Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: Our Week eighteen reaction is presented by Uber eats. Get
Speaker 2: game day deals all season long on Uber eats. All right,
Speaker 2: we're doing a Monday afternoon Monday night version. This past
Speaker 2: weekend was pretty choppy, and I went to Chicago to
Speaker 2: hang out with Ann and family, so I let John Middelkoff,
Speaker 2: former NFL scout, take over the control. So instead we'll
Speaker 2: do a late Monday afternoon podcast. We got a lot
Speaker 2: of stuff to talk about. There's coaches getting fired left
Speaker 2: and right. Girod Mayo out in New England, Doug Peterson.
Speaker 2: You know, it's weird about these coaching ejections, Like Doug
Speaker 2: Peterson in Philadelphia with a strong foundational owner and general manager,
Speaker 2: had some real success, and then you put him with
Speaker 2: Trent Bulke and the con family and in a shakier frame,
Speaker 2: and he takes the fall. You know, it's it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter if it's I mean Tom Coughlin, I guess is
Speaker 2: the last coach that consistently won there? You know, of
Speaker 2: all these openings right now, I mean, we know we've
Speaker 2: got you know, we got the Jets and the Saints
Speaker 2: and the Bears. We've got the Jags in New England.
Speaker 2: Is there one that's attractive to you if you if
Speaker 2: you were in the market to be a coach, is
Speaker 2: there one John that's attractive to you.
Speaker 1: Well, I gotta start by saying happy birthday, Happy fiftieth Thanks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go, buddy.
Speaker 1: I would say the Jags would be last on that list.
Speaker 1: I mean that that is the place where, let's face,
Speaker 1: the careers for coaches go to die. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: Trump Balke situation. You know, for a guy that started
Speaker 1: at the Midge State in the Dakotas, he's a pretty
Speaker 1: good politician. I mean he's he's run through a lot
Speaker 1: of coaches in his career and that connection, you know,
Speaker 1: part of being in a front office. You get an
Speaker 1: unfair advantage during the game when the coach is on
Speaker 1: the sideline with the players, you're usually sitting next to
Speaker 1: the owner and Die Coke talking craft about what their decisions.
Speaker 1: I think easily New England when you factor in the
Speaker 1: quarterback and the longevity of the history they've proven with
Speaker 1: Bill of you know, just letting a guy run it now.
Speaker 1: They said Elliott Wolf, who I don't know personally, have
Speaker 1: met him a couple times over the years. I mean
Speaker 1: at one point in time he looked like the future
Speaker 1: packer GM, but they said he's gonna stay. So if
Speaker 1: Vrabel or whoever is interested in that job, do I
Speaker 1: have to work with this guy? Is he technically not
Speaker 1: the GM, he's just the head of personnel. It's a
Speaker 1: little clunky. All these jobs are pretty clunky, Colin, and
Speaker 1: I think one consistent theme we saw these owners don't
Speaker 1: want to you know, ideally they don't want to go
Speaker 1: on a search because on these searches with coaches and gms,
Speaker 1: they're speaking Chinese while the owner's speaking Spanish. It's easy
Speaker 1: for them to hire business people. Why they speak the
Speaker 1: same language. The coaches coming in talking offensive a defensive scheme.
Speaker 1: It'd be hard for me to follow, let alone these guys.
Speaker 1: So I think when you saw John Mora, Jim Irsay,
Speaker 1: Stephen Ross, they just wanted to know part of it.
Speaker 1: I really think New England just so desperate for Mike Vrabel,
Speaker 1: which I totally understand, is why Gerrod Mao. They put
Speaker 1: out a statement of I would guess easily over a
Speaker 1: thousand words, like five minutes after the game. You don't
Speaker 1: write that. I mean the thing was written on Saturday Colin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I agree with you. I
Speaker 2: think the Patriots is the best gig. You know, Chicago's
Speaker 2: so political. All the Chicago teams right now are struggling.
Speaker 2: The White Sox are historically bad. The Wills family with Blackhawks,
Speaker 2: they've got a billion dollar business beyond the hockey team.
Speaker 2: But you know Ryansdorf, the Bulls situation, the Bears, the mccaskeys.
Speaker 2: It's not a city despite being you know, the third
Speaker 2: largest American city, It's not a city with rich owners.
Speaker 2: It's got sort of older owners where the team is
Speaker 2: the primary business. How do you grade how do you
Speaker 2: grade the Bears as a job? I mean, there's obviously
Speaker 2: some upside, but I consider this, and maybe this is
Speaker 2: something coaches don't think about. But Jesus, the Packers win.
Speaker 2: The Lions have everything in place. The Vikings have always
Speaker 2: been a pretty solid, well run organization. With what is
Speaker 2: the hot young coach in the NFL? Do you consider that?
Speaker 2: Do you consider or do you just go get the coach?
Speaker 2: The coach doesn't think about it. I mean Harbaugh saying
Speaker 2: I want to take on Andy Reid. But the truth
Speaker 2: is Denver and the Raiders are kind of been wobbly
Speaker 2: franchises for most of the last seven eight years. Are
Speaker 2: the Bears a good Is that a good job?
Speaker 1: I think it's a terrible job. And I think it
Speaker 1: all gets back to ownership. You know, I think it's different.
Speaker 1: But Mike Shanahan once upon a time took over the Redskins,
Speaker 1: and you just don't overcome an owner. And I think
Speaker 1: that's a consistent theme. Listen, whatever shot con seems like
Speaker 1: a nice guy. Whatever's going on there with leaderships bad?
Speaker 1: The Bears have now a pretty consistent history of you know,
Speaker 1: it's a moment. I've had friends that have worked there
Speaker 1: they discussed as being a mom and pop shop, and yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a knock on the Chargers for a long time.
Speaker 1: What did they do? They built a three hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar practice facility. They break the bank for Jim Harbaugh. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they they kind of luck into Herbert and it changes
Speaker 1: their franchise, but they had to start spending serious money.
Speaker 1: And I fully expect a random guy to be the
Speaker 1: head coach of the Bears, if I had to guess
Speaker 1: right now, would be like the Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator someone,
Speaker 1: because that's typically when you just look at the history
Speaker 1: and up until Jim Harbaugh was hired with the Chargers,
Speaker 1: that was kind of there. You know, Brian and Staley,
Speaker 1: Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn. I just think anytime you get
Speaker 1: Kevin Warren and you get Ryan Poles, and you get
Speaker 1: a lot of people who do I answer to, that's
Speaker 1: tough to overcome. I mean, the same teams Colin basically
Speaker 1: win all all the time, all the time. I mean
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they went. I mean, if if
Speaker 1: I was Ben Johnson, do you know what I'd be
Speaker 1: helping Pittsburgh Steelers get blown out? Maybe Mike Tomlin we
Speaker 1: trade them. I'd want to go there, you know I
Speaker 1: would not. Chicago's a place where guys go to get
Speaker 1: fired really quickly. I mean, so we've seen the same
Speaker 1: thing over and over.
Speaker 2: Let me list the top of the NFL draft. Tell
Speaker 2: me if you've heard this before. Titans, Browns, Jaguars, Raiders, Jets, Panthers, Saints, Bears.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just like and increasingly the Giants. It's
Speaker 2: the same teams every year. And I've argued this forever
Speaker 2: that it's the ownership that's what it is. Don't you
Speaker 2: can blame the players, the coach, and the GM, but
Speaker 2: it's overwhelmingly upstairs.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: A prime example is there's only one great quarterback that
Speaker 2: didn't make the playoffs, Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: All the other great quarterbacks made it. The Brown family
Speaker 2: is arguably the most frugal in the league. Their front
Speaker 2: office is considered just functional. Nothing against the GM, but
Speaker 2: they don't make any moves. They're the opposite of the
Speaker 2: Philadelphia Eagles. They make no moves, They do nothing clever,
Speaker 2: they they don't do anything. They have their seven picks,
Speaker 2: they take their picks, and it's just it's one of
Speaker 2: those things where you know, generally, John, there's seven new
Speaker 2: playoff teams a year. This year four and three of
Speaker 2: those four got new quarterbacks. I think as the season
Speaker 2: is extended and quarterbacks are more valuable, it's easier to
Speaker 2: pick the NFL. I picked six of the eight divisions right,
Speaker 2: and the two I missed on came down to the
Speaker 2: last couple of weeks. Like I've said this multiple times
Speaker 2: raising kids, the days are long, the years fly by.
