The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Rams Roll, Kliff's Collapse Complete, Bills/Chiefs AFC Heavyweights, Mac and Dak's Limitations, What Russ Wants, Mailbag

Episode Date: January 18, 2022

John reacts to the Rams blowout of the Cardinals on Monday night, and why Kliff Kingsbury should be done in Arizona. Then he looks at the massive upcoming Bills/Chiefs AFC heavyweight fight, why the Cowboys need to adapt their offense to mask Dak Prescott's weaknesses, why the Patriots need to load up on playmakers to win in the playoffs again, and why the Seahawks shouldn't let Russell Wilson to dictate personnel decisions. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag.Follow John and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. 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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Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Using your Aspiration Zero credit card helps fight climate change. It's true. See, Aspiration Zero plants a tree each time you make a purchase. And tree planting is one of the most effective ways to combat global warming. Track your progress in the app and earn 1% cash back each month you reach Carbon Zero. Aspiration Zero. One card, zero carbon footprint. Learn more at Aspiration.com. Section Zero MasterCard is issued by Beneficial State Bank Pursuant to License by MasterC International Incorporated. Beneficial State Bank member FDIC 2021.

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Absolute ass whooping going on in this Monday night football game. Let's see. Make sure I didn't miss anything. 34 to 11. Four minutes left. We will dive into that game off the top, obviously. Subscribe to the podcast. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel. I'm going to need a bunch more Middlecoff mailbags at John Middlecoff is the Instagram handle. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram handle. Slide up into those DMs. Ask your questions. If you've already asked questions, it doesn't go into my new slot.

So it's harder for me to see it. So if you have never asked a question, you want to ask a question. You want to get your question answered here on the show. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs. We got basically the final eight, right? The final four in the AFC, the final four in the NFC. Packers, Niners.

Niners, Bucks, Rams, Titans, Bengals, Chiefs, Bills. Pretty good final eight. I don't think most people at the beginning of the year would have picked. Definitely Bill's Chiefs, Packers, Rams, Bucks, the Niners. I mean, I think all those teams were picked. I think the Titans were a playoff team, but I don't think we ever thought they would be the one seat. And the Bengals, you know, came out of nowhere. But not really.

I mean, Joe Burroughs stud. So we will dive into a bunch of football talk, have the golf podcast out. Wednesday as well. And we'll keep on Rocking and rolling. Rocket and rolling, baby. Football playoffs. We have four, six, seven games left. Seven games left until the fall.

So enjoy the football. Unless you're like an SEC or Big Ten, then you guys got that spring football game. But let's face it, we don't really count that. So AAAF or XFL, any of those spring leagues still even around? I don't count that either. Let's face it. Those suck.

We got seven games left in the NFL. It's been fun. Pretty, pretty uneventful wildcard weekend. Actually, not great. Let's be real. I'm going to start on a positive note. I was at SoFi Stadium last week, obviously. Got the Kron, got sick, well worth it.

Little L.A. Country Club Saturday. Sofi Stadium to watch one of the craziest games I've ever seen. And to watch the 49ers come back and ruin the Rams Day. It was very bizarre because the Niners win, they celebrate, and on Cronkies, like his video board, which is circular, it's like because the Seattle Cioxx has just kicked the Cardinals' ass. They won the division that day. So it's like, you're a or your NFC West champions.

But it was pretty devastating. It wasn't your typical hats and t-shirt game. And that was a rough L. Now, it wasn't the ultimate end result because they, They still won the division. They still got a home playoff game. But you still lost the game. And to come back, and I know the Cardinals are a pretty gutless team in December and January.

Like the evidence is in. We'll get to them here in a second. That's impressive by Sean McVeigh. I've said it for a while. I'm a big Sean McVeigh fan. It didn't bother me when he was celebrating in the end zone. Like, be you. Be true to yourself.

If you're not, if you're Belichick and you have no emotion, have no emotion. If you're going to be celebratory, be celebratory. Sean McVey is a big boy coach. He has now won, you know, obviously he won a playoff game last year on the road. He wins a playoff game again this year easily cruises to a victory against a team that was once upon a time. I think 10 and 2 or 10 and 1 kick their ass. That is a absolute beat down. But to get your team after going through that type L, to get them not just ready to play, focus to play,

but to come out like they came out, 21 nothing and half time, firing in all cylinders, look fantastic, Beckham's look really good tonight. Cooper Cups is a star, getting Stafford under control in a playoff environment.

There's no way around it. Don't let his age fool you. Don't let the Fohawk fool you. Don't let, you know, the limited body fat and the muscle mass fool you. Sean McVeigh is a big time coach. And him studying under Grudens, both Grudens and the Shanahan family.

Like, that guy came ready to roll. when he got hired for the job. And clearly, you're always better, you know, five years into a job than you were when you first started. He's really good. He really is. Now, he's had several coordinators as his third defensive coordinator. I have a lot of respect tonight for watching Sean McVeigh

after what I witnessed personally have that team ready to come out guns, blaze, and execute an opponent. It's the playoffs. So, listen, the Cardinals, are they a real playoff team? I mean, they won whatever, 11 games. But, I mean, let's face it, they're not great. But to kick the living, you know what out of them, hat tip to Sean McVeigh.

That's what top flight coaches do. They play a home game against an opponent who's inferior, and they curb stop them right out of the building. They say, get out of here. You do not belong. And that's what Sean McVeigh did. And that's why he's a superstar head coach. I know he hasn't won a Super Bowl yet,

but I say the same thing about Kyle Shanahan. Like, yeah, they don't have Super Bowls, but how many coaches would you take, you know, non like Belichick and Andy over those guys? I got news for you, not many. And on the flip side, I'm not here to dance on the grave of the Arizona Cardals, but I think they have a question to answer. I looked it up when they were getting, when it was 28-0. Cliff Kingsbury signed a four-year contract when they hired him three years ago with a fifth-year

team option. And, you know, in college, you never want a guy to be coaching on his last. season because of recruiting and it matters. People can negatively recruit you. I don't think it matters as much in the pros, but under no circumstances if I'm Michael Bidwell, can I extend them? I think you could justify firing him and you're not going to win with Cliff Kingsbury. So if you want to fire him, the time is now. And Steve Kime, who I actually think is good at his job. Like Steve Kime at his job is better than Kingsbury at his job. The problem though is you can't allow a general manager to hire a fourth head coach. He's got a bunch of swings. He, they

They got Ariens, that was awesome. The last couple hires have just, this one was better than the last one that was one and done, but this is not working out. They have a ton of talent. They're underachieving. Their quarterback gets worse as the season goes on. I think we have to question like,

is Kyler pretty overrated? I'd be the first to tell you, his physical skills are immense. His speed, his arm strength, but as a player, he's not that good. Not when it really matters. And as the season goes on, he gets dramatically worse in November, December,

now obviously in January. The throw he made tonight in the end zone was a baffling throw. I mean, that's Carson Wentz like wants his playback. That cannot happen. He was the number one overall pick in the draft. I couldn't give that guy $100 million. And there were a lot of jokes on the internet.

