The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Chiefs OWN Lamar Jackson, Dart’s Solid Debut, Eagles Win Ugly, Steelers Best Win In Years, Ryder Cup

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down all the week 4 NFL action They start with the Chiefs blowing out the injury depleted Ravens and Colin argues that the Chiefs are in Lamar Jackson’s head, and that Chiefs DC Steve Spagnola may have Lamar figured out after years of facing him (3:30). They predict a major resurgence for the Chiefs offense as their wide receiving core returns to the field (9:00). They move to the Giants beating the Chargers and highlight Jaxson Dart’s solid debut and Cam Skattebo bringing juice to the Giants run game (13:45). They discuss the worrying rash of injuries to the Chargers and debate whether Herbert and the run game can hold up after losing several starters (17:30).  They pivot to the Bears beating the Raiders in an ugly game after another brutal performance from Geno Smith and despite Ashton Jeanty finally breaking out and a game between two six win teams (26:00). Colin argues that the Eagles feel a bit like Kansas City where there’s something not quite right, yet they still managed to win ugly over the Bucs (33:00).  They recap the Rams beating the Colts and Colin argues the Colts are for REAL despite the loss and predicts they’ll win the AFC South (37:30). Colin calls the Steelers win over the Vikings their best in years, and their physicality was on full display today (52:45). They question the Vikings decision to let Sam Darnold walk in exchange for unproven rookie J.J. McCarthy as it’s clear the team is just a quarterback away (58:45).  They move to the Jags win over the 49ers in a game they tried to give the game away but Brock Purdy was even worse and the Niners struggled with both running the ball and injuries (1:03:30). They pivot to college football and discuss Oregon vs. Penn State and Colin argues Dante Moore is the best quarterback in the country and that Drew Allar looked like the worst of the 4 QBs playing in the marquee games (PSU vs ORE & AL vs GA) (1:11:00). Colin recaps his experience at USC vs Illinois and explains why Illinois was clearly the better team (1:23:00).  Finally, they react to a crazy final round at the Ryder Cup and argue that the European team just has a better sense of cohesion, comradery and mental toughness than the American team (1:31:00).  All lines provided by hardrock.bet (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis' keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The volume. All right, before we dive into this week's breakdown, I watched a lot of football this weekend. I get hungry. And let's face it, watching football is better when you get to eat and drink. And that's just the truth. So luckily, on Uber Eats, you can score a free turkey pro balone sub, which I have right here from Jersey mics when you spend 15 bucks at Jersey mics all season long. There you go, footlong. This is my dinner. I can assure you when I'm done reading a spot, I'm going to eat it. It's an absolute beauty from Jersey mics. My favorite subplace has been forever. So you don't have to leave the house. And I used Uber Eats. This will be

the second time today I used Uber Eats. I used it about six hours ago to get some Greek food. So it doesn't matter. Whatever you want to eat during the football season, order Jersey Mikes on Uber Eats. satisfy that football craving. Terms apply. See the app for details. Bon Appetit. Uber Eats. All right, John Middilkoff and I.

We got a lot to talk about. We may slip in some Oregon, Penn State, and Ryder Cup in about an hour. Oh, yeah. Let's start with the big game of the day. Let's break down six or seven big games. Chiefs 37, Ravens 20. They tacked on a late touchdown. Lamar's now one and six against Kansas City.

They had a lot of defensive injuries, but that's not the story. The story is Lamar, I mean, to me, John, Kansas City is in his head. You know, obviously, when you're missing six defensive starters, I mean, Mahomes, four drives, four scores to start, like four touchdown passes. He broke the all-time record, fastest quarterback to 250 touchdowns, which we all knew you was going to do. So the defense, it doesn't help. But I feel that Kansas City is in Lamar's head.

Do you? Definitely. I mean, the Steelers have been over the years, and now Kansas City, it's undebatable. I also think this, and listen, he's a fantastic player. He's an incredible talent. But these last two weeks, he's led a pretty, you talk a lot about privileged lives at quarterback on offense. Like, the real sport starts when your tight end shatters his leg, your right guard gets a DUI,

he gets suspended, and then a wide receiver goes down in the first series of the game. It's like, then what do you do? Yeah. And we've seen Mahomes now for two years. But I'd say also, look at Josh Allen. His defense has been average at best over the years. Lamar, I would imagine his worst defense was last year. And by the end of the year, it was really good.

Two years ago, they had the number one defense in the league. Most of his career, because of the team he got drafted by, right? It's basically like defense you in football, the Baltimore Ravens. Well, what's going on right now? A bunch of injuries. They're two best defensive linemen. Van always kind of a hybrid. Gone.

Roquan gets her today. I mean, their defense is just a shell of itself. It's like, okay. And listen, the Ravens, how many times did they win games? I bet if we looked over the last three or four years, like 45-13. Yeah. So they roll you when they get up. But it's like, okay, you've got to have to win this game.

The Lions are used to that. 35, 32. Let's go. The Ravens, you know, that's just, he doesn't have to do that a lot over the years. And all of a sudden he's looking. It's like, you're back on the field. You know, they just scored another point. It's just, it's a different, they don't feel like the purple team we're used to watching because defensively, and that has to throw him off.

And it puts more pressure on him and they've kind of cracked, I would say, the last couple weeks. Well, yeah, yeah, two first half turnovers. I mean, they got themselves into a hole. And I, let me throw this at you. I've always said the reason he dominates the NFC and he is, he's like 25 and two. It's undeatable, yeah. Yeah, they don't see him. Spags has now seen him seven times.

So in my take on Lamar, remember the first year he started playing? I think he beat the Chargers the first time he played him, that first rookie year. Then in the second time he played the Chargers, in the playoffs, if I recall, they had a little bit better beat on him. And it's all fuzzy to me, but I was told very early on, you do get a little bit of a beat on him. He's just so dynamic, you can't get your arms around him. Well, Spaggs has seen him now so many times. It's a very good and very healthy and a fast defense. And then all of a sudden you jump out to a lead.

And, I mean, I think some of this is not that there's a secret sauce, but Spags is great. His defense is great. And they kind of mostly contained him tonight. Well, because the last two weeks, you know, Dan Campbell set the blueprint. And you went, well, you know Spags, who already had a blueprint is going to utilize that throughout the week of basically corraling. Now, again, he might juke you out and make a move every once in a while, but if you don't just run up aimlessly and let him just get an easy 10 yards with his eyes close, it's harder for him to operate. And remember, for a long time, you know, Dax team now stinks, but it was like when he didn't, when he got to pass the ball less than they ran it, he was really, really effective. Lamar had that stat going forever.

When the Ravens have more rushing attempts than pass attempts, they're going to be really dangerous. Why is that? They open the second half, hand in the ball. off and they just kind of roll you. They lean on you. Well, today, 17 rush attempts, 20 pass attempts. That is not their formula, the way they're playing. And obviously, you know, the turnovers. I mean, when he's turning the ball over now, we have, and he's not the only culprit. Derek Henry, he's been a major problem for him this year. They're out of sync, and they have these injuries, like, you know, the Chiefs,

you could tell. It's like, okay, they beat the Giants. They win this game. They get right back into the mix. I'm sure we'll talk about the Chargers. They got a million injuries right now. Like, it's open again for the Chiefs. You look at the Ravens and you go, could this kind of be there a year from hell? Like the 49ers last year, where you just lose a million players and all of a sudden you're seven and ten? Yeah, and to your point, I joke with Jemak all week. I'm like, it doesn't, people don't understand it. It's not like Xavier Worthy's a one, but when you don't have a one, two or a three, he's a damn good two. So he had a ton of targets, nice catches, a couple of, man, he was wide open on a couple of them. So to me, when you watch

Xavier Worthy, they still don't have a run game. Pacheco, that's not going to work. Big picture. But not every team that gets to the playoffs, it's Philadelphia. Not everybody's a great run team. What the run team does, it picks up first downs and it helps your defense. So I think they're going to have to establish that.

But when I watched them today with Thornton, Juju Smith, Xavier Worthy, my take was, and I'm not sure if yours was, well, if they get Rishi Rice back, okay, now Thornton, now Worthy, now Rice, Ju-Jew Smith, Travis Kelsey.

Okay, that's more than good enough with Patrick Mahomes if they can just be average running the ball. But worthy today, it was pretty clear that he has a relationship with Mahomes, and it's pretty good. Well, one thing I wrote down is, you know, Tyquon Thornton was once a second round pick. You know, that was a late second round pick by the Patriots, but he has a touchdown in each of the last three weeks. So you get worthy back. You get this guy who could fly, get him. get him some confidence. You get rice back. Hollywood Brown is just a solid contributing member. He can get you five, six catches every game. Juju can just do some dirty work over the middle of the field.

Their passing game looks a little bit better, big picture. This is why they win a day. They're two and two. You look at the rest of the AFC, some of the injuries, in their own division, the Chargers. I mean, you can't just start overcoming missing elite players, especially at the offensive line. You go, God, I like their offense. Now, again, We talked about this last week with the Bears. I just said, let's pump the brakes on the, you know, against the Cowboys defense. And you saw today. It's like, the Bears offense is going to be up and down.

And I will say the same thing with this Chiefs against this Baltimore defense, which has major issues. But they also have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and one of the greatest coaches of all time and coaches the offense. Yeah. So I would be bullish on the unit moving forward for sure from an explosive standpoint. And you add worthy to go with Thornton's speed, you can just stretch the field and those possession receivers in Brown and Juju, and even Travis, who clearly gets up for bigger games,

can add. And you just keep him healthy towards, you know, a playoff game. I mean, everybody's got a hole outside of Philadelphia. So their defense is good. They have the best head coach coordinator combo in the league. Once they get Rice back, more than adequate, probably above average receiving core, superstar head coach quarterback. I thought the O line was good. Andy Reid has rebuilt it three times since Mahomes arrived. Like if they've been patchworking it, you know, they lose Tune. It's going to take a while. They don't have a great run game.

