Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / 49ers-Rams Reaction, Rams Under Pressure & the Best NFL Games to Watch Sunday

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49ers-Rams Reaction, Rams Under Pressure & the Best NFL Games to Watch Sunday · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing?
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: John Middlecock, 3NOW Podcast. Hopefully everyone's doing as well as
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the 49ers, who just destroyed the Rams on Netflix. And
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: we will dive into that game. From the flight plans
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to the exceptional play by some of the 49ers guys
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to the disaster that was the Rams and Stafford and
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Miles Garrett. Because that trade, through one game, we've got
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a long way to go. And they traded first-round picks
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and first and second-round picks and third-round picks. We're going
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to need a little more production if you're Sean and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: less need. But we'll dive into all that as well as...
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Some thoughts, you know, A.J. Brown, Sam Darnold, Drake May,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and then we'll just go through some of the big
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: games this weekend. I thought, you know, the morning games,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: some actually pretty good ones. So we'll fire through those,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: maybe hit a couple college games as well on the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: way out and get you guys into the weekend. It's
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: just a great time to watch football. Can't wait. Other
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: than that, you guys know the drill. Subscribe to 3
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: and Out. If you listen on Colin's feed, you can
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: catch us on Netflix as well. And we're putting up content,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: some threw up a 49er video after the game as
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: well on the YouTube channel, so go check that out.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: And let's just dive into what we witnessed Thursday night.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: This goes back to the owners' meetings, which, if you
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: remember correctly, was kind of defined after the fact by
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a Sedona trip. But at those owners' meetings, there was
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: an interview that was Mike Florio, Chris Sims, Matt LaFleur,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and Kyle Shanahan. And LaFleur, who obviously is in the crew,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: poked Shanahan and got him going about this Australian game,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the Australia game, that the 49ers were going to play
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the Rams. And this is, you know, three or four months.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: When is this? Probably May? Was it before the draft?
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I don't even remember. It was a long time ago.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: And Kyle was pissed. I guess it would have been
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: after the schedule came out. And he was not happy.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And the reason he wasn't happy was because the Rams
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: had specifically gone to the league, which I guess I
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: assume at the beginning of the season when the commanders
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: play the Dolphins or the Eagles play the Colts or whatever.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: It's just kind of random. They just take, you know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you kind of know you're going to lose a game
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: for an international game. They give you a city and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: they pick one of your games. I had never heard,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: maybe I'm naive, maybe I'm not dialed in enough, to
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the way the logistics go, that you could request an opponent,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and the Rams requested, and basically said the only team
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: they wanted to play was the 49ers, because one, the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: 49ers sell out SoFi, and two, basically ruin a a
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: ninth or tenth, depending on the given year, a home
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: game for them, which would also screw the Niners because
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: playing the Rams is their easiest travel game of the year.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's from San Jose to LAX, I don't know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: 40 minutes in the air? Not even? I mean, it
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: doesn't get much easier. Hell, it's a five-hour drive, maybe
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: a little longer, five and a half, but it's not
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: very far. And Kyle was furious. And then this entire week,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the story of the week, was like, did I envision
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the 49ers beating the living you-know-what out of the Rams? No.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Did I like the Niners in this spot? I did.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Kyle has a long history against McVay. It's gone really well.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: He's now 12-7 against him in the regular season. Also,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: he brings Raheem Morris, who knows McVay exceptionally well. So
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: their knowledge of him was high. But it was the
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: 49ers got out there. I was texting Guy Haberman, who
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: was the voice of the 49ers tonight. And he was
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: sending me pictures before the game, the place looked cool, empty.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: He's like, bro, I'm spent. I've been here since Friday.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: 49ers got their last Friday, well, Australia Friday, or Thursday.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: They've been there a week. And the hubris, the cockiness,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the arrogance of the Rams was on full display. Listen,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: they trade picks for players like they're going out of style.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Their organization is known as Fuck Them Picks. They just
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: traded for a guy, Myles Garrett, who had a goose egg.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: And honestly, it looked like me or you on the
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: sideline sucking wind. And their big thing was the 49ers
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: all week long were the ambassador for the league. And
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: then their team president, Kevin Demoff, is online popping off,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: you know, different people about we're just coming the day before.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: It's like, okay, that's insane. It was crazy when they
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: did it, especially when you factor in their quarterback's almost
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: 40 years old. Miles Garrett's an older player who's been injured.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Devontae Adams, 35 years old. And they look like they
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: were running in quicksand. Meanwhile, the 49ers, like, kind of
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: a win for their scientists. Ram scientists on the hot seat.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Because the 49ers look like well-rested, accustomed to the time.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, they kicked off at 10.30 in the morning.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: And after Stafford threw that pick... floodgates open, and the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Niners beat the living hell out of them. That was
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a beatdown. Fred Warner was the best player on the field.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Debo and Mike Evans dominated. McCaffrey and Black, who somehow
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: didn't get an invitation to the combine. I don't know.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Who was he starting running back for? Cal Poly? No,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the Indiana Hoosiers. Didn't lose a game. Their starting quarterback
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: went one overall. Their wide receiver went in the first round.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Another wide receiver, I think, went in the third to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the Ravens, maybe the fourth, Surratt. It's like, I don't know.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: You guys watch them play? Guy's pretty good. I watched
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: him tonight. Looked fucking awesome. He's been awesome all preseason. Ran,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: I think, combined for over 130 yards. And it wasn't
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: even fair. And it's kind of understandable. Now, the 49ers
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: would have played well against them no matter what because
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: we talk about super teams all the time. When the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: 49ers star players are healthy, which is always a big if,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: And they might have, knock on wood, lost the guy
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: they just drafted 33rd overall that looked like an up-and-coming
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: player in the preseason. Like he had a bright future.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Let's hope he doesn't have a torn Achilles and he
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: just pulled his calf. But, like, I don't know. Fred
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Warner's the best player on the field. Deebo looked faster
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: in every one of their DBs. You had Mike Evans
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: mossing the dude in the corner of the end zone.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: You had Purdy running around with fresh legs slinging that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: pill around after a shaky start. You had Bosa flying
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: off the edge, looked fresh. You had 45-year-old Trent Williams, who, granted,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he's a Hall of Famer, just stonewalling Myles Garrett that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: everyone's been like, oh, my God, greatest thing since sliced bread.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And Myles Garrett's good. But one, I didn't understand, like,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: if I had Myles Garrett and I looked at your
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: offensive line and you had five Trent Williams, I'd go, well,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter where we line them up, right?
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: over the tackles, over the guards, like he's going to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: go up against a great player. 49ers have one Trent Williams.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: And then you start going down the line of scrimmage.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: You don't need to be Howard Mudd to go, yeah,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: you know, they got some question marks. Colton McKibbitz, who
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the 49ers try to tell you is like Lane Johnson 2.0,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: commendable effort and he's been a long time starter now
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: he's not Trent I didn't understand why he wasn't lining
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: up on that side every time but the 49ers like
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the team speed just I'm not even talking the execution
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: any of like the play calling the schemes because tonight
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: last night was a lot about scheme when Mike McDonald
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: in the second half they had to settle down Drew
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Locke And they had to call some easy plays for
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: him to kind of get him going. And they had
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: to dominate with the blitz on defense. Right? And as
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: that second half went, it was like, we are going
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: to get Drake May off the spot. That game, after
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the Renardo Green interception, which is a guy that was
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: kind of coming into training camp, there were some question
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: marks about, that schematics had nothing to do with it.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: It was, we're fresher, we're better, and we're going to
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: beat the shit out of you. That looked like a game, honestly,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: you see more on Saturdays. Where it's like one team's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: just better than the other. And this gets back to
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: showing up the day before. One of my good buddies, Scotty,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: who lives down Newport Beach, was just in Bali, I
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: don't even know, for work or wedding? I didn't even
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: ask him. Shows you guys. My wife, if that was
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: her friend, she would know everything she did. But guys
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: were like, yeah, what are you doing? Just a long flight?
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: And he got a connection out of Sydney and flew
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: back to obviously LAX. And I think he landed Monday afternoon.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: And he texted me tonight, he's a big Niner guy.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: He's like, bro, I still don't feel the same. Like
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: that flight. Matt Stafford is old. Devontae Adams is old.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Miles Garrett hasn't been playing. Now you could argue, like
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: did the Niners need to go for seven days? Maybe
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: they could have gone for five. But the other thing is, Maria,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: my wife, sent me this thing today of this scientist
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: who deals with marathon runners. And when they go on
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: trips like this, whether it's to Indonesia, whether it's to Australia,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the science behind some guys do the Kyle Shanahan thing
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and some guys do the Sean McVay thing. And historically
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: over studies, there hasn't necessarily been a right or wrong answer.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: But the one thing is when you do the Kyle
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Shanahan method, the 49ers now are on Australian time. So
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: they are, their body clock is set to Australia, which
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: as of recording this, I I can't even do the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: math let's just say it's two in the afternoon right
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: on Friday well they're gonna land back in the Bay
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Area probably afternoon night Friday it's like well they're gonna
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: be it's gonna take them a while who cares it's
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Friday afternoon You don't have anything to do. You don't
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: have a game till the following Sunday. You don't have
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to do anything Saturday. You don't have to do anything Sunday.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I would imagine the 49ers, after that ass kicking, will
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: have like a light walkthrough film study Monday. You get
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Tuesday off. You don't practice for like six more days.
