The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Reaction to Cowboys-49ers, Jets-Broncos, Eagles-Rams, Bills-Jaguars, Saints-Patriots

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

Colin Cowherd reacts to Week 5 in the NFL. First he gives his takes on the Eagles win over the Rams, Zach Wilson beating Russell WIlson, Patriots getting shutout vs the Saints and the Jaguars win over the Bills in London. Next Colin is joined by John Middlekauff and the two react to the 49ers destroying the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. What are their opinions on Dak Prescott, Kyle Shanahan, Mike McCarthy & Brock Purdy? They also discuss the Jets-Broncos game, Anthony Richardson & Caleb Williams leading USC to a 3OT win over Arizona. #Volume #Herd #3AndOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hi, everybody. Welcome in, an active and a very successful Sunday. I was 5 and O in the Blazing 5, 4 and 1 last week. So dreadful start to the year, but get up more information, get a better feel for the league. I didn't think it was a great week for lines. But you know what? You get hot, you take it. I'll have a stinker here coming up in.

no time. My first takeaway is watching Philadelphia. I still don't think Philadelphia is playing as well. Is they capable of playing? But if you watched every snap of that Rams game, or most of them, and I did, that was one of the more physically dominating performances I've ever seen. They had over 450 yards. They had a 38 to 22 minute time of possession edge, 28 first downs to 17. they were impeccable on third down and the score is not even remotely indicative of what the game was like. Philadelphia just smushed and pounded

and buried and punished the Rams for three and a half hours. You know, Cooper Cup got some nice catches early, but McVeigh is a great coach. You have some really nice players for the Rams. They're young, but this is really what separates to me, Philadelphia from everybody except the 49ers in football. A Buffalo can beat you. So can Kansas City. So can Cincinnati. There's a lot of teams that can beat you. The two teams last year, San Francisco, teams the following week after playing the Niners. I think every team the following week lost.

They don't beat you. They punish you. They hurt you. I feel the same way with Philadelphia. And I don't even think they're clicking. But between A.J. Brown and J. Hurts and the dominating offensive line. They just get yards when they need it. They have no personnel shortcomings. They can do virtually anything they want to do. That doesn't mean they always do it well. A well-coached team will do well what their personnel allows them to do well. You know, their shortcomings. I'll get to the Jets in a second. They do that. They do well what they can do with their personnel. But Philadelphia, there's everything. They have a quarterback that can throw and can move. They can play power football. they can go over the top.

They get a great pass rush on the other end. You know, their secondary may not be as good as it was in previous years. But, you know, the NFC, the team that you're concerned about, San Francisco's got Brock Purdy or Dallas has DAC. You don't feel like, you know, your B plus quarterbacks are going to pick you apart because of the pass rush you create. So Philadelphia is such an impressive organization. And they do what very few teams do in the NFL.

They pivot a lot and they remain successful. Bill Belichick can't pivot off Brady. Patriots are a clown show. They can't pivot once. Pete Carroll's pivoted four times in Seattle. Philadelphia pivoted off Carson Wentz. They pivoted off Nick Foles. They just keep changing.

Pivoted off Chip Kelly. This team is stacked. Now, you know, the offensive line, they got some older players, Kelsey, the center. But, you know, they've drafted well up front as well. So I just don't think Philadelphia has. any shortcomings. I think they can match up with anybody in the league and can go toe to toe with anybody. I mean, think about this. Have they played a great game yet? Nope. They're 5 and 0. That's, I mean, Buffalo's had some great games and been blah. Today they were blah. And they lost,

right? That's the way it works in the league. When you don't play well, last year, the Chief, Super Bowl champs lost to the Colts, went to overtime with a bad Houston team. Generally, you don't play well, you don't win. Not the case with Philadelphia. So a super impressive, physically punishing win over the Rams. The score is not indicative of what it looked like. Let's go back to what I said a second ago. Jet fans may complain about their team, but you can tell they're well coached because they do well what they're allowed to do well based on their personnel. They can run the football. They have good backs. And I think they have a pretty good run blocking O line. They're not a fireworks show in the perimeter. They have one really big time

receiver Garrett Wilson. That's it. So they're not an aerial circus. They've got good corners. They have a pass rush. They're physical. They play with great passion. So the Jets do, as they beat the Broncos, they do what their personnel allows them to do. They need to go get another wide receiver. When Aaron Rogers comes back and Zach Wilson's the backup, they should be better at quarterback. I would address the offensive line again. But they're not that far away. I mean, if Aaron stays healthy, you know, they do a lot of things. things very well. Denver's another story. They don't do anything particularly well. Russell Wilson, you know, he's better than Zach Wilson, but, you know, key fumble late.

Late in the third quarter, he had 66 yards passing. It was underneath stuff. So I think the Broncos, even though they have, I think, some pretty good personnel in the offensive line, run games hit and miss, mostly miss. Even though they have some people in the secondary I like, their secondary is okay. So they're disjointed right now. Jets Denver was an ugly football game, but if you're a Jets fan, you have to feel like we do something as well. I'm not sure what Denver does well. And I think Denver's got some good personnel. Now, whereas the Jets good personnel is primarily on one side of the ball, which is why they're a better defensive team than an offensive team, you know, the Broncos

personnel is kind of spread around. But they're going to have major issues here. There's so much pressure in the Broncos organization, Sean Payton's contract, Russell Wilson's contract. It doesn't matter if Russell has proved that he isn't washed. He better not be. For what they're paying him and the pressure on him, he's got to be excellent. He has to be an A quarterback. That's an A quarterback contract. Right now he's playing at a B minus level. C plus. That's what it is. So people say, well, he's not the problem. Well, he's not the solution. I'm not really interested in pointing fingers on who the problem is. What's the solution or everybody gets fired?

