3 & Out - Ben Johnson goes to Chicago, Why did the Raiders miss out, Has Jerry gone rogue

John offers his instant reaction to the Chicago Bears hiring of Detroit Lions OC, Ben Johnson, as their new head coach and how impressive it was that the Bears were able to land Johnson.

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

6:11 - Ben Johnson to the Bears

32:01 - Mailbag

Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest.  #Volume #Herd

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
John middlecoff three and now podcast. Hopefully everyone's having a
great day. I think my game plan when the day

(00:23):
started was just to do a mailbag and I'm going
on with Colin after the Notre Dame, Ohio State National
championship game. So I was just gonna do a big
mail bag today because we got so many questions. But
right before I sat down on my desk to bang
that out, Ben Johnson was hired as the Bears coach.
So I said, well, we can't do a football podcast

(00:47):
without doing some Ben Johnson to the Bears content, So
we will talk about that off the top. I just
kind of wrote down some of my thoughts. Obviously, it's
I mean, there's no way it's a great day if
you're Bears fan for what's been a rough time. But
we'll dive into the good, the bad, the ugly when
it comes to Ben Johnson, the hype staying in the division.

(01:10):
Obviously Ryan Poles looks like he's keeping his job, those
two working together, two young guys, the pressure on Caleb,
the pressure on the team. Tom Brady I guess couldn't
close the deal, And yeah, so we'll do some of
that and then we'll do a mail bag at John Middlecoff.
At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those d dms,

(01:32):
if you are the person that's shot me the DM
that said I know a guy that knows a guy
in the Bears organization. Ben Johnson will be the coach yesterday,
so that would have been Sunday. You got some good connections.
Couldn't run with it because I didn't know who the guy.
I'm not a newsbreaker, but I was like, damn and
it came true. So you never know who's gonna have

(01:54):
a scoop in their back pocket. Other than that, I
think the game plan will just be podcasts this week.
I mean, we should see a bunch of guys get
hired hopefully, so we'll have some storylines. Obviously. The two
big games this Sunday, Washington going to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Think about their owner in Washington, who owns the Sixers

(02:17):
as well. Who the Eagles are the Phillies team for sure,
that's the number one team, but the Sixers are a
big deal and he's kind of turned him into a
running joke. And it's one thing to own another team
in the Eagles division. When they suck. Now you're going
to potentially block them from going to the super Bowl.
It's gonna be an interesting week for Josh Harris very

(02:38):
if he were to win the game, I think Eagle
fans would demand he sells the Sixers, which is again
not going well at all. They are a disaster this year.
And I think he's most well known for the owner
that supported created and wanted the process. And obviously I
would say the heavyweight fight. Many are going to think
it's the super Bowl. I would the Eagles a chance

(03:00):
to win the Super Bowl. Challein's got to play better.
But Chiefs Bill, that's a that's a great game. That's
a that's a great game, big moment for Josh Allen.
Because Josh wins, he would jo join Joe Burrow and
Tom Brady as the guys to take down mahomes In
in championship games. So we will we will discuss that

(03:22):
as the week goes on as well. So make sure
you subscribe to the podcast if you listen on Collins Feed,
make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel as well
if you like our content. And other than that, let's
talk some ball and congratulations if you're a Chicago Bear
fan in the simple fact that the last twelve months.

(03:44):
I guess the last twelve months weren't because you got Caleb,
but I would say the post Kleb Eber flu season
had to be as shitty as it gets. I mean,
that's just I've been watching sports for thirty plus years, rooting,
watching gambling, seeing the ebbs and flows, seeing it all,
and that that's about as low as you get that

(04:07):
you talk about, especially when you come into a season
with hype. So we'll just dive into that. I think
that's the headline story here is that Chicago Bears have
hired Ben Johnson. I started to believe again, like I'm
not some insider here, just reading reports from insiders that

(04:27):
Tom Brady was giving him the you know, a full
on pitch, and Ben Johnson was more than intrigued. It
was like he was inclined to take the Raider job.
And I told Colin on Sunday night that that's insane.
They have no quarterback. I just saw a quote from
Max Crosby that's like, yeah, I got no guaranteed money left.
We got a lot to talk about. And it wasn't

(04:49):
just like, I want more money here. I think Max
Crosby will inevitably be traded this offseason, and it's probably
the right move. Just blow that shit up, nuke the Raiders.
But from a job stand point, they got no quarterback.
They have no direction to get a quarterback. And the
reason you would have been taking that job was for
Tom Brady, who lives in Florida, so you'd be going

(05:10):
into the job every day. Now, they started interviewing what
we think was his buddy, Adam Peters right hand man,
who has been in Detroit for twenty five years, so
you thought, well, if they hire him, Ben Johnson gets
his GM. That's not what he gets here in Chicago,
like he has to work with Ryan Poles. But clearly
he just looked at it. I would rather take my
chances to resurrect Caleb's NFL career. At least we have

(05:34):
a quarterback under contract who was just the number one
pick in the draft and widely considered fair or not,
right or wrong. The best prospect we've seen in a
long time, long time would be strong. I mean Trevor
Lawrence was viewed really highly. Shows you what being the
best prospect you know doesn't always pan Out now sometime,
Andrew Locke, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Matt Stafford. But I

(05:57):
totally understand they got good defensive pieces. And it's to
Chicago Bears. I mean, it's one of the biggest cities
in America. It's a die hard sports city and the
number one team in that city is the Bears. And
they have some historic teams. I mean, the Chicago Bulls
had a guy named Michael Jordan. The Chicago Cubs are just,
I mean one of the more more high profile baseball teams.

(06:18):
I know they've been down recently, but obviously when THEO
and they won that World Series, it was a really
big It's just a great sports down And like I
understand being intrigued by it. If you're Ben Johnson clearly
got a lot of money, but it you know this
division really well. Like if you just think about, like
what's his advantage taking this job, It's like he knows

(06:40):
this division like the back of his hand. Think about it.
He's been calling, you know, offense, so he's been game
planning against the Bears defense, which now is his defense,
the Lions defense, like every day in training camp for
three years and seeing him every day in practice obviously,
the the Green Bay Packers and the minutes to Viking.
So his comfort level with the personnel in the six

(07:04):
games honestly couldn't be higher, and not just his comfort
level with the personnel, but his comfort level with the coordinators.
He got to face Halflee twice this year. Obviously he
knows Flores now, he's seen him a couple of years
in a row. And regardless of who you know, we
assume Aaron Glenn is either gonna get the Jets, the Saints,
one of the Jags. One of these jobs he is

(07:25):
going to know, maybe not the next coordinator unless it's
a guy that they elevate from the staff, but he's like,
they're not going to drastically change what they do, so
he's gonna be very comfortable there. And anytime you make
the transition from a coordinator to a head coach, most
guys and it's a little weird, honestly, Like I don't
blame him for doing this, because when you look at

