The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff - 3 and Out - Wentz > Goff as a talent; Packers HC candidates; CFB Playoff breakdown; Foxboro home-field underrated; Richard Sherman's Russell Wilson hate

Episode Date: December 4, 2018

Subscribe here to the 3 and Out with John Middlekauff Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/3-and-out-with-john-middlekauff/id1352730623?mt=2.  3 and Out with John Middlekauff is part of the Colin Cowherd Podcast Network. 3 and Out is an unfiltered podcast covering the biggest stories in the NFL and college football. John brings his unique perspective as a former NFL scout, NFL analyst and radio host. In this episode, John discusses Philly's MNF win over the Redskins, why they're in good shape long-term, why Carson Wentz is greater talent than Goff, why comparing Reuben Foster to Greg Hardy is reckless, and potential HC candidates for the Packers. John also breaks down the CFB Playoff, explains why Foxboro home-field advantage is underrated, looks at Richard Sherman's relentless Russell Wilson hate, and answers listener questions from the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to her, he's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, well, well, what's up, everybody?

John Middlokoff, three and out podcast, just finished up. There's actually, it's in the two-minute warning now. Monday night football. not the greatest game. Have a couple thoughts on the Eagles. I mean, the Redskins, anytime you're on your third string quarterback, your first string quarterback,

who was kind of struggling, but he's proven he's good enough to win you games, and Alex Smith snaps his leg. Your season's over. But when your second string quarterback, which is not terrible in Colt McCoy, also snaps his leg. I think the official word is he broke his foot

or broke his leg, fibula, tibula, I saw it on Twitter earlier. Like, your season's done. And their season probably was already done the moment Alex went down. Now it's really done. Mark Sanchez. Whatever Adrian Peterson's eaten, though, I want some of that. And then I'll dive into, you know, the biggest story of the week.

Got to turn my iPad off. Mike McCarthy fire a weekend. Mike McCarthy fired. I mean, like Hugh Jackson and Mike McCarthy, we've had two coaches fired this year. One's the story. The other one's not. Like Hugh Jackson getting fired. I'm sorry.

was never a story. He won three games in his coaching in his Cleveland career. I'm so ready for Hugh Jackson to be irrelevant again. But Mike McCarthy being fired is a big deal. He's won a Super Bowl. I watched some of Mike Murphy's press conference today, or Mark Murphy, excuse me, the president, had a good stat.

Eight straight playoff appearances. Longest streak in Packer history. I mean, Holmgren, Lombardi, now McCarthy, I mean, they've had some good coaches. So it's a big deal. And Aaron Rogers have some thoughts on that. college football playoff, New England's home field advantage.

I don't think quite gets enough credit. It's kind of their curveball that Belichick and Brady get it all. But just watching that game, actually, back on my iPad, it really stuck out to me. And then Seattle. What a culture season for them. But starting a night on the Monday night game,

I treat the Eagles a little bit like a helicopter dad. And, you know, I fly in like probably once a month. I don't watch every snap of every game, especially the last couple weeks. I haven't been playing that well. But whenever I do come in, win or lose, my big takeaway is holy hell Carson Wentz is a freak. Like, what a talent. I always shill for the Bay Area. I'm a northern California guy through and through.

Like at my core, that's what defines me. It's the way I'm kind of wired. It's who I am. Born raised here. I root for Northern California people. And listen, I grew up going to games when I was young to Cal Games at Memorial Stadium with my dad, went to a couple of a year for a lot of years. So the Cal program means a lot.

I'm a big Jared Gough guy. I take them a lot in daily fantasy. I like watching them. I root for them to play. But the difference in just pure talents between him and Carson Wentz, it ain't even close. Like, I'm not going to say they're not playing the same sport. because Jared Goff has become a really solid player. But just from a pure talent standpoint and a pure, if you could tell every NFL team,

you are the number one overall drafting team, and you just do a fantasy draft, but it's real life. And you get to pick your two options at quarterback, you're the number one pick, are drafting Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. No team would even hesitate, and that includes the Rams. Like Carson Wentz is just a different beast. He really is. and I was thinking like after the game,

like what was his box score? And they showed it on Monday night right as the game was ending, threw for over 300 yards, two touchdowns, and he had the pick, the bad pick. Bad plays, people always freak out when a guy throws a pick.

Like, I am so unfazed by picks, even bad ones, with good players. Like, I'm sorry, like Russell Wilson throws a pick, like, whatever. Rathesberger makes some bad decisions. Okay, you know, Carson Wentz throws a bad pick. What's that supposed to mean?

I know when I fly in, and again, I get Carson has had some up and downs this year. He's coming back from a freaking ACL injury. But the more and more comfortably got, officially it was 27 to 39 for 306 yards and two touchdowns. But you just watch him and you're just like, man, this is a special, special talent. And it really is wild when you take a step back and think about that the Eagles won a Super Bowl without him. I mean, it really is crazy. Like him and Nick Foles are in a different universe from just playing an ability.

It ain't even close. Now, Nick got hot and played at an elite level, but as we saw this year, he can't maintain that. And Philly's still a factor. They are by no means dead. They mixed in Golden Tate tonight, you know, made some plays for him, who's just a really good talent.

But as you saw, like, their X factor, their curveball, just big picture. Like if I'm an Eagles fan and we don't make the playoffs or we make the playoffs and we squeeze in this year, whatever. Like as long as we got that dude, that guy. Carson Wentz, number 11. Like, you see that guy? Like, the best teams that the franchise has really ever had consistently were those early 2000 teams with McNabb.

And McNabb was an all-time, just talent-wise. I remember when I first started working with the Eagles, Deuce Daly at the time, was like an inch. turn and he was showing me some film of those two like in 99 or 2000 or whatever their rookie year was and McNabb was just throwing BBs and he was fresh off the Syracuse basketball court he could he could move it was just like god this guy's a freak talent the problem is he never became a consistently accurate quarterback he also had some bad turnovers like Carson Wentz should fly by him like as an all-time player in their franchise at quarterback and Donovan Mcnapp, not a Hall of Famer, but

well, the Hall of really good. Like, I bet if you went to his Wikipedia page, I don't know, I'd just, off top of my, I'd guess seven Pro Bowls, but like five of those, I would imagine, I'm just guessing, I'll type it in right now. Like, Donovan McNabb had some really good years, where he was clearly one of the top five quarterbacks in the

NFL. Like, I think Carson Wentz has a chance to be considerably better. And again, this is not a criticism of McNabb. I think McNabb, six-time pro bowler. So, I mean, Eagles Hall of Fame or six-time pro bowler at a hell of a career. From 2004, when they were really taken off, I mean, he was pro bowl every year, five straight years. He was a good player. Carson Went should become a much better player. Again, I'm helicopter

dad. So, you know, the mother and a fan, the equivalent might say, middle cough, you, you don't watch them every game. He's been struggling. Again, a torn ACL. Their offense, now Zach Ertz, him, they add a receiver to go with Alshon Jeffrey with Nelson Aguilar and get another running back. They're playing with some random guy because they've had a bunch of injuries and a 50-year-old Darren Spurals. They'll be fine. Big picture.

