Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Hackett's Gone, is Brady Next? And More QB Questions

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Geoff is back with Gabe after the holiday weekend to break down every headline in the football world, starting with Monday morning's revelation that the Broncos have fired their coach Nathaniel Hackett. Geoff explains why the decision was a no-brainer, and Gabe has some nominations for Denver's next coach. Next, Geoff dives into recent developments in QB play (read: Mayfield, Baker; Purdy, Brock) and how those dominoes will affect which jersey the GOAT will wear next season.Be sure to leave a rating and a comment if you enjoyed the episode, and follow the pod for notifications when new episode drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Disclaimer, I'm not talking about Santa. Turn this off when you have kids in the car. It's Tuesday, December 27th. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz of Smart Review, powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. We have a coach firing. We have a team on the rise in the Green Bay Packers,

a team falling back in the Dolphins. So much to talk about. Hope you had a great holiday weekend. The rare year, Gabe, where Hanukkah and Christmas come together. The final day of Hanukkah was yesterday, as we recorded this on Monday, and obviously Christmas was as well. We celebrated both. Only Christmas, though, for about 47 minutes. My wife took the tree down. So we had a great weekend. Hope you had one as well. down so we uh we had a great weekend i hope you had one as well i was having a great weekend i was having a swell uh time my family had a bunch of people in town uh enjoying ourselves it was 70 something degrees here in la unlike most of the country we were at the pool with the kids everything

was going great until uh the final two minutes of the fourth quarter of the last game of the weekend. And then old Gabe got a sack of coal from Tom Brady. Oh, yeah. I was wondering where you were going with that. Because your team lost Thursday. Your other team plays tonight, though. So, you know, you might sign up with a win. The Chargers still have a chance at the five seed. There's a scenario it's not even worth getting into.

But, yeah, Tom Brady capped what was otherwise a great weekend with a giant pile of crap and uh i don't know i mean he's like his amount of luck in life is the exact opposite of nathaniel hackett's i can't think of a guy who's had worse luck than hackett um well we can talk about hackett just a second uh the chargers by the way win tonight they They're in the playoffs. So this is a big game for the Chargers tonight at Indianapolis. I'm sure nothing will ever go poorly in that game. So we'll find out. If you're listening to this, obviously, the day after, let's see if the Chargers win.

Who knows? Nick Foles is playing for the Colts tonight. Nick Foles hasn't been good in four seasons. Yet somehow people still think he's good, Gabe. Doesn't make any sense to me. But let's get to the news at hand. We have a coach firing today. Yeah. So, I mean, one of the ugliest losses of a number of very ugly losses for the Broncos this season, you're not allowed to fire your quarterback. So they

fired the coach, Nathaniel Hackett out after whatever, 15 games with the Denver Broncos. It doesn't even matter what that became the coach. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm not really sure how he ended up with the job. I don't know where he'll go next. It seems like most people want to blame everything terrible happening in Denver on Russ. Okay. But, like, what could have Hackett done differently? You've played on a bunch of NFL teams for some good coaches

and less good coaches. What did he screw up here? Well, I played for, as you mentioned, I played with Andy Reid and Tom Cawthon, right? Two Hall of Fame coaches. And I played on up here? Well, I played for, as you mentioned, I played with Andy Reid and Tom Coffin, two Hall of Fame coaches. And I played on a team sort of like the Broncos. We were 2-14 in Carolina in 2010. However, the difference was

we knew we were supposed to be bad. Now, it's not any fun, but you know you're supposed to be. John Fox was very honest with us. Halfway through the season, he said, look, guys, I'm out of here. Like I'm telling you, I'm going to be fired. You guys play for yourselves, play for each other.

I'm going to be fine. You do the same. You guys play well because you need to film. I'm going to coach you guys. I'm going to give it to, you know, my best chance every week, my best energy. But I'm not going to be back next season. Just letting you guys know, like, so we're upfront about this. We knew.

We cut all our veterans. We knew we were supposed to stink. Broncos weren't supposed to stink, right? And that's a big difference in this season compared to the season I had where we averaged 12 points a game on offense. I understand the feeling that Broncos offense has. So what could he have done better? This is the hard part, right?

Because when your quarterback is playing that poorly and missing open wide receivers and not doing what's prescribed to him on each play, there are guys open. Like there are things to do to move the ball in this offense. There are ways for him not to take sacks. All these things are true. But it was kind of a slow burn, right? So at first, defense plays really well for many, many weeks. And I've made this point many times.

Defense is an emotional position, right, Gabe? It's emotional. Offense is more coordinated, calculated, on schedule. Defense is emotional. And defense thrives off the offense giving them a little bit of help. The offense can, like, think about it. Like, our job is to score points. If the defense can't do it because they can't, you know, they give a bit of help. The offense can, think about it, like, our job is to score points.

If the defense can't do it because they can't, you know, they give a bunch of points, we just go score more points. Like, we just score more points. It's not a problem. It's our job to score points.