Russell right now is not good enough to be the solution. Who the problem is, who cares? You can't win football games. And I think the personality differences between Sean Payton, who's super intense, and Russell Wilson, who's more diplomatic, I think that rub will be interesting to say the least to watch. You also have new owners. didn't spend all this money to lose. I think this could be just a very toxic mess by the time we get

to Thanksgiving. And Sean Payton's going to win that battle. You know, I think Denver, and I think you have to think about this, we have an incredible college quarterback class. I think we have to be honest about it. I think Denver, if there's an opportunity, even though they have issues on the defensive side, you know, Drake May, Michael Pennix, Boe Nicks, don't you have to take a look? I don't you have to take a look? I think you have to take a look. You know, let's say Denver finishes with five wins. And I'm, you know, today I'm not sure they get there, five or six wins. That's a top eight draft pick, I would imagine.

If Drake May or Michael Pennix was available, Caleb Williams was not available, you'd have to look at it. The only way to get out of that Russell Wilson deal. And again, he's not the problem. But he's not good enough right now to be the solution. Or maybe it's just too many things that have been asked of Sean Payton. And they just, they don't have the personnel on the defensive side. But I'd feel good if I was a Jets fan today. because I can do, I do well what I have the personnel to do well.

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like San Francisco did to get Trey Lance. They just waited and he fell into their lap. And we all kind of knew what Mack was coming out of college. Low ceiling, high floor, we thought. Bright kid, accurate, had a very good rookie year. He's regressed. And I think one of the things that hurts him is they got completely destroyed at Foxborough, back-to-back weeks getting destroyed at Dallas, now at home against the Saints,

is that he has no allies in the building. He's pissed off coaches. He's ticked off teammates. I've been told he can bristle at times at being coached really, really hard, which Belichick I don't think ever appreciated that Brady love to be coach hard. Most players, great players do. Insecure players don't. Max regress.

The longer he's around the building, the more liabilities that surface. But the good news is for New England, they're bad. And they're going to have a top 10 pick. And they have to go get a quarterback. I mean, again, Jared Goff isn't high. highly mobile, but he's a beautiful thrower of the football. He's six, two and a half, six three. You know, for all the punishment he took at Cal in his NFL career so far, he didn't get hurt. He's always available. Mac doesn't give you anything. I mean, Mac doesn't give you any juice,

any special, doesn't have the right size, mobility, temperament. You know, one of the things impressive about C.J. Stroud, it's the temperament. It's at the podium. It's the temperament. Is he liked in the room? And people talk about that all the time. Jordan Palmer always talks about If you're like in the room, nobody cares outside the building. I don't think Mack Jones is liked in the room. I mean, it's pretty well documented and reported. The coaches were furious last year with him when he went outside the building for advice. All the cheap shots on players, I was told that that didn't sit well with a couple of veteran players on the offense.

And, you know, nobody's there to support him when he hit Soss Gardner. Nobody raced in the Patriot locker room spoke out to support him. So where are the allies at? When you're struggling at any company in any industry, find the helpers, find the friends, find the allies. That's why, be nice to people. Be nice. Lubricate, don't agitate. Mack Jones hasn't done that, and they're going to have to draft a quarterback. Because, I mean, between the offense in Miami, Aaron Rogers comes back, Josh Allen. You know what, it is interesting.

We always figured Brady was more important than Belichick. But for years and years, you know, there was a lot of people saying Brady's a system quarterback and Belichick's a genius. New England now is a dumb football team. They do what bad teams do inopportune penalties, turnovers. They're just a bad football team. And I also think Belichick's a classic example of, you know, anytime anybody bristles at the current situation, he says, you know, we've done pretty well around here.

Nobody would deny that. Formally done very well around here. They have to draft a quarterback. And I said this two years, no, it sounded crazy two years ago when I said it. but I don't know what you do with Belichick. If he's not willing to give up personnel, he doesn't draft well. I mean, they drafted two kickers and three guards in last year's draft. And then the slowest offense in the league.

Now, again, Judon's injury, Christian Gonzalez injury, they'd be a much more competitive team with those guys healthy. But you've got to get Belichick out of personnel. And Andy Reid got run out of Philadelphia, and Andy Reid right now is the best coach in the NFL. You know, again, it'd be one thing to fire Belichie. a year or two after Brady left, but this is another disaster. He appears to be a rigid personality, meaning he's going to do it his way or the highway. I think you have to consider having a long

talk with Belichick. I know the Don Schuller record is close, all-time wins. I think in the off-season, you have to have a long talk with him. 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, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey,

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It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-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 a 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 you're just so,

y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. So, you're finishing that sentence. And yes, I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, when it comes to these Thursday games or these London are overseas games. It always feels like one team is just off.

One team doesn't show up. They don't get enough rest. It was the commanders on Thursday against the Bears. It was the Bills today against the Jaguars. First of all, the Jaguars are healthier. It was their second straight game there. They were more comfortable. They were choppy early in the season.

But as Greg Cosell had said, Trevor Lawrence had been playing very well. His, even Calvin Ridley, his top receivers had had a case of the drops. He made some slick throws today. The Jags were picked up 10 first downs on third down. They were the better team, 474 yards of total offense. Some of that is Buffalo now has lost their top corner. Milano, their top linebacker. They got banged up.

They had one of their pass rushers got banged up. You know, Trevor Lawrence is 25 and 37, 315 yards. He was slinging it today. And that's the thing. When you watch a Trevor Lawrence or a Josh Allen, but let's talk Trevor Lawrence because he was humming today against Buffalo. And it's not the end of the world. Buffalo has been a hot, cold team. They're, as I always say, they're the Mike Tyson of the NFL, big knockouts, or they can look really sloppy and ugly. And Buffalo coming off that dramatic win at home goes overseas,

and they just looked out of sync, then the injuries started to pile up. But when you look at Trevor Lawrence and you watch his size, six, five and a half, six, six, he can sling it, he can move. well compare Russell Wilson to that, you know, or Zach Wilson to that, or the countless number of sort of C, B, minus, D quarterbacks in this league. Trevor Lawrence is really good. This is a losing franchise that we've had doubts about forever. But when you watch that game today, I mean, he makes throws so effortlessly and so accurately. And by the way, it's all great quarterbacks get into ruts.

