The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Ravens/Browns MNF Thriller Reaction; Gruden's Bad D; Jalen Hurts W; Week 14 Takes; College Openings; Weird QB Year; Mailbag

Episode Date: December 15, 2020

In this episode, John reacts to the Ravens thriller of a MNF win over the Browns, explains why Jon Gruden's defensive personnel selection led to his defensive coordinator getting fired, gives his reaction to Week 14, looks at the available coaching jobs, why unrealistic expectations make mid-level SEC jobs unattractive, and why the evaluation of quarterbacks is as inexact, despite having more information than ever. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee 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.

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 podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show.

This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Did you know Amazon provides ways of working that fit your lifestyle? They know you value your time outside of work, juggling families, school, friends, or other activities. That's why they offer a variety of shifts that work for you. There are full-time, part-time, and even temporary opportunities that can work with your schedule.

with great starting pay and sign-on bonuses. If you want a career that fits and adapts to your lifestyle, head to Amazon.com slash apply. Amazon is a proud, equal opportunity employer. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecough, three and out podcast. It's, I mean, less than five minutes after that game just ended. That's entertainment.

You know, thank God for the NFL. I remember when like four or five years ago everyone at ESPN was telling us the NFL was going to crumble. Fun times. That was, that's a type game why the NFL's king. You know, just that's entertainment at its finest when it comes to, when it comes to sporting events. You know, you're just on the edge of your seat. 47, 42. Someone texts me, I didn't look.

The line was Ravens minus three. If that's true, that's crazy. That was crazy. We'll dive obviously into that game. And then just a lot of other stuff coming up. Jalen Hertz, thoughts on different quarterback situations around the league, some things I noticed trending up, trending down, some college thoughts.

Gus Melzon fired from the University of Auburn. And then a little Middilkoff mailbag. At John Middlecough is my Instagram handle. The direct messages are wide open. and welcome for you to come on in and ask me any question you want, and we'll answer it here on the podcast. And also, if you could, greatly appreciate it, three and out podcasts, leave a review.

That'd be awesome if you could. Three and out podcast, leave a review. If you listen on Collins' feed, subscribe to my feed. And I see a lot of buzzing on the internet, like cowards going to bar stool and just, shit, you never know. Keep your head on a swivel. You know, middle cough to who knows where. but subscribe to the podcast.

Three and Out podcast, greatly appreciate that, and we'll just keep on humming. I don't even know where to start. I guess on the most basic level, the Browns, it can't really, I think there are two teams that really stand out in my mind

over the last couple decades that have just been a laughing stock. I don't count the Jaguars. No offense to any of you Jacksonville fans, you just aren't very relevant. To me, the two teams that stand out of just someone that we constantly make fun of when it comes to football and it comes to dysfunction

is the Raiders and the Browns. And it's really, really difficult to take over. Like whoever takes, if John Harbaugh retired at the end of this year, the Ravens are set up to succeed. They have an infrastructure, they have a culture, they have a history of winning, same with the Steelers. Like, now whoever takes over one day for Andy, like there's an infrastructure,

there is a culture of winning. There is a standard that is expected the moment you walk in the building. It's why all the top programs, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, like they're just on a different level. Same thing with winning teams in the NFL. There's a different expectation when you play for the Chiefs, when you play for the Saints, when you play for the Steelers, when you play for the Packers.

That's not the case with the Browns, at least the majority of my adult life. And Kevin Stefansky has gone there, and they're now nine and four, but they are respectable. I mean, that was a legitimate, respectable game. And maybe I've been a little hard on Baker Mayfield, because the one thing I saw tonight was, you know, maybe he's got a little more talent that I give him credit for. His arm is not as bad as the way that I talk about him.

He has a strong arm. And clearly, when he's on the move, he can throw the ball, he can throw ropes. His arm is stronger than, I guess, a lot of the shit that I've been talking. It is not bad. Now, there were some plays. not going to come here and start banging the drum like Baker Mayfield's some superstar. He threw a bad pick that was basically a pick six. They scored on the next play. Some of the plays he's making him. He's throwing a wide open guys that are making plays

after the balls in their hand. But clearly, I guess I could see how you'd pick up your fifth year option. I still don't see a $30 million plus quarterback, but it is what it is. I get it if you're the Browns. But I got to give a lot of credit to Stavansky because it's not easy to come in to places that are a joke. I saw before Grewden got here with Jack Del Rio. And Jack Del Rio played in the NFL. He had been a head coach in the NFL before, had been to the playoffs as a head coach. He had just some clout. And when he meet him, he's a big guy. Like Stefansky, a lifelong position coach and Grunt really had only been a coordinator for a year, I guess

a year and a half because he took over when Di Filippo got fired. but it's not like he had some long track record. So to come into, now the team is good. I mean, they have a really good roster, but that doesn't matter. This is not the NBA. Just because you have good players doesn't mean you win in football. He is a good play caller.

He's very calm on the sideline. He just looked like they kept showing Harbaugh and they kept showing Stefanski and I went, yeah, this is a legitimate coach. The best part of night, if I'm a Browns fan, is that one, it's cool as someone that lives in California. I don't know if you saw these rules in San Francisco. They just tweeted out the other day that you're allowed to go on dates now,

but you're not allowed to kiss if you're dating someone. You're not allowed to kiss unless you live together. That's really what's going on in San Francisco. Obviously in Santa Clara, the 49ers got kicked out of their own town. They got kicked out. That's why they're playing in Arizona. It brings me great joy seeing fans at the stands, seeing people living.

because I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where I have to read tweets about 20 miles away from me humans are not allowed to kiss so I thought the crowd was rocking tonight it's fun to see people live in life and that was led I think to the great viewing product and obviously back to Stefansky

like Brown's Ravens my thought when it was they were up 34 to 20 was like oh the Ravens are going to end up blowing them out by 20 plus that's what's going to get away from them and that is not what happened at all. So I give the Ravens, or I mean the Browns a lot of credit. Now, I'm recording this before maybe Lamar, whether he's pooping, cramps, combination of them both.

That is one of the most unique moments I've ever seen. He's basically gone the entire fourth quarter. Trace McSorily comes in. Actually, he made a nice throw to Hollywood Brown, which, bro, if you're not going to catch the ball, I don't know if we can nickname you. Now, you ended up making up for it with the final touchdown that tied the game.

But Trace McSorily hurts his knee. It's fourth down. I'm thinking to myself, the Ravens are going to lose this game. They don't have a quarterback. It's like fourth and five, fourth and six. They're going to have to run some sort of wildcat. And then all of a sudden, Lamar Jackson out of nowhere,

comes out from the sideline, comes on the field, throws a touchdown pass to Hollywood Brown, who had almost screwed up the game a couple of possessions before, and all of a sudden the game's tied. That's one of the better moments Monday night football. I feel like in decades.

Just the drama of that. I'm thinking, what are they going to do? And then Lamar comes out of, for a guy that I never would have drafted, that I think a lot of people think that, you know, I don't really like as a player. I've never not liked a player's ability. Now, clearly he has a lot of ability.

