In this episode, John thinks Mike Vrabel deserves to start being mentioned as an elite NFL head coach, explains why Jeff Bezos and Amazon are coming to dominate the future of NFL coverage, why Sam Darnold has a chance to land in a good spot after this inevitable divorce from the Jets, which two games he has his eyes on this weekend, and gives his 3 for the $ week 6 NFL picks, and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you coming to bed hunt? Yep, honey, I'll be
right there. Just gotta turn out the light. Oh oh,
some thing's never change, like your kids always leaving tiny
toys on the floor for you to step on and
ganko saving folks lots of money on their car insurance. Sweetie,
(00:23):
I think I left the downstairs light on. Please don't
make me go. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent
or more. What is going on? Everybody? John middlecop Free
(00:44):
and Out Podcast, Hello again, as Jim Nance would say,
hello friends. Sitting here on a Thursday night, just had
a little dinner. It's about six o'clock. We have zero
no football on TV right now. Maybe there's a college
football game on. I don't know. I get the Big
Ball game on in my office, but we don't have
an NFL game. Feels a little weird. There was obviously
a Tuesday night game. I wasn't able to watch it live,
(01:06):
went back and watched it during my workout on Wednesday.
When I say workout, I just mean this, you know,
you know, stationary bike that I got delivered to my
office that I had. That's the only thing I can do.
But I have some thoughts on Mike Vrabel, Amazon getting
in the football game. I saw a story today and
I'm sure you hear the read sometime on this podcast
(01:27):
about all the programming Amazon primes doing. I have some
takeaways there, Sam Donald, There's just it started to get
a little weird. You know, this is probably coming down
the home stretch of Sam Donald's career, which is pretty
nuts when you think about it. Sam Darnold and Josh
Rosen will not have lasted on their teams. I mean,
Josh lasted for a year. Sam Donald will probably last
(01:47):
three years. Three for the money where I picked three
games and then just two games that I'm really really
interested to see. And I hammered this home last week.
I'm a hammering home again. You'll find out next week.
It's not it's nothing bad. It's actually really good. It's
really cool. It's gonna be great for everybody, Colin included.
And if you want to keep listening to this podcast,
I'm sure a lot of you listen through Colin's feed,
(02:09):
go to Apple or iTunes and subscribe to the podcast
that way press, you know, go there, Apple, iTunes, Spotify,
wherever you listen to your podcasts. Find three and out
with me. And press subscribe and if you go to
Apple iTunes, leave a review helps selling, helps the salespeople
sell it, and I would greatly appreciate that. Also, Middlecoff
mail back at John Middlecoff slide up in those dms.
(02:31):
We answer Middlecoff mail back at the end of the show.
But again, you want to listen to the show next week,
go to at or go to three and out podcast,
Apple iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. Is that a thing? I
just use Apple iTunes. So I'm just I'm living in
my own little podcast bubble. But I know a lot
of people listen to a different places. Be more information
(02:51):
next week. It's gonna be really cool and really excited.
But just it's not much gonna change. I mean, I'm
still I actually might do the podcast on Tuesdays and
Thursday set a Udays and Fridays. But I was just
thinking out loud. Who knows. I'm gonna keep doing podcasts.
Obviously you can find me on social media, but podcast
this is We're gonna keep talking football and having a
good time because it's the people show. I do it
for you guys. Let's start off with this. The NFL
(03:15):
has become so offensive heavy and rightfully so. The rules
dictate it. If you are not dynamic on offense right now,
you're behind the curve. You can't hit the quarterback, you
can't hit wide receivers. It's just it's an offensive league
for a reason. It's never been easier to score points,
just like that's just a fact. It's never been easier
(03:36):
to play quarterback. It's not even arguable. It's just like that.
It'd be like me saying if you're if you have
a company right now and you're not pushing out stuff
on the internet, you're behind the curve. Like if you're
not throwing the ball a lot, you probably have problems,
you know, if you don't have a good quarterback, like
you could get by when I was growing up if
your team was well built. It's really hard to do
(03:56):
that now because everything is so quarterback centric. Again reason
the rules dictated. The rules dictate everything in life. Yeah,
I know, we got business people that listen to this podcast.
The rules dictate how you do business. What are the rules?
I mean, we're in the middle of the pandemics going on.
Where are most people doing their shopping the internet? It's
why people push a lot of product on Instagram. I
don't know it works. Why do people throw bombs in
(04:17):
the NFL right now? Well, because the wide receiver can't
cover him, he's not allowed to touch him. The wide
receiver is not scared of getting hit by the safety
coming over the top. Why because he's not allowed to
hit him. Headhunting got thrown out of the game. The
game's adapted so that the people that signed the checks,
the owners, and those people that the first guy that
you know answers to them is usually the GM. What
(04:38):
are they looking for? Offensive coaches? They become the apple
of everyone. I rightfully, so right, I understand it, and
I would make that a priority as well. And we
have a lot of great offensive coaches in the league
just in general, obviously, Andy, Sean Payton, Kyle, Sean McVay. Like,
we've seen it, but I think there was somewhat of
an overreaction. You got guys like if Kingsbury, who I
(05:00):
said from the jump, like, I don't know, Lafleur. I
might be wrong on he looks pretty damn good, but
you know, Arian's older guy, really good. I like offensive
coaches too, but that still doesn't mean a defensive coach
can't be a great coach and Mike Vrabel. If Mike
Vrabel had been an offensive tackle for Belichick and was
(05:22):
the offensive coordinator at Ohio State and then at the
Houston Texans and then became the head coach for the
Texans and was now their head coach offensive coordinator, we
would talk about him like a bigger Sean McVeigh. Right,
good looking, Ohio State, just football guy, big personality. Everyone
likes him and stays the defensive guy, and no one
(05:43):
talks about him. All I know when I look at
forty five year old Mike Vrabel. I went to a
Houston or excuse me, at Tennessee Titans Ota. I think
it was three years ago actually for this podcast. I
knew John Robinson through I met him when I was
a jade for as State. But I had a buddy
who was getting married. We threw his bachelor party in Nashville.
(06:04):
I'm like, fuck it, I'll go out for the week
Monday through Friday. Before everyone shows up on Friday, I'll
play some golf, I'll go to a Titans practice, I'll
get an interview. I'll just kind of take in Nashville.
And I did, and it was sweet. But that week
beside the golf, which was really good. I remember going
to practice and I've obviously been Andy Reid practice his
hardball practice, Kyle Shanahan practices and going. This is really
(06:25):
really impressive and it's pretty clear watching Mike Vrabel. He's
now twenty one and fourteen since his time taking over
for you know, as the head coach, and really a
lot of those games were with Marcus Mariota, who listen,
nice guy, not a great player. Ryan Tannehill is much better.
When Ryan Tannehill has been their quarterback, they've been dann good.
They're currently four and noh. He won two playoff games
(06:46):
last year. Like, this guy's big time. Now. The nature
of the league is if you're not an offensive coach,
it's not that sexy, true or not. It's just that's
just the reality we live in, right, And Mike Vrabel
is as good as any coach young coach in this league.
Of all the younger guys, like under fifty we talk
(07:06):
about he should be mentioned there. This guy just won
two playoff games on the road as an underduck back
when the fans were allowed to pack the house. It's like,
oh yeah, Mike Vrabel Titans four no, what are they
probably gonna do? I don't know. Twelve and four. I mean,
they just beat the crap out of the Bills, they
housed him, and they have a true identity. What he's
done with the quarterback, empowering that guy. Clearly Vrabel believed
(07:28):
in him, now had multiple offensive coordinators, keeps having success.
I just don't think we talk about this guy enough.
And I think the Tennessee Titans, you know, I don't
know if they're quite a super Bowl contender, but I
mean last year they were in the NFC Championship game, right,
so why wouldn't they be in that mix? Again? I
just think we need to start giving Vrabel his due.
(07:50):
I mean, he's a superstar. I don't think there's just
any way around it. He's a star head coach, and
if you had a coaching draft, he would be the
guy that went really high that just no one talks about. Okay,
I think this rings true in any business. When you
are trying to approach gain a new partnership with another
(08:12):
entity that will be good for your business, you start
laying the groundwork, especially I would say in big business
sports and five hundred companies years in advance and I
can speak from experience in my radio career. I worked
at the station in the Bay Area that have the
A's and the Raiders. I mean, the two properties you
(08:32):
don't want. You want the Niners and definitely the Giants.
And the lifeblood of a local radio station in a
market is to have the biggest teams. So whether that's
in college to have like the University of Florida or Alabama,
or if it's New York, to have the Yankees. Because
what that partnership gives you is not just the games.
(08:54):
Let's say you have the Yankees. The games are great,
but it also gives you You're going to get the
manager on once a week, You're gonna get the GM,
You're gonna get access to players, You're gonna build a
lot of programming around that. So my couple when I
was with the radio, the Golden State Warriors were their
radio contract was up. Obviously it was before Kevin Durant,
(09:17):
but when the Warriors had won a championship and then
had the seventy three win team, So we started building
programming just the Warriors hour on Wednesday and Friday, and
just programming for the Warriors so they could look and
be like, these guys are really really serious. Station ended
up getting the Warriors, still has them to this day.
It's actually the basketball team. The irony is the last
(09:39):
product you really want because not like Steph and Clay
never go on the station. You don't really get that
much out of it beside the games. It's really really
valuable for baseball because you get the games, and for
football because you get the head coach in the GM.
And you know the reason that wf AN has crushed
it in New York with the Yankees, the big station
in Boston that has the Patriots, you get Belichick and Brady.
(10:02):
It's very lucrative and it's a game changer. Well, if
you are in the streaming or just television business, you
want to have the NFL because, beside news, the only
thing people watch right now consistently at large numbers is
the NFL. And you just say sports in general. But
(10:23):
as you see with baseball and the NBA, it's very
fickle and for whatever reason politics, you know, the effort
on the field, baseball slow, whatever, but they don't sniff.
They don't sniff. The NBA Finals, there wasn't one game
in the NBA Finals they got within millions of viewers
(10:43):
of the Tuesday night football game, which now granted was
two undefeated teams, but still it still Bills, Titans and
the Lakers. Not one NBA Finals game. There wasn't one
game in the bubble. There wasn't one NBA game this
year that got even close to that Tueson n football game.
And listen, I've been now, luckily enough, I was forced
(11:04):
into being in the streaming world and podcast but it
was it was perfect timing. And it's I tell people
this all the time. It hasn't scratched the surface. Streaming hasn't,
Podcasting hasn't. The Internet hasn't. Think about the Internet, it's
really been around. I mean from a standpoint where we
all use it consistently for what twenty years? I mean seriously,
(11:28):
twenty years, maybe even less. I mean, I remember using
AOL instant messenger in high school. Why I was in
high school in two thousand and one, two thousand two,
two thousand and three, and it was I wouldn't consider
the Internet very good back then. So I'd say when
the Internet got pretty normal, probably around oh four oh five,
so about fifteen years of it running pretty well. And
(11:49):
think of what's happened the last five or six years
with e commerce. Amazon and that's where I start. Amazon
has been the greatest beneficiary of the Internet. They've capitalized
it and become one of the companies we've ever seen.
