The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Raiders bench Derek Carr, Commanders to start Carson Wentz, Sean Payton’s future & more

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

Mike Sando and former GM Randy Mueller talk about the Raiders decision to bench Derek Carr and what’s next for the team at QB. They also discuss Nathaniel Hackett’s firing, Sean Payton’s future, Carson Wentz’s return to the starting lineup and J.J. Watt’s retirement. Plus, they review the film for Desmond Ridder and Malik Willis before sharing their Week 17 picks. Follow Mike on Twitter: @SandoNFLFollow Randy on Twitter: @RandyMueller_Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube3:12 Raiders bench Derek Carr12:23 Could Tom Brady land in Las Vegas?18:57 Mac Jones & the Patriots offense25:11 Reaction to Broncos press conference following Hackett firing + Sean Payton’s future39:14 Carson Wentz to start for Commanders43:11 J.J. Watt announces retirement48:44 Film Review: Desmond Ridder & Malik Willis55:21 Are you buying the Chargers?58:08 Does Steve Wilks have a shot at Panthers job?59:35 What’s going on in Tennessee?1:01:15 Tua Tagovailoa suffers another concussion1:03:21 GM Notebook1:07:25 Week 17 Picks1:13:42 Thoughts on Dallas entering the playoffs? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome everybody to the Football GM podcast. Mike Sandow here from The Athletic along with the GM, Randy Mueller. Randy, happy holidays to you. How are you doing? Thank you, Mike. Happy holidays back to you. I'm doing great.

Never a dull week in the NFL. We always wondered how this was going to go moving to midweek for the podcast. It seems like we've had plenty on our plate. Every midweek we've actually taped the show. So looking forward to getting into some of these topics. You know, we got a ton of stuff. One of the things I was thinking about, I was talking to someone else about earlier today is,

you know, as they make the season longer, it opens up the possibility for meaningless games, shenanigans, decisions. You can suddenly now have two weeks where you, like the whole Jacksonville Tennessee thing this week is ridiculous. They could actually rest their starters because the only game that matters is when they play each other next week. The idea that you would do that, and I think as they keep adding weeks to the season,

you just open up the possibilities for there to be meaningless games or decisions made for the wrong reasons. Even this whole Derek Car thing that we're going to lead with, they have a flicker and chance of the playoffs. They're not out. They're not out of the playoffs. No, they would have to beat Kansas City in San Francisco, and they would need, you know, Miami to lose out and the Jets to lose to season. Yeah, they need some things to happen. But usually, Randy, when you're in this thing, if you had a flicker of hope. Yeah.

Isn't that you hang all your hat on it, don't you? Yeah, the flicker of hope thing is one thing. And yeah, you would keep the pedal to the metal until you were completely out of it in every regard. The other thing to go back what you just said, though, as the season gets longer, and we have these interdivisional games at the end, that also adds to what you're saying about, where divisions are at stake now against teams that are playing each other the last week. I remember this happened to us once in New Orleans where we were in the Rams division at the time. We were still in the NFC West.

And we finished the season at home with the Rams, knowing that if they won, we'd play them again at home seven days later. So we played them twice in like 13 days. This was the Super Bowl champ Rams. So it ended up where we kind of, you know, half-heartedly stumbling. through the last week and knew we'd play them again regardless the next week. So it was, I think even back then, it was always an issue. And that is the one downside to these division games to finish each team's schedule. And the league has really pushed that the last few years.

Yeah. So did you, if you lost the last game, you were still in the playoffs or no, you had to win? Yeah, we had it sewed up. We did lose the last game. We lost two them and then beat them in the playoffs six days later. Yeah, yeah. So you never know. That was the first playoff victory in Saints history, correct?

It was. It was in 2000, correct? Yeah. All right. So the Derek Carr news comes down today. We're going to hit that. Everyone can look at the menu there that we've put together tons of stuff to talk about and we're going to. But the Raiders benching Derek Carr, kind of signaling he's not part of the future. As I mentioned, they are technically still in the playoff race. But they're going to take a look at younger players, wink, wink. What was your initial reaction to this, Randy? How do you feel about it? Well, having watched the game the other night, I didn't think Derek. Eric Carr was the problem. I understand that he didn't play great. He may have made some inconsistent decisions. I get it. But at the same time, I don't think it was his fault that they couldn't block Hayward 97 of Pittsburgh. I don't think it was his fault that they lost the game. So the first thing that came to my mind was, what are we doing? This is a little bit of a scapegoat. You know, I know sometimes Derek Carr could be inconsistent, but, you know, I didn't see. And then I went back and looked at

to tape. And yeah, there was a couple throws that he could have made. I know there's some people on social media making, you know, light of a couple throws late in the game where they deemed people to be a little more open than I did. And especially when you're the quarterback standing there and people are trying to take your head off. So it just wasn't as obvious to me that, hey, this is the problem with us. So I don't know. I think their offense has been up and down. I think they've struggled to really get timing down, you know, with Renfro being out, Waller being out for so long. I think. I don't know. I thought those guys came back in and actually made some big plays in the Pittsburgh game, the two of them. So I just, I wasn't buying at all.

I understand the quarterback gets to blame. I get it. But I just, I didn't know if it was all warranted this time around. What about the money consideration though? So, you know, so he's, he's basically in a situation, they can get out of his deal right now if they want to. But if he were to get injured, they could be on the hook for his $33 million salary next year and seven and a half in 20. 2024. And even if he's on the roster past a certain point this offseason, early in the off season, that's going to become fully guaranteed. If you're Dave Ziegler there and you've

sort of decided, you know what, we like Derek Carr, but we don't want to pay him 40 million a year or whatever, could you take into that into account and justify the benching right now? Well, I really can't justify the benching because like you said, technically they're still alive. So I guess they're going to pass the torch to Jared Stidham and he's their guy from New England. But this whole thing has kind of felt like let's get our guys, you know, and maybe we'll see where we can go. So I struggle with connecting all those financial dots. I really do. And I understand there'll be a lot of cap people out there that say, oh, you can't play him because of this, because of that.

I get it. But again, I only care about what the locker room says. And if there's something that we don't know where Derek has, you know, lost a little bit of the locker room, I guess maybe that enters into it. But I don't know. I just, I hate to look that far ahead, especially when we're technically still alive, to make a change like this. And now we hear and see that maybe Derek isn't even with him at this point.

Maybe he walked out the door on him. I don't know. There's just so many of these things come up and egos are involved. And I think there's probably ego on both sides of this one. Some with Derek, some with the coach. Usually as the GM, and I would only see it from that standpoint, because that's where I've been, you become the peacemaker, right? You're the referee between the coach and the quarterback in this case.

So that's probably what Dave Ziegler's doing right now is hugging up both sides, if that makes any sense. We want to take a look at George Sidham just doesn't work for me. It's just not credible. It's just not credible as an option of what you're doing. Well, it kind of feels like the Sam Ellinger thing. That didn't make sense either back when the Colts made that move early in the season as well. And that didn't exactly pan out. So I don't know.

I guess somebody has to take the fall for the disappointment of the Raiders this year. And I guess the coach isn't going to do it. He's not going to say I can coach better. I can do this better. So I couldn't look that this is putting the blame on the quarterback. And hey, their car is a big boy. He'll either face it or he won't. And he'll get some of his money.

And I know this. You put some of his stats out in front of you. They're pretty important and pretty impressive. You know, the 9 and 1 and overtimes. He's won a lot of games for these guys. And I don't think he's going to have a problem getting another job. He's a good two-minute quarterback at the end of the game. You know, what's interesting to me about the Raiders, the disconnect that I've seen is, you know, before the year,

big move for Devante Adams, they pay Waller, they pay Renfro. So you're thinking Josh McDaniels play caller, does Josh just want to win the games the way Bill Belichick did anyway and diminish the quarterback and not have Derek Carr doing a whole lot of stuff out there and just go get a guy for cheap? But how does he want to play? Because I haven't exactly got the, and they've missed those guys. Those guys haven't been playing the whole time. But you don't get the exact, the feeling that they really want to go and, you know, rev it up either with them.

So I'll be interested to see, is everyone on the same page here? Are the decisions being made in a coherent manner? Well, you brought it up a couple weeks back when we talked a little bit about the Renfro and Waller deals and the timing of when those got done, you know. And so they've seen. to be a little bit of choosing sides, and sometimes you get that in NFL buildings, where prior regimes have some carryover to take care of some of their own guys, you know, tie them up, and there was some question whether who was healthy and who wasn't.