Not a great passer of the football. Yet rooted and enjoyed the human being more. Usually when I don't like a player, I just convinced myself to not really like the person. not because they're a bad guy or whatever, just because it's easier that way. Like, I hate this guy, I want this guy to suck. It's just easier to wrap your head around that way,

the way my mind works. When I don't like you as a player, I just don't like you. That is not the case with Lamar Jackson. I find myself enjoying watching Lamar Jackson play. Now, what I've been saying for a couple years, the facts are the facts. He can't consistently hit throws down the middle of the field. He had Mark Andrews wide open,

a play that probably would have ended the game, overthrows him. He does that constantly. That is his problem. Now, their schedule breaks down. I think they play the Jags. They got the Bengals. I mean, I think they got the Giants.

They're going to win out. They should be 11 and 5. And they might end up kind of crazy, end up being the 5 seed. But they're going to play the Colts or the Titans more than likely in that first round if they're the 5 seed. And I'll bet against the Ravens. Because they have a fundamental flaw. They played hard on defense. They have a good coaching staff.

they have a lot of talent on offense. They have a fantastic running game. You'd say the Cleveland Browns, who have Chubb and Hunt, who are probably two of the best running backs, let me rephrase that, probably the best running back duo in the NFL, right? Chub's a top five guy. Kareem Hunt's has to be the best backup in the league.

Yet the Ravens tonight run for 231 yards. When they run it down your throat, they can dominate. And they consistently do that in the regular season. Well, when they play, let's say the Colts in the first round, what are they not going to be able to do? I'll answer it. Run for 200 yards. Run for 150 yards.

Hell, it might be hard to run for 100 yards. So do you know why, like the Ravens, 47 to 42? You look, you go, God, what a win. They could score up some serious points. Well, five touchdowns came on the ground. Lamar had two, J.K. had one, and Gus had two. Like, in the playoffs, maybe you could pull that off in like 1990. it's pretty clear now.

Even, you know, in these colder environments, you have to at least be able to function in the air. And Lamar Jackson, now his numbers are a little skewed because he missed the quarter. But, I mean, he's struggling to throw for like 200 yards. It's just not possible to consistently win that way. And that's why I think too often, and I get this DM all the time, people tweeting at me,

what do you think the Ravens do this offseason with Lamar's contract? Why are we in a rush? and I see this in the NBA, why are we in a rush to pay everybody? Like, I'll pay Josh Allen. I'll extend him this offseason. I'm not extending Lamar Jackson. I got him on a rookie contract.

He's a first round pick, so he's on a five-year contract. I'll pick up his fifth-year option this year, and he'll play out the fourth year. That's what I'm doing. Now, I wouldn't necessarily do that for Baker. I understand how they probably will, but, like, I'm not extending Baker-Mayfield either.

Like, why do we need to extend everybody? I extend Patrick Mahomes. I'll extend Deshawn Watson. I'll extend Josh Allen. I'm not extending Lamar Jackson. I'm not extending Baker Mayfield. Let's just let some things play out. We're always in a huge rush.

We want to pay everybody. We've got to pay everyone. In the NBA, they love paying all these young guys the maxes. 80% of them never make an all-star team. And you're like, God, we hate this guy's contract. Well, why'd you pay him? No one's, you know, this is America. No one's forcing you to.

Well, his agent, it would have been mad? Who gives a shit? Let it play out. And if he's good enough, then he's worth it. Because if he's not, no one cares it. Like, you did the right thing and paid him early. Because if he's not good enough, that's wasted money. So I think you saw two guys tonight that are kind of fundamentally different.

Obviously, Lamar is just an incredible athlete, an absolute breathtaking athlete. Who struggles to throw the football. Like, the evidence is in. We see it. It happens every single game when you watch them play. Mark Andrews, probably one of the more underrated players in the league, gets open all the time. And Lamar overthrows him. and Baker Mayfield, who, you know, his arm strength looked pretty good.

Made a, what could have been a crucial mistake when he threw that pick in the second half. But he made up for it. His guy's made up for it. People's Jones. Like, that guy looks pretty good. But overall, that's, that tonight is why the NFL is king. You had just, if you're watching that game, you were just glued to your seat. The action, the drama, dudes disappearing, a comeback.

Looks like the Browns are going to have. the biggest win in like modern day franchise history. Then the Ravens kind of pull this. 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, 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, filtered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

Each episode, we pick you 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 all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, 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 finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black. black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a

decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or 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, Kea, kid,

games is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Game out of their ass. And just, I, that was awesome. You know, sometimes you just don't even know what else to say besides that was really fun.

Now, I've always said, like, I do like defense, you know, I mean, that's, it's not ideal. This is the NFL 47, 42. you know, that's a lot of points. That means a lot of guys are wide open, you know, and they were. So we'd like to play a little more defense, but listen, I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, not trying to complain. I had a good time. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1,800flowers.com.

From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more. Surprise your Valentine with 1-800flowers.com. Right now, get the 8,000. stem enchanted rose medley for $3999 or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. Go to 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. 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. her bag wasn't closed. Typhers 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 Nitzha and the Ad Council. What grows in the forest?

Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination. Our sense of wonder. And our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, We reconnect with each other The forest is closer than you think

Find a forest near you and start exploring At Discovertheforest.org Brought to you by the United States Forest Service And the Ad Council Okay at about, you know, probably a little after seven Pacific Standard time On Sunday, News broke that the Raiders had fired their defensive coordinator

And the other podcast I do, Haberman and Middelloff, It's very 49er-centric, and we also talk a lot of Raiders. Now, we talk other stuff, too, but we typically record that podcast after the Niners and Raiders game, end. And we had already recorded the podcast, so we had to go re-record the segment. It wasn't that much different. Obviously, the Raiders defense was historically terrible. I mean, I think they average over 30, you know, I guess not historically terrible, but they're awful. And Paul Gunther being fired was not that.

eye-opening in the sense that he deserved to keep his job, but just any time a coach gets fired during the season, it's always like kind of wow. And so we had to re-record a segment because the podcast was already recorded, but it's not that hard. But I've been thinking a lot about it, really for the last, you know, 12, 15, 24 hours

since the guy got fired. And I can, I've only worked in two office settings. One, football and the other in radio. And in football, I would say, is probably not your typical corporate setting, right? I mean, it's very public. You know, your head coach and your GM, it's very clear who is making the decisions.

It's a very black and white business. You either win or you lose on Sunday, right? Like, once the game happens, like it's very, very clear whether your organization is doing well or not. Either win or lose. In radio, it's a lot different. Ratings factor in, sales factor in,

kind of a archaic measure of how many people are listening factors in. And it's a lot more of middle management trying to take credit or avoiding for what they didn't do. Where in football, if your quarterback sucks, it's like either on the head coach, the offensive coordinator, or the GM. You know, it's pretty clear who takes responsibility for what in football. Even if you don't know who the guy is picking the players, coach GM, we all know it falls on one of them. Where in the radio setting, I'm sure many of you can relate to this, in just your typical corporate setting, there's so many middle management, there's so many people you go,

who's really in charge here? Like this guy is in charge of this budget, but he's actually not really in charge, because he has to get approval from people above him. So even if the guy's my boss, like, does he really have that much juice? Is he really responsible for my, you know, employment? And it's always kind of confusing,

especially when you're younger. I would imagine anyone listening who's been in the, that setting for a long period of time, you get to realize who you want to go to, right? Decision makers, guys above middle management. But it's kind of a complicated situation. It's why a lot of middle management, good companies, you start making two, three, 400 grand, they're always pointing the finger because they never want to take responsibility because their job's kind of easy.

