The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - The emergence of Sam Darnold, Patriots HR with Mike Vrabel, Mailbag

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Former NFL scout John Middlekauff dives into the emergence of Sam Darnold with the Seahawks and how the Vikings made a huge mistake by letting him leave after last season. Next, John discusses the mistake that the Titans made by firing Mike Vrabel and how lucky the Patriots got by him being available and hiring him. Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest.  All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet Use promo code “3ANDOUT20” on https://nicokick.com/zone for 20% off at checkout! Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Turn someday into right now with Body by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit.

Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. I heart radio. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast Deeply Well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing, John Middlecough, three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well out there in the real world, enjoying life. And we'll talk a little football today because Sam Darnold's in the Super Bowl, Mike Vrable's in the Super Bowl, both. these guys were kicked to the curb, kept their head up, and now our AFC and NFC champions. The Eagles are looking for an offensive coordinator. We got the dad diaries. I learned a little lesson about these little books you read children. They're not for you. They're for them.

And we'll do a little mailbag. At John Middlecock. At John Middlecough is the Instagram, firing those DMs. Get your questions answered here on the show. I'm going to do a massive mailbag for the next couple days. So fire in those DMs. in the next 24 hours, and I will read, get your questions involved here this week. So again, at John Middlecock, firing those DMs, questions answered here on the show. Other than that, you guys know the drill. We're on Netflix, so go check that out. Make sure you hit the little subscribe button on Netflix.

You can never miss a podcast. So if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to the three-and-out feed. That's separate feed. And other than that, probably it. So we're going to have podcasts all week, and then I'll be. be in San Francisco for a couple days next week and come back and waste management is going on as well. And then the Super Bowl. So we'll just keep firing through, keep our head down and keep swinging.

But let's dive into some football. Appreciate everyone that listens that has told your friends about this. That is watched on Netflix, it's been really cool. They keep inviting me back, so we'll keep coming. I do want to start with, I think sports now, like most things in society, become so polarizing the amount of things. people that talk about it now, especially football. You can't just have a player and being different on. Every guy ultimately becomes polarizing. You know, unless you're Patrick Mahomes and you just

rattle off Super Bowl victories, we nitpick Lamar, we nitpick Josh Allen. I mean, it's part of the gig, right? And I think football has been driven, I mean, really my entire life, but definitely of the internet age, by the superstar quarterbacks. And I've said for a long time that Manning and and Brady are the magic and bird of my life. Their importance to this sport, they were two of the driving forces that helped take the popularity to the next level over the explosion of the television ratings and the TV boom of the last 20 plus years. They're the two most famous players right there with Aaron Rogers, actually.

I don't even know. He wouldn't be Michael Jordan, but he played a role in that as well. And football's full of superstar quarterbacks, right? the famous, no doubt about it, Hall of Famers, to guys like Josh and Lamar who have not won, who haven't even been to the Super Bowl, but we all acknowledge MVP-level players, all-time great talents, no doubt about it stars.

And it's very rare that we just get a genuine story. I mean, even think about two guys that have been to Super Bowl's the last couple of years in the NFC. Jalen Hertz, pretty polarizing player. Instead of just being a great story. Second round pick, most people like my, I thought he was never going to last in the NFL, has been to multiple Super Bowls, has played well in those games.

Obviously, one-one, makes a ton of money. Like, is a no doubt about it success story. Yet, he's probably one of the most polarizing guys in the league. Purdy was the last pick in the draft. They throw a party for the slot in which he was drafted. It's called Mr. Irrelevant down in Southern California. And he's gone on, again, to be an incredible story. Full-time starter, massive contract,

kind of wins, has won playoff games, just was a quarterback for a massive underdog on the road against the Eagles, a team that had way more talent than his team, yet we're constantly going back and forth on these guys. Yet there's something just kind of pure about Sam Donald, because typically even Purdy and Jalen Hurts, like they're on the teams that drafted them. They became starters immediately in their young careers and never relinquished the spot. obviously the Allens, the Lamar's, the Mahomes became superstars pretty quickly. And then the all-time great guys, like Peyton Manning was the number one overall pick. And within a couple of years was clearly one of the best players in the league.

Tom Brady won a Super Bowl two years into his career. Right. Rothesberger was in the Super Bowl two years into his career. Aaron Rogers, within a couple years of starting, was a Super Bowl champ for the Green Bay Packers and replaced Brett Far. The Sam Darnold thing is not normal. while he was drafted high and the Jets, if you remember, drafted from six, they were at six, they traded up to three well before the draft.

They didn't even know who they were going to take. I think they gave like three second round picks. Turns out they drafted a very talented player. Just when you go to the Jets, as Aaron Glenn's figuring out, everyone fails and everyone gets fired and there's a stink that gets put on you that's hard to shake. But let's face it, goes to Carolina, weird situation there.

They end up bringing in Baker Mayfield and then has to reset his career. Like most of the top guys, he just played Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford's been a starter from the moment he got in the NFL. Now, he earned way more credibility once he left the Lions,

but anyone worth their salt realized he was an elite talent. And no one ever thought like, I just think he's got to be a backup for a year. Sam Donald took one year like $3 million to go to San Francisco. And technically he was competing with Trey Lance for the backup job, but that was never the case.