• 10:39
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• 11:00
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• 11:06
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• 12:40
  Speaker 1: this notion of like, well, it sets them up for
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: the rest of the season. Their next game is Monday
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: night football. Like part of, even the Patriots, for as
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: shitty as that night is, it's like you get a
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: long time to take a deep breath, get your body clock.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: You have a huge advantage week two. It's obviously incredible
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: for Seattle getting the win. But like you get this
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: extra break. If you win this first game, On now Wednesday,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: and you know where I stand, I think this Australia
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: thing is going to become a thing. I think they
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: do this again next year, and I think Haberman told
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: me they got signed like two more games. So I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: bet there's a game next year and a game the
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: following year. It was cool. But you get a mini
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: bye week. That's a huge benefit of winning a Thursday
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: night game. The difference of this Thursday night game is
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it was a lead-in preseason where you could set yourself up.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: It's not your next week. I think it's the Bills...
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I got so much football in my mind. The Thursday
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: night game next week I think is pretty good. But
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: that's tough because you just played a game on Sunday.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: So I think this most normal people, you didn't need
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to go to like, I don't know what the best
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: college is to study science. But like this seems kind
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: of crazy. This seems kind of nuts. And all those
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: people were proven 100% right because it showed. McVay's probably
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: talking now in some Australian locker room at his press conference.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I don't give a shit what he says. It was
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: a mistake. Well, we flew out 12 hours before the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Jaguar game. Okay, I mean, five hours across the country
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: is a little different animal than flying basically to Antarctica.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on, man. Deserve that one. And, you know,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the ball don't lie thing. You beg for this team.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: It'd be one thing if you're, like, begging for the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Cardinals or begging for the Dolphins or some crappy team
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: on your schedule. It's like, okay, I kind of get it.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: You want to get a win internationally. But no, they
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: want all the easy teams at home. They begged for
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: a division rival, and they got it handed to them.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Belt to jet-lagged ass. Fred Warner was the best player
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: on the field. And this notion, I've been arguing with
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Colin doing these shows. I see all these people thinking
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the Niners. Now listen, can they stay healthy for however
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: many more months? Major question mark. Very fair. We know
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: that substation can come out of nowhere. Even though someone
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: sent me a DM that that specific substation, the EMS
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: are actually lower than most. But regardless, we take that
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: substation very seriously. When their top end players are on
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the field, They're as good as anybody. Trent Williams, one
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: of the greatest left tackles of all time. Still at 38,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: 39 years old, he's an elite player. Fred Warner is
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the best middle linebacker in the league. Skinny Debo Samuel,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: when they re-signed, anyone could have had Debo. Like, think
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: about this, a couple years ago, Debo Samuel and Brandon
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Ayuk started trending the other way. Ayuk started trending up,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this great route runner, younger guy, more explosive. Debo battled
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: some weight issues, struggled in the Super Bowl. And a
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: couple years later, one guy, it shows you. No one
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: ever questioned. And one thing the 49ers have, they're high-end,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: core star players. And Mike Evans fits that bill perfectly.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Exactly what Seattle does. Elite competitive character. Elite competitive character. Now,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: those guys aren't always on the field. By the end
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: of last year, half of them were gone. But if
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: all those guys are on the field and healthy... They are,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many of them are Hall of Famers?
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Fred Warner, Hall of Famer. Trent Williams, Hall of Famer.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: You know, Georgia's stats, I don't know, but like that's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame player to me. Mike Evans now,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Hall of Famer. I mean, Christian McCaffrey, Hall of Famer.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Like these aren't just like random pretty good players. Like
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: these are some of the great players of their era
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: who I watched tonight and Like, still pretty good. I'll
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: promise you this next week, they'll still be pretty good.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, their coach, who early on I was a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: little nervous. You get in a car accident, you get
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: a bad concussion. Even he said he's like in tears,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: couldn't control his emotions. I'm like, it's pretty serious. I
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: could tell probably by the middle of training camp, it's like, okay,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Kyle's back. And then by this Australian week, when he
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: was making the joke about the time zone with his family, like, okay,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Kyle is... Kyle feels back like the normal Kyle. And honestly,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: one thing I've noticed with Kyle Shanahan, because listen, if
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be critical of the Rams arrogance and hubris,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: like Kyle's got some of that. Kyle can rub some
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: people the wrong way. I do feel a little bit
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: lighter Kyle after the car accident. How could you not?
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he saw his life flash before
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: his eyes, but he definitely saw his eye flash before
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: his eye because he almost lost it. I mean, he
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: was in a traumatic car accident. And I do think
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: that gives you a little perspective in life. Probably humbles
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: you a little bit. And no one's ever questioned his
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: football acumen, how good of a coach he is. We
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: all agree he's one of the best coaches in the league.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: And on a given week, he can beat anybody, except
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs, who somehow own the 49ers. But everyone else,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: he's basically beat. And I think you saw a driven guy,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: a driven team. Props to Raheem Morris, who had bad defense.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, Fred Warner dominated. But Greenlaw, the DBs were
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: all hitting. Renardo Green making plays. You could feel Bosa's explosiveness.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: They look good. Beside the one play that Puka broke
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: down the sideline, he got a pretty sweet stiff arm
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: on Greenlaw. Puka's a monster. Would have liked that touchdown
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: for fantasy, but I swore if I played fantasy, I
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't going to do that. Whenever I'm listening to a podcast,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: someone does that. It's like, no one cares about your
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: fantasy team. But, I mean, he was on, like, the
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: quarter-inch line. But I just think the 49ers, you know,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: you talk about super teams, like, is their talent that
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: much better? I mean, seriously, is it that much of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a difference? Like, I do think the Rams, like, I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: was watching today a lot of videos from WEEI, the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: New England radio station. I'm a sucker for just good
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: old school radio. And it only exists in a couple
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: markets now. I mean, true Philly, Boston, New York. Just
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the anger, the edge. After a bad loss, that to
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: me is pretty special. After a bad loss, peak sports
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: radio is... is just way better than after a good win.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: It just is. And there's just an edge to a
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: lot of markets. The Chicago would have this with the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. Dallas would have this with the Cowboys. The
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Rams and the 49ers definitely have it. I've lived it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: The Rams, like, yeah, it's a Dodger-Laker town. And honestly,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: if Lincoln gets this thing going, they look pretty good.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: good so far. Like, SC football's bigger than the Rams.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: The Rams are a national story. But they always get
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to kind of fly under the radar. Right? In Pittsburgh
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: over the last 10 years, like, that place has been edgy.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: You know? That place, I've seen some clips from, like,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Detroit radio. People get pissed off. Ram's like, you think
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: anyone's like, oh, Miles Garrett was a bad move. It's like,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: there's no radio station tomorrow taking phone calls. Like, it's like,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: what's Otani's deal? Like, is Mark Walters, like, what's happening here?
