The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Packers “Love”ing It, Denver’s Demolition, Staley Survives

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

Colin Cowherd Podcast - Packers “Love”ing It, Denver’s Demolition, Staley Survives Colin breaks down the early window week 3 NFL games! He identifies a positive trait from Jordan Love that was missing from Aaron Rodges after the Packers come from behind victory. He makes predictions on what the future holds for the Broncos after being demolished by Miami 70-20, and explains why one lucky break for the Chargers saved Bradon Staley’s job. John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” stops by to break down an ugly win for the Steelers on Sunday Night Football, debate whether the Broncos should blow it up, and what to make of the Cowboys after losing to the Cardinals. 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.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. Football is officially back. No more preseason games. The regular season is here. Listen, we all like watching football on TV. But nothing's better.

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C-O-L-I-N, $20 off if you do that, no matter where you live. Get out and have some fun this weekend, baby. Download the Game Time app today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest prices guaranteed. Game time. Hi, everybody and welcome in. I want to talk about the Green Bay Packers, a 17 point come from behind wind. I don't think Jordan loves great. I'm not sure if he's even very good. I'm not sure if he's good. He was 22 of 44, some drop passes, some really bad throws. But it's the largest comeback in Packers' history. I said this about Aaron Rogers. Some guys are great when it's all set up, when they play close or they play with the lead. I always said the body language for Aaron Rogers. If he got behind big, he changed the way he played.

He became more cautious, more safe. Like he mailed in the game, just wanted to protect his passer rating. Whether that's true or not, that's something I've been saying for about seven, eight years or longer with Aaron Rogers. So Jordan Lovetrails 17-0. But he's got that young, naive, optimistic, we're never out of it until the game ends feel. and I think players pick up on that. I think teammates pick up on that. Now, did he get a break?

Derek Carr got hurt. Yes, he got a break. Lots and lots of breaks happen in football games. I mean, good God, if you watch the Vikings Chargers, each team was trying to lose the game. Like, games are all about breaks and opportunities. Jordan Love got an opportunity. Full steam ahead, head down, optimistic, positive body language,

positive energy, and came back to win. If Derek Carr doesn't get hurt, they don't win that football game. Derek moves the chains. James Winston comes in. He's going to be more three and outs, more mistakes. Now, the Saints could have won it with a field goal. But again, they didn't. But my takeaway on Jordan Love, I don't know what he is. He's young. I said, I want Thanksgiving the time. He's been sitting for three years. Give me to Thanksgiving. I'll have a strong, more definitive opinion. He missed some easy things today. He looked a little rattled today. But the Packers have always done a really good job of drafting, developing, avoiding chaos. They don't, they can't get top free agents, but in a weird way, it helps them.

You never have to deal with, you know, outside of a FAR or Aaron Rogers ego, you don't deal with a lot of nonsense in Green Bay, right? You kind of know what you have. You never feel like you have the most talented team, but you have a talented team. But I like the fact that Jordan Love, biggest comeback in Packer history, positive, optimistic, keep grinding. These games last forever. I mean, good God.

The Jets didn't do anything all day and almost won the game in a Hail Mary. Just stay. keep moving, keep grinding, keep getting first downs. Sometimes it's just a game of attrition, and the Packers win a game they probably shouldn't have. Yep, they got a break, but I was happy for Jordan Love. 22 of 44 is not Joe Montana, but he's a kid, he's young. When you're young, especially when you're young, these wins feel like two. You know, that's going to carry over to the next game, that optimism.

They get into that locker room, and they know they were down 17-0. That's a big, big win for the Packers. So the Dolphins drop a 70-Burger, beat the Broncos 70 to 20. I had said multiple weeks ago that I thought the biggest potential tsunami in the league was Denver because of the different personalities between Russell Wilson and Sean Payton and the pressure for both to succeed quickly. The defense, which carried the team last year, is now really bad. Vance Joseph is coaching it. It's horrendous. It's not the most talented defense. They don't get a great pass rush on a consistent

basis. Bradley Chub is now over to the Dolphins so they could use at the trading deadlines of defensive help. But this is an embarrassing loss. They're 0 and 3. I still think they have a lot of talent. I still think they can win games. But so much of Russell Wilson's legacy, his reality, is locker room stuff. Russell has always been more popular out of the locker room than in it. Aaron Rogers, by the way, has often been popular in the locker room, but take some criticism out of it. And that's a real thing. It doesn't really matter what's set outside the room. What is inside the room. It feels like to give up 70 points, like Miami's really good. I think Miami's the best team in the league right now. San Francisco's the best roster.

