The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Belichick fired, Playoffs on Peacock, Fugazi Friday

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

John once again has breaking news to react to as Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots part ways. John dives into some of the most likely destinations for Bill and a few sleepers, he also talks about some potential upsets that we may see this weekend, should the NFL have games on Peacock, and a brand new segment called "Fugazi Friday."  Later, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag. 5:30 - Bill Belichick out in New England 20:28 - Potential playoff upsets 22:40 - Playoffs on Peacock 29:17 - Fugazi Friday 38:14 - Mailbag 39:38 - Could the Eagles be looking for a new HC 46:31 - How long should rebuilds take 48:33 - Can the 49ers win the SB 56:01 - Could Vrabel go to OSU 1:11:04 - Packers to the Super Bowl in 2025 1:11:47 - Harbaugh to Seattle? 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 #Herd  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What is going on, everybody, John Middilcock, 3 and Out podcast, How Are We? we doing my people. It is a Thursday afternoon. I hope everyone's retired slash been fired for the week, but you never know with what we just witnessed. I did a video on Thursday morning after the press conference, which was actually pretty short. I don't know why. I thought they were going to take questions. They both just talked and then Bill left. But I did just instant reaction so you can find that on the YouTube page. I'm going to talk today about Belichick, maybe where he could end up what teams are going to be interested and some of them have coaches right now. Obviously Atlanta is the name that's floating out there, but I think there are several teams

with coaches that are going to be sniffing around for sure. I wanted to hit on Peacock because a lot of people are angry that the NFL playoffs are streaming only in one spot. I think it's pretty clear why. And then I'm going to start doing something called Fugazi Friday. I had someone, I didn't keep the DM, but he DM me some ideas. I'm like, I like this one. where I'm just going to pick some things that I feel might just be a gigantic Fugazi.

So we will do that. You know, moving forward. We'll try it out for a little bit. But we'll see how it goes. See if it catches on. And we'll do a little mailbag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs and get your questions answered here on the show.

Other than that, we've had a busy week. If you listen on Collins' feed, make sure you subscribe to a three-and-out podcast. We've got a YouTube channel, fire a subscribe. Check out all the videos there if you like consuming that way. And the volume.com, we got three and out merch. So before we dive into talking football, what I need you to do, grab your smartphone, grab your iPad, go to your app store, download a little app that happens to be the official ticketing app of this podcast, game time. Use the promo code, John, when you buy your first pair of tickets. Football, you want to go to one of these playoff games.

Do you want to go, do you live somewhere and you have a college and they have great college back? basketball team. Do you want to go to a concert? Do you want to go to a comedy show? Do you want to do anything? Why got you covered? Download the game time app. Search around. Look at all the different, because when you pick an event, you want to go to a Taylor Swift concert. It shows you the venue. And then you can pick by price point. And then when you pick by a price point, it shows you exactly where you're sitting in the view. So it doesn't get any better. Just buy a pair of tickets. Use the promo code, J-O-H-N, J-J-O-H-N. Let's start with William Belichick, who is clearly looking for work.

And obviously when you're fired, you're looking for work. But I'm saying he's not even over 70 years old about to tap out. Now, a huge part of that, he's 15 wins away from being the all-time wins leader. If he had already accomplished that, would he be a 100% lock to keep coaching? I think it's fair to say, probably not. Right? He might just write off into the sunset, super wealthy, go live in Jupiter, Florida, and just kick it. You know, a single guy, have a good time.

which anyone that saw that video from Nantucket, which I'll assume was over the summer, would say Bill's been known to do. So I think Bill Belichick is, I think he's doing two things right now. He's clearly chasing this number to be the most winningest coach in the history of the league.

And to prove, I think there's some sort, this is his Brady moment. Right? This is his, and listen, that conversation is done. Like, it's pointless to talk about. we see Tom Instagram and Tom's been

talked about it on his podcast Tom's cried when he's been asked about it like all the players from all the different generations Bill's an elite coach he was an elite coach with the Patriots for 20 years right but moving forward

like he can really solidify himself if he goes somewhere and just starts going to the playoffs and I think it's pretty simple because like Pete Carroll for example I don't think anyone's going to hire Pete Carroll could be wrong but I would be

stunned if Pete Carroll gets another job, where I think it's the complete opposite with Bill Belichick. Because for two decades, I mean, there have been some new owners, right? Jimmy Haslam, Dave Tepper. But so many guys, when you see Arthur Blank is really interested in Bill Belichick, well, of course he is. Bill Belichick, Arthur Blank had a 283 lead against the Patriots in the fucking Super Bowl. He saw it firsthand. And so many guys around the league have experienced Bill Belichick beating their ass. So, of course, they're going to be interested in Bill. Especially if Bill goes, well, who's your offensive coordinator?

Josh McDaniels? Okay, don't like Josh as my head coach, but like Josh is my number two. To me, there's only one question. I would hand Belichick a contract. You want to work a three or four year deal, right? You bring Josh McDaniels, I'm all in. The only thing that I'm pushing back on him, because I'm letting him set the culture, I'm letting him do everything that he's used to doing.

except like can we get a general manager situation in here where you work together? Like I saw you picking the players and you're not as bad as the internet makes you out to be, but you clearly have some blind spots. Could we get a guy in here who helps you out, who makes it easier on you, who takes some off your plate? I think in 2024 it's impossible to do both jobs. This isn't 1992. Those days are done. There is no head coach in GM.

Now there are head coaches that are the ultimate decision. Michael Shanahan, Andy Reid, but they let their personnel department run the show. Now, if they ever want to overrule Sean Payton, they can't. Sean Payton's a bad example because he's a grand poo ball. But a lot of playoff, John Harbaugh, you just go around the two conferences in the playoffs. You have to rely on another, you don't have time because a coach during the season isn't watching college football. It's not putting together a draft board.

and they shouldn't be. Focus on the task at hand. So can Bill, and Bill actually has always kind of done both, which is insane. And I get it, he's passionate about it, but like, bro, just focus on coaching. When Andy Reid went to the Can't Sea Chiefs, you know what he did?

Gave that away. John Dorsey and now Brett Veach. Coaching, coaching, coaching, I'll get with the draft after the season. It's not to say that on a given Saturday, you don't check out some prospects on your TV when you're at home. right between waiting for the game the next day.

But Bill Belichick was doing much more than that. That's got to stop. We just want you to coach the team. But I understand why Atlanta's all in on it. Because if you're Arthur Blank, you go, even if I just get them for three or four years, I can't make the playoffs a couple times. One hundred,

look who I'm playing against. David Tepper, Dennis Allen, Baker Mayfield, Todd Bowles. So from Arthur Blank's standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. and I said it yesterday and I'm going to keep saying it,

it would be very weird to see Bill Belichick in Atlanta Falcons just get up, right? But, I mean, their owner has a ton of money. He's incentivized to be aggressive, as a lot of people have talked about. He's gone after Big Fish in the past, never really landed one. And I would expect him to be very aggressive. But I also think, and Schefters mentioned this, there are teams with coaches who are interested in Bill Belichick. and I actually think it's pretty easy to figure that one out.

I think the New Orleans Saints 100% are interested in Bill Belichick. I think the Jags would be interested in Bill Belichick. And obviously the two teams in the playoffs, you could even add three. Though I don't think Belichick would be interested in the bucks, right? Like, he can't go there as well. Would the Glazers fire Todd Bowles if he's won and done in the playoffs for Belichick? 100%. I mean, they did it once upon a time, but they got aggressive with John Gruden.

