The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Bears/Foles Stink; Wentz Disaster; Genius Jameis Plan; Brian Flores C.O.Y; Kiffin/Bama Future; Murray MVP-level; Mailbag

Episode Date: November 17, 2020

In this episode, John discusses the Bears sinking lower in a bad MNF loss to the Vikings, why Nick Foles should be officially finished as an NFL starting quarterback, why Carson Wentz exit strategy, why Sean Payton investing in Jameis Winston as a backup looks like a genius move, why Miami's Brian Flores is the frontrunner for coach of the year, why Bama should heavily consider Lane Kiffin as Nick Saban's replacement, and why Kyler Murray should get MVP consideration. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart 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, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart 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. Are you ready for the big day?

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Flores delivered flowers when you order early. See website for details. FTD. Give with meaning. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecock, three and out podcast on this beautiful, somewhat chilly, have the window cracked here, Monday night. Just wasted the last three hours watching the Monday night football game.

Might have sprinkled a couple hundred dollars on the bear. money line, that did not go well. I have a recommendation. Do not gamble on the Bears. I promise you, it will not go well. Have a couple times this year, lost money. Do not do it. Just words of wisdom from this guy who's lost some cash.

We'll dive into the Monday Night Football game off the top. I have a lot of things I'm pretty excited to talk about. Carson Wentz, some thoughts on James Winston, the Miami Dolphins and Brian Flores, the throw Kyler Murray made. Obviously the Middilkopf mailbag. At John Middilkopf is my Instagram page. Slide up in those DMs.

Get your question answered on the show, the people show, we like to call it. Also, if you guys could, I would greatly appreciate it. Leave a review, three and out podcast. Subscribe. If you're listening on Collins feed, subscribe to the separate feed. Leave a little review.

If you like the show, five star. If you don't, one star, I don't really care. But I prefer a five star. I think it helps us sell the show. I know it does. So keep doing that. everyone that has, I greatly appreciate it. And yeah.

But let's dive into Monday night football. One thing is clear in 2020. I say it all the time. If you're in business and you don't have an online presence, you're losing. You could have a lawnmower business. If you're not on Facebook and Instagram marketing that thing, you're just, you're behind the curve. There's just no doubt about it, let alone if you do what I do, you have to be online.

You don't have a choice. I don't love being on social media. all the time. And really, I've pulled back, but I still have to be active. It's just part of the gig. It's part of the way the consumer consumes, you know, and it helps me grow my business. Just part of the deal. I say it, the best part about America, no matter what you do, like I said, you could be a landscaper. You can start from nothing, have zero clients. If you get involved, there's never been an easier time to grow a business. It's just the internet. I mean, it's great, but you got to have a presence on the internet, no matter what you do.

And football's the same thing. You have to have a quarterback. You have to. You don't have to have a great defense. You don't even have to have a great offensive line. We saw for years, Seattle, awful offensive line. They had Russell. Earlier in the decade, Rafflesberger,

I vividly remember when I first got to the NFL, his offensive line was terrible. He was getting sacked all the time. It didn't matter. He was elite. He dominated. They dominated. You can get away with having a bad offensive line.

The Bears and the Minnesota Vikings' offensive line is not great. But the Bears' offensive line is putrid. Their biggest problem is their quarterback. They haven't been able to find a quarterback, basically in my entire life. They had a couple moments with Cutler, but really, not really. Right now, Nick Foles, knock on wood, he's okay. Look like he had a bad back injury at the end of the game. He got carded off.

But before that, he's a bad football player. He had incredible moments a couple years ago when he won the Super Bowl, and then the following year when Carson Wentz got hurt and he won a playoff game, ironically, at Soldier Field, he's terrible. He is not any good. For all of us that watch basically all the games all weekend, he's easily one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.

He can't move. He does not throw darts. All of his balls are loopy. Kirk Cousins, who I have been critical of for throughout the years, bad athlete, can't make anything out of nothing. his arm looks like Jay Cutler compared to Nick Foles. Do you know what the Bears would do for Kirk Cousins? And Kirk Cousins is as average as the day as long.

They would die to have Kirk Cousins. Now listen, Nagy's my guy. I've known him for a long time. I'm rooting for the Bears. Am I bias on this one? Yes, a little bit. Can I admit his offense is unwatchable? Yes, I can.

But he gave up play calling tonight. He literally let someone else call the play. nothing changed. You know why? Because Bill Walsh or Andy Reid could call plays with Nick Foles and with that offensive line, but mainly Nick Foles, it would not matter. This is not the Nick Foles that Doug Peterson won the Super Bowl with. Nobody, let me repeat, nobody could win with this. Because clearly the Bears have one of the best defenses in the league. They have excellent special teams. I mean, Corderelle Patterson, dude's a beast. but you just watch on the same field.

Like, one thing quarterbacks, and I've heard Aaron Rogers say this before, what a dumb-ass question it is, and he's right, when the media says, like, when Tampa's playing Green Bay, and they go, Aaron, what's it like to play Tom Brady? And Aaron's like, I don't fucking play Tom Brady. I play quarterback, he plays quarterback, we're never on the field at the same time. That's 100% true. But one thing you can do when a team plays another team,

when Kyler Murray plays Josh Allen you see the ebb and flow of the two guys so you get to kind of rate them off each other how they look who's better than the other guy they don't play each other but when they play on the same field

it's just the ebb and flow of the two talents that's part of evaluating the quarterback and you just watch tonight again Cousins as average as the day is long unless you're Kyle Shanahan and you have a secret man crush on him and you want her to be the quarterback of the 49ers

Thank God, Minnesota keeps winning, and he won't be the quarterback in 49ers in 2021. But compared to Nick Foles, it's not close. He has a better arm. He's a more accurate passer. Foles stinks. And as we know in the NFL, and I'm seeing it with the Niners right now, when you play with shitty quarterbacks, and that's what Nick Mullins is, you lose. You just lose.

Even if your defense is okay, even if you have some good offensive skill guys, it does not matter. It's the ultimate, I mean, it's never been more important. When I was growing up in the 90s, even though I'd say most of the good teams had like Hall of Fame quarterbacks, but you get by with elite run game and a great defense. You can't do that now. Scoring is too important. You have to move the ball down the field.

It's a passing, it's a passing oriented league now. The rules are there, the wide receivers, you can't hit them. Hell, the Bears have talent at wide receiver. They draft a second round tight end, the kid from Notre Dame, Jimmy Graham's made plays this year. Alan Robinson's a stud. Miller, in theory, should be decent. And it doesn't matter.

Foles can't hit water for you sitting in a boat. Again, I'm not trying to beat up on the guy. I know people that know him. I think he's a great guy. I mean, I've heard his character is like Tim Tebow level. He's an elite character guy. But in the NFL, when the game starts, character and all that chick gets thrown out the window.

