Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Wild Card Round Takeaways, and Checking in on the Coaching Carousel

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Geoff and Gabe are back to break down all the headlines from the NFL's Wild Card Weekend. Where do the Eagles go from here? Was Dak right to have his coaches back? How is it always the Chiefs? All that and more on Geoff Schwartz is Smarter than You.Be sure to follow the podcast for new episodes twice a week, and leave a rating, comment, or tweet @GeoffSchwartz to share what you think!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's monday january 16th i'm jeff schwartz and jeff schwartz is smarting you alongside as usual for our reaction nfl weekend show it's gabe goodwin we will have prize picks back for the super bowl everyone so stay tuned for that gabe how we doing buddy i i have a dilemma right off the top here's my dilemma okay okay first of all my hair is my dilemma right now but secondly is my wife's cousin her husband is a giant bills fan like stands the tv i showed you the picture yesterday like right the tv huge bills fan as soon as the bills won yesterday they're playing the chiefs on sunday he purchased a flight to go to. He wants me to come to the game with him in Buffalo on Sunday night, Chiefs at Buffalo, final game of the weekend on Sunday night. Do I go to Buffalo?

Do I make it happen? Do I make it work? I have to fly to Rochester and drive, I think, because the flights from Charlotte to Buffalo are all gone because half of Buffalo lives in Charlotte. Do I make it work, Gabe? Do I find a way to get to the game? Yeah, I think if Taylor Swift is going to go stay in a Holiday Inn in Buffalo, I think you need to go. I think it's your obligation. I think she flies day of the game. If she wants to take me on her plane, she'll stop by Charlotte and pick me up.

I'm all for that. By the way, you know where you should stay? And maybe this is where Tay-Tay will stay. The casinos across the border there. I've Had some wild nights over there on the Canada side. So I looked at, at, like people are flying to Toronto, it's too far. But right over the border, the the casinos are right there. I didn't bring my passport with me on this trip. Yeah, probably. I Well, I don't know. That's a different

podcast talking about border control. But Jeff, let's let's talk since you're getting at the Chiefs fandom. The Chiefs are going to go to Buffalo. And for some reason, at least on my timeline, last night's Eagles game was actually just a giant victory lap for Chiefs fans. All of you are having schadenfreude and dunking all over Nick Sirianianni you guys beat him in the super bowl why are you beating him up now so what if he celebrated at one point why are you so upset with nick sirianni and leading the charge to get this guy fired what's wrong with you people well that that that immature reaction he had when they beat the chiefs this year was very funny it made no sense whatsoever it was so immature it It was so childish for a head coach to do.

If you don't recall, he went in the tunnel and yelled, like, hey, Chiefs fans, screw you guys. It's like, dude, you're a head coach. You're not a frat boy. Have some manners as a coach. Have some decorum. You're above this as a head coach. I go by the idea, Gabe, of sort you know like the examples you see like is bill

belichick annie reed nick saban are they cussing out opposing fans as they walk off the field after they win a game where the chiefs drop three touchdown passes those guys are all sitting on a dock somewhere they're retired now this is a new a new generation the new generation of of coach is the one that's screaming yell at the fans. Here's the thing about the Eagles. The problem with Sirianni is they got worse all over the field this year, right? It wasn't that they lost. You could stand losing, Gabe. Losses happen, right?

But they got worse throughout the season on all sides of the ball. Defense, offense, position players. Quarterback didn't look the same this year. He lost his coordinators. He hired two more. Don't appear very good. If you're Sirianni and you do nothing, you don't call the plays on offense or defense, you're the CEO head coach. You can't have your team, your whole team, collapse like it did and keep your job. If you coach one side of the ball, let's say you're an offensive guy and your defense stinks, but your offense is good. Okay, cool.

Let's fix the defense. Vice versa. You're a defensive guy. Defense is good. Offense stinks. Okay. You can stay. We'll fix the offense.

I mean, Brandon Stanton is a good example of this too. Brandon Stanton is a defensive coach whose defense sucked, right? You don't keep your job if that happens. You don't keep your job if you're a CEO head coach and your team loses six of the last seven games. And a lot of those games, quite frankly, Gabe, were not very close. And your team regresses far back. You can blame some of the roster decisions to keep older guys on defense.

The offensive line is a little bit older. But the fact is they got worse this season. So you don't allow Sirianni to hire two more coordinators, a new DC and a new OC, and just be the CEO again of a team that really backslid. The answer is no, right? Like if you're going to be a CEO head coach, John Harbaugh, your team needs to be the most disciplined team in all of football,

which is what John Harbaugh's teams are. So to me, you can't go back to this well again. If you do, you're going to expect the same results next season. And that's why I think Sierra is probably gone. I'm not sure the better answer is. Maybe it is a Belichick. I doubt it. But like someone to come in there and sort of bring discipline back

and sort of get them where they need to be as an organization. Again, you can't be 10-1. They were 10-1 game after 11 games and finished with 11 wins this season. Yeah. No, it was a colossal meltdown. Colossal meltdown. There's no arguing. I mean, sure, people have pointed out injuries.

Yeah, but injuries happen in football, right? They happen all over the place. Every team has them. But there are teams, Buffalo right now has no defense. Their entire defense is decimated. Is that an excuse? They make that excuse now. They're playing Pittsburgh, not playing Tampa Bay.

