November 28, 2025 • 53 mins
Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is reacting LIVE immediately following the Week 13 Thanksgiving triple header featuring Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers vs. Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, and Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. John kicks off by reacting to Joe Burrow and the Bengals upset win over Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. John speculates whether the AFC North is officially wide open with Joe Burrow back in action. John then reacts to the Cowboys big time win over the Chiefs and what that means for each team moving forward amid a tight NFC and AFC playoff race. Next, John reacts to Packers road win vs. the Lions and debates whether the Lions will have enough to make the postseason with star wide receiver Amon Ra St. Brown set to miss their Week 14 matchup vs. the Cowboys after sustaining an injury. John wraps up with his Hard Rock Bet Black Friday picks: Bears (+7) at Eagles Rome Odunze Anytime Touchdown A.J. Brown Anytime Touchdown
05:27 - Bengals-Ravens
16:12 - Chiefs-Cowboys
44:41 - Packers-Lions
51:49 - HRB Black Friday Picks
Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest.
All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet
Use promo code “3ANDOUT20” on https://nicokick.com/zone for 20% off at checkout!
Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow - for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on Everybody? John middlecoff three
and out podcast. How are we doing? Hopefully everyone is
(00:22):
doing well and enjoying life. Obviously, this podcast on Thanksgiving
is brought to you by my Friends Its Zone Pouches.
We uh watched a lot of football today. Also ate
a lot of turkey and some ham and some cocktails
and some sweets. So I'm ready to go to go
to sleep. But we got to tell we had a
(00:43):
lot going on. We had Joe Burrow returning. They destroy
the Ravens. We have the Dallas Cowboys that might be
the hottest team in the NFL. The Chiefs are now
six and six and if this weekend does not go
well for them, their playoff hopes are basically over. The
Green Bay Packer kind of in full control, now control
their own destiny because they still play the Bears twice.
(01:05):
They look pretty good. Jordan Love was fantastic. The Lions'
offense wasn't the problem, but defensively they just can't get
a stop whenever they have to. So we'll talk some football.
The Bears Eagles, if you're listening to this on Friday,
obviously play Black Friday. So excited to watch that game.
You guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast, subscribe
to the YouTube channel. And before we dive into some football,
(01:29):
you know, I got to tell you about my friends,
my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast,
Game Time best in the business. That does not get
any better. If you want to go to one of
these games. You want to go to an NFL game,
you just download the game Time app. You type in
your team, you type in the stadium you want to
go see. You can search by where you want to sit.
(01:49):
They got flash deals. It doesn't get any easier to use.
The price you see on the app is the price
you pay a checkout. There are tickets as low as
one hundred dollars. There is no hidden fees when you
check out, so take the guests work kind of buying
tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app. Create
an account and use the code John for twenty dollars
off your first purchase terms of play again, create an
(02:12):
account and redeem the code j o HN for twenty
dollars off. Swipe, tap tick go download the game Time
app today. WHOA Okay, let's start with uh. It does
feel like the stories of the day are Dallas, the Packers,
obviously the Chiefs, but you know, he just watched the
Ravens game. Sol W's hit on this really quick because
(02:33):
big picture, with the Cincinnati Bengals, they could run the table.
They're still not making the playoffs. But I do think
what Joe Burrow said when he was interviewed right before
kickoff represents the power of the sport of football and
even the mindset of its NFL players is when they
kind of ask like, why are you doing this? You
(02:54):
don't need to play, and He's like, I'm paid a
ton of money to play a little kids game. If
I can play, I'm gonna play. And I was thinking, like,
how refreshing is that for the consumer? You know, they
were trying to break the record with the Chiefs Cowboy
game of potentially being around fifty million people watching, and
(03:16):
we'll see what the number is. But obviously this day,
millions upon millions of people are watching all three games,
even the night game, which felt even though these two
teams got Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson almost like a
come down off the previous two games. But I mean,
you're probably talking twenty five million people sitting on their
couch consuming this and Joe Burrow, one of the most
(03:39):
famous guys in the league. Listen, he's not relatable in
the sense that he signed a three hundred million dollar contract,
but just like you know, I get paid to work,
and if I can work, I'm gonna work whether we
can win the Super Bowl or whether we can just
beat the Ravens on Thanksgiving Night. Cause you know why,
playing football, like everything beside the seventeen weeks when you
(04:00):
if you're an NFL player, the twelve weeks when you play,
if you're a college player, kind of sucks. You know,
for the majority of the year, you're not actually even
during the season, right, I'm talking like January, or I
guess January, some of the good teams are in the playoffs.
But February, March, April, you're just like training, getting up
really early, cutting things out of your diet, busting your
(04:21):
ass just to get ready for spring practice, to then
train again all summer, to just get ready for training camp,
to just start the season where you then practice to
then play a game. Right, so you spend all this
time preparing to do what he just got to do,
come out there sling it to his buddy Jamar Chase,
(04:41):
who he's known for whatever seven eight, nine years, who
they have like a Montana to rice like chemistry. His
other buddy Higgins as a concussion but he'll come back.
Guess what, It's fun to play football, especially when you're good.
I'd argue any industry you work in, when you are
talented at it or when you enjoy doing it, workigs
(05:02):
kind of fun sometimes and whatever is like the pinnacle
of what you do. And for football players, it's playing
the game that's the enjoyable part. So watching Joe Burrow
that they announced before the game even kicks off, that
you know, he said to us that he is going
to take off his shoe every single series when his
(05:23):
team's on defense because it doesn't feel good on his foot,
just to maintain the structure whatever, to limit the pain
of the turf toe. It's like, you know what. I
even before the game kicked off, and I obviously had
the the Bengals plus seven and a half, I didn't
feel great about it, but I was like, you know what,
I'm rooting for this guy tonight, Like I'm rooting for
(05:44):
the Bengals to night, and I have I'm completely indifferent
to the Bengals. If anything, I'd root for the Ravens
because I'm kind of rooting for the Steelers demise right now,
just because I want to see chaos in that organization
and potentially Mike Tomlin go to the Giants and just
a complete mix up, and there's there's some rubble there.
I saw a headline recently that like a veteran, highly
(06:05):
like a accomplished coach, might be looking for a reset.
Everyone's like Mike Tomlin potentially could beam John Harbaugh. But
I think most of us thought like Mike Tomlin and listen,
we'll get into the Ravens here in a second. But
I just that we get a lot of dms and
people asking me and listen, it gets thrown out there.
(06:26):
It's a fair conversation to have with the Bengals trade
Joe Burrow, what could you do to get Listen, He's
gotten hurt a couple of times and it really sucks.
He hurt his whatever his wrist a couple of years
ago or was that last year? Obviously the turf tow
this year derailed their season. Hurt his knee early on
(06:47):
in his career. But if you're the Bengals, like he's
going nowhere for the foreseeable future, and any talk about
like should we pivot, can we keep dealing with his injuries?
The answer simple, Hell, yeah you can. He's the best
player probably in my life to be on their team. Uh,
you know, Carson was really good, Chad Johnson was pretty good.
(07:10):
Obviously Jamar Chase is fantastic. But I mean, this guy
is just a franchise changer, and he was a little
rusty tonight. Obviously made some good plays, had a couple
of balls, you know, go probably way off that typically
like left his hands, like ah, that's gonna be Oh,
it's missed the guy by seven yards. But he hasn't
played in like three months. So I just have a
(07:33):
lot of respect for Joe Burrow, And I think moments
like that when the mike went in front of his face,
it's like, that's why the NFL's king, because that's the
player's mindset. I mean, we literally have a massive investigation
going because a team in a similar situation, legendary highly
paid player team has no chance. They're like, Eh, we're
(07:54):
just gonna Dame Lillard is gonna sit tonight, We're gonna
start tanking the bag. This Thanksgiving there three and eight.
They win a night they're four and eight. You got
no shot. I mean, you could run the table and
you're still more than likely missing the playoffs by a
couple games. So I just have a lot of respect
for Joe battling back and playing in Thanksgiving. I mean,
(08:17):
when the injury initially happened, people said maybe by the
middle of December. Guy ended up coming back November twenty seventh.
First game back beats the Ravens, who were in a
position to really kind of take a stranglehold of this
division because the Steelers are playing the Bills on Sunday
in Buffalo. I don't know about you, but I'm taking
(08:38):
the Bills. I'm taking the Bills by a lot. I
think the Steelers fucking blow. But here's the thing, the Ravens.
If you have Lamar Jackson at what is he? My wife,
We're sitting on the couch, I got my wife, my
mother in law, my mom, my wife's aunt, walk kind
of sitting there watching the first half, and Maria looks
(08:58):
at me. She's like, Martin looks kind of slow. I'm like, yeah,
he's by all accounts and reports, he's probably closer to
fifty percent than he is eighty percent. He's not himself
And obviously he played a terrible game the night right
the fumbles, but their whole offense, you know, from a
passing standpoint, revolves around him making plays and it just
(09:20):
doesn't look off or it doesn't look right. It looks off,
and they just weren't shambles all night long. Now it
doesn't kill them because, like I said, I would expect
the Steelers to lose on Sunday and come Monday the
Ravens will still be in first place. But you see
that performance, you go, well, they got no chance in
(09:41):
terms of like beating good teams. Now you can also argue,
like who are the good teams in the AFC? Colts
their quarterbacks and shambles. Chiefs aren't even gonna make the playoffs.
Chargers have a million injuries. The Broncos, I guess, are
the best team, but their quarterback. Does anyone trust that guy?
So you start looking around. You know that you trust
the Jags, Like the Jags, that's what we're betting on.
(10:05):
The Texans would be a scary team, but like, can CJ.
Stroud get healthy? I don't know, And you just look
around you go the Afcason shambles. That's the shitty part.
If you're a Bengals fan. If if Burrow could have
come back a month ago, or if Flacco could have
(10:25):
rattled off a couple more wins after that big win
against the Steelers, and just you're six and six instead
of four and eight, maybe it's a different conversation. Maybe
you get a little more interesting. You know. They I
think they got Miami coming up, they get the Ravens
at home. They got a lot of winnable games, but
it's just gonna be a little too little, too late.
(10:46):
And you watch the Ravens and you go, I mean,
part of what's a major change the Sunday night game
when you're going outside is the first two games it's
like seventy degrees air conditioned in a dome when you
go to Baltimore. And I was telling everyone on the
couch and like, do you guys realize how cold it
is we're in Arizona. I was in the pool all day.
(11:06):
It's like it was like seventy eight degrees here, Like
you understand how cold it is? Like it doesn't look
that cold. I pull out Baltimore and Maryland. It was
like thirty three degrees. Like these people can't feel with
their fingers, can't feel their toes. There's a different level
of football than playing indoors in Detroit or playing indoors
in Dallas. Like that's a different level of mental toughness.
(11:27):
And again, the Bengals came out like they were in
the playoff mix, like they had something to play for it.
And maybe that's Burrow kind of I don't know, injecting life,
just giving them some confidence of like, guys, I fucking
believe in this team. I'm working hard enough to come back.
Let's go out there swinging. And they played their ass
(11:48):
off on defense, creating turnovers, creating fumbles, flying around. I mean,
their defense actually didn't look bad, and that's the defense
that looks terrible. Maybe that's more of indictment on Lamar's health,
because to me, he doesn't even look remotely close to
the guy way earlier in this season, the guy we've
seen the last couple of years. He's just not moving
around very well. And when he can't move around be
(12:09):
the dominant playmaker, that's a huge part of his game.
