Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / AFC and NFC Championship REACTION, McCarthy to the Steelers, What's going on in Cleveland

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AFC and NFC Championship REACTION, McCarthy to the Steelers, What's going on in Cleveland · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing?
0:18
Speaker 1: John Middlecoff three and Out Podcasts. Just watched a lot
0:22
Speaker 1: of football. Seattle beats the Rams, the New England Patriots
0:26
Speaker 1: beat the Denver Broncos, and uh Levi's a little rematch
0:32
Speaker 1: of ten plus years ago when Malcolm Butler. Who get
0:35
Speaker 1: ready because in two weeks radio row, Malcolm Butler might
0:40
Speaker 1: have more sponsorship dollars attached to his name doing the
0:45
Speaker 1: rounds than like Dan Marino meets John Elway. Everyone's gonna
0:49
Speaker 1: want to talk to that guy because we got this
0:51
Speaker 1: rematch Drake May taking on Sam Darnold. So we'll talk
0:55
Speaker 1: about these two games. I'll react to what we just witnessed.
1:00
Speaker 1: And then earlier today I recorded some stuff on McCarthy
1:04
Speaker 1: on the Cleveland Brown search, on Josh Allen being a
1:06
Speaker 1: part of the coaching search for the Bills, so we'll
1:12
Speaker 1: do some of that as well, and then we'll have
1:14
Speaker 1: a bunch of mailbags this week at John Middlecough fire
1:17
Speaker 1: in those dms, get your questions answering here on the show.
1:20
Speaker 1: I went on with Colin as well, so you can
1:22
Speaker 1: go check out that podcast any other Obviously, we're this
1:26
Speaker 1: podcast is on Netflix to go. Make sure if you
1:28
Speaker 1: want to watch the video, any video of any of
1:30
Speaker 1: our podcasts, check it out on Netflix. And if you
1:33
Speaker 1: listen on Collin's feed, make sure you subscribe to Spotify.
1:37
Speaker 1: Make sure you subscribe to Apple. Wherever you listen to podcasts,
1:40
Speaker 1: we got you covered. Just type in three and out.
1:43
Speaker 1: We'll be all this week. We'll have a bunch of
1:44
Speaker 1: shows next week. I'm going to the super Bowl, at
1:48
Speaker 1: least not the game though. The last time the game
1:50
Speaker 1: was actually in the lee By Stadium I attended when
1:53
Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers. But I'm going
1:56
Speaker 1: Tuesday Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday because we always do a
1:59
Speaker 1: Volume party, and it's good to see people you work
2:02
Speaker 1: with when you kind of have this job that a
2:05
Speaker 1: lot of people are working all over the country. It's
2:07
Speaker 1: not like an office job, so it's good to see people.
2:09
Speaker 1: Also our partners, people we're in business with, so I
2:12
Speaker 1: really enjoy I've been to the Volume Party now like
2:14
Speaker 1: four or five years in a row. But I'm also
2:16
Speaker 1: going our friends at Omaha, they said, hey, John Orphian
2:20
Speaker 1: Theater Tuesday Night, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, John Taylor. It's
2:25
Speaker 1: going to be moderated by Chris Berman. Are gonna have
2:28
Speaker 1: a Night of Champions and they're gonna relive one of
2:30
Speaker 1: the greatest seasons of all time, nineteen eighty nine San
2:32
Speaker 1: Francisco forty nine Ers. I'm surely talk a bunch of
2:34
Speaker 1: other football Do you want it? Like? Heck yeah, I
2:37
Speaker 1: want in. Well, obviously we got a lot of forty
2:39
Speaker 1: nine er fans and people Bay area people. If you're
2:42
Speaker 1: a Patriot fan or you're a Seattle fan, you're in
2:45
Speaker 1: town during the week and you want to go to
2:47
Speaker 1: watch Joe Montana hang out with Chris Berman, don't blame you.
2:50
Speaker 1: I'm doing it. Producer Jackson's coming with me Night of Champions,
2:53
Speaker 1: once in a lifetime conversation, legendary stories. Get in. Tickets
2:57
Speaker 1: are available now at Broadway dot com, and if you're there,
3:03
Speaker 1: say hi, because I'm gonna be there. I'm excited. I
3:05
Speaker 1: haven't seen Joe Montana. Ran into him one time close
3:08
Speaker 1: to Marcus Street in the city and started talking to
3:11
Speaker 1: him and I one tip I always have whenever you
3:15
Speaker 1: meet someone really really famous, the easiest way to get
3:18
Speaker 1: a conversation if you know their children's name, ask him
3:22
Speaker 1: a question. If I ever ran into Tiger Woods, the
3:24
Speaker 1: first thing I would ask him is, how's Charlie playing.
3:27
Speaker 1: I ran into Joe Montana his son Nick At the time,
3:30
Speaker 1: I think it just transferred. He was playing quarterback at Tulane.
3:33
Speaker 1: I asked him about his son. Joe Montana just looked
3:36
Speaker 1: at me and started talking, And about five six minutes later,
3:40
Speaker 1: we're just talking college football about his son. His wife
3:44
Speaker 1: Jennifer screams, Joe, we're leaving, and she haanked him away.
3:48
Speaker 1: Joe couldn't have been any cooler tip for advice anyone. You
3:51
Speaker 1: ever meet someone really really famous, easiest way to start
3:54
Speaker 1: the conversation asking them about their children works every time.
3:57
Speaker 1: I promise you that. Now, obviously you got to know
3:59
Speaker 1: who they're children are or they have children, but if
4:02
Speaker 1: they do, and you know, use that line, it works.
4:06
Speaker 1: So let's just dive into what we just witnessed. The
4:09
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks beat the La Rams, and a couple things
4:14
Speaker 1: jump out to me. Sam Darnold was a really polarizing
4:17
Speaker 1: player even during this season because people kept saying, wait
4:21
Speaker 1: till the big games. Last year, he threw thirty five touchdowns,
4:25
Speaker 1: yet in the biggest moments for the number one seed
4:28
Speaker 1: on the line Sunday Night Football against the Lions, and
4:30
Speaker 1: then the playoff game against the Rams, he was horrendous.
4:33
Speaker 1: And then this year he's humming along Seattle's kicking ass.
4:36
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden they play the Rams the
4:38
Speaker 1: first time and he throws like ten interceptions people like see.
4:42
Speaker 1: Then he's playing the Rams again, does not play well,
4:46
Speaker 1: throws a couple of picks, does not look good until
4:49
Speaker 1: the end of the game, and then the end of
4:51
Speaker 1: the game happens, and Seattle never looks back. They go
4:54
Speaker 1: on to start rattling off wins Carolina forty nine ers
4:58
Speaker 1: forty nine ers again and then tonight. But the difference
5:02
Speaker 1: was tonight in the biggest game of his life. Anytime
5:07
Speaker 1: you play in a conference championship game, even if you're
5:09
Speaker 1: Brady Manning Farv, it's gonna be one of the biggest
5:13
Speaker 1: games you will ever play. He threw for three hundred
5:16
Speaker 1: and forty six yards in three touchdowns. And I watched
5:19
Speaker 1: the Dolphins press conference earlier this week, and Eric John
5:24
Speaker 1: Sullivan is their new GM's name. He was hired by
5:27
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers in the early two thousands and
5:30
Speaker 1: someone in the media asked him, you've been a part
5:33
Speaker 1: of the Packers who you've never seen down quarterback play.
5:38
Speaker 1: Is there any secret to the sauce of your guys'
5:41
Speaker 1: ability to find quarterbacks? And he gave a pretty good
5:44
Speaker 1: answer because he said, well, it's actually the most dependent
5:48
Speaker 1: position of any other. You need people to block for
5:52
Speaker 1: you, you need people to get open for you. If you
5:55
Speaker 1: hand the ball off, you need that guy to gain yards,
5:57
Speaker 1: make guys miss break tackles, and then you need a
6:00
Speaker 1: guy on the sideline telling you what plays to call. Now,
6:05
Speaker 1: obviously there are things that you can control, but when
6:07
Speaker 1: you think about it, the quarterback, unless you're like Peyton
6:10
Speaker 1: Manning and you can just call your own offense, most
6:13
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are very dependent on their coaches and obviously their teammates.
6:17
Speaker 1: And for a long time, Sam Donald had shitty versions
6:20
Speaker 1: all around him at all these positions. And over the
6:23
Speaker 1: last couple of years, Kevin started with Kyle Shanahan when
6:26
Speaker 1: he believed him as a backup, and then Kevin O'Connell
6:29
Speaker 1: resurrected his career on the field, and then Sam Donald
6:32
Speaker 1: tonight validated it all. Because Matt Stafford is an interesting
6:36
Speaker 1: player right for over a decade, no one argued about
6:41
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford's talent, but is he any good? Look at
6:43
Speaker 1: he's on the Lions. They never win. It's like, well, yeah,
6:45
Speaker 1: they never win because they're the fucking Lions. Look who's
6:48
Speaker 1: coaching them beside Calvin Johnson to look who he's playing with.
