The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - MNF Reaction, Chubb Injured, Watt Dominant, Watson Subpar

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

John reacts to Monday Night Football and talks about why both the injury to Nick Chubb and a dominant game by TJ Watt demonstrate the relative value of different positions in the NFL. He admits and explains why he was wrong about the Steelers and that DeShaun Watson is making Russell Wilson’s terrible contract look like a bargain. John explains why a divorce is imminent between Sean Payton and Russell Wilson, that “sorry” wasn’t good enough from Chase Claypool and the Bears. He also answers listener’s questions from the “Middlekauff Mailbag”. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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What is going on my people? How are we doing? John Middell Cops, three and out. That's the podcast. That's me. Well, it's about 9.30 and I just watched the Steeler game. They were victorious against the Cleveland Browns and Sean Watson's $230 million contract. The Saints and Derrick Carr, I don't want to say pull out a win.

It was, you know, somehow the Panthers covered, but they won, I don't even want to say comfortably, but they did pull away and then they got to lay touchdown to make the game look a little closer than it was. though it was close to route, but we'll dive into that game and those two teams as well. I remember once upon a time for the majority of of football humanity Monday Night Football just meant just one game, but now we got two games. Luckily, technology, iPads, TVs, we figured out.

YouTube TV has the little two box. My only knock on that would be a lot of empty space. So even if you got a big TV and you do the split screen, a lot of empty space. So I ended up just going iPad on the NFC South game. But we will touch on it all. From T.J. Watt to Deshaun Watson to Derrick Carr to Bryce Young. And other than that, a lot of football talk coming up.

Obviously, Russell Wilson is a hot topic as well as Justin Fields. Me and Colin touched on that yesterday. I'll dive more into that today. We will do a long mailbag at John Middilcoff is the Instagram. fire in those DMs. And other than that, make sure you subscribe to the podcast. If you're listening on Collins' feed,

I know we got a lot of new listeners. I appreciate everyone that listens and that's new to the podcast. Glad to have you here. We talk a lot of football. I will dive in. We're going to have podcasts all week. I'll probably dive. I haven't touched on,

and I won on this podcast, Tua in Miami. Get into that probably tomorrow as well as, I mean, Thursday night game, in theory, was supposed to be pretty good. when the season started.

The Giants are kind of struggling right now, Sequin. But we got Niners Giants here in a couple days. So the season starts going, man, full speed ahead. Incredible week coming up for college football as well. So let's buckle up, man. Let's have some fun. But before we dive into the games, the barn burners, can I tell you about my friends at game time?

I went to a college football game. I watched my Fresno State Bulldogs destroy ASU. And because it was at the same time as the Colorado Colorado State game, I didn't get to see any of that. And I did it with my friends at Game Time. Here's what you need to do. They are the official ticketing app of this podcast. Just go to your phone and download the GameTime app.

And when you do it, you can go to any game, college football games, NFL football games, the World Series, the NBA, concerts, comedy shows. They have you covered. Just sign up for a pair of tickets. A bunch of you guys have hit me up. Like taking my dad to an NFL game. I'm going to an SEC game. because of game time.

And when you sign up, use the promo code, John, that's J-O-H-N. J-O-H-N, $20 off. I've gotten to more events this year because of my friends at game time than I probably have combined in the last like four years. Football games, hockey games,

baseball games, you name it, concerts, just out there rubbing elbows with the people. promo code John, baby, $20 off. I want to start something big picture with the night game. and I'm going to take you to Harvard Business School NFL style. That was an economic lesson tonight. It truly was.

And listen, the injury with Nick Chubb was, I'm a sicko. The moment Joe and Troy say that we're not going to show you the replay, I'm that guy and I've been this way since I was a little kid. When you say no, I say yes. When you say yes, I say no. When you hang a left, I want to hang a right. and I understand, and I'm not numb to this, I kept rewinding it, I didn't really have a good angle and then, you know, searched online. He's a stud, absolute baller.

He is why we watch football for the stars, but he clearly had a devastating knee injury, which would be his second of his career. He had one in college as well. And I thought he was going to run for like 200 yards on the Steelers. And then when he went out, we'll get to Deshawn Watson here in a second, but you have a 200, $230 million quarterback who's not looking like a $230 million quarterback. You're like, what are they going to do? And then what happened? They brought in some guy named Ford that I had to look up.

He was Cincinnati's running back on the team that went to the playoffs, who looked just like him. He was awesome. Fifth round pick. They did not skip a beat. The dude ran for 100 yards was running around through and off the edges to Celer defenders all night long. It was like they didn't skip a beat.

Nick Chubb is widely considered and rightfully so probably one of the best non-quarterback offensive skill guys in the league he goes out on a cart and the run game doesn't even I mean it doesn't skip a beat you wouldn't have noticed if you would have put if you would have put Chubb and his number on Ford

it would have looked the same yet the reason the Browns lost this game is because they couldn't block one of if not The best play, I mean, we talk so much about Micah Parsons and Nick Bosa and Aaron Donald, and rightfully so. You know, maybe it's because of TJ's brother was more famous. And listen, I got to see JJ in the peak of his powers when he was winning defensive

players of the year. He was as good of a player on defense as I've ever seen live. And I've seen Aaron Donald and Earl Thomas and Ray Lewis. I mean, I've seen some great players over the last decade. T.J. Watt is making a case that he's headed to. that level because that is the type guy that you throw the format that when they say how much, right, you figure out a way to get an enormous deal. And it's why those type players get paid so much money. And it's why GMs look at running backs like so replaceable because you can hit a

home run like the Browns did with Nick Chub. Hell, he wasn't even the first player from his own college at that position taking, right? Bill Belichick took Sony Michelle over him, which obviously did not age well. And he's become a star in the NFL. He's a dominant player. Yet he goes out and you don't notice a difference. Yet last year, early on in the season, when T.J. Y got hurt, it had a dramatic impact on the Steelers defense. Hell, on the league. It's probably a big reason that team missed the playoffs last year. The importance and the positional hierarchy is a real thing. And in the NFL, given it's a business wrapped around football, it's why you dedicate

way more resources to those positions. It's very hard to find. Hell, they got lucky that Highsmith has turned into the version in which he's turned into. Now they have an A plus pass rusher and like a B plus pass rusher. And those guys are worth every penny. Where at running back, look at the Steelers. Naji Harris, I'm biased. He grew up where I used to live in the Bay Area 15 minutes away from me.

I'd been following him since like a sophomore year in high school. Since Jim Harbaugh and Nick Sabin were coming to the Bay Area, begging him to take their scholarships. He's just not very good. He's not very good. And he was what, the 24th pick in the draft, 23rd pick in the draft? Warren is a much more explosive player, clearly past blocking, not really his thing. but this running back conversation was on full display tonight.

And the pass rushing conversation, which we all agree with, their value, but it shows you the value of positions. And it was crazy to watch Ford almost carry that team to a win. But the two pass rushers that combined for 14 points, they each had a touchdown, were peppering the quarterback, TFL's in the backfield all night long, like, that's what you want, right? and listen, I was wrong on Pittsburgh. I thought they were, had a chance to win 13 games.

It is clear through two games, regardless of the injuries, and they clearly have some. Fitzpatrick got hurt tonight. Hayward had surgery. He's out for a long time. You know, Deontay Johnson has Hammy. Who knows when he's going to return. So they're missing players. But even if they had those players, that's a 10-win team at best.

Even the night, like I don't think they're guaranteed to be over 500. and I have a buddy that I've met since living here who's a diehard Steelers fan, works in the golf industry, kind of a heavy hitter, and sent me a screenshot of an article. And this is what, like one reason I, I don't want to say I missed on the Rams. I just assumed Stafford would be not healthy. And we'll see if he plays the whole season.

But I was a big proponent and believer that they are going to be terrible. Well, it just, when you have a star coach and your quarterback, healthy, you got a chance every week. Look at Brable. And he definitely doesn't have a star quarterback, but when you have a dominant coach, especially an offensive play caller, which, for example, Sean McVeigh is, you're going to be in a lot of games. In Matt Canada, this article that I was forwarded from my guy,

he circled like, it was a big screenshot and he circled part of it. And since 2021, when Matt Canada, who they were chanting Fire Canada in the stadium in the night who had one of the worst third down short yardage calls you'll ever see with the game on the line. Since 2021, every team in the NFL has at minimum three, and obviously a ton of teams have a lot more of these 400-yard offensive performances. In that period of time, the Steelers in Canada have zero. Their offensive coordinator is not good. It's clear when you watch them play, you know, their quarterback, also a limited guy. If you are going to have a limited quarterback,

you better have a dynamic play caller. The reason Kyle Shanahan could win games with Jimmy Garoppolo is because he's an excellent chess player on grass. It's what they pay him to do, where that is clearly a problem for the Steelers, right? They don't have a great schemer running their offense. And their head coach, while a great leader and just a cool dude has nothing to do with the offense, right?

