The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Eagles and Ravens make OL Trade, 49ers are Overachievers, NFL Mailbag

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

John Middlekauff is back with another episode of 3 & Out, breaking down the biggest news and storylines from around the NFL and sports world. John reacts to the Eagles making a big trade that alters their OL, are they tanking or was the deal too good to refuse? Are the 49ers THIS good or are they overachieving? Later, John dives into the latest in the college football landscape. Finally, he closes out the show answering your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. Subscribe to 3 & Out with John Middlekauff for NFL news, game reactions, quarterback analysis, coaching takes, breaking stories, and the biggest conversations in football. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest.  18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlecock, 3-and-out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Enjoying life.

That's what I'm trying to do, because the Eagles are making some headlines. We will dive into the big trade of the day. Howie Roseman, Eric DeCosta, Wheeling and Dealing. And some other stuff going on around the league. Demico Ryan's soft fires his DC, demotes them. Kyle Shanahan has some comments on Mike McDonald and their defense. We'll do some mailbag questions.

At John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those DMs. We need to subscribe to Three Now Podcast. If you subscribe and listen through Collins feed, I appreciate everyone who does. If you want to watch, we're up on Netflix. you can hit the alerts, never miss an episode as well as our YouTube page, which anything that doesn't make the cutting room floor for the pod,

throw up extra content up there as well. And let's just dive right into the big trade. Beto Corleone once famously said in The Godfather, I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. And when you first saw the headline, you go, what the hell is going on here? Howie Roseman just traded Camp Juergens to the Baltimore. Baltimore Ravens for a second round pick.

And you take a deep breath. You kind of like see what's going on. You see some of Howie's comments. And it's pretty clear that the Baltimore Ravens made him an offer that he just couldn't turn down. I don't think a week ago, hell, I don't think Monday morning after the Rams game, they had any intention of trading Cam Jergans. But the majority of players in the NFL are tradable. Hell, the majority of players in sports.

are always on the open market. Just if another team reaches out, you usually say no. Because they're never going to pay what you value the player as. But you get to a certain point, and it did in this spot, where it's like, wait, you're going to give me a second round pick for a guy who we really like, we won a Super Bowl with, who has replaced Kelsey at center, who is now playing guard. Obviously, he had been struggling by all the metrics,

which I never understand anyone arguing about PFF anymore. Like he sold it to the private equity, venture capitalist firms. We've got these people, no one has any clue who's doing this. No one I know values whatever numbers next to a player, good or bad. So everyone getting worked up after week one about Caleb Williams. It's like who gives it? Why are we arguing about this? These are nameless faces.

Collinsworth sold this business, got filthy rich. It's all a Fugazi at this point in time. The NFL subscribes to PFF. for personnel reasons, so you get groupings and get information that you don't have to like running queries. They already have it broken down. They don't give a shit about the grades.

I promise you. No scout I've ever met cares about the grades, especially now. But, you know, grades are obviously poor. The, his actual, just, if you just watch him play, it's not going well. And I just think they got to a point, like I'll give you an example.

Recently I had this real estate agent just blowing me up. And my first reaction, is like, am I getting spammed? I don't know about you, but I get a million spam calls a day and I get a million spam text a day. I get the same text about, hey, if you need your trees cut, it's like, no, I don't need my trees cut.

Stop spamming me. But it's just relentless. Maybe I just need to get a new phone number like, I guess celebrities and athletes often do. It's just too big of a pain in the ass for me. But I just want these spam calls to end. But this was actually a real guy. And he's like, hey, I have a client

who is looking to move to your strength. He wants to move to your specific street. And I'm going through and would you be interested in an off market sale? And I said, no, not really. I don't want to move. I just had a baby. I built an office here. I'm pretty content here because anywhere I'd move, it's like 7.5% interest rates.

I have no desire in the foreseeable future to move. But I'm not an idiot. Here's my price. And it's like, Jesus. I don't actually think my house is worth that. Clearly isn't. It was like 3x what I could probably get. But if you want me to move,

this is what it would take me to move and I'll be out in 12 hours. If you give me that number, I'll be fucking gone. It's the middle of football season. I'm working. I don't have time to deal with it, but I'm not an idiot. And it's pretty rare that type stuff happens.

Usually when someone completely overpays for something, they are desperate. Right? And I think that was a situation. situation here. Because the Baltimore Ravens, in my opinion, this is kind of crazy. But they're pretty desperate. They have insane expectations behind this franchise. Now Lamar is injured. They have this revolving door at center. You know, it's been, you know, I mean, they look pretty good up until he got injured. And then you go, then all of a sudden you're playing the Atlanta Falcons,

potentially without him. All of a sudden, you're two and three. You're like, Jesus. Or I guess you'd be three and two, excuse me. Uh, and then. then things can get a little weird. So you got this first time head coach. You're trying to improve any way possible and you can justify it by it's a couple years out. If you're Howie, you go, our offensive line's playing terrible. Lane just retired. Landon Dickerson's probably never going to be the same. Who knows if he's ever able to physically come back. And right now, because of our personnel, we got to have this guy playing out of position and it's a disaster. So we can get a pick that in 2022, they use a first round

pick to acquire AJ Brown, they used a second round pick to acquire Camp Jurgens. Over the course of the last, I don't know, four months, they have traded A.J. Brown for a first round pick and they have traded Cam Jurgens for a second round pick. That's pretty good return on investment. Now, like I said, I think most operations that are run by coaches would have just said no. Because of them a second round pick in a couple years, they don't think like that. But general managers who the majority of franchises are not run by, right? I'm not saying those guys don't have juice internally, but when you're paying head coach is $15 to $20 million,

like they're in complete control. We just saw, who do you think runs the show in New England with the New York Giants? I mean, these are head coached. They're making so much money. It's pretty rare for the Jason Lights and Howie Rosemans and John Snyders to have a lot of juice. Like it's not the way in San Francisco.

