Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Steelers vs. Browns REACTION, NFL Week 4 Preview & Predictions: Titans-Ravens, Packers-Buccaneers, Dolphins-Vikings

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Steelers vs. Browns REACTION, NFL Week 4 Preview & Predictions: Titans-Ravens, Packers-Buccaneers, Dolphins-Vikings · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, my people? John Middlecoff,
0:19
Speaker 1: that would be me. Three and Out Podcast, that would
0:21
Speaker 1: be the show. And the Cleveland Browns, I repeat, the
0:26
Speaker 1: Browns are three and one. And they own Thursday night football.
0:31
Speaker 1: And they definitely own the Pittsburgh Steelers when they play
0:33
Speaker 1: at home on Thursday night football. They beat the Steelers.
0:37
Speaker 1: Essentially a walk-off field goal. We'll dive into the game.
0:41
Speaker 1: Watson showing signs of life. Rodgers had some throwback moments.
0:46
Speaker 1: An all-time internet viral moment from Rodgers and McCarthy. Incredible.
0:54
Speaker 1: Screaming at each other. Calling each other names. God, I
0:58
Speaker 1: love it. That is my type content. A lot of
1:00
Speaker 1: other stuff going on. Big J.J. McCarthy article today. Drake
1:07
Speaker 1: May and Vrabel. We'll do our four box as usual.
1:11
Speaker 1: There's some good afternoon games on Sunday. We'll dive into
1:15
Speaker 1: it all. Nice long podcast, talking a little football. You
1:20
Speaker 1: guys know the drill. You want to watch this whole podcast,
1:24
Speaker 1: just go to a place called Netflix, hit the alert button,
1:27
Speaker 1: never miss a show. If you would like to listen
1:30
Speaker 1: to the podcast, obviously if you listen on Colin's feed,
1:32
Speaker 1: you can subscribe to 3 and Out, you'll never miss
1:35
Speaker 1: an episode. We post other content up on the YouTube
1:38
Speaker 1: page as well, you can check that out. And let's
1:42
Speaker 1: just dive into Thursday Night Football. No franchise in recent memory.
1:49
Speaker 1: has universally been shit on, made fun of, and just
1:54
Speaker 1: considered an absolute joke like the Cleveland Browns. They lost
1:59
Speaker 1: week one 34-10. That game was closer than the final score,
2:05
Speaker 1: partly because Watson hit a deep bomb late in the game.
2:08
Speaker 1: That felt like 70-0 if you were watching it. They
2:11
Speaker 1: got dismantled. So all the negativity surrounded Deshaun Watson, all
2:17
Speaker 1: the negativity of like, they just hired this old guy.
2:20
Speaker 1: He didn't have anywhere else to go. No one would
2:22
Speaker 1: have made him the head coach. I mean, he would
2:23
Speaker 1: have been the Giants OC. And to rattle off three
2:27
Speaker 1: straight wins, I'm sorry, tonight is not, tonight was predictable.
2:33
Speaker 1: This team dominates on Thursday night football at home. This
2:37
Speaker 1: team dominates the Steelers at home on Thursday night football.
2:41
Speaker 1: That being said, when they're up 21-10, in full control,
2:46
Speaker 1: you're thinking to yourself, Deshaun Watson has not played this
2:50
Speaker 1: good since he was in Houston. He looked, I would say,
2:55
Speaker 1: explosive with his legs. That's one element that over the
2:59
Speaker 1: course of his Browns career, especially coming back from the injury,
3:03
Speaker 1: the Achilles injury, You're like, he's never going to move around.
3:06
Speaker 1: He hasn't moved around that well. It's all over now.
3:09
Speaker 1: And you're watching the day kind of break tackles, keep
3:12
Speaker 1: plays alive, make plays with his feet. He had a
3:15
Speaker 1: couple times, even the one that he fumbled and got
3:18
Speaker 1: back tonight, he was sacked twice and one of them
3:21
Speaker 1: came on the final drive. Like he was excellent keeping
3:24
Speaker 1: plays alive. And there is no disputing for a franchise
3:29
Speaker 1: that has found itself in I would say football hell
3:34
Speaker 1: tied to this contract in a situation that looked really
3:38
Speaker 1: really bleak over the course of the last couple years
3:43
Speaker 1: their general manager has done a really good job you
3:46
Speaker 1: know they're one of the youngest teams in the league
3:48
Speaker 1: you feel their team speed you feel the two offensive
3:52
Speaker 1: guys the two wide receivers they drafted in Concepcion and
3:56
Speaker 1: and Denzel Boston. I mean, their team speed. Obviously, the Steelers'
4:00
Speaker 1: secondary is not great, but was eye-opening and has been
4:05
Speaker 1: the last couple weeks. I mean, those guys are explosive playmakers.
4:11
Speaker 1: And I think most people coming into the season was like, OK,
4:15
Speaker 1: we like your two draft picks, but how's your quarterback
4:19
Speaker 1: going to get them in the ball? And I think
4:20
Speaker 1: you got to give Deshaun Watson some credit because the
4:24
Speaker 1: preseason was a nightmare. The incident with the press conference
4:28
Speaker 1: and then running it back. And then after week one,
4:32
Speaker 1: the expectations had hit an all time low. And now
4:36
Speaker 1: it feels kind of fun. Like, if you could just
4:38
Speaker 1: remove whatever you think about the guy off the field,
4:42
Speaker 1: they haven't been a bad watch. Now, he definitely came
4:46
Speaker 1: back to earth in the second half. There were moments. Again, physically,
4:51
Speaker 1: I believe he looks way better than he has looked.
4:55
Speaker 1: But he made a bunch of throws that were reminiscent
4:58
Speaker 1: of the last couple years. But I also think the
5:02
Speaker 1: guy that deserves a lot of credit is, and it's
5:04
Speaker 1: funny how this works. Sometimes when an older coach who
5:10
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like they're ever going to be the head
5:12
Speaker 1: man gets a job like this and the way it
5:16
Speaker 1: went down with them doing all the testing, the psychological testing,
5:21
Speaker 1: I'm not talking players, I'm talking to the coach and
5:24
Speaker 1: a lot of people clearly pulling their names out. And Todd,
5:27
Speaker 1: which I do respect, when you hit a certain age,
5:30
Speaker 1: and though he's been a coordinator for a long time,
5:33
Speaker 1: he's made a lot of coin. He's not worried about
5:36
Speaker 1: his bank account. He's not worried about paying the mortgage,
5:39
Speaker 1: whether he got this job or not. He's a rich
5:42
Speaker 1: dude at this point in time in his career. But
5:44
Speaker 1: he's very comfortable in his skin. And I think if
5:47
Speaker 1: you look at the way that he's handled the Watson situation,
5:51
Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people thought was crazy,
5:54
Speaker 1: most human beings, I think universally, were like, just go
5:57
Speaker 1: see what you have in Shador. Now, whether that was
6:00
Speaker 1: his choice or not, he is still the front man.
6:03
Speaker 1: He's the guy that goes to the podium Wednesday, Friday,
6:06
Speaker 1: Sunday after the game, does a conference call on Monday.
6:10
Speaker 1: As a head coach, you're not only out front and
6:14
Speaker 1: center during the game, you're talked about a lot with
6:17
Speaker 1: the fan base, you speak for the team. The only
6:20
Speaker 1: guy who comes close to speaking as much as you
6:24
Speaker 1: is the quarterback, and he only has to speak once
6:26
Speaker 1: during the week and then once after the game. So
6:30
Speaker 1: I've been pretty impressed with Munkin and handling a situation
6:34
Speaker 1: that there's a PR nightmare, the negativity surrounding you, you're
6:39
Speaker 1: in a division with Again, he's 42 years old, but
6:42
Speaker 1: still Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy. They know what they're doing. Obviously,
6:47
Speaker 1: the Ravens and Joe Burrow, like not an easy place
6:50
Speaker 1: to play. All these all these teams, you know, have
6:55
Speaker 1: consistently made the playoffs, especially the Ravens and the Steelers.