It may not be this year, but just look in your division. The Giants don't have a guy. The Cowboys, if they make the playoffs this year, Jerry's going to give Dak way too much money. And the Redskins literally are playing with Mark Sanchez right now. because the guy they gave $70 million, has a snapped leg, and then Colt McCoy, their backup, who's actually not bad, also has a snap leg.

That's a problem. And I said this last week, and I saw it again tonight. I see people doing it on Twitter. I saw a lot of people tonight comparing Greg Hardy to Ruben Foster. I'm not a journalist. I don't abide by the rules. I don't even know them. But to me, that's beyond reckless.

That is insane to make that comparison. We know for a fact, Greg Hart, already beat the shit out of that girl. Now he paid her to be quiet, but we knew he beat her. He had admitted it. He was pleaded guilty. That happened. Ruben Foster did not, to our knowledge, the first time, she recanted, made it all up. She had also, on a previous individual, another guy had had the same thing happened. Now the third time, she might be telling the truth. I'm not saying he didn't hit her this time, but we sure as hell do not know that he did. So I get everyone loves kicking Dan Snyder

and the wind blows harder at the top, so you just love going in on the NFL. But to say Ruben Foster, I saw multiple people tweet that Ruben Foster has similar or the same history as Greg Hardy. I mean, we're talking about, like, credible journalist. That's insane.

Like, you're a moron if you're saying that. Or you're just not following the facts. You just have an agenda and a narrative that you want to be true. Like, factually, she made it up the first time. If anything, she was the criminal. And this time, if you've listened to the 911 call, but I red flagged it. And again, if Ruben hit her, he's a scumbag

and every bit of POS is Greg Hardy. But the information we have right now does not say that. For anyone to put that out right now, I get you hate Dan Snyder, I get you hate the Redskins. Hell, I mean, a lot of these journalists that cover the NFL have never made more money, yet they hate the NFL. It's kind of weird. But to say that about Rubin is crazy. And it's just factually incorrect. And it's also. been proven like we did we already did this and you've already been saw that it went the wrong way so shouldn't you just at least let some of the facts come out like we know kareem hunt hit her or kicked her we saw on the video you know this one the girl told you she made it up the first time i just think

it's been beyond reckless and it makes me really uncomfortable anyone knows listening to the show i do not become uncomfortable very often got no problem talking about whatever but by no means am i going to call him just like a domestic abuser. I don't have the information. Hell, the information would tell me, I don't know if she's believable. Greg Hardy, hit her. Fact. Kareem Hunt, hit her, fact. Like, we have some facts. And with Ruben Foster and the Russia Redskins, we have nothing but fact. If anything, we have a girl that's 0 for two now, oh for two, who's recanted twice and admitted she made it all up on two different men. So let's just pump the brakes on just saying the redskins are the devil, okay? And that Ruben Foster

is the devil and a criminal. Because right now the information does not say that. He might be, but we by no means know that. Okay, let's dive into the biggest news of the year. Biggest coaching news of the year. I personally don't think Hugh Jackson getting fired is that big of news. I mean, he's one of the worst coaches in the history of modern day NFL. He won three games in two and a half years. It's unheard of that he even kept his job. So to me, is that news? No.

Mike McCarthy losing his job, that's a big deal. In an industry where he had proven to be one of the best in a very public business in the NFL, he makes a ton of money. He'd won a Super Bowl in a top five important franchise in the NFL. Like, it's comparing Mike McCarthy losing his job and Hugh Jackson comparing his job is like comparing a lake to the ocean. I mean, it's just they're not even in the same stratosphere. Yesterday is a big, big deal. Also because Mike McCarthy, a franchise, and I think Schaefter tweeted this out, like most Super Bowl winning coaches don't get fired in season.

It's unheard of. I was in Philadelphia when Andy Reid lost his job. he had never won a Super Bowl, but like McCarthy, had been there for a long time, had a long resume of success, and was given to the last day of the year and was fired at the end of the year.

Like, that's usually how it works for guys that have proven it. One thing I'm uncomfortable doing, and I've seen this on Twitter, and I've seen some high-level people doing this, and this is a very old-school mentality. He deserved better. I see all that all over the place.

He deserved better. Troy Igman, he said that he deserved better. Obviously, Tony Dungey, typically coaches always kind of shill for other coaches. Just a natural reaction. I'm never comfortable with the word deserve. I don't think you deserve anything in life. In business, you get what you negotiate, not what you deserve. Anyone that's made any money or any deals knows that.

Mike McCarthy was being paid $7 plus million. Like, he's in the top 1% of the 1%. Super rich people don't make that in a given year. That was a salary. Here's the other thing. Mike McCart – and I get Troy Aitman back 30 years ago. Coaches didn't make that much money. They didn't have guaranteed contracts, whatever.

It was a big deal. So maybe he, quote-unquote, would have deserved more. But Mike McCarthy was paid to go away. Here's the other thing. He lost to the Arizona Cardinals. The reports came out in the morning before any of the morning games, either by rap sheet or I don't know. I saw it on Rotow World.

that the Arizona Cardinals, and I had heard this in kind of some league scuttlebut, that is going to fire everyone from the general manager. Now, the moment Steve Kime got the DUI before the season, that's never a great look. And then when the team goes on to have a terribly shitty season, like, yeah, it'd be like, even if the owner likes you, you're in some trouble. And their coach is a joke. Like, he's a joke. They cannot beat the Green Bay Packers.

And they did. And so I have no issues with them firing Mike McCarthy. Here's the other thing. A lot of people are crushing Aaron Rogers saying that he quit on him, and that might be true. I don't know Aaron personally. I've never met him. I've known some people that played with him.

We've all seen the stories. It's not easy. You know, he's not, you know, if you look up teammate in the dictionary, you're probably finding Tim Duncan before you fight Aaron Rogers. You know, he's not the number one guy there. But the moment he got his contract,

which paid him, I remember when they signed the contract, later that day, Schaefter tweeted, he is going to make $80 million over six months. I love the narrative too, like football players make nothing. No, actually, quarterbacks make more than NBA superstars. $80 million in six months. There was a Forbes article last week. Derek Carr made $41 million in the last fiscal year.

41 million. Aaron Rogers is going to trump that. I bet Aaron in an eight-month span made $100 million. And he deserved it, quote unquote, deserved it. He'd earned it. You know, so I get it. The moment he got that money, he didn't just become the most important guy in the franchise.