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: And they get to fly under the radar a little
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: bit in this situation. And they really have most of
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: McVay's tenure. Not that they're not a major story and
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: a big brand. But they are not talked about in
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: leading every show from a negative standpoint, like the Eagles,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the Patriots, the Cowboys, the Steelers, the Green Bay Packers.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: They're not what J.J. McCarthy in the minute. It feels
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: like they do get to avoid some of that. I
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: don't think they avoid it this year, definitely not nationally,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: because you trade for Miles Garrett, you put this target
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: on your back, and it's like, listen, he looked terrible tonight.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, for a guy that you just traded half
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: your draft for and are paying a ton of money.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Now he's banged up. But it is a little concerning. Like,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: sometimes in sports, and I'm not going to write the
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: guy off. He's truly an all-time freak and great athlete.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: But I've lived long enough to see some great players
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: in all sports get dealt and then never quite look
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the same. It's like, well, Aaron Donald's coming back. Well,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: he hasn't played in a couple years. He's 35 years old.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: And clearly he wasn't ready to play this game. And
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I saw a story that he had no guarantee to
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: play the second game. Now you'd be like, well, they're
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: getting ready for their stretch run. It's like, okay. I mean,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: their star wide receiver, like the elephant in the room
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: is the contract. The 49ers, their drama is the injuries.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: It's unavoidable. Had a couple tonight. Lost Tonjes, lost Stribling.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: That'll continue. But like, there's no contract situations with the team.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at, Purdy's a great example. He thoroughly
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: outplayed Matt Stafford tonight. Now, am I acting like Purdy
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: is a better player than Matt Stafford based on one game?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not. And I do think the jet lag affected
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Matt Stafford and Miles Garrett more than all the other guys.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Clearly Matt Stafford, who didn't... He was 4 of 11
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: at halftime. But this is the thing with Brock, and
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: we talked about it with Drake last night, of like,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: we'll see if Drake's any good. Like, Brock's a good player.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Can we just... Get this over with. Like Brock Purdy
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: is a good player. He has series. And he will
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: throw some of the worst picks in the league. He
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: did tonight. Just an atrocious interception where he was fooled.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: But like his play. The ball he threw to Mike
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Evans for the fade touchdown. The 49ers have never had
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: a guy like that. Like Devontae Adams led the league
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in touchdowns. That's a Devontae Adams play all day long.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: The 49ers have never had that guy. Jawan Jennings kind of.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Didn't Jawan Jennings get like four million dollars in the
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: open market from the Minnesota Vikings? He's got Mike Evans,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: who's a first ballot Hall of Famer. And the thing
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: with Purdy is once he gets in a rhythm and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: if he can run the ball a little bit, that's
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: when he turns into a top 10 quarterback. And tonight,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: top 10 quarterback. Is he ever going to be Pete
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Mahomes or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson? No. But is
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: he better than the overwhelming majority of guys? And with
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, a dominant duo, 100%. It's why if Stafford's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: a little off, there is no playmaking with his feet. Now,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: he's an elite pocket quarterback, but if you can rush
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: him and hit him, you're not going to make anything
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: after the play. And I don't know if the Rams
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: were throwing the game or whatever, but the 49ers treated
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: this bad boy like a very serious operation. And it showed.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And back to the super team, like, I lived it
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia my second year when Vince Young called it
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the dream team, which is pretty laughable to think back now,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: especially when I started listing some of the players who
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: were included in that that were added. But the Eagles
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: are a more polarizing team and talked about team than
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the Rams, especially locally, right? They're discussed like the Yankees
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: or the Lakers, I mean, in their own market. They
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: are the lead dog. And then nationally, they're always a
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: big story. But when you place that moniker... next to
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: a team. We see it in basketball a ton. When
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: LeBron went to the Heat, when KD came to the Warriors,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: that adds an element of like, everyone's paying attention. Everyone's
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: paying attention. And obviously tonight's on a primetime game, but
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: like throughout the season, like what's going on with Myles Garrett?
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Is he living up to the hype? Is like Stafford
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: continuing it? Like they do just, the 49ers, all their
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: star players have elite football character Like, there have been
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: some stories of some different guys on the Rams that, yeah,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: got some red flags. I mean, I just do. I mean,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Google their left tackle. So this notion that,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I always said this, their team looks excellent on paper.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Their coach is awesome. You'd have to be a fucking
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: moron to say Sean McVay's not high-end elite. But football
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: doesn't just work like, oh, just take this third baseman,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: take this left fielder, take these three starters, and boom,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: we'll win 110 games. Because it works in baseball. That
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: is not how football works. Football is about chemistry. Obviously,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: injuries play a factor. Who's ascending, who's descending, age. Some
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: guys are hitting their prime. Some guys are leaving their prime. Chemistry,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: how it works in the locker room. Do you like
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: each other? And I just think, we'll see. Do I
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: think this team's winning four or five games? I don't.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: but just that they were some lock to be the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: number one seed. The difference between the one seed and
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: nine and eight in this sport is pretty small. Is
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: pretty small. I mean, last year the Chiefs went six
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and 11 and they literally lost, what was it, like
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: 10 one-score games? Every one-score game they lost. They were in,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: if you watch the Chiefs play up until the end
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of the season when Mahomes got hurt, they were literally
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: in every game. The Broncos were the opposite. They were losing,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and the Bears, they were losing in all their games.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: And then both of them would come back and win
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: them all. Broncos the one seed, Bears win the division. Football,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the margin, most of these games, you look at like
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: some of these point spreads, there's a reason they're not,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: this isn't college. It's not 40 points. It's not 28 points.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Some of the point spreads this week in college, I
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: saw a couple fives, like not minus five, 50. I'm like,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: In the NFL, the Chargers-Cardinals at 10 points week one
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is nuts. Most hover around two to four until we
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: figure it out for a while because that's the NFL.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: And the difference between the Rams and honestly just the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: New York Giants next week, I don't know, it's coin flips.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Football is hard. What if those pass rushers get after Stafford?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: No different than the 49ers. Like, I don't know. They
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: could win 12 games or they could win eight. I mean,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: it's fucking hard. You know? But if Purdy and the
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: star players are going to play like that, that's a
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: 12-13 win team. If those guys stay healthy, which is
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: probably the biggest if in the league. But you'd have
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: to be on drugs to think the 49ers, if all
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the guys are going to be healthy, aren't every bit
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: as good as the Rams and their star players. Like,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: what the hell's the difference? Who's got more Hall of
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Fame players? If anything, it's like even. Stafford, Garrett, Devontae.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Is that it? Trent McDuffie's not. Puka is on his way.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Blake Corham, I do like. Always liked him since college.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: And here's the other thing with the Rams. The 49ers,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: if worst case scenario, Stribling, Torres, Achilles. Ricky Pearsall would
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: be out for the year with a D. Stribling would
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: be out for the year. And Mikel Williams is currently
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: on injured or pup with an ACL. So their last
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: three first picks, two of them first rounders, one pick 33.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: would basically two of them be gone for the year,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: one of them, who knows? I mean, TBD. The Rams
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: picking Ty Simpson, I know Orlovsky wanted to take a
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: victory lap after a preseason game. And I even said
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: he looked good in the preseason game. Now, granted, they
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: were running like boots and waggles and he was hitting
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: guys wide open. He was their third quarterback tonight. If
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I'm taking a guy at 13, I kind of want
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: him to be my backup year one. especially if my
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: backup quarterback isn't like Joe Flacco or Jimmy Garoppolo. Their
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: backup quarterback is Stetson Bennett. Over the last six months,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you couldn't beat out Stetson Bennett, who a couple years ago,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I think there were some parallels, let's just say, with
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Steve Belichick. Now it looks like he's turned his life
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: around good for him. Incredible college career. I don't think
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: most people went like, oh, future longtime NFL player. Ty
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Simpson was the 13th pick in the draft. So when
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: you talk about hubris and cockiness, like, There was a
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: handful of guys that they could have picked that not
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: just would have helped them the night, but over the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: course of the season and helped them be a super team.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: So Kyle Shanahan, absolute ass whooping. And yeah, good on
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the Niners. Let's talk some more football. Let me tell
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you about a charity that is near and dear to
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: my heart. Everyday American heroes put it all on the
• 29:29
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• 29:56
  Speaker 1: today at foldsofhonor.org to help meet their sacrifice, With hope. Okay,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: before we dive in to some of, really, a couple
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: games on Saturday, we'll do that at the end, and
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Sunday's action. There were a couple, I guess, follow-ups to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night. We know that A.J. Brown has a high
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: ankle sprain, which is less than ideal. I mean, who knows?
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: This is a guy who's battled injuries before. He's, you know,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: wide receivers are different than linemen. I mean, that's a
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: bad injury. I mean, who knows how long he's going
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: to be out. Obviously, Sam Darnold looks like avoided a
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: hip fracture, which would have ended his season. uh, I,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you know, I, we don't know the exact injury as
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: of recording this, but he, you know, he's going to
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: miss this upcoming week and then we'll see, I'm sure
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: we'll get more information come out in the next couple
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: of days as he seeks opinions and, you know, the,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: the rehab process. But, uh, by all the reports today,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Sam Darnold is not going to miss the season, but
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: him and AJ Brown, I think it's fair to say, like,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: I don't plan on seeing them in September, you know,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: and that's Lose your quarterback, you lose your prize, off-season
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: transaction to add to the offense. Not ideal. I mean,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: there's no other way to put it. I mean, that's
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: a kick in the you-know-what right off the bat week one.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: And I do think, just to piggyback on what we
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: talked about yesterday with Drake May, is I think the
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: powerful part about football is, like, all the games matter.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: especially against other good teams. We'll give you throwing touchdowns
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: against bad teams, kind of the expectation. If you don't
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: play bad against a bad team and the game is
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: a regional game on Sunday morning, it gets lost. But
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: if you're playing another good team in a primetime spot,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: college or pro, that's a highly judged contest, and rightfully so.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Every coach talks about this over and over. You only
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: get so many of them. And Drake May's performances against
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: the good teams over the course of the last two years,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: as everyone's reported on and the stats have been flying
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: around over the last 24 hours, just aren't good. And
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to bury the guy. Football is very hard.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: It took Peyton Manning a long time to become a
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: really good player. Tom Brady wasn't considered that good to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: like five years into his career, and the guy already
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: had three Super Bowls. Like, he's being carried by his defense. Like,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: it's part of the sport. You know, he's a 24-year-old guy.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: But there are some flaws, right? And to me, one
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: major flaw, because he's got all the physical attributes, and
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: then you factor in the intangible, like no one questions
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: the guy's toughness, right? He gets hit, unfazed, gets right
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: back in there. Decision-making is a big deal, right? To me,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: decision-making and accuracy typically go hand-in-hand, but decision-making is something
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: to question after last night. They have three fourth-quarter interceptions
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: to throw an interception in the red zone, which back
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: in the day would have got you... I mean, that's...
