The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Straight Fire - USWNT Blues + The Athletic's Mike Sando

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

On today’s episode, Jason kicks things off with a few quick thoughts on the USWNT’s disappointing performance thus far in the Women’s World Cup. Later, J-Mac is joined by The Athletic’s Mike Sando to discuss his controversial 2023 NFL Quarterback Tiers poll. During the interview, Sando discusses why Lamar Jackson has never been viewed as a Tier 1 guy, the narrative that Josh Allen is destined to regress this upcoming season, the likelihood that Russell Wilson actually starts every game this season for Sean Payton, whether or not guys like Kirk Cousins or Derek Carr can jump up a tier with good seasons in 2023 and much more! Follow Jason on Twitter and Instagram. Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up, Straight Fire, Fam? It's me, Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Wednesday, August 2nd.

Got a great guest today on the podcast. Mike Sando from the athletic, he is the author of the tears piece that is sweeping the internet as everybody gets ready for fantasy football, gambling. NFL. We're now, what, 36 hours away from Jets Browns and preseason action fully begins in earnest next weekend. I will be out of town next weekend. Parts unknown. It's an exciting podcast. You guys are going to like it.

Sando and I kind of disagree on some quarterbacks. Agree on some other stuff. And he talks about the process and what it was like. seeing some of these massive leap. Some of the, I mean, Jalen Hertz's leap is quantum, and it's like one year, bro, really? So we get into that,

you guys will like it real quick. I did before we get to Sando, I want to touch on this. Two things, actually. So first of all, U.S. women's soccer team in the middle of the night laid a massive egg.

It would have been colossal and historically bad if Portugal's shot in the 91st minute didn't hit the post and went in the net. Then we would have lost. U.S. settled for a zero-zero-zero tie. They advanced.

as the number two seed, which has thrown off so many things. Folks, it is so bad for the U.S. You don't understand how bad this tie was. Overall, they play like garbage. I would say in five out of the six halves, they've been equal or worse than their opponent. They now play Sunday at 5 a.m. Then they play next Friday,

assuming they win, at 3.30 a.m. The semifinals, they would play in the worst game at 4 a.m. Like because they got put into like the second tier because they finished second in the group, they're not getting the favorable time slot. Everybody anticipated, oh, the U.S., they might win their third World Cup. They'll be in their favorite time slot. They're going to win their group and advance. And now it's like, whoa, this is not good.

Not going to be good at all for Fox. And worse yet, let's be real. This women's team does not look good. They don't look ready for prime time. Carly Lloyd going after them. It's just not great. You know, watching it, I'm on a couple of. text threads with some dads who play soccer in my area.

And they coach and everything. Some of them play college. And it's like, the coaching does not look great. And the team looks old and slow. And I would just say the one thing that I've noticed, and again, this is on a granular level. But anytime you win a championship, the target's on your back. Everybody's coming for you.

They're giving their A game all the time. We won two in a row. Vietnam came out. And remember, the spread was six and a half. I was like, that's a layup. The U.S. will smoke them. And it was like, one nothing. at halftime. Now, they did out shoot them, I think, 23, 0, 27, nothing, something like that.

But Vietnam played incredible. Their goalie was outstanding. And the U.S. only won 3-0. By the way, Netherlands beat them 7-0. They then get the number one seed in the group. And then the uninspiring tie against Netherlands when they trail for much of the match. And then the Portugal game, which they slept walk through, it was like, geez, I mean, if that goal had gone into U.S. is going home, all this nonsense that they've been talking about, We don't get the respect to the men's team. It's almost like they focus too much on that and less on the soccer.

They just don't look nearly as good. Disappointing stuff. But it's not over. They can still win the World Cup. The other story is the Major League Baseball trade deadline like 10 to 14 days ago looked awesome. It was like exciting because Watani was in it. And then the Angels decided we're going to make a push.

We're going to keep Otani. And it was like it lost all the juice. And then the big move was Verlander. Ben Verlander was a guest on the pod last week. His brother, Justin, got trade. back to the Astros. The Mets fire sale is in full swing. Just an absolute dumpster fire in Shea.

Do they so call Shay or is no Citibank? I'm sorry, City Bank Park, I think it is. Have I? I don't even remember. It's been so long since I lived in New York. But all in all, like the Mets have to be the least impressive team this season the biggest disappointment. Yankees will get to the playoffs.