And of course, then we had the Derek Carr meltdown at some point that we all kind of tried to decipher what he was really saying there and whether he was putting blame on others or throwing others under the bus. I don't know at the end of the day how that turned out. But anytime you lose, and let's face it, the Raiders have lost. They haven't won and haven't done what they thought they would do, especially after the big deal to get Devante Adams and what they paid him. They've been disappointed. So I guess heads are going to roll, but I just, I don't know if it was warranted at this time for this move.

That's all I'm saying. Yep. So before we finish up on Carr here, one of the things that I look at, Randy, is how good are teams beyond the quarterback's control, right? The quarterback gets so much of the credit and the blame for winning and losing. but it's a huge different challenge when you play for a team that doesn't play good defense, special teams, that sort of a thing. And I think that's one of the reasons like Patrick Mahomes is so great because they're not squared away in those areas. And they win anyway. That's what makes him the top tier guy.

And somebody like Derek Carr is a good quarterback, but he needs more of that support. And so one of the things I did today, just because I'm a big nerd, was I went back and looked at all the quarterbacks in the last 20 or so years who've started. at least 20 games. And I looked at, there's 92 of them. And I ranked their offenses one to 92 by stats and their defense special teams one to 92. Here's Derek Carr. So his offenses of the 92 quarterbacks is 42nd. So he's a little above average. Their offense has been a little above average. Not great. Leaves you wanting a little bit, but not terrible. Now, the defense special team since he got there in 2014 is 85th out of 92. Okay. So that tells you that you have sort of a middle quarterback, you know, a middle to upper middle class quarterback who's carrying around a big giant

anchor trying to win. And then in the end, they're like, wow, this guy just doesn't win. Well, guess what? When they were middle of the pack defense special teams with Jack DeLriel, they went 12 and 4. So that's kind of how it works with these guys. And now what are they this year? They're not great in that realm either. And so whoever they get better be a lot better than Carr if they want to win and still be bad in those areas. Well, I totally agree. And I think those are numbers that speak volumes, to be honest with you. I also struggle a little bit when you do turn the keys to the car over to, in my opinion, a less talented quarterback.

Then I'm always looking for something that, well, what do we really do? And are we saying that car is not making good decisions, that he's doing things that we don't want him to do? I just didn't see, I didn't see him doing things where there were other better options, I guess is what I'm saying. And that leads it down the road of what is the scheme. What are we asking them to do? And sometimes we don't know that.

So we've got to acquiesce a little bit off that. But I do think your numbers are telling you because I do think the Raiders' defenses have been shaky at best the last six or eight years especially. So of those 92 quarterbacks in their offenses and their defense special teams, here's three quarterbacks who have had it even worse on a statistical basis from their defense and special teams, Justin Fields, Justin Herbert, and Trevor Lawrence. I always think that's so important to keep in mind. And we know that.

We kind of know that. But when you see it that extreme, you go, okay, that's what these guys, these guys are really fighting uphill. And so maybe Jacksonville can turn that corner, right? And they'll do a lot better. If Justin Herbert gets, if that defensive improvement the last couple weeks continues, they're going to win a lot of games in the future. Now, the nest is not bad for a quarterback there with the Raiders. I know their offensive line is not great. But, you know, in terms of the skill position weapons, hopefully for them, they can keep Josh Jacobs. He's really played tough, giving them a good back. If he is not, if Derek Carter's not in the picture, people are going to obviously connect the dots to Tom Brady with Josh McDaniels.

And we don't know where that would, if they're friends, if Tom would want to go there, if Tom wants to play, would they want. And we don't know any of that. But you took a peek this week, just looking at a little of Tom Brady. And I'd love to hear where you think he's at. We can talk about whether that would be a good fit with the Raiders. But do you, how diminished is he? How much is it other factors? Do you think he can bounce back?

Because remember when he was with the Patriots in 2019, they were, they lost Grankowski. They just didn't look right. And people were saying, well, Tom's declined. And then guess what? The next year he throws 40 touchdowns because he had a bunch of good weapons. That stuff around him in Tampa has declined. Has he declined too?

Are you worried about him? Or could you plug him into a team like that? You know. Well, I think that was my intent. When I went back and peeked at it. and I feel bad in that nobody's challenging the fact that Tom Brady's not the greatest quarterback that we've ever seen, right? He's the goat for a reason. He deserves it. He can go any way he wants from the end of this season, whether it's into retirement or to find another team. But what I found

when I looked at the tape, and nobody wants to say it, right? You'll never hear the TV announcer say it. And so I feel bad saying it, but he just hasn't played well. And I think the athletic skills have diminished a lot. I think the throwing motion, he still wants to get the ball out quickly. I think sometimes our mind makes appointments that our body can't keep. And I'm seeing some of that. Their offense is pedestrian, right? They are not hitting on any downfield plays at all. Their biggest hope on a deeper throw is to get passenger ference. He missed some guys in the game the other day. He overthrew Julio early in the game. He underthrew a couple guys later in the game. So he gets the ball out as quick, if not quicker than anybody in the league still, but they're not going anywhere. These balls aren't going anywhere.

They're the king of the bubble screens and the screens and the little things, the little dump offs and the checkdown. He's really become checkdown Charlie. And some of that is because the offensive line has diminished. They're not keeping him up right. It is a struggle. But I have seen times where Tom is unable to even step up in the pocket like he's done for so long. And he's always been really comfortable in the pocket. He's worked on his fundamentals and his technique so much that it's just second nature standing in that pocket. And that's a little bit uncomfortable for him this time around. I don't think they have receivers that are separating like they had in the past,

especially two years ago when they were really good. So it's probably a combination of everything, Mike. But I think it's everybody's kind of afraid to nitpick on Tom Brady, and I get it. But my point was, will there be any other team next year that would want this? And my conclusion was, I'm not sure. You know, we're going to talk about some of these other West Coast teams. everybody wants to connect him out west because that's where he's from. I don't know that the 49ers are going to be interested in that.

I'm not sure Denver's going to be interested in it. As bad a situation as they're in, I don't know that that makes sense for them. Money-wise, yeah. Yeah, money makes no sense. Maybe it's the Raiders. I don't know. There's some familiarity there and some dots to connect, but I don't see a ton of options, you know, for him, especially if you're going to say he's probably going to go west.

So he may want to play more, and my gut is that he probably doesn't want. want to go out like this and that he may want to play another year, I don't know that there's going to be another home that makes sense for one where his skills are and two, where that team is from a playoff from a development standpoint. Yeah. So to me, the appeal the Raiders would have is that you've got Josh McDaniels coming in with an old school way of doing stuff. And, you know, we're running laps when we fumble or fall sort of practice. And yeah, all of that sort of stuff that Belichick's done. And to do that, especially in this day and age, it helps to have somebody who has credibility

who's on board. And I think somebody where some veterans, you know, might roll their eyes or say, what are we doing? And then you don't get the results in the games. So now you're, you know, you can't reinforce it and you can't make it happen. If a Tom Brady were to come in in the early stages of a Josh McDaniels program, Josh might feel like, okay, I've got an ally here. kind of like the same reason Bill Belichick wants a Matt Patricia and a Joe Judge around. It may not be that they're the best offensive coaches, right?

It may just be that, hey, these guys can say the company line and they know what we want to do. So if I were the Raiders and I thought, you know, yeah, Tom's diminished some, but look, in our system with our offense that he knows and with our weapons, we can squeeze a good year out of an upgrade. I think it could be at least interesting, interesting to see or a consideration for them. We'll just see sort of where they're at, what they're thinking. Are they thinking just go with a cheaper guy, go with somebody who's a name? The odds are probably against them upgrading from Derek Carr, probably, at least in the short term. Unless it's somebody like this that brings the intangibles, that brings a system,

that brings some credibility to what Josh is trying to do there in Vegas. And we all know from a little revisionist history that that was once going to happen. So you won't have to talk Mark Davis into it because it sounds like he had already been talked into it a couple years ago in that he may come. So we'll see. Yeah. Hey, before we get to some of the biggest news of the week involving the Denver Broncos and some of their moves, because we definitely want to analyze that press conference with George Payton and the new owner. Let's just finish out this sort of, you know, Derek Carr.

