The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Bucs Crush Eagles, Sirianni Over His Skis, Baker Found His Fit, Bills More Balanced, Tomlin Done In Pittsburgh?

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Colin reacts to the Bucs beatdown of the Eagles and the Bills knocking out the Steelers! He thinks Nick Sirianni should be shown the door after the Eagles became progressively worse as the season went on (3:00). He gives kudos to Baker Mayfield and thinks Baker finally found  the right fit with Tampa (8:15). He also makes his picks for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs (13:00). John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” stops by to break down the Bills dominant performance and they both agree this is the most dangerous version of the Bills now that the offense has found some balance (18:15).  They agree that Mike Tomlin would be best served by a change of scenery and think he’d be the perfect fit for the Cowboys (28:30). They also point to Jordan Love’s incredible improvement in the second half of the season as evidence that the Bears should move on from Justin Fields after three years of marginal improvement (39:00). They debate whether all teams should be drafting a quarterback every year (43:00), and predict the Rams will run it back with Stafford for one more year (45:30).   (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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21 plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See sportsbook.draft kings.com slash basketball terms for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. What an S show was that by Philadelphia? So I went three and two on my playoff picks, but I thought Philadelphia, you know, it was one of the games I thought, you know, they'll win. There's not much there with Tampa. This thing, if Tampa Bay could catch in the first half, the game would have been over start of the second quarter. Philadelphia was not even competitive. And, you know, I was thinking about this, is that we all know that even competent NFL coaches, Dan Quinn for Atlanta was a competent coach, not great, but competent. He was elevated, significantly by Kyle Shanahan, that we know. And there have been a lot of coaches through the years

who have been helped by an assistant. They reach their highest form of head coaching with a really good assistant, but they don't necessarily fall off the table. I mean, Sean McVeigh, Shanahan, they just run through assistants and coordinators. They're elite coaches. It doesn't affect them. And then the B coaches, Dan Quinn, are clearly elevated by an elite, um, coordinator. But Nick Seriani's not an A or a B. He's probably a C or a D. And if you take Shane Steichen's play calling, not Shane Steichen just being in the building, just his play calling away from Nick Seriani, you have a coach that had the most embarrassing opening press conference ever, who struggled in year one when he called the plays. And here in his final year, the team got

progressively worse, like Brandon Staley bad every week. Brandon Staley. good job of climbing the coaching ladder. He wasn't ready to be a head coach in the National Football League. Nick Seriani's not. I remember when he first got the job. You know, I said, I call people, and I was talking to a GM tonight about Jedfish going from Arizona to Washington, and I was just asking some questions about recruiting and personnel and blah, blah, blah.

But I usually do that. I'll call GMs, text GMs, and say, hey, what do you know, what do you think? And on Siriani, two of my executive friend said, I don't think he's ready to be. for the job. I don't think he's ready for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's a high pressure, high leverage job. That's a tough job. And so then he butchers the press conference. And I'm like, oh, Jesus, Google it. I've never seen anything like it. Go look at Sean McVeigh's opening press conference. Kyle Shanahan's, go go look at the young co, Demico Ryan's. I mean, Mike Tomlin's first press conference, go look at Nick Sariani's. And so I had sources say he's not ready, the opening

press conference, his first year's ugly, then he relinquished his play calling and you think, well, this guy is something. This guy is something here. Folks, the truth eventually comes out. And I don't think my problem with Brandon Estaley is my same problem with Nick Sariani. What does Philadelphia do well? What do the chargers do well? You went from narrow losses to touchdown losses to embarrassing losses. It just got worse over time. It's like having a bad boss in any industry. The company gets worse really fast. So I think, you know, you could certainly argue Mike McCarthy, as Callan Moore left, upgraded the cowboy offense. You could argue he's won 12 games, 12 games, 12 games, best DAC we've ever seen. You've got to keep him. You could certainly argue

Mike Tomlin they lost today. He's Mike Tomlin. He's never had a losing season, right? Those are different conversations. But with Brandon Staley and Nick Sariani, this isn't going to get better. I mean, this doesn't, I don't see the hope. I don't even know what I watched. And like the Chargers, you have these young coaches who probably had somebody on that resume. For the record, the Eagles were going to hire Staley until the Chargers did. Think about that. You know, he had probably somebody on the resume made a call for him and maybe interviews well. But I don't know where you go of your Philadelphia. Like again, look at the losses in the playoffs.

Kevin Stefansky lost. He was on his fourth quarterback. Mike McDaniel lost. Warm weather, two on the road against Mahomes. Sean McVeigh lost. Hell of a game. Rebuilding year to begin with. I could look at Mike McCarthy.

