Will Cain Country - Mark Schlereth: Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer & What's Wrong with the Dallas Cowboys?

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

On this edition of The Will Cain Show’s Friday sports episode, Will sits down with former NFL lineman, three-time Super Bowl champion, and Host of ‘Breakfast Ball’ on FS1 from 8-10a ET, Mark Schlereth. They discuss whether or not Eli Manning is a Hall of Famer, what is going on as the Dallas Cowboys face one of their worst seasons in years, and if the undefeated Indiana Football team is up to the task as they face their first major opponent on Saturday, Ohio State. Plus, Will and Mark go head to head making picks in the big College and NFL games this weekend in "Will Versus The Experts." Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show!   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Eli Manning a hall of famer, do men garden, and what's wrong with the Dallas Cowboys? We break it all down today with Fox Sports Mark Schlarith. It's the Will Kane Show normally streaming live every Monday through Thursday, 12 o'clock Eastern time at Fox News.com, the Fox News YouTube channel, the Fox News Facebook page, but always available by subscribing on Apple or Spotify. You've undoubtedly subscribed or at least downloaded this edition of Kane on Sports, a sports exclusive episode of the Will Kane Show. I haven't seen Mark Schlarith stink in a couple of years.

I haven't even seen them since we've both been over at Fox. We used to debate together on first take on ESPN. He'd appear on the Will Kane show on ESPN. I always liked Stink. He's smart. He's a man's man. You can always catch Mark, by the way, the three-time Super Bowl champion on breakfast ball on FS1. That's 8 to 10 a.m. Eastern Time alongside Craig Carton and Danny Parkins.

You can also catch them on Sundays calling NFL games for Fox. I think we had a fun conversation. We did an episode of Will versus the experts where we picked five games this winning weekend, including the biggest college football game, which is at noon after Big Noon kickoff on Fox. and that will be undefeated Indiana versus number two, Ohio State. Let's break it all down with Mark Slareth of Fox Sports. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the TradeGatty podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together

and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to do. dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Fox News Audio presents unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished.

Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox Truecrime.com. Stink. It has been way too long. What is up, man? And the thing is, it's been too long, and the last time was probably sitting at the desk of first take over on ESPN. But we've been both inside the family at Fox.

It's just been way too long, Steve. Yeah, there's no question about it. Always good to talk to you. Always good to see you, my friend. It's great to reconnect, and I hope you're doing well. I am doing well. So are you. So are you.

I keep up with you. I keep up with you the desk over there at FS1. I keep up with you fighting with Randos on Twitter. why are you so into fighting with randos on x okay so x is like to me it is like being in a locker room it's the only thing that compares to talking smack in a locker room and when you come at me on x that's like you walk in a locker room getting after me and so you're you're open game to me now it just becomes fun and so it's not like i spend a lot of time on x but when i'm on there And Randos come after me about things, they have no clue, like no, no idea about.

Then that's like, that's open game. Like you're in, you're in kind of my realm, my world. And so I figure you've opened yourself up for that. And you should, you should understand how it works when we play the locker game, which is, to me, it's, it's the best defense, the best defense is a good offense. I'm always on the attack. So if you come at me, you're going to get, you know, you're going to get some. So I heard this story about Bryce Harper and one of the complaints about Bryce or the way that he gets a lot of hatred, even within Major League Baseball, is that you know how guys bust each other's balls in the locker room and it will be stuff like, oh, you know, Bryce, you have a stupid haircut, that Bryce doesn't understand the appropriate escalation of trash truck and he goes from, hey, Bryce, you have a stupid haircut to, oh, yeah, well, you're batting 120.

you know like immediately goes for the insecure part of the heart now you're not doing that stink but your go-to move quickly and you're just dunking on randos is the picture of your hand with what is it three super bowl rings yeah oh yeah yeah that'll get like when you don't know anything about football you know yeah really i don't know anything about football i know a little bit about football it's just interesting you know it's funny i love the the one that i'm getting a lot of that just makes me laugh is, well, the game's past you by. Really?

