Speaker 1: The volume are Week twelve Reaction presented by Uber Eats
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Speaker 1: we're going to have an hour and a half with
Speaker 1: John Middelcoff tonight, but I was going to just talk
Speaker 1: about the Eagles thrashing the Rams tonight in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: It feels inevitable. Philadelphia and Detroit in the NFC Championship.
Speaker 1: Those are stack rosters. The Rams actually have a great coach,
Speaker 1: excellent quarterback, nice weapons, and a really strong defensive front.
Speaker 1: And it was completely worked tonight. Almost five hundred yards
Speaker 1: for the Eagles, two hundred and fifty five yards for
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. The Eagles offensive line and the Lions offensive
Speaker 1: line are so much better than the rest of the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: I four of the five Eagle o linemen I think
Speaker 1: could get honors, just dominating performance. And again the Rams
Speaker 1: have some talented young guys up front, you know, and
Speaker 1: a lot of this Howie Roseman, the GM this league
Speaker 1: is front offices are so important. Teams like Cincinnati just
Speaker 1: don't make deals, and so it's Joe Burrow a couple
Speaker 1: of your receivers and they're just a limited roster. Philadelphia
Speaker 1: is constantly trade deadline, usually not necessarily this year, but
Speaker 1: big players at the trade deadline, off season, free agency,
Speaker 1: Draft Day deals, and you see the value of it.
Speaker 1: I mean, even without Devonte Smith at wide receiver because
Speaker 1: he's banged up, they lost Sleigh the corner during the game.
Speaker 1: In every unit. The Eagles have a great, great player.
Speaker 1: And you know, I talked about this before the season.
Speaker 1: I said, the eye idea of letting your best player
Speaker 1: go the New York Giants to go to the Eagles
Speaker 1: is insane. I mean, can you imagine you know, I
Speaker 1: know it's not perfectly analogous, but the Chiefs, you know,
Speaker 1: letting the Chargers have Mahomes in his prime. Now the
Speaker 1: Chargers have their own quarterback, but the best player on
Speaker 1: the New York Giants was allowed to go to their
Speaker 1: primary rival. Saquon Barkley. Think about this, has twelve touchdowns
Speaker 1: this year, the Giants have sixteen, last in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Saquon has ten plays this year of thirty plus yards.
Speaker 1: That's the same as the entire New York Giants offense.
Speaker 1: Giants let him walk. I think there's an argument MVP
Speaker 1: this year. Boy after tonight. I mean, Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year has got to be bow Knicks at least offensive
Speaker 1: rookie of the Year. I would not have a problem
Speaker 1: with Saquon Barkley being MVP. I would have no problem.
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy is he is separated from the
Speaker 1: league at running back again. McCaffrey last year fully healthy,
Speaker 1: but McCaffrey this year is not the same. Yeah, Saquon
Speaker 1: Barkley is. There's just nothing like him. I mean, every
Speaker 1: single carry looks like he's one broken tackle from going
Speaker 1: the distance, and he did it, you know, twice the night.
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley is on pace to set the NFL rushing
Speaker 1: record and scrimmage yards record. So if you're thinking to yourself, man,
Speaker 1: he's having like a incredible year. Yeah, the most incredible
Speaker 1: year ever potentially for Saquon Barkley. It has like a
Speaker 1: KD to the Warriors feel where you're looking at a
Speaker 1: team that's good enough to win the title and she's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're just gonna we're gonna throw in this
Speaker 1: guy that is you know the best at his position,
Speaker 1: and he'll finally actually have teammates that can help him,
Speaker 1: and you know, a staff that can help him, and
Speaker 1: a quarterback who's a threat to run as well, so
Speaker 1: you can't just hone in on him. It's just insane.
Speaker 1: And by the way, the other player the Giants let
Speaker 1: go was a safety who now leads the NFL, and
Speaker 1: interceptions got the Giants are so poorly run. But you know, Barkley,
Speaker 1: I've said before, I think the best running back I
Speaker 1: ever saw was Walter Payton, Barry Sanders probably too Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey's dexterity and his ability to do so many things
Speaker 1: probably puts him third. But McCaffrey does not look the
Speaker 1: same this year, and instead Saquon Barkley was always an
Speaker 1: excellent player, but he is and there's no other way
Speaker 1: to say this. His ability to start and stop has improved.
Speaker 1: He's just faster and quicker this year. And you know,
Speaker 1: there are just certain things. Remember a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago when the Lions drafted Jamiir Gibbs the running back,
Speaker 1: and people crushed them for it, but their offensive line
Speaker 1: was so good it was guaranteed to be productive and
Speaker 1: as you've seen, the Lions just run over people. That's
Speaker 1: the thing about Saquon Barkley. I mean, look how productive
Speaker 1: he was with the Giants offensive line. And the other
Speaker 1: thing the Eagles have that the Giants didn't. The Eagles
Speaker 1: have star receivers on the outside of a j Brown's remarkable,
Speaker 1: so it forces safeties not to cheat and they can't
Speaker 1: cheat inside the box. So you just knew it was
Speaker 1: going to be incredibly remarkably productive for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what the New York Giants do
Speaker 1: with their football operation, but their front office just doesn't
Speaker 1: know what the hell they're doing. And the Eagles is
Speaker 1: arguably the best, and Detroit's is excellent, and Kansas City's excellent,
Speaker 1: and that's why those teams were at the top of
Speaker 1: the league. It's not just the coach at the quarterback
Speaker 1: the Lions right now, the Eagles with Howie Roseman, Kansas City,
Speaker 1: Buffalo's got a very very good front office, and they
Speaker 1: just take advantage of the weaker teams and the less
Speaker 1: capable front offices. So I love watching Philadelphia play. You know,
Speaker 1: I've got my questions regarding Nick Sarianni, but as I've
Speaker 1: said people do learn on the job, and that's okay too.
Speaker 1: Not everybody's Andy Reid or Sean Payton. Some guys are
Speaker 1: learning on the job. McDonald the coach for the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: or Mike McDaniel the coach for the Dolphins, you know, everybody.
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel is a really smart guy. He'd never been
Speaker 1: a head coach. There's some things you don't know how
Speaker 1: to do until you do them. And so I think
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel with Miami Dolphins are a fascinating team right now.
Speaker 1: They I mean that game with New England was weird.
Speaker 1: New England had played well, that wasn't even competitive three
Speaker 1: drives in. So I just I think Philadelphia and Detroit
Speaker 1: it feels inevitable. I mean, San Francisco is not the
Speaker 1: same team. Washington's cooled off Rams. You know again, Rams
Speaker 1: have some good players. The Rams need a left tackle,
Speaker 1: a boundary receiver and a corner and the quarterback for
Speaker 1: the future. They probably have two more years of Stafford,
Speaker 1: but they couldn't compete tonight. You know what's interesting is
Speaker 1: the Eagles are last in the NFL in first quarter
Speaker 1: scoring and first and second half scoring. Well, what does
Speaker 1: that tell you the first quarter the Rams were good,
Speaker 1: why scheming mcvaigh Stafford. But the Rams in the second half,
Speaker 1: they just get worn down. They don't have the personnel.
Speaker 1: So the Eagles are a great second half team because
Speaker 1: they just wear you down. Their offensive line wears you down.
Speaker 1: And you saw it the first half. The Rams were
Speaker 1: very competitive, but they just don't have the personnel over
Speaker 1: the course of four hours to compete with Philadelphia. So
Speaker 1: you know, that's my problem with Philadelphia as I just
Speaker 1: think I think their talent's remarkable, and I think sometimes
Speaker 1: they're under coached. It's very, very weird that you just
Speaker 1: don't score in the first quarter when you have the
Speaker 1: best offensive line or second best offensive line in football,
Speaker 1: two star receivers, the best current running back, a more
Speaker 1: than capable quarterback. You average seven and a half yards
Speaker 1: per play tonight, and you can't you can't dynamic in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. That's a scheming issue. But by Philadelphia
Speaker 1: is something else to watch. They are fun to watch
Speaker 1: because even though Detroit's a powerhouse offensively, there's just something
Speaker 1: about Saquon Barkley and AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts. There's
Speaker 1: just a lot you get the steak and you get
Speaker 1: the sizzle with the Philadelphia Eagles. And I've been saying
Speaker 1: this for the last couple of weeks. I felt like Buffalo,
Speaker 1: Kansas City, and the Lions where the Super Bowl teams
Speaker 1: put Philadelphia in that group. There are four teams now
Speaker 1: that feel like they have separated from the pack. I
Speaker 1: thought tonight's Eagle performance was really impressive. Fly cross country
Speaker 1: against a great quarterback and a great coach and a
Speaker 1: really good young defensive line for the Rams, and they
Speaker 1: were manhandled, literally manhandled. Fly Eagles Fly. The NFL season's
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Speaker 1: All Right. Time for another Sunday hour and a half
Speaker 1: pod with John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. I don't remember
Speaker 1: having a Sunday where I was on the wrong side
Speaker 1: of virtually everything except the Broncos game. What a crazy
Speaker 1: Every favorite I like, every dog, I like, fail to
Speaker 1: cover every favorite I was gunshy on covered. Let's start
Speaker 1: with Green Bay thirty eight, San Francisco ten.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you knew it was troubles Out brought
Speaker 1: pretty out Trent Out, But as I was watching this,
Speaker 1: it was more than that, because, I mean Green Bay
Speaker 1: gave them opportunities. I think you have to have a
Speaker 1: hard look in the mirror, and it's hard in the
Speaker 1: NFL when you still have really good people in the
Speaker 1: locker room. I think this franchise needs a complete reboot.
Speaker 1: If you look at the Detroits, the Green Bays, Buffalo,
Speaker 1: Kansas City, the Chargers are up and coming. San Francisco
Speaker 1: is like an old fighter, John, They're like an old boxer.
Speaker 1: Last year, you know they were hanging on, had one
Speaker 1: last good fight. Stop drafting receivers, rebuild the O lines
Speaker 1: and D lines, Bosa's hurt, Kittle's hurt, McCaffrey's hurt. You
Speaker 1: know this organization well, but listen, Green Bay was going
Speaker 1: to win this game. You could tell two series in.
Speaker 1: I think San Francisco has to hyper aggressively reboot the franchise.
Speaker 3: Well, it's tough. You're paying all these guys all this money.
Speaker 3: They've recently best I think the best thing that could
Speaker 3: happen to them, because they're not making the playoffs. Keep
Speaker 3: losing these games. I said, you know, today was not
Speaker 3: a great day for Dallas, Like they're not going to
Speaker 3: the playoffs. You win and ruin your draft position. If
Speaker 3: you're the forty nine ers, you want to be drafting seventh,
Speaker 3: not fifteenth, right because we know quarterbacks usually go and
Speaker 3: that gives you an opportunity to get one of the
Speaker 3: best players on the board. They played Buffalo next week,
Speaker 3: that's a loss. You know, the Rams, they still play
Speaker 3: the Cardinals, like they could lose these games, and I
Speaker 3: would imagine they do. So, I mean, I think you're
Speaker 3: looking at at at best a seven win team, and
Speaker 3: I think right now, you know, not winning maybe one
Speaker 3: more game the rest of the season. This pretty thing
Speaker 3: was well reported today like they're not even sure what's
Speaker 3: going on. Bosa hurt one hip that he heard another
Speaker 3: Trent's just a weathered, you know, older player that this team,
Speaker 3: you know, what they need, They kind of need to
Speaker 3: get bounced in the first round or I mean, and
Speaker 3: you know, not even make it to the first round
Speaker 3: of the playoffs and get extra time off and get
Speaker 3: to reset. It happened to the Warriors. Remember they had
Speaker 3: twenty twenty. Twenty twenty was really rough couple of years.
Speaker 3: Then they were fresh than they won a champion.
Speaker 1: Well remember the Niners' last Super Bowl loss went six
Speaker 1: and ten were injury ravaged.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I to me, the best easiest way for
Speaker 3: them to get players. They're not gonna have a lot
Speaker 3: of cap space because of all the big cap you
Speaker 3: know hits they have with players, is to have like
Speaker 3: the eighth pick in the draft, because it's not just
Speaker 3: the first round, it's every round, and they've proven to
Speaker 3: be able to draft really well in the fourth, fifth,
Speaker 3: sixth round. When you're drafting in the top ten, you know,
Speaker 3: there aren't really many excuses to miss, like when they're
Speaker 3: drafting in the late twenties. So I think the best
Speaker 3: case scenario roll out. The team they're rolling out, and
Speaker 3: they're gonna their schedule is hard. I mean they still
Speaker 3: play the Dolphins, who look good right now. Obviously they
Speaker 3: got the Bills next week. They're just gonna naturally lose
Speaker 3: a lot of games, which I think is really gonna
Speaker 3: benefit them long term.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's interesting. I was watching Caleb Williams,
Speaker 1: who was just he's such a talented guy. Boone Nicks
Speaker 1: looks fantastic. Jaden Daniels has hit the cliff Kingsbury wall,
Speaker 1: you know, around Thanksgiving. Even in college, his teams tended
Speaker 1: to swoon late and I looked at rock Perty. They're
Speaker 1: gonna keep him right. I mean, you can't pay him
Speaker 1: fifty million, but they're gonna broke her a deal here
Speaker 1: probably in the forties. Is that what you think?
