The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Rodgers Injured, Jets Upset Bills, 49ers Dominant, Staley Fails, Mailbag

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

John reacts to what he calls one of the most memorable Monday Night Football games of his life, is gutted by the injury to Aaron Rodgers and applauds a gutsy performance by the Jets. He also points out one major problem for the Bills. John explains why Brock Purdy has made this the best 49ers team in years, rips Chargers owner Dean Spanos for being cheap and why the Bears will still be sitting pretty even if Justin Fields doesn’t pan out at quarterback for the Bears In college football, John pours dirt on the coaching career of Mel Tucker and explains why the days of penciling Alabama into the title game are over. He also answers listeners questions from the “Middlekauff Mailbag”. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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John Middilkoff recording this at night. It's about 9.30 Pacific Standard time. And we just witnessed, I think one of the craziest nights on Monday Night Football I ever remember. And I remember some crazy ones. We will talk about that coming up. It does not look good for Aaron Rogers

and his Achilles. So by the time you're listening to this, obviously the news will be broken. But as of right now, it looks like it's all she wrote. which is pretty nuts. So we will dive in to the reaction of the injury, the game. Josh Allen, I don't even know what to say about that performance. Probably one of his worst of his career, definitely since he became a good player.

We'll hit on some other stuff, the 49ers, the Cowboys, and the Eagles. Obviously, the Niners and Cowboys had really good days. The Eagles had a weird day. But they play in a couple nights because Thursday night at football at the link. So the NFC kind of flexing their muscles, at least those three teams. I think some other teams had some rough days. And then we will dive into a lot of different football talk from the Chargers, Brandon Staley, to Tua, to Jimmy G. and Carr, to Mel Tucker, you name it.

We will touch on it. And, yeah, football is off and running. So let's buckle up because it's going to be a long season. A lot of podcasts. plan on having several podcasts this week, probably one Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Why stop now? You know, keep pumping out the content for the people. That's our game plan.

So you can get up in the mailbag at John Middlecoff as the Instagram. At John Middlecoph is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs and get your question answered here on the show. We will answer some DMs today. And I think, yeah, so the plan will be if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to three and out. me and Colin will usually do that on Sundays. So I probably will not have a podcast until Tuesday and then I'll just bang them out the rest of the week.

So I'm going to bring it fast and furious with content come Tuesday. So buckle up and let's roll. But first, if you're a Jets fan, hell, you might still want to go to a game to support your team to see Zach Wilson, maybe have a breakout third year. And just to watch that defense,

if you're a football fan in general, wherever you live, you want to go to an NFL game. I got Dion and Shador Sanders in a couple months, or excuse me, a couple weeks coming to Arizona State, and I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to download the Game Time app. I don't have to do it because I already have it. They're the official ticketing app of this podcast. And when you do, type in the promo code John, the first pair of tickets you buy. They have interactive maps, any game, basketball, when the NBA season starts, baseball, playoffs, obviously college football, pro football, the NFL, concerts, you name it. They got you covered.

Game time, easy to look at interactive maps. promo code John. Go do it right now. Enjoy yourself and do it on me, $20 off when you use the code John. Well, in all my life, and I have, I've been watching Monday Night Football pretty consistently, probably that I can remember since 91, 92. So we're going on 30 plus years of Monday night, literally from the start of September till the end of the season, I don't think I've missed many games.

Hell, I would skip school, definitely in college, if interfered with Monday night football. I love Monday night football. Always have, always will. It feels very special. And we have seen some crazy things happen. Joe Thaisman having his leg snap by LT was a little before my time. One that I vividly remember was Steve Young when he was knocked out on the field from Aeneas Williams game, ironically, was in Arizona.

and obviously last year the DeMarre situation which was something that I think rare time in America these days that kind of united us all. All of us were just one, not only moved, but were rooting for the human being

not just to be saved, but to bounce back and clear tonight was a cool moment just seeing him on the sideline and street close. But I don't think in all my years of not just watching Monday night football, but just sports in general,

I've ever seen anything quite like that. and listen, it doesn't suck for anyone more, assuming that, you know, some reports he might have torn his Achilles, it's not looking good. Rap sheet basically reported that. Robert Salas said in his press conference that it's not looking good. It doesn't suck for anyone more than Aaron Rogers, who had an opportunity to kind of have his Tom Brady moment, right? Go to a franchise, which is much bigger than Tampa just because of the city it plays in and the amount of fans it has. but a lot like Tampa had just been really shitty for a long time and has not done a lot of winning.

Really for decades, right? I mean, they literally have the longest playoff drought right now and had a chance to kind of stamp what is an all-time great resume. All the MVP's, the Super Bowl championship, he didn't need to win another Super Bowl in New York. Hell, he didn't need to win an MVP in New York. He took a big pay cut. if he just got them not just back to relevance, but just in the playoffs,

won a playoff game. That would be a moving sports moment. And the game kicked off at 815, right after he had run out of the tunnel on the anniversary of 9-11, the last guy on the field with an American flag. It was a powerful moment. It would have been regardless who that was. It could have been sauce. It could have been Quinn and Williams.

It could have been Robert Solid. It wouldn't have mattered. could have been Josh Allen for the bills. You would have got a standing ovation. But for it to be Aaron Rogers in his jet's debut, which we had this game circled forever, right, since the schedule came out, it was going to be incredible. And then at 826, literally almost 10 minutes after kickoff, he's laying on the ground. And we've all seen enough injuries where you go, God, I hope it's going to be okay.

And then within about 10 minutes, you knew it wasn't good when the card came out. But I can't help but feel for the lifeblood of this sport. and it's you guys listening. And most specifically tonight, it's Jets fans who have to feel cursed. Like, good things just can't happen to them. Because without the fans, which helped make the NFL by far,

by a country mile, the biggest sport in America, it wouldn't be what it was and is currently, right? The amount of money the players make, the coaches make, these owners are making. Hell, someone who talks about football is able to get a big audience because so many people care.

but specifically to that fan base. Like I said, Steve Young, I was a diehard Niner fan as a kid. And when he was caoed and his career ended on that field on Monday night, he had been the starting quarterback for a decade, won MVP's, won a Super Bowl. You got to take in his career, right? So when some of these injuries happen to these older players, you have got to see it all.

This ended before it even started. And listen, I'm not trying to get it too ahead of ourselves. we don't have all the details. But if it is a torn Achilles, I mean, you're talking about a potential career ender. He's going to be 40 in December. This is not a 31-year-old. It's hard the older you get to bounce back from these injuries.

We have seen it recently with several players. Rothesberger with the elbow injury. Carson Palmer with the knee injury. Peyton Manning, his last season, when his body started to go. It's very, very difficult. Tom Brady is an all-time outlier. We're probably never seeing that again. And I really, really feel bad for the Jets fans.

I can't even imagine caring that much, which how could you not? You trade for Aaron Rogers in the offseason. He comes. He is the happiest guy in all of New York. He's having the time of his life. The team, even though there's some flaws in the offensive line, clearly was going to be pretty solid. an elite defense. They signed Dalvin Cook.

Bruce Hall's back from, you know, from his injury last year. Garrett Wilson looks like a young star. And then he gets injured, 11 minutes in. And listen, I make fun of the NFL for being the ultimate reality show. You can't make it up. And it is so true. But this is the worst part. And it's the part that I've never missed since leaving the NFL.

The things that are out of your control when a guy is just laying there on the ground. And you hate to say it, but you see it in the preseason. you definitely see it starting this week once the regular season starts. When players are lying down, especially when there's a pile, you just pray it's not your star player, right? And in this situation, there was no pile. He literally stood up and went right back down. And that was a moment that I'll never forget in all my years of watching sports. You'll never forget that moment of watching Aaron Rogers make his Jets debut and just hit the ground.

In a moment, I almost tweeted this because I sat down, I just had a snack, we're going to make dinner at halftime. You look up at the TV and I was just thinking to myself, football is so big because it's opening night, Monday night football. It's week one. And yet the energy coming out of that television screen, the passion from just the fans, how loud everyone was, how intense it felt with the bills as well. it felt like an AFC divisional game or an AFC championship game. It felt gigantic. And then the moment he left, it took a lot of, you know, just wind out of the sails of the game. Now, here's what I will say, if I'm a Jets fan.

It couldn't suck anymore. That's about as miserable it gets as it gets, especially if, as of recording this, we assume he never seen again the rest of the season. But you got to take some pride because a lot of teams in that situation, who lose a player of his caliber. Also when you factor in the variables of what he was replacing right last year, their quarterback situation, the belief that he had given that building,

if you watch hard knocks, the way the coaches talked about them, their defensive coaches talked about how we have a chance to win every game because of this individual. That team did not quit. They refused to tap out. They played incredibly hard. Offensively, obviously they have some limitations.

was Zach Wilson relative to Aaron Rogers. But that defensive unit and just the overall effort by the team was really remarkable. And I think you just have to tip your hat to your team, not just mailing it in. Because it would have been very understandable if guys, clearly they were shell-shocked, especially offensively, but if the defense just ran out of juice. And that defense played the entire game, like Aaron Rogers was still in the game. So props to the Jets end up winning the game. on just a remarkable punt return for a touchdown.

That was really cool. I mean, that's why we watched the entire game. It got really sloppy in there. But that's the type night where all I can say is I feel sorry for you guys. I truly do because I love football. And I'm very passionate about football. And I know how passionate fans are individually about their team. And when your team's been bad for that long and you don't just get hope,

It's not like, oh, we might have something here with this quarterback. You get Aaron freaking Rogers, and he is just happy as humanly possible for six months in your building, taking teammates to MSG, going to plays, going to basketball games, going to hockey games. Just having the time. It's like, takes a pay cut. Literally hands back $35 million. You're like, this can't go any better. And then that happens.