So every week I sit in a facility with a football team where I'm at a Friday practice, watching what they do, and then I'm talking to a head coach, an offensive play caller, a defensive play caller, a quarterback,

an prominent offensive player, and a prominent defensive player. And I'm discussing the film that I watched from the last three or four weeks of what that team does. And so you're, you're sitting on your couch telling me the game has passed me by when I meet with all these, every week. I'm meeting with two head coaches, two offensive play callers, defensive play. Like, no, like, I'm in the game every single week, in a facility, every single week. And I'm one of the guys that refuses to do things on Zoom.

I want to meet you face to face. I want to meet your players face to face. And if I said something it on TV that you don't like, come get a taste. Like, if it's the truth, and it's what I saw on film, like, I don't care. And I've had coaches approach me. I've had players approach me. And I'm just like, listen, dude, if it wasn't true, I'd understand that you would have an issue with it. But it's 100% true.

So play better. Like, that's my take on it. Outside of your research, which I'm familiar with, and everybody should be familiar with the kind of research you guys do to do play-by-play, that you meet in facilities, multiple days ahead of time. It's not fly in on Saturday night and leave on Sunday afternoon. Outside of that, though, this is just a curiosity that piqued as I'm listening to you talk. The accusation for a former player that the game has passed you by, if I were ranking things,

and this is what do I know, but this is just my personal quick take ranking, if I were ranking things where the game changes and it's most opportunistically available to pass you by, you know, I would think you could actually make a claim that a quarterback from the 1970s, who hasn't done what you're done in terms of keeping up, would have trouble keeping up with modern day offenses or the requirements of the job of quarterback without effort. I think basketball will be the same way. It's just a different game than it was in the 1970s.

But my suspicion stink would be, and I'm not trying to suggest it's like a rudimentary position or just for knuckle-draggers, but like how much different is the game for a guy playing offensive line in the 2020s versus playing offensive line in the 80s? 90s and 2000s. Like, I don't know. Like, is it capable of being innovated? It's pretty like it's back to basics often

when it comes to offensive line. So, yeah, I would say that there is that part of it. I would say that every part of the game, there are a lot of basic standard things that haven't changed. Like I met with John Harbaugh a couple of years ago talking about their offense and, you know, the run-centric nature of Lamar and the offense. Now, this was a couple of years ago.

So it's definitely progress. progressed, it's definitely changed. But one of John Harbaugh's quotes to me was, hey, man, there hasn't been a new innovation in the passing game in 30 years. You know, and you'd be surprised, like drive is drive. Like the concept of drive with a shallow cross with a basic over the top of it, that was drive was drive. When I played in the league, it's drive after I retired. It's still drive today. And every team in the national football league has it in their offense. dagger. If I say dagger to anybody that's ever played this game, they could tell you exactly what dagger is. It's an inside route going up the seam and it's an outside route on an 18-yard

income. And that is the same across the board. All 32 teams run it. All 32 teams run flat. All 32 teams. So you can go through it and say all 32 teams run this. So I would say there are probably more innovations in the passing game from a protection standpoint than there are from a route combination standpoint. And I think one of the interesting things, like in my day, if you gave up a lot of sacks, that was an indicator ultimately that your offensive line isn't very good. I would tell you that sacks have become more in today's game of a quarterback-driven statistic than an offensive line-driven statistic. Because you think about the way the game is played right now.

70% of the game is quick game, five-step drop without a hitch, get the ball out. Three-step drop, get the ball out. Screen game, bubble screens, tunnel screens, swing-pass stuff. Like, how much of the game has evolved to the point where, you know, we hear this all the time from offensive coordinators or from offensive players. They're like, hey, this swing pass or this bubble screen or this, it's just an extension of the run game, which is like total BS to me because you're not wearing anybody out. But it's what offensive coordinators use to kind of quote unquote get the ball in a playmaker's hand quickly so the quarterback can get it out of his hand. So that's really where the game has changed more than any other place.