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the word inexcusable gets thrown out a lot. Like we
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: all do a lot of quote unquote inexcusable things, right? Uh,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: he's not going to inexcusable means like there, there is
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: something serious coming down the pike. That's not the case.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: It's not like the guy's going to get cut or benched,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: but that was a glaring moment. And that was something
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: that's going to be hard for people to forget. And I, I,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: I heard, I listened to some like a Boston sports
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: radio clips today, uh, One thing that's not really deniable
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: is Josh McDaniel's entire career, his stardom was with Tom Brady,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: who is going to go down as the greatest decision
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: maker in the history of the league. And the entire
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: offense was predicated on a guy that didn't move more
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: than a couple yards left or right. He has never excelled.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Even Matt Jones was much closer to a version of
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Tom Brady than the version of Drake May, who... moving
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: around and sometimes probably too soon is a big part
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: of his game. That's not what Josh McDaniels has thrived with. And,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of pushback has been Josh's play calling,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: not allowing him to open up the offense, hammering the run,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: doesn't trust him. I do think philosophically, like I think
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: about this all the time. You know, politics is just
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: a hot button issue now in this modern day culture.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: It'd be pretty difficult to in 2026 to date, to
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: marry someone with dramatically different political beliefs, right? Because that's
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: kind of your core philosophy of life, right? Some of
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: the stuff, I mean, you know, who, who wants to
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: pay taxes, but I'm talking about some like core moral things.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Like you gotta be on the same page with your partner. Right.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Business like not as important. A lot of Republicans and
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: liberals are partners and make a lot of money. You know,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: they don't give a shit because cha-ching. But I do
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: think when it comes to football, it's kind of like that.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you got to, you know, line up. This was
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: my question when Ben Johnson got with Caleb Williams. Ben
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Caleb was so good at the end of the games.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, Ben, you're going to have to meet
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: him in the middle a little too. You know, he's
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: got so much in the tank. Like comparing Caleb has
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: gears that Drake does not have, right? In terms of
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: arm strength, in terms of speed and mobility. And Drake's
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: a mobile guy. But like just a higher level, like
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: a little more velocity. Drake's balls kind of float in
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the air. And some of that could have been uncertainty.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: But like... You know, you can hit 50 home runs
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: throughout 162 games. And if we did the analytics and
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: broke down, all your home runs came off third, fourth,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: and fifth starters. And sometimes guys that weren't even in
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: the rotation, it was because of injuries. Guys they had
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: called up. You never hit a home run up the
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: first or second guy in a rotation. You'd be like, eh,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: no one would care. I mean, James Harden became, a
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: guy who made like $ 700 million off just annihilating teams
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: like the Magic and the Kings and just everyone in
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: the regular season and then the postseason would come and
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: he's a dramatically different player. But it's like, hey, fuck,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: this guy, the peak of his power is unsolvable force
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: in the regular season. It's like, eh, not going to
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: work in the playoffs. In football, it's like, We kind
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: of know what translates, and we know what it looks
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: like against the best opponents. It's why I think Lamar
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: has been such a polarizing guy. We've seen him in
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the biggest games in the regular season look incredible. It's like,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: that's as good as it gets. And then he doesn't
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: look like the guy we see in the regular season
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: in the postseason, but I've seen it. It was my take,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: you know, of like, hey, listen, I can't put Drake
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: May up with the elites because we can nitpick postseason
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: performances with some of that crew not named Patrick Mahomes, right? Obviously,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen, not a great game last year. When it
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: mattered the most, missed some big throws. Lamar's had those moments. Herbert,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: awful moments in the playoffs, right? Burrow, shit, he hasn't
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: even been there in a couple years, especially two years ago,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: which wasn't technically his fault, but you know what I mean? Like,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: no one questions... in the trenches with those guys in
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: a big game in October, November, December, regardless of the opponent,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: that they can get it done. That is 100% a
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: question right now with Drake May. And it's fair. It
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that he can't figure it out over the
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: course of the next couple years. But anytime you finish
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: second in the MVP, it's like, God, this guy's an elite.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I think some of the one-off guys, let's use Cam Newton,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: who his MVP year was by far his best year.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I watched a lot of Cam Newton games, non-MVP. When
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: he was on, I don't give a shit who he
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: was playing. He was not easy to play against. Right now,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Drake May, he's going to get no credit moving forward
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: throwing a couple touchdowns against the Dolphins or the Jets
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: or any of the bad teams on their schedule. But
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: when he plays the high-end competition... He's going to be
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: judged very, very closely, especially the teams with good pass
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: rushes and good defenses and playoff-level teams. And I just
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: think that that was a conversation that he got somewhat
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: of a pass in the playoffs. I'm all for it.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Year two, no one saw it coming. After last night,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I was like, damn. Because, like, well, tough opponent on
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the road, loudest place in the league, that or Kansas City,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: elite defense, best defensive coach. Okay, but they're up 10-0,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: and then he just starts throwing the ball to the
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: other team. And sometimes you have a ball that goes
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: off a guy's hands and hits the guy in the breast.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: It's like that pick. We've been saying this forever. Not
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: all interceptions are equal. Totally true. We're all in agreement there.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: All three of his picks were atrocious, and they got worse.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: The first pick, bad. Lobbed it up. Honestly, the flea
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: flicker was an awful throw. The second pick, in fairness,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Dobbs dropped the ball before. Okay, well, it's football. That happens,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: and you've got to play the next play. Julian Love
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: caught that thing in stride. And then, obviously, the third
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: pick is, I was thinking about this last night. If
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: you take all the good teams, however many that turns
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: out to be, let's say 14 teams make the playoffs, 16, 17,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: 18 teams, right? Teams nine and eight, and above, like
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: teams competing to make the playoffs or in the playoffs.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you'll find a worst interception all
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: 18 weeks. when you factor in backup quarterback all game long,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: you're in the red zone, you had a chance to
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: win it, and 100% a lock to go to overtime,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: the only thing you cannot do, like, hell, you can
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: take a sack. You cannot, under any circumstances, throw a
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: ball up in the end zone like that, which was,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, just an atrocious pass. You'll be hard-pressed when
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: you factor in the situation, the score. Again, all the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: good teams. I'm not talking bad teams. I'm not talking picks.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: It's got to be a fourth quarter pick with the
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: game in the balance. They're going to be awful picks.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: But you can throw a bad pick in the second quarter.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: You can throw a bad pick with whatever, under 45 seconds,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: 30 seconds left, whatever the time was on the clock.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: You'd be hard-pressed to find something the rest of the
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: season in a matchup against two good teams. Hell, it
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: could be a good team versus a bad team in
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: a tight game. It's the NFL. So... Man, that's a
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: tough one. Vrabel's got to shake this up. The other thing,
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: I noticed this last night, two things about the broadcast,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: not Tariqo and Collinsworth, who I love, but Mike Tomlin
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: and Jason Garrett. And I want to start with Tomlin first.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: I was talking, we were talking after the show and
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: my producer Shane, and I was like, you know, Because
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: he was like, Tomlin brings good vibes. And that's true.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: There's just something about having Tomlin there that's fun and loose.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: And he's a good addition just to personality. Total agreement.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Maybe my expectations are too high. I would just love
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: every once in a while. This was Sean Payton on Fox,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: who everyone thought he was incredible. Sean Payton talks a
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: lot of shit about a lot of people. Whenever I'd
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: watch him with Colin or on TV, he wasn't really
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: doing it. He does it way more when he's a coach.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin has a lot of takes on a lot
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: of people in the league. And maybe my hope was
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: just every once in a while he'd be like, you
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: know this guy can't stand, and just go in on him.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: And it's probably not going to happen. Because Tomlin just
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: talking like Tomlin in the Pittsburgh Steelers press conference, I've
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: seen that for 15 years. It's cool. He's enjoyable. But
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I would like a little raw and real Mike. And
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: I understand he's going to go back next year and
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: probably be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: or the Washington Commanders. I get it. I don't think
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: him just mixing it up a little bit It's going
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: to hurt that. I don't think it'll phase it at all.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I would just love to get over the course of
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: the season just a couple nugs of just what he
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: really feels. And Jason Garrett is essentially... Like, when I
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: was born in the 80s, everyone on TV was just
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: complete phony. They had huge smiles, fake hair. It was like, yeah,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: time to be here. The news, read it. It was
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: just complete opposite of the modern day digital media space,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: which is just raw, real, no one gives a shit. Which, again, is,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: I am... I'm biased. I lean that way. I just like,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: be a normal human being. Because I know Jason Garrett
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: is a good example of, there is no way the
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: guy who has the Joker smile, who every time they
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: come to him is like, these guys need to play
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: hard and be disciplined. Now to you, Maria. It's like, that's...
