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Speaker 2: terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, we have a
Speaker 2: good hour for you. John Middlecoff is going to be
Speaker 2: showing up in about ten twelve minutes. Former NFL scout.
Speaker 2: We do about fifty to fifty five minutes every Sunday night.
Speaker 2: Let me start it off by saying, that's one of
Speaker 2: the great performances by a quarterback I have seen. And
Speaker 2: I know he had turnovers, but thirty of thirty eight
Speaker 2: for three hundred and sixty yards and that quarterback run
Speaker 2: with about three minutes left, That dude is an all
Speaker 2: time talent. Now, Josh makes mistakes. He had three turnovers,
Speaker 2: but first he's first Miami been whining all year that
Speaker 2: I don't respect him. They got one win over a
Speaker 2: team of winning record, Dallas, and if Dallas doesn't botch
Speaker 2: a handoff near the goal line, they go up fourteen
Speaker 2: to three. And there's a big chance they win that game.
Speaker 2: Miami has not proven they can beat Buffalo. Forget it.
Speaker 2: Josh Allen owns the Miami Dolphins. You know how Brady
Speaker 2: was going to own a part of the Dolphins. Josh
Speaker 2: Allen does. I mean once again tonight, they can't stop him.
Speaker 2: He's just a remarkable player. And two is a nice quarterback.
Speaker 2: The difference between two and Josh Allen. One manages a
Speaker 2: game sometimes well sometimes not very consistently against winning teams,
Speaker 2: and the other guy, you know, Josh Allen did not
Speaker 2: make the Pro Bowl, If that's not a joke. Josh
Speaker 2: Allen led the NFL in touchdowns. What you watched tonight,
Speaker 2: which allows the Bills now to have a home game
Speaker 2: against the Steelers in the playoffs. Good luck to whoever's
Speaker 2: quarterbacking the Steelers. But you just watched one of the
Speaker 2: great playmakers. I think Fangio earlier this week said it
Speaker 2: it's like John Elway. Plus that's a lot what Elway
Speaker 2: looked like tonight. Elway threw some picks. Elway had a
Speaker 2: big arm. He would make big throws, take big swings,
Speaker 2: big cuts, big chances. But John Elway just didn't play
Speaker 2: like other quarterbacks. He just didn't look like other quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: and that is Josh Allen. I thought Miami got some
Speaker 2: real breaks in this game. First of all, the missed
Speaker 2: PI by the officials. Next play, Josh Allen throws a pick,
Speaker 2: and then at the end of the half there was
Speaker 2: a helmet to helmet collision. They didn't call it. Bill's
Speaker 2: would have gotten another play. So a couple of officiating
Speaker 2: breaks did go. I thought Miami's a way in the
Speaker 2: first half. But be that as it may. You know,
Speaker 2: Josh allen three turnovers kept the Dolphins in the game.
Speaker 2: But I just I watched that game all night, and
Speaker 2: you know, one team's got almost five hundred yards of toldlafense,
Speaker 2: dominating on third down, has the better quarterback, and I
Speaker 2: just this is a Lobbses. This is a completely lopsided series.
Speaker 2: It's why I like Buffalo to win this game. Another
Speaker 2: winning week with the Blazing five, three and two. So
Speaker 2: that sets up some really interesting matchups in the AFC playoffs.
Speaker 2: John and I are going to talk a lot about
Speaker 2: the NFC matchups. So on Saturday, you know, Baltimore is
Speaker 2: the number one seed, so they get rest. Cleveland is
Speaker 2: going to go to Houston. That's a listen. I like
Speaker 2: Cleveland to cut some veterans on that team. Houston feels
Speaker 2: a little like Green Bay to me, where just making
Speaker 2: the playoffs is really impressive. Now it's hard to bet
Speaker 2: against c J. Stroud at home, it really is. And
Speaker 2: the Cleveland defense is different on the road than it
Speaker 2: is at home. So that's a really, really good game.
Speaker 2: I'd probably lean Cleveland, but c J. Stroud just I mean,
Speaker 2: he surprises us every week. He's just he's just a
Speaker 2: remarkable player. How easy and effortless of a thrower is
Speaker 2: c J. Stroud. So I'm really happy the Texans made
Speaker 2: it in over the Colts. I want to see the
Speaker 2: best quarterbacks in the sport make the playoffs. And Flacco,
Speaker 2: the old guy against the kid. It's a really interesting matchup.
Speaker 2: Dolphins now will go to Kansas City. It's supposed to
Speaker 2: be freezing in Kansas City. That's a terrible matchup.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: You know, again, the Dolphins are banged up, so they
Speaker 2: don't have the pass rush stated earlier this season, and
Speaker 2: tonight you saw multiple starters go down, so you know,
Speaker 2: I got to keep your eye on their health. I
Speaker 2: would give Kansas City the edge there, and you know,
Speaker 2: I've been saying this. People don't want to acknowledge it.
Speaker 2: But not a lot of dome teams and warm weather
Speaker 2: teams win the Super Bowl. If you look at our
Speaker 2: recent dynasties, you know, Kansas City, New England Forever, you know,
Speaker 2: and teams like Philly and Baltimore. I've always been so good,
Speaker 2: such good franchises. So it's a little bit of a man. Listen.
Speaker 2: I live in Los Angeles now, when I go, you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm in cold weather, I can go up to Portland,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's forty eight degrees and I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's damp, it's cold, And I'm thinking I grew up
Speaker 2: in this. I never once thought it was damp or
Speaker 2: cold when I was up there. It was just Portland.
Speaker 2: So it's a tough draw for Miami. But can't win
Speaker 2: at home tonight them the breaks Steeters at Buffalo. Obviously,
Speaker 2: I like Buffalo. I think Buffalo's getting to the AFC
Speaker 2: Championship and the Bills again. One of the reasons the
Speaker 2: Bills are so good for the NFL. You just get everything,
Speaker 2: you just get big quarterback plays and this giant freewheeling,
Speaker 2: massively talented, occasionally mistake grown quarterback. It's such great television.
Speaker 2: It's such great television. You know, people forget Nama threw
Speaker 2: more picks than he did touchdowns l way through a
Speaker 2: lot of picks. Historically, a lot of the great quarterbacks
Speaker 2: have not been Brady, have not been you know, thirty
Speaker 2: seven touchdowns, seven picks. That's you know, Aaron Rodgers. Historically,
Speaker 2: Mahomes doesn't throw a ton of picks. A lot of
Speaker 2: the great quarterbacks have. They're playmakers. And so I think
Speaker 2: Buffalo is just a great team in the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 2: I think Baltimore Buffalo, and I'd probably go with Kansas
Speaker 2: City not with a great deal of confidence. Those are
Speaker 2: the three teams I like, Yeah, I'm just so blown
Speaker 2: away tonight by Josh Allen. I don't the mistakes don't
Speaker 2: bother me. They really don't. What. I never worry about
Speaker 2: the floor. I'm always into the ceiling. And you know
Speaker 2: that's why. You know, when you look at these NFL
Speaker 2: drafts and you're looking at these young quarterbacks, I just
Speaker 2: I look at Michael Pennock throw a ball. You know,
Speaker 2: am I going to be paralyzed? That he's he's had
Speaker 2: injuries before. You know, I look at Josh Allen and
Speaker 2: I think there's Josh Allen, mahomes Lamar Jackson. Those are
Speaker 2: the three most talented quarterbacks on the planet. Not saying
Speaker 2: oh it was the best, but I mean two is
Speaker 2: a really good quarterback with an off defensive coach and
Speaker 2: great weapons, and I mean he looked like a guy,
Speaker 2: you know, pedestrian, you know, Pro Bowl guy, look pedestrian
Speaker 2: on the field with Josh Allen tonight, You're just you're
Speaker 2: watching one of the all time great players. And I
Speaker 2: know I'm supposed to be really bummed out by the
Speaker 2: interceptions and the turnovers, and he did keep the Dolphins
Speaker 2: in the game. But you know, the bigger the swing,
Speaker 2: the more the strikeouts, and sometimes Josh just you know,
Speaker 2: he had a bad end zone pick. It happens. God
Speaker 2: that scrambled with three minutes left in the game. That
Speaker 2: is I mean, these are pro athletes, you know, right,
Speaker 2: Like I didn't have a pro athlete in my county
Speaker 2: where I grew up. These are pro athletes, and Josh
Speaker 2: Allen is flying. It's like a little kid at a
Speaker 2: mall running through traffic, you know, against pro athletes diving
Speaker 2: for a first down. And this is a six six
Speaker 2: and a half guy. He is just crazy to watch
Speaker 2: jumps off the television. That scramble that went. The right
Speaker 2: team won tonight. Josh Allen's team won, made some mistakes,
Speaker 2: but the right team won. They were the best team
Speaker 2: all night, had the officials working against them for a half,
Speaker 2: but they the right team one tonight. Let's go to
Speaker 2: John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. Hi, everybody, and welcome in.