And I think it's very, very rare. right, the Trent Dilfer's, the Brad Johnson's like, no one ever thought those guys were good. Sam Darnold was once anointed as like the savior of the Jets. And then he had to go kind of eat it and be a backup quarterback. And even last year, when he signed his one year $10 million contract, the moment they signed JJ McCarthy, or excuse me, drafted him, I would imagine early on in August,

especially when JJ was playing well in the preseason games, before he got injured, people were like, let's just start the kid. Caleb's starting, Jaden's starting, Drake May. I guess he didn't start right away, but like most people, and I agree with them, just start the rookie. You learn by doing in this world, so put him out on the field. And then Sam got to play and never relinquished it. But let's face it, even based on last year, it's like, well, he had Justin Jefferson,

he had Kevin O'Connell, he had Jordan Addison, everyone made excuses. And then this year, it's like, well, he's got the number one defense. You throw for 340 yards in an NFC championship game against Matt Stafford Pooka Naku and Devante Adams and leave them in tears after the game, like no one can say shit. And the one thing I would say in a league where everyone eventually badmouse someone else,

it's hard not to have someone say something bad about you. Tell me the last time you heard anything negatively said about Sam Darnel. I can't remember. And I know a lot of people in the league. I have never heard anything negative surrounding his name. Well, he can pout, well, he can be a downer. I heard

someone mentioned something the other day. I got a lot of buddies interviewing for these GM jobs throughout the NFL. And we were talking about a specific player and he's like, yeah, you know, some of the rumors going around on him aren't quite as flattering as the media narrative surrounding

them. I'm like, oh, didn't know that. That's never been said about Sam Donald. Super high character, great guy. I mean, one of his best friends in the league is Josh Allen because they came out the same year. Think about that. Imagine befriending a guy in your draft class. He goes on to be not just one of the faces of the league, but clearly one of the most important guys in the business of the National Football League in Josh Allen.

He's a poster child for the league. He's talked about constantly around the league. He's playing in the league's biggest games. And your career just flounders. You just become, I don't want to say, a laughing stock, but someone that no one took seriously. fair or not. And even in your moment of success in 2004, people go, well, look at the way it ended.

Finally had some big games, couldn't get it done. And I'm probably guilty of that too. I ran into him last year in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. We stayed at the same hotel. And I just went up to him. I think he was there. It might be his now wife, fiance. I said, man, that was,

congrats on the year. Not that you need to hear from it. But I just thought, like, what a fucking awesome comeback story. He's like, I really appreciate that, man. And I saw him a couple more times. Jared Goff and all these guys are buddies. And I was just thinking like, we don't get many of these stories.

Because typically when your career gets derailed in the NFL, it's hard to battle back at quarterback. At other positions it happens all the time. But typically you get thrust in, you're just a backup. Marriota, James, you see a lot of high picks, stay in the league for a long time. But they don't go on to be like, yeah, this guy's going to be a starter for a long time.

And he's favored to win the Super Bowl, and no one would be shocked if he throws for like 300 yards. at Levi Stadium here in a couple weeks. And I don't think we get enough about just kind of genuine good stories anymore. And there's something just, I don't know, pure about the Sam Darnold situation. Because we've seen this time and time again.

Guy gets drafted high, failed, kind of doesn't become that relevant the rest of his career. It's very, very rare that we just see. A guy gets drafted high, bounces around, becomes a backup for no money. A couple years later, he is a key cog in a team that's going to the Super Bowl for the first time in a decade plus

and most people I would imagine by the time the game comes around will pick Seattle and part of it's going to be the confidence that you have in the quarterback after what you just saw him do against the Los Angeles Rams and the biggest game of his career 340 yards, three touchdowns honestly didn't make any bad decisions in that game played smart even as sacks were smart

like just hold the ball go to the ground CJ Strout could take some notes and we all get better. Like, you learn a lot about yourself. Anyone listening can relate. Some of our adverse times are worse than others. Some of ours are public, right? If you're in a profession like Sam Darnold's,

most of ours are not. No one knows about besides maybe some friends and some immediate family. But you define your life by how you bounce back from the rough times, from the bad times. Not when everything's going well. everyone's in love during the honeymoon phase. Tell me three years in with a child who's screaming all the time and not sleeping.

That'll define your relationship and how it's going to go. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet. Florida's sportsbook. The big game matchup is set and I can't wait to see Seattle take on New England. Hard Rock Bet has all the different ways you can get in on Sunday's action here in a couple weeks. Here's what I'm liking right now. think I'm going to lean Seattle, kind of big. I think that pass rush is going to overwhelm the offensive line,

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Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,

Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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, S&L'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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in.

tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenschen went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving well good luck consider this your court side seat to the french open listen to the rene stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts presented by capital one founding partner of i heart women's sports what's up fam is

is Isaiah thomas and i'm cj toledano and our podcast point game is about defying the odds like lebron heading into the playoffs without lucca and austin reed and finding ways to win no matter what He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And speaking of relationships, Mike Grable, hiring a coach and hiring a GM is like picking players and in exact science. No one has any clue who's going to be good and who's going to be bad. They just don't. Same thing with coaches, same thing with players. But when you get a coach and it's clear the guy is good, it's on you to go through a rough year or two

because it's inevitable in football. Most people are not just going to be Belichick and Brady and over a 20-year span missed the playoffs two times in 18 years. That's not normal. You might have a year where people get injured and you win seven games. You might have back-to-back years where you win 13 or 14 games. Welcome to football. Andy Reid had just been to five of six Super Bowls just went six and 11.

Kyle Shanahan last year went six and 11. It comes with the territory. This sport is very, very difficult. Everyone's gunning for you 24-7, 365. That's if you're bad, let alone if you're good, and then everyone's thinking about you, game planning and drafting trying to stop you. So Mike Vrable, who hit the scene in Tennessee

and immediately had success, started winning right away within a couple years as winning playoff games, eventually became the number one seed. He didn't do that with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. He did that with Ryan Tannio, who is like a poor man's Alex Smith. So what he accomplished was awesome.

Then he hit a rough spatch. One seven games, one six games, and the owner immediately fired him. And a huge reason was, well, he wasn't a nice guy. Well, this isn't a profession full of nice guys. You kind of need some assholes. In a perfect world, everyone would sing kumbaya and be friends and hold hands, but that's not this world. Football. It's contentious. People are angry. People don't really sleep. Mike McDonald just admitted he sees his young son 30 minutes to an hour during the work week.

