The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Saturday’s MNF WTF, Russ Dead Cap Hell, 2020 Draft QB’s, Hot Seat Check, Mailbag

Episode Date: November 29, 2022

John reacts to Jeff Saturday’s bizarre game management at the end of the Colts MNF loss to the Steelers. Then, he explains why the massive Russell Wilson dead cap hit will be an long-term albatross for the Broncos, ranks the 2020 Draft QB’s, the NFL coaches on the hottest seats, and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Subscribe NOW and follow Middlekauff and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content. It's always FanDuel for the best wagering action! #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

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If you are new, just download the Fandual Sportsbook app to get started now, Sign up with promo code, Colin, so they know we sent you. What is going on, everybody, John Middilcoff, three and out podcast. Just watched a barn murder of a Monday night game. God, that was fun, said no one except Steeler fans. Talk a little about the Monday night game, some thoughts, stuff going on around the league, some quarterback drama. A lot of people talking about that.

Russell Wilson, dead money. His contract hasn't actually kicked in yet on the books. So that should be fun for the Denver Broncos. Some Joe Burrell, just getting a swag back, Herbert, Tua. Some other hot seat thoughts, some guys that I thought were in trouble actually might be okay. And then some guys that are probably in a little trouble. And then, of course, the Middlecough Mailbag at John Middlecoff is just my name, firing those DMs.

If I haven't answered your question, I'm probably going to spend, take a chunk out of this week, three or four hours and just go through all my DMs and kind of manually answer them. I've put that off for a long time. That might be a project this week. That's a good winner project. Again, firing those DMs, get your question answered here on the show. Also, if you subscribe on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to the Three and Out podcast. We greatly appreciate all you guys listening.

Could not do this without you. Well, maybe I could. I just record into a microphone and send it out to nobody listening. But that's not the case. So I appreciate all you guys. Let's talk some ball. Okay, my initial reaction, like most people, when Jim Ursay went with Jeff Saturday, was shock, awe, jaw hit the floor.

Then, if you listen to the podcast, you know, I kind of push back against the crazy overreaction because at the end of the day, he's just an interim coach. He's not the full-time guy. Who cares? The team was terrible. And then they beat the Raiders. It was actually pretty impressive. And now they've lost two games in a row.

But tonight, I got to be honest at the end of the game, was pretty embarrassing. He is not the offensive play caller, and he's obviously not the defensive play caller. So when he's on the sideline, a lot like Mike Tomlin, he's the CEO, game management, which I've always defended a little bit, is probably a lot more difficult while you're at the game on the sideline and the clock sticking than those of us on the couch, eating some Cheetos, feed up, drinking a gator rate. Right? It 100% is, because consistently during the, NFL, the history of watching football, college and pro, coaches struggle with

calling timeouts, end of game, and end of half situations. But tonight, with Matt Ryan on the third down play, or I guess it was second down play, when he takes off running and games, you know, two yards short of the first down or whatever, one, he's not an athlete relative to athletic quarterbacks. So he's probably a little gassed in that situation. You got three timeouts. down a touchdown, you're close to the red zone. To me, that's a pretty basic. Call timeout, take a breather. But I think Jeff Saturday got really greedy there. And to me, got greedy for what?

Like, you got three timeouts. If you had one timeout, I understand pushing the limits. But I think that crossed the line of all of us sitting on our couch universally going, call time out, man, to like, bro, why did you not call time out there? That, that's, that, that's a lot. That, That's a pretty basic timeout. Matt Ryan, gassed on the ground, get up. You waste a bunch of time and then you get stuffed. And then ultimately on fourth down, you don't get it done. So you end the game.

You know, you go to the locker room, a loser with multiple timeouts. You know, I never understand this. Listen, you always want to conserve your timeouts, right? In the first and early on in the second quarter, same thing with the third and middle away through the fourth quarter. Sometimes it's unavoidable. a delay a game situation, maybe a defensive breakdown where guys wide open and could lead to an easy touchdown. Obviously, there are times when you have to blow a time out in a half or, you know,

in the second half, when you ideally don't want to do. And then there are situations like tonight where you didn't need to go to football coaching school, which in the NFL or college is basically just becoming an assistant and working your way up. If you've just been a part of the game, obviously Jeff Saturday is. He's a several-time pro bowler. I thought that was a pretty basic one. You're just sitting there looking at your team. Clearly, he's gas running it down,

and you don't call a time out. Makes no sense. So while I did defend the overreaction, calling those guys a little over-the-top, everyone that went nuts when Jeff Saturday was hired, because like I said, he's the interim head coach. This team sucks. Who actually gives a shit?

tonight that's pretty embarrassing. Like, there might have been guys if you just elevated on the staff who could have seen, hey, we might need to call a timeout.

And then on the flip side, the Steelers, like ultimately, if you weren't a diehard Colts fan, a diehard Steelers fan, which obviously there's a lot, they're one of the biggest brands in the league.

Actually, the Colts sneaky have a big fan base too for being a smaller market team. Or just a diehard NFL fan, you know, I get, I have to do this. No, I would watch Monday Night Football no matter what,

but I was more locked in the night knowing that I got to record a podcast than I would have been if I didn't. I mean, that game was pretty tough to watch. The Colts aren't a very entertaining team and the Steelers, I mean, just aren't very good. Now, they do have a lot of good players. And on a bright note,

I'm going to be positive here for a second. You guys know, Mack Jones-type players aren't my cup of tea. I like guys with athletic and physical attributes. It's why I like Justin Field. I wanted the 49ers take Justin Fields. Instead they took Trey Lance and they love Mac Jones. I was like, just take this guy who's a five-star recruit, you know, Georgia, Ohio State.

Don't outthink the room here. But I will say one thing about Kenny Pickett. His arm might be a little bit better than I thought, but he's actually a pretty good athlete. I thought, you know, because he's been compared a lot to like a poor man's Mac Jones, I think he moves around a lot better than Mac. So there was an athletic maybe attribute to his game, not that you didn't see. it in college because you remember the Pittsburgh run where he kind of did the Alan Iverson and he juke the guy

or he fake slid and then he went right by him. They've actually changed that rule. But it's another thing to do it in the NFL and Indy has a good defense. They have a fast defense and he made some plays a night with his legs where you went, okay, I see something. And one thing Pittsburgh's, the Steelers

have done historically well is draft, right? That's one thing they've always hung their hat on. Offensive skill guys never having an issue with it. Help. They traded Chase Claypool. and clearly they don't skip a beat. Thompson's good. Obviously, George Pickens has a lot to work with.

Naji got hurt. I love Naji Harris. The backup is not a bad player. They will draft skill guys. That will not be the issue. Defensively, they clearly have never had a problem building the defense. So to me, if they can keep building around this guy,

can they become somewhat like the Patriots have become around Mac Jones? It's not going to be pretty football. It's not going to be the most. entertaining brand of football. It ain't going to be like Rathlisburg. Rathlbber in his heyday with some of those defenses, but maybe they can compete that way. Now, you could push back if you wanted to argue with me if you were a Bengal fan, if you were a Raven fan, be like, well, you better build up a damn good team because we got Lamar, we got, you know, Joe Burrow, and that's going to be their problem. The gap with their quarterback, even his ceiling, compared to Joe

Burrow and Lamar Jackson is pretty wide. And like, here's the thing. Mike Tomlin is an incredible leader, incredible just head coach. He is, his resume speaks for itself. But once you don't have the sweet talent at quarterback, like the schematics becomes so much more important. And Tom is not the OC and he's obviously not the defensive coordinator. He's going to be very dependent moving forward on his coaching staff and on his

coordinators being awesome. Look at John Harbaugh. One thing they've had over the years is Greg Roman, excellent at scheming for a running quarterback. Wink Martindale has been awesome. For whatever reason, he let him go. And now they got this guy, McDonald, who was Harbaugh's guy,

actually he was John Harbaugh's guy, then he went to gym. And they haven't been quite as good. And it's kind of impacting their team. So when you're going to be the CEO head coach and your quarterback is not going to be a Hall of Fame guy, you better get really good coordinators. That just has to happen.