6:58
Speaker 1: We know the Bengals upside of a couple of years
7:00
Speaker 1: ago was like to beat Patrick Mahomes to go to
7:02
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. And they have looked more than capable.
7:07
Speaker 1: They have looked like a well-run operation, especially on offense.
7:12
Speaker 1: Even the night when Watson has bad throws, like on
7:16
Speaker 1: that final drive, on I think it was like third
7:18
Speaker 1: and nine, after it felt like Watson had taken a sack,
7:22
Speaker 1: you're doing the math in your head. You're like, where's
7:24
Speaker 1: the wind coming? You know there's a really windy stadium.
7:27
Speaker 1: There's something also... A little old school, a little bit
7:32
Speaker 1: of a throwback in this new day and age of
7:35
Speaker 1: all these new stadiums. Clearly the Browns have a new
7:37
Speaker 1: stadium coming sooner than later. Hearing them bang the walls
7:43
Speaker 1: and that sound of something you would have heard in
7:46
Speaker 1: like the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. A sound
7:48
Speaker 1: that you would have heard watching sports pre-internet. And the
7:53
Speaker 1: fans are so passionate. Football means so much in Ohio.
7:57
Speaker 1: And they've just had little to root for. And it's
7:59
Speaker 1: one thing, like, typically when they've won this game on
8:02
Speaker 1: Thursday night, a lot of times they haven't been good.
8:05
Speaker 1: They've been destined for a high pick. And I'm not
8:07
Speaker 1: saying that this team's going to the playoffs. They got
8:09
Speaker 1: the Jets next week, which, you know, they're going to
8:12
Speaker 1: have this mini bye week. But, you know, they're going
8:15
Speaker 1: to have a chance to go 4-1. That's kind of cool.
8:19
Speaker 1: And sometimes when you're just basking in negativity... When your
8:24
Speaker 1: whole sporting world is... There's no positive around it. And
8:29
Speaker 1: something like this happens. Munkin, the general manager, Andrew Berry.
8:33
Speaker 1: I mean, this goes back to the Travis Hunter trade.
8:35
Speaker 1: Then the Miles Garrett trade. Like, they've accumulated a lot
8:39
Speaker 1: of assets. And listen, you can tank... You can trade
8:43
Speaker 1: everything and have a million picks. You then need to
8:45
Speaker 1: pick the right players. Now, knock on wood, Mason Graham
8:49
Speaker 1: left the game early. I think the second series, I
8:54
Speaker 1: think most Browns fans would agree. It sure was shaping
8:57
Speaker 1: up like he's the best player on the team. So
8:59
Speaker 1: hopefully he doesn't have a significant injury. But they have
9:02
Speaker 1: a lot of young talent. And this is a great
9:05
Speaker 1: example of sometimes when you don't have your quarterback situation,
9:09
Speaker 1: making some crazy move, taking the wrong guy that maybe
9:12
Speaker 1: you will regret. Obviously, they've been stuck with this Watson situation.
9:16
Speaker 1: And I think you could argue they still kind of are.
9:19
Speaker 1: But just build the team. And then figure it out later.
9:23
Speaker 1: They're going to have two first-round picks in this draft,
9:25
Speaker 1: their own and the Rams. But Todd Munkin is coaching
9:28
Speaker 1: his ass off. Andrew Barry deserves a standing ovation from
9:32
Speaker 1: the fan base for accumulating all these players, utilizing these picks,
9:36
Speaker 1: and getting impact speed. One reason I personally was on
9:41
Speaker 1: the Browns for this game, the Steelers are old. So
9:45
Speaker 1: an old team on a short week, it's going to
9:48
Speaker 1: be very, very evident early. I mean, Rodgers looked terrible.
9:52
Speaker 1: You know, one of the great back and forths. Honestly,
9:57
Speaker 1: non-like football play, the highlight of September so far for
10:02
Speaker 1: me in the NFL was the exchange between Aaron Rodgers
10:07
Speaker 1: screaming at Mike McCarthy with F-bombs to call the play
10:10
Speaker 1: in and Mike McCarthy calling him an asshole. Then fast
10:15
Speaker 1: forward to the end of the game when Rodgers gets
10:18
Speaker 1: Verst to jump off sides like it felt like his
10:20
Speaker 1: 10th time. Jared Verst is like just itching to jump
10:23
Speaker 1: every single play. Next play dives into the end zone,
10:27
Speaker 1: ties the game on the two point conversion and they
10:31
Speaker 1: hug like, you know. people that have been in love forever.
10:35
Speaker 1: And that's sometimes when you've been in a relationship, because
10:38
Speaker 1: at first when that screaming match happened and they're getting
10:41
Speaker 1: their ass kicked 21 to 10, and you just, there
10:44
Speaker 1: was a point in this game where you're like, are
10:46
Speaker 1: the Browns going to beat this team like 34 to
10:49
Speaker 1: 13 and just curb stomp Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers?
10:54
Speaker 1: And the lead story when it came to the Pittsburgh
10:56
Speaker 1: Steelers is going to be these guys' relationships. I mean,
11:00
Speaker 1: everyone online is making the joke of like, It's a
11:04
Speaker 1: divorced couple that find themselves years later, don't want to
11:08
Speaker 1: die alone, don't want to be lonely, so they just
11:10
Speaker 1: get back together. Even though their kids have moved out
11:14
Speaker 1: and they just don't have anyone else to date. Even
11:16
Speaker 1: though they truly don't like each other. I mean, let's
11:19
Speaker 1: face it. We all know people who have broken up
11:23
Speaker 1: and gotten back together. The older you get, you are
11:26
Speaker 1: going to have people in your life or know people
11:29
Speaker 1: close to you that are on the edge of divorce,
11:34
Speaker 1: like are headed for a divorce and are able to
11:37
Speaker 1: work through it. Maybe it's through counseling. Maybe it's just
11:40
Speaker 1: through each swallowing their pride and ego. Maybe it's just
11:44
Speaker 1: working on it and they get through it and they
11:47
Speaker 1: pass the rough seas and make it out to greener
11:52
Speaker 1: pastures on the other side. But most people, at least
11:56
Speaker 1: in my experience in my 41 years on this planet,
12:00
Speaker 1: they get in an ugly divorce. And it's been well
12:04
Speaker 1: documented about the way that it ended. I think Mike
12:08
Speaker 1: McCarthy got fired on Aaron Rodgers' birthday after they lost
12:11
Speaker 1: to an awful Arizona Cardinals team. It's the equivalent of
12:14
Speaker 1: just a divorce that's like, whoa, this thing's getting ugly.
12:19
Speaker 1: Seven or eight years later, typically don't get back together.
12:23
Speaker 1: And the way the game opened up about Al Michaels
12:28
Speaker 1: asking Aaron Rodgers what he envisions himself doing in 2027
12:33
Speaker 1: in the fall. And he's like, either playing with my
12:38
Speaker 1: newborn or tending for my pregnant wife. I'm like, Aaron,
12:43
Speaker 1: after watching you lose it on the sideline here with McCarthy,
12:47
Speaker 1: probably a smart move that you've waited because I can't
12:50
Speaker 1: even imagine a toddler in your house throwing off You know,
12:53
Speaker 1: your rhythm, you know, your sleep schedule. You're pissed off now.
12:58
Speaker 1: Holy shit. Buckle up, buddy. But it was like, what
13:02
Speaker 1: is going on here? And then I'll give Rodgers credit.
13:07
Speaker 1: He is no longer the player that he once was,
13:09
Speaker 1: which there's no shame in that. He's truly one of the,
13:13
Speaker 1: I've been watching sports my entire life. All of them.