He should go back to playing baseball. No, but is this guy a franchise quarterback? Because right now I'd have red flags. Under no circumstances, by signing him to a long-term contract. I would probably pick up his fifth-year option, but it would not surprise me if the owner fires the coach and the general manager in the next couple days.

The team has a ton of talent. Now, do they have a long-term quarterback? I think that is up for question. But listen, as someone who plans on buying real estate, hopefully in the sooner than later, in the greater Scottsdale, Arizona area, general managers and coaches would be lined up to go there. They have players on the roster. The division is big time. you know, they've had success in recent memory.

But listen, Cliff Kingsbury is a dead man walking now. If they let him coach on his last season, I don't see how you give them an extension. And I'm not going to take a victory lap on this one because I don't root. You know, even though these guys, like Kingsbury's a millionaire, I don't get joy in anyone losing their job. But I don't want to say, I told you so, but it was pretty clear this was never going to work. A couple things translate in football. physicality, toughness.

And listen, the game has changed, it's adapted, it's more of a throwing game than it ever has been, but you have to be physical in the playoffs. And you just watch his offense,

and I know they fell behind, it's just so fucking soft. You know, Sean McVeigh was licking his lips to play that team the night. And I would say McVeigh, having watched him

from a 49ers perspective, the Niners punk him because they're more physical. And you saw it at night, the Rams shove them around. And I would not, the Rams have some physical players, but I would not say they're like the toughest team in the league. And that was a toughness mismatch.

So the Arizona Cardinals flamed out again. This year was worse than last year. Because they were in cruise control for the division. Guys, and ladies, the Rams lost week 18. If Arizona just beat Seattle, who kicked their ass the final game of the season, season, they host this game. Now, do I still think the Rams could go on the road and beat them?

Of course I do. But that's a pretty big swing. These home and road playoff games are a big deal. So they just totally shit the bed again down the stretch. Like really, really bad. I did the math. They lost four of their last seven games. Or they, excuse me, they went four and seven in their last 12 games after their start. Like that, that's, that can't happen. That, that can't happen. You can't go four and seven. seven down the stretch. Not after that start with, you know, eight wins or seven wins, whatever. They're seven and oh. They just lack of toughness. There's a physicality that isn't there. And part of it, to me, it's the head coach, the scheme, and the little quarterback. And as someone who was a big fan of the little quarterback coming out, like, I'm out.

I'm out. I'm not saying the guy can't play and he can't win you some games. But that guy's not a Super Bowl winning quarterback. No chance. This is absolutely zero. I mean, I'm out. So you won't hear me defending the guy moving forward. NFL playoffs are here to celebrate Fandall Sportsbook is giving all customers, all customers, up to $100 bonus on same game parlays. You just place a same game parlay on the Cardinals Rams game,

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Grow your business with Shopify today. Go to Shopify.com slash J-O-H-N Shopify. Shopify.com slash John. I wanted to start with Sunday now, which is just a fantastic game. and we saw it my youth, the Cowboy Niner game this weekend was the first time they had played in the playoffs obviously in whatever 25 years but a huge part of me

loving football was my youth Cowboys Niners Cowboys Packers, Niners Packers like that when I think the 90s and I talked about this when John Madden passed away like that is what I remember and it was a huge part of me falling

in love with the sport of football because I attempted to play in high school, I was terrible. But like a lot of people, most people are not good at playing football. But there's a reason 30, 40 million people watch these big games, especially us, you know, in our 30s, our late 40s, 50s, whatever, because we've grown up on rivalries. And rivalries is one thing the NBA has lost with all the movement. The media loves it, all these guys jumping teams.

Junu doesn't love it, the fans. Because there aren't rivalries anymore. It's hard to have rivalries when you're on a different team every other year. Well, in football forever, you have these embedded rivalries with these embedded players. And football is a very fan-friendly league. Like everyone hates on social media. The franchise tag, you do?

The franchise tag's good for. You and me, the consumer. Because Aaron Rogers, Devante Adams, Russell Wilson, they can't just be like, trade me. The team say, no, you're staying. And ultimately, the fan gets to benefit from the players staying around, especially the star players. And there's a reason when you close your eyes, you think of the great quarterbacks, they stay on teams

when you think Troy Aitman, Steve Young, even Brett Farve, who took off at the end of his career, Tom Brady. I mean, if it wasn't for Peyton Manning's neck, he would have played on the Colts' entire career. And I think you're going to see two guys this weekend who, to me, are like, I never, one thing,

watching this Montana documentary, watching the Jordan documentary, I would have loved the 80s as a sports fan, all the NFL rivalries with Walsh and Parsons. Marcells and Belichick and Ditka and some of those Washington teams. I was made for the 80s. Magic Bird. MJ showing up.

Jack went in the Masters in 86. If I could have any decade that I missed out on, because I came into my own as sports fan 90s and present, right? Everything 80s and before I missed. I would choose the 80s. That decade from a sports perspective was badass. and I didn't get to experience Marino and Elway. I mean, I obviously watched those guys play

when I was in like junior high, but it was over. Even Elway winning those Super Bowls at the end, the reason he was winning it was because Terrell Davis and their defense. And I do think that these two guys, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, who combined for 10 touchdowns in the first round.

Like, obviously these guys throw touchdowns. One guy made $150 million, the other guy signed a $450 million contract. They are rock stars. And the league is built on the back of rock stars and star players. People always act like the NBA is a Star League. The NFL is too. Their stars are just quarterbacks and coaches.

The NBA, it's centers and shooting guards. But it's really these quarterbacks. And listen, we have some older quarterbacks like Tom Brady, who knows? It's not inconceivable. This is last year. I don't believe them necessarily, but Aaron Rogers always threatens to retire. You never know. It would totally shock me.

super rich, maybe goes out on top. I don't know. You never know with that guy. Rivers left, the mannings are gone. We are going through a transformation. And that's healthy. It happens all the time. It happened once with the Marino, Elway,

Aikman, young crew, right? Brady and Manning arrived. Same with Drew Brees. And then Rafflesberger and Eli and Rivers, and they carried the torch. And now you have these young guys. Like Patrick Mahomes, well established. MVP, Super Bowl champ,

highest paid plus. ever in terms of his length of his contract, absolute badass, Stone Cold Killer. Really, he's just adding to the resume. He's already proven his greatness. Josh Allen kind of proven his greatness, but is still working on it, right? Hasn't won an MVP, not going to win it this year,

has yet to win a Super Bowl, has an opportunity this year, but it's going to be difficult. And they're going to have to go on the road and win this game, which I talked about on yesterday's podcast, that there are two, two stadiums that really have a collegiate feel.

