The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Bears Beat Cowboys, Chargers Dominating AFC West, Daniel Jones Starts 3-0

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Colin Cowherd is joined by '3 & Out' host John Middlekauff to react to Week 3 in the NFL. They start off with Caleb Williams & Chicago Bears win over Dak Prescott & Dallas Cowboys. Are they buying either team going forward?  Next they hit Rams-Eagles to discuss the key to Jalen Hurts & AJ Brown in the 2nd half. Justin Herbert continues his impressive start to the season, this time the Chargers beat Bo Nix & Denver Broncos. They talk about Daniel Jones & Colts surprising 3-0 start, why they aren't buying Aaron Rodgers & the Steelers after their over the Patriots.  Lastly they end on the NFC West with the Seahawks dominating win over the Saints and Mac Jones filling in for Brock Purdy to lead the 49ers over the Cardinals. They talk a little college football hitting USC, Clemson & Indiana. Visit JLAB dot com. Or find the blue box at a retailer near you. That’s JLAB dot com. All lines provided by ‪@hardrockbet‬  TIMELINE 0:00:00 Cowboys-Bears 0:08:44 Rams-Eagles 0:19:44 Broncos-Chargers 0:30:17 Colts-Titans 0:36:32 Steelers-Patriots 0:42:52 Saints-Seahawks 0:47:30 Cardinals-49ers 0:57:14 USC, Clemson & IndianaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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So I felt for the first time, John, and I wrote it down here, I really felt it in that 19 play drive in the third quarter. I wrote down Harmony. I really thought it was the first time out of the first drive that I thought Caleb and Ben, there was a certain harmony. Like he wasn't rushing anything. Caleb made a couple of big time throws, capped it in the end zone. I think it was DJ Moore. but I did now the Cowboys again you they won the field position game Chicago did Dallas CD Lamb got hurt second quarter they didn't have a lot of offense in the second half

and I know Dallas isn't very good defensively but listen half the teams in this league aren't going to be very good defensively going forward with injuries and personnel I thought there was improvement I thought Caleb he dirtied a couple of easy balls but I thought there was some harmony with Ben yeah I mean I think the story the game is Ben Johnson versus Iber Fluse, which would be like, you know, a 20-year-old playing a five-year-old and pick up basketball. It's not a fair fight. I mean, I mean, Iber Fluse probably, I understand, like you said, injuries, but I think Iber Fluse is probably the worst defensive coordinator going. So I have a hard time. Listen, I give Caleb credit. He made that, that, that flea-flicker

is one of the more beautiful throws you will see all season long. It felt like a flu night, but I don't put much emphasis on, I mean, they score touchdowns with guys wide open. White open touchdown. DJ Moore, wide open touchdown. And Rome, I think the first touchdown of the game was a dig just fell on the ground. So it's just I listen, I'm not trying to be negative on this. A win's a win. Cool moment for Ben getting his first win.

But I truly believe that some guys in this league get recycled unfairly. And Iber Fluse is a good example. He has no business being a defensive court. It's embarrassing. I mean, no one, there's no one even around. So Caleb's hitting these guys. There was a stretch early in the second quarter where he missed a couple of balls. over the middle. I'm like, yes.

But then he calmed down. I thought Ben Johnson for the first time this year had a rhythm in his play calling. That's what I felt like. Yes. It felt like Detroit. But he's facing Yibber Fluse. You know, you face Green Bay, Minnesota, the better defenses. It's not like that. So I have a hard time making a grand proclamation that Caleb's fixed or anything, but you could only play who you're playing and they shredded any hit guys that were wide open. More of a reflection to me on Iber flus that it is, Caleb is fixed. But I, you know, one thing watching the bears, I felt, is they, they do have good offensive personnel.

I mean, Jesus, Luther Burden, Roma Dunzee, DJ Moore, Cole Committ, Colston Loveland, Swift's a nice back. He's a, he's not a star, but he's a nice back. If you give Caleb reasonable protection, which he certainly had in the interior, they ran the ball better today, here's the one thing. is if they become like the 23rd best scoring team in the league, it's not going to be on the personnel or Ben. They've got good players.

They have some really, really, even their third string back is a capable player. I would agree with you there. I think two things can be true, right? Iber Fluse and the Cowboys defensive personnel might be the worst in the league combination. And the bears are not as bad as they have looked through two games, offensive personnel standpoint. Listen, is Rome ever going to be Malik Nays? or Jamar Chase, probably not.

But he's a really good player, and he could be probably a really good too. We know DJ Moore is like a fringe, what, 1B, 2. So they got two good receivers. Cole Commets a good tight end. You know, and he's technically, they drafted a guy to supplant him. So I'm with you there. I'm fascinated to watch. Listen, sometimes, especially with a young player or a young person,

however you could get confidence is important. So whether it's against the worst defense of the league, who cares, right? So now it's time, can you build on this? Who do they play next week? The Raiders who aren't very good. Right. I mean, so that is something to keep an eye on. If they can build on it, then yeah.

Then maybe there is some life here. I just have a hard time extracting much from throwing it to guys that are wide open in the NFL because we know that's not the case, what, 15 to 16 of the games that you're going to play throughout the year, especially in that division, which is a good defensive division. You know, it's once C.D. Lamb got banged up. I mean, you got Tolbert and Turpin and George Pickens and Javante Williams, pretty good running back. But it is... For sure. Listen, here's what you and I both felt coming into the Cowboy season. This is a bad coaching staff. And I thought today, there was one point, it was, you know, it was a 14-14 game. But it was 14-3 after the first quarter. and was it 14-14 here, do I make a mistake here? That was 24-14. I think there was a point in the game when C.D. Lam went out, and I thought, well, you know, they've got some pretty decent weapons.

But one of the things that was pretty clear is that DAC was trying to throw the ball down the field and was getting pretty good protection, but he couldn't. And so once C.D. Lamb was out of the game, he was looking down field. you'd see him multiple times, John. Dak would be waiting and waiting to go down field and he would dump it off. Is that if you take C.D. Lamb out, you can see the Cowboys have missed defensively and offensively. They've missed on draft picks. They have a lot of C-level players. Well, let's take the two teams, you know, coaching staffs. You know, Ben Johnson obviously is one of the better offensive coordinators and offensive minds in the league.

And even Brady said, Dennis Allen is one of the tougher defensive coordinators. He faces a player. And I don't think he's just throwing out there. We've seen him when he was with the Broncos with Paid Manning, excellent. And obviously when he was with Sean Payton, they had a couple years where the Saints defense was excellent. That's why he got the job when Sean basically took the year off, right? So then you look, Brian Schottenheimer, hire Zeber Fluse. Say what you want about Mike McCarthy.