You just, you really can't make it up. Now, on the flip side, the bills who have easily. been one of the best teams in football over the last several years. Have a problem on their hands. Josh Allen's clearly one of the most talented players in the NFL. He's a freak. But I did a little math before we hopped on tonight. In his last 34 games, that includes the last two regular seasons, and then tonight, he has 32 interceptions. Let me repeat that. 34 games, 32 interceptions. That's a major problem. And tonight was kind of embarrassing. It really was for a player of his caliber. I'll never forget when I worked in the NFL Marty Morningwig, who's a long time coach with the 49ers,

with Andy Reed forever in Philly, then was with the Ravens for a while. He was really cool. He used to give me like 100 bucks to go buy him, a log at you, and then let me keep the change, which was like 50 bucks. And we used to just BS. He was a West Coast guy, played at Montana. And I used to ask him, like the best player he ever saw. And he said by far, like the 95, 96, 97 stretch of Brett Farf. He said it's the best player I've ever seen. And you go back, look at some of those numbers, three straight MVPs. Brett and his peak was elite.

Well, after Holmgren left, he just could get Lucy Goosey. And no one ever disputed like, it's not like he lost his talent, right, the ability to make the throws because he had an arm, unlike literally everyone except John Elway. And that's kind of what Josh Allen has. But these last three years, and especially these last two years, it feels like he's very loosey-goosey. He is making throws that a player of his caliber should not be throwing. You don't just throw yolo balls constantly. And it's one thing like, I can live with turnovers.

I don't mind interceptions. That's okay, especially with guys that can throw 40, 45 touchdowns. You can throw 10 interceptions. But tonight, that has to be, since he's become. I'm a good player, not counting like his rookie season. One of the worst NFL games he's ever played. And I think there's a good chance. It's the worst NFL game he's ever played as a good player.

And in the situation, too, right, they're playing a Jets team where Aaron Rogers is underneath the tunnel in a boot. They got Zach Wilson. It's going to be very, very hard for them to score. I saw freezing cold takes retweeted a guy that said, if the bills just kneel the ball, every single play till the end of the game you probably punt on fourth down

you don't kneel it on fourth down they will win and freezing cold takes retweeted him like the guy's an idiot I actually agree the only way you lose that game the night is if you turn the ball over or they get some freaky long play

which was going to be very difficult for them and Josh Allen to me is the reason the Jets had a chance to win because he kept turning the ball over and the bills have a problem because their only chance to win a Super Bowl, right? Just like most teams only chance to win a Super Bowl,

when you have a player of his caliber at that position, is for him to dominate. Right, Patrick Mahomes has to dominate. Matt Stafford a couple years ago in the playoffs was awesome. Right, Joe Burrow, when they're making their run, awesome. Tom Brady all those years, Peyton Manning, they got to dominate. I guess the Peyton Manning's second Super Bowl,

his defense was elite, but that's not the case of the bills. They're not rolling a top two or three. three defense. They need him to be brilliant. And you just see things that concern you. Turnovers at the rate in which he's turning it over for a guy who he made a play tonight. The touchdown he threw to Diggs where he was scrambling and kind of pushed it was awesome. And speaking of Diggs, I have a soft spot for, and this is kind of unfair, Diva. I don't even know if he's Diva. He's not really a malcontent. He just mixes it up. He just gets in some, makes other people uncomfortable sometimes. I think some head coaches,

offensive coordinators, but he's a winning player. I have no problem with you if you got some issues, but you contribute to winning. And he's contributed in Minnesota. He had some issues. They were winning with him. You put digs on the bills, they win with that guy. And then you watch him play, you're like, this guy's a

baller. I want that guy on my side. And you saw at the end of the game, or toward the end of the game, he goes over to Josh, almost like trying to calm him down. Bro, we need him here, man. Let's play under control. And he was terrible. I mean, that was a player of his level cannot have that game when the other team just lost Aaron Rogers 10 minutes into the game. It's honestly unacceptable or you're going to lose

in which they did. So just an all-time memorable moment on the anniversary 9-11 in New York. It's just for Rogers to go down and by the time you're listening to this, it might be announced he's out for the season. You just can't make that up. And like I said, I think, feel every Jets fan out there, I feel for you. That, that can't suck anymore. There's nothing football-wise worse than that. It's literally impossible to be worse than what we witness tonight to happen to your franchise. So all I can say is, I'm sorry.

Some other things that I want to touch on is, you know, Zach Wilson went two and obviously Trey Lance went three. We'll see. I mean, Zach looks a little better than last year. got a long way to go. It's going to be a rough week two against the Cowboys. But I think what we saw out of the 49ers, and I'm not

talking specifically about the ass whooping that they put on the Pittsburgh Steelers, and me picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to compete to win the AFC does not feel great right now. And as someone that didn't like Kenny Pickett coming out in the draft, but then was convinced that he is actually probably a little better,

I don't even know what to do with that take. It's not ageing well. But I think we're never going to see the 49ers situation ever again. Because they made one of the worst, if not the worst, draft trade slash picks in NFL history. Three first rounders for a guy by year three, was traded before week one and only started four games for them. But I think the reason that they avoided complete disaster, because ultimately he only started four games for them. Typically, when you draft a quarterback really high,

whether you trade up to get them or you just pick them because that's where you're drafting. And it doesn't go well, it derails your franchise. Because that's the guy you're playing and he's not any good and you're screwed, right? We've seen a lot of them in recent memory. Baker Mayfield, Mr. Buskey, because you usually just play him till the wheels fall off

and you figure out like he's not the guy. He ultimately, when you think about the last two years where the Niners went to multiple NFC championship games, was kind of irrelevant to their whole operation. Two years ago when they won 10 games and they ended up losing to the Rams, he started two games. He was basically redshirting, one, one, lost one. And then the following year gets hurt week two, Jimmy comes in and they stumble into Purdy. Like, you're just never going to see a situation where you invest that much in that position.

He plays that little. And by year three, a couple weeks after you trade them, it's pretty clear. This is the best version of the Niners, this team. and typically, and we're going to see if Zach Wilson, let's say he plays the next 16 games, more likely it's not going to go great, right? Even if he's improved a little bit from last year, he's just

got some flaws as a player. He clearly was very overvalued. I think like Trey, they were greatly impacted by the 2020 season. Zach played nobody at BYU and Lance didn't even have a season. So it's somewhat of an outlier situation, but

that situation is ultimately going to doom the Jets. That pick, right? Clearly, they tried to have a contingency plan when they traded for Rogers and it looks like that backfired because of injury, but ultimately it's going to fail because Zach's not good enough and they have no choice but to plan. And the 49ers kind of got bailed out because, one, they stumbled into Purdy. And a huge part of the draft, just like life, is luck. And there is no, I don't care how much they say they liked him in the draft, which I know the 49ers did. And I think other teams did as well. You took the guy with the last pick, right? So there, you passed on him not only countless times.

You took him Mr. Relevant, the last pick in the draft. You had absolutely no clue he was going to be this good. And now heading into week two, the entire team, I mean, I follow Debo, all these guys are constantly Instagramming about Purdy. I saw an Instagram on my feed today of Micah Parsons, who I don't know if he has a podcast where he mics himself up, playing video games on Twitch, was basically saying, we got to give Purdy. This is Micah Parsons saying we got to give Purdy the respect.

He's a top 15 quarterback. So you're telling me they were just able to throw Lance to the trash, upgrade with Purdy, who happens to be easily the best quarterback they've had. And really, they've only had one good quarterback, and that's Jimmy, who was very flawed. And as we saw Jimmy with the Raiders, like he's going to drive you nuts, but he's going to find ways somehow to win,

but you're not really going to give him the credit for the win. He's a bizarre player. But the 49ers won a ton of games with Jimmy Garoppolo. And I watched every snap of him. And I'll tell you this, Brock Purdy is dramatically better than Jimmy Garaplo. Now, I'm not claiming Purdy some top 10 quarterback yet, but so far he looks really, really good for the 49ers.

And they are absolutely loaded with Iyuk who's playing for a contract acting is really good. Debo, who is going by skinny Debo right now, because Kyle Shanahan basically called him fat and lazy after last season. Debo spent all offseason getting in shape. And Christian McCaffrey, who just, I mean, looks like Barry Sanders. And they got George Kittle. It's just, it's a position that the 49ers, the only thing that can slow them down is injuries or else they're going to be right back in the NFC championship game. Speaking of NFC championship game, here's a team that hasn't been there in 25 years. And I tried to mix it up a little bit on my preseason picks. I thought the Cowboys

easily could have beat the 49ers in that playoff game last year. Their defense came to play. Their defense last year was Super Bowl level. That was a type defense you could win a Super Bowl with. Well, they literally brought everyone back and they brought the defensive coordinator back. And their guys get a year older in their prime. So the team that we saw against the New York Giants, did I expect him to win 40 to nothing? Of course not. Nobody did. or else I would have bet my life's savings on the game. But that defense is for real. And that defense right there with the 49ers, to me, if they stay healthy,

is going to be right there as the best defense in the league. And the team speed is beyond evident. Their DBs make a ton of plays. And their pass rush is freaking elite. And in 2023, the one place where you can really separate yourself because you're allowed to be physical is the line of scrimmage, right? You can't take out people across the middle. You can't hit people down the,

the seam or on go routes like you used to 15, 20 years ago. The intimidation factor at safety is completely different. Even linebacker, and I see it with the 49ers, like sometimes Drake Greenlaw will have a tackle. I'm like, oh, he's going to get flagged for that. But the line of scrimmage, you can be as physical basically as ever. Relative, I mean, you've got to be careful when you're hitting the quarterback, but just in terms of speed, power, all that stuff still translates. And they have it in waves.