And he wasn't asking for sympathy or trying to throw a pity party. He was just simply saying is, I work a lot, I don't get to see my young son really at all. I make time on a Thursday to get home early to see him for an hour. This profession is not normal. People on Wall Street can't relate. These hours never, ever relent. It's just week after week after week. As someone once described Bill Belichick to me,

there is a football marathon, and the treadmill starts late July, and the speed never stops. And guys like Belichick and Sabin was like this never breaks stride until it ends. obviously college is different in the pros. The pros don't really end until the draft. And even then, you immediately go into rookie minicamp and OTAs.

It's nine, ten months straight. And during those five plus months of the season, it's fucking insane. I've lived it. I've seen it. And I can't imagine going back and the respect and admiration I have for people that are able to do it for decades upon decades in the grind. These coaches are nuts.

They are honestly a little nutty upstairs. That's what it takes to do this job. just like I would imagine most successful people in competitive industries aren't normal. It's why they separate from the pack. But a football coach really asks for two things, right? Mental stamina and the grind of a season, but also the ability to lead to tell people things they don't want to hear. It's just a natural argumentative position.

You're going to be in arguments on a daily basis. that there is no avoiding confrontation. And most good organizations would tend to gravitate saying there's no growth without any confrontation. We're trying to grow and get better. And Mike Vrable, of course he's a confrontational guy because he's a football guy. And it comes with the territory. Some people like Pete Carroll or Andy Reid can do it more with a smile on their face. And some people like Belichick, Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan are much more grumpy.

but there is no disputing. They're all taking the same tactics of seeing problems, attacking problems, and pissing people off on a daily basis. So when the Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrable, they prove they have no clue what they're looking for. Because everyone with an ounce of common sense went, you're never going to do better in this.

This is as good as it gets. And he's a really, really high-level coach. Part of the reason you're falling apart a little bit, you made a financial decision on AJ Brown, which obviously backfired, but your quarterback position is not set. And you need to figure that out. And they were not willing to let Mike Rable figure that out. And I think as we look back a couple years, that was clearly a mistake.

And that to me is a direct reflection of Amy Adams, who fired him, and all the stories came out, well, he wasn't nice enough to her. Well, how's it going? Have people been nice to you the last couple years? Is that fun? Is that a good world to live in as the owner of a football team? That everyone smiles at you and pretends to like you while you get the shit kicked out of you on a weekly basis? Is Mike Vrable perfect?

No. Is he, you know, Bill Walsh? Probably not. But is he freaking really good at his job? And the chances like, Robert Sall, nice guy. Good football coach. The chances he's ever as good as Mike Vrable, slim than none. And I just think when you look back, if you're a Titans fan, you go,

the hell just happened? I think if we look back, how did Mike Vrable take a year off coaching? How were there not teams throwing bags of money at him last season? New England Patriot fans should be very, very grateful that this whole situation played out the way it did. The guy was just available. He just took the year off and coached a little on the side with Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns in an off year. And then you immediately get him and a year later, you know, you hire him in January and then by the following January, you're in the freaking Super Bowl. even if you were high on the Patriots, which most people were, because we thought they were going to be competitive with a good coaching staff and an easy schedule,

10 wins, not this many wins, not the number two overall seed, not the Super Bowl or not the AFC champions. So props to Mike Vrable. What a badass. The Eagles offensive coordinator job. I don't ever remember a job that was just so boom or bust. We have four years of evidence. You can either excel in this job,

you become a head coach, Shane Syke and Kellynne Moore. Or you don't have success in this job and you immediately get fired and you're not an offensive coordinator. Like typically, and I've said this story before, but I had a coordinator tell me one time that the reason people jump at quote-unquote bad jobs is because once your name gets in the cycle, you just become an offensive coordinator.

Bobby Sloick, right? He took the Texans job, gets fired, boom, just offensive coordinator again with the Miami Dolphins. And once you get in that rotation, people view you as a coordinator, you just stay coordinators at different spots. Brandon Saley is a good example. Might never be a head coach again, but he'll just be a coordinator wherever he wants. And those jobs pay millions of dollars. It's why a lot of position coaches take the opportunity. He's like, I don't think that's a good defensive coordinator job.

Well, if people start viewing me as a defensive coordinator, even if people start viewing me as a defensive coordinator, even if I get fired, someone else will hire me as a defensive coordinator. And with the Eagles job, that's not necessarily true. Because I look Brian Johnson, their offensive coordinator from a couple years ago, is an assistant coach with the Washington commanders, where obviously Cliff has been the coordinator the last several years. And they just, I think they already hired an offensive coordinator, a young guy. So he's not even their offensive coordinator there.

Kevin Petula, I think we all agree, will 100, not be calling plays for any team in the NFL in 2006. So if it goes wrong, your career kind of gets derailed a little bit. And when you get your first opportunity, you're actually better off taking a job that's a little under the radar than this job, unless you believe in your skills and you know that you can get a jump. Because the pressure on this gig,

there might not be a coordinator job in the NFL that is under a bigger magnifying glass, especially given how the guy's coming in this year. Because you're replacing a guy that was really shitty. So the bar's a little lower, but if you don't have success, you will get fired immediately. And

they just interviewed, I saw Charlie Weiss Jr., who is Lane's right-hand guy. They're on the right people. They wanted Mike McDaniel. They're talking to all the right guys. I just wonder if a lot of people are weighing their options and go, this is a pretty big risk. This is a pretty big risk.

and if it goes well, obviously it jolts me. If it doesn't, can it derail the momentum that I might have? And I'm fascinated to see who they're going to end up hiring. And I would imagine it's been a little more difficult for them to get someone to jump in the boat than they had originally imagined it would be. Okay, before we dive into the Middle Cough mailbag, you know, when you don't sleep that much, your brain pissed. just don't fire at the same speed.