You're either good enough or not. And I saw this thing that went viral this weekend about Urban Meyer talking about like he hates it when coaches say this guy's not good enough and he says especially in the NFL and I kind of wanted to be like Urban I'm going to disagree with you.

I worked in the NFL. In your perspective, when you're at Ohio State and you're at Florida, you have the best players. Every game you play in unless you're playing the other best team in the country, every player at every position is better than the other guy.

in the NFL that's not the case there are massive talent discrepancies in theory is everyone a pro on the field for sure but is the talent gap between Nick Foles and when they play the Packers or the Detroit Lions at quarterback a mile wide hell yes you saw it tonight and they were playing Kirk Cousins

the talent gap in the NFL and the pro leagues is big you don't get an unlimited amount of first round pick and the Bears to get Khalil Mack sold a couple first round picks. And Ryan Pace hasn't done a good job of getting offensive linemen. And Nagy or whoever handpicked Nick Foles to come because they knew him. And I get it, the options were limited. I would have gone a different direction.

But I get it, he knows the offense. It's irrelevant now because they have Nick Foles and he's terrible. Now, I don't know what his injury is going to be. Maybe he doesn't come back the rest of the season. But I think Ms. Trubisky is really bad too. I would just take Mitch Trubisky's better than this version of Nick Foles. You can't function with this version of Nick Foles. It shows you why the Vikings have got back on track.

They have an identity on offense, obviously, with a great running back in Dalvin Cook. But cousins can make plays. They might be some basic plays, but he can make legit throws. 20-yard rope over the middle, a nice out route. I don't know, he can just do this thing called move the change, get first downs. the Bears were just three and out, three and out, three and out, three and out, three and out, three and out. It's not possible to play football when your quarterback is god-awful. It's just not possible.

And look at the Bears. Like if I put Aaron Rogers on the Bears, what's their record now? Five and five? What are they? Eight and two? I mean, they dominate. And their offensive line would still be just as crappy. but they have good wide receivers, their defense, and their special teams.

So I just, you can say Matt Nagy sucks, but we saw another guy calling plays tonight, and nothing, if anything, they got worse. Like their offense was dramatically worse. They had 130 yards of offense. First, coming into the game, I would say, for most of the season, it's been one of the worst defenses in the league, especially one of the worst passing defenses in the league, the Minnesota Vikings.

Mike Zimmer, you know, just, them tonight. Mike Zimmer has been running A-Gap blitzes. I'm not Bill Parcells here, but his scheme hasn't changed. So when he's running the A-Gat blitz, run a slant. You know why? Because if you watch

the Queen's Gambit, you know, the chess game, where you put pieces there and a piece here, there's no one over the middle of the field. So if we took the little chess pieces, when he blitzes both linebackers up the gut, what does that mean? The middle of the field's wide open.

What's a route to get to the middle of the field? I don't know. A quick slant, run a crossing route, do something, get a guy over the middle of the field. I'm screaming at my TV like, this isn't rocket scientist. This isn't, obviously, I'm not a rocket scientist. This isn't rocket science. Just an embarrassing effort. And I don't, we can keep blaming the coaches, but eventually, in the pros, in college,

you're at Ohio State, you're at Alabama, you can blame the coach. You're getting five-star guys. This is the NFL. They're big. difference between every player. There's a big difference between DeAndre Hopkins and, I don't know, the starting wide receiver for the Houston Texans or D.K. Medcalf and, you know, some random dude on the New York Giants. There's just is. It's like there's a big difference right now between this version of Nick Foles and basically every other quarterback in the league.

Okay, there's so much going on. Let's just try to start somewhere. And Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles and just the entire situation around the franchise when it comes to their highest paid asset in franchise history. When you also factor in what they invested in to get them, right, they traded several picks to move up in the draft. They have never spent more money and allocated more resources to get an individual player and build around an individual player. And I tried to put my owner hat on.

If I own the Eagles like Jeffrey Lurie, what would I be thinking right? now. And the reality is, it's just the way the cookie crumble sometimes, things don't work out. For whatever reason, right? Timing, uh, money, sometimes egos, personalities, whatever, people don't mesh. And when you are the most expensive asset in any business, and hell, you could call Carson somewhat of a liability. And I've supported them. I've said over and over, the majority of the teams in the league would be lined up to get him. I believe that's true. Now, I can also say independent of that, he's been a disaster. Last night, on Sunday night, before I went to bed, I threw it up on my iPad and just watched, I didn't watch the game live because I was watching

the Masters. I wasn't going to watch Eagles Giants over Dustin Johnson, especially when I had a little cash on him. Thank you, Dustin. And I watched the game back. He's just like, he looks bad. Now, their defense is terrible. They have a lot of injuries, but Carson Wentz is not working out. And if you put your owner hat on, if you own a business and the thing you invest the most in, right, whatever that is, if you own a brewery and it's all the machines that make the beer and they're not working, and that's whatever you've spent the most out. If you own, uh, just any company, whatever you spend the most on in that company, if that doesn't work out for you, you have a problem. It's no different in pro sports, right? We see it in baseball. When you,

buy a guy of $300, $400 million. That guy's got to be elite. We see it in the NBA. If you max out a player and that guy is not a maxed player, we have issues. In football, for the most part, it's just quarterbacks. Now, you can overpay other players, but it usually doesn't cripple your team. But when you overpay or pay a lot to a quarterback, and listen, we can argue all day long, they took care of Carson Wentz before he'd actually done anything, I had no problem with

it because they bet on him getting better and they bet on the market continuing to go up. This was before Corona and they go, you know, in five years, that number is going to be 50. We'll have our guy on a cheap contract. Corona hits. The Eagles then come together and the season happens and they look terrible. And if I'm Jeffrey Lurie right now, I'm asking myself, this is not working out. And the one thing over the history of time we've learned, it's usually not the player's fault when they're the highest paid player on the team. not because it actually isn't their fault,

but you can't cut that guy. You're not going to trade Carson Wentz. Too much dead cap, it makes no financial sense. So the one thing I think you're asking yourself is, are him and Doug Peterson, is this working out? And if you take a step back, you'd be like, middle cop, they made the playoffs three years and wrong. And listen, I like Doug.

And I don't have any inside information. I haven't talked to any of these guys with the Eagles all year long. I don't usually mess with people I know in the league when shit's hitting the fan. And I just, and listen, I don't know Jeffrey Lurie, so I couldn't even ask him if I wanted to. But it crossed my mind, could Doug Peterson be in trouble?