I think the Cowboys, I feel good about my pick. They look like, I think they're going to look. They're going to dominate on defense. Offensively, do I trust DAC to make a Super Bowl run? I do not. But like I said, all offseason, all it takes is a couple games stretch to get hot. No one in a million years before 07, I guess it would have been 08 in January happened, thought Eli had that in the bag.

And then he did. And he actually did it again a couple years later, right? You just need to have a stretch. Joe Flacco did it. They definitely have a team who can't compete, and it starts with their defense. And the Eagles, a lot of people, especially probably in Philly, were disappointed how that game went. Because you're so good, talent-wise, as a roster, and I don't blame you, you view basically every opponent, but specifically a team like the Patriots.

We should win by double digits, especially when we're up 60-0. And it just looked pretty rusty, and it's not really that shocking. I saw Siriani say that I got to think twice about playing some of these guys in the preseason. None of their starters played in the preseason. Not a snap. Not one. So the notion that you're just going to go on the road against a very good defense and just look super crisp, that's not usually how it works.

Now, just because you play in the preseason, check out the Steelers, doesn't mean that you're going to hit the ground running. So there is no correct formula. But anyone who has watched the Eagles play could tell they were off. Now, one thing I saw. is I have faith that their passing game will improve as the season goes along. Hell, they play in about 50 hours from recording this right now. They play Thursday night football at home against Minnesota.

But I do think Jalen early in his career was a very, very dynamic runner. Now, he was never Kyler or Lamar fast, but his instincts, like he could turn into a running back. He was so smooth in the open field. He knew angles. I saw a guy against the Patriots. And again, it might have been a little rust too, who now after he got his big contract, almost like the Eagles have told him, we need you to be very careful when you run. Because last year, you gave us a big time scare when your shoulder got hit and we were nervous that, I think even Jalen said this. I thought I broke my clavicle.

And I watched a guy who's just a little hesitant as he's running. He's not, not that he's not confident, he's just less likely to be reckless. And I know at the end of the game when he fumbled that he was a lot. little bit. But the overall package to me, I do think he is going to lean much more moving forward. And this is what happens when you give a guy a lot of money is you want to see him pass a lot. And luckily, they're loaded with pass catchers. So that's something to monitor. But I saw a lot of rust.

I saw a team that just, you know, look like that was their first game and they haven't played any meaningful snaps, which they don't in the preseason. So I think the Eagles will be fine. I think the top three teams in the NFL, or excuse me, the NFC, I mean are separated by a wide, wide margin. Right, the Giants and the Steelers, two teams I liked a lot. Makes you question you spend all offseason, hyping teams up, trying to make some bold predictions.

I was like, I think the Giants have shortened the talent gap between the Eagles and the Cowboys. And then you're watching about 15 minutes of Sunday night football. You're like, yeah, I think I'm wrong on that one. And I also am guilty of this. Sometimes, and I was guilty of this I used to get made fun of when I worked in the NFL, kind of can be anoint someone too fast. and I think a lot of young scouts or young people can.

Definitely media people naturally do this. It's probably why I've transitioned well into the profession of talking. I like Brian Dayball. And maybe I root for him more because it's a chubby bald guy and, you know, share some qualities with that. But let's see him do it again, right? I love what I saw last year. Well-deserving coach of the year. But part of being a really good coach, and I've seen, and I'm guilty of this too,

of putting them in the position with the top, a bunch of high-end offensive coaches, a lot of those guys have been doing it for a long, long time. Like ultimately when Sean McVey upsets Seattle on the road and ultimately kicks their ass, isn't that shocking? Right? You'd think, well, the roster, a bunch of nobodies, a bunch of guys we haven't heard, but Sean McVeigh's got a long resume of winning. Like last year was his outlier season.

Most years, worst case scenario, he's winning 9-10 games. When his team's good, dudes win like 12 to 14. So, Sean McVey wins. Is Brian Dayball a lock to jes? just win 10 games, and I put them on that pedestal. We'll see. And I'm not blaming it all week one against the Cowboys, bad matchup for them. I think Dallas, what's that? 12, a 13 now. I mean, they've owned the Giants. But you're watching the game, you go, well, I'm, I did put some stock in Daniel Jones taking a jump. What if that doesn't happen? What if it doesn't? I mean,

ultimately, I thought Daniel Jones was solid last year. He threw 15 touchdowns. So if he were to throw 28, that would be a 13 touchdown. difference from the previous. That's a big jump. Hell, if he threw 22, that'd be seven touchdowns more from last year. So maybe I overestimated a little bit the growth of Daniel Jones slash. You know, let's see when everyone's gunning for Brian Daible, how it looks. And last but not least, I want to talk about my friends at Morgan and Morgan. And a player tonight that made it look easy.

And I thought coming in and I'm like, well, I'm going to have to go probably with Tyree Kill. he had 15 touchdowns and 700 yards against Brandon Staley or maybe his quarterback, Tua, you know, they made it look easy. And then tonight happened. And Aaron Rogers is laying on the ground and you go, how are the Jets going to stay in this game? And then a guy, a former fourth round pick, raised his hand, looked at Robert Sala and Jeff Oldbrook, and his name was Jordan Whitehead. And he said, Quinn and Williams and all the D-Lyman, I got you, fellas. I'm going to have not one, not two, but three interceptions. Three interceptions on Josh Allen, who's widely considered, I don't know, a top two or three quarterback.

And it had to be one of the game of his guy's life going back to like junior high on Monday night football in that situation. Two of those interceptions, especially the last one, was just gigantic. You can't have a better game if you are a safety. I mean, the guy looks like Ed Reed. I mean, Ronnie Lott. I mean, he's going to be telling us grandkids. Remember on Monday night football, Aaron Rogers laying on the ground.

Over the next three hours, I get three picks. Three picks. One, Stefan Diggs tried to take out his arms, and he still caught it. Just an incredible night by Jordan Whitehead. Hard to get much better than that. Making it look easy by Morgan and Morgan.

So, listen, go to for the people. dot com slash john or dial pound 529 that's pound law for morgan morgan america's largest injury law firm with over 100 offices nationwide and more than 800 lawyers again for the people dot com slash john football is back in full swing with another week of epic games and who's got you covered on the action for every single one of them draft king sports book an official sports betting partner of the NFL. New customers can bet $5 on football and get $200 instantly in bonus bets.

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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, 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 with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. We pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more. important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's dive into one of my favorite topics in the entire national football league. And that's the Los Angeles Chargers, Brandon Staley, and the overall coaching situation of the team. I no longer, and if you are new to this show, I have been, I read Flagg this guy. well before it became popular. I read Flagg this guy well before 2022 and that playoff game ever happened.

For those longtime listeners, you guys have known where I've stood on this individual when he first started becoming the head coach. And honestly, even before that, I'd been hearing this guy's name. Not a Brandon Staley fan, definitely as a head coach. Defense a coordinator, we've only seen him one year, got a stack team. But this is about Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. And listen, Tyree Kill. isn't just currently, you know, a top 5, 10 non-quarterback in the NFL

offensively or defensively. He's truly one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. I've been watching football that I can remember now since the early 90s. I think if, I was thinking this yesterday when he was just going nuts, you could argue that the greatest wide receiver, Jerry Rice, the second greatest wide receiver is Randy Moss, and you can argue this guy's a third greatest wide receiver. Now, Terrell, there are other names that are going to get thrown out there. But I think when the dust settles, this guy, clearly he's a top five lock. I think he might be considered in that class.

Jerry, you know, Jerry's got four rings. Obviously, Randy Moss, I don't think he ever got one. But this guy, you could argue he's every bit as dominant as Randy Moss, to be honest with you. So, listen, anytime you play a great player, he's going to beat you. I don't care what sport it is. In basketball, they always says, great offense always beats great defense. You could put the greatest defender on Michael Jordan or Steph Curry. They're going to get theirs.

But there comes a point, and I talked about this with Colin, where you draw the fucking line in the sand. You say, no mas. This is not going to keep happening. And I'm no longer going to be critical of Brandon Staley. This is not about him. This is about the franchise and the ownership. And really, that starts with the Spanos family, Dean, who inherited it from his dad. And I truly believe this.

I'm not just saying this to, like, try to sound funny. I think being cheap when you have a lot of money is a legit disease. It's something you can't shake. If you're listening to this and you don't have a lot of money and you're cheap and you're frugal, totally understand. I haven't received a W2 in eight plus years. Things are going pretty well right now. Those first couple years were an MFer.

I mean, they were fucking hard. And I completely understand of being tight with money and being consumed with thinking, about it and being worried about it because you can't sometimes even think big picture when you're living week to week rent to rent you just don't have any money it's it's tough but when you get a lot of money and i've always said this i love tiger woods he's probably him and jordan are my two favorite athletes of all time tiger is notoriously cheap right i understand when tiger's young not figuring it out like at 45 years old there's no excuse the story coming out that like he takes the navy seals and the marines out burgers and doesn't pick up the tab.

Like, I'm sorry. Like, that's on you, buddy. That's a problem. And Dean Spanos, and listen, I remember Greg Papa, who now is the voice of the 49ers, longtime voice of the Raiders, had a misunderstanding with Mark Davis, ironically over Kyle Shanahan's father, who he didn't want him to interview because he was Al Davis's mortal enemy, and Mark Davis ultimately fired him. But he told me a story one time about Jamarcus Russell.

