lot.
At Ohio State, it just doesn't. I mean even Ryan
Day said like this can never happen again. That was
three days before they lost, you know, so the emphasis
that has been put on that game, and I think
(37:49):
Harbaugh helped take it to another level. And then Ryan
Day starting to lose, and I just think that game
feels like five games in one and then the way
they lost, and in fairess, you watch Michigan twenty four
hours ago against Alabama. Now I understand Alabama has had
some opt outs. They look pretty good. I mean, they're
coming to play. They have a defensive coordinator that makes
two and a half million dollars that was just coaching
at Baltimore a couple of years ago and was viewed
(38:10):
as one of the best defensive minds in football. So
it's like that's a real, real defense. And I just
think you look at that game, it was hard not
to overreact, but it might have just been as simple
as the coaching staff, specifically Ryan the players. They got
a little tight because the way they've looked now, it's
like a looseness. We have been talking about their roster
and the talent on their team. Like to me, the
(38:32):
difference of them in Texas, Texas man for man is
loaded as well their quarterback. I'm sorry, I just don't
trust on a play and play. Will Howard's playing pretty
well right now. Will Howard we have seen in the
first playoff game and the second playoff game is gonna
look like this. They're just not gonna lose, right And
they have a wide receiver, an eighteen year old kid.
It looks like you weighs two hundred and thirty pounds.
That is unstoppable because John, like Oregon's not trying to
(38:55):
cover them, they just can't.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You're you're a former NFL scout. Because Travis Hunter won
to go both ways. If you told me today Caleb
Downs and Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes were in this draft,
I would take them one and two in any order
because Travis Hunter, I do not like this high profile
want to play both sides the ball. Eventually you're going
(39:18):
to have to pick a side. I think Caleb Downs
is a better corner than Travis Hunter. I think he's
one of the best college players I've seen in the backfield.
I'm not kidding me when I say this. I was
told by an NFL general manager that Caleb Downs will
be the number one pick next year. He said, I
don't care who improves he goes outside of a star quarterback,
(39:38):
and we may have one. If Drew Allert Penn State flourishes,
he may come out this year, next year, whatever. But
Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, and they're not eligible for
the draft. Those guys are not college players. They're pros
playing on Saturday. So my takeaway is Ohio State has
(39:59):
two players won on both sides. They're just not college players.
I felt this about Jamar Chase at LSU. It's like, Okay,
that's not a college player. It's a pro playing on Saturdays.
If he was a basketball player, he'd be in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I think the problem with Travis Hunter, and I saw
Dion say this within the last month, do not draft
him if you don't embrace him playing both ways, because
that's the game plan. And to me, Dion not only
speaks as his coach, it feels like he speaks as
his parent, feels like he speaks as his agent, like
that's his representation for Travis Hunter, and I do think
that's going to be complicated because he is truly dead
set on that and based on what he's doing in college.
(40:34):
I understand that mindset. I don't believe it can work
because of the wear and tear. You know, same, But
like you say, those other two guys like just have
defined roles. It's very defined because I my thing with
Travis Hunter is if you're my best corner, my best
wide receiver, if you get injured, I lose two players.
You know, were those other guys you also get rest,
(40:55):
So I yeah, I hear you. Jeremiah Smith thing. I
don't remember seeing a wide receiver this time, this early,
where his body type was that physically developed.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Yeah, I mean it reminds me of when I was
a sportscaster in Las Vegas. I covered Larry Johnson, the
basketball player at UNLV, and that was before weightlifting was
a part of sports in general. I mean, it was
out there, but it wasn't like basketball players weren't spending
a lot of time in the gym. But Larry Johnson
was so physically dominant that at the college level, you
(41:25):
got twenty six points just on putbacks just on second opportunities.
He weighs. He weighed forty five pounds more than other
forwards and was stronger than all of them. So I
just look. And here's the thing about Will Howard. I
mean to me, he's a big, strong kid who's mobile.
So he's a draftable player.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I saw him play at Kansas State. I thought, that's
a big strong kid. Now you give him star players.
I don't know if he's an NFL starter, but I
think right now Ohio State has the best combination of
coaching and talent. Whether they have better talent than Georgia
or or or Texas, you know, who knows. But last
year Michigan only had like three five star guys. Alabama
(42:06):
had like eighteen. You know, Georgia has fifteen over the
last couple of years. So talent's hard to do. You
get the most out of your talent. But I don't
think we're overreacting to say that the last two games,
Ohio State's hitting harder, they're more explosive. They don't look
these these games. They're intimidating Oregon, they intimidated Tennessee. They
(42:30):
looked like Tyson at twenty one years old like other
big men feared him in the ring. Ohio State looks.
I think Oregon like surrendered about eight minutes in.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It was like it was over. Well. The irony was
is when the other game ended and you came right
to the game and it was seven to nothing and
you're like, whoa, we'll there's a minute end of the game.
And then Fowler was like, yeah, it was a two
play seventy yard drive. You're like, uh, that's gonna be
a problem. But we had just seen the same thing
with Texas. And then they slowed down right Ohio State.
(43:03):
Their foot never came off the pedal. I do wonder
if after because they tried to get into a heavyweight
fight with Michigan instead of just slinging the rock around
where Michigan wouldn't slow them down, and they lost and
it bit them, and I think everyone called out their
manhood and their toughness, like you think you're a tough program,
We've seen you against this Harbaugh level operation, and I
would say Michigan still has that soul in them the
(43:23):
way they play, and you're not as tough as them,
and they go, we are a tough team. We've paid
a premium for all these guys. I mean, you see
the physicality and the speed in which they have and
it's almost like they got to reset and take it
personally because they've come out with a violence that you
just haven't seen in college football.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
I mean, I think perfect word is violent. They look
violent defensively. Two takeaways. First, Kenny Dillingham, who was an
offensive coordinator briefly at three schools, is a sensational coach.
They had five hundred and ten yards. They had twenty
eight to seventeen first down advantage. Evan is sixty play advantage,
(44:01):
twenty eight to seventeen first down edge. And I don't
believe they have a five star athlete one the level
of coaching and you know what I like, they don't.
I mean cam Scoutabo is one Division one offer. Now
he's gonna end up getting drafted. As you've talked about,
this is the best running back draft in a long time. Jesus,
(44:24):
I mean, good God, the Penn State has that Singleton kid.
He didn't get talked about instead of Ashton Genty. If
Singleton goes to the right team with a better offensive line,
he could end up being the better running back in
the NFL, so there's just running backs everywhere. But I mean,
I like Sam Levitt a lot. He's a very young quarterback.
He will be a pro six two and a half
(44:46):
two ten, dual threat mobile.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Again, you can see him and think, oh, that's what
a pro is going to look like in two years.
I think he's like twenty years old in two years,
and so the quarterback's good. But to have that kind
of dominance thirty seven to twenty two minute time of
advantage when Texas has I bet you at least sixteen
fourteen to sixteen five star guys and forty four star guys.
(45:11):
To me, I thought, if I was start coming out
of that game, I'd be a little embarrassed. I thought
it was a coaching mismatch.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yeah. I thought he even kind of mentioned that, like
that was we gotta play a lot better. He was
in his postgame interview on the field, it looked like
he was pretty show shocked. I mean, at one point
in time, it was fourth and thirteen. I me, it's
basically fourth in Texas or the game's over. And then
they scored that touchdown on the D bunk. Yeah, geez, Luise, Uh,
you know one thing. You know, the Boise State team
(45:40):
that we saw play Penn State is not as good
as Chris Peterson's Boisese teams, but they just have an
all time great player. Yep. This ASU team. The more
and more I watched them today reminded me a lot
of those Chris Peterson teams because probably has more guys
that you realize that it probably end up going like sixth,
seventh round. And they just had a grittiness, a toughness
(46:00):
to him. The quarterback was really fantastic. I mean he
had to pull plays out of as you know what,
just to give them an opportunity. Yeah, and that running back,
I mean, I thought, listen to hype on him. This
kind of is easy for everyone to latch onto this
white guy running guys over. He might have had the
flu or something today because he was clearly sucking some
win and throwing up He single handedly gives them an
(46:23):
edge and obviously the double pass, but he was freaking
fantastic and break thirty against those guys.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Thirty you know, carries one hundred and forty three yards.
I watched him and I thought he's the guy that
played for Tampa years ago.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
The ball stop Mike Alstadt.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, it's like he is a there's a Mike Allstock component.
I think he's got a little better speed. Maybe he doesn't,
but here he's a kid. I think he's out of
like Sacramento or something. He had like one one scholarship
offer that is a pro. But I think Dillingham, you know,
he grew up a chandler Arizona. He always wanted to
be Arizona State's coach. This is his dream job. This
(47:05):
is not a stepping stone, like, this is the job
he always wanted. And it's cool because I think Arizona
States has been one of those programs we think is
a little bit of a sleeping giant, like why aren't
they better? And I think they found they're Chris Peterson.
