The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Joe Burrow, Zach Wilson, Bears Ownership, Sharp or Square

Episode Date: November 11, 2023

Colin’s best takes of the week! He compares a current NFL quarterback to one of the all-time greats (3:30) and explains why Zach Wilson has shown to have no feel for the game (6:53). He also weighs in on why the Bears ownership continues to hold back the team (12:39) John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” joins Colin to discuss the missing piece for the Chiefs (20:39) and why USC coach Lincoln Riley wouldn’t work as an NFL head coach (23:10) Chad Millman, Chief Content Officer of the Action Network, drops in from Copenhagen for a round of “Sharp or Square,” where they provide the sharpest betting advice for the Week 10 NFL slate. Jags vs 49ers (31:54) Bengals vs Texas (32:47) Giants vs Cowboys (33:57) Steelers vs Packers (35:24) Ravens vs Browns (37:36) Broncos vs Bills (40:32) (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The volume. This week on Prime Cuts, Chad Millman's Sharper Square, he joins us from Europe. It's a very sophisticated Sharper Square. John Midlakov on Kansas City's big flaw and Lincoln Riley doesn't fit in the NFL. John tells us why. and my top takes of the week. Don't miss the action this weekend when the Indianapolis Colts

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Billing begins from time of activation of first service. Additional terms apply. I cancel any time in Plus Play managed dashboard, savings based on Netflix premium and NFL Plus premium monthly retail plan prices. The Buffalo Bills lost to the Bengals, a game in which I never, ever felt after the first drive, Buffalo would win. When I watch Buffalo, Greg CoSell talks about this all the time, they just call plays. There's not a lot of rhythm to their offense. I like their first drive in the second half for Buffalo a lot. They mixed it up, tight-end, wide receiver back.

It felt like more than just calling plays. Cincinnati always feels like it's a rhythm offense. And it feels like they have an offensive head coach to get out of ruts very quickly. But, you know, my first thought about Joe Burrow is he reminds me of a little bit of Joe Montana and a little bit of Tony Romo. He moves like Romo. But I can remember watching Joe Montana. And this was, you know, long before I, you know, was a talk show host. and watching Joe Montana, because I started in television, I didn't do this talk show thing until later on my career.

Joe Montana, one of my takeaways from him is I could never quite figure out why Joe Montana was so great. It wasn't that big, didn't have a great arm. I just thought he was sort of situationally, and this is very rare. He was better in crisis than he was in week five. He was better on fourth or third and three than he was on first and ten. Just situationally excellent. Brady often had this. Michael Jordan had this.

John Elway had this. But that's what I see with Burrow. He's almost a better quarterback in crisis. He's more laser-focused, more intentional with his throws. You know, he'll sling one up occasionally, not a wasted throw, but an experimental up the sideline. You get him into third and four, fourth-down situations. he's just as good as they get. And he's got the Romo movement with the accuracy

and the situational kind of excellence of a Joe Montana. And, you know, he doesn't move like Lamar. He doesn't have the gun of Mahomes, Herbert. He doesn't, I don't think, have the kind of the natural gifts that, you know, 14 years old that Trevor Lawrence had and has. But Burrow just makes it look so easy. all the time. Josh Allen's great. It doesn't look easy. There's effort. He puts on the Superman

cape. He jumps over people. He's running past people. He's throwing it over people. It doesn't look easy for him. He's just excellent. But, you know, and, you know, with Buffalo, I just, I don't, I feel like it's just, they still, I've given up hope on the Buffalo Bills developing a good run game. defensive head coach, defensive head coach, and offensive lines don't go that well together. You know, if you look at the bottom of the NFL offensive line group, it's a lot of defensive coaches, the tops, a lot of offensive coaches. I've given up on them running the football. So it becomes very Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs, reliant. And if you look at the Buffalo schedule coming up, this thing's going to get uglier. After Thanksgiving, at Philadelphia,

at Kansas City, Dallas, Chargers, New England at Miami. This was supposed to be the part of the schedule where they stacked up Ws. I just don't think Zach Wilson has a feel for the game. Joe Burroughs got obviously a great feel for the game, but some guys are just talented. They play the game, they don't think it. They play the game, they don't feel it. It quarterback, it's essential to feel the game, right? And the good quarterbacks all have that ability.