Injuries happen all over the field. The best teams overcome it. The best teams don't, even with injuries, don't look like the Eagles have played. The Browns are down two tackles, four-string quarterback. Yeah, they didn't have a perfect game against the Texans, but the previous five weeks showed life, played hard, finished plays. I mean, the defense against Tampa Bay, the missed tackles, buddy,

I mean, that's embarrassing. It's like a lack of effort, right? I hate calling it effort, but they're not even trying to make the plays. They're falling down all over the place. It's just not good, and that falls on a head coach, a CEO head coach. Again, if you're a play caller and your offense is good and your defense is bad, I'll give you more time, right? Just bring in a new DC.

But he's the CEO guy. These are his coordinators he hired. And very clearly Sirianni, not Sirianni, Shane Steichen was sort of the mastermind behind that offense. He leaves Indianapolis. That team almost made the playoffs. And this team made the playoffs but kind of slid further. Also, like, admit it's unfair to Jalen Hurts in this discussion,

but, you know, is he a guy who is going to elevate the team when it's not perfect? Which it's hard to do. I mean, the example is Mahomes with his offense right now right not perfect but still you know division around in buffalo um i'm not saying hurts is bad i don't think that at all but is it is he like a top five guys he's gonna elevate above sort of above when you need him to do it most when things are not right. When everything's great, when A.J. Brown is there and Devontae Smith, the offensive line, he's incredible.

I think he's dealing with injuries this season. But is he the guy to really, like, push you over the edge when A.J. Brown is out and your right guard is out and your team sort of is floundering? I don't know. Now, again, to be fair, the play calling this year was bad. They didn't have a plan. They didn't know what to do often against pressure.

So it's not always his fault. But I think that's a discussion that people are going to have this offseason about Jalen Hurts. All right. Well, then let's go a couple more quickies on the Eagles. You sort of hinted at, well, maybe Belichick. I think people have said Harbaugh. I'm going to go ahead and just for fun say,

what about Saban bad news for Jalen Hurts because then I think two is coming in to replace him but maybe the CEO coach is one of the greatest CEO coaches of our lifetimes and there are three of them potentially available this offseason Lurie likes to spend Lurie doesn't mind getting new coaches could it be one of those guys um very clear i want to address the lurry thing because firing sirianni is not unlike any eagles have done the past ship kelly one bad season and you read one bad season doug peterson one bad season like they're out of there um nick saban to me is is i think a hard pass on that one i gave you're in the industry of uh of media he's gonna get a lot

of money to be in college game day i think that his coaching career has probably come to an end i do not see him going back to the nfl but what's the purpose of that just live at home and travel somewhere on a friday and hang out with your friends and and coaching fraternity and and you know do game day that feels like what sam is going to do moving forward no well I mean I don't really want to go down the whole road of who the talent on college game day will be but if you replaced coach Corso with Nick Saban and then you lost the guy who kind of stole the show several weeks this year who has made headlines for the last two weeks. That goes from like the most joyous party environment that we know in sports media to the most boring thing I've ever seen in my life.

Um, yeah, I mean, look, I, as a, as a, as a Fox sports employee,

if you want to watch a big new kickoff instead, that's great for me. Fantastic. It's a good idea. Look, I'll just say this has been my favorite show for many, many years. I'm saying if you replace the most fun Day has been my favorite show for many, many years.

I'm saying if you replace the most fun guy on the show with Nick Saban. I mean, who are you replacing Corso with? I mean, nobody. There's no one to replace Corso with. This is not going to happen. That's why they keep dragging him back out there. I mean, dude, he can barely make a three-hour show, Gabe, and he's going to go back. They say he's coming back next season.

Corso's fantastic. I tune in just to watch him put on the headgear. It's the best thing ever. It's the best part of the week. Your kids love it. My kids love it. They love it all. But I think Saban will be on game day.

And then the boy who got canceled by everyone but still is on Disney-owned properties every day, he's going to be there too probably, right? Probably. So then who's the Philly coach? We got to stop saying people are canceled, by the way. It's lost all meaning whatsoever. What are we doing? Philly coach, who knows?

The NFL coaching cycle takes a long time because there is no rush, right? There's no rush to hire anyone because you don't have to. It's not college. There's no have to. It's not college. There's no transfer portal. There's no recruiting. You can't even interview coaches in the divisional round until after this week, I think. So there's no – I mean, Harbaugh interviewed for the Chargers job,

and he might not know for a month where he's going to go. So I don't know the best answers. There are not – well, there's seven jobs open now, I want to say. Eagles might be eight. Cowboys might be nine. There's probably not nine good choices to be coaches. So I'd imagine that they'll find nine coaches, but I don't know who the right one is in Philly.

All right, so then let's talk about the other loss that we should expect. Jason Kelsey, it seems like he's out retiring. Yeah. I have a theory that maybe he's retiring, but then he'll pop back up in KC with his brother, maybe play guard or do something else. Also, Lane Johnson, a favorite to this show, might also have his career winding down.