Speaker 2: It's the Colin Coward Podcast, our Sunday night ritual. John
Speaker 2: Middlecoff a former NFL scout with the Philadelphia Eagles. He
Speaker 2: has his three and Out podcast. We chop it up
Speaker 2: for about fifty to fifty five minutes, and let's start John.
Speaker 2: The draft order for those draft knicks out there, and
Speaker 2: it really came down to the last second. Chicago, Washington,
Speaker 2: New England won two. Three will all take quarterbacks? I
Speaker 2: presume Arizona four, Chargers five won't. Marvin Harrison Chargers may
Speaker 2: move down or take the tight end out of Georgia
Speaker 2: brock Bowers. They need a tight end. Then it's Giants, Tennessee, Atlanta,
Speaker 2: Chicago Jets round out in the top ten. Jets need
Speaker 2: a left tackle, they may move up. Actually I could
Speaker 2: see the Chargers and the Jets potentially making a trade
Speaker 2: because the Jets need a left tackle. But it should
Speaker 2: go quarterbacks heavy in the draft. So any thoughts right
Speaker 2: out before we get to the playoff picture, any thoughts
Speaker 2: on the draft it. You know, Chargers look like to me,
Speaker 2: the team that literally needs to go down. They don't
Speaker 2: need a left tackle, a quarterback, or an edge rusher,
Speaker 2: and this draft at the top is loaded. I think
Speaker 2: they have to move down.
Speaker 1: To me, they would have Brock Bowers or a big
Speaker 1: time skill guy written all over them. I think that's
Speaker 1: fair to say. Maybe an edge rusher. You know, Bos
Speaker 1: has been banged up. Ma's not going to be on
Speaker 1: the team. But to me, we get asked constantly, you
Speaker 1: know who are going to be the top quarterbacks? We
Speaker 1: don't know who's going to be making these choices. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Bear situation. I'm sorry I didn't really buy into
Speaker 1: the last month. I know they were playing better on defense.
Speaker 1: Look who they were beating. The quarterback has thrown five
Speaker 1: touchdowns since the middle of November. Like he's gone, like
Speaker 1: he's not going to be their quarterback next time? Yeah,
Speaker 1: who is Ebraflu's back for sure? I mean by the
Speaker 1: time people are listening to this, who knows. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a lot Ron Rivera's done. Who's going to
Speaker 1: be their coach? Could it be Belichick? I know there
Speaker 1: are reports saying that it's not gonna be him, but
Speaker 1: everyone's reporting Belichick's out. So you're talking about three teams.
Speaker 1: Even if we assume Eberflus comes back. To me, Justin
Speaker 1: Fields is gone, they're taking a quarterback. Who is the
Speaker 1: guy making the decision in Washington, New England? I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously Washington's gonna be blown out. Everybody. New England's had
Speaker 1: the same human being for two and a half decades
Speaker 1: deciding everything. I mean that is now. I don't expect
Speaker 1: it to happen on Black Monday. Well, it's possible that
Speaker 1: that's one of the bigger stories in the history of
Speaker 1: the NFL. I mean, when a guy like Bill Belichick's
Speaker 1: no longer their coach, so to me, until we find
Speaker 1: out who their coach is, I have no clue what
Speaker 1: quarterback they'd even like.
Speaker 2: So let's start with this. Let's start with Chicago. I mean,
Speaker 2: at one point Justin Fields had eighty nine yards throwing
Speaker 2: midway through the third awful on third down, four point
Speaker 2: two yards of play. They gave him an excellent tight end.
Speaker 2: They got him another tied end the game of number
Speaker 2: one receiver, o lines, middle of the pack, serviceable running backs,
Speaker 2: more than capable offensive coordinator. This is not one of
Speaker 2: these Brice Young situations where you may not like him.
Speaker 2: He's got nothing to work with. They furnished Justin Fields
Speaker 2: with more than enough, more than C. J. Stroud arguably has.
Speaker 1: C J.
Speaker 2: Stroud didn't have four starters in the on line the
Speaker 2: first three or four games he played. It was a mess.
Speaker 2: So and he has a defensive coach similarly, So, I
Speaker 2: watched Justin Fields today. One of the things that's so
Speaker 2: obvious is Jordan Love, you know, sees the field really well.
Speaker 2: Now he can be erratic and inconsistent, but I watched C. J. Stroud,
Speaker 2: Jordan Love, they see the field. I watch Justin Fields
Speaker 2: hold on to that ball on third down. John, it's this.
Speaker 2: It's a Zach Wilson thing. I've bet we've both been
Speaker 2: on this. Some guys it's just they either don't see it,
Speaker 2: they don't let it rip they lack confidence. But I
Speaker 2: watch justin field today, I'm like, guys, come on, who
Speaker 2: are we? Who are we talking about? It'd be one
Speaker 2: thing if Bo Nicks was the best quarterback in the draft.
Speaker 2: For sure, we have like guys that appear to be
Speaker 2: like Pennix is at least generationally accurate, Like it doesn't
Speaker 2: even look like most college guys Kleb's are. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a rocket athletically. So would you bring Eberflus?
Speaker 2: We're both on field. Isn't the guy you can get
Speaker 2: a second round pick at Lanta? Need to quarterback? Ritters
Speaker 2: very weak? What do you do with Eberflus? In your opinion?
Speaker 1: Yeah, to me, he's gone. I'm all in for Jim Harbaugh.
Speaker 1: Now is that an actuality with you know, Kevin Warren
Speaker 1: there and the way the Bears are operating. I don't
Speaker 1: feel confident, But to me, that's the no brainer move.
Speaker 1: He's played there, he's thriving in that kind of region,
Speaker 1: you know, the big ten guy. I go all in
Speaker 1: for Jim Harbaugh. And to me today, like obviously two
Speaker 1: quarterbacks when two teams are playing, the quarterbacks are never
Speaker 1: on the field at the same time. But one comes
Speaker 1: on the other comes off, so you can kind of
Speaker 1: evaluate him perfectly throughout the game. I did all. To me,
Speaker 1: that was easily the most interesting game of the day.
Speaker 1: I couldn't wait for it. Fields is an athlete to
Speaker 1: plays quarterback. Jordan Love is a quarterback who happens to
Speaker 1: be an athlete. I mean, what they've done, Lafour deserves credit.
Speaker 1: He looks. He made some throws today that you're like, damn, yeah,
Speaker 1: that little rogers. I mean sometimes that's been thrown out there,
Speaker 1: but he was doing that today. His pocket presence he
Speaker 1: is now, he'll move, but it's a little more calm
Speaker 1: and sliding where Fields he runs, so sometimes he runs
Speaker 1: right in the pressure instead of just sliding left or
Speaker 1: sliding right. He does not have a feel for that.
Speaker 1: To me, I just don't think he's not a calm player. Now.
Speaker 1: He could make some highlight throws. If you just took
Speaker 1: five plays today that were on the highlight, they'd be
Speaker 1: as good as any plays today. Run and left thrown
Speaker 1: across his body is right when he runs. He's an
Speaker 1: elite athlete. He's just not a very good quarterback when
Speaker 1: it comes to throwing from within the pocket, where Jordan
Speaker 1: Love has kind of shot off like a rocket ship.
Speaker 1: I think they had ten games to go after their
Speaker 1: buy and gouda Con said, yeah, these ten games are
Speaker 1: gonna define this guy's career for Green Bay. And he
Speaker 1: defined it like they got their quarterback. They're going to
Speaker 1: the playoffs. They did what they couldn't do last year,
Speaker 1: right win and get in at home against the divisional team.
Speaker 1: And he was awesome today. He made some the best
Speaker 1: plays of the day by far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so you know it's interesting. So in the NFC,
Speaker 2: San Francisco gets your buye. There's only one buy now
Speaker 2: Baltimore in the AFC, San Francisco. In the NFC, Dallas
Speaker 2: and Green Bay. So I think it's a tough reason.
Speaker 2: I don't like Green Bay in the spot. They're the
Speaker 2: youngest team in the playoffs by a chunk. Young teams
Speaker 2: generally don't go on the road and win playoff games
Speaker 2: they can. Cincinnati did a few years ago, fairly young.
Speaker 2: But Dallas also is an extraordinarily good and confident home team.
Speaker 2: So I would take Dallas over Green Bay. My guess
Speaker 2: is the lines like minus three and a half minus four,
Speaker 2: what say you on that game? I just think Green Bay.
Speaker 2: It's a big ad. I think getting to the playoffs,
Speaker 2: you have to be so happy where Green Bay is.