And when it comes to football, it's not like that at all. It's clear who's in charge. And I would say in the National Football League, if Belichick's number one, just in terms of most power in an organization. I don't see how there's any way around John Gruden being 1A. And you could argue because Belichick's owner

has so much juice, he's so powerful. He can push back against Belichick. I would imagine they have disagreements, healthy disagreements. Whatever John Gruden says with the, I almost said, Oakland Raiders, the Las Vegas Raiders goes. It is 100%

his show. he despite being quote unquote friends with mark davis it took it took 10 years and 100 million dollars to convince the guy to come back and no one has a contract that big now I think bellichick and probably Andy and Sean Peyton might make more per year

than uh then John Gruden or Matt Ruhle but no one has the length of contract at least to my knowledge as long as John and when John Gruden took over the job he had complete power to hire, fire anything he wanted, any person, any player trait, clearly did it. Khalil Mack gone, Amari Cooper gone, Reggie McKenzie was gone, handpicked Mike Mayock. The other guy, it was a decade from start to finish of him being fired in Tampa, right, working at ESPN and then agreeing to come back with the Raiders.

His handpicked, not the one forced on him, not the guy that he had to inherit. This is not Matt LaFleur, Mike Petten. this is his hand-picked guy was Paul Gunther. And then the roster, where I think even some of you, depending on your team, you go, like, is my coach really in charge? Is my general manager really in charge? Here's what we know. 100% fact, every single player on the Raiders roster,

and this was where it parallels New England, every single player is a guy John Gruden wanted on that roster. We're not in year one anymore. We're in year three. They've gotten rid of every guy he didn't want. good ones, bad ones, you name it. And he put together this roster. And with the trades and kind of

bottoming out, they had really high picks, and they had extra picks because of Amari Cooper, and because of Kaleel Mac. Well, they basically took, now this was their own pick, but they took Cleland Farrell number four. That's a disastrous pick.

He's probably like a third rounder. And they passed on Devin White, who if they would have just taken Devin White, he would be dramatically better. But we could play that game all day with most teams and draft picks. They also took a hard-hitting safety in Jonathan Abram, late in the first round, in that same draft. The problem with Jonathan Abram, he can't play in 2020.

He's a hard hitter. That's not really allowed anymore. He can't cover. Not ideal, it's a passing league. He constantly knocks himself out and gets hurt. Also, not ideal. They have consistently missed on defensive players. Now, is Paul Gunther any good?

I don't know. I'm not here to defend Paul Gunther. He might be terrible. I think a lot of coaches in the NFL are probably pretty average. Most good coaches, there is a much smaller percentage of good coaches than there is, you know, there are way less good coaches in the league than there are average to blow average, clearly. So Paul Gunther more than likely average to blow.

But I know for a fact that their personnel on defense is bad, is really bad. And that to me is on John Gruden. Like there's no, it's not Paul Gunther, it's not Mayock, that's on John Gruden. And when you give a guy all this power, he puts, the team together. And he invested a lot in the offense. Their offense is pretty good, but it's not. Elite, and their defense is atrocious. I think

it averages over 30 points a game, which you're just not going to make the playoffs like that, clearly, obviously. I mean, they just got shoved around by the Indianapolis Coles. Here's another thought I had late last night. Watching the Sunday night football game. If you are building a team to play in the AFC, you better build a physical team.

Because all the teams do two things. One, they play physical football, and two, they play outdoors in the freezing cold. And Gruden built this offense, which is great, but he discounted the defense. And Slash just missed on a ton of picks on the defense. Well, when you go play Kansas City, when you go play now Buffalo, when you go play Pittsburgh or Baltimore, and Cleveland is now good, you were talking about environments in November, December, and January that are going to be freezing cold, where if you watch that

Sunday night, it was cold, it was rainy, you're not going to score 35 points. The St. Louis Rams in 99 are not going to put up 40 in that environment. It is a physical knockdown, dragout style of football. Now, obviously, Mahomes, he's going to be able to score points outdoors in the cold, but not as many typically as he's going to be able to do in October. So you have to build the team that is good on the line of scrimmage. On both lines of scrimmage, you have to rush the passer. You have to be a physical, hard tackling defense.

The Raiders built a team like they're playing in a dome in the NFC. That's not the case. They play in the AFC, where all the teams are physical, where all the teams that are good play outdoors in the cold. Beside the Colts, ironically, the Colts have actually built a team that can easily go Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and at least have a chance to hang if Rivers plays well. Because they're built defensively and on the line of scrimmage on offense

and can run the ball. The Raiders, like, this is Gruden, year 3, $100 million, more than likely they're not going to make the playoffs again. the only guy that deserves all the blame is John Gruden. You can blame Paul Gunther. John Gruden shows him. When a player screws up and you asked a player to do something specifically as a coach, that's on you as much as it is on the player.

You're either coaching it or allowing it to happen. And when you're a head coach, you hire all the assistance, especially in the Raiders building where no one has more juice. You are picking all the players. Of all these draft picks that you had because you traded really good players, So at the end of the day, Paul Gunther was fired, but I mean, what's John Gruden going to do? He's not going to fire himself. I don't see how anything changes in the immediate.

Their defensive roster is awful. So, like, he deserved to take responsibility. It was announced Jalen Hertz is going to start again. Of course he is. He looked pretty good. I watched that game on my iPad about 10 o'clock on Sunday night. Just a little condensed version. I was impressed.

and I think overall, and I said it last week, Carson Wentz needed to go to the sideline, he needed a mental break. I also think one thing the Eagles game showed is when you're in a team environment, when you're in an office environment, if something is not working, it can bring a lot of other people down,

even if you like the person. And I think it's fair to say that a lot of guys on the Eagles roster, I know Jason Kelsey gave some comments, like Carson Wentz, and wanted it to work. but when there's a negative energy in a building, and I've experienced it definitely in radio, everyone is miserable.

It's not a fun place to be. And listen, like high-level business, high-level football, shouldn't always be fun. But when every single human is miserable coming in and whether that be in business, you're not going to make any money, whether that be in football, you're not going to win, it's counterproductive.

So when you change something up, and just pull kind of a curveball, there is the opportunity for that just to wake some people up and give people new life. And when I watched the Eagles play with Jalen Hertz, I saw a team that just had a little more life to them, had a little more pep in their step.

And sometimes change, and this is why I think in football, people just go to the backup quarterback. In baseball, it happens all the time when a quarterback or when a pitcher doesn't have it, you just bring another guy. Same thing in basketball. Like when your starting lineup doesn't happen,

how often of any basketball team you've ever rooted for, second unit coming in, they're lighting up the first, you know, whoever they're playing, they brought you back in a game and the head coach just leaves them in, lets it go. Sometimes you just got to ride the hot hand.