He's gone through some stuff. So beyond coach, don't the Eagles, their claim to fame is that sort of interior line. If that's all gone, what do they got? So Jason Kelsey, I do not see him going to Kansas City. I think he's done. All right. And he's the coach. Has anyone ever stepped right off the field to become a head coach?

Let's do that. No, but just like Nick Saban can sort of pick a job he wants. I mean, Jason Kelsey's got every network. He's going to be like, buddy, come work for us. I think it would be great. How good would a – can you – you know people that make decisions. Can you pitch like an offensive line manning cast for Kelsey and maybe myself? This could be your big guy.

He could be the one quite literally to clear a hole to finally have all you run through it. All you guys who love the thick six, you can show up and have your own cast. Imagine if it was like a Kelsey Whitworth, me, and Golik Jr. That would be a good hang, I feel like. I think that would be like a good – people would watch that show. No, he's done. They would probably force you guys to eat a lot, you know. There would be a lot of cliched stuff like that.

Like you guys would have to have like a whole rack of ribs in front of you or something. Kelsey's a remarkable man. You know, when you picture offensive lineman, not his stature, but the way he played, you know, like just the way that he played the game, his toughness. I mean, those tush pushes, there's a story that Laura Oakham shared, and it's pretty Kelsey. And just if your kids are in the car, I'm going to use a cuss word here

because that's what the story is. She said that explaining the toll a tush push takes on you. Jason Kelsey told me upon the push, he yells, fuck my life. Like, it just, like, that's the way he is. Like, it's an alignment, man. Like, being an alignment sucks, okay? It's not very fun. But you suck it up and do it anyways, right?

And he's tough. His leadership's thrown through all the time. And Gabe, he's one of the rare hall of fame linemen who got better not better throughout this case wrong way to put it but was not dominant as a young as a young player most guys like zach martin for example is a cowboys office lineman right he's made played nine seasons made eight all pro teams you know like from immediately like immediately like trent williams immediate tyron smith immediate right like? Like these guys are immediately good. You know, he didn't make his first All-Pro team until 2017, and then he made six of his last seven. First Team All-Pro, not like first Team All-Pro.

And he just had a brilliant career, man. And I love the media. The media, him and Travis have been great in the media. He's been very honest and forthright with the way that he has kind of talked about the game and obviously great family. has kind of talked about the game, and obviously great family. Just a perfect example of what an NFL offensive lineman, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman should be.

And so if he does call it quits, I heard he might be upset they leaked that out, which I thought that would be the case because that wasn't really their report to tell, I don't think. The story today was that he said in the locker room he's done. I mean, that should stay in the locker room, in my opinion, and let Jason announce that himself. But his emotions last night were pretty clear that I think he's done. And I think he's mentioned this before. It's time. And you mentioned Lane Johnson. He's probably back, but he's been beat up. I'd imagine Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham are off there. So that's the four longest tenured Eagles, right? Kelsey, Johnson, Graham and Cox.

Cox and Graham. Graham's 14 years in. I imagine he's probably near the end. Fletcher Cox might have suitors elsewhere, probably not in Philly. But does he just chase a ring? He already has a ring.

Does he go ring chasing for one more season? Lane, I would imagine, still there for one or two more years. So end of an era in Philly, man. They have a lot of free agents. This is going to be a different team

next season, too, which might be a reason why you go get yourself a new coach, a sort of, not start over because you have Jalen Hurts, you don't have to start over, but you have to fill a lot of positions, offense, defense, especially in the lines. Your team will be different next season.

All right, well, let's talk about another team that should be different, but we all have our doubts whether they'll actually pull the trigger and make some changes. So, the entire internet, everyone, from every every perspective dunked on the Cowboys seemingly for the last 48 hours nonstop. But I haven't actually seen anyone say anything productive about what went wrong, why their season collapsed, other than just making fun of them for all the old reasons. Your dog maybe has an idea. Can we get your dog on the air to explain it?

Because I haven't heard a single smart take on the Cowboys. I've just seen a lot of funny memes. What's your analysis of what the hell went wrong here? I'm going to give you a smart take after the break. The thing I got to do very quickly. Okay. Take a break. We'll take a pause.

I'll be right back, everyone. Give me a second. We'll run a fine ad from one of our partners. Be back in a second. We'll run a fine ad from one of our partners. Be back in a second. All right, we're back. The joys of working at home, Gabe. All right, the Dallas Cowboys. What went wrong is the organization,

they're not bunned up enough. You know, like, they're unprepared in these moments, Gabe. It just, they've been this way for years. And Jerry Jones is not firing himself, but for some reason, their organization keeps having these moments where they look unprepared in these playoff spotlights, right? Specifically to this team. playoff spotlights right specifically to this team um you know i still love mccarthy's like that guy in these in these moments to have his team ready he looked on the sidelines like

shell-shocked that this would happen in um what i mentioned about jalen hurts i think is worthwhile with dak prescott is is he an elevator of the team? Like when the moment is going wrong in a playoff game, is Dak Prescott the guy, Gabe, who's like, put on my shoulders, I'm winning the football game? No, he hasn't shown that yet, right? He's good, but he's that elevator, right? And they sort of have all these sort of issues all intertwined together that i think gets them to a point where they're not winning these playoff games i mean you game the the the

