Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Eagles star Lane Johnson RETIRES, Lamar Jackson’s Injury, Chiefs are BACK + NFL Pre-Week 5 Mailbag

Transcript

Eagles star Lane Johnson RETIRES, Lamar Jackson’s Injury, Chiefs are BACK + NFL Pre-Week 5 Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are
0:17
Speaker 1: we doing? John Middlecock, Three and Out Podcast. That'd be me.
0:21
Speaker 1: Hopefully you're doing better than the Eagles, who just... Story
0:26
Speaker 1: of the day again. We will dive into that off
0:29
Speaker 1: the top. Lamar Jackson, some statistics on the officiating this year.
0:34
Speaker 1: I knew it was bad, but I saw this Warren
0:38
Speaker 1: Sharpe tweet that went viral. I was like, oh, my God.
0:41
Speaker 1: LeBron James taking a helicopter back and refusing to live
0:45
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. I love the city of Philadelphia. Great food. But,
0:49
Speaker 1: you know, I can imagine his pad in New York
0:51
Speaker 1: probably doesn't suck. We'll do some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff.
0:54
Speaker 1: At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs.
0:58
Speaker 1: Get your question answered here on the show. You guys
1:02
Speaker 1: know the drill. If you listen on Colin's feed, make
1:04
Speaker 1: sure you subscribe to 3NOW. We also have a Netflix.
1:08
Speaker 1: You can just hit the alert button. Never miss a show.
1:11
Speaker 1: I put today my top five teams in the NFL.
1:16
Speaker 1: We put that up on YouTube. Didn't quite make the
1:19
Speaker 1: podcast cutting room floor. So you can check out the
1:22
Speaker 1: YouTube channel. We've got a lot of separate content up
1:23
Speaker 1: there as well. And let's just dive into the Eagles.
1:30
Speaker 1: Lane Johnson will no longer play for the Philadelphia Eagles.
1:34
Speaker 1: He's done. And clearly things like this is a guy
1:37
Speaker 1: who's battled mental health issues over the years, missed some
1:41
Speaker 1: time in training camp. You know, there are stories about
1:45
Speaker 1: his parents going through some stuff right now, old age,
1:48
Speaker 1: health issues. I don't even want to speculate. I've heard
1:51
Speaker 1: a couple different things. You know, clearly there is going
1:55
Speaker 1: to be time in the offseason to celebrate one of
1:59
Speaker 1: the great careers. I mean, he's, to me, a first
2:01
Speaker 1: ballot Hall of Famer, one of the great players in
2:04
Speaker 1: the history of the Eagles. But in the immediate, this
2:07
Speaker 1: is a five-alarm fire for Philadelphia. This is a disaster. Now,
2:13
Speaker 1: Howie's a great GM. They invested in a right tackle
2:18
Speaker 1: during the draft. Bell from Miami, they drafted in the
2:21
Speaker 1: third round. But that was not the plan to play
2:24
Speaker 1: him this year. Maybe in spot duty if Lane battled
2:28
Speaker 1: an injury. But to lose, essentially, they played three games.
2:33
Speaker 1: He didn't play against the Rams. and now it's done,
2:37
Speaker 1: this is a major, major problem for a team that
2:40
Speaker 1: is leaking serious oil. And there are some humans, like
2:44
Speaker 1: my brother-in-law Matt, my brother Jeff, these guys go on
2:48
Speaker 1: hunting trips out in the wilderness and can just thrive
2:51
Speaker 1: like they're Bear Grylls. If you throw me and some
2:54
Speaker 1: of the people that I hang out with in that environment,
2:57
Speaker 1: we would be screwed. Couldn't survive, couldn't make fire, wouldn't
3:00
Speaker 1: be able to find food. If we did bring food,
3:03
Speaker 1: we would probably, you know, lose it. I mean, it
3:06
Speaker 1: would be a problem. And sometimes in these hectic situations,
3:10
Speaker 1: which is the NFL, it's like getting lost in the wilderness.
3:14
Speaker 1: Figure it out. Hey, Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams is going
3:17
Speaker 1: to pull his hammy and be out for who knows
3:19
Speaker 1: how long. He's like, okay, I'll win with my third-string quarterback.
3:23
Speaker 1: I'll win with my backup quarterback. Hey, Kyle Shanahan, we're
3:25
Speaker 1: going to put a substation right next to your organization.
3:29
Speaker 1: And every single year, you're going to lead the league
3:30
Speaker 1: in injuries. Okay, we'll go 12-5. We'll win a playoff
3:34
Speaker 1: game with a bunch of practice squatters and older veteran guys.
3:38
Speaker 1: That is part of being a head coach. Andy Reid's
3:41
Speaker 1: resume is a lot of Patrick Mahomes now, all you
3:45
Speaker 1: think about when you think about Andy. He won a
3:47
Speaker 1: lot of games with a lot of random quarterbacks. Donovan
3:50
Speaker 1: McNabb got injured a decent amount of time while he
3:53
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia. There were some Jay Feeleys and some
3:55
Speaker 1: Jeff Garcias. Michael Vick came out of prison, was a
4:00
Speaker 1: third stringer within a couple years playing for the MVP.
4:03
Speaker 1: Figure it out. And it doesn't feel like Sirianni is
4:07
Speaker 1: a figure-it-out guy. If you give him absolutely everything, a
4:12
Speaker 1: couple years ago, best O-line, best running game, A.J. Brown
4:16
Speaker 1: and Devontae, a quarterback who would still run then, and
4:19
Speaker 1: obviously threw a great deep ball, and I think they
4:21
Speaker 1: had four guys with double-digit sacks, yeah. I would say most...
4:26
Speaker 1: Coaches in the NFL would have some success. Doesn't guarantee
4:29
Speaker 1: you're going to win the Super Bowl, which he gets
4:31
Speaker 1: credit for. But I would say all 32 coaches are
4:36
Speaker 1: winning games with that roster and that setup. Vic Fangio,
4:40
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator. It was pretty good. This is the NFL.
4:45
Speaker 1: Your right tackle, who is going to have his number
4:48
Speaker 1: retired one day, is done. Week four, I'm out. Cam Juergens,
4:54
Speaker 1: I saw today, got concussion-like symptoms 48 hours after the game.
4:59
Speaker 1: Who knows if he'll play? Your wide receiver room right now,
5:02
Speaker 1: Devontae Smith, I saw a clip where he's at McDonald's
5:05
Speaker 1: on a paid appearance. In Philly, we'll get into LeBron
5:10
Speaker 1: a little later, but this thing feels like it is...
5:15
Speaker 1: When I was in high school, I was working... My
5:19
Speaker 1: brother actually works for him now. I worked with a
5:21
Speaker 1: guy named John. His dad was the boss, and he
5:24
Speaker 1: had owned this barge. Actually, I think it was from
5:27
Speaker 1: either the Korean War or World War II. It was really,
5:30
Speaker 1: really old. And it was on the Delta, right kind
5:33
Speaker 1: of close to Sacramento. And one day, I don't even
5:37
Speaker 1: know why they had it. I don't even think we
5:39
Speaker 1: used it. I don't even think it worked. But he
5:41
Speaker 1: had bought it, and he just parked it on the
5:44
Speaker 1: Delta right next to all this farmland and just sat there. Well,
5:47
Speaker 1: one day, things started sinking. And there was oil all
5:50
Speaker 1: over the Delta. And it was a major, major issue. Like,
5:55
Speaker 1: how do we stop this from happening? How do we
5:57
Speaker 1: make sure to get this thing back above water? It
6:01
Speaker 1: is taking on water at rapid speed. We have these
6:05
Speaker 1: little pumps and it was a nightmare. John actually got
6:08
Speaker 1: burned by one of the pumps trying to, I mean,
6:12
Speaker 1: it was so stupid. We had these tiny little pumps.
6:14
Speaker 1: It wasn't going to work. And it was a nightmare.
6:18
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes like, sometimes things just sink. And
6:22
Speaker 1: when you're looking at the Eagles, you go, where are
6:25
Speaker 1: they going to be able to pump this water from
6:29
Speaker 1: sinking their boat? And I don't think there are many answers.
6:33
Speaker 1: Jalen's not good enough to take random guys and elevate them.
6:37
Speaker 1: Their offensive line hasn't been good for a couple years
6:39
Speaker 1: with Lane Johnson. Their record with Lane Johnson at right
6:42
Speaker 1: tackle and Lane Johnson not playing, I think it's like 68%
6:47
Speaker 1: when Lane Johnson is in the lineup, and it is
6:49
Speaker 1: well under. 500 when he's out. So there's a tangible
6:53
Speaker 1: impact when the guy plays and when he doesn't play.
6:57
Speaker 1: And then we talked about this yesterday. When you have
6:59
Speaker 1: an inexperienced guy calling plays, there's no one to throw
7:03
Speaker 1: you a life raft. Like you got to figure it
7:05
Speaker 1: out on your own. Nick Sirianni doesn't have the capability
7:08
Speaker 1: to call plays. Like the Eagles won't allow it, obviously.