And that's rare. Like, the NFL is just different. It just is. But when you watch a game in Buffalo and when you watch a game in Kansas City and when Bill's Mafia start chanting together or the Chiefs start doing the chop, it does feel like you're watching an SEC game or a Big Ten game. And you don't get that environment in most of these. Like, you don't get that in Tampa.

You don't get that in Dallas. You just don't. When I watch those, cool environments, but nothing like a high-level college environment. And this game, to me, has it all. It has the box office flavor of these two-star quarterbacks. It has Andy Reid, one of the most accomplished quarterbacks or coaches ever. And one of his former, you know, protégés who came up with the Philadelphia Eagles. Sean McDermott got his start as basically Andy Reid's assistant, worked his way up, became Jim Johnson's guy,

then took over for Jim Johnson when he passed away. After a rough, my first season with the Eagles, he got fired, goes with Ron Rivera, you know, resurrects his career, helps that team go to Super Bowl, and now has done a masterful job in Buffalo. And this game, to me, is just fantastic. This is the National Football League.

In this game being an Arrowhead, I saw Travis Kelsey after that win, was like, can't wait, man. This is what all these guys sign up for. The bills now, to me, we're building a rivalry here. And rivalries are what this league has used to continue to separate themselves over the years.

And you need these. And they have to be organic. Like you can't force feed them. And they played last year in the AFC championship game. They're playing again in the second round, which let's face it, fair or not, does feel like the AFC. And I know Titans fans will get mad.

Joe Burrell fans will get mad. This game does feel the winner of this is going to the Super Bowl. I've been thinking a lot about DAC and I talked about him yesterday that in a salary cap league when you pay max money for a non-max player it can really hurt you.

Like in baseball when the Yankees or the Dodgers the Giants, the Red Sox, when they make a financial mistake, when they give a guy $200 million and it turns out he's an $80 million player, ultimately if they don't truly give a shit, it does not matter. They can buy the guy out later.

They don't have to play them. They can pay other players. They have a lot of wiggle room. Now, you see other organizations in the sport of baseball that are probably middle tier because the lower tier guys never sign those type contracts. But every once in a while, the middle tier organizations splurge and they buy a $150 million player. That guy better be sweet because the moment that guy does not live up to his all-star billing,

you're screwed because they're not in a position. to keep buying more players. Where in football, when you are going to invest in a guy at any position, I had a buddy that's a season ticket holder with the Niners, he's like, you know, I've watched Joe Mixing a couple times this year, and I don't really see it. And this guy's really smart, finance guy, really successful. He's like, you know, $12 million is not adding up to me.

He's like, this guy's actually worked in the NFL. And I'm like, I'm telling you, Joe Mixing is really good. I know Joe Mixon has battled some ankle injuries, but when you look at his production this year, he had 42 catches, he had 16 total touchdowns. Like his ROI on his $12 million, you're getting what you need out of the guy. And sometimes as a running back, you just get banged up and you're not as good for a period of time. But to me, Joe Mixon was well worth paying $12 million. But when Dak Prescott and everything happened once he shatters his ankle and they pay him this offseason,

my issue was not you wouldn't want him as your starting quarterback. had no issue with that. At the price point, though, given the salary cap, you got to start working it like a puzzle. And you go, you know, $40 million for Dak Prescott seems kind of crazy. But the main issue is like, from a leadership standpoint, from the way the guys react to him, clearly he checks all the intangible boxes.

But there was a reason he was a mid-round pick. Now, if you remember, I think the week of the draft, he got a DUI. so maybe he would have been a third round pick and he ended up going a fourth round pick because he got the DUI. But he was highly thought of coming out. But his skill set was not,

like talking about Mahomes and Josh Allen, when I think about two things, you have to have one of the two things and he just lacks at quarterback. I'm a sucker for strong arm guys. Now, just having a strong arm does not mean you're going to be a good quarterback. You have to have the requisite

understand defense, understand your own offense, have football intelligence. If you have that, which clearly is a baseline for all the good quarterbacks, being able to read defenses, understand pressures, understand situations. Like, we're talking the highest level here. One, do you have a strong arm? Dak Prescott does not. And two, are you accurate?

And I've watched Dak now in some big spots in the Arizona game a couple weeks ago, which I was on this podcast being like, oh, they're going to kick the Cardinals' ass. They lost. He wasn't very good. And that game against the 49ers, he was very inaccurate. So if you're not going to be a strong-armed guy, really his skill set, people are going to get mad at this, is much closer to Alex Smith, who had a lot of success when he was with Andy Reed and even that latter year with Jim Harbaugh,

because they used him correctly. Like they try to use, you would never use Alex Smith playing like Patrick Mahomes. There's a reason the chiefs looked one way with Alex, and they've looked dramatically different with Patrick Mahomes. because Andy adapted the scheme to Mahomes. Well, with Dak Prescott, Kellen Moore, which is a little weird, I guess they threw it a lot of Boise.

They spread it out. They have really good wide receivers. But in these big games, he is not Mr. Big Arm accurate quarterback. So when you try to sling it all over the place, and this is why I struggled to, like, I couldn't get behind paying him $40 million, because he's not accurate

and he doesn't have that explosive of an arm. And you saw yesterday, they really only took one shot. shot and they hit it on Amari when he smoked the slot receipt or the slot corner Kwan Williams, but they're not really bombs away because he's not a bombs away guy. So I do think like it's spilled milk, right? There's water in the bridge. The contract is the contract. He's not going anywhere. You do need to adapt the offense a little bit to his skill set. If you're going to ask him to throw it 45 to 50 times a game against the top teams, we're not talking

Joe Judge. We're not talking the football team. We're not talking the Eagles backup. We are talking the Niners, the Bucks, the Packers, the good teams for all the marbles, they have to play differently. That is not a formula for success. Now, when you look back at McCarthy's teams,

he had Rogers, who is infinitely better than Dak Prescott. But one of the reasons that Harbaugh got him twice, and then even, I guess McCarthy wasn't the team, but but McCarthy lost a lot of big playoff games is because they tried to play this spread office.

That's hard to play in the playoffs. Now, it wasn't because Rogers couldn't sling it around. It was just harder to play in, you know, the inclement weather. With Dak, it's just they're playing in a dome. It doesn't even matter. He's not built to do that. He's, you have to think of them much more closely to Alex Smith

than I think the way that the Cowboys internally believe that he's, that he is because he's just not that guy. It's just to me also kind of crazy. He's not that accurate. I watch a guy who's just not naturally that accurate, which if you're not going to have a big arm, that's a little concerning.