So I do think Mike Tomlin this offseason, you should be confident that your organization, you know how to develop, you know how to draft, you know how to bring guys that even have failed at other teams and then have success with you. The Steelers have a long history of doing that with several GMs over the years. To me, the key now is going to be his coaching staff

and really doing a deep evaluation because they're going to have to out-coach and out-scheme. They're not always going to be able to out-talent because the big fella ain't walking through those doors anymore. You know, looking at stuff today that I wanted to talk about for Monday show, it kind of hit me. What an incredible season this has been from a storyline standpoint, right? And I'll get to my favorite storyline. I just can't get enough of it.

But from the Packers implosion to now Aaron Rogers is injured to Tom Brady retiring, unretiring, going to Fox after the season, but still some people believe he's not going to retire. And his team stinks. He also got his coach fired. To then situations like Lamar Jackson, who I'm sure you saw the thing on Twitter, like their season, I thought they were going to be a dominant team. And clearly it has been somewhat of a roller coaster. Now, to me, it's not all on Lamar, right?

Defensively, they've been pretty hit or miss. I would say he definitely hasn't been as good as his dominant years. But he has not been the issue. but they have kind of been for a quote-unquote powerhouse strong a little bit. I mean, they just have. And just all the drama around the league, all these teams,

the implosions by the Rams, I mean, the Rams do not have a first-round pick. And as of the day, who knows if we're ever going to see Matt Stafford again, this season, and beyond, Cooper Cup is injured. Now, Aaron Donald is injured? They'd be like, you know, the Warriors,

Steph, Clay, Draymond, injured. It's like, you're screwed. Godspeed, because it's over. And the drama of football, like the off-the-field stuff, always coincides with the on-the-field stuff. It's why it's king. It's why when you see these ratings, it's like, yeah, because it's not just fake social media drama.

That happens a lot in the NBA. It's like, that's exhausting. What's going on on the field? Well, it carries over to the field, right? Rogers' injured, Rogers' drama, Iowasca, retirement, and then boom, he's either awesome or, this year he's kind of sucked, but it's kind of justified because the thumb is injured. But my favorite story, and I cannot get enough of it, is Russell Wilson.

I mean, he's easily one of the more famous players in the NFL. I would say on the fame level, I mean, Tom's number one, Rogers probably number two, when you factor in who he's married to, and when I say fame, it's like, does your girlfriend, does your wife, does your mom know who he is? Like a lot of casual football fans are going to know, they're going to know Derek Carr is, They're going to know who Daniel Jones is. Can I ask my girlfriend or your mom who Russell Wilson is? And you can and they'll say yes.

They gave him this contract that hasn't even started yet. Think about that. His contract has not started yet. It's a contract extension. He still had years to go. It's why it's kind of gone viral this year of the dead cap money that is associated with this deal moving forward. I mean, it is an all-time disastrous move.

when I was a kid in the 90s, so many contracts in basketball, football, and definitely baseball were given out that were just awful. They would give the guy a lot of money relative to the time, and then that player would suck, and it would just be a disastrous contract. And for the most part in the NFL, obviously Dan Snyder and the 2000s were given out a lot of contracts. When I was with the Eagles, we signed Namdi Asimwa. He lasted like two seasons there.

Most position players, even if you completely whiff, you got them for three years max when you sign these quarterbacks to 150, 180 guaranteed money like you're in the boat with them for a long, long time. They're not going anywhere. And now Russell Wilson, his game was predicated on movement,

on kind of pizzazz, on being special. Right? Like certain quarterbacks are just, Dan Marino had just an elite arm. He could just make elite throws in his prime that no one else could make. Trying to think of other guys.

Like, you know, Eli Manning, when Eli Manning got hot in those Super Bowls, he was in the pocket just throwing fucking seeds. Russell Wilson was a lot based on like 360s in the pocket, running around. That's all gone. And then on top of that, the basic stuff is awful. Like, he's got nothing. It's like a pitcher that's throwing 97 miles an hour, comes back the next year, he's throwing 86.

You're like, well, does he have any other pitches? They're like, no. He's just got an 86 mile hour pitch. that if it's in the zone, it's getting hit a long way the other way. And the Denver Broncos are completely tied with this guy for several years moving forward. Like, it's just an all-time albatross move. And think of the ramifications like the L.A. Rams and the Denver Broncos do not have their first round pick. Both teams are headed for potentially drafting in the top five.

Like the Lions in Seattle have top five picks held the Philadelphia Eagles, who have the best record in the league who are probably cruising. I would never say cruise because of the NFL, but are definitely headed to the number one seed in the NFC. Have a top seven pick right now in the draft. Football season is underway. So now is the perfect time to download Fanduel,

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Wyoming. Visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at Tickford. Talk Podcast Network on TikTok. To me, this year, the storylines, because the football has been a little hit or miss. I would say the football hasn't been as good. You know my theory on that. A lot of that is the CBA. A lot of that is protecting, you know, the everything that happened with concussions

earlier in the decade or last decade, and they shifted the rules. I don't love them. But I do understand protecting the quarterbacks. I hate the word defenseless player. This is football. no one is defenseless going over the middle of the field. But I do understand for the health of the business and the health of the sport and the trickle-down effect to use sports, why you had to, you know, placates the wrong way to put it.

But, you know, transition your sport into a safer environment when it comes to hitting. But, and it's indefinitely the practices, the double days, the product is not the same. But the storylines are pretty damn good. They really are. And we're kind of having the end of an era. of Brady, of Rogers, headed toward a nude era of all these young guys. And I was thinking about it today, like the Zach Wilson story, which I hit on Sunday night, is just an all-timer, right?

They draft the guy number two overall. By the middle of the second year, a franchise that, for the most part, is usually pretty crappy, is really good. I mean, you watch the Jets, and they had to bench him. They did not have a choice. I think I saw on the internet today, Salaf said like, and of course he did. Yeah, Mike White's still going to be our starter. And I love how he prefaced it, like, it's a week-to-week.

thing. Like, no, it's not a week-to-week thing. Like, it's over. Like, Jack Wilson, you're not even the backup. You're the third stringer. But that quarterback class in 2021 was thought of so highly. And I was living in the Bay Area at the time. It was Tray Lance or Justin Fields or Mac Jones. Quarterback talk was nonstop because all these quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence would have been the number one pick in the majority of drafts in the history of the league, right? Maybe Peyton Manning's draft, maybe Andrew Luck's draft, maybe like Michael Vicks draft. There's a small L. There's a small percentage of drafts where Trevor Lawrence would have been 100% the pick.

So that to me, whether he turns out to be a stud, and he showed signs of life yesterday against the Ravens, made a couple great passes. And obviously, Doug Peterson being a former quarterback, he's going to give him a chance over time to maximize his potential, right? And I would still bet on Trevor Lawrence. Now, bet on him to be some all-timer. Probably wouldn't put my money there, but I would bet on him to be a really, really good player. The other guys, who the hell knows?