7:11
Speaker 1: And Nick's no dummy. He doesn't want to do it
7:13
Speaker 1: because that puts him under the firing line. So the defense,
7:17
Speaker 1: I mean, they pay those two defensive tackles. They're not
7:18
Speaker 1: making plays. The big problem, though, is this week, They
7:22
Speaker 1: are playing an international game against you could make an
7:26
Speaker 1: argument for the best team in the NFL. I know
7:30
Speaker 1: they're not undefeated like some of the other teams, but
7:32
Speaker 1: just in terms of their complete body of work, I
7:35
Speaker 1: wouldn't put them number one. But they have an argument
7:39
Speaker 1: for being the best AFC team and right in the
7:43
Speaker 1: competition with the Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers, the Chiefs as
7:47
Speaker 1: the best team in the league. The Jacksonville Jaguars could
7:50
Speaker 1: destroy the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend. And this gets back
7:54
Speaker 1: to hiring these guys. It's like, okay, I can have
7:58
Speaker 1: a CEO head coach. Well, I would say typically when
8:01
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, Dan Campbell have had success, It's
8:05
Speaker 1: when they've nailed their coordinators and their roster is full
8:08
Speaker 1: of pro bowlers. Like most of the time, those guys
8:12
Speaker 1: weren't making playoff runs, especially the Harbaugh brothers, when the
8:16
Speaker 1: roster was in shambles. Look at last year when the
8:18
Speaker 1: Ravens had a bunch of injuries. They went 8-9. Look
8:21
Speaker 1: at Jim this year. Roster's kind of in shambles, getting
8:23
Speaker 1: his ass kicked every week. It's like, well, John, they
8:26
Speaker 1: just lost by seven. Yeah, they were down 20-6 at
8:27
Speaker 1: halftime and getting worked. So I don't know what they do.
8:33
Speaker 1: If I was a betting man right now, the way
8:35
Speaker 1: this feels and the way it's trending, I mean, this
8:38
Speaker 1: is not just out of the blue. This is a
8:41
Speaker 1: carryover from last season. This has got like five wins
8:45
Speaker 1: written all over it. And I just don't think they
8:48
Speaker 1: have the guy. They have someone, if you give them
8:51
Speaker 1: a Ferrari, can steer it. No problem. But he ain't
8:55
Speaker 1: winning the race with a Prius, with a Ford Taurus.
8:59
Speaker 1: I mean, he's going to get smoked. Hell, I could
9:03
Speaker 1: put Lewis Hamilton in one of those. You're still going
9:05
Speaker 1: to lose, but at least he'd give you a valiant effort.
9:08
Speaker 1: That ain't the case with Sirianni. And I think this
9:11
Speaker 1: weekend has a chance to get very, very ugly. Speaking
9:13
Speaker 1: of another situation that is very problematic, young coaches, first-time
9:18
Speaker 1: head coach, very young offensive coordinator, If you watch the
9:23
Speaker 1: Ravens this year, beside the end of the game against
9:27
Speaker 1: the Saints, Lamar Jackson has looked elite. He has looked awesome.
9:33
Speaker 1: If Lamar hadn't got hurt in that game, and who knows,
9:36
Speaker 1: they probably would have called off the dogs. Defensive coaches
9:39
Speaker 1: aren't big on running it up. They could have beat
9:42
Speaker 1: the Titans 55-10. They would have massacred him. But he
9:46
Speaker 1: hurt his ankle. And I kept thinking, Like, you know what?
9:50
Speaker 1: They knew this game's in hand. They're just... Lamar was
9:53
Speaker 1: on the sideline. It wasn't that big a deal. But
9:57
Speaker 1: it turns out Rapsheet reported today that this is a
10:00
Speaker 1: multiple game injury. And let's be real. Rapsheet's an agent guy. Rapsheet,
10:07
Speaker 1: where he gets a lot of his information from, if
10:10
Speaker 1: you're getting it from the player side, they're going to
10:13
Speaker 1: try to be more optimistic. Hell, if you get it
10:16
Speaker 1: from the team, they're going to try to be more optimistic.
10:18
Speaker 1: So I think it's fair to take this thing with
10:20
Speaker 1: a grain of salt. Left the game in a boot.
10:24
Speaker 1: Their next game this weekend is at Atlanta, who looks
10:29
Speaker 1: like one of, if not the hottest team in the league,
10:31
Speaker 1: if you just base on the last two games, they
10:32
Speaker 1: look fantastic. You're going to win that game with Snoop Huntley?
10:38
Speaker 1: I'm picking Atlanta in that game. And then let's say
10:40
Speaker 1: Lamar's multiple week injury. They got to go to Cleveland?
10:45
Speaker 1: This is where we get back to Sean Mannion, You
10:49
Speaker 1: have limited experience as an assistant coach. You get in
10:53
Speaker 1: these predicaments. You only have so many things to draw from.
10:58
Speaker 1: I don't even blame them. When I was 28, I
11:01
Speaker 1: only had so much professional and life experience. Hell, if
11:05
Speaker 1: I was just talking to my neighbor Jerry, he's 85,
11:08
Speaker 1: fought in Vietnam. That guy can pull from a lot
11:13
Speaker 1: more than I can. And it's no different with coaching.
11:17
Speaker 1: When Andy Reid's dealing with stuff, obviously he just had
11:19
Speaker 1: an issue with the offensive lineman. Been there, done that.
11:22
Speaker 1: Not phased by it. Thornton on the ground with his
11:26
Speaker 1: ankle pointing to Reno. This isn't the first injury I've
11:30
Speaker 1: experienced to a guy thriving. We'll pivot. We'll figure it out.
11:34
Speaker 1: It's not easy to do, but when you've been in
11:37
Speaker 1: those situations over and over and over again, it becomes...
11:45
Speaker 1: if you are a talented individual, much smoother to navigate.
11:49
Speaker 1: Like I would say this, having a nine month old
11:52
Speaker 1: is way easier for me than having the three month old.
11:56
Speaker 1: You know, it definitely has gotten a little easier, but
11:59
Speaker 1: at first it's like, I might run away. I don't
12:02
Speaker 1: know if this is for me. This is, we got
12:04
Speaker 1: a lot. This is a lot, you know? And then as, okay,
12:08
Speaker 1: I can see by the second child, you'd be pretty unfazed.
12:10
Speaker 1: Lose way less sleep. Well, not literally, but like mentally, right?
12:14
Speaker 1: You just know how to handle things. And I think
12:16
Speaker 1: a lot of these young coaches now are in problematic situations. Why?
12:21
Speaker 1: It's the NFL. Lamar Jackson's been hurt before. Probably get
12:25
Speaker 1: hurt again. But this is a team like this. The
12:29
Speaker 1: expectations were sky high. Every single year, they're like the
12:32
Speaker 1: Super Bowl favorite for a reason. And I mean, a
12:35
Speaker 1: huge reason is him. And here's the other thing about,
12:37
Speaker 1: you know, Jesse Minter and Declan Doyle. The Ravens historically
12:42
Speaker 1: and a lot of their have had incredible rosters top
12:45
Speaker 1: to bottom. It's a good one. I wouldn't say it's
12:48
Speaker 1: blowing your socks off. I think the gap between like
12:53
Speaker 1: them and Buffalo. Remember they played the Bills a couple
12:55
Speaker 1: years ago in that playoff game. It's like the Ravens
12:57
Speaker 1: are just way better than the Bills. And they ended
12:59
Speaker 1: up losing the game. I think that was the Andrews drop.
13:02
Speaker 1: And we're like, if you just remove the quarterbacks, like
13:06
Speaker 1: the two, the rosters from two to 40, it ain't
13:11
Speaker 1: even close. It's the Ravens. I don't see any difference now.
13:14
Speaker 1: The Ravens are a lot more like the Bills in
13:18
Speaker 1: terms of their operation. Pretty dependent on the quarterback. So
13:23
Speaker 1: if he's... If this is semi-significant, I would say anytime
13:27
Speaker 1: you're missing multiple games and you're a player of his caliber,
13:31
Speaker 1: you could be fucked. I need to tell you about
13:41
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13:44
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13:47
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13:50
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13:51
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13:54
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14:03
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14:06
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14:09
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14:21
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15:13
Speaker 1: clearing organization. The ref situation. I talked about it yesterday,
15:24
Speaker 1: but I didn't see this tweet till after the fact
15:28
Speaker 1: that Warren Sharpe put out on the referee situation so
15:32
Speaker 1: far this year, which is pretty ugly and honestly pretty
15:37
Speaker 1: embarrassing because I said yesterday when these guys got suspended
15:41
Speaker 1: that it's like, yeah, do you want to get a
15:44
Speaker 1: guy on camera screaming F you to your player? No.
15:47
Speaker 1: But I saw so many former players on social media saying,
15:51
Speaker 1: you're screaming back and forth to referees all the time.