I mean, the offense was better when Kellan Moore left. I can make arguments for all the losing coaches. I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this. It doesn't look like he's ready. He can't coach. I mean, what do they do well? And they got personnel. So, I mean, Troy Aikman said on the broadcast very early. He didn't like the body language of Philadelphia. I mean, for Troy to say that, go out and say that. It's like, wow, he's seeing something or hearing something. And he was right. The coaching disparities in these playoffs, man, I know it sounds impulsive and overreactionary to say,

As Seriani was in the Super Bowl, you know, you got to move on. You tell me his theatrics on the sidelines, the regression of Jalen Hertz, I mean, Jalen Hertz, Justin Herbert, we know they're talented. We've seen it. wrong coach? We know the quarterback's the most valuable player in the league and the most valuable element to a franchise. But if you don't think coaching can puncture quarterback momentum, I give you the Chargers and the Eagles. And this isn't all about Philadelphia. Baker Mayfield went 21 of 35, two touchdowns, 314 yards. And I know all of you really do

think that I'm rooting against Baker Mayfield, but I am not. I've always thought Baker is one of the top 20 throwers of the football. I think he's matured. I think he got humbled. And I think he has the ability. He throws a very, very nice football when he's feeling it, when he's confident, and he has decent protection. When he gets in trouble is when he thinks he's more athletic than he is, He tries to, you know, move a little bit more than he should, or he loses confidence, or he's banged up, which he wasn't 100% healthy. But I've said this. I would have no problem with Tampa.

When I start looking at franchise quarterbacks, there's different levels to them. Baker Mayfield, with a chip on his shoulder and a reasonable contract, whatever reasonable is, $18 million a year, $24, you can do worse than Baker Mayfield. I mean, he throws a good football. I think he's a good person. I think being a number one pick thrown into dysfunctional Cleveland would have overwhelmed a lot of people.

And then eventually he found Kevin Stefansky and by that time his situation in Cleveland had been eroding. Maybe if he would have started with Kevin Stafansky, it would have worked differently. I like Stafansky a lot. I think getting Joe Flacco into the playoffs this year as fourth quarterback is a testament to Kevin Stifansky.

But I think, you know, you can look in the rearview mirror what could have been, what should have been, but the Cleveland situation was tough for Baker. Again, Hugh Jackson, they didn't connect, you know, Freddie Kitchens, not a lot of people are going to succeed with that, right? You'd have to be like next level. I mean, even Josh Allen has been in his career, you know, reliant on certain coordinators. And Josh Allen stepped into a situation where the bills had made the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor. So that wasn't chaos. I think Cleveland for Baker was just a lot for him to handle.

And Cleveland has historically been a lot for, I mean, how many great quarterbacks have they had? But Tampa has always had talent. I don't look at Tampa as dysfunctional or chaotic. They've been an interesting franchise that can never get the quarterback right. So Brady, they got the quarterback right. Baker wins a home playoff game. That feels right to me. So he's won a playoff game in the AFC and the playoff game in the NFC.

So when Baker has felt supported in his career, when he's had like a number one receiver, you know, I thought tonight, I thought Baker played really well. I mean, Tampa just could not catch the football in the first half, or the game would have been over then. So Baker's numbers would have been far better, far more yards had the Bucks had a bad night of catching the football. And so, you know, fit is. so essential for young people. I mean, it's important for everybody. But when you're young,

you get a little money, got a little fame, you get thrown into Cleveland. That just wasn't that easy. That's a circus. You got the Steelers. You got the Ravens twice a year. Pretty soon, here's Joe Burrell. That's a lot. And I think Tampa, Baker can kind of hide. It's not a high-profile organization. He can sort of hide. He gets his good warm weather, you know, Texas. I Oklahoma. He gets some good warm weather. He's got some nice targets, lower expectations. Nobody talks about him being a number one pick. He's got a little bit of a Gino Smith to the Seahawks field where everybody kind of likes his story and embraces him. I think this is a really, really good fit for Baker. And again, Tampa's a winning playoff team. They're not going to have a great opportunity to get one of the top five quarterbacks. I think you roll the dice. I think you sign kind of a Gino Smith contract with Baker. You can draft a quarterback, you know, late first round second. is not bad. They've had some protection issues a little bit. But I'm happy for Baker. I really am. I really am. I think, I think, you know, I've got between stepkids and my biological kids, I got six young people in my life. And I've watched them grow and I've watched how important fit is. And the better the fit, the happier the person, the faster they grow. I think Tampa and Baker work. You can hide in Tampa.

You know, Cleveland may not win a lot, but it's hard to hide in a division with the Ravens and the Steelers, the number one pick and all the commercials. You can go hide in Tampa. Mobsters used to hide in Tampa. Kansas City in Tampa. You didn't know that, did you? I did. I lived there. A lot of dead mobsters down in Tampa.

All right. The playoffs are set next weekend. So we're going to have Detroit and Tampa. I like Detroit. San Francisco Green Bay. I like San Francisco, but that line, nine and a half. I'm not giving Green Bay nine and a half points. That's too lethal of an offense. In the AFC, the Texans, I think their season will end facing a superior team with a lot of experience in the Ravens. And then Buffalo hosts Kansas City. Buffalo lost a linebacker. I think I like the bills. I think it's narrow.

