Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Best Of The Week: Grass vs. Turf, Week 3 Four-Box, Predictions

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Best Of The Week: Grass vs. Turf, Week 3 Four-Box, Predictions · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on? This is John Middlecoff
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from the 3NOW Podcast, and this is the best of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of my favorite takes, our best takes as we head
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: on into football season. One thing I wrote down, because
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know why I did this to myself. The
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: majority of Sunday morning, I had, you know, a four
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: box going. My other TV was the other games going.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: If you've got two TVs, you mute one and you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: pick the audio of one of the four games. And
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: then depending if time's a little off, one's at halftime,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the other's not, you can switch around. But I don't
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: spend that much time every two minutes going audio to audio.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I just kind of stick with what I think is
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the bigger game or better announcers. And I just listen
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to Nance and J.J. Watt. And my big takeaway, and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I wrote this down, Tony Romo's never coming back. They
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: clearly wanted out of the Tony Romo business before he
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: blew like a... I guess Keenan Allen was the guy
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: that blew a 2-4. Tony was like a 1-7. Listen,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not one to judge. I'm not saying I've gotten
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a car, but I've blown in the twos in my
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: life if you would have had a breathalyzer around me.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Just haven't been drinking or whatever. But when they're looking
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: for a reason and you get caught driving on the freeway,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: they got their reason. And then you watch J.J. Watt, like, J.J.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: 's not like the little engine that could. He was
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: one of the prominent star players of his generation who
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: was extremely commercially viable, right? He was, I would say,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: one of the key marketing figures, non-quarterback in the NFL
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: for a six, seven year period. And then you just
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: listen to him. It's like, he's pretty good. He's an
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: easy listen. I think sometimes we act like guys are,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: like Greg Olson, who I respect and like a lot.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: He's good. And listen, there's a big drop off between
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: good and like, God, I don't want to listen to
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: this guy. And then there's a big gap between like
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: John Madden in his prime and good. All these guys,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and being good, like you can have a 20, 30
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: year career. And Tony Romo at one point in time
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: was good. And then clearly he just stopped caring. And
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: then they look for a reason to get out of
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the $ 80 million, and they found one. And then they
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: just inserted J.J. Watt, and I would guess they never
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: look back. So whether you consider that Wally pipped, whether
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you consider that one night in the clink cost you
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a gig, now I would imagine Tony Romo and his
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: people will eventually sue for the money that he's owed
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: if they try to fire for cause. I'm not sure
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: how all that's going to work out, but I feel
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: my strong suspicion is J.J. Watt holds that position for
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. The other thing is, this is what
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I've been asking for. Tom, I think, and this is
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: part of it, right? You become more comfortable with the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: cameras and the microphone. And the more you become comfortable,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the more I get the real you. He called a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Dak Prescott touchdown or a long pass a piss missile.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: When Jaden's arm snapped, he said, oh, shit. Like, Tom,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: that's all we want. We want the guy from the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: locker room that everyone for 20 years said, coolest guy going.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: would come up to me and introduce myself was just
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: a dude, even as you became peak famous. And I
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: get your world now in your late 40s, the fame
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: in which you have is extremely unrelatable, even from Tom,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: probably 15, 20 years ago of fame. Like Tom was
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: always famous. I would say over the last five to
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: 10 years, he's gone into a different stratosphere. And that
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: can change you, right? It's like, was it Eddie Murphy
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: or one of those guys said, you know, it's hard
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to be Funny in satin sheets. Like comedians, the more
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: success they have, the richer they get. Like their jokes
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: oftentimes aren't quite the same because typically when they're coming up,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: their jokes are kind of relatable. It's why we all laugh.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: They're willing, like before they're rich, they're willing to offend
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of people because you know what? Most of
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: us will laugh. Then you get super rich. It's like,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I don't want to ruin this special. And they're not
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: quite the same guy. and I whatever Tom Brady has
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: deep inside him the guy that grew up went to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Michigan became the Patriot quarterback and was just a dude
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: we just want more of that and he's starting to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: show some signs and I think that comes with just
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: being a little more comfortable and I'm not saying even
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the swear word but it just shows you like he's
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: he's becoming a little at ease in the booth which