6:52
Speaker 1: That is one of the most poorly run franchises in
6:56
Speaker 1: all of American sports. And they were up until Dan
6:59
Speaker 1: came Amble and Brad Holmes got there, and then Matt
7:02
Speaker 1: Stafford got to go to Sean McVay probably one day
7:05
Speaker 1: will be in the Hall of Fame as a coach.
7:07
Speaker 1: And now we think of him as gonna win the
7:09
Speaker 1: MVP this year. A guy that won a Super Bowl,
7:11
Speaker 1: the guy who's just an elite player you watch a
7:13
Speaker 1: nice one of the great quarterbacks of his generation, completely
7:17
Speaker 1: changed the narrative when he got with people that know
7:19
Speaker 1: what they were doing. I say this all the time
7:22
Speaker 1: about my career. Getting with Colin is the most important
7:26
Speaker 1: thing that has ever happened to me since I've been
7:29
Speaker 1: in the radio podcast space because of what he brought
7:33
Speaker 1: to me. From a credibility standpoint, a distribution standpoint, a
7:38
Speaker 1: sales standpoint, things that I can't really control Slash do
7:43
Speaker 1: definitely when it comes to a distribution standpoint, I'm now
7:47
Speaker 1: on Netflix, I go up on his podcast feed. I
7:51
Speaker 1: couldn't have done that if I tried by myself. Most
7:54
Speaker 1: human beings are dependent on others, and I'd argue no
7:58
Speaker 1: position on the field is more than the quarterback. So
8:02
Speaker 1: when I look at Seam Darnold tonight, the way he
8:04
Speaker 1: played in that moment, think about last week. Now, the
8:10
Speaker 1: forty nine ers are not this version. The team that
8:13
Speaker 1: was coming in the playoffs are clearly not as good
8:14
Speaker 1: as the Rams. But they won a game forty one
8:17
Speaker 1: to six where he threw for one hundred and thirty yards,
8:20
Speaker 1: he had twelve completions, and they blew out their opponent.
8:25
Speaker 1: Well tonight, that wasn't on the table. They could not
8:29
Speaker 1: afford to have a game where he wasn't potent with
8:31
Speaker 1: his arm, but not just with his arm. And I
8:34
Speaker 1: told Coward this on our podcast earlier tonight, that you've
8:39
Speaker 1: seen in the playoffs, let's use c J. Stroud a
8:41
Speaker 1: couple weeks ago. He made decisions with the ball that
8:45
Speaker 1: crippled his team, that hurt his defense, that hurt his
8:49
Speaker 1: the momentum of the game and basically put them in
8:53
Speaker 1: a position where they could not win because when there
8:56
Speaker 1: was no play to be made, you are better off
8:59
Speaker 1: just hitting the ground and taking a six yard sack.
9:02
Speaker 1: Then you are trying to do some hero ball, jump
9:04
Speaker 1: in the air, get sacked, fling it and throw a
9:07
Speaker 1: pick six. And there were a couple times a night
9:10
Speaker 1: because in the Shanahan Kubiak offense, which they might as
9:14
Speaker 1: well be cousins, and Clint Kubiak, who's the OC four Seattle,
9:20
Speaker 1: who feels like he might be the next coach of
9:22
Speaker 1: the Raiders, kind of looks like his dad Gary right now.
9:25
Speaker 1: But when they run that boot play action play, your
9:28
Speaker 1: back is to the defense on the back side, and
9:31
Speaker 1: if either the defensive end doesn't bite or they send
9:34
Speaker 1: a blitzer on that side, the play is completely fucked.
9:38
Speaker 1: It easily becomes the worst play in football. When you
9:42
Speaker 1: naked bootleg in due pressure that you don't see coming
9:45
Speaker 1: because you're not looking. It's not your fault, it's no
9:47
Speaker 1: one's fault. It's just a play call. When it works,
9:49
Speaker 1: it's stealing candy from a baby. When it doesn't, it
9:52
Speaker 1: looks like a batter striking out on three straight pitches
9:56
Speaker 1: without swinging the bat, and on that play you have
9:59
Speaker 1: a split set. When you turn and there's a guy
10:01
Speaker 1: in your face, you can try to make some miraculous decision.
10:04
Speaker 1: And I do believe that the old Sam Donald might
10:07
Speaker 1: have done that, and usually that leads a disaster, asked
10:10
Speaker 1: Jared sid him earlier today, Sam Donald just hit the
10:13
Speaker 1: ground multiple times. He had three sacks a day. He
10:16
Speaker 1: lost twenty five yards, so on average he's losing over
10:19
Speaker 1: eight yards a sack. I think they were all smart
10:23
Speaker 1: sacks because you can turn in a sack into a
10:27
Speaker 1: turnover really really quick. And I think the guy that
10:30
Speaker 1: we saw last year against the Lions, against the rams Hell,
10:35
Speaker 1: even earlier this season, tried to play hero ball tonight.
10:38
Speaker 1: Not only did he not try to play hero ball,
10:40
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm going to dominate this game. And he
10:43
Speaker 1: made play after play after play with his arm. And
10:48
Speaker 1: to me, he's the best example in recent memory, because
10:51
Speaker 1: even if we argued how good Stafford was, we all
10:54
Speaker 1: agreed he was really good. People did not think that
10:58
Speaker 1: about Sam Donald. He even last year, most people thought
11:02
Speaker 1: that was a one year wonder. How do you think
11:04
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings field right now, who would you rather have,
11:07
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold or the hope in the prayer that JJ
11:10
Speaker 1: McCarthy turns into a functional player. I think we all
11:14
Speaker 1: know the answer to that. So in the playoffs sometimes
11:20
Speaker 1: if your defense is dominant enough, you don't have to
11:22
Speaker 1: do shit as a quarterback. You can just ride shotgun,
11:25
Speaker 1: which is all the Texans wanted CJ. Strouded to do,
11:28
Speaker 1: which historically is all Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson here
11:32
Speaker 1: or there, maybe throw a touchdown, but for the most part,
11:35
Speaker 1: manage the game, do not turn the ball over. Stam
11:38
Speaker 1: the Knight played like a star that had to be
11:41
Speaker 1: one of the best. If you factor in the moment,
11:43
Speaker 1: that's the most important and best game he's ever played.
11:46
Speaker 1: He looks spectacular. The offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak was in
11:51
Speaker 1: his bag. Play calls were mainly all working. Jackson Smith
11:55
Speaker 1: is just an elite player. Kenneth Walker has been fantastic.
11:58
Speaker 1: Cooper Cupp came through in a big as somewhat as
12:02
Speaker 1: I've aged, has tried to not hold grudges and not
12:06
Speaker 1: let you know, anger toward other people because I you know,
12:11
Speaker 1: you think he got screwed or whatever. You know, play
12:13
Speaker 1: into your daily life or human beings. I can't imagine
12:17
Speaker 1: the joy Cooper Cup felt when he scored that touchdown
12:20
Speaker 1: Becauseean McVay was right when he cut Cooper Cup and
12:23
Speaker 1: went to DeVante Adam. Devanty Adam's a better player. You
12:26
Speaker 1: and I would have made that move as well. Cooper Cup,
12:28
Speaker 1: if he could remove himself from the situation, would agree
12:31
Speaker 1: with you. He knows football, but it's him. He's the player,
12:35
Speaker 1: So I don't blame him for thinking like that's a
12:37
Speaker 1: dumb move. Tonight has to feel pretty good. Made two
12:41
Speaker 1: huge plays, obviously the big touchdown and beat Sean McVay.
12:45
Speaker 1: Or was a part of the team that beat him,
12:47
Speaker 1: and he gets to go to the Super Bowl. So
12:49
Speaker 1: I think when you look at Seattle from a defensive standpoint,
12:55
Speaker 1: their special teams is so good. They tackle so well.
12:58
Speaker 1: Even the night they clearly for a dominant defense have
13:02
Speaker 1: no answer for Puku Nakua. He had one hundred and
13:04
Speaker 1: sixty plus yards a night. He had two hundred and
13:06
Speaker 1: twenty the last time they played him. It's like they
13:09
Speaker 1: can't stop that guy. And Davante being playing in this game.
13:11
Speaker 1: He didn't play in the last game, made two or
13:15
Speaker 1: three huge catches, he had the big touchdown, he had
13:17
Speaker 1: a couple of big plays down the sideline. Even the
13:20
Speaker 1: one play Brady's like, well, he's got inside leverage he had,
13:22
Speaker 1: DeVante stems him out and gets it back. That's He's like,
13:26
Speaker 1: I would teach my wide receiver to just loop around him.
13:30
Speaker 1: He's like, but Davante's so quick it didn't even matter.