I'm confident in that. But this Otani thing, it's like the excitement of him may be moving teams was juicy as hell. And it would have been the double bonus because somebody would have had him for three months on a rental, been wooing him to try to secure him, and then he would have hit free agency, and it would have been another mad scramble. So baseball really missed out here on some fun, fun times. And I know Anaheim should not care about that, but if they lose them for nothing, they sure is hell will.

All right, without further ado, let's get to our guest, Mike Sando of the Athletic. Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I know what sports fans want. But for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy. who does. Let's just say, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into straightfire Mike Sando of the Athletic. Obviously, he is the man of the hour this week in football circles because of his quarterback tiers list. We broke it down on yesterday's podcast. He's been doing the media rounds, getting a billion questions. Mike,

how are you holding up in this media onslaught? Everybody's got to ask you, why is my quarterback rated so low? How are you handling it all? It's, you know, really well. I love this week. And It feels like it's even more than in the past this week. I don't know if it's a different buzz or what, but I have been bouncing around. In fact, I was doing earlier today, I was doing something in Pittsburgh, and we went over like the start of my next one

so I could see Cleveland was actually calling in. They don't even know this, but like they're in the same division. Cleveland was calling in. I said, hey, I got to go. I got another one coming in. So that's unusual, you know, to have so many that they were overlapping each other. but it's a fun thing.

Listen, we're not going to break down every guy, obviously, but I do have some questions about rising, falling. I love, by the way, the presentation, how there's like a drop-down tab on the athletic. You can compare, for instance, Jalen Hertz last year, heading into last season, medium grade, nothing special, really got embarrassed in that playoff game against Tampa, and then Jalen Hertz adds A.J. Brown on the outside,

Shane Steichen dials up some greatness, and now Jalen Hertz is like, a superstar in the NFL. But how do you handle when league executives in these people you interview are saying, listen, it's just one season. We need to pump the brakes. It's the number one difference,

I think, between in the league and out of the league. I think on the out of the league, we go week to week, man. We're living in the moment a little bit. And some people are like, hey, show and so's had a good September. Where would he be in the tears?

And that's not really how it is in the league. So there's a little bit of a delay on this thing. Like, like, for example, Russell Wilson plummeted from last year, but he didn't go like all the way to garbage, you know. I mean, he dropped a tier and that's probably appropriate. Or Jalen Hertz is in the same shoes as like Lamar Jackson was. When Lamar won MVP, he went right to the top of tier two. And people were like, well, how you're the MVP? How can you not be tier one? It's like, well, people want to see it again and they had some questions about his passing and just whether the passing. The past. can come around enough for them to advance in the playoffs.

Well, we're two, three years later. Lamar still solidly in tier two, but he hasn't really made that jump into tier one. And no one's asking me right now, hey, how come he's not up with Burrow? Right? So sometimes that little bit of a delay or just an extra year is warranted, moving them up or down.

Yeah, I also want to ask about Trevor Lawrence, who, you know, everybody's high on coming out of Clemson. They loved him. I loved him. But there seems to be like a wide gap on what he is. A lot of people obviously like him, but I did look at pro football focus only had him as the 15th graded quarterback last year. DVOA loves him a lot more.

They had him sixth. How did you handle him with the Jags? Because if memory serves, they were three and seven to start last season. And nobody was talking about Trevor Lawrence being a tier two, tier one quarterback. And all of a sudden, they get hot down the stretch. They win a playoff game coming back from a massive deficit. And now it's like Trevor Lawrence season. I don't know.

I like Lawrence, but, you know, he's. He seems a little bit high. Interesting. So Trevor Lawrence moved into the middle of the second tier. He's just beneath Lamar Jackson, just ahead of Dak Prescott, who's obviously a lot more proven. I think people are buying the upside now. They see the situation in Jacksonville as having stabilized. They like Doug Peterson generally.

There's good weaponry around him. There's actually a good team. I think the defense is good. So I think people are seeing where this is headed, and they're not putting them in tier one. What did he get three tier one votes? So three people out of 50. said, you know what, I'm all in. Trevor Lawrence, here we go. But I think for the most part, people really bought into the second half of last year. Now, that said, before that, even when,

even though everyone knew Urban Meyer to blame all of that, I think he was sort of disappointing. And people expected more from him and really have expected better accuracy from him. Now, that seemed to come around the second half of last year. But that was one thing where, like, people are questioning whether he could get to Tier 1 more a year ago than now. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the eye heart. Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here.

unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

They're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black. Black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away,

such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a Jets fan. I was born in New York. I root for them. That's the one team I, like, root for.

