The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Nick Wright on Chiefs Super Bowl chances, Nick Saban to Penn State, Josh Allen issues | 10.15

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Nick Wright, co host of "First Things First" joins Bomani Jones to discuss a wide array of football topics.  First, they break down the Chiefs beating the Lions and discuss whether both teams are equipped for a Super Bowl run this season.  Later, they discuss Baker Mayfield's incredible start to the NFL season and why he's making a legitimate case for MVP.  Finally,  they discuss whether Penn State should try and recruit Nick Saban to replace James Franklin, Josh Allen's recent struggles, and much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is the time of week where we have a guest to join us.

I just did this to give you guys some proof of life to let you know that even though sometimes people have to do serious battle on a weekend, they can still be cool by Wednesday. Check out First Things First on FS1 in the What's Right Pots. podcast. Nick Wright was going on. Bo, how are you? How are you dealing with kind of an embarrassing, emasculating, bullying loss for the biggest, toughest team in football that got pushed around? See, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. I knew that. I knew that there was some way that you were going to have to wind up going a little bit too far. I mean, you could make the argument. Yes, that maybe, maybe they didn't stand on this square as well as they could. for 60 minutes of action.

Before that first minute after, baby, you saw that there was still some fight in them, did you? There's still some fighting them. I'm worried about that lion's safety room, which is, I know it's actually all defensive facts, but Kirby is a first team all pro who after the game sent out,

I counted 24 tweets or retweets blaming the refs. He's also not physically well. Brian Branch, Bo. I thought he was about to cry in that post game when he said they were bullying me. And I just think it was a good kind of end cap to a game that started with the Lions telling the world, we can't get six inches on the Kansas City Chiefs without throwing it to Jared Golf. What happened to running the ball with David Montgomery? What happened to the big tough offensive line?

about your lions, Bo, I got to tell you. I got to tell you also. Things were looking really good up until they got big brain with that throw to Jerry Kauf, which I have to say, it always looks impressive when it works, right? Like, for sure. And I will also say that it feels tougher when it's a throwback to penesual, right? That feels like it's still within the ethos of what we got going. Where I absolutely agree with you is,

you guys don't have to do this anymore, right? Like you don't have, and maybe you never had to do it in the first place, but you don't have to be so cute in doing some of these things. Like this is, in many ways, this is beneath them. What I find fascinating about it is, now that we have seen this persist through two offensive coordinators, it is very clear, ironically, that the razzle-dazzle is coming from Dan Campbell.

Yes. That's right. That's what, and it's, and he's not only okay with it, but like, as you put, maybe encouraging it. And I just think there's a time, I don't mind. I hate the analysis of trick plays are awesome when they work and they suck when they don't. That's not what I'm trying to do. I just thought fourth down with inches to go what was an odd place for it. And I also, if you remember that exact sequence, the chiefs called, no, Dan Campbell called a timeout right before fourth down. But they had already started the play.

Andy was mad because he didn't think Campbell had called it in time. But their initial fourth down play was a golf rollout to the right that then ended up being aborted. And then their next fourth down play is this trick pass, trick, you know, trick play. It was really weird to me. that they wouldn't just try to run it straight down Kansas City's throat. Now, you know, I'm overstating, you know, the concern about the lines. I texted you that, um, Amon Ross St. Brown literally had not had a drop charted.

Again, I haven't charted at all, but in the numbers since 20, 23. He went all of last year without a drop, didn't have a drop all of this year, and then dropped that fourth down. And that was a huge play. I still, I think your team obviously, is excellent. I didn't like after the game, but whatever. Dan Campbell handled it great after the game. Dan Campbell's awesome. He's awesome. My only question, big picture from that game for your team, and then we can get to the team that's obviously going to win the Super Bowl.

Yeah. Obviously, it's the best of the football. Did you, do you agree with Collinsworth that the way they're built, they, it is a concern. if they have to play from behind. Collinsworth sounded that alarm about like when you get golf into a straight drop back passing game and the team's not worried about the run, the opposing team, that's when they can struggle. And it felt a little harsh. But then I thought about it, I was like the playoff game, week one, week six,

those three instances when they were behind by more than one score, they, golf did seem, he didn't struggle. He only, you know, didn't complete three passes. but the offense didn't hum. Did you think that was fair critique? Yes. And I drank out of my Bomani Jones mode. Yes, I do.

And I do think that. So the thing about golf is golf is one of these guys. Like, I say this about Joe Burrow and I don't mean it to be insulting, but it's just factually true. That, wow, he sure looks awesome when everybody else is too. Right? So like the Jared, the Jared Gaug, Jared Gaug, Jared Gauff built his career off the time that Sean McVey

look most like a genius and that was when they had Todd Gurley. Right. Like you put somebody back there and he can, if you don't ask him to do too much, he might be able to give you the world. And so, yeah, if you have to play from behind or like, hey, go get it for us, Tiger. Tiger is not that kind of tiger. The thing that I say about the Lions is because of the nature of their running game, when they get behind, I don't really see why you need to stop running the ball.