Speaker 2: In the NFL, picking the winners each week is hard,
Speaker 2: but predicting the season is getting easier and I just
Speaker 2: I start looking around at these teams. The only way
Speaker 2: out from this abyss for Tennessee and Cleveland, New England.
Speaker 2: Jacksonville is the quarterback to me, that feels like the only.
Speaker 1: Way out totally. Look at Cincinnati's a good example today
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor fired the defensive coordinator who, like a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, everyone's like he's one of the best
Speaker 1: defensive coordinators in the league. Well, what happened? They started
Speaker 1: letting guys walk. What has Joe Burrow been hammering home
Speaker 1: in his press conferences. You can't make a living letting
Speaker 1: good players walk out of the building. Who would not
Speaker 1: have let them walk? The Eagles, the Niners. When you
Speaker 1: get really good impact players, you let them walk. Jesse
Speaker 1: Bates walks right out. Their secondary was a trocis these
Speaker 1: last couple of years, and I think it's really hard
Speaker 1: to overcome that. And they got they've even Joe Burrows
Speaker 1: forced the ownership to get a little more aggressive than
Speaker 1: they're typically used to, and it feels like he's pressing
Speaker 1: their hand, like I want t Higgins and Jamar Chase.
Speaker 1: And he's probably still gonna lose out on that argument,
Speaker 1: but I hear you I think that that number is
Speaker 1: gonna the day and age of like this constant huge
Speaker 1: turnover is dead. Because we also see like these young quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: it's easier now to play quarterback than ever. It's definitely
Speaker 1: less physical, like you can be a lot smaller than
Speaker 1: you could twenty years ago because you don't get hit
Speaker 1: as hard. But it is still very, very challenging, and
Speaker 1: I think when you add the extra pressures from the
Speaker 1: outside mentally can really break you. And we see that
Speaker 1: happen a lot. But I think we see consistent teams
Speaker 1: like who maybe the Steelers if they ever make a
Speaker 1: big change a quarterback or coach could take a step
Speaker 1: back for a year or two. But like what other
Speaker 1: teams when you look at the playoff picture do you
Speaker 1: see having big swings moving forward? Look at Tampa. Tampa's
Speaker 1: just a well run organization now. Jason light just knows
Speaker 1: what he's doing, and Todd Bowles is solid, not easy
Speaker 1: replacing Bruce arians, but he's a solid coach. And they
Speaker 1: got the quarterback right Baker Mayfield. Baker's a really good
Speaker 1: player right now.
Speaker 2: Colin, Yeah, yeah, no, I covered the Buccaneers when I
Speaker 2: work down there. The Glazer family was non medaling. Jason
Speaker 2: light was one of the best scouts in pro football
Speaker 2: for years now. He's the GM. They've always had good players.
Speaker 2: Brady hands it off to Baker Mayfield, good quarterback play.
Speaker 2: And Todd Bowles is not you know, he's not popular.
Speaker 2: You know he's on that sideline. He's very quiet, doesn't
Speaker 2: have much to say, but you always know you get
Speaker 2: an excellent effort from him. I mean that team went
Speaker 2: into LA and destroyed the Chargers. I mean, move the
Speaker 2: ball up and down the field on the number one
Speaker 2: defense in the league. So again, what I think you
Speaker 2: and I are getting at is, I don't think you're
Speaker 2: gonna I don't think you're gonna see these annual changes
Speaker 2: in the NFL. I think I think what we have
Speaker 2: here is if you have a good young quarterback. I
Speaker 2: think Mahomes and Allen and Lamar and Herbert. I think
Speaker 2: Jared Goff still is in his prime. I don't think
Speaker 2: these teams are going anywhere. I think they're just going
Speaker 2: to consistently win year after year.
Speaker 1: Well that's why the Coults are a good example. Jim
Speaker 1: Rsay sticking with the guys. I love that, But what
Speaker 1: are they gonna do if that quarterback they drafted him
Speaker 1: fourth overall, he's just not gonna be good enough. One
Speaker 1: he's not accurate. Two he can't stay healthy, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: he has legitimate health concerns. You're just screwed. And you
Speaker 1: actually get the benefit of doubt if you're Indie because
Speaker 1: they're division stakes, but they're still how could anyone pick that.
Speaker 1: I kind of liked him this year because I bet
Speaker 1: maybe Anthony richhim becomes a good player Shane Styken turns
Speaker 1: out I was wrong, And now you definitely can't belt
Speaker 1: bet on it from a health standpoint. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw the visual of Jim Mersey getting
Speaker 1: carted out, he looked like weaken the Bernice, you know,
Speaker 1: he could barely. I mean, he's in bad shape. So
Speaker 1: and he's you know, looks like he's ninety sixty five
Speaker 1: years old. So that organization, that's one that was good
Speaker 1: for a long time. Like I'm just betting against moving
Speaker 1: forward until they figure out the quarterback situations that they
Speaker 1: have it in almost a decade now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've talked about this. I think the one advantage.
Speaker 2: Two there's a couple of things going on in the
Speaker 2: NFL if you don't have a great quarterback, and there's
Speaker 2: about six great quarterbacks at any one time in the league,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of really. Liam Cohen's a great example.
Speaker 2: Kevin O'Connell's another great example. There are more smart offensive
Speaker 2: coaches than the league's ever head, which can take a
Speaker 2: C quarterback and make him a B quarterback. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of that, so that's the upside. Secondly, there's more
Speaker 2: good quarterbacks. John if you go back to the twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen class where now Darnald, Baker, Josh and Lamar all
Speaker 2: had career years, that is, from twenty eighteen until this
Speaker 2: past draft class, we've had three different classes that give
Speaker 2: you four star quarterbacks. So, I mean it used to
Speaker 2: be the Elway Marino class we talked about for thirty years,
Speaker 2: and now it's like about every other draft. Every third
Speaker 2: draft you get four or five guys that can play.
Speaker 2: I mean, this draft isn't considered a strong one cam
Speaker 2: Ward and Shudur Sanders, but Riley Leonard McCord out of
Speaker 2: Syracuse I think will end up being I think he'll
Speaker 2: end up being like a third round quarterback that sticks
Speaker 2: in the league for a long time. Kyle McCord is,
Speaker 2: and I just think we're getting to a point. The
Speaker 2: good news is there's better quarterback coaching. You're getting a
Speaker 2: more consistent three or four first round quarterbacks that can play.
Speaker 2: But it is pretty clear there is a certain group
Speaker 2: of owners that are either ersay kind of debilitating. You know,
Speaker 2: they're in a bad state of affairs physically mccaskey's they're old,
Speaker 2: a little bit out of touch, or they're Jerry Jones
Speaker 2: where they have some sense of football knowledge they probably
Speaker 2: don't possess. So I tell people this all the time.
Speaker 2: If I remember, you know, going out with friends and
Speaker 2: they asked me about my business. Everybody likes the NFL,
Speaker 2: and I always say, they're seven great owners, seven great coaches,
Speaker 2: seven great coordinators, seven great quarterbacks. I mean it's I
Speaker 2: mean like Spags is unbelievable. I think Aaron Glenn and
Speaker 2: Ben Johnson are unbelievable. Kingsbury is a coordinator is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: There is a finite number of great Jesse Minterter I
Speaker 2: think right now is great. Harbaugh is just look at
Speaker 2: the teams right now, John, how many of them have
Speaker 2: all three? I mean the Chargers now have great coach
Speaker 2: great coordinator, great quarterback. Chiefs have that have that. You know,
Speaker 2: there's not many. There's about five franchises that have everything
Speaker 2: dialed up, the coach, the quarterback, and one great coordinator.
