The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Reid/Mahomes Legacy, Philly Future, Carr Flex, Mailbag

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

With a day to digest the Chiefs win over the Eagles, John discusses what a second title means for Mahomes and Andy Reid, why he’s bullish on the Eagles sustaining their success, and why Derek Carr walking is a huge failure for the Raiders. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Subscribe NOW and follow Middlekauff and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content. It's always FanDuel for the best wagering action! #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. The Volume. The Three and Out podcast with me, John Middell Cof, is presented by Fandul's Sportsbook. It's the NFL playoff time, and there's no better place to get into the action than Fandul.

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What a season. Pretty incredible. Crazy how fast it goes. No more football. I don't count the XFL or the USFL. No more NFL or college football, obviously, till. early September. Luckily, for us, the Combine, Pre-Agency, the draft will keep us rocking and rolling for a while. I still have some thoughts on what we witnessed last night in the Super Bowl.

We will discuss that. What a game. What an outcome. What a legacy definer for the chiefs and Mahomes and Andy. We will discuss that as well as, you listen, I'm still very bullish on the Eagles moving forward. I've heard some negativity or seen. it on the interweb about why they might be in trouble moving forward, cap-wise, and some of their free agents. I want to discuss some of the positive things they got going for them. One of the big stories over the weekend that me and Coward didn't get to discuss on Sunday night was car exercises, no trade clause, and will be released. Have some thoughts there, as well as the Middlekopf mailbag. I need you guys. This is what I ride you guys. At Job Middlecoph is the

Instagram, fire in those DMs. Pepper me with any question you have. Football, life, you name it. Fire in those DMs at John Middlecoff and get your question answered on here on the show. We do them Tuesdays. We put one out on the weekend. Might actually transition that one to Friday's podcast now. We will see. But my Instagram fire in those DMs as well as if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to the three and out feed. Check out the volumes YouTube page. a lot of content going. I'm obviously full speed ahead. The golf podcast starts up this week.

Go low just on this feed. Tiger returns. Waste management, which was just in my backyard. The Netflix special full swing starts. So we will have a lot of content. I've already lost a lot of money gambling on golf and one a little and one a little. Thanks to Max Homa.

So we will dive deep into that. And yeah, where do I want to start here? Before I dive into the Chiefs, one thing that really stood out, I spent a lot of Sunday night watching the two quarterbacks talk. Obviously, Mahomes kind of run around the field and watching Jaylen's post-game press conference. Those guys, and really the majority of young quarterbacks, this is why with the draft

not far away, and there's definitely three quarterbacks that are going to be discussed at nauseam, Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis. Character and wiring means so much at that position. You can get away with it at other positions. You clearly do get away within it to other positions. But it's a tried and true formula. The higher level guys are usually the higher level players. And Mahomes is just the total package. I mean, you watch him talk after the game. The praise he gives his coaches, his teammates. He never, ever feels like a me, I guy for this guy who's an absolute legend in the biggest sport in America. And he's 27 years old. To have that type of maturity,

I mean, just think about it yourself. I'm 38. He's more mature than me. You know, most people I know, most of my friends in our mid-30s are not that mature relative to the weight. of a franchise, of a fan base, the way he handles himself. Colin mentioned it last night. It's just reflective of your parents and who raised you. And Jalen's the same thing. Son of a coach, the wiring the guy has. Mahomes clearly has more natural ability,

especially when it comes to his arm. Jalen's a better runner. But Jalen has gotten so much better in three years. The way you improve, we often, and rightfully so, give a lot of credit to coaches. and they get paid a lot of money to improve these guys. But it's a six-month year of sport, right? OTAs is kind of a joke now.

It's a lot of it's on you. Your discipline, your focus, your desire, your drive. And this is something, you know, back when the day when I was going to these scouting meetings and during the draft and free agency, you spend so much time discussing. Because ultimately you're signing the human being, the human, the guy, as much as the player. And you're either getting better or you're getting worse. And these are two guys that just constantly get better. And obviously Mahomes is the peak, you know,

just doesn't get much better. I mean, he's going to go down as one of the greatest athletes in the history of this country. But Jalen, what he has done and what he has accomplished is remarkable. Because improvement when I did not think he was going to be this good. Hell, I thought he was going to be a running back. He couldn't throw in college. And anyone listening to this that watched him has to agree.

he was not a great thrower. He's dramatically better thrower now. He is good enough to win a Super Bowl. We'll dive into some of the Eagles stuff. But when I think about the Chiefs, and I was obviously in Philly around Brett Veach and Coach Reed, the number one thing to me having just 24 hours to think about that stands out to me about their franchise is synergy

and how everyone in that organization, at least their three most important employees. The coach, the GM, and the quarterback are all, on the same page. They speak each other's language. When Mahomes talks about the team, first two people he often mentions, Andy Reid, Brett Veach.