I mean, there's been some changes in, you know, the size of players, if you will, you know, all that kind of stuff. But ultimately, I find more similarities in the game that I played with today's game that I do differences. You know, talking about Sacks being a quarterback stat makes me think about, I don't know how much you are watching college football. But obviously, I watch a lot. I'm actually watching more than the NFL this year. And I would say in the past, I don't know, it was probably NFL 60, 40, even 65, 35, then maybe move to 50-50. this year it's 70-30 college part of that's because of I'm a big fan of the longhorns and they're good but yeah so I don't know how much you're watching but like Quinn you're yours um who I think at

the beginning of the season everybody's like is this an NFL quarterback and now at least not a first round NFL quarterback I see him just the way he moves in the pocket and people talk about oh the Texas offensive line that offensive line is like five stars across the board now it's tough when you're playing Georgia but the way when he moves the pocket I'm like you stepped into that sack Quinn like you didn't you didn't go around your tackle in a way or even when we always want the quarterbacks to step up in the pocket but when he does step into the pocket it's like yeah but you stepped straight into like past your guard or tackle who had a guy in position and now you allowed the defensive tackle just step to his left to grab you like I don't know it's

just his pocket presence in this idea of sacks being on the quarterback I see that with yours yeah I think that's I think it's interesting and and you know I always used to say that best scrambler that I ever watched play football was Tom Brady. He can't run a lick. But his ability to move within the pocket to avoid pressure to slide ever so slightly, create arm space to make a throw. It was tremendous. And always keeping his eyes downfield. You know, they always talk about quarterbacks that look down. Quarterbacks that check out the rush, right, instead of keeping it downfield. The guys who can just feel it, those guys within the pocket, those are the guys to me that I want playing. And so you look at, you just look at that kind of progression.

Here's the other part about college football that I think is really hard is so much of the game is played in gun. And I think ultimately when you're in gun all the time, you know, you get into a pure progression passing game like it is in the NFL. Every step that you take, every drop back correlates to the route combination that you throw. So if you hit that fifth step in your drop. If that guy is not open, we hitch up and that hitch up is that next is the next progression in the route. And so that all has to be smooth. That all has to be timed up. It's got to be precise because when your feet hit that spot, now I'm ready to launch that ball again. And theoretically, the receiver should be coming out of his break at that point. Guys that play the

entirety of their lives in shotgun don't ever have that feel. That doesn't that. So that's something that has to be learned. One of the tough transitions from the college game to the NFL game is the pure progression nature of the passing game in the NFL and using that footwork properly. The timing of the offense is kept in the quarterback's feet in the NFL. And oftentimes in college, that's a different perspective. There's a different, there's a different kind of process that college quarterbacks go through because so much of the game is just shotgun against zone because we play at such a pace, at such a pace that it's just just find the open dude and throw it to that guy.

Here's the one guy you're looking at it. Throw it to him when he's in the open hole because we're always getting zone. And there's a lot of learning curve at the next level for most quarterbacks. That's why it doesn't ever surprise me when a lot of them fail that we're great college players. And it's one of the reasons that I'm surprised that so many are playing so well right now coming out of college this year. Some, yeah, this year. Yeah, I'll give you that. but I mean, we only have to go back one year to see, like, Bryce Young

and where he finds himself in the NFL. I don't know that you've called, I don't know if you've called any Cowboys games this year, but I know sitting at the table at Breakfast Ball, I know how ratings work. So if anyone who wonders why ESPN and FS1 talk about the Cowboys, the answer is really easy. It's ratings.

And so, you know, I'm sure you've had an opportunity to talk about the Cowboys. Here's my thing that I want to ask you. I'm just shocked at how bad they are. And I'm shocked, okay, let's set aside DAC in the fact that he's missing because they were bad even when they had DAC. And I don't know how you can be 12 and 5 for three straight seasons. And local media in Dallas will say, but you didn't add anything. You didn't add anything. Fine.

You didn't add anything. But failing to add doesn't add up to a cratering from 12 and 5 for three straight years to what we're watching now. And it also doesn't make Mike McCarthy an awful coach overnight. That doesn't mean I think he's the right guy for the future, but you don't go from, what is that, 36 and 15 to what we're seeing this year without, I think, a real deep analysis of like, what's wrong in Dallas? Yeah, there's, and it's an interesting question. I think one thing that I constantly look at is from a coaching standpoint.

Like, when you had Dan Quinn operating that defense, there's some non-negotiables with the way they play, the effort with which they play, being in the right spot, just the accountability factor. And Dan Quinn leaves goes to Washington, a team that's not very talented. And like a team that, I shouldn't say they're not very talented, but a team that lacks some talent on the defensive side of the ball, a team that overall probably wasn't considered an upper echelon talent team. And how are they winning?