And most people, I think, around football, would say, that's insane. He won the Super Bowl a couple years ago for the first time in franchise history. He made the playoffs the following year and then won a road game. And then he even made the playoffs last year. And if I put my owner hat on,

which I think you have to do in these conversations, right? This is how we have to talk about it. This is a big business. billion dollar business. You're paying this guy $150 million. And you're paying a coach probably, even if Doug's making pretty good cash, probably buy him out for 30. So, you know, you're probably going to tend to lean with the dude making $150. We've got to fix that. And right now the head coach, who is a quarterback guy and the offensive play caller, can't fix him because he keeps getting

worse. So I have to ask myself, is he the right guy moving forward? And if I look back at two years ago, well, we won a playoff game, but part of that was because Carson got injured, he wasn't playing well, Foles came in at the end of the season, and it took a misfield goal off the uprights. And last year, we made the playoffs. A big reason we made the playoffs is our division was so shitty. We were not a quote-unquote playoff team in any other division.

We wouldn't even have been close. We won all those games at the end of the season against that bad division. Played Washington, played New York, obviously beat the Cowboys, stink. Those are the teams we beat to get in the playoffs. I think you can have the conversation while you still have Carson Wins young

and is he fixable? I don't know. Maybe he's not and maybe I'm just wrong. He's never going to be a good player. And there's a chance. I still believe in the guy and I still am adamant the teams would be more than interested.

The Niners would take him yesterday. Does he have issues? Of course he does. But that's why Kyle Shanahan's, the Sean McVeys, the Sean Patens, the Andy Reeds, those type guys, the way they think, the Arians, I want to make that better.

And right now, Doug Peterson, for whatever reason, can't fix it at all. It's getting worse. I watched that game in my bed last night, or two nights ago. I guess it was last night. If you're listening to this, it was two nights ago. And I thought they kind of got worked.

Like, they got pushed around. Now, I've been saying over and over, the Giants are good, and I think I saw someone on Twitter. Maybe they said this on the broadcast. Dave Gettleman was telling the broadcasters that people around the league were telling them they were the best 2-17 that we've ever seen.

And it's like, Dave, I wouldn't necessarily be bragging about that. But I do think he has somewhat of a point, even though that's a laughable comment, they are a tough team. Like, if you're not playing well, they can beat you. Hell, they almost beat the bucks two weeks ago, or three weeks ago, or whatever,

on Monday night football. But it's starting to kind of circulate that maybe the most important asset currently in the franchise, and you could argue in franchise history, in Carson Wentz, when you factor in how much they paid for it, the head coach can't fix them.

And he's had time now. It's just not working out. Is it their personalities? Is it they don't see things eye to eye? 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver 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, Untaught. filtered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. 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 Podcasts, 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-tap 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 you here, unpack what you? went down and tried 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 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, 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, so. Thank you 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have. conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. It's probably a chance that Carson Wentz can't be fixed. But here's what I know if you just look back at the history of the way sports work. There will be another coach that gets an opportunity to figure that out before they just

kick Carson Wentz the can down the road. Because before they just go, you know, the Carson Wentz experiment didn't work. Someone else is going to coach him. And I don't know. I have no inside information on this, but I think you have to start asking yourself, is Doug Peterson's job status in a little bit of trouble? Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines

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and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org, brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. One thing, you know, I've learned over the years. When I was in my 20s, I wasn't very good at savings.

I would imagine most guys, girls, whoever, just most younger people are not. Then the older you get, the more maturity you have, you realize, you know, and older people, if you're in the business world and have mentors, I tell you, you want to have cash on hand.

Now, sometimes you're just not in the financial position. You're not making enough money. Your bills are higher than the money coming in. You can't save. But I found even in tough times, if I put 10% away, like every $1,000 I get, put $100 away. And things, I mean,

it's going to help as we go into this crazy winter with all these lockdowns, I was able to just put some extra cash away that I would never have done five, ten years ago. And I'm very cognizant of that because I want to be in positions when things, whether it's stock market, whether it's real estate, become cheap. I have money. And they say cash is king, but it's hard to accumulate cash unless you make a lot of money if you're not really smart.

And listen, it doesn't mean you can just accumulate a million dollars. I mean, if you're making $80,000 and you can just put a thousand away, just a little bit away. It always helps for a rainy day. That shit is so true. And I'm a big believer on it. And I try to be really consistent when I get some money to put some away. Now, ultimately, I'm going to use that money when I find something that I want to buy. But I think about it when the cash comes in is to put a little away. And it's different. I mean, I'm in a, you know, working for myself, I'm going to pay quarterly income taxes. So part of it's that too. But I'm talking about money that I can actually keep after the taxes are spent.

And you just want to have a backup plan. And I saw it, like, we're just going through the same thing right now in society that we went through in April, May. The difference is we know way more about the virus. But if I would have had a lot of cash on hand when all the, and it's easy to say now, because when the stock market just plummeted, we didn't know if like the world was going to end, we didn't know it. And I don't think it's going to happen this time around. But it was, it would have behooved anything. to have a lot of cash on hand.

It behooves anyone to have a contingency plan. There's a reason that we pay for insurance, even though I always said, I think insurance companies are the great racket, the legal racket in America, because I pay them every month, and then the moment I get into a car accident, you know, my appliances go down,

you know, I need surgery, my payments are up the ass, and they don't ever want to give me what they've promised to give me despite me paying them. but that's a whole other conversation. I'm sure everyone has their crazy insurance companies. But again, there's a reason we have it.

Because clearly if you have health insurance, it helps when you go to the doctor. When you have car insurance and you get into a car accident, it helps having it. Now, it might be sometimes difficult getting that money from them, but eventually if you fight hard enough, you can get the cash from it. And there's a reason that good teams have backup quarterbacks

or attempt to have. Because when you have star quarterbacks, especially when they're older, if they go down, you are immediately shit out of luck. And I think the Saints proved last year that having money in the bank,

aka paying Teddy Bridgewater like $7 million to be their backup was genius. Remember Drew Breeze heard his thumb in Los Angeles and I immediately thought, I'm like, they're screwed, they're done. They had a contingency plan

and they were fine. And it turns out, Teddy Bridgewater was good, made himself a lot of money. He's now a starting quarterback. He ended up getting $20 million a year. They had no choice. They had to let him go. This year, knowing that their quarterback, unlike Tom Brady,

this guy misses some games. Drew Brees has gotten banged up now. Two years in a row. Information comes out. He has broken ribs, he punctured lungs. Like, he's in shambles. In watching the Niners Saints game yesterday, it was hard to tell exactly what happened to him,

but you could see the pain on his face. He was not in a good spot. And they didn't just go, oh, let's bring out the undrafted free agent, or let's bring in this seventh rounder that's probably going to suck. They rolled out James Winston. And say what you want about James Winston. At the end of the day, he was the number one overall pick. And he was deserving of that selection.