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: speak like a normal human like I there's no way
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: when you were playing or coaching and you were just
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: hanging out with your offensive coordinator or drinking beers with
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: Troy Eggman that's how you acted I feel like he's
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: playing he's an actor playing a television host or you
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: know someone on a news show in like 1987 it's
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: like Jason it's 2026 relax a little bit man just
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: just kind of talk, I don't know, the smile, the
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: forced smile. It's like he's gone to media coaching, which
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he has. It's like, bro, this... Just give
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: me some takes. You don't need to smile 24, 7, 3, 6.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Every time I see him, he's smiling. It's like, bro,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: you ain't that happy. You ain't a soul that happy.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: I don't care how many antidepressants, any human being, no
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: one's that happy. Like, give me a break. Like, wipe
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: the smile off your face every once in a while
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: and just stand there like a normal human being. And
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: he can't. So I don't expect anything different with him.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: But I just wish, can I get a couple Tomlins?
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: There's got to be some guys in the league he despises,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: can't stand. I'm not even talking players. He doesn't need
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: a shit on players. Coaches or GMs. Remember last year
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: with the Browns. I just don't know if we're going
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: to get that. Maybe. I'm holding out some hope. But
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: that's all I want from my personalities, especially someone like Mike.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Just give me a couple Zingers. Do this entertainment, baby.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: I did want to fire through. One thing I thought
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do every week is just do my
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: morning four box. And typically, I got a couple TVs
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: in this office. I got a big 60-incher, and then
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: I got a 40-incher right next to it. I typically,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: in the mornings, especially on the weeks where there aren't
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: that many buys, there are a lot of games going
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: on on Sunday morning. So I try to put the
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: main games that I want to watch with the big
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: playoff teams, the games that we're going to talk about,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: on the big TV, and then the other TV will
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: just have, you know, Jets, Titans, and some of the
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: other random games. So I think what I'm going to
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: do right now is go, this is my morning four box.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: And I actually think this week it's pretty easy. It's
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Baltimore at Indy, Bills at Houston, Lions at Saints, and
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: Tampa at Cincy. And then Chicago Carolina, there were some
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: other crappy games going on in the morning. Might just
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: get the small TV by itself. I mean, Jets-Titans, I'm sorry.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: No shade in either franchise. That's probably not getting much
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: of my oxygen. Maybe I'll throw it up there with
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Chicago Carolina. But I wanted to go through those four
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: main games. And just what I did is I wrote
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: down some questions. Because that's kind of go into the season.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: We don't know that much. Like you're just kind of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: asking questions or wondering what it's going to look like.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Like with the Ravens at Indianapolis. Let's start with Indy,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: who is a home dog. Like they were really good
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: with Daniel Jones. They were one of the greatest offenses
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: we'd ever seen. I think statistically they technically were up
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: to the point in which he left. Are they going
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to be that team? Because if they are that team,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to be a problem. The team, once he left,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: they had no shot, right? And by the end, they had,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: you know, 45-year-old Phillip Rivers, who actually made some plays,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: you know, being their quarterback. So I just, I want
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: to know with Indy, like, who are they? Are they
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: the team with Daniel Jones? Was that a mirage? Is
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: he going to resort back to kind of the crappier
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: player that we once knew? Is he and Shane Steichen
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: just a good fit? I got no clue. I really don't.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: I'm very, very intrigued. And to me, with Baltimore, I
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: hear a lot of people, whether it's different podcasts, different posts,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: you've just seen it out there, a lot of people
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: are picking the Ravens to make it to the Super Bowl.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: and definitely be one of the top three or four
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: teams in the league. Which, listen, they got an all-time
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: great talent at quarterback. Metabuke, who a couple years ago,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: when they were elite on defense, was their best defensive
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: player with Hamilton. What's he look like with the neck?
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: I saw he was a limited participant, I think, on
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Wednesday's practice. I didn't look on Thursday. But is he
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: just back to being a dude? And I get back
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: to Mike McDonald, who is, I think we all agree,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: one of the elites now in the league. That guy,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: when you see Mike McDonald, you go, elite head coach.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: His first year, a little bumpy. They had a stretch
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: where they lost a bunch of games. I think five
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: out of six games. and it's not easy. They missed
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. Now, they were 10-7, and that's kind of
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: what I pegged the Ravens to do. Now, the difference
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: is they had Geno Smith, they got Lamar Jackson, they
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: had Ryan Grubb, they got Declan Doyle, but Ryan Grubb
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: never called plays in the NFL. Declan Doyle's never called
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: plays in the NFL. I just got some questions. I mean,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: I'm prepared to be wrong. I mean, I don't know.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I do know this. Whoever wins this game, if Indy
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: beats Baltimore... People are going to be like, okay, Indy's
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: legit with Daniel Jones. It's clear. He's their quarterback. They're
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: a legitimate playoff threat. And if the Ravens win, it'll
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: validate everyone that's thinking they're sweet. Because going on the
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: road week one, Indy's not an easy place to play.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: They've got a bunch of good players. I think whoever
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: wins this game, there's one other game, I would say,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: in the morning slate that you're really going to be
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: feeling good. But it's like, okay, this is a legitimate
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: playoff team. Bill's at Houston. I was watching, doing a
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: little babysitting duty this morning. My man just, we are
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: in the trenches sleep-wise. We're trying to transition some sleep training.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: We regressed. I mean, it's, we got some issues. So,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: sleep patterns are all over the place. I could be,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: you know, reading the iPad at like four in the
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: morning but I saw a stat on television that Josh
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: Allen and his career is one in four against the
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Texans and I remember a couple years ago because we
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: went live right after me and Colin There was a
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: game that like Sean McDermott screwed up at the end.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I thought it was at the end of the game,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: punted or something weird happened. But I vividly remember last
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: year when Josh Allen got sacked eight times and it
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: felt like he could have been sacked 30 times. And
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: this is like my main question with Buffalo is like,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: can they handle this front? Sometimes you see it in basketball.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: You definitely see it in football. Some teams are just
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: bad matchups for the other team for whatever reason. And
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: it does feel like Buffalo. I mean, again, I have
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: it seared into my memory. I think it was a
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Monday night football or Sunday night football. It was a
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: massacre of Josh. I've never seen Josh Allen look like
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: me or you back. He had no shot. Typically, he
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: can run away and break that. You ain't doing that
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: against these guys. So I just that one's hard to shake.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: And to me, it's like, are they going to be
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: able to handle this defense? Because they could not handle
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: him last year. And the other thing on the Houston
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: side is, like, Houston won that game. I think the
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: final score was, like, 23-19, which is kind of crazy
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: given that he was sacked eight times. It shows you, like,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Bills are a really good team. And
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: I think they're going to be really good again. But
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: they won that game with Davis Mills. You know? Davis Mills,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: he threw two touchdowns. The big question mark is, like,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: what is C.J. Stroud? Is he good? Is he worth
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: giving a huge extension to? You know, by all rumors
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: and stuff on the internet, make of it what you will.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: It's like, he ain't into the Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold extensions. Well,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: it's like ACJ and David Mulgetta. I don't think they're
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: into the $ 200 million extensions, so you better play better
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: if you want to see that. I think Houston's defense,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: like for as good as Seattle is, I think Houston's
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: defense is on a different level. And Seattle's the cream
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: of the crop. I think it's the best defense in
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: the league. Picked them on the fantasy team. I think
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: Willie Anderson's going to be defensive player of the year.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: It all comes down to, like, can this guy just
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: be a game manager? No one's asking you to be
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen. I think that's been hard for C.J. Stroud.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: You're the second pick in the draft. You see all
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: the elite guys. You're like, I'm one of them. He's like, actually,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: you're not. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like, bro,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: you can make hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: want to say dinking and dunking, but just managing the
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: offense with this franchise. And I'm fascinated to see how
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: this looks. Because I would say this. Houston's a dog
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: at home, which to me is like, guys, I mean,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: we just saw this game last year. If Houston wins
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: this game, they'll feel great, but it's like we beat
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: the Bills before. Their issue has been some weird other games.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville they've had some weird games against for sure. I
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: do think this would be a bigger win for the
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: Bills just given their history against this team. Eight sacks?
