Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Best of The Week: Jayden Daniels and the Commanders BLOW it, Buck vs. Aikman, NFL Week 6 Primer and predictions

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Best of The Week: Jayden Daniels and the Commanders BLOW it, Buck vs. Aikman, NFL Week 6 Primer and 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 3 and Out Podcast. And this is the
0:20
Speaker 1: best of, of my favorite takes. Our best takes as
0:24
Speaker 1: we head on into football season. I've been thinking a
0:26
Speaker 1: lot about it. I get so many texts. And I've
0:29
Speaker 1: talked so much about the ending of that Commanders game.
0:36
Speaker 1: I was reading today Micah Parsons who... The one thing
0:40
Speaker 1: I appreciate about Micah... I think this rubs some people
0:44
Speaker 1: in the NFL the wrong way. But I've said this forever.
0:48
Speaker 1: When people get mad at me inside the NFL... People
0:52
Speaker 1: that I've said things about that take it personally or whatever.
0:56
Speaker 1: It's like, well... We all have a bunch of opinions
0:59
Speaker 1: on a million things when it comes to football. Everything
1:02
Speaker 1: I've ever said in regards to the NFL is all
1:05
Speaker 1: on the record. Yet, I was asked this question yesterday
1:09
Speaker 1: in the mailbag. Where do these anonymous sources come from?
1:11
Speaker 1: The GMs. They all have takes. They all have thoughts.
1:15
Speaker 1: Spent many years around these guys. Still talk to a
1:17
Speaker 1: lot of them. They're shitting on everybody. anonymously you know
1:21
Speaker 1: there's nothing anonymous about here and most players are no
1:24
Speaker 1: different they're like me or you they got takes they
1:27
Speaker 1: got thoughts shitting on different players coaches executives now is
1:33
Speaker 1: an ideal situation to do when you're injured and not
1:37
Speaker 1: able to contribute probably not but Michael will just say
1:40
Speaker 1: whatever he'll just say what's on his mind and today
1:43
Speaker 1: uh he said that Jaden Daniels probably costs my man
1:48
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn his job He said that out loud. To
1:53
Speaker 1: be honest with you, and like, I'm a big Jaden
1:55
Speaker 1: Daniels fan, but the reality is, he probably cost a
1:58
Speaker 1: lot of people their jobs this past weekend. Respectfully, we
2:01
Speaker 1: get coached in all these different situations. I'm a defensive player,
2:06
Speaker 1: and the shit's programmed to me. I even know what
2:09
Speaker 1: to do in those situations. There's no way I'm taking
2:12
Speaker 1: a sack with 14 seconds left and no timeouts. And
2:15
Speaker 1: mind you, it'd be different if Jaden was a rookie.
2:18
Speaker 1: This is your third year. This is your third year.
2:21
Speaker 1: You've been to the NFC Championship game. You've been in
2:23
Speaker 1: big moments. And to me, like even after the sack,
2:26
Speaker 1: you're just casually getting up. This is your job, bro.
2:30
Speaker 1: This is your job to be prepared and understand the
2:32
Speaker 1: game and understand the situation. It's your job profile. You're
2:36
Speaker 1: telling me, oh, we're going to want to pay this
2:38
Speaker 1: guy $ 60 million one day? Cannot happen. I'm a big
2:42
Speaker 1: JD5 fan, but it's inexcusable. Jeez, crushing him. The lack
2:48
Speaker 1: of preparation, lack of mentality, and lack of urgency, it
2:51
Speaker 1: just can't happen. I said this yesterday. I saw Josina Anderson,
3:00
Speaker 1: the chick that used to work for ESPN. Someone forwarded
3:03
Speaker 1: it to me. She took all these people that said
3:05
Speaker 1: that Dan Quinn, it was a fireable offense. She's like, oh,
3:09
Speaker 1: you guys. She took screenshots and did one of those
3:12
Speaker 1: Instagram where you talk over you know, me and Colin
3:15
Speaker 1: on Sunday, I think Stephen A. Smith, I would imagine
3:18
Speaker 1: every show. She's like, you're coming after a guy's livelihood.
3:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, just, Justina, his livelihood, the guy's making fucking
3:26
Speaker 1: $ 8 million a year. His kids' kids won't have mortgages. Like,
3:30
Speaker 1: there's no livelihood. We're just saying he shouldn't be the
3:32
Speaker 1: coach of the commanders. To me, when I think livelihood,
3:36
Speaker 1: he can fucking pay for everything. And he's been a
3:38
Speaker 1: multimillionaire for many years. And I'm not saying, like, that's
3:42
Speaker 1: not a shot at rich guys. Like, I'm pro-rich guy.
3:45
Speaker 1: This is the wrong podcast if you think I'm coming
3:47
Speaker 1: after him for that. My point is just his job,
3:51
Speaker 1: I just view him as a complete meathead now. And
3:54
Speaker 1: I think he's always had vibes of that. But he's
3:58
Speaker 1: a nice guy. People like him. But that is something
4:00
Speaker 1: you can never look at him as the same. And
4:03
Speaker 1: I do think the quarterback in that situation, who clearly
4:07
Speaker 1: didn't know what was going on, And in fairness, no
4:09
Speaker 1: one in the huddle knew what's going on. Like, I
4:12
Speaker 1: just can't look at that operation the same. I can't
4:14
Speaker 1: take these people seriously. I can't take them seriously. The
4:19
Speaker 1: head coach, the quarterback. I said this yesterday when Jaden
4:22
Speaker 1: was smiling. It's like, I just don't even... I'm at
4:29
Speaker 1: a loss, you know? And I already didn't really take
4:32
Speaker 1: them seriously. On the Lane Kiffin, the jersey thing, it's like...
