The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Dawgs Destroy, Purdy/Bennett Comp, Kyler HC Input, Wild Card Pressure, Watson Woof, Mailbag

Episode Date: January 10, 2023

John discusses Georgia annihilating TCU to win their second straight CFP title, and if Stetson Bennett will benefit from Brock Purdy’s success. Then, he looks at if the Cardinals are crazy for consulting Kyler Murray in their head coach search, if Jeff Saturday has any shot at keeping his Colts job, which two Wild Card teams have the most pressure this weekend, hits on some rapid fire topics, including the Deshaun Watson showing early signs of an all-time bust, and potential Broncos HC candidates. Finally, he answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Subscribe NOW and follow Middlekauff and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content. It's always FanDuel for the best wagering action! #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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If you are new, just download the Fandual Sportsbook app to get started now, Sign up with promo code, Colin, so they know we sent you. What is going on, everybody, John Middellcock, three and out podcast. That was a barn burner of a natty. Not really, but I have a couple thoughts on the head coach and the quarterback for the Bulldogs. We had some news. I recorded the large percentage of the podcast before the national championship. Kingsbury, Kime, out.

some thoughts on some of the openings. Obviously, nothing really changed today, I guess, besides Cliff getting fired. Then some thoughts on the playoff games. A couple pressure. I think there's two teams this weekend that have by far the most amount of pressure on them. From a head coaching standpoint,

they could get fired if they lose. Some other thoughts on the playoffs. Fire around, some NFL thoughts. And then, of course, the Middilkoff mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. At John Middlecough is the Instagram. subscribe to Three and Out Podcast. If you listen on Collins feed,

make sure you subscribe to Three and Out podcast. You like watching videos. It's all up on YouTube as well. Check out the volumes YouTube channel. And let's start rocking and rolling. Before we dive into the national championship, let me tell you about my friends at game time. Here's what I need you to do.

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That was a major mismatch. That was JV versus varsity. Let's be real, that was pretty embarrassing. But one thing that was not embarrassing was Stetson Bennett. And I love the draft. I've loved the draft since I was a kid. It's why I aspired to work in the NFL. I wanted to be a part of the draft.

It took me a couple years, became a college scout. It was really cool. I got to live it. I got to see value. I got to see stacking players. But most importantly, during draft meetings, anyone can draft or excuse me, evaluate the sweet guys. The Jamar Chases, the Micah Parsons, the Nick Bosa's. Those guys are not the majority of draft.

The draft. The majority of the draft is the third day. You know the day when we're all sitting on our couch, getting bored, taking a nap, falling asleep, when Mike Mayock once famously snapped about them talking about the zoo animals because they needed to pass the time, that is when most GMs, coaching staffs, and scouts really make their money. Because at that time, guys, you can get guys that can play in the league for a long time. But when I make a case for a guy like Stetson Bennett, and I think he should go in the first, fifth, sixth, seventh round, or whatever, I have to look at my GM, my head coach, my

offensive coordinator, and give a comp. This guy can play in the league. He reminds me of so-and-so. Because when a player is undersized and doesn't look like other players in the league, you have to be able to show, well, look at this guy having success. And I'm telling you right now, the success Brock Purdy is having. Now, I don't know if Brock Purdy is going to go on to be a 10-year starter. I don't know if Brock Purdy's not going to shit the bed in this playoffs, have a three-pick game. But we've seen Brock Purdy for six games and he's been damn good. It's pretty clear the guy could play in the league. If you could redo the draft and he benefits from having Shanahan and a loaded team, but his attributes, accuracy, movement, ability to understand the NFL playbook

and just operate a system are clear or evident. And if you redid the, draft, he would not last to where he went. Now, I'm not acting like he'd go in the first or second round, but he definitely is not going pick 262. And guys like him, when they have success, they make you reevaluate guys in the upcoming drafts that might fit his mold. Look at Stetson Bennett. Kind of small, not a great arm, yet super high character, multiple year starter on one of the best teams in recent memory, very productive, very accurate. You know, this term gets overuse something. times he's a winner but you watch them they win partly because of him and tonight they beat the living you know what out of tCU because he dominated and i'm telling you the scouting community

and i've been like this for a long time i lean bigger stronger just more arm strength level quarterbacks i like my guy to not look like censon bennett or brock purdy but as i'm around the game longer and longer, and I get a front row seat on guys like this, you do have to be more open-minded to what can play. Now, obviously, just because your 6'4 can run and have a big arm, that doesn't mean you're going to translate to the NFL. We've seen a lot of guys fit the quote-unquote measurables fail. And we've seen understies guys go on to have longer careers. Hell, Gardner Menshew several years ago was going to be out of football. He was going to go into coaching, until Mike Leach told him, instead of going to Alabama to basically be a quality control guy,

come here and start. And now look at him. He's going to go on to have a backup career in the NFL for who knows, six, seven, eight years. He's going to play in the league for a long time. And a lot more, I don't think, for the most part, shorter guys are ever going to be the majority. It's a massive guy league. As you saw Georgia tonight, they are rolling out defensive linemen, led by Jalen Carter, who's going to be a top five pick.

that all look like complete freaks. Kirby Smart has a type. 6'5, 270 pounds, have a ton of pass rush moves and can destroy the quarterback. And he has an unlimited amount of them. And they lost a bunch last year, and they were unfazed this year because they have just a, you know, they have an unlimited amount of guys. I don't know where they find them out on the West Coast. We do not have many guys that look like that.

Kirby knows where to find them. And they're all on his damn team. but I'm telling you that they're going to be scouts and probably a large percentage of them that go Stets and Bennett is not my cup of tea I like a bigger guy I like a guy with more arm strength

I like a higher ceiling quarterback but coaches offensive coordinators and a lot of head coaches now in the league are also the offensive coordinator and let's face it the decision maker for their organization they're going to like this guy and it's going to be very easy this season

based on Brock Purdy's success this guy Once upon a time was viewed as like, you know, an undrafted free agent, a camp invite, take him to rookie minicamp to, I'm not saying he's getting drafted like the first couple rounds, but I could see fourth, fifth round. And you go, well, he's 25 years old. Who cares? He can't play in the league for six, seven years?

Like, if you get drafted in the fourth, fifth round and you become a backup, that is a successful draft pick. To me, Stetson Bennett has proven more than enough to get drafted on the third day and compete to be a backup. You know, he clearly has things that translate to successful high-level football. Accuracy, intelligence, he's a pretty damn good athlete. Like a lot of people look at Brock Purdy and then you realize he had the same 10-yard split as the first 10 yards of the 40 as Christian McCaffrey. So if you are going to be smaller, you have to be accurate and you have to be athletic.

He has it. I'm very impressed. You know, a lot. I follow Aaron Murray on Twitter, who's, you know, one of the most successful Georgia quarterbacks in recent memory. He just tweeted out. He thinks he's the most successful Georgia player in the history of the program.