Speaker 3: Do they do? They have to? Though? Colin, what? Why?
Speaker 3: Why are we always in such a rush? Like he's
Speaker 3: he's not struggling to put food on the table. He's
Speaker 3: making millions of dollars off the field. It's an incredible
Speaker 3: spot for him with Kyle if you win six or
Speaker 3: seven games and listen, this hasn't been his fault necessarily,
Speaker 3: But why are we in a rush to spend fifty
Speaker 3: million when clearly what there are four or five guys
Speaker 3: in the league that you feel really good about it,
Speaker 3: and then the next five guys making that much money
Speaker 3: or somewhat of a roller coaster. Yeah, I would have
Speaker 3: no problem giving him that. I don't know Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 3: Daniel Jones eighty ninety and everyone's like, well he'll never
Speaker 3: take that, Well, then we won't do a deal. You know,
Speaker 3: if he would have got me back to the NFC
Speaker 3: Championship game this year, you wouldn't have had a choice.
Speaker 3: But they're not sniffing the playoffs. He's injured. Now we're
Speaker 3: playing it out Like the problem with Dallas playing it
Speaker 3: out is you knew how it was going to play out.
Speaker 3: Why can't we just take a deep breath and see
Speaker 3: how see what happens? Where is he going? Yeah, well
Speaker 3: it's a better situation. Who's who's lining up one, he's
Speaker 3: not a free agent, but who's lining up on the
Speaker 3: open market to give him, let's just say, one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty million dollars a year? Who you bigging against?
Speaker 3: So they regret the IU contract, they have to if
Speaker 3: they could do that over again, they would have traded
Speaker 3: him before the draft. I mean, there's not even so
Speaker 3: let's take a deep breath, let's just play it out,
Speaker 3: and that that's what I I would say. Most of
Speaker 3: my life, what up until the last four or five years,
Speaker 3: that's usually how business used to happen. Unless your name
Speaker 3: was like Peyton Manning or Ladanian Tomlinson or some like
Speaker 3: all time great player. Most players usually had to fight
Speaker 3: for their cash. And now, just because the league's flush
Speaker 3: with it, we just give it away. And again I
Speaker 3: have no problem giving it to the elite guys. Hell,
Speaker 3: Trent Williams, you need a boost, I'll give you a boost.
Speaker 3: Rock Perty, Like, let's just take a deep breath, everybody.
Speaker 3: And that's been my stance all along, is why can't
Speaker 3: What was the rush to pay Trevor Lawrence? Does any
Speaker 3: team regret a contract more than the Jags, Like five
Speaker 3: weeks into the contract, at least two of has proven like,
Speaker 3: but again, Tua's not making two hundred.
Speaker 1: Plus try out, that's right.
Speaker 3: So and the party thing was being talked about, well,
Speaker 3: it's the Trevor Lawrence and it's like, well, if I'd
Speaker 3: give him one hundred and forty million dollars right now.
Speaker 3: But that's not what the ballpark that has been discussed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's such a big decision. I'd peel
Speaker 1: off some of the players. I would have moved off
Speaker 1: Deebo last year. I wouldn't have paid Ayuk. I think
Speaker 1: they've been a little negligent on the offensive line. They've
Speaker 1: they've attacked the defensive line. I think they've been a
Speaker 1: bit negligent on the offensive line.
Speaker 3: I just don't They're not Colin, They're not negligent. They've
Speaker 3: been Kyle and the offensive line coach have been open
Speaker 3: about their philosophical belief of skill players are more important
Speaker 3: than offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Oh, you can tell they believe.
Speaker 3: In that zone scheme that I can take mainly average guys.
Speaker 3: Obviously Trent is their outlier. But how'd they get Trent?
Speaker 3: They got him for a third round pick, right, and
Speaker 3: the only reason he didn't go to Minnesota who was
Speaker 3: offering way mor Is he refused to go there because
Speaker 3: he wanted to play for his guy, Kyle. So they've
Speaker 3: openly said, yeah, we don't take offensive lineman if we
Speaker 3: believe a skill guy's on the board higher the football
Speaker 3: I was around growing up, you know with coach Hill,
Speaker 3: who came from Belichick, and then Andy Reid and Howie Roseman,
Speaker 3: they would laugh at that they would take offensive lineman
Speaker 3: in the first round and then they take him again
Speaker 3: in the second round.
Speaker 1: Well, the Texan should have attacked the offensive line, not
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs. And by the way, Jim Harbaugh had a choice,
Speaker 1: he took Joe alt Over. I was told he wanted
Speaker 1: Brian Thomas to get from LSU. So I mean, I
Speaker 1: think you can find receivers anywhere. I think it's very
Speaker 1: hard to find elite tackles out of the first round. Okay,
Speaker 1: overtime Minnesota thirty Bears twenty seven. Both quarterbacks played well.
Speaker 1: I'll get to Caleb in a second. I thought Sam
Speaker 1: Darnold got hurt, came back overtime, some big time throws
Speaker 1: Sam twenty two to thirty four, three hundred plus yards,
Speaker 1: a couple of touchdowns. Vikings had it won multiple times
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. Let it slip away. But my
Speaker 1: takeaway on this is it's not just that Sam is
Speaker 1: gonna win like comeback player of the year.
Speaker 3: Right now.
Speaker 1: I think you have to take Minnesota. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: not as good as Detroit I think they can play
Speaker 1: with anybody, including Philadelphia and the NFC. Like I just
Speaker 1: think the Vikings are a real team.
Speaker 3: Well, their offenses so botent, I mean at any moment.
Speaker 3: I mean, Jefferson is one of the best players in
Speaker 3: the league any position. And how good is Jordan Addison
Speaker 3: if he's going to be your number two? And that
Speaker 3: nailor guy, I don't even know much about him. He
Speaker 3: makes plays every time I watch him play. Their running game,
Speaker 3: they're offensive coaching. You know, Sam's arm is just big,
Speaker 3: so you know in terms of explosive plays, and defensively,
Speaker 3: they don't have like I would say, excellent players like
Speaker 3: they did in the peak of the Zimmer days when
Speaker 3: Kendrick and Harrison Smith and some of their pass rushers
Speaker 3: were in the prime of their career. But we all
Speaker 3: agree that he's one of the better defensive schemers in
Speaker 3: the league. So from a coaching standpoint high end, are
Speaker 3: they the sneakiest nine to two team in the history
Speaker 3: of the league. Well, yeah, because because they're not going
Speaker 3: to win the division right and more than likely I
Speaker 3: guess they only have They're only one game behind, but
Speaker 3: they'll be the fifth seed. But they will have consistently
Speaker 3: played pretty well. I mean today, let's face I mean
Speaker 3: took an onside kick with twenty seconds left for them
Speaker 3: to get in position to right kick a field goal,
Speaker 3: like they should have won that game in regulation. What
Speaker 3: what percentage time does an onside kick hit?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: Two percent? Not even?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And I think you know, one of the things
Speaker 1: with Minnesota, it's like, you know, they were zero for
Speaker 1: five in the red zone against Jacksonville. They had today's
Speaker 1: game wrapped up. They they're just not talented enough to
Speaker 1: make mistakes. Like Detroit didn't play brilliant football today, went
Speaker 1: on the road and beat a pretty decent Colts team
Speaker 1: in front of a tough environment, And it's like, that's
Speaker 1: a great team. I mean, I think I think Detroit,
Speaker 1: if you look at they look like the Moss Brady Patriots.
Speaker 1: Like Minnesota's a good team. The margins are tighter. And again,
Speaker 1: but I think you have to we have to be
Speaker 1: honest about this whole Sam Darnold thing. JJ McCarthy's team.
Speaker 1: Next year, Sam is going to have an absolute market.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any question.
Speaker 3: Are we sure? Though? Because what do you do if,
Speaker 3: let's say, all of a sudden you're in the NFC
Speaker 3: championship game against the Detroit Lions, and you've beaten let's say,
Speaker 3: you know, the Falcons in the first round, and then
Speaker 3: you take out the whoever, maybe the Eagles in the
Speaker 3: second round. I don't know exactly how the seating would
Speaker 3: play out. And then you lose the tight game to Detroit.
Speaker 3: Maybe you lose by a couple touchdowns. But Sam has
Speaker 3: multiple playoff victories and you just watch them and you
Speaker 3: think like you do when you watch Jared Goff, like
Speaker 3: he's solid, he's a winning player. He's not obviously he's
Speaker 3: gonna make some mistakes. He's different than Jared, But you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, a couple of years ago, it
Speaker 3: is pretty clear, like you can win with this guy
Speaker 3: if you build a good team. They build a good team.
Speaker 3: And especially if what if he wins a playoff game,
Speaker 3: a starting left tackle who's like the young Trent Williams
Speaker 3: of the league is gone. So and today the guy
Speaker 3: that trade for gets herd and as Quisenberry comes in,
Speaker 3: I mean, that's just a lot of moving parts. Well,
Speaker 3: what does he bring to the table. He can move around,
Speaker 3: So I the Vikings would like pay millions of dollars
Speaker 3: to know that JJ McCarthy is gonna look like Sam
Speaker 3: Darnold in two years, let alone next year. There's no guarantee.
Speaker 3: How often do we see these young players but never
Speaker 3: materialize in anything.
Speaker 1: But you'd have to pay Sam, and you get.
Speaker 3: I understand that. But I'm just saying it's you just
Speaker 3: let him go when you've proven that you can win
Speaker 3: with him, and it's not like he's a thirty six
Speaker 3: year old or thirty eight year old.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven or twenty eight, isn't he.
Speaker 3: I think it puts you in a precarious spot if
Speaker 3: you have playoff. I think it's easy if you're one
Speaker 3: and done, it's an easy transition you win a playoff
Speaker 3: game or two. I think the conversations just get a
Speaker 3: little more serious, which I'm sure they've been having throughout
Speaker 3: the year, because that the NFL's you kind of live
Speaker 3: in the moment, you know. I mean, if you're like, well,
Speaker 3: why if our team's going to be good, we could
Speaker 3: win again this year, that's really all you're focused on.
Speaker 3: It's easy to say the next five years you're really
Speaker 3: focused on twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: I think if you could get a second round or No,
Speaker 1: he's a free agent, so you get no picks.
Speaker 3: I can you franchise them and trade him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think it's quarterback class sucks in college. No,
Speaker 1: I mean even Shaduur's more of a B plus a
Speaker 1: minus prospect than an A plus Jalen Milrow people like,
Speaker 1: but he's he's not fluid. He's gonna take He's better
Speaker 1: than Anthony Richards and out of college, but he's gonna
Speaker 1: take a lot of work and a lot of patience.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting. I mean, let's go to chicagould.
Speaker 3: You give him like a Cousins type deal, like a
Speaker 3: couple of years hundred million, three years, one hundred million dollars,
Speaker 3: and then just figured it out as you go, and
Speaker 3: if he keeps playing well, you can always trade him
Speaker 3: if you like JJ. I think I just think the
Speaker 3: risk saying with with JJ McCarthy injured was a project
Speaker 3: to begin with. I think there was a story within
Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks he needed another surgery because
Speaker 3: of the swelling. I mean, not that that's the end.
Speaker 3: I mean he's still got a long time till twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five season. But I just like this would be
Speaker 3: serious conversations, which I they're one hundred percent having. Doesn't
Speaker 3: mean they're going to do it. But it's a fluid situation.
Speaker 1: So in a losing effort today, I think Chicago is
Speaker 1: the most fascinating four and seven team in the league.
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams made a throw right before the field goal
Speaker 1: descended to overtime. I thought it was the best throw
Speaker 1: I saw today. I mean it was twenty eight yards
Speaker 1: in the air, I mean four Vikings right over and
Speaker 1: they showed the video from behind Caleb. They had four
Speaker 1: hundred yards offense. He had thirty two completions. The box
Speaker 1: score was even. They were down big in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: so Caleb is a pretty fearless kid. They were down
Speaker 1: to a good team twenty four to ten. They came
Speaker 1: roaring back. He had a really bad sack in overtime
Speaker 1: that killed their field position. Vikings get the ball. Sam
Speaker 1: Darnold outplays him in overtime. But for I said before
Speaker 1: the season, I said, the Bears are gonna win seventh.
Speaker 1: They're gonna finish in fourth place. But you're gonna feel
Speaker 1: good about it. You're gonna be like, yeah, we got
Speaker 1: the guy watching that game today and that fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean Greg Cosel told me this week he's like
Speaker 1: that kid. That kid is unbelievable. Like, nothing against Jayden Daniels,
Speaker 1: but he's stronger than Jayden Daniels. Nothing against bow Knicks,
Speaker 1: but he's got a bigger arm than bow Knicks. I
Speaker 1: thought Caleb today had some moments that were just wow.