Miami's the best team. So the fact that Miami won doesn't shock me, I stayed away from it. I didn't want to touch it. A lot of the wise guys like Denver, I'm like, no thanks. I think Miami is so creative, so clever. In the red zone, it's a master's class on how to score points. Just total deception, inside screens. I mean, almost as a rule, whatever they do initially, they'll go the opposite way eventually. They're just all sleight of hand. It's like a classic, you know, magician with cards. Like, you just can't keep your eyes on where they're going. But 70 to 20 feels like there's locker room issues. And I always thought this was a big lift. for Sean Payton. He had to change the culture, the O line, Russell Wilson, and it's not working, and it's getting worse. This sounds crazy, but I wouldn't be shocked if eventually Russell Wilson doesn't start. They blow it up. Russell Wilson has always been aspirational, but the truth is, he's never been a great pocket passer. There's questions, if you look at Seattle, how great of a leader he was. I thought he was until he left and got banged on by four or five different ex-teammates. I've never seen that.

in my life of doing this. I've never seen a star quarterback leave somewhere. I mean, there are even people in Chicago that spoke up for Jay Cutler. I didn't think anybody like Jay Cutler. I never heard anybody badmouthed Aaron Rogers when he left Green Bay. Russell got tagged by about six, four, five, six guys. And so I don't know what this locker room is like, but I think we're headed, again, you could have lost today, 3430, 34, 30, 34, 24, 6. have been competitive. You could have lost today. It's not that 70 to 20 feels like it's much, much deeper than that. It's a cultural issue. It's a locker room issue. It's a quitting issue. Much deeper problems. And Sean Payton is going to win this thing. Okay, Sean Payton, coaches can coach

to their 70. Belichick still puts up great defensive game plans. He's going to win this battle. I don't know how they're going to get out of this contract. They're going to have to draft another quarterback. I think they clearly will. Who would have thought in a great college quarterback draft class, Denver, listen, for all the picks they gave up, the Broncos do have a first round pick, and they need some defensive line help, but I would draft a quarterback. The only way to get out of this Russell Wilson thing if it doesn't work is to hit in a quarterback. You don't have to pay him for four to five years. That's your only hope. And then eventually, if it doesn't work this year, I'm not even sure if Russell Wilson would be on the roster.

You just move him. But, I mean, that sounds like hyperbolic. I don't think it is. I don't think it is. This is not, this is going to be a personality clash between Peyton and Russell Wilson and Peyton's going to win it. Sean Peyton's going to win this. It's not going to be close. And now for a segment called Making It Look Easy, brought to you by Morgan and Morgan,

America's largest injury law firm. And Tua made it look easy today, 23 of 36, four touchdowns on a passer radio. of 155.8. Tua with a great coach and weapons is an accurate distributor of the football, and that's all he needs to be. Just making it look easy. That's what Morgan and Morgan does. Over 100 offices nationwide, more than 800 lawyers, $15 billion have been recovered with over 300,000 clients. Morgan and Morgan has a proven track record fighting to get full and fair compensation. Morgan and Morgan's been fighting for the people for over 35 years. If you're ever injured, ever, go to forthepeople.com slash Colin or dial pound 529. Check out America's

largest injury law firm. Winning the NFL is hard, but hiring Morgan and Morgan is easy. The difference between retaining a job and getting fired is often a play. And I thought there was a chance that if the Chargers lost today, that Brandon Staley would have been fired on the flight home, They remain so undisciplined defensively, bad defensive penalties multiple times today, bailing out the Vikings who didn't really generate a ton of offense. They had a great touchdown to Justin Jefferson, who tends to score most of his touchdowns in Minneapolis. But this defense, again, Justin Herbert doesn't have Austin Eckler. End of the game didn't have Mike Williams. And Herbert, so Herbert, a lot of his passes were underneath 12 yards in, almost.

in lieu of a running game. But there was a moment at the end of this game, and again, hindsight's 2020. But it was fourth down in an inch, fourth down in the foot, fourth down in this, whatever. Deep in their own territory. Punn it.

Minnesota, Kirk Cousins had been under intense pressure the entire game. You're a defensive coach. You're getting tremendous pressure on Kurt Cousins. Punt it. Make them drive 75 yards and win by a touchdown. Instead, Brandon Staley decides, I'm going to go for it,

deep in my own territory, and then I'm going to give it to my least skilled offensive player. Herbert could roll out. Keenan Allen, Everett, they have multiple receivers, Palmer. No, they give it to the backup running back who gets stuffed. Wow. Wow. And an interception retains Brandon Staley's job.

I think that's how close it is. You know, once again, Herbert puts up massive numbers. Herbert mostly air-free, Herbert without his star running back, Mike Williams gets hurt. If you're scoring 28 points a week, and that's what the Chargers do, and the quarterback's got a pass-rating in the hundreds and is throwing for over 300 yards, you have to win those games. And the Chargers almost gave it to a Viking team that can't run the football and couldn't protect their quarterback. Think about that. Couldn't run the football, couldn't protect the quarterback. And they have a quarterback in Kirk Cousins who's not hyper-athletic. You watch that game,

there was no question. If you take Justin Jefferson out of that game of the top 12 players, eight, nine were chargers, and they hold on for dear life. What do they do well? They rush the passer pretty well. I think that's because of the people they've drafted. And they have a really nice passing attack, again because of Herbert, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, because of really good players. But I don't think there's a team in the league that is worse on attention to detail, a talented team that's worse attention to detail than the Chargers. Brandon Staley keeps his job, but they tried to give that thing away half a dozen times with dumb penalties in key spots. We're back with another week of football, and Draft King's Sportsbook is keeping us in on all the NFL action.

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Sign up Code Colin. That's me, C-O-L-I-N. New customers bet just five bucks and get $200 instantly in bonus bets only on Draft King Sportsbook. An official sports betting partner of the NFL with the code Colin, the crown is yours. 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, 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 which I'm 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 Podcasts, 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-tap 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 J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it 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 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Right, John Middlough, three and out. I think this is just how Pittsburgh's going to win. And I think that they're basically, when they face offensive lines, they can manipulate. I did think their defense got a bit gas.