I totally agree. Like they were never behind in the Chiefs game. to where it felt like they were never behind three scores. Right. The most they were ever down was 10, I guess 13 at the very end, but, you know, effectively 10. And it just felt like you could keep running the ball. And the other thing that I, that I was surprised they didn't do more of.

And I think if they were to meet in the Super Bowl, it would, they would, is passing to Jamir Gibbs. Like where the Chief's defense, I don't have the numbers to back this up. I haven't looked at this. I just know from watching them under Spags. I'm not talking swing passes, but I'm talking getting a running

back out in a route to as a receiver. Because the Chiefs love playing all those linebackers and you get Bolton on Jamir Gibbs and that's a problem. And so I thought they would have done more of that and they didn't so much. I think the thing to watch out for with the Lions is looking at personnel,

they have to scheme big plays because the only real big play receiver they have is the dude that got caught betting from the team facility. You know, like, you got to, we got to put, a lot of faith in an untrustworthy fellow in order to make it happen. But he's really the only guy. Like, he and Gibbs, like, they can't stop running the ball with Gibbs because Gibbs is as much a big play threat as anybody outside of J-mo is. If you're going to figure it. something out. Like they, they're going to have to manufacture this and they're going to have to somehow figure out how to stay healthy because they feel kind of like San Francisco where we play big, strong physical football and the line between the hammer and the nail is like really

narrow. And they're dudes like Kirby Joseph is not physically there on top of everything else, right? All those guys on defense that are hurt, it's going to be a tough road for them next game they play just because they're so physically beat up. And it's, we're not deep enough into the season. Like last year they ended the season with a match. unit. But that was ending. That was ending. It wasn't early. And it's also why Branch getting himself suspended for a huge game. This could determine the one seat. And I'm not saying it's just down to these two teams. But if Tampa wins, they have an effective three game lead on Detroit for the one seat. Because there'll be two up in the standings and have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

And listen, I understand Branch probably didn't think he was going to get suspended. And what? wasn't thinking. But that is a brutal time and a brutal team to have one of your safeties, as you mentioned, Kirby Joseph, who limped, like the way he came off the field in that game, I was like, oh, he can't play again. And then he did come back. That was weird. But his knees bothering him and Branch now suspended.

Now, the glass half full or three quarters full, you probably just played, you know, the best team in the league by a large margin. And so maybe that's it. I mean, maybe you guys were the only team in the league that would have held the Buzaw that is the Can City Chief to just 30 points this weekend. This is why, aside from the fact that I watch, I don't typically watch night games at Nick's house because I have to get back home. But this is the other reason I thought it would be better for us.

That if it was a 4.30 kick, I'd have broke out my Barry Sanders throwback and come on over to the crib and endanger it off. I thought you might show up. Honestly, I thought there was a chance you were going to show up after that first drive. when they're just running it down the field. I was like, if they go up seven nothing, Beau could, Bo's four minutes away by car. Like, Bo could show up at any moment.

I was prepared for it. It crossed my mind. It's not a difficult subway ride at all. It dawned on your boy that that might have been it. But with the Chiefs, I am with you. They're okay. They're just fine. It looked a little tough early on.

But now that they got the, look, honestly, everything changed for me with that Thornton dude. I don't, like, I'm not saying he's the greatest. receiver in the world, but I am seeing he's running by people and worthy, at least until the next time he runs into somebody is out here running through, running by people. And Rishie Rice will be back at some point. Like, they had for a couple of years a bunch of we can just get open guys. And now we look up and realize, oh no, they got a lot of we can run by you guys. Well, and so they have now the Thornton. So I thought this last game was a good example. Thornton didn't have a catch,

but he impacted the game when he was on the field, it was not that much because of his speed plus Mahomes' ability to throw it anywhere and Mahomes putting on tape, I will throw to this guy. He's not just a decoy. Like, if he's opened down the field, I will throw to him. The way it opened up the intermediate part,

which is why people are overthinking. They're like, why is Kelsey better this year? It's not because he lost seven. in my opinion. It's because there's less congestion in the middle of the field because safeties have to worry about Taekwon Thornton. The chiefs are throwing deep again. Now you have Xavier there.

And where I am super bullish is, listen, I give credit to Juju for doing his role great. He blocks. He's tough. He plays that kind of intermediate slot receiver. But at this point in his career, I bet he runs a 4-7. Like the, his knees are shot. They are going to just drop Rishi Rice into the role Juju's been playing.

And you're going to have Kelsey and Rishi Rice in the intermediate. Tyquan Thornton, basically my guess is running nine routes when he's on the field or Hollywood Brown. And then Xavier, the thing about Xavier Worthy, and you obviously know this as Texas guy, yes, he's a 4-240 and weighs 160 pounds. but for good or for bad, the guy does run all the routes. He's not just a deep now. Maybe he should be mostly a deep downfield receiver because he's going to get beat up.