13:33
Speaker 1: And that's why DeVante's, you know, borderline Hall of Fame player.
13:36
Speaker 1: So I think when you watch that game the night,
13:39
Speaker 1: it was elite coaching elite players, and it was just
13:43
Speaker 1: gonna come down to a mistake or two. And there
13:45
Speaker 1: were two major mistakes. One, I understand the letter of
13:49
Speaker 1: the law, and taunting is a point of emphasis in
13:52
Speaker 1: the NFL. This is not little league. And on third
13:56
Speaker 1: and twelve in the second half of a game, when
13:58
Speaker 1: you were up thirty one to and you make an
14:01
Speaker 1: enormous play, did you take it a little too far? Yes?
14:06
Speaker 1: Do you throw a penalty when the guy's screaming at
14:08
Speaker 1: the other team? Basically I got you, like, what are
14:12
Speaker 1: we doing this? This isn't peewee football. And then the
14:15
Speaker 1: next play, obviously, Stafford goes right, Adam and scores a touchdown.
14:19
Speaker 1: But the defining play I thought of the game and
14:21
Speaker 1: really the defining unit of the Rams. I don't think
14:25
Speaker 1: it's their offense. It was they have a historically bad
14:28
Speaker 1: special teams play, and I think it's easy and I'm
14:31
Speaker 1: guilty of this is blaming special teams coaches. Sean McVay
14:34
Speaker 1: literally did he fired the guy in the middle of
14:37
Speaker 1: the season. I'd argue, no unit and no position, no
14:42
Speaker 1: group is less dependent on the actual specialty or the
14:46
Speaker 1: coach than special teams. The offensive and defensive lines. Those
14:50
Speaker 1: coaches impact those units greatly. The coordinators on both sides,
14:54
Speaker 1: offense or defense. The scheme make or break the special
14:58
Speaker 1: teams coach has nothing to do with the punter or
15:00
Speaker 1: the kicker, absolutely zero. And at the end of the day,
15:05
Speaker 1: the coverage units are pretty dependent who's on that unit
15:08
Speaker 1: aka how good is your depth? Which the Rams over
15:11
Speaker 1: the last several years because of some picks, they're not
15:14
Speaker 1: as deep as let's say Seattle. But I would argue
15:20
Speaker 1: the details and importance of that unit are actually more
15:23
Speaker 1: on the head coach than they are on the coordinator,
15:27
Speaker 1: because if the head coach emphasizes it and holds that
15:31
Speaker 1: unit to the same standard of his baby Sean McVay offense.
15:35
Speaker 1: A lot of these other coaches defense, it's not gonna
15:38
Speaker 1: be that bad. It might not be great because you
15:42
Speaker 1: don't control if your kicker's making or missing kicks he
15:44
Speaker 1: does your punter. If he sucks like you just gotta
15:47
Speaker 1: cut him. You're not gonna like change his mechanics and
15:50
Speaker 1: your returners are dependent on who the GM is signed
15:52
Speaker 1: or drafted. But you can't convince me that Sean McVay
15:57
Speaker 1: takes special team seriously because they fucking suck and it
16:02
Speaker 1: has been atrocious in every instance imaginable, from block field goals,
16:08
Speaker 1: to block punts, to drop punts, to miss tackles, you
16:12
Speaker 1: name it. It has been one thing after another that
16:15
Speaker 1: would never in a million years be tolerated on the
16:19
Speaker 1: offensive or defensive side of the ball. For Sean, who's
16:22
Speaker 1: typically the best on special teams, defensive coaches, because what
16:26
Speaker 1: do they emphasize the details of tackling who doesn't care
16:30
Speaker 1: about tackling offensive coaches For a long time, Kyle Shanahan's
16:34
Speaker 1: special teams were a joke. You know why doesn't emphasize
16:38
Speaker 1: it so you can fire and hire the coaches All
16:41
Speaker 1: you want, you can cut and draft kickers and punters,
16:45
Speaker 1: and if you get the right kicker a Justin Tucker,
16:48
Speaker 1: Adam Viniti, they're gonna make a bunch of kicks. If
16:51
Speaker 1: you get the right punter or Shane Leckler or whoever
16:54
Speaker 1: your units the Seattle punter, you're gonna look pretty good.
16:57
Speaker 1: But when it comes to the details of kickoff units
17:02
Speaker 1: and punt return coverage units, to me, that falls on
17:06
Speaker 1: the head coach, and tonight the drop punt. I just
17:10
Speaker 1: think it's been one thing after another. And you can't
17:13
Speaker 1: convince me that Sean McVay takes that seriously enough. And
17:16
Speaker 1: I think in his heart of hearts, if we were
17:17
Speaker 1: having a cocktail, he'd have to admit it. He doesn't,
17:21
Speaker 1: and it showed and it was cost them seven points tonight,
17:25
Speaker 1: and it's cost him all season long. It cost him
17:28
Speaker 1: the number one seed. And this is not basketball or baseball,
17:32
Speaker 1: where if you have don't have home court or home
17:36
Speaker 1: field advantage in one of those sports, you're still gonna
17:40
Speaker 1: get home games. If I split in the first two
17:42
Speaker 1: games World War One, I'm coming back home. Football, you
17:45
Speaker 1: get one shot, you get one freaking game, and tonight
17:49
Speaker 1: that game being in Seattle not in la is the
17:51
Speaker 1: difference of the noise, the intensity. It changes the game.
17:57
Speaker 1: And it made this path for the Rams so much
18:00
Speaker 1: harder because they had to go back to back games
18:02
Speaker 1: on the road in Chicago and then on the road
18:04
Speaker 1: in Seattle where you can't even hear yourself think. And
18:07
Speaker 1: to me, it gets back to special teams, because special
18:10
Speaker 1: teams cost him in the last game against Seattle when Racheat,
18:12
Speaker 1: when Rahid Shaheed, he didn't just score a punt return.
18:17
Speaker 1: I don't think there was anyone within ten yards of
18:19
Speaker 1: them the entire punt return in that regular season game.
18:22
Speaker 1: It has to be and I bet he'd be the
18:23
Speaker 1: first to admit this the easiest punt return he's probably
18:25
Speaker 1: had since high school. It was it was like where
18:28
Speaker 1: are all the players? There were nowhere to be found.
18:31
Speaker 1: Literally the next day, Sean McVay fired a special teams coordinator.
18:34
Speaker 1: But I think of all the offensive defensive coordinators, easy
18:39
Speaker 1: to blame them. The scheme and the play calling and
18:42
Speaker 1: the decisions to blitz to call runs or passes is
18:45
Speaker 1: very evident special teams coordinator. I'm sorry that that is
18:49
Speaker 1: as much, if not more, on the head coach. So
18:52
Speaker 1: Sean McVay, who's had an excellent season. You know, they
18:55
Speaker 1: had the top offense. He's a great offensive coach. What
18:59
Speaker 1: he's done with Pokin Coupa and Davante and Stafford has
19:01
Speaker 1: been amazing to watch. But the special teams is on
19:04
Speaker 1: his watch. It just is He's the head coach, not
19:07
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator, and it was simply an embarrassment. So
19:11
Speaker 1: congrats to Seattle Seahawks who are going back there. Uh
19:14
Speaker 1: they're probably my initial pick to win. If Sam Donald's
19:17
Speaker 1: gonna play well, they're not gonna lose the Patriots. To me,
19:20
Speaker 1: the Patriots chance is for Sam Donald not to play
19:22
Speaker 1: well and their defense is gonna have to be fantastic.
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21:07
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Now, speaking of that game one,
21:18
Speaker 1: it's kind of crazy. We got Vrabel first, Mike. We
21:22
Speaker 1: we have a defensive super Bowl. But the Super Bowl
21:26
Speaker 1: over the last five years, Andy Reid Sirianni to it's
21:31
Speaker 1: just been offensive co I mean, it's been Andy Reid
21:33
Speaker 1: five or six years up until this year. The year
21:36
Speaker 1: it wasn't him, it was Zach Taylor, Sirianni's uh, Kyle Shanahan's,
21:41
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians Sirianni Again, it's been just offensive guys. Now
21:45
Speaker 1: it's two defensive guys who shocker. Special teams take it
21:49
Speaker 1: very seriously. What because what do defensive guys, whether you're
21:53
Speaker 1: a player like Vrabel or a young coach, you spend
21:56
Speaker 1: time on that unit. You you don't just overlook it
21:59
Speaker 1: and think about running go routes and post routes and
22:03
Speaker 1: double moves. You factor in and you value the coverage.