And riding a hot hand in life and sports doesn't mean you do it forever. Most people don't stay hot forever, you know? But it can just get the train back on the tracks. And for whatever reason, it looked like the wide receivers were trained, trying a little bit harder. Like the defense was tackling a little bit more.

Now there are some football elements why the Eagles were just better and ultimately beat, you know, one of the best teams in the league in the Saints. Jaylon Hertz did not throw interceptions. And I was thinking like, what is the big difference watching this game than watching Carson Wentz play? And the number one thing he consistently did when I watched Carson Wentz this season was throw picks. and it's impossible when you consistently throw interceptions, whether it be in the red zone, whether it be on a drive,

whether it be in the other team's territory, and not be just dramatically inflating to your entire roster. And Jalen Hertz, is he perfect, is he elite? I mean, he threw for 167 yards. A huge part of his success was on the ground. He ran for over 100, but he did not throw an interception. Now, there was a pass, I think, on an out route that easily could have been like a pick six.

he was not perfect by any means but the other team didn't catch it and for whatever reason the other team when Carson was playing was catching the football if you do not turn the ball over the Eagles have enough talent on offense in Miles Sanders and Goddard and Fulgum Alshan's back now Jalen Rager

they should be decent and the problem with the Eagles with Carson Wentz they could not score points they were constantly going into halftime zero points three points six points they went in a half time against the Saints with 17 points Can you imagine the feeling of just being on that team

being a coach? And just looking at the scoreboard when you were walking off the field to go get a power bar and a Gatorade and sit there for 15 minutes and just seeing 17 points how just invigorating that must have felt how enlightening, how just inspiring.

It's like, we got a chance to win a game because we're scoring points. And that was just, that was not the case Carson Wentz. So listen, I don't know. Jalen Hertz, he actually looked better than I thought he would look. I always red flagged the first time a guy's out a little bit, especially if it's a running quarterback.

I don't think he's some long-term answer. Could be wrong, but I bet against it. It was clearly the right move, and it worked with flying colors. The other thing I was wrong on, but I also understand, is Taston Hill is much better than I thought. Is he some elite future top five quarterback? I don't know, but I do think he's a starting quarterback at the NFL. He was 28 to 38 for almost 300 yards and two touchdowns.

He has a really strong arm and he obviously can run around and make plays with his legs. And watching Josh Allen on Sunday night, you realize like Sean Payton on his own team has this guy that he's seen in practice with a big arm, big athlete, high character guy, Breeze loves, ran a 4-4, he knows the offense. Like, is it really that shocking Sean Payton likes him? most coaches don't give a shit what the internet is saying about them. John Payton goes to practice every day

for the last three or four years with Taysam Hill on his team sees clearly he can do all this other stuff but just from a quarterback, big arm, much better than Breeze. High character guy, just like Breeze. Clearly really smart understands the offense. Pretty accurate.

But again, huge arm, something that he hasn't had. He goes, well, I got all these offensive skill guys around him. Why can't the guy make place? I'm one of the best coaches in the sport. Why can't I coach this guy up and make him a quarterback? He was a quarterback in college. It's not like I'm moving a guy from wide receiver to quarterback. No, this guy can throw.

He's a little unconventional the way he kind of backpedals and stuff, but it's just like, whatever. Football's a little unconventional now. You see all these guys, like if you want to get an elite quarterback prospect, you typically have to draft him high. Saints are winning 10 to 13 games every year. They're never drafting high. They're 10 and 3 right now.

They're going to end up being 12 and 4. They're not going to sniff one of these top quarterbacks. He never has access to him. So, yeah, I get why he likes Tason Hill. That's his guy. That's his project. The guy's pretty good. Much dramatically better than I thought.

Dramatically better than anyone on social media thought. I would imagine any Saints fan listening. He has to be a little bit better than you would imagine. He's not, I thought he might be bad. He's not only not bad. Like, I watch him sometimes and go, this guy's pretty good. Now, it's all relative to how good. You know, he's got a long ways to go.

But I'm pretty fascinating. I think this might work. Okay, let's just, let's look at some stuff. And to quote my guy, Jim Kramer, some things I saw this weekend that I'm buying and some things I saw this weekend that I'm selling. You know, right now, no one cares what you did in October. The playoffs are almost here, how your team's looking. Are you trending up or are you trending down? And I'm going to start with the Washington football team.

I'm buying what they're selling. Ron Rivera is a legitimate head coach. He brings an element to any franchise of toughness, of discipline, and direction. The Carolina Panthers, when he took over in 2011, were a joke. They had the number one pick in the draft. Eight, nine years later,

they became a very, very respectable franchise. Took him to the playoffs several times. Obviously, he went to the Super Bowl. He's a legitimate NFL coach. I watch that game every snap. I hope you, if you weren't a Washington football team fan or a Niner fan, don't waste your time. No one wants to watch Nick Mullins play football, especially against a defense that's really good. The football team has a front seven that is no joke.

Chase Young is everything anyone hoped Clowny will be, plays his ass off and dominates. And they have several other defensive linemen that you just are just game wreckers. They are really good up front on defense. Offensively, Alex is hurt. He's just not that good, and Dwayne Haskins is even worse. But they're tough, they're physical, they're just trying to try to ugly up the game. Big picture, if they can find themselves with a starting quarterback, if I was them, I'd be all over like Dack Prescott. You just gave them Dak Prescott or gave them just a top, you know, 15, 16 quarterback, they'd be a lock playoff team.

They are solid. They are missing a quarterback and probably some weapons, but a quarterback is really what they need. Clearly the Pittsburgh Steelers I would sell. It's hard to handle that many injuries on defense when defense is what separated you. With Bud Dupree and the middle linebacker Bush, they were unstoppable.

They could do everything. They could rush the passer. They could stop the run. They could cover the pass. They could do it all. And just when you lose one of your best pass rushers, it hurts. there's no way around it.

Bud Dupree and Watt are just a dominant force. When you take one of the two of them away, it's not quite as potent, despite T.J. being a star. Offensively, they can't run the ball. I had some people DM me, like Middilcoff, you're being a little hard on Ben. Like, he is not the problem.

I don't think Ben is the problem. But he is no longer what he used to be. He can't really scramble. He can't really move. He's a true pocket quarterback. And I think you watched him in that game against the bills. Like his accuracy is a little hit or miss. The Big Falcons still throw some darts.

Still throws a beautiful touchdown. But he's just, he's still a really good player. And clearly with him, they are infinitely better off than all the scrubs they had last year. But the day and age of him being like a Hall of Famer and one of the elite guys in the league are just over. So I just, I don't see how they're going to make that much hay in the playoffs because offensively they're not potent.

enough and clearly defensively they're just not the same. Seattle, I get a lot of people DMing me. What's going on? What's going on? Are we screwed? Good teams have a couple of bad weeks. Russell Wilson had a couple shitty weeks. It happens. It's football. It's the National Football League. It's hard. Being quarterback's hard. You're not just going to have a perfect season. Like, it's okay.