Like that is the Lamar Jackson package, and when that's
gone he just becomes a shell of himself. And their
offense obviously spiders, and they still make big plays. He
did hit the one dude on the go route and
the dB made a great play. But at the end
of the day, like I'm looking at this Ravens team
(12:31):
in the last couple of years, you took him really
seriously going in the playoffs. I mean two years ago,
they were the one seed. Last year on the road
in Buffalo, Like, I like their chances. They obviously lost
that game, but that they were a team that wouldn't
have shocked anyone if they rattled off a couple of playoffs,
you know, beat the Bills and then had a chance
against the Chiefs. This year doesn't feel like that. This year,
(12:53):
I would say, depending on the matchup, feels like a
decent chance that they're you know, potentially won and done
in the playoffs. Today's show is brought to you by
a new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. There are three
things to be thankful for this week. Family, food and
(13:15):
you guessed it. Football. Thanks to hard Rock Bet, you
can easily sneak in some bets while you're crazy. Uncle
goes on his annual ramp sign up today and you
could feast with one hundred and fifty in bonus bets.
Just place a five dollars bet. If it hits, you
not only get your winnings, but also one hundred and
fifty extra in bonus bets. That's an offer you can't
(13:38):
pass up, even on a full stomach. Plus this week
on hard Rock Bet, you get three to fifty percent
profit boosts, one for each Thanksgiving Day game boost, your
same Game Parlay or same Game Parlay Max, so your
bet pays extra winnings. Hard Rock Bet offers new promos
every single day. Download the hard Rock Bet app now
(14:02):
and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets not
a cash offer offered by Seminal Tribe of Florida. In Florida,
offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC and all other states,
you must be twenty one plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
and Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about
(14:25):
gambling in Florida, call one eight three three play Wise
In Indiana if you are someone you know has a
gambling problem and wants help, call one eight hundred and
nine with it gambling problem, Call one hundred gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia Cowboys Chiefs. What a game?
(14:57):
What a what are just mar Key matchup? You know
that just felt it felt big. It really did. And
you can't convince me, especially if that game ends up
breaking records, that a game with a six and five
team playing a team that's five to five and one
could have felt as big as it did. And it
(15:19):
lived up to the hype and it was awesome. And
when the Chiefs scored two touchdowns in the first quarter,
you know, for she Rice's he's a big time player.
That dude pretty clear. Why when he crashes the Lamborghini
and there's like is he drunk? Is he high? And
he takes off and he gets into some trouble, the
Chiefs like, well, stand by our man. Well they're like
Tammy wan Nett, They're like, we're not going anywhere. And
(15:43):
I don't blame him because that dude is a baller.
He is by far their best offensive player. Travis Kelce know,
he's a bright lights player. He had a fantastic touchdown
and You're like, are they gonna score fifty points in
this game? And the thing is with the Cowboys, like, okay,
you want to get into a scoring contest. The one
thing that isn't debatable, and here's where I was wrong
(16:03):
about Dallas is at the beginning, really going back to
when Jerry made Brian Schottenheimer the coach. I like most people,
and I don't want to say I was like a
sheep or fell into group think here, but this guy
wasn't getting hired by anyone else to be their offensive coordinator. Now,
that would have been wrong because clearly he's an excellent
offensive coordinator. We're watching his work on a weekly basis.
(16:25):
He's really good at his job. But there is no
other team in the NFL that would have hired him
be the offensive coordinator, fair or not, and definitely no
other team would have hired him to be their head coach.
And sitting here after Thanksgiving heading into December, he's been
fantastic and just as an offensive coordinator, he's been pretty elite.
I mean his rapport with his quarterback Dak Prescott. Today
(16:49):
we had some really good performances by quarterbacks. Mahomes played well. Obviously,
the two guys in the morning. I mean, Jordan Love
was I found fantastic. Prescott was just elite. I mean
that's that was especially Spags defense. You know, they got
some momentum. It's not like they're not playing for anything. Now.
He is parlayed when they made those trades whatever three
(17:13):
weeks ago, the game against the Raiders, the game against
the Eagles, and the game against the Chiefs. Even Brian
Schottenheimer in that in that locker room was like, how
about those four days? I even think when you factor
in the Raiders now I understand the Raiders are a
complete joke. Their their coach. A report came out today
Chip Kelly like didn't know the plays, was calling in
(17:35):
the wrong plays, was calling in plays to Geno Smith
that they hadn't even installed, and the players didn't know.
It's like, Chip, are you boozing or something like what
the fuck's going on? Like what, I've been on this
for a while. I'm not gonna beat a dead horse.
But like that performance against the Raiders was really high level.
Then you bring that to the Eagles comeback was like
(17:57):
really impressive. Today felt like the icing on the k
what an incredible three day run. I mean incredible three
day run for Jerry as the GM because I do
think we talk about Jerry sometimes. Obviously they get discussed
all the time by all major shows, by the major networks,
(18:18):
by a lot of podcasts, like they're just a major
story and they're in the mix with making trades and
doing big time stuff. MICHAEH. Parsons trade is, I don't know,
one of the bigger trades of like my adult life,
trading two first round picks for a potential Hall of
Fame pass rusher, Like it doesn't happen very often, and
I mean literally, I think him and Khalil Mack are
the only time a guy's ever been like all pros
(18:40):
under twenty five. He can usually give those guys a
second contract. So it's just gonna make waves. Now. I
thought the Schottenheimer hire was crazy. I did not think
that MICHAELH. Parsons trade was crazy. Now once he starts
trading for Quinn Williams, I'm like, this is Jerry's like
just kind of gun slinging right now. But every time
(19:02):
you look up ninety twos in the backfield, George Pickens
feel j threw this out before today. Now the Steelers
haven't played, but coming into today he had more receiving
yards than the entire Steelers receiving corps. He is DK
Metcalf isn't a number one wide receiver. I got news
for you, But the Steelers pay him one hundred and
(19:24):
fifty million dollars like he's Jamar Chaser Justin Jefferson. Meanwhile,
pickins today, I saw a stat had four slants that
he ran that went for a combined seventy five yards.
Last time I checked slants where you're catching the ball,
I don't know no more than seven eight yards by
the time the ball hits your hands past the line
(19:47):
of scrimmage. His ability after the catch for a guy
that it's not like he's worthy or DK Metcalf in terms,
it's not like he's a four to two guy. But
making guys miss, breaking tackles you using angles. George Pickens
has been elite. But that's why George or Brian Schottenheimer
deserves credit, because when you trade for a guy like that,
(20:08):
you're like, how how are you gonna use him? How
are you gonna handle this personality? Then the Cowboys get
him and he becomes Dax. I mean a lot of
this season has been his number one target, has been
the most productive player on the field. I mean, how
many times a day it's like, it's probably gonna go
to George and something big happened, and obviously Ceedee Lamb
had a massive game. So you're keeping these two guys.
(20:31):
I mean, there's a story that comes out a couple
weeks ago. It's like they're boozing late night and I
gave him respect, kind of like a throwback to my youth.
A couple of dudes on the road all night or
and who even knows what exactly is true, but who cares.
Brian Schottenneimer completely unfazed. Play the Eagles. Both those guys
crush play the Chiefs thanksgiving front of forty five to
fifty million people. Both those guys make huge plays, you know,
(20:53):
the huge reason that they win. Obviously, you know, Ferguson
had the play that I guess it was overturned. But
every time I watch him, I go listen, I understand
he's this isn't George Kittle. He's a pretty good player.
I mean, I think he's just extremely productive. Their entire
offense just produces. I mean, what was dak today twenty
(21:15):
seven to thirty nine, a couple of touchdowns three hundred
and twenty yards, Ceedee Lamb seven catches, one hundred and
twelve picking six for eighty eight, Ferguson five for thirty six,
Javonte Williams productive Milink Davis had the big touchdown run.
Their offense is just legit. So it's like my head coach,
(21:35):
who is And here's the thing. It's not like some
random dude who was coaching like John Carroll and then
got like a quarterback job on some shitty team and
just all of a sudden came out of nowhere. Like
this guy's been around football since he was shitting in diapers.
Like this guy's a football guy through and through from
day one, and once upon a time in his thirties
(21:57):
he was like a shooting star and didn't couse on
the opportunity. This is why assistant coaches have told me
over the years when I'm like, bro, why are you
taking that offensive coordinator job? And they go, John, two things. One,
they signed me to a three year contract at each
year's worth over and this is like over the years,
over eight hundred to nine hundred to one million dollars.
(22:19):
This is like ten years ago. Now, an offensive coordinator
jobs pay like one point two to one point five
million dollars for guys that have never been coordinators before,
so they pay a premium. And once you kind of
get in that mix, you're just kind of in that mix.
And like, this guy was a stud. This guy was
a star, but then his career kind of got derailed,
(22:41):
like after that Jets situation when he didn't take a
head coaching job. Over the course of the twenty tens,
he was kind of all over the map. I mean,
at one point in time, he was the Georgia offensive
coordinator in the mid twenty tens. This was after the
Jets had him as their offensive coordinator in his mid
to late thirties, and they were the number one rushing
offense back to back years in the AFC Championship Game,
(23:04):
back to back years, the New York Jets. And like
five years later he's coaching the Georgia Bulldocks. And this
ain't the Kirby Smart Georgia Bulldocks. This is Mark Rick.
So like, listen, sometimes your career goes down the wrong path.
For some people, it ruins them and they never become
you know, a coordinator or a head coach again, and
they just kind of get lost in the shuffle. Now,
(23:25):
this isn't the worst industry to work in. It still
gets paid a lot of money. But there had to
be a time and point in this guy's career where
he thought this was never gonna happen. And then he
gets it, and then the Parsons trades happens, the whole
media thinks like this whole thing's gonna crumble, and even
at one point in time, it's like, ah, it's gonna
be a pretty big uphill battle. Now you looking at him.
Six five and one. They play the Lions next week
(23:48):
in what could be, honestly in an elimination game. I think
Dan Campbell said after the game that say, Brown's not
out for the season, but he's definitely gonna miss next week,
so they're gonna be missing their best wide receiver. The
Cowboys defense ever since since getting Queen and Williams, looks
like a completely different unit. I mean, Quinn Williams is
all over the place. Clowney Jidaveon Clowney had multiple sacks today,
(24:15):
the dude they traded for from the Cincinnati Bengals. He's
been excellent, obviously, they're get overshown back, He's making plays.
Their defense just looks completely different since the trading deadline.
So like when I see Jerry on Jane's Slater's Instagram
or Twitter page with a huge piece of turkey in
his hand with a big ass smile, like he should
(24:37):
be swinging that thing around. This was an incredible Like
this is where you get credit. Like, listen, what are
most owners doing right? Not much, but they hire their
guys and lessen they ideally good ones. Give give them
the money, but like they're not wheeling a dealing like
Jerry's a huge part of this. Jerry's the ones like
Micah Parson's out. He's even kind of admitted during that
(25:00):
preseason game when Michaeh Parsons laid on the trading table.
I think Jerry said within the last month, He's like,
I've owned this team for whatever thirty five years, never
seen that happen in my entire career. Like that really
pissed him off, just like it would have pissed anybody off.
It would have pissed coaches off, owners off, gems off.
It was embarrassing. But I don't even listen Micah that
(25:21):
they were at odds and they split up and everyone
took Mike aside. And listen, the Packers don't regret it.
I'm watching Micah today and there was that one play
was kind of a broken play and he kind of
comes around golf kind of holds on, he crushes him.