Defense is stopping everyone, right? And eventually there becomes a point where if they feel the offense can't do their job, the defense shuts down. They're just like, it's hard to keep every team

to 17 points. Hard to do that. And the Broncos' defense fully gave up on Sunday. Like that was, Baker Mayfield scored 51 points on the Broncos. They gave up. You had an offensive lineman and a backup quarterback with a little bit of a shove and a yell on the sidelines. Not good.

You had one of your defensive ends punch a Rams offensive lineman after the game. Now, those guys know each other. That doesn't matter. But they've known each other for a while. Still, can't have that happen, right? Like, all these things happened, and it was very clear it was time for Hackett to move it along. And differently, I don't know, man.

I guess Russell Wilson being better, there was a play, I think the moment that happened yesterday, and of course people on Twitter, they're all angry with me because I pointed this out. Did you see the play, the moment I should say, where Russell Wilson went to talk to his offensive lineman and had the ball in front of his face? No.

Okay, so there was a moment where Dalton Reisner, the offensive guard and the backup quarterback, Rippon, got into an argument. Yeah, so there was a moment where Dalton Reisner, the offensive guard, and the backup quarterback, Rippon, got into an argument. Yeah, saw that. And Rippon, okay, that was because supposedly Rippon was like, you guys need to help Russell Wilson up off the ground when he gets sacked. Got it. I don't know.

It doesn't matter. So Russell Wilson came over to talk to the offensive lineman after that. And he put a ball in front of his face to cover his face. But here's the thing, Gabe, is that in that moment when your offensive linemen are mad at you, instead of going up to them and like sitting in front of them, talking to them, or screaming at them like something, he's worried about if the camera might catch him talking. Yeah.

No. We don't want that. No. worried about if the camera might catch him talking yeah no we don't want that no stop worrying about the camera stop worrying about that those things man play football stop worrying about the camera stop worrying about your routine stop worrying about how you're looked and perceived by others just go play football like and in that moment too the offensive lineman looked like they have had enough of him they gave him like the little pat like all right buddy and then like graham glasgow number 61 like looked and disgusted him like that's the thing man it's a small i get it but it's another reminder that he's focused on other things he's focused on his image what what what what what the camera will think of him just go talk to your boys man and like those like, those are all, Hackett can't change that.

That's not on Hackett. And I'm not sure another coach can. I don't know what coach is going to come in there, an established coach, and be like, I want to work with that guy. It'd be hard to find one. Are you saying that him buying them all motorized scooters this off season

isn't going to solve the problem? I don't think so. I don't think so. Was that a Zach Wilson? I think Zach Wilson tried that. No, I mean, it's interesting you say this because the most important working group on a successful team is always the offensive line and the quarterback. And I guess to some extension that the running backs, right. But you gotta have the line has to want to like lay down in front of a quarterback, no matter what. And on the best teams you played

for, I assume the relationship with the quarterback was pretty much flawless, right? And the bad teams was the opposite. Yes, and again, players arguing on the sidelines is normal. If you don't once a year have a young match with a quarterback or a running back, it's normal to go at it. It's emotional.

I've seen coaches cuss each other out, some players and coaches. I don't care that, really, that Rippon stood up for whatever. It's, again, that last moment where Wilson hit the ball. It's just all bad. It's all bad. It's all bad energy. And so, as I said yesterday during the game,

I think this is the way to – the Broncos have to sit Russell Wilson. For the well-being of the team and for him, just sit him down, say, hey, man, it didn't work this year. It did not work this year. We're going to play the backup for two weeks, and we'll start again in 2023. Because right now, man, the attitude's not good on this team. It's not going to be better with Hackett gone. And that's what you do. You

sit them down. You say, hey, man, it didn't work this year. We'll try again next season. Let the backup play and just slide into the offseason. So let me ask you this. It's been several years now. I think it's seven since they won that Super Bowl with Peyton. They haven't made the playoffs since. Yeah, we all said they were going to be really competitive this year.

They aren't. At some point, don't we just look further up the food chain? Like, OK, we got to look at the coach and the quarterback, but maybe we should be looking at the front office, right? I mean, you got to rebuild the whole organization at this point, I mean, you got to rebuild the whole organization at this point, right? So who do you even bring in? And if not at the highest levels, at the coach level to just reset things. Because I know in the NFL, often people are going to go like Google some offensive coordinator who Russ had success with in the past. Maybe they'll go back as far back as college. Let's hire that guy.

That can't be how this is done, right? to go back as far back as college let's hire that guy that can't be how this is done right probably not even though i will see um i will probably they'll look in that direction and you're absolutely right right i mean the the the front office traded for him right i mean they this is on that they'll have to be accountable to that decision and so far we've seen that the ownership has given them um a uh uh you know a vote of confidence which isn't always great but they're gonna stick around and now it's their job to fix this now i don't again who do you it seems like the coaches he worked for in seattle will want no part of them no right no so where do you go he's been on one team for for

so long. Like, if you're a new coach, if you're Eric Bien-Ami, you don't take this job. No. Like, if you're Byron Lefkowitz, who was up for jobs last year, you don't take this job. Like, if you're the Lions offensive coordinator, who I think will be up for a bunch of jobs, you don't take this job.

