The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Big Suey: Joey's Star Turn (feat. Dianna and Joey Russini)

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

"You seem like you have enough problems." We're riding the coaching carousel as Dianna provides updates from across the NFL, but she's just a bit distracted by her kid throwing up in the other room. Also, remember when we got three weeks of shows out of Belichick and Brady going for it on 4th and 2 from their own 28? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit Ancestry.ca slash New Year for more details. Terms apply. Welcome to the big suey, presented by Draft Kings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that. In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there.

That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching man to nowhere, fat face, and the habit. Bet you a liar. This episode of the Dan Levitart show is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings. The Crown is yours. Mike McDaniel, without Tua, without Tua is 4 and 9 and averages 14.3 points per game without

Tua. And I don't know what you guys think a coach brings or can bring, but I did not have the Seattle Seahawks being able to make Kyle Shanahan's rushing offense and offense in general look totally incompetent. That's the most incompetent. I have seen the 49ers offense look empirically. It's not even just me making it up. That's the worst that that offense can look because they can run against anybody and they could not run against Seattle. Diana Rusini is on with us now. She's the senior NFL insider for the athletic. She's the host of the Scoop City podcast. She is immersed in all of this coaching carousel stuff. Look at her. I could see her taking text,

getting text. She needs to find out what's going on with Iber flus in Dallas. He's been fired in Dallas. She needs to know. Tell us what's going on, Diana. What's got to? Everyone's insane with coaching carousel stupidity. Well, it moves so fast, but also it is kind of sick how, you know, we quickly will report a firing. And the responses are always, well, who are they hiring? Right. Like everyone, there's like, there's no grace. There's no morning. Everyone's just ready for the next, ripping and throw. But it's, it's an interesting time right now, okay? Because you have a lot of teams actually watching to see what coaches are going to become

available or which, you know, coordinators are going to maybe get fired here to, so a lot of organizations are kind of making a decision almost based on what other teams are going to do as well. Like that's always like the second layer to this. Yesterday we had those firings that I don't think, I don't think any of those were surprised. to you guys. Maybe the Rahim one got you. Pete Carroll after a year? Pete?

That surprised you? After a year? He's a million years old. I know, but I just, look, he's pretty accomplished. A year and he can't do it anymore? He doesn't know how to do it. Yeah, correct. Okay. Yeah, no, no. You watch them. Okay.

Respectfully, I think we can have a conversation about Pete Carroll as a head coach as being tremendous, okay? But I don't think we're going to remember this time in Vegas. I don't want to remember this time in Vegas. when I think about P. Caro, I think what he had there in terms of how that was set up, I always felt like there wasn't a good connection between what they wanted to do in the front office, what the coaching staff wanted to do. It just felt a little disjointed there from the start. And this is what happens. You don't win a lot of games. Any chance Bill Belichick gets a head

coaching job in the NFL. How are you not commenting on the fact that my camera looks like it's drunk right now? And it's totally my fault. Sorry, I kicked it. It's ridiculous. I got to say, Joey's puking in the other room right now. What happened with Joey? What's going on with Joey? Oh, man, we got it.

You know, 10 days off of, from daycare, they go back. I got a call right before I hopped on. Come get Joey threw up on everybody. So he's in the other room watching trains. He gave me this. This is going to be something I'm going to give him in a little while. He still got the egg obsession. He hasn't outgrown the egg obsession.

No, he's obsessed with it. So we got him one of those Play-Doh eggs, you know? So it's like, it's not a real one. So we don't keep finding the rotten eggs around the house. And he knows, like, this is a fake egg. I need real. I want to be able to see the yolk and crack it all over the house. So, yeah.

Um, no, I don't think Bill Belichick is a serious candidate in the NFL. I don't. I think his best shot was probably before North Carolina. And when I say best shot, meaning at least some, organizations talked about it, right? And obviously, we knew with Atlanta before they fired Rahim the year before, there was a chance there. But I have not spoken to a team right now.

You guys aren't doing the coaching carousel stuff with enthusiasm. Greg Cote's knee gave, Roy, you've been indifferent. I know, all your vibes are very low today. What is it? Are you not entertained by this cycle because there's not a lot of great... Squatting right now. I've been doing squats for 15 minutes and Dan thinks it's sustainable. Doing it for three minutes.

Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick's a college coach. Marcus Freeman announced that he's returning to Notre Dame. Are there any other college coaches in play for NFL jobs? No, I'm not in touch with any team right now that is in the college market. I just think a lot of these teams are nervous about that first-time head coaching experience, right? Because we've seen not a lot of success. Ben Johnson is obviously the poster for, wow.

if we could just get someone like this. I just don't think in this crop of candidates, there's someone like that. Liam Cohn, done an amazing job with Jacksonville. Duval. And Duval, although, I mean, we're kind of, what better way to give it back to all of us for mocking him for that than doing it.

These guys are making fun of me saying my carousels, no good. It's not on one of the horses. I'm on one of the, the chariots. The chariots. Yeah, me too. You were not going to get her to get on the horse in there. What were you were moving? What are you saying?

Who is the chariot? No one was not doing. That's horse! You weren't a horse, damn! Get on the horse! What were you saying? Who picks the chariot? No one goes on that.

Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. show on the merry go round does anyone pick the chariot? Yeah, when you go on last, there's nothing left. Yes, that was the worst, right? As a kid, when you're like, good, and get the pony. Can I wait for the next one? Give me something exciting on the coaching carousel.

Something that's not Iberfluse flooding your texts. Oh, yeah, we're already past that. That wasn't. I'm watching Washington. I want to see what they do here. There's been some reporting that I've done over the last few days about Cliff Kingsbury. What's his future going to be there? Is he going to get another job as a head coach somewhere or is Washington

also going to consider moving on from him? I mean, come on though, Diana. He looked pretty good when Jane Daniels was healthy. Him and McLaurin played three games together this year. Correct. Correct. And the quarterback and Cliff have a very good relationship and you can't blame him for injuries. But I think there's also another factor in all this when you're looking at the Washington offense, which is teams figured it out as well. Right? So there has to be, I think, a part of this that has to evolve. And look, Dan Quinn wants it to be a certain way. So I'm interested in that. I'm watching that. And then the bigger one is Baltimore. Right? You think that's going to happen. That's a real thing. The last four seasons of Baltimore have ended in unbelievably heartbreaking fashion. All four of the seasons are sort of a randomness at the end that ends up happening that is just totally crushing. That is, that is. just random ball, Diane. It's not the coach's fault.

It's not, but look, how many times have we looked at these organizations and said, you know, maybe change is good. Maybe this would be good. Now, I don't actually think Baltimore will fire him. Of course, now that I said it, that's going to happen because that's what happens on the show. I do think there could be some tweaking, some changes, right? We'll see what they do at the coordinator position. but to end it like that at a time

in a year where, you know, you don't have Joe Burrow playing the playoffs and you've got a shot to go... Roy. Why are you not carouseling? Why are you sitting there staring into your phone telling me you're carouseling correctly? I'm trying to check my heart rate right now.

Whoa. And I'm in the cart. What was that whoa? Diana, what is the text you just got? I need people to pay attention to this show and what we're doing here. I need Roy to be doing the carousel with some enthusiasm. I'm having a heart attack, Dan. And I need Diana to get up. I got a text from somebody about Brian Flores. They just asked. They said, what do you think

the chances of Brian Flores getting a head coaching job? And it's a good question. I think the Dallas Cowboys are keeping an eye on Brian Flores. I know Minnesota wants to keep him around. I know he loves being in Minnesota. The only reason I know that is I just saw him last week on Christmas when I was doing that Netflix thing and he told me straight up. Told you straight up. That he enjoys being there.