Calh Shannon never would have made this trade, no matter how poor Cam Juergens is playing, because he's trying to win this week. and that's what Siriani's coaching staff is. But how he has to look at it from, you know, a macro view. He has to look at the big picture. And I think this is an easy trade. This is a no-brainer trade.

This is incredible value. And at least the information I have. Like the AJ Brown situation, there was a lot of different variables with the personality, with the quarterback. He didn't want to be there anymore clearly. This situation just got like, hey, someone knocked on your front door

and offered you so much money. yeah, I'll have the moving trucks here by the end of the day. And it's pretty rare. It doesn't happen very often. But this would happen a lot around the NFL if you just started calling and asking for players and offered so much that some of these teams with general managers in charge would definitely trade some guys. There's only a handful of players in the NFL who are truly untradable.

If you think of like veteran players who are untradable, majority of them are quarterbacks. You know, the first two come to buy like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. They're untradable. You would just hang up. You wouldn't even call and ask. Someone recently asked me how these things play out. And I think at the Combine and during free agency and the draft,

the convention in Indianapolis, everyone kind of knows. So everyone's picking each other's brains. Everyone's talking to each other. But all these guys text each other constantly. So they're constantly running different ideas. And there are some situations like Joey Porter who did the hold in, then would practice, wouldn't practice. It was pretty clear that situation was getting weird.

So when you have weird situations that are evident to me and you, they're definitely evident to the GMs. These teams have been calling them. So they just took the best offer clearly from the Cowboys. But as Dan Campbell said the next day, we were very much in on that. Which I would imagine there were other teams who were also in on that that will never come out and say that.

But that's a situation like you don't need Omar Khan and Mike McCarthy to text you like, hey, would you be interested in Joey Porter? you're getting calls about that. In a situation with Camp Juergens, I doubt they're getting calls, right? It's like he wasn't available. But the Ravens who look at these situations and know, hey, the Eagles have some young players that they like.

It's already not going well. Maybe we could get them. And I would imagine when they first started talking, how he said no a couple times. What's the most powerful thing you can do in business? Say no. Because especially if you mean it, if you say no and you mean it,

if they really want it, they'll come back and they'll offer. and more. And then they got to a point where you could argue that no doesn't make sense. Now, there's a pretty big blow for Siriani, who, you know, we could be wrong, feels like he's coaching for his job. Pretty big blow for Jalen Hertz, who has not played well. Their offensive lines been in shambles. Seguan Barclay's now injured. Their running game sucks. Now is missing, you know, three of his starting offensive linemen from a month ago. One's retired. One's traded. The other one's on short-term IR. So you're going to go to this game.

in London with a bunch of young guys, right, rookie right tackle, young center, Willie Lampkin, who was undrafted free agent, I think two years ago. So it's like a lot of room, you know, Jordan Milata feels like he's Jason Peters right now, right? Just on an island by himself is this grizzled vet from Australia. And I think it adds a lot of pressure to everything that's going on. But when you run an organization, like being flexible, which is an issue, the Eagles, some cap things, they're always. kind of like pushing the can down the road, the AJ Brown,

dead cap, the June 1st. Now this situation, which is going to hit their cap last year or next year because they just extended this player. But when you could get, I still can't get over getting the return on investment for those two players in a four-month span and getting the same pick. Now we'll see the exact pick in the order. But like when the Washington commanders traded for Laramie Tunzel,

a second round pick the following year, They felt pretty good about where they were at. And then they didn't win many games. And the Houston, Texas got a top 40 pick. The L.A. Rams won the Super Bowl. And then the next year, the Detroit Lions had the six overall pick in the draft. And then they were able to use that to trade back to 12, get Jamir Gibbs. And with the extra pick from trading back, get Sam Laporta.

So you just, this is such a fickle league. Things change so fast you never know. and I don't think the Eagles are tanking. I think there's a big difference between tanking and good business. And to me, this is good business. And to me with the Ravens, like, this is pressure, this is desperation. This is which they should feel. You have Lamar Jackson in his prime, right?

Who is, like, I know some people are going to push back. He's just a, when he's healthy, a much better player than Jalen Hurts. I never understand this. Like the Jalen argument. It's like, look at his resume. Look how well he played in the Super Bowl. Okay, great. That was a couple years ago.

But currently he's playing bad. Last year at the end of the season, he played bad. You can be a great guy and have moments where you're a complete asshole. I have them all the time. Not sleeping much. Kids awake. You're a little edgy. And you say things you regret.

That doesn't mean that that moment defines you. But like Patrick Mahomes resume is all-time greatness. It's on the short list of the most accomplished players in league history. Newsflash, 2025. He didn't play that well. You know, why can't we ever say that? Right? It's like Jalen currently, I see these people on the internet going back and forth.

He's not playing that well. It doesn't mean he hasn't been a good player. And it doesn't mean he can't be a good player again. But right now, he is a liability for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's not even arguable. you know, I never quite understand that. Jared Goff was horrendous toward the end with the Detroit Lions

or I mean, excuse me, the L.A. Rams, that's a big reason they wanted out from him. Early on with the Lions didn't look good. Over the last couple of years, a stat speak for himself. He's been one of the most productive players in the league. Things have been flow. Like most guys aren't Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

Like every year you know what you're getting. The overwhelming, majority of players, even awesome players, can have a down year for a lot of different variables. It might not all be their fault. But sometimes, maybe it is, maybe they're just playing poorly, maybe they're pressing. We're all human beings. Like, just look at your life. You've probably had better months than others. You've probably had more productive times than others. And I think the Baltimore Ravens, like this weird situation, big picture with Lamar and his contract, you know, before Lebron, I don't know why I keep calling LeBron,

Lamar hurt his ankle. He was bowling. But now it's like, how long is it going to be out? Are we going to be able to protect Snoop Huntley if he has to play a couple games? We have this young coaching staff. My owner was already kind of edgy last year. I got to protect my job.