Offensive line, some of their personnel, not great. Naji is never going to live up to that first round billing. Their offensive line is very hit or miss. And missing one of their better ride receivers, you know, Pickens can only do so much. Hell, I would throw to them like every other play. But I got to take the L on this. The Steelers are not competing to win the AFC. That much is clear.

What, Highsmith could, but you need 20 other guys. And the 11 guys on offense to me, it's not an ideal situation. Now the Browns, everybody in their mother, rightfully so, has been making fun of Russell Wilson in his contract for the last 24 hours. His contract, when it comes to guaranteed money, he has owed $69 million less in guarantees than Deshawn Watson. And I got news for you. At 34 years old, Russell Wilson, even with his struggles these last two years, is better than that.

Now, on the bright side, Watson is better than the small sample size last year at the end of the season. But he's not very good. Tonight, when pressure came around him, it felt like he didn't know what to do. He ran into a lot of sacks. His accuracy is very hit or miss. Like, he missed some basic routes. Listen, you run some of those deep over. some just guys wide open in the middle of the field, he hit Amari a couple times.

Amari made some nice plays on the sideline. But on just some basic, like, slant routes on third and seven, he's throwing it way behind him. I never felt as the game was going that, yeah, Deshaun Watson's going to win them this game. And we are, you know, if last year doesn't count, and financially it didn't really, remember, they paid him a million dollars. Starting this year, they owed him $229 million moving forward. We've all watched enough football, and we see what the top guys look like. That is not even remotely close to a max quarterback contract player.

And listen, Miles Garrett, when he's on, their defensive line, they have some good defensive pieces. It felt like they lost like 17 players. I mean, the two corners and Chubb, I mean, those are pro bowl level guys. Obviously, Chub's a star, but the corners are big time. So you can only lose so many guys. but just in a vacuum watched Deshawn Watson and go, yeah, this is just not going to be good enough.

Not in the conference where you're playing Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Trevor Lawrence. I mean, he's not even in their world now. And we are a long way removed from the guy who had that couple of year stretch where he was a star in the NFL. That is a long time ago.

And listen, I'm not trying to get in the guy's brain who knows the pressure of everything self-inflicted that happened to him over the couple years, the pressure of the contract, him vibing with the coach, but I just don't see it. I really don't. And he's a younger version. I actually think his game when he was on was a lot like Russell. They are good athletes, but they're not runners. Like to me, Lamar, Kyler, are runners. Those guys, Russell did it longer, scrambled to throw, and they were really dynamic, you know, throwers on the run outside the tackle box behind the line of scrimmage. And I watch a guy right now that I just don't feel threatened by

if I'm the other team. And if I'm playing the Browns, there are a lot of guys on that team I don't want to see. Miles Garrett, you know, the corners, Nick Chubb, hell, Amari Cooper, Deshaunson's not one of those. He's not keeping me up at night. You know, Kenny Pickett clearly is not either. So when you don't have elite quarterback play, you either have to have dynamic scheming, the Steelers don't have, or have excellent players around them. And you saw tonight, the Browns kind of a, you know, just a war of attrition. They started losing dudes. And this is week two, long season. And guys usually don't get healthier as the season went on. So that was, you know, kind of a slog of a game. I think the Brown's got a real, real big picture problem on their hands with that

contract because when you're paying him that much, he'll never be, you know, a top two or three quarterback. He never was that even in his peak. But is he a top 10 quarterback? Not right now. For a limited time, you can say 40% on NFL Plus premium annual subscription when you signed up through Plus Play from Verizon. Plus Play is a platform where you can shop, manage, and save on the subscriptions you already

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it was. And I don't mean to be a hater, but, you know, the AFC and NFC South, I look down to a little little bit as a football elitist, a little bit of a football snob. Not saying that they haven't had good teams on individual years. But just the overall divisions as a whole, eight teams of them. Like, I'm just not running to my television to watch the majority of them, especially in 2023. But let's start with the Saints.

They have zero excuse. And I feel even better about this two games in than I did when I picked him to win the division to not be the champions, you know, not be hosting a playoff game because they won the division. They are in a division that has Desmond Ritter, which pulled a couple of plays out of his last late in that game against the Packers. I don't see it. Baker Mayfield is starting hot, but he's still Baker Mayfield. And Bryce Young, who is on a team that we'll get to in a second, is just awful. Now, on the bright side of the Saints, their defense looks really, really good.

They, I actually took the dog for a walk because the Saints score to go up 20 to 9. The other game goes to halftime. I'm like, well, this game's over. And I had almost, and I had kicked myself, because I didn't follow Stucky. He was so confident on the bet against Tennessee, against Florida. You know, the Tennessee was going to get smoked, and he was right. And I was like, God, I was about to go all in. I loved the Saints line. But I didn't feel confident enough, you know, rookie quarterback, Monday night football.

I'm like, their offensive weapons suck. How are they going to score on the Saints? But Derek made me nervous. And we'll get to him in a second. He's just not playing well enough right now. But that defense is big time. And if it wasn't for that final drive, that really was a pretty hollow drive.

And in some crazy two-point play, somehow the Panthers pushed. But if I'm the Saints fan right now, I feel really, we got a big time defense. The offense is a major, major work in progress. And while Derek should be the best quarterback in the division, I don't think he looks that great right now. He hit Shaheed. He's hit him twice now in the Titans game. And then again tonight that we're back breaking plays.

And then I think a play or two later tonight, he hits alave for the touchdown that was the difference in the game. But for the most part, I don't think he looks very sharp. And I saw a clip while the Steeler game was still going on. Even he admitted such in his press conference, like, we got a long way to go. But the good thing is, you know, when he played like this for the Raiders, they would always lose, mainly because their defense always sucked. Now he's on a good defense.

He can struggle and be better than what they had last year. They still have this weird mix of trying to force feed, take some hill who is an interesting player. Like I'd want them on my team, but the constant kind of hybrid quarterback runs don't totally get. But that's just something they've been doing since Sean Payton, and they're definitely not slowing down now. They'll eventually get Kamara back from the suspension.

Michael Thomas looks good, and Chris Olivae is really fast. So they're going to have weapons, and Derek can play a lot better than he's playing for sure. So to me, the Saints, no excuse to not win. in this division. I was thinking about it today early on in that game when they, you know, they showed Bryce Young being the last guy to run out. Pretty cool moment. His parents were there. Monday night football. His mom was telling Laura Rutledge, I think, how she remembers watching Monday night football with her dad. It was just, it's an emotional night. But the Panthers,

over a decade ago, had the number one overall pick. And I actually attended the draft in 2011 when they took Cam Newton. And I remember going to the bathroom where, you know, the personnel like us that were there with the teams and then the players all used the same bathroom. I remember walking in there and it was, you know, it was a loaded draft like Aaron Donald's, JJ Watts and Cam was walking out. And I ended up seeing him other times when I covered the league and worked in the league, you know, but that was the, I walked right by him. And he was as big of a human as you'll ever see. He was massive. When I looked up his size today at the combine, he was over 6'5, 248, I remember walking by him thinking,

This guy is 6-7-270 and not an ounce of fat on him. He's one of the great freaks of all time, right? And then they draft Bryce Young, who's barely 510. And while he weighed in 200 at the combine, he's 190 pounds soaking wet. That was fake weight. So they went from Cam Newton, who is one of the biggest freaks of all time to Bryce Young, who is tiny. Now, he was asked about it tonight what it's like. and he's like, you know, I've never been tall.

But it is pretty nuts that there are two number one picks at quarterback. And I love Bryce at Alabama. And I have nothing but respect. He is a tough little guy. In terms of toughness at quarterback tonight on that field, the tougher quarterback plays for Carolina. He is not scared. But also when you're that small, little bit of a reckless nature,

you know, even Cam by his early 30s was breaking down. Now, he was taking a lot more hits because he was a runner. Bryce is not a runner. it just, it's pretty crazy how small he is. Now, cams on the high end of size. Like, that is a mammoth human being. The majority of, like, Caleb Williams is going to be a all-time great prospect. His size won't sniff cams.

But Bryce is the smallest quarterback in the league by a wide margin. While he's the same height as Kyler, Kyler probably has him by 25 pounds. You know, if Kyler's 2.15 and he's a buck 90, I mean, that's a big difference. Look, Kyler, banged up multiple years. And he's much faster than Bryce. So something to keep an eye on. The team's awful. No skill guys.