I mean, Zach Wilson is benched. Trey Lance had a broken ankle. Justin Fields, who's, to me, of the four guys, the most interesting, but the way he plays, he's getting the shit knocked out of him. His team has no offensive linemen. He's basically, they had to turn him into a running back just to operate on offense because their receivers were so bad. So he started running, started killing.

He started taking these hellacious shots. He leads the league in sacks. He's already injured, so I just hope the guy can live, but I'm a fan. And Mac Jones is pretty average. And I know everyone's like, well, you had a good Thanksgiving night game. Okay. It's like I would not want Mac Jones to be my quarterback if I had any options. But the previous year's draft, how about that thing?

Because all you want when you draft a guy really high is, of course, you'd want the guy to become paid manning, Aaron Rogers. But most of the time, that's not going to happen. Can the guy just become your starting quarterback for a decade? And then put it on your GM and your coach to build up the team and be in a position. to just make the playoffs and win playoff games? Like most teams, when they drafted a guy high, I would be like, I'd be like Matt Ryan or Philip Rivers. And you go, God, I'd like better.

Well, of course you would. But if I told you the day you drafted a quarterback in the top 10 picks, this guy is going to have Philip Rivers career. As a player, as a GM, you would sign up for that. Then it's on you to do a better job, ultimately the Chargers did. They actually drafted well. They're just coaches always suck. But you know what I mean.

But it looks like the quarterback draft of 2020, Joe Burrow, like he's kind of got his swag back. I mean, have you noticed? The Bengals started 0-and-2. They've won seven of their last nine games. They're coming. They look fantastic. They just got a fantastic win against the Titans.

Anytime you beat the Titans, even though the Titans shouldn't be good, they always are, seven and three coming to that game. That was a playoff level game. Now, in theory, the Bengals should always win. They have Joe freaking Burrell, and that team has Ryan Daniel. But I think most of the first of them,

of us agree, the coach for the Bengals, who I always forget his name, Zach Taylor, like we're all taking Mike variable over Zach Taylor. But when you have Joe Burrow and he's that good, he elevates your franchise like Janice or Steph Curry does. He changes the outlook of the team. He's just got it all. And one of my favorite parts about sports is when you have a player who you just go, yeah, we're just going to fucking hop on his back for a decade and he's going to carry us to the Promise Land. And when I say the Promise Land, you might never win a championship. I mean, I grew up a Barry Bonds fan. You can say what you want all the time about all you want about steroids. He was winning MVP's before him before he ever took, you know,

the cream, the clear and all the juice in his butt. But the reality is when you had them on your team, you had a chance to make the playoffs every year. Just like watch the Warriors now for a decade. Like ultimately they've had a lot of great players and Kevin Duran joined up. Steph Curry is the leading heartbeat of the franchise and the reason they turned into a power. And you watch the Bengals who have had actually a better couple decades than I I think they get credit for. They were pretty consistently good under Marvin Lewis. Now, they weren't winning playoff games,

but they were very, very competitive and very well built. I saw them live multiple times. Actually, I saw them live one time with the Eagles. I saw them live one time with the Raiders. They beat the crap out of when I was with the Eagles, and they beat the, they destroyed the Raiders in 2015. That team was really good. Wittworth and Pac-Mans and A.J. Greens and Iifers.

That team, Giovani, Bernard. They were stacked. But they had fallen on hard times. And they drafted this kid who was, let's call what it is. He was the starting quarterback for one of the greatest teams ever. But he was a one-year wonder in college. And he's beyond lived up to the hype. And his, I love watching the guy.

And I know a lot of people get mad at me. And I don't mean to do this. But sometimes I forget about talking about him when I discuss, obviously, Herbert, Josh Allen. I throw Mahomes, the leader in the clubhouse. Lamar, he deserves it gets talked. And I need to do a better job of using him in that group. because he's 100% part of it, and he's 100% part of the crew who's going to lead the league as Brady retires, as Rogers goes on to do ayahuasca, as Russell Wilson now stinks.

You know, that quarterback class is kind of over, and this new crew of guys, Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow is a huge part of that. And before I get to Herbert, like, Tua was the fifth pick. And listen, I would still take Herbert over Tua. So with the Dolphins. I got news for you, Dolphins fans. If your general manager and your head coach had to choose today, had to choose today, would they do a straight up trade today for Justin Herbert over Tua?

They would. Now, that doesn't, I'm not trying to diminish what Tua has done, though I am still skeptical would be strong. It's clearly a solid player. And I respect guys, their teammates respect and like. We've just seen it go the other way with countless players. Clearly the Miami Dolphins like the guy as a human. And that goes a long way when you're the quarterback.

So he is a likable individual, high character guy, good guy. I see all these clips, like he makes me laugh. I'm a pro two of the human. The player, like, I like my quarterback to have a little bit of a stronger arm and to be a better athlete. But maybe they've done such a good job of building it up around him that he's thriving. I mean, he's 70% 19 and 3. You cannot dispute the numbers. Even the biggest haters, I'm not the biggest hater, but I'm somewhat of a hater, can't dispute the numbers.

It's going to get a little tougher. Playing the top defense this week on the road, the 49ers. So has to go to New England, who's really good on defense. and so else to go to the bills. I know they beat him last time, but let's face it, check the stats. It was kind of a crazy win. But he's having a fantastic season.

So if you can get a quarterback who can be your starter, be eight and three, 19 and three, every team in the league would take that. Now, is it sustainable? He got crushed again in the game against the Texans. He's obviously had multiple concussions this year. I know they're like, a neck injury, knows, multiple concussions.

And you know me, I'm not one to say, you should never play again. Like, if he wants to play, like, this ain't my life. But he is one injury. away. So he to me, of the three guys, is clearly the one I have the biggest skepticism on. But so far, like, he shut a lot of people up, including myself. And last but not least, the game against two coaches that no human alive would want coaching their team, besides, you know, the Arizona Cardinals and the LA Chargers ownership, Kingsbury and Staley, I mean,

neither deserved to win that game. And the difference ultimately was Herbert driving them down when he had to have it, throwing a game-winning touchdown, throwing the game-winning two-point conversion, who I will give the Charger coaching staff credit, even though Branus Daley has nothing to do with the offense. Fantastic call by Joe Lombardi, run a little, like a little Texas route, just kind of a little, they bunched up the receivers in the tight end,

and it was just, the Cardinals had no fucking clue what was going on. Gerald Everett walked into the end zone. It was stealing. You know, it was stealing candy from a baby. It was an easy play. Herbert made with his eyes closed. Win the game. It's cool.

He was fantastic in the game. He really was. And I know sometimes on the internet, you have to argue and try to justify. Like, he doesn't win any games. Well, yeah, he's playing for Brandon Staley in a defense that's awful. He's also playing with wide receivers

because Mike Williams' ankle always gets hurt now. And Keenan Allen's had an up-and-down season because of a hamstring injury. When I say up and down, he's been missing games, he's back now. When he's just played, he's dealing with Keenan Allen, who I respect the...

Keenan Allen's a fantastic player. He is so skilled because he can't. can't run, but he can get open with ease. He's a really good player. And Austin Echler, who's a tiny little scatback, who's also a good player, but that's who Herbert's dealing with. Like, give Herbert Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey and Juju Smith and Andy Reed, he would be awesome. Give him Stefan Diggs and Gabriel Davis and some of the guys they had in Buffalo, give him the 49ers roster, he would crush it.