13:16
Speaker 1: He's as good in the peak of his powers as
13:19
Speaker 1: any athlete, any sport I've ever witnessed. He has his flaws.
13:24
Speaker 1: I understand his championship resume is not as great as some,
13:29
Speaker 1: but in the peak of his powers, it didn't get
13:32
Speaker 1: much better than him. He's not that guy anymore. He
13:35
Speaker 1: still has flashes of brilliance. At one point in time
13:38
Speaker 1: in this game, I'm like, I don't know. Him and DK,
13:41
Speaker 1: I know he claims to love DK. The rapport's off.
13:45
Speaker 1: It's just kind of not working. And then he just
13:48
Speaker 1: kind of made some stuff happen. He made some beautiful passes.
13:50
Speaker 1: He had DK, I think it was maybe early in
13:53
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, on a beautiful deep ball after he
13:56
Speaker 1: got hit. A couple plays later, he hits Washington on
13:59
Speaker 1: a touchdown that was reminiscent of a throwback Pete Rogers play.
14:04
Speaker 1: That final drive, he just, and I'll give McCarthy and
14:07
Speaker 1: him credit. You know, a part of football, it's like,
14:11
Speaker 1: you know, the art of war, right? take your strength
14:14
Speaker 1: and find their weakness. And it would be everyone's weakness
14:18
Speaker 1: because I've never seen a tight end that is six
14:21
Speaker 1: foot seven, 300 pounds, who is as skilled as the
14:24
Speaker 1: big fella. I mean, Darnell Washington is, I think we
14:29
Speaker 1: use the word, and I'm probably guilty of this, unique,
14:32
Speaker 1: like way too much. Like there are a lot of
14:35
Speaker 1: unique players in the history of football. And there are
14:38
Speaker 1: a lot of similarities between players that we call unique
14:42
Speaker 1: from yesteryear. There aren't many guys like that. I'm sure
14:46
Speaker 1: there have been tight ends who have weighed 280-plus. I
14:51
Speaker 1: would imagine throughout the history of the game, especially in
14:53
Speaker 1: the modern game, they have been blocking only tight ends.
14:57
Speaker 1: This guy is clearly a weapon, and the Browns, in
14:59
Speaker 1: fairness to their defense, I don't think any defense would
15:02
Speaker 1: have an answer to that. It feels like throwing the
15:05
Speaker 1: ball down to Shaq in the peak of his power.
15:07
Speaker 1: What are you going to do? And they just went
15:09
Speaker 1: to him relentlessly, and they kept getting penalties. And it worked.
15:13
Speaker 1: And I don't even blame the DBs for getting penalty.
15:15
Speaker 1: What are you supposed to do? It's like fouling Shaq.
15:19
Speaker 1: What do you want me to do? Just have him
15:21
Speaker 1: run me over? And it worked. And there are moments
15:25
Speaker 1: of brilliance, but one problem for this team, and we'll
15:28
Speaker 1: see as this goes on, there were countless times tonight,
15:31
Speaker 1: there's that famous meme of Rodgers in Green Bay when
15:35
Speaker 1: his helmet is pointed the other way. He got sacked,
15:38
Speaker 1: I think, officially five times tonight. It felt like he
15:41
Speaker 1: was getting hit constantly. And I wouldn't say the Browns
15:45
Speaker 1: are solid defense, but by no means are they the,
15:48
Speaker 1: you know, 85 Bears, the 2000 Ravens. I mean, you're
15:52
Speaker 1: going to play a lot of teams that can get
15:54
Speaker 1: after the quarterback. And one downfall of Aaron at his
15:58
Speaker 1: age is not quite as mobile. I mean, their receiving
16:02
Speaker 1: core can clearly be a little hit or miss. He
16:05
Speaker 1: gets frustrated. He's a tough SOB, man, because he kept
16:09
Speaker 1: popping back up, popping back up. But you kind of
16:12
Speaker 1: felt it. I mean, it's October 1st, and he is
16:16
Speaker 1: getting pelted over and over again. And a couple weeks
16:21
Speaker 1: ago against the Patriots, what happened? Absolutely blasted. So part of,
16:27
Speaker 1: you know, for this older team, how's it going to
16:30
Speaker 1: age as the season goes on? That's one thing the
16:33
Speaker 1: Browns have. Like, am I super bullish that what Watson
16:37
Speaker 1: brings to the table– is sustainable week to week. I mean,
16:40
Speaker 1: we have definitely seen, relative to his standards, brilliance. I
16:44
Speaker 1: think some of that's Todd's play calling, but some of
16:46
Speaker 1: that tonight was just Watson going, hey, this is five
16:50
Speaker 1: years ago, Deshaun. I'm going to scramble around. I'm going
16:52
Speaker 1: to make shit happen. It's a fun type player to watch.
16:55
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't even remember this guy since he's
16:57
Speaker 1: put on a Cleveland Browns uniform. The problem with the
17:00
Speaker 1: Steelers is they're older guys. It's like, how is this
17:04
Speaker 1: going to hold up over time? And let's face it,
17:07
Speaker 1: I mean, they trade Joey Porter. I was reading during halftime,
17:10
Speaker 1: eating dinner, one of the local guys on The Athletic
17:14
Speaker 1: wrote the article about the, I guess, deterioration of the
17:19
Speaker 1: relationship between the two sides and what led to a
17:25
Speaker 1: couple nights ago, him getting traded. Their DBs stink. I mean,
17:30
Speaker 1: they are not going to be able to cover people.
17:33
Speaker 1: So we saw last week, I mean, they got bailed
17:35
Speaker 1: out by some special teams, snafus by the Bengals, and
17:41
Speaker 1: it's hard to cover Chase and Higgins no matter who
17:43
Speaker 1: you got, but you're going to play a lot of
17:46
Speaker 1: explosive offenses. So when I look at the Pittsburgh Steelers,
17:50
Speaker 1: whose coach consistently took them to the playoffs while he
17:53
Speaker 1: built one of the greatest internet cities you will ever see,
17:58
Speaker 1: this is kind of like last year. When you watch
18:01
Speaker 1: this team, there are drives where you're like, that's a
18:03
Speaker 1: good team. And then there are drives where it's like, yeah,
18:05
Speaker 1: this is the type of team that could lose to anybody.
18:07
Speaker 1: So when you look at their schedule, like playing the Colts,
18:10
Speaker 1: playing the Bucks, playing the Saints, you play the Browns again,
18:12
Speaker 1: then you play the Bengals, the Eagles, the Broncos, the Texans,
18:15
Speaker 1: the Jags. Yeah, they could beat all these teams. They
18:19
Speaker 1: could lose to them all. Like their, I would say,
18:23
Speaker 1: variance is like, if you told me they go 7-10...
18:29
Speaker 1: and lose a bunch of games that kind of look
18:31
Speaker 1: like this, very on the table. If you tell me
18:35
Speaker 1: that they squeak out more of these games as time
18:37
Speaker 1: goes on, and they end up 9-8, 10-7, on the table.
18:43
Speaker 1: But is Aaron Rodgers at this age, as the weather turns,
18:47
Speaker 1: and you look at their schedule late in the season,
18:50
Speaker 1: you got at Ravens to end the season. You got
18:53
Speaker 1: at Titans early in January. I mean, that I got
18:56
Speaker 1: married in Nashville in May a couple years, or March
18:58
Speaker 1: a couple years ago. It was cold. It's going to be,
19:01
Speaker 1: could be really cold there in January. Home against the Panthers.
19:05
Speaker 1: Home against the Ravens. This is all in December. So
19:08
Speaker 1: home against the Texans in early December. Home against the
19:12
Speaker 1: Broncos in early December. At the Eagles in late November.
19:17
Speaker 1: I mean, so some of these games you could have,
19:20
Speaker 1: frigid might be strong, but it could just be bad weather.
