The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff - Patrick Mahomes, Raiders, Browns & Steelers, Josh Gordon, and Middlekauff Mailbag

Episode Date: September 20, 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 week's episode John talks about how Patrick Mahomes is taking the league by storm, some of the dysfunctions with the Raiders, the Browns and the Steelers, and some thoughts on Josh Gordon. Each week John also 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.

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This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's going on, everybody, John Middlecock, three-and-out podcast, brought to you live by the Colin Coward Podcast Network. Big show coming up today. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes is taking the league by storm. We'll dive into that. Dive into some of the dysfunctional teams that are really holding on by a thread.

And we're only heading into week three. We're not even just a little past the midway point of September. So some teams have major problems right now. Some thoughts on Josh Gordon and New England Patriots and Bill Belichick trading for them. A couple of teams that I think actually have a chance to be good that are good right now. And a couple bad teams that I think are going to. get much worse. Then of course, Middlecoff mailbag, probably the easiest way moving forward is to go on Instagram and just DM me. My DMs are wide open at John Middlecoff, slide up in those

DMs, and I will answer them in the podcast at the end. We do Middlecoff mailbag every day. But I want to start with Patrick Mahomes. I get a good buddy. He actually got married this weekend, who, or I mean, not this weekend, but a couple weeks ago. He's actually on his honeymoon. and he's on ketosis, and he's been doing this ketosis, this keto diet. And it's one of the crazier diets. I know a couple people that do it. It's like you don't eat. You do not eat during the day.

It's not like the Atkins diet where you just don't eat carbs. You literally don't eat breakfast or lunch. And all you do is eat at night. And you're like, body constantly burns fat and you just get jacked. It has to be one of the least sustainable diets in the history of diets. No breakfast. no lunch, you just grub at dinner. And he's jacked.

I mean, it works. But to me, it's not a sustainable diet. And I know a couple other people do it. They dropped a bunch of pounds. I was like, damn, this keto diet. And I tried it for a day. I'm so damn hungry by the second day at lunch. I'm like, this is stupid.

I mean, this is not realistic. It's why if you just go to the gym and eat well, that is a sustainable. way to, you know, look decent. And I was thinking Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, they reminded me a little bit of the Golden State Warriors who, like, remember when they first came on the scene and was like, oh, this is just a fad, like the keto diet.

They're just hitting threes. No, actually, they play defense, and they don't shoot as many threes you think. The difference is when they shoot threes, they hit a high percentage. They are not a fad. They never were a fad. They are ass kickers. What they do is sustainable. They play defense.

They play hard, and they shoot threes at an incredibly high percentage. Anyone in the Bay Area that watched the Warriors from the jump, and this is like 2014, knew that what they were doing, did people think they were going to win all these championships? At the time, we didn't know if Kevin Durant was going to come. I didn't know. But they were not going to go away. Clay and Steph were a sustainable model.

And when I watched Patrick Mahomes, a lot of people were just like, it's just a fad. He's just throwing it. deep. He's going to flame out because that's in America, sports, in anything. Whenever someone has success, people love to tear him down. He is not that good. No, actually, he is pretty damn good. Is he going to have rough moments? Of course. Is he a fad? No chance. He has one of the most consistent coaches in the NFL in Andy Reed, a guy that's proven over and over and over again. that he can coach quarterbacks.

He has an organization that's pretty damn stable. You know, from Clark Hunt to Mr. Hunt before him, I'm blanking on the Hunt's, the original Hunt's name. Lamar Hunt, Lamar Hunt, obviously an NFL staple for a long time, founded the Can't See Chiefs. You look at what Patrick Boholmes has around him. Tyree Kill, one of the most unique players we've seen, maybe ever. in my lifetime, my 33 years of life, the most unique player I think I've ever seen,

because he's an elite wide receiver, an elite special teams guy can catch the ball at every level, short, intermediate, and deep. He's dominant. Travis Kelsey, I'm still going to give Gronk the top nod, but he's number two. Sammy Watkins is a damn good second wide receiver, especially with Andy. Kareem Hunt led the league in rushing last year, and they have a good offensive line. Again, that is sustainable. You look at the dysfunction in their division.

The Raiders, John Gruden, they got issues. The Chargers always seemed to underachieve. Elway thought about firing Vance Joseph last year, week 17. Ended up not. I know they're 2-0, but a little bit of a flawed 2-0 team. But ultimately, what the chiefs have going on is very, very sustainable. This is not a fad. This is not the keto diet.

you know, John Middlecough, I can't pull off the keto diet. You know why? Because I'm like most people. It's not a sustainable way to operate. I just have to eat kind of healthy and go to the gym. But the moment I saw the Warriors, I knew that, like, they are not going away. I have felt the same thing since watching Patrick Mahomes. Zero chance they go away.