His due to two defensive coordinators, the last couple, you know, stretch was Dan Quinn and then Mike Zimmer. Right. I mean, those are obviously Dan Quinn is one of the better coaches in the league. and Mike Zimmer's resume speaks for itself. So you go from those two guys to Iber Fluse? I can't get over. I had a buddy one time tell me he was a long-time quarterback coach and he became an offensive coordinator

for like one of the worst teams in the league. And I said, I get the money, but can't this derail your career? He's like, actually this changes my career. Because once you go, oh, that guy's an offensive coordinator, whether you have success or you don't, you just get in that mix. Right. Mike McCarthy, when he became the head coach of the Green Bay backers hadn't been some dynamic offensive coordinator for years, but he was viewed as like

that was the next step. And I think sometimes guys, you know, Iber Fluse becomes a head coach. Well, if he's not a head coach, he's then just a coordinator. You see this with Brandon Staley. Well, what if they're actually just position coaches, you know, and they get in this cycle and, you know, Ben Johnson gets to play him and was running circles around him today. I mean, the flea flicker is a good example. Right now the flea flicker because the guy almost got tackled.

Yes. And he hits him and the guy's wide open. It's like, what is going on? on. These guys have no clue what they're doing. So listen, the coaching in this league, it's when you get good defensive coordinators, it really stands out. Brian Flores, the Robert Salas,

the Vic Fangios, when you get bad ones, it really stands out. And I think that was pretty evident in this game with Ben Johnson. And listen, I'm not trying to diminish Caleb Williams, but he was throwing to wide open guys, which is pretty unheard of. It happens on a play, but it happened

play after play after play. I mean, it was an unsirious defensive performance. All right, time to look at this weekend's tastiest matchup in this week's Sunday night foodball brought to you by Uber Eats, a company I use all the time. All right, Rams at one point led 26 to 7 and lost 33 to 26 to Philadelphia. My first, I have two major takes here. First of all, the Rams didn't draft a corner. And that was one of the curious things.

That was one of their primary needs was maybe a quarterback for the future. and it was a bad quarterback class and cornerbacks. They didn't. And A.J. Brown ate today. There was a lot of third downs. Devante Smith and A.J. Brown, Rams. And it wasn't like they were beaten badly. It wasn't like they were poorly coached.

Like Dallas, they just don't have any playmakers in the back end. And then twice kicks get blocked. They didn't draft the center. Another position of need on that offensive line. They're not very good at center. They've got, you know, Shelton, who's been, Shelton Coleman, I think, who's been around forever. And a kid out of Arkansas, they drafted six or seventh round.

And two, three times now against Philadelphia. Last year, remember in the playoff game, when the Rams are driving, and Jalen Carter blows up the final play, blows up their like six, seventh round center. And then twice on field goals, it's a Jordan Davis blowing up their field goals, two block, one for a touchdown. So they didn't address a lot of what they addressed in the offseat. season. You know, Devonte Adams has been a good find. Landman, the interior linebacker has been a good get. But they didn't draft a corner and they are below average at center. And if you play

Philadelphia and you don't have people and you don't have an elite corner against AJ or Devante and you can't block Jalen Carter and Davis, you're in big trouble. And I just thought, you know, it was a remarkable game in the first half. It was a coaching. mismatch. Like McVey was doing whatever he wanted. But in the end, I think Philadelphia went in. Nick Seriani made some adjustments and they completely dominated the second half. I just think when they play Philadelphia, the interior of the Eagles defensive line just continues to dominate the ram. Remember, the fourth and one call the Rams made. And the big guys blew that up as well. It's like four separate plays in two years and the Eagles are two and oh in those games because of those

moments. And even Greg Olson said, like, I wouldn't do that in this spot here. And McVeigh was like, because I'm with you. The Rams showed up to kick their ass. And they came out of the gates swinging. And it's at one point in time, I think it's 19 to 7 at half. It felt more like 30 to 7. It did. And, you know, the yardage that was up there was like 200 to 40 yards. I felt knowing that town a little bit, like I think this offensive coordinator is going to get fired. He's three games in. Listen, they're the defending champs, but this is not going to fly. And give them credit, they came out and they just started throwing it to 11.

They said, you know what? And Greg also kept saying it, like, just target him. Remember in the first game, he had one target. Just throw the ball 211, and they just started doing that. Some of it, it's not like Jalen is throwing these frozen ropes. Some of them are kind of floating in the air. AJ's attacking it. He's throwing the guy off him.

It's one of the great turnarounds of Siriani's career in a one-game situation. because I thought, this thing's weird. I mean, are they about to get blown out at home with people booing their offense? And I don't feel it gets a bad rap because they always boo. Well, I mean, that's what are they supposed to do? Cheer. I mean, at halftime, it was 115 yards rushing for the Rams, 34 for the Eagles. Rams had basically 100 yards passing.

Philadelphia had minus one. I mean, the game was 19 to 7 at half. And no question, it should have been like 27, 7 or 30 to 7. It was a complete mismatch. But again, you know, there was a moment. Stafford missed a couple passes down the stretch to. There was also Puka dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone. It wasn't an easy catch, but he should have made it.

It was one of these games when I look at Stafford. If he's out of rhythm and he missed a couple of passes, both in the red zone, you don't get anything out of the pocket. And I felt like he didn't have his best game. I thought in the second half he just was out. of rhythm. One defining moment that's kind of like a, you know, football in the weeds, but they mentioned on the broadcast, too, that Lane Johnson gets hurt, hurts his neck.

And it goes, that can't be good. And they put in the backup. And the backup is just getting destroyed. I mean, they were putting verse over there, and they got no shot. Well, then a couple series, they benched that guy and go to another backup, and he's dramatically better. And to me, that's kind of the defining attribute of this organization. They're pretty ruthless.

Like, just because you're the quote-unquote backer, you're not getting it done. You'll blast two series you're out of there with throwing another guy. And that helped change the game because there was a moment where you went, well, with Lane Johnson out, the physicality of the Rams their front with verse, with Young, with Fisk. Like, they're taking over this game. I mean, Jalen was, you know, sometimes he struggles a little bit. It feels like he's just out of rhythm. But today he was under siege in that first half, getting destroyed. So, you know, I think it shouldn't be that complicated.

like the Rams, they throw it to Puka Nakua all the time. Well, no shit. Like, how does it take you so long to throw it to A.J. Brown? Especially with Sequin, you know, the game plan was this. Force Jalen to stay within the pocket where he's not as comfortable and corral Seekuan Barkley. Well, if one thing Jalen is good at is throwing outside the numbers, anyone in the league will tell you that.

Obviously, on the move, throwing the ball down the field. But even in the pocket, throwing outside the numbers is something he's very comfortable doing. And clearly they got two, you know, a lot. elite wide receivers. I mean, they probably have one of, if not the best one, two combination in the league. And it looked like it was broken and then it wasn't. And then like you said, I mean, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, I mean, these guys were blue chipper.

Did you see how fast Jordan Davis? Oh, my God. I know he's lost weight. But on that field goal block, we're going to get into the ground. He was, at one point in time, it was taking like two steps to cover five yards. I'm like, I don't think people realize, even though he no longer weighs 350 and maybe he weighs 325. the movement on this human being.