packers the fifth youngest team to make a playoff since 1970 youngest offensive NFL they looked they looked not at all worried about the moment and the cowboys at home two seed just looked like stunned the entire game that the packers came out and kicked their butts and that i think is just an organizational failure year after year it's organizational and jerry joe's not being fired i don't know what the answer is gabe but at some point you got to look at the organization and why does this keep happening to us yeah well i mean i don't know what you can look at other. It's a singular guy who's been the owner since he created all the good times and he's been riding off of his own success for years. I mean, they've 100 X the value of the organization. They do make the playoffs. They do sell out constantly. You know, they do create superstars who become broadcasting legends like they they're checking every single box except rings. So it's hard to even call it a failure. It's just that it's so easy to make fun of them. You know, they're such an easy target, I guess,

in any other city with any other logo, would we even care? Like, aren't they just a lot of teams? Yeah, there are a lot of teams, there are a lot of teams that are sort of stuck in the middle of the nfl and and they don't have i hate to make it so simple as like quarterback right gabe but that that's what like that's what it comes down to right is is your quarterback in again when we're judging quarterbacks like dax prescott we're not judging the regular season in my opinion we're judging your postseason success are you an elevator are you a guy that would that makes everyone around you better in a playoff game and on sunday that was not the case or whatever it was sunday yes sunday it was not that wasn't the case he wasn't able to do it now of course the defense got gashed and that was certainly a problem but the packers allowed 30

points to bryce young's panthers the two games, the Panthers scored zero points combined. Like this Packers defense is not good. The play calling, I thought, was bad for the Cowboys. The execution was bad for the Cowboys. And I think that the thing that – I go back to something I mentioned earlier. When you saw Dak and McCart, they looked shell-shocked. Like they looked like they didn't have like an answer. They didn't look like they were sort of ready to to punch back in a way that you see like when you see a Patrick Mahomes okay

comparing everyone Patrick Mahomes is not fair but you know like when they're losing he's like come on let's go and Brady's like come on guys like you don't you didn't see that just kind of like they were just dead and that to me is a problem with the Packers word man the Packers dude Jordan I come out this weekend think about this if you're a Packers or a Texans fan. You come out this weekend, and yeah, you won your games. Great. You're not winning the Super Bowl this year. But you came out of those games being like, yep, we got our quarterback.

Do Cowboys fans feel that way still today? He's the guy that's leading to the Super Bowl. I feel like Texans fans and Packers fans believe, and I think it's rightful to believe, in the next couple of years – now Jordan Love is going to be more expensive than C.J. Stroud is, let's put together better players, right? The Packers need some better players, but they're young, so they're going to get better.

Texans, let's add some more defensive pieces, a couple more wide receivers, some offensive, you know, build your team around Stroud. And within two years, it would not surprise me if Houston was competing for the AFC Championship. it would not surprise me if houston was competing for the afc championship it would not surprise me next season if the green bay packers look at the rest of the nfc they're not up at the top of the nfc the cowboys might be there again next season they're a good football team but there's no faith whatsoever they're going to win a playoff game or

get to super bowl they haven't been to super the nc championship game keeps it to Super Bowl. They haven't been to the NFC Championship game since 1995. 95. So to expect them to win next season would be lunacy. And I don't expect them to win next. They'll win 10 or 11 games or 12 games and they're going to do those things because they have enough talent. But to expect them at all

to win playoff games and have impact in the postseason, no chance. Well, what do you make then of dac sort of tying himself to mccarthy you know he was trying to be a good guy and he basically said if mccarthy's on the hot seat i should be as well and everyone was like yeah no man sorry for the curse but like okay you're on the hot seat too like why would they think that each other can you know anyone wants to protect one to help the

other like both of them are out as far as like a lot of fans are concerned right would you say again cut off jack said oh yeah he's on the hot seat so am i yeah no it was very honest of him to say that um and he's true i mean it's true right true, right? Like it's, it is. Um, I don't know if I would like my quarterback to admit that out loud, Gabe, but certainly it's, it's true that he's in the hot seat. The court musicians are so interesting to me. Like I can make an argument that you should draft a quarterback almost every year to find yourself a Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Herbert Lamar, like one of these top seven guys like what the Cowboys just said you know what Dak thank you

for your three years we're now gonna draft a quarterback to replace you every single season yeah you might have some some growing pains Gabe but you have a future we can win a Super Bowl I Dak's not that guy I mean imagine if you if you, again, like, just every year, we draft a quarterback until we find our Joe Burrow. If not the Cowboys or run back with Dak next year, same thing's going to happen. Another wasted season. Not winning a Super Bowl next year. They're just not. So,

I've always thought about that, like, if we're going to, if a team's ever, and Arizona sort of did that when they did the rose and color murray thing but the winning team ever going to do that be like you know what the dolphins you know what two you're good i think they should pay two but i mean two like you're good but is it worth trading up for a quarterback in this draft it's fascinating to think about uh i think at some point mike m McDaniel is going to have to say, guys, I can't

go any further than I've been really good to this kid. And he's been good to me and he should be in the league, but we can't win a Super Bowl with him. I think that's going to end up being what Mike McDaniel whispers to the people in charge. But but let's stick in Dallas for one more second, because sort of hidden in the last 48 hours was this kind of don't know what to make of it report that Bill Belichick interviewed with the Falcons as though yeah they were interviewing him that's just a negotiating tactic right like nobody actually thinks he's going there and that's just to worry Jerry Jones into paying too much to come hire him, right? I mean, Atlanta's got some dudes.