None. Now, are they going to make the playoffs this year? I don't know. Are they going to have some rough moments as Patrick Mahomes? he's playing Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers. Is he bound to have like a three-pick game? Of course. Is he going to have some rough moments?

100%. But what he is doing through a couple games, and really if you look back to the week 17 game last year against Denver, his physical attributes translate to playing at a high level. He has an elite arm. He's accurate. His best attribute is a deep ball. Well, he has two elite deep receipts.

He has a tight end that can stretch the field. And then to balance that all out, he can lean on, I don't know, the best offensive coach in the league, Andy Reed. He can lean on, I don't know, one of the best running backs in the league, Karim Hunt. I'm a Matt Nagy guy. I love Nagy. He's my guy. But my one knock on him would be, so far watching the offense, and they've played two primetime games with Chicago Bears, their run game is a little soft for my liking. It looks more like Oregon than it does an NFL running game.

Andy Reid, who everyone's like, oh, he just incorporated these college offenses. He still has a fullback. When push comes to shove, he will run power down your throat. He still has a physical run game element. And that can really help a quarterback. It did when it resurrected Alex Smith's career in San Francisco. You just run power. And if you can do it three or four times for a couple first downs, everyone can just take a deep breath.

and then when you have this arm people are comparing him to Brett Farrf I struggle to do that just because Brett Farr was one of the greatest quarterbacks ever but there is no disputing he has the most eye-popping, eye-opening arm talent in the NFL

and it's not just going to randomly disappear you know it's like you watch Steph Curry and Clay Thompson they were draining threes It wasn't random. It wasn't like, oh God, they just get hot some games. No, they get hot every game. And you know what else Clay did?

Play defense really hard. You know what else Steph did? He's not a great defender, but he tries really hard. So once you surrounded them with other great players, they just dominated. Mahomes is lucky enough. He's just coming into this team that's surrounded by great players. Now, the defense stinks. And it's why I struggle to just call them.

Super Bowl team, but I know this. They have one of the best coaches in the league. They have players everywhere. And just this quarterback, there is just something eye-opening when you throw him on the television. It's like, you know what it looks like. You know what good quarterbacks look like.

Remember when Carson Wentz kind of hit the scene last year? Derek Carr a couple years ago. You're like, damn. Deshaun Watson for a minute last year. Like, it's, the difference to me with what Mahomes is doing is the hardest thing typically to do is consistently push the ball down the field.

I think he's averaging like over 15 yards of pass. It's unheard of. And he would actually break the record. I think the highest number in the last 10 years was like 14.5. He's averaging. Now again, it's two weeks. But what he does, like I know for a fact they're going to be able to run short intermediate passes, right?

Because he has Kelsey, Andy will throw in wide receiver screens. That is not going to be the problem. The question always is with all these guys is Can they complete the ball down the field? That was the knock on Jimmy Garoppel last year. Can he completed down the field? It's kind of a knock on him right now. Well, he doesn't have Tyree Killer Sammy Watkins.

Marquis Goodwin, got a Charlie horse, and we haven't seen him in two weeks. His best wide receiver is Dante Pettis, who was a second round pick. Paragon looks old. Like most quarterbacks, I was here in the Bay Area, Derek Carr's rookie year. Worst group of receivers I've ever seen. The best receiver by a mile was a real. really old James Jones. Great guy wasn't a good player anymore.

So you get the opportunity where you have these elite physical skills. You just get, you know, the number one quarterback coach drafts you who happens to have, you know, I mean, Andy's had some pretty good weapons over the years. Deshawn, LaShawn, and Jeremy was an unreal trio. And Brent Selleck was still playing well. Earlier on in his career from the Brian Westbrooks, Duce Daly's, and Terrell Owens. but and Chad Lewis This one is as unique as it gets

Because of the speed element And when you factor in this arm element A guy that can throw it 500 yards It's just I can't wait to watch it every week Because I know I would bet A thousand dollars right now This is not a fad

It's not gonna be like one of these diets that go away They are the Golden State Warriors right now football Now it took a Golden State Warriors Got knocked out remember the first time they ever made the play playoffs. Stefan Clay, they knocked off the Denver Nuggets. The next series they lost to San Antonio Spurs. The following season

they lost to the Clippers in the first round in seven games. Mahomes might get knocked out for a couple years. He probably should. That's usually the way the NFL works. But he ain't going away. I'll promise you that. Because if you've watched football for

a week or 50 years, you kind of know when you see it. and Deshawn Watson last year was a little less sustainable. He made a lot of his plays running around. Carson Wentz was sustainable. The problem anyone would have read flagged him, like, Carson, you got to slide. You can't just be flying in defenders.