Michael's flying around like Mike's a really good player. But like,
do you think Cowboys doing that? No, this is kind
(25:42):
of a win win so far this year. And then
they parlayed it. I think a lot of people were
stunned when they traded for Quinna Williams. He's a twenty
seven year old elite defensive tackle. He's really really good.
They still have two picks. Now, are are the Cowboys
gonna make the playoffs this year? I still doubt it. Right,
even if you go best case scenario like ten six
(26:04):
and one, I doubt that gets you into the playoffs.
But you'd have a chance. But if I would have
told anyone alive that November twenty seventh, when the Thanksgiving
Day game, when that game ends, that the Chiefs and
the Cowboys are gonna have the same amount of victories,
(26:24):
there's not a soul that would have believed you. I
don't think Jerry Jones would have believed you. It's just
a remarkable accomplishment this year from the Cowboys. And one
thing is like, what about the penalties? What about the flags?
Officiating in football sucks. It's bad all the time, like
really really bad. There are calls that could go either
way all the time. There are calls that are made
(26:45):
that should have gone the other way. So if you
want to say that these past interferences shouldn't be called, yeah,
Like I'm anti pass interference called most times, let the
guys duke it out. I fucking despise. I mean despise
defensive holding. It's my least favorite call in sports. It's
(27:08):
so overcalled, but it's football. The Chiefs have benefited a
ton over the years from calls. It happens. Like I
didn't watch that game of think the Dallas Cowboys won
because of the officiating. I think Dallas played a really
good game, And I don't think the Chiefs were that
(27:28):
bad either, right, I mean, what was Mahomes today? Bring
up that box score? He was twenty three and thirty
four through four touchdowns. If I would have told you
at the beginning of the day going into the Cowboy game,
then Mahomes would be twenty three to thirty four for
four touchdowns and no picks. You would have probably said
(27:49):
the Chiefs win by four, or I mean win by ten,
win by double digits, because you would assume probably well,
I bet Kareem Hunckets a running rushing touchdown was probably
thirty five. It's like the cow offense is good, but
I can see the Chiefs making some plays and win
that game like thirty five or thirty three. To you know,
twenty twenty three, that's not what happened. Cowboys score thirty one.
(28:12):
And that's where going back, the thing they hang their
hat on is they're so explosive on offense. And you
go back, obviously the Raider game was a joke. I mean,
I mean you're playing again. I mean the stories about
the offensive coordinator or as embarrassing as anything you're gonna hear.
And while I do think Tom Brady has really really
improved on TV, I mean dramatically. I think Tom Brady's
(28:34):
pretty good now. He's solid, he's an easy listen. I
bet he was better than Tony Romo and Jason Garrett.
I mean, whatever that NBC executive is that thinks Jason
Garrett is like the next John Madden. I don't root
for people lose their jobs, especially with AI incoming. You
might never get one back. But that guy should be
relieved of his duties, you know, I mean, come on, man,
(28:57):
I respect Collinsworth has in his contract. I do not
worry Thanksgivings. Even though Romo works, even though Brady works,
Chris collins Worth does not. Tarrico works. Tarico's gonna be
doing Sunny night football. But we get Jason Garrett. I
take anyone else, anyone else should I take collins worse kid,
I don't care. He can't give me Jason Garrett. But
(29:20):
the offense is just it's it's been unreal to watch.
And I don't know if he can win the MVP,
because I do think Stafford. If the Rams win fourteen
games and you know he only his stats are awesome
and he's clearly just a dominant player week in week out,
I think he's gonna have a pretty good I think
(29:41):
I think the story matters a lot. It was kind
of like Josh Allen last year. People kind of wanted
to vote for him. But Dack's been pretty good man,
and the team's been pretty good. Schottenheimer's been awesome. Jerrys.
There's a lot of credit. It really does. And I
think when you look big picture, you go, we got
two first round picks next year, so we're gonna have
(30:02):
even if we miss the playoffs and win nine or
ten games, we're gonna have a lot of momentum into
next year. Clearly, our head coach is a play caller,
so we don't have to worry about losing our offensive coordinator.
We have some young dudes on defense. Quinn Williams in
our contract, he ain't going anywhere. Kenny Clark's in our contract,
he ain't going anywhere. At a couple edge rushers. And
(30:23):
look at your division, Like Washington was the oldest team
in the league. This year, they got they got a
lot of problems. Debo has been pretty productive for them,
Demo's a free agent. Laramie Tunzel is gonna want to
get paid, so you know, can Jade Daniels stay healthy?
And the Giants got a long way to go Before
they even have a long way to go. I mean,
we've got no clue what the hell's going on there, right,
(30:45):
even though we all like a lot of their pieces,
like they don't even have a coach, let alone, like
who's running the draft and free agency? Like is the
GM gonna survive? So we'll have to see how that
thing shakes out. If I'm a Cowboy fan, I'm pretty
proud right now, and Jerry's taking a lot of shit
and listened. They have underachieved in the playoffs and I
(31:05):
was messing around with people on Twitter during the middle
of the day having a few cocktails. The Cowboys have
been a well run organization over the last ten plus year.
Really in the Dak era, they've had some really good teams.
The downfall has been Dak did not play well in
the big games. In the McCarthy era, they had two
(31:27):
really good teams. They lost to the forty nine Ers
twice with defenses that I thought could have won a
Super Bowl. And the reason they lost those games is
Dak played like shit. I think he had three picks
in the two games combined. One of the games he
had two picks. He was bad. He just was not good.
And obviously the game against the Packers, the defense completely
(31:48):
fell apart, and I think you remember he threw a
pick six. But in the two Niner games, like that
team that lost the Packers. They had some issues the
previous two seasons. The year I guess it would have
been twenty two, they were really good on defense, and
if DAK just played solid, they would have competed for
a Super Bowl. And obviously McCarthy and Kellen Moore, a
(32:10):
lot of people got blamed there that just didn't play well.
That's the thing about football. You know, in basketball, in
a seven game series, if I have the better team
than you, and I got Steph Curry, or I got
Jokich or some Luke on my team, they could have
a bad game like Game two, Luca can score seventeen
points and we lose by twenty whatever, See you tomorrow,
(32:31):
see game three. Football's the playoffs are not like that.
It's what makes the sports so unique. You have one
shitty game, you have one bad half, it could cost
you a Super Bowl run. And that's kind of what's
happened to the Cowboys. And I've always said this about Dak.
Just like Jared Goff, just like a lot of the
Kirk Cousins, they're capable back to back weeks in the
playoffs if everything's going right, like they could throw seven
(32:54):
touchdowns over two games and be right there in a
championship game or depending on their be in a Super Bowl.
It's possible. We've seen it happen before. It happened with Flacco.
He got red hot. Where was his team super Bowl?
Eli did it twice. It's gonna put him in the
Hall of Fame one day because he got red hot
(33:16):
at the right time. And that's you know. I do
think Dak shows this in individual games in the regular
season all the time, like he can play at a really,
really high level. And their success with this Dak Prescott
era is like, whenever they get another opportunity in a
playoff game, can he just throw for like three touchdowns?
(33:37):
Not in a game two where the one playoff game
that he won during the mccarthurer they were playing the Bucks.
It was Brady's last year and they were just done.
Brady was checked out. They were terrible. They couldn't think
they were historically poort running the ball and Dek if
I remember correctly, through like five touchdowns and was awesome.
(33:58):
But they need that against a team that actually, you know,
it's like they're equal, not a team that they're gonna beat.
And he hasn't done it, but I I think, like
most people that watch football, he's easy to like, he's
kind of earned. He like earned your respect over the
course of his career. It's like, God, I kind of
like like this guy, like washing him play just he's
just a good player. Now, I understand his playoff resume
(34:21):
speaks for herself, and that's the only way that he's
ever gonna be able to kind of validate everything. And
if he could just get the Cowboys to the championship
game over the course of the next like three years,
because now they're kind of in a little window right
they're probably not gonna make the playoffs this year. I
wouldn't completely ride them dead right now. I mean that
there's there's hottest ant team in the league. I mean
that the four game, the four day stretch they just
(34:42):
had to come back against the Eagles within the day
is got to be one of the better four day
stretches in recent Cowboy memory, especially when you just factor
in the two teams they beat. To do that to
Philly and then to do that to Kansas City. And
I understand this Kansas City team, like I actually think
they're not that bad. I mean, they're defense isn't quite
as good but offensively like they're playing pretty good. Mahome's
(35:04):
playing well, Rashid Rice is dominating, Kelsey's been relatively productive.
I think they'd like a little bit more out of
Xavier Worthy. You know, you draft him in the first round. Now,
grant it's the end of the first round. There was
the big play today that he had that went for
forty two yards. Is a great example. Some of the
(35:25):
great elite speed guys Tyreek Hill, Deshaun Jackson, guys Andy
have had, can take a play like that and kind
of look and go, I'm gonna cut this thing back
and just basically play one on one with the safety instead.
Xavier Worthy just kind of keeps his momentum and just
keeps running and ends up running into like his other
(35:48):
wide receiver and a dB and the safety comes over
and the play just kind of ends. That's a play
that Tyreek Hill or DeShawn Jackson just hit the brakes,
cut on a dime, take off going fifty miles an
hour and score a touchdown and it's the play of
the day. And he doesn't quite have that capability. Again,
He's not bad, but I think you'd like a little
(36:10):
if you have that extra umph with him, with Rice,
with the way Kelsey's playing, they would be a pretty
dominant offense. But it does show you like they're very
dependent on Rashid Rice, who's a pretty dominant player. I mean,
it'd eight for ninety two, a couple of touchdowns a day.
They can give the ball in the out of the
backfield on end to rounds. You know, I think the
running game Kareem Hunt's been really good for them in
(36:31):
terms of short yard stuff. But do they have a
true guy that they can rely on. But the offense
they couldn't stop him. And you can say, oh, the penalties, penalties,
I mean that wasn't that. The knock on the Chiefs
over the years is they get way more penalties than
the other team. I just I kind of hate doing that,
(36:52):
and I get it. I mean, those couple of towards
the end of the game are huge. I mean the
Cowboys got well, the Chiefs got ten penalties for one
hundred and twenty yards, Cowboys seven for fifty. I mean
it's a really really big deal. But I don't know,
I mean, I just hate, I just hate playing that game.
(37:13):
It obviously doesn't have no impact, but it's like, are
the Chiefs a nine win team if they're getting better calls,
I think they're just not quite as good and they're
missing a little something on defense. And I do think
that now when you start looking at the math, the
playoffs are probably not gonna happen this year, and you know,
they'll probably end up going nine to eight or ten
(37:33):
and seven miss the playoffs. And it does feel like
we're kind of at the end of the Kelsey Chris
Jones era. You'd think now maybe, you know, I thought
Travis Kelcey would retire after the season. Maybe if they
don't make the playoffs and he gets January off and
he gets a much longer off season, then he comes back.
Because if you're giving five six catches a game, it's
(37:55):
not like they're gonna kick you to the curb. Right,
It's not like they wouldn't want him back. They have
to pay for him anyway, Like, you know, he's under contract,
So you know, Chris Jones is a guy that still
makes big time plays, but is he someone that you
can just depend on on a weekly basis. I think
they're gonna have to find kind of their next generation
(38:18):
of impact guy on defense, and it's hard, you know,
to do it typically when you're drafting thirty first, thirty
second every single year. Now maybe you draft eighteenth, maybe
you get aggressive and you get up to like tenth,
And that's what the Chiefs are gonna have to do
potentially this offseason. Is like if you're drafting eighteenth or nineteenth,
(38:38):
does Veech just go, you know what, fuck it, Let's
take the twenty seven to one and go from eighteen
to seven and get the second best edge rusher in
this draft and kind of put all of his chips
in the table for next year and do something aggressive
like that. And that's where I think the Chiefs are
in a position where they can do aggressive things that
(38:59):
other teams probably hesitant to do because I think, listen,
they're gonna keep battling their ass off and playing hard.
