The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - 49ers Roll, Lion Falter, Cowboys Dominate

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

John reacts to all three Thanksgiving games and discusses why the 49ers could be the best team in the NFL, how Brock Purdy needs to get the respect that he deserves, is Jordan Love actually a decent QB, and are the Dallas Cowboys as good as their record is. 49ers - 5:30 Seahawks - 17:00 Packers-Lions - 30:09 Cowboys - 33:00 Tom Brady on the NFL - 48:15 Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The volume. There's so much to be thankful for, family, friends, food, and the NFL all week long. Drafking Sportsbook is keeping your Thanksgiving week full of action. New customers can bet just five bucks on the NFL action to score 150 instant. in bonus bets. No matter your appetite, there's something for you. Money lines, parleyes, props, live bets, and so much more.

You name it, they got it. So download the Drafking Sportsbook app now and use the code John. New customers can bet five on the NFL Thanksgiving action to score 150 instantly in bonus bets. Only on Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL with code John, the crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 Gambler. In New York, call

8778 Hope-8, Hope-N-Y, or text Hope-N-Y, 467-369 in West Virginia. Visit www.w.w.1-800 gambler.net. Please play responsibly. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-7-77, or visit CCPG.org.

On behalf of Boodill Casino and Resort, Kansas, must be 21 or older in eligible states, but ages vary by jurisdiction. See draftkings.com slash Sportsbook for details and state-specific responsible gambling resources. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance.

Terms at sportsbook.draft kings.com slash football terms. What is going on, everybody? John Middellcop, three and out podcast. How are we doing? Hopefully everyone's doing well. Big win by the Niners. Big win by the Packers. Very impressive win.

by Green Bay actually. And obviously Dallas beat a crap out of Washington. We'll dive into that all, as well as some other stuff going on around the NFL. Brable on the hot seat, some comments by Tom Brady, as well as a couple of big games this weekend. And yeah, we'll just talk a little football.

Quicker podcast today, just a little football talk. No, no, we did stuck here earlier in the week, no mailbag right now. But we will get back to that, obviously, next week. So hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Thankful for all you guys obviously listen to the podcast. Hopefully everyone's enjoying their time with their family and a good turkey. I know that I smoked the living hell out of a turkey today.

And it was fantastic. And my honeybeck ham was good as well. So we had a good Thanksgiving. Hopefully you guys did too. And make sure you subscribe to the podcast, subscribe to the YouTube channel. And let's rock and roll, baby. Because today was just a fantastic day of football. Here's what I needed to do.

I need you to go to your cell phone, go to your app store, and download a little app called GameTime. And when you download the GameTime app, which is the official ticketing app of this podcast, sign up for a pair of tickets. NFL, basketball, NHL, you name it, they got it, concerts, comedy shows. And when you sign up for a pair of tickets,

here's what I need you to do. Use the promo code, John, J-O-H-N, J-O-H-N, get you $20 off, your first pair of tickets. Listen, inflationary times, saving you a little money, no big deal. Go download the app.

Games, concerts, comedy shows, buy a pair of tickets. Take your wife. Take your girlfriend. Take a parent. Take your son. Take your daughter. Enjoy life.

And when you do, save a little money. promo code, John, GameTime app, download it. promo code John. Enjoy yourself. Don't even send, I don't even need a thank you. Just hammer the promo code. and have a good time.

Let's start with the night game. Niners, Seattle. I don't think this is very complicated, right? When 71 and 19, Trent Williams, who is going to the Hall of Fame, and Debo Samuel, who is one of the most unique players I've ever seen, have started and finished a game for the 49ers.

They have not lost. They are simply the best team in the NFL when those two guys are healthy with the rest of their players. I don't even think it's a debate. at this point, right? But, like, they went through a tough stretch. Obviously, Trent hurt his ankle in the Cleveland game and then missed the next two games.

And Debo during that game, broke his shoulder. And then the Niners did not play the next two weeks without those guys. Now, part of it was their defense, but their offense was limited. I think they scored 17 points back-to-back games after that point. And a huge part of that is missing their Hall of Fame left tackle. And one of the most versatile players we've ever seen. And I think that's what makes Debo unique, right? I don't think he works everywhere.

He's part of this group, right, and represented by the same guy that has D.K. McCaff and A.J. Brown. Well, when I think D.K. Metcalfe and A.J. Brown, elite outside wide receivers. I mean, D.K. is kind of like this, I would say, poor man's version of Terrell Owens. And that's a compliment. Just absolute freak, speed, an unstoppable force when he's rolling. and AJ Brown is just an elite player as a wide receiver. Debo's kind of this hybrid, right?