You're going to get knocked out. I'm watching Mahomes. He's kicking ass from the pocket, from behind the line of scrimmage, which is by far the most important attribute as a quarterback to sustain success. It's why everyone bet on Russell Wilson that knew what they were talking about early on

because even when he ran, he was running behind the line of scrimmage to keep plays alive to throw it. It's about throwing the pill. And that's what Mahomes does better than ever. I'm telling you, are they going to go on to have Golden State Warriors' success? I don't know.

The NFL's weird. You don't play series. You just play one game. It's easy to get knocked out in the playoffs. But I promise you this. I feel very, very confident in this. Patrick Mahomes, is he going to average 10 touchdowns every two games? No.

Is he going to come back to Earth a little bit? Yes. Is he going to have a bad game 100%. But I feel as good about this as any football tank I'm going to have. It is not a fad. You ever work at a place where, you know, the boss, the leadership are just morons are not respected by the employees, where the employees just kind of do whatever they want somehow sometimes those offices can still have success uh the place can still operate at a

relatively high level but your ceiling's usually capped right if your boss whoever's leading the charge uh is not respected does not know what he's doing even if you have a good product even if whatever your business is doing it is going to have limitations you know no different than a home i was lucky enough to grow up with two parents uh like like any family I mean, you just, it's hard when you have multiple kids. I mean, it just can be a shit show sometimes. But, you know, I was raised the right way. I was raised in a strict home where grades were important.

You know, going to practice was mandatory. You know, just basic elements of life. I was lucky, you know, I had a mom and a dad that forced me to do the right things. But I saw enough people. I mean, if you live life, you're going to have friends that don't grow up lucky enough to have that. And it's way easier for me to succeed. seed in life when from day one, I had two parents that, you know, taught me right and wrong from the moment I could walk, to read, to talk, to go to junior high, to go to high school, that I got in

trouble for things. I had no excuse not to be quote unquote successful in life. You know, I couldn't have had it much better just in terms of being raised. Well, I had friends that grew up in single parent households whose parent, you know, whose mom or dad, you know, might not have been around because they were working two jobs just to pay the bills. You know, it's much, much harder to succeed when things like that are going on. Like I started ahead in the race of life. And I think when you look around the NFL, like there are teams that just can't get out of their own way. And there are also teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, this levy. on Bell situation.

This Antonio Brown didn't show up Monday and he's tweeting about being traded and it's Wednesday. I would imagine he showed up to work. But it really is crazy, you know, that they have been able to overcome so much dysfunction in the last several years. From the Todd Haley Ben hate to Levion just being a pain in the ass getting suspended, even having injuries to Antonio Brown being a diva but who's just an incredible player to Ryan Chazier, you know, looking like for a split second, he was never going to be able to walk again on the field.

To last year, the Jesse James overturned, and they ended up not getting the one seed. It really is remarkable that they consistently say this well. And part of it is because the fabric of the organization, how well they draft, they just have so much talent. You know, the ultimate, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the fabric of the organizational mindset overcomes a lot. But even eventually, you can only throw so many dysfunctional pieces before the home, the business, whatever, just falls apart.

And that's what it feels like a little bit with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Like, it's slowly falling apart. Big Ben's older, though he's still pretty good. But Levi-on-Bell's doing who-nose-what. Antonio Brown's becoming a pain in the ass. Their defense stinks. It's just, it's kind of a problem, you know? But they still should have enough talent where at the end of the day, it would still be shocking to see them miss the playoffs.

they will be in the playoff hunt. I think we all feel pretty confident about that. But when you look at other teams that don't have that kind of organizational championship fabric just ingrained in their organization, the lightest, smallest bit of dysfunction, the place falls apart. You know, look at the Cleveland Browns. They acted like in training camp. Hugh Jackson was talking down to other coaches about, until you sit in my seat, you don't know what it's like, Hugh. You have multiple former head coaches. on your staff. You know, oh, Josh Gordon, the bird has landed.

Hugh, Josh Gordon's played four games in the last five years. You know, Hugh, you know, eventually you're won and in the last, what, you played 32 games, two this year, that's 34, you've won one game in 34 games. One. Like, this is the NFL in a league of parity, and your roster is good. Like, you are terrible, and the Browns just can't get out of their own way. whether it's, you know, thrown out a kicker, the Gonzalez kid that I think is on IR now, that supposedly had an injury as he was still kicking, like, okay, if he's hurt, why are you still rolling him out there?