And if you remember, this is a long time ago now, but Jamarcus, was in that era where first round picks, especially high picks, he was the number one overall pick, got a lot of money. And at the time, I don't know what a signing bonus was, 20, 25, 30 million dollars. And this is, you know, mid-2000s, right? Well, Al, just like a lot of, the NFL owners now, the amount of money they're making from TV is not nearly the same as it once was. Well, at the time, you had to cut the bonus check immediately. He did not have the money. And this is 15, 18 years ago. Times have dramatically changed. even if you are on the lower end of wealth, right?

You're not a Walton or a Harris or even what Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft are now. You still have a ton of money because every single year you're getting 350, 375, just from the TV deals, let alone from all the other money, even if you're a shitty run franchise, what you're making in your stadium, right? So there is no excuse for being cheap. And to me, Dean Spanos was handed a mulligan this offseason. Sean Peyton was not only working for Fox, he was spending a ton of time in Los Angeles. Colin talked about this all the time.

He clearly loved it. Love being by the beach, felt revitalized, and openly talked about how awesome Justin Herbert was. Now listen, we can argue all day long until the cows come home, how good Sean Payton is. Right? Well, is he a top five coach? He's clearly in a different fucking universe than Brandon Staley. Like, they have nothing in common when it comes to being a head coach in the NFL. The thing what Sean Payton was, and you saw with the Waltons, you had to pay him.

He wasn't going to take your job just because he liked your players for $9 million. Right. And the Spanos's, just look at their last several coaches, have all been cheap hires. And listen, I'm in the middle of a big remodel right now. I have spent an astronaut, all my money. I mean, I have spent a ton of money on this remodel. And now I got to buy furniture. And it's like, well, could I go cheap on the furniture? It's like, well, what's the point of putting hundreds and thousands of dollars into this home to then have it look crappy once it's furnished, right? So you almost got to double down. What is the point of giving Justin Herbert almost $200 million and have an average to below average coach and not even try to upgrade at that spot?

Right. Part of being a good, any business, I don't care what industry you're in is to not be cheap at the most important things. It makes no sense. And in football, the two most important things you can have are your head coach, who in this case is also a play caller, and your quarterback. Well, teams clearly around the league have no problems paying the quarterback anymore, but there are teams that still get frugal and save a couple million dollars on the head coach. That's fucking embarrassing.

Like, I just think you're a loser. Like, you don't understand anything. And clearly you would not own this team if it wasn't from your grandpa or your dad. And I'm not one of those, you know, kind of radicals that, like, get consumed with people that inherit things. Because you look around the NFL is a good example. Clark Hunt's running a high-level operation. He's willing to spend $15, $20 million on a head coach. I mean, so just because you inherit something doesn't mean you're not capable.

Like, it's an individual thing. I look at individuals in business no different than individual players. Every player, every human is their own story. And in this situation, they're historically cheap. Like, I don't even give you credit for paying Justin Herbert. Like, that must have been a tough call. It's, I say this all the time. This television money now is monopoly money.

Anyone in the last listening to this sold their home in the last, right now, it's not great, but six months before right now and over the last couple years and made several hundred thousand dollars, $500,000, a million dollars, that doesn't feel like the money you make when you work for something, right? Whatever you do for a job, when you get paid, I put in time equity to earn this money. When you buy a home, you're like, that's an easy $500,000, even though in theory you live there, you paid the mortgage, it feels like free money. That's the same thing to me this television money is because you don't have to win or lose to generate the money.

What you actually make in your home games and your sweet money, you have to earn that. But in terms of the money, the league cut you from NBC, CBS, and Fox, like give me a break. You know, it's not like the Chargers will win a lot of playoff games over that time. Hell, they were not even really making the playoffs over the last decade. So the Spanos family, really, and as a lover of Justin Herbert, and honestly, I like their franchise just in terms of the players that have played for. I root for West Coast teams. It's why it hurts me that the Pac-12 is disappearing, because I like the teams from the region where I'm from. and the Chargers are a team that I just watch a lot.

Obviously, I just end up watching a lot of NFC and AFC West football, but I find them riveting with Justin Herbert. Yet I know what the outcome's going to be. Their head coach is going to fuck it up. And on Sunday, when you have this guy who is just going nuts, I'm not Bill Parcells here on a whiteboard scheming it up with Bill Belichick's next to me. I don't pretend to know more defensive football than Brandon Staley. But I also have been watching football along in.

enough to know what you're doing is not working. Bill Belichick said this on the top 100 players. And it was so simplistic, but it was so correct. Like, sometimes we overcomplicate football. Like take strengths, put them against their weaknesses, take weaknesses, and try to avoid them against their strengths. Like, that's kind of what football is. And this guy, who is one of the fastest players,

if not the fastest player in league history, I'm not talking about actual 40 time. I'm talking about the way the dude plays. So just to have him out there on one-on-one, coverage when your corner clearly doesn't really know what he's doing and is not playing well is malpractice. But again, to put this at Brandon Staley, like this is on the ownership. They signed up for this. So if you're a Charger fan, if you're someone that gambled on them, this is on their ownership. This is. Because I'll give you the Dolphins who are a chaotic

franchise, clearly, always getting in trouble with the league doing weird shit. Their owner, who has a ton of money, is always willing to try shit. Trying to hire Harbaugh, stealing Shanahan's best guy, trying to sign Brady. Like, he's just always taking swings. He's using his money, which last time I checked, he made, and he knows that doubling down on important things matter. And his coach, who I've been falling because he was on Kyle Shanahan staff, for a long time now, Courtney, but he knows what he's doing.

And clearly as a play caller offensively, knows how to get his best players in position to succeed. And I don't think the same can be. said about Brandon Staley. But we didn't learn that on Sunday. We knew that last year that he's overwhelmed with his decisions, his defensive play calling and big moments, always let you down, especially against good teams. What are the dolphins? Very talented team. What was the playoff game against the Jags? Very talented team. No one cares when you beat average to below average teams. You have to beat these good teams because you're trying to make a little jet run. So I just think that that one's on Dean Spanos, man. Just a complete embarrassment.

Let's get to the Patriot game, and on the Patriots specifically. And I was thinking this, and I talked to Colin a little bit about it, but watching Anthony Richardson, it's why I'm a believer in taking big swings. Because when you take a big swing, there's no guarantee you're going to hit any quarterback when you draft, right? There are, I guess, a few, you know, sure things over the history of the league, L.Way, Peyton Manning, Luck, Trevor Lawrence. You just know we're going to be good.

You don't know if they're going to be, like, all-time great good, but they're going to be good. and when you look at Mac Jones and Kenny Pickett, for those guys to be good, they have to exceed and be perfect in terms of their game. For Anthony Richardson to be good, he just needs to be pretty accurate and run around and just makes him shit happen. Now, it doesn't mean he's ever going to be a pro ball or whatever,

but his ability just to hit a floor, right, is easier to get to if he is just solid. Where if Mac Jones is just solid, he's not going to be any good. Kenny Pickett, it's just solid, good luck, right? And you saw Mack Jones, who actually, after the first quarter, kind of got it together and made a lot of really good throws. But early on, and this has plagued him his entire career, part of the reason Kyle Shanahan loved Mac Jones, which I thought was insane, drafted him at number three overall, and he

clearly regrets it because if he could do it over, even though Brock Purdy's better than Mac Jones, but you know what I mean? Kyle Shanan could do it over, he just would have taken Mac Jones there, not Trey Lance. But the problem with Mac Jones, of drafting him, you're like, well, he's just going to be very accurate. it, not turn the ball over. Yet in the pros, he turns the ball over a lot. He makes decisions. It's like, what are you doing? Why are you making that throw? Because you're not good enough to bounce it out on the other end. And yesterday, the difference in that game was the pick six. And this is the other thing that I always wondered. When you draft a guy in the northeast kind of area,

right, I would say Pittsburgh, the Baltimore, Philly, Washington, up through New York and Boston, the weather is just crazy over there, right? It rains in September. It gets freezing cold in November, December, and January. You have to be able to play in inclement weather. Think about some of the best quarterbacks over the years, just the last couple decades, obviously Tom, incredible cold weather quarterback. Eli Bannin could play in the cold weather.

Forever in Philadelphia, Donovan McNabb, big arm, big strong guy, cold weather guy. I'm not saying they're all perfect. beside Tom. But you've got to have some. Mac Jones started raining. Florida guy went to Alabama inclement weather. That's not really his thing. It's raining early in that game and what happens. Ball kind of slips out of his hands. It goes high, pick six. I'm not trying to write off the Patriots because they did show some heart. They did show some metal. Clearly Bill O'Brien is a massive, massive upgrade. And again, Mac had a good stretch in that game. But man, I just, when you're betting on a guy who has to be perfect for you to beat good teams?

And think about this. We already know right away, those divisional games are going to be really, really hard. So they still got six of those remaining. I just, I don't see it. I think it's going to be a huge challenge. Same goes with Kenny Pickett. Sometimes I overvalue, you know, Kenny in theory has more talent around them than Mac. But their margin for error is just so much smaller than the talented guys.

A couple other guys who were in new spots. Jimmy G. and Derek Carr. I'm a big believer in any famous job, but especially with quarterback, any pro sport, right? You need positive momentum early. I don't know if you're a big baseball people, but if you've watched the story with Trey Turner, they gave him $300 million, goes to the Phillies, is just horrendous. I mean, he's having a historically bad year. Someone online says we should start cheering him.