Now, one thing that's been pretty clear in the 10-plus days since he's been at home, you just don't sleep that much. And even when you sleep, your sleep is not like it was pre-children. Most of you can relate, anyone with young children. And I think as your kids get older, you probably forget about that a little bit. It's just nature of life, right? You remember the good, you don't focus as much on the bad. Clearly, we probably don't need as much sleep, at least just to basic functions of life.

But I'm someone that, look, I struggled to get by with four or five hours. So even last night, she's like, well, you got six or seven. I let you sleep through the night because I was doing with him up until about midnight. But starting at about 1 o'clock till, let's say, 7.30 in the morning, I'm still waking up periodically. You're hearing him cry. You're hearing him change. The sleep is just, it's really, really hard, very hard on.

her that there's no disputing that but you just chug along you just keep swinging your pick and you just take a day by day and you're like hey eventually we'll be out of this face but one thing is we bought a bunch of these books these black and white books that just are like animal books or you know what's in the sea just basic like this is a fish this is a shark this is a dolphin so i took one of these little books they're like little squares probably like three by three inches or something, and they're black and white. And I'm just sitting there. He's kind of on my arm lap, and I'm just reading him the book. This is a dolphin. This is a shark. And I'm looking at the book, and he's just kind of staring off into space. And she's like, do you know that you have to put that book in

front of him? I'm like, what do you mean? She's like, it's color-coded in black and white for reason. Babies are colorblind. All they can see is black and white and when you look, when you put the book close to his eyes, you'll see he will, you know, lock in and he will look at the different colors and kind of go around. You just reading, this is a cow, moo, moo, moo, moo, isn't really doing anything if you're not showing him the picture. I'm like, I got to be honest. I did not know that. So I was just reading this little book about pigs and owls just out loud like he can understand what's going on. When the whole point of the exercise is to put the color coding of the black and white in front of his eyes so he can, I don't even know what it's considered, but, you know, latch on intellectually, I guess, and try to grow his brain.

Because if you see like those things that you lay them on with the things hanging above them, they're all in black and white as well. Because that at 10, 20 days old, that's what he sees. Instead of me just reading this book out loud to essentially myself while he sits there like, what are you even talking about? So you learn something new every day. And that was a pretty embarrassing moment because I thought, God, these books, what's the point of them? But it makes a lot more sense when you realize the color coding is really what. is what is there for. And then eventually you start putting the word cow

with the shape cow or pig with the shaped pig. Kind of makes some sense. So anyone that did know that if you're getting about to have a baby and you get those little black and white books, make sure you show the baby the pages as you read them to him or her.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 Letter

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reed. I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers,

why he got the ball like you go through a training camp with that Isaiah you figure it out real quick get your ass up and down the court and you're going to get the ball so listen to point game on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts okay let's go a little mailback ad john middlecough ad john middlecoff is the instagram firing those dms get your questions answer here on the show we will start with Josh quick background I'm born and raised in south Florida, got my BA from the Gators, University of Florida, and my MS from A&M. Lived in College Station for a couple years. Well-educated man.

I grew up a Steeler fan because family, but I've got zero actual ties to Pittsburgh, and I've never been there. The McCarthy hired today was honestly the last straw. This team refuses to change or adapt. I can't do it anymore. I'm officially done being a Steelers fan and trying to decide between the Texans or the bucks. Curious what your honest thoughts are.

Well, we had someone pre-netflix, so this probably would have been a year ago. It was either at the end of Belichick. It probably was Gerard Mayo when they asked if it was okay to leave the franchise if he could drop the Patriots. I think the guy was like 30 years old.

It's like, bro. You just, from 12 years old, or essentially, I guess it would have been 18 plus years after you were like 11 or 12 you saw the greatest run in the history of sports in the prime of your sports loving kind of life. It doesn't get any more pure when you're in your teens of just pure love of football

and your team was just rattling off Super Bowls. You don't get to leave the Patriots. Especially this guy was from Boston. In your situation, I'm more open to the conversation of if you just get, like, part of the sport team, the teams that I grew up loving were teams that I grew up around.

if you get your teams from family, I don't know if I'm as strict on that rule. And if you don't want to like the Steelers anymore just because your dad and grandpa like them and you have no ties to Pittsburgh, I don't think it's that crazy. And clearly, if it's strong enough, the bond between that team,

it'll never truly leave you. It won't. But if it's not, then just, I don't know. I think the Texans would D'Amico and Nick Casario are well-run and not going away. any time soon. I think the Pittsburgh Steeler thing, I will say this. I think the McCarthy hire is better than you're giving it credit for, but nothing is going to change. You guys are just

going to do the same thing over and over again and get no closer to beating any of the top teams. I would agree there, and it becomes a pretty frustrating exercise. So I'm not against dropping a team. Like, if you tell me, hey, I'm 35 years old, I'm a Jets fan, I can't do this anymore. What am I going to say? Like, stick with it. Like, you're fucking out of your mind. I wouldn't waste my energy watching that operation. The Steelers, like, you've had it pretty good. I take it in your 20s. Most of your life, they have been really competitive.

You haven't seen them lose. But it is frustrating to think, like, are we starting to trend the wrong way? And is this not going to be fun? But I actually think the McCarthy hire, the problem is you're probably more likely to win nine or ten games next year than you are three games, which would be the best thing for the health of the franchise, big picture. So I believe if you're born there and you grew up rooting for them and you're just mad at them, like they're kind of with you for life.

But in your situation, I would just start loosely dating. Be like, hey, I'm still married, but we're living separately and we're okay to date. I'm allowed to go on a date. Like start either pick Tampa or pick Houston and just see how it goes. And maybe you'll feel it's not quite as strong of a connection as you thought. you'll gravitate back toward Pittsburgh. But I think you're in a position where you should be allowed to date other people if you are just there by family connection.