A lot of guys, Johnny Mansell didn't love football. He just didn't love football. He didn't have a good feel for it. I don't think Zach Wilson has a feel for the game. So in the first half, he's running, he's scrambling, and he could have run for the first down. And instead he shovels it off and the back gets tackled. And it was just sort of a backyard play. You know, you do that flag football, hay school football. If you have any feel for the game, you just keep the ball and run for a first down. And I don't think Zach has any feel for it. Troy A.K. Eakman, do his credit, was highly critical all night. And most analysts don't like to go there with athletes, especially on these big broadcasts, a Sunday night football, a Monday night football, the big window game. You know, they know their words are listened to and they end up back in locker rooms. But Aikman, to his credit, has no patience for Zach Wilson. And he called him out multiple times. The very first pass of the game, Zach just has no feel for it, misses a layup. And by the way, I don't think Aikman would say that unless he's hearing that from the Jets. Like, he's very comfortable hammering on him. You can watch Saul's body language and exasperation

throughout. And really, the game came down very simply to this, a special teams touchdown by the chargers and Justin Herbert's ability on third down to pick up a handful of crucial first downs. And that's the game on the road. Sometimes it's just that simple. Keenan Allen, with one of the catches of the year, certainly helped to seal it. But I went back and looked at the NFL draft rundown on Zach Wilson tonight, and as I'm just watching them scuff and struggle with everything. And, you know, there was some obvious strengths.

got a good arms, some escapeability. But if you just, if you read that, it said boom or bust potential, decision making, hero ball. I mean, it was all laid out. This is what scouts do professionally. I've leaned on him for years. They know what they're talking about. Now, things didn't go perfectly. He has a defensive coach. The offensive line's not great. He really has one excellent receiver, Garrett Wilson, not much else. Alan Lazard still struggles to catch. So it's not like he's working with the components that a Mahomes would work with or Stafford with Sean McVeigh and Cooper Cup. Like, I understand that. But, you know, it just goes to show you that the margin, if you don't have a franchise

quarterback, your margins are tiny. You have to play perfect football. You cannot surrender a special team's touchdown. You can't. That 7-0-0 felt like 28-0 for Joe Burrow. you know, 20, 30, nothing from a homes. It just felt like a massive hole you're digging your way out of. If you get a five-yard delay of game penalty, and it's now third and eight, not third

and three, it feels insurmountable for Zach Wilson. The margins are so thin for air, so you have to play some perfect football. And I also think what happens is over the course of a season, you're seeing it now, is that when you ask a defense to be the savior, every drive, every quarter, every half, every game, they get discouraged. You're just asking guys to march out, make stop after stop after stop. And you get to about week eight, week nine, week ten. And even the Jets defense, I think will dovetail a little bit here. I think it's just harder to ask guys to win every week.

You know, it's like Lincoln Riley had to fire his defensive coordinator. I was talking to somebody in college football about that. I mean, you can't keep asking the offense to drop 40, 45, and lose. You just divide a locker room. And so I don't believe Aaron Rogers is going to come back. There's no point if you're out of the playoff race. If the Jets lose again a couple times in the next three weeks, what's the point of asking Aaron Rogers to come back?

listen, go back to week one, Aaron gets hurt. The fact that we're at this point in the season and there was some optimism around the Jets, it's kind of frankly surprising in a division where Miami looked, Buffalo looked like real teams. Now, they've both regressed. But I think you just go back to something really great players, really great quarterbacks. They make it look easy. C.J. Stroud, sees the field so well. Really good decision maker. A quick thinker. C.J. sees it, delivers it. He is a, a quick thinker. Zach, it's laboring, hard, doesn't see things quickly. Judgment is slow. So, and this is what you get tonight, ugly. You know what? I bet Zach Wilson over Justin Herbert. My bad. I deserve all of it. At least I stayed awake for it. I mean, you got to give you some

Some credit. I deserve some credit. I feel like Robert's Sala right now. Jet fans, just exasperating. Running the volume has been really interesting because when I first took my swing at the volume, my takeaway was, I'm not going to pay myself. I'm going to get really good management. And so, you know, I didn't, I don't take a check. I'm glad not to because we have a really good staff. So having been in this business for 25 years, one of the things I really recognized is there's a sea of money. You can make money. But you've got to get really good people because I've worked for most of my career with really good, really good management, really good producers. And I've watched people's careers who are really talented circle the drain because they have bad bosses.