And now he has hard evidence that they will do whatever it takes for that team to win. And for him specifically, remember just a couple weeks ago when he hurts his ankle against the Jacksonville Jags, most coaches do not care,

will just go down with the ship, that guy limping around. Andy Reid told him, pointed at the back. You're not going back in that game, Patrick, until you get an x-ray. And if the x-ray's cool, you can come back in the game. And like, listen, in the heat of the moment, a lot of coaches might have been like, oh, go tough it out.

Now, ultimately, he came back in the game and he turned out to be fine, and he was obviously able to play from there on out. But Patrick has seen the coach who not only believed him as a player, but loves him as a human and takes care of him as a player. and a general manager that last off season, I wouldn't say made a controversial move, but they traded one of the best players in franchise history and one of the greatest deep threats we've ever seen.

And they came back the next year, locked and loaded with talent everywhere. They were much more of a complete team. Their defense was dramatically better. He has seen over the last couple years, their defense dramatically improved. Offensively, he can land a seventh round rookie, who'd be a stud.

He can revamp the offensive line. So Patrick Mahomes now, has a front row seat of obviously his coach is a future Hall of Famer and an all-time great, but his GM can just revamp an organization. So this organization has three guys that have complete trust in each other. Brett Veach's career started as Andy Reed's personal assistant. And now he's his general manager with the Kansas Chiefs and putting together a Hall of Fame resume as an executive. So when I think the Chiefs, I think synergy and I think cohesion, it's one thing, because ultimately

with the Patriots for a long time, it wasn't three people because Bill was also the GM. It was just two. Now, it doesn't mean you're always going to agree. It doesn't mean you're always going to be singing kumbaya. But Mahomes, or excuse me, Brady and Belichick, Brady always knew that Belichick would do what it took to put the best team forward. and for 20 years, they consistently won at the highest level. And I think these three guys now are just operating on a level that just,

for the most part, it's in a different world than everyone else in the league. From the sense of they just have the best quarterback and they have the best coach. And obviously it's a great fan base. They have a really talented team. They have a really good talent evaluator. They're just kind of the total package right now. And they're probably another Super Bowl in the next couple years. start calling this thing a dynasty.

They're clearly the number one franchise in the league right now in terms of five straight end of AFC championship games. Patrick Mahomes has never played. Think about this. He's never played a road to playoff game. Only home playoff games beside the Super Bowl. So in five years as a starter, he has been only home playoff games and been three Super Bowls.

So they are just kicking ass and taking name. And speaking of the coach, I'm a big believer with talented people. that the cream always rises, that eventually the talent rises above everyone else. Now, one thing as you age, you realize, not everyone's path to success is the same line. There is no direct path that if I do something a specific way and have success and then you ask me for advice and I tell you just to copy me, it's not possible. We all have to run our own race. We all have to take, you know, different lines to work.

where we want to get. Not every road goes in the same direction in our individual careers. But I believe to my core that if you're really good at what you do, you obviously have to possess some things. A strong work ethic is very important. And a will to not kind of tap out, whether you consider that discipline, whether you consider that a relentless mindset, grit, whatever, however you want to describe it. Just a willingness every day or, you know, five, six days a week to just keep on swinging and not be detoured by failure because I don't care what you do. There are going to be setbacks. I don't care how good you are.

Belichick got fired. Steve Jobs got fired. You know, very successful people go bankrupt. Like, welcome to life. It's hard. Andy Reid got fired once upon a time. I know I was there. I got fired about three or four months later.

But Andy's a great example. In my life, he is his work ethic. is unparalleled. Never seen anything like it. Because part of it was just his energy. He has an energy, and I'm a big believer in this, that in most human beings

that definitely talk for a living, motivational people, they always tell you this. But I do believe it's true. That find what you're passionate about and do that for a living. It's not because like it makes life super happy and every day is great.