(07:45):
the landscape, I didn't think any of these jobs are
any good, the Jags, the Raiders, the Bears. But I
do get staying it's an easy comfort level, but like
those are your guys like you've just been in the
trenches with them trying to win a super Bowl for
the last twelve, you know whatever, twelve plus months, really eighteen,
and you got so close. You're the number one seed
this year, and now you just bounce. I mean, it's

(08:07):
part of the gig, right, There's only so many jobs open.
But oftentimes that guy like leaves the conference or definitely
leaves the division. So anytime you get a divisional you know,
carryover like that from an assistant coach always adds like
an element of intrigue. And so if I'm a Bears fan,
one just the simple fact that we got the number

(08:29):
one guy, we got the number one guy on the market.
The Raiders wanted him, the Jags wanted him. He didn't
even interview with the Jets. They definitely would take him.
If he said I want your job, they would hire
him tomorrow. The Saints would obviously take them. I don't
even know what Jerry's doing. That'll be a conversation for
another day. But you got the number one head coach
on the market. You celebrate, You celebrate this, and I

(08:54):
think Lions fans had just come to grips with well
before the last couple of weeks, like this guy was gone,
he was going to take a job, And if anything,
you should be lucky that you got this extra season
with them. And we'll dive into them in a second.
But it's an overall great day day for the franchise, which,

(09:15):
let's face it has not had many great days in
recent memory, you know, beside like the trade Ryan Poles
pulled off. But in terms of coaches, you know, the
eber Flu situation. This year was a coaching disaster from
Ebraflu's getting fired to them last year. They fired a
bunch of coaches during the season. They've just had a

(09:36):
lot of weird shit going on. Obviously, they elevated Thomas Brown,
he's completely over his head. The team looked even worse.
It was a sad state of affairs. And when you
have like the NFL is very lucky right now that
they're not beholden to these big markets, right like the
Niners sucked this year. Who cares, doesn't matter. The Bears
haven't been good in a decade, the Jets, the Giants,

(09:57):
they've sucked a lot recently. And the league just keeps
on trucking along. Like last year, the Saturday night game
was Niners Packers, and this year it was the Detroit
Lions and the Washington Commanders, two franchises that have not
been important to the league over the last twenty five years,

(10:17):
and a little less people watched than last year. I
don't know, two of the most historic franchise in the league.
But you're not beholden to you. Like the NBA, the
Major League Baseball, it's Dodgers, Lakers, Celtics, the Yankees. You
need those teams or you got no fucking chance. No
one will watch the Oklahoma City thunder Hell, the Denver Nuggets,
who have been really good. People just don't watch it.

(10:38):
That's not the case in the NFL. And like, if
you can get like if Dave Ball could ever get
the Giants rolling, if whoever gets the Jets job can
get it rolling, If Ben Johnson can roll with the
Chicago Bears, you like to become a legend. I don't
think people quite understand, probably outside the DC area, how
big a deal it is for Dan Quinn and Jaydon

(10:59):
Daniels to rest wrect that franchise. This isn't some random
This is not like resurrecting the Jags. It's just not
you know, so resurrecting that franchise and have them in
a game is a really really big deal. So the pressure,
like there's no disputing the pressure on Ben Johnson, for
as cool as this moment is, starts pretty quickly. And

(11:21):
this is not like you take over the Raiders job.
There aren't really that many expectations immediately, like you're gonna
get a long grace period. Now I would imagine he's
gonna have a long contract, So I'm not acting like
he would get fired if he struggles. But the expectations,
it's why ever Flus and everyone got blown out because
the expectations are gonna be really, really high. They're gonna go.
We got a lot of good players. We said, the

(11:42):
number one overall pick in the draft, we got some
caps face time to roll. You don't you don't need
to win twelve games right away, but we have a
better roster than the Commanders, right and the Commanders in
year one with just credible coaches, people that knew what
they were doing, a new GM with a lot of
history that knew what he was doing, or in the
NFC Championship game, we don't even want that. Can we

(12:03):
just compete for a wild card spot. Can we just
be like the last couple weeks of the season, have
a chance to make the playoffs, have a chance to
get nine or ten wins. That is a successful first season.
But those are kind of gonna be the expectations. There's
no like, well, his first year he went four or
five wins because he's basically being hired and rightfully so,
to fix and get this quarterback good and this offense

(12:26):
to not look as putrid as it did last season.
The problem is is when his offense was rolling these
last couple of years in Detroit, their offensive line was elite.
I mean, no team in the league played their six
offensive lineman more than them, So you skipper, so their
offensive line to protect a quarterback. Now, granted, Jared Goff

(12:47):
is a lot different player than Caleb Williams, but like
their offensive line with the Chicago Bears is was like
embarrassingly bad. And part of it was Caleb holding the
ball too long and the pressure on him to get
that out of them. Part of what they did in
Detroit with this offense, Like here's the thing, Caleb, We're
bringing my offense Like this offense works, so can you

(13:09):
run it now? Obviously you can't just be too stubborn
as a coach, like what type things Caleb likes you
would be I mean, you would not be doing your
job if not only you ask him, but you implement
some of that in your offense. Because he's a different
player than Jared Goffin. He's not as accurate. But there
are gonna be elements like we like snapping the ball,

(13:30):
getting the ball out of our hands. That is what
we do won because we're gonna have to do it
with the offensive line, and two because like that's how
I play and that's what I want to do. And
obviously running the ball was such a huge part of
what Detroit did. That's something that this year with starting
with Ryan Poles, I mean, they built a passing team.
They built a team that was like in theory, was

(13:53):
trying to play like a dome team, and Dan Campbell
built a dome team that actually was built to play outside. Obviously,
the injuries took its toll on their defense, but in
terms of offensively, they could play like the Ravens. We'll
run at forty times in the game. Even though Todd
Munkin in the playoffs never does that. He's obsessed with passing.
But again, another conversation for another day. The thing that

(14:14):
makes me a little nervous and all reports as of
recording this is he's going to hire Dennis Allen as
his defensive coordinator. Excellent defensive coordinator. The best part about
the NFL not everyone's meant to be a number one.
We've seen Dennis Allen try to be a head coach.
It's not for him. But the best part about being
a great number two is it pays a premium in

(14:34):
the NFL. This wall Street on grass. Dennis Allen will
make three or four million dollars being the defensive coordinator
for the Chicago Bears. And he's an important guy for
Ben Johnson given that he's been a head coach multiple spots,
and someone to lean on when you have questions about
what to do things. Because anytime you go from coordinator,
I've been saying this forever, go from coordinator to head coach.

(14:55):
It changes obviously financially your life, but it changes the
way you do business because every day is not just
about sitting in a film room and drawn up plays
for Saint Brown Laporta and Jamier Gibbs. Like you might
have a player that gets a DUI that only plays
on special teams. That's now your problem. You might have
a coach who's kid sick and needs to leave who
on the defensive side of the ball, that's your problem.