He then went on to be a productive passer for Bruce Ariens. He just threw a lot of picks. Now, the one thing I'd say with Bruce Ariens is, His quarterback's throw a lot of picks. He's cool with it. He throws the ball down field. Well, the Saints offense is not built like that. They don't throw the ball down the field.

They don't have players. They don't roll out two Deshawn Jackson's. The best player on their team is a running back that catches the ball in screens, wheel routes, and little short routes all within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Their second best player is a wide receiver that isn't that fast, that run slants, hitches, and outs,

and he can dominate in Michael Thomas. Unlike Godwin and Evans, who are deep threats, who are guys you push the ball down the field, that's not how the Saints operate. So James Winston, who has had red flags on and off the field, and I said the moment that he had the thing

with the Uber driver, me personally, I was out, but I've never disputed his talent. You just have to corral him. Well, Sean Payton's the perfect coach to corral him, and they have been smart, they've given the blueprint of all these good teams,

Like, if Rogers went down, Packers would be screwed. If Russell Wilson went down, Seattle would be fucked. I watched it with the Niners this year. Jimmy Garopla, who wasn't even playing that well, went down. They rolled out Nick Mullins. He's an undrafted free agent. Sources say he's not any good. Jared Gough, don't even know who the backup is.

They would be in trouble. We've seen this now. When you don't have a backup quarterback, Blaine Gabbard is the backup quarterback in Tampa Bay. Tom Brady were to get hurt, game set match, Tampa has no shot. And I'm not saying the Saints are just going to win.

If Drew Breeze can't come back, they win the whole thing with James. But at least they have a fighting chance. And I give Sean Payton credit for understanding that he needs some cash in the bank. Because most teams don't think that way. Or think they have enough. Kyle Shanahan's like,

we got Mullins and CJ Bethard. For whatever reason, the Niners keep two backup quarterbacks. It turns out that's the equivalent of having like $300 in your bank count. It's like, bro, that wouldn't even pay for my HOA fees. Like, you can't win a game. And when you have, we saw last year with the Steelers. Now, I give them credit, they were drafting guys, just turned it out.

Dobbs stunk, Mason stunk, those guys weren't any good. But they kept investing third and fourth round picks in those guys. You always invest picks in those guys. Because it's the most important position you can have. Because if the guy does go down, you need another guy. It's not like defensive line or wide receipts. You can just work a group by committee. It's one individual player.

And when I was in Philadelphia, we signed Michael Vick to a big deal. Andy Reid wanted to make Alex Smith the highest paid backup in the league. We were really, really aggressive. Jim Harbaugh convinced him to come back. Andy, ironically, ended up getting this guy by a trade a couple years later. But he understood you need a good backup. You have to have a good backup. Now, it's a little more difficult in their situation once you pay Mahomes huge money,

but they have a veteran backup who they proved last year Matt Moore could win a game. Matt Moore is a solid backup. Most teams do not have that. They don't at all. The Raiders backup quarterback is Nathan Peterman. If Derek goes down, the Raiders are done.

Put a fork in them. It's over. I'll get the Browns credit. Case Keenham's their backup quarterback. Hell, he might be better than Baker. But this is why the Saints are a high-level operation. This is why Sean Peyton

makes huge cash. This is why they always go to the playoffs. This is why they go back again, whether Drew Brees comes back or not, because they had a contingency plan. They paid for the insurance. And they got a really, really talented player, right? Who's flawed, but he's more talented than every backup in the league. That's for sure. And they're built to, you know, to limit his greatest mistakes, which are terrible passes down, you know, 20 plus yards down the field. They don't do that there. They dump the ball off and they throw slants and quick outs and ins.

That's their offense. And it's proven it works. I actually think they'll be pretty good with James Winston. Let's shift to the Miami Dolphins. And I might have to take a couple else. Because twofold. One, before we even saw Tua, I was very down on them not playing him.

I thought it was stupid. It didn't make any sense. because he was dressing for every game. He was not in sweats. And we saw Borough, we saw Herbert. It's like, why are they waiting? And ultimately, I think it's been proven they had a plan. And we're going to dive into the head coach who clearly stuck with that plan.

And I'm a huge believer in, like, I think the media has never been more irrelevant. You just don't have to listen to them. It just doesn't matter. But I also think there is like the fans and everyone, like, why aren't this guy playing? And I thought the whole time he got to the point where maybe even the owner was like, especially once Herbert starts making plays, why is an R guy playing if he's healthy enough to play?

They ultimately put him in the by week. And that first week, I was pretty down on him. I was like, you know, I don't really see it. These last couple weeks, but especially the game against the Chargers on Sunday, I'm pretty impressed with Tua, just in terms of how fast he gets rid of the ball, his accuracy. and he's not exactly playing with O.J. McDuffie. You know, I don't know.

I'm trying to, like, I was like going to rattle off like three or four sweet Miami Dolphins wide receiver. I don't even know him. I mean, Devante Parker is, okay, whatever, never lived up to his first round billing. Actually pretty talented, but they don't have that much talent. Jaquim Grant, the little guy from Texas Tech is solid. The tight end they drafted, I think, from Penn State, Gileseki is actually not bad.

I like that guy. But they are not rolling out. Kenyon Drake, I'm watching the Cardinal game. That guy's really good. Well, he's not on their team anymore because they traded him. And I assume once they traded everyone, this team was really going to suck. And I've just been wrong. And I think Tua, he's not ever going to be as physically gifted as Justin Herbert.

And that's the guy we're comparing him to because ultimately they chose Tua over Herbert. But he is, he has a really quick release. He's much more fast twitch, let's say, than Baker Mayfield, two smaller guys. Everything's smoother about his game. Now, you know, in fairness to Baker Mayfield, he's played in some monsoons. Tua's played in a controlled environment in Miami. But that's part of the deal with playing for the dolphins. You get to play in warm weather.

Now, eventually, if the Jets ever get good, obviously the Bills and the Patriots, those games could get really cold. Historically, the dolphins have not been good in those games. But that's, we're jumping ahead here. Putting the cart before the horse here. Let's just walk before we run. And what I saw, the game against the Chargers from Tua had me excited. Like, do I think he's going to be some all-time great?

I'm not going to make some crazy statement about where he's going, but he showed he can be a good player in this league for sure. He has talent. We knew that, but it's one thing to see a guy on an NFL field. But the most impressive thing about this organization has not been the quarterback. It's the coach. When they started trading everyone, and I said this, when they trade Mink of Fitzpatrick, when they trade Laramie Tunsell,

like the whole point of the draft is ultimately to a coach. acquire guys like that, like you got Laramie Tunzel. That's a good thing. You want that guy in your team. You got Minka Fitzpatrick because he fell in the draft. That's a good thing. He's a dominant defensive player. You don't trade those guys away. It's why when the Raiders trade Khalil Mack, it's like the whole point of the draft is to have Killele Mac, not then trade them for more draft picks. Because, you know, they say whatever, a bird in the hands better than two in the bush. Like you got the guy. Now, but they did it. So once you do it, it's water into the bridge. It is what it is. And they have pivoted in

terms of they're nine and five in their last 14 games. And they're six and three this year, and it's a real six and three. Like, they dominated that game against the Chargers. They were in complete control. Their defense, they don't know that many guys I've even heard of. I know they signed Van Hoy. Their corners are actually pretty good. I mean, they signed Byron Jones from the Cowboys.