Like, I'm not Ozzie Newsom here. I'm not a complete made man. I don't have a Super Bowl as a general manager on my resume. Actually, Ozzie had two. So I just think these situations like you get desperate times. And that's why. I would imagine the Ravens who sniffed around a couple different players throughout the league. But this was a guy that, because he knows, like,

how he's probably more willing to listen than some other organizations would, where that coach might have more juice. Because I think if it was flip-flopped and Siriani was in charge and how he was essentially working from him, I doubt this deal happens. Why does Siriani care about a second round pick in 2008? What percent chance prediction market, Polymarket, would you say Nick Siriani is the head coach in the 2008 draft for the Philadelphia Eagles?

As we sit here right now, it'd probably be under 50%. And I wouldn't even blame him. I would probably say no too, because hopefully we get a guy back, we can move him back to center, like kind of mix and match this thing. But offensive lines, one, there's a chemistry aspect.

I saw someone posted the pick of their offensive line when they won the Super Bowl a couple years ago of like that Michael Scott quote of, I wish we knew we were in the good times when we were actually in the good times. And you kind of never know until it's too late. And then you look back, it's like those were the good times.

Like you might be in the best days of your life currently and you'll look back in 5, 10, 20, 30 years and you go, that was the best days of my life. But you never actually know it. And I think sometimes when, you're in it, especially in an industry like football, you, because you're just, you know, think about the way coaches are interviewed after a big win as a player,

but specifically coaches, you see this a lot in college. I guess NFL coaches typically aren't interviewed after a win on the field like college coaches. But like they're, by the third question, they already go, hey, we got to look forward to our next opponent. It's going to be a really hard game. They're already saying that on the field of the game they won. I saw Nick Saban had a quote like, you know, by the end,

winning wasn't as fun. It was almost a relief. And losing would absolutely cripple you. And I think you see a lot of coaches say that like, you know, winning for a split second is enjoyable, but it's also the like relief of not losing. It's not necessarily a fun experience. The fun is just avoiding the loss because you know the loss

that feel that you have in your body is, way worse than the positive feel of the win. And I think that's part of getting older and having experience of just trying to avoid negative things. And in football, it's a binary outcome, right? It's black or white. There's no like, oh, it's a great effort. You know, it was good.

But you lost by 10 points. But we had all these positives. That's not how people think. And I think the Ravens feel that. And I also think they look around, they go, you got Aaron Rogers and McCarthy screaming at each other on the field. You got, the Bengals is just weird. Like, I was high on them.

I still feel pretty good because I think their defense is good. But now Jamar Chase, after that face mask has, you know, is concussed. You know, Burrow, it's like he gets annoying at as Joe Montana, and he can play like that, but he also makes awful mistakes. It's like, is he going to be able to stay healthy the whole season? Like, I don't know, the Browns are three and one, but I think we'd all agree, like, You bet on the Browns win in 10 games?

Probably not. So it's like, we got to win this division. And it's on me, you know, because I would say the Ravens a lot like the Eagles, like DeCosta's the boss. And I do wonder if this shows that he feels a little pressure. They're like, we need to win. We need to win now. There's no like, let's build this thing up for the future.

Like we're trying to win now. We got rid of John Harbaugh to try to get this new guy in to take us to the next level. This wasn't one of those situations like Dan Campbell coming to the Lions. Tear it down to the studs. Get us a base of people to work with for the next five years. For the Ravens, like, this is about now. And I would say next year as well, but like trying to maximize the situation with Lamar Jackson,

who I was pretty high on him before he gets his ankle injury. And now, you know, I would say a little concerning. but when you look at the Ravens this week, we talked about this yesterday. They played the Atlanta Falcons coming up who are clearly one of the hottest teams in the league. They are like your buddy on GLP once. One day he's fat, two months later.

It's like, God, where is that jawline come from? It's like, oh, it's the jab. But then they play at Cleveland, which is obviously always a tough place to play because division rivalries. Cleveland always, you know, can sneak up on some of these teams within their division, especially at home. Then they get the Bengals, then they get the bills, then they get the Jags. I do think that DeCosta fueling the heat a little bit.

And I think if you're an Eagles fan, it's like, yeah, this is why Howie's known as one of the best wheelers and dealers in the league. But part of being a good wheeler and dealer, you do need a little luck. You know, part of being a good wheeler and dealer is you need situations to take advantage of. like how he can't do a deal without someone else making a mistake. Like when he traded for A.J. Brown. Why was A.J. Brown available? Well, I'll tell you why. Because the owner is cheap.

And when Vrable stormed out of the office on that draft night, like Mike Vrable wasn't on board. AJ Brown shouldn't have been available. But he was. And they traded the 17th pick for him. Right? So like you shouldn't be able to get a, I would say, you know, he's not bad.

He's 27 years old. a guy with some injury history, who is currently playing poorly. Now, you could justify it. That's not his position. You move back to center. But just a second round pick. I don't know how many teams in the NFL

if I said, hey, you need a center, would have done this deal. I would imagine the number would be extremely small, if not only one. So I give Howie a lot of credit, but he's also taken advantage of some of these just crazy situations. And, yeah, to me,

good deal for the Eagles and, you know, it'd be a good deal in the short term for the Ravens if he's healthy, it can play well. But I think that's a major, major question mark. I need to tell you about this new sports trading app called Polly Market. It's the best way to trade in sports. In the past, if you wanted some action on the game, you'd put some money in.

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U.S. and Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free IHare Radio app. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus. Now with full video.

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and this goes to DeCosta, people like kind of start freaking out. I mean, the Texans are 0 and 4. And I think this feels a little shittier even though they went 12 and 5 last year is because they also started 0 and 3. So you feel like what is going on? Why can't we start fast?

But most importantly, their defense has been atrocious relative to what it was. It was a dominant defense. It was for a first-time fantasy player, I drafted them way too high. If I could do that one over, I would not have picked the Houston, Texas. But any time you had in a situation

where a guy catches 17 passes and essentially has a walk-off touchdown after he's caught, pass after pass after pass. And this isn't some random guy. This isn't like the seventh man on the wizards going for 50. You're like, who is this guy?

