The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Bears Light It Up, Packers Cause For Concern, Epic Texas Comeback vs. Ohio State, Josh Allen Dominant

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out’ on The Volume. They start with Caleb Williams and the Bears hanging 59 points on the Panthers and Colin believes Caleb will be a top 5 quarterback by the end of the season (2:30). They compare the performances of Josh Allen and CJ Stroud in the Bills win over the Texans and Colin is highly impressed with the Bills offense (10:30). They move to the Ravens drubbing the Colts and Colin thinks Ravens coach Jesse Minter might be the new “hot coordinator” to star young coach in the league & they marvel at Derrick Henry’s longevity (16:30). Colin argues the Bengals are a candidate to double their win total from last season after beating the Bucs and improving their defense, and criticizes Baker Mayfield for causing too many turnovers (29:00). They react to the Chargers being lit up by the Cardinals (35:00), the Lions narrowly escaping the Saints in OT (40:45), and the Eagles hanging on to beat the Commanders (50:00). Colin criticizes the Packers as being a bad fourth quarter team after their loss to the Vikings, and they see serious cause for concern for Green Bay (56:00).  Finally, they move to college football and react to Texas completing a massive come from behind win to beat Ohio State, and break down the play of Arch Manning (1:10:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Volume. Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title sponsor, the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy. All right, John Middilkoff, former NFL scout, his podcast is three and out. Well, the top teams in the NFC, the Rams, ugly loss, Sam Darnold hurt for the Seahawks. The Eagles offense is anemic shocker again, and the Lions blew a 21-0 lead and held on to beat the Saints at home, despite Tyler Shuck having a first half that was as bad as you could play in the NFL. So the NFC, which felt like the heavy, the loaded conference has had a very wild week one.

Here's what wasn't disappointing. Bears 59 Carolina 37. So last year, Ben Johnson comes in and says, we've got to clean up the sacks. They did. This year, Ben Johnson comes. comes in and says, we got to get the accuracy up. Caleb goes 21 to 29, 124 passer rating, 72% completion percentage in a game that was tied at 24 all at half. Chicago came out. I mean, first of all, when I went to the Bears practice, Caleb's speed, because he'd lost

about 12 pounds, was noticeable. He had two runs today. One of them looked like a wide receiver. Secondly, John, let's start with this. I mean, when Ben came out and said, we want to be the greatest offense ever, you know, it sounded a little like Mike Martz would say something like that. But you're watching today and you're like, Roma Dunzee now looks like a first round pick. And, I mean, I, Cole, Comet had a touchdown. I, you know, listen, Caroline is not great, but the spread was three. It was on the road.

I was blown away by the Bears O line, their efficiency. What say you? I mean, 59 points in an NFL game, especially week one, is absolutely incredible. I don't care if you're playing a college team, Colin. I mean, that was, I mean, coming into the season, I think we all had high hopes for Caleb, right? An MVP contender. This was, I mean, those touchdown runs, like you said, that pass he had to commit, which was a great catch. But how about the touch on that ball?

Colin, last year it was clear when they really got going. Ben Johnson is not Andy Reader Sean McVeigh. He's not trying to throw it 50 times a game. He loves running the football. They had almost 300 yards rushing today, you know? And Caleb had two big runs, but he only ran for 65 yards. They had 200-yard runners. They just extend Swift.

Menungi looks fantastic. He had the long run. I called him this last year. I feel even better about it this year. He is the Midwest version of Kyle. Now, he has, you know, Caleb is such an explosive playmaker, but Ben Johnson wants to run the bowl. Like, they scored 59 points kind of playing like a Signetti style. He threw, he had 29 pass attempts.

If I would have told you the Bears had a game this season where they scored 59 points, he'd probably been like Caleb has 40, 45 attempts and, you know, throws for 400 yards. 29 pass attempts, 59 yards, or 59 points, that's, I couldn't get out. Now, I'm not trying to diminish the performance, but I do think we have to, the Bears defense, you know, just to be like this is some powerhouse Super Bowl lock. I mean, their defense got some issues. But man, that offense, maybe Ben was on to something. Their offense might shatter some records.

I mean, the Bears' first two drives, they had 10 rushes and three passes. So your first two drives of the game generally tell you what the offense and the head coach and the coordinators think. they sort of lay out what they want to do. It was going to be a 70-30 run Sunday. Eight touchdowns in any NFL game. And again, say what you want about Carolina. Playoff team.

Bryce Young was pretty good today. I mean, they have three Coker, Legette, T. Mack. They have three giant receivers. They move the ball. I think, you know, Jalen Johnson, I think is like a top 10 corner. Malik Mohamed, they draft out of Texas. and then they went and got the Oregon safety. They know their issues.

Like they know they're not very good in the back end. And I do think Carolina presents challenges that most teams don't. They're gigantic at wide receiver. So I think Carolina's offense, I mean, they gave the Rams problems last year. Like if you have average corners, Carolina is a problem. Dave Canales is a clever offensive coach. But I said this on FS1 not long ago. I said by the end of the year,

will be a top four or five quarterback. That's how we will view him. And I, you know, I'm watching Jared Goff today. And you just can't do. Kirk Cousins with Las Vegas, who had a couple of picks. I'm watching. I'm like, you just kind of limited. Jared Goff, you're kind of limited in what you can do. If you're not, you know, Jemir Gibbs had a good day. But if you're running games not going, you're kind of stuck. And I'm watching Caleb and I'm like, and we saw Josh Allen today. You're given another 30, percent of playbook, John. You have so many options in Chicago. And the other thing is, all these young offensive guy, Roma Duncei, Luther Burden, Colston Loveland, Manung guy, DeAndre Swift makes a pretty good living. But there are a lot of these guys are on rookie contracts. So you haven't had to pay them yet.

Most are in like year two. So I just look at Chicago and I'm like, we're watching, this is an ascending group. This isn't the ceiling. Yeah, I mean, when you have all these games going and you're kind of looking at all these different boxes. You know, Lamar and Josh today look like they are just, they're ready. I mean, those two guys. I mean, Josh, Josh is, I never saw Elway in his prime beside the highlights and the Netflix documentaries. I mean, was he that?

What Josh brings to the table as a runner is like, and Lamar, I was a little out on the Ravens, but I might need to change my tune. But those two guys, I mean, I know they haven't got to the Super Bowl, but they're two of the greatest regular season players we've been. ever seen. Caleb is, you know, his talent is right there with those guys. And remember last year, wasn't he running like 22 miles an hour? So speed as a runner is incredible. And now the accuracy, the commit the touches, he had a great pass to Rome that Rome kind of moss the guy went over him. 59 points, that's almost statistically impossible in the NFL without a couple defensive

touchdowns. You know, it's not like they're getting pick sixes or fumble sixes. I mean, You'll look at the Steelers. I mean, almost half their points come from TJ Watts, pick six. The Bears, they do nothing. Now, Muhammad did have a pick, but their defense, they're going to have some games or they're going to need them to score a lot of these points. Well, yeah, and the, you know, the thing about that division now, Kyler's hurt, Green Bay, kind of a tough watch today.