Like, who takes this job? It has to be a – It's so hard, man, because Russell Wilson is so set in his ways and you have to find a way to get him to be confident again and really kind of be part of this team and stopping this football robot that he is. It's going to be really tough.

Hank says, Ron Rivera is not going anywhere, buddy. So I don't know if you saw that video this week that they put out at the Pro Bowl. Ron Rivera is going nowhere. I got two suggestions. Who? Okay.

One is real. One is not. Okay. Don't say Tim Tebow, please. No, I'm not going to say Tim Tebow. Okay. He wouldn't give them the opportunity. He's probably still resentful.

One is a real suggestion, unless you know some stuff going on about why he stepped away that would prevent him from doing this. Okay. Why not David Shaw? That's a good suggestion. They need a grown-up.

They need a winner. They need a guy. Obviously, he has some Elway ties. I'm assuming they've been around each other plenty. They need a guy who can look the quarterback in the eye and tell him how to behave. I can buy David Shaw. I could buy one that one that one's not bad and he would take that step that chance would be worth it for him because the way he left stanford i feel like his next best job is

just a very good college job right this is a head coaching nfl job yeah i don't think he's going i don't think he's going to college again. I don't think that would be – I don't think it would be worth it for him. Ooh, it would be interesting. Yeah, David Shaw would be interesting. Yeah. The thing that I worry about, the only thing I worry about with Shaw

is his last couple years at Stanford, he wasn't very creative offensively, and I worry that that is what he is now. But, again, he was really good for so many years. I could do that. I could buy is now. But again, he was really good for so many years. I could do that. I could buy David Shaw. Good one. Who else? And who's the joke you got?

All right. Let's just skip the college team in the state and go straight to the NFL. Give me Dion. Dion and Russell. You're already there. You're in the zip code. Just go.

Dion and Russell would not go well together. That would be a very bad decision. Another year later, you get Shador in there to replace him. How about Lincoln Riley? How about that? I just think you need somebody who is going to just sit Russ down and be like, I don't care about any of your history. I think you're smart.

I've seen you be one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I need you to listen to me or this isn't going to work. The Sean one's pretty good. That feels like that's a good option right there. I like that one. I did not expect that. All right. Hey, you know, that doesn't always happen on the show.

I'm going to take the win while I got it. Let's move to the next topic because that was sort of a throw in Jeff. That was breaking news that we had to address. what I wanted to start with was Aaron Rodgers okay and I'm not just trying to trigger you here um but he's got the team back in potential playoff consideration maybe yep um so I guess if he wins two division, I think that's kind of all it would take to get in as the seventh seed in the NFC. Yeah, it might need a little bit more help. I think he'll need some help with that. Washington has to lose.

Washington has that tie, and Washington plays the Browns this weekend who are playoff eliminated now, and they play the Eagles, I think, week 18. The Eagles might be playing for nothing. Eagles are Cowboys. They play one of the two that could be playing for nothing. Well, the Cowboys really have no way to gain or fall back. No, they do. I mean, if the Eagles win this weekend, then it's over.

But if the Cowboys win out and the Eagles lose out, then they're tied. Okay. All right. Well, that's all too confusing for me to keep track of. They need Washington to lose a game because Washington has the tie. So therefore, they're always going to be half game back in the loss column unless they pass them. Okay. Well, let's just assume that Aaron Rodgers is not really asking for favors

from anyone else. He wants to do the work of winning two more games. Your favorite account on Twitter says, the Packers will be more dangerous as the number seven seed than as the number one seed. As a high seed, like the last two years, they're too tight and too careful. As a low seed, like in 2010, they can just let it rip.

Contend with that take, Jeff. First of all, I don't think he said like 2010, by the way, in that tweet. You add that in. Nope, it says it right here on paper.'t think he said like 2010, by the way, in that tweet. You add that in. Nope. It says it right here on paper. Oh, it does say 2010? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, they're right. So 2010, they did win as a low seed. Of course, by the way, the 2010 team was like the best defense the Packers had under Aaron Rodgers. And also, a bunch of injuries early in the season led to that. And they bounced back in the wild card and won the title. This is like the dumbest, like, there are people that cover things in life that are just not very good at covering they're very good at like newsy things but they don't actually like watch the

sport that it's played to suggest the packers this is mike florida by the way a pro football focus a pro football talk to to say the packers we better off going going to San Francisco and then Philadelphia back-to-back weeks instead of being a one seed and hosting, I don't know, the Lions in the wildcard weekend. Excuse me, in division round weekend is one of the stiller takes of all time. Come on. Come on, Florio. You're better than this. Well, I don't know if he is, but let's just ask you about the Packers then. Are they scary to you? No, I don't think they're scary. I let's just ask you about the Packers then. Are they scary to you?

No, I don't think they're scary. I think the Niners would dominate them if they play. And look, the Niners would have to be the two seed because the Packers beat the Vikings this weekend. Niners went out. They're ahead of the Vikings. That's kind of – I'm assuming the Packers are in in that scenario. Vikings are the three seed.