Hell, he's statistically crushing it now. And I'm just glad to see him win because it's not his fault. that Brandon Staley is his head coach and tries to lose him games on a weekly basis. But those three quarterbacks are especially to me, Burrow and Herbert, and if Tua can just stay healthy, which is

a big if, because he can't really avoid hits because he's not a very quick twitch athlete. That's the one thing with Herbert. Herbert is a big time athlete. And Burrow is not the level of athlete like Herbert and definitely like Josh Allen, but he has like an instinctive quality to him. It's why

his comp, he's clearly a better version. of this, but Tony Romo had this, and Tony Romo is actually a really good athlete, ability to kind of avoid hits and just scramble around and make plays with his legs. When I say make plays with his legs, like legs behind the line of scrimmits and then throw the ball. But that quarterback class, man, you can't really ask for much more than they're doing right now. I wanted to do a little hot seat update because, listen, you see in college coaches get blown out, obviously in the NFL. I think on average, it's five to six coaches every year. Some years it's like eight and some years is like four. Hard to tell this year. I guess we've already had one. The Panthers relieved of

their duties and we'll get into, it looks like pretty clearly a couple more. But I wanted to start with one that coming into the season, it looked like he was destined to get fired. One, because the team just kind of consistently loses. And two, he made a pretty desperate move to acquire Carson Wentz, which in my opinion was kind of nuts like you're going to trade two third round picks for this guy and I over the years have been a Carson Wentz defender but I was like Ron this is I don't know what you're doing here

and they got in a weird way a little lucky that Wentz got injured because then they go to the savior Taylor Heineke and all they've done since is win now you look up and the commanders are unveiling this statue that everyone's just crushing them for but they're also winning games

because the one thing that Dan Snyder truly has nothing to do with is the game plan and how hard the players are going to operate and Taylor Heineke and just this team and Ron Rivera went from this guy's going to be done at the end of the season to is he going to get an extension because they're not just seven and five their next two games are the Giants and the Giants and like I said Brian Dable he's already accomplished so much this season if he doesn't win another game hat tip to him the Giants fans should be excited but they're not very good. And now the football team, commanders, goes giants by giants. I mean, there is a decent chance going into the 49er game on Christmas Eve. The New York giant, or excuse me, the Washington

commanders are nine and five. I would say worst case scenario, they're eight and six. I mean, that's a pretty incredible accomplishment. So I would say hot seat. This guy's seat is not hot at all. It's cold. Ron Rivera and Scott Turner, North Turner's son have really done. Jack Del Rio. Fuck, their defense is flying around, hitting people. They got Chase Young eventually coming back. Defense is good. Commanders are rolling.

Kingsbury. I know we got an extension, but unlike players, right, the extension is there is no salary cap. This is a disaster. And twofold on this. One, he was the guy pounding the table for Kyler Murray. Now, it's weird. They both share the same agent. Obviously, a huge part of his.

offense, at least in his mind, was predicated and tied to this quarterback. But it feels like Kyler Murray does not like Cliff Kingsbury. Now, maybe it's just in his nature to not even realize when he's throwing people under the bus, but that's what he did. He threw Cliff Kingsbury under the bus yesterday when they talked about an interception on a fourth down. He basically said we were f schematically, which is a direct reflection of, I don't know, the head coach who's also the offensive coordinator and the schemer. So that's, he's a, he's. situation like the relationship between coach and quarterback is not good. The other thing is if you siphon out last year, which did not end well, right, they

limp to the finish, they lost a devastating week 18 game that would have won them to vision, and then they got throttled in the first round of the playoffs. And then this year has been an utter disaster. They're four and eight, feels like they're headed towards six and eleven. So basically a losing season in two of his four seasons. The other year, he went eight and eight, but again, like last year, limp to the season and miss the playoffs. And this year it feels like they're trending backwards.

I would say him and Steve Kine, because I think if Kingsbury goes, Kine probably goes this time too, even though their roster actually has some talent. But I do think Michael Bidwell is going to go, well, the Rams are in shambles. Seattle feels like they have momentum now. Pete's not going anywhere. They're going to have a top pick because of Denver. And the 49ers are just pretty well built, and they're definitely not going around. we do have a lot of talent on this team.

Why don't we make a change? Now, he historically, at least his family, I don't know him specifically, though. I think when you talk to people that in the agent community that say they can be a little cheap, that's fair. Is he willing to eat a lot of money to pay these guys off where he just extended?

If they don't win another game, which I would say is always on the table and Cliff Kingsbury is your head coach, you would have to say it's on the table. So I would say Cliff Kingsbury's seat is definitely hot and it's got a chance to really heat up. This seat isn't hot. It's burned to the ground.

Like, it's over. Nathaniel Hackett is done. Like, he's a one and done coach. Like, that was, he got one season. He's like Freddie Kitchens, Jim Tom Sula. He will never be a head coach again. Because I think it's very, very difficult

to be a one and done coach and ever be taken seriously again. Like, you can be two or three years and get another chance, right? If you become an offensive coordinator, you get to kind of rehab your name. I don't think you can become, be a one and done at the level in which

Nate Hackett did. The offense is one of the worst we've ever seen. The game management was horrendous. It has just felt like the only reason the guys in that position is because Aaron Rogers wanted him there. And then obviously Aaron Rogers basically declined the trade offer. It went

back to Green Bay. And now Nate Hackett was forced to coach Russell Wilson and it ended a season. So yeah, that's a problem. The other guy that I don't know if you're going to have back to back one and done coaches, but the Levy Smith experiment is

not going well. Now, they're not exactly some team loaded with talent. They got a long way to go, and they look like a lock destined for the number one overall pick, which I think when the dust settles will be Alabama quarterback, Bryce Young. But I would say

that when you factor in, this is a team that's going to have a lot more reinforcements coming. They have Cleveland Brown's picks for years to come. You would have to say that it is on the table, that you would think that if Lovie Smith goes one and done, it's at least foreseeable. Now, maybe they go two years with Lovie. They just suck this year.

They let them coach the team again next year, suck again, and then figure it out from there. But this has been pretty ugly with the Houston Texans. Like, they're getting dramatically worse. I thought for a second on Sunday when Stafansky scored late in the game and decided to not go for two. It's like, bro, you are three and seven. You're playing Tom Brady. You got him on the road. go for two.

Now, they ended up winning in overtime because somehow Tampa punted twice. Who punts twice in a 10-minute overtime? Tampa did. And he won the game. But I do wonder, like, I'm not as big of a Stefansky hater as some, but the Haslums are nuts.

I mean, they are crazy. So to think that Stefansky, like they might just say, well, we could have been way better if we had a better coach and then we would have been in position when Deshaun got back, to make a playoff run.

Instead, he shows up, we're 4 and 7, and our season's basically already over. So I would say his seat isn't too hot, but they've had discussions. And then last but not least, this guy would never get fired, but we always got to be on Amazon Prime Watch. And that's Sean McVeigh.

Their team is now 3 and 8. Matt Stafford is on the shelf. Cooper Cup is on the shelf. And now Aaron Donald is on the shelf. So you have to ask yourself, you go, they don't have a pick next year. They don't have a very good offensive line. They have no running backs.

Their best players now are aging and injured. Is this guy going to keep coaching? Now, you know where I stand on this. I think it's a pretty exhausting topic. But the fact is, it's a topic because they're going to suck. Like, they're in the all-screwed category. Like, ultimately, Denver has an unreal defense and has young players on offense.

Maybe if they get a new coach, and Russell just gets a little bit better, has some off-season motivation, they run the ball. They could be much more competitive next year. You know, maybe Arizona, somehow convince Sean Payton to take the job and he's able to get the most out of Kyle Murray.