It's because it's so much easier to work when you like what you do, right? I don't care whether you talk about football for a living, whether you sell software, or whether you make turkey sandwiches at the number one deli in America. There are going to be days when you're mad, when you're angry,

when you don't want to go to work. We're all human beings. But when you do enjoy it at its core, you are more likely to work. You know, you're more likely to just, hey, I'm working on Sunday night, and it doesn't feel like work. Hey, I'm in the office Friday afternoon when my buddies are playing golf.

I got shit to do. This is part of the deal. And Andy's work ethic, I think is it's got to be. And listen, football, these guys are wired kind of crazy. The amount of hours they work is not like many industries. Maybe Wall Street, maybe some financial jobs. But it's pretty rare. I don't care what you do to work 100 hour weeks.

and that's what a lot of coaches do. And his ability, even in his mid-60s, to be just doing this now for 30-plus years in the NFL. I mean, he's been coaching for 40-plus. And to love it as much now as he did when he was 30 years old is honestly why a lot of coaches, they have success because it keeps them young. Because you're still coaching a kid's game,

but you get paid a lot of money to do it. And clearly Andy is, he's got two things going for, right? He has a natural feeling. for offensive play calling. I think, I don't know if you're born with that. I mean, you're clearly taught that overtime. But I think we have evidence that some guys are better at it than others, right? And the other thing that I don't know if he quite gets enough credit for is he's unreal

with players. Players love him, whether he trade you, whether he cuts you, that he just resonates with them at a very personal level. And it comes natural to him. That's a natural kind of way that he interacts with guys. And I think he just cemented himself as a Hall of Famer. But he's a good example for a long period of time. It's like, ah, he's just not good enough to win the big one.

He's got all these wins, but he doesn't have a championship to show for it. And being a football coach is probably not much different than most businesses. A lot of things are out of our control, right? Even if, you know, whether you're in real estate, you get to purchase the land, but if a major recession hits over something that you had nothing to do with and no one could foresee coming,

you might be in some trouble. It does not mean that that land wasn't a good purchase. He drafted Donovan McNabb. Several time pro bowler, really good player, had some flaws. He was out of shape in a Super Bowl. Hard for me to be puking on the final drive.

Hard for me to put that one on the coach. Alex Smith, really, really solid play. clearly had a very, very low ceiling. Even Michael Vick, who had the incredible year, he got him out of fucking prison. So now, think of the great coaches of our lifetime, right? I'm 38, so let's just go to the last like 40 years.

Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, and let's, you know, Bill Parcells. All three of them are really defined by one player. Walsh, Montana. Parcells, Lawrence Taylor. Belichick Brady. There's like three of the greatest five players in the history of the league. Bill Belichick is not

Bill Belichick if he stumbles into Donovan McNabb. Bill Walsh is not Bill Walsh if his quarterback is Boomer Assison, who's a good player. Right? So every great coach has to have a great player. Phil Jackson, and I

always say this, it's hard. Like, let's face it. Most coaches, whether you're a good high school coach, whether you're a good college coach, or whether you're a good pro coach, can take a solid starter and get them to overachieve, can get an overachieving player and have him have a good season. Like, most coaches worth their salt can function with that. But not most coaches can handle elite players. And I would say one of Andy's greatest traits is you give him the cream of the crop, that's who he coaches the best. And those guys excel under his watch, just like they do with

Belichick, just like they did with Bill Walsh, just like they did with Bill Parcells, just like they did with Phil Jackson. To be a great coach, you need great players. But then with those great players, can you have them sustain their level of play year in, year out? I think Mike Tomlin said that on, I think he said that to McVeigh and Schrager on their podcast a couple years ago. That's what's, any coach can take a C player, turn them into a B. But can you take my A player and have him play like an A every single year. And that's what Andy's doing. With the best thing that's ever happened to him, Patrick Mahomes, and now he's kicking

everyone's ass consistently. I mean, he's won the division six straight years. Well, who's going to pick them to not win the division next year? Not me. Not you. So very happy for Coach Reed's success and well-deserved, and it just shows you. You just keep swinging. You just keep swinging.

If you have talent, we all go through shitty times. He's gone through, he got fired. Ten years ago, he got fired. Think about that. Fired. Fired. How many of you listening have been fired? Probably not that many.