He can at any moment play running back. And in the 49ers offense, he's just, him and Kyle Shanahan have elite chemistry. But when he's playing, he adds an element to go with Christian McCaffrey, who we were talking before I press record. You know what's crazy is when Christian McCaffrey was coming out of Stanford

and I was living in the Bay Area, I watched all of his games, how I went to some of his practices. not that I underestimated him, I just thought, like, no way this guy

is going to be this dominant of a running back in the NFL. I didn't see it. I was like, wait, this guy's going to be

like Ladanian Tomlinson or Marshall Falk. We all knew how good he could be at wide receiver. My personal take was like he's going to ultimately

become a West Welker Julian Edelman as a slot receiver. And I'll tell you this, one guy who hammered at home, early on in his college career until the moment he got drafted was David Shaw and basically said I think everyone underestimates how good this guy is as a running back right because the competition college whatever I just thought most people did not believe that he could just go to the NFL

and be the best a top five running back in the NFL and let's face it in 2003 he's the best running back in the NFL. We all knew how good of a pass receiver he could be, and I knew how good he could be on the edges. I didn't, I guess I underestimated how physical he was between the tackles, and that was one thing that David Shaw hammered home, and obviously David Shaw was a hardball guy, and they believed him between the tackles. They ran an old school offense to Stanford, and this version we're seeing of Christian McCaffrey is a much more physical player than he was way back then. When the Panthers drafted him number eight overall. And sometimes, like, I saw this, like,

CJ Stroud, was he disrespectful? It's like, guys, he went number two overall. You cannot be disrespected in a draft in any sport if you go number two overall. Just like ultimately Christian McCaffrey had people that questioned him coming out of college. He went eight overall. So the league viewed him highly.

The league actually, I remember talking to my buddies, Philly at the time, had a, I think, a top 15 pick. They loved him. So the league was very, very high on him. More probably as just this hybrid wide receiver. But he's proven to be, and the stats speak for it when he's healthy, an all-time great running back.

And let's face it, an all-time great player. And really at the time when the 49ers made the trade, I thought that it was pretty bold. And part of it was trading for a running back who's been injured, that makes that much money. But when you put him with Debo Samuel, Brandon Ayyuk George Kittle

Trent Williams and Juan Jennings sneaky really good number three wide receiver and Kyle Shanahan is the play caller I mean you get this offense that let's face it the other hell of fit in the room is

Brock Purdy's really good like anyone arguing over Brock Purdy like yeah he's not Patrick Mahomes no one's fucking saying he's John Elway or Dan Marino Brock Purdy is a really really good player where he ranks on the hierarchy, I don't know.

But he's dramatically better than what? 75, 80% of the NFL. And on this given team with what he has around him is damn good. And you can't watch the 49ers with Brock Purdy and go, yeah, they could easily win the Super Bowl. Like this guy on this team is good enough to win the Super Bowl. I've been watching the 49ers since I started watching sports, at least that I can remember.

is like the early 90s. Like my dad loved Joe Montana, swore that Joe Montana was better than Steve Young. And I've always said this. It's difficult to argue about athletes to me as like a sports connoisseur when I didn't watch them. Like I know that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

and John Elway, you know, and guys that played sports in the 80s and even the 70s were really good. Right? Like Mean Joe Green or Kenny Stable or. or you name it. You know, even RIP, my guy Vida Blue, who won Syng's a World Series.

If you don't watch a guy live, it's hard to have the same argument. Like, I can argue with you all day long about Steph Curry, Peyton Manning, Alex Rodriguez, you name it, Tiger Woods, people that I watched live. It's much more difficult when you didn't. So I've been watching the Niners post Steve Young

and to this day. And listen, they've had some really good quarterbacks. Jeff Garcia made countless Pro Bowls. Kaepernick is one of the most unique, you know, couple year runs on a fantastic team we've ever seen. Elite arm, the speed. But Brock Purdy, like this guy has a sustainable element to his game. There's like a mobile Drew Brees to him.

And honestly, there has to be mobility to your game to me in 2020. And part of that is offensive linemen. You don't have five out Trent Williams blocking for you. Most teams have more good defensive linemen that you go to have offensive linemen. And two, like, you need to be able to bail out your play caller right now. You just do. And he hasn't.

He's accurate. He's good. He's unafraid to throw the ball downfield, as you saw with Brandon Ayyuk. I think Brock Purdy's good. How good? Where he's going the rest of his career? I don't know. I always hear this.

