The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Cowboys Smack Philly, Big Belichick Problems, Blow Up the Giants, Big Ben's Toast, USC Rebuild Reality, Mailbag

Episode Date: September 28, 2021

John breaks down the Cowboys impressive home beatdown of the Eagles on MNF. and how a weak NFC East will play out. He also looks at why Bill Belichick and the Pats could be in big trouble, makes the case for blowing up the Giants, explains why it's completely over for Big Ben, why Cooper Kupp's path to stardom is what the NFL is all about, why there won't be an immediate USC turnaround regardless of who they hire, and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag.Make sure you follow John and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Look, Valentine's Day is almost here, and you know what that means. It's time to... Luckily, you know what makes her blush. Fresh blooms and gifts from Pro Flowers. Head over to proflowers.com and use code Crush 15 through February 14th and get 15% off all the best blooms and gifts that will really make your special someone on Valentine's Day. Get fresh this Valentine's Day with Pro Flowers. See website for details. The volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middell Cop, three and out podcast. Back at it again. The game isn't even over, but we have.

had to fire up the podcast because that was a cowboy beatdown. Probably have to apologize to Mike McCarthy because I thought that his career. I mean, if the Cowboys fire him, it's not like he's going to get another job after that. And I thought this was a big night for him. His team was ready and we will dive into that off the bat. Obviously not a great night for the birds or our guy Jalen Hertz who, while a good week one came back to Earth a little bit in week two was for the most part, pretty. terrible tonight. A lot going on all over the NFL. Big show. Belichick, you know, not going

great. It's not going great. Watch that game this morning. And holy moly, the saints took it to them. Something's off with the Patriots. And they got, from what I've heard, a pretty big game this week. Rathusberger, you know, let's just wave the white flag. That thing's over. The New York Giants, they got problems. John Mara, time to blow that bad boy up. Uh, Some things I noticed watching USC, which I think the job is going to be a little harder for whoever takes it. And hopefully it's Urban Meyer when he quits the Jacksonville Jags because they are horrendous. But I don't think it's quite the turnaround going to happen right away. They're just some, you know, coach is going to go in there and there are going to be some powerhouse franchise.

Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff. We do it at the end of the podcast. Slide up into those DMs. Monday podcast exclusively on this three and out podcast. podcast with me, John Middlecop, subscribe, rate, leave a review. I know many of you have, and I greatly appreciate it. Okay, let's start with the head coach, Mike McCarthy, which last year was a disaster, an absolute train wreck, they were awful, the defense, I'm not going to rehash you. We all know, we all saw it. This year, you know,

they lost week one to Tampa Bay at home, ran into a buzzsaw, but it was pretty clear after that game, you're like, whoa, a lot of respect for Dak Prescott. Coming back off the injury. He looks fantastic. Though Mike has nothing to do with the offense, that's Kellen Moore's baby. You know, the team has looked solid through two weeks. And tonight was huge. And I said it, if he can't beat the Eagles at home, if you're Jerry Jones, 78, 79 years old, what are you doing? Well, they didn't just beat the Eagles. They destroyed the Eagles. And so I'm going to tip my hat. That was a big win. That was a complete beat down. His team was ready to play. Do they look like some 13, 14 win team? No, they don't. Do they

look like a team that can win nine or ten games? Yes, they do. Will that win the NFC East? Yes, it will. Then there will be a lot of pressure, but because of the playoff seating, Cowboys win the division you saw last year with Washington, you get a home game. Memory serves me correct. I don't even think Tampa played a home game last year. Had to go on the road. So even with the seven seeds, and who knows, maybe they put that thing on Monday night, it shows you, I was thinking about it this weekend. The NFL, if you think the NFL league office cares about teams, about health, about the officiating, you're crazy. They care about one thing and one thing only, and that's the cash and the money.

Because the officiating has never been worse. The NFL does not care. They put a playoff game on Monday night, which is awesome for me and you. I mean, great for the league. The ratings are going to be huge. Sucks for the team that has to host it. And if the Cowboys win the NFC East, wouldn't shock me if they throw the Cowboys because of the ratings on Monday Night Football.

be a lot of people watching. But whoever wins that game, then you got to play someone on Sunday, short week, travel would suck. But that's neither here nor there. I think Cowboy fans just winning the division, even if the division is terrible, which right now it is, would be a big step up. But I think the main difference you saw tonight, and most people knew this, and I guess I knew this too, but not that I thought Jalen Hertz was on Dax level,

he clearly wasn't, but I thought that Jalen Hertz could be a good NFL quarterback. He's not. He has major flaws. And tonight, you see things like Dak Prescott. When he's in rhythm, when he has timing, he's so much bigger than Jalen. Now, they have excellent wide receivers, but he can flip a switch. And when he's on, he looks like a pro bowler. He is a pro bowl level guy. Now, I know I've nitpicked him in the past, the money.

Do I love paying him $40 million? No, but would I ideally like to pay him like 31? Yeah, that's factoring in the salary cap, whatever. He's paid what he's paid. he's living up to it this year. He looks freaking awesome. The little I watched of Hard Knocks, love the guy,

admire his just tenacity and relentless nature coming back from that devastating injury. He is my type person. He's my type player, even though I would aspire to have a little more arm strength, but the way he plays, I like it. He was awesome tonight. If he plays like that,

the Cowboys will be fine and they will win the division. The Eagles, and really Jalen hurts, and the Eagles knew this coming in. He was going to get to prove his spot on the squad. Do you want to be the long-term starting quarterback for the Eagles? He was going to get all season to start. And he still is. Week one played the Falcons. Turns out they're terrible. He looked good. Last week against the 49ers, a physical defense. You know, was a little off, still made some plays, could have been better. You're like, whatever, tough physical game.

Tonight against the Cowboys, who don't have a great defense. He was awful. He was terrible. Consistently laid on throws, obviously the pick six. His rhythm and timing, always when he's off feels like he's a second late and everything is just, you got to pull the trigger Jalen and there's an instinctual nature to his game

that's just lacking. It's what I questioned when he came out of college. Now he has had moments in the pros where I go, maybe I'm wrong. But then you see a night like tonight and listen, it's pro football, you have tough nights,

the greatest quarterbacks have bad nights. But now he's had back-to-back games against, you know, playoff level opponents that we're just not up to snuff, that will get you beat. And if you're the Eagles, right, you have 14 more games, and really Jalen Hurt to evaluate him to prove his spot, worst case scenario, he is not good the rest of the season,

and you don't win that many games. Let's say you go like, you know, six and 11, and you evaluate your options in the off season. You potentially have three first round picks. If Carson keeps starting and stays healthy for the Colts, depending on how the Deshawn Watson situation plays out, you can dabble your toe in the water there. If not, depending on how these college quarterbacks,

from what I've seen, not a great quarterback class, but you never know, things change. We're only a couple weeks into the season. But the Eagles will have options because they have a lot of picks. But right now, Jalen, if I had to go arrow up, he's going to be the starter for the next several years, or arrow down, he probably will be the backup by next year. I'd go arrow down.