So, congrats to Stetson Bennett, total winner, 66, 65 to 7. Hell, Georgia brings in the backup. I mean, Kirby's smart. Let's talk about him for a second. In my lifetime, the best college coach is Nick Saban. To me, the second best coach is probably Urban Meyer. Then there's been a long list of my 38 years of life,

you know, the Nebraska program, the Florida State program, you know, Tom Osborne, Bobby Bowden, Spurrier. I'm trying to think anyone else. Bob Stoops, he'll only won one, but of guys that are just legends in the business. And then, you know, it felt like Nick Sabin went on this run. Dabo won a couple championships. Kirby Smart to date, to me, officially became like legendary status. And any time that you work for an all-time great, right, you work for Phil Jackson,

You work for Bill Belichick, you work for Nick Sabin, you know, you work for one of these guys who's the cream of the crop as a coach in his sport. A lot of times that guy goes on to not have as much success because you're always compared to that coach. And it's hard to live up to the billing, right? And usually, especially with Bill's guys, and even a lot of Sabin's guys, they never live up to the hype. yet Kirby Smart went to Georgia and became like a little more energetic, younger version of Nick Sabin. And you're watching Georgia operate and you go,

this is Alabama just in more of a pure red. And instead of being an elephant, they're a dog. I mean, it's just, it feels like the same exact program in a different state. He copied the blueprint and I think maybe he's just wired exactly like Nick. Here's the key. to me to run Alabama. You have to do two things at an elite level. Obviously, recruiting is

paramount, but Ohio State recruits at a super high level. They ain't rattling off national championships lately. So you got to recruit at a high level and four or five programs in this country recruit at a higher level than anyone else. And then you got to coach at a really high level. And the one thing I don't think Nick quite gets enough respect that, even though we all acknowledge he's one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports, is how great of a coach he is. And I have friends that have worked for the program every single day at practice. He's with the DBs, teaching fundamentals, teaching coverages. He knows the defense like the back of his hand.

And they say an underrated attribute of him is his knowledge and understanding of the offense. Could he break down every single route on every single play of every play call they have? Maybe not. But he knows for the most part the assignments and philosophically what he wants. So a lot of guys go there, highly recruited players, and then he develops them. It's why programs like TCU and Boise and Utah, they get a lot of credit

because they're not getting guys coming out of high school that are top 40, 50, 20, 30 players in the country. They're getting guys who are three stars and then they're developing them into top 50 draft picks. That's impressive. But when I get a guy who's the 20th player in the country and then he ends up getting drafted fourth overall and when he comes out, he's a plug-in-play player

for my NFL. team and then goes on to be an all pro, that's impressive. And that's what Nick did for a long, long time. And he continues to do, i.e. Will Anderson and Bryce Young, Kirby's doing that exact same thing. And when you watch him from a schematic standpoint, and one thing I think Kirby's improved a lot at, because remember, there's that famous picture of like him and Must Champ and Sabin going nuts. I actually think Kirby's calmed down a lot as he's aged. And it's helped. He's had a lot of success and I think his team is very under control. Obviously tonight was a joke. I mean, as I'm recording this, it's 65 to 7. But the Ohio State game is a good example. Because when you're

up and down as a college coach and you see this much more in college than you do in the pros in college football, you ever watch a college basketball game? Coaches are going fucking bananas on the sideline. I was watching the Kentucky Alabama basketball game and Cal's up and his assistant screaming at the other guy. If I was, I'm not a great basketball player, played a little pickup in my day. Can you imagine being on the court and getting screamed at every single possession

when you come down to your side of the court where your coaching staff is? Every single position, guys are just screaming at you to go here, go there. It's hard to think. Like, you gotta eventually just kind of let the guys play. Phil Jackson was a master at that. You ever watched Phil Jackson?

Oh, he just sat down, never said shit. Now, I know he had Michael and Kobe and whatever, but part of it is you got to practice at a high level. And I think Kirby, when you watch them in that Ohio State game, he never got too crazy. Because I think four or five years ago, Kirby might have exploded, but that translated into winning,

which clearly was the national championship, to tonight, which was a breeze for them, where they just out-talented them. The scheme wasn't as important tonight because they were so much better. But Kirby's a legend. He's a multiple-time national champion. And here's the other reality.

Sabin is not 60 years old. He's 70-71 years old. even if he coaches a couple more years, like he's coming down the home stretch. Even if he's not on hole 18, let's say he's on hole 16. He's like, he can see the clubhouse. Kirby's smart, if he wants to,

could coach 25 more years. And I think he is much more likely. Unlike Dabo, who lost a bunch of assistants, like Kirby just lost his defensive coordinator last year. Dan Lannning, didn't skip a beat. Boom, another national championship. So part of also Nick's success is a lot of coordinators kept leaving.

What I always knock Belichick for, Belichick will never hire outside of the family. Sabin does it all the time. And now Kirby is doing that. And when you can pay premiums, which Georgia and Alabama can, when you get the best players, you can get the best assistance. And clearly Kirby is really just the next Nick Sabin in waiting. And he might have the next Brock Birdie as his quarterback. That was a complete annihilation by the dogs.

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

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Hope, N-N-Y, 4-467-6-6-9, New York, Tennessee Redline, 1-800-88-97-89, Tennessee, 1-800-5-22-4700. Wyoming, visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. Okay, well, before we dive into some stuff, obviously coming up this weekend with the game, some other NFL rapid fire stuff, I wanted to dive into, I think the big news today. It's the Arizona Cardinals who fired everybody. Well, Cliff officially got fired. Shocker, who saw that one coming? and Steve Kime, resign, quit.

That one's kind of hard to put your finger on exactly. Weird situation there. They don't have a GM and they don't have a coach. And I think what separates that situation from every other situation currently, now this is a fluid thing. I'm recording this like an hour before the national championship game. If you're listening this on Tuesday, maybe more guys have lost their jobs, who knows.

But all these other job openings, Denver, Carolina, Indy, they have general managers. Now, how much juice those GMs will have? We'll see. If they hire a Jim Harbaugh, if they hire Sean Payton in any of those spots, obviously Sean Peyton's going to want to bring his general manager or the guy that he believes in,

which all rumors point to be Ryan Pace, which I think is insane, but listen, who's to tell Sean Payton, who he's comfortable with and clearly he likes Ryan Pace. And I just think that we believe on the outside, not me, but just a lot of people when you hear general manager, that all general manager jobs are the same. And they're just simply not. Some GMs have a lot more juice than other GMs. Some GMs start out with less juice. And then over time, John Snyder, Brett Veach developed into having a

lot of pull inside their organization. Then some guys, like a Howie Roseman, are in full control. Right. So every individual franchise, when I say full control, like he's got a lot of power, unlike a lot of GMs. And then guys like Bill Belichick who tell everyone what to do. So just because you have a title does not mean you actually have the decision-making power.

I learned from a buddy a long time ago when I lived in San Francisco. This is an Ivy League guy. Love him, Bobby. And he's high up, mover and shaker in the finance world and play baseball in the Ivy League. But he's an Ivy League intellect.

This guy's a wheeler and a dealer. I remember he changed jobs. I lived with him when I was scouting the West Coast. I kind of used that his apartment, which he just purchased at the time, which he ended up selling for double. And he's like, I'm moving jobs from one financial company to another. And he really fought for a title. Like he wanted a different, like to be a vice president.

And he's like, looking back, he ended up leaving that company for someone else. He's like, you know what I should have fought for? Pay. They could have called me a freaking intern. I was so big on my title. Yet the money and the decision-making power and how much juice you have is all that matters. You can call me whatever you want. But if I have the juice to run my show, however I want to run the show, and I have

ownership of it, and I get control the revenue, that's what matters. You can call me the assistant, assistant, podcaster, intern. It doesn't matter. Titles are very overrated. It's about what you actually have the ability to do on the inside. And a lot of these GM jobs, like, is Chris Bauer going to have a lot of juice? Because it sure feels like Jim Ursay is doing whatever the hell he wants. George Payton, they hired him a couple years ago from Minnesota.

