The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Harbaugh Suspension, Lions Legit, C.J. Stroud, Belichick’s Future

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

Colin Cowherd Podcast - Harbaugh Suspension, Lions Legit, C.J. Stroud, Belichick’s Future   Colin explains why the Harbaugh suspension was overblown and why it’s not surprising or uncommon that for any high-end business… college football teams included, to push the limits of the rules.    John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” joins Colin to react to week 11 in the NFL and they both point the finger at one man for another atrocious performance from the Chargers defense. They dive into why the 49ers at their best are the best team in the league… but point out why it might not be sustainable, and the missing ingredient for Trevor Lawrence. They both agree that they are sold on C.J. Stroud and are convinced that the end is near for the marriage between Belichick, Mac Jones and the Patriots.  They also weigh in on the chances of the Giants drafting a QB high in the draft despite Daniel Jones getting a contract extension, examine the top college quarterback prospects, and explain why Lincoln Riley doesn’t work in L.A. (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) 2:20 - Michigan Wins Without Harbaugh 14:25 - Staley Fails Chargers 23:19 - Lions Matchup With Any NFC Team 28:42 - 49ers Best Is The Best In The League 35:32 - Trevor Lawrence’s Missing Ingredient 37:54 - Sold On C.J Stroud 46:55 - Pats A Disaster 55:13 - Belichick’s Future 57:55 - Giants Will Draft A QB 1:03:04 - Top College QB Prospects 1:08:17 - Lincoln Riley Doesn’t Work In L.A. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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.

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Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See sportsbook.draftkings.com slash basketball terms for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome in. So we're going to do an hour or close to it with John Middilcoff, former NFL scout three and out. I'm going to start with about 10 minutes here on Jim Harbaugh. My thoughts before I get into the NFL stuff, because I have strong opinions on that.

I thought what the Big Ten did, you know, as Jim Harbaugh is flying to Penn State with his team, was really second tier. I just don't think that's the way you do business. It felt overly punitive, considering it goes sort of against what the Big Ten handbook says on cases like this. But I thought there were multiple things in that game. Jim Harbaugh's teams, I believe now, are undefeated when he's not on the sidelines. And that is a really great sign for a business. The boss can be gone and the business cranks. And that's Jim Harbaugh. It is dependent on his personality and culture, which creates resiliency, efficiency, and toughness.

But game management, he has a very good staff behind him. and they win again on the road decisively when he's not there. Big ups for Jim Harbaugh. I also thought running 26 straight times in the second half was almost a middle finger to the conference. It was about saying, we don't even have to throw the ball. I don't even have to be on the sidelines, and we're going to anaconda. We're going to suffocate a really good top 10, 12 team in Penn State.

I thought that was a message. I did not think that was a coincidence. Jim Harbaugh, and he's done this in his entire career, will send messages. And I know he burns hot. I know he's not perfect. I know he wears people out. I have said, everybody speeds on the 405 in Los Angeles. You don't want to go 90 sunglasses in a Maserati taunting law enforcement.

Did Michigan go over the top? Appeer so. But you can't convince me a 1994 rule that none of you knew is suddenly. embezzlement and forfeit wins and fire the coach. The other thing that jumped out to me is find me the great college football coaches that have been pristine. Want to go back and look at some of the methods of Bear Bryant or Barry Switzer or Woody Hayes. Jimmy Johnson was polarizing. Buckeye fans. Urban Meyer. Really? Great coach. Nick Sabin. They wear people out. They're tough. I mean, Pete Carroll, one of the great college football coaches ever, when he left,

there was all sorts of NCAA issues around the program. So I'm not looking for pristine. In the NFL, coaches have to deal with wacko-impulsive ego-infested owners. And in college football, you've got to deal with needy donors, Los Angeles phone book, thick NCAA handbook. You have to deal with a 17-hour of practice. Kids are emotional. They come from all different backgrounds. I think Jim Harbaugh, you see his coaches crying on the sideline, enriches coaches, enriches players, elevates young people's lives. And I think that's such an important part of college football coaching, basketball, men's, women's, whatever it is, enriching their lives. But if you're looking for pristine,

wrong business. Our churches aren't pristine, okay? Wall Street's not. Silicon Valley is not. College sports is not. A lot of handouts. Folks, for years and years, they were paying players. Now they are legally, right? That's why it's so balanced now because not just the SEC is paying players. The idea that Jim Harbaugh is the bad guy in all this, all of this, is laughable to me. And I also thought about this. The Big Ten sees itself as like, you know, either the most important conference, certainly I'd argue it is because it's located right in the middle of the country. massive tradition-filled universities, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin. But it's really become a two-team conference. Penn State, though, doesn't win these kind of games. It's Michigan and Ohio State. And I think Big Ten fans think by adding Michigan, Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA. They look at the soft California schools.

And then they look at Washington and Oregon as sort of like Oregon plus. Michigan State-ish plus. No, right now, Washington and Oregon have as good at coaches as maybe they've ever had, and they are Ohio State. You're adding two Ohio states to the conference. I don't think Big Ten fans get this. Every time Washington has had an elite coach, Don James, national title, Rick Newheisel, won Rose Bulls, Chris Peterson got to the playoff, Kaelin-de-Borz, when's the last time they lost? What are they on? Like a 16-17 game winning streak?

Same for Oregon since Phil Knight got involved. Mike Bellotti with Jeff Tedford, number two in the country. Mike Bellotti with Chip Kelly, blew people out, Chip Kelly, Mark Helfridge, get to a natty. And right now, with Dan Lanning, I think there's an argument that Oregon's the second best team in the country to Michigan. They're in that Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Texas class, in my opinion, I'd take him against Texas and Alabama.

Not sure I would against Georgia, but it would be close. So the Big Ten, maybe it's the perfect time for Jim Harbaugh to exit if he wins a national championship or even if he doesn't. But the truth is for him to continue to win when he's not on the sidelines, it shows the formidable culture that he's built running and just running in the second half. To me, it was a sign to the conference that we will do it our way, that Michigan football, power football,

regardless if I'm on the sidelines, will prevail. I wish Maryland and Ohio State the best of luck. but listen, man, if you're looking for pristine, you've got to be kidding yourself. I mean, Buckeye fans, slow down on pristine. Woody Hayes, smack in a player during a game, love Urban Meyer. All sorts of noise when Urban was there. Jim Harbaugh's not the bad guy. Hey, we all make mistakes.

Again, Jimmy Johnson, polarizing, Barry Switzer, Pete Carroll, Lou Holtz. These are not perfect jobs or perfect jobs. perfect men. But I loved. I loved. I don't generally root in these games. I just like a good TV product. I loved. Not only that Michigan won, Harbaugh won, but how they won. And now for our segment called Making It Look Easy, brought to you by Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, Brock Purdy off a buy. Did he make it look easy or what? 19 to 26, almost 300 yards, three passing touchdowns. Brock Purdy had 149 passer rating making it look easy. Morgan and Morgan makes it very easy to submit a claim. They have over 100 offices nationwide,

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Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what y'all saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. Former NFL scout. He's on the volume, one of our faves. We're going to roll for about an hour tonight. John Midlokoff joining us. So let's start with something that I know

irritates the hell out of both of us. The Chargers gave up 5333 yards and about eight and a half yards of play. To Jared Goff in the Lions, who, by the way, were off a by. I thought it was my favorite bet of the week. it was a push. It was at minus one Monday, but by Friday I got blazing five, I got minus three. But listen, this is not an easy team to defend, although Baltimore did it. They were off a buy.

But the ease in which Detroit scored quickly in the second half, Derwin James, and I say this all the time when I watch a coach, do your players get better? We tend to think that good players in the NFL, like they're set, like they can't be coached. Derwin James, between the penalties, getting beat, and obviously he can be sporadic in terms of availability. I don't think Derwin James, I wouldn't resign him. I mean, I like him, but I wouldn't pay a safety debt anymore, what you have to pay, Herbert. I am just, it's, John, at some point we have to acknowledge, I like Jared Gough, I like this O'Line. They're not eight and a half yards of play good, right?