Frank's been losing a lot now these last couple years, but they got issues. And last but not least, I just do not understand the doubleheader on Monday night football. It doesn't make sense to me. There has to be some economic, financial reason behind it. But I thought a lot about it today,

and I couldn't figure it out. I just do not understand the logic, especially it'd be one thing if one game was at three and the other game was at 615, so they didn't, there wasn't any carryover. Well, tonight the first game kicked off at like 407. The second Monday night game kicked off at 515. Now, because the Steeler Browns game, it's like the longest game in NFL history because 75 guys got injured, there was a lot of time in between, but if the games were just on normal pace,

that would not have been the case. So I just, I don't quite understand it. I never will. I think a huge part of playing on prime time, whether it's Thursday, whether it's Sunday night, or whether it's Monday night.

It's a standalone game. This is not college football, where you're all playing on one day, no matter what, and everyone's, even if you're playing at night, there are several games going. In the NFL, you get Monday night by yourself.

You get Sunday night by yourself. You get Sunday night by yourself. You get Thursday night by yourself. And it's a really big deal. Even in a league full of a bunch of millionaires, right? It's cool. And I think it gets diminished tonight. And listen, do I, I guess I have a horse in this race, I guess,

because I have to talk about it. So I got to watch both games. But I got multiple TVs. It's not the inability to consume two games at once. I just don't understand. I don't understand the logic. And if your ESPN, you got, You know, one game on this channel, the other game on this other channel, even though there was a story today that ABC is going to carry all the Monday night games as well as ESPN because of the writer's strike.

Listen, that's something out of everyone's control. I guess some of the studios, some stuff's in their control or maybe Netflix or Apple TV or whatever just gives up their streaming numbers, which they don't plan on doing. But I just can't rob my head around it. I don't understand it. I don't like it. And I think it takes away from, I don't know if the pageantry is the right word, but the power of just playing as the lone game for all the players, all the coaches, all the fans there. Anyone listening to this that has been to Monday night football, it feels a little cooler, right? Listen, been to a lot of afternoon NFL games when other games are going on.

That's cool, too. But something pretty special about Monday night football. And I think the doubleheader, I got it historically. remember like when Chris Berman and Trent Dilfer opening night totally understand it's week two and there's other weeks with it as well so I'll just never get behind it let's end with this making it look easy by my friends at Morgan and Morgan two weeks in a row I thought coming into the Monday night game it's like I'm gonna have to give some shine to McDaniel Tua and Tyreek and the Monday night game happens and j and excuse me not JJ TJ, I texted a buddy in the NFL tonight, I said, listen, I'm not saying he's as good as JJ, but he's like headed that way, right?

He's on the path to, if he keeps playing like this for several more years, we're going to be like, is there that big of a gap between the two guys? I mean, JJ's a first ballot hall of famer. T.J. Watt is also on that path as a first ballot hall of famer. He is such an elite player.

The ability to constantly get in the back field, his relentless energy. He plays the run well, the touchdown, the instincts, just pick up the ball. Clearly, I think Highsmith has benefited just from being around him, learning.

I thoroughly enjoy. And I loved watching JJ before the injury started taking a toll, kicking ass and taking names on a weekly basis. I'd pay to just watch T.J. Watt rush the pastor. So you talk about making it look easy. No one fits that better than T.J. Watt.

Brought to you by Morgan and Morgan, For Thepeople.com slash john, or pound law, pound 529 on your cell phone. We're back with another week of football and Drafking Sportsbook is keeping us in on the NFL action. With great offers every single game day, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 instantly in bonus bets. Pro 5 down on any of this week's epic matchups

to walk away an instant winner. And Draft King isn't stopping there. All customers can take advantage of two new offers every game day this September. Football's more fun when you're in on the action. So download the app now and sign up with the code John, J-O-H-N. New customers can bet $5 to get $200 instantly in bonus bets. Only on Draft King Sportsbook, an official betting partner of the NFL with code John J-O-8-10, the crown is yours.

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 podcast. podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the

reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations

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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, at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you 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. Okay, let's pit on a couple quick things. And let's start with the Denver Broncos. It's over. Sean Payton and Russell Wilson, this thing is over before it even started. And I was thinking about it today. Think how many couples you know, whether it's your friends, whether it's your parents' friends when you're younger, whether it's, you know, your wife, your girlfriend's friends.

where you go out with them or you're around them and you go, this is never going to work. But zero chance. This is, and if they are married, this thing's going to end sooner or later. That's Russell Wilson and Sean Payton. This was a marriage that was forced on each other. Sean Payton in a million years in the last couple of years would never pick Russell Wilson to be his quarterback.

One, from a personality standpoint, they don't really mesh. Think of who Sean Payton liked. Wanted Patrick Mahomes like five years ago. Remember, that's who the chiefs were scared was going to. to trade up for him. Sean Payton really is an old school coach, kind of negative, you know, kind of angry, really good offensive coach. But he's not Mr. Happy Go Lucky smiling all the time when he's in the building. And I've known people that have played for him and been around him. And Russell's the opposite. And Collins talked about this. He's a very optimistic,

everything's, you know, going to turn out sunshine and rainbows. And right now it's turning out incompletions and losses. And at the end of the day, even, if your personalities don't fit, if you win or you're a great player, a coach is going to want to work with you. Russell Wilson no longer does either. He's not a good player and he doesn't win. Since he's been the quarterback in Denver, their record is 4 and 13. Like they're losing all the time. Now, some of these losses, it's not all on him, but he clearly is a shell of himself and he makes way more money than his talent and the outcome of his abilities show now. right if he was a free agent what would he get someone might take like some non-guaranteed flyer on the guy but he clearly would not be making 40 45 million dollars a year and have the contract which he has this is going to be on denver's books for a while now people ask me like how are they going to get

out of this i don't know i don't think it's it's possible to trade them no team is trading to put that contract on the books even if you could get them for literally nothing like hey send us two balls, a pair of cleats, two hot dogs, and a nacho. And we will give you Russell Wilson. Like, that team would say no, because they would have to take back a contract. So I do not think, and you never say never, because we've seen in the NBA, it's like, this guy's not tradable, and he ends up getting traded. In football, that's not the case.

It's why so many guys, honestly, who could still play, get cut. Because, like, yeah, we're not taking the contract. Look at Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook, they could not trade him because he made $14 million. It was just numbers, right? It's like, we want him on our team, but, you know, we value him at $6, $7, $8 million. We cannot take $14 million. Every million, $2 million, $5 million, $10 million in a cap, you know, in terms of cap space,

in terms of dead cap, in terms of guarantee, is very important to any team builder. So this thing's over. Like the divorce is imminent. Now, there are complications to the divorce. I'm sure we've all known people who don't like each other are essentially divorced, but don't do it, maybe because the guy has money, right? It's actually cheaper to stay together for all parties involved. But it's like, they're broken up. Like, this thing's over.

You don't need to tell me he's been cut to know that, like, Sean Payton's already moved on. He said it yesterday. Like, he's already got to cut the verbiage in the place because Russell can't say them in the huddle. And let's face it, did Pete Carroll actually give him an easy place to play? because all Russell ever did was complain and all they did was win, yet he comes to Denver, they put it all on his plate, and he was completely overwhelmed. I mean, last year, what was the story that came out? He would be at the line of scrimmage and try to audible,

and he would short circuit and say the Seattle audibles, and the wide receivers and the tight ends would be like, what is he talking about? What did he just say? I don't even know what that means. And this year, clearly Sean Payton is not hold your hand, smile and hug you every day. is intense and giving him long play calls that I don't know

Drew Bree is executed for a long period of time Russell can't even get him in and out of the huddle so and then he says after the game Sean Peyton says it's not working out and Russell said it's fine this thing's over uh I don't know how the outcome is going to what's going to happen what year he's going to be cut whether he's bench whether they tell him to go away but I think it's all on the table now moving forward and it's a complicated situation because of the contract but their relationship. This thing was probably over before it started.

The Bears. I heard a pretty jarring stat today, which I guess I would have known, but I don't know. It still stood out to me. And I don't know if a lot of people realize this, even though they obviously they drafted one. Part of the reason we don't look at the Bears, the team that drafted one, because they made that trade so early. So they ended up drafting 9th. But they were the worst team in the NFL last year. Worse than the Texans, worse than Denver. It was the Bears. and part of the reason the Bears were, they did not win a game last year in November or December. I think, and they played in January 2 now with the, you know, 17 games.

They have not won a game since late October, 2022. I'm recording this September 18th, 2020. They have lost 12 straight games. Now, no one is going to argue with you when you talk about Justin Fields today. He's not very good. You can't win with the guy. He lacks quarterback skills that you need to play well on Sundays.

