The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - INSTANT REACTION: Chiefs Win The Super Bowl! Reid>Belichick, What Makes Mahomes So Great, Niners Played “Winning Football”

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the Chiefs beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl 25-22 to cement their dynasty! They examine what went right and wrong with Kyle Shannahan’s game plan and play calling (3:00) and give their assessment of Brock Purdy’s performance (6:00). They give the 49ers credit for playing “winning football” (8:30) and break down why the Chiefs defense has become so great (12:30). They debate what offseason moves the 49ers should make in order to get over the hump (15:45) and whether the Chiefs should pay to keep Chris Jones after a dominant performance (20:30). Colin makes his case for Andy Reid being a better coach than Bill Belichick (32:00) and why THIS was the year to knock off the Chiefs (40:00). They dive into the factors behind Patrick Mahomes’ greatness and why he belongs in the conversation with Tiger/MJ/Brady (56:00).  Finally, they give Kudos to Roger Goodell for managing the NFL so well and building into the juggernaut it is today (01:04:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It hits the under by half a point. John Middletoff, former NFL scout three and out, who knows the Niners very, very well. You know, I already thought San Francisco. outplayed Kansas City for most of the game. But then when you get to overtime, boy, there's some big advantages. Mahomes, Kelsey, game experience, the kicker, Andy Reed. Let me start, John, by this. I thought both coaches, you know, players look nervous. Kansas City's young, overcoming. Mahomes overcoming a lot of Kansas City mistakes. I thought the play calling and the play design was pretty spectacular. I mean, it's just my interpretation. I thought,

Shanahan, Andy's last drive was classic candy. I thought Shanahan, you're a Niners guy. I thought he had a good day. I think there's some limitations to Purdy. Obviously, Spags felt every time he had to make a stop, you put pressure on him. It's almost the opposite of what you do with Mahomes, where you never blitz. With Purdy, there's a pretty clear way to defend him in big situations. Go right at him. He's small, doesn't have a huge arm. But your takeaway on Shanahan's afternoon, because he'll get pinned with a loss. Your thoughts?

Yeah, I mean, I thought he had a rough stretch in the third quarter where he got a little pass happy that they had the lead. I think the game early on, the Niners were out playing them, right? Their defense had to look like that in months. Months. And they were coming. And instead of being up, like, when they were rolling during the season, 17 to 3 or something, they were up a touchdown. They're up 10 to 3. And it's just, you're like, you can't keep this guy in the game.

and it obviously played out that way as it went. Spagnola and that defense is fantastic. But yeah, I thought, you know, the big question mark for me coming into the game was the 49ers defense and specifically their defensive line and they were awesome today. Yes. I would imagine. Bosa could have been MVP at halftime. He was incredible.

He was, everyone was so tired by the end, right? And I would imagine by the time everyone wakes up in the morning one area of controversy. I know a Niner land is going to. to be his decision in overtime now with these new rules, whether to take it, he wins the toss, and he elects to take the ball. Now, during the season, the 49ers, whenever they win the toss, they defer. I actually was okay with it because if you kick it off and they go down and score, that is so much pressure on Purdy. And I thought Purdy on that first overtime drive was incredible. The play he made to Christian McCaffrey, the other play he made to use check,

But what happened? A couple big time, third downs in the red zone, spagnola in that defense, specifically Chris Jones. I mean, he was unblockable at points. And, you know, Purdy, they just got to him and he basically had to throw it away. And then that last drive by Andy. I mean, I think when you look at this game, it is a legacy definer by Jordan Pippen and Phil Jackson, aka Andy Reed, Kelsey, and Mahomes now. That's a devastating loss. I mean, how many times, you know, it's not like the 49ers showing up to the

Super Bowls getting their ass kicked. I mean, they're losing a devastating fashion. Now, I guess you tip your hat because you're losing to Mahomes and Andy, but man, that is a gut check. Yeah, that's tough to shake right now, Colin. Yeah, and here, let's face it. I lost a lot of money on the Niners. I'm not going to lie.

Let's face it, Eli Manning beat Brady twice in these games, and Eli made the throw. Mario Manningham and David Tyree. Purdy missed a touchdown in this game. Chris Jones, remember that? I don't know where I had it written down. I think it was third or fourth quarter, but Purdy had a big miss. Chris Jones was right kind of in his face coming over and he kind of had to go to the left. And so I think there was a couple of moments in this game where, you know, you didn't blitz Brady.

You didn't blitz Mahomes. The great ones, you don't even screw around with that. The way to stop Purdy is blitz. And that tells you what people think of him, which is. He's a little small. You could see a couple of times. You get pressure on him. He's pretty average arm.

I thought he was pretty good today, Colin. No, I did overall. I thought he was pretty good. I thought he had a good game. I mean, I was much more nervous for his performance. Thought it was going to be Rocky. I thought for the most part, he was, he played a winning football game. There were some plays at the end where, you know, he just gets hit.

Like you said, I mean, he's not going to break Chris Jones's tackle. But I thought for the most part, he was pretty damn good. He's not Mahomes. And that's been the whole argument. He's not. I mean, are we watching? I mean, the conversation now this guy's got his third Super Bowl. And, I mean, what a remarkable final drive.

Yeah, I think, you know, as I go back and forth on this, I thought when it was zero, zero after the first quarter, I thought, boy, this is not good for San Francisco. They have thrown Kansas City around the field. My second takeaway, I was bolsa should be the MVP. My third takeaway in the game is, you know, Shanahan is just, he's. He's getting the ball to Christian McCaffrey. They couldn't get it to Kittal, but he was getting it to Christian McCaffrey a lot. And then I felt like the fourth thing that I wrote down, I thought Kansas City in the third quarter, I felt like they gained some momentum. I thought San Francisco got a little pass happy.

I thought they started, Pacheco started to get some runs. I mean, overall, when these games come down, you know, Manning beat Brady because he made two huge throws. These games are these iconic games like this. They come down to a play. I thought the officials pretty much stayed out of it. I thought, by the way, I thought Moody was remarkable. I went into the game and my take was, Purdy and Moody against maybe the best kicker and the best quarterback.

That's a huge disadvantage. But, you know, Moody's hitting 53-yard field goals. And I thought one of the things I thought Brock Purdy did very well. And I wrote this down. I thought in the first half, I figured he'd come back down to Earth, but I thought he could be nervous. I thought in the first half, he played with a ton of composure. I mean, I remember Brady Super Bowls where he's sailing things and Peyton Manning Super Bowls.

I was kind of shocked at the composure. Now, some of it was play-calling. They set him up to succeed on some stuff. But nonetheless, it's one thing to lose to Mahomes last time. But I felt in the fourth quarter, Kansas City was the better team. there was never really a point in this game. I felt Kansas City was superior. When that game came down to fourth and two in Mahom's scramble,

I was thinking if they don't get it, that's a fitting end. San Francisco just felt. What makes this hurt is I think San Francisco had a great game plan. Pretty played well. Moody was sensational. The defense dominated, line of scrimmage,

this one felt like you outplayed them and lost. They did all season long when the Chiefs have won, including the playoffs, they've played it on their terms in a lower scoring game. And when the Niners have won throughout the season, when they kicked the Eagles ass,

when they kicked the Cowboys' ass, and last week when they came storming back on the Lions, they score a lot of points, right? So, and this score was a little higher because of overtime, but it was in the teens the entire second half, right? That's how Kansas City is very comfortable. I went to cocktails on Thursday night

with a buddy who's been on the staff for the whole run of this Chief's team. And he said, because of it, because of Mahomes, no one gives our defense the credit they deserve. This is by far the best group we've had. Yes. And it's all young players and their physicality and their secondary physicality, how well they tackle. What do the 49ers hang their hat on over this run of Shanhan? Breaking tackles. They take slants. They take crossing routes. They turn a seven-yard gain into 28. They turn a 20-yard gain into 60 yards. That never happened tonight because they tackle so well. That physicality. for the first time, and this is not going to change next year because all these guys are coming back, the Chiefs now have one of the all-time greatest players in the history of the game, a coach who now has no pressure with three Super Bowls, and a defense lighten people up.

Yeah. So their defense, and the 49ers were playing that way too, but the Chiefs can match that. They would not have been able, they couldn't play like this a couple years ago. And now they not only can play like this, they're comfortable playing like this. So the Niners, and this is where I think they benefit from those close calls, comfortable in a weird game. They never, you know, like you said, Purdy kept his composure. Kyle kept his composure. Kyle stayed late on an aggressive fourth down call late in the game. And I think he knows. He learned last time you can't be that way against Andy Reed.