Josh McDaniel, Tom Brady theme with New England because Mac Jones, by the way, of those 92 quarterbacks I talked about, remember, with the one through 92 rankings of their offense and then one through 92 defense special teams, by the way, of those 92 quarterbacks since 2000 and have more than 20 starts, Mac Jones has had the best defense and special team support of any of them on a per game basis. So that usually would help, but you could argue this year, he's had the worst support of some of them in terms of what they're doing offensively, because he sure looked better last season. But to bring in Matt Patricia to do the things they do, let's finish this out with them.

Is Mac Jones just a guy? Is it his fault? What do you make of New England? Well, I think it's, again, a little of both. I do think their offenses is shambles, Mike. I mean, I saw things that I thought I was watching the Keystone Cops the other night when their receivers are running into each other on crossing patterns. They called a bubble screen one time.

three receivers to the trip side were blocking so nobody was a target for him to throw to so he had to abort the play and run. Basic things like that that you'd never see around a Bill Belichick team, much less offense are happening. Their spacing, I think, is bad in the passing game. They got receivers covering receivers. The defense doesn't have to cover them because the guy runs underneath him, dragging a defender right into where another guy is open.

So it's really disincombobulated and, you know, some of that's rubbing off on Mac. I saw Mac Jones in play six of their game the other day against Cincinnati already throwing his hands up in disgust. And I'm a big body language guy, especially when it comes to a quarterback. I just don't like it. Obviously, he's frustrated. He doesn't understand why they're doing what they're doing, why a particular player may run a route. Obviously, it comes back to him because he's the orchestrator of it all. But I just, I think it's obviously changes have to be made because I think at the end of,

of the day, it's made Mac Jones just a guy. I mean, he struggles to make some throws accuracy-wise. Some of the things that I had questions about him coming out, I think are rearing their heads probably more so now than at any point in his short year and a half career. So it's a struggle for him. And I don't know how they change it. I do know this. The offensive line play is shaky at best. They don't seem to be working together. The timing of different blocks and movements and combinations just seemed distorted for me. And Mac's paying the price. You know, Mac is not athletic. He's not going to get away from a whole bunch of rushes. He has to take some time and at some point to get rid of the ball. So he's not the quickest in getting it out. So there's some physical

challenges there that I think that the offense has highlighted because of its ineptness. Now, maybe the numbers don't show all this, but I'm just going on the eye test. And I think it's a struggle. I think their offense, and now everybody's going to say, well, they almost beat Cincinnati. I got news for you. At halftime, that game was over last week. Oh, it was 22-0-0. Yeah. They had no chance in the game, but the Bengals came back and laid a giant egg and turned focus completely away from them. And really, I think that the fact that the Patriots did have a chance to win it at the end was all the Bengals ineptness that allowed doing it to hang around. And this is not a well-coached-looking team in terms of their situational play. Take the

end of the Cincinnati game. First down, they're going to try to run a play without scoring because they don't want Cincinnati to get the ball back with Burrow. They're down floor. They want a touchdown. But Cincinnati just plays it plays for the dive, strips the ball out, gets it out. Then there's a then there's a unnecessary roughness after the change of possession, just complete frustration played by the Patriots. They get the ball back. The punt returner muffs it. No return. Lose a couple yards as the ball goes out of bounds. New England gets the ball. Two penalties are way behind the sticks. That is not disciplined play. That's just bad. And we can go back to the game against the Raiders and everyone's going to talk about the last play of the game, which was a Benny Hill music

play. But they're getting a ridiculous punt block when no one's on the same page. You know, they're blown, their timeout usage at the end of the second quarter, they're getting an illegal shift. I mean, they settle for a field goal. They are just a mess. And when I went back and, when you go back and look at the people that have left there. I put together a table in my column on Monday. Ivan Fears, 22 years with Belichick. This is just, this is just in the last three, four years, these guys have left. Ernie Adams, 20 years with Belichick, Casario 20 years, Skarnakia 18, McDaniels 18, Josh Boyer 13, Brian Flores 11, Chad O'Shea 10, Dave Ziegler 9, Jerry Sheplinsky 6, Brennan Daily 5.

That's a lot of people out of your building that knew how you wanted it done. And now you're kind of a sloppy team. So I guess the question is, how much does a Bill O'Brien hire solve this if that's the type of direction they go? Certainly it would be a name and somebody who's had some success as a head coach and as an offensive coach. Would that give you the confidence if you were Robert Kraft to say, okay, let's, we got a good defense and we get O'Brien, everything will be okay. Well, I don't know if everything's okay. It's definitely a step in the right direction. Bill O'Brien has a proven track record. From what I saw in Houston when he left there, though, that offense had a lot to be desired in order to be successful. So I don't know what they're getting. There's no Tom Brady. When Bill was there before in New England with Bill Belichick, he had Tom Brady.

So this is a total different world now. You're talking about a rookie quarterback for the most part, year two, that is struggling to find his own way. He doesn't have the wealth of knowledge around him, like you mentioned. All these people, there's been a giant brain drain. And nobody's questioning the fact that Bill doesn't know all these positions. I just think he may be spread too thin in having to do everything. And you didn't even mention it's his son that's coordinating the defense. So you know he's going to spend a lot of time on that as well. So I just think it's a bad mix of people right now and a bad mix of coaches.

And I'm not sure the personnel on the field fits what they're trying to do either. But the hard part is I'm not sure they know what. they're trying to do because it doesn't really come across as a well-oiled machine. It comes across as very herky jerky and yeah, we're calling plays, but what are we really trying to do? Is there a system? Is there a scheme? Is there a plan? Or are we just calling plays? Yeah. Yep. We'll see what they do this offseason. I imagine that's, we're going to get a new offensive coach and we'll see if that makes a big difference. Don't forget. Isn't, isn't Matt Patricia coaching the offensive line too? Yes. Yeah. I think so. So there's there's some commonalities there

that, you know, that's a defensive coordinator four years ago. So, again, I'm sure these guys are good coaches. They're just an unfamiliar territory. And I don't know. I just think of my own job. If I was asked to do something totally different, I wouldn't be good at it for five, six years. I can tell you that, even if I had 20 years in the business. So just unfamiliar ground that you don't normally would talk about with a Bill Belichick coached group.

Well, one of the things you wouldn't have talked about much until recent years in the league is a floundering Denver Bronzer. Broncos franchise. Randy, you obviously were in the AFC West with the Seahawks back in those days. Denver was always tough. I mean, you go from Dan Reeves to Mike Shanahan, even a little Wade Phillips in there. They were always tough. In fact, I remember, I think one of my first years on the Seahawks beat was just watching Thorell Davis run for about 800 yards. Oh, don't like, stop. Stop, Mike. I don't need to hear that. One of those. I've seen him run for more yards than anybody in the history of all. Oh, my gosh. Remember that last game of the season? No, I don't. Dennis Erickson's last game. You're like, Oh my gosh.

It was like if it's a good thing, the field wasn't longer. Oh. And then I went to New Orleans and he ran for 200 on us there. So count me out on TV 2000, okay? I'm not, I'm up on it. So they've been a great organization. But obviously, you know, in the last 10 years or so, there's been an ownership transition underway because, you know,

the health of Pat Bowlin declined. And then he passed and now the heirs and now it's been sold to the Walmart family. And we had Greg Pett. of that group now representing ownership at a press conference with George Payton as they talk about the firing of Nathaniel Hackett. And these news conferences are great, Randy, because they give us a chance to really analyze and get a feel a little bit for people and agendas. What was your sort of initial thought watching George Payton and Greg Penner talking about what's going on? I'm with you, especially ownership. And I think you mentioned this before.

on a podcast maybe a year or so go that they ought to make the owners once or twice a year have to have a press conference because you really get to know what you're dealing with, right? Oh, yeah, expose them. Well, I'm not saying expose them, but they should have to deal with that. So they understand that when you roll out your GM or your head coach, it's not a given that everything is going to go like you say. But anyway, beside the point, I thought we've missed the boat a little bit on what George's

message was because I see him on social media and even on TV getting killed for some of the things he said about it's not about Russell Wilson. We didn't fire the coach because of Russell Wilson. I think what George was really trying to say is it has been all about Russell and we don't want it to be about Russell. So I'm going to say it's not about Russell in hope that it'll go away. But as you and I both know, if Russell Wilson's on your team, it's going to be about Russell. And it's probably no other way that he's going to let that come out. So I just felt like I felt bad for George. We all know. And sometimes you say things in front of the media where everybody knows it's your nose is growing as you say it, right? But you've got to do it because you got to do what's

right for the club. You got to take one for the team. But I just thought in this case, I think George is really being genuine in that he's saying it's not necessarily about Russell only because the future he wants it not to be about Russell. But I think we both know different. But the only way and make it not be about Russell is to hire someone stronger than Russell. I think that's the issue of the problem that Nathan O'Hackett came in is that he had was that he had to get on the Russ train. In fact, I texted Randy this. I saved this one and happened. I'm going to play this.