Speaker 1: That's my take when I watched them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he made a couple throws over the player the
Speaker 3: past year. Throwing is the live version didn't do it
Speaker 3: justice when they showed the replay and he layered that thing.
Speaker 3: But he's Brett Farv strike. How about the two point
Speaker 3: conversion when he hit DJ Moore in the back of
Speaker 3: the end zone and there were a couple other over
Speaker 3: the middle of the field strikes to like Keenan Allen
Speaker 3: where you're like, he was just letting this thing rip.
Speaker 3: And then the usc the reason that everyone was so
Speaker 3: high on him, the scramble threw it down the sideline
Speaker 3: to DJ More might be the best play he's ever
Speaker 3: made of his career. Yeah. He The one thing that
Speaker 3: jumps out these last two weeks is there's more of
Speaker 3: a looseness that feels more collegiate to him. Again, yes,
Speaker 3: that he was really tight. Toward the end of the
Speaker 3: Waldron thing, they fire him, and you just see a
Speaker 3: much looser player. And I, you know, you're scrolling around
Speaker 3: the four boxes listening to different audio. And when I
Speaker 3: clicked over at one point in time during the game,
Speaker 3: they said he had mentioned like I just feel like
Speaker 3: I got my confidence back a little bit, and he's
Speaker 3: playing that way. I think the hard part if you're
Speaker 3: a Pars fan is like, our team actually probably wasn't
Speaker 3: that far away this year. What let us down? It was, well,
Speaker 3: we've been pretty They muffed a punt today and they
Speaker 3: had a field goal blocked. Again. They had back to
Speaker 3: back field goal blocks.
Speaker 1: If you count last week they led to two Vikings scores.
Speaker 1: So they're five and eighteen in one possession games under
Speaker 1: eber Flus, and they're a terrible road team, meaning close games.
Speaker 3: He's never uber Flues has never won a road game
Speaker 3: on a Sunday colin the NFL plays on Sundays.
Speaker 1: Well, look at look how much better the offense got
Speaker 1: when Waldron left. Okay, so we saw leak. I mean,
Speaker 1: look at bone next with Sean Payton. Can you imagine
Speaker 1: if they get this guy a sharp, offensive coach.
Speaker 3: But you know the hard part though, is Colin And
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know this guy. I just
Speaker 3: know him from the outside, and I don't think that
Speaker 3: highly of him. Is partly because you have a business
Speaker 3: guy and Kevin Warren. There was a segment of The
Speaker 3: Hard Knocks where Ryan Poles was extending DJ Moore to
Speaker 3: one of the biggest contracts in the history of the Bears,
Speaker 3: and in Hard Knocks he's reading out some of the
Speaker 3: details of the contract not to the owners, but to
Speaker 3: Kevin Warren, and I went, that's a problem because and
Speaker 3: listen to everyone around Chicago knows Kevin Warren and it's
Speaker 3: been well reported. Poles and ebra Flu's answer to him,
Speaker 3: not the owner. So you have like this intermediary middle
Speaker 3: management who's really powerful in the NFL that doesn't work.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine listen, I when I was with the Eagles,
Speaker 3: Don Smelenski like, there are a lot of really good
Speaker 3: presidents that dominate the business side, and they're they're tight
Speaker 3: with their GM and their and their coach. They don't
Speaker 3: dictate the terms of that stuff. On big you go
Speaker 3: to the owner and even some of the owners once
Speaker 3: they get comfortable with you, like unless it's a crazy
Speaker 3: just you do it like I'm good with it, right,
Speaker 3: I trust you. So you have this president who is
Speaker 3: gonna be in charge of the hiring of the coach
Speaker 3: with poles that that that's where it gets weird, Colin,
Speaker 3: and I think a lot of people in Chicago, because
Speaker 3: there's no disputing you watch this team. If Caleb's gonna
Speaker 3: play like the last couple of weeks, it's they're gonna
Speaker 3: be a talented football teaman.
Speaker 1: Allen today was great.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I I just wonder from a coaching stand point,
Speaker 3: guys with options like clearly like Woody Johnson, no thanks, wait,
Speaker 3: I got I have to deal not with the owner
Speaker 3: and not with my GM, but the president of the team.
Speaker 3: Well that's that's a turnof Colin in the business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the and and that man you're speaking of
Speaker 1: was known. I know somebody. I know two people that
Speaker 1: have dealt with him before. Kind of a ladder.
Speaker 3: He's a business guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean a little bit of a ladder climber,
Speaker 1: light on the details sometimes nice enough.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I My take is, and I feel bad for Caleb Williams.
Speaker 1: It's like I I would feel bad for Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: if he wasn't Aaron Rodgers. But some of these organizations
Speaker 1: are just a circus. I mean, the Jets are poorly
Speaker 1: run franchise. The Bears are a poorly run franchise. And
Speaker 1: I just I mean Bill Pollion ran their last coaching search.
Speaker 1: That's why they ended up with Matt Eberfluss. The owners
Speaker 1: called Bill Pollion and said, find us a coach, so
Speaker 1: you know, and he's gonna go, you know, to his allies,
Speaker 1: and I I mean, just watch Bweck's play and tell
Speaker 1: me you don't think Sean Payton and coaching matters.
Speaker 3: It's I mean, but that's a good example of there's
Speaker 3: a guy making eighteen million dollars. He's the boss. Now
Speaker 3: he did it's not his money. If he has a question,
Speaker 3: he goes to the Walton family or the Penners or
Speaker 3: you know, whoever is in charge of the money rights.
Speaker 3: It's really run a lot like a college team would
Speaker 3: be run like Kirby Smart nick sate. They're the boss
Speaker 3: of the operation. It can get weird in the NFL
Speaker 3: because it becomes so corporate, these billion dollar operations. A
Speaker 3: lot of people like their hand in the cookie jar.
Speaker 3: You see these names that are at these meetings with
Speaker 3: Woody Johnson, You're like, who are these other three guys? Well,
Speaker 3: they're like his confidants, right, that you have to deal
Speaker 3: with when you want things done. You know, forever Belichick
Speaker 3: wants somethm done, he you want to write to Robert, right,
Speaker 3: this is what we're doing. It's me and you and Robert.
Speaker 3: Then his son starts getting more involved than it gets
Speaker 3: we And I think one reason I see the Chiefs
Speaker 3: are so well run is because it's just Brett and
Speaker 3: Andy deal with Clark, and I know the forty nine
Speaker 3: ers too, Like it's a very streamline. It's just Kyle
Speaker 3: john Jed York. There's not a lot of other cooks
Speaker 3: in the kitchen. That's what makes me nervous with Chicago
Speaker 3: because you'd be like, they should be all over Rabel. Well,
Speaker 3: Rabel just had a weird experience. Does he want to
Speaker 3: deal with this now? And he's a big ten guy,
Speaker 3: and Kevin Warren not highly thought of with some of
Speaker 3: the football guys. I just that that makes me nervous. Colin.
Speaker 3: I could see it coming from a mile away, these
Speaker 3: stories in January of like, yeah, this is just a
Speaker 3: weird interview because like I didn't know who I was
Speaker 3: answering to. Right, you can see it, you can see
Speaker 3: it coming.
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Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: Cowboys beat Washington thirty four to twenty six complete batshit
Speaker 1: crazy in the fourth quarter. Just a wild game. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure you either watched it, folks or not.
Speaker 3: You know, an a forty points score in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: It was insane. So Cliff Kingsbury always had a reputation
Speaker 1: Jaden Daniels. You know, I was looking at this with
Speaker 1: five minutes left, Jayden Daniels had less than one hundred
Speaker 1: yards passing and Washington had nine points against the thirty
Speaker 1: first scoring defense. So it was a lot of points late.
Speaker 1: But Jaden Daniels. Bow Knicks has completely surpassed Jaden Daniels
Speaker 1: for offensive Rookie of the Year. Like it's not club.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the last six games, it's not close.
Speaker 1: Bonnicks looks confident, accurate, poised, athletic. Jaden's lost his fastball.
Speaker 1: And so you know, I talked to Steve kaim I said,
Speaker 1: you know, can you explain the Cliff Kingsbury college and
Speaker 1: professionals swoon in the second half of the season. And
Speaker 1: Steve just said, he's a very smart, creative guy who
Speaker 1: works in the summer to come in with new stuff,
Speaker 1: and maybe the league catches up with him that he
Speaker 1: doesn't pivot to the second pitch after he's brought in
Speaker 1: new stuff. But Steve didn't really have an answer. But
Speaker 1: you know, he said, hard working, clever, smart. He does
Speaker 1: come in every year with new stuff. But I was
Speaker 1: sitting there watching that thing today, and by the way,
Speaker 1: Washington almost pulled it off. But once again Washington missed Pats.
Speaker 1: They missed a field goal. Special teams in this league
Speaker 1: are I don't remember a year that special teams decided
Speaker 1: more football games. They're just terrible. But I looked at
Speaker 1: this and I thought to myself today, if you could
Speaker 1: redraft all the quarterbacks, and you have to consider Sean
Speaker 1: Payton and the bow next deal, if you could redraft
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks, would you draft them differently? Forget the teams,
Speaker 1: would you redraft them differently?
Speaker 3: Well, I think Caleb's at least quieted, and I listen,
Speaker 3: I was starting to wonder, what the hell are we watching?
Speaker 3: These last two weeks make you feel a lot better.
Speaker 3: I mean, today he made throws where you're like, that's
Speaker 3: what number one overall pick looks like. No disputing, Here's
Speaker 3: where I will defend Jayden Daniels because today he was
Speaker 3: run around pretty well. I came into this season, I
Speaker 3: know you picked him to make the playoffs. I thought
Speaker 3: this was more like a six or seven win team
Speaker 3: that was going to be an impressive operation. But wins
Speaker 3: loss were not going to be what it looked like
Speaker 3: they were going to be three weeks ago. I don't
Speaker 3: think they're that talented Colin. I honestly, I don't think
Speaker 3: they're teams that good. Yeah, Terry mclaurin's good. Their running
Speaker 3: backs getting banged up. Brian Robinson's a good player, but
Speaker 3: he was in and out. So if they're not running
Speaker 3: the ball, well, and here's the one thing. And I
Speaker 3: always thought this about Chip Kelly, and you know, Mike
Speaker 3: Leach never came to the NFL. But Cliff's a good example.
Speaker 3: These spread offenses right early on in the season, rapid
Speaker 3: fire defenses aren't as dialed. Take advantage of it. As
Speaker 3: the season goes on, weather changes a little bit, it
Speaker 3: gets a lot more physical. Well what Dallas happened today.
Speaker 3: Parsons is back now, like their defense is a little
Speaker 3: bit more Yeah, I would say legitimate with him in
Speaker 3: the game, and they were just ready for a brawl,
Speaker 3: like they got pride. I mean, they got a lot of.
Speaker 1: High paid, accurate moves the ball for sure, and it.
Speaker 3: Was a physical game. Yeah. I think sometimes the more
Speaker 3: physical you are, with more of the quote unquote spread offenses,
Speaker 3: you can shove them around a little bit. And I
Speaker 3: think that's really what's happened in my opinion. Now. You know,
Speaker 3: once that I saw on the Denver game is Bonnix
Speaker 3: hasn't turned the ball over in fourteen quarters. One pass
Speaker 3: was on a hail Mary. But Jane Daniels have three
Speaker 3: picks today.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Right, So it's like you start turning the ball over,
Speaker 3: you start forcing things. Games are a little closer. The
Speaker 3: other thing is in the NFL, you know, regardless of records,
Speaker 3: I've always thought, you know, as the season goes on,
Speaker 3: like where do you get a lot of upsets in
Speaker 3: the NFL? Are Division games in November and December with
Speaker 3: a good team versus bad team. We see it every
Speaker 3: year like today, who in their right mind would have
Speaker 3: given Dallas a shot? But you could tell halfway through
Speaker 3: You're like, this is a real game, this is going
Speaker 3: to be tough.
Speaker 1: Well, the tight quarterbacks played great. Yeah, No, it's it's
Speaker 1: I think when I looked at that game, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: Dallas just screwed up. Your drafts spot. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: to your point, I think we have to take a
Speaker 1: deep breath. Washington replaced everybody they came in with a
Speaker 1: new quarterback and a new offense in Cliff Kingsbury's history
Speaker 1: of starting the first six to eight weeks quickly but
Speaker 1: then eventually regression of the meme. Whereas Denver is better
Speaker 1: than people think. Denver's got some really good players, Denver
Speaker 1: has an elite offensive coach, Denver has a college quarterback
Speaker 1: with sixty one starts, and Denver's Cortland Sutton, who, like
Speaker 1: Terry McLaurin, is just a big target that's open all
Speaker 1: the time. And I want to pivot to that game
Speaker 1: because I we haven't talked a lot of Denver on
Speaker 1: our Sunday podcast. So Denver beats the Raiders twenty nine
Speaker 1: nine teams the only game all day. If I would
Speaker 1: have bet every game, I think I would have gotten right.