Worked in Saturdays. I liked him as a prospect. I was wrong. He's terrible. But I think you also have to ask yourself, because I've been saying this, like, Chicago, even if he sucks, is going to be in good position because they'll lose a lot of games. And then they'll just have a bad record, so they'll draft high. And they also have, I'm recording this part before the Monday night game,

Carolina's not any good either. I'd be shocked if Carolina won more than five games. They could get two picks in the top five. they're going to be in good position. But you also have to ask yourself, even if you have a terrible team, shouldn't you figure out a way to win a game during a 12-game losing streak?

That kind of reminds me of the Cleveland Browns and Hugh Jackson, except I don't know. They were trying to lose. The bears are trying to win these games. They are not tanking. They are trying and putting all their chips in the middle of the table. This is not the desired outcome.

I thought, and I thought a lot about it, them not cutting Chase Claypool tells me everything they need to know about their operation. And I know he scored a touchdown against Tampa, but that was an easy moment to just kind of set the tone for every guy that Ryan Poles has drafted these last couple years. That will never be tolerated around here, ever.

Yet, they saw him just keep practicing and he ended up playing and he had a touchdown. It's like, it's just cool to do that and you'll just say you're sorry and keep battling. That's not what winning teams do. and is Iber Flues a good coach? How could anyone say that? Does Ryan Poles know what he's doing?

I don't know. Do you feel good if you're a Bears fan about these guys, if this continues and you win three or four games, these guys running your operation next year? Is this the type team Caleb and his dad were talking about that we will not go there? Like, are you that operation where Caleb pulls an Eli Manning or John Elway? Listen, Chicago, I've never been there, but I don't even need to go there to say it's an awesome city.

It's a great sports town, and they love their football team, which is a massive brand. In theory, it should be one of the biggest deals in the sport. But they have just been consistently shitty for so long. And it gets back to a couple things. One, ownership's cheap. Two, they clearly have not hired well. And this current group, like, they're starting to get to the line of, embarrassment. Have not won a game in 12 games? It's one thing Aaron Rogers beat you.

It's another thing to kind of get shoved around by Baker Mayfield. Iber Fluse is a defensive guy. So I think the coach and the GM, this is the NFL, man. Things change so fast. Now, the ownership is cheap. Are they going to want to fire these guys? I'm not saying they do or will. But I think if you're a fan, you got to wonder, is this the group that we want pulling the trigger moving forward when we got all these picks coming? I don't know. I don't because they are, they're getting worse.

A couple other things, some major injuries. I mean, Sequin had a bad ankle roll. He's going to be out several weeks. They play the 49ers this Thursday. That thing will be ugly. But the Giants did save their season by winning that game.

I never understand. You know, you draft this guy. He's making plays in the preseason. You don't have that explosive of an offense. You don't score a point in week one. Why do you have to wait until the second half to like unleash Jaylon Hylett? Like, why don't you just throw him the ball the first couple?

Like, what are we doing? I never understand why coaches, when you have young players who are really talented, it's one thing if it's Chase Claypool and he's like character guy and he's kind of driving on us, there's another thing. It's like, well, he's a rookie, he's got to earn his stripes. And I was like, this is the big leagues. Just run him deep. He's pretty fast.

He sparked from what I watched. He sure sparked that team going because if they lost the Cardinals and then they would lose the Niners, you'd be talking about there'd be no coming back from 0. and three. They'd be in major, major trouble. Then they'd probably think Seattle week four. I mean, you could be looking at a five or six win team. Now, even if you lose the Niners, you know, you get 10 days so you play Seattle. If you can get to two and two, then you just try to somehow get the 10 wins, right? The Burrell thing, he looks off. There was no, every time I looked up, Lamar looks fantastic. And Joe Burrow, if you didn't know he was Joe Burrow, you

would think the Bengals just have some average to below quarterback. And I do want, I do want, wonder if that calf injury has been not just nagging him, but not remotely close to 100%. He clearly re-agravated it. Schefter made a comment like, he's not guaranteed to play this week. Burroughs missing some games, the Bengals, their season can get weird fast. It really could because I saw Shannon Sharp say something. Like, most guys don't get healthier as the season goes on. So when you have early season injuries, hamstrings, calves, like, how do you,

like even if you take a week off, you're always worried about re-aggraving it, play quarterback, people are hitting you low. You got to scramble a little bit just naturally because your offensive lines been getting smoked. So that would be pretty concerning. I mean, Lamar, this was the push. Just pay the guy and just unleash him. Just get him in the right headspace.

He's worth it. Can he win in the playoffs? Only time will tell. And we'll have to learn that the next couple of years. But when he's right as a regular season player, he is dominant. he looks really, really good. Say Flowers looks fantastic. We know organizationally.

They're just a high level, you know, operation. So Lamar Jacks is a fun player to watch. I don't have much to say about Brian Staley. It's just part for the course. Kansas City gave Mahomes a ton of money, which they didn't really have a choice. Once all these other guys are getting paid, you got to break off your cash cow and your moneymaker.

So not surprised at that at all. I think the chiefs, if I'm a chiefs fan, listen, the offense clearly is a work in progress, but we got one of the greatest offensive coaches ever. We have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. We have one of the greatest tight ends ever. We have a really good offensive line and a good running back. We're going to be okay. I think the thing to be excited about is, do we have a top five defense?

Like, is our defense legitimately a powerhouse? Is this, are we a defensive team now? Because if you give Andy Reid a defense, watch out. If they got a defense, which they sure is how it looked like they got one to me, they've drafted a bunch of DBs these last couple years. They look pretty good. We know how good Chris Jones is. Carliscus, they drafted.

Their linebackers are fast. She's not have a defense. How are they not in the Super Bowl again? Them Miami, AFC championship game? Okay, let's bang out a little mailbag. You guys know the drill. At John Middlough is the Instagram. DM's wide open.

Fire in to get your question answered here on the show. Okay, let's start with Connor. Long time listener. Broncos Wilson question. Heard you mentioned several times that were stuck with Wilson for the next few years. I understand there's a penalty for cutting players on contract, but isn't it true if there's a will, there's a way in the NFL? What are the exact ramifications if we bench, release Wilson and roll with Stidham

or a rookie quarterback in the draft? By stuck, do you mean it would be idiotic? Yeah, I don't mean, there's not like an NFL PA rule. And obviously, you can bench him, right? You just have to pay him. He makes an extreme amount of money. And when you pay a guy, I don't have the exact guarantee. I actually looked at the contract breakdown earlier today in terms of for the next several years, right?

23, 24, and 25, if you just cut the player outright, it creates an enormous amount of dead cap. meaning if the salary cap is $250 million, then let's just pick an even number to make this example. Let's just say you cut them in two years. You have $50 million in dead cap or $40 million for a player's not on your team. So yeah, you can cut them. So when I say stuck, you can't cut them after this year.

The dead cap is too big for 2024, maybe in two years. But here's the problem. Let's just say you guys keep losing, which we talked about it earlier. that the match between the head coach and the quarterback, I would say as human beings, clearly, they're just, they've never been a match. And listen, not every quarterback and head coach are BFFs or have the same personality,

because when you're a good player and a good coach, it just works, right? But if Russell's no longer a good player, they're just kind of screwed. And I think big picture is just, I don't blame them for making the move. It's so easy for people to say in Seattle, like we saw this coming, I think every human being, every fan and every GM in the league, if they were in that spot, would have made that deal. I mean, there have been reports that the Eagles, we all consider, and I've seen it firsthand,

how he's one of if not the best in the business, try to make the deal. And Russell said no. So it's not, it's pretty crazy what happened. Like, it's not just a, oh, it's kind of a slow bleed. Like, it's a precipitous fall off a cliff that's expensive. I mean, that's, it's a double whammy. So, yeah, listen, I think that depending on how this year goes, I have a hard time seeing them cut him. But as I talked about earlier, he's not a tradable player at that amount of money.

It was hard to trade Tray Lance. He makes like $4 million. Hot take from Colorado game. I like this question. I've watched her so many talking heads calling for the suspension of Henry Blackburn for, quote, unquote, targeting Travis Hunter late. If the responsibility falls on anyone, it's Coach Prime. He gassed the situation from week one. If you talk big, everyone is going to give you their best shot.

Literally, I don't agree with Blackburn with what he did, but all the emotional high stem from Dion's mouth said to say, I saw this coming. Prime is that good. So act like you've been there before with high expectations because you have. I had the same thought. I don't mind anyone talking ever because eventually you have to back it up. when the coach is the one constantly talking,

like he doesn't have to play. And listen, I worked at a school that was not an equal to a lot of teams we played. When I was at Fresno State, like we were playing Wisconsin, we were playing UCLA, it was a big freaking deal for everyone on that team to kind of show out.