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's really, really bad. Lions and Saints. Listen,
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: I'm a sucker when I pick you. I thought I was,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: you know, not a lone wolf, but kind of out
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: on my own out there. Everyone I see is picking
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: the Saints. And listen, I'm actually going the other way now.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: A lot of good vibes in Tampa, but we'll get
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: to them in a second. If the Saints beat the
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: Lions at home, that is an incredible win. I mean,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: this is one of those, if you like the Saints
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: to win the division, and a lot of people think
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: winning that division is like 9-10 wins, most people aren't
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: picking them to win this game. I don't even feel good.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: I would not pick the Saints. This is probably a
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: stay away from me. But I am fascinated to watch. Like, okay,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Tyler Shuck. People like me, a lot of people around
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: the league, everyone's like, this guy's pretty good. Listen, a
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: lot of people do it as a rookie. Hell, Drake
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: may beat the crap out of the crappy teams, and
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: people start giving him MVP votes. They start playing playoff
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: teams like, who is this guy? So, and the Lions
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: aren't exactly the 85 Bears here. I'm fascinated to watch
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Tyler Shuck. And for the Lions, like, your offense should
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: be unstoppable. This... Indoors, where you play, you should look
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: so fucking fast. I'm excited to just watch this Lions
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: team this year. I think their offense has a chance
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: to be, I mean, top in the league. And everyone
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: took Jameer Gibbs number one in fantasy. Say Brown is,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know... A lot of people's just like favorite
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: player for what a badass he is. They got it all.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, they got star left tackle, really good quarterback.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: I think Jared Goff, if their offense lives up to
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: what I think it could be, could be the MVP.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: But this is a game to kind of get the
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Lions swag back. It's not like, you know, you're going
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: on the road and beating the Eagles or beating the
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: Rams or beating Seattle. But this is a good start
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: to the season. Go on the road. Dan Campbell used
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: to coach here forever with Sean Payton. Get a win
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: and get out. This is fascinating to me because I
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: have the Saints to win the division. And maybe this
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: is like we have a long time to kind of
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: get it before the games start, and you have a
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: lot of time to think, and it's like a lot
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: of things to happen. I mean, Vitavia requested a trade,
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: and Baker Mayfield was pissed. And yesterday I see a
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: press conference with Jason Light and Baker Mayfield. They're laughing,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: they're hugging. Vibes are great. I mean, they've given two
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: contract extensions to probably their best two players, not named Worfs.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: And I do feel like they got some good vibes. Now,
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: the problem with Tampa... Listen, I like Todd, but did
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: they make these extensions to have a good roster so
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: when they call Mike Tomlin here in four months, are
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: they a team that's going to have a new coach
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: even if they won 10 games and were one and
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: done in the playoffs? Is Todd Bowles, what's he going
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: to have to do to keep his job? Is making
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: the playoffs enough? That's kind of the elephant in the
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: room with this team. Because the one thing you would
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: say is player-wise, They got good vibes going. And I
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: defended this yesterday. They gave him $ 110 million over the
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: next three years in guaranteed money. Tuatango Bailoa got way more.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Jordan Love dwarfed that just like three years ago. So
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: the contract to me is pretty team friendly when it
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: comes to the position for a guy that's established himself
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: like top 14, 12 quarterback. So I'm fascinated to watch Tampa.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: I just think everyone thinks their coach is going to
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: get fired. Like that's the number one kind of Elephant
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: in the room with that franchise after signing all these guys.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: And then Cincy, like, I think they're going to be awesome.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: They have no excuse to not be awesome. Their defense
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: should be dramatically better. You would think they get an
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: inspired Dexter Lawrence kicking ass and taking names. I mean,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: their offensive weaponry is Jamar Chase is a Hall of Famer. T.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Higgins is as good of a number two as you'll
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: find in the league. Brown, the running back, can kind
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: of do it all. I've had pro scouts tell me
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: their offensive line is way better than the way people
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: talk about them. You know, bro holds on the ball.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: He takes some sacks. This isn't five scrubs up there.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: So to me, this is like, you got to win 12,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: 13 games and you open at home. There's a franchise
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: that starts slow all the time. I always make fun
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: of whenever I'm walking by the TV. And, you know,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: one of these talking head shows. And I've seen some must-wins.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Must-win for Josh Allen. Must-win for this. Like, there's no
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: such thing as a must-win game one. I do think
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: it's extremely important for Cincinnati to win this game. To
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: get some positive momentum. To get some, you know, everything
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: rolling in the right direction. It's been the opposite in
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: recent history. Two years ago when they went 9-8, they
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: started so bad. And their defense was atrocious. So I
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: do think Cincinnati, they should be a team that is
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: dropping 30-plus points a game, right there with the Lions.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: And then the last morning game that I find pretty fascinating, Carolina,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: no offense, something about the brand, it just does nothing
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: for me. It's like the Orlando Magic team. Or I'm
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: trying to think, there's just certain franchises in sports that
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: like no emotion is created inside me. Like when you
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: say the LSU Tigers, or the Los Angeles Lakers, or
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: the New York Yankees, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, like...
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: you kind of feel something as a sports guy. When
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: you say the Carolina Panthers, I feel nothing, you know?
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: So that brand, I have no problem if you get
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: good enough. And listen, no shade, but same thing with
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, if they get good enough, I have
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: to just suck it up and consume them. I did
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: last year. Parker Washington's on my fantasy team. But I just...
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, I'm watching this game for
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: Caleb and Ben Johnson. Maybe my expectation, I saw Dave
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: Tepper thinks they're going to be really good. They've had
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: a bunch of injuries. The Bryce experiment, time will tell. Yeah,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't really know what to say there.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: So my four bucks for sure in the morning is Ravens, Indies.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: Raven at Indies, Bill at Houston, Lions at Saints, Tampa
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: at Cincy, and then I'll give Chicago Carolina with some
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: of the other slop in the morning. I think it's Jacksonville, Cleveland, Jets, Titans.
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: Sneaky must win for the Titans. Like if you can't,
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: if the Titans can't, and I, listen, I just said,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: because if you can't beat the Jets at home, who
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: are you beating? I would say most people probably have
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: them going 0-6 in the division. 1-5 at best. If
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Cam Ward is as bad as people think he's going
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: to be, I mean, he hasn't been good. Preseason did
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: not go well. So it could get weird. Some of
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the afternoon games, it's like Chargers, Cardinals, I mean, I
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: saw Jeremiah Love is number two on the depth chart.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: I just, that really bothers me, stuff like that. I
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: have no problem making a guy earn it. I've given
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: this story before. Eric Reid, whose brother Justin Reid played
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: for the Chiefs forever, Eric Reid, LSU guy, got drafted
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: in the first round by the 49ers when I first
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: got in the media world. And Vic Fangio had him
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: running with the threes in OTAs. And by training camp,
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: he's running with the twos. It's like, Vic, you have
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: an open safety spot. You just drafted this guy in
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: the first round. He's going to be starting. What happened
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: in week one? Eric Reid was a starter. I have
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: no issue with that. When you draft a guy high,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: a blue chipper, and I'm not saying Eric Reid's as
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: good as Jeremiah Love, but my point is, big-time school guy,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: you draft this guy third overall. If this guy's not
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: on the field week one, snap one, and he's fully healthy,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: shame on you. You guys are fucking idiots. I mean, losers.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Losers. I know you sign free agent running back.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: No one cares. You draft this guy third overall, put
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: him on the field. You can't convince me he doesn't
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: know the offense. I just do not believe that. And
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not even saying they're saying that, but I don't
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: know what the justification would be. It's like super high
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: character guy. What's your knock? He doesn't know the offense.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: He's lazy. Like what, what are you telling me? Cause
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: I know he's the most talented running back you have
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: get them on the field. Like if you tell me
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: after this year, everyone in Arizona gets fired. I think
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: that's definitely on the table. GM and new coach. It's
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: going to be a disaster. Week one, you know, disasters
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: can look decent week one. Pete Carroll beat New England
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: last year. By the end of the season, it was
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: like they were a laughingstock. Packers at Minnesota is a very,
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: very interesting game. I would say Packers in Minnesota and
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: the big game in Philly are just, what's this going
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: to look like? I think starting with Packers Minnesota, like,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know. With Green Bay, ton of new players.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: You're missing your best player who's out till who knows
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: when in October in Micah Parsons. Pretty dependent. You have
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: this Josh Jacobs situation. He pleaded no contest. Like, bro,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: if there's a video, you ain't coming back. So I
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: hate shorting the Packers because even on bad years, they
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: win nine games. I just think that I don't feel
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: great about it. I don't. In Minnesota, I don't feel
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: great about either. Like, to me, these are in some
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: order three and four in that division. In some order.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know what. I guess this game will tell
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: us something, at least early on. Like, big picture, I
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: don't think the Kyler Murray experiment is going to play.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, is Kyler Murray playing all 17 games? And
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: if he doesn't, then Carson Wentz comes in, who actually
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: has kind of resurrected his career just still in the league,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: but shell of what he used to be. And the