I mean people all the time, like, never been fired. I've been fired twice. It's just, depending on what business you work in, it's just, you know, certain industries, you can be more inclined to be, quote, unquote, laid off or fired. But, you know, it's just pretty awesome for him. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

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

A win is a win. I don't care 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, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Looking to get more out of the NBA season? Well, now's the perfect time to download FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. The promo code is always Colin. FanDuel has tons of betting options.

I like the same game parlay. Bet a little, win a lot. Fandul's app is safe, secure, easy to use, and you get paid your winnings really fast. The no-sweat first bet up to $1,000, promo code Colin, make every moment more this season with Fandul, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 plus and present in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, and Louisiana. Permitted parishes only. Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia. First Online, Real Money Wager Only.

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or visit CETG. Connecticut, 1-800-G, or visit Fandul-Dol dot com slash RG and Colorado, Indiana, Indiana, stop in Louisiana. 1-800-2707-1-1-1-7-1-1-7-1-1-7-1-1-7-1-1-7-1-1-1-6-9 in New York, , Tennessee, Redline, 1,800 899, 9789, Tennessee, visit 1,800 gambler.net in West Virginia. And then on the Eagles, I saw a lot of people today talking about how Philly has kind of peaked,

you know, the caps-based situation, they got a lot of free agents. And I got to push back. I'm very bullish on the Eagles future. And one thing, you know, Colin and I talked about, anyone worth their salt that watched that game, had to be like, God damn, they have a quarterback who you can win a Super Bowl with. Now, is Jalen ever going to be consistently a top two or three guy year in, year out? Probably not. Like, I wouldn't take Jalen over, wouldn't take him over Mahomes, wouldn't take him over Allen.

I wouldn't take him over Herbert, right? You know, I just wouldn't. Trevor Lawrence, I'm betting for the next 10 years. Like, I'm still leaning that way. But if you wanted to argue with me, I'd listen to you. Jalen has turned into a fantastic quarterback. And even if becomes the best version of like DAC, cousins, and kind of that, you know, eight to 12 tier, you can win a Super Bowl with that crew if you do a good enough job

building your team. And here's what I know the Eagles' greatest asset is, their general manager. Howie is one of the great wheeler and dealers in the NFL. Think about it. A couple years ago, Carson Wentz was clearly damaged goods. They got a first round pick for him. Last year, they had all these first-round picks. They weren't going to use them all.

They prayed on the New Orleans Saints, who in what world could convince themselves they were a player away? The Eagles have the 10th pick in this draft on top of their own picks. So, yeah, they have some free agents. But here's what I know about the Eagles. They have a quarterback who is good enough to win a Super Bowl with. But you have to have more than that. Well, they have a really good offensive line with several guys under contract

and arrow pointing up. They have two stud wide receivers who are not going anywhere. They have a tight end who's a top five tight end in the NFL. They have several impact defensive linemen all under contract. And like I said, they have the 10th pick in the draft so they can get an impact player. And Howie is always one of the more active traders in the NFL. I would feel very good. And overall, the other thing that you should be the most bullish on, like, I don't

like the Chiefs. Every year you make the Super Bowl and the AFC, like, God damn, that was hard. We had to go through Burrell. We had to go through Josh Down. We had to go through the Jags, Herbert. I mean, he's got maybe Deshaun Watson gets good again, even though I don't know if I bet on that one. Maybe Sean Payton gets the Broncos rolling. It's hard. You know, the Jets get Aaron Rogers. There's just teams everywhere with a lot of talent. I think the NFC. I mean, think about the NFC. Who is really good? Forty-niners? I mean, they still got major questions at quarterback. The Cowboys? I mean, there are three teams.

Do you feel like pretty confidently they're good? The Vikings kind of. I mean, they got a couple good players. Their defense, I don't trust at all. The Giants, I mean, their quarterbacks not even under contract. Their best player on the team is a free agent. And most times you immediately resign him. He's a running back.