Now, most of those games were not contentious through the media, right? But if someone on one of those teams, especially a famous person, a coach or a star player, had said something, the guys on our team, some of them might have crossed the line. That's football. It's happened forever.

Usually the guy talking the most, like when I was a kid, it was the you. Well, they had the best players, so no one was going to clap back. And I'm fascinated to see it. Does Dion, I don't care. Like, I find entertaining. I think a lot of the media is over hot, one, Dion's rating right now, so they're constantly going there for game day. Like, it's rating.

they're not going there because it's a cool story. It literally rates on television. And I think a lot of people in the media, now some of them are like legitimately friends with them, right? Michael Irvin, Shannon Sharp, I mean, these guys have known Dion forever. But then everyone else is like trying to buddy buddy with him when he's the head coach at Florida or Alabama or whatever the next couple of years.

I don't blame them. If you cover college football, I try to get in good with him too. But like, this is not going to stop. We'll see how this week plays out with Oregon. Every single dude on Oregon's defense. fair or not, probably thinks of themselves as an NFL guy. So if something gets said throughout the week,

those guys are going to not look at Colorado as their equals. And it may turn out they are. I don't know who's going to win the game. It's a huge. Oregon's a big favorite. But like Dan Laning comes from the SEC. Now, are they Georgia? Of course not.

But I'd keep an eye on some of these better teams. Now, USC is not wired like that. I mean, Lincoln ain't. But I already got Washington State. has guys to me that would remind me of some of the teams that, like, Fresno State, they have guys that have been overlooked, that, you know, everyone's going to, depending on what the records are, Washington State's good this year. And no one is going to give a shit about Washington State that week.

And like, I'm sorry, this is a competitive sport. People take that shit personally. This is, you know, how some of these guys plan on feeding their families at the next level to kind of draw a line in the sand. Plus, it's a violent game. Now, was that a cheap shot for sure? some of these comments I've seen on the internet the guy should be like kicked out of football

I was like give me a break you should suspend him for a week okay I would have no problem with that but like some of the reactions over the top if I was one of these guys like I don't want a piece every guy older guy right now that played in the league in the 90s

in the early 2000s that is being over the top about this kid were part of things that were very very similar to this right because football is all about drawing a line in the sand you're either going to get pushed around and lose or say, fuck this. Someone's getting lit up. Now, the game has changed.

You're not head hunting. And listen, I don't, it sucks Travis Hunter's hurt. I don't want him to play. But I don't think it's the last of this. Now, it'll be very, very interesting. Like you said, Prime gassed it up. It got pretty outrageous last week. Like, I just, it kind of jumped the shark for me.

But now it's getting real. Like, you're going to play Oregon. You're going to play USC. You eventually play Utah. I mean, you play UCLA. Like, you play, these guys got guys also go into the league that think they're better than you. Like, the Colorado State, I can't, who cares? I didn't even watch the game, but no one viewed them as equals, even though it's college football.

And at any moment, a game can be close. But, like, they're playing teams now where they are going to be massive underdogs, right? What is it? 20 points this week. Well, let's say they lose. What's it going to be next week against USC? USC plays. I don't even know who USC plays this week, but they're going to kill.

him whoever they think they play ASU. Like USC might be a 20-point favorite on the road at Colorado. The game's at 9 o'clock, you know, on Fox. So Big Noon kickoff is going to be there again. It's just going to keep getting amped up. And Dion's one of the best players I've ever seen in my entire life. But he's not playing anymore. So you talk a bunch of shit, like your guys are crossed in the middle.

Like, for example, Shiloh, like he plays defense. So it's like he gets to hit. But his son's the quarterback. And his boys are, you. You know, the running back is a close family friend, the little wide receiver, you know. I just don't think it's going to stop. It's not the way football works. St. Soccer.

That's not a shot. I enjoy high-level soccer, though the MLS, Messi has kind of rendered that irrelevant in terms of the talent. I think we all have to agree. Can someone tell Dan Campbell to stop going forward on four down? They don't have the Niners or Cowboys defense. It costs them momentum in the game. You have to understand that the front offices and so many of these owners, Obviously, most owners are business-oriented people.

Well, what do business-oriented people know? Spreadsheets, numbers, percentages. So when you say, hey, when we go for it in these situations, we are, let's say, 30% more likely to win the game or score a touchdown or get a scoring drive. They're behind it. Like, these owners, Brandon Staley used to do it, like in insane spots. But he was doing it because he knew the front office and ownership were behind it.

Dan Campbell's not going to stop. And some of it's, you know, might be gut feel or, you know, what he learned for Sean Payton to kind of be a gunslinger. But I'll promise you this. Like, it's going to continue. And when you see all these teams, and a lot of teams go for it now all the time, you have to understand the people with the money, aka the people signing the checks, the owners, are cool with it.

Because they speak that language. So it's, it's not only not going to stop. It's probably going to get more outrageous as time goes on. And I'm not even just talking, Campbell. I'm just talking in general. Listen, I think you lost that game for two reasons. One, Gino was awesome. Like, Gino played, that's got to be one of his better games in Seattle, especially

coming off, you know, a down game for him. His numbers, week one, looked worse than his actual play. I watched that game last week in the middle of the week. He actually wasn't that bad, but he was good against you guys and got through the pick six. Like, that was a, I mean, that's a huge swing. Chiefs fan here, who doesn't really understand how the salary cap aspect of the new restructured deal benefit the team raising his per average. And couldn't they have just kept him at how much he was making already because he signed a 10-year deal? Listen, obviously they were never going to cut Patrick Mahomes.

So the guaranteed money with the overwhelming percentage of quarterbacks, right? Most of them are not in Russell Wilson situation. It's kind of irrelevant because you play out your entire contract. But once some of these guys started getting the amount of money and technically a lot of his guarantees were over, you kind of had to take care of the guy, right? Multiple MVP's face of the league, he is making so much money for the franchise that I don't think they really had a choice to do something like this. Does it impact their salary cap a little bit? For sure. Anytime you give guaranteed money, it impacts the cap.

Now, because of the length of the deal, you can always push it. back. I haven't looked at the exact breakdown of the cap numbers. Not that I'm some capologist, but if I give you $100 million guaranteed of it or five-year contract, I can backload the hit on my salary cap, or I can do it evenly. I can do it however I need to do it. So I don't think it's that big a deal. They clearly have a pretty good idea what they're doing when it comes to when it comes to salary cap. But I don't think, I don't think they really had a choice. How ironic would it be if Trey Lance wins a Super Bowl with the Cowboys on the bench before Kyle Shanahan wins one with the 49ers?

You know, to me, there's no connection there. He's the third string quarterback. Third string quarterback. He clearly, the Cowboys are awesome, and they'll probably play the Niners again in the playoffs for the third straight year. But Trey Lance has nothing to do with either team. He was never going to play a snap for this 49er team, and he's never going to play a snap for this cowboy team unless catastrophic injuries happen.

It would take catastrophic injuries happening for him to take one snap. So I hear what you're saying in a little bit, but I think, I can't. I don't think he has anything to do with the Cowboys. He literally doesn't. We watch them play, and he's not a part of it. Do you think Herbert should have held out on his extension to make the Chargers pay for a legitimate coach? Do you think there's anything he can do to get them good enough head coach?

Or does it seem lost his leverage? Or does it seem like he lost all of his leverage because of the extension? Well, it's easier to say, and it doesn't sound that crazy when I read your question. You would have to be in your 20s pretty freaking ruthless to do that. Like, I am not signing extension. I'm not showing up to training camp unless you get rid of this coach. And that assumes maybe he likes them personally. I have no clue about Herbert and Bramner.

Stanley's personal, you know, working relationship. But I would say knowing people that have been around Herbert, I know a ton of scouts that, you know, do Oregon extensively, that's not really his MO and his resume, regardless of how he, you know, he feels. So is that move, could someone do it? Of course. Like, he did that. If he would have said this offseason, it's, I'm never going to sign an extension here.

if you don't get rid of this guy. The problem is this isn't the NBA. I always get back to that. This is not the NBA. So the Chargers would have been like, yeah, let's just assume, unless I don't know why they would want to get into a fight with Herbert, but you're not going to be a free agent. So what does that mean?

You're going to play your fifth-year option, then we'll tag you and we'll tag you again. Like, you're just not going to go anywhere. So it's more complicated than, in theory, how it should be kind of easy. You've got to be ruthless. And a lot of these guys, you know, in their mid to late 20s.