That's a tough one. I have to let that bake. I really like that. I really like. like this version of the bills. I know when they lost that game to Philly, everybody bailed, and I'm like, nope, they're twitchier, they're faster, they're less reliant in Josh Allen. I like these bills. I think I'll take Buffalo to beat Kansas City. Let me think about it. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all. Embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

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corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, John Middilcoff, former NFL scout, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo, with a decisive lead, eventually turns out to be a decisive win. They did lose a linebacker, Torel Bernard, which I, that's a loss. It's a linebacker, not a quarterback or a rush end, but it's a loss for a team that over the last couple of years, they get banged up. It's a physical team like Baltimore, San Francisco.

They're rarely at full strength. You know, the one thing I like about Buffalo, and in previous years, I thought they were very, very reliant on Josh Allen's superpowers. But Khalil Shakir, James Cook, they're a little twitch. year. They're a little better after the catch. It gives them a little spice. They're a little less Josh Reliant. He still had the play of the game. But when I do watch their offense, I'm like, there are gears to it now. And I didn't really feel there were gears. There are times Stefan Dix disappears for a quarter, and they're fine. And that to me feels more like a Super Bowl team

where previously it was like, okay, can Josh? It was almost like watching a high school offense with a division one quarterback, you're like, all right, four or five touchdowns. I feel they're balanced, even though Josh is still putting up like league leading numbers. Totally agree. I mean, the definitive drive to me is they get the ball back up a touchdown with about 10 minutes left. And there were a couple Josh Allen runs in there, which ultimately was capped off by the Shakir touchdown, who in that offense, right, they had Cole Beasley forever. That's a great little security blanket over the middle of the field. They hit Diggs on a screen and Cook had several runs.

I mean, he's a legitimate player right now. Yes. So, you know, this is it kind of becoming the Brady Manning, now Mahomes and Allen next week. It's Mahomes' first ever road game. And I think for the first time, you feel Buffalo can win. I mean, I haven't seen the line yet. I'm sure they're going to be favored. It's a tough place to play.

And Josh, I texted a buddy in the league. I don't think he's the best quarterback, but he's not. definitely has the most raw talent of any quarterback in the NFL, right? And it was on full display with some of those. He's a cheat code in cold weather, which they said at the kickoff. It was negative, you know, zero degrees at the field, the wind, the chill. He's on phase a lot like Mahomes. So that was always a huge advantage in the Brady Manning thing, right? Brady had a huge advantage if the game was in New England. Well, this, it's a coin flip, right? Mahomes and Alan, there's no difference when they're outside. And to me, I totally agree.

They're a little more balanced and digs at any moment can make a big play. But Cook's emergence this season really has taken their team. They feel like the real deal. Now, can they overcome some of the injuries? They have some scar tissue and some of these big moments. Like what happens next week if it's 20 to 14 going to the fourth quarter and they're down? Do they get tight? Does that place get tight today?

They had the momentum. The Steelers, let's face it, a little bit of a fraudulent team, you know, historically in the playoffs. Seven Cs weren't even there. So, yeah, I'm bullish on Buffalo. They've really, never forget, when Ty Dunn, I know you have them on, a friend of mine. Yeah. That definitive piece that he wrote, it felt like, well, they're going to start losing a bunch of games and this guy's going to get fired. They never lost, and they still haven't lost to this day.

So you talk about a team with a lot of momentum. You got to like where the bills, the way they've played over the last, whatever, six plus weeks, right? Well, in the other thing, Ty Dunn's article wasn't inaccurate. what the bills did in which good operations do, remember when Tom Coughlin started getting heat, and instead of holding a grudge, Tom Coughlin improved. He listened to his players. Lightened up. Yep, Sean McDermott. Instead of getting defensive, McDermott's like, we got some issues here, and a lot of them are me. And so they make a change at OC. So, you know, whenever a reporter writes something and has inside sources, you have sources. You have sources.

and there was unhappiness in the room. But I think, much like a Cofflin, a McDermott's like, okay, listen, this can go two ways. I can be stubborn and get fired. And by the way, a lot of coaches would. Or I can learn from it. You know, and Sean's a fighter, high school wrestler, tough guy, fighter, been around the league a long time.

And I think Sean also knows there's three quarterbacks in the league that are just different. Lamar, Josh, and Mahomes. There's a lot of good players. Those guys are different. They can just peel off a 28-yard. run at any moment and be faster than the defensive players chasing him. You know, I like Herbert, but he can be a bit wooden.

I like Trevor Lawrence, but sometimes I don't think he's that accurate. There's a lot of guys I like. CJ Stroud's excellent. He's a lot like golf, clean pocket, beautiful. Not a real mover. But I think, I think Sean McDermott looks at this and thinks, okay, if I left, I will get no more Josh. You're like, everybody's always like, everybody's always like John Harbaugh really embraces

Lamar. No shit. There's one of the planet. It's not hard to go. They don't make them like that. So I think Buffalo, you know, had a fork in the road. And McDermott's like, we have to be open and communicate. I like them. This is an easy team to root for. They're kind of like Detroit and the AFC, been beaten up historically. I like them. I would say this about Sean McDermott having spent a year around him. A lot of defensive coaches can just kind of lean tough guy meathead. And at Sean's core, he is a tough guy. But he's a well-read intellectual, right? He could have a conversation with you about a lot of different things. He's not just some old school, hit you, hit you, hit you. Now, his personality, he can get tight, as was written about in that article. But he is a smart guy. I mean, this is someone that could have worked in finance.