We're bringing our own sound effects here. Let's see if the listeners can hear this. It's all about Russ. You know, want to be sure that he's comfortable. When he said that, that's Nathaniel Hackett during the year. It's all about Russ. You know, want to be sure that he's comfortable. All about Russ.

Want to make sure he's comfortable. Now, my antenna is up just because I live in the Seattle area. I've watched this whole thing unravel with Russell Wilson in Seattle. So when he was saying that, you know, when he was making his bed that it's all about Russ, we'll be careful with that. And so I don't know if you can unring that, but something that stood out to me in this was, I actually got a call from a former head coach today because like all, everyone likes to analyze these things, right? Everyone has their take and he's like, hey.

And the coaches, you know, they've had to deal with the owners before. and they kind of roll their eyes at owners, really. I mean, it's a, you know, it's a tough deal when the owners have, don't know what they don't know about football, they have ideas, they're asking you questions about why aren't we doing this on offense? And it could be all innocent, but it's just kind of like, you know. They have the right. I mean, they have the right.

They have the right. But yes, but I think in other lines of work when you own a company, you came up through the company. You own a real estate firm. You know a lot about real estate. In fact, you know more about anyone in the building about it because you've been doing this for 30 years. The football ownership thing, these guys don't know what down to this.

They're really learning and they don't know how to fix it. And then we can't always agree on how to fix it anyway. Even people in the football side who know what they're doing don't even know how to fix it half the time, some of the time. So one of the things that stood out to me, though, and this coach brought it up, the owner said the coach is going to report to the owner. And he's like, hey, this is kind of normal in the NFL. My thought was, okay, how normal is that, Randy?

Isn't that a recipe for bad things to happen? Or is this just the owner saying that to try to make it a more appealing job for a top candidate out there, Sean Payton or whoever? Yeah. I think that's what it was. I think it's a plea to a coach who has skins on the wall and it's telling them that we will read adjust our structure if that's what it takes. Now, I don't think they're going to hire a first time coach again. But if they did, you wouldn't want him reporting right to the owner. That wouldn't make any sense to me. Obviously, it's a, it's a little bit of a slight to George because George hired to coach last time.

And I understand that's kind of a backhanded demotion in a way. But my guess is it's a way of saying we're going to unturn every stone. We're going to be open to whatever a new coach would want to do, including restructuring what we've normally done in the front office. That's what I read from it is I think they're willing to do whatever. And if it's Sean Peyton that they're talking about, that just lets him know that you're not going to have to answer to anybody. You're going to answer right to the owner. And that's a big thing to a coach, especially one with skins on the wall. I'll say this.

I remember when I was before I went to Miami, Nick Saban was the coach. And I went and spent a weekend with him at his house in Baton Rouge to see if we were come, you know, if we could make things work together. And we just wanted to spend time with each other. And one day we went for a walk around this. big lake that he had on his on his property in baton rouge and i remember this conversation vividly he said randy i've been head coached for blah blah blah however many years he said i i don't think i could ever answer to a general manager he said i'm going to answer only to the owner and that's one of the reasons i took this job in miami so i think he was telling me that hey you're here's what i'm going to do

but his question was then to me is can you answer to me as as you'll be the title you'll have the title of GM, but you're going to have to answer to me as the coach. And I had no problem with it. I understood the lay of the land. But to these coaches, it means a lot because they don't want anybody between them and the owner. So I think to get back to your point at the press conference, that's what it was all about. It was to open the door for we're okay with restructuring however and whatever we need to do to get the right coach. And I think that sort of thing can work if the person who is going to be playing second fiddle, so to speak, has the right temperament, ego, can manage all of that.

And George Peyton strikes me as that type of guy. Yes. As I get along, you know, he can get along with people. He's not going to. Yes. He's going to try to make it work and he's going to understand now. I, how attractive is that job? If you have to, if you're a Sean Payton, for example, well, number one, shoot, they'd have to give up

picks for Sean Peyton. I don't even know if they're in position to do that. But let's just say if you have to go in there and you're stuck with Russell Wilson for at least another year, does that excite you? Does that trouble you? Would a Dan Quinn or somebody like that not want to do it because of that? Or you just, you can't be that selective even when these guys like George Peyton and Chris Ballard try to pick the great situation?

It's not that. You just have to take a job. How do you see the Denver job as appealing to candidates? I don't think it's desirable because of the elephant in the room. I don't think it's one that you would pick first, but we all know you may or may not have options. We like to think that Sean Payton's going to be picking from a field of four or five teams and he can select where he wants to go. I don't know that that's the case. We've talked about it here on the podcast that first the team's going to have to give probably a first round pick to the Saints.

They're going to have to give Sean Payton 10 million plus and they're going to have to be willing to restructure. Now, Denver is, it sounds like willing to do that. I don't know that anybody else is. So at current pace, Sean's got to warm up to it. Obviously, you have to have a different plan for quarterback. You can't throw all your eggs in the Russ basket. You're going to have to have another option. Now, you have to keep him.

I get that. He's going to be there for the next couple years. But that doesn't have to mean that he's your starter and that's what we're going to do. If he plays like this, he's got to fix himself. I've got a kick out of the last few days. Everybody's saying, well, we need a new offense. We need something Russ has done in the past, something that works. I think I put this on Twitter a couple of days.

ago, he's had three different coordinators the last three years. So next year's going to be his fourth different coordinator in four years. And none of them has really worked. So does the offense really matter? Russ has to fix himself. And again, we can keep selecting a new offense and a new scheme, but the last two didn't work in Seattle and this one didn't work in Denver. So, well, think of it even back further than that. How many great quarterbacks, if we're going to put them in that bucket, repeatedly have their coordinators or play callers fired? Look at, look at, him in Seattle. Darryl Bevel, I think, did a really good job with him.

Fired. It was out. Brian Schottenheimer, shoot, they average 27 points a game. If you go look at it. Fired. Fired out of there. Then Waldron, they barely got to do anything, but shoot, it was at odds with Pete. So he basically.

They could struggle to get lined up half the time. Yeah, but he basically, yeah, Russ basically, he didn't get anybody fired, but he basically got himself out of there. He got a divorce. And then after one year, this one's fired. So really you're talking about a fifth one next year, a fifth system. Yeah. Now, that being said, if I was called in to, if I was asked by Denver, hey, what would be the best, if you could have any coach for, you know, to try to make this thing work, it would probably be Sean Payton because he's worked with a shorter quarterback in Drew Brees.

and he's always had the run game component. They threw for a ton of yards and threw it a lot, but they ran the ball. They did some of the things. And, well, I don't think that Russell Wilson is Drew Brees by any means. It's certainly at this stage. If anybody could try to rig this thing up to get better play from him, it might be him. Would you agree? 100%.

In fact, I put in my notes before the show, I said they've got to go all in on Sean Payton. They have to. I think he's the one that makes sense. whether they can pull it off, I don't know. But he's the one guy that can probably, and I don't want to say fix Russ, but he can get Russ's attention. Russ won't have the swag,

won't have the control over Sean Payton that he had over Nathaniel Hackett. That's what they need. The relationship will be different. That's what they need. They need the strong coach. They need the Andy Reid, the Mike Holmgren,

the guy who's just going to grab you by the throat when you need to, you know. But here's the other thing, I agree with you. but I'll say this. A lot of experts thought this before the season started. It's all Denver needed as a quarterback and they're going to be in a Super Bowl. I think there was some mis-evaluation of this roster as well.

And so this roster is not. On the offensive side. Yes, is not as far along as everybody thought they were on offense. So they're going to have to tool some things personnel-wise along with just not adding a head coach in a new system. So there's some other things involved, but I'm with you. They need to go all out to get Sean Payton, whatever it takes. I guess right now could they offer that? pick that they got for the defense event to Miami.