Jimmy could go to his second or third receiver. You couldn't do that in the first half. Couldn't do that in the first three quarters. So, I mean, I think every great defense, if they're on the field enough, and that's the problem with a Steeler defense. They're fantastic, but this team leads the league in three and outs. You know, they're kind of an old school. If they beat you over the top, they can, but they can't really run the ball.

Pickett will let it loose. He moves okay, but it's a big play offense. Occasionally, this is your O line. And Kenny Pickett's your course. quarterback. Yeah, I mean, I, one thing that's pretty clear is that, I agree, one thing that's pretty clear is that they drafted Najee Harris pretty high and he's just not that good. He just looks kind of like an average, you know, run-of-the-mill running back. Can he pick his athleticism actually is one thing that makes him a little more functional? Because arm talent is nothing special. I mean, you watch two guys tonight that just do not have great arms. I mean, Jimmy Garoppolo's arm to me is getting dramatically worse, you know? And I think the Steelers, T. TJ Watt, I don't know if they're going to win enough games, usually to be the defensive player of the year. I guess JJ Watt had some years, but they were still making the playoffs. If this team's not a playoff team, but he has 25 sacks.

I mean, he's on a torrid pace right now. He's a fantastic player, but offensively, I'm with you. I mean, I just, you don't, it's not pretty. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about this today that I counted outside of about eight NFL teams, Kansas City, Burroughs fine, Cincinnati, the Rams. Stafford, I still think, has a couple of really good years left if they can protect him. He's still really good. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo, Jacksonville.

There's about eight teams right now that shouldn't draft a quarterback. Everybody else, if I'm New England, I draft a quarterback. I don't think they're in love with Mack Jones. Las Vegas, obviously. Denver, New York Giants. Minnesota, absolutely draft a quarterback. Despite the NFL, altering rules for the last decade, all favoring offense, John, about eight teams in this league can consistently score, and that's about it.

And I think these two teams tonight, again, these quarterbacks, when pressured, O-lines are both really average, points are a premium. And I think that this is why they keep altering the rules. A lot of your better athletes, these edge rushers, we can't. can't find offensive linemen in this league. There's just too many good edge. And there's edge rushers everywhere. You can't block Max Crosby.

You can't block T.J. Watt. I just look at this. I think I look at the Steelers and their recipe is, listen, we can win 10 games a year just on defense and a couple of over the top plays. Well, if you look today, everyone thinks Matt Canada is the village idiot. And I think a lot, listen, I'm not saying he's Kyle Shanahan and McVey, but his personnel's not great. We're on the flip side, Josh McDaniels now.

this is second opportunity in what 15 plus years obviously the Denver thing a long time ago he tied his hands to tibo tried to be belichick 2.0 and that was he was ran out of the building within a year and a half this is not going well Colin and he tied himself immediately to jimmy garaplo who listen i know people love to be like well purdy would look the same jimmy garoppel is just not a very good player right now his arm strength is greatly diminished his decision making is horrendous i got a text at night from an nfl exec that was like how do you have uh devante adams and Josh Jacobs, and they basically had seven points, you know, 55 minutes of the game. Like, what is going on?

This guy, listen, obviously when you have Tom Brady, you're going to be a better coach. But he was viewed as just an excellent schematic, X's nose chess player. And you're watching them now as a head coach. It just looks terrible, Colin. I don't know how else to say it. He just, he looks over his head a little bit and a lot. He's tied himself to Jimmy Garoppel. Mike McDaniel is so creative and clever with Miami.

And Shanahan is as well, as you called him, Mike McDaniel, the Ivy League, Shanahan. And then McVeigh, I think, also falls into this really clever. Andy Reid, we know is really clever. There's a very small handful of guys that can really do their magicians and they can do a lot of different things, right? I kind of feel like Josh McDaniels has an offense. This is what it is. He needs the right left tackle, the right quarterback.

Whereas I think Shanahan, McVeigh, McDaniels, can kind of use their personnel and there can be limitations at quarterback, limitations on the offensive. Miami doesn't have a great offensive line. Rams don't have a great offensive line. It doesn't matter. They figure out a way to make it work. I kind of feel Josh McDaniels is one of those, you know, you ever have a college professor, and he's good, but it's basically the same lecture for 30 years. Like this is kind of the act he has. He doesn't really, he hasn't really added to it. It's the same tricks of 30 years ago and he's never updated things. And I kind of feel like Josh McDaniels has an offense. It's only as good as the

quarterback. It bombed with Tebow. It was great with Brady and it's limited with Garoppola. It's not super clever. It's predicated on who's throwing the ball. I would say the other thing is these New England guys, they always hire other New England guys where McDaniel's a good example. He'd never work with Vic Fangio. Hires Vic Fangio. Why? He's the best defensive coordinator in market. They need to upgrade that side of the ball. And you look at, you know, Josh McDaniel, what does he do? He goes to get Patrick Graham, who was with Joe Judge, who was with Bill Belichick, and they've all worked together. They all stay so insulated as a group where these, Sean McVeigh, he's gone outside before. He didn't know Brandon Staley. Kyle Shanahan had never worked with