Because you have nights like tonight, you don't even give your team a shot. you were a bottom five quarterback in the league with a performance like that. And I know he put up some fake stats as the game kind of got out of hand. But you saw one quarterback who's a Pro Bowl level guy, divisional opponent, who's not going anywhere, just signed a long-term contract. And the other guy that gets you beat. So I think tonight's the night where the Eagles, as they fly home, think to themselves,

you know, we might have ourselves a situation. Not that they didn't already somewhat know that right. he was a second round pick. It's not like they've paid him any money. This was a situation that was going to play itself out in 2021. He was given the opportunity. And he still has a lot of games ahead of them. The season is not necessarily over.

But, you know, you don't need to be Bill Walsh, Ernie O'Coursey, or Bill Polian to go, yeah, that's not exactly what it's supposed to look like. Especially when the quarterback on the other team comes on to the field, you're like, yeah, that's kind of what it is supposed to look like. So not a great night for the Eagles and just a terrible, terrible night for Jalen Hurts the quarterback. Okay, let's dive into the New England Patriots. And I'm not able to watch every game on Sunday. One, it's impossible.

You can't, in football, it's the easiest of all the sports. I heard, I was listening to Rosillo's podcast, and he was just having the point, like, it is so much easier to cover the NFL. than all the other sports in terms of time. Now, there are way more players in the NFL than the other sports, but just in terms, like, if you want to cover baseball, you're going to watch every game. I mean, every single night.

It's like, I just want to go to bed. I don't feel like watching Giants play the Diamondbacks. Even in the NBA, 81 games, this is a lot. In football, there's 17 of them. And if you count the preseason, but I haven't watched the second half of a preseason game since I left the NFL. Bores me to death. So on Sundays, I can really,

truly, I can watch two games at once, but I like to really lock into one, have the red zone on my second TV, and luckily my wife, who doesn't exist, allows me to have multiple televisions in my living room, so I'm able to watch a lot of stuff at one time. But it is hard. And to really lock into a game,

I have to go back on Monday morning, and I've mentioned this before, and I watch the NFL game pass kind of just, they do a condensed version. so I can watch like the Patriot Saints game in 35, 40 minutes. And it's awesome. You can just bang through it. And I try to watch three or four games that I'm interested in, things that happen.

Like the Cardinal Jags game is irrelevant to me. It just does not matter. So I'm not going to waste my time to watch it. Like Arizona did what they should have done. One by double digits. Like it's just the game is irrelevant. The Jags stink. But the Patriots, I want to have an opinion on Mack Jones.

I had a strong take. I thought he was pretty average. I don't think he was a first round pick. And Belichick took him at 15. And listen, when I talk about Bill Belichick, regardless whether it's positive or now what I'm about to say is probably going to be pretty negative,

I think he's the greatest coach that ever existed. And we can retroactively, like, kind of look back and act like it was all Tom. Like, we all witnessed it. You know, when him and Tom really took off, I was like a sophomore, junior in high school.

I lived through college. I lived through working in college football. lived through in the NFL. I've lived through the last seven or eight years, watching Bill Belichick with Tom Brady consistently out-coach people, out-skim people, out-think people, have his team ready on the road at home. It never mattered. Did Tom play a big role in that? Of course, is this week the build-up for him coming home, the Adele promo for NBC? I get it. I understand it, and a lot of people are going to try to belittle Belichick and act like on the pie chart, it was like 80, Brady, 20, Belichick. That's just bullshit. They were a great, great partnership and they needed each other. And now at this point,

Tom is in a fantastic situation with a loaded team and a really good coach and he's kicking ass. Now, before we get into Mack Jones, Belichick, the last several years, has been a terrible drafter. That's not really arguable at this point. He has been very, very poor as a personnel man. And the reality for the Patriots is he is the GM and he's the coach. Now, historically, he's been hit or miss as a drafter. Most guys are. But he was such a good coach. He could overcome it.

Most general managers can't overcome their bad picks because their coaches aren't good enough. So their coaches don't make them look good. Belichick could just out-scheme people, out-think people, and he was ruthless. A lot of GMs and anyone listening to this can relate to this of your team, they hold on to a player like two years too long. Belichick, two years into a second round pick, he'll trade him. he'll cut him, he'll just get rid of him.

He does not care. He has no emotion to his draft picks. I actually think that's his greatest strength as a personnel guy. Zero emotion. If you're good, he'll roll with you. Slater, McCordy's, High Towers, the Grakowskys, like all the James White, the guys that he really likes and believes in Edelman's,

he will keep up Mankins, keep on the team for a decade plus. Obviously, Tom was there 20. But the guys who clearly, like, Nikiel Harry, not be on this team next year. He will not give a shit. Most GMs will hold on to that guy for his entire rookie contract. Not Bill. But he hasn't been good. And I do wonder at his age, I don't think his fire has left. I think, I remember Phil Savage told me one time he now works for the Jets, but he worked for Belichick in Cleveland. And the way he explained Belichick, and really Sabin, too,

but definitely Belichick, is that the football treadmill starts when training camp starts. And Belichick's entire life is on the treadmill, not literally, but figuratively. And it's not going at nine miles an hour, but it's going to like 5.0. And he gets on that thing up until OTAs, and he never breaks stride. His competitive endurance is unmatched. And I saw the same thing with Andy Reid, who, you know, I know he's doing well. I had a little scare yesterday. Thinking about you, coach.

But Andy's work ethic is still in much. my lifetime. Now, I haven't been around that many people, but by far unmatched. I've never seen anything like it. So I could, I could understand where Phil was coming from Belichick is he's just, it just never stops. And he's able to work, even at his older age, these 18 hour days that are just, he's relentless. He is relentless. And most people that are great in society, you know, are relentless in their pursuit of whatever they're doing. So it's not like he's alone, just his profession has kind of unique hours. Not that a lot of them don't.

I mean, let's face it. Most successful people work along hours. But I'm watching the Patriots. They got a punt blocked. Belichick's known as his great special teams mind. They got a punt block. At one point in time to James Winston at home, they're down 21 to 3.

Now, Mack is the best rookie quarterback right now. Obviously, Lawrence looks not good. Zach Wilson is way worse. Zach Wilson looked terrible. Now his team sucks. Trey Lance can't really get. in the game. Justin Fields one game, not all his fault, but did not go well. It back. Looks like a serviceable guy, but I watch him, I go, in what world is this guy the 15th

overall pick? I just, in what time in NFL history, especially in modern football, the last 20 years, did a guy with these physical attributes get drafted this high and then turn out to be good? because we've seen years where guys get overdrafted, Blaine Gabbard's, Christian Ponders, and they never live up to the hype because they don't have the minimum physical attributes. Now, does Belichick have this loaded offense? No, he does not.