I'm not even sure how serviceable it will be. But as I watched them today, I'm like, okay, they're a game back of the Chargers. And the Chargers now, I mean, I don't know what's happening with Joe Alt, but you're not in a division if you don't have Joe Alt or Rashon Slater, not even Harbaugh can pull that rabbit out. So, I mean, I looked at them today and maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I said it all week. I said, Worthy, we'll get 10 targets, 6, 7 catches,

and then Travis Kelsey, and it's just like anything else. When you've been in any industry 15 years, you and I, our Sunday pod feels different than one in May. Right? Like, it's like Travis Kelsey's been around, multiple surgeries. I watch him in these spots, and I'm like, okay, it's different. He's fine. I don't know. I came out of it.

And again, the injuries are part of it, But I have defended Lamar forever, but he had two turnovers. It's pretty clear. There's an anxiety that he, I don't know if it's a therapy thing, he just say what you want about Josh Allen. He's been highly effective against Belichick, against the Chiefs. Josh Allen loses. It's usually on the defense. I think it's totally on Lamar's head.

Well, I mean, if you gave the Chiefs, Andy and Spags, the opportunity, who was. would you rather play at quarterback, they wouldn't even hesitate and say Lamont. The data is in. Check Josh's data versus them in the regular season and in the playoffs. He has been excellent against Kansas City. But, yeah, I mean, I think Kansas City has to be. I thought the whole time, I know his numbers haven't looked good, but watching Patrick Mahomes last week in the second half,

early in the season and a couple of the losses, the one against Philadelphia. I think he's played really well. Same here. He's just completely under control. I bet if you were sitting in Andy's office tomorrow. He's like, I was not worried at all over the losses without our quarterback. I felt good. I thought it was on the other guys.

So I actually think, you know, Patrick has been a little up and down in previous years. Remember, he had an awful interception streak. I think for the most part, he's been playing at a really, really high level. His numbers just don't look like 50 touchdowns anymore. But I just go, that's one of the best players in the league. Yeah, the numbers don't reflect his quality of play. I thought he had two throws today and a scramble. the one where he ran over the line and came back, didn't count, but it was like, it was really a clever play to set up time.

I also thought he had a sidearm to throw to Juju Smith-Schuster. It was so quick and so fast with such velocity, and I'm like, nobody else can do that. Stafford does it. It doesn't look like that. So I'm with you. I think Kansas City now is, again, a top six team, and maybe five. I mean, the Chargers tackle situation is bad. And let's just go to the Charger game next.

So the Giants beat the Chargers 2118. So Malik Neighbors could be out for the year. But the story, which I thought was pretty substantial, is if you look at the numbers and you didn't watch the game, you wouldn't be impressed with Jackson Dart. But the Giants between Dart and Scataboo rush for over 160 yards. He had seven rushes. They were excellent on third down.

I thought Jackson Dart was pretty damn good. Neighbors hurt early, so you don't have that. He had 10 scrambles for 55 yards. I thought he was clever, kind of worked between the tackles. We know he has a decent arm. I don't know. Again, the Chargers had, Herbert was hit 14 times. So this is like a problem.

Last week he was hit 14 times. But I thought Jackson Dart, I mean, I'm watching all these college quarterbacks, Dante Moore looks like a great quarterback. CJ Carr at Notre Dame. The rest of them, I would sell some stock. I thought Jackson Dart looked pretty good. Yeah, he definitely gave him an energy to start the game. I mean, they get up 7-0.

He has that, you know, the quarterback draw, made some throws. Obviously, throughout the game, he keeps plays alive with his legs that Russell no longer was doing. There was also like a youthful, I don't know, craziness to him. I mean, he's trying to run guys over. He had the one play that got called back on the hole where he's got to be, I mean, he could have broke his hand, he could have broke his finger, just throwing hand. But I think he's so amped up. He's playing like he would be against Mississippi State or Tennessee.

It's like you've got to be a little more careful in the NFL, especially against this team. But he definitely, I mean, you Scataboo, the moment he's gotten in the games the last couple weeks, you can feel his energy and his physicality. He just adds something right. He is looking to hit someone hard. and I think the team feeds off it. And today, you know, their passing game, now with neighbors, I would assume, his niece done.

The passing game's going to be a struggle. The numbers are not going to look pretty good or good at all. But definitely Dark gives up something that Russell no longer does. So I also think when you look at the Chargers, the defensive line for the Giants is excellent. I mean, Burns is a fantastic player. Dexter Lawrence. Dexter Lawrence.

Con is even better, I think, that he's played early. in his career. And obviously, they just, they fly around. So you start losing, the chargers have a domino effect problem. Because Alt is there because the left tackles down. He's supposed to play right tackle. So the backup right tackle is at right tackle. Well, then he goes down. You know, you start shuffling all of a sudden you got backups and third stringers in different spots against, I mean, I don't know how much they make combined, but the Giants defense, they're paying a lot of money. Yes. And they've invested a lot of resources. So he is, I thought Herbert made some throws a day where it looked like he was going to lose knees and limbs.

I mean, he's just getting cut off. He's getting destroyed. That's not as sustainable. Now, I like the Giants today because I went, well, you go 13 and 4. East Coast game, early morning, the juice of the new quarterback. So I thought they were going to lose, or at least this game was going to be close. But then now when you look big picture, you go high ankle sprained for a big guy, that could be a month. So it's like you got problems, you know, and it's, you know, and it's, you know,

It feels like Herbert's going to have to be running for his life. He can do that. But, man, I don't feel as good as I did about them a week ago. Now, Hampton, O'Mario Hampton, had a couple of big runs. Made some runs. It was funny. I wrote this down. He had a 54-yard touchdown run, and I wrote, okay, he's worth the number one pick.

They need a horse. Nogie Harris is done for the year. So I thought Amario Hampton, like Ashton Gentie, who will get to in a minute, Ashton looked apart today. He had a very good day. His best day as a pro. I thought Hampton had his best day. And again, the Chargers had 340 yards.

The Giants only had 250. So they're passing game this year to me. One, Greg Romas is calling passes nonstop. Two, because, you know, Keenan Allen, ads with McConkey. And then Johnson, the TCU kid, is been fantastic this year, relative to the bar. Oh, I mean, you know, you look at neighbors who everybody looks at and goes, what a home run. Neighbors can't stay on the field. He can't stay on the field.

and Quentin Johnson, who was a bust when Jim Harbaugh arrived, clearly in the offseason, they're like, dude, you're a unicorn, your body type is different. They have gone aggressively downfield with him, and he's delivered. He had a drop problem for about a year and a half. And, you know, so I think the good news for them, Hampton can play. Quentin Johnson's done a bust. You know, Joe Alt will return, although high ankle sprains are like, what are they call hit pointers. You just calf injuries.

Bad. Yeah. You know, they're just annoying. But in the end, I still feel that defense most of the time is going to win games. I think it's not sustainable, but Herbert's kind of a Josh Allen type, a Cam Newton type. At this age, it's pretty sustainable, but it's not in like four years. Well, Quinn Johnson is adding it up has 22 catches and four touchdowns through four games. So you at him with Keenan and Ladd McConkey, all of a sudden you go, well, do I have an 80 catch 10 to 12 touchdown

deep threat and explosive player? Because if I could put, that's what they lacked. I mean, last year all they had was McConkey over the middle. And listen, sometimes guys are late bloomer's. Terrell Owens is one of the greatest players in the history of the league. Didn't have great hands. When you are D.K. Metcalfe, I don't think he's known for

having Marvin Harrison's senior hands, but when you are a physical freak and can fly like Quinn Johnson can. You can get by with dropping some balls. And I forget who was calling the game today. But he said, they asked Keenan Allen, you were here a couple of years ago with him when he was young. And now you're here with him.

And now he's playing well. What's the difference? He's like, honestly, he's just way more confident. And that's where I think Harbaugh gets a lot of credit is over the years. And he has to do this. You know, in college, he gets to build them up when they're 17, 18. Confidence is like that jump from high school to college. It's just different.

You get to mold the young guy. In the NFL, all of a sudden, you can feel overwhelmed. I'm not good enough. Harbaugh proved it with the 49ers, and he's proven it here again. He can take guys. Alex Smith was shot. When I was with the Eagles, we were going to sign Alex Smith to be our backup quarterback. Harbaugh wouldn't let him go.

He believed in him, and he created the rocket ship that went on to get traded and become a playoff quarterback for a long period of time. Some people are like, oh, it's kind of cheesy, is hyperbolic. It works. These guys are young men. These guys are very fickle human beings. Rightfully so. this is difficult. And he deserves a lot of credit because I remember last year when he was dropping

some balls. Some of these coaches, I mean, could be angry. You know, your boy, Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan, it's hard for them to be as fake positive sometimes. And Jim's pretty good at that. And I got to give him a lot of credit with this specific player because last year he could have just kind of thrown him in the trash. And not only did he not, he kind of kept publicly building him up. And he's seeing the fruits of that now. Eight years after flushing his promising college football career down the toilet, Hotshot quarterback Russ Holiday tries to resurrect his dreams by disguising himself as Chad Powers, a talented oddball who walks on to the struggling South Georgia Catfish,

based on Eli Manning's Eli's Places segment from ESPN and Omaha Productions, the new comedy starring Glenn Powell as Russ Holiday. Hot Shot tries to resurrect his dreams, disguising himself as Chad Powers, a talented oddball who walks on to the struggling. South, Georgia Catfish. It's a new comedy event, surprise ending. You're going to love it. Hulu's Chad Powers, premieres Tuesday, September 30th, with a two-episode launch. New episode stream weekly on Tuesdays. This week's redeem team player is Dante Moore, the former UCLA Bruin, led Oregon to a win at number three Penn State. Dante finished great night.

