Speaker 1: The volume. Our Week seventeen reaction is presented by Uber eats.
Speaker 1: Get game day deals all season long on uber eats.
Speaker 1: Forty to thirty four. The Lions roar back in the
Speaker 1: second half thanks to two brock pretty interceptions, and you know,
Speaker 1: I just it really cracks me up. If you're listening
Speaker 1: to this, you have a team, and you're a fan,
Speaker 1: many of your Niner fans, some of your Lion fans.
Speaker 1: You have to be an adult. If you're a general manager.
Speaker 1: You're watching John Lynch on TV tonight. How did he
Speaker 1: react with those brock Purty picks? Baker Mayfield's making thirty
Speaker 1: three million this year. Brock Purty is not nearly as
Speaker 1: talented as Baker Mayfield. One's a first round pick. You know,
Speaker 1: one's number one pick. One's the last guy picked. Baker's
Speaker 1: got a better arm. I think Baker's a better athlete.
Speaker 1: Baker leads the NFL in touchdown passes the entire NFL,
Speaker 1: including Josh Allen and Joe Burrow since he started in Tampa. Well,
Speaker 1: he's got Mike Evans. Everybody's got a receiver. Everybody's got
Speaker 1: at least one decent receiver. So here's a prime example,
Speaker 1: so defensive players in the NFL get hurt more than
Speaker 1: offensive players statistically, and Detroit's down like seven or eight starters.
Speaker 1: So this was a moment to really seize an opportunity
Speaker 1: to beat Detroit. I thought Detroit would win, and my
Speaker 1: takeaway was because I trusted Golf on the road more
Speaker 1: than brock pretty at home. I thought it would be
Speaker 1: a high scoring game just because the Lions, that's all
Speaker 1: they can play now. They have so many players down
Speaker 1: and listen, it doesn't help that Jake Moody missed a
Speaker 1: fifty one yarder and a fifty eight yarder and a
Speaker 1: pat But folks, there's a reason they were settling for
Speaker 1: fifty one yarders and fifty eight yarders because there was,
Speaker 1: for instance, a key third pass by brock Purty in
Speaker 1: the second half the Juwan Jennings that was behind him.
Speaker 1: I just don't understand how you can watch brock Purty.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'd argue, when he got hurt, he'll be fine.
Speaker 1: But when he got dinged up, they put in Josh Dobbs,
Speaker 1: who ran for a touchdown that athletically brock Purty would
Speaker 1: not have raced to the corner and got into the
Speaker 1: end zone. He could have scrambled, but he's not as
Speaker 1: fast as athletic as Josh Dobbs, who's a pretty remarkable
Speaker 1: player who just bounces around the league and he's always
Speaker 1: pretty effective. But people get so caught up on statistics. Well,
Speaker 1: he had three hundred and seventy seven yards. First of all,
Speaker 1: Shanahan is one of the great play scriptors in the league.
Speaker 1: Andy Reid and Shanahan are probably one and two in
Speaker 1: the league. Sean Payton's probably third those three guys. Bow
Speaker 1: Next played Justin Herbert a week ago. Bo Nicks looked
Speaker 1: way better in the first half than Justin Herbert. Why
Speaker 1: because the first half is scripted. In the second half
Speaker 1: against the Chargers defense, bow Knicks didn't look as good.
Speaker 1: That's about talent in the first half. Brock Purty on
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan's script is remarkable. In the second half, two
Speaker 1: picks behind Jowan Jennings on a key third down throw.
Speaker 1: Here are the numbers for Brock Purtty in the second
Speaker 1: half this year and again the first half, especially when
Speaker 1: you have elite offensive coordinators or elite play designers like
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Shanahan McVeigh, by the way, is
Speaker 1: not an elite play designer. The Rams have been an
Speaker 1: average offense all first half. Nick Sirianni's an offensive coach.
Speaker 1: He's not an elite play designer. Not all offensive coaches are.
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell's more offensive side, He's not an elite play designer.
Speaker 1: Pretty in the second half. First half off and on script.
Speaker 1: Second half is talent pretty second half this year eight touchdowns,
Speaker 1: ten picks. That's bad. Jayden Daniels is remarkable in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Broock Perty's awful. This is not his first
Speaker 1: year in the league. He's got Kyle Shanahan. And the
Speaker 1: other thing is Shanahan you get so many open Ricky
Speaker 1: Pearsall and George Kill opportunities. And this is what Andy
Speaker 1: Reid does. I mean Andy Reid in a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, in their first Super Bowl
Speaker 1: win without Tyreek Hill. He's getting Sky Moore wide open
Speaker 1: looks in the red zone, that congested area. That's what
Speaker 1: great play designers do. By the way, Ben Johnson's very
Speaker 1: good tonight in the red zone down near the goal line.
Speaker 1: You know Jared Goff had open receivers. That's what clever
Speaker 1: coaches do. So you know, and I'm not saying Jared
Speaker 1: Goff isn't benefiting from a good old line and an
Speaker 1: excellent play designer. But this is the second team Goff
Speaker 1: has done that with. And McVay is not known as
Speaker 1: a brilliant play designer. He is a culture guy. He's
Speaker 1: got a great eye for personnel, he's a motivator, he
Speaker 1: designs excellent run games. But so many of the completions
Speaker 1: for brock Prudy are two wide open players. But the
Speaker 1: difference between good and great in this league is squeezing
Speaker 1: the ball in these little holes. Darnold did that yesterday
Speaker 1: multiple times. Jayden Daniels did that. Hell, Michael Pennix had
Speaker 1: a throw like that yesterday for a touchdown for Atlanta.
Speaker 1: The opening was the size of a football. And Pennis
Speaker 1: has real velocity. I mean, he can really cut it loose.
Speaker 1: So brock Purdy isn't big, isn't super athletic, doesn't have
Speaker 1: a big arm, and benefits greatly from Shanahan's play calling.
Speaker 1: He's good, he's functional. But the idea, I'm gonna pay
Speaker 1: him forty and fifty million, Baker's make him thirty three million.
Speaker 1: You got to be kidding me. Yeah, it's just eight touchdowns,
Speaker 1: ten picks in the second half this year, and he
Speaker 1: was the difference in the game tonight. Don't blame the kicker,
Speaker 1: those two second half picks, that was the difference. So yeah,
Speaker 1: when you and you know, listen, Detroit is one of
Speaker 1: those teams like Minnesota right now where they've got spectacular
Speaker 1: offensive players and excellent coaching Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores
Speaker 1: Glenn defensive coordinator for Detroit Ben Johnson. So a lot
Speaker 1: of this stuff is coaching, a lot of this stuff
Speaker 1: when you look at the teams in this league, Spags
Speaker 1: and Andy Reid. I mean, look at San Francisco when
Speaker 1: they had Demiko Ryans and Shanahan. That was their best
Speaker 1: staff in my opinion. Look at the results. You're getting
Speaker 1: the Super Bowls, you're getting the conference championships. So I
Speaker 1: think with Purty, you just have to be totally honest.
Speaker 1: I would just play it out. I'm not gonna pay him.
Speaker 1: You want to sit out, go ahead, but I need
Speaker 1: to see another year. There's no way I'm paying him early,
Speaker 1: no shot. Don't care what he does, don't care if
Speaker 1: he sits. If Sam Darnold's available, go pay for him.
Speaker 1: But I'm and this is not hate. Second half numbers abysmal.
Speaker 1: Second half is off script. That's when the true talent
Speaker 1: comes out. That's when you see Mahomes win Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: Second half ad libbing, that's when Justin Herbert has been
Speaker 1: pretty spectacular. That's when Josh Allen takes over games. The
Speaker 1: other thing about Detroit that's fascinating, there's this sense that
Speaker 1: the AFC, because it's got the Bills and the Ravens
Speaker 1: and the Chiefs, is much better than the NFC. But
Speaker 1: the NFC is wide open. I mean, the Bucks are
Speaker 1: three to ohero against NFC playoff teams. They beat Washington, Detroit,
Speaker 1: and Philly, and the Lions could potentially. They've been media
Speaker 1: darlings all year. They're a one loss on Sunday Night
Speaker 1: against Minnesota from being the number five seed going to
Speaker 1: Tampa or LA, and they beat LA. Remember earlier this
Speaker 1: year in overtime, LA was all beat up. LA is
Speaker 1: now the healthiest team in the league. The Rams are
Speaker 1: the healthiest team in the league. All their starters are back,
Speaker 1: and they gave Detroit pushback when they were all banged up.