Well, they got a brand new ownership and they got Walmart money. And are they really going to listen to him? We'll find out. Right. Carolina, Fitterer, he was hired when Matt Rule was there. Matt Rule's long gone. So does Dave Tepper really believe in this guy? I don't know.

But those guys still exist. So this notion that these open jobs, there's only one open general manager job currently. And that is the Arizona Cardinals. And listen, I moved here. Right? I love this area. I think North Scottsdale is one of my favorite areas I've ever been to. It's gorgeous, beautiful.

Money's flowing here. People are good looking. It feels new. Industries booming. To me, I'm betting big on this general area for the next several decades. It's hot, but I don't mind the heat,

right? We can pick any area. But the Cardinals have one thing going against them. Because in theory, you go, well, they don't have a GM, they don't have a coach. The owner says that he wants to hire a GM first.

The area is great, great schools, cool area to live. Obviously, wives are going to like it. Sweet houses, pretty affordable price point relative to some cities. But they have one negative anchor to the franchise. And that's the quarterback. And every single person I know in the NFL, I don't claim to know that many people, but I know people in several organizations.

They all talk to each other. Because when you scout or coach, if you do it long enough, I don't want to say long enough, 10 plus years, you're going to end up working and working around a lot of people. Coaches all talk to other coaches before games. Scouts are all at schools with other scouts. So over time, you just get to know guys and you develop a relationship. Who are most of your professional relationships with as you age? People in your industry.

People that you can vent to, people that you can bounce ideas off, people that you can complain to, people that you get. information from. Every single person that I know that tells me, you know what I'm hearing in Arizona, they can't stand, Kyler. And it's obviously well documented. He was not well liked in the building. But here's the problem. You can't get rid of the guy. He is under contract for the foreseeable future. And he's coming off an injury. So in his mind, and as we've learned and we always learn, you don't fire players, why coaches are always the first to go. You couldn't fire Russell Wilson. You couldn't fire Kyler Murray. And I'm not acting like Nate Hackett or Cliff Kingsbury deserve to keep their job, but that's the logical decision is to get rid of them. Because if they could get rid of

of Kyler Murray, if they could get rid of Russell Wilson, obviously they would entertain those thoughts. It's a no-brainer decision. You get rid of both, but you can't because of guaranteed money. And so when you look at the Cardinals, their job's pretty intriguing, right? Because it's the only general manager job open. And unlike coaches, which right now, there are currently five head coaching jobs open, that could change, could end up being seven or eight. We'll see. Time will tell. But coaching jobs come open every single year. At minimum five, sometimes seven to nine. General manager jobs, there are years where no GM jobs open. So it's easy to go, I wouldn't want to mess with Kyler Murray. If anything, you should sell yourself on, well, there's a lot to work with,

And it's one of 32. It is a hard job to get your hands on. And here's the other thing. Steve Kime had that job for a long time. The owner is shown while the franchise, I heard this while I was watching some of the press conference, has never had a head coach in the history of the franchise. Now, they've lived, the franchise has been located in several different places. It's over a hundred years old.

They've never had a coach for longer than six years. It's an underachieving franchise. but there is a lot to work with beside Kyler Murray. And it's going to be fascinating. Now, ultimately, the organization has a history of being pretty cheap. And the cheap decision here, because they're paying Kingsbury, and let's face it, probably time to go away in potentially all of Kingsbury staff, it's not cheap, even though money's all relative and now paying $30, $40 million for a coaching staff and executives to leave,

while sounds like a lot of money to the overwhelming majority of human beings on this earth, when you get $300 plus million just from the media rights alone, not counting your ticket revenue, not counting the other revenue you get from the stadium, like it's an accounting error. Now, would you rather still have $40 or $50 or $30 million? Of course. But this is not a business that, well, they made $50 million in revenue and they got to spend 40 of it to pay someone to go away. That's not the way it works. Maybe they got to spend five or six

or eight percent of their annual revenue to get someone to leave, but so be it. You know, welcome to the NFL. And I think all these owners are realizing we can't afford it. Now, can we afford to then go after Sean Payton and say, hey, we'll give you a hundred million dollars? Probably not. It's why all signs are pointing to the organization doing something dumb, potentially doing co-general managers, which to me makes no sense, in elevating Vance Joseph. That's where I'd put my money on. Because ultimately, this owner has a long history of being somewhat cheap, and that is the cheap move. And if I wanted to defend him on that move, they have a problem with Kyler Murray for the next several years. You might as well just ride that out and then try to pivot. Because I do believe that you would have

several personnel people very, very interested in this job. I do wonder from a coaching perspective, whether you could get an established coach or whether you'd have to take a swing on a first-time head coach. And they've done that before with Steve Wilkes and it failed. Now, they've also done it with Bruce Ariens and it succeeded. But Bruce Ariens had a lot of success. Why? They got Carson Palmer. They got Carson Palmer and they crushed it. Steve Wilkes, got Josh Rosen, failed. Kingsbury, got Kyler Murray failed. So, I think it's going to be fascinating to watch this play out. And I think when you look at the other organizations like Denver, they're sniffing around all the big dogs.

I would be shocked if they don't offer jobs to guys like Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton. Obviously, Jim Harbaugh, does he have the juice at this current time to bring in his personnel man? Because if he does, and they want to hire him, then their general manager will get fired. Does Jeff Saturday keep the job? As crazy as that sounds, and I say every single single. human, two, that watched the Colts over this last month and a half and just watch them lose game after game after game would go, how in the hell would he keep the job? I'll tell you how.

The owner's nuts and he wants to hire him. And what's anyone going to do? I think I talked about this a couple weeks ago. Like, if you're a Colts fan, are you just going to not renew your Colts season tickets? And ultimately, where they need you the most is to watch the games. So if you're a Colts fan, are you not going to watch the game? I get news for you. You won't.

You'll still watch. So that is where I'd be a betting man is that Jeff Saturday keeps that job. And then Carolina, like, is Dave Tepper really leaning on this general manager? I know that Federer said that they will not have a long list of candidates. And, you know, signs coming into yesterday were pointing towards Steve Wilkes keeping the job. I'm always hesitant to keep interim coaches. I think there's a natural kind of jolt and just want to prove it, not just the interim coach, but the players.

It's just a tumultuous time when someone gets fired in the middle of the season. Unlike Indy, usually just see some improvement, guys fighting hard. My guess, and if I had to place a bet would be that Steve Wilkes does not keep that job. But to me, it's going to be fascinating what happens with all those general managers.

And we will just kind of stay fluid with the situation. I'm not going to break down all the different individuals who were thrown. interview requests as they interview and as the shafters and the rap sheets say that this is the final three, then to me that becomes pretty interesting. Because like the Tennessee Titans, for example, they have, I guess technically they have a general manager job open. But is it a general manager job? Because in my opinion, you're just a personnel guy. Brable's the boss. Every single player that will come through there moving forward will be Brable's choice. Your job, which is an important job, will be to run the scout,

department, college and pro, and do everything that Mike Vrable needs. Now, part of being a GM is servicing your coaching staff that way from a pro standpoint and from a college standpoint, running the two personnel size. But there's a difference in working together and working for someone. And I don't see how anyone views the Titans job as a as a normal general manager spot. The Arizona Cardinals, if you get hired before the coach, that's a true GM spot. The Like, especially if you don't know Vrable, that's more like, you know, a vice president of personnel. Let's type into a couple of playoff games because I remember when I worked in radio, we had the Oakland A's. And they were really good at the time. They had Yohanna Cespitus. They had Josh Donaldson. They traded for Lester.