29 of 39, three touchdowns in Oregon's impressive victory at Happy Valley. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. O'Donno and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

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

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcasts. Will Farrell's big money players and IHeart podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. Wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Clark, stop here. Just hit it.

Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious.

Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple.

podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. In one of the wildest, ugliest games of the season, the Bears, because of a late last second missed blocked field goal, the Bears beat the Raiders 25, 24. And the reason

this is important. The Raiders, thank God, Gino Smith is in the league. He basically lost the game for the Raiders today. He had three picks. He's got really, really tenuous judgment in big spots. The Bears were a mess. I mean, they had a fourth and one false start. They had a huge third and five, and the snap, Caleb wasn't ready for it. I mean, Ashton Gentie arrived. So if you're a Raider fan, Ashton

Gentie looked apart. Gino was awful. And I think you and I both said it. Pete knows him. Pete trusted him. It's so weird because Pete hates interceptions. And Gino leads the NFL in picks. I think he's got now like six or seven leads the NFL. He's the opposite of what Pete Carroll likes. does not take care of the ball. But in the end, you know, I will say this about Caleb Williams. He made a couple of throws. Cole Comet dropped a big ball today. He had a couple of bad drops.

He, they won. He was the better quarterback. It's imperfect. But do you just, if you're the Bears, do you go, we won a road game. We don't win road games. I mean, I look at it and I think to myself, hey, our defense made plays. That's part of football. Yeah, I thought he made some big plays when that final drives.

Scrambling around. You know, I just looked up on the four box on that fumble. You know, is that on him? Is that on the center? I'm sure they'll talk about it. Ben Johnson, the post game press conference. I mean, that might not be his fault. But, you know, Max Crosby, I thought throughout early in the game,

like Max Crosby looks like Lawrence Taylor right now. He was all over him. It looked like Max Crosby was going to single-handedly win the Raiders game in the first half. I was like, Max Crosby, I would rather have Max Crosby than all 11 guys last week on the Cowboys. I can imagine Caleb Williams like, we're not playing Dallas anymore. There was a play late in the game. Max Crosby is so good. So he comes from the left.

Caleb goes to pass. He just stops, circles, and says, I'm just going to go chase him down. And he chases him. Caleb is a world-class athlete, and Max forced him out of bounds from the other side of the field as a pass rusher, then he dives inside and gets probably a four to five-yard. Caleb gets a five-yard head start, and he angles him and gets him out of bounds. I thought Max Crosby today looked like the best defensive player in the entire sport. He looked damn good. The other thing that, you know, for example, Russell Wilson, who's become so polarizing, like, what's going to happen to his career or the Hall of Fame, you know, looking back, Russell became a borderline Hall of Fame without ever being able to throw over the middle of the field.

Yeah. I don't know what his number is, like, just specifically today, middle of the field, but he does hit some blaze over the middle of the field, Caleb. Oh, yeah. And he hit today Rome on a big one. Yes. They scored a touchdown. I would say the other thing, if it has been someone that's been critical of the Rome pick, he's definitely showing some life. He's got some more Washington Huskies vibe going with him right now, making some big plays, just getting open. So yeah, I mean, today it's not a day to be negative. You go on the road, you win in the NFL. Now, my overall takeaway from the two teams, you know, the Bears might win six, seven games,

Raiders might win four or five. Colton Miller get carded off at the end of the game. That's a problem. Best old lineman by far. There were plays tonight, and I don't think the Raiders, you know, offensive line is, and definitely the Bears. defense isn't very good, but it was like, I think the Raiders' offensive line is horrendous. So you got the combination. I just don't think those teams were very good. But I'm with you. It was an entertaining.

Like that game was close and the Rams Colts game was close, but one was a playoff game, and the other was just, you know, teams that are going to combine for 11 wins play. But it's the NFL, it's entertaining. Yeah, I mean, the game winning drive for them eventually was 11 plays. And again, I thought Caleb made two big time throws on the Caleb to a Dunze. play. I wrote it down here. Big blitz by the Raiders. They put heat on him. So again, again, my take is it's the false start. The mechanics, the basic operations still are not there. But if you look at the schedule for Chicago, the buys coming up, John, it's a pretty easy schedule.

It's not a, it gets, you know, Green Bay at the end of the season. Minnesota is not a great football theme as we saw today. So Detroit is, but they get them at home. I don't know. I kind of, I think, I kind of looked at the Bears and I'm like, they block a kick. They made three big picks. I think you get on that flight. If you're a Bears fan and you look, if you're a Bears player, you get on that flight and think, shit, man, we don't win road games. I mean, under Iber Fluse, they were the worst road team perhaps in league history. And I mean, I took the Raiders today minus one and a half. Field goal goes, we win it. But my take was, I just don't trust Chicago away from home. So I think you get on the flight. Some of these games are ugly. I would say the bigger issue with

the Bears and why you couldn't try, like they could lose the Bengals. You know, they can lose the Giants. They could lose to anybody. It's like the offense, like they're going to make some splash plays. They have a really good head coach. Defensively, they look really bad, Colin. I mean, they are just not their bad tackling team. They obviously don't. have anyone that feels like a Max Crosby on their team, so they don't have like an impact player. That's right. You know, Ash and Gentie, the one, his first touchdown run, it reminded me a lot of the run from Washington State last year that, I think you ran for 260 yards against them, where guys would tackle them and just fall off. That's not supposed to happen in the NFL.

Yeah. Caleb went 22 or 37, 212 yards. He also ran eight times. A lot of it was survival. But again, if I go, let me go to team stats here real quick. I mean, again, the Raiders had almost 100 more yards. The Raiders averaged 6.9 yards of play. The Bears were good on third down. They were one for one on fourth down. They clearly won time of possession. So, I mean, again, to me, the stuff I looked at was eight penalties, fall start.

I think overall, you've got to be pretty happy. Okay. Yeah, I would agree. I want to talk, so I don't know how long we'll talk about it. The Eagles beat the Buccaneers 31 to 25. Got off to a huge start. It was the reverse of the Rams game last week. They averaged 3.4 yards of play.

The truth of the matter is they blocked a punt early. I mean, they came out hair on fire, but A.J. Brown again, disappeared. Sequin's good, but it doesn't feel quite like he has a second gear. They're 4-0 on 4-1 possession games. A lot of penalties. A.J. Brown disappeared. 200 total yards. You know what Philadelphia feels like to me?

I mean, hey, Baker in the box, we're coming right back. And they almost picked up another last drive win. They feel a little like Kansas City. Something's not quite right. But there's so much playoff experience in the Philadelphia locker room. There's so many guys who have been around. that defensive line makes a big play. Or like I thought their defense up the middle.

I just think Philadelphia, and it's cliche, but it's like moxie and experience and in big games matters, and they're just kind of finding a way to win ugly. I thought they treated the first half like the Super Bowl. They went down to Tampa a day early. They went down on Friday. And that, you know, the bucks had beaten them three straight times. And they're up 24-6 at halftime.

So they came into this game, like, we're going to kick your ass. But Super Bowl champs, they just assumed the game was over. Because in the first half, the big knock was, well, Todd Bowles, pressure, pressure, it's been awful for Jalen. Jalen was eight of nine in the first half for two touchdowns against pressure. He was fantastic. And they were just, I mean, it felt like, you know, a team that hadn't won the Super Bowl, like with their back against the wall, we're trying to prove it to the league.

To me, wins that game 40 to. 13. But I bet they went in the halftime. They looked around like, this game's over. And they just kind of mailed it in. And then the bucks, one thing they have is they do not quit. Nope. I mean, they have shown that for four straight. There's a moment. I'm like, is he really going to have four straight comebacks and four

straight game winning drives? And if it wouldn't have been, and part of it is, you know, one thing Jalen is not going to do anymore, Jalen's a pretty conservative player, I would say. He will push the ball down the field in one-on-one situations. But Baker does these Farvian

Mahomesian, run around, bounce off guys. Purdy does this too. And when they're great, it's the highlight of the day. But it can also be, Baker, you just threw it too. Now, I know it kind of got tipped, but that play, he puts himself, Jalen doesn't put himself in that situation anymore. He has taken that out of his game. And you could argue he's never really, it's not really his thing.

That's always kind of been Baker's thing going back to Oklahoma. And they're coming right back. And he tries to keep this crazy play alive, and they pick him off in the end zone. And let's face it, that was kind of. kind of the game. Right? There was what, six, seven minutes left to go. And it was so, it was so exhilarating when he's scrambling. And then the deflation that comes out in those moments for as great as the Fav and the Mahomes touchdown play is late in a game, they are equally as deflating when the guy and the other team picks it off in the end

zone. So that was ultimately there on doing. But I'll say this, I came away pretty impressed. Like the bucks have a fight to them that, you know, they're just not going to go away this year. and ultimately the, you know, the Eagles, they ran that fake tush push. That to me is now the league is like, well, we have to sell out for this play because it's unstoppable and now they're going to start flipping it to Seguan Barclay. I mean, it's an unstoppable play, right? If they're going to fake you because you have to sell out. And it was actually probably to me the highlight of the game.

But yeah, nice win by Philly. But I'm with you. It's like I don't view them. They might win 14 games. I don't view them like an all-time great team, the way they're playing right now. No, I mean, the Eagles had three straight punts in the fourth quarter, and the Bucks got back into the game. I mean, they had opportunities to seal it. And by the way, Jalen Hertz was 0 for five when targeting A.J. Brown.