Speaker 1: So bo Nick's his last eight games, John fifteen touchdowns,
Speaker 1: two picks, and a one oh four passer rating. In
Speaker 1: those games, they're five and three. If the field goal
Speaker 1: is not blocked against the Chiefs, they're six and two.
Speaker 1: Like we have to acknowledge now, Denver with in dead
Speaker 1: cap money. Hell that sacrifice draft capital. I think this
Speaker 1: is a good team. I watch them again. The Raiders
Speaker 1: don't have a lot at quarterback, but they've got some talent.
Speaker 1: I think we have to be honest about this. I
Speaker 1: think Denver's pretty good football team.
Speaker 3: Well, Colin, I think we could be seven days away
Speaker 3: from them being officially, I guess unofficially a playoff team
Speaker 3: because they play Cleveland this week. In Miami, who's obviously
Speaker 3: got it together with Tua back, a lot of people
Speaker 3: think that they are alive and well, well, they play
Speaker 3: the Packers this week. So if Miami loses and they
Speaker 3: are then five and seven and Denver wins, they would
Speaker 3: be eight and five. Like I have a hard time
Speaker 3: seeing Miami catch them. So this is a massive week.
Speaker 3: Like I think Denver's in the playoffs. If they handle
Speaker 3: business this week and all of a sudden you start
Speaker 3: doing the math like they're getting a nine, no doubt.
Speaker 3: But I think they end up with ten and that's
Speaker 3: they basically doubled their win total. Like this. This has
Speaker 3: been a huge year for Sean Payton. Honestly, it's been
Speaker 3: a win win for Russell An Seawan, Yes, some marriages
Speaker 3: break up, go other places, happy as hell with your
Speaker 3: separate significant others. That's how it's worked out here. So
Speaker 3: it's just it was never gonna work. You thought it.
Speaker 3: We all thought it. Anyone with a brain that knows
Speaker 3: these two personalities, even if you don't know him personally,
Speaker 3: you're like, this isn't gonna work. And they broke up,
Speaker 3: and it's gone well for both Listen Right and Sean Payton.
Speaker 3: I think was pretty lucky that, you know, there was
Speaker 3: six quarterbacks in the you know, because a lot of
Speaker 3: them were going high. It just happened to be a
Speaker 3: very unique draft because it's not like they were drafted
Speaker 3: fourth right, so he needed some of the stuff was
Speaker 3: out of his control, and it worked out perfectly. The
Speaker 3: type guy that he would like is the last guy
Speaker 3: off the board in the top fifteen. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: it was a historic draft, right, six guys going top twelve,
Speaker 3: thirteen picks. We might never see that again.
Speaker 1: And Denver has in nine of the last twelve games,
Speaker 1: and this is so big for rookie quarterback. They've held
Speaker 1: opponents under twenty So when bow Knicks maybe struggles today
Speaker 1: a little bit in a couple of drives. They're not
Speaker 1: giving up points.
Speaker 3: So their dbs A their dbs are good. I mean
Speaker 3: every time I look up obviously certain's good. They have
Speaker 3: all these other guys. This is why vance Joseph, which
Speaker 3: Shawn deserves credit for. Because you give up seventy points
Speaker 3: in a game, I would have been like, Shawn, you
Speaker 3: might have to fire this guy by mid season, stick
Speaker 3: it out by the end of the year. Last year.
Speaker 3: They're playing good defense. This year, I think that has
Speaker 3: to be the most surprised unit of the league. They
Speaker 3: feel just on the it test, one of the best
Speaker 3: defenses in the league. I know Gardner Minshew today, but
Speaker 3: the score was a little closer. This guy. Never once
Speaker 3: crossed my mind that the Raiders were gonna win that
Speaker 3: game today.
Speaker 1: No, but they've been doing this now for two months.
Speaker 1: I mean, go to the Kansas City game. They outplayed
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs, and so on the road.
Speaker 3: That's where I think, you know, depending on how this
Speaker 3: Denver more than likely would probably be the seven seed. Baltimore. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, the Baltimo already has four losses. But if
Speaker 3: you're telling me, two of the three wild cards are
Speaker 3: Denver and the Chargers, like anytime you play your wild
Speaker 3: card weekend, you're playing an excellent defense, like you could lose.
Speaker 3: You know, this is not a three seven game series.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, you have a shitty half, You're
Speaker 3: down fourteen to three in the third quarter. We've seen
Speaker 3: this every year. So you got two teams separate from
Speaker 3: obviously Herbert's, you know, an elite player. But even with
Speaker 3: a rookie quarterback. We have seen rookie quarterbacks have success
Speaker 3: in the playffcause they don't have to do that much.
Speaker 3: And that's kind of you know, bo Nicks, as long
Speaker 3: as he didn't turn the ball over and their defense
Speaker 3: played a high level game, why couldn't they win it
Speaker 3: seventeen to fourteen or fifteen to thirteen. They're very comfortable
Speaker 3: playing that way.
Speaker 1: Think about this, and I watched them today. Sean Payton
Speaker 1: does such a good job of two things. Defining He
Speaker 1: gives bon Nicks about eight layups. He gives them a
Speaker 1: lot of easy stuff. And then Nicks deserves credit because
Speaker 1: he is constantly seeking Courtland Sutton and Cortland. Sutton is
Speaker 1: a basketball player with a helmet. I mean that he's
Speaker 1: big in the corner. Jesus big, long athletic, and I've
Speaker 1: always liked Courtland Sutton so and mims Is it can
Speaker 1: be a burner. I like their backs, but you can
Speaker 1: see that he gets bow Nick's easy stuff and then
Speaker 1: bow Bow like Russell does with George Pickens, bow just
Speaker 1: attacks Courtland Sutton. But take out Andy Reid. Just take
Speaker 1: Andy Reid out. Belichick's now not coaching on any given Sunday.
Speaker 1: I'd argue Sean Payton's as good as coach as the
Speaker 1: league has. I absolutely believe that. I think Andy Reid's
Speaker 1: the best, maybe arguably ever. But now that Belichick's out,
Speaker 1: take out Andy Reid. He can go toe to toe.
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Sean McVay. They've had some bad
Speaker 1: offensive halves when people are healthy. So I think a
Speaker 1: lot of this is, you know, it's just funny because
Speaker 1: Shawn's done things to alienate people. He's outspoken. Remember he
Speaker 1: took a shot at the Jets. He was right by
Speaker 1: the way. You know, he took a shot at Nat Hackett.
Speaker 1: He was right by the way. But you know, when
Speaker 1: you lead with your chin, you offend a lot of people.
Speaker 1: You cannot watch Denver and not see the coaching. It's
Speaker 1: it's I mean to me, if you gave Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year today, I don't know how you'd I don't
Speaker 1: know who you'd pick. I think Sean Payton's now after
Speaker 1: that Tomlin time out mess, clock management mess, I think
Speaker 1: I give it to Sean Payton.
Speaker 3: You know. I think it's the one award that, honestly,
Speaker 3: as time goes on, is irrelevant. Right like Belichick, Andy Reed,
Speaker 3: they don't even have that many. Andy Reid doesn't have one.
Speaker 3: As a cancy chiefs head coach like Jim Harbaugh took
Speaker 3: over a team that won five games, they're probably gonna
Speaker 3: win eleven or twelve. And I think the way you
Speaker 3: just describe Sean, I think Jim is definitely mellowed out
Speaker 3: in his older age, but he was a lot like
Speaker 3: that early on in Michigan and definitely with San Francisco
Speaker 3: and both. I mean, look at those two guys. If
Speaker 3: you would have said that the Chargers in Denver, whatever
Speaker 3: the odds, if you would have parlayed those two teams
Speaker 3: to make the playoffs, Colin, they might make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: They might be resting starters by the last week of
Speaker 3: the season. And it's not a coincidence that those guys.
Speaker 3: Here's the other thing. And Sean once he hired Dennis Allen,
Speaker 3: their defense was excellent the last three or four years
Speaker 3: with the Saints. Jim, both offensive guys, former quarterbacks value
Speaker 3: defense and will pay for it and invest in it.
Speaker 3: And that really matters. And I don't think it's shocking.
Speaker 3: And this is why you're watching the Raiders today. You're like,
Speaker 3: can you imagine being the redhead stepchild of your division?
Speaker 3: When you're in that you know, with those three coaches,
Speaker 3: Like what do you even do? Like, you better hope
Speaker 3: Belichick picks up your call this offseason, because if he doesn't,
Speaker 3: you got no shot.
Speaker 1: That was this week Sunday Night Football, brought to you
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Speaker 1: deals all season long, order now for game day. So
Speaker 1: we're talking about that division. Let's talk Chiefs thirty Panthers
Speaker 1: twenty seven. Again. The Margins are thinner, their defense is
Speaker 1: not as good as last year. The red zone offense
Speaker 1: is struggling, you know, and then they get the ball.
Speaker 1: Mahomes makes that great scramble down the left sideline and
Speaker 1: you're like it's really interesting watching them. They're I don't
Speaker 1: think we're giving Kansas City credit for this. It's virtually
Speaker 1: impossible to win back to back titles, even if you
Speaker 1: have Brady and Belichick in their prime, to win back
Speaker 1: to back and be going for a third. There's only
Speaker 1: so many motivational species. You go on the road today
Speaker 1: at Carolina, you're an eleven point favorite, and I mean
Speaker 1: you looked at the film. I mean, all these guys,
Speaker 1: you're not fooling anybody. But I think Kansas City is
Speaker 1: going to be dialed in. Think think a lot of
Speaker 1: their issues now, like today, Do I believe they installed
Speaker 1: everything they have? Do I really believe that? Or do
Speaker 1: I believe there are moments now when they're taking chances
Speaker 1: with offensive players where they're trying to develop a worthy
Speaker 1: or Noah Gray. I kind of feel like when I
Speaker 1: watch Kansas City, they're playing with their food. But again,
Speaker 1: Buffalo is better. I don't think they're buttoned up right now.
Speaker 1: But the way they came down Mahomes three or four,
Speaker 1: big Scramble final Drive, I'm like, experimentations the wrong word.
Speaker 1: But I don't think they're installing everything. I feel like
Speaker 1: they're trying to find out what they are. Is that fair?
Speaker 3: Well, I think I think their defense is not quite
Speaker 3: as good it's in the season, but some injuries. Yes,
Speaker 3: but we've been saying that they're very, very comfortable winning
Speaker 3: these weird games. Yeah, and when there was a when
Speaker 3: there was more than enough time on the clock, even
Speaker 3: when Carolina scoring out the two point, you felt confident
Speaker 3: that they would have a chance at a field goal. Right.
Speaker 3: They were also up twenty seven to nineteen late in
Speaker 3: the game, so it's not like it was flipped and
Speaker 3: they had to have some storming comeback, like they were
Speaker 3: in control of the game. You know, we talked about
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers, right, just ran out of gas. Well,
Speaker 3: they have been to three straight conference championship games and
Speaker 3: won Super Bowl, and then they had a year off
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty, and then they played the Chiefs in
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl in nineteen. The Kansay Chiefs since twenty
Speaker 3: eighteen have gone to every conference championship game and I'm
Speaker 3: pretty sure they've won back to back. They won another
Speaker 3: one and they lost Tampa. They've gone to four of
Speaker 3: the last five Super Bowls and currently are ten to one.
Speaker 3: So it's like, however, they have done. It's remarkable. And
Speaker 3: I watched the Chiefs posted something in Andy in the
Speaker 3: locker room, like we don't apologize for wins around here,
Speaker 3: we're taking everyone's best shot. And say this about Carolina
Speaker 3: the last I would say month, I mean, they had
Speaker 3: won back to back games and then they went on
Speaker 3: a by I kind of had circled that. If the
Speaker 3: Chiefs had beaten the Bills, It's like I might have
Speaker 3: taken them upset special in that and even this game,
Speaker 3: like after that Bills game, the Chiefs are human, Like
Speaker 3: are they gonna give their like you said, not just
Speaker 3: the coaching their best shot, but the players, Like, do
Speaker 3: you take Carolina as seriously as you did the previous week?
Speaker 3: You cannot can't, Like, these are twenty eight, twenty seven,
Speaker 3: twenty six thirty year old human beings, but they're ten
Speaker 3: and one. It's they are on at equally, if not
Speaker 3: more impressive, of any six seven year stretch of the
Speaker 3: New England Patriot dynasty. Of what they're doing right now now.
Speaker 3: If you're a betting man, the Patriots lost a lot
Speaker 3: in the in the second in the conference championship game.