(15:18):
You might have something happen to the owner he wants
to meet with you out of the blue. That's on you.
Everything Dan Campbell dealt with now Ben Johnson has to
deal with. And while Ryan Poles now has been a
general manager for a couple of years. I looked at
their ages before I hopped on. Ben Johnson's thirty eight,
Ryan Poles is thirty nine, So like, these are two
really really young guys. Obviously, Ben Johnson's never been a

(15:40):
head coach before, and you would say Ryan Poles like
has been a little over his head at times being
a general manager. So the pressure on these two guys
that are under forty in a division full of high
level coaches, high level players, well run operations is gonna
be a big, big challenge. And back to what I
said about like this is a pre sure job. This

(16:01):
is a job where just a lot of people are
talking about you, a lot of people are working are
just kind of looking at what's going on. And a
huge reason for that is Caleb Williams. So like, there's
just gonna be a lot of eyeballs and a lot
of people like I don't necessarily care about the Chicago Bears.
I'm going to follow them really closely. You know, this
is a this is a national team. The moment they

(16:22):
got Caleb Williams, we're paying attention. We're judging them how
we were judging him this year. Not because of Matt Eberflus.
No one cares about Matt Eberflus. He's one of the
worst coaches we've ever seen, good defensive coordinator just over
his head as a head coach. But in terms of
the story with Caleb Williams, like you had to pay
attention if you're in the football business. So I'm just

(16:42):
fascinated to watch these two guys who you know, Ben
Ben Johnson gets a clean slate, But there's like, assuming
Ryan Poles keeps his job, does he know what he's doing?
Does he know what he's doing? Because Ben Johnson came
from a place where we hammered home physicality upfront, which
is I rn it because Ryan pulls an offensive lineman
he blocked from Matt Ryan at Boston College. But yet

(17:05):
he built his team like he was a wide receiver
or dB, Like we build it on the perimeter instead
of building it in the middle right, which most offensive lineman?
Like why do you think Andy Reid over the years
loves signing and drafting defensive and offensive lineman because he
was an offensive lineman? Like that's who he is. Dan Campbell,

(17:26):
where did he line up the line of scrimmage as
a blocking tight end? I mean, that's his baby, you know,
Jim Harbaugh, which is all we make fun of him
that And I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated
years ago that I think one of his teammates, either
at Michigan or one of his teammates when he first
got drafted to Chicago Bears, they said, you realize early

(17:48):
on Jim Harbaugh was just a linebacker in a quarterback's body,
and some guys are wired differently. And I'll be fascinated
to see Ben Johnson's influence. You know, did he think
like Dan Campbell or did he just call plays based
on the players that Dan Campbell and the GM bill.
I don't know, but I'm not trying to poo poo

(18:09):
any of this. This is an awesome moment if you're
a Bears fan. Cool moment for the NFL because this
is a guy that I think we've seen a short
list of him over the years, Like Kevin O'Connell was
not as famous when he was higher as this. Sean
McVeigh definitely was not. I mean, we have seen guys,
some of them have flopped and some of them made
it right. Shane Stiket had a lot of hype because

(18:32):
he was the offensive coordinator on a team that was
kicking asid and taking names in the Super Bowl, and
he got the job and he's clearly it feels like
by year two a little in over his head. Josh
McDaniels couldn't have been a more famous offensive coordinator over
the years. Got his second opportunity with the Raiders and
was an abomination. We've seen guys like Kyle Shanahan a
ton of hype, same type deal with Ben Johnson, have success.

(18:55):
But the one thing Kyle did when he got the
Niner job is he got a clean slate. There wasn't
any pressure because the team it sucked and he got
to bring in his GM. This is one of those
like you kind of gotta marry like it's an arranged
marriage with Poles that you got the Kevin Warren factor
and you just got like, let's talk about the elephant
in the room here, Ben Johnson. If Caleb's is not

(19:19):
any good, it's not gonna be Ben Johnson's fault. And
if Caleb is good, he's gonna get a lot of credit.
So before it was like Caleb's gonna save the Bears,
those days are over. Caleb is now in a partnership
with Ben Johnson. And if we saw Ben Johnson last
year or excuse me, well we obviously saw Ben, but

(19:39):
we saw Caleb without coaching was a bad I mean,
was borderline unplayable a lot of the games. Like it
was like, you're gonna lose if this guy's your quarterback.
So now if he's good, like Ben Johnson's gonna get
i mean, at minimum, be a fifty to fifty shareholder
in this operation. It was kind of like Sean McVay
when he got Jared Goff with the Rams. We saw
Jared Goff as a rookie, he didn't even look like

(20:01):
an NFL player. Then Sean McVay showed up. They start
running the ball and Jared Goff was a good player, Well,
who got a lion's share of the credit? Sean McVay,
that's gonna happen here. And if if you're Caleb, like,
if it goes well, you're glad to share the credit
because that means your team's winning and everything's going well.
If it doesn't go well, no one's gonna be like, well,
Ben Johnson doesn't know what he's doing as an offensive

(20:22):
coordinator because we've seen him as an offensive coordinator with
Jared Goff, who got kicked to the curb be awesome.
So I'm fascinated by the, uh, you know, the dynamic
of the conversation here because we talk about pressure. There's
pressure on the organization. There's pressure now on Ben Johnson

(20:44):
and Ryan Poles. There's a ton of pressure on Caleb Williams.
And a huge, huge reason for that is Jayden Daniels
just had the greatest rookie season we've ever seen. We
have never seen a rookie quarterback who's been asked to
do this much carry a team to the NFC champion game.
I want to say they got no shot against the Eagles,

(21:04):
but I think at this point in time, you would
you'd be crazy to even utter those words. It might
just be a stay away as a bet, right, But like,
I don't know, how would you not give him a shot?
He's fucking good. What would Howie Roseman do right now?
Would he trade Jalen Hurts trade up for Jayden Daniels?
What do you think what happens if? Obviously you can't

(21:25):
during the playoffs. But I'm just saying, like, if that
conversation happened at the combine, who says no? Obviously there's
one guy that says no, and it's Adam Peters. Harry
Roseman's like, do you want me to send him on
a bus? Or do you want me to drive him?
Or do you want Big Dom to fly him? Like
how do you want me to get him there? I mean,
that's but that's what we're talking about. And you go,
we've seen a lot of this. No, we've never seen

(21:47):
this ever in the history of the game seen this,
and let's face it, it's never been easier to play football.
So like, you're never a bad quarterback when you make
a bad pass like Jalen Hurts through a hospital ball
yesterday to DeVante Smith and throughout the majority of my life,

(22:07):
DeVante Smith just gets laid out it's an incompletion and said,
now it's fifteen yard penalty. So all the rules are
for the quarterbacks. And I'm not trying to act like
Jalen shouldn't have thrown the ball. But ten years ago,
no one cares that DeVante's is laying there buckling his
chin strap and hops back up and runs to the huddle. Instead,
now seven flags come out, It's like, oh, is he okay?
Is he okay? And I get it the league doesn't