This is some really good teams when I was around him. And Billy Bean was the head honcho and he had some other, you know, Harvard analytical elites around them. They ran a high level operation. Their owner was a clown, didn't spend any money. Don't totally blame them because they didn't make any money. That's a whole other conversation. But they believe to their core, numbers, numbers, numbers. And for the most part, in the regular season, it really worked. And Billy Bean has a famous line that I don't know if he said it in the movie,

but he said it in Michael Lewis's book. And he's said this over the years that my shit doesn't work in the playoffs. Like his analytical way and philosophy of building a team is based on the regular season. And in baseball, it's about the long haul, right? Trying to get to 90, 95 wins is a lot different than trying to win two out of five games. Or I guess it would be three out of five games or four out of seven, right? And for the most part, Billy Bean's teams have not had a lot of success in the playoffs despite making it all the time.

And one thing I remember being around the team, you just kind of get. get to meet guys and hear stories and you get friends with the coaching staff who doesn't always see eye to eye with the front office and the numbers is the number of people in baseball. I don't, this isn't true in football, but in baseball, they always believe that there is no difference between pressure in the playoffs and just a regular season game. An ad bat is an ad bat. A situation is a situation. And I always thought, that's fucking insane.

The pressure in the seventh inning of a tie game in. Game 5 or game 7 of a playoff series is dramatically different than some random game in June that nobody's watching. I said, Darry, I always believe like, you got to change your strategy a little bit in the playoffs. Shoot three after three after three. Like, hey guys, you shot 27 straight threes and you missed them all and that's why you lost the Warriors. How about, you know, shoot a jumper, get to the basket, shoot a different shot. Like, this is what we do. I hate that mindset. I hate the stubborn mindset. and I hate the belief that pressure does not exist. We all know it does.

Any single person listening to this, like every day at the office is not the same. Even if you have high standards and they're ambitious professional, like when you have a meeting or a, you know, with a client who's going to be the biggest client your company or your business has ever done business with, that's a little different than just your typical day sending out some invoices. Not everything is the same on a daily basis. and I think there are two teams this upcoming weekend that the pressure on the two coaches is astronomical. Honestly, I don't think it could be any bigger because I think one thing they both share in common is they have the same seed.

They're both the fifth seed. So when you're a wild card, you play a road game. But both these two teams are favored and they're favor for a reason. The chargers are better than the Jacks. I know the Jacks beat them, but when healthy, the Chargers are better. And obviously the Cowboys are better than Tampa. You know why? Tampa is terrible.

We'll see. I don't think Jacksonville's that good, but I think Jacksonville is better than Tampa Bay. Now, the difference is you got Tom Brady, and it's hard to bet against Tom Brady. But if you watch Tom Brady play this year, it has not been pretty. It has not been pretty at all.

He threw 25 touchdowns and nine picks. Honestly, I had to look that up because I was like, if I had to guess what TB12's TD to interception ratio was, I would have guessed, I guess he threw some touchdowns the last. couple weeks to inflate it a little bit. I probably would have guessed 22 and 14. And the eye test was horrendous. But let's start with Mike McCarthy. They've won, what, 24 games the last two years. They've had really good regular seasons. I know it's gotten a little weird here of late, but overall,

like you take the Eagles to the last game, have a chance to win the division. I know you lost, so it ultimately didn't matter. But you know what I mean? They have had back to back really good regular seasons. You got to win a playoff game. And, last year they didn't not only lose a playoff game, they kind of got worked. And it's not like they got worked by Joe Montana or Steve Young, Jimmy Garoppola. I like Jimmy Garoppel. Respect him. He's like the 17th best quarterback in the league.

And the Niners shoved him around. And if it wasn't for just a hideous Jimmy Garoppelow interception, that game was a blowout. And if Mike McCarthy doesn't win this weekend, how does Jerry Jones not fire him and go hire Sean Payton? How does he not do that? How could he keep Mike McCarthy? if, like, we're not judging the Cowboys and Mike McCarthy on regular season games. No, I say this all the time about baseball.

No one cares about some random game in August. Baseball diehards do. People that cover the game do. But ultimately, it just doesn't matter. It just does not matter. One individual game throughout a baseball season does not matter. That's not the case in football. Of 17 games, you know, you got to get to double digits because you got to make the playoffs.

But a large percentage of the games really matter. clearly some games matter more than others, divisional opponents, games late in the season if you're on the playoff bubble. But when it comes to Mike McCarthy, part of the reason they hired him and they gave him seven years, or I'm excuse me, five years, seven, you got like a $35, $40 million contract. Super Bowl winner had a lot of success. Well, he's had success with the Cowboys. And honestly, I tipped my hat to him this year.

It was an impressive year. That got hurt. I thought their team wasn't as talented. And boom, you look up, they win 12 games. but now you're playing Tampa Bay, who is not very good. And Tom Brady, who is, I would say, a shell of himself. Tampa Bay, they're, to me, the craziest ad about Tampa Bay, in a division, which is obviously really bad.

A coach was fired at the end of September. The one team had to come out today and get their coaches back, the Saints, and the Atlanta Falcons just aren't any good and really don't have much of a future. Tampa Bay of the four teams in their division had the worst point differential minus 45 obviously they're under 500

but minus 45 I mean they are really bad they're just not very good Mike McCarthy has to win this game or to me he's getting fired and the other guy that has to win because I think it's easy to nitpick playing guys the last game of the season though I think there are two examples on his

team that it's like, listen, I understand playing Justin Herbert, keep it rolling. Mike Williams has been injured several times. And clearly, when he's healthy, your team is dramatically different. So to have him out there in that game, which obviously early on, you know the result of Baltimore does not mean anything is inexcusable. Like to me, when we think we have to win, he's playing whatever. The moment I find out we don't have to win, not only is he coming off the field, I'm taking his helmet away.

I might even tell Mike, take off your pads. Like when Trent Williams got pulled out of the game, when they were beating the crap out of the Cardinals, they had a pick in the fourth quarter and a guy ran up to the end zone to celebrate with his teammates. Trent Williams was there. Pads were off. He was just on the sideline.

So to me, you should have yanked out Mike Williams in that game and Joey Bose. Like, what are we doing? But regardless, we're here. You got to win this game. You're favored on the road against the Jacksonville Jags and a quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, which we're high on, but let's face it, against the Titans at home in a big spot, didn't look that great. You have Justin Herbert, you have a ton of good players. I think you have a lot of pressure,

because like the Cowboys, Sean Payton would immediately take those two jobs. He's been pretty open, and he just was open on Fox Morning Show. He's coming back if he finds the right job. Well, those two jobs are really good. Cowboys job, Dallas-freaking Cowboys, and their team's pretty good. To me, the Charger's job is better in Dallas, just strictly because they have Justin Herbert. And any time that you can coach Justin Herbert, a guy that you can win a Super Bowl with, I think Sean Payton is going to be very, very interested in that job. I talked about this on Sunday's pod. I do believe that the playoffs, we didn't get, we got the two worst possibilities for the seventh seed.

