The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: He Was In His Bo's

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

Mike Schur sticks around after his January Observations to discuss a classic Stugotz moment, Bill Belichick's lack of offers, why the Taylor Swift criticism might backfire on the right, and to share a couple of NBA Stats of the Day. Then, Mina Kimes is here! Mina shares her thoughts on Ben Johnson and the Lions, her Top 3 Innovative Coaches in football, Steve Spagnuolo's brilliance, college coaches leaving for the NFL, the Ravens decision to abandon the run, and this season of True Detective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network. This is the Don Lebatore Show with the Stugatz Podcast. So you've never heard that? It's one of the... She learned of it when you said it. We explained it. Maybe the funniest thing I've ever heard. All right, I think we're out to 80. All right, Dan bring us in.

I did not listen to this. He then, and then he blamed Billy. He was like, I think Billy typed it wrong. Yup. Well, thank you for bringing all of that up, Mike, because we will play that for the audience and for Lucy because she's never heard it. And even though Mike was just trying to count us in,

we already started. So video catch up to what we're doing. And let's play the sound of Stu gots reading a bow on a mobile incorrectly. Let's go to a, I can't read this person's name. 80. Wow. I think Billy typed an eight instead of a B. Fine. It's a clear as day. Two dollars. Wow. Yeah. What's up? And he's only gotten worse from there. Do you have a stat of the day, Mike? Sure. Because we're too busy doing your weekend observations and didn't get to the stat of the day. I have two stats of the day. Oh, wow. This is very exciting.

He hasn't been around for a while. So Lucy, what are you laughing at? You're still laughing at Bo 80. He's like, I can't read this. It's two letters. I can't read this person. So confused. Let's go to a, I can't read this person's name. 80. He's like, I got two options here. Which one am I going to go with? But the option you might go with is letters, but no, I can't read this person's name. Surely their name must be 80. Let's go to a, I can't read this person's name. 80. You're right. You not only blames Billy. He then tries to find Billy. He says, is that

a face? I think Billy typed an eight instead of a B is that a fine? Let's try to, uh, I can't read this person's name. 80. Wow. I think Billy typed an eight instead of a B five. It's a clear as day. Wow. Yeah. What's up? What's up? Can you imagine what it's like to be married to him because that's what it always is when you're married to him But somehow Stu gots always wins because there is a player on the Packers named Bo Melton Number 80. How about that? Let's go out to 80. I love it Is that the guy I used to call for the Packers fat number 80 because I think I don't think I did forget anyways

Let's play the stat of the day music start of the day start of the day start of the day start of the day start of the day in this year start of the day start of the day start of the day in this year start of the day start of the day start of the day, start of the day, it is the start of the day. You are muted, sure. Oh no. That's fine. That is fine. Huge fine. You can start over.

I thought there was like a pregnant pause. He was talking. You didn't see that his lips were moving. I'm still a quest. I have two NBA stats for you, uh, both from optostats. The Nix allowed 124.8 points per game in December and a hundred and a hundred point one in January, 24.7 fewer points from one month to the next. That's the largest drop in NBA history, minimum 10 games, seven points per game ahead of the next biggest

drop, which was 17.7 by the spurs from November to December of 87. What is that 25 fewer points a game? It's OG. That's it. Well, and they have two guys who did not really play defense who are not on the team anymore. I just swapped out the impulse guys and brought in the IQ guys. I mean, ironically, they lost the IQ guy and that increased their IQ. Here's your second stat. Last month, Devin Booker over four road games scored 204 points. He is only the second player in NBA history to score 200 points in

four straight road games. The other is Wilt Chamberlain, who did it 24 times. Oh my god. Mike, I want to ask you something because there's breaking NFL news that Dan Quinn has been hired by the Washington Commanders, which means that we've gone an entire hiring cycle of coaches and Bill Belichick, who is 14 games away from tying Don Shula's wins record, will go unemployed. This NFL coaching cycle, your Patriots fan, did you ever think there would be a day where Bella check would leave the Patriots hidden open market and there would be no suitors really? You know, I don't think that I would have predicted it specifically, but he's 71.