Yeah. They could trade that and start that dialogue right now with the Saints if they wanted to. It's making to answer the phone. Yeah. Yeah, it does feel like they need to do something bold like that. Just coming in here, Russell Wilson's comments today, the reality is I wish I could have played better for him too, instead of Hackett. I wish I could have played at the level I've always played at and know how to play that. So I feel like we've seen the best of him and you're going to be looking for somebody in a year.

Do you agree? 100%. I just, I don't think it can be rekindled at this point. He's doing things now, Mike, and we talked about it, that the basic first year quarterbacks aren't going to do. You know, I mean, he's he's struggling with the basic throws in this scheme. And it's not all about the scheme. It's not all about, you know, somebody else's problem to fix Russ. Russ has to fix himself. And I don't know if that's doable. Sure, they can probably get him to play a little better. The hard part is on the field is one thing. The off the field stuff is a whole nether's topic. And as we know, does he even have the locker room? Do they even have the respect for him anymore? Because there's a lot of people that say that's been severed as well. Yep, absolutely. Is Peyton's offense hard to learn compared to other offenses are the same? Well, I think it's hard.

It's going to have to take a while to advance it. I mean, you're not going to walk in and have Drew Breeze-type production in year one. It's going to take a couple years to get it. So, you know, maybe Russ is better suited for it than most think. but I got news for you. He's not going to be playing catch out in his yard and video on it and putting it on social media if Sean Peyton's there. He's going to be in the film room with Sean Peyton every day

and he'll have all he needs grinding to learn his own scheme, not outworking with the boys. Yeah. I think that would be an interesting challenge for Sean Peyton. Because look, it can't look any worse than it did this year, right? And if you have to make a decision in a year, if it doesn't look good, it's Russell's fault finally, you know, and you just move on to the next one. another quarterback change issue this week, Washington on the brink of possibly making the playoffs,

reinstates Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback. That surprised you at all? No, not really. I think, and again, I haven't been a big Heineke fan in the past anyway. I think he has limits. I think they need Carson Wins' playmaking ability and his physical skill set to open their offense. There's only certain things Heineke can do, and I understand he makes the right throw that the coordinator wants. him to throw, but he's so limited. He misses way too many throws. There's just not a margin for air

to miss throws like Heineke misses to still be effective at the end of the day. Wince has a better arm. He has more physical talent. Now Wince may make a dumb play as well, but you're going to have to live with that. And maybe he will actually turn that part of it around. But I'm not surprised by it. I think Wince gives him the best chance to win going forward. And they've got to find a way to put talent ahead of, you know, personal preference of a coach. I think they, if everything was equal, they'd be playing Heineke, but it's not equal and not even close to being equal physically, in my opinion. I think at a certain point, you just get tired of playing Heineke probably.

He's a backup. He's a backup quarterback in the league and maybe can give you a spark. I actually, you know, I was sort of a little bit right there with the Colts to an extent last year when they got rid of him. I had a little Carson Wentz fatigue. But you know what? if Carson Wentz made the playoffs and like somehow won a playoff game or something, well, Jim Ursa is off to the side with Nick Foles,

I think it would be kind of entertaining and just desserts a little bit for the way that Wence was really drugged through the mud by Urse when he left there. So now one of the things that's puzzling to me though is Carson Wence actually has been much less explosive as a passer than Heineke. this year. He didn't do anything. He got twice as much of his yardage compared to Henke on screen passes. His explosive pass rate is what a really bad offense would be. And Heinekees is actually pretty good. Their passive rating is about the same. There's no difference in their completion percentage. The offenses averaged a couple more points a game with

Heineke. Now, their defense has played better with Heineke too. is Wence is just going to just be the big T's who, yeah, he can make a couple nice passes and warrants, but he can't play. He doesn't know how to play football. Do you buy that? I have at times in his career bought that. I'm not buying it now. I think the Washington offense has evolved a little bit to the point where they can do some more things. They still don't run it enough for my liking, but I think their offense and Scott Turner, the coordinator, have evolved a little bit. I think they were really struggling early in a year to find any identity at all as to what we are. Sometimes your reset button is to throw screens, to throw bubble screens,

to go back to make it safer because you don't trust the quarterback. I think they've been through the other side and come out with Taylor Heineke now that he's probably just not good enough. Like you said, he's really probably a backup quarterback. Now they've got to keep the same confidence level in the passing game with these receivers now that, you know, Dotson is better now than he was six weeks ago. All the other receivers I think are feeling their oats now and they weren't six or eight weeks ago. So I do think their offense has stepped up in that they have some playmakers now that are evident and some identity.

It'll be interesting to see what Wynce can do with that identity and these newfound playmakers in my mind. Yeah. Yep. We'll see. I think it would be an amazing sort of finish for him. And if he were able to get to the playoffs like he couldn't do an indie. Well, there's just so many throws that Taylor Hineke can't make.

And so that's the problem. And Wynce at least can make those throws. So I think it opens the offense per se. Yep, absolutely. Hey, also this week, Randy, J.J. Watt announces his retirement. He almost forgot he was playing because Arizona is not really in the NFL at this stage. They've kind of been relegated. But three-time defensive player of the year, 111.15. Sacks in 149 career, which, by the way, is the ninth most through 149 games of a career. Reggie White, Demercus Ware, Jared Allen, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor, Derek Thomas, Thomas, Von, Miller, Leslie O'Neill, JJ Watt are the 10th. top nine on that list for most sacks through 149 games. That's how many he's played. What do you think? You've been around a lot of good defensive linemen, Cortez Kennedy, Jason Taylor,

JJ Watt. What do you think? Well, he's right there with him. He may be more complete than either of those two. And you know how I am with Cortez. I mean, like a brother to me. But I think JJ may even be more complete than all of them. I absolutely love the fact that he's walking away on his own terms.

The fact that nobody retires anymore. Nobody walks away from. payday of any kind, but he does. And I have much respect for him for that. The thing that makes him to me even held in higher regard is he may be the first player to have gone through a career and embrace the social media and the different world that we live in now and come out unscathed. He's taken it to another level. He's used it to his advantage. God bless him. We talk about branding and making a name for yourself and all that. He's done an outstanding job of that. above and beyond what he's done on the field. I've watched the Cardinals midseason hard knocks this year

just to kind of get an inside look at what's going on in Arizona. And I've been so impressed with JJ Watt and the authenticity that I wasn't always willing to buy in his career. But I think he's very authentic. I think he wants to help people. I think his heart is in a great spot. And I just love the guy. And I've grown to really respect him as a player. Yeah, his skills. today aren't what they were five, six years ago. But, and I've told you and I've had this discussion, he has dominated at his position for a decade. And I think that's clearly worthy enough that he's a no brain first ballot Hall of Fame guy,

in my opinion. Totally agree. Three-time defensive player. It was interesting, you know, when he was leaving Houston, you know, you heard some of those authentic type of things. Like, you know, people were kind of talking about, ah, he's the first guy to have his helmet off when you score a touchdown. He runs it back and me, me, me.

You know what? I've heard nothing but good things about him in Arizona. I think, yeah. Yeah, people there have said, this guy is just a complete pro, and he's been helping other people, and he wants to get better and all of that. And I agree with you. I think he's just a Locke, surefire Hall of Famer.

I was noticing that, you know, Aaron Donald is probably the standard as much as anyone in the last 10 years. Aaron Donald has 103 sacks on 138 games. Well, guess what? Watt had 104 in his first 130. I know they're little different players and stuff, but that's the type of production. We're talking about here from one of the all-time greats, I think. Do you think any part of the retirement, Mike, has to do with how low the Cardinals have gone on the totem pole right now?

Do you think there's any part? And I don't know the answer. I'm just saying, is he have trouble getting wound up for now what he thinks might be a rebuild and possibly another regime change? Yeah, I think that in combination with he now has a child. I think he's at a different place in his life with a child. You know, and he's been through a lot of surgeries and injuries. He's kind of one of those guys who, you know, will have a torn pack and then somehow be back for the playoffs or whatever, you know.

And so I bet you it's just not as fun coming to work this year on that team and just not having a fighting chance. There's not real leadership there, right? The GM's out. The head coach is who he is. The quarterback's who he is. I don't know how that could be as fun. And I think if you've made the money like he has,

I think that's the era we're in now. I was thinking of this yesterday. Think of back in the day, Merlin Olson, okay, was he played, he was Pro Bowl the first 14 years of his career. Great defensive linemen for the Rams, fearsome for some. But he played forever.