(22:28):
want to get sued. They're making too much money. But
let's face it, that's never how the game's ever been
officiated up until recently, because you just put your offensive
player in harm's way. And now that's the big benefit
why playing quarterback. What Tom Brady said is dead on
the money. It's never been easier. The rules are on
your side. So it's like, hey, Caleb, now you've got

(22:49):
an offensive coordinator. They drafted Rome, you got dj under contract,
you got col combat like, you got real players on offense.
I mean, look what Jaden's dealing with. You got Terry
McLaurin then, who like a backfield by committee, A McCaffrey
brother who played like three different schools in college. You
got Brown's not bad from unc Ertz is thirty eight

(23:14):
years old. I mean, what are we talking about? And
so it's like, hey, you're the guy that everyone was blowing,
not this guy. The Bears didn't even bring this guy
in for an interview, and Adam Peters got just barbecued
for bringing in all five of them. It's like, isn't
that his job to scout all these guys ultimately picked

(23:36):
the right one? Who cares if he took all five
of them to top golf? You just get to know them.
That's his job. It's pre draft process. So I think
if Jayden just keeps playing a well, it's like this
is a problem. Yeah, I'm I'm just fascinated to watch
this all play out. So congrats to the Bears got
the number one guy. It's crazy, like you see another
I saw a headline the Colts have hired lou Ammaruno.

(23:58):
Coordinator hires. When a head coach hiring happens, you know,
a head coach is a ten out of ten. A
coordinator higher feels kind of irrelevant, even though like that's
a good hire. I think lou Aramruno is a good
coach and clearly the the Colts are desperate for defense.
Congrats to the Bears. Man, that's just just a cool
football moment that this story had. Felt like they had
no shot who they're gonna hire. They' gonnaen up with

(24:19):
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Speaker 1 (26:02):
Okay, let's do a little thing we like to call
the mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is
the Instagram. Fire in those dms, get your questions answered
here on the show. And yeah, let's talk, because easiest
way to get a hold of me my Instagram dms.
Fire in them, and we will start with Sam, how

(26:22):
badass is this Eagles RAMS game? I'm with you on
winter football games. They're the absolute best. Just chilling on
my couch watching these two teams to see who's mentally
tougher in addition to physically better. Can't beat it. I
saw aj Brown said that he wouldn't wish it upon

(26:42):
his worst enemy to have to play in those conditions.
I've told the story, I think before, but it's not
really even a story. You know, when you're a scout
or what you work for a team usually on game day,
and I would say the Eagles are probably more buttoned
up in terms of like what our dress code was.
Then some teams always jealous, like the Packers in the

(27:05):
Raiders and kind of wear whatever you want, but you know,
you wear a suit to the games. Only had one
at the time, And I remember when it first started
getting cold, probably about November, and you show up in
the suit and on the East Coast and for those
of you listening that live there, you guys have those
big overcoats, right, so you have your coat and then
you have that long kind of like trench coat thick

(27:26):
that just keeps you warm. Like I didn't even know
what that was. We never have those in Calibari. You
wouldn't even need them. At most we had like a
ski jacket. You know, if you hunted like a hunting jacket,
but you wouldn't have those like nice kind of corporate coats,
right to either go to work or take your lady
out for a night on the town. And I remember

(27:48):
being on the sideline getting there like two hours before game.
I couldn't feel any part of my body. I had
to go to the heaters because it was so cold.
And that's the cool part about Philly is like it's
the best part about the good teams in the NFL
right now, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens, obviously the Eagles,
you just the Packers. Forever. You just get conditions, and

(28:11):
conditions don't always have to be snow or rain. It
could just be it's seven degrees you cannot feel your body,
and then you factor in the snow. That first scene
when Saquon bust his first run and scores a touchdown
and as he's kind of he entered the end zone
on the left side and then he kind of hung
a right and ran down the end zone and the

(28:32):
snow just started falling. I'm like, this is about to
be badass, cool moment for the Eagles to win that
game in the snow awesome moment, I thought too for
the Rams to play like that in the conditions, just
a fantastic viewing experience, I like in the Super Bowl.
I'm recording this part before the National Championship. Totally understand

(28:54):
putting those things in a controlled environment. But plaf games
first round, second round, third round, give me the candittis
all day long. Question for the back. With Ben Johnson
becoming the new head coach of the Bears, do you
think he'll be a success like McVeigh or be Adam Gase?
Two point oh. I'd be stunned if he was Adam

(29:19):
Gase two point oh. I mean one thing with Adam
Gase is he was Peyton's guy, and Peyton was the guy,
like being his reference, calling everybody trying to get him
a job. And obviously he's smart and had worked for Sabin.
But Adam Gase clearly had some issues in terms of
just the interaction aspect, like struggle with the media. Struggle.

(29:42):
Just felt like he was just on the struggle bus
with certain things when it came to communication. It does
feel like Ben Johnson, if you would have watched his
press conference a year or two ago, probably a little
less confident than he was. I watched him a lot
this season, felt like he grew into himself. And listen,
he's thirty eight, thirty nine years old or four years ago,
no one even knew who he was, so it takes

(30:03):
some time. I would say Sean McVay, it'd be pretty tough.
Sean McVay is a one to one. Just his energy,
his his vibe. I mean, Sean McVay is an outlier.
I would say, best case scenario, he's more Kyle. The
thing with Kyle is Kyle had been a had been
an offensive coordinator in the league for like ten years

(30:26):
before the Niners hired him, had been calling plays for
a long long time, and had been multiple places. So
I don't think we're gonna see Adam Gase, but I
could you see Matt Naggy. Just it feels like this
is not going that well potentially. If I was gonna
bet is it gonna be successful or fail? I would

(30:48):
just bet fail. My favorite football podcast, If the Eagles
lose this weekend, do you think Howie would swoop into
the Ben Johnson sweepstakes. I'd love to see the Eagles
have an offensive mind start steering the sho we let
Shane syken get Away would love to see this. This
was this morning, which clearly isn't gonna happen. I think
the moment they won that Packer game and we're just

(31:12):
in the second round and he won another playoff game,
Sirianni was coming back. Sirianni was coming back. Assume I
want to see what happens with Kellen Moore. There was
a report out today that Schottenheimer might get the Cowboys job,
which to me feels a little crazy. But trying to
keep track of what Jerry's gonna do is like what
a waste energy. So maybe Kellen, maybe he's trying to

(31:34):
do that to mess with Kellen Moore. Kellen Moore's asking
for too much. But I think in a perfect world,
if you're Howie, you just bring back this entire team
and both your coordinators are feeling pretty good. Question for
the mailbag, big fan, big Eagles guy from California. I
understand Mahomes and Allen play a different sport than Jalen.
There's no disputing that, but after this divisional round, they
all had pretty much the same stat line, Yet Jalen

(31:57):
gets criticized for not being able to throw, and the
other two are praised for winning. Why do you think
the media shifts in the way that these quarterbacks are discussed?
Thank you well. I would say that their history as
throwers is just a little bit longer. I mean, Mahomes
could have a game where they win throws for seventy yards.