It's one, it's, let's face it. When Aaron Rogers started kind of being a little more cutthroat, he was 37, 38 years old. Rogers a little bit older than me, but it's, it's much easier, you know, to, I don't know, be more aggressive in business when you just have more experience in life, right?

Most people are not wheeling and dealing at 26 years old, right? It's easier to do it at 40. Look at Tom. Tom and Bill finally had a, Tom was like 42 years old. So it's much, much more difficult to do at 20. I don't blame him for just kind of staying out of it. And honestly, it shouldn't be on him.

It's not his. Indirectly, it is his problem, but it's not his problem. He's not the one that runs to organ. He doesn't own the team. I love sending you questions, and I have another. With the Jets and Broncos as good examples, say they end up in the top five range and they're able to draft a Sanders or a maze

because of huge money, they're literally stuck. Well, the Jets would not be if somehow they end up going four or five wins, which I'm going to judge him more this week. I think they play the Pats. Last week, that was a bad, that's a bad matchup for Aaron Rogers. Like, they're losing that game. I think the Cowboys beat him with Aaron Rogers nine out of ten times.

It's just how are they going to block Michael Parsons? Obviously, they didn't. I don't think that's changing with Aaron. Now, maybe the game plan, he gets rid of the ball. you know, Zach missed some open guys. He definitely missed one guy in the red zone. But I guess the roundabout way of saying, I think neither would hesitate. Could you see the Bears trading for Kyler if they don't get a top quarterback prospect?

I think they'll be in the mix to get a top quarterback prospect. 100%. I have a hard time seeing them go if Justin Fields continues to do what he's doing and is terrible, them trading for Kyler Murray. I just, I don't see it. I look forward to the Sean Payton Bronco stuff. The Hackett under the bus insult stuff is aging kind of hilariously. It kind of is.

I didn't even thought about that angle. Sometimes, listen, is Nathaniel Hackett a good coach as an offensive coordinator? I have a hard time saying yay or nay. Clearly as a head coach, he was overwhelmed with the time management and some of that stuff. But let's face it, Russell was not his fault. That's Russell Wilson. Assuming the Raiders have an average to below average year, do you see us taking a quarterback along those lines what quarterback do you think mcdaniels would wish to select seeing as mostly he likes pocket quarterbacks hopefully mark davis can pull his head out of his ass fire mickey d's and hire someone good at their job listen i mean josh the majority of his career work with tom who he had nothing to do with drafting when he was in charge he drafted tim tibo that obviously didn't go that well i i do think he clearly liked mac jones so mac is

more athletic version of, I would say, like a Jimmy. You know, in theory he should have liked Derek Carr. They clearly did not see I die. So I have no clue. I really don't. I mean, they're going to be, I don't think the Raiders would get the number one overall picks of Caleb's off the table. You know, I think a lot of people like Drake May.

I texted with, you know, higher up this weekend, right as the North Carolina game was kicking off. And I was about to go out and do a little day drink. and I said, what's this guy's, is Drake May the real deal? He said he's very, very good. So, I mean, we're looking at a guy who feels like a lock number two pick. Assuming Shador Sanders does not come out, given that, you know, Travis Hunter's coming back and his brother's there.

So if Shador comes out, then I think him and Drake May would be in the mix for number two. I think Caleb, unless something crazy happens, like off the field is almost set in stone at number one. Now, they play, so I would never say never in life or sports. The Eagles new ace OC is getting some flack after not having good offensive performances, rightfully so. They have a top five tied end and a top two or three wide receiver duo, one of the best O' lines in football. But isn't a positive sign that in a Vikings game he realized what wasn't working and kept pounding what was?

Play calling is difficult, and there's no real way to practice it. The fact that he adjusted in game is a positive sign. How many times do we see coordinators adjust? Seems like a lot of guys just keep pounding their head against the wall expecting different results. There's going to be some growing pains, but no one seems to really be pointing out the thing he did well. Here's what you have to realize. In the NFC, the Eagles, Cowboys, and 49ers are just judged off each other. No one is in their world.

It's like college football right now. It's like Georgia or Alabama when they were really good or Clemson when they were really good. They're on a different level than everybody else. So there's no teams in the conference, Seattle, The Rams, the Vikings turns out they suck. But all these teams, the giants, they're not remotely as good as these guys. So the only way to win the NFC, and they're all going to play each other because the NFC West plays the NFC East. And like Colin and I talked about, it's just a three-team race.

So you're just judged based on the other three teams. And think a part of being an offensive coordinator for the Eagles is like, you've got to beat Dan Quinn and that defense. And you've got to beat the 49ers defense. So those are the games that he's going to get judged on. I hear you. I mean, my rule of thumb in general, I would say definitely pass like Halloween. You could even argue by like early October once you get to like week four or five. Thursday night game, who cares what it looks like?

Just win and get out of there. Eagles won. Now, I think we're a little harsher. It was the first Thursday night game of the year. So it's the wear and tear of having like a Thursday night game in December. It's a little different. But I do think it's fair to say. I think what concerns people is Jalen got all this money because he looked like an MVP.

Anytime that you take over as an offensive coordinator for a guy that looks like an MVP, you get judged on that standard. That's why he's like, is Ken Dorsey any good? That's what everyone keeps asking. Does the guy know what he's doing? It's like, well, he took over Josh Allen, who was playing like an MVP for Brian Dayball in the last couple of years has been a roller coaster ride. And then he played the Raiders and he looked like an MVP again.

So I hear what you're saying. I do. But I do think you get judged to. higher standards. I was tweeting the same things yesterday against when Steve Wilkes was getting lit up by Sean McVeigh. He's not held to just, oh, just be a good defensive coordinator. Robert Salo was really good, got a job. D'Amico came in was even better. That's who he's being compared to. Now, in fairness, you know, takes a couple weeks. You just got Nick Bow, so you got to learn, but new coordinators are held to high standards when they're taking over for really good team. Wondering

your thoughts on Notre Dame quarterback, Sam Hartman. Off to a hot start first round quarterback prospect. I would have said coming into the season knowing the age, no. Because not that I care that much about age. And if he plays 10 years, multiple contracts, who really cares? And 35 in 10 years

is probably the new 31. But he's going to be 25 next football season. So you're drafting a guy who's 25 years old. Now, they're going to play some really big games, right? starting this week.

They have Ohio State. There are going to be a lot of people. The amount of scouts at that game, it'll be eye-opening. And just in general, I mean, you start getting some of these conference matchups, USC, Colorado, right? Clemson, Florida State. Georgia, I don't know, Georgia doesn't play Bama,

I don't think, but, you know, BAMLSU, those Michigan, Ohio State, like, you go to those, those are the games you go to. And if you're scouting Sam Hartman, I want to see him in this environment. So I would say he's a TBD right now. I know I text with someone the other day that thought he was a third day prospect coming into this season based off previous film, which sounds worse than it is. Like, what's wrong?

He can go in the fourth round. A lot of guys go in the fourth, fifth round, then I'll start. Sam Howell, fifth round pick starting. Brock Purdy, seventh round pick starting. They're in the second year of their careers. So he's going to get judged. I'm not saying they threw stuff out at Wake Forest because his numbers at Wake Forest were really impressive. But this year's big for him.

It really is. And right now, dramatically better than he was. His last two years of Wake Forest, he was like 39 and 14, 38 and 12. And clearly at Wake Forest, they're not as good as some of the teams that are playing, you know, Florida State Clemson. But his completion percentage was never that high. And this year so far, now they haven't really played anybody, but he's 70% 13 touchdowns, no picks. So I would say right now, you could argue, Shador was an unknown, right?

Probably no one has helped their stock more, but what was his stock? He didn't have a grade, right? I got news for you, no one gave him a grade coming out of Jackson State. Sam Hartman was on everyone's radar, right? Just like the Florida State wide receiver that had the big game against a grade. LSU. Like that guy was in Michigan State. Everyone was watching that guy because they had like a second round grade on them. The season ends. That guy's probably going to go on the first round. Right. So Hartman's a guy for fifth rounder. And you know, maybe someone liked them as a third rounder. Probably not just, and I'm just looking at the stats. I didn't watch him in Wake Forest.

You have a year where you throw like 45 touchdowns lead Notre Dame to a playoff berth. You keep balling against the big boys? I'm fascinated to watch him. I got to go to wedding this week. That game's at 430. I'll be in the bathroom watching some games on my phone. So he's got Ohio State. Then he's got at Duke, who clearly is not bad. They play USC, still plays Clemson. They got a pretty good schedule.

I mean, they really do. These next two weeks are huge. And then Clemson, who's obviously not that good in USC, but they got NFL bodies. You got NFL bodies. People in the league watch. have a comment, then a question. I was prepared to ask you to apologize to the Rams if we beat the Niners yesterday, but as a Rams fan, I'm still pumped.