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: uh was understandable early on that he wasn't that comfortable
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: because it's a way different profession than the one he
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: had playing quarterback when he could do and say whatever
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: he wanted on the field. Obviously, it's a little different,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and it's hard. I mean, by all accounts, you don't
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: have much time. Things move fast. You have all these people,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: these critics that judge you. It's like, what are you
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: actually really supposed to say? Now he has some of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: these rules that he can't just rip people, not even
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: saying that he would have. But I just want more
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: piss missiles from Tom. The other thing is, I didn't
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: see this yesterday because, again, I didn't have the audio on.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: But all the Eagles players said after the game, Lane
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Johnson said it was like 160 degrees on the Titans field.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: that he said it's one of the five toughest games
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: he's ever played. Sirianni had to get an IV. Other
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: guys were saying their cleats were melting, and it felt
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: like they were at a NASCAR race in the pit crew. Now,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: I think some of these conversations with the NFLPA and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the NFL, it's not always black or white. It's like
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the NIL stuff going on right now. There's got to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: be some middle ground. I don't pretend to be hardcore
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: on one side or the other, but clearly you've got
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to figure something out and meet in the middle. I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: do think the grass and turf fields should be pretty
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: black and white. At this point in time... You know,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: it's talked about a lot, like the equity and the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: valuations of the franchise. Just when it comes to different
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: conversations about money and paying and teams are cheap or whatever,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you could have bought your house for 500 grand and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: you could be sitting in today and worth $ 5 million.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you have $ 4. 5 million extra in
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: your pocket, right? So until you sell or take a
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: loan out against it, that equity is kind of meaningless.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: So like a lot of these franchises have a lot
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: of equity. Unless they're willing to sell some of that
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: for a high valuation, who cares? It's just a fake
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: number on a piece of paper, right? But what does
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: matter is cash flow and revenue. And all these teams
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: are seeing a historic amount of cash coming through and
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: coming out. It's why all these guys, it's why Warren
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Buffett to Mark Walter love the insurance business. You know why?
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Every single month, people are paying it. And for whatever reason,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: no matter the type of insurance, health insurance, car insurance,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: home insurance, when they have to pay you that money
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you've been paying, you have to fight tooth and nail
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: for it. Yet you are legally obligated in a lot
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: of times, whether it's home or whether it's car, to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: pay them. Yet when you get screwed, you have to
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: go to war to get some of that money back.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: It's kind of a crazy scam thing they got going.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: But regardless... I was told, and I've mentioned this before,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that the price for the field... And again, this is like...
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Let's use the 49ers as an example. That number ranges
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: between $ 3 and $ 5 million extra a year for them
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: to have that grass, maintain that grass, take it on
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and off for different events in relation to if they
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: had turf, which after the initial price is relatively cheap
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: and free. So when you hear these people... bitching and
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: moaning about not doing grass, it's costing them, let's say,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: $ 3 to $ 5 million. Let's just pick $ 5 million. Let's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: get the highest number. When you have a salary cap
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of $ 300 million and an annual revenue from the media
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of $ 450 million, that's not even counting the gate in
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: your stadium. That's not counting the suites. That's not counting
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the parking. That's not counting when Taylor Swift or Maroon
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: 5 or you pick comes through, WrestleMania or the Final Four,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: all that type stuff with your cashing in. So when
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: you get into a situation, and listen, the Titans are
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: getting a new stadium, and hopefully they do grass. My
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: guess is they probably do turf. But you have no
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: excuse at this point because that seems a little ridiculous
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to me. The turf clearly, listen, I have turf in
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: my backyard. on a 110-degree day, do you really feel that?
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Where the grass is just not as hot. And for
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: people to, like, Lane Johnson's not just making this up.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: And I think the league, this is something the NFLPA
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: needs to draw a hard line on. And listen, the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: business people of the NFL aren't dummies. I think they're
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: holding this in their back pocket, that they'll eventually give
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: in on this, and they're going to ask for stuff
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: On their end, whether that's the 18th game, whether that's
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: whatever it may be. But you want, you know, lifetime
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: health care or you want grass field? Well, what do
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you think the current players are going to vote on?