Speaker 2: And I think what it's doing, it's dividing the league.
Speaker 2: It's becoming more NBA, where you have a very strong top,
Speaker 2: a small middle, and a really soft weak bottom.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean totally. I mean, if you had to
Speaker 1: pick the NFC Championship in AFC Championship right now, you
Speaker 1: would go Chiefs Bills are the Ravens, and last year
Speaker 1: was Chiefs first, the Ravens. And if you had to
Speaker 1: pick the NFC, obviously the forty nine ers missed, but
Speaker 1: you would pick the Lions. They have the number one
Speaker 1: seed and they just have to win one game to
Speaker 1: get there. And you'd probably picked the Eagles, who last
Speaker 1: year imploded, but the previous year were in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So it's like the same teams. When I went to
Speaker 1: the combine last year for the first time in a
Speaker 1: couple of years, and listen, I'm lucky I got hired
Speaker 1: by Andy Reid, so I just knew, you know, the
Speaker 1: Chiefs guys, the Eagles guys know the Niners. Guys. You
Speaker 1: just kind of start seeing the emblems and the way
Speaker 1: people carry themselves and the way they operate, and it's
Speaker 1: like it was so evident at the combine and that
Speaker 1: was before free agency. In the draft. It's a ten
Speaker 1: team league. Look at the what the Ravens got going
Speaker 1: right now. I mean, they've been good for what this
Speaker 1: entire century? Yeah, the best, the most competitive foe they have,
Speaker 1: even though they missed the playoffs, is the Bengals because
Speaker 1: of the quarterback. But it's really hard to overcome that
Speaker 1: organizational frugal mindset. At the end of the day, the Steelers,
Speaker 1: in theory, should be but they're a I bet it's
Speaker 1: a ten point you know spread by the time that
Speaker 1: game kicks off. They have no quarterback help insight, and
Speaker 1: the offense for whatever reason, feels like it's getting worse
Speaker 1: by the year. And then the Browns, like I think
Speaker 1: everyone thinks highly ast the Fansky and Andrew Berry, but
Speaker 1: you can't overcome that owner. He gave the guy two
Speaker 1: hundred thirty million dollars and they're just complete And today,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw the news he now,
Speaker 1: I don't know. This is no one's fault, but he
Speaker 1: re hurt his achilles. Like that thing is just the
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. We've seen some of Carson Wentz, some of
Speaker 1: these big contracts. Those don't hold a candle to the
Speaker 1: financial disasters at the Browns haff and what do you
Speaker 1: do right? They're drafting second So it's like, okay, let's
Speaker 1: say you take cam Warder shed Door Sanders. You cannot
Speaker 1: have Deshaun Watson there around that, so you just cut
Speaker 1: them and take a you know, a historic hit. You
Speaker 1: probably have to. And that's what the Ravens have to
Speaker 1: deal with. Meanwhile, they'll just at worse they'll be in
Speaker 1: the second round in a tight game against the Bills,
Speaker 1: and at best maybe this is their year they're in
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. But they don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: that Francis. Meanwhile, the AFC West a good example. Obviously
Speaker 1: the Raiders have a lot of question marks, but Andy's
Speaker 1: really got to try. He's got harb on Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: you know, coming after him. Two guys that know what
Speaker 1: they're doing, that have been around the block and obviously
Speaker 1: now have quarterbacks. I think Sean Payton I saw a
Speaker 1: headline from our guy Mike silver that said, like, you
Speaker 1: can't do this to other quarterback and thank god we
Speaker 1: got one and figure it out, and they're just gonna
Speaker 1: be a problem moving forward.
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Speaker 2: So let's look at the Chargers are two and a
Speaker 2: half point favorites at the Texans. My lean is the
Speaker 2: Chargers pass rush will give what's been a really shaky
Speaker 2: Texans O line trouble. I would probably lean Chargers there.
Speaker 2: I think the Texans have been a hard team to
Speaker 2: figure out, have not been consistent in big games. I
Speaker 2: don't think this year. I think the regression of CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud is mostly a protection issue. The Chargers come in
Speaker 2: with a much better defense I'd lean La, what would
Speaker 2: you lean?
Speaker 1: I would too, But you know their issue have been
Speaker 1: up the middle. You know, obviously the Chargers dominant pass
Speaker 1: rushes on the edges. Last year, everyone picked the Browns.
Speaker 1: Now the Texans were playing better football, and remember the
Speaker 1: Texans kicked their ass. Now Jim Harbaugh is a different
Speaker 1: animal than Flacco and Herbert, but that's one I think
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna pick the Chargers. I could listen the Chargers
Speaker 1: playing a lot of ugly games. I could see that
Speaker 1: thing being weird. That'd be a game that I you know,
Speaker 1: looking at the early slate, I'm probably gonna stay away
Speaker 1: because I think every I think all the money is
Speaker 1: gonna come into the Chargers and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden it's a tie game in the third quarter. Plus
Speaker 1: just road playoff games are difficult to win. So it's
Speaker 1: just we saw last year they won a road play
Speaker 1: or they won a home playoff game. It's a huge
Speaker 1: advantage even for the shooty team that's the four seed
Speaker 1: to host that game. I mean, that's to me, and
Speaker 1: the Texans are clearly comfortable playing Saturday afternoon. That's I
Speaker 1: think they've played like eight of the last ten years
Speaker 1: in that spot.
Speaker 2: It's time to look at this weekend's tastiest matchup. In
Speaker 2: this week's Monday Night food Ball, brought to you by
Speaker 2: Uber Eat. There's two games I feel strongly about one
Speaker 2: of them as Ravens minus tenant home against the Steelers.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the Steelers their organizational superiority. They
Speaker 2: beat some Raiders and Jets are ear in the season,
Speaker 2: but down the stretches they just can't score. They can't
Speaker 2: move the ball consistently. I like the Ravens to just
Speaker 2: I think if they played ten times the Ravens this
Speaker 2: current makeup of both teams, I would take the Ravens
Speaker 2: to win eight of them. You have any different feeling
Speaker 2: about that?
Speaker 1: Totally agree? I mean, how could anyone pick the Steelers
Speaker 1: right now? They have what an awful month. I mean,
Speaker 1: they got boat raced in an eleven day stretch and
Speaker 1: then even on was the Saturday night they were down
Speaker 1: nineteen to seven going into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: Yep, Russelle, it's a historically bad defense.
Speaker 1: As this weather's gotten bad, he's looked a little different now.
Speaker 1: It's not all his fault, George Pickens. You know they've
Speaker 1: hit on Antonio Brown's and the Plexicos and the you know,
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Standers. They've hit on a lot of wide receivers
Speaker 1: over the years. It feels like they were hoping this
Speaker 1: guy would be that, and it feels like he's melting
Speaker 1: a little bit under that pressure of being the number
Speaker 1: one guy. How do they keep going with what they're doing?
Speaker 1: I mean, just another one and done. I mean, Colin
Speaker 1: they were a double digit underdog against their bitter division rifle.
Speaker 2: It's not even every Every Steeler team looks the same
Speaker 2: to me, They're just a slight variation on the previous team.
Speaker 2: Last year they won ten games. This year they won
Speaker 2: ten games. So again, I think structurally, foundationally they're so
Speaker 2: well run. They always have good defense, there's no chaos.
Speaker 2: It's a consistent organization. And since a, let's be honest,
Speaker 2: since twelve teams in the league, aren't they just win
Speaker 2: those games for sure? But when you get to the
Speaker 2: upper crust, I mean, they're a ten win team. Nobody
Speaker 2: in their right mind thinks they have even They could
Speaker 2: get several breaks and they wouldn't even get to the
Speaker 2: conference championship. So it's to me, Mike Tomlin, who would
Speaker 2: be a superstar on TV. I think he would knock
Speaker 2: it out of the park. I'm you know, I always
Speaker 2: say that the Steelers and the Packers, two small market teams.