I think the defining thing of the Brandon Staley tenure so far as the defensive coordinator. While he's the head coach, he calls the defense, has been in big spots, guys are wide open. And I think as a coach, it doesn't matter what you know. And guys like Brandon Staley, I'm sure on a whiteboard, just like Josh McDaniels, who was fired last week, knows a lot. Like their football knowledge, understanding every yard, every landmark where everyone's supposed to be, what you're supposed to do against this, if this happens, do your. players know. That's what coaching is. That's what separated Belichick for 20 years. His players always knew what to do. Andy Reid now with Mahomes. The player, and for his whole career, but now they've gone up a level that he has the quarterback. And you watch Brandon Staling that last drive, the first play. Ty game. Guys wide open goes for 40 yards. And then ultimately get in field goal position because of that play. And I think it's always going back to the playoff game. What happened against the Jags? They had an enormous lead. And then blown coverage, blown coverage. And listen.

Most guys aren't Dion Sanders, Derell Revis. D.Bs are there. They get plays made on them. Football's hard. But when no one's around you, that's the problem with USC's defense the last couple of years. Like there's not even a soul around. This can't be normal. You know, and I think that's the Brandon Staley ultimately is undoing because Herbert today had a little bit of a muscle flex.

Like, this is the reason I'm 170, 180 million dollar quarterback. Keenan Allen's been fantastic this season, clearly playing injured. You can't have a quarterback at that level. Like you said, Jared Goff resurrected his career. Everyone has a lot of respect if you like football for what he's done. But Herbert's on a different level, but his defense is just better. Yeah, Quentin Johnson had a touchdown today, which is big for the Chargers. And I call the Chargers and asked him that are like, we really like him.

But the TCU offense was different than the Chargers' offense completely. And we're asking a lot of our receivers. That's why even Palmer, year two, year three, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, They've been in the system. Gerald Everett, this is a hard offense. We at Kellynne Moore now. We introduce a new offense. So I was happy to see that happen.

Yeah. And I think, you know, people can believe what they want about quarterbacks. I mean, Jordan Love had two picks today, lost, and people will say, oh, he made some great throws. You know, Justin Herbert was throwing dimes all over the field loses, and people will say he's overrated. I felt today, I mean, the Spanos family and Tom Telesco have been frustrated. I mean, I could tell you that, that with some of what's gone on, great disappointment and the money spent on the defense and the inability for it to make stops. But I thought today, I thought, I mean, Herbert marched down the field. Doesn't have Mike Williams, doesn't have that offensive line.

I thought he was stupendous. You know, it's funny. I told you this. Obviously, there's a communicate. We don't think Brandon Staley is a dumb guy. There's a communication gap between Brandon and the players. When you get Mike Vravel, Dan Campbell, an Andy Reid, a Mike Tom, there's almost a physical presence. Or with Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh, sort of a legendary presence.

They're like almost brands. With Brandon Staley, he's a smart guy. Is he willing to confront a player? He's a smaller guy. Is he willing to confront a player? Is he willing to bark? Is he willing to use volume? Because I don't understand how you can have veteran players an older, expensive defense in the wrong spot.

Is he willing to call players out? And by the way, Vrable is, Tomlin is, Pete is, Harbaugh is. That part of this whole thing is connecting. I mean, I know guys, Greg Olson told me Pete Carroll's meetings, you didn't make a sound. There was reverence toward Pete. Andy Reed, he will bark at Mahomes. He's intimidating. You know, Spolstra, Kerr, these guys will snip.

They'll get after you. Staley to me is sort of this intellectual to players, perspective. They may know he's smart, but a lot of times, John, I've had bosses. They're smart. It doesn't connect with me. And that's what I wonder. There was a famous story when I worked in the in the Eagles office about Andy and a high draft pick at offensive line. This would have been the mid-2000s, basically getting in a shoving match. I don't know if it lasted that long, but Andy's enormous. This offensive lineman, a tackle enormous. And the whole place kind of moved, right? The whole building. And you bring up Steve Kerr. Think of, think of, think how Steve is perceived on the

outside, very progressive, liberal, outspoken, feels like he resonates with a certain crowd. Yet from a sports crowd, he's famous for fighting Michael Jordan. Oh, yeah. Had it had a historical knockdown drag out with Draymond once upon a time in Oklahoma City that went public, a ton more that are not public. And part of it, like you said, is Brandon Staley really willing, you got to be confrontation? It's part of the sport. And it's the football in general is probably the most uncomfortable of them all because of the power coaches yield. Right.

You know, in basketball, some coaches, not everyone has Steve Kerr or spolsterous pull. But in football, the head coach can always bench a player at any moment or he's in charge. Even if you work for Jerry Jones, the coach has a lot of pull over you. And you watch Brandon Staley like, are players intimidated by this guy? And nothing ever changes. And listen, I have nothing personal against. the guy. People think I hate him. I just, you know, just watched his thing over and over. Now, the one thing I read Flagg is, you know, the media is not that difficult to deal with.

If you just call them by their first name, you can get on their grid graces. He was good at that. So I, and that was the phony element. I saw it in with the San Francisco Giants with Gabe Kapler, because ultimately, if you win or lose, who cares what they think about you. That's what you're paid there to do. And he's just struggled at that. And now, you know, this year's been hanging on by a thread. And when you have this quarterback, there's a couple players, I think, that are pretty polarizing, who are pretty good. Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert. And I think, I got a couple texts today about Trevor Lawrence.

We're like, yeah, you know, there's some intangible stuff. I wish he had a little more of. I think he can be a little overrated. One guy, I never hear that from. I don't care. It could be the Chiefs, the Eagles, or just other random teams. Everyone supports Justin Herbert as a player. There's no, he is not polarizing internally in the NFL.

Good teams, bad teams, middle of the road teams, everyone stamps. This guy is a baller, right? He's in that crew of what gets universal agreement. And, you know, you wasted his rookie contract. Now you're paying him big money. Luckily, the way football is he can play at this level for a long period of time. But the time is now. I mean, what are we doing?

Whether it's Jim Harbaugh, whether it's – I don't know exactly who the coach is, but you have to upgrade. It's not even debatable. Yeah, and I think when you look at the big picture of the NFC, let's pivot a little bit to the Lions. I do think they match up with the NFC. I think that offensive line will be formidable against Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Dallas.

Now, I don't know if they'll win. If they're at home, they've got a shot. But I'll say this about the Lions. In the NFC, it's about O-Lyons. The best O-Lions and football are arguably Philly, Detroit, Dallas. You can make an argument. Those are the best three. So you have to have some bit of a pass rush

or you'll get engulfed. And by the way, Dallas, great pass rush. Philly, great pass rush. San Francisco now, Chase Young had it, great pass rush. You have to have an offensive line, and you have to have a pass rush in the NFC. In the AFC, it's a battle of quarterbacks. It's a battle of brilliant coaches and quarterbacks. But Detroit, all-line pass rush, veteran quarterback weapons, I think Detroit matches up with everybody, including Philadelphia.

Baltimore, Lamar Jackson, no, I don't. But when you start looking at that NFC, John, I think they can beat anybody. Well, in a dome, they're very potent because their quarterback has proven. You get them outside in inclement weather back to college, all through his pro career. It can go off the rails. But in a controlled environment, what does Detroit have? Like you said, not just an offensive line. They are loaded with weapons that all balance each other out.

You got Jameson Williams, speed guy, St. Brown can go across the middle, make place happen. How good does the young tied in Leporta look? They have multiple running backs. Montgomery. They just drafted Gibbs High. Yeah. So you got weapons everywhere. all complement each other with different skills. So to me, the only question mark, could they go outside and win in Philly?