Speaker 1: Now Detroit's all banged up. So Detroit's been this media
Speaker 1: darling all year long. Can you imagine going to Tampa
Speaker 1: and facing that defensive line which doesn't allow you to run,
Speaker 1: and you know Montgomery comes back. Maybe that's the difference.
Speaker 1: But if Montgomery's not ready for a playoff game, yikes.
Speaker 1: I mean the NFC. I mean you got the Commanders
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the NFC. I mean, Houston won
Speaker 1: a division in the AFC. Houston's a mess right now.
Speaker 1: Washington is sneaking in. I would want no part of
Speaker 1: Jaden Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Cliff Kingsbury and Washington. I would
Speaker 1: want no part of that. So the NFC is deeper.
Speaker 1: Their bottom is much stronger than the AFC, whereas the
Speaker 1: AFC's tops probably better. But you know it's funny. We've
Speaker 1: been watching all year just the NFC North is fascinating.
Speaker 1: So all year we're like, Detroit's the team, green Bay
Speaker 1: second little young, and Minnesota is a great story. If
Speaker 1: Minnesota beats Detroit, they're the best team. Green Bay is
Speaker 1: still a little young. And Detroit goes to La or
Speaker 1: Tampa all beat up defensively, and I want to go
Speaker 1: back to that, you gotta win this game tonight if
Speaker 1: you're San Francisco, I don't want excuses. I mean, how
Speaker 1: many backups are playing for Troy on the defensive side.
Speaker 1: They were there for the taking. Detroit was there for
Speaker 1: the taking tonight. I know you guys think I'm not
Speaker 1: a rock pretty guy. I am for thirty two million
Speaker 1: dollars after next season. But if you want me to
Speaker 1: pay him big boy money now a year early, not
Speaker 1: remotely interested, not gonna happen. Let him sit out. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been saying this for eight weeks. I think the
Speaker 1: Niners are in a rebuild. They just don't know it yet.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you can't beat Detroit at home the
Speaker 1: week before their game of the year, when they were
Speaker 1: there for the taking, you're not that close. Forty thirty
Speaker 1: four Detroit. How good is football? I want to add
Speaker 1: one NBA topic, So Adam Silver. I was told the
Speaker 1: NBA got a hold of me and said, Adam Silver
Speaker 1: is going to be in LA. Like to come on
Speaker 1: my show. I'd love to have him. He's the guest
Speaker 1: I've been asking to get for about a year. And
Speaker 1: j Mac got people riled up when he said one
Speaker 1: of the problems that the NBA has been having is
Speaker 1: their most popular show with Barkley and Jack, Kenny Smith
Speaker 1: and Ernie Johnson. They're very, very critical of the NBA
Speaker 1: and every time you tune in, you know they're super
Speaker 1: critical of the NBA. And to that, I would say
Speaker 1: time out, because the top reporters in the NBA do
Speaker 1: not want to lose access to the top agents, and
Speaker 1: they break all these stories that by and large NBA
Speaker 1: coverage is can border on pandering. It's really really pretty tame.
Speaker 1: I mean NFL coverage. NFL reporters and talk show hosts
Speaker 1: crush NFL players, crush them. I think the Barkley Shack
Speaker 1: Show works because it's the only coverage of the NBA
Speaker 1: that is critical. NBA TV is not. I think ESPN
Speaker 1: feels like they are the they are the network of
Speaker 1: the NBA, and it feels like it very complimentary. So
Speaker 1: Shack and Barkley and Kenny are the one critical place
Speaker 1: for NBA coverage and they should be. The league's got issues.
Speaker 1: There's too many three point shots. The domestic players, the
Speaker 1: young players don't feel like they're as skilled or as
Speaker 1: focused as many of the international players. Those that's not
Speaker 1: negative criticism. That's that's forthright, up front and completely honest
Speaker 1: to me. I like the NBA, especially the playoffs, but I,
Speaker 1: for instance, baseball is a very tough sport for a
Speaker 1: reporter to be critical because one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 1: games spring training, you're with these players around the clock.
Speaker 1: They'll shut you out. I've had friends. I wrote a
Speaker 1: couple books with a guy named Tim Kune who used
Speaker 1: to cover the San Francisco Giants, and he's like, listen, man,
Speaker 1: you get in the bad side of players, like you're
Speaker 1: a virus, like it, they will just stay away from you.
Speaker 1: They'll shut you out for the season. NBA is different.
Speaker 1: There's half as many games. There's also a lot of
Speaker 1: times even on your own team, the stars have their
Speaker 1: separate agents and separate camps, and there's more divisions. But
Speaker 1: NBA coverage by and large is very favorable. Home announcing
Speaker 1: teams aren't critical the big your Shams woes when he
Speaker 1: worked in it, you know they're not beating guys over
Speaker 1: the head. It's a pretty tame media landscape in the NBA.
Speaker 1: The one show that's critical is that one, and the
Speaker 1: audience likes it. Fans like it. It's also it's not
Speaker 1: all critical. I mean, I watch inside the NBA in
Speaker 1: a regular basis. There have been nights I watched that
Speaker 1: more than the game. I'll literally tune in it's on TV.
Speaker 1: I'll watch the halftime show or the pregame show. I'll
Speaker 1: watch fifteen minutes of the game, get bored and leave.
Speaker 1: I watch more of the pregame sho show and the
Speaker 1: halftime show in the game, especially in like you know, October, November, December, January.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's all negative. It's probably fifty to
Speaker 1: fifty split, but you remember the negative stuff more than
Speaker 1: the positive stuff. But leagues are covered differently, you know,
Speaker 1: like international soccer. I've read some of the coverage of
Speaker 1: international soccer. Those guys are rock stars. There's really strong
Speaker 1: opinions in international soccer from the people who cover it.
Speaker 1: The NFL, college football, very strong opinions on coaches. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's just a football culture in America. We're more critical.
Speaker 1: But usually basketball, you know, it's a long season. Not
Speaker 1: a lot of reporters have fangs and much of a bite.
Speaker 1: That's not a criticism, it's just the reality of my
Speaker 1: entire life of watching NBA basketball and the media that
Speaker 1: covers it. So if inside the NBA is the one
Speaker 1: guys that occasionally bring out the anvil, eh, But I mean,
Speaker 1: just do you watch listen to listen to NFL porters
Speaker 1: and former players of the NFL highly critical on a
Speaker 1: regular basis of the NFL any show. Anytime I bring
Speaker 1: somebody on my show, and I don't think they're negative people,
Speaker 1: they'll be critical regularly, be critical of players and coaches.
Speaker 1: It comes with a territory. It's so infrequent in the NBA.
Speaker 1: You notice it when you hear it from Berkley. Well,
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Speaker 1: All Right, here we go. Former NFL scout John Middlecoff.
Speaker 1: He has a podcast. Three and Out Minnesota twenty seven,
Speaker 1: Green Bay twenty five. So I had a conversation yesterday
Speaker 1: with a general manager in the league who said, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can forget. You can forget Sam Darnold at forty million.
Speaker 1: He said, you're not getting Sam Darnal. Look for forty million.
Speaker 1: Sam's moved into the five five oh five to one,
Speaker 1: and I watched him today even after his pick five
Speaker 1: for five fifty five yards touchdown final drive. You know,
Speaker 1: he got a little bit lucky. Some play calling. You know,
Speaker 1: let's just be honest here. Kevin O'Connell's development and play
Speaker 1: calling is substantial, and between Jefferson, Addison and Naylor the
Speaker 1: Michigan State kid, they have incredible wide receiving group. So
Speaker 1: I'm not taking anything away. But Sam, here's the thing
Speaker 1: I take away John and you as a former scout.
Speaker 1: They're asking him to make big boy throws. Some of
Speaker 1: this shit is these are hard. Even when they were
Speaker 1: leading late in the fourth. I'm like, guys, screen passes
Speaker 1: lighting up. They're asking Sam, this is not dink and dunk.
Speaker 1: These are tough throws.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, he's treating this guy like Mahomes meets
Speaker 3: Joe Montana in terms of his play calling. Complete trust.