Well, they're executing exceptionally well. They're playing with unbelievable effort. They're doing things that don't require a ton of talent. They require a ton of commitment. And so I look at the Dallas Cowboys all of a sudden. And Jerry Jones came out last week and talked about, well, you know, I don't question the effort. Well, I do. I mean, it doesn't take me long.

I don't even have to die. When you say, but what about Mike Zimmer? He's never been accused of being soft. Like, I mean, I would never have predicted this under Zimmer. Right. But something is not resonating with those players. Right. He is not getting the same out of the players that he was given that Dan Quinn got

out of those same players. And so, like, it didn't take me, but two or three plays to look at a lack of effort play. And you can dig through the, I didn't even have to dig through the film. Like, I just looked at the first long run last week. by Joe Mixon. And there's a defensive end that basically say, hey, just block me, block me.

There's a safety that's got a B-line on the back side constricting that running lane. And he goes backwards the opposite way to get blocked. And then he dies after the running back's already past him. It's just like, what are we doing? And so that's been a consistent theme throughout this season. And they haven't played good defense at all. And they've been getting run through like poop.

through a goose when it comes to defending the run. So, like, those things, those, the qualities, when you run the football and you defend the run, I don't, I don't care, you know, what you're receiving core looks like, and I don't care anything. Like, when you do that, you're going to be a tough out. You're going to play close games. They don't do any of those things. And that's one of the reasons they're just getting shoved around. And it's, that part's embarrassing. What do you think about Bill Belichick? Like, is he the answer for? the Cowboys is and I'm I'm going to broaden it. Is Bill Belichick the answer for anyone in the NFL? Yeah, you know, it's really interesting because Bill Belichick is obviously a brilliant

coach and has been a brilliant coach for a very long time. And I do think that I think that Bill Belichick has a place, right? I mean, I do think he can come in and I think the thing that we tend to in the media, we tend to don't realize about Bill is Bill's a funny dude. like Bill is connected with his players now he'll coach you really hard and can you handle that are you are you big boy enough to handle that because some guys in this league frankly aren't big enough to handle that they can't handle that kind of coaching um so that's that's the question you have with the cowboys it just always makes me it always makes me wonder like like bill belichick came up under bill parcels and bill parcels went to dallas and that owner circumventing

his authority, which that owner is going to circumvent everybody's authority. So I have always looked at it from a Jerry Jones perspective of how do you expect your team, right, to really listen and to have success when every turn you're going to circumvent that guy's authority. Like when I look back to last year when the report coming out of Dallas was both that Prescott and Mike McCarthy were surprised. when Trey Lance was sitting in the locker room. Like, wait a minute, you're going to tell me you're going to trade for a backup quarterback

and you're not going to talk to your coach or your quarterback about that trade. Like, forget the quarterback, all right, forget that. Your head coach didn't know about it and you don't think there's something wrong with your organization. You don't think there's something structurally wrong. There's a lack of checks and balances. And when you circumvent, emasculate your head coach in front of you. of your players that way, guess what? People lose respect. Guys lose respect. I'm a former NFL player, man. I'm no mensa society member, okay? Like, I strapped the thin piece of plastic on my head

and slammed it into other people with thin pieces of plastic on their head, right? It doesn't take a lot of genius to do that, okay? It's a brute force mentality. But the bottom line is NFL players have great horse sense. And they know who's full of crap and who's full of crap and who isn't, and they know who's empowered and who isn't. And so when you emasculate your coach in front of those players, you know what? They lose respect. They lose fear. And fear is an important aspect of playing in the NFL, both the reverence, fear, like the biblical sense of fear, reverence and awe, and just flat out fear. This guy will cut my ass in a heartbeat if I don't do my job. You think that Mike McCarthy has the authority to cut me, a star player, or a

bench me. No, Jerry's going to circumvent it. And so all of a sudden, your organization loses their respect for the guy who's in charge. And that happens in Dallas. And these are the results of things like that, in my opinion. I want to be clear. You play dumb way more than you are dumb. I mean, this is part of your stick. Here's part of your stick, by the way, that you were way ahead on. Like, you're, okay, I'm not going to do politics with you. I'm not put you in a position but like the conversation now is like the rise of the young man the rise of masculinity of men doing dude things and there you were you know first of all types of unmentionables on pardon pardon my take pardon my take and you're doing your backyard work and you're doing your

backyard work and i think you were way ahead that's man things and i got out of new york city stink and my wife says i pretend like you pretend to be dumb i pretend to work in my backyard but i do find myself out there kicking around going we need to put something here i need to plant something here. I do, I do, I do like tooling around in the backyard stink. Now, I don't do the projects like you do, but it's, it's, it's your castle. Yeah, there's, there's no question. And I love, one of the reasons I love manual labor is I'm good at it. And, um, and I love to see a project from beginning to end. I love to see the finish thing. I love to sit back at the end of the day and go, man, I accomplish that. And, and there's something beautiful about that. Like, I don't,