It really is. Jimmy Garapolo has a better arm than Dak Prescott. I don't even think that's arguable. If you have eyes and you watch the game, you go, yeah, Jimmy's got a more explosive arm. And it turns out Jimmy was playing yesterday with a sprained shoulder after the second quarter. The other team, which is the reason I wasn't that big on Mac Jones.

And like, I understand why Belichick took a minute. 15th overall. They had no quarterback situation. They were desperate to resign camp just because they didn't have anyone else. It was just values. He was the last quarterback on the board. I get it. But I do struggle with the ceiling of the franchise with a guy who's pretty average arm. Now, here's what I will say about Mac like DAC, his football intelligence, his understand, his ability to read defenses, his toughness, all the intangible stuff checks all the boxes. Mack is an impressive guy. I do think his skill set

when you just saw him on the field with Josh Allen, he couldn't dream of doing half the things Josh Allen does with his eyes closed. Or Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or Herbert or all the physically really talented guys. He's going to have to beat you with his mind and really

again play closer to Alex Smith. Well here's the thing with the Patriots is they were able to get away with it for a long period of time because they had Tom Brady. And you know, Gruncowse Edelman, their core guys on defense, their special teams were always good. They were a greatly built team. And Belichick deserves a lot of credit.

He built a team. And he also had the greatest quarterback of all time. But Tom's arm was really elite. I mean, Max just isn't. But unlike what they were able to somewhat circumvent with Tom, really their core guys on offense were the running backs, Grankowski and Edelman. And they kind of had a rotating door at wide receiver. But let's face it.

the second iteration of the Patriots that won several championships were not that dynamic at wide receiver. Mac Jones had success at Alabama because he had dynamic weapons outside. He had elite players. I mean, he had multiple, I guess he played at the end of that, you know, two as year because he got hurt. But the year he started, he had Waddle and he had, he had Devante Smith. And Devante Smith ended up win the highsman. He also had Najee Harris, who's starting running back for a you know, for a playoff team. Now, we can argue the Steelers a normal playoff team. Probably not. But Najee Harris is a stud. But those wide receivers were really a game changer. And Belichick is going to have to find a way. And I know he hasn't had much success drafting wide receivers. But look at

the bills who just kicked the shit out of them. They were in a position where they needed to help out their young quarterback. And they traded number, pick 22 for Stefan Dix. That is a massive hit. Diggs has been a star for them. It's actually been a win-win. Because the Vikings, the best player on their team is the wide receiver that they used with that pick. Really, it could have been a win-win.

You could have just stayed there. It's hard to know when they made the trade. They had to make the trade. That was a very, very good trade. I do think that Belichick is going to have to entertain doing something like that this off-season. Is there a guy? And I don't know the specific player,

but is D.K. Metcalfe available? Could you trade your first round pick for D.K. Mac? I'm not even saying he's worthy of it. I'm just throwing out a name of a team that might be doing some turnover. That would be the type move to do. Remember, the Cardinals did it a couple years ago when they traded for DeAndre Hopkins. Now, they only had to use a second round pick. I think Belichick is going to have to utilize draft capital to get Mac Jones some help.

Because part of their limitation is going to be in 2022, like things change. It was much easier. In defense and physicality, I was texting with a guy. in the NFL that actually was part of a pretty physical win over the weekend. And he was saying like they just didn't want it. We hit them in the teeth early on and we could tell they kind of wiltered. Physicality and toughness will always work in the NFL. No matter how much the rule changes, no matter how much society changes,

physicality, toughness translates in life and definitely in the sport of football and definitely on the road. So I'm not saying that Belichick has to change his own mindset. He's the greatest coach of all time. But they got away this year with playing defense and running the ball. Well, to win in the playoffs, especially in the AFC, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, even with Bozo Brandon Staley, they got Justin Herbert. They're not going anywhere.

Lamar Jackson. There is so much quarterback firepower, you're going to have to score points. And the Patriots, ultimately their downfall always was going to be. It's one thing to score 50 points against the Jacksonville Jackson that don't have a coach it or just in shambles. it's another thing to be in a playoff game and be like, obviously their defense let them down in that game. But let's just say instead of scoring whatever, 47 points,

the bills had scored 35. How are the Patriots going to get to 25? It was going to be very, very difficult. And they just don't have enough firepower. So Belichick's going to have to think, and he said it before, you know, once upon a time, they make a trade for Randy Moss. Like he's very good at finding these players over his history,

but he's got to do that for Mack Jones. Because Mac Jones is just not going to be, he doesn't have the physical capabilities, to just carry your franchise at the highest level in a conference with countless $150 million quarterbacks. Literally one guy signed a $450 million deal. He's one of the best young players we've ever seen. Josh Allen, superstar. Lamar Jackson going nowhere. Justin Herbert, 90% of the league would jump in front of a train to get their hands on that guy as their quarterback. So I think Belichick's going to have to be very, very aggressive this offseason

to get offensive fire. Defense, he's always able to figure that out. he can find the J.C. Jackson's and coach up the high towers. That's not going to be his issue. But getting offensive guys, and I think he's best at scouting guys in the league. We've seen it he can be hitter because the drafts hit or miss. It's hard. But I think he's going to have to isolate guys that are available. There's a lot of coaching turnover.

Anytime there's a ton of coaching turnover, eight new coaches, that means players will be available. And I think Belichick can take advantage of that. I claimed I wouldn't talk about this. guy, but I read the day that Albert Breer, and it was reported over the weekend that John Snyder and Pete Carroll had met with Paul Allen's daughter, who I think now just basically runs the franchise because Paul Allen passed away, and they're good. Like, they're not going anywhere. Basically, it was reported that status quo, they're going to run it back, and those guys

are going to be the GM and the head coach. And they intend on keeping Russell Wilson. Of course they do. He's the best player in the history of the franchise and he's their starting quarterback. like, what else would you do? Like, yeah, we're just going to trade. They do not want to trade Russell Wilson, no matter how big of a pain in the ass he is. Because let's face it, he can be a little bit of a diva. That's not really arguable at this point.

Well, of course, there was a leak from his camp that was like, well, he's not asking for a trade, but he'd be willing to explore his options. And then one thing I read today in Albert Brewer's MMQB, because I just, I knew the drama was coming from Russell Wilson. And one thing he's clearly adamant of being a part of is like, I want a bigger role in the organization. And I just, I was thinking about it this morning.

What the fuck does that mean? Like, I do not understand. You've only been with one team. Same thing with Rogers. Remember, Rogers, like, I want more say of what? Like, who our practice squad is? Okay, you want Randall Cobb back. I get it.