22:09
Speaker 1: Teams and the Patriots, probably more than any team in
22:16
Speaker 1: a recent memory, are just overachievers because if you think
22:20
Speaker 1: about it, the last all the Chiefs teams, the Joe
22:24
Speaker 1: Burrow team, those Eagles teams like there have been a
22:27
Speaker 1: teams with a ton of talent guys in the prime
22:29
Speaker 1: of their career that I'm sorry, I just don't view
22:32
Speaker 1: the Patriots quite like that. I view the Patriots as
22:35
Speaker 1: a coaching high level coaching operation, and today is a
22:39
Speaker 1: great example of dumb in a game like that. You know,
22:45
Speaker 1: to me, you could, like the special teams play like
22:49
Speaker 1: it was just a bunch of high level plays offensive
22:51
Speaker 1: and defensively. In that Seattle Rams game, the weather wasn't
22:54
Speaker 1: a huge factor. I mean, it was cold, but there
22:56
Speaker 1: was no water. There was no crazy wins. It was
22:59
Speaker 1: just like, you execute at high level in a snow
23:02
Speaker 1: game like that, in a game in the low twenties,
23:05
Speaker 1: high teens, and then once the blizzard hits, dumb is
23:07
Speaker 1: gonna lose more than great's gonna win. And to me,
23:10
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, I've said forever, if you don't kick a
23:13
Speaker 1: field goal in a zero zero game in the first half,
23:15
Speaker 1: you're a fucking idiot. I don't care what the spreadsheet says.
23:19
Speaker 1: There's no way you can justify not taking the points
23:21
Speaker 1: when the score is zero zero. But all these coaches
23:24
Speaker 1: do it. Led by Ben Johnson, Dan Campbell, Sean Payton.
23:27
Speaker 1: I don't understand it when your backup quarterbacks in the
23:30
Speaker 1: game and you are dominating the Patriots and you have
23:33
Speaker 1: a chance. I get it's fourth and one. You know,
23:36
Speaker 1: deep in the red zone, you have a chance to
23:38
Speaker 1: kick a chip Shop field goal, because once you get
23:40
Speaker 1: past like forty yards in the wind and the snow,
23:43
Speaker 1: you never know. As we saw in the second half,
23:46
Speaker 1: but he was gonna, let's just gonna hit that field goal.
23:48
Speaker 1: You're up ten to nothing with your backup quarterback dominating
23:51
Speaker 1: the game against second year quarterback who in the course
23:55
Speaker 1: of his life hasn't played in that many big games.
23:57
Speaker 1: As a rookie played in zero big games. This year
23:59
Speaker 1: he's played in a lot, but this is first year
24:01
Speaker 1: playing in big games. He's on the road in crazy temperatures,
24:05
Speaker 1: in crazy conditions, and you have a chance to go
24:07
Speaker 1: at multiple scores. On top of that, your backup quarterback.
24:11
Speaker 1: This isn't like a Daniel Jones or Mac Jones or
24:15
Speaker 1: some of these guys that have been starters that have played.
24:18
Speaker 1: This guy has no reps for years. He's never been
24:21
Speaker 1: a full time starter. You get to go pedal to
24:24
Speaker 1: the metal This is not Drew Brees or even Bo Nicks,
24:27
Speaker 1: where I would kind of understand it, I would disagree
24:30
Speaker 1: with it, but I was like, Okay, I get the logic,
24:32
Speaker 1: your backup quarterback, and then you put the ball in
24:35
Speaker 1: his hands and then listen, I understand Sean Payton's hurting.
24:39
Speaker 1: After the game, he's with Evan Washburn talking about the game,
24:43
Speaker 1: he kind of like, just at least have the understanding
24:46
Speaker 1: that you screwed that play up and say, this one's
24:49
Speaker 1: on me. I should have gone back because when the
24:51
Speaker 1: weather turned, and even if you know, you look at
24:54
Speaker 1: the weather pregame, it didn't look like it was gonna
24:57
Speaker 1: be a crazy blizzard, So what's the second half? It
25:00
Speaker 1: probably got way worse than any of them knew what
25:02
Speaker 1: it was gonna get. But once it got like that,
25:07
Speaker 1: that became the decision of the game. And a lot
25:09
Speaker 1: of times decisions are determined in the second half. And
25:13
Speaker 1: we don't spend much time talking about the first or
25:15
Speaker 1: early second quarter, but in a game like that where
25:18
Speaker 1: the second quarter was completely moot, and it was just punt, punt, punt,
25:22
Speaker 1: missfield goal, punt, punt, punt, missfield goal punt, that's all
25:26
Speaker 1: it was you'd watch the game, you had no clue
25:29
Speaker 1: where the ball was. It was like, I don't even
25:31
Speaker 1: know what yard line was. Jim Nantz will get on
25:32
Speaker 1: the mic and like, honestly, guys, I could try to
25:35
Speaker 1: tell you, but I don't even know. No one knew
25:40
Speaker 1: because Sean Payton, who taught Dan Campbell, is always it's
25:43
Speaker 1: it's egregious. These games, especially in a freezing cold temperature,
25:49
Speaker 1: was never gonna be with a backup quarterback. You ain't
25:52
Speaker 1: scoring twenty eight points. Ten points is a really really
25:55
Speaker 1: big deal, and he went for it and it changed
25:58
Speaker 1: the game. And then a couple of series later, instead
26:01
Speaker 1: of makes a backup quarterback type play, it should have
26:04
Speaker 1: been a touchdown on the fumble, but they blew the
26:07
Speaker 1: whistle and I think the next player two plays later
26:09
Speaker 1: they score a touchdown. So it's like ball don't lie.
26:12
Speaker 1: They deserved it, and all of a sudden, instead of
26:14
Speaker 1: being ten nothing at seven to seven, and then once
26:16
Speaker 1: second half starts and the weather gets weird, it's like
26:19
Speaker 1: this game as a joke and you never felt like
26:22
Speaker 1: anyone was gonna score. So I just think that Mike
26:25
Speaker 1: vrabel I just there has to be some sort of
26:37
Speaker 1: thought process when you're in these situations to go, why
26:41
Speaker 1: are we going for it right here? Because I want
26:45
Speaker 1: to keep the momentum of this drive. The point of
26:48
Speaker 1: the whole sport is to have more points than your
26:50
Speaker 1: opponent when the clock strikes double zero. And I do
26:54
Speaker 1: think when you look at defensive coaches, Mike McDonald went
26:57
Speaker 1: for it less on fourth down than any coach in
26:59
Speaker 1: the LA. And Mike Rabel, who, like I viewed Mike
27:03
Speaker 1: Vrabel as like a total alpha got balls as a
27:06
Speaker 1: former player who's played in some of these crazy games,
27:09
Speaker 1: like he was being pretty conservative. What did he do
27:11
Speaker 1: in the second half? Ran the ball for like over
27:13
Speaker 1: one hundred yards. I forget exactly how many carries, but
27:16
Speaker 1: it was just carry after carry after carrying. Drake made
27:18
Speaker 1: a bunch of runs like we're not gonna do anything
27:20
Speaker 1: done here. And John Payton wants your backup quarterback, which
27:24
Speaker 1: is no one's fault free deal. You just had a huge,
27:27
Speaker 1: huge disadvantage and that play of going for it ends
27:32
Speaker 1: up costing him the game. There's no way around it.
27:34
Speaker 1: And typically, and I do this for a living now
27:36
Speaker 1: for a long time reacting the games, you don't spend
27:40
Speaker 1: that much time in game reactions. I definitely don't, obviously
27:44
Speaker 1: if you're a coach or whatever the next day with
27:46
Speaker 1: your team. But the way we discuss, the way fans discussed,
27:50
Speaker 1: the way podcasts discussed, it's a lot of we talk
27:52
Speaker 1: about the second half, yet the first half in that play,
27:57
Speaker 1: I thought, defying the game two plays by Sidham. I
28:01
Speaker 1: don't put that on Sidum. There was nowhere for him
28:03
Speaker 1: to go with the ball, but that fourth down call
28:06
Speaker 1: and then the fumble he had was were the two
28:09
Speaker 1: defining moments of the game. And the Denver Broncos, who
28:14
Speaker 1: were the one seed, which is not gonna be easy
28:16
Speaker 1: to be the one seed every freaking year. It's a huge,
28:20
Speaker 1: huge advantage to get games at home loose when they
28:24
Speaker 1: would have had a chance in a situation with the
28:26
Speaker 1: backup quarterback to go to the Super Bowl. Now I'm
28:28
Speaker 1: not saying they would have won, and I think we
28:30
Speaker 1: all win as fans that the Patriots won that game
28:33
Speaker 1: and not the Denver Broncos because they might have lost
28:36
Speaker 1: by twenty points with Jared Sidham against Seattle. But still,
28:40
Speaker 1: if I'm a Bronco fan, that's not the point, Like,
28:43
Speaker 1: how does that happen? It is the Ben Johnson Dan
28:46
Speaker 1: Campbell thing, like, can we just start using our brains?