We already knew that. He became the most important guy in the history of the franchise. In any business, when you invest an astronomical amount of money into whatever, an asset, a piece of property, a business, a player in this case, he is the number one priority by a mild. Mike McCarthy makes $7 million or whatever is the head coach Not even in the same world of importance as Aaron Rogers So this notion that like Mike McCarthy and I get it

I have some of this in me too Some F you edge to you Like I'm not gonna kiss your ass Aaron Which maybe he had in the last couple years But the moment Aaron gets that contract and gets that much juice Like I'm sorry Mike Part of politics at any job is knowing when to give in And when to kind of push back

You have to kiss Aaron's ass a little bit. You have to work with Aaron Rogers. You need him then infinitely more than he needs you. Now, Mike might say, I was kind of over it anyway. I wanted a new start. And I make so much money and they owe me money. Even if I don't get a job this offseason, I'll get one next year and they still have to pay me. That's why, again, I will never lose sleep or fake outrage over head coaches getting fired in college football.

the NFL. They make too much money. They're the top 1% of the 1%. I do feel bad for maybe a quality control guy on the staff that makes 90K and 30 years old and has a little kid. Like, yeah, I feel bad for that guy. He doesn't know what he's going to do. I don't feel bad for Mike McCarthy. He's been the head coach there for 13 years. How much money do you think he's made over that period of time? 75 million? A hundred million? Mike McCarthy's made so much goddamn money. It's not even funny. And he wasn't doing a good job. And he was buttoned heads, with the most important person in the building. Like, that's a little bit on Mike.

I'm sorry. And then Aaron clearly did he sabotaged him, kind of threw him under the bus after the game. Like, team wasn't ready. We were flat. Like, yeah, Aaron's got all the juice. Aaron has all the juice. Here's the other thing about the Packers.

They're kind of a weird franchise because they don't have a true owner. Like, I'd probably argue Mike McCarthy went on fired last year if they had an owner. But they don't. They have like this communal, you know, Mark Murphy, this former player that's their president, that's a high-level guy,

Goudicans, this young general manager that clearly is not in control of this. Like, I get it. And this notion, it's very old school, he deserved better to Tony Dungy. He deserved, no, he didn't deserve anything. He deserved what he'd been paid, which they owe him.

You know, it's not, it's not like he's not going to get paid. It's like he can't feed his family. It's not like he's going to struggle to get another job, you'd think. But the moment Aaron got that money, and I don't see anyone saying this, like, he has more power than probably any athlete in the world. Maybe not named LeBron.

Or like, he probably got more power than like Messi or Ronaldo. They paid him $80 million over six months. He basically says to everyone in that building, if he wants to, bend over. I'm in control. And he said,

like he got him fired. But it's his right. That's when he makes that much money. And he's that important to the franchise. Now, the counter would be how, you know, enticing and just interesting

and attractive is this job. That's the other angle of this. And it's the Green Bay Packers. So you say that out loud. One of the biggest brands in the NFL, the league that's the most important league in our country. So you go, well, it's going to be pretty attractive. And they say what you want.

He struggled this year, but he's still 35 years old. You know, and has you think three or four high-level years left for him. Well, you go, it's an interesting job and a powerful job. But the amount of pressure, like let's just do a hypothetical here. I don't think this guy's going to leave. But let's just say he left. Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma and went to the Packers. He would have infinitely more pressure with Green Bay these next two or three years than he would at Oklahoma.

He's already made the playoffs twice. He's clearly the apple of everyone's eye in the NFL and, hell, college football. He'd get a job anywhere he wanted, anytime he wanted in college and the pros. Well, the moment you take the Green Bay job with Aaron making that much money and he's just Aaron, Rogers. The clock doesn't just start ticking. It doesn't, I mean, it's like, it red lines, and everyone's on you. Like, you have to make the, anything less than like a home playoff game next year would be a disaster. Because the other thing you'd go, well, the Packers would say our defense isn't bad. And we have a star quarterback. And we got some weapons. And we got draft capital.

We got a couple first round picks. I'm telling you, anything less than next year to like 11 and 5, 12 and 4? People would be like, ah, is Lincoln even any good? So while this job is, it's an elite job, you're the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. That matters. It just does. There's no arguing that that's, it matters several reasons. It's one of the biggest brands in the NFL. They're a franchise.

Holmgren was there for eight or nine years. McCarthy was there for a long time. If you win, and if you're just a guy they like, you're not going to lose your job. It's not like, you know, the Browns or the Niners where they fire coaches every year. but the pressure that comes along with it is beyond immense. Now, you probably could argue they don't have an owner, so it is unique that way, and that's 100%. But you answer to Mark Murphy, who is the president,

but he's a football guy because he's a former player, and you have this general manager. I got news for you. General managers like picking the players. So if you're Lincoln Riley, you go, well, I pick all the players right now in Oklahoma. I answer to no one on this campus. When I say jump, everyone on campus, the president, the AD, my players, and my assistant coaches say how high?

When I say jump to Aaron Rogers, he might say, no, you jump. You know, he doesn't say how high you want me to jump. He would look Lincoln Riley. No, you'd do that. Now, maybe he wouldn't, but there's a chance he would. So I would cross that off. I've already said last week Bruce Ariens, if you're the Packers, you wouldn't risk bringing Bruce and him buttoned heads with Aaron. to me you're going offensive coordinator.

Josh McDaniels. I said last year I thought unequivocally, I didn't even think it was an argument. Josh McDaniels was the best coach on the market. His resume, second chance, he's learned from it. There have been several articles. He's been introspective. He's written down all of his flaws.

But clearly he got cold feet last year with a job that I would say is way better than the Packers job if luck was healthy. Like that is, you might argue, the best job in the league. You get Andrew Luck, who's 28, 29 years old under contract forever. I mean, that's a great job. And he turned them, and he, he didn't just turn them down. It's one of the all-time crazy coaching maneuvers we've ever seen. I just don't trust them.

Remember last year his agent, I think was Jimmy Sexton. I might have the agent wrong. Or no, it's Andy and Homerin's guy. I can't even think of it. Bob Lamont. Fired him. Just because you can't do that. That cannot happen.

So by trust in Josh McDaniels, well, I'd be the first to say he is really good offensive schemer. Like he is incredible. I know he's got Brady, but he's good. You can't even argue that. I just don't trust him. Like what I witnessed last year, I just couldn't trust him. Now, I get him at Gutakins two years ago when the Niners were interviewing people. Jed was so caught up and making sure people liked each other.

So he was trying to do these shotgun men. marriages, and Goudicans and McDaniels got to know each other. I still, I don't know, man. Chris Ballard knew Josh McDaniels. They had the same agent, and it still happened. So I just wouldn't trust it. I wouldn't waste time. You know, John D. Philippo is 100% going to be in the mix.