Speaker 3: I mean Honestly, you remove two throws, the interception where
Speaker 3: he got greedy and the throw toward the end of
Speaker 3: the game that he airmailed Addison that could have been
Speaker 3: a disaster. Yeah, he was as good as the josh
Speaker 3: Allen mahomes lamar. I mean, that's a dominant, dominant, dominant performance.
Speaker 3: I thought, given the hype in this game and the pressure,
Speaker 3: and we know Minnesota's got to be one of the
Speaker 3: better home field advantages, how loud.
Speaker 1: It is maybe the best.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes you can be overjuiced to go seventeen
Speaker 3: of twenty two in the first half and just slice
Speaker 3: and dice this team. Do you know what I had
Speaker 3: to do immediately? I had to google Jordan Love's contract
Speaker 3: because I'm thinking and listen, Jordan Love, for whatever reason,
Speaker 3: for a good player. He is a slow starter in
Speaker 3: these games. Yeah, but I googled he got a seventy
Speaker 3: five million dollars signing bonus and one hundred and sixty
Speaker 3: million dollars guaranteed. And if I'm Sam Darnold and we
Speaker 3: beat Detroit next week and we're the number one seed,
Speaker 3: I don't see how you could take anything less than that.
Speaker 3: It's like, because Jordan love got paid really off eight games.
Speaker 3: Remember the first half of the season, he was atrocious,
Speaker 3: and obviously he had been there longer, and they liked
Speaker 3: him and they know him. But every time I hear
Speaker 3: Kevin O'Connell talk about Sam Darnold, it's like the way
Speaker 3: I hear Andy talk about Mahomes. I mean, they love
Speaker 3: the guy, and listen, they didn't. This is not a
Speaker 3: clunky Atlanta Falcons situation. This was good business. They paid
Speaker 3: a guy ten million dollars and they drafted a guy
Speaker 3: essentially fell into their lap that they liked as well
Speaker 3: JJ McCarthy. Things changed throughout the course of the year.
Speaker 3: This is not a thirty five year old strike and
Speaker 3: oil late in his career, right, This is not a
Speaker 3: Geno Smith situation. Twenty seven years old. He was one
Speaker 3: of the younger players to come in the league right
Speaker 3: when he was drafted. Today was and they've been doing
Speaker 3: this all season. I was like, this is not It's
Speaker 3: not like they've peaking. They were blowing out teams immediately.
Speaker 3: The Giants they destroyed, they destroyed the forty nine ers,
Speaker 3: they destroyed the Texans, and in their fourth game they
Speaker 3: were up twenty eight to nothing on this Packer team
Speaker 3: in Green Bay, and the Green Bay came back, but
Speaker 3: they've been dominating start to finish with him at quarterback.
Speaker 1: Look at the twenty eighteen draft class, Baker, Darnold, Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: Lamar all having last year's and it's funny, Like we
Speaker 1: used to always talk about the Marino and Lway class,
Speaker 1: We've had two classes now that have been like four
Speaker 1: star quarterbacks out of it, you know. And it's funny, John,
Speaker 1: because in baseball, we understand even if you're Bryce Harper,
Speaker 1: you go to the miners and it takes a while
Speaker 1: to get it going. In the NBA, even if you're Yiannis,
Speaker 1: it takes three to four years to build into something.
Speaker 1: But in the NFL we figure it. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: you're twenty two. You went to college, but it's very
Speaker 1: similar if you don't get a good fit. I mean,
Speaker 1: Mahomes didn't play his first year, you know, Josh Allen
Speaker 1: was rough his first year. Like and if you go
Speaker 1: to a bad organization, I mean, so it's like you
Speaker 1: look at Sam now you're like, Sam has four to
Speaker 1: five more minimum peak years. Here's the other thing. I'm
Speaker 1: never going to talk about a guy's money. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: but if you could take a little less to stay
Speaker 1: with Minnesota even though they have Jay J. McCarthy in
Speaker 1: the offing, it's weird like like, I mean, listen again,
Speaker 1: if somebody offers you fifty two and you know I'm Minnesota,
Speaker 1: I don't let him go. I think you and I agree,
Speaker 1: I'm not letting him go. But if he goes to
Speaker 1: the if he goes to the market and somebody offers
Speaker 1: fifty one, but it's like the Raiders, or you can
Speaker 1: go to a place that's got better players and better personnel.
Speaker 1: Because I think what Sam has learned is Wow, coaching
Speaker 1: and weapons really matter, really matter, because I think, I mean,
Speaker 1: we can talk about Justin Jefferson, but Hell Naylor today, TJ. Hockinson,
Speaker 1: the run game, Addison, Kevin O'Connor. You know we haven't
Speaker 1: talked about this. Is Kevin O'Connell the coach.
Speaker 3: Of the year. You know, I'm sure we'll talk about
Speaker 3: Harball a little bit later, But to me, it's Kevin
Speaker 3: O'Connell or Jim Harbaugh. I mean, Jim Harbaugh took over
Speaker 3: a five win team. Kevin O'Connell. They started slow last year,
Speaker 3: but before Cousins Tours Achilles. They were really coming on
Speaker 3: and two years ago, if memory serves me correct, I
Speaker 3: think they were the two seed. Now they lost the
Speaker 3: Giants in the first round. But this team has been
Speaker 3: good for a couple of years. This is the best
Speaker 3: version of it. But you know, I always say about
Speaker 3: play callers, you know certain people in any industry. Obviously
Speaker 3: you get better at whatever you're doing with reps and experience,
Speaker 3: but certain people are just much there's like an innate
Speaker 3: quality to them at what they're doing. Immediately McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, Lafloor,
Speaker 3: you could just see it. We see some of these
Speaker 3: guys become play callers and you're like, yeah, this is
Speaker 3: just not gonna work. Not because if you got him
Speaker 3: on a whiteboard they would know any less than Kevin O'Connell,
Speaker 3: but the flow of a game, maybe they freak out,
Speaker 3: maybe they get stressed, maybe they lose it. Whatever it
Speaker 3: is he today was it was like he would call
Speaker 3: the screen at the perfect time, he would call a
Speaker 3: perfect zone beating route in the perfect time, and him
Speaker 3: in the quarterback. I don't see how you could ever
Speaker 3: pivot off when you're a play caller and you get
Speaker 3: a quarterback who's young and has these physical skills, and
Speaker 3: it's working with your weapons who are all under contract.
Speaker 3: Why you would want to mess with that is because
Speaker 3: you drafted a quarterback who cares.
Speaker 1: Okay Bill's forty Jets fourteen Jets had sixteen penalties.
Speaker 3: It's over.
Speaker 1: So I will say this about Buffalo. I think these
Speaker 1: are the Sean McDermott playoffs. So Josh Allen, I looked
Speaker 1: it up today, in ten playoff games, has a passer
Speaker 1: rating of one hundred, twenty one touchdowns, four picks. This
Speaker 1: is not a Lamar Jackson situation. He has been a
Speaker 1: B plus to a quarterback in the playoffs. And again,
Speaker 1: I don't expect you to be as good as you
Speaker 1: are in the regular season because you're not playing Carolina
Speaker 1: and you're not playing shitty teams. So if you're one
Speaker 1: hundred passer rating quarterback in the playoffs, that's exceptional. And
Speaker 1: Lamar has gotten tight, like you can see it, he's tight.
Speaker 1: That's not Josh. Josh has been excellent. If they get
Speaker 1: bound sturly in the playoffs, and I know this sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: and I like Sean McDermott, john if they lost, if
Speaker 1: they got if Cincinnati got in and played Buffalo in
Speaker 1: the first round and Cincinnati won, I'm telling you I
Speaker 1: think with dermott's in trouble because when I watch this team,
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear about Josh Allen. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is not a Josh Allen referendum. He lost a game
Speaker 1: because he scored a touchdown with thirteen seconds left to Mahomes.
Speaker 1: He's been fine in the playoffs. This team, this coaching
Speaker 1: staff has real pressure on. I mean, think about this.
Speaker 1: Hardball's not going to get fired if they lose in
Speaker 1: the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And he's not.
Speaker 1: I mean, think of a coach that you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: Sirianni real pressure. Sean McDermott, real pressure. I am fascinated
Speaker 1: to watch Buffalo. They have to at minimum get to
Speaker 1: the conference championship. At minimum, in my opinion, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean what they're going to be a more than likely.