They like a big flashy headline, Brady. I just, if I was him, I wouldn't fuck with that. Now, money talk, shit walks. They offer you, hey, here's three years, $60 million. But that would be weird. But hell, I mean, who would I thought 10 years ago? You know where Aaron Rogers' second team will be? Oh, the same as Brett Farr's, the Jets.

So you never know. There's football. There are only so many options. But to me, Atlanta is going to be the most aggressive. And they have an opening. Like, they have no constraints. To me, the Jags got to be thinking about it. The Saints got to be thinking about it.

And then the two wild cards this weekend. If the Dallas Cowboys were to lose to the Packers, which I don't think they're going to lose, but hell, I mean, the Packers have been playing well. They score a lot of points. Dak has an off game. Not inconceivable. McCarthy would be done,

and Belichick would be the next HUD coach of the Cowboys, assuming he wants to mess with Jerry Jones. But to me, that's a no-brainer. I'm like, adios, Adios, Mike. We're going to get Bill Belichick. That feels like just the most incredible. thing ever. That is every single person that talks about football

that's in the football business, the league, you couldn't put together a better, just this team's going to get a lot of prime time games next year. This team's going to get talked about a lot. That almost feels too unrealistic. The one that kind of feels like it would be on the table,

they've shown over and over they will fire coaches when they stop believing. When you give them a reason to stop believing, they won't give you the benefit for the doubt if your name's not any of you. Andy Reid got it. Chip Kelly did not get it. Doug Peterson did not get it. Nick Siriani is not going to get it. If he loses this game, I even think if they get destroyed in the second round. If they play, let's just say, the 49ers in the second round, and the same thing happens, I think it's on the table, man.

I really do. And if you're Bill, Josh McDaniels, you go, they got some young pieces. They got a young quarterback you can work with. They got an infrastructure with the GM. They have the ability to make a bunch of moves. It's a northeast. I think regions matter, right? Like everyone keeps saying, and Colin, and I saw Joel Clatt expects Kaelin Dubour. In college football, where you're from, culturally, matters. Why, West Coast guys thrive on the West Coast.

Northeast, Midwest guys, thrive in that area. Southern guys, like, there's a reason guys named Kirby and Jimbo and a gas station owner's kid from West Virginia. at Alabama, right? So, like, I just think that it matters in college football. In the NFL, it doesn't, right? You could be from the south and you can coach Seattle. You can be from the north and you can coach the ramps.

None of the regions matter. I do think the bill it matters, right? He's a northeast guy and really just an east coast guy. Why, Florida, like, he owns a place in Jupiter. So it makes sense to go down, you know, the eastern seaboard. I have a hard time seeing him move out to California. I'd have a hard time, and I don't think Mark Davis would be interested in him because of the disaster of Josh McDaniels, though Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels are not the same guy. I just don't think they would pass, but I have a hard time closing my eyes and envisioning Bill Belichick in Vegas.

But the Eagles, like, kind of makes sense. Kind of fits his personality. You know, I actually think it would be a seamless transition. And we'll get into Siriani a little later, but that to me actually feels more realistic than the Cowboys. If you told me they both lost, what team is more likely to get Bill Belichick, the Eagles or the Cowboys? I'd say 100% the Philadelphia Eagles.

One, I think they operate more quickly. And two, I think they'd be more aggressive. Jeffrey Ler is originally from Boston area. Jerry Jones actually has shown a weird loyalty over the years. And ultimately, bringing in Bill Belichick, unless he wants to write his wrong from Jimmy Johnson, he ain't getting the credit. if Bill were to come and win championship

or just finally get them to the NFC championship game assuming Mike McCarthy can't. Jerry would get less credit, Bill would get more. Now, I actually think the Cowboys are, to me, the Cowboys, I'm going to pick them. Like right now if you said, who's in the NFC championship, Niners Cowboys. That's obviously the one, two seats,

but I feel pretty good about that one. The Eagles, everything's on the table. And I think Jeffrey Lurie and Harry Roseman would be very, very, very good. very interested in William Belichick. It really is crazy. The amount, like just that day yesterday, I guess if you're watching this or listening to this is Friday,

but on Wednesday afternoon, right, Pete Carroll is fired. Or Wednesday, you know, around lunch, fired. Sabin retires a couple hours later. And then I woke up at about 6 a.m. to the news of Belichick being fired. I don't think we'll ever see anything quite like. that because when you combine the three guys, right, obviously Bill's record will never be touched by an NFL coach. Knicks definitely will not. And Pete has one of the most unique careers in NFL history. I was thinking about Pete Carroll today. When you, I watch some of his press

conference and he's in tears. He got choked up a lot. Clearly he did not want to lose the job. He begged for it. Like he did not. Belichick, you know, they clearly, it was clear. He was fired, I don't think they were going to listen to Bill State his case. Pete, I mean, I bet they had a long knockdown dragout And Pete's begging to stay. Like, I can get this turned around, I can get this turn around. I don't want to start over.

When you're 70 years old, you don't want to start over again. Bill Belichick did not want to start over again. That's why whenever I see, like, would they trade these guys? These guys were never getting traded, ever. It was, I either stay here in coach or you fire my ass. I will never accept the trade. Even if I want to go to that team, you ain't trading me there.

Put up or shut up. The coaches had the leverage, and they were all fired, right? Pete, Pete, I'm talking Brable and Belichick. But to me, Pete, like, Sabin is an elite college coach. Bill Belichick is an elite pro coach. Pete was kind of incredible at both. What he did at USC for like a decade,

he turned them into an NFL team. He won multiple championships. And honestly, the craziest thing about Pete, his worst loss in college and his worst loss in the pros are like two of the worst losses I've ever seen. 28 to 3 is an all-timer. I'd even throw Brandon Staley's last year up there, but like championship game losses. Pete's lost to Vince Young when he runs in the touchdown.

And Pete's Russell Wilson interception, like it's hard to get much worse than that. And the crazy thing about these sickos that are football coaches is like they yearn for it all, the competition, the high. and the lows. It's like us gamblers. Listen, I like a good high, winning 10 grand, like I like a good low of having that field goal miss and losing it. It's the rush. You don't get at other places, right? Like Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban, as crazy as this sound, like making 10, 15, 20 million dollars, don't get a rush when they open their direct deposit. They do get a rush when they install a coverage and a guy does it in practice, fucks it up,

They coach it up, and then he executes it in the game. And that play leads to a win, and then they celebrate in the postgame. That postgame victory speech Pete had several weeks ago when Drew Locke through the game-winning touchdown in the corner of the end zone, when we don't win in the first, we don't win in the second, we don't win in the third, we win in the fourth, they all went nuts. Like, that high is worth more than the money, even though the money is, like, it's hard to quantify that amount of money that these guys are making. when Nick Saban gives these pre-game speeches

about going to take what's theirs from Georgia and Kirby Smart about the disrespect in the program the juice those guys get they just aren't going to get anywhere else in life I like golf a lot I can play max like three or four straight days and then I get bored

I get bored and I love golf I'm gambling on this weekend I watch every PGA golf tournament I think about it a lot you can only play so many days in a row And to me, all these guys are just, even if they had to, like no one would hire them, I think you're going to lose their mind immediately. Think of the combined years. I mean, Bill Belichick's been in the league since 1975.