I said, if it gets weird against the Jets, I will say your franchise has an issue right now. But I will buy Seattle. they're going to be fine. Their defense is getting better. I know it was the Jets, but you know what happens when you play the Jets if you're a really good team? You beat them 40 to 3. If they can stay healthy, they have as good of a chance as any team in the NFC to win it. Because their defense is a little bit better now.

Jamal Adams gives them a pass rushing element, despite him being a DB, but he's a great pass rusher. Their defense just looks a little bit better. They need Russell to play like an MVP. If Russell plays like an MVP and their defense just isn't shitty, it's just middle of the road, Seattle could win the NFC. What did I say from the beginning? I can't take Seattle seriously with the joke defense. Well, their defense is no longer a joke.

Their offense has been a problem. So if the offense can just get back, you know, the train back on the tracks and just be potent again and their defense just be incrementally better, they're good. I'm buying Seattle stock. I trust Seattle more than I do the Rams in the playoffs,

mainly because of Russell Wilson and Jared Gough. The Giants, I got to sell a little stock. I like Joe Judge. defensively they play really hard. It's hard to take a team seriously. And Washington, a little bit like this too, I just think Washington has better players than the Giants, top to bottom.

Like, you're just, Daniel Jones, he fumbles all the time. Now, sometimes it's not his fault. A free rusher coming around the edge and the ball's on the ground. But every time I watch them, and, you know, it was the only game I had locally on, so I have two TVs in my living room,

and I had the red zone on one, and I had the other channel was, on a Giants game. And the ball is always on the ground. And I kind of want to like Daniel Jones. Almost called him Alex Jones. He's not Alex Jones. Daniel Jones is like, could he be Alex Smith?

Alex Smith is really accurate. Daniel Jones, to me, is a little reckless with the football, despite being really talented. Like, to me, he's kind of their problem, you know, in a weird way. Because defensively, they play really hard. They're well-coached. They're like the Washington football team just with a little less talent. So I feel pretty confident, but not really.

really that confident because I don't love if Alex, I don't know how long he's out, don't really trust DeWayne Haskins, but I do think just the football teams, their defense is better. So I would sell some giant stock. The Packers. I mean, they're just a dominant force on offense.

Devante, Aaron's probably 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, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college. football or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? 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 it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

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Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, care games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

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You're going to win the MVP, him or my homes. LaFleur's been awesome this year calling. plays, you play a bad team in the Lions, and you beat them pretty soundly. Like, that's what good teams do. And the big thing this year that is different than last year, because to me, their defense, I would still red flag. I would still not totally trust their defense. But an underrated element last year of the Packers was, like,

what's up with Aaron Rogers? He doesn't look quite as good. And it's easy for us to say on the outside, they drafted a first round quarterback. They believe that. It's not media speak. This isn't Kyrie Irving, like, you're just making shit up. No, we were all saying it. And then their team drafted a quarterback in the first round.

But they have got him playing some of the best football of his career. He was 26 and 33 yesterday for three touchdowns. Devante is, I don't see if there might be a receiver as good as him, but there's not anyone better than him right now in the NFL. He is a baller. And they are now with the Saints losing in first place because obviously they own the timebreaker. They beat him this year.

And they got a pretty clear path to win. the next three games and get that number one seat. And a little like Seattle, when you have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, I just, even if your defense is flawed, I think you've got a pretty good chance to win the NFC. Now, I don't think either one is beating the Chiefs, but, you know, the NFC is wide open right now. The last team I would sell is just, again, I was just singing this guy's praises, I think Taysam Hill looks good. You just can't lose the Eagles with Jalen Hurts.

Like, that to me is a little bit of a weird loss. You just, you can't lose that game. You can't lose that game. To Jalen Hertz, first start, the dude that couldn't start at Alabama, you lost to him when you're fighting for the number one seed. Any other year, to me, this wouldn't be that big a deal, but only one team gets a buy this year. So that loss is a huge, huge deal.

I don't know, man. That's just, what are they going to do? Like, is Drew Brees just automatically get a starting job back? because he wasn't that great before. Taysam Hill clearly brings a different element to their game. I guess you could probably use Tassum a little bit more. But man, you lose to the Eagles? What Jalen hurts?

Who runs for 100 yards on you? That was a weird loss. The Saints have had a couple weird losses. Second week of the season when the Raiders kicked their ass. This loss, I want to really like the Saints. But I don't know, man. That was bizarre. Get right to the romance and find the win.

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Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Let's just hit a couple quick things on college football. A bunch of guys have been fired. I guess the biggest name that was fired so far has been Gus Melzaa with Auburn. And Tennessee is going to have an opening probably within the next year with Jeremy Pruitt losing his job. I was talking with some people in the business, people that are close with coaches.

And I don't think there's a league that has a false sense of reality than some individual teams within the SEC. As talking to people that are very, very tight in the SEC, they think Auburn's a terrible job because of the inflated expectations with your rival being the best program in the country, the shady and just different people pulling all the strings in the background, a little bit like Texas,

these jobs view themselves like their Alabama, like their Ohio state, and they just are not. Yet you are held to those expectations. So the moment you go 10 and 3, it's viewed at like a, you didn't accomplish anything. I saw it happen with Florida with Jim McElwain when he was going to the SEC championship game. It was not good enough.

Now, ultimately, Dan Mullen is a much better fit there, but like, is he a disappointment? Because he lost two games, lost the LSU and Texas A&M this year? It's very, very difficult. And the person tied in had a good point. He said, if I had a hot coaching candidate, I would 1 million percent send them to the Big 12

And I recommend to send them to the PAC 12 The problem is the PAC 12 That just like the Washington was supposed to play In the Pac-12 championship game They yanked them now it's Oregon Just a shit show Academia comes first out here Even though football pays the bill

It's a disaster I just Honestly the PAC 12 should merge with the Mountain West Especially if Oregon Loses Mario Cristobal to Auburn If your number one program with Caz Can't keep a coach from going to Auburn. Like, let's just go Power 4.

But to me, the Big 12, there is probably not a better job in America. Like Alabama is a good job, but you better win big. And it's not easy to win big there because you got Florida, you got Georgia, you got LSU, and you got A&M, and now you got Lane Kiffin coming for your ass. And it's easy for Nick because it's rolling now, but whoever comes in next, the expectations are going to be. It's a tough job. All the SEC jobs really hard.

Really, really hard. The Ohio State job now for Ryan Day actually isn't that hard because the school kind of recruits itself. Michigan, your big rival, isn't any good. Wisconsin just won't have the talent you have. It's going to be pretty easy for Ohio State to consistently keep winning.

He said, I'd put someone in the Big Ten. You can get a job. It's why James Franklin started making some noise. He started recruiting big time and was winning 10-11 games. But the Big 12, besides Oklahoma, what you could argue is the best job in the country. because the rest of your conference stinks.