Caleb Williams at USC in the first half, got into a rut last night against Arizona, three or four throws, open receivers behind them. It happens. Mahomes will go into the weeds sometimes, and Andy Reid a couple weeks later mechanically brings him back. It happens. Brady didn't because he was so obsessed with it. But most quarterbacks, especially the hyperathletic ones that move around a lot, they've got a lot of gifts. Sometimes they go mechanically into the weeds and miss throws. And Trevor Lawrence can do that. But when you're watching him sling it, he is, he makes it look really easy. I remember I'm not comparing him to Michael Jordan, but I remember years ago watching Michael Jordan against Phoenix in the NBA finals. And I was sitting on the couch with a friend.

And I said, you know, he's not the best shooter. He's not the strongest player. He's not the best ball handler or the best passer. But I told a friend, I said, he made it look so easy. He's just 6'6. He's not, you know, he's just a 6'6 guy. Everything looked easy to Michael. Now, we know it's not. But that's what great players. Caleb Williams does stuff. You're like, what? Whether it's a great golfer, a great quarterback, there are times Trevor Lawrence, and he makes mistakes like everybody, but he will just let it rip down field, and it is a laser. And you're like, yeah, that's why he was the number one high school player, the number one college player.

A lot of his struggles early were his teammates. It's not an excuse. It was his teammates. And I think Buffalo is going to be fine. I think this is what Buffalo is. I would be concerned a little bit. They're banged up defensively, but I don't question. one of the things I saw on the sidelines, Stefan Diggs kind of blew a fuse and Josh Allen was looking at him.

That went viral. Stefan is a very emotional guy and in losses. That's just kind of part of his makeup. It happens. It's happened with receivers my entire life. I think it's fine as long as Buffalo is winning. But, you know, Buffalo so far in the season, you know, they go overseas, look awful, looked awful against the Jets. great against Miami, great against Washington.

You get a little of everything with Buffalo. They are very temperamental team. Highly emotional. That's the way they play. That's the way Stefan Diggs is as a player. So that's kind of what they are. They're not consistent. They're an avalanche when they're playing well.

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Let me think about that. No. So football is underway, baseball playoffs, basketball, hockey seasons are upon us. Pretty good. While we love watching our favorite teams on TV, there is nothing better than watching sports in person. You know that, I know that. The drama, the crowd, the energy, the adrenaline, it's perfect.

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today, last-minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. John Middlecough, three and out the volume. So obviously when you have a quarterback, you think about what's their salary. I mean, if Russell Wilson was a seventh round pick, everything in Denver would feel completely different than his five-year contract kicking in next year, right? So if you consider contract, age, mobility, accuracy, talent, and I said today, Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott. It's not even close. I would take Brock Purdy. It's not even close. Dak now is not mobile. He's had too many lower extremity injuries.

Dak's a pocket thrower, but he was never a great pocket passer. Like Russell Wilson, although Russell throws a prettier ball, Russell needs mobility to be Russell Wilson. A big part of Dak was that he could move. He no longer moves. So I get a below average pocket thrower who's super expensive. Brock Purdy makes way too many good throws to be a system guy. Dude hitting things down the middle tonight. And it sounds crazy. But you have to consider what you pay players. Once you pay guys, Burrough, Mahalms, Herbert, Allen, Lamar. Well, those are special talents. Dak's got a special contract. He's an average pocket guy. Look at that lineup for the Niners. For instance, John, if Brock made what DAC made, you couldn't have Fred Warner, you couldn't have been able to get Christian McCaffrey, you probably would have to get rid of one of your delinement.

It's not quite the same team, right? It's a good team. It's not quite this team. Well, when the 49ers made the trade for Trey Lance, you know, the logic of trying to swing for the fences and get a star was in the right place. but a driving force was they wanted that rookie quarterback contract. And my big thing is the rookie quarterback contract isn't that relevant when the guy can't play. Part of what made DAC such a good draft choice back in the day was he was a solid player. Solid.

Kirk Cousins back in the day. And then obviously we've seen in recent memory some of the star quarterbacks drafted. Brock Purdy won. He's really good. I mean, you just watch if you just watch NFL football. That guy's really good. I mean, he's... Kyle Shanahan didn't make Blaine Gabbard or Trey Lance great players.

Not all quarterbacks work with Kyle, right? Like, Brock's really good. Well, listen, and the other thing about Brock, you just hit on with Dak Prescott. There were a couple of plays at night. It's like Dak forgot that Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner are the best linebacking duo in the league. Their play speed is elite for their position. And he rolled out a couple times. It's like, Dak, what are you doing?

You know, get rid of the ball. If you're not going to be the athlete that you once were after the ankle injury, you can't scramble away from these guys. Can't. And then Purdy, the underrated part about his game. Because I remember, listen, I'd be lying if I said I watched that much Iowa State football. But the one thing that was immediate when he started playing, and the biggest difference between him and Jimmy,

and they obviously won a ton of games with Jimmy, was Jimmy's lack of mobility after the ACL injury and his just ability to playmake outside of the pocket. when you watch Purdy Scramble, you're confident that something good is going to happen. How about the touch that he has on the move? When you're playing with this much talent, everyone's like, well, he's playing with a lot of talent.