Nick Saban's been coaching full on for like 50 years. I mean, Pete Carroll's been full speed ahead since he played quarterback. Or maybe he didn't play quarterback. Yeah, I think he didn't play quarterback. At the University of Pacific in Stockton, California. So these guys changed football. All of them are pillars in important individuals in the last 20 years where the sport of football has separated from everyone else.

You know, when you think of the 20 years, you think a lot of the players, Sabin and Belichick are clearly two of the first coaches you think of over that run. You could argue they're one and two. The first two coaches you think of over the last, If I tell you, when football became king, name some coaches. I think Belichick's 100% the first coach. You could argue Nick Sabin would be the second.

So just crazy, man. Really is. A couple things really quick. Two games I feel like have a chance to be upsets. I don't really know how much I'm going to bet this weekend. I might, if I hit some golf bets, put a bunch of money on the Rams money line. I do think the more and more I thought about it and talking with Stucky, Houston has a chance to upset Cleveland.

At the end of the day, Joe Flacko's a quarterback. Incredible story. But you can't convince me he's not liable to have a bad day. He's not liable to screw something up. It can't just be this perfect. This isn't a Disney movie. Now, I do think Cleveland's going to win, but I see a scenario where Houston,

CJ Throud, is awesome, throws a bunch of touchdowns. Flacco throws a couple picks. Maybe Stingley gets a pick six. Will Anderson makes a couple plays. Cleveland's just off. like we've talked about, the defense isn't as good on the road, and Houston wins. Like, it's on the table.

The more and more I've let just kind of marinate in my brain. Like, I see, I don't see a scenario where Miami wins. I don't see a scenario without T.J. Watt where Pittsburgh wins. I have a hard time seeing Dallas lose. The other game is, you know, the Rams are humming, man. They really are. I was texting with someone on the Niners staff, and it was crazy. Like, God, we all thought the Rams were going to suck.

Now it's like, I kind of hope, you know, Detroit takes care of business, so, you know, we get the Eagles or the Bucks. I'm like, yeah, me too, right? Same. And I was like, yeah, John Lynch think the same thing. I'm just kidding. But that's true. Like the Rams are just, they'd be comfortable playing the Niners. I just think they're humming.

They have the advantage of quarterback against Dan Campbell, McVeigh. I think I like the Rams. And I'm not a Detroit hater, like a lot of people in the media. But that Leporta injury, ooh, that's a lot. hurts. And Monday night, I got no clue. But I'm prepared for it to get really weird. I mean, really weird. The Eagles should win. The, like, the bucks are not good, are not good. Baker is, looks like a 60% out there. But you could be playing Mississippi State. You could be playing a high school team. I'd be like, yeah, I can see the Eagles laying an egg. You can not trust my man,

Nick Siriani. Saturday night is going to be on Peacock. And I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot. I've seen, a lot of people get mad about this. You guys understand that these networks are not going to be constituted the way they are in 10 years. The world we live in right now

in terms of cable television, I was listening to a financial podcast the other day. And it was either someone giving an outlook on YouTube and the YouTube TV situation or someone with Google

talking about it. And they believed that it would be bigger than all the cable providers like Comcast, Cox, like all those in five to seven years. Things accelerate at rapid speed. We've been in the technology

age for a while now. But think about streaming I would say seven, eight years ago, was in a different stratosphere than where it is now. And now I bet a lot of people listening or watching this immediately just like you need to watch

TV and it's not going to be a game, your first click is probably Amazon Prime or Netflix or Hulu, right? Your first clicks are not, and I would imagine a lot of people listening don't even have cable or definitely will not over the next five, six years. I made the transition and I'm someone who is dependent on watching these games. My family's livelihood is dependent on my service working and I never think twice about its ability. So I think that this streaming stuff, we're probably 10 years away from a Super Bowl being streamed. The acceleration of people that are going to have all these streaming services where it's not even going to be debatable over the next 5, 10 years is probably unquantifiable. And anyone that tries to quantify it is probably

low-balling it. I've seen it happen. When I got into radio was in like 2013, it was right as newspapers were going the right way. And if you talk to people now, still kind of around that business, like, ah, they're in trouble. No, they're dead. They just still kind of have a heartbeat, but they're laying on the ground. And they bleed out a little more each day. But they died a long time ago, right? And I see it with radio, where I bet a lot of people listen. And I'm have a car within the last 12 years that has Bluetooth capabilities. So when for the history of like

once cars and radios came together, whatever, you know, 30s, 40s, up until probably around 2010-11, there were moments when you could put in the tape cassette and plug it in here. But I'm talking the capability to pressure radio right around 2011, 2012, 2012, 2013. Moving forward, everyone,

uses their phone to function off the radio. Well, we're about to be, if let's just pick an even number, 2012, the majority of cars had that capability. We're in 2024. We're a couple years away from being 15 years of those capabilities. So radio hasn't been dying for a while. You could argue, like newspapers, it's dead. Now, it's different because a lot of people still stream,

depending on the region of the country, you can still stream it, just like you can get a newspaper online. But I feel pretty confident about this. People under 50, people my age, definitely under 40, the average person that messes with a newspaper is minuscule. But if I went to 1992, the average person my age, 39 years old, if you're listening to this and you're 32 years old or 44 years old, the average one of the person your age in 1992 or 1984 that read a newspaper or had a newspaper delivered to their house or their apartment or grabbed one was extremely high things change at rapid speed

in the world we live in now because of technology these NFL owners are eventually going to die a lot of them and their children are going to take over so Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, these people have been very loyal to Fox and NBC and CBS but still want their product on the main networks because the main networks

the most people have access to it but also like it's easy whatever the younger generation is not going to think like that and they won't have to think like that so when NBC when they give you billions of dollars and they're the number one television show

in America Sunday night football and they go listen we are in our network is a disaster We are cutting people. I just saw NBC News cutting people left and right. They are losing money. They are bleeding out a little every day. Legacy media is so fucked when it comes to like, you know, CBS News and, you know, local

Fox stations. We've seen local the bally's, all the local networks that had baseball and basketball. Like, they're screwed. We're consuming things completely different and it's happened at rapid speed. So when they go, listen, we're going to need Peacock if we want to. to maintain this relationship to become a thing. So we're going to need one of your playoff games. It's a no-brainer, right? The NFL dipped their toe in it with Amazon Prime. So yeah, is it uncomfortable for some people? Of course it is. Are people going to be mad? 100%.

This is something they don't have a choice to do in business. NBC is obligated to do this if they want to survive big picture. They do not have a choice, right? So I mean a lot of people in the radio industry pushed against streaming, pushed against broadcasting on YouTube. Eventually they started in 2023. News for you, too late. So, like, Peacock, it's not too late, but it would be in three or four years. So they need to get this figured out. I completely, not only support it. I mean, not that they need my support, but like, understand it and, like, want this has to happen. Like, I want to have easy access to the games. I have Peacock because my girlfriend does, but I would imagine many people listening, they don't have Peacock, we'll get it this

weekend. And if they don't, well, then don't. Don't watch the playoff game. But in three or four years, like all these, a lot more this is going to happen. This is not just a one-off situation. This is going to exponentially grow in the future. Okay, let's, let's end with Fugazi Friday. This is something we're going to do moving forward. At least try out for a while. Someone DMed it to me, and I loved it. So I said, hey, loves rock and roll, baby. and I'm just going to pick things that are just gigantic Fugazis. And I'm going to start with the Miami Dolphins. I looked at their schedule today.