And I was not keen on bringing Aaron Rogers on board. Old guy, ornery, battling the front office in Green Bay. And let's be real, after the two MVP's, Mike, he, fell precipitously. He didn't fall like Russell Wilson, but he fell. And it doesn't feel like he was treated the same way Russ was in his fall. Now, I don't know how much of that is a projection onto the Jets where he's reunited with Hackett, whatever we think of Hackett, and they have Garrett Wilson and better weapons perceived on the outside than the Packers did last year. Was Rogers a difficult one for you? So in the past, like the voters stood by Rogers no matter what,

Remember the end of McCarthy, it didn't look good. There was kind of whispers in media. Not whispers. People were saying, hey, this guy is declined. You know, you could, all those stats we're talking about. EPA, DVOA, all that stuff was being used to say that Rogers doesn't have it. At that time, though, everyone kept him in tier one. In fact, before this year, 401 of 408 votes for Rogers over the last decade were in tier one.

Okay? He had seven tier two votes ever in nine years. This year he has 20. So there are some people. hopping off of that train and I think some of it is a combination of the age. He's going to be 40 this year. So people sort of kind of start to see you decline at a certain age. I think that happened to Brady.

Remember 2019, Brady, it doesn't look right. Like he's done with the Patriots, their weaponry wasn't great, the offense just kind of stalled. And people said, you know what, this is it. He's old. This is where he declines. And he was able to get in a good situation, probably be motivated. and stay healthy. And he played pretty much tier one ball.

I think he led the league in a lot of categories that first year in Tampa. So I think Rogers has that in him with a little bit of a concern over the injuries and durability. I think that's where, you know, 17-game season, as noted in the piece, 14 games on turf this year, only for last year. That's a little bit interesting for someone who's had some lower leg injuries, was injured last year, tough division, might get knocked around a little. bit, new offensive line, everyone learning the protections, right? It's not the same guys that he's had, which is a huge priority for him. That's why they had all those guys like Lazard, you know?

That's a great nugget. 14 games on turf. I had not considered that. This is why, you know, this is why you got the goods. All right. I do want to go to Josh Allen. And the bill season last year was weird because they were steamrolling everybody leading in point differential, I think. And then that Bengals game happens. And it kind of throws everything off to. the stretch. They end up not getting home field advantage. They have to face the Bengals against smashed. And now it's like, whoa, Buffalo is going to fall back.

And, you know, everybody loves Josh Allen. I'm going to give you two stats, Mike, that I'm sure you're aware of. Pro football focus had Allen with the first, well, leading the NFL in turnover-worthy plays last year. And he also led the NFL in Red Zone interceptions. Yet he's solidly in Tier 1. I get that. He had a lot of touchdown passes look great last year. I just, based on the way they've finished the season, should we be cautious?

Maybe that's over a too strong word. How should we feel about Allen heading into this season? He actually moved up in his average vote this year. That surprised me a little bit. Now, Burrow passed him, like Burrow moved up more. But I kind of thought there might be a little bit more questioning of Josh Allen than there ended up being this year. But I think you have to kind of step back and say,

wait a minute, this is a team that was kind of top five on both sides of the ball for the most part. Yes, he did put the ball in harm's way, but I think like that's kind of part of him. He's kind of a Superman, you know? The concerns I would have for him are that much usage and running, you know, is going to catch up to your body. I don't care if you're as big as Cam Newton and Josh Allen. It just does eventually. I mean, Cam hit a cliff. You know, after about 10 years, Cam was not the same guy.

Josh Allen's way earlier in that, throws the ball. better, but he runs it a lot and takes a lot of hits and kind of goes down swinging a lot, right? That's what we're talking about with some of those turnover worthy plays. He doesn't really live to see another day enough. And I think that's an area of growth for him that could be a had. They've talked about it a little bit this off season, but he's got to kind of actually do it. Based on the voting, Mike, was there any quarterback that you felt when you saw the results, you were like, I just disagree totally. I don't see it that way. I've got this guy higher or lower. Who was the quarterback that stuck out to you the most? So I'm so kind of on the inside