It's a good organization to be part of. We'll see how this shakes out, though, because I do think he'll get some calls. The one I want to, okay, since we're just going to go down this rabbit hole of like what I'm curious about, because look part of my job is to go find it out but there's some questions i don't know the answer to yet is tom brady going to try to bring familiarity into that building right with a brian flores uh with a brian dable right could that be something he's comfortable with because did you guys

notice yesterday in the press release you saw tom brady's name in there it's like he came out from the shadows like thank you for admitting that you are all over this organization and that you're part of it, you know? So I'm interested to see what they do there. Now, the other part of the Vegas thing that I'm watching is the Max Crosby scenario. Do you guys think that the Vegas Raiders would trade Max Crosby? So he leaves the facility and he wanted to play in the last game and they didn't make him have surgery, right? But he needed surgery. What is the status? Anybody would want him, obviously. Yeah. So I think, look, Max is that ultimate competitor type. He's the face of that franchise, he doesn't ever want to not play. And from what I understand,

they told him to sit because they thought he was injured, right? But I think when you look at it from his perspective, he's been injured since October, right? So it's like, they're obviously shutting him down for the sake of the organization. Why are you going to put Max Crosby out there when you're losing? And maybe even trying to lose, right? Like, maybe not trying, but I think it's all obvious that Vegas was really hoping to get that number one roll pick. The saddest carous carousel ever I'm looking at in this other room right now. That's not a carousel. Like what if I just had this no sound.

I don't know what Zaz and Cody you're doing. I'm disappointed by ever. He looks like a floating body and I'm worried about his health. He's just like. We all are. Thank you. Yes. I don't know why you're thanking her for worrying.

My horse is. Greg, how was your holiday? I didn't even ask you. It was great. It was really, really nice. We had a wonderful time. you know, it's just, it's maybe the best of that kind of thing.

Maybe the best holiday ever. You're in mid-season form. You know what's funny? My family, remember guys, I told you that I wasn't going to host Christmas because I had to work that day? Yes. I don't know if they're doing this to just be annoying or just be mean. I cannot tell you how many of my family members have messaged me

to tell me what a wonderful Christmas day they had at my house. Like, wouldn't you try to avoid time? telling me that because I wasn't there. I wasn't here. They're laying a guilt trip on you. No, I think they're celebrating the fact that you did a lovely thing while you were away and everyone enjoyed themselves and it was successful. And they're sharing with you. They missed you and they're pulling you into it. Chris Cody, did you tear your. No, no, no, no, no. No one said we missed you. My mom said, that's what you left Christmas for. I saw you for two seconds holding a piece of steak. I'm like, that's what I did.

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Smyrnaw. No purchase necessary must be legal U.S. resident 21 or older. Sweep steak starts 1215, 2025 at 12 a.m. Eastern, and ends 1.23, 2026 at 11.59.p.m. Eastern. See official rules at program website. Hey, Jeremy. Happy holidays. Happy Junuka.

I want to toast you. Actually, I don't. I will toast with you. Okay. We're co-workers. Mm-hmm. Friends, you could say. No, we cannot say that, but we both enjoy an ice-cold Miller Light.

That's true. Especially around the holidays. You know, it's a 50th anniversary of Miller Light. It's really amazing. Every time we say that, I can't believe it. Well, it's crazy because, like, they've basically been partners with the Dan Lebitard show for half of their existence. Wow. When I put it to you that way, we got an old-ass show.

Yeah, we do. That's crazy. Hey, let's look around at our friends, not each other, and our family, even though they're not here. I do miss your brother, though. Yeah, I know. I'll bring him back. and take that first sip, look around and know that we made the right decision. When it comes to a domestic light logger, Miller Light is the best.

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Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. On game day, pain can hit hard and fast. Like the headache you get when your favorite team and your fantasy team both lose. When pain comes to play, call an audible with Advil plus acetaminopin and get long-lasting dual-action pain relief for up to eight hours.

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Those girls on eyewitness news? They look good. They're mothers. They look good, though. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stoogads. Cody, did you rip your pants doing the coaching carousel? It's unconfirmed whether it happened during the carousel or it just got revealed during the carousel. But yeah, there's a little tear there.