Speaker 3: I think Denver's gonna win next week. If Andy rest
Speaker 3: everybody and it's a kitchen sink game for them, they
Speaker 3: would be a huge favorite in that game. I mean
Speaker 3: we're talking touchdown plus maybe eight nine points. I'm pretty
Speaker 3: confident Buffalo wins that game. Game the next game though
Speaker 3: it gets real. I mean, you're playing Baltimore, who feels
Speaker 3: like they're really coming on, right. I don't know what
Speaker 3: Baltimore did, their defense looks better. That would be a
Speaker 3: make or breaker because then if you win that game
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, you'd have a lot of momentum
Speaker 3: going into Kansas City, right, and you've beat them already
Speaker 3: this year. So I think it go one to two ways.
Speaker 3: I think they're winning Week one or you know that
Speaker 3: that first in Buffalo, no matter what. I have a
Speaker 3: hard time, but that Week two game against Baltimore is
Speaker 3: a massive, massive games because I because I would say this,
Speaker 3: if they go to Kansas City and they have another
Speaker 3: one of those and I listen, he's had some weird
Speaker 3: moments with clock management. If it feels like he blows
Speaker 3: the game, maybe, but if you get beats like some
Speaker 3: people just couldn't be Michael Jordan, some people just couldn't
Speaker 3: beat Tiger Woods, I don't think it. I think lose
Speaker 3: to Baltimore, you already lost to him this season. You
Speaker 3: get him at home in the second round. I think
Speaker 3: you've got to be in the conference championship game. I
Speaker 3: think you can lose to the Chiefs and keep your
Speaker 3: head high. Yeah, even though it would start to feel
Speaker 3: like are we just always going to be second fiddle?
Speaker 3: Or us in Baltimore is always gonna be second? And
Speaker 3: the fact is, yeah, you might. You know, that was
Speaker 3: kind of like Pittsburgh and some of these other teams
Speaker 3: to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, you just played for
Speaker 3: second in your conference. But I think they'd have to
Speaker 3: win that game or else it could be weird because
Speaker 3: and listen, I think it's hard. I mean, what do
Speaker 3: you even make of the Jets? The Jets are a joke?
Speaker 3: I mean, and I give the Bills credit. It was
Speaker 3: a little weird early and then it was forty to
Speaker 3: nothing and it's like, okay, you guys are just toying
Speaker 3: with him.
Speaker 1: Well we learned this. Maddy Eberflus and Robert saw I
Speaker 1: got fired and their teams got worse. So I always
Speaker 1: believe be very careful about firing a coach in season,
Speaker 1: because if the interim coach wins, you get fan and
Speaker 1: player pressure to hire in him coach, and if he loses,
Speaker 1: then you lose the locker room. So they're two and
Speaker 1: nine since Robert Sala left. But I have always felt
Speaker 1: that Solo wasn't the problem. There's an argument he was
Speaker 1: not the solution, but I never thought he was the problem.
Speaker 3: But really quick, before the Jets on the Bills, if
Speaker 3: you and I own the team and we were sitting down,
Speaker 3: like going to the playoffs, like, what are our different
Speaker 3: options if things go south? Our division is a disaster.
Speaker 3: The Jets couldn't be any more of a laughingstock. The
Speaker 3: Patriots are not even a year away from being a
Speaker 3: year away from winning nine games, and the Dolphins, I mean,
Speaker 3: I just don't really take the franchise safely, and we
Speaker 3: own them. So it's like, now, you know, trying to
Speaker 3: go from really good to great. Totally admire anyone who's
Speaker 3: willing to do that, but it is a pretty risky proposition. Now,
Speaker 3: if that job became open, everyone and their mother would
Speaker 3: be calling them. But I just think that, like, you
Speaker 3: do have a pretty good thing going, yes, And to me,
Speaker 3: especially if you lose the Chiefs, you're gonna keep winning
Speaker 3: twelve thirteen games every year in this division, and you
Speaker 3: know you have a capable guy. I'm just saying it's
Speaker 3: pretty yes, I do you just say you do? You
Speaker 3: ride the course a little bit because the Jets could
Speaker 3: go backwards from here and the Patriots could be stuck
Speaker 3: here for a couple of years. Yeah, no, I think
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it is something you got
Speaker 3: to take into account.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not saying I had fire Sean McDermott, but
Speaker 1: I do believe the pressure is on Sean McDermott notre
Speaker 1: whereas in Baltimore the pressure's on Lamar. John Harbaugh's got
Speaker 1: a ring the pressure with Joe Flacco. Lamar needs to
Speaker 1: play better. That's that's indisputable. He's got to play better.
Speaker 1: Josh has played very well in most spots.
Speaker 3: I would agree with that organization. I think most people
Speaker 3: would choose the Ravens roster over the Bills roster. I
Speaker 3: think that there's gonna be a tough that game. I mean,
Speaker 3: we have to play it out to look at all
Speaker 3: the different games. That's gotta be one of the better
Speaker 3: playoff games of the entire tournament. If I tell you
Speaker 3: Ravens that Bills, what's on the line for those two guys,
Speaker 3: it doesn't. I mean that's Saturday or Sunday night the
Speaker 3: week two. Right, that's as good as it gets.
Speaker 1: So I've been talking about this for two weeks. Nine
Speaker 1: teams right now have four wins or fewer less than
Speaker 1: half of that last year four this year. It's almost
Speaker 1: NBA like there is a lot of bad football. It
Speaker 1: is atrocious. We also have three thirteen win teams, so
Speaker 1: the top is bigger and the bottom's huge. Is it
Speaker 1: a one off or is it the reality now? Of
Speaker 1: two things? The league is now so quarterback centric that
Speaker 1: again Burrows the only good quarterback, elite quarterback that's not
Speaker 1: going to make the playoffs. If you have one, you
Speaker 1: get in. And Cincinnati may still but if you have one,
Speaker 1: you get in. I mean, go, look, I went I'm
Speaker 1: going to go seven for eight I think potentially in
Speaker 1: my division picks. Why because I took the best quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: It's never been easier. And because of every owner's a billionaire,
Speaker 1: there's more chaos and ownership, they're more impulsive. They fire
Speaker 1: people quicker, which creates more chaos. So the bad organizations
Speaker 1: are worse, you know, like the Giants have been bad
Speaker 1: for six years now they're I mean, it's despite today
Speaker 1: it's like, oh my god, this is embarrassing. Chicago's embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a one off I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna have a larger bottom because owners getting wealthier, wealthier,
Speaker 1: they're writing forty eight million dollars to get coaches off
Speaker 1: the payroll. As a rounding air, you used to just
Speaker 1: stick it out? What do you make of this massive
Speaker 1: bottom tier?
Speaker 3: Now? I feel like for the last couple decades, the
Speaker 3: quarterback thing has been pretty true. You know. I think
Speaker 3: you've been able to get away with it in the
Speaker 3: eighties and nineties if you built up your team. But
Speaker 3: I think that's been a pretty consistent theme, Like the
Speaker 3: shitty teams don't have a quarterback, that's why they're drafting high.
Speaker 3: I think the money aspect of it and the ability
Speaker 3: to fire whoever. And I think on the flip side,
Speaker 3: you have coaches and executives doing everything humanly possible for power,
Speaker 3: and I would imagine the league's always been relatively political.
Speaker 3: But when there is this much money on the line
Speaker 3: to be a general manager and pay five I mean,
Speaker 3: how many gigs in America paid W two jobs pay
Speaker 3: five million dollars. An assistant coach as a coordinator makes
Speaker 3: two three million dollars. They're not the decision maker, they're
Speaker 3: not near the top of the org chart, they're way down.
Speaker 3: They don't have any responsibility really beside calling the plays
Speaker 3: in terms of when shit hits the fan. So I
Speaker 3: think you have a lot of Like I think it's
Speaker 3: much more difficult. We talk about this a lot with players,
Speaker 3: you know, building a team, and I think young people
Speaker 3: naturally kind of gravitate toward each other and good teams
Speaker 3: like everyone's kind of friends. I think coaching is just
Speaker 3: so corporate. Everyone's trying to take out each other. You
Speaker 3: can't trust anybody. I think the league, the amount of
Speaker 3: money that has come in for front office and coaching
Speaker 3: has made this completely separate from a lot of politicians
Speaker 3: in the end, just because you work in the NFL
Speaker 3: and I wasn't there long, but I always had this
Speaker 3: asp like once you get there, everyone is such a
Speaker 3: high level guy. It's just not the case, right. And
Speaker 3: then the longer I've been around this, knowing a bunch
Speaker 3: of people with a bunch of teams, you hear these stories.