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Eagle game is like, your home opener against a team
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: that universally everyone thinks sucks. They lose one of, if not,
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: I don't know, second best player in their left tackle.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Most people think their O-line's terrible. They have been to
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: the joint practices where they have gotten worked. Jaden's got
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: this weird thing going where he's like, I'm going to
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: prove all you guys wrong after, you know, the stuff
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: with LSU happened. Defensively, I'm very big on Sonny Stiles.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: I would have drafted him much higher than he got drafted.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I'm shocked the Giants passed on him at five. I
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: think the Titans could have taken him at four. He
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: looked atrocious in the preseason. Now, you'd be like, well,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: it's the preseason, John. I agree, but part of David Bailey.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: See him in the preseason? You're like, holy shit. I
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: see clips of Caleb Downs at practice picking off Dak
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: left and right. This guy just looks swimming. And again,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not crushing him for the pick. I loved the player.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: I would still bet on the player. But a little concerning.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: That to me puts the pressure on the Eagles where
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: all their home games are pressure packed. I got my
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: guy Acho trying to take down Big Dom. It's like, Acho,
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: no one's taking down Big Dom. Keep, you know, what
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: are we doing here, buddy? Some things are meant just
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: to keep to ourselves. Let's just keep some things to ourselves.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: I know... you know, I know some people that know
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: some people at the combine. It's like, I, I, Goodell
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: is not a fan of Dom. I just put it
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: that way. What's like, Rod's just make your 50 mil,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: leave the big fellow alone. And I tell like, bro,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: some things are meant to stay on set. I just
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: keep it yourself. What a fucking moronic thing to say
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: out loud, bro. He, I mean, he didn't even say him,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: but it's like, everyone assumes it's him. It's like, bro,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: just keep it moving. Uh, You got this new offense.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Grenard, you know, has been at practice. Like, he
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: probably should win this game by double digits. I mean, seriously.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: You got Fangio against Jaden Daniels, who you played a
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: couple years ago in that NFC Championship game, and you
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: curb stomped him. Like, this is a game, if you're Philly,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: and you're going to get back to your kind of,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: get your swag back that you lost last season. 28. 13,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: something like that. Like, you dominate this game. You get
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: Jalen looking good. You run the ball. And everyone's just, okay,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: Jalen's going to be good in this offense. They can
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: run the ball again. Saquon had a buck 40, a
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: couple touchdowns. Jalen threw a touchdown and ran one in
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: on the tush push, which now they might be calling
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: offsides pretty easily, which I got no issue with. The
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: other thing is the game, the night ends with Dallas
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: the Giants. I'm just not as high on the Giants
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: this year as most. I think they're still pretty flawed.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: We've got some unknowns. Like, I just– I've got to
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: see Malik Nabors. Is he back to being the guy
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: that was at LSU and then early on before he
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: got his knee injury? Because if he is, then it's okay.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: I might change my tune a little bit. I still
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: wonder about their run defense, the coaching. You know, it's
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: not like John Harbaugh was a dominant guy last year.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was kind of rough, you know, so I–
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: I think Dallas has a chance to be really, really good.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: Also some unknowns there. Got new pieces on defense, new defensive,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: first-time defensive coordinator. I got to be fair, like if
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: I'm going to question guys like Declan Doyle, 30-year-old, never
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: called plays, I got to say the same thing with
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: Christian Parker. I think he's 34, 33, young guy, up-and-comer,
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: but never been in that seat. And, you know, Declan
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: Doyle with the Ravens, Christian Parker with the Cowboys. You
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: see this with the Eagles coordinators. There are certain gigs–
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: A lot of fucking people are paying attention. You're the
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: OC for Lamar. You're the OC for Jalen Hurts. You're
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: the DC for the Cowboys. This ain't the Arizona Cardinals.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: You got a lot of folks paying attention. You are
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: a hot button topic for all of us because it's fascinating.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: It's interesting. I mean, you're just one of the main
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: topics in the league. So I've heard great things. I
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: think the Cowboys are fired up on them. They definitely
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: have better personnel because we know the offense is going
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: to be good. It all comes down to that side
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: of the ball. Let's just make a couple predictions here,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: brought to you by my friends at Polymarket. Let's just
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: stick with that Sunday night game, which is like a...
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: NFL just, it's their roots. Put the Giants versus the
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: Cowboys on Sunday Night Football week one. That's an old
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: school pitch by Raj. Hard to justify it when they
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: both suck. A little easier when there's some bullish momentum
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: on both franchises. But, The point spread is two and
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: a half. I mean, Dallas right now, to cover two
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: and a half, now granted on the road, 55%, so
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: $ 100 on Polymarket pays $ 177. So you'd win $ 77. I
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: think Dallas could win this game by 10 points. Wouldn't
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: shock me at all if the score's like 27-18, something
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: like that, 27-20. I can see Jackson Dart making some plays,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: but I like the Cowboys in that game. A couple
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: other ones. The Indy Baltimore one is pretty interesting to me.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: You know, Indy is not an easy place to play
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: if they're good. But the home Peyton built last year,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: they were really humming. Week one. With good coach, Shane
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: Saigon's a good coach. He's also been a head coach. Like,
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: this is not these two new guys, Minter and Doyle,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: calling the plays. They've never done it. They've never been
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: a head coach, never been a coordinator. Coming into the game, like,
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: 83.5 points at home? A home dog? So, to me, Baltimore,
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: you go to Pauley Market, you say Baltimore, no, on
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: win by 3.5 points. And $ 100 on Indy to cover
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: that three and a half is, pays $ 180. So you'd
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: win 80. I think this one is, is tough. The
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: Houston vault, uh, Buffalo game. I'm just leaning a team
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: that I think is excellent. A home dog week one
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: who has played this team and dominated this team. So
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: to me, I just take Houston to win, which pays
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: basically it's 48% pays two to $ 100 pays $ 200. Like,
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: to me, I just like Houston straight up in this game.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: And then the last game is like, I saw it today.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: I was walking by my wife, and I said, Tua
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: got hurt. And she's like, isn't he always hurt? I'm like, well, yeah,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: but literally he got hurt today. Like, he went down
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: at practice. And I'm sure he's out. So they got
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: a backup quarterback. I think Pittsburgh destroys Atlanta. So the
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: point spread, four and a half for the Steelers at home.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: $ 100 pays 192. That, to me, I could see Pittsburgh
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: winning that game by, like, multiple times. I think Atlanta's terrible.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: I love Bijan Robinson, but I give them little to
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: no chance in that game. So I like Pittsburgh, and
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: I like Pittsburgh big. A couple quick things before we
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: get out of here. Go to the college ranks. Let's
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: start with the most polarizing team, Michigan, after that win.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: They're playing Oklahoma, who I think it's safe to say
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: have the best defensive coach in the country because he
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: calls the defense, it's his baby, and their defense is
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: just dominant. And their roster composition from a financial standpoint,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: it's not like they're spending $ 50 million a year. Now,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: they're not spending nothing. Oklahoma's got money. But after what
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: they witnessed with Bryce Underwood, who had the weird press
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: conference this week, which clearly feels like drip, drip, drip,
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: this dam's about to break. And my prediction, if this
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: goes bad, I'm not rooting against the guy. More good quarterbacks,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: the more entertaining the sport is. But I've watched a
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: lot of Michigan over the course of last year, and
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: I watched every snap. I don't think the guy can play.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: And if I was a betting man right now, he's
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: on another team next year. So to me, the way
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Kyle Whittingham approached that press conference, like, Football's a bottom-line business.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: You either produce or you don't. You either improve or
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: you don't. You either move the offense or you don't.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: And if you don't, and there are other good recruits
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: on the roster, this isn't pro football where sometimes the
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: backup sucks. Like, they got C.J. Carr's brother, who was
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: like a four-star recruit. Real deal, you know, potentially. And
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: Eric Weddle going through there saying this guy can't play.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: I think there's a ton of momentum. You start looking
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: really bad against this defense, which is very possible if
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: you can't move the ball against Western Michigan. I think
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: this place starts booing you, and you have to wonder,
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: when they come out of the tunnel for the second half,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: what would you feel comfortable putting down to say that
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: he's the quarterback for Michigan? Because I would say that
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: I would imagine we see a different quarterback in this game.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: I like Oklahoma. I like Oklahoma big. Now, listen, I'm
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: a little biased Oklahoma guy. not from there, just been
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: rooting for him since probably 10 years ago. My buddy
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: Drew Hill started working there, still there. And Baker Mayfield
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: is one of my favorite players ever when he was
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: in college. And I just think this team is, I mean,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: they made the playoffs last year and they're dramatically better. Now,
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: John Mateer get more tested against this Michigan defense. I
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: think he's a pretty good player and they're definitely more
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: talented on offense and They brought in multiple tight ends.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: Their tight end coach is Jason Witten. I was texting
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: with Drew actually during the Michigan game because they played early,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma did, and I was asking about Jason Witten. He's like, bro,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: the guy's a star. He'll be a head coach one day,
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: which I always thought this when he was on TV.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: It's like, Jason, you're in the wrong role. You're not
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: a media guy. you're destined to be a football guy,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: which you'd be great at. Some guys could do both, right?