15:54
Speaker 1: Coaches scream F-bombs at them nonstop. I'm less phased by that.
15:58
Speaker 1: The other situation with the shoving, he got one less game,
16:01
Speaker 1: but it's like, I don't know. I don't get as
16:03
Speaker 1: caught up. My main issue is, Can we fix the
16:06
Speaker 1: actual officiating? You know, I don't care. Like, operating with
16:12
Speaker 1: morality about these human beings. Can we just get the
16:14
Speaker 1: calls right? Warren Sharpe put this out. I'm sure many
16:16
Speaker 1: of you have seen it, you know, kind of going viral.
16:19
Speaker 1: That it's been off. Like, something has been weird this year. Well,
16:23
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. Because through four weeks, most flags
16:27
Speaker 1: in over a decade. They're number one most red zone
16:31
Speaker 1: penalties per game by offense in history. Number one, most
16:36
Speaker 1: penalties on third and fourth downs in the second half
16:39
Speaker 1: of games, it feels like that. In these games, in
16:41
Speaker 1: the second half, it's the NFL, most games are relatively close.
16:45
Speaker 1: Yellow flags are all over the ground. But here is
16:48
Speaker 1: the thing that jumps out to me the most. 17
16:50
Speaker 1: touchdowns nullified by penalty. And it does feel like, I
16:54
Speaker 1: have friends in California in the construction industry. And you'll
16:58
Speaker 1: talk to them about dealing with projects. They'll be like, bro,
17:01
Speaker 1: you have to get 100 permits 50 different inspectors on
17:06
Speaker 1: top of paying premiums to get things done. It is
17:09
Speaker 1: a pain in the ass. Why? Because that state is
17:13
Speaker 1: overregulated when it comes to many industries. And it is
17:16
Speaker 1: very difficult to get things done. And I think it's
17:20
Speaker 1: no different than what's going on in the NFL. Obviously,
17:24
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to have regulation. You have to have...
17:31
Speaker 1: That's a penalty. Throw the flag. But I do think
17:33
Speaker 1: we have crossed the line. And this happened... Born and
17:36
Speaker 1: raised in California. It was not like that in the
17:39
Speaker 1: 80s and 90s when I was growing up. It is
17:41
Speaker 1: dramatically different from a business perspective. Especially a building perspective.
17:46
Speaker 1: The NFL... You used to have to do something really
17:49
Speaker 1: bad to get a pass interference penalty. They throw them,
17:52
Speaker 1: they give them out like they're candy now. And you
17:55
Speaker 1: already can't touch them, right, in terms of hitting them
17:58
Speaker 1: across the middle because the guy's defenseless. No, he's not defenseless.
18:01
Speaker 1: He knows he's running around with seven guys in coverage. Like,
18:04
Speaker 1: you know... I do think that the pressure on these guys,
18:09
Speaker 1: knowing all the angles, I've said forever, I'm okay with
18:12
Speaker 1: a little human element. I would rather bring back the
18:15
Speaker 1: human element of everything and cut these flags in half
18:19
Speaker 1: than over-regulate, slow motion, all these different angles. Why, when
18:24
Speaker 1: the World Cup went on, even for those of us
18:27
Speaker 1: that aren't soccer people, we kind of embraced it. Because
18:29
Speaker 1: you're like, you know what? This is badass. What was
18:32
Speaker 1: our number one gripe? The flopping, the cards, it's like,
18:36
Speaker 1: come on, guys. This is kind of, I understand it's
18:40
Speaker 1: somewhat part of your sport, but it felt like they
18:42
Speaker 1: took it to a different level. Because they know they
18:47
Speaker 1: will get the yellow cards, the red cards. And it's like,
18:49
Speaker 1: do you have to flop on every play? It's why
18:51
Speaker 1: people have been so critical of some of these guys
18:54
Speaker 1: in the NBA over the course of the last 10 years.
18:56
Speaker 1: It's like, we don't need to flop this much. It
18:59
Speaker 1: doesn't need to happen. No different than this. We don't
19:02
Speaker 1: need these excessive flags. The number one most important people
19:07
Speaker 1: that the NFL can never forget about are all these
19:10
Speaker 1: people watching the games. The Kansas City Chiefs and the
19:13
Speaker 1: Raiders just had 25 million people watching. And there's nowhere
19:17
Speaker 1: else to go. There's nothing else to watch. But you
19:20
Speaker 1: can't convince me that the flow of a game, when
19:23
Speaker 1: there is a flag, every other play needs to happen.
19:28
Speaker 1: And I don't know if it's because the referees are
19:30
Speaker 1: so scared of getting dragged on social media that if
19:36
Speaker 1: they don't get overaggressive, there's going to be an angle
19:39
Speaker 1: that actually showed. This is football. It's a violent contact sport.
19:42
Speaker 1: Let them play a little bit. Basketball, what do they
19:46
Speaker 1: usually do? Once they get in the postseason, they don't
19:49
Speaker 1: call as many flags. Watching a game on Sunday and
19:53
Speaker 1: there is a stoppage. There already is a natural stoppage
19:56
Speaker 1: in football. There's only what? A little over 11 minutes
19:59
Speaker 1: of action over a 60-minute game? So you actually don't
20:04
Speaker 1: get that much play. The majority of it is talking
20:07
Speaker 1: about the play that just happened, talking about what the
20:09
Speaker 1: coach would do, should do, didn't do. If you think
20:12
Speaker 1: about it, the majority of a football game, this is
20:15
Speaker 1: not basketball, which is constantly going back and forth. Majority
20:18
Speaker 1: of the football game, people are just standing there. How
20:22
Speaker 1: long does a play last? Some three, four, five seconds.
20:25
Speaker 1: Long ones, eight, nine, ten seconds. So when the referees
20:30
Speaker 1: who have become way too big of a part and
20:34
Speaker 1: play way too big of a role in, one, the
20:38
Speaker 1: viewing experience, and obviously the outcome of these games, 17
20:42
Speaker 1: touchdowns nullified? For example, five last year. The year before, four.
20:52
Speaker 1: What are we doing? And honestly, there might be some
20:55
Speaker 1: connection to the training camp, the lack of physicality. It's
20:59
Speaker 1: all interconnected. But I know this. Rod, you're the boss.
21:03
Speaker 1: They're paying you $ 50, $ 60 million a year. You got
21:06
Speaker 1: to nip this in the bud and you got to
21:07
Speaker 1: do it fast. Because I love this sport. Most people listening,
21:11
Speaker 1: most people in America do. I just talked to three
21:14
Speaker 1: different people at the gym today about the Chicago fucking Bears.
21:19
Speaker 1: My main guy, Rob, talked to him all the time.
21:21
Speaker 1: Randomly met a guy named Sam, came up. He's like, hey,
21:24
Speaker 1: older guy, love you every Sunday. So I knew he
21:27
Speaker 1: was talking about me and Colin. And I said, where
21:28
Speaker 1: are you from? And my guess is always in Arizona,
21:31
Speaker 1: somewhere in the Midwest. From Minnesota to Green Bay, Chicago,
21:36
Speaker 1: Kansas City, that stretch. A lot of the Midwesterners here.
21:40
Speaker 1: And those football brands where I live are massive. There
21:44
Speaker 1: are more Bears fans here than Cardinal fans. There are
21:46
Speaker 1: more 49er fans here than Cardinal fans. It's a unique
21:49
Speaker 1: place to live. I'm from Northern California. It's like 90%
21:53
Speaker 1: Niner fans. Lived in Philadelphia. It's 100% Eagles fans. So
21:57
Speaker 1: it's kind of cool. Because you'll randomly just have a
22:00
Speaker 1: conversation about Kevin O'Connell. You'll randomly have a conversation about
22:04
Speaker 1: Andy Reid and Spax. But I do think... We just
22:09
Speaker 1: want to watch a game where there is not a
22:13
Speaker 1: yellow flag on the ground every play. And now the stats,
22:21
Speaker 1: your gut feeling, your eye test, the vibes of what
22:24
Speaker 1: you've been watching felt like that. And then when you
22:26
Speaker 1: actually see these numbers blowing all these previous years out
22:32
Speaker 1: of the water, you go, we got a problem. And
22:34
Speaker 1: I'll give the NFL credit historically. When they got a problem,
22:37
Speaker 1: they usually pivot and fix. My issue and hesitation with
22:40
Speaker 1: this one, they're just so pro-offense. They clearly think more
22:47
Speaker 1: women watch when there's more points. That's a fact. They
22:51
Speaker 1: want more women to watch because they feel they've capped
22:53
Speaker 1: out on men. But I don't know. I just don't agree.