I think it's going to be a little harder to find a coach than people just think. Maybe they go a little off the beaten path and go like a Matt Campbell type guy. I don't know. But I would. I think Lincoln Riley tells them no, though he should talk. to them. And I think ultimately, if they hire Josh McDaniels or even an attempt going down that road, I think it's very, very risky. Let's jump really quick. Let's leave Sundays, go to Saturday. What just starting off, what a fantastic. Let me repeat, fantastic championship Saturday.

That George Alabama game, if you're a sports fan, I love Nick Saban. I love the SEC because, let's call it what it is. Listen, I'm a West Coast Homer and I love the PAC 12. Like, that's my first love. But the PAC 12 is a joke. Like, these people saying, well, we need eight teams in the college football playoffs. The PAC

12 did not deserve to sniff the college football playoffs. I'm not a big believer that just because you win your conference, you should get an automatic bid. I'm fine with the four teams. Now, will it eventually change? Of course. Money talk, shit walks. So,

there's so much money in the line, they'll eventually go to eight teams. But the PAC 12 did not deserve to get a team. The Big Ten, you know, it's up for debate, even though I think Ohio State's ceiling. The SEC's their motto is it just means more. And the fact is, it does. It means more in the South. That is not really arguable. It just is a bigger deal in the SEC championship in the SEC on a weekly basis.

That conference treats fully. football like the NFL. Out West, we care way too much about the Olympic sports, about equality. And listen, I'm all for equality in every walk of life, except when it comes to money. And when it comes to money, football has to be your number one priority. Why? Because it's driving the train of cash. And the SEC gets that. Ohio State, Michigan, get that. I mean, the Big 10, the Big 12 get that, and basketball to somewhat of a lesser extent. the ACC with the Dukes and North Carolina they really matter.

The PAC 12, we care way too much about lacrosse and soccer, but that's a whole different tangent. Bottom line, I left the Georgia game thinking, one, Kirby Smart blew the game. There's no arguing that. He got tight, called a fake punt. It's inexcusable. I know he defended it.

I was watching Scott Van Pelt. He came on and said they had the look and he knew the coverage from being Alabama. I get that, but Kirby, you can't run a fake punt. in a tie game in the SEC championship, when their backup quarterback is in, it's inexcusable. Keep your offense.

I'm always foregoing for it. But win or lose with your star quarterback, with your star offensive players that had played well. But that's neither here nor there. It was clear that after that game, the committee was going to have a tough choice on their hand. No one with half a brain could argue that, man, you know what, Georgia is one of the best four teams I saw this year.

It was true. And Kirk Herb Street was adamant. And I got where he was coming from. But in football, there's a reason why the playoffs, you don't get the one or two. It's never decided on head-to-head. The draft picks aren't decided on head-to-head. Because football, the games matter. The season matters.

You only play a limited amount of games. You don't have 80 games. You have like 16 games in the pros. In college, you play 12 or 13. And Georgia lost, too. Notre Dame will always be an automatic bid if they run the table. And they should be. Their schedule, it changes on a given year, depending on how teams do,

but they schedule a big boy schedule. It's not their fault that Virginia Tech sucked this year. Like, they won the games. They deserve to go in. Alabama lock, Clemson was a lock. Oklahoma, I'm fine with them getting in because their offense is historically great. but their defense, you don't need to Google where they stand on third down or on scoring. They're atrocious.

They look like a bunch of midgets in their secondary. They can't cover. Their linebackers feel small. And they're terrible tackling team. Their defense is terrible. But offensively, they are, I think historically, I've read a couple places, a historically great offense. So I got no problem with it.

But I also have no problem with anyone saying to George, is better than them. Because I also think this, where it just means more, I think LSU would throttle the Washington, a Utah, a Penn State, you know, who's the Pittsburgh, Texas, on a neutral field. They would throttle those teams if they care. I always go into bowl games with a grain assault on how I'm going to judge the team. Like Auburn last year lost to UCF. LSU might lose the UCF this year They won't take that game seriously There won't be a player on LSU

That looks at a player on UCF Like they're their equals Because all those guys are four or five star recruits All those guys just look down upon UCF And this game means nothing That's why when Boise Who had an incredible program Beat Oklahoma several years ago

The Adrian Peterson game When they walk off Ian Johnson You know Statue of Liberty play which was awesome. But you think Adrian Peterson looked at Ian Johnson

or at Chris Peterson and his entire roster like they were equals? He didn't take them seriously. Now they ended up losing and it looks bad but bowl games, there are two bowl games that matter

and those are the playoff games. The other bowl games don't mean a goddamn thing. But like Georgia, I would actually bet against Georgia in their bowl game. Why? Because they just sniffed the playoffs

and then they didn't get it. Just like I'd bet probably against Ohio State, which should wipe the floor with Washington. I don't think they'll try. I don't think they'll even care. They won't even be focused. Even if it's Urban Meyer's last game, which it sure feels like that, I don't expect

them to give great effort. But I think the hard part about this year is you had three teams. Now, Ohio State, when you get blown out by Purdue and they did not play well a lot of the season, that's a big difference between Georgia and Oklahoma. those teams maintained a high level of play start to finish. Georgia, you just can't get blown out by LSU. It just can't happen. And that ultimately screwed them,

even though I think LSU is really good. If that game had just been closer, I think they might have got in. If that had been a last second field goal, but they got housed. I remember watching the game. But I got news for you. Beside Alabama and Clemson,

I think every team in the country would get housed. going into LSU. They were really good this year. I mean, they were awesome. They have more NFL players than you, if your name's not. Ohio State, Clemson, or Alabama. So to think that that's some crazy loss,

it's just not. And this was a really, really difficult decision. But I'm also, I'm not going to flinch on this. I'm not a big fan of the 18 playoffs. Like UCF, I'm sorry, McKenzie Milton goes. I don't even take you seriously anymore. Washington, as long as you keep rolling out Jake Browning, and thank God this is the last game.

I don't take you seriously. I mean, he's probably a high level guy. He's going to be successful selling insurance or running a company or on Wall Street. He's a below average, you know, quarterback at the highest level of college. He's just not good enough. And then you look at, you know, just start going around like Michigan.

Clearly they were really flawed. They can't play with the big boys who have speed. So this year, like beside those top six in Ohio State kind of made their own bed when they got destroyed by Purdue. Georgia, at least they got blown out by LSU, in Oklahoma, while they have an enormous red flag, the biggest red flag of any red flag of these four teams in their defense. I think I saw Joel Klapp say on Twitter

that it is going to be the worst unit offensive defense in the history of the playoffs by like 40 spots. I mean, they have one of the worst defenses in the country. You don't need to be Bill Parcells to figure that out. You watch them play a series and you're like, God, why are their defenders so bad? Honestly, it's somewhat baffling because clearly Oklahoma is getting the cream of the crop. Offensive players for the last two decades. Adrian Peterson's, the Joe Mixons, the, you know, just you go, D.D. Westbrooks.