Niners are the two. No, the Niners would dominate the Packers. The Packers won that game yesterday, and I'm not even sure they played that well. Like, they just, like, the first half wasn't good. Rodgers missed some guys, some dropped passes. Second half, your boy Tua just throwing interceptions to them left and right. The Packers, to me, are still so up and down man defensively one half

good one half bad offensively one half good one half bad i'll maybe feel different if they end up being the vikings this weekend but i don't think they're that much of a contender in this situation okay i don't really want to spend that much more time talking about the packers i am kind of interested though in it's not what flor said, but it's I think the gist of what he's getting at is. The Aaron Rodgers chip on shoulder version of himself, the John Wick version of Aaron Rodgers is scary. We've talked about it before, like when this guy is a front runner he doesn't succeed when he feels he the world is out to get him there's something to prove he's pretty freaking good right but the difference is a he hasn't been as good this season as previous years so even if

he is like the you know the this this john wick type character he even if he is like the, you know, the, this, this John Wick type character, he's not, he's an older, less mobile John Wick character. And the pieces around him, he has like the, a,

a, a worse gun to use. Yeah. And a, a worse, a rusty blade to use. Like the team is different this year. And so even then,

I don't think that that is exactly um you know they're they're not being the niners and not being the eagles back-to-back weeks so that just doesn't it's not even in my discussion point yet no maybe they look better the last two weeks we'll find out obviously yeah oh by the way john wick can kill you with anything he's got access to john wick three killed a guy with a horse. Made the horse kick a guy for him because his hands were tied up. I mean, the guys Wait, what part, what scene was that? I don't remember. There's

a 4 coming out, right? Are there scenes in John Wick? I thought it was like one continuous fight. Is there a there's a 4 coming out, right? Oh yeah. I just love, it's insane. Just inject it in my veins, right? Like we know what's going to happen. It's awesome. Who cares? It's going to kill everybody.

Doesn't matter. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. I don't want to derail us too much because there's a lot more quarterback stuff to get to. But I finally watched Roadhouse. I'd never seen Roadhouse, which for a man my age is kind of an abomination. I watched it. It's not good.

I don't really care if people don't like hearing that. It's not a good movie. It's ridiculous. It's not a good movie. It's not bad in a funny way, the way a lot of movies of that era are bad in a funny way it's just bad did you watch the new fletch with john ham no i'm not gonna watch that stop it with fletch jeff i heard the new that there's a new movie that's good on netflix i have to check that out or the glass uh glass onions i did watch that i watched it last night yeah it was fun okay that was pretty good i have no radio tonight so i'll

watch it with my wife tonight all right have fun with that uh all right a couple more that touch on the big name quarterbacks that put all of this back together so tua yeah you're right you called him my guy i'll own that um he's not my guy as much as acho's guy but i thought he was better than he's looked the last few weeks. I think we're pretty much done with the Tua Dolphins story for this year. Who knows what they look like in the future? Thank God we're done with the Jets, which gets us in a weird way to one team that shouldn't be in the playoffs. But because God decided, you know, 45 years ago to to bless one human on earth as the luckiest

person alive tom brady is going to make the playoffs with a losing record this is gonna happen jeff why are we why wait why are we glossing over to here like don't don't don't get right to your guy people gave me shit for all my two of stuff oh go ahead and now and now i get to come back with my receipts and say hey look everyone all of us told you okay all of us told you not good when off script not good when he has to make plays that are not in the structure and flow of the offense we saw that this weekend i feel vindicated now we may talk about tom brady well you you have i should give you a moment because there's a list circulating on twitter of all the the official

to a haters and and uh i think because you're a nice person and because you you tend not to lead with hot takes you're not on that list but maybe you do belong there jeff because you've been consistently fairly critical of him well there was another list circulating around that i was on twice like a but someone tweeted out his i guess his buddy doesn't have social media and there was a list and it was like everyone who said something mean about two i was on there twice and they both he spelled my last name wrong both times so i feel very um i feel very vindicated now but do you spell it wrong the same way twice? Yes. You just Schwartz wrong twice. All right. I think people get a pass for that.

I've known you for a few years, and I don't remember if there's a T or not in your last name. Yeah, there is. Is there a T? Can I ask you about Brady now? Let's do Brady, yes. How is this possible? Why?

He stinks. The game stunk. He's been bad. His team's been bad. And yet every single thing just goes right. Why is he playing against Cliff Kingsbury in overtime with a third string quarterback and winning on field goals? Why is this happening?

I don't know. I wish I could tell you. I have no idea. I don't know. He's the luckiest human ever. Who knows? I don't know. I wish I could tell you. I have no idea. I don't know. He's the luckiest human ever. Who knows? They're not good. We talked about this, I think, last week, right?

They've won games this year. Last thing against the Rams. Last thing against the Saints. Last thing against the Cardinals. Like, it's not been pretty this season. They beat the Seahawks in Germany. It's, yeah. Wow.

Yeah. Their last four wins. Ready? Rams by three. That was the game they came back at the end, right? Seahawks in Germany, like the best offense

they have for the season. Saints, 17-16. They're down 16-3 with five minutes left. In this game in overtime, they were down 10 points with 10 minutes left. I don't know, man.

I think the Panthers beat them this weekend, and you get your wish. The Bucs are out of the playoffs. They're put out of their misery. Okay. There's no chance that happens. No chance. No. But there's a million percent chance he's going to get some call.