I mean, he played another 60 games. Well, and this is somebody who went into TV and had a 15-year career as the number one announcer. So he had options, but the money wasn't the same then. I think you're totally empowered now to make this type of decision when you're JJ Watt and he's made whatever, $100 million or $150 million, whatever he's earned. He doesn't need to go to work for the Cardinals right now. That almost diminishes him as more helpful.

You don't think he wants to hang around and watch Chase McSorley throw 45 passes every Sunday like he did last week? No. Yeah, I wouldn't. I'm just saying. No. So, yeah, I also say more power to him. I think it's probably it is the right time.

And I just see the pictures he put on Twitter of him and his wife and their child and all of that. Very cool. It probably is the right time, right? Yeah, no doubt. And who knows? I don't know what his contract situation is, but maybe in a year or two,

there is an opportunity and he makes a playoff run with somebody. I think it would always be cool if he went and joined the Steelers with his brother. Yeah. Or the Packers go back to Wisconsin. Yeah. Yeah.

If someone was in position to, you know, if someone was in position to let him go chase a ring, I could totally see that, but it looks like he's got more fulfilling things to do than be on hard knocks. Yeah, I hear you. At this stage. Hey, you went to the film room this week, Randy. We had a couple of young guys playing in Desmond Ritter of the Falcons, Malik Willis for the Titans. You win in and looked at those guys, which I give you a lot of credit.

I mean, we should probably pay you overtime for going and watching those offenses, wink, wink, but what did you come away with? Because these guys are a little bit going under the radar just by the nature of their teams. And like we said, there's so much news around the league. but these are two players that weren't like number one picks. They're not all eyes run, but they're kind of in the mix as maybe being part of the solution in the future, according to someone in the organization or what? Yeah, no, that's kind of what led me down that road. I think as we found out, Pickett was, was Kenny Pickett was the only first rounder last year.

These were two third rounders, and these are two third rounders that are playing right now. So I thought, let's take a look at them, see if we've learned anything from now they've got some time under their belt. Desmond Ritter has been the starter in Atlanta for a couple weeks now. Malik Willis has been the starter for about the same in Tennessee. So I thought it would be fun to go just take a peek at them and kind of see where we're at. It's interesting that both of these offenses in Tennessee and Atlanta, I would term as, I'm not going to say they're single wing offenses, but they're run-oriented. You know, RPO, passing is second nature, both, I guess, Tennessee.

see you could say is remnants of Arthur Smith. Atlanta is Arthur Smith. So kind of he's left his footprint on both of these teams. But I guess for me, the Desmond Ritter skill set coming out gave me the impression or the thought that he might be the one of all the other guys besides Pickett that had a chance to his ceiling was highest. You know, he's six foot three, he's 225 pounds. He's fairly athletic. He had playing a ton of college ball at Cincinnati. So there was a pretty good bio there and body of work you could judge from. Where has he come now? Well, I think he's in a good place in an offense in Atlanta that does sit his fit his skill set.

I think his inaccuracy is still evident. I think his processing is a work of progress, a work in progress. But he's got a strong arm. He can make throws on the run. He can, the skills that we saw, I guess is what I'm saying at Cincinnati, we're seeing now and we'll see if Arthur Smith can take him to the next level. My question really was, do they look again at a quarterback or have they seen enough to say, okay, we're all right with this. Let's sit tight. And in Ritter's case, I saw enough to where I wouldn't pass on a guy at the

top if he checked all the boxes because there's still a fair amount of development that has to be with regard to Desmond Ritter. I think he's probably still a year away from really being able to seriously check the other boxes. And I don't know if he will at the end of the day, be able to check those. So I probably couldn't pass on a guy, a frontline guy. I hope that makes sense. The other guy, Malik Willis at Tennessee, I'm really struggling with Mike because I struggled with him at Liberty and I really struggled with him now. I'm not sure they can win a game with the offense that they're running now. And his skill set being what it is. I just think he is so raw and I see the athleticism and I see the sidearm throw coming out here or there. I just remember

going back and this is just a cautionary tale for listeners when they watch the combine. I remember the analysts on the NFL network owing and awing over every throw that this kid made in shorts and a t-shirt in Indianapolis at the combine last year and I remember looking at the film saying gosh this doesn't equate there's something haywire. This kid is really struggling at the NFL level and I don't know what happened between John Robinson and Mike Vrable, the GM and the head coach there. But my guess is part of that conversation, part of that dialogue was over Malik Willis. Because the fact that Tanny Hill is hurt now and Malik's having to play and he's just every play is a struggle, man.

I'm telling you, it's hard to convert simple throws just because of where his mechanics are and learning to, this is not an on-the-job training league. These are the best players in the world. And he just is so far removed from being in that category that, I almost feel bad for him that they're rolling him out there. And maybe they just don't have anybody else. But if I was able, I would be, and again, this is not a personal vendetta on Malik Willis. It's not his fault.

Yeah, it's not his fault. He's just not ready for this prime time events. And I don't know what the future holds. But if Tanny Hill can't play next year or leaves or his contract is, you know, limits what they can do there, I think Tennessee's got to go find another quarterback because you're going to find one with a lot more box of check. than where they are now with Malik. I just think it's so far away, it's hard to project that this is any answer in any one area.

Which is a blessing for them, Randy, to get this information now. So you don't have the owner of the team or people who just don't know from watching practice making the decision. Hey, this guy's in the mix, right? We want to go with this guy next year. Now you get to see enough games and see how hard it is. That's hard, man. That's good information. Actually, while you were talking, I decided I would look at all of the third round quarterback since 2000.

and just kind of see who they were. And there were two starters. So there's 15 guys. There's two starters. You'd say Russell Wilson and Matt Schaub became pretty good starters. There's a upper level backup, I would say, in Nick Foles, and maybe an upper level backup in Jacobi Berset. Wouldn't you say those guys would be in that category?

And then there's Cody Kessler, Colt McCoy, Mike Glennon, Davis Mills, Trent Edwards, Charlie Fry, C.J. Betherd, Desmond Ritter, Dave Ragh, and Willeer, and Malik Willis. So that's kind of where those third round grade evaluations sort of wind up. So what do we say in 25% maybe turn out to be something? Something. And two of those are ones that you're getting a next contract to as a starter, which would be Matt Schaub and Russell Wilson, right? Yeah.

So really the tail of the tape is if they can find a quarterback in another way or another draft, they ought to jump on them, if they can get more boxes checked off. Yep, absolutely. So see how that goes. Kind of a weird situation like I was saying in Yeah. Down there. How are we doing for time here?

We're doing pretty good. You know, we had so much stuff to talk about that. I just put down a list of some other things. I'm just going to wrap. Before we get to the GM notebook, I'm going to rapid fire Randy right here. And he's going to be like, you know, catching softballs.

This is not knowing Ryan throwing him in there. He's going to be catching these easily. Quick answers. We don't have to talk a bunch. You buying the chargers at all? Hey, we're better on defense now. Hey, look, Chargers, man, this team, that defense is fixed. They could be scary in the playoffs.

Where's the buying meter for you on that one? Not buying. Haven't seen it. Need to see more of a body work. Maybe it's just the tone of the coach. But the tone is so entitled. It's so, you know, we're talking down to everybody in the world every time something comes out. So I struggle with that.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Their defense is better the last couple weeks. I don't buy that we intended to make the playoffs and none of this means anything type storyline. You know, I don't know. I think there'll be a non-factor, but that's just my opinion. Hey, I thought this reminded me one of the great moves, one of the best things I've ever seen lately was so they win the, you know, they win the game against the Colts, who are the Laughingstock Colts, right? I mean, they beat the Colts, hey, wow, beat the Colts.

We're in the playoffs. So now it's like tradition that in the locker room they now video the coach. always, you know, hey, rah, ra, game ball's going to, you know, this guy, 20 tackles today, whatever gives the game ball to Spanos, the owner. Did you see that? No, I did not see that. Yeah, Staley rallied them all together. He said, look, man, you know, we've been through a lot this season.

We've been through a lot this season. I'm making this part up. But, you know, hey, we couldn't do it without these players. But guess what? None of us should be here without our owner. And he comes in, you know, with the glasses and the hair. And they give him the game ball. And I just thought, I just started cracking up.