Well, you ain't got to get him the ball. How many players have we seen play with other good players? Larry Fitzgerald can tell you, play with a million quarterbacks couldn't get him the rock over the years. This guy, you just watch him. Obviously, he's a little smaller, but listen, I mean, his,

this fucking kid can play. I mean, bottom line. Yeah, I mean, and again, it's Mark Brunel, was a late pick. Brady, Kurt Warner Romo. It's not shocking. We've seen guys undrafted. And I think there's a ceiling, but it's not a Mack Jones ceiling. He moves really well. And they don't ask him to throw a ton of deep balls. I mean, they just don't. This, you know, it's funny. Like, Dax rookie year in the first couple of years, you know, he got an MVP voter to his

first year in the league. And so much of that was you weren't paying Dack anything. So they had the O line, they had Zeke. It was an all-star team. Even their defense, I went and looked it up the other day, was top five in the league. Dallas right now, because once you pay that quarterback, I mean, Kansas City's roster is not great. Cincinnati, there's holes in that thing. Everybody's roster has a hole except San Francisco. I mean, so I just look at it. I think also when you take a quarterback high, you like a specific guy and you get aggressive from Josh Allen to Mahomes to when the Texans drafted Deshaun Watson to Baker Mayfield, like you like that guy. To me, when you get a guy in the third,

fourth, and beyond, there's an element of luck, right, at quarterback, because teams are passing on the guy. It's easy to look back. God, look how good, pretty is. But at the time, I mean, he was one spot away from being an undrafted free agent. But you cannot value, and I think it's pretty clear, guys like him, you and I have talked about it. When you go to Alabama or Georgia, you have such an advantage on a weekly basis, right? You really do. Hell, we'll probably talk about Caleb a little bit later. I think he's benefiting a lot,

or at least scouts are going to benefit watching him play. It's not as easy this year. Like he has to make shit happen. His team's not has a huge advantage. Well, Purdy, his entire career, we're going into games either as underdogs or having less talent than their opponents. So you have to learn how to play.

So now you watch him. Well, he clearly knows how to play, and now he has the talent around him, and it bombs away. I mean, they feel, I mean, clearly like one of the better teams we've seen in terms of the way they've started and just how the level in which they're playing in recent memory in the NFL. Oh, I think honestly, again, if you had even a good quarterback, Kurt Cousins, you could not have the same roster. You would not get both of those linebackers. You know, you wouldn't.

You would not have been able to acquire Christian McCaffrey. Well, if you take Christian McCaffrey and Fred Warner off this team, it's not the same team. That's the best linebacker in the game and the best running back right now. And what they can use, you know, it's, the other thing is when, I mean, we've all had a bunch of bosses in our life. But like, when you're in sports, basketball is in hockey are really so fast. But in football, you huddle. Football plays are choreographed.

So you can sit on that bench as a football player, right? Baseball is very individual. If a guy is hot on the mound, there's not a lot you can do. Again, basketball is moving a thousand miles an hour. And football, you know when the other coach is better than your coach. Like Dallas players are watching this Rubik's cube of an office. You know they're going, shit, we're getting work tonight, right? Like a player would know that.

Well, think about this. A couple years ago, they led the league in penalties. When the 49ers beat him two years ago at Dallas, they had a ton of penalties. there was an undisciplined nature watching them play tonight. There were a couple late hits out of bounds. And I understand, I always struggle in a physical matchup like this. You want guys to kind of be on edge. But there's also the 15 yards when you thought the game was going to be, you know,

in somewhat doubt early it was going to be a tight game, really, really matter. And you just watch Dallas, you know, they're just, they're not buttoned up. And I think you always talk about this with defensive coaches. They just don't understand the quarterback. They don't value certain things on offense. One thing having had a front row seat for Kyle that really makes him special is how much he values defense. Think about they paid, they drafted Nick Bosa number two. They paid him a lot.

This year, they signed Hargrave as a free agent immediately the moment free agency opened. Last year they signed Charverius Ward at corner. They've paid multiple linebackers. I think his favorite player on the defense is Talanoa Hu Funga from USC. I mean, he loves that guy. He really, really cares about that side of the ball while being, I don't know, the best play caller in the league? Yeah, you know, it's funny too. There's an alpha with San Francisco. I was thinking about this tonight. You know, the old cowboy teams, the Aikman, Jimmy Johnson, even the

coach had a personality. They were big and really good in big games. That cowboy team had personality. They had Alpha. It was Irvin. It was Jimmy. It was Aikman. Some of it unspoken. Some of it very spoken, Michael Irvin. This cowboy team to me is kind of dull. Mike McCarthy's a little there's not a lot of alpha. I mean, if I took the last 10 big games they played in, they've probably won three of them. I just feel like what the great cowboy teams in my memory were better in big games. I feel this cowboy team, we always kind of roll our eyes at Kirk Cousins because he shrinks.

This cowboy team shrinks. They shrink against the Eagles. They shrink against the Niners. I mean, we have to be honest about this, is that whereas, the Buffalo bills can be inconsistent. I mean, they're a real avalanche team. But when they're in the big games against Miami, they show. Now, they'll go to London and dog it.

Or they'll play a team like twice a year and you're like, what is happening to Buffalo? But in the moment, the biggest games, the bills bring their best fight. I think Dallas, we have to, we have to acknowledge this. They shrink in big games a lot. Well, I think, you know, I was thinking about this watching the Patriots today. We talk a lot about culture, you know, in football. And usually the coach gets all the credit for setting the culture. It's really the players.

And you got rid of Tom Brady and it kind of unraveled. But look, I mean, you talk to Edelman. He comes through Fox. Edelman, Gronk, McCordy, all those guys are gone. So when you look at the 49ers, they are full on both sides of the ball. They're all pro-level players are high-character grinder, tough guys. Think about Buffalo. Who are their high-level guys?