But, you know, the Chief's physicality in both these two teams, I think it's credit to, we talk so much about teams not practicing through the season. You know, the Eagles got crushed for doing walkthroughs in December. To have that type stamina, both these two teams, playing like an extra, you know, a full extra quarter going full go in the Super Bowl. I think that's a testament to the way these teams practice. It shows by the way they play of physicality. Listen, I know everyone's a sucker for touchdowns. I enjoy physical football.

I enjoy an old school game. I was glued. Now, granted, I was on the Niners side, a lot of money, but that was a fantastic football game. Like, I can live with the punts and the defense. I enjoy that. Yeah, I thought the second half in overtime were, that's as good as football gets in America. You were getting a crucial quarterback play, clever play calling, you know, big third and fourth down plays. You know, and one of the things I had said, you know, Kansas City, I mean, you go back

to week eight as like, they're a playoff team only because the Chargers in Denver aren't any good. And then my week 12, you're like, kind of figuring it out. The last four games they've played are the best four games they've played all year. And I mean, seriously. Seriously, it's like that's kind of the magic potion with them is that this, there's no reason. I mean, if you really think about it, they have kind of a weak number one receiver. They're not as good at tackle as they'd like to be. Outside of Chris Jones, it's kids. But boy, do they draft, boy, do they coach, boy do they develop.

I mean, if you really look at this game, you know what I felt like for the first half? The experience guys were beating the kids. I thought Kansas City looked a little nervous, the fumbles. You know, they just, and it was like, oh, boy, I mean, Fred Warner, oh, Bosa, Jesus, Christian McCaffrey. It kind of felt like the grownups. Like one of those NBA playoff games where you're like, oh, okay, here, here come the old guys, the old warriors against the young Celtics, here come the old guys. But again, you know, Spags has done this, John, all year. You can't score, you can't score on this team late.

Wasn't that a big difference in the game down the stretch? there was on that final drive, Kyle had to call a timeout because he didn't like the defense that was being called. Because a couple plays before, they had all-out blitz, they don't get there, and they hit a huge plate of rice. You think Andy Reed is calling a timeout on anything Spags has to do? In fairness, I don't even disagree with Kyle doing it. But the difference of the cohesion of the coaching staff, both of them are the offensive play callers, both of them are spending time with the offense. Yet one kind of had to micromanage a little bit.

other guy has full belief because Spaggs is going to win more Super Bowls as a coordinator than anyone not named George Seaford. And you should have belief in him. And his play calls are just perfect how well that defense played. But like you said, this isn't some indictment against Kyle sucks. You know, I remember when I worked for the Eagles, Andy was kind of at that moment where he was like back when Phil could never win a major or Charles Barkley. And you were one of the rare guys that defended him of being like, what are we talking about?

Like, this guy's clearly one of the best coaches. it took him a long time. But it was pretty evident, pretty early. Kyle's going to just, you get criticized when you lose these big games. It's kind of the elephant in the room now hanging over him moving forward. Can he win this big game? Listen, who else would you rather have besides a couple of guys in the league over that guy? No, I thought I wrote it down two of my notes.

I thought Kyle had a great. He had a little bit of a spell like you said in the third quarter. But, you mean, let's give. I think he was taught. If I was going to defend him, they were certain. to play Christian a little well, and then you were getting into second and nine immediately. So it's one thing when you pop the big runs, and listen, I'm a proponent of run the ball, but if it's not working, then all of a sudden you put your second, your quarterback, and second

and nine, their guys were jumping off sides. It was like second and 12 or third and 12, and I think he was trying to avoid that and get some easy completions, but back to what we said about the chief defense, it's hard to get completions on them. And when you do, they tackle so well. So even if you get a three-yard little out route, they tackle you on the spot. It'll be interesting going forward with San Francisco. Kittle got banged up, Debo again. McCaffrey is, I'm telling you, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders. McCaffrey, I think, is the third best running back I've ever seen.

How fast was he on the sideline? On that play, I think it was in overtime to set up the field goal. Kind of juke him out, got to the corner. He's seen a remarkable place. I mean, he just ran past a corner. flew past him. It's interesting, though, because, you know, they hit on Iyuk. They've got the kicker, a quarterback. Pretty's going to be around. Both is special. They, Trent Williams, you, you, you are a little long. You also can't pay two linebackers big money. They've got some decisions

to make. Like, I think we all know. Kansas is going to be back and better the next year. They just have to find a number two receiver. They're going to be fine. When you look at San Francisco, They're not paying pretty anything. Will they have to move off anybody? What do you think? What do they draft? Where do they have to get a corner? I think Kittles, you know, getting up there in age now, makes a lot of money.

You start investing in Brandon Iuke. It's one of those things. You know, Kittal doesn't impact the game like Kelsey now in the passing game consistently. He's important to the run game. But once you start taking 15, 16, $17 million cap hit, Kyle, for being an offensive guy, wired like Andy Reid, they like investing in the line. a scrimmage. Their offensive line needs to improve. They could always, he'll keep investing in the defensive line.

Eric Armstead's another guy that makes a lot of money who's up there, but he's team captain. These are complicated decisions. And this is where if you want to sustain success, whether you're winning Super Bowls like the Chiefs did when they traded Tyree Kill, or like San Francisco now is proving that you've got to make tough decisions. And no one was better at it for 20 years than Belichick, right? And the media always used to crush them. How can you trade this guy? It's like, we don't have unlimited money in a salary cap league. So you've got to make some tough decisions. And the 49ers are definitely going to have, I mean, Drey Greenlaw, Torres Achilles running out to the field. Now, he's a guy under contract

doesn't make that much money, but he's pretty important for them. And one thing that I think both teams showed, and that John Lynch is really good, because Kyle plays a big role in Veach, obviously is a stud. They have both teams have good depth that they're very, very good at developing players over the course of the season. I mean, how good was Joanne Jennings today? This is a seventh, This is a seventh round player, and he's been making big plays for them for three years. So being around the Niners at practice and knowing Coach Reed, a lot of similarities that young players get better. And one thing they really have on their side, which if you're going to get a legit starting quarterback making under a million dollars, I'm sorry, that's the best contract in the NFL. So you still got a couple years to work with that.

And I think as long as you have that in your back pocket, that that's a pitch most teams don't have. I mean, think about the other teams in the NFC. The AFC is harder, even though the Chiefs have proven like they're unfazed by it. Dallas, a lot of question marks with the Cowboys, right? Mike McCarthy last year coaching, Eagles have a ton of question marks. They're hiring two coaches that have never worked with Siriani. If they start slow, Kellan, a lot of weird stuff going on. Lions are pretty good, but, I mean, that's the first big game, Dan Campbell's ever won.

So they got a long way to go to they could keep doing this. The Rams are coming, but Stafford's getting long in the tooth. Aaron Donald's getting old. The NFC, to me, is dramatic. easier, right? I mean, the Ravens are going to be good. Burroughs coming back. Harbaugh now with the chargers. It's just, you would imagine Miami gets better on defense. But I think the road to the playoffs and before the Super Bowl for San Francisco is dramatically easier than it would be in the AFC based on the quarterbacks you have to go through. So that's another thing that benefits them.

And I mean, who's the beside McVeigh and Kyle? Like, what? are we talking about, right? In the, Seriani. I like Dan Campbell, but no one, no gentleman in Germany's taking Dan Campbell over Kyle Shanahan. Yeah, I mean, to me, I think the Packers, I would pick the Packers to win the division over Detroit just because I think Jordan Love had huge growth. That team is stacked with young players. They're a team, too. I forgot about them. Yeah. Rams, I think if they have another good draft, they just McVeigh and Shanahan, you know, those were wars. Those are cerebral wars, academic, physical wars. You know, I want to go back to so much of when the Patriots were dominating.

You know this. It was Ernie Adams, Dante Scarnacia, Belichick, Brady, and then two other players, Gronk, and maybe a Vince Wilfork. You know, they had kind of interchangeable corners. You know, they moved around past rushers. But when you start stacking up Brett Veach, Andy Reid, Mahomes, Kelsey, and Chris Jones. And that shit is. I mean, those are A pluses.