22:58
Speaker 1: The other thing is, speaking of the Chiefs, I was
23:03
Speaker 1: on a group text with a bunch of guys from
23:05
Speaker 1: the volume three and out yesterday, and we were talking
23:07
Speaker 1: about the NBA and how they've changed their salary cap,
23:14
Speaker 1: and now you can't build super teams. You pay the
23:17
Speaker 1: wrong guy. He just cripples your franchise. And I think
23:20
Speaker 1: one powerful thing that the NFL has is that star players,
23:27
Speaker 1: regardless of markets, stay. And then if you do it right,
23:31
Speaker 1: you can build the Patriots for 20 years. You can
23:34
Speaker 1: build what Andy Reid has built with the Chiefs. People
23:37
Speaker 1: say they don't want dynasties. I mean, Coward's been on
23:41
Speaker 1: this forever. It is more important to have them in
23:43
Speaker 1: your sport than not. And like the biggest basketball teams
23:47
Speaker 1: in my life by a mile have been Michael Jordan,
23:51
Speaker 1: Kobe and Shaq, Kevin Durant Warriors, and some of LeBron's
23:55
Speaker 1: super teams, you know? It hasn't been the Thunder and
23:58
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys that have never tried beer. I'll
24:00
Speaker 1: promise you that. You put them on consistently like you're
24:03
Speaker 1: not going to rate. And the Raiders deserve a lot
24:07
Speaker 1: of credit because you can't just throw the Chiefs on
24:10
Speaker 1: in a 50-0 blowout or a bad game. I don't
24:14
Speaker 1: think it's going to set the record for most people
24:15
Speaker 1: watching this week. The game was fantastic. And I actually
24:19
Speaker 1: think both the games that were on, there was a
24:20
Speaker 1: physicality to them that sometimes in this new modern NFL
24:25
Speaker 1: you don't feel. But everyone can resonate. I remember when
24:30
Speaker 1: I was a kid and Jordan was kind of fading
24:32
Speaker 1: off and the Yankees were starting. You either kind of
24:35
Speaker 1: like them or hate them. There's rarely, when these dynasties
24:38
Speaker 1: get going, many people in the middle. Many people that
24:42
Speaker 1: are indifferent. It's pretty rare to go, what did you
24:45
Speaker 1: think of Belichick and Brady? And you just find someone
24:48
Speaker 1: that's emotionless. There's no opinion. It's impossible. Kobe and Shaq,
24:54
Speaker 1: who I hated as a kid because I rooted for Sacramento. And, yeah,
24:59
Speaker 1: we shouldn't have won. Because, obviously, Tim Donaghy with the
25:02
Speaker 1: mob screwed us. But, like, yeah, they were better. Our
25:06
Speaker 1: clutchest player was Mike Bibby. They had Kobe and fucking
25:09
Speaker 1: Shaq and Phil Jackson. Like, yeah, shocker. But, like, they
25:14
Speaker 1: create so much emotion. And I think the Chiefs being back...
25:19
Speaker 1: The Chiefs are the new Cowboys, right? One, because the
25:22
Speaker 1: Cowboys drifted off brand for a long period of time.
25:27
Speaker 1: They were not winning. They shouldn't have resonated and got
25:30
Speaker 1: the views of the Patriots, right? Because the Patriots were
25:34
Speaker 1: rattling off Super Bowls. The Cowboys, most years, struggle to
25:38
Speaker 1: make the playoffs and definitely don't do anything in the playoffs.
25:40
Speaker 1: But their brand recognition from previous generations... This is a franchise, historically,
25:45
Speaker 1: that just... hadn't had that much success, right? I mean,
25:49
Speaker 1: they've had good teams over the years before Patrick Mahomes,
25:53
Speaker 1: but never viewed as like Super Bowl contender, predominant favorite.
26:00
Speaker 1: And I think the, you know, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes,
26:04
Speaker 1: like those guys, as long as they want to stay
26:08
Speaker 1: for their franchises, they will stay. And that's the thing
26:12
Speaker 1: with football that you see It's funny because Steph Curry
26:16
Speaker 1: just took a discount to stay with the Warriors. And
26:20
Speaker 1: when I say discount, it's like $ 10 million. He's still
26:23
Speaker 1: making $ 55 million. He's making so much off the court.
26:25
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a discount to the amount of money
26:29
Speaker 1: that however much you make could be $ 80, 000, could be $ 800, 000,
26:32
Speaker 1: could be... you know, $ 20 an hour. Whatever the number
26:37
Speaker 1: is in your bank account that you just don't notice,
26:40
Speaker 1: could be a dollar, could be a thousand dollars, but
26:42
Speaker 1: if it disappeared tomorrow, like you would not notice. When
26:46
Speaker 1: I see some of these guys took a discount, like
26:48
Speaker 1: certain people are at the point where they don't notice.
26:51
Speaker 1: So if they don't notice, doesn't change their life and
26:53
Speaker 1: doesn't impact like what they can do moving forward. Like I,
26:57
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't even care. It doesn't matter, you know?
27:01
Speaker 1: And I do think part of Steph though, I would
27:05
Speaker 1: say him and LeBron are the predominant, and I would
27:09
Speaker 1: say two of the most famous people of my lifetime.
27:12
Speaker 1: And clearly the most famous people in the NBA by
27:14
Speaker 1: a mile. If the NBA could, they would have the
27:18
Speaker 1: Sixers and the Warriors as the number one seeds. See
27:21
Speaker 1: a San Antonio, see Oklahoma City, come on up, Steph.
27:24
Speaker 1: Because of brand. But Steph's brand is a lot like
27:27
Speaker 1: what I grew up on. The same guy playing the
27:29
Speaker 1: same place for as long as he can stay there
27:32
Speaker 1: and compete. And LeBron, which I respect. Like, I see
27:38
Speaker 1: a lot of people with some different opinions on this helicopter.
27:41
Speaker 1: He's living in New York City, going back and forth
27:43
Speaker 1: to Philly. I love my time in Philadelphia. I love
27:46
Speaker 1: the city. It was, as a young guy who was
27:49
Speaker 1: going out on the weekends, like, I really enjoyed it.
27:53
Speaker 1: I think there was like, I don't even know how
27:56
Speaker 1: to quite describe it, but some with those people that
27:59
Speaker 1: resonated with me, I thoroughly enjoyed living there. the weather
28:04
Speaker 1: I didn't love, but in terms of the city, the food,
28:07
Speaker 1: the people, uh, the stuff to do at night, you know,
28:10
Speaker 1: and I didn't have any money. I'm making 40 grand
28:13
Speaker 1: at the time. Like I just live in, it's a
28:14
Speaker 1: shitty apartment. LeBron is just a full on mercenary and
28:21
Speaker 1: everyone just knows it. Like, yeah, he, the only reason
28:23
Speaker 1: he chose Philadelphia because on paper gave him the best
28:26
Speaker 1: chance to win. He does not want to live there. Like, well,
28:30
Speaker 1: Kobe didn't live in LA. He lived in Newport beach.
28:33
Speaker 1: which I would too if I was him. But it's
28:37
Speaker 1: not like Kobe lived in Scottsdale or Vegas. I mean,
28:41
Speaker 1: this guy's living in a different state, which again, I appreciate.
28:45
Speaker 1: Like guys, I am here for one thing, trying to
28:47
Speaker 1: get that extra ring. I don't give a shit about
28:49
Speaker 1: your city. I don't give a shit about anything going
28:52
Speaker 1: on here. I'm strictly here for basketball. It feels a
28:55
Speaker 1: lot like when, you know, some of these companies like
28:57
Speaker 1: hire consultants, they kind of fly in, fly out, fly in,
29:01
Speaker 1: fly out. And he's just hopping on, you know, Ruben's helicopter.
29:05
Speaker 1: And I think it makes the media really uncomfortable. It's like,
29:07
Speaker 1: what are the deals? It's like, guys. They're paying him
29:11
Speaker 1: a lot of money. He can use the helicopter. Like,
29:12
Speaker 1: welcome to the real world. Who gives a shit? The
29:15
Speaker 1: other thing is, and here's why I will defend LeBron, like,
29:17
Speaker 1: when you pay LeBron, he does ads and stuff for you.
29:20
Speaker 1: It's like Kawhi. No, Kawhi literally got money under the
29:24
Speaker 1: table and did nothing. All he had to do was, like,
29:27
Speaker 1: a couple social media posts. Show up for an hour
29:31
Speaker 1: in a commercial shoot and wave. Andy Reid puts in
29:35
Speaker 1: more effort in commercial shoots than Kawhi Leonard. Now, I
29:39
Speaker 1: would also say that Fanatics, having ordered some products from them,
29:43
Speaker 1: feels like the worst company in American history. I remember
29:46
Speaker 1: this probably within the last seven, eight years, ordered a
29:49
Speaker 1: couple hats or you know, like a cool college shirt
29:52
Speaker 1: or whatever. The product, 1 to 10 scale, was like
29:57
Speaker 1: a negative 10. So I don't know if he's just
30:00
Speaker 1: selling it to so many people that buy it once,
30:03
Speaker 1: maybe he'll buy it over and over again. I don't
30:05
Speaker 1: get it. Like, I don't get the whole Michael Rubin thing. Again,
30:09
Speaker 1: props to him for building this company and making this
30:11
Speaker 1: money and getting in with the leagues. I just think
30:13
Speaker 1: his product... This product couldn't be any worse. But, made
30:17
Speaker 1: a ton of money. He flies back and forth to
30:18
Speaker 1: New York. Signs LeBron to this deal. But I've seen
30:21
Speaker 1: people like, is this Philly? Like, just, this is a
30:24
Speaker 1: hired gun. A hired gun. I just don't think we, like,
30:29
Speaker 1: this is kind of a dying breed. like truly doesn't
30:32
Speaker 1: care about anything, but like winning and making some cash. That's,
30:37
Speaker 1: that's the point he's at. Everyone knows it. Everyone acknowledges it.