They obviously have the Howard, who was already on the team when Flores got there. Like, their debes are two corners are good, and Vanoi is solid. But they create pressure, they tackle well. You watch their team every week, and I really noticed it when they came out and played the Niners with Fitzpatrick, and they beat the brakes off the 49ers. I was like, oh, my God, this team is, you know, they come to play. And when you come to play every week, that's a reflection of the head coach. And right now, say what you want.

And historically, we always go, well, guys leave Belichick and they fall apart. They try to be him. They try to be him. And it never works. You can't be Belichick. Patricia, can't be Belichick. Make some practice outside, even though they're playing indoors. Bill O'Brien, just complete asshole.

We just go down the list. Romeo Cornell, just not a good coach. Good assistant coach, not a good head coach. And he's just like, bang, but Josh McDaniels. He tried to be like the little dictator. Didn't work in Denver. They had to like tell him to get the hell out of there. This is working.

I don't know if Brian Flores took better notes when he was around Bill. I don't know if he stayed true to his personality. I don't know if he's just a star coach regardless of he had been about round Belichick or not. But this guy's the real deal. Just watch his teams. Your team is a reflection of your head coach. And it's pretty consistent.

the good teams are reflection. The Steelers are good. Why they got Mike Tomlin? The Chiefs have been good for seven years. Why have had Andy Reed? The Saints have been good for 15 years. Why? They've had Sean Payton. Like since McVeigh got there, the Rams win a lot. Why? Sean McVeigh is good. It's pretty clear. Like the dolphins are a very credible operation. Why Brian Flores? Like players have changed. Coaches, you know, organization, people in the organization have changed. It's just, it's the coach. Because I'm watching the dolphins for the last however many years, they all the same. They're like, ah, they're not terrible, but they're not good. Like, they're just good now. And if you look at their schedule, it's not out of the realm of possibility that they're nine and

three. Now, I don't know if they have enough talent to just beat everyone that they should beat. Like, they'll beat the Jets. But like the Broncos, the game against the Jags, you know, hell, even when they play the Raider, like, they're going to just lose a game or two. But I think there's a decent chance this team gets 10 wins. And if they get 10 wins, they're in the playoffs. And if Brian Flores makes the playoffs, 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 you're 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 celebrated. 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 a TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap 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 Jett. 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you 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 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we, are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and personal. on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. I don't care how many games. Mike Tomlin wins.

I don't care how many games Andy Reid wins. We know those two coaches. They're elite. Super Bowl champions. They're big time. $10 million guys. I didn't think that about Brian Flores. But if he wins 10 games with this team and I had a vote,

I wouldn't even hesitate Brian Flores to be the coach of the year. And I think both those two guys, and you can go to like Pete Carroll, Sean McVey. Like, yeah, well, Brian Flores is doing, holy hell. Hell, the NFC West, just asked Pete Carroll, Sean McVey, and Kyle Shanahan. He beat the Rams and he beat the Niners. He played right there with Seattle. He beat the Cardinals, who were pretty good. This guy went three and one against the AFC West, or excuse me, the NFC West.

That is really, really impressive. I did not expect them to be this good. And the blowup, it worked. So whatever the notes he took when he was with Belichick, maybe he has a photographic memory like Andrew Luck. Everything Belichick said, he remembered, but he kind of puts his own spin on it. It's just working. Because you can't watch the Miami Dolphins.

Boom, put block. Boom, sack. Boom, easy touchdown drive. It's like everything they do is just pretty impressive. I watch two teams. The Chargers have much more talent than the Dolphins. Chargers are poorly coached. Special teams mistake.

Poor offensive play calling. just a disaster. Dolphins are the complete opposite. Well-coached. Overachieve. Play hard. Have coaching advantages on just situational spots in the game. They don't waste downs.

They block punts. It was a clinic on. Yeah, that's a well-run team. That's a disastrous team. Say what you want about Stephen Ross. Like he got this one right. Dean Spanos, the other side, has a disaster on his hands. So Brian Flores,

I might have been a little quick to like kind of rush to a, but it was one game. It's what we do when we talk about football. We overreact to stuff. I just, but Brian Flores is the story of the Miami Dolphins, and I don't even think it's close. Thunderstruck, adjective. Shocked and amazed by the power of fun on Carnival.

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Taxes fees, import expenses, additional restrictions apply. Full details on carnival.com, ships, Redstreet, behind us Panama. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like Dad has the bag's daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed.

Dipers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off. Ah, but looks like mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car, and there it goes! Oh, that's a shame. That mug was a fam favorite.

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Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Before, I'm sure many people know this, but I know we have a lot of new listeners. Before I got in the NFL, I was a graduate assistant at Fresno State in the late 2000s right after I graduated college. But one of the reasons, like, I had somewhat of a connection there was my cousin had played there, and I had family that grew up there in the 80s and the 90s. And my uncle, who's a businessman in that area, it was a big part of the football program, was very close.

And they have a close personal friend who's now a friend of mine who played on the team in the late 90s and was best friends with Lane Kiffin. And Lane Kiffin used to babysit some of my cousins with this other guy who actually coached for Fresno State, and he had a brother that played at Stanford. And there was a connection there. And then I got to know people at Fresno State, one of the assistant coaches named Tim Skipper

who was on that team who was also very, very close with Lane Kiffin. I actually think they were roommates. And I always heard these Lane Kiffin stories. And then I think my second year at Fresno State, me and Tim Skipper, Lane Kiffin was named the USC head coach and we went down to SC and watched a practice.

So we BS with Lane a little bit, Tim did way more than me. I just kind of watched from afar, but I've followed Lane's career very, very closely. Partly because I just know a lot of people that know them I met him a couple times when I was scouting really briefly but he was a different human when he was at SC and I went through when I went through USC I saw a guy who was pretty negative

who you could feel the stress on his body and I always had people of those Fresno State crew that knew him really well they said listen Lane's a different cat but he can coach and he knows football he's a junkie and I've always held that you know just in the back of my head even when things were really bad and I watched it really closely at USC. They underachieved. They just, the offense was ugly.