No, this is the best player on their team. And Domeco today demoted the defensive coordinator of Matt Burke, who was defense coordinator last year, and elevated himself. And I was reading his quotes, he doesn't sound thrilled to do this. Like, this doesn't feel like a situation

that, like, yeah, I need to do this because I want, want to do this. I want to be calling plays. I think it's because we're completely desperate. And anytime you make these moves at a desperation, right around now is when you see some coordinators get fired, coordinators get demoted. You've seen it happen in college. So Cal demoted a coordinator in the middle of the game. Obviously, Colorado State fired a coordinator in the middle of the game. You start freaking out. But typically when things aren't working, they don't all of a sudden just start working. So I don't know exactly

what's going all with the Houston Texans. Clearly Lasseter, who played really well last year, is not playing as well. And when typically, I would say, when you have a lockdown elite corner, you just constantly throw to the other side. And the other guys, if they're not playing at an elite level in a league full of high-end wide receivers and quarterbacks, you're going to get exposed. In a league where it is much more difficult to take out the wide. receivers physically, mug them with physicality because they throw penalties. You got to have just cover guys. And most teams don't have that many cover guys.

And it felt like the Houston Texans DBs were incredible. Well, now you just look, Petrie and Lasseter were getting smoked. So it's like, yeah, Will Anderson looks like a monster. Their front still feels pretty solid, but they're getting slice and dice in the air, which is crazy. It didn't feel like that last year. And I just don't know really what D'Amico is going to be able. able to do. You know, I think some people, I heard Albert Breer talk about and kind of allude to

the fact of like, anytime your offense, you know, sneaky has some shorter drives in the second half, your defense start getting worn down. You know, the Texans are a defense that's kind of predicated more on speed. You kind of lose some of that as you get, I don't know, exhausted. And a lot of different factors in here, but not a great sign. As someone that thought for the second straight year in a row, like, Texas is not. number one seat. They'll win this week because they're playing the Titans. I saw this interesting quote.

The 49ers were playing Seattle. And that game was actually, well, that game was always going to be in the afternoon, but the Bears Packers game got flex to the morning. You know, the Bears Packers, I would say, non-playoff games last year, all three of their games were top five games of the year. I guess one of them was a playoff game.

I guess we could include playoff games as well. I would say they were three of the top five games of the year. They were incredible television. But it does feel like the Bears are going to be the living shit out of them. And I don't blame Fox for flexing that game because that could be one of those like 30 to tens where it's just kind of tough watch like the Jets game. It's just going to be kind of boring. And they just bleed them out.

I think Packers are in major trouble. And historically, Kyle's been in some trouble against Mike McDonald. And he was talking, one, he was asked like, this offseason, do you spend some time going to the lab? And he's like, well, you know, you spend in the offseason always on your divisional opponents. That's true. You know, I think you spend time on the teams that you're going to play twice no matter what, especially when you have, you know, teams that have given you trouble.

But I would guess that Kyle spent a little bit more time specifically on some offseason projects on trying to figure out Seattle's defense. But I thought one thing that he said, like trying to describe and explain what he sees when he watches them on tape, he called them overachievers. I was like, what a compliment. I remember when Kobe scored 60 against the Utah Jazz on his final night, which was an incredible night, by the way. I remember I was living in Emoryville in the Bay Area at the time,

and the Warriors were going for 73 wins in Kobe's last game. And the Warriors game felt like an afterthought. Kobe game, that was one of the. the coolest. And I hate the Lakers. That was pretty badass. He was just shooting every time. He was exhausted. But after he gave the mic, and I remember I wrote it down on my phone, he said, I want to be remembered as a talented overachiever. And whenever you can get, because clearly they are loaded with high-end talent, but essentially what Kyle's saying is like, I don't think it's possible to play much more, like with more effort than these guys

play. It's one of Max Crosby's defining traits, right? Honestly, it's probably his most defining trait. If you talk to people in the league, offensive coaches, scouts, there's no one in the league that plays harder. And Max isn't nearly the, like, I would say the most talented defensive linemen, but there is no one in the league that plays harder. And if your effort, which if your effort's going to be elite, the only way that's possible is you got to be in great shape. Jimmy Johnson, fatigue makes cowards of us all. I don't care who you are in, in football, in any sport. If you're not in good shape, you're going to get tired and not play as well. And in football where violence and physicality and contact matters,

you're going to get less tough because you're exhausted huffing and puffing. But go to a hardcore workout, right? If you're a little out of shape and you go to some CrossFit thing, you know, you're 20 minutes in, you're huffing and puffing and puking in the corner. I don't care if you're Chuck Lydell. Like you're not much, you know, nothing you can really do. And I do think the one thing Mike McDonald, who, listen, they gave enough some points.

Obviously, they got smoked by Marietta. and then I thought it was pretty hollow some of those stats by Justin Herbert in the second half but there is no disputing the effort and the physicality in which this team plays with is pretty special. And I think that's a defining attribute of any good team. Like when you think of a lot of the Patriot teams

over the course of the Belichick Brady Dynasty, I feel like they were all overachievers. I'd say Tom is one of the greatest overachievers in the history of sports. He might be number one. When you think who's the great, greatest overachiever in the history of the NFL. I think it's the greatest player.