They have beat one good team throughout the season. One. And it was a Dallas Cowboys. Good win, though they easily could have lost, but it was a good win. They couldn't be stopped on the final drive-kicked field goal won the game. They have not beaten anyone. And can you envision them going outside and beating the Chiefs

in freezing cold temperatures? I mean, who can close their eyes and do a little like manifestation, Tony Robbins, and just try to see that. Even if you're a dolphins fan, close your eyes, C-Tua in negative 2 degrees, in whipping winds, in freezing cold, the grounds frozen,

and envision him beating Patrick Mahomes. Can't do it. I think it's impossible. I don't even think the greatest manifester in the history of visualization could find that in their mind. Because it doesn't exist anywhere. Nick Siriani.

Is he just one giant Fugazi? Because Nick Siriani, if you think about it, when he first got the job, now it was a transitional period. It was a disaster. It felt like, is he going to be one and done? And then he gave the plate calling to Shane Stuyken. And for a year and a half, they looked like a completely different team.

And then this year, they were winning games, but we were all watching the Eagles going, uh, this is kind of crazy. and obviously their point differential represented it. And then the final, whatever, six games of the season when they went one in five, felt like it represented closer to the Eagles we had been watching early. Like something's bent off. And then the damn broke in the Giants game.

I mean, they weren't as bad in the Giants game as they weren't some of their wins. But it just started, you know, the avalanche started rolling down the mountain. And now it feels like, I don't care if you are the biggest Eagle fan alive you would have to acknowledge, like, you're very nervous for Monday Night Football because you have to be thinking the worst. You do. And he's the guy leading the group.

And it feels like he's not bringing anything to the table. And honestly, even if they win the game, which they're favored to win on the road in the playoffs, do you like their chances in the second round against 49ers? Assuming that the Rams don't win. I guess they could play the Cowboys. But even the Niners are the Cowboys. Like, they're a heavy underdog

unless they win this game on Monday by 50 plus points. I think he's coaching for his job on Monday night. I really do. The Golden State Warriors, the dynasty is over. They just lost last night to the Pelicans by 36. They have been blown out back-to-back games. The Eagles effort against the Giants, the warriors are rolling that out right now.

Like, they've kind of quit. And I don't throw that around lightly, but when you're a championship level team when you've been a really good... Like when you just watch shitty teams sometimes like they just suck. They're actually trying. They're just awful.

Like you watch the Eagles down the stretch. You watch that Giants game, you're like, they're not trying. Like, they're not trying. I've watched Steph Curry, Clay Thompson long enough. Like they've kind of mailed it in. Kind of checked out.

A lot of people probably take a lot of joy, but the dynasty is officially over. And then I think one of the great Fugazis, which I bought into now multiple times, is weed stocks. Doing this remodel, I'm pretty anti, besides like leave a little cash

for a rainy day. I don't like leaving money in a savings account. Like, I'm either using it to live or I'm investing it into the stock market. Like, I can't stand whether it's 10 grand,

100 grand, whatever, just looking at it in a savings account. But when I did this remodel, I sold this condo and I had a lot of cash. You know, I'd never really done one of these things. So I didn't want, to risk, you know, investing some stuff, things go wrong, and I got to pay this guy constantly,

a lot of money. Well, I got to the point at the end, after I'd made 98% of the payments, I owed him somewhere between 50 to 20 grand, but I wasn't going to have to pay it for like a month, right? Because they were still doing some stuff in early December, and I owe it to them right around now. So like, you know what? I've been falling, Till Ray, it's this weed company that's actually based out of Canada. I'm like, you know what, it's kind of been going up. I'm just going to let it ride. So I put 20 grand into it thinking, you know what? Maybe I'll just put it into a quick, make quick 15, 20 grand, double it and get out and pay them and like have another money to play with. And it sunk dramatically. And it was going the wrong way quickly. And it got to the point where

I got the bill. And it wasn't as high as I thought it would be. It was like a little over 15 grand. And that thing was headed closer to 10. And I have followed the weed business because I I thought it was going to be a huge cash cow in the world, really, and especially in America. And it just hasn't been. It has not, like gambling, for example. And I know I'm in business with them, but it's clear, like, they have had an impact, right? And gambling has always been, it's hard to, you know, compare it to the marijuana business, but it's just easier to function.

Their audience is broader. And, you know, they have just less hurdles, right? and clearly sports gambling so far has really, really worked. But the weed stocks right now, I'm out. I am officially out. I took another L. I have lost so much money in the stock multiple times. I only have myself to blame,

but I think the weed stocks so far have been one of the biggest Fugazis in the stock market. 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 I'm 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, 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 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 J. 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 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 so Thank you for finishing that sentence 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 podcast Okay, let's say, do a little Middlecoff mailbag. At John Middlecoff, 2Fs is the Instagram. DMs are wide open.

At John Middlecoff, Instagram, DMs wide open. Let's start with my main man, Peter here. Why would the Saints be picking ahead of the Colts? Both were 9 and 8, and the Saints beat the Colts. Shouldn't the Colts be picking 14, and shouldn't the Saints be picking 15? Well, when it's just two teams, I'm pretty sure you go head to head. But there are, I pulled up the schedule here. You got the Colts, the Jags, the Saints, the Seahawks, the Bengals, the Packers,

who are obviously in the playoffs. But so the Bengals and the Seahawks, it's not based on just the record slash head to head. I think it goes to maybe conference or maybe who had the tougher schedule. because, for example, the Patriots lost to the commanders, right, this season. But the commanders are picking two and the Patriots are picking three. Why? Because the Cardinals also have the same record at 4 and 12 or 4 and 13. So it's really based on, I don't have the exact requirements,

but it's not based on head-to-head in that situation when it's more than a two-team tie. But I hear what you're saying if you're mad at a, if you're a Colts fan. Hey John, huge fan of your pod. It's probably the best sports podcast out there. This Dylan guy. I got a question for the mailback. I'm a lifelong Eagles fan. And recently, with all the struggles,

it sounds like Siriani is on the hot seat and could be fired depending on how the Bucks game goes. If Nick is to be fired because of how the Eagles front office is not afraid to move off head coaches, would the Eagles be the top team that coaches would want to go to? And who do you think would be the best fit out there if available coaches on the market? well, I actually think that they would be all over.

I think they would be interested in Belichick. I actually think Mike Vrable. He is, now they have historically hired offensive coaches, Siriani, obviously, you know, Doug, Chip, Andy. So maybe Belichick and Vrable, but like, they would be in win now mode, right? They're paying this quarterback. What if Vrable says I'm bringing Arthur Smith,

physical run game. They have a good offensive line. He's a defensive guy. I don't think it's crazy with Jalen to bring in coaches like Belichick and Brable. I think they'd be in the mix for those two guys. Question for the mailbag. I'm a bartender outside of Cincinnati.

So naturally, we talk a lot about the Bengals. I was wondering what do you think the Bengals should do with T. Higgins? Try and sign them or tag and trade them for picks. I know we have to pay Chase 2, so I'm curious. Well, you already paid the quarterback a lot of money, and Chase is going to get a ton of money. So I really think the move is to tag and trade. Now, the problem is, you know, his value to you is pretty high. Like, he's a really good player.