Like, we'll trade for your Randall Cobb, but like you want to pick the third round players? Have you evaluated the entire draft? You want to, who? You want me to sign? Like, what does Russell Wilson want? Devanti Adams? Well, like, no shit.

Like every guy in the league. Or do you want some role player? Well, do you want to rank the role players? Do you want to come into our personnel meetings? That's what I wonder. Like this notion, and I think everyone's jealous of Tom Brady, Tom Brady got zero say in New England. Absolutely none.

Never had any pull with signing guys. Now, he got pull when he got to Tampa, but think about the pull. He said, yeah, I want to bring Rob Grunkowski. Pretty easy one. Every team in the league, if Tom Brady was going to join their team, they would have signed Rob Grunkowski. That was a pretty easy transaction.

His other move was, let's face it, kind of rocky. I mean, Antonio Brown ended with him doing cartwheels off the Jets field. Now, it did help them win a Super Bowl last year. Antonio Brown was good. But it was those two guys. So whenever I see that this guy wants a bigger hand in the organization, like I've, you know, in my life, I've been a part of these free agent and draft meetings. You have to watch so many players rank them, get a feel for the market.

Like you can't just be like, I want, well, who do you want? want. Do you know how much he's going to cost? Do you know how much cap room we have? Are you sure he's better than X, Y, and Z? Have you studied these other guys? I think it's very, like, yeah, I want Rob Grunkowski. Well, no shit. Me too. I want, you know, Amari Cooper. Like, yeah, those are easy. Everyone knows. The separation happens in football on the margins, you know, in the mid-rounds, signing a guy, signing the $3 million player. Everyone knows, you know, the high-end $20, $25 million. guy. Like everyone knew the moment the Arizona Cardinals got Hopkins, they were stealing.

Like that, you got him for a second round pick? That was a no-brainer. So I think Russell Wilson kind of lives in this fantasy land because he sees these other guys like, yeah, do you have a Randall Cobb you want back? Well, Schneider and Pete would have coached or signed him because they've been there the whole time with you. So who is that player? I think it's such easy headlines.

And I understand like Russell thinks this, but I think in reality and, uh, actual the function behind it and putting this into, like into motion, does it really make that much sense? Unless, hey, instead of going on vacation all the March and February, you want to come to the combine? If you want to come to the combine, hell, Russell, you can come to the combine and interview some of these draft picks if you want to. We'd be glad to have you here. We'd love to have you. You don't want to do that. So if you don't want to do that, you just want to like play GM like me or you playing fantasy football. That's not the way it works. And, Ultimately, the NFL is not the NBA.

We don't really have to kiss your ass. You're under contract for several years. We want to win too. We are trying to accumulate the most good players as humanly possible. But like, okay, you want to get traded? Well, what if we don't want to trade you? So I think a lot of these become headlines and you just end up having to talk about it

because it's a guy like Rogers. It's a guy like Russell Wilson. But nothing ever happens. And ultimately, I think a major difference probably in Seattle than what happened in Green Bay. Like, Aaron Rogers did not like Gutikins. For whatever reason, I still struggled to quite figure that out, but like they did not see I-D-I-D.

That doesn't necessarily feel like Pete and John, they're not buddies. It just feels like Russell wants, before you sign someone, you to text him. Like he's LeBron James. Let's face it, LeBron James is also the guy that wanted to Russell Westbrook. Every time I look up, the Lakers are getting their ass kicked because they traded for a guy making $45 million. They couldn't hit water if he was sitting on a boat.

So this notion that all these players know what they're talking about when it comes to player acquisition is just patently false. I mean, it's just the history of sports shows that if players were able to pick the players, forever Joe Burrow, Nail and Jamar Chase, there are a lot of misses. So I just interested to know exactly what he wants. Because if he wants to pick draft picks, watch the entire draft class and then rank the players. And then, hell, if I was John Snyder, I would take your input for sure. And the last thing.

I just saw the New York Giants put out that they had interviewed Adam Peters, the assistant 49er GM. And I've been thinking a lot about this. Like five, six years ago, when I left radio, I went into business for myself. And I had to do so much stuff with partners that I had never done before. I had never, I had worked in football and then I had worked in radio. But when I worked in radio, I had nothing to do with the selling of anything. I had nothing to do with the production of anything. I just talked.

That's it. I had evaluated football players and I had talked about football. Those were the only things I had done for a living up until I was 30 years old. Well, when you go into business, you have no choice. Like, if you want to eat, you got to go make some money. So you just like, how are you going to get any money? Well, you got to sell something. So you just figure it out as you go.

You either sink or swim or else you just got to go back and go sell printers or you go sell cars or something. I had to figure it out. And at first it was very, very difficult. And then over time, you do your first deal. Maybe it's $3,000 or $4,000. It's a huge high. And then you realize, well, this isn't going to sustain.

You have to do more and more. And the numbers just keep growing. And you get more and more confident, right? You go to a five-figure deal. Then things start going well. You sign a six-figure deal. And you're like, oh, you get these advertisers. And you keep leveraging things.

But you get more confident as you do stuff. You are better off five, six, eight, ten years later than when you started. That's human nature. We improve through experiences. When you don't know how to do anything, thing, I'm a big believer, and just go try it. Just go do it. Find out if you can. It turns out I can sell. And I didn't know I could. I actually kind of resented it my whole life. But when I was thrown into a part of it, I didn't have a choice. I had to figure it out. Or else I was not going to eat or I had to go

get a real job and I refused to get a real job. So I figured it out and as time's gone, I've gotten very, very confident. I know that I can find money. I'm good at it. But I didn't know that five years ago. just like a lot of coaches and general managers, they are like a big reason, I say this all the time, like Kyle Shanahan got hired young, same with Sean McVeigh. They had been in the league for over a decade.

Kyle Shanagh had been calling plays for nine years, nine years before the 49ers hired him. So while he was in his late 30s, he had been doing it for a long period of time. For example, Joe Judge, same deal, gets hired, you know, in his mid to late 30s. He'd never called plays. He'd only run the special teams.

He was an assistant wide receiver coach for one year and knew nothing about defense. Kind of not shocking that he was over his head. I don't think we value enough in these interviews like, what is your experience? How long have you been in the NFL? One of my issues with Brandon Staley, beside him just talking a bunch of madness, making no sense with a lot of his press conferences, and just knowing exactly what the media wants to hear, is he wasn't in the NFL very long. If he had been in the NFL for 15 years,

even if he'd only been for a coordinator for one. I'd be like, you know what? He'd been around a lot of people. He'd worked at John Carroll before he ever came to the league. So he had been here for such a short period of time. You know, that's just, by the time Belichick got hired to be a head coach in whatever, 1991, his first year in the NFL was 1975. So Belichick had been in the league for like 16, 17 years, on top of obviously being a coordinator

for a very, very successful team. Like, I watch Adam Peters. Now, I've known Adam since I was a GA at Fresnel State. But if I was a GM, or if I was an owner looking for a GM, I'd go, well, let's look at Adam Peter's resume. He's been in a league for 18 years. As he worked for successful places. Well, he got hired by the New England Patriots out of UCLA, where he played.