Steve Wilkes. You've got to be okay with thinking outside the box sometimes on your, on your position coaches, but specifically the coordinator on the other side of the ball. I mean, the Raiders defense is just, they've been drafted high. for 15 plus years. They're just always terrible. I mean, look, they draft a guy in the top 10. That's the other thing. Personnel-wise, you draft that guy, you know, from Texas Tech over Jalen Carter and Collins-Worse was saying it's nice. It doesn't look very good. You take that guy 7-8. I mean, he's got to have some impact on the game and he looks, you know, like a mid-round pick at best. Yeah, their best players, Max Crosby, who I think was a fifth rounder at a directional school in Michigan. And he's their best player on defense, best player DeBonte Adams, Fresno State guy, who's been good in the league for a long time. All right, I want to talk. Cowboys. So the Cowboys were missing three offensive linemen starters. And so there's some of that up to four

different offensive linemen played. And I think the Red Zone is where average offensive lines go to die. It's congested. You need the push. Teams that have great old lines like Philadelphia are generally great in the Red Zone. It's just, it's hard enough to block. It's really hard in a congested space. When you have a limited playbook, right, half your playbook you can't use when you're at the seven-yard line. You know, so. When you're going with backup offensive linemen four at one point, Dallas wasn't going to be great in the red zone. But I do think it points out when I watched Dallas play, I think more than they want to admit, Dak's Kurt Cousins with more mobility.

There's a way Dak is good. He plays with a lead. He throws 34 times or fewer. It's complimentary throwing. It's play action throwing. Mike McCarthy trailed. Late in the game, he was still running the ball. And Mike's thing is, I'm not going to have him throw 45 times a game.

I know how this turns out. He'll throw interceptions, make mistakes. He'll get dogged all week in practice. I'm not going to have Dak confidence going to the tank. And so they played kind of conservative trailing in the game. That was my take is that Mike's like, listen, I know the outcome. He's got a bad record. And I think Mike kind of felt like I'm not going down there.

We're just going to run the ball if we can get one of these things. And I feel like with Dak, there's a way to play. Now, everybody's crushing McCarthy for the game plan. And again, they moved the ball. They actually ran the ball pretty well. They moved the ball. they were just bad in the red zone. My takeaway is, I don't think McCarthy is a great coach.

And I kind of watched Dallas and I thought, oh, this is not how they win with that. That's my take. Well, today is a good example on McCarthy. They get in the red zone. They're one of five, right? They could not, like you said, they moved the ball. They ran the ball for almost 200 yards. Pollard looked fantastic.

When I have C.D. Lamb, Tony Pollard, and Brandon Cooks, and I get within the 10 or five yard line, I have to have a couple plays using most. motions, some trickeration that Andy Reed, the McDaniel, that Sean McVeigh, to just get some layup walk-in place. You saw it all around the league today with these innovative offensive minds, and you watch them, you're right. They're missing guys. The offensive line penalties today. Remember a couple years ago they led the league in penalties. That was cropping up again today. But understandable sometimes when you have new faces in your front five, but to not have just a couple go-to easy walk-in touchdowns today. Because let's face it, Arizona's played pretty

well this year. Yep. I mean, they were very feisty week one against Washington. They were kicking the shit out of the Giants for a half. And today they brought it. I mean, they were flying around. If you didn't know that all of us thought they were going to suck, you'd go, that's a solid NFL team.

The quarterback looked good. Defensively, they were flying around. But, yeah, I mean, listen, Dak's been who he's been for half a decade now, right? He hasn't changed. He's been solid. But, like, that pick toward the end of the game, which ultimately at that point in time, they were going to, they probably weren't going to win anyway. But that's kind of him, you know, Cousins does like you said, the same thing.

And this is where I get back to to not have just whether it's a zone read play, the Dak can get a walk in. Jordan Love had that play today on the goal line where he scored touchdown that kind of, you know, got the momentum back for them. It feels like sometimes McCarthy's just kind of banging his head against the wall. And listen, I thought Dallas was a legitimate Super Bowl contender. You watch games like today, the coach and the quarterback, man. If they're not, you're going to have to beat some really good offensive play callers and some really good quarterbacks.

And McCarthy, man, there's a reason he didn't win a lot of those NFC championship games. It's not like they went to four Super Bowls and only won the one with Aaron, right? They went to five NFC championship games. And beside the one they won, they never won any of those games. For a limited time, you can save up to 40% off on an NFL plus premium annual subscription when you sign up through Plus Play from Verizon. Plus Play. It is a platform where you can shop, manage, and save on the subscriptions you already love, like NFL Plus. With NFL Plus Premium, you get access to live games on mobile, NFL Red Zone, NFL Network, and more.

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Just go to Verizon.com slash NFL to get NFL plus premium today. 40% off. That's 40% off an annual subscription, just 59, 99, for the full season. Get it before it's gone. One of the things that is really interesting, Jimmy Johnson was really outspoken about Brandon Staley. If you watch, I watched every second of that game. Both those teams were trying to give that game away. The Chargers, outside of Justin Jefferson, and maybe there's a safety for Minnesota who's really good.