As many teams are securing and looking for head coaches, do some teams have, quote, a bridge head coach mentality like they can with quarterbacks? I'm sure it has happened. The Raiders just did that with Pete Carroll. But a lot like a quarterback, there is no guarantee with the bridge. it can completely blow up in your face. So I would say that most teams are trying to find the best head coach they possibly can that they can win with relatively quickly.

And if you look at most of the hires, like the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy because they're trying to win. The Giants hired John Harbock because they thought he was the best coach. Atlanta thought that Kevin Stavansky is like a star in Cleveland, fucked him. They think they got a gem in Jeff Halfley. the Browns and the Cardinals, who knows. But, you know, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrable,

Liam Cohen. Most of these teams are hiring guys thinking they can be really good. So I would say it's pretty rare. The bridge quarterback is way more of a thing than the bridge coach. The Texans did it for a couple years because no one would take their job. The Browns might have to do it

because no one will take their job. Like the Browns could probably hire Pete Carroll. A fresh new dad like yourself. my big boy is Dominic already getting nicknamed Big Dom by Eagles fans hang in there I feel you on the first couple weeks by a month it gets easier

sort of Saints fan just curious if you think Shuck and Moore can get us to the playoffs in the next couple years it's funny like I on the kid thing

you just can't it's going to get easier think of the millions upon millions upon millions of people who have had children and raised children now we could argue how good they were at raising the children, but still people have done it.

So it's like everyone's gone through this. Or most people in society at one point in time in the history of this world have done it. Every time I want to get mad or complaints, like, it can't be that hard. A lot of fucking people that can barely walk across the street have raised a child. Again, we could argue how well they did, but they've still done it. They've kept them a lot, which is clearly your number one goal. Keep them alive and feed them. It's pretty basic at first.

I would say on the Saints, you would think the Bucks will be better. Right? What, would they lose? Seven of their last eight. Atlanta, they do have a lot of talent on their team, who's their quarterback. Carolina is clearly pretty feisty if they get better at defense, because offensively they're not bad. It's not easy.

That division actually, in a weird way, for a team that just won it at 8-9 should be way more competitive in 2026. Usually when you have a team that goes under 500, you're like, that division's a joke. It's actually not that bad. A lot of good players, a lot of competent coaches, a lot of explosive high-end playmakers. So you probably, my guess is sitting here on January 26th,

you've got to win 10 games to win the division. So more than likely to make the playoffs, you'd have to win the division and go 10 and 7. What's up, baby daddy? Mail bad question. Would the Eagles be better off hiring an adult CEO like Sala to run their team? The players hate each other and the offense just failed to score 20 on the Niners practice squad. Obviously, they've had past success, but if Siriani is a CEO and their culture is broken, why keep them?

I don't know if their culture is broken. I think a mistake they made is the A.J. Brown saga. They wanted to have their cake and eat the entire thing too. and it was clearly off with him and Jalen and they could have traded him at the trade deadline and they chose not to because in fairness to them they wanted to win another Super Bowl and they were better off winning the Super Bowl

or giving themselves a chance in their minds with AJ on the team than trading him and having a second rounder for AJ right? I wonder if we look back they would have been better off just separating that situation. I mean you couldn't watch a game without his commercial coming on which essentially felt like he was talking right to Jalen. It's okay. People don't like each other.

I never understood when Brandon Graham came out why they tried to backtrack it. We don't like everyone we know. We don't like everyone we work with, especially in situations where you're with each other all the time. Called human beings. People grow apart. People don't see eye to eye, especially if I think that you're not good enough and we're in a position where I'm dependent on you. It comes with the territory.

And I think if Howie had a do-over, they would have traded A.J. Brown during the season. And you know how he could have just got some other random wide receiver to come in and somewhat fill that void. And I think that Siriani obviously didn't get fired, but is going to be given like, let's remove A.J. Brown and whatever tension was created by that situation, and add whoever's going to take our offensive coordinator job, and see if we can get some cohesion back. because the cohesion was off, and it was clearly between the quarterback and the wide receiver. Well, we all know who they're going to choose this offseason.

It ain't going to be the wide receiver. So it's going to be 100% Jalen's show. There's going to be a lot of pressure on him. And part of with your quarterback, he's got to set the tone. He's the culture center. We talk about culture and character and all that stuff. Typically starts with the quarterback.

They kind of get to set the tone of the locker room, and now the pressure is going to fall on Jalen, which is going to be fascinating to see, which is why there's a ton of pressure on the new offensive coordinator. what do you think about a change of scene trade DJ Moore for Kavon Tibido Moore is clearly not the top dog in Chicago and Kavon has not worked out well

as relative to his draft position would hope for as a Giants fan I do think he has been underutilized and at the same time he is more solid than he will ever be good he will ever be good or great trade would help Chicago defense and the Giants offense that's type trade I'm talking about those are the type moves. I can't speak for the Giants and how John will think.

But to me, if you're the Bears, you're going to use one of those guys to get defensive help. And whether it's a draft pick to draft the defender or just essentially swap salaries. I think Kvon's fifth-year option is, I don't even remember off top of my head. 15, 16, 17 million somewhere in there. And I think DJ makes high teens, maybe low 20s.

so can Kvon just give them another solid defensive lineman? He's pretty good against the run. I've always thought he's a little stiff as like an edge rusher. But like you said, he gets to kind of change a scenery, take a deep breath, contract year. That's the type move if you're Chicago, you are highly entertaining. Right? And I think if you're the Giants, you got Malik coming back,

Wondell, like they already got some offensive pieces. maybe you want to add another guy John's had versatile players like DJ I don't even do we know who their offensive coordinator is yet in New York I don't think we do I'm assuming it's going to be Todd but

yeah Fugazi Friday idea I believe social media was a way to keep in touch show off the family and post about what's on the grill lately it just feels like a platform for old co-workers old people and my mother-in-law to grandstand their

political opinions is it a reach to just tell people or if they keep posting their politics on social the way they get deleted or is it just okay to just do it and not tell them? I unfollow people all the time. I'm not trying. Human beings weren't wired to get the amount of information if you spend a lot of time scrolling. There is no way our brains were wired to take in that much information that quickly. And I'm as guilty as anyone over the year scrolling. But I have found myself unfollowing more and more people.