Speaker 3: It's just like any industry when there's a lot of money,
Speaker 3: the cream will always separate. But people can still make
Speaker 3: a lot of money being shitty. And how often do
Speaker 3: we see I mean, the Atlanta Falcons are about to
Speaker 3: play like McKay runs Arthur Blank's trust, you know, and
Speaker 3: he like runs the football. But you know, it becomes
Speaker 3: like these family businesses, but these are billion dollar businesses.
Speaker 3: Most family. I've had some family business like close personal
Speaker 3: friends that run family businesses and got bought out for
Speaker 3: let's say twenty thirty million dollars. Like that's an American
Speaker 3: success story. They built this business, they sold it for
Speaker 3: thirty forty million dollars. These people have businesses that are
Speaker 3: worth not a billion. We're talking like six seven. If
Speaker 3: Mark Davis put the Raiders for sale, I mean, could
Speaker 3: he get eight? Could he get nine? I mean, how
Speaker 3: many companies in America are worth as much money? I think,
Speaker 3: and the Raiders are a good example. They've always had
Speaker 3: these people that like leads their way in because it's
Speaker 3: just like a money training. I think it's hard for
Speaker 3: some of these owners. And we look at all the
Speaker 3: bad teams. It's all these owners that are listening to
Speaker 3: the wrong people. Yeah, but you know who Steve Bushatty
Speaker 3: listens to Da Costa, Ozzy and Harbaugh. You know New
Speaker 3: York's it's New John and Kyle. It's like the I
Speaker 3: think the chiefs Andy and Veach are very simple. They
Speaker 3: operate like a small business. These others start operating like
Speaker 3: fortune five hundred companies where I want it on the
Speaker 3: board of directors, I got an idea for you. The
Speaker 3: kids are involved, and it just becomes Wackoville. And obviously
Speaker 3: because it's so public and it's a fun thing. It's
Speaker 3: why Kevin Warren. Kevin Warren has a seven figure job,
Speaker 3: but you know what his job, No one cares. When
Speaker 3: he sells PSLs or sells the naming right steel for
Speaker 3: hundreds of millions of dollars, no one will give a shit.
Speaker 3: But you know what people care about your third round
Speaker 3: pick the offensive coordinator. And so when you can start
Speaker 3: getting involved with that, and I think that has permeated
Speaker 3: all over the league, or at least you know, all
Speaker 3: these crappy teams, and I think they struggle with that.
Speaker 3: And these owners have money. Everyone's just trying to leach
Speaker 3: on because the money right now is I mean, it's
Speaker 3: like outrageous. I mean it's crazy. If you could bring
Speaker 3: back Lamar Hunt and Al Davis and Eddie de Barbelow
Speaker 3: and I would have told these guys in the eighties
Speaker 3: what this would become. No one could have foreseen what
Speaker 3: it has become. I mean we've seen it come in
Speaker 3: the last decade, but forty years when I was a
Speaker 3: kid in football. I mean the teller capt one point time.
Speaker 3: I think when it first started, it wasn't like thirty
Speaker 3: forty million dollars. Yeah, that was thirty years ago. John
Speaker 3: Madden was being paid eight million dollars, making more than
Speaker 3: like all the players.
Speaker 1: So listen to thirteen member committee selected, you know, the
Speaker 1: teams to get in. And this is what bureaucrats and
Speaker 1: you know, people who are political create. Is that nobody
Speaker 1: thought SMU and Boise State they didn't look the part
Speaker 1: in the regular season. You know they play in weaker conferences.
Speaker 1: But the thing that really outraged me was Oregon's first
Speaker 1: game against the winner of Ohio State Tennessee, which is
Speaker 1: a much tougher path than Penn State. It's against SMU
Speaker 1: and Boise State. So the failing of the committee and
Speaker 1: committees are created to innately fail. I mean, it's thirteen
Speaker 1: different people with thirteen different opinions. We know, juries in
Speaker 1: this country have let the wrong people walk. In my life,
Speaker 1: I just look at Oregon season and they were the
Speaker 1: best team on the field, and it's very hard to
Speaker 1: ask somebody to beat somebody for a second time. I
Speaker 1: picked Ohio State to win it. I didn't think it
Speaker 1: would look like this. But that's not the inclusion of
Speaker 1: Boise State or SMU. This is what bothered me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I clearly Oregon got a raw deal.
Speaker 3: But let's face it, the Walehio State has played the
Speaker 3: first game, and the way they look in the second game,
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone would sniff them right now. They
Speaker 3: would beat everyone in the country easily. But I hear you.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think part of it is they were
Speaker 3: so there's so much cya of not getting sued. We
Speaker 3: had to include a non power forward program showed out decently,
Speaker 3: I thought, yeah, right, and so today a shoe who
Speaker 3: plays in the Power Fife Conference. But we all look
Speaker 3: at Big twelve like, are they any good?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: I think you could argue also, Oregon, these teams, you're
Speaker 3: all tied in with the bulls, with this money, so
Speaker 3: many people with their hands in the cookie jar. How
Speaker 3: does Oregon not get a home game? How do these
Speaker 3: teams Texas? I mean, it's a pretty big advantage to
Speaker 3: play in these neutral site games. What's the point of
Speaker 3: play it all season?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Oregon did not get a home game.
Speaker 1: That to me is just you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 1: I mean Notre Dame lost to a directional school and
Speaker 1: got one crazy not even a good directional school. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about Ohio State and listen, when you go to
Speaker 1: a movie, if you went to a movie that took
Speaker 1: a while to build up but the ending was great,
Speaker 1: I always thought that was usual suspects. It's a good movie,
Speaker 1: you go home feeling great. If a movie starts fast
Speaker 1: and dies out, you never feel satisfied. College football now
Speaker 1: has a bigger, more dynamic ending to the season. But
Speaker 1: it does, and we knew this was coming.
Speaker 3: John.
Speaker 1: It's not that the regular season doesn't matter, but Ohio
Speaker 1: State not only lost a horrible game, they lost it late,
Speaker 1: and they looked like garbage against Michigan and they still
Speaker 1: got in. Now I don't have a problem with them
Speaker 1: getting in. I don't mind the regular season meaningless because
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna watch the games. I watch the NFL.
Speaker 1: I know that you can start off one and four
Speaker 1: and make the playoffs. I still watch the games. I
Speaker 1: think we put I think the narrative that it's going
Speaker 1: to kill college football. College football ratings this year were good.
Speaker 1: It's just what it means is if you're a good
Speaker 1: team with lots of blowouts, you can even lose a
Speaker 1: really ugly game late and you get in. And my
Speaker 1: take is, yeah, the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Raiders
Speaker 1: late in the season last year and won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: You shouldn't be punished severely if you're excellent just because
Speaker 1: you lose in November and not in September. So I'm
Speaker 1: that part of it has never bothered me that the
Speaker 1: regular season will mean less. I'm still watching the games.
Speaker 3: I think there's a magnifying glass. I was just thinking
Speaker 3: to listen to you talk. I don't think there's a
Speaker 3: game that actually means more a non playoff game in
Speaker 3: college football or the NFL than Ohio State versus Michigan.
Speaker 3: I think it's clearly separated as the game that means
Speaker 3: the most. Saban recently went off. He can't comprehend because
Speaker 3: even in his mind, he was able to make every
Speaker 3: game the same, even though they had Auburn as one
Speaker 3: of the biggest rivalries in college football. Tennessee is a
Speaker 3: big rivalry but it never felt any different than when
Speaker 3: they played Ole Miss than when they played LSU. He
Speaker 3: was BELICHICKI in that way, every opponent meant a lot.