The Notre Dame guy. It's been in the league for years. Harrison Smith. Yeah. I mean, Chargers have better players all of the field. It's not even debatable. Better O'Line, better pass rush, just have better roster. But what was remarkable about Brandon Staley going for it on fourth down at the 24 is that Minnesota, number one, had no timeouts.

left had struggled to block increasingly in that game, struggled to block the Chargers front. So no timeouts. You punt it. Let's say they fair catch it at the 30, 35. They need a touchdown to win. They have no timeouts left. And the pressure has increased on Kirk Cousins, who's not a big throw the ball down the field, not a deep ball thrower anyway. And they really had abandoned a lot of that because they just didn't have time to set up for that. They couldn't get the protection. and he goes for it. And then not only does he go for it, the worst skill player on the field

is the guy who gets the ball, the backup running back because Austin Eckler didn't play. And I'm like, well, timeout. That wasn't a tough one. No timeouts. I mean, you're a defensive coordinator. You're getting great pass rush

and they can't call a timeout. They have to get into the end zone. I thought it was almost a fireball. I thought if they lost that game, you could fire him flying back home. Now, am I overreacting to that? Well, I thought if they lost the game when today started before the ball even kicked off, I don't see how you didn't fire him. Now, I'm not shocked at him going for it.

This is what he's been doing for two and a half years. Like, he's gone for it in insane times. Remember a couple years ago against the Raiders? He went for it like, I think at the 20-yard line, not even at the 24. Now, it was earlier in the game. But I also think when you talk to people around the league, these owners and a lot of GMs, and you know, Tolesco, are very numbers driven. and are very pro the quote-unquote go for it, where historically that was never the case in football.

It was much more conservative. You always planted to play defense, which is that tide has clearly shifted. To me, like, he's going to go for it. He's been doing stupid shit his entire tenure as the Charger coach. It's more just about the way the defense looks. They look like a really good big 12 team that can score on anybody and can't stop a soul. You're talking gaping holes, Colin.

Where is everybody? Does anyone know what's going? on on defense. It happened a lot for Lincoln at Oklahoma forever. It's like, is it, we're not on the same page here. The chargers are returning all their starters. Now they have the kid from USC, the rush end, but essentially it's the same starting group. And there's, they're a bad third and long defense. It's like guys. So I, they didn't play J.C. Jackson today. And my takeaway was when you play the Vikings, you can't let Justin Jefferson get over the top. And J.C. Jackson just doesn't have, he's not football smart.

I don't know him personally. He's not football smart. It's why, by the way, it's why Belichick let him go. Belichick just gave up on him. You know, say what you want about Belichick on offense. You almost never beat New England over the top. And so the Chargers didn't play him. And my take is he's just not football smart.

Like he just is in the wrong spot. He bites on anything. And so they said, if Justin Jefferson doesn't beat us over the top, we're going to sit J.C. Jackson and we'll just keep everything in front and Kirk has to drive. And by the way, it mostly is effective against Kirk. That's a heavy penalized team. It's a heavy turnover team. The game plan was solid. There was at least two moments, could have been three, where they stout, where they bailed the Vikings out with defensive penalties. Like on second and 20, third and 15, you're like, guys, there's a lot of veterans on this field. This is just

defensive coach, returning starters, guys that have been around. multiple undisciplined penalties. I, and I like a picture on. You could justify firing them, I think, even with the win. Like, where's this going? What are we doing? It's the same thing every week, win or lose. They always look the same.

How often does an 8 to 10 yard completion turn into 27 yards? You know, defenders run into each other, bad angles, and they get so many explosive plays that is a pretty basic seven-yard, you know, slant route. that goes another 26 yards. That's why they were able to constantly get back into the game because they can't tackle a soul. The defensive backs now for two and a half years never feel like they know where they're supposed to be.

Ever. Like you say, J.C. Jackson, they just waved the white flag on that one. They said all this money, whatever, healthy and active. But the guys that were out there today, and this is what I think people are so critical of them that he's a defensive head coach. He's really, when you're a defensive coordinator, You're in charge of the coverages.

Like, that's the most important thing, right? The coverages against, you know, and clearly the coverages he's calling, his players do not know how that he wants them to execute it because they're all over the map on any given call. Guys out of position, guys wide open. It does look like a college team that is having to win, you know, on a weekly basis, 48 to 45. That's kind of the way they have to play. But in the NFL, that's very difficult because you're not.

Marjorie Ferrer, so small offense, you're going to screw up sometimes. I mean, he was 40 of 47 today. Now, he got lucky on the one touchdown that could have been a pick, but he is playing really, really well. And I know that sometimes gets pushed back, well, why don't you win more? If you just watch the Chargers play, you will understand why he just doesn't, quote, unquote, win more. Yeah, I mean, he basically, without Austin Neckler, they have no run game, so it's a short

passing game. And I don't think there's a quarterback in the league, maybe Mahomes, who is better on the catch it, throw it to the perimeter. that's not as easy as it looks. Herbert, it is a complete layup. He must have had 18 of those today. Maybe 25. Catch it, throw it.

Keenan Allen. It doesn't matter. Gerald Everett. By the way, that's not a layup for a lot of guys in this league. It is a layup for Justin Herbert just out. Even cross-field throws. Easy stuff. So pivot to this.