Some stroke of luck is going to happen the panthers will be down to their ninth string quarterback like there's no way in the world but some bomb cyclone or something will hit a stadium they'll have to play it like at foxborough or something like something will go right for tom brady to win him this game to get him in and have one more home game in the playoffs. And then, Jeff, I have to ask you this. What kind of awful, crazy shit happens with quarterbacks this offseason when Tom Brady, we'll just start with him as the first dominant, realizes San Francisco is not an option? He doesn't want to stay in Tampa.

He can't give up because this is apparently all he lives for. You know where he's going, buddy. Is he going back to New England? No. Is he going to... Don't do it. Don't point at me. You don't think he's wearing green.

That is the best option to win. Best option to win. You think Tom Brady is going to be the jets quarterback shut up that's okay who okay niners are out niners are we're saying niners are out right and i think actually they could be out but nonetheless niners are out who is the best team constructed right now to win at the moment if Tom Brady's inserted into their team that needs a quarterback? I would have said New England. No, buddy, the Jets. The Jets are a more talented team. They have better players on offense than New England does. Now, I'm not saying he goes and plays for the Jets, but that is the best option for him. Now, it's a tough division. I'm not sure he wants to go back in that division. But that team is the best.

Now, does he go back to New England without Josh McDaniels? I don't think so. He's not going with Matt Patricia calling the plays. So, I think he might be done. No? You don't think he's done? No. And you're effing with my mind here.

No, you're right. You're going to have to root for Tom Brady. I'm not going to root for Tom Brady. Okay? I've already given up on the Jets. I'm done with them forever. He's going to wear 15. He's going to wear 15.

Stop. Stop it right now. Take off Tebow's name off that name plate and strap on Brady. And that's, and that's your boy playing for the Jets. Okay. Tom Brady's not going to play for the Jets. So let's just follow this. J E T S Jets, Jets, Jets.

follow this j-e-t-s jets jets stop would is there a scenario where jimmy g goes to new york because everyone likes to connect those dots because he knows you know sala and some others on the on the staff so okay so jimmy g is now the jets quarterback which means zach's on the move where are they moving zach oh who knows nowhere the bench somewhere the bench somewhere yeah okay tampa you're saying tom brady's gone tampa's open baker's got that job um if i were tampa what i would do is i would tom brady's out you shed all your contracts you have you stink for the year and get Caleb Williams. Yeah.

That's what I would do if I was Tampa. Well, okay. I think there's a handful of teams that are going to try to tank Caleb. Sure, but that's what I would do if I was Tampa. Look, there might be an option for him in San Francisco. We have to see how Brock Purdy finishes. If he finishes on a high note, and that doesn't mean win the Super Bowl, but where he is actually playing in high leverage situations

and playing well, I can see the Niners saying, we'll stick with this kid. We have Trey Lance as a backup. We're not signing Tom Brady. If he has a nosedive in the playoffs, I can see them saying, okay, we'll take one year of Tom Brady and see what happens. But I think it's more likely than not right now that they would stick with what they have in their quarterback room.

Than get Tom Brady. Alright well then let's go there. How are we sure that Brock Purdy isn't Cooper Rush? Well Cooper Rush. Brock Purdy is better than Cooper Rush. He played better than him so far. Look. I think there's a chance that he could be good in this offense.

For a long period of time. This offense is very quarterback friendly. What we do not know, and this is what sets quarterbacks apart, it's why Jimmy G tried to replace Jimmy G for so many years, is we haven't had a moment yet where he's been in a stressful situation and had to make the plays. Third and longs, losing a game. They're losing in the playoffs at the link in Philadelphia

by four points with two minutes left. That's where Brock Purdy's got to be his best, right, Gabe? And we don't know that yet. We don't know. In the flow of the offense, been great. He's made some great throws on third down too. But so far they've won by, what did it start? 35 to seven, right? He came in against the Dolphins and played decently well,

but he didn't start that game, right? So 35-7, 21-13 where they were basically up, it was 21, what, six for most of the game. So that was even close. This past weekend, the closest it got was what, like 13 points at some point. We haven't seen him in that close scheme and they probably won't have that they're at the raiders this weekend and they put the cardinals so the only question i have now is those high leverage situations i don't have the answer for that yet again that's why the playoffs are

important because that's going to ramp up a little bit right no matter if they're hosting the packers at home or going on the road to Philly or anyone else they're going to host. That's what I want to see from him now. He's passed the test. Can he run the offense? Yes. But can he do in those situations? We don't know quite yet.

Yeah. Okay. But I mean, to put the Brady point to bed, it's not going to be Brady in San Francisco because, okay, let's say Brock Purdy isn't as good as he's looked the last couple of weeks because he probably won't be so what Trey Lance is the guy they wanted there all along anyway so that they got to go through next year figuring out which of these two guys it is and eventually just either give Lance the job or move on from Lance but they aren't going to add a third quarterback especially one who gives you no options as a coach. They're also in a win now mode though, too.