Speaker 2: They found their quarterback, their young receivers are twitchy and
Speaker 2: fun Joe Barry. It probably gets moved, but I do
Speaker 2: think in the rare instances, John just getting to the
Speaker 2: playoffs as a win. And I think of all the
Speaker 2: playoff teams, the Texans and the Packers.
Speaker 1: Totally with you. They can lose by twenty this weekend. Yep,
Speaker 1: no one should frown, no one should be mad, and
Speaker 1: they won't be. Green Bay is an incredible to go.
Speaker 1: To go from Farv to Rogers to what has potential
Speaker 1: to be a just a ten year, fifteen year starting court.
Speaker 1: It never happens. I mean, the greatest thing I've ever
Speaker 1: seen in my life was Montana young Garcia. And if
Speaker 1: this guy is just Garcia, they're in great spot. And honestly,
Speaker 1: he looks a little better. So I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: don't like the Packers defense look good. Today they were
Speaker 1: playing a court Dacory struggles Dallas, who was kind of
Speaker 1: on cruise control today throws up thirty points with their
Speaker 1: eyes closed. So that's a matchup that I mean couldn't
Speaker 1: you see them losing by twenty plus points. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be very, very difficult.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we start with that, and we're going to
Speaker 2: do some NFC stuff before we move to the AFC,
Speaker 2: because I started this tonight. I'm gonna do some commentary
Speaker 2: by my solo on that on Miami and Buffalo. So
Speaker 2: let's go to Rams at Detroit, which is a rivening
Speaker 2: opening round playoff game. Jesus Stafford goes back home. It's
Speaker 2: goff again, Stafford. This is a tough one. I think
Speaker 2: I don't love this. I'm prone to take Detroit, but
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the game. The fascinating thing about the Rams,
Speaker 2: who have lost once in I couldn't tell you that
Speaker 2: the Baltimore loss I watched how should have won a
Speaker 2: special team's mistake. Ram's only loss in forever is Baltimore.
Speaker 2: Baltimore has destroyed Miami, destroyed San Francisco, destroyed, Seattle destroyed.
Speaker 2: Rams went in there early game West Coast team, early
Speaker 2: East Coast game and out played them. So much of
Speaker 2: me wants to take Detroit. Where do you lean on this?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, as we're recording this right now, Wolf
Speaker 1: to see where Detroit's injuries come out. I mean their
Speaker 1: star tight end was out for the game with a
Speaker 1: knee injury. If he doesn't play, that's a massive blow.
Speaker 1: One of their good defensive players, the high draft pick
Speaker 1: from I think Alabama, he got injured. That they had
Speaker 1: suffered a lot of injuries today for a game that
Speaker 1: they did not need to win, especially if you had
Speaker 1: to assume Washington or Washington was gonna lose the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: And I know Dan Campbell the mindset, and I know
Speaker 1: Laporta was chasing a rookie record, but that is a massive,
Speaker 1: massive blow. And one thing I jotted down Poka Nakua.
Speaker 1: You know, usually one individual changes your team as a rookie,
Speaker 1: it tends to be the quarterback, right like what CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud is for Houston. Coupa helped change the Ramps. I mean,
Speaker 1: think how long they've been waiting for a second weapon
Speaker 1: outside Cooper Cup and he's just basically another Cooper Cup.
Speaker 1: I mean, you get two guys that can get one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten catches with their eyes closed. He was
Speaker 1: I mean, he set the record today. They were crying.
Speaker 1: He was awesome. Now they have a backup quarterback. How
Speaker 1: about Carson Wentz today. He looks kind of capable. You
Speaker 1: know that he made himself a lot of money today
Speaker 1: because there were a lot of questions about him, the
Speaker 1: attitude and stuff. You go to McVeigh like Baker last year,
Speaker 1: you act like a good guy. You're humbled his I mean,
Speaker 1: he's definitely one of the best sixty four quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: this in America. But yeah, I'm with you. I got
Speaker 1: to see where these injuries come out. I would have
Speaker 1: just taken Detroit assuming they were all healthy. But if
Speaker 1: you tell me they're missing Laporta, the Rams, the way
Speaker 1: Stafford's playing, they're gonna have. I mean, is there a
Speaker 1: hotter team them in the Packers. But the Rams, like
Speaker 1: you said, the level of play, who they've been playing,
Speaker 1: how well they've been playing, even the day to win
Speaker 1: with their backups against the Niners, and kind of impress
Speaker 1: the fashion they were down, they had a game winning drive,
Speaker 1: they forced a turnover at the end, Like they're kind
Speaker 1: of just vibing right now. So I might take the
Speaker 1: Rams when it's all said done, and and I'm a
Speaker 1: Lion's Dan Campbell supporter, but I did not like the
Speaker 1: injuries today and that matchup yeah, yea. I think I'm
Speaker 1: taking the Rams as we sit here today.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing. Both offenses are explosive Pooka, Cooper Cup,
Speaker 2: Kyron Williams, Taylor Higbee, Tyler Higbee, Matt Stafford mcvay's brain,
Speaker 2: and they have you know, Detroit's got it. What worries
Speaker 2: me about Detroit and the Rams do some of this too.
Speaker 2: You can beat both these secondaries over the top. So
Speaker 2: my take is you can have some points. That's gonna
Speaker 2: be a really good game with some points. What worries
Speaker 2: me about the Rams though, God, their special teams are
Speaker 2: a liability the Baltimore game. So I look at that
Speaker 2: Detroit Rams game and I see thirty twenty seven, and
Speaker 2: I can tell you mcvey's big concern is, even if
Speaker 2: we don't give up something over the top, because the
Speaker 2: Rams are young in the secondary and they've been burnt
Speaker 2: over the top. You saw Detroit today got smoked over
Speaker 2: the top multiple times. That I fashioned that is one
Speaker 2: of the best opening playoff games we've seen in years.
Speaker 2: Rams Detroit could be thirty three thirty.
Speaker 1: We don't know the times. As we're recording this. I'd
Speaker 1: put that on Monday Night Football I think that'd be
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Lions Detroit first playoff game and forever, first
Speaker 1: time they've won the division in forever getting Matt Stafford,
Speaker 1: I mean, their former quarterback who had some success with them,
Speaker 1: who was part of one of the more famous trades
Speaker 1: probably in franchise history. I hope that's the Monday Night
Speaker 1: game because that would be pretty cool. And remember just
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, the Rams played on Monday
Speaker 1: Night football against the Arizona Cardinals end up winning the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Okay, so Philadelphia, a five seed, will go to Tampa.
Speaker 2: Tampa's got a puncher's chance playing with house money. I
Speaker 2: I don't like what I see from Philadelphia. You take
Speaker 2: Shane Steichen out of Nick Siriani's career and he looks
Speaker 2: over his head. This team's getting worse by the week.
Speaker 2: I mean that shit today was embarrassing. And I've always
Speaker 2: liked Tyrod Taylor.
Speaker 1: Boy. Ugh, I again, Baker's limping around is the only.
Speaker 2: Problem is he is? I you know, I would have
Speaker 2: said Philadelphia before that game, but the way it turned out,
Speaker 2: You're like, what is going on? It's like players almost quit.
Speaker 2: Is that a message by them? Who would you take
Speaker 2: Philadelphia or Tampa boy A J.
Speaker 1: Brown injured, Hurts dislocated a finger. No team has worse
Speaker 1: mojo right now, headed into the playoffs in the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 1: And listen, your big thing is offensive coaches, and I
Speaker 1: agree with you. Now, I'm not totally opposed to defensive coaches.
Speaker 1: The right guy, you know, Vrabel's proven to be legit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Demiko's a star. My defensive coach if he's young, right
Speaker 1: under fifty, has to be a play caller. What happens
Speaker 1: Saturday night, Demiko's calling the defense, Shane Sykin's calling the offense.
Speaker 1: I'm not looking for a CEO that's forty one years
Speaker 1: old here in the NFL. Right if it's you know,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, some of these Pete Carroll, I get it.
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh. Nick Sirian is a CEO head coach. He's
Speaker 1: like forty two years old. I mean, what's he bringing
Speaker 1: to the table. His motivation is clearly not working. So
Speaker 1: schematically we saw last night, everyone's crushing Shane Sykin. At
Speaker 1: the end of the game. He called the time out
Speaker 1: because he knew the defense. He was playing mental games
Speaker 1: with him and Demiko were going at they were scheming
Speaker 1: up against each other all night long, and he called
Speaker 1: the right play. The guy just dropped it bad pass
Speaker 1: to me, I don't really know what Siriani's doing. I
Speaker 1: mean he's pacing around. They're losing their leaking oil. He
Speaker 1: has no ability to pass that leak right now, and
Speaker 1: it's getting worse. There are more leaks popping up. Like
Speaker 1: you said, you could argue that you know, they're probably
Speaker 1: assuming the Cowboys are gonna win, so maybe they didn't
Speaker 1: take the game as seriously. But that effort was gutless,
Speaker 1: like they weren't even trying. They might as well have
Speaker 1: just said, hey, let's just we'll just give you guys
Speaker 1: the win. We'll just walk off the field.