I don't see that because it would be cold and potentially bad weather. And that's kind of Jared Goff's bugaboo. We've talked about this before, and I said it weeks ago, just look at their schedule. They could 13, 14 wins. They could definitely compete for the one seed. And if they control their environment, they're more than likely, I think there's a decent chance at worst there with the two seed. That means you get two home playoff games.

Right. You get the first round and the second round. Now, that second round game could be a two, three, them, and the Niners. Obviously, they would probably, they would be the underdog in that game if it came down to it. But like you said, they would definitely have a chance to win. And in a dome, Jared Goff, this version of Jared Goff is pretty impressive. Yeah, going forward on fourth down, they absolutely have a culture. They have a mindset.

They're aggressive. They, this is what I really respect about Dan Campbell. I know exactly what they are. They're not Miami where you get. a different team based on opponent. Take the Baltimore game out. I know what I get from Baltimore every Sunday. Tough, physical, can run. Golf has some limitations. Not a ton. Don't love their secondary. You can beat them over the top. They're usually going to win in, you know, the 28, 27, 31, 29. That's kind of where they're at. But I know what I get from Detroit. I got no idea.

I thought I knew what I got from Jacksonville. I have no idea what I'm getting from some of these teams like Dallas week to week, Buffalo week to week. I have no idea what I'm getting. So to me, when I watch a team, it's like, what are you? Oh, I know exactly what Detroit is. One thing with Dan Campbell, I remember a couple years ago before the Lions got good, I remember watching an interview. And I think this is a big difference between him, let's say, and Brandon Saley.

And he said that several years, I think it was three, maybe five that he worked for Sean Peyton as his assistant head coach. He said, one thing I learned from him is in my nature and trained from Bill as a player was to be very conservative. Run the ball, punt the ball, play 1980s, 1990s football. And I saw with Sean Payton that willingness to go for it in certain spots, to be aggressive. And he changed my perspective on that. So when I watch the Lions when they go for it, to me, their mindset, unless you could argue it's just the numbers. I feel it's different than when Brandon Staley just feels like haphazardly. Like, we just go for it because that's always

what we do. We'll go for it no matter what. You saw the Lions today seal the game with going for it. And I think he would give Sean Payton credit, and he has before, for changing that mindset. So from that old school kind of meathead parcels to kind of being a young, progressive mindset and mixing and blending them together. The physicality with that kind of outlook on the sport of football has led to the Lions. I mean, Scott, they're looking like a 13 or 14 win. The Detroit Lions winning 13, 14 games, it's insane. Vikings don't have a quarterback right now for the future. Kirk Cousins won't be it. Bears don't. say what you want about Jordan Love, that's not it.

And they'll probably stick with him for another year. So this is one of these things where they could become the Packers. Packers always had good old lines, above average quarterback play, good enough weapons, not always great defenses. Farv and Aaron rarely had great defenses, right? But this, to me, they always had good front offices. I think the front office, I think they've really done a good job in the front office with their top picks especially. They've hit home runs.

And they've also been, much like their playing style, they've been hyper-aggressive as drafters. Running back at 12, linebackers, like a 1988 draft and running backs, linebackers. So it's like, you know, I don't know, it's like Baltimore has that with me. Baltimore went and drafted a safety in the center in the first round. You know, two positions you generally go later. But if you have self-belief, I think Detroit does, they're in a good spot. All right. San Francisco annihilates Jacksonville.

So there are these moments. There are certain things in the NFL that are true. Andy Reid on a buy. Shanahan, rested, healthy team on a buy. Should we look at this for Jacksonville? I'm a little bothered by it because it's okay if a Seattle or Detroit plays Lamar Jackson. There's nothing in the league like him. NFC teams have no idea.

He's like 17 and 1. But you're at home. You were rested. You were healthy. That game was never competitive. Like I, and I've been a huge Jags fan. I got to be honest with you, I didn't like what I saw. I think it was a perfect storm.

I wouldn't put the stamp of approval that this Jags team is going to go to the AFC championship game, but I'm going to give them a little bit, throw that thing in the trash can. They got the 49ers coming off three losses. John Lynch said last week, their team looked like they were running with concrete in their shoes. They looked so slow. They were desperate for a buy. Everyone needed to take a deep breath. Their defensive line, Colin, was really underachieving.

You know, when the Yankees lose, they're paying all their hitters to hit home runs. When they don't hit home runs, they're just going to lose. When the 49ers don't sack the quarterback, the amount of money, they have the highest paid defensive linemen in the league in Bosa. They gave Hargrave $40, you know, $20 million a year, 40 guaranteed this offseason and the highest paid free agent defensive lineman. They just trade for Chase Young. Eric Armstrongstead makes $16 million a year.

They're all in on that group. When that group doesn't dominate, and I know statistically they were like leading the league in pressures, it did not look the same. What I witnessed today, Nick Bose is a good example. He was statistically, pressures-wise, having a good year. But when you watched him, he doesn't look like T.J. Watt and Miles Garrett right now. Because a great pass rusher, it doesn't matter what you throw at him, right?

That's why Belichick always pushes back when people compare someone to Lawrence Taylor. He goes, you could throw seven people at him. He's hung over. He's still sacking the quarterback. So there are no excuses. Now you put Chase Young over there. Nick Bosa looked like the $125 million man again. If that's the case, the Niners are potent because Fred Warner is the best linebacker in the league.

who funga is a fantastic playmaker so to me that defensive line they are built to play from ahead brock purdy today he's if he doesn't turn the ball over he's a really explosive quarterback he averaged over 11 yards of completion they push the ball down the field yes he is not afraid to throw the ball down the field and they have made a nfc championship runs with dinking and dunking and playing defense so when you push the ball down the field that's the team that was kicking the shit out of everybody the first five weeks but it starts with the defense and And when their defense dominates like that, like Trevor Lawrence, you know, kind of went into a shell. But I got news for you.

I think besides like Mahomes and Josh Allen and maybe Lamar, most people are getting destroyed. And they have no shot. And even those guys might lose if that's the performance. But Trevor Lawrence becomes much more pedestrian when you're peppering him every play, which the 49ers did. You know, it's funny. You know, for years, the Ravens and the Niners have had these like constant injuries in camp and in preseason. and you just wait for him to get healthy. And I wonder the two downsides to Shanahan style, number one, half the league is using it now.

So the element of surprise. Now, he's the genius behind it, right? So it's copycat versions of that offense. But there's less of an element of surprise. A lot of people are using it. So his window for a couple years, nobody's doing it, I'm doing it, that's over. So that hurts a little. And that's why quarterback becomes so valuable because in these close playoff games,

it's just it's a play by a Herbert. It's a play by a Holmes or a Burrell. Like, it's a play. The second thing is that physicality is really the trademark of his dad and Kyle. And we got another, you know, eight weeks regular season, six, seven weeks regular season. And I watched them today and I said, that version, that's the best team in the league. That's the best team in the league. But even their practices are intense. Their entire culture like Baltimore is intense. Baltimore and San Francisco, there's a reason they're always hurt. And I look at the Niners today and I thought, if you gave me the Matt team, yeah, they're going to get to the NFC championship. But I wonder, you knew this team very well, is that, can Kyle, can you take the foot off? Can you give McCaffrey a week off? Can you rest Debo? Is it in them? No.

The schedule is not, it's not in them. So it's like you're asking, you know, you marry the party animal and then you're upset that he's the party animal. That's what attracted you to the party animal. It's like this is who they are. I just don't know if they'll be healthy by the end. They never feel like they are. Yeah, Kyle's established who he is. I mean, he will run Christian McCaffrey into the ground because that's his best player.