Matt Campbell easily could get some big-time NFL offers and might not be at Iowa State long. Texas is a mess. Lincoln Riley makes $8,9 million, wins the conference every year. Now it's going to be a little hard for him to win a national championship just because the way he has to build his team to win in the conference doesn't necessarily help to beat Clemson, Alabama, LSU, or Ohio State.

But as long as he gets to the final four, he's going to be viewed at as a success. The expectations are not that out of whack. As long as they win their 11, 12 games every year, beat Texas and go to the playoffs, he's good. And he's going to keep doing that. You can be a guy to keep that job for 20 years. Bob Stoops did.

That doesn't happen. There are many coaches unless you're saving and keeping a job for 15, 20 years in the SEC. Not now. Now with all the money. So you look at the SEC. I would not take SEC jobs. Like when Tennessee comes open,

that's not a good job. The recruiting base stinks, the expectations, it's like Nebraska. We're living like it's 1997. It's 2020. Times have changed. The game has changed. The money has changed. Recruiting has changed.

These jobs are very, very difficult. I saw some people on Twitter like, how could Auburn pay Gus Melzon 20 million in a pandemic? I'll tell you a booster cut of check. This is big boy business. Someone paid him to go away. And I was told that when he was celebrating with his team after Mississippi State, the Auburn administration was working on the finalization of getting the money to get him gone. And there's internet, you know, Auburn tweeted it out, him dancing with his players, he had no clue.

He went six and four in the middle of a pandemic. And they fired him. And listen, he'd been there eight years. They paid him $20 million to go away. You could gladly pay me $20 million to go away. And he'll get another job. but that job is just not good. Jimbo now at Texas A&M is just way better than you.

LSU, even when they're down, it just has more talent. You're never going to sniff consistently Alabama. Lane is just throwing a wrench and everything. Kirby and Georgia is good and Dan Mullen and Florida is good. It's just, it's going to be very, very difficult to win at Opper. Yet they view themselves like they should be competing for national championships. I just don't think he should. It's why if Mario Cristobal is smart, he doesn't leave Oregon.

He can easily out-recruit everyone on the top. the West Coast. Football is not really king out here, yet because we're pro sports. Yet at Oregon, it's a really big deal. People are very, very passionate about Oregon sports. He has an unlimited budget with Nike to do whatever he needs to do. The pressure

doesn't sniff the SEC. Hell, remember when what's his name, went from Oregon to Florida State, he was fired within like two years. Didn't work. Willie, whatever. Taggart. Because the expectations in the South, it's like coached in the pros. Winner

home. In college, it's like, you know, Clay Hilton, he's a good guy. Guys graduate. We produce, yeah, we're good. We're USC, but Clay Hilton's cool. You know, we're good to go. That's how it works out here. It takes being Kevin Sumlin, who stories on him around the University of Arizona are not good. I wouldn't call him the most focused individual. He lost 70 to 7 to his rival. That's what it took to get him fired. 70 to 7. If I lost one game 70 to 7 in the SEC, I probably get fired the next day. Year 1. So Mario would be nuts if he ever left. But I think you see this all over college football

With the amount of, you know, in pro football You answered a one owner In college football you answered all these boosters You answer to the president, you answer to the AD Just very, very complicated You get too many cooks in the kitchen It's very difficult at all these schools To consistently win.

Yet like Texas carries themselves like their Ohio State Google Texas in my, I'm 36 years old. The majority of my life, they're like an eight or nine win team. Mac Brown had a decade-long stretch there where they were really good. It turns out Mac Brown is really good. All the other coaches they get in stink.

They win seven to nine games. That's just who they are. You are not Oklahoma at Texas. That's a fact. You'll never be Oklahoma, ever. Auburn, you're never going to be Alabama. Be happy winning eight, nine games. That's good.

That's okay. But that's not the case of these SEC schools. That's not the case at Texas. that's not the case. It's in Michigan. You know, they view themselves with such a false sense of reality. And when you're an employee, like the great part about owning a business, you get to have a sense of reality. Like, it's your vision.

When you're a football coach at these universities, and even in the pros, like, you get to work with the owner. So he knows your vision. Like in college football, it's like you got to convince boosters. And then this one guy might not like you. Well, he might be worth $100 million, and he could write a $5 million check to add to the buyout to get you out of there. So you got all these people working against you.

It gets really complicated. And I just think college football is in a weird path because Sabin and Daabo, guys like that have set the bar so high that every program thinks they should be sniffing that. And the reality is most of these programs, just be lucky to be like Boise State. You know, win some games, playing ball games, make your money, and go home. One thing this weekend showed me is there is just,

we don't know much about quarterbacks. I mean, honest to God, we have. I mean, the top guys we know, but everyone else, the projections coming out of college. It's why, listen, the hype on Trevor Lawrence can't get any stronger. So if he is not an absolute superstar, it'll be a letdown. We constantly kind of prop guys up. We constantly shit on guys and bury them. And, you know, with quarterbacks, you just never know.

You never know. It's the one position, I think, in all of sports, that the more information we have, and the more data we get, still the more confusing it is, because Josh Allen, when he came out of college, there is no way you could watch him and go, yeah, you know, I think this guy's going to be in three years one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the league. Well, three years after he's drafted,

he started 53% his rookie year. He's now at 70%. He's improved 17% in terms of his completion percentage. That is insane. This was someone I didn't like it all coming out of college. Because I'm like, there's no way he's going to be that accurate. He hasn't just become accurate. He's become one of the more accurate quarterbacks in the league.

He's potent. I think clearly beside Mahomes, in my opinion, for the guys under 30, he'd be the number two guy off the board. If we just had a fantasy draft in real football, you gave every general manager the opportunity to pick any quarterback that's young, not named Mahomes, who were they picking? I think Josh Allen would be the overwhelming favorite. We knew his physical gifts.

but we didn't think he was going to be accurate. Then he's accurate. And then you see a guy like Mitch Trubisky, who clearly was a swing and a miss. It's like, what's this guy's deal? What's this guy's, this guy's just not any good. Then they bench him for Nick Foles.

Then he comes back in the last three weeks. Only Aaron Rogers, the last three weeks, have thrown more touchdowns. He's got seven touchdowns last three touchdowns yesterday. Mr. Biskey's playing really good. If they would have had this Mr. Trubisky the last couple years, the way he's been playing the last three weeks,

they'd be, they would have been in the playoffs last year. They'd have a winning record this year be in the playoffs again. But how, why is this happening? I don't know. Like, I do know what Josh Allen having talked to McDermott, how hard he works,

but I think there have been a lot of guys over the years that work really hard. That have the intellectual, you know, intelligence, that have the total package in terms of character and a good teammate and everything. And it just doesn't come through. And then you have guys like Tribisky

where you're just like, you know, this guy's just not good enough. And maybe he's, I mean, clearly he never has been, but then he comes back and he starts killing it again. So we talk about Carson Wentz, getting that time to kind of take a deep breath. Sometimes when you've hit rock bottom, taking a step back really helps. Sometimes when you go through a traumatic experience, it helps to just take a step back. And Josh Allen's a good example of where you go, and I think this speaks in life.