Speaker 2: Look at the effort the Rams had today with Carson Wentz.
Speaker 2: It was a stupendous effort. I always think when you
Speaker 2: mail in an effort, you disrespect your boss. If I
Speaker 2: at my last show at foul, let's say I'm seventy
Speaker 2: years old, I'm leaving Fox. If I'm mail in my
Speaker 2: last show, that's disrespecting my boss.
Speaker 1: Who didn't try today. Colin every game, Arizona's trying, even
Speaker 1: Jacksonville lost trying. Everyone today. Whether you were in the
Speaker 1: playoffs or not. It's football. No, these contracts are guaranteed,
Speaker 1: all these coaches. Everyone tries to me they were the
Speaker 1: one team that were Atlanta. I mean, they're kind of
Speaker 1: a disaster. But to me, Philly, like, where's your pride?
Speaker 1: What's going on? Especially you know you're playing next week?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: You're not a buy team. It's not like this game
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, like you're the forty nine ers to mail
Speaker 1: in an effort like that. With the way everything's been going,
Speaker 1: I don't know. To me, Philly can lose at any moment,
Speaker 1: and I don't love the matchup for Tampa to beat Philly. Hope,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Baker gets a little more healthy, because
Speaker 1: to me, he looks, you know, like fifty sixty seventy
Speaker 1: percent max and he's not talented enough to overcome that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't. I wouldn't feel. I wouldn't put
Speaker 1: any money on the Philadelphia Eagles right now. That's for
Speaker 1: damn sure.
Speaker 2: No, I would you though I said this last week,
Speaker 2: i'd give I would have no problem. You know, Baker
Speaker 2: struggled with injuries. You know, he's one of those guys
Speaker 2: that plays he's got some alpha, some times he'd you'd
Speaker 2: be like, slide, get out of bounds, don't wait. You know,
Speaker 2: sometimes he'll take a hit because it's part of his hutz,
Speaker 2: but it's part of his sort of his shield, it's
Speaker 2: part of his personality. Is I'm a tough guy. I'm
Speaker 2: one of you. And there's almost a Jim McMahon quality
Speaker 2: to it. You like Jim Slide. Jim took some shots.
Speaker 2: I would give Baker. I'd have no problem, no misgivings,
Speaker 2: giving Baker a two to a three year deal if
Speaker 2: it's in the threes, you know, thirty one thirty. Garoppolo
Speaker 2: got a deal, and I think Baker throws a better
Speaker 2: ball than Garoppolo. Would you have a problem with it?
Speaker 1: That number seems a little high to me. I mean
Speaker 1: I ideally had like like one fifteen. But again, you know,
Speaker 1: the quarterback market can get weird. Who are you really
Speaker 1: betting against with him? You know, at those type numbers.
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see. The quarterback market always changes. Like
Speaker 1: you said, Jimmy Garoppolo. The difference with Jimmy though, you
Speaker 1: can nitpick them all you want, and he's not good anymore.
Speaker 1: He had been a part of a winner. People you
Speaker 1: know the teammate. No one ever questioned him, no one
Speaker 1: ever had any issues with him in terms of internally
Speaker 1: in the locker room. I know Baker doesn't now, but
Speaker 1: there were a lot of question marks. To me, did
Speaker 1: you get for like under twenty million dollars just one year?
Speaker 1: I would try to take a deep breath and not
Speaker 1: try to overreact. Now he wins a playoff game, a
Speaker 1: two year deal, you know, still to me, it's like
Speaker 1: forty million dollars, maybe guarantee twenty five or something. You like,
Speaker 1: where'd you get this guy just played for four million dollars,
Speaker 1: So you know, maybe just factor in where you're at.
Speaker 1: I would try You've seen some of these happen with
Speaker 1: those mid tier guys when you overpay and it kind
Speaker 1: of goes the other way. Because the other thing with Tampa,
Speaker 1: I mean, they have some older players, so is this
Speaker 1: kind of the end of the wrung for their kind
Speaker 1: of run and they're kind of in a transitionary time
Speaker 1: Because sometimes you do that, then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you realize, well, we're not quite the same team as
Speaker 1: last year. Is Mike Evans back on the team, You know,
Speaker 1: you have some turnover. Then you're like, I wish we
Speaker 1: wouldn't have done that, but he clearly has ingratiated himself
Speaker 1: to Jason Light I mean, Todd Bowles, you gotta give
Speaker 1: him some credit. I know the division suck, but they
Speaker 1: wanted for the third straight year to win it without
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. You know, New Orleans got to be kicking
Speaker 1: themselves because they had no business not winning this divisions.
Speaker 1: That's pretty embarrassing. I know a lot of people act
Speaker 1: like Dennis Allen's coming back, and clearly Dennis Allen's just fine.
Speaker 1: And in fairness to New Orleans, they didn't want Sean
Speaker 1: Payton to leave. That's why he had a trade for
Speaker 1: him that they would have liked to keep them. But
Speaker 1: that's you know, Derek started playing well these last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. Where the hell was that in the middle
Speaker 1: of the season, he just plays something like that. In
Speaker 1: the middle of the season, they might win this division
Speaker 1: by a couple of games, and to me, I would
Speaker 1: take them a lot more seriously the way they're playing,
Speaker 1: So Philly might get lucky that they're playing in Tampa
Speaker 1: not New Orleans right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, Derek has played better in the last month,
Speaker 2: and you know it's a new system, a defensive coach
Speaker 2: couldn't It could have taken longer. I still think, I
Speaker 2: really do think that New Orleans has the most talent
Speaker 2: in the division. I think are the best team. But
Speaker 2: we've seen this before. A quarterback gets I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't think Pittsburgh is a is a very viable playoff team.
Speaker 2: They're a one and done to me. I think New
Speaker 2: Orleans could win a playoff game. I actually think Seattle
Speaker 2: kind of could win a playoff game. I Tampa with
Speaker 2: a Banga Baker Mayfield. I don't know. So let's let's
Speaker 2: kind of pivot over here to the AFC. So the
Speaker 2: biggest story of note Jay Glazer reporting that you know,
Speaker 2: Belichick's gone, They're going to meet seven thirty Eastern time.
Speaker 2: That's a four thirty am our time, that Belichick is
Speaker 2: is going to meet with Robert Kraft. And you know,
Speaker 2: Jay reporting he's gone. You know, I kind of look,
Speaker 2: there's a term that states have used in the center
Speaker 2: Midwest part of the country called the brain drain. When
Speaker 2: your college graduates leave and they go to New York
Speaker 2: in LA and San Francisco and the coast in Florida,
Speaker 2: and it's called a brain drain, and your state gets
Speaker 2: older people more reliant on social services, and the college
Speaker 2: graduates young smart people leave. I think this is what
Speaker 2: Belichick went through. Dante Scarnecki, a best online coach along
Speaker 2: with Bill Callahan in the in the NFL, leaves, but
Speaker 2: at the same time Brady leaves, Josh Daniels leaves and
Speaker 2: Ernie Adams. You know, one of the smart guys upstairs.
Speaker 2: You had a brain drain, and they were mostly mostly Dante,
Speaker 2: Josh and the goat Tom on the offensive side of
Speaker 2: the ball. And as a defensive coach. He's just not
Speaker 2: equipped to be able to replace those. So what does
Speaker 2: he do. He replaces a lot of people with what
Speaker 2: he's familiar with. You know, a Son a Joe, Judge,
Speaker 2: Matt Patricia. He replaces, not with the best on the market,
Speaker 2: he replaces them as an older coach in his seventies,
Speaker 2: on who he knows. And I think it was a
Speaker 2: NFL brain drain he lost. I mean, Brady is playing chess.
Speaker 2: McDaniels for all the negatives, Philip go to Daunte probably
Speaker 2: the best o lineman coach. You know. I've talked to
Speaker 2: multiple guys that had him. It's like Colin. It's just different.
Speaker 2: And so I think I don't think Bill's great with
Speaker 2: personnel the draft, but I just that's how it to
Speaker 2: me is he's just not equipped to reboot this franchise offensively.
Speaker 2: Is that too harsh? No?
Speaker 1: I think there were two downfalls of him, and number one,
Speaker 1: like you touched on his unwillingness to go outside the
Speaker 1: Patriot way when it came to coaches. You know, Andy
Speaker 1: Reid will hire a linebacker coach from Kentucky, right, I
Speaker 1: mean he hired Sutton before he got Spagnola to be
Speaker 1: his defensive coordinator, Eric b Enemy. They had never worked together.