This is a guy that could have been successful in a lot of different industries. And to me, he deserves a lot of credit for clearly just maintaining that infrastructure inside the team. Because sometimes you can unravel in that situation. They were six and six. they were headed to implode. Now they're hosting the second round, right? I mean, they've turned this thing around and quick. Now, they benefited because the team that they had to catch in the division was not Brady and Belichick.

It was Tua and a team that was getting injured, losing multiple players a game for a month straight. But I give this Bill's team, you talk about a team that went through a lot of shit early in the season, and now they have a player that on any given week, on any given game, I don't care if you got Patrick Mahomes, I don't care if you got Lamar Jackson, which is the two teams are going to play the next two weeks. They can have the best player on the field, which you saw today. He had stretches where it's like, I don't know if I've ever seen that quite before, from a pocket passer, right? Because he's running like Cam Newton, but then he's throwing like Elway or Marina. Now they have a short week.

They face Kansas City. But I do think many of their best players have been around the block, the coaching staff. I don't think short weeks necessarily are punitive to a Baltimore, Kansas City, Philadelphia. I mean, these teams play on Thursday, and the good teams are usually ready to go. So I don't think that's punishing. And they're at home. Yeah, yeah. So I think, I think, you know, Buffalo should be favored.

And I would, my gut feeling is they should be favored by about two and a half points. It'll be a classic game. Let's talk Pittsburgh. And I was thinking about this. So Green Bay and Pittsburgh are very similar. Loyal, smaller market, not big free agent players, winning organizations. both draft and develop at a very, very high level. The difference is one has an offensive coach and an offensive culture.

Holmgren, McCarthy, LaFleur, Farr of Rogers Love. One has a defensive coach and very much a defensive culture. They spend their money on defense. The difference is the Packers have shown an ability to just keep hitting on quarterbacks. Between Bradshaw and Big Ben, there were a lot of misses. Kenny Pickett feels like a very average player. Rudolf's been around for a while, limitations, lower ceiling. And I think Green Bay rolls this weekend.

And if I look at Green Bay going forward, I get nothing but answers. Speed, quarterback, coach, salary cap, they'll go spend money on an edge rusher. Like, I got nothing but answers with Green Bay. Pittsburgh is picket the right guy. Is Tomlin perfect? Are they going to spend money on offense? What do you do in the draft? Do you have to address the local kid that?

That's not much better than your backup. And I, and this is not, it's just funny, when I look at Pittsburgh today and forward, I have nothing but questions despite the fact they have good players everywhere. I like a lot of it, but are they going to address this? Well, to me, Alan, Lamar, now C.J. Stroud, Burrow, their divisions packed at quarterback. I don't pivot on my take that this is run its course with Mike Tomlin. Like today, making the playoffs as some seven seed and losing by a couple touchdowns, does not change my opinion.

And I thought that was defined this season. What were they watching at practice to keep rolling with Mitch Trubisky over Mason Rudolph? Mason Rudolph's not your franchise quarterback, but he was way better than Mitch that they were losing games with, which forced them to play everybody in that final game. And today they didn't have TJ Watt. I mean, he's one of the best players in the league. And they got there because they were in a position of loyalty. Mitch Trubisky, we paid him $8 million.

It's like, guys, have you guys watched this guy play over the last five years? What are you doing? Say what you want about Mason Rubik. He made some plays a day. Him and Trubisky are, there's a wide gap. Yeah. But I'm with you. I mean, there is a culture in Green Bay and it goes back to Ron Wolf and

Holmgren, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. And in this league, you can't just roll out Tommy Maddox or some of these guys and expect to compete. You have no chance. None. I mean, not a snowball's chance in hell. And like you said, the division, they're in a different stratosphere. And now C.J. Stroud's in the conference.

Herbert's going to get Harbaugh. What are we doing? And so I think it's time for divorce. I've been saying it for a while. The Tomlin thing, it doesn't reflect like he's some bum as a coach. He would get hired immediately. But I think it's just time for a change. Now, organizationally, that's not their style.

Let's face it. Beside Rathlisberger, they've really struggled at that position. Even with Cowell, it's not like they had big time quarterbacks. So, I mean, I remember being a kid, Neil O'Donnell, they were in the Super Bowl with. Like this, that's not Elway Marino or Steve Young or Aikman. And so, yeah, I'm with you. I don't see much changing next year. Their organization's so well run, like the Packers with all the other positions,

that they're never going to have a six-win season. So this notion saying that Tomlin never loses, well, most good coaches would be competitive with their roster. I mean, they're missing star players and they still got studs everywhere. So I think that's a little overblown. I think it's time for a change. Now, will they do that? Obviously, highly unlikely.