I'm not resigning and overpaying a running back. They just saw the Kennedy Chiefs. The best running back they've had since Jamal, Charles. It's a fucking seventh round pick. God, that guy is good. Isaiah Pacheco is a monster, a monster. So it just shows you the NFC is wide open, but it's really not. They're like three or four teams that are dramatically better than everyone else. Starts with the Eagles and the 49ers and probably the Cowboys. The Vikings are clearly not on their tier. And the Giants, while I believe in their coach, just have a lot of holes on their

roster and have some major free agents. So I just think the NFC kind of sucks. And part of the way your conference gets good or bad is the quarterbacks. Well, Jamlin Hurts probably the best quarterback in the NFC. He would not be a top three quarterback in the AFC. Probably wouldn't be a top five quarterback in the AFC. So I would be bullish if I was the Eagles, never easy losing a Super Bowl, especially one where for a large percentage of the game, you outplayed him.

One issue I do have with the Eagles, and I mentioned this on Sunday night's pod, is that I'm a big believer in linebacker play, impact linebackers. Because when I got out of the NFL and I started getting into this business, I was around the 49er Harbaugh teams. And I saw the impact of Bowman and Willis. And then over the last four or five years with the 49ers, I saw the impact of Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. And watching the game yesterday, one massive disadvantage slash advantage was the linebacker play. The Eagles linebacker play isn't that good. The Chiefs linebacker play just from a speed perspective and physicality perspective is way better. Bolton, the young middle linebacker, is a stud.

He's everywhere. Your run defense is going to suck if your linebacker suck. Because this is not high school football. Just because you have Reddick, Hardgraves, sweat, they're not going to make every single play in the running game. Your linebackers are typically going to combine, let's say you've got two starting linebackers, are going to combine for 20 tackles a game.

So if those guys are not playmakers, you're at a disadvantage. You are not going to have, like there are going to be a lot of two-yard plays for teams with good linebacker plays. They're going to turn into seven-yard plays. And I thought that happened a lot. And the Eagles do not value the linebacker plays.

position, that is something that I would change. But we'll see. Now, I don't think they're going to take a guy with the 10th overall pick, but they need an impact linebacker. I think that's very, very important. So fantastic game. Very, very fun season. A lot of storylines.

A lot of just meat. I mean, it was, it was very, very enjoyable. And now we're basically on a 2023. And it starts here in a couple weeks of the combine. And then we'll rock and roll right into free agency, which is not far away. And speaking of free agency, it became official that Derek Carr has asked, or I guess he wouldn't waive as no trade clause. So essentially the Raiders are going to cut him.

And I'd argue the majority of deals that are made at a high level in any business, both sides got to feel pretty comfortable. The majority of deals being made are not one side getting railroaded. Now, it may lead out to that big picture long term, but at the time you sign the deal, there shouldn't be some huge disadvantage for one side. This is not a seller's market 2021 where every person selling a house was taking the buyer to the woodshed. Deshawn Watson and his agent against the Browns, like that was a one-sided affair. Those are kind of outlier situations.

Most contracts, right, even like, remember we all scratching our head over the Kyler Murray trade or I mean the Kyler Murray contract like how does this make any sense didn't make any sense like when you paid and traded for Tyree Kill and uh Devante Adams it costs a lot trade assets and money both those guys delivered I'd argue as a win win for both organizations Tyree Kill was like the borderline MVP the league he was worth every penny same with Devante Adams absolutely kicking ass I like to have win-win win deals. And the Raiders last year wanted, they couldn't upgrade their quarterback position. And because Derek was going to be a free agent after this season, they tried to kind of have their

cake and eat it too by put them on this modern day contract of paying them essentially like high 30s, $40 million a year, but make it a year to year deal, which no starting quarterback signs anymore. Who's any good? Who's a top 15 quarterback? That's not the way that, Business is done. But the way that they got him to do that is they gave him this, you know, random arbitrary date February 15th that he had the right to, you had to pay me a month before free agency. And I get a no trade clause.

Like I'm Janus Enter de Kumpo or, you know, fucking Luca Donchich. But they gave him that. And the moment they did, because think about this, Carson Wentz, massive contract, first round pick traded for. Matt Ryan, shot old, not good anymore, making a lot of money. Third round pick. Quarterbacks, because the scarcity in the market and the demand far outweighs the supply, even when you're quote unquote damaged goods or making a lot of money,

I can always trade you for a second day pick. And if you're just showing any signs of life, that pick might be in the second round and sometimes it gets in the first round. yet the Raiders because they really like wanted, they wanted no part of giving Derek any truly guaranteed money, which is like, okay, you might as well, like looking back, that was, they should have just played it out. Because even if he was going to be a free agent,

you know what they could do? They could tag him. And you know what they could do when they tagged them? They could trade him somewhere. But they don't have that right because they gave him this no trade clause. And now they're losing a quarterback, who yeah, he's coming off a bad season. But his resume kind of speaks for itself.