My question is, given how well the Rams have looked the first two weeks without Cup, do you believe the Rams are a legit contender in the NFC once he came back? I talked about this with Colin yesterday. I said, listen, I was wrong. Through two weeks, one, Stafford looks really good and healthy. and McVeigh is just, he's pretty dialed right now. Not that he wasn't last year, but it just took a toll on him. They hit on some young guys.

Young Zero, the past rusherer is just, he's a playmaker. And clearly Puka Natua is, I mean, setting records. Tutu Atwell's coming on. The running back they have, Williams from Notre Dame is pretty solid. Cam Acres, for whatever reason, just will not listen to McVeigh. listen, as someone who, you know, I can struggle to listen to authority a time or two in my life. Who doesn't listen to Sean? It's like, I don't understand their relationship.

Last year, hated each other. They just were not on the same page. But then by the end of the year, they were like, okay, we're cool again. Then this year it felt like everything was cool, plays week one, and then something happens in the last six or seven days. I'm fascinated by Cam Acres and John McVeigh. frustrating to be a bangles fan because I think we could absolutely upgrade from Zach Taylor,

but our team is talented enough to win enough games that he'll never get fired. I mean, this guy does not know how to scheme Jamar Chase open of all guys. Two straight O and two starts, just frustrating. I think this year's a little different than last. I'd be lying, I don't even remember your first two games last year.

I mean, I know you started O and two. Joe looked, clearly he's injured right now and he might not play this week. I think that calf probably worse these first couple games than they even let on. And he re-aggregated it. To me, the eye test is just not there. And if Joe Burrow is not going to play well, you guys are just not going to win. And your defense, let's face it, you lost in pieces.

That's been an underrated part of the Bengals the last couple of years. Is Coach Liu and the defense was really good. And I watched Lamar Jackson kind of run circles around him. So that's, to me, that would be a little concerning. But you know better than me about just his play calling on a game in, game out, random opponents. It does feel like Joe Burrell has a little bit, like, I'll barrel everyone out, right? Where when you watch the Chiefs, for example, you know, like, obviously Mahomes bails him out, but also Andy does as much for the scheme and the play calling.

But it's a two-way street, right? They're in it arm and arm. sometimes it feels, at least in my experience, as someone who's objective, no bias, I honestly don't even care. I feel like at first I didn't like Zach Taylor just because everyone else didn't like him, but I don't really necessarily have an opinion because he's won a lot. But I do think it's fair to say it feels like Joe bails you out, and definitely the two wide receivers just make plays out of their ass.

I don't know how often you repeated people for mailback questions, but if you see this, I got something for you. I'd like to see Belichick move on from us after the season and go to the Chargers. Am I crazy for that? I know you say they need an offensive guy, but with Kellynne Moore, they have the talent. Belichick can actually have the defense right away.

Yeah, I mean, I don't hate that. I do think the Patriots are a couple more losses away. Are they looking at a six-win season? And I understand he's chasing almost a Dean Spanos. He's chasing Don Shula. He's trying to break this record. But I remember Don Shula at the end was pretty, it wasn't great. right is this how belichick's going to go out of the patriots but i also don't see him quitting

so he's going to have they're going to have to force him out and do they have the balls to do that i don't think they do if he's able to get like eight nine wins you win six and it's really really ugly like it hasn't been super ugly yet to me it hasn't been they've actually been better this year than last year and didn't he go eight and nine which not good enough but i that'd be awesome here's the thing with bill with uh with uh Belichick. Bill's used to make a lot of money. And I understand football coaches, especially Bill, if you just saw his house or saw him pull up in a car, you would not know it. I think Bill Belichick's making like $20, $25 million a year.

He was making the craft so much money over a 20 year span that if you told me Belichick was making $30 million a year, I'd kind of believe you, which also works against them. Once you start paying a guy based on previous performance and what he's worth, like, Belichick was worth $20 million in 2015, $25 million. So they're paying him a boatload of money. Once it starts going the other way, you go, this doesn't add up. Why are we paying this guy that much? But on the flip side, like, does chargers?

Would he just go to the charges for three years, $30 million? You know, it's 72 years old? Do you see Bill in L.A.? Culturally, he's a fit in the Northeast. Grumpy, belongs in the cold. I mean, his nickname is the hoodie. Is he just Manhattan Beach guy? Could you see Bill just kind of walking around Malibu shirtless, you know, in June?

I have a hard time seeing that. And he's a Nantucket, Massachusetts, Providence. I don't even know, I don't know why I said Providence, but just that upper quartile of the country there. I just, I have a hard time seeing, oh, Bill just roaming around San Diego in his off day. I don't know. Don't see it. I would say a lot is on the table with Bill. I'll check right now, a lot.

Broncos fan, I'm out on Russell Wilson. Once he's out of the scripted plays, it's immediate and obvious. He plays losing football consistently now. They had complete control of the game. What's crazy is I had it on one of those, like those four split games that YouTube TV does. And I kind of stopped paying attention

because they were up 213, so I'm like, oh, they're going to win this game to 30 to 13. And then I kind of peeked back. I'm pretty sure it became 24 to 24. or Washington either had the lead or tied the game. Like, what the hell happened? If I were the Broncos, I'm doing whatever I can to get the guy the hell out of Denver. What if they gave him until they were out of the playoffs,

put in sit-in for the rest of the season, draft a quarterback in the first round, and make it clear to Wilson and his representation that he has no future on the Denver Broncos and only chance he has of sniffing the field again is if he takes a massive pay cut so they can trade them. Well, don't hate your logic. and don't hate the mindset. But put yourself in Russell Wilson's shoes and go,

they owe you X number or dollars, whatever that actual number is. Let's just pick an even number. They owe you a hundred more million dollars. They have to pay you, especially if they cut you. In what world would you take a pay cut to, okay, let's just say that hundred went to 50.

Who wants that $50 million? Imagine the pay cut Russell Wilson would have to take to make him a desirable asset. it would have to be an extraordinary pay cut in terms of, I mean, it'd have to go from like, if he's making $40 million a year, I don't know, $8 million for anyone to be interested. Because if me and you were running a team,

I wouldn't take him on at $20 million, let alone 40. But if you're Russell, why would you take, why would you even entertain that? You'd just take cut me, make me a free agent, pay me my money. Businessman, it's a contract. and the only thing you have your leverage as a player is that guaranteed money. And the Broncos gave it to him.

So I don't think even taking a pay cut makes him a desirable piece on the open market. I actually think he's kind of toxic. And he's not a bad guy. He's not like he's a toxic like Antonio Brown. He's toxic because he's super famous. He's now super polarizing because of his play. And he makes a ton of money. And last year, like it felt like the last couple years, his ego and his relatability in a locker room was not there.

It's a huge knock on Carson Wentz for one of the reasons that Jalen was beloved and an easy move for Howie and Lurie to make because everyone liked him. People like Russ. I'm not saying they don't like Russ, but it doesn't feel like their head over heels for the guy. How much longer Staley got? I know the Spanel's is cheap. How was this guy ever the DC? His defenses have no discipline, two personal foul on third down leading to a touch. down wasting Herbert i'm not even a charger fan i think if they start like one and four one and

five that he's a mid-season fire and they just they just basically do a tryout period with with uh kellen more i have nothing left to say at this point if you've been listening to me for a long time i mean i've said everything there is to say so i hear you i think the only question now is when do they fire and i you know in this business is weird like i'm not i would never ever root for anyone to get fired in life. It's kind of weird. It's part of the business we talk about. But I'm also talking about a guy making probably $8 million who has no business

to making $8 million. A lot of phonies and frauds in sports, man, because of the amount of money in terms of executives and coaches. You can't be a phony or fraud as a player because even say what you want about Russell Wilson now, he had eight years of backing it up to deserve a contract. It just doesn't exist anymore, but he earned that over his play. for a long period of time. Like his resume spoke for itself.

You can't fake it as a player. You can't. But you can fake it as coaches. You really can. You can be in better situations. You can have your friends take care of you. Agents, place guys now. And I think this guy,

I'll say this, he added the right guy kind of stamp, giving the stamp of approval early. And that was Vic Fangio. but and listen, I'm not saying the guy's not a good position coach, but he's, hell, he's coordinated in the NFL for one year. And it was a team that had Aaron Donald in the peak of his powers,

Jalen Ramsey, I mean, pretty damn good players. Johnson, the dude that signed with the Browns, I think he's back on the Rams now. But I mean, go look at the roster in which he coached the year with the Rams. I'm riding in half time. So maybe this question will age poorly. Are the Giants the worst team in the league? That was funny.