You go on and on. James Andrews guys playing for Baltimore is an excellent player. I mean, they produce wide receivers, tight ends, and running back. and quarterbacks with ease. Why can't they find some corners? Why can't they find some hybrid linebackers? I don't get it. Even though I do kind of get it when your coach,

especially the way Lincoln is now is so offensive heavy, you just discount that side of the ball. You also don't set the tone in practice to hit people in the mouth when you just run spread constantly. Like there is a, I'm hitting you in the mouth with Georgia, with LSU, with Alabama. Every day at practice. Notre Dame carries themselves like an old school program.

They want to play like a better version of Michigan. Hit you in the teeth. Ohio State is the ultimate combination because they use SEC players and they use a spread offense, but they have an old school defensive mentality. Urban's defenses on his good teams are always elite. So they emphasize that. Like Oklahoma doesn't.

And the bet I like the most is taking Clemson to win it all. Right now you can almost get them three to one going into this playoff because their roster is the closest to Alabama. They have NFL players on both sides of the ball. Their quarterback is him or Kyler Murray, the most talented player, the quarterback. Like if Tua can't go, Alabama can't win the championship. They're not going to win the championship with Jalen Hertz, which is not going to happen. Can Notre Dame win with Buck?

Maybe, but their team isn't as good as these other teams. Can Trevor Lawrence, if he gets hot for two games, win this whole thing for 100%. And I think Oklahoma, you just can't play no defense. Like, listen, football has changed. The emphasis just on defense in general has changed. But you have to play some in playoff games, college or pro. You can't just give up touchdown after touchdown completion after completion and win big time games.

It's going to be the downfall of the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, their downfall might have been Kareem Hunt getting in trouble anyway, but that's a whole other conversation. So I like Clemson to win it all. And I think ultimately at the end of the day, I have no issue with the committee, but there was a legit argument to be made for Georgia. One thing, one pet peeve of mine, and you see this on social media a lot, is like when people complain about athletes are what they're making,

and then like a media person will fire back and be like, fans think that they dictate people's salary. and they don't directly, but indirectly, these leagues make all this money because of people. Without a bunch of eyeballs, you could not sign these gigantic media deals at the NFL, the college football, that the NBA, like they don't necessarily, the amount of people they need in a stadium and selling tickets has become less important as it does the people consuming your product on television or streaming. That is how you make a lot of money. Fans matter. Like fans, not one individual,

but as a group, they pay for everyone's salary. That's not even arguable. That is the business model, especially in the NFL. Well, one thing that in the NFL, one major difference between the NFL and college, is for the most part, like there are only probably on a, you can count on one hand, truly impactful road venues.

And plus these guys are pros. So playing on the road is just easier. Where in college, if you're like a 19-year-old sophomore and you play in the Pact 12 and you're playing at UCLA, like going into Oregon, that's hard. You know, that's difficult. If you're playing at Ohio State going into Michigan, in theory, is difficult. Playing in any SEC road environment, it's hard. Like, it's difficult. You know, it does impact players.

I've seen. I've worked in college. I've worked in the pros. it's light years different in the pros. Like you can easily go on the road and just win road games. Well, to me, they're still like, I'm watching Seattle play, and their home field advantage is real. Like, just from their crowd environment.

And one crowd that I don't think gets any credit, and I threw on the game because the Bay Area, you know, I had to watch the Raiders and Niners. I didn't get the local, the national game was Patriots, Minnesota. in the New England pretty easily 2410 and I actually didn't even finish the game because I had to do this

but one takeaway at least from watching the first half and I think we all take this for granted is there is an edge when you go into Foxboro there is a standard that has been set by now don't give me it starts with Brady and Belichick

but every fan that walks in there has a massive FU edge now is that Boston is that a tip on your shoulder, whatever. But they all walk into that stadium like they are the best. And you feel it when you're, I'm just watching it on my iPad this morning. I'm like, God damn, it would be, I mean, Foxboro, it's not a home field advantage just because you're playing Brady and Belichick.

That place is crazy. Every person in there is going nuts and they think that you are not their equal. And they have a lot of evidence that you're not. But I don't think they're crowd. And I heard actually Bill Simmons mentioned this. on one of his podcasts, and just made me think. And then I'm watching the game. I'm like, God, this place is crazy.

You know? It's not just, like, I'm sorry. Like, if the 49ers get good, will Levi's be a great home field advantage? I don't know. I would probably actually doubt it. I'd bet against it. Because I've been to, when I went to Candlestick, and I've been to some games at the Coliseum,

when the Raiders have been competitive, like the Coliseum and Candlestick, sneaky, not necessarily. It's not like downtown San Francisco, but it was kind of down toward the airport, in a rough part of town, had a major edge to it. And the Coliseum, when the Raiders are good, have a major edge to it. Like, you know, there is a home field advantage. There is a, and both those two teams, now the Niners had it for a minute with Harbaugh.

Like, every fan went in there that grew up on Eddie de Bartolo, and this is what I think makes rooting for sports fun. Like, especially when you root for a great team, you have an arrogance to you as a fan. I pay, I'm sure the Foxborough tickets, probably cost you, you know, 150 minimum for noseblees just to get in. That you carry yourself like a champion. And that sounds cheesy and corny and all that BS. But I'm watching these games and think that every single human being in that stadium believes that their team, like to their core, it's just better than you.

And you just, like, it's no different than when you watch an Alabama game or Ohio State game. You see it a lot in college sports when it's obvious they were just better. You don't see it as. often in pro sports? Like, the Warriors have that right now. I used to go to Warriors games before even Steve Kirk got here, like when Mark Jackson was there. It was like a fun environment, but it didn't really have, like everyone in the place did not view themselves like they were truly better than the best teams. Now, if you go in there, there is an arrogance and an ego from the players to the crowd that you can sniff from a mile away. And I feel that for the,

like, I hadn't even thought about it. it, but I'm watching the Patriot game and going, God, they have this arrogance to them and this element that no other team right now has in the NFL. Like, I'm watching the Steeler Charger game on Sunday night and thinking, God, there are people in the crowd in Pittsburgh. They got Big Ben Antonio Brown. They've made the playoffs. It feels like every year for the last 50 years.

It's crossing their mind. They might lose this game because I'm thinking it. But it never crosses anyone. mind in New England like we're losing because we ain't losing and we know we're not losing at home. And that is an advantage. And again, I'm not saying that like their crowd is a reason that they have all these championships or whatever, but they play a role. And I don't think they get the proper credit because place rocks, you just do not lose. And there is an edge that you feel on television that I'm jealous living on the West Coast. We just, it doesn't consume our life.