I wouldn't surprise me. The thing about, I don't see Jerry Jones and Bill Belichick vibing very well with two of their minds trying to pick football players for the Cowboys. Arthur Blank probably will let Belichick do whatever he wants in Atlanta. Yeah, that's the reason for Belichick to find it interesting. But if Jerry Jones hires Bill Belichick, he can do what he never does and just go, hey, look, I'm just going to let the football operations people do the football stuff.

I'm the owner. I'm going to let them be in charge because he'd actually have a guy who at least the fans would believe knew what he was doing. Nobody thinks that the current people know what they're doing. Yeah, like his son and Mike McCarthy. Well, who thinks that's gonna be a thing? The thing is that they pick better players that Jerry got

out of the picking player business and let his son and will it's Mac McAvoy. McClay will their assistant their player, their player votes his name. Sure, I'm sure they're better than they were a few years ago. Their player, what was his name? Sure. I'm sure they're better at it than they were a few years ago. But like I'm saying. Will McClay is the guy. He's the vice president of player personnel.

He's the guy that everyone interviews every year, but he stays in Dallas every year. Look, I think that Belichick in Dallas, for what Belichick has left as a coach and for what Dallas has as players makes sense. I don't expect there to be a personality sort of meshing between Belichick and Jerry Jones. That's my concern about that decision. Yeah. Well, I mean, both of them seem like intolerable people to spend time with

so putting them together uh seems doubly awful but if you say to belichick like okay do you want dac prescott as your quarterback with josh mcdaniel is the oc or do you want the falcons job and you can choose a young quarterback who am i choosing though like there aren't young quarterbacks who's the best guy i can go get tua like who am i getting to come to you draft someone he isn't good at that he can't he has never made a quarterback you have to let someone else no No, no. Someone else would choose the quarterback, obviously. Like the GM in Atlanta would choose the quarterback. Let's say they draft Bo Nix. If I'm Bill Belichick, I don't want to do that again.

Granted, the division stinks, and you could win the division with 10 wins, but come on. You're going to spend time with a 21 year old learning how to play quarterback i don't do that this guy's like 70 years old like what's he doing dude i i know i'm i know at 70 i hope to not be doing this show anymore but it's gone on about three years more i thought it would so i'm pretty i think we'll just do this for the rest of our lives jeff that's my guess you and I are talking about these guys when we're 70 years old. No, just doing this show in general.

Yeah, that'd be problematic. Let's talk about the all-timer here. The GOAT already, it seems. Your boy, Patrick Mahomes. So it was just like three weeks ago that they were big time in danger. They were sloppy on both sides of the ball. We were not believing in their receivers. Their defense was stumbling.

Pat didn't look great. Blah, blah, blah. And now they're the best team left in the playoffs, and they're going to Buffalo, and they're probably not that scared, but should they be? Should the Chiefs be scared, or should the Bills be scared?

The Chiefs. I'm asking. The Chiefs all of a sudden are like, all right, the Chiefs, they're the best team left. I mean, they're the underdogs this weekend. I don't know if they're the best team left. That doesn't mean crap.

I think that people actually don't think Chiefs are going to win this game. I think people are sleeping a little bit on the Chiefs in this game. Oh, do everyone's – Buffalo is the biggest right now homer team of anyone who doesn't have anyone to root for? Buffalo and Detroit, right? A Buffalo and Detroit Super Bowl would

maybe break fandom records and break TV records if it ends up happening. The Chiefs' issue is the same as it's been all season. Are they going to catch the football in this game? Are they going to go to Buffalo and catch the football football it's patrick mahomes first road playoff game in 15 playoff games which is wow that includes three three neutral sites even though one obviously was against tampa in tampa but it was a covid year so they had stadium was like half

full that's gonna be fun man um chief's defense is really really good um the bills defense is really beat up right now i think it comes down to if the chiefs can handle the noise and they can catch the football uh weather i believe is nice for the game it's cold but nice i mean that's all you can ask for and then i might be in the stands too i gotta order so i'm gonna wear i have enough cold weather gear i don't need that's not my problem i need to order like a chief's beanie though because i'm not gonna i'm wearing a black a big black carhartt jacket so i'm not gonna wear like a chief's beanie though, because I'm not going to wear, I'm wearing a black, a big black Carhartt jacket. So I'm not going to wear like a Chiefs shirt over it.

That's kind of goofy. Um, so I got to order like a Chiefs beanie immediately. I feel like it's probably night low and 19 on Sunday. That's not bad. I feel like I sort of, should I go? I feel like I should go. You should a hundred percent go. I don't know why you would skip that.