So the Rams, who are not great at corner. I mean, Rams, we'll get to this in a second. Rams could have lost easily. Probably should have lost. I mean, God, I felt so bad for that number 10, that player, Williams for the Colts. But, I mean. Mitchell, Mitchell, a kid from Texas. Mitchell, yeah, I mean, and I liked him in college.

And I felt, and then he had a. holding call. So, I mean, literally they had two touchdowns taken away. So, I mean, guys have bad days. But I mean, in the fourth quarter, when they could have sealed it, they didn't. And the Bucks have better corners that match up, longer corners that match up on A.J. Brown. That's a huge issue for the Rams, who I really do believe, I don't think they want to relinquish picks.

But I think the Rams know, they got to solve that issue. It's hard to beat Philadelphia and some of the better teams. Okay. We'll get to the Rams. In fact, let's do it now because we'll get to your San Francisco 49ers and Aaron Rogers having his best game. So the Rams end up winning this thing, 27 to 20. My takeaway, the culture for real. Daniel Jones, I mean, listen, they had that touchdown taken away when the kid fumbled out of the end zone. Jonathan Taylor, huge run. There's a holding call. I feel like the Rams are pretty Pooka Reliant.

McVe, Stafford, and Pooka Reliant, although Devante Adams, you know, their defense is good, their running game is good. So the Rams are a really good football team. But my takeaway today was Colts probably should have won, and Indies really a really good...

They're going to win that division, I think, going away. Totally. I mean, I think Puka Nakua and Jonathan Taylor are two of the better offensive players in the NFL right now. You could argue two of the best non-quarterbacks in the league. I mean, Pooka's an unstoppable one-on-one for which you can not cover him. And Jonathan Taylor, you look at his numbers like, John, what are he talking about? The run he had that got called back, which didn't ultimately impact him at all. Right. I hated that that had to happen was gentie-like, you know, running through a tackle 360. And he has been unreal all season long. I text you this. The Colts, they have been a quarterback less team, and now they're just a real team with Daniel Jones, who honestly, I watch him more and more. I get more impressed.

His arm strength is a little better than I thought. Yep. You know, Tyler Warren, I was thinking when we were talking about Caleb, and I'm not going to try to live week to week on this, but I love the draft. Warren, like, that guy's going to work in the NFL for a long time. Loveland, he was already injured coming out. I understand Ben Johnson compared him to Leporta, a little twitchier.

But you watch Warren, he doesn't seem like that explosive in and out of his breaks, but he's enormous. He catches everything. I mean, today he, uh, five for 70. Like every time you look up, it's 70 to 80 to 90 yards. And he's such a red zone threat, you know, to go with some of their other wide receivers and one of the best running backs in the NFL. It looked like they were going to win that game pretty handily. And then obviously it kind of fell apart for him at the end. But I'm with you.

I think the culture really good. I think the ram. I thought that was just like a playoff level, just the intensity. of that game. Well, and the coach. Obviously had the big play toward the end. Shane Steichen shows you. Shane Steak is not an idiot.

Maybe the quarterback last year was just a train wreck. Mitchell is that wide receiver. And my heart went out to the kid because he's supposed to be beloved on the team. You knew he felt terrible. But no, if you go look at the, I want to go here real quick. So Daniel Jones was 24 to 33 for 262 yards. He did have two picks. But the one at the end, they're trying to get down the field.

You can't crush him for that. Stafford was 29 of 41, 375 yards, 3 TDs, no picks. He's ridiculous. But overall, now the Rams had 460 yards. God, they had 70 total plays. That's a lot of plays for the Colts defense to be on the field. You know, it's funny as I look at the Colts and lose the football game, the Rams had played a terrible second half.

It was one of my blazing five picks. I'm like, McVeigh off a bad second half. coming to home. Now Daniel Jones is going to face a real pass rush. But my takeaway the whole day was, oh God, Daniel Jones looks like a completely different player. It actually, and I've always been a dayball fan, I think a lot of the credit we got, you know, I know him and I like him. I think Chris Ballard's drafted really well. But if you don't hit on a quarterback, everybody tears you apart. Dude, they have, they have good weapons. They have, I mean, Tillman is great. Warren's fan tat. I think the offensive line, although

Oh, the Rams, Jared Verse, got in a couple times late. But I think overall, the offensive line, it gets, the Rams overwhelm more than half the teams they play. They don't overwhelm the Eagles. They don't overwhelm the Lions. They didn't overwhelm the Colts for most of the game. So to your point, coaching, rosters, quarterbacks, it felt big. Well, I mean, I've told the story before, but I had a buddy on the Jets scouting staff. and he said, John, we've drafted pretty well,

and we're going to extend seven, eight of these guys. And this was a couple years ago, but if we don't hit on the quarterback, we're all going to get fired. And most people in about, it shows you, you know, their coaching staff, I think Shane was a little more dynamic than solid because he can control the offense

the one year with Garner Minchu. But the jets are a good example. I mean, Soss Gardner, Garrett Wilson, he's got big extensions, the Penn State guy, Breece Hall. Like, they've drafted well. Everyone got blown out because the quarterback situation was such a disaster.

They've held it together, and they finally just found their lifeline. Because you watch them the day, I think a couple early games, people don't want to give him, like, after a while, it's like, no, this guy's pretty solid. Yeah. And they got, I mean, one,

they feel like a lock to win 10 games. This goes, could they win 12? Because you win 12 games. Now, two of the last three years, he's won nine games with an average team. He gets a better team. He wins 12. Like, they're going to give him a contract extension.

He's going to be, you know, this has got a Baker Mayfield situation. And, you know, I get a lot of people asking me where I live, a lot of people from the Midwest, live here, big Vikings contingent. A lot of people said, listen, John, J.J. McCarthy, I get having hope, but, like, you can't tell me we would have been better off signing Sam

Donald. Of course. It's a pretty arrogant move to go, yeah, we'll just replace this 35 touchdown guy that's 28 years old. Usually it's impossible to do that, especially if the guy's not that number one overall pick. You're like, well, he's a fifth quarterback off the board. Keep your fingers crossed. Now he can't even play. And Donald's been really, really good. He's just a good player now.

He's just a good player. Yeah. I think it was funny, Stafford. So they took a picture at one point late in the game. Stafford was sweating. It looked like, you know, when your dog goes into the water bowl in the summer and it comes up, and there's just water all over your dog's face. Stafford was pouring sweat off his helmet.

And I mean, it looked like it was just coming down in the end. And it wasn't a water bottle because there was no break. It was a drive. But him hitting Tutu Atwell. Remember, they signed Tutu. So they drafted him in the second round from Ole Miss. Kind of felt like a bust. But they kind of felt, well, we're in Devante.

He's good for about one big catch a game. And he had the 88-yard touchdown to win it for the Rams. That's classic McVeigh. McVe's like, listen, we can bail on him. But he is our fastest receiver. And he's not a high-volume guy. He's like a poor man Xavier worthy. But he will run past you.

And we don't have that in our arsenal. And I just think it's funny that Stafford doesn't throw to two-two at all day. The time he does, it's the game breaker. And I think that's just what the Rams are. I think situationally, they're so smart. They're just so well-run. And, I mean, they didn't use that play the entire game. It's 20-20.

You know, a lot of these younger coaches, John, they'll burn through plays in the first half. I just, it's such a Rams move to me. I think where McVeigh deserves a lot of credit, too, is you know, you go through defensive coordinators, you're going to whiff on some. And clearly, you know, he had waited. You know, Shula was his buddy, right? They'd known each other since college. And, you know, he probably was ready years before he gave it to him, but he felt like he

didn't want to view it. It's not as a brother, like nepotism, but like, I'm just giving it to my good buddy. He has been really good for him now for two years. I mean, that was, he was already on staff, ready to be implemented in. Obviously, he's Don Shula's grandson. But I think, you know, hiring, I mean, so being a head coach, you know, especially Sean, he's calling the plays, he's working with the offense, he's trying to develop guys, he's dealing with the roster. You know, hiring your staff is what the, it's what makes Jim Harbaugh such a star. Jim Harbaugh is a great hire of his coordinators.

And, you know, anytime that you are the offensive play caller head coach, Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores, Kyle Shanahan, Robert Salah, like, you're a lot better when your defensive coordinator. And I think most people are like, the Shula thing is going to work? Like, Sean, you've got a good team. And it's worked well. I mean, verse by the end, first looks like to me a young Khalil Mack. Oh, my God, he's a beast. He's a monster. He's a monster.

So they've drafted and developed a really good defensive line. And they're just a tough. You know, their best wide receiver is like, feels like a running back in Puka. I mean, it's the way he plays. Cooper Cupp used to feel like. There's a physicality to the way they play at wide receiver. The Niners, their guys have that. You know, you just, that adds a toughness to your team.

You know, Kansas City, their receivers are just running, right? I mean, you know, Xavier Worthy and Thornton ain't going to run over guys. But that's, Andy doesn't mind. And he goes, well, I'll develop plays for them. You know, the Shanahan and McVeigh, those physical receivers add to the physical nature of the team. Today's show brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. The leaves are falling. The stakes are rising.

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And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

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

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

for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

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Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. man, he running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne.

Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider.

This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar or something here?

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All right, Pittsburgh. I thought it was one of the shocking performances of the day, but in hindsight, it's sort of explainable. Pittsburgh 24, Minnesota 21 started for me 8.30 in the morning. I thought it was my favorite bet of the week. But then all of a sudden, they had three backup offensive linemen, and the Steelers, I felt Kevin O'Connell came into the game of the game plan, and so did Brian Flores, and they didn't adjust, but I think Kevin O'Connell couldn't adjust. Listen, Aaron played the best game.