28:50
Speaker 1: Can you just use your brain? My dad, just to
28:52
Speaker 1: say that to me, because I used to do some
28:54
Speaker 1: dumb shit I was. I made bad decisions for like
28:57
Speaker 1: first thirty years of my life. Not crazy bad decisions,
29:00
Speaker 1: but one that would pish your parents off, especially when
29:03
Speaker 1: I was growing up. In my teams, use your head,
29:06
Speaker 1: like you know the difference between right and wrong. These
29:09
Speaker 1: coaches know the difference. I'm not even arguing with the
29:12
Speaker 1: mathematicians in most of these spots. But you can't convince
29:16
Speaker 1: me in a zero zero game or a game where
29:19
Speaker 1: you're up seven to nothing that the field goal is
29:23
Speaker 1: not the right play in that moment, because it is,
29:27
Speaker 1: especially if you factor in the variable of the weather,
29:31
Speaker 1: even if the crazy blizzard had never come. Just with
29:34
Speaker 1: that weather alone and your defense is dominating, they're gonna
29:37
Speaker 1: be at such a big disadvantage. So it's like, I
29:42
Speaker 1: think that loss falls much more on Sean Payton, just
29:45
Speaker 1: like the Sean McVay thing. I understand his offense was great,
29:49
Speaker 1: but holy Moley, his special teams, Like, you're the head coach,
29:53
Speaker 1: you're the boss, and I just think sometimes these decisions
29:57
Speaker 1: are just head scratching, they really are. And now the Patriots.
30:02
Speaker 1: I'm not bothered because I didn't hate the Patriots. I
30:05
Speaker 1: really liked Brady as a player. I love Belichick, I
30:08
Speaker 1: loved Edelman, I loved you know, mccordy in high Tower.
30:11
Speaker 1: I loved everything they stood for, how smart they were,
30:14
Speaker 1: how buttoned up they were, how clutch they were. I
30:16
Speaker 1: had a lot of admiration for kind of their just operation.
30:21
Speaker 1: So I'm not as big of a Patriot hater though.
30:24
Speaker 1: There are a lot of them that exist. And you
30:26
Speaker 1: look up if you're a Bills fan, you are going
30:30
Speaker 1: to roots so hard for Seattle that the New England Patriots,
30:34
Speaker 1: and listen, they have the easiest schedule during the season.
30:37
Speaker 1: Then they played Jim Harbon and Justin Herbert, the best
30:40
Speaker 1: defense in the league and had to go on the
30:42
Speaker 1: road of a against in a blizzard against the number
30:45
Speaker 1: one seed. I get that their backup quarterback, but still
30:49
Speaker 1: you gotta give you gotta take your hat too. And
30:50
Speaker 1: they also beat Josh Allen during the regular season. It's
30:53
Speaker 1: like the Patriots did what they had to do and
30:55
Speaker 1: now they're in. Now they're in the super Bowl with
30:58
Speaker 1: even though they're a clear underdog sixty minutes one game,
31:02
Speaker 1: Drake may plays well, the weather probably be nice, and
31:04
Speaker 1: Levi's in a couple of weeks. You fucking win the
31:06
Speaker 1: game if you run the ball well and kind of
31:08
Speaker 1: just slow down the game and have a good defensive
31:10
Speaker 1: game plan against Sam Donald, it's a winnable game. I
31:13
Speaker 1: can't imagine if I was a Bills fan, just the
31:15
Speaker 1: thought of the Patriots and Robert Kraft up there with
31:19
Speaker 1: his little letterman jacket and his twenty eight year old
31:21
Speaker 1: girlfriend sitting standing next to Mike Vrabel at his waistline,
31:25
Speaker 1: smiling holding that Lombardi. I would puke, I really would,
31:30
Speaker 1: and it's it's on the table. This is a team
31:32
Speaker 1: that I just can't get over. Back, I thought they
31:39
Speaker 1: were gonna be good. I picked him to make the playoffs.
31:41
Speaker 1: But that the New England Patriots are in the super Bowl,
31:44
Speaker 1: that's that's insane. Their offensive line stinks. Will Campbell can't
31:49
Speaker 1: block anybody. This is gonna be a tough matchup for him.
31:52
Speaker 1: We'll get into that later, but congrats to Mike Vrabel.
31:56
Speaker 1: Took a team he'd be the first player and coach
31:59
Speaker 1: to win Super Bowls. With the same team be a
32:02
Speaker 1: remarkable accomplishment. Three super Bowls as a player, win one
32:05
Speaker 1: as a coach man. So we will dive into a
32:09
Speaker 1: lot of the Super Bowl that game. Anyone that watched
32:13
Speaker 1: the on Netflix, that dude Alex climb that building in
32:18
Speaker 1: Tokyo was It's one of the craziest things I've ever watched.
32:22
Speaker 1: I didn't watch it live. I saw a bunch of people,
32:24
Speaker 1: so then I went back. I kind of fast forward through.
32:26
Speaker 1: I was gonna watch an hour and a half climb
32:27
Speaker 1: the building, but I would just go to different spots.
32:29
Speaker 1: I mean, it's one of the most incredible accomplishments I've
32:33
Speaker 1: ever seen. And the difficulty of it, that's what. Trying
32:36
Speaker 1: to get a yard or a first down in that
32:39
Speaker 1: weather was like the equivalent of that guy scaling some
32:42
Speaker 1: of these areas of that building. I think the building
32:45
Speaker 1: was like seventeen hundred feet that some of the visuals
32:48
Speaker 1: of the camera were just insane. But every time he
32:50
Speaker 1: would just grip, You're like, this is crazy. What if
32:54
Speaker 1: this guy felt he doesn't have a parachute, he doesn't
32:56
Speaker 1: have a rope, he would just fall to his death
32:59
Speaker 1: and we would all witness it. It would be a
33:01
Speaker 1: viral moment for the rest of my life. And you're
33:04
Speaker 1: just watching this games like I've watched a decent amount
33:07
Speaker 1: of Snow games. I don't feel I've ever seen anything
33:09
Speaker 1: quite with the win the snow, the difficulty of offensive
33:13
Speaker 1: football quite like I'm watching right now. And to win
33:17
Speaker 1: that game, it feels like you win multiple games, like
33:19
Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniel's got to be in Drake
33:22
Speaker 1: may we just won that game. Yeah, we want it.
33:25
Speaker 1: It feels like you just want a group of playoff games.
33:28
Speaker 1: So congrats to the Patriots, Congrats to Seattle. Kind of
33:33
Speaker 1: bittersweet that the playoffs are over and now we're un
33:36
Speaker 1: with the Super Bowl again. We got to really enjoy
33:39
Speaker 1: the next couple of weeks of Super Bowl content because
33:42
Speaker 1: then we don't have a game for a long long time.
33:45
Speaker 1: And unless you want to see Scotti Scheffler win every week,
33:48
Speaker 1: which that might happen, there's not much going on. You know,
33:54
Speaker 1: pitchers and catchers report here a couple of weeks that
33:57
Speaker 1: gets your you know, gears flowing doesn't do much for me,
34:01
Speaker 1: but it's enjoyed football while we have it. Let's dive
34:04
Speaker 1: into Mike McCarthy. Okay, I'm recording this part before the games,
34:22
Speaker 1: so if anything changes after the fact, you can't hold
34:26
Speaker 1: me to it. But I definitely wanted to hit on
34:30
Speaker 1: some things that happened over the last course of the
34:33
Speaker 1: I don't know three or four days. I haven't recorded
34:35
Speaker 1: since Thursday afternoon, so Friday Saturday, we had a lot
34:40
Speaker 1: going on, and I want to start with the news
34:44
Speaker 1: of Mike McCarthy being the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
34:49
Speaker 1: And I saw a lot of reaction on the social
34:52
Speaker 1: channels of shock and AH, can't believe this. Didn't see
34:56
Speaker 1: this coming? You didn't, did you hear? The owner when
35:00
Speaker 1: the day after or two days after Mike Tomlin stepped down.
35:04
Speaker 1: We will not rebuild. We do not plan on throwing
35:07
Speaker 1: a year away. So the situation historically, especially I can't
35:12
Speaker 1: speak to definitely Chuck Nole, but even cow Or I
35:15
Speaker 1: was I think I was eight or nine years old
35:18
Speaker 1: when he was hired. But when Mike Tomlin was hired,
35:21
Speaker 1: the previous three years fifteen to one Conference championship game,
35:26
Speaker 1: eleven to five Super Bowl champions The previous year was
35:29
Speaker 1: eight and eight, but the team was equipped with a
35:31
Speaker 1: lot of young players and obviously a quarterback, and they
35:34
Speaker 1: took a chance on a young coach, which clearly was
35:37
Speaker 1: the right decision. A couple of years later, they are
35:40
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champions. But this team and that team not
35:43
Speaker 1: many similarities. Again, when the owner says, essentially, this is
35:49
Speaker 1: not some of these teams in this league that are
35:51
Speaker 1: gonna nuke their operation. We'll get into Miami here in
35:54
Speaker 1: a second. Cleveland has done in the past, happens in
35:57
Speaker 1: the NBA in Major League Baseball all the time. We
36:00
Speaker 1: are not throwing a season away. It's why I think
36:03
Speaker 1: a lot of fans over the course of the last
36:06
Speaker 1: definitely ten years since they won a playoff game, but
36:08
Speaker 1: the last several years were like, I can't watch this
36:12
Speaker 1: Steeler thing anymore. The owners weren't unhappy. They were glad
36:15
Speaker 1: that they were competitive. They were cool with making the
36:19
Speaker 1: playoffs every year. They would rather do that at nine
36:22
Speaker 1: and eight or ten and seven and get curb stomped
36:25
Speaker 1: in the first round, then win three games and throw
36:28
Speaker 1: away a season. Literally, the people that own the franchise
36:31
Speaker 1: told you that. So hiring Mike McCarthy, who has a
36:35
Speaker 1: very similar kind of record to a couple guys that
36:39
Speaker 1: we hold high regard. Right, Tomlin's got a super Bowl.