It's very obvious that, you know, Zach Wilson, he's not a franchise quarterback. and I think we all knew that coming into the season. They're going to punt on him. I think the Chicago Bears are very likely going to have the number one pick. You know, Arizona, Josh Dobbs as a backup to Kyler and Murray is actually a pretty good quarterback room. If Kyler is centered and ready to go, that's a hell of a quarterback room. That would not be your issue.

I just think, like you said, they're feisty, they're fast, they're competitive at home. They're going to win five or six games. If Kyler comes back, they'll win six or seven. Josh Jobs can certainly make throws, you know, good kid in the room, moves well, they'll win games. Justin Fields can't play. Like, you watch this. Like, you can tell how teams defend him. They don't think he can play.

They don't think he can see the field. They don't respect him. So much of this game is predicated on, coaches will tell you what they think of their personnel. They'll also tell you what they think of their personnel. And I think Kansas City came into this game. and said, we're going to be hyper-aggressive. We don't care. We can make mistakes.

Watching him today, I'm like, okay, I'm trying to be a good guy, right? Like, everybody in the media is trying to be nice. Zach Wilson came in kind of cocky. It was easy to go, he can't play. But when a guy comes in, it's a big city, you know, he doesn't have a huge attitude. You see some tools. I thought after today, I'm like, wow, this is nobody in that building. No way Ryan Poles thinks this is the future, right?

I think the question is everyone in major trouble. I mean, they had a really rough week. Obviously, the situation with their defensive coordinator, the quarterback, like you said, he's a bad football player. Like, you can't, not only not franchise, these guys aren't starting quarterbacks. And I think you would ask yourself, well, would you want them as your backup? Because Joshua Dobbs, some of these guys you see as a backup, like, they can function. Look at Jordan Love now.

He was a backup for a while. He's a functional player. how good their ceiling is, I don't know, but Justin Fields can't complete passes. Well, at one point in time today, they were getting destroyed. It was in the fourth quarter, he had 16 pass attempts. They don't even trust to throw him.

When he said this week, the coaching comment, which if you watch him say it, I don't think he was trying to drive a bus over the offensive coordinator, but he was basically admitting like, they want me to run a normal NFL offense where I go one to two to three, and we try to pass like these other teams, and I can't do it because I turn into a robot,

and I don't know how to function. Part of being a great quarterback is kind of blending that instincts with the robotic nature, right? Because some of these throws, you've got to just turn into a robot, dump it down for four yards, right? And think at lightning speed. I mean, you're talking less than three Mississippies. That ball you're firing around, knowing the coverage, knowing the hot routes. There's a lot going on. It's why most people have no shot to do it.

And he is completely overwhelmed. I thought his physical tools, I liked him as a college prospect. They don't translate, really. Like, to me, his, the arm motion doesn't feel very smooth. Clearly now he's, like, trying to guide it. He has no clue where the ball's going. They are a mess, calling it. For as shitty as Denver was a day, 70 points, you could argue that was even worse.

There was a moment where Denver was feisty early. That game was just, it was a Taylor Swift party. Yeah, and it's, you do get to a point in Chicago. And I, and I've said this, some of it's cultural. They don't do offense. well. They've never had a star quarterback. Alshan Jeffreys, their best receiver. They've had very few great offensive lines. I mean, they, it's weird about this, John, and it's almost like every Laker team almost that's ever won a title has been flashy. And every Celtic team that's ever won

has been feisty, because Boston's feisty, right? And L.A.'s glitzy. Every Detroit team that's been great has been tough. Same with Pittsburgh. Like you become your city or something. You become the culture around you. And Chicago, is a Midwest, no BS, tough in the mouth, you know, beer and Broughtstown, right? Like, it's my favorite big city in the country, but it's just authentic, it's real. They love their deep. I can name six great linebackers for the Bears. I can't name two good receivers.

And so they don't do offense well. They don't have a sense for it. They don't, they're not a touchy-feely organization. I mean, you can go to Kansas City. It could be Len Dawson. It's Alex Smith. It's Patrick Mahal. Holmes. They had Joe Montana. I mean, Kansas cities had like seven different quarterbacks. Green Bay's Bart Farr, Aaron Rogers. Jordan Love may make it. They just know how to develop quarterbacks. Chicago doesn't. They're still celebrating the 85 bears. So to come in there, let's say Caleb Williams goes there. I don't trust this staff. Do you? I think depending on what comes out about this defensive coordinator, and I'm not laying the blame on anything he did in his personal life or even if it crossed over professionally on Eber.

flus. Like, and these grown men making millions of dollars. But there are moments where you can look back and go, that was the beginning of the end. And that situation, all the rumors floating, him having to resign. Clearly, people reporting today that it wasn't anything criminal. It was inappropriate. It'll be very fascinating as information comes out. But Caleb's dad has been on record about the situation in the draft. This situation, they have a defensive head coach whose defense is it couldn't be any worse. I mean, it's, it's as bad as it gets. The staff feels overwhelmed.