4:37
Speaker 1: That one was a huge red flag for me. And
4:39
Speaker 1: then you find out talking to people in the NFL
4:41
Speaker 1: that have scouted and know the situation, the mom. It's
4:44
Speaker 1: like I'm just out on the whole deal. But I
4:46
Speaker 1: do respect talent. I come from Andy Reid. I'm pro
4:50
Speaker 1: big arms, fast players, blue chippers. It's why I was
4:54
Speaker 1: slow to wrap my arms around Purdy. It's why I'm
4:58
Speaker 1: slow to wrap my arms around the Dax. I like
5:01
Speaker 1: the Josh Allens. I like the Mahomes. I like the
5:04
Speaker 1: guys with the elite talent. But if you don't know
5:08
Speaker 1: what's going on, who gives a shit? And I would
5:12
Speaker 1: say Dan Quinn standing there looking at, you know, the
5:15
Speaker 1: sky and Jaden just in the huddle. It's something you
5:19
Speaker 1: don't overcome. It really is. We saw the two situations,
5:25
Speaker 1: Sirianni and Jaden Daniels and Dan Quinn. The Sirianni situation is,
5:32
Speaker 1: or I mean the Washington situation is 50x worse than Knicks.
5:36
Speaker 1: And Knicks was bad. Especially because at the end of
5:39
Speaker 1: the game, the Parker Washington punt, they were running circles
5:42
Speaker 1: around you. But we see a lot of chess first
5:44
Speaker 1: checkers in the NFL. We don't see just completely out
5:48
Speaker 1: to lunch, staring at the sky, lost at sea. which
5:53
Speaker 1: the commanders were. And I just don't know how you're
5:58
Speaker 1: playing the 49ers this week, probably going to get your
6:00
Speaker 1: teeth kicked in. I just don't think you overcome it. And,
6:05
Speaker 1: you know, the one guy in the league that has
6:07
Speaker 1: no problem just saying what he thinks, because everyone in
6:09
Speaker 1: the league thinks this. The one thing I would say
6:10
Speaker 1: about Micah, everyone in the league, it's like last year
6:15
Speaker 1: when it happened to Anthony Richardson and he tapped himself
6:18
Speaker 1: out of the game. You notice that was one time
6:23
Speaker 1: where every player was very comfortable going on the record,
6:27
Speaker 1: like how that is completely unacceptable. His players on his
6:30
Speaker 1: own team, players on other teams. It was like gloves off.
6:35
Speaker 1: Most of these situations, though, guys will be kind of hesitant.
6:38
Speaker 1: You're not going to see a bunch of guys around
6:40
Speaker 1: the league, definitely no coaches touching it. If anything, coaches
6:43
Speaker 1: will just say we use it as a teaching moment.
6:45
Speaker 1: But no one will say that that's the stupidest shit
6:47
Speaker 1: I've ever seen in my entire life. Everyone's thinking that.
6:52
Speaker 1: And Micah just said literally what everybody's thinking. You don't
6:57
Speaker 1: overcome it. Everyone's getting fired. Jaden won't. Jaden will get
7:02
Speaker 1: another opportunity. But I do think he's looked at it
7:04
Speaker 1: a little differently now. That situation. Because ultimately the huddle
7:08
Speaker 1: is his. And I get it. Everyone's tired. Long game. Wet. Dreary. But,
7:16
Speaker 1: you know, the other thing Dan Quinn is, someone, a buddy, Mark,
7:19
Speaker 1: texted me today. He's like, you know, what's funny about
7:23
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan is the only assistant coach ever to bear
7:28
Speaker 1: the blame of a terrible loss and no one, I
7:31
Speaker 1: have never once heard Dan Quinn's name associated with 28-3.
7:36
Speaker 1: It is all Kyle Shanahan. What's the old, what's the
7:42
Speaker 1: old line? They don't boo nobodies? No. No one takes
7:46
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn seriously. Have they for a long time? And
7:49
Speaker 1: I feel like I've heard great things about the human being.
7:53
Speaker 1: People love him. And I think Micah's coming after Jaden
7:55
Speaker 1: because Micah loves him. And as a defensive coordinator, he's
7:59
Speaker 1: proven to be pretty solid. When he gets fired, he'll
8:02
Speaker 1: probably become a defensive coordinator and that defense will get good.
8:09
Speaker 1: But as a head coach, the expectation, like that's just...
8:12
Speaker 1: You know, unacceptable. Like, what's unacceptable? Like, unacceptable is like
8:18
Speaker 1: when I snap back at my wife because Jack's yelling
8:21
Speaker 1: at him. I can't think. It's like, I can't do that.
8:24
Speaker 1: I got to hold myself. No, that's, there's unacceptable. That's
8:30
Speaker 1: stupid things. Fumbling, you know, like James Cook. That's unacceptable.
8:34
Speaker 1: But it happens. Unacceptable things happen a lot. And then
8:37
Speaker 1: there's that. Which is just... Unacceptable is in a different
8:41
Speaker 1: room than what we just witnessed there. That's just... You're fired.
8:45
Speaker 1: What did Trump say on The Apprentice? You're fired. I mean, that's...
8:49
Speaker 1: But there's no livelihood. Dan Quinn's living in homes with
8:54
Speaker 1: no mortgages. I mean... Dan Quinn's got multiple homes. Dan
8:58
Speaker 1: Quinn has printed cash for a long time now. I mean...
9:03
Speaker 1: millions in the bank on top of the cash flow
9:06
Speaker 1: that he's got guaranteed for this job. No head coach's
9:10
Speaker 1: livelihood is ever on the line. Livelihood is making 80 grand,
9:15
Speaker 1: having a couple kids, getting laid off, and having no
9:18
Speaker 1: money to pay for your life. Can't pay the rent.