He doesn't want to coach anywhere where he can't also be the GM. He's not a good GM. So it doesn't really shock me. Like I, I don't know. I don't know what organization is gonna bring that guy in and turn over the keys to both jobs to him completely. I don't know who's, the Falcons were a good match in some ways

because they play in a crummy division and because they're sort of like, they're like the Hawks. They're like a more abundant mediocre franchise that is 500 every year. And there was a chance that Arthur blank would go like, yeah, just, just try it. Let's just try this and see if this works. But it actually weirdly doesn't surprise me because the trend in the league is young guys who are smart and advanced. And that's just not him. You're a now of the Hollywood stature where you develop the projects and you

pitch to other people. Have you ever had an opportunity to work on a project where someone legendary is attached? And part of you is like, I just want to do this to work with this person. The way that I'm drawing it to Bill Belichick's conversation is how, if you're an NFL owner, do you not jump at the opportunity to be like, look, this could be a disaster. I don't want to give up all that control. But I get to say at the owner's meetings 10 years from now, that I got to work with the greatest of all time, like choosing to not have that

work experience. And I know you've outlined the reasons why I just feel like there's so much that you could learn from the experience. It would be too hard for me to pass up. Yeah. It's not a crazy thing to say, but these guys don't care. I don't think like I think that you, if you're, those NFL owners are such monsters and there's such competition to Halix that like, they just want to win. And so I, I'd see if one, one of them had to believe that Belichick was going to turn his franchise into a winning franchise immediately. And I guess none of them thought that that was the way to go. They're all going after, you know, the, the, you know, Sean, make the next Sean McVeigh instead of this sort of, you know,

Marv Lee, we didn't get a job after he left the bills. I think it's a similar thing where it's like, yeah, we just want a 38 year old. He was in his 80s though. He was in his 80s. He was in his bows. He was in his bows. Let me read this quote to you because it's not a surprising quote necessarily,

but I did think it was interesting that Tom Brady's father put his name on this quote of Bill Belichick quote, he runs a military system. It's a different generation. Bill is a great, quote, he runs a military system. It's a different generation. Bill is a great, great, great coach, but his interpersonal skills are horrible. Not surprising, but I was surprised to hear Tom Brady's father say it nonetheless. Yeah. Well, you know, there, that family is obviously deeply invested in the narrative

that he, that Brady was the one who was responsible. So it doesn't really surprise me, but I also, I think he's right. That's what everybody says. It's like, it's like Shyshevsky. It's like you buy into his military system or you don't. And I don't, I don't think that there's a lot of evidence that outside of New England, that's the way to go. That's not, I mean, Dan Campbell might be like intense, but I don't think he's, you know, finding it's not the Tom Coughlin thing where it's like, you have to be on time and being on time means 15 minutes early. Like, I don't think guys want that anymore. Just the gutted, my gut instinct. I don't

know. You may not have an answer for this, but has there ever been a project that you were Luke warm on, but you just had to do because of the people attached and the work experience that would go with it? I personally know, I don't think so, but I do know there are people who are like, who take like movie rewrite jobs because they're like, this movie stinks, but whoever is the star. And I just want to like work with that person. Yeah, that definitely does happen, but it's also less of a, you know,

taking a movie rewrite job, isn't running a team and a franchise. You're not as front and center and responsible for the success or failure. It's just a sort of like, I'm going to hang out for like a month and a half with this team of people and get that experience. It's not like, I mean, directing a movie is a bigger, maybe a better analogy. Cause it's like, that's your name is going to be at the front of that movie and it's going to, you're going to take the hit or get the credit.