Detroit, I mean, the Saints kind of, I thought the Saints both lines of scrimmage were really good. Saints might be good. I mean, they started slow. But they, I mean, you and I both like them this year. I think they're going to be pretty good. Let's remember the Bears led the NFL and big plays last year. So like this is just an extension. It's year to a Ben Johnson. Guy just bears clobber Carolina. And I don't think it's a, well, Carolina is no good. Carolina's fine. Carolina is a, you know, again, Carolina played some good teams close last year. Okay. The game of Bill's 36, Texans 31. I'll give you an example. This is the difference. I was telling my guys, because we're here at the volume offices, and I said, C.J. Stroud's a solid quarterback. But the last drive for both, the last drive of the game. Josh Allen was four of five, 82 yards, never sacked at a perfect passer rating 158.3. C.J. Stroud's last drive against the lesser of the two defenses, and he was at home, four and of seven, 46 yards, sacked twice and an 83 passer rating.

Those last drives, watching those two quarterbacks, the gap in talent between a very solid playoff quarterback C.J. Stroud and Josh Allen, it is the Grand Canyon. I mean, I'm watching, I think Josh Allen, I did watch Elway. I would say Josh Allen is the most talented player in the NFL right now. the gap's pretty large. And then I would, I think, and I was watching him today and we were kind of talking about it. I just raw talent, run, throw, accuracy, playmaking is Josh Allen the greatest talent in the history of the league? Talent.

Any position. Yeah, close. He was a man amongst boys. And that's, for my money, at least coming into the season, the best defense in the league, that they have at all speed coverage. And it's not like he's throwing to. You know, Andre Reid out there. It's a lot of Palmer's game-winning touchdowns. I mean, King Kay is a good player.

But, man, he was, I like Houston coming into this game. I saw a stat on your show last week. They're one and four the last five games. Remember last year in the game he was sack like eight times and it felt like 30. And today he was just on a different level. Now, on that final drive, you said four or five, he did have a far kind of just throw it up there and got lucky Lasseter dropped the ball. I mean, that was, Josh, what are you doing?

But the very next play, he hits Palmer right over the middle, game winning touchdown. And that's kind of the Paul he missed going kind of the other direction last year against Denver, right, for basically a game winning touchdown in the playoff game. Think about this. So Joe Brady takes over. We don't know if he's a good head coach. It's about a 50-50 hit rate on coordinators. But in Houston against the best defense, DeNeil Hunter didn't do much, but against the best. defense in the league. In the first half, the bill's average 10 yards of play. That's insane.

Nobody moved the ball like that last year. So DJ Moore had a touchdown. Boy, him and Jonathan Kincaid obviously work. Palmer was like a number four receiver. I think he's their fourth receiver. You know, Brandon Bean gets a lot of heat. And he is thin-skinned. I mean, he can be thin-skinned. He likes to me. Yeah, he listens. I mean, it's, listen, it's Buffalo. It's the only game in town of note. So, you know, the GM of the bills is going to get hammered, and he probably gets tired of it. And the fans are frustrated because they have the best player in the world and they can't win a Super Bowl.

I totally get it. But I'm going to, I'm going to defend it. I think their offensive talent's pretty good. I mean, I'm watching today. If Josh Palmer's your four, DJ Moore, I thought was a good pickup, James Cook, they have really, really good tight ends. I thought their O-line handled themselves okay today. Like, I think I picked Buffalo to win the Super Bowl. I picked Buffalo to get to the Super Bowl.

I also thought Detroit could get there. Seattle, Ram, so, you know. But my take it today watching the bills is I also thought they may be looking ahead to their stadium debut next week, John. I thought, oh, I could see them looking ahead. I was blown away. I really was. I sat there and I'm like, they just, they kept, Houston kept throwing big punches.

And they kept answering. I don't know. I listen, I'm kind of rooting for him because I think the city deserves it. But I think that's again, it's the first week. Fundamental, I was talking to a GM today. Fundamentals are lousy in the first week. You're kind of guessing nobody plays. The Texans defense will be better.

But there will not be another quarterback that plays like this all year against Houston. I would bet my significant amount of money. Nobody will look this good against Houston's defense the rest of the year. See, I came away on the Houston side of like their offense I thought was so putrid most of last year. Now, I don't know how great the Bill's defense is going to be. But if C.J. Stroud plays like he did in this game against most teams that don't have Josh Allen, they will just be fine. And there was an early moment in the on the Buffalo side. He went for it on fourth down.

Joe Brady did. Yeah. Kind of felt like the antithesis of Sean. McDermott and the kind of the organizational credo in the organization was more conservative. It's like, guys, you have Josh Young. Now, they didn't even get it. But I went, okay, there's kind of a new sheriff in town. There's a new mindset in town. There's a new philosophical belief of around the NFL that we're not just going to play conservative with this guy. And it was the first series of the game, kind of set the tone for the season. And I think you can kind of pick up on

little things like that in the first game, just around if there's a new coach. coach, if there's a new scheme. There was a nugget on the Bears broadcast that Ben Johnson told Caleb, like, you're a little more free to run this year. You don't, you don't just, you add lib when you need to do it. You've proven yourself and it showed, right? And I think Joe Brady is like, Josh, this is, this is your ship. You're our LeBron, you're our Curry.

You know, it's like, Steve Kerr can be a little rigid, but guess who he's not rigid on? Steph, Steph, you do you. And I think that's part of Josh. and this is like the Lamar thing. You kind of just got to let them be them. There was a play today with Lamar like duck two guys. You got to let these. This league now is this is not 1988 football where these guys can get killed.

It is very rare that these defenders all kind of hesitate. It is a huge advantage for these dual threat guys. And Josh's arm talent is just, I mean, the package he's bringing. There is a lot of pressure on this team. And I've followed Jim Leonard's career since he was a player. I think they will get better as time goes on. And this Bill's team, I mean, mentally, think how many guys, they've been through the ringer, Collins. Like they've seen a lot.

They're not going to be scared. Like you said, the home opener, I think they had something to prove specifically against this team. Like, Houston's going to be in the playoffs. I think we all feel pretty good. They'll probably might see them again, round one, round two. we ain't going in there getting, you know, losing 14 to 10 here. We're going to freaking let it fly. And they were letting it fly.

All right. Let's talk about probably the most impressive team today. The Ravens beat the Colts 41, 23. Colts have a good roster. I mean, Derek Henry, no, okay, you probably don't remember this. Nolan Ryan, baseball pitcher, was an all-star at 42. He threw six complete games at 42. and 240 innings.

That is Derek Henry. I see no regression. I don't know how he does it. In the position in the NFL that everybody ages overnight. Like everybody ages overnight, Derek Henry is still a monster. 32 touchdowns last two years. Today, I mean, it was a 32-yard touchdown run,

a bully, Jesse Minter, to your point. So when they got, I said all off-season, the Ravens, I picked him to win their division. I think Cincinnati you'll double their win total. I said, I just respect the organization. I don't know if Jesse'll be great. But my take is generally the hot coordinator that gets the head job. Kyle, Ben Johnson, Jesse Mentor, they usually work.

The other group that works is the proven head coach. Sean Payton, Mike Frable. Mike McDonald was a very hot coordinator when he took the Seahawk job. So generally, the guys we know, Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, they work. Mike McCarthy, he'll win games in Pittsburgh. and then the hot coordinator generally hits. So my guess is it's a well-run, Steve Boshaddy, good front office, Lamar Jackson. I pick on win to the division, but I'm like 11 and a half win total.