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Give me grass fields. So I would guess one day
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: in the relatively near future, we have all grass fields
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: because that's this is not 1997. You know, I mean, hell,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the Raiders played with a dirt infield in September of
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Up until they moved to Vegas in, like, 2000, boy,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: every year that was, 20? So up until 2019, they
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: had dirt infield. Like, that type of stuff is just
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: an embarrassment. It can't happen. Dirt infields, turf. Like, let's,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: we're paying these guys. I mean, Jalen Hurts is making
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: $ 50 million. Cam Ward was the number one overall pick.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons is, like, one of the highest paid defensive
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: tackles in the league. So is Jalen Carter. We're putting
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: him out there on a 160-degree turf field. Like, come on.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: That's something like Roger or some of these guys. We
• 10:53
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• 10:55
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• 13:01
  Speaker 1: The four box for this weekend, we got some bad games.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, there is a lot of blowout potential. Seattle, Washington, Chiefs, Miami.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: If either one of those two teams try, which, you know,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs now, Monday night football, Sunday night football, getting
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: up for road game against, I'm pretty sure, the least
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: talented team in the league. If they try, that's a massacre.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: if Seattle maintains the same edge that they had on
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: defense against the Patriots. And then after the first couple
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: of series against the Cardinals, Mariota doesn't have a snowball's
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: chance in hell done. I mean, absolutely screwed. I, the
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals, you know, the Marvin Harrison thing feels like
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: they'd get a little weird too. Just put, uh, the
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Michigan corner on injured reserve, uh, But Seattle, Washington, Kansas City, Miami,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: those got blowout written all over them. Now I get
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: us the NFL, and players are human beings, but if
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: those two teams try, it will not be close. The
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: four box for me in the morning was pretty easy.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Even though maybe I'm just a boomer, I can't always
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: figure this out, that sometimes I try to manually put
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the box together and it won't let me add the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: exact four games. It happened to me last week. I
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: could do three of the four, but like I couldn't
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: put the fourth game in that spot. And everyone keeps
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: it so great that you can, I'm like, am I
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: an idiot? Am I dumb? Because I'm doing the manual
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and the game that I want to add to these
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: three games will not work. So I typically have to
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: put the game that I want on the other TV
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: with some other crappier games and then have a crappier
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: game in my four box. But ideally, it just shows up.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: And my options would be Chargers at Buffalo, Houston at Indy,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, New England, Jacksonville. I think the first
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: game is pretty self-explanatory. Like, we've already seen Buffalo's high end.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: If they can figure out their defensive secondary as the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: season goes and Josh is healthy, they're good enough to
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl because they have that guy playing quarterback. Like,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone disputes that. Their head coach isn't
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: just swaggy. He seems like he's doubled down on the aggressiveness.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: They're throwing bombs. They have looked incredible through two weeks
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: on offense. And their D-line's good. So if you have
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a good defensive line and an unreal offense, you're going
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to have a shot. He's got to make enough plays
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: in the secondary. The story of this game to me
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: is the Chargers. Are they just going to wave the
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: white flag? Because if you look at their schedule, if
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: they get rolled in this game, which, you know, it
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: was like a religious experience for Buffalo, opening of the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: new stadium, Josh Allen is kind of just crowned as
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the best player in the league. Your opening night, primetime
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Thursday night, like that place was, you got Bruce Smith
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: firing at them. That was incredible. It'd be hard to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: maintain that same level for just a day game, but
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the place is going to be rocking. It's going to
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: be really loud. And, like, the Chargers are used to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: playing road games because even when they're at home, they're
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: on the road. Like, that was a Raider home game
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: last week. Of course it was. They're always Raider home games.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: And I don't know, man. I mean, their offensive line.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: We'll get into Herbert a little bit later. I'll do
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: a couple mailbag questions. I went back and watched all
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: of his throws. Their whole line stinks. I mean, the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: guard center guard's a major issue. Joe Alt, I mean,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: playing Crosby's never easy, but they have not played well