And I think that's the better analogy. So if I were like an in-demand actor and I was approached by Michael Mann, I would take it knowing that he makes everyone's lives hell, but I'm like, I got to see this for my, for myself. I need to know what it's like to almost die in a favela. There are, if you look at Matt Damon's IMDB, Matt Damon has basically done that his whole career. He's chosen, he's chosen projects. And it seems to me just based on like, I want to work with every great director

and some of the movies aren't amazing and he hasn't, you know, they haven't all succeeded, but he's basically worked with every great director of the last 50 years, at least once. And I think my, my, I've always felt like that was why he chose those movies. Like I just want to be in a Terry Gilliam movie. I want to be in a Coppola movie. I don't care what it is. I just want the experience of being on a set and having that person direct me. It's not a bad way to live.

Did he do a movie with Paul Thomas Anderson? I don't, I don't know if he did. Let me ask you this question, Mike, before you get out of here, as a liberal Hollywood elitist who is terrified by what comes this way in November, what do you do with what's presently happening around Taylor Swift? I think that the, the weird in like fascination with her from the right is one of the, they've done a lot of dumb things. I think that might be the dumbest thing they've ever done.

Like it's such a bizarre, I don't even know, what are they getting out of it? I don't know. I, I guess they see, I mean, they just use anything they can find as a wedge. So I guess that they have some research or belief that they can create a wedge with her. But I mean, see, I think it's just fear. They just fear her power. I don't think they like that a specifically that a woman is, is that has this kind of sway over the culture and they're just, they're just running at it. And I think it's really stupid. The question is, can the Democrats get out of their own

way and actually use it to their advantage. And traditionally the answer to that question has been no, they, they do a terrible job of, of counter attacking. So I don't know if they'll be able to capitalize on it, but man, is it dumb. I don't feel like these conversations go anywhere though. When one side says it's dumb and the other side continues to accrue power while we're saying it's dumb. Like I keep saying some of these things are dumb and I keep seeing more and more power and more and more people angry, people, you know,

people partaking in white grievance. I keep seeing the army get stronger and more armed. Well, I don't, I think it's dumb because I think it'll backfire. I think it's dumb because I think it'll backfire. I think it's dumb because she's, she's the savviest person in the world. I don't know if you read the big cover story about her in the New York Times Sunday magazine a couple of months ago,

but she is, she has figured out how to talk directly to her fans without any intermediaries. And so if they think they can get between her and her fans, I think they're wrong. And so whatever they try to do to, you know, throw a wrench in the works of whatever it is, however involved she wants to be in this election cycle, I think they're wrong. I think it'll back fire. That's what I mean when I say it's dumb. Not that, I mean, it's also just dumb in the general sense of it being a dumb thing to do, but I think it's dumb because I don't think it'll work.

Mike, good talking to you. Good seeing you again. Don't be such a stranger. Bye, folks. Stugaz here, when you love someone, you protect them in the best ways you can. That's why I recommend Simply Safe Home Security. It's an advanced system that protects every inch of your home

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you. Right now you can get 20% off any new SimplySafe system when you sign up for the FastProtect monitoring. Just visit simplysafe.com slash DLB. That's simplysafe.com slash DLB. That's simply safe.com slash DLB. There's no safe like simply safe. Don Lebatard. Yes, you can't talk about a double digit national titles when every single call of you winning the national title sounds like this. Oh, there's there's stubby jacket running down his eye line. If the audio.

That's not true. Yeah. And there's a wall wall to veteran pitching into another white guy and he avoids another white guy Oh my god, not a name the fighting Irish have done it again for the eighth time I'm a pying white people Spookats, Shubby Checker I'm sorry I'm sorry He's black

He's black and I was really going He was a white named Shubby Checker I picked him like, I'm sorry, man. I'm improv in here. It's a pretty cool riff. He smells it differently. Maybe you didn't hear me correctly. His name is Chubby Checkers.

It's an S at the end. I feel like that should be the largest of fives. And Chubby Checker, it sounds like a college football name. This is the Dan Lebatar Show with the Stugats. I forgot to mention when Mike Schur was on with us, he's got Dave Roberts on the podcast that he does with Joe Poznancki, a part of the Lebatard & and show LeBatard and Friends Network. And the podcast is excellent on baseball and other things.