And he's not even their star defensive tackle. That's Jalen Carter. So that was a blue chip game all the way around. I don't view the Rams that much differently. Like I think watching the Niners, like I would say today the Rams are a better team currently than the 49ers. But listen, I mean, at the end of the day, you got to find a way to win a game that you are controlling on the road.

Well, the difference. Eagles did not have life. They had no life. The Eagles have a star in every unit. The Rams at corner, they really need work. But Colin, most teams don't have, you know, Dion Sanders or Dorel Revis out there. So especially once AJ gets going, you would think you would cheat a little bit and give him some help.

I mean, they left him on an island. And AJ was just throwing whoever was on them one-on-one just over his shoulder. They're just, you know, working another five, ten, twenty yards down the field. It's amazing what happens in these games. Puka drops a touchdown in the fourth quarter. then they want to take a field goal to go up 29, 21, and it gets blocked. And it's like, oh, shit. And then Hertz hits Devante Smith, 2826, they lead.

But that touchdown, when it's dropped, then the field goal is blocked. And you're like, there's just two plays. And that's what the Eagles do. They just got a hand on the puka, on the puka drop, just enough body on it. And then they block the kick. And so when you have these moments, Dallas had these a couple weeks ago when they played Philadelphia. You have these moments. And when you play Philadelphia and you have these moments, you have to make the plays.

Because they've shown they're an uneven football team. They have really bad halves. It's not that rare for Jalen Hurtz to have a really bad half. He had a bad half against the Rams in the playoff game. Like he has this team is uneven. But when their horsepower revs up and they get momentum, I mean, Saquan's not even running. He hasn't been nearly as effective. But when they get going and they get that pass rush and over the course of a game, their defensive front wears you out. And I felt like at the end of the game, the Rams had all these card tricks. And then that just came down to personnel and the Eagles had better personnel. I also think when you have a guy like Saquan Barkley that terrifies these defensive coordinators that any moment can go 50 if you screw up a lane. They spent so much effort trying to corral him.

Well, they got Jalen Hertz, who at any moment they can just do that kind of keeper play. And then he can go, and you saw it with Kyler Murray. When you have a guy, those guys want to throw it. Like, Jalen no longer wants to run it. But at any moment, when he has to, he can get you seven yards. So like you said, yeah, he could be terrible. But at any moment, he could just gain them a momentum play with his own legs because you spend all your effort going on Seekwon.

Like, I don't think Seekwant's numbers so far through the beginning of the year look great. Can you imagine the emphasis Monday through Saturday that the defensive coordinators are screaming at the units to stop him? And that's where Jalen, and they always have that in their back pocket, and they've used it a couple times in the second half, just let him get to the edges.

Because even when you watch, when you watch Kyler, he looks like a wide receiver or something with a ball in his hands. Sometimes Jalen when he's running, doesn't even look that fast. But he's just a smooth runner, and he's very natural in space. He had one run today for like eight, nine yards in the second half that is just something

they can kind of keep in their back pocket. And let's face it, they play in a lot of close games because their offense has kind of been anemic this year. That was this week's Sunday night foodball brought to you by Uber Eats. When Football Makes You Hungry, get game day deals on Uber Eats. I do every week. The official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL, order now. I just did. This episode is presented by Uber Eats when football makes you hungry.

Order Uber Eats. I do every weekend. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

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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,

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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

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Okay, we're not going in any particular order here because the two big ones, bears, cowboys, Rams, Eagles. we've discussed. I'll go with the Chargers beating the Broncos 23 to 20. You know, it was Mario Hampton at his first touchdown. One of my takeaways in this game is that especially in the last several drives for both teams, Herbert's talent shines. And as I watch Bo Nix, because he had 61 college starts, John, he came into this league very close to his ceiling. And I think we've seen it. And as I watched him today, my takeaway is, this is what he is. Where I, where I think with Herbert, Harbaugh has taken him to another level and then Caleb Williams. But I, I feel that with Trevor Lawrence. Everybody's waiting for the next pop. And this is what Trevor Lawrence is. He's kind of a

long strider, gets balls batted down despite his size, can miss some open things, sees the field okay, not exceptionally. And I watched Bo Nix today, and he had a big play of Cortland Sutton, but again, he was wide open. It was a blown coverage by the Chargers. And he had a couple of really impressive scrambles. But I watched Herbert hit Keenan Allen on a huge play. And the moments of the game where you needed great athletes to make great plays, I kind of feel like what Bo Nix is, this is it. And if you're waiting for a jump, you're not really going to get it. That was my take watching this game today. Franklin had a drop two in the end zone that, you know, would have been a touchdown,

but there's no disputing the two guys. I mean, to me, Justin Herbert is, I mean, Patrick Mahomes is going to play a little bit later tonight, but he's been right there with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, the best quarterbacks in the league so far. Do you notice they are throwing deep bombs to Quinn Johnson multiple games? Yes, I mean, telling uncork it. And he missed him today on one, but at one point in time, he's going to hit him again. Yeah, he made, but they are throwing go routes and post routes to one.

And Herbert is letting it fly. I mean, the play he made to Keenan Allen for the game tying touchdown was Josh Allen, Mahomes. Yes. That's, Bo Nix doesn't have that in the back. I thought this was a kitchen sink game for Denver. Chargers played, what, Monday night on the road, a late pushback because it was a 7 o'clock kickoff. So what time, whatever they get back to the offices, 2, 3 in the morning, you're all thrown off. Monday shot because you played Tuesday you barely slept you're trying to get a game playing together

they are behind the eight ball Denver coming off a bad loss you think would be motivated had extra time and when they're up 20 to 13 you're like this is going to be a really impressive win for that's what I thought in their crew and not that terrible of a loss by the chargers like short week you didn't even play that bad you're missing kaleel mac it's not the end of the world and they found a way to win. I mean, you called them, what, the greatest coach of all time? Yes. Well, he's in full control. He's beat every team in the division through three games. Their defense is pretty dominant. But, John, I mean, it's amazing. They had a blown coverage to Cortland Sutton. But they went and drafted a couple of corners in the fifth round. They have the stickiest secondary.

I mean, because I think Denver's got some pretty quick young weapons. It's amazing. This was the worst defense in the league 20 games ago. The worst by a long. shot. They are sticky. There's just not a lot open. What wasn't, I mean, it's probably, you know, toward the end of 2003 when they gave up, what, 60 or 70 points to the Raiders on that Thursday night game, Brandon Staley, the night he was fired. I wrote down as Gerwin James, it's early, the defensive player of the year. I mean, he's on that path. I mean, the way they talk about him, how versatile he is for him, that they're tackling. You know, looking back like Harbaugh's team, let's say with the 49ers, like, of course they tackled well. They had Dante

hitting her. They had Patrick Willis, Navarro Bowman. This team's like, who are these guys? You know, you know Derwin James and Khalil Mack, but who are some of these? And they are hitting like they're the most physical defense in the league. In Denver technically was that last year. And it feels like the Chargers have already, if not matched, surpass them. And we know they got the better quarterback. Right. You could argue early in the season, like Herbert's every bit as good as Patrick Mahomes, if not better the way he's playing right now when you factor in the weapon. So you go, they got an elite quarterback. They got the best defense. We know,

they got an elite coach, not just a coach, a coaching staff. How about, I was thinking about this the other day is we've been hard over the years and rightfully so, like Belichick's coaching tree is atrocious. It's like the opposite of like Bill Walsh's. Underrated coaching tree and it's like an organization is the Ravens. You know, forever back in the day with Billick, all the defensive coordinators, and then with Hardball, all the different guys. Now they got Jesse Minter. Jesse Mentor is basically Mike McDonald 2.0 and Jim Harbaugh just took him from Joe. And look at it. This guy, they create such great defensive coordinators than a day and age where we go, we got to have an offensive guy and you're the one beating that drum. You're like, well, this guy's so good.