Like, well, what's going to happen? when they have to pay him. He's in fucking year two. You don't have to pay him till after year four. Like, why do we always put the cart before the horse? Just take a deep breath. He's on the team. He makes $800,000. Part of the argument that's weird about Brock Purdy is like he's getting compared to all these like, well, is he better than like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen? He's in the second year in the NFL. He was Mr. Irrelevant in the draft. And he makes like 800. thousand dollars. That's what we're arguing. If Brock Purdy made 40 million dollars like Dak Prescott or 45 million dollars like Josh Allen, we could argue till we're blue in the face

about the individual details of every single pass he throws. It's part of the deal when you make a lot of money. But when you're Mr. Irrelevant and you're in your two and you make well under a million dollars on your team's salary cap and you were the reason that the team could couldn't wait to get rid of the number three overall pick, which they traded several other first round picks to acquire. Like, I'm sorry. It's one of the most incredible draft picks so far in his career I've ever seen. It's honestly in fucking sane what is going on right now in this guy's career.

Like, think about even Dak Prescott. Let's use him for it as an example. who's had an incredible career as a mid-round pick. At one point in time in Dak Prescott's career, Mississippi State was flirting with being the number one pick in the country. He was playing in the SEC. And let's face it, he got a DUI, I think, like, you know, within a month of the draft, which definitely impacted where he ended up going.

Even by 30, 40 picks, like he could have been a second or third round pick, but you get a DUI, you're going to get dinged, which is proven to be like an outlier situation. Dak Prescott's a high character guy. If Brock Purdy had been a third round pick, we could be more, I would even say, critical of games.

The guy's a seventh round pick. And think of what he's doing. Now, does he benefit from playing with Christian McCaffrey, who might go to the Hall of Fame, Trent Williams, who's going to go to the Hall of Fame, Debo Samuel, who got as much money

as D.K. Metcalfe and A.J. Brown. And Brandon Ayuk, who is going to get $20 plus million a year. Of course. But I know this. Like Jimmy Garapolo, who signed a hundred million dollar contract, who was the quarterback of this team when they went to the freaking Super Bowl, can't make throws that this guy makes.

Can't do it. Didn't have it in the back. And I watched Brock Purdy, you know, the game, especially tonight, going back and forth. The Niners had a chance to kind of stomp on their throat early. And Seattle came out in the second half playing great football. They looked more like some of the peak peak Carroll teams scored 10 points like that

and it was immediately a ball game again 2413 and what does Brock Purdy do with kind of, you know, the game and the balance in the fourth quarter. throws an absolute dot to Brandon Ayuk ball game. Jimmy Garoppel never did that. And the 49ers won a freaking ton of games with Jimmy Garoppel. So I think this team is potent. And now we have 10 games or excuse me,

10 days until they play the Philadelphia Eagles, but big time performance in a couple big spots tonight. And I know he had a pick six. And listen, I can live with a pick six. I've always said it. Like, you can throw picks. Are you throwing touchdowns? Are you making explosive plays?

Farv, Manning, they throw a lot of picks. Who gives a fuck? They also throw a lot of touchdowns, win a lot of games. Pretty. I can live with them throwing a pick. Whatever. Do you make explosive plays? Do you make winning plays?

And he does. Game set match tonight again. against Seattle on the road. And since the 49ers have played with this guy, they've eviscerated Seattle. Last year, short week, Thursday night, during the regular season, Brock Purdy injured, beats them. Playoff game, second half, destroys them.

Tonight, destroys them in a couple weeks. Niners are going to be enormous favors at home. Seattle, they're ultimately going to be a wildcard team. I think they obviously benefit from playing in the NFC. I was thinking about this. If you put them on a, just in a typical year, let's say the last 10 years, where it takes, you know, let's use the new game inflation, 17 games. That it's going to take 10, 10 and a half games to make the playoffs.

I know every once in a while nine games will get you in. Clearly this year, you know, there's going to be some nine win teams make it. Seattle's not a lock to make the playoffs in any given year. Like sometimes if you're Dallas, right, who more than likely is not going to win the division, they're a lock to make the playoffs on any given year, whether it's six teams or seven teams, right? You're a 12-13 win team. You're making the playoffs.

That's a fact. Watching the Seattle team, they're solid, and I have a lot of respect for what they did. Getting rid of Russ, going with Gino, using the draft picks, getting some offensive linemen,

ultimately leading you to Witherspoon, you know, Jackson Smith, like their team is much more talented over the last couple of years since they shipped away from Russ. And listen, They found a guy, I have a ton of respect for Gino Smith. Sometimes it can be kind of cheesy.