Speaker 3: At Ohio State, it just doesn't. I mean even Ryan
Speaker 3: Day said like this can never happen again. That was
Speaker 3: three days before they lost, you know, so the emphasis
Speaker 3: that has been put on that game, and I think
Speaker 3: Harbaugh helped take it to another level. And then Ryan
Speaker 3: Day starting to lose, and I just think that game
Speaker 3: feels like five games in one and then the way
Speaker 3: they lost, and in fairess, you watch Michigan twenty four
Speaker 3: hours ago against Alabama. Now I understand Alabama has had
Speaker 3: some opt outs. They look pretty good. I mean, they're
Speaker 3: coming to play. They have a defensive coordinator that makes
Speaker 3: two and a half million dollars that was just coaching
Speaker 3: at Baltimore a couple of years ago and was viewed
Speaker 3: as one of the best defensive minds in football. So
Speaker 3: it's like that's a real, real defense. And I just
Speaker 3: think you look at that game, it was hard not
Speaker 3: to overreact, but it might have just been as simple
Speaker 3: as the coaching staff, specifically Ryan the players. They got
Speaker 3: a little tight because the way they've looked now, it's
Speaker 3: like a looseness. We have been talking about their roster
Speaker 3: and the talent on their team. Like to me, the
Speaker 3: difference of them in Texas, Texas man for man is
Speaker 3: loaded as well their quarterback. I'm sorry, I just don't
Speaker 3: trust on a play and play. Will Howard's playing pretty
Speaker 3: well right now. Will Howard we have seen in the
Speaker 3: first playoff game and the second playoff game is gonna
Speaker 3: look like this. They're just not gonna lose, right And
Speaker 3: they have a wide receiver, an eighteen year old kid.
Speaker 3: It looks like you weighs two hundred and thirty pounds.
Speaker 3: That is unstoppable because John, like Oregon's not trying to
Speaker 3: cover them, they just can't.
Speaker 1: You're you're a former NFL scout. Because Travis Hunter won
Speaker 1: to go both ways. If you told me today Caleb
Speaker 1: Downs and Jeremiah Smith and the Buckeyes were in this draft,
Speaker 1: I would take them one and two in any order
Speaker 1: because Travis Hunter, I do not like this high profile
Speaker 1: want to play both sides the ball. Eventually you're going
Speaker 1: to have to pick a side. I think Caleb Downs
Speaker 1: is a better corner than Travis Hunter. I think he's
Speaker 1: one of the best college players I've seen in the backfield.
Speaker 1: I'm not kidding me when I say this. I was
Speaker 1: told by an NFL general manager that Caleb Downs will
Speaker 1: be the number one pick next year. He said, I
Speaker 1: don't care who improves he goes outside of a star quarterback,
Speaker 1: and we may have one. If Drew Allert Penn State flourishes,
Speaker 1: he may come out this year, next year, whatever. But
Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, and they're not eligible for
Speaker 1: the draft. Those guys are not college players. They're pros
Speaker 1: playing on Saturday. So my takeaway is Ohio State has
Speaker 1: two players won on both sides. They're just not college players.
Speaker 1: I felt this about Jamar Chase at LSU. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's not a college player. It's a pro playing on Saturdays.
Speaker 1: If he was a basketball player, he'd be in the NBA.
Speaker 3: I think the problem with Travis Hunter, and I saw
Speaker 3: Dion say this within the last month, do not draft
Speaker 3: him if you don't embrace him playing both ways, because
Speaker 3: that's the game plan. And to me, Dion not only
Speaker 3: speaks as his coach, it feels like he speaks as
Speaker 3: his parent, feels like he speaks as his agent, like
Speaker 3: that's his representation for Travis Hunter, and I do think
Speaker 3: that's going to be complicated because he is truly dead
Speaker 3: set on that and based on what he's doing in college.
Speaker 3: I understand that mindset. I don't believe it can work
Speaker 3: because of the wear and tear. You know, same, But
Speaker 3: like you say, those other two guys like just have
Speaker 3: defined roles. It's very defined because I my thing with
Speaker 3: Travis Hunter is if you're my best corner, my best
Speaker 3: wide receiver, if you get injured, I lose two players.
Speaker 3: You know, were those other guys you also get rest,
Speaker 3: So I yeah, I hear you. Jeremiah Smith thing. I
Speaker 3: don't remember seeing a wide receiver this time, this early,
Speaker 3: where his body type was that physically developed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it reminds me of when I was
Speaker 1: a sportscaster in Las Vegas. I covered Larry Johnson, the
Speaker 1: basketball player at UNLV, and that was before weightlifting was
Speaker 1: a part of sports in general. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: out there, but it wasn't like basketball players weren't spending
Speaker 1: a lot of time in the gym. But Larry Johnson
Speaker 1: was so physically dominant that at the college level, you
Speaker 1: got twenty six points just on putbacks just on second opportunities.
Speaker 1: He weighs. He weighed forty five pounds more than other
Speaker 1: forwards and was stronger than all of them. So I
Speaker 1: just look. And here's the thing about Will Howard. I
Speaker 1: mean to me, he's a big, strong kid who's mobile.
Speaker 1: So he's a draftable player.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I saw him play at Kansas State. I thought, that's
Speaker 1: a big strong kid. Now you give him star players.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's an NFL starter, but I
Speaker 1: think right now Ohio State has the best combination of
Speaker 1: coaching and talent. Whether they have better talent than Georgia
Speaker 1: or or or Texas, you know, who knows. But last
Speaker 1: year Michigan only had like three five star guys. Alabama
Speaker 1: had like eighteen. You know, Georgia has fifteen over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. So talent's hard to do. You
Speaker 1: get the most out of your talent. But I don't
Speaker 1: think we're overreacting to say that the last two games,
Speaker 1: Ohio State's hitting harder, they're more explosive. They don't look
Speaker 1: these these games. They're intimidating Oregon, they intimidated Tennessee. They
Speaker 1: looked like Tyson at twenty one years old like other
Speaker 1: big men feared him in the ring. Ohio State looks.
Speaker 1: I think Oregon like surrendered about eight minutes in.
Speaker 3: It was like it was over. Well. The irony was
Speaker 3: is when the other game ended and you came right
Speaker 3: to the game and it was seven to nothing and
Speaker 3: you're like, whoa, we'll there's a minute end of the game.
Speaker 3: And then Fowler was like, yeah, it was a two
Speaker 3: play seventy yard drive. You're like, uh, that's gonna be
Speaker 3: a problem. But we had just seen the same thing
Speaker 3: with Texas. And then they slowed down right Ohio State.
Speaker 3: Their foot never came off the pedal. I do wonder
Speaker 3: if after because they tried to get into a heavyweight
Speaker 3: fight with Michigan instead of just slinging the rock around
Speaker 3: where Michigan wouldn't slow them down, and they lost and
Speaker 3: it bit them, and I think everyone called out their
Speaker 3: manhood and their toughness, like you think you're a tough program,
Speaker 3: We've seen you against this Harbaugh level operation, and I
Speaker 3: would say Michigan still has that soul in them the
Speaker 3: way they play, and you're not as tough as them,
Speaker 3: and they go, we are a tough team. We've paid
Speaker 3: a premium for all these guys. I mean, you see
Speaker 3: the physicality and the speed in which they have and
Speaker 3: it's almost like they got to reset and take it
Speaker 3: personally because they've come out with a violence that you
Speaker 3: just haven't seen in college football.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think perfect word is violent. They look
Speaker 1: violent defensively. Two takeaways. First, Kenny Dillingham, who was an
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator briefly at three schools, is a sensational coach.
Speaker 1: They had five hundred and ten yards. They had twenty
Speaker 1: eight to seventeen first down advantage. Evan is sixty play advantage,
Speaker 1: twenty eight to seventeen first down edge. And I don't
Speaker 1: believe they have a five star athlete one the level
Speaker 1: of coaching and you know what I like, they don't.
Speaker 1: I mean cam Scoutabo is one Division one offer. Now
Speaker 1: he's gonna end up getting drafted. As you've talked about,
Speaker 1: this is the best running back draft in a long time. Jesus,
Speaker 1: I mean, good God, the Penn State has that Singleton kid.
Speaker 1: He didn't get talked about instead of Ashton Genty. If
Speaker 1: Singleton goes to the right team with a better offensive line,
Speaker 1: he could end up being the better running back in
Speaker 1: the NFL, so there's just running backs everywhere. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I like Sam Levitt a lot. He's a very young quarterback.