Speaker 2: One thirty years ago said we're going to be about offense, coaches, quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: We're gonna draft defense in the first round, but we're
Speaker 2: gonna be about drafting and developing offense, and we're never
Speaker 2: gonna have battle lines. The Steelers since Chuck Nole, have
Speaker 2: decided we're mostly going to be about defense. Even when
Speaker 2: they had Big Ben, they were a physical, tough team,
Speaker 2: like he was a physical, tough quarterback. And they both
Speaker 2: have like, you know, a lot of Super Bowls. But
Speaker 2: doesn't it feel over like doesn't it feel since Big
Speaker 2: Ben got out of his prime about like eight years ago,
Speaker 2: ten years ago? They they don't beat good teams. When
Speaker 2: is the last Steeler playoff win over a star quarterback?
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't think of one in a decade.
Speaker 1: Well, they haven't won a playoff games. It's twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. To me, the fix is pretty easy.
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin, I've been I said this last year looked
Speaker 1: kind of foolish halfway through the year, but it's come
Speaker 1: back to prove right that it's just time. Like Mike
Speaker 1: tom he'd be awesome on TV. All these openings would
Speaker 1: die to have by Tom. Why not go to the Bears?
Speaker 1: Trade him to the Bears. Unlike some of these other
Speaker 1: situations that got where you don't need to give a
Speaker 1: first round pick. It's like the Bears would have to
Speaker 1: get there maybe a two and a three or somehow
Speaker 1: staggered over the course of a couple of years. Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin gets a fresh start, he gets a young quarterback,
Speaker 1: and the Steelers can use their infrastructure of their organization,
Speaker 1: go hire Ben Johnson and be equipped to handle him.
Speaker 1: Get his idea with a quarterback. Changed the offense because
Speaker 1: this league you said it forever about Belichick. The league
Speaker 1: changed and it's still longer about super tough. Obviously you've
Speaker 1: got to have a good defense, but like if that's
Speaker 1: your number one goal, like you're probably not gonna win
Speaker 1: many Super Bowls. Hell, they can't win a playoff game.
Speaker 1: They can't win a playoff game. And now at one
Speaker 1: point in time they were ten and three and now
Speaker 1: wild Card weekend they're a ten point underdog against the
Speaker 1: Ravens that they know better than anybody.
Speaker 2: That was this week's Monday Night Foodball, brought to you
Speaker 2: by Uber. Reed says the affe Viu on demand delivery
Speaker 2: partner of the NFL. I use it very often every weekend.
Speaker 2: Uber eats best gamed aay deals all season long order.
Speaker 2: Now for game day, I do think it's a tough
Speaker 2: spot for the Broncos. I think their defense keeps them
Speaker 2: in it against the Bills. Usually if it's harsh weather,
Speaker 2: it helps the underdog because it muddies the game for everybody.
Speaker 2: But I do think the Bills win by about ten points.
Speaker 2: I could see twenty eight, twenty thirty, twenty. Do you
Speaker 2: see it differently?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to see a rookie quarterback long trip
Speaker 1: at Buffalo. I kind of I like Buffalo handling them
Speaker 1: pretty well. This is a tough spot. This is raging success, right.
Speaker 2: How about this? I want to throw something at you.
Speaker 2: So I have Sean Payton's a friend, and you know,
Speaker 2: one of the reasons in corporate America, it's hard to
Speaker 2: get a lot of stuff done because you have, you know,
Speaker 2: the HR person here, and there's certain things you can't say.
Speaker 2: But in pro football, you know you can call out
Speaker 2: another employee and be cost and abrasive. And you know
Speaker 2: that's why in the NFL it's just a different ballgame.
Speaker 2: And so Sean Payton comes in. He never once says
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson and I are the future. Very early, it's like,
Speaker 2: this office is embarrassing. You can't have a personal office.
Speaker 2: He can't figure out the plays, he can't read a defense.
Speaker 2: I mean, he goes after him. There's never a moment.
Speaker 2: The whole experience is uncomfortable. It's all discomfort. You couldn't
Speaker 2: do that in corporate America. You'd have to let somebody
Speaker 2: go buy him out. You couldn't say the things he said,
Speaker 2: and it's one you get sued. One of the things
Speaker 2: that's great about the NFL, and the reason you can
Speaker 2: turn around companies like the Chargers and the Broncos overnight,
Speaker 2: is because you can be harsh and punitive and intense
Speaker 2: and caustic. And people were giving Sean pate. Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 2: was pushing back on the Nat Hackett comment. Sean Payton
Speaker 2: was right onfing everything. He was right on everything is
Speaker 2: that bo Nix is better than Russell Wilson. And Nat
Speaker 2: Hackett did not know what he was doing, and it's
Speaker 2: why the NFL works. The tech's got a little bit
Speaker 2: of a feel like this. You can just rip another
Speaker 2: you know, it's competitive. You just go after people, and
Speaker 2: the NFL allows you to be incredibly harsh, blunt and hurtful.
Speaker 2: But you can't turn around a corporation being precious and
Speaker 2: completely thoughtful. You got to get certain people out of
Speaker 2: the building. And as I go into this game, if
Speaker 2: the Chargers, if the Broncos don't win, my takeaway is
Speaker 2: this has been any team losing in the first round,
Speaker 2: Washington and Denver, you'd have to tip your cat and say, say, guys,
Speaker 2: well done, fantastic year.
Speaker 1: Well, Dan and Sean have definitely different personalities, don't those
Speaker 1: two organizations parallel themselves. They got I mean, Denver had
Speaker 1: a famous historic Hall of Fame level owner but was
Speaker 1: obviously really sick, his daughters were running it was in
Speaker 1: shambles that they were in a bad spot, and Washington
Speaker 1: has one of the worst owners we've ever seen in
Speaker 1: pro sports. They both get fresh ownership with lots of
Speaker 1: money and they went out. What is the first thing
Speaker 1: that Washington does. They hire Adam Peters, who'd been the
Speaker 1: best GM prospect in five years and says, here, you
Speaker 1: run it right. What did the Walton family do after
Speaker 1: attempting the Rogers thing at fails? Wasn't all their fault?
Speaker 1: Like they kind of came in. Sean Payton, here is
Speaker 1: a ninetye hundred million dollars You do it? And what
Speaker 1: else do you need? Open checkbook? Look at the two franchises,
Speaker 1: and obviously both draft young quarterbacks that are equipped to
Speaker 1: handle that. Why because Adam Peters has worked for Belichick,
Speaker 1: Lway and John Lynch and Dan Quinn has a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot of experience. Sean Payton's been doing this for
Speaker 1: twenty five thirty years and both of them are the
Speaker 1: by far, the best two spots for the guy to
Speaker 1: go into. Look at Pennis. I like Pennix more than
Speaker 1: most of my scouting buddies. He goes in Atlanta kind
Speaker 1: of a shit show. It's like you got Cousins, even
Speaker 1: though Cousin's a great guy. It's the weird spot for
Speaker 1: a young quarterback. A ton of pressures, like everyone Atlanta's
Speaker 1: gonna win. Then Cousins starts falling apart. Then they insert
Speaker 1: him in late on a prayer, which is unfair. He
Speaker 1: gets none of the reps and then they end up
Speaker 1: missing the playoffs. Now they win eight games and hell,
Speaker 1: the last game of the season, Bryce Young looks better
Speaker 1: than Pennix. It's like, that's just not a way to operate.
Speaker 1: And some of these people have no clue what they're doing.
Speaker 1: And then you watch Washington and you watch Denver, it's like,
Speaker 1: these people just know what they're doing. This leads hard enough.