Speaker 1: He was a running back coach, bounced around different places.
Speaker 1: He didn't know him. But he was willing to go
Speaker 1: outside of just the people that he knows. And that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you can't bring in people you're comfortable with.
Speaker 1: Belichick is unwilling to do that, right, Look at this year,
Speaker 1: he needed an offensive coordinator desperately. There are a million
Speaker 1: Shanahan cronies all over the place working for them all.
Speaker 1: He could have got one of those young guys and
Speaker 1: just maybe tried to spice things up. Who do you
Speaker 1: go with? Bill O'Brien? I mean, that's he was unwilling
Speaker 1: to go. He didn't even entertain it was a lock,
Speaker 1: Like who's going to be his offensive coordinator? Everyone's like
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien, Bill O'Brien, Bill O'Brien, and to me the
Speaker 1: other thing. And this goes back to Brady. He is
Speaker 1: Walsh two point zero right, sold a year early instead
Speaker 1: of held on a year late. And he had wanted
Speaker 1: a short Brady for a long time. Now he's Brady's
Speaker 1: an all time outlier. So he was always going to
Speaker 1: be wrong on shorting Brady as the stock. But he
Speaker 1: did have Jimmy Garoppolo who he felt comfortable with and
Speaker 1: he did not want to leave. But Brady, by winning
Speaker 1: that Super Bowl and the power that he had at
Speaker 1: the time until that nineteen season, Belichick got a little
Speaker 1: more juice to do it. But Jimmy was gone, so
Speaker 1: he had his I'm not saying Jimmy Garoppolo Steve Young,
Speaker 1: He's clearly not. But he had his transition guy there
Speaker 1: that he knows he could have played with and competed with,
Speaker 1: because if he just had a capable quarterback. I mean,
Speaker 1: how many games did Belichick lose this year? Like nine
Speaker 1: to three? Ten to six. It's not because he doesn't
Speaker 1: know what he's doing. His offense is a joke and
Speaker 1: he has he can't change that, and he's unwilling to
Speaker 1: hire Bobby Slowick or the next Shane Stiken. He's not
Speaker 1: going to do that. He just refuses. To me, why
Speaker 1: I like Bill Belichick somewhere else is because he could
Speaker 1: just hire Josh McDaniels back because offensive coordinators available, which
Speaker 1: is the patriot way he got. But we know they
Speaker 1: work together. So to me, unwillingness to hire any coach
Speaker 1: that has not started at twenty two, twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: For Bill and to the quarterback transition, he just I mean,
Speaker 1: he fucked it up and some of it was out
Speaker 1: of his control. But once Jimmy left and he told
Speaker 1: Brady to go, they didn't have an answer. Remember he
Speaker 1: had to go with Cam Newton. And then he just
Speaker 1: took mac Jones at fifteen. He don't take mac Jones
Speaker 1: at fifteen, but he didn't have a choice, Like what
Speaker 1: else was he He was desperate at the time, and
Speaker 1: that was the other thing. They were never over the
Speaker 1: Brady especially that's third part of the dynasty. They never
Speaker 1: felt desperate, you know, they never got in desperate situations.
Speaker 1: And that's what he's felt like the last several years,
Speaker 1: just always signing guys for a lot of money. That's
Speaker 1: he doesn't feel comfortable doing that. No quarterback situation. He
Speaker 1: cut Bailey Zappy at the end of the preseason and
Speaker 1: that guy played the half the season, So it tells
Speaker 1: you what he thought of him to begin with. So
Speaker 1: just yea, as usually it usually doesn't end well, right
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson, Bill Belichicket, This's usually kind of how it ended.
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, you know you you'd said something earlier
Speaker 2: staying in the AFC that I prefer offensive coaches. But
Speaker 2: there is a history that if you have a top
Speaker 2: defensive coach with a with a top eight nine quarterback
Speaker 2: in his prime, you win a lot of Super Bowls.
Speaker 2: So there's there's no question defensive coaches work. I mean,
Speaker 2: Demiko Ryans gets the right quarterback, they have the balance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so.
Speaker 2: Over more yeah, yeah, I'm overwhelmingly four offensive coaches. But
Speaker 2: I do think let's let's pivot now to the charger job.
Speaker 2: So there's gonna be eight to nine openings. That's clearly
Speaker 2: the best opening. I mean, hardball is not gonna look
Speaker 2: at seven of the nine. I mean he, I mean,
Speaker 2: he's just not gonna He's not gonna look at seven
Speaker 2: of the nine. So that tells you the only guy
Speaker 2: with huge options, you know, stay in college, go to pro.
Speaker 2: The guy that's gonna have fifteen million dollar offers at
Speaker 2: both laces, or at least in the NFL, he's gonna
Speaker 2: look number one. He'll look at the Raiders a little
Speaker 2: because they do have some nice offensive pieces and they'll
Speaker 2: give him an open checkbook. But he's gonna look at
Speaker 2: the Chargers. So they got a left tackle, a weapon,
Speaker 2: a couple edge rushers, though Khalil Mack's probably gone, they'll
Speaker 2: keep Bosa and Justin Herbert. So in this instance, I
Speaker 2: would like a head coach. You've tried with Anthony Lynn,
Speaker 2: Mike McCoy, Brandon Staley. I do think they need a
Speaker 2: head coach. So this is the this is the instance
Speaker 2: that I would be comfortable with Dan Quinn, Tomlin, Vrabel
Speaker 2: or Harball. I can make an argument John that Vrabel's
Speaker 2: are really good choice here. So what the Chargers haven't
Speaker 2: been forever since Marty Schottenheimer was there is physical Marty.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember talking to Charger players and practices
Speaker 2: are physical, They're brutal. This team doesn't have a physical component.
Speaker 2: They've got the big names, the toughness, but they don't
Speaker 2: play tough. If you had the option Vrabel, Belichick, Harball,
Speaker 2: would you go Harball because I think Vrabel would get
Speaker 2: a a lot of consideration.
Speaker 1: For me, I would go or Jim Harbaugh on a heartbeat.
Speaker 1: To me, he's the number He's the number one guy
Speaker 1: in the market right now. I mean, he just you know,
Speaker 1: he wins. He is an offensive guy, though he feels
Speaker 1: much more like a defensive lineman or something. He just
Speaker 1: he's a can't miss. I don't hate the Vrabel thing,
Speaker 1: and I think there are a lot of parallels talking
Speaker 1: to people that have been around for Abel, like Jim Harbaugh,
Speaker 1: his bravado and alpha when he walks in a room,
Speaker 1: sucks it all out and he intimidates a lot of people.
Speaker 1: It's hard for gms, it'd be hard for the Spaniss
Speaker 1: like with Harbaugh, that these are big personalities and they're
Speaker 1: big human beings, right so that they are intimidating guys.
Speaker 1: You know, Vrabel if he leaves Tennessee, which clearly is
Speaker 1: on the table. It's because he wants to leave because
Speaker 1: he doesn't like things aren't going his way, Like he
Speaker 1: wants control. It's part of what Jim's gonna want, right,
Speaker 1: He's gonna want controls, what Belichick's had forever. It's what
Speaker 1: Pete likes. So I think he would be a guy
Speaker 1: that would make the Spanos is also a little uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: Like he's an uncomfortable guy. He's a Belichick guy. He's
Speaker 1: an Urban Meyer guy like Bill O'Brien. He thrives being uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: But that's what the Chargers need. Like, let's face it,
Speaker 1: they've kind of gone the comfortable route for a decade
Speaker 1: now with some of these guys and it has not
Speaker 1: gone well. And I always get back to they've invested
Speaker 1: all this money in the quarterback to not go Listen,
Speaker 1: if you can't get Jim Harbo, if you get Mike Raball,
Speaker 1: I'll give you a standing applause. I mean that's relative
Speaker 1: to what you had. I mean you can't even compare
Speaker 1: the two. You can't pay the quarterback two hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars and not do everything humanly possible when it comes
Speaker 1: to the coaching staff to go after the best and whatever.
Speaker 1: If Rabele's gonna cost one hundred million dollars, because I'll
Speaker 1: tell you this, if Rabel would be interested in Ohio State,
Speaker 1: they probably fire Ryan Day tomorrow and give the Arabe
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty million dollars. So it's just he's
Speaker 1: going to have options for a lot of money whether
Speaker 1: he's you know, we could argue till we're blue in
Speaker 1: the face how much these guys who cares? These are
Speaker 1: line items when it comes to the amount of money this,
Speaker 1: this media deals bringing them. This is not even profits.
Speaker 1: This is just extra money to throw at people.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, I mean, if you look the NFL this
Speaker 2: year paid like four hundred and twenty five million to
Speaker 2: each team after it was all said and.