But there have been some rumblings out there that maybe we've come to a fork in road and they've had some management turnover. The long time GM is gone. They got some new people running the organization. I think these next couple days will be interesting if a story pops out of Pittsburgh that maybe they're both looking at each other. Maybe if you're Mike Tomlin, you go, I don't want to coach these quarterbacks, go somewhere else where you get better infrastructure. Dave Wanstatt once told me that the Steelers role was a little reluctant to draft Pitt players, University of Pittsburgh players, because if they had to let go of the player or cut them, it wouldn't play well in the community. And the Roonies are so community,

based. And so if I'm Mike Tomlin, do I consider saying, I got a ring here, right? Like, I've done my job. I know this organization, three more years of Kenny Pickett. They're not moving off him. I'm best served going to the market, doing Fox TV or CBS for a year. I mean, both those companies would hire him overnight, NBC. I mean, Mike, I mean, I can't say with any certainty, but I can tell you Fox, CBS. a heartbeat our guys and no inside information. We have smart executives. You'd absolutely call Mike Tomlin tomorrow, fly him out and say, let's talk.

So my takeaway is it's not an indictment of Mike. It's a smart business pursuit. Let's do TV for a year. Show everybody like Sean Payton. Hey, when I come back in 10 years, you'll want to hire me. I'm really good at this stuff. And then wait for a really good young quarterback to hit in this draft and then go somewhere and win again. I don't think it's an indictment if after 10 years you're looking around going,

I kind of think I can't win with this quarterback. And my organization's not bailing on this quarterback. I mean, the Roonies would push back on that. But don't you think there would be teams, you know, not everyone's going to land Harbaugh and Belichick. So the Washington football team commanders, whatever the hell their name is, Atlanta Falcons, Belichick's on his yacht. Well, if the Cowboy Job becomes available, the Atlanta Falcons are not getting Bill Belichick.

So they'd be all over him. He's from that area of the Eastern Seaboard. I think Mike Tomlin would have to turn people down, right? The different, Sean Payton quit. To me, Mike Tomlin, now we'll see where his head's at, I think could immediately garner 15 plus million dollars a year for a team that just want some relevance and some importance and just get the train. Think about Washington. They had the number two pick in the draft.

I've known Adam Peters for a long time. He kind of knows what he's doing. I mean, that seems like a pretty good spot. Well, and also there's this thing. in the media that if you, if you suggest what we're suggesting, you're anti-Tomlin, no. This is, by the way, Pete Carroll fired three times. Belichick now fired, basically fired twice. Yeah.

Andy Reid fired. The reality is what Mike provides culture and toughness, the Steelers have that coming out of their ears. I agree. And I was talking to a GM today. How many great cultures, because a coach sets the culture, and then the GM follows suit, becomes the mason, lays the bricks, right? You create the identity as a coach, the GM follows you.

How many great cultures are they in the NFL? San Francisco, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Los Angeles Rams, Chiefs. Philips. And I can name about four. There's about eight, nine. One of those is Mike Tomlin. So what it means is there's about 20 teams, 22, that don't have it. That's Mike's specialty.

Toughness, Alpha. of a dog culture. 20 teams need Mike Tomlin. So when people get defensive about Tomlin, it's like nobody is sick. By the way, Sean Peyton and I had dinner. He knew it's just time.

I've been here. Breeze is leaving. It's just time to take a deep breath. So I'd love to see Tomlin in Dallas. Oh, I'd love it. Pete Carroll was running out of town after back-to-back nine win seasons of trading the best player in franchise history.

Right? So it's like, this is a unique industry. You know, you can be successful, rattle off nine and ten wins like Mike is and go, where are we really going with this? Even if we have to take a step back to take a step forward. And sometimes, you know, coaches have talked about this forever. Your message eventually kind of runs its course. And that's where I think Pittsburgh is at.

And they've done the same thing now it feels like for five straight years. They've looked the same when the season ended. It's not a failure. Most of the league would sign up for that. But in Pittsburgh, I would say they desire a little more. Here's the other thing that Tomlin is so good at. Just throw Dallas out. He's great in front of the mic and a cowboy coach is in front of the mic.

He is very capable of dealing with drama. Labian Bell, A.B. He's more than capable of drama. Big Ben created some drama. Pickens. I mean, they got a ton of guys. So he can handle the mic. He'd be great.

Jerry would say something, you know, that you have to. dig out from under. Nobody be better than Mike. He's the best guy in front of the Mike in the league has been for several years. He's just great at the podium. He can handle drama. The Cowboys always have it. And I think it's fair to say in some big games this year, Niners, Buffalo, Green Bay, the Cowboys lack toughness. They really lacked, I mean, there were times Micah disappeared. The fact that this game was relatively close today speaks volumes of the, without T.J. Watt, and with Mason Rudolph tells you toughness, that was a brutal environment. I thought they were, when they scored that touchdown, I was like, how did they get within

seven? How did this happen? Colin, my first thought, you know, halfway through the first quarter was like, well, a 50 to 10 game is still better than no game. So I'm glad football is on. But my theory and I was thinking about it this morning at the gym, Jerry, just an all-time great marketer, do you think, because even if he needed to sleep on it, the decision he has to have already made.