And listen, I admire Bazos. The dude started a company
in I mean, you can all google the picture where
he has like the paper behind him in that little
(12:11):
it looks like a tiny little office that just says
Amazon that he hand wrote with like a sharpie. And
now he's created this unreal company visionary. It's just it's
been incredible, but he's always forward thinking. When he bought
the day that he bought Whole Foods, and I don't
know if his Whole Foods a national chain. It's I
think it's personally a little overrated. I mean, good food.
(12:34):
It just cost you an Armond Lake. Well he bought
it and it cost him like fifteen billion, but on
the same day his stock went up and it actually
he didn't even lose money making the acquisition. He like
made money. It was an incredible acquisition because one day
he's probably going to deliver all the food, right and
he also I use Amazon Video like I watched shows
on there. I watched television shows. I watched some of
(12:55):
their you know, uh, you know, the content that they create,
and they're gonna get in the NFL. I would imagine
the next four or five years, Amazon will be like CBS,
ABC or NBC and they will have they will have
an NFL package because it's normalized enough now where everyone
(13:16):
has Amazon Prime and Amazon Video and Amazon like we
all do. And I'm sure you hear the reads. They're
doing countless programming with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks and
then another one with Kerry Champion and Chris Long. And
I'm not going to reread the ad, but they're coming
and they're laying the groundwork right now because they know
(13:37):
when they line up their package, they're already in good
And what do you think the NFL wants to do?
They want to be in with this guy. They want
to be in with where the future is going, especially
the younger owners. You know, the older owners are probably
and they're kind of dying out. I'd say Jerry's the
last of a dying breed. But even Jerry, they ask them,
(13:57):
once upon a time, why did you name your stadium
at and T? He said, they offered the most money
and I'm a whore. I would say Jerry for being
a guy in his late seventies that you know, having
been around you know, my dad was basically the same
age as Jerry Jones. I've been around a lot of
men growing up that are that age, that are that mindset,
that are in the business community. They are pretty loyal
(14:18):
like that. That was a defining characteristic. I always thought
of that group of businessmen they were very loyal because
in the seventies and eighties, when you do business deals,
a lot of handshake deals. And I'd say my generation
is the complete opposite of loyal, which is not a
good thing, but it's also I think, pretty healthy. Like
I'm always and maybe this isn't healthy. I'm always apprehensive
(14:39):
when I hear thinks. I always question thinks. I probably,
you know, don't open myself up easily. Definitely not anymore
within the last five or six years. But I think
when you just look at the you know, guys between
twenty five and forty, look at the rate they changed jobs.
That wasn't the way societies or society is just a
lot different. And Fox made the NFL a ton of
(15:03):
money when they got into the NFL, and they took
the NFC to the next level obviously in the early nineties,
and it was perfect timing the Niners, the Packers, the Cowboys.
They built John Madden kind of around those three brands
and it shot up like a rocket ship. And then
what CBS has done over the last twenty years, basically
with the Manning and Brady you know, rivalry and the
(15:24):
Steelers and been it has just been incredible. But I
think it's clear where the new wave is and Amazon
is where it's going, because I think about it all
the time. The only reason I don't cord cut is because,
and this is going to sound kind of stupid, I'm
so beholden to television because watching games is literally how
(15:45):
I feed my unborn children, like I have to. I
want to feel comfortable that I know that Comcast will
never go down. I'm not tied into like if my
Internet goes down, I won't be able to stream the TV.
And maybe that's an antiquated way of thinking, because I
know some people that have YouTube TV and I've been
over at their house where it has to load, or
I've been on the phone with someone that's watching YouTube
(16:06):
TV and I watch a play and then ten seconds
later he sees the play and maybe it's stupid. I'm like,
why are you so behind? And I was like, well,
I got YouTube TV, so but everyone's gonna have that,
and we're all gonna watch all of our TV off
the apps you know that are on our smart TV's.
That's where we're all headed. It's why I'm so bullish
on podcasts, not because I'm in the podcast industry, because
(16:29):
every single time I get in the car with someone
under forty and anyone with a newer car, they don't
click on the radio. My mom has a twenty nineteen Mercedes.
She wouldn't know where the radio station was if you
paid her. But Serious XM comes on, and she knows
where her music stations are, and she knows what she
wants to listen to, and she her phone immediately connects.
(16:51):
And when I get into my brother's expedition, boom, his
phone connects and he brings up his playlist, what music
he wants to listen to, or if he's gonna listen
to Joe Rogan or whatever. It's like, you just have
to see where it's going. It's inevitable. And Amazon has
all the money, And I think if you're Fox and ABC,
you got to be a little nervous because they could
come in with a number that is just dramatically higher
(17:13):
than your number and not even blink and not even
worry and not worry about you know what, we're maybe
overpaying for a billion dollars even though we just went
through a year of a pandemic, right ESPN? For example,
in ABC, I read a report Jim Kramer said that
he had heard that Disney might want to get out
of ESPN. Why because ESPN for the last six months
(17:34):
has been a disaster for them financially, right, And think
about all these networks. You just lost sports, everyone lost money.
Who didn't lose money? Jeff Bezos, he made money, He's
gotten richer now. I defend him because a lot of
people act like these tech companies who I know in California,
(17:55):
they don't want the lockdown to end. They're making historic profits.
To me, Bezos was already killing it, like I to me,
I give him the benefit of the doubt on this,
like he's making more money just because it set up,
But he was gonna kill it either way. It might
have accelerated his dominance, but he was already on top, right,
(18:15):
like a huge reason like Mark Bennioff and some of
those guys that led leading the lockdown out in California,
is because it was going to be beneficial to his business.
And then he fired a bunch of people. It's like,
you know, it's kind of shady, but Jeff Bezos was
would have had more money whether the pandemic hit or not. Fox, CBS, ABC,
they would have been like the competition with him is real.
(18:37):
What happens if Jeff Bezos goes. I want the NFC,
I want I want the San Francisco, La Seattle, Dallas, Philly,
New York. I want those markets because if I'm Bezos,
that's what I come after. What does Fox do? I mean,
that's I just don't think there's much there's loyalty goes
out the window in twenty twenty. It's just not the same,
(18:58):
and maybe it's not even a rational thing. There's just
too much money in the line. And anytime the amount
of moneys go from you know, once upon a time
it was a two hundred million dollars deal, which you
know probably however, many twenty five years ago, a lot
or five hundred million dollars deal, and then it's a
billion dollars deal. Well, once the deal becomes like we're
two billion, well, okay, two billion jr. Offer and this
guy offers four billion. Whether we've been in business for
(19:20):
thirty years, I don't really give a shit. I gotta
go with this guy. I have a fudiciary duty to
my league. If I'm Roger and these owners like, we
don't have a choice. I just think it's going to
be very, very tough with Bezos as these new you know,
television deal comes, you know up for you know, just redistribution,
(19:41):
and all these leagues kind of re up or I mean,
all these networks re up to the league that I
think Bezos going to come in and throw a heymaker.
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(21:49):
the AD Council. Well, when most of us, you know,
leave high school, if you're gonna go right to the
work force, definitely, if you'd graduate college, you in theory,
you know, get to pick your job. You get to
go where you want to go, or at least somewhat
make a decision. Some of us, like me, I only
had one option, but I got to choose. I got
(22:10):
to go work at Fresnel State. If I didn't want
to work there, could have gone, works, could have gone
an insurance company, could have gone real estate. I don't know,
probably not. It was O eight in the middle I
think the recession had just hit. I was kind of
naive to it because I had no money and didn't
own anything, so it didn't really impact me, but it
definitely impact a lot of people in the country, and
definitely a lot of people in my graduating class. Workforce.
They were limited, but they still You know, when you
(22:32):
leave college you get to choose, well pro athletes do not.
You get picked by a team, and when you're really good,
definitely in basketball and in football, you go to the
worst teams in the league. We could probably get into
a deeper discussion one day, maybe in the off season.
Is the way they do drafts the right way to
do it. Should the worst teams be rewarded? That's a
(22:54):
whole nother discussion that it just because in football, at
least basketball, they have a lottery. In in football, it's
just by record. So when you're the worst team, you
draft really high. Now, the Jets ironically were I think
the sixth overall pick and traded up to the third
pick and they got Sam Dartal. And here's what you
would say in that draft class, Baker Mayfield definitely went
(23:17):
to a disaster, but a couple of years later his
team's really talented. It feels like they got him a
credible head coach, feels like they have some front office
people that know what they're doing, and again their team
is stacked. Sam Darnal will get to him in a second.
Josh Allen probably didn't feel great at the time that
he was drafted. Three years later. Great situation, really good
(23:39):
head coach, good infrastructure. They've drafted and signed and traded
for a lot of skill guys around him. He has
a good defense, good GM, high level operation. Josh Rosen,
well known disaster. Turns out he might just suck, but
clearly kind of got screwed. The best case scenario probably
(23:59):
we've seen in recent memory, Lamar Jackson to the Ravens.
It just I mean, it couldn't be any more perfect.
You got hard bought, you got a defense, you get
Greg Roman that developed a running offense with a previous
running quarterback, and this guy's way better than that guy,
and it's just awesome and he's sweet and they win
a bunch of games. Like that's the best case scenario.
Josh Rosen. Worst case scenario probably somewhere in the middle,
(24:22):
but closer to Rosen than Lamar would be. Sam Darnold.
He did not choose going there, like when he left
high school. He could have gone to USC. I'd have
to look a who offered him. But let's just say
like he could have gone to Oregon, he could have
gone to Texas. Like you get to choose coming out
of high school. In the NFL you do not, especially
when you're good, but even if you're just a draftable player,
(24:44):
like the team gets to pick you. It's why we
often said, like when in like the six or seventh round,
you're better off going undrafted sometimes and picking your situation. Well,
he went to a team with a GM that will
never be a GM in the league. Again, it doesn't
deserve to be. I mean, was was embarrassingly shitty, and
Adam Gaze, who I once defended in Miami, turns out
(25:05):
he's terrible. Turns out he's just an awful coach. And
Sam Donald also has zero talent on his team. So
I don't think the Jets are gonna win a game
this year. It's kind of crazy. They are a nine
and a half point underdog to the Miami Dolphins. Nine
and a half point underdog to the Miami Dolphins. Pretty nuts,
but that's true. He's not even playing. Is Sam Donald
(25:28):
good or not? I think he's talented. Is he good?