Is anyone giving a first-round pick to give T. Higgins $22 million a year? That's the problem with, like, Brandon Ayyuk with the Niners. It's like he's an excellent player. But is someone giving you pick like $21 to then give him $65 million? Right, we've seen that happen with AJ Brown, but he's an elite player. I think that T. Higgins, Brandon Ayuk group makes it kind of complicated. I think they're in similar situations. Can you have two highly paid wide receivers?

The 49ers have Debo Samuel. Makes a lot of money. They have Jamar Chase, who's about to make a lot of money. You know, the problem is Jamar is a true number one. Debo's like this unique kind of outlier player. I think they trade them. Can you explain the difference between type of coach firings?

Why is that Vrable was fired and Pete Carroll was out as head coach? Belichick is parting ways with the team. Are there actual differences that lead to it being reported in different ways? To me it seems more like a nice way of saying they got fired. Chris, you nailed, you hit the hammer right there on the,

I guess you hit the nail right on the head. I can't even talk right now. You know what I mean. You nailed it. Let's just say that. Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick and Mike Vrable all had the same outcome. They were told you are not coming back on this team. You are not going to be the head coach here anymore.

The Titans don't care that much about Vrabel, so they're just like, we're firing him. With Bill Belichick, he has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in actual cash in Robert Kraft's pocket on top of the valuation of his franchise and the overall relevance of the human being. Seattle Seahawks. Now, while Paul Allen is dead,

his family benefited greatly from hiring Pete Carroll. So when you have two guys like that, you just treat him a little differently. Did you notice this? Mike Vrable didn't speak when he got fired. Honestly, maybe I missed it. I haven't even seen him talk.

Like, has he even released a statement? Bill Belichick stood up there, now he didn't answer questions, next to Robbercraft, and said, today's the day to be grateful. Pete Carroll cried up there on the podium with his players who are in the front row. So it's about human equity, right? You feel less inclined a girl you've been dating for a month if you ghost or whatever, right? well someone you've been married due for 15 years and you have three children with and you kind of like her you just want to move on the divorce is a little more complicated

so optics with this it's all the same thing it's all the same shit different pile I do think it means a lot to the Allen family and obviously the crafts to not say the words we fired him even though we did Robert, not Robert, but like Dean Spanos, Arthur Blank, they did not care. Mark Davis, the only optics are like we fired these guys for our fan base. This one, I mean, it's a pretty big deal in Seattle and New England. It really is. I've always wondered why every quarterback doesn't go to special trainers to help clean up mechanics.

were to read and when is the right time to throw. I feel like you should want to get better when a lot of money is on the line. They do. Do you understand how hard these quarterbacks prepare film study-wise at practice, reads, looks, going through all this stuff? You can go to the driving range all day long.

You can hit the greatest shots on the driving range you've ever hit in your life. There is no guarantee on whole 6 that you can hit that 175-yard shot that you just hit. That's for $10, $100,000, however much you're playing a buddy for. Maybe the wind comes up, tucked pin, you get nervous. Football's the same thing. You can practice, taking notes, preparing is a lot different than executing in any walk of life.

You can walk yourself through, like, how you're going to ask her out. Right? This is how I'm going to get a date with this girl. And then you're actually in front of her. It's a little harder, right? It all happens to us all when we were young. Maybe some of you listen right now. You know how you would land that job or, you know,

land that client for your small business or land this partner that you want to invest in your company. And then it's a difference when you're sitting down looking at them, right? You maybe get nervous? Maybe you don't, right? And the differences of executing at the highest level in whatever we're doing is just, listen, you can prepare all you want. Some people got it.

Some people don't. I have a question for the bag. The Houston and Indy rebuilds have happened at astonishing time, in astonishing time, only in the space of two to three seasons. If a team rebuild takes longer than that, or they simply can't get it right, is it a sign of missed opportunities on players and coaches, or is it more ingrained a problem with management or ownership?

Well, let's take both, for example. both hit the, you know, not quarterback. The Houston did. Time will tell on Indy. They got the coach right. So when you have a good coach, you have a chance to be competitive.

Now, they both, the division kind of sucked. Right. It doesn't feel like their schedules were that great. I could be speaking out of turn, but just closing my eyes, thinking about a lot of their games. But to me,

Houston hit the double whammy. D'emico's a stud, and they nailed the quarterback. So if I tell you, you got a really good young quarterback, and a really good young coach, it's going to accelerate everything you do. And indeed, they have an elite play color.

And clearly a good coach, because their defense isn't great, and their personnel's not great, and they won most of their games with Gardner Minchu. So if I tell you you're an Atlanta Falcon fan right now, and whoever you end up hiring, whether it's Belichick or whoever else, you nail it.

Do you think you'd be good next year? Because I bet your answer would be yes. if I tell you the commanders that you hit a home run on this coaching search, you'd be like, well, maybe it doesn't happen this year, but maybe it does. What if we pick the right quarterback at number two? And our defense is solid. We already got some pieces on offense. So it's not that complicated.

It really isn't. Now, depending on how deep your team is, is how many games, you know, the difference of being a seven-win team and a 10-win team, maybe. But if you have the good coach and you have a good coach, and you have a good quarterback, you're going to be in pretty good shape immediately. Long time Niners fan.

I'm nervous that Kyle Shanahan when behind seems to lose his way. Can he actually win the Super Bowl? I think he can as long as he's in the lead. Because I think it's very, very difficult for his scheme. He does not like to spread it out and play a drop-back passing game. And a huge reason for that is you can manipulate an offensive line. One thing I learned when I was in the league, and he did this when he was with Kubiak with the Texans. Obviously, Trent Williams starts on every team in the league, but you can be very, very successful in Kyle's scheme with average offensive linemen.

Because I need good athletes in zone blocking schemes, and a lot of my pass is play action. When I play like Andy Reid and just go true dropback, I get in trouble over the course of a game. But he doesn't do it very often. Well, what happens when you're down 14 points going in the fourth quarter? You're not running play action passes, right? Or if you are, they're not stopping anyone in their tracks on defense. So his scheme is very, very predicated on the run game. Well, for the run game to matter late in the game,

you've got to be in the game because you're not running it down 15 points, right? With six minutes to go, you've got to pass it. So when everyone knows you've got to pass it, that is somewhat of a crutch because their offensive linemen aren't great. Their offensive linemen beside Trent are really average. Just true drop-back, their right tackle is not very good. If they get in a situation where they're passing every play,

the right tackle is a lower-tier right tackle in the NFL. But why you can function with them no problem is because they dominate in the run game. So most offensive linemen are relatively good in the run game, especially because they're good athletes. but it's not to me as much Kyle it's more the way they can manipulate the roster because they don't invest as much

beside Trent into the offensive line they're not paying anyone on the offensive line the two guards are both on a rookie contracts the center's cheap and the right tackles on a rookie contract too he's not very good thank God for Trump Williams which is a major question mark big picture with the Niners I do think they can win the Super Bowl

they should win the Super Bowl do I think they're going to what I bet my life savings on it, I would not. Because there are flaws. If Trent were to go down, their offensive line can get weird quick. Really quick. So, big year for Kyle. Like, ultimately for Harbaugh and Lamar, well, I guess Lamar hasn't won one.

But, like, they got to a Super Bowl. That means John's one one, Ben to another one if he loses it. Like, it's not that. Lamar's already got a couple of MVPs. It would suck, but it's not the end of the world. He would clearly be a top two or three quarterback coming into the season next year. A ton of momentum. team's good.