And at one point in time, actually, on the West Coast, when I grew up, the Niners for 20 years were like what the Patriots are doing. And there was an ego with the fan base. And you know what? When you're good, your fan base should have an ego. You should look at everyone else like they're inferior. And most people, you know, I know I get DMs all the time, Midloughoff mailbag, at John Middilcoff slide up in them from just fans of different teams. Like, I'm a Bengal fan, I'm a Browns fan, I'm a Seattle fan. You don't view yourself like that.

And you shouldn't. I mean, because you get nervous in games that you think you might lose because you might. If I was a Patriot fan, I would never ever view any game I've played for the last 10 plus years. We were ever going to lose. I would never think like that. My arrogance and ego would be I wouldn't even be able to talk. Like what? You said who?

You're going to beat us? But there is this craziness to the fans that's so loud, no wonder that Belichick and Brady went all the time. That place rocks. I like Richard Sherman, and I think he's had a fantastic career. I think he's the most physical tackling corner I've personally ever seen. He just, I mean, he's a borderline Hall of Famer. And he's played really well this year coming off of Tor an Achilles for the 49ers. But one thing, and listen, some of us, and I mean, we all,

there are certain people in our lives that we just dislike, that we just do not like. For whatever reason. Some of them have valid reasons. Like a guy screwed you. A guy stole your girlfriend. You just, you did business with him. You hated him. You just don't like his personality.

Whatever. And so I get it. You don't have to like everyone. I think too often in 2018, and maybe it's always been like this, we spend too much time trying to make sure that people think we like them even when we don't. So I respect Richard Sherman.

just openly acting like he doesn't like Russell Wilson. Here's my problem with Richard Sherman last week, kind of claiming like Russell is not a good player. Like Richard, this isn't 2013 anymore. LB is not carrying him. Russell Wilson is an elite quarterback. He's the top three or four quarterback right now, and he has been for the last couple of years.

He's headed to the Hall of Fame as a quarterback. And you know what, Richard? And all of Twitter and somebody who, people in the media because they're so pro player were like, oh my God, two years ago, you got to pay Cam, you got to pay Michael Bennett this year. You got to pay Earl Thomas. These guys deserve it. It's like, no, they're actually all getting kind of old.

They've already been paid. Are they going to give them a third contract? And clearly the locker room kind of shifted on Pete, and he just said, screw them, got rid of them all. Not great value. And I crushed them six months ago because you got to, if you are going to get rid of them, which you get rid of everyone in this league besides maybe quarter. quarterbacks, you know, even they get old on you, but you kind of hold on to the end, because you should. Like the Giants, what they're doing with Eli is stupid, but it is kind of understandable.

Any other position, it is not understandable. It's not okay. Well, with Russell, like, they knew. Now, is Russell corny as hell? Yes. Do I, like, get anything out of when I follow Russell and I have forever on Twitter and Instagram? Clearly, he's a good human being, you know? better human being than me, probably a better human being than you too. But if I was around him every day, I'm probably a little more like Richard. I'd think he was corny too, and it would drive me nuts. And early on, when we won, like big, I would remember him as going, if I'm Richard, like, we carried you.

And it clearly shifted these last couple years and everything changed. And he clearly is good enough now to carry you to the playoffs by himself. So I get where Richard's coming from, but he's no longer right, continuing to say, like, he's not a good player. And I do think that whole group of defense, they believe that. They do not like Richard Sherman. Or, I mean, excuse me, Russell Wilson, besides maybe Bobby Wagner. That unlike those other guys that were starting to diminish in play, Bobby Wagner is still an all pro. So they kept him.

And wasn't really ruffling feathers and got along with Russell just fine. But in the NFL, like Richard and any defensive player, I tell you got to be very careful about picking a battle with your quarterback. Because anyone knows in office politics, if you pick a battle with the guy who's making the company more money than you, you're going to lose. But if you pick a battle with a guy that you're more valuable, you might win. And hell, you still might lose, but you got a much better chance to win that. Like Richard, you picked a battle with the guy 100% they were not going to get rid of. They were going to build the thing around. So that is on you a little bit.

And looking back why Seattle didn't even resign him or even really entertain it, because clearly he's got something left and they could have had him for a discount. They didn't want him around anymore. Why would you? It's like Richard, you hate Russell. Like we're trying to take a step and that we have. We have an incredible culture here. our lowest moment of this run was last year when we went nine and seven and we had a ton of injuries.

This year we've kind of flipped it. We're all young beside Russell. It's his team and we're looking at 10 and 6 and going to the playoffs, baby. And if it wasn't for this all-time great team in our division record-wise, not actual team, we would be in the mix to win most divisions. So Richard, you're in the wrong on this one. And again, I am pro. like Russell kind of drives me nuts. He was married, and then when he got divorced, after I think Golden Tate, some weird things

happened, you know, you start dating Sierra and you start claiming you're like a born-again virgin, and she's got songs about my goodies. It's like, Russell, come on, man. This is 2018. Like, don't treat us like idiots. You know, I get you got a brand to withhold, but come on, bro. Just be a normal human for five seconds. Like the older I get, the more he drives me nuts.

But I will say this about him. If you said, John, I'm going to charge you 50 bucks. And you could watch one quarterback in the NFL. Like, you only get one game. And the top, whatever the quarterback you pick is going to have his best game. What would just be the funest, you know, the most entertaining for your eyes? It'd be Russ. Like he really is, and I've watched him very closely just because I watch a lot of the NFC.

West, obviously the Niners. play him and I just locked into their games. He's incredible. He's an all-time great player and he's only getting better. Like it's just, there's no more argument anymore. Is he Andrew Luck? No. I would take Andrew Luck over him. But has he closed that gap? Yes, he has. He's impressed me. The gap like four or five years ago before Luck got hurt was like the Grand Canyon. They weren't even in the same conversation. Now, I still would take luck, but Russell can carry you. He can make plays like with Andrew with nobody's. Now, Doug Baldwin's a good player. Tyler Lockhart's becoming one, but they haven't really had any running back since Marshawn quit on him several years ago.

Now Carson and Penny are playing well right now, but again, it's Carson a seventh round pick. Penny looked really chubby at the beginning of the year. You know, so Russell, like Richard in the defense, Van L.O.B. that doesn't like, they were just wrong. now. The jury's no longer out on Russ. We have evidence. He's a baller. Okay, let's get into the Middilkoff mailbag. I'm going to fly through, see if I can bang out like four or five, because I'm a little behind, as I always am, because you guys slide up in those DMs. You go to my Instagram account at John Middlecoff. DEMs are open. You hit follow, and then you hit message if you have a question. And I'll answer them like this.

who's the best college quarterback in the 2019 draft if Justin Herbert doesn't declare. I think that that has become pretty clear. It's Dwayne Haskins, assuming he'll declare, which he doesn't have to. I think he's only a redshirt sophomore. But his talent is pretty immense. It feels like he's gone from Ohio State. I'll be interested to see if he plays in the Rose Bowl. If I had to guess, I'd say 50-50 as the recording of this, a lot of players have announced

they're not playing in their bowl game. I have not seen anything on him. Obviously, Nick Bosa pieced out a while ago. I mean, let's call it what it is. And I don't blame Nick Bosa, but he quit on the team. Like, that's what he did. That happened. Now, if you just leave your bowl game, to me, that's not quitting on your team.