Jesus, that's in the AMC. I watched them today. I mean, they have eight yards of play, 500 yards. Now, I didn't, I'd said, I've seen Lamar. In fact, I looked this up. Do you know what Lamar Jackson's weak when he's healthiest? You know what is week one in his career? Lamar 16 touchdowns, two picks and 120 pass already.

So Lamar's like the 49ers. In September when he's healthy, you can't touch him. And then, you know, he gets dinged. Zay Flowers was a monster. He's hurt. We'll see where that goes. But my takeaway was this was the one good team in the league that I'm like, pump the brakes.

I don't know. At one point, I'm sitting there watching the Colts defense. I'm like, guys, they're giving it to Derek Henry. Couldn't stop them. And they lost Tyler Linderball. Remember, they lost their Pro Bowl center. I mean, it's week one. Lamar's always been a great week one quarterback, but it was really impressive.

If you told me I had to do like an AP, you know, top 25 for the NFL, I don't see how you wouldn't put the Ravens one. That was. I agree. The score doesn't even justify what we witnessed. Kind of like the Niners, 27 to 7. It was way worse than that. This thing, though, was a bludgeoning. I mean, this was, someone asked me the other day, like, how did George Kittle return so fast from the Achilles?

And I said, there are older veterans in the NFL. I don't think you understand how seriously they take this. And how seriously Derek Henry must take training, diet, rehab, rest and recovery. This is their full-time job. And that guy looks no different that he did in the peak of his powers with Mike Vrable in Tennessee, whatever, six, seven years ago. Colin, his speed, his explosion, his power.

It's one thing he's so big up the middle. He's beating guys to the corner on outside. These are DBs. And I went, obviously, like you said, Lamar's fresh. He looked fantastic. Declan Doyle. Bed Johnson, maybe his. I'm always hesitant with these coordinators that have never called plays.

You just never know. That's right. Good start for Declan. Ben Johnson's little spiderwebs might grow. But you're right. The organization, I mean, DeCosta's on the sideline of the game. I think they just wanted to see. They get rid of Harbaugh.

I think it's a big moment for the Steelers and the Ravens. You get rid of these two guys combined, almost been there 40 years. You know, McCarthy, you kind of know what you're going to get over time. Today was ugly. But like, you know, Mentor, there's some pressure. I'm with you. I kind of thought the Colts. be feisty, that that was, that felt like USC Fresno State. I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't

even close. It is the other thing to go on the road in that dome, the place I'm sure is loud to start, and they just took the air out of it immediately. You blinked and they're up 14 to 6 or whatever. Daniel Jones coming back off the Achilles. I mean, we've got to, we'll have to see on that one. But yeah, I think the Ravens today physically, the one knock last year, year was like Harbaugh and Munkin, they would get away from Henry. Just keep giving him the ball. He's built like a secretariat. And today, just feed him the ball, feeding the ball, feeding the ball. And then every once in a while, Lamar was just very poised, made a couple miraculous plays. Does he say Flowers touchdown? He looked like Jerry Rice in his prime going over the middle and

running up. Listen, I crushed that contract. You're going to make plays like that. You're going to shut up a lot of people. Well, he, and he didn't get hurt last year. He's a smaller wide receiver. That's also the Ravenger an organization that drafts well, but they've kind of missed, everybody does. For the record, everybody misses on wide receivers. Brett Veach in Kansas City, great GM, missed on wide receivers. It's a hard position, especially when you're a good team and you're drafting end of the first round and you're like, all right, Xavier Worthy can, he's a gadget guy, but, you know, we'll take a gadget guy.

I mean, what do you expect to get at the end of the first round? Two of the last four drafts have been weak. So you're out of stars by about the 13th pick. Yeah, I mean, I just. If Lamar's going to pass for over 300 yards and Derek Henry is going to rush for 130, 140 yards, they will win every single game they play. They will be unbeatable. And the other thing, Lamar, like, watching Jalen hurts, you know, Lamar still is like any time. And Caleb's young and in his prime and same with Josh.

Any moment, they'll just be like, I'll run. I'll take over. You know, it's the one thing like when I watch Jailant, like run, bro. Sometimes you've got to run. And I would say Josh and Lamar, I don't think they'd necessarily, if you asked them, would they rather throw a touch. for sure, but it's like sometimes I just got to do it. And they both just like, okay, and they do it. Josh is more power.

Lamar's more outside finesse speed, but both of them can just take over with their legs. Do you know what I noticed today? The three offenses that have impressed you today, Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, Chicago with Caleb, Buffalo with Josh. Why is that? Because offensive line play sucks for the first month of the season because nobody plays in the preseason. it is the hardest unit to create cohesion.

So the three offenses we loved have the three most talented athletic quarterbacks in the league. The Bears, the Bills, and the Ravens look great. I mean, Philadelphia's O' line today. The Eagles O' line got pushed around by Washington. Because they're a very offensive line-reliant franchise. And so if you look at the teams that kind of like the Rams offensive line, that's an important thing with an old quarterback. So think about the offenses that didn't look great in week one.

Stafford Rams, Lions golf, right? Like guys that don't move particularly well. So the truth is, Alan, Caleb, and Lamar as O-Lions are trying to kind of get, I mean, just September's a bad O-Line month in college and pro football, those quarterbacks took off. If you're listening to this, you're probably not a casual NFL fan, as you know, neither am I. Bud Light understands that our passion runs deep. They've given us a chance to do more than just live and breathe. Our NFL teams, we can drink them.

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See you between the pages. Hi, this is Kylie Breakman. Angel Geratana. Jeremy Colhain, Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast. The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft.

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Baker Mayfield did take off a lot, much to the chagrin of his staff. There's a delta between, and Baker's not a bad athlete, obviously, but there is a delta between what Baker thinks he is and what he is. I think he runs too much. The Bengals defense, and I mean literally forced four turnovers, big hits, and Dexter Lawrence got a sack. The first thing that jumped out to me is the Bengals ran the ball. Burrell had a defense that forced turnovers and Burrow had a run game.

And it's like, okay, Cincinnati, I thought it was a pretty easy prediction. Cincinnati's going to be a double your win. total team potentially. I have them in the playoffs. And I thought, you know, Baker kind of, you know, he just signed that contract and Mike Evans is gone. So Baker's going to have to add little little. They were really dependent on Bucky Irving today. It's like, Bucking Irvin, like my take was Baker was trying to sort of augment the offense, kind of making stuff up, and it cost the team. Well, he had three fumbles and he lost all three of them, you know. and I think the problem is he also had a rushing touchdown.

So he's like, and like you said, he's, he's weird. He's not the level of the top guys athletically. But he does make plays with his feet. The problem of the day is I thought Cincinnati's defensive line jumped off the screen. The physicalities that they had not have because I would say one thing about the Bengals today. We talked about Lamar and Josh and Caleb. Joe did not, I mean, he wasn't bad, but he threw ahead, a pick six. Yeah.

You know, their office just looked a little out of sync for having Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. I mean, what, T. Higgins had three catches and Chase had two. Chase had two catches for 12 yards. Well, Burrell threw was tight ends a lot today. A lot. Yeah, Gaseki, a ton. Yep. Dump it down to the running backs a ton.

