The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Andy Benoit and the Young-QB Conundrum | Dual Threat with Ryen Russillo | (Ep. 3)

Episode Date: September 12, 2018

Russillo is joined by SI sportswriter Andy Benoit to examine some of the young NFL quarterbacks, including Deshaun Watson, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, and others. Then, Russillo hits on a few NFL happenings, including Aaron Rodgers's crazy comeback, Sam Darnold's NFL debut, and Le'Veon Bell's absence before running though a college football update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

what is good folks ryan rossillo here after week one of the nfl in two weeks in the college ball and that's what i did all weekend so i'm pumped and the nfl thing just kept going the nfl weekend was a lot of fun so we're going to talk with Andy Benoit. And he's from SI. I love his stuff. I find myself, when I first started reading him, I go, my God, did I write this and send it under a different name? And that's not always the best thing. But what it means is that he's obviously really smart if he agrees with me on everything NFL. No, it's just that I know he watches the film.

And he sent me a list of, like, here's who I've watched, here's who I haven't so please don't ask me because I haven't seen the all 22 on this game or this game and I just know, I know he's into it and that's what always kind of fascinates me with football is that when I watch basketball, I can figure it out. When I watch baseball, I can figure it out. But almost all of us that are watching football

it's you know, we're watching it from the angle that the people that evaluate don't watch it from so that's always been kind of weird to me alright here's the deal fantasy went pretty well caught a lot of heat for playing a guy that ended up being hurt

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We'll get to Andy coming up in a little bit. I'll do some college observations after week two at the end, and I'll start with kind of my five things from the NFL weekend. But before we do any of that, I want to remind you of a guy that we know here well at The Ringer in his new book, Gridiron Genius, former NFL general manager, three-time Super Bowl winner, and co-host of GM Street. That's Michael Lombardi, reveals what makes football organizations tick, from personnel to practice to game day decisions that win titles. If you've ever wondered why some NFL franchises dominate year after year while others can never break through, Lombardi has the answers for 30 years. He worked hand in hand with three of the greatest minds in football, Bill Walsh of the Niners, Al Davis of the Raiders, Bill Belich in the room every Sunday. Get your copy of Gridiron Genius wherever books are sold available now. Okay, not a Gridiron Genius, but a guy with a bunch of notes from the weekend. And it all starts with

Aaron Rodgers' comeback down 20-0 to the Chicago Bears. Now, at one point, the Bears looked like, wow, this defense is incredible. These guys are going to be awesome. And it wasn't just Khalil Mack. Roquan Smith comes in, Fuller, that other dude Jones is a monster. And, you know, look, Twitter can be really stupid at times too, but, you know, just making jokes about like how sick that team looked defensively. But then Rodgers goes down, gets crumpled between two guys, looks like he has a significant knee injury, gets up, can't get up, falls back down, gets carted off, goes in the locker room, Deshaun Kizer's in, and you're going, man, is it going to be the Deshaun Kizer era for the next 10 years? No.

Because then Rodgers comes back in and lights them up. And that felt like one of those moments where it kind of reminds us of how much we love sports and how much we love football. The reason I like basketball is that if you're the best player in the world, you can kind of do something. You can go, you know what? I need to do something. I need to take over. Baseball, you can't do that. You can hit a rocket, but it could be right at somebody and it doesn't matter, right? You can be the best pitcher and he just guesses right and there you go. And that's what's sort of frustrating about the playoff

resumes of some of the great baseball players of all time, because, you know, it's not just about I'm the best and I'm going to make sure it happens. Basketball, you can do that. I don't know that you can do that in football all the time unless you're one of those dudes. And Rodgers is one of them. That's not breaking news, but there's just not that many guys. wondering who that next crop of quarterbacks can be and who the best guy, you know, Hey, what do you think about peak, you know, even Russell Wilson, who I even at one point last year started arguing towards being the MVP.

And then he fell off a little bit and Brady took over, but you know, a guy like Russell Wilson will probably never be the best quarterback in the NFL and the best version of Russell Wilson, where I still think there's some plays that like only he kind of makes with the way he navigates and runs around and on the move. And you can talk about how bad his O-line is, but I also think he himself, and we saw that in the Denver game a little bit, he'll extend a play almost to the detriment of the offensive line

where that actually will lead to some of his high sack numbers. So some of Russell Wilson's sack numbers are on the O-line, but sometimes they're actually on him a little bit too. But I'm a huge Russell Wilson, the quarterback, fan. He's never going to be Aaron Rodgers because Aaron Rodgers comes in and realizes, okay, the ball needs to be out quicker. I'm going to neutralize Khalil Mack.

And by the way, there's nothing more football than Khalil Mack not being ready to go week one. You don't need to know the plays when you just have to beat people one-on-one. And for whatever reason, the Packers just didn't seem to be as keened in on him as they should have been. And you realize what that guy can do.

And he doesn't need to know all the plays. He doesn't need to know how they're lined up all the time. Just go get the quarterback. And that's what Mack can do. And even on that pick, he showed pressure and then recognized the screen and then backed out. And Kaiser doesn't even see him. Then he runs that one back after he ripped the football out of his hands in an earlier play. So Mack was insane. It was great. And everybody had a joke on the entire night,

the Raiders expense. But Rogers just had kind of one of those moments where you go, all right, we thought this guy might be done, might be done for the year. And then he comes back and does this. And I just don't think Brady, yes. Breeze, maybe. And I know there's other quarterbacks that have made comebacks, but that felt like in week one, you're going to know there's other quarterbacks that have made comebacks, but that felt like in week one you're going to go, man, that was that game that he had that you just go, are they really going to pull this off? And they did it.

And it just didn't really matter. And they were totally confident. They were totally calm the whole time. And Rodgers does have that calming look that I'm like, do you rehearse this in the mirror? Like, I want to look really cool. And when it's a big third down and everybody's going crazy, let's practice my look. All right. I'm going to look annoyed and almost tired. And then I'm going to go win the game. I may save my one bad overreaction about

that game for a little bit later. I think I am. I think I am. Cause I'm going to allow myself one instead of like, Oh, who knows? Man, it's too soon. Don't worry about it. Oh, it's only week one. Like guys that are saying, hey, it's only been week one. Who out there thinks it's week five? Does anybody? Do you have a friend that goes, you know, so you don't have to keep saying it's week one all the time, even though I know I'm guilty of it sometimes. Okay.

So if that's the quarterback rule for Rodgers, and then I do think we'll remember this game for a long time. The problem is, is if you're going to suck, suck at one o'clock. Okay? Suck in that window where there's seven or eight games and no one really stands out. Because for Matt Ryan right now, he sucked on an opener game and it was the season opener. And for all the people that sort of doubt Matt Ryan, which I still don't really get, you now think, see, I'm right.