19:24
Speaker 1: And it could be ugly outside. And you get a
19:27
Speaker 1: 42-year-old guy, you get an offensive line that clearly isn't exactly,
19:32
Speaker 1: I would say, the most consistent group in the league.
19:38
Speaker 1: I like Jalen Warren. He runs his ass off. He
19:42
Speaker 1: can play for my team any day. But you're dependent
19:45
Speaker 1: a lot on him to kind of carry the load.
19:49
Speaker 1: Did anyone else? Homer had two carries. So 17 carries.
19:54
Speaker 1: He's been good the last two weeks. I mean, the
19:57
Speaker 1: Jalen Warren we have seen over the course of the
19:59
Speaker 1: last five days has been exceptional. But McCarthy and Rodgers,
20:04
Speaker 1: they're going to bicker. That's what old, divorced couples who
20:09
Speaker 1: get remarried, I'm sure, do a lot of the time.
20:12
Speaker 1: I just question the age on this team. And as
20:17
Speaker 1: we go throughout the season, you already put yourself a
20:19
Speaker 1: little bit behind the eight ball, how this is going
20:23
Speaker 1: to play out. But congrats to the Browns. Congrats to
20:26
Speaker 1: the Browns fans. I feel for a group that is
20:30
Speaker 1: very passionate. For some reason, I feel like I follow
20:32
Speaker 1: a bunch on social media. They love football. What they
20:36
Speaker 1: have been through, what they have been forced to witness.
20:40
Speaker 1: Most human beings get lucky if you're just born into
20:44
Speaker 1: a Packer fan or a Yankee fan or a Laker fan.
20:48
Speaker 1: Most teams aren't just putrid forever. I was with a
20:54
Speaker 1: bunch of Vikings fans last night. And they were kind
20:57
Speaker 1: of complaining. They're like, you know, we always lose. I mean, yeah,
21:01
Speaker 1: you lose a lot in the playoffs. I've been alive
21:04
Speaker 1: a decent amount of time and seen you guys had
21:06
Speaker 1: a lot of good teams. Now, it hasn't resulted in
21:09
Speaker 1: Super Bowls. But your football life doesn't relate to a
21:13
Speaker 1: franchise like the Browns. They would sell their left leg
21:18
Speaker 1: to be in your shoes, to have your experiences, to
21:22
Speaker 1: have your letdowns in the middle of January. This is
21:25
Speaker 1: the type of franchise that doesn't sniff January. And they
21:28
Speaker 1: still might not. Like, would I bet right now that
21:31
Speaker 1: they're going to be a player? I would not. But
21:34
Speaker 1: they're definitely extremely watchable. And they have built a nucleus, like...
21:39
Speaker 1: If you looked at these two franchises like a stock
21:41
Speaker 1: right now, who would you invest in moving forward? The
21:46
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns and some of their young nucleus and their
21:49
Speaker 1: picks in the future or this Pittsburgh Steelers situation? It's
21:54
Speaker 1: a no-brainer. We'll end on that. Big picture for the Steelers,
21:59
Speaker 1: they got some concerns. Older guys, making a bunch of money,
22:05
Speaker 1: absolutely no answer at quarterback. As long as Rodgers is
22:09
Speaker 1: able to stay, you know, in the dressing on a
22:13
Speaker 1: weekly basis, they're never going to lose enough to be
22:16
Speaker 1: in the mix to draft one of these top guys.
22:19
Speaker 1: I mean, even the pick they got for Joey Porters
22:22
Speaker 1: in 2028, it's not like it comes to fruition anytime soon. So, man,
22:29
Speaker 1: the Steelers, Tomlin probably right now just playing Minecraft with
22:33
Speaker 1: a big smile on his face. I need to tell
22:42
Speaker 1: you about this new sports trading app called Polymarket. It's
22:46
Speaker 1: the best way to trade in sports. In the past,
22:49
Speaker 1: if you wanted some action on the game, you'd put
22:51
Speaker 1: some money in. And if your team was doing well
22:53
Speaker 1: and you wanted to cash out, they'd lock the trade
22:56
Speaker 1: and take a huge fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market.
23:01
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23:04
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23:08
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23:11
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23:14
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23:19
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23:23
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23:25
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23:30
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23:37
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23:41
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23:45
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23:50
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23:55
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24:01
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24:06
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24:10
Speaker 1: Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. It's funny,
24:24
Speaker 1: you know, I read the article today on JJ McCarthy.
24:29
Speaker 1: And they use words like immaturity and defiance. He wouldn't
24:34
Speaker 1: listen to coaches. And he had an alter ego. I
24:38
Speaker 1: started thinking alter ego at quarterback. It's like he's a
24:42
Speaker 1: WWE wrestler or something. And there's always a scale. And
24:49
Speaker 1: whether you're a veteran player, whether you're a young player,
24:51
Speaker 1: and I would imagine it's like this many of the
24:55
Speaker 1: places in which we all work. You can be a pain.
24:59
Speaker 1: You can be immature. You can be someone that drives
25:03
Speaker 1: management nuts if you produce. And the more and more
25:08
Speaker 1: you produce, the higher levels in which you bring stuff
25:13
Speaker 1: to the table, they look the other way. It's been
25:16
Speaker 1: like that since the beginning of the time, and that
25:18
Speaker 1: will never change. And in pro sports, when you're an
25:21
Speaker 1: ass kicker, you get a little more leeway off the field. Ideally,
25:26
Speaker 1: you get Justin Jefferson. Elite player, high-level guy, just total package, right?
25:33
Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald, you know what I mean? Patrick Mahomes. I mean,
25:38
Speaker 1: that's not the case with everybody. And listen, young people,
25:42
Speaker 1: when I was 21, 22, 23, just like many of
25:45
Speaker 1: you listening, if you're around my age, if you're in
25:47
Speaker 1: your 30s, your 40s, you look back to your younger
25:50
Speaker 1: years and you go, What an idiot. I wish I
25:54
Speaker 1: could slap myself in the back of the head. But sometimes,
25:57
Speaker 1: I mean, a great learning experience is when you're an
26:00
Speaker 1: immature idiot. And maybe J.J. McCarthy will look back in
26:04
Speaker 1: 10 years, whether his career turns out okay or whether
26:07
Speaker 1: it's completely derailed and he's out of the league. Probably
26:11
Speaker 1: shouldn't have had an alter ego called nine, which I
26:15
Speaker 1: actually totally understand if you're like an offensive guard or
26:19
Speaker 1: a pass rusher or a linebacker If you're like, hey, listen,
26:24
Speaker 1: if you run into me just like walking my dog
26:27
Speaker 1: at the meet, the deli, at Safeway, wherever in society,
26:34
Speaker 1: you're going to think I'm a great guy. I'm a normal,
26:37
Speaker 1: nice guy. But when I play a football game, I
26:41
Speaker 1: have to transform my mind into a completely different human.
26:45
Speaker 1: I think most people would be like, totally get it.
26:48
Speaker 1: I do think the quarterback, like, kind of has to
26:51
Speaker 1: be a pretty consistent human being. So in the article,
26:54
Speaker 1: they talked about everyone eye-rolling his alter ego. I can't
26:59
Speaker 1: get over he had an alter ego. Maybe I wasn't
27:02
Speaker 1: as locked into the J.J. McCarthy situation. I knew he
27:05
Speaker 1: would do the meditating in college and paint in the face,
27:09
Speaker 1: but I just, I can't have an immature quarterback. Like
27:13
Speaker 1: that's a pretty poor job scouting by the Minnesota Vikings.
27:17
Speaker 1: And one aspect of this article was like, They chose
27:22
Speaker 1: JJ McCarthy over Bo Nix because they thought he had
27:25
Speaker 1: a higher ceiling. Well, it turns out he had a
27:29
Speaker 1: much lower floor. And I'm as guilty of this as
27:33
Speaker 1: anybody when we talk about players. We love talking about
27:37
Speaker 1: what the future could be. How high can they go?