Josh Allen, Poirer, Milano. Right. They're just high-level guys. So the chiefs are a great example like this modern-day Brady Belichick guy. Super high-level, very serious, all about football. You watch Dallas, listen, I appreciate Jerry taking some big swings in the draft, but you get some of these character guys, and then you laugh about it in your 7 million interviews every other week. It's like that does unravel from the inside. And listen, Dax's clearly a good guy, high-level guy, but is he good enough to kind of be the tone-setter for? for the locker room, clearly not. No, I think Mike is probably the tone center for the locker room. Yeah, and I think we kind of to circle back to DAC is that I'm not blaming Dak for it. But when Jerry talks about, you know, these long-term extensions, it's like Jerry,

long-term extensions, that's what you did for Brady or Patrick Mahomes. They keep reworking the deal. Lamar, Josh Allen, Dak is not a long-term extension guy. He is no longer, he's no longer a mobile quarterback. He is, Greg, Greg Cosell said this on my show about a month ago. And it really, I thought, was one of the eye-opening bites. He comes on every Thursday. And he said, the tape doesn't lie.

Dak can't move. Well, we never thought. What if Russell Wilson couldn't move? I mean, seriously, what if, what if, I mean, you start looking around. I love Josh Allen. But the part where he moves is what makes him. Big guy with a cannon to, oh, holy hell in the red zone, you can't stop him. Like, Dack is an average pocket guy who's now expensive and doesn't move.

Well, here's the problem for the Cowboys. Dak always hung his hat on. Like, I'm the best of the second tier guys, right? I'm not the superstar, but I'm the best. I watch the Chiefs, Minnesota game because it's a better player. Tonight, Purdy's a better player. So if you're no longer that, and the way these contracts work, right or wrong, it is what it is, Dax's making $40 million a year.

So the contract extension, listen, it's just football inflation. He's going to want $45 million a year. Like you said, sorry, can't pay it. The problem is, what the hell do you do? Right? Because they're still going to be a 10-11 win team. So do you just hope you can draft a guy? Do you let him walk?

Trey Lance isn't even, I mean, not even in the same universe as Dak, Cooper Rush. They're kind of in a weird spot. So here's what the DAC defenders say. Well, he's winning a lot of games. Well, time out. aren't you analytic guys the one that always tell me that winning is not a quarterback stat? Right? You can't have it both ways.

You can't lecture me on winning's not a quarterback stat because if you look at Dax wins, it's a lot of wins over Washington, over the giants, over crappy NFC teams. But again, let's go back to the big games. They're not a very good big game team. So you can't have it both ways. You can't tell me Dax great and he wins a lot of games.

And then simultaneously, all the smart people on the Internet is winning's not a quarterback stat. So, I mean, I do think that DAC's intangibles are very, very strong. Leadership, smart, pre-snap, all that stuff. Works hard. Yeah, I like all that stuff. But just throwing darts from the pocket or making plays with your feet, it's not there. Well, at any moment, Josh Allen's, the Herberts, the Mahomes can do something that like only Elway and Farves could do.

Right. Yeah. can't do that. So to be the best version of that tier two group, you can't be turning it over, right? There was that moment on Monday night football when Daniel Jones throws the pick and and Dayball, you can't, you're not allowed to do, we're not good enough with you doing that. Yeah. Dak had the moment tonight, through the ball in the center field to absolutely no man's land, a pick that the guy just had to, you know, play it like Willie Mays, and even McCarthy was looking at him a little side eye coming off the field. That can't happen with you. And all we talked about

all offseason was the turnovers, the turnovers cut him. You watch him the night against a team that they are going to have to beat in the second or the third round if they want to go anywhere, and he's throwing the ball to the other team easily. I mean, the third pick hit the guy in the hands. Now, maybe his confidence is unraveled, but he just wasn't good enough early beside really the one drive. All right. I want to talk about Russell Wilson, Sean Payton, Denver, and the jet. So I'm not a huge fan of Zach Wilson. He's the opposite of Dak. I don't like any of his intention. but he has a good arm. But I don't like any of his intangibles.

I don't trust his leadership. I don't trust him pre-snap. I don't trust him running my franchise. But he's got a good arm. But I will say this about the Jets. And I think this is where Robert Sala does a good job. You're as good as your personnel allows you to be. Right.

If you're a real franchise coach, the Jets do what their personnel allows them to do. They have good running backs. They have a good defense. They have a pass rush. They have good corners, although they're all banged up. What the Jets can't do, they only have one legit big-time receiver. They don't have a very good quarterback. So there's limitations on what they can't get into track meets.

But, you know, I watched them today. Denver doesn't do anything well. The Jets do a couple of things really well. The things they don't, John, their personnel doesn't allow them to do that. If McHale Bechton, forget Zach Wilson, if McHale Bechton would have been a really high-end left tackle, maybe I think differently, but they got tackle issues. They got a quarterback issue. So they can't get into track meets.

That's not what they can do. But when I watch Denver, what do they do well? Nothing. I mean, you saw today, if the Jets get a lead, that's where they're built. And the pass rush can tee off. And their pass rush goes seven, eight deep, and they're as good as anyone in the NFL. To me, and listen, I saw it at the end of Andy Reed's run, he had all this juice, all this power. And every decision went through him.

and it obviously unraveled that opened up perfectly for him because he went to Kansas City and became an absolute legend. Now he has Mahomes and off and run. But when the coach has so much power and won't listen to anyone else, and even then Andy had Howie, he would listen to other people. There is no one in that building Sean Payton's going to listen to. And there is a powerful dynamic in the NFL when you have a personnel guy that can go, that's not a good idea.

Because coaches sometimes are too close to the sun. Sure. They're desperate to get McGlinchy's a great example. They gave him $50 million. There cannot be many personnel people in the league that would have signed off on that. He can't pass block. You cannot sign to tackle the $50 million that can't pass block. You can't do it.