The quarterback, which isn't their fault. I mean, these guys didn't draft them, but is getting worse by the week. Yes. So the narrative and the negativity surrounding this operation when the season ends is going to be at an all-time high, right? I mean, it's just going to, there's going to be a lot of negativity from every angle. And you just wonder a guy that is viewed as this all-time great player who's

got some strong opinions and he's got some money and his dad's involved. I don't think it's a lock that they just don't make a fuss about this. And I had people like DM and me, do you think that they would push the ownership to hire an offensive coach? It's kind of hard in football to do maneuvering like that. This isn't basketball. But I do think that in the next month or two, if I'm the owner of the Bears, and I've known people that work there, and that place is very old school. It's not just defense. People that have worked several places, they're like, it's actually much closer to a mom and pop shop for some, you know, organization for $5 billion that anyone could even fathom, right? They need to do a lot of just

kind of looking in the mirror and changing, but as long as the ownership is the ownership, I don't know if things are going to dramatically change, which is sad. You know, the ownership went to Bill Pollian. He went and got Matt Eberfluse. So, and I don't, I don't know much about Matt Eber Fluse. I have two people that know him, like him, nice guy. He inherited, you know, they had to move off Roquan Smith. They had to move off some defensive players. They're starting over. then you become very beholden to your GM and who he can draft. But it's interesting. I've thought about the Bears.

Like, where would you go if you flushed it and started over? And Lincoln Riley does not want to coach right now NFL football. Okay, so you're like, okay, the college guy. Ryan Day is more served to me. He's more high emotion. He's a college coach, not a pro coach. We saw it again this weekend. I like him, but he's raw, raw guy.

So, Callan Moore, I don't think, is ready, for Chicago. I think he would get the charger job if Staley got fired, so the chargers wouldn't let him go. Jim Harbaugh would make them probably too uncomfortable. Well, Harbaugh is somebody, I, Harbaugh would go pro if

Caleb Williams came out. I think it's the perfect time. Now, Harbaal wants control of personnel. So, so could they do a situation like Sean Payton, where Sean Payton comes in? Harbaugh comes in. Is not the initial GM? They just make it work for a year. And then I think Sean

basically take over some personnel here pretty quick. I would agree. So, but I, if I was, I just don't feel good. And I'm, I'm not saying Justin Fields can play. It today was just like, by this is bad. I think I'd start over. I think I would just flush it out and start up. Listen, a couple years ago, Ryan Poles to GM, drafted Veles Jones in the third round,

wide receiver USC, who transferred to Tennessee, couldn't play a lick at either place. It's like, watch film. He couldn't track the ball. He's a receiver who couldn't track the ball. I saw that pick. I'm like, okay, they don't know what they're doing. Well, I can't get over week one when Chase Claypool did what he did, which was nothing and didn't even try. And they got embarrassed.

And they just didn't cut him the next day to kind of draw a line in the sand as their organization. This will not be tolerated. An Andy Reid, a Pete Carroll, that would never be allowed, Bill Belichick. And back to, and you've been talking about this for a long time. Think about some of the coaches right now. Robert Sal was Zach Wilson. and Iber Fluse with Justin Fields. They can do nothing to help that guy.

Besides, just philosophically be like, run the ball more. But they can't be in the meeting room, coaching them up, designing plays. So even when you get into a pinch, if you're Sean McVeigh, last year, you can influence Baker Mayfield when you pick him up off the scrap because you're the guy going to be working with him. Or Kyle Shannon, all these LaFleur with Jordan Love,

they can work through things like you saw today. It was not going well. Then LaFleur's on a knee over with him. Robert Solich is on the sideline as Zach Wilson's running for his life, skipping balls. He has no, Mike Tomlin with Kenny Pickett, when things go bad, like what can he actually do besides some Ryan Day,

Rara speeches? And I'm not saying they're not, you know, capable and obviously accomplished and know what they're doing, leading a group of men. But when it gets into the schematics and the coaching specifically of that position, these defensive coordinators that are head coaches just can't do much beside build some confidence by whispering in their ear.

Yeah, no, I think, That's why I think with Chicago, I think you kind of burn it down, start it over. I think you'd go get a Caleb Williams. And I'm not saying Cliff Kingsbury would get a second shot. It felt like he was a little over his skis, but he did get them to the playoffs. And I know Kingsbury at USC and Caleb have a great relationship. And he feels like he could, he, I don't know if he'd ever want to go, you know, he, to me, he's either, I think Cliff would like to get another pro job. But basically Chicago's a cold weather,

Arizona where you don't trust the ownership. You don't trust the front office. You're as good as your quarterback. But as little confidence as I have in Justin Fields, I think there's a lot of blame to go around. And to your point, I don't think these defensive coordinators can figure it out. I do want to talk before we go. And I had said this earlier.

Denver's defense has been a mess this year. So obviously not all the blame goes on, Russell Wilson. But this is going to be a fascinating cultural situation because Russell's never been really popular in the room. He's been popular with public and the media, but not in the room. He leaves Seattle. He got dogged by like five guys. And so that's big to Sean Payton.

I know Sean well enough. In the room is what he really cares about. That's why he said those things. Stop kissing babies, meaning who gives a shot? shit when anybody outside the room thinks win the room over. I wonder if Sean Payton has already made a decision. Like, I'm out on this. This guy isn't me.

It doesn't work because they're really polar opposites in terms of personality. How long before he bails completely? I mean, I think he could make a change in the next three or four weeks and just justify it. We need a spark. Though obviously today, Russell didn't give up 70 points. I mean, 70 points, Colin. I don't know how you shake that. I never thought they were a great fit, just personality-wise.