So every time he came up, they gave him like a standing ovation. He broke out of the slump. He started dominating. But early on, it was pretty ugly, right? No positive momentum. Because anytime you go to a new place, hell, most of us, if you get a new job, it's that first couple weeks, couple months, six months. There's a feeling out process, getting to know people, trying to get on everyone's good side,

even if you're a boss. Like, it's just, there's a feeling out process. And if things start negatively, sometimes it's hard to dig yourself out of that hole. And I think with these two quarterbacks, Jimmy G and Derrick Carr, A little different situations, right, for the Saints, anything less than winning that division will be bad. It'd be embarrassing. They should 100% win that division. Derek's been to the playoffs a couple times.

He's had good seasons. There is no excuse not only for him to be the best quarterback in the division, but for that team as a group to win 10-11 games. Look at their schedule. And yesterday, I'm watching that thing against the Titans in the classic Vrabble, making it ugly, his quarterbacks throwing interception after intercept. cars kind of hit or miss. It's like Derek, you've got to find a way to win this game.

It throws a big touchdown and then Ices the game. And he had some plays that were pretty ugly. He's Derek Carr. He's going to have some bad plays. But he made a couple big plays that were ultimately the difference in the game. And I think having that momentum, getting on the right side and winning that game, for him having a fan base that loves football, obviously football is a really big deal in the South. For himself, it's a polarizing individual.

That was huge. And I'd say the same thing with Jimmy G, who is just king of red zone interceptions. No one who is a solid player will throw a red zone interception in a backbreaking time quite like Jimmy Garoppel. He's one of the easily the best looking quarterbacks we've ever seen. He's actually better, I think, than the average fan realizes. But he is a complicated enigma as a player because he's never going to be a pro bowler, let alone some top 10 guy. But clearly, if your operation just knows what they're doing, you have a good head coach, you have good players around them, you can win games. Jimmy Garoppolo, when he started at quarterback, now he's had a lot of advantages.

He's played on really good teams in San Francisco. And this Raider team actually has a decent amount of talent. You can win with them. Now, the ceiling for the 49ers was much higher than this Raider team. But this Raider team is good enough to be 10 plus wins and compete for a wildcard spot. I feel pretty confident about that. And Jimmy Garoppel yesterday, after that pick, I'm like, oh my God, Jimmy. This is how your radar career is going to start just like this.

And he just found a way. He made a big run at the end of the game. He's diving for first downs, made some big throws. His toughness can never be questioned. Really, really big moment for two guys in a weird way are kind of synonymous with each other. Obviously, Jimmy's had more playoff success, just given that he's played in more playoff games. But they were in the same draft, both second round players.

and both got really big wins yesterday. Okay, the Packers and the Bears. If you listen to the Thursday pod, I guess it came out Friday with Stucky, our take was pretty simple on that game, was if you just remove the quarterbacks, right? We had no clue what Jordan Love was going to look like. We've never seen them, really.

I don't count that Chiefs game a couple years ago when his girlfriend and mom sat at the top of Arrowhead. And Justin Fields, which the team had been telling me he'd gotten way better, time was going to tell. If we just remove both of them and we just went roster for roster, man for man,

it was not even a comparison. The Packers team, player for player, was in a different universe than the Bears. And rightfully so. The Packers, with Rogers,

have been one of the better teams in the league. Fantastic offensive line. They got young skill guys, even though one of them was injured yesterday, good running backs, a ton of highly drafted

defensive players. Packer fans, you notice. Your team is talented. Honestly, I think a lot of people thought they've underachieved for years with the high-end talent they've had. So going into that game, regardless of the quarterback play, you had to bet the Packers, just in the simple fact, their team was way better and their coach is much more accomplished.

Yet in that game, I'll say this, I'll start with Jordan Love. I'm not going to have some big opinion on them at that game. I think the Bears, and I've said this before, and I feel even stronger about it today, fucking stink. They are a bad football team. They are going to compete for the number one drafting team. So Jordan Love, good game, missed a couple throws, but also hit a nice touchdown, had a sweet throwback play, good scheme by LaFleur.

Packers just look buttoned up, like a high-level operation. But I'm going to judge him when he plays the better teams. Solid start. I'm not diminishing what happened yesterday. But like, how do you look against the lines? How do you just look against better competition? Time will tell. I would say if you're a Packer fan, you should be excited.

That was an exciting win of you still own the Bears, regardless who plays quarterback for you. And I think that if he is just somewhere in the middle of the pack, he doesn't, obviously he's not going to be a top 10 quarterback, but if he can just be, just enter the chat of the Jimmy Garoppos and the Derek Carr's, kind of that world, right? 13 through 16, you got a chance to make the playoffs and honestly, you easily could. But when it comes to the Bears, I've said it for, their roster's not good. But a lot of people, I think the reaction is, oh, the offensive coordinator for the Bears,

what is he doing? Well, last year, all we talked about was part of the reason they had, they didn't really have success because they weren't winning any games. But Justin Fields was just making sweet plays. It's because they operated in a run heavy offense. He was running the ball all the time. And he is, he's one of the better athletes we've ever seen. I mean, he is, I mean, he's, talk about an elite athlete.

Justin Fields is an elite athlete. But ultimately, if I'm going to judge you, can you throw the ball? So I'm got a scheme plays where it's like, I put it on his shoulder. Now, the Packers D-line was destroy. growing the bears up front. They all look like, it's like, does Nick Bosa, T.J. Watt, and Aaron Donald play for the Packers? Because that's what it looked like.

They were every other play. But when he had some time, the knock on him is rhythm, timing, and seeing it. No one disputes his arm strength and his just ability to kind of freelance when nothing's there. But to be a good NFL quarterback, you have to just nitpick you from the pocket, right? Can you just make the throws from the pocket? And right now when you watch Justin Fields, you're like, he looks exactly like the guy last year. The only difference was yesterday, they kind of scrapped, run around all the time, and just said, hey, beat him with your arm. And I think the Bears need to find out this year.

It's okay losing games if you find out he can't beat other teams with his arm, right? And if he can't, so be it. I've been saying this for a while. You know the good thing about the Bears? They got two things going for them. If they suck, they'll get a high pick, incredible quarterback draft. And listen, I don't blame anyone if you live outside of Atlanta or Carolina for not watching the Panthers. Alkins game, the Panthers stink.

They honestly might be worse than the Bears, because at least when the dust settles, Fields can just sprint around and maybe run for a couple touchdowns. That is not Bryce Youngs. The Panthers might win three games. Bears might win four or five, but we're talking about two picks that could be in the top five. And those two picks can change your franchise. And maybe at the end of the season, you realize, Fields not that guy. And you know the good thing is, Ryan Poles didn't trade for him.

Now, the one thing Ryan Poles, he just said a lot of comments over the years. It's like, let's just take a deep breath. No more talking and just, let's just figure this out. Like, times on our side that the bears are, you know, kind of cheap. So they're not going to fire anybody. They're not going to make any knee-jerk reactions. They'll give me some time. I'll get a quarterback of my own.

This is not my quarterback. But no more ever saying, like, we're going to run the North again. Or I spent 80 hours. I moved a cot into my office to watch film for the draft. Like, let's just, you stink. And listen, no one's disputing your work ethic. or how much you like football and all that stuff. But your team's not very good, and it's not going to be good for a while.

And I think one question is just going to be, when you do end up drafting Caleb Williams, Drake May, one of these sweet Shador Sanders, who knows, one of these sweet quarterbacks, is he ever for loose the guy to have around the quarterback? It is nice having offensive coaches with young quarterbacks. It just does make it a little easy. Like, easier. This isn't 1987, where you can have a defensive coach and defense can dominate, and you can have Mike Singletary and John Lynch and Warren Sapp,

and these guys make it unlimited tackles and win a bunch of ugly games. That's not really the way the sport works. It's dramatically different. Obviously, you need a good defense. Cowboys, the 49ers. I'm not saying you don't. Hell, the Patriots, like, I want a good defense. But the game is dramatically changed.

And I do wonder if this season gets ugly again, like, is he a fluke's on scholarship? I think Ryan Poles is going to get another coach. But buckle up. This thing is going to get ugly before it gets pretty. Quickly, I just want. want to hit on this really briefly. Brenda Tracy, the lady who speaks to a lot of college teams, I noticed her years ago, David Shaw always had her speak to the Stanford football program back when they were constantly a top 10 program, even when they sucked. I think he brought her every year.

She went through all these college programs, a lot of Power 5, talked about, you know, a gang rape situation she was involved in, and just became a fixture for a lot of college coaches to use her to give messages to their team about, you know, I've never been in one of her talks, but pretty clear about the way to treat women, the way to act. And listen, when I was at Fresno State, we would have the police chief come over. Like, it's a point of emphasis. I don't care where you are. But for Mel Tucker to even attempt to, listen, I say this all the time about these situations, two people know the true details about this, but he admitted to masturbating on a phone call with with her. To me, that's a fireball offense in itself.

Because part of being a head coach, part of entrusting someone, especially at this level, when you start paying a guy $8 to $10 million, same thing for a CEO, is decision making. I mean, these coaches talk about it 24-7, 365 to their players. Can I trust you? Coaches say this all the time. Can I trust you? Tucker can't be trusted to not just be a moron. Clearly they're suspending them right now without pay to ultimately fire them because they owe him 70 plus million dollars, which I think they

wanted out of before this ever came out. But this is one of those where Mel Tucker, Agon is, that's underselling it. Like I just view this guy as a complete and utter idiot. Like have some self-discipline, my man. I know he was married. claimed he was single. None of that matters to me. Just this is the individual. This is the woman that you attempted to have a sexual relationship with. Like, can you just use a couple brain cells and make a decision that I don't know might be the right one? Like, I mean, what are we doing? And it just shows you that you give certain people power and money. Like, most people are not Nick Saban. Most people are not David Shaw, right?