Chris Jones, his intensity on the sideline, when MVS ran backwards. Yeah. I mean, that guy is so locked into everything. And there's only two or three defensive linemen in my life, like Reggie White, Aaron Donald. I don't think Chris is that level. But it does feel like to me, John, in these big games, Chris is virtually unblockable. I mean, today I'm watching that game and I'm like, this is Aaron Darmel against the Bengals. You have to double him.

You can't single him. I mean, I, you know, he's one. The Niders don't exactly have Jim Otto and Larry Allen playing guard to center for him as part of the problem, too. So it's a huge advantage for the change. They only signed him, John, to a one-year deal. I know they probably wanted to move off him. Boy, he'd be a hard move for me. I mean, I feel like he's the soul of that defense.

I think it's very difficult, but I do think. the money that some of these teams that are desperate, that they're going to throw around. And this is where this would be his third contract with them. This is the Belichickian type move. And Belichick could pull these moves off once he had one ring, two rings, now three rings. Let's face it, Andy and Veach, now with Patrick by their side, have so much equity they can kind of do whatever they want.

And when they did it two years ago and they traded Tyree Kill, it looked crazy. Like you're trading this guy who's gone on to have, I mean, two of the best years he's ever had in Miami, all-time great player. And they've won two Super Bowl since. So I'm with you. It's impossible to replace that, right? They struck oil in the second round and got a Hall of Fame player. But one thing with Belichick, beside the quarterback, when it came to the big, big money, that third contract, I mean, you're talking to defensive linemen, right, $100 plus million dollars guaranteed. Kelsey's getting longer in the tooth. You're going to have to pivot on some offense. They definitely could improve offensive line. Thuny's hurt. He's a highly paid guy.

You never might have to move off him. So if I was a betting man right now, I think when you win the Super Bowl, it helps make a very tough decision. When they traded Tyreek, Andy Reid would have told everyone that he knows that I know I know I'm trading a great player, but this is a financial pie that we have to build. And look at what they did. They got a first and second round pick. How good is McDuffie? I mean, is that like a Charles Woodson hybrid? How good is that guy going to be?

And this is why when you have a great GM that when you can make. make a tough move. I don't know if they can, I forget if they can franchise and trade them or not. But even if he goes, you get a comp pick, Veech has proven, Carlavskis, I mean, all over the place. And that draft two years ago when they traded Hill, their first two picks in the first round, their pick and the Tyreek Hill pick, McDuffie and Carlofskis. And those guys were all over the play. I mean, McDuffie has a chance to be one of the better DBs in the league because he can cover, he can blitz, he's physical. And these guys, they get to the point, once you're really in your prime with your

quarterback and Bill was like this for a long time is Andy now knows every player in the league, right? He's literally evaluated every guy in the league. And then he gets a GM and a personnel guy. And that's the one thing Bill once Pioli left, he had Casario for a while. Veach isn't going anywhere. So they're such a lockstep on exactly what they're looking for. Mahomes is in the boat with him, a lot like Brady, right? But it's their relationship's even better because like Andy would go to dinner with Mahomes where Bill would not with Brady. Their relationship is much more in a friendly manner professionally and personally that I think you can make tough decisions. And let's face it, you win this third Super Bowl.

What can Andy do besides getting rid of Mahomes that anyone's going to question? And also, I think Chris Jones can say, hey, listen, I got another ring. I'm going to go get paid. Yeah, I've got three. I'll go to Jacksonville, Tampa, no state tax. $120 million guaranteed. Yeah. And I never, once a guy gets rings in the NFL.

I get it, especially when you're playing one of these life-altering positions like D-Line or O-line, where it takes years off your life. You mean, you come out with six shoulder surgeries. Your hands are mangled. Just go get your money. Like, take care of your family, your mom, your dad, that kind of stuff. So I think, you know, there'll be so many different headlines in this game. Usher didn't do a thing for me. I felt it was like late.

It was like 28. That was my childhood. I enjoyed it. I was like pre-game commercials. Usher. Second half, unbelievable. The, you know, one of the bigger headlines, and I think I thought, I guess my take on Purdy is this. I thought he was really composed in the first half, like over, I thought he was kind of blew me away. I did think that there is a way, you know, people say there's a way to defend Lamar put pressure on him.

Well, there's a way to defend Purdy. It's pretty obvious. Now, Spags is great. So it's not like pretty struggled against, you know, this is a great defensive coordinator. And I'll say this. I think can turn the ball over, almost did at the end. Yeah, yeah. I think this defense by Kansas City is fast and twitchy. And I think people will now acknowledge, holy shit, it's really good. But Baltimore kind of ate Purdy up a little bit.

I think Purdy played too well in this game for him to get a lot of heat, but to talk tomorrow will be, well, you know, You settled for a field goal. Mahomes gets a touchdown. Do you think Pretty will get any heat at all? No, I think it's more on Kyle. You know, you're making 900 grand. I mean, Kyle's making $15 million. He's the star of the show.

One thing I, if I wanted to criticize Kyle, the play caller, and I think you see it with Andy, part of the thing with Kyle is his offense is his offense, where Andy is adapt over the years, a million. He plays one way with Alex. He plays another way with Mahomes. He used to pass probably too much. now he has no problem running the ball. He realizes he's got that Belichick mindset of like, I'll do whatever it takes.

Where Kyle's offense is his offense. And one thing they do not do beside the play action rollout is just like a rollout, snap the ball to him and get Purdy on the move. One of Purdy's defining characteristics, which no one really knew when he first started playing, which is evident now, is his mobility is pretty good. And Kyle doesn't ever get him on the move. What happens multiple times? There was a play early in the game, a throwback to Kit,

that was negated with a penalty, get him moving. He's an instinctive player. But that's not Kyle's offense because he doesn't have, Kyle does not have a drop back passing offense. It's all tied to the run. Yes. And even when he gets past happy, it's still run fakes to the pass or a quick screen fake.

That's part of Kyle's deal. And I wonder if he just adapts a little bit moving forward next year with Purdy, because their team's still going to be really good. They'll probably be the betting favorite after the draft to win the NFC. But I do, I mean, you know, Andy only got there once with Philly, and he lost it. He lost a lot of the championship games. And then next time he got back with Mahomes, he won it, and the rest is history. Now he's winning it.

Kyle's been there twice now and lost in this one as long as overtime in league history, I would imagine. And in both games, outplayed Mahomes for at least three quarters. I was playing winning football. No question. It's one thing if you're the Denver Broncos playing that Seattle team, get your ass kicked. What are you going to do? You know, it's just like, damn, we were not, you have these type games. I don't know how he sleeps for a week because he's been around this long enough to know how hard it is to get back.

Listen, I think they're going to stay maintained being pretty good, but how many opportunities do you get where your team comes out ready? They had just looked pretty shitty the last couple of playoff games out playing them. Even in overtime, you drive first and score. If you could just somehow get a stop, maybe get them to miss a long field goal and what happened? Mahomes makes a couple of plays. Andy makes a couple great play calls. All of a sudden, they get a wide open touchdown. It just ends.

And I think one of the question marks, I would imagine in the Bay Area, where Kyle had to call the time out with Wilkes, this is the thing. And we've been talking about it for a while with Spags and Andy. He doesn't have to worry about Spags getting a job. He's going nowhere. So he has full trust in a great coordinator, where Kyle lost back-to-back coordinators who he knew,

he felt comfortable with. And now he had to go outside. And clearly, like, Wilkes is solid. Like he was good tonight, but this is not exactly the 2019 Kansas City. You know, just Kyle think he's great? No. But, you know, you're kind of in no man's land with this guy as a defensive coordinator. He's not some great defensive coordinator.