Speaker 1: Done, the salary caps like two hundred ten million dollars.
Speaker 1: You're not paying your scouts that much money. I'll promise
Speaker 1: you that. So what a president costs two million dollars,
Speaker 1: what does it really cost? It doesn't you know, I
Speaker 1: mean to fill your whole building. You don't even have
Speaker 1: that many people working for a full People don't realize,
Speaker 1: like Dean Spanos or Robert Craft, how many people do
Speaker 1: you actually have working for the team full time? Beside
Speaker 1: your coaching staff and your players. Not as many as
Speaker 1: you think. The doctors don't work full time, right, the trainers,
Speaker 1: the scouts, presidents, some salespeople. But it's not some. This
Speaker 1: isn't Microsoft. So when you say four hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: million dollars, if your salary cap is two hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars, you probably could pay the rest of
Speaker 1: the building for ten to fifteen. I guess your coach
Speaker 1: and stuff twenty five thirty million dollars. I mean you're
Speaker 1: talking you could easily spend and make that thirty, make
Speaker 1: it fifty and not even see anything in your bank account.
Speaker 1: So Dean, they have to with the quarterback, especially Sean
Speaker 1: Payton's going nowhere, and Andy had the worst season, and
Speaker 1: you know, Chiefs in like a decade for the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and then they'll probably win a playoff game. Shows you
Speaker 1: where they're at. They're not going away, so that the
Speaker 1: Chargers better not scure around. And the Raiders. I do
Speaker 1: believe Mark Mark shown if he sits with Harrorball, he's
Speaker 1: not gonna be just sitting with him to have a sandwich.
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's willing to pay. He gave John
Speaker 1: grew to a hundred million dollars seven years ago before
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars for getting given out.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, it's it's really interesting about the Chargers job.
Speaker 2: Obviously you're gonna have Payton in it. I'm gonna have
Speaker 2: Andy reading it. You know. So you got you're gonnap again.
Speaker 2: Some you know, brilliant guys. But the best job openings
Speaker 2: in recent years Matt Lafleura got Aaron Rodgers Late Prime.
Speaker 2: But Aaron's a lot of work and you have no owner,
Speaker 2: and it's a bad free agent city. And that's about
Speaker 2: as good a job opening is. You get Aaron late Prime.
Speaker 2: Dallas McCarthy's a pretty good job, but it's a semi
Speaker 2: meddaling owner and Dak's limited. This job, I get an
Speaker 2: a quarterback, a non medaling owner, a team that spent
Speaker 2: money on Bosa Khalil, Mack Jackson, the corner that whiffed.
Speaker 2: This is about as good a job I mean. And
Speaker 2: the other thing that's interesting.
Speaker 1: John Salary Cap has some issues.
Speaker 2: They're gonna move off the one James Clear. They know
Speaker 2: that they're gonna have to hit on some draft picks.
Speaker 2: The other thing that cannot be dismissed a it's a
Speaker 2: good coaching market. Rabels out there, potentially Belichick's out there. Hardballs.
Speaker 1: You have these.
Speaker 2: Years where like Dan Quinn with the Dallas Cowboys is
Speaker 2: the best candidate available. Who's a good candidate. He didn't
Speaker 2: win much without Kyle Shanahan. But this has to be considered.
Speaker 2: The Chargers have the fifth spot, so this is a quarterback,
Speaker 2: left tackle, and edge rush heavy first round. They don't
Speaker 2: need any of them. They've got a Bosa. They got
Speaker 2: the Tully kid from USC so they have two defensive linemen.
Speaker 2: They love that. Chargers could move down two spots. Tennessee
Speaker 2: could move up to where the Chargers are. You get
Speaker 2: a third round pick, a second third round pick. This
Speaker 2: has draft capital you gotta get. You gotta work your
Speaker 2: way through some salary cap stuff. Quarterback, left tackle, weapon,
Speaker 2: edge rusher, non meddling family John. I'm trying not to
Speaker 2: be a Southern col homer. This is a really good
Speaker 2: job opening well, like for Dallas.
Speaker 1: For example, for Mike, that's a pressure cooker, right if
Speaker 1: something were at Sirianni, he's gonna get eaten alive if
Speaker 1: this goes bad, right, Green Bay, that's an intense job.
Speaker 1: You better win there or you'll get run a Chargers
Speaker 1: kind of under the radar. I mean they stuck with
Speaker 1: Brandon Staley after last year. I'll promise you the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles would not have Jerry Jones probably fires him after
Speaker 1: that situe. He's getting fired in a lot of places.
Speaker 1: So you could argue just under the radar job. We
Speaker 1: talk about him a lot because we love the quarterback,
Speaker 1: but in terms of they don't matter that much in
Speaker 1: the market, right Their brand for like television ratings isn't
Speaker 1: that important. Their owner just they would pay. They'd have
Speaker 1: no problem giving fifteen million dollars if you can just
Speaker 1: guarantee him like back to back playoff appearances. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's all the turn that they just can't get to
Speaker 1: the playoffs back to back years. So if you factor
Speaker 1: that in the expectations. The other thing with the quarterback
Speaker 1: is like there aren't questions, right, good kid, elite talent,
Speaker 1: has already proven that he can succeed in the NFL,
Speaker 1: right productive, you know, successful in terms of throwing touchdowns,
Speaker 1: can make all the throws he's been durable. There aren't
Speaker 1: really question marks with the guy. Like sometimes like at
Speaker 1: the Eagles job became available. It's like, is Jaling that good?
Speaker 1: You know, is he truly a forty five to fifty
Speaker 1: million I think some guys would ask he would have people,
Speaker 1: They would be interested, but it would be somewhat risky.
Speaker 1: Rights He's done it one year where you've seen really
Speaker 1: since Herbert showed up, he was really good. And that's
Speaker 1: with guys constantly in and out of the lineup.
Speaker 2: And bad coaching.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you ever could just get some consistency with
Speaker 1: his offensive personnel, this guy would be the limit. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we knew that John Payton wanted
Speaker 1: the job last year. They just wouldn't get off friends
Speaker 1: salely and they probably at the time weren't quite mentally
Speaker 1: ready that they.
Speaker 2: They acknowledge they I've talked to multiple people with the Chargers.
Speaker 2: They acknowledge they should have run him out. They do
Speaker 2: now it's a mistake. And he was, you know, the classics,
Speaker 2: always smartest guy.
Speaker 1: In the room.
Speaker 2: They were getting annoyed with him. He'd done some weird
Speaker 2: analytics stuff, but you know, he got to the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and you know for the Chargers that you know that
Speaker 2: was at the time enough. But I think the Chargers
Speaker 2: are the first to acknowledge, Hey, we should have probably
Speaker 2: moved off him last year. By the way, it's not
Speaker 2: the worst thing in the world given a coach, a
Speaker 2: young coach, thinking he'll grow into it. Most people thought
Speaker 2: he would grow into it. They lose the opener to
Speaker 2: Miami in that wild shootout, and you're like, okay, that's
Speaker 2: that's okay to Miami's got a good offense. But by
Speaker 2: week three, four five, you're like, God, they're giving up
Speaker 2: chunks of yards to bad quarterbacks. So I don't crush
Speaker 2: the Chargers for that. But in a strange way, it's
Speaker 2: a better coaching market this year for the Chargers, and
Speaker 2: so they worked in their favor.
Speaker 1: The one thing that worries me with the way we're
Speaker 1: going in the sense of how much coaches cost. Right,
Speaker 1: you're paying fifteen, seventeen, eighteen million dollars for these guys.
Speaker 1: The GM is basically just a player personnel guy. He's
Speaker 1: GMing title only. And let's face it, a lot of
Speaker 1: coaches struggle in the draft because they view that. It's
Speaker 1: hard for them to not have, you know, like an
Speaker 1: instant gratification view of a guy. Can this guy helped
Speaker 1: me immediately instead of kind of the twenty thousand foot
Speaker 1: view that usually personnel people are better at well, once
Speaker 1: I start paying fifteen seventeen, eighteen million dollars, the coach
Speaker 1: has all the juice. And that's just it's just a situation.
Speaker 1: And listen, Kyle Shanahan had it, but John proved himself
Speaker 1: and they became a balance. Andy Reid, John Dorsey, Brett Veach.