What happened? Was a part of multiple Super Bowl champions, you know, worked in-house, worked in the college realm. Then John Elway started running the Broncos. He hired Adam Peters. He helped him be a part of multiple teams that went to Super Bowls. Then what happened? John Elway, Kyle Shanahan takes over. Oh, John Elway, Hall of Famer, now turned out to be a pretty good personnel guy, hires Adam Peters. Now Adam Peters went to a Super Bowl with three different teams. Three different teams. He's seeing what, you know, championships and building a championship culture looks like. And I don't think we value that stuff enough. It's like, oh, this guy's the hot name. It's because he's... Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me

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Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day but just so y'all know I mean at this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack

so I'm starting to see that there's a through line We also have AIDS on the table right now so Thank you finishing that sentence I don't think there's a more important year for black people Really?

Yeah for me it's one of the most important years for black people in American history Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

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

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. Agents are funneling these reporters, these names. No one has any clue. Does anyone really know what Kellynne Moore does every day?

And I'm not a Kellynne Moore hater. But I think everyone just, you know, you get this hype train. And once the hype train starts, there's no slowing it down. Even though we don't truly know if these guys are good or bad. What are they like every day?

What is their true experience? How long have they been in the league? You do know how long have they've been in the league. But sometimes these names, names just catch on a life of their own and you get these guys that have no business being in position and obviously interviewing matters right i'm sure some people listening interview really well some people listening interview very very poorly and if you interview one thing i heard about joe judge he went to that interview and he crushed it even though when you looked at his resume it's like

you're hiring this guy to be your head coach and some guys are going to interview very poorly bruce arian said for years like he wasn't a great interview because he was very blunt he didn't want to play politics. He just told you, this sucks, this sucks, you need to upgrade here. And a lot of owners and general managers don't want to hear that. And so it's like, what are we really looking for? And I think the reason most of these teams don't even know what they're looking for in a general manager, in a head coach, at least with a head, you know, hiring a coach, you know somewhat, like if they've coordinated, what success they've had. With general managers, you have absolutely, I remember when I got fired in the NFL,

I'm like, I've been writing up players for the last three, four years. Who, outside of my own building has any clue if I know what I'm talking about. I'm not a public figure. My reports are not public. I remember it was kind of scary. I'm like, no one even knows if I'm good, bad. I could be the best World War Scout ever. No one knows.

Or at least if you're a coach and, you know, scouts don't make as much money as coaches. So it's like, I don't even have any money. And then no one knows if I know what I'm doing. And I think you see all these guys interviewing in these GMs. jobs and you go, do you have any clue if this guy can evaluate? And here's the other thing. There are going to be elements of the guy's job that it's like life. Like anytime you upgrade a position, there are going to be things you're not ready for and you have to grow on the job. I saw, I read this thing on CNBC. They tweeted it out like Jeff Bezos, the two questions he

asked when he was interviewing people like 20 years ago, like building this company. And I think one of the questions was just like, what are your career ambitions? And the other one was, obviously they were based in Seattle, Washington. His question was, how many bottles of water do you think there are in the greater Seattle area? And it's just a crazy curveball question, but he doesn't, no one knows the answer. He just wants to see your mindset, how you problem solve, and kind of how you take a curveball question and just attack it. And you write it up on the whiteboard kind of your thinking.

And there, to me, are elements of like, you want to ask some of these guys, what's the craziest thing they've been through? but a lot of times if you're an assistant GM or a college scouting director, you know, like when a guy on your team gets a DUI or something bad happens in the organization, you don't really do much. Like it's on the head coach and the general manager. So there is no getting ready for those situations. You just kind of got to hope that the more experience the guy has,

the more confident he can be in those spots. And I think that definitely carries over for coaches as well. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the, And there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed.

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

Don't sweat the small stuff. Just nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size. Learn more at nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Visit nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nitsa and the Ad Council. Ready for the new drying experience that leaves your hair shiny, smooth, and healthy looking every time you style it. Introducing Smooth Wrap, the revolutionary new dryer

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Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. Okay, let's, uh, dive into the middle coffee mail bag. Let's look into what is going on up in these DMs. Hey John, I'm a big LSU fan and now a big Bengals fan. Watching the end of the Bengals Raider game, I noticed something that made me a little confused.

Up 7, the Bengals had a fourth and one inside the 15 yard line and tried to get the Raiders to jump off sides, and when Joe saw they weren't going to do it, they called the time out. it ended up not mattering and they kicked the field goal to go up 10, but why would they waste a time out when the field goal would be virtually the same if they would have just taken the five-yard delay of game penalty? I feel the same way when teams waste timeouts in the first or second downs, your thoughts. It's a good question.

I don't know the exact scenario thinking off the top of my head, but I mean, in that game, I know the scenario that happens. It's an easy one with punts, right? A lot of times you do it at like the 50 yard line. You take the delay of game. You have no problem taking the delay of game with punting. I think with you, I'm with you. If it's like you said, the 15 yard line, you know, 15 is 10, so that's 25.

You're talking 32 or 37 yard field goal. It's not that big a deal. It's a waste of a timeout. Now, did that happen in the second half? I've watched so much football since that game. I kind of forget. But I'm with you. If it's like the 10 yard line, I would take.

to delay a game in the second half. If it's the first half, I understand. But coaches are just, they're kind of stuck in their ways on that one. And they love calling that time out for the field goal. Matt, I don't know how you can hate on Kurt Cousins. You praise Herbert for throwing

all these touchdowns and being the bright spot on the Chargers. But did you know that Kirk Cousins is thrown nearly 70 touchdown passes the last two seasons? I believe he's the biggest asset to the Vikings. I do not hate Kirk Cousins. I actually think Kirk Cousins is solid. Now, do I love Kirk Cousins at $35 million a year? I do not. Or 30 or whatever the hell he's making. He makes

a little too much money. Do I think he's a solid NFL player? Yes. Do I think he's somewhere between nine and 15 and you can win games with them? As you've seen, the Vikings have gone to the playoffs with him? I do. But he's paid like a top end guy. Would anyone, obviously Justin Herbert is a better player and makes dramatically less money. But at the same dollar figure, whether it was $5 million or $35 million, you would rather have Justin Herbert. Is he one of the best assets on the team? I think that's debatable. I think your best

asset is Justin Jefferson. But is cousins an asset? Could you trade him? Maybe, but what could you get for him? And then who would play quarterback for you? So I am not a Kirk Cousins hater, but I also am not like some

loyalist to him. I think he is properly rated. He's not as bad as people think, and when he's good, he's not as good as people think. Looks like the Vikings have requested to interview D.Mico for their head coach. Seems pretty quick after just one year as our D.C. I talked about this earlier with guys being ready. I would say the one thing that's unique about D'Amico is I was with the Eagles when we traded for him. D'emico was like a 12-year NFL vet, and he was immediately a team captain in the NFL.