When your games are coming down to a small margin of error, because your team is good now, where your kicker does make a big difference. So if the kid is hurt, get him out of there. What the hell are you doing? Like, that's embarrassing. That's a joke, and it's cost them two games. They should be two and oh. Now, they're favored for the first time in Hugh Jackson's tenure.

If you're listening to this before Thursday night's game, they're a three-point favorite. And if you're listening to this after, you obviously know what happened. But regardless of what happens, they shouldn't be in this spot. I said it from the jump. I said it during training camp. I said it during hard knocks. I've been around the league long enough to know, like, God, this team's got a lot of good players. I'm not the biggest to Rod Taylor guy, but he's good enough with the talent.

around and especially on offense and clearly their defense is pretty good. This should be a 7-8-9 win team. I don't think they're going to win five. It's all because of Hugh Jackson. But it all, you know, shit rolls downhill. Jimmy Haslam, who's been one of the worst owners in recent memory in sports, who was just, you know, in a fraud litigation with Flying Jay about screwing the truckers. You know, it starts at the top and it rolls downhill.

Of course Jimmy Haslam would hire Hugh Jackson. When the 49ers, who had their own issues? I mean, Harbaugh to Tom Sula, to the Chip Kelly disaster. They interviewed Chip Kelly and they were kind of turned off. I mean, excuse me, Hugh Jackson were like, I don't love the fit. I don't really see it. And that was when he was so hyped at Cincinnati,

looking like the best offensive coordinator in the league. Let's not forget, three years ago, he was like the Sean McVe, Matt Nagy, Kyle Shanahan running this explosive offense shifts, motion scoring a bunch of points, had Andy Dalton in the MVP category, you know, conversation. And now he's viewed as the village idiot because he's the worst coach in the league. But I also think it's a combination of, he's not a good coach. The organization is just a train wreck.

They pretend like Josh Gordon mattered for like five years. They hire defensive coordinators like Gray Williams that clearly doesn't listen to Hugh Jackson is doing his own thing. I like Todd Haley, but I mean, Todd Haley's kind of a nice. nut. It's just a nutty organization. And unlike the Steelers who can usually, typically, maybe not this year, overcome the dysfunction, the Browns can't. Look at the Raiders. The Raiders, three years ago, it looked like they had the best core of three young players in the NFL at the three most important positions, arguably. Two, definitely, quarterback pass rusher. And, you know, tackle is probably

more important, but wide receiver in this day and age is really important. And they had a It's like, Dot, if we could have one young core in the NFL, I'd take Derek, Khalil, and Amari. This was what people were saying two years ago. Three or two years later, they've had multiple head coaches. The general manager is doing nothing. They paid $100 million for a guy that hadn't coached in 10 years. They're 0-and-2. Khalil Mack looks like he's on his way to becoming the defensive player of the year.

On the Chicago Bears, he's been traded. Amari finally came to life. the Denver Broncos, but the Raiders can't shake dysfunction. You know, it's just part of their fabric. Like the Steelers fabric is championships. It's winning. It's just overcoming whatever to get to the playoffs. The Browns and the Raiders, there is something in the building, in the water, in the ownership.

You can't overcome bad ownership. You can't. You can overcome bad middle management, bad employees. hell a weird home environment but bad ownership in any walk of life if the ownership is terrible the guy that pays the bills is in shambles that does not know what he's doing that is consistently going to make bad decisions the jimmy haslums the mark davis's the irony is jimmy's got a bunch of money mark davis doesn't have much money and they both get the same results they just stink you know they're just terrible and you do things that

like Jimmy has them where you don't fire a guy after he's won one game in two years. You do things like Mark Davis. You spend $100 million on a guy that hasn't coached in nine years. You allow Khalil Mack to get traded, which is still an all-time head scratcher. Both those organizations, I would say the Browns might have a little more talent. They actually play in a week. But those teams, when you have Derek Carr as a Max guy, you should be competing to make the playoffs every single year. When you have as much talent as the Browns have, you should be. competing to make the playoffs.

But the dysfunction, you just can't shake it. It's just part of everyone, it's the elephant in the room at all times. We're the Browns. We're the Raiders. So even the Steelers that have so many issues, and this might be it for Mike Tomlin, but it took just the most random just connection of events to happen to finally kind of bring them down. I mean, they just kept winning, kept winning, kept winning, kept winning, kept winning.

Eventually, the law of averages, you're bound to have a bad year. The Raiders and Browns can't get out of their own way. So when we see the dysfunctional organization, because right now the Steelers are, and it feels like it's taking them down. But they're going to have one anomaly season. The Browns and Raiders are just having Browns and Raiders seasons. They're combined, what are they? Oh, 3 and 1.