Like I could see them saying like, we could take Tom Brady on for a year to win. What if they, I'm not even kidding when I asked this. What if they could talk to Tom and say, we literally want you to do what Smoltz did. We want you to come in and be the closer you're gonna play the fourth quarter of every game i mean i don't think he would say no you you why not do that even i'll admit it man i don't know why the hell it works but we put tom brady in a fourth quarter the guy's a world

beater he could suck for three quarters in the fourth quarter it's it's unbelievable to watch i know i know it's crazy right yeah i don't know how he does it here's another point uh hank made i like this take and i'm curious what you think of this so we whenever there's like this brock purdy comes along people even when they're trying to compliment him will say things like yeah but you know it's because he has a very simplified playbook. You know, they really shrunk the playbook down so that he could succeed. I don't think that's happening. You don't? I don't know.

They're just running his offense. And his offense has – Cousins' offense has always been quarterback friendly. Look who's playing well in this offense right now. Baker Mayfield. Jared Goff went to a Super Bowl. Look what this offense has done for Kirk Cousins. Look what it's done for Aaron Rodgers. Two straight MVPs. This is a quarterback-friendly

offense, and Purdy is executing it as designed. Fair enough. Well, I was going to say, why not just simplify everyone's offense? So you're just saying the whole league is eventually going to have a version of this offense until somebody comes up with a better idea? No, because the West Coast offense, what Andy Reid does,

it's a good offense for young players, okay all right but we are but we are seeing more shanehan offense though around all the nfl it's becoming you know there's i can name maybe 10 squads now that use parts of this offense okay uh jeff we were going to take a break come back and talk about tom brady but we've already done that so i don't want to do it again instead i'm going to throw a break, come back and talk about Tom Brady, but we've already done that. So I don't want to do it again. Instead, I'm going to throw a surprise at you and it has to do with the number one pick. We'll do that in a second. Jeff, we're back. It's time to move the line a few over unders to get to a few more stories. I want to know over or under 5% chance the Texans deal the number one pick to the Colts because the Colts want to entice whoever the coach is with the number one pick and their ability to choose their guy. to choose their guy. Ooh, okay.

So I think there's a chance that Houston does trade the pick, but I don't know if they can afford to be bad two years in a row and wait for Caleb Williams, right? Which was basically what they would do here, right? Right. They don't want it this year. Let's say they don't want it this year. Okay. The problem with that is Colts are going to hire a coach

most likely before they make a trade for that first pick overall, right? Because that won't happen until March at the earliest, most likely. Well, I'm asking, though, if they can maybe speed that process up. I don't know when you can trade for draft picks. I honestly don't know. The league might have to be over before you trade for next season, which is the middle of February.

So you have to hire a coach and say, hey, we're going to make this trade. And then you have to, you know, Houston has to want to make the trade. I would say that you can't hire a coach for that premise, but certainly you can trade up. I think there's over a 5% chance that the Texans will move out of that spot. Okay. So we think the Texans move out of it.

Do we think, like we've said in previous offseasons, that Indy plus a quarterback of coaches choosing is a very desirable place to be, or is that wearing out? What's desirable about it? I don't know. A couple years ago, we all thought Indy was awesome except for the quarterback position. Beat up offensive line, right?

Okay. Defense that just hasn't been as good. i don't think it's a great job right now yeah okay so what do you think like what do you think the best job let's say there was some guy out there it was like i i'm the best coach ever and i want a new job which job do you think he wants in the n? That would be available? Yeah, that would be available. I mean, I think that Sean Payne's probably rooting for the Chargers to lose tonight and next weekend so he can get the Chargers job. Whoa.

Right? I mean, obviously, but they're a borderline playoff team. Right, but no, I'm saying if they don't make the playoffs. Yeah, you think they'll fire Staley. Yeah. Yeah. That could be. If you're a Chargers fan and you make the playoffs,

but you have to keep the offensive staff and Brandon Staley, or you don't make the playoffs, but you hire Sean Payton. What, what, what would you choose him? I don't think that's a choice that too many Chargers fans really would anguish over.

I don't think Chargers fans think that deeply about their fandom. I think they figure out who coach is on like week three of every season and go, oh, yeah, we're kind of good this year. Speaking about seven seeds, the Packers dangerous, man, the Chargers would scare everyone in the AFC. Of course they would. If their defense is healthy, they'd be terrifying. All right, let's talk about the Vikings because they should be scaring everyone. But for some reason, none of us are actually scared. I think it's because they've not won a single game without it being a one score game.

They're undefeated in one score games. No one's ever done that before. So Hank asked this question. I think it's a good one. Over under 7% chance the Vikings are actually really, and the close wins are skill, not luck. We've all got it wrong. No, we don't have it wrong. We don't have it wrong.

Okay. Their official numbers are in the high teens, like low 20s, man. Like, they're just, they're 11-0 in one-score games. 11-0. Even if they were 9-2, it would be a good season.

Yeah. 9-2. And obviously, that would change their record, and we think much differently about them. What are they? My thing, my thing I've said for a while now is like, what do they do really well?

They have good players, right? Jefferson's a good player. What do they do really well? Like if you're lucky man, the Vikings do this well. I don't know. It's part of my problem with them is what do they do?