I don't know. I've had people in the league saying,
I think you can develop bad habits, and it's just
he's gonna need he's gonna need a refresher. But the
football gods might shine down on him because his team's
gonna be terrible. They're gonna draft Trevor Lawrence and they're
gonna trade Sam Donald. And it's pretty clear the couple
teams that we're going to be interested, right the Jacksonville
(25:50):
Jaguars are not gonna trade for Sam Donald like other
The Houston Texans that suck are not gonna trade for
Sam Donald. The Minnesota Vikings that suck are not gonna
trade for Sam Donald. You're just gonna trade for Sam
the Indianapolis culture, the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I do feel
pretty confident while the first three years of his football
life are gonna be awful, he is gonna get an
opportunity to change the course of his career. I feel
(26:12):
pretty confident about that. On October fifteenth, now, how much
he's gonna go for. I could not trade a first
round pick for him because he just might not be
good enough. But we've seen Pittsburgh Steelers. They did it
for Minca Fitzpatrick when they thought they were gonna be bad.
I thought it was a crazy move. Now, Minka was
a much better player in a vacuum than Sam Donald
is in a vacuum right now. But we've seen Pittsburgh
be aggressive and it worked out. I think the Indianapolis
(26:35):
Colts got to be asking themselves, if we had Sam
Donald on our team right now, would we be way better?
And I think the answer is yes, we'd be way
better because he would be way better with Frank Reich
and the talent we have around this team. So listen,
sometimes things start really really poorly in life, in football,
in whatever your first job. But typically if you're really talented,
(26:59):
and some times situations like this is gonna be out
of Sam Donald's career, you know, like he's he doesn't
have any control over this. But I do think when
the dust settles at the end of the year, it's
all going to play out. It happened once upon a
time to Steve Young. He was with the Tampa Bay
I think they were called the Yucks. They were a joke,
and then Bill Walsh got his hands on him, and
(27:20):
now he's in the Hall of Fame. He won an MVP,
and he went to the he won a super Bowl.
Now I'm not saying that's gonna happen to Sam Donald,
but I do think the teams that are going to
be interested in Sam Donald are going to be the
high level good teams and the teams that make the
playoffs this year, and the teams that have the older
quarterbacks and that need to pivot. So hell, maybe it's
Tampa next year. Right, Maybe Tampa looks goes like, why
(27:40):
don't we trade a first round pick for him and
just have him behind Brady for a year. I think
the smart teams are gonna are gonna circle like a
like a great white shark when there's blood in the water,
because they'll know that they're gonna get an opportunity to
get a guy that was a legitimate top five player.
He was, He had earned that right, He was worthy
of that pick. He was worthy of the number one
roll pick. He doesn't look like that now, but the
(28:02):
Jets organization couldn't be a bigger joke, So it's hard
to hold that over his head. I'm telling you, October fifteenth,
I think when we're for the draft, it's gonna all
work out for Sam Donald. There are two games that
I am very, very interested in watching this week, and
one of them, talking about the Steelers with Sam Donald,
(28:23):
would be the Steelers and the Browns. And I heard
Great Cosell say this Thursday on Colins Show that when
you just watch Baker on tape, he hasn't been very good.
And I was watching the Colts Browns game on my
pad on like Monday or Tuesday. I guess it would
have been Monday because I talked about it here on
the podcast on Tuesday, and he threw some terrible picks.
(28:44):
And here's the one thing with the Browns. If you
can take away their run game, you put it on
Baker Mayfield. And the problem with the Colts is Philip
Rivers was thrown to the other team. I don't expect
Ben Roethlisberger just turned the ball over like Philip Rivers
was so ken Baker Mayfield beat you is gonna be
the question, and I don't think he can. Now I'm
(29:07):
interested to watch. Like Miles Garrett, I gotta take the
l on this. When they signed him to one hundred
million dollars, maybe it was one hundred and two million
dollars or whatever. Maybe I guess Joey Bosa got a
little more miles when he got that money. I went,
you know, I see the guys really talented. I think
that's pretty bold. I'm wrong. He's a top five player
in the NFL. None quarterback right now. He's unblockable, freak show.
(29:29):
He's worth every penny. Hell, he's underpaid. So the Browns
have the talent to hang. I just don't know if
their quarterbacks good enough. Now he can shut me up.
You throw for a couple hundred yards on this defense,
you get a win at Pittsburgh. It would be the
biggest win in twenty years for the Cleveland Browns. The
other games at the Rams and forty nine ers. The Niners,
you know, they went to the super Bowl last year.
(29:51):
They had a lead in the fourth quarter. Then they
come this year and they get upset Week one against
Kyler Murray and we're like, well, maybe the Cardinals are good.
Well it turns out, like I've said, Cliff Kingsbury, they'll
be seven, eight wins, maybe six, who knows. But the
Niners the last two weeks have been a joke. To
lose the Eagle game. When Nick Mullins turning it over
at like junior high level turnovers was an embarrassment. But
(30:13):
last week was even worse to get blown out by
the Miami Dolphins. Get absolutely. They were down thirty to
seven at home to Ryan Fitzpatrick, and they were rolling
out a guy that I swear to God would have
struggled to cover me or you, Brian Allen. But as
my friend Matt Mayoko said, who covers the Niners, it's
(30:34):
not fair to blame Brian Allen. You have to blame
the coaches for putting him out there. And that's true.
Sean McVay and the Rams have looked fantastic this year.
They had one kind of dud against the Giants, but
like I give you a dud against a bad team,
you don't try that hard. You still win the game.
Even the game against the Bills, which they lost, they
came storming back and at any moment they can score
serious points. Now, I still think they're a little flawed
(30:56):
on defense. Aaron Donald is dominant, Jalen Ramsey is really good.
But the other you know, nine guys I don't believe in.
But they're definitely a playoff team. They have an elite offense.
They have the best defensive player, Sean mcfazi stud everyone
is going to be taking the Rams. I do think
that if Kyle Shanahan, which I believe, and maybe I'm wrong,
maybe I jumped the gun after one season, is an
elite coach. You don't lose their games in a row,
(31:18):
especially at home. Like you just like you just pull
shit out of your back pocket. You scheme things up,
trick plays, you do whatever you have to do to win.
And I think there's a big week for Kyle Shannon.
I know the Rams are good. I watch them every week.
They're good. The Niners had their most embarrassing moment as
(31:38):
in Kyle Shanahan's career as a forty nine or head coach,
because even the first couple of years, like whatever your
team's bad, we didn't hold you to a high standard. Well,
once you're viewed as a top flight coach, you get
a six year conttract extension this offseason. You can't be
down thirty to seven in the Miami Dolphins at half
at home. It can't happen. Ryan Patrick can't throw multiple
(32:01):
three touchdowns in the first half against you, and you
just keep throwing picks and don't have any plays that work.
Like it just it's I expect more out of him,
and I think this week I like the Steelers, and
I do think we get a valiant bounce back effort
from the Niners. Now, maybe I'm wrong, Maybe the Niners
(32:21):
just stink. But if that's the truth, then then I'll
be honest. I might view Kyle a little bit differently. Okay,
let's go a little three for the money. Let's let's
let's bang this out quick. The Bears at the Panthers now, listen,
Joe Brady, keep an eye on him. Future Sean McVeagh
head coach, Like he's gonna be a head coach either
this year next year. It's happening. He's a lock interview
(32:43):
this this offseason. But like, can they maintain this? Is
there roster good enough? Are they just gonna keep winning?
Are the Carolina Panthers gonna be foreign too? I don't
see it. The Bears coming off a long week because
remember they played the Bucks last Thursday. The game opened
at like two and a half. It's now they're getting
one and a half. I like the Bears as a
(33:04):
dog in this game. I think it's gonna be a
different animal for Teddy Bridgewater to the physical defense. They've
played the Falcons and the and the Cardinals the last
two weeks, two teams I would not call defensive juggernauts
the Bears. Listen, depending on where you look statistically, their
unit just talent wise, their front's really good, their linebackers
are good, their safety plays good. You know, Joe Brady
(33:27):
might I think we just get a little little humble
pie for the Carolina Panthers. Listen. I've been nothing but
impressed with that rule. He's been worth every penny. I
give him props on the Joe Brady higher. I just
I like the Bears in this situation, the Brown Steeler
game that we just talked about. I'm gonna lean Steelers
in this game at three and a half. I'd like
the number a lot more at three. But I'm just
(33:50):
I'm just betting against Baker Mayfield. That's my mindset. I'm
betting against Baker Mayfield. And I'm really just betting on Steelers,
their culture, their physicality, their play makers, especially on offense.
I just think Ben versus Baker, right, it's not even
a contest. Even Ben's old. I don't care. Now, maybe
I'm wrong and maybe the Browns this year go twelve
and four. Well, if they're twelve and four team, they'll
(34:10):
probably win this game. Now, the Steelers, it's hard to
keep up with these Corona teams, Like, when's the last
time they played? Do they play? I guess they played
the Eagles last week. I guess they missed the Titans game.
So you know they're they're well rested, right because they
got that one week off. But I like the Steelers
minus three and a half. I'm gonna go a little
outside the box on this one. It sounds crazy. On
(34:32):
my other podcast, Hayram Middlecoff, we've been doing a bet
every week, but two hundred fifty dollars on one individual game.
We put on the Eagles to win outright. And my
thought is, like, listen, they're getting now Sean, They're getting
to Sean back. Their defensive line is really good. You know,
I think the Ravens beat up on really bad opponents.
Now you could argue the Eagles are bad, but I
(34:53):
think what you saw last last week with Pittsburgh is
the Eagles really fight. They have a really good defensive line.
I don't know, I don't have much behind this. I'm
just going upset special here. I'm a gut field guy,
and this is just a gut feel. I'm going Eagles
plus eight. I'm gonna go a little bonus. I like
the Dogs this week. I like the Niners to cover
the three and a half points. I know it sounds crazy.
(35:15):
Everyone kind of like the Ravens and kind of like
the Rams. Everyone and their mother is gonna be betting
on those two teams. Like the Eagles suck, the Niners suck.
Take the points, Take the points. Sunday Night Football at
Levi's coming off the most embarrassing loss of the Kyle
Shanahan ten year as a forty nine er head coach.
I listen, I kind of like the Niners to win
(35:35):
out right. It's you can't base on the last previous games.
She'd be like, Middlecoff, what the hell are you talking about?
It be like, yeah, Matt Ryan or Matt Matt Fitzpatrick,
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mattie Ice plays for the Falcons. Yeah, the
Miami Dolphins. He looked like Ryan Marino. I don't disagree there,
but they get Emmanuel Moseley back, Richard Sherman still not playing,
(35:56):
not ideal, but I think they get after the rams
I really do god feeling, I'm going Bears plus one
and a half, Steelers minus three and a half, Eagles
plus eight nine ers plus three and a half. Get
right to the romance and find the way to wow
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(36:40):
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if you could find a way to get inside each
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dot org. Brought to you by the AD Council. Welcome
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(37:42):
But before we do that again, you guys got to
subscribe to three and Out podcast, whether it's Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher,
wherever the hell you guys subscribe. Go do that right
now before you forget, because that's where we're going to
be next week. Greetings from Ireland. Middlecoff mailbag at John
Middlecoff Instagram, slide up in the DMS get it answered here.