And I think you saw today, why do the Eagles win so many games the last couple of years? Because for the most part, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Dallas Goddard have been on the field. And no team's going to have three better players than that. And that's been the difference in a lot of their wins right now, whatever, they're eight and one. Well, the 49ers, you remove Trent Williams, who's basically like Shaquille O'Neal in the NFL in his prime. Right. And Debo Samuel, who becomes their second best player behind McCaffrey and George Kittle, you know,

and Brandon and Iuke, they're unstoppable. But you remove those two guys, as you saw the last couple weeks, they become a little more pedestrian and their margin for error is a lot slimmer. But to me, Kyle is wired like a guy that would have been in the 80s that would have been coaching against Buddy Ryan and Bill Parcells and Bill Wall. He would have fit. He would have had a lot in common. You know, Kyle's viewed as this young guy with his whole crew.

He's an old soul. To me, he has much more in common with Belichick and Pete Carroll guys in their 70s in terms of philosophically the way he looks at football, which makes sense. What did he grow up around? Mike Shanahan in the 80s and 90s in the NFL being at practice, being around that. And Mike Shanahan was notoriously somewhat of a conservative coach. Why? Running game first. And like you said, the difference also Kyle and some of these other guys, they all run the same place.

Kyle does have better players. There's a collegiate element where, yeah, a lot of teams run certain things in college. But do you have Alabama or Ohio State's personnel? because when he's rolling out Debo and he's rolling out McCaffrey and he's rolling out IUC, it's not really a fair fight. And listen, the Jacks are pretty good. Like the Jags have a lot of good offensive personnel. They couldn't even begin to sniff the group that came in motivate.

That's the other thing. This is a group of guys that have won a lot of playoff games. Everyone's, you know, dragging them through the mud. And rightfully so, they've been pretty embarrassing the last couple weeks. They came out. They probably would have beat any team in the league today, given what was on the line. And let's be honest about Jacksonville. So I've seen him get...

hammered by San Francisco, can't beat Kansas City. I still think they're a baby step away. I agree. It's not a giant step from being Cincinnati. I just don't think they're there yet. So, you know, and the other thing is I like Trevor Lawrence. I love college football so much that I think, you know, part of me, I don't think Trevor's as good as Andrew Luck, but I think he's really, really good. I don't think Caleb Williams is probably as good as Andrew Luck, maybe as as good as Trevor. But one of the things that Luck and Trevor Lawrence share in common, and this is one of the criticisms I've heard about both early, but I didn't think it was, I wasn't going to question it on the air. Do they live for football? They love playing it. Andrew Luck gave up the sport has no, there's no fallacy here that anybody thinks, oh, he misses it dearly. Trevor Lawrence has said publicly, like, I love playing football,

but it doesn't define me. GMs and owners don't want to hear that. Coaches don't want to hear that. And sometimes, and I think Trevor's a great competitor, but I, I do look at sometimes Trevor Lawrence, and I don't see quite the fire I would love. But I mean, I mean, who am I to say that? But Brady is 44. Six rings. Colin, he said it. He said it once upon a time. He said football is not everything to me or what I might be butchering his exact quote, but remember around the draft. Yeah. He said those works. And let's use today as an example. You had one of the best prospects of the last 20 years, Trevor Lawrence. Yeah.

And you had Mr. Irrelevant, right? And I would say one defining characteristic of Brock Purdy, why Fred Warner, why George Kittle, why Christian McCaffrey, who are wired like Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reed, Bill Belichick, addicts, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning. Brock Purdy fits under that. Football is everything to him. Yeah. You know, it means absolutely everything to him.

And that's the thing with Trevor Lawrence. He's so much more gifted than everyone else. Is there a little bit of a basketball element, like his talent? 6-4-65, good arm, naturally accurate, can move. It's easy. Showed up a Clemson in the middle of their dynasty immediately starts. The other guy gets told to transfer. Brock Purdy's begging for scholarships.

You know, comes third string. There's an element, and we've talked about this a lot before, most of the quarterbacks that are having a lot of success are not the number one overall pick. Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, but Peyton's even more of an example, because he played for as long as he did, is an all-time outlier.

Most of the best quarterbacks are usually kind of ran, PICs. Yeah. I think Jacksonville is a playoff team. They'll be fine. Although I think, and I want to talk about Bengals, Houston, Texans. Because this was a spot. This is one of the bets I should have taken.

I should have taken Houston plus the point. Everybody told me to take this because, you know, Cincinnati had beaten Buffalo, Ravens Next. And this is that classic sandwich game. Is that I don't want to hear any excuses for Daniel Jones. I don't want to hear it for Jordan Love or Kenny Pickett. I watched every snap of that thing today. C.J. Stroud is so accurate, so impressive.

He had a bad pick, very much like Andrew Luck. Shrugged it off, had zero effect, very short memory. And listen, we all know Burroughs great. But I got to tell you something, when I watched C.J. Stroud, that was a real moment. That is a better roster on the road, bad pick, bounced back. march down the field with no time left. Now, if Boyd could catch, maybe it's a different outcome. But I got to tell you, John, I looked at him.

You know, it's funny, his comp was Jared Goff with a little more mobility. Well, if I told you, you know, if you think about that, that's like, well, hell, if Goff had mobility, it'd be like a top eight quarterback. I know. Right? 100%. So I watched Stroud, and I'm just like, I'm sold. I mean, I, today was just like, that last drive, it's like, man, I am sold on him.

Well, you and I have been talking about it all season long. The separating factor, what makes guys have success that are drafted high or not, their ability to layer those throws. It's not the Brett Farve 70-yard on a rope, you know, into double coverage. Most guys can't do that. Can you layer the throw over an underneath defender, whether it's a corner or a linebacker, and then a safety behind them and put it in there? And a lot of guys can't.

Most guys can't. And most guys can't consistently do it. This guy does it with ease. And let's face it, with the Thursday night game, with Bryce on display and this, when I got out of football and went to radio and started going to a lot of baseball games and basketball games, and I knew this being so many NFL games. But the importance of size in pro sports, the outliers of small guys is so small. Like, Steph Curry is considered a small guy. Steph Curry is 6'4. And now he's jacked.

Like, he's not that small. He's not Isaiah Thomas. You know, he's not as small as you think. Listen, I'm six two. I'd be like the fifth tallest president in the history of the country, and I've been around Steph Curry twice. He's bigger than me and 15 pounds heavier. I remember going to Giants baseball games seeing Hunter Pence and Madison Bumber and the size of these guys.

And you see Bryce Young, I just don't see how that's going to work. He is so small. It's one thing to be. Kyler Murray small, but he's 220 pounds and he's faster than every guy on the field. So he has things that he can hang his hat on. Even today, I'm watching some of his highlights. I don't know if he's 100%, but he's still faster than everyone in the Atlanta Falcons. Bryce shows not that fast, doesn't have a great arm, and he weighs 170 pounds.

And when Javon Hargrave or some of these defensive linemen fall on you, he's, there's no way to just get back up. You watch CJ Stroud, he's big, he can move, and throwing is the easiest part of this game. It just comes, like, I don't even think it's that debatable. I'm not trying to, we're only in November. The Texans wouldn't even pick up their phone call if they try to do a trade. How would Carolina not have a redo on that? And is that just David Teper forcing it? Because I'd say the Houston Texans, who also really like Bryce Young, sometimes you need

a little luck. Hell, the Chargers would have taken to it. He's on your team. That's all that matters. They should be doing cartwheels that this guy, the way it all played out fell to them because I don't see any chance Bryce Young could be like a quarter of as good as this guy. Well, and also Ohio State has a history. Think how great Ohio State football has had and they've never had a great NFL quarterback.