Speaker 1: It's gotta be one of the most competitive industries in America. Finance.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a short list, so it's hard enough
Speaker 1: even if you know what you're doing. But you to
Speaker 1: put yourself in a situation when you know what you're
Speaker 1: doing has such an advantage over all. These teams that
Speaker 1: are just feel like they're kind of peeing in the win.
Speaker 2: Okay, my favorite bet of the weekend is the Eagles
Speaker 2: minus four and a half against Green Bay. Jordan Loves
Speaker 2: hurt Christian Watson's out, I think, I think, and I
Speaker 2: like Jordan Love a lot. I think his inconsistency is
Speaker 2: why Matt Lafleur in this offseason went and got Josh Jacobs.
Speaker 2: I think they were signaling, you know, it was a
Speaker 2: little bit of a bat signal. It was We're gonna
Speaker 2: be a power run team that I don't think Jordan
Speaker 2: Love should be throwing at thirty six times a game.
Speaker 2: I think it should be closer to twenty eight times
Speaker 2: a game. And I think they're very effective. But I
Speaker 2: think teams tell you what they think of their quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: And Matt Lafleur was telling you that Jordan can be
Speaker 2: erratic and a bit reckless. He's always been more far
Speaker 2: than Aaron Rodgers. I think this is a tough spot
Speaker 2: for him. I think Watson takes the lid off the defense.
Speaker 2: I think losing him makes it easier for this team
Speaker 2: to be defended. And I like Philadelphia kind of rolling
Speaker 2: Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Did you see the headline that Jalen Hurts is still
Speaker 1: in concussion protocol. I mean we're we're fifteen to twenty
Speaker 1: days removed from that concussion. That to me is a
Speaker 1: little concerning. Now could the Eagles at home with Kenny
Speaker 1: if they had to do? I mean, we still got six
Speaker 1: seven days from recording this to when they play, But
Speaker 1: you gotta start Kenny, pickt or Tanner McKee like, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: you can lose a playoff game. But like you said,
Speaker 1: the Packers have not looked that good down the stretch
Speaker 1: at all. And Christian Watson, I think they became very
Speaker 1: dependent on him last year because he looked like this
Speaker 1: budding superstar injuries and then it looks like he's got
Speaker 1: a torn acl It sucks to lose him, but maybe
Speaker 1: big picture of this offseason, they can kind of pivot
Speaker 1: find another guy to fill that role if Jalen hurts. Though,
Speaker 1: like this, we talk about this in the NFL. It's
Speaker 1: very coach and quarterback dependent. If your quarterback can't play
Speaker 1: in a game and you got to go to a backup,
Speaker 1: like you could lose to the Packers at home. So
Speaker 1: that is something. If he's clears tomorrow or the next day,
Speaker 1: feel fine, but that's something. Remember a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: was it Carson Wentz got a concussion in a playoff game?
Speaker 1: You just these playoff games. Somehow Mahomes has like ankles
Speaker 1: like he's a Lebron James. It can go the other way.
Speaker 1: You know, ten minutes later he's back on the field.
Speaker 1: But sometimes in these playoff games, your heart drops when
Speaker 1: when the quarterback it's injured. In Hell, I would imagine
Speaker 1: Philadelphia because the concussion protocol and like some other injuries,
Speaker 1: is a little out of your control. It's something that
Speaker 1: just you know, it's just I don't know. Now, their
Speaker 1: roster's so good. I mean, they could just run the
Speaker 1: ball and just overwhelm me.
Speaker 2: I thought Jalen Hurts about three weeks ago played the
Speaker 2: best game I've seen him play as a pro. I
Speaker 2: don't know where statistically it was when Jalen Hurts is
Speaker 2: running and he's rolling and he's got the pass run option.
Speaker 2: I think they're so hard to defend because the offensive
Speaker 2: line in Barkley, they could just play football in between
Speaker 2: the tackles and never run outside. And then when they
Speaker 2: add that component, and then it's Aj Brown over the top.
Speaker 2: I know everybody likes Kansas City to win another Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: but when Philadelphia is healthy and when the Lions are healthy,
Speaker 2: those rosters just look better than everybody. And that Philadelphia
Speaker 2: offense again, they could just be eight between the tackle
Speaker 2: power offense and be very effective when everything's working. I
Speaker 2: think the drop off Jalen Hurts to backups is substantial. Now, again,
Speaker 2: it depends on who you're playing, but we'll keep our
Speaker 2: eye on that.
Speaker 1: I would say this, I would say health there's five
Speaker 1: teams that can win the Super Bowl. Lions, Eagles, Chiefs,
Speaker 1: Ravensville's Yeah agreement there. Yes, I have a hard time
Speaker 1: seeing the Rams have just kind of looked I don't
Speaker 1: even count the last game, but have not played well
Speaker 1: down the stretch. The Bucks I just don't think have
Speaker 1: enough on a personnel standpoint. And our guy Sam Darnold
Speaker 1: came back to Earth a little bit the other night.
Speaker 2: And now for our next segment, Whiskey Business brought to
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Speaker 2: com and discover a legend in a bottle Today, Bucks Commanders,
Speaker 2: I don't have a strong feel for I want to
Speaker 2: go to Rams at hosting Minnesota. So I like the
Speaker 2: Minnesota matchup because I think people now are selling because
Speaker 2: it was such a standalone game and had so many
Speaker 2: viewers that people saw Donald and everybody is selling Donald Stock.
Speaker 2: When I thought it was like it felt like a
Speaker 2: playoff game. It was a precursor. It was like the
Speaker 2: reason that restaurants have soft openings is you're not quite
Speaker 2: ready for the speed of the big opening. And I
Speaker 2: don't think Sam was quite ready for at Detroit, biggest
Speaker 2: game in five decades, a better roster, a big pass rush.
Speaker 2: I think Minnesota the Rams have really struggled to put
Speaker 2: consistent hams of football together. Offensively, they're very Puka Nikua dependent.
Speaker 2: Cooper Cup now is more of a blocker. We've talked
Speaker 2: about this. If they can't engineer a running game to start,
Speaker 2: they just become It's Stafford and Pooka. That's pretty much it.
Speaker 2: I think the Vikings bounce back. I think their receiving
Speaker 2: core is a real problem for the Rams. Secondary. Rams
Speaker 2: will draft a quarterback second or third pick. They'll take
Speaker 2: a corner number one. You have a strong feeling about
Speaker 2: that game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I would lean, you know, I think
Speaker 1: the Rams. Darnold starts seeing ghosts a little bit the
Speaker 1: other night. Now granted they were blitzing him every single play,
Speaker 1: but it really got to him. And the Rams have
Speaker 1: better personnel than what the Lions were just rolling out.
Speaker 1: Still pretty injured at least upfront, and if you can
Speaker 1: get pressure on Sam. Here's the thing. Their left tackle
Speaker 1: towards ACL a while back, so they still have some
Speaker 1: question marks up front. Now, Sam, why we were so
Speaker 1: high on him, He was moving around and making plays.
Speaker 1: If he can shake that and be a goldfish and
Speaker 1: forget about that game and get back to what he's
Speaker 1: been most of the season, I'm with you, I like Minnesota,
Speaker 1: But if any of that Lingers, is there a player
Speaker 1: right now in the NFL with just more on the line.
Speaker 1: It felt like in this game and last game. I
Speaker 1: mean we're talking, we're craking one hundred and fifty million dollars,
Speaker 1: and you play another game like that, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, maybe we'll franchise you. I think that's
Speaker 1: the best part about the NFL, how fluid it is,
Speaker 1: how fast it moves. Yeah, they do have at the
Speaker 1: end of they do have this other quarterback sitting there.
Speaker 1: Whether we think it's crazy or not, like he does
Speaker 1: exist on their roster, and I would imagine most people
Speaker 1: would say JJ McCarthy might be the number one pick
Speaker 1: in this draft. We've said about Drake May, but there's
Speaker 1: he definitely would be a top five pick in this draft.