27:41
Speaker 1: What is the peak performance if it all goes well?
27:45
Speaker 1: This guy has more in the tank than this guy.
27:48
Speaker 1: We rarely go like, what's his floor? And sometimes when
27:52
Speaker 1: you do, hey, Anthony Richardson, Trey Lance, high ceiling guys, well,
27:58
Speaker 1: actually their floor couldn't be any lower, you know? And
28:01
Speaker 1: that's a problem because the majority of players are not
28:06
Speaker 1: gonna be like Randy Moss, are not gonna be Travis
28:10
Speaker 1: Kelsey or Ed Reed and like hit their ultimate ceiling
28:13
Speaker 1: of all time greatness. Most guys, because there are a
28:16
Speaker 1: lot of guys that play for a lot of years
28:19
Speaker 1: that have very good careers, that I think some coaches
28:22
Speaker 1: and GMs and front office people, you know, they kind
28:24
Speaker 1: of underachieved, but they still had 12 year career and
28:27
Speaker 1: they made a hundred million dollars. So like in the aggregate,
28:31
Speaker 1: when you look back 20, 30 years later, you go,
28:34
Speaker 1: what a hell of a run. You were a third
28:35
Speaker 1: round pick. Look what happened. Or you were first round
28:37
Speaker 1: pick and you played for this long. And then there
28:41
Speaker 1: are just disasters. And when you get traded one, it's
28:46
Speaker 1: got a, I've been fired. That's essentially what happened. You
28:49
Speaker 1: were just fired. They're like, we don't want you in
28:52
Speaker 1: the building. We think all the quarterbacks we have who
28:58
Speaker 1: are not making much money, many have written off, especially
29:02
Speaker 1: our one and two guy, a long time ago, are
29:05
Speaker 1: way better than you. Our star wide receiver, who is
29:11
Speaker 1: obviously Jefferson, who's injured right now, but Hall of Fame
29:14
Speaker 1: level talent, thinks you are a scrub. I'm not saying
29:18
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson said that. He doesn't need to. We know
29:21
Speaker 1: what he believes. How could he not? And I think
29:25
Speaker 1: what's crazy is when you draft questionable players at certain positions,
29:32
Speaker 1: you typically feel comfortable doing that when you have the,
29:39
Speaker 1: I would say, a structured position group. You already have
29:42
Speaker 1: veteran guys in there. You have a veteran position coach.
29:46
Speaker 1: You just feel that that guy, once he's in there
29:49
Speaker 1: on a daily basis, will just shape in. When the
29:52
Speaker 1: Eagles drafted Jalen Carter, like, God, it's pretty risky. Well,
29:55
Speaker 1: they go, well, we got Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox
29:58
Speaker 1: and in a meeting room with him every single day.
30:01
Speaker 1: So if he's going to survive anywhere, that's where he's
30:04
Speaker 1: going to survive. I remember when I was in the league,
30:06
Speaker 1: the Giants did it with JPP. It's like, we got
30:09
Speaker 1: Justin Tuck, we got OC, get them around those guys,
30:11
Speaker 1: and it worked out really well. And sometimes that backfires.
30:15
Speaker 1: You never truly know. But when you can't, and I'm
30:20
Speaker 1: by no means a perfect human being, but I like
30:22
Speaker 1: to think I tend to be pretty self-aware sometimes. And
30:26
Speaker 1: I like to surround myself with other people that I
30:28
Speaker 1: would say self-awareness is a characteristic they bring to the table.
30:34
Speaker 1: And clearly, listen, we've all had stints in our life
30:37
Speaker 1: where we have some immaturity and maybe don't make the
30:40
Speaker 1: best decisions. But when you don't have a feel for
30:43
Speaker 1: the room, I would imagine many of you listening have
30:48
Speaker 1: worked for people who you just go, this guy's an idiot.
30:52
Speaker 1: It's hard for me to listen to this guy. And
30:54
Speaker 1: it's like, are you a malcontent? Or actually, are you
30:57
Speaker 1: smarter or more capable than the guy technically above you
31:01
Speaker 1: on the org chart? Which I would imagine happens a lot, right?
31:06
Speaker 1: It happened to me in radio. I didn't agree with
31:09
Speaker 1: everything that I was told when I worked at Fresno
31:11
Speaker 1: State or when I was in Philly with Howie and
31:15
Speaker 1: working for those guys. But I'd like to say that
31:18
Speaker 1: I kind of fell in line a lot of the
31:19
Speaker 1: time because I had the utmost respect. I was not
31:22
Speaker 1: in a position to act like I was smarter than
31:24
Speaker 1: these guys. That wasn't the case when I got into
31:26
Speaker 1: radio because I was like, I worked for one guy,
31:29
Speaker 1: might be the dumbest human being I've ever met in
31:30
Speaker 1: my entire life. And if you told me J.J. McCarthy,
31:37
Speaker 1: some incompetent organization, just put out an article like he's immature,
31:42
Speaker 1: he was defiant, I'd be like, well, you guys don't
31:44
Speaker 1: have the best history, right? That's what we use to
31:47
Speaker 1: defend Baker Mayfield with the Browns, Sam Darnold with the Jets.
31:52
Speaker 1: And as time aged, we go, yeah, it was probably
31:54
Speaker 1: more the organization than them. Well, this one, it's like
31:58
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell thinks you're a loser. Because let's just parse
32:02
Speaker 1: all the different, the way they described him, right? Let's
32:06
Speaker 1: just immature, defiant, eye rolls. And let's just use, let's
32:13
Speaker 1: just sum it up. They don't like you. They think
32:18
Speaker 1: you're a clown. They think you're not good enough to
32:22
Speaker 1: act this way. You know why? Because they don't act
32:26
Speaker 1: that way. Kevin O'Connell had just coached Kirk Cousins and
32:30
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold. Justin Jefferson's the face of the franchise who
32:34
Speaker 1: is everything you would want out of a high-level player,
32:37
Speaker 1: like the total package. So when you, I would say,
32:41
Speaker 1: disgrace yourself, some guys play bad. Welcome to football. It's
32:45
Speaker 1: happened to a lot of guys. Hell, it's happened to high-level,
32:47
Speaker 1: all-pro-level guys in the middle of their career. Had down years, struggled.
32:52
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield's kind of going through right now. Not playing
32:54
Speaker 1: that well, right? Jalen Hurts goes up and down. But
33:01
Speaker 1: when people lose respect for you, it's time for you
33:03
Speaker 1: to look in the mirror. And I do think he's
33:07
Speaker 1: going to a place where, listen, I've never spent any
33:10
Speaker 1: time around Kevin O'Connell, but when you're a former quarterback,
33:13
Speaker 1: offensive guy, you're probably not just MFing you every day.
33:17
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying John Harbaugh is going to do that,
33:20
Speaker 1: but it's a much more intense operation playing for John
33:24
Speaker 1: in terms of the expectations of how to act. Plus,
33:27
Speaker 1: the Giants trade a fifth-round pick for you. So in
33:30
Speaker 1: terms of the amount they're like invested in you, not much.
33:37
Speaker 1: So if he can't figure it out now, this is
33:39
Speaker 1: one of those things that could unravel and unravel fast.
33:42
Speaker 1: But anytime you get traded for nothing and an article
33:46
Speaker 1: comes out within the week crushing you, there are going
33:51
Speaker 1: to be some people I'm sure in his ear like,
33:54
Speaker 1: look at these losers trying to talk shit about you.
33:57
Speaker 1: I would use that to be like, I need to
33:59
Speaker 1: look myself in the mirror. What can I do better?