But Xavier can, you know, run post, can run ends, can do anything. And so I just think they're going to be an incredibly difficult offense to defend, especially since Mahomes now trusts his offensive line for the first time in a few years. And the defense looks like a defense because that was, I think most of us would agree when it was looking bad early this year. It had as much to do with defense as anything else, especially since Chris Jones, you know, is willing to play football apparently. I don't know how excited he is about it, but, you know, punch in, punch out. Listen, when you're, when for a decade, your season's 21 games for a sport that's designed to play about 15, you have to pick your spots. And Chris, in that

Lions game, by the way, made his, as he historically has, made his biggest impact on, you know, the biggest third down late in the game to kind of ice it. I'm not worried about Chris Jones. I do think, I do think they're going to make a trade. And the question is, are they going to trade for a running back or attempt to trade for a pass rusher? I have been saying running back, and I think running back is far easier to come by. It seems like the consensus is, or close to consensus is they're more likely to go after a pass rusher. I would just, listen, I have massive respect for Isaiah Pacheco. He does, it appears breaking his leg last year, sadly changed the trajectory of his career.

He's just not the same guy. And it is, you know, it's funny. Your favorite person in the world, my youngest daughter, Deanna, her, entire context of watching professional football is watching Chiefs games with me. Yes. And so we were watching, oh, some other game. It doesn't matter. That was just on.

And the running back went for six yards. And she turns me, she's like, that was really good by him, wasn't it, Daddy? And I'm like, actually, that's pretty normal. She's like, no, he. And I'm like, oh, you're just used to Pacheco getting a yard and a half. half every single time. You just think like the running back is supposed to run into the offensive line and it's second and eight.

So you saw a different running back get you to second and four and thought it was a huge play. So I like if Pacheco's not going to bounce back, I think adding a running back could really add a dynamism to this offense. But either way, it doesn't matter because nobody else is good in the AFC. football through the eyes of an uninvested child is so great as my favorite Deanna line from football is her walking in looking at her father and saying and I quote who do we want to win today. Oh yeah, that was right. That was not watching. Yeah, I was like, hey, buddy, I think you need to do some bad here about what this is telling you.

Yeah. About what life is. Yeah, she, listen, let me tell you something else that you didn't know because she knows I bet on the games. and now every Tuesday morning when I take her to school, I think you might actually not like this, bow. But she says to me, she goes, can I quiz you? And what that means is she wants me to open whatever sports betting app of my choice

and her to do a version of the Simmons and Sal, guess the lines with me, where she will tell me the game and I will guess what I think the point spread is and she'll tell me if I'm wrong or right. And we've done that for six weeks now of this season. Have you seen the episode of The Simpsons where Homer and Lisa are watching football because she's giving him great tips and she comes into class. Like this is, and the Saints kick the meeting field goal to cover the spread. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's where we're at. He's great parenting. I don't care.

Well, I mean, I'm surprised he ever bought her a Baker Mayfield jersey as she is roughly his height, and he is playing well enough than somebody where perhaps won one of those jerseys. Are you shocked by this, Bo? Okay. So I have a slight bit of Nick Wright in me where,

and what I mean by that is this. Like, being good at negotiating involves having the stomach to hold your position deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, and knowing that it's ultimately going to be correct. You are willing to do that in the face of what can obviously seem like being wrong in an uncanny fashion that often pays off greatly, right? I'll jump off ship way before you do.

You hold it down. I cannot jump off the SS Mayfield nor the SS Darnold in the in the fashion that I have been in completely. Here's what I say about Baker. I think that we mess up and we get too locked into the idea of everybody being a franchise quarterback and we ignore the value of a starting quarterback. I just watched a starting quarterback when the Super Bowl last year, for example. I think that Baker is upper echelon at this point of your starting quarterbacks, right, while also playing for a team that plays in a Port of Vision. But he is throwing to people of whom I have never heard right now. I would also, however, like to give some credit to those people of whom I have never heard because they're open.

Like, they are getting really excellent wide receiver play from dudes who I had never heard of. But if there's anything Baker Mayfield has ever been able to do is throw the ball on the money. And if you're giving him a bunch of dudes that are getting open, which is this is, not everybody can do this. If the dudes are open, they ain't even got to be a lot open. If they're open, that's a dude that's going to get them the ball. and he is doing it and now playing with a confidence where he looks like college Baker Mayfield outside the pocket making things happen. Like yeah, this is, this has been a lot.

Like he's on his way to the Brian Seid, Bert Jones, Matt Ryan, Boomer Osison. Hey, that guy won an MVP. One an MVP, man. Won an MVP. And he, listen, he's always had a crazy strong arm and been, as you mentioned, crazy accurate. he, at his worst, so many of his best non-throwing moments for the last two years looked just like his worst non-throwing moments from early in his career, which is him seemingly overestimating his athleticism compared to the guy chasing him.

And it felt like in Cleveland and certainly in Carolina, those ended in egregious sacks. and now for the last two years, they end in some of the sickest plays anyone has all year. Last year when Nikki Bosa has him and they are basically both holding each other's jersey and he makes the fourth down throw. The third and 14 in a one point game this weekend where he is wrapped up escapes and then somehow sidelines his way to 14 yards. Listen, I think it is one of the coolest stories. in NFL history if he continues this and pulls this all.