If there's some sort of professional connection, maybe I'll mute, but especially people that aren't in my life. Just because we went to high school and college together and you're just going off 24-7, it's like, bro, you're a manager at Whole Foods. Like, focus on your family. So I delete and unfollow people constantly. If you're just, if you're relentless. Like, listen, you got your own opinions.

I don't care. We don't have to agree. But if that's your thing, like, bro, get a life. Put down the phone. Go into society. Hang out with some people. Go spend some time with your children, with your significant other. If you're single, go on some fucking dates.

Get a life. I think too often people are just firing away posts. Like, none of this means. anything. None of these posts mean anything. Now, you could argue what does any of it mean? Yeah, fair point. It's why I've made a huge, the second half of this decade, put your phone down, go live life. I don't beat a dead horse at this point, but how dumb are the Vikings for letting darnel walk? It already felt like a big miss, but now it's even worse. It's got to hurt. It's got really hurt because unlike San Francisco, signed him for a backup, you signed him, he started

and he threw 35 touchdowns and you were 60 minutes away from being the number one seat with him as a quarterback. The chances that JJ could ever do that are slim than not. And after one year, it's, there's not even a question. The chance that JJ, I mean, he's got so far to go because mechanically you're like breaking his whole throwing motion down. So it's got to hurt. It's got to The only way for it not to haunt the franchise forever is JJ has to become a serviceable player. Just Ryan Tanny Hill, Alex Smith, a guy that's like, hey, he's never going to be Josh Allen. But he could throw me 28 touchdowns. If we do a good job building the team, we can make the playoffs.

If JJ's not that good, it's an all-time disaster. Because they were having the conversation and they decided to let him go. I know this is completely utopian and will never happen, but what are your thoughts on NFL playoff games getting to be played in a dome stadium? It's just disappointed to see bad weather determine the results of a playoff game. And no, not a Broncos fan. There are plenty of dome stadiums they could use, Mini, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, Indie, SoFi, etc.

It would level the playing field and make all the playoff games based on scheme and talent, not rain or snow. I hear you and clearly. the second half of that game is as grievous of a winter game as you're ever going to see when you factor in,

I mean, blizzard conditions. You can't see. The wind is pumping, snows everywhere in your eyes. But my pushback is like, this is an outdoor sport. And weather plays a huge factor in the history of the playoff games.

And playing in cold weather, is a point of difference for a lot of these teams. Ask the Chiefs over the last half decade how many home games worked to their advantage being freezing cold. It's worked in Denver's advantage in years past. And the weather is just so unpredictable. Like a week ago, it was 50 degrees in Denver.

So I would shock it more up to that feels like an extreme situation. And I have a hard time changing everything based on one extreme. Was that game decided on the field? Not really, because the second half was a joke. But am I going to let one half of football impact? Like the previous week playing that game in Chicago

when it was freezing cold, like that was a test to wills. And historically, these playoff games in Kansas City and Philly and Baltimore and New England, weather is a point of difference for that home team. Right? So I hear what you're saying. But I like weather.

And it feels like one day we'll be playing all football games in a dome, and I think that will suck. That really will. I obviously didn't agree with, I mean, I'm not like disputing what you're saying about that specific game, which is as extreme as you're going to see. but on the aggregate, I like weather games. As someone that doesn't like the cold.

As a consumer, I like consuming, and we're the lifeblooded of the league. Without us watching these games, we provide the money. Your time and attention, sitting on the couch watching the game, we provide all the money. All the owners would be the first to tell you.

The TV money is our bread and butter. That's where we build our wealth. And I just think the weather games are better than the dome games. I'm not a huge dome fan in general. I would much rather watch a game outside than I would cold or just normal weather than a dome game. It's not normal football, just perfect elements. Part of football is the elements play a factor, whether that's September in Miami when it's 100 degree humidity. Remember when

Notre Dame played Miami the first game of the season? And it was like 110 degrees humidity on the field. Like, that has to, that has to mean something. And it does to me as a football. Crazy rain games. I mean, even when San Francisco used to play at Levi's or at Candlestick, they had historic rain games, one against Eli Manning in 2011 with Harbaugh's first year. They had one against the Cowboys in the 90s, torrential drowned poor. Like to me, that's just part of the sport. It's like golf. Some days you just get 88 degrees, no wind. Some days it's freezing cold and windy.

Some days it's raining. Like, it's an outdoor sport. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide

range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys. I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself.

I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen can win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like

Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court

licking his fingers while he got the ball. After you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to the point game on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Watching Conference Championship Recon, Pod reaction with Colin, you guys heard you talk about

how Seattle was 5-1 to just win the division. So I was thinking, based off of off-season predictions and odds, is this Super Bowl one of the most unlikely matchups in NFL history? Not uncommon for one team to come out of nowhere and make a run, but both teams. basically being Cinderella has got to be history in itself. You know, Seattle won 10 games last year. Now, they changed their quarterback, but they were not a two or three win team. They went 10 and 7.