And so I think people just don't understand it is not an even playing field. I mean, if you go look at the NFC West, the Paul Allen Fund, Jody and Paul Allen Fund, they're the second richest owners in this league behind the Denver Broncos new owners. So you have those owners. The York families loaded. Stan Cronkey's top six, seven owner in terms of net worth. And the bidwills are some of the poorest owners in the NFL. So the revenue, the ability to just go buy players, everybody thinks,

Well, everybody's got the same salary cap. Not everybody has the same money. There's a huge gap between what Arizona can spend and what the Rams, San Francisco, and Seattle can spend. And I just don't think people understand is that the reason the bears have been bad forever is they don't have good owners. They don't have wealthy owners. They don't have good owners. They have the oldest owner of Virginia McCaskey in the entire NFL.

It's not a dynamic, vibrant ownership group. And that's what holds everything back. I mean, just when they hire. and Matt Eberfluths. I mean, look around the league. Look at the offensive coaches. Look at who is flourishing. It's overwhelmingly offensive coaches. I mean, right now, Mike McDaniels and Miami, looks like they have a chance if they can write the ship win the division. And then there's, you know, Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow. Surging, if not, Cleveland, offensive coach. Jacksonville, offensive coach, Kansas City, offensive coach. Then you go over to the NFC,

Dallas and Philadelphia, offensive coach. Detroit leads their division, offensive coach. NFC West could be Kyle Shanahan. They have the best team, I think best roster, offensive coach. So, you know, and they, what do the bears do? I mean, are you paying attention at all? So, you know, I just think sometimes we forget. There's only so much you can do. The employees always get blamed for overwhelmingly for problems with,

productivity or performance at any company in America, you can't overcome lousy ownership. You just can't. That's why when I built the volume, it was like, I was going to go and find the best available people to run it. We have an incredible staff. And it's made this voyage two and a half years much easier than I thought it would be. I don't have to overcome incompetence. I walk in every day.

I just had a meeting today about some financials. and about where we're headed. And it's just, man, it's so nice to work with smart people. Chicago has never once founded in 1920. They've never once had the best quarterback in the league. Never in any decade, any era, arguably never in a single year. Jay Cutler's are all-time passing leader. You can keep blaming all the coaches and the general managers,

but it's a really dysfunctional organization. My wife wants us to live in Chicago, and I really do love it. don't love their winners, but I love it. And I'm like, honey, I don't know if I can live a city with that bad of an NFL franchise. I don't know if I can do it. It's under consideration, but I don't know if I can do it. In sports, the scoreboard doesn't always tell the complete story. The dad who happens to be a world-class quarterback. Untold tales of athletes, you thought you knew. The heart racing pressure for the heart, soul and survival of the multi-billion-dollar business of F-1. Stories about college kids who were given a last shot, a last chance,

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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, Cliver Taylor the fourth. 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.

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John Middlekopf, former NFL Scout, three and out podcast on the volume. Okay, so I do want to talk Kansas City, Miami. I thought Kansas City made a complete statement in the first. half and then like Philadelphia, you feel like they're kind of holding on. I will say this about Kansas City, though, they have a clear hole and it's never going to be a strength. They're just not special at wide receiver. Now, their first drive, they gave you a little bit of everything. I do think this receiving group will get better. It's young. There's no number one. I'm not sure there's a number two. But I'll tell you, that first half defense against Miami, that was one of the more impressive first halfs. I mean, Miami was just the speed. This is without Bolton, the speed of Kansas