9:21
Speaker 1: Can't buy groceries. That's livelihood. What Dan Quinn is, is
9:26
Speaker 1: just A guy making a lot of money who's not
9:28
Speaker 1: good at his job. I mean, that's just a fact.
9:32
Speaker 1: And he's also owed money once he's fired to go away.
9:35
Speaker 1: One big story today I found pretty interesting was that
9:38
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman and Joe Buck got into a little bit
9:41
Speaker 1: of a heated argument, supposedly in the Monday night football booth,
9:46
Speaker 1: over their contract situations. Joe Buck, I think within the
9:51
Speaker 1: last month or so, since the start of the football season,
9:53
Speaker 1: has signed a contract extension to be the voice of
9:56
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football, call Super Bowls for ESPN. But his podcast,
10:00
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman, has not. And he had gone on record,
10:05
Speaker 1: I think within the last couple weeks, saying they haven't
10:07
Speaker 1: even had discussions. And I want to defend Joe Buck
10:11
Speaker 1: for a second. There are two types of partnerships, right?
10:16
Speaker 1: Some of you... Many of you probably work for somebody.
10:19
Speaker 1: You're a W-2 employee. And maybe you have a team.
10:23
Speaker 1: Maybe you have, depending on what you do, a couple guys,
10:27
Speaker 1: maybe one person that is like partner. You work hand
10:30
Speaker 1: in hand with them to do whatever you're doing. At
10:33
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you don't control their employment.
10:38
Speaker 1: You don't control the capital allocation that your company chooses
10:44
Speaker 1: or doesn't choose to do. You are at will to
10:48
Speaker 1: what they want to do. And I don't blame Joe
10:52
Speaker 1: Buck at all for signing this guy. He doesn't run Disney.
10:56
Speaker 1: He doesn't pick and choose who stays and who goes.
11:00
Speaker 1: They put $ 100 million in front of him. $ 100 million.
11:05
Speaker 1: And he signed the contract. One, if you're Troy Aikman,
11:10
Speaker 1: who we can nitpick and argue until we're blue in
11:13
Speaker 1: the face. Some of you think that this duo sucks.
11:16
Speaker 1: Some of you think whatever. And some people like me
11:19
Speaker 1: think it's really good. But if you're on the side
11:24
Speaker 1: of it's pretty good to really good, well, we just
11:28
Speaker 1: saw Tom Brady sign. who obviously is on a different
11:31
Speaker 1: level than Troy Aikman in terms of fame, get $ 37 million.
11:36
Speaker 1: So if you're Troy, and obviously Tom, part of it
11:39
Speaker 1: is for Fox and the advertising. Colin said this before.
11:44
Speaker 1: What Colin or what Tom brings to the table in
11:47
Speaker 1: terms of selling the brand and using it at these
11:51
Speaker 1: big advertising conventions he's up on the stage is worth
11:55
Speaker 1: a lot to Fox. Troy is not of that ilk
11:58
Speaker 1: at this point in time in 2026. But his value
12:01
Speaker 1: as a commentator, you saw Tony Romo, inflation, he's probably
12:05
Speaker 1: going to want $ 25- ish million a year. What if ESPN
12:08
Speaker 1: has no thoughts of doing that? What if ESPN goes,
12:11
Speaker 1: we already have people under contract that we could just
12:14
Speaker 1: put with Joe Buck and rock from there? Now, we
12:16
Speaker 1: could disagree however it comes out, and maybe we'd say
12:19
Speaker 1: this would suck. But I don't blame Joe Buck at all.
12:24
Speaker 1: Because again, he's not in control. right? You have to
12:28
Speaker 1: make decisions. When I was fired in radio, you know
12:31
Speaker 1: how radio usually works, your show ends on whatever day
12:36
Speaker 1: and they immediately call you into an office. And you
12:38
Speaker 1: walk into that office and there's a couple HR people
12:41
Speaker 1: sitting there. And in radio, there's this thing called the
12:43
Speaker 1: program director. He's sitting there, biggest dingbat I've ever been
12:47
Speaker 1: around in my life. And they tell you, you're done.
12:51
Speaker 1: And here's what you need to sign. You're owed this
12:53
Speaker 1: much money. Ideally, you have a couple years left on
12:57
Speaker 1: your contract. Your boy had like a month. But regardless,
13:00
Speaker 1: and then you're kind of, you leave the building. Well,
13:02
Speaker 1: my partner, Guy Haberman, who's currently calling the 49er games,
13:06
Speaker 1: they offered him to stay and give him a raise,
13:10
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. I think we were making like,
13:12
Speaker 1: I don't know, 85K, 15, what year was that? 16, 90K,
13:18
Speaker 1: which looking back is, you know, I was cool. I
13:21
Speaker 1: was 30 years old, all in. That job, take it
13:25
Speaker 1: away from me. And they offered Haberman a raise, an extension.
13:29
Speaker 1: And he didn't give him an answer right away. We
13:33
Speaker 1: both hated the place by that time and thought it
13:35
Speaker 1: was going the wrong direction. And he ultimately turned it down. Now,
13:40
Speaker 1: I probably would have been, I don't even want to
13:44
Speaker 1: say disappointed, but you would have had some weird feelings
13:49
Speaker 1: inside if he had stayed. But at the end of
13:50
Speaker 1: the day, he had just gotten married. Like, I mean,
13:53
Speaker 1: you have to take care of your own family. Now,
13:56
Speaker 1: he denied it. We went off. We turned that radio
13:59
Speaker 1: show into a podcast and financially saved me. Ten years later,
14:03
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here. But, like, you got to make decisions
14:06
Speaker 1: for yourself when you're in these. There was no guarantee
14:09
Speaker 1: how anything else was going to play out in that business. Like.