And it's why that when you look at the two seven games, the 49ers are a 10.5 point favorite. I think by the time there's kickoff, I think the bills could be favored by like 11.5. 12. That should not happen. Now, part of the reason we're there is because the Packers didn't take care of business. Now, the Packers weren't that good anyway, but they're better in Seattle. And I would have much rather seen the Lions against the 49ers, but we're here. The 49ers are playing Seattle, the Saturday afternoon game, which is historically the game that's kind of a throwaway game. Last year, it was Bengals Raiders. It's usually not a brand of the 49ers level. But because they're playing Seattle, which I don't think there is a soul that's going to pick Seattle.

I think universally, every single person is going to pick the 49ers and the bills to win those two games. And there's a reason. I mean, it's an enormous point spread for a playoff game. I actually don't think this weekend is that great. I think Saturday's pretty intriguing just because Jacksonville showed out that playoff atmosphere for them on Saturday night, Week 18, was pretty damn good. they have some fun players.

They have a lot of speed on their team. I like watching a young quarterback trying to come into his own, getting some kind of a first rep at a big moment. And then the pressure that is on the Chargers to win that game. Because to me, if Brandon Staley loses that game, I don't see how he keeps his job. When it's clear that Sean Payton will take it. And then you get to Saturday.

You know, it's hard for me with the Ravens Bank. Ingalls game. Our boss said again today. He like can't answer this Lamar question. We talked about it last week. That is a bizarre situation. But honestly, was easy to see coming. Any human being who's ever in a professional spot, every single person listening to this that has been at a job or has been ran a, ran a business and had an employee that had a money issue, it gets awkward. Whether you're talking about a raise from 80,000 to 100, whether you're talking about a contract of hundreds of millions of dollars. The moment I think I'm underpaid or I'm getting screwed or we're not on the same page, eventually it's not going to be workable. It's so easy to be like, just be professional.

Just compartmentalize. Don't think about it, which I think we have to do with a lot of things in our life, right? I think it's very, very difficult to do with money. I really do. And I think the overwhelming majority of human beings struggle with it. I do. You more likely do. Lamar clearly is. And it's in a tough situation. And when the rubber meets the road,

as it has with the Ravens, when he got this knee injury, I don't blame him from being like, yeah, I don't know if I'm coming back. And the Ravens clearly have no clue. And people talk about, maybe he won't be on the team.

Maybe he won't. Maybe this is one of those situations where it's like, maybe it's time to go our separate ways. And obviously there would be teams Washington, the Jets, Miami. I would imagine there'd be a lot of teams that would be very, very interested. Lamar Jackson, if you became available, it would be complicated because you have to trade picks.

But in theory, that game should be good. But if you tell me Lamar's not playing, I just don't think it is. Obviously, the morning game, Bill's Miami's not very good. I mean, there's one good game to me over the weekend. I guess two good games. Like I said, the Saturday night game and Giants Vikings. If Brian Dayball not only makes the playoffs but wins a playoff game, just a remarkable frequencies.

Now, I think everyone's going to pick the Giants. Literally, everyone's going to hammer the Giants. I'm probably going to end up taking the Vikings. From a gambling perspective, I might just take the Vikings minus three. I don't love cousins playoff atmosphere. Is it home, though? And I just think so many people. And that's basically my logic.

When every single human hangs the left, when it comes to gambling, sometimes you've got to hang it right. And then I think Monday night, just from a brand standpoint, the biggest brand in the league, the Cowboys. Now, it's weird. Like, they're the biggest brand, but they don't have the playoff success, a ton of pressure on McCarthy, ton of pressure on DAC, playing Brady in a weird spot. He's kind of got nothing to lose, but just the overarching theme with his, like, is this it? Is he coming back next year?

And if he does come back, like, where's he going? Would he play for the Jets? He's going to come to the Raiders? What's he going to do? so the moment he loses, kind of like with Rogers, he lost, and Tariko's like, sure feels like he's going to retire. Does he's got like $100 million coming to him the next couple of years. He's going to leave. And they start saying these weird comments after. And listen, I don't try to judge people. I'm not that religious or spiritual.

I would say I'm more spiritual than religious. But then I watch a guy like Aaron Rogers talking. I'm like, well, I'm actually probably not that spiritual. I don't think I'm slamming ayahuasca and like singing to the heavens. But it's just, it's a bizarre situation. I've come around, I think, on coward side of just, what is the point of all this? Like, we, so many people toward the end of his run with Green Bay used to be like, Brett Farr is a drama queen. For this guy who claims to be like this rural kind of hick from Mississippi, tough guy, blue collar. It's like he kind of became this elitist, always had to be in the headlines, needed Peter King, Edwarder, and Chris Morton to talk it about. And I don't necessarily think Rogers looks at it like that, but the end result is the same.

He's always talking about his future and whether he's going to come back or not. Like, most people don't talk like that. Tom Brady hasn't really started talking like that until he was 45 years old. He was adamant every single year. I'm going to keep playing. I'm going to keep playing. Peyton Manning and Drew Breeze are good examples. The only reason both guys stopped playing is they couldn't play anymore.

They couldn't play anymore. If Drew Breeze and Peyton Manning can still play at Aaron Rogers level, they never would have uttered the word retirement. So I understand from a Packers fan standpoint, like it's a little exhausting. You got to be better than your problems. And for a long period of time, just like Far, you're so freaking good, I'll deal with whatever. Like it's starting to get to that line where it's like, you know, let's not act like you're Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes right now, buddy. You were the previous couple years back-to-back MVP's deal with the drama. But this year, you start talking, you know, you're dating, you know, blue sky and you're popping pills and smoking trees.

And I'm pro smoking trees, but you're doing some weird trees talking about your future that might not include football. If you're going to do that, you better throw 45 touchdowns. And you better not lose the Lions week AT. Or it's like, yeah, if Gutakins and these guys want to move on from me, I'm behind it. And I wonder if the fan base, because part of what's hard about making a move to get rid of like a history, player like a Fav or like a Rogers is for the most part the fans are going to turn on you because it's not the right move. Though when Ted Thompson did it, everyone thought he was crazy, it turned out to be a genius. Now, I think it's fair to say that Jordan Love is not the next

Farver Rogers, but it might just be a simple thing. Yeah, we don't really want to deal with this guy. Like we're not, you're just going to show back up July 28th. You're just going to disappear for seven months, which is your prerogative, but we're paying you $50 million. I'm all for not showing up to OTAs. I say this all the time about the work from home movement. I've worked from home since 2016, but I also have not had a salary since 2018. I have to produce.

I have to earn revenue, or there is no money coming my way. Everything, every dollar that comes my way is revenue. Without it doesn't exist. If you paid me 400 grand, I just work from home, my work ethic would probably not be the same. And I see all these people in the tech world complaining,

like, Yeah, I'm paying you $300,000. I don't know what the hell you're doing. If you're at home and you're not making a salary, and it's all based on incentives and sales, like, yeah, I can see whether you're working or not. But that ain't the case. And trust me, I'm invested in some of these companies.

I'm all for like, let's figure our shit out. No different in the quarterback. I'm cool with you sitting out OTAs, but you better dominate. You know, you have to show some appreciation on our side. Like, what are we paying all this for? What are we paying all this for? Everyone freaked out about like, you know, does this guy really need to be at OTAs? And yeah, when he has Devante Adams and some veteran guys, of course not.

But that wasn't the case this year. And the drama with him is just never ending. Like Lamar's drama, I get it. Now, I blamed him. I guess blame would be the wrong word. I sided with the Ravens like, bro, they offered you a ton of money and you turned it down. But listen, we all have to make decisions and live with it. But the moment you make that decision, the moment becomes neck cutting time.