You know? And it looks like they're going to win a combined like five, six games. When they have, if you gave them Bill Belichick or Hell, Mike Tomlin, both those two teams would compete to make the playoffs. And I don't want to hear this about, oh, the Raiders, they got no talent, now they got rid of Khalil Mack. No, they still got Derek Carr, who when he plays well like he did against Denver, as a pro bowler, they got a Mari Cooper, they got a good offensive line.

They have a good defensive coach. So I don't want to hear that, oh, they're just a three, four win team. No, they should not be. They might end up being, but they have no, they should not end up with that amount of wins. That's embarrassment. And it kind of feels like they're headed that way. The Browns, the Raiders, they're just, they just can't get out of their own way, man.

I have a business philosophy if I was a GM, if I was running a team. And some people are going to be like, Middokov, you don't have any compassion. Well, when it comes to the private sector, you got to be careful about having too much compassion because it will bite you in the ass. I would not do business I would not sign an employee Hell even if I wasn't running a team I was running a business If I had John Middilcoff LLC

And I knew you were an addict I would not sign you I would not employ you Doesn't mean I don't feel for you It doesn't mean I don't understand Where you're coming from I've been around addicts before In different walks of life

I get it But if I'm doing business with you I would not do business with you If I know it Now I think there are different legal ramifications. I don't know if you can ask about certain things. I get that.

But I'm just saying, if I knew, and in the NFL, we know Josh Gordon is an addict and he's got issues. I would not have messed with him. Now, Belichick has more equity than any coach probably in league history to do really whatever he wants. So him trading for him is not shocking and they need wide receiver help. I will just say this. I'm not going to spend that much time on Josh Gordon,

mainly because he doesn't really deserve it. In the last four years, Josh Gordon has played six games. Can I repeat that? He's at four years, six games, two touchdowns. That's not the last two weeks. The last four years, six games, two touchdowns. So this notion and the hype on Josh Gordon,

like he's one of these all-time great players, is just a fallacy. He does not play in games, whether it's because he's suspended, whether it's because he doesn't show up, whether it's because who knows what. I just know when the game kicks off Sunday morning, if you're on the West Coast,

10 a.m. 1 o'clock Sunday night, if you play Thursday or Monday, he is usually not there. So I look around, I go, where are my players? I know that Josh Gordon, more than likely, is just not going to be around. Now, he's one of those players in the NFL circles.

You see Josh Gordon's talent? Yeah, talent is great. A lot of players are talented. He is not dependable. Then you know he has all these issues that the Cleveland Browns did a, like they held on for way too long. They should have got rid of them two years ago. But the talent clearly overwhelms most general managers and most coaches, as it should. This is not a moral compass league, clearly.

This is a league of talent. And if you can play, you get chances, multiple chances. here's the problem. He's not ever available. It's one thing if you're talented and you're just kind of an underachiever, you know, if I just think I can coach you up. I don't even have the ability to do any of this stuff

because he's never around. And he's one joint away from being banished from the league. The Belichick, you know, program and the way they operate in New England is, you know, it's, well documented. It's way stricter than every team in the league. It's way more intensive

just in terms of what the coaches ask from you. I'm not even specifically talking about what the offense asked for you, how complicated the offensive verbiage is, the standard in which Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady hold of every player in that unit.

I just think that for a guy who's played four games or excuse me, six games, four years, 19 catches, two touch, to think that he will sniff having any impact for the New England Patriots would be crazy. I am expecting him not to be on the team by like October 1st. I mean, seriously, if you told me that, I mean, in all seriousness, if you told me that Josh Gordon is on the New England Patriots in November, I'll be shocked.

I'll come back on this podcast, 3 and out, John Middlecough, listen to wherever your podcasts are found, and say I was way wrong because I think it'll make it like two weeks. No coach has consistently shown either to get rid of you in a heartbeat, regardless how good you are. And Josh Gordon, yeah, he's talented, I guess he can run. He's never available.

And all of a sudden he's just going to learn this offense. There are also been knocks on how much this guy loves football. So on top of him being an addict and having substance issues, and again, I'm not anti-weat. I live in California. Smoke all you want. I got no issue with it. But the NFL does.

You can't smoke in the NFL and stay employed and not get in trouble. And then when you factor that in with not really liking football, it's a problem. You know? Vante Davis quit in the middle of the game. Like part of the NFL, part of, and I know all the players love saying this. And the NFL, the media love saying this now too. It's like, you know, it's the players right. the team would get rid of them quickly.

Yeah, I mean, it's part of the industry. It's an industry that pays more to young people than any business in America besides like basketball and baseball. So there is no place in any job where a 25-year-old, unless he starts his own company, which means that he would take on a bunch of liability. So an employee that has zero liability besides his body, but it's, that you could make that much money. It does not exist.