But is Mack Jones, some guy that has some enormous ceiling to eventually be some really good player? I don't see it. I just don't. Now, I've compared him to Kirk Cousins before, and listen, watching the Vikings game against Seattle, Kirk Cousins is playing out of his mind. He looks freaking awesome.

He's balling. So you never know. It's football. The more talent you get around you, if you do have the understanding of the offense, and the offense conducive to your skill set, you can look good. But I just don't necessarily see it.

Now, I'm not putting that loss all on Mack Jones. One of his picks went off Johnny's hands. He threw another bad pick six, though, that just was not a good pass. I just look at a guy. Now, he's a rookie. He also, when he comes from Alabama, every single player on his team

was better than every single player on the other team every time he played. He also played on one of the greatest offenses from a talent standpoint, maybe in the history of the sport. Four guys all got drafted in top 15. The most questionable prospect of the group, Henry Ruggs, I'm watching him yesterday with the Raiders. I'm like, this guy's freaking awesome.

He's becoming a really good player. We know how good Judy is. Waddle watching him with dolphins, he's going to be really good. Like, these guys are ballers. You know, Devante Smith, the Eagles love him. Naji Harris had like 75 touches because Big Ben can't move and has to keep dumping them off. So, like, Belichick got a little desperate

because of his drafting and the way that he set up this team, and I just watch him and I go, you know, does he still have his fastball? And sometimes, for whatever reason, you get old, not that the game passes him by because I think his football understanding is probably still unmatched,

but you just wonder, it's hard to stay on top forever. Phil Jackson had awful years. Greg Popovich, it feels like, mailed it in for the last three years. Now, I don't think Belich, is necessarily mailing it in. Like I do think he's trying.

I would imagine he's not leaving the office early. But I think it's fair to say sometimes quarterbacks, we'll talk about Rothesburg or later. Like does he have it anymore? Like does Belichick still quite have it? That's just a question I am going to ask. Now, I'm not going to go back, like I said, and act like it wasn't him.

Like he's not the best coach I've ever seen in the history of the sport. He is my Bill Walsh. I feel very confident and I will say that until the day I die until another guy comes along that I think is his equal. Now, this version right now in 2021, I mean, I just watch Sean Payton, who is a really good coach, go into Foxboro with James Winston and kick their ass and absolutely dominate them.

I never thought that would have happened. I didn't bet on this game. If I would have, I would have hammered the Patriots. Now, I've just, watching that game this morning, I went, I don't know. And he did things that he's not used to doing. He bought all these free agents. That's not really his style. Now, the one thing historically with Bill is his teams get better as the year goes on.

And you just look at his division. Now, Jacoby Brissette is clearly way better than Tua. So maybe Miami, who is one and two. But they, you know, went toe to toe with the Raiders and had a big lead for a minute. The Jets are a joke. The bills look pretty good. Like, can Belichick get to 10 wins? I guess it's still possible.

But watching them early on with no TB12 walking through that door, I might have to pivot and go, and I was someone who thought they were going to be a playoff team, I don't know. Now, I'm prepared to be wrong. You never bet against Tom Brady. Historically, you've been crazy betting against Bill Belichick, but I don't know if I see it.

And I just wonder, like, how much longer is he going to go on like this? If he has a season where he wins seven, eight games, does he keep want to coach and just keep going under 500? Now, I think there's a pride and there's an ego. And obviously this week, if Tom comes in and kicks his ass, he doesn't want to leave the game quote unquote with his tail between his legs and leave a loser

but not every ending is storybook, right? That's just not the way it usually happens in professional sports and I don't think it's out of the realm possibility that Belichick's career ends a little you know, uglier than any of us thought it would. Okay, let me tell you about my friends

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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'll say. 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-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam 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.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Keer 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, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. 21 plus and present in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, Virginia or West Virginia.

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1-800-9 with it, Indiana. Visit www. www.1-800 gambler. West Virginia. Look, Valentine's Day is almost here, and you know what that means. It's time to... Luckily, you know what makes her blush. Fresh blooms and gifts from Proflowers.

Head over to Proflowers.com and use code Crush 15 through February 14th and get 15% off all the best blooms and gifts that will really make your special someone on Valentine's Day. Get fresh this Valentine's Day with Pro Flowers. See website for details. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinnwity host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts.

Visit AdoptuSkids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the ad count. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that could lead to adventure.

And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the at council. You know, in most of the industries and the businesses that we work in, we have to produce or we will not last long. Even if you own the business.

Like, you know, I own this podcast with Coward. And if no one listens, I will not make any money. I own another podcast. If no one listens, I will not be able to generate money and I will go out of business. If you're a sales guy and you're listening to this, if you do. not hit your quotas, make your sales, like especially, I know I have a lot of buddies that are in the sales business, even in the Bay Area where the, you know, numbers, you get paid a lot. But if they do not sell, they don't make that much money because their base salary is relatively

low. Most companies have to do well in terms of sell whatever their product is. If you own a restaurant, people have to come eat there or you will not make any money. Yet in the NFL, why it's probably one of the greatest businesses. is going right now, if you are in the crew of ownership, like John Mara and the New York Giants, it is irrelevant whether you win or you lose to make money. Because on the most basic level, every single season, you will get guaranteed allotment from the media deals because of the contract of the league signs with these companies. And the New York Giants, in fairness, are one of the biggest media, they are the biggest media

market in America. And they're a huge reason that the NFL has a lot of juice. But for the last, you know, half decade, they have been irrelevant to the league landscape. And John Mara, who yesterday, whose team lost at home to the Atlanta Falcons, who I've watched the Atlanta Falcons first two weeks of games. That's a joke. Now, I put a little money on the Giants because I thought, you know, minus three at home, Eli Manning Day.

like, you know, the Giants are a physical team. They should win this game like 24 to 17 or something. And then I look up, it's tied in the second half, and of course the At Falcons basically kick a game winning field goal, win the game 17 to 14. And the Giants have become a complete laughing stock in the NFL. And of course, their franchise is valued top five in the league. If it went on the open market, they would get $5 billion plus for it.

Their owners are incredibly financially well off. and have made a ton of money. And under this John Mara's leadership with Tom Coughlin, with Eli Manning, they had two of the greatest wins in the history of the franchise. And that franchise has won Super Bowles before with Parcells, L.T. and Belichick as assistant coach.

But where they are right now, there is zero positivity or hope in sight. They have a quarterback who just isn't very good. You know, he's a talented player and he plays well every once in a while, but for the most part, he cannot be dependent. on. They have a general manager that is clearly

pretty questionable. He once took a running back second overall. He can't build an offensive line. I have little to no faith that he can build a winning team. Right now with the Giants. They have a head coach that none of us had heard of when they hired him to replace Pat

Schumer two years ago. And then that head coach being a younger guy tries to act like Bill Parcells. The problem is I think that played a little bit better in 1983 than it does in 2021. And then this head coach is, like Bill Parcells, is not an offensive guy. Now, Bill was a defensive guy, but he wasn't the defensive coordinator, Belichick was.