Diana, can you explain something to me? Because I think this is foolhardy. To assume that Tom Brady, Troy A. and Matt Ryan all have the skills to run entire organizations just because they were great quarterbacks is foolhardy. I think a lot of people are looking at the organizational setup in Jacksonville right now. You see Bisselli is part of that front office, right? And he, from everything I understand, has done a really good job of kind of keeping that front office together because you have new people there. Right? You've James Godstone there. You have Liam Cohen. And I think

that's been the example. I think people are seeing in San Francisco with John Lynch, obviously the former player. Right now, because a lot of these owners just are copying because they don't know. Look, the Tom Brady thing, I have said this whole time, it's obvious he's part of it, but it's a half in half out that I'm curious about, right? Because Tom lives in Florida, he's doing Fox. Matt Ryan wants to do TV. You can't do that job half. Right? Like, you got to be there all the time because I think that's important for the building. Diana, do you think there was much conversation with the Jets to get rid of Aaron Glenn after just the one year?

I think that they want to give them a chance. I think there's been some really good things there that they believe in. And I don't think Woody Johnson wants to fire another coach already. I think there's a lot of different factors. I can just tell you a few weeks ago, I felt better about the direction of the New York Jets. And then just based on talking to people and talking to some of the teams that they faced afterwards, And the way they reviewed what they just saw, it's not good. And I do think a lot of times in first year opportunities,

coaches are in over their head and they have to learn. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had over the years with coaches after their first year and they're in their second year or they're finishing up their second year and they reflect like, oh my God, I didn't know what I was doing. In fact, coaches now talk about it that had just been fired. I had no idea what I was doing that first year. I think it's that hard.

I don't think anyone's ever really prepared. Diana, what did you think of the dolphins hiring Aikman as a general manager advisor in their search? And do you have any names of people who you think the dolphins are or should be looking at? And what are you hearing about whether McDaniel will actually be there next year or not? Have you guys noticed that no one has really come out from the Miami side to say Mike is safe? I'm watching that right now. I'm just like, that seems strange. Every other team that is safe puts out a statement.

I know he did his press conference, but some of the quotes, right, are like, I'm safe until I'm told I'm not. Do you hear Joey, by the way, just losing his mind? I'm worried about Mikey. Joey's getting a little bit too much of the attention. I want to know what's going on with Mikey. But before we do that, because we've got limited time with you,

give us what you have here on the Dolphins. Okay, so the Dolphins tapped into Troy Aitman because of Troy's actual connections to all these teams. And they really wanted, from what I understand, get an honest assessment of which direction they need to go in. And look, I know you guys know this, but a lot of organizations ask reporters their thoughts, their opinions. Miami didn't want to do that. They're like, we don't want any bias. We want someone to come in here and say, here's who I think is a good leader.

Here's who I think is a good coach. And obviously, for right now, they think that's Mike. Now, in terms of the direction of GM, there's also a pattern, if you notice. Almost every single person on the list that they put out has a connection to Mike, right? So that tells me that they probably want someone that can work well with their head coach rather than start over with two guys speaking two different languages. Half the list is 49ers, people. Well, where's Mike come from, right?

And even the guy from Green Bay is familiar with Mike. so until I see a name that Alec Hallaby I think was the was the only one that I saw that I don't think has a direct connection but I'm sure there's something there that I'm missing I haven't seen any names that's not connected to Mike so that's good

that bodes well for the head coach but I think they're really just trying to get on the same page and look they've had a head start they've had the whole year almost right to figure this out and sort this out and I don't know what the plan is so hold on a second It's just a coincidence that

Aikman's been brought in to help them search for a GM and almost the entire list of people that they're interviewing right now of connections to Mike McDaniel? Meaning like, are you asking me that's what Troy thinks works? Maybe that was the list

and now they brought Troy in and they're going to have new names. I mean, I guess maybe that's possible but that's just, it seems like a hell of a coincidence that Aikman's suggestions are guys that are all also tied to Mike McDaniel. Well, maybe that's Troy Aikman's counsel.

Maybe that's... Joey's fine. Do you have to go take care of your son why don't you go do that i can't have your son throwing up in another room and the mother being negligent just sitting here because she's taking iberflus text oh come on joey there's an yes everything's okay now you have an egg no look i think troy achman understands there has to be alignment right you can't bring in a general manager that doesn't if they're all in on the head coach and if that's the decision that they're doing to move forward then you need to

give him somebody that's going to be able to work with him the way now remember this is another thing that I think is interesting everyone likes to model the 49er scenario right Kyle Shanahan is the one that has all the say there right he's the one who brought in John Lynch and Mike's going to have a say here in these interviews he he told us that Joey what are your thoughts on the Eagles sitting all their starters this weekend Joey they sat all their starters to get rest and now they're going to be rested in the playoffs what do you think of that Do you like the Eagles? Speechless.