Speaker 1: Who you know, We'll see how it plays out. So
Speaker 1: if you have another game where you're just looking atrocious
Speaker 1: and overthrowing guys like that, that's how fast things change,
Speaker 1: especially when I don't have any equity with you. We
Speaker 1: saw it with Cousins. He had no equity. He just
Speaker 1: showed up. No, not saying they don't you know, they
Speaker 1: really like Sam clearly, but you lose the game against
Speaker 1: me the number one see, then you lose a playoff
Speaker 1: game in the first round. We all know these guys,
Speaker 1: I mean that they could. We saw how fast Sean
Speaker 1: McVay turned on Jared Goff and they had been working
Speaker 1: together for years. So this league, this league, when you're
Speaker 1: talking especially about the amount of money you're talking at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position, it can be pretty cutthroat if you
Speaker 1: don't produce. So I I feel like everyone's gonna kind
Speaker 1: of overlean Minnesota. That was one off. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think Sean McVay what usually plays in the playff coaching, Well,
Speaker 1: I would take Sean over Kevin O'Connell, even though I
Speaker 1: like Kevin O'Connell, and I just think that they've been there,
Speaker 1: done that. You know, there's a lot of pressure on
Speaker 1: Sam going home Monday night football, that's a pretty intense
Speaker 1: environmentconin Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, I thought last night Sam was overwhelmed. I
Speaker 2: thought he missed on two potential touchdowns. He was high,
Speaker 2: a lot of energy, a lot of juice, and it
Speaker 2: kind of overwhelmed him. You know, I defended him today.
Speaker 2: I said, you know, listen, last year Week eighteen, he
Speaker 2: was starting for the Niners. Like he went from bust
Speaker 2: to starting for the Niners to the biggest game in
Speaker 2: the history of Detroit Lions football in my adult life.
Speaker 2: So I like Minnesota, but you're not the first person
Speaker 2: Jason McIntyre really likes the Rams. This week, I want
Speaker 2: to talk about Notre Dame versus Penn State and Ohio
Speaker 2: State versus Texas. So Ohio State Texas. We'll probably get
Speaker 2: the bigger rating because of Buckeye's longhorns. But I was
Speaker 2: thinking about this the other day. Is that Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: I think Marcus Freeman was on my show, and I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if he said it then or in the
Speaker 2: preamble before he was on my show. They haven't lost
Speaker 2: anybody in the transfer portal, and I was thinking about this, John,
Speaker 2: the advantage Notre Dame has on the rest of the
Speaker 2: country in this transfer portal. So they have a young
Speaker 2: A plus plus recruiter and Marcus Freeman that in these
Speaker 2: days that really helps a lot of these Brian Kelly's.
Speaker 2: I was talking to a coach about Brian Kelly. I said,
Speaker 2: what's wrong with LSU And the coach said, Brian Kelly
Speaker 2: was about ready to retire in Notre Dame. He took
Speaker 2: that job for the money. He didn't want to put
Speaker 2: the time in. Their recruiting's gone down. Brian is on
Speaker 2: the back nine. He's probably on the seventeenth hole. He
Speaker 2: thought he could go down there and make it work
Speaker 2: and win a Natty. But the truth is he was
Speaker 2: worn out at Notre Dame and then somebody threw him
Speaker 2: a pile of money that he never thought he would make.
Speaker 2: But one of the things about this time, the transfer
Speaker 2: portal of the nil old guys like saban Or in
Speaker 2: basketball even easier in basketball. Jay Wright, older guy, it's
Speaker 2: too much. Jim Lahronega, the coach, the Miami Hurricanes basketball coach,
Speaker 2: like it's overwhelming. So if you have a young coach
Speaker 2: a Ryan Day Amarcus Freeman. You have a young coach
Speaker 2: with a ton of energy. Huge advantage. Secondly, Notre Dame
Speaker 2: doesn't lose guys to the portal because the players that
Speaker 2: go to Notre Dame are going there for the academic
Speaker 2: experience and the football experience. So it is the one
Speaker 2: football power in the country beyond Stanford and Northwestern, that
Speaker 2: consistently has bigger revenue, has a better TV package, and
Speaker 2: historically has paid more for coaches. And I look at
Speaker 2: Notre Dame in Penn State and I think this could
Speaker 2: be a really interesting ten year run for Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: You watch the SEC this year, John, it was very
Speaker 2: clear they just didn't look as dominant. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: Notre Dame matched up with Georgia and you mean to me,
Speaker 2: Ohio State looks like the most talented team in the country.
Speaker 2: And Michigan was the best team last year. And if
Speaker 2: Ohio State wins this year or Notre Dame, it's back
Speaker 2: to back Northern teams winning. And the advantage Notre Dame
Speaker 2: has is they may be the one team in the
Speaker 2: transfer portal era, because what is the transfer portal creating?
Speaker 2: John Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly know this chemistry issues.
Speaker 2: These guys don't grow up together. It's just got ole
Speaker 2: miss We'll go by eight great players, twelve great players
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. If Notre Dame beats Penn State, I just
Speaker 2: I've been thinking about this. They may have a cultural
Speaker 2: edge on the rest of college football that they do
Speaker 2: recruit elite players, but they don't you'll be able to
Speaker 2: have a more formidable cohesion and chemistry with your roster
Speaker 2: on an annual basis.
Speaker 1: Well, one thing Notre Dame a huge advantage they have.
Speaker 1: And we had a good family friend growing up who
Speaker 1: was a very successful businessman who had played at Notre
Speaker 1: Dame in the sixties. And they get these golf tournaments
Speaker 1: together all over the country because they're all their people,
Speaker 1: you know, like a Stanford or a usc go work
Speaker 1: New York, La Florida. They have a lot of money
Speaker 1: behind that program. You know, when Greg Byrne at Alabama
Speaker 1: comes out with a tweet begging fans for money, you
Speaker 1: know who's not gonna have to do that. Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, I think nil
Speaker 1: is kind of a stupid Like that term feels a
Speaker 1: little outdated. You're just you're just buying the player. I'm
Speaker 1: paying them a salary to play for me. And if
Speaker 1: Notre Dame true and Marcus Freeman you win a couple
Speaker 1: of playoff games, all of a sudden, people are gonna
Speaker 1: like that. They will not have a problem cutting huge checks.
Speaker 1: I mean, I see it here with Kenny Dillingham on
Speaker 1: the local news begging for money. It's hard. I can't
Speaker 1: even imagine being in that situation. Marcus Freeman will never
Speaker 1: have to beg for checks as long as he's winning.
Speaker 1: And I think that is a huge advantage. I think
Speaker 1: we see it with some of these Southern teams. That
Speaker 1: is a disadvantage for Alabama. That is the advantage for LSU.
Speaker 1: It's not you know, Texas text A and M not
Speaker 1: a disadvantage because they have huge, huge Arkansas sneaking not
Speaker 1: a disadvantage. He don't have the right coach. I think
Speaker 1: Notre Dame if they can figure out how to balance
Speaker 1: the academic requirements. But Northwestern's down, Stanford's down. Who are
Speaker 1: they really competing against for that top? You know, Andrew Luck,
Speaker 1: David di Castro, there are only so many of them.
Speaker 1: Will they got the market cornered and to me, financially,
Speaker 1: they have an unlimited part of the reason I think
Speaker 1: Stanford hired Andrew Luck obviously he kind of missed it
Speaker 1: and wanted the juice. But when Andrew Luck calls the
Speaker 1: guy worth one hundred million dollars is to Stanford alone,
Speaker 1: that guy will call him back. You know, if if
Speaker 1: Troy Taylor the football coach, had called him, he might not.
Speaker 1: And I think Marcus Freeman, now with the momentum going
Speaker 1: and people start getting the taste, I think they've already
Speaker 1: had this success where their budget is gonna be as
Speaker 1: high as anyone because they have the funds. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's impossible to not work in business around You're in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. How many Notre Dame people do you hear
Speaker 1: of that just have unlimited amount of money and want
Speaker 1: to be part of the program. It's a really that university.