Most people are not Andy Reid that they can handle it. Most people can't. And Mel Tucker was always viewed by people around football as a really high-level guy, as a good football coach. It just turned out he didn't have the capacity to handle that spot because this isn't an error in judgment. This is just, I don't even know how to describe it. I mean, complete nutter moron. And under no circumstances would any athletic director,

with any team president immediately when they got win. Honestly, even if he was attempting to date her, I'd be like, what are we doing, man? You were attempting to be in a relationship with a woman that speaks to your team about a gang rape. Like, that is the person. And obviously she told immediately Michigan State also an institution that has dealt with, I don't know, some serious issues. Larry Nasser, ever heard of them?

so I can't even get over the stupidity of Mel Tucker, a guy that from the outside, I actually stopped respecting him as much as a head coach, because I don't know if he's that good. I think he kind of robbed in Michigan State over that 90 plus million dollar contract just because of Kenneth Walker, who they got in the transfer portal. Since then, it's been pretty ugly. But this is, you're never working again, buddy.

I don't mean as assistant coach, I don't know, but as a head coach, who is ever hiring this person? person. This is, this is an all, you're masturbating on the phone with her when clearly based on her story, she's uncomfortable with it. What are you doing, man? Wow. A couple of things really quick. YouTube TV. My reaction, I got the ticket. I give it an A minus. I really do. I thought it was easy to operate. I thought the ability to the four boxes is fantastic. I had direct TV, the app on my TV and it was impossible to ever get the four games like that because, you know, I didn't have Roku or whatever. This is really easy. The only reason I don't give it an A is, and listen,

I entrust that any of these tech companies, these people that are in this business, adapt fast, right? That's the problem with the cable model, right? They can't adapt, that they're stuck. I would expect YouTube TV within this year, if definitely by next year, to have the cable. ability of placing the games I want to on my television screen. So I thought it was fantastic. I thought it was easy to use. Immediately, I didn't, I guess, pay for the Red Zone. I tweeted out.

Someone's like, you just got to pay for it separately. I did. And then boom, it's up there immediately. So it's, I thought, very seamless. If you live in an area that doesn't have your team's game, I highly recommend YouTube TV, the Sunday package. Tom Brady, I don't think many people of his stature, a 45-year-old who's worth as much as him, who's an accomplished as much as he has, whatever in a million years,

put on a jersey, even though it's his own jersey, like a little kid at halftime in that situation. And you can call it cheesy. You can say whatever you want. I thought that was kind of as cool, raw, and authentic. And Tom running down like he used to as a player and doing the let's go to the crowd, I just thought that was cool. And I thought Tom, you know, kind of gets it.

and I think most guys, I don't ever remember seeing a guy put on a jersey in that scenario, especially one of his stature. So it was a cool moment. And you know where I've stood on them bringing it back Tom. He's sitting there with the Kraft family, multiple shots early in the game when it was 16 nothing, like before you could snap your fingers, you start wondering, what are they talking about? What are they discussing up there? And clearly they are, I think Robert,

Craft would love to have Tom Brady run his franchise. Now, is Tom have willing to give his time to do that? You never know. I mean, once you see the jersey and you see him a fist pump, you don't take the football addiction out of someone. You just don't. And you just, you'll never quite get the highs doing TV. Like I think Peyton Manning and Eli have fun doing Monday night football, but it's, it's not the same as being in the trenches. As John Lynch, the difference between running and picking the players than it is sitting in the booth with makeup and a tie.

There's just a difference in terms of having skin in the game. And Tom Brady, to me, is a skin in the game guy. So it's just something to keep an eye on. I know he owns a little piece of the Raiders. Obviously, it's not. There are complications behind it, but I'd keep an eye on that one. Alabama has issues. I think the day and age of just locking them up as a national championship,

like in the game, I think are over. Doesn't mean they're going to suck. Doesn't mean that they're not going to win nine games with their eyes closed. but like we've all been watching college football long enough that they don't pass the eye test. They didn't last year and they definitely don't right now. Now last year they still had Bryce Young. This year that quarterback, I don't know, I don't see it. Obviously a big time athlete can throw the ball far, but you can't compete for the playoffs in 2023 with that guy a quarterback.

Now with all the other quarterbacks around the country. And you just have to wonder if the transfer portal, if NIL has not only neutralized college football but has hurt them. hurt them specifically, where they used to be able to corner the market. You can probably say the same thing for Ohio State. But I would imagine Alabama has a little bit harder time than Ohio State cutting some of these checks for these players. And I think it immediately reflects when you watch this. Now, Nick Saban's over 70 years old.

Is he just going to coach forever? Not being in the playoffs? I guess next year, once they go to 12-team playoff, you might as well take your swing at that because he can get to 9-10 wins and get into that. But I'm not trying to overreact and act like they're just some scrub program. I just think the day and age of them winning national championships is over. And I guess the Browns lost their starting tackle, which is not ideal.

Now, I thought Kevin Stavansky had a great line. There are no red shirts in the NFL. So they have a young player who, clue they drafted, who's just going to get thrust in the action that they're high on. But anytime you lose a guy that you gave a four-year, $80 million contract to, paying a ton of cash, who's a really good player in Jack Conklin, that hurts. and it's the thing that I say it all the time, there's nothing worse in the NFL as a fan,

if you're a teammate, as a coach, as an executive, of seeing one of your impact players lying there on the ground. It's just, it's the absolute worst. And that view of a guy in the back of a cart, you know,

getting fist pounds and hugged from his teammates because they know. Like, it's, you don't know the exact injury at the time. Like, did he break his leg? Did he tear his ACL?

But they know it's bad. That's always, that's the, that's my least favorite part of football on Sundays. Because we just see the cart come out a lot. And it just has, you know, grave consequences when it's, you know, a certain player on your team that you just can't replace. Sometimes you hope you can.

But there's a big difference of being high on a guy because of the offseason, the preseason, and then going against T.J. Watts. Like, buckle up. Good luck. Okay, let's dive into the middle cough mailbag. Way you get in is you go to my Instagram DMs, My Instagram handle is just my name, add John Middlecough, two Fs, and fire me a DM, very, very easy to use. My first time mailbag, after listening for a few years, love the show, and glad to have your voice in the media mix.

37-year-old Pat's fan here wanted to give my take and perspective on the week one Brady ceremony. It does seem rushed, but it's no wonder. Kraft loves Tom. He's quite simply, loves the guy. and I'm sure he is eternally eager to show him that he really does love him. Ever since he let him walk out, because like I bet Bob Kraft would want that one back. I hadn't considered Kraft wanting to bring Brady into the front office, but that wouldn't surprise me.

He would probably let Tom live in his house. You can see it on Kraft's face and definitely can hear it in the way he talks about him. Brady is like family to him, except add in that he's also an Iron Man and he really won all that shit. Bob will be pleasant, be in a pleasant mood week one. Keep up the great work. And like you said, thank you Jesus football's back. More of a comment, really, than a question. And like I said, like having Tom there means a lot for the Kraft family to show their love for Tom.

Though, I do think Tom knows that. I think anytime you go through rough times as a franchise, and it's all relative. Like, you can watch the Patriots. I'm not the biggest Mac Jones guy, but adding Billy O relative to what they had last year, clearly their defense is going to be good. Maybe they do compete to go above 500 and stay in the wild card mix.

So they're not a joke by any means. They're going to be solid. We'll see how they look against divisional opponents. You know, the first game, you get all offseason, the game plan, and obviously Bill's, you know, arguably one of the great exes, nose coaches, if not the best in the history of the league, especially defensively.

But I do, I don't know, man. I just in terms of Belichick's 10-year, this is toward the 18th hole. And if they miss the playoffs, like, I don't think firing Bill, like, firing Brandon Staley and firing Bill Belichick are not the same thing. And I don't even think you fire them, right? But is it just run its course? And I do think if they were to go 7 and 10, it would be on the table. Now, when it comes to Tom, you know, would Tom run the show?

basically give him, I don't know, 20 plus million dollars a year, maybe give him the equivalent of what Mark Davis gave him in Vegas and say, hey, we want you to be like, our John Elway slash we'll give you a little equity in the franchise. I don't even know all the league rules because clearly like Mark Davis let him in, think of what the Raiders are doing. Jimmy Garoppolo there now, Josh McDaniel, Ziegler, like it's kind of Patriot West. So now would Tom even want to do that? Seems like he's having a good time hanging out. with his son Jack, Benny and all the other kids. You grinded that long, but I, listen, I've been around a few football addicts. And they don't do well away from football for a while. And I just wonder, you get that itch to really be in the fire.

I just, I have a hard time seeing Tom call football games, like the actual game, like in a suit and tie. Even Peyton kind of gets to screw around. You know, I just, I don't know if I ever see him doing that. I know they gave him a lot of money. I know everyone thinks it's going to happen next year. Something to keep an eye on. Because I don't know if that's going to kind of get his juices flowing like he thinks. Obviously, they, you know, financially, Tom's at the point.

I mean, does he really need the money? Again, money always helps, right? That's the way they wooed him by offering him so much money. But I think it's going to be very, very interesting what happens after the season. Not just for the Patriots, but the Tom Brady, like, where does he actually end up in 2020? 24 when it comes to football. Is he on TV? Or is Kraft begging him to run his team?

So I know you do a mailbag every once in a while, fan of your insights. Who's the blame for the Broncos woes? Is it Russell Wilson? Is it coaching? Is it personnel? We scored 16 points again, which was our ceiling last year.