And Mike sure says that Dave Roberts was delightful, also delightful. Mina Kimes and her dog Lenny do a podcast together. If you want maximum football information where she totally geeks out on all of the minutiae that will make you learn football and enjoy all the things the wonderful Mina Kimes is. The Mina Kimes show with Lenny is something that you should check out. I have a couple of coaching questions for you. The first I have because Mike Florio is going out after Adam Schefter on what he's calling

irresponsible reporting around Ben Johnson. That's not the part I find most interesting. The part I find most interesting. The part I find most interesting is that Ben Johnson was reportedly seeking $15 million a year and the Seattle job and the Washington job seeming perfect. So he goes back as offensive coordinator to the Lions. What do you think really happened here? It's a really good question because there's so much smoke around a decision like this, especially the fact that it's not just happened one year, but the prior year, right?

Ben Johnson was the head coaching candidate last year. There was a lot of buds about him in Carolina. He goes back to Detroit. That kind of made sense because we're like, I don't know how good the Carolina job is. Go back, build your resume, you have your choice. Then this year, he seems to have his choice. So for him to go back again build your resume, you have your choice, then this year he seems to have his choice. So for him to go back again is curious. And I think to say that he is going back because he just loves Detroit and he's so loyal and he wants to win a Super Bowl and screw those other teams,

I have my doubts about that. And I think it's plausible maybe those jobs weren't on the table for him, the ones at the end that he wanted. Perhaps money was a factor. It's impossible to know exactly whether it was like, well, I'm going to dump you before you dump me situation with him. I do think, however, and Dominique, I talked just about this a little bit on my show earlier this week, while it might not be that he returned to Detroit purely because out of the goodness of his heart or his love of the lions and his desire and his super bowl, it is undeniable that it is a good job. I don't know what he's making there, but I suspect it's a lot. I suspect he likes working for Dan Campbell. He has total autonomy over the offense. I think all those things are true without knowing exactly what the money piece was.

I'm not going to tell you anything about the personnel you're getting. I just tell me to kind of, you're starting a franchise right now of all the coaches who are available, everyone coordinators, everyone, your top three people that you believe are so innovative that you absolutely must start. It's going to sound like a Homer here. Uh, you think so? She's been, she's been touting Mike McDonald since the beginning though.

Yeah, but I'd be crazy. Dan, you're asking me to pick from the current. Everybody, I'm saying you're starting right now. So she'll go like Shanahan. I'm not going to speak for you anymore. Oh, okay, Mike. You want to say something? Man's explaining the mean of football.

Well, Dan, I just think it's a lot less interesting if you go with the current crop of head coaches because those answers are obvious. It's clear. It's Andy Reed. It's Kyle Shanahan who also obviously, not just because they're the two coaches in the Super Bowl, but because of their innovativeness in terms of offense and the fact that they've clearly done a good job for so long.

I would say this, I, you know, I love John Harbaugh, I'm a huge fan of his, but I do think Sean McVeigh might be my third because I was so impressed by what he did this year. The way that offense has evolved, this was a team, the Los Angeles Rams, that I didn't think would be competitive. Now, some of that was because I didn't know what version of St. Matthew Stafford would be, would get, and he came back and was awesome coming back from the elbow injury. But I really think McVeigh deserves a ton of credit for the way he's navigated hardship and the way he's onboarded new players. And if you're asking

me the question, okay, building from nothing or rather, you know, with a huge question mark and personnel, I'd like what he's done so far. And it gives me confidence that he could replicate the same thing with whatever happens. And he's also found a way with his progressive hiring practices to help the team's draft capital situation

by just an incredible eye for talent and an ability to develop them. Yeah, he has, you know, we do friends of McVay as a joke, but I'm glad, Mike, you make a good point. It's, I think we have associated that with, well, it's just the young, hot, white offensive coordinator of the week, but it's, that's not true. As we're saying this cycle with Raheem Morris

getting that head coaching job after being a defensive coordinator. And I'll this cycle with Raheem Morris getting that head coaching job after being a defensive coordinator. And I'll say this about Raheem Morris too, not every team is so aggressive in promoting the coaches on their staff. I think the Rams now there's obviously a benefit with the draft picks for sure. But I think there's a true belief there that we want our young coaches to succeed. Mina, for years, the hot name of the assistant who hasn't been a head coach yet has been Eric Bienami.