30:40
Speaker 1: And it's like, yeah, see how this looks, you know?
30:43
Speaker 1: And that, that's what you can pull this off. This
30:45
Speaker 1: would have been a bait, way bigger story doing something
30:48
Speaker 1: like this for this guy. If he was way younger,
30:51
Speaker 1: but like, I'm sorry at 41, 42 years old, you
30:52
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want. You know, like I, even
30:55
Speaker 1: the McCarthy and Roger screaming at Jeff's like, Roger's about
30:57
Speaker 1: to be 43 in like two months. Yeah, it's like,
31:01
Speaker 1: we got less patience when we're a little older. Scream
31:04
Speaker 1: back and forth. Say some words. Even McCarthy's like, yeah,
31:07
Speaker 1: we've known each other for 20 years. This isn't your normal...
31:10
Speaker 1: This isn't Jim Harbaugh met Justin Herbert two and a
31:14
Speaker 1: half years ago. So... I just love that story of
31:17
Speaker 1: him hopping on a helicopter. The moment practice or a
31:20
Speaker 1: game ends, like, I'm out. And in fairness, I've always
31:23
Speaker 1: talked shit about New York, having been my first taste
31:26
Speaker 1: of the East Coast, living in Philly, being kind of
31:29
Speaker 1: told to hate them. And then I went one time
31:33
Speaker 1: to Times Square. We did the draft in 11. I
31:35
Speaker 1: was like, ah, this place is pretty cool. When I
31:37
Speaker 1: went back a couple years ago for the Ryder Cup,
31:39
Speaker 1: Stayed at a nice hotel, ate a couple nice steakhouses.
31:43
Speaker 1: I was like, this place is awesome. If you're in
31:45
Speaker 1: the right area, I didn't even see, it was clean,
31:50
Speaker 1: no homeless. I don't know where I was staying. I
31:52
Speaker 1: have no clue. Don't even remember the hotel's name. I
31:54
Speaker 1: just remember every bar stays, it's like Vegas. I don't
31:58
Speaker 1: even think it closed. I like Philly, but if you
32:02
Speaker 1: could pick anywhere and you have unlimited money, like LeBron
32:06
Speaker 1: ain't parking with the poor. LeBron ain't hanging out with
32:09
Speaker 1: us normal human beings. He's living in his own world.
32:12
Speaker 1: So wherever he's helicoptering to ain't where you and I
32:16
Speaker 1: are going. So probably pretty sweet. Probably pretty sweet. Let's
32:34
Speaker 1: dive into some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff, at John
32:37
Speaker 1: Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire into those DMs and get
32:41
Speaker 1: your questions answered here on this podcast. Broncos fan here.
32:45
Speaker 1: What on earth are we going to do with Bo
32:47
Speaker 1: Nix and Davis Webb? Having watched every start of Bo's career,
32:50
Speaker 1: he's won a lot of big games. Clearly has a
32:52
Speaker 1: clutch gene and has proven that we can go far
32:55
Speaker 1: in the playoffs with him at quarterback. But game to game,
32:58
Speaker 1: he's just not a very good quarterback. And if anything,
33:01
Speaker 1: he's regressed. I'm terrified that we're going to give him
33:04
Speaker 1: $ 60 million a year. Don't be. He can't play like
33:07
Speaker 1: this and get $ 60 million a year. We also have
33:10
Speaker 1: the greatest play caller of all time on the sidelines.
33:12
Speaker 1: Knock on place. Make an unproven coordinator happy. I don't
33:15
Speaker 1: understand it. What do we do? I had another guy
33:20
Speaker 1: take me some screenshots of the All-22 saying that it's
33:24
Speaker 1: easy to blame Davis Webb and give the equal amount
33:28
Speaker 1: of the pie chart to Davis and the quarterback. But
33:31
Speaker 1: the quarterback deserves way more heat. And guys are open,
33:35
Speaker 1: he's missing them. If I was going to give blame,
33:40
Speaker 1: Bo Nix deserves way more than Davis Webb. Now, if
33:43
Speaker 1: I was going to give blame about Davis Webb, I'd
33:45
Speaker 1: go Sean. Now, Sean's in his early 60s. If you
33:50
Speaker 1: read that Wickersham article, it is a grind to call plays.
33:54
Speaker 1: So it's, yes, like you want me to call plays
33:56
Speaker 1: like Kyle and McVay and, you know, Ben Johnson. Like
33:59
Speaker 1: those guys are like 40 to 45 years old. They
34:02
Speaker 1: have more energy. Like I can't maintain this level and
34:05
Speaker 1: do it, which I do understand. Like I totally get it.
34:09
Speaker 1: He's earned his right to do that. But I also
34:12
Speaker 1: think like the powerful part of having an elite play caller,
34:15
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, Davis Webb, you want to go be
34:17
Speaker 1: the Eagles OC? You want to go be the Bucks OC? Whoever.
34:21
Speaker 1: I don't even know where he was going to go,
34:22
Speaker 1: but he was going to get an OC job. See
34:24
Speaker 1: you later, buddy. I look forward to one day claiming
34:28
Speaker 1: you as a member of my tree. I've loved being
34:31
Speaker 1: around you. You're stud. But bye. That's what all these
34:36
Speaker 1: other coaches do. And I just think this is a
34:40
Speaker 1: weird spot. I think Sean, I give him a lot
34:42
Speaker 1: of credit. And I think this helps with age. I
34:45
Speaker 1: think 10 years ago, Sean Payton, even if he had
34:48
Speaker 1: done this move, he'd already have it back. But again, experience, age, wisdom.
34:55
Speaker 1: I think it's also as you get older, you get
34:57
Speaker 1: more reflective to your younger self. I've noticed that with
35:01
Speaker 1: just me personally. Sometimes I have thoughts in my head,
35:04
Speaker 1: like thinking about things from high school or college. It's like,
35:08
Speaker 1: why am I thinking about it? It was like 20
35:10
Speaker 1: years ago, 25 years ago. But they're just powerful memories
35:13
Speaker 1: you get a little nostalgic about. It makes you reminisce
35:16
Speaker 1: about things. And I just think Sean Payton has talked
35:20
Speaker 1: adamantly about 25 years ago when he got play calling
35:25
Speaker 1: ripped away from him before as a young, young coach.
35:28
Speaker 1: And he's not doing that. But their quarterback is just
35:34
Speaker 1: a roller coaster ride. You can't. depend on these crazy
35:40
Speaker 1: turnarounds late in the game. That's not a sustainable model.
35:44
Speaker 1: And the way he just played against the 49ers, like
35:46
Speaker 1: there's some open balls he's just missing. He played, and
35:48
Speaker 1: I get it, the 49ers are playing good on defense.
35:51
Speaker 1: But man, he looks bad. I would not be worried.
35:56
Speaker 1: Like the NFL's cutthroat. This isn't like, well, we drafted
35:59
Speaker 1: him high, we gotta give him, he ain't getting a
36:00
Speaker 1: max contract if he doesn't start playing way better. At
36:05
Speaker 1: this point in time, We might just need to acknowledge this.
36:10
Speaker 1: Kind of is what he is. His coaching can't be
36:14
Speaker 1: any better. He's got Sean fucking Payton as the guy
36:18
Speaker 1: that drafted him. So if anything, the guy's invested in
36:21
Speaker 1: his success. His other right-hand man is Davis Webb, a
36:25
Speaker 1: former quarterback who got into coaching. Obviously, quarterback in that
36:30
Speaker 1: position is his baby. And Bo Nix still looks like this.
36:34
Speaker 1: So the NFL exposes you fast. I just think Bo
36:40
Speaker 1: Nix has probably peaked. There's a pretty good chance this
36:43
Speaker 1: is exactly who he is moving forward. It's not going
36:45
Speaker 1: to change. Question for the bag. Let's say Sirianni gets canned.