But you know they were, you know, Tony was kind
of breaking it down on the broadcast when you looked
at the at the standings, if you just look at
the conference, they are six and six right now and
sitting in ninth. Well, the Texans are six and five.
(39:23):
The Bills are technically the seventh seed at seven and four.
So if the Bills beat the Steelers this week, they'll
be eight and four. The Jags play the Titans Sunday,
so more than likely they'll be eight and four. So
two teams that beat you are gonna be eight and four.
(39:43):
I think the Texans, I don't know if they're the
hottest team in the league, but their defense is playing
as well as any unit in the NFL. They played
the Colts this week. I don't know if you saw
the clip on Daniel Jones. He can't move, So I
don't know about you. I'm taking the Texans in that game.
You know it is they despise and like their value
(40:05):
of Anthony Richardson is so low that they would rather
play a guy that cannot move against the defense that
literally could break your other leg, then be like, you
know what, We're gonna give him the week off and
play Anthony Richardson. Who knows, maybe Anthony Richison ends up playing,
but this week could be pretty devastating for the Chiefs.
You lose and the Texans, the Bills, and the Jags
(40:27):
all win. I think it's very likely that scenario plays out.
The Texans, the Bills, and the Jags all win. Chargers
a little bit of a wild card because they have
so many injuries. But I just checked they play the
Raiders this week, so I mean there's a decent chance
that all three of those teams Chargers, Jags, Bills are
eight and four, and the Texans win in their seven
(40:49):
and five and they've already beat you. So it's just
it's one of those scenarios where the Chiefs and this
is why the Ravens are a little lucky that the
Steelers are just such a disaster that their slow start
doesn't completely derail their season. When you start one in five,
if you are in a credible division, you have zero
(41:10):
percent chance to win it. The only way you have
a chance to win a division at one in five
is if you're in a division with awful teams, because
nine and eight, I mean, it's gonna be hard to achieve.
Right If you get ten wins in the AFC North,
you're gonna win that thing by multiple games. I'd bet
one thousand dollars right now. Nine and eight wins the
(41:31):
game or it wins the division. So I think, you know,
you look at the Chiefs, it's like some years ten
and seven boom gets you the seven seed. Some years,
you know, you gotta win some tie breakers with eleven
wins to get in, and it feels like that's the
case with the Chiefs. So listen, hell of a run,
five super Bowl, six years, not the end of the world.
(41:51):
I also think that they could flip this thing pretty
easy in the offseason, kind of transition in next year
because listen, I think Mahomes he's still really good, but
I think he's closer to you know, this version of
Lamar obviously is not an elite guy. You know, Burrow's
been injured all season, Josh Allen's kind of been all
over the map. No one's really playing of all the
(42:12):
top guys to their elite caliber. But Mahomes is the
same thing. Again, he's still really good. I would take
him on my team in a freaking heartbeat over ninety
five percent of these other guys. But like, he has
moments in the game where it's like, oh, that's really
impressive throw, and he has other moments, right huh. I'd
like a little more, and like, maybe he's just gonna
be a really really good player. The days of his,
(42:35):
you know, time being the most dominant guy is over.
He's just gonna be really good, which is fine. And
now I think you know Veach would be the first
to tell you. It's on me to build a really
good team. So me to pick the right players on
defense so I can get I clearly have you know,
Andy and Spags. We just need a little more mph.
We need better players. I think I saw a report
(42:58):
when I was scrolling maybe at halftime that Josh or Simmons,
that's the first name. Josh broke his wrist, the star
left tackle from Ohiose State. So that's not ideal. I mean,
last time I checked, you break your wrist, probably out
for the season. It's just not their year. Okay, let's
(43:31):
end on this. Two guys just deserved their flowers today.
I thought Lafloor's who has taken a lot of crap.
He's been under a lot of heat. Right, people are like,
what's up with his play calling? I thought he was
excellent today. I thought, now again, he's not exactly playing
the eighty five Bears. The Lions are not good on defense, right,
(43:54):
and then they got defensive issues. But in terms of
I thought, that's as good of a game I can
remember Lafloor calling. They had one hundred and twenty five
yards on the ground. You know, love three hundred and
thirty four, but he threw four touchdowns, was excellent in
the red zone. Christian Watson coming back has completely changed
(44:15):
their offense in terms of speed. Obviously, Wix was like
star of the game, especially the one that ended the game.
I did think toward the end of the game when
they're in that scenario where they can't run out the clock,
but it's third and whatever, third and four, third and five,
the Lions have no timeouts. If you just run the
(44:37):
ball from like one p fifty six, you would the
fourth down would come at like a buck fifteen, and
they have no timeouts. They have to score a touchdown
to just tie the game. So you're basically at the
fifty yard line with one hundred and with a buck
twenty left or a buck fifteen. You could punt and
make them try to go eighty ninety yards to score
(44:58):
a touchdown. Right now, they're good on def or excuse me,
they're good on offense at home, I get it. They can.
They got explosive players even with your defense being excellent.
I understand being aggressive. I personally would have ran the
ball on third down, but I'm not gonna nitpick him.
Maybe he would say I'm going for it no matter
what on fourth down, So who even cares I'm not
(45:20):
necessarily playing the clock. I'd still push back even if
you're gonna go for it, at least put them in
a position with way less time. But that being said,
fourth down goes for it. Take some nuts because if
you don't get it, you know, Dan Campbell, if he
does score, he's going for two. And if you lose,
that's one of those that would have been hard to shake.
(45:42):
But he didn't and he got it. Love made a
great play. I thought Jordan Love was fantastic. Obviously, the
touchdown that he threw the first touchdown of the game
was just I mean, it's like a football porn. Just
an absolute beautiful throw down the left side for which
his first touchdown. And how long was that play? That
(46:03):
was thirty yards? That was beautiful pitch and catch. He
was excellent through a couple of nice red zone touchdowns.
He had the beautiful pass to Christian Watson, who again
just gives them. It's like, listen, if the Lions are
fully healthy. What Jamison Williams brings to the table, especially
with Dan Campbell calling, is something that you can't teach,
(46:25):
like what he has and he showed it a couple
times a day. Is what you want out of worthy.
Utilize the speed, change in direction, use angles. You're faster,
and literally the other twenty one guys on this field,
you are the fastest guy. Jamison Williams knows it and
he plays like it when the ball's in his hand.
Christian Watson knows it a little bit too, like he
(46:46):
can just scoot. And watching those two guys with the
ball in their hand, I mean they both can fly.
And I just think that today was huge. And now
the Green Bay Packers does feel like they control their
own destiny a little bit. I mean they literally do,
because they play the Bears twice. But like I think
it'd be a little stunning if they don't win the division.
(47:10):
I listen, maybe the Bears just have a magical season,
but those are gonna be really hard matches for Chicago.
But even if they split, they got to go to Denver,
which is tough. They got the Ravens and they still
go to Minnesota, so their schedule isn't simple, but they
are gonna get the Bears next week. I guess they
(47:30):
only get the extra day because the Bears are playing
on Friday against the Eagles. But that was a massive,
massive win and huge moment. I just thought, you know,
Jordan Love, Matt Lafleur just taking a lot of shit
right everyone, and rightfully so is been on Halfley in
the defense and they fly around. I mean that front,
Micah came through. I mean, Micah made big, big plays today,
(47:52):
but one big difference today. I mean, obviously, you know
for Dan Campbell, the first fourth down he went for
it on when they ran Jamir Gibbs up the middle.
It didn't even have a prayer. The second one worked,
Goff just missed. Jamison Williams threw it behind him. I mean,
you would like a guy to make a play, but
(48:13):
that's a tough catch and he drops it. So they
go zero to two on fourth downs. Meanwhile, the Packers
go three for three in these games against these teams
that are always going for it on fourth down. That's
that's huge. I mean that literally was the game because
when they got the fourth down, it literally ended the game.
(48:33):
And if they don't get that play, which was an
incredible catch him high point in the ball, the Lions
are getting the ball basically at midfield with what like
a over a minute forty five left in the game
with some elite offensive players. So that's just that these
fourth down swings are huge. I mean, they're just massive,
(48:53):
which I appreciate. You're kind of on pins and needles,
especially as we go in the second half of these games,
because you know these people are gonna go for I
think Dan Campbell's got to be a little worried because
next week against the Cowboys, which he's gonna be missing
Saint Brown, everybody and their mother is gonna pick the
(49:16):
Dallas Cowboys in that game. Dallas's strength, it's like, okay,
you want to get in a shootout, they can just
do what Green Bay did. We could score, you know,
thirty thirty five points, no problem, but our defense is
playing really well. Saint Brown's gone, your tight end's gone.
It's like, let's just focus on Montgomery and Gibbs. What's
(49:37):
Jameson Williams gonna do? Go for three hundred yards? So
to me, if I'm the Cowboys next week, it's just
like you just somewhat neutralized Gibs a Montgomery. Which listen,
both those two guys made play today. They're excellent players.
But I think this Lions season has this kind of
been weird, you know, it really has, and I think
it just gets back to defensively, they're just not very good.
(50:00):
You just have no faith that they're gonna get any
stops and they're back seven. It's just they got holes everywhere.
It just doesn't feel like their dvs make any place.
I mean their corners multiple times. Even on that last
drive before the fourth down, Christian Watson what felt like
had a third down that your thought kind of iced
(50:21):
the game. It ended up not really, but it was
just it was an easy out route on what like
third and six. It was like it felt like training
camp for the Packers. So congrats to Green Bay, massive,
massive win, and we'll get out of here on this.
I was hot today. I went three for three. I
(50:41):
think I don't feel great about this. I feel a
little bit like the Bengals against the Ravens, where it's
like this is too many points. It does feel like
the Bears have been a little bit of a team
of destiny. Love their coach Ben Johnson. They're getting seven
points on the road. The Caleb Ben Johnson verse FIC
fanjo just an excellent matchup because I want to see
(51:03):
how Caleb can handle Fangio. Obviously the new added edge
rushers to the Eagles. We know how good their interior
defensive tackles are. If you can neutralize at all the
run game for the Bears, can Caleb just carry you
throwing it against the Eagles? Can he run away and
(51:24):
break the tackles up their defensive lineman. Just a really
really interesting matchup. I also just wonder about the psyche
of this Eagles team that lost to on Sunday to
the Cowboys. It's like, are they just gonna be able
to just shake that off and keep their head up
and not even be phased by it. Listen, this is
(51:45):
really gonna test Sirianni, because this is gonna be a
moment where if this game is weird, if it's like
three to three or seven three Bears in the second quarter,
you go three and out, like they are gonna boo
a living you know what out of you. You could
hear the booze, like if you're in Pittsburgh or Atlantic City,
They're gonna boot so loud. This play is gonna be
(52:06):
a little on edge coming in, not because they view
the Bears as some juggernaut, but it's more looking at
their own team. They have a really high standard. They're
the defending champs. Their offense can look really weird. Their
offensive line has not played well this year. They cannot
run the ball, the you know the rapport Jalen has
with the wide receivers. He can have series where they
look awesome and then it just disappears. So I'm taking
(52:29):
the Bears plus seven. I'm gonna take Rome anytime touchdown,
I'm gonna throw in aj Brown, Like first series, i
could see him having a touchdown. They love getting him
involved to like try to make everyone see they're friends,
and then he want to have a target the rest
of the game. So that pays a plus nine, nine
to five, so you know, almost ten to one. But again,
(52:50):
I'm gonna take the Bears plus seven. Won the Eagles
just playing a lot of weird close games. I just
think this game could get weird. I'm expecting this thing
to be weird, which I like, which makes for a
good podcast. Everyone enjoy the night, Happy Thanksgiving, and talk
to everyone soon. The volume MHM
The volume What is going on Everybody? John middlecoff three
and out podcast. How are we doing? Hopefully everyone is
(00:22):
doing well and enjoying life. Obviously, this podcast on Thanksgiving
is brought to you by my Friends Its Zone Pouches.