He thought, this is what we're doing. Well, I thought, hey, you know, I guess that's who you suck up to. Yeah. Probably a smart move to do that. Yeah, probably is. Probably is a sound. Yeah. Somebody told me a story that, like, 25 or 30 years ago, the older Spanos, Alex Spanos,

was speaking at some league function to, you know, staff of teams or something. and he was telling them like, hey, don't forget to thank your owner, you know, that you guys wouldn't be here without the owner. And I thought of that because I'd heard that years ago and I thought of that, hey, we're thanking the owner. We're thanking the owner. So are you giving any game balls to the owner? You ever done that? I have not. I have not.

Not that they don't deserve it. I'm going to take the high road here, but I have not. You're not really chipping in on this one, Randy. I'm carrying all the work on this commentary here. You were with the Chargers. Nothing here. I was. I know how they operate.

I'm happy for them. Trust me. I was there 10 years, hard, you know, sweat and tears. But this version of this group still has a ways to go, in my opinion. So we'll see. We'll see how it shakes out. Carolina, 570 yards of offense. Like it was against Detroit. Just a little fine print there. 570 yards of offense.

Do you know that Peyton Manning never had a 570 yard game in his whole career with being a Hall of Fame, unbelievable quarterback? They got 570 yards. Do you think Steve Wilkes has a shot at the job there? Not should he? Because I think I know the answer to that. Do you think he has a shot with that owner? I do think he does.

I think knowing Steve, he stands for the right things. He is as authentic. And we just talked about the charger coach. I think Carolina coach is probably at the other end of the spectrum. In fact, he spent, Steve Wilkes spent several years with the chargers. And I hated to see him go. He went with Ron Rivera when they left. Very authentic.

Very owns the locker room. They get it. They're going to play a. certain style. And I think these very believable, 320 yards rushing of that 570. That really never happens in the NFL. It had never happened for Carolina because I heard him say it was a club record at the end of the day. It's unbelievable. Yeah, that is hard to do to run for 300 yards. Trust me. That comes from a guy who we talked and joked earlier about, I've seen Terrell Davis run for 200, too many times. But 320, I'm not sure I could have stomached that. Yeah, it's really is an

unbelievable amount. And Steve Wilkes, by the way, Steve Wilkes was on the Chargers the last time they won the division in 2009. That's what you believe it? 2009 last time. Okay. So, some idiot columnist in The Athletic about five or six weeks ago did this column. I don't know who it was, but he did this column. I've always been impressed over the years. I felt like the Titans always overachieved how good I thought they were going to be. And so here they were again. A few weeks ago, had this winning record. They might have been seven and three or something like that. And I said, you know, I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

Here's some things the rest of the league can learn about the Titans. And I got into how they do some really cool things tactically and all this. Well, they're 0 and 5 since then, Randy. No one's learning anything from them. We thought at the time when they fired John Robinson, oh, is this a Mike Rable power play? I'm not sure what the heck's going on there. Nothing's come out. Do you have any idea?

Or are we still just sort of waiting to find? something out. Yeah, I know nothing. I have no idea. I'm still thinking there's something we don't know that the knowing of which changes everything, but I don't know whether part of it was the quarterback, the Malik Willis stuff. I don't know if it was the draft picks that they've kind of squandered the last few years. I know this. Their offense is hard to watch. They don't have receivers that can get away from anybody. It's a struggle. And really, they're running the wing tea right now. And that's, that's as explosive as, you know, pouring syrup on pancakes. So it's been slow to develop.

They haven't really got over the hump. And really, it's been ever since John was kind of sent packing that they've, you know, had this 0 for five run, right? They've lost five in a row. They're a 10-point underdog at home against the Cowboys Thursday night. Crazy. Really bad stuff. So let's talk about Tuatunga Volo.

This is a really big story this week with him having his third. concussion, and we certainly hope the best that he has all options on the table and can be healthy again. And we could get into who, you know, who's at fault or should they figure this out. But, man, they're going to have to go for a different quarterback this offseason, don't you think? Well, I don't think there's any doubt. It changes the focus now. I mean, I've always had the durability issues with Tua. That was one of the reasons that I struggled with him being selected when he was, because he was hurt a lot at Alabama. He's been hurt a lot in Miami. I just think, you know, part of the job is you got to be available. And that's not a slight on him, but he's a slight guy. He's

a smaller guy. And now three concussions in one year, I don't know how they clear him, much less next week or the week after at any point during this season. At some point, you got to, you know, say, hey, enough's enough. So I feel bad for the kid. It's a struggle, but it is not for everybody. It is a hard game to play, especially that pocket. And when you're undersized, it's really hard. And people need to understand that when you evaluate quarterbacks, size does matter. So we're talking about this year, and I see all the experts out throwing out Bryce Young at Alabama. Do we know how big Bryce Young is? It sounds like he's going to measure 5-11 or smaller, 180 pounds.

This game is not made for people like that. I just don't, I couldn't even consider going down that road. And I've heard everybody say he's magic. He's this or that. The durability factor alone would tend to make me, you know, probably have to pass. It's just me. If you want to see what it looks like to see 180 or 190-pound guy just get

thrown in the NFL, there were quarterbacks that were kind of that size 35, 40 years ago. There would be some guys that were smaller. And when they ran into the guys who wear the neck rolls, which they don't wear anymore, but the big guys, it was scary. I mean, they really got hurt playing the position.

I got a million more of these, but we got to get, we'll be here all day. I mean, if I keep us going, no, it's not you, it's me. I'm just so excited. I had four or five more things on there, but we got the GM notebook where the best stuff is, except usually I pull two or three things out and claim them as my own. But you got a couple items in the GM notebook.

What do you get in there? Well, a couple things. We talked about Purdy, the quarterback at San Francisco, Brock Purdy, and how we would get to see him develop in front of us. We've now seen that for three, maybe four weeks. And I thought, shoot, he's done well enough that let's forecast a little as to what their quarterback room might look like next year. He's improved enough in my eyes.

He's proved in a lot of ways that he is capable of carrying this team to the playoffs. They are going to get in the playoffs and we'll see what he can do there. But I would have to be excited if I'm John Lynch or Kyle Shanahan in that, yeah, we have Trey Lance next year, but we're going to have a competition more than likely between Brock Purdy and Trey Lance. And it's going to be one that, you know, everybody says you can't have these competitions anymore. It's going to hurt somebody's ego or if you got two, you got none.

Well, I don't necessarily buy that in this case because I think the best. guy will win. The cap is not going to be reflective of the end. Nobody's going to be told they can't be this. We can't afford him. I just think it'll be a fun one to watch. And we've seen enough. We know Jimmy G's going to be gone. I just felt like this as a GM note book item is going to be something we're going to be talking about probably all offseason, but a fun one to gauge next fall. Yeah. You know, I think they can go to the Super Bowl with him. And I wouldn't normally say that because usually you're going to run across, you know, you're going to get into a situation with another quarterback going toe to toe.

But when I look at the whole NFC, everyone's got issues if we're behind or, right? Everyone has a style of play that's consistent with their quarterback. The difference with the 49ers is they've got Christian McCaffrey. They'll get Debo Samuel back. They've got the best defense, the best pass rusher, probably in the whole league in Bosa. So I don't think they have a real limitation in the NFC. I think they can go. Agreed 100%.

And I think Brock Purdy is going to continue to gain confidence and only get better in anticipating throws and playing with instincts, the more the game slows down for him. So he's going to have an advantage in a competition, I think, a year from now, against Trey Lans, because Trey Lans still hasn't have played at all. And Brock Purdy's going to be able to fall back on what might be six or eight games as the starting quarterback. I can't wait until we find out who made them take Trey Lans. Obviously, they had to do it with Calas Tijuanaham's blessing, but that's just such a weird, interesting one for the book someday that they have to come out with. I don't know if we'll get it now, but you're right. Yeah. That's just wild. Wild.

What else you got in the GM notebook? The other one that I thought was kind of interesting this week, and we saw Adam Schaefter had this, Jay Glazer had it as well, that the Jets are now planning to move on from Zach Wilson after this season. And as a GM, it kind of set me off a little bit in that, why would information like that come out,

even if you believed it? And I know this, no GM worth of salt would ever say anything like that, because it's going to one destroy the kid. It would destroy any value you have going forward. If you indeed did want to, to move him. You couldn't move him now because everybody knows you've soured on him. So it told me that this probably came from the coaching side and it was probably some agenda in play that, hey, we're going to

cover our butts here and we're just going to blame this kid for all this and we're going to move on. I just, the whole thing kind of reeked of a little toxic environment of people covering their ass and I didn't like it. That's all. I don't know that there's a point to me making this maybe. I would just say if I'm the GM, I'm pissed about this and the idea of some toxicity. in the building is confirmed now that this information's been leaked out to two reputable national reporters. Yeah, very, very weird situation. I agree. Why would you do that? Unless it's, unless Zach Wilson, maybe even if Zach Wilson's been such a, been a problem internally, you were talking earlier. We've talked about, hey, it's not just all on him. They need to assess what they're doing offensively as well.