I tell you, it's funny. What's the last one you did? What was the last project? Oh, shoot. I encased the whole, I framed in and in case this, I've got this kind of walkout where the deck goes, the deck that wraps around the house, and there's an underneath the section. It's a cement pour. And so I encased it.

I built it out. You know, I framed it out, and then I encased it in a kind of opaque, corrugated plastic. and so you can't see in there but then it keeps all the leaves and the junk from blowing in there and then I have all my lawnmowers and my tools and everything out there like that but I would tell you this is one of my favorite stories I was in my yard and I was overseeding a spot that doesn't really that doesn't grow well enough you know so I'm in there raking and I'm put I've aerated that area and I've put some seed down as a soil down and this guy pulls up and rolls down his passenger window and I don't know who he is

he's just some guy in the neighborhood and I got my headphones in and he just yells at me he yells stop it and so I pulled the headphone out and I go excuse me and he goes stop it and I'm going

I'm sorry I don't understand he goes just stop it he goes every time I drive by here I have to listen to my wife say look at Mr. Schlarith travels and he's calling games he's doing this and look how nice his yard looks and you can't right

and he goes you just make everybody in neighborhood look bad and then he just took off he's like dead serious like i've i've never met him i didn't i don't know who he is and i was like that was one of my proudest moments i just felt like yes i am kicking everybody's ass in this neighborhood right just kicking ass from football to yard work what were you seating by the way what's your what's your grass of choice my you're in colorado kentucky kentucky blue a mixture of different kinds of kuducky bluegrass is what i like to use soft i'm i'm a i don't know if i'm going to say it right zozia zoisia i like that i like that i've got some st augustine in one part of the house front yard i've got zoia in the back

and i mean the zoiaja is just beautiful it's lush it's like walking on carpet very spongy yeah very spongy um is i remember this debate it was going on before it ever mattered now he's a semi-finalist for the hall of fame eli manny do you think eli is a hall of Wow. You know, I go back and forth on this. What is he like 150 and 150? And I mean, he's like, he's just not like he's won two Super Bowls. So that's that's really big. I would tell you though, if I was voting, if I had a vote, I don't think he would, I don't think I would vote him in. The two Super Bowl is amazing. You're such a rings guy too. You're so proud of your ring. I've gone back and forth on this, too, because the stats are ugly. The win-loss percentage is ugly. Everything is ugly. But, you know, and I don't want to say that he has a similar resume because, A, I'm a

homer, and B, I think it legitimately is better. But, like, Aikman stats and all that, they don't look good compared to modern quarterbacks at all. Now, as win-loss does, he brought up Eli's win-loss. It's not good. Eggman was pretty much a winner. But three Super Bowls, at some point, you're like, hey, man, the purpose of this whole job, you did it twice you did it three times i'm a little surprised you're not on eli for hall of fame

yeah you know what it's interesting because i think you've got to have a little bit of both i think you've got to have you know um Dallas was interesting and you know you'll love this man i remember playing them in 1994 and i went out to short stuff i was with washington at that time we were the redskins and um so i'm out there with Washington and uh yeah i know that's taboo but we're out there and I'm short snapping before our offense comes out and I'm watching their offense and I might mess up a name or two but it was like Irvin and Harper and then their offensive line was like two and a it was two and a Nate Newton Mark Stepnowski maybe Larry Allen and Eric Williams or yeah it was yeah it was it was Jay Novichick it was Moose Johnson it was