But you don't want to fire your coach on a day where there are two games, even though it would be a huge story. It gets a loss a little in translation. Easier to pull the trigger Tuesday morning or Wednesday when you kind of get the day to just be the whole headline. Or do you think he's truly just kind of pacing back and forth in his office thinking about it? Because I don't really know what's to think about after. I've had 24 hours to think about that game.

It still is one of the crazier things I can remember watching. Yeah, I think, you know, Jerry may do it. it after next weekend would feel maybe more appropriate. There's no hurry to name it over the next 10 days, right? Like, there really is it. You can't just hire Belichick Wednesday because of the new rules. So, yeah, you're not competing against other people to hire them by Thursday. So this is a college football.

And basically, I don't know, Tomlin would be way up at the top of my list. Vrable and Tomlin for the Cowboys would kind of a no-not because there's a lot of nonsense with Dallas. Tomlin and Vrable are no nonsense. And I think they'd be really good fits. So Mike Tomlin, after the game, was asked about his contract and walked off. What does that mean to you? Well, to me, we saw it with Mike Vrable. Things have gotten weird, right?

Things were getting weird in Pittsburgh. There have been rumblings that this has run its course. I've been saying forever, it's time. Mike Tomlin's no idiot. I mean, he knows Ben Rothensburg-Grant walking through that door. their quarterback situation is a disaster. You start feeling unappreciated. That's part of Belichick's thing.

Like, hey, guys, you know what I've done for you? Now, the problem is, like, part of football is like the future, not the past. But once you start feeling like that as a coach, big egos, these guys are super rich. I've been predicting for a while. I think this thing's over. And now maybe Tomlin's a little hot, doesn't feel the respect coming from the organization. Obviously, the fans are on them. I mean, the fans now in Pittsburgh have kind of been on them for several years.

Several. I think it's run its course, Colin. By the way, let's pivot to talk about that game, the Cowboys and Packers. Let's talk about it again. Is that, did you see Matt LaFleur's reaction after the game? It was really something. In week eight, I think it was, at home against Minnesota.

He was bad. There were some 55% completion percentage pre-buye for Jordan Love. So this idea that Packer fans, we're ahead of everybody on this. He was bad. Lefleur was condemning him after games and had to apologize. Like we were too hard on him. Lefleur's reaction after this Dallas game was one almost of disbelief as if he was saying,

I mean, he's good at practice, but we don't see that. I mean, he was like, that guys, wow, rarely do you see a coach act almost. surprised by the performance. And it is interesting. So he's obviously always had it in him, right? He's obviously done this in moments. But I'm trying to think of a player I've ever seen in season that's improved like that. I can't remember anybody. Well, this is why Josh Allen, after one of the worst college career statistically you'll ever see gets drafted at seven. This is why people will still take a chance on Justin Fields. When you have physical, tools in the sport of football with a huge arm and you're a good athlete, you know, coaches

are going to want to work with you. And the overwhelming majority of them don't work. The other thing with football coaches, this is not basketball or baseball. You practice, you know, five times more than you play during the week, right? Ray Lewis used to say, you pay me Monday through Saturday, Sundays are for free. So it's practice and study and it's, you know, coaches get very caught up in what it looks like in practice, because for the most part, that translates to the game. Then there are the outliers, right? Alan Iverson didn't even show up to practice and then he could score 40 in a game. Bartley. That's not, yeah, this is, I'm not saying this guy's not trying or whatever in practice, but you can't, part of what Aaron Rogers, you had seen it so often in games, you knew what you had, when you have an unknown, especially he's not front, it's not like he had played at SC, Texas, or Bama, so you'd seen him in the, you guys were playing at Utah State. And they weren't even that successful of a program his last year there. So there was a lot of guessing. And rightfully, the contract told you everything. you needed to know. It's like, yeah, we're not going to pick up the fifth year option,

but we'll give you $11 million. I don't know if you saw all the incentives. I mean, it's hit like $7 million in incentives. Yep. Right. So it's been remarkable. But, listen, the most powerful thing you can have in football is the head coach, who's also the play caller, because when he can develop that guy, no matter how much success your program has, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reed, Sean Payton, now LaFle, you can't hire that guy away. This is not college. I can't pluck your head coach. So you have the most valuable asset from your coaching staff.

Who's always standing next to Jordan Love going over is Matt LaFleur. I think Matt LaFleur, not that I questioned him, but, you know, it's kind of, listen, inherited Rogers. You said it's one of the great all-time openings. I mean, you got back-to-back MVPs. He kind of met him in the middle. Remember, Aaron didn't do the entire offense. He liked the shotgun stuff.

Now they've instituted this playbook. Jordan has no choice, but hey, I'll do whatever you guys want me to do. The organization, great job around him. and the rest is history. Even if they lose this game coming up by 17 points, what a freaking season. I mean, if I'm a Packer, can you imagine being a Bears fan or a Minnesota Vikings fan?