Darren Revell needs to come up with not what something's worth in like fake dollars of awareness. OK, because that happens all the time. He had a tweet about how the knee brace for Matt Ryan and how it broke. That was worth four hundred and thirty thousand dollars worth of advertising revenue. You're like, yeah, what about the part where the brace broke, though? And it's on national television and no one knew what the brace company was before that. So like awareness is I don't know that it's always equatable going off on a bit of a tangent here, but the point is, is that Matt Ryan sucking, not at one o'clock against the Eagles, but the season opener when everybody's watching, that's brutal. All the people that hate Matthew Stafford who don't realize that maybe he's been pretty good recently, but he just doesn't

have any of the playoff success. You think he's terrible because he was awful in the opener against the Jets, whereas Sam Darnold looks terrific. So now everybody's going to think Sam Darnold's great, even if he has two bad one o'clock games in week two and week three. And I don't know if they do. I'm assuming they are because they're the Jets. But his window of succeeding is worth so much more doing it at that time. And it's the same thing, conversely, for guys like Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, and even

Derek Hart. Okay. for guys like Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, and even Derek Hart. Okay. Speaking of Darnold, the New York Tabloids did run at one point after a big Mark Sanchez game, a star is born. Not quite. And I used to always say about Sanchez and that Jets team is that that was a team that played in two AFC championship games,

but that's not really the neighborhood they lived in. But early on, he's like, hey, Sanchez, he's played in two AFC title games. That's something to build on. And then he couldn't get rid of him quick enough. Geno Smith also at one point, I think a comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons, a star is born. Now it would seem impossible to watch Darnold play like this and even impossible to watch Darnold play at USC and to see Geno at West Virginia and Sanchez at USC. I hope people get that pronunciation joke because that's how he was pronounced.

I think it was Dick Enberg called him Sanchez an entire CBS game. So it's been a joke that we've been doing for a while. I just want you guys to feel involved. It seems impossible that Darnold would be that guy, right?

That he would fall into this pattern of just peak excitement and then total letdown like the other two quarterbacks. But it has happened. But look, I'm not buying that. I did like him at USC. We'll get into some of that stuff a little bit later in the pod. But if you're the Giants and you took a running back, and Saquon Barkley may be terrific, great opening week for him. Eli wasn't good though. And you took a running back and Saquon Barkley may be terrific. Great opening week for him. Eli wasn't good though. And you took a running back in the draft where you could have taken Darnold and say, Darnold is a star at the position with the Jets now in the same city for the next

10 years. That's a different level of pressure and annoyance that's going to happen because look, maybe the Giants move on from Eli and they hit it right in the draft and they get their next guy. And it's not a big deal, but chances are, you're probably not going to hit it right away. And you could have picked one of these guys. You could have picked the guy that's going to be not even across the street in the same building, essentially, in Darnold. That's going to be like a different, weird level of pressure and annoying storyline that you're going to have to be reminded of all the time. And it's not Saquon's fault. It's just that if I'm the Giants and I'm on the fence about what Eli is, or I'm not sure, and it's a new regime yet. So last year, I guess you just throw it out with how weird that was for him actually being benched. But I would not take a running back, which I believe now is the least important position in the NFL. I wouldn't take a guy there if I thought that Darnold was close. Even if I had Darnold as a slightly lower grade, I probably would have gone Darnold. And that's going to be the kind of story that's going to be so annoying in that city for a long time if he ends up being

the real deal and following through on how he opened up his season. Speaking of running backs, before I do the Le'Veon Bell thing, I kind of want to do the Mitch thing here quickly because I want to stay with the quarterbacks and I'll transition running back. I'm worried about Mitch Trubisky. I'll make this short. But the way his offensive play calling, not his, but Nagy and the staff, the way they were calling plays for him

tells me they don't think he's that good right now. Massive overreaction. The beginning of his second year didn't play the full year. But I would be really worried that maybe we're one of the teams that took a guy that isn't going to be any good because we all know the math.

Last 20 years or so, first round draft picks out of college. Every quarterback, I went through it all. Maybe I'll do this again on this podcast at some point, but I went through every first round pick the last 20 years and the bust rates easily 50% could be higher if I want to be more difficult about it. All right, speaking of running backs, because as I say, it's the least important position in the NFL. I'm sure some guys are like, no way. Look, I'd rather have an awesome guard. You have to have a safety that can run and also run support. It's certainly not as important as corner.

It's not, you know, I think offensive line over the years, you're seeing more and more revenue being pumped into that, or resources, I guess is the best way to say it. But then we get to the Le'Veon Bell. Okay, so Le'V say it. But then we get to Le'Veon Bell. Okay, so Le'Veon, to revisit history here, Le'Veon wanted, I guess some of those numbers were insane, like north of $20 million because he wanted to be paid what?

As the top running back and then as a number two receiver. I think what we know now, and I went through the notes again this morning, is that this was really more about him getting to about $17 million. Now he has a tender for $14.5 million to sign, which he hasn't, and he's going to miss about $800,000 a week. So if you want $17 million, that means that he's now above the $14 million that Gurley would get, who just signed a deal, David Johnson being at like $13 million,

and then it was like Devontae Freeman at eight and a half than everybody else. There are teams, and I went through how many teams are spending over six million at the running back and fullback position combined. It's like a third, almost a half of the league doesn't even spend that much money anymore. So it's not that Le'Veon Bell isn't terrific, because he is. But for the media members out there that just say, pay everybody whatever they want all the time. It's just it's such a flawed way of approaching these is just topics to debate. You can't just constantly say every time somebody's contract is up, pay him,

pay him, pay him, pay him. Because if you're saying that, then you think there is no line that theoretically exists. It's almost like debating immigration. Like, do you think there is actually a number at some point where it is not sustainable. Like, do you think there is actually a number at some point where it is not sustainable? Like, that's what I would always ask anybody about any stuff politically. And it's the same thing when you're talking about contracts with players, especially in the NFL and especially in position. Let's face it, the league's decided it doesn't matter. I mean, look at Belichick's last, and you can say Belichick's overrated as a draft evaluator, and I would actually agree with you a little bit. But guess what he hasn't done? Put any resources into running back since Lawrence Maroney. And if you

go through all of his rushing leaders the last 10 years or so, tell me who you get excited about. Rex Burkhead, Deion Lewis, he was kind of nasty. LeGarrette Blount, back-to-back years. Jonas Gray, he actually led the Pats in rushing in 2014 with 412 total yards, lit up the Colts, slept in, missed the alarm, cut from the team. Steven Ridley, back-to-back years. He actually had 1,200 yards on less than 300 carries back in 2012. Ben Jarvis, Green, Ellis, and Sons led the team in rushing 2011, 2010, and then Lawrence

Maroney, their first-round pick. One of those years with Ben Jarvis, Green, Ellis, it was Woodhead and Fred Taylor as the top three rushers for this team. So even if you would say, and I think Belichick has been bad with receivers, I think he's been really inconsistent, had some awful stretches trying to draft guys in the secondary, but actually gets it.