Speaker 1: If you went there, means a lot to these people.
Speaker 1: And I think the one thing that they will always
Speaker 1: fight against is it is hard to get certain positions
Speaker 1: in there, like they never really have great wide receivers
Speaker 1: right or top ten corners. Sometimes academically you got to
Speaker 1: push and that's something the more success Marcus Freeman has
Speaker 1: he can push back, but I think they have looked defensively.
Speaker 1: Where fran Kelly had good teams, this team looks much
Speaker 1: more like an SEC Ohio State Texas speed which like
Speaker 1: holy shit.
Speaker 2: But when I watched Notre Dame Georgia and I watched
Speaker 2: Notre Dame's corners, they were not getting beat down the field.
Speaker 2: I felt like Notre Dame, you could switch jerseys. I
Speaker 2: couldn't tell. I thought Notre Dame looked great, And I
Speaker 2: do think you know, they're called collectives. I think I
Speaker 2: think kind of the issue you're finding with this stuff
Speaker 2: is that there's a chemistry problem. So you bring in
Speaker 2: play they get paid, and then guys that are already
Speaker 2: there don't get paid as much. And I think Notre
Speaker 2: Dame's edges. You don't go to Notre Dame to get
Speaker 2: a paycheck, you go for a legacy. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: one of the reasons Duke Basketball and Mike Skrzhewski beat
Speaker 2: John Calipari in Kentucky and Calipari so predictably through a
Speaker 2: hissy fit, is that you know it was this one
Speaker 2: and done culture, and then Shazhewski started selling We're not
Speaker 2: about one and done. You're a blue devil for life.
Speaker 2: This is more than basketball. And they started taking some
Speaker 2: of those top players from Calipari, and Calipari is like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know this this thing about selling for life, and
Speaker 2: it's like John, you're a salesman. And and when John
Speaker 2: Paul Calipari started saying, hey, I'm not here to win
Speaker 2: in March, it's like, bro, it's over. Like, yes, you're hard,
Speaker 2: but the point is Duke, like Notre Dame sold, you're
Speaker 2: a Duchy for life. Our business connections for life will
Speaker 2: set you up. Kentucky's not going to sell that. LSU
Speaker 2: probably doesn't have that, but Notre Dame and Duke do well.
Speaker 1: Think about this. I saw someone tweet I don't know
Speaker 1: the exact number, is like the amount of former NFL
Speaker 1: players kids that are at Notre Dame now. Some of
Speaker 1: them like Bryan Young played at Notre Dame. His son Bryce,
Speaker 1: who I would bet on number thirty, the six foot
Speaker 1: seven pass rusher who's a backup right now, who's a
Speaker 1: true freshman being a future top ten pick in a
Speaker 1: couple of years. But if you're a former player and
Speaker 1: these guys now, guys that are fifty to fifty five
Speaker 1: years old. A lot of their children are blue chip recruits.
Speaker 1: If you play in the NFL long enough, you see
Speaker 1: how cutthroat it can be, how fast everything can end.
Speaker 1: You actually have a different perspective of just funnel to
Speaker 1: the best college. You know for football, Well, I want
Speaker 1: to go the best. It was a huge point of
Speaker 1: difference for Stanford for a long time. We can take
Speaker 1: you to the NFL, but we can also send you
Speaker 1: to Wall Street or Silicon Valley where you can probably
Speaker 1: end up making more money. So I think Notre Dame
Speaker 1: has that double edge, you know. I think Ohio State
Speaker 1: Mission again have always kind of had that because they've
Speaker 1: had you know, it's a really really good school and
Speaker 1: obviously they take football really seriously. But I think Marcus
Speaker 1: Freeman the recruiting standpoint, they feel just much faster than
Speaker 1: they did under the Brian Kelly. And now you watch
Speaker 1: totally agree at LSU, You're like, maybe he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a great feel Like one thing, Saban was the lead
Speaker 1: at he could just identify a guy future top ten pick.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was the best at it. And I
Speaker 1: think Kirby clearly followed Saban from that, and they're great
Speaker 1: at that but mostly like Ohio State at this point
Speaker 1: in time, kind of recruits itself and they have they
Speaker 1: can get anyone they want in the school whatever. Marcus
Speaker 1: Freeman's figuring out that speed they had on defense against Georgia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are mirror images of each other. Yes, And that's
Speaker 1: where Brian Kelly used to get overwhelmed. Remember the speed
Speaker 1: and the physicality. It's like, yeah, that's just a different
Speaker 1: level of pace.
Speaker 2: I also think the SCC has had the best and
Speaker 2: the most NFL bodies for twenty years. I think more
Speaker 2: than any conference in college football. They're getting raided and
Speaker 2: as you pointed out earlier, SEC teams do not have
Speaker 2: many times the level of boosters. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: the biggest Alabama booster I could be wrong is like
Speaker 2: Bear Bryant's son. I mean, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: They just have certain Penn State have certain advantages. So
Speaker 2: I think when I watched SEC football this year, it
Speaker 2: just did not look as dominant, And I thought Notre
Speaker 2: Dame's defense and Ohio State's offense and Michigan's O line
Speaker 2: and D line last year looked better. My eye test,
Speaker 2: is it shocking that Sark.
Speaker 1: I mean, what an advantage he has because forever it's
Speaker 1: like house Texas going to be able to go into
Speaker 1: the SEC. Well they will because they have a huge
Speaker 1: bank account that's bigger than everyone else. Yeah, and they
Speaker 1: came right in SEC championship. Who's gonna pick next year?
Speaker 1: Sark's got to be a top one or two, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of the preseason ranking in the SEC. For
Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. He has a massive advantage even just
Speaker 1: over Alabama and LSU. He's gonna lap them yeap.
Speaker 2: So Ohio State faces Texas, This game to me is fascinating.
Speaker 2: So I like Ohio State Texas. I could never wrap
Speaker 2: my arms around them. I struggle sometimes for them to
Speaker 2: get three straight good offensive series. I think they're hit
Speaker 2: and miss. They're very much a splash offense. They need
Speaker 2: big plays and they hit on them. I mean against
Speaker 2: Arizona State, back into a corner, they hit on a
Speaker 2: couple of big plays late. Who's facing more pressure, Ryan
Speaker 2: Day or Sark? So think about this. You know, Ohio
Speaker 2: State backed up the brinks truck twenty million dollars for
Speaker 2: this team. They look esthetically like the best team, and
Speaker 2: they have rebounded from that Michigan loss with two dominating wins.
Speaker 2: But again again, if they lose to Texas, people are
Speaker 2: going to say, when's the last time you beat Michigan.
Speaker 2: That's probably the worst loss in our program in twenty years.
Speaker 2: If Sark doesn't win a Natty, it'll probably be because
Speaker 2: we feel like his roster underachieved, because I think going
Speaker 2: into the season many felt that was the best roster.
Speaker 2: To you, who's the pressure on this game? Is fascinating?
Speaker 2: Ryan Day or Sark? Who's gonna get more shit when
Speaker 2: they lose this game?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't even think it's closed. I think it's
Speaker 1: Ryan Day. I mean Sark, Texas was dead and they're
Speaker 1: going back to back years in the semi finals and
Speaker 1: just he has the thing on an upward trajectory. He
Speaker 1: just had him in the SEC Championship year one. Ryan
Speaker 1: Day took over. You know, Uh, just a program that
Speaker 1: was rolling right full of NFL guys and he just
Speaker 1: hasn't quite got there now. The way they've looked the
Speaker 1: last two weeks, I don't see how they would not
Speaker 1: win the NACTUAL Championship if they can play like that
Speaker 1: two more times. But I think there's still a ton
Speaker 1: of pressure on Ryan Day. Now, if you're betting on this,
Speaker 1: you'd have to pick Ohio State to win it all.