14:13
Speaker 1: You're going to move markets? Where are you going to
14:15
Speaker 1: get a radio job? Turns out we were at a
14:17
Speaker 1: perfect inflection point where podcasts was coming. But again, I
14:22
Speaker 1: didn't control, he didn't control how they pick and choose
14:26
Speaker 1: who they want to keep or not to keep. For
14:28
Speaker 1: whatever reason, and I've always said this to the guy,
14:30
Speaker 1: we were both negative on the Raiders. I got pigeonholed
14:34
Speaker 1: as the really negative guy. Well, there's probably some truth
14:36
Speaker 1: to that. Actually, there's a lot of truth to that.
14:38
Speaker 1: But my point is that if we had owned the business...
14:43
Speaker 1: and one of us had gone behind the other person's back,
14:48
Speaker 1: that's scumbag move. That's being a bad person. That's lack
14:53
Speaker 1: of loyalty. If we had been partners in the business,
14:57
Speaker 1: shared in the revenue, not W-2 employees, I look at
15:01
Speaker 1: that completely different. So I view this Troy Aikman, Joe
15:04
Speaker 1: Buck thing like, these guys don't own the company. Joe
15:07
Speaker 1: Buck ain't the bad guy here. I get why Troy
15:10
Speaker 1: Aikman's mad. Total human emotions and feelings. We've been working
15:17
Speaker 1: together forever. Things change. Mike and Mike were partners for
15:21
Speaker 1: 20 years. And then Mike clearly kind of realized like,
15:25
Speaker 1: We've peaked. I'm going to move on. Maybe Joe's thinking
15:28
Speaker 1: that too. Maybe he knows they have other people in
15:32
Speaker 1: mind for that position who are way cheaper than what
15:34
Speaker 1: Troy would make. Is Troy going to take a discount?
15:37
Speaker 1: Would Troy take the same amount that Joe just got?
15:40
Speaker 1: I mean, the last contract, Troy got way more than Joe.
15:43
Speaker 1: So it's like, I don't know. I think these stories
15:47
Speaker 1: become such a big deal because they are like, damn,
15:49
Speaker 1: what a headline. Because, I mean, a fight broke out. Obviously,
15:53
Speaker 1: Troy would have big advantage. And they've both been very public.
15:57
Speaker 1: They're BFFs. They're boys. They hang out. They have a
15:59
Speaker 1: very close relationship. Sometimes doing business with your friends in
16:03
Speaker 1: situations like this, not everyone is going to be like, yeah,
16:07
Speaker 1: I'm out. Or I'm only going to do it if
16:11
Speaker 1: you do this with this person. That's pretty rare. And
16:14
Speaker 1: sometimes that person doesn't have a choice. Like, where else
16:16
Speaker 1: is he going to go? Where else is he ever
16:17
Speaker 1: going to sniff that money? So sometimes, as a wise
16:21
Speaker 1: man once told me, the only person who's truly going
16:24
Speaker 1: to care about you is you. So you got to
16:26
Speaker 1: take care of yourself sometimes first. And I got this question,
16:29
Speaker 1: and I think this is in regards to this. Question
16:33
Speaker 1: for the pod. Do you know how sports broadcasters make
16:37
Speaker 1: so much money? I just saw Joe Buck got a
16:40
Speaker 1: $ 100 million contract, and I can't understand how or why.
16:44
Speaker 1: I get it brings in a lot of money and
16:47
Speaker 1: a lot of viewers, but why does a broadcaster deserve
16:51
Speaker 1: that kind of dough? I watched some games on silent.
16:54
Speaker 1: It's gotta be the most overpaid job in the country
16:57
Speaker 1: and on the short list of undeserved salaries. Just a
17:03
Speaker 1: pet peeve of mine, I hate the word deserve. I
17:07
Speaker 1: heard this great quote a long time ago, like, you
17:09
Speaker 1: don't earn what you deserve, you kind of earn what
17:11
Speaker 1: you negotiate. Like, none of us deserve anything. You know,
17:15
Speaker 1: he gets that because they negotiated the contract. What does
17:20
Speaker 1: anyone deserve, right? I would say this. One thing ESPN
17:28
Speaker 1: is clearly, I mean, they went through a period where
17:31
Speaker 1: half the people on their network were like, cancel football,
17:34
Speaker 1: make it end, no more football. It's like, guys, it's
17:37
Speaker 1: the number one show in America. Guys, do you know
17:39
Speaker 1: the average American? They fucking love football. Have you left
17:44
Speaker 1: the walls of this studio in which you're saying, concussion, CTE,
17:48
Speaker 1: end it all. No. How about we play more football?
17:54
Speaker 1: That's what the consumer wants. And that's what ESPN pivoted
17:58
Speaker 1: to and got rid of all those people that it
18:00
Speaker 1: kind of felt like hated football or just thought they
18:03
Speaker 1: could get a bunch of likes and shit on Twitter.
18:06
Speaker 1: But ESPN has gone overboard. To repair a relationship that
18:11
Speaker 1: was clearly pretty bad. And they also went through a
18:14
Speaker 1: stretch of... The broadcast was pretty bad. I mean, was
18:18
Speaker 1: borderline unwatchable. It was embarrassing. I mean, it was Monday
18:23
Speaker 1: night football. I mean, at one point in time, they
18:25
Speaker 1: had Al Michaels and John Madden on Monday night football.