I also think there is something to be learned, because you're talking about guys getting open. And, you know, he obviously has gone through, what, four OCs in Tampa. Because his O.C., everyone is so, maybe it stops now, but Baker playing well was so shocking to people. He got people job coaching jobs. People were like, well, it can't be. Baker, Dave and Alice, you get a job.

It can't be Baker, Liam Cohen, you get a job. So he's going through all of that. And I think there is an element and tell me if you buy this. Because this is where I really love talking about this sport specifically because more than any other sport, I do think there is

there is more to be learned from the guys who played it that can't be explained in the numbers or the data, more so than basketball or baseball to me by a lot. Because it's so hard and it's so brutal that there is, some of that like, listen, you know, running a run for four yards is better for your team than a pass for four yards.

You just have to take my word for it. That type of stuff, I believe the guys. Like, I believe them. And I say all that to say this. there is an element of Baker that the way his teammates love him and the way he seems to be the true, and I know it sounds cliche, but guys, guy, alpha, leader, I think makes everyone better. And I actually think we are seeing something of the exact opposite in Miami, where I think from a personality standpoint and what the players on the team think about their quarterback,

off the record behind the scenes in Tampa compared to Miami, are diametrically opposed. And I think that has a real part of the reason why two teams that, yes, there is a talent gap between them, but it's not a five and one to one and five talent gap. Right. And Tua is supposed to, Baker has obviously, different limitations than Tua, but they're both undersized quarterbacks with some limitations, but Baker's guys freaking love him. And it feels like Tua's team is kind of sick of him. And I think that shows up every Sunday. And so I think the Bucks get a real edge from it.

And I think it's one of the reasons the Dolphins stink. And it's, well, it's interesting because, and look, we all like different things, right? but it feels like in real life, if you were to put those two guys next to each other, be like, which one of them do you think is more likable? The answer may not be two of it, but it really isn't Baker-Bayfield. Correct.

In the context of the football, and I wonder how it went for Baker when it wasn't going well. Because the question I always had about him is, chip-on-shoulder guy generally has this problem, which is you're proving everybody wrong, but what do you do when they start looking right? Like, what happens when you start thinking they're right? What's your next play?

Like, do you have that if you're fueled by that? And he has managed to turn into this whole different, you know, this better player than we even saw at the height of it in Cleveland. And you're right. The people are around him because there's a confidence to him that is magnetic, I think. And they know if there's a throw, he's going to make it. Like the guys that hold the ball too long that has to be demoralizing. I don't think that guys who play with Baker Mayfield are running down the field. and then if they're open, not getting the ball, right?

Correct. There's got to be something for that. The thing with Tua, it does seem to be very clear. That press conference that he did, and I've heard you say this, and you're right, he needs to get out of the press conference business. He is, he doesn't have that club in his bag. He's not good at it. No.

But these cats don't seem to respect him. Like when you're talking about you're having players-only meetings and they don't respect you, Mike McCoy, the interim coach now with the Titans, was talking about how going into that game, you know, that got Callahan fired. And Jeffrey Simmons had said they had the worst week of practice, like all of these things. McCoy came out and said, yeah, there was something in practice. It may have been the whole practice. It was drills or whatever.

But Jeffrey Simmons was like, hey, we're going to do that again. And then everybody went and they did it again. This is on an awful team, right, with really nothing to play for. And that dude said, no, we're going to do that again. And they did it again. Do you think that if Tuotonga by Loa told his team, we're going to do that again, that they would do it again? Because he can't even get him to come to no goddamn meetings. Well, and I think part of that is because it's always everyone else's fault.

Like the, he, there is a stunning. Some of the things he says after games that he plays terribly, you would blanch at if Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen said it in a game where they played great and a dropped pass turned into an interception, you'd still be like, man, kind of part of the deal with being the quarterback is when you're in front of the podium, it's always your fault. Like that's one of the reasons you're kind of part of management and you get paid so much more is you got to eat it. Even it like the, again, I'll use Mahomes as an example.

now he was throwing to a, you know, a future All of Famer and his best friend. But the interception against the Eagles that hit Travis Kelsey in his hands for a touchdown. Patrick said he's like, yeah, I threw it to a bad spot. Like, no, you didn't. Like you're just, you didn't, but you're being a good guy. Two is coming off a three interception game. And he's talking about things other guys need to do. And this is my kind of bigger picture, tricky to a.

take, which is, I think there has been, understandably, from a human perspective, a kid glove treatment the last couple of years with criticism of Tua in the media because all of us know, like, man, this guy's like literally putting his life on the line in a way, I know everybody is, but in a different way. He has dealt with such horrifying injuries that to me, there's, there's an element of, and again, I want to be careful with how I'm saying this, but where you, just like if Damar Hamlin got beat for a touchdown, I don't know that he would be criticized the way. And it's totally understand. It's like we've seen what the guy's been through. And it feels like Tua has coasted a bit on that. Like, him going after Mike McDaniel, indirectly or directly, is so crazy to me. It's like,

bro, Mike McDaniel is the reason you got that second contract. Like, we can talk about Mike McDaniel, the head coach, whatever it is. Mike McDaniel's offense and system is what led to you getting paid and did not take accountability for your own poor play is really jarring and discomfitting to me. Yeah, I think that is all fair. And I also think that for the dolphins, right, who are in some ways kind of like seven up. They kind of like R.C. Cola.