We uh watched a lot of football today. Also ate
a lot of turkey and some ham and some cocktails
and some sweets. So I'm ready to go to go
to sleep. But we got to tell we had a
(00:43):
lot going on. We had Joe Burrow returning. They destroy
the Ravens. We have the Dallas Cowboys that might be
the hottest team in the NFL. The Chiefs are now
six and six and if this weekend does not go
well for them, their playoff hopes are basically over. The
Green Bay Packer kind of in full control, now control
their own destiny because they still play the Bears twice.
(01:05):
They look pretty good. Jordan Love was fantastic. The Lions'
offense wasn't the problem, but defensively they just can't get
a stop whenever they have to. So we'll talk some football.
The Bears Eagles, if you're listening to this on Friday,
obviously play Black Friday. So excited to watch that game.
You guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast, subscribe
to the YouTube channel. And before we dive into some football,
(01:29):
you know, I got to tell you about my friends,
my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast,
Game Time best in the business. That does not get
any better. If you want to go to one of
these games. You want to go to an NFL game,
you just download the game Time app. You type in
your team, you type in the stadium you want to
go see. You can search by where you want to sit.
(01:49):
They got flash deals. It doesn't get any easier to use.
The price you see on the app is the price
you pay a checkout. There are tickets as low as
one hundred dollars. There is no hidden fees when you
check out, so take the guests work kind of buying
tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app. Create
an account and use the code John for twenty dollars
off your first purchase terms of play again, create an
(02:12):
account and redeem the code j o HN for twenty
dollars off. Swipe, tap tick go download the game Time
app today. WHOA Okay, let's start with uh. It does
feel like the stories of the day are Dallas, the Packers,
obviously the Chiefs, but you know, he just watched the
Ravens game. Sol W's hit on this really quick because
(02:33):
big picture, with the Cincinnati Bengals, they could run the table.
They're still not making the playoffs. But I do think
what Joe Burrow said when he was interviewed right before
kickoff represents the power of the sport of football and
even the mindset of its NFL players is when they
kind of ask like, why are you doing this? You
(02:54):
don't need to play, and He's like, I'm paid a
ton of money to play a little kids game. If
I can play, I'm gonna play. And I was thinking, like,
how refreshing is that for the consumer? You know, they
were trying to break the record with the Chiefs Cowboy
game of potentially being around fifty million people watching, and
(03:16):
we'll see what the number is. But obviously this day,
millions upon millions of people are watching all three games,
even the night game, which felt even though these two
teams got Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson almost like a
come down off the previous two games. But I mean,
you're probably talking twenty five million people sitting on their
couch consuming this and Joe Burrow, one of the most
(03:39):
famous guys in the league. Listen, he's not relatable in
the sense that he signed a three hundred million dollar contract,
but just like you know, I get paid to work,
and if I can work, I'm gonna work whether we
can win the Super Bowl or whether we can just
beat the Ravens on Thanksgiving Night. Cause you know why,
playing football, like everything beside the seventeen weeks when you
(04:00):
if you're an NFL player, the twelve weeks when you play,
if you're a college player, kind of sucks. You know,
for the majority of the year, you're not actually even
during the season, right, I'm talking like January, or I
guess January, some of the good teams are in the playoffs.
But February, March, April, you're just like training, getting up
really early, cutting things out of your diet, busting your
(04:21):
ass just to get ready for spring practice, to then
train again all summer, to just get ready for training camp,
to just start the season where you then practice to
then play a game. Right, so you spend all this
time preparing to do what he just got to do,
come out there sling it to his buddy Jamar Chase,
(04:41):
who he's known for whatever seven eight, nine years, who
they have like a Montana to rice like chemistry. His
other buddy Higgins as a concussion but he'll come back.
Guess what, It's fun to play football, especially when you're good.
I'd argue any industry you work in, when you are
talented at it or when you enjoy doing it, workigs
(05:02):
kind of fun sometimes and whatever is like the pinnacle
of what you do. And for football players, it's playing
the game that's the enjoyable part. So watching Joe Burrow
that they announced before the game even kicks off, that
you know, he said to us that he is going
to take off his shoe every single series when his
(05:23):
team's on defense because it doesn't feel good on his foot,
just to maintain the structure whatever, to limit the pain
of the turf toe. It's like, you know what. I
even before the game kicked off, and I obviously had
the the Bengals plus seven and a half, I didn't
feel great about it, but I was like, you know what,
I'm rooting for this guy tonight, Like I'm rooting for
(05:44):
the Bengals to night, and I have I'm completely indifferent
to the Bengals. If anything, I'd root for the Ravens
because I'm kind of rooting for the Steelers demise right now,
just because I want to see chaos in that organization
and potentially Mike Tomlin go to the Giants and just
a complete mix up, and there's there's some rubble there.
I saw a headline recently that like a veteran, highly
(06:05):
like a accomplished coach, might be looking for a reset.
Everyone's like Mike Tomlin potentially could beam John Harbaugh. But
I think most of us thought like Mike Tomlin and listen,
we'll get into the Ravens here in a second. But
I just that we get a lot of dms and
people asking me and listen, it gets thrown out there.
(06:26):
It's a fair conversation to have with the Bengals trade
Joe Burrow, what could you do to get Listen, He's
gotten hurt a couple of times and it really sucks.
He hurt his whatever his wrist a couple of years
ago or was that last year? Obviously the turf tow
this year derailed their season. Hurt his knee early on
(06:47):
in his career. But if you're the Bengals, like he's
going nowhere for the foreseeable future, and any talk about
like should we pivot, can we keep dealing with his injuries?
The answer simple, Hell, yeah you can. He's the best
player probably in my life to be on their team. Uh,
you know, Carson was really good, Chad Johnson was pretty good.
(07:10):
Obviously Jamar Chase is fantastic. But I mean, this guy
is just a franchise changer, and he was a little
rusty tonight. Obviously made some good plays, had a couple
of balls, you know, go probably way off that typically
like left his hands, like ah, that's gonna be Oh,
it's missed the guy by seven yards. But he hasn't
played in like three months. So I just have a
(07:33):
lot of respect for Joe Burrow, And I think moments
like that when the mike went in front of his face,
it's like, that's why the NFL's king, because that's the
player's mindset. I mean, we literally have a massive investigation
going because a team in a similar situation, legendary highly
paid player team has no chance. They're like, Eh, we're
(07:54):
just gonna Dame Lillard is gonna sit tonight, We're gonna
start tanking the bag. This Thanksgiving there three and eight.
They win a night they're four and eight. You got
no shot. I mean, you could run the table and
you're still more than likely missing the playoffs by a
couple games. So I just have a lot of respect
for Joe battling back and playing in Thanksgiving. I mean,
(08:17):
when the injury initially happened, people said maybe by the
middle of December. Guy ended up coming back November twenty seventh.
First game back beats the Ravens, who were in a
position to really kind of take a stranglehold of this
division because the Steelers are playing the Bills on Sunday
in Buffalo. I don't know about you, but I'm taking
(08:38):
the Bills. I'm taking the Bills by a lot. I
think the Steelers fucking blow. But here's the thing, the Ravens.
If you have Lamar Jackson at what is he? My wife,
We're sitting on the couch, I got my wife, my
mother in law, my mom, my wife's aunt, walk kind
of sitting there watching the first half, and Maria looks
(08:58):
at me. She's like, Martin looks kind of slow. I'm like, yeah,
he's by all accounts and reports, he's probably closer to
fifty percent than he is eighty percent. He's not himself
And obviously he played a terrible game the night right
the fumbles, but their whole offense, you know, from a
passing standpoint, revolves around him making plays and it just
(09:20):
doesn't look off or it doesn't look right. It looks off,
and they just weren't shambles all night long. Now it
doesn't kill them because, like I said, I would expect
the Steelers to lose on Sunday and come Monday the
Ravens will still be in first place. But you see
that performance, you go, well, they got no chance in
(09:41):
terms of like beating good teams. Now you can also argue,
like who are the good teams in the AFC? Colts
their quarterbacks and shambles. Chiefs aren't even gonna make the playoffs.
Chargers have a million injuries. The Broncos, I guess, are
the best team, but their quarterback. Does anyone trust that guy?
So you start looking around. You know that you trust
the Jags, Like the Jags, that's what we're betting on.
(10:05):
The Texans would be a scary team, but like, can CJ.
Stroud get healthy? I don't know, And you just look
around you go the Afcason shambles. That's the shitty part.
If you're a Bengals fan. If if Burrow could have
come back a month ago, or if Flacco could have
(10:25):
rattled off a couple more wins after that big win
against the Steelers, and just you're six and six instead
of four and eight, maybe it's a different conversation. Maybe
you get a little more interesting. You know. They I
think they got Miami coming up, they get the Ravens
at home. They got a lot of winnable games, but
it's just gonna be a little too little, too late.
(10:46):
And you watch the Ravens and you go, I mean,
part of what's a major change the Sunday night game
when you're going outside is the first two games it's
like seventy degrees air conditioned in a dome when you
go to Baltimore. And I was telling everyone on the
couch and like, do you guys realize how cold it
is we're in Arizona. I was in the pool all day.
(11:06):
It's like it was like seventy eight degrees here, Like
you understand how cold it is? Like it doesn't look
that cold. I pull out Baltimore and Maryland. It was
like thirty three degrees. Like these people can't feel with
their fingers, can't feel their toes. There's a different level
of football than playing indoors in Detroit or playing indoors
in Dallas. Like that's a different level of mental toughness.
(11:27):
And again, the Bengals came out like they were in
the playoff mix, like they had something to play for it.
And maybe that's Burrow kind of I don't know, injecting life,
just giving them some confidence of like, guys, I fucking
believe in this team. I'm working hard enough to come back.
Let's go out there swinging. And they played their ass
(11:48):
off on defense, creating turnovers, creating fumbles, flying around. I mean,
their defense actually didn't look bad, and that's the defense
that looks terrible. Maybe that's more of indictment on Lamar's health,
because to me, he doesn't even look remotely close to
the guy way earlier in this season, the guy we've
seen the last couple of years. He's just not moving
around very well. And when he can't move around be
(12:09):
the dominant playmaker, that's a huge part of his game.
Like that is the Lamar Jackson package, and when that's
gone he just becomes a shell of himself. And their
offense obviously spiders, and they still make big plays. He
did hit the one dude on the go route and
the dB made a great play. But at the end
of the day, like I'm looking at this Ravens team
(12:31):
in the last couple of years, you took him really
seriously going in the playoffs. I mean two years ago,
they were the one seed. Last year on the road
in Buffalo, Like, I like their chances. They obviously lost
that game, but that they were a team that wouldn't
have shocked anyone if they rattled off a couple of playoffs,
you know, beat the Bills and then had a chance
against the Chiefs. This year doesn't feel like that. This year,
(12:53):
I would say, depending on the matchup, feels like a
decent chance that they're you know, potentially won and done
in the playoffs. Today's show is brought to you by
a new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. There are three
things to be thankful for this week. Family, food and
(13:15):
you guessed it. Football. Thanks to hard Rock Bet, you
can easily sneak in some bets while you're crazy. Uncle
goes on his annual ramp sign up today and you
could feast with one hundred and fifty in bonus bets.