And then last year, kind of surprisingly, he goes to the lateral move to go to Washington. Washington has a job opening. His name really isn't mentioned much in that. And now it's gone to someone else and all the jobs are filled. What happened to Eric Bienami? I thought he was the hot name. Why is he not the hot name anymore? It's a good question. A lot of it is just that the offense wasn't successful this year. I would

pin most of that on the quarterback or, you know, the lack of answers. When it came to the quarterback position, you get a hot start with Sam Howell as the year goes on. He has his ups and downs. He's injured at some points, holds onto the football very long, takes a lot of sacks, a lot of negative plays. And how much is that you wanna pin on, Howell versus Biennamy, not, you know, I guess changing those habits or getting him to evolve as a quarterback,

I think that's a reasonable criticism. I would also say this, there were stories this year about the management side of things. You had players, I wouldn't say this, there were stories this year about the management side of things. You had players, I wouldn't say being like outright critical of Biennami's leadership style, but you guys remembered, there were stories about some friction in Washington. And I think from ownership standpoint, when you're looking at head coaches

that probably factored in, I don't know, I can't speak to how he actually is as a leader, but I would contrast it with, again, go back into the Boree Morris hire or maybe the Brian Callahan hire, where you have so many players and so many coaches speaking on behalf of them and talking about what great leaders they are and how much they've helped them.

You haven't really had that coming out of Washington. Let me ask you this because Mike had it right when he dance-blamed there, and it did make it more predictable when I went all coaches among the schemers, the McDonald's and the McDaniel, among the Ben Johnson's. Give me your top three people who are going to create a schematic advantage and therefore I want to start with whatever it is they bring in terms of innovation. advantage and therefore I want to start with whatever it is they bring in terms of innovation.

Okay. Well, I mean, I would still go with Kyle Shanahan, uh, there. So are you, we're talking existing coaches, the next coordinators, you got McDonald. They just went in Seattle. They just went half as young. Pete Carroll was 72. I don't know what's too young, but they've got a 36 year old coach in Seattle now because he's supposed to be a mastermind. You know what's interesting about that? I'll give you a name that is a guy who I don't think was associated with any head coaching jobs this cycle. I don't believe he interviewed and you didn't hear his name and that's Steve Spagnolo, which is, it was funny, the AFC championship. I was thinking, Oh my God, like it was the display of defense. I think we can all agree. And I was thinking, Oh my God, Spagnola's been in the league forever.

Mike McDonald is 36 and he's like the hot young thing. And probably both of these guys are my top two when it comes to defense in the NFL right now, which is, I think kind of cool. It shows you it's not really about age. It's just about creativity, innovation. Are you constantly changing, especially in response to how these elite quarterbacks play?

And there's some similarities in DNA with those defenses, the use of simulated pressures, which is where you show blitz and then guys drop back into coverage and it causes the offensive line and quarterback to be confused. Both of those defenses, Baltimore and Kansas City, did that a lot this year. Now, Kansas City brought pressure more,

which you saw in that game and in a creative fashion. But there are two of my favorite units to watch in football all season long because of the ingenuity on defense. The way they were constantly showing quarterbacks one picture and then changing the picture post snap. Sometimes, you know, multiple times, I think you have to have, unless you have absolutely elite players at every level, and there's a couple of defenses that are there, but you saw one of them in Cleveland, I think,

struggle in the playoffs, that's what you want right now. You want a defensive coordinator who is going to use scheme to confuse quarterbacks, and both those guys do that really well. You know, how ashamed should David Kanalis be that he wrote a book that nobody read, heard of, or bought? Well now everybody's heard of. Okay, Dan and I were texting a little bit about this, the book about marriage that I

believe, I haven't read it, so reveals, there's some revelations about infidelity and addiction and overcoming that to build a strong marriage. I mean, look, that's lovely. And I think it's also about faith. My reaction to it was, and I'm sure you guys have your thoughts on this, it's interesting to me that the, correct me if I'm wrong, the revelation of the interesting to me that the, correct me if I'm wrong, the revelation of the porn addiction is more stigmatized than infidelity. Is that, do we agree with that? Let's chew on it more in the post.