I think this might be somebody getting ahead of that. In other words, we're not even going to, we're not even and review our scheme, our system, our play calling. We're just going to go ahead and blame Zach Wilson and make a public statement right now in hope that no one will question that other stuff. That's what I take. Well, they'll be questioned about week six next year if they don't get it better. Yeah. Let's get into our pick segment.

Randy, last week, Sandow, two and one. I mean, just beaming with luck here. Luck, though. Two and one with you and I is a heater. That's a big one. Hey, how about me winning with Cincinnati? The Vegas gets it so right. I had since I said he gave three and a half.

Well, they're up 22 nothing. I'm like, I got this in the bag. It's 22 to 18 and they missed the, they didn't get the extra point, you know. And New England has the ball inside the six to win the game. Yeah, I thought I was going to squander that one. So we got that one by half of a point. Then I did Houston and took the seven and a half because I think Tennessee was done. That worked out good.

Lost in Atlanta. Shoot, I had Atlanta. And seven and a half, they lost by eight. That's gambling, folks. That's the way it is. Randy, you won with Pittsburgh, given two. two and a half over the Raiders lost with Miami. But that Miami game, with two having a concussion in the fourth quarter and throwing

three interceptions, I think if he's not concussed, that doesn't happen, wouldn't you agree? Probably. I mean, he made some questionable decisions. There's no doubt you'd like to think he was in a fog to make those throws. That's for sure. Yeah, that was crazy at the end of that game. Really an unfortunate situation. Who do you got?

What are your picks this week? What do you got? Well, for some reason, I don't have these out down in my notes. I have two games that I like. I like, bear with me for one second. No, I know, I know, I'll see him down here. You wrote, you want Carolina at Tampa minus three. I like Carolina at Tampa.

Carolina is a three-point underdog. I'm drinking your Kool-Aid of that 570 yards of offense. I just think Carolina is a tougher, more organized group right now. As crazy as that sounds, I think there's a lot of issues in Tampa. We hit on a few of them. I just like where they're at as a team, and I think they can go down and give Tampa, by game. So I'm taking Carolina in that regard. And the other one for me was Pittsburgh at Baltimore. I kind of like Pittsburgh on the road, getting three points. I thought Kenny Pickett's play at the end of last

week was indicative of where he's come. The play that he threw the touchdown pass to the kid from George Pickens to win the game in the Raider game, I thought it was a clinic on quarterbacking in that he looked off coverage. He threw behind the safety that he looked. out of the way. He was accurate. He drove the ball on the line. There was a lot of good things there not to make too much of one play, but I thought there was a lot of video there that would be great teaching points. And I think Pittsburgh is going to sneak up on Baltimore. I think Baltimore has got some issues. I'm not sold on Baltimore being a deep playoff team run for sure. So I'm picking Pittsburgh and getting three points. We could do a whole show on Baltimore. I had them sort of down.

That's going to be coming up. There's such a weird team to be 10 and 5. you just feel bad about them. And there's the stuff that going on or not going on with Lamar Jackson and he's playing and he's not playing and the coach is coy about it. I think there's some stuff that's going to come out there. Now, you had written down maybe you were going to take Sincere as a one-point dog against Buffalo. Are you now coming off of that?

Oh, no, that was my other one. That's the one I couldn't find in my notes. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I am on the Joe Burrow bandwagon. They have one seven straight. I just think their defense is playing at a high level right now. And I think the highest level in the league,

They don't are as talented as San Francisco, but their defense plays good. Their defense coordinator is good. They play, and we've talked about this, how they play together. So I would definitely take a third game, and I would get one point. They're a one point underdog at home to Buffalo. I can't believe I'm betting against Josh Allen. But Cincinnati's won a lot of big games against big people this year, good teams. So I think this will be another one.

I got so many picks on here. We may have to extend the show. You're trying to get well. You're trying to get well all in game. I'm probably going to go about 0 for five. So here's what I got. I'm with you on Carolina. I'll take the three points against Tampa Bay.

I think what Tampa Bay is now is a team that other teams still get up to play because it's Brady. But Tampa, there's no getting up. They can't get up for anything. They're just not, they don't have it. So I love Carolina. I love Carolina. And that's just not a fun game for Tampa. Even though it is for, with the division on the line, it's a big game for them.

So we'll see if they can rally. I'm going to take the 49ers. It moved to minus seven. But I don't know what the Raiders are doing. it's just not winning football. And Gerich did him going against them. I mean, seven points I might have given that anyway, even if Carr was going. So I like the 49ers there.

Probably against my better judgment, I'll take Seattle with the two and a half at home against the Jets. Are you feeling good about Mike White? I know you liked him, but I don't know. I like Mike White. I like the Jets a little bit. I just don't know if they're capable of come across country and play in Seattle in Seattle. I don't know what we're going to get from Seattle. I agree.

He could get a really good game. So I just stayed away from it, but I could see that. I'm dumb. I'm dumb. I've been off of Seattle for a while, but I'm going to take that. I'm also with Cincinnati at a point, so that's four picks. I'm going to really run away. The other one is Aaron Rogers at the end of the Miami game, hey, we got a couple of these dome teams coming in.

He's the best. I tell you what. I love it, but I don't, still don't think they're that good. So I feel like they've got the table set. Hey, all we got to do is win these last two at home. I'm going to take the Vikings in three and a half and just say, you know, even if a Packers win, it's going to be a field goal or something late in the game. I'll take the three and a half. I think Green Bay is a little bit of hype. We'll see about that. You talked me into Pittsburgh, too.

I had that down. I got a little bit worried about it. But your eval on Kenny Pickett helps me on that. I don't know how Pittsburgh's 10 and 5 or how Baltimore's 10 and 5, but maybe Pittsburgh gets them this week. it just doesn't feel right with the Ravens. I think they're averaging about 16 points a game in the last seven, eight games, something like that. So I think Pittsburgh, and also I think Pittsburgh knows their scheme, can play them. I think Baltimore's one of those teams if you know how to play them. And I think they've had a good track record of playing them. Their staff defensively, all of that. So we will see how those go. Anything else, Mr. Jim? No, I think that's it. I apologize for being long-winded. We've gone over a little bit today. You weren't. Yeah, you know, that was me, because I have so many

more question. I have so many things on here. In fact, let's give them one more bonus because Risa can just cut it off if she wants to. But hey, are you buying, how are you feeling about Dallas going to the playoffs? You excited? You think they're one and done again, like always? I'm a little worried about their defense, believe it or not, because when I went back and looked at the tape on Micah Parsons, I saw a simplified, dumbed down defense to where everybody knew where Michael Parsons was lining up on every snap and there was no deception. So I know Dan Quiris, trying to make it simple so they can play fast. He's going to have to complicate it a little bit at some point to stop somebody.

When they were really doing things well early in the season, Micah Parsons was lining up everywhere. I haven't seen that at all. So I want to see them go back to the way they were doing things, create some turnovers, create some sacks with some deception on defense, with some alignments that offenses aren't ready to see. So I'm okay with Dak. I don't love the interceptions.

I think the offense will be fine. The defense to me is the one that's a little bit in peril right now. Yep. Awesome. We went a little bit overtime today, but it's great stuff. Appreciate it, Randy. Hope you have a good rest of the holiday, a new year, and we'll watch hopefully some better football this weekend. It was a little rough there on Sunday, wasn't it? A little rough? I was having a little trouble getting into it. I'll be honest with you. It was a lot of, I won't say bad ball, but it was a lot of mediocre ball for sure. Some mediocre ball. Fourth quarter of that Cardinal game, we kind of, you know, did some family stuff.

I don't know. I kind of had one eye on it, but it wasn't like my normal, watching. So hopefully we get some good games. Hopefully everyone has a happy new year. Happy holidays for Randy Mueller, the GM who you can find at muellerfootball.com and on Twitter at Randy Mueller underscore. I am Mike Sandow, senior writer for the athletic at Sandow NFL on Twitter. We will talk to you next time. This was the Athletic Football Show.