(32:19):
Like once you rattle off three Super Bowls, you've won
a couple MVPs. Like we've seen it. He doesn't have
to prove anything anymore. Like he's not in the prove
it mode, he's in the win it mode. Starts stacking
up chips. Josh Allen is a pretty long resume of
throwing a lot of touchdowns and being a dynamic thrower
of the ball. So on an individual game basis, we're

(32:41):
not gonna ebb and flow with a take. You know,
Josh Allen, I don't know, ran for multiple touchdowns and
played awesome football in a game where his team, let's
face it, probably isn't as talented as the Ravens. So
like I'm just judging it differently when you watch Jalen,
I give everyone in that game a little bit of
a path because of the conditions. But I think big picture,

(33:03):
we have to question, like Jalen is not the thrower
of these guys. And I don't mean like when he's
scrambling around and throws the ball down the field, like
he can throw the ball. I just mean as a
consistent passer within the pocket. I think we have to
acknowledge it's not really his game. Luckily, he's on a
team that's so fucking stacked it doesn't matter all the time.
Love and intern Jackson. The fact that he pestered you

(33:26):
on the golf course and you gave him a shot
he had I think he had picked my brain. I
had picked his brain. We had done some golf videos.
My guy named Luis, who's camera guy who I had
asked Jackson for some advice. People he knew that are
kind of in that world because Jackson's follow him on Instagram.

(33:47):
Jackson's hustling, and so he pointed me in a direction.
He was just he just came up to me. I
was hitting some golf balls and I realized the guy
was passionate. You could feel it, and hell I was
once that guy. Just a lot of passion. This is
a good question. Question when you lost your hair, did

(34:10):
you go through any period of grief or such as
being anxious about it. How old were you when you
committed to shaving it? Watching your content and hearing you
discuss it in a matter of fact way really helped
me get over losing my hair to join the bald brotherhood.
I think for most men that are having some follicle

(34:31):
challenges at any point in our life. I started losing
my hair in college. I remember being at cal Poly,
not listening in class, probably reading the newspaper, the cal
Paly newspaper, not like a newspaper I don't even know
if those exists on campuses anymore, and just looking down
and seeing hair fall out. And I came from a

(34:52):
family of bald men, so and I think it comes
from your mother's side. Well, her dad was bald, and
everyone on her side was based bald. My cousins were bald.
I knew I was in trouble, So yeah, I mean
I was insecure or anxious, you could use any way
to describe it. For years, you hold on and then
you just get to a point where it's like, what

(35:13):
are we doing? And you just shave it? And you know,
I think the thing you're most insecure about any young
person listening to this that's kind of going through that,
which I imagine is a decent amount. Is you're like,
especially if you're single, like can I still get laid?
Like our girl's gonna want to go out with me?
Like that's probably your biggest insecurity. Uh, And just am
I gonna look funny? Because I like when I was

(35:36):
in junior high and in high school, I had a
buzzed head A lot of the time. I felt like,
but you don't even it's not even crossing your mind,
like how I look with this or without that? And
then you get a little older, you grow your hair
out a little bit, and it just becomes Then you
get you know, in the professional world, and you know,
you put some gel in there, and all of a
sudden he starts going away. So you just you don't

(35:56):
really have a choice. Sometimes I mess with Marie. I
act like I'm gonna get go to Turkey and get
the plugs I've I mean, it feels like all the
rage right now, everyone flying over there getting plugs for
like four or five thousand dollars. Really and really, if
you do it with them, I think they take care
of you. I've heard is very intriguing. But then I think, well,
then I'll just be another guy with hair. So the

(36:18):
bald's in right now. Especially in the podcast world, the
number one podcaster is a bald guy, obviously the rock.
So I'm just I'm just gonna ride the bald wave.
I shaved it with like a buzz basically had like
a zero probably for a couple of years before I
took I took like the mock three or five razor

(36:39):
to it, which is now I do just shave it today. Actually,
question for the back twenty six year old dairy farmer
from Wisconsin. Do you think there are a lot of
NFL front offices that, rather than playing for championships, are
trying to play it safe and just be competitive to
keep their jobs. Seems like big swings can win you

(37:00):
a Super Bowl or get you fired if they don't
work out. I think there are a lot of guys
who hesitate to put their nuts on the table and
take a big swing because they are worried about losing
their job. Yes, and they would rather just be a
competitive eight to nine tennis win team compete for a
wild card than ever have the upside of being a dominant,

(37:23):
dominant team because if it backfires, it could be a disaster.
And that's I would say, making big trades. I mean,
I mean, look, when McVeigh got to the Rams, they
started taking big ass swings. They started swinging for the fences,
and it took a while for it to work, but
it eventually did. Andy Reid's been taking big swings since
he got the Eagles job. I mean, you go look

(37:45):
back to Terrell Owens and he's never been afraid of that.
And are they all gonna work out? Of course not,
but you cannot be afraid to mix it up. And
that means that goes both ways. Trade for a player,
or trade a player or away. And I think the
younger and younger the GMS get, I do think the

(38:06):
more inclined they are. One The money's pretty big right now.
So if I become a GM and I sign a
four year contract at four million dollars a year, you know,
after taxes or whatever, I got three or four million
dollars for sure in the bank. And obviously I've been
an assistant GM. I'm a g I'm making a lot
of money. So like, even if I do get fired,

(38:29):
I'm gonna be okay, and my family's gonna be Okay,
they can. My kids can still go to private school.
We had a nice house. We're gonna be okay. But
if I make a swing and this works, I'm gonna
get it. Took balls. It's probably easier for Andy than
it was for Veach, but I think Veach has been
around Andy so long. When they traded Tyreek Hill, it's like, damn, man,

(38:52):
this is that's pretty ballsy and it's the best thing
that they've done. I would say, minus Patrick Mahomes of
the Run and Beach was, you know, making seven figures
at the time, but now he's going to make a
lot of money, contract extensions, huge raises because of what
happened these last two years into now. So I mean,

(39:14):
look at Howie. I mean, people, whenever the Eagles go
through tough times, you know, the finger gets pointed to him, rightfully, so,
but look at how good he is. Like anyone could
have had Saquon Barkley for like thirty It's like, okay,
he wanted to go to the Eagles, true, but they
were offering him twenty seven million dollars guaranteed. Someone could
offered him thirty eight forty. Anyone in the top eight

(39:38):
could have drafted Jalen Carter, Zach Bond. All these defensive
coordinators watched him as a free agent. They could have
been like, you know what, we should move him positions.
Gotta have balls, I think once you're making a lot
of money. I always do this in gambling, you know,
Like if I have one hundred dollars bet and it's
parlayed and it's gonna pay me like five grand, I

(40:00):
always let it ride for the most part because I'm like, well,
the high of watching this event is worth it for me.
On losing one hundred dollars, I'm basically paying one hundred
dollars for the entertainment, and every once in a while
they hit, it's an incredible feeling. But if I bet
ten grand and I have the chance and it's getting