Well, I don't know. So I think they're, they're just fugazi. Like they get the playoffs and someone will beat them right away. Okay. I mean, I hear you,

except that close games are supposedly what you're going to get a lot of in the playoffs. Everyone's kind of the same level once you get to the playoffs. And also, the first three-point game in overtime, stats would say that they were going to lose that game. You're saying regression to the media.

Yeah, yes. Yeah. I don't know. They only really need to carry it for like three more games, and then they would have completed it. You're right. Yeah. You're right.

So you would rather play them than any of the other top teams in the nfc oh oh yeah okay um this is over under 20 chance let's go over under 99 chance mac jones is a very very dirty player very dirty yeah that was i didn't like that uh when i saw the video of him cutting that bangles player for no apparent reason he'll be fine he'll be fine he won't be suspended but he's enough of these moments, man. We have to start saying, Hey,

he might be a dirty football player and it's hard to, to argue otherwise. Maybe a bad dude, like just not a good dude because he's always chirping in his own teammates. I agree. It's hard to defend him. Really hard to defend him. Yeah.

Well, I'm not rooting for him ever. He could be wearing any jersey and i wouldn't be a fan i'm really really not a fan while he's wearing a patriots jersey but he's just it's just really shitty to see the way that guy plays the game in that position where he wants at all times he wants every call to go his way and he's out there treating guys the way that he does it's just it's bullshit i bullshit. I'm with you. I agree. All right.

Okay. You know, I'm not going to be able to get this guy's name right. He's a stud kid from Ohio State. Smith and Jigba. Do I say that? There you go. You got it right. Yeah, there you go.

So he's apparently not going to play in the semis. I don't know what will happen after that. semis um i don't know what'll happen after that over under 50 percent of players would sit out the entire cfp if uh they could do it without hurting their draft stock because i think a lot of gms would say what the hell this guy doesn't want to play the biggest game i think i think under i think more guys have played and not played if it doesn't hurt them but i think guys it's for a championship smith and jim has been hurt most of season two. It's not like a thing where he's just been healthy for 12 games and all of a sudden just plays the bowl game.

I'm assuming he skips the bowl game. So I'm not surprised by this. He only had five receptions this season. He didn't play nearly at all. So sitting out of this feels like on par with his season. Yeah. Okay. Do you think they have any shot in that game?

No. With or without him? No. I bet Georgia already. Six and a half. Six and a half. That's all it is. That's not bad.

And the other game, just so I have it on record before, since I won't talk to you again before that. I would take Michigan. You would? Yeah, we talked next Monday. Yeah, that game went to play already. Yeah, I would take Michigan. Yeah, I'd cover.

Okay. All right. Good to know. Next year, next season, you know, I'm already reserving one of the four spots for Colorado, obviously. So Coach Prime says he's the best recruiter in the country. Why wouldn't he say that? Over under two and a half coaches that you can name

that are better definitively than Coach Prime. None of them. He's the best recruiter ever. It's impossible to name anyone else. That's a little too much sarcasm, Jeff. It's impossible to name anyone who's better at recruiting than Colorado. It is. It's impossible.

They signed such a good class in the transfer portal. You're crushing it, man. It's hard to look at anyone else in this country and think they're a good recruiter. So I'm with you. I'm saying prime. Best recruiter in all the country. I feel like you're not being honest with prime. Best recruit in all the country. I feel like you're not being honest with us.

Best ever. I mean, they're going to win four to five games this season. There it is. They're going to do it the best they've ever done it in any sort of way. They're going to be the best four-win team of all time. Colorado was one... Buddy, Colorado was really bad last season. Really bad.

It's going to take more than one offseason to fix them. So, and they play all the top teams in the Pac-12 next season again. So, it's going to be tough. Okay. Jeff, I don't know exactly what the weather's like in North Carolina. So, over under 1% chance, this crappy weather all over the country has convinced you that football should be played inside. No, no.

The coldest game in Panthers history was this weekend. I played in the second coldest game in 2009. 2009 season, I should say. No, it was like negative two here. That was crazy. I never woke up in the morning. It was like went outside just for fun. Negative two game.

Negative two. Yeah, that's not good. We don't have that. We don't have that often here. No, man. I'm playing the elements. I will say negative 30 in cleveland is not football weather that stinks that absolutely stinks um i assume i know where you stand on this uh other than getting social media to take the bait for an hour or two before kickoff. Is there any possible conceivable good reason for the Seahawks to have torn their shirts off and warmed up with no shirts but ski masks?

So first of all, if you're going to commit to the bit, take your ski mask off, take your hand warmers out, all those things. Okay, so there is science behind doing a cold plunge or a cold shower to kind of shock your body raise testosterone raise your hormones and do that those last 30 to 90 seconds right those type of cold plunges okay yeah there are ice baths that you take 10 minutes 15 minutes that's a little different effect. It was zero degrees. They were outside for 30 minutes.

Not the same thing. Okay, guys? And then they ended up playing terribly. So congratulations. I have a theory. It's nearly 100% accurate. If you warm up with your shirt off, you're not going to play well. End of story.