No. No. Do you like eggs? Yeah. What's your name? Joey. Yeah. I'm Joey.

Hi, Joey. Joey, what do you think of the Greg's Lobos firing defensive coordinator turd car wheel? Say bad. Bad. Yeah. All right. Joey, Joey, how old do you think that man is? Can we show Greg?

Let's show my dad here. Let's show Greg. Who's that guy? Who's that guy? How old is that man? Who's that? He's thinking. Who's that?

Hello. What's his name? Not too many questions. Joey, how old is the person you're presently looking at? How old is he? Yeah. How old? Three.

Three. All right, Joey. It used to be. Joey, we love you. We talk a lot about you. You need some work on the interviews, but it's okay. We are big fans of Joey. Be careful with the germs on the mic flag.

Mike Shield. We appreciate the time, Diane. I wanted to ask you about Mikey. He went to band. Nobody cares. I, this is just over. She did get pulled over. Diana got pulled over. So, real quick. Okay. So Joey and I are in the car the other day and all this coaching stuff is starting. I left my purse on the counter. I didn't have my license. Guy pulls me over. He's losing his mind just like he just did. Cop comes to the window. And I must have just looked like a wreck. because I'm like, here we go. I don't have my wallet. My son's screaming. I'm getting pulled over because I'm on my phone. I'm a horrible mother. And I open the window.

I said, hi, sir. I go, I know. I know. He goes, you seem like you have enough problems. Have a good day, ma'am. He let me go. Oh, look at that. The benefits of a demon child.

Basically, the cop was like, the danger that I'm in standing here dealing with you is much greater than you text again. She is the senior NFL insider for the athletic. She's the host of the Scoop City podcast. We love having her around. Thank you, Diana. We will talk to you again next week. All right. There's more news tomorrow on the Dolphins.

I want to hop back on it. That's cool. Yes, of course. Always welcome here. Open door. So we had a lot of football stuff from yesterday that we did not get to, including the Eagles sitting their starters, and I think is defending champions. I'm not going to question their decision. to rest people and try to get them healthy when they seem to know more about how to keep people healthy than all the other teams in the league because they don't lose many people to injury very often. I was watching that telecast on Sunday and they were saying that the Washington team has more games lost to injury than any other and that Philadelphia has been remarkable the last two years in terms of not losing people to injury.

But among the things that happened yesterday that we just did not get to because now it's normal. Cam Little had a 67-yard field goal. Just, that's what he does. So Jacksonville, there is the chance that Jacksonville against Buffalo is getting the game decided, not by Trevor Lawrence or but Josh Allen, by just Jacksonville being able to get to its own 40-yard line. If Jacksonville can just get to its own 40-yard line and has a kicker that can kick 67-yard field goals, then they're in a better position than most of the teams who don't have that. Imagine if they get to the AFC championship and they're facing Denver in Denver.

and it's like a 75-yard field goal. He'd be capable, mile high. If that ends up being the difference that he's just able to hit multiple from 70, it really, it feels like it changes the sport. I think, well, yes, and I think the most interesting part of that, and I know we had this conversation in that Dolphin game where Mike McDaniel went for fourth and goal inside the five at a tie game under two minutes up to him, went for the touchdown,

and they actually got stuffed. Like, we've had this conversation before. the most interesting part to me is, with that kicker in particular, if it's a late game situation and maybe the Jaguars or the team that has the football against Jacksonville is down one or down two, and instead of going for a field goal, we're like, no, we kind of got to go for a touchdown here. Well, I wanted to ask you guys this question based on just how much has changed, and it's insane.

College, pros, it is truly insane to see all of these people, I'm going to say in the last five years, realized together we've been doing it all wrong on fourth down. Do you guys remember the amount of shit that Bill Belichick got one time for going for it on fourth and one on the other side of the 50? Because he didn't want Peyton Manning to have, because he had Tom Brady, it was fourth and one, and instead of punting, he went for it, failed, and then Peyton Manning won the game. How ridiculous does that week of conversation seem now? He was one of the stories of the year.