City's defense. So as I sat and watched that first half, I thought, oh, does it, this is Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati. That's the conference. And then in the second half, they didn't really have a second, third gear. What did you make a Kansas City? I came away in press because they flew in very late for this thing, totally seized control early. But they can't. They can't. put people away this year, John. They're not putting people away. Well, they're going to struggle to score 25 points. I mean, they just are. The underrated part about them, because Mahomes, Kelsey now, especially this Kelsey over the last month, and Andy Reid take up so much oxygen, they're kind of a defensive team. I mean, Hill and Waddle had 100 yards, 104 yards

total. Like, if you're holding those guys to around 100 yards, you're going to beat them. They're 21-0.5. Like, I'm sorry, the game's over. I thought there was a lot more pressure. Kansas city's now proven exactly who they are over a five-year stretch. Like, I'm pretty confident when the dust settles, they're going to be in the mix in the divisional round and more than likely the championship game in the EFC. This was kind of a prove-it game for Miami, right? You lose to Philly and Buffalo. Granted, now both on the road. You get a neutral site game. You fly out there on Monday, and you're down 21 nothing at half, 21 nothing in half. And like you said, this ain't the Chief's first rodeo. Check out a little bit. They're not explosive enough on offense to just take off. But they

make enough plays when they have to. Miami kind of gets a freak fumble there in the second half for Mahomes. Right. But to me, this was the chiefs established in the first half. Like, you're not on our level, just like Buffalo and Philly said that earlier. And listen, Miami's a fun story. Their coaches need to get a route for when they're rolling. They're a fun team to watch. But I think it's pretty clear. Whatever the upper echelon tier in the AFC is, obviously Baltimore's in it, Kansas City's in it. I think Cincinnati's in it, Buffalo. They are not. You know, And that was, we don't even need to argue that anymore. I think the only question now is, could they win a playoff game?

I wouldn't bet on them because it's going to be more than likely a road playoff game. But they're going to get back-to-back playoffs. Obviously, the franchise is heading the right direction. But in terms of like aFC contenders, it is not the Miami Dolphins. I don't know if USC will go out and spend a lot of money on the defensive coordinator. But how do you view this season and Lincoln Riley's sort of legacy? I know it's early in his career to talk about that. But I always viewed him as potentially an NFL guy.

And my takeaway now is he's not. He just has no. McVeigh, chest out alpha, loves defense. Shanahan loves physicality. Shanahan don't care about special teams, but he loves defense, right? Andy Reid, spags. Andy realizes what defense is. Lincoln doesn't even, he doesn't have a special teams coach.

He's lopsided as a coach. What do you think his legacy right now is? Well, I think, and listen, it's easy to crush him right now. Like probably most people, when they hired him, it was a no-brain or hire. You had to do it. But I think when you look back, the Big 12 is not very good. And no one plays defense. And he was able to take advantage of it.

He ran into clearly the best year the Pac-12 has had in a long time. He's kind of getting worked, right? He loses to Utah. He loses this game. He's going to be a huge underdog this upcoming week, you know, to Oregon. UCLA's leaking oil a little bit. But I think it's a disaster, Colin. Simply put, I think it's one of the biggest underachievements given the quarterback play in offense.

Because when you're at a program like this, you have unlimited resources to hire the best and the brightest. You know, when you look at some of these other college coaches, they go to like the Baltimore Ravens and get their secondary coach and make them, you know, their defensive coordinator. Hell, Chip Kelly's defensive coordinator is Anthony Lynn's son, who if you look at his resume had been in the NFL for the last decade, came from the Ravens. And what is UCLA? A lot better on defense. So it's like, I don't know. If you tell me who Lincoln's next defensive coordinator, I would not be very confident that you're going to go, that's a no-brainer choice, right?

Because you look at the guys that his, we talked about it last week when they were, you know, lose to Utah. Where do he find this guy? Well, he was a Mike Leach guy, right? It's a connection thing. And he's not, to me, part of going to the NFL too. Think of some of the coaches that went to the NFL from college, most recent. beside Harbaugh, who was an NFL guy.