Speaker 1: But I listen, Texas's roster isn't that much different than
Speaker 1: Ohio State. And unless Will Howard can just keep playing,
Speaker 1: is he just gonna keep playing like Peyton Manning in
Speaker 1: his prime, Because if he does, then they're gonna beat everybody.
Speaker 1: But if he has a bad game, Texas is really
Speaker 1: good on defense. You know it took Skataboo having one
Speaker 1: of the crazier halfs you've ever like. Eventually, Ohio State
Speaker 1: is just gonna play in a tighter game. I mean
Speaker 1: they have too just back to back absolute blowouts. What
Speaker 1: do they look like when they get in a little
Speaker 1: tighter game, Because we just saw him in a tight
Speaker 1: game against Michigan, they kind of folded and whatever Ryan
Speaker 1: Day has done and it was kind of easy, right,
Speaker 1: they had really got embarrassed. All those guys are returned,
Speaker 1: they got an extra week off and they came out
Speaker 1: and they showed out. But I do think one of
Speaker 1: these games, one of these last two games, I like
Speaker 1: Penn State against Notre Dame. I think Penn State is
Speaker 1: just a little more talented or at least equal to
Speaker 1: Notre Dame. But I like their quarterback more, at least
Speaker 1: the way, you know, from a throwing standpoint, and I
Speaker 1: think Penn State could beat him, and I think Texas,
Speaker 1: you know, in theory, could beat them. I'm picking Ohio State,
Speaker 1: but if I State wins the national championship, you beat Texas,
Speaker 1: then you beat Penn State or Notre Dame. Like that's
Speaker 1: that'd be really impressive, and then haters like me wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to say anything about writing I always I
Speaker 1: already think Sark, like Sark's already kind of proven, like
Speaker 1: he's really good. Back to back semi finals, got arch Manning,
Speaker 1: got a team just loaded with guys that aren't even
Speaker 1: drafted eligible. I can't even imagine what they were transfer
Speaker 1: portal class is gonna look like whenever the season ends,
Speaker 1: like they're not going anywhere. I think this year was
Speaker 1: all about Ryan Day, the cash they had spent on
Speaker 1: the team. He got Chip Kelly makes three two and
Speaker 1: a half three million dollars a year. I think there
Speaker 1: was a lot of pressure on this individual team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, And I also think Sark, if he
Speaker 2: got heat, I think he's viewed in NFL circles as
Speaker 2: capable of coaching at that league. You know, for years
Speaker 2: Brian Kelly sniffed around at Notre Dame for the NFL,
Speaker 2: and I was told by an NFL GM that people
Speaker 2: thought he was a college coach, a really good college coach.
Speaker 2: Sark is viewed by NFL guys as like if Sark
Speaker 2: said tomorrow he loses to Ohio State and says I
Speaker 2: want the Chicago Bears job, he'd be a top three
Speaker 2: candidate immediately. I think the NFL. I mean, he was
Speaker 2: a coordinator in the NFL and a very good one.
Speaker 2: So I think I think Sark he.
Speaker 1: Works, doesn't it It just Sark Austin. It just feels like
Speaker 1: a pretty seamless fit right now. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean he's he's He's got a big presence, and
Speaker 2: I think Sark is one of those guys people have
Speaker 2: criticisms for him, but if in any industry, if you
Speaker 2: keep getting hired by really smart people, I mean, Washington's
Speaker 2: a good program, US He's a good program. Texas is
Speaker 2: a good program. He's been the head coaching job. Nick
Speaker 2: Saban knows what he's doing, you know, like, really smart
Speaker 2: people and good programs keep hiring him. You know, it's
Speaker 2: like when Andy Reid got let go by Philadelphia. Forty
Speaker 2: five minutes later, he was on the phone with a
Speaker 2: Hunt family smart pee. Jim Harbaugh is always going to
Speaker 2: get work. John Harbaugh, he was available, would get work.
Speaker 2: I think Sark's one of those guys that's imminently hirable.
Speaker 2: I think his teams can be a little loose and
Speaker 2: lack a little bit of an identity, you know, the
Speaker 2: old thing the Patriots used to say, We're not a
Speaker 2: collection of players, We're a team. Sometimes sark teams can
Speaker 2: feel a little bit like a collection of a handful
Speaker 2: of really good players, not a team. And it's not
Speaker 2: I know he's a good coach. I know he's a
Speaker 2: great recruiter. But his teams can be a little loose
Speaker 2: for my taste sometimes, Like I think they throw too
Speaker 2: many jump balls up the sidelines. Quin Yours too often
Speaker 2: just throws it up for grabs. It drives me nuts.
Speaker 2: I hate that low percentage fades or corners. But I
Speaker 2: think I think I like Ohio State and Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: But I will say about Penn State Abduall Carter that
Speaker 2: rush end. If he's healthy, John, if he got drafted
Speaker 2: number one. I don't think it's crazy. I think he's
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 1: Don't They have a big advantage with the game getting delayed.
Speaker 1: They played, you know, basically two days before Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Notre Dame then had to travel home. I think Penn
Speaker 1: States looked really good. I like Penn State in that
Speaker 1: game for sure.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's crazy. They've got They've got four
Speaker 2: or five elite players. You know, James Franklin gets some
Speaker 2: shit because he can't beat the good teams. But you know,
Speaker 2: I would point out to you know, if you look
Speaker 2: at his record against top ten teams, Yeah, that was
Speaker 2: Georgia and LSU when they ruled college football. He was
Speaker 2: in Vandy and it was Alabama Georgia. So he was
Speaker 2: struggling at Vandy and now he's struggling with Ohio State
Speaker 2: and Michigan with Hardbaugh. It's like, guys, you have to
Speaker 2: contextualize James franklin struggles against top ten teams. It's been
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh Ryan Day. And when he was down at Vandy,
Speaker 2: he was facing you know, LSU teams and Nick Saban
Speaker 2: teams and the beginning of Georgia's teams.
Speaker 1: If he beats Notre Dame and Ohio State takes advantage
Speaker 1: of and you know, beats Texas. It is a pretty
Speaker 1: good opportunity given how well he knows. Ohio State plays
Speaker 1: him every year, played him, I mean the best they've
Speaker 1: ever played him. This year had a very good chance,
Speaker 1: obviously to tie the game at the goal line, and
Speaker 1: they ran it right up the middle. Their team physically
Speaker 1: given their quarterback, Like to me, the best NFL quarterback
Speaker 1: prospect playing right now is Drew Aller, And one advantage
Speaker 1: they have is they you know, these bowl games are
Speaker 1: not outside in frigid temperatures, and Tyler Warren has been dominant.
Speaker 1: The running back's been dominant. The question is a dual
Speaker 1: carter and the arm injury. You know in college they
Speaker 1: don't really have to talk about what the status is.
Speaker 1: But if he's healthy, how good does their front seven look.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are so physical, they got dbs, They
Speaker 1: are very very Both these two teams, you could argue
Speaker 1: all four someone's gonna get injured in these games. It's
Speaker 1: just like the NFL playoffs, and if you're the winning
Speaker 1: team and one of your impact players, that could be
Speaker 1: a huge problem. Chip Kelly mentioned this at the start
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. He's like, no one's really talking about this.
Speaker 1: The attrition of guys aren't used to playing this many games,
Speaker 1: and these are better teams. These are just more It's
Speaker 1: usually just one Bowl game. Maybe the final four was two.
Speaker 1: Now you're playing Ohio State would play four, Penn State
Speaker 1: would play four, Texas would play four. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of games on the bodies of twenty year olds, even
Speaker 1: if they are future top ten, top twenty picks.
Speaker 2: John Middlecoff, former NFL scout, that was a good hour.
Speaker 2: Put together almost an hour of good stuff. We head
Speaker 2: to the playoffs. John is always buddy. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Can't wait. Happy birthday.
Speaker 2: Thanks man the volume