And part of that is because Ohio State, outside of Michigan, has significantly better talent than everybody in their conference. Alabama's great. Even during their run, LSU, Georgia, stacked. Texas A&M didn't have the coach. Stacked. Ohio State faces one game a year, and they out-recruit historically Michigan. So, C.J. Strout, five-star tackle, a lot of time, five-star receivers. Heartline recruits better than anybody in the country at wide receiver. So there's a reason Ohio State, it's not USC similar. Matt Liner, barely got touched in college. There is a reason.

It's not really living an NFL experience. So C.J. Stroud, my thing was, these Ohio State quarterbacks are talented, but God, they all put up gigantic numbers. But his accuracy is just today he had a couple. And now, it helps D'Amico Ryan's great coach, Tank Dell. Holy moly, is that? What a pick. So, like, sometimes you need, he's got juice. Bryce Young has no juice. Bryce Young,

Herb Street said it the other day. He goes, they ran one offense. They're transitioning to another, and they have none of the players. So it's going to be really ugly. Some of this for Houston is, they had a very good offseason. They signed in free agency, if you remember, John, some B-level players. And I remember saying on FS1, I was like, they're having it quietly. They picked up about six, seven rotational starters. You know, guys that will play. So then you head on Tank Dell. So I will say, CJ's got a little better talent that I think, I think Houston's pretty got some juice. Don't you think a little bit?

For sure. And they've drafted well. They're going to have a ton of money. You know, the Cowboys never have any cash base to sign free agents because Jerry's always overpaying his own guys. If they ever did, people would love to go to Texas in the no state income tax. Houston now, if they can take advantage these next couple years, could have a chance to kind of load up. Make some bold trades. They got some picks from the Deshawn Watson's thing still coming in.

they'd have a chance they got to start coach. I heard what Herb Street said. The only thing I would disagree, because I don't disagree that their offense looks terrible and their lack of talent, but there is a physical characteristic attribute thing at the highest level of pro sports that you go. It's going to be difficult for them.

So even if they get the right offense, they upgrade an offensive coordinator, hell they fire frank and get a better coach, when does that, what it looks like to all of us, how minuscule the guy is going to work? Yeah. Even if CJ Stroud, hadn't been this good, his body type, his movement.

We've seen that before. I've never seen anything like Bryce before. And I like Bryce coming out in Alabama. I'm not trying to act like I'm some genius. I thought he was sweet, but it ain't working. And it doesn't even look like it has a chance to. Listen, Fran Tarkington was small, but nobody drafted small guys after Fran. It's more of a copycat league now.

Like that was just a unique player, Georgia, Fran Tarkenden ran around. But there wasn't like seven, eight guys drafted after it. It was six four, six, five, guys that could throw the ball, down the field did not move. The truth is Russell Wilson got Johnny Mansell drafted, Baker drafted, Kyler drafted. He got a lot of these guys drafted. And we've watched, I think fairly, even though Russell over the last three weeks has been better because they've established a run game under Peyton, he's lost his juice. It's just the bottom line is when you're that small in this league, it doesn't take as many hits. I saw Cam Newton, Ben, age 33. You're like, whoa, that doesn't

look anything like it did at 29. So it's like Ben got old fast. Cam got old fast. Josh Allen's got about three more years of this. And he's going like he's going for sure. And he's 6-6-260. So I do think with Bryce, and your point on Tyler is right.

For the record, Kyler's been banged up several times. Kyler did not want to run in the playoff game. Like, you know, 5-10 guys don't want to run. While I was texting with a college scouting director on Thursday night, and we were texting about Bryce, he said, you know, his comp, if he was going to be the best version of himself, was going to be Russell. So the difference is Russell weighs 225 pounds.

Yes. Right? When he was young. And he also inherited and got to go to a team that immediately had a great running back. Because remember early on, Russell got to grow in a team and had a great defense. But Russell's arm is way stronger than Bryce's. Russell had a very, very strong arm and was thick. That's the thing that really concerns me is the size.

When you watch CJ Stroud, what he does translates it, even if he just maintains doing what he is, if they do a good enough job around him, you get the more athletic Jared Gunn. off. And the other thing with CJ, a lot of times if you have a one-off game in college that's so much different than everything else you've ever seen, a lot of times when guys at like Mountain West schools and they get to play a big time school and are good or bad, you put a lot of emphasis, fair or not, just because the level of comp, CJ's game against Georgia, you're going, is that who he is? Could he do that? But he never had to do that against Iowa and Wisconsin. But it turns out, yeah, he can't. That is him. That was Herbert against Wisconsin. They never ran him.

and Tom Telesco with the Chargers went and said, I asked him, why didn't you run him? And they're like, we didn't have a backup. If you got hurt, we didn't have anybody else. Well, that's what Ohio State said was Stroud. We didn't really think we had a guy that would, we couldn't lose him. So Stroud and Herbert against Wisconsin and Georgia,

we all went, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. I get that too. It's the size, the arm, the accuracy. So I thought it was impressive. Okay, I want to talk. Let's talk some Patriots Colts morning game. Not a great game to watch. But.

And horrendously bad Mac Jones interception that could have won the game for New England. And on the following series, they put Bailey Zapi in, which is a total statement by the organization. Bill O'Brien was harping and yelling and screaming on the sideline. I think it was third quarter with Mack Jones. Listen, I thought Mac had an opportunity. I thought New England was a perfect spot for him. Play within a system, good defense run game. I thought it worked.

He's regressed. I have been told that the cheap shot stuff, the Grayson Allen stuff, he was called out by an offensive lineman last year at practice. They're like, dude, you do that to people. They're going to do that stuff to us. I have also been told that Belichick really turned off. They have struggled to hard coach him. You know, Brady grew up in a big family.

You could hard coach Tom. Mack is not as available to that. He's not willing to be as hard. He didn't come from as big a family. so coaches have struggled when they get on him. He sort of kind of pivots, pouts, is not kind of accepting of it. Tom flourished, loved it. A lot of great players do.

They like to be coached. Jaylor's. Loves it. He doesn't necessarily love that. So that Bailey Zappy to me, I wouldn't be shocked if they started Zappy next week. But my dad used to say this all the time. lubricate don't agitate. Your employment will be based.

Hands will be raised when you're not in their room. I don't think the coaches like him. I don't think the teammates like him. I think his judgment is poor. You know, judgment, it's C.J. Stroud, and maybe it's just his accuracy. But, you know, I just watch Mack Jones on that fourth down. He short-armed it. I mean, he looked intimidated.

He was backpedaling. I thought that play, I thought they may have just decided on that play. It's done. I thought at the beginning of the season that Mac Jones was going to get everyone fired. And he's honestly been way worse than I imagined it going. He's been objectively one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. I mean, the interceptions he throws on a consistent basis are just are insane. It's one thing to push a ball into a spot when you're down late in the game.

It's another thing in those spots where he's not even close. And whether his confidence now has waned, whether it's completely unraveled. But I never thought he was that good. I thought drafting a guy at 15 that to me has fourth, fifth round attributes. You know, it's why you can't take just stats in college and just plug him into a spot. Oh, this guy's a first rounder because he throws. Look who he was thrown. I mean, they had two straight years where all four of their wide receivers got drafted in the top 15.

All four wide secrets in the top 15. Think about that. I mean, I don't think Ohio State has that in the bag right now with the group they've just had. So, and then the COVID year, which he exploded. I think one thing we learned, and you saw that today, Trevor Lawrence today was standing. That year fooled us all. Zach Wilson, Mack Jones, Trey Lance didn't play. We still don't know what the hell Justin Fields is, but I think it's fair to say we're leaning.

He's not going to be the quarterback of the bear, so that was wrong. But that year specifically for Alabama, I mean, they had such an advantage. The schools were shut down. Alabama didn't shut down. They never stopped lifting. They never stopped training. That was in the peak of their powers. They were going through quarterbacks.