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: through the first two weeks. And defensively, at any moment,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: like when Kirk Cousins is hitting explosives on you, you
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: got problems. So to me, the number one question in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: this game, and you could argue it's one of the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: biggest stories of the week, like are the Chargers just
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: a white flag team? Is it just over before it
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: even started? You start 0-3 with their schedule, like, sigh-a-nora.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Houston and Indy, one of these two teams going 0-3. And,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you know, Houston went 0-3 last year and finished 12-5.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: So they have been in the gutter before and figured
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: out a way to get out. So you could see
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a scenario that's like, we've been here, done that. But
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: they are favored on the road this week against a
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: divisional opponent who, we've got to give them some credit,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: they actually look pretty good against the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: They did look pretty good. But they haven't won a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: game since early November 2025. And if you keep losing,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know what else she's going to write down
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: on her little notepad beside Chris Ballard fired, Shane Steichen fired.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day, it's like, hey,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I think you're pretty good at your gigs, but we
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: just went 6-11 or 7-10. And all of a sudden
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: you're 0-3. I don't give them the same benefit out
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of Houston to figure it out. because of what we've
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: witnessed over the last several years. Like, this team just
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't make the playoffs. Hell, for a couple years, they've
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: been a game or two out. It wasn't since that
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Gardner-Minchu last game of the season where he missed them
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: on the little out route. So, I don't know. I
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: think this Indy thing has got a very, very good
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: chance to come to a head. And I know clearly
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: she likes those two guys. But how do you keep
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: people in– I mean, Chris Ballard already said it. Like,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I don't have a contract at the end of this season.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: So if she would just fire him, maybe she brings
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: in a new GM and lets him evaluate Shane Steichen.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: We know how those situations typically work out. This thing
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: could get– and at the end of the day, they're
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: relying on Daniel Jones. Alec Pierce is now on injury reserve.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: They paid him a ton of money. He got hurt.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: You know, he's missed all of training camp. Now he
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: hurts his heel. Just disastrous. And typically when things unravel
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to me in pro sports, there is just like a drip, drip,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: drip quality. And all of a sudden it starts feeling
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: inside the building like nothing can go right. Like we
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: missed on Anthony Richardson. We finally get this guy who's
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: becoming a really good player. We sign him to a
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: big contract. His body falls apart. You know, we've had
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: this great running back, but we're not good enough to
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: take advantage of his skills because– Our defense always has issues,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: so we get in passing situations. I don't know. It's
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: just never-ending with Indy right now. Cincinnati at Pittsburgh. You've
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: got to love a good AFC North early season matchup,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: even if the Pittsburgh Steelers, to me, of all the
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: teams that people thought could be just a credible football team,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: has been the most unwatchable team in the league. Their
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: offense is atrocious. Anyone that took DK Metcalf on their
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: fantasy team Any Pittsburgh Steeler fan that is forced to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: watch this guy, he's been an abomination this season. Pittsburgh
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: cannot run the ball. And Mike McCarthy is inclined to pass.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy likes throwing the ball. I know he made
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the comments back in Dallas like, we're going to run
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the ball. Mike, I've watched you coach. You're like Andy
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: and Sean McVay. Even Andy finally was like, I got
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to change. Kenneth Walker, here's another handoff. Emma Johnson, here's
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: another handoff. Mike McCarthy wants to call passes. I mean,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: he's got a 42-year-old quarterback with like 25 attempts in
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the first half of a game that's not even that
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: out of reach. So even if they tried to run
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the ball, that's why Cincinnati landed Dexter Lawrence. Through two weeks,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the Buccaneers, or excuse me, the Texans ran for 60 yards.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: And the Bucs in week one ran for 89. But
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: 30 of those came from Baker Mayfield. So Rodgers ain't running.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: So if you just look at the running backs, you're
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: talking basically 60 yards. So 60 yards back-to-back weeks from
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the running backs. You're not running on this team. So
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: this is why I like Cincinnati, because I was like,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: their defense is going to be better. Now Burrow has
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: by no means been perfect through two weeks. Who knows