It's just getting hard to watch. Well, I thought Russell, relative to last year, you know, a lot has been made of his losing some weight. I did think he looked a little more spry. I thought he looked a little quicker. He's just not magical, man. And Russell, for a long period of time, what made him such a great player was he was magic.

And I've seen him live so many times. His creativity, he was unlike anything I've ever seen. His ability to scramble, throw the bombs, and it's just not there. Now, you guys have had injuries offensively. McGlinchy stinks. I mean, paying that guy all that money. Just because you pay a player a lot of money

doesn't mean the player changes. Like he's not going to be able to block. Max Crosby was eating his lunch. So I think it's a combination of a lot of things. Your personnel is not great. You went all in on a guy that is no longer an elite guy, right? You not only made an enormous trade, but you paid him all this money. And when you do pay a quarterback, all that money for that three or four years,

he's got to be a high-end player. He doesn't have to be Patrick Mahomes. But if he's not in the Pro Bowl, mix, which Russell's not going to be, you got problems. So obviously it's hard to blame it on Sean Payton, Russell Wilson, but like Sean Payton was the guy pounding the table from a Glinchy and the guard. And I think sometimes when you have a coach so much juice, like they're just going to get to make all the decisions with personnel. So I think everyone is to blame. George Peyton, does he know what he's doing? He's the guy that hired Nate Hackett. Now, if you want to

tell me, well, they only hired Hackett to get Aaron Rogers, well, that didn't work. Right? So if you're going to make a move, you better close the freaking deal. the Jets hired Hackett and they got them. Obviously, the Broncos couldn't have because they'd already made the trade, but I think guys are going to be bad and an ugly bad because anytime it's like in baseball, if you can't hit, you're a boring watch. Like the San Francisco Giants can't hit. You couldn't pay me to watch them.

You can't pay me to watch baseball teams who can't hit. Very boring, right? Just like you can't pay me to watch football teams. If I was a fan, I would be so mad because I understand you're going to watch your team. There is nothing worse as a fan than watching a, anemic offensive teams, right? At least if your defense is bad and your offense is okay, you can be competitive. When your offense is just struggling to get to 20 points in this modern day way the game is

officiated and regulated, that sucks. So I don't know what to tell you, probably in for a long year. But everyone has, is the blame, right? And I think Sean Payton definitely has some blame as well, given that he spent all this money on some of these players who aren't that good, but I can't blame he has nothing to do with Russell Wilson. Writing in for the next mailbag, been listening to the show for over a year. And as a Texas Longhorn fan, it's been brutal hearing your criticism of Sark and our program. Some is totally warranted, and we underachieved. But I had to slide into the DMs to make sure

you gave Sark his flowers. Texas beat Bama, Sark out coach Saban. You were wrong about this game, and I hope you reconsider betting against us next time. them, baby. We're back. We're now back. We're not back yet, but we are on, back on track. P.S. Love the show. Listen, I will say this about Sark. I think Brandon Staley is a fraud. I could not make that guy my head coach. I do think Sark knows how to coach, right? Offensively, even last year, they were dynamic. I likened him a little to Lincoln Riley is like, he's not a tough guy. And when you're not a tough guy, defensively, it shows. in the biggest moments.

But I had multiple friends who went through Texas in training camp, right, over the, during August, both of them told me, like, I'm telling you, this team is freaking loaded. They are stacked. And this is where NIL comes in. Now, Sark recruited well when he was at Washington because when Chris Peterson got to Washington, they made the playoffs. It was with a lot of Sarks guys.

Sark knows how to recruit. He's like, Laine. Sark knows talent. My issue with Sark always was, look at his resume. He just never wins. He's never won nine games. Now, that was a big win. And I don't care of Bama's, you know, not 2017 Bama. I thought he kicked his ass. I mean, he worked them. And again, I'm not, people think I, none of this shit's personal. This is all business to me. I just watch Sarks teams. I never liked the way they look.

That was impressive. He clearly has a lot of talent. I will say this, though. Once you get a little momentum, as they did and you win a game like that, Anything less than like 11 and 1 will be a major letdown. It's football. I could give you a little room for error. You're allowed to lose a game. But he cannot, 10 and 2 would feel devastating. Right.

So there's a lot of pressure on him now. He answered the bell. Easily the toughest away game he's going to have. But some of these big 12 games, and listen, I've followed him pretty closely since he's been there. They've lost to Kansas. Last year they lost to Texas Tech. He cannot drop these games where he has gone. going to be clearly more talented than these other coaches.

So props to Sark. It's the biggest win of his career by a mile. Not just because he beat Alabama, but he had more talent. This was a year like he legitimately should have beat him. Last year was understandable. Think about this. Last year in the loss is the best moment of his career. And it's a loss.

So good for him. I read an article about on Sark how he had like triple bypass surgery. Because every year, Nick Sabin basically makes all his coaches and everyone that works for him, get a full-on physical. I'm talking drawing blood, colonoscopies, like they do it all. And they found something in his heart that if he wouldn't have done it, he would have died. And he had to immediately get surgery. He's got a big scar on his heart.

It made you realize like, damn, it was a pretty powerful article. And I'm not saying I was rooting for Sark going into that game because, you know, I'm a say you've been a Roll Tide guy. But it made me like him a little more. Now, am I picking them to win the national championship? I'm not. Am I going to be dumb enough to debate like they have the talent to win it? Right.

They are easily one of the most talented teams in the country. We'll see who comes out of the Pac-12 once Utah gets their quarterback. USC is their defense good enough, Oregon, Washington. Colorado's the wild card. Looks like Georgia is going to be pretty freaking good. Florida State, between Ohio State and Michigan. But Texas is going to be right in the mix. I'm not, by no means

am I acting like they aren't going to be in the playoff mix, if not in the playoffs and have a chance to win it all, because they're going to. And he wins it all. Like, trust me, I've talked a lot of shit. I'll eat crow. I'm pretty confident where I stand on Brandon Staley. The thing with college is like, it's about the jimmies and the Joes.

And the one thing Sark does, because of the program, they have access to a lot of coin. And that coin's paying for a lot of players. And he deserves credit for isolating and getting the right ones. Just like Florida State, right? Just like USC. You got to be on the right. guys. He's on the right guys. Sark and Lane know, man. They learned from Pete first hand in the mid-2000s.

Those guys learned how not just to build a program, but to find the right players. If you know talent in college football and you're at one of these powerhouses, you're off and running. Just bought Colorado at ASU tickets for next month. Use your promo code. Bringing the kids to their first football game. Can't wait. Is this Colorado team for real? the penalties they're getting so far is discipline related, but they clearly are getting the ball down the field. Here's what I know. If Caleb Williams is the best quarterback in the country,

right, just the guy that not is just the best player, but the guy who's going to go number one in the draft and just an elite overall individual. I think Sodor is in the mix as the number two quarterback. I don't know if he's coming out or whatever, but I'm just saying if we're ranking quarterbacks, like if you were an NFL GM, whether they're underclassmen, draft eligible, whatever.

Caleb is pretty entrenched at number one. I think Sador is in the mix for number two. Anytime you got that level at quarterback and the talent they have on offense, because I think everyone after that first game was like, Travis Hunter, Travis Hunter, and obviously so. He played like 700 snaps.

But number 10, the dude with dreads, like that guy is freaking good. I saw him in the TCU game. I'm like, I like this guy. They started making more plays in the Nebraska game. Their running backs are good. Their other receivers are good. defensively, they got some players.

And Dion knows what he's doing. And as like a number two guy for a NFL team told me this weekend, he's like, the thing you don't understand what I do, but I just think the casual fan doesn't understand. It's not just Dion up there, you know, giving motivation speeches and saying funny stuff. His coaching staff is top notch. That bald defensive coordinator, the white guy,

obviously you've watched the game, like 10 million people watching their game. You know where that guy's from? Nick Sab at Alabama. Their offensive coordinator was a freaking head coach in the Mac last year. Just quit. He didn't get fired. He just quit to go be Shador, Travis Hunter, and number 10's offensive coordinator.

Smart move. Because that guy's going to be in the mix fast. He's legit. Their coaching staff is really good. The other thing that I heard about Dion is what makes him such a good recruiter. Obviously, he's just great with people and his feel like for just whether it's a parent or a kid. I've heard he's just incredible in a room. You can see it.

I mean, a lot of guys are, but his ability to just interact with anybody. He can go to the hood. He can go to the country club. He could fit in. But the one thing I heard that's great about Deion is like, he won't take no for an answer. He's not just like a salesman. Like, he's relentless. And clearly he's getting a lot of yeses.

So, yeah, I mean, they're not for real. Now, are they going to win the national championship? sitting here September 11th, I don't think I'd say that. But if you told me they go 10 and 2 and beat some of these highly ranked teams along the way, whether it's an Oregon, a USC, a Utah, I can definitely see it. I might see you at that ASU game. Because depending on what time the game is, I think I might go. I think I definitely might go.

Want to hear your thoughts on this season of Hardinogs. I found it to be one of the most enjoyable seasons in a few years. I mostly want your take on the Rogers, U.S. post-siding. I didn't watch all, however, four episodes, 60 minutes. So I didn't watch every minute of every episode. And if you've listened to me for a while, you know I'm out on the show because I think it's like, it's just such a PG version. And even the Jets were anti-showing guys get cut, which I understand for their side of it, right? They claimed it was inhumane. It's literally just part of the business. And half the guys you cut, you literally resign for 200 grand.

You know, that are 22 years old. So, like, the horror. Like, guys, it's okay. We get it. We've all seen hard knocks. We understand the deal. But those days are over. I don't expect to be in personnel meetings anymore.