Question for the pod, what are the chances of Kyle
(38:05):
going out for another quarterback that's been proven in the
league in a trade like the one he did with
Belichick for Jimmy someone like Matt Ryan. You would think
Atlanta are in for a quarterback now as a rebuild
continues and Matt declines. With the history there and Kyle
getting the best out of Matt in the super Bowl year,
you'd have to think that he'd be an upgrade who
(38:26):
clearly after the forty nine or super Bowl and the
start to this season, is not the guy. I appreciate
your thoughts week to week. Keep hammering, Okay, I appreciate it.
Bro Listen. My take is pretty simple. When I see
Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan, those two names with Kyle Shanahan,
I'm just like, now, can you just find another quarterback?
(38:49):
Like Dak Prescott was in the fourth round, Jimmy Garoppolo
was a second round pick. Russell Wilson was a third
round pick. Look, you're ten million dollar coach, You're an
offensive quote unquote genius. Just draft a guy he doesn't
even need to be a first rounder. Draft a guy
in the second round, making a starter. It's never been
easier to play quarterback, like find a Dack in the
third round, right, I mean, it's just it's possible. You
(39:10):
don't need to get Trevor Lawrence in the first. Just
get a guy in the mid rounds, but your franchise
around him. Well, we pay you all this money for
do that. That's what Jimmy was. You wanted the super
Bowl with him? I trade for Matt Ryan. No, he
makes way too much money. He stinks. I think Matt
Ryan is shot. I think him and Philip Rivers are
the same guy right now, love the pod in your take.
(39:33):
Since being drafted number one overall, it seems as though
Miles Garrett is one of three things injured, suspended, dominant YO.
When analysts regularly discussed the league's best pass rushers, Garrett
is never among the first names to come up. Am
I crazy? Or is he not the best pass rusher
in the league? Can you find someone else in the
league with his power, speed and bend question? No, I can't.
(39:55):
I know he's endured some pretty disastrous seasons under Hugh
and Freddie, but the dude is virtually unblockable. Would you
choose any other defensive end over him in the league?
And if so, why? It's a good question. Yeah, I
mean I would. I think you could make the argument
for him. I mean, clil Max a little older, I'd
probably rather have Aaron Donald than him. I would have
(40:17):
said Nick Bosa, but he tours ACL Joey Bosa always
gets hurt, also gets hurt. Yeah, I mean he's he's
an elite guy. He's one hundred million dollars player. Maybe
it's because the Browns haven't played in important games like
Nick Bosa was part of a team that went to
Super Bowl, Khalil Max Ben to the playoffs a couple
of times, bet at All Pro a couple of times.
(40:38):
You know Von Miller super Bowl MVP. I think this
year they make the playoffs. He'll get that due because
you cannot turn on a Browns game and not see
that guy coming around the edge like he's Lawrence Taylor.
I mean, he is a freak. He is a big
time freak. As someone who watches your podcasts, heard you
(40:59):
met about watching on Tesla this morning and that's how
I listen every morning. Just wanted to let you know
that you're on there on Collins feed, but I couldn't
find it on its own if you were going off
his feed, I don't think it will show up. Hope
this helps. Yeah, we got to get in with the
Tesla crowd. It's probably not a huge majority of people,
but we never want to exclude. We want to include.
(41:20):
We're inclusive. Show monstrous conspiracy theory for you. Okay, I'm
so ready for read this. Arthur Blank tears it down
before the trade deadline. He was super noncommittal on Matt
Ryan and his pressor and trades Ryan to the forty
nine Ers Falcons go on the tank to Trevor love
your content, by the way, I hope not, but I
(41:44):
would never put that past him. So I think Matt
Ryan and I would imagine that the Falcons fans listening.
I don't think he's that good anymore, Like he's not
a thirty five million dollar player or whatever he's making. Honestly,
would if you just had a good team, would you
want Matt Ryan to be yours arder? Because I wouldn't.
I just wouldn't want Matt Ryan to be my starting quarterback.
I like the guy. I saw him when I went
(42:05):
to the AT and T Pebble Beach golf tournament, stood
right next to him. He's actually a lot taller than
you think. I've watched him have great games against the
Niners over the years. I've seen him playing in person
several times. Used to be really good. I don't think
he's any good anymore. Since it looks like Atlanta will
move on from Matt Ryan. There's a lot of Matt
and Ryan talk and Jimmy g on a team friendly deal.
Could you see Kyle Shanahan. There's a lot of people
(42:27):
that want Matt Ryan and Kyle Shanahan to get back together.
You know this feels a little like Brad and Angelina, like,
can't we just let a divorce be a divorce? Can't
we just let the breakup or not? Angelina Jennifer Lawrence
like they had a good run, they went to the
super Bowl. They want an MVP and it's over. Sometimes
when you get divorced, just go date someone new. There's
(42:47):
what do they tell you when you're young. There's a
lot of fish in the sea. Like, there's a lot
of people out there. I watch college football on Saturdays.
Quarterbacks everywhere. I mean, jamis, try something else. I mean
maybe I'm I got an agenda and I gotta bias
here because I got to watch the Niners so closely.
I just don't want to watch Matt Ryan. Plus I
just think, like, go find someone else. There's a million
(43:08):
quarterbacks never been easier to find a quarterback. I mean,
there's every guy it feels like can play a little.
I'd rather just do something else, so I'd say no one.
Matt Ryan question how many teams break their salary cap
down by positions or try to stay close to a
percentage of a cap per position. I eat old line
gets fifteen percent of cap. Wide receivers nine percent. What
(43:32):
I think happens is every team in the league prints
out every other team in the league and sees how
every team's every team does it, and then whatever team
you're aspiring to be like, or you feel the best teams,
you kind of look and see if there are balances
that they do. But you are kind of at the
mercy of who you have on your own team, right
(43:53):
Like if you have a rookie quarterback that's making five
million dollars, or if you have Aaron Rodgers that's make
thirty five million dollars, immediately changes it. If you have
Michael Thomas that makes twenty or if you have a
bunch of young wide receivers don't make any money. Like,
but if you don't have any good offensive lineman, you know,
but you have a great defensive line and great corners
(44:13):
and a great quarterback. I think in theory, it's easy
to write it down, like go to the whiteboard, we
want this percentage here, this percentage here. But then you
draft a guy and that guy sucks. But your fourth round,
you know linebacker is an all pro. You know you
end up paying him when you wanted to pay a
right tackle. I just think you're very very you just
(44:35):
at the mercy of the players on your own team
and who's worth getting paid. Thanks for making the long
commutes to work a little more enjoyable. I appreciate that.
I'm glad you're able to work doing these crazy times.
Do you see Anthony Lenz turning this season around. No.
He is a high character guy, and it seems like
the Chargers still playing hard for him despite all the injuries. Conversely,
(44:57):
if the Chargers post another losing season, you see them
firing both Anthony Lynn and the GM to LESCo. I
think to LESCo has done a good job. I think
he picks good players. I think they have a lot
of talent. I think Anthony Lynn is not good. He
can't be the head coach of your team if you
want to make the playoffs consistently. I know he made
the playoffs. The one year we remember one that Thursday
night game when Philip Rivers beat the Chiefs. Fantastic come back.
(45:21):
But I yeah, Anthony Lynns, he's gots to go. And
you know he's probably gonna be a good assistant coach.
He'd be a good assistant head coach, you know, running
back coach. I wouldn't want them oc too conservative. There
are times to be conservative in life. Right when when
the stock markets crashing, as it might do in a
couple of weeks with the election coming around, just take
(45:43):
a deep breath, let the stock let your stocks go crazy,
you know, just take a deep breath. When when you're
down five points or seven points and you got to
drive the length of the field. You need to pass
the ball, not run ball, or not run the not
run a draw play. And every time I see Anthony Lynn,
I just go, guy, this guy wants to run it. God,
he wants to run it. And then I get people
(46:03):
like he's not even the offensive coordinator. Yeah, he's the boss.
He can tell the offensive coordinator to do whatever he wants.
And he's just he's just not good enough. He's not
He's just I don't know, quite what he does like
a CEO head coach. But he's like a conservative CEO
head coach. Like when you, for example, Hardball is a
CEO head coach. Well, what do the Ravens do? They
go for it a lot. They're aggressive, even though they
(46:26):
have a run first mentality. But that's a lot because
of the quarterback. But like when I watched the Hardball coach,
I don't feel like he coaches scared. When I watched
Anthony Lynn coach, I feel like he's coaching just to
hold on. It's like, bro, just let it rip. You're
a head coach in the NFL with a really talented team.
Put the pedal to the metal, like you know, don't play,
don't coach scared. You're not gonna have this job much
(46:48):
longer if you do that. There is a lot I
can't even I swear to God. Every DM I open
is Kyle Shanahan, Maddy Ice. Look, I'm gonna ended on this,
and maybe I'm wrong because Mattie, Matt Ryan. Maybe it's
just a product of the crappy team Dan Quinn, even
(47:09):
though Dan has nothing to do with the offense. I
think I think Matt Ryan shot. I would not mess
with him. I'm not messing with quarterbacks in twenty twenty
who are bad athletes and don't have a good arm.
Why would you want a quarterback who's a bad athlete
and who has a bad arm. You know the other
name that's gonna get brought up with Kyle Shanahan. If
this goes wrong this year with Jimmy Garoppolo, it's gonna
be Kirk Cousins, you know who. If I'm a general manager,
(47:30):
I'm out on Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan. I don't
want my quarterbacks to not be able to move and
not have great arms. And I'd probably take, as crazy
as it sounds, I'd rather have Kirk Cousins in twenty
twenty over Matt Ryan, all things being equal, which is
insane to say out loud, but I just said it.
I don't want either of those type players. I want
to Josh Allen, I want to Justin Herbert. I want
(47:51):
a guy that can move around Sean Watson, obviously Mahomes,
but I want a guy that can move that's Carson Wentz.
I know, not this virgin of Carson Wentz. Put a
younger Roethlisberger. I need athleticism out with the quarterback position. Well,
we talked about on Monday Night with Justin Herbert. That's
what I'm looking for. That move the pocket, rocket arm
(48:13):
and then you mold it. It's what Andy Reid deal
with Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl later four and fifty million
dollar contract. They're in a good position. Even though it's
Greg Gaell. He's got to play a little bit better
in the pocket, but you know, you know, he's just
having a couple off games. Appreciate everyone listening. Again, Three
and Out Podcasts. Go subscribe. If you got a tesla,
I'll work on that and keep swaying. Enjoy the weekend,
(48:34):
enjoy the football, and I'll see you next week. Again.