34:02
Speaker 1: How can I grow from this? Because there's a pretty
34:07
Speaker 1: clear chart, right? Your off-the-field problems, your pain-in-the-ass levels can't
34:16
Speaker 1: outweigh your production and ability. And right now, if we're
34:23
Speaker 1: balancing it here, it's just all negative, no positives. And
34:28
Speaker 1: at quarterback... That's a major, major problem. The other thing
34:34
Speaker 1: I want to defend, Mike Tomlin, I haven't played video
34:38
Speaker 1: games in decades. I mean, probably since college, the mid-early 2000s.
34:45
Speaker 1: And I honestly didn't know much about Minecraft. If you
34:49
Speaker 1: would have asked me what it was two days ago,
34:51
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I could have described it. And watching
34:55
Speaker 1: all the clips of Tomlin playing, building this city, which
34:58
Speaker 1: looks pretty cool. I mean, he did a good job.
35:01
Speaker 1: Maybe he was destined, maybe he's been in the wrong
35:04
Speaker 1: field his entire career, and he's clearly had an incredible
35:08
Speaker 1: career in football. Maybe he was meant to reimagine America's infrastructure.
35:14
Speaker 1: Maybe that's what he was actually born to do. He
35:16
Speaker 1: just took a detour, becoming a Super Bowl champion, never
35:20
Speaker 1: having a losing season. Looks like he's crushing it on TV.
35:25
Speaker 1: But what if that is his true talent? Just reimagining
35:29
Speaker 1: and changing some of our cities that have some issues.
35:36
Speaker 1: Make some buildings. Create some stuff. But I saw a
35:39
Speaker 1: lot of people. I saw Julian Edelman post something. Kind
35:41
Speaker 1: of making fun of them, right? Because the Patriots used
35:44
Speaker 1: to own them. Tom Brady commented on it. Like, you
35:48
Speaker 1: talk about a defense that could never adjust. They never
35:52
Speaker 1: changed their zone defenses against them, and we just constantly
35:54
Speaker 1: annihilated them. And there's truth to that. I do think
35:59
Speaker 1: most human beings who work in a field where the
36:03
Speaker 1: hours are pretty insane have something that is, especially if
36:11
Speaker 1: you are in a position like Mike's where you're just
36:14
Speaker 1: making decisions constantly and the stress levels, the anxiety, the
36:18
Speaker 1: exhaustion are just 100 out of 100 on a daily basis.
36:24
Speaker 1: You need some sort of relief. I think a lot
36:27
Speaker 1: of people binge shows or watch reality television show just
36:33
Speaker 1: to quote unquote veg out. Even if it's for an hour,
36:36
Speaker 1: two hours, and as a coach, I would imagine if
36:41
Speaker 1: you just went through offensive coordinators, head coaches, general managers,
36:46
Speaker 1: they have something in their life. It can be difficult
36:50
Speaker 1: during the season, especially if you have young families. Mike's kids,
36:53
Speaker 1: I think, are in college. But to just have something
36:57
Speaker 1: to just take your mind off where you're just not
37:00
Speaker 1: thinking about football 24-7, 365. Maybe it's reading fiction books.
37:06
Speaker 1: And if you told me that he's playing Minecraft in
37:10
Speaker 1: the office, I think, yeah, it's a little bit of
37:12
Speaker 1: a problem. But if you tell me that he comes
37:15
Speaker 1: home and sometimes bangs out an hour or two on
37:17
Speaker 1: my car, I also am very impressed. As someone who
37:21
Speaker 1: is not proud of my attention span getting smaller and
37:25
Speaker 1: smaller throughout the years, is that he could keep up
37:29
Speaker 1: with something for 12 years he said that he's been
37:32
Speaker 1: building this city. 12 years. The longevity and the ability
37:39
Speaker 1: to stick with something that long. I don't know if
37:41
Speaker 1: they have app updates, if it keeps getting better. I
37:45
Speaker 1: think it's on PlayStation. Is that what he plays on?
37:48
Speaker 1: But listen, I think if you just went through the coaches,
37:51
Speaker 1: there are probably some that play video games. There's probably
37:54
Speaker 1: some that just sit outside, smoke a cigar, and look
37:56
Speaker 1: at the sky. And maybe turn on some whatever music
38:00
Speaker 1: they like. I just think everyone's making fun of him.
38:07
Speaker 1: The memes are pretty funny. Mike Tomlin, man, interesting cat.
38:14
Speaker 1: Before we dive into some of the games, there was
38:17
Speaker 1: one other thing. I was thinking about this with some
38:21
Speaker 1: of the story. I guess we can just start it
38:23
Speaker 1: because I can talk about this. The four box on
38:26
Speaker 1: Sunday morning. You know, I... I understand for those of
38:30
Speaker 1: you that live on the East Coast not hating the
38:33
Speaker 1: international morning game, right? Because for you, it starts at 9.30.
38:38
Speaker 1: So most human beings are up, and it's just like
38:42
Speaker 1: you don't have to watch some stupid pregame show that
38:45
Speaker 1: is telling you nothing. You can just watch a game.
38:48
Speaker 1: Totally get it. For us on the West Coast, it
38:49
Speaker 1: starts at 6.30 in the morning. It's the Commanders, Indianapolis.
38:57
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge fan. I'm just not. Now, you
39:00
Speaker 1: could also argue if this game was at 10 a.m.
39:03
Speaker 1: with all the other games, are you really that dialed in?
39:07
Speaker 1: Who knows? Maybe Jaden ends up playing. But this isn't,
39:11
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say, a marquee game this weekend. So it
39:14
Speaker 1: gives you the ability to watch a little football before
39:16
Speaker 1: the actual game starts. But I just... I've never been
39:21
Speaker 1: a fan of the 630 AM games, and we all
39:24
Speaker 1: know where this is going. It's clear where this is headed.
39:27
Speaker 1: There is going to be a package in the foreseeable future. future,
39:30
Speaker 1: maybe in two or three years, where we just get
39:33
Speaker 1: a full slate like Thursday night games of the 6.30 games.
39:37
Speaker 1: That is a lock. So let's– my four box in
39:41
Speaker 1: the morning, there are some bad games, at least some
39:44
Speaker 1: pretty big spreads. But New England, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, the–
39:48
Speaker 1: I almost said the Lakers. The Rams, Philadelphia, and Dallas
39:52
Speaker 1: and Houston. There's some good games in the afternoon too. Niners, Denver,
39:55
Speaker 1: and Chiefs, Raiders. Seattle, Chargers, in theory would have been
40:00
Speaker 1: a good game if you were looking at it like
40:01
Speaker 1: three weeks ago. Right now the Chargers could be imploding.
40:03
Speaker 1: I think I saw Ladd McConkie didn't practice today. They
40:07
Speaker 1: could get their ass kicked in that game. if the
40:12
Speaker 1: week of, you know, going into week one, you would
40:16
Speaker 1: have said New England Buffalo would have been probably one
40:20
Speaker 1: of the bigger games in the first month of the season,
40:23
Speaker 1: especially for the AFC. You would have said definitely this week,
40:27
Speaker 1: New England Buffalo, if you were just ranking in importance
40:30
Speaker 1: before the season, you're just like, hey, take a look
40:33
Speaker 1: at week four. What's the biggest AFC game? You would
40:36
Speaker 1: have put this one way over Chiefs Raiders, but it
40:39
Speaker 1: turns out the New England Patriots are in complete shambles.
40:44
Speaker 1: I saw today, I mean, Barmore and Gonzalez having practice
40:48
Speaker 1: this week, and clearly they're a defensive team because their
40:51
Speaker 1: offense sucks. There is a report... Out there, Vrabel pushed
40:57
Speaker 1: back against this. So I'm not saying I have any
41:02
Speaker 1: inside information on it. I just watched the New England
41:05
Speaker 1: radio stations all talk about it. He's being asked about
41:08
Speaker 1: it if there is almost a rift between the quarterback
41:14
Speaker 1: and the head coach. And Vrabel obviously denied it and
41:17
Speaker 1: said that he chose New England because of Drake May,
41:21
Speaker 1: which of course he did. That was a huge, huge
41:25
Speaker 1: positive for the organization that offseason when they were looking
41:29
Speaker 1: to get a head coach and trying to convince Vrabel who,
41:31
Speaker 1: like he also said, would have had other options. I
41:35
Speaker 1: do believe this. We all know this. When things are
41:39
Speaker 1: going well, everyone's happy. I don't care what business you're in.