I just filled out some like thing for a journalism student, just asked like five questions. and one of the questions was like, the question was pretty simple. It was who helped you get to where you are now. And the most basic answer to that question for me is my parents. I had two parents who supported me in everything, but also held me accountable,

made me go to school, made me try hard, made me attempt to get good grades, made me stick things out once I committed to. Like the most basically, level of my ability to succeed in anything in life starts and ends with them like yeah then i got lucky being around pat hill being around andy reed and everything that has taken place over the last you know 14 15 years but without the most basic level of being taught how to work hard how to

treat people i don't know now maybe you can develop that as you get older if you weren't taught as the younger age but the biggest reason like i have a chance to succeed i don't feel like in anything I do, strictly because of my parents. And clearly not everyone has that. So I think the advantages of a guy like Josh Allen, once you get him in your building, you get a guy that's pretty equipped to handle all this stuff. He comes to a team that hasn't won. He's drafted seventh overall.

Hell, he doesn't have that much success. And for whatever reason, he's just in pretty good position. Now, I just, like, why does that guy work when historically a lot of other guys don't work? I don't know. I think as we go, we have more questions about quarterbacks than answers. And we're going to have a quarterback crop of obviously Trevor Lawrence, but Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Kyle Trask, Mack Jones. Some of these guys are going to fail.

Some of these guys are going to really succeed. And we'll have some hard answers, right? Went to a bad organization. Didn't have a good offensive coordinator. And some of these guys are going to go to places like, why didn't this work? High character guy, went to a good coach, and he just wasn't good enough. It's just, the quarterback position truly is one of the great head scratchers of, because so much goes into it. It's so much more than just physical talent. Because once you get to the NFL, you have on the most basic level, probably the physical talent.

But the external stuff, the internal stuff, why can Josh Allen improve his accuracy? Is it just simple? Brian Dayball is a great coach? Will his accuracy disappear when Brian Dayball? dayball leaves, will he maintain it? I don't know. I mean, it's one of the fun parts about sports. How is it going to look? Is Miss Trubisky? What if the Bears win

four straight to end the season and go nine and seven? And Trubisky has a great season. Do they just bring Mitch back? I don't know. Could you convince yourself? What if Mitch throws like 15 touchdowns the last six games of his season?

And you go, you know, he really figured it out. You convince yourself that. I necessarily wouldn't say that, but I don't know. He looks pretty good. Just every year. We have more information. The games change.

We have more guys throwing touchdowns, more guys being accurate. And yet I still don't feel comfortable like this guy's going to be good in the NFL. This guy's not going to be good in the NFL. Because really beside Trevor Lawrence, depending on who you talk to, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Tray Lance, Mack Jones, Kyle Trask, even the rookies this year and the young guys, Sam Donald, is he going to be good moving forward? If I asked 10 people in the NFL, I'd probably get 10 different answers.

We really, it just shows us. We really don't know that much about quarterbacks. Okay. Let's go Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecoff. My Instagram at John Middlecoff. I think I just said that. I didn't need to say it again. I try to post some like separate content from my podcast and just,

maybe I need to start like doing a take of the day and just throw it on Instagram. Because I'm going to start doing that on some YouTube pages. I'll talk about that more. more and upcoming in the next month, but just try to just diversify the portfolio with the media takes, you know, but I need to be consistent. I do typically a couple posts a week on Instagram of just something happens, but I need to be a little more consistent. I'm going to try, starting Tuesday, take of the day. Let's do a take of the day. And not sure what that's going to be yet here on Monday night, but I might just try to do seven days a week, take of the day.

Sounds easy, but it gets a little harder than you think. Okay, from Tom. Question for the mailbag. Why are the Jacksonville Jaguars so bad? I'm from England, and I'm a full-Hom FC fan. The Khan family owns both teams with Tony the Sun, taking a sports director role at both. Their record as full home owners,

I can't say that, I don't know, has not been great, and some bad management and players, choices. Same for the Jacks. You know what's funny is the 49ers like five or six years ago invested into this team, this soccer team in Europe. They put in like $10,20 million. They didn't put in that much. But the team was not in the Premier League. And then last year, I can't even think of the team, the leads, leads united. Last year they got bumped up. and I text someone

that just in the loop with the Niners and I go, what does that mean for you guys? He's like, well, our investment just went up about fourfold, you know? And it was a pretty big deal for the Niners ownership. Like it was a really good investment. And I was like, I don't know much about European soccer besides like Manchester United and Man City

and some of the big ones. But then I brought this up on my other podcast and people started DMing me about how bad, The Jags are at soccer. Because I think I was talking some shit about the Jags, and whatever team they owned got relegated. Like the Niners team, again, the Niners team,

they're a minority owner, but their team, boom, jumped in. I think the way the guy with the Niners described it, it was like, uh, he called them like the Oakland Raiders. Kind of like a sleeping giant. If they ever got good, it'd be cool. That's what their team is.

But whatever team that Shod Khan owns sucks. So listen, I don't know much about them, beside the guy's got a lot of money. But here's what I do know. He's good at business. He owns soccer teams and he owns football teams and they fucking suck. So like the evidence that we have of him as a sports team owner, I don't know much about the Jacks.

I don't know anyone that works there. Whatever they're doing is a disaster. And clearly whatever they're doing with the soccer team, also a disaster. This isn't that complicated. You just hire good coaches, you hire good GMs in soccer. You hire good managers, which, which, you hire good managers, which. or the head coach or whatever. I watched Man City on Amazon Prime.

They hired Lagora, the pep, the bald guy. They started kicking ass at Man City. And I watched a Barcelona document on him. I think that wherever Messi used to play where he was the coach, he's a badass. He's like, you know, Mike Tomlin or something over there. Just hire good coaches. Same with football.

Hire a good coach. Hire a good GM. It's like your team, most teams aren't good if you have bad GMs and bad coaches. If you have good GMs and good coaches, You're like, I don't know, Seattle, you know, L.A. Rams, Chiefs, the Saints, Steelers. You know, this isn't a complicated strategy how to be good at running a sports team. Whatever it takes, hire good people at the most important positions, which are coach and general manager.

And clearly he just does a terrible job doing that. It's been three years now. Did Mark Davis make the right call by firing Del Rio and hiring Gruden? JDR probably needed to go after that season but I'm not sure this experiment has panned out he's still got seven years but so far it's been more of the same for the Raiders here's a reality

I was on a radio station that had the Raiders so I was going to a lot of Raider games and I did Raiders pre and post game someone asked for those of you that don't know I had a radio show we were the Raiders station they were so terrible and I did the post game and I, you know, I mean, you guys listen to me, I'm pretty, what's on my mind, I'm going to say. And the Raiders are on the, you know, on the far end of get very, very sensitive.

They were a sensitive bunch. And the present of the team hated me because I was constantly talking shit about them trying to move and the football team. Again, they were terrible. This was before Del Rio got there. Like Dennis Allen. I mean, it was an embarrassing. They were an embarrassing franchise. guys. And so we were at odds with them. But my boss

was cool. He's like, just let it rip. I'm just being honest. I mean, when you went in three games, at one point in time, the president of the Raiders, they were 0 and 10. And they were going into a Chiefs game on Thursday night football. The Raiders ended up upsetting them. But after they went to 0.10, and I was doing the post game, I tweeted out, like, the Raiders have a path to go 0 in 16.