I might as well hire him to be my head coach. That's how good their guys are. I mean, let's face it, how's this guy not going to be a head coach at the end of this year? I mean, he's basically just doing Mike McDonald again. And we saw, look how good Mike McDonald is. I mean, Seattle looks really good at three games. Yeah, no, it's, it was a gut check win. When you come out, you don't have the prep time. You don't play particularly well in the first half. Naji Harris, by the way, that thing, this thing is just not worked. He got the Fourth of July fireworks. He had eye damage. Then he gets injured today. Now he's hurt. So it's like Hampton's actually had a little bit of a life. I mean, a little bit. So it feels like, you know, they're very lucky. They drafted Joe Alt, right? And everybody said receiver. And then Slater gets

hurt. And Joe Alt's been terrific. And then they bring in, you know, Naji Harris. and Hampton sort of starts slow. The Najee Harris thing doesn't work. So, and then, you know, people kind of went, is Hampton like a first round running back? The truth is they, the guys they've drafted have worked. I mean, they've drafted guys and they have needed them and they have delivered. And sometimes you also need, I don't even want to say luck in a personnel move, but just something to work out in your favor.

And listen, they broke up with Keenan Allen a year ago when they traded him. And he was available when they brought him back. and that thing looks like an excellent pickup because Keenan Allen, I mean, through three weeks, is making huge plays for them. Their style, now, technically right now they would have home games potentially, but if they had to go,

if they end up the two or three seed and have to go on the road in the playoffs, translates, right? Play defense, elite quarterback, run the ball, playing low-scoring, ugly games. Like, that works in January. You know, what we always said about, like, Mike McDaniels in the Tua situation,

like, this is not going to work in the playoffs. when it gets cold. Harbaugh works in the playoffs when it gets cold. So I think their stuff is going to translate. Obviously, it comes down to health. I do think it's pretty important, and they also avoided disaster in that Khalil Mack when he got injured. That moment on Monday night, you thought that he snapped his arm or something? Well, it turns out he might just miss a month and be okay, and you see him on the sideline. He's got the thing on. Maybe if he's able to come back and be Khalil Mack, because I think that would have been a move. Like they could replace Slater because they had alt. Like you don't replace that physical presence. So you get him back to go with

Derwin James and their overall defensive presence. I think whatever Harbaugh does with his quarterbacks, the mental psychology that he plays of, you know, some people think it's corny and hyperbolic or whatever, but he knows what he's doing. You know, he's, he's a little more intelligent when it comes to the motivation aspect than I think he gets credit for. Because Herbert, I mean, Herbert looks like John Elway or something right now in his prime. How, you know, how special is his, isn't it crazy looking back that Tua Tonga Bailoa was drafted above Justin Herbert? That's, that's one that's going to age in time. Like, how did that happen? How do we sit in a draft room and put those two guys together and take this one over that one? Like, it's, it's pretty

now it's easy to save money because even the Chargers, I think, kind of said that we probably would have taken two over them. But like, when you watch the two of them several years later, like, this is a different stratosphere of player. Yeah, I mean, size matters. I said it this week on FS1. How's Bryce Young, Tua, Kyler Murray, Johnny Mansell. You know, you start looking at these guys, Russell Wilson, size matters. Herbert 6-5, hose, big arm, physical player. I mean, just I'm sorry, if he put on 15 pounds, it could be a tied end in the league. It matters. He's just got so much horsepower. There was a play today. It was like third and nine with, you know, if the Cardinals get the first down. They could probably ice the game. What happens? Fred Warner tips the ball.

Kyler's 5-9. Yeah. And unlike Bryce, he's an elite athlete so he can make these crazy plays, but you're sitting in a pocket when you're 5-9, 5-10, it's much harder to see. I know we went through this stretch where it's like, we love these 5-10 quarterbacks. I like my guys to be 6-5 and run 4-6s with huge arms. I'll take Justin Herbert. You can take a little guy. Okay, Colts 41, Titans 20. Cam Ward had a bad pick six early. They asked him to throw once again 38 times on the road. Good luck. The Daniel Jones thing is fascinating.

So J. Mack was joking last week. Is he the new Baker? And I'm like, well, he doesn't throw the ball as well as Baker. And he's not as athletic as Darnold. He could be the next Gino. But I looked at some numbers today. He was seven of nine down the field, 10 plus today. I mean, Jonathan Taylor, you start looking at their personnel between Pierce,

Warren, Pitman, Josh Downs, Jonathan Taylor, they average seven yards of play. Daniel Jones is throwing the ball down the field. Is he 18 to 25, 230 yards? I mean, again, he's running the offense, John. They had four penalties. They didn't have any turnovers. First of all, I think the roster is better than people give it credit for. I think they have really interesting offensive personnel.

I mean, they've got, if you're number three receivers, is Josh Downs, pretty good number three receiver, considering you have an excellent tight end, a star running back. Remember that the Broncos got no real pass rush, and the Broncos got a pass rush on everybody, and they were pretty much stymied against the Colts. But I watched Daniel Jones today, and, you know, he's big, he moves. We talked about it.

He's like a stronger, bigger Alex Smith. I sat and watched them today, and I think they're going to win this division. Because I think they have probably, probably have the best offensive coach. I think their roster top to bottom. I don't know. I watched Daniel Jones today,

and he's making big throws down the field. I'd be stunned if they didn't win the division. He made several throws down the middle of the field that hitting guys in stride. I can't imagine Shane Stuyken and Chris Ballard when they see themselves in the hallway for the last couple weeks. This guy was a lifeline for them. them. He was, you know, they were drowning. They were in trouble. They were going to get fired.

Anthony Richardson was going to, you know, and some of these reports have come out that the owner forced them to take him. Like it didn't even sound like they want to take him. But they pivoted. And they got Daniel Jones who looks like not only is he going to save their careers, but he's resurrecting his. I mean, he's going to get a contract extension. Yes. Like, do you, do entertain, you know, if you are 11, 12 wins, giving him an extension in, in the season. season, like three years, $90 million or something? With the personnel you have and the coach you have, it makes sense. Yeah, and you wouldn't get burned in that division.