If you're watching tonight, when he did his pregame talk with the NBC guys, he was getting work done. And part of that is like the short week. Gino's a tough motherfucker. I mean, he is tough. That hit he took last week against Aaron Donald. I saw both angles, the one like the All-22 behind where he gets crushed. The side angle, it looked like he got knocked.

15 feet. And most people, but some people were like, do you think he just did his, Brock Purdy, ripped his elbow? I don't know, it doesn't look good. Four days later he's starting. Nothing but respect for the guy.

He's okay. Listen, great story. His comment last year, all the haters I didn't write back, was cool. He's an easy guy to root for. It's easy to root for anyone in any walk of life

that people thought sucked eventually overcomes and becomes and become solid and respected. Those type guys that I have a lot of admiration for. It's very easy to tap out. It's very easy to say, you know, the fucking chips didn't break my way. I got screwed.

I should have been this. I should have been that. It didn't work out. Gino never said that. Honestly, his game aged better with time and has proven to be, had a very, very solid career. Right? he's much more than a backup.

But if he's your starting quarterback, you're only going so far. I mean, let's be real. If you put an all-star level quarterback on the Seattle team, they would be dramatically better. Now, they're not going to suck enough to get a high draft pick.

I do think they're definitely going to be sniffing around this off-season, but when you look at Seattle's schedule coming up, they got some problems. Because the way they do this typically is they do another Thursday night game, right? well, I mean they do a Thursday night game every week now with Amazon. But this upcoming Thursday night game is typically two teams that played today.

So next week is Seattle at Dallas. I don't know about you, but I like the Cowboys. And then you get a little bit of a long break, but you play the 49ers. And because the NFC West this year plays the NFC East, the Seattle Seahawks have not played the Eagles yet. So their next three games are the Cowboys, the Niners, and the Eagles. there's a realistic chance that they're 6 and 8 here at about 3 and a half weeks

right and hell they could play pretty good football they have a lot of good players and they could still lose all those games so it's going to be difficult for Seattle to get to 9 and 8 honestly even if they went 8 9 when you look at the playoffs they still would be competing for that 7 seed they're kind of like exactly what they were last year they have some competitive players they have flaws at quarterback we all have a lot of respect for Pete

for punting on Russell Wilson but until they get a star quarterback, or at least an impactful quarterback, I think their ceilings limited. I really do. And one thing is clear. Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll owned the 49ers. Owned them. I think his record was like 15 and 2 against the 49ers.

And that dates back to Harbaugh. Well, with Gino Smith, they have not won a game. They've lost every single game they played the 49ers. And that was three last year and one this year. So they're 0 and 4. And let's face, in a couple weeks, they're going to be 0 and 5. And if they were to play in the playoffs as like a 2-7,

they're going to be 0 and 6. So that's part of the problem. It's like the team now that you're chasing is dominating you. And a big reason for that is your quarterback's not good enough. You have some other flaws, but that's a major reason. I look at players a lot like stocks in the sense of things change and all change. I'm never married to an opinion. on a player. But you react to what you see, right? If a stock is losing money and you question the

company, you're probably not going to put money, you know, into that individual stock. But if you like the company and the stock is plummeting, that's actually a time to buy because you can get it really cheap. Well, I didn't know anything about Jordan Love. Right? He had never played. There wasn't a lot of positive talk about him just in general. Even coward knew a lot of people with Green Bay and said, you know what? You watch him at practice over the years. Nothing has been too crazy. No one would put a stamp of approval like this guy's the next rocket ship. This guy's the next pro bowl quarterback. And early on in the season, it was ugly. So all you can do is react to what you see. It was really freaking ugly. He's been a

really good the last two weeks. So I thought he was a backup most of the season. It was hard not to. I watched all the Packer games. He was not very good. Now we could blame. They had some injuries. Aaron Jones missed a ton of time. Some of their wide receivers missed some time.

Whatever. When you watch Jordan Love, I just didn't have much faith in him as a player. But when they played the Chargers, and when today he played the Detroit Lions, he looked fucking good. There is no arguing that. And it back to what Goudicin said three or four weeks ago is these last 10 games of the season

would go a long way to determine the future of this guy on our team. And part of that has to be, they didn't pay him much money. They could easily cut them when the season's over. They could easily just make them the backup again if they did not win another game and draft a guy. They had options. And part of that is I gave them a lot of credit for the way they handled this contract. It would have been easy to be like, let's pick up a fifth year option. refused to do that. They gave him like this crazy two-year extension for $11 million. Well, if he's going to play like these last two weeks, not only will he be the starting quarterback next year, they have a chance to make the playoffs this year. Because you can't argue

that they have a lot of talent on offense, right? The young wide receivers are really good. They're explosive, they can run, they've been making plays. Hell, they were breaking tackles today. And I understand the last two weeks have been against two bad, past defenses. Two teams that you don't look at like, yeah, that's Dion Sanders and Dorel Revis back there. But it's the NFL. These guys get paid a lot of money too.