Emmett Smith that was Troy Akeman I'm watching them play and i'm like we don't have one guy on our office that could start for dallas like we i'm the i'm playing for the washington redskins and there's not one guy that we have on our office that could start for dallas and i just kind of thought to myself and this happened to me twice in my career i go i do believe we're getting our ass kicked today like and they did they beat the what was the other time the other time we went to san francisco when i was with denver and this year we won the Super Bowl. And we're standing out, we're standing out before we got introduced. Now, I was just coming off of back surgery, so it wasn't playing, but I was standing out

there with my guys, right? And, and they had, it was, Jerry Rice was just coming back from his ACL reconstruction, like in six months, right? He was just, he'd come back from that. They were retiring Joe Montana's Jersey. Hewley Lewis and the news were singing the national anthem and every celebrity in Northern California was in that stadium on the sideline and it was electric

and so you know they let up the smoke bombs and the fireworks and the whole nine yards and we're standing there you know about ready to get introduced and I looked at a couple of guys and I mean the atmosphere was palpable right and I was just like we're getting our ass kicked tonight like

this is that we walked into a bus saw and they just beat the not out of us. And we went on with the Super Bowl, but it was just like, oh my gosh, like this is, it's going to be hard to overcome this one, boy. Sorry. Hey, be careful out there. I'm not playing tonight, but be careful out there because those guys look really motivated. I really believe in you guys. I believe in you. Yeah. All right, let's do this. We're going to work through a few games. I got another topic or two. I'm going to hit with Stink, but we're going to do it through the lens of Will versus the experts. Mark Schlereth and I here are going to pick five games. It's going to be

two college, three pro. Mark, I focus on the games that I actually like and I want to watch this weekend, not the ones that are the smartest bets. Let's start in college football. Army, Notre Dame. I'm interested in this because I'm still waiting on Notre Dame to sort of prove up their resume. I think they belong in the 12th team playoff. And there was this kernel of hope that some of these outsider teams that are group of

five and the service academies because Navy was up there for a while are legit. But Navy went up against Notre Dame earlier this year and they got absolutely smoked. I don't know that I should believe any differently about Army, even though Army is getting 14 and a half, I'll look at Notre Dame. Yeah, I'm 100% with you on that. And I don't follow the college football game as much because I'm always prepping an NFL game, but I've always got it on in the background. But anytime the service academies seem to play, like, you know, you're so overmatched,

they have to be so, they have to be so dialed in. They have to be so perfect in everything they do. Because when you talk about size and strength and, like, there's a huge difference between the service academies and the rest of the guys that play college football. So it just has to be one of those things that you have to have that perfect storm to be able to beat a team like Notre Dame or be able to beat one of these top ranked teams. So I'm with you. I'd take, I'd give the points. I'd take Notre Dame.

All right. This, to me, is the best game of the weekend, or the most interesting game of the weekend, college or pro. But it's Indiana, Ohio State. Because there's so much underwriting this, Indiana's undefeated, also tons of doubters. of who they played. This is the first real test for Indiana. It is at the horseshoe. It's at Ohio State. Ohio State is favored by 12 and a half. It'll be interesting if Indiana loses what everybody does to Indiana. Do you kick them out now? Are they all the way with one loss out of the playoff? But I think they are going to lose. I am going to take Ohio State.

Yeah. You know what? I would probably take Indiana with the points. I think they lose the game. but I don't I think they might make it closer there is this there is this chip it's almost this feeling they're playing for everybody that doesn't get the respect that they quote unquote deserve I love their head coach what do you say the other day Google me man like just take a look and that's what I do I win so I do feel like that I also feel like Ohio State isn't quite the Ohio State they've been even though what are they the second ranked team in in college football right now but I just don't feel like they've got the same kind of like same kind of juice they've had in past years.

So I do think they win, but I think it's a close game. On the note of college football before I leave it, because you were bringing up quarterbacks earlier, and I don't know how much you've got to see of them, but Shadoor Sanders. Like, we didn't bring up this when it comes to the Cowboys. I don't think they're going to be bad enough

to be able to select Shadur. Like, do you think Shadur's going to make it in the NFL? And then what about his dad? Like, do you think Dion comes back to the NFL? Yeah, I think Dion is, well, I know Dion's really, really happy where he's at, right? And when he says, hey, man, I'm not planning on leaving. This is where I want to be. That's real until it's not. Until you get new information or you get an offer, right? And so then you have to look at