I think they found a brilliant coach. But the Texas
thing and I wrote this down and listen, Sark Saban
(47:29):
loved him. Washington had a good ad that loved him,
USC hired him. Texas is ad. Chris Decante is maybe
the smartest ad in the country. Smart people higher Sark Okay,
John like three schools with big football brands have hired him.
NFL teams liked him. Saban loved him. We know he's
(47:51):
a good coach, but one of the things, and we
know he can scheme plays. I mean they have. I
thought today they had a couple of different crisis situations
where they had good scheme plays. But I will say
his teams feel loose. So it's easy from a couch
from somebody to say he's overrated. But if Saban thinks
you're a good coach, and he won. He won Assistant
(48:13):
of the Year in college under Saban, and he's had
three different programs hire him, and again he may end
up in the national you know. I mean, this guy
is in the right spot, right he's in the playoff.
How do you define him? My knock on him is
that his teams always look loose, like they're just not
(48:34):
buttoned up, which is interesting because he coached under Saban,
who's the opposite. That's my take. And I don't know,
I don't know what his comp is, but I just
feel like too many times on the passing game, it's
a jump ball, like he doesn't have defined reads. Too
often it's just like, let's just get better players and
(48:56):
throw a ball at the sideline. Is that yours are sharp?
Speaker 3 (48:59):
Yeah? To me? Been as critical in Sark as anyone
over the years. I've been an astronomical amount of money
when my guy did Bor played him last year and
I thought that was it should have been easier. But
I'm going to defend him here. I think you can
look at yours box score. It doesn't look that bad.
He's twenty to thirty three, twenty two. To me, he's
a liability. And I just I mean it for the
talent that they have, because the one knock you've had
(49:21):
on Sark, if you've just watched them coach over the year,
it's like a kind of a soft operation, a little
like Lincoln Riley, Well he pivoted pretty well, used that
check book. Their defense is not soft. I mean, look today.
I mean the way they got back into the game
was a freak double pass where the guy's covered and
he comes back Scouto underthrows him. You know, I I
the kicker missed a couple kicks. I mean it hadn't
(49:43):
he been nails all season long? Yeah, so it's a
little freakish. The way they came back. I mean that
game was one for the ages. With the stuff. I
think you look at quinn Ewers, who again if you
just look at the box score, doesn't look that terrible.
This a national championship roster without a national che ambiship quarterback.
I actually think Sark has grown a lot. I think
he tries to call plays around this player. Sometimes. I
(50:07):
think he gets into situations where he doesn't trust them.
You know, that's the thing with Dilley Haam like they
have full trust in that court doesn't have a choice,
you know. I think sometimes just like hey, we could
just run some bubble screens. Our athletes are better than
your athletes, right and sometimes for whatever reason, how this
team fifty three yards rushing fifty three yards rushing against ASU,
Like you would think with the amount of talent they
(50:28):
have on their offensive line and the talent they have
a running back. If you would have said what do
they rush for coming into this ASU game, I would
have said easily one hundred and forty yards and they
just had it wasn't working. They just abandoned it and
ASU selling out like make Quinn youwers beat us, which
ironically kind of did in the overtime because you didn't
cover anyone in the end zone. But for most part,
the reason they got back into it the interception. How
(50:50):
many times this year have Texas been in a position
where they can really put the nail in the coffin
and Quinn Ewers turns the ball over, Or they're down
in a game against George they're coming back and he
turns the ball over. There is just an element of
I mean, if he was an NFL player, he would
be highly, highly criticized, and I would imagine the Texas
Reddit community, in the football community. He's a pretty polarizing guy,
(51:10):
and everyone's like, we're going to arch banding next year.
Know if fans or busts about it. If I was
a Texas fan, I'd be like, well, why is he
just playing right now? Because if he's as good as
everyone says he's gonna be, and he's a manning, I mean,
who the only team that I've seen that could even
remotely play with us would be Ohio State. We can't
beat Ohio State with this player. That's what I would
be thinking. And if there's a loyalty and listen, I
think this is where coaches sometimes are different than personnel
(51:31):
people definitely different fans. They're very loyal to a guy. Clearly,
him and Quinn have a long standing relationship. Now he's
roaded with them this long. They've had a lot of success.
Right last year they were in the playoffs. This year
they're now in the final four. But man, I think
you have this great I mean, they're defense. How many
those guys look like NFL players and they have freshmen
that look like they're gonna be top ten picks. And
(51:53):
what are they gonna be against Ohio State? Would you
guess a six point underdog? Oh?
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, I would. That's a that's a great question. I
would take Ohio State minus six to me. I wouldn't
take Texas until we got into like seven and a half.
Penn State thirty one Boise State fourteen. Boise State, for
the record, had the ball in the red zone. I
counted four times it could have been five, and didn't
(52:20):
get any points. So Penn State gave them multiple opportunities
to make that game much closer. Boise State had a
touchdown that was called back because of a holding penalty.
So it was thirty one to fourteen, but it was
it didn't look like a blowout. I mean there was
multiple opportunities to a Boiset game. It was a good game.
(52:42):
So it's really interesting. So First of all, Carter is
a top five player. He got banged up. Great player
Nick Singleton, who was a Gatorade player the year in
high school. He's going to be a stud. Pro running
back Drew Aller is fascinating, big guy, big arm. There
are stories out there that NFL scouts think he may
(53:04):
still go pro, and many say he would go number
one simply on arm, strength and size. Can I look
at Penn State and I have great respect for the program,
but they remind me a little bit of a poor
man's Ohio State. They're just never quite they don't have
quite as many NFL guys, They're just not quite as good.
(53:27):
People criticize James Franklin, but the guy wonted Vandy, so
he's fine. He's a great recruiter. Can Penn State win
the Natty?
Speaker 3 (53:35):
I think they need Carter to be healthy because early
in that game he had won pass rusher like Holy,
that looks like Micah Parsons in number eleven. And then
when you go with the other guys, I told you
I think last week, I think they could win the
whole thing. But he's I mean, you lose a top
five player. I don't care how good your recruiting is
it's pretty damn good. That'd be a big blow. But
how good does Warren look? The running backs look fantastic,
(53:57):
the quarterbacks playing great is to you just trust James Franklin.
I think the one thing we saw with ASU and
Boise there's a gritty diss and a toughness that just
even Ohio State. Ohio State's showing it now, but they
go for a long period of time without it because
they don't need it. Yeah, Boise State for twenty five
years is built on that, and I think Kenny Dillinghan
has brought that to Arizona State, and that's why they
(54:20):
can go toe to toe with a team where they
don't have one guy that would start for the other team.
I mean, that's that's truly if you remove Genty, which
I mean gent would technically start for Penn State, but
they would rotate the other guys in Yes, Singleton.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Singleton's a great running back.
Speaker 3 (54:35):
Yeah, so I actually learn more about Genty in that
game than I do with some of his two hundred
and fifty yard games against New Mexico running over Penn State.
It was an impressive, just gritty effort by the guy
running for every yard was contested running his ass off.
He's a he's a big time player. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
He he doesn't fumble, but he did twice in this game.
Now he only f frea g Yeah, he only averaged
three and a half yards of carry. I think part
of gent's strength. I mean I don't put him on
the class of Zeke or Saquon Adrian Peterson. Er McCaffrey
is an NFL first round running back. I don't he'll
go first round because it's a weak draft.
Speaker 3 (55:08):
But he's five eight. I mean that's kind of a
you know, it's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
Yeah, I think his strength is that he is so
small and so powerful. He is hard, you know, like
we're running backs. You don't want a six to two
running back. I think he's hard. To get that pad
level low enough to get him a shot, and so
what you end up doing when you tackle him, it's
almost always arm tackles because he's five to eight, so
(55:33):
when he lowers, so when he runs and lowers his head,
it's like tackling a five to five and a half guy.
He always has the center of gravity and he always
has sort of leverage on you hips down, and so
it's like Penn State guys held him to three and
a half yards to carry, but he broke so many
arm tackles and I so it's like, I look at
(55:55):
him as a first round running back in a week draft.
I don't look at him as an NFL superstar. I
don't think he has the juice of Saquon I don't
think he has the strength or speed of Adrian Peterson.
I don't think he's his talent that is McCaffrey, who's
also small. I think part of the package with him
is you just can't get under him and his size
is and I think in the NFL he'll have success,
(56:17):
but I don't know as I watch him. My take
is he'll need the right fit in the NFL to
be a star. But he is a starter.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Yeah, Well, to me, he's gonna get drafted really high.
I think he's gonna be a good player in the NFL.