Like the overall thing with Belichick, this guy gets it. He gets it in a different way. He hasn't been putting any resources in that position for 10 years. So somebody else is supposed to pay 17 million or you're out there arguing, oh, just pay the man, just pay the man, just pay the man. They're going to pay him almost 15 million already to sign the franchise tender. But it's obvious that Bell wants out. And I think when people show you who they

are, we need to believe him at times. And when Bell minutes after the Browns and Steelers tie and he tweets out the monocle emoji, it's just so weak. And it's why that room went off the way they did on him. So the Bell thing, I don't have any sympathy for him. I just don't. And I think he's an incredibly selfish guy, which seems to kind of fall in line with a lot of the Steelers stuff. And the fact that guys that are O-linemen,

that always their job is to have your back, would turn on him like that, tells you a lot about what they think of their teammate. And the fact that it's pretty clear that Bell is keeping himself healthy, not for the end of this season, to accrue it to get to free agency. Because if they hit him with a third franchise tag, it would be over $20 million. And the theory that because Bell was teammates with Cousins at Michigan State, that he's trying to do the same thing that Cousins was doing. But he'll get back, he'll get the season to count, whatever. You add a guy, you have no idea how healthy the position

is going to stay. If you're the Steelers, you don't just cut them outright because you'd lose the asset. And then I think the compensation, depending on how that would work next offseason, but I'd have to double check that. But I think the whole Bell thing is this isn't about, oh, you need to pay him. No, no, no, you don't. You actually don't. And if you're paying a running back $17 million a year when no one else is really doing that, then you're making the mistake actually giving him that kind of money. We're going to have Andy Benoit on from Sports Illustrated. And I haven't done any Patrick Mahomes.

He was awesome. And so was Tyreek Hill. And if Tyreek Hill looks faster than every other man on a football field and it's Sundays, that's really impressive. But that's all I have for you right now on that one. So I'll hold off on that and do a little college at the very end. And before we get to Andy, though, I want to remind everybody that DraftKings is rolling and it's week two of the football season now, which means a second shot at victory, bragging rights and a huge cash prizes. They're all up for grabs all season long at DraftKings,

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The game inside the game. Minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com for details. required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com for details. And before we get to Andy Benoit, yeah, just a reminder that we're going to do some college football at the end. So I opened up the podcast today, Andy, just talking about all these quarterbacks where I feel like maybe I say too often, like, hold on. But then at the same time, I don't want to write everybody off. Like, I still think Matthew Stafford's good he was terrible I still like Matt Ryan he was terrible uh he looked like

he was even hurt Deshaun Watson who I was like maybe you know I don't know he's gonna be the best quarterback in the league but it was really exciting but then I don't think he's as bad as he looked week one against the Pats unless he's hurt and all this stuff so I guess like what kind of rule do you try to adhere to because you watch the coaches film you watch all these guys so closely I trust you a lot on these quarterbacks like what do you try to stay with to not have you kind of fluctuate the rest the rest of us do when we're talking about quarterbacks well i appreciate that i think the first thing is you have to be realistic about the quarterback's physical traits because those

will remain the same week to week what changes changes is how those traits are expressed. But you can't express traits that you don't have. So arm strength matters. And it doesn't mean you have to have it, but you need to know how much of it you have, because that's going to impact the coverage as you see, the types of plays that you're asked to run, what you're trying to do. Mobility matters.

And really the one that gets overlooked a lot, Ryan, is pocket mobility. And the guys who are inconsistent quarterbacks, Andy Dalton's a great example, and Dalton's not a tall guy, so pocket mobility is a big deal for him because he's got to move within the pocket to see. He's not a great nuanced pocket mover, and that's why every once in a while you get a game from Andy Dalton where you wonder how he's even an NFL starter. He maybe has 300 yards one week. The next week, you don't know what you're looking at with him.

That stems from pocket movement. And a lot of young QBs, that's the name of the game there. So guys that move well within the pocket but maybe don't have a good game that week, that pocket movement over the long haul, that's going to play out and win out for a lot of guys. So if I did the young quarterback thing and I gave you the option of, I'll be fair about this, like overrated, maybe I don't want to do overrated, but I want to give you the option of, he's going to be a star, I don't know yet, or I don't see it. All right, so those are your three options.

Okay. And I didn't prep you on this, so now I feel guilty ahead of time, but I think you're going to be good enough to figure this out. So if I said Deshaun Watson and your options are I don't see it, I don't know, or future star, what would you say? I would, if forced to pick one category, I'd say future star. If allowed to pick two, I'd say somewhere between I don't know and future star because Watson has,

he's not, he does not have the strongest arm, which means now you have to scheme around him. No, he's so incredibly mobile and gifted that way. And his field vision is very good that you can scheme just about anything around them. And he's also a very decisive player. So he's going to almost play with greater arm strength than he actually has at time, just by the decisiveness and chances he takes. But we're talking about a not flawless QB, so to speak, who's a little bit of a high-risk, high-reward style of play.

So I don't think you can ever say that guy's a sure superstar, especially he doesn't have a pure pro-style game. So we're going to have to have coaches evolve with him. But I'm optimistic on Watson overall still. Okay, all right. So, yeah, he looked bad week one, but it's against New England. It's extra time for Belichick. And I just never know if somebody truly is as great as they're going to be in the beginning.

I feel like a lot like when I've used this analogy before, but major league pitchers, that quarterbacks can be that way, that if you haven't seen them before, they can be more successful until the league figures them out. And I think with some of the dual threat guys over the years, there has been this kind of correction where they start their careers on fire and then everybody kind of goes, all right, now I think we know what he can or can't do. And I'm not saying like I know that about Watson, but as much as I was maybe temper, like, I know that about Watson, but as much as I was maybe tempered after the injury going into this year, I'm still not going to crush the guy after week one and lose him to the Pats.

No, and I would not either. And I think everything you said is valid. Teams do defenses. They get a better feel for quarterbacks. And then remember, you have to account for what these guys have around them, too. And Houston does not have a great offensive line. They're receiving core. It's outstanding with DeAndre Hopkins, but then it's a work in progress at a lot of other spots.

So it's a whole puzzle that goes into play here. But the more a defense sees a young QB, the more advantageous it becomes for the defense. Okay, let's do Derek Carr because he starts off, and I think there are franchises that if you are just stable and it looks like wow, we might have a quarterback for 8 or

10 years, you become overrated when the team hasn't had a quarterback and I think that's what happened with Derek Carr in the beginning and then that second year, he was incredible. He was that good. And then last year he's hurt and then of course last night for the Monday night game, it looked like a disaster. And it was bad. But

I look at him and I'm still going, I guess the theme here is that this is what happens to most of the guys at this position. But I'm not ready to write him off, but at that kind of salary cap number and the start to now another season, that's not exactly what you want, even though we know two years ago it looked really good.

Yeah, it's not what you want. He's a fascinating player, Ryan, because for one, his physical traits are everything you would want. He's got light speed. He can move within the pocket. He's a wrist-flicking type of thrower, so he can throw from different platforms. He does not have a very long delivery at all. So if he just has an empathy, he's exactly what you want in a quarterback.