I don't know. I don't see how the Rams are any good next year because their margin for error naturally is so small because they're so top-heavy with two or three players. The moment one of them gets hurt, they're screwed. They're not going to have cap space to sign guys. And let's face it, most guys on the open market aren't that good anyway.

I mean, their one big off-season signing was Alan Robinson, and he was average it best for them. Honestly, he was below. So I think the Rams of your Sean McVeigh, you go, God damn, how are we going to improve? And the answer is you're not. So he's not a hot seat guy. He's just a I'm out guy. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast is. 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 I'm 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. Before we dive in the mailbag, one thing I just wanted to hit on is how incredible of a season Lincoln Riley has had. And it's easier to turn a program now around

relatively quickly, just immediately, because of the transfer portal. But USC has been a joke. I mean, they have borderline been one of the biggest embarrassments in all of Power 5 college football. Because when you turn on games on Sunday, hell, this week or last week, Thursday,

you see Clay Hilton players everywhere. Like, Clayhoughton players from his era at USC are not just starting in the NFL. They're impactful players in the league all over the place. Yet USC consistently beside one year with Sam Donald was terrible. He gets there. He brings in Caleb Williams,

who is now unofficially the Heisman Trophy winner in 2022. And they have USC 11 and 1 when their defense isn't even any good. Now, you know where I stand on Lincoln Riley big picture for him to beat Kirby, for him to beat Nick, for him to beat, I guess she's got to beat those two teams, Georgia, Bama, in Michigan, you know, I'd say Ohio State, but their defense stinks too. You got to put a premium in an emphasis on defense.

So a guy slid into my DMs a day and was like, you know, I don't agree with what you said about Chip Kelly getting pushed around with physical teams. And I was like, yeah, I don't think it's an opinion, it's a fact. But when I scouted and went through Oregon in 2012, they actually had a lot of physical players on defense. Buckner was on that team, Armstead was on that team, Kiko Alonzo was on that team,

they had several defensive backs on that team, Michael Clay. He actually recruited on his best Oregon team some good defenses. But as people in the program would tell you, he just didn't care about it. And he would never change his offense, like, slow it down a little bit, take your time because he was just so obsessed with his offense scoring 80 points.

There is a nature of how you have to play. and I actually think Lincoln Riley understands it. It's what I always respected about him at Oklahoma. He was willing, like some of these spread coaches won't go under center. They don't even know how to implement it, install it, coach it in the playbook. It's not there. Lincoln Riley has no problem in a short yard situation,

putting a guy under center, putting multiple running backs and offensive linemen behind him and doing heavy packages. And you give him an elite talent at quarterback, the offense is unstoppable. And that's what's happening. Because I think Caleb Williams is an all-time talent. Like he is, I mean, Trevor Lawrence level can't miss guy, right? Athleticism, arm talent, accuracy, playmaking.

I mean, if he was in this draft, it wouldn't even be a question who'd be the number one overall pick. I think Bryce is awesome, and I think Bryce is an awesome prospect. Caleb, to me, is dramatically better, partly because of the size. I mean, he's just much bigger. And he's got a much more, much more, he's got a more explosive arm. He is, he's a special, special prospect. But to have them one win away, and I think this game's going to be hard because the Pac-12 championship game is now in Vegas.

And Vegas is, I've made this drive several times, haven't made in a while, what, three hours, maybe, four hours? Correct me if I'm, if you live in the area from Salt Lake City, Utah is going to have a large contingent there. It's also like five hours away from L.A. USC's going to have a large contingent there. The Pac-12 championship game, over the last month. last decade has mainly sucked.

And for a large period of time, it was at Levi Stadium where the 49ers play. I think this game is going to be packed. Utah fans, USC fans, it's going to be badass. The environment's going to be sweet. And I'm rooting for Caleb to win this game. I want to see Caleb against the University of Michigan. And it's going to be really, really fun. But they gave the guy $120 million.

They gave him a package that you would give to an NBA player to a major league baseball player. And it was well worth it for them. They needed the juice. They needed the vibe. They needed the whole thing. But eventually, like, you got to coach the games, right? No different Brian Kelly.

They gave him $95 million. A lot of hype. Brian Kelly went 9 and 3 pretty immediately. Like, it was like, okay, we feel pretty good about ourselves. Lincoln Riley went 11 and 1. The program went 4 and 8 last year. So, and bringing Caleb for two years and winning a Heisman trophy year one, I listen, if I would have been one of the rich guys to chip in on this $120 million

by this guy's house, do all the shit they're doing for him, I'd feel pretty good about my investment right now because Lincoln Riley, he's not going to be named coach of the year, but he has been honestly everything and more USC could have wanted. And Caleb, for most of us, I mean, I watched him a little bit at Oklahoma. Not that I didn't think he was good. I didn't realize he was this good. I mean, that game against Notre Dame,

If you had the chance to even, I just watched like half the game, he was absurd. He did some things in that game that were outrageous. I mean, it was like Patrick Mahomes meets Josh Allen. Now, he's not as physical as Josh Allen, but just breaking tackles, scrambling around, making these throws on the run. He is a very, very fun player to watch. And if you have to say, hey, I got a really fun quarterback for you. What offense and what offensive coordinator would you want to see him playing under? I think Lincoln Riley would be the choice.

Okay, let's go. Middle Coff mailbag. Try to bang out a lot here. At John Middlecoff's the Instagram. Try to keep it fast-paced. At John Middlecoff, Instagram. Fire in those DMs. Get your questions.

Answered here on the pod. From Matt. Honest question. Going through some crap. What was your breaking point where you said, screw it? I'm betting on myself and starting your own venture. Matt.

I hit on it yesterday. The second time I was relieved of my duties in radio, it kind of hit me. Like, I was so tired of doing, like, I didn't get fired either time on performance. It was because, you know, management. And it's like, I'm an opinionated guy. I'm never going to shut my mouth. I'm going to piss people off. And the only way I can control my own destiny is doing it by myself. And like I said, when I got let go in radio, I still had money coming to me. So I had about three months, the fall of 2016, to kind of take inventory.

And I think the second time I, because in the NFL, when Chip came in, I didn't get my contract renewed, it kind of threw me on my ass. I didn't handle it as well, right? I was in my late 20s. The second time, I was like, took me a couple days, dusted off my shoulders and was like, I got to figure this out. And started our own podcast. And then a couple years later, this happened.

And now the volume, which, yeah, it's all worked out well. but I would say it took, I don't want to act like I'm just some natural Gary Vee here. You know, I was,

I worked for someone for a long period of time until I realized like I can kind of control my own destiny by doing my own thing. Now, you still realize,

like, you need to partner up with people. Like, you need other people. You can't just do it all on your own. Even Jeff Bezos,

some of these people had help. But if you do not like working for other people, like it's, I would recommend it. Now, I don't have kids, and I didn't have kids when I did this. I didn't even have a girlfriend or anything. So I didn't, my responsibilities were pretty limited. I had a lot of runway to screw around and figure it out and potentially fail. And I failed. You know,

it took us while to make some money. But I can't recommend it enough, you know, because I, I can't imagine, like, answering to people that I didn't like. I couldn't do it. I'd rather be dead broke. I'd rather mollons than do that again. The way that makes me feel just not for me. Do we get the Ravens organization too much of a pass? When I think of the

Ravens, I think of one of the best organizations in the league. When I look at what they have done to support Lamar Jackson on his rookie deal, I don't see it. We focus on Lamar is worth this huge contract, but what I believe should be talked about is how they haven't supported them. They aren't paying him currently, and they aren't paying Star Wide Receivers. running backs either on rookie contracts or low-paid vets,

they don't have a star defensive player and their defense isn't great overall. What have they been doing with their money and roster construction while they have Lamar for cheap? One thing the Ravens like getting a lot of credit for, and they are a well-run organization, is for being super smart. It's like, do they really have big old balls? Ultimately, Howie Roseman and the Eagles are kind of similar to the Ravens, right? Well-run organization, good ownership, very well-supported.

yet Howie's always willing chips in the middle of the table. Like, where's the Ravens move to get A.J. Brown? Where's the Ravens move to trade for Darius Lay? They just don't do that stuff very often. And you're right, they have this rookie contract, and I wouldn't say they're squandering it, but they don't have many playoff victories to show for it.