Speaker 3: Over twenty years, this you would say probably based on
Speaker 3: what I've seen, wouldn't shock me if they lost in
Speaker 3: the second round, right or in the conference championship game,
Speaker 3: especially depending. I mean now they only have the one
Speaker 3: game over the Bills, but they are this is a
Speaker 3: weird down year for them, and they're gonna be what
Speaker 3: fourteen and three maybe fifteen and two class that's an
Speaker 3: incredible accomplishment. So when we talk about the Andy Reid comparent,
Speaker 3: Belichick like.
Speaker 1: With injuries, they're trying to figure out the red zone offense,
Speaker 1: they haven't had Isaiah Pacheco, like they're they're experimenting. They
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what they are. For the record, we
Speaker 1: know the Raiders and the Giants are drafting a quarterback.
Speaker 1: I watched Bryce Young today, who's arguably the best quarterback
Speaker 1: ever in Southern California high school history, who was dominant
Speaker 1: in college. I ran into his high school coach the
Speaker 1: other night at Modern Day, a legend who's retired, and
Speaker 1: I said, best player you ever had?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: First second name out was Bryce Young. He's like, he's
Speaker 1: just a remarkable player, great kid. I don't think Carolina's
Speaker 1: going to draft a quarterback. I think the class is
Speaker 1: two weak. I think they think Bryce is better than
Speaker 1: anybody outside of shadhor Sanders. I think Caroline is going
Speaker 1: to give Bryce Young another year. What's say you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say he's done a lot like his
Speaker 3: version of what Caleb has done these last couple of weeks. Yep,
Speaker 3: you know, over the last three game for him, he's
Speaker 3: looked like a real player. Now, if you could do
Speaker 3: it all over again, would you have mortgaged what you
Speaker 3: did to get him? I mean I think probably not.
Speaker 3: I would not, but he has been more than respectable
Speaker 3: these last three weeks. And he you know, confidence is
Speaker 3: a powerful thing for young players. Listen, He's not he's
Speaker 3: a little small, not a great athlete, but he does
Speaker 3: have a natural feel for the position. And that's what
Speaker 3: was so head scratching when they essentially had to bench him,
Speaker 3: is he was inaccurate. He was making awful decisions. He
Speaker 3: just looked lost and maybe sometimes like you just take
Speaker 3: a reset. Listen. I think Anthony Richardson, even today they
Speaker 3: kind of got work, just has looked a lot better.
Speaker 3: I thought he looked a lot better today. Take a
Speaker 3: deep breath. I don't know if Bryce needed to be
Speaker 3: like humbled like Anthony Richardson, but he definitely like just
Speaker 3: take a step back was probably healthy for him, and
Speaker 3: he looks like a real NFL quarterback. Now, their team
Speaker 3: a lot of question marks. Is their coaching staff good enough?
Speaker 3: Is their talent long way to go? But I'm with you,
Speaker 3: like would you gonna draft cam Ward or Quinn you or.
Speaker 1: Someth the same thing. In Tennessee. They beat the Texans
Speaker 1: today and so that's I mean, this is not a
Speaker 1: game that's riveting, but the Titans thirty two, Texans twenty seven.
Speaker 1: So listen the last six games. C J. Stroud is
Speaker 1: really struggling. They went and got Stefan Diggs should have
Speaker 1: probably addressed the interior O line.
Speaker 3: C J.
Speaker 1: Stroud is hurrying everything. He is struggling. He has a
Speaker 1: seventy four passer rating in his last six games. He
Speaker 1: is really struggling. But I watched Will Levis today and
Speaker 1: my take is with Bryce Young and Will Levis, I'm
Speaker 1: just keeping them. I'm giving him another year. I mean, hell,
Speaker 1: the Giants paid Daniel Jones. I don't think Daniels as
Speaker 1: natural as Bryce Young. I don't think he's as I
Speaker 1: don't think he has the arm of Will Levis. In
Speaker 1: my take, watching Will Levis today the last two weeks,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like, yeah, they got boat raced by Detroit.
Speaker 1: They don't have the same level of players. But I
Speaker 1: watched Will Levis and Bryce Young and my take is,
Speaker 1: we like c J. Stroud and we see what he's
Speaker 1: going through, and Houston's got better players than the Titans.
Speaker 1: I thought Will Levis today bought himself absolutely another year.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can go get Sam Donold in the market.
Speaker 1: I think they're just gonna stick with him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, Will did give you the
Speaker 3: one pick six, No he mad, He did make some
Speaker 3: fantastic throws down the field. Something is really off with Houston.
Speaker 3: I mean, they have not looked good in a way,
Speaker 3: even in their wins. It's just they looked a lot different.
Speaker 3: Maybe it was their schedule last year. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: protecting CJ has been a problem, but they look they
Speaker 3: look like a lock to be a one and done.
Speaker 3: You know, if you tell me they're playing the Chargers
Speaker 3: or the Ravens in the first round the way they're playing,
Speaker 3: I'd say Cyanara. But but I hear you, like, this
Speaker 3: is this leagu's hard, And I think sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: these teams get so caught up on these shiny targets.
Speaker 3: It's like, let's use Diggs for an example. So you're
Speaker 3: telling me the Bills, and listen, I know people with
Speaker 3: the Texas they like Dicks, but even like he hasn't
Speaker 3: been a personal personality problem. But let's just talk about
Speaker 3: the player standpoint. The Bills, who have been one of
Speaker 3: the best operations in the league minus like the Chiefs
Speaker 3: for the last four years, are completely out on the guy.
Speaker 3: You already have Nico Collins and Tank Dell, who are
Speaker 3: clearly a good young nucleus. With Schultz, you're gonna add
Speaker 3: a running back, Like your offense is not the line
Speaker 3: of scrimmage, line of scrimmage, line of scrimmage, Yet you
Speaker 3: go do that, Like, I think that's one where you're like,
Speaker 3: we didn't need to do that. That's right, but that
Speaker 3: doesn't make sense. We should have been extra aggressive for
Speaker 3: another guard, for another center, for another d tackle. That's
Speaker 3: where we're going to separate ourselves from the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3: They felt like they wanted to go more and be
Speaker 3: this spread around team, and that's kind of what they
Speaker 3: look like now. They're just kind of soft. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: their offense gets shoved around today. I mean, one thing
Speaker 3: the Titans have had all year long is their defense
Speaker 3: is pretty good. Yes, you remove that game against the
Speaker 3: Lions where they scored seventy five points. Like, the Titans
Speaker 3: defense has not been the problem, and now will Levis.
Speaker 3: I think the statistics over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 3: have been a lot better on what have they been.
Speaker 3: They've been a lot more competitive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think you have to strongly consider
Speaker 1: this quarterback class where Schner Sanders is the best product
Speaker 1: project prospect. But it's not great. I mean, he's got
Speaker 1: there's some ego, there's some emotion he holds on.
Speaker 3: I don't think he would have gone if you put
Speaker 3: him in this last draft. Yeah, he doesn't go ahead
Speaker 3: of Kleb. No, he does not. Jaden's more physically gifted.
Speaker 3: I think there's I would say, above a fifty percent
Speaker 3: chance that they still would go with Drake May in
Speaker 3: New England, bigger arm, cold weather like that factors in,
Speaker 3: so he wouldn't have even potentially gone definitely in the
Speaker 3: top two, but probably in the top three of this
Speaker 3: last quarterback class. That's not even a shock. I mean,
Speaker 3: Drake May was Nick Saven tried to give him five
Speaker 3: million dollars the previous year. Yeah, So I think sometimes
Speaker 3: we act like Drake May was just this overdrafted scrub
Speaker 3: and they got their butt kicked today. But he was.
Speaker 3: He's a legitimate prospect coming out of college.
Speaker 1: Well, and I think Sean Payton identified very early Bonnicks
Speaker 1: was his Drew Brees. So Shaduur is benefiting greatly. Cam
Speaker 1: Ward is a lot of backyard football, a very edgy
Speaker 1: personality and and I'll just I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1: He's a very edgy personality, not for everybody. Jalen Milroll
Speaker 1: is not very fluid, big strong kid, great parents, wonderful kid,
Speaker 1: completely coachable. He's Anthony Richardson but better at this point.
Speaker 1: But he's not a natural, like he can make great throws,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't. He doesn't feel like he's played enough quarterback,
Speaker 1: like he needs a lot of work. So my take is,
Speaker 1: if I got Will Levis and I look at it
Speaker 1: and I think, well, maybe Will's not Shador Sanders. But
Speaker 1: if I if I've got five wins and I'm drafted nine,
Speaker 1: I'm not moving up for Shador Sanders. I'm just staying
Speaker 1: with will Levis for a year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the you know, the thing with
Speaker 3: Chadur and Dion combo. We'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 3: Like Chadour, at the end of the day, it's been
Speaker 3: awesome to watch. They've been a fun story, yes, but
Speaker 3: physically gift, you know, physically gifted. You say Dion's son,
Speaker 3: he doesn't run. I think he got his athletic genes
Speaker 3: from mom because he is not the athlete, Like he's
Speaker 3: not Josh Allen, he's not Lamar, not hurt, he doesn't
Speaker 3: move like those guys. And his arm, like Joe Burrow
Speaker 3: is the best version of this, Like that's his arm,
Speaker 3: like Joe does not have some hose, right, And I've
Speaker 3: heard people compare like that, Like his physical skill set
Speaker 3: is that of closer to Joe Burrow. But I think
Speaker 3: people think of you know, Shador Sanders that aren't watching
Speaker 3: every snap of Colorado. He's like this dual threat player.
Speaker 3: That is not his skill set you know at all.
Speaker 3: Cam War to me, is much more of a dual threat. Yes,
Speaker 3: and he's got a way bigger arm than.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Cam's got a great arm.
Speaker 3: And to me, Quinn, you weres the thing with Jalen
Speaker 3: Milroe and even Anthony Richardson throughout the history of the league.
Speaker 3: Even let's say, you know, before these last three or
Speaker 3: four years, those guys would have been like second round
Speaker 3: picks or late late first round, like projects, and now
Speaker 3: they get drafted a fourth and you're pulling your hair
Speaker 3: out in year two. So I wonder if we kind
Speaker 3: of swing back a little bit and everyone takes like,
Speaker 3: would you rather have a huge project or just take
Speaker 3: Travis Hunter with a third overall pick, right, That's what
Speaker 3: I'd rather do, or the best left tackle or the
Speaker 3: best pass rusher. And I wonder if we get a
Speaker 3: shift back, because you just saw last year the Sunday
Speaker 3: night game we're recording before, two of the best players
Speaker 3: in that draft were Mitchell the dude. The Eagles took
Speaker 3: the corner and Jared Verse the pass rusher, which historically
Speaker 3: in a draft, the top corner in the top pass
Speaker 3: rusher don't make it pass like pick seven. So I
Speaker 3: think it's gotten a little out of whack, And I
Speaker 3: wonder if the pendulum swings back a little bit, partly
Speaker 3: because there's gonna be so much negativity on the quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: You just watch college football It's all over the map.
Speaker 3: Every single week.
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Speaker 1: Tampa thirty New York Giants seven, not a game I
Speaker 1: care much about, but the Giants didn't show up twenty
Speaker 1: three to nothing at half they trailed. The handling of
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones obviously did not sit well with Giant players,
Speaker 1: and there were guys that were pissed, and I was
Speaker 1: sitting there. First of all, I don't think this is
Speaker 1: even arguable. The Jets and the Giants are the two
Speaker 1: most dysfunctional franchises right now in the league. Carolina feels
Speaker 1: like they got a little bit of a life. Carolina absolutely,
Speaker 1: Tennessee today felt like the win and the way they're playing,
Speaker 1: they've got a little bit of a life. Chicago with
Speaker 1: Caleb is fine, wildly entertaining four and seven team. I
Speaker 1: think the Giants and the Jets are the two most
Speaker 1: dysfunctional franchises in the league. I think New York probably
Speaker 1: ends up having to take cam Ward is Brian da
Speaker 1: bol safe. I would have absolutely bet the Farm four
Speaker 1: weeks ago, but the way the team reacted they I mean,
Speaker 1: teams don't quit very often in the NFL. I can
Speaker 1: remember fifteen years ago an Arizona Cardinal team with Matt
Speaker 1: Lioner in the snow in New England. Like I thought,
Speaker 1: oh they quit. I felt like the Giants quit. I mean,
Speaker 1: they didn't pursue on a couple of big plays. Is
Speaker 1: Brian da Bole safe.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to give him somewhat of a pass
Speaker 3: this week because this is a management ownership decision. You
Speaker 3: don't go with Tommy Chicken Palm. You just paid Drew
Speaker 3: Locke five million dollars. We saw him last year on
Speaker 3: Monday Night Football lead a game winning comeback against the
Speaker 3: Philadelphia Eagles. He's a real player as a backup, and
Speaker 3: he was paid as such. Well, why they go to
Speaker 3: Tommy because he's this local hero, the you know, the agent.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's, let's be real, it's a clown show.
Speaker 3: I mean it's a circus. At least. The stuff with
Speaker 3: the Jets right now is basically all just sourced articles written.