What I've struggled with with Carr, I thought in that second season where the Raiders started hot, they were 8-1 or something like that, and everybody said, well, the QB must be MVP. I didn't think Carr was great in the first half of that season. I thought he was very, very good in the second half of that season. But to me, that's a two-month stretch. He's been largely up and down. And he was really good in that third season, too.

So, I mean, to give him the full resume here, it felt like, okay, going into last year, they were everybody's darlings, because at least we thought. And you're right. Some of the numbers can be a little misleading, and that's sort of the Wentz thing, too, with his rookie year, where you go, is this really what's happening? Even Cam's MVP year, I think the first half of the season,

it was like great closes, but the overall body of work in the first eight games wasn't great, and then he was terrific in the second half all the way through. But I just want to make sure I included the second and third years there for Carr. Yeah, and you know what? I'm thinking the third year, and I'm talking about the 12-4 year. Okay. Where Carr was the MVP candidate, And then they went into last season.

Everybody thought he's the guy now and things, they didn't have a great running game balance around them. And the whole offense kind of shut down. I guess here's the bottom line with, with car Ryan to go back to our original discussion about it. He has the physical traits to do anything. So you're already optimistic there. He does not have a great supporting cast around him though. has the physical traits to do anything. So you're already optimistic there.

He does not have a great supporting cast around him, though. We've seen him be a little bit inconsistent as a consequence. And what you wonder about is when he gets uncomfortable, he seems like at times he'll speed himself up mentally. And that would suggest to me that coaching is a big deal with Carr. You have to have the right coach-QB relationship, which is true everywhere, but maybe especially true with Carr. Yeah, and I think that's the whole reason you bring a guy like Gruden in. All right, so if you said, don't know yet, future superstar, I don't see it,

what would you do with Carr? Oh, that's a hard one. I would probably, I would err on the side of future star. He has good traits, and I think err on the side of future star. He's got, he has good traits and I think he can see the field pretty well. Uh, though I'm not overly, I'm more confident in Watson than Carr, but Carr is probably a sure bet if that can be, is that even possible to have that combination? Yeah. Yeah. Look, I, I think we're trying to be fair here instead of turning it into a TV show where you have to give an answer that you maybe don't like. So I don't, I mean, this is what I like about your work

and this is what I've always appreciated about it because I do think, and this is going to be something that we do here on this podcast, like I want to do this thing where in three years, who's the best QB? Like if you had to pick somebody now in three years, who's going to be the best QB in this league? And you may not,

the rules may be that you can't pick Aaron Rodgers because I think it'll only be 39 at that point. And considering what we saw opening night, I don't want to move off of that anytime soon, even if it could be a health thing. But like, if I keep playing this game with you, if I do Wentz, I think you're going to end up saying future star because last year was really good. It was really special. The red zone stuff may be not repeatable because it was so amazingly efficient. And, you know, that doesn't always carry over every single year, but it was still really good. If I'd mention one more thing about Carr, though, Sando, who I like a lot at our place at ESPN, did mention last night in his, you know, his tier quarterback thing is that some people see Carr as somebody that doesn't want to take contact.

And on those two throws, the one where he threw it away in a third down with no pressure, and then the pop-up that he threw that was a pick, that he's so clearly on the sideline, no one was as confused as he was of like, why would I have just done that? You could see his reaction. Do you see that on film that Carr isn't going to hang in there as much as some other guys, which I really think is a huge part of the position, especially on third down. Yeah, I think you could say that. That kind of ties back to his tendency to play quick at times.

That interception was a great example. And obviously it was a brain-dead type of play. So who knows what he's looking at. But it stemmed from a QB who'd been rushing himself throughout the night and it finally culminated. I know the previous Raiders staff, one concern they had with Carr, he's a big guy and measurable, but he's a little bit slight of frame. And I don't think they felt he could withstand a lot of body blows.

When you compare him to a guy like Wentz, who can hang in the pocket and you don't want him getting hit either, but he can withstand the blows. And Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger, Carr is not a thick quarterback. So he does not always play up to his size. I think what Mike Sando does an excellent job. I think what he's getting at, there's probably something to that. Okay.

Yeah. That's why when he said it, I go, all right, wait a minute. Like, this is something I want to pay attention to. How about Dak? Dak Prescott, a fascinating player. I don't know. Future star. I don't see it.

Yeah, I would go in the middle. If we're just talking as a pure passer, I'd probably say I don't see it. I don't think he's quite the sharp enough precision accuracy or velocity thrower. I do think, though, he can be good enough, quite the sharp enough precision accuracy or velocity thrower. I do think, though, he can be good enough, which is why I guess I'm putting him in the I don't know category. And what makes him good enough is he is excellent on the move, and on the move is not arm strength throwing.

That tends to be field vision, athleticism, accuracy. It's a different type of accuracy. And Dallas has a zone running game, and they're going to have that for a few years as long as Elliott and that offensive line are still together. And they've got some work to do right now. But with a zone running game, you can have a natural on-the-move passing game. So I think Prescott, he fits the Cowboys' scheme or the personnel around him, but he's a guy who's going to have to have that kind of scheme and personnel around him. You can't just parachute him into any offense and expect it to roll.

Okay. We're getting there. We're getting there. All right, Garoppolo. I don't know, future star, or I don't see it. I'm going to say future star. The accuracy, you want to see that get tightened a little bit. He tends to be high and wide on some throws,

and that was an issue against Minnesota in week one, a costly issue, in fact. But back to the idea of the physical traits, he is very quick and compact in everything he does, which makes him highly efficient in two ways. He can be highly efficient out of quick strike throws and spread passing games, which the Niners do a lot, but because he's so compact, he can also be efficient on longer developing plays where you've got to make

throws and the pocket's naturally starting to collapse. So everything's available with Garoppolo. What was so interesting, his natural football IQ, my suspicion is it's pretty high because when he got to San Francisco last year, when he took the field for them, he didn't really know the plays at that point. He was regurgitating what Kyle Shanahan was telling him. And he, what he understood was

where the plays would end up. He understood the concepts, but he didn't know his reads necessarily. And he certainly didn't know the details at the front end of every play. And yet he was still able to go out there and average 8.8 yards per attempt, which would have led the league over the course of the season. I think he's a pretty cerebral guy, but he didn't play well last week, Brian, so he's got some work to do in the immediate future. No, he wasn't, and my biggest thing with Garoppolo wasn't, hey, I think he stinks.

It was just my whole, I don't want to say disappointment because I don't care. I guess confusion about the front office and how they did the deal. And when I read the ringer piece about the negotiation where they just were like, yeah, we're going to make you the highest paid quarterback ever. And we're not going to use you with a ridiculous contract for a guy that played five games last year against teams that, other than the Jags win, the Rams had mailed it in, Gurley and Goff didn't play. I just thought – I felt like there was a number lower than the most money in history for a quarterback that you could pay somebody who's had five starts. That's just me. I'm difficult that way.