So this was, if you're a Bengal fan, if you assume Joe's going to be back to being an elite guy, I think you feel pretty good about this. You know, because they have not been a balanced operation. may have been, well, if Joe doesn't throw three or four touchdowns, we lose. And especially if I would have said, hey, if I would have told you coming into the game, that the bucks are going to score 27 points and Burroughs going to have like a C plus B minus game for Burroughs standards. You'd be like, oh, we'll see. But honestly, the Bengals were in complete control of the whole game because their defense was making plays on the ball.

They forcing these fumbles. I mean, they forced four fumbles and got them all. So you would say that won't be every game, but you would say they're going to be games when Burrow, should be throwing three, four, five touchdowns, right? Yeah, I mean, it's easier to buy a defense. Like, you could go buy Dexter Lawrence, right? And you're like, okay, he's going to be an enforcer. It's hard to buy an offense because if you do buy a quarterback,

then it limits the rest of your roster because it's going to be really expensive. And you also, you can have a great quarterback, but if you don't have the right offensive whiz, like a Ben Johnson or a Shanahan, it mutes the signing. It's hard to buy an offense. but you can go out and buy Dexter Lawrence. You can go boy A. Mofé. You can go draft a second round, cash is out.

And you look up and you're like, oh, those guys. And also defense, as you know, John, is not as choreographed. Offense is hard. It's efficiency. It's timing. A lot of defense is blowing shit up. Like just being big, strong, and pushing back. And I thought Cincinnati, I don't know if there's any question.

If you watch the game on TV, Cincinnati looked bigger, faster, stronger, and more violent. They were just pushing the Buccaneers around. I did think this was must win for the Bengals, given the way Burroughs been talking, the urgency of the franchise after trading for Dexter Lawrence, how slow they've started over the years. Yes. This game's at home.

You're playing Tampa, not, you know, some sugar knot. I mean, I think Tampa would be okay and be fine, but this was a game that they had to win. And at halftime, they were up 24 to 10 and incomplete control. And honestly, the game wouldn't have been as close if Burrow doesn't throw the picks. I mean, they were in complete control and he handed him seven points. So it felt a little bit closer.

I'm with you, too, like watching their offense and then you go back to Thursday watching Mike Evans. We all know how good he is. We've seen him for health since Johnny Mansell, lighting up Nick Sabin 15 years ago. But I think sometimes when a guy leaves and you see him somewhere else, you go, God, he's even better than I thought. And Abuka's not the biggest guy, right? You know, Godwin had a solid game.

but that's a big loss for a guy that they have been very dependent on as a franchise with Brady and Baker to have a lot of success. And I do think there's going to be a little bit of a, of, I think we got to temper some expectations because I do think, I don't know where you fell on this, but when they gave Baker the extension, I actually gave him a lot of credit personally because he said the beginning of camp, I'm not going to talk about this, I'm on. for Jason liked to feel comfortable to do that 45 days later, he's watching this guy, just be focused, work hard. Clearly, Baker's come a long way. Yes.

You know, maturity-wise, and Jason's very comfortable with it. But as a player, he's still a little reckless. You know, he's still kind of plays like he's playing Texas Tech on a Saturday night, playing for Oklahoma, just I could do whatever I want. And you might be able to get away with it in the NFC. I'm pretty sure the NFC South right now, Colin, is O and 4th. for because the bucks lost, Saints lost, the Panthers lost. They all lost. So you're not, as long as you win a couple games a month in the South, I think you'll just hold serve.

But the Mike Evans thing as the season goes on, I mean, Godwin's been banged up a lot in his career is definitely something to keep an eye on. And if you're a Bengal fan, you're like, well, Jamar Chase and T. Higgins are going to have games where they combine for four touchdowns and 300 yards because they've done it before. And they were basically, I mean, non-factors today. I mean, Jamar Jace was definitely a non-factor, which is pretty rare. Okay, our upset of the day, the Cardinals, Arizona goes to L.A., thumps the Chargers 2614. Jesse Minter clearly missed. Arizona had 400 yards of offense, passed for almost 300 yards with Jacoby Brissette, excellent on third down,

dominated time of possession almost 38 minutes. and the Chargers had fewer total yards than the Browns, Jets, and Tyler Shuck. A shocking game. The Chargers' special teams were bad. They had a punt blocked. I mean, this is, again, when Ben Johnson left the Lions, the Lions' offense, despite all the talent, wasn't the same. So suddenly, Jesse Minter leaves the Chargers defense,

and Arizona lights it up. for almost 400 yards, 23 first downs, but didn't lose a fumble, didn't throw an interception. It could have been worse. They were only two for five in the red zone. I think you've got to look at this. The time of possession, if you watch that game, jumped off the charts.

The chargers could not. They were really off. And we talked a lot about, Mike McDaniel, but the coordinator we didn't talk about much with the Chargers was the exit of Jesse Mentor and the Chargers were the most disappointing. By the way, both L.A. team stunk in week one. What did you make of the Chargers loss? Well, I think we talked about this with the Ravens and I would include the Bengals. The score does not reflect what I witnessed. The Cardinals kicked their ass. That was not a close game. I was texting with Daniel Jeremiah, who's their radio guy. I don't love O'Marion Hampton.

I don't think there's that much there. I know they think he's a big physical guy. I mean, he had 12 characters for 40 yards. I see nothing special for a first roundback. Jeremiah Love popped right off the screen, making a couple plays. And I just think you kind of know it with a running back when you see he's been in the league now. It's not like this is the first game of his career. And then the rest of their offensive weapons, Cardinals have better offense of weapons.

I mean, Tray McBride is one of the best tight ends in the league. Jacoby Brissette, they've left. lost a lot of games down the stretch. But remember, they bench Kyler Murray for him. Right? Dude, he was 27 of 37 today for almost 300 yards. He's a good player. He's a good player.

Trey McBride's a good player. Mike Wilson just got an extension. He's a good player. Harrison. Kendrick Bourne out of nowhere and eight catches for 75 yards. But the thing that's pretty eye-opening is like, you're pretty dependent on Ladd-McConkie, who gets cha-oed out of this game when he gets blasted in the side.

David Najoku. I mean, so you're running back who drafted in the first round to me is just kind of me. And you're, you know, your best wide receiver by far is a slot guy. So it's not exactly Justice Jefferson or Jamar Chase can take over a game. I just look at their offensive weapons. What's his name? Justin Herbert had an awful interception today, just throwing the ball down the middle of the field. So you have an awful interception.

You have a punt block basically on what the, five-yard line. So you just, I mean, that was really, they got, they honestly got lucky their guy fell on it or that typically is like a scoop at score right there by the goal line. 26 to 14, that game fell to me, Colin, more like 35 to 7. That was, they strangled them out from the jump. Jacoby Versette has been just a above average quarterback now for the 10 plus games he started last year. Then today he was just solid. Yeah, he feels like if you took the interceptions out of Gino Smith. You'd have a big strong guy who can move a little bit, who's got a bunch of NFL starts. Gino just throws too many damn picks. But Jacoby Brissette,

he's got better decision-making skills, like he makes better decisions. And like, to your point, Arizona's got an offensive coach now, and they've got players. So, yeah, I mean, the other thing was Brissette, a knock on his athleticism. I saw today a couple times he kept plays alive. Like he's not, I wouldn't say he's got off or Stafford. He's not great. He's not Lamar Jackson or anything, but he, he's probably slightly above, you right around average. He can at least keep a play alive, and he did a couple times today. Okay, so I picked the Lions to win their division and the Saints to win theirs, but I did think the Lions at home, Tyler Shuck on the road, Detroit's a very good home team.