If they were all available, he's not a top 10 pick in the league. So that to me is one question mark with the 49ers moving forward is how much trust Kyle has in his defensive court. And there was a point this year where they lost three straight games. I thought he was going to get fired. Yeah. But they didn't really have anyone else on the staff. And then when you have to, how often does an offensive? coach, who's the head coach, call a timeout because he doesn't like the look on defense after

he gave up a blitz. It's very, very rare. And even Romo's like, he probably did the right thing, but it's not like, Andy doesn't even have to do that. And I think, I don't know, maybe they just they would have ran out of gas even if, you know, Bill Belichick was their defensive coordinator. Yeah, I thought Romwell brought up a good point in the second half. I thought they were good tonight. I know they take a lot of shit, but I thought they were fine. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard 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 you're saying. Yep. That's me, Clifford 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. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok 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 Jett. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a 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. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because. of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, 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 finishing that sentence. Yes. 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your You know, I had said this about Andy Reid. If I look at Bill Belichick's career, it is overwhelmingly tied to one player. I mean, they were bad in New England before Brady. They were bad after him. We're very good in Cleveland. I'll say this. We don't consider Bill Russell with 11 rings better than Jordan was six. I think Mahomes is the best quarterback I've ever seen. I think Andy Reid's the best coach I've ever seen. He's not tied. Donovan McNabb.

was a B-minus quarterback. He was always inaccurate. He was an athlete, not ideal size. You know, he's always short hop stuff. He was kind of like, he was a good quarterback. He was out of shape in the Super Bowl, Colin. I mean, he was throwing up in the Super Bowl. I mean, I just feel like Andy, who always gave Belichick problems, even with second-tier

quarterbacks, I think Andy's a better coach than Belichick. First of all, when you go to overtime, we're all just, I mean, Romo and Nanter, like, oh, this is Andy Reed. This is, this is, this is almost unfair. I mean, Andy hides stuff. So much in New England's success was tied to an offensive line coach. I mean, if you go look, when Scott Pioly leaves in the last eight or nine drafts when Bill controlled him, he didn't draft well. He's toned, he's allergic to offense. Once he lost offensive people, Bill really regressed badly. I think you look at Andy Reed's coaching tree. his ability to adapt, win with multiple quarterbacks, multiple coordinators.

I think Andy's the best football coach since Bill Walsh. That's my take. You know, again, Bill Russell had some advantages. You know, it was Red Arbock. There were fewer teams. And Bill, I'm not, and in no way saying Bill, I mean, listen, he helps find Dantes Karnackia. He, you know, helped, he drafted Brady. I think, but I think Andy Reid, I mean, we think,

I think Shanahan is elite. We both do. Top three or four coach in the year. That game comes down to that last drive. I mean, you have to acknowledge that Annie's doing stuff. They're hiding stuff they haven't used. I don't know. When I watch Andy Reid's teams in big games, I mean, he's the best coach off a buy of all time. He's now very close to being the best big game coach ever. They win more close games, more games they've trailed in the half. I'm not in any way discounting Mahomes' ability. But yet that last last. drive and overtime. It is so clever. I mean, how many third and twos and fourth and twos did they run a play? And you're like, oh, they haven't seen that one this year. I don't know. Where do we classify, Andy Reed? Yeah, I mean, I think he's definitely, you know, Walsh is going to go down. It's probably the most famous coach of all time right there with Lombardi, right? When you close your eyes, you say the NFL, you'd go Walsh, Lombardy and you said Belichick, too. You know, Walsh won three Super Bowls. People forget Seaford won two, right? So Andy now has three.

One thing that's not debatable with him and Bill, because I do think Bill has taken some unfair criticism. Like we watched him make incredible moves in the biggest games, from double passes to not calling the timeout against Pete Carroll, to embarrassing Sean McVeigh, who granted was like 34 at the time, but still, they scored three points in the Super Bowl. When their teams are not Super Bowl contenders, right,

and Andy's proven it with, he was making the playoffs with Jeff Garcia. He had Alex Smith competing to win that division when Peyton Manning was in it. You remove Tom Brady. The team is horrendous, awful. And I would say if you just factor in the errors, and you've talked about this, Belichick in an era where defense is physical is cream of the crop, right? He was developing defensive game plans for Parcells to take out Walsh in Montana. Early on in Brady, he had those physical teams taken out Marshall Falk in the Super Bowl,

some of the great game plans. But that league no longer exists. The league we're in now is Kyle Shannon, Sean McVeigh, Andy Reed, offensive league, innovative. How to get first downs is just, if not more important than defense. And Andy's the best.

It's not even close. And I think anyone that knows him, and I knew him before he had a Super Bowl, he's just an incredible human being. You know, that's one thing. People defend Belichick that have been around him because they had a lot of success around him. People defend Andy that have been around him before he wanted because they liked them.

Because the way he treated people, the way he acted in the office, the way he was to coaches. Look at his coaching tree. Like if you factor that in, one thing Bill Walsh got a lot of credit for, right, was one Super Bowls, always pivoted off players and found guys like, I don't know, Mike Holmgren, George Seeper, who then led it. They had this, you know, kind of opening with what came with coaches that became ran the league. Bill was the opposite. Look at Andy's coaching tree.

It's freaking incredible. And all those guys swear by him. Yeah, Matt Nagy's considered a miss. In a time when Stafford, Rogers, and Kurt Cousins were in their prime, he got Mitch Trubisky to the playoffs twice. Mr. Biskey is one of the – I think Mr. Biscuit was like the worst contract in the league. He made $8 million and he's not even – he's barely a third string quarterback. Matt Nagy's going to be head coach in the NFL again. I have to be.

I promise you he will be. You know who likes him the most on the staff beside Andy Reed? from homes. Like, I'm sorry, I'm giving that guy some credit of understanding what can coach or not. No, but Bill Walsh would have struggled with Mr. Biskie. How many games with Belichick have won Mr. Bischke? The guy can't hit water if he's sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean. So, listen, I think Andy Reid, the scary part is calling. He's just not done. Like, all this retirement talk, Andy's not a golfer. He's not a fisher. And also, to your point, they'll move off Chris Jones. They've got, they've done a good job to

drafting Carl Loftus and some other players. They got some pass rush. So they'll move off Chris. They'll probably try to get Kelsey to sign another deal. But I mean, they're not, I mean, the smart teams in this league, I think, are they'll pay a front five guy, Aaron Donald, Rams, they'll pay him, Chris Jones. But the smart teams in this league is what drives me crazy about Pittsburgh. He can't be spending your money on defense. Outside of a T.J. Watt, He's got to go draft safeties and corners. And most of these guys, if you look at them, Kansas City, they're not draft in a corner. Occasionally, if it's a big need, they'll go early.

But a lot of them are fourth, fifth, and sixth round draft pick. Same with running backs. So I just think, I look at Andy and I think to myself, New England started to show signs of regression, even after the Atlanta Super Bowl. It was very obvious they could not draft a receiver or a tight end after Gronk. You started seeing that at the end. Remember Brady on the bench screaming, get open. I don't know where Kansas City's organization has a whole draft, develop, communication, quarterback, defense, bags.

I always felt you could really see the more power bill got, the worst the drafting got. It wasn't even an argument. I mean, like Vich's hit. He's like Brad Holmes in Detroit. You go to the last three years, like six hits. In the late rounds, too. It's not even just the first rounds. He's got DeCaco's a seventh round or Watts and the DB, I think.

was a seventh rounder. So they're getting players all over the draft. Yeah, they don't really have. I mean, they really don't. They've got the, they've got the ability to move off really popular, talented guys, which, you know, a lot of organizations don't. They can't, they just can't move off them. I think, I mean, if I, if I, if I, I'm trying to think my next year's Super Bowl bubble, I thought this was, honestly, I thought this was the year to get Kansas City. Yeah. I thought last year was two and they've won two. I mean, I was thinking, I've been watching, I'm almost 40 years old, so I remember watching sports for 30 years, right? The Cowboys in the mid-90s had a great run. The Yankees, obviously the Bulls, the Patriots had a couple iterations. This five-year

stretch by the Chiefs, three Super Bowls, been to another and lost it, been to six straight AFC championship games. It's as good of a run. Some of the warriors, and the difference of the warriors, I mean, they got Kevin Durant, so of course they weren't going to lose. Some of those Yankee teams. They had unlimited money. They were buying players. The way they've done it, this is a lot very similar to the Patriots. They made some tough decisions. It was coaching development led by star quarterback, led by intelligence, led by character. The other thing with my guy on the Chiefs, and this is where I think the two teams have a lot in common, the character on these teams, how hard these guys work, how into football they are, how much they care about football, how serious they take this. Like, this is not

some screw around. Half the teams in the league. I mean, some of their best players are not dependable guys on a seven day a week basis. That is not the case with the Kansas Chiefs. It's not the case with the 49ers. It's why these teams are kind of consistently winning, right? And obviously the Chiefs have that added element with Mahomes, which is kind of their Trump card right now. But the football character that was on display in this game was something I would imagine every GM. When they go, in a couple weeks, the Combine's going to go.