Again, because the Jags are tied to their quarterback, Houston's tied to theirs, Tennessee for three years is tied to theirs. You're not facing Herbert and Mahomes, Josh Allen. You're facing, you know, solid quarterback play. So my takeaway, I just, I know Chris Ballard, I like him. And I said this last week. Chris had talked, you know, they scrimmaged against the Packers and the Ravens, you know, in in preseason. And his takeaway was we can play with these teams. Our personnel matches up. Are we as good? I don't know. But he felt like watching it. He was like, you know, we've got guys. We've got dudes. I think in that division, you know, we've said this. Baker Mayfield in the division he's in. He is Josh Allen in that division. He's got three straight game running drives. So it does matter. And I think Daniel Jones, he's young, he's big, he's strong, nice weapons.

I don't know. I just watch him and I think Daniel Jones would not have happened, John, 15 years ago in this league. But there's so many good offensive coaches that you have this ability on your third and fourth team to pop and resurrect your career. Well, we talked about it earlier with Schadenheimer and I think the Colts are kind of the opposite. They pivoted off Gus Bradley and they got Lou Amaruno, who like, three years ago was viewed as one of the best defensive coordinators. And guess what? The Browns are cheap. Or, you know, the Brown family is with the Bengals. So they let a lot of guys go. And this, you know, in college, you and me could run a program. If we had by far the best roster,

it's going to be hard for us if you and I were coaching the team to not be really good. That's not the way the pros work. We see a lot of talented teams lose a lot of games. You need good players and you need good coaching. So they got Lou Amaruno and Shane Seichen. And now they got just a funk, I would say he's more than functional. right now. When Alex Smith resurrected his career with Harbaugh and then even early on with Andy, he was not the player that he became at the end when they pivoted to Patrick Mahomes. He was a lot better then. Then he went to Washington before he got injured. Alex was playing at a high level. Daniel Jones kind of went from really, really crappy the last couple years to the guy we're

watching right now is just playing really well. Because of the conference he's in, but it's like, he's having a pro bowl like season, distributing the ball. They have a bunch of playmakers. They have good coaching staff. They can run the ball. Their defense is good. Houston's in shambles. I mean, CJ Stroud's going the wrong way. Not all his fault. O-line sucks. Running game sucks. They're not doing anything well. They can't run the ball at all. They're good on defense. That's it. They're good on defense and their offense is basically a negative. And you watch Jacksonville, they just kind of seem like me. So I think the Colts are in the driver's seat as long as they keep Daniel Jones healthy. And they deserve credit for making this.

move. I said the moment they made the move, I'd be stunned if this guy doesn't start. And I think when I was on the Fox show, I said that this guy could, you know, resurrect his career because just we've seen it so happened so recently. Quarterback with some skills, get what gets with a offensive mind, right? And Baker, Sam Darnold, now Daniel Jones. We've seen a lot of these guys, you know, because of the impatience of the modern NFL, which I do think is fair. Like, You're not just going to keep rolling a guy out if it doesn't work. But that doesn't mean a guy can't go somewhere else. Having people believe in you is powerful.

And I can imagine it was probably pretty clear to Daniel Jones. Like, not only these guys believe in me, but I think we could be like I could be a good player here. And it's clearly working. Steelers 21, New England 14. I had probably the toughest three beats of the year. New England beat themselves. five turnovers, bad decisions, multiple penalties.

Aaron made a couple of nice throws, one to Metcalf, and another to Calvin Austin. Again, like, you struggled to give the Bears credit. It's hard for me to give the Steelers credit in this way. Same. New England beat themselves. It was funny. Vrable looks very patient on the sidelines. He doesn't show his disgust.

I mean, he knows he has a young team. He has a young quarterback. Yeah, I just, I watched this game and my takeaway was, Jesus, the Steelers just made fewer mistakes. They made enough plays. I like Drake May. And I think I said this last week and the week before, like, he needs another 15 starts. He just makes too many mistakes. I mean, he threw a red zone pick that was completely inexcusable.

It was, I mean, it was as bad as a red zone. pick. And by the way, the Cowboys, Milton and Dak through interceptions in the end zone. It was worse. Where are you on Drake May? Yeah, I mean, his numbers actually didn't look terrible, but if you watch the game, the Red Zone pick, I'd put that. Jordan loves interception as the picks of the day. Yeah, his fumble was awful. I mean, they had four fumbles and they lost all four of them. The Steelers were my favorite bet of the week. And I'm with you. I was shocked how close the game was. You get five turnovers and you don't win if you're a good team by 20 plus points. Their offense doesn't do much in Pittsburgh.

It's not a well-oiled machine. They can't run the ball consistently. No, and Aaron's something of his big play so far this year just kind of throw it up. Like that's not really an offense. They have no sustained drives. Defensively, to me, they look pretty putrid. I mean, this was why I kind of bet on them being a solid team is I thought they were going to be, maybe not top two or three defense, but definitely a top 10 defense.

I just don't think their defense looks very good. Now they made some plays today. They caused a fumble at the goal line, the pick. Drake threw it right to them. They easily could have lost this game. I mean, I'm out on Pittsburgh. I don't think they're very good right now. Same.

And I think one concerning part is we have seen guys invested in Miles Garrett. They gave him a bunch of money. Miles Garrett is a freak. He's one of the most talented guys in the league. You know, Max Crosby, every team in the league would line up to get Max Brousby. I think there is some concern. I know he fell on a fumble, but I think TJ does look his age a little bit, and they just gave him $100 million. Yep. Because I thought their defense was just going to be flying around hitting people, and you watch

him. They just, they don't really get to the quarterback. I don't know. I would be pretty concerned, especially as the AFC opens wide up. The Texan stink burrows out. The Bengals are done. It should actually, the Broncos are currently one and two. But if you're a Steeler fan, you've watched you go, I don't feel great about my team even though we're two and one. Yeah. No, and that's how I feel. You know, I wrote all my notes down here. And Aaron, by the way, had a bad pick.

But, I mean, just, I mean, it was 14-0 Pittsburgh early. And, you know, I wrote down, doesn't feel dominating. It's just they're going to struggle to put teams away. And I also think one of the problems is, and I've talked about this a lot, John, if you can't run the football, what happens is in the second half, your defense is on the field for too many snaps. Like today, the Bears ran the football. Well, the defense for the Bears in the fourth quarter was getting a pass rush. Guys had great energy, and a lot of it was because Chicago ran the ball, especially in the third quarter.

And you can extend drives. And Pittsburgh, again, they score, but they don't, it's not like you feel really good about this team on third down. So, I mean, listen, you are what your record is. But of any game today, I felt New England gave the game away. Had like four different opportunities in the second half to win, and either fumbles or penalties killed each one. Well, the other thing, not being able to run the ball, they play in a division where it gets really cold.

They play in a cold weather place. Right? So you're going to have to run the ball and play defense. When I'm looking at their schedule, you know, starting about mid-November, home against the Bengals, at the Bears, home against the bills, At the Ravens, at the Browns, home against the Ravens. These games are not going to be San Francisco 70 degrees.