He had that decision. That fourth and short, check for me what yard line he was on. I'd like to remember the specific. It was like just inside the four shows we did. Belichick got criticized so much for going forward on fourth and short with Tom Brady because he didn't want to give the ball back to Peyton Manning because all of these coaches have realized over the last four years, hey, it's easier to get 10 yards with four downs than it is with three.

Yeah, but that used to be the hard and fast line. If you were in your own territory, you punt it, even if it was fourth and one at your 48. I don't think Belichick was in his own territory. He may have been. He may have been close to the 50. His own 28. Fourth and two, Jeremy, saying. It was fourth and two from his own 28-yard line. The Patriots led Peyton Manning and the undefeated Colts by six points with just over two minutes to play.

Wow. I didn't remember that as his own 28, though. That's crazy. I remember one where he was like in his own territory, and it was crazy. Don Lebatard. Are you on the fan right now? Did Mike Greenberg call you yet? Are you ever going to go back to ESPN?

People think it's so weird you're a writer now. All those years on TV? All those years. And now you're right? Who reads that? Stugats. Why did you take a job at the Atlantic? Mom, I work at the athletic.

What? You're on YouTube? This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. The whole thing has. changed where all of these guys have realized, no, I'm going to bet on me. I'm going to bet on my offense. I'm going to bet on the ability to get one, two, or five yards. And largely, even given America's general allergy to math, everyone has stopped with that criticism, correct? There is now no criticism of coach who goes for it on fourth and short. That's the new normal. Everyone understands that fourth and short, the analytics now demand. Just go for it. the smarter play. I mean, it's not absolute. But what criticism have you heard? I heard you got, we were

yelling for a little while because of Mike McDaniel on the goal line. Greg Cody did that, but largely, I don't hear very much criticism anymore of aggressive coaches on fourth and short. You can't be sitting here coaching and leading that sport where you're demanding aggression from

others and then your sphincter gets too tight on fourth and short because you're afraid to lead. I think a lot of it has to do with the time on the clock in the case of McDaniel going for it and eschewing a winning, what would have been a winning field goal in less than two minutes left. And by the way, in that game, the opponent did not have any timeouts left. In that case, you have to trust your defense a little bit, especially when the opponent doesn't have any time out. Yeah, I think the only time that it's met with criticism is

like, someone's, oh, take the points, you know, is passing up a potential field goal in order to go for four. That's the only time I think we want. I'm usually pretty aggressive when it comes of that stuff, but the lack of taking the points and applying like, what's the game flow here? The possessions are shrinking. Take the points. That's kind of bothering me a little bit. You think there'd still be a coach out there

like doing it old school. But to dance, but like they're all kind of afraid now and they go the opposite. It's like I'm going to go over-aggressive so I don't get criticized. There's probably still a few guys. So if we were getting all of this wrong, okay, if for all of the time we've been watching football before the last five

years, everyone had it wrong on fort down. Given the number of young coaches having success now, given the number of Mike McDonald's that come out of, you know, or Ben Johnson's that come out of being a coordinator and totally change the way that franchises are built, don't you think that we now have to make a movement toward understanding that the Pete Carrolls of the world are not the guys that you go to anymore? I'm not sure what you're doing there. You're applying this as if it's like some wave of the future that is only ushered in by young guys.

Pete Carroll's going for it. Dan Quinn is going for it. Everybody in the NFL is doing it. I'm not changing subjects here. I'm not talking anymore about the fourth and short. I'm talking about who you give your organization over to because it was the new thinkers that changed that.

I remember John Gruden and Bill Parcell saying, I go with my gut. I don't do it on fourth and short. That's not how we do it. They were the expertise there. I'm just using that as one example. Mike McDonald, I'm going to give you this stat here on what it is you just saw where Seattle took away, went to San Francisco.