myself in talking to all these guys. I kind of agree with the way that it came down. Although right, here's my two kind of like right on the tier two three borderline, like cousins improved. Like cousins is always kind of right around there, but he moved up from tier three into tier two. And I'm like, was there something we didn't know about cousins? Are people overvaluing the fact that they want all those those games. And then, you know, when you look at it, he did have eight fourth quarter game-winning drives. And that is tied for the most in a season since 1960, according to pro football reference. So he does get some credit for that. I thought also people were nicer to Kyler Murray than I was expecting. I mean, Kyler Murray got one tier one vote. Can you believe that? Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And I used to

quote from the guy who did it. I mean, the guy was like, look, they have a lot of problems around there that aren't him. I mean, when they were, they were a playoff team recently. It wasn't because of any reason except for him. He showed he can make the plays and carry him. Now, he's got to show the leadership and all of that stuff. You might dock him there. But I thought there'd be a little bit more negativity around him. And people kind of made, not maybe excuses, depending on your point of view, but at least sort of had reasons for why it wasn't all his fault. It seems like Cliff Kingsbury is being the scapegoat there. I don't even, is he in the league? Is he in college football? Where is Cliff Kingsbury these days? By Kyle and Murray getting a

first place vote, the guy who demanded that a clause be removed from his contract, stomped his feet, removed the cardinal stuff. Like, you're right, leadership is the word with him. I can't believe that. He got one quarterback tier one vote. But Mike, I should ask. The NFL is notorious for struggling to draft quarterbacks. They have missed so many times, so many whiffs in the top 10, top five, first round.

I just wonder how, when you're talking about. talking to these guys, are some of them like, you know what? I just did not see this. I did not see this coming at all. I know, and we know Mahomes is number one, but nobody who analyzes football can tell me they saw anything close to this for like a Patrick Mahomes after what, five years, right? So how much stock should we put in the guy who's voting Kyler Murray Tier 1? Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think if you talk to 50 people, you're going to get a couple outliers, right? You're going to get someone who sees it a different way or, you know what? They played against Kyler Murray, and it was and he gave him fits, you know, he saw the best of him, whatever.

You're going to get a little bit of that. You meled it all together. I think it's pretty good. Now, I think there's a reason I don't have rookies in here because I think the projection from college to pro is a complete guessing game. I mean, there's people I know that I respect who have great knowledge of football and quarterback play. They can watch the film on Josh Rosen in college and think he's going to be good.

Everybody did, yeah. I mean, that's the sort of thing that happens. That's why I take that out because I think we're a lot better at getting at what matters of guys who've actually played. Now, there's some guys in here who haven't played much, and so they're a little bit harder. I include some of those anyway, if they've at least played some. But like last year, no one saw Gino Smith doing what he did. And that includes the Seahawks. The Seahawks didn't think he would.

The Seahawks, I bet you, six weeks before the season, probably thought Drew Locke was going to be their quarterback. Wow. you know so gino smith good for him there are surprises there are guys who play better than they've ever played before uh and and you know you tip your hat to them and say great job yeah uh you know and those are few and far between really you know i think most of the evaluations are pretty good if you're trying to identify the next gino smith who can make the leap is there anything we can take away because seattle was weird last year right uh they dump russell wilson for Gino Smith.

They all of a sudden are throwing a lot more on early downs. They've got a young team. And then Gino Smith, who's basically been, you know, kicked around the league for almost a decade, was a disaster with my Jets. Looks like a competent. I don't know about franchise quarterback, but look like a competent guy.

Who could be that guy this year? Is there anyone that jumps out to you? I don't think so when you go through and just, there's not really anyone like him. I don't think who's on this that started, that's going to be the starter for a team who hadn't been a starter for a long time, but as a veteran. I mean, who would

who would you pick out? I mean, just kind of looking through the list of guys. I think he's a little bit of a one-off. Now, I do think there's guys that can go either way. You know, I think, like, I feel like Lamar Jackson could climb into tier one if this passing offense suits him, and he really takes a step there,

or they could come back to bite him if that's not really for him, and he struggles and, you know, leads the league in interceptions or something. something and misses the final five games, he could slip. So I think there's volatility for him. I think Tua is somebody who people have a hard time figuring out because, you know, the supporting cast around him have been either terrible or great. You know, and the play callings either been terrible or great. And so we know he throws accurately, but can he even stay on the field?

If he does, I mean, he could have a great season. But people don't want to annoy somebody who sort of has to have it set up a certain way. You know, it's got to be on a certain timing to make it work. And the minute it's not, it doesn't look good. So that's what he probably has to overcome. Fields. Oh, yeah. Fields is a hugely volatile.