Subscribe to the podcast three and Out on its own
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(49:04):
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Are you coming to bed hunt? Yep, honey, I'll be
right there. Just gotta turn out the light. Oh oh,
some thing's never change, like your kids always leaving tiny
toys on the floor for you to step on and
ganko saving folks lots of money on their car insurance. Sweetie,
(00:23):
I think I left the downstairs light on. Please don't
make me go. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent
or more. What is going on? Everybody? John middlecop Free
(00:44):
and Out Podcast, Hello again, as Jim Nance would say,
hello friends. Sitting here on a Thursday night, just had
a little dinner. It's about six o'clock. We have zero
no football on TV right now. Maybe there's a college
football game on. I don't know. I get the Big
Ball game on in my office, but we don't have
an NFL game. Feels a little weird. There was obviously
a Tuesday night game. I wasn't able to watch it live,
(01:06):
went back and watched it during my workout on Wednesday.
When I say workout, I just mean this, you know,
you know, stationary bike that I got delivered to my
office that I had. That's the only thing I can do.
But I have some thoughts on Mike Vrabel, Amazon getting
in the football game. I saw a story today and
I'm sure you hear the read sometime on this podcast
(01:27):
about all the programming Amazon primes doing. I have some
takeaways there, Sam Donald, There's just it started to get
a little weird. You know, this is probably coming down
the home stretch of Sam Donald's career, which is pretty
nuts when you think about it. Sam Darnold and Josh
Rosen will not have lasted on their teams. I mean,
Josh lasted for a year. Sam Donald will probably last
(01:47):
three years. Three for the money where I picked three
games and then just two games that I'm really really
interested to see. And I hammered this home last week.
I'm a hammering home again. You'll find out next week.
It's not it's nothing bad. It's actually really good. It's
really cool. It's gonna be great for everybody, Colin included.
And if you want to keep listening to this podcast,
I'm sure a lot of you listen through Colin's feed,
(02:09):
go to Apple or iTunes and subscribe to the podcast
that way press, you know, go there, Apple, iTunes, Spotify,
wherever you listen to your podcasts. Find three and out
with me. And press subscribe and if you go to
Apple iTunes, leave a review helps selling, helps the salespeople
sell it, and I would greatly appreciate that. Also, Middlecoff
mail back at John Middlecoff slide up in those dms.
(02:31):
We answer Middlecoff mail back at the end of the show.
But again, you want to listen to the show next week,
go to at or go to three and out podcast,
Apple iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. Is that a thing? I
just use Apple iTunes. So I'm just I'm living in
my own little podcast bubble. But I know a lot
of people listen to a different places. Be more information
(02:51):
next week. It's gonna be really cool and really excited.
But just it's not much gonna change. I mean, I'm
still I actually might do the podcast on Tuesdays and
Thursday set a Udays and Fridays. But I was just
thinking out loud. Who knows. I'm gonna keep doing podcasts.
Obviously you can find me on social media, but podcast
this is We're gonna keep talking football and having a
good time because it's the people show. I do it
for you guys. Let's start off with this. The NFL
(03:15):
has become so offensive heavy and rightfully so. The rules
dictate it. If you are not dynamic on offense right now,
you're behind the curve. You can't hit the quarterback, you
can't hit wide receivers. It's just it's an offensive league
for a reason. It's never been easier to score points,
just like that's just a fact. It's never been easier
(03:36):
to play quarterback. It's not even arguable. It's just like that.
It'd be like me saying if you're if you have
a company right now and you're not pushing out stuff
on the internet, you're behind the curve. Like if you're
not throwing the ball a lot, you probably have problems,
you know, if you don't have a good quarterback, like
you could get by when I was growing up if
your team was well built. It's really hard to do
(03:56):
that now because everything is so quarterback centric. Again reason
the rules dictated. The rules dictate everything in life. Yeah,
I know, we got business people that listen to this podcast.
The rules dictate how you do business. What are the rules?
I mean, we're in the middle of the pandemics going on.
Where are most people doing their shopping the internet? It's
why people push a lot of product on Instagram. I
don't know it works. Why do people throw bombs in
(04:17):
the NFL right now? Well, because the wide receiver can't
cover him, he's not allowed to touch him. The wide
receiver is not scared of getting hit by the safety
coming over the top. Why because he's not allowed to
hit him. Headhunting got thrown out of the game. The
game's adapted so that the people that signed the checks,
the owners, and those people that the first guy that
you know answers to them is usually the GM. What
(04:38):
are they looking for? Offensive coaches? They become the apple
of everyone. I rightfully, so right, I understand it, and
I would make that a priority as well. And we
have a lot of great offensive coaches in the league
just in general, obviously, Andy, Sean Payton, Kyle, Sean McVay. Like,
we've seen it, but I think there was somewhat of
an overreaction. You got guys like if Kingsbury, who I
(05:00):
said from the jump, like, I don't know, Lafleur. I
might be wrong on he looks pretty damn good, but
you know, Arian's older guy, really good. I like offensive
coaches too, but that still doesn't mean a defensive coach
can't be a great coach and Mike Vrabel. If Mike
Vrabel had been an offensive tackle for Belichick and was
(05:22):
the offensive coordinator at Ohio State and then at the
Houston Texans and then became the head coach for the
Texans and was now their head coach offensive coordinator, we
would talk about him like a bigger Sean McVeigh. Right,
good looking, Ohio State, just football guy, big personality. Everyone
likes him and stays the defensive guy, and no one
(05:43):
talks about him. All I know when I look at
forty five year old Mike Vrabel. I went to a
Houston or excuse me, at Tennessee Titans Ota. I think
it was three years ago actually for this podcast. I
knew John Robinson through I met him when I was
a jade for as State. But I had a buddy
who was getting married. We threw his bachelor party in Nashville.
(06:04):
I'm like, fuck it, I'll go out for the week
Monday through Friday. Before everyone shows up on Friday, I'll
play some golf, I'll go to a Titans practice, I'll
get an interview. I'll just kind of take in Nashville.
And I did, and it was sweet. But that week
beside the golf, which was really good. I remember going
to practice and I've obviously been Andy Reid practice his
hardball practice, Kyle Shanahan practices and going. This is really
(06:25):
really impressive and it's pretty clear watching Mike Vrabel. He's
now twenty one and fourteen since his time taking over
for you know, as the head coach, and really a
lot of those games were with Marcus Mariota, who listen,
nice guy, not a great player. Ryan Tannehill is much better.
When Ryan Tannehill has been their quarterback, they've been dann good.
They're currently four and noh. He won two playoff games
(06:46):
last year. Like, this guy's big time. Now. The nature
of the league is if you're not an offensive coach,
it's not that sexy, true or not. It's just that's
just the reality we live in, right, And Mike Vrabel
is as good as any coach young coach in this league.
Of all the younger guys, like under fifty we talk
(07:06):
about he should be mentioned there. This guy just won
two playoff games on the road as an underduck back
when the fans were allowed to pack the house. It's like,
oh yeah, Mike Vrabel Titans four no, what are they
probably gonna do? I don't know. Twelve and four. I mean,
they just beat the crap out of the Bills, they
housed him, and they have a true identity. What he's
done with the quarterback, empowering that guy. Clearly Vrabel believed
(07:28):
in him, now had multiple offensive coordinators, keeps having success.
I just don't think we talk about this guy enough.
And I think the Tennessee Titans, you know, I don't
know if they're quite a super Bowl contender, but I
mean last year they were in the NFC Championship game, right,
so why wouldn't they be in that mix? Again? I
just think we need to start giving Vrabel his due.
(07:50):
I mean, he's a superstar. I don't think there's just
any way around it. He's a star head coach, and
if you had a coaching draft, he would be the
guy that went really high that just no one talks about. Okay,
I think this rings true in any business. When you
are trying to approach gain a new partnership with another
(08:12):
entity that will be good for your business, you start
laying the groundwork, especially I would say in big business
sports and five hundred companies years in advance and I
can speak from experience in my radio career. I worked
at the station in the Bay Area that have the
A's and the Raiders. I mean, the two properties you
(08:32):
don't want. You want the Niners and definitely the Giants.
And the lifeblood of a local radio station in a
market is to have the biggest teams. So whether that's
in college to have like the University of Florida or Alabama,
or if it's New York, to have the Yankees. Because
what that partnership gives you is not just the games.
(08:54):
Let's say you have the Yankees. The games are great,
but it also gives you You're going to get the
manager on once a week, You're gonna get the GM,
You're gonna get access to players, You're gonna build a
lot of programming around that. So my couple when I
was with the radio, the Golden State Warriors were their
radio contract was up. Obviously it was before Kevin Durant,
(09:17):
but when the Warriors had won a championship and then
had the seventy three win team, So we started building
programming just the Warriors hour on Wednesday and Friday, and
just programming for the Warriors so they could look and
be like, these guys are really really serious. Station ended
up getting the Warriors, still has them to this day.
It's actually the basketball team. The irony is the last
(09:39):
product you really want because not like Steph and Clay
never go on the station. You don't really get that
much out of it beside the games. It's really really
valuable for baseball because you get the games, and for
football because you get the head coach in the GM.
And you know the reason that wf AN has crushed
it in New York with the Yankees, the big station
in Boston that has the Patriots, you get Belichick and Brady.
(10:02):
It's very lucrative and it's a game changer. Well, if
you are in the streaming or just television business, you
want to have the NFL because, beside news, the only
thing people watch right now consistently at large numbers is
the NFL. And you just say sports in general. But
(10:23):
as you see with baseball and the NBA, it's very
fickle and for whatever reason politics, you know, the effort
on the field, baseball slow, whatever, but they don't sniff.
They don't sniff. The NBA Finals, there wasn't one game
in the NBA Finals they got within millions of viewers
(10:43):
of the Tuesday night football game, which now granted was
two undefeated teams, but still it still Bills, Titans and
the Lakers. Not one NBA Finals game. There wasn't one
game in the bubble. There wasn't one NBA game this
year that got even close to that Tueson n football game.
And listen, I've been now, luckily enough, I was forced
(11:04):
into being in the streaming world and podcast but it
was it was perfect timing. And it's I tell people
this all the time. It hasn't scratched the surface. Streaming hasn't,
Podcasting hasn't. The Internet hasn't. Think about the Internet, it's
really been around. I mean from a standpoint where we
all use it consistently for what twenty years? I mean seriously,
(11:28):
twenty years, maybe even less. I mean, I remember using
AOL instant messenger in high school. Why I was in
high school in two thousand and one, two thousand two,
two thousand and three, and it was I wouldn't consider
the Internet very good back then. So I'd say when
the Internet got pretty normal, probably around oh four oh five,
so about fifteen years of it running pretty well. And
(11:49):
think of what's happened the last five or six years
with e commerce. Amazon and that's where I start. Amazon
has been the greatest beneficiary of the Internet. They've capitalized
it and become one of the companies we've ever seen.