San Francisco has been, for the last five years, whether you like it or not, or whether you think that Kyle Shanahan is overrated. They've been the model franchise for whatever players we have out there. We're going to be able to do those things, impressive things with those players. We're going to run the ball. Even if it's the last guy in the drafted quarterback, we're going to figure out if it's Garoppolo, we're going to get to the final game somehow, no matter who's out. So Kyle Shanahan's the standard bearer here on new guys coming in can do it with anybody.

And Mike McDonald comes in to San Francisco with the number one seat on the line. And Shield Capadia writes, Sunday was the worst rushing performance for the 49ers since Kyle Shanahan became their head coach, according to success rate, a span of nine years, 161 games, and no other defense had shut them down quite like the Seahawks did. That's a 38-year-old person. Two years ago, three years ago, we thought Bill Belichick was the way to go there. Sean McVeigh has given us a new model, right? Because he was 33. Mike, locally, Mike McDaniel had the number one passing offense in the sport as a very young man. Are you guys ready to let go of the idea that your coach has to be the

grizzled veteran who has done it before like Andy Reid or like Pete Carroll or like Bill Belichick because you're going to have an assortment of people who are under 40 coaching these teams? I think if you're an older coach and you've always gone by your gut feeling quote unquote you're never going to change but now all the younger coaches and many of the middle age coaches are slaves to analytics and there's actually a book on when you go for it and when you don't, depending on what yard line you're at, like fourth and two from here, you go for it. Fourth and two from eight yards back, you don't go for it. And people are just slaves to that book, to what analytics tells them they should do based on what the likelihood is.

I think we're already past that. I think the Raiders Pete Carroll thing is an outlier. I think that what the Raiders were doing there, and probably Tom Brady in particular, the Raiders are such a lousy organization that I think they probably felt like, let's bring in someone who can stabilize things here, Pete Carroll. Let's also bring in Gino Smith, decent quarterback. We got him he could stabilize things. We got Pete Carroll could help put us in the right direction as an organization. And then two years, two, three years from now when we're kind of on solid footing, that's when we bring in the young head coach who's going to wind up taking over moving forward. And obviously it did not work out. But that's

what I think was likely the line of things. But sometimes it does, even though Diana just said Washington's evaluating what's going on there. Dan Quinn did bring stability in a time of huge transition for that franchise and they made it to an NFC championship game and they just got hurt. I do think situationally bringing in the grizzled veteran type does make sense for a lot of people, but I think fans have moved on before in the NFL coaching carousel. If one guy got fired, it wasn't all that rare to see him get another job as soon as he hit the market and just people hoping for a change of landscape. Now I think most fans are like, give me the next big thing because guys like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh have come into the league and taking it by storm.

One of the reasons I think that Giants job is a good job is because I think we've reinvented the way all of this leadership has to work right now, at least in part because of what's happening in Chicago, okay? You just saw Detroit's best window in organizational history closed because their offensive coordinator went with the young quarterback in the division. They're going to be good for 10 years if their quarterback is healthy. Right. Their window just closed like that on Dan Campbell and Jared Goff because the young coordinator waited, waited, waited, and he's like, where's the first round pick that I can get who's a young quarterback that another coach has squandered? Jackson Dart looks like a quarterback that somebody could do something like that with. You cannot look at what's happened in Jacksonville in Chicago and not have your mind altered on what leads this organization. It's not just the coach. It's the coach has to be at the hip with the quarterback. And the quarterback has to have the stability of we're not going to have five offensive coordinators. We're going to keep getting better as a young quarterback during an actual prime, not a chronological prime, a Caleb Williams prime. We're going to keep getting better because we're going to keep giving this quarterback the stability of he knows he has the boss's trust.

He knows he's aligned with the boss and they're both going to grow in their careers together. It's the new model. So by that logic, wouldn't the Raiders job be a really good job right now? There's no quarterback there. Well, but they got the number of Nick. number one pick, Mendoza. Yeah, but Mendoza, he's the number one pick in a bad quarterback draft. I don't know that he's a consensus. Have you seen his numbers against pressure? Like, Mendoza's a solid number one pick. I know Todd McShay came out and said he'd

rather have Dante Moore. You have two options there. This is how the Cuban quarterback has always been held down through time by the white sports writer. Exclusion. That's how it's always happen. You could argue that you don't like either of those quarterbacks. You have the number one overall pick. You do now have draft capital to if like if there's another quarterback around the league. That's why I think you draft one because what's the season? Got to draft him. Kyler Murray. Maybe you could see if Joe Burroughs really pissed off and maybe you offer that number one overall pick, but that's a good situation. Yeah, no, I've seen a couple of mock drafts that have the Jets moving up and drafting Mendoza number one. You don't know.