Not in America. Not anywhere in the world. So this notion that like, the owners are screwing the players. Yeah, the players are benefiting to. You know, it's called a win-win partnership.

Everyone's getting rich. I got news for you. The owners always get richer than the employees. So the employee that makes hell $10 million, the owner's always making $500. That's just, that's the way the structure in our country works. But I know this.

Josh Gordon has made money and done nothing. To think that he's going to somehow go to New England and have success when countless guys, especially older veterans, have gotten in there, haven't been able to play. Remember, Ojo Sinkle could not learn the offense. Belichick thinks you're shot. He just gets rid of you immediately,

whether it's Reggie Wayne, Eric Decker. Now, I don't think Josh Gordon is physically shot, but when it comes to mentally, just to think that he's going to understand this playbook by Sunday, the New England Patriots don't just give you two plays and I dress you on Sunday and we just have like two plays in the playbook for you that's not how they have historically operated so I'm expecting nothing out of Josh Gordon

I get why Belichick did this but I'm a little Josh Gordoned out and I'm kind of ready for him to go away let's get into the Middle Cough mailbag again you can go to iTunes and leave a review and I'll get to that probably the easiest way moving forward is slide up into Instagram at John Middlecoff, slide into my DMs, leave a question, and I'll get to it. I kind of wrote my own question because I think after two weeks, we usually have probably a couple

random teams that are 2 and 0, and when I say random teams we didn't expect to be 2 and 0, and a couple teams 0 and 2 that I don't think we expect to be 0 and 2 either. And I just wrote down my own little Middlecoff mailbag question. Better chance to be good, bucks or bangles, better chance to not be good, the Texas. are the Raiders. Start with the Bucks and Bengals. Like, say what you want. Fitzpatrick's thrown back-to-back games of 400 yards and 4 touchdowns.

That's 800 plus yards and 8 touchdowns. They have weapons. Mike Evans Superstar. Deshawn can still fly. O.J. Howard, good. James Train wreck. I think the Bucks, I actually think the Bucks and bangles might be good. But if I had to pick,

you would say the Bucks probably come back to Earth a little bit. Why? Because the division is hard. Atlanta's solid. Carolina's solid. The Saints, I know they've got off to a weird start, but they are good. Like, it's going to be hard for the Bucks to win nine, ten games in that division. I mean, they still have five divisional opponents.

They play the Saints week one, but they still got to play five more NFC South games. So, you know, they're going to lose probably three of them, you know, and it's just, it's inevitable. And once James comes back, say what you want, it's going to be a little weird, because Fitzpatrick's going to continue to start. I do think when you look at the Bengals, the Steelers are in shambles. They're 0-1-1. Levion Bell is, who knows when he's going to come back. Antonio's already causing problems.

Their defense is atrocious. They already talks about Mike Tomlin, you know, what's going to happen with him. That I do think the Bengals, the Ravens stink, the Browns are awful. Like, why couldn't they win the division? Why couldn't they go 10 and 6, 11 and 5, and win the division? Now, Joe Mixing getting hurt is a problem. anyone that's watched the Bengals through the first two weeks, he's important. When he's on the field, he kicks ass because he's a sweet player.

But when you factor him in with Gio, with AJ, they got good players. I like the Bengals roster. Defensively, they got some dudes. Their defensive line is legit. I do like the Bengals. Better chance to not be good, Texas is the Raiders. I think a lot of people thought the Texan were going to win the division. Deshawn Watson coming back from ACL, he has not been good.

I've always liked Bill O'Brien, but this is kind of getting off to a rough start. You know, the Raiders at least have somewhat of excuse getting rid of Cleo Mac. I don't know what the Texas' excuse are. They've been pretty healthy. They got all these guys back on defense. You obviously got Deshaun back, DeAndre Hopkins. Like, you should be better. I just starting to line up like the Texas are going to have a rough season.

I do think when you looked at the Raiders game against Denver, it's really hard to win in Denver. It was the hottest game in Denver Bronco history. It was like almost 100 degrees. unheard of the heat. So when you factor in the heat and the altitude, a problem. I do think the Raiders can bounce back a little bit. Their next couple games, Miami, Cleveland. Not an ideal, Miami.

They're going to the East Coast, playing a 10 a.m. game. The following week, they get Cleveland at home, but they're coming off a Thursday game. But I do think they could rattle off a couple wins. They still have a max quarterback. I have not written off Derek. He's still a really good player. Amari still has the chance to be a superstar. That's real.