And my knee doesn't feel right. like, I ain't fucking laying it on the line for you. And that creates animosity on both sides, and that's clearly where they're at. So a lot of quarterback drama all over the league. Obviously, we're going to have a lot of moving parts with Jimmy Garoppos and Derek cars. But, you know, it's a fun part about the NFL. A little rapid fire.

Speaking about quarterbacks, when you trade as much as the Cleveland Bounds traded for DeShon Watson because of, the area in just his saga you know and the massage therapist and all the drama there you know

I said that I wasn't holding him to a high standard as a player this year and I agreed with that like that statement I meant it when I said it but by the end of the season like you would like to see

a little bit of an improvement and every time I watched him he looked pretty average and here's the thing in the AFC You don't just have good quarterbacks. Like, you have guys that are going to the Hall of Fame. Like Patrick Mahomes, right now at whatever, 28 years old, first ballot Hall of Fame.

Josh Allen sure as hell is headed that way. Joe Burrow feels like he's already a legend. Justin Herbert, as Dion would say, he's coming. Trevor Lawrence, like, listen, it needs to improve, but let's be real. There's a lot to work with there. So the amount of talents, and here's the thing, the Steelers, can he pick it? I don't think he's some elite talent, but we know their franchise is well run

and they're going to be very, very competitive. And the Ravens, whatever happens with Lamar, like for the most part, they're a pretty high level operation. So the Cleveland Browns have a long history of not being well run. Now are all their chips from the middle of the table on Deshawn Watson,

historic amount of money. They don't have picks forever. They're going to need this guy to be good. And the pressure on that guy this offseason to like, well, we just went through last year, growing process, growing pain, whatever. You hadn't played in a while. That is not even like the gap we need you to jump from from that back to Pro Bowl level

player is a must because he didn't look remotely comfortable. He didn't look remotely close to what he once was. Here's what I will say though. He is a he's an instinctive quarterback. He's a, I would say he's more of a playmaker than some Peyton Manning level. Patrick Mahomes slice and dice. you. He was a great playmaker with the Texans. He does not have a great arm. Well, what does that division entail? Awful weather. Who are most of the productive quarterbacks historically in that

division? Big arm guys. Big Ben. Flacco had some moments. Burrow, I wouldn't say is a great arm, but he's a great player. Watson better figure a shit out, or else the Browns are in major, major trouble. I know they fired their defensive coordinator today. Someone had to go down, but I don't know, man. I would be a little nervous if I'm a Browns fan. Denver,

they're clearly going to talk to a lot of people. And they're putting basically requests in for everybody from Harbaugh to Sean Payton to DeMico Ryan's and assistant coaches. It's hard to like, this is who they're going to hire. It's hard to know because

they have this new owner that has no history. and I would say one thing that's pretty clear, I don't think they're going to spare an expense. If you saw the story this weekend, I didn't click on the headline, so I just saw the headline. I don't know if the grass got messed up, they had a concert. I don't know exactly why, but they replaced the grass for one game and it cost 400 grand. Because like I said with firing these coaches, when you have hundreds of billions of dollars, which this family has, they're going to be unfazed by every expense. Because $40 million to them is not the same as it is to Mark Davis or Mike Brown.

Hell, $40 million to them is much different to Jerry Jones or Robert Kraft. The amount of cash that family has is basically unlimited. Like, unlimited in a room full of super rich guys. They might be the richest. So it's going to be fascinating to see how they handle it, because they could throw, ultimately, if you wanted to get Sean Payton, what if I threw $200 million in? Now, you could argue Sean Payton's already rich, he doesn't need it,

but there gets to a point where I don't care who you are. Someone throws an amount of money your way, you sure think about it. You think long and hard about it, and you might just say yes. And I think on the flip side, I think Carolina is interviewing Jim Caldwell and Frank Reich. I would imagine that David Teper, after just going through what he did, with Matt Ruhle, a guy from college, no experience.

Maybe he just wants a guy who's been a head coach in the NFL game. Hell, Steve Wilkes, who did an admirable job, had been a head coach in the NFL. One and done, but had just been there before, had steered the ship, had been the guy in the driver's seat. So my gut would say, just based on that, you never know, would be the temper this time. Because usually, like, think about the Arizona Cardinals.

They went from Bruce Ariens, and a couple years later, they got Cliff Kingsbury. Usually go the opposite of what you had. The 49ers had Jim Harbaugh, hard-ass, and they went to Jim Tom Saw. Usually kind of ebb and flow based on the style of coach that you had, or their background. And I saw Tua. He hasn't been cleared yet. I think most people believe if he's cleared, he shouldn't play. He's going to want to play.

It's just that simple. Now, I think if you're the league, Under no circumstances, can you allow the Miami Dolphins who you've already nailed for multiple infractions over the years? Even if this guy is cleared to play, allow him to play on Saturday or Sunday. Because if in that game, he gets slammed to the ground and is lying there motionless and has his fourth concussion in whatever, three months. And I'm not a huge believer like, that's a terrible look. you know, depending on who you ask, everything's a terrible look.

I think we all agree that that would be rough. And I just wonder if the league makes some calls like, hey, guys, this fucking ain't happening on our watch. And so I would be stunned if he plays. And I think the point spread reflects that. Because, listen, I'm not the biggest to a guy, but if you put them in the game, they're clearly much better off than the scrubs they're rolling out.

And last but not least, Matt Stafford has been rumored to potentially be retouched, hiring. I came out and said I'm not, I'm playing on being back. I ain't leaving, as Leo once said. Now, here's the thing. If Matt Stafford comes back, if Aaron Donald's healthy, if Cooper Cup's healthy, they do have some high-end players. Now, Matt Stafford was not good this year. Maybe he needs to get his elbow, surgery on his elbow, because that was a problem leading up to the season. But I wouldn't just act like the Rams are immediately going to become the Houston Texans. They do have some talent on their team. They have some guys who have been to

Pro Bowls. They have some guys that sure look like they were headed to the Hall of Fame. Not Stafford, but Donald and probably Cup. We'll see. I guess Cup's still got a little wise to go, but he's had some pretty unreal seasons. That's going to be fascinating to watch that shape out and see what Sean McVeigh ends up doing.

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 game. 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 which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

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your question answered here on the show. Very easy to do. Let's start with Paul. Love the pod. Listening since last season. I'm typing this after the Lions, defeated the Packers at Lambo. Disappointed, we missed the playoffs, but I'm hopeful. What do you think Dan Campbell, what do you think of Dan Campbell as a coach? Oh, there's a Lions fan. Will he be in Detroit for the long run? What does this season mean for the Lions going forward? First and foremost, their team is talented. They have good players. Offensive line, legit. St. Brown, very good receiver. Jameson Williams. Kid can fly. Running backs, really good. Aidan Hutchinson, I'd buy stock. They have a top 10 pick. They also have their pick, which, because they missed the playoffs,

I haven't seen the draft order in the teens, but I would guess it's 17, 18, somewhere in there. So they got two picks in the top 20. They're going to be, I mean, they're going to keep loading up. Jared Goff makes $25 million. If he's going to throw for 29 touchdowns and seven picks, like that's going to be one of the better deals in the league. So I would be very, very bullish on your squad. Now the coach, like Dan Campbell's good.