Urban Meyer never coached today, didn't know what to do, and he was completely over his head. Chip is a good example of a guy that had some success, but his problem is he didn't know any defensive coaches, so he couldn't hire very good defensive coordinators, and that was always his downfall. And now Lincoln is kind of going through this in college, and I go back to Pete Carroll era. Pete Carroll's staff was really, really good. It had a perfect blend of young, up-and-coming guys, like the Sarks and the lanes, and then the older Norm Chow's, Ken Norton's, the recruiters, the NFL experience, the young

offensive innovative guys. And I just look, I go, I don't know. I mean, because when he took over at Oklahoma, it was Bob Stoops brother. He inherited him. And ultimately fired him for this guy. And it's just kind of unraveled. And he brings him with him. I don't have much confidence that he's going to hire a guy that people are going to

feel very, very good about. Because I also think it's a culture in the way you practice. When you practice like he does with his offensive style, you don't really create a tough physicality. That's always what people have said, defensive coaches, whenever you met them at the spread offense schools, and specifically the air raid type schools. I know he's not true air raid anymore. It's like hard to improve the toughness on a daily basis on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in practice. No, I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence. Tomlin, Dan Campbell, Mike Vrable. I think the essence of their physicality, essence of their personality, the way they

structure practice is more physical. I mean, every Vrable team, every Tomlin, team. I mean, even though they're an offensive team more than defense, Dan Campbell, it's a physical offense. They can run the ball. I think sometimes with Mike McDaniel and Lincoln Riley, I think they're really clever offensively and really smart. And I think they structure their culture and their program and their practice like that. And it's really smart and clever. But do they build the toughness? Is that part of the personality? And I just, I don't think it's a coincidence sometimes that the same kind of physical, kind of big physical men. don't you think they structure practice differently?

Yeah, for sure. And I'm not blaming Caleb because you got to sign Caleb. You had to pay Caleb to get them. Every team in the country would have done that. But I do think when the way they built it, it was also Caleb heavy. That it almost sucked the oxygen out of everything else. And you watch it this year. And the last couple weeks haven't been his fault.

The Notre Dame game, he wasn't very good. But it just feels like if he is not, because even you go back to some of the Hayday Pete Carroll teams or some of those good Harbaugh teams or Chip Kelly teams. It was never all about Marriota or Locke or Matt Leiner. They were more complete team. And this thing just felt like a basketball team. It was like Caleb Williams and then everyone else.

And that is not the way you win in football. It's just not. And they've been clearly exposed. Even Washington is a good example. Their best players are quarterback. But they don't, he wasn't, I would say, otherworldly against USC. The running back came through. Defense got some big stops.

You watch Oregon. They're a complete team. Look at what Nick Sabin's. doing. You talk to any NFL scout. They're like, this is the least talented team in like 15 years. All of a sudden, he's going to be back in the SEC championship game. All right. We are trying at the volume to be a global company. And today is the first step in being a global company because Chad Millman in our sharper square segment, CCO Action Network All Odds provided by Draft Kings, is joining us from, I think, Copenhagen. It's pronounced Copenhagen.

Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I am in Copenhagen. This is your kind of town, brother. Why? Why? It is a classy. It is full on first class operation. It is gorgeous. You can't find the streets. There can be no cars coming. If there is a don't walk sign, nobody's moving. It is like full of proper etiquette, the best restaurant town. In the world, no joke. The best restaurant in the world. Yes, legendary. Called Noma has been in Copenhagen for a generation. All the chefs who end up working at Noma stay in Copenhagen, open restaurants. Like a bad restaurant is one Michelin Star.

Colin, tonight I went to a hole in the wall Italian place that was a 10-course tasting menu that they were bad-mouthing Nutella because they're like, Hazelnut chocolate spread that they make was so good, it should be illegal. Gorgeous, gorgeous town. Architecture is amazing. A great mix of classic, you know, medieval type of stuff with this beautiful modern architecture. It's just, it's enchanted. I've been overwhelmed, like, just wonderful.