So I think the Texans are staring down, you know, another five, six win season. And is Bill O'Brien going to get fired? Probably not. But he's definitely going to be on the hot seat. Let's get to my mailbag here. Let's get to iTunes. Hello, John. Sometimes quarterbacks get criticized for holding the ball too long and not throwing the ball away.

But some quarterbacks throw the ball away when there are no open receivers. They get criticized for not giving the receivers a chance to fight for the ball. Pretty good question. What is your take on that? I think it all depends on the play. Sometimes, and depending on the time of the game, I like quarterbacks that force balls into places. It's why I don't really have a problem with interceptions.

Interceptions do not bother me. Because if you're going to throw interceptions, it means you are willing to force balls in tight windows, which you have to do. If you're throwing, how many picks at Alex Smith throw last year? Like five? typically when you have a five interceptions a season, a six interception season, it means you're not being that aggressive with the football.

I don't mind double-digit picks. And I don't mind throwing the ball sometimes away when you just have a feel nothing is going to be there. It's the hardest position to criticize, just in general, and we all do it because that's what's fun to do in football, because you don't know the plays. When you're watching on television, you can't truly tell who's open. A lot of times you have to throw a guy open.

It's really complicated. But I will always live with a quarterback that forces balls into tight places because he believes in his wide receiver. He believes in his arm. Like Mahomes going to throw picks. Jimmy Garoppolo is going to throw picks. Carr's going to throw some picks. I can live with picks. That's a good thing in the NFL.

Let's get to some more mailback questions. That was actually from Mark Davis, not the owner of the Raiders. Why don't the Steelers just cut or trade levy on Bell? I think the reason they don't cut them is ego. Because if you cut them, you're losing a great asset for nothing. And in the NFL, which is a business, you never want to do that. It's why when Chip Kelly just cut Deshawn Jackson, it was stupid. It was moronic.

You don't just cut a high-level asset for nothing. But they're far enough up the river where it does feel like they're just going to lose him for at best a compensatory pick. Now, someone would, to me, give him some money. Probably a couple years, $30 million, front-load the deal, like the Jets. So depending on who you sign the way the compensatory pick goes,

it's like a balance of free agents you lose, free agents you sign at what money number. So if Levion got a ton of money and they didn't sign a bunch of free agents and typically the Steelers don't, they would probably get a third round pick. So if you're the Steelers right now, no one is offering you, I would imagine, a second round pick.

You'd have to be insane to offer the Steelers a second round pick right now. Because part of getting Levion Bell, why would he show up to your team, again, if you do not give him a new contract? Now, if you are willing to give him a new contract, I still couldn't give up a second round pick because I can just draft a running back in the second round for way cheaper. But I do think teams would be willing to give up a third rounder for Levion Bell. Because you're like, oh, it's a third rounder.

You know, we get them, then we resign them, whatever. I get it. for a short period of time, like the Jets. I think the Jets are a good example. But if you're the Steelers, why wouldn't you just hopefully he comes back and then get a third round pick for when he walks? Now, the argument might be is why do you want to keep dealing with this drama?

It's just a pain in the ass. Clearly your offensive linemen don't like him. He's not giving you anything right now because he is not there. James Connor looks like he's a starting running back and is just solid. I would not cut him, but I would think about if you could just get a third. round pick, just move on. You've got

what, five years out of him, you've been the ups and the downs, you paid him a lot of money. He clearly does not plan on showing up anytime soon. I think we're all a little shocked we thought he'd be here before this, but he doesn't look like he's coming. But he has to show up by week 10 to make sure he gets that season

so he can still hit free agency. But I think teams know that. So maybe teams would be like for you a fourth, you know? They've put themselves in a bad spot. It's why teams desperately try to avoid the franchise tag for the second time, because the

leverage as a team in terms of getting rid of a player is lost, and you're kind of in no man's land, and Levion's kind of in no man's land. It's just a shitty position for both parties, and it could have been avoided. It wasn't handled perfect.

By either side, Levion should have signed the long-term deal last year. The Steelers should have made sure it got done so they didn't have to go down this road. Now they're just, in limbo where it's like he's not there, he's not helping the team, the team's pissed off, there's a bunch of dysfunction going on,

so it's a problem. And to think that if the Steelers miss the playoffs, this whole scenario 100% played into it. It was announced earlier this week that Carson Wentz would be starting for the Philadelphia Eagles. Question, how big will the Carson Wentz return be? It's clearly going to be pretty big, but I caution everyone a little bit with this.