He's like a top 11 to 15 quarterback. I got news for you. Those guys got fucking value. And the Raiders are going to get zero value. He's just going to walk. And they're, oh, they save some money, no money on the cap.

I think it's just terrible business. And looking back and I was thinking about this, thinking about like the Chiefs and Andy and Veach, how they're on the same page. They're really good at their job. Howie Roseman can just remake teams, can hire coaches, can draft quarterbacks,

like just put his team in success. There is just no, guarantee that the Josh McDaniel Ziegler have any clue what they're doing because they are going to release a quarterback who's just going to walk for free. That is low-level NFL

business. Some of these coaches moving places, Demico Ryan's has hired one of Kyle Shanahan's minions. It looks like both Eagles coordinators. Shane Steichen is going to be the Colts

head coach. It kind of feels like Jonathan Gannon is going to be the Cardinals coach. Here's what I know if I was hiring a coach. Obviously leadership, mental toughness, mental, you know, being able to handle stress and anyone at the top of the food chain, all the boxes you have to check about the wiring upstairs really matters. But I think being talented and having a point of difference as a scheme guy in 2023 is really important. And the one thing I'd say if I'm the Colts and I'm hiring Shane Stuyken, I feel pretty good about that.

I've seen him have a dominant offense and I've seen him directly coach a quarterback who a couple years ago everyone would have agreed was limited and two years later makes him an MVP level candidate and a guy that easily could have won a Super Bowl. If I'm hiring D'Amico Ryans, I think, I know he's a good leader. He's been a team captain. He's a high level player. But then as a coach, as a defensive coordinator, he can lead a top defense so I can see him scheming. Jonathan Gannon, if he is actually the Cardinals head coach, seems like a pretty big extreme. Because the people I know in Philly, they love the guy. I think as a human being, very impressive.

People think very highly of the human, which is important. But I watch his defenses and I just see a little something there to be desired. So, yeah, I can bring him to Arizona and he can bring him to Arizona and he can bring. bring good character and leadership. But you also got a scheme on the field. And this is why it's such a hard job to hire these coaches because it has to encompass so much. Like ultimately, you know what, Andy brings the table,

leadership, ability to handle stress, tough situations, and coach the fucking team. Same thing with Sean Payton, same thing with Pete Carroll, some thing with Sean McPhey and Kyle Shanahan. Some of these coordinators, like if your defense or offense wasn't that good, how are you going to be good now?

And I think it's no different when you hire an offensive coordinator. When Robert Sala took LaFleur's brother, Mike LaFleur, to the Jets, he'd obviously spent a lot of time with him in San Francisco, but he had never actually called place. And then two years later, he has to fire him. Because clearly he's kind of over his head. And I see D'Amico doing the same thing.

When you're a defensive coach or an offensive coach and you hire the opposite side of the ball, when you hire a younger coordinator who's never done it, that is a massive risk. And the number one thing I would do as a head coach early on would try to just mitigate risk to just try to get the train back on the tracks, not to have everyone kind of learning on the job. And that was, I remember a guy told me a couple years ago, they're like, the one thing that's interesting about solid staff, every coordinator he has is a first-time coordinator.

So you've got a lot of people, and obviously he's a first-time head coach, that are just think about yourself. Anytime you get the first time that you get hired to a job, the first time you walk into an office, take some time. The difference is a lot of jobs, there's some leeway, the pressure is not as crazy as, I don't know, running an offense or defense in the NFL where you get judged by millions of people 17 times a year. And I'm fascinated with some of these hires. Some of them, most of them are going to fail. That's just a fact. Most of them are going to utterly fail. And it's going to be interesting to see who it is because you never know. I remember when, was it, whatever Doug Peterson's year that he got hired, was it 15 or 16, he got an F. And I think