I think it's Tom Brady. You could argue Tiger Woods is an overachiever. I think overachieving is a quality that great players have. And sometimes when you're given great physical attributes, you can become one of the best players of all time. Right? But like Randy Moss, like sometimes he tried, sometimes he didn't. And then when he got locked in, it was like, oh, he got with the Patriots,

24 touchdown. like unstoppable because it's kind of a mindset. It's kind of what the chiefs have got back to this year. It's like, did we run out of gas and we start feeling ourselves a little bit? What do they play like right now? A team with a chip on their shoulder. They're playing like a team that has never won a championship. They're playing with more energy and effort than when you watch the bills

who are trying to get there, at least based on the last couple of weeks. So I just thought that was a good line. And I'm fascinated to watch this game. because the one thing about Seattle is it's hard to once see what happened at the end of last year. Now, I get the 49ers had injuries, but they just absolutely demolished them. And the offense, which Brock Purdy's the only quarterback in the league that hasn't been sacked. And honestly, it doesn't feel like he's really been that close. The 49ers offensive line, Trent Williams, even at his age, is still an excellent player.

but the other four guys are always questioning. Like, how good are these guys? And this is a scheme thing. That the Shanahan mindset is because I'm not looking to move you off a spot, usually. I'm more positionally blocking you. So they have looked for offensive linemen historically in this scheme

that are more athletically based than power-based. So if I can get you running outside zone either way, the play action stuff, as long as you can keep your body in front of them, I don't need you to be Larry Allen. And that's where when the offense works, the offensive line looks like you've got a bunch of pro bowlers. Even though you start looking individually at the people,

you're like, yeah, they're not as good. I remember Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning had some random guys over the years with Howard Mud playing offensive line for him because there was a lot of play action, boots, waggles, shit works. You know? But when you just like, hey, I'm down 10, I'm down 20,

and dropping back every play, you hold on that ball a little bit. Most of those individual players aren't going to be able to hold up against the better players. And that's what makes this matchup like the 49ers center guard, guard, center guard, if they get into one-on-one situations when Brock Purdy is down a couple touchdowns, not going to be able to block Leonard Williams. But if they can not and dictate the terms and keep the game close

or have a lead and dictate the terms running the ball, you can control and neutralize those players, which is extremely key. Because the last two times they played, they were just down and they were getting there. I mean, the playoff game was a massacre. But even the final game of the season, I think the final score was 13 to 3,

maybe it finished 23. It felt like it was 100 to nothing. They got demolished. So it's just a great game. And the best part about this is like, elite O.C., elite DC, who just happened to be the head coaches. Just a great chess match.

It's going to be awesome about the next Bears Vikings game. I want to see Ben Johnson against Flores. I want to see that again in the dome in a controlled environment. So Aaron Rogers just wouldn't take the bite. He's like me and McCarthy talked about it, which I said this when the incident happened on Thursday night football. It's like old married couples, like their interactions are. probably a little different than most. I think there's probably some truth to us.

It's not as big a deal as we all reacted to, partly because we've never seen anything quite like that. I felt like Aaron's tantrum went up a level because I think he's comfortable with Mike and I just think it's pretty rare. I mean, I don't ever remember seeing it. I'm sure it's happened. We haven't seen it.

Maybe people are covering in their mouth. A coach calling the guy the asshole. Now, I think in a personnel meeting, in talking about players, you say that word all the time. But just standing there when Aaron's acting like a child, like my little guy throwing a tantrum because I took away his toy, it's just a natural word that flows out of your mouth because you've been around him forever. Like, do I think McCarthy would have said that to a quarterback doing the same thing who's in year one with Mike? Probably not. but you're more inclined to say that because of the long history

and all the negative things that you've been around and dealt with this guy because he can be kind of moody, which I'll defend him. I can be too. Most people I know can. It kind of comes with the territory. Now, at quarterback, you'd like a little bit more steady, but at this point in time, at 42 years old, I think Aaron turns 43 in December. Like his patience level and his willingness

to the other thing is when you're on, like this whole 18 for Aaron, this is it. So I do wonder if the urgency and his willingness to like try to hide things, like his urgency is at an all time high and his willingness to pretend or hide anything is completely gone. Like 10 years ago, is Aaron hopping up and down on this island?

Probably not. Or in the middle of the field. But at this point in time, like, if you told me that happens again, I would believe you. I didn't see a mock draft today that the first quarterback off the board was C.J. Carr, and I think it was the fifth or sixth pick. I try to tell everybody. We need to pump the brakes. To just assume that quarterbacks are going to, like four quarterbacks are going to go in the top five, you have to let it play out. No position in the draft ebbs and flows and changes more like a stock market than quarterback.

because all the other positions, if Jeremiah Smith would have sat out the season instead of doing what he's doing, which is dominating. But let's say Jeremiah Smith would have walked into Ryan Day's office in mid-August, said, coach, I just don't want to get injured.

I don't want to go class. I'm sitting out the year. Would have been a big headline, big story, but I promise you this. I don't think anything would happen to a draft stock. He would have been a lockdown. top five pick. If Colin Simmons or the corner from Notre Dame, if those guys had played and played bad, they'd still probably go 18, 22, 25. When you're a quarterback and you play poorly,

your stock plummets. When you just play okay, people start nitpicking you. Like, let's go back and look. Caleb Williams was just an elite talent. He would go number one if he was in this draft. Jaden Daniels went to Jaden Daniels won the Heisman. Michael Pennix went eight. Michael Pennix dominated the Pac-12 and led Washington to the national championship. Bo Nix was like shattering passing records at Oregon.

So like to just think that these guys just because they're names and they have some physical characteristics, well, sellers can run and this guy can throw it. It's like, okay, play well. because if you do not play well, Carson Beck, I thought the guy was being undrafted free agent. Then what happens?

Played well at Miami, actually played even better in the playoffs. What happened? His stock went from being a seventh round undrafted free agent to a third rounder. So things can change like that. It's pretty rare. Like even Ty Simpson, that's a pretty polarizing guy.

And I think most people around the league would be like, I wouldn't be that comfortable doing that. And we'll see if that plays out and plays well for him. But even Ty Simpson's one year, they didn't go to the playoffs. they won a playoff game on the road. Speaking of Bama, I hope that game doesn't get canceled. I was really looking forward to watching that.

It really was. That would really piss me off. I don't even know. Honestly, beside the headline, I didn't really read much. They canceled or postpone the game. You played on Sunday? I don't even know what you do. That's a major problem.