These teams run through quarterbacks constantly, and you see the Packers do this, because he made those throws last night, even if the game, quote unquote, is a little easier to throw, as Brady would say, because you're not getting lit up across the middle, that ability to throw off your back foot and throw lasers 30 plus yards on a string

and hit guys over the shoulder with the DB in front, of them. Only a small hand, like, only a small handful of guys can't, can do that. Well, and I was, as I was watching that game, I was thinking to myself, this is another reason. You've got to go get Kayla Williams after Chicago. You've got three years of Justin Fields. I've got one year of Jordan Love. Think about Jordan Love's improvement, week eight to now like week 19 per se. It's a different, it's like, it's like almost, I said today, it's like a guy I went from missing the cut at the Valero. open to a nine-stroke lead at the Masters on Saturday.

In like eight weeks, you're like, what am I doing? Justin Fields, I got three years. We've got these tiny incremental leaps. Like, usually star quarterbacks are either good initially, C.J. Stroud. Or they do a Josh Allen, a Jordan Love. We're over like a 10-game stretch. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

There's the magic. And I think some of it is building relationships with the young receivers. But as I watched that, I thought, okay, Chicago, fan boys, you got to go restart the clock because to beat Green Bay going forward, you got to go by some players because you don't draft offense like the Packers do. And right now, Fields is not close to Jordan Love. Well, imagine me and you were, you know, ran the Chicago Bears front office. And we showed up to the office this morning after not just watching Jordan Love, but also saw Jared Gough, who's under contract next year for 25 million, who they clearly like, those two guys are

going nowhere, and those teams have a lot of talent. So what can they both do? Throw from within the pocket. Now, love can move Goff can't, but Goff can really throw from within the pocket, and they happen to have the best offensive line who's all under contract. So I've been saying this forever. Caleb Williams is going to be their quarterback.

There's no if-ans or buts. I don't even think it's a question internally, but obviously it's going to be an internet conversation. Listen, does Justin Fields go for a second, a fourth? It doesn't really matter. You're drafting Caleb Williams, number one. And a couple hours ago, he officially declared, which he always was going to do. But Caleb Williams is going to be a bear, unless him and his dad pulling, you know, Eli or John Elway.

But even then, if I'm the Chicago Bears, I'm just drafting him and we'll figure it out. Yeah, I feel the same way. So, you know, I was thinking yesterday I said this is that there's not as many franchise quarterbacks as you think. Stroud and Jordan Love are very significant because the AFC and the NFC both get another young star quarterback. And I counted 17. I did not count Gino Smith. I count Derek Carr. I don't consider him top 10, 12.

I counted Kirk Cousins off an injury. I did count Aaron Rogers, though I don't think his career. I think he's got about a year left behind that O line, and he may just wave the white flag. But it is remarkable. I counted 17, maybe 18, if he count Baker Mayfield, who I give a contract to. we, you know, if the number's right, probably in the teens, as you noted.

But it's pretty remarkable, John. It's about 55% of the league has a franchise quarterback. And it leads me to believe, I thought about this due to the injuries and the scarcity of them. Could I make an argument unless you have a young one who's healthy, like at Buffalo, you could draft a quarterback every single year. Now, obviously, some year's second round, some. fifth. But when you watch a Brock Purdy come out from Iowa State and you're like, shit, I'm going to draft one of these guys. It may be the fifth. You know, Belichick did it

every other year. Garapolo, Ryan Mallet, he drafted a lot. Andy re-did it for years in Philadelphia. And by the way, most won't hit. If one out of four does, you sell them on the market. Or when your guy gets hurt for three games, you can win one of them. But I thought watching this, I'm like, I don't know where the quarterback, the league is so quarterback-centric, if you don't draft one a year. Well, I'll tell you one thing I thought about this morning was, one, I can't even imagine if Stafford could get out of bed this morning. You know, would he have been able to play if they had won that game? But aren't they a team that if you told me, they traded up five spots in the first round and drafted a guy in the teams and kind of tried to pull a Mahomes, Alex Smith, and redshirted? Who cares they drafted Stetson Bennett in the fourth round?

hell, he wasn't even around this season. Like, it's just whatever. Move on. Yeah. Right. I treat it like the 49ers with Tray Lance. They're a good example. Boom, pivot.

Get more guys in. Go sign Sam Donald's. Brock Purdy. Just keep churning that bad boy. And even if you have a high price guy, look at the Detroit Lions. They drafted Hendon Hooker last year off an ACL. He's the backup to Jared Goff.

So I'm totally for that. I think a lot of teams, though, in the 20s, you know, we'll see Pittsburgh, but we talk so much about Seattle. to see who their new head coach is. But aren't the Rams a team that you just watch Stafford, you go, how many more years is he going to? And he was remarkable last year.

But is his body going to hold up? I mean, he's a 35-year-old. The body has to feel like he's 56. You know, like Rathesberger at the end? You're like, God, he's just, he's been through the war. You know, that's what Stafford feels. To me, the Rams are a team. And they have other needs, but you have to look and go, at any moment,

this guy does not feel like he's just walking off in the sunset the way he's played over his 14, 15 years. Here's my gut feeling on that, that they believe with their draft picks and cap space, they're going to go buy an edge rusher. They need it, they're going to go get another receiver, Cooper Cups aging. They want another back. They're going to go get a left tackle if Havenstein moves. They're going to get a defensive end. My guess is they might buy a tight end and an edge rusher. Higby may not be ready for the start of next year. They like a David Allen the backup from Clemson's OKs's backup. My take is they're going to go one more year with Matt Stafford, Wents, the backup.