They had a bunch of cohesion. They had a bunch of high character guys like Landon Dickerson and Will Anderson leading the charge. And DeBonte Smith was around who was like the heartbeat of the team. It was built like an NFL team. You know, what Sabin's doing right now, they're about to go 11 and 1 is incredible because they don't have the talent. Like that team winning, like he was stacked. He had a squad. And I think Mack Jones, it's just one of those classic you look back and

college really benefited from it. And let's face it, Belichick was desperate. Because when Tom left, which Bill was clearly forcing him out, which, listen, Bill copied Walsh, he did the same thing. The difference is Walsh always had a replacement around. Bill just get out of here. Jimmy was already gone. What the hell was he going to do?

He played the one year with Cam Newton, who was a shell of himself. He got into a situation in the draft where he didn't have a choice. And he drafts the guy at 15. He's just not good enough. He's definitely not good enough to overcome. average to below average around them. And that's what their offensive lines hit or miss, skill guys, a wide receiver.

Bill of the GM has let Bill down the coach big time. Yeah. And I also think some of it is this. So Bill lost the best player ever Brady, the best tight end arguably ever, Gronk, the best offensive line coach arguably ever, Dantes Scarnacchio and Josh McDaniels, high end O.C. in a two-year period.

The truth is, that's just too much brainpower. the opposite side of the ball. Now, Sean McVeigh lost Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey. What if he'd lost Aaron Donald and Rahim Morris, an excellent assistant left? This ram defense would be awful. Thank God Donald can still play, and Rahim Morris is a tremendous coordinator. Bill lost the best quarterback, tight end, old line coach, and it's the other side of the ball. And so, you know, to some degree, Shanahan this year, after Sala and D'Amico Ryan's, I don't think Steve Wilkes is quite as good as those two. He's not.

And even with the personnel, the defense isn't the same. So, you know, it'd be easy to bash Belichick, but when you lose multiple, if you would have lost D'Miko Ryans, Bosa, Fred Warner, and Huffunga, that defense isn't the same. The other thing is everyone's shitting on Bill because it was all Tom. And obviously Tom played a huge role. There is no coach in the Hall of Fame beside Parcells who had the Hall of Fame quarterback of defense in Lawrence Taylor. Walsh, Holmgren, Andy, they all have incredible Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Now, Belichick is 71, 72 years old. Well, let's face it, this thing's over.

You're not going to transition whenever I hear, we'll bring in a personnel guy. So a 72-year-old that's made hundreds of millions of dollars. Who's been doing this? He's been in the NFL since 1975. It's just going to, yeah, just bringing this 43-year-old assistant GM from San Francisco. He can pick the players, all coached. Like, that's not working. This thing, listen, this was never going to be easy.

It's always ugly at the end. Phil Jackson with the Knicks. I know he was an executive, but same thing. It just, it usually, you don't get a swan song. You don't write off. Usually it's Gardner, Minchu, kicking your ass in Germany. And I know, you know, and Mack Jones thrown. picks. And this is, I think it's over. And I think Robert Crass, I don't know exactly know how they're

going to word it, mutual depart, firing. I can't imagine Belichick being the head coach in 2024. I can't because I don't think he's going to be open to changing. And if you're them, why even bring, let's just start, start new. I do think you could trade them. Couldn't you trade him for just a pick? Give him another spot to Washington or Chicago or take the contract, take Bill for a couple of years and see if he's got anything left. Hey, Trey Lance, we're not sure he can play a lick. Got a fourth round pick. You can get a fourth round pick out of Mac Jones. Again, I think if Bill retired and they hired Ben Johnson from the Lions and hit or went

and bought like a Devante Adams, I think you have a nine-win team. It looks a lot different. Not great. But I do think some of this is brain power out of the building. Bill's going to do things his way. They do not have a number one receiver. I'd argue they don't have a two. They've got a bunch of guys.

They don't have a number one tight end. The O line is really young. And for one of the rare times, hurt a lot. I mean, they drafted three guards. They're hurt a lot. So I think Mack Jones, I don't think Trey Lance can play in this league. I think Mac Jones can at a lower level, 18th best quarterback, but I think he can play. But I do think right now.

But do you think Bill's coaching somewhere else next year? Do you think? No, he's got a compound in Nantucket. He's got a hundred million net worth. He's not a spender. You know, he's got his dog, his girlfriend. He's got his Nantucket. He's got a place probably down in Jupiter, Florida, something like that.

Bill likes to golf. And frankly, it'd be different. There are some coaches who can pivot from coaching to the front office. Parcells in Miami. Took a one and 15 team and won 11 games, basically replacing the bottom third of his roster, you know, gave Tony Sparano the gig and they won 11 games. That's not really Belich. How Riley did it, you know, likes it.

Yeah, I don't think I don't think that's Phil Jackson's strength. I don't think Bill's not good at it. Bill's not good at identify. I had a personnel guy telling me the problem Bill has is when it gets closer and closer to draft day, he doesn't listen to anybody. And then that last week he gets on the phone

and calls his buddies that are all the head coaches and then just goes in on guys that the people in the building are Bill, we've spent all this time working. And you were in agreement. And then you pivot last second. What are we doing? That's what I heard happened with Nikiel Harry.

He called her, Edwards. And it was like the scouts, you know, the guys were like, no, that's a third round. That's a, that's a late second. And he called Herm. And by the way, they've got some Bama guys. I mean, if you go look, urban guys, Bama guys, it's a, that's your source, I'm sure is accurate. Because I heard on Nikiel Harry, it was like the scouting department pushed back. And to me, there's nothing wrong in using the coaches. Like, for example, the Niners with Brandon Iuke. He ran really slow at the combine, but they liked them. So they leaned on Herm Edwards, who was like the godfather to John Lynch's son and Herm's like, I'm telling you, he's fast.

You can, don't worry about that speed. But they didn't trust him for the evaluation of picking him. They just trust them as a source to supplement some things that they wanted to make sure they were right on. Where Bill just changes the draft board on his own, Dan Snyder style goes rogue. All of a sudden, you have a guy drafted in the third and fifth round that were undrafted free agents and the personnel department's like, what was the point of our last 12 months? And ultimately, Bill doesn't give a shit about them. It's why a lot of guys, the moment they could get out left. The other thing is, it was fun when you were winning.

You're like, he's miserable. We don't make as much here, but you're winning rings. It'll set you up for life. Those days are over. And as you saw that it's, I expect Robert Kraft because what would Bill, what was he always known for, being ruthless a year early instead of a year late? They could copy that from Walsh. That was the way he ran the franchise for 20 plus years.

Why wouldn't the crafts do that with him? Right. They've paid him an ungodly amount of money. firings at this point are never easy. But he's not 53. You're talking about a 72 year old guy. I mean, he's got two and a half decades, which is unheard of in football. All right.

Cowboys, Giants, our last NFL thoughts. Listen, I think I had this belief. It's a theory and I think it's right. Is that Brian Daibol and Joe Shy in the GM, they didn't want to give Daniel Jones that money. They didn't want to. Mara feeling he had an Eli Manning feel. look alike. He's better athlete, but they look alike. So he makes a decision. He can't fire Daveo or the GM. He can't. It's his decision. So it's like they always say in divorces, whoever

wants the divorce, there's a psychology, that person that wants the divorce feels guilty. You can get a better deal in divorce hearings and proceedings because the person who wants the divorce can often feel guilty. I think the Maras know, John Mara knows, I stuck these guys, and there's nothing you can do. So I think everybody's safe in New York. I like Daible, a lot. I like the GM. I think he didn't draft Daniel Jones.

No. And Dallas, I mean, Dallas was the best pick on the board pride today. I mean, they play, that's a great home favorite. They are great with a lead. They're great playing downhill. They're what Buffalo was about two years ago. Buffalo no longer is. They outscored the Giants this year, Colin, by 75 points, I think.

76. But by playing this kid, they're at two wins. So the Bears have Carolina's pick. Carolina plays a lot of home games against Tampa in Atlanta. That schedules. I think they may play Green Bay. I think Carolina is going to win another game.