Speaker 3: This was actual actions. They benched Daniel Jones, and this
Speaker 3: is where I think the anchor comes from, which I
Speaker 3: think Daniel's I talked about this on the podcast. He's
Speaker 3: a good example of when you care like you put
Speaker 3: more stock into the person and the character, which obviously
Speaker 3: checks every box y. He's the perfect type guy over
Speaker 3: the player. Yes, and I think they swung a little
Speaker 3: too hard, and I think it's a testament to like
Speaker 3: how good of a guy he is that all the
Speaker 3: players the good ones really like him a lot, But
Speaker 3: how could you take any like thing seriously if you're
Speaker 3: a player in the backup all season long has been
Speaker 3: Drew lock who's a real NFL player, and they go
Speaker 3: to Tommy Cutlet's so right there, and I'm gonna give
Speaker 3: day ball. I don't have inside information on this. That
Speaker 3: feels like an ownership decision because part of it was
Speaker 3: THEIRS incentives with Drew Locke. Obviously, they benched Daniel Jones
Speaker 3: for money, which I understand, Like, I'm not against that.
Speaker 3: You know, he's three and thirteen. As a starter, it
Speaker 3: was over, it had run its course. But then to
Speaker 3: go to the third string guy, who, let's face it,
Speaker 3: they're going to him for a reason, just like so
Speaker 3: you can talk about him if you win a couple
Speaker 3: games as a fun story, and then he's a complete embarrassment.
Speaker 3: I mean, they couldn't even function. I mean the Bucks
Speaker 3: have been leac and Oil both teams off of Bye
Speaker 3: and the Bucks looked like the O seven Patriots against them,
Speaker 3: and I just think that that's a reflection. You know,
Speaker 3: John mara is this really like presidential and regal family
Speaker 3: the name, but that organization post Koflin in that final
Speaker 3: season has been it's paralleled like the Raiders and the Jets.
Speaker 3: It's no different. They run through. Coaches have these situations.
Speaker 3: It goes back to the benching of Eli for Gino,
Speaker 3: and this situation, to me is even five times worse
Speaker 3: because of it's Tommy cutlets When you have a backup
Speaker 3: that other teams wanted. John Schneider wanted to keep them.
Speaker 3: And remember the Giants were like, you have a chance
Speaker 3: to kind of start here if Daniel Jones isn't healthy,
Speaker 3: but you paid them five million dollars and then you
Speaker 3: go to him. I just think that one's a hard
Speaker 3: one to shake, and then to lose like you did today.
Speaker 3: So yeah, Brian day Ball, Joe Shane, who listen, I'm
Speaker 3: not acting like Joe Shane's good and maybe Brian Dayball's
Speaker 3: not either. But this has now become a John Mora operation.
Speaker 3: Because do you believe that Brian Daball wanted Tommy Cutletz
Speaker 3: to be the starter? No, he kept the ownership.
Speaker 1: No. I think I think sometimes, and I think fans
Speaker 1: are pretty smart about this. I think there's so much
Speaker 1: information now. Fans are better at betting games. They have
Speaker 1: more information that it's impossible to overcome. Say Al Davis
Speaker 1: the last seven years he owned the Raiders like he
Speaker 1: just couldn't overcome it. He blame Ki and pled with him,
Speaker 1: don't draft JaMarcus Russell, like you know, there's nothing you
Speaker 1: can do. I think Jerry Jones right now is is hard.
Speaker 1: Nothing against Mike McCarthy, but I mean, Cooper Rush is
Speaker 1: more than efficient, more than capable the defense when health.
Speaker 1: He's got some good players can make, you know, defensive stands.
Speaker 1: I think they're these aging owners. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: the Brown family in Cincinnati, they don't have an outdoor
Speaker 1: practice facility. I mean you can tell Joe Burrows pissed.
Speaker 1: He knows. I mean, they're not even paying T Higgins
Speaker 1: or Jamar Chase yet, and they're moving off Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: giving him away for a seventh rounder. So I just
Speaker 1: I look at the Giants and I think I always
Speaker 1: thought they were well run. I always thought this was.
Speaker 3: Like I always thought Dan Rouse with the Eagles. I
Speaker 3: was like, this is a high level operation.
Speaker 1: Listen, we know the Bidwell Arizona. You know, we know
Speaker 1: the mccaskey's in Chicago, McNair's in Houston. We know the circuses.
Speaker 1: Craft's well run. You know, Stan Cronkey non meddling. I
Speaker 1: I always thought the Giants I always called him the
Speaker 1: accounting firm of the league. Even when they won, they
Speaker 1: were boring. I don't think I think they make bad hires.
Speaker 1: I think Babel's not the problem. I hope he's safe
Speaker 1: because I really do think he's smart. They have a
Speaker 1: left tackle, a coach, and a star receiver and a
Speaker 1: couple of defensive linemen. I like, I think there's some
Speaker 1: elements there, but my guess is they're gonna end up
Speaker 1: with cam Ward.
Speaker 3: You know. Let's use Jerry as an example. Though this
Speaker 3: week there was a story on like Monday or Tuesday. Well,
Speaker 3: I think Jerry created the story because he's seventh radio
Speaker 3: hit of the week. He's asked the question about Trey Lance. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and Jerry essentially said, we're trying to win. Cooper Rush
Speaker 3: gives us the best chance. Jerry's the one that pulled
Speaker 3: the trigger on the fourth round pick for the guy
Speaker 3: he could easily say, so let's just roll him out.
Speaker 3: It's worst case scenario. Maybe he just we strike oil
Speaker 3: these last couple of weeks and we feel good and
Speaker 3: we try to keep this guy or something. You know, No,
Speaker 3: we're going with Cooper Rush. Why because he's our backup quarterback.
Speaker 3: So for them to go to the third stringer that's
Speaker 3: Tommy Cutlets in Jersey, it's like, yeah, this what an
Speaker 3: embarrassing And then to have Baker and those guys basically
Speaker 3: rubbed in your face today, you know, doing the money
Speaker 3: signs that Cutlets was doing. That's one of those moments
Speaker 3: where you start feeling again. You're dressed well, you look
Speaker 3: the part, but your operation's starting to feel like the
Speaker 3: Dolean Knicks for a long time now, right, Just you
Speaker 3: guys have just I don't know, you have more name
Speaker 3: cachet with the Mars and the Tisshes, but we have
Speaker 3: to judge them now on the basic results in the
Speaker 3: actions that we're seeing. It's crazy, Colin, and I'm not
Speaker 3: defending like you can always when they bench Russell Wilson
Speaker 3: and bench Derek Carr. Same thing. Money, we're not good enough,
Speaker 3: We're not going to the playoffs. We don't want to
Speaker 3: pay you twenty three million dollars. I'm fine with that,
Speaker 3: but this is not the NBA where we just wave
Speaker 3: the white flag every team. Look around football today, teams
Speaker 3: are trying the Panthers that the Cowboys playing their asses off,
Speaker 3: and you roll out the third string quarterback in the
Speaker 3: middle of November. I mean, I went a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3: I'm like, go, the Cowboys are in trouble. Now. I
Speaker 3: think Cowboys are gonna get back to wins like him
Speaker 3: on Thanksgiving, now, don't you.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Lions twenty four in
Speaker 1: the Colts six. That was my upset pick of the week.
Speaker 1: I thought Detroit it was just due true. Yeah, so Detroit.
Speaker 1: I mean it's you almost never see this had thirty
Speaker 1: seven to twenty two minutes time of possession. They're boringly methodical.
Speaker 1: Anthony Richardson, they only had eleven first downs, he only
Speaker 1: eleven completions. Again, I think I think he's Jalen Milroe.
Speaker 1: I think Milrow is better at this point. But I
Speaker 1: think the Colts again, I think with Shane Steichen, they're
Speaker 1: going to stick with him another year. I just think
Speaker 1: that's the ree. I don't I think if you draft
Speaker 1: somebody in the first round and who's only played thirteen
Speaker 1: college games, you have to stick with Anthony Richardson. But
Speaker 1: I'm watching the Lions and I didn't play particularly well,
Speaker 1: and the Colts had multiple opportunities in this game. This
Speaker 1: Detroit is the most dominant NFL team since the Brady
Speaker 1: Moss Patriots. It's incredible because Kansas City's won back to
Speaker 1: back titles. Would you be shocked if Detroit went to
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl and clobbered Baltimore, the Chargers, Buffalo or
Speaker 1: Kansas City. And I mean with two weeks to prepare
Speaker 1: in their healthy rolled, I mean, this offensive line just
Speaker 1: takes the oxygen. When you play the Lions, you will
Speaker 1: have no rhythm offensively because even if you score, you're
Speaker 1: gonna sit and watch for eight minutes. They take all
Speaker 1: of your rhythm away. And again, Anthony Richardson has eleven
Speaker 1: first downs. But we've you know, Kansas City's trying to
Speaker 1: find its offense. Baltimore's had these bad offensive showings the
Speaker 1: good teams. Maybe Philadelphia is their kryptonite. But I watched
Speaker 1: them today and I'm like, they didn't play well and
Speaker 1: it's thirty seven to twenty two time of possession.
Speaker 3: I think the hard part about football is I thought
Speaker 3: this exactly about the Ravens. I thought they were going
Speaker 3: to roll through the playoffs. I loved him in the
Speaker 3: AFC Championship game against the Chiefs, and I thought that
Speaker 3: they were gonna end up playing the Niners, and that
Speaker 3: I'd seen him beat the crap out of him on
Speaker 3: Christmas and I expected it to happen again. And football
Speaker 3: can be weird that way. Now, the difference is the
Speaker 3: Ravens get off when the Lamar pass and him running
Speaker 3: around Ratio gets off. The Lions their defense today was
Speaker 3: really impressive. It's like we can win an ugly game
Speaker 3: and you just there was a couple of moments where
Speaker 3: they just forced long throw downs and you're like, ky,
Speaker 3: they're they're missing players getting injuries and they don't. But
Speaker 3: offensively where they don't hesitate is they got two backs yep,
Speaker 3: So like their Lamar and their offense is the running
Speaker 3: back duo and one guy will run it right up
Speaker 3: your throat and break tackles and the other guy looks
Speaker 3: like when he gets in the open, he looks like
Speaker 3: Deon Sanders. I mean that guy can flock. And Jared
Speaker 3: Goff made a couple of throws today on the move.
Speaker 3: It was like, geez, like he's playing the best football
Speaker 3: if his care The confidence that franchise has. But here's
Speaker 3: the thing, and I remember in twenty nineteen when the
Speaker 3: forty nine Ers were the one seed. It came down
Speaker 3: to the last play of the season against Seattle, and
Speaker 3: like the Dan Bunns two point zero dra green Law tackle,
Speaker 3: they only have a one game lead. It feels like
Speaker 3: they are running circles around the conference and the Vikings
Speaker 3: are nine and two. The Packers today, you know, you
Speaker 3: get that win against forty nine Ers, all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: they went on Thanksgiving. They're only a couple games like,
Speaker 3: their lead is not as big. Same thing with the Chiefs,
Speaker 3: who've had this remarkable season. They've already been beat by
Speaker 3: the Bills. They only got one game, so the Martians.
Speaker 3: This is a great part about the NFL. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think the Lions would It would be stunning to
Speaker 3: see them lose. Now where it would change if somehow
Speaker 3: the home field fell out of favor and all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, you know, they're the two even if they
Speaker 3: won the division, but they had to go to Philly.
Speaker 3: We'll see how Philly looks over the course of the next
Speaker 3: three or four weeks. That would be very difficult.
Speaker 1: Well, right, I was thinking about this, you know, I
Speaker 1: think both of us love Dan Campbell and what he's created.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he can get very emotional, you know, last year
Speaker 1: against the Cowboys, he gets very emotional. But I was
Speaker 1: thinking to myself Andy Reid's and the other conference, you know,
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, the other conference. The truth is
Speaker 1: the next best team in that conference is Nick Sirianni,
Speaker 1: and we don't trust him situationally, we don't trust him circumstantially.
Speaker 1: So it's like there isn't sort of a wizard. Shanahan's
Speaker 1: not going to be in the playoffs. Mcveigh's team doesn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think they'll beat Philadelphia tonight as
Speaker 1: we're going right now. So my thing is I worry
Speaker 1: a little bit about Dan Campbell in situational football. But
Speaker 1: those guys are on the AFC.
Speaker 3: You know, being with the quarterbacks, right, so we can
Speaker 3: you know, you know, I get asked a lot about
Speaker 3: your opinions and Nick Wright's opinions. Hey tell them this,
Speaker 3: and you know the civilian comment on Nicks on Jared Goff, Well,
Speaker 3: Jared Goff doesn't have to play Lamar Herbert, Joe Burrow,
Speaker 3: Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes in the first, second, and
Speaker 3: third round. He's gonna draw Jordan Love, who he plays
Speaker 3: multiple times a year. He's gonna draw I don't know,
Speaker 3: Geno Smith potentially, right, or Kyler Murray or Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: So it's not even just the coaching, it's the quarterback matchup.