And I would say right now, the way they look, would you bet on them winning a playoff game? Technically, they're in first place in the division? I would bet on the Bengals winning the team. Division in the Ravens finishing second and being a wild card and probably losing in the first round. I hear you. That's a good question. I think sometimes perception once it becomes reality, which their perception for a long time and the PR campaign, their general manager is good friends, a lot of people in the media. Like, he is a media darling. And I know a lot of people

that aren't the biggest fans. I don't know the guy personally. So I mean, I have nothing against them. but I think they try very hard to be viewed as really, really smart. You know? Like, ultimately, the Rams didn't give a shit, right? They just did what they did if it worked great and now it's not working. But the PR campaign, like, their moves are their moves. So they actually took a lot of crap for it over the years. To me, the Ravens love, like, we let this guy walk in free agency.

Cop pick. Well, you just let a sweet player go in free agency. So, yeah, good luck with that third round pick that might work out and might not. Matt Judon looks pretty damn good. Good. Shouldn't you maybe, I don't know, kept them, right? Boggles of mind. Just started listening to your show last few months and love it. My question as a badger fan,

should I be concerned about the badger's players being upset about the fickle hire and likely leaving? Or should I not care and be optimistic that fickle is such a good recruiter that it won't matter? You have to make tough decisions in these spots. Jim Leonard is a legend in the program. and I would imagine I don't follow the program that closely. I kept track of your games. Not that I watched that many of them,

but whether you're winning or losing. And a couple weeks ago, I would say publicly, we all thought Jim Leonard was going to be the head coach. They were about to sign them. So I wonder in their mind, the players love him. He's clearly a really good defensive coordinator,

and they had already come to grips with like, this guy's going to be our next head coach. So then when you hire this guy, it's just a natural move. But as an AD and as an executive, you have to make a decision what's best for the long-term viability of your football program. Jim Leonard might be a really good head coach right in the future. I know for a fact, Luke Fickle is.

So if I had to choose between Jim Leonard and Luke Fickle, like Luke Fickle had been turning down other people. So if you can get Luke Fickle, you have to take it. And I think they made the right decision. And if I'm Luke Fickle, I guess I would try to retain them, which probably won't happen. if I was Ryan Day, I would be all over Jim Leonard. Would love to hear my question read on Tuesday's show, but here it is. Reports of OBJ getting kicked off a plane for being in and out of consciousness,

would it still be smart for the Cowboys to pursue them, or do they move forward with the roster they have? Also, at this point, do you believe they are a true Super Bowl contender? As usual, love the podcast. Let's start with the Cowboys. It kind of looks like they're going to be the five-seat, and they're going to play Tampa Bay. You know who I like in that game?

I like the Cowboys big. I think the Cowboys could beat the crap out of Tampa. Then you see what happens. Whether you play Minnesota, whether you play the Niners, the Eagles, whatever, you've got to win a couple games. I think you're going to win the first round game when you play Tampa Bay. So I would feel pretty good. You win a game, you get some momentum.

Anything can happen. True Super Bowl contenders? I think you got a chance to win the Super Bowl. Yes. Odell Beckham. My guest maybe took a sleeping pill, so he's kind of out of it. Long country flight, you know, cross-country flight, puts a blanket over his head. Like, Odell, this isn't a private jet.

When you fly commercial like us peons, like us peasants, like us normal people, even if you're in first class, which us normal people aren't usually there, you can't, like, when the stewardess says put on the seatbelt, like, you got to put in your seatbelt. On those PJs, you can do whatever you want. On United, on American Airlines, when they tell you to put that seatbelt, you, you know, you're going to put that seatbelt. you got to put the seatbelt on. Now, ultimately, like, would this impact his viability with some teams? For sure. Not an ideal thing to do. Here's the other thing I don't get.

He was medically cleared last week. And he's like, you know what? I want to take Thanksgiving off. Like, Odell, we're not just on your time here. Maybe the Cowboys are. But these other teams got to be like, what are we talking about? It's like, bro, you've torn your ACL twice. You're still going off this one-handed catch seven years ago.

now you're getting kicked off a plane a little too much drama for my liking not good enough not good enough to be doing that you know you better be your production has to be better in your problems is it too early to talk about the possibility of Lamar Jackson on the Jets or the Raiders

thanks Tucker well a lot of people keep acting like Lamar Jackson is going to hit the open market I guess it's possible but that would be the dumbest thing in the history of the Ravens. Then even the biggest media cronies of the Ravens front office

could not support them. He's not going to hit free agency. Worst case, he's franchised. He's not going anywhere. So I would be stunned if Lamar Jackson isn't on the Ravens next year. Now, maybe if you look around the league and you go, well, let's think about

all the moves that have transpired over the last several years. Brady leaving, Stafford traded, Devante, Tyrick Hill, traded, you never know. And maybe it's just say, AJ Brown trade, you never know. But I would be a little stunned

if Lamar Jackson is on any other team than the Ravens. I feel very confident, very confident that he's not going to hit free agency. That just does not happen. Hell, even look at Cousins, who was not nearly as good as Lamar Jackson when he was with Washington, you could argue Cousins

is playing better than Lamar Jackson, even though Lamar's been fine. It took him multiple franchise tags to hit the open market. The NFL is not the NBA. You know, this is not a player run league. It's a front office run league. Just wanted to get your opinion on college football draft hypotheticals. At what point if you were a top drafting team,

would you start thinking about trading back or taking the best available instead of a quarterback? Young, Stroud, and Levist all show flashes, but also come with significant risk, as any quarterback does. With the way he's played, Caleb Williams looked like a lock for the number one overall pitch. next year. Agreed. You think it's insane idea to push your quarterback search

by a year in hopes of going after Williams, whether by trading back or taking the best available player, Will Anderson looks like a stud? I hear what you're saying, but it's impossible to play that game in the NFL. Right? We all thought Seattle was going to suck and they're 6 and 5. I mean, we thought they were going to be terrible. And look at them. Now, the Texans, maybe they're tanking,

I don't know, but they're trying to win. Most teams, it's just really hard to play that game. Because your team in the NFL, you might not make the playoffs, but you can get seven wins somewhat out of nowhere. The difference between being a four-win team and a seven-win team honestly might be a couple fumbles and a couple made field goals. Now, obviously, the difference between a four-five win team and a ten-win team is pretty big. But it's not hard to, you know, a couple things go your way

and you're not sniffing the number one overall pick. I mean, there's a big difference most years of the team drafting 10. or ninth, and the team drafting one overall. So I hear what you're saying, because I think one of the things is going to be the Lions, for example. The Lions are going to have a top two or three pick from the Rams. Should they take Will Levis, let's say, or should they just take two more sweet players? Will Anderson and some other player with their pick that might be like 10th and just keep playing

around golf. Goff's proven that he's got to a Super Bowl if your team is good enough around them. Look at the Lions. The team actually is ascending. You get Will Anderson with Aden Hutchinson with another, you know, D.B. Or another awesome wide receiver. Maybe you're sweet. So I think you can always.