41:45
Speaker 1: If things are going well, you're not... There is just less...
41:52
Speaker 1: ability to really worry about stupid stuff you're less likely
41:58
Speaker 1: to get caught up into drama because you're just in
42:01
Speaker 1: a better mood and in football when you're losing all
42:05
Speaker 1: the time it gets really negative whether you're a new
42:08
Speaker 1: angle any organization any college like the the thing i
42:13
Speaker 1: will never ever forget is is the feeling of walking
42:17
Speaker 1: into a building, whether it's college or pro, the early morning,
42:21
Speaker 1: the day after you lose. It sucks. And you juxtapose
42:26
Speaker 1: that with the feeling of walking into that building, whether
42:29
Speaker 1: you win by one point or 50 points, whether you
42:33
Speaker 1: win because you dominate or you got the luckiest referee
42:37
Speaker 1: penalty call you'll ever get, no one cares, everyone's happy.
42:42
Speaker 1: And you start losing, especially in a place like New England,
42:44
Speaker 1: let's face it, the culture up there can be a
42:47
Speaker 1: little more negative. Mike Vrabel, at his core, is a
42:54
Speaker 1: defensive tough guy. Like, that's who he is. Right? So, yeah,
42:59
Speaker 1: he chose for Drake May. And then Drake May just
43:04
Speaker 1: has turned into a pumpkin. So when Mike Vrabel sees
43:09
Speaker 1: adversity as a player and as a coach, the mentality
43:14
Speaker 1: that he has had success on his entire life in
43:18
Speaker 1: football is, I would say, the opposite of the way
43:25
Speaker 1: an offensive guy thinks. Be tougher, work harder, grind through it.
43:30
Speaker 1: Probably not holding you with kid gloves. And quarterbacks, especially
43:36
Speaker 1: guys who have lost their confidence, things can get weird.
43:40
Speaker 1: And you have to build those guys back up. On
43:42
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, when it comes to
43:44
Speaker 1: D linemen, linebacker, you can just scream at them constantly.
43:48
Speaker 1: And that happens all the time. If you ever go
43:51
Speaker 1: to a football practice, in a high-level college, and definitely
43:54
Speaker 1: in the NFL, typically the loudest coaches are going to
43:59
Speaker 1: be on the line of scrimmage, O-line and D-line. Their
44:02
Speaker 1: coaches tend to be the most animated coaches. And I
44:05
Speaker 1: would say linebacker coaches can be pretty aggressive, right? It's
44:09
Speaker 1: an aggressive position. Well, what do you think Vrabel played?
44:13
Speaker 1: He didn't play quarterback. So I don't know if they're
44:17
Speaker 1: having issues. I would understand if Mike Vrabel's not happy
44:21
Speaker 1: with his play, given that we've all watched it and
44:25
Speaker 1: it's a debacle. Like think about Buffalo. This couldn't have
44:30
Speaker 1: gone much better. The first couple weeks, Joe Brady immediately
44:34
Speaker 1: establishes himself. The constraints are off. Let it rip. We're
44:39
Speaker 1: taking shots. And we're going to let Josh absolutely cook.
44:44
Speaker 1: And then they finally get into a weird game. They
44:48
Speaker 1: couldn't have played any worse. They end up winning by eight.
44:51
Speaker 1: Vibes are high. I mean, you're coming into this game
44:55
Speaker 1: feeling really good about yourself. Stadium's been rocking, playing a
44:59
Speaker 1: team that is just licking their wounds. And now these
45:01
Speaker 1: stories come out that weird stuff's going on behind the scenes,
45:06
Speaker 1: like are Josh and Mike Vrabel having some internal issues?
45:10
Speaker 1: Does Mike turning on Drake May? Every coach will turn
45:15
Speaker 1: on a player eventually if he sucks. That is a lock.
45:19
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't care how much they like them personally.
45:23
Speaker 1: If I think your play is not up to par
45:26
Speaker 1: and it does not change, it does not matter who
45:30
Speaker 1: you are, that player will eventually be replaced. Now, in
45:34
Speaker 1: a short-term period with a young player, this happens. But
45:38
Speaker 1: it's been so bad... And now you're looking at we're
45:42
Speaker 1: playing Josh Allen, and our quarterback just can't stop turning
45:46
Speaker 1: the ball over. We can't function as an offense. Pretty
45:51
Speaker 1: scary for New England. This thing could get away and
45:53
Speaker 1: get really, really ugly. I mean, it's hard not to like,
45:56
Speaker 1: especially if some of these defensive guys can't play. Could
45:59
Speaker 1: this be blowout city? Could this look a lot like
46:03
Speaker 1: last week against the Jags, where it's just a lot
46:06
Speaker 1: of points to not many points? Football, you've got to
46:09
Speaker 1: be careful. You just never know. Any given Sunday, these
46:13
Speaker 1: teams have an understanding of each other. Even though the
46:17
Speaker 1: Bills have a new head coach, he's been there for years.
46:22
Speaker 1: They were used to game planning against them last year.
46:25
Speaker 1: But man, the vibes of these two franchises couldn't be
46:30
Speaker 1: any more on the opposite end of the spectrum. It's
46:34
Speaker 1: pretty crazy how fast this happened. I mean, last year,
46:36
Speaker 1: New England... Let's not even talk about the play. Just
46:40
Speaker 1: won the division. Just won the division. And now it
46:45
Speaker 1: feels like, would you feel confident saying the Patriots are
46:48
Speaker 1: going to have a winning record this year? Because I
46:51
Speaker 1: surely would not. Jacksonville and Cincinnati. This is a good game.
46:57
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a really good game. Liam Cohen,
47:02
Speaker 1: he just looks so swaggy every week and skinnier by
47:05
Speaker 1: the day. I don't know what he's got flowing through
47:07
Speaker 1: his body, but it's probably a few GLP-1s. And I'm jealous.
47:12
Speaker 1: He's got a good jawline going. He's got great play calls.
47:15
Speaker 1: He's vibing. He's got a cool look. And he's turned
47:20
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence into a big-time player. The Jags are not
47:24
Speaker 1: a running team. If they're going to beat you, they're
47:26
Speaker 1: going to beat you through the air. which I would
47:29
Speaker 1: say for the first time last week, Cincinnati, Jalen Warren
47:32
Speaker 1: started gashing them. I mean, he busted out like a
47:34
Speaker 1: 90-yard run and just got called back because of DK's
47:37
Speaker 1: kind of phantom holding play. But I looked it up today.
47:40
Speaker 1: The longest run for Jacksonville so far this season is
47:46
Speaker 1: 16 yards. So they're not exactly some explosive ground game.
47:52
Speaker 1: It's kind of Trevor Lawrence throwing to Parker Washington and
47:57
Speaker 1: Jacoby Myers. The crazy part is a couple years ago,
47:59
Speaker 1: it looked like Brian Thomas Jr. was going to be
48:01
Speaker 1: a star in the NFL. He's probably their number three.
48:04
Speaker 1: And now Travis Hunter, they're trying to phase him out
48:06
Speaker 1: of offense and just get him focused on defense. Here's
48:09
Speaker 1: the one thing I would say about Jacksonville, is last
48:11
Speaker 1: week they beat the living you-know-what out of the Patriots.