And I think Mendoza is great. He's a great college quarterback, deserve the Heisman. I'm just saying, I don't think there's universal consensus. that he's, you know, the next Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. Everyone actually says that this is a bad quarterback draft, but Trevor Lawrence was a consensus number one overall pick, and it took many years and many offensive coordinators to get the right one and many years of growth from the quarterback to turn him into somebody who's got 18 touchdowns and one interception

over the last five games, and now all of a sudden they, and trades that you had to make. But finally, how many coordinators has Trevor Lawrence have? You have to have some stability with one of these young people learning this position over five years. Is it a bad quarterback class because of Mendoza and Dante Moore, or is it a bad quarterback class because there's only two? It's considered both, actually. It's considered a – the reason Cam Ward went to number one the way that he did is because it was a week overall year. Everybody wants – there's nothing more valuable than value at quarterback. You have to have a contract like Drake May.

at the beginning so that you could build everything else. He's got to be good and faster than he's ever been. And the Chicago Bears specifically, such a great football towns. You know how hard it is to be that great of a football town when you've never had a good quarterback? Like Caleb Williams is the first time that franchise

has had a quarterback where you're looking at them now and you're like, oh my God, they're going to be good for the next 10 years if that guy doesn't get hurt and they could just keep the coach. They're aligned with him. No, that's true. They thought Jay Cutler was good and that's how bad they were in context. It's all, and this

has never changed. It's all the quarterback. It's not the head coach. That's why Sean Peyton has reinvented himself in Denver because Bo Nix happened to be pretty good. That's why the Giants job is considered really good if you think Jackson Dart is really good. It's all the quarterback, and that's why the dolphins

in this town are spinning the wheels right now. I don't think the Raiders job is a good job. I really don't either because they don't have a quarterback. Gosh, if you've had the number one overall pick, I feel like it's a really good place to start. But they can get the quarterback. No one can skip them for the quarterback if they like any of these quarterbacks. I mean, it's a bad job because it allows the organization, but just the place that they're in, I think it's a good job.

What don't we like about Mendoza? I'm just like, like, he seems perfectly fine. What's the whole in his game? Oh, the only thing I'm doing is everyone told me that Trevor Lawrence was the consensus number one overall. Nobody disagrees. That's a sure thing. And it's just a really difficult position to learn. And if you tell me that someone's not a prize that you think.

of someone, like Mendoza has made himself all of that because of the year he had, but I also saw a quarterback, while he was very good in the red zone, I also saw a quarterback that I could see that not being can't miss, like that, no one's saying that. I can't see every quarterback. No, but Trevor Lawrence was regarded as someone who can't miss. Like everyone said he was generational. Right. Number one pick. There was Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence, and it's hard And now Caleb Williams. And Caleb Williams was considered that guy. Mendoza's not that. No, no, I don't think he's that, but it's three guys in 15 years.

But what I would say to you is that even if Mendoza is that, I just saw the year Cam Ward had because Tennessee is surrounding him with what the Raiders would be surrounding Mendoza with. Like, they traded Myers. They've got Brock Bowers, and Janty didn't show you anything this year. Janty, Brock Bowers, like, we're off to a pretty good start here in team building. Gentie didn't show you anything. He's got a Hall of Fame tight end already as a weapon.

They got some young receivers. They have either, now it seems like a trade chip, but they have a great pass rusher and Max Crosby. I don't think it's that bad. I really don't. I think it's a pretty good spot. I think it's a decent job. Yeah, I think other than the tight end and Max Crosby,

I don't think there's anybody on that roster who you go, wow, I wish we had him on our team, including the running back, Jeanti, who had a bad rookie season, a bad rookie season.