We've seen it with Deshain. Sean Watson. Hell, we've seen it with countless players. Everyone looks at ACL injuries and the first thing they think of, Adrian Peterson. You just get an ACL injury and you come back, hit the ground running. That is not normal. Turns out Adrian Peterson, all-time physical anomaly freak. Carson Wentz, one of the things he hung his hat on was moving around behind the pocket, breaking tackles and throwing balls down the field. Like, is he just going to come back and do that? Here's the other thing with the Eagles. Alshan Jeffrey is nowhere to be found.

He's hurt. Well, he was a pretty big part of Carson's success last year. So who's their receivers? Right now, they're depending on Nelson Aglar. Good player, but he's good when he's your third option, when you have Alshan, Ertz, and Nelson. And again, it kind of rolls downhill. Once you remove one guy, it's easier to focus on Ertz,

and then you can kind of take away Nelson. So my expectations are kind of low. And I'm a Carson Wentz Homer. I love Carson Wentz. I'm like my favorite player in the league, but I'm not expecting that much because I'm realistic. I just don't think

that you can just rip your ACL and come back and have zero signs that you were ever injured. One guy did that. Everyone else has shown signs that like, yeah, this is a little harder than you think.

I think we're getting a great example with Deshawn Watson. Now, I think Carson Wentz a better player than Deshawn Watson, but still, it shows you how difficult it is. Isn't there also a mental hurdle, like you've been hurt, you know, you're trying to overcome something. You never know, and I saw Doug Peterson talking about this earlier in the week, that, you know, it's one thing to practice

and have the live game reps, I mean, a live practice reps. It's another thing to have game reps, where the defensive linemen, quote unquote, can hit you. They can't really, but they still can. And you have to run at full speed. So I'm not expecting much. I think in a couple of weeks in a month, he'll look a lot better. But these first couple weeks, if he doesn't look good, I won't be shocked. And I think that's okay. And I think it's fair to say, well, of course, you know. He tore his ACL.

It's not like he tore it two years ago. He tore it last year in the middle toward the end of the season. You know, now the Eagles couldn't keep going with Nick Bowles. He's not playing well enough. He got super hot in the playoffs, but you couldn't continue with it. He looks terrible. So you need Carson Wentz back from an on-the-field standpoint. but you need Carson Wentz of last year back.

The Carson Wentz that's coming? I just, I don't know. How legit is Philip Lindsay? And can he be a viable starter? Philip Lindsay, running back Denver Broncos, who just looks fantastic. I talked about this with Mahomes. When you watch a player, there are sustainable attributes. At running back instincts, short area burst,

and the ability to break tackles and run hard translate. He does all those things. Now, the Raiders defense is not great. Seattle's defense, not great either. So we'll see as he plays the Chargers. Now, granted, I mean, the Division's defenses are not good because Kansas City's defense is not good, the Raiders' defense isn't good.

Chargers defense is good, but they're going to play some teams this year. They play the Niners. You're going to play some defenses that just aren't great. So why could he not continue this? I think Philip Lindsay is a great example of why you never take a running back that high because you can get guys later in the draft hell as an undrafted free agents that not only make your team but they can run for 80 to 100 yards every game and get you a touchdown and that you just throw on the television

and you go god they draft this guy in the second round no guys an undrafted free agent he looks better than their fourth round pick that is also good and I think it's the big knock ultimately on the you know on the New York Giants taking Sequin Barclay. Guys, you could have got a running back in the second round, the third round, and the fourth round, that would look really good. Again, I love Sequan Barclay. And this isn't necessarily on Seqoine Barclay,

but you can just find these Philip Lindsay's characters. And all of a sudden, you'll look back in five years, and you'll go, God, Philip Lindsay had a seven-year career for his first four years, he averaged over 1,000 yards a season. Played special teams and caught the football. You can find those guys consistently. You got to give Elway credit because he drafted Royce Freeman. He landed a local guy from the University of Colorado.

It looks like a stud. So can he be a viable starter? Hell yeah. You know, I've seen enough. What he brings to the table, now can he stay healthy? That's the major question. If he stays healthy, he is going to be productive in this league. Because he can run.

He runs hard. He can make guys miss. He'll run through tackles. And he's just an instinctive runner. He's a good player. Buddy with the Bears told me when they joint practice him It was like God, this guy was making plays in practice That was in training camp

Then he's doing it in the games I'm betting on this kid He's not going to go away John Elway deserves credit Every year we see this Teams land undrafted free agent running backs that look good And they become starters in this league for years So I think Philip Lindsay has an excellent chance

Of being that guy Thanks again everyone for listening We're headed into week three God, the NFL season is flying by. Exciting time. You can always slide up in my DMs on Insta at John Middlcoff. And just holler at me. Find me on Twitter at John Middlecock.

You can find this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. And thanks again for listening to Three and Out podcast on the Colin Coward Podcast Network. 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. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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