Speaker 1: He listens to those guys. Even Pete over the years
Speaker 1: has when he's listened to John, they've done well in
Speaker 1: the draft. And a lot of these coaches, like is
Speaker 1: they able to listen to anybody? If you give him
Speaker 1: sixteen million dollars a year, Jim, what's unique? He's going
Speaker 1: to know all these kids. So in the draft he's
Speaker 1: more prepared like Pete is. So you feel a little
Speaker 1: comfortable for like the first couple of years. It's why
Speaker 1: Pete set themselves up on that run. But a lot
Speaker 1: of NFL coaches I got news free aren't the greatest
Speaker 1: personality evaluators. And you talk to these jams sometimes they
Speaker 1: butt heads with these guys like I can't talk this
Speaker 1: guy out of this player. But once you start paying
Speaker 1: that guy sixteen million dollars. Who's the owner going to
Speaker 1: side with right? I mean, he's paid employee. There's only
Speaker 1: probably a couple of players on the team that are
Speaker 1: gonna be making more than some of these coaches.
Speaker 2: All right, so we've broken down the NFC. I do
Speaker 2: want to spend a few minutes on Michigan Washington. So
Speaker 2: because this was the last year the four team playoff,
Speaker 2: they're moving transitioning to twelve teams. I didn't have any
Speaker 2: problem leaving Florida State out. You know, you didn't have
Speaker 2: to answer for years about it anymore. Their final thing was,
Speaker 2: let's just get these four teams in. We think that
Speaker 2: the best teams, along with Georgia. But Georgia lost the
Speaker 2: last game, and say, levit, that's life. I loved how
Speaker 2: Washington matched up against Texas, and I did pick Michigan
Speaker 2: narrowly Alabama. The line movement is telling me that the
Speaker 2: wise guys are on Michigan. I do like Michigan ball
Speaker 2: controlling Washington here, although I think Washington because I don't
Speaker 2: think any college team has three good corners. So I
Speaker 2: just think Washington's going to be able to score, and
Speaker 2: especially if they're scoring late and Michigan's protecting a ten
Speaker 2: point lead. Washington's really going to move the ball down
Speaker 2: the field, so Michigan has to be an aggressive team.
Speaker 2: You cannot take your foot off the gas with Washington's coach,
Speaker 2: their quarterback, So let's start with that. I like Michigan
Speaker 2: sort of thirty twenty six. I think the line's appropriate,
Speaker 2: but I do like Michigan, and there's going to be points.
Speaker 2: It will not be Texas Washington. It won't look like that.
Speaker 2: It'll be much more physical, much more between the twenties,
Speaker 2: more field goals. But what say you on the prediction,
Speaker 2: I'll take Michigan.
Speaker 1: Well, you're talking to the biggest Husky fan here, because
Speaker 1: when I went to DraftKings and they said they all
Speaker 1: listened to the podcast, I might have spread one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on them seven to one. So I'm rooting for
Speaker 1: them now. If I had to bet after the Texas game, like,
Speaker 1: I'm not betting on this individual game, I just took
Speaker 1: it because of the value. And Joel Klatt I heard
Speaker 1: him on your show. This Michigan team built themselves for
Speaker 1: that CJ. Stroud explosive Ohio State team, so they're built
Speaker 1: to handle this now listen, this is Jim Harbaugh. To me,
Speaker 1: is never going to get a better opportunity to win
Speaker 1: a championship, and that might come even when he makes
Speaker 1: it back to the NFL in the Super Bowl. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a favored against a team that he clearly should beat. Now,
Speaker 1: the difference is the Big Ten's pretty bad. I mean,
Speaker 1: as we had time after the ball season, Ohio State's
Speaker 1: quarterback out ran out of town. Penn State's quarterback, who
Speaker 1: I heard for three years was the next Josh Allen
Speaker 1: was awful. Who's the best quarterback they played this year?
Speaker 1: Tua Brother? I mean, yeah, I think so. It's not
Speaker 1: Alabama's guy. So the only saving grace, while I feel
Speaker 1: kind of good at least having a chance, is like
Speaker 1: this offense is pretty special. I mean, Penix is when
Speaker 1: the dust. Unless his knee doesn't check out at the
Speaker 1: combine like it's a degenerate knee. I don't see how
Speaker 1: he doesn't get drafted really high. And if he goes
Speaker 1: on and lights these guys up, even if they lose,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about a big time NFL quarterback prospect,
Speaker 1: and he has elite wide receivers now, Michigan has NFL DB's,
Speaker 1: but they have three NFL wide receivers, one guy who's
Speaker 1: gonna go in the top fifteen, top twenty. The other
Speaker 1: two are going on day two and they're all big.
Speaker 1: They all have great catching radiuses. Their coach. The reason
Speaker 1: I loved and I told you this last week Washington
Speaker 1: against Texas. I just thought it was a huge coaching mismatch.
Speaker 1: Well this, yeah, I mean, Harbaugh's the real deal.
Speaker 2: I mean this is and they have a great DC.
Speaker 1: They have a great DC who's an NFL guy. They
Speaker 1: have Sharon Moore, who's a Bob Stoops guy who's really good.
Speaker 1: I mean, they Harbaugh. One thing about Jim Harbaugh, his
Speaker 1: staff is always good. You know, John can go through
Speaker 1: ups and downs a little harder than the NFL. Jim
Speaker 1: staff from the moment he got to Stanford was a leak.
Speaker 1: So there's no coaching mismatch like honestly, do Boor and
Speaker 1: Grubb are gonna have to have a great game. They
Speaker 1: had a good game. Obviously they kind of fell apart
Speaker 1: at the end. But can Pennix was heven sacked eleven times?
Speaker 1: Can they get to them? Because if they don't, then
Speaker 1: to me, Washington will have a chance if they're peppering them.
Speaker 1: Remember Oregon in the game you were at up in Washington,
Speaker 1: they start peppering him in the second half. I think
Speaker 1: that's when he heard his ribs, and over the next
Speaker 1: month he wasn't the same. But Oregon easily could have
Speaker 1: won that game because they started mullywopping him like every
Speaker 1: other play, crushing him. And to me, Michigan's kind of
Speaker 1: built to do that if they can avoid that. The
Speaker 1: other thing Washington's really good at, like this running back,
Speaker 1: let's say he's not even close to sixty percent. They
Speaker 1: can generate runs with a quick passing game, which is
Speaker 1: basically the same thing. That's what Andy Reeves always said, Like,
Speaker 1: I can run these in Kyle, these quick screens that
Speaker 1: basically are eighty ninety percent completion percentage even if we
Speaker 1: get four or five yards, keeps the clock going and
Speaker 1: operates out as a run. And they start doing that
Speaker 1: against Texas, and no team takes those quick little screens
Speaker 1: and just gains seven eight yards like Washington. So they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to hit those and obviously the big plays,
Speaker 1: which are gonna be harder than some of the games
Speaker 1: they've played. But I give Washington chance just because of
Speaker 1: their offensive personnel and defensively, I mean, Trice is an
Speaker 1: NFL guy. If you know, the Michigan's tackles aren't great.
Speaker 1: Their interior offensive lines to leap, but their tackles. But
Speaker 1: is Harball liable to have forty five rushing attempts? Like,
Speaker 1: we ain't even throw it because he is?
Speaker 2: Yeah? You know a side note to this. If Harbaugh
Speaker 2: Jettison's Michigan exits the college football do you know who
Speaker 2: the number one candidate for the Michigan job is?
Speaker 1: Would have to be Kaylen de boor, right.
Speaker 2: Kaylen de Borer. I read it today. So and what's
Speaker 2: interesting is, here's what's interesting. I was told a week
Speaker 2: ago that if and Ryan Day shouldn't be dismissed, but
Speaker 2: if he was, Ohio State would hire Kaylen de Bor.
Speaker 2: So here's what's interesting. This is where Ohio State's and
Speaker 2: kind of screwed. Either got to face Harbaugh going forward,
Speaker 2: or they're going to make a bid for Kaylin de
Speaker 2: boor they may also make a bid for Ben Johnson
Speaker 2: with the Lions. Although you know, no, I would take
Speaker 2: Caitlin de Bore. But I will say this about a
Speaker 2: college football, and you know John, Years and years ago,
Speaker 2: when I was at ESPN, I had told some of
Speaker 2: the upper management. I said, you guys should go buy UFC.
Speaker 2: I said, you're living in your Red Sox tunnel Yankees.
Speaker 2: I said UFC is catching fire in Vegas. And they
Speaker 2: just thought it was too violent. You know, you look
Speaker 2: up now. They could have had that thing for four
Speaker 2: hundred million. It sold for six billion. Years ago I
Speaker 2: met Don Garber, MLS commissioner, and I told him, I said,
Speaker 2: I would love to get a piece of an MLS team.