Those conversations, do you know what's funny is the couple of years I worked in the office? We had the same conversations that we have here on this podcast. The same conversations that people DM me to get answered here on the show. like obviously not that you know if you're just a scout you influence the draft or free agency or whatever but you do in sense that you just have a direct line to your GM and your coach but you're constantly talking about the same stuff for the most part that the fans are talking about should we do this should we do this should we take a wide receiver should we trade this pick should we sign this guy in free agency you just actually are a part of it but it honestly

the same conversations friends and I were talking in one day why NFL team scouts don't use virtual reality to better qualify decision-making skills of a quarterback. Any thoughts on scouting strategies, tools, technologies available? Why I think a lot of quarterbacks now use VR in college? Right. So these college players use the Oculus, the headset to basically do mental reps.

I don't necessarily, I'm not up to speed enough with, I've only used it one time in my life, how a quarterback and like the scout or general manager or coach would use it together. But I hear what you're saying. I would imagine we're not that far away. I think that's fair to say. I don't necessarily knows exactly how it translates, but we're not far away. And my name is Mark messing you on my business account.

Looks like he's an interior designer. Lifelong Lions fan. And I would like to ask your opinion. about the end of the Thanksgiving Buffalo game. As soon as the Lions kicked the field goal, on fourth and inches, I knew they had lost the game. They were aggressive all game long,

and they puckered up and kicked. I don't even mind the third down call when they took a shot, but I think a first down there wins the game. You don't get the ball back to Allen with time. They should have had two plays called in the huddle. What are your thoughts? Here's my issue with not going for it,

whether it be going for two at the end of the games, like when Stefanski did it, whether it be kicking a field goal like Dan Campbell did it. I understand being conservative when you're 8 and 2 and the difference in seeding, winning matters.

The Lions, what was their record in that game? 3 and 8? Or 3 and 6? Like, they're not going to the playoffs. So why are you not playing to win? When you have nothing to lose, and think about that game,

the bills have everything to lose, the Lions have nothing. nothing to lose. Part of Dan Campbell, in theory, this big tough guy is kind of having some balls, putting your nuts on the table in big moments. It's easy to go for it in the second quarter or the third quarter. What about a tie game late in the game? When it's like, yeah, field goal, but then I give it back with, I don't know, the biggest arm quarterback we've ever seen and some sweet, deep threats, probably not a good idea, and it obviously backfired. But Dan Campbell, if he's going to be a good coach, he has to be an aggressive coach.

And stuff like that would make me nervous because he's never going to be Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid or Bill Belichick as a scheme guy, right? That's a fact. So he's got to hang his hat on being crazy motivator. Say what you want about John Harbaugh and he hasn't always made the right decisions. He usually has stones. He usually has balls. He's not afraid.

Like part of, I remember Dan Campbell when he was hired. really hung his hat on saying, you know what Sean Payton taught him, is you don't always have to be conservative. You have to be aggressive. You got to pick your spots. You got to be willing to take risks. And that, what's even the risk there?

You go for it? It's like, you're not going to the playoffs. I hate bad teams that don't roll the dice. That's really a pet peeve of mine. Big Tennessee fan here, do you think Hendon Hooker has any chance given a real opportunity in the NFL and where he might fall in the draft?

Obviously, a torn ACL, but he was having a historic year beside that. I would say he was going to get drafted more than likely on the second day. I'm pretty sure he's old. Isn't he older than some of quarterbacks in the NFL? Isn't he like 25 years old? But you have a torn ACL, now you're old. I know people, fair or not, I mean, you're closer than this to me, nitpick that offense a little bit.

I mean, the games I've watched you, it does feel, and this is kind of just, it's a compliment. of Hypo and the offensive scheme, but like Chip back in the day, Lincoln Riley, guys just get kind of wide open and the game becomes pretty easy for the quarterback.

No, I'm with you. When I watch them play, Alabama, I give him somewhat of a pass in the Georgia game, but just other teams, he was very, very explosive. Torn ACL's a killer, though.

My guess is now he's a fifth round pick. All right, John, if you could trade Russell Wilson from Mike White straight up right now, would you? Here's what I know. If the Denver Broncos could get completely rid of that contract and trade him for me or you, they would do that in a heartbeat.

Russell Wilson isn't even their biggest problem. That contract, if he is a bottom 10 quarterback, might be one of the biggest albatrosses in NFL history. It is an all-time potential disaster. They are so screwed. God, I love it. now that you came out with your take on Ohio State and Ryan Day, and as a Buckeye fan, I cannot agree more.

Day inherited a winning production, winning program, but now it is all on his responsibility and he has to go. I have said this for years and consistently have not believed in his slow starting bucks and weak defense. He's got to go. Any thoughts on the immediate rumors to Urban coming back? I personally don't think that it is a good choice. Well, Urban is one of the great college coaches of all time.

So I would imagine there are some internal people that sign the checks that would love to have them back. Because when you're Ohio State, when you're LSU, when you're Florida, when you're Oklahoma, when you're USC, there is just too much cash winning is not winning big. It's just we'll never be accepted. And Ohio State is probably in a rare group, right? It's not even just winning. Like, I'm talking 12 and 1 and being in the playoffs is mandatory. And what makes it unique for your team, you were 11 and 0. But it didn't feel like the season was going that well,

where they almost felt like they underachieved a little bit. But when you lose to a rival that I would say it's the biggest rivalry in all of college sports, when they're both good. Michigan, Ohio State. And you get your ass kick two years in a row. Think about this. When Ryan Day came into Ohio State, they weren't just better than Michigan.

They were lapping Michigan. They were dramatically better. Urban never lost. They were getting way better recruits. If this was like a race, you know, like when you're in elementary school or junior high and they make you run around the track, and four laps is a mile,

if they were just running the mile, Urban Meyer, Ohio State, and the program was potentially like multiple laps ahead when Orion Day got there. And now somehow, Harbaugh hasn't even just come back to like pull even with them. He's past them because he's winning just many games as you and he's beating you. And then he beat you at home. You know, clearly doesn't look like he's going to lose his job, but I'm, I would say next year, he better be Jim Harbaugh, or he will be gone.

Cowboys fan and want to know how you feel about Kellyn Moore's play calling ability. I feel he's poor at adjusting in-game, and when things go south, what's your take? I'll be honest, you know, was boozing a little bit during Thanksgiving, wasn't super locked into the game. When I was at Fresno State, Kellan Moore was the quarterback at Boise State. and I've always believed in that culture of Boise guys. And the people that learned under Chris Peterson to me are pretty successful. And now, Justin Wilcox's a Boise guy. He's struggling a cow.

But Jonathan Smith, Boise guy, not technically from Boise, but worked under Pete and is kicking ass to Oregon State. And I think Kellan Moore, like I would still bet on him being a good coach. Again, maybe I'm biased. Maybe I'm thinking back to when he was a player, which I revered. I think he's the best college player I've ever seen live, which sounds crazy, but I can't tell you how good Kellyn Moore was.

And I think you guys have been pretty damn good this year. Much more balanced, much more willing to get the ball to Tony Pollard. Now, it's going to come down to the Eagle game and the playoffs. But I wouldn't sell him down, you know, sell him like just he sucks. Because I think it's easy to do that with a play caller. But you just won the game. Again, I was...