No, that seems fair. Devil's advocate. What do you think, maybe the Niners, their line of thinking was, what just happened with Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack, how Donald set the market so much higher. We don't want that happening with Aaron Rodgers, who we know is going to get a new deal here soon. We're going to gamble and take Garoppolo now

and maybe save 15% on the annual basis versus if we were to do this after the Rogers deal. I mean, could that be it? What would, what would they, what else would their logic be for that decision? They could have said, Hey, we'll just franchise you, which no one wants. And I think you can make arguments that players like the franchise tag is the worst, but also kind of really great at times too, because it suppresses average annual salaries.

It certainly has for quarterbacks for a long time. But this becomes a whole other conversation, and it kind of becomes some of the Khalil Mack stuff, where you don't want the second best player on defense in the NFL playing a primetime game where everybody's watching him absolutely destroy a team single-handedly in the first half. You don't want that if you're the Raiders because then Gruden ends up trending and his game wasn't even until the next night. But I always feel like these NFL teams, if you really want to figure something out, you can make the contracts work. But I think getting back to the Garoppolo point, they front-loaded it so much and then they just said, all right, $37 million, I think, is the number in the first year. and look at all this room that we're going to have elsewhere.

I don't know. I guess I just get scared. I get scared about any player that I haven't seen like 20 starts at that position, at least a quarterback. Well, and I'm kind of of the belief that – I didn't give you a great answer there, by the way. I went a lot of directions. We're just spitballing here now. But I think it's hard to get a deal on a quarterback.

Very few teams. some have done it. The Patriots have found a way to do it. It helps that their QB's got a very rich wife. But it's hard to get a good bargain on a QB. They just tend to cost what they cost, which in that case, that's more reason to use the franchise tag and collect a bigger body of work. I think you're right.

I would probably have franchised them, too. It's tough. We're getting into the Kirk Cousins discussion at some point where you franchise them twice and then you can't afford them the third time. I mean, it's hard to know what to do there. Yeah, no, I get it. I mean, you have so many over multi-year implications. I think what you're saying here is that if you're the Niners, you tag them, hope he dates a more famous porn

star who makes enough money that you get Garoppolo to discount and you add that to your receivers. I think that's what you just said. So that's good. Yeah, I think that we're winding around to that. Yes. Nailed it. Absolutely nailed it. Okay, so if I haven't done... Well, let's do everybody's favorite now, and that's Sam Darnold, who I liked, as I said before the draft. I actually found myself sticking up for Darnold a lot last season

because I thought a lot of the interceptions and mistakes were... Like, you had to watch the game to understand how he was sort of forcing the issue based on game and circumstance, where I didn't hate the picks as much as everybody who may just looked at the box score and then they kept happening and I was like all right wow he's he's really turning the ball over here a lot but there was there there were certain things about him physically he's very gifted and all those things but I felt like Rosen had of all the

quarterbacks in this class I felt like when I watched him he had the best NFL understanding and you know this is stuff I've said before I watched him, he had the best NFL understanding. And this is stuff I've said before, but on a third down, him recognizing the blitz, knowing exactly which guy has to go to how much time and then taking the hit. I think it was, I forget which conference game it was last year,

but I just, I fell in love with Rosen, even if I think that maybe Darnold, based on all the personality stuff that you hear about, people just kind of like and gravitate towards Darnold more. So if you were a Darnold guy more than Rosen, I wouldn't argue with you about it. I thought Rosen was the most NFL-ish of the guys. And then Darnold does what he does in his opener. And I didn't think, as bad as it was to throw a pick six in your first throw, I can never figure out if that is remarkable that a quarterback comes back from something like that in your first career

throw, or if we maybe overrate that kind of stuff, because look, he's a top pick. The skills are there. I don't know what the hell the Lions are doing right now, but I liked it. And I don't know that I'm entirely shocked by anything I saw from the opener from him. I was impressed about that. That was the most rookieish play you could ever start a career with. And it was, it was what made, what made it so rookieish is it was a predetermined throw those little leak back routes or those, those backdoor deep over routes. Those tend to be open in September. And I'm sure that he was just assuming that's opening throws it. He learns the hard way. You don't do that in the NFL.

But to play the way he did right after that, I was very impressed and it was impressed with the jets to stay with their game plan. Darnold's going to be really interesting to me, Ryan, because it's a little bit like the way you play with him would be similar to what you would probably do with Dak Prescott, where we're talking about on the move rollouts,

bootleg, the jets did that a ton against Detroit. It's a great way to limit the field to you slice it in half. So it's easier reads for a young QB, but what separates Darnold potential and I, my jury is still out on him. I, I did not watch a ton of his USC stuff.

I'm an NFL guy, but, but what gives me pause that he might have really something special is the arm talent is pretty good. That is ball comes out differently even on the move throws than a lot of those on the move quarterbacks. I want to do one thing here on your Super Bowl pick because when I read it, I was in agreement with you

until the Steelers thing. So you picked Atlanta-Pittsburgh, correct? Yes. Okay. The Pittsburgh thing always scares me. It's not because they tied the Browns. I just think that's a weird team, a weird group of personalities. And despite their talent, I feel like they're a bit of a letdown.

But when I looked at Atlanta's defense, and the Vikings roster was tough to get past, loving the depth there, especially on their defense. But now to lose Neal and Jones at linebacker, and that was just announced. How does that change not only everyone wondering if Matt Ryan was hurt and what was a bad game from him in the opener against Philadelphia, a game they were still in. I don't think Foles was great either, but Philly gets the win, whatever. But now Atlanta missing one of the best safeties

and I think one of their best hits on a draft pick in Jones at linebacker. How does that change what you think of them the rest of the way? Well, you know what? This is breaking news. I've been in the film room for the last several hours. Is Jones out? I'm learning this from you right now. How long is Jones out for?

I believe he was just put on the IR, so I got to double check it. That's a huge loss. I thought they could survive the Keanu Neal loss. I think Neal's an excellent player, too. But they're versatile at safety with Ricardo Allen. He can play strong safety or free safety. He's a better cover guy. But to take Jones out of the equation, that doesn't kill them.

Duke Riley is actually probably just as fast as Jones, but there's a reason Jones is the guy that plays every snap. What really made Atlanta's defense improve over the last year and a half is these two guys, among others, they have man-to-man corners, and then these two guys, Neal and Jones, could also play man-to-man. Jones would take the running back, and then Neal would take the tight end, and sometimes Devondre Campbell takes the tight end. They had options in man coverage. If they lose that dimension, now we're talking about a reduced scheme, which reduces other areas of your defense, too.