The two videos I saw yesterday were of a Browns player, the Browns stunk, and the Seahawks players, and the Seahawks barely scored on the Chiefs defense, which is really hard to do. So just – and people are like, well, you're jealous. You don't have their bodies. Sure. Okay.

I'm fat. Like, it is what it is, but I would not do that. Our buddy, we make a show – our company here makes a show with Ryan Shazier, who obviously many people remember for some awful stuff that happened to him on a football field. But one of the things that made him famous was that he warmed up on occasion shirtless for the Steelers. Now, Ryan had a phenomenal career and won a lot of games after warming up shirtless. Did they win those games, though? I don't know his career record after warming up shirtless,

but the first time he did it, he did win. So here, let's see here. Here's an article from this season about why he did it in cold games. I was listening to David Bach, not David Bach, Jerry, Brian Balaga, a former Packers offensive lineman, said that he loves seeing his opponents in the cold weather, uh,

without their shirt on because it made him know that they were affected by the elements. They were thinking about how cold it was. Yeah. That Ryan's, Lauren's logic. Uh, he's better at explaining it.

It was basically it. The time he did it, a bunch of guys came up to him after, and he sort of concluded it was in their head. They were thinking about, why is this guy doing this? And it just gave him a slight edge. Well, the opposite happened with what Milagro was talking about. He thought it helped him.

Yeah, no. Helped his team, yeah. Yeah, no. I mean, obviously, the point is it's all psychological. I don't think anyone should argue it gives you yourself a physical edge. It seems like a silly idea to get your body ready that way. Yes, I'm with you. Yeah.

All right, Jeff, was there anything we missed? It was actually a pretty great weekend, but I feel like the rhythm of the weekend was thrown off by Christmas. The NBA was the star yesterday or Sunday. Was it? No, it wasn't. But we got bowl games. I'm curious what the ratings are.

Yeah, I think some of those NBA games got some real viewers. We got bowl games coming up. Yes. We've got New Year's Eve. You gave us your winners. And then we've got some. What are your New Year's plans with kids? Are you going to like, what are you doing?

Are you going out? Are you staying home? Give you a pro going to like like what are you doing like are you going out do you stay give you a pro tip here here's what you do um my kids are still a little younger than yours but you could probably do this we at about probably eight o'clock pacific will pull up youtube videos of the fireworks displays from midnight. No, and like wherever, France. Someplace that it's already been midnight. We'll show them that. And they get to count it down and have a great time.

And they stayed up late. And then we put them to bed. And then, if I'm being honest, I'm going to sleep the second the football game is over. I don't care about midnight. Oh, yeah. I'm being honest, I'm going to sleep the second the football game is over. I don't care about midnight. Oh, yeah. I'm not staying awake. I don't care. My wife just asked me if I wanted to get stone crabs flown in for dinner that night.

I was like, all right, whatever. Yeah, my kids are fine. They don't need to stay awake. They'll just go to sleep at 9 o'clock or whatever. They don't even need to pretend that we... I think one of my kids doesn't believe Santa's real anymore. like we this whole charade thing is almost done oh you're almost there well hopefully no young and tooth fairy too teeth i think they're over the tooth they know that it's pretty much us okay well we're gonna now have to put a warning on this episode

at the top because somebody's driving their kids to school this week. You just spoiled it for them, Jeff. Yeah, I forgot about that. And that's bad luck for us too because, you know, one of your claims to fame as a professional athlete, you know, you're a Jewish professional athlete. There aren't very many of them. I don't think it's a great look for the Jewish football player and his Jewish co-host to be the ones who spoiled such an important tradition for everyone.

Yeah, that seems sort of foolish for us. Disclaimer, everyone. It's too late for that. Well, no, we're going to go back. Hank's going to put this in there. Disclaimer, disclaimer. I'm going to talk about Santa. Turn this off.

You have kids in the car. There you go. That's going to help. Professional. There we go. There you go, Hank. Hank has to do some work today now. All right, everyone.

Powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. We're back later this week. We had a winning week. Thankfully, we didn't win in the worst way. Have a good holiday week. Have a good New Year's. Gabe, we'll talk to you Monday. We're going to forget our schedule, buddy, because the Rose Bowl is on.

And I do nothing but watch the Rose Bowl during the time of the Rose Bowl. It's an important contest in my life. We'll figure it out. USC plays on January 2nd when we would my life. We'll figure it out. USC plays on January 2nd when we would be recording. They're playing Tulane. Yeah, they play before the Rose Bowl. I figured out before the Rose Bowl. But also, Monday

night, by the way. So we have Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Bill's Bengals. Yeah. What a day. Maybe we should go live or something, Jeff. We'll probably do that. Yeah. What a day. Maybe we should do Go Live or something, Jeff. We'll probably do that. Yeah.

All right. We'll have to get with the team. Oh, January 2nd is Tulane and USC's before Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl's at 5 o'clock. Of course. And after that is the Bengals and the Bengals game. Yeah, USC games early. They always got to reserve the Rose Bowl for sunset.

And then, yeah, then we can have the Monday night games. Best Monday night game in a long time. I love it. Let's do it. All right, guys. Have a great couple of days. Talk to you later in the week. Take care.