A lot of underdogs covered today. The Lions in overtime beat the Saints 31 to 30. but I thought the story of the day was Tyler Shuck, who was awful in the first half, but he has a number one receiver with Chris O'Aave. I thought he had a great overtime drive. He can do a little sidearm. I was good with New Orleans going for two for the win in overtime.

My take was the Lions defense was gassed, and I'll be honest with you, Peyton Manning said this one time. Not all analytics are the same. Like if your team is playing confidently, you're moving the ball, you're on the road. You can, you don't want to, listen, you're on the road.

Get out of there with a win. I'm always like pro road team that's an underdog going for the win. If you're home, you're a favorite, like the Seahawks against New England, you're like, we got a better roster. We're at home. Let's go to overtime. We'll win. I had no problem.

The game's in overtime. Saints are like, we're going to go for two. And I also think it sends a message in week one, which is, guys, it's not a divisional game. We're going to be aggressive. I mean, that's what Dan Campbell did when he took the line. I was, I was impressed with the Saints. I thought their line play. I mean, Jamir Gibbs, listen, the Lions had a 10 play overtime drive. So I mean, by that point, the Saints were a little gassed. But my take in this game was the Saints are going to win their division. I really

believe Tyler Shuck. I think they found their guy. This game reminded me a lot, Ohio State, Texas. It's 21-0. Shuck looked unplayable. I was like, I was like, I don't know my pick here. And then the second half in overtime, he was, he had a lot of signs of the guy that we saw last year that people didn't know quite what to do with, but I'm with you. I thought the the Saints showed a lot of moxie, a lot of heart. I mean, Shuck was slinging that thing around. Alave's a really good player. They're, they're tight end, Joanne Johnson, I think is one of the more underrated players in the NFL. He is number 83 on the Saints is a stud. I love that. And, you know, Kamar didn't play today. He's banged up. If he comes back, you go with the E.T.N. They got some firepower on offense. The concerning part to me about the Lions is twofold. Gibbs might lead the league in touches this year. I mean, they felt like they were giving the ball to him every time. Their secondary stinks. I mean, they are defensively. It is just guys wide open, rotating guys you've never heard of. If Aidan Hutchinson isn't getting close to the quarterback, you have no confidence that they can come.

cover a soul. And in that division, with some of the wide receivers they have to play against the Bears offense, that to me is a major, major concern. And this goes back to the Stafford thing. You just don't watch football, high-level football on Saturday or Sunday, beside golf and Stafford where guys can't move at all. I didn't know anything about this Oklahoma State quarterback. But as the game went on, I'm like, the guy can kind of move.

I need my guy to have some, Jacoby Bressett can get out of something. When you can't move at all, it's hard to play make, right? Because not everything is going to be like, oh, St. Brown's wide open. In fairness to golf, James and Williams had a couple bad drops. They were definitely a little off offensively. And Gibbs is a star. I mean, they were treating that guy like, you know, Prime, insert Hall of Fame. He had 29 carries for 156 yards.

I would have guessed, before I looked at the box score, he had 40 carries. I mean, they feed him. So can he last? been the lead dog. He's always had, you know, David Montgomery right there with him. But Jameson Williams, they paid him. He has, I mean, he dropped multiple balls. He's not the most reliable guy. You always feel good about St. Brown. Like, I feel good about golf. But in some of these situations against some of these teams, when you can't move, if the offensive play call is not perfect, I mean, Kyle Shanahan, best offensive coordinator league, right? Sometimes it doesn't work.

Pretty bails them out. Ben Johnson. It looks like Kyle Chanahan 2.0. Caleb, like, do some crazy moves, bail him out. Gough just physically is incapable of that. And you just have drives where that can show. And then he'll, you know, when they're, when they're blocking for him, he is as good as it gets just sitting in the pocket and delivering a ball accurately. But their defense, which I would say has kind of been the defining downfall of this franchise over the course the last four or five years. They draft Terry on Arnold. They have to cut him, Brian Branch, you know, Terrors Achilles last year. They just need Aiden Hutchson to basically be Reggie White, for them to have a shot. Here's the truth about modern work. Most

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All right. Underdogs did very well. I took some big favorites. Now, my Jags beat the Browns 34 to 10, other than led 31 nothing. The Eagles holding on for dear life beat the commanders 24 to 22. The Eagles offense had three touchdowns, but four, three and outs. Nick Serioni has never lost an opener. He's 6-0.

They lost time of possession. At one point, their first eight possessions, they six ended in punts. Three were three and outs. So now, without A.J. Brown, J. Brown, Jalen Hertz did mix it up more. First couple of drives, he threw to five different receivers. I like that. Don, Don, Tony, Don Wicks, the wide receiver from.

Don Terry Wicks, Don Terry Wicks. I thought Wicks had a presence like, okay, he's going to matter. Mackay Lemon, the rookie had a bad camp. We'll see where that goes. I will say this for Washington. They ran off Cliff Kingsbury. Hasn't been as good since. Their line, again, the Eagles O line, best or second best in the league, did not perform well.

But I got to tell you, you know, we keep giving Jalen Hertz. Let's get rid of this coordinator. Let's get rid of A.J. Brown. Let's upgrade it running back. Let's draft another wide receiver. It's not that they only scored 24 points. It's all the three and outs. John, you can't go three and out four times against the commander's defense.

It's just not that kind of defense. And, you know, Seriani's not known as a great game play designer or play caller. So they're very coordinator dependent. But it's a little bit like last year. It's when they're offensively, they'll go back to back to back drives. They won't have a first down. Like the talent's too good. And the quarterback, frankly, is too athletic for that to be the case.

I don't know where you go with Philadelphia. I mean, they've moved off from Super Bowl winning coaches. They moved off from a Super Bowl winning quarterback and Nick Foles. I think with Hertz, I think everybody's like honest now about Hertz. Like, there are things we like about Jalen. last two years in the NFL, I don't think any team, except maybe the Jets, has this many three-in-outs.

It's just inexplicable. Well, the crazy part is, early in that game, he makes a couple beautiful passes. Wicks is the longest pass catch of his career, hits Goddard in the back of the end zone, and you're like, God, when the ball comes out of his hand on a deeper route, it does look beautiful.

And then they'll be up like 14-3, and they'll have a stretch, punt, five play. punt three plays, punt three plays, punt three plays, field goal seven plays. He's just like, what? And I think this gets back to when they can't run the ball. Seque Juan had a 40-yard run, which, you know, you're like, okay,

Saquan last year was not very explosive. You removed that one run. He had 14 carries for 40 yards. And they were talking about in the broadcasts. He's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. Every time he does, he averages less than, you know, a yard of carry. their offensive line a couple years ago when he ran for what felt like 5,000 yards, we're just opening, we're splitting things like the Red Sea.

And now you're watching Sequin. It's much more difficult for him to find some, you know, running lanes, some space, some daylight. And to me, Jalen Hertz, especially with his offense, with Sean Mannion coming more of a couch, like they want to run the outside zone, run the ball, and then bootleg Jalen. But if you're not a running, you know, you're not a running, you know, they don't have to honor the run or you're not being successful. It doesn't really work. So 15 for 83 doesn't look bad, but he had one run that was 40 yards.