You start interviewing these guys because it is easy. It's like, well, look at how many plays this guy can make. Well, he's got about seven red flags. is offensive coordinator in college wasn't a big fan, and they don't overlook that stuff. Or they make sure that, like, that's a non-negotiable because you get in the fourth quarter and overtime in your 21st game of the season. If you're not locked in, if you're not into it,

if you haven't been training all year long, you have no shot. You have no shot. And that's the one thing, Andy, you know, who's always been, he had a little Al Davis to him at moments in his career. They are not screwing around in Kansas City. with guys that just are like that. I mean, they do not have a guy on the team who's some huge red flag. And the other thing is they get guys from culture.

Look at MVS is a good example. Come from the Packers and played in a lot of big games. Yeah, you had some drops. Now, granted, they didn't have a lot of other options. And they said, Tony, they took a flyer on that, right, a couple years ago. Because they were pretty desperate. Where's Tony now? Nowhere to be seen.

Like, oh, we're just done. You're saying all this moronic stuff. You're dropping. See you. We're not even. we're not even giving you a helmet anymore, right? And they just pay, a lot of teams would struggle because they need that speed. He's definitely one of the more talented players.

You talk to them. They say, you should see this guy in practice. I can't trust them. And in a game like today, listen, because you're going to have Christian McCaffrey had a fumble today, right? You're going to have great players are going to screw up. But can I trust you in the biggest moments? And I thought today, for the most part, why I like this game so much, all the best players

were making plays, guys that have developed over the years were making plays. and both coaching staffs beside a couple little things by the Niners were pretty excellent. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things I feel bad because I have a friend, you're obviously, you have connections to the Niners. I have a couple friends that are big Niners fans.

This one hurts, Colin. This one hurts. I know, it does. Because you outplayed him. You were the better team for most of the game, I thought. You got Mahomes. You got Tigard when he went through that 10-year. You'd out, you know, he just did it.

What are you going to do? What are you going to do? He's hitting irons out of the rough 280. You know, what are you going to do? So I kind of look at the thing that can't be overlooked. I thought Fred Warner was spectacular. I thought Bosa was spectacular. I thought McCaffrey was spectacular.

I know it's really painful, but I thought Moody. I mean, it's, I know what you just say it's a game, but when you draft him as high as you do, you know, there's some real pushback. He had 250 plus yard field goals. I mean, going into the offseason, John Lynch is validated. Feel very good about it, for sure. Yeah. So I think the way Purdy played, the way Moody kicked, you got to feel good.

I mean, God, it's just, I'm not sure if I've ever felt worse for a Super Bowl losing team. Romo mentioned this on the broadcast that when they were talking to Fred, Fred said, I'm not just the heart and soul of the defense. I'm the heart and soul of the team. Like, I understand that. That's my role. It was pretty telling when they went to overtime. You know, when the game starts, they send 17 players each out there for the coin flip, right?

Eight chiefs, eight Niners. And overtime, one of the great quarterbacks of all time goes out there. And the 49ers send their linebacker, right? And that's, ideally, you would send your quarterback as well, right? This is Peyton versus Brady or Rogers versus Brady. But, I mean, the Niners aren't going to send Purdy out there. So, and that kind of, you know, at the end of the day, like, you would, you always want to be the team. I don't blame the Niners for setting Fred Warner.

He's on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He's an all-time great players, one of the great players in the history of the franchise. But, like, ideally in that moment, the heart and soul of your team, the heart and soul of the Patriots for, you know, 20 plus years was Tom Brady. Heart and soul of every Peyton Manning team. The Warriors is Steph. Yeah. And it's just you send your line, but he can only do so much.

And he was, he made play after play. He was covered Kelsey one-on-one in the corner of the end zone with a game on the line. But that was, and I don't expect them to send Brock Purdy, but that was a moment. Like this is, we're sending one guy, these guys carrying our franchise. You don't even, I bet Kyle didn't even hesitate. Fred Go, right? I mean, it's just, you just know, right?

You would send Michael Jordan. You would send Steph Curry. You would send Derek Jeter. And the 49ers sent a middle linebacker, just like the Ravens over the year. They would send Ray Lewis. Ideally, you send your quarterback. And that was the difference in the game is Mahomes. I mean, on that fourth down when he kept it and Bosa went on the run and he ran.

It's like, he doesn't get the credit for being this mobile guy. And then when he runs, you're like, Well, he may not be as fast as Josh Allen, but he's not that much slower. You know, he makes runs when you, because he doesn't play that way that often. And he never, you know, with Lamar's running by guys, Josh's run over guys, he doesn't want to do that. He wants to throw. But when he has to, you go, oh, yeah, that's the athlete of a former big leaguer. Like, you see, he's a, he's an elite human athlete, right?

Yeah, you don't usually have a spy on Mahomes. But I almost think going, I watched this game today, and I thought, you almost now have to have a spy on fourth. down on my homes. Like, that's just how you have to defend him. Just too often he takes it over. And I thought where I thought Shanahan and Andy Reid were really good is one of the things that will dry. And I try not to beat up on coaches for play calling. I don't know who's healthy. I don't know who's hurt. I don't know what the film says. Sometimes, you know, shit happens in the middle of a game and you just can't use somebody. What if your best play is against their best player? You know, you don't feel great about it? I thought both coaches in the biggest moments, McCaffrey, Debo,

Kelsey, Mahomes, Pacheco, the coaching on display, every time there was a big play, like Tony Romo said it, you think they're not going to give it to Mahomes. He weren't going to hand this to a seventh round running back. And Isaiah Pacheco is really good. But I, you know, I just, I look at my notes and I sit down here and I think, and I think, oh, my heart breaks for San Francisco. They played. So I have these notes, Warner, Bosa, Jesus, what a half. Bosa, first half MVP. You know, it was 10-3 at half, and Kansas City only had one good drive in the first half. It was the last drive and they settled for a field goal. Not that I didn't, because I always think they make adjustments, but I did think after they drove down the field and they got a field goal, I'm like, I know that they're only down 10-3. They got to move the ball on that first drive. Like, they got to get field goal position back. I thought a big part of this game, I thought Kansas City felt like they were. pinned.

I thought two huge plays in the game because the first series of the game, the 49ers drove the ball right down their throat. And you're like, they're going to score a touchdown. And then McCaffrey, who feels like never has anything wrong happened. Oh, that fumble. And then the Niners kind of thoroughly out playing them throughout the game. And then the punt bounces off the dude's foot.

And Ray, Ray has to try to dive on it. And it just, and there was another fumble by a chief that went right into a chief. And there were a couple little breaks that could have opened the 49ers and kind of gave them some breathing room that they definitely would have needed against Mahomes. That just didn't happen and went the other way. And the Chiefs, I mean, have clearly proven that if you give them life and you do not separate.

Because 14 points, if you would have got up a couple scores against the Chiefs with the way the Niners defense was playing, they would have been in good shape. But they could never extend that lead. And they had a couple of moments where it's like, if you just make this an 11-point game, a 14-point game, this Chief's offense is not good. that they are just a remarkable play caller and a great quarterback. And Kelsey can make a play here, they're there. But it's not like Kelsey had 10 for a buck 50 today.

And they couldn't do it. And one area all season long, when the Nires will win a lot of their big games, they scored a lot of touchdowns. And I think it gets back to that inability to break tackles, the inability for big plays. I mean, they were pretty dependent on Juan Jennings. Think about that. It's not like Debo was going nuts.

Kittle was borderline non-existent beside. He had one big catch, I think, on the 4. fourth down, but they were very, very dependent on their third wide receiver, which to me, I'm not Belichick when it comes to X's nose, but that has to speak to Spagnola, taking away their main guys, you know, getting up there in Debo. Debo's not exactly Marvin Harrison as a route runner. Iuke is, but they're so physical at the line with their corners that it's hard. And then Chris Jones getting so much pressure, and he'll blitz.

Purdy doesn't have that long to get them the ball in those deeper breaking routes. So they kind of got to want, I mean, think for the 49ers to score one of their touchdowns, They had to do, I mean, Calisian is not exactly a trick play guy, had to do like a triple pass. Yeah, yeah. Back to McCaffery. So that kind of shows that, like you said, I don't think this Chiefs defense because of the play caller and the head coach, some of those great Bill Wals teams were all time. Some of those great Bill Walsh teams were all-time great defenses. But no one talks about them like that because you get overshadowed.