Because their last six games, like the Raiders, the Niners, the bills, they were going to lose a lot of games. They ended up going 3 and 13. That was Derrick Rann and Khalil's rookie year. But the president of the Raider saw that tweet and he was incensed. Again, they were 0-10. But this is the type of stuff you deal with when you're a partner of a team. You know, it's a little complicated.

It's just really low-level shit. Like, bro, your team fucking sucks. You're 0-10. Why are you worrying about what John Middilcoff's tweeting? But he wasn't just worried about it. He was calling my boss as he's at the tarmac of whatever team they just got blown out for. So I've been around the Raiders really closely. I knew guys on the coaching staff.

I follow the team really closely. And when Jack got here, he was a grown-up. He made them change a bunch of stuff. He just got them up to speed. First year he went 7 and 9. The second year, they were competing with the Chiefs to win the division. It might have been the Broncos actually at the time.

That might have been Peyton Manning's last year, 16. I can't quite remember. But they, Derek broke his ankle, and then they lost in the first round of the playoffs. but they were a 12-win team that year. They were really, might have been 11. They were really, really good. Gruden's going on now year three.

This is year three. Where unlike Jack, like Reggie McKenzie did have a lot of juice as the GM, like he was picking players with Jack, but it was a team effort. Gruden is picking every player, as I talked about earlier. They're on path. I mean, the Ravens are going to win 10 or 11 games. The Raiders are not going to go to the playoffs.

John Gruden, you paid him $100 million and not go to the playoffs? One thing I hear about John Grubon, it is just so abrasive and he's not easy to deal with for position coaches maybe not position coaches as much. Mayock, I don't think it's smooth sailing in that building. And it starts with John. Like you can be tough to deal with when you're Nick Saban when you dominate. Like John's screaming anyway.

John, when's the last time you won a big game in the NFL? 07? Like when I was a junior in college? Back when I had hair? I mean, almost, we're talking, it's 2020. We're talking 13, 14 years ago. Like, who are you? You won a Super Bowl with Tony Dungey's players?

Is there a chance? John Gruden's one of the most overrated coaches in NFL history. Given the hype, and there was a ton of hype. For a decade, every team lined up to try to hire him, pro and college. Now he gets blown out by the Falcons. He needs a covers,

Zero to beat the Jets? Think about that. The Raiders fans, rightfully so, were sold a bag of goods. I thought he'd be good too. I thought John Gruden was going to be like the offensive Bill Parcells. This old school badass, zero messing around, screaming at guys, holding guys really accountable, team flying around hitting people in the mouth. Instead, it's just, he gives a lot of excuses. He just said after the last game, he's like, you know, not to make excuses.

Cleland Farrell was out with a hand. We had three guys out with Corona. Jonathan Abram got knocked out in the third quarter. I was like, John, you just made like seven excuses. You're the opposite of Bill Parcells. Mark Davis loves him and he's not going to fire him. But it's been an awful hire. I mean, it just has, you know.

I don't know any way around it. It's been given how much they're paying them and how long is constantly. contract is. I mean, if you had to bet right now, does John Gruden, he's in year three, they're not going to make the playoffs, probably won't make the playoffs? I mean, when are they ever going to make the playoffs? What if they don't make the playoffs for like his first five years? Is he going to quit? I thought coward. I thought he was wrong, but it turns out he was dead right. I mean, he's right about a lot of stuff. He says, when you're that good at something and you like something that much, you don't stay away

from it for 10 years. Like, looking back, that's pretty weird. that he just left for a decade. It's why some of these rumors about Bill Cower, like, no, Bill Cowher. I like Bill Cowher. I've met him before. I think he's a badass. Could not hire him right now to be my coach. Zero chance. No possible way.

Could not hire Bill Cowher. If you care of that and like football that much, maybe you take five years off. You don't take a decade. You don't take 15 years. A big fan of the podcast from the UK. So big that my girlfriend now feels that she actually knows your, you, such is the amount I consume your content and the frequency your voice bellows from either the car or Alexa.

Well, that's good. Anyway, I often hear you mention badassery or high caliber when you're talking about qualities you admire in those around you. So given this, if you had to take five football players from your time, watching and working in the sport, down into the foxhole with you and why? Cheers. That's a great question. I would first, you'd want a smart guy around you.

You'd want a tactician, right? If you're in a foxhole, if you're in a war situation, if you're in just something where you need a guy to lead you to safety, I'd want Peyton Manning. To me, Peyton Manning is the ultimate thinker. Just a grinder.

I'd want to thinker. Then I'd probably need, I'd need like a big freak left tackle. And when I first got to the Eagles, Jason Peters had to be the biggest freak in the league. He was like 340 pounds. He moved like a wide receiver. He had power like a power lifter. I mean, it was just insane how strong he was. I'd probably take Aaron Donald because I just want someone to just destroy people. Probably need a little speed, but also, you know, a tough guy. I mean, Charles Woodson is, you know, I was around him a little bit at the end with the Raiders.

Always loved them those years with the Packers. I just love Seawood. I mean, who doesn't love Charles? I'd go Charles Woodson. You know, I mean, this guy, just pound for pound. The last guy in the world you'd want to tackle in his prime would probably be Adrian Peterson.

So, you know, hell, he's like almost 40 years old and he's still running strong. How do you beat AP? I know Oklahoma calls him AD. I just call him AP. It's all the same shit. Is this Baker's coming out party? Let's end on this.

You know, he threw a bad pick. He was 27 to 46. I think it was a good moment. It was a good step forward. I'm not going to annoy. You can't anoint him after this, but it was a very positive game. They had four rushing touchdowns.

And he was one of them, which it was a really good play. He made good plays. He made winning plays. He was a winning player tonight. I'll take nothing in a big game on Monday night football with millions of people watching. The bright lights, the bright lights on.

You could see your breath. The AFC North is for tough dudes. Like it ain't the soft west coast like where I live. Like Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. No domes all outside, all in freezing cold environments. They all play each other late in the season. I know since he sucks now, but Marvin looked back when Marvin was there. Like, that's just, I have the utmost respect for that division.

I just look at that division and I go, that's where the bad motherfuckers play. You know, that's where the tough guys play. Think about some of those games with like the Bengals and the Steelers, the Ravens and the Steelers. I know tonight wasn't necessarily like a knockdown, drag out, you know, bloodbath, but it's just so cold. I just, I love the AFC North.

what it stands for and represents as a as a football division. I guess that'll wrap it up for us. And I will see you guys later this week. Enjoy the week. Christmas right around the corner, don't forget to do your shopping. You don't want to be last minute. I've done some online shopping.

Keep your fingers crossed. Everything arrives on time. You never know with Corona. You know, shit might arrive in like March. But, adios, Godspeed. Enjoy the week. Stay healthy. Stay positive.

Let's end on that. Stay positive. Godspeed. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800 Flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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