Like that's the Derek, you watch Derek Henry today. You're just, or the Bears, you have to put so many people down there. It opens up the passing game and then you get lit up like a Christmas tree. And this was the issue last year. I know it's easy. Like this coordinator was the dumbest guy in the history of America. But I think sometimes your offensive line, you know, Lane Johnson is really, old now. Their interior offensive line is just not as good. Kelsey retires. It's kind of a drop off,

you know, over just attrition, maybe guys age a little bit. Football. Like most guys hit a point where their trajectory either plateaus or starts going the other way, but, you know, you've paid guys, you can't cut them for dead caps. So they're just kind of your starters. You know, in a perfect world, you'd probably replace them or think about, you know, maneuvering off of them, but you're kind of stuck. They're just not as dominant up front as they once were. And I would, I love Sonny Stiles coming out in the draft. He made a couple of plays a day. You went, okay.

There is, he, he hit Sequin on a pass pro where Seekwon and Seekwon is a guy that, what, squats a thousand pounds? It's not like he's, you know, physically just some tiny little running back. He had a couple other tackles. You want to, if you're a commander fan, that was a bright spot. Their roster, I think if you're an Eagle fan, you go, I don't think Washington, I'm looking at their roster like, what's going on here? We should be way better than them.

The Eagles defense is good. I mean, they're secondary with Dijin, Mitchell, Fangio's, Bonn, their defensive line is just stout. Their defense is going to be fine. It's going to come down to in these bigger games against the better teams, that stretch of punts and three and outs and five-play drives, it did feel a little repetitive from last year. It's like, new scheme, new guys. Like, well, I think that's kind of jailing. It's just, he just feels the same.

same. Now, he hit a couple more big plays than a lot of stretches of last year today, which I think is good. And like, you know, Lemon in theory should become more involved as time goes, young player. But I think for this offense to take a step, they're going to have to be a team that runs the ball. You're not going to be able to, Sequin's going to have to have some games, maybe not those 200-yard games, but can he have more 130-yard games where he can just lean on him? or in a game that we'll get talked about, almost more than any, and as we started this, the game wasn't quite over. Vikings 39, Packers 22, Minnesota scores three touchdowns in two minutes and 42 seconds.

The Packers, three straight losses when leading by 10 in the fourth quarter. Remember, they lost the Bears in the playoffs. Over 400 yards, this has been the knock on Matt LaFleur, is that his team start very well, smart teams take leads, tough teams finish them. So what's really concerning about this is that Kyler Murray gets dinged, you know, he'll be in concussion protocol, and gets hurt early in the game. That's part and partial to Kyler is a smaller player. He doesn't like physical contact.

He gets injured. So they bring in Carson Wentz. And Carson is what he is. he misses easy throws, he misses on laps, but he's big, he's strong, he's got a good arm. Well, Carson Wentz comes in against the Vikings, only had to throw it 19 times, completed 12 for three touchdowns, no picks, and 123 passer rating. So this goes to what we've said about the Packers. Jeff Halfley leaves. Micah Parsons, not available. Rishon Gary, now with the Cowboys. So the knock on this franchise is,

been they get leads they're pretty it's a little lincoln riley you know they're well coached offensively they're clever they take leads they're a bad fourth quarter team they do not now josh jacobs uh to be announced we don't know what's going to go on doesn't look good does not look good so this one to me i mean listen you're going to your back up quarterback and you house them scoring three touchdowns in two and a half minutes. I think I said it, I said it before the season started. I said it about two weeks ago. Matt LaFleur is on the quietest, coolest hot seat to start his season.

I can remember. He's not in the hot seat, but it's percolating. And I'm sorry, now that Chicago drops 59. The Vikings just dropped 39. And you know the lions have firepower. I mean, there's no other conclusion after watching this weekend that Green Bay looks like a fourth place team if you can't beat a backup in Carson Wentz. I think the major issue today was they had them against the ropes. They should have done what Baltimore did and been up instead of 19 to 10.

The score should have been 28 to 10 or 31 to 10. Colin, they were 3 of 12 on third down. awful. The Vikings, the Vikings were 8 to 15, so better than 50%. And they, obviously, they got 02 on 4th down. Like, they just, they were not good in big spots. And Jordan Love was making crazy big plays. They were hitting huge plays on offense, couldn't convert them into touchdowns. You know, we hop on. It's like 23, 22. You look up, they've scored back. It looks like they got blown out. It looked like they got blown out where the majority of the game I watched, the Packers were in full control. Jordan loves making plays. He's looking like Aaron

Rogers Light and you lose by multiple touchdowns. Like you said, against Carson Wentz, which, you know, if you were told Vikings fans two months ago, they would have been like, well, if Jay J.G. doesn't win the job, he'll be the backup. He's not even active. He's inactive today. And Carson Wentz comes in. You know why? Because McCown and Kevin O'Connell just trust this guy.

And they're not even asking him to do that much. But he hit Justin Jefferson on a deep bomb, which was a beautiful, beautiful pass. beautiful catch. And the Vikings, they're a well-co team. I mean, floors is blitz and blitz. I keep thinking like, Brian, this is not really working out right now with your backup quarterback in, but it pays off at the end. You know, Jordan Love throws a pick late. What a win by Minnesota. I'm on a text chain with a Minnesota fan. He was ready to jump off a bridge after the first half column. He thought the season, because I kind of believe this too. It felt like the Viking season was over almost before it started. Like their season was over. I was started thinking like, are they going to

be drafted in the top five. And now that you win 39 to 22, you start thinking, like, can we just be a pretty, can we get nine, 10 wins? So you lose Wicks, you move off Romeo Dobbs. Reed did not play a big part. I don't know how many catches he. I ask, I'm going to look at Reed, how many catches he had. He had three catches for 20 yards. I mean, Christian Watson carried the day for them today. Christian Watson. But again, he's not healthy much. I thought Matthew Golden from Texas had a, he's a really spectacular. player. He's going to be a really, really good player. But now you don't have Josh Jacobs. Christian Watson. Okay, Dobbs is gone. Wicks is gone. Josh Jacobs's probably not going to play.

Tucker Kraft is back and Golden's there. So those are your two stars. You know, it's just interesting. I feel like with Matt LaFleur is that, you know, he, McVeigh and Shanahan work together. Shanahan's the genius schematically. McVeigh's the Super Bowl guy culture builder. If you told me, what is Matt LaFleur absolutely great at? I don't know the answer. That is not to say he's not good at a lot of things. He's not a culture builder.

He doesn't, he's not raw, raw. He doesn't have McVeigh's personality or gravitas or presence. He just doesn't. He's more quiet. He doesn't have Shanahan and maybe nobody does. He doesn't have Shanahan's play design and play calling. He doesn't. he's not Ben Johnson in terms of intensity.

I mean, Ben, Chicago's feisty when you go to their practices, up-tempo, intense, loud, celebratory. Like, they play like a college team. Like Green Bay is under control. They're kind of cerebral. They're smart. But there is something to say in this league, like San Francisco. They've got an attitude.