Yeah, we will do that. Also put on the poll the way she said that, just porn addiction, question mark, and yes or no. Yes, the way she limped in with that. Lucy, did you have any thoughts on something unusual? Boston college, I don't know if that's a great job, but a head coach at Boston college is now going to become a defensive coordinator in the NFL. And some of these guys who are working in college are tired of what a mess college football is. I thought it was interesting

that a head coach that seems, that feels a bit like a demotion, unless you want to get the hell out of college. You think going from being, sorry, you asked Lucy. I'm so sorry. Quit mansplaining. I'm here all the time. Go ahead Lucy. Lucy, maybe tell me if you agree, how is that a demotion going from me,

the head coach of Boston college, no offense to Boston college to being one of 32 defensive coordinators in the NFL. I don't think like I've seen some of the like, oh my God, NIL, even if it wasn't a thing that would be a job, I imagine most coaches would be jumping to take. Yeah. I don't think it's a demotion at all. Boston college was pretty rough under Jeff Haffley. They just got to bowl eligibility last season. But I think the big thing about it is that according to ESPN, a source said he is leaving the Boston College job because of NIL and the transfer portal and because college football wasn't what he wanted it to be when he originally

took the Boston College job, and that's why he's leaving. And I do know from the agent side, the NFL is actually reducing some of the salaries for assistant coaches because they just don't want any part of college. College salaries have to surpass, for surpass in some instances to attract some of these people to get into this wild world, as you've seen with the Tennessee lawsuit and the NCAA trying to come back and litigate some of this stuff when the cat's out of the bag already. It's, it's not every personality type is made for this nonsense. I guess I want to, I don't think, I wasn't saying it's something they would leap at because of

the money, but rather the prestige of being, being the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers is an extremely like prestigious and alluring position. It's also one that I think is a great opportunity because it's a unit that's underperformed relative to its talent level over the last few years, especially recently with Joe Barry. Like that's a great job for a defensive minded head coach as a young defense with a lot of first round talent that he should be able to get better play out of.

The dynamics right now with money and NIL and assistance and it's very interesting. But as I look across the landscape at the guys who have gotten hired, not just as head coaches, but assistance, the Harbaugh situation I think is pretty unique because John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh of course was in the NFL. It's been no secret he's wanted to go back to the NFL and naturally he would take his defensive coordinator with him. But outside of that, and this half Lee hiring, they're not really dipping into the college ranks. It's not like we're seeing a mass exodus of coaches. To me, it feels like folks are just, you know, eager to kind of pin everything on NIL yet again. You're not seeing a mass exodus, but you're not noticing when a guy like Joe Brady,

who's like the next great college football head coach and candidate decides, I'll be a quarterbacks coach at Carolina and build my career there because I want no part of this. We're not aware of the people that are just hardlining. No, I will not go to college. People that are on the same staffs

that are king making staffs, such as the 49ers and Rams, everybody, including college ed coaches, won at that. And there are hard nose right now. Walls being built up. Mina, stay there. We're gonna come back with you after this.

Don Lebatard. I feel like we need to normalize saying these scientific terms for organs on the air. Like if someone, yes. You know what? If someone takes a foul ball to the penis, we should just say he took a foul ball to the penis. Say it.