Kyle's like, bro, this is, you kind of got strike where the iron's hot. How many more years you got Trent? What happens if they win it and Trent retires? I just don't know what they're going to do. They don't really have a succession plan there. I mean, no one really does, but they're not drafting high enough

to get a good guy. I would, uh, I would, let's see, first time mailback question. I agree with your take on it being time for Pete to move on. Been saying it for a couple years now, and the team needs new life. as bittersweet as it is.

Pete has built such a strong culture in Seattle and with John Schneider taking over the team, do you think there could be a culture, power struggle with a new coach coming in with the organization? From you seeing Andy Reed to Chip Kelly, hoping for Vrable. Fortunate to have seen them in Super Bowls, grass isn't always greener.

I think the difference is how he was a relatively young GM when Chip got there. and Chip in 2012 was infinitely more famous and powerful than Howie Roseman. Now, in 2023, 24, that's not the case. Howie is pelts on the wall. He's built and drafted and made moves like a high-level GM for a long time. So if John Snyder was new on the job, let's say Pete had, you know, they had, let's say equivalent of like John Snyder had left a couple years ago and they had a newer guy. and had less juice, then I'd be like, yeah,

John Snyder's been there for 14 seasons. It's why when Pete was getting emotional, he kept pointing to John, like, it's your time now. You know, and I think that John, I mean, I view him as a Howie, an Eric Acosta, you know, like less than John Lynch. Like, to me, he's just, he's big time, man. He really is.

So I think it's more as a coach you want to come in and work and integrate with him. Look at the Ravens, for example, right? Ozzie, now DeCosta, like, when you have a good personnel department, lean on them, use them. We're all in this to win together, so I don't see that, no. Mailbag question. Bay Area Taka Rias versus Arizona, who wins? You know, honestly, I don't think the Mexican food's that great in the Bay Area, personally.

having lived in Fresno I even think it's a little better in Sack in Arizona I don't think it's I haven't been to like great spots to me like San Diego

blows I would say obviously the Bay Area out of the water tacherias I don't even think I've been to a tacharia here I in a weird way haven't eaten that much

Mexican food sounds crazy I make a decent amount of it because I'm not a great cook she does most of the cooking but when I cook I make tacos, because that's my go-to meal, or burritos, or enchiladas. But I don't think I've been to a tacharia here.

When evaluating the Packers' offensive roster, do you see a need to add veterans? We know their young core has potential, but can this be complicated by veteran pieces? Or compliment it. It's not uncommon to see younger players take step backwards in your two or your three. Another Packer-related question.

What type of market is there for Jaira Alexander? the team captain stunt couple injuries yeah I mean I'd be a little stunned if he's back probably ended it you know you guys know your roster better than me I mean I've started following you much more the second half of the season

but the running back sweet like really good Watson when he's healthy is a baller the other two young receivers are good the young tight end looks good you guys always draft and develop offensive linemen so I think you can always

an ad of veteran presence if you think you lack leadership, but if you have leadership, you just add players who can help you play. Like, if you feel that, let's say, Aaron, I'm just hypothetically speaking, like Aaron Jones is the heartbeat of the offense, he's the leader, you feel good about it that, and maybe one of your offensive linemen is like a big time leader. Maybe you're not really searching for leadership. Maybe you just have a need at, again, I don't know your offensive lineman, like the back of my hand, but maybe you think you can upgrade at left guard.

Maybe you think you could upgrade a right tackle. You do something like that. Or maybe you think this guy's better than your fourth receiver. I mean, you guys always kind of penny pinch that way anyway. I'm a lifelong Buckeye fan. Do you think it's possible that Ohio State would be willing to do whatever it takes to bring Vrable back to be the next head coach? I know it's probably a long shot with him being a top candidate and there are so many job openings this offseason. I was a big believer in day early on.

But if Vrable has any interest in going back to coach Colleen, Columbus, he coached there once upon a time with Urban. I believe it would be the perfect time to make the move. I just think under no circumstance, if you have the opportunity as a coach, and you've been working in the NFL, I get like, could Kirby Smart get an NFL job, right? Probably. You know, some of these guys. And I understand, hell, Sarkisian, a lot of guys like him.

But if you have a chance to be an NFL head coach or a college head coach, you take the NFL job. because the college job is harder. Every player in your roster is a free agent. Even at Ohio State, it's just you can lose guys in the transfer portal. You constantly have to be recruiting your own team, and the recruiting is just 365.

In the NFL, there's no recruiting after free agency in the draft. If you want a guy on another team, you either trade for him or if he's cut, you sign them or claim him on the waiver wire. college football is a lot more complicated effort and time-wise. So could they afford variable? 100%.

Do I think he'd be interested if he could go to the commanders and the Patriots? I would rather go to the commanders and the Patriots than Ohio State. In Ohio State, you could argue is the best, the best college job. I think once you've won playoff games, it's hard. You know, save it and failed, right? Petrino failed in terms of like they weren't going to. of the playoffs. So it's easy to transition back where you know you can dominate.

Like Mike Rable thinks he can win in the NFL, like win playoff games. Why wouldn't you just stay in the NFL? He knows he could win at Ohio State. You know, the NFL to me is more of a challenge. College is more of like just, it's got to be more of my effort and my, do I want to play politics with young players? It's hard. When you're in it, it's kind of all you know.

But once you get out of it, you're like, I ain't going back. With all the talk to Belichick leaving, I have heard this take a lot. He knows nothing about offense. How can a coach of that level, who is a defensive genius, not become adept at both sides of the ball? He is able to stop every offense but would struggle to put something in together himself? It just doesn't make sense to me. I've been trying to describe this and explain this for a long time.

One, fundamentally your mindset, as a defensive coach or as an offensive coach, or as an offensive coach are dramatically different. Right? Like, let's use a real world example. If I run, you know, you read some of these articles or books about these people in finance,

like Wall Street screaming at each other a lot like football. Like that mindset of just like, this is insane. Like, if you're running a fund, you know, sell, buy, get on guys, like that mindset of constantly making money.

Like, that's how your mind. mind things, all about money. When you walk into the office every day, how can we make more? How can we increase our returns? And you just become crazy in that world. And that's all you think about. Now, you understand, like,

HR, you understand, landing clients and putting on a smile and whining and dying. You can do all the other stuff. But the majority of your time is spent psychologically, mentally, focused on making calls. focused on making cash, being wired that way.

Where if I'm running HR, my mindset on a daily basis, or if I'm an IT guy, is dramatically different. Well, think about in football, if you're a defensive coach, Mike Vrable, Mike Tomlin, whoever, every single day you show up, you're thinking about fucking hitting people, make a tackles. Speak. Physically imposing your will on someone else.

As an offensive guy, when you show up to work, you're thinking about gaining arts, out-thinking the opponent. It's not as much about will, right? Obviously, you have to have will and desire and work ethic and all that stuff on offense. But ultimately, it's about scheming. How can I design stuff? How can I create? It's like the guy in the IT department creating a system for the company, right? And then the guy running all the business in the company.

They're thinking about things dramatically different. Yet they all work for the same company. So of course Bill Belichick understands like what a certain route is or certain blocking concepts. But he's never called offense every single play for a season, let alone over the course of seasons. So one, even if you understand offense, he doesn't have that mindset coming to work on a daily basis of an offensive play caller. And two, I just think your personality is impacted by it. You either got it or you don't, right? And defensive coaches and offensive coaches tend to be different.