They kind of like what the Packers were in the 80s, which is somebody tell you, you know, back when I was young, this was one of the most important franchises in the NFL. I mean, they went to, Don Shula went to four Super Bowls. Yeah, with his team. Three in a row.

Yeah. And, you know, went to what? and Danny Woodley in 1982. Like this was a really, really important franchise who fired him, by the way, for going nine and seven. And it ain't been the same since, just throwing it out there.

But they have fallen off so far. But they, those two are a bad combination as your quarterback and head coach. Because people got to be afraid of somebody. Right? Like Flores was too much of a jerk being in charge of that team.

McDaniel, perhaps, not enough of a jerk, but somebody's got to be to somebody. So like when Tyreek Hill is acting up to a guy, somebody got to do something more than why about it in a press conference. Somebody's got to be the one that carries enough weight to be like, hey man, this stops now. And neither of those guys seem to be the guy who can do it. No. And I, listen, I think Mike McDaniel is a really good case study in. there is so much more to being a head coach than being a play caller.

And being, you know, designing fancy offense. And by the way, I actually think Mike McDaniel could be a really good head coach again if he were, sorry to invoke the chiefs here. But like if Andy Reid took a leave of absence and it's like, hey, we got to drop someone in for a season. I think if you have a team with a true leadership structure, a real culture and real internal accountability, and Mike McDaniel can, you know, most of his job is the fancy play calling offense stuff, I think that would work. Like, but I don't think he is a guy who is going to be able, and I think we're seeing it,

be able to command the room when things are going sideways on your squad. And so you do need, to your point, your co-leader, the quarterback of the team to be someone people feel accountable to. And Tua clearly is not that. Yeah. Just flatly is not that. Like, I appreciate that McDaniel is self-aware about, like, who he is. I mean, come on. You know what I mean?

Like, like, that ain't Ray Nitchke, right? Right. Like, you know who you're dealing with on that. But I remember early in him taking the job. It was an interesting interview he did where he was talking about motivating players. And he was like, you know, the thing that I've come to learn in doing this job is that what these guys really want to know is that you're going to put them in a position to get paid. Right. And you're going to put them in a position to take care of their families.

They want to do these things. And if you can tell them that we're doing things that's going to get you paid, you will get them. And that is, I think, a great and important observation, right? Like there's nothing tone deaf about it. There's no point being missed in that. But that is only part of this, right? Like I really do think in the end, especially for that type of job. But there's something that's, you know, it's a little bit primal if we're being perfectly honest.

You got to relate to them also in ways that are somewhat primal. Like you talked to Dominique about Ray Lewis and like what kind of leader Ray Lewis is. Ray Lewis ain't out there like, everybody's going to get paid after the game. No, no, no, no, no. Ray Lewis got something different about him that makes you want to go where he goes. Well, and so I hadn't thought about that point by McDaniel in a while. Did he say that with Ryan Clark? I don't remember seeing it.

I can't remember where. I think it was on the pivot, but doesn't matter. I guess it does matter. But the point stands. And I saw it when it happened, but I hadn't thought about it since then until you brought it up. I also wonder, is there a limitation to that for some guys because if and when, they then do get paid, do they then kind of tune you out? It's like, okay, job here's done.

Some guys you would hope it's like, oh, he told me do this, I'll get paid, I got paid, that's my guy forever. Other guys who might be like, okay, well, you know, we'll check back in when the contract's coming up, but for the time being, I'm good here. And so, yeah, they're in a,

they're in a really bad, you know, really bad spot. They probably shouldn't be as bad as their record is. And I don't know. I don't know what they're going to, if they're going to fire McDaniel. I mean, I can't imagine to be the coach there next year, but I, the fact that they didn't fire him this week makes me think maybe he survives the year. I don't know.

Let me tell you something. If they don't fire McDaniel or maybe they wait until the end of the year to do it, but if somehow Mike McDaniel is the coach next year, I can't tell if that is a staggering indictment of Brian Flores or more fodder for his lawsuit. Oh, I can't like, because that would be incredibly telling. They were like, no, we'll do another year of this. By the way, I don't know if this is on the schedule for our conversation today, but I wanted to get your take on it.

Can we do, since we're talking about firing coaches, can we do a couple minutes on James Franklin? Coming up next. Yes. Football is back and so is your shot at big wins. With draft kings pick six, the official daily fantasy partner of the NFL, your game day instincts can score you real money fast. Here's the play.