It was just bad. And I felt like he was just not comfortable in his own skin for whatever reason. And maybe that's because he became so famous, so fast, so much was given to him, and he didn't have any success on the level that I think people thought that he might go to, right? Went to Tennessee,

then he came to SC, and it was just a disaster. Ultimately got fired on the tarmac. But then, Lane Kiffin, or excuse me, then Nick Saban throughout the lifeline and it changed his life. He became the offensive coordinator there. They won a national championship. He went to become the head coach at the little school in Florida.

I think they won the league two out of three years. And he's just become very comfortable with himself. And listen, we all don't become comfortable in our own skin at the same time. Some people are comfortable in their own skin at 18. Good looking dude who's talented at stuff, who's dating the best-looking babe at school. Some people don't become comfortable in their own skin until 50. And maybe they kind of figure out what they like

and their life change for the better. I think in the last couple years, definitely in the Sabin era when he was Alabama, Lane started to develop that. And I really think once he left Nick Saban for FAU, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, whatever the little Florida school he coached at, he became very confident in his own abilities to win. I always say this, when I went to school at Cal Poly, I didn't learn that much, but the one thing I remember is the school motto was pretty simple.

Learn by doing. I'm a big believer in that. That's why I'm not that big of a believer in academia. I don't learn from you just drawing shit on the board. I learn by actually doing it. You can tell me about a million different things. Once I do it, now I'm not saying I'm going to be good at it, but at least I might be able to pick it up when I actually do it.

And I think when Lane went back out on his own after he realized his flaws and also improved when he was around Nick, he realized I'm not only good at this, I just need to be true to who I am, and I'm going to be fine. Because now he's at Ole Miss. I think Lane Kiffin is becoming one of the better football personalities in college or a pro. I'm sure many of you saw that video go viral of them dial up that big play,

him being basically on the 20-yard line where his offense was. The dude's wide open. Lane puts his hand up to signal touchdown while he's on the sideline. His quarterback throws the dude the ball like 40 yards down the field. Lane takes off, throws his clipboard play sheet 30 feet, in the air, runs down to basically the other 20-yard line as the guy's walking to the end zone and gives a fist bump. I think the number one thing for anyone to have success at whatever they do, you have to be comfortable in your own skin. When you try to be someone else, when you

try to emulate someone else, it doesn't work. At the end of the day, Lane Kiffin is not Nick Saban. But he can take some of the things that Nick Saban taught him and implement that into his coaching. Nick Saban would never do that. Lane should. Lane likes that. I found, like, God, that's pretty cool. You should celebrate some of these things. Football is so hard.

Success in anything is so difficult. I don't think we spend enough time celebrating. You don't always need to be doom and gloomer, even when things are good. Nick excels in that. So does Belichick. But I think celebrating wins is a big deal. And I think Lane now at Ole Miss,

is just really, really come into his own. And his team is only going to get better. And listen, if Davoswini, whenever Nick retires, he's 68, 69, 67 years old, he's not going to coach for, I'd put the over-underer him like two and a half years. Maybe next year, maybe two more years. He's tried to win another national championship.

If you were to win a national championship, he'd probably just retire. If Davosweeney turns Alabama down, and Davoswini, for those who you don't know, went to Alabama. I'm sure many people that listening do know that. But he's got a pretty good thing at Clemson. He's got this quarterback DJ

who I've talked about before who's going to be a star. He makes $10 million. He's got an assistant coaches that make $2.5 million as coordinator. He's basically got Alabama at Clemson. He does not need to leave. And you know what? He probably won't because he can be the Bear Brian at Clemson.

And he's on pace to be that guy. So if he turns down Alabama, which I would imagine that would be their first decision, why wouldn't Alabama go after Lane Kiffin? Now, if this in a couple of years, Lane's got to win a little bit, but he knows the system, he's a Sabin guy, they had success there, he's now in the conference, having success, again, assuming that he just has some success, and success at Ole Miss is not, you know, getting to the playoffs.

Success at Old Miss is 8, 9 wins. Like, Dan Mullen, to me, never needed to win 11 games at all at Mississippi State. When Dan Mullen started to win 7-8, I said, that's a big boy coach. gets to Florida starts kicking everyone's ass. When you go to shitty programs and you take them from three, four wins to eight, nine wins, when you're playing teams that you have no business beating, I noticed this when I was watching Washington State play Oregon.

And Mike Leach, when I was scouting and I went through Pullman, Washington, I went through every school on the West Coast. And I remember going to Oregon, going to SC, even UCLA. It was like, God, this is so bad. You go to Colorado, even Utah. I was like, this is sweet. Then you go to Washington, Seattle.

You're like, this place is badass. You know, Sark and they were cool. They were building these sweet facilities. Then you go to Pullman, Washington. You have absolutely no business winning in Pullman, Washington. And Mike Leach went there and started winning every single year. To me, winning eight, nine games at Washington State is just as good as winning 11, 12, at Oregon.

Because that's what you should be able to. That's the max you should be able to. You have no business competing with Oregon. You have no business competing with Oregon. You have no business competing with USC. Just like Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss has no business competing with LSU and Alabama. Zero. And probably even Texas A&M, the resources they have that he doesn't.

So if he can just, in Auburn, if he can just take down some of these teams, like he should never beat Alabama while he's old Ole Miss. But if he can take out an A&M, this LSU team he'll probably beat. But just if they're good next year in like one of these years, like to me it just shows. He's a big time coach. Alabama should just go after Lane Kiffin. Who else are they hiring? You wouldn't hire Kirby Smart.

He can't develop an offense. Their offense is a joke. I had someone DM me the other night. They're like, what do you think Kirby Smart? Why can't Kirby Smart figure it out? I said, well, he's a defensive guy. He had nothing to do with recruiting the offensive players at Alabama. He had Justin Fields and he went with Fromm.

I mean, that tells you everything you need to know. Here's the other problem for Kirby Smart. Florida now, Dan Mullen's big time. His teams are going to ball. He was the offensive guy for, I don't know, Urban Meyer. Remember, Dak Prescott? Remember for a split second when Mississippi State was number one in the country? That was him.

And now he's got Florida, which is way easier to recruit. He basically, Mississippi State to Florida is like, you know, I'm at this mom and pop electronic shop. Right? I got this little electronic shop right downtown. And then he like went to IBM. or Dell or Apple. It's on like Donkey Kong.

Florida is going to be big time. As long as Sabin's there, Florida will probably now become the second best team in the conference. Dan Mullins better coach than Ed Ogeron. I think we all, even the biggest LSU guys, you'd admit,

Ed Ogeron is very dependent on other coaches. I like Jimbo Fisher, but never won anything in a while. So I think he did win a national team. I like Jimbo Fisher. I'm not saying, I think Jimbo Fisher is a big time coach, but if you had to say,

who would you want for the next five years, Dan Mullen or Jimbo Fisher. If you factor in personalities and stuff, and I've heard Mullen can be a dick too, but Jimbo can be clearly pretty difficult. I'd probably go Mullen. Just keep in mind, if Nick Saban retires and Dabbo turns them down, because of course you try to get Dabble before you went Lane, I think Lane would have a chance to be the next in line.