Like D'Amico is a high, high-level guy. So when you played at a high level and you were the team captain slash defensive signal caller, like you're a little head of the game. Like guys like Domingo Ryan and Mike Vrable, you know what? They don't need to put in as much time coaching as some of these other guys that just are done playing. Like Sean McVeigh had to immediately go into coaching at 22 years old. Same with Kyle Shanahan. So their time they put in working their way up is D'emiko's equivalent when he was coaching.

Now, he's only been a coordinator for one year. but D'Amico has been calling defenses for a decade, right, with the defensive coordinator and building the defensive game plans throughout the week with the staff. I think D'Amico is kind of unique. D'emico is a high-level, high-level dude. The high-level dude. I think D'emico is legit. Now, you know, one-year coordinating, I'll tell you this.

I'd rather have D'emiko as my head coach over Brandon Staley. I know that. Love the pod, no rain, no sleet, no snow. and no Omicron can stop it. Too short question. That was funny. Do you think the ending of San Francisco at Dallas adds confusion to Jerry's decision heading in the offseason?

The Cowboys get dominated, and yet the Dallas narrative has turned into, if only the refs hadn't screwed us. Is that really a narrative going on? Like the 49ers came up. The game started, and that first drive was basically like, hey, Dallas, we're here to beat the living shit out of you.

And Mike McCarthy's like, yeah, no problem. My teams are usually pretty soft, and we're going to commit a bunch of penalties. The referees had... Dak Prescott screwed up the end of the game. The referee has to spot the ball. Did you see where they spotted the ball and where Dak slid?

The Cowboys gave themselves like three or four extra yards. Like, you're not allowed to do that. The referees, they also overturned the first down. The Debo was pretty damn close. The referees, Dallas got worked. Dallas was a Jimmy Garapolo interception away from a full-on old-school ass whoopin.

That was, hey, Mike, McCarthy. Kyle Shanahan's kicking your ass up and down the field. In the same situation, Dack runs up the middle and then laterals to a wide receiver who runs with it to the sideline and the ball goes out of bounds. The lateral wouldn't stop the clock. Just stop and there would be no need to rush to reset. Yeah, I mean, I to me, you cannot do what they did with 14 seconds. The rule is pretty clear. The going, you know, kind of rule that teams in high school college, I guess college is a little different because if you get a first down, this clock stops.

But in the pros, it's about 18 seconds. He did it with 14 seconds. And he took off like 17 yards. Like, bro, you don't have that much time. I thought it was just kind of stupid on their part. Should have done a couple of plays before. Do you ever say constructive negative things about a player or team just to motivate them to be better?

Right now, I'm particularly thinking about this Cowboy 49er game. Are you all the negative comments about Dallas, will motivate them. I mean, my comments don't matter to players or coaches. That's their own problem. I don't know, man. I mean, you just, you got to play better.

You got to be smarter. I mean, if comments really motivate you, and listen, we all get motivated in different ways, but at the highest level of any profession, like ultimately the reason Brady kicks everyone's ass is not because of other people's comments. It's because intrinsically he's motivated every single morning at 5 o'clock he's out of bed.

Every single day when it's time to eat, he's eating healthy food. Like, he doesn't get that from newspapers. I mean, blogs or, you know, podcasts. It comes deep inside. Like, you either want to jump off sides or you don't want to jump off sides. Like, let's face it. Randy Gregory, I saw a good tweet. Like, Randy Gregory was, you know, a pretty questionable human being, like back to his junior

college days. He's not the most reliable guy. So when he's jumping off sides, every other play in the game, like, that's on Randy Gregory. Now, he's very talented. He's a long, you can rush the passer. And, you know, everyone in football is like, that's what I want. He's six, four, long ass arms. He can bend.

He's explosive. Yeah, he jumps off sides every other fucking play. And when the games matter in January and the margins are small and you get 14 penalties, which I think I heard someone say was like second to being an all-time record in the playoffs, like that's on Jerry. You know, you're going to have players like that. What's the comment? Stupid loses more games than smart wins.

Cowboys were just, they were reckless. They were dumb. There was a play when like CD wasn't set. And he just like, whatever, tapped himself, went out the game. It's just, it felt very Mike McCarthy. It really did. I'm a new listener to the pod and a big fan. I'm also a big UVA fan and I was wondering what your take is on this.

With the arrival of highly tout, offensive mine, Tony Elliott, the long-time offensive coordinator for Clemson, a potentially new $65 million facility, ooh, money flowing in Virginia, and a young talented receiving court. Do you think University of Virginia has what it takes to contend for ACC championships

or has the program hit its ceiling? Well, I do think Clemson's going to bounce back. I think Mario is going to recruit very good players. I think Florida State sucks. I think NC State's pretty solid. I think Pitt and Narduzi has done a good job. but they're losing an NFL quarterback. Like I think if this guy's good,

and you never know, we see all the time coordinators go to become head coaches and they fail. But I would say this guy has coach Wadabell for a decade or whatever, knows the landscape of the conference very, very well. I do think they recruit, you know, a little different guy probably than Clemson, right? Academics are big at Virginia.

If you can win nine games and be competing to go to the ACC championship game every year, I think you're a star head coach. of Virginia. But I'd be lying if I said I knew. I don't know much about Tony Elliott besides he's just been a star coordinator for Davo and people really like him. And he's turned down jobs like Venables for years. So I think I have a couple questions. And it's less about Virginia. It's more about like, is Clemson going to bounce back? And we saw, they had a crappy year. They went 10 and 3. Is Miami going to be really relevant? Because

I believe they are. Because Mario's going to get players in there. Now, is he a great coach? I don't know, but they're going to have a way more talent than they've had. Now, the rest of the ACC kind of sucks. So was a diehard Giants fan since I was first able to watch football, the last eight years have been terrible. I haven't been this down since Ray Hanley

was the head coach. If I was the owner, I'd get an experienced younger GM and go throw all the money at Jim Harbaugh. What are your thoughts? I agree. To me, I don't think Jim Harbaugh would take the New York Giants job. To me, to me, if he feels like he's coming back to the NFL, he's going to go to the Bears,

or the Raiders, and I specifically think the Raiders, I think he's going to be the Raiders next head coach. To me, who makes a lot of sense for the Giants, I'm with you. I would get a young, up-and-coming GM. Hire Brian Flores. Hire a guy that just knows how to be a head coach. McAdoo, over his head. Shermer, just awful.