And he's a quote-unquote special teams guy, but they have a special teams coach. Now, at the end of the day, if you watch some of the 30 for 30s, especially the Bill and Bill, like Parcells used to talk about, gave a lot of credit to Belichick for the elite game plans that he put together to take on Bill Walsh and Joe Montana. which worked several times in big games. So even for a CEO head coach, he had one of the, I mean, Belichick defensively might be the greatest schematical guy we've ever seen. Joe Judge has Jason Garrett as his offensive coordinator.

Now, you could argue if Bill Walsh was the coach of this team, they're not going to win 12 games. But this team might win two. In a league that, let's face it, I'm watching football all, you know, week one through week three, it's pretty average competition. Guys get hurt all the time. I don't see any powerhouse franchises right now that are just head and shoulders. Like there are good teams, but the parody in this league is pretty strong.

Like most teams, if you can scheme guys up, you can compete on a weekly basis. And the Giants are looking at like a three and 14 season. Now, what I think the move would be for the Giants would be to completely blow it up. Start over. Hire a quote-unquote Zara football. a general manager or a head coach that runs at all. Like, who actually runs their operation right now? Gettleman's the GM.

He didn't technically hire Joe Judge. They didn't come in at the same time. The conversation is they're going to hot fire Gettleman at the end of the year. But you tell me, okay, Gettelman goes and then Joe Judge, who's proven nothing, gets to influence the next GM. And if he doesn't, then the next GM, why would he want to keep Joe Judge? You're just lost in no man's land. I saw it. The best thing Jed York ever did

is when he kept letting Tremblec he hire coaches and then it was like, this is not working. He just blew it up, started from scratch. He got Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. Now, if you watch the game Sunday, Kyle's, you know, still got some improving to do. But they gave themselves a fighting chance because they gave all the power to John Lynch,

Kyle Shanahan, they said, you do everything. And it does feel like the Maras and just the Giants, they like to have their hands in the cookie jar as well as influencing everything. and it is not working. And the NFL, I always heard this forever with Raider fans around, you know, just in general. The NFL is so much better when we're good.

And the iron is, they're finally good now. But actually, I'd push back and say, well, the league's greatest growth in the history of the sport was in the 2000s and the 2010s, and you were an embarrassment. And the league never made more money, was never more popular. So I get where you're jealous,

you wish your teams were good, while the league's having all the success, but the league factually is actually not that dependent on your success. And I don't think they're dependent the way the league is set up on any individual franchises of success because the league is as strong as their quarterbacks, fantasy football. We can watch any game. Someone in New York could watch Packers-N-N-ers,

just like someone in San Francisco can watch Cowboys, Eagles, with gambling, with fantasy. We just know all the quarterbacks. It's a nationally relevant. But until the Giants are willing to look internally and ask themselves, we have a major problem. This is not working. Our coach is over his head.

Our GM is terrible. Our roster sucks. We need to hit the reset button. And the reset button can't just be get a new GM here. It has to be get everyone in here from scratch coming together. Because when you come in together, you at least give yourself a fighting chance people to be on the same page. How can you ever share the same vision

when you don't come in together? I just find that very, very difficult. I really do. When you look at the most successful franchises over like the last decade, look at Seattle. Right? And I know they're technically one and two right now, but they've won a lot of games

from like 2011 until up till right now. Pete Carroll and John Snyder came in together. Pete hired John and then as John proved himself, got empowered, and those guys are a tandem deal. Right? You've seen forever with the Roonies and that operation under Tomlin. Again, I know they're struggling because of Big Ben, but just the consistency of they never bottom out.

They can't. There's just too much continuity internally and that people are talented. I think when you're always moving coaches and moving GMs, now, the Giants have had two or three GMs over a long period of time, but they just kind of rehash. when they had to get Gettleman, a guy who'd been in their building. Can you ever hire a general manager who's worked outside of the building? Right?

Obviously, Jerry Reese came before Ernie O'Coursey. Those guys had been in the building. I do think they need external help. And I think it's going to come down. It's going to be hard for John Mara to just fire Gettlement and think that's okay. Because how will he go, well, even if he likes Joe Judge, feel comfortable to bring in a GM and let Joe Judge either influence that higher or have a guy come in and then force him to work with Joe Judge.

How is that going to work? So it's just tough times for the New York Giants. I don't really have any words of wisdom beside. I think if it's going where it looks like it's going and they're going to win not many games, I think the move might be just the nuclear option and blow the bad boy up. And you know what? Go fishing in the deep end. Go offer someone who you think's really good.

a lot of money. And we'll get to that point as a season goes on once we kind of get an idea of the coaching candidates and maybe some of the guys that are on the open market. I mean, Doug Peterson, he had a lot of success in your division. Saw him win a Super Bowl, saw him take a team to the playoffs. You know, maybe he'd be a little more equipped than Joe Judge. Just saying.

I was listening to this finance show last week and they were talking about Chipotle, the business model, and just how big they've gotten. I actually ate there for lunch. I eat there, you know, probably once a week. I just get a bowl. You know, nothing too crazy. Try to limit the carbs, no rice.

You should go double meat, chicken or steak. One time, though, I actually, by far the sickest I've ever been, I got food poisoning, and it was definitely from Chipotle. And it was the one time in my life when I've been sick, I was like, is this what death feels like? I swear to God, I'm not even trying to be sarcastic. It was, I was curled up in a ball for 48 hours. It was crazy.

I've never, ever experienced anything. in my life, even close to that. And I remember, it wasn't around the time, but 2018, remember they had like this meat scare. And at one point in time, it thought like it was going to end the business. And even after I got sick, which I think was probably a little bit before that, was like 16 or 17, I remember telling myself, laying in bed, I will never eat there again. They're like a year past and I still eat there all the time. Unfached.

And now their business is booming. They could potentially be like $55 million market. cap, $55 billion. I mean, they're huge. They are massive. They print money. You go there, that place is packed. It's like burritos and tacos and bowls. I mean, it's pretty easy concept. It works. It works. Because I do think in this, in 2021, like you can eat dirty there. You can feel like you can get a big meal. You can feel like you're eating healthy. A lot of options, even though they don't have that much to offer you. It's a genius concept. But they battled back when it looked like their company could go under

around that meat scare. I think it was an 18 and now they are humming. Well, watching the Steelers when I just finished my Chipotle, I thought like the main difference like companies can ebb and flow and a lot of our lives in any business we work in can do the same, right?