So that's a big loss. Right, so they're saying by the time this airs, too, it'll be all sorted out. But they're saying they're still hoping to get him back at some point this season. But he was placed on the IR. I mean, that's multiple months, and that's a big deal. No, it is a big deal. He led

him in tackles last year, Pro Bowl, the whole deal. It's always one of those things at the beginning of the year where you go through all the depth charts. Minnesota, as I said before, I went through that depth chart. I go, my God, I can't believe all the dudes they have. Best safety tandem, Xavier Rhodes. Then you look at, wait a minute, what are they out of their defensive line

when they already had these guys? The outside guys, Hendricks, Bard, it just goes on and on. But Atlanta was kind of up there for me too. And I didn't feel like anybody was really talking about their talent enough, but then they lose two of their top guys on defense. And Ryan just looked awful in that game. And I'm a huge Matt Ryan guy. I've never said he's the best quarterback in the league, but I've always felt like he's closer to that group of five and six than he is say say, 10 to 12. I feel like people always beat up on him, and I don't really know why that is. Maybe because they lose

the Super Bowl when it really wasn't his fault. And that's sort of what happens there. I don't know. I've always been more of a Matt Ryan guy than I feel like the public has been, and yet I can't defend what we saw opening night. He wasn't great opening night.

The Eagles really weren't changing things up a whole lot. Sometimes when QB's like, I'm in the middle of watching the Steelers-Browns, and Roethlisberger had, I'm halfway through, so I don't know for sure, but it looks like he had a game of highs and lows. The Browns were changing things up constantly in their coverages, and the Steelers really never found a rhythm in the first half. That was not the case with Atlanta. Usually that is the case

when you see good quarterbacks look a little bit bewildered. Atlanta versus Philly. Philadelphia stayed in the same coverage most of the game, and the Falcons really never established any kind of rhythm. So, yeah, I'm not as confident in my family, and boy, this conversation's rough on my

Super Bowl pick. We're talking Matt Ryan struggling and the defense getting gouged by injury. Yeah, we haven't even talked about the Steelers in that entire debacle. Do you take anything from that game, game conditions, anything? Because I know, like, one of the first things we had you on when I was doing the radio show was the tie rod thing. And I feel like my tie rod argument has become against the people that think he's this completely misunderstood, amazing quarterback. And I'm like, no, he isn't.

And then we hit it off because we agreed on that. And then I think we both got called racists because of that, too, which is always fun. Because, you know, apparently no one's paid attention to my Alex Smith takes over the last 10 years. But I don't know. Was there anything from that game? Because, you know, the Roethlisberger stuff continues to be kind of weird on the road. And it's not because Le'Veon Bell's gone at all. I didn't think that had anything to do with it.

I guess I'm just wondering if there was anything from that game long-term for Tyrod or concerns with Pittsburgh, your other Super Bowl pick, after watching him tie. If it were a different team than the Steelers, I might say yes. Well, here's my answer. And you tell me if this is concerning or not, because I don't know. What's unequivocally true about the Steelers now, if we're looking at especially the Roethlisberger era, but let's call it these last five to seven years,

this Steelers team, they play down to their competition at times. They'll play up to their competition too, but they will play down to their competition. And. They'll play up to their competition too, but they will play down to their competition. And it really hasn't cost them yet. I mean, they've made some deep playoff runs. I know they haven't won a Super Bowl, but it's not like they've gone 8-8 one year when they should have gone 13-3.

But you don't want to be a team that plays down either. How concerning is it that they sometimes play poorly against poor teams? It's just, I feel like it's a lack of focus, but then when I think about this team and all the nonsense and the stuff, and like individually you can go, oh, who cares in Antonio Brown's live streaming, a post-game locker room thing. Okay, well, yeah, by itself it wouldn't be a big deal.

But then it's the Le'Veon contract stuff. And then the fact that the entire offensive line turned on him, which we never, ever see. You just don't see that in this sport. And then you have Roethlisberger's oddities of sometimes, you know, like, I don't know, sometimes Roethlisberger sounds like really scripted and manufactured, like he's reading lines know. Sometimes Roethlisberger sounds like really scripted and manufactured. Like he's,

he's reading lines that you'd expect from a quarterback. And then other times I'm like, is he being honest or a jerk? And I, you know, I can't, I can't tell. Like I just,

it's a team. And I've always said this about them on paper. I've liked them so much better than other AFC teams over the years, but I guess after a while, I kind of stopped wanting to bank on them, figuring it out. Yeah. They do have a lot of mercurial personalities on that team. I totally agree with you.

And the other thing I've heard about, and this is not at all a criticism of Mike Tomlin. We're just having a Steelers discussion. But I've heard this from people within the NFL, and I've often thought it myself. If you had to describe Mike Tomlin's core football values and what his identity is what his team's identity is i don't know where you would begin and end with that i don't quite know how to define mike tomlin as a head coach it's amazing he's been around so long he's been in such a spotlight so long and i think there are people within the league not the people who play against them or coach with them necessarily but but people within the league, not the people who play against them or coach with them

necessarily, but people within the league who might see him every few years who say, we really don't quite know what a Mike Tomlin team should look like. What is the identity there? Yeah, because it's not traditional Steelers stuff. It hasn't been for a while.

It used to be for a while. It was like, spread them out, throw it a million times, and then Ben was taking a beating, and then Le'Veon's been terrific the last couple years, but they've drafted it running back, so I think they kind of knew that worst-case scenario this could be kind of weird. They've had some

bad luck with injuries at linebacker, certainly Shazier as well. The O-lines had real up-and- down moments under Tomlin. I think you'd agree. There were times where I go, man, if it wasn't for Roethlisberger, I don't know who else would survive back there. And now I feel like talent-wise, it's finally come around the last couple of years. But I don't know. I think Tomlin is so convincing. I have this Jay Billis theory, right? And that Jay Billis could say the most ridiculous thing ever,

but he's going to convince you he's right because he's Jay Billis. He's one of the best public speakers I've ever seen. He's incredibly brilliant. And I have actually disagreed with Jay on certain NCA things. And then when I've disagreed doing the radio show at ESPN with Billis, it's like, oh my God, somebody disagreed with Jay Billis. And I kind of go, yeah, it's weird, right? Because you never think you want to disagree with him because he's so damn convincing. He's a lawyer. He's as well-spoken. If you're talking about just the industry, forget college basketball. I'm envious of Jay Billis' efficiency to answer the question. He's as good as anyone talking sports and maybe even talking on television. What's the topic? Okay, here's the point that I'm going to make, and I'm going to be

convincing, concise, and efficient with every word I use. He's incredible. I thought that same thing about Billis before. I would love to sit and just talk with him for a few hours sometime, because he also comes across, even if he's making a bold statement, he's willing to make those. He comes across as level-headed and reasonable every single time, no matter what he says. Exactly. So you never want to disagree with him. So, you know, I was on Get Up a few weeks ago and he came on and started ripping the NCAA again, because he does. He just rips them all the time. And I was disagreeing with Greeny and I just, this theory was dawning on me. I go, nobody else on this desk wants to. And it wasn't even that I

thought what Jay Billis, like I fundamentally disagreed with what he said. The NBA or excuse me, college basketball had made a rule change the draft where a kid can come back if he isn't drafted. And you can say it's only a handful of kids, but it's actually some sort of progress. And the first thing everybody did was start ripping the NCAA again. I was like, what are we doing? I bring this up to close here, Andy, is that I think Tomlin has a little J.P. Lisson in him where he's so good at talking and being strong and convincing and leading. And you're like, oh, I want to run through a wall through that guy. That, you know, it's always weird.