And Joe Judge just had no business being a head coach. To me, Brian Flores makes a lot of sense. When I close my eyes, I envision Brian Flores wearing the Giants gear, tough guy, kind of, even though he's young, like I said, he's kind of angry, he's kind of got Coughlin Parcells to him. I think he's a New York guy.

I like Brian Flores a lot there. To me, that makes a lot of sense. Just listen to your Flores and Judge being angry and the shit was spot on. Funny as hell and true. They are mad because they have an iPhone 12 and not 13 trying to copy Bill. And again, I hated comparing Flores to Judge.

They have nothing in common in terms of one guy won 19 games. Judge. Judges, team was so gutless, especially this year. I mean, it was pretty embarrassing. But part of, like, in my job, let's face it, I'm a podcaster. I work in my home studio. I don't really have to get along with that many people. I mean, I deal with some producers and I do get along because I'm a good guy. But like when you're a head coach, you are dealing with people on a daily basis. And Belichick and Sabin, let's face it, everyone in the building can hate them. Nothing anyone can do. When you're

Brian Flores, like, you do have to manage up and down. a little bit. You don't need everyone to like you, but you do need to make an effort to get along with some people. And that is clearly something that these Belichick guys are just not great at. Like you can't just be asshole 24-7, 365. And the only guy you're potentially diced to is the owner. It's just not going to work. That would be my advice. And maybe I'm off. Maybe Flores getting a raw deal and he's a nice guy. It's not quite the way it feels. Huge fan. Felt a little bit of a reach on your blind floors

being such an angry guy point compared to other generations in the last pod. I've lived in the New York City area my whole life, Brownsville, where Flores is from, is one of the roughest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the Northeast. I don't know how his upbringing is otherwise, but it has a feeling.

Here's a thing, though. Your upbringing is allowed to shape you, right? He's 40 years old. He's making 6, 7 million. He's the head coach of, the Miami Dolphins and now potentially another team. Like, I'm sorry, what happened in like 1992 isn't truly that relevant on most things that he's going through every day.

Again, like, you're allowed, I get angry. I was raised, you know, I kind of come from an angry environment. I get it. Not like I didn't grow up in the hood or anything, but I'm just saying, you know, my dad lost his brother in Vietnam. It's just some demons that you don't shake. And, you know, your kids kind of bear some of that, which is human nature. but like I don't get to use that excuse now at 37 years old

like there are excuses you get to make to a certain point in time once you're heard of age like again you're allowed to have onry days you're allowed to be pissed off but if you're angry 24-7 when you're making $7 million and you win a game like I'm sorry it's just like well it's not that especially you've worked in the league for two decades you've been making big cash for a while your life isn't that bad now

you're just not allowed to be mad on a daily basis. I just, I adamantly believe that. And that will not change. Regardless, whether you grew up in the country club or whether you grew up in the slums. Like, once you've been living a good life for a while and your profession, but that's the thing. Your profession.

Like, you're the head coach. Everyone's looking at you. Like, your energy matters. And I got news for you. Belichick and Sabin aren't actually that angry all the time. And I'm not even saying Flores is. but you got to get along with people. And this goes back to Mangini,

Josh McDaniels, Patricia. They all grew up differently, but they're all so fucking mean. It just, it works if you're Belichick and you're going to give six rings over two decades. It does not work if you're winning four games a year. And Flores won some games.

But clearly, the GM backstabbed him. And maybe the GM is just a bad guy who claims to be a good guy and just a backstabber, survivor. Which in the NFL, those because Chris Greer in what world in any other profession would that guy make two million dollars and that goes for most GMs there aren't that many jobs W2 jobs that pay two three million dollars what are you going to be the CFO for fucking Wells Fargo there's only one of those

there aren't that many jobs but in the NFL there are 32 GM jobs and they pay a premium like how many people do you know that aren't like famous that makes seven figures W2 that's every GM does so I and obviously coaches make a lot more. So they're very territorial. I hate that I'm not even trying to crush Flores. My point is that I do think

he has to be careful of not just trying to copy Bill. And like I'm saying, I think Flores is a completely different universe. Like Joe Judge never should have been a head coach. Clearly Brian Flores can be a head coach. But for him to be really successful, I do think he has to attempt

to just not copy Bill with in terms of just being angry. Because I think we have a lot of evidence now. Every single guy that leaves New England all kind of acts the same. And it wears people out. And let's face it, it has not worked. Mike Frable is the one guy. And let's face it, he did not coach there.

He played there. And Mike Brable seems actually kind of fun. We had to want to hang out, Mike Frable. You're allowed to yell at people when they screw up. He does. No one says, like, I'm pro yelling. I'm pro screaming at people. That's called football coaching.

But just every... And you don't need to be Pete Carroll or Andy Reid every day. but there has to be some happy medium of this is 2022. The players, this is not, you know, Nitchke, but kiss and Lawrence Taylor. The guy, humans are wired a little bit different. A big fan of the pod, dedicated listener from Canada. Just wondering if you think the NFL would ever bring a team to Toronto. That's a great question.

And, you know, I can't really give you an educated answer. My gut would say no. My gut would say they're not expanding into Canada. If they expand into another continent, or excuse me, another country, it would probably be the UK, would be my guess. But is the NFL in some big rush to really expand right now? I don't think so. And clearly the bills aren't going anywhere. If the Colts move off Carson Wentz, what do you think is the most realistic option for them at quarterback?

Draft class isn't that deep. Carson Wentz is your quarterback next year. Unless I think it would be something crazy with. have to happen. Carson Wins, just look at the cap number, the dead cap. They just traded a first round pick for him. The Eagles get their first round pick. Carson Wens is a starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts like it or not. Obviously, if you're a fan, you don't love it, but he's your quarterback next year. Now, next year might be his last year, but Carson Wence, if he's healthy, week one is going to be the starting quarterback, 2022 for the Indianapolis Colts. That's what happens

when he trade a first round pick for a guy. You know, it sucks when he doesn't, he's not good enough, but that's just, that's the, you know, the hand they played. And it was, you know, it was really their only option. They didn't have any other options. I can't shit on them for that. I can't. But he's going to be their quarterback next year. Appreciate everyone listening.

Get me some Middilkoff mailbag questions at John Middilkoff. Fire in those DMs. And talk to you guys later this week. Peace. The volume. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's with one. 800 flowers.com.

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Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not. 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,

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