18:28
Speaker 1: It's like, this is your product? And... One thing when
18:34
Speaker 1: it comes to these relationships is part of the reason
18:38
Speaker 1: Tony Romo got a lot of money is because everyone
18:41
Speaker 1: liked him at the time, but also it looks good
18:44
Speaker 1: when you're negotiating these deals. I don't think the league
18:47
Speaker 1: is going to tell you who to hire, but if
18:50
Speaker 1: they just hire John Middlecoff to call a game, and
18:53
Speaker 1: let's say every single week I'm just talking a bunch
18:55
Speaker 1: of shit about the league, about the owners, do you
18:58
Speaker 1: know who's not going to like that? The NFL. The NFL.
19:00
Speaker 1: Like I see some of these blog sites, like ESPN
19:04
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Pataro have been working with the government on
19:08
Speaker 1: the Protect Sports Act because they were nervous about their
19:11
Speaker 1: contracts with the SEC. Yeah, guys, it's called business. If
19:16
Speaker 1: they get worried all the money they're spending, something could
19:19
Speaker 1: derail their business, then yeah, you do whatever it takes
19:24
Speaker 1: to fucking make it right. Whether you agree, disagree, think
19:27
Speaker 1: it's fair or not, that's business 101. Why do you
19:31
Speaker 1: think the, my mom used to work at the state
19:34
Speaker 1: capitol for a long time. Do you know who she
19:36
Speaker 1: would see every single day? Lobbyists. Why do you think
19:39
Speaker 1: lobbyists exist? Because these businesses don't want to stop making money.
19:45
Speaker 1: Welcome to America, baby. And I don't blame the NFL
19:49
Speaker 1: at all for wanting their product. What's the NFL worth?
19:53
Speaker 1: Like in the aggregate, like total, right? If you just
19:56
Speaker 1: factor in all the franchises. There's 32 of them. What's
20:01
Speaker 1: the average franchise worth? $ 7, $ 8 billion? I mean, you're
20:03
Speaker 1: talking hundreds of billions of dollars. Their media deals are worth,
20:07
Speaker 1: I mean, this is an enormous business. I mean, enormous.
20:12
Speaker 1: So how your game is presented, right? You couldn't just
20:17
Speaker 1: have the game go on with no one saying anything. Well,
20:19
Speaker 1: it's like, why does it even matter? And there's some
20:21
Speaker 1: truth to that because there are some broadcasters that are
20:22
Speaker 1: just bad. But I do think on Monday Night Football,
20:26
Speaker 1: there's a reason. Listen, he's lost his fastball. But having
20:30
Speaker 1: Al Michaels on Thursday Night Football, in theory, brought some,
20:36
Speaker 1: I would say, gravitas to the event. It kind of
20:40
Speaker 1: elevated it. Now, it technically doesn't anymore because he's kind
20:43
Speaker 1: of shot. But 10 years ago, that would have been
20:46
Speaker 1: a really big deal. And NBC, like when they got
20:50
Speaker 1: the NBA this year, well, they lied to us, but
20:53
Speaker 1: there's a reason, like, let's get Michael Jordan, because you
20:56
Speaker 1: want to prove to the league, the partners, the relationship.
20:59
Speaker 1: How many of you guys are in some form of
21:02
Speaker 1: sales where your relationship with someone else matters a lot?
21:08
Speaker 1: Anyone that follows Costco's business model knows that every, you know,
21:14
Speaker 1: I would say, Person, retail, what's the word I'm looking for?
21:20
Speaker 1: Whatever you see, whether it's Gillette razors to certain shoe,
21:26
Speaker 1: you name it. Dyson, they have to give a specialized
21:31
Speaker 1: SKU to Costco. It is demanded. You cannot have that
21:34
Speaker 1: SKU when you walk into Safeway, when you walk into Walmart,
21:37
Speaker 1: anywhere else. It is specific to Costco. But all these
21:41
Speaker 1: people's businesses, the revenue in which they generate... The percentage
21:46
Speaker 1: of the pie that comes from Costco can be like 50%
21:50
Speaker 1: to 80%. So they're the majority of your business. You're like, yeah,
21:53
Speaker 1: no problem. What else do you need? You need to
21:56
Speaker 1: wipe your ass while we're at it? And I think
21:59
Speaker 1: that's the way that these broadcast networks view the NFL
22:03
Speaker 1: is you got to take care of them because you
22:05
Speaker 1: know where your bread's butter. You can't function, especially these
22:09
Speaker 1: traditional networks. They would go out of business. I mean, Fox,
22:15
Speaker 1: I think, does an incredible job, the presentation of the
22:19
Speaker 1: NFL games. But when I go to the Fox lot
22:22
Speaker 1: for Colin, there's a lot of New York City, Chicago,
22:28
Speaker 1: the streets where they used to shoot shows. I've been
22:30
Speaker 1: doing it now for several years. I don't think in
22:33
Speaker 1: all the time I've been there, I've ever seen a
22:34
Speaker 1: show shot there anymore. And part of that is like Hollywood, California,
22:39
Speaker 1: the rules of like saving money, shooting shows other ways.
22:43
Speaker 1: It's not just black and white, but it's also like, yeah,
22:47
Speaker 1: we just, we're not in that business as much as
22:50
Speaker 1: we once were because it's not as lucrative. People don't
22:53
Speaker 1: watch and they do watch the NFL. And if the NFL,
22:58
Speaker 1: we want to make sure they're happy because their importance
23:00
Speaker 1: to us is, it's not just important, it's essential or
23:05
Speaker 1: we die. I need to tell you about this new
23:15
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23:18
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23:21
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23:23
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23:25
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23:29
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24:55
Speaker 1: did want to start with some predictions brought to you
24:59
Speaker 1: by my friends at Polymarket. I saw a good stat.