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: with his back tightness if that's played a part. He was–
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: he threw a pick six week one. Last week they
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: were just– they couldn't get into a rhythm until they
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: finally did and he hit that big play and then
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: they kind of settled down a little bit. But I just–
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's a big home dog, and historically this is where
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: you hammered Tomlin. I don't know. I mean, 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: like all of a sudden D.K. Metcalf's going to start
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: making plays. All of a sudden they're going to be
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: able to run for 100 yards on a team that
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: doesn't allow teams to rush on them. I know it's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a small sample size, but I think you've got to
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: feel pretty good about Cincinnati's front and their run defense.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: And I think you've got to feel pretty bad because
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this goes back to last year, like Steelers running situation
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: is abysmal. And then you got to factor in like
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Rogers does look old and I'm not a Rogers hater
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: at all. I think he's one of the best players
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen. He does not resemble that human being
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: at all right now. And even he's acknowledged it. So
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh loses this thing. Like all of a sudden you go, yeah,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think they're gonna make playoffs
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: because as the season goes and the weather changes, it's like, well,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Aaron's going to get less mobile. He's going to want
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: less contact. And that's when you have to be able
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to run the ball. So to me, the only way
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I see Cincinnati not winning this game is like it's
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: going to have to be one of those banana Steelers
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: defense do crazy shit. Fumble six, maybe a pick six.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: The defense might need to get them 10 plus points
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: because it's hard to have any faith right now. You know,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: they just kind of a personnel issue. They just I
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: don't know, you know, you would have thought with the
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: way they talked it up, how much Aaron loved DK.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And listen, DK's made enough plays for him last year.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Something just feels off. I don't know. And then last
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: but not least, New England at Jacksonville. I didn't realize
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: because I didn't have the audio on. I look up,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: and Liam Cohen gets skinnier by the week. You talk
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: about a guy, just whatever GLP-1 he's on, he looks fantastic.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: He's pulling it off. He looks swaggy in his outfits.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: He was just screaming at the ref, and there was
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: a penalty. I didn't quite understand what was going on.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: He got flagged for an unsportsmanlike. Jacksonville was in complete
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: control of that game. For basically the four-quarter game in
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: 2025 and the first two quarters of this game, they
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: had dominated the Broncos for like basically 90 straight minutes.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: And then it just unraveled when Taylor Lawrence or Trevor
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Lawrence threw that interception. And then the momentum completely shifted
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and the rest was history. But like, you know, and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the other thing with Jacksonville is the Travis Hunter, Brian
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Thomas is just not a reliable player. Thank God Parker
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Washington's on the team. And Travis Hunter just doesn't really play.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I think he played like less than half the snaps.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I wrote it down a couple days ago. It was like, 60%
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: of the defensive snaps and 15% of the offense. It's
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: just an experiment that's not working. Who could have seen
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: this coming? I don't know anyone that's ever watched the NFL.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: The greatest players in the history of the sport. Deion,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: full-time corner, couple deep shots on offense. There's no such
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: thing as a dual player. That does not exist in
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the pros. It exists in high school. Travis was even
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: an outlier in college. No one had ever quite done
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: what he did. But you've got to pick a lane.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: And then try to master that lane. Because you're going
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: up against this week. If you're a wide receiver, Christian
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Gonzalez is going up against you. It's like, well, Christian
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Gonzalez just focuses on offense. The offensive player he's going
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: up against. All he cares about is his technique, playing DB.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Just like, you know, Romeo Dobbs or Kyle Williams or
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: whoever the wide receivers are. All they care about is
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: running routes. That's all they focus on. What coverage is
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I'm going against? How to get open? How to use leverage?
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: You know, what to do against this look? What to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: do against that look? And I just think the way
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: they've attacked this Travis Hunter thing, one, they clearly regret
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the pick. And two, he was never going to be
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: able to go both ways. It's just impossible in the NFL. So...