I would struggle. You know, let's say somewhere between fifteen
and twenty five. I think a lot of people think
that's the range he's gonna get picked. Well, if I'm
drafting twentieth and then my next pick is fiftieth, why
wouldn't I If I could take a corner or no
offensive lineman at twentieth. I can get one of these
(56:45):
other good running backs at fiftieth. So it's kind of
supply demand. It's always why a lot of people why
did Jim Harbaugh take the tackle at five and then
take lad McConkey in the second round. Because there's a
ton of wide receivers in every draft, So I'm gonna
get a guy. It starts in the second round. We
see it every year with wide receivers. Like, you know,
would you take a wide receiver in the top ten? Well,
(57:07):
if I'm drafting after you, I hope you do, so
I can take another position. I can take a wide
receiver later. So I mean every game I watch Henderson
for Ohio State, he's an NFL player. All these teams
have NFL players and running back. So why would I
take a running back in the first round if I
think I get ninety five percent or ninety percent of
that guy? Maybe in a third round? Well, if I
get Skataboo, Skataboo's gonna run like a four to seven five.
(57:29):
What if I can get the guy in the third run.
You don't think Jim Harbaugh's gonna like Skataboo. Does that
guy have charger written all over? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (57:34):
Well, I mean it's I think I told you this recently.
Wood he marks for USC is their best back since
Reggie Bush. He maybe a fifth round back. Now maybe
Genti's better than him, He's not that much better than him.
Like it is a loaded I mean this. This Singleton
kid at Penn State was the National Gatorade Player of
(57:55):
the Year, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
He Singleton is again. I mean, I don't know as measurables,
but he's like six feet two twenty seven with a burst.
It's like if anybody dropped in the first round. I
could see gent dropping. Not because he's not good, but
because of the depth of the position, the volume
The volume. Our Week seventeen reaction is presented by Uber eats.
Get game day deals all season long on uber eats.
Forty to thirty four. The Lions roar back in the
second half thanks to two brock pretty interceptions, and you know,
(00:26):
I just it really cracks me up. If you're listening
to this, you have a team, and you're a fan,
many of your Niner fans, some of your Lion fans.
You have to be an adult. If you're a general manager.
You're watching John Lynch on TV tonight. How did he
react with those brock Purty picks? Baker Mayfield's making thirty
three million this year. Brock Purty is not nearly as
(00:48):
talented as Baker Mayfield. One's a first round pick. You know,
one's number one pick. One's the last guy picked. Baker's
got a better arm. I think Baker's a better athlete.
Baker leads the NFL in touchdown passes the entire NFL,
including Josh Allen and Joe Burrow since he started in Tampa. Well,
(01:08):
he's got Mike Evans. Everybody's got a receiver. Everybody's got
at least one decent receiver. So here's a prime example,
so defensive players in the NFL get hurt more than
offensive players statistically, and Detroit's down like seven or eight starters.
So this was a moment to really seize an opportunity
(01:31):
to beat Detroit. I thought Detroit would win, and my
takeaway was because I trusted Golf on the road more
than brock pretty at home. I thought it would be
a high scoring game just because the Lions, that's all
they can play now. They have so many players down
and listen, it doesn't help that Jake Moody missed a
fifty one yarder and a fifty eight yarder and a
pat But folks, there's a reason they were settling for
(01:55):
fifty one yarders and fifty eight yarders because there was,
for instance, a key third pass by brock Purty in
the second half the Juwan Jennings that was behind him.
I just don't understand how you can watch brock Purty.
In fact, I'd argue, when he got hurt, he'll be fine.
But when he got dinged up, they put in Josh Dobbs,
who ran for a touchdown that athletically brock Purty would
(02:17):
not have raced to the corner and got into the
end zone. He could have scrambled, but he's not as
fast as athletic as Josh Dobbs, who's a pretty remarkable
player who just bounces around the league and he's always
pretty effective. But people get so caught up on statistics. Well,
he had three hundred and seventy seven yards. First of all,
Shanahan is one of the great play scriptors in the league.
(02:37):
Andy Reid and Shanahan are probably one and two in
the league. Sean Payton's probably third those three guys. Bow
Next played Justin Herbert a week ago. Bo Nicks looked
way better in the first half than Justin Herbert. Why
because the first half is scripted. In the second half
against the Chargers defense, bow Knicks didn't look as good.
That's about talent in the first half. Brock Purty on
(02:58):
Kyle Shanahan's script is remarkable. In the second half, two
picks behind Jowan Jennings on a key third down throw.
Here are the numbers for Brock Purtty in the second
half this year and again the first half, especially when
you have elite offensive coordinators or elite play designers like
Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Shanahan McVeigh, by the way, is
(03:21):
not an elite play designer. The Rams have been an
average offense all first half. Nick Sirianni's an offensive coach.
He's not an elite play designer. Not all offensive coaches are.
Dan Campbell's more offensive side, He's not an elite play designer.
Pretty in the second half. First half off and on script.
Second half is talent pretty second half this year eight touchdowns,
(03:43):
ten picks. That's bad. Jayden Daniels is remarkable in the
fourth quarter. Broock Perty's awful. This is not his first
year in the league. He's got Kyle Shanahan. And the
other thing is Shanahan you get so many open Ricky
Pearsall and George Kill opportunities. And this is what Andy
Reid does. I mean Andy Reid in a Super Bowl
(04:04):
a couple of years ago, in their first Super Bowl
win without Tyreek Hill. He's getting Sky Moore wide open
looks in the red zone, that congested area. That's what
great play designers do. By the way, Ben Johnson's very
good tonight in the red zone down near the goal line.
You know Jared Goff had open receivers. That's what clever
(04:25):
coaches do. So you know, and I'm not saying Jared
Goff isn't benefiting from a good old line and an
excellent play designer. But this is the second team Goff
has done that with. And McVay is not known as
a brilliant play designer. He is a culture guy. He's
got a great eye for personnel, he's a motivator, he
(04:46):
designs excellent run games. But so many of the completions
for brock Prudy are two wide open players. But the
difference between good and great in this league is squeezing
the ball in these little holes. Darnold did that yesterday
multiple times. Jayden Daniels did that. Hell, Michael Pennix had
(05:07):
a throw like that yesterday for a touchdown for Atlanta.
The opening was the size of a football. And Pennis
has real velocity. I mean, he can really cut it loose.
So brock Purdy isn't big, isn't super athletic, doesn't have
a big arm, and benefits greatly from Shanahan's play calling.
He's good, he's functional. But the idea, I'm gonna pay
(05:27):
him forty and fifty million, Baker's make him thirty three million.
You got to be kidding me. Yeah, it's just eight touchdowns,
ten picks in the second half this year, and he
was the difference in the game tonight. Don't blame the kicker,
those two second half picks, that was the difference. So yeah,
(05:48):
when you and you know, listen, Detroit is one of
those teams like Minnesota right now where they've got spectacular
offensive players and excellent coaching Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores
Glenn defensive coordinator for Detroit Ben Johnson. So a lot
of this stuff is coaching, a lot of this stuff
when you look at the teams in this league, Spags
(06:09):
and Andy Reid. I mean, look at San Francisco when
they had Demiko Ryans and Shanahan. That was their best
staff in my opinion. Look at the results. You're getting
the Super Bowls, you're getting the conference championships. So I
think with Purty, you just have to be totally honest.
I would just play it out. I'm not gonna pay him.
You want to sit out, go ahead, but I need
to see another year. There's no way I'm paying him early,
(06:31):
no shot. Don't care what he does, don't care if
he sits. If Sam Darnold's available, go pay for him.
But I'm and this is not hate. Second half numbers abysmal.
Second half is off script. That's when the true talent
comes out. That's when you see Mahomes win Super Bowls.
Second half ad libbing, that's when Justin Herbert has been
pretty spectacular. That's when Josh Allen takes over games. The
(06:56):
other thing about Detroit that's fascinating, there's this sense that
the AFC, because it's got the Bills and the Ravens
and the Chiefs, is much better than the NFC. But
the NFC is wide open. I mean, the Bucks are
three to ohero against NFC playoff teams. They beat Washington, Detroit,
and Philly, and the Lions could potentially. They've been media
(07:18):
darlings all year. They're a one loss on Sunday Night
against Minnesota from being the number five seed going to
Tampa or LA, and they beat LA. Remember earlier this
year in overtime, LA was all beat up. LA is
now the healthiest team in the league. The Rams are
the healthiest team in the league. All their starters are back,
and they gave Detroit pushback when they were all banged up.
(07:41):
Now Detroit's all banged up. So Detroit's been this media
darling all year long. Can you imagine going to Tampa
and facing that defensive line which doesn't allow you to run,
and you know Montgomery comes back. Maybe that's the difference.
But if Montgomery's not ready for a playoff game, yikes.
I mean the NFC. I mean you got the Commanders
(08:04):
at the bottom of the NFC. I mean, Houston won
a division in the AFC. Houston's a mess right now.