Just place a five dollars bet. If it hits, you
not only get your winnings, but also one hundred and
fifty extra in bonus bets. That's an offer you can't
(13:38):
pass up, even on a full stomach. Plus this week
on hard Rock Bet, you get three to fifty percent
profit boosts, one for each Thanksgiving Day game boost, your
same Game Parlay or same Game Parlay Max, so your
bet pays extra winnings. Hard Rock Bet offers new promos
every single day. Download the hard Rock Bet app now
(14:02):
and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets not
a cash offer offered by Seminal Tribe of Florida. In Florida,
offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC and all other states,
you must be twenty one plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,
and Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about
(14:25):
gambling in Florida, call one eight three three play Wise
In Indiana if you are someone you know has a
gambling problem and wants help, call one eight hundred and
nine with it gambling problem, Call one hundred gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois,
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia Cowboys Chiefs. What a game?
(14:57):
What a what are just mar Key matchup? You know
that just felt it felt big. It really did. And
you can't convince me, especially if that game ends up
breaking records, that a game with a six and five
team playing a team that's five to five and one
could have felt as big as it did. And it
(15:19):
lived up to the hype and it was awesome. And
when the Chiefs scored two touchdowns in the first quarter,
you know, for she Rice's he's a big time player.
That dude pretty clear. Why when he crashes the Lamborghini
and there's like is he drunk? Is he high? And
he takes off and he gets into some trouble, the
Chiefs like, well, stand by our man. Well they're like
Tammy wan Nett, They're like, we're not going anywhere. And
(15:43):
I don't blame him because that dude is a baller.
He is by far their best offensive player. Travis Kelce know,
he's a bright lights player. He had a fantastic touchdown
and You're like, are they gonna score fifty points in
this game? And the thing is with the Cowboys, like, okay,
you want to get into a scoring contest. The one
thing that isn't debatable, and here's where I was wrong
(16:03):
about Dallas is at the beginning, really going back to
when Jerry made Brian Schottenheimer the coach. I like most people,
and I don't want to say I was like a
sheep or fell into group think here, but this guy
wasn't getting hired by anyone else to be their offensive coordinator. Now,
that would have been wrong because clearly he's an excellent
offensive coordinator. We're watching his work on a weekly basis.
(16:25):
He's really good at his job. But there is no
other team in the NFL that would have hired him
be the offensive coordinator, fair or not, and definitely no
other team would have hired him to be their head coach.
And sitting here after Thanksgiving heading into December, he's been
fantastic and just as an offensive coordinator, he's been pretty elite.
I mean his rapport with his quarterback Dak Prescott. Today
(16:49):
we had some really good performances by quarterbacks. Mahomes played well. Obviously,
the two guys in the morning. I mean, Jordan Love
was I found fantastic. Prescott was just elite. I mean
that's that was especially Spags defense. You know, they got
some momentum. It's not like they're not playing for anything. Now.
He is parlayed when they made those trades whatever three
(17:13):
weeks ago, the game against the Raiders, the game against
the Eagles, and the game against the Chiefs. Even Brian
Schottenheimer in that in that locker room was like, how
about those four days? I even think when you factor
in the Raiders now I understand the Raiders are a
complete joke. Their their coach. A report came out today
Chip Kelly like didn't know the plays, was calling in
(17:35):
the wrong plays, was calling in plays to Geno Smith
that they hadn't even installed, and the players didn't know.
It's like, Chip, are you boozing or something like what
the fuck's going on? Like what, I've been on this
for a while. I'm not gonna beat a dead horse.
But like that performance against the Raiders was really high level.
Then you bring that to the Eagles comeback was like
(17:57):
really impressive. Today felt like the icing on the k
what an incredible three day run. I mean incredible three
day run for Jerry as the GM because I do
think we talk about Jerry sometimes. Obviously they get discussed
all the time by all major shows, by the major networks,
(18:18):
by a lot of podcasts, like they're just a major
story and they're in the mix with making trades and
doing big time stuff. MICHAEH. Parsons trade is, I don't know,
one of the bigger trades of like my adult life,
trading two first round picks for a potential Hall of
Fame pass rusher, Like it doesn't happen very often, and
I mean literally, I think him and Khalil Mack are
the only time a guy's ever been like all pros
(18:40):
under twenty five. He can usually give those guys a
second contract. So it's just gonna make waves. Now. I
thought the Schottenheimer hire was crazy. I did not think
that MICHAELH. Parsons trade was crazy. Now once he starts
trading for Quinn Williams, I'm like, this is Jerry's like
just kind of gun slinging right now. But every time
(19:02):
you look up ninety twos in the backfield, George Pickens
feel j threw this out before today. Now the Steelers
haven't played, but coming into today he had more receiving
yards than the entire Steelers receiving corps. He is DK
Metcalf isn't a number one wide receiver. I got news
for you, But the Steelers pay him one hundred and
(19:24):
fifty million dollars like he's Jamar Chaser Justin Jefferson. Meanwhile,
pickins today, I saw a stat had four slants that
he ran that went for a combined seventy five yards.
Last time I checked slants where you're catching the ball,
I don't know no more than seven eight yards by
the time the ball hits your hands past the line
(19:47):
of scrimmage. His ability after the catch for a guy
that it's not like he's worthy or DK Metcalf in terms,
it's not like he's a four to two guy. But
making guys miss, breaking tackles you using angles. George Pickens
has been elite. But that's why George or Brian Schottenheimer
deserves credit, because when you trade for a guy like that,
(20:08):
you're like, how how are you gonna use him? How
are you gonna handle this personality? Then the Cowboys get
him and he becomes Dax. I mean a lot of
this season has been his number one target, has been
the most productive player on the field. I mean, how
many times a day it's like, it's probably gonna go
to George and something big happened, and obviously Ceedee Lamb
had a massive game. So you're keeping these two guys.
(20:31):
I mean, there's a story that comes out a couple
weeks ago. It's like they're boozing late night and I
gave him respect, kind of like a throwback to my youth.
A couple of dudes on the road all night or
and who even knows what exactly is true, but who cares.
Brian Schottenneimer completely unfazed. Play the Eagles. Both those guys
crush play the Chiefs thanksgiving front of forty five to
fifty million people. Both those guys make huge plays, you know,
(20:53):
the huge reason that they win. Obviously, you know, Ferguson
had the play that I guess it was overturned. But
every time I watch him, I go listen, I understand
he's this isn't George Kittle. He's a pretty good player.
I mean, I think he's just extremely productive. Their entire
offense just produces. I mean, what was dak today twenty
(21:15):
seven to thirty nine, a couple of touchdowns three hundred
and twenty yards, Ceedee Lamb seven catches, one hundred and
twelve picking six for eighty eight, Ferguson five for thirty six,
Javonte Williams productive Milink Davis had the big touchdown run.
Their offense is just legit. So it's like my head coach,
(21:35):
who is And here's the thing. It's not like some
random dude who was coaching like John Carroll and then
got like a quarterback job on some shitty team and
just all of a sudden came out of nowhere. Like
this guy's been around football since he was shitting in diapers.
Like this guy's a football guy through and through from
day one, and once upon a time in his thirties
(21:57):
he was like a shooting star and didn't couse on
the opportunity. This is why assistant coaches have told me
over the years when I'm like, bro, why are you
taking that offensive coordinator job? And they go, John, two things. One,
they signed me to a three year contract at each
year's worth over and this is like over the years,
over eight hundred to nine hundred to one million dollars.
(22:19):
This is like ten years ago. Now, an offensive coordinator
jobs pay like one point two to one point five
million dollars for guys that have never been coordinators before,
so they pay a premium. And once you kind of
get in that mix, you're just kind of in that mix.
And like, this guy was a stud. This guy was
a star, but then his career kind of got derailed,
(22:41):
like after that Jets situation when he didn't take a
head coaching job. Over the course of the twenty tens,
he was kind of all over the map. I mean,
at one point in time, he was the Georgia offensive
coordinator in the mid twenty tens. This was after the
Jets had him as their offensive coordinator in his mid
to late thirties, and they were the number one rushing
offense back to back years in the AFC Championship Game,
(23:04):
back to back years, the New York Jets. And like
five years later he's coaching the Georgia Bulldocks. And this
ain't the Kirby Smart Georgia Bulldocks. This is Mark Rick.
So like, listen, sometimes your career goes down the wrong path.
For some people, it ruins them and they never become
you know, a coordinator or a head coach again, and
they just kind of get lost in the shuffle. Now,
(23:25):
this isn't the worst industry to work in. It still
gets paid a lot of money. But there had to
be a time and point in this guy's career where
he thought this was never gonna happen. And then he
gets it, and then the Parsons trades happens, the whole
media thinks like this whole thing's gonna crumble, and even
at one point in time, it's like, ah, it's gonna
be a pretty big uphill battle. Now you looking at him.
Six five and one. They play the Lions next week
(23:48):
in what could be, honestly in an elimination game. I think
Dan Campbell said after the game that say, Brown's not
out for the season, but he's definitely gonna miss next week,
so they're gonna be missing their best wide receiver. The
Cowboys defense ever since since getting Queen and Williams, looks
like a completely different unit. I mean, Quinn Williams is
all over the place. Clowney Jidaveon Clowney had multiple sacks today,
(24:15):
the dude they traded for from the Cincinnati Bengals. He's
been excellent, obviously, they're get overshown back, He's making plays.
Their defense just looks completely different since the trading deadline.
So like when I see Jerry on Jane's Slater's Instagram
or Twitter page with a huge piece of turkey in
his hand with a big ass smile, like he should
(24:37):
be swinging that thing around. This was an incredible Like
this is where you get credit. Like, listen, what are
most owners doing right? Not much, but they hire their
guys and lessen they ideally good ones. Give give them
the money, but like they're not wheeling a dealing like
Jerry's a huge part of this. Jerry's the ones like
Micah Parson's out. He's even kind of admitted during that
(25:00):
preseason game when Michaeh Parsons laid on the trading table.
I think Jerry said within the last month, He's like,
I've owned this team for whatever thirty five years, never
seen that happen in my entire career. Like that really
pissed him off, just like it would have pissed anybody off.
It would have pissed coaches off, owners off, gems off.
It was embarrassing. But I don't even listen Micah that
(25:21):
they were at odds and they split up and everyone
took Mike aside. And listen, the Packers don't regret it.
I'm watching Micah today and there was that one play
was kind of a broken play and he kind of
comes around golf kind of holds on, he crushes him.
Michael's flying around like Mike's a really good player. But like,
do you think Cowboys doing that? No, this is kind
(25:42):
of a win win so far this year. And then
they parlayed it. I think a lot of people were
stunned when they traded for Quinna Williams. He's a twenty
seven year old elite defensive tackle. He's really really good.
They still have two picks. Now, are are the Cowboys
gonna make the playoffs this year? I still doubt it. Right,
even if you go best case scenario like ten six
(26:04):
and one, I doubt that gets you into the playoffs.