You can do whatever, get fired, battle back. You have your whole life to produce as a worker in society. Where as an athlete, like you have a finite period of time. Now, it does feel more than ever, the time is longer, but Rathusberger's time is over. And I'm not going to spend that much time on it because we've talked a lot about him, but he like, you watch that game, you just go, it's over. And unlike Chipotle, who's able to battle back and feel like they're only going to get stronger, who knows, I'm sure they'll merge

with someone and even become bigger one day. Rathusberger has no opportunity to bounce back. There is no comeback when you're his age, and you can no longer throw it. you no longer can consistently complete passes. He threw a pick yesterday to a guy five feet in front of him that even if the guy wasn't there, the duty was throwing to was literally double-covered. Both guys were in front of him. He could have thrown, and it was the pass where he barely lobs it,

and the guy is right there. It's got to be the worst pass of his career. But even if I removed the one Bangle defender that caught the ball, I took him out the field. So let's say the Bengals had 10 defenders. He would have thrown that interception potentially to two other guys. One of the other two guys would have caught it.

It was that bad. But there is no, like, you don't come back. There's no comeback story. You don't pivot. If Rothesberger is going to do anything in his career, it's going to be doing something else. Whether talking about football, business, off the field, I don't know.

But playing football, it's pretty, it's evident. One thing that's great when you just watch a game, quarterbacks, and I remember Brady and Peyton used to get mad about this, and sometimes Rogers always has like, you know, sarcastic remarks when people ask him like, what's it like playing Tom Brady? He's like, well, actually, quarterbacks don't play each other. And it's true, right? The quarterbacks are never on the field at the same time.

When one guy's on the field, the other guy's sitting, drinking Gatorade, talking to his coach, vice versa, right? But ultimately, one guy gets a win, one guy gets an L. and his fans and his people on the outside is kind of the way we judge him. But to me, the best value about watching a game when Herbert and Mahomes are playing, in the game when Brady and Manning, or, you know, even when it's like Rathesburg or in Burrow, you just get to see them both, one guy's on, one guy's off, and constantly go off and you're able to judge the two, like, which guy would I rather have? It ain't even close. Now, Joe Burrow was the number one overall pick in the draft. He looks really good. He made some plays in that

game. It was like, I want this guy on my team. And obviously, that's why they drafted them, right? They've had the number one overall pick a couple times. It took Carson Palmer and Joe Burrell. S.C. LSU. huge blue chip guys. Carson probably more than Joe, but I think sometimes like, Joe had to transfer. Oh yeah, from Ohio State to LSU. You see the team he played on? Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, I just watched the Vikings game. Justin Jefferson's a baller. Clyde, best game is a pro yesterday. And obviously they had a million other players on that team that are in the pros. But there's nothing they can do with Russ Spurder. There's no, like, you know, in two years he'll just battle back and he'll be

on top again. Like, no, it's over. Do they ride it out and just keep potentially losing games with him. All he does is dump it off to the running back. Najee Harris is going to get killed because he's getting so many touches either handed the ball off or he's just throwing it down to him as a checkdown. Because Ben Rathesberger's whole career was predicated on being a playmaker. It wasn't, like even Philip Rivers at the last year with the Colts, who was clearly his arrow was pointing down. His career was coming to an end. But he was still functional. He still helped that team win 11 games.

I think he was 23 or 24 touchdowns. Throw some picks, but he's always thrown picks. He was a guy that if you had a good enough team around you, you could win with him. Now, you couldn't have done that for too many more years. That might have been the last year he could have functioned as a serviceable, quote unquote, like bridge type quarterback. Rathesberger jumped that step. Rathesburger went from like a good player to all of a sudden really old and it feels over.

That's what they're at now. And what do they do? They don't really have any options because they trade for a quarterback. They go with Dwayne Haskins. I think the problem is sometimes when you hold on for dear life with a guy like this, it becomes very, very difficult

for ownership. Not the fans, like the fans understand what's at stake now, like just bench them. But Rooney's aren't going to do that. It's very hard for Mike Tomlin to do that. Do you know how much money and how much winning the Roonies and Tomlin have done with Rothesberger?

They're emotionally tied to him. When I talk about Belichick with draft picks, his greatest attribute was he never gets emotional. tied with anybody, ever, including Tom Brady. Now, you can say that hurts him sometimes, and it does. But for the most part, he doesn't get in these positions where he's got a guy that every fan's like, take him out of the game and he keeps playing. He might happen for a week or two, but he always gets rid of or benches. I don't see the Steelers necessarily doing that. They're just going to ride this

thing out until maybe his body just completely breaks down. But how many multi-pick game or how many games are you going to get beat by the Bengals at home? Like, I like Joe Burrow. and I think Jamar Chase looks awesome, but they shouldn't be kicking your ass at home. That shouldn't happen. You're not playing, you know, the Seattle Seahawks or the L.A. Rams or the Green Bay Packers. You're playing the Cincinnati Bengals.

Now, I get it, divisional games can be tight, but I watch that game in my main takeaway. And I get T.J. Watt didn't play, and he's an elite player against the Bengals. I'm sure he would have, you know, probably gotten a couple sacks. But when your quarterback's that terrible, and really that big of a liability,

but also held to that high of a stature because of his name and because of his equity that he has built up with your franchise, I think it's the worst place to be in because I think you're just stuck and the fans just have to write it out with you and be miserable. Now, I'm still not going to write them off

as like a three or four win team just because of the culture, but after watching that yesterday and knowing that Rathusberger's already heard and knowing they don't have a chance to bounce back like Chipotle because I told you, I would never eat it again. And I've probably, since I said that in my mind when I was curled up,

eating it 500 times since. You know, I feel pretty confident. Like, it's over. Like, it's unofficially over for Rathesburg. Every game he starts is just playing out the string. And more than likely, the more games you keep rolling them out against just credible opponents. Like, if you play the Jags or the Jet, you'll probably win.

But anytime you play a functional quarterback, that has any talent on the team, like you're liable to lose because you will have a disadvantage at the most important position. Where, for the most part, in his entire career, beside when he played Brady or Peyton,

like you had the advantage in every time that you rolled out. That doesn't mean you won every time, but for, you know, 12, 15 years, Raffa's Burger was your greatest trump card. He played with some great defenses, one of the greatest wide receivers ever,

some great running backs, but it's a quarterback league. And he was their Trump. card. And he now is just a complete disaster. And it's sad, but it's part of the business, because it's over. One thing I've always been fascinated by, and I think this helped me be a scout, and it's helped me ever since I've gone into kind of the business world the last four or five years, is doing homework on an individual's background. Whenever I meet with someone, I'm sure anyone listening does this too, but I love, and it's never been eating,

easier now because of Google and the internet to use LinkedIn to just find out a lot about a person. And it's fascinating. Some of the biggest business deals I've done at least in my life have been from guys that are not that have big roles in whatever said company I'm doing a partnership with. They don't always go to Harvard. They're not always going to Vanderbilt or Northwestern or Ohio State, some of these big universities. Sometimes they come from small schools. And as a small school guy myself, I always kind of appreciate that. Now, I've been around people and know a lot of people that have gone to big schools too, but I think the older I've gotten, he realized where you start is pretty irrelevant. And I definitely noticed that when I was scouting. And it's still something I'm doing,

I'll do when I sit on a couch and watch these games on Sunday or hell, even Saturday when I'm watching college football, is I love looking into a guy's background. How many stars did he have coming out of high school? How many colleges were recruiting them? How much interest there was in the, you know, in college football or even, you know, draft wise. If I haven't heard of a player, what round did this guy get picked in? What was his background in college, smaller school guy? I'm fascinated by it. I love the background information on a human being.