Washington is sneaking in. I would want no part of
Jaden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Cliff Kingsbury and Washington. I would
want no part of that. So the NFC is deeper.
Their bottom is much stronger than the AFC, whereas the
(08:26):
AFC's tops probably better. But you know it's funny. We've
been watching all year just the NFC North is fascinating.
So all year we're like, Detroit's the team, green Bay
second little young, and Minnesota is a great story. If
Minnesota beats Detroit, they're the best team. Green Bay is
still a little young. And Detroit goes to La or
(08:47):
Tampa all beat up defensively, and I want to go
back to that, you gotta win this game tonight if
you're San Francisco, I don't want excuses. I mean, how
many backups are playing for Troy on the defensive side.
They were there for the taking. Detroit was there for
the taking tonight. I know you guys think I'm not
(09:09):
a rock pretty guy. I am for thirty two million
dollars after next season. But if you want me to
pay him big boy money now a year early, not
remotely interested, not gonna happen. Let him sit out. I mean,
I've been saying this for eight weeks. I think the
Niners are in a rebuild. They just don't know it yet.
(09:30):
I mean, if you can't beat Detroit at home the
week before their game of the year, when they were
there for the taking, you're not that close. Forty thirty
four Detroit. How good is football? I want to add
one NBA topic, So Adam Silver. I was told the
(09:51):
NBA got a hold of me and said, Adam Silver
is going to be in LA. Like to come on
my show. I'd love to have him. He's the guest
I've been asking to get for about a year. And
j Mac got people riled up when he said one
of the problems that the NBA has been having is
their most popular show with Barkley and Jack, Kenny Smith
and Ernie Johnson. They're very, very critical of the NBA
(10:13):
and every time you tune in, you know they're super
critical of the NBA. And to that, I would say
time out, because the top reporters in the NBA do
not want to lose access to the top agents, and
they break all these stories that by and large NBA
coverage is can border on pandering. It's really really pretty tame.
(10:40):
I mean NFL coverage. NFL reporters and talk show hosts
crush NFL players, crush them. I think the Barkley Shack
Show works because it's the only coverage of the NBA
that is critical. NBA TV is not. I think ESPN
(11:00):
feels like they are the they are the network of
the NBA, and it feels like it very complimentary. So
Shack and Barkley and Kenny are the one critical place
for NBA coverage and they should be. The league's got issues.
There's too many three point shots. The domestic players, the
(11:22):
young players don't feel like they're as skilled or as
focused as many of the international players. Those that's not
negative criticism. That's that's forthright, up front and completely honest
to me. I like the NBA, especially the playoffs, but I,
for instance, baseball is a very tough sport for a
(11:42):
reporter to be critical because one hundred and sixty two
games spring training, you're with these players around the clock.
They'll shut you out. I've had friends. I wrote a
couple books with a guy named Tim Kune who used
to cover the San Francisco Giants, and he's like, listen, man,
you get in the bad side of players, like you're
a virus, like it, they will just stay away from you.
(12:05):
They'll shut you out for the season. NBA is different.
There's half as many games. There's also a lot of
times even on your own team, the stars have their
separate agents and separate camps, and there's more divisions. But
NBA coverage by and large is very favorable. Home announcing
(12:26):
teams aren't critical the big your Shams woes when he
worked in it, you know they're not beating guys over
the head. It's a pretty tame media landscape in the NBA.
The one show that's critical is that one, and the
audience likes it. Fans like it. It's also it's not
all critical. I mean, I watch inside the NBA in
(12:49):
a regular basis. There have been nights I watched that
more than the game. I'll literally tune in it's on TV.
I'll watch the halftime show or the pregame show. I'll
watch fifteen minutes of the game, get bored and leave.
I watch more of the pregame sho show and the
halftime show in the game, especially in like you know, October, November, December, January.
I don't think it's all negative. It's probably fifty to
fifty split, but you remember the negative stuff more than
(13:10):
the positive stuff. But leagues are covered differently, you know,
like international soccer. I've read some of the coverage of
international soccer. Those guys are rock stars. There's really strong
opinions in international soccer from the people who cover it.
The NFL, college football, very strong opinions on coaches. Maybe
(13:31):
that's just a football culture in America. We're more critical.
But usually basketball, you know, it's a long season. Not
a lot of reporters have fangs and much of a bite.
That's not a criticism, it's just the reality of my
entire life of watching NBA basketball and the media that
covers it. So if inside the NBA is the one
guys that occasionally bring out the anvil, eh, But I mean,
(13:55):
just do you watch listen to listen to NFL porters
and former players of the NFL highly critical on a
regular basis of the NFL any show. Anytime I bring
somebody on my show, and I don't think they're negative people,
they'll be critical regularly, be critical of players and coaches.
(14:16):
It comes with a territory. It's so infrequent in the NBA.
You notice it when you hear it from Berkley. Well,
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Speaker 1 (15:49):
All Right, here we go. Former NFL scout John Middlecoff.
He has a podcast. Three and Out Minnesota twenty seven,
Green Bay twenty five. So I had a conversation yesterday
with a general manager in the league who said, yeah,
you can forget. You can forget Sam Darnold at forty million.
(16:09):
He said, you're not getting Sam Darnal. Look for forty million.
Sam's moved into the five five oh five to one,
and I watched him today even after his pick five
for five fifty five yards touchdown final drive. You know,
he got a little bit lucky. Some play calling. You know,
let's just be honest here. Kevin O'Connell's development and play
(16:30):
calling is substantial, and between Jefferson, Addison and Naylor the
Michigan State kid, they have incredible wide receiving group. So
I'm not taking anything away. But Sam, here's the thing
I take away John and you as a former scout.
They're asking him to make big boy throws. Some of
this shit is these are hard. Even when they were
(16:51):
leading late in the fourth. I'm like, guys, screen passes
lighting up. They're asking Sam, this is not dink and dunk.
These are tough throws.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah. I mean, he's treating this guy like Mahomes meets
Joe Montana in terms of his play calling. Complete trust.
I mean Honestly, you remove two throws, the interception where
he got greedy and the throw toward the end of
the game that he airmailed Addison that could have been
a disaster. Yeah, he was as good as the josh
Allen mahomes lamar. I mean, that's a dominant, dominant, dominant performance.
(17:24):
I thought, given the hype in this game and the pressure,
and we know Minnesota's got to be one of the
better home field advantages, how loud.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
It is maybe the best.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You know, sometimes you can be overjuiced to go seventeen
of twenty two in the first half and just slice
and dice this team. Do you know what I had
to do immediately? I had to google Jordan Love's contract
because I'm thinking and listen, Jordan Love, for whatever reason,
for a good player. He is a slow starter in
these games. Yeah, but I googled he got a seventy
five million dollars signing bonus and one hundred and sixty
million dollars guaranteed. And if I'm Sam Darnold and we
(17:54):
beat Detroit next week and we're the number one seed,
I don't see how you could take anything less than that.
It's like, because Jordan love got paid really off eight games.
Remember the first half of the season, he was atrocious,
and obviously he had been there longer, and they liked
him and they know him. But every time I hear
Kevin O'Connell talk about Sam Darnold, it's like the way
I hear Andy talk about Mahomes. I mean, they love
(18:15):
the guy, and listen, they didn't. This is not a
clunky Atlanta Falcons situation. This was good business. They paid
a guy ten million dollars and they drafted a guy
essentially fell into their lap that they liked as well
JJ McCarthy. Things changed throughout the course of the year.
This is not a thirty five year old strike and
oil late in his career, right, This is not a
Geno Smith situation. Twenty seven years old. He was one
(18:36):
of the younger players to come in the league right
when he was drafted. Today was and they've been doing
this all season. I was like, this is not It's
not like they've peaking. They were blowing out teams immediately.
The Giants they destroyed, they destroyed the forty nine ers,
they destroyed the Texans, and in their fourth game they
were up twenty eight to nothing on this Packer team
in Green Bay, and the Green Bay came back, but
they've been dominating start to finish with him at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Look at the twenty eighteen draft class, Baker, Darnold, Josh Allen,
Lamar all having last year's and it's funny, Like we
used to always talk about the Marino and Lway class,
We've had two classes now that have been like four
star quarterbacks out of it, you know. And it's funny, John,
because in baseball, we understand even if you're Bryce Harper,
(19:23):
you go to the miners and it takes a while
to get it going. In the NBA, even if you're Yiannis,
it takes three to four years to build into something.