So if Lane becomes the next head coached Alabama in the next three or four years, I just want everyone to acknowledge you here to hear first. One thing we got coming up this weekend, excuse me, me not this weekend, but Thursday night, as in Thursday night football, is a game with two guys trending in two different directions. And forever this kind of, I don't know, internet meme, talking point, I don't really know where it started. And listen, I enjoy it too because I like this player a lot, but let Russ cook. Well, right now the last two weeks, Russ has been cooking with no ingredients. His food's been terrible. He's played two of the worst games in recent memory

for Russell Wilson. I mean, two weeks ago he threw had four turnovers. Yesterday or Sunday, he was, I mean, he had one of the worst red zone picks you'll see him have ever. Pete Carroll said it was a terrible decision. He threw two interceptions. Six turnovers the last two weeks. So right now Russ is attempting to cook and like there's no, he doesn't have any firewood to barbecue and he has no gas at his house, his microwave doesn't work, and the food ain't coming out. And we've learned with Seattle is,

I've said from the jump, their defense stinks. And if your defense isn't any good, you aren't a Super Bowl contender. You can make the playoffs, but you can't win the Super Bowl. I think people are going to come around with me and agree. They traded two-ones and a two for a guy

who's basically a linebacker pass rusher. The problem is he's your strong safety. like Jamal Adams, it's looking like they paid $130.30 on the dollar, potentially more. I mean, he's always banged up. Now, he did make a really good play. He's a great pass rusher. But the problem is he's your safety, you know? Not ideal. Then on the flip side, you have Kyler Murray,

who we all have seen probably the play countless times now. I think that DeAndre Hopkins, who's been one of the best wide receivers in the league for a long period of time, is getting all the credit, and he made a great play. But I heard Sean McDermott say this after the game. I've told these guys over and over, and everyone knows this on a Hail Mary drill. The defensive players are not there to intercept the ball.

You bat the ball down. And both players, the one right in front of DeAndre and right behind DeAndre, tried to pick the ball off. Well, DeAndre Hopkins, who's arguably the greatest contested catch-wide receiver of my lifetime easily took the ball away from those two guys. But, and it was a great catch.

But sources say that he makes those catches all the time. We've all been watching DeAndre Hopkins. He makes great contested catches. It's his greatest attribute. He does that shit with his eyes closed. The best part about the play by a mile was the quarterback who avoided the rush. There was a guy that was going to sack him.

he does like this Alan Iverson crossover move, jukees him out, keeps rolling at a full sprint to his left. Remember, he's a right-handed quarterback, and throws a ball basically 55 yards in the air that didn't even have that much arc on it, was basically a frozen rope that hit his wide receiver in the hands. I truly believe this watching it is one of the greatest throws I've ever seen on an NFL field.

I always say to this day, the best throw I've ever seen live, is 2014 opening game, Candlestick, I guess it would have been 2013. Niners, Packers, Aaron Rogers, rolls to his left, across his body, like 30 yards on a rope, hits Jordy Nelson who drags his feet.

It is the best pass I've ever seen live. I think there's a chance that's the best pass in NFL history. When you factor in full speed to your left and his full speed is faster than everyone else's full speed, he's a right-handed quarterback, throws it on a rope, hits his guy in the hands. Even some of the great Aaron Rogers, Hail Marys, if you remember, he had to did a little bit of scrambling in the back,

but when he threw it, he was able to set his feet and there was no one around him, if I remember correctly. This guy is flying out of bounds while he makes the throw behind the 50-yard line. But ultimately, my point is with this, Russell Wilson was going to win the MVP with ease. That no longer is the case. Right now, he would not be the MVP. Now, granted, we don't vote in the middle of November.

We vote at the end of the season. that I have a vote. But if I did, I would have voted for Russell Wilson two weeks ago. As we sit here now, I would not be voting for Russell Wilson. I would be, listen, Mahomes, leader in the clubhouse, he could just have a very good chance to win it. Aaron Rogers, still playing well, very good chance to win it. There's another guy that is now throwing his hat in the ring.

And that's this little 5-8 quarterback that has 10 rushing touchdowns. 10 who just hit the game, who just made his throw. Kyler Murray, the Arizona Cardinals are not a very good team. I don't think their head coach is that good. I didn't even think he was that good in that game. I don't trust their defense. But he is extraordinary. He has been an MVP level player.

If he ends up with 30 passing touchdowns and potentially another 20 on the ground, let's just say, let's go conservative. Let's say 15. He accounts for 45 touchdowns and gets the Cardinals who have been the last several years an absolute joke.

Two years ago had the number one pick in the draft the year before we're drafting in the early teens. He gets these guys in the playoffs, potentially a chance to win the division. He plays Russell Wilson on Thursday night football. Could this guy get some legitimate MVP consideration? Because he should. He has been extraordinary, he is an extraordinary talent.

He is this generation's Michael Vick. But he's better. I've been saying it over and over. But I'm telling you, if you want, go back and watch that throw. Because all anyone's talking about, all anyone's tweeting, about and any highlight you see is the catch.

The best part of the play is the throw. And what led to the throw. He is an extraordinary talent who is playing, I thought he was going to be good. He is by far exceeding my expectations. I don't care what some of the people what the Cardinals tell you, beside Cliff Kingsbury, they couldn't envision this.

And even Cliff, I'd imagine if you were having a cocktail, sit there on the couch and he'd be honest with you, he even might say, I didn't think he was going to be this good of an NFL player. Well, he is. He's extraordinary. And he's got a chance to kind of end Russell Wilson's kind of MVP talk and kind of throw his hat directly into the middle of the ring. Okay, let's bang out a couple middle golf mailbag questions. Still need to get a new iPhone because Steve Jobs or I guess Steve Jobs is no longer with us. Tim Cook and the rest of his cronies are messing with me. A lot of you guys, damn me and said the same things are happening to you guys.

So I feel justified in my craziness. I thought I was losing my mind. But at John Middlecoff is my Instagram account and that I will look on my iPhone. Hopefully I'll get a new one in the next couple days. They just haven't got him in. Non-rooky quarterback rookie, non-quarterback rookie of the year. It's a good question.