I think Aaron's played in a couple years. I really did. He and D.K. Metcalf have a clear connection. I thought the Steelers' offensive line today, John, the Steelers have not developed a consistent run game in six years. I thought they ran the ball today effectively. I don't know. I looked at Pittsburgh and I'm like, Jesus, this is the best Steeler performance. And again, they were missing three linemen. Vikings were a mess on the O line. But we can't make excuses. Baltimore's defense, you've got to make plays. I thought Pittsburgh, that was a great performance by them. If you would have told me at the beginning of the day, and I know some of this was a little bit garbage time,

but went through for 350 yards, I'd be like, I would have had a lot more money on the Vikings. You know, I'm with you. I thought for the first time in four games, a little bit last week, but they looked like a physical team starting to finish. Yes. You know, Gainwell ran for 99 yards. if you just gave the Steelers every week a hundred-yard rusher,

they're going to have a chance because, you know, the days of Aaron thrown for 375 yards are done. They're done. But what he can do is a little bit like today, 20 to 24, 220 yards. And part of giving D.K. a lot of money, which was pretty risky, every once in a while he's going to take it 80 yards and cut across the field and run by everybody. So over the course of the season, D.K. gives you 10 touchdowns,

and three or four of them are like that today. Yes, they usually are. That's a huge. But you've got to play good. defense. They had six sacks. They were all over wince and, you know, they were hit really hard. Now, they did lose Ramsey at the end of the game. But to me, there was a physicality to their team start to finish that had kind of been lacking. And I do wonder, you know, if Tomlin, I mean, part of him is that rah, rah, what is going on here? And I think their defense's kind of

been getting called out. Yep. And came to play today. And I would say the same thing for their offensive line, because part of the reason every single human alive love Minnesota, it's like, Well, floors against this offense? What's going to happen? They were leaning on it. They were leaning on it. And run game has been a six-year disappointment. I mean, I'm watching today, and I'm like this, now, again, have I watched every

Steeler drive and every Steeler game? But over the last six years, I honestly felt watching that game, that was the most hopeful Steeler win. I'm like, well, that thing looks like a- Totally. I agree. They could go on the road and win a playoff game. Like, I was, I mean, so much of the. this league in a passing league is, can you consistently run the ball? First, like, first,

you don't want your quarterback throwing 40 times, especially an old quarterback. Secondly, it keeps your defense off the field. And I think Pittsburgh's defense, you have some older players, JJ Watt was great today, but you have some older players and new players. So you don't want your, you don't want your guys on the field for 66 plays. I mean, I wrote down four or five different times. Wow, impressed. Steeler O-Line. dot, dot, dot. Really great today. Yeah, I mean, at one point, the game was 21 to 6. Yeah, to me, they were creating turnovers. They had a bunch of sacks. I can imagine, and listen, I know the Vikings won 100 or nothing last week against Jake Browning and the Bengals. But every single person with the Steelers said, we're not flying to Dublin, Ireland, to lose to Carson Wentz.

Like, that is not happening on our watch. Hell, I woke up. The game started at 6.30 for me, and it was 14 to 3, and D.K. had just had that play. And then you just watched the rest of the game. And again, it was, they got some late touchdowns. You know, Rogers is screaming to go forward at the end. They get denied at like the one-yard line, right, when he wanted to basically ice the game. And a couple of plays later, they score. So all of a sudden, I think it was like 24 to 14. And then all of a sudden it's 24, 21. And they still got a couple, a minute or two before the two-minute warning. You're like, whoa. And I think, you know, Rogers, I think is trying to make the Tomlin a little unconservative. I think their nature would never have been to do that, but he kind of got to overrule him there,

which I didn't mind. They had to go 99 yards with Carson Wentz, and then all of a sudden they, I think they blew a coverage to Jordan Addison. They got lucky that he didn't score. Yep. You know, the guy made a great play to kind of beeline him down at the end, but I'm with you. Besides a couple of freak plays, the Steelers not only dot, they leaned on Minnesota, who I think we all agree, pretty tough physical team.

It's not like they are soft by any means, especially, you could look, they kept showing Flores, Flores had to look like, what is. going on. And listen, sometimes you fly across these international games. Minnesota is playing back-to-back international games in two different countries. You know, that could really throw you off. And I heard you talking about it last week on TV. Like, you draft this guy really high. He misses all season last year.

And now he's out for six or seven games on ankle. Like, let's call it what it is. Sam Darnold's leading game-winning drives. Kind of a disastrous situation. You'd be like, well, John, it's early. We've talked a lot about you don't get much time anymore. And you just let a quarterback go. it's a problem.

And Carson Wentz is actually more impressive than I thought. I mean, that guy was just on his couch. He's actually pretty, got some talent in his body still. But like, you drafted this guy in the top 15 to be your quarterback of a 14-win team, and he's just sitting there eating Sunflower Cs. It's kind of a big problem. Yeah, I mean, Michael Pennicks today, I thought, made some big time throws. Drap May.

They're not asking him to do a ton, but Drake May today. They're dropping 42 points. So we know Bo Nicks can play. He gets an extra day against the Bengals defense. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't a J.J. McCarthy fan. You know, it's interesting. I've been told this, this has been a line that I've used many times, is don't try to validate your previous choices. And I, listen, they wanted to sign Sam Darnold. They were very interested. They went, and John Snyder came in and, you know, they were willing to pay more. And Sam Darnold, frankly, probably if you asked him, would have wanted to stay. Justin Jefferson, Kevin O'Connell. How would he not? Yeah. I mean, I know. Yeah. And I mean, by the way, and that, you know, by the way, and that, you know, and that, you know, you have. division that's not a great defensive division. Now you go out and have to face like, you know,

a boss at the time and the Rams front twice a year. I mean, Sam Darnold follows the league. I'd rather stay in Minnesota in the offensive division than go and have to face McVeigh and Shanahan and Arizona's got a defensive coach. They got players. So, you know, it's you and I both believed in Darnold. But when you watch Darnold play and you watch J.J. McCarthy, Sam's bigger, thicker, bigger arm.

There's a reason they offered him. But I think did they get into a situation where they're like, well, we drafted him? 100%. When's the last time the Vikings, it was like forever the chiefs, they've never had a drafted quarterback play well. So there was all this pressure. You know, the GM, who's his Ivy League smart venture capitalists and Kevin O'Connell, who's obviously excellent. They're like, we're not going to matter. If you look back, you would have been like, whatever you get offered.

And it's not like he was getting offered, you know, purdy Jordan Love money. What do they give him? 50, 60 guaranteed? if they didn't have a quarterback, they would have gladly given them $100 million guaranteed, right? But they did. They start pinching pennies, and you start going what we can do to the team. But that's also, for that to work, it's predicated on J.J. McCarthy just being solid. Not only do we not know if he's solid, he's played eight quarters in the NFL,

and seven of them have been the worst quarterback play of the league. Think about that. He's played eight total quarters, and seven of them have been objectively, it doesn't get any worse. and he's now torn a knee and had a bad ankle injury where he's not even, he can't even put on pads. So you go, this is, I don't want to say like DefCon 5, but you can't tell me that internally they are extremely concerned. Because listen, quarterback situation can just, you can get lucky, right?

Like, they got a little lucky. I don't blame them once they signed Donald for $10 million, still drafting J.J. McCarthy. But then you got evidence. And it's like, well, he was terrible in these last two games. Yeah, some, Peyton Manning's had shitty playoff games. Football. Joe Montana lost some playoff games.

And I'm not saying he's those guys, but he's kind of coming back and Sam's validating. Like, yeah, maybe I'm not going to be Patrick Mahomes, but I'm going to be way. What are the chances that J.J. McCarthy is ever 80% as good as Sam Donald has been the last year and four games? Do you know right now Sam Donald's start of last season is tied with Mahomes with seven game-winning drives? He's tied for the most wins in the league and tied with me. Mahomes for the most game-winning drives. It's not that Sam is playing well. Sam's playing well late. Sam's playing well in big moments. I mean, that Arizona game, they needed Sam. That was a quarterback game. So it's not just that Sam, it looks bigger and more active. And the other thing is,

Sam played with older guys in Minnesota. Seattle's a bunch of kids. It's the second youngest offense in the league. And they plop him in. JSN now looks like a number one. The Holton kid, the fifth round kid can play, the Royal, the Tide-in from Miami, the rookie, Walker. You just brought him into a bunch of kids. Like, Jordan Love plays with the young team, but he's been there for four or five years with all those guys, or at least three years.

I mean, Sam just plopped him into the young Seahawks. It looks like he's been playing with this group of guys for years. Totally. I mean, I'm with you. And I'll never forget watching the press conference when they signed him, and Mike McDonald's sitting up there next to him, and they said, well, how much of an impact did it have, I mean, you could argue one of Sam's greatest throws of his short career as a really good player.

It came against Seattle last year. And he said, yeah, kind of had a big impact on us. I had a front row seat for that game, and I game planned against them all week. So I just think, you know, the Steelers are a good example is this season is like they start anew next year. Who in the hell knows what's going to happen. Roger retired. He's 42 years old. Maybe he tries to come back. You know, I think the Vikings right now, listen, I've been, like I said, I've been impressed with Carson Wentz. Like, he's definitely not some loser. That's right.

You can play with him. But he's just one, it's not like, you got to go back to JJ. Is JJ as good as Carson Winst is right now? I don't think so. No. All right. Let's go to, this is a game that are not many people outside of the Bay Area watch, but it's fascinating.

So the Jags beat the Niners, 26, 21. San Francisco, first of all, is the team that can't catch. They had six or seven drops today. But the Jags led 17 to six and half. Brock Purdy had a brutal fumble that sealed a loss late. He had two picks, one of them egregiously bad. So so far this year, Brock Pretty has four touchdowns and four picks. Mack Jones has four touchdowns and one pick.