I mean, it's going to be really cold. He's not going to be able to just sling it around. He's an older quarterback. So one thing that's pretty clear is these older guys, once the weather turns, harder for them to stay loose, I think Rogers already looks his age. Yes. What's he going to look like when it's 30 degrees in windy at Baltimore or in Pittsburgh when it's freezing cold? We saw Rathesburg at the end when it got cold.

It's hard. You don't look as limber. You really, that, to me, would be really concerning for me. If our defense and we can't run the ball, what happens when the weather turns? Yeah, I mean, I thought Matt Stafford today a little bit. There were times you're like, boy, Matt, Matt looked off. And like, well, he got hit, and they started saying, he started kind of touching his back. He went, ooh.

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There's a couple of games that aren't worth a ton of time. Seattle 44 Saints 13. What's remarkable is Seattle had 38 to 6 at half and only had the ball seven minutes. I don't remember ever watching a pro football game where the first half felt like I was watching a pro football team against the college team. I mean, New Orleans was awful. Special teams, defense, offense. I don't know if Seattle, I mean, if you took the national champions in college football and said,

if you took last year's Ohio State team, would they trail 38 to 6? It was, I'm serious. New Orleans is right now as bad as a team can get. And again, I pick Seattle to be in the playoffs. You know, they've really figured out. how to use Darnold. It's really effective. It's a lot of pitch and catch.

They don't put him in bad spots. They're not impatient. Like they, they, John Snyder, they went and got Sam Darnold and they had a game plan on how to use him. And it's really effective. He's not going to put up the numbers in Minnesota. But this defense, this run game, like as I watch Seattle, my take is that's an organization. You know, Seattle, John, has been better run than people think.

they've been a really so they draft well they develop well they've generally been they've kind of done a pretty good job to remain in their division they're always competitive i watch seattle right now i mean they blew pittsburgh out in pittsburg if darnold doesn't hit he created his own fumble they're in the red zone to beat san francisco i think seattle is really good right now yeah i mean this is what we talk about with quarterback and offensive coordinator coach Hegeon. You know, they get Kubiak who knew him, and it fits. He fits in the Shanahan offense. And I think it was either the first or, I think it was their first touchdown that he threw to JSN. It's like he's a good athlete, get him on the move. And they ran them out because in this

offense, you know, you saw Mack Jones Day doesn't move that well. And it kind of limits what the 49ers can do on offense because a huge part of the Shanahan offense, which Kubiak might as well be a Shanahan cousin is the boot action getting your quarterback on the move, and Sam has a big arm. I'm with you. I think Mike McDonald is a stud. I mean, I think he is big time. And this division right now, all three teams are two and one and the nine and three and oh. I mean, I think all these teams are all four of the teams are feisty.

You know, I think the Rams, when they're on with Stafford are the best. Obviously, the Niners are just well coached now with Salah and the defense. And when Purdy comes back, I think Seattle's high. high end. They have a bunch of young, explosive players. And if the Cardinals, I mean, they might end up being the worst team in the division, they are not that bad. I mean, you know, Kyler's a bizarre player because he's like, I don't know if he's good, but he's definitely not bad and he can make enough plays. He's tough to play because he's so fast. He actually has pretty good touch on his throws. Like he's not, you know, you watch Caleb sometimes, like, ah, they're a little, because he

throws so hard. Kyler has great. I don't know if it's the baseball. ball in them. This division's tough. I mean, to me, it's wide open. I wouldn't even say the Cardinals are out of it. But, you know, I think Seattle and the Rams, who technically have, you know, 2 and 1 versus the Niners and 3 and O, by no means. I mean, this is, this is going to come down to the wire. They're all going to beat up on each other. I do think Seattle, the home field's kind of awoke this year. It feels, you know, the Niners went up there in one, but that place was loud and rocking. I think they kind of got their swag back. Listen, I think Sam Darnold, if you can get Sam Donald for a cheaper price than Gino Smith and flip Gino for a third round pick,

I think it was kind of a no-brainer move, especially get a little younger. I think the one thing you see with Gino, and I bet Sam has some of this too, is Gino's 35, 36 years old, older player, 34. He doesn't play well against good teams. He doesn't. So forever when he was against Seattle, for those couple years' stretch, when the Niners were really good, he was terrible against them. You watch them against the Chargers, he's completely overwhelmed. watching the day against Washington, they felt kind of overwhelmed. Where Sam, like, listen, he's a decade younger, or seven, eight years younger.

And he was always a better athlete. Yeah, he was always a better athlete. He moves much better. They both have huge arms. And he's just playing at a higher level. So I think it was a relatively easy move for him. And it's definitely going to pay off long term. It wasn't a very fun game to watch.

San Francisco, the Niners beat Arizona 16 to 15. Nick Bosa got banged up, Arizona for a long term. spell dominated time of possession. You know, it's one of those games where, again, I don't have a strong take because Mack Jones played. You're very limited what you can do with Mac Jones. I mean, again, when he is stationary and has time to throw, he can be really good. You know, today there's limitations on what you can do. Of course, there was that safety, which gave, you know, in the end zone where, you know, Arizona, I thought was going to pull this thing out. I don't know what it is exactly. with the injuries with San Francisco.

I mean, it's a perpetual issue. I don't know. And again, I think they've missed on enough draft picks. I think they've gotten old. And one of my predictions was this year is I like San Francisco, but two things can be true. They're old, brittle, and expensive at key spots. They're already banged up.

I mean, what do you think they look like? I mean, the win today, but what do you think they look like in six to eight weeks? I would say this. They've hit on some young players. Ricky Pearsall today was a man amongst boys. Like, Rickie Pearson, like Marvin Harrison so far is a whiff. Yeah.

Like that's shocking. If they get a redo, they would go Malik Neighbors over Marvin Harrison. Ricky Pearsall, in like a three-game stretch, looks like a number one wide receiver. Mikeliel Williams, the dude they drafted from Georgia, was making big-time plays. D. Winters, who replaced Dre Greenlaw, looks like he's going hand in hand right there with Fred flying around, hitting people. So they've hit on some young guys. The problem is Kiddles missing, Purdy's been out. Now, granted, Mac Jones, you win two games as a backup quarterback.

I've said this last week. You win one game, you earn your salary. You win two, you're underpaid. Mac Jones immediately two games win, led him on a game-winning drive. He's underpaid. But he's already banged up, lipping around. Bo said, like the first couple drives, Perch's knee out for the game.

I saw that they are going to get tests tomorrow. They don't believe it to be an ACL. that would be devastating. Trent's looked old. He is old. I mean, you know, Kittles been missing. So, yeah, they are just, they're pretty dependent on their high-end guys if they're going to compete at the highest level with the Eagles,

with the Rams, with any team in the AFC. But for the most part, they don't play any of these teams. Besides the Rams, they play a lot of bad teams on their schedule. So this is why I picked them to make the playoffs. Now, can they go for in the playoffs? Not if they're not healthy. But they can have a successful season. And today coaching, I mean, Robert Salah's been incredible for us through three games.