what's best for you and your family and all those things. I will tell you this, man. I got to spend some time up there this spring, do some coaching with Dion up there at CU. I will say that his connection to those players is 100% real. Man, he is a father figure. He is invested in those kids' lives. I respect the heck out of Dion and the way he connects with people. And that part, that relational skill is good regardless of where you're coaching, regardless of where you're working, bringing people together, getting the best out of people,

connecting with people. he does that as well as anybody I've ever been around and so that part you know what's interesting about hearing that it's so interesting hearing that because we also see the videos of how rough he is on the guys

when he goes in you know you don't have a scholarship or you need to get in the portal or this and that but I guess once you're in the tent once you're in the tent you're one of his guys that's what I'm hearing from you like that's when he comes in right 100% but but he's real

the first meeting I ever had when I played for the Denver Broncos with my offensive line coach, the legendary Alex Gibbs, God rest his soul, like the first meeting we ever had, we're going to be the best offensive line in football. There's nobody that's going to out-prepared us. There's nobody going to be smarter than us. There's nobody that's going to out-work us. There's nobody that's going to out-tuff us. But let me just tell you this. I'm in this with you guys. This is what he said. I'm in this 100% with you guys. And no coach is going to outwork me. Like, I am buried in there with you guys. Like, we are in the

hold together. But let me just tell you one thing about me. If it comes between you and this team, he goes, I will not hesitate to screw you because it's not about you. It's about our team. And for Dion, he is real with those kids. He'll let you know if you're not good enough. I mean, he'll flat out let you know. And I've always respected that from the standpoint of if I'm not good enough, at least I want to know and I want to know how I can get better so that I can be good enough. right so that it's real and he is real and the connection is real and then he lets his coach's coach so as far as chador is is concerned chadour's real man that dude can play um and that guy has a great understanding of football and one thing that dion has done that a lot of college teams don't do he's brought in NFL coaches guys who played and guys who coached in the NFL so they have more of an NFL perspective in what they're doing at see you than many of these other colleges across the across the nation so and that's one of the that's one of the things that intrigues players to come there like when warren sap is coaching your defensive line pray when damien lewis

i think is their the head defensive line coach when um phil low the hold is the offensive like spent seven eight years in the league playing like when those guys are your positional coaches kids want to go because they know that they're going to get coached to doing things that nfl teams do that will help them prepare to play at the next level. And ultimately, you go to see you or you go play college football, even me going to the University of Idaho for crying out loud. I wasn't there. I'll be completely honest, I end up getting an education

because I got getting hurt. And I thought, oh, I better start paying attention. But I went just simply, my only goal was playing the national football league. That was it. And they were the only ones that would give me an opportunity at a scholarship. But that was the only reason that I went to college was just so I could try to play in the National Football League. Now, the education became, you know, became part of that because I tore my ACL and thought,

maybe I won't ever play again. And so then I started taking school seriously, and you can do both. But the bottom line is they're getting a lot of kids there because they're getting groomed, not just to be successful in college, but what it's going to take at the next level. That's why they bring guys like me in to talk to the guys and guys like me in to coach the guys because those kids want to be coached because they want to be able to make it to the next level. You're selling me on Dion and Colorado. I know you got out here in a moment here on the Wilcane shows.

We'll hit the three NFL games really quickly. We'll start with your old team. Broncos versus Raiders. It's in Las Vegas. Raiders are getting six, but you got a quarterback. It looks like against all odds or expectations. You got a quarterback in Denver with Bo Nix. I'm taking Denver.

Yeah, I am too. Bo Nix is legit. Number one, their defense is, you may not know the names, but their defense is good. And Vance Joseph, you know, former failed head coach at Denver, really didn't have a fair shake or a fair opportunity, has really come in there. And last year they went to Miami and they gave up 70. And I'm like, come on, dude. Like, you can't give it. He is coaching his butt off.

Those guys are so dialed in and so tied together. They are really good defense. They are a team that will pressure the opponent's quarterback, create short fields. And Bo Nix is legit. Like, Bo Nix is really, really good. And you've seen him weekly just progress every week, get better and better. Last week he was. Right.