Speaker 2: Couldn't afford it. You know, it's Tony Robbins, Magic Johnson,
Speaker 2: you know Will Ferrell. You can't own stock ownership in
Speaker 2: college football. But I do believe we are. Next year
Speaker 2: will be the start of an almost revolution of college football,
Speaker 2: sort of overtaking baseball and the NBA. We're sitting on
Speaker 2: this playoff format, which we've known. You and I are
Speaker 2: college football junkies, we've known forever. Can we just have
Speaker 2: a twelve sixteen teamer?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: And I pushed back for years on it because my
Speaker 2: argument was always, hey, there's never been a team with
Speaker 2: two to three losses in college football. Though LSU once
Speaker 2: one and once got to a Natty. I think with
Speaker 2: two losses Alabama, there's never been a team in college
Speaker 2: football with two losses that I thought that's the best
Speaker 2: team in the country. But in retrospect, that's not the point.
Speaker 2: The point is we love tournaments, and they're fair and
Speaker 2: they're weird and they give you great drama. I think
Speaker 2: not only is college football a stock to buy if
Speaker 2: it was if it's a twelve dollars stock, it's twenty
Speaker 2: four next year. But I also think the college football
Speaker 2: playoff is going to become March Madness on steroids. It's
Speaker 2: going to be NFL playoffs and college football playoffs everything
Speaker 2: else in sports, like like NBA, you know, everything else domestically.
Speaker 2: That's my take on what's gonna happen. Just am I hyperbolic?
Speaker 2: Am I over the top because I do love college football?
Speaker 2: But I feel like, guys, it's a whole new world
Speaker 2: next year in college football.
Speaker 1: Well, imagine if we would have had the twelfth team
Speaker 1: or this year Ole Miss and Oregon and some of
Speaker 1: these teams that could have made some noise and just
Speaker 1: made the whole thing really interesting. I don't know where
Speaker 1: you stand on Jim I'm hoping he stays because the
Speaker 1: NFL doesn't need him, right historic ratings, They could have
Speaker 1: me and you coaching teams to get thirty million people
Speaker 1: watching if you put it on Monday Night football. I
Speaker 1: think he's better for college football, right, college sports, in
Speaker 1: my entire college basketball when I was a kid in
Speaker 1: the nineties was huge. The coaches were really famous, right Tark,
Speaker 1: Roy Williams, all these guys, And obviously college football has
Speaker 1: was like that then, but even more now with the Sabans,
Speaker 1: the Kirby's, Jim Harbaugh, Lincoln Riley. So I hope he stays.
Speaker 1: And luckily financially, there was always a big gap why
Speaker 1: guys would leave because the colleges could never match. It's
Speaker 1: the NFL money. Now, if Michigan wanted to pay him
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars a year, they easily could. And that video,
Speaker 1: Like I don't have kids yet, you do. I do
Speaker 1: think sometimes you lean towards certain kids. Clearly his parents
Speaker 1: love Jim a little more than John. Now, Jim's a
Speaker 1: little I think, closer to Jack personality wise than John's
Speaker 1: a little more normal from what I've been told, even
Speaker 1: though all the harbor is a little crazy. I do
Speaker 1: wonder the thing he has going with his parents living
Speaker 1: close to him, what he has in Michigan. I'm keeping
Speaker 1: my fingers crossed. I hope he stays. And I've rooted
Speaker 1: for Jim Harbaugh every game he's coached in Stanford up
Speaker 1: until tomorrow night, when I'm gon root for the Huskies.
Speaker 1: I think he's better at Michigan right now. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to complain if he comes to the pros, but
Speaker 1: I do think there's something pretty special that team. The team,
Speaker 1: the team, the thing that goes with both, that stuff
Speaker 1: really means something to Jim. It's why that I think
Speaker 1: that the Raiders have a shot at Jim, because I
Speaker 1: think the Al Davis, the alumni, like Jim is. He's
Speaker 1: a football nerd, like this is it's all he thinks about,
Speaker 1: twenty four, his family in football, and that type stuff.
Speaker 1: Al Davis, Bill Walsh, like this is all these guys
Speaker 1: want to talk about and be around. So I hope
Speaker 1: Jim stays because, like you said, college football is clearly
Speaker 1: the number two sport in America, and you have some
Speaker 1: nights where it's like, what are the games last week?
Speaker 1: We're doing like twenty five million people that the first crazy,
Speaker 1: So it was crazy in Michigan. How many teams in
Speaker 1: the NFL are bigger brand than Michigan football. Well tend
Speaker 1: stand this for years.
Speaker 2: If now you have two recruiting cycles in college, which
Speaker 2: it really does, it's a regressive lifestyle.
Speaker 1: That's what's driving him away. To me, the NIL, the
Speaker 1: transfer portal, something of that.
Speaker 2: But and I think there's they're putting up more and
Speaker 2: more guardrails on it. But I've been saying this from
Speaker 2: the beginning there. If I had Patrick Mahomes, the NFL
Speaker 2: is better than Michigan Dallas cowboy job potentially is better
Speaker 2: than Michigan boyd And it ends right around there. Again,
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow always hurt a lot. Buffalo. I don't want
Speaker 2: to live there, Love you, Buffalo. But Ann Arber's I'm
Speaker 2: going to live there. Michigan when it's rolling is especially
Speaker 2: for a Michigan man. I just don't think they're five.
Speaker 2: I've always said this, if.
Speaker 1: Well, do you have coach at the forty nine ers already?
Speaker 1: How many jobs are bigger than forty nine ers and
Speaker 1: you got right out of town five maybe not even No.
Speaker 2: I mean the Niners have great city. Some generational pressure
Speaker 2: because of their success. York's a pretty good owner, Lynch
Speaker 2: is an excellent GM, So there's a handful that are better.
Speaker 2: I do think eventually college football has to figure out,
Speaker 2: and I think they will over time with a twelve
Speaker 2: team playoff a schedule maker, and there'll be a little
Speaker 2: more reasonable, a fairness where the SEC guys are scheduling
Speaker 2: Citadel four times a year. PAC twelve was always much
Speaker 2: more courageous on their schedules. But I just don't think.
Speaker 2: I think when you get to these Texas like sark Now,
Speaker 2: you may be disappointed and there's some pressure, but they're
Speaker 2: pressure from impulse of billionaire owners. How many jobs are
Speaker 2: better than Texas. I gotta live in Austin, Texas, and.
Speaker 1: I get a alumni base willing to cut huge checks
Speaker 1: to stock my roster. How many teams in the SEC
Speaker 1: have more money than him? News flash, none. So it's
Speaker 1: like Sarcaz. You could argue now financially him USC Ohio State.
Speaker 1: I mean, you could argue that college football is even
Speaker 1: going to separate more and more. You know, these SEC
Speaker 1: teams and all the money coming in has separated over
Speaker 1: the last decade. All their sports are better now college basketball.
Speaker 1: Their basketball programs are paying six seven million dollars to
Speaker 1: their basketball coaches. So and the Big Ten is going
Speaker 1: to be like that too. The thing is to me,
Speaker 1: once you get at Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, you
Speaker 1: always the transfer portal a guy. You know, every player
Speaker 1: is a free agent twenty four seven, three sixty five,
Speaker 1: but you are more likely to keep them at those
Speaker 1: schools because you have the mechanisms in place to pay
Speaker 1: them and it's such a special place. Like if you're
Speaker 1: a Recher freshman, you walk out at the University of Georgia, Universe,
Speaker 1: Ohio State, or Michigan, You're like, this is where i'd
Speaker 1: want to play. You're going to transfer like Syracuse you know,
Speaker 1: no Jims. So when you see those transfers happening, it's
Speaker 1: pretty clear. Ohio State told the quarterback you're not going
Speaker 1: to be the starter next year. He didn't transfer because
Speaker 1: you know, he was mad they told him you're not
Speaker 1: good enough. And that's the one thing that I wonder
Speaker 1: if coaches get a little tired of just having to
Speaker 1: deal with all that. And maybe that's Jim obviously the
Speaker 1: NC DOUBLEA. But Jim's crazy enough that I could see
Speaker 1: him like the NC DOUBLEA whatever. I don't even give
Speaker 1: a shit about them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, John Middlecoff, former NFL scout three and out. This
Speaker 2: is so much fun. We've got a Sunday podcast event
Speaker 2: scheduled for the foreseeable future. I absolutely love doing it.
Speaker 2: By the way, for our listeners, we'll have Nick right
Speaker 2: on my Tuesday podcast, which will air Tuesday live on
Speaker 2: YouTube or Wednesday on our podcast network. The Volume, so
Speaker 2: John is always it's money. I'm gonna go watch the
Speaker 2: Bills Dolphins game. I like Buffalo, but I don't love
Speaker 2: him Dolphins. You know, once you lose Bradley Chubb Phillips out,
Speaker 2: they're not going to engineer the kind of pass rush
Speaker 2: and I think that really limits I think when they
Speaker 2: had a pass rush that was healthy and the offense dangerous.
Speaker 2: Team don't love them. Now we saw they got wrecked
Speaker 2: by Baltimore. So I'm going to go watch that. As always, John,
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Go Husky the Volume.
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