I don't know. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but it really intrigues me. And I'm watching the, what game was it? Oh, it was Tampa Bay and the ramps. That place was rocking. You know, listen, that place. that had a great atmosphere. I didn't expect it to happen, right?

I just, I didn't understand, or at least, I didn't know the L.A. crowd what it would truly look like. Obviously, the Lakers and the Dodgers and USC football, we've seen them have great teams and those plays rock. But bringing an NFL team, who knew? And that place, it looks fantastic, looks great on television, not an empty seat in the place. It was an electric atmosphere.

Now, part of it, Tom Brady rolling in town, but still, you know, the Rams are a big time show right now. And Cooper Cup is making play after play after play. And I knew he went to Eastern Washington. When I scouted, I went through that program. It reminded me a lot of where I went to school of Cal Poly. Facilities really shitty. I bet there's places in Florida, Ohio, Texas, in California,

that high schools are dramatically nicer from a facility standpoint than Eastern Washington. So I look up Cooper Cup, who is the top five wide receiver in the NFL right now. He can't be covered. he makes play after play, he didn't have one star next to his name. Not one star next to his name. He was not recruited by anybody. And earlier in the day,

now while this guy went to a Power 5 program and really probably the second best program on the West Coast over the last couple decades at Oregon, Justin Herbert was a three-star recruit who was getting offered by places like Northern Arizona, Portland State, and Weber State, and Montana State. Like that was the crew of schools

coming after him. Now, I've heard before that he had committed earlier to Eugene. That was where he was from, but he was not some big national recruit. And I'm watching Cooper Cup, who is a star right now in the NFL. I'm watching Justin Herbert, who physically, I heard Coward say that he thought that Herbert was every bit as talented as Mahomes. I still think Herbert has to prove a lot. But his talent, like, you don't need to be Bill Walsh. You know, this doesn't take Peyton, Manning to watch Justin Herbert and go, holy shit, this guy is a freak. Now, he benefits from having two blue chip guys on the outside. Keenan Allen turned out Alabama to bring his brother to come to Cal. Zach Maynard, who's arguably one of the worst college quarterbacks I've ever seen, but Keenan Allen,

star. Absolute baller. To me, him and Devante Adams, two best wide receivers in the league. Mike Williams, top 10 pick, I don't know if you remember, went to Clemson, helped them win Natties, is an unstoppable force. So he benefits from having two kick-ass wide receivers, which he did not have in Oregon. And he was a sixth pick in the draft, but let's face it, he was an afterthought compared to the other two guys.

And Tua, like, let's face it. If you watch the Miami Dolphins play the Raiders, the Dolphins would have lost that game by 10 plus points if Tua played. Jacobi Brissette, who by no means is Dan Marino, is on a completely different level than Tua. I would much rather have Jacoby than Tua. If you watched the line last week, and Vegas is unemotional, the line improved for the dolphins when Tua was announced he was out. I think it went from five to four and a half, or maybe it was four and a half to four when they announced Jacoby.

That should not happen. If I take Derek Carr away from the Raiders and I put in Peterman, their line might change eight to ten points. That's how it should happen. Vegas, zero emotion just uses, you know, they just judge you by the talent of your quarter. quarterback basically. And two is a disaster. And so the Chargers got some got lucky that he fell to him. And Joe Burrow was much more accomplished coming out. Now let's face it. Watching some of Joe Burrow against Pittsburgh, I watched that game. He made a couple throws. The throw he made at the end of the half to Jamar Chase was elite. And Jamar Chase, who couldn't catch a cold in August, he's catching everything

now. I think he's got three touchdowns. His catch down the sideline, I know he had two touchdowns, but the one he had on the deep go route was elite. But ultimately, the NFL, the best part about it, is it doesn't really care where you start. Mack Jones went to Alabama. He played with all these stars, and he still got drafted 15th. But if he's not good for the next three or four years,

he will not be in the NFL long, or he'll just become a backup. Like, that will happen. It happens all the time. It's going to happen five of these quarterbacks who were just drafted in top 15. Probably three of them won't be any good. We don't know which ones.

Hell, it might turn out to be Trevor, Lawrence and some stuff's out of your control. Cooper Cup has really benefited from... 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 IHeard 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, Clipper 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 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 a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at a podcast.

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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. 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.

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Going to a team with the top offensive mind as his head coach. Now he gets Matt Stafford and it looks like he's even going to another level. Justin Herbert is really benefiting. I say this all the time. A lot of stuff in our life is out of our control even though we can technically control a lot. There's still like part of our success is dictated by other people.

in whatever business we're in, in any industry that you work in. Like Justin Herbert would be really talented if I put him on another shitty team, but having Mike Williams and having Keenan Allen, like that helps. And he's making the most of it because he's elite talent. But both these guys combined for three stars coming out of high school. One went to Eastern Washington. The other guy had offers from Montana State and Portland State. And right now they're probably two of the best 15 players in the NFL.

And it's really fun to watch. I don't know why I geek out on that so much. But it's one of my go-to moves. If I see you and I don't know who you are, I'm looking up your background. If, you know, and I tell any young person this, it's never been easier if you're going to a meeting. If you're trying to get a hold of somebody,

utilize the internet, your friend. LinkedIn is your friend. Like, who cares? It's like, well, what if he has the premium and he can see I look, who care? He doesn't care. Befriend him. I connect everybody.

You know, there's more information. And definitely as from a scouting standpoint, you're constantly talking about. their background. And it's always fascinating. A lot of five-star guys get extra chances in the NFL that probably they don't deserve. And a lot of two, three-star guys, you know, might get dropped down the pecking order early on. And it happens definitely in college, but even in the draft. But if you prove you can play, now Cooper Cup was a second round pick. Like I said, Herbert was a sixth overall pick in the draft. But where they started, you would have said they would never

become stars in the NFL with the way that they were rated at 17, 18 years. old. And that's just, that's just not the case. Consistently guys overcome, you know, where they start in football to, uh, to have fantastic careers. This Valentine's Day, you know just what to get that special someone because you know just what makes them tick. So head on over to proflowers.com to get fresh this Valentine's Day and get 15% off through February 14th on gifts for your special someone with promo code Crush 15. See website for details. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles. They see a

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Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. I just wanted to hit on this because Saturday, I basically just watched the Ryder Cup and just a couple college football games, kind of a week's slate of college football. Had to watch my dogs Friday night, Jake Hainter, 15 touchdowns, one pick, no big deal. But one game that I definitely wanted to watch,

and I know several people at this program, was Oregon State USC. And Oregon State kicked their ass. First time Oregon State has won in Los Angeles against USC since 1960. I've been to Corvallis, obviously for work when I was in the NFL. It's the only time I've ever been there. They have no business ever beating USC.