36:51
Speaker 1: Who do the Eagles go after? Do Howie and Lurie
36:53
Speaker 1: have it in them to go after a defensive guy
36:55
Speaker 1: like Tomlin or Flores? No chance. Think about who the
36:59
Speaker 1: Eagles have hired in Jeffrey Lurie's tenure. Andy Reid, Chip Kelly,
37:04
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson, Nick Sirianni. The other thing that they do,
37:09
Speaker 1: and having lived it, is they're big on these studies
37:13
Speaker 1: and trends. They're numbers guys. They like the flow of
37:19
Speaker 1: the trajectory of what's working and what's not working. What's
37:22
Speaker 1: working right now in the NFL? Let's just look at
37:24
Speaker 1: the NFC. The Cowboys head coach, their offense is incredible,
37:27
Speaker 1: is the play caller. Let's go West. Mike McDonald is
37:31
Speaker 1: a major outlier. I mean, hell, he literally is. He's
37:34
Speaker 1: the first defensive coordinator who was also the head coach
37:38
Speaker 1: to win a Super Bowl. Because think about it. Every
37:40
Speaker 1: defensive coach that wins a Super Bowl is always the CEO.
37:43
Speaker 1: Who are his two rivals? Offensive play callers, head coaches.
37:47
Speaker 1: Who's the apple of everyone's eye right now in the Midwest?
37:50
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, play caller. So I think the Eagles... Now,
37:54
Speaker 1: I don't know who that guy is. But I think 100%
37:59
Speaker 1: they would hire an offensive play caller because it's evident
38:02
Speaker 1: that's what's working. And the most success they have had,
38:06
Speaker 1: like sustained success, the Sirianni thing I think would really
38:11
Speaker 1: rattle them if this is the undoing of Nick. And
38:15
Speaker 1: let's face it, there is a path for them to
38:17
Speaker 1: win four or five games if this thing completely unravels.
38:20
Speaker 1: But I think the one thing they would tell themselves
38:22
Speaker 1: is when you have a head coach, and Howie likes
38:25
Speaker 1: Nick a lot. This is not going to be some backstab.
38:29
Speaker 1: I mean, it might be eventually if you get fired,
38:31
Speaker 1: you feel like you got backstabbed. I've seen them together.
38:36
Speaker 1: Anyone that's watched their press conferences, they're pretty close. I
38:39
Speaker 1: think they're pretty good friends. Obviously, Howie's had a lot
38:44
Speaker 1: of success with him being the head coach. Obviously, Nick,
38:48
Speaker 1: Howie changed his life. But if you go through these
38:51
Speaker 1: scenarios where your offensive head coach cannot call plays, look
38:57
Speaker 1: at last year. Dan Campbell doesn't want to call plays,
39:00
Speaker 1: but he fired Johnny Moore and he started calling plays
39:01
Speaker 1: and they immediately got better on offense. Now, I don't know,
39:06
Speaker 1: you just look around the league, like who would they hire? LaFleur?
39:13
Speaker 1: If LaFleur got fired? Because you could put him with Fangio,
39:16
Speaker 1: but Fangio's about to retire. But LaFleur is a better–
39:20
Speaker 1: I mean, LaFleur can call plays. And again, I'm not
39:23
Speaker 1: saying they're going to hire LaFleur. But my point is
39:27
Speaker 1: the number one guy that's going to be on the
39:29
Speaker 1: market this year, and who knows? Maybe he just wants
39:31
Speaker 1: to play Minecraft and work one day a week. I
39:33
Speaker 1: don't blame him. I think Tomlin was making like $ 25
39:37
Speaker 1: million last year. The Steelers don't pay their players, really,
39:41
Speaker 1: unless you're TJ Watt. They pay Mike Tomlin. He made
39:45
Speaker 1: a lot of cash. And I just think the Eagles
39:49
Speaker 1: will try to get a coach that will just call
39:52
Speaker 1: the plays. So who would that be? Is there a
39:56
Speaker 1: guy in college? Who's the best offensive play caller that's
39:59
Speaker 1: also head coach? Lane Kiffin? Would Lane leave LSU for
40:04
Speaker 1: the Eagles? Probably not. I mean, Lane's making $ 13 million
40:08
Speaker 1: a year into the boss, right? Steve Sarkeesian? I... I
40:14
Speaker 1: would say Howie, and Howie likes him. I would say this.
40:17
Speaker 1: I don't want to say likes him. I just remember
40:20
Speaker 1: being around him. They were buddies. I just think Sark
40:24
Speaker 1: in that market. I don't know. But who are the guys?
40:28
Speaker 1: The Eagles aren't hiring Davis Webb. Maybe they would. I
40:31
Speaker 1: don't know. Declan Doyle. They've had success. Andy was young,
40:39
Speaker 1: and Sirianni was young. I think they would like someone
40:45
Speaker 1: 35 to 40, early 40s. I think that would be
40:51
Speaker 1: the move. Because here's the other thing. They would have
40:55
Speaker 1: to retool this thing big time. And here's the other thing,
41:02
Speaker 1: and I feel like I'm shitting on the guy. He's
41:06
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl champ. And there's a short number of
41:09
Speaker 1: human beings that have been a head coach and won
41:12
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl. But what's his job next year? He's
41:19
Speaker 1: making a lot of money. He could sit out and
41:20
Speaker 1: hang out. But these coaches aren't really wired to do that.
41:23
Speaker 1: Let's say he gets fired. Where's Nick Sirianni in 2027?
41:28
Speaker 1: He's 100% not a head coach. You can't hire him
41:32
Speaker 1: as your play caller. So what does he do? Assistant
41:35
Speaker 1: head coach? Wide receiver coach? So he's going to go
41:37
Speaker 1: from the head man to working with the wide receivers? Quarterbacks?
41:44
Speaker 1: You trust him with the quarterbacks? Can you do a
41:47
Speaker 1: small segment on how hard it is to get better
41:49
Speaker 1: velocity and change your arm strength like Bryce has done?
41:53
Speaker 1: Isn't it a rare thing? It rarely, if ever, happens.
41:57
Speaker 1: I would say two things that stay the same from college,
42:01
Speaker 1: and one I was taught, and one of these is
42:03
Speaker 1: just from watching. The arm strength thing is just from watching.
42:06
Speaker 1: I would say Tom Brady, in my lifetime, is the
42:09
Speaker 1: only guy who feels like his arm got dramatically stronger
42:12
Speaker 1: over the course of his career. In the peak of
42:14
Speaker 1: Tom Brady's powers with Edelman and Gronk, he had a
42:18
Speaker 1: high-end arm. I do feel like coming out of Michigan,
42:22
Speaker 1: it wasn't viewed as a high-end arm. Part of that
42:24
Speaker 1: might have been the pliability, whatever happened. I don't know
42:26
Speaker 1: exactly what he did. But most guys' arm strength in
42:29
Speaker 1: college will never look any different throughout the rest of
42:32
Speaker 1: their career. Obviously, some guys, as you get really older,
42:37
Speaker 1: in your mid to late 30s, can diminish. Aaron Rodgers'
42:42
Speaker 1: arm strength was the same thing for 20 years. Mahomes arm,
42:47
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Lamar, their passes have looked the same their
42:50
Speaker 1: entire career. So I don't know what Bryce did. Maybe
42:55
Speaker 1: it's lower body strength as well because he didn't weigh
43:00
Speaker 1: that much coming out. I have no clue, but it's
43:02
Speaker 1: pretty evident. But I would say 100%, it's a very,
43:06
Speaker 1: very rare thing. It just doesn't happen. The other thing
43:09
Speaker 1: is strength for an offensive lineman. Like guys, you can
43:13
Speaker 1: hold up defensive linemen or you can't. So when guys
43:16
Speaker 1: go to the combine and they do like the bench press,
43:18
Speaker 1: it's like, well, he did 27 reps on 225. And
43:25
Speaker 1: then you watch him, it's like his functional strength isn't
43:27
Speaker 1: that like great. But his bench press, he can do
43:31
Speaker 1: 30 reps or however many reps is a lot. I
43:33
Speaker 1: don't even know off the top of my head. So yeah,
43:36
Speaker 1: a lot of things don't change. I don't know what
43:41
Speaker 1: he did specifically, but, and honestly, maybe it's just, maybe
43:46
Speaker 1: just look stronger. It's still the same, but it definitely
43:49
Speaker 1: feels stronger. And I had someone with the Panthers reach
43:51
Speaker 1: out and be like, I agree. Is it me or
43:57
Speaker 1: is the league just off this year? I think it's
43:59
Speaker 1: a combination of lack of physicality, the kickoff rule, the
44:03
Speaker 1: oversaturation of fantasy and gambling and injuries. I'm 23, so
44:06
Speaker 1: I'm not some get off my lawn sourpuss, but the
44:10
Speaker 1: overall product definitely feels lower quality. Couldn't agree more. The
44:13
Speaker 1: kickoff rule, it does feel a little like XFL, UFL.