Hugh Jackson, you know, and the Brown's got an A. So I can't pretend to have any clue. But I just know, it's clearly not easy because most people are not good at that role. Okay, let's bang out a couple quick middle cough mailbag questions ad john middlecoff is the instagram fire in those dms moving on from whether the call and bradbury was the right call it was allowing your defense to get a penalty in that spot is one of the all-time coaching blunders in history at the house i was at we all knew at the two-minute warning that a t-d doesn't kill philly but a penalty does philly also called a timeout right before the play, so that's two times to rewind your defense of situational awareness for a coach who doesn't even call plays on either side. Bill Parcell's here. If Seriani didn't inform his team

of this before the ball, then he deserves as much blame as Bradbury, because if you aren't informing of time and situation, then what the fuck are you doing besides making hand gestures across the field while hurt tells you to focus on the sideline? Losing Shane and Gannon, could really fuck this team next year. Well, Gannon, to me, that's also on Gannon. Like part of it is situational awareness is also the defensive coordinator when his defense was getting smoked

in the second half. Good point. That is, this is why we have the mailback. Hadn't really thought about that because they were clearly cool with the very next play, letting them score. So under no circumstances can you get a penalty. It essentially loses you the game.

So, you know, whether you play off, Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, I always struggle with, you know, Siriotti, when he's doing like the Bash Brother things, it's like, bro, I mean, you're not calling the plays, so you're not some offensive genius. You know, are you really some great motivator? Like, you got guys that have won Super Bowls.

Like, are you motivating Jason Kelsey or Lane Johnson or Brandon Graham? I'm not saying he's impacting them negatively, but is he getting that much credit for those guys? Not really. So, yeah, I hear you. It can't happen. But it did, and they lost. Is the not-catchable factor only implicated on past interference

where they call holding even if the ball isn't targeted at them? Good point. Yeah, I think it is. But they don't really call the, you know, that when the ref does over-the-head gesture, on past interference, it doesn't feel like they make that call ever. So, I don't know, man.

I just, I'm as anti-refs as anyone. Now, I am the first to acknowledge it's a difficult job, but how consistently, I think it's so stupid. Like, on the play, Miles Sanders caught the ball and fumbled. He caught the ball. Like, that's a catch.

What are we doing? Why are we over? Why are we making this so complicated? Like, I understand on plays, Devante Smith's catch against the Niners clearly bounced off the ground. But there were a couple plays yesterday. It's like, yeah, that's a catch.

Like, Miles Sanders caught the fucking ball and then he got lit up and the ball's on the ground. Like, we got to do a better job. Certain things are pretty black and white. Whether you're playing on the playground, whether you're playing in high school, or whether you're playing on the NFL, that's a catch. Dallas Goddard, that's a catch.

You know, Devante Smith, against the Niners, that's a drop. We got to get these plays. We got to stop overthinking it. It just is not that complicated. John, what would you say is the biggest reason Patrick Mahomes has been so good

other than going to Andy Reed and the Chiefs? It's a good question. I think he has a lot of physical characteristics that are elite in the NFL. Obviously he has a special arm. He's very accurate with that arm. He can throw it

from multiple platforms of his body while being a... It's not like he's an athlete that can run away like Kyler or Lamar, but he is an excellent athlete and he is very instinctive with his feet. So he's able to keep these plays alive and then make these throws

that are incredibly difficult to make, but make them very accurately. And I think sometimes we overthink this. You're not born a great player, but I'd say by the time like in your teens. We all know whether you're playing high school football, whether you're playing pickup basketball.

Some guys just kind of got it. Like the instincts of playing the sport, his instincts for playing football are elite. And then the coaching aspect of it, with the first couple years, a little bit more of a gunslinger, now he's in complete control. And he's able to play compromised.

So an element that it's impossible to quantify, but his brains to play. the position. We don't discuss him because he's kind of the modern day Fav but he actually has some like you know what he is? He's Aaron Rogers meets Brett Farf. If you combine those two players that's what you'd get. You get the best of both guys

the accuracy, the playmaking, the actual not turning the ball over in big spots, the mesmerizing throws because he's not like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. He doesn't play like like those guys, even though he can do the things that they do, but his athletic ability makes

him pretty special. I don't know. I mean, you just watch him and you go, yeah, it's one of the best players I've ever seen. And part of it is like how smoothy is as a mover, how naturally he makes tough plays look, and just how miraculous he can be. Part of being a great player is also going above and beyond. And I think he can go above and beyond. and make a play that you just go, wow, right? Michael Jordan could do that. Tiger Woods can do that. You know, great players in sports can do that.