And the team that won their division went 10 and 7 too. So it's based on the odds, they were an outlier or an extreme, extremely unlikely to win their own division, right? Five to one chance to win the NFC West, which, I mean, it came down to the last game of the season. so it wasn't like super easy. And New England, they had just been so bad the last couple years. But they got a real coach, they got a real offensive coordinator,

and it was like, hey, could the young quarterback take a step? He was an MVP candidate. And defensively, they're clearly pretty good. And their schedule was pretty easy. But if you factor in both teams, like think of a lot of the matchups recently. Chiefs Eagles, Chiefs Niners,

Chiefs Eagles, Cincinnati was definitely kind of came out of nowhere in Burrough's second year, but they played the Rams, who had just traded for Stafford, which wasn't that abnormal. A lot of Patriots, Rams, a lot of Patriots, a lot of Peyton Manning. So yeah, I mean, it's, in recent memory,

it's probably one of, did not see that coming. Most people at the beginning of the year would not have believed that the Patriots in Seattle would be the Super Bowl matchup. So I think it's fair to say in the internet age, it's got to be one of the more unlikely. teams. I would imagine if people were bullish on Seattle and New England, most people would have said both teams can make the playoffs probably like a one and done operation. One was the one seed,

one was the two seed. It's not as unlikely once the season started playing out because they were both good. But in August, if this would have been your pick, most people would have thought you were a little crazy for sure. But this was also a weird year. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Holmes, did not make the playoffs. the Lions, who had been one of the best teams in the league for two years running, did not make the playoffs. The Packers were the seven-seat. The Bears were the two-seat. So it's the Jags not only won the division were one of the best teams in the league.

You could argue this year was one of the great curveball years in recent memory. For the mailback, about time McVeigh starts caring about special teams, it costs them the Super Bowl. defense fucking backs and get a special teams coordinator. Disclaimer. I know everyone thinks Bill is the village idiot, but one of his team captains was Matt bleepin Slater. So Bill definitely valued all three forms.

So mad, I had money on the ramps. Defensive guys like special teams. They value special teams. You won't find defensive coaches like John Harbaugh, Mike Vrable, Bill Belichick. that don't value the defensive side of the, or the special team side of the ball. It's a big deal of them, because it's kind of defense.

punt, kickoff, like you're covering, you're tackling, you're setting gaps. Like, they like that stuff. There's a physicality element to it. The worst three special teams, someone sent this to me in the NFL. So it's pretty remarkable.

How much worse the Packers and Rams have been, special teams compared to everyone else in the 2020s. So this is, I don't know the metric, but the 49ers, Green Bay Packers, and Rams are the three worst teams in the league. What do they have in common? Three offensive coaches in the call place. They can't even pretend to give a shit. They really can't.

And I've seen Kyle forever, I don't know what he's done the last couple years, didn't even come out during special teams portions. They just did not care. they don't take it seriously and it shows you get what you emphasize they would never be that bad at offense can you imagine lefleur mcvay or kyle having like a year of the most embarrassing offense of course not because it would never be tolerated and if it was that they would they would be huge like ramifications it happened to one year to mcvay when stafford got injured and they fired everybody he got like a brand new staff he was so he almost quit he almost went to

Amazon. He literally almost quit. So, you know, Kyle's like, oh, we need a kicker. You just draft a kicker in the third round. Like, bro, that's not how you fix it. Come on. Emphasize. You set the standard. Because all these coaches, what do they talk a lot about? Offensive defense. Even though they're all offensive coordinators, they hold their defensive players to a high standard.

They do not hold their special teams players to a high standard. It's a fact. Or else they wouldn't all three be the worst units think about that. The Niners, the Packers, and the Rams for the last five years of the worst special teams units in the league. I mean, if that doesn't say it all, I don't know what else does. They were all three a little crew, and I'm sure they love talking offense. They really value defense, but they just do not care about special teams. They can't even pretend to care, and it shows.

One time in a Niner press conference, Tim Kawakami asked Kyle that, and he got so offended. It's like, well, we drafted a kicker. and the third. It's not about just drafting a kicker. Like you said, Belichick made Matthew Slater his team captain for a decade. A decade. You know why? Because when we walk through this door, from Vrable to Brady to Gronk to McCordy, Slater is every bit as important. Those coaches would never do that. Ever. They need to start or else it's going to always cost them. The Sam Darnold performance was Mahomes and Alan like,

if he wins a ring and plays well in the Super Bowl, where would you rank him as a quarterback? That's a great question. Based off this one year, I mean, he would have a lot of momentum going into next season of like, would you rather have Sam Darnold or Dak Prescott? Would you rather have Sam Darnold or Jared Gough? Like, he's immediately in that crew.

You know, Jalen, Purdy. There's always this crew of the top guys, right? Mahomes, Alan, Lamar, Burrow, Herbert, regular season, playoffs. It's a different story. But the guys that are widely considered. And then there's like the next crew of like eight guys that we kind of waffle up and down on. You win the Super Bowl, like, now is he going to have like a seven-year career of just every year being like a Pro Bowl level guy? I don't know.

I wouldn't bet against it now that he's got momentum, confidence is a powerful thing. any young person once they kind of get going in the right direction, you kind of build off that and it exponentially can build on itself and grow. And when you lose your confidence, you feel like you're never going to get it back. And when you get it, it starts kind of just building on year after year. I mean, part of being a great player in the NFL is doing it every single year. So it's like, can he have a three-year career with Seattle this year, the next couple years, where he's just a really good player.

I would bet on him being a really good player. Now, he's going to have bad turnovers. I mean, he's going to be turnover prone. But if he's throwing a bunch of touchdowns and comes through in playoff games, what else do you want? Dak Prescott has never done that in a big game like that. Dak Prescott's had one good playoff game

in the prime of his career. He had a good one when he was a rookie. But think of that stretch with McCarthy. He had the one playoff game against the bus. who were terrible. He threw five touchdowns. Played the Niners twice, was atrocious. That Packer game in the first half was bad.

Can you believe Sam Darnel is the only quarterback from the 18 draft class to make the Super Bowl? Pretty nuts. Pretty nuts. I think, yeah, I mean, Lamar and Josh had their shots. Lamar two years ago, it doesn't get any better in that. You're at home, number one seed, best defense in the league, you're the MVP.