They beat Houston. But I kind of look at the Giants and I don't know if they win another football game. Maybe they do. but I think it's really clear now. I think they're going to draft the quarterback. The question becomes, Bo Nix feels like he's sort of separated. Pennix has the injuries that Bose your third pick.

Now, Jalen Daniels at LSU, I think has moved from second round to first. I think he's moved into the first round. People think he's frail. My takeaway is, I don't know, I watch him run. I watch him throw. High school college, two conferences. It works everywhere. Hard coaches, by the way.

Herm defensive guy. Kelly the Screamer. It works everywhere. But if Caleb and Drake, and I believe they're top two, I think Bo has cemented himself. He makes no mistakes. Again, two conference success. Two conference success. He's third. You don't want to get into a bidding war, but I started looking last week at all those teams at the top. I can argue, Giants, if they don't beat New England when they meet, Giants have maybe one more win. I think they're going to draft the quarterback. Yeah, I think they're I wrote down, obviously, the Eagles and they play at the Saints as a loss. The Pats game and the Packers game, those are huge swings.

I don't think the Packers are winning many more games, and clearly the Pats. So those three matchups of Packers Giants, Pats Giants are going to have enormous implications. Because like you say, Carolina's defense actually pretty solid. They got some pretty good personnel. If Bryce has a good day or maybe two over the last two months, they could win a couple games. Still, they would be my betting favorite. I would say the Pats and the Giants. I mean, the Giants are really, if they roll out, if Tommy DeVito starts every, they will lose every game.

To me, Tyrod Taylor, if he ever were to come back, he would be a little bit of a while. If DeVito starts every game, they will not win. But if Bo Nix is your third, I think it creates a, and I'm feeling this more and more. I text two people this weekend because Jordan Palmer told me Friday on the hurt, he said, Bo Nix is your third. And I text two people over the weekend, and they were both like, just don't go to the Auburn tape. this kid's an athlete he's married he's accurate he's decisive some of it's Oregon scheming but I think now I if I think the Giants have the fifth or six pick I'll tell you that Giants Patriot game don't be

shocked if the Patriots start Bailey Zappy well to me the Giants feel like Drake may don't they that organization that feel you know Caleb some of the previous stuff I can see John Mara getting a little too high and mighty on it, but I would say that losing out makes a lot of sense for them. Losing out makes a lot of the sense for the pads too. Yeah, I mean, I think these quarterbacks going three, I do think the discussion for the top quarterback, listen, Caleb's really, really talented, is definitely in play, depending on who you talk to. He is not 32 for 32 number. This is not Trevor Lawrence or Andrew Luck. I don't know every GM in the league or every scouting director, but you get a lot, you just talk to five.

different people. You get different opinions. And the Bo Nix is another good example, right? Kind of a late bloomer. That's what happens. This is a stock, right? As you play games, you can increase your stock. Jayden Daniels. I'm sitting there on my couch watching this Florida game going, holy shit. This guy's running around like he's Michael Vic throwing dimes down the field. You said the knock on him is frail. A guy that weighs 175 pounds, this 5 foot 9 just got dropped the number one overall. So you're telling me, Jaden Daniels at LSU and the SEC, same thing is like can't go in the top 10? I mean, come on. Well, and this is something to think about is that here's the one thing I'll say about, and I think Caleb's really unique talent.

But Oregon State last year, he sort of pouted on the sidelines, the fingernail stuff, crying after the game. And he, he is now a little bit of his hero ball is the O line has been a huge, huge disappointment for USC. They thought they thought they had four NFL guys. it's been a no it's not a their defense bad it's been a problem somebody gets through on every snap somebody misses a block in every snap there was yellow in the backfield every play last night every play yeah and Oregon's been recruiting five-star guy Oregon is the one program over the last 10 years with Christobal and landing they'll go to L.A and they'll steal the best player in the state they'll take it right from USC so Oregon's got better players they got better players of Washington

Utah USC UCLA Oregon's got best players in the conference they can match up with with everybody, including Michigan, in my opinion. Wouldn't beat it, but could match up. But when I look at Caleb, I think the knock on him, because I've texted people and asked him, they're like, hey, he's a highly emotional player. So is Mahomes. And Mahomes is saved because of Andy Reed.

When he goes off the fairway, Andy brings him back. And what somebody texted me in the league is, if he gets the right coach, he'll be fine. got a Sean Payton. He goes to Chicago, gets a rookie coach. You know, because they have Carolina's pick. You're like, okay, you trust Chicago? You trust the rookie coach.

So the take on Caleb is if he gets a coach that a respected guy that could bark a little, it'll be fine. He's just too damn talented. I mean, he's a power thrower at six and a half feet tall. He's a power thrower. But he does go, I mean, what would Mahomes be like with, um, Brandon Staley, who can't get the defense right. Now, he'd be productive, but Herbert's pretty easy to coach, John. He's almost mechanical.

He's, I mean, literally, he is just, every throw looks the exact same. But Holmes goes off the rails. You know, every year, he did it against Denver. I'm going to just make stuff up and play flag football. Andy, next half, he plays against Miami, reels him right back in. So I think Caleb is more coach dependent than I thought, that he could go sideways with the wrong guy in a Chicago. I think any time that your team kind of gets unraveled in college, people start asking questions. And I do think it's a healthy thing sometimes to really dive in to a prospect.

I've said this the whole time. He's not a flawless process. This isn't LeBron James coming out of high school or Bryce Harper in the draft or what Andrew Luck was. was he's under six feet tall. So there would just be questions, even if it had gone perfectly and USC was undefeated. Obviously, I mean, they're programs and shambles. Can I give you a take? Yeah.

I don't think Lincoln Riley really works in L.A. I think they may, I have no problem. Oh, I like this. They shouldn't have done it. They should have hired them. It was a no-brainer. You had to buy his house, 120 million, 100% given where they were. But USC, let's face it, when they had Pete Carroll, a lot of juice.

Like, it's an energy place, right? It's a bright lights. It's like Vegas. It's just you need to entertain. And Lincoln is more Texas, more Oklahoma. Texas A&M, job opening. I actually think he fits more. That culture is where he's from,

both pressure cookers, which now he's at Oklahoma, but I would say A&M and USC are a little probably more rabid, a little crazier, obviously more money. I think that job makes more sense than him at USC. Now, I don't have a great replacement. Lane Kiffin, actually, more bright lights guy is open to whatever,

can just kind of handle some shit. is not afraid to talk. I don't know. There's something missing with Lincoln in that market. I mean, he's in your backyard. He is a good coach. I'm not just trying to act like he's the village idiot now because he's had a rough year. But I don't really think it's working.

And I don't see a quick fix. And if they wouldn't have had Caleb, who is just an all-time great college player, we'll see how great his NFL career is. I think they're like a four-win team. I mean, they are terrible, Colin. But last night would have been, they wouldn't have moved the ball.

I mean, it would have had no shot. I don't think he works. And I think A&M, and who knows, maybe they don't have money because they're paying Jimbo $75 million. They have to hire the Duke guy for cheap or whatever just to get the train back on the tracks. I just think he makes more sense. I've always had a theory geographically in college. Urban's an outlier. He went to the South and worked.

For the most part, our buddy McIlwain went to Florida was having some success. They ran him out of town. Think of the guys in the South. Kirby. Nick grew up in West Virginia. Like your regions matter. Think about the Northeast, the guy. Ryan Day feels like an Ohio State Northeast guy.

Jim Harbaugh went to Michigan. The West, think the guys. Pete Carroll, West Coast guy. Chris Peterson, West Coast guy. Bellotti, Tedford. I think regions matter. And I think, I look at Lincoln Riley. I just feel he's out of place.