I'd play it Friday. I'll tell you, just not want that postponed. ABC, ESPN, Disney. That thing is going to get some eyeballs. The other thing that's happening in college football is, you know, I saw that next week they have multiple 9 a.m. games with some big SEC games. That, you know, historically in that time slot,

Falk, part of Big Noon kickoff, that was a throwaway spot for games. So Fox, in the Big Ten deal, it's like, we're going to do major games here. And it's worked well for him because they're competition. hasn't been great in that time slot. And next week is Indiana, Ohio State, which is, I mean, probably the best game

of the regular season on the slate. Now that Michigan sucks. Michigan, Ohio State, in theory, is your biggest game if they're both good, but Michigan sucks. And if the game is in Oregon, you can't play a 9 a.m. kickoff game. So it's like, it's got to be one

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Download the free IHard Radio app today. This doesn't have to be a mailback question, but could you discuss something on the pod? Do you think it's a tad bit sexist that all the criticism Carly Ursay Gordon is getting for being on the sideline? If she was a man, would people be throwing these hot takes about she needs to stay in her lane? I respect the fact that she is trying to learn the business. She isn't play calling. She has taken notes and asking questions. Shouldn't everyone want an owner this engaged rather than just sitting in the box?

I actually think it's the opposite. I think she has gotten a complete pass relative to what a dude would get. If Stan Cronky or Jed York, who's currently suspended, or Jerry Jones or Jeffrey Lurie was doing the same, they would get eviscerated. If there was a pre-game video

of one of the prominent owners, a dude, which I guess they all are, going through the place, the local radio, if that happened in Philadelphia with Jeffrey Lurie or Bob Kraft in Boston or John Mara in New York, they would, every human would shit on that. They would get, it would be embarrassing, honestly. I actually think she gets a pretty big pass. It's like, okay, want to learn the business? Well, that's what Monday through Saturdays for.

Like what... It's like, well, I want to be a successful, well, I've seen you be a successful organization when your dad was in charge. And Bill Pollyan and Tony Dungey and Peyton Manning ran the thing. Like, what are you going to tell them? They should run a different route on a different play? Because none of the owners are the playbook. They don't give a shit. It's the GM and coach's job to figure that out.

You're never going to understand it, even if you try. So I don't even, I do think it's a little, I don't even know how to quite describe it. Like, for show, a little look at me. How could it not be a little look at me? Literally every other owner. I would say in all of sports does the same thing. In football, they sit in the box.

In basketball, they sit somewhere near the sideline. Mark Cuban used to get ripped to shreds by people making fun of them, sitting on the bench and acting like a coach. So I would say it's the opposite. I think her being a woman, if it was Jim Ursay's son, Bill, if it was Bill Ursay, who is now taken over the Indianapolis Colts doing that,

every human being alive would call him a clown. But dressed up with the headset, I mean, give me a break. That's my take. Give me a break. Learning the business, hasn't she been around the business her entire life? What would she, learning? I don't know.

I think it's pretty stupid. If the Eagles were to continue to have a disastrous season and Mr. Lurie and Howie move on from Siriani, who could you see being a fit for the next head coach? Could you potentially see Gruden returning to a coaching spot because he's already been there? Long time, he coached in the late 90s. Is it better to go hot shot coordinator

or someone who has head coaching experience? Next question I got. which is going to lead me into the name that someone brought up to me. If the Eagles opens up, I'd probably monitor what the Colts do with Shane Steichen and maybe hire him. There is history there and he can call the plays. The Eagles are 100% calling it or hiring an offensive coordinator. And when I say offensive coordinator, a head coach that can be the offensive coordinator.

That's what they did with Andy Reid, it's what they did with Chip Kelly, it's what they did with Doug Peterson. It's in theory what they did with Nick Siriani. they are an offensive oriented organization when it comes to head coaches. That's their history. That's how he's history. And I do think that's the right thing to do. Because even if it's like, well, go get Mike Tomlin.

Well, let's say Mike Tomlin got the best OC known to man. Well, if that guy has success in a year or two, he's gone. And you're just in the same situation you were with Sirion. So before someone brought up the name, Shane Stike, and to me and you bring it up in your question, I just started thinking like, would Howie hire, a Declan Doyle, Davis Webb,

like that type name, I'm not saying those individuals, but like, who are the Liam Collins? Who are the Kyle Shanhan, Hans-McVease right now coordinating?

Who's the next Ben Johnson? I'd argue as we sit here today does not exist. There are definitely some defensive guys, but they're not going to hire defense. So you go, well, who are the offensive guys? I think I brought this up the other day.

I know how he's pretty close with Sark. Now, has a job where he's the boss, he's making a ton of money. It's basically like an NFL franchise of Texas, but maybe he's tired of the NIL. Now, I'm not even saying he would, that would be something that how he would want to hire. It's a pretty big transition, Sark's coach.

But to me, I just thought of that because, like, he makes more, his work with Matt Ryan, understands quarterbacks, understands offense. You just, they'll have unlimited money to hire a Vic Fangio type, keep Vic there, whatever. because I just didn't see that guy in the NFL. But if Shane Steichen was available, who Howie already knows, Jeffrey Lurie already knows,

also Jalen Hertz could be a quarterback next year as you kind of transition to the new roster. So I don't know if Ursae has figured out based on all of her research on the sideline if Shane Steichen is worthy given a contract extension to or not, but I would say that that name would definitely be near the top of the list if he was available. the more I think about it,

Harley Ursi gets an absolute, I mean, an enormous pass. I don't think there would be a podcast in America that talks about football, a show in America that talks about football, who wouldn't destroy the owner all the time, especially in a pretty big, like if he was an owner for a big franchise,

standing on the sideline with a headset, looking overplays. And I understand, it's like, well, the, Chris Ballard and Shakespeare, Shane Sike and says it's awesome. No shit. She signs their checks. And I don't blame her. She can do whatever she wants. It's her team. She's a boss.

Like, I don't resent her power by any means. She can do whatever he wants or she wants. But let's not act like literally no one does that. I mean, nobody does that. It's a little theatrical, I think. So it's a little, I mean, it's, it's kind of crazy. I mean, I truly believe that. What if James Dolan was.

just doing something like that. What if, you know, George Steinbrenner back in the day was like, I'm just going to sit in the dugout. Uh, my man. There have been several episodes when you've acknowledged with gratitude and praise how getting hooked up with Colin was a big driver in your exposure and listener of growth. Curious of Colin has similar partnership agreements with you and other individuals he brings in to the family. Is it like Dr. Dre scenario where he discovered and produced M&M Snoop 50 and so on. And he gets a piece of your revenues, ongoing success. And if so, who are Dre Squad?