Clearly he's a good motivator. I would put him in the long way to go, but he's kind of got like Tomlin vibes. People just like the guy. People just like the guy. he resonates with the players. Now, from a scheme perspective, he's very dependent on his coordinators.

And Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator, who did a really good job the second half of the season. And his offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, you know, these guys are going to interview for head coaching jobs. Assuming he keeps both those two guys, I'll tell you this. I'm picking the Lions to win that division in 2023. I'm going to pick the Lions to win that division.

Assuming I like their draft thing. So yeah, I would be pretty excited. Now, if you lose the offensive coordinator, you'd have to tell me who it's going to be. I heard Raider fan. What are your thoughts on Carr as a person from your days with him at Fresno? He was never set up to success for success with the Raiders, and I'll be rooting for him hard at his next stop.

Also, McDaniels blows ass, this fan base deserves better. Well, as a human being, Derek Carr is this high-level, is against. Great person. Very, very good person. Loves football. Teammates like them. Gets along with people. So from a character standpoint, he checks all the boxes. From a play standpoint, I think his career's been a little up and down. Because physically, I remember when I got to the NFL, my first year was Kevin Cobb was supposed to be the starter. He got hurt and Michael Vic took over. I remember texting people back at Fresno State. I'm like, Derek's way more talented in this guy.

Derek is a very good athlete with a very good arm, but he doesn't always play like that. And clearly, as he's gotten older, he doesn't love getting hit. Now, maybe he's never loved getting hit, and I mean, who does, but he's not really going to sit in there and take shots. So I think if he will get a little bit more aggressive,

he can hit a higher ceiling as a quarterback. Now, do you start hitting ceilings when you're over 30? You know, it's probably already been hit. So I didn't have a problem with him, quote unquote, benching him this year because he was playing pretty terribly. Now, part of that is a reflection of the head coach because he had just played really good. Now, we've seen him play playoff level football. And if you put him on a good enough team, you can make the playoffs with him as your starting quarterback. Now, do I want to pay him like $40 million?

No. But I like the guy and I like the player when he's playing kind of loose and aggressive. but sometimes he kind of balances this he's almost afraid to make a mistake and I don't like my quarterback's afraid to make mistakes I don't like my golfer's afraid to make mistakes I don't like my pitcher's afraid to make mistakes I mean there's a time and place for everything

if we're up late in the game don't throw a pick right if you're leading the masters with three holes left like just hit the middle of the green but there's also a point in time when you're playing good teams like you gotta push the envelope you gotta be on the there's a line, one's being a wuss and one's being aggressive, and you've got to lean toward being aggressive.

This is 2023 football, so I think whoever gets their hands on them is going to have to kind of get that back out of him because he did not play like that at all this year. Why are people going crazy that Texans got the second pick when Chicago doesn't need a quarterback, so wouldn't they try to get young anyway? Well, you never know. I said this yesterday.

Who's to say that they wouldn't trade Justin Fields? The general manager and head coach did not acquire the guy. And while I'm bullish on Justin Fields, I would have drafted him number two, three years ago, or two years ago now. It's like he's lit the world on fire throwing the ball. And if you want to take Bryce Young, I don't think it's the craziest thing

and flip Justin Fields and kind of start your franchise over. I would say everything's on the table. And I think the reason you go crazy is not because Andrew Luck's not in this draft. John Elway's not in this draft. But when you draft number one, you control the draft. And they sucked all fucking season long.

Now, I know they were competitive at the end of the year, but you lose all those games, and then you win, what, two of the last three? Like, two of the last five? I don't know. I have to look at their schedule. Obviously, they were, they could have beat the Cowboys. They could have beat the Chiefs.

I mean, they were competitive down the stretch, which, you know, this is the NFL. This is not basketball. You're not going to tank. But you weren't losing those games. So to win that meaningless game, I mean, meaningless. to lose the ability to control the draft. I hate that, man.

I really do. But I think you're being a little critical of Kirk Herb Street. Listening to Al Michaels is like talking to your girlfriend's grandpa after Christmas dinner. 50% of the stuff that comes out of his mouth isn't relevant or doesn't make sense. Their chemistry is audibly shit, but Kirk obviously knows the game, but Michaels doesn't help him at all and lets his comments float into dead air or just replies something. irrelevant. But also, there are very few casters who are enjoyable to listen to.

You can tell who doesn't prep or doesn't know who's on the field like Buck and Aikman. Listen, I have no problem with Kirk Herb Street. I'm a Herb Street fan. My issue is, I just feel like he doesn't really know the NFL. How could he? He's been a lifelong college guy. If you're a huge college scout, if you've been a college scout

for 20 years, you're not going to know what the veterans in the NFL look like. You're just not. You're spending a lot. all your time focused on the college game. You're going to know what your team looks like, but you're not going to know the NFL game. So when you are a broadcaster and you call college game for two decades,

you know the players that you've seen when they were in college, but once they become a 10-year NFL vet, you're not locked into what they look like. So my issue is their chemistry sucks. Al Michaels is one of the greatest play-by-play guys of all time. I know he's old, but, like, I'm sorry, Al knows the NFL. He knows all the country. coaches. He knows the vibe of the NFL. Herbstree just doesn't. As an Eagles fan, I cannot tell

if we are frauds or just banged up. With the talent we have and now secured the buy are the Eagles real contenders. Yes, I think there are two real contenders in the NFC. That would be the 49ers and the Eagles. I don't take any of the other teams seriously. I did Dallas earlier in the season, but I've pivoted off of them. I just, I don't like what I've seen. They obviously have not been playing well for a while. Dax turned the ball over unless they flip the switch, which I don't know why they would. They would be the only other team if they peaked. They were just on.

Pollard's healthy. The defense is flying around again. They could make some noise, but they're hard to trust. But you're right. You're not frauds. You're just, you're hurt.

And when you lose players, like if I took Trent Williams, Debo Samuel, and Fred Warner off the 49ers, like the Niners would not be the same. So I take Lane Johnson, I take a starting corner, I take a safety,

I take a quarterback. You know, that's a big deal. We all know, a big fan, we all know the Chief's offense this year has been stellar, but its defense has been highly underrated. Chris Jones has had a career year. Our rookie defensive end, Karloftus, is third and sacks for rookies.

Nick Bolton was second in combination tackles. I don't know, what do you mean combination tackles? Does that mean tackles that you share a tackle with and solo tackles? but I like Nick Bolton, he's good. And Sneed has become one of the most versatile and underrated corners in the league. Lastly, the Chiefs finished second and total team sacks. Losing only to the Eagles.

Has the Chief's defense been slept on this year? Your team speed is vastly improved from where it was a couple years ago. And a big reason for that is Willie Gay and Bolton. Those two linebackers can fly. Obviously, Bolton's instincts are fantastic. That adds a huge element.

Chris Jones, I would say I would probably vote him third, potentially second. Like Nick both to him and Michael Parsons have been the three best defensive players in the league. So anytime that you have a game wrecker, especially an inside game wrecker, we've seen it with Aaron Donald, like Chris Jones is the best defensive tackle in the league right now. Big deal. I like Justin Reed a lot. To me, yeah, I'd feel pretty good. If I'm a Chiefs fan, I plan on winning the AFC.

I mean, that would be my mindset. You know what I think the Chiefs get a little screwed? Is I think Buffalo is the best indoor team in the league. The Chiefs used to be, but losing Tyree Kill, your offense isn't quite as explosive down the field. Though the kid you traded for from the Giants actually is, you know, it's pretty intriguing against the Raiders. Now, the Raiders defense is terrible.