25:03
Speaker 1: that a team coming off an international game, playing a
25:07
Speaker 1: team off a bye has happened four times. The team
25:11
Speaker 1: off the bye is 4-0. I don't like the Panthers
25:15
Speaker 1: this week. I love them. This goes back to the
25:18
Speaker 1: Lander Dickerson comments. Obviously, Jalen Hurts' blood clot, all the
25:23
Speaker 1: moving parts on their offensive line, all the injuries they
25:26
Speaker 1: have on offense. I mean, they're down to like They're
25:29
Speaker 1: pulling running backs out of the UFL. They're completely desperate.
25:34
Speaker 1: I honestly don't really know what the Eagles do. And
25:36
Speaker 1: you get to a point where you have so many injuries,
25:40
Speaker 1: there isn't much you can do. And you're playing the
25:43
Speaker 1: Panthers off a bye after all this weird shit. You're
25:48
Speaker 1: coming home, which in theory should be good, but it actually,
25:50
Speaker 1: to me, can get weird. I've been to a lot
25:54
Speaker 1: of games in that building. We've all watched a lot
25:57
Speaker 1: of games on television. for the Eagles playing at home,
26:00
Speaker 1: and they get edgy. They get angry. They will boo
26:04
Speaker 1: if shit goes bad. Now, this is the first real game.
26:08
Speaker 1: He started the game at the end of the season,
26:09
Speaker 1: but Tanner McKee's thrown into the fire. And honestly, if
26:14
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been for Jalen getting flagged for the
26:20
Speaker 1: potential concussion a couple weeks ago against the Bears when
26:23
Speaker 1: he had to leave, and then Dalton comes in and
26:25
Speaker 1: throws the pick... I do wonder if Dalton gets cut
26:29
Speaker 1: in that situation because remember they wanted to leave Lane
26:32
Speaker 1: Johnson on the roster and they kind of got rid
26:34
Speaker 1: of his roster spot. Is Andy Dalton in a different
26:38
Speaker 1: world if Jalen Hurts doesn't get hit like that and
26:42
Speaker 1: just runs out of bounds? Is he actually the guy
26:44
Speaker 1: starting a quarterback? Did they actually foresee? Because Jalen, one
26:49
Speaker 1: thing he's proven is to be a pretty durable player. Uh, like,
26:53
Speaker 1: did they think that this was their best option two
26:56
Speaker 1: and a half weeks ago? Or did that one interception
27:00
Speaker 1: just be like, fuck it. What are we even doing here?
27:02
Speaker 1: So that, I just think there's a lot of weird
27:04
Speaker 1: stuff going on here. Um, I, I, I love Carolina.
27:09
Speaker 1: I mean, I honestly, I couldn't love them anymore. Uh, that, that,
27:12
Speaker 1: that line is flying up the charts. It's now at
27:15
Speaker 1: three and a half. I I'm taking them on poly
27:17
Speaker 1: market to cover a hundred dollars pays one 93. Um,
27:22
Speaker 1: I do think there's a chance that Carolina wins this
27:25
Speaker 1: game by double digits. And, you know, the Eagles have really,
27:29
Speaker 1: really struggled with Hurts. What's it going to look like
27:32
Speaker 1: with a backup quarterback, with a bunch of injuries at
27:35
Speaker 1: wide receiver, with no decent running backs in sight, with
27:39
Speaker 1: offensive linemen who just started playing together literally last week?
27:43
Speaker 1: You know, it's very dependent. They would need a Herculean
27:47
Speaker 1: effort out of Fangio in the defense. They would need
27:50
Speaker 1: like a six-act day out of Jalen Carter. And I
27:53
Speaker 1: don't know, man. I see this thing going really, really bad.
27:58
Speaker 1: The other game. I have a lot of respect, and
28:01
Speaker 1: I said this, his accomplishment making the team as an
28:04
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent is pretty incredible. Jalen Daniels winning the
28:08
Speaker 1: backup job is just... That's as good of an accomplishment
28:14
Speaker 1: at a training camp that can be had. Because a
28:16
Speaker 1: lot of undrafted free agents make teams. That's not abnormal.
28:20
Speaker 1: But to make it as a quarterback and them to
28:23
Speaker 1: give you the nod as the number two quarterback is
28:26
Speaker 1: borderline unprecedented. I'd have to chat GPT it, but I
28:30
Speaker 1: would imagine in the internet era, maybe it happened more
28:33
Speaker 1: back in the day. There can't be many times that
28:36
Speaker 1: has happened. I remember, was it the Bills game? Jeff Toole,
28:40
Speaker 1: the Washington State guy, they had a bunch of injuries
28:42
Speaker 1: started in the game. I'm pretty sure it was an
28:44
Speaker 1: undrafted free agent, though he might have been a seventh rounder.
28:47
Speaker 1: But he was solid last week. Relative to the standard
28:53
Speaker 1: of an undrafted free agent on a short week, you
28:55
Speaker 1: could say he was really good. Because how low the
28:58
Speaker 1: expectations were. I do think there's a little bit of
29:01
Speaker 1: a different animal against the Steelers. I would also kind
29:04
Speaker 1: of expect this to be a Steelers home game. Now,
29:06
Speaker 1: the Steelers are missing a million wide receivers. Skronick's out.