Girlfriend's grandparents' house and you were outside and I kind of peaked at the second half and by then I'd have about seven glasses of wine. But, you know, didn't you win by eight points? I would give him a shot. Well, you don't have a choice, but I've always been a Kellanmore fan. But also, I'm not a cowboy fan, so maybe it's easier for me not to lose it. How do the headphones work on the sideline? Can the head coach talk to all the coaches at the same time?

Do they all hear each other? so that is why they move the mouthpiece away when they're yelling at the ref. Only the OC talks to the quarterback, like Andy Reed and Bilema do when they talk to Mahomes or just one. Well, in my experience, and I didn't mess with the headsets in the NFL,

but I did in college, and I'm sure that they, you know, this was 08 and 09. In college, and this was just, I mean, the NFL used the same headsets, you basically have the side thing that sits on your belt loop, right? And it's a box.

and it's connected like a walkie-talkie. But instead, you don't have to press the button. You just click on the channel and you're good. And everyone is on that channel, right? So you have two channels, potentially three. There's the offense all on the same channel. Then there's the defense all on the same channel. In every box you can click between.

But obviously the offense never leaves their channel. The defense never leaves their channel. For the head coach, he goes back and forth, right? If he's the play caller, for the most part, he probably stays on the offense. But, you know, CEO head coach, are constantly talking to both sets of coaches. They go back and forth throughout the game.

And then the quarterback, just like the middle linebacker, is connected once, I'm pretty sure the play caller could be wrong on this, has a button to chime into the green dot or chime into the quarterback. So he presses the button and then he can communicate and it automatically gets cut off at 15 seconds. But could be wrong. I guess I could text a coaching buddy and get the exact. but there are multiple channels.

So your offense or defense, the head coach flips back between both. And I would imagine if you talk to coaches in college or pros, everyone does it a little differently. You know, some coaches are probably more talkative on headset. Some probably don't even use it. They're talking to their guys more of the guys on the sideline. Obviously, you're up in the booth. Your only mode of communication is using the headset. If you're the play caller or, you know, offense or defensive coordinator,

it's very vital because that's how you communicate to the player. But it's probably more basic than it looks. Channels, directcom, you know, talking, and you just talk back and forth. Big fan of the pod. Just curious your thoughts regarding day ball leaving the bills and how that will affect Josh Allen going forward. Daniel Jones seemed to be having his best season

and Josh Allen has seemed to be sloppier this year than in the past. Do you think this trend continues also? I'm from Jimmy G's hometown. Love hearing you give the man is flowers. He's balling this year. he had a rough game against Saints, but the Saints were bringing it. I think it's hard to just say

it's as simple as Brian Dayball, Josh Allen. You know, Josh Allen got banged up. And I also think it's... The hardest part about sports is when you get anointed. And in a weird way, Josh Allen last year, lost in the second round of the playoffs,

but he had five touchdowns, and he got put on a pedestal. And rightfully so, because the eye test him, he's one of the best players. in the league. But once you get anointed, like Patrick Palms got anointed because he won the Super Bowl, because he won an MVP. Same thing with Lamar Jackson. But look at Lamar Jackson. Like, everyone's got him for you. Everyone's coming for you on a weekly basis. A defensive coordinator

like gets all the credit if he kicks your ass. You don't get credit if you beat some random quarterback. Like you shut down the Texans or the Carolina Panthers. Like, no one really beat Gino Smith, you punk Josh Allen, you hold him to 200 yards, you throw defenses at him that leaves him flummoxed, you force him to do things he's not comfortable with.

Plus, I'm just going to spend more time when we play you. As a staff, my players, we're all going to be more invested when we play the best players. Just natural motivation, right? So I think it's part of that.

Now, if it lasts over, time and Brian Dayball can make, you know, chicken, turn chicken shit into chicken salad, then maybe it was all him. Obviously, Josh Allen's still good right now, but you know what I mean. I think it's more that everyone's coming for you, and you just have it to have a different pitch. It happened to Patrick Mahalms last year, right? They started playing more zone defense.

They started playing more like two shell, forced him to, like, be patient, pick him apart, and he struggled at it. And then he didn't. And now he's going to win the MVP, you know, so it just. Like, part of being a great player is just always adapting. That's what the great players do. They're constantly adapting. No different than the great businesses.

They're constantly adapting. You can't stay doing the same thing year in and year out. You might be able to do it for a couple years, depending on your industry, maybe three or four, but eventually you're going to have to pivot. Great player, you might be able to have the same move, have the same go-to play for three years. Eventually, they're going to force you off it, right? eventually you're going to have to dribble to your left if all you have is a right hand.

Eventually you're going to have to hit a breaking ball. And I think that's probably impacting Josh Allen more than the coaching staff change. Could be wrong on that. But that would be my guess. Okay, last question. Do you think we could ever see pure pocket pastors have success in the NFL again? Could you ever see a time when guys like Tony Romo and Matt Ryan can be franchise quarterbacks?

Well, I think you're underestimating Tony Romo's athleticism. but Matt Ryan, Eli, Flacco, I just don't know if those players are coming into the NFL. If Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan were coming into the NFL right now, they would get picked high. But where do those players exist? You know, you only get to pick what college gives you. And right now, college, because of high school football,

is just producing more athletes. They force that guy to be athletic early on. So for that guy to play at USC, at Oklahoma, wherever in the SEC, the Big Ten, the Pac-12, more likely than not, he's really athletic. Look at most of the top quarterbacks right now. They all can move. So like I said, if Matt Ryan was at Boston College right now, he would still get picked really high. Now, my thing has been for a while, part of the NFL right now, the defensive linemen that have consistently been coming in the NFL have outpast. paste the high-end offensive linemen.

You have had probably a 2-1, 3-1 ratio of sweet defensive tackles, sweet defensive pass rushers, and guard-centers and tackles. Now, there have been some good guard-centers and tackles, but for the most part, there have been constant, unreal athletic freaks coming in on the defensive line. And that's part of the reason to me, why you've got to be able to move?

Because all these defensive ends, let alone defensive tackles, can all move now. So I think it would be more difficult than ever, especially with the way the game is coached, in the offseason, training camp. It's hard to develop guards and centers. It's hard to develop really good, like right tackles. You know, Trent Williams and Lane Johnson, the high-end guys, you know, are all worse, are going to make it.

But for the most part, like, we're kind of the random guys that become fourth-fifth-round picks and become all pros. They used to happen a lot. But I think a big reason for that was development. And that's kind of gone. These defensive tackles now This dude comes in the league He's 6-4, he's 300, and he runs a 4-7

That just, that human didn't used to exist In 2007 So it was easier for Matt Ryan And those guys that couldn't move to function I would say that they just had more time Those days are over So I would never say never Because things

Everything in life is cyclical Right? It just all kind of rotates in a slow circle. That being said, I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, right? Like, do you foresee in basketball, they're just being a renaissance of big guys banging in the post? Like, no, that's never going to happen.

Do you foresee in baseball, you know, guys slap hitters that just bat 360 coming back like when I was a kid? No, they don't want that. Like, people want athletic quarterbacks, which honestly makes some sense. Right? Now, you could argue the greatest quarterback of all times. I'm slow. I would say the second greatest quarterback of all time, Joe Montana, pretty damn good athlete.

John Elway, pretty damn good athlete. Aaron Rogers Farve, pretty damn good athlete. Dan Marino, not a good athlete relative to, you know, NFL players. Peyton Manning, pretty bad athlete. Steve Young, pretty good athlete. So a large percentage of the greatest quarterbacks of all time might not have been Michael Vic, but they've been athletic. They've been able to move.

and I think that will only grow. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor. me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

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