But I would rather, if I was the Chiefs, play the Bills, instead of some neutral site, which sure feels like it's going to be an indoor arena. Like they went to the Colts, the Colts couldn't do it because there's a concert there or something. Maybe they end up in Vegas. Who knows?

I think they're going to end up indoors. To me, Casey and Buffalo, they play outdoors. That game should be outdoors. If that game is indoors, advantage Buffalo. If that game is outdoors, advantage chiefs. Or like, I'll bet on you to win it. I'm not saying you will. I mean, the bills can beat you, obviously, they have before.

But I would want that game to be outside. Long time to listener. Love the pod. Now that the Bears have the number one pick, what do you think they'll do? Do you think they'll draft Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, or trade back? Would love to know your thoughts on the Bears are going to do.

I honestly think, I'm not saying it's on the table, but I think there will be a meeting over this next month about the quarterback situation. Now, obviously they talk about Justin Fields all season long, but like legitimately sit down, maybe over the next couple weeks. Would this be something we'd entertain?

Because if me and you ran the Bears, how do we not sit down and have that conversation? Now, maybe you come to the conclusion. You'd rather have Justin Fields than Bryce Young, but Justin Fields still has a lot of value. He's got two years left before you got a, you know, then the fifth year option, so he's still relatively cheap. He wasn't a top 10 pick,

so his contract's not even that expensive to begin with, that you could trade them for a first round pick. You don't think Washington would trade you their first round pick for Justin Fields? You don't think the Colts would entertain that? So I just think that, or maybe a, a, following years one and a couple two, who knows? But you could get something for him if you really love Bryce Young. I think that's the number one conversation you have to have.

And if you're going to keep them, then you trade back 100%. And you made a bad decision. You traded your second round pick for Chase Claypool. That's pick 32. That is a massive win for the Ravens. That is a massive win for the Ravens. So the Ravens, I mean, that's just, or excuse me, the Steelers. The Steelers have the 36.

second overall pick for Chase Claypool. That was a bad trade. It really was. It was kind of a crazy trade at the time. I was thinking of the Ravens because the Bears traded Rochuan Smith to the Ravens. And I think everyone thought when that trade happened that it was the Ravens pick that they traded for Chase Claypool, but that wasn't the case. I've been listening to you since the summer of 2020. Your show got me through the scrubbing I was doing during my sales internship. Been there, bro. Internship's tough. But it's where we all start. Start at the bottom now we're here. Anyway, from Kansas City and a big Chiefs fan. At times I watch the team and think we are far above every other team in the league right now. But the last few weeks, excluding the Raider game,

we have looked suspect. This was considered a rebuilding year and obviously Mahomes and Andy have killed it. What do you expect out of the Chiefs in the playoffs as we look toward free agency? Also, if you ever are in KC, let me know. Would love to give you some BBQ recommendations. Thanks and keep crushing it on the show. I'm with you. It's crazy how the Chiefs went from a rebuilding year to easily winning the AFC West and having the number one overall seat.

I would say that you get an easy built-in revenge factor, right? You're going to get to play, you get the buy. Assuming the Chargers win, that game will be hard. The Chargers have played the Chiefs very, very close. And Justin Herbert has had a lot of success against the Chiefs defense. That game, that's a fantastic football game. Now, I cannot pick the Chargers in good conscience strictly because who is taking Brandon Staley over Andy Reed in a big game. But Justin Herbert throws three or four touchdowns. Mahomes has an

off day. You could lose. And then you are going to play the Bengals or the Bills. And to me, that's pretty easy. They both beat you this year. And the Bengals ruined your season last year. And obviously the Bills beat you this year in one of the better Regal season games of the year. not necessarily from the eye test, but just one of the biggest regular season games of the season. But the bill's got a lot to play for too. And who knows? Maybe they got this situation.

It's just team of destiny. And honestly, kind of felt like that when they returned the first kickoff to the house. So, yeah, I mean, I think at minimum you should be in the AFC championship game, and I don't think it's inconceivable that you win the whole thing. Because if you win the AFC, like, you play the Niners, I watched that game. You beat them by 20.

Now, let's say the dieters have a better game plan this year. You're still going to be favored in that game. You don't think you're going to be favored against the Eagles? I like Andy and Mahomes against Siriani and Jalen. I'll tell you that much. So the key is just winning the AFC, which is very, very difficult because you are going to have to beat more than likely, Herbert and then Burrow or Mahomes.

That is a lot more difficult than like what Kyle Shanahan has to do. He's got to beat Gino, cousins and then a banged-up hurts, you know, or DAC. The NFC's hard. It is. Okay, last question. Question for the pod. Been watching old NFL games on YouTube, 80s and 90s,

and was wondering why the Belkow running backs have gone away. It's not like they didn't understand that someone needed a breather back then. Is it a shift in football culture? I just think it's a shift in the way the game was played. So when you watch the 80s or the 90s, a lot of these teams had star running backs. Well, the college football was giving the league a lot more star running backs. How many star running backs have come into college football the last several years?

Sequin, Brees Hall, I guess, Dalvin Cook. You know, not that many. It's not like there's four Derek Henrys coming in the league a year. When I was a kid, and part of it, it's the way the college football teams play. Look at Alabama. They spread it out and throw it. USC, spread it out and throw it. Oklahoma, spread it out and throw it.

Clemson, spread it out and throw it. Hell, even Georgia. They want to throw the ball. So these teams, the way the game is played, is throwing the football. LSU's championship team, who are their two best players? Two wide receivers and a quarterback. So look at Ohio State. Quarterback wide receivers.

I think it's more a reflection on college football than the NFL. If there were three, four Sequin Barclays every year, Bison Robinson is going to be in this draft. He's going to be a first round pick. If there were four Bijan Robinsons in this draft, then yeah, there'd be more Belkow running backs. It's just simply college football has become much more of a passing game.

The NFL has no problem. A lot of good teams run the ball, right? Eagles run the ball, Niners run the ball, the Bengals will run the ball. The bills, in theory, would love to run the ball. They just don't have very good running backs. Andy won't really. The Chargers don't really have one.

The Ravens will run the ball. The Giants will run the ball. want to run the ball. You know, the Vikings will run the ball with Dalvin and Madison. So these teams, the Cowboys, you know, will run the ball with their running backs. It's just about the talent coming into the league. Like, why do the Cowboys run the ball? Well, they got Zeke and Pollard.

You know? Why do the Niners run the ball? Well, they got Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell. The Giants, Seekwon Barkley. Like, if you get sweet, Derek Henry, you will slam the ball if you get the players. But the reason we throw so much in the NFL is, most. Most teams have receivers and quarterbacks. I simply believe it's the supply demand.

And right now the supply coming from college football is much more pass happy. You're not getting like, oh, you want to draft the run stuffing defensive tackle? No. Who do you end up drafting? Pass rushers. Why? There are way more pass rushers in college football because you have to develop pass rushers to compete, you know, during Saturdays because most teams you're playing are throwing the ball.

well, the way to impact the passing game on defense is to get after the quarterback. So I think it's much more of reflection of college football and the way the game schematically is played than the way. Some of these guys, a running back now might be a linebacker. That guy would have been a running back 20 years ago. I haven't really thought that went out, but that would be my initial take. Thanks for listening. Keep sending me those DMs.

At John Middlough. Peace. 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.

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