Speaker 3: Like you went in last year the AFC Championship game.
Speaker 3: You're like, listen, Mike McDonald, John Harbaugh. They have as
Speaker 3: good of a chance as any coach who's played Andy Reid, Sweet,
Speaker 3: Steves Pagnola over the last six or seven years, going
Speaker 3: back to Belichick and Josh McDaniels. But then that quarterback matchup,
Speaker 3: you're like, uh, Lamar's getting tight, Mahomes is loose. Well,
Speaker 3: Jared Goff Watson last year he went toe to toe
Speaker 3: with with Stafford in the first round, right, And this
Speaker 3: goes back to a couple of years ago when they
Speaker 3: didn't make the playoffs any ended Aaron Rodgers' career in Lambeau. Remember,
Speaker 3: it was like, well, Jared Goff can't play outside. He
Speaker 3: turns into a pumpkin. And that was a moment. And
Speaker 3: I forget the date, but it had to be like
Speaker 3: January fourth or fifth. He looked good, he was excellent,
Speaker 3: have essentially the game winning passed the end of ice
Speaker 3: the game, and ever since they've never looked back. Honestly,
Speaker 3: they're they're a field goal decision from Dan Campbell of
Speaker 3: potentially beating the Niners by a couple of scores. I mean,
Speaker 3: they had the chance to kind of nail in the
Speaker 3: coffin if he just kicks a field goal, unless we
Speaker 3: can argue to we're blue in the face. But they
Speaker 3: were kicking their ass, and so to me, then you
Speaker 3: get the think about this, if they get the home
Speaker 3: field advantage, you know, as the one seed, they only
Speaker 3: have to win two games, and then the super Bowl
Speaker 3: obviously is in a dome, which plays perfectly to them,
Speaker 3: so their speed. Honestly, they would probably love to get
Speaker 3: the Chiefs because how the Chiefs score with them? Yeah, right,
Speaker 3: it gets a little more difficult. You know, if Lamar
Speaker 3: can go on a run or Josh Allen go on
Speaker 3: to run, because those teams can score points, and if
Speaker 3: they got into a situation like that, they could go
Speaker 3: toe to toe with them. But if they get into
Speaker 3: a position where you know, the Chargers or the Bronco,
Speaker 3: you know, one of these other teams. They would not
Speaker 3: match up well against Detroit because Detroit gets twenty points
Speaker 3: in their sleep right and if they're on, they get
Speaker 3: to mid thirties. No problem, even with guys dropping like fly.
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Speaker 1: Feed your lawn. Feed it, Okay. I want to spend
Speaker 1: ten minutes on college football. So my prediction before the
Speaker 1: year was Ohio State would lose at Outs and Stadium
Speaker 1: would play Oregon again and beat them and would play
Speaker 1: in the National Championship against the Texas Longhorns. So right now,
Speaker 1: Texas and Ohio State, in my opinion, looked like the
Speaker 1: two best teams along with Oregon. Notre Dame Penn State
Speaker 1: also very very good. So again, it's big brands. You
Speaker 1: could put seventy four teams in this tournament. It just
Speaker 1: doesn't matter college football even more than college basketball because
Speaker 1: you have to have depth in football because there's a
Speaker 1: regulated level of violence. I thought, Ohio State, I think
Speaker 1: Ohio State, Texas and Oregon feel like the best teams.
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting against Indiana. I thought the
Speaker 1: game would be close. I liked the Buckeyes close. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a real moment where everybody was selling me. BYU, No,
Speaker 1: everybody is selling me Indiana. They just they look nervous.
Speaker 1: Special teams, gaffes, they just didn't look they didn't have
Speaker 1: the power, they didn't have the arsenal. They looked nervous.
Speaker 1: And it was funny. Josh Howard got some crap as
Speaker 1: they were rolling to a win. Signette's coat. Yeah, Will Howard.
Speaker 1: Will Howard, who's a good quarterback. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's an NFL guy, but he's a good quarterback, big kid,
Speaker 1: you know, makes play, don't.
Speaker 3: Like him plays who were like, I'm kind of into this, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I kind of like him. I kind of like him.
Speaker 1: Somebody probably drafts him. He's hard to evaluate because they're
Speaker 1: old lines historically, not this old line. But you know,
Speaker 1: they've got NFL high round receivers and running back, so
Speaker 1: he's a hard guy in Ohio. Stato's has so much
Speaker 1: better personnel than everybody in the conference, you know, but
Speaker 1: Michigan and Penn State on an annual basis. Now Oregon
Speaker 1: has their kind of level of talent. But it was
Speaker 1: funny watching Indiana get up there, and some people were
Speaker 1: bothered by this gesture Will Howard did at the end,
Speaker 1: and it's it's really funny. I'm like, guys, Indiana came
Speaker 1: into that game, and for a team that has never
Speaker 1: won a huge college football game in my life, I
Speaker 1: thought came in with a lot of attitude and a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of bravado, and I had no
Speaker 1: problem with Will Howard's gesture at all. And it's like,
Speaker 1: if you're going to come into the ring against the
Speaker 1: perennial world chaml okay, and you're talking shit, then if
Speaker 1: they if they do a little gesture, I don't want
Speaker 1: to hear about it. And you know, Colin, you didn't
Speaker 1: like Baker Baker. Mayfield did about nine different gestures at Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: This was Will Howard two seconds. But I kind of
Speaker 1: found myself. I thought Indiana was obnoxious, a little cocky
Speaker 1: coming into the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well starts with the coach. I mean, he's got
Speaker 3: a big opinion of himself. And the second half looked
Speaker 3: like the little kids versus the big kids. And if
Speaker 3: all these other teams hadn't lost as the day went on,
Speaker 3: I would have had no problem leaving Indiana at home.
Speaker 3: Listen to I like you, I didn't go to one
Speaker 3: of these schools. Like I'm a Big ten guy or
Speaker 3: an SEC guy. I'm just an unbiased lover of college football.
Speaker 3: Anyone making the argument like just watch the games with
Speaker 3: your eyes. We have the evidence of the NFL draft
Speaker 3: picks where all the talent is. I'm watching the SEC
Speaker 3: games on the road. You know, Oklahoma, I'm sure they
Speaker 3: got five or six guys on defense They're going to
Speaker 3: be drafted. And one these environments on the road are
Speaker 3: so hard in the SEC. If you put Indiana in
Speaker 3: the SEC, I think they struggle to sniff eight wins.
Speaker 3: I think they get rolled, and obviously they benefited this
Speaker 3: year from playing nobody. They just they're a great story
Speaker 3: and I appreciate it. But up until all these other
Speaker 3: teams with two losses lost last night, I would not
Speaker 3: have cried for them if they didn't get the invite
Speaker 3: to the dance. Now, just because of record, they probably will,
Speaker 3: but I would bet on them to be one and done. Yes,
Speaker 3: and see it and listen like I listen. I know
Speaker 3: you talked to Clad a lot. I can't fathom watching
Speaker 3: all these games and thinking the Big ten talent and well,
Speaker 3: they're six and six and their six and six. We'll
Speaker 3: just watch the two team play. Yes, watch the speed
Speaker 3: of guys on defense at Auburn, who's I don't even
Speaker 3: know what their record is five, they're gonna end up
Speaker 3: going five and seven. The talent discrepancy between them and
Speaker 3: Wisconsin on defense is fucking wider than the Grand Canyon.
Speaker 3: And yet we argue this every year. It's like, guys,
Speaker 3: take a deep breath, let's just watch the games and
Speaker 3: go like, no one says that about the Big twelve.
Speaker 3: We all acknowledge, Yeah, the Big twelve is a fun conference,
Speaker 3: but it's not that talented. But we always argue, like
Speaker 3: the Big ten in the SEC, Well, if you removed Oregon,
Speaker 3: the Big Ten would be terrible this year, right, And
Speaker 3: let's face it, this's not a Big Ten team. You
Speaker 3: guys just got them this year. So it's like Ohio
Speaker 3: State's carrying you. The rest of your conference talent wise
Speaker 3: looks down. I watch the SEC, and I get it.
Speaker 3: They got a lot of three and four lost teams.
Speaker 3: The talent on their teams is night and it's just
Speaker 3: harder to play more talented teams. On top of that
Speaker 3: because of the television networks now they're playing all these
Speaker 3: night games, these road night games against a bunch of
Speaker 3: NFL defenders is way more difficult than the Is that
Speaker 3: even arguable this year? No?
Speaker 1: I mean I watched Oklahoma. I thought they played a
Speaker 1: perfect football game against Alabama. They just were well coached,
Speaker 1: They were buttoned up, their quarterback had movement, they they
Speaker 1: were kind of they gave Alabama some fits. I mean,
Speaker 1: I watched that game and I was like, Jesus, Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: They're good on defense. They have NFL guys on defense, well,
Speaker 3: venables coach Clemson a bunch of pros, like he knows
Speaker 3: what it looks like. Offense is gonna be a problem
Speaker 3: for him, but no one's gonna argue that Venables in
Speaker 3: his defense is gonna be good. No, and they handled Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: I thought the same thing about Auburn. I'm like, I
Speaker 3: don't know most of these players on Auburn. Shit, they
Speaker 3: sure look good to me.
Speaker 1: And you're a former NFL scout y, yeah, I'm just.
Speaker 3: Like, but doesn't that jump out sometimes when you watch
Speaker 3: these SEC games, even when their records like six and six, well,
Speaker 3: you're like, listen, I know they're struggling to win games,
Speaker 3: but they got talent on.
Speaker 1: The roster if it doesn't really matter how mny I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Notre Dame, and like
Speaker 1: a like a Georgia Ole Miss. I don't really buy
Speaker 1: Penn State. You know they've beaten them there.
Speaker 3: Because they didn't play anybody and they only had the
Speaker 3: one tough game.
Speaker 1: And they're lucky becaus Washington Miss.
Speaker 3: Is out probably right, But if you told me Old
Speaker 3: Miss played Penn State on a neutral field, I'm taking
Speaker 3: Old Miss.
Speaker 1: Som and I think Jackson Dart actually is going to
Speaker 1: be like a second round pick. So I mean they
Speaker 1: have the better quarterback. You know, it was funny, I.
Speaker 3: Florida is a good example, aren't they. I'm watching them,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, you put them in the if they
Speaker 3: made the twelve team tournament right now and they were
Speaker 3: playing Penn State in the first round, where's most of
Speaker 3: the money coming in on that game? Florida on Lagway
Speaker 3: if he's healthy on Florida right and if you told
Speaker 3: me Florida played Notre Dame, Like, I'm not saying that
Speaker 3: Florida would win that game, but you can't tell me that,
Speaker 3: like you would be surprised if Florida won.
Speaker 1: So I want to throw this at you. You know
Speaker 1: my connection to USC. I'm a homer, so I was
Speaker 1: saying this. It's it's not the South as La is distracted,
Speaker 1: You're going to be more patient. Jen Cohen's not running
Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley. The boosters aren't going to step up and
Speaker 1: pay them the seventy million 's old or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: or they're building a three hundred million dollar facility. The
Speaker 1: nil collective at USC is thirteen million. They're not writing
Speaker 1: another check for Lincoln Riley. But I was texting somebody
Speaker 1: inside USC athletic department. I said, if you beat Penn
Speaker 1: State in overtime this year and you had the opportunity
Speaker 1: overtime at Coliseum, I said, you would have beaten LSU
Speaker 1: Penn State, your rival with nine returners on offense. If
Speaker 1: you just go get a quarterback like Oregon did in
Speaker 1: the portal, you bring back the entire offensive line outside
Speaker 1: of center, all of your receivers, all of your tight ends,
Speaker 1: and you have you had a very good recruiting class
Speaker 1: last year. Defensive line the best they've had since Pete Carroll,
Speaker 1: but they all red shirted. And I'm like, you're a
Speaker 1: quarterback and maybe a defensive tackle and a corner away
Speaker 1: from being really interesting. And somebody said, hey, thanks for
Speaker 1: the optimism, and I'm like, now that's what you really are.
Speaker 1: Like with Brian Kelly, I don't know what I get.
Speaker 1: Week to week USC's games, John, they all look the
Speaker 1: exact same. They lead in the fourth quarter. I mean,
Speaker 1: take the Michigan game out where it felt like they
Speaker 1: were playing from behind, they were playing Chase. Every game
Speaker 1: looks the same. They just don't. They're not good enough
Speaker 1: at quarterback and they're too young on the offensive line
Speaker 1: to seal it.
Speaker 3: But I was.
Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend about this, and he's
Speaker 1: in the South, and I said, it's just different out here.
Speaker 1: It's not the beginning and end. They're not no boosters
Speaker 1: riding a fifty million dollar check for Lincoln Riley. They
Speaker 1: just paid three hundred million for facilities. And I said,
Speaker 1: when I look at coaching, I said, do I get
Speaker 1: the same kind of team every week? Brian Kelly's a
Speaker 1: bit of a mess and he's not really likable people like,
Speaker 1: you know, the players like Lincoln. They're not a lot
Speaker 1: of guys transferring. The coaches like give me built a
Speaker 1: nice staff. So my take on USC is they're the
Speaker 1: advantage to being non sec is you get another year
Speaker 1: to two. Shit, they kept Clay Helton around forever and
Speaker 1: he was over his skis your thought on.