But you'd have a chance. But if I would have
told anyone alive that November twenty seventh, when the Thanksgiving
Day game, when that game ends, that the Chiefs and
the Cowboys are gonna have the same amount of victories,
(26:24):
there's not a soul that would have believed you. I
don't think Jerry Jones would have believed you. It's just
a remarkable accomplishment this year from the Cowboys. And one
thing is like, what about the penalties? What about the flags?
Officiating in football sucks. It's bad all the time, like
really really bad. There are calls that could go either
way all the time. There are calls that are made
(26:45):
that should have gone the other way. So if you
want to say that these past interferences shouldn't be called, yeah,
Like I'm anti pass interference called most times, let the
guys duke it out. I fucking despise. I mean despise
defensive holding. It's my least favorite call in sports. It's
(27:08):
so overcalled, but it's football. The Chiefs have benefited a
ton over the years from calls. It happens. Like I
didn't watch that game of think the Dallas Cowboys won
because of the officiating. I think Dallas played a really
good game, And I don't think the Chiefs were that
(27:28):
bad either, right, I mean, what was Mahomes today? Bring
up that box score? He was twenty three and thirty
four through four touchdowns. If I would have told you
at the beginning of the day going into the Cowboy game,
then Mahomes would be twenty three to thirty four for
four touchdowns and no picks. You would have probably said
(27:49):
the Chiefs win by four, or I mean win by ten,
win by double digits, because you would assume probably well,
I bet Kareem Hunckets a running rushing touchdown was probably
thirty five. It's like the cow offense is good, but
I can see the Chiefs making some plays and win
that game like thirty five or thirty three. To you know,
twenty twenty three, that's not what happened. Cowboys score thirty one.
(28:12):
And that's where going back, the thing they hang their
hat on is they're so explosive on offense. And you
go back, obviously the Raider game was a joke. I mean,
I mean you're playing again. I mean the stories about
the offensive coordinator or as embarrassing as anything you're gonna hear.
And while I do think Tom Brady has really really
improved on TV, I mean dramatically. I think Tom Brady's
(28:34):
pretty good now. He's solid, he's an easy listen. I
bet he was better than Tony Romo and Jason Garrett.
I mean, whatever that NBC executive is that thinks Jason
Garrett is like the next John Madden. I don't root
for people lose their jobs, especially with AI incoming. You
might never get one back. But that guy should be
relieved of his duties, you know, I mean, come on, man,
(28:57):
I respect Collinsworth has in his contract. I do not
worry Thanksgivings. Even though Romo works, even though Brady works,
Chris collins Worth does not. Tarrico works. Tarico's gonna be
doing Sunny night football. But we get Jason Garrett. I
take anyone else, anyone else should I take collins worse kid,
I don't care. He can't give me Jason Garrett. But
(29:20):
the offense is just it's it's been unreal to watch.
And I don't know if he can win the MVP,
because I do think Stafford. If the Rams win fourteen
games and you know he only his stats are awesome
and he's clearly just a dominant player week in week out,
I think he's gonna have a pretty good I think
(29:41):
I think the story matters a lot. It was kind
of like Josh Allen last year. People kind of wanted
to vote for him. But Dack's been pretty good man,
and the team's been pretty good. Schottenheimer's been awesome. Jerrys.
There's a lot of credit. It really does. And I
think when you look big picture, you go, we got
two first round picks next year, so we're gonna have
(30:02):
even if we miss the playoffs and win nine or
ten games, we're gonna have a lot of momentum into
next year. Clearly, our head coach is a play caller,
so we don't have to worry about losing our offensive coordinator.
We have some young dudes on defense. Quinn Williams in
our contract, he ain't going anywhere. Kenny Clark's in our contract,
he ain't going anywhere. At a couple edge rushers. And
(30:23):
look at your division, Like Washington was the oldest team
in the league. This year, they got they got a
lot of problems. Debo has been pretty productive for them,
Demo's a free agent. Laramie Tunzel is gonna want to
get paid, so you know, can Jade Daniels stay healthy?
And the Giants got a long way to go Before
they even have a long way to go. I mean,
we've got no clue what the hell's going on there, right,
(30:45):
even though we all like a lot of their pieces,
like they don't even have a coach, let alone, like
who's running the draft and free agency? Like is the
GM gonna survive? So we'll have to see how that
thing shakes out. If I'm a Cowboy fan, I'm pretty
proud right now, and Jerry's taking a lot of shit
and listened. They have underachieved in the playoffs and I
(31:05):
was messing around with people on Twitter during the middle
of the day having a few cocktails. The Cowboys have
been a well run organization over the last ten plus year.
Really in the Dak era, they've had some really good teams.
The downfall has been Dak did not play well in
the big games. In the McCarthy era, they had two
(31:27):
really good teams. They lost to the forty nine Ers
twice with defenses that I thought could have won a
Super Bowl. And the reason they lost those games is
Dak played like shit. I think he had three picks
in the two games combined. One of the games he
had two picks. He was bad. He just was not good.
And obviously the game against the Packers, the defense completely
(31:48):
fell apart, and I think you remember he threw a
pick six. But in the two Niner games, like that
team that lost the Packers. They had some issues the
previous two seasons. The year I guess it would have
been twenty two, they were really good on defense, and
if DAK just played solid, they would have competed for
a Super Bowl. And obviously McCarthy and Kellen Moore, a
(32:10):
lot of people got blamed there that just didn't play well.
That's the thing about football. You know, in basketball, in
a seven game series, if I have the better team
than you, and I got Steph Curry, or I got
Jokich or some Luke on my team, they could have
a bad game like Game two, Luca can score seventeen
points and we lose by twenty whatever, See you tomorrow,
(32:31):
see game three. Football's the playoffs are not like that.
It's what makes the sports so unique. You have one
shitty game, you have one bad half, it could cost
you a Super Bowl run. And that's kind of what's
happened to the Cowboys. And I've always said this about Dak.
Just like Jared Goff, just like a lot of the
Kirk Cousins, they're capable back to back weeks in the
playoffs if everything's going right, like they could throw seven
(32:54):
touchdowns over two games and be right there in a
championship game or depending on their be in a Super Bowl.
It's possible. We've seen it happen before. It happened with Flacco.
He got red hot. Where was his team super Bowl?
Eli did it twice. It's gonna put him in the
Hall of Fame one day because he got red hot
(33:16):
at the right time. And that's you know. I do
think Dak shows this in individual games in the regular
season all the time, like he can play at a really,
really high level. And their success with this Dak Prescott
era is like, whenever they get another opportunity in a
playoff game, can he just throw for like three touchdowns?
(33:37):
Not in a game two where the one playoff game
that he won during the mccarthurer they were playing the Bucks.
It was Brady's last year and they were just done.
Brady was checked out. They were terrible. They couldn't think
they were historically poort running the ball and Dek if
I remember correctly, through like five touchdowns and was awesome.
(33:58):
But they need that against a team that actually, you know,
it's like they're equal, not a team that they're gonna beat.
And he hasn't done it, but I I think, like
most people that watch football, he's easy to like, he's
kind of earned. He like earned your respect over the
course of his career. It's like, God, I kind of
like like this guy, like washing him play just he's
just a good player. Now, I understand his playoff resume
(34:21):
speaks for herself, and that's the only way that he's
ever gonna be able to kind of validate everything. And
if he could just get the Cowboys to the championship
game over the course of the next like three years,
because now they're kind of in a little window right
they're probably not gonna make the playoffs this year. I
wouldn't completely ride them dead right now. I mean that
there's there's hottest ant team in the league. I mean
that the four game, the four day stretch they just
(34:42):
had to come back against the Eagles within the day
is got to be one of the better four day
stretches in recent Cowboy memory, especially when you just factor
in the two teams they beat. To do that to
Philly and then to do that to Kansas City. And
I understand this Kansas City team, like I actually think
they're not that bad. I mean, they're defense isn't quite
as good but offensively like they're playing pretty good. Mahome's
(35:04):
playing well, Rashid Rice is dominating, Kelsey's been relatively productive.
I think they'd like a little bit more out of
Xavier Worthy. You know, you draft him in the first round. Now,
grant it's the end of the first round. There was
the big play today that he had that went for
forty two yards. Is a great example. Some of the
(35:25):
great elite speed guys Tyreek Hill, Deshaun Jackson, guys Andy
have had, can take a play like that and kind
of look and go, I'm gonna cut this thing back
and just basically play one on one with the safety instead.
Xavier Worthy just kind of keeps his momentum and just
keeps running and ends up running into like his other
(35:48):
wide receiver and a dB and the safety comes over
and the play just kind of ends. That's a play
that Tyreek Hill or DeShawn Jackson just hit the brakes,
cut on a dime, take off going fifty miles an
hour and score a touchdown and it's the play of
the day. And he doesn't quite have that capability. Again,
He's not bad, but I think you'd like a little
(36:10):
if you have that extra umph with him, with Rice,
with the way Kelsey's playing, they would be a pretty
dominant offense. But it does show you like they're very
dependent on Rashid Rice, who's a pretty dominant player. I mean,
it'd eight for ninety two, a couple of touchdowns a day.
They can give the ball in the out of the
backfield on end to rounds. You know, I think the
running game Kareem Hunt's been really good for them in
(36:31):
terms of short yard stuff. But do they have a
true guy that they can rely on. But the offense
they couldn't stop him. And you can say, oh, the penalties, penalties,
I mean that wasn't that. The knock on the Chiefs
over the years is they get way more penalties than
the other team. I just I kind of hate doing that,
(36:52):
and I get it. I mean, those couple of towards
the end of the game are huge. I mean the
Cowboys got well, the Chiefs got ten penalties for one
hundred and twenty yards, Cowboys seven for fifty. I mean
it's a really really big deal. But I don't know,
I mean, I just hate, I just hate playing that game.
(37:13):
It obviously doesn't have no impact, but it's like, are
the Chiefs a nine win team if they're getting better calls,
I think they're just not quite as good and they're
missing a little something on defense. And I do think
that now when you start looking at the math, the
playoffs are probably not gonna happen this year, and you know,
they'll probably end up going nine to eight or ten
(37:33):
and seven miss the playoffs. And it does feel like
we're kind of at the end of the Kelsey Chris
Jones era. You'd think now maybe, you know, I thought
Travis Kelcey would retire after the season. Maybe if they
don't make the playoffs and he gets January off and
he gets a much longer off season, then he comes back.
Because if you're giving five six catches a game, it's
(37:55):
not like they're gonna kick you to the curb. Right,
It's not like they wouldn't want him back. They have
to pay for him anyway, Like, you know, he's under contract,
So you know, Chris Jones is a guy that still
makes big time plays, but is he someone that you
can just depend on on a weekly basis. I think
they're gonna have to find kind of their next generation
(38:18):
of impact guy on defense, and it's hard, you know,
to do it typically when you're drafting thirty first, thirty
second every single year. Now maybe you draft eighteenth, maybe
you get aggressive and you get up to like tenth,
And that's what the Chiefs are gonna have to do
potentially this offseason. Is like if you're drafting eighteenth or nineteenth,
(38:38):
does Veech just go, you know what, fuck it, Let's
take the twenty seven to one and go from eighteen
to seven and get the second best edge rusher in
this draft and kind of put all of his chips
in the table for next year and do something aggressive
like that. And that's where I think the Chiefs are
in a position where they can do aggressive things that
(38:59):
other teams probably hesitant to do because I think, listen,
they're gonna keep battling their ass off and playing hard.
But you know they were, you know, Tony was kind
of breaking it down on the broadcast when you looked
at the at the standings, if you just look at
the conference, they are six and six right now and
sitting in ninth. Well, the Texans are six and five.