And the Packers, skill guys, have been making a ton of place. But most importantly, Jordan Love has been throwing dots. And I've never argued, going back to his time when he was coming out of Utah State, his physical attributes are what a lot of scouts like.

He's athletic, he's got a big arm, he's got a lot of raw tools. Like this is not Kenny Pickett or Mac Jones But a lot of raw tools guys Never You know materialize and do anything And you watch them these last really five days and you go Holy shit

That is something So like a stock Things can change fast Once things start going in a positive direction Whoever is backing you Whether it's people with money Or your GM and your head coach They're going to be more bullish and positive on you

So Jordan Love has, I would say, over the last five days, changed the trajectory of his status as the quarterback long term. Now you have to keep this going, but you have games like this in the bag. It's more than positive. I know they were showing stats, comparing him to Fav and Aaron Rogers through his first whatever games, his first Thanksgiving game, all that. I don't give a fuck about all that stuff's irrelevant.

these last five days, the game against the Chargers and the game against the Lions, that's real deal football. That's a real talent. That's a guy who can be a starting quarterback for a wildcard team. And if he can keep this up, like, honestly, these last two weeks might have been good enough for him to be the quarterback next year. And part of it is he controls their own destiny in terms of he plays like that, they win games. They go 8, 9, 9, and 8. They're not going to be drafting high enough to draft a good player anyway.

so he'll probably just be the quarterback no matter what. But you go 9 and 8 in the NFC, you'd be the 7th seed. And let's face it, if they're the 7th seed, a lot of you guys have DM me over, you know, Packers have a lot of fans. LaFleur sucks, Goudicans, what are these? I'm sorry, like, you go 9 and 8. I would give those guys an extension.

You go 9 and 8 with Jordan Love? And maybe in five years that sounds crazy because Jordan Love's a good player, but if they keep doing this and they keep trending toward a positive above 500 result at the end of the season, I'd have no problem giving them a contract extension. And on the Detroit Lions,

they easily could have lost last week. I mean, easily. Now, they ended up forcing the issue on the Chicago Bears, but they were getting their ass kicked. And they have a major problem right now. Their defensive backs are not good. They're just not good enough.

And they are getting sliced and diced in the passing game. It's a major problem for them. And offensively, if their quarterback's going to turn the ball over, and today, what do you have, fumble, the picks over the last couple, like, it's going to be a problem. And a team that I saw today, and definitely a team I saw for the majority of last week, like that team's not good enough to even sniff the Eagles,

the 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys. and you blow a game like today, like, let's face it, the longer a season goes, to me, I've always said this, like the first four, five, six weeks, Thursday night games,

even if you're the road team, you don't have that big of an advantage, but you get to Thanksgiving, early December, and you are the road team and you win a Thursday night game, that doesn't feel like a win. That feels like a win and a half.

That feels like an incredible win. Remember last year The Tennessee Titans beat the Packers on Thursday night game And they got so drunk on the plane Their OC got a DUI I mean you're just like We just won a Thursday night game late in the sea

It is an incredible victory And it's to do it against the division rival But it's also a kick in the balls as a loss I mean today was The final score to me Is not indicative of what we watched And I don't know about you guys But for us on the West Coast

lock in the night game and we lock in the morning game. The midgame you're eating, you're watching. It's Cowboys watching. They're beating the shit out of them. But that Lions game, I don't want to say it was over early, but it felt over early. And those first two drives

with Jordan Love scoring, like Detroit, this is really what you're doing? And I'm a big believer in Dan Campbell, but I thought they got worked. He can say that the fake punt, all you, you get your fucking ass kicked. That team came in the day to beat your ass. and their quarterback played like that against your secondary. That's a problem.

Because one thing the Eagles have is Devante Smith, A.J. Brown, and God, it's going to come back. One thing the Niners have is Brandon and I. George Kittle and Debo Sam. How are you going to cover these people? You're going to have to play one of these teams because I'm going to pick you more than likely because you're not going to be the four seats

so you're not going to play the Cowboys in the first round. In the second round, you're going to play the Eagles, the Niners. How are you going to beat them? How are you going to beat them? and I don't think you can. Now with the defense that I'm seeing the way you're playing. But regardless, Dan Campbell's done an incredible job, but today was a rough loss.