And listen, I admire Bazos. The dude started a company
in I mean, you can all google the picture where
he has like the paper behind him in that little
(12:11):
it looks like a tiny little office that just says
Amazon that he hand wrote with like a sharpie. And
now he's created this unreal company visionary. It's just it's
been incredible, but he's always forward thinking. When he bought
the day that he bought Whole Foods, and I don't
know if his Whole Foods a national chain. It's I
think it's personally a little overrated. I mean, good food.
(12:34):
It just cost you an Armond Lake. Well he bought
it and it cost him like fifteen billion, but on
the same day his stock went up and it actually
he didn't even lose money making the acquisition. He like
made money. It was an incredible acquisition because one day
he's probably going to deliver all the food, right and
he also I use Amazon Video like I watched shows
on there. I watched television shows. I watched some of
(12:55):
their you know, uh, you know, the content that they create,
and they're gonna get in the NFL. I would imagine
the next four or five years, Amazon will be like CBS,
ABC or NBC and they will have they will have
an NFL package because it's normalized enough now where everyone
(13:16):
has Amazon Prime and Amazon Video and Amazon like we
all do. And I'm sure you hear the reads. They're
doing countless programming with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks and
then another one with Kerry Champion and Chris Long. And
I'm not going to reread the ad, but they're coming
and they're laying the groundwork right now because they know
(13:37):
when they line up their package, they're already in good
And what do you think the NFL wants to do?
They want to be in with this guy. They want
to be in with where the future is going, especially
the younger owners. You know, the older owners are probably
and they're kind of dying out. I'd say Jerry's the
last of a dying breed. But even Jerry, they ask them,
(13:57):
once upon a time, why did you name your stadium
at and T? He said, they offered the most money
and I'm a whore. I would say Jerry for being
a guy in his late seventies that you know, having
been around you know, my dad was basically the same
age as Jerry Jones. I've been around a lot of
men growing up that are that age, that are that mindset,
that are in the business community. They are pretty loyal
(14:18):
like that. That was a defining characteristic. I always thought
of that group of businessmen they were very loyal because
in the seventies and eighties, when you do business deals,
a lot of handshake deals. And I'd say my generation
is the complete opposite of loyal, which is not a
good thing, but it's also I think, pretty healthy. Like
I'm always and maybe this isn't healthy. I'm always apprehensive
(14:39):
when I hear thinks. I always question thinks. I probably,
you know, don't open myself up easily. Definitely not anymore
within the last five or six years. But I think
when you just look at the you know, guys between
twenty five and forty, look at the rate they changed jobs.
That wasn't the way societies or society is just a
lot different. And Fox made the NFL a ton of
(15:03):
money when they got into the NFL, and they took
the NFC to the next level obviously in the early nineties,
and it was perfect timing the Niners, the Packers, the Cowboys.
They built John Madden kind of around those three brands
and it shot up like a rocket ship. And then
what CBS has done over the last twenty years, basically
with the Manning and Brady you know, rivalry and the
(15:24):
Steelers and been it has just been incredible. But I
think it's clear where the new wave is and Amazon
is where it's going, because I think about it all
the time. The only reason I don't cord cut is because,
and this is going to sound kind of stupid, I'm
so beholden to television because watching games is literally how
(15:45):
I feed my unborn children, like I have to. I
want to feel comfortable that I know that Comcast will
never go down. I'm not tied into like if my
Internet goes down, I won't be able to stream the TV.
And maybe that's an antiquated way of thinking, because I
know some people that have YouTube TV and I've been
over at their house where it has to load, or
I've been on the phone with someone that's watching YouTube
(16:06):
TV and I watch a play and then ten seconds
later he sees the play and maybe it's stupid. I'm like,
why are you so behind? And I was like, well,
I got YouTube TV, so but everyone's gonna have that,
and we're all gonna watch all of our TV off
the apps you know that are on our smart TV's.
That's where we're all headed. It's why I'm so bullish
on podcasts, not because I'm in the podcast industry, because
(16:29):
every single time I get in the car with someone
under forty and anyone with a newer car, they don't
click on the radio. My mom has a twenty nineteen Mercedes.
She wouldn't know where the radio station was if you
paid her. But Serious XM comes on, and she knows
where her music stations are, and she knows what she
wants to listen to, and she her phone immediately connects.
(16:51):
And when I get into my brother's expedition, boom, his
phone connects and he brings up his playlist, what music
he wants to listen to, or if he's gonna listen
to Joe Rogan or whatever. It's like, you just have
to see where it's going. It's inevitable. And Amazon has
all the money, And I think if you're Fox and ABC,
you got to be a little nervous because they could
come in with a number that is just dramatically higher
(17:13):
than your number and not even blink and not even
worry and not worry about you know what, we're maybe
overpaying for a billion dollars even though we just went
through a year of a pandemic, right ESPN? For example,
in ABC, I read a report Jim Kramer said that
he had heard that Disney might want to get out
of ESPN. Why because ESPN for the last six months
(17:34):
has been a disaster for them financially, right, And think
about all these networks. You just lost sports, everyone lost money.
Who didn't lose money? Jeff Bezos, he made money, He's
gotten richer now. I defend him because a lot of
people act like these tech companies who I know in California,
(17:55):
they don't want the lockdown to end. They're making historic profits.
To me, Bezos was already killing it, like I to me,
I give him the benefit of the doubt on this,
like he's making more money just because it set up,
But he was gonna kill it either way. It might
have accelerated his dominance, but he was already on top, right,
(18:15):
like a huge reason like Mark Bennioff and some of
those guys that led leading the lockdown out in California,
is because it was going to be beneficial to his business.
And then he fired a bunch of people. It's like,
you know, it's kind of shady, but Jeff Bezos was
would have had more money whether the pandemic hit or not. Fox, CBS, ABC,
they would have been like the competition with him is real.
(18:37):
What happens if Jeff Bezos goes. I want the NFC,
I want I want the San Francisco, La Seattle, Dallas, Philly,
New York. I want those markets because if I'm Bezos,
that's what I come after. What does Fox do? I mean,
that's I just don't think there's much there's loyalty goes
out the window in twenty twenty. It's just not the same,
(18:58):
and maybe it's not even a rational thing. There's just
too much money in the line. And anytime the amount
of moneys go from you know, once upon a time
it was a two hundred million dollars deal, which you
know probably however, many twenty five years ago, a lot
or five hundred million dollars deal, and then it's a
billion dollars deal. Well, once the deal becomes like we're
two billion, well, okay, two billion jr. Offer and this
guy offers four billion. Whether we've been in business for
(19:20):
thirty years, I don't really give a shit. I gotta
go with this guy. I have a fudiciary duty to
my league. If I'm Roger and these owners like, we
don't have a choice. I just think it's going to
be very, very tough with Bezos as these new you know,
television deal comes, you know up for you know, just redistribution,
(19:41):
and all these leagues kind of re up or I mean,
all these networks re up to the league that I
think Bezos going to come in and throw a heymaker.
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(21:49):
the AD Council. Well, when most of us, you know,
leave high school, if you're gonna go right to the
work force, definitely, if you'd graduate college, you in theory,
you know, get to pick your job. You get to
go where you want to go, or at least somewhat
make a decision. Some of us, like me, I only
had one option, but I got to choose. I got
(22:10):
to go work at Fresnel State. If I didn't want
to work there, could have gone, works, could have gone
an insurance company, could have gone real estate. I don't know,
probably not. It was O eight in the middle I
think the recession had just hit. I was kind of
naive to it because I had no money and didn't
own anything, so it didn't really impact me, but it
definitely impact a lot of people in the country, and
definitely a lot of people in my graduating class. Workforce.
They were limited, but they still You know, when you
(22:32):
leave college you get to choose, well pro athletes do not.
You get picked by a team, and when you're really good,
definitely in basketball and in football, you go to the
worst teams in the league. We could probably get into
a deeper discussion one day, maybe in the off season.
Is the way they do drafts the right way to
do it. Should the worst teams be rewarded? That's a
(22:54):
whole nother discussion that it just because in football, at
least basketball, they have a lottery. In in football, it's
just by record. So when you're the worst team, you
draft really high. Now, the Jets ironically were I think
the sixth overall pick and traded up to the third
pick and they got Sam Dartal. And here's what you
would say in that draft class, Baker Mayfield definitely went
(23:17):
to a disaster, but a couple of years later his
team's really talented. It feels like they got him a
credible head coach, feels like they have some front office
people that know what they're doing, and again their team
is stacked. Sam Darnal will get to him in a second.
Josh Allen probably didn't feel great at the time that
he was drafted. Three years later. Great situation, really good
(23:39):
head coach, good infrastructure. They've drafted and signed and traded
for a lot of skill guys around him. He has
a good defense, good GM, high level operation. Josh Rosen,
well known disaster. Turns out he might just suck, but
clearly kind of got screwed. The best case scenario probably
(23:59):
we've seen in recent memory, Lamar Jackson to the Ravens.
It just I mean, it couldn't be any more perfect.
You got hard bought, you got a defense, you get
Greg Roman that developed a running offense with a previous
running quarterback, and this guy's way better than that guy,
and it's just awesome and he's sweet and they win
a bunch of games. Like that's the best case scenario.
Josh Rosen. Worst case scenario probably somewhere in the middle,
(24:22):
but closer to Rosen than Lamar would be. Sam Darnold.
He did not choose going there, like when he left
high school. He could have gone to USC. I'd have
to look a who offered him. But let's just say
like he could have gone to Oregon, he could have
gone to Texas. Like you get to choose coming out
of high school. In the NFL you do not, especially
when you're good, but even if you're just a draftable player,
(24:44):
like the team gets to pick you. It's why we
often said, like when in like the six or seventh round,
you're better off going undrafted sometimes and picking your situation. Well,
he went to a team with a GM that will
never be a GM in the league. Again, it doesn't
deserve to be. I mean, was was embarrassingly shitty, and
Adam Gaze, who I once defended in Miami, turns out
(25:05):
he's terrible. Turns out he's just an awful coach. And
Sam Donald also has zero talent on his team. So
I don't think the Jets are gonna win a game
this year. It's kind of crazy. They are a nine
and a half point underdog to the Miami Dolphins. Nine
and a half point underdog to the Miami Dolphins. Pretty nuts,
but that's true. He's not even playing. Is Sam Donald
(25:28):
good or not? I think he's talented. Is he good?