Speaker 1: He will be a pro six two and a half
Speaker 1: two ten, dual threat mobile.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: Again, you can see him and think, oh, that's what
Speaker 1: a pro is going to look like in two years.
Speaker 1: I think he's like twenty years old in two years,
Speaker 1: and so the quarterback's good. But to have that kind
Speaker 1: of dominance thirty seven to twenty two minute time of
Speaker 1: advantage when Texas has I bet you at least sixteen
Speaker 1: fourteen to sixteen five star guys and forty four star guys.
Speaker 1: To me, I thought, if I was start coming out
Speaker 1: of that game, I'd be a little embarrassed. I thought
Speaker 1: it was a coaching mismatch.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I thought he even kind of mentioned that, like
Speaker 3: that was we gotta play a lot better. He was
Speaker 3: in his postgame interview on the field, it looked like
Speaker 3: he was pretty show shocked. I mean, at one point
Speaker 3: in time, it was fourth and thirteen. I me, it's
Speaker 3: basically fourth in Texas or the game's over. And then
Speaker 3: they scored that touchdown on the D bunk. Yeah, geez, Luise, Uh,
Speaker 3: you know one thing. You know, the Boise State team
Speaker 3: that we saw play Penn State is not as good
Speaker 3: as Chris Peterson's Boisese teams, but they just have an
Speaker 3: all time great player. Yep. This ASU team. The more
Speaker 3: and more I watched them today reminded me a lot
Speaker 3: of those Chris Peterson teams because probably has more guys
Speaker 3: that you realize that it probably end up going like sixth,
Speaker 3: seventh round. And they just had a grittiness, a toughness
Speaker 3: to him. The quarterback was really fantastic. I mean he
Speaker 3: had to pull plays out of as you know what,
Speaker 3: just to give them an opportunity. Yeah, and that running back,
Speaker 3: I mean, I thought, listen to hype on him. This
Speaker 3: kind of is easy for everyone to latch onto this
Speaker 3: white guy running guys over. He might have had the
Speaker 3: flu or something today because he was clearly sucking some
Speaker 3: win and throwing up He single handedly gives them an
Speaker 3: edge and obviously the double pass, but he was freaking
Speaker 3: fantastic and break thirty against those guys.
Speaker 1: Thirty you know, carries one hundred and forty three yards.
Speaker 1: I watched him and I thought he's the guy that
Speaker 1: played for Tampa years ago.
Speaker 3: The ball stop Mike Alstadt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like he is a there's a Mike Allstock component.
Speaker 1: I think he's got a little better speed. Maybe he doesn't,
Speaker 1: but here he's a kid. I think he's out of
Speaker 1: like Sacramento or something. He had like one one scholarship
Speaker 1: offer that is a pro. But I think Dillingham, you know,
Speaker 1: he grew up a chandler Arizona. He always wanted to
Speaker 1: be Arizona State's coach. This is his dream job. This
Speaker 1: is not a stepping stone, like, this is the job
Speaker 1: he always wanted. And it's cool because I think Arizona
Speaker 1: States has been one of those programs we think is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a sleeping giant, like why aren't
Speaker 1: they better? And I think they found they're Chris Peterson.
Speaker 1: I think they found a brilliant coach. But the Texas
Speaker 1: thing and I wrote this down and listen, Sark Saban
Speaker 1: loved him. Washington had a good ad that loved him,
Speaker 1: USC hired him. Texas is ad. Chris Decante is maybe
Speaker 1: the smartest ad in the country. Smart people higher Sark Okay,
Speaker 1: John like three schools with big football brands have hired him.
Speaker 1: NFL teams liked him. Saban loved him. We know he's
Speaker 1: a good coach, but one of the things, and we
Speaker 1: know he can scheme plays. I mean they have. I
Speaker 1: thought today they had a couple of different crisis situations
Speaker 1: where they had good scheme plays. But I will say
Speaker 1: his teams feel loose. So it's easy from a couch
Speaker 1: from somebody to say he's overrated. But if Saban thinks
Speaker 1: you're a good coach, and he won. He won Assistant
Speaker 1: of the Year in college under Saban, and he's had
Speaker 1: three different programs hire him, and again he may end
Speaker 1: up in the national you know. I mean, this guy
Speaker 1: is in the right spot, right he's in the playoff.
Speaker 1: How do you define him? My knock on him is
Speaker 1: that his teams always look loose, like they're just not
Speaker 1: buttoned up, which is interesting because he coached under Saban,
Speaker 1: who's the opposite. That's my take. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what his comp is, but I just
Speaker 1: feel like too many times on the passing game, it's
Speaker 1: a jump ball, like he doesn't have defined reads. Too
Speaker 1: often it's just like, let's just get better players and
Speaker 1: throw a ball at the sideline. Is that yours are sharp?
Speaker 3: Yeah? To me? Been as critical in Sark as anyone
Speaker 3: over the years. I've been an astronomical amount of money
Speaker 3: when my guy did Bor played him last year and
Speaker 3: I thought that was it should have been easier. But
Speaker 3: I'm going to defend him here. I think you can
Speaker 3: look at yours box score. It doesn't look that bad.
Speaker 3: He's twenty to thirty three, twenty two. To me, he's
Speaker 3: a liability. And I just I mean it for the
Speaker 3: talent that they have, because the one knock you've had
Speaker 3: on Sark, if you've just watched them coach over the year,
Speaker 3: it's like a kind of a soft operation, a little
Speaker 3: like Lincoln Riley, Well he pivoted pretty well, used that
Speaker 3: check book. Their defense is not soft. I mean, look today.
Speaker 3: I mean the way they got back into the game
Speaker 3: was a freak double pass where the guy's covered and
Speaker 3: he comes back Scouto underthrows him. You know, I I
Speaker 3: the kicker missed a couple kicks. I mean it hadn't
Speaker 3: he been nails all season long? Yeah, so it's a
Speaker 3: little freakish. The way they came back. I mean that
Speaker 3: game was one for the ages. With the stuff. I
Speaker 3: think you look at quinn Ewers, who again if you
Speaker 3: just look at the box score, doesn't look that terrible.
Speaker 3: This a national championship roster without a national che ambiship quarterback.
Speaker 3: I actually think Sark has grown a lot. I think
Speaker 3: he tries to call plays around this player. Sometimes. I
Speaker 3: think he gets into situations where he doesn't trust them.
Speaker 3: You know, that's the thing with Dilley Haam like they
Speaker 3: have full trust in that court doesn't have a choice,
Speaker 3: you know. I think sometimes just like hey, we could
Speaker 3: just run some bubble screens. Our athletes are better than
Speaker 3: your athletes, right and sometimes for whatever reason, how this
Speaker 3: team fifty three yards rushing fifty three yards rushing against ASU,
Speaker 3: Like you would think with the amount of talent they
Speaker 3: have on their offensive line and the talent they have
Speaker 3: a running back. If you would have said what do
Speaker 3: they rush for coming into this ASU game, I would
Speaker 3: have said easily one hundred and forty yards and they
Speaker 3: just had it wasn't working. They just abandoned it and
Speaker 3: ASU selling out like make Quinn youwers beat us, which
Speaker 3: ironically kind of did in the overtime because you didn't
Speaker 3: cover anyone in the end zone. But for most part,
Speaker 3: the reason they got back into it the interception. How
Speaker 3: many times this year have Texas been in a position
Speaker 3: where they can really put the nail in the coffin
Speaker 3: and Quinn Ewers turns the ball over, Or they're down
Speaker 3: in a game against George they're coming back and he
Speaker 3: turns the ball over. There is just an element of
Speaker 3: I mean, if he was an NFL player, he would
Speaker 3: be highly, highly criticized, and I would imagine the Texas
Speaker 3: Reddit community, in the football community. He's a pretty polarizing guy,
Speaker 3: and everyone's like, we're going to arch banding next year.