Every now and then I'm like, wait a minute, does this guy really, like, does he have all these guys in the same page or does he just look great in a hat and a sweatshirt, and his cadence is awesome? I remember Van Pelt, I was like, you like him because he likes EPMD. And so I'm not saying Tomlin's a bad coach. I'm just saying that it's so hard to ever think that he sucks because he's so good at the role, and he looks like this is what he's born to do in this franchise and all these things.

And I go, yeah, but why do they seem to fall short from the talent that's on paper? Yeah, he is a classic CEO coach in a good way. Some coaches, like McVay in L.A., is basically an offensive head coach. He calls the plays, he puts in the game plan, lets Wade Phillips do his thing. Tomlin lets his offense have almost total autonomy and his defense have

almost total autonomy. Those coordinators are the guys that call that stuff. What I have heard about Tomlin though, is he's a lot more involved offensively than people would guess. I haven't been there to witness that, but again, there's this air of mystery around them. I think there are a lot of people within football.

Remember, Tomlin came from the Tony Dungy tree. That Tampa 2, that soft vanilla 4-3 fast type of defense. And he inherited the smash mouth 3-4 Steelers, which is almost antithetical to the defense he got in the job running. And to his credit, I think he ceded the control over to Dick LeBeau, who was the coordinator at the time, and said, you know what? This has worked for a long time. It still works. We're going to be those kind of Steelers, and they've stayed that way.

So Tomlin never came into Pittsburgh and put his stamp on the team. He was always very malleable to his assistants, and I think that has led to a little bit of the kind of conversation we're having now. I think you're right. Yeah, I think you're right. And it's not, I wouldn't want anybody to read this, but I remember the first time, it was a couple years ago

where I actually started questioning on the air. I go, I don't know how good of a coach he really is. And Ryan Clark, who played for him, happened to be walking in the hallway and he ran into the studio and wanted to kill me because he's like, you're an idiot. Tomlin's the best. And I was like, wow. But then Ryan Clark came on with his last year and was like, Antonio Brown has all you guys fooled. He comes here, he does shows, he smiles and everybody's like, oh, this guy's great. And he's like, he's, he's, he's, I don't want to speak for Ryan here, but Ryan was basically like, you guys

have been totally tricked by him because he's part of the problem there, too, with this culture and a bunch of me guys. And it has felt like a bunch of me guys over the years. And maybe that isn't Tomlin's fault. Maybe that has nothing to do with Tomlin. Hey, Andy, your stuff's awesome. You know how I feel about your work. And I'm thrilled only after week one we were able to get you on and talk some NFL, man. We'll do it again.

Yeah, any time for you. I appreciate you having me, Ryan. Okay, check him out on SI.com. Andy Benoit. Zip Recruiter. I got to hire an assistant at some point. So, you know, just throwing it out there. May start logging on here.

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benefits. And I don't think that's going to happen because I'm not really, I don't know that I need you that much. Who are these people? What do they think? I get people asking to be my assistant all the time. And I just, I don't, I don't, I don't think it's feasible. ZipRecruiter sends your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards, but they don't stop there with their powerful matching technology. ZipRecruiter scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience and invite them to apply to your job. As applications come in, ZipRecruiter analyzes each one and spotlights the top candidates so you never miss a great match.

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ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Let's talk some college ball. The rankings are out. And by the way, somebody in the AP poll voted Florida State in their top 25. Yes, there's one vote for Florida State. They almost lost to Sanford. You know vote for Florida State after they almost lost to Sanford. You know how bad it is when you almost lose to a team that if I go on to ESPN.com, I can't find a tab. Like when I click on Florida State's tab, it takes me to the team clubhouse,

stats, rosters, depth chart, news, videos, all the fun stuff. And when you click on the opponent and it doesn't do anything, that's bad. You shouldn't lose to those teams if you're Florida State, but they got to vote from somebody who has an AP vote. Like somebody who actually had an AP vote. And just remember, the AP at one point was part of the BCS, and then they took it out, although the coaches poll is just comically embarrassing over the years as well at times. Nebraska would stay in it constantly, all the time. But as I've said to anybody that does a poll, do one.

Do one every week and come up with your top 25. Just like when I had to do one for ESPN, I think I did it for two years and I got sick of me because I was always late with it because I was traveling back from college game day all the time. It's harder than you think you run out of teams. And that's why so many teams that are just retreads get voted in all the time. Bama 54 first place votes, Clemson six,

Wisconsin still getting a first place vote. And that was after kind of an oddly competitive game against New Mexico that the final score wasn't 45-14. But for stretches there, you're like, what the hell's going on with Wisconsin? Because that's fine. The coaches pull Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State with the one spot there. Okay, so here's what I had. If I were doing, because we're going to do these and go over the reason we're launching this podcast the way we are, we'll go over all of the playoff committee rankings, hopefully get the committee chair on again at some point. But in the beginning of the year, I was going to go Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Washington.

Yes, that's right. No Alabama. And I want to do something different with Washington. Still feel good about that. Want to try something different with the Big Ten than Ohio State, but I couldn't with Michigan schedule. And I just wasn't sure about Hornibrook. All right. So I went Ohio State.

Nothing all that exciting. Clemson felt like a lock because the ACC I didn't think was going to be that great. And it looked even worse than I thought it would. And you could even sit there and knock Clemson around a little bit. But I don't think that's fair because I just thought A&M played a great game on Saturday night. We'll get to that in a second. But as of right now, it has to be Bama. I would put Oklahoma two, I'd put Clemson three, and I'd put Ohio State four. All right. And the only reason I have Ohio State behind Clemson at this point is that Clemson

did go down to A&M, even though they're almost a two touchdown favorite and win that game. Clemson, before the season started, we had McShay on, as much talent as anybody, and the fact that we're trying to figure out what's going on here with their quarterback situation. Because Kelly Bryant, if you watched him last year, we've said it all the time that he's a great runner, but we all knew that Trevor Lawrence, if McShea's freaking out about a high school kid, that's a big deal. And Lawrence comes in, throws that first pass, and Tiggs actually did more of the work than the quarterback did.

But it's ridiculous that you come right in 60 yards, something like that. I think that's what it was. I can, yeah, 64 yards. Okay. I was actually, here's the thing, really impressed with Kelly Bryant. He ended up being the guy in that game that was extremely competitive.

And I don't think you knock Clemson for that. Like, it's a Saturday night. It's A&M. A&M has good athletes. Sumlin had recruited well. Jimbo's a good coach. And it looks like Kellen Mond, who, if you haven't watched this kid, is pretty good.