Um, well I have, have i gotta work from buffalo in the morning which is not a big deal but i'm a flight of rochester drive an hour to buffalo it's my my hold up is like getting to the stadium it's like where do i how do i get do i drive there do i carpool there do i ask for parking pass from someone there i could show i could do that like it's not oh snow thursday friday saturday landing in the snow is not oh it's not that much snow i'm not the best snow driver buddy believe it or not yeah well i guess growing up out here you wouldn't be too used to that yeah um it'd be fun game though man i mean the chiefs obviously would crush the souls of the bills when

they win this game so uh Buffalo open two and a half. That's stake in the heart, dead forever. If Buffalo loses this game at home this year after this winning streak, if Patrick Mahomes comes in and slays them, it's over. Especially with the way the Chiefs have played this season. Yeah, absolutely. Correct. Yeah, no, as a favorite at home.

I have futures on both the Chiefs and Buffalo in the AFC, so I'll make some money in this one, hopefully. I can't wait, man. It'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, you know what? I'll book the flight. Let's fly to Rochester.

Let's just get it done. Get it done. That'll be a fun experience. All right, let me ask you about a couple teams that probably deserve a little bit more shine this week because who knows how much longer they'll be around.

So who turns back into a pumpkin first? Baker and the Bucks. Love in the Packers, CJ and the Texans. Add any other teams you want. But those are the three teams that I think were all the darlings of the first weekend that were all like, Wow, look at them. They did it. But none of us really thought they'd go more than a game or

two. So who's, who's coming crashing down first? Probably because of who they're playing. It's probably going to be the Packers. You know, they're, they're going to the 49ers. they're going to the 49ers. The Niners are rested. That feels like a pretty tough game for the Packers to be in. The Bucs is interesting. The Bucs are not, like, terribly good, per se, game. Yeah, but.

But they're playing. But the Lions defense can't stop the pass. I mean, Mike Evans and Godwin, that feels like a real opportunity for Buffalo to, I mean, for the Bucs to just sort of go in there quietly and beat the Lions. Houston's interesting. I saw something today. I pulled it up right now. We'll use this on Friday.

As a favorite of a touchdown or more, Lamar Jackson's 1-8 against the spread. They kind of play a bunch of close games when when things are when the spread is big so uh I would imagine it's it's the Packers who just you know just go against a Niners team that's just a wagon right now yeah it seems like that's a three touchdown game I mean that that's gonna look like you know the Texans game did the other night okay Okay. Um, I just would like to say once again, for the record that Baker is what everyone wanted Trevor Lawrence to be. Uh, and I love how much shine he got during the broadcast and no, I don't think he's the best quarterback in the league,

but the amount that people wanted to root against him never made sense to me. And now the amount of people who are like, no never made sense to me and now the amount of people who are like no maybe he's good like yeah he is good he just has to be on a good team and now he's on a pretty good team they're not great but they're pretty good so what should i spend for tickets you think are you back to the chiefs game now or you want to talk about the bucks or you just okay you're seeing you're tuning me out baker look the baker story is great they're going to run into the problem again like every team has is what do you do with that position are you paying baker mayfield or are you sort of finding the best of the rest and after the the first window of franchise he's done a drafting quarterback

because bigger was not what he is super bowl great story look don't be wrong i didn't think he'd play this well in buffalo in buffalo in uh in tampa bay but he's not the quarterback of the future so what do you give him props for what he's done to get him there but what do you do now gabe if you are if you're if you're the bucks like tampa bay is i've been before sort of the worst spot to be in where you really aren't winning super bowl but you're obviously not bad enough to draft in the top five so what do you do if you're tampa you just stick around and be this middle and some of the steelers by the way it's like middling team you win the division one year you make a wild card another year and you just stay nine and eight every year yeah because you know what i did this is what drives me crazy as a guy who grew up as a Jets fan.

That's what being a normal football fan with a pretty good team is like. You hope to be better than 500. You hope to make the playoffs. You hope you get lucky in the playoffs and you make it to a Super Bowl. That's how it is to be a normal fan. Your expectation can't be much higher for most teams. No, no, no. I get that. that's how it is to be a normal fan your expectation can't be much higher for most teams no no i get that talk about if you're like if you're the the the the bucks themselves not if not in the fan base the bucks themselves i mean you don't want it you don't think the owners of

the bucks are happy with a franchise quarterback who sells out eight or nine games a year and then gets them to the playoffs for maybe they play two a playoff game right but at home is baker that guy though is my question yeah he is he just did it he's the only guy who played the whole damn year and he put up good numbers i see the guy next year what oh okay i feel like next year i'm going with a big baker mayfield fade i'll tell you right now it's gonna be a fadeback you've faded baker mayfield since before he made it to the league so i'm not surprised to hear you'd fade him again i'm just saying that what else is out there kirk cousins 10 years older baker mayfield that's not a great there's not a great answer to uh better than baker no you're right yeah oh carson wentz oh let's get carson wentz there's no one out there. No, you're right.

There's there's not it's not it's why they're gonna just stick with them probably. And good for them. Good for them. Because the Tampa Bay Bucks actually win every decade or so. You get me pissed because the Jets fan in me is like what what is why are people so damn greedy? But you're not just me anymore. I'm not just well every now and then it comes out because I get so freaking pissed at people for being so freaking greedy like how are the

packers fans this blessed i know right three three base three good quarterbacks in a row that never happens i counted it up i think they've had four losing seasons in 30 years seasons in 30 years. Yeah. It's insane. Jets have had four winning seasons in 30 years. Maybe. No.