I just feel he's out of place. No, it's interesting. He got very prickly with the media. And it was like, dude, this is not Norman. There's a lot of stuff to do. If you look at the history of Los Angeles, think about the managers or coaches that were successful. Tommy Las Sort of.

very successful Phil Pat Riley Pete Carroll Sean McVeigh these are big personalities they they steal

some of the glamour from their team don't hog it but they are I mean Pete's like media get in here Snoop Dog L.A. is a big city

Riley McVeigh Pete Carroll they feel like they're big city guys they can handle it New York I watched when I lived out in Connecticut, New York engulfs people. Joe Judge was engulfed.

Joe Torrey is kind of a good-looking, made his money, parcels, a little bit of an attitude. Tom Coughlin, smart, got a pushback. New York, there's a toughness in New York. I mean, Joe Tori wasn't great day one, right? He was doing angel games. I think he had a losing record, if I recall, when he took over. So he'd been through the wars of Major League Baseball. Joe Tori was a grown-ass man. Nobody was going to push Joe around. And I think in New York, there's a toughness, and you have to have a thick skin, and you have to push back.

Because Boston falls in love with everybody when they arrive, and even if you're Ted Williams, they hate you when you leave. New York tests you. And if you can pass the test, they love you for life. So they're the opposite of Boston. There's no. Boston sort of sucks up to you. You came and love us. We love you. Then they hate everybody. New York, once you win the crowd, Parcells is minted for life.

Los Angeles is funny. I'm no expert on Los Angeles. Lips here eight years. We both know Los Angeles pretty well. But the guys that work here sort of embrace Los Angeles. Don't close your practices. I remember talking to Urban Meyer one time privately about the USC job. And I said, this is not Gainesville. Can't close your practices. Like, we'll just do other shit. We won't go to your practice. Like, like, I like Chip Kelly, but he's apathetic. He doesn't like recruiting. And so UCLA is invisible. Like, he doesn't play it up.

He's not. He hates it. I mean, he won't do it. He refuses, you know? Part of it is, you got to do it. And I think sometimes with Lincoln, it's this sort of, hey, I want to control. Like, like, he did a lot of this this year. Hey, we're close.

It's not that bad. Lincoln. This is a sophisticated market. People here bail on you. I mean, outside of the Dodgers and Lakers, people bail on teams here. They bail on you fast. He's trying to sell us something like it's Oklahoma. Like it's the only thing we have.

Dude, Alex Grinch over his head. I was watching the Lions Chargers today. I'm like, did Alex Grinch get hired? Like, what are we doing here? It doesn't work. So I do think, I like Lincoln. But don't try to sell L.A. on this sort of, hey, we're close.

No, this looks like Clay Helton. That's what it looks like. Well, think about the 50-year-old guy goes, Lincoln, I watched Pete Carroll's team. They had 10 out of their 11 starters were always top three-round draft picks. I know what tackling looks like. Or at Oklahoma, they were so glad to have a dynamic offense.

He revolutionized them. They needed them. It was like, hey, Lincoln, we've won national titles here. We've produced first round offensive players many times. You're not going to be the first guy to send us. the guy from this program to get drafted number one overall. We've had some quarterbacks along the way. Just walked through Herodich Hall.

And I think he really struggled at understanding. It's like LeBron, we're comparing you to Kobe, not some other person. This is hard. It's difficult. Play for the 49ers like Joe Montana, Steve Young, that's the bar here. And I just think there is a where you grow up dictates your personality. And listen, I got along in the East Coast because I can be edgy. and sometimes my personality relates to the Philly, New York.

But at my core, I can also have the California chill. Like, that's what I grew up around for 18 years being in Sacramento, California. Lincoln grew up, I don't know the exact city, but somewhere in Texas. Then he went to Lubbock. It's ingrained. And then he spent all that time at Oklahoma. I understand they gave him so much money. It was an incredible opportunity.

I just don't like, okay, Caleb Lee, what are they going to do? By the way, way better next year? I don't see it. Here's the other thing in his offense, which isn't sort of the, there are elements of Mike Leach's offense, but it's not air raid. That top defensive coordinators, they don't want to work for a coach like that because, I mean, look at the history of defensive coordinators of something that looks like the air raid. Their career goes into the can.

So it's, I don't think, I mean, there's that guy that's at Oklahoma State. Derek Mason's a good coordinator. and San Diego State has a good one. But when you start spreading the ball out, these defensive coordinators, they want to be head coaches. They don't want an offensive coach. They want physicality.

And, you know, that's why, by the way, Hardball has got, that's why Urban. That's why Nick Saban, he gets great coordinator. Lose him, get another because that style, that physicality for a defensive coordinator, it feels like the NFL. Like Lincoln's offense, Lincoln doesn't,

that's not the NFL. That's college. And I think it's going to be a hard. And plus USC, LA is expensive. What do you got to pay a guy here? Two and a half million? They're not going to pay that for a D.C. No, because they make 1.82 in the SEC, which is dramatically cheaper, less taxes to live.

So I'm with you. And the other thing is, listen, you and I both make fun of the Big Ten. Sometimes they're speed beside like Ohio State and Michigan. But that is a physical conference. And if Lincoln has a quarterback that's not a top two round and maybe a fourth round or one year, if at your team the physicality you're going to run into some losses on the road if you don't have the ethos of being a tough and physical team and the way you practice clearly we've seen at Oklahoma now at USC it's not even debatable you're just not going to be a tough team so the

only way to win is to just out recruit everybody and that's he he's going to recruit itself but dan landings recruiting his ass off we know Ohio state recruits his ass off we'll see what you know harbaugh i mean do you think harbaugh's going to leave now with all this going on it's he's kind of a card. You know, the NFL's tough, man. Chicago, everybody says, oh, Chicago, they have the oldest and one of the poorest owners. That doesn't work. They're going to pay them $15 million. I don't know. And then you start looking around at all the, yeah, I mean, if Brandon Staley left, then it's really, really attractive, right? Yeah. But the last great job was Matt Lefleur getting Aaron Rogers, kind of late prime, but prime. McCarthy, getting Dak, Zeeke, and that all line. That's a hell of a job. The Chargers with three passers. With three passers. Russers, left tackle, the center, that's a pretty good job. But let me tell you something. There's going to be a lot of guys want that job in the Spanos family. Never spent that kind of money.

Never on a coach. But would Dean, would he be willing? Because they went through it a little bit with AJ Smith and Marty and Harbaugh's way crazier than that version of Marty. But Marty was a big personality. It wasn't just into super ideas from everybody. It started with the owner. And Harbaugh definitely isn't just coming into a third.

think tank on a weekly basis. Oh, Dean and your sons, you feed me with some information. So it's more than just paying him. It's more just, do you want to deal with him? And you've been talking about this at Michigan. He's, he guarantees you to win. He's four for four. But there is more that comes with it. And let's face it, these owners are so rich now. You know, it's like, eh, could win with Harbaugh, but I'd rather try to find someone else for a little cheaper. I don't think that the sons are vital in the front office. I do not think the Spanos is would hire Harba. I think they'd give it to Kellan Moore on a cheap. I agree. And he could succeed. I think he's bright. I think they're a very good red zone team now. They weren't a good red zone team last year. They are a good red zone team. They were a bad second

half offense last year. They're a good second half offense. A Kellamore's clearly working. And by the way, that was with Mike Williams. They don't have Mike Williams. So I mean, Mike's a big, big downfield target. That's why they drafted Quentin Johnston. You know, Mike was getting older, getting beat up. So it's all very fun. Okay, John Middlecough, three and out. going to do an hour now on Sundays closer to it because we get great feedback. We see the numbers. And buddy, this was just a lot of fun. I love this, man. Well, we watch football weekend column. We might as well talk about it, right? All right, bud. The volume. In sports, the scoreboard doesn't always tell the complete story. The dad who happens

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