Oh, Justin Fields. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. So that's somebody who could really rock it up. But, I mean, he's a first round pick recently. So there's hope for that. It's not like he's Gino Smith. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraging.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you'll say. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because, of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Then you're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

While we're on Justin Fields, some people, like my partner on TV, Colin Coward, he really believes in quarterback record. He can't seem to get over 5 and 20 for Justin Fields. You study quarterbacks, you talk to people around the league, you've got a weekly NFL column. I say quarterback record, and your response is? You've really got to know how to contextualize it.

I'll give you an example. Okay. I was, if you look, I was doing this for a conversation on Jimmy, Garoplo. Okay. Jimmy Garaplo is going from the 49ers who had a great defense while he was there to the Raiders who've had a bad defense. Okay.

So over the last five years, the 49ers are sixth statistically in defense and special teams. The Raiders are 32nd, right? Jimmy's got a great record, right? Amazing record. He wins all the games. But guess what? All the teams in the top eight statistically, defense and special teams have a winning record, all of them.

The bottom eight, the only one. The only ones that have winning records are the guys who have tier one quarterbacks. It's Mahomes, it's Rogers, and it's River slash Herbert. So if you're going to be bad, I would say for a guy like Mahomes and Rogers, the record does say something because they have throughout their career been able to overcome whether or not they have a bad defense. So their record means something to me. Jimmy's record is more of grain of salt to me.

he's a tier three, upper tier three, maybe on his good days, tier two quarterback who has a tier one record because of factors that are beyond his control. And watch when he goes to the Raiders, he's not going to win 70% of his games, guaranteed. Reminds me as Zach Wilson last year who I think he missed the first couple games and then he goes on a 5-0 tear, right? Five-and-o record. And the Jets are 7 and 3.

But nobody should look at Zach Wilson in those games is that he's the reason they won any of them, other than the Pittsburgh game where he was good down the stretch, but they needed some luck there anyway. I guess the guy I would look at, to go back to Gino Smith for a second, again, it's not a direct comparison, but Derek Carr, I think, is like 17 games under 500 for his career. He's 0 for 1 in the playoffs.

He's been around the league for, what, 9, 10 years? I'm extremely bullish on the Saints this year, not because of Carr or the coach, really, but mostly because of that schedule. And there's a chance that Carr not having to play Mahomes twice, Herbert twice, you know, there's a chance in this weak NFC South. He pops as a guy who, you know, surges, where is he third tier? Maybe he surges to top of the second tier. Is that possible?

Well, the funny thing about it is like, so when he was with the Raiders, they were only kind of middle of the pack on DeVan Special Teams one year and they went 12 and 4. That was the one 12 and 4 year. The rest, they were horrible. So when you look at the Saints and you really. look at like in recent years they've kind of been a top five defensive team right and so when you look at sean payton there towards the end sean peyton's five and two with james he's five and one with bridgewater he's seven and two with tason hill not because those guys were money it's because they were great in other areas around them so derrick carr's certainly better than those three guys

right those three guys had a combined 17 and five record when sean paeton was there and none of them as a starting quarterback in the league, right? So I think there's real promise for Derek Carr to go in there. And if they are top five, top 10 on defense, he can win games. And when you go through the NFC, you get to the Saints real quick when you start looking at who could go deep because it's the NFC. I mean, they could win that division. So.

Yeah, I got to ask, how much of that quarterback record stuff with the Saints is, should we attribute to Peyton? as opposed to special teams in defense. Because that makes me wonder, is the arrow going to be pointing back up for Russell Wilson, although they just lost Tim Patrick again. He didn't play last year, to win Achilles. And I don't know, they have Sutton and Judy,

Sutton and Judy and Hamler seem to be healthy. But I don't know, how much do we expect from Sean Peyton and Russell Wilson? I do give Sean Payton some of the credit for that. He was able to win with those guys. I remember we were writing about it at the time going, wait a minute, Drew Reeze is gone, this offense is gone, and they continue to win. And you have to have the players on defense to do that.

And Denver probably has enough players on defense to be pretty good. So they may be able to do that. I think the Russell Wilson part of the equation, though, is a little dice here. He, going into the 2020 season, was unanimous tier one. Then the next year, he had 40 out of 50 votes in tier one. Then he had 15 out of 50 in tier one. Then he had zero this year. So he's declined for three years in a row.