Well, I was going to go there anyway, but now you talk me into it. Listen, the company that bought you knows sports. Gambling. Last week was a terrible, audaciously bad week. I went two and three. My bad, I should have taken Herbert over Zach. Nonetheless, I think this week there are more definitive, there's more clarity in some of the sides I like. So let me start with this. Debo's back. I could see the Niners being great. But if I get Trevor Lawrence at home and a field goal, I'm going to take it. I like Brock Purdy, but we got film now. There are limitations. I'm taking it. I'm going to take it. I'm taking the better quarterback at home. Increasingly, the better quarterback is winning a lot of these

games. I'm taking the Jag Sharper Square. But here's what's interesting, and we're going to get to this about good quarterbacks, bad quarterbacks. It's the sharp side. The wise guys are on the Jags. The Jags have been very sneaky, under the radar, good, right? They went to London. They won a couple of games. They came back home. They won again. They're on a buy. They're six and two. They're leading the AFC South. They're right under that tier. Right. Right now, everyone, saying, look at the Ravens, look at the Bengals, watch out for the Jags. And when you get the Niners on the road, historically as a favorite, they're not as good. And what you just said about Brock Purdy is what a lot of wise guys are thinking. There's film out on Brock Purdy. Now, the one thing

that has been aligned with his bad streak has been the loss of Debo Samuel. And was he or was he not cancust in the last couple games, and that sort of had an impact on how it was playing. So if you are betting on the Jags, you're buying Doug Peterson, you're buying Trevor Lawrence, you're buying the fact that Doug Peterson historically also a much better coach against the spread in the second half of the year. Trevor Lawrence last year, 18 of his 28 touchdown passes, second half of the year. We saw what he did in the playoffs against the chargers. He has been a much better. quarterback, Doug Peterson is a better coach because all of a sudden he's figuring out, it's a little bit like Sean Payton in this way. He's figuring out what his team can do. And he's much more focused on how do

I make this team improve quarter by quarter over the course of the season. And so this team has been getting better at exactly the four-week mark. These teams started to get better. All right. This is an interesting one because I do like Cincinnati a lot, but they go from the bills and then they have the Ravens the following week. It's a sandwich game. Jamar Chase probably doesn't play, T. Higgins is not practicing. Again, I think they're better than the Texans, but the Texans are getting a touchdown. It's a more than capable offense. Sandwich game for the Bengals.

I would go Houston Sharper Square. So the wise guys like Houston when the numbers at seven, and we've talked about this before, right? Like the value of that numbers. So at seven, the wise guys were betting Houston. They continue to be amazed at C.J. Stroud and his ability to move the ball down the field, look, what he did against Tampa in 40 seconds going 75 yards for that game-winning touchdown was really remarkable. The guy clearly understands what's happening at the NFL level and is the right guy for the Texans, which is why they bet the Texans at plus seven. But it got to six and a half

and the wise guys took the Bengals again. So this is clearly about a number. They've decided that seven is the line of demarcation. And if they're going to get under seven, they're taking the Bengals. if they can get the touchdown, they're taking the Texans. Finally, I never do this, but I think Tommy DeVito is incapable of a touchdown drive. If the Cowboys kick it up, fumble, interceptions, certainly capable. I think Dallas wins 44 to 9. I would take Dallas minus 16. I think the Giants are the worst offense in years with DeVito quarterbacking.

You know I don't lay these numbers. If I told you this game was 24 to nothing in the first quarter, would you be shocked? I know it's not the sharp side. I'm taking Dallas. Dude, you'd be surprised. The amount of chatter I've heard about wise guys betting Dallas this week because they feel like this game could be 54 to nothing. Like there's actually not a number that could be big enough. And sometimes you do.

You lay the points when it's that clear. And don't forget, Dak as a favorite. Now, again, normally he's in like a, say, 3 to 10 points. But a home favorite, he's pretty good. A home favorite. We've said this on the show. And it's why we liked the Eagles last week. I think the Cowboys are front runners.

I think they, when they are comfortable, they act like champions, they play like champions. When they face adversity, they cannot execute. This is a time where the Cowboys will convince themselves, they are champions and can contend in the NFC and it's their chance to show it. All right. Now we play the game where I'm going to give you a game I want you to talk me into because I want to watch it. And then what did I miss? Let's start with the Steelers Packers, all of our odds provided by Draft Kings.