Their defense is flying around. Yeah. And last year, it was funny. If Bosa got banged up last year, it felt like a major personnel issue. And yet this year it doesn't. So that's just like, it's just like Jim Harbaugh. Last year you're like, oh, outside of Darwin James, Cleo Mac, charges just don't have enough dudes. Why are they all great now?

Like so much of his coaching in this league. And I do think we're seeing a slight pivot back to the respectability of defensive coaches. Sala, Mike McDonald, Jesse Minter, Brian Flores. Like, I think you and I have talked a lot this year about some great defensive coaches. I mean, Todd Bowles deserves credit. The Jets were inept. They scored three touchdowns in 11 minutes. That game was awful.

And then Baker. But, I mean, Todd Bowles deserves credit. Like, there's no ego, very chill. But I, you know what I think is really interesting? I would get, if I ran the dolphins, I would get out from under Chris Greer, the GM, and I would get out from under Tua's contract. I'd do what I had to do. If I had to cut him, if I had to trade him, I would.

I never quite know what to do with Kyler Murray, because unlike Tua, he's actually very elusive and highly athletic. I think he has a better arm, although it's not a great arm. I think there are times he just can't see downfield. I don't know what you do with Kyler Murray. What do you do? Yeah, I think you're kind of stuck. I actually thought he played pretty decent today.

I mean, he just makes so many plays with his legs. Oh, God, he made a ton today. There's just a ceiling with him. Like, he's never, like, Jalen can drive you nuts, but he makes enough throws if AJ and Devante are rolling from the pocket outside the numbers. You know, Kyler's very hit or miss that way. most of his explosive plays, it feels like, as a thrower come from on the move, which, of course, he's probably one of, if not the best athletes in the entire league.

But if you told me, Kyler just, like, quit quarterback tomorrow and learned how to play corner. I'd be like, I bet he could be a really good nickel corner. Yeah. You know, he's how many guys could, like, Mac Jones couldn't start on defense for a high school team. So I think that, I think the Cardinals are pretty well coached. They're tough. You know, I thought it just, he just got limitations.

But what do you do? I had this thought watching the Thursday night game with Tua is I think it's so easy. And we saw all these backup quarterbacks. You know, it's been like this forever with Dak and the Purdy's and the cousins. I think it's easy to say, hey, you know, for that second tier of guys, of course, if you got the elite guy, you just ride him to the wheels fall off for 15 years. But if you got that next tier of guys where it's like, could we do better than Brock Purdy? Could we do better than Dak?

Sure, you probably could if you can find Justin Herbert somewhere. because all I heard all offseason, I was probably guilty of this too, is like, oh, look at these quarterbacks in college. I've been flipping around the last couple of weeks, and I'm not seeing a college. So because unlike, and I say this all the time, like basketball, for example,

when you see these guys coming out of high school, they're going to be a locked top 10 pick, right? As long as they're healthy. When you start hearing about Gilbert Arenas's son or Marcus Spears' son or whoever, these guys, whether they be, maybe they have incredible college years and go number one overall.

But worst case scenario, go shitty, Ron Harper's kid, and go two or three. Right. But in football, hype doesn't mean anything once you start playing the games. All I heard, DJ Lagway, DJ Lagway stinks. Yeah. Arch Manning, maybe he's injured or whatever, but no one could draft him in the first round. I'm not sure he's a draftable period right now. No, he's not.

But you just go around the country, all these guys that you hear. And then there'll be a couple that kind of come out of nowhere. but it's hard to replace Tua, let alone Kyla Merritt, like, who are you replacing them with? You don't have any option. So I've actually kind of come around of like, I get it.

Now, I wouldn't want to be in position to pay them. But like, I do, and I think they're always paid too much. It's like, who are you negotiating against for Tua? You couldn't offer him three years, $100 million. He's going to say, no, I hated it out. The day they signed him, I said,

you're going to regret this. This is a bad contract. Same thing with Kyler Murray. It's like, remember when the, they rushed into it after three years. Like, why are we doing this? Like, how is the agent taking you guys to school? But I do understand it's writing it out for a couple years because who do you have to replace them? Now, I do think you get to a point where you get in a situation like Anthony

Richardson, you're like, this is not, we can't play like this, right? But when you get Kyler Murray, who could they find available that could come in and beat Kyler Murray out? Even Sam Donald. Let's say, now he got $50 million, but let's just say in a world a year or two ago, they could have got him for $10 million. Are we sure Sam Darnold in a training camp situation where Kyler already knows the opposite could beat him out? No. There's not, especially if it's just like truly an open competition,

there's no guarantee. And you're like, why are we going to waste $10 million on a competition with someone that probably won't beat him out where we could use those resources other places? I think you can find yourself in a bad spot. Because the reality is there are five, six guys max who can play this position at the time. the highest level. I thought C.J. Strau was one of those guys. I watch him now. I'm like,

is he a top 15 quarterback. No, I mean, he has regressed. I mean, it is bad. I want to talk like Kyler, for example, is way better than him right now. I would take Kyler in a heartbeat over C.J. Stroud. No question. So it shows you like that guy six to like probably 15 at the lowest. They're so predicated on who they're playing with, who's coaching them, the scheme that they're running, who they're playing. Like, they are very fickle. Like, you watch Brock Purdy for a stretch. You're like, God, this guy's playing at an elite level.

And then you watch him on his bad games. Their floor is a lot low. Like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, their floor is pretty freaking high. Herbert now, his floor is pretty freaking high. Bo Nix, his floor is low. Yeah. You watch him on his off stage. You're like, whoa.

Even Cam Ward. I'm rooting for the guy, but I'm watching him like, ugh, he's got a ways to go. Yeah. I want to talk some college football. I saw a stat this weekend. Listen, Clemson's not very good. They didn't want to do the transfer portal. And it feels like they need about six more good players.

But, you know, and I like Davosweeney. I think he's stubborn. I think Mike Cheshefsky for about two years was stubborn with one and done. Bobby Knight was forever. And it was the end of Bobby Knight's career. I think dabble has to go into the transfer portal. And you don't have to get 13, 15, 18 guys. You could need eight.

But they just don't look talented enough. I think USC is better than people think. So I'm going to the Trojans Illinois game. There were a seven-point favorite. Illinois got smoked. I watched 12 hours of college football yesterday. 12 hours. I sat in front of a TV forever.

Nebraska, the stat I saw that was funny, Nebraska's lost 29 straight games to ranked opponents, which doesn't even sound right. But I also stayed up until 1.30 in the morning watching USC. You watched the whole game? I fell asleep at about six minutes to go. I fell asleep. Then I woke up the next morning and watched YouTube at the end.

I'm two hours ahead of you. I made it through about half a quarter and I was asleep. So you're better man. Well, I took a huge nap in the afternoon. So I got up super early and then 11 in the morning, which is like nine your time. I took a 45 minute nap. So I stayed up and I watched it. If you're doubting Lincoln Riley's coaching, Jaden Mayava has actually been the most impressive quarterback I've seen.