So you just moves like that. And Sean Payton's power is only going to go up because George Payton will probably be fired. He'll bring in his own guy. Well, when he brings in his own guy, that guy's not going to have the juice. That guy's going to, you know, kind of rely on Sean Payton and try to make him have. happy. So the dynamics there are a little off. Sometimes it can work, right? Pete Carroll hired John Schneider, but immediately John talked him into Russell and he earned the respect and it changed everything. I think that's an underrated part of this because their issues are going to be personnel

oriented. How do we improve? What do we do in the draft? What kind of moves we can make? Sean has unlimited power. And Sean always had Mickey Loomis in New Orleans, who he's even said is his best friend, trusted him, believed in him. Even when you have trust, the two of you won't always be right. But at least you'll make decisions with mutual respect and ultimately whenever the decision was made, you both move forward. Here it's a kind of a one-man band. Sean's a coach and they got enough issues on the field. He needs help in the personnel department and I could already see that. Like I don't know how they fix that. Well, and by the way, Bill Belichick, he's got too much power. I mean, last year they drafted three guards and two

kickers and this team has no speed. It's like a ridiculous draft. Pete Carroll, I thought, had a few years after Paul Allen's death. Remember when Snyder went to the Lions to interview because Pete had usurped some of his power, kind of a power vacuum. And then last couple of years, Snyder has gotten some promises or guarantees. He has more power.

They've had back-to-back great drafts. That doesn't mean Pete doesn't know personnel. But it's hard enough to be a great coach. You can't be a great. And Pete looks better for that, right? Think how much higher everyone thinks of Pete Carroll now that he lets his GM influence these picks. Now everyone benefits.

Yeah, it's really interesting. I really like Sean. But when he wanted the Chargers job. So when he and I were talking during the pursuit, right? Like he was telling me, I didn't go on the air with it, but he told me who he was, you know, talking to. And then when the Denver thing came out, he went kind of silent for a couple of weeks.

So I figured, okay, I just, I know, I get it. So I stay away. I thought my takeaway was, well, I think, he'll make Russell better and I think they'll go from four or five wins to nine or ten but I think the issue is I think he's solved Russell to some degree but Russell at the contract level that will start next year is not good enough for that contract if he was making 12 million a year 20 40 55 so I think when Sean took the job somebody offered him a lot of money and money you know gives you power and makes you feel confident but it's it's not

It was not, frankly, John, a great job. You have to either have a superstar quarterback in their prime. You know, Alan, Lamar, Mahomes, right? Herbert. Okay, that's a great job. Dechargers now is a great job. Buffalo is a great job. Or you have to have a super talented rookie on a rookie deal. C.J. Stroud.

D'Amico Ryan suddenly may have himself a really good job, right? Yeah. Kyle Shanahan. What's not a good job is a wildly expensive contract for a guy who's lost his fastball. So I, this is a great example. This is a prime example of Sean, I think he's a word of a good coach. I think he took a job that's not right now a really good job.

Well, and think about this. There's two, listen. Obviously you get $90 million. He's making $18 million a year. 99% of humans take the job, especially coaches. They always view jobs like they can fix it. But there's a dynamic as part of accepting this job that doesn't get discussed very much. And Sean brought this up.

I think at the Combine, he had planned to go as a package deal with Vic Fangio. But Vic obviously had just gotten fired a year ago from Denver wasn't going to go back. So Vic, he couldn't take Vic Fangio with him. So part of Russell Wilson, if this was going to work, they were going to have to be really good on defense, right? Be a defensive team, be kind of conservative on offense. Like that's how they were going to have to play for a couple years. Vince Joseph's been terrible. And in fairness, Sean had the right guy, but he even said, like, Vic just wouldn't do it. It was too uncomfortable. He had literally just been fired 12 months before So, yeah, it worked for Sean getting the money,

but big picture how he wanted to build the franchise with the defensive coordinator he wanted and the quarterback he was going to be forced to work with because of the contract. Yeah, I mean, we'll see this year some of these jobs that open. If the number one overall pick job opens, I think it's easy to kind of play Monday morning quarterback and go that was probably a major mistake by him

rushing into it a little bit just because he had the it. And listen, that's coaches. Remember when Jim Harbaugh took the job, people like, are the 49er situation? That's a disaster. So, you know, coaches, they're sick, Colin, they really are, that they view things for as much as they get paid. They also think this deep down confidence in their own abilities to change things.

And let's face it, in this league, like Kyle Shanahan looks a lot better with the guys he has than he does three or four years ago when he had scrubs around him. Another game I want to talk about, I did it in my preamble. Philadelphia beat the Rams. Philadelphia is the one team that could match up with San Francisco and the NFC. I love Jalen Hertz. I didn't know he was going to be this. My takeaway was when he came into the league, I'm like, I don't know.

What is he? What is he? He can move. I didn't know what he was. And then he gets Shane Steichen, and it's interesting. So he gets Shane Steichen, and once Nick Seriani gives Shane Steichen the play calling duties, he explodes. So Shane leaves. And Jalen, first couple of weeks, is just scuffing.

He's trying to get it. And then you've watched the last couple of games. games. It's like the kid works so hard. Now he's starting to refine it without Shane Steichen. And we've seen this before. You have a coordinator, Matt Ryan, and you get this great coordinator, Kyle Shanahan, you're amazing MVP level. He leaves. You're never the same player. But I think a testament to Jalen Hertz and just his ability to be coachable, I have watched him now for five weeks, just get a little better and a little better. And it's hard. It's like losing your best friend. It's like losing your best boss at work, your sales manager, and you're an account

executive. And you're just off. And I felt Jaylen was like, because Stuyen's really a brilliant guy. You see it again today. I was going to say this. I think Stuyken calls this. Go to game. It's anybody in the league. I'm watching today with Gardner Minchu, and I'm like, shit, this is, this guy can call a game. They didn't skip a beat. Not a, I mean, Gardner Minshue, but I'm like, God, is clever. And you lose a Kyle Shanahan level, a coordinator And I watched today Jalen Hertz and I'm like, man, that kid, he is just, I think that team has such strong belief in Jalen Hertz. He had a couple plays today when he scrambled. He had a whacked, stayed on his feet.