What's the current number? Talk me into a side here. All right. This is tough. The number is three. Potentially going to be three and a half. The wise guys love the Packers in this spot. Look, Tomlin as a favorite is not the same as Tomlin as a dog.

And this is a spot where the Steelers continue to win. They're a bit fraudulent. You look at their metrics. They shouldn't have the record they have, right? Meanwhile, we do this thing called the Luck Rankings at Action Network. that basically takes a lot of stats and a lot of unpredictability in the games and evens them out and gives you a metric that says these are things that do not normally happen, but they skew people's perception of a team. Right now, the Steelers are the luckiest team in the NFL.

And by the way, Steelers have been the luckiest team in the NFL, three of the past five years. Packers, one of the unluckiest teams in the NFL. The difference between these two teams is 29 spots. So there's a lot of data there to tell you, I got to take the Packers here, and I don't like it. And I don't think you like it, but I do have some games that I think you might like it. Okay. Okay. So now it's time for what did I miss. And I don't like this dumpster diving stuff. I'm a man that likes Copenhagen and elegance. So I don't stick my head in a dumpster very often. I did last week with a Jets and it closed, clamped on my head. Um, I know. This is the ugly portion. I think Josh Dobbs story is a great story. I wonder if that comes to a close. I loved the story. So what did I miss, Chad Milman? Give me the game I missed.

These are games that, Colin, the king and queen of Denmark would love to bet these games. They are so, they are choice. They are so classy. They're just the best. How did we not, you don't want to dumpster dive. How are we not talking about? the Browns. Like, this makes no sense to me. Because I think... Don't give me that. Let me, let me say, okay? Okay. I know. You, you're afraid of betting against Lamar Jackson. I am. Because Lamar Jackson has been so good. And Lamar Jackson is finally on a path to win the MVP. And the Ravens look like they could be the most complete team in the NFL. The Browns have a much, much better defense. the Browns have someone in Miles Garrett, who is one of the most dominant players in the NFL, not most dominant defensive player, literally most dominant player. You talk about a stat that ESPN does

that is really cool called pass rush win rate. It basically says how often when he's on the field is he making an impact as a pass rusher on plays, right? Leads the league in pass rush win rate. Same thing when you talk about him against the run. If you talk about, the Browns on defense overall. They are better in the Ravens at every metric. This is a dominant defense. And if you're talking about a divisional game, home teams in divisional games, the past five years covering 47% clip, home favorites, divisional games covering 46% clip. Lamar Jackson, as a favorite of more than three and a half under 500 for his career. John Harbaugh as a favorite, just as a favorite period, under 500 in his career.

I am actually shocked that this line is where it's at, that it's gone from five to six and some place to six and a half. If you're not taking the Browns, this is a game you can watch. You're going to enjoy it. That's right. It's going to be fun. Well, my natural instinct is to take. Cleveland. I'm just not sure I trust Deshawn Watson and the Ravens defense. I just don't. But

we've said this before. It's one of the more simple plays. If you have the capable quarterback and you're getting points as a divisional rival, I mean, we took, we should have won it. We pushed. We took Sam Howl against Jalen Hertz. And the game was in, I think, Philly. You just do it. It's just a, you just do it. As long as your underdog, Sam Hal is more than capable at quarterback. We've seen New England beat Buffalo this year. You just do it. We've seen the Jets beat Buffalo. You just do it. So believe me, I have less trouble doing it. You talk that, that's a good side. That's a good side. All right. Give me one more. Okay. How about the Denver Broncos? I thought about that. At seven and a half, it's tasty. It's tasty. I'm eating that whole meal.

That is the Copenhagen restaurant of bets on Monday. I'm an offensive coach, a capable quarterback on a bye week. I thought about that. The other thing, Greg Kosell said something this week that I'd thought, but the film showed it. Buffalo is not nearly as talented now that they lost our top corner, top linebacker and a defensive line. They're just not that talented a roster. They lost playmakers at every level of their defense. Josh Allen has to be perfect for them to win games. And even when he is, Meanwhile, the development of the Broncos defense, they've just been getting better. And this is another one of those things, right? We talk about Doug Peterson.