But in the NFL we figure it. Well, you know,
you're twenty two. You went to college, but it's very
similar if you don't get a good fit. I mean,
Mahomes didn't play his first year, you know, Josh Allen
was rough his first year. Like and if you go
(19:43):
to a bad organization, I mean, so it's like you
look at Sam now you're like, Sam has four to
five more minimum peak years. Here's the other thing. I'm
never going to talk about a guy's money. Right, Like,
but if you could take a little less to stay
with Minnesota even though they have Jay J. McCarthy in
(20:04):
the offing, it's weird like like, I mean, listen again,
if somebody offers you fifty two and you know I'm Minnesota,
I don't let him go. I think you and I agree,
I'm not letting him go. But if he goes to
the if he goes to the market and somebody offers
fifty one, but it's like the Raiders, or you can
go to a place that's got better players and better personnel.
(20:28):
Because I think what Sam has learned is Wow, coaching
and weapons really matter, really matter, because I think, I mean,
we can talk about Justin Jefferson, but Hell Naylor today, TJ. Hockinson,
the run game, Addison, Kevin O'Connor. You know we haven't
(20:48):
talked about this. Is Kevin O'Connell the coach.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Of the year. You know, I'm sure we'll talk about
Harball a little bit later, But to me, it's Kevin
O'Connell or Jim Harbaugh. I mean, Jim Harbaugh took over
a five win team. Kevin O'Connell. They started slow last year,
but before Cousins Tours Achilles. They were really coming on
and two years ago, if memory serves me correct, I
think they were the two seed. Now they lost the
(21:12):
Giants in the first round. But this team has been
good for a couple of years. This is the best
version of it. But you know, I always say about
play callers, you know certain people in any industry. Obviously
you get better at whatever you're doing with reps and experience,
but certain people are just much there's like an innate
quality to them at what they're doing. Immediately McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, Lafloor,
(21:36):
you could just see it. We see some of these
guys become play callers and you're like, yeah, this is
just not gonna work. Not because if you got him
on a whiteboard they would know any less than Kevin O'Connell,
but the flow of a game, maybe they freak out,
maybe they get stressed, maybe they lose it. Whatever it
is he today was it was like he would call
the screen at the perfect time, he would call a
(21:56):
perfect zone beating route in the perfect time, and him
in the quarterback. I don't see how you could ever
pivot off when you're a play caller and you get
a quarterback who's young and has these physical skills, and
it's working with your weapons who are all under contract.
Why you would want to mess with that is because
you drafted a quarterback who cares.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Okay Bill's forty Jets fourteen Jets had sixteen penalties.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
It's over.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
So I will say this about Buffalo. I think these
are the Sean McDermott playoffs. So Josh Allen, I looked
it up today, in ten playoff games, has a passer
rating of one hundred, twenty one touchdowns, four picks. This
is not a Lamar Jackson situation. He has been a
B plus to a quarterback in the playoffs. And again,
(22:44):
I don't expect you to be as good as you
are in the regular season because you're not playing Carolina
and you're not playing shitty teams. So if you're one
hundred passer rating quarterback in the playoffs, that's exceptional. And
Lamar has gotten tight, like you can see it, he's tight.
That's not Josh. Josh has been excellent. If they get
bound sturly in the playoffs, and I know this sounds crazy,
(23:05):
and I like Sean McDermott, john if they lost, if
they got if Cincinnati got in and played Buffalo in
the first round and Cincinnati won, I'm telling you I
think with dermott's in trouble because when I watch this team,
I don't want to hear about Josh Allen. Okay, this
is not a Josh Allen referendum. He lost a game
because he scored a touchdown with thirteen seconds left to Mahomes.
(23:27):
He's been fine in the playoffs. This team, this coaching
staff has real pressure on. I mean, think about this.
Hardball's not going to get fired if they lose in
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
And he's not.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I mean, think of a coach that you know, I mean,
Sirianni real pressure. Sean McDermott, real pressure. I am fascinated
to watch Buffalo. They have to at minimum get to
the conference championship. At minimum, in my opinion, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
I mean what they're going to be a more than likely.
I think Denver's gonna win next week. If Andy rest
everybody and it's a kitchen sink game for them, they
would be a huge favorite in that game. I mean
we're talking touchdown plus maybe eight nine points. I'm pretty
confident Buffalo wins that game. Game the next game though
it gets real. I mean, you're playing Baltimore, who feels
like they're really coming on, right. I don't know what
(24:20):
Baltimore did, their defense looks better. That would be a
make or breaker because then if you win that game
all of a sudden, you'd have a lot of momentum
going into Kansas City, right, and you've beat them already
this year. So I think it go one to two ways.
I think they're winning Week one or you know that
that first in Buffalo, no matter what. I have a
hard time, but that Week two game against Baltimore is
(24:43):
a massive, massive games because I because I would say this,
if they go to Kansas City and they have another
one of those and I listen, he's had some weird
moments with clock management. If it feels like he blows
the game, maybe, but if you get beats like some
people just couldn't be Michael Jordan, some people just couldn't
beat Tiger Woods, I don't think it. I think lose
to Baltimore, you already lost to him this season. You
get him at home in the second round. I think
(25:04):
you've got to be in the conference championship game. I
think you can lose to the Chiefs and keep your
head high. Yeah, even though it would start to feel
like are we just always going to be second fiddle?
Or us in Baltimore is always gonna be second? And
the fact is, yeah, you might. You know, that was
kind of like Pittsburgh and some of these other teams
to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, you just played for
second in your conference. But I think they'd have to
(25:24):
win that game or else it could be weird because
and listen, I think it's hard. I mean, what do
you even make of the Jets? The Jets are a joke?
I mean, and I give the Bills credit. It was
a little weird early and then it was forty to
nothing and it's like, okay, you guys are just toying
with him.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Well we learned this. Maddy Eberflus and Robert saw I
got fired and their teams got worse. So I always
believe be very careful about firing a coach in season,
because if the interim coach wins, you get fan and
player pressure to hire in him coach, and if he loses,
then you lose the locker room. So they're two and
(26:00):
nine since Robert Sala left. But I have always felt
that Solo wasn't the problem. There's an argument he was
not the solution, but I never thought he was the problem.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
But really quick, before the Jets on the Bills, if
you and I own the team and we were sitting down,
like going to the playoffs, like, what are our different
options if things go south? Our division is a disaster.
The Jets couldn't be any more of a laughingstock. The
Patriots are not even a year away from being a
year away from winning nine games, and the Dolphins, I mean,
(26:31):
I just don't really take the franchise safely, and we
own them. So it's like, now, you know, trying to
go from really good to great. Totally admire anyone who's
willing to do that, but it is a pretty risky proposition. Now,
if that job became open, everyone and their mother would
be calling them. But I just think that, like, you
do have a pretty good thing going, yes, And to me,
(26:52):
especially if you lose the Chiefs, you're gonna keep winning
twelve thirteen games every year in this division, and you
know you have a capable guy. I'm just saying it's
pretty yes, I do you just say you do? You
ride the course a little bit because the Jets could
go backwards from here and the Patriots could be stuck
here for a couple of years. Yeah, no, I think
I think it's I think it is something you got
to take into account.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, I'm not saying I had fire Sean McDermott, but
I do believe the pressure is on Sean McDermott notre
whereas in Baltimore the pressure's on Lamar. John Harbaugh's got
a ring the pressure with Joe Flacco. Lamar needs to
play better. That's that's indisputable. He's got to play better.
Josh has played very well in most spots.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I would agree with that organization. I think most people
would choose the Ravens roster over the Bills roster. I
think that there's gonna be a tough that game. I mean,
we have to play it out to look at all
the different games. That's gotta be one of the better
playoff games of the entire tournament. If I tell you
Ravens that Bills, what's on the line for those two guys,
it doesn't. I mean that's Saturday or Sunday night the
(27:51):
week two. Right, that's as good as it gets.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So I've been talking about this for two weeks. Nine
teams right now have four wins or fewer less than
half of that last year four this year. It's almost
NBA like there is a lot of bad football. It
is atrocious. We also have three thirteen win teams, so
the top is bigger and the bottom's huge. Is it
(28:16):
a one off or is it the reality now? Of
two things? The league is now so quarterback centric that
again Burrows the only good quarterback, elite quarterback that's not
going to make the playoffs. If you have one, you
get in. And Cincinnati may still but if you have one,
you get in. I mean, go, look, I went I'm
going to go seven for eight I think potentially in
(28:38):
my division picks. Why because I took the best quarterbacks.
It's never been easier. And because of every owner's a billionaire,
there's more chaos and ownership, they're more impulsive. They fire
people quicker, which creates more chaos. So the bad organizations
are worse, you know, like the Giants have been bad
for six years now they're I mean, it's despite today
it's like, oh my god, this is embarrassing. Chicago's embarrassing.
(29:01):
I don't think it's a one off I think we're
gonna have a larger bottom because owners getting wealthier, wealthier,
they're writing forty eight million dollars to get coaches off
the payroll. As a rounding air, you used to just
stick it out? What do you make of this massive
bottom tier?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Now? I feel like for the last couple decades, the
quarterback thing has been pretty true. You know. I think
you've been able to get away with it in the
eighties and nineties if you built up your team. But
I think that's been a pretty consistent theme, Like the
shitty teams don't have a quarterback, that's why they're drafting high.