One's a little more optimistic. One's a little more negative. Why? Because defense is kind of, it's a completely different operation, even though it's the same sport and they're going up against each other. Maybe I'm describing that terribly. But I just think when we say these guys don't know offense, it doesn't mean they don't understand what a wheel route is

or don't understand the difference between like a gap scheme and a zone scheme. It's like how can Mike Zimmer and Kyle Shanahan, the way each guy comes to work on a daily basis back when Mike was the coach, right, as the head coach and Kyle's the head coach. One guy's a defensive player, one guy's the offensive player. one guy's the offensive play caller, can't be the same. It doesn't mean that, like,

for example, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Andy Reed, don't like big physical guys on defense and don't understand what coverages are. But on a play-in, play-out basis, could they just become the defensive coordinator? I think they would fail. Now, maybe they could become good at it

over the course of five years, right? You get better as an offensive play caller the more you do it. That's the other thing. you are working on your craft as an offensive coordinator or an offensive guy. It's why a lot of coaches, when you go to staff meetings, say we and I, say we are doing this. It's like, well, you're talking about the offense because they view themselves on that side of the

ball. So it's, I might have done a terrible job right there of explaining it. And it's probably not even possible to explain it all. Because some guys are going to know more than others. But when you have spent all of the. your effort and all of your time, think about whatever job you're doing and you do it more and more and more specifically.

You start mastering it, even if you have management responsibilities or you're the CEO of the company, you do certain things way better than other things, even if you have a general understanding of that other stuff. So I think that's the best way I can describe it. Listen, it doesn't mean these guys also don't like try to learn and always you know gain knowledge on that side of the ball like i think

belichick could talk offensive football and philosophy with kail shanahan or sean macfay easily it just doesn't mean he can put it into practice well i mean there are a lot of university professors if you walked into an econ class you'd be like god this guy's fucking genius jamy diamond or elon musk would laugh him out of a room. Doesn't mean they can put it into practice. Everything's easy on a whiteboard and in theory. Can you execute it? And that's why I think it's hard for coaches. I think they, you know, conceptually understand it, but it's difficult then to transition that to your team, your impact. It's hard. I mean, there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. I have a question about drafting and signing players and who has authority on the final call. I've heard that for the

49ers, Kyle Shanahan has the final say over John. John Lynch. Is this normal around the league for head coaches to have authority, and does this cause any conflict in organizations? What if GM and the coach disagree on who to draft or to sign? Thanks a lot. Well, I think this is pretty simple. Let's just use those two guys, for example.

I'm going to take an educated guess Kyle Shanahan makes $16 million. And I'm going to take an educated guess. John Lynch is one of the highest paid GMs in the league. He makes $9 million. usually the guy that makes a lot more, has more pull, right? Like John Snyder, Forever has a lot of pull in that organization. Probably makes $6, $7 million. Pete was making like $17 million.

So who's at the top of the food chain? It's Pete. Now, as you work with somebody, you know what they look for, you disagree. I would think on the big stuff, probably less and less over time. But, you know, I think a lot of times in a draft room, for example, whoever has the final say can go,

no, we're taking this guy, or sometimes the owner interjects. But ideally, you talk it out and you come to a resolution together, right? Think about a relationship. When you're like, what do you want to watch tonight? I'll promise you. I like watching different stuff than she does sometimes. I like a little more action movie, action television shows.

Shoot them up. She's like too much. Islands. Like, I like watching guys get killed. A lot of people in a movie. I'm a 90s baby. Grew up on Arnold, Sylvester, and Bruce Willis. You know, sometimes you don't want to watch those movies.

I get it. But you got to compromise. And you got to meet in the middle. And you kind of find out what each person likes. And you adapt from there. Football's no different, right? Now, if you're a GM, you don't want to force players on your coach, one that don't fit in two.

that he doesn't like. Right now, if he doesn't like him for the wrong reasons, it's your job to persuade him. You're like the sales guy. But you're in it together, so you kind of got to figure it out. And if there's conflict, I mean, either,

there's conflict daily in football. You know, this is a conflict-driven sport. People are constantly yelling at each other. People are constantly mad at each other. It's just a huge part of the business. so I think you kind of get used to it, you know? I think Belichick's famous thing and it's like there's no growth without confrontation.

I had a question. Would you please be able to sum up your opinion on John Lynch as a GM and why what he has done for the Niners? As you can guess, I'm a huge Niners dude. I think the key to any GM is just helping the coach, especially when it's a young coach. And I think it's being there for the guy and helping him out when he gets overwhelmed or stressed.

And these young guys, like Kyle, Sean McVey, they just run hot. Now, Sean McVey, I think, is a little more positive. You know, Kyle can be negative. Kyle can be a lot. Kyle can be, it's really, really difficult. The 49ers is not an easy operation during the week. They ask you a lot.

It's fucking intense. They don't give you Mondays off after a week. Some of these games are blowing someone out 50 to 10. It's like, Kyle, we really got to go over the film on Monday. Can I just go over it on my own at my house? It's like, no. So it's just intense. So I think one thing John is really good at

for being like one of the most physical hitters in the NFL history, he's a really easy calm, just calming force. And I think that is big for the Niners. because Kyle Kyle can be a lot in a good way in a football way so I think it's that type stuff

obviously football-wise you know look at the type players they have look at the way John Lynch played I think him and Kyle physical football and their identification of what they're looking for

is they're pretty good at it right now you know I think the Ravens mastered it years ago I think anytime you know the Steelers have been good at it over the years you kind of hang your hat on certain type guys and everyone's on the same page. Watch out. I thought about it and he's probably right.

Should the Lions fired Dan Campbell for Ben Johnson? Imagine if the bills fired McDermott and kept Dayball. I mean, Dayball won like five games this year. To me, that one's not fair. Brian Daibald has not proven to be better than Sean McDermott. I know there are a lot of articles out there and I know Twitter think Sean McDermott's a village idiot, but that one, to me, Shane Stike and Siriani,

totally understand. I would even say Dan Campbell, Ben Johnson, a lot of people can call plays, right? We've seen it over the years. Not a lot of people can lead the entire operation. Now, I understand, like, you have to think about it because it either is fine, like Sean McDermott, they won the division again.

Like, Brian Dable's been gone. They've won the division two years in a row. Like, that's happened. You know, is Dan Campbell winning the, division next year when Ben Johnson leaves? I don't know. I wouldn't do it, and they're definitely not going to do it. But I get asking the question, because he also wrote Siriani and Stuyken. If they could have a do-over, how are you going to fire Siriani after Super Bowl, where they were leading during the Super Bowl? How are you going to do it? It's always easy to play that game now.

It's impossible. It's never happened before. What you get to the Super Bowl, you lose, we're going to lose our coordinator, who we kind of like more than you so we fire you. Listen, you can do that in a regular season or even like a one and done. It's impossible. If Dan Campbell wins a playoff game, their first playoff win in 30 years. I totally understand the question.

I just think it's not, not happening. And I wouldn't do it. Could be wrong. What are the Packers' chances of the Super Bowl next year? I may not. Okay, let's make it through this year. Let's see how they look against the Cowboys.

Honestly, though, if Jordan Love keeps ascending, they're going to be really good. And it's all on the defense. He's got to fire his buddy. He's got to hire a real defensive coordinator. And there should be a lot out there. Like, Weig Martindale, trying to think of other guys that have been fired. I can't, my mind's not really working right now, but a bunch of coaches just got fired.