Here's the thing with the Cowboys. I was looking right before we hopped on, their point differential, and their point differential right now. Now, the Eagles are going to play Sunday against the bills. But let's just say the Eagles win by, say they win by one point. I mean, most of their games have been tight.

their point differential and the Cowboys point differential would be separated by 99 points. The Cowboys point differential right now is plus 162. Whatever Dallas does against any of these random teams is kind of irrelevant now. When you put them against Washington, when you put them against the Giants, when you put them against anybody beside the Arizona Cardinals

that isn't good, they beat the living shit out of them. Bland, shout out Fresno State, set an NFL record, five pick six in the season. Think about this. Because I was watching the game, the Niner game with my girlfriend, and Quandre Diggs made a play. And Maria was like, wait, I thought Diggs played for the Bills. I'm like, yeah, there is another Bills. There is another Diggs that plays for the Bills. He's not related to this Diggs, but that Diggs that plays for the Bills, has a brother that

plays for the Cowboys, who actually a couple years ago. had like 25 interceptions in a season, but he tore his ACL and people thought the Cowboys were in a crumble when they're secondary, when he went down. But then this guy from Fresno State that was drafted a couple years ago has turned into like Ed Reed meets Dion Sanders. So it's like they found these guys the last couple years. Nobody, including the 49ers, obviously the Chiefs of the Ravens consistently gets a team in the equivalent of like a Draymond Green chokehold and just makes them tap out.

and that's what the Cowboys did today. And I'm glad because at least for my family, that's kind of when we're eating, we're getting the food ready, we were just enjoying each other's company, and you would just look up, another touchdown. You'd look up, Dak Prescott smiling, another touchdown. And that's what the Cowboys have done.

And I think at this point in time, I think you're pretty good Dallas. I really do. Like, I take you seriously. Like if I was doing my rankings in the NFC, luckily they're going to play here in whatever, 10 days. Niners Eagles are, Eagles, Niners, and you're clearly number three.

I would put you ahead of the Lions. If you guys played the Lions, either in Detroit or in Dallas, I would like your chances. If it was a playoff game, I would 100% pick Dallas, even though it'd be very unlikely for you guys to play because, you know, I guess technically you could, no, you're not going to play in the first round.

I guess you could play in the second round, depending on where their seating was, but you're good. But you've got to beat some real teams, and I think it's going to come down. in a couple weeks, you play Philly again, and then the playoffs. That's what you're going to be judged on. How you play in these big games. And right now, like, when you play these shitty teams, when you play these teams who are going

to fire their coach, who are going to be drafting really high, you beat the living shit out of them. It's almost like an NBA team. You know, I remember when the Warriors were really good in the regular season, they would beat, I was going to a lot of those games, even before Kevin Durant got there, and it was fun to go to, but you'd look up in the third quarter and they'd just, you'd look up in the third quarter and they'd be of like 40 points. I would just leave. I'd just drive home. Like, what's the point of this? This is like, it was fun to watch. I mean, watch Steph Curry or Clay Thompson

go for like 40. But the game would be over before the fourth quarter even started. And that's what the Cowboys kind of do to a lot of these teams. And now to me, it's all about the Eagles and the Niners. Can you beat those teams? And that's, that's all that matters this season. That's how you're going to be judged. In Washington, I have no take. I don't think any of it matters. You know, I don't think Ron Rivera is going to be there. Fucking nuke the thing. Take dynamite around the whole building if I'm the new owner. Blow it all up.

Start over. Does that mean Belichick? Does that mean call Harbaugh? I don't know exactly where you look, but something clearly has to change. I bet a lot of people listening or watching have been in an accident. I bet a lot of people have been into an intense car accident. And let's face it, not knowing who to call for help. is hard. Hiring Morgan and Morgan is easy. Because Morgan and Morgan is America's largest

injury law firm with over 100 offices nationwide with more than 800 lawyers. They've recovered over $15 billion for over 300,000 clients. Morgan and Morgan has a proven track record of fighting to get you full and fair compensation. They've been fighting for the people for over 35 years. Submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is so easy. That's the key. Not having representation is hard, fighting with Morgan and Morgan is easy. If you've ever been injured, you can check out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go to for the people.com slash john or dial pound law, pound 529 from your cell phone. That's F-O-R-the-people.com slash J-O-H-N or pound law, pound 529 from your cell phone. This is a paid

advertisement. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrate. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that

don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford. and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. A couple quick things before we get out of here.