Last I checked Chicago Bulls, like one of the great defensive teams of all time. But all we talk about is the offense. This Chief's team, and I would imagine Andy and Beach. Andy doesn't drink, but, you know, when they're eating a cheeseburger and hanging out, they know how special that unit was because they were dominant this last month. I mean, dominant. Dominant. I mean, and the linebackers, again, you just don't know who they are.

But they're, they're, I would, I think they have the best corners in the league. I think they have the best young linebackers in the league. They don't have a Fred Warner, Roquan Smith. I just, I think, all their D. Lyman play hard that you've never heard of. never heard of. So it is, God, I love this game. It is, you know, I was thinking about this is that streaming, Netflix takes over. Retail, Amazon takes over. Theme parks, Disney takes over. All those things were up for grabs at some point in the process, right? Like, it doesn't matter if it's banking or it's football is if you look at Brady, Belichick, Mahomes, and Andy Reuss.

Reed is it's Tiger in his like 12-year run. Mickelson's got six more majors without Tiger. And before people say, well, Lamar can't do this or, you know, Kyle Shanahan can't do this. We are looking. Brady and Mahomes have just put a lot of people on the shelf. I mean, think about this. What did Big Ben do his last eight, ten years?

Like, he just disappeared into the ether. And he had great defenses and great. great receivers, Levy and Bell, is, I feel bad for the sport because, you know, like I watch Brady win so many close games over more talented Ravens teams or a more talented Bronco team. And I just, I look at this Kansas City team. It's almost discouraging because everybody around the team's going, well, shit, they don't even have a number one receiver.

I mean, Rice really, to me, feels. like a great two, but can be a one. I mean, if I said to you, like, I liked what Baltimore did this year. I don't know. I look at football right now. It would not shock me if both of these teams are back. Big squishes average. You know the thing I've always admired about Tom Brady, about Tiger in his prime, about

great people in business is no matter how much money, no matter how much they, success they have the ability to like maintain the discipline of what got you there because the wind always blows the strongest at the top of the mountain right and that's what tiger and i would say brady defined over their careers is their work ethic after unlimited money unlimited success unlimited fame everyone that were ever around them was like they never it was insane how hard they worked and that gets back to my home like i have seen it with and he's the hardest working guy i've ever seen. He's like a machine. But it doesn't matter how a lot of coaches work are. You have to have it in your players. And I think one thing when you have Patrick Mahomes, who's wired pretty

clearly now, like he'd already won a couple. And the way he turned it on this season after kind of going through the mud against the Raiders on that Christmas Day game, I think was pretty definitive. This is the most incredible stretch of his career, right? This is the defining moment of, we've seen all the crazy throws. We've seen the no look passes. We've seen the 50-yard bombs. We know he's a champion, but when you win it like this, when everyone's gunning for you. And for the first time, like, a lot of, obviously a lot of the money was on the Chiefs, right? I mean, the books took a bath today. But the last two games, a lot of people rightfully so. And I'm telling you, the Chiefs, I was told that they thought that Baltimore defense is the

best unit that they had faced over this run, top to bottom, just that defense, right? So them getting past that group, it was like, obviously they knew the Nyers were really good. I mean, they expected that technically were the underdog in this game. But that ability to be unfazed after winning a championship and to maintain that level of work ethic is how, like Michael Jordan just wanted more. A lot of guys don't. A lot of guys are like, yeah, cool. I've won. I'm super rich.

Like, shit, I'll just go kick it. You know, John, I was told this years ago, how do you handle success? everybody handles losing the same way. They're pissed and they work harder. How do you handle success? A lot of guys don't handle it well. A lot of people like in society. The stockbroker has a good year. He blows the money. He looks up two years. He's just not putting the effort in. So to me, you've had success. Look at you. You work hard. It drives you. Like a lot of people in my business and football, they have some brief success and they cash out. They get their Bentley. They get their second home. You know, they got $28 million in the bank. You're very football player, take care of your mom, whatever. Really, a defining, the two defining characteristics of most great anything, Tiger, MJ, is a resiliency. You know, I tell my kids all the time, go watch that Michael Jordan 10-part documentary. Best looking player, best player, best coach, best number two, Robin.

It was hard. He was battling his GM, his owner, Dennis Rodman. It's hard. He was getting tackled by the pistons. And the Celtics, resiliency. I mean, Mahomes has had to overcome two offensive line rebuilds. He's got a father that's had some embarrassing public moments, a brother that's fairly high maintenance. I mean, people are coming.

A wife who likes the limelight now? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. So it's Mahomes has shown an amazing resilience to social life, family life, fame. It's just incredibly resilient. Multiple rebuilds, O-line, receiving court. He just can handle it. And another thing is, I mean, he makes $45 million a year endorsements. I've been told more than that. Used to be 20 years ago, football players. I remember watching Donovan McNabb get a soup commercial. I was like, oh, I've never seen an NFL guy get a commercial outside of like a local truck dealer.

The guy's making 45, 55 million in the air in endorsements. And it just, it's just, it's important to him. he wants to be respected, but I think the two great things are resiliency and how do you handle winning? And, you know, you party. You have a great weekend. And then you get back to F and work four days later. And that seems, you know, there's this, I always hear this, oh, this toxic masculinity, this sort of toxic people who are obsessed with working. That's what all the great people do in every industry. It's just, it's a defining trait. Well, I get asked so much now that I do this is like, advice. And my number one advice always is you've got to find what you like doing because you're going to end up working so much that it's so much easier to work hard when you like what you're doing. And I think this speaks to why Patrick Mahon, a lot of the great athletes, Mahomes, Brady, they loved their sport. Andy Reed is a, if football was crack, he'd be a crack addict. He loves football. Like it's his life. It means like Jim Harbaugh. Yeah, it's, it's most coaches, right, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, they are addicted to football. You could not work. You could not work.

work the hours you have to work without loving it. So when I worked in the NFL, it's like, you know, I like other sports. I like doing other. I like business. There's other elements that I don't like it as much as they do. Brett Veach is addicted to football. And I think this speaks to when the combine comes around and the draft, the character of the guys, because do you think McDuffie is going to try any less harder?

No, super high character guy. They know, they feel very. Kelsey, all these years, but the Kelsey brothers are great examples. How much they enjoy. playing football. Most of football is not the Super Bowl. It's for the next nine months, working out, OTAs, training, eating right, not doing things, turning things down because you got you got to train, you got to work, you get such a small, for all the money you have, you have $90 million. That's the other thing. So he's making 45 on the field, 45 off. He's

27, 28. 99.9% of humans would take the foot off the gas. It's human nature. It doesn't feel he's phased at all by it. And a lot of these guys, I give a lot of, Josh Allen, Lamar, I think it's impressive for all the top players in the NFL. Think about it, John. And I've always defended this. The percentage of guys that get in trouble, the league is full of the highest character, hardest working. If they weren't in the NFL, they would be so successful in whatever they were doing. I thought about that.

I've thought about that before. And most poor leagues. But, I mean, the NFL is very much a domestic league. How lucky is this league? It was such a great story. A seventh rounder and then Mahomes. How lucky is this league? If you said, and I've defended Lamar Jackson on this,

that kid gets so pissed when he loses. He wants it so bad. He wants it so bad. But think about the quarterbacks in the league now. The top ones. Josh Allen, Herbert, Mahomes, Lamar, Jalen Hurds. Like, Burrow. Burrow.

Trevor Lawrence. They're just great guy. And then the guys cousins, that kind of crew. Like, like, and then you get these stories like, you know, Brock Purdy. There's so many different ways to be a quarterback in this league now. And the great thing about Brock Purdy is that it will. He'll get guys drafted. I mean, people will start taking sixth and seventh round quarterbacks because you become,

it's like I thought Russell Wilson got Kyler Murray, Johnny Mansell, Baker. Mayfield's like, yeah, they're a little short, is that I think the league's really lucky. And now, and that's not to say the NBA has bad guys, but a lot of their greatest players, they're more mature players or international players, because they play with men. When these kids are like 15, 60, they play with men. You have to grow up very quickly. Our domestic players, it's more of an AAU, and a little more juvenile basketball operation than like international basketball.

So many of the great players in the NBA, though great people, they're international players. Our guys, you know, you watch them for three or four years, they come into this league. There's just not many, there's not many knuckleheads. There's good guys. You get weeded out so fast because how hard it is. You really do. That's good point. The majority of the week is not playing.