Speaker 3: USC, Yeah, I would fall under the USC guy that
Speaker 3: you texted that you're a lot more optimistic than me. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, they're they're probably gonna get killed this week,
Speaker 3: right and be six and six. So last year was
Speaker 3: a devastating year for Lincoln, right, it was. It was
Speaker 3: not thought of highly and they had a better record
Speaker 3: than this year right in a conference too that was
Speaker 3: really down. So you look back the Michigan and Minnesota.
Speaker 3: Minnesota is actually pretty good.
Speaker 1: On the Washington did a rebuild, Michigan's did a rebuild,
Speaker 1: and UCLA's and rebuild.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing, like, let's use Texas analogy with Sark.
Speaker 3: Sark started just buying sweet players and maybe it's more
Speaker 3: just the Texas boosters and every it's a little more
Speaker 3: aggressive there with football, Like they knew they were going
Speaker 3: to the SEC. They have cared for a while, they've
Speaker 3: been dying for like make money. Right, they were lined up.
Speaker 3: I wonder if USC, so far removed from Pete, has
Speaker 3: the same aggression, Like if there are six or seven
Speaker 3: guys that can immediately change your organization or your program.
Speaker 3: You know Caleb Downs, I saw you tweeting about him yesterday,
Speaker 3: Who's immediately transfer portal? And really probably three teams put
Speaker 3: all their chips in the middle tables, probably Georgia, Texas,
Speaker 3: Ohio State. Right, Well, can USC start swimming in that
Speaker 3: end of the pool. Because I do understand if I'm
Speaker 3: a USC guy or a booster or someone around the
Speaker 3: program like a liner, I go, well, I know for
Speaker 3: a fact, given the rules that are at play now.
Speaker 3: When we were here with Pete, we would have Caleb downs.
Speaker 3: Maybe we don't get them, but he's definitely taking a
Speaker 3: visit and having long conversations with all of us. And
Speaker 3: it doesn't even feel like USC is dealing in that.
Speaker 3: And like the slow build, like there aren't slow builds anymore.
Speaker 3: You can quick flip it. And that's why everyone's down
Speaker 3: on Brian Kelly. It's like, you guys are in year three?
Speaker 3: What's going on here? Right? And that's where I wonder
Speaker 3: if Lincoln is he going to recruit hard enough? Is
Speaker 3: he going to be able to do that in terms
Speaker 3: of like, listen, I'm not Ohio State guy, but I
Speaker 3: do respect whoever the Caleb downs is this offseason. You
Speaker 3: bet you're ass that it's Sark and Ryan Day on
Speaker 3: the phone with that kid. Well, because they got the money.
Speaker 3: Well does Lincoln out of them? And Dan Lanning?
Speaker 1: Well the knock on Lincoln and I think it's fair
Speaker 1: he doesn't recruit Southern California. Well, he has not engenered
Speaker 1: himself to Southern California coaches. He can be prickly and
Speaker 1: precious and sort of you know, he's a small town guy.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he feels aloof and that does not work in
Speaker 1: high school recruiting.
Speaker 3: Do they care enough? Look at Michigan's a good example. Right,
Speaker 3: they had Harbaugh and they got that taste the last
Speaker 3: three years and it was incredible. And then this year's
Speaker 3: going couldn't be going much worse relative to what they've been.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, it's like LSU is getting this quarterback. No,
Speaker 3: we'll rally the money, get Larry Ellison on the phone,
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, we have some package of
Speaker 3: ten to twelve million dollars. I don't exactly. There are
Speaker 3: a lot of discrepancies how the deals structured, but we
Speaker 3: will pay you more than anyone else. Why because we
Speaker 3: care that deeply. We care that deeply. And it feels like,
Speaker 3: you know, when USC was in their heyday, they really
Speaker 3: really cared. Oregon has maintained that right from Bellatti to
Speaker 3: Chip to heal Rich to now through Landing. Well, hell
Speaker 3: feels like it doesn't feel like USC cares enough.
Speaker 1: And I think that's fair. I think Jen Cohen, the
Speaker 1: athletic director does. They're collective thirteen million, so they I
Speaker 1: mean that people have stepped up. But the economy in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles is bigger than almost you know, it's bigger
Speaker 1: than Canada's, so it's you know, are certainly thereabouts. So
Speaker 1: it's fair question.
Speaker 3: Shouldn't SHOULD'TY be able to outbid some of these? You know,
Speaker 3: if LSU and Alabama want a kid in the transfer
Speaker 3: portal and they're willing to pay X, shouldn't they pay
Speaker 3: X plus another twenty percent?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I am the guy.
Speaker 1: Yes. I mean it's if you look at sports from baseball,
Speaker 1: I mean, there are salary caps, but I think players
Speaker 1: know who's committed. I mean you can see it in
Speaker 1: the NFL like free agency, like people know Philled has
Speaker 1: committed people, San Francisco has committed, Chicago's not, and players
Speaker 1: can sniff it. Players can see it and smell it
Speaker 1: and feel it. And I think your questions are what
Speaker 1: I hear from my friends, and I'm probably more patient
Speaker 1: and too optimistic. I think that's that's reasonable. I will
Speaker 1: say this, and I heard it again today from somebody
Speaker 1: I trust. The fastest rising quarterback is going to be
Speaker 1: Jalen Milroll. He can be a bit robotic, it doesn't
Speaker 1: look pretty. But if Minnesota keep Sam Darnold as you're suggesting,
Speaker 1: and many will. There's gonna be seven teams that need
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Somebody's taken that guy. I mean if the Raiders,
Speaker 1: I mean we know the Raiders, Giants are taking quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: You start looking around this league, it's gonna be another
Speaker 1: three teams taking quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: I don't I'm not trying to pivot away from college.
Speaker 3: But we didn't talk about this guy in one quarterback
Speaker 3: move could obviously swing if a team needs the guy,
Speaker 3: and clearly this team does. But Rogers and wood Johnson
Speaker 3: at each other's throats. You are you shocked at uh
Speaker 3: Poshins than his owner. He's never had an owner, and
Speaker 3: now you know they're going at it. You can tell
Speaker 3: like some of these leaks coming out about Aaron, who
Speaker 3: do you think is leaking that? I would defend Aaron
Speaker 3: of like not doing the scans that was the story,
Speaker 3: because he just goes these guys are gonna leak anything
Speaker 3: that comes out. So it's I don't trust anyone here
Speaker 3: in everyone's well, he doesn't trust anyone. I think this
Speaker 3: is a specific thing. He's already going this Jets. But
Speaker 3: this gets back to Aaron. You had a pretty good
Speaker 3: in Green Bay. This is what a dysfunctional team looks like.
Speaker 3: And now you're looking at this crazy owner, all these
Speaker 3: people in the building. You don't trust any of them,
Speaker 3: Like this is what shitty NFL dysfunction is. And you
Speaker 3: signed up for this. You wanted this, You wanted out
Speaker 3: of Green.
Speaker 1: Bay Well Woody Johnson, Robert Sala, they played Aaron's vanity.
Speaker 1: They flew out to Malibu. They you know, got in,
Speaker 1: got into his house and sat down with Aaron, and
Speaker 1: you know that stuff. Aaron wasn't heavily recruited.
Speaker 3: He gave a first round pick for him. Who else
Speaker 3: was giving up a first round pick for the thirte Aaron.
Speaker 1: Aaron went to a junior college. Aaron went to cal
Speaker 1: Aaron wasn't heavily recruited. I totally get Aaron, you know,
Speaker 1: being seduced. He had to. Then he goes to Green Bay.
Speaker 1: He sits behind this Messiah far I get Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: being seduced by the pitch, Like, I totally get it.
Speaker 1: It's like these high school guys that go to the
Speaker 1: G League. You know, they never get pitched by a
Speaker 1: Bill Self or or you know, some elite coach. They
Speaker 1: don't get they don't get pitched. So when they eventually
Speaker 1: do the first time, you know. And so I think
Speaker 1: the two things that I would say about Aaron Rodgers won.
Speaker 1: He got very after that Super Bowl. He got a
Speaker 1: little snarky, a little passive aggressive in Green Bay, and
Speaker 1: he had a lot of leverage because there's no owner
Speaker 1: to tell him to just settle down. There's no owner,
Speaker 1: And I felt far of an Aaron Rodgers couldn't be
Speaker 1: different people. But in the end, for both of them
Speaker 1: at Green Bay, there wasn't an owner to sit them
Speaker 1: down and say you want to be here or not,
Speaker 1: and they kind of manipulated Gouden Kunst or whoever the
Speaker 1: GM was during FARV they kind of you know, Mark
Speaker 1: Murphy was there. But I always call it the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packer quarterback syndrome. There's no owner to call you
Speaker 1: out on your stuff. And so I think Aaron, you know,
Speaker 1: got seduced. And then he goes to New York and
Speaker 1: he figures, you know, they got a good roster like
Speaker 1: Brady and Tampa. He get roster. The sala is a
Speaker 1: good looking guy from the Niners. So that's the first lesson.
Speaker 1: The second thing, though, we have to be completely upfront
Speaker 1: about here is I'm just going to start naming quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in their prime in the NFL. Mahomes, Allen Herbert, Lamar Goff,
Speaker 1: Sam Donald Frankly right now, Sam Darrow, Joe Earle, Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray, who didn't play well today. He's not close
Speaker 1: to those guys. John Aaron's Jordan Love is probably a
Speaker 1: year away from being in his prime because because we're
Speaker 1: where he sat for years. Aaron doesn't look like Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: He doesn't look like any of those guys.
Speaker 3: He doesn't look like Geno Smith.
Speaker 1: He doesn't Gino made some big off script plays today
Speaker 1: against Arizona like Aaron is. The other day, I was
Speaker 1: just writing down names. I was sitting here at home,
Speaker 1: you know, watching something. I'm writing down names. I got
Speaker 1: to about seventeen, and I'm like that, that's kind of
Speaker 1: what he is. Right Like, We've got to be honest.
Speaker 1: The grass is nose greener, and Aaron's an under earthing
Speaker 1: I was told years ago about Aaron. He's not a
Speaker 1: grinder like Drew Brees. In the offseason. You can tell
Speaker 1: John forget football players. You can tell when somebody takes
Speaker 1: care of themselves in life. You can see if they've
Speaker 1: had too much to drink in their life. You can see,
Speaker 1: you know, the ruddy complexion. You can see when people
Speaker 1: are overweight. You can see when people haven't taken care
Speaker 1: of things. You can walk up and you know, look
Speaker 1: somebody up and down in thirty seconds and say they've
Speaker 1: lived hard, they've dried too much, they've eaten poorly. Aaron
Speaker 1: did not have a reputation who's aging well. You know,
Speaker 1: Brady aged well. Breeze lost his arm, but you know
Speaker 1: aged well. Big Ben did not right. And so I
Speaker 1: think with Aaron he's aged very quickly. And part of
Speaker 1: it was his off seasons were Aaron's. He's he's he
Speaker 1: worked out, but he wasn't a grinder. He wasn't he
Speaker 1: wasn't obsessed with it like Peyton Manning. And again I'm
Speaker 1: not saying mahomes can't get a dad bod for three
Speaker 1: weeks and shut it down. But I think Aaron has
Speaker 1: aged poorly. I think he's aged very quickly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that injury last year accelerated
Speaker 3: the process at an exponential rate. And this year you
Speaker 3: got a guy that you know, it's probably a couple
Speaker 3: feet away from being out of the league. You know,
Speaker 3: so these stories, whether they you know him and Woody,
Speaker 3: they end up cutting him or the season plays out.
Speaker 3: I don't think he has other options, and a lot
Speaker 3: of other players always say, well, he's got this resume
Speaker 3: at forty forty one years old, make a lot of money.
Speaker 3: The headaches Now, I think I'm not saying that it's
Speaker 3: a one percent no one touches him, but it falls
Speaker 3: off quick, right, And I think once you get this reputation,
Speaker 3: there's a lot more quarterbacks in the NFL, Like, would
Speaker 3: I rather have Sam Darnold's for fifteen twenty million dollars
Speaker 3: or take a chance on Aaron Rodgers, especially if I'm
Speaker 3: a new coach, right, some of these coaches that it's
Speaker 3: my first year, like let's just let's just settle everything down.
Speaker 3: And I think it's proven that Aaron's not gonna settle
Speaker 3: everything down type of guy.
Speaker 1: John Middlecoff Three and Out is his podcast at the Volume,
Speaker 1: former NFL scout. We chopped it up for an hour
Speaker 1: and twenty two minutes. It looks like to me, as always,
Speaker 1: John great, great talking.
Speaker 3: The volume.
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