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bonus picks that expire in 14 days. Women at time offer, see terms at pick6.draftings.com slash promos. All right. We are back with Nick Wright, who has made a special request. He has James Franklin thoughts, and I'm curious to hear them. Well, first I would like to hear just a quick, because I know you've talked about it, version of yours, because I care more about what Bumani Jones thinks about college football than what anybody else in the media thinks about.

college football. I have what I would consider casual James Franklin thoughts that I want to run by you, but first I want to be briefed on your general feeling. Long of the short, is not just how many games you win or how many games you lose is what games you win and what games you lose. And in the end, he did a little, not enough winning of the right games. And then for the last two weeks, way too much of losing the wrong ones. Okay. So that's, that's put perfectly. It is crazy that like 20 days ago, he had a lead in overtime against Oregon, and now he's just out. They were the national championship favorite two and a half weeks ago.

So here is, so here's my question essentially. Yes. That I trust just your institutional knowledge of college football to help me with. How good of a program is Penn State? That is the fundamental question. That is the one that I think is left unanswered is how good is it? when you have one coach there for 50 years, there's no way to be like what the program is or without.

So it's not like some of these other programs that had this amazing coach for 10 years. He left and then you found out what you really were. So my worry would, if I were Penn State is, and I'm, let me give you my, you know, what I'm scarred by a bit. I get to Syracuse. And after my freshman year there, after going six and six a couple years in a row under Paul Pasquiloni, who they were, they were a program under Pasquilone that usually won eight games. They were like an eight, nine win program. Six was disappointing, but that was the absolute floor.

And, you know, five out of eight years, they'd finished this year in the top 25. close to 20. You know, that's who they were. They were like, we're better than this. And for the next 20 years, they finished this season ranked one time. They just, they, in reaching for a ceiling, they didn't realize the floor,

like the floor is Greg Robinson and you are the worst team in college football. Yes. It felt like, you know, other examples. Tom Osborne's at Nebraska. It's like the greatest run, maybe ever in a short period time. Frank Solich goes there.

They're really good, but it's like, man, this ain't Tom Osborne. They still haven't recovered. They moved on Frank Solich thinking they were something they weren't. They still have not recovered. Feels like Florida State still hasn't recovered and move on from Jimbo Fisher. Now, I understand there were other things involved in that, I think, scandal. Well, they had to recover from Jimbo Fisher also. It's a very interesting thing.

Okay. But so my question to you is Michigan with Lloyd Carr, right? Yeah. They were like, we should be better than this. Then it's like, okay, but now you're just bad for a long time. Then they did recover. Do you think it's on the board that in two years, Penn State's like, oh, shit, we're five and seven. Like we are, there was a floor here with Franklin that while this year was a disaster, we, it was fun to be in big games, even if we always lost them.

Like, is that, do you think that's a fair, because that would be my concern. sir. Yeah, on the board. That is, they, they just didn't want him to be the coach anymore for a number of reasons. I don't think he made the, he had some of the right friends, but not enough of the right friends, especially the friends on the money end of it. But it just reached a point where what he was given them wasn't necessarily any fun anymore, but you're right. It's on the board. I was talking to somebody though who worked at Penn State who made the point to me, and this is where they could get in trouble. Locally, they think that they and Ohio State are peers. That's what Michigan thought. Yeah. Like Michigan is not Ohio State historically. And so, but go ahead. No, but like Michigan at least,

I have seen, to me, Michigan, it makes more sense to think that this is what you could be. But for Penn State, they do think that they should be as good as Ohio State. And that's crazy talk to me. So, like, we're going to find out what exactly. I mean, they've demonstrated they're willing to do the things. And what got Franklin in trouble also was, Franklin was like, I need this, this, this, and this. And they were like, fine, here it is. And then you go out here and you lose the UCLA and you lose the Northwestern.

And they were like, okay, well, we did the things for you. But no, no, no, no, no. This is not guaranteed to make things any better. This is not, this is not a job where you should be like, oh, we win 10 games every year. It ain't that. At least I've seen no evidence. that it is that.

But I also feel like it's this, in line with this. The Kansas City Chiefs have Andy Reed as their coach because the Eagles are just like, we need to do something different. Have the Eagles had a coach since Andy Reed who was better than Andy Reed? No. But they've made three Super Bowls and won two.

Yep. So, yeah, that's fair. One last thing on this before we get to the other stuff. Because I hear, like, people are like, should Matt, rule go there and I'm like man I do not Oh write that down. Right that down.

You think that's happening? Okay. I don't know that I think that's a upgrade for Penn State. He's kind of sort of the same guy. Yeah, I don't. But he's a Penn State grad. Right. No, that's, I understand why he would want to go there.

Yeah. Am I? So this is where my own, my college football lack of like institutional knowledge can hurt me. So I just want to ask this. Because this is one of these things I'm afraid to just like say on TV. because people were like, you idiot. Why should they not, if they thought, hey,

we're the eighth best team in the country, and it's not good enough, why should they not just say, hey, Nick Saban, you want to just do three years here, win a national championship? You've done it at LSU, you've done it, Alabama. Like, why not? Like, why should they not just say Nick Saban come here

and win one in the big 10 and go off into the sunset? Well, I think in line with that point, a suggestion for Ryan Brumley, nobody's much better for a three-year run than Urban Meyer. And I mean, you know, if like they're doing the Spider-Man meme on Overlooking Scandal, you know what I'm saying? Like they all looking at each other, maybe, hey, hey, maybe it's a fit. Maybe it's a fit. Everybody'll hate each other by year four, but you'll win a title in those first three. win a title and like the yeah and in theory you could go longer with urban i just said three years for saving because of his age no no no no no you'll want urban out of there after three because you'll be