Playing's easy. Like, baseball, you get to play every day. In basketball, you play every other day, unless you're a star, then you play once a week. In football, you get one game. And that's the fun part. Ray Lewis, you pay me Monday through Saturday, Sundays are for free. The games are fun, but most of it is not. You're not just lifting.

You're lifting hard. Hard. The eating the discipline of food. If you're a big guy, if you ever play with the older offensive linemen, you're like, wait, you played offensive line in the league. He weighs like 240. He's like, yeah, I used to have to eat 10,000 calories a day during training. Like, it's not easy to do that.

Jason Kelsey is a good example. He's naturally probably 260 pounds, but he has to carry that 300. You have to maintain that with food. It's not always fun. Like, I like to eat, but not on that level. It's a very, very, and then the physical element of the sport. I mean, you just get, how many times a day? I know I held my breath half the Niners when they got tackled.

Every time Christian McCaffrey goes down, like, God, I hope he gets up. Debo Samuel, like, God, I hope you get. Because the collisions in this game. I saw Lewis Riddick talking about this week. He said that, you know, back when they played in the 80s and 90s of John Lynch days, it was obviously much more physical and much more reckless. but it was guys weren't the training was a lot different. You know, there was drinking and it's just now you were much more likely to get killed.

Nowadays, the training, I mean, all these guys are the lean muscle mass they have. I mean, they're just purely muscle and they've never been faster. So if they didn't regulate the hits out of the game, I mean, you would have some serious injuries because there are collisions now. I love physical football. I grew up on that type football and I miss it sometimes. The game is still when it matters, really, The level in which these corners and safeties all tackle, they all wait for the combine.

How many dbs, wide receivers, running backs, and safeties don't run 4-4 or 4-5. If you run 4-5, we're like, hey, slow. Back in the day, a lot of guys playing in the NFL run 4-7. That difference, when you factor in a little extra muscle mass and you're running from 4-7 to 4-48, that collision hits a little harder. And I, listen, I miss those days, but I do think in the biggest and the biggest games, this league is still about physicality and tackling. Yeah.

Let's, I thought, you know, it's one of the things about the NFL that I think you and I appreciate this is that I think it's a really well-run league. And I think it's easy. A lot of people in the media, a lot of newspaper people tend to be precious. And they're kind of anti- They always getting crushed last week. He was getting destroyed. What are we talking about? People just don't understand.

everything is up. They handled, you know, the Kaepernick situation. They moved, you know, not easy for Lee. Black Lives Matter. Those are big social movements. Those are not easy to navigate. And I think about 70% of players, NFL players, African American, he's navigated that. Players like him, corporations like him.

They're, you know, I know having talked to people at networks, they're tough. But, um. Rightfully so. You've got a product you want. But if you start looking at how smart they've been with moving, extending the draft, moving free agency, putting stuff on Christmas. You know, I saw the NBA trade deadline was during a Super Bowl week. What are you doing? What do you have for you doing?

Baseball gives it to awards like two months after the season. They don't give them on the same day. There's no buzz. Like it's all of a sudden out of the blue year, like, oh, that guy won the American League MVP. You're like, four days later. It's that guy one comeback player of the year. It's like, what hell are we doing here? The NFL has done a remarkable job to own the calendar. I mean, if I was baseball, there's an opening. Sean McVeigh didn't play starters. It worked. Now, nobody plays starters. The preseason's dead.

NFL's cut a game. They may cut another game. It's just dead. Baseball, August is wide open. They'll never move on it. It's wide open. Guys like you and me, we take August off. It's like an off month. if you shorten baseball by 120 games and you start playoffs like August 8th, you own the month. That's what football would do. That's what he watched the NBA get this big marketing day when everybody's home on Christmas and Goodell's like, no, we're moving games. So when I look at the NFL, there's a lot of reasons it's popular, scarcity, gambling. But it's really, it's made everything else niche and they don't, they navigate policy. politics. They're good to their players, but don't pander and coddle. They've got mobility, but also

loyalty. And I think they manipulate the calendar. And when I see these people get on Roger Goodell, I've had drinks with him once in dinner. He's really a good listener. He's just always, what do you think? I remember I had him on the show, like several years ago. It was before the Super Bowl with New England and Philly. And I said, Commissioner, I love your sport. I don't know what a catch is. I don't understand what it catches. And he literally said on the air, he goes, Colin, it's a big problem. That Super Bowl, they literally switched it for the Super Bowl. Remember, there were a couple of juggling catches by the Eagles in the end zone.

They were touchdowns. And I don't know, I just, when I look at the NFL, in my business, you got to talk about it about 65% of the time. I think it's, I don't even know what the whole is. Like, I think it's a brilliant league and incredibly well run. You could argue that you could talk about it 80, 85% of the time. and not skip a beat. I thought the criticism for him and a lot of big Jays that were very, very angry at Roger holding his press conference, not taking question like, no one cares.

The average fan does not care what Roger's saying. The other thing is no one associated with the NFL. Players, coaches, executives, owners, people like us that talk about it have ever had more success because of the popularity of this sport. Yet if you just poll the average person that writes about the, the NFL. They would say Roger sucks. And on the flip side, they would say Adam Silver is great.

And listen, maybe it goes back to he doesn't placate with him. He doesn't text many of them, maybe. I've never met the guy. I don't have any dog in the fight besides. I like football. But the league, think about, how about this week as a good example? They were very, very against Vegas for a long period of time.

My father worked for a big farmer back in the 70s that bought a Vegas casino. The Maxim. Do you remember that when you got there? He had gone bankrupt and he had bought it. And when he bought it, the guy comes up to him and says, Jack, we got three or four rooms with basically the equivalent of Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Ray Leota. They don't pay. I would just let them be.

Those mob guys, right? In Vegas forever, 70s, 80s was probably shady. You go there now. It's corporate America, S&P 500. It is normal business. And what have the NFL done? They shifted right there. And that's, that Vegas Super Bowl should happen every four years, max.

I mean, you talk about a perfect place. It's made for that. And now they have the, how awesome did that Super Bowl look on television in that, in that stadium? And they, listen, they were very adamant anti-Vagas. Remember, Tony got in trouble. And then the law has changed. And they quickly pivoted and they moved a team there and they've never looked back. Yeah, I think, and that's what people I talk to.

I have always been partial to Miami because it's just such a walk around on Ocean Avenue. and ocean, ocean drive and I think it's Collins Drive or whatever is behind it. I love just walk. And by the way, it's like South America. It's cold in the rest of the country. It's even cold in California, Dallas, and then it's warmed out in Miami. But I always thought Miami did the best job. And Los Angeles is more than capable.

But L.A. is a big city, and traffic's an issue. Traffic downtown, because of that F1 race, it really effed with traffic. Vegas has never had great traffic. But, you know, the other thing is about the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Go look up the 20 biggest hotels in America. Eighteen are in Vegas. You go to these places like the MGM. The biggest hotel in most American cities may have 6,450 rooms.

These things have like 8,000. I stayed on the 65th floor at the Cosmo. I mean, I don't know how many rooms the Cosmo has, but do the math. I mean, it's got to be a lot. So the city's just uniquely built. You know what? I've said this for years. We don't move around Marty Grah, New Year's, Rock and Eve.

We don't move around a lot of the awards that we see on TV and radio. You don't have to move everything. I mean, this idea that we should have cold weather Super Bowls, you can't put a Super Bowl. We tried it in Jacksonville, for Christ's sake. I was there. They had to bring in ships. There was nowhere to sleep. I mean, they were having local.

They had to call in 3,000 taxi drivers from, like, Miami and Orlando. It was an S show. Put it in Vegas. If I said the Super Bowl was there five straight years, would anyone complain? I don't think they would. It's just you don't never need to go outside. It's just, it's uniquely equipped for that. Yeah.

No, I thought Vegas crushed. I thought Goodell had another good year. They just navigate all the turbulence and social issues. I wouldn't be surprised if the same two teams are back. Okay, so let's do this. I thought Romo and Nance did have a good game. You know, it's funny. I don't, they're going to move the deck chairs.

I think the CBS pregame show, there wasn't a memorable moment. They're all nice guys, but I, I, it doesn't have a lot of oomph to me. It's kind of Fox has had that crew. It's like TNT basketball. It's just better than ESPN's. What are you going to say? It's Barkley, it's Shaq. It's Kenny, it's Ernie.