Do you liking yourself? I mean, that's... I wouldn't... Snoop Doggy style is... I remember I bought that. I bought the tape and then I bought the CD. One time I left it in my dad's truck and I went to look for it.

And I think he had thrown it out the window. Some fucking bangers on Doggy's... style. I think it's pretty simple on this one. Most human beings, you know, obviously someone like Colin or Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. These are public figures. But I would imagine most of you listening unless you are, you know, run your own shop and own your own business. And even then, you need someone, especially when you're younger, to take a chance on you, to help you out, to put you in the right direction, to give you an opportunity. So, yeah, I mean, I've been partners with them for a long time.

Got a good deal going. I would say mine's not like a record deal in the sense of like, if they just disappeared, they'd own me for life or one of those things. That's not the way it is. But, yeah, it's lucrative for all parties involved. There's no doubt about that. But I got very lucky back to when he started me, When I got into radio, he started having me on his ESPN show.

And then it just grew from there. But I literally don't know a human in my life, who I would say is having any sort of success that didn't in their 20s or early 30s meet someone to help catapult them to wherever they wanted to go. Like, it's very, very difficult to do things by yourself. I mean, it's borderline impossible, I would say. I was thinking about this yesterday,

like, if you do domino or butterfly effect and then the dominoes that happened for your life, like in coaching, because I was thinking about like, you know, Belichick and the run that we witnessed with Brady and Tom. But like,

what if Bill Parcells and Belichick never linked up? And Belichick never became the defensive coordinator for a team that had the greatest defensive player of all time and was like beating Joe Montana. But instead, Bill's defensive coordinator opportunity was with some other random coach that no one even remembers today. Like where his life goes. You know, or Nick Saban, who had worked with Belichick's dad, who got hired by Belichick.

And then that kind of put him on the map as defensive coordinator. And then he got these college jobs or even when he told the story about, you know, this guy taking a chance on me because I had already worked there. I think we all fall under that. Obviously, the best cases are Dr. Dre discovering M&M. You know, or Clive Davis going to a club and here in early 1980s and here in Whitney Houston. I mean, those, I think Colin, the way he was discovered

to get his job from Portland to ESPN is one of the executives. They were looking to fill, was it Cornheiser or Dan Patrick's spot, was in the area driving through Oregon, and heard Colin. I'm pretty sure that's the story. I was like, who the hell is this guy? And obviously the rest is history. So I would say I'm more like,

I'd be like exhibit. I used to like exhibit. I wonder what happened to exhibit. I was almost a MTV Chris, but he did, what was the car show he did? Oh, Pint My Ride. It's funny of the times we live in sometimes. Pint My Ride was sweet.

It was actually a cool show. I enjoyed it way too much, actually. MTV Cribs was really ahead of its time. I feel like now, it's pretty crazy now. You see these stories over the last couple of years of these guys, because clearly, like, if you're in the NFL, it's like, C.D. Lamb's house was robbed

when he was playing the Bengals on Monday football. Or Joe Burroughs' house was robbed. When he was playing the Rams, it's like pretty clear when you're gone. If I were one of these guys, especially living in a big ass pad, if I was a quarterback, I think I'd, away games, I think we might go armed guards.

Talk about ski masks a lot, but why is no one talking about the ski mask taking place with the chargers? Harbaugh is an absolute cringe person. He runs out on the field like he can still play and wears wide receiver gloves to help Herbert warm up. And absolutely overly glazes Herbert to the point where it's getting weird. Go Broncos.

It does feel like he's falling apart a little bit mentally. Like when you hear him talk, I saw someone comparing his interviews to like Sleepy Joe in the latter couple years of Biden when there wasn't much up there. If you watch Jim now in some of these press conferences,

some of these interviews, and I've always been a big Jim Harbaugh supporter, but I mean, there is a chance he's just washed and it's over. I do have to acknowledge that. And then you got McDaniel, weird deal with those two. I don't know how high on the horse the Broncos can get, though.

You guys, season hasn't exactly looked like the 1997 John Elway led squad. So let's pump the brakes a little bit there, but I hear you. The scheme asked though for Harbaugh, Harbaugh delivered. Got there, they were in shambles. Brandon Staley got fired on a night. I think the Raiders beat him like 60 to 7 on Thursday night football. Got fired the next day. So did the Telesco.

Harbaugh came in next year they were in the playoffs. Last year, in the playoffs. He's been pretty valuable to the Chargers to make them respectable again. But this year, yeah, it's kind of a disaster. Hard to be an all-Skeem-ass team, though, like Shane Beamer was South Carolina. I think there are less than like 10 or 12 teams spending more an NIL than them. They're spending like over $30 million on their roster. It's like, I'm not getting the return on investment here, buddy.

Only the dolphins are spending less than the chargers. So, like, on this current team of actual cash on the team, let's not ask like Dean Spanos's, you know, Mark Walter with the Dodgers here. But I hear what you're saying. Big Packer fan. I feel like my boys are circling the drain. Kind of an agreement there.

They take on the Bears this weekend and the different. between Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur will be on full display. How many wins can the Packers have and still fire LaFleur? I'm worried that they would eke out eight or nine this year and give him another shot. They need to rip the Band-Aid off. Well, let's go to the old Packers schedule. So we got the Bears. I think this thing could get weird and ugly.

And I think the best case scenario if you're a Packer fan and you want him, him gone. These two bear games, they play the Bears Christmas on Netflix. You want to get absolutely embarrassed by Ben Johnson. Because like you can lose the Cowboys or the Panthers or the pay, all these other teams. When the Bears, your rival, have hired this new coach, this new hot shot, and he starts kicking your ass. So last year, as he got a good team, they beat you two out of three times once in the playoffs. And the playoff game would be like, well, we were missing a bunch of guys. they had the lead. It's like, Matt, you were in full control.