44:20
Speaker 1: I was talking to a couple people about this over
44:22
Speaker 1: the last couple days, and this has been a theme
44:24
Speaker 1: of just a conversation. The kickoff thing, if you kick
44:28
Speaker 1: it into the end zone, even if there's 10 seconds, historically,
44:33
Speaker 1: if I was winning by a field goal or one
44:37
Speaker 1: or two points, right? A field goal either beats me
44:39
Speaker 1: or ties me. If I banged it into the end
44:42
Speaker 1: zone and there are 28 seconds left and you got
44:45
Speaker 1: no timeouts, I'm in pretty good shape. Now, if I
44:49
Speaker 1: bang it through the end zone and you have... even
44:52
Speaker 1: if you just got one timeout and there's 10 seconds left,
44:55
Speaker 1: you're at the 35 yard line. All these kickers are
44:57
Speaker 1: kicking at 60 plus. You just have to get like
45:00
Speaker 1: one kind of chunk play. You don't even need to
45:03
Speaker 1: hit like a 40 yard or you could hit like
45:05
Speaker 1: a 15 yard comeback. So I think it does feel
45:10
Speaker 1: definitely a little, I just think the whole thing's kind
45:14
Speaker 1: of manipulated right now. The officiating we talked about, there's
45:17
Speaker 1: a bunch of injuries. I mean, Sunday night football, Lamar
45:20
Speaker 1: Jackson probably not going to play. Hot take. Kellen Moore
45:23
Speaker 1: is losing my trust. He assembled a good roster, no doubt,
45:26
Speaker 1: but the problems from last year persist. Can't start, can't
45:28
Speaker 1: run the ball, and can't shake the penalties. Even more
45:31
Speaker 1: frustrating seeing Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen becoming head coaches
45:34
Speaker 1: last year and having immediate success. I can see a
45:37
Speaker 1: scenario in one, two years where Kellen is the one
45:40
Speaker 1: holding us back. I would say that their teams... I mean,
45:44
Speaker 1: the Jaguars roster is pretty legit. And the Bears, you know,
45:49
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson got there. They had Caleb Williams, Rome... They
45:52
Speaker 1: immediately draft Loveland, Menungai. You know, it's like you guys,
45:59
Speaker 1: I talked about this last night, your top two picks,
46:02
Speaker 1: Jordan Tyson. If you tell me Jordan Tyson doesn't play
46:04
Speaker 1: a game this year, I believe you. And the second
46:07
Speaker 1: round pick, the big time defensive tackle from Georgia, Christian Miller,
46:12
Speaker 1: he's been inactive three straight weeks. I think he was,
46:15
Speaker 1: I said this, I was trying to figure out like
46:17
Speaker 1: toe injury after the Lions game, but he's just not playing.
46:22
Speaker 1: And he wasn't designated an injury last night. So you
46:25
Speaker 1: have these two high picks. Those are two pretty important players.
46:28
Speaker 1: Like your franchise got some flaws. Tyler Shuck doesn't look
46:32
Speaker 1: that bad running for his life. Kelvin Banks gets injured
46:35
Speaker 1: last week. I wouldn't just, I think you guys would
46:39
Speaker 1: be okay. Hot mailbag take watching the Falcons obliterate the Saints.
46:45
Speaker 1: How bad is Cooper Rush? The Falcons team looked hopeless
46:49
Speaker 1: last The first two weeks. As a Ravens fan, I
46:52
Speaker 1: thought it was indefensible that we chose him as our
46:56
Speaker 1: backup over Huntley last year going into the season. And
46:59
Speaker 1: it took us punting on two winnable games before bringing
47:02
Speaker 1: Huntley back. Did that end up costing us a playoff
47:05
Speaker 1: game last year? And with the Panthers, look, could we
47:09
Speaker 1: be sitting here at the end of the season saying
47:10
Speaker 1: the Falcons lost the division because they chose Cooper Rush
47:14
Speaker 1: over backup options? It's hard for me to blame them
47:17
Speaker 1: on that one because they signed Tua. And then Tua
47:22
Speaker 1: got hurt in practice. Like Tua was going to be
47:25
Speaker 1: their starting quarterback. And I also think they thought Michael
47:28
Speaker 1: Penix could come back. And then Michael Penix said his
47:31
Speaker 1: knee was fine. And then he kind of refused to
47:32
Speaker 1: play early on. So I can't speak exactly. I'd have
47:38
Speaker 1: to go back and look and read. Did Cooper Rush
47:41
Speaker 1: legitimately beat out Tyler Huntley in the preseason? I forget
47:44
Speaker 1: exactly how that played out. But in this scenario, they
47:47
Speaker 1: signed Tua for a million bucks. I think they thought
47:51
Speaker 1: in the back of their mind, like, Penix was going
47:52
Speaker 1: to be ready for week one. And then Penix couldn't practice.
47:56
Speaker 1: Tua could practice, but then he gets injured. So I
47:59
Speaker 1: don't know if they had many other options. But I'll
48:01
Speaker 1: tell you, he's really– I thought a couple years ago
48:04
Speaker 1: when he was playing, didn't he start games with McCarthy
48:06
Speaker 1: in Dallas? I thought he looked pretty good. So sometimes
48:10
Speaker 1: as a backup, it's like I'm playing golf on Saturday morning.
48:15
Speaker 1: I've played twice in the last five months. One of
48:19
Speaker 1: those two times I shot 71. I do not know
48:23
Speaker 1: how I did that. So it's like, am I a
48:26
Speaker 1: scratch golfer? Am I a guy that can shoot under par? Well,
48:30
Speaker 1: I could also go out there on Saturday and shoot 90.
48:32
Speaker 1: You don't know what you're going to get. Now, if
48:35
Speaker 1: I play every day for like two months straight, it's
48:38
Speaker 1: pretty clear the way I'm playing. That's like a backup quarterback.
48:42
Speaker 1: They're like playing golf, you know, once every three months.
48:45
Speaker 1: You might have a great game. Like, see, he did it.
48:47
Speaker 1: And that tape stays with you forever. And then you
48:51
Speaker 1: put him back out there. He's like, you just shot 95.
48:53
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, fuck. Hit seven balls out of bounds.
48:56
Speaker 1: That's kind of being a backup. Like when you're the starter,
48:58
Speaker 1: like every game's around. Every day's around. You're getting all
49:01
Speaker 1: the reps. When you're the backup, you don't really do
49:04
Speaker 1: that much. That's like going back to Dylan Riola coming
49:08
Speaker 1: off the bench against USC. It was so incredible. It's
49:10
Speaker 1: like I get he's played a lot, but there's no
49:13
Speaker 1: chance he's got a lot of reps over the course
49:15
Speaker 1: of August and then early on in the season with
49:18
Speaker 1: Dante Moore. Because the starting quarterback gets them all. This
49:22
Speaker 1: isn't high school. You don't split them. So I'll defend
49:26
Speaker 1: Stefanski and the Falcons that way. They had some weird
49:30
Speaker 1: circumstances happen. But Cooper Rush is a good example of
49:33
Speaker 1: like he had to play more and he's gotten really exposed.
49:37
Speaker 1: And you know what I kind of want to do?
49:40
Speaker 1: What would our guess be of our man's career earnings?
49:47
Speaker 1: My guess would be, I'm going to guess $ 22 million.
49:56
Speaker 1: I'm way off. I guess he hasn't been in the
49:58
Speaker 1: league that long. He's made 13. Yeah, never mind. The
50:05
Speaker 1: biggest contract he signed was like two years, $ 5 million.
50:09
Speaker 1: I got a little aggressive there. I'd say the one
50:14
Speaker 1: thing about his $ 13 million, though, he spent from 2017
50:17
Speaker 1: to 24 in Dallas. So, you know, you keep that
50:21
Speaker 1: extra whatever, depending on where you would be living, you know, 10%, 12%, 7%.
50:26
Speaker 1: But I don't know how much more Cooper's going to make.
50:32
Speaker 1: So hopefully he's saved, invested correctly. Yeah, good luck to him. Okay,
50:53
Speaker 1: a couple more quick ones. As a Dolphins fan, if
50:56
Speaker 1: we end up with the number one overall pick, it
50:59
Speaker 1: needs to be Jeremiah Smith. Malik Willis shows he can
51:02
Speaker 1: be serviceable for the next couple years. We should build
51:05
Speaker 1: the skill positions over these years and then look to
51:07
Speaker 1: bring a quarterback in the future. Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech linebacker, stud.
51:14
Speaker 1: I've watched a lot of college football through the first
51:15
Speaker 1: four weeks. four boxes in the living room, which wasn't
51:19
Speaker 1: allowed pre-child, but it's like, hey, you want me not
51:22
Speaker 1: in the office with the family? We just got to
51:24
Speaker 1: get these four boxes up. I've watched all these top
51:26
Speaker 1: quarterbacks play countless games. This does not feel like there's
51:30
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams, Andrew Luck, hell, even Trevor Lawrence. Like, we
51:34
Speaker 1: got a long way to go, but let's just throw
51:38
Speaker 1: up the red flag that this is– And I get it.
51:40
Speaker 1: People get excited. I do too. I stay shit that
51:44
Speaker 1: I don't regret it because I talk for a living, whatever.
51:47
Speaker 1: I'm going to say stupid shit. But I say stupid
51:48
Speaker 1: shit all the time. I did think everyone was so excited.