furious by fourth so yeah i mean i would just try to shoot bigger than matt rule um that's all all right i know you want to get back to the nphal all right i want to ask you this because we brought it up just a little bit uh the buffalo bills are now four and two and look this is just me and my feelings about football. You can't stop the run. You're not winning the Super Bowl, hard stop. But they've also done this thing where you look on offense and basically they're asking Josh Allen to do a little bit of everything. And I don't feel like that's going so smooth this year. Like, am I wrong? No, I mean, they're asking Josh Allen to be Superman, which, listen, I believe Josh Allen is unequivocally the second best quarterback in the league. This has got me in a lot of arguments over the summer because people

were arguing that I had Josh Allen too hot. Like that it was, I should have had Lamar ahead of him. Like, um, I also think he lives in a narrative place that I've never seen for superstar quarterback, which is, you've heard me say this to you before, that the single best life in sports

is being anywhere from like the 17th to the 12th to the 12th, 25th best player in the NBA. I would call it the Clay Thompson with the Warriors Corollary, which is you get paid as much as the superstar. When you're awesome, you get all the credit. And when you're not good,

everyone's like, the superstar should have done more. It's just the greatest. Somehow that's where Josh Allen lives. Yes. He has a great game on Monday night football against the Dolphins. and I got to listen.

Mike Greenberg, who is great and not a hot take guy, says, I'm watching that game, and I'm thinking, no one has ever played the position better than Josh Allen. And then we watch him on Monday night against the Falcons, try to do a little fancy flip pass on fourth down, not do it, turn the ball over, the team scored four. 14 points. And the conversation is, are the bills letting Josh Allen down? What the fuck? What, it like, it's so I think he's awesome. And obviously he, you know, he means the defending league MVP.

But for some reason, folks seem more comfortable criticizing Patrick after bad games than Josh, which is baffling to me. So that's the. the Allen point. Go ahead. You have made the point, and I think it's fair. And on one hand, I was like, Nick is, you know, endangering that old cookout invitation except the cookouts at his house. So like, he's, he's still okay here. But I think that there's a, I don't think you're unfair when you say that many people are leery of being critical of Lamar Jackson in some ways when he has come up short, right? And it's because you got to be careful about the company. have around you because the people that bash him were so over the top early and obviously not

with it. I mean, honestly, not with an evidentiary basis that there are people who don't want to end up on that side. But while that was going on, I've never ever seen media more invested in the success of anybody like they are with the big glute. The big glute is like everybody's big son that they just wanted to get it together so they could get his big ass off their couch. They know he can put it together if he'll just get his mind right. Like I always felt like the most self, the most aware person about Josh Allen was always Josh Allen. But I've never, I remember that year three,

Boomer Seison once referred to him as the great Josh Allen. And I was like, what are we doing here? There is a desire for people to see him do well. And thank goodness for him and everybody else. He got there. Like he turned into that guy, but you are absolutely correct. He is still prone to what was that?

right he's still prone to good thing you throw the ball so hard otherwise that guy would have intercepted it like he's still going to give you all these chances the ceiling on him is super high and for the most part he doesn't shake in big games anymore but i still think the panic possibility is always there with him but we don't talk about him in those terms it's like you say Mike greenberg saying we've never seen anybody play this position better and that's crazy yes that's crazy that's like that's just crazy and again this is not I said, you know, I said last year, I thought he should be the league MVP. For each of the last two years, I have picked an AFC championship game of Chiefs bills

even two years ago when people or last year, when people thought the bills were maybe on the downturn. Like, because I do believe when you have a superhumanic quarterback, your floor, you just raise your floor so high. But I, here is what I think is noteworthy, though, Bo. Because the one thing the bills have never had since he's been there going into the playoffs is the buy. They've never had it. And that's also led to a very odd playoff game log for Josh, where it is every single year, he puts up these insane wildcard round game that they win every year post, you know, his first year in the playoffs.

And then, and it's against Mason Rudolph. or Bow Nicks or Skyler Thompson, those teams, they play the seven seed basically every year in the playoffs, they blow them out and then the playoffs really start for them. This year, with their schedule and the chiefs scuttling early and the Ravens being bad and Joe Burrow being injured, they had this clear path to the one seat and now they've blown it. Not that they can't get the one seat, but they've blown their advantage. And I think, so I think we are, because I do think you could have said to Josh

with a flawed team, you're the one seed, get the buy, first playoff game, we play the worst team that advances, their beat up, we're rested, then in an AFC championship game in your building, put on the cake, play the game. And you know what I mean? Do it once for us this postseason.

And we're in the, the Super Bowl. And then we see, they're now putting themselves in the position where they're likely going to be playing the first weekend of the playoffs. They're likely going to be playing a road game or two in the playoffs. And I don't think you can ask Josh Allen put on the cape for three straight rounds. And because they're flawed, like you said, that's what they're going to ask them to do. So I think these were two super damaging losses. The Patriots and the Falcons lost last two weeks for Buffalo. Well, let's also say this, right? Let's say they get the buy.