And Kellen Mond, I would put in the category with a lot of college quarterbacks where, hey, that looks pretty good. Oh, that looks terrible. You know, I actually think Wimbush looks a little bit like that at Notre Dame. And he actually did not have a great game. That's going to be one of those sneaky off-the-radar games where people didn't pay attention to Notre Dame struggling with Ball State and that Brandon Wimbush didn't play that well. McSorley's always been kind of that guy for me, but I finally had to give in to the fact that McSorley seems to

make the right read all the time, is as tough as anybody playing the position, even though he's not a big dude. But I had to come around on McSorley. But there's a lot of quarterbacks that I just kind of go, meh, about. And when I watched Mon early on, and I know how young he was, it was, well, you know, yeah, he's big and yeah, he can run a little bit. It looks like he has a big arm, but what do we really have with this kid? But he was a big time recruit. And now as a sophomore out at San Antonio, it looks like he's the real deal. So the other factor here that I was reading about was that, well, maybe Clemson's defense isn't that good. I just can't go there yet. I can't start knocking Clemson's defense, knowing what's going on in the defensive line and start saying their secondary stinks all of a sudden, because I actually thought Kendrick Rogers, who's the kid

with the blonde hair, kind of tall, skinny, looked like his legs were broken in half when he got tackled from behind and then just bounced right back up. Kendrick Rogers is a baller. And I just thought that Clemson and A&M, there wasn't anything negative about it to me. There wasn't, there wasn't confusion about quarterback. I understand what Dabo's trying to do playing those two guys, but Kelly Bryant was the game closing it out when it mattered, despite how terrific, obviously Trevor Lawrence looks. Okay. And I, I sit there and go, Oh, wait a minute. is Clemson susceptible to all these things? I'd have to see them really get lit up in the secondary again.

And again, dude, they only gave up 26 points to A&M, who's going to play some tempo on you. I just think that Mond looked good, the receivers looked good, and A&M hung in there. And they were impressive. And they were still down, what, 28-13 at one point? They scored 13 straight points in the fourth quarter. They had the awful turnover that I didn't think was really a turnover.

But I'm not leaving that game going, oh, wow, I thought Clemson was all that, and now I'm questioning them. I'm just going to go, hey, Clemson did what they needed to do. Everybody gets tested for this love of how we sit there all the time and do this game where we say, oh, well, what if they go undefeated? All these teams end up losing once because it's just hard to say that locked in every single week. And I remember how annoyed I used to get with the whole Clemsoning thing when I don't even care.

I've never rooted for Clemson in my life. But it was, oh, Clemson. Well, what makes it Clemsoning? Oh, well, they're this team and then they're rolling and they think they're going to be good and then they lose a game that they're not supposed to. And you're like, wait a minute, like everyone else in college football that's pretty good? But Clemson just hadn't had the recent success, the resume, that somehow it became a Clemson-only thing to have a really promising season and then lose a game that you're not supposed to lose to. I guess that happens to everyone else. It's happened to Ohio State during this run. It's happened to Florida State numerous times over these years. So I don't look at this as anything new with Clemson. Alabama, on the other hand,

two is the guy. I don't know how that's going to play out if Saban's going to keep trying to play Hurts. And that's kind of the thing that's also happening with Dabo. And I know no one likes college football coaches anymore because they make so much money and the media's completely almost lost their minds with thinking that the college atmosphere is the worst deal ever for a kid. Yeah, there's things that could be fixed and there's things that are unfair. And yes, they're spending money on facilities and the skyrocketing salaries are ridiculous. But I would, you know, I think it'd still be awesome to go play college football at a big time program and not have a bill when I'm done in four years. I don't know. Is that too uncool to say anymore? I'm almost like I'm ducking any reaction to this while I'm taping right now. But if you're a coach

and your job is to win, is it always in the best interest to tell the kid who's probably not going to be in the plans for the rest of the year to move on? Like if you're Saban, do you say that to Hertz or do you keep trying to play this game of appeasement? And if you're Dabo, you probably like the way these two quarterbacks look, even though everybody thinks Trevor Lawrence is going to be a stud. But I thought Kelly was like, he showed me some stuff in that game, man.

He really did. So I'm not, despite what I would think would be super popular, going to trash a coach for being a little selfish and wanting to make sure his team has depth at the position instead of doing and being honest with what would be in the best interest of the quarterback. That's probably not in the future plans because we also know how much these guys can get hurt. See Nebraska. I don't know what else I have right now that's going to be.

I'm not doing a like, oh, hey, look at Michigan. They came back and crushed their opponent. Well, they didn't play anybody, so I'm not going to do that. The one last thing I would say is Stanford. Stanford defensively, what they did against USC, that was really impressive. Now, I don't know what the hell USC is doing offensively as far as their plan, because it just seemed to be really stagnant. And this is JT Daniels in his second start. Again, this is a kid that should be a senior in high school. The first week, he was terrific, the quick release, the big arm. We see all those things in the game against UNLV. He went for almost 300 yards. He was terrific, but he was really

struggling in this game. Stanford, who had turnover about five or six guys that started on a defense that actually wasn't great last year. That's always the joke is if you don't have a great defense and you don't have returning starters, that should be a good thing. But Stanford, I didn't know. I asked around. I go, hey, what's up? Do people like the defense there? And from what I'd heard, that Shaw was really confident in this group and it showed. So Stanford doing this, I think now makes me look at Washington a little differently because my pick was not only Washington's talent and Browning and knowing what to expect and Peterson, all the stuff. And again, that secondary, but I just didn't really know who was going to challenge them. And I know some people, Hey, what about Oregon and Herbert

offensively? I still think they're going to be fine, but remember Oregon's hit this weird dip and Taggart. It's not like he got canned, but it's been, it's been weird for them defensively. So I don't know if they'll have enough defensively. I'd have to watch Oregon more and more closely against better opponents to really understand that. But at least with Stanford having this dominant performance against USC that, you know, okay, all right, Washington may have somebody else here to deal with. Because before this game started, I was hearing from more people being like, oh, don't just pencil Washington in. USC is going to be really good. Or maybe it's just a hiccup offensively for them and USC will be just as dangerous at the end of the year. But I think

that's the one thing that at least changes their Pac-12 wise. Hey, I'm going to let you guys know what I'm doing this weekend. You can come by and say-12 wise. Hey, I'm going to let you guys know what I'm doing this weekend, so you can come by and say hello if you want to. I'm not just having you over at my house. It's something else going on. But the last thing I want to remind you, DraftKings, week two of the football season, and this weekend, DraftKings has over $2 million. That's $2 million in total prizes.

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That's it. It's five bucks. Maybe I'll pick somebody and say, I'll cover your deposit. If your name is steve one entry only um one steve only is really the way i should say it minimum five dollar deposit required eligibility restrictions apply cdraftkings.com for details one last note uh speaking of usc just there i'm going to go to texas down to austin the rematch the national title game and i'll be there actually i was going to go by myself well not by myself i was going to go down and meet up some people just to go, to go, you know,

I just want to get out there and watch some ball, but now I'm really lucky and super happy to be with the Nissan Heisman house. I've hosted the event for, um, periodically filling in for Neil Everett and it's an awesome crew. I love that. I seriously, like, I wouldn't say this, but the Nissan people are so great to work with. And it's a really fun deal. So check out the Nissan Heisman house if you're in Austin next weekend. Come by, it'll be this weekend, and come by, say hi, and hang out. Maybe we get a whistle or a hat or something.