I mean, the first quarterback in the history to have an 80% first rookie in history to have over 300 yards, 80% completion percentage, and four TDs. First time it's ever happened in the history of the National Football League. He's legit. He's playing great. he's winning fantasy games in addition to games the NFL for guys who have bow nix all right niners packers in green bay um packers minus two i'll go with san francisco i just keep waiting for san francisco to put it all together right chris macaffer came back i thought it would cure their red zone issues it hasn't cured their red zone issues they've given up late fourth quarter drives and touchdowns last week to seattle they're one and three in

their own division. And they've given up a late touchdown. They've been like double-digit leads against the Rams, against Arizona, against Seattle last week. And they've given all those games up late in games. I just keep waiting for them to put it all together. This feels like the week to me that they put it together. If they don't, then they're in trouble. And Jordan Love continues to take chances with the football. He is tied with getting as Patrick Mahomes as the lead uh the league leader in interceptions with 11 so if he turns them all over a couple times i'm with you i think san francisco wins it green bay and specifically jordan love i mean they're like they flirt with me starting to believe in them and then they do something where you're like

ah they're not there they're not trustworthy he just keeps flirting that line like i and you think that he will that love will step over the line and become one of the great quarterbacks in the feld but he isn't there yet uh then finally monday night football ravens at uh chargers chargers Chargers getting three at home, and I definitely will take the three, and I will definitely take L.A. Baltimore has to fly across the country. Jim Harbaugh coaches defense. Chargers are pretty good at defense. I know how good Baltimore is on offense, but also know how bad they are in defense when it comes to past defense. And Herbert is a good quarterback. I love this Chargers pick. I love the charges as well, and I love the old school nature. We started this

conversation talking about the changes in the NFL. And, you know, Jim Harbaugh gets rid of his wide receiving core. You know, Glad McConkey is their top, the top dog at the wide receiving core. They go out and get big, thick, tight ends that don't really run that. Well, Will Disley is sneaky, but he probably runs a

five flat, 4-940. I mean, he's not running by anybody, and yet they still continue to produce, man, they're going to run the ball in a day and age where everybody's enamored with fantasy football, right? That's what, oh, it's all about the receiving core. It's all

about big time receivers. Man, he's like, hey, Joe Alt, my first round draft choice. He's the tip of my spear, right? We're just going to dominate people in a line of scrimmage. And that's what they do. Run the ball, defend the run, dominate both lines of scrimmage. We're going to win a lot of games. The one thing that I will caution you on is Baltimore's offense is so uniquely built.

And it's such a hard thing to prepare for. So you just can't, like, when you're running your scout team, you got to put like a wide receiver to play the quarterback position on scout team like to mimic and you got to put a defensive tackle you got to put a defensive tackle at running back right and it's just it's just a weird matchup so a lot of teams they they get shell shocked by the ravens so that's the that's the one interesting part to me when you haven't faced them like the Steelers in the last 11 matchups the Steelers are eight and three against the Ravens because they see them twice a year they understand how they're right they understand how to defend it but everybody else gets just like everybody

else when they first face them just get slacked because they're just not ready for it um i will say this in regards to baltimore be who you are understand your identity and when you ask lamar to beat people in the drop back game like that's what happens in the playoffs at times that's what happened last weekend he has not been good enough in that style of game when you limit him to 20, you know, 20 attempts passing and you just run the side of the ball and you lean into Derek Henry, that's when they win last weekend against, in a tight game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Derek Henry, I think had 13 carries. He averaged five yards of carry, and they're on a two-point conversion and he's not in their backfield. That's, like, that's

a mistake in coaching to me. And the Chargers can do that, right? With J.K. Dobbins and the philosophy of hardball, they can run the ball and limit the amount of time. that Lamar has the ball with less than 20 past him. So which one are you? Are you Ravens or Chargers? I'm going to go Chargers. I think you're Chargers. I'm with you a little bit.

The Ravens defense scares me. They're not very good. And the Chargers are just feeling like that team that nobody really wants to play. Like they just feel like that team. So I'm going to go with you on that. I'm going to go Chargers. I'll take the three, but I'll take the Chargers. I think we were together on all the picks except for Indiana, Ohio State,

which is one I want to watch this weekend anyway. Yeah. I love watching you on Breakfast Ball and on the weekends on Sundays, whatever game you're on, and I love talking to you again. And I really appreciate you giving us some time here today beyond the Will Kane show, Steen.

Anytime, well, man, great to reconnect, buddy. I'll talk to you soon. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Fox Sports Mark Schlarith. You can check them out. Sundays, but also Monday through Friday on Breakfast Ball on FS1,

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