Yep. We're looking at home games all the way through in that ice box. Yeah. Being in the ice box makes teams not throw the ball as much because it's much more difficult to throw the ball in the cold, right? Now, the most amazing thing about those four Super Bowl Buffalo Bills teams is they were running that K-gun offense. We think about them whipping it around,

but they were playing a lot of them cold weather games, which meant they had to run the ball and they got it done. I have always said it was an irony of the Aaron Rogers Packers. It's not a surprise that the year that they won a Super Bowl was the year they had to play all those games on the road because that football that you're playing with Aaron Rogers is not made for playing in Lambeau Field in January, right? Teams are going to run it down their throats if they go play those, if they do get those home games. They're going to play against teams that are just going to run it on them over and over and over again and try to keep that big dude off the field.

Like, what do you do it? What do you do then? And while as much as I would love for the chiefs to once again host the Arrowhead Invitational in the AFC Championship game, there is a part of me. Because you know, this is the last year of High Mark Stadium. Yes.

Oh, you want to close it down? Well, it's not just close it down, buddy. what if the a fc championship game the final game at high mark stadium not only involves Patrick getting to five and oh in the playoffs against josh

but the chiefs stealing the bill's organizational chain of the only thing they have to hang their hat on for the whole franchise is we're the only team to make four straight super bowls and in the final game of your stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs beat you to go to their fourth straight Super Bowl. There is an element of that that I really, really would like the poetry of,

but I'd prefer the game just be at Arrowhead. But that would be pretty sick. The fact that you thought it out to that level is amazing. I want to make one last point on this because I know we have to let you go. We forget that Sean McDermott saved his. job last year. Let's say they go 11 and 6th. And let's say for a moment that this Patriots thing is a little bit real. Yeah. Because the defense was real with Belichick. They just couldn't do anything offensively. Now it's clear that they have a quarterback or it looks very, I mean,

it seems clear to me they have a quarterback. Yes. Yeah. Like it's not off the board that they could win that division up there. If at some point they're going to have, they're going to change coaches. They're not going to keep doing this, you would think. Like it's wild to have a case where they haven't been to Super Bowl yet with all those years, same quarterback, same coach. So, you know, no, every single coach quarterback combo that has ever won a Super Bowl together, all of them won their first Super Bowl together within five years. So every single one that's ever won a Super Bowl together, they won their first together within five years. for Harbaugh and Lamar and for Sean and Josh, this is year eight.

So they're both, you know, trying to, do you think it's, so let's paint this scenario. The Ravens miss the playoffs, which right now they're a favorite to do. And the bills lose in the playoffs before the conference championship game. Do you think it's on the board Both of those coaches get fired? I think Harbaugh is done because it just makes too much sense. I think, what's his name?

Brandon Bean is the guy in charge of Buffalo. Yeah. Bean and McDermott are so Carolina Panthers attached at the hip that maybe that makes it too difficult but that's what owners are for. Like at some point, the big boys got to come from upstairs

and be like, hey, you know, I was still thinking about that 9-11 shit, he said that one time. And I just think it's time for us to do something about it. Yeah, I don't, I think it's really on the, and again, I think Harbaugh and McDermott are both good coaches. Yeah.

But I think at some point, and let me ask one other Buffalo thing. By the way, James Franklin analogy fits with why those guys have to go. Yes, for sure. Let me, let me ask you one other thing. What do you think would be more damaging for McDermott if they don't make the Super Bowl? losing to the Steelers and Aaron Rogers in round two or losing to the Chiefs again. Yo, that's tough because with losing to the Chiefs, it's, well, it's never going to happen. Losing to the Steelers is, ew, we took a step back.

Correct. So that's where I think he's kind of screwed, barring making the Super Bowl. You are either going to lose a game where you are a big favorite, or you're going to lose for the fifth time in six years to the same team. Like, either way, there's no, there's no, like, in a weird way, what McDerm, the best thing for McDermott would have been an awesome Ravens team. Yes. And they, the best thing, if they're not going to make the Super Bowl.

Like if they lost in the AFC title game to the Ravens in Baltimore. And it's like, okay, you know what I mean? Hey, that happens. We've shown we can beat this team in the playoffs. They've now beaten us in the playoffs. But when the quarterbacks in these AFC playoffs, it's looking like it's going to be Drake May's first career start. Daniel Jones, Bo Nicks, Herbert, who's a good player,

but it's never one of a playoff game if he gets there. 42-year-old Aaron Rogers. I'm leaving somebody out, but regardless. And, oh, Trevor, my guy, the prince. I mean, he's one of the greatest playoff. And then Josh and Patrick, like, you can't lose any of those guys if you're Josh. So it's a tough spot.

That is Nick Wright. Check them out. First things, first three to five Eastern on FS1 and the What's Right podcast that I one time crash, not knowing the format properly, my brother. I appreciate you. See you, let it, bro. All right, man.

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