I've seen so many headlines about Mike Vrable's job security. And sometimes I think to myself, is this the dumbest headline I've ever seen? Mike Vrable's job security? Is his job on the line? And I don't know if that's a media fabricated thing. I don't know if the owner is legitimately mad because they're losing. all I know is this. If Mike Vrable ever were to be fired at the end of this season,

do you know how many teams would line up to hire them? That would include, especially if Ryan Day loses in a couple days, Ohio State immediately firing Ryan Day and offering Mike Vrable $120, $130 million, Washington, you name it. Every team that has no, the Raiders, the Chargers, would be all over the guy. Mike Vrable is really,

really, really good. We all knew coming into the season, and I had a lot of respect for the guy. I obviously picked Jacksonville to win the division, but a lot of people kept DMing me, like, John, I think you're underestimated the Titans. I'm just like, their teams is not good enough. Their team is just not good enough.

Taney Hill got hurt. Obviously, they trade Bayard, but, like, their team socks. You give Bill Walsh or Parcells be their head coach. They're having similar outcomes. Mike Vrable could be the head coach of my team any day of the week. So anytime I see a headline about like

Vrable, job security, what are we talking about? The Brady comment that I think he made to Stephen A about, you know, basically just the mediocrity around the NFL with players and coaches. Let me start with coaches. I think a lot of coaches,

not head coaches, but, you know, Brandon Saley ultimately becomes a head coaches, but a lot of assistant coaches. A lot of people have, got into coaching football that maybe would not have 30, 40 years ago because of the time that goes into it and because you don't really have a life relative to a lot of other jobs. But the one thing you have, if you get to be a position coach, like a wide receiver coach, a quarterback coach, an align coach in the national football league, you make so much

goddamn money relative to the rest of society. You understand like a quarterback coach in the NFL make 750 grand and he signs a multi-year contract. So when I hear Brady say that like the coaching has got a lot worse, well yeah, anytime there's a lot of money in any given industry, it's going to attract a lot of people that maybe don't actually care about it. They just want to be associated with said profession because it pays so much money.

Right? It's like anything in life. It's like most industries. The moment things start taking off financially, people gravitate that weren't there before. I worked with Andy Reid. Andy Reid has made a lot of money for a long time. Andy Reid would be coaching football

if you paid him in fucking ice cream and cheese burgers. If you paid him $150. Right? Or whatever, I mean, in all seriousness. Like if you paid him 150 grand. He would coach football no matter what. Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll. Both guys probably, I mean, Bill makes 20 million. Pete makes 18 million.

they have been coaching football since you got paid nothing 45 years ago. They do not care. They are addicted to the sport. Now obviously they're used to making a lot of money. It helps. They did not get into the profession for anything financially. They got into the business only for money. Honestly, even watching like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh because of their families,

like those guys fell in love with the sport well before money became involved. and I don't know these people because I was just like my time in Philly I was around a lot of like Sean McDermott's Matt Nagy's, Brett Viches, guys that worked for Andy that just Doug Peterson they just love football that would have been coaching football if you paid them you know whatever was enough to feed their family obviously all these guys make a lot of money now but like I never like for one second crossed my mind that and when I started in football with Pat Hill, the dude took so much pride in his program. And at the time, he was one of the highest paid non-power five coaches in the country. But like he would lock the doors

around the whole building every night before he left. Essentially like he owned the building, even though obviously as a head football coach, you don't own the building, but he took ownership in it. He loved the program. He loved football. He was addicted to the sport. And I think a lot of coaches around football, given how much money is on the line, it's not the same. How could it be? It's impossible, right? If in 1992, a position coach made 80 grand, even if that was a lot of money at the time, it's not relative to that same position coach making $875,000 a year.

That guy is immediately a borderline one-percenter, especially depending on the state he lives in. So I agree with Tom. The coaching has gotten worse. That's what money creates. When it comes to the players, one, Tom benefited a lot. Like Tom, you played the bills and jets, right? And dolphins forever.

And most of those teams, on a given year, all three of them were typically pretty shitty. So you got to bank a bunch of wins against a bunch of average players. But part of the reason it's hard to develop players now is because the players negotiated and fought to have limited practice.

When I first got, became a graduate assistant at Fresno State in 2008, we had three straight weeks of double days. And Fresno was like 108, 109 degrees. Three, our training camp, every single day. Morning, afternoon, full padded practice. Do you think Pat Hill just made that up? No. He learned that from Bill fucking Belichick.

when he worked in the Cleveland Browns. Then I got hired in Philadelphia. And that first year was before the new CBA in 2011. We went double day after double day after double day. Go line, just intense practice. I remember being on the sideline like, Jesus, the NFL is no joke. Hell, even back to my time at Fresno State.