Now, I think Bryce Underwood at Michigan's got a freaking. hose. I mean, he throws with velocity that is just intense. It jumps. It's like Josh Allen. It jumps off the TV screen. It's intense. So I think Bryce is more talented, obviously. But I'm watching USC. It's the first time since Pete Carroll. They are big up front defensively. They got NFL guys. They get

huge pass rush. They're bad on the corners. So they're going to be a team that's going to get into a shootout and lose. Try to Oregon. They're not going to be able to contain them. But I watched that Jaden Mojave. Last year, he was immature. He was wild. That kid has been so coached up. I looked at him and I'm like, nobody is. I saw this year, he was right like the 16th best college quarterback from college service. I'm like, I've watched Kay Blubnick and Drew Aller. I mean, Dante Moore of Oregon's impressive. There's another guy that he looks good. He can spin it. Like that kid can spin it. But I think USC is going to beat Illinois. They got smoked. by Indiana. What is your interpretation? Like I've said before, I think NIL saves Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley.

Nobody can spend $20 million year on players and then buy out the coach $80 million. Brian Kelly is going to be fine. Lincoln's going to stay for years. But I will say watching the running back room where they went and got a couple of transfers, watching this quarterback, who I think is way better than the nation's talking about, watching their size, USC looks like a playoff team to me. I was on a couple text threads yesterday, and one theme, and you've been on this, I think as this NIL era keeps expanding, and obviously the prices, I mean, you and I hear

about some of them behind the scenes. These numbers aren't being made up. They are outrageous. The Big Ten has benefited the most from it. And I'd say top to bottom. I'm watching Rutgers, Iowa. I bet these programs have boosters because they're in. enrollments.

Maryland's 4-0. They have the money backing them, let alone Oregon, Ohio State. Well, what does USC have? You know, Texas Tech, who I loved Utah. Maybe I just under, I didn't take Texas Tech seriously because they've never been good on defense. Well, guess what? They have a billionaire who bought a bunch of defensive linemen, and they dominated Utah.

And Utah's got the best offensive line they've ever had. Two first round picks. But do you know what money can do? It can buy you, you know, past rushers and run stuffers. And they dominated the front. So to me, the NIL era, it has never been more evident. Does Clemson have the money that Oregon and USC have? No chance.

How could they? So I wonder if there's a financial standpoint of, and the one thing I would say for Davo, and I would say this if this year looks where it's headed with Mike Tomlin, sometimes, like, you can only be in a place so long eventually. Bill Walsh, you say it's 10 years. These guys are defying it. Maybe he's 15, 20. I saw Dabo, you know, you felt bad for him, like how.

he was saying how much it hurt him. He's been there 23 years in his assistant and head coach. Why not go to Florida? Just get a new start, get people that appreciate you. Get, you know, new boosters. Have a new world. Like, maybe it's just time for a change. You know, and it does feel like he's holding on till the bitter end

where it's like clearly not working. I mean, Colin, they could easily be able for. They were losing to Troy and I don't know if it was a hurricane or just your average Southern Storm, but delayed the game. They were getting killed. Their first quarter. 16 to nothing. This first quarter against Syracuse.

Syracuse was kicking their ass. Oh, it was 24 to 7. And the first quarter, I'm like, I looked at a mock draft. I'm like, they have two of the top seven defensive players. It's like they were getting rolled by Syracuse. Well, the other thing is I think Sabin said this a while back is, you know, NIL's great. But when you pay the wrong guys, you're in trouble. K Club Nick is just not very good.

And regression, I don't know. I mean, he played well in that playoff game against Texas, throwing some of those go routes where they hit some touchdowns to make that game kind of close. he has looked at trocious. And the one thing we know now that college football with NIL and money has become a little more like pro football, if you do pay the wrong quarterback, I'd say the same thing for Nebraska.

Like I watched Dylan Ryola and he's going, I don't really see it. I don't see it either. I don't see it. You know, like is John Matier the number one overall pick? Probably not. But is he damn good in college and he's changing Oklahoma? Hell yeah. Oh, no, he looks like he's got it.

Yeah. So you look around college football and you go, like the kid at Oregon more. He was thrust in for Chip, right? Clearly wasn't ready. Their team wasn't as good offensively. And everyone's like, oh, this guy sucks. No, he's an 18-year-old.

He's got some physical skills. UCLA's talent around him's not great. He kind of got, he almost got like a Sam Donald, Baker Mayfield, got to go away, sit for a second. Now he's on a team loaded, really talented. The Cal quarterback, who had awful game. But he's a good player. He went to Oregon in the spring.

graduated in Hawaii early, a high school kid, realized there's no chance I'm playing here, transfers to Cal. He's a guy that's going to get multiple million dollar offer this off season to go play at LSU, Florida State. And more like Oregon, I think a lot of people are sleeping on them. I think a lot of people thought USC was underrated because last year their record, while it was terrible, didn't they lose like eight of their, you know, five of their losses were once or whatever? They beat LSU, Texas A&M, and they lost to Penn State in overtime. Like, they beat teams. And when they lost outside of the Notre Dame game where they just were a mess, outside of that.

Minnesota, Maryland, they had some devastating. They led all those games with seven minutes to go. So I just, I watched them. I watch their speed. I watch their size. And I'm like, I don't know, this quarterback, I've been so overwhelmed. Dante Moore has impressed me. Jaden Maiav has impressed me.

And it's a Nussmeyer. is really hit and miss. He was not good this past weekend. So I don't know. I just, I think to your point, you and I had said this, and I know it's offensive to some people, but in the South, those are smaller schools, and the car dealer can be the first or second biggest booster. We're talking about venture capital money at Michigan. We're talking, you know, that's what you're getting at USC. Guys are writing $20 million dollars checks. They get $30 million annual bonuses. It's just a different world. I'm stunned. I wanted to hate Cignetti last year, him getting in the playoffs, then embarrassing himself, and I was kind of, you know, rooting for Illinois. They beat the

living, you know what, at Illinois. I mean, that to win at 63 to 10. Yeah. So you could have taken Illinois plus 52 and you would have lost. I mean, in Illinois over the last couple years with Bealama, that's a real team. Listen, Indiana, maybe they're better this year. They get the Cal Transfer, Mendoza, who's had a really good game against them. Maybe this Signetti guy actually is better than I thought because, and this is what we talk about, the Big Ten, like they got, they're buying players. Like Indiana, Indiana football. This is Lee Corso in the 70s.

This is 2025. Now, are they as good as Penn State, Oregon, USC, and Ohio State? Probably not. But I take them a little more seriously after that game to Illinois. I know that because I took Illinois in that game. But that, it's worthy to win. 63 to 10? 63 against Bilema?

That was the most impressive performance, I thought, over the weekend that I saw. John Middlkoff, three and out is his podcast, former NFL Scout. As always, buddy, good, good work. Fight on, Colin. The volume. Well, I've been using my J-Lab headphones for a couple of years now. They're still like brand new. They have great, amazing battery life.

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