I don't know. I've had people in the league saying,
I think you can develop bad habits, and it's just
he's gonna need he's gonna need a refresher. But the
football gods might shine down on him because his team's
gonna be terrible. They're gonna draft Trevor Lawrence and they're
gonna trade Sam Donald. And it's pretty clear the couple
teams that we're going to be interested, right the Jacksonville
(25:50):
Jaguars are not gonna trade for Sam Donald like other
The Houston Texans that suck are not gonna trade for
Sam Donald. The Minnesota Vikings that suck are not gonna
trade for Sam Donald. You're just gonna trade for Sam
the Indianapolis culture, the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I do feel
pretty confident while the first three years of his football
life are gonna be awful, he is gonna get an
opportunity to change the course of his career. I feel
(26:12):
pretty confident about that. On October fifteenth, now, how much
he's gonna go for. I could not trade a first
round pick for him because he just might not be
good enough. But we've seen Pittsburgh Steelers. They did it
for Minca Fitzpatrick when they thought they were gonna be bad.
I thought it was a crazy move. Now, Minka was
a much better player in a vacuum than Sam Donald
is in a vacuum right now. But we've seen Pittsburgh
be aggressive and it worked out. I think the Indianapolis
(26:35):
Colts got to be asking themselves, if we had Sam
Donald on our team right now, would we be way better?
And I think the answer is yes, we'd be way
better because he would be way better with Frank Reich
and the talent we have around this team. So listen,
sometimes things start really really poorly in life, in football,
in whatever your first job. But typically if you're really talented,
(26:59):
and some times situations like this is gonna be out
of Sam Donald's career, you know, like he's he doesn't
have any control over this. But I do think when
the dust settles at the end of the year, it's
all going to play out. It happened once upon a
time to Steve Young. He was with the Tampa Bay
I think they were called the Yucks. They were a joke,
and then Bill Walsh got his hands on him, and
(27:20):
now he's in the Hall of Fame. He won an MVP,
and he went to the he won a super Bowl.
Now I'm not saying that's gonna happen to Sam Donald,
but I do think the teams that are going to
be interested in Sam Donald are going to be the
high level good teams and the teams that make the
playoffs this year, and the teams that have the older
quarterbacks and that need to pivot. So hell, maybe it's
Tampa next year. Right, Maybe Tampa looks goes like, why
(27:40):
don't we trade a first round pick for him and
just have him behind Brady for a year. I think
the smart teams are gonna are gonna circle like a
like a great white shark when there's blood in the water,
because they'll know that they're gonna get an opportunity to
get a guy that was a legitimate top five player.
He was, He had earned that right, He was worthy
of that pick. He was worthy of the number one
roll pick. He doesn't look like that now, but the
(28:02):
Jets organization couldn't be a bigger joke, So it's hard
to hold that over his head. I'm telling you, October fifteenth,
I think when we're for the draft, it's gonna all
work out for Sam Donald. There are two games that
I am very, very interested in watching this week, and
one of them, talking about the Steelers with Sam Donald,
(28:23):
would be the Steelers and the Browns. And I heard
Great Cosell say this Thursday on Colins Show that when
you just watch Baker on tape, he hasn't been very good.
And I was watching the Colts Browns game on my
pad on like Monday or Tuesday. I guess it would
have been Monday because I talked about it here on
the podcast on Tuesday, and he threw some terrible picks.
(28:44):
And here's the one thing with the Browns. If you
can take away their run game, you put it on
Baker Mayfield. And the problem with the Colts is Philip
Rivers was thrown to the other team. I don't expect
Ben Roethlisberger just turned the ball over like Philip Rivers
was so ken Baker Mayfield beat you is gonna be
the question, and I don't think he can. Now I'm
(29:07):
interested to watch. Like Miles Garrett, I gotta take the
l on this. When they signed him to one hundred
million dollars, maybe it was one hundred and two million
dollars or whatever. Maybe I guess Joey Bosa got a
little more miles when he got that money. I went,
you know, I see the guys really talented. I think
that's pretty bold. I'm wrong. He's a top five player
in the NFL. None quarterback right now. He's unblockable, freak show.
(29:29):
He's worth every penny. Hell, he's underpaid. So the Browns
have the talent to hang. I just don't know if
their quarterbacks good enough. Now he can shut me up.
You throw for a couple hundred yards on this defense,
you get a win at Pittsburgh. It would be the
biggest win in twenty years for the Cleveland Browns. The
other games at the Rams and forty nine ers. The Niners,
you know, they went to the super Bowl last year.
(29:51):
They had a lead in the fourth quarter. Then they
come this year and they get upset Week one against
Kyler Murray and we're like, well, maybe the Cardinals are good.
Well it turns out, like I've said, Cliff Kingsbury, they'll
be seven, eight wins, maybe six, who knows. But the
Niners the last two weeks have been a joke. To
lose the Eagle game. When Nick Mullins turning it over
at like junior high level turnovers was an embarrassment. But
(30:13):
last week was even worse to get blown out by
the Miami Dolphins. Get absolutely. They were down thirty to
seven at home to Ryan Fitzpatrick, and they were rolling
out a guy that I swear to God would have
struggled to cover me or you, Brian Allen. But as
my friend Matt Mayoko said, who covers the Niners, it's
(30:34):
not fair to blame Brian Allen. You have to blame
the coaches for putting him out there. And that's true.
Sean McVay and the Rams have looked fantastic this year.
They had one kind of dud against the Giants, but
like I give you a dud against a bad team,
you don't try that hard. You still win the game.
Even the game against the Bills, which they lost, they
came storming back and at any moment they can score
serious points. Now, I still think they're a little flawed
(30:56):
on defense. Aaron Donald is dominant, Jalen Ramsey is really good.
But the other you know, nine guys I don't believe in.
But they're definitely a playoff team. They have an elite offense.
They have the best defensive player, Sean mcfazi stud everyone
is going to be taking the Rams. I do think
that if Kyle Shanahan, which I believe, and maybe I'm wrong,
maybe I jumped the gun after one season, is an
elite coach. You don't lose their games in a row,
(31:18):
especially at home. Like you just like you just pull
shit out of your back pocket. You scheme things up,
trick plays, you do whatever you have to do to win.
And I think there's a big week for Kyle Shannon.
I know the Rams are good. I watch them every week.
They're good. The Niners had their most embarrassing moment as
(31:38):
in Kyle Shanahan's career as a forty nine or head coach,
because even the first couple of years, like whatever your
team's bad, we didn't hold you to a high standard. Well,
once you're viewed as a top flight coach, you get
a six year conttract extension this offseason. You can't be
down thirty to seven in the Miami Dolphins at half
at home. It can't happen. Ryan Patrick can't throw multiple
(32:01):
three touchdowns in the first half against you, and you
just keep throwing picks and don't have any plays that work.
Like it just it's I expect more out of him,
and I think this week I like the Steelers, and
I do think we get a valiant bounce back effort
from the Niners. Now, maybe I'm wrong, Maybe the Niners
(32:21):
just stink. But if that's the truth, then then I'll
be honest. I might view Kyle a little bit differently. Okay,
let's go a little three for the money. Let's let's
let's bang this out quick. The Bears at the Panthers now, listen,
Joe Brady, keep an eye on him. Future Sean McVeagh
head coach, Like he's gonna be a head coach either
this year next year. It's happening. He's a lock interview
(32:43):
this this offseason. But like, can they maintain this? Is
there roster good enough? Are they just gonna keep winning?
Are the Carolina Panthers gonna be foreign too? I don't
see it. The Bears coming off a long week because
remember they played the Bucks last Thursday. The game opened
at like two and a half. It's now they're getting
one and a half. I like the Bears as a
(33:04):
dog in this game. I think it's gonna be a
different animal for Teddy Bridgewater to the physical defense. They've
played the Falcons and the and the Cardinals the last
two weeks, two teams I would not call defensive juggernauts
the Bears. Listen, depending on where you look statistically, their
unit just talent wise, their front's really good, their linebackers
are good, their safety plays good. You know, Joe Brady
(33:27):
might I think we just get a little little humble
pie for the Carolina Panthers. Listen. I've been nothing but
impressed with that rule. He's been worth every penny. I
give him props on the Joe Brady higher. I just
I like the Bears in this situation, the Brown Steeler
game that we just talked about. I'm gonna lean Steelers
in this game at three and a half. I'd like
the number a lot more at three. But I'm just
(33:50):
I'm just betting against Baker Mayfield. That's my mindset. I'm
betting against Baker Mayfield. And I'm really just betting on Steelers,
their culture, their physicality, their play makers, especially on offense.
I just think Ben versus Baker, right, it's not even
a contest. Even Ben's old. I don't care. Now, maybe
I'm wrong and maybe the Browns this year go twelve
and four. Well, if they're twelve and four team, they'll
(34:10):
probably win this game. Now, the Steelers, it's hard to
keep up with these Corona teams, Like, when's the last
time they played? Do they play? I guess they played
the Eagles last week. I guess they missed the Titans game.
So you know they're they're well rested, right because they
got that one week off. But I like the Steelers
minus three and a half. I'm gonna go a little
outside the box on this one. It sounds crazy. On
(34:32):
my other podcast, Hayram Middlecoff, we've been doing a bet
every week, but two hundred fifty dollars on one individual game.
We put on the Eagles to win outright. And my
thought is, like, listen, they're getting now Sean, They're getting
to Sean back. Their defensive line is really good. You know,
I think the Ravens beat up on really bad opponents.
Now you could argue the Eagles are bad, but I
(34:53):
think what you saw last last week with Pittsburgh is
the Eagles really fight. They have a really good defensive line.
I don't know, I don't have much behind this. I'm
just going upset special here. I'm a gut field guy,
and this is just a gut feel. I'm going Eagles
plus eight. I'm gonna go a little bonus. I like
the Dogs this week. I like the Niners to cover
the three and a half points. I know it sounds crazy.
(35:15):
Everyone kind of like the Ravens and kind of like
the Rams. Everyone and their mother is gonna be betting
on those two teams. Like the Eagles suck, the Niners suck.
Take the points, Take the points. Sunday Night Football at
Levi's coming off the most embarrassing loss of the Kyle
Shanahan ten year as a forty nine er head coach.
I listen, I kind of like the Niners to win
(35:35):
out right. It's you can't base on the last previous games.
She'd be like, Middlecoff, what the hell are you talking about?
It be like, yeah, Matt Ryan or Matt Matt Fitzpatrick,
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mattie Ice plays for the Falcons. Yeah, the
Miami Dolphins. He looked like Ryan Marino. I don't disagree there,
but they get Emmanuel Moseley back, Richard Sherman still not playing,
(35:56):
not ideal, but I think they get after the rams
I really do god feeling, I'm going Bears plus one
and a half, Steelers minus three and a half, Eagles
plus eight nine ers plus three and a half. Get
right to the romance and find the way to wow
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(36:40):
be you and you could be me for just one hour,
if you could find a way to get inside each
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dot org. Brought to you by the AD Council. Welcome
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Org brought to you by the United States Forest Service
and the ad Council. Okay, let's go a little middlecoffmail back.