So, I mean, there's going to be people available. With the Seahawks job available, does Harbaugh come to Seattle? It worked out pretty well last time. The Hawks hired a guy leaving school about to get slapped by the insubble. CAA. I have a hard time seeing Jim Harbaugh replace Pete Carroll. I don't know if they hate each other, but they clearly do not like each other. Like that's one of those things that, you know, sometimes you have relationships because of in an industry where they're your rival and you're like, you know, I respect them, don't really like them. That feels like those guys do not like each other.

So I just, I don't think John Schneider would have anything to do with Jim Harbaal. not because John Schneider doesn't think he's good, but just I have a hard time seeing him do that to Pete. Fire Pete Carroll, and I'm not saying he fired Pete Carroll, but the organization fires Pete Carroll and they hired Jim Harbaugh to replace him. I just can't see that happening.

It's like the coach thing. Like it's just not going to happen. If it did, I'd be stunned. I mean, floored. Fall out of my seat. If you tell me Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the Seahawks, I'd fall out of my seat. even though this year is yet to be over,

do you think the quarterback with the most pressure next year is Trevor Lawrence? His talent blinded us from the fact that he hasn't been very productive. Yeah, I mean, depending on how this season goes, I mean, Jalen Hertz is going to be under a lot, man. Jalen's going to, there's going to be a lot of pressure on Jalen Hertz. The difference is like, as a human, he's already been paid, he already made it. Trevor has not got the second contract yet. So, yeah, I mean, I think if Trevor Lawrence has another down season,

we could be talking about, like, are we sure he's on the Jags in a couple years? We're Jalen, obviously, he's not going anywhere. You wouldn't think. I mean, the Eagles pivoted from Carson Wentz faster, and you can blink, so you never know. Been listening to this season, subscribe to your feet on Spotify. Not Collins. Appreciate you. Oregon State fan here.

My question is, do you think Oregon State and Washington State have a chance of getting back in the Power 5? I don't. It's over, guys. Which, for you two, I feel bad. I really do because you tried. It wasn't that long. It was a decade ago or whatever. Washington State hired Mike Leach.

And they didn't just become a nationally relevant program. They started winning. They were really good. Oregon State with Jonathan Smith and even earlier in the couple decades, Mike Riley have just been good. Like they try at football. But ultimately in this world, like some people run good businesses and they get swallowed up

by Walmart, Target, or Costco. And they basically put it out. out of business. Not because they're bad at what they do, just because times change. And you kind of got caught up. I say this has been someone who's been on that level. It's like, I do think you're more Fresno State, Boise State. That's kind of where you belong. Not with your mindset, but like the way this all played out, there wasn't going to be a conference who was going to take you. So to me, play Boise State, play Fresno State, play San Diego State, play New Mexico. And one of you two should win that conference a lot of the times.

Now, what really sucks is the money, right? Going from a Power 5 conference, which guarantees you $30 to $40 million a year, the Mountain West pays $5. So that really sucks. But I don't say this with pride, right? Like when I say Oakland lost all three teams, they should have placed a joke. I mean, no shit. Like, I feel bad for you.

I don't feel bad for the city of Oakland for losing three franchises. in five years, which has never happened before and will never happen again. I feel bad for you guys the way it all shook out. I really do. Like, for example, I live now in Scottsdale. To me, Arizona State belongs in the Mountain West too. They just don't care enough. They really do not.

Arizona, Utah, like, yeah, those deserve to be in the Power 5. But to me, Arizona State, like, if you guys got asked out, Arizona State should have 100%. but they kind of hits their wagon because of their location. You all got screwed also because of your markets. I mean, no one cares about your two cities where you are. There's just not many people. A lot of P. Carroll questions. I think the average person outside of Seattle doesn't quite understand.

Like, he got basically the Belichick treatment. You know, got to talk, was crying. Obviously, those pictures went viral of Russell Wilson. at this dinner with all the players. It's like Richard Shirm, Cam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner. I mean, a bunch of dudes. That's a pretty big deal. You know?

The Belchick thing, a lot of people text me the other day. Like, you said it earlier this week. I just kind of put the pieces together, his age, kind of how they plateaued, the division with Sean and Kyle. The Belchick thing, we've been talking about him getting fired from like the start of the season. The Pete thing, it was. It was like an educated guess. I could see it happening.

But when it actually happened, it was pretty wow. The Belichick thing, waking up to Belichick being fired, is not a wow. It's just like, what day was it going to happen? And when they did it, how were they going to put it in a press release? How are they going to articulate it? He was fucking getting fired, right? But Pete thought he should. I thought it was time.

Same thing with Mike Tomlin. If you tell me, they lose and Monday morning Mike Tomlin's out at the Steeler coach. I've been talking about it all year. I'd be stunned. It's still shocking when you see it. Right? Like Nick Saban retiring at 71, 72 years old. Is it that crazy?

Of course not. I've been coaching for like 50 years. But when you see Nick Saban has retired, you do a double take. Like, am I reading this correctly? So, I don't know. The other thing is, people ask, like, who do you think Seattle, New England?

I don't know. Seattle has hired a coach for 14, 15 years. New England hasn't had a coaching search in 25 years fucking no clue John Snyder's never hired a coach I don't even who's running the Patriots right now

I don't know they had one guy run the Patriots since I was in ninth grade I'm 39 years old since I was in ninth grade 39 years old Pete Carroll got the job what year was that

would have been 2010 Pete Carroll got the job I was like in my mid-20s I had hair I was at Fresno State I remember I remember going to a practice with Tim Skipper, who was just the interim coach at Fresno State,

to a Lane Kiffin practice at SC. We went in the spring. Went and watched USC practice. Lane Kiffin. I remember going to a Lane Kiffin practice. When I was still at Fresno State, I didn't even gotten hired in the NFL yet. So these guys, I've had like seven different jobs

and eight different things since. It's impossible to even... It's very, very difficult. Like, it's easier. Like, Arthur Blank, clearly, what they want. You know, Washington. They're clearly. clearly all over Adam Peters, Ian Cunningham,

get guys from winning organizations. To me, they're going to, Mike Vrable, Jim Harbaugh, like, Ben Johnson, like, they're going to go after a big fish, right? New England? No, Gerard Mayo? Yeah, maybe. Mike Vrable? Yeah, I could see it.

I don't know. Maybe Robert Kraft once a night. Maybe they hired Dan Quinn. Want to get a smiley happy guy. I don't know. Seattle, no freaking clue. None. It's like, well, they work with Dan Quinn.

They're just going to hire Pete Carroll 2.0. the shittier version? They're really going to do that? Maybe. You believe it when you see a tweet. Like, oh, yeah, I can see that. Then you start thinking about it, like, that's really what they're going to do?

Why not with offensive guys and offensive league hire Ben Johnson? But I don't know. I mean, it's just, you can't even really make an educated guess. People have no clue. They've never been in these spots. Never been in these spots.

Either of these organizations, especially the Pats. The last time Pats were hiring a coach, I mean, did Google exist? Facebook didn't. Think of all the stuff, like, how many majors did Tiger Woods have? Like, three?

Peyton Manning, I mean, he was like 23 years old. Just start, like, wrapping your head around. We're still like four years away from LeBron James entering the NBA. It's like 40 years old. Been in the league 24 years. I mean, think how crazy in all this. So, yeah, I don't know. It's going to be wild couple weeks, man.

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, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

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