You don't see anyone get cut. You know, the Turk. I had that role when I was in the NFL walking downstairs to meet guys and grab their playbook and grab their iPad. Like, that's just part of the protocol of the sport of football. Right. Hell, some of us get cut in junior high or high school from baseball teams, basketball teams, whatever. Football teams usually don't cut, but you know what I mean. It's like part of life.

Failure's okay. It doesn't end your life, right? But those days are over. The show worked, though. And simply because it was a television show with two stars. And Rogers, people are like, oh, it's just Rogers propaganda. That's fine. It was entertaining.

I found it pretty entertaining. So I'm with you. And I think Robert Sala, listen, I root from my bald brothers. He's natural on TV. He's, it was an easy watch. So I'm with you. I thought it was fantastic. But it was, they got very, very lucky.

The coach is just made for TV. Good looking guy. Not too much of a meathead can talk, but is also a tough guy. He's just perfect. And Rogers is just, you know, one of the most famous guys in league history who just got traded to this team in the big apple. So it was kind of served up to them on a, it was like a beat-pastball. If it wasn't entertaining, they would have had a problem. And let's face it, what did we get?

We basically just got unlimited Rogers and Sala. That felt like the majority of the show. I didn't see the specific UFO part, but are aliens really common? And if they do, do we have to fight them? Or do they like our friends? Or do they pretend to be our friends and then take us all out? Is it like Independence Day with Will Smith, where they shoot that thing down? If they really are here and clearly people are testifying that they exist and every other day on the internet,

I see a UFO sighting. Do we got to buckle up? Like is this going down? Or are they just going to be cool, right? Are they like humans or are they like animals that can also fly? I don't know. I'm fascinated to see how this progresses. I'm not a big sci-fi alien type guy, right?

Alien, the movie back in the day, not really my jam. I'm not into that. But if they're real, like this isn't sci-fi. This is real life. and they just exist, which, again, I'm not a big alien guy, right, in terms of, like, I don't read a lot about them, you know, back, like, those aren't the type books I would read or even movies that I watch. It's not what I do for entertainment besides just some of the major hits Independence Day. So I just, I just envision that thing coming down and I'm shooting the circular sphere down and us just kind of running for our life. I hope that's not the case. And I hope they just come interact. Huge fan of the pod. Even send it to my girlfriend. Cowboys fan, optimistic about the week one performance. Is it just me? Did the offense not click as much as you would want?

Defense was obviously dominating, but offense didn't have a long, sustained drive. Dax stats weren't great, and more so, just didn't pass the eye test on the side of the ball. Thoughts, looking forward and enjoying this season of three and out. I do think when you get into a position where you're up, you get a field goal block, you get a pick six, and you're in the teens, right? I forget the exact score was 16 to nothing or 18 to nothing or whatever. You were in the 20s before you even scored an offensive touchdown, right? I do wonder, and listen, I've never been a coach in the NFL.

But if I'm McCarthy and this was a huge game and you're coming into the game, just like any coach goes into a game thinking that this thing could be tight. And we've got to be fully prepared to run everything and anything to get us to win the game because that's the whole goal. whether you win 2 to nothing or whether you win 50 to 48. It doesn't matter, but you have to do whatever it takes to win. Once you get a huge lead, I do wonder if you scrap the game plan a little bit. Once you get up in the mid-20s, the weather, it's raining, your defense, it's clear.

The Giants are fucked. I think you scrap a lot of plays. And so I do wonder, now, do I think they're like a couple years ago, they're going to be the number one offense in the league? I don't. but I have a hard time making some like a overall statement that their offense is sluggish and off in a game like that because some games your defense just gets to dominate and your offense is kind of irrelevant and when your offense is irrelevant I don't want to say guys check out but

the ebb and flow of a normal performance is not normal so I wouldn't put too much stock into it now if it happens in a game that's like 20 to 20 or just you know games that look like, I don't know, actual NFL football games? Because let's face it, that game is not like a game that you're going to watch against two playoff teams. Clearly, the Cowboys are way better than the Giants. Same with the Eagles. Like, that gap I thought was going to close as extended or at least maintained.

I do wonder, though, if they didn't call a lot of plays, that they were planning on calling. Question. Do you think Casey first round picks for the last three years, have been bus two years ago they i think the guys that are in their second year mcduffey and karlosskis who are pretty damn good didn't mcduffey cause a fumble in that game carloscus has played a lot the last obviously played a lot last year i thought he was making plays the other night so i would say no on that group uh i forget who they took two years ago i know they took clyde a while back yeah they'd like a redo on clyde i do support when they

took Clyde, I thought he was going to be really good. But I always said this about Trent Balke, because when Trent Balke first became the GM of the Niners, he was hitting on all these picks. And then Harbaugh showed up and they started winning. They started going to the championship game. They started going to the Super Bowl. And all their draft picks were, you know, 29 to 32. Right? They never won. 31, right? Drafting in like the teens is dramatically easier than drafting every round at

pick 29, 26, 30, right? Just the talent is depleted when it's time for your pick. So I would say two years ago when they took McDuffie and the Purdue pass rusher, I would say 100% that's a good pick. But I don't know. John, why do you and so many in the media make excuses for Sam Darnold versus holding him accountable for his terrible play? He is on his third team in five years because two teams told the entire NFL he

stinks. He had a seventh ranked defense in New York, and he was awful. He had the second rank defense in Carolina, along with Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore, and he was awful. Please explain. Well, offensively, let's go around. His coach in New York, Adam Gase, is a laughing stock by fans, by people in the league. Currently, I don't even think he has a job, right? Dedicated his whole life to being a football coach. No one hires him right now to coordinated offense. And then Joe Douglas got him, and clearly they just moved on. They were going to draft Sack Wilson.

It gets traded to Carolina. Matt Ruhle is head coach. I think there's a chance that Matt Ruhl is committing like legal robbery right now. Nebraska is paying him $70 million. Did you watch his quarterback? Is there a chance Matt Ruhl knows absolutely nothing about quarterback play? And I know he's not technically the offensive coordinator, but he is the head fucking coach. He is a former offensive line coach. He's an offensive coach. Well, that's who he got.

So he got Matt Ruhl, Joe Brady, who they had to fire in the middle of a season, and last year, McAdoo, which they went with Baker Mayfield because the owner wanted to start him. Clearly, by the end of the season, when Sam came back in, he was playing pretty good. So I would say this. If he stinks with Kyle Shanahan, he's not a very good player if he ever gets to play, which he might never get to play. And we're also talking about a backup quarterback making $3 million. But if you get the opportunity to play with a really good coach, Sean McVeigh, Andy, offensive head coach, Andy Reid, right, Kyle Shanahan, just go around the league. I think LaFleur is proving it in Green Bay to be a good offensive coach. And you're not good?

That's a you problem, right? Like, Trey Lance, I'm sorry. Kyle Shanahan thinks you're not good. When's the last time Kyle Shanahan thought a guy wasn't good and he turned out to be good? I'll wait at that position. I'm not saying every, I'm talking about quarterback. Brock Purdy gets in, they win. He looks awesome. Kyle Shanahan believes in Sam Donald's. Again, for $3 million and as a backup, thinks he is dramatically better than the guy that he drafted number three overall.

Now, if he got in and he wasn't good, 100% agree with you. But if Sam Donald got in, I would bet on him looking solid. Is he as good as Purdy? No, he's not. Would they win with Sam Donald? I think they would. I would say guy that's not in the top 10 look any good with Matt Rule, or definitely Adam Gave. in those situations, I would say no.

So part of your situation, like Matt Stafford, proved, he can play with kind of anybody. And you put him on a good team, they're going to be really good. But you can put him on a shitty team, and he's still going to look pretty solid. Most guys are not that, right? Sam Donald's not that. Sam Donald can't overcome incompetence.

Justin Herbert, he's with the Chargers. He overcomes weekly, yearly incompetence. Right? He's a freak talent. Sam Donald, I'm not comparing him to, like, high-end guys. but I'm also like if he's your backup quarterback I think it's a pretty good backup quarterback look at some of the guys that have backup quarterbacks

look around the league so yeah no one's acting like he's the next coming of Peyton Manning here but this notion that he's as bad as he was in those situations I would question it like John why are you out on Trey Lance because Kyle Shanahan thinks he stinks

right I'm sorry like if that's the case like I'm out the all pro guys on that team don't think he's any good. Why do you like Brock Purdy? Well, obviously you watch a play. He's pretty good. But his teammates that are all pros and pro bowlers and high-end guys,

they all think he's a stud. I saw it right before I recorded this, Debo Samuel posted a pick of Purdy. It was the back, so you can see the back of his jersey. And instead of Purdy, it just said him. Like, that's him. What all the kids are saying? He's him.

However the hell you say that, I feel like a 38-year-old who, you know, like I'm 70. you know what I mean. But those guys believe in that guy. And they like Sam Donald too. So I put stock, like every single player, I don't put stock in their opinions. But like when Jason Kelsey tells me two years ago, like, we got something in Jalen Hertz. You listen.

You listen. If Patrick Mahalms goes, I really like this young wide receiver. I'm going to pay attention. Tom Brady forever had certain guys that he liked or Peyton Manning. Like, I gravitate toward that. Certain guys have more equity built up with their ability to have an opinion on a player. no different than a GM or a coach. So those guys think he's better than you think he is.

And again, like you're acting like, who are he comparing him to? Is he better than Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert and Jalen Hertz? Of course not. He's also a $3 million backup quarterback. Appreciate everyone listening. Hope you guys have a fantastic day. Wherever you may be, wherever you may be listening. Yeah, I will talk to everyone soon.

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