36:42
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh's got a Super Bowl. Harball had every team
36:45
Speaker 1: in the league, teams with coaches calling him, you had Tomlin.
36:49
Speaker 1: If he was in the situation like John Harbaugh quote
36:52
Speaker 1: unquote available, it would be the same thing. Yet we
36:56
Speaker 1: look at Mike McCarthy like the village idiot, right, we
36:59
Speaker 1: just do bear or not. So when people when he
37:02
Speaker 1: gets hired, everyone goes what the fuck? Right? I mean,
37:05
Speaker 1: it wasn't that long ago. His three year stretch in Dallas.
37:08
Speaker 1: Of his five years, they won the division twice, hosted
37:10
Speaker 1: two playoff games. Now didn't have any playoff success, right,
37:14
Speaker 1: And you look at Tomlin, not any playoff success. Now.
37:17
Speaker 1: The difference is his quarterback situation. McCarthy had Dak which
37:21
Speaker 1: very very fair to be critical of the McCarthy you know,
37:24
Speaker 1: run in Dallas in terms of the playoffs, but in
37:26
Speaker 1: regular season, like you can't dispute, he is much more
37:29
Speaker 1: equipped next year, in the next couple of years than
37:32
Speaker 1: the unknown of these coordinators. But they weren't gonna do
37:35
Speaker 1: the unknown of these coordinators because one this class there
37:38
Speaker 1: aren't any Ben Johnson out there, and two the owner
37:41
Speaker 1: wants to try to win nine or ten games next year,
37:44
Speaker 1: and Mike McCarthy solidifies the ability to coach the quarterback.
37:48
Speaker 1: They don't have one, but at least in their mind,
37:51
Speaker 1: he can call the plays in an offensive oriented league
37:55
Speaker 1: and help us build up and find a quarterback. But
37:58
Speaker 1: that's where I would pump the breaks, because again I
38:01
Speaker 1: was not shocked when they hired Mike McCarthy, because the
38:04
Speaker 1: owner clearly wanted to compete, which I disagree. I would
38:08
Speaker 1: nuke this bad boy. I would blow this you know
38:11
Speaker 1: what up, but they will not. That is not the
38:13
Speaker 1: Steeler way. So it turns out the standard is the standard.
38:17
Speaker 1: It's kind of bs that the standard in Pittsburgh now
38:19
Speaker 1: is just clawing your way to a first round exit.
38:23
Speaker 1: But like the expectation is to make the playoffs. Anything
38:28
Speaker 1: less than that is a failure, which in a weird
38:30
Speaker 1: way I can't respect. Right. But here's the thing with
38:33
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy. This quarterback guru obviously has a lot of
38:37
Speaker 1: success coaching Aaron Rodgers, coaching Dak Prescott, knows how to
38:41
Speaker 1: call the offense. No one can argue that here's the problem.
38:45
Speaker 1: When he got hired by the Green Bay Packers. They
38:48
Speaker 1: had two quarterbacks on the roster, both Hall of famers,
38:51
Speaker 1: one Brett Farv and the previous year they had drafted
38:53
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. Here's the thing, Mike McCarthy was the offensive
38:58
Speaker 1: coordinator for the Niners who famed chose Alex Smith over
39:02
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. Now only he and a couple of people
39:04
Speaker 1: inside really know how much juice he had in that decision.
39:08
Speaker 1: Doesn't feel like he was anti that decision. And then
39:11
Speaker 1: when he got hired with the Cowboys, they already had
39:14
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott, who was in the prime of his career.
39:17
Speaker 1: So like this Mike McCarthy being able to just find
39:20
Speaker 1: guys out of thin air. I don't know if I
39:23
Speaker 1: would go that far. And that is what the Pittsburgh
39:25
Speaker 1: Steelers in the situation they're gonna be in because Aaron Rodgers,
39:29
Speaker 1: whether he agrees to come back or not, kind of
39:31
Speaker 1: a moot point. He's forty two years old. They're going
39:33
Speaker 1: to have to find somebody capable, and he's lead led
39:37
Speaker 1: a pretty charmed life of inheriting Aaron Rodgers, who was
39:41
Speaker 1: already on the roster and obviously Dak Prescott. Hell, you
39:44
Speaker 1: could say Aaron Rodgers best case scenario, and he deserves credit.
39:48
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to act like he didn't influence their
39:50
Speaker 1: play and play a big role. But my point is
39:53
Speaker 1: is fighting the guy like we all know he can
39:55
Speaker 1: coach him. I could give Mike McCarthy tomorrow, Jared Goff,
39:59
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, and you know any top fifteen quarterback brock Purty,
40:03
Speaker 1: you name it, Sam Darnold, and he would be competitive.
40:07
Speaker 1: But they don't have that guy. So how do they
40:08
Speaker 1: find the guy that would? That's the thing that I
40:12
Speaker 1: would wonder the most now, I think for Mike McCarthy personally,
40:16
Speaker 1: this has to be pretty incredible. You know when you
40:18
Speaker 1: see like Tom Brady's and Leonardo DiCaprio's and these guys
40:22
Speaker 1: that only date supermodels, like they don't even know what
40:26
Speaker 1: an eight looks like, that they wouldn't even give her
40:29
Speaker 1: the time of day. That's kind of the football eight life.
40:32
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy's led as a head coach. He has coached
40:35
Speaker 1: two of the most iconic franchises in the history of
40:38
Speaker 1: sports worldwide, in the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys.
40:42
Speaker 1: He won a Super Bowl. He coached Aaron Rodgers and
40:45
Speaker 1: then the Dallas cowboy thing. While a little weird, he
40:47
Speaker 1: still got to be the head coach of the Dallas
40:49
Speaker 1: Cowboys on a team for several years. It was fucking good.
40:51
Speaker 1: Like it doesn't get that much better. You see some
40:53
Speaker 1: of these guys like Liam Cohen looks like a star
40:55
Speaker 1: head coach is coaching the Jags. Jonathan Ganna got a shot.
40:58
Speaker 1: He was coaching the Cardinals, Mike McCarthy, Packers, Cowboys, and
41:02
Speaker 1: then he just happens to be from Pittsburgh. Probably the
41:05
Speaker 1: most consistent franchise beside the Packers, but they didn't have
41:09
Speaker 1: a downturn, kind of like the Packers. For fifty years
41:11
Speaker 1: they've been winning. He gets hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now,
41:14
Speaker 1: this is not the Tomlin entry point in the mid
41:19
Speaker 1: two thousands. This is not a great entry point, and
41:21
Speaker 1: people have dm me like Middlecoff, you've been critical of
41:24
Speaker 1: this job. I have never disputed the gravitas of being
41:29
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the amount of
41:31
Speaker 1: fans they have in America worldwide. They are a fucking powerhouse.
41:36
Speaker 1: They are a job that you would want to coach.
41:38
Speaker 1: In terms of the franchise matters. I will never argue that,
41:42
Speaker 1: but in terms of the entry point of front office,
41:45
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that great. I'm sorry. I just
41:48
Speaker 1: judged them by their moves into my people in the
41:51
Speaker 1: NFL that mainly on good playoff teams, some of them
41:54
Speaker 1: still playing, a lot of them with rings, say like
41:57
Speaker 1: a lot of clowns in that operation. So that has
41:59
Speaker 1: not been the case historically. Right now, I got the
42:01
Speaker 1: front office red flag, and obviously from a roster standpoint,
42:05
Speaker 1: it's just a lot of old players. Now you can
42:07
Speaker 1: move on, but he still got to replace them. It's like, well,
42:09
Speaker 1: we can move on from this guy and that guy. Okay,
42:11
Speaker 1: how are you gonna find her next? Tja wat when
42:13
Speaker 1: you're literally trying to find a quarterback. So you got
42:15
Speaker 1: this dk metcalch you're just gonna cut him. You just
42:17
Speaker 1: waste a second round pick, which I wouldn't blame you,
42:20
Speaker 1: But like this, this roster situation from McCarthy, a lot
42:24
Speaker 1: of question marks, a lot of question marks when the
42:26
Speaker 1: expectation is to win or else. Because part of the
42:30
Speaker 1: reason Tomlin just kept keeping his job year after year
42:34
Speaker 1: after year after year, it turns out because he never lost. Right,
42:38
Speaker 1: they were not mad at nine and ten wins. They
42:41
Speaker 1: were happy with it. That is their standard, which is fair,
42:46
Speaker 1: which is fair. So this McCarthy thing taking a lot
42:49
Speaker 1: of people for a loop and surprising people, I just don't.