It's funny, man. It was not looking good. It was because they play the 49ers this Thursday. You're down 20 to nothing at half. You've been outscored your first six quarters, 60 to nothing, lifeless. It's one thing to get your ass kicked by the Cowboys. They beat you what? 12 of the last 13 times you've played.

They're just better than you. It's another thing to go on the road at Arizona and lose that game. And you had to find a way to win it. Once you're down 20-0 and halftime, like whatever, style points, out the window, just win the freaking game. And I'll say this, they won the freaking game. If you were the owners of the Raiders, how would you fix the team? What is it going to take for the Vegas to be a consistent winner? I texted someone this yesterday.

I've been watching the Raiders very, very closely now for over a decade. No team. Let me repeat. No team that never drafts like one or two. A lot of the time, they're like 7 and 10 or 8 and 9. or nine and eight, like they're just kind of six, seven wins. They get blown out more often for a team that isn't like drafting one,

more than any team in the league. I have seen, and any Raider fan knows this, you guys have been blown out more over the course of a decade than any team that's not tanking or destined to draft one. I think this Raider team's going to win seven games, minimum. I could see them win an eighth. but seven, eight games.

And they're going to get blown out three or four times this year. It's crazy to watch. It happens all the time with the steam. And I think it speaks to obviously defensively. They're just consistently not great. They have a ton of holes. They just have issues. Always.

Now, part of it is you sign Chandler Jones to be Max Crosby's running mate. And through two weeks, Chandler Jones leads the NFL in tweets. Like, in his tweets, like, I don't even know where to be. What do you even say if you've seen his tweet threads? He hasn't played neither game. Clearly there is something going on there. Team player. I don't even know.

Some of the tweets disturbing. It's just, it's a bizarre situation. But it just feels very Raiders. The Raiders are always in bizarre situations. They lead the league in bizarre situations and have most of my life. How bad can Fields look before he gets benched or traded? I don't think he has much. trade value, especially mid-season.

So he's in his third year, so no team if they traded for him, pick up his fifth-year option. He was, what, the 11th pick, so he makes a decent amount of money. I was thinking about this last night after I got done with Colin. It is insane to think about that three quarterbacks, who all stink, Zach Wilson might be the best, but even that. I mean, Trey Lance may never play another game in the NFL. He is not guaranteed to ever play another game in the NFL.

Fields is completely overwhelmed, and Zach Wilson isn't good. All three of them got drafted. Above Micah Parsons, who feels like, not just if he doesn't get injured, a lock hall of famer, like one of the best players we've ever seen. You see that guy yesterday? I know they're playing the Jets, but holy canola! That guy looks like, that guy's incredible. All three of those guys,

can't play dead in a Western and they got drafted over Michael Parsons. Weird year 2020, but still, even like Jalen Waddle of some of those guys, Justin Fields went after him, right? Jamar Chase, Penae Soel, Michael Parsons, now part of it was, historically

Penn State from a scouting perspective, is always very weird, that they're not very open. Like, if you ask anyone that goes into Alabama or some of these schools, like, it's pretty easy to get information. You go into Penn State, maybe it's changed.

I don't actually have heard it's not great. And there was some weird red flag stuff, like whatever, I used to look at Michael, like high character guy, great human being. If you redid that draft, here's what I know for a fact. It goes Trevor Lawrence, Micah Parsons. That is a fact, Jack.

Who goes third? We'd have to, we could debate that. But there is no question who goes one and two. Okay, we got a lot of mailbag questions this week. So I think I will end on, I will end on. Okay, we'll do one more. Question for the pod, sending this a week late

as they just had an away game, but you've never heard, seen anything like the Chargers non-home field advantage in L.A. There were points in the Miami game that they were going silent count in a home game. Seems like they are playing

14 to 15 away games per year. I just want Herbie to thrive, fire staly and go ducks. The Rams are dealing with this too when they play the 49ers. I mean, that was like 75% 9er fans. The thing with L.A. is not only they'd not have a team for whatever, two and a half decades,

that's a long time. And L.A. is an enormous area with a lot of transplants. And the thing with the Rams, like whatever, you were gone, you left, people found new teams. The Chargers had a home. And I understand there were some financial issues and no one will support you when you argue with the politicians in California. the local politicians, they're always embarrassing. I've seen it with the Niners, dealing with Santa Clara. I saw it with Oakland. The Oakland's the worst. But L.A., San Diego, you name it.

So I'm not even acting like Dean Spanos might have had some fair arguments. I don't even know what they were. But they should have found a way to stay. They really should have. But Dean, definitely not a visionary. And I understand the thing I don't understand with a guy like Dean, who's just going to give it to his kids. We up the value of our franchise,

moving an hour north. What does that mean? I don't, it's not like you're doubling your home value where you can take a helock out of it and use it to buy another home or something. Like, what does that mean? What, okay, does that mean you just get to be a little richer?

It's not really impacting your team because the media deals, you have enough money for everything. You don't own the stadium. You pay Cronky a dollar rent every year. So you get to build some cooler facilities and El Segundo, wherever the fuck you moved to. Like, I don't understand the added value necessarily.

Like, I understand it for Mark Davis. If he's forced to sell, he will make a dramatic, you know, lemur being in Vegas than Oakland. Like, that makes sense. Like, the Davis family is not going to own the Raiders forever. And whenever they sell it, they will benefit dramatically from that move. Spanos family ain't selling a team. So what's the end game here?

You have no fans. I went to college with so many San Diego people. and I swear to God they all loved the Chargers I'm talking diehards they're all you know they kind of have the surfer vibe San Diego chill

when the Charger games came on or it was time to talk football they knew their shit and I I've always felt for them like I don't I was biased because when the Raiders moved I was at the station that had the Raiders but it was never going to work in Oakland

Oakland is a disaster. I mean, it's a joke. All three teams left in five-year span. Think about that. The basketball team, Lakeham couldn't get out of there fast enough. Mark Davis just didn't have any money in Vegas, you know, opened up their checkbook, and the A's are just, they can't survive in Oakland. So three professional teams and three different sports will leave Oakland in a five-year span.

Like, that's one of the last places in America you would put a team in 2023 would be Oakland, California. Promise you that. So as someone that didn't want them to leave, again, I had an agenda. I was biased. It's 100% the right move. I'll never agree with the Chargers move, ever. I understand why Stan came back, right? Because the stadium is incredible.

You ever get a chance to go to that thing? It's mind-blowing how nice it is when you walk in. And I've been to a lot of stadiums. I think it's one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed in person. And I'm not talking like I've been to it like the Roman Coliseum or the, Statue of Liberty. I'm just talking sporting-wise. I've been to a lot of venues for a lot of different sports.

That feels like the modern-day, I don't know, Fenway Parker. You know, it's different. Obviously, it's not like any of the old. My point is you walk in, you go, I've never seen, experienced anything like this. This is, this place is beyond cool. It's just, this is where I'd want to play if I had a team. And I think both of them battle, having fans, which I'll say this for LA.

They have two franchises that have a ton of support and that are, the Yankees are the biggest brand in baseball, but the Dodgers are arguably second. And it pains me to say this because I fucking hate this team, but the Lakers are the biggest brand in basketball. So it's not like L.A. doesn't like sports. They do a lot. I just think football, you leave for that long,

McVeigh's cool and all, but the Rams only get, and they just want a Super Bowl, The chargers are never going to be relevant. They're probably like the seven team in L.A., right? The Niners, the Raiders, clearly the Rams. I bet they're sneaky a lot of like the Northeast group with the Giants, the Jets, the Eagles. I bet a lot of those people in Southern California. So it sucks.

And I don't think that home field advantage will ever change. Like the Raiders have fans, but you put them in Vegas like it's an easy place and a fun place for away fans to go. The other thing is like they play in a division against the Broncos, against the Chiefs, You know, they play in the AFC, so you're playing the Steelers. You're playing the Jets. You're going to play franchises that have a lot of fans and going to Vegas, it's cool. Going to Vegas is a pretty easy trip. There's direct flights.

You can stay there for relatively cheap. So that's certain places you build stadiums. It's just going to be, if the bears are good, if the Niners are good, if the Jets are good, like these people have been in the same place forever. When you're a nomad, you can't complain about having issues with home games. There's a reason Michigan and Ohio State and Duke basketball, like, they've been there forever. You don't have to worry about them moving. So I don't feel sympathy when you deal with the backlash of issues with home games when you move a lot.

Part of what comes with the territory. Appreciate everyone listening. Have a great week. This is a longer podcast because we did a lot of these mailbag questions. But we'll keep them pumping all week and three more podcasts to come. Let's roll, baby. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

guests. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan,

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