Like that record existed for a reason. There's a huge discrepancy in the two programs. But one thing I think we need to pump the brakes on a little bit, SC is clearly going to be the best job opening this fall. Obviously, it's already open. But if it's once different coaches get fired all over the country, it to me is going to be the best job. unless Ed O'Jeron were to get fired at LSU.

I think LSU is a better job than USC. But watch LSU, they're probably going to win nine games. And I was someone, I'm probably guilty that maybe gets fired. But we'll see. A&M is not any good. I think S.C., or I mean LSU, beside Alabama, I have to look to see if they play Georgia. They'll be okay.

You know, I know they had the rough loss to UCLA. But, you know, and I don't love their quarterback, but I could still see them going nine. and three hell, maybe even 10 and 2 if they're only lost to Alabama, and that's not going to get Ed fired. But if that job became available, I do think it would be better in USC. The one thing I think we need to pump the brakes on a little bit. We're talking a lot about how good the USC job. And in theory, it is great in a lucrative recruiting area, ton of players everywhere, history, football matters to the fan base. The conference beside Oregon right now is not very good. I guess beside Oregon State,

it's actually not bad either. But really, like Oregon is the only other program. I I mean, right now it's the only program in the conference. They can compete to go to the Final Four, which in a couple years might be the 12. But it has the easiest route when you factor in a Big Ten job or an SEC job, right? It's like the ACC. There's one prominent program.

And even the ACC right now, Clemson falling off, there's nobody. But they're at the line of scrimmage offensively, and Coward's been talking about this for a while. Their offensive line stinks. They do not have Blue Chip offensive line recruits. I think I saw someone that covers the PAC 12 tweet out like since maybe it was 2012 or 2013

the year that USC lost out on Andreas Pete Garnett the guard that the 49ers drafted and there was one other offensive linemen in that class and I remember Lane Kiffin kind of said we can't wait to get these guys and they ended up going to Stanford it was pretty eye-opening at the time it's never really been the same the Pete Carroll days feel like 40 years ago

more different than the actual 11 or 12 that they actually are, right? However long Pete's now been it, I guess he would have left in 2010 to go to Seattle. The job's going to be a little bit longer of a turnaround, I think, than people realize. They are several recruiting classes to even think about recruiting to make the playoffs, let alone beating all the Pack 12 teams. They have a long way to go. Even if Urban Meyer, who looks miserable, his team sucks, he doesn't even feel like he wants to be in Jacksonville, they might go O in 17.

You go, John, the likelihood, well, you know, if I was being realistic, I'd go, yeah, they'll go two and 15 if I was going to bet on it. But if you go two and 15, you're an interception and a fumbled ball away from being 0 and 17. They stink. They are terrible. The Cardinals didn't even try. I'll watch that game on Red Zone.

It's like, they're just going through the motions. But they're so much better than Jacksonville. It's going to be very, very difficult for them to win. Maybe they can beat the Colts. You know, the Colts, Colts are struggling. and they beat them last year. But I do believe that USC, the job, is going to take several recruiting classes.

And at the line of scrimmage, I mean, they have one good defensive end, but for the most part, they are going to need several classes of guys to rebuild this thing. Now, the job's going to be intriguing. There are going to be people that want the job, and you can win there because of the ability to recruit. But do not think, even Texas,

Sark inherited way more talent on that roster than any kind of. coach will the day he gets hired to be the USC head coach. So just when the guy gets hired, one thing SC fans are going to have to be able to take a deep breath and at least relax for a little bit is it's not going to be an overnight success story. It's not going to be the following year you're 11 and 1. That is not taking place. Honestly, you're bottoming out now and you could even bottom out a little bit that first year

the guy takes over as he kind of cleans house, kicks off some guys, just kind of resets the program. So I would say best case scenario, even if Urban were to quit and come, would you be competing to go to the playoffs? 2024. Okay, let's dive in Middlecalfe Mailbag. At John Middlecop is the Instagram. Slide up into those direct messages.

I'll get your question answered here on the show. Start with my guy named Mike. Here's one for the mailbag. Do you think the Bears lost this week's solidified Nagy's fate, and he will let go after this year, I think he's shown with two different quarterbacks that he has trouble adjusting his playbook and strength to his players.

Yeah, I would say that wasn't a great start to the season, but it's only week through. Three, if he can adjust, they play the Lions this week, that's must win. They lose the Lions. Everyone can get fired. They might just play the rest of the season with no coaches. You cannot lose to the Lions.

But I agree. Adjust your playbook. show that you can work with fields. I saw that he said today that he doesn't even know who his quarterback is. Play fields. Try to play to his strengths. Try to make him look better and better as this season goes on. Now, they have a fatal flaw.

Ryan Pace built one of the worst offensive lines in the league history. They might not be able to block me or you. So you could argue you're just going to get the kid killed. I don't know. But yeah, he needs to show some, I don't know, just some dynamic ability to make plays with Justin Fields. At least try to extensuate, accentuate, I said, extensuate,

accentuate, and put his skills at the forefront of the offense. That to me would be the key to at least make ownership happy. But isn't their owner like a 98-year-old woman? So who knows? Hey, John, love the pod from Ethan. At what point do you think the Seahawks seriously consider moving on from Pete Carroll. I know that he's the best coach they've ever had,

brought them to two Super Bowls in 1-1, but since they haven't really sniffed the NSC championship, even though they still make the playoffs every year, he's also a defensive head coach and has failed to field a defense, a good defense for the better part of five years now besides a game here or there.

I might be overreacting in the past two weeks and how bad their losses have looked, but it seems like the team has lost motivation and energy halfway through. the season, the second quarter, and have fallen flat on their faces in the last two games. Well, I agree, but, you know, Pete's going to be 70 years old. So just from an age factor, like, how long is the guy going to coach? You know, he's been there, I think, over a decade. What else can he do? And I'm not trying to be critical of him, but like, maybe it's just over.

Maybe it's just time for a new voice. I think the question is, who would they hire? obviously the job would be extremely intriguing. I mean, you have Russell Wilson, DK looks awesome, Lockett, defense isn't great, but they do have a couple pieces there. Wagner's getting older, they got Jamal under a big contract, need to get a pass rusher.