Josh has had multiple shots, including this year. just didn't get it done. I mean, I don't know what else to say. No one would have had that on their bingo card. Hell, even Baker you would have bet on. You know, he had a bunch of momentum this year. When the bucks started fast and they looked good, what were they, eight and two?

Question for the mailbag. What's the deal with the Rams fans? They're the most non-impassioned fan base of a good team I've ever seen. I feel like championship weekend doesn't have a lot of juice. The country is not really invested in the Seahawks and their coach and quarterback. Rams fans seem to be pretty lackless.

Lester, the Broncos lost their starting quarterback, and nationwide standpoint, I don't think the Patriots are moving the needle. Am I wrong about this take? I do think that Sam Donald's a big time story, and I think McVeigh nationally is bigger than he is in Los Angeles. Part of it is the Rams left L.A. for a long time. They left forever, right? They were there when I was really young, and then they went to St. Louis. And for a long time, they were just the St. Louis Rams. when you're a nomadic franchise, it creates friction and people leave you. The reason the Steelers, the Bears, the Eagles, the Niners, the Cowboys, these teams that have been in one place forever, the Packers,

when moving is part of your thing, like, I'm sorry. And if you moved in the last like 10 years, it just creates, I don't even know the right way to describe it, but it's, no one wants to follow a professional franchise that's moving, especially in the internet age. So I think that's part of it. Like their team wasn't there for a lot of people that are my age when you were growing up. They were the St. Louis Rams.

Kurt Warner is not yours. Marshall Falk was not yours. So the teams that won the Super Bowl 20 plus years ago and they were good, like you don't even get to claim those. The Raiders won a couple of Super Bowls in Los Angeles. So it's like The Raiders, the Rams, the Chargers, these teams moving,

I think that plays a massive, massive part in their fan bases. I got two questions on McCarthy and we'll end on this. Love the pod. So the Steelers hire McCarthy and the fan base in the media alike experience a complete meltdown.

Am I crazy in thinking that this is an okay hire and might be shorter term or bridge play by Steelers ownership? Obtain a young highly rated O.C. Like a Sheel House. I think I'm saying that name wrong. It's the McVease guy.

Not saying him specifically, but someone like that, to mentor groom under McCarthy. I get the Steelers always go long tenure at head coach historically, and maybe I'm just coping, but it's got to be in the cards given that McCarthy is 62. Another

question. Cowboy fan here. I don't understand all the hate for McCarthy. People forget, but Jason Carrot was the king of 8 and 8. McCarthy he takes over and he has way more success than Jason. Not saying that's a high bar, but he made the team better for sure. And the people often judge coaches on how they do after they leave. My opinion, Schottenheimer is neutral.

I'm not convinced we upgraded a head coach, but Jerry can sell hope which matters the most. Why do people hate on McCarthy? And he tweeted or send me the tweet of McCarthy v. Hardball. 62 versus 63, 18 seasons is head coach. basically the same amount of wins 174 to 180 playoff record 11 1111 13 and 11 10 win seasons 11 and 11 and 1 Super Bowl

I said that it's branding McCarthy's branding is bad maybe it's he's overweight maybe it's people I don't think he's not that smart for an offensive guy who calls plays and works with a quarterback find me a guy in his position that we don't consider intelligent

Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, LaFleur, you know, Bruce Arians. Like, it comes to football. Like, this guy knows offensive scheme. Yeah, with McCarthy, no one talks about him like that. They talk about him like, he's just like your next door, beer-drinking neighbor. Yeah, like you said, McCarthy has all these seasons, 18. He has 11-10-win seasons. He's coached the MVP at quarterback.

He's coached the best years of Dak Prescott's career. he has won big time consistently been a playoff coach. Had some one and done's in the playoffs. No one's disputing that. But he does not get talked about like John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin. The branding around him is not good. The PR campaign for him is not good. It's actually atrocious.

Look at Robert Solow. Now you can blame the Jets, but it did not go well. He had run-ins with Rogers. In terms of like the press conferences, he would say things and Rogers would be like, He never told me that. It was not smooth. It did not go well.

Some of that was self-inflicted by Robert Salt, but he's got a great PR campaign. I'm guilty of this because I'm like, God, Robert Saul's a badass. You look at Robert Saul, he looks like a player. Mike McCarthy, you know, looks like he could drop about 50. Get on one of those stupid Eli Lilly commercials. So he stopped blaming me.

I'm trying to eat a salad. I just don't want to work out, aka Lily just telling you, bend over, take that jab. If he got on GLP ones and lost 50 pounds, I do wonder if we talk about him differently, fair or not. Because he gets branded unlike Tomlin and Harbaugh. Yet they're all three, like, essentially the same guy.

So branding, perception, in businesses like this really matter. And the Steelers clearly don't care that much about that. Because I don't think anyone else was hiring him. McCarthy wasn't going to take the Cardinal or, Brown job. But yeah, I don't know what else to say. Whether it's just his PR campaign, his look, the branding

around him. I think it's a lot of different variables, but they're all negative. John Harbaugh gets fired. It's like, fucking genius. John freaking Harbaugh! Well, what do we think about the Harbaugh's? They're just a bunch of badasses. What do we think about Mike Tomlin? Best leader of men since like General Patton. Mike McCarthy.

well, if he wasn't coaching football, what would he be doing? Like running an HVAC company? That's the way people talk about him. And then, like, you just list his accomplishments. He's basically parallels perfectly John Harbaugh's career. Yet the way they're discussed couldn't be any more on the opposite ends of the spectrum. It's pretty wild. I don't remember a guy this accomplished.

And also good with quarterbacks and calling offense that no one really respects the casual fan. I mean, people are emailing me, can I quit the Steelers? And even I was like, yeah, maybe you can. But I'm telling you, it's not going to be as bad as you think. The Volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it out. We get to ask other people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and... tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 home. Those people are starving for banter.

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