Some of it, the injury, less practice time. But, you know, and I'll just set it up for you, but my take was the Jags gave them multiple opportunities to win the game. It was typical Jacksonville. They, you know, they have, you know, I mean, you know, Trevor Lawrence sliding out of bounds. I mean, it's just like, oh, God, Jacksonville, missing field goals that are makeable. What did you make a purdy? I mean, I thought it was pretty bad. Yeah, he looked, I thought today like bad Jimmy Garapolo, ball's floating on him all day long.

All day long. He had multiple guys, Robinson and Juwan Jennings made two catches that were just out of this world. If they don't catch with their fingertips, they're probably caught by the safety behind him. And I think this gets back to this. The Niners had a moment today where Ricky Pearsall was in the tent, and Joanne Jennings had to wait to get into the tent. And that has happened to the 49ers more than any team in the league. They've had a player in the tent, and they've had a waiting line. It's like when you and I go to the doctor.

office. It is not normal. Their tent, they should sponsor their tent and get quadruple any other team if there's a sponsor on top of the tent because of the use it gets. Brock Purdy probably should not have played today. He could barely practice by like, you know, Thursday, but he kind of had to because the backup quarterback who'd been playing well, Mack Jones is injured, who tuft it out and was active. They have a massive injury problem. I mean, their players are just all hurt. Now, Pierceaw could not finish this game. They just lose bosa. Kittles nowhere to be found. They're terrible on special teams. A guy takes a punt to the house. Oh, Parker Washington. I mean, oh, he just, he was flying. The punter gave his best

effort. Listen, they've been bad on special teams for six years. So the turnovers, the 49ers, I mean, they've, they've been gutting these wins out today. They, they deserve to lose. I mean, they were, they were really atrocious. There's a big picture problem with this team, too. Kyle Shanahan wants to run the football. And right now they can not run the football. And there's nowhere for McCaffrey to run. He doesn't have explosive runs. At one point in time, the day I looked, they had like 60. McCaffrey had 17 carries for 49 yards. They ran the ball 24 times for 83 yards. And they had like two explosive runs. So they just, McCaffrey's long was 11 yards. A couple years ago, remember when they're going to the Super Bowl,

that year throughout the season, how often McAfreys have 15, 20, 30 yard runs? He was there, like, he was a huge element to their offense as an explosive. player and then it opens up the play action game. I remember Jay Gruden told me, he's like, listen, there's no one better than scheming up. I mean, part of the reason they're not, McAfree's looking a little old, their offensive line's not great. It's not because of the scheme. Like Kyle knows how to scheme the room. But his drop-back passing game is not viewed like Andy Reeds or Sean McVease, right? That's not, that's not

Kyle's deal. But when he cannot run the ball, they can't just drop, like the purdy play that end of the game, the fumble, Like, he's got multiple offensive line getting smoked. He can't drop back and pass because they can't protect. So beside Trent, who's also looking a little old, I know they're three and one, but they play the Rams in like three and a half days. And now the Rams getting this win today, that's a huge game. The 49ers, who knows who's going to be available on that thing?

All of a sudden, you went from 3 and 0 to 3 and 2 pretty quick. And I thought, you know, you go 3 and 0, you just have to limp shitty schedule 7 and 7, and you're 10 and 7, right? You can lose to anybody. I don't think the Jags are that good. Listen, I don't think the Jags are that good at all. They got some good individual players, but do I think they're like a, do I feel confident saying like that's a 10-win team?

Hell, though. I mean, if you look at the Rams defense and Seattle's defense, just the athletes that are playing, John, and then you look at the Niners. I mean, Seattle and the Rams are just faster defensively. They just have more elite players. And then all of a sudden, JSN, Jackson Smith, and Jigba is a number one for Seattle, Walker's the number one running back. A Royal looks really good at Tide-in.

Darnold's a great athlete. I picked the Rams that win the division and the Seahawks to be a wildcard team. Just turn the sound down and watch the Seahawks and the Rams athletes. It looks like GMs that hit in a lot of picks. San Francisco, you know, when I picked them third, people said I was crazy, but I said they're old, expensive and brittle.

And I said, you're just got to bake in. Trent's going to miss three games, McCaffrey 2 and Kettle 4. Like, you just have to bake it in. in. So, yeah, I mean, I actually think the Niners defense has been pretty good this year. I mean, they gave up. How much is solid, well, that's what I'm saying. But they have some young, explosive players. Like, they got a touchdown.

Dude fumbles. ETN scores the next play. They have a punt. You know, it's not their defense has given up all that. Like part of the offense is basically giving them great field position. And the defense is kind of getting gassed. But big picture, you know, Bosa did not play well. I thought last year.

This year, he looked like a man on a mission. So losing him, it's not just, you just say we lose so-and-so. Well, how is that guy that's so-and-so just because he's a big name? Bosa early on looked like he could be the defensive player of the year. So the air going out of everyone's sales on defense because you go, hey, we got Nick Bosa coming off the edge with this young group. We got Fred Warner flying around. We've got this great defensive coordinator. Our defense can dominate and our offense can just figure it out as the year goes on.

But you lose Nick, it kind of can unravel fast. And that's, you know, today I thought they did a pretty good job. but I don't view the Jags or some like potent offensive option. But to me, if Purdy, and he's just, he's just had thrown a lot of turnover the last like 10 games,

leading him back to last season. How about that interception? I don't know what he saw. Gino had an interception today. I don't know what he saw. Purdy's was worse. Sometimes Purdy can't see because he's not that tall. I think that's a lot.

And then today, I wonder, you know, he's got this foot injury. Can you not drive off the ball? Yeah. But then he'd scramble around, so you're like, well, he doesn't look hurt. But I felt throughout the entire game, if he was a pitcher, it'd be one of those. Like, he's not making it past like the third inning, right? You just go to the bullpen.

You could just tell early, like, he is just off. And usually, you know, with a Shanahan team or just that kind of that style of offense, you just run the ball. Well, they couldn't. They just can't. And he can be, I would say, stubborn sometimes. Kyle will keep calling runs because, like, we're going to bust one. We're going to bust one.

And they never did. They never had a longer run than 11, and most of them felt like they were going for one, two, three yards. So they were getting nothing. And we know, if the 49ers can't run, their best teams, they typically, it's like, it's pretty clear. The Ravens, when they're good, defense dominates and they lead the league in rushing. 49ers, when they're good, defense, lead the league and run. Like, that's the style of football they play. And right now, I'm watching some of these other teams bus runs that the 40, that is not the 49ers right now.

Okay, so I want to talk about one college game and one player specifically. So Oregon in overtime beat Penn State 30 to 24. And I had said all week, I kind of liked Oregon to win, but they hadn't, Dante Moore, between UCLA and Oregon, he just hadn't played in a big stadium. John, I think this kid was so cool. I don't think they had a delay a game. I don't think they had an offensive penalty in terms of not being lined up. He goes into that environment. that is an elite defense that has eaten quarterbacks alive.

Three touchdowns, no picks, 29 to 39, 250 yards. And multiple times, the camera takes pictures of Dante Moore. Totally unfazed in arguably, I mean, arguably the hardest environment in the country is, I think. Definitely in their conference. I think Dante Moore is the best quarterback. in the country. He is the best quarterback. If you're talking poise, size, arm, Oregon's always had speed. But, you know, all these top programs do. I think Ohio State's the better team. I thought that was such a defining win. I mean, they beat Ohio State last year in Outson.

So you go all the way. And James Franklin's going to get crushed. And rightly so. But he has lost to Harbaugh's Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon. He's losing to the right people. I don't think Penn State's as good as Ohio State or Harborough with Michigan. I don't think it's as good a program as Oregon because Oregon recruits California at a high level. But what was your interpretation of the game in Dante Moore? I was kind of blown away by the performance. Yeah, I thought it was pretty simple. These teams, and you could take the other game that was going on at the same time, Georgia and Alabama.

They don't play in that many games for the talent sequel. So whether the quarterback's on or off, whether Aller plays good or bad against Nevada or FIU or even, you know, the Iowa and some of these other teams are going to play, it does not matter. They're just going to out-talon them. They're not, the other teams not can be able to score, and they're going to win, even when they play shitty 27-to-7.

There are going to be a couple games throughout the year where they got equal talent. And we're saying it with Penn State now. Because Penn State's an elite roster. Yes. To me, I had those two games on at the same time. There's like, there are NFL players everywhere on these two games. Those were the quarterback play, the coaching.

The speed. Yeah. So to me, both games came down to, Dante Moore is a five-star quarterback who looks like he's a star. And Ty Simpson, everyone wrote that kid off. Whatever DeBore and Grub have done to him, he looks like a stud. So what happens in the NFL? Most teams are pretty equal.

Like what the hell is the difference between the Jags and the 49ers? Not much. Well, if your quarterback crumbles, you're going to have problems. And that's the NFL, right? It's quarterback play. Why do we say that? Because most teams have similar talent. Yeah.

There's not three teams. I mean, the Lions are a couple teams in the NFL, but over 25 teams in the NFL, man for man, are basically the same. So it's like, what's your quarterback? And that's what it becomes in college football now, especially with the NIL. Your team's not as deep.

The transfer portal has evened everything out. And Alar last night, and I know he hit the deep bomb late, but was mainly atrocious. And he's just, I've always thought this with quarterback play, two things that we don't talk enough about our toughness and just kind of instincts.