Sean Payton is on that level of Mike Tomlin, Bill Belichick, Mike Vrable, coaches who you want to be betting on because over the past generation, they're some of the most profitable coaches against the spread in the NFL. And I think there's some inflation here because people continue to think about the Broncos as being what the Broncos were the first three games when their defense was so bad. But look, if you look at DVOA, you know, a very fancy advanced stat that takes into account a lot of different strength of schedule elements. DVOA for the Broncos defense, the past three games, 13th. DVOA for the Bill's offense, 31st. So we're talking about a team here that is just improving incrementally.

Like people thought Patrick Mahomes had the flu, and so that's why he didn't perform well in that game the Broncos won. but it turns out maybe the Broncos defense was just really good because Patrick Mahomes has been having his issues and they made him look even worse. So I think there's a lot of upside here. This is one of those classic pros Joe's games. The betting tickets, meaning the betting public, the non-professional betters, predominantly on the bills. The money, that's what the wise guys are. That's on the Broncos. Yeah. Finally, what airline are you flying? you fly from Hartford to Copenhagen or Amsterdam or did you fly by I fly Logan a lot where did

you fly what are you flying I flew out of JFK but Colin if I tell you what I'm flying I got to do with the paparazzi when I get back I can't I can't do that I'm flying on SAS which is Scandinavian airline and obviously serves you know Copenhagen and other Scandinavian countries May I suggest at some point in your life you fly Swiss air? I've heard it's lovely. It's lovely, yes. That's what I try to play. Is this the part of the podcast where elite media people turn off all of the listeners?

No, because you don't have to fly first. Yeah, it's aspirational. We're like Joel Osteen with footballs. Right? We're Tony Robbins without the real estate. We're just saying. Exactly. You can fly economy.

economy, Swiss Air, it's still Swiss Air. So I fly, I try to do business so I can watch documentaries. Swiss Air is my favorite airline, even more than British airline and Delta, Cathay Pacific, I love Swiss Air. I love everything about it. It's elegant without being bougie. Do they give you a complimentary Toblerone candy bar? They give you champagne.

They do give you chocolate. Yes, they do. They give you chocolate. I just, I found it. And I flew Icelandic air, which doesn't have a great international reputation to Rikovic. I got to tell you, though, my son and I loved it. It was fun. I like new airlines.

I like new stuff. I'm for new stuff. And so. I am too. I'm especially for new planes. Those are the best. No. I listen, it's, you know, and I've said this, the L-A-X is a zoo, but the international part of

it's great. And I wish more Americans, myself included, did more international travel. You know, I've done so much Mexico, so much Canada. So I've done London three or four times. But it's, I can't wait for the part of my life where I can do, you know, a 10-day, two-week trip every May and August. It's not that far off to go to Europe. It's just fun.

It's a different pace. I like the pace of Europe. Oh, I love it. And you know what? I hope for you. Listen, kid, you keep working hard. you're going to be able soon enough to scratch together enough nickels. You can get over to Europe if you want to.

I will. I'm going to make a point of it. All right, buddy. You enjoy Copenhagen. Great to hear from you. All right, brother. I thought you there. Don't miss the action this weekend when the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots

head to Frankfurt for the Frankfurt games in Germany. All right. These games air on the NFL network and stream on NFL Plus. For a limited time, Verizon customers can get Netflix and NFL Plus for just $25 a month. That's an annual savings of $120. Plus Play is a platform where Verizon customers can shop, manage, save on subscriptions you already love like NFL Plus. With NFL Plus premium, you get access to live games on mobile, NFL Red Zone, NFL Network, which means you can catch games like the cold. and the Patriots in Germany at the Frankfurt Games. Just go to Verizon.com slash volume, Verizon.com slash volume, to bundle and save before the games.

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Savings based on Netflix premium and NFL Plus Premium monthly retail plan prices. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smyl 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard weight with your favorite therapist and hosts care games. This space is about black men's experiences,

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