What Nick Bosa did is he quit on the team. And again, I got no issue with it, but let's just call it what it is. So, yeah, I'd go Dwayne Haskins. Hey, John, big fan of the party. Do you think the Niners should go? after Jalen Ramsey in the offseason. Maybe throw a few draft picks Jacksonville's way, not first round. The Niners secondary is awful and I think Sherman would be solid mentor for Jason.

Or excuse me, Jalen. The problem is you can't take a guy in a top five and then have him become an elite player and trade him for non-first round picks. And the Niners with the one or second overall pick cannot trade that for Jalen Ramsey. but the Jaguars who, listen, fanboys, he is not on the trading block. They have 100% disgust trading him because, as I've said, he never shuts up,

which isn't a terrible thing. He does back it up, but he also writes checks that his teammates can't cash. He can cash him. Like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Philip Rivers, you know, great players can talk all the shit they want. Jalen Ramsey can never shut up.

up. He can back it up. Well, he's got half his teammates can't, and his quarterback definitely can't. So it would be a little, it would wear you out. Say one thing. Remember when it was a question? If you could redo the draft, would the Cowboys rather have Jalen Ramsey than Zeeke? No, because two things. Zeke is every bit Jalen's equal. He's an elite player. And it doesn't say anything. Now, he did get his suspended last year because of something off the field, and Jalen hasn't. Like, I'm not comparing them the field. But just as a football player, like, Zeke doesn't say anything. He just balls. Like, Jalen, like, when you have a player that never shuts up, like, can you imagine Khalil? Kahl could say whatever he won. But a lot of his teammates can't play at his level, obviously,

whatever team he was on. So when you talk a lot, remember the football life of Jerry Rice, like, it's fascinating when Dion comes and it would wear Jerry Day. down and wear Jerry out. Like they butted heads a lot because Dion, Deon, say whatever. It didn't matter. And Dion was good enough to back it up. But a lot of guys like don't like that style. And it can wear guys out.

You know, I mean, I talk for a living, so it's a little different. But we've all worked in office settings with the one guy that will never shut up. If you're good enough, it's like whatever. But it just naturally wears humans out. Because even me, who again, who talks for a living,

like I just like my quiet time when I don't say a word I get worn out you know Jalen Ramsey there's got to be guys in that locker room again players aren't dumb they all would tell you how great he is because again he's an elite player

but man he's got to pump the break so back to the initial premise of the question the question I can't see them trading for it now would I trade my second round pick for Jalen Ramsey 100% the Jaguarie

wires can't do that and they won't do that. Sliding in your DMs. Before the season started, after a night of steak, beers, and plenty of smack talk, I bet a buddy 500 bucks that Andrew Luck would eventually be in the Hall of Fame. Is the big fella going to win this bet? I think if you're going to do a bet that's so far out, you know, if you're out, steak beers, I think you've got to bet like $5,000. because if the guy is betting you,

if you're betting on Andrew Locke, you're simply betting that he's just going to come back. If he comes back, he's going, yes, he's a Hall of Famer, but he's got to play. But if you're going to bet it, my advice to you, if somehow can you up the bet, now he probably wouldn't do that now

because he realizes he's back and he's about to throw for 50 touchdowns. But now he didn't get a touchdown last week playing Jalen Ramsey, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I think, I wouldn't say it's a Locke Hall of Famer, but here's what we know. When Andrew Luck is on the field, he dominates.

The only thing that can slow Andrew Luck down, well, there's actually two things. One human, his name's Ryan Grigsin, and the other thing is injuries. It looks like he's staying healthy. He's looked incredible this last, I would say, six, seven game stretch. He hadn't played in forever. So he was a little rusty to start, and now he's humming. New coach, new offense. They will continue to build.

Yeah, I think if anything, I would try to ask your buddy, hey, can we quadruple the bet? Because to me, if you're going to make a bet, assuming you're semi-successful, that's 15 years away, hell, maybe 20, because if you think about it, he plays another, he's 30 years old, he says he plays another 8, 10 years, then you're five years away from the Hall of Fame. So, I mean, we're a long time away from him even being in the mix. Now, I would say in like three or four years, we'd have a pretty good feeling like, yeah, he's going to the Hall of Fame. But right now, it's still somewhat in question in the sense that he still has a lot of career left. And if his career ended today, he wouldn't be a Hall of Famer. But his play on the field was Hall of Fame worthy. So, yeah, I try to make that bet larger.

Hey, John, big fan of the pod. Since you have been up close and personal, it would be. be great to hear you speak about relationships and loyalty within a front office and coaching. There are numerous examples of guys who have failed multiple times in the NFL that continue to have their name brought up. Damn, I clicked it. And failed multiple times. Okay, they continue to have their name brought up like Hugh Jackson being the latest. Why do highly paid personnel people continue to bring in underperforming coaches or staff into their organization if it means risking their job. That's a good question. I think unlike players, coaches, if you're evaluating a coach,

it's very hard because there's not a lot to quantify. I mean, Hughes is an obvious one, wins or losses. But just in terms of like owners can't quantify how dynamic your offense is in terms of like your different personnel sets, the tight plays you run. They just know if you score a lot of points, if it looks fun, like what the local media is saying about you. So it's just like with a player, I can go, well, you want to draft Dwayne Haskins? He's thrown for 45 touchdowns. He plays at Ohio State. So you just know he's probably pretty good.

Like if I get a quarterback coach for Sean McVeigh, let's say, he might be really good. He might be the next Sean McVeigh. He also might be the next Joe Philbin. You really don't know. And we've all interviewed people, or we've interviewed. and we know that you can kind of fool them if it's just a short-lived experience. And if you're smart with the references you give, you can make yourself sound a little better than you actually are.

So I think it's really difficult. Like, is Mike McCarthy a really good coach? Might be. I mean, the likelihood of him being Andy Reed, to me, is slim the nut. Andy and Aaron would not have had the relationship that Mike had. So to me, Mike has a personality. I wouldn't say flaw. but just type that is much different than Andy Reid.