But if you look at the last two weeks, I agree, they kind of stalled out. Their offensive coordinators never called plays before. Two weeks ago, Derek Henry just went nuts, took over that game. Yesterday, they just kind of got outplayed. Their offense, they drove right down, the field, scored a touchdown. I think D.K. scored their first touchdown. They got up 17 to 7,

and then Minnesota just came storming back. If you have good wide receivers, they cannot stop you. That's just, it's kind of been that way for several years. And when you look at their heyday, right, Richard was a fifth round pick, Chancellor was a third round pick. So three of the, or two of the three members of L-OB, you know, I know they had four members, but the other corner rotated. You know, I wouldn't say lucky, but anytime you nail a third rounder who becomes a star safety and a fifth rounder becomes a Hall of Fame corner, I'm not saying it's lucky, but it's not exactly like elite scouting. I mean, it is technically elite scouting,

but if they knew Richard Truman was going to be Richard Sherman, they would have taken him in the first round. Hey, John, we are out visiting from the East Coast, and my husband is a huge fan. Any chance you'll be at the Nider game? He would love to meet you. I'd love to meet him too. I didn't go.

best seat in the house a gay in my couch I'm new to gambling I just thought I'd cheer this with you I had $4 left in my Drafking sportsbook account so I did a 6 team parlay took the Cardinals, the bills the Ravens money line

the over for the Chiefs Chargers the Bengals plus two and a half and the Browns minus seven I can't handle gambling even a little bit of money like this don't know how you guys do it that's a pretty good hit congratulations it's a good feeling. There's nothing like hitting a parlay. Though they tell you, parley's not the greatest

bet just because you need so many things to hit. But they are fun when you hit. Keep up the great takes. You mentioned a second rounder for Justin Tucker. As a lion's fan, I'd say that's a fair trade. What a kick. What a kick. 66 yards. I know it was in a dome. And I bet some money. I had the Ravens to win by eight. That did not happen. Actually, eight and a half. I mean, they should have lost. But 66 yards, Justin Tucker, he's got to be the most talented kicker in the history of the league. I'd say Vinatieri is the most famous, mainly because he's been in those situations to hit those great kicks.

Tucker's teams, you know, haven't got to even the championship game the last several years, right? He's never played in a Super Bowl. How long has Justin Tucker been there? Did he get there after the 2012 Super Bowl? I feel like he did. But maybe I'm bringing him up right now. he got married in 2015.

I guess his rookie year he won the Super Bowl. Pretty incredible story. He was an undrafted free agent out of Texas. An undrafted free agent. And his first year, he's Super Bowl champ. Four-time first team all-pro, two-time second-team all-pro,

bend a four straight pro-ball, or I guess not four straight, but a bunch of pro-bowls, a bit of go to another Pro Bowl this year. Yeah, I mean, to me, he's a Hall of Famer. I'd put him in the Hall of Fame. 66 yards. 66 yards.

That's nuts. We see every year quarterback bus and usually one or two quarterbacks making it big. In your opinion, who's going to be the quarterback bus out of the first round draft class? I'm not rooting for anybody to be a bust. Now, granted, I don't root in anyone

in society to fail. I root at least, unless I absolutely hate you and you've done something to me or my family. But, you know, I haven't had that many run-ins with people in life. So, you know, for the most part, I'm rooting for everyone to succeed. I want all five quarterbacks to be good. Now, my own takes were, I didn't think Mac Jones is that talented.

So if he fails, I look smarter. Trevor Lawrence, I mean, I was on the Trevor Lawrence Panwagon. I really like Zach Wilson. I just didn't love the fit. The Jets, new coaching staff, team sucks, the market. I think that's going to be very, very challenging. And the bear situation, I love Justin Fields. But that situation right now, offensive line is awful.

His coach and GM are on the hot seat. The easiest situation is Trey Lance. He basically gets to sit a year. He comes in and plays like two plays. They're both running plays. He's going to get the Mahomes kind of treatment. So, I don't know. I would guess Lawrence is going to turn out to be okay.

And Trey Lance just given a situation. The other situation, I mean, Mac Jones in theory is in a good spot. But, you know, everyone's DM and me like, middle cough, you're being too hard on Mac. It's Josh McDaniels. Yeah, Josh McDaniels just forgot how to call plays. Maybe his quarterback just has some limitations. Maybe it's really that simple. His quarterback has some limitations. Now, like I said, Belichick's a little off. The team's a little off. The bears really stink and the Jets are even worse. So it's just, it's going to be tough, man. It's a tough, tough league. It's hard to play well in the NFL. It really is. I don't think

we'd give enough respect for the guys to consistently do it well. Anyone can have a good game. can have like a good quarter. Anyone could have a good half season. Can you have like back to back good seasons? It's very, very difficult. Okay, last one. Mailback question. I'm soon to be an Oklahoma State graduate in December. Congratulations. Welcome to the real world. Keep your head on a swivel. It's a mother out here. I'm wondering what are your thoughts about the program of late? From 10 to 18, they were consistently the second or third best team in the conference, winning 10 games six times and meeting Texas seven out of nine years. It's a pretty impressive stat. My question is why have they fallen off so hard since Mason, Rudolph, and James Washington senior year? Is it time for Gundy to go?

Well, I was looking at the slate of games this week for college football, the top 25. Oklahoma State's 4-0. They beat Boise this year on the road. They play Kansas State this week, if I remember correctly. I would give Mike Gundy a chance. I think Iowa State clearly is not as good as we thought. They just lost. Oklahoma does not look very good this year. Oklahoma State right now is... Where are they? They're playing Baylor this week.

They're 4-0. So Oklahoma State, they beat Missouri State. Okay, Patsy. Then they beat Tulsa, kind of a Patsy. But they went and won on the blue turf. That's an impressive win. Now they beat Kansas State, who Kansas State actually looked pretty good early in the season, pounded Stanford. Then they get Baylor, then they get Texas, then they get Iowa State.

Tough little stretch. If he can win two of these next three games, I think you've got a chance to go 10 and 2. 10 and 2 at Oklahoma State's a really, really good season. You're not Oklahoma, you know, 12 and 0 is not realistic. If you can go 10 and 2 and compete to win 11 games, go to a good bowl game, that is a freaking hell of a season. So I would say Gundy's doing a really good job this year through four games to win a ball. I mean, that's the point of the sport to win. And he's 4-0 and he's got the team

ranked in the top 20. So I appreciate everyone. Slide up into those DMs. Shoot me the DMs. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. And have a good week. You know, smile, be kind to people. Try to be productive. And I'll see you all on Friday. Peace. The volume. The story of the rose is a story of love. Whether it's a date night with your sweetheart, a Galentine's Day with friends, or showing yourself a little extra love. Use code 15 at FTT.com through February 14th and save 15% on florist-crafted bouquets, plants, and specialty gifts. See website for details. FTD. Give it meaning.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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, 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 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.