Stugads. That freak can't get him right in the cockadoodle-doo. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugads. ["Stugads"] There's two guys. ["The Buffalo Bills"] Mike mentioned Joe Brady, who was announced this week. He's going to be, he's keeping the job as the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills. Again, to me, like, this is a guy who, from what I've heard, has always been extremely ambitious

who wanted to be an NFL head coach. This, you know, the fact that he went back to Carolina, worked his way back to Buffalo, and it's now has the opportunity to get back into that conversation. This just strikes me as being much more about the NFL and the ambition of being one of, you know, having one of these very rare 32 jobs. I don't know without talking to him what his exact motivations are, but you guys can tell me if I'm being overly NFL centric

in my views, but from the conversations I've had with coaches over the years, that's still the dream for most of them is to have one of these jobs. Yeah, maybe you are being a little NFL centric. Not to do, why am I a mansplainer? Lucy, can you get in here, please Lucy? Yeah, but you mentioned Joe Brady. College versus NFL, what's the better job?

What do you want? You mentioned Joe Brady and I just know from Miami's pursuit. Sure. They hired him as an offensive coordinator and he grew up a Miami Hurricanes fan. And I know a lot of the logic there was where, not only where the sport was at that time,

but projecting the lawlessness that would follow in the years to come. I think we're underestimating how much recruiting sucks. Recruiting is the worst. I know a lot of coaches would be happy to take a slight pay decrease to not have to recruit. I'm not saying that NFL coaches have a work-life balance or normal lives whatsoever,

but I think it's probably easier to lead a normal life when you're not on the road every week and trying to convince 17-year-olds to come play at Boston College. And with Joe Brady that was also part of the deal. You don't have to worry at all about recruiting. Mario Cristobal will do all of it and still just no part of that. This is an interesting thought experiment though Mina. So if you're, you objected very strongly to what I was saying, I would say you're NFL centric, but where would I have to put the college head coaching job for you not to consider

that a demotion? Like because surely you don't think you sure you're making it because Boston college isn't a great job. But where whose job would I have to give you before you said, okay, that's a demotion to take the Packers defensive coordinator job. If this person was a head coach at this college, I mean, you know, one of the big eight or so potentially, even so though, I actually believe there were head coaches at teams that we think might be in the college football playoffs next year, whatever,

who would want to have that opportunity to have that path to being an NFL head coach. I think Lucy makes a great point about the recruiting, which of course, that's always been an issue. And I think it's a great point because when we consider these coaches and what their ambitions are and what the dream job is for them, personality factors into it as well. I, you know, I think some coaches just don't want to build programs that way. They want to be in a more professional environment and have employees and have people working for them who handle all that stuff.

They don't want to be the god of a small town. So I think some guys, it really just comes down to like what their personalities are like, the actual nature of the job. And that's something you can't do a sweeping generalization. Some guys just that they would love to just stay in a small town forever, own the job, own the program, not be questioned every year, that kind of thing that comes with the NFL, because with the NFL, you know, there's a lot of job insecurity as well.

You have to deal with, you have to, it's a what have you done for a late league type of league, whether you're a head coach or a coordinator, and that is probably not appealing to certain players, certain coaches. Best explanation you have heard for why it is that the Baltimore Ravens abandoned the run? I think that this, there's a couple of things. The success they had early on in that first drive, throwing the ball and the success the Chiefs had offensively on those first two drives,

somehow put the Ravens and I would say both Monkin and Lamar Jackson because there were plays where he pulled it to throw. I think you got to acknowledge that as well or he was reluctant to scramble, which is part of their run game. I think they were in the mindset early in the game based on how those first couple of drives both sides, oh, we're going to have to be explosive to keep up with Kansas City. That was not true. I don't think they had to be explosive to keep up with Kansas City. That was not true. I don't think they had to be explosive. And I think if they had stuck with the run game, they could have played their style of football. Um,

to me it was just about who's the quarterback on the other side of the field. And it almost like God, and I suspect, I don't know, it got into their heads. So you, you saw the video of Odell yelling, the audio of Odell yelling, what are we doing? We normally run the ball, why, you change the game when you run the ball. You think it has more to do with Baltimore failing to do something than Kansas City doing something to Baltimore.

Yeah, yeah. And first of all, the Chiefs defense played really, really well. I thought some of the Blitzes were really creative. The execution of the matters, that defense is fantastic. The physicality and coverage, it has been a story all season long. However, the single biggest matchup Baltimore had in that game was their run game against Kansas City's defense, which had been bad against the run all year long.