They all happened in a row. Yeah. Don't worry. Rogers is back next year. You guys will be okay. Shut up. Is there more NFL to cover or should we talk about the college football season fallout? Let's talk about the college football season.

Let's do it. Because I was right. I like being right. Sure. I'm sure you were right. Specifically, what were you right about this time? Michigan was going to beat Washington. Got it. And were you right about their Zen master handed off game manager becoming an NFL prospect?

J.J. McCarthy, first round pick on your board oh geez um i saw mccarthy today michigan scored by jj mccarthy obviously michigan beat washington we have not talked about that very much um so far we did a little preview that last monday um mccarthy so man he there were two plays in that national championship game early in the game he hit a action pass over a linebacker in front of a safety. Like, incredible throw game. Like, you're like, oh, okay. Very next play, he missed the wide receiver by two yards.

It was wide open. That's a full McCarthy. I saw today a mock draft. Dane Brugler at the Athletic. One of the best to do this. 15th. Bo Nix, 15th. I mean, not Bo Nix.

JJ McCarthy. JJ McCarthy, 15th. Bonick's was early second round that's crazy, 15 dude I don't see it at all for McCarthy I'm, I this is like a Zach Wilson, like you just overdraft him because he looks nice with his pads on, throws some great passes every now and then

I don't see it man, at all no I don't see it at all either, who would you take, Penix you take, Penix is going to go behind jim mccarthy i i've been very clear on this show so obviously i like caleb and i think he has a lot to learn at the nfl level i'm not 100 sure what he is there's a lot of yolo in him you know he could have some good j Allen and some bad Josh Allen. That's Josh Allen's probably a better comp than Patrick Mahomes, if we're going to be honest with ourselves about Caleb Williams. But Penix is my next guy. I'm sorry. I'm not I'm not falling for

the like ACC guy who has the perfect body, who has been a hipster pick, you know, to rival the number one pick for two years. I'm not falling for that Drake May stuff. I'm not. Penix has done it. So if I'm not getting Caleb Williams, I'm going for Penix. So you're going to take Penix. If you were drafting, you would take Penix second? I didn't say that because I don't know exactly what each team will need,

but I'm just saying if I want a quarterback and I can't get Caleb Williams, I want Michael Penix. Okay. JJ McCarthy is not on my radar. Drake May, fine, whatever. What about Jim Daniels? Nah, don't care. So if the Jets want quarterback of the future with a draft,

is it Michael Penix? You before that? I would want to see how that played out. Yeah, I would believe in that. Okay. And then he would inevitably suck for them, but I would at least give that a shot. Okay.

I think Penix, the injury stuff, is going to bother a lot of teams, and we'll see where he ends up going because of that. Every guy in the league has ripped an ACL or MCL to shreds, to bother a lot of teams and we'll see where he ends up going because of that um every guy all right has ripped a acl or mcl to shreds but but apparently this kid we have to watch out for it we had two and two and then a shoulder thing so i mean it's it's you know that's why um what do you make of uh you follow college coaching a little bit yeah what do you make of the way things sort of happen in college football where where so nick saban retires yeah and mark norvell steve sarkisian get big contracts caitlin deborah goes from washington alabama he gets paid jed fish goes from

arizona to washington brent brennan goes from san diego state to arizona it's just oh man the coaching carousel because of one guy one one coach retiring just went crazy yeah oh i thought you meant one guy because like one guy behind the scenes is attached to a lot of jimmy sexton yeah jimmy sexton yeah i saw a photo jimmy sexton yep that's what jimmy sexton would look like so i thought for sure you've probably had dinner with him before, no? I don't believe so, no. I'm not that kind of a hitter. Are you kidding me?

That guy's a big deal. I think I've lurked around him before, but I don't know him at all. I got to hire Jimmy Sexton. Yeah. I would have some better NFL deals. Does he do active players or just coaches i thought that he had a number of active players i don't i don't want to speak too much about him since i don't know a lot but we're talking about a big agent who reps a lot of big name players

and coaches so for anyone who's a caa still so he probably has he probably has i imagine his players then i would think so uh but the point of his name being dropped is that he represents a number of the coaches who had that sort of carousel. The carousel was all his guys at one point. Yeah, it was Landon, Sharks, Norvell, Saban. Yeah, which is why I think when people have these sort of quote-unquote conspiracy theories

about Harbaugh and Belichick and who they hire as agents and, and who they talk to, and I think people are wise to take some of that seriously. Of course, some of it's just googling and throwing crap out like I'm doing. But actually, if you follow the behind the scenes a bit, you can kind of predict some of this stuff. I will just say that i think it's very apparent that everyone knew nuke saban was retiring weeks ago um because the nose came very fast for the alabama job right like not the nose but the no not interested and then washington's athletic director today said they

knew about thanksgiving camden the board wasn't signing his contract, his new contract they gave him, and that he was on the look for something else. So I think this is pretty well known that Saban was retiring and Caleb DeBoer was going to take the job if everyone said no in front of him. Yeah. And just because it's my role here to sort of peel the curtain back a little bit, role here to sort of peel the curtain back a little bit. There's also just people can talk on background. It isn't always like a big conspiracy. Like people just know each other in the industry and know things and they don't report them out on air as fact, but they know them. So for instance, you got, I don't know, 50 cameras in the stadium last night, the end of the Eagles game, right? A lot, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of angles to discuss, the end of the Eagles game, right? Lot, lot of stuff going on. Lot of angles to discuss, lot of cameras to aim at people and have Troy and Joe talk about

boy, they really seemed ready to show the center from the losing team. They had him locked in, you know, like, is that what you normally do? You normally see the center from the losing team instantly after the game ends? No, but Jason Kelsey is, I'm assuming buddies with these guys and happily trust them with some information and probably said, Hey, listen, guys, I'm not saying it officially and nothing on the air, please. But yeah, you know, this might be the last time you see me. Yeah. And they were like, okay.