And he's tough. Like, he will lower his shoulder. I don't question his toughness. They just don't exist. They don't. It's just not an instinct. distinctive player. And to me more, and I would say the same thing about tights. I would say of the four quarterbacks last night, and I would include Gunner Stockton, Aller was the worst. Stockton made a

couple of big throws. He's not the best, but this guy's, to me, Alar is, James Franklin is going to get dragged through the mud, I'm sure, this week. I think they have a bye week. They've been hype in this team, you know, for so long about just this game and how much it meant. Because Penn State now has had like a two or three game regular season, right, for the last several years. It's Ohio State, Michigan, now Oregon. And it was just, it's hard for me to put it on him because their team felt ready. It's the quarterback. You recruit the wrong quarterback.

We've seen Davo do this. When you get Trevor Lawrence or young Deshaun Watson, we saw it was saving. When he had Tua and Ed Ogeron-Gaburro, you look really good. When you don't, it's really hard. And they went all in Aller, living in, you know, some of my buddies back there went to Penn State. They were telling me a couple years ago, we got this guy. supposed to be like Josh Allen. That was the hype on Drew Allen. I didn't like him two years ago, but I

thought he improved so much last year. At the end of the year, I was like, okay, if he does that again, he's a top 10 pick. But he just... Because they got the Kansas offensive coordinator that many believes one of the best offensive coordinators in the league. So it's not their offensive coordinator, who's excellent. They added the Ross kid last night.

They made some plays. They've added some transfers. They have great running backs. Right. And it's just, it's him. I mean, obviously the throw in overtime. But the first half, he was just a The other thing is he can't just make the plays more count. Even Ty Simpson. He just can't make the plays.

So I was high on him just because I wanted to be. I'd heard the hype. And it just got to be out. You know what? You just got to be out. John, when I watched that game last night with Dante Moore, and you and I use this word, but there is juice. Dante Moore, poise, juice, arm, like you can just sense it.

You can tell the Oregon totally believes in him. And Lannin totally believes in him. And when you put guys on the same field, it's like when you put Mahomes and Lamar on the same field together, there looks like there's a significant gap. There doesn't when it's Josh Allen and Mahomes. They're both great. Lamar and Mahomes, there's a gap. And when I watched that last night, that game did Drew Aller no draft favors. He didn't look like he was even in the same planet.

Okay. Is Oregon the only school, like you said, they're newer to this, right, of the last three decades? 25 years, but they don't have, have they ever won a national championship in football? No. I mean, definitely not in the modern era. So it's like, yeah, it does feel like this team and Dan Lannning with the NIL, they're going to be right there. You just, you know, college football is a little more random now with some of these games, injuries and stuff.

You've got to win multiple games, but that was, I mean, that tied in they got, holy moly. I mean, number 18 is just a monster. Their defense, you know, and this goes back to Mario, they have recruited. And Chip did, you know, DeForest Buckner and Eric Armstead and some of the guys they used to have. They have a very physical team because Penn State, that's the one thing they hang their hat on. We're one of the fastest, most physical, we're an SEC defense. And Oregon's like, okay, so are we. Yeah.

So it's like, well, if you're going to get that quarterback play, because, listen, Dylan Gabriel, good player. I know, obviously, you know, he's not close to that. No. No. Football season's here, and if you want to go to an NFL or college football game, game time is the place for you. The Game Time app just gives you the advantage back to you, the fans. It's a hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences and a few taps.

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

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

And then I wrote down on my little notebook Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash will get that thing That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers Why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School.

Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white color or something here? Just hit it. What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album?

Oh, I would. Come on. Could you believe? I would buy it. Cut through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.

You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now for our next segment, Ski business. Yes, whiskey business brought to you by Green River Whiskey, the official whiskey of the Colin Coward podcast. You know, the other thing I'll bring up before we get to the Rider Cup is that I was at the USC game. And, you know, they were missing.

How far is that away from your house? Champaign. Two and a half hour train ride, two and a half hour drive. Oh, that's not bad. It was warm and it was still. There was no, you know, it's farm country. So it was warm and it had not covered. So, you know, the players, it was hot.

But when De Ant and Lynn came to USC, the UCLA defensive coordinator, they went and bought him, and they brought him over. And immediately the defense was better. And everybody was criticizing Lincoln Riley because Jaden Malavai throws to Lemon for the go-ahead touchdown with like a minute 55 left. And J-Mack goes, oh, they won. And I text J-Mack. I said, Illinois has a great kicker. USC secondary is awful. Can't tackle.

they're missing their best safety. I said, Jay Mack, Illinois is going to drive down the field and hit the game winning field goal. Ended up being closer than I thought it would. I said, but if you were, you know, I was at the game. Illinois was a much better team. Illinois moved the ball up and down the field. USC got no pass rush. And it was, I was swimming around on the internet, you know, last night, looking at stuff.

And somebody brought up the point. I didn't write it down, but somebody brought up the point. They said, the defense has gotten soft. They're bigger. There's no question. They paid for size in the NIL portal. They went and paid for size. And they've got it and they recruited a couple big time freshmen, one from Canada, one from Florida. Akeem Stewart. Who's number four, that 18-year-old pass rusher? He's a monster. Yeah, Akeem Stewart's going to be really good next year. If they can keep their guys, they're going to have a good deal line. No pressure. Illinois got eaten alive up front by Indiana. USC got no pressure. And somebody pointed out, they said, the longer Lynn is, with Lincoln Riley, the softer the defense gets. And we can keep blaming Alex Grinch. When you go to Oklahoma, one of the knocks was defensively, they weren't Stoops' defense. They weren't as physical. They couldn't make big stops. And somebody pointed out, like, is it practice? Nobody questions the offense. I mean, they were missing offensive linemen. They had, you know, a guard playing right

tackle, right left tackle. I mean, they were all over, and that's tough on the road, their college kids, and they scored plenty of points. But they couldn't stop the fighting a line eye and sort of an average college quarterback. They don't have big dime receivers. Offensive line got eaten alive by Indiana. And I sat there, and I'm like, is it Lincoln? Is it practice? It's just once again, an incredibly soft defense. You can talk about injuries. Yes, they were missing Camari Ramsey, the safety, but Illinois was more physical for three and a half hours.

I kind of checked out, and then when they gave, did they have multiple fumbles to even get back into the game? Like, Illinois gave them the ball back. It should not even have been. They were getting their ass kicked. Yeah, they got. And I don't want to say breaks because they created the fumbles. Eric Gentry is their best defensive player, the linebacker, punched the ball out. So, again, they were very opportunistic defensively in two occasions.

but Illinois was clearly the better team and did whatever they wanted offensively. I watched the first half. I was flying back from New York on the plane, and they just lost 63 to 10, and Bilema is a tough guy, and they won nine games last year. So you knew, especially Big Noon kicksoffs there,

that you were going to get a team ready to play. So if you're Lincoln all week long, you guys, listen, that 63 to 10 means this team is going to come out swinging. And then that game opened up, and it looked like a Beelma team from Wisconsin. They hit him right in the mouth. And then they were also, they ran like the Philly Special. I just went there just getting out coaching and out worked.

Now, I will defend West Coast teams in general traveling and the big, it's really, it's weird on your, but that was, they just showed up pretty flat and they were getting worked. And clearly Illinois is not as bad as what we witnessed, but you're getting a really good coach. Like, Beelma is a tough guy. I say this all the time. You don't fake being tough. you either, you know, the hardball, Dan Campbell, they just are tough guys, right? And some of the offensive guys that aren't a McVeigh, a LaFleur, a Kyle, they have to make sure to emphasize that on personnel, right?

So you just got to, the leach guys. Now, you could say Lincoln's offense, and I bet he would say is a lot different than what I was taught in 15, 20 years ago for Mike. But like, clearly they didn't recruit Alabama, Ohio State defensive players, but they were never going on defense because how do you get good practicing against that offense. So to me, there's a direct correlation in the way you practice. Why have Andy Reed's teams that he's an offensive guy for 25 years? Ask any player that's

ever played for. Practice is hard. Yes. Hardest practice in the league. Our chin straps are buckled up. We're not doing walkthroughs. You say the Eagles are a good example. They don't necessarily practice as hard. Fanjo will say that. They get elite players. Right? So you got to do one of the two.

And Lincoln's, his practices are never going to be Nick Sabins or Kirby Smart. They're just not. Look at DeBoer. You know, DeBoer, former offensive lineman, like, he's kind of a tough guy. His teams are pretty tough, though he likes to throw the ball. I think they practice pretty hard. It's pretty serious. I'm not saying Lincoln doesn't practice art, but his offense clearly doesn't create physicality in practice.

And if you're not getting Pete Carroll's recruiting classes, they've done better, right, the last 12 months and they look better moving forward. But right now, and then wasn't their safety down? He got sick or something the night before. Yeah, Camarie Ramsey. That hurt because they're not good in the secondary to start. So, like, he's their best player. But they showed up flat, and Beelma's team showed up to win that game immediately. And it was like, damn, USC was going to be in for a fight early on.

And let's face it, they're just what I think people's expectations for what for this program, it just hasn't quite been the same. Where on the flip side, wouldn't you say, and listen, we were like, after that DeBore Florida State game, we're like, this kind of weird. It's going to get. And how about that comeback over the last month? I mean, you know what that guy is? he's beating Sark, he's beating Lanning, he's beating him, he's now beating Kirby twice.

He's like, listen, they had an awful day, but I'm watching them last night. It's not easy to match. They could play for the national championship. Easy. Oh, easy. And he gets grubb, weird fit in the NFL with McDonald and Schneider. It didn't work. He does work with DeBore being his right-hand guy, and he had Ty Simpson looking like, you know, an NFL player.

So I just went, coaching still really matters, and it's harder in college. because you're not, you know, the 20 hours, even if that doesn't matter as much. I sent a tweet this morning. I said, success is hard, and it takes a lot longer than the media and fans want to admit. But Kalen DeBoer's coaching last night was, it was magnificent. And Greg Byrne texts me, the AD at Alabama. And we had a little chit-chat about the process of hiring him. And he just said he's just such a great, great guy.