27th in DVOA versus the run. Not toward the end they weren't. They weren't bad toward the end. The last month of the season, they were not banned. They were not. It was a weakness of this team that Baltimore could have exploited. Yeah. And they had, and they had players out, which I guess to Spags's credit, called them arguably one of the greatest DCs of all time. The injury is that they, they went into that game on the defensive side of the ball would kind of nuke a lot of defensive coordinators. A mild spoiler alert here. I'm going to do my best to not actually get into spoilers,

but true detective season four is approaching the midway point of the season. And I am all about this show. And mainly, and here's a spoiler, time is a flat circle as we learned in season one of true detective. And this is lining up to be a mirror image. I'm going back and watching true detective season one of true detective. And this is lining up to be a mirror image. I'm going back and watching true detective season one because it is a perfect supplement to this season. There are so many similarities between the two that are intentional. And if you seize on certain lines that Russ Cole said,

you could see him kind of projecting season four of true detective. I'm in love with this show. I think the performances are great. I think because it's a mirror image of season one, then a lot of what happened in season one is, is this going supernatural, hard lean into supernatural? And then there's a logical explanation for it. I think your theory is right there. Mina, how are you liking true detective season four? I am liking it better than the last two seasons. I think that they're, yeah. Are you kidding me? Season two and three?

I think most people are on this. It's not, that's not a hot take. I think most people are. I don't think it's a hot, especially season two. Good guy. Season two. Season two. Wildly.

Wildly underrated. I do think that it's the connections to season one. Like it feels a little bit like the show is more about Easter eggs than about pushing forward and doing something interesting personally. However, I am liking the tone, the visuals and the performances and I'm giving it time. It hasn't sucked me in the exact same way season one did though.

That's probably the right now. You're kind of getting put off a little bit by some of the Easter eggs because some of these things are looking like major plot points and that an apparition appears that is directly related to Rust. That's the part that I was like season one walked the line where you're like is it supernatural or is it and that's what made it fun having a full-on ghost out there I'm like well come on what are we what are we doing? Yeah. Well, we don't know what to go. It could be a, you know, she's imagining it or something. It might be explained as psychosis. Yeah.

I think I'm excited to see where it gets rooted in reality. Yeah. And that seems to be from the first few episodes, a real challenge to dig yourself out of this. Isn't all the way supernatural. I mean, bodies go missing. Like it's, it's, it's, it's going to be hard to rationalize out of this isn't all the way supernatural. I mean, bodies go missing. Like it's gonna be hard to rationalize all of this, but it is almost to the episode lining up in conjunction with where season one was going down to the connection between the two detectives in Night Country and what is the tie that binds.

I find it a fascinating supplement to one of the best seasons of television we've ever seen. I think that's sort of what you're getting at though is like there's different, some people love television for the Easter eggs and for going on the Reddit and trying to figure things out and unpacking it. And I get that. And I think this, this season is really catering to that in a way.

That's not what I love about television, generally even detective genre. Like I'm not, I don't enjoy true detective because I'm trying to solve the crime and figure out, okay, this symbol was here, this symbol was here. Or I guess this is all television. For me, it's more about plot and performances. And I don't think a season is quite there

in terms of like the plot really sucking me in. But again, that could change. There's a lot of ballgame left. Least favorite true detective so far. Really easily. Literally everyone says to, oh my God. No, I wasn't a question. You think this is worse than two? This is worse than two.

He was not asking that like a question like porn addiction? No, he was asking, he was just saying that that was so. Mina, I want the next time we talk to you, you've got good taste, your top 10 television shows of all time, okay? Because I want you to pare it down for us. I can't do it right now? In 10 seconds?

You have 10 seconds, go ahead. Okay, the leftovers, take three. Eastbound and down. And two, one, wait. You gotta go, you gotta go! You're blasting the sound attack into my ears. Friday night lights, on catch fire.