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: To me, obviously, Drake Mays under a little scrutiny. Hasn't
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: played as well. A.J. Brown's out for a while. Their
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: defense is pretty good, though. But Jacksonville's defense is pretty good.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is going to be a physical-ass game. Now,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: we'll see Miami, Jacksonville, the heat of Florida still cranking,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: how that impacts both these two teams. But that's a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: big game. I think Jacksonville's pretty good. I think Jacksonville's
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: pretty good. And if they were to win... Like you
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: got a multiple game lead on whoever Houston or Indy
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: loses that game.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's do some predictions brought to you by my
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: friends at Polymarket.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I said last week, if Jameis Winston starts, I have
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to go against him. It's just a hard and fast strategy.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: When Jameis plays, I will take the opponent. Whether that
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: team is the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: LA Rams, or the Tennessee Titans. And this game's in
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: New York. If Jameis is taking snaps, I gotta take
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the Titans. And if you go to Pauley Market and
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: you take the New York Giants to not win by
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: two and a half points, I just wrote down $ 250.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Pays 546. I like the Titans. I think the Titans,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and I'd also argue if Robert Sala, like if you
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: can't beat Jameis Winston, Brian Burns got banged up in
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: that game, who's obviously one of their better players. Andrew
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Thomas got hurt. Like they had some injuries when most
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: of us kind of stopped paying attention. I mean, I
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: came in here to record a podcast like seven minutes left.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and turned off the game because we started recording by that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: They lost like multiple players, good players. So Malik neighbors,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: he just gets injured often. All you got to do,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: you know, stack the box, like scataboo, love you, but
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: you're not beating us. Salah said yesterday that they were
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: going to take scataboo. And then the giants, a couple
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: of picks ahead, took them. That would've been cool to
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: watch scataboo with Kyle, even though scataboo by this point
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in time, probably would have had both legs amputated. Uh,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have a pretty simple strategy this week
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: is Seattle. I'm taking them to win by seven and
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a half points. I think this has like 30 to nine,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: 30 to six written all over it. Mariota is a
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: great guy. Not very good at football. Not very good
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: at football. And this team's not that good at football.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Once you lose your star quarterback, there's just a lifelessness.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: And this goes with the Giants too. To me, that just,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: permeates throughout the whole building it's just like we don't
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: have a chance and i i think you're gonna see
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: it it's gonna be evident with the giants i think
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be evident with washington there's nothing you can
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: do and the difference is like obviously harbaugh's trying you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: know dan quinn's like the unemployment line is right around
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the corner uh and last but not least same strategy
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: that i'm going with seattle chiefs to win by 10
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: and a half points $ 100 pays $ 193. I think you
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: go heavy on that. I do think you are going
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: to get a spirited effort out of Seattle and Kansas
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: City this weekend. This is not one of those teams that, like,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: I think the best part about this NFL season is even, like,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Chiefs have won at Super Bowls. Seattle's the defending Super
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Bowl champion. It's clear why Buffalo's trying so hard. They
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: have a lot to prove. They've never been able to
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: get over the hump. They want to get home field advantage.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: They want to reestablish themselves as division champ. It's understandable.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: I think all these teams, though, even the Chiefs in Seattle,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: are playing with an edge. When you watch Seattle against Arizona,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: that was a violent performance. To me, the number one
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: thing that has stood out in these two games with
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs, obviously the implementation of the running game and
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker, But it's just a violent brand of football.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: If you play the Chiefs right now, you better buckle up.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: your chin strap because guys are getting crushed. Now the mentality,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: if this was week nine and the chiefs were, you know,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: six and two or seven and one, you're playing a
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: one and seven Miami dolphins team. I'd be like, these
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: are human beings. I could see have a bad week
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: of practice. They'm kind of, It's only week three. I
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: think you've got to be careful as the season goes
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: on of getting too aggressive with some of these massive,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: massive numbers. Miami, there are going to be games later
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in the season where it's probably like 16 points. There
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: will probably be a couple other teams involved there too
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: as this plays out. And I think you've got to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: be careful in some of those situations once you get
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to November because you're like, well, the good team they're
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: playing just had the worst week of practice. Those guys
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: like went out boozing on Tuesday and Wednesday night. They're
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: like playing some scrubs. But I think early in the season,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: there's just a natural level of respect you have for
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: your opponent. So Chiefs, minus ten and a half. I
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: don't like it. I love it. The Volume.