Can't go into too much what he said. But the point was being is, I mean, Nick Saban lost to Louisiana. They were – Georgia hadn't lost in like 35 games at home. And by Georgia now, Kirby Smart's 1 in 7 against Bama, I think. Like, all I know is I watched that coaching in the first half, the play calling. I watched Bama last night, and I'm like, if you told me Bama meets Ohio State and the Natty,

I'd be like, yeah, that's right. That's what's going to happen. Or Bama plays Oregon. I think Oregon's win at Penn State and Bama's win are as impressive college wins, as impressive as college wins get kids in those environments, those teams don't lose there. When you want to enjoy life's simpler pleasures, reach for Green River Whiskey,

whether it's rye whiskey or single-barrel bourbon. You're getting over a century of craftsmanship packed into every bottle. Hop on over to Greenriverwiskey.com and discover a legend in a bottle today. Okay, we've got to talk to Ryder Cup. So it began in 1927. It was an exhibition. It's no longer an exhibition.

It's essential. And the Europeans dominate us. And I'll just throw this theory out. First of all, they trim the rough, so the rough wasn't punitive at all. It became a putting contest, essentially. And the Europeans get to draft select from a much larger pool than we do. But I just watching it, my take was this, because I heard Payne Stewart was a great captain of the Ryder Cup team, the late Payne Stewart. Paul Aisinger. Again, those guys had incredible leadership qualities,

and I'm not criticizing anybody for the United States, but it felt different. I feel like we're just kind of every two years spitballing. And you can't have this guy, play with that guy. And we have a smaller pool. And we didn't play terrible. I mean, the Europeans did not miss putts. They didn't miss putts. It was a putting contest, essentially. But I do feel like for the Europeans, they're better at team selecting. It feels like it's a bigger deal. The chemistry works. It doesn't feel like you have as many egos. And I'm, I didn't get a watch as much as I wanted to because I was glued to a T. I went to the USC game. I was glued to a TV the last two days for 12 hours each day. But I watched a lot of highlights. And anytime I could get it, I chased it. And I went to people that I really respect in the golf industry.

And I just feel like chemistry, importance, how much does it matter? You know, they have like a Riter Cup committee like the Masters does. And it feels like, you know, in the NFL, we talk about how you're as good as your front office. I feel like the European Rider Cup front office is really good. You know, you and I are good examples. We got pretty lucky. We were born in the country where we didn't need to leave it to. do exactly what we wanted to do.

For Rory McElroy to be the best golfer in the world, he had to come to America. Same with Shane Lowry. Well, they both grew up together. So they've known each other for 25 plus years. They're both mid-30s. So when they play together and they won both their matches, those guys have been friends. Like, growing up in Royal Port Rush for 25 plus years, they have known each other probably since they were 8, 9, 10 years old.

You can't, Scotty Sheffler's 28 years old. So their friendship goes as long as he is old. You can't, the way Tommy Fleetwood holds Justin Rose, those guys are both from the UK. They have known each other forever. And there is a bond that those guys have, Terrell Hatton and Wrong, dominated as a pairing. These international guys, imagine coming to America. Now, by the time they become stars, they make a lot of money, they can live in the best places. They still don't know anyone here.

You know, I meet people that knew my dad or whatever, live in Arizona. Like, they're just, they don't have that. Like, Roy McElroy is not going to go to the store. Kansas and go, you know, I grew up with your dad and text it. Like, that's, it doesn't exist. So you are a true, you're a foreigner coming here. And those guys are the only people you know, probably, especially those before you become stars. So that bond and that relationship is different than our guys who, again, they care. Like, it meant a lot to Keegan, but you, you can't factor in. And I was telling someone this when we were back locking up a nice big deal for the volume on Thursday night that

when you do a deal in business, think how much more comfortable you are. Like, you've known Jamie Horowitz a long time. Yeah. So when you do something with him, you are much more confident if you were just doing a business deal with a guy you met last week or last year. Yeah. There is something to be said when you hear about some of these business partnerships or sports partnerships. Steph Clay and Draymond played together for 15 years. So when they won that championship in 2022, they had cohesion built for over a decade.

That matters. and there's something like that in golf, especially, it's not just four, four-round stroke play. It's your dependent. It's one, two of the rounds are literally alternate shot. You don't think Roy McElroy and,

Shane Lowry tried that out when they were 14 years old, playing on some crappy muny with no one watching. Like, you can't fake that. I mean, and there's also, we're a little bit more of an individualistic society over here in America. Go, go, go, go. And, you know, historically had bands.

We had rock stars. We had Elvis or James Brown. They had band. They had the Beatles because you had to, back then, you had to share equipment. You didn't have the money to buy your own equipment. I mean, it's like legendary if you go back and read the stories of it. Like, European kids had to join a band. You know, we have a different society.

So we elevate the individual, which is really beneficial. We celebrate success. But it does feel like it matters more to them. I would say this, too, they are pretty mentally tough. When I was there on Friday, it wasn't as bad, But yesterday, I think it got pretty aggressive toward Rory. And they could handle it pretty well. I mean, I don't know if it was flip-flopped and our guys were getting it, we would have

crumbled. Honestly, it felt like they got more energy. And part of it is, I mean, Rory Romm and even Fleetwood, he'll win more. I mean, Rory's going to go down as one of the greatest players of all time. Rom, you know, he's already won a couple majors. He could end with four or five. He's an all-time great talent. Fleetwood clearly is one of the better players going right now.

when you and I went to Liv Hatten, who was an unreal player, Shane Lowry is just a vibes guy, just awesome. They have some serious talent who clearly are mentally tough because Colin, that was,

there were Europeans there, but it was a lot of intoxicated Americans and as the day went on, it was hot and sunny, I think saying, I mean, Rory got a, his wife got a beer poured on her.

And he came back today, like, listen, Ryder Cup, it's not the Phoenix Open, but it's known as Rowdy, so. I'm not against you. I'm just saying,

but they can handle it where I just don't know if you had flip-flopped it, especially like J.J. Spawn. I like J.J. Spawn. Could those guys have handled, or even Scotty Sheffler, just saying mean things about his kid like that. That's going to happen. That's part of the Ryder Cup. But what they were able to endure and play at,

I mean, they had the greatest two-day run in the history of the event. And every player that's worth their salt over the last hundred years I've played in this thing. It was basically it was impossible for them to lose. And we were mounting the greatest comeback of all time. And it was still, fell well short because of the lead they had developed through two days. Yeah, people are saying they should cut alcohol sales or they should cut the crowd in half. I just thought it became a putting contest

and they putted better than we did. Like Shambly, Brennan Shambly was on the golf channel and he has now, it's been seen by, you know, a million people, but he just said like, I mean, I looked it up now. I don't know if it finished this way, but at one point Europe had eight of the top nine putters at the Ryder Cup. Some of these guys didn't feel like that. like they'd miss. So, you know, I, I like the Rider Cup. It's just this weekend was impossible. Oh, it's hard to keep, no. It was totally. The one thing I'd say about the alcohol sales is this had to be, beside like the F1 in Vegas, the most expensive American ticket. Like, I mean, it was a thousand plus dollars for general admission. And you're walking in, the boxes, you know, walking in or like,

it says Goldman Sachs. So it's not, this is not the top bowl of a Bill's Patriot game. where you could get in for $50. And I promise you this, I had a few of them. The cocktails were all like $22 to $25. So the people screaming this stuff, I mean, it's probably a finance guy, you know, Merrill Lynch. Right. You know, it's not just like your normal riffraff at some of these sporting events. So it gets a little hostile, it gets crazy.

But they kicked our ass. And yeah, it was quite, it was a pretty incredible event, just the amount of people out there. You know what, though? The truth is, John, if you go to the history of whether it's the World Cup for the Americans, if we're embarrassed or the Olympics, we don't like to be humiliated. And we kind of got humiliated. There tends to be tipping points for our country. I mean, like, remember when John Thompson, the late John Thompson took a basketball team to the Olympics and they got beat? And then we were like, okay, we're going to have our pros go. Like, we're done with this shit. The history of this country is when we get, humiliated or taunted, we tend to bounce back. Sometimes we get apathetic and Europe does not with a writer cup and we do. And, you know, the world's biggest economy along with China. And I think it will wake us up and to take it more seriously. But if you look, I mean, obviously, this is where you want to golf if you're the world's greatest golfer. But it, I just feel like everything I read this weekend. It's more meaningful and more organized. The Europeans do a better job of it.

Well, I'll give you an idea. We got a guy, you know, Keegan Bradley was, if he wasn't the captain, he would have been on the team. So he played a full schedule, it did excellent. Well, I know a guy that's pretty patriotic that used to train with the Navy Seals. It doesn't have much going on anymore in terms of if he's not a player. It's Tiger Woods, who kind of turned this one down. He got injured and, you know, the tour was going through a lot of stuff. But to me, it's like, hey, Tiger, you're going to be the captain for the next six. We'll sign you to like a three, you know, event deal over the course of six years. There'll be three different.

We want you to do it. You have all your ideas. You build this team. Honestly, there were times today and Keegan's good buddies with Michael Jordan. I can imagine some of our guys looking over kind of get intimidated seeing Michael. Like I, it's good Michael, like for Scottie Schaeffler, maybe. We got some other guys that have never been in this environment. They look left.

There's Michael freaking Jordan. I mean, I'm not. It would have been a lot. But, yeah, it was a nice win for the Europeans. John Middle Cough, former NFL Scout, three and out. Go Low, his golf podcast. And an hour and a half. This was fun.

Thanks, buddy. See you, Colin. The volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick.

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