Speaker 3: Know if fans or busts about it. If I was
Speaker 3: a Texas fan, I'd be like, well, why is he
Speaker 3: just playing right now? Because if he's as good as
Speaker 3: everyone says he's gonna be, and he's a manning, I mean,
Speaker 3: who the only team that I've seen that could even
Speaker 3: remotely play with us would be Ohio State. We can't
Speaker 3: beat Ohio State with this player. That's what I would
Speaker 3: be thinking. And if there's a loyalty and listen, I
Speaker 3: think this is where coaches sometimes are different than personnel
Speaker 3: people definitely different fans. They're very loyal to a guy. Clearly,
Speaker 3: him and Quinn have a long standing relationship. Now he's
Speaker 3: roaded with them this long. They've had a lot of success.
Speaker 3: Right last year they were in the playoffs. This year
Speaker 3: they're now in the final four. But man, I think
Speaker 3: you have this great I mean, they're defense. How many
Speaker 3: those guys look like NFL players and they have freshmen
Speaker 3: that look like they're gonna be top ten picks. And
Speaker 3: what are they gonna be against Ohio State? Would you
Speaker 3: guess a six point underdog? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would. That's a that's a great question. I
Speaker 1: would take Ohio State minus six to me. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: take Texas until we got into like seven and a half.
Speaker 1: Penn State thirty one Boise State fourteen. Boise State, for
Speaker 1: the record, had the ball in the red zone. I
Speaker 1: counted four times it could have been five, and didn't
Speaker 1: get any points. So Penn State gave them multiple opportunities
Speaker 1: to make that game much closer. Boise State had a
Speaker 1: touchdown that was called back because of a holding penalty.
Speaker 1: So it was thirty one to fourteen, but it was
Speaker 1: it didn't look like a blowout. I mean there was
Speaker 1: multiple opportunities to a Boiset game. It was a good game.
Speaker 1: So it's really interesting. So First of all, Carter is
Speaker 1: a top five player. He got banged up. Great player
Speaker 1: Nick Singleton, who was a Gatorade player the year in
Speaker 1: high school. He's going to be a stud. Pro running
Speaker 1: back Drew Aller is fascinating, big guy, big arm. There
Speaker 1: are stories out there that NFL scouts think he may
Speaker 1: still go pro, and many say he would go number
Speaker 1: one simply on arm, strength and size. Can I look
Speaker 1: at Penn State and I have great respect for the program,
Speaker 1: but they remind me a little bit of a poor
Speaker 1: man's Ohio State. They're just never quite they don't have
Speaker 1: quite as many NFL guys, They're just not quite as good.
Speaker 1: People criticize James Franklin, but the guy wonted Vandy, so
Speaker 1: he's fine. He's a great recruiter. Can Penn State win
Speaker 1: the Natty?
Speaker 3: I think they need Carter to be healthy because early
Speaker 3: in that game he had won pass rusher like Holy,
Speaker 3: that looks like Micah Parsons in number eleven. And then
Speaker 3: when you go with the other guys, I told you
Speaker 3: I think last week, I think they could win the
Speaker 3: whole thing. But he's I mean, you lose a top
Speaker 3: five player. I don't care how good your recruiting is
Speaker 3: it's pretty damn good. That'd be a big blow. But
Speaker 3: how good does Warren look? The running backs look fantastic,
Speaker 3: the quarterbacks playing great is to you just trust James Franklin.
Speaker 3: I think the one thing we saw with ASU and
Speaker 3: Boise there's a gritty diss and a toughness that just
Speaker 3: even Ohio State. Ohio State's showing it now, but they
Speaker 3: go for a long period of time without it because
Speaker 3: they don't need it. Yeah, Boise State for twenty five
Speaker 3: years is built on that, and I think Kenny Dillinghan
Speaker 3: has brought that to Arizona State, and that's why they
Speaker 3: can go toe to toe with a team where they
Speaker 3: don't have one guy that would start for the other team.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's truly if you remove Genty, which
Speaker 3: I mean gent would technically start for Penn State, but
Speaker 3: they would rotate the other guys in Yes, Singleton.
Speaker 1: Singleton's a great running back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I actually learn more about Genty in that
Speaker 3: game than I do with some of his two hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty yard games against New Mexico running over Penn State.
Speaker 3: It was an impressive, just gritty effort by the guy
Speaker 3: running for every yard was contested running his ass off.
Speaker 3: He's a he's a big time player. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He he doesn't fumble, but he did twice in this game.
Speaker 1: Now he only f frea g Yeah, he only averaged
Speaker 1: three and a half yards of carry. I think part
Speaker 1: of gent's strength. I mean I don't put him on
Speaker 1: the class of Zeke or Saquon Adrian Peterson. Er McCaffrey
Speaker 1: is an NFL first round running back. I don't he'll
Speaker 1: go first round because it's a weak draft.
Speaker 3: But he's five eight. I mean that's kind of a
Speaker 3: you know, it's not ideal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think his strength is that he is so
Speaker 1: small and so powerful. He is hard, you know, like
Speaker 1: we're running backs. You don't want a six to two
Speaker 1: running back. I think he's hard. To get that pad
Speaker 1: level low enough to get him a shot, and so
Speaker 1: what you end up doing when you tackle him, it's
Speaker 1: almost always arm tackles because he's five to eight, so
Speaker 1: when he lowers, so when he runs and lowers his head,
Speaker 1: it's like tackling a five to five and a half guy.
Speaker 1: He always has the center of gravity and he always
Speaker 1: has sort of leverage on you hips down, and so
Speaker 1: it's like Penn State guys held him to three and
Speaker 1: a half yards to carry, but he broke so many
Speaker 1: arm tackles and I so it's like, I look at
Speaker 1: him as a first round running back in a week draft.
Speaker 1: I don't look at him as an NFL superstar. I
Speaker 1: don't think he has the juice of Saquon I don't
Speaker 1: think he has the strength or speed of Adrian Peterson.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's his talent that is McCaffrey, who's
Speaker 1: also small. I think part of the package with him
Speaker 1: is you just can't get under him and his size
Speaker 1: is and I think in the NFL he'll have success,
Speaker 1: but I don't know as I watch him. My take
Speaker 1: is he'll need the right fit in the NFL to
Speaker 1: be a star. But he is a starter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, to me, he's gonna get drafted really high.
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna be a good player in the NFL.
Speaker 3: I would struggle. You know, let's say somewhere between fifteen
Speaker 3: and twenty five. I think a lot of people think
Speaker 3: that's the range he's gonna get picked. Well, if I'm
Speaker 3: drafting twentieth and then my next pick is fiftieth, why
Speaker 3: wouldn't I If I could take a corner or no
Speaker 3: offensive lineman at twentieth. I can get one of these
Speaker 3: other good running backs at fiftieth. So it's kind of
Speaker 3: supply demand. It's always why a lot of people why
Speaker 3: did Jim Harbaugh take the tackle at five and then
Speaker 3: take lad McConkey in the second round. Because there's a
Speaker 3: ton of wide receivers in every draft, So I'm gonna
Speaker 3: get a guy. It starts in the second round. We
Speaker 3: see it every year with wide receivers. Like, you know,
Speaker 3: would you take a wide receiver in the top ten? Well,
Speaker 3: if I'm drafting after you, I hope you do, so
Speaker 3: I can take another position. I can take a wide
Speaker 3: receiver later. So I mean every game I watch Henderson
Speaker 3: for Ohio State, he's an NFL player. All these teams
Speaker 3: have NFL players and running back. So why would I
Speaker 3: take a running back in the first round if I
Speaker 3: think I get ninety five percent or ninety percent of
Speaker 3: that guy? Maybe in a third round? Well, if I
Speaker 3: get Skataboo, Skataboo's gonna run like a four to seven five.
Speaker 3: What if I can get the guy in the third run.
Speaker 3: You don't think Jim Harbaugh's gonna like Skataboo. Does that
Speaker 3: guy have charger written all over? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean it's I think I told you this recently.
Speaker 1: Wood he marks for USC is their best back since
Speaker 1: Reggie Bush. He maybe a fifth round back. Now maybe
Speaker 1: Genti's better than him, He's not that much better than him.
Speaker 1: Like it is a loaded I mean this. This Singleton
Speaker 1: kid at Penn State was the National Gatorade Player of
Speaker 1: the Year, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Speaker 1: He Singleton is again. I mean, I don't know as measurables,
Speaker 1: but he's like six feet two twenty seven with a burst.
Speaker 1: It's like if anybody dropped in the first round. I
Speaker 1: could see gent dropping. Not because he's not good, but
Speaker 1: because of the depth of the position, the volume