So to me, you'd want to lose these games by a combined like 50 points. As much as this would suck, you'd want the bears to beat you at Lambeau like 40 to 7. Absolutely destroy you. And then play the Cowboys and lose again. Like, just can't stop anybody. The Cowboys, the Lions, the Panthers, at the Patriots, Flores and the Vikings, at the Rams. bills at the Bears.

I don't think they're winning eight games the way they've been playing. I would say this could have five. I'd say five and 12. Okay, two more. If the Colts missed the playoffs again, and this year in the clean house, do you think Howie would hire Shane Steichen as the head coach? He could offer Stuyken the O.C.

With Tomlin or McDermott as the head coach. But again, then you lose Stuyken. Have the years with the Colts tarnish Stuyken's reputation, or would Howie and the Eagles fans accept him back? I think Shane Sikin, if they're fired again, depending on how she thinks after looking at the plays in the pregame, Stofansky is a good example of, you know, he immediately got hired.

And maybe I'm wrong. I view Stikin more highly than Kevin Stifansky. like if you told me I'm a GM, they're both available, I would hire Steichen over Stafansky. Now, maybe after I did the vetting process and talked to a bunch of people and reached out, maybe I would be swayed the other way. But my gut sitting here, following football,

watching those guys coach forever, I feel like I would pick Shane Steichen. Now, I'll say this about Stifansky's doing a pretty good job after the last two games. We'll see how it plays out moving forward. But Shane Stuyken would 100% get head coaching interviews. And depending on the openings,

you're telling me if they fired Todd Bowles that Jason Light wouldn't be interested to get an offensive coordinator with Baker Mayfield and try to resurrect his career. You're telling me if Dan Quinn's fired and they want a lean offense instead of going like a Mike Tomlin, right, because they want an offensive guy with Jaden,

they wouldn't be interested after kind of cycling through a couple offensive coordinators. So I think the one powerful thing that Stuyiken's going to have on the open market, and this is what Stafansky has, like, I call the offense. I guess Stavansky technically does the Tommy Reese does. So Stikin would have that more than Stifansky. Like, offense is my baby. So it depends how many openings there are.

There have been a ton the last two years, so there might not be like seven. There might just be a couple. I think it's pretty clear Washington is Dan Quinn's in trouble. I'd say Todd Bowles, who's gone. I'd say Siriani and LaFleur, those places have a chance to get really, really weird. They already are weird. They can get really weird. The Jets are always a possibility, but I'd have a hard time touching that thing.

Unless they have the number one pick and one of these guys really established themselves. But I don't think Shane Stuyko will be an offensive coordinator next year. I think he'd be a head coach if he got fired. It also, like, I keep saying this. Mike Tomlin be the number one pick for people. Who's to say Mike Tomlin wants to come back? What if Mike Tomlin just stays, you know, in the media playing Minecraft for a couple years? There's no guarantee that he's just thrown his name back in the ring.

He might, and if he does, then he'll get hired immediately. But I don't know. I mean, I don't feel, I don't lean one way or the other. My guess is he does? Like, Sean McDermott is one guy that wants back in. Sean McDermott is going to be interviewing. Sean McDermott wants to be a coach in 2007. And my guess is he will be.

Because again, the competition, who he's going up against, look at last year. Like the Cardinals ended up with Michael Flore. Big Bill's fan. I've been underwhelmed by our secondary. Super happy with the D-Line. I have faith in Leonard. Question.

Is there any cornerbacks that could be available to grab at the trade deadline, or do we have to deal with this for this upcoming year until we improve in the offseason? Well, typically, I mean, a big-time corner, Jalen Ray, he was traded, it costs two ones. Obviously, Porter Jr. was just traded. It costs a second round pick.

So like a high-priced elite corner, they're not often on the market. And if they are, it's really, really expensive. There are always like mid-tier guys, you know, what I would consider like fifth, six, seventh rounders. But like a plug-and-play high-end corner being on the market, very, very unlikely. Because if you look at the top, the bad teams,

so the teams that in theory would trade some people, like the Titans. I mean, are the Texans, would they trade Lasseter? Maybe they would. The Chargers, their secondary looks terrible. Commanders, the Packers. I mean, none of these teams have any DBs that you would want. So typically, when you think about the guys that get traded,

during the deadline for like normal trades, right? Wide receivers often. Maybe a pat, like, Pahlio Max name is a name. Like, who would you even want on the Titans? Commander, like Terry McLaurin, would they be interested in, like, could you get like a two and a three for them?

Could the Packers punt? What do they really have to punt on? Like Tampa, what, Chris Godwin is a name. But none of these teams to me that are going to be selling, have high-end corners. So you drafted the Kentucky kid a couple years ago in the first round. Yeah, your second year is going to be kind of average. Your D-line's got to be sweet.

To me, it comes out of the offense. Your offense has to dominate. Like, if the bills are going to win the Super Bowl, they need to have the best offense in the league. They need to have the most explosive offense in the league. In the biggest games, they've got to dominate offensively. They're just never going to be that high end of a defense. These don't have the personnel.

But I like just, Jim Leonard. I've always enjoyed him. And it's, I mean, your downfall ultimately last year was Josh missed a couple of plays. You know, he had that devastating fumble at the end of the half. He missed that deep post at the end of the game. Like, you're going to win or lose because of him. And a timely pick, a timely force fumble. But your defense is never going to be to me like Seattle last year or the Ravens a couple years ago. That's not, but if Josh is humming, it's like, yeah, we got a Nicola Yolkich. Good luck and stopping us. And if he's on, it's going to be very, very tough to be.

That, to me, is kind of the mentality for the Bills, which is why when they're on, it's really fun to watch. They're a very enjoyable team, but also can be a flawed team because it's hard to play perfect football in January, especially in the weather. But I was a Bills fan. We just, just got a little off kilter, I'd say, the last couple games. but I'd be pretty confident that he gets it back rolling. The volume. This is an I-Heart podcast.

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