(40:21):
weird and I have the chance to cash out mid
game just to get my money back, sometimes I do
that because I don't want to lose. Not like I
bet ten grand on games. Let's say, biggest bets I
usually make are like up to five grand. I bet
four thousand dollars on Penn State. That sucked, But I
should have cashed out there at one point in time
when they were up but I was like, I thought

(40:42):
they were gonna win, and then it backfired and I
was furious for like forty eight hours. And that's lost
a decent amount of money. I mean, I'm not just
throwing around four grand on Penn State. I'm still pissed
at them. Luckily, I battled back this weekend and got
about half of that back. But I think part of
it is and you take a risk, like what is

(41:03):
on the line and forever, like losing this job. In
the nineties, you know, gms weren't multi millionaires, so it's like,
I want to keep this job for a long time.
But you become a multi millionaire, it kind of changes.
You've got something to fall back on, so you might
as well. I don't want to say Gopher broke because
you don't want to make bad decisions. You don't want

(41:24):
to be an idiot, But you also, like, what's the
whole point of this? Try to win? Like that's why
everyone gets into this business to try to win games
or Super Bowls. Right, Like Borgazi leaves the Chiefs to
go to the Titans. Probably a lot easier for him
to make that move. It's like, well, he's got a
bunch of rinks. I mean, the guy's been to a
lot of Super Bowls, won three rinks. So even if

(41:45):
he's got to pack up his office and leave before
this season ends, it's easier to do it when you've
won three super Bowls in the last five years. If
you hadn't won one, you're like, well, I'm making a
lot of money being Vich's number two. Is this the
right job? Well, I've already won three super Bowls. We've
been to another one, Like, is a fourth one really
gonna change my life? I'm making Let's just pick a

(42:08):
number nine hundred thousand dollars as the number two. The
Titans are offering me a five year contract at three
and a half four million dollars a year. That's gonna
change my life. I get to It's not like I
got to go to some shitty city. I get to
go to Nashville as a Super Bowl champ and run
the organization. So I think everything is based on timing.
And if you're him, like you've already won, You've made

(42:29):
a lot of money. Now you might as well. You
don't have to do it right away, but over the
course of like twenty four months, you should have an
idea if something pops up that I think could be
a game changer, I'm gonna think long and hard about
pulling the trigger. Very sad Ravens fan. I agree with

(42:57):
your take with Colin that Lamar played well. I think
my take was he played better than he has in
the past. Right in the past he was atrocious, he
was not. He was good in the second half. I
mean he was good on that final drive. He looked
much more like himself at points yesterday than he has
in previous games. But the turnovers were killer. You said

(43:21):
it with another coaching loss. So my question is do
the Ravens move on from Harbaugh and try to get
a fresh voice in the locker room. I'm thinking about
how the Eagles won after getting rid of Andy and
if it would help. If not, what can the Ravens
do to get over the hump. Thanks for the quality content. Yeah,

(43:42):
I really thought yesterday was they had a little success
on that first drive throwing, and I actually think that
ended up being their demise because they stuck with the
past so much throughout the game. Whor it's like, guys,
hand the ball to twenty two, have Lamar keep it.
Do the game plan that you just did against the Steelers.

(44:06):
Try to run it fifty times for four hundred yards
and win the game, even if the score is not
as high, win the game twenty forty twenty. But it
was like, now we got to pass, we got to pass,
and what happened He made a killer mistake on throwing
the pick. Now they ended up not getting points out
of that pick, if memory serves me correct, But still
that ruined the possession and obviously the fumble. I watched

(44:28):
Lamar after the game, who was obviously I don't want
to say. I would say Dan Campbell was distraught. I
would describe Lamar as being pissed off, and rightfully so.
I mean, he knows what was on the line, and
he was really mad at himself, and he took accountability
and ownership on the interception. He called it awful, didn't

(44:49):
look off the safety and throw it right to him.
And he said on the fumble, He's like, it was
an RPO. So I couldn't throw it because our linemen
were downfield, and I just tried to make a play
and the ball slipped out of my hands. But that
play slipping out of his hands. Von Miller picks it
up that that did lead to a touchdown and it
went to fourteen to seven, which was a deciding moment

(45:11):
in the game. So when I see these people arguing
defending Lamar or whatever, he was better than he has
been in the past. But in that moment, this is
where the coaching thing. Why wouldn't you have just ran
it NonStop? How about the two to two point conversions?
I saw John Gruden on a clip talking about, like

(45:32):
listen in the in the freezing cold, in that moment,
that guy's exhausted. Obviously he should catch the ball. He's
paid fourteen to fifteen million dollars when he's healthy. Mark
Andrews is I don't know, I mean a top four
or five tight end in the NFL definitely has been
throughout points in time of his career. He's a really
good player. He's a winning player. But like there's a

(45:54):
margin forreerr there. We have seen that player, not specifically
that player, but in situation falling back dropped the ball.
It's cold, it's harder to grip. How would they not
run it twice? With Derrick Henry, who looks like he's
in the prime of his career in this game, he
was awesome in this game. It was like, keep handing

(46:15):
him the ball. He's bigger than their defenders and he
looked fast. To me, the first two pointer where Milano
tipped the ball and they didn't that was crazy. They
literally scored by just rushing it right down the field,
and then they get to the two point they call pass.
It's like, well the guy was open. Yeah, he didn't

(46:36):
complete it because the ball was tipped. Hand the fucking
ball off. I don't think John Harbaugh is gonna get fired.
I think John Harbaugh's good, but I think offensively, what
I don't understand about John Harbaugh. If that was Jim,
they would have ran the ball forty times and they
would have won an ugly game. I don't know understand,

(46:57):
like what's going on. Just run the ball. Just did
it against Pittsburgh, your bitter rival, and you just bludgeon
them to death. Why wouldn't you do that against the Bills.
I don't get it, And I do think it gets
back to on that first drive when they score a
touchdown with Lamar making some passes, They're like, oh, he's
gonna be fine today. It's not about that. Just just

(47:22):
win the game. That's why the Bills played like that.
We're not gonna turn the ball over. We're gonna get
into an ugly game once we got the lead. Play smart,
no picks, no fumbles, hold onto the rock. I mean,
why the Rams loose awful turnovers down the stretch. If
you were Titans fan, what would you say they should

(47:43):
do with the first overall pick in order to maximize
their chance of getting back in the playoffs in the
next few years. You know, their new GM was with
the Chiefs during the Patrick Mahomes draft time, right. He
was there when they drafted Patrick, so he knows about

(48:03):
the conviction in that office when it came to that player.
Brian Callahan was in Cincinnati when they drafted Joe Burrow
number one overall. So both these guys have seen quarterbacks
change the lives of everyone around them. Brian Callahan is
the head coach of the Tennessee Titans because of Joe Burrow.
Mike Borganzi is the general manager of the Tennessee Titans

(48:26):
because of Patrick Mahomes. Obviously there are other variables there,
but they'd be the first to tell you that Joe
Burrow and Patrick Mahomes are the most important players in
the history of their career as coaches, so as the
number one pick, if you don't have one hundred percent
conviction to take cam Ward, I would not do it.