(39:23):
The Bills are technically the seventh seed at seven and four.
So if the Bills beat the Steelers this week, they'll
be eight and four. The Jags play the Titans Sunday,
so more than likely they'll be eight and four. So
two teams that beat you are gonna be eight and four.
(39:43):
I think the Texans, I don't know if they're the
hottest team in the league, but their defense is playing
as well as any unit in the NFL. They played
the Colts this week. I don't know if you saw
the clip on Daniel Jones. He can't move, So I
don't know about you. I'm taking the Texans in that game.
You know it is they despise and like their value
(40:05):
of Anthony Richardson is so low that they would rather
play a guy that cannot move against the defense that
literally could break your other leg, then be like, you
know what, We're gonna give him the week off and
play Anthony Richardson. Who knows, maybe Anthony Richison ends up playing,
but this week could be pretty devastating for the Chiefs.
You lose and the Texans, the Bills, and the Jags
(40:27):
all win. I think it's very likely that scenario plays out.
The Texans, the Bills, and the Jags all win. Chargers
a little bit of a wild card because they have
so many injuries. But I just checked they play the
Raiders this week, so I mean there's a decent chance
that all three of those teams Chargers, Jags, Bills are
eight and four, and the Texans win in their seven
(40:49):
and five and they've already beat you. So it's just
it's one of those scenarios where the Chiefs and this
is why the Ravens are a little lucky that the
Steelers are just such a disaster that their slow start
doesn't completely derail their season. When you start one in five,
if you are in a credible division, you have zero
(41:10):
percent chance to win it. The only way you have
a chance to win a division at one in five
is if you're in a division with awful teams, because
nine and eight, I mean, it's gonna be hard to achieve.
Right If you get ten wins in the AFC North,
you're gonna win that thing by multiple games. I'd bet
one thousand dollars right now. Nine and eight wins the
(41:31):
game or it wins the division. So I think, you know,
you look at the Chiefs, it's like some years ten
and seven boom gets you the seven seed. Some years,
you know, you gotta win some tie breakers with eleven
wins to get in, and it feels like that's the
case with the Chiefs. So listen, hell of a run,
five super Bowl, six years, not the end of the world.
(41:51):
I also think that they could flip this thing pretty
easy in the offseason, kind of transition in next year
because listen, I think Mahomes he's still really good, but
I think he's closer to you know, this version of
Lamar obviously is not an elite guy. You know, Burrow's
been injured all season, Josh Allen's kind of been all
over the map. No one's really playing of all the
(42:12):
top guys to their elite caliber. But Mahomes is the
same thing. Again, he's still really good. I would take
him on my team in a freaking heartbeat over ninety
five percent of these other guys. But like, he has
moments in the game where it's like, oh, that's really
impressive throw, and he has other moments, right huh. I'd
like a little more, and like, maybe he's just gonna
be a really really good player. The days of his,
(42:35):
you know, time being the most dominant guy is over.
He's just gonna be really good, which is fine. And
now I think you know Veach would be the first
to tell you. It's on me to build a really
good team. So me to pick the right players on
defense so I can get I clearly have you know,
Andy and Spags. We just need a little more mph.
We need better players. I think I saw a report
(42:58):
when I was scrolling maybe at halftime that Josh or Simmons,
that's the first name. Josh broke his wrist, the star
left tackle from Ohiose State. So that's not ideal. I mean,
last time I checked, you break your wrist, probably out
for the season. It's just not their year. Okay, let's
(43:31):
end on this. Two guys just deserved their flowers today.
I thought Lafloor's who has taken a lot of crap.
He's been under a lot of heat. Right, people are like,
what's up with his play calling? I thought he was
excellent today. I thought, now again, he's not exactly playing
the eighty five Bears. The Lions are not good on defense, right,
(43:54):
and then they got defensive issues. But in terms of
I thought, that's as good of a game I can
remember Lafloor calling. They had one hundred and twenty five
yards on the ground. You know, love three hundred and
thirty four, but he threw four touchdowns, was excellent in
the red zone. Christian Watson coming back has completely changed
(44:15):
their offense in terms of speed. Obviously, Wix was like
star of the game, especially the one that ended the game.
I did think toward the end of the game when
they're in that scenario where they can't run out the clock,
but it's third and whatever, third and four, third and five,
the Lions have no timeouts. If you just run the
(44:37):
ball from like one p fifty six, you would the
fourth down would come at like a buck fifteen, and
they have no timeouts. They have to score a touchdown
to just tie the game. So you're basically at the
fifty yard line with one hundred and with a buck
twenty left or a buck fifteen. You could punt and
make them try to go eighty ninety yards to score
(44:58):
a touchdown. Right now, they're good on def or excuse me,
they're good on offense at home, I get it. They can.
They got explosive players even with your defense being excellent.
I understand being aggressive. I personally would have ran the
ball on third down, but I'm not gonna nitpick him.
Maybe he would say I'm going for it no matter
what on fourth down, So who even cares I'm not
(45:20):
necessarily playing the clock. I'd still push back even if
you're gonna go for it, at least put them in
a position with way less time. But that being said,
fourth down goes for it. Take some nuts because if
you don't get it, you know, Dan Campbell, if he
does score, he's going for two. And if you lose,
that's one of those that would have been hard to shake.
(45:42):
But he didn't and he got it. Love made a
great play. I thought Jordan Love was fantastic. Obviously, the
touchdown that he threw the first touchdown of the game
was just I mean, it's like a football porn. Just
an absolute beautiful throw down the left side for which
his first touchdown. And how long was that play? That
(46:03):
was thirty yards? That was beautiful pitch and catch. He
was excellent through a couple of nice red zone touchdowns.
He had the beautiful pass to Christian Watson, who again
just gives them. It's like, listen, if the Lions are
fully healthy. What Jamison Williams brings to the table, especially
with Dan Campbell calling, is something that you can't teach,
(46:25):
like what he has and he showed it a couple
times a day. Is what you want out of worthy.
Utilize the speed, change in direction, use angles. You're faster,
and literally the other twenty one guys on this field,
you are the fastest guy. Jamison Williams knows it and
he plays like it when the ball's in his hand.
Christian Watson knows it a little bit too, like he
(46:46):
can just scoot. And watching those two guys with the
ball in their hand, I mean they both can fly.
And I just think that today was huge. And now
the Green Bay Packers does feel like they control their
own destiny a little bit. I mean they literally do,
because they play the Bears twice. But like I think
it'd be a little stunning if they don't win the division.
(47:10):
I listen, maybe the Bears just have a magical season,
but those are gonna be really hard matches for Chicago.
But even if they split, they got to go to Denver,
which is tough. They got the Ravens and they still
go to Minnesota, so their schedule isn't simple, but they
are gonna get the Bears next week. I guess they
(47:30):
only get the extra day because the Bears are playing
on Friday against the Eagles. But that was a massive,
massive win and huge moment. I just thought, you know,
Jordan Love, Matt Lafleur just taking a lot of shit
right everyone, and rightfully so is been on Halfley in
the defense and they fly around. I mean that front,
Micah came through. I mean, Micah made big, big plays today,
(47:52):
but one big difference today. I mean, obviously, you know
for Dan Campbell, the first fourth down he went for
it on when they ran Jamir Gibbs up the middle.
It didn't even have a prayer. The second one worked,
Goff just missed. Jamison Williams threw it behind him. I mean,
you would like a guy to make a play, but
(48:13):
that's a tough catch and he drops it. So they
go zero to two on fourth downs. Meanwhile, the Packers
go three for three in these games against these teams
that are always going for it on fourth down. That's
that's huge. I mean that literally was the game because
when they got the fourth down, it literally ended the game.
(48:33):
And if they don't get that play, which was an
incredible catch him high point in the ball, the Lions
are getting the ball basically at midfield with what like
a over a minute forty five left in the game
with some elite offensive players. So that's just that these
fourth down swings are huge. I mean, they're just massive,
(48:53):
which I appreciate. You're kind of on pins and needles,
especially as we go in the second half of these games,
because you know these people are gonna go for I
think Dan Campbell's got to be a little worried because
next week against the Cowboys, which he's gonna be missing
Saint Brown, everybody and their mother is gonna pick the
(49:16):
Dallas Cowboys in that game. Dallas's strength, it's like, okay,
you want to get in a shootout, they can just
do what Green Bay did. We could score, you know,
thirty thirty five points, no problem, but our defense is
playing really well. Saint Brown's gone, your tight end's gone.
It's like, let's just focus on Montgomery and Gibbs. What's
(49:37):
Jameson Williams gonna do? Go for three hundred yards? So
to me, if I'm the Cowboys next week, it's just
like you just somewhat neutralized Gibs a Montgomery. Which listen,
both those two guys made play today. They're excellent players.
But I think this Lions season has this kind of
been weird, you know, it really has, and I think
it just gets back to defensively, they're just not very good.
(50:00):
You just have no faith that they're gonna get any
stops and they're back seven. It's just they got holes everywhere.
It just doesn't feel like their dvs make any place.
I mean their corners multiple times. Even on that last
drive before the fourth down, Christian Watson what felt like
had a third down that your thought kind of iced
(50:21):
the game. It ended up not really, but it was
just it was an easy out route on what like
third and six. It was like it felt like training
camp for the Packers. So congrats to Green Bay, massive,
massive win, and we'll get out of here on this.
I was hot today. I went three for three. I
(50:41):
think I don't feel great about this. I feel a
little bit like the Bengals against the Ravens, where it's
like this is too many points. It does feel like
the Bears have been a little bit of a team
of destiny. Love their coach Ben Johnson. They're getting seven
points on the road. The Caleb Ben Johnson verse FIC
fanjo just an excellent matchup because I want to see
(51:03):
how Caleb can handle Fangio. Obviously the new added edge
rushers to the Eagles. We know how good their interior
defensive tackles are. If you can neutralize at all the
run game for the Bears, can Caleb just carry you
throwing it against the Eagles? Can he run away and
(51:24):
break the tackles up their defensive lineman. Just a really
really interesting matchup. I also just wonder about the psyche
of this Eagles team that lost to on Sunday to
the Cowboys. It's like, are they just gonna be able
to just shake that off and keep their head up
and not even be phased by it. Listen, this is
(51:45):
really gonna test Sirianni, because this is gonna be a
moment where if this game is weird, if it's like
three to three or seven three Bears in the second quarter,
you go three and out, like they are gonna boo
a living you know what out of you. You could
hear the booze, like if you're in Pittsburgh or Atlantic City,
They're gonna boot so loud. This play is gonna be
(52:06):
a little on edge coming in, not because they view
the Bears as some juggernaut, but it's more looking at
their own team. They have a really high standard. They're
the defending champs. Their offense can look really weird. Their
offensive line has not played well this year. They cannot
run the ball, the you know the rapport Jalen has
with the wide receivers. He can have series where they
look awesome and then it just disappears. So I'm taking
(52:29):
the Bears plus seven. I'm gonna take Rome anytime touchdown,
I'm gonna throw in aj Brown, Like first series, i
could see him having a touchdown. They love getting him
involved to like try to make everyone see they're friends,
and then he want to have a target the rest
of the game. So that pays a plus nine, nine
to five, so you know, almost ten to one. But again,
(52:50):
I'm gonna take the Bears plus seven. Won the Eagles
just playing a lot of weird close games. I just
think this game could get weird. I'm expecting this thing
to be weird, which I like, which makes for a
good podcast. Everyone enjoy the night, Happy Thanksgiving, and talk
to everyone soon. The volume MHM
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.