And I think the one thing we've seen about Sean, Peyton is it's not going to be his fault for a while there in Denver. That's a good point. And so I think Russell Wilson is in a dicey situation. Now, he has a good opportunity. He could bounce back and he could play well for them, but I think his days as a superstar athletically are probably over. Wow.

And so, you know, to me, I just think he's lost the athletic quickness, you know, that he had when he was really special. And so, like, it's not going to shock me if they switch quarterbacks during the year. To Jared Stidham? Sure. I wouldn't shock me. Wow.

Now, I'm trying to think, has there been a quarterback who has lost the athletic ability in his mid-30s and then regained it. We know Russ is a tireless worker. We've seen all the silly airplane videos. Is there any precedence of this? I don't know about losing the athleticism part.

I mean, I think there's been some athletic quarterbacks who have done well late in their career. is like a rich Gannon. You know, I think he was somebody who played till an older age probably. I think he had a neck injury late in his career. Steve Young was, you know, didn't hit immediately and was a good athletic quarterback later. But I don't know. I think that Russell Wilson was pretty dependent on the special ability to escape to really make the big plate on the field.

You thought you had them so many times. Like this guy was dead to rights and then it's a 40-yard gain. He would turn a 10-yard loss. to a 40-yard game, like routinely. You do that two times in a game. You win the game. Like, it changes everything. And so I think he may be able to do that some,

but I don't think that's necessarily how Sean Payton's going to want to play offense either. So I think it remains to be seen how that fit is. We'll get you out of here on this, Mike. Any thoughts on Jets Browns this week? Jets getting all the love, hard knocks, first game. They open with the bill, brutal early schedule, understandable with Aaron Rogers. But I'm just curious.

I know that the first six games are really brutal, and it's early August. I'm not trying to pin you down, but your expectation for the Jets would be first with the preseason game and then going forward into the season. Your thoughts? Yeah, no expectations for a preseason game.

I mean, I don't even pay, I don't know who won the preseason last year. I think there's zero value in it, just try not to get anybody hurt. The season, I expect him to be a play-up team. I think what Rogers doesn't guarantee anything, but he raises the ceiling for them. The ceiling is way higher than it's been for a long time. There's a lot of ways you can not reach the ceiling. Rogers gets hurt again. It just

doesn't mesh well. Hey, maybe he is not a tier one quarterback. All those things could happen, but he gives them the possibility. I think when your team has the possibility and knows it, you have a better chance to get the best out of your guys. There's an energy that somebody like that brings when everybody knows, hey, we got a shot. We got a shot here. So I'm kind of glass-half full. I think they're going to have a winning record. I know it's tough in the AFC.

No idea what will happen in the playoffs. I think you could lose to anyone in the FC in the playoffs. And it's not the end of the world. But I think they're going to be in the mix at the end. Last two years we've had surprise Super Bowl teams. The Eagles, not many had them. I mean, people had them being good, but Super Bowl, I think it was a bit of a stretch. And then two years ago, Bengals, I'm almost certain nobody had them.

Can you give us a middle tier, a middle-class team that you think could make that leap to Super Bowl? Yeah, so I think in the NFC, you know, Dallas is kind of a team lurking in the Eagles shadows that has good talent. They've been pretty good on defense the last couple of years. They ran into the 49ers last year in the playoffs. I don't think there's any shame in losing to the 49ers. I think they're a really good team.

But there's a thinness in the NFC that could allow. We were talking about the Saints. You know, there's some teams in there that could break through because of that. I think it's much easier to make the Super Bowl from the. the NFC than it is to win it. I think getting to the Super Bowl is the problem in the AFC. A team that has been really on the outs, but will be heard from this year.

Could be Jacksonville. I think they've done a good job putting that roster together. And I think they're going to have a good defense, pretty good defense, and what we saw in offense, that's a team that hasn't done anything, has had a terrible record that got a taste last year and maybe it could be a little dangerous.

Wow. So Jacksonville, I guess if they steal the number one seed in the division, maybe they make the leap and get the number one seed. I mean, it's going to be tough. Kansas, you're right. The AFC is just brutal. That's why we're leaning unders in the AFC with Allen and Burrow and Mahomes. It's just wild. Yeah. I mean, I think in the end, the chiefs are probably going to be there. Shoot, they won it last year and I didn't even think it was going to be their year when they transitioned from Tyree Kill. So you got to give them the big edge. Yeah. All right. Mike Sando, the Athletic, get a subscription, read all their fun stuff. Here's quarterback thing is awesome. Congrats, Mike, on the success, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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