I think the money aspect of it and the ability
to fire whoever. And I think on the flip side,
(29:39):
you have coaches and executives doing everything humanly possible for power,
and I would imagine the league's always been relatively political.
But when there is this much money on the line
to be a general manager and pay five I mean,
how many gigs in America paid W two jobs pay
five million dollars. An assistant coach as a coordinator makes
(30:02):
two three million dollars. They're not the decision maker, they're
not near the top of the org chart, they're way down.
They don't have any responsibility really beside calling the plays
in terms of when shit hits the fan. So I
think you have a lot of Like I think it's
much more difficult. We talk about this a lot with players,
you know, building a team, and I think young people
naturally kind of gravitate toward each other and good teams
(30:23):
like everyone's kind of friends. I think coaching is just
so corporate. Everyone's trying to take out each other. You
can't trust anybody. I think the league, the amount of
money that has come in for front office and coaching
has made this completely separate from a lot of politicians
in the end, just because you work in the NFL
and I wasn't there long, but I always had this
(30:45):
asp like once you get there, everyone is such a
high level guy. It's just not the case, right. And
then the longer I've been around this, knowing a bunch
of people with a bunch of teams, you hear these stories.
It's just like any industry when there's a lot of money,
the cream will always separate. But people can still make
a lot of money being shitty. And how often do
we see I mean, the Atlanta Falcons are about to
play like McKay runs Arthur Blank's trust, you know, and
(31:10):
he like runs the football. But you know, it becomes
like these family businesses, but these are billion dollar businesses.
Most family. I've had some family business like close personal
friends that run family businesses and got bought out for
let's say twenty thirty million dollars. Like that's an American
success story. They built this business, they sold it for
thirty forty million dollars. These people have businesses that are
worth not a billion. We're talking like six seven. If
(31:34):
Mark Davis put the Raiders for sale, I mean, could
he get eight? Could he get nine? I mean, how
many companies in America are worth as much money? I think,
and the Raiders are a good example. They've always had
these people that like leads their way in because it's
just like a money training. I think it's hard for
some of these owners. And we look at all the
bad teams. It's all these owners that are listening to
the wrong people. Yeah, but you know who Steve Bushatty
(31:56):
listens to Da Costa, Ozzy and Harbaugh. You know New
York's it's New John and Kyle. It's like the I
think the chiefs Andy and Veach are very simple. They
operate like a small business. These others start operating like
fortune five hundred companies where I want it on the
board of directors, I got an idea for you. The
kids are involved, and it just becomes Wackoville. And obviously
(32:18):
because it's so public and it's a fun thing. It's
why Kevin Warren. Kevin Warren has a seven figure job,
but you know what his job, No one cares. When
he sells PSLs or sells the naming right steel for
hundreds of millions of dollars, no one will give a shit.
But you know what people care about your third round
pick the offensive coordinator. And so when you can start
getting involved with that, and I think that has permeated
(32:41):
all over the league, or at least you know, all
these crappy teams, and I think they struggle with that.
And these owners have money. Everyone's just trying to leach
on because the money right now is I mean, it's
like outrageous. I mean it's crazy. If you could bring
back Lamar Hunt and Al Davis and Eddie de Barbelow
and I would have told these guys in the eighties
what this would become. No one could have foreseen what
(33:03):
it has become. I mean we've seen it come in
the last decade, but forty years when I was a
kid in football. I mean the teller capt one point time.
I think when it first started, it wasn't like thirty
forty million dollars. Yeah, that was thirty years ago. John
Madden was being paid eight million dollars, making more than
like all the players.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So listen to thirteen member committee selected, you know, the
teams to get in. And this is what bureaucrats and
you know, people who are political create. Is that nobody
thought SMU and Boise State they didn't look the part
in the regular season. You know they play in weaker conferences.
(33:49):
But the thing that really outraged me was Oregon's first
game against the winner of Ohio State Tennessee, which is
a much tougher path than Penn State. It's against SMU
and Boise State. So the failing of the committee and
committees are created to innately fail. I mean, it's thirteen
(34:09):
different people with thirteen different opinions. We know, juries in
this country have let the wrong people walk. In my life,
I just look at Oregon season and they were the
best team on the field, and it's very hard to
ask somebody to beat somebody for a second time. I
picked Ohio State to win it. I didn't think it
(34:30):
would look like this. But that's not the inclusion of
Boise State or SMU. This is what bothered me.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I mean, I clearly Oregon got a raw deal.
But let's face it, the Walehio State has played the
first game, and the way they look in the second game,
I don't think anyone would sniff them right now. They
would beat everyone in the country easily. But I hear you.
I mean, I think part of it is they were
so there's so much cya of not getting sued. We
had to include a non power forward program showed out decently,
(35:01):
I thought, yeah, right, and so today a shoe who
plays in the Power Fife Conference. But we all look
at Big twelve like, are they any good?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Right?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I think you could argue also, Oregon, these teams, you're
all tied in with the bulls, with this money, so
many people with their hands in the cookie jar. How
does Oregon not get a home game? How do these
teams Texas? I mean, it's a pretty big advantage to
play in these neutral site games. What's the point of
play it all season?
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, I mean Oregon did not get a home game.
That to me is just you gotta be kidding me.
I mean Notre Dame lost to a directional school and
got one crazy not even a good directional school. Let's
talk about Ohio State and listen, when you go to
a movie, if you went to a movie that took
a while to build up but the ending was great,
I always thought that was usual suspects. It's a good movie,
(35:46):
you go home feeling great. If a movie starts fast
and dies out, you never feel satisfied. College football now
has a bigger, more dynamic ending to the season. But
it does, and we knew this was coming.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
John.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
It's not that the regular season doesn't matter, but Ohio
State not only lost a horrible game, they lost it late,
and they looked like garbage against Michigan and they still
got in. Now I don't have a problem with them
getting in. I don't mind the regular season meaningless because
I'm still gonna watch the games. I watch the NFL.
I know that you can start off one and four
(36:22):
and make the playoffs. I still watch the games. I
think we put I think the narrative that it's going
to kill college football. College football ratings this year were good.
It's just what it means is if you're a good
team with lots of blowouts, you can even lose a
really ugly game late and you get in. And my
(36:44):
take is, yeah, the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Raiders
late in the season last year and won the Super Bowl.
You shouldn't be punished severely if you're excellent just because
you lose in November and not in September. So I'm
that part of it has never bothered me that the
regular season will mean less. I'm still watching the games.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
I think there's a magnifying glass. I was just thinking
to listen to you talk. I don't think there's a
game that actually means more a non playoff game in
college football or the NFL than Ohio State versus Michigan.
I think it's clearly separated as the game that means
the most. Saban recently went off. He can't comprehend because
even in his mind, he was able to make every
game the same, even though they had Auburn as one
(37:28):
of the biggest rivalries in college football. Tennessee is a
big rivalry but it never felt any different than when
they played Ole Miss than when they played LSU. He
was BELICHICKI in that way, every opponent meant a lot.
At Ohio State, it just doesn't. I mean even Ryan
Day said like this can never happen again. That was
three days before they lost, you know, so the emphasis
that has been put on that game, and I think
(37:49):
Harbaugh helped take it to another level. And then Ryan
Day starting to lose, and I just think that game
feels like five games in one and then the way
they lost, and in fairess, you watch Michigan twenty four
hours ago against Alabama. Now I understand Alabama has had
some opt outs. They look pretty good. I mean, they're
coming to play. They have a defensive coordinator that makes
two and a half million dollars that was just coaching
at Baltimore a couple of years ago and was viewed
(38:10):
as one of the best defensive minds in football. So
it's like that's a real, real defense. And I just
think you look at that game, it was hard not
to overreact, but it might have just been as simple
as the coaching staff, specifically Ryan the players. They got
a little tight because the way they've looked now, it's
like a looseness. We have been talking about their roster
and the talent on their team. Like to me, the
(38:32):
difference of them in Texas, Texas man for man is
loaded as well their quarterback. I'm sorry, I just don't
trust on a play and play. Will Howard's playing pretty
well right now. Will Howard we have seen in the
first playoff game and the second playoff game is gonna
look like this. They're just not gonna lose, right And
they have a wide receiver, an eighteen year old kid.
It looks like you weighs two hundred and thirty pounds.
That is unstoppable because John, like Oregon's not trying to
(38:55):
cover them, they just can't.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
You're you're a former NFL scout. Because Travis Hunter won
to go both ways. If you told me today Caleb
Downs and Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes were in this draft,
I would take them one and two in any order
because Travis Hunter, I do not like this high profile
want to play both sides the ball. Eventually you're going
(39:18):
to have to pick a side. I think Caleb Downs
is a better corner than Travis Hunter. I think he's
one of the best college players I've seen in the backfield.