29:10
Speaker 1: Pittman's out. They're missing another guy, too. They're missing a
29:17
Speaker 1: bunch of wide receivers, which is kind of what Rodgers
29:20
Speaker 1: was used to last year. It's like DK Metcalf, the
29:23
Speaker 1: tight ends, and Jalen Warren. My thing is less about
29:26
Speaker 1: their offense. I think they'll just figure it out and
29:28
Speaker 1: manipulate enough points. Rodgers is actually playing pretty well, and
29:31
Speaker 1: Jalen Warren's going nuts. It's more about an undrafted free agent,
29:35
Speaker 1: like back-to-back weeks. And I know he gets a little
29:38
Speaker 1: extra rest because they played on Thursday. last week but
29:41
Speaker 1: like is he gonna string together good games because if
29:44
Speaker 1: he does that's I'm willing to go down I'm taking
29:47
Speaker 1: the Steelers here minus two and a half yes pays
29:50
Speaker 1: 100 pays 183 I just assumed, I don't know why
29:56
Speaker 1: I did this. Maybe it's because I think Schefter said
29:59
Speaker 1: he's trending to play. And then you look, you're like, well,
30:03
Speaker 1: I don't know if Lamar's going to play. And then
30:04
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry's talking today, like we're prepared to play with
30:07
Speaker 1: Snoop Huntley. Sitting here right now on Thursday afternoon, I'm
30:11
Speaker 1: assuming Huntley's going to play. And then I saw this
30:14
Speaker 1: clip of Marlon Humphrey talking in his locker. And he's like,
30:17
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, weird shit just happens in Cleveland.
30:20
Speaker 1: Like we expect this game to be weird. And I
30:24
Speaker 1: saw some stats on Deshaun Watson. And I'm not trying to...
30:29
Speaker 1: I've disrespected PFF a lot. But PFF is just crushing him.
30:33
Speaker 1: The eye test last week definitely passed it. And if
30:35
Speaker 1: you go back to the game they won against the Steelers.
30:38
Speaker 1: He was trying to give them the game away. So
30:42
Speaker 1: he did show some signs of life early in the season.
30:44
Speaker 1: I do think he's resorting back to what we all
30:47
Speaker 1: assumed he was. Not a good player anymore. So... It
30:52
Speaker 1: makes me a little nervous, but I do think what
30:54
Speaker 1: Marlon Humphrey said is just so true. Games get weird.
30:58
Speaker 1: They're especially divisional games. Now, if Lamar played, I would
31:02
Speaker 1: have liked the Ravens by like 14, 20 points. I
31:05
Speaker 1: would have liked them huge, even if they were a
31:08
Speaker 1: pretty big favorite on the road. I would have been
31:10
Speaker 1: comfortable with it. But I don't know if I'm comfortable
31:14
Speaker 1: with the Huntley backup quarterback on the road, everyone banging
31:18
Speaker 1: the side. I expect weirdness. And if you're going to
31:21
Speaker 1: give me three and a half, I'll take the Browns.
31:23
Speaker 1: 100 pays 193. You know, I typically do the four box.
31:31
Speaker 1: This is a pretty bad week. I think you could
31:33
Speaker 1: make the argument that it's like, what would you even create?
31:37
Speaker 1: Houston plays Jacksonville and London, which is a pretty big
31:39
Speaker 1: game for Houston. And Jacksonville's kind of, you know, very,
31:44
Speaker 1: very fortunate to be 4-1 right now. That game was
31:48
Speaker 1: lost until Sirianni's like, yeah, kick it to him. I
31:52
Speaker 1: kind of like Houston in that spot. But then this
31:54
Speaker 1: is our morning slate. Chicago at Atlanta, which it looks
31:59
Speaker 1: like Penix is going to play, but I could see
32:02
Speaker 1: him not last and a half. Baltimore at Cleveland. Titans
32:06
Speaker 1: at Indy. New York at New England. New Orleans at
32:10
Speaker 1: New York. Panthers at Philly and Pittsburgh at Tampa, which
32:13
Speaker 1: we talked about. Those are our games. That is, now,
32:20
Speaker 1: some of these games are going to be extremely entertaining.
32:23
Speaker 1: I will be excited to watch once they're on. But
32:25
Speaker 1: we all have to agree on paper, it's like, the
32:29
Speaker 1: Jets going to New England, they're getting like 7.5 points.
32:33
Speaker 1: Tennessee at Indy, Indianapolis is not very good. They're favored
32:36
Speaker 1: by a touchdown. This is bad. And this is what
32:43
Speaker 1: we talked about, about Thursday night thriving, the bye weeks.
32:47
Speaker 1: You get a stretch here and the London game. There
32:50
Speaker 1: aren't that many good options. Like I would be hard pressed. Chicago,
32:54
Speaker 1: Atlanta for sure. Carolina at Philly. Would I just go,
33:02
Speaker 1: you know, if Huntley plays, it's like, I don't know,
33:05
Speaker 1: New York at New England. New Orleans and New York?
33:11
Speaker 1: This is rough. This is rough. Even the afternoon. Cardinals
33:17
Speaker 1: at the Rams? They're almost a two-touchdown underdog. The Chargers
33:21
Speaker 1: playing Kansas City? The Chiefs are favored by eight and
33:25
Speaker 1: a half points. Buffalo at Vegas? Which is not terrible.
33:30
Speaker 1: In theory, unless the Vegas team we just saw last
33:34
Speaker 1: week is more who they were than the team that
33:36
Speaker 1: we saw the previous week against Kansas City, I'm hoping
33:39
Speaker 1: they're competitive because that has a chance, if Vegas is competitive,
33:43
Speaker 1: to probably be one of the better games, not the
33:45
Speaker 1: best game of the day. So even, you know, Dallas-Green
33:49
Speaker 1: Bay is a great brand game, but those teams are
33:53
Speaker 1: pretty flawed. And the Niners are playing the Commanders on
33:56
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football. So listen, I love football as much
33:59
Speaker 1: as the next guy. But this is a pretty rough
34:02
Speaker 1: slate here. You could argue the best game of the
34:05
Speaker 1: weekend is Ohio State at Indiana. Like that is, I
34:11
Speaker 1: understand he went 16-0, and Indiana's viewed as a top-notch
34:17
Speaker 1: powerhouse now. And it's incredible what he's done. I mean,
34:21
Speaker 1: it's unheard of. He literally showed up, took the worst
34:25
Speaker 1: program of all time, two years later won a national championship. Now,
34:28
Speaker 1: it's less unheard of in the day of NIL and
34:31
Speaker 1: when you got Cuban and Rich Guy stroking your checks.