And I'm like, that was incredible run. It's just like, God, there's just, Jalen Hertz is one of those players. I don't know if I was a professional scout and used to do this. I don't know what I would have put on paper. I had, I never saw this coming. Did you? Well, he's a great result or a great example

of the intangible stuff being so powerful. He has improved dramatic, even the Eagles. I mean, they never thought he would be this. One thing today happened though, and I jotted it down

because tension in football can be very healthy. The Patriots had it forever. I'm talking like players with the coaches during games. As long as, you know, losing teams, it unravels, but winning teams,

they harness it and then they like improve on the next drive. Jalen threw a terrible pick in like the front pylon of the end zone to Witherspoon, who actually made an incredible play. He made a great play. Yeah, he did. And Siriani lights him up. I mean, they just start going.

And Jalen kind of takes it. Yes. How many guys in the NFL in 2020, just pro sports in general, making $45 million a year who just had the Super Bowl he had, that never happens anymore, even in football. And even, I think Burkhart and Olson were calling that game. And even like, Dad's a coach. He asked for this. He wants it.

And then there was another moment, Jason Kelsey getting on the coaches. But it never feels destructive. It never feels like there's, these guys are like players against coaches, coaches against players. It's all we're kind of in the boat together. You're talking about their, the greatest offensive linemen the franchise ever had is going to the Hall of Fame. And they're 45, 50 million dollar quarterback. and it's like, yeah, it's just normal. They handle it.

Their character, I've seen it with the Niners. They have it to. Andy's staff is not, they don't really yell as much. Yeah, they don't. But they have the same thing. It's just we will do whatever it takes to improve on the next drive to get it right. Where a lot of teams, the coach has to be right, the player gets bitter. And there's like this animosity.

The Eagles do not have that. And it all starts with their player's character. Yeah, and it starts with Jalen Hertz. I mean, I've heard this before about Mack Jones, is that he can be very prickly with hard coaching, right? Like he can be very prickly. Jalen Hertz totally accepts it. And if the quarterback who got the bag accepts it, then everybody has to accept it. And I think that's, you know, because that was, that was an interesting pick. It was, it was in the end zone, if I recall. Yeah, it was. Yeah, the front pylon of the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was funny because the Eagles are now

5 and 0. I don't think they played a great football game. But I said earlier, I don't think I've seen a team, now maybe the Niners tonight, physically imposed their will. The Rams never had the ball in the second half. In Philadelphia, and it was really smart. They're like, we're just going to eat this clock. Maybe an occasional AJ Brown. We're just going to get four and a half yards. And you could just see the Rams, just the body language.

And they were tired. And it was like there's a culture. And by the way, this- Impressive game by the Rams, Colin. I mean, they... Hang around. Yeah, they are much better than I thought. Yeah.

I thought they were, got Caleb Williams written all over them. Pooka Nakuwa looks fantastic. Stafford's playing well. Donald's still playing his ass off. They're going to compete for a wild card spot for sure. One more thing here, Colin. I saw a lot today on the internet. You have to protect Anthony Richardson.

You can't let him play like this. Well, part of drafting Cam Newton, Anthony Richardson, RG3, I saw it last year with Trey Lance, you can't run him around. That's what he, well, Trey didn't, but those other guys do well. And right now Anthony Richardson running is his greatest attribute. And then off that, he's going to be 50% completion and hit some big plays. So today, when he hurts his shoulder, like, that is a strength of his right now. He cannot just sit in the pocket and throw, or they will have no shot.

So I can't blame Shane Stuyken for running him around when that is his positive attribute currently. We'll go back to early Big Ben. Big Ben was a little over his skis for even the great team, his first year. Yeah. But part of what made him great is it was backyard Thanksgiving Day football, where Ben would just take the, it was like a Nerf game. And Ben's running around with a ball in his hands. It's like, otherwise Ben was not good enough pre-snap.

He came from Miami of Ohio. He just wasn't good enough. You had to let Big Ben run. And so, and I think Cam was a much more refined product than Big Ben first during the league. You know, Cam had played SEC. He'd seen, played against great players. But I remember Big Ben early was one of the first times I'm like, oh, no, no, no. You just got to let him do backyard football a little bit.

And I know it's a structured, Steeler environment. But Miami of Ohio are the Pittsburgh Steelers playing an AMC championship games. Like, you've got to let dudes be dudes. By the way, Anthony Richardson has gotten banged up. A couple of them have not been. like violent hits while he's running. He's just a, he is just a, a kid that likes contact, that he's a big body. Sometimes I think with Anthony Richardson, Big Ben, Cam, big, strong athletes.

Herbert's done this. They have no idea. They think they're bulletproof. I've seen Justin Herbert put his shoulder down on a 275 pound defensive. And it's like, Justin, it's not high school football against Roseburg High School. I think the concerning part about Anthony Richardson is sometimes, and listen, Herbert hasn't really missed time, right? But he's been banged up a lot. I don't remember early young Cam ever getting hurt.

I mean, he was probably physically hurting, but he could play. Listen, I mean, sometimes it's just random because you see Anthony Richardson, you're like, this guy's indestructible. He has to be feeling that because he's running by and over guys. The problem is, unlike those guys, he's not getting up. Yeah. So that would be, and sometimes certain guys, for whatever reason, big, small, all sorts of shapes and sizes. just get hurt more for whatever reason. And it's not the trainer's fault.

It's not the waitroom guy's fault. It's just their body. Because like you said today, was a pretty just normal football play that you see a lot of even non-running quarterbacks kind of scramble and get tackled. I'd be a little scared that I don't know what we need to do with this young guy, but he's kind of getting banged up in pretty, I would say,

random plays, not maliciously violent, just absurd hits. Yeah, and it's one of those things where I just love watching him play. And he's the Colts are lucky to have him and he's lucky to have Shane Steichen and now Jonathan Taylor. And by the way, I think this was an example where Jonathan Taylor was aided by a couple of these injuries. I think Chris Bader looked at this thought, we got to take some carries at Anthony Richardson. We got to stop. I mean, I honestly think, you know, everybody, oh, running backs don't get paid. and it's like, no, no, the Colts guys got paid.