(37:42):
But before we do that again, you guys got to
subscribe to three and Out podcast, whether it's Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher,
wherever the hell you guys subscribe. Go do that right
now before you forget, because that's where we're going to
be next week. Greetings from Ireland. Middlecoff mailbag at John
Middlecoff Instagram, slide up in the DMS get it answered here.
Question for the pod, what are the chances of Kyle
(38:05):
going out for another quarterback that's been proven in the
league in a trade like the one he did with
Belichick for Jimmy someone like Matt Ryan. You would think
Atlanta are in for a quarterback now as a rebuild
continues and Matt declines. With the history there and Kyle
getting the best out of Matt in the super Bowl year,
you'd have to think that he'd be an upgrade who
(38:26):
clearly after the forty nine or super Bowl and the
start to this season, is not the guy. I appreciate
your thoughts week to week. Keep hammering, Okay, I appreciate it.
Bro Listen. My take is pretty simple. When I see
Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan, those two names with Kyle Shanahan,
I'm just like, now, can you just find another quarterback?
(38:49):
Like Dak Prescott was in the fourth round, Jimmy Garoppolo
was a second round pick. Russell Wilson was a third
round pick. Look, you're ten million dollar coach, You're an
offensive quote unquote genius. Just draft a guy he doesn't
even need to be a first rounder. Draft a guy
in the second round, making a starter. It's never been
easier to play quarterback, like find a Dack in the
third round, right, I mean, it's just it's possible. You
(39:10):
don't need to get Trevor Lawrence in the first. Just
get a guy in the mid rounds, but your franchise
around him. Well, we pay you all this money for
do that. That's what Jimmy was. You wanted the super
Bowl with him? I trade for Matt Ryan. No, he
makes way too much money. He stinks. I think Matt
Ryan is shot. I think him and Philip Rivers are
the same guy right now, love the pod in your take.
(39:33):
Since being drafted number one overall, it seems as though
Miles Garrett is one of three things injured, suspended, dominant YO.
When analysts regularly discussed the league's best pass rushers, Garrett
is never among the first names to come up. Am
I crazy? Or is he not the best pass rusher
in the league? Can you find someone else in the
league with his power, speed and bend question? No, I can't.
(39:55):
I know he's endured some pretty disastrous seasons under Hugh
and Freddie, but the dude is virtually unblockable. Would you
choose any other defensive end over him in the league?
And if so, why? It's a good question. Yeah, I
mean I would. I think you could make the argument
for him. I mean, clil Max a little older, I'd
probably rather have Aaron Donald than him. I would have
(40:17):
said Nick Bosa, but he tours ACL Joey Bosa always
gets hurt, also gets hurt. Yeah, I mean he's he's
an elite guy. He's one hundred million dollars player. Maybe
it's because the Browns haven't played in important games like
Nick Bosa was part of a team that went to
Super Bowl, Khalil Max Ben to the playoffs a couple
of times, bet at All Pro a couple of times.
(40:38):
You know Von Miller super Bowl MVP. I think this
year they make the playoffs. He'll get that due because
you cannot turn on a Browns game and not see
that guy coming around the edge like he's Lawrence Taylor.
I mean, he is a freak. He is a big
time freak. As someone who watches your podcasts, heard you
(40:59):
met about watching on Tesla this morning and that's how
I listen every morning. Just wanted to let you know
that you're on there on Collins feed, but I couldn't
find it on its own if you were going off
his feed, I don't think it will show up. Hope
this helps. Yeah, we got to get in with the
Tesla crowd. It's probably not a huge majority of people,
but we never want to exclude. We want to include.
(41:20):
We're inclusive. Show monstrous conspiracy theory for you. Okay, I'm
so ready for read this. Arthur Blank tears it down
before the trade deadline. He was super noncommittal on Matt
Ryan and his pressor and trades Ryan to the forty
nine Ers Falcons go on the tank to Trevor love
your content, by the way, I hope not, but I
(41:44):
would never put that past him. So I think Matt
Ryan and I would imagine that the Falcons fans listening.
I don't think he's that good anymore, Like he's not
a thirty five million dollar player or whatever he's making. Honestly,
would if you just had a good team, would you
want Matt Ryan to be yours arder? Because I wouldn't.
I just wouldn't want Matt Ryan to be my starting quarterback.
I like the guy. I saw him when I went
(42:05):
to the AT and T Pebble Beach golf tournament, stood
right next to him. He's actually a lot taller than
you think. I've watched him have great games against the
Niners over the years. I've seen him playing in person
several times. Used to be really good. I don't think
he's any good anymore. Since it looks like Atlanta will
move on from Matt Ryan. There's a lot of Matt
and Ryan talk and Jimmy g on a team friendly deal.
Could you see Kyle Shanahan. There's a lot of people
(42:27):
that want Matt Ryan and Kyle Shanahan to get back together.
You know this feels a little like Brad and Angelina, like,
can't we just let a divorce be a divorce? Can't
we just let the breakup or not? Angelina Jennifer Lawrence
like they had a good run, they went to the
super Bowl. They want an MVP and it's over. Sometimes
when you get divorced, just go date someone new. There's
(42:47):
what do they tell you when you're young. There's a
lot of fish in the sea. Like, there's a lot
of people out there. I watch college football on Saturdays.
Quarterbacks everywhere. I mean, jamis, try something else. I mean
maybe I'm I got an agenda and I gotta bias
here because I got to watch the Niners so closely.
I just don't want to watch Matt Ryan. Plus I
just think, like, go find someone else. There's a million
(43:08):
quarterbacks never been easier to find a quarterback. I mean,
there's every guy it feels like can play a little.
I'd rather just do something else, so I'd say no one.
Matt Ryan question how many teams break their salary cap
down by positions or try to stay close to a
percentage of a cap per position. I eat old line
gets fifteen percent of cap. Wide receivers nine percent. What
(43:32):
I think happens is every team in the league prints
out every other team in the league and sees how
every team's every team does it, and then whatever team
you're aspiring to be like, or you feel the best teams,
you kind of look and see if there are balances
that they do. But you are kind of at the
mercy of who you have on your own team, right
(43:53):
Like if you have a rookie quarterback that's making five
million dollars, or if you have Aaron Rodgers that's make
thirty five million dollars, immediately changes it. If you have
Michael Thomas that makes twenty or if you have a
bunch of young wide receivers don't make any money. Like,
but if you don't have any good offensive lineman, you know,
but you have a great defensive line and great corners
(44:13):
and a great quarterback. I think in theory, it's easy
to write it down, like go to the whiteboard, we
want this percentage here, this percentage here. But then you
draft a guy and that guy sucks. But your fourth round,
you know linebacker is an all pro. You know you
end up paying him when you wanted to pay a
right tackle. I just think you're very very you just
(44:35):
at the mercy of the players on your own team
and who's worth getting paid. Thanks for making the long
commutes to work a little more enjoyable. I appreciate that.
I'm glad you're able to work doing these crazy times.
Do you see Anthony Lenz turning this season around. No.
He is a high character guy, and it seems like
the Chargers still playing hard for him despite all the injuries. Conversely,
(44:57):
if the Chargers post another losing season, you see them
firing both Anthony Lynn and the GM to LESCo. I
think to LESCo has done a good job. I think
he picks good players. I think they have a lot
of talent. I think Anthony Lynn is not good. He
can't be the head coach of your team if you
want to make the playoffs consistently. I know he made
the playoffs. The one year we remember one that Thursday
night game when Philip Rivers beat the Chiefs. Fantastic come back.
(45:21):
But I yeah, Anthony Lynns, he's gots to go. And
you know he's probably gonna be a good assistant coach.
He'd be a good assistant head coach, you know, running
back coach. I wouldn't want them oc too conservative. There
are times to be conservative in life. Right when when
the stock markets crashing, as it might do in a
couple of weeks with the election coming around, just take
(45:43):
a deep breath, let the stock let your stocks go crazy,
you know, just take a deep breath. When when you're
down five points or seven points and you got to
drive the length of the field. You need to pass
the ball, not run ball, or not run the not
run a draw play. And every time I see Anthony Lynn,
I just go, guy, this guy wants to run it. God,
he wants to run it. And then I get people
(46:03):
like he's not even the offensive coordinator. Yeah, he's the boss.
He can tell the offensive coordinator to do whatever he wants.
And he's just he's just not good enough. He's not
He's just I don't know, quite what he does like
a CEO head coach. But he's like a conservative CEO
head coach. Like when you, for example, Hardball is a
CEO head coach. Well, what do the Ravens do? They
go for it a lot. They're aggressive, even though they
(46:26):
have a run first mentality. But that's a lot because
of the quarterback. But like when I watched the Hardball coach,
I don't feel like he coaches scared. When I watched
Anthony Lynn coach, I feel like he's coaching just to
hold on. It's like, bro, just let it rip. You're
a head coach in the NFL with a really talented team.
Put the pedal to the metal, like you know, don't play,
don't coach scared. You're not gonna have this job much
(46:48):
longer if you do that. There is a lot I
can't even I swear to God. Every DM I open
is Kyle Shanahan, Maddy Ice. Look, I'm gonna ended on this,
and maybe I'm wrong because Mattie, Matt Ryan. Maybe it's
just a product of the crappy team Dan Quinn, even
(47:09):
though Dan has nothing to do with the offense. I
think I think Matt Ryan shot. I would not mess
with him. I'm not messing with quarterbacks in twenty twenty
who are bad athletes and don't have a good arm.
Why would you want a quarterback who's a bad athlete
and who has a bad arm. You know the other
name that's gonna get brought up with Kyle Shanahan. If
this goes wrong this year with Jimmy Garoppolo, it's gonna
be Kirk Cousins, you know who. If I'm a general manager,
(47:30):
I'm out on Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan. I don't
want my quarterbacks to not be able to move and
not have great arms. And I'd probably take, as crazy
as it sounds, I'd rather have Kirk Cousins in twenty
twenty over Matt Ryan, all things being equal, which is
insane to say out loud, but I just said it.
I don't want either of those type players. I want
to Josh Allen, I want to Justin Herbert. I want
(47:51):
a guy that can move around Sean Watson, obviously Mahomes,
but I want a guy that can move that's Carson Wentz.
I know, not this virgin of Carson Wentz. Put a
younger Roethlisberger. I need athleticism out with the quarterback position. Well,
we talked about on Monday Night with Justin Herbert. That's
what I'm looking for. That move the pocket, rocket arm
(48:13):
and then you mold it. It's what Andy Reid deal
with Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl later four and fifty million
dollar contract. They're in a good position. Even though it's
Greg Gaell. He's got to play a little bit better
in the pocket, but you know, you know, he's just
having a couple off games. Appreciate everyone listening. Again, Three
and Out Podcasts. Go subscribe. If you got a tesla,
I'll work on that and keep swaying. Enjoy the weekend,
(48:34):
enjoy the football, and I'll see you next week. Again.
Subscribe to the podcast three and Out on its own
feet audios. If you love to be remembered as the
(49:04):
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