42:53
Speaker 1: You must not have been paying attention to when Art
42:55
Speaker 1: Rooney the seventeenth or whatever his name is spoke, because
42:59
Speaker 1: he told you we do not take years off. Another
43:02
Speaker 1: story from the weekend that really made me laugh is
43:06
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns who are forcing their coaches to take
43:11
Speaker 1: personality test, which honestly is not that weird. I think
43:14
Speaker 1: a lot of big time jobs, including the NFL, forced
43:18
Speaker 1: players to take personality tests. But here was the thing
43:20
Speaker 1: that jumped out to me. They had homework and they
43:23
Speaker 1: had to write essays. And I googled this and I
43:26
Speaker 1: wasn't able to get to the bottom. But I would
43:29
Speaker 1: guess that Andrew Berry, who is the GM of the
43:34
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns, and his brother who worked on Wall Street
43:37
Speaker 1: forever and is now working for Howie Roseman, I think
43:39
Speaker 1: essentially this is like number two were raised by educators.
43:43
Speaker 1: What wouldn't shock me at all. Both Ivy League guys
43:45
Speaker 1: clearly very intellectually I would call smart, right, But the
43:50
Speaker 1: way they look the lens in which they look through
43:52
Speaker 1: life is based on an academic background and forcing coaches one,
43:56
Speaker 1: it's just clown activity. There's no way around it. This
43:59
Speaker 1: is a verbal communication. Job'd be like, hey, John, we
44:02
Speaker 1: want you to be a podcaster or radio host, but
44:05
Speaker 1: we need you to write a two page essay. Well,
44:08
Speaker 1: what does that have to do with the job that
44:10
Speaker 1: I'm going to take on, Because even as a coach,
44:14
Speaker 1: what are you ever writing? You are verbalizing to the media,
44:19
Speaker 1: to the press, to your team. Obviously you have to
44:23
Speaker 1: have IQ and EQ, but you're not writing essays. And
44:26
Speaker 1: I'd argue in twenty twenty six, and I grew up
44:29
Speaker 1: in a world where you had to learn cursive and
44:31
Speaker 1: write a bunch of essays and have your teacher mark
44:33
Speaker 1: it all up with a red pen. Has that ever
44:34
Speaker 1: been less relevant? I'm not saying you don't need to
44:37
Speaker 1: learn and read and write, but in terms of like
44:39
Speaker 1: what you had to do in high school and college,
44:41
Speaker 1: in terms of essays for most of these professions, pretty
44:43
Speaker 1: fucking irrelevant in this modern day society. And I would say,
44:47
Speaker 1: in the coaching profession, not relevant at all. And if
44:51
Speaker 1: you need whenever you see these releases, well, the agent
44:55
Speaker 1: slash Chat GPT are doing that now. So I think
44:58
Speaker 1: that Barry and the mindset of judging what I'm looking
45:02
Speaker 1: for is coming through a lens that isn't that relevant
45:06
Speaker 1: to what you're looking for. Here's the other problem. No
45:08
Speaker 1: one else is asking you to do this. So when
45:11
Speaker 1: you are an organization around the league that is a
45:13
Speaker 1: laughingstock viewed as a joke, it's hard for you to
45:19
Speaker 1: throw curveballs that other organizations simply are not doing and
45:23
Speaker 1: then have anyone with any credibility take you seriously. And
45:27
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about some guy talking into a microphone
45:30
Speaker 1: or fans at home talking to their buddies making fun.
45:32
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the candidates that you're trying to hire.
45:35
Speaker 1: There's a reason that this job, which should have more juice,
45:38
Speaker 1: let's say, than the Cardinals, who are by far the
45:40
Speaker 1: worst job on the market and seems like no one
45:42
Speaker 1: wants to touch it with a ten foot poll, should
45:44
Speaker 1: have people like at least interested because they do have
45:46
Speaker 1: some core pieces. They got multiple first round picks. But
45:49
Speaker 1: then I view the way that you view this operation,
45:53
Speaker 1: it's unlike all these other places that are winning. You
45:56
Speaker 1: think the Pittsburgh Steelers made Mike McCarthy write them A two,
46:01
Speaker 1: of course not. Do you think the Baltimore Ravens made
46:04
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter do that? Of course not. Do you think
46:07
Speaker 1: this happens anywhere else in terms of writing an essay
46:10
Speaker 1: and doing homework. You should have done homework when you
46:13
Speaker 1: go to the interview Welcome to Life. So when I
46:17
Speaker 1: view the Cleveland Browns who get made fun of because
46:20
Speaker 1: sometimes there's pushback, it's like, we're just the Uh, it's
46:22
Speaker 1: easy to kick us when we're down. No, you bring
46:24
Speaker 1: this upon yourself. And I think there's this like a
46:29
Speaker 1: merging of this academic mindset that doesn't really mix here
46:33
Speaker 1: in the football world. And I can't even imagine what
46:37
Speaker 1: people all around the league are saying about the situation,
46:40
Speaker 1: because when that went viral, when Palasaro said it on
46:43
Speaker 1: NFL Network, I'm sorry, a lot of people are like,
46:46
Speaker 1: what what did they just say? People that at least
46:48
Speaker 1: didn't know it, because people that have already done it
46:51
Speaker 1: have probably let it be known, like this is what's
46:54
Speaker 1: going on there. So I just there's a reason you lose,
46:59
Speaker 1: and these situations are reflections of you guys have no
47:02
Speaker 1: fucking clue what you're doing. A couple more things, the
47:06
Speaker 1: Bills involving Josh Allen in their coaching search, which I
47:10
Speaker 1: understand you want him to have a rapport understanding and
47:15
Speaker 1: feel like he is a business partner in this venture
47:18
Speaker 1: because he is. When you're in business with Mahomes, when
47:21
Speaker 1: you're in business with Josh Allen, Like, this is not
47:24
Speaker 1: the NBA where Lebron just wants to bend you over
47:27
Speaker 1: and screw you at any moment in terms of he's
47:30
Speaker 1: gonna do one hundred percent always what he wants to do.
47:32
Speaker 1: You gotta draft my son. You don't have a choice.
47:34
Speaker 1: And you see that article coming out, You're like, God,
47:36
Speaker 1: it's gotta be a pain in the ass. It's great
47:38
Speaker 1: when he's in the prime of his career. Not in
47:39
Speaker 1: the prime of his career. This sucks being in business.
47:41
Speaker 1: But if you want to be in business, that's how
47:42
Speaker 1: we operate. That's not the case. Like Patrick Mahomes, great
47:45
Speaker 1: business partner, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, great business partners. Right
47:50
Speaker 1: in the NFL, most of these guys, the high level
47:52
Speaker 1: quarterbacks great to be Tom Brady, Peyton Manning. It's credible
47:55
Speaker 1: to be in business with him. Right, So when you
47:57
Speaker 1: look at the Buffalo Bills. Involving him, I understand. The
48:00
Speaker 1: only risk I see is what if he wants you
48:04
Speaker 1: to do something that you don't want to do, Like
48:07
Speaker 1: that is the risk of involving a player in your
48:11
Speaker 1: coaching search that if he goes I think we should
48:13
Speaker 1: hire X and you want to hire why does that
48:18
Speaker 1: create some sort of tension in the building And it's avoidable.
48:23
Speaker 1: And Bushati said this about Lamar Jackson, like, yeah, he
48:27
Speaker 1: has influence, he just doesn't have the power, you know,
48:30
Speaker 1: And there's a fine line. And what if Lamar Jackson
48:34
Speaker 1: they already hired Jesse Minter, But yeah, I think the
48:36
Speaker 1: josh Allen thing, like Philip Rivers, like sign me up
48:41
Speaker 1: for that? That would be sick. How awesome would it
48:43
Speaker 1: be for Philip Rivers to coach a game in paths?