34:34
Speaker 1: This wouldn't have been possible 10 years ago. But regardless,
34:37
Speaker 1: you can only deal with the rules and the stipulations
34:41
Speaker 1: that are at hand. And he handled it really, really well.
34:44
Speaker 1: Crushed it. I mean, a lot of people could have
34:46
Speaker 1: had Fernando Mendoza. Now, in fairness, it's not like Fernando
34:50
Speaker 1: Mendoza was a gem. He literally chose between Georgia and Indiana.
34:54
Speaker 1: So it's like, I mean, good teams wanted him too.
34:58
Speaker 1: But if you beat Ohio State back-to-back years, that might
35:06
Speaker 1: be as impressive of going 16-0. Now, I get it.
35:09
Speaker 1: You're playing them at home. Jeremiah Smith right now, 48 catches,
35:14
Speaker 1: 916 yards, and 11 touchdowns. I cannot get over how
35:19
Speaker 1: much respect I have for this guy. In this NIL era,
35:24
Speaker 1: he is making so much money. He was basically minted
35:29
Speaker 1: at the end of last season. I'm like, yeah, this
35:30
Speaker 1: guy's a top five lock. We've seen guys in that
35:34
Speaker 1: situation before be very uncomfortable because you can't really play football.
35:38
Speaker 1: You either play it like kind of half ass and
35:41
Speaker 1: it shows or you just play football. And not only
35:45
Speaker 1: because like, you know, Leonard Fournette and Clowney, remember, they're
35:50
Speaker 1: just like, I don't, I play not to get hurt.
35:54
Speaker 1: Maybe Leonard Fournette did it. Maybe I'm thinking about someone else.
35:56
Speaker 1: But it's just a weird predicament to be in, right?
36:00
Speaker 1: And this guy is playing. And I said this weeks
36:04
Speaker 1: ago when he was going nuts in like back-to-back weeks
36:07
Speaker 1: going for like 500 yards. Like he's trying to earn
36:11
Speaker 1: his roster spot. Like he's trying to prove himself. Now
36:15
Speaker 1: people push back and go, well, John, he's never won
36:17
Speaker 1: the Bolitnikoff. He's never won the Heisman. It's like, okay.
36:20
Speaker 1: I mean, he's already won a national championship. He's clearly
36:23
Speaker 1: viewed as one of the best non-quarterbacks in the country.
36:27
Speaker 1: And by this point, he's viewed as the best player
36:29
Speaker 1: in the country. I just don't know how they slow
36:32
Speaker 1: him down. And even I was watching Cignetti talk about
36:34
Speaker 1: it this week. He's like, yeah, just ultimate freak. And
36:40
Speaker 1: the one thing Indiana's really hung their hat on is
36:42
Speaker 1: they played in these tight games over the last couple
36:44
Speaker 1: of years. They just did it at Nebraska and they
36:47
Speaker 1: pull them out. And I, If you do that back-to-back
36:50
Speaker 1: years against Ohio State, who looks really, really good, and
36:54
Speaker 1: has a guy that is basically unstoppable. And this goes
36:57
Speaker 1: back to the Saban thing you watch when they really
36:59
Speaker 1: got going. It's like, Saban would just say, hey, great,
37:02
Speaker 1: throw it to Julio. John Parker Wilson, throw it to Julio. Like,
37:05
Speaker 1: that was their offense sometimes. Just, in the passing game,
37:09
Speaker 1: throw it to Julio. And if I'm Arthur Smith, like, yeah,
37:12
Speaker 1: let's throw it to four. Yeah, let's run another play
37:15
Speaker 1: for Jeremiah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look for four. It's pretty
37:20
Speaker 1: obvious because no one can stop them. And Indiana last
37:24
Speaker 1: year had Pawns, who was just an elite college player.
37:28
Speaker 1: We'll see how his NFL career turns out. But they're
37:32
Speaker 1: clearly not as dominant on defense. And I know a
37:35
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, well, Fernando to Hoover. It's like,
37:38
Speaker 1: I watched their offense. Their passing game is going to
37:39
Speaker 1: be fine. Their offense is not going to be the
37:42
Speaker 1: thing that holds Indiana back when the dust settles. It's
37:46
Speaker 1: when you play the best teams, can you slow them down?
37:49
Speaker 1: I mean, I watched them play Northwestern a couple weeks ago,
37:51
Speaker 1: and it was hard. So, it's just in this transfer
37:56
Speaker 1: portal era, you know, you're just going to miss on
37:59
Speaker 1: some guys. Or the guys that you paid aren't going
38:01
Speaker 1: to be as good as you thought. And this game is,
38:05
Speaker 1: can you imagine telling someone like five years ago, yeah,
38:08
Speaker 1: one of the best games of the year on paper
38:10
Speaker 1: is Ohio State at Indiana. You're like, what? You mean
38:13
Speaker 1: Ohio State at Michigan? You mean Ohio State at Oregon? Oregon? No,
38:16
Speaker 1: Ohio State at Indiana. Is it USC in the Big Ten?
38:20
Speaker 1: You mean like USC at one? No, Ohio State at Indiana.
38:24
Speaker 1: Must watch. Get your popcorn out. It is, could be
38:28
Speaker 1: a Final Four preview. People think you aren't drugs. It's like,
38:35
Speaker 1: I can't wait to watch this bad boy. The Volume.