(48:48):
I would not do if there are questions, I'm not
risking it because for as awesome as Burrow and Mahomes
and some of the we have seen other guys destroy
people's career and literally rail it. So I would have
no problem. I don't care what the media says. I
would just sell my owner on this. We don't like
this guy enough. If we don't, and if you do

(49:10):
draft him, But to me, that is the number one conversation,
do we take this guy number one overall? I don't
think you can take Shador Sanders number one overall, and
I don't think he would go one overall. I think
he's I think when the dust Sattles will end up
going somewhere between like three to ten. I think a

(49:33):
lot of people struggle with guys like him who physically
like he's not Jade Lamar athlete by any means. Hell,
he's not even bo Nix as an athlete, and his
arm is like, okay, it's like Jared Goff. And again,
I'm a Chador fan. He's a good player. But when
you take guys like that number one overall, it's it's
pretty risky. I'm much more inclined to take the Traites
guy number one overall. But again, like I gotta like

(49:54):
the guy. I had a scout text me the other
day like, I couldn't take cam Ward in the top fifteen.
So all all these players, they're gonna be people with
second round grades on these guys. There were people last
year with Pennix and bo Nicks that thought they were
second rounders. So like, you gotta be cool if you
also pass on them. That like cam Ward is going
to go to another team and he could be awesome.

(50:16):
So it's like, do you have enough conviction to do
that and live with it? Hell, the forty nine ers
and the Bears passed on Patrick Mahomes. How'd that worked out?
Not good? So I would I would spend the majority
of my energy over these next month of evaluating cam Ward.

(50:39):
I bet Borgazzi has watched him, but nowhere near Like
they were never gonna draft him Kansas City. So it's like, yeah,
I've seen him on some cross tapes. Maybe I wrote
him up, but did I really study him? I'm talking
about really studying. It's like Adam Peters last year when
he went to Washington, I think he said during his
introduction press conference, like, yeah, I just I need to

(51:00):
really watch these quarterbacks because he hadn't washed them in
San Francisco to the level in which you have to
watch them. And then at the end of the day
he made a decision. And that's the hard part about
this year. It's like Jayden Daniels, Drake may Kleb Williams,
they all would go hiring these guys with Washington going
for the NFC title after revamping their entire franchise top down,

(51:22):
we now see how important the big four of football are.
The owner, the GM, the head coach, and the quarterback
are all four pillars of football. And if you could
pick your current fantasy big four, who would it be interested, Well,
there's just not a better one right now than the Chiefs.
I don't even think that's arguable. You know, for twenty

(51:44):
years it was Robert Kraft, it was Bill Belichick coach,
and GM and Tom Brady, and right now I think
it's clearly Clark Hunt, who I don't even know what
he's necessarily doing, but it's if the owner is just solid.
He's not like he's not really influencing football. He can

(52:04):
ruin football, but he can just be solid and stay
out of the way. And that's what I think Clark
does a lot of the time. You know, it's Andy
Mahomes of beach. Is it even close? I think the
Bill's really been underrated. I really do. With McDermott, Josh
and Brandon Bean like they've done a really really good job.

(52:25):
They really have. I mean they have been. This is
they're what third AFC championship or second in twenty twenty
they lost to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game
in twenty twenty one. That's they lost the thirteen second
game in the AFC Divisional round. Last year, obviously they
lost in the division round. So this is the second

(52:47):
time they have played the Chiefs four times in the
playoffs since twenty twenty. I said it to Colin. I'll
say it again, like this is the new rivalry Bill's Chiefs. Now,
it's been one sided. Can the Bills finally win? If
you believe that you can get the Bills as an underdog.
I've been telling my buddies to start listening to you.

(53:08):
I like you, Steve question, why did you ever get
into scouting in the NFL? Seems like a well paying
profession and would you ever go back to it? Just
surprised because you seem really knowledgeable regarding NFL players. It's
actually not a great paying job. It is once you
start working your way up. You know, my buddies now
that are in their mid thirties or early forties are

(53:31):
making good livings. But when you first get into scouting,
you are not making much money. You know, when I
first got hired with the Eagles, I made twenty five
thousand dollars. My second year pro scouting, I made forty five.
My third year I made fifty. And you know I
was twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine. So my friends

(53:53):
just in private sector, in sales, working in tech, I mean,
we're making hundreds of thousands of dollars at the same age.
I mean, it wasn't even I was by far the
poorest guy I knew of all the people I went
to college with. Wasn't even close. So you make a
lot of money once you get to a certain level,
like once you become the college scouting director, once you

(54:14):
become the number two, like an assistant GM, you make
seven eight hundred thousand dollars. But I think the average scout,
like just a college scout, I bet the average is
low six figures, which again is not a bad living,
but this is not a nine to five job. So
if I'm paying you one hundred and ten thousand dollars

(54:35):
and you're thirty seven years old and you have a
wife and a kid, it's not like you're home a lot.
You're working non You're working seventy eighty ninety hour weeks.
You're going to games on the weekend all the time.
Like it is a fucking grind. Even if you're making
let's say you're a longer tenured guy and you're making
one hundred and fifty two hundred grand, like relative to

(54:58):
the time, you are spending a lot of time, and
I mean a ton of time six seven months of
the year. I mean you're having ninety one hundred hour
weeks also gone you know part of that is you're
driving or flying or traveling. Like it's I bet most
professions given like working for these billion dollar corporations, given

(55:22):
the time, if you worked, if you did the same
thing at Goldman Sachs or did the same thing at
Tesla or whatever. You would be making four x what
you make working in football up until you get to
a certain level. And even then, like once you become
the college director, Okay, now you're making four hundred and
five hundred thousand dollars. You are still working insane hours.

(55:46):
That's the thing. Like coaches, it's like, okay, yeah, you
work crazy hours. The quarterback coach is making nine hundred
and fifty grand, The offensive coordinator is making two and
a half three million dollars. You know it's it's the
defensive coordinator. Like Vic Fangiel's, Okay, works eighty hours a week,
he's making five million dollars, Siriani. People question what he's doing.
He's probably making seven and a half eight Kevin O'Connell's

(56:08):
mad because he's making seven and a half wants to
make fourteen. You make a lot of money in coaching.
Coaches make dramatically more than scouts. And I would say
scouts don't work as much hour wise during the season
because coaches hours are insane. But like if you're out
of the playoffs right now, you're on vacation, like you

(56:30):
get several weeks off. Scouts work January work, February work,
March work, April. Okay, they work, so they work basically
double the amount in terms of months. Just stand it
up for my people. It's a hard job. It really is.
And then the other thing is like, if you're a
good coach, right, if you're a quarterback coach and you're