48:14
Speaker 1: Little different animal in terms of defending the pass against
48:18
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. So... the Bengals have to
48:23
Speaker 1: just be kicking themselves over last week. It's just unforced errors. Uh,
48:27
Speaker 1: especially when, you know, chase and Higgins were making plays
48:31
Speaker 1: that they gave up some blown coverages on defense. Like
48:34
Speaker 1: their defense doesn't play up to snuff and they got lucky.
48:37
Speaker 1: Rogers missed a couple too. There were a lot of
48:40
Speaker 1: big plays there to be had for Pittsburgh who had
48:42
Speaker 1: not looked like a big play offense at all the
48:45
Speaker 1: previous two weeks. So this is a game that I
48:48
Speaker 1: I'm staying away from. Um, I have a lot of
48:52
Speaker 1: respect for Jacksonville. And we are a Texans and Colts
48:57
Speaker 1: L this weekend. If things keep going well, Jacksonville, could
49:02
Speaker 1: they win this division in early, mid-December? So these other
49:07
Speaker 1: two teams in that division, if they want to have
49:09
Speaker 1: a snowball's chance in hell, they better start winning some games.
49:13
Speaker 1: Speaking of better start winning some games, Jerry Jones, I
49:18
Speaker 1: got the notification yesterday at I think around 8 p.m
49:22
Speaker 1: pacific standard time yesterday which means Dallas I'm pretty sure
49:26
Speaker 1: is two hours ahead of me Jerry Jones is making
49:29
Speaker 1: a trade at 10 o'clock at night on a Wednesday
49:31
Speaker 1: now I was reading that Joey Porter had Claimed his
49:37
Speaker 1: back hurt after practicing Monday and Tuesday, and that was
49:40
Speaker 1: the final straw. And at first, I hear, you know,
49:44
Speaker 1: I'm at this dinner, and they're like, everyone's texting me,
49:48
Speaker 1: second round pick. Well, it's two years away, second round pick,
49:51
Speaker 1: which is usually valued in the league as, you know,
49:53
Speaker 1: a third round pick because it's a year out. So
49:56
Speaker 1: the value is not the same. It's like time value money. But,
50:03
Speaker 1: and listen, he's a 6'2 corner with 34-inch arms who
50:06
Speaker 1: can run. Uh, you know, you have an owner in
50:12
Speaker 1: his eighties, he's going to second round pick in a
50:14
Speaker 1: couple of years. Cause I think the initial reaction is
50:17
Speaker 1: who else is doing this? And clearly when the deal
50:20
Speaker 1: that they accepted, there wasn't some crazy market. Now, part
50:24
Speaker 1: of it is he's a guy that wants millions of dollars,
50:27
Speaker 1: 30 plus million dollars a year, a contract probably exceeding
50:31
Speaker 1: $ 100 million. We'll see how the Cowboys handle that. But
50:36
Speaker 1: I also, you got to ask, like, are the Cowboys
50:39
Speaker 1: a player away on defense? They don't necessarily feel that way.
50:43
Speaker 1: Their defensive coordinator's like, anytime you get a guy, they
50:45
Speaker 1: can take out half the field. I mean, you're not
50:48
Speaker 1: getting Darrell Rivas here. You know, this isn't Richard Sherman
50:52
Speaker 1: or Deion Sanders in his prime. A good player, but
50:56
Speaker 1: you look up there, this isn't Derek Stingley here. Now,
51:00
Speaker 1: they must feel really confident. He fits the defense. I
51:04
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, my initial take was seem bold,
51:09
Speaker 1: seem bold, but that's kind of what Jerry's doing. I'm
51:12
Speaker 1: also not of the camp of like every trade Jerry
51:16
Speaker 1: makes is just moronic because when he traded for Quinn
51:19
Speaker 1: and Williams last year, everyone's like, what's he doing? It's like, well,
51:21
Speaker 1: Quinn Williams is one of their better players. And he's
51:24
Speaker 1: a team captain. He's an all-pro level talent. He also
51:28
Speaker 1: plays at premium position. Like, I don't hate that as much. Now,
51:32
Speaker 1: the way he structured the deal, it turns out the
51:34
Speaker 1: Packers could be a disaster, and he's going to give
51:36
Speaker 1: it the Packers pick. This year, it's like that could
51:39
Speaker 1: be a top-ten pick. That's where it gets a little dicey.
51:42
Speaker 1: But Jerry just likes wheeling and dealing. I find him entertaining.
51:46
Speaker 1: And the Pittsburgh Steelers were clearly done with this guy.
51:48
Speaker 1: So they start shopping him, and, you know, the— they're
51:53
Speaker 1: giving up a six-round pick this upcoming year. So basically,
51:56
Speaker 1: they get two years of this guy until they have
51:59
Speaker 1: to pay anything, which I don't really have an issue with.
52:03
Speaker 1: But like the other guys, I mean, the expectation, you know,
52:06
Speaker 1: they traded for Pickens, they traded for Quinn and Williams.
52:09
Speaker 1: Your expectation when you give up a premium pick, even
52:12
Speaker 1: if it is a couple years out, are high. You
52:15
Speaker 1: want this guy to be an impact player, right? And,
52:19
Speaker 1: you know, Joey's his dad, right? Blue chipper would be strong,
52:24
Speaker 1: but I mean, guy was picked 32nd, which that year
52:27
Speaker 1: was the first pick in the second round. And, you know,
52:30
Speaker 1: their defensive coordinator is already hyping them up. Now, will
52:33
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator be here for years? Time will tell.
52:36
Speaker 1: Better step it up. Now, I think, you know, I've
52:41
Speaker 1: never lived in Texas, but I've lived most of my
52:46
Speaker 1: life or a large percentage of it in Northern California.
52:49
Speaker 1: First 18 years of my life. and then basically from
52:52
Speaker 1: 2012 to 2021, so another 10 years, and where there
52:58
Speaker 1: were two football teams. And one team sucked up the
53:01
Speaker 1: majority of the oxygen. And there's, I think, a little
53:05
Speaker 1: brother complex. There always was, you know, in the Bay
53:08
Speaker 1: Area with the Raiders, that the 49ers got more publicity,
53:11
Speaker 1: the radio stations talked about them more, they got, from
53:14
Speaker 1: a business standpoint, more of the corporate dollars, and it
53:19
Speaker 1: was always... you know, a push and pull of not
53:24
Speaker 1: wanting to accept your kind of lot in life. And
53:28
Speaker 1: I would imagine Houston and Dallas a little bit like that. Like,
53:32
Speaker 1: what's the biggest team in Texas? By a mile, it's
53:35
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. And if you're Jerry, you're playing this team
53:38
Speaker 1: that has not won. You are playing a team whose
53:41
Speaker 1: offense has not been good. I mean, they just can't
53:44
Speaker 1: score points. And it looks like, you know, Nico Collins
53:47
Speaker 1: comes back. I would guess, I mean, that Joey plays
53:53
Speaker 1: this week. But, like, everything that happened last week, the ending,
53:59
Speaker 1: how adamant Jerry was about, like, this is unacceptable. I
54:05
Speaker 1: didn't get, there was no way he could explain it
54:07
Speaker 1: to me because there was no proper answer. And he's
54:11
Speaker 1: not wrong. Like, sometimes when, Ben Johnson, for example, he
54:16
Speaker 1: made a comment about Jared Goff's mobility the other day.
54:20
Speaker 1: About like, I've coached a guy before that couldn't move.
54:23
Speaker 1: And then I saw Jared Goff, who was on St.
54:26
Speaker 1: Brown's podcast, said that Ben called him the next morning.
54:29
Speaker 1: It was like, bro, I wasn't, I didn't mean anything
54:31
Speaker 1: by it. And Jared's like, I totally, I get it.
54:34
Speaker 1: But also kind of like, why'd you have to say that? Jared,
54:37
Speaker 1: we all know you can't move. He just said something
54:40
Speaker 1: literally every human knows. I never understand When someone says something,
54:45
Speaker 1: especially that's not that serious, that is a 100% fact,
54:50