51:52
Speaker 1: It's going to be the greatest quarterback draft of all time. Like,
51:55
Speaker 1: are we sure? Like, are we positive? Because history would say,
52:00
Speaker 1: I will bet against you. It will not be. And
52:04
Speaker 1: as we stand going into October, which the college football
52:07
Speaker 1: season still has like two months left, And then obviously
52:10
Speaker 1: the playoffs and the bowl game stuff. Is there one
52:14
Speaker 1: guy right now that you say no doubt about a
52:16
Speaker 1: number one overall pick? Because I do not think you do.
52:20
Speaker 1: At quarterback. I saw this guy do a funny Instagram
52:25
Speaker 1: meme thing on Jeremy. He pretended to be the Ohio
52:28
Speaker 1: State offensive coordinator. And it was just like... He's pretending
52:32
Speaker 1: to be in the headset to the quarterback like he's
52:33
Speaker 1: in the box. It's like, yeah, let's run the ball here.
52:38
Speaker 1: Grab Jeremiah and put him in the backfield. Let's run
52:41
Speaker 1: the ball again. End around to Jeremiah. Okay, play action.
52:45
Speaker 1: Make sure you look for Jeremiah. It's just like every
52:46
Speaker 1: single play. Jeremiah Smith. I think you could justify taking
52:50
Speaker 1: him number one overall. Now, personally, and you guys know
52:53
Speaker 1: where I stand on him, I've been blown away. He
52:55
Speaker 1: is a badass. I have so much respect for how
52:58
Speaker 1: hard he's playing after the history of the last like
53:00
Speaker 1: 10 years. of these guys that couldn't miss, that would
53:03
Speaker 1: come back for their junior year and just kind of
53:05
Speaker 1: mail it in. And I don't blame them either. It's
53:07
Speaker 1: kind of a weird spot. But this guy is playing
53:10
Speaker 1: his balls off. If there is the equivalent, which it
53:15
Speaker 1: doesn't look like there is, of an offensive lineman or
53:18
Speaker 1: a defensive lineman, I would take a left tackle or
53:23
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett over Julio Jones. I just would. I fundamentally
53:30
Speaker 1: believe in the trenches first over the outside. But it
53:33
Speaker 1: doesn't like, I don't see who his competition is. Who's
53:36
Speaker 1: like the second best player in college football this year?
53:39
Speaker 1: That's draft eligible. I love Trinidad, but he's, you know,
53:44
Speaker 1: you're talking about a guy 5'10. Colin Simmons. I think
53:51
Speaker 1: a lot of people thought the South Carolina Dylan Stewart
53:54
Speaker 1: is more talented than Simmons. He just got kicked off
53:57
Speaker 1: the team. Or suspended. So that's not ideal. I don't
54:04
Speaker 1: even know who the best offensive lineman is. That shows
54:08
Speaker 1: you everything. There's not like... Now, we still got a
54:11
Speaker 1: long way to go. Do you ever feel that McVay
54:18
Speaker 1: gets too impatient with his offense? It seems like he'd
54:20
Speaker 1: rather swing for the big play than go small ball.
54:23
Speaker 1: He wasn't always this way, like back when he had Gurley.
54:26
Speaker 1: But since getting the gunslinger like Stafford, he's been extremely
54:29
Speaker 1: pass happy. I've said this forever. Sean McVay's comp is
54:35
Speaker 1: Andy Reid. Sean wants to pass, which I respect. Kevin
54:40
Speaker 1: O'Connell is a Sean McVay product. What does Kevin O'Connell,
54:44
Speaker 1: he's in a weird spot now, but like in a
54:46
Speaker 1: perfect world, what would he want to do? He'd want
54:48
Speaker 1: to pass it 40 times a game. I got no
54:51
Speaker 1: issue with like your philosophical belief on how to play
54:53
Speaker 1: football is what, you know, makes you your own man.
54:59
Speaker 1: Everyone's a little different, right? Every coach has their own
55:01
Speaker 1: kind of core philosophies, but like he gets, you know,
55:05
Speaker 1: he's from the Shanahan tree and he's not like Mike
55:07
Speaker 1: and Kyle, Mike and Kyle are like Ben Johnson feels
55:11
Speaker 1: like he should be from their tree. They want to
55:13
Speaker 1: call runs. They want to run for 300 yards. Sean
55:16
Speaker 1: McVay does not want to run for 300 yards. If
55:18
Speaker 1: you told Sean McVay you could run for 300 yards
55:20
Speaker 1: or throw for 600 yards, he would throw for the
55:23
Speaker 1: big number every time. Where Ben Johnson, Kyle Shanahan, every
55:27
Speaker 1: day of the week and 50 times on Sunday would
55:30
Speaker 1: sign up for the 300 rushing day. Every single game.
55:35
Speaker 1: They would pick that every time. I give Andy a
55:39
Speaker 1: lot of credit. Like, this is not really his nature. But, like,
55:44
Speaker 1: he's not dumb. Like, you ride the hot hand. The
55:47
Speaker 1: guy looks incredible. They just, hey, just keep handing it
55:50
Speaker 1: to K-9. And it's working. Kenneth Walker looks incredible. Like, Sean,
55:56
Speaker 1: one of your best players is... Kieran Williams. Now, in fairness,
56:01
Speaker 1: they also have Devontae Adams, Higby. Puka's back, look good.
56:05
Speaker 1: A little concerning about Puka is... I didn't even know
56:09
Speaker 1: if it was AI. He's like, you know, it's the
56:11
Speaker 1: beginning of growing. It's like, he's going to need a
56:15
Speaker 1: hernia surgery. It's like one day, maybe, potentially. I'm like, well,
56:20
Speaker 1: he's on my fantasy team. Like, is he going to
56:21
Speaker 1: keep playing? Is he going to look like he just looked?
56:24
Speaker 1: Because he looked pretty sweet. Can we get some updates?
56:27
Speaker 1: I don't know. I hate fantasy. Other than that, yeah,
56:30
Speaker 1: I just think Sean wants to pass. It's why, is
56:35
Speaker 1: Sean McVay going to be there with Ty Simpson? I
56:40
Speaker 1: would bet against it. I have a hard time envisioning,
56:44
Speaker 1: in two years, week one against the Seattle Seahawks, Sean
56:48
Speaker 1: McVay and Ty Simpson take the field. I just, I
56:53
Speaker 1: don't know. I could be wrong. If you told me
57:00
Speaker 1: Sean went to Amazon and made my Thursday night way better,
57:03
Speaker 1: I would sign up for that. But listen, I want
57:05
Speaker 1: Sean to coach for the next 25 years. But clearly,
57:08
Speaker 1: he probably won't. Sean's got a little hiatus written all
57:14
Speaker 1: over him. Hiatus is probably the wrong word. He's got
57:16
Speaker 1: a little... He's got a break. I would say like
57:20
Speaker 1: a 24-month break. You know, they get the one year.
57:24
Speaker 1: His wife's like, how great is this? They go on vacations.
57:26
Speaker 1: He does Amazon. Then he does one more year. And
57:29
Speaker 1: then he starts missing it. I can't see Sean just
57:32
Speaker 1: quitting forever like John Madden did. Coward did. But I think...
57:39
Speaker 1: I would bet a lot of money that he is
57:41
Speaker 1: a lock to skip a year or two within the next,
57:45
Speaker 1: you know, over the stretch. Like once Stafford is gone
57:48
Speaker 1: and they can't pull some rabbit out of the hat,
57:54
Speaker 1: it's like, well, could they trade for Herbert? The Spanos
57:56
Speaker 1: family wouldn't trade Herbert to them in their own build.
58:00
Speaker 1: No chance. Burrow, I mean, Burrow needs to not throw
58:05
Speaker 1: interceptions in the red zone. Listen, I like Joe, and
58:09
Speaker 1: you guys know where I stand on the Bengals. You
58:12
Speaker 1: look at the numbers, like the 400-plus passing yards, some
58:15
Speaker 1: of them felt a little hollow. Like I was pretty
58:17
Speaker 1: dialed in on that game. Had the Bengals, minus two
58:20
Speaker 1: and a half. We were fighting an uphill battle, and
58:23
Speaker 1: it wasn't the defense's fault. Now Chase got KO'd. Like Joe,
58:27
Speaker 1: I'm watching Lamar. I'm watching Mahomes. I'm watching Purdy. Like
58:33
Speaker 1: you need a little more, buddy. Yeah. If this is
58:38
Speaker 1: going to go where you guys hyped it up to go,
58:41
Speaker 1: the defense is not playing bad. Trevor Lawrence did not
58:43
Speaker 1: slice and dice them. They did not lose that game
58:46
Speaker 1: because Lee and Cohen lit them up like a Christmas tree.
58:49
Speaker 1: Parker Washington didn't do anything against them. They lost that
58:52
Speaker 1: game because the offense did not come through in big moments. Period.
58:56
Speaker 1: Point blank. End of story. Thanks for my TED Talk.
58:59
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys later. Adios. The Volume.