Saquan, by the way, because of Daniel Jones inefficiency, Sequin got paid. I still think with Mike Williams out, Austin Eccler, you know, I need him around. So I do think in this instance, Jonathan Taylor, I think Chris Bauer looked at it and thought, my quarterback's getting, he's getting hit too much. I got to give somebody else to football. Also, my coach is good enough. I'm looking around my division.

Why couldn't we win this thing? Why couldn't we go 10 and 7 and win the division? that division. Shane Steichen looks like he's got a chance to be a home run. D'emico Ryans looks like a pretty damn good coach. Obviously, Vrable a stud. That's Doug Peterson, Super Bowl champ. Pretty good coaching in the AFC South right now. Let's talk for a couple of minutes. We must because we both love college football. So here was my take on USC's near loss.

Notre Dame was next. They were a three touchdown favorite at home against Arizona. And they can see Notre Dame, Utah, Washington, they know. Players know. They're three touchdowns favorites. part of it is it had it had close game written all over it secondly uh outside of washington arizona has the best receiving tandem mcmillan and jacob cowling in the conference those guys are pros and they're good Arizona's not bad yeah and the trojans don't have great corners so the game was going to be high scoring um the other thing is uh and this is you get into

a weird spot USC's a terrible tackling team terrible. So I don't know what that is. Is it practice? Is it the fact that their safeties and corners have to make so many tackles? Those are not your best tacklers. They don't bring down guys on their first shot. But when I look at USC, my takeaway is they'll beat Notre Dame because they're built to beat average offenses with good defenses. They all, they're going to score 35 points. That's just what they're going to do. I don't think they can beat Oregon. I don't think they can beat Washington. UCLA's getting better every time I watch them. what do you make of the battle inside a program when Caleb in an offense is carrying it?

How good is USC's personnel in your opinion? Yeah, to me, Lincoln is a Mike Leach guy, right? Spent a lot of time there. That's what shaped his philosophical beliefs, and he's kind of morphed it off that. Well, that offense, you practice, you only have so many guys on a football team, your offense practice against your defense. When you go up against the Eagles or the 49ers every day, right, there's just a physicality in practice. Look at Jim Harbaugh.

Over the time, as he's gotten better players, his team is dramatically more physical. Urban Meyer always had this. Nick Sabin's had this on most of his teams, because that's how you play on offense. Well, his offense has always been spread it out, throw it to the outside, especially now because they are so predicated on these outside,

sweet wide receivers. It doesn't, even if your personnel, you don't have Ray Maluga and Brian Cushing walking through that door, it's harder to improve. when you're running sideline to sideline in practice and not taking things on. So what happens? Sometimes guys just run it down their throat because to me their front seven doesn't look that physical. I will say this, though, from an evaluation standpoint of Caleb,

sometimes I get a lot of my buddies like, tell your boy Colin to slow down the hype train. You know, scouts are always big on us the way. And I was like this when I was in the league and I'm like it now. I get excited watching guys. And Caleb's talent is immense. But, you know, you don't draft just purely off hype. Now, his talent and what he's doing now at Oklahoma, and even last year, for the most part, it became very, very easy to them. This year it's a little more difficult.

They're playing in all these close games, even in conference. So you're seeing him the spot last night where it was like he had to carry him. If he screwed up, they lose. And he made remarkable, because the only negative thing I've heard is from an executive that said, you know, we have them kind of their verified measurement, slightly under six feet. It's like 6-0-0-7. but he's not small. You saw the play last night when he carried the defender in the end zone

so he's thick and his arm is just absolutely and last night his moxie and his I mean Lincoln called was it in overtime when he did the shift plays like what are we doing? But Caleb just refused to let him lose and made a play one on one with the guy. I actually am learning more about Caleb in those moments than you do

when they're just routing Stanford 75 to 3 right? So you see him pressed, You see him making these plays against teams that you could argue they should be blowing out, but because of their defense, they're just not. So if he doesn't score on an every drive basis, it's like the Cowboys and Niners. If Dak didn't throw four touchdowns tonight, they had no chance, and he doesn't have that capability. Where Caleb's like, yeah, I've got to throw seven touchdowns and run for two more.

I'll do it. Right. And that to me, it's like we talked about Brock Purdy. He played on some of those teams where he had to be awesome for them to upset somebody. And he did a lot of the times in college, why he was two-time big 12 player of the year. The only knock I have seen is that sometimes he can get a little off on his accuracy, but he usually self-corrects next drive. But I have found Josh Allen, Mahomes, I think hyper-athletic players sometimes,

they like, their mechanics go a little sideways because they're moving around, whereas Brady's mechanics were great because he had to have great mechanics. You know, Burles. Peyton Manning. Yeah, Burrell. But I do think. I do think he gets a little off on his mechanics sometimes. I think he gets sloppy,

but he's such a bright kid. I know him pretty well. He self-corrects really, really quickly. I don't see a lot of weaknesses. He's going to have to be absolutely remarkable, in my opinion, for them to be in the Pac-12 championship game because now that they don't have like the north and south,

it's just the best two teams, right, record-wise, they feel to me more like 10-2. Yeah. And if Oregon and Washington, whoever loses that game still runs the table and beats them, because I have a hard time seeing them beat Oregon and Washington the way they're playing right now. Yeah, I don't think they would.

In fact, I think, I don't think Washington's defense is great. They have a couple good players. I think Oregon could hammer them. I mean, I think that game's in Otson. That's trouble. And the other thing USC could, we'll see how Utah's playing, but Utah's defense is unreal. So that's just, and we saw last year, they beat him twice.

That's just a tough game for Caleb and the offense, right? All right, John Middilcoff, three and out, former NFL scout, good stuff. John, good talking again. Take it easy, Colin. The volume. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kare Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor it? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not. not mean that you need to listen to learn the hard way on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast this is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human