(56:52):
making seven hundred fifty grand and you're thirty two years
old and your quarterback starts bawling, everyone starts interviewing you
to become an offensive coordinator. But if you're like the
SEC scout for your team, like you do the South,
and you're awesome, Like you're like nine out of ten,
like you're a stud, Like you're like you know what

(57:14):
you're doing. Who beside people on your team know, no
one outside like on another team's no. So unless your
agent's kind of gassing you up or you know some
people in the media, no one knows how good you are.
It's a weird profession. But no, I'm not going back

(57:35):
well like doing this. This. This was my colleague and
I just got into it randomly because I got you know,
I played high school football. I just loved it. I
mean I was terrible, but I just being with your friends,
the sport, the practices. It was just there was something
special about it. And I love football well before I
ever started playing it as a young kid. And then

(57:58):
you go to college and you realize you and playing
sports your whole life, and you kind of have this void.
And I just kind of got back involved with the
athletic department at cal Poly, and I kind of got
involved with the football program, and it just kind of,
I would say, organically took off from there. Why are
they are only three teams running the tush push? The

(58:20):
play is almost unstoppable, and now the Ravens have shown
it can be run with a tight end under center
to eliminate the injury risk to the quarterback. Well, okay,
let's take the Chiefs, because I guess you're saying that
the Washington Commanders do it with Mariota. The Eagles do

(58:40):
it obviously with Jalen. The Ravens do it with Mark Andrews.
The Bills, I would say, do variations of it with Josh.
I think the Chiefs Mahomes has gotten injured on the
quarterback sneak before, and I'm sorry, like I'd rather punt
than have Mahomes get hurt. Who would do that for

(59:00):
them if you remove Mahomes. It's not really Kelsey's thing,
you know, I mean 's Mark Andrews is just different
body type, especially at this point in time. Could you
have like Kareem Hunt do it, He's never done anything.
I just don't know who on the Chiefs would do it.
Could you just have could Chris Jones take the snap?

(59:22):
Current graduate student from intern Jackson's all matter the University
of Montana, go grizz. I'm a lifelong Cowboy fan, and
as my dad grew up and filled my head with
the stories of the good old days from the nineties
my whole life, they've been mediocre. My question for the
pot is this, realistically, what are the incentives that Jerry

(59:43):
and the Cowboys ownership has to get back into Super
Bowl contend contention? He has brilliantly positioned them as being
this relevant in the media world, and always with the
increased TV money, he is just printing cash no matter
who our next coach is. I seriously doubt Jerry's desire
to bring us back in the Super Bowl contention. PS

(01:00:04):
tip for navigating waste management during the weekend. Coming down
with some buddies and we'll be on the course Saturday.
Probably gonna skip the sixteenth hole as we don't want
to wake up at four am. But any tips, what
holds the camp out at or the nightlife after the
sun goes down something we can do best. I used
to would have said the Front nine, but I would

(01:00:26):
say one thing. Over the last couple of years. I
feel like, even if I'm just not even there and
turn on the television in the morning, the front nine
is packed. But I would say nine, eight, seven, six,
if you're able to get some passes into some cool situations.
I mean, it's hard to beat seventeen and eighteen. That's

(01:00:47):
it's already up right now. It's like a it's like
one gigantic bar. But if you don't, you just have
general admission. I think the Front nine go like hoole
nine backwards. I think is tough to beat. Twelve probably
underrated part three, and you can see them coming in
on eleven hitting into that green as well. It's cool,

(01:01:09):
hopefully the weather it's not, as it's not as cold
this year. I would say I think Jerry, like Jerry
definitely wants to win a Super Bowl. I think every
human being would agree that if you said, Hey, Jerry,
do you want to win a Super Bowl? When he
says yes, he's not lying. So I take Jerry at
face value if he wants to win a super Bowl,

(01:01:30):
but he wants to do it his way, Like look
to their inner Leslie Frazier, Brian Schottenheimer, what is this
real life? Robert Sawa? What are we doing here? That's Jerry.
He's gonna do it his way and it doesn't work

(01:01:50):
at the highest level. Like they've had successful seasons. Like
you said, they're a well run business. They're a well
run entertainment entity. But when it comes to well he
do absolutely anything he can to win a Super Bowl? No,
he won't. And I think if you're a Cowboy fan,
you almost just got to ride it out. You just

(01:02:12):
got to ride out this Jerry dak era, which I
think probably already peaked. I mean, do they have twelve
games in them this upcoming season? I would say probably not.
I think the big question mark this offseason is would
they trade Michaeh Parsons And would that be the right
move to trade Michaeh Parsons for a couple first round picks?

(01:02:36):
Like would you trade him with the Detroit Lions for
their two ones. Who knows, maybe not. Would you trade
him to an AFC team? Would you trade him to
I don't know. You pick a team that would be interested.
I think you'd have to think long and hard about it.
I actually think he makes some sense for like the
Washington Commanders, but I don't think if you're Jerry, you'd

(01:02:57):
trade him there. He makes a lot of sense for
the Commanders, actually, but I just don't think you can
do that. So I think you're kind of stuck in
this mold of kind of is what it is. And
there's a circus element to your team that years like
this feel bigger than the actual team, which kind of sucks.

(01:03:20):
But that's kind of Jerry's m O. It's like he's
it's almost like he's Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg, right,
Like he likes directing the show more than he cares
about like at the end of the day, what happens
to the movie. He likes being in there pulling some strings,

(01:03:40):
making sure the picture looks like he wants to look
like the picture, whether that's gonna be a good movie
or a bad movie. He just wants it to be
an entertaining movie. And he will never give up that
director's chair. He's never given up the GM spot. He's
never gonna be an absentee owner. At this point in time,
I remember when they first from Hard Knocks. I think

(01:04:03):
the Ravens were the first ever team on Hard Knocks
and maybe the Cowboys were the second. And Jerry gives
a speech at the beginning of training camp that was
essentially like I could be anywhere in the world right now,
but I choose to be here with you. I think
that sums up Jerry very well. He likes telling you
like I don't need to do this. It's like, yeah, Jerry,

(01:04:23):
but you are doing it. Yes, you could be in Milan,
you could be in Australia, you could be fucking wherever
the hell you want to be. But you're always gonna
be by the Cowboys, because that is at this point
in time and up until you die, the identity of
Jerry Jones, and not just like I'm the owner of
the Cowboys. I control the Cowboys when we make a signing,

(01:04:46):
when we make a trade, when we make a coach
hire is what I want to do. What happened to
the reports early on when they fired McCarthy. Jerry's kind
of going solo. He's just calling people. Can you just
see Jerry in his office with like even going dad,
let's just can we just do something normal here. But
anyone who's been around I've never been around a billionaire

(01:05:08):
or eighty year old, but I've been around some successful
older people. They usually get more stubborn. I mean they
don't usually lighten up and give in that. It usually
gets worse if they're that hands on, and it's I
think we have some examples in recent NFL history. It
could get a lot uglier like that. That that potential

(01:05:29):
for that to happen, it's one hundred percent on the table.
The volume