Tristan Worf's, I mean, it never goes to an offensive lineman, but he's been really, really good. All these wide receivers have been sweet, right? Jerry Judy Ruggs doesn't have much production but he's awesome C.D. Lamb was good until the quarterback got hurt. Justin Jefferson makes

plays. Brandon Iyuk's been a stud. Yeah, I'll just I'll go with I'll go with Worf's. Tampa's had a good draft. I mean, Winfield too. Winfield's been a stud. I'll go with Worf's. Sometimes you've got to give the Big Heavy some love. They just get

no love. They get paid but they don't any love. I never miss a podcast. I know I've heard you speak favorably of Eddie O. But as an LSU fan, I need to know what the heck is going on. Programs don't turn south this quick. Clemson, Ohio State, and Bama lose tons of guys to the NFL just like LSU did. But they don't fall off a cliff like we have. Any insight. I think it's pretty simple. Ed Ogeron, Nick Saban is the brains of the operation. He can coach the defense. He's running all the recruiting, everything revolves around him. Last year, Ed Ogeron makes a big deal for that university in recruiting.

He is a great recruiter. He's a good motivator, guys like him. He knows nothing about scheme. He's not the defensive coordinator. He surely isn't the offensive coordinator. Nick Saban at the end of the day is neither. But the defense is his baby. And nothing offense or defensively goes on that field without.

him having a hand in it. Here's the other thing Saban has done for a long period of time. When good head coaches get fired, he puts them on the staff as analysts, because his coordinators always get jobs, and then those guys become his coordinators. So he always has a pipeline. Ed Ogeron, to no fault of his own, they had a historic season, lost all of his coaches, his offensive coach and his defensive coach. To me, it's less about the players.

LSU's players are always sweet. It's about the coaches. The losing the defensive coordinator for Pellini, like, Pliny stinks. The dude they had last year was a big-time coach. Like Joe Brady, it's pretty clear watching the Panthers. He's a stud. Saban went from McElwain to Lane to,

to now he's got Sark. Like, his coordinators are always sweet. The Loxley, they just always have big-time coordinators. Defensively, must champ. Think about the guys he's at. Kirby. He just gets high-level coordinator. coordinators. That is the key to their success. Clemson, they just pay the guys like $3 million

to be coordinators. They don't lose anybody. He's had the same offensive defensive coordinator the whole time. The defensive coordinator makes $2.5 million. The OC, who's kind of in the mix for offensive coordinator jobs in the NFL, and he's going to get one. I think his name's Tony Elliott. He makes huge coin. Those guys make, I mean, Brett Venables is paid like he's the head coach at like Fresno State, but he's the defensive coordinator, Clemson. and you know what I said this about Todd Bulls there's nothing wrong

like this isn't you're not the middle management at Safeway you're not making 75K you don't aspire to get to like run your own Safeway when you're the defensive coordinator for an offensive head coach

and you're getting $2.5 million and you're winning national championships all the time it's an incredible job like those guys have great jobs they don't leave Clemson Ohio State is just just a better program

in the LSU. I mean, it's just, it's hard. It's just a fact. I mean, I'd say consistently over the last couple decades, Ohio State's the number one program in the country. They have been consistently the best. I know they had a moment when Tressel got in trouble, but I'd say the last two decades, they have consistently been the best. And they look unreal now. Obviously, Bama with Sabin for a decade has been unreal. Clemson with Davo has been unreal. But Ohio State now, we've seen with multiple coaches, kick the shit out of people. Tressel, Urban, obviously. and Ryan Day now. Like, they're big,

they're just, they're the best program, you know? And LSU, like, let's call a spade of spade. They are an elite program. They get elite players.

But when it comes to success, like, they've had a little harder time. They haven't had quarterbacks. I just, it just kind of is what it is, you know? I mean, at the end of the day,

Ed Ogeron is just not Nick Saban. And so if you look at it like that, like look at Kirby Smart. Like, his team's not as good this year. I think the second best coach in the SEC is Dan Mollant. Well, I think Jimbo's pretty good too, but I think Dan Mullen's really good. Should Big Ben be in the MVP consideration?

Someone hit me up. I honestly didn't watch a snap of Steelers Bengals. I was, yeah, that was an early morning game. I had the Masters on in Red Zone. Maybe I watched a couple snaps. I saw, what's his name, the Notre Dame kid could get a touchdown. But I was much more locked into the Masters. And someone DM me and is like, bro,

you need to watch that game because obviously it's cold. I have nothing but respect for the AFC North. Even the bad teams like the Bengals, I guess the Browns aren't bad. But they, as a California guy who despises the cold, I respect the hell out of people that play in 10 degrees when it's raining and snowing. Like that is, those guys are badasses. And the DMer said, you got to look, Ben's ball in that, you know, just the elements going right through the wind.

Burrough's ball kind of hung up. And I haven't watched it yet, but the reality is, like, Burrow doesn't have a great arm. And that is one problem in that, the elements, like, Lamar doesn't have a great arm. You know, Flacko obviously became a terrible player, but he had a couple years there.

Like, you need to have a big-time arm to succeed in that division. Carson Palmer with the Bengals, Ben for 15 years. Like, it's a grown-ass man's division because it is freezing cold. In all four venues, certain divisions like the AFC West, for example, in Kansas City, in Denver, in December, and in late November, it can get really cold. In L.A., it's never going to get cold.

One, because it's L.A. and two, because they play in a dome. And now in Vegas, they also play in a dome. So it's not, like, two places are cold. But in the AFC North, the entire place is cold. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Like, and those are, I mean, those are tough-ass towns. So I don't think Big Ben can win the MVP, but he'd be their team MVP if he leads them right to the playoffs, which he's going to, obviously they're undefeated, but I just

mean like a legit chance of Super Bowl. What the hell you think was Lamar thinking? These are Brady's, these are not Brady's Patriots, just with Cam at quarterback. I bet they're first in the AFC with Brady. No chance. The Patriots are not very good. I just think that the Ravens ran into kind of a budsaw. their offense is sputtering.

They're in Chambles, but they would not be very good with Brady either at all. I mean, Brady, the offensive skill guys, Cam's dealing with. I just watched probably the second half of the Sunday night game. Cam made some plays with his legs. Like, they just don't have any weapons. They're a run-oriented team,

try to play defense. Brady, they'd be terrible with Brady. Let me rephrase that. They would not be any. they'd be maybe have one more win with Brady, but maybe not. I don't think they'd be any good. Okay. Adios.

Appreciate it. Everyone listening. Have a good week. And I'll see you Friday. So I think we got a really good Thursday night game against the Seattle, Arizona. Can't wait. Keep your head up. And talk to you guys soon.

Peace. See you. A story of the rose is a story of love. From farms to our florists and right into the arms of sweetheart savoring a date night in. Best friends showing their galantines how much they adore them. And those giving themselves a little love. Go to FTD.com and save 15% through February 14 with Code Crush 15. And celebrate your love story with iconic roses, florals, and gifts from FTT.

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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes,

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84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.