Like, Andy would have got along with Aaron because he would have realized that he needs Aaron and he just likes the quarterback play. Like, to me, Mike and Aaron's relationship have always been weird. So is Mike just going to be open-minded to coach other quarterbacks? Like, this comparison that he's like Andy Reid,

he's just going to have a second, he's kicked ass in his first job, he's going to go to another job and kick more ass. It was just time to move on. He might, but like Andy was a lot to have success in Kansas City. a lock. And it's proven he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.

He would win anywhere. Would Mike McCarthy win anywhere? Like, I don't know. He had Aaron Rogers. Like, back to Andy. Like, he had Donald McNabb. And then he won with Michael Vic. And then he got Alex Smith.

And now he's winning with Mahomes. Like, I've seen Mike McCarthy win with one or two. Brett Farve and Aaron Rogers. I've seen him attempt to play with others and he sucks. Like, he can't even function. I saw Andy win with Kevin Colb with Nick Foles. You know, he's won a game with a rookie Pat Mahomes at the end of the end of it. I don't know, he just won with a bunch of random guys.

Now, Mahomes is no longer random, but you get my drift. Where I think with coaches, it's just a lot more difficult. And definitely with personnel people. Because like Ryan Grisson, when he was hired an indie, you go, God, he'd worked for Andy Reid forever. He's around Harry Roseman. You know, Tom Hacker, he knows a lot of these smart guys. and he's terrible. But sometimes the guy gets his first shot

had been like an understudy with the Green Bay Packers and John Snyder. Pete Carroll takes a shot on him. Turns out John Snyder's one of the best in the league. It's just, it's hard. I think at the end of the day, just hiring people, like evaluating good players, isn't that difficult.

Now, I think a lot of guys miss on players because they miss on evaluating the person. Most players, I would say, especially in football, and basketball a little bit, but football more than anything, because there's so many intangibles that defined how successful you are,

you know, like how tough you are, how mentally sharp you are, how much you can handle. Like a lot of guys that bust in the NFL, like, Jamarcus Russell did not lack physical characteristics. You know, he did not bust because he could not physically play the position. Most guys that, you know,

flame out of the NFL as players, it's because they didn't have the intangible stuff. Most head coaches that fail, not for the most part. It's not because they can't sit on a whiteboard and draw a play or understand X's and O's or scheme. It's because they can't address, they can't handle everything else. So it's just hard to, it's just hard to find good people in anything you do. Whatever you do, anyone listening to this and whatever job you do, whatever job you do, if you're in a hiring position,

knows how difficult it is. I mean, there's a huge, I think, I personally think there's an element of luck to it. Now, you can get a feel for a guy, but if you're only interviewing them, even if it's just a two-day interview, like you spend all day with them,

you go to dinner with them, you spend the next day with them, there's a lot of intangible stuff that you can never truly define. That works for coaches, that works for players, that works for personnel people. That works for a dude that you're hiring,

you know, be your CFO, or, you know, to be your web designer. I don't know. It works for everything. Hey, John. Love the pod recently. Me too. I was just wondering what the prerequisites were to be coming an NFL scout and what goes into it.

I'm a lifelong Raider fan. I'm always curious. I'm always scouting for them. So just curious. I feel you. I mean, my path is I worked in college football. I went to Cal Poly undergrad. I didn't play.

I just started working for the program. And then that kind of led to a graduate assistant. assistant job at Fresno State, which obviously, you know, Pat Hill was producing a bunch of NFL guys. I got to do that for two years in the recruiting office. I kind of learned the just basics of what you look for in different players. We had a bunch of NFL guys on that team. And it just one thing led to another, and I got my chance in Philly. Pat was good friends with Andy Reed, got me an interview. I got hired that day. But I mean, I worked with people, former college players. I worked with guys that had never played.

I worked with, you know, people from all different backgrounds. I think you got to get involved, for the most part, my recommendation to people that want to get involved would be don't. Kidding, but if you do, it's always a start in college football. And now, especially for young people, if you're going to a school with a football program, 1A or 1A, I mean, I started at Cal Poly. Now, we had a couple NFL guys, but it's just get involved in recruiting. then see if you like it because it's not going to be for everyone because usually it takes long

hours it's not that it's not as glamorous as you think like scouting was not that glamorous hell it was kind of miserable some of the time you know if you i know people in new england like new england is not a happy go lucky place like they've won more than anyone and i'm telling you they don't smile that often now working for coach reed i've been lucky i had worked for two head coaches that were awesome it's why when chip came in i was never into that philosophy now it wasn't necessarily my choice, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. But my start and my path is different than most. There's not like, you know, you want to work on Wall Street, you know, you got to go to an Ivy League school.

That's not necessarily the way of scouting works. I mean, you know, historically, a lot of former players, but now I think that's kind of morphed, you know, people from college football. Some people just start as like training camp interns. Some people go to law school, like Harry Roseman, was a law guy, that was his end and then kind of switched into it, you know, as his career kind of took off within the organization. Mike Tannenbaum, who's a buddy of mine, same kind of deal. They actually, Tanabom, I think, gave Howie a start.

So, you know, I mean, there's just, there's no, like any job in life, there's no, for the most part, just set path. And scouting is definitely a unique one because there's not like, there's no scouting degree. you know it's not like I could have walked into you know San Diego State and been like I want to be an NFL scout really I knew I had to work in sports because in school really my entire life I never really listened because never really did much for me like the only class I ever remember really enjoying like accounting and stuff that I and now I like a lot of business stuff I watched CNBC

but I remember the business classes I took like put me to sleep the one class that I thought was really cool I took this in college was a sports journalism class. It was just about writing. That was the best class by four I ever took at Cal Poly. 100%.

I loved it. I ended up writing for the school newspaper after. But it's just, you just got to fall. If you really like it and you really want to do it, you know, you can find a way. But there's no, like, I can't just tell you like, do this. And that equals this because it doesn't.

It got a little lucky. Things just kind of happened. And just, it's funner to be a podcaster anyway. And thanks for listening. Keep the questions coming at John Middlethoff. Keep firing them. And I'll keep answering them in the Middilcoff mailbag. Appreciate you guys listening.

Hope you having a good week. December, and I know it's like 50 degrees in the Bay Area. I am freezing. So if you live somewhere else where it's actually cold, 50 is really are like 25. Like, it's really cold. But this is a great time of year in football. It just gets cold, snowy, rainy. it'll be interesting to see how offense is like,

are we still going to be putting up 40, 45 points in Kansas City? When it's a 20-degree sleet storm, we'll see. You know, I don't know. I'm going to keep my eye on this level of football as the weather changes because there's nothing like a good snow game, and we know we got some coming in the NFL. Appreciate everyone listening. Have a good week, and I'll see you guys again Friday.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet law. lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on 10.

TikTok. 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this guy, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Come on out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, Brett, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Pong. Listen to the Clivert show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS.

Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me, or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.