I think the Fox crew's been doing it. You know, it's a little older in the tooth, but it's just good. It's been good for a long time. It's smartly produced, Bill Richards. It's great pieces, funny enough. And the CBS crew's okay to me. NBC at night, very okay to me. Oh, terrible.

Yeah, I'm not a fan. But I thought Romo and Nance were pretty good. I think Nance is great. And I think, you know, Tony is just kind of a squirly fun personality. Tony's the kind of guy that if you went out golfing with him, you'd have a ball. He'd tell you a million stories. And sometimes he can be a little bit loose. But I thought he did.

I thought it was one of Tony's Romo's better broadcasts. I thought he started calling things very quickly. You know, one of the things he kept saying is, you know, he'd be like, oh, this drive hurts. Or he kept saying, I thought it was really smart. He'd go, okay, whatever you just saw there, that was a designed Shanahan play. He was calling that throughout the game. He would give the coach credit, not just the player. And that's important.

There's a distinction there that we always give the quarterback credit. And he would say with, like, at the end, he's like, that's an Andy Reid play. Mahomes is great. That's an Andy Reid play. So I, what is your take? I think Nance and Roma were fine. I do think once he signed that $17 million year contract, he became a target. And once you're a target, it's hard.

I think he got pigeonholed in the lane if he calls the plays, which is not a sustainable thing to do. And I think it is hard to be the goofier guy if you're not a little older. You know, John Madden, when he started calling games, by the time I was a kid was in his 50s, right? or 60s. Gruden was already this massive personality by the time he got the booth. When I think about Troy Aikman, I think a guy, like, he'll crush some people. Troy Ackman's kind of an old school bat. He has that definitive lane.

People kind of like that because a lot of announcers, the former players, they won't really be critical. Troy has no problem doing that. That's why I enjoy that. Collinsworth is just one of those unique guys that I don't remember a play he ever made because by the time he was already retired by the time I was probably 10, but he's just good. And you watch Tony sometimes. He gets loose. He's not really my style because he's never going to be that critical on moments where it's like, okay, Tony. But if you're not going to do that,

you have to do something else. And he kind of lost his fastball once he stopped doing the plays and people thought he was starting getting lazy because what's he doing? He's never going, well, that's a terrible call when it obviously is. I think most people that sit on their couch now, we've all watched a lot of football. Some stuff's pretty obvious. And when the announcers refuse, because they're everybody's friends, they know these coaches, it's not that enjoyable, right? Why does Colin Coward have success? You're opinionated. You see something and you say it.

And I think Tony was very hesitant to do that. In fairness to Peyton Manning, he's like, listen, I don't want to be critical. So he doesn't call the games, really. He just does the thing with Eli. But if you're going to sit in that chair, if you're going to be Tom, it's going to be hard. Like, Tom, people are going to want to hear you say, that's a terrible play call. Because we watched you play and we know that's your style, like you get mad. And Peyton does it actually sometimes too, and he immediately kind of goes viral because people like that.

And I think Tony's always really struggle with that. Even day, he tries to play nice with both guys. Like, Jim, I think you should go forward here. Just pick a lane, Tony. It's okay if you're wrong. But I think he's always very offended. He's always very hesitant. It feels like to offend the coach because he knows these guys well.

They all text them. He's buddies with them. And that to me is my criticism. He just won't say stuff when it's pretty obvious sometimes. I don't care about the play calls. I like having a little fun, whatever. But just say, that was a terrible freaking call, Jim. That cannot happen in that situation.

He's just never going to. Where Troy, I would say Troy, especially once. Tony got a lot of money, has no problem laying the law down. And people enjoy that. Yeah. So I think to me, if I had to pick a play, the play of the game to me, it's the third quarter, the San Francisco fumble punt, which allows Mahomes next play touchdown 1310. I felt like until that point, I thought San Francisco not only had the physical momentum, the emotional momentum, them the game, I thought they were the better team. I did think that was the moment of the game.

And San Francisco came back, but I did think that put pressure on Purdy, that put pressure on your channel. Okay, now you trail Mahomes. Now, they responded very well. But to me, to me, it was sort of a defining play. It was like, you looked up and went, Kansas City leads, they're getting outplayed significantly. And I, in that moment, I thought. Okay, they're going to win this game.

They're going to figure out a way to do it. That's my defining moment of the game, third quarter. Is there one for you? I would say there were multiple moments where the Niners had a chance to basically hold them to field goals or super long field goals. And Andy and Mahomes dialed up the perfect play. And they got a 20-yard game to Kelsey across the middle. They got that long play to Rice. And when I think this season, when it's,

comes to Andy and Mahomes was not about the 70-yard bombs, it was not really about the highlight package that will define Mahomes' early career. It was about doing the stuff Tom Brady and Peyton Manning did, that Joe Montana did, that Troy Aikman did, that ultimately wins you games. To me, this defining stretch, but specifically today was about kind of the boring, cliche winning football. And it was, we know you're bringing the house here. We're going one-on-one coverage with a linebacker that's not going to be able to cover,

and we're going to get Kelsey in space. He's going to get a big game. and it's going to be the momentum shift of that play on third and seven where Butker might have to kick a 48-yard field goal. Now we're first and 10 at the 13-yard line. And you're just like, oh, my God, they're going to win the game. And they did that multiple times a day in the fourth quarter and obviously in overtime. I feel like they did it multiple times in overtime.

Well, big Rice first down, a big Mahomes run that was just, you know, not every play with Michael Jordan were fade away game-winning jumpers. There was just a lot of winning basketball. Some of Tiger stuff was just he got up and down when he had to on hole 14 when no one was paying attention that most guys bogey. And they did stuff like that today is the highest level of football. Brett Farv, all the great players, you know, the physical guys can make the spectacular play. Steph Curry the other night. But he does so much other stuff that's winning.

And today, like, I thought Mahomes and Andy were just so dialed in when it mattered the most. What a special. Listen, I've known Andy now, 15. And what a great moment for him. You know, back-to-back Super Bowls. Not many guys in the history of the league. And like I said, I think this is one of the great five, six-year runs in my lifetime of just a team. Do it multiple different ways.

Like remember some of those Yankee teams, right, in the late 90s, they weren't all the same. You get more credit when you do it like that, right? And I think today was they're just, this was their grittiest, toughest, smartest, and just refusing to kind of wilt and just finding a way. almost digging it out of the dirt. They didn't really have to do that earlier on, right? And now they had to. And now I don't think they'll ever be a human.

They're not going to win every Super Bowl, but no one's ever putting money on the other team against these guys ever again. Yeah. And I think we said earlier, the great teams, the great teams win it when you think, oh, this is their, I said it all year. I said this is their pivot year. Stage one of the dynasty is, Mahomes isn't making any money. stage two is, oh, we've got to make some cuts. And last year, I thought, oh, they're just too young on defense. Oh.

And this year, I'm like, they're just not good enough at wide receiver. And they won. This two-year stretch is got to be discouraging because Baltimore is stacked and San Francisco stacked and Philadelphia is stacked. And you're like, oh, shit. These are the pivot ears. So, all right. John Middlekopf, former scout, three and out, good hour 15.

What a Super Bowl. Oh, so good. So good. So now we talk about it for a couple days. Then there's March heats up. It's NFL free agency. I don't think Chris Jones will get paid. San Francisco doesn't have a ton of needs. Hard to pay two linebackers. They probably have to get another corner. They also have to start examining. I think they drafted a tight end last year. They got to get another tight end in there. I think you made a good point earlier. Kittles. a great player. But the gap between Kelsey and Kittle and big games. Jesus. Travis, really, the two best big game tight-ins have ever seen, Gronk and Kelsey. This was a great playoff run for Travis Kelsey. I'd say the highlight of the Niners week now after losing this game, as Trent Williams said earlier, that winner lose this game, he still got a couple years in. He likes playing for the Niners and Kyle. So that's one positive. Trent is still pretty Dan, even though he had a couple off sides, but when you're that good, you can live with a couple

off sides. So the big guy is not going anywhere. But he's, he's getting older. You know, you're not going to have him forever. Yep. All right, John. That was fun. That was.

You let me know. I'm here. You want to talk some football. We got, we got combine a couple weeks. I think I might go. I think I might go. It's going to be a big combine. A lot of stuff going on.

All right. I'll tell our management. Just send your shit to Indie. I'll be there. In a Marriott hotel room somewhere. Good to see anybody. See you soon. The volume.

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