I'm not kidding me when I say this. I was
told by an NFL general manager that Caleb Downs will
be the number one pick next year. He said, I
don't care who improves he goes outside of a star quarterback,
(39:38):
and we may have one. If Drew Allert Penn State flourishes,
he may come out this year, next year, whatever. But
Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, and they're not eligible for
the draft. Those guys are not college players. They're pros
playing on Saturday. So my takeaway is Ohio State has
(39:59):
two players won on both sides. They're just not college players.
I felt this about Jamar Chase at LSU. It's like, Okay,
that's not a college player. It's a pro playing on Saturdays.
If he was a basketball player, he'd be in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
I think the problem with Travis Hunter, and I saw
Dion say this within the last month, do not draft
him if you don't embrace him playing both ways, because
that's the game plan. And to me, Dion not only
speaks as his coach, it feels like he speaks as
his parent, feels like he speaks as his agent, like
that's his representation for Travis Hunter, and I do think
that's going to be complicated because he is truly dead
set on that and based on what he's doing in college.
(40:34):
I understand that mindset. I don't believe it can work
because of the wear and tear. You know, same, But
like you say, those other two guys like just have
defined roles. It's very defined because I my thing with
Travis Hunter is if you're my best corner, my best
wide receiver, if you get injured, I lose two players.
You know, were those other guys you also get rest,
(40:55):
So I yeah, I hear you. Jeremiah Smith thing. I
don't remember seeing a wide receiver this time, this early,
where his body type was that physically developed.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Yeah, I mean it reminds me of when I was
a sportscaster in Las Vegas. I covered Larry Johnson, the
basketball player at UNLV, and that was before weightlifting was
a part of sports in general. I mean, it was
out there, but it wasn't like basketball players weren't spending
a lot of time in the gym. But Larry Johnson
was so physically dominant that at the college level, you
(41:25):
got twenty six points just on putbacks just on second opportunities.
He weighs. He weighed forty five pounds more than other
forwards and was stronger than all of them. So I
just look. And here's the thing about Will Howard. I
mean to me, he's a big, strong kid who's mobile.
So he's a draftable player.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
I saw him play at Kansas State. I thought, that's
a big strong kid. Now you give him star players.
I don't know if he's an NFL starter, but I
think right now Ohio State has the best combination of
coaching and talent. Whether they have better talent than Georgia
or or or Texas, you know, who knows. But last
year Michigan only had like three five star guys. Alabama
(42:06):
had like eighteen. You know, Georgia has fifteen over the
last couple of years. So talent's hard to do. You
get the most out of your talent. But I don't
think we're overreacting to say that the last two games,
Ohio State's hitting harder, they're more explosive. They don't look
these these games. They're intimidating Oregon, they intimidated Tennessee. They
(42:30):
looked like Tyson at twenty one years old like other
big men feared him in the ring. Ohio State looks.
I think Oregon like surrendered about eight minutes in.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
It was like it was over. Well. The irony was
is when the other game ended and you came right
to the game and it was seven to nothing and
you're like, whoa, we'll there's a minute end of the game.
And then Fowler was like, yeah, it was a two
play seventy yard drive. You're like, uh, that's gonna be
a problem. But we had just seen the same thing
with Texas. And then they slowed down right Ohio State.
(43:03):
Their foot never came off the pedal. I do wonder
if after because they tried to get into a heavyweight
fight with Michigan instead of just slinging the rock around
where Michigan wouldn't slow them down, and they lost and
it bit them, and I think everyone called out their
manhood and their toughness, like you think you're a tough program,
We've seen you against this Harbaugh level operation, and I
would say Michigan still has that soul in them the
(43:23):
way they play, and you're not as tough as them,
and they go, we are a tough team. We've paid
a premium for all these guys. I mean, you see
the physicality and the speed in which they have and
it's almost like they got to reset and take it
personally because they've come out with a violence that you
just haven't seen in college football.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
I mean, I think perfect word is violent. They look
violent defensively. Two takeaways. First, Kenny Dillingham, who was an
offensive coordinator briefly at three schools, is a sensational coach.
They had five hundred and ten yards. They had twenty
eight to seventeen first down advantage. Evan is sixty play advantage,
(44:01):
twenty eight to seventeen first down edge. And I don't
believe they have a five star athlete one the level
of coaching and you know what I like, they don't.
I mean cam Scoutabo is one Division one offer. Now
he's gonna end up getting drafted. As you've talked about,
this is the best running back draft in a long time. Jesus,
(44:24):
I mean, good God, the Penn State has that Singleton kid.
He didn't get talked about instead of Ashton Genty. If
Singleton goes to the right team with a better offensive line,
he could end up being the better running back in
the NFL, so there's just running backs everywhere. But I mean,
I like Sam Levitt a lot. He's a very young quarterback.
He will be a pro six two and a half
(44:46):
two ten, dual threat mobile.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
Again, you can see him and think, oh, that's what
a pro is going to look like in two years.
I think he's like twenty years old in two years,
and so the quarterback's good. But to have that kind
of dominance thirty seven to twenty two minute time of
advantage when Texas has I bet you at least sixteen
fourteen to sixteen five star guys and forty four star guys.
(45:11):
To me, I thought, if I was start coming out
of that game, I'd be a little embarrassed. I thought
it was a coaching mismatch.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yeah. I thought he even kind of mentioned that, like
that was we gotta play a lot better. He was
in his postgame interview on the field, it looked like
he was pretty show shocked. I mean, at one point
in time, it was fourth and thirteen. I me, it's
basically fourth in Texas or the game's over. And then
they scored that touchdown on the D bunk. Yeah, geez, Luise, Uh,
you know one thing. You know, the Boise State team
(45:40):
that we saw play Penn State is not as good
as Chris Peterson's Boisese teams, but they just have an
all time great player. Yep. This ASU team. The more
and more I watched them today reminded me a lot
of those Chris Peterson teams because probably has more guys
that you realize that it probably end up going like sixth,
seventh round. And they just had a grittiness, a toughness
(46:00):
to him. The quarterback was really fantastic. I mean he
had to pull plays out of as you know what,
just to give them an opportunity. Yeah, and that running back,
I mean, I thought, listen to hype on him. This
kind of is easy for everyone to latch onto this
white guy running guys over. He might have had the
flu or something today because he was clearly sucking some
win and throwing up He single handedly gives them an
(46:23):
edge and obviously the double pass, but he was freaking
fantastic and break thirty against those guys.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Thirty you know, carries one hundred and forty three yards.
I watched him and I thought he's the guy that
played for Tampa years ago.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
The ball stop Mike Alstadt.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, it's like he is a there's a Mike Allstock component.
I think he's got a little better speed. Maybe he doesn't,
but here he's a kid. I think he's out of
like Sacramento or something. He had like one one scholarship
offer that is a pro. But I think Dillingham, you know,
he grew up a chandler Arizona. He always wanted to
be Arizona State's coach. This is his dream job. This
(47:05):
is not a stepping stone, like, this is the job
he always wanted. And it's cool because I think Arizona
States has been one of those programs we think is
a little bit of a sleeping giant, like why aren't
they better? And I think they found they're Chris Peterson.
I think they found a brilliant coach. But the Texas
thing and I wrote this down and listen, Sark Saban
(47:29):
loved him. Washington had a good ad that loved him,
USC hired him. Texas is ad. Chris Decante is maybe
the smartest ad in the country. Smart people higher Sark Okay,
John like three schools with big football brands have hired him.
NFL teams liked him. Saban loved him. We know he's
(47:51):
a good coach, but one of the things, and we
know he can scheme plays. I mean they have. I
thought today they had a couple of different crisis situations
where they had good scheme plays. But I will say
his teams feel loose. So it's easy from a couch
from somebody to say he's overrated. But if Saban thinks
you're a good coach, and he won. He won Assistant
(48:13):
of the Year in college under Saban, and he's had
three different programs hire him, and again he may end
up in the national you know. I mean, this guy
is in the right spot, right he's in the playoff.
How do you define him? My knock on him is
that his teams always look loose, like they're just not
(48:34):
buttoned up, which is interesting because he coached under Saban,
who's the opposite. That's my take. And I don't know,
I don't know what his comp is, but I just
feel like too many times on the passing game, it's
a jump ball, like he doesn't have defined reads. Too
often it's just like, let's just get better players and
(48:56):
throw a ball at the sideline. Is that yours are sharp?
Speaker 3 (48:59):
Yeah? To me? Been as critical in Sark as anyone
over the years. I've been an astronomical amount of money
when my guy did Bor played him last year and
I thought that was it should have been easier. But
I'm going to defend him here. I think you can
look at yours box score. It doesn't look that bad.