I mean, they really have an attitude. and I thought Halfley and Micah brought a little bit of that, brought a little toughness, a little reckless, I would say, John, almost like Seattle. Seattle gets penalized a lot. Like Seattle is a, at times a reckless team, but they play with an attitude. Green Bay comes off. I've said this, it's like USC. I know the coach is good. But sometimes, you know, football, intimidation matters. You're never intimidated. Micah brought that. Hathley brought a little bit of that. I think this loss is going to linger. Like, you've got to bounce back quickly from this if you're Lafleur and Green Bay. Well, looking at their schedule, they play at the Jets next week, who actually could be a little bit better.

I would say that. I mean, they have a little stretch here. The Falcons might not be any good, but that's a Thursday night game. So they better win that Jets game because then they got a Thursday night game against the Falcons. Then they got a stretch at the Buccaneers, the Bears, the Cowboys, the Lerner, Lions. This thing without Micah Parsons, you have all these guys that have these major injuries that were somehow able to make it back for week one and look pretty normal physically. And Micah, they're like, yeah, sometime in October, hopefully. And you're just like,

because today they're up 22 to 10, late in the third quarter. They trade the house, which they never do. I mean, they are the opposite of the L.A. Rams when it comes to doing moves like that. Historically, they got crushed and criticized for never doing those type things when they had Rogers in his prime and that guy's just on the sideline and streetclothes. Nothing you can do about injuries, but to me,

like he's the type guy that would take over the game and he's nowhere to be found for who knows how long, which I didn't believe in this team this year. Just too many question marks when their best player, if he's not ready and you don't even, it'd be one thing, it's like, well,

he might not be ready week one, but we're not going to put him on IR because maybe he'll be ready by week two or three and we'll just have him inactive the first game or two. But the way they did it, he clearly wasn't even close to being ready for week once. So now I'm just to be like, oh, he'll be full go by mid-October. John, they haven't won a game without Micah since last year. He is their closer. That's why they brought him in. They're like, we lead, we can't finish. He is their Mariano Rivera. He is their closer. They don't want a game since he got hurt.

The other thing on the Packers is this is not a franchise that's won, you know, 13 games, three of the last four years. Look at their records. A lot of nine-win seasons. This is a team that was actually much closer to 500 than they have been to 12 and 13 wins. Now, you could be like, well, last year they looked like they were headed toward 13 wins. Yeah, they were until they got all these injuries. And some of those still linger.

And Josh Jacobs, the drop-off between Josh Jacobs, they gave him a big contract and let Aaron Jones go for a reason. He's a big time player. I mean, it's so you start getting Marshawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks. Like the league that was reported this morning, they were doing everything to get this video and if they get that video and doesn't look good.

Josh Jacobs is never going to play in the NFL again. So he's just gone probably forever. And Micah is just one of the biggest question marks currently in the NFL right there with Miles Garrett now. You just don't know what you're going to get this year. And Josh Jacobs is a physical presence. Again, LeFleur doesn't

create that. Full of Fleur's offenses are pretty. Okay, now Josh Jacobs is out. Okay, he's a physical presence. Oh, Micah, your physical closers out. So it's like, okay, guys, those are two of your most kind of physical people. They're gone.

So you have a team that, I mean, I'm, I can't believe they lost 39 and 22. I think that is the most shocking score of the day. Shocking score of the weekend beside Ohio State and Texas, given how the game looked. I can't believe that's how it played out.

That is, you were on this when I was down doing your show about the quiet hot seat. That is a jolting loss. Sometimes you have jolting losses. Like, it's a jolting loss for Ryan Day, but it's like, I won the nattie two years ago. We're going to win 10 games this year. Everything's going to be okay. This is, could this season, could we be 7 and 10? Because Jordan Love threw for 387 yards.

They were making big. It'd be all Jordan Love actually is regressing. No, he's making big plays. Yeah. It's not him. You're problem. No. So that's the most jolting loss.

You could say the Chargers, but like, let's face it, the Chargers brand, they fly under the radar. Like, they ain't leading the radio tomorrow in L.A. In the Midwest, the Packers, even Bears Radio will be chiming in on the pack. Like, it's a big deal. I mean, this franchise kind of gets derailed going. And it's a real big deal because Chicago now is the talk of the league. So it's like, that stinks. It's always been little Chicago

Pokes big like pokes the big bears and the ribs When the little guy gets trumped by the big guy That stinks. It's it's it's it You're gonna Tomorrow in Green Bay is going to sound like

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Okay, Texas 24. Let's talk college, Ohio State 23. Buckeyes drop to six. kind of ridiculous. Texas moves to number one. My take was after Michigan beat Oklahoma, Texas and the SEC needed the win. I think both you and I believed it was bigger for Texas. Both teams have tough schedules. I thought the first half, Arthur Smith, worked Will Must Champ. I thought the Buckeyes' first half game plan was, you know, listen, Ohio State's gone to these NFL coaches, Matt Patricia, Chip Kelly, Arthur Smith. It's worked. And I thought Ohio

state's first half game plan was outstanding. They got conservative, especially in the fourth quarter. Here's where I'll defend Ohio State. John, these are 21-year-old kids. It is very difficult for 21-year-old kids with limited practice time with no preseason and no joint scrimmages to go into that environment early in this season and play four great quarters. Ohio State was almost flawless in the first half. That is a big ask. I don't think Julian Sanza Sunday player. I don't. I just, I think he's a good college quarterback. That game, Ohio State, listen, they lost, was it a fourth down at the goal line? They almost won. To me, I don't think anything less of Ohio State. I was shockingly, the Longhorn's defensive game plan in the first

half, kind of letting Jeremiah Smith run free, made no sense to me. I thought that was just unexplainable. I didn't get it. But my take is, college football needs more games like this. Georgia won 70 to 20, Notre Dame won 52 nothing, Indiana won 55 nothing, Miami won 77 to 7. So I'm not going to punish the loser of Texas, Ohio State when it ends on the goal line and it's 2423. To me, I thought Ohio State, you know, they got conservative. College teams do this. You lead, you're on the road. You know, you've played well, you maybe don't trust, because Texas and the second half started, kind of got bullied Ohio State a little bit, started pushing them around. And Ryan Day's thinking, I don't want to put Julian Sand in a bad spot here.

So I kind of understand it, but I don't think anything less of Ohio State. These two teams have played a bunch over the course of the last several years, and all the games have been close. Yard-wise, score-wise, one big difference half to half. Arch was horrendous in the first half. And in the second half, he hit a lot of the passes, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter. There were guys, I mean, it's not his fault that he throws the bomb to Coleman. The guy drops it, it bounces off him, and it's an interception.

Well, we go in the end zone. Hit him in the hands. But there were also plays over the middle of the field in the second and third quarter with guys streaking right over. And he's kind of airmailing him with, it looks like J.J. McCarthy. And I went, I want to root for this guy, but man, man, he just doesn't look like a good player. And then I don't know if he had nothing to lose. down big because Colin, it was 23 at half, but I thought it felt like 40

to 3. Well, I thought, at half, I was with, I was with friends, I'm like, is Sark going to be in trouble? Is he going to be in trouble? Sunday morning, is he getting called by boosters? I thought they were going to lose. I thought Ohio State was going to drop 40. I was like, this is embarrassing. Sark's in trouble. But again,

road teams, you can't do four great quarters on the road in that Texas environment with Texas talent. Sark, It may not be your favorite coach. But I remember when Sark was at Washington and USC, he tended to be a pretty good third quarter coach. He's pretty good about throwing the play sheet out and starting over. He's not he's not Shanahan tied to the play sheet. He'll blow it up, rip it up, and start over.