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: Like Mike Tomlin, if he wanted to be a media star, could.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: Sean Payton, Dan Campbell, right? Jim and John Harbaugh are
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: football guys. They are meant to be football coaches. Sean
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: McVay could easily do television, right? We're better off having
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: him coach football. And I think the same thing with
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: Jason Witten. Football is better if he's coaching than if
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: he's on television. Can't be said for everybody. but Greg
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: Olson's great on television. He's good media guy. Uh, some
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: guys are not, there's nothing wrong with that. Like we're
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: not all good at a lot of things. So I,
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: I think Oklahoma is, I think there's a sleeper national
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: title contender. I truly believe that. And if they handle Michigan,
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: which I expect them to do, would it shock you
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: if they win this game? Like 30 to nine and
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: just kind of smother them, maybe a defensive touchdown or two. Um,
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: My only– I actually– the thing that would make me
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: nervous is if the game's kind of close and Michigan's
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: offense is bad and they go to the bullpen and
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: the backup quarterback comes in and he's way better. If
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Oklahoma, I want to see Bryce Underwood the entire time,
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: which kind of tells you, like, this ain't working. And
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: then the main event, I mean, this is one of
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the better– I mean, this is the best non-conference game
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: of the year. Oklahoma– or excuse me, Ohio State against Texas, which–
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: The combined score of their two opponents week one was,
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: I think, 115 to 10. They both looked incredible, especially
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: Ohio State. I saw some highlights of Ohio State. It
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: looked like their guys were running like 4.0 40s. It's like, listen,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: they're not my favorite program, but I have the utmost
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: respect for what they do and how well they recruit,
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: the money they spend, and how talented their roster is
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: year in, year out. They are loaded. I do think
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: there is more pressure on Sark than any coach this year.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: Because the last time he had a good season and
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: made the playoffs, DeBoer beat him in the first round.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: And honestly was kicking the shit out of him. And
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: I think looking back, it's like Roma Dunze, McMillan, Penix.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: It's not like they had Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson. It didn't quite age like that. And I
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: bet if we went back and look at Texas' roster,
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: it's better. And this year, Texas spent... There are a
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: lot of rumors about how much they spent Coleman. Let's
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: just say $ 2 million feels low. They spent a lot
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: of money in the open market. Their roster was already loaded.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: I was not high on Arch last year. I did
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: not understand the offseason. He's going to be the number
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: one overall pick. I still would not bet on that
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: as we're sitting here. I did watch a decent amount
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: of their game week one, kind of a crappy morning
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: slate and just watched some of when they were on offense.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: Look better to me, just timing wise, more accurate, not
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: perfect and still some concerning things. This to me is
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: must win for Texas. You cannot have a $ 50 million roster,
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: get this team at home. They have lost. If you
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: go over the course of the last two years, think
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: how many defensive players they lost. And just on the
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: three defensive players they lost last year, one has a
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: chance to be this defensive rookie of the year in
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Caleb Downs. Arvell Reese and Sonny Stiles were just... Those
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: guys don't grow on trees, even if you recruit at
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: the elite level. Sometimes there is a drop-off for a year.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: So this, to me, is a must-win for Sark. I...
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: I was on a text chain the other day when Miami...
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: Was that Thursday night or Friday night? Whenever they were
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: playing Stanford and treating them like a little JV team.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: I said, what Mario has done immediately at Miami is
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: what Texas paid Sark to do. Think about Mario last year. Listen,
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: polarizing coach up until last year. I mean... Blown some
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: games that were, like, unlosable. It's like, you can't lose
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: this game. Mario's like, well, watch this. And then who
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: did he rattle off? Who did he beat? Ohio State,
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: Texas A & M on the road. Like, some big,
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: big-time wins. And went toe-to-toe with Indiana. They played one
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: other team. I'm forgetting who they played. They played Texas
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: A & M. They played, obviously, Ohio State. And then
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: they played, it was, I don't even remember. Shows you,
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, baby brain. But I do think Sark, I
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: think there's tangible pressure. I mean, his, like, equal, in theory,
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: lane is, Sark's, in theory, more buttoned up off the field.
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's had his own instances a long time ago.
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: But if you could choose one of the two of
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: them to be your head coach, I think it's pretty
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: no-brainer you'd pick Lane. So I don't have a great
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: feel for this. I would probably just pick Ohio State.
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: And the reason is I just don't trust Sark in
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: these big games. But, like, Texas should win. If Sark's
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: resume wasn't like, eh, kind of let you down sometimes,
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: I'd feel much better about taking Sark at home. Again,
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: Clemson probably sucks. And LSU at night is most considered
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: the best environment in the country. you get a team
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: at night and listen Texas I remember thinking I don't
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: really remember that many Texas night games over the years
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: and then last year my brother was in town Thanksgiving
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: weekend and we were having some cocktails over at his
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: Airbnb Our families were there. I guess my kid wasn't
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: here yet. His kids were there swimming. We were just
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: hanging out, barbecuing. And Texas, that game at night playing
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: A & M was incredible. So not LSU, but not Seattle,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: but it was a pretty good environment. This place is
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: going to be rocking. There is, I wonder if his,
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: you know what's a little tight this week because he
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: knows what's on the line. Um, That's a good start
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: to the morning, Michigan, Oklahoma, and then just an incredible ender.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's as good as you get. And let's
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: face it, the games can be very hit or miss
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: in the non-conference schedule. It kind of sucks. And that's
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: where I am in agreement with Colin of, like, there's
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: got to be some universal who we play. Everyone's like,
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: the TV networks are getting too involved. Well, if they
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: weren't involved, you would just play the sisters of the poor,
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: the blind, and the deaf. You know, you would never
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: play any of these people. Because like, well, we don't
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: want to, and listen, if Texas and Ohio State could
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: get out of this game, they probably would. Because if
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: Texas and Ohio State were just playing some other little
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: school and beating the crap out of them 50-7, it
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: would look better than losing this game, especially if they
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: lose a couple conference games and all of a sudden
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: are 9-3 instead of 10-2 and miss the playoffs. So
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: I don't want to live in that world. I just
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: want more games like this. And we just, they're very
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: few and far between, right? It's sad. It sucks. One
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: of the better games this weekend could be Minnesota-Mississippi State.
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: It's like Arizona State A & M. You don't have
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: to play. It doesn't have to be Ohio State-Texas. I'd
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: be fine if Texas was just playing Minnesota. And Ohio
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: State was just playing Vanderbilt. We've just got this inter-conference games,
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: and you just kind of rotate every couple years. Maybe
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: strength of schedule, maybe a lottery, however you want to
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: do it. But it's like, hey, K-State is playing Washington.
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: You know, North Carolina, they technically played, you know, they
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: did play a game, TCU. But okay, this week they're playing... Nebraska, right? Okay,
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: these are real games. Now, how good these teams are
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: relative to the elites, yeah, it could be hit or miss.
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: But like Ole Miss, Louisville, can't we just get more
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: of that? And the answer is no, we're not going
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: to get more of that moving forward until something, some
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: guardrails and some mandates happen with someone who's above my
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: pay grade. But the way it goes right now, to
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: feel like we got lucky getting Texas-Ohio State, no one
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: felt like we got lucky getting Rams-Niners or Seattle-New England.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, they just play each other. They're just
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: the games. Cincinnati playing Tampa or Bills-Houston. No, that's who
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: they play. But in college, they have one real non-conference
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: game and two patsies. You get patsies in the NFL too.
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: At least there are other NFL teams. It's like you
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: get a patsy. SMU this week is playing UC Davis.
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: That's a fucking embarrassment. An absolute embarrassment. I get it.
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: You played on Monday night. Just take a bye. What's
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: the point of even playing that game? That's a joke.
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: You should not be allowed to schedule them. Of course,
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: those schools will take it because you pay them and
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: they need the money. But we need to somehow cut
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: this off where that game is not allowed to happen.
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: Born and raised in Davis. I grew up going to
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: UC Davis games at Bob Davey Field, which looked like
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: a high school field, with my dad in the 90s.
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: And even when I come back from Cal Poly, I
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: remember going to a game against Jim Harbaugh and– not
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: Jim Johnson, but Josh Johnson when they ran the table
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: the year he got hired at Stanford. San Diego was good.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: They beat him. But, like, that program should not be
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: playing Rhett Lashley making $ 10 million in SMU with a $ 35,
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: $ 40 million football budget on the players. That should never
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: be allowed. And it's still allowed. And it sucks. It sucks.
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: It's like, why is that stadium half full? I don't know.
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: Because it's 100 degrees, and I'm in Dallas, and I'm
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: not going to watch UC fucking Davis. Saban used to
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: get pissed off. Like, yeah, no one wants to watch Mercer.
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: No one wants to watch Louisiana Southwest East. Just play UCLA.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: You'll probably beat them by three touchdowns, but it's a
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: real game, and people at least can get excited by
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: the matchup on paper. but it feels like we're still
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: very far away from that. The Volume.