48:48
Speaker 1: Like what's he doing? He's coaching game football? But yeah,
48:50
Speaker 1: he's the backup quarterback. So if Joshua to go down,
48:52
Speaker 1: he would just go in and then he would call
48:53
Speaker 1: his own plays. I've said this forever about the Rivers,
48:56
Speaker 1: the Breezes, Peyton, Manning, Brady, these guys could do any
49:00
Speaker 1: role if they wanted to, Like, you don't think they
49:03
Speaker 1: could be a head coach. You don't think some of
49:04
Speaker 1: these guys we see become head coaches that are basically
49:07
Speaker 1: gym teachers, those guys couldn't pull off. Are you out
49:10
Speaker 1: of your mind? Philip Rivers could be a head coach tomorrow?
49:14
Speaker 1: Would there be a learning curve? Of course? But like
49:16
Speaker 1: what has he not seen from guys getting in trouble,
49:21
Speaker 1: draft picks, failures, the wiring of guys. He could do it.
49:25
Speaker 1: I actually think he could seamlessly do it. I hope
49:28
Speaker 1: they hire him, though I doubt they do. But sign
49:32
Speaker 1: me up for that, And honestly, I want player coach.
49:35
Speaker 1: I want him to coach a game in pads, in
49:37
Speaker 1: his football pants, in his shoulder pads, helmet on the side.
49:41
Speaker 1: And if Josh rolled an ankle, he just runs in.
49:44
Speaker 1: Tell me who wouldn't be excited for that moment? Not me,
49:48
Speaker 1: I'm in My guests would be Brian day Balls the coach,
49:51
Speaker 1: And that's who Josh Allen wants if that's the case,
49:54
Speaker 1: But who knows. Maybe him and Philip Rivers, I don't
49:56
Speaker 1: know about their personal relationship. What if he's like I
49:58
Speaker 1: want Philip Rivers, They're like, eh, that's kind of crazy,
50:01
Speaker 1: but why not who enjoys football, whether your Bill's fans
50:06
Speaker 1: or not. If I told you they hired Philip Rivers tomorrow,
50:09
Speaker 1: wouldn't especially, like, no one can argue what he just
50:11
Speaker 1: did coming back and playing in his understanding of the
50:13
Speaker 1: game having not played for five years. Obviously there's a
50:16
Speaker 1: physical element of playing. There's not in coaching. But once
50:19
Speaker 1: you watch that, you're like, this guy is a coach.
50:21
Speaker 1: I mean he literally is in high school. But just
50:24
Speaker 1: like his whole thing, say with Peyton Manning, like they
50:27
Speaker 1: did not have big arms, so they had to outthink
50:29
Speaker 1: you that they had to go into games like there
50:32
Speaker 1: Sean mcvair, Kyle Shanahan. They just happened to be on
50:34
Speaker 1: the field, but their arms. Philip Rivers arm has been
50:37
Speaker 1: weeks since he was like thirty years old, right, his
50:39
Speaker 1: arm was a little stronger probably when he's younger, but
50:41
Speaker 1: it's not great. Same with Drew Brees. Drew Brees never
50:43
Speaker 1: had a big arm. He had to out thank you,
50:45
Speaker 1: so that would be awesome. And last, but not least,
51:02
Speaker 1: I watched the press conference for the Miami Dolphins and
51:05
Speaker 1: they essentially did the opposite of what the Pittsburgh Steelers.
51:08
Speaker 1: Did they understand like it's time to throw some grenades
51:12
Speaker 1: on this roster. Let's blow this you know what up?
51:15
Speaker 1: And my big takeaway from watching these two guys, which
51:18
Speaker 1: kind of looks similar. They both look like, I don't know,
51:21
Speaker 1: five eleven to six foot white guys, pretty low body fat,
51:26
Speaker 1: drink a lot of coffee, and just pretty smart guys.
51:29
Speaker 1: Like both their press conferences, a lot of you guys
51:32
Speaker 1: have hit me in the dms, like when you become
51:34
Speaker 1: a father, and this is definitely true of someone that
51:36
Speaker 1: lost their dad. Things trigger you to make you emotional.
51:38
Speaker 1: Both of them started crying about their families. And I'm
51:41
Speaker 1: watching the thing on my phone on the StairMaster at
51:44
Speaker 1: the gym, and I'm just crying my eyes out and
51:47
Speaker 1: people are walking by, probably thinking like, what is wrong
51:49
Speaker 1: with this guy? Like just watching the Miami Dolphins press
51:52
Speaker 1: conference here half Lee's talking about his dad who passed away.
51:54
Speaker 1: It's just it hit me. I didn't say that, but
51:57
Speaker 1: a couple of people just like I'm like wiping my
51:59
Speaker 1: eyes with the towel. I give the Miami Dolphins credit
52:04
Speaker 1: that it feels like they hired pretty sharp guys obviously.
52:08
Speaker 1: Eric John Sullivan that we're not sure that Steven Ross
52:11
Speaker 1: knew his name. Older guy lot going on. Don't totally
52:15
Speaker 1: blame him. Kind of a weird name too, he said,
52:16
Speaker 1: just call me Sully. Hire the guy from the Green
52:20
Speaker 1: Bay Packers, which totally understand that they have a pretty
52:22
Speaker 1: good tracker. The guys worked there for like almost twenty
52:24
Speaker 1: five years, and Halfley has kind of been a shooting
52:28
Speaker 1: star now for a while. So get rid of to
52:33
Speaker 1: a bottom out, Like if you are okay with bottoming out,
52:37
Speaker 1: hiring young people and taking a chance, is okay, right?
52:41
Speaker 1: The Rams their expectation. They got good immediately with Sean McVay,
52:45
Speaker 1: but they were okay with like taking a step back
52:47
Speaker 1: to take a couple steps forward. Pittsburgh Steelers were not
52:50
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins are. It's also a very tough job
52:53
Speaker 1: in Miami, one I've said forever. The culture of the
52:56
Speaker 1: city is hard to overcome. All the players have never
52:59
Speaker 1: been rich. The city doesn't sleep. It's just there's a
53:03
Speaker 1: ton of different shit to get into. This is not like, oh,
53:06
Speaker 1: the guys play in New York City. They don't live
53:08
Speaker 1: in New York City. LA. The bar shut down in
53:11
Speaker 1: California at like eleven o'clock most days. So it's like,
53:14
Speaker 1: what are you even gonna do? Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Green Bay,
53:19
Speaker 1: some of these smaller cities and nothing to do Pittsburgh.
53:21
Speaker 1: There probably has never been there no shot at Pittsburgh.
53:23
Speaker 1: I was trying to say Green Bay and Buffalo, but
53:27
Speaker 1: it's a huge disadvantage in Miami. It just did it
53:30
Speaker 1: in this modern day society, and you got Josh Allen
53:34
Speaker 1: and you got the New England Patriots who might may have,
53:37
Speaker 1: might not have won. Again recording this part before the
53:40
Speaker 1: games need to finish so I can go watch them.
53:43
Speaker 1: But you got an uphill battle. Luckily you got the Jets,
53:47
Speaker 1: no excuse to lose to them. But I am really
53:49
Speaker 1: excited to watch these guys because you watch these guys
53:52
Speaker 1: talk football. Clearly the GM who's had a right hand
53:57
Speaker 1: been Goudikin's right hand man now for years and mentored
54:00
Speaker 1: under Ted Thompson for a long time in Halfley, who
54:04
Speaker 1: was just extremely well respected around football and just kind
54:07
Speaker 1: of comes off like a grinder. I mean, the dude
54:09
Speaker 1: slept under his desk for a couple of years when
54:11
Speaker 1: he was young. He gave pretty good advice when they
54:14
Speaker 1: asked him about that situation. He's like, listen, I put
54:16
Speaker 1: all my chips in the middle of the table. I
54:19
Speaker 1: was a guy that And he even said a lot
54:20
Speaker 1: of people I went to college with were working in
54:22
Speaker 1: New York City crushing it. My first job was paying
54:25
Speaker 1: me twenty five hundred dollars, and I can relate to
54:27
Speaker 1: that a little bit. Like when I got in football
54:29
Speaker 1: at Fresle State, I made a scholarship check. When the
54:32
Speaker 1: Eagles hired me, I think I made twenty five k. No,
54:34
Speaker 1: Benny's I mean, you're just kind of living day to
54:37
Speaker 1: day and all your chips are in the middle of
54:39
Speaker 1: the table on the situation right. A lot of these
54:42
Speaker 1: jobs I had friends that you know, worked in finance,
54:44
Speaker 1: worked in tech, even their entry level jobs, you know,
54:48
Speaker 1: pay a lot of money. And also like the hours,
54:51
Speaker 1: even if quote unquote are crazy, they ain't football. You
54:54
Speaker 1: see Mike McDonald, so he sees his son Jack, great name,
54:57
Speaker 1: by the way, thirty minutes to an hour for a
55:00
Speaker 1: week like this is not a normal profession and he
55:03
Speaker 1: wasn't asking for sympathy. It just comes with the territory.
55:06
Speaker 1: But Hapley put all his chips in the middle of
55:08
Speaker 1: the table, and twenty years later as the head coach
55:09
Speaker 1: in the NFL. The volume