And Ken Griffey Jr., he's kind of got this, the production with the pizzazz, with the leadership. He just think he's the total package. I mean, I don't know what else to say. Can we say Jalen Hertz is better than Lamar? Lamar has been dining off that MVP for three years and has done nothing in the playoffs. He has a competitor and says all the right things

but the weirdness with his mom agent and the contract stuff. Meanwhile, Hertz played phenomenal in a loss and I think has developed into clearly a better passer than Lamar in close to a similar rushing threat thoughts. Yeah, I mean, I would say Jalen's much more of a power runner

where Lamar's more of a explosive runner. So even if we say they're running style, you know, close to, you know, canceling each other out. I'm with you. I think Jalen is a much better outside the numbers passer. What I think he has a chance to become is the go route that Russell Wilson, you know, kind of dominated for so long that outside the numbers just kind of airball, he kind of has that down.

Now, he's never going to pick you apart, but neither's Lamar. But he actually made some throws last night or two nights ago. I guess if you're listening to this two nights ago. The Goddard throw at the sideline. He made some fantastic throw. So yeah, I would say he is a better thrower. If you were betting on a player, I know this.

If I could get Jalen for cheaper than Lamar, I would take Jalen. I feel like Jalen just a stronger, feels like a more durable athlete. Now, you could also argue he got hurt this year too. You know, when running is such a huge part, of your game like it is for those two guys, health is always going to be somewhat of a concern

because you're just going to take some hits that even a Mahomes can avoid, right? And it's just not going to run into because running the ball, I mean, think about their two-point play. When they had to have it, what they do? They ran the smart play. They ran basically like a quarterback sweep.

And they did that a couple times, some quarterback draws. And when it hits, he's a natural runner, man. He really is. is. I would be if I was an Eagles fan and just a fan of football, like he's a legit top 10 quarterback. We could not have said that a year ago. His improvement was, I would say it's one of the crazier, one first to second year starting jumps. I know it's his third year, but like full-time starter last year to this year, what an incredible amount of improvement in a short

period of time. Mailbag. My Vikings are in a weird spot this offseason. We have 20 plus million over the cap and will be losing multiple starters to free agency. Center nose tackle cornerback. Additionally, due to trades, we only have five picks in the upcoming draft. It's pretty obvious. Cam will be attempting to trade away cap casualties. I guess that's your GM. Like Cook, Hunter, and Thielen.

Who would you keep and who would you let go? I would say one element to your team that is a reason that you have, have lost in the playoffs this year and a couple years ago, there's a softness to your line. You need a better offensive line. Now, I know the left tackle you hit on this year looks to be a really good player. I would always invest in offensive linemen.

Now, Thielen, sometimes as a player gets older, there's nothing you can do. The backup running back for you is a very, very physical runner. It feels like some of your core guys on defense have got a little longer in the tooth, because they're older, you know, even though they're still highly productive players. But your past defense has been pretty shitty now for a while. Your cornerback situation is not good.

Patrick Peterson stud human being can't run. It was kind of like Xavier Rhodes toward the end. He just couldn't cover anybody. So it's hard. I mean, this is why you pay the general manager. I'd have to do like a full breakdown of your roster and see, you know, you're going to be very predicated on play. You got Justin Jefferson.

You have cousins under contract. I would keep, and again, I haven't followed it closely enough. You're going to get rid of Delvin Cook. I know he gets banged up, but God, he's still a pretty damn good player. Where are you going to get your pass rush from? So if you're cutting Hunter,

who's your pass rusher? A couple years ago, felt like you had a pretty good front. You had a really good defense. And now that defense doesn't feel as good anymore. So part of the reason, like the Chiefs are having success, because Mahomes plays a big,

their defense is pretty good. Like the Eagles defense, the Niners defense, the Cowboys defense. When you have a good defense, it takes less pressure, or it takes pressure off your offense. When your defense sucks,

like you play in some of these games, you've got to score every single drive. Hell, that kind of happened to the Eagles and the Super Bowl. It's like, if they're not scoring here, they're in trouble. Okay, let's call that a show, a little post-s Super Bowl show. Keep a little shorter.

And need you guys in the mailbag, at John Middlecock, firing those DMs, questions on football. Questions on the draft, questions on life. Question on whatever. I'm bored, offseason. Keep them coming.

And let's rock and roll. Let's enjoy these next couple months. And keep the podcast rolling. Thanks for everyone for listening. Talk to you soon. Peace. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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