You can win games with Wins. They're actually, they're very similar players. Arm, little reckless, played in big games. Stafford's a better player. Obviously, yeah. I think they're going to go one more year. And then the take is, and they'll convince Aaron Donald to stay. Then McVeigh has been, and it'll be a good team next year.

They'll be a very good team next year. I agree. Because Kobe Turner, Avila, the Interior, Young, the Rush, end, Pooka, they hit on like four or five draft picks. It's a good scouting department. McVeigh, I think they'll go to the market. I think they'll just say, listen, there's four quarterbacks available in the market. Wouldn't you choose McVeigh? Yeah. So it might take That's how the Niners got Sam Darnel for $2 million, right? So he wanted to come there to rehab himself. I think they're going to run Matt back. They're going to try to embolden the

offensive line, which by the way, if Havon's not saying getting rid of Stafford, I'm saying almost do a Holmes, Alex Smith, have a guy around him, but you'd have to use a high pick, probably, to get a guy you like. Yeah. I think they're going to run it back. I think they think they can be a Super Bowl team next year. I think they knew in the building. Their defense is young, needs another year, and they have about four holes to fill, and the scouting department they trust.

They have their first, second, third, fourth, fifth, six. So, but I do think the advantage to having an offensive coach is as your quarterback ages, they age a little more elegant. not inelegantly like Big Ben. And the second thing is when the market has free agent quarterbacks, they look to you. I mean, hell, Elway was a front office guy and he recruited Peyton Manning. Peyton trusted Elway's brainpower in the building to go to Denver. I think McVeigh's comment after the game, too, is pretty powerful, essentially saying, like, these guys made me fall in love with football again because he clearly almost tapped out and had enough of it last year.

And now he has this young team where you're kind of bullish on the future. it's almost like a college coach that's a little older, it sounds like a four-year deal, like, guys, I'm not going anywhere. And he kind of, I thought was pretty open and honest with that comment of like, I'm here. Like we got a chance to be pretty good in the next several years. I mean, Puka, what he did last night in all season, I don't think it's, you can overstate him.

That's one of the greatest, you know, Randy Moss was sexier looking the way he played, but it's his impact. I mean, that guy's an unstoppable force. And it's not like you back, well, he's the number two. No, he was way better than Cooper Cup, given how he's not the same player right now based off the injuries. So when you're going into a game, you're trying to take Puka and Naku, you know where Matt Stafford's looking and no one can cover him. I don't care if you've got the Lions DBs or good DBs. That guy is getting seven to ten catches every single game.

He is, what a draft pick. That's remarkable. Had they not taken, it was funny, after the draft, the next day I said, I didn't love the Stets and Bennett pick. but their second round pick aces. Their two-thirds, aces. Their fifth, they got Alan and Pooka Nakua. They had a hell of a draft. And I talked you out of it, too.

You loved them, and I thought they were going to suck, and they were anything but that. They were damn good down the stretch. Stafford and Aaron Donald, I argue, are still top five in the league at their position, maybe top three. I mean, I think Stafford's that good. He's a league. But Donald is so perpetually triple team. Did you see multiple times? Detroit tripled him and he stopped rushing because his feeling was, well, I've done my job.

I've taken three offensive linemen. You guys go get him. Is if they can keep talk. I think he has two more great years. And I think Stafford's got two more. So I think Cooper Cup, you can argue it's time to move off him. Can you get a fifth round pick for him? Or he could restructure his deal because they do have some cap space. The analytical community is always down on linebackers. They view them like utility players like in baseball. And I've always pushed back on that, having lived through the Willis and Bowman teams and now with Fred Warner with the Niners. Ernest Jones, 53, no one talks about him. He's easily one of the best linebackers.

He's definitely probably the best blitzing linebacker. And Michael Embardi has always said this. When your middle linebacker is fast and impact player, your whole defense plays like that, to me, he lifts their level of play. Think about last year. Bobby Wagner, they signed, he was old, not the same player. They pivoted off him. They built the defense now around Jones in the middle. Look how much better their unit is.

And they might get lucky. Rahim Morris, you know, should get a second chance. But who knows? Maybe defensive coaches, a lot of other big-name coaches on the market. They might be able to just bring him back. You bring this coaching staff back. McVeigh turned over that whole staff, right? Six, seven new guys, like Ryan Wendell, their offensive line coach.

How much better was their offensive line this year than it has been your best? And they have some good young players, but just a remarkable job as an organization. John Middilkoff, former NFL scout for the Eagles, three-and-out. podcast you see the hat as always great talking to you about see you call the volume another podcast from some snl late night comedy guy not quite unhumor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guest s n l's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes Those people are starving for banter.

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