I remember scouts coming up to me in Drew Hill, who's now at Oklahoma as their GM, going like, God, Pat, run some of the most physical practices in the country. I thought that was normal. That died in college and the pros over the last eight, nine years. You're not allowed to practice in pads. In any other sport, whether it's tennis, whether it's golf, whether it's baseball,

you can manipulate a game, right? I can take BP against Pedro Martinez. If it's tennis, like I can just play a game against Roger Federer, right? In basketball, we can go full speed five on five. The only way you can practice what we just witnessed today is to play football is in pads. No one practices in pads anymore. So of course the development has gotten dramatically worse.

The only way to get better at podcasting is, I don't know, podcast. So you can go to practice. Did you see the clip of the Miami has hard knocks right now? And they were playing, it was the week of the Raider game. And this guy, a practice squad guy, or maybe he's on the team, I don't know, number, he was pretending to be Max Crosby in practice. And it was, you know, he was getting a lot of credit. Like he'd hit 2A.

And 2a was like, thanks, man, thanks, man. But if you watch that film, just type it in guy, Max Crosby, Miami Dolphins, that's practice. No one's wearing any pads. It's all shells and a helmet. And it's like, I don't know, 50% speed. of an NFL game, and I'm not blaming the Miami Dolphins. That's what every team looks like

in the National Football League. But that's football now. Like that's what it is. So it's hard for me. I know Brady's shit and all these players. Like, bro, you are one of the lead dogs pushing for this. And a couple quick games.

Huge game, Bill's, Eagles. Obviously, if the bills were to beat the Eagles, NFC gets weird fast. Because then that Niners Eagles game becomes, I mean, the biggest game since the Chiefs game, because that Chiefs game, I don't know if you saw 29 million people watched.

Last I checked, that's a lot of people watching the NFL game. So that game would be fucking massive in two weeks. And obviously the bills in must-win territory. And the other game that's really fascinating to me would be the Texans and the Jags. And if the Texans win, all of a sudden you have the same record as the Jags

and we're like, I thought Dan Campbell was a lock coach at the year, but I would say D'Amico would get right back in the mix with a Dan Campbell lost and D'emico beats the Jags. I kind of like the Jags just because I'm a huge Texans guy. C.J. Stratt has blown me away. I've loved Will Anderson for three years. It feels like they're a year away,

but sometimes you think a team's a year away and all of a sudden you look up and they're 11 wins. So if I would have told you at the beginning of the season that the last weekend in November, that the Texans' Jags game would be one of the better games of the Sunday slate. You would have thought I was crazy,

but that's where we're at. Okay, bold take of the week. Brought to you by Guinness. Typically, we do sports stuff here, and I've nailed some, right? Guy was going to get fired, and ultimately, you know, Frank Reich demoted himself

to give his offensive coordinator, and let's face it, Frank Wright's going to get fired as well. I think that feels like a lock at this point in time. the Caleb situation, the Texans, beating the Bengals. But I want to get a little personal here for Thanksgiving. And my bold take of the week is it really hit me tonight, spending time with family.

Spend more time with family. Spend more time with the people you love. I love what I do. I'm very lucky that I get to watch football, talk about football for a living that gets to pay my bills. But had my mom, had my brother here for Thanksgiving. and I just don't think we value, especially with cell phones and how much time we're distracted,

whether it's our wife, whether it's our children, whether it's just people that we really care about in life with, let's face it, the older you get, that number gets smaller. My bold take of the week

is really value your time. And obviously Thanksgiving weekend, you got family in town over the next month, whether it's Hanukkah, whether it's Christmas, let's spend some time, a quality time with your family.

I could give you some crazy Jim Harbaugh walks out. I've done a million of those and I've got a couple right. But as someone that lost a father several years ago and you just miss people and you realize nothing's guaranteed in this world, you never know. So just really, really value everyone in your life, value your family. Enjoy this weekend.

And I would imagine most of you, if you're listening this on Friday, you aren't working, get the weekend off, and just have a good time. So my bold take of the week is just value people

that mean the most of you because sometimes I know I'm guilty of this. I don't do enough of that. So brought to you by Guinness, gather your friends, raise your glasses, and toast to a win. Guinness drafts out

imported by Diageo Beer Company USA, New York, New York. Please drink. possibly. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel

and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-heart radio app. podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way

with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability

that does not mean that you need to, Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.