And so Sark's always been a pretty good third quarter. Let's start again. We got outplayed. Well, I don't know Sark personally, but I'll give him credit this offseason on this. You know, Lane's nuts. and that the pre-game or the halftime interview. Like, Lane's, his dad was a defensive coach. His brother's a defensive coach.

Lane's a little tougher than I think he looks, just in terms of the way he treats his player. Sark's an offensive kind of pretty boy, you know, but he brought in Will Mustchamp, who is psychotic. I mean, that guy has looked like something is wrong with him on the sideline for 20 years. And in the second half, they scored three points. Ohio State did. Will Must champ did a great job in this.

I don't think Ohio State gets to Jeremiah Smith enough. He had eight catches. I would throw on the ball. Remember Mike Tice used to say, we're going to throw it to Randy Moss like every other play, every three plays. It was something he said in like 1999. I would treat Jeremiah Smith like I would throw the ball up to him every other play.

He feels like an unstoppable force. Eight catches 164. To me, that number should have been like 14 for 300. I mean, and I think it gets back to Arch, who, you know, it's it's not his fault that he has that last name. His dad is not Eli or Payton. It's Cooper.

But he's treated like he's. He presses. You can see it. And I think, you know, he's, I don't know if he's the most natural quarterback. You know, you watch Meteer that there is just something to a feel for an accurate ball. We can, we can knock Jared Gough's foot speed. He's a very natural thrower to place it in the guy's hand, you know.

Purdy, right? Very natural thrower to play something. You watch Arch, he's got, at times, like a little of J.J. McCarthy, like, you got to throw some layups. John Mateer was only throwing a hundred mile on our fast balls. Not every play, the number one thing to play quarterback is you've got to be an accurate passer. Brady was talking about that today. It's not always about the strongest arm. Some balls just need to hit the guy in the hand where he can catch it is the most important thing.

And I felt like, I don't know, he just had an absolute. nothing to lose because they were going to get embarrassed. They have the most expensive roster from everything I've been told, Texas. I thought if they were to got blown out when it was a half time, I'm like, because you look at their schedule, you're like, well, they'll probably not going to make the playoffs. If this is how they're going to look. Like, Sark, you're just not going to survive when people are stroking these checks. And then all the videos coming out, do you see him and his wife in the box?

That's the biggest win of his career by a country mile. And the one thing I will say, I'm not the biggest Ryan Day guy. when Ohio State loses a football game, it is stunning. How many other teams, pro or college, you are stunned when Ohio State loses. I don't think you can say that about any other, not even Georgia, not the Ravens, not the Bills, not the Chiefs. It is stunning when all. That win, that felt like an exorcism of demons for a program, but specifically Arch and Sark. Now, like, they have a lot of other good opponents on their, like,

Arch needs to play better. He needs to take that fourth quarter momentum if they're going to go 11 and 1. But I also, Wingo dropped the touchdown pass. The other guy, ball pops up and Ohio State picks it. So the arch's line would have another touchdown pass and one less intercept. For sure. But I do think the point is fair is he gets, he's pressing. You can see. You know, quarterback, you have to simultaneously be academic and smart, but not overthinking. It's really weird. Like, it's one of those things like, it's like being a fighter pilot. You have to be so focused and so dialed in to your protocol, but sometimes it's just

intuition. It's just feeling it. Like, it's like, what, what? Quarterback's the same thing. Like, got to know the play. Got to know the audibles. You got to know the checks. You got to know where everybody's at.

You've got to be totally dialed in. It's almost an academic position. But then go let her rip and just play naturally. And I think Arch sometimes lets Arod used to do this as a hitter. He'd go into these slumps. Derek Jeter one time said, somebody asked him, what are you thinking right now? He had one of the rare slumps in his career. And he goes, I just want to go hit it hard.

Just all I want to go. And sometimes with Arch Manning, I feel like, and they caught him on the sideline saying, I'm just, he said something about, I just got to stop worrying about it. I just can't care this much. I think there's a family pressure, a name pressure, a Texas pressure, a money pressure. money pressure, and I think he presses. And so the talent's there, but I think it's, I think, I said this a few years ago, Oregon was going to beat Ohio State at Otson.

Ohio State would beat them later in the year. I think Ohio State, I predicted that Texas would win close against Ohio State. Ohio State will beat Texas in the playoff. And I feel that today. I feel Ohio State's the better team. Texas won the game. But I feel like I come out of that game and I'm like, I think I like Ohio State.

I will say this, though, about Texas. If Arch plays well, they have the horses. They are every bit Ohio State's equal. And his, you know, he's got more with his legs to run around than say, he's just, I'm not the biggest saying guy. But they have so much firepower around sand that it's like, if he just plays game manager, they can win. Yeah.

Do you think there's more pressure? You know, you use A-Rod comparing to Arch Manning. You know, there's always been pressure if you played at Duke or North Carolina a basketball or Florida football or whatever. But now when he factor in the NIL, social media, he used to build like Caleb by the time he was 30 years, but he'd already won the Heisman or these guys that win the Heisman Young, Johnny Mansell, this guy's never even had any success, you know,

but because of his name, because everyone knows how much money, not his family has, he's personally making this brand that he's at. I think you feel it in college. I think you see Oregon imploding. You know, there's a pressure there. They've had excellent teams. they've never had every single person picking them to win the national championship, millionaires all over their roster.

You know, you feel it in the way they play. There's like a, there's like a tension. There's, I think this is. Underwood, Underwood finally let loose a little bit yesterday. Like, run around, bro. You're a great athlete in that Kyle winning. There's a pressure on these guys, which I think it's very, very hard for those people like me

that have been watching college football by my whole life. It has changed dramatically. these last couple years with the money aspect, the social media aspect. But the money thing is, like, if I don't perform, they will just get, I know I'm getting rich personally, but I will just get replay. I'll just get thrown away. Like, that's how you used to, you couldn't cut a player in college. No one got cut.

Maybe you got bench or whatever. You will get cut. And everybody knows they're not only getting paid, but the quarterback's making three to four million dollars. He's the second highest paid guy on the staff to the head coach. He makes what the school president does. So I always said, that's the downside. You're going to have to pay taxes.

You're going to create envy. And we're going to criticize you now a little bit more like a pro player. Like it's one thing, I was always like hands off for college guys. Now it's like, no, no. Once you're out of college going pro, then I can look back at your college and criticize you. Now you're going to be a pro. But in college, you don't want to beat up a guy. Well, with Archmanning, the name, the money, the Texas, the talent, not that we beat him up, but it's fair game now.

And guys, you can trade the Broncos to beat the Chiefs at 44% on Pauley Market. I like Denver in that one. Left tackle for the Chiefs. They're going to go with an undrafted rookie. I like Denver. I did not have a great day. I went with some favorites. The Rams got beat up.

Philadelphia escaped. The Cardinals got beat. The Packers laid an egg in the last. seven minutes of the game. So Pauley Market, trade the Broncos to beat Kansas City at 44%. John Middlkoff, three and out. All right.

A little hour plus, buddy. Good talking to you. See you, buddy. This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. The new NFL season is here. And you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl

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