Clearly, Russell is not the same. And this organization needs a complete blowup. The problem is, what do you do? The contract for several years, from dead cap money to cap space, the bonus you paid him, you're kind of stuck with him. He has no trade value, so you can't really get rid of them. Essentially, you probably one year, if you did get a really high pick, which they keep giving up 70 points, I'll promise.

they will get one. Do you just cut them? Take the enormous dead cap for like the year because it accelerates on your books and just roll with a young quarterback and just kind of cut bait and move on. You know, the Eagles were all lucky with Carson Wentz, right? They were able to kind of just get rid of them. And even though, and it actually ended up giving them a first round pick from the Colts. But a lot of times in these situations, you can't unload it.

And this one to me is not going to be an unloading situation. But he's got the quarterback, like you said, the GM. He didn't hire this GM. Like this GM, he's playing nice for a year. This is, this happens all the time. And then he'll get bringing his own guy. Is the defensive coordinator, Vance Joseph? Look at his resume lately.

No, he'll get, he'll get whack. Denver's defense last year was good. And now today, I mean, they quit. The only way to give up 70 points is by quitting and tapping out and literally not trying. So he's going to have an entire organizational. He probably thought he had some, you know, in terms of making some steps forward, this offseason, but it's clear that they're worse than last year. Like, it's pretty crazy because at least last year, the defensive coordinator that's now in

Carolina, they were good on defense, at least for a long percentage of the, you know, the season until they kind of ran out of juice. But I think Champagne's got to have to blow the entire thing up. And the rust situation, you're just kind of stuck unless you want to cut them and just take, you know, historically high dead cap. But then you've got to rehaul your defensive staff. You don't have that, you know, your draft picks. There'd just be a lot of pressure on this team because they are nowhere close. I mean, today was, I mean, is that one of the most embarrassing days in the history of the NFL you think for one given team?

It's really ugly. You know, I was thinking about this. So, Sean and I, I'm not like a close close, but, you know, we have a nice relationship. And, you know, when, you know, he had called me a couple times about Fox and negotiating a TV deal. And he really wanted to live in Manhattan Beach and coach the Chargers. and I thought he was just going to wait for a year because neither I didn't think Brandon Staley was going to last. And then we were we were communicating a lot.

And then all of a sudden, Sean and I weren't communicating a lot. And then my takeaway was, okay, so I didn't want to bother him and pester him. That's just, you know, I've been doing this long enough. I know when somebody stops communicating, you're probably in negotiation. And I didn't know exactly who, but I kind of felt Denver because that's the stuff I was hearing about. And I got to be honest, I was surprised he took the job because he had said on the air there were concerns about Russell Wilson, right? And this wasn't private conversation. He had, you know, there's concerns about basketball on grass.

Does he have it? So it's just so interesting because I would have bet my 401K a year ago that he would have just stayed. Fox was paying him, I imagine good money. I know good money. he would have just stayed and just waited for the charger situation. But, you know, it's funny with coaches. They always, you know, I've seen friends years ago, Mike Dunleavy took a clipper job. And I'm like, Mike, you took the Blazers to the Western Conference finals and arguably, you know, outplayed the Lakers, Shaq and Kobe.

But, you know, somebody offers you 15, 18 million bucks or whatever it is. And I just, I don't think this was ever an ideal fit, but money talks. And I think I look at it now and I think, yeah, all the things I thought could possibly go wrong, not his GM, Russ and him don't click, tough division. They're all realities today. Don't you think the wild card in this situation is this ownership? I mean, this family, top two or three wealthiest family in the world, America, definitely. And they are not used to failing ever. So, you know, who knows the dynamics there?

Obviously, Sean is, you know, a very driven, intense individual. this family's used to things. I mean, they've been on, I wouldn't say easy street, but their business has been kind of on cruise control for a while. This has to be a shock to their system about what they're witnessing. And then the nature of unlike when you own even major corporations, they just don't get talked about like they do in terms of you drive around Denver tomorrow, turn on sports radio.

Everyone's, you know, talking shit about the thing you own. It's some people can't, especially the new owner's syndrome. That could be overwhelming. And things could get weird. Things get weird fast. Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, the minute he could, he signed Jared Stidham. I think he had reservations.

You know, Sean went and looked at every throw Russell Wilson made. And I'm sure he saw things from the pocket. Greg CoSell comes on my show Weekly. He's been saying it for years. Russell Wilson from the pocket leaves a lot of throws out there. Sean saw that. And so he went and got Stidham, a guy that can run his offense, complete easy throws. So I just don't think this relationship is going to work.

I don't think this is all on Russell. But you give up draft capital, you pay them. You're going to take the heat. And I do think the team quit today. So does that say the locker room's not great? The locker room's divided. I mean, you don't see teams in the NFL quit. Maybe once a year we see a team quit.

You don't see them quit in week three. Like that's a problem. It's week 12, right? Everybody's, you know, everything's put on film. So guys just don't quit in this league. You just don't. Monday, it's on film. Week three, guys quit.

Like, that tells me there's a cultural issue. And Russell's the biggest star in that room. The saving grace for Sean, though, is he has the Raiders and the Chargers in this division. So it makes it a little bit easier if you could ever just get a couple pieces in there and get it rolling in the right direction. Right, John Middlough, three and out. This is our Sunday night, Monday morning podcast. Buddy good seeing you as always. easy, Colin.

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