He's twenty to thirty three, twenty two. To me, he's
a liability. And I just I mean it for the
talent that they have, because the one knock you've had
(49:21):
on Sark, if you've just watched them coach over the year,
it's like a kind of a soft operation, a little
like Lincoln Riley, Well he pivoted pretty well, used that
check book. Their defense is not soft. I mean, look today.
I mean the way they got back into the game
was a freak double pass where the guy's covered and
he comes back Scouto underthrows him. You know, I I
the kicker missed a couple kicks. I mean it hadn't
(49:43):
he been nails all season long? Yeah, so it's a
little freakish. The way they came back. I mean that
game was one for the ages. With the stuff. I
think you look at quinn Ewers, who again if you
just look at the box score, doesn't look that terrible.
This a national championship roster without a national che ambiship quarterback.
I actually think Sark has grown a lot. I think
he tries to call plays around this player. Sometimes. I
(50:07):
think he gets into situations where he doesn't trust them.
You know, that's the thing with Dilley Haam like they
have full trust in that court doesn't have a choice,
you know. I think sometimes just like hey, we could
just run some bubble screens. Our athletes are better than
your athletes, right and sometimes for whatever reason, how this
team fifty three yards rushing fifty three yards rushing against ASU,
Like you would think with the amount of talent they
(50:28):
have on their offensive line and the talent they have
a running back. If you would have said what do
they rush for coming into this ASU game, I would
have said easily one hundred and forty yards and they
just had it wasn't working. They just abandoned it and
ASU selling out like make Quinn youwers beat us, which
ironically kind of did in the overtime because you didn't
cover anyone in the end zone. But for most part,
the reason they got back into it the interception. How
(50:50):
many times this year have Texas been in a position
where they can really put the nail in the coffin
and Quinn Ewers turns the ball over, Or they're down
in a game against George they're coming back and he
turns the ball over. There is just an element of
I mean, if he was an NFL player, he would
be highly, highly criticized, and I would imagine the Texas
Reddit community, in the football community. He's a pretty polarizing guy,
(51:10):
and everyone's like, we're going to arch banding next year.
Know if fans or busts about it. If I was
a Texas fan, I'd be like, well, why is he
just playing right now? Because if he's as good as
everyone says he's gonna be, and he's a manning, I mean,
who the only team that I've seen that could even
remotely play with us would be Ohio State. We can't
beat Ohio State with this player. That's what I would
be thinking. And if there's a loyalty and listen, I
think this is where coaches sometimes are different than personnel
(51:31):
people definitely different fans. They're very loyal to a guy. Clearly,
him and Quinn have a long standing relationship. Now he's
roaded with them this long. They've had a lot of success.
Right last year they were in the playoffs. This year
they're now in the final four. But man, I think
you have this great I mean, they're defense. How many
those guys look like NFL players and they have freshmen
that look like they're gonna be top ten picks. And
(51:53):
what are they gonna be against Ohio State? Would you
guess a six point underdog? Oh?
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, I would. That's a that's a great question. I
would take Ohio State minus six to me. I wouldn't
take Texas until we got into like seven and a half.
Penn State thirty one Boise State fourteen. Boise State, for
the record, had the ball in the red zone. I
counted four times it could have been five, and didn't
(52:20):
get any points. So Penn State gave them multiple opportunities
to make that game much closer. Boise State had a
touchdown that was called back because of a holding penalty.
So it was thirty one to fourteen, but it was
it didn't look like a blowout. I mean there was
multiple opportunities to a Boiset game. It was a good game.
(52:42):
So it's really interesting. So First of all, Carter is
a top five player. He got banged up. Great player
Nick Singleton, who was a Gatorade player the year in
high school. He's going to be a stud. Pro running
back Drew Aller is fascinating, big guy, big arm. There
are stories out there that NFL scouts think he may
(53:04):
still go pro, and many say he would go number
one simply on arm, strength and size. Can I look
at Penn State and I have great respect for the program,
but they remind me a little bit of a poor
man's Ohio State. They're just never quite they don't have
quite as many NFL guys, They're just not quite as good.
(53:27):
People criticize James Franklin, but the guy wonted Vandy, so
he's fine. He's a great recruiter. Can Penn State win
the Natty?
Speaker 3 (53:35):
I think they need Carter to be healthy because early
in that game he had won pass rusher like Holy,
that looks like Micah Parsons in number eleven. And then
when you go with the other guys, I told you
I think last week, I think they could win the
whole thing. But he's I mean, you lose a top
five player. I don't care how good your recruiting is
it's pretty damn good. That'd be a big blow. But
how good does Warren look? The running backs look fantastic,
(53:57):
the quarterbacks playing great is to you just trust James Franklin.
I think the one thing we saw with ASU and
Boise there's a gritty diss and a toughness that just
even Ohio State. Ohio State's showing it now, but they
go for a long period of time without it because
they don't need it. Yeah, Boise State for twenty five
years is built on that, and I think Kenny Dillinghan
has brought that to Arizona State, and that's why they
(54:20):
can go toe to toe with a team where they
don't have one guy that would start for the other team.
I mean, that's that's truly if you remove Genty, which
I mean gent would technically start for Penn State, but
they would rotate the other guys in Yes, Singleton.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Singleton's a great running back.
Speaker 3 (54:35):
Yeah, so I actually learn more about Genty in that
game than I do with some of his two hundred
and fifty yard games against New Mexico running over Penn State.
It was an impressive, just gritty effort by the guy
running for every yard was contested running his ass off.
He's a he's a big time player. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
He he doesn't fumble, but he did twice in this game.
Now he only f frea g Yeah, he only averaged
three and a half yards of carry. I think part
of gent's strength. I mean I don't put him on
the class of Zeke or Saquon Adrian Peterson. Er McCaffrey
is an NFL first round running back. I don't he'll
go first round because it's a weak draft.
Speaker 3 (55:08):
But he's five eight. I mean that's kind of a
you know, it's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (55:11):
Yeah, I think his strength is that he is so
small and so powerful. He is hard, you know, like
we're running backs. You don't want a six to two
running back. I think he's hard. To get that pad
level low enough to get him a shot, and so
what you end up doing when you tackle him, it's
almost always arm tackles because he's five to eight, so
(55:33):
when he lowers, so when he runs and lowers his head,
it's like tackling a five to five and a half guy.
He always has the center of gravity and he always
has sort of leverage on you hips down, and so
it's like Penn State guys held him to three and
a half yards to carry, but he broke so many
arm tackles and I so it's like, I look at
(55:55):
him as a first round running back in a week draft.
I don't look at him as an NFL superstar. I
don't think he has the juice of Saquon I don't
think he has the strength or speed of Adrian Peterson.
I don't think he's his talent that is McCaffrey, who's
also small. I think part of the package with him
is you just can't get under him and his size
is and I think in the NFL he'll have success,
(56:17):
but I don't know as I watch him. My take
is he'll need the right fit in the NFL to
be a star. But he is a starter.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Yeah, Well, to me, he's gonna get drafted really high.
I think he's gonna be a good player in the NFL.
I would struggle. You know, let's say somewhere between fifteen
and twenty five. I think a lot of people think
that's the range he's gonna get picked. Well, if I'm
drafting twentieth and then my next pick is fiftieth, why
wouldn't I If I could take a corner or no
offensive lineman at twentieth. I can get one of these
(56:45):
other good running backs at fiftieth. So it's kind of
supply demand. It's always why a lot of people why
did Jim Harbaugh take the tackle at five and then
take lad McConkey in the second round. Because there's a
ton of wide receivers in every draft, So I'm gonna
get a guy. It starts in the second round. We
see it every year with wide receivers. Like, you know,
would you take a wide receiver in the top ten? Well,
(57:07):
if I'm drafting after you, I hope you do, so
I can take another position. I can take a wide
receiver later. So I mean every game I watch Henderson
for Ohio State, he's an NFL player. All these teams
have NFL players and running back. So why would I
take a running back in the first round if I
think I get ninety five percent or ninety percent of
that guy? Maybe in a third round? Well, if I
get Skataboo, Skataboo's gonna run like a four to seven five.
(57:29):
What if I can get the guy in the third run.
You don't think Jim Harbaugh's gonna like Skataboo. Does that
guy have charger written all over? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (57:34):
Well, I mean it's I think I told you this recently.
Wood he marks for USC is their best back since
Reggie Bush. He maybe a fifth round back. Now maybe
Genti's better than him, He's not that much better than him.
Like it is a loaded I mean this. This Singleton
kid at Penn State was the National Gatorade Player of
(57:55):
the Year, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
He Singleton is again. I mean, I don't know as measurables,
but he's like six feet two twenty seven with a burst.
It's like if anybody dropped in the first round. I
could see gent dropping. Not because he's not good, but
because of the depth of the position, the volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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