And they told the production truck to be ready like that just makes sense yeah it it is um you're right about the idea that like behind the scenes these talks are all happening and that if nothing nefarious about it just sort of especially the agent world i mean i've said this before like if my agent is not trying to get me another job she's not doing her job right like if she's not like trying to get like i'm very happily employed but if she's not trying to get me her job game she's not doing her job like they're always the agents are always trying to hustle for their clients and um i would never leave this podcast though so it wouldn't be about this podcast. But that's their job, and they're always hustling behind the scenes. It's crazy how much stuff that we know.

So when the Dan Lanning rumors about him going to Alabama were out, one guy was like, I heard he's in Tuscaloosa. He's in Alabama already. And he clearly wasn't, and everyone in the know knew that. But, Gabe, he's in Tuscaloosa. He's in Alabama already. And he clearly wasn't. And everyone in the know knew that. But Gabe, like report, I don't understand. I guess maybe this is a lower level, you know, he's a news reporter in Eugene TV station.

So it's not like he's a national guy. But reporting, what's the best way to put it? Like reporting rumors that you hear in sports media without really any sourcing is anyone can do it. Like I hear stuff, you hear stuff, but there's no point in breaking any of it unless you're like,

that's your job to do that. And then you have more sources. I mean, I hear, I hear stuff all the time. I might, I know exactly how the Dan Lanning Alabama thing went down. I'm not sharing any of that.

What's the point of sharing any of that, Gabe? You know how stuff goes down behind the scenes. What's the point of sharing a lot of stuff? But yet people, man, in the coaching searches and other stuff, they make themselves look silly by just leaking things that they don't know what they're talking about. Yeah. Well, it's a dangerous business out there. you you take the wrong information you put it on

the air so uh better to just let it play out and react afterwards can i ask you one more thing as we say goodbye yeah uh i don't know how to say the guy's last name the fullback in in uh san fran juice yeah call it called you yeah use check use check okay thank, use check. Use check. Okay. Thank you. Use check. Uh, his wife won the whole weekend, right? Can anyone do better than her? Dude, I, I love that story.

So for those who missed it, his wife designs close. Like she makes her own basically, um, you know, outfit for every Niners game. She designs it herself. She designs it herself. She creates it herself.

I've seen her on Instagram before. And so she's been sort of now this season, some NFL wives have been hitting her up to make unique pieces for them. And she did a Simone Biles, something for Simone Biles, whose husband plays for the Packers. And then on Sunday,

she made a jacket for Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes, Patrick's wife. And like, they're legit, like, great looking jackets, Gabe. Like, she did a fantastic job. And then she made one for, is it Taylor Lautner? Is that how you say his name? The actor for the, who's a Lions fan. Yeah, she made him a jacket for the, he's a Lions fan.

And she made him a jacket. It was given to him on the field, the Lions game. It's just cool i i like seeing you know nfl spouses have a career essentially i don't know another way to put it but like yeah it's creative too i wonder how long before nfl lawyers step in but you know that's another conversation well she's not using the nfl logo though so i don't think she's using their ip when you start tearing up the official jerseys and making them into something else and selling them, what they should do,

but if they're smart is, is fricking hire her to make clothes for them or design clothes for them. No kidding. Like that's what the answer is. The answer is not like, Hey, you're still in your IP to make clothes with it. Let's partner with you.

And you have your own line at nfl.com. I got, that's the right answer. Not, not to, not to, not to dissuade us from doing it anymore. It'd be a great story. Well, be love is the message to her. And I think it's time for us to end.

We've hit the hour. You heard my alarm go off. I'm supposed to go. I have one more thing for you. Oh, please. How was coffee with Dan Rubenstein? Was it enjoyable? Dan's the best.

You told me he was going to meet you guys. I'm going to see your fellow duck in 30 minutes. That's why I've got to go. Oh, you're going to see Dan today. Nice. Okay, well, I'll let you go. Get in the car and go see your duck friend. Dan Rubenstein's fantastic. Solid verbal. Go listen to his podcast. Longest running podcast in cultural balls. 2008, I believe. 2007, had a podcast.

Longest running one. Dan's fantastic. Go listen to Solid Verbal. It's a little cross-promotion. All right, everyone. We'll talk to you on Friday. I think we did pretty well in our wagers. I think Matt and I both hit our top wagers for the week. We gave wagers last week for the playoffs.

We did a weighted point system. I know I hit number six and number five, our highest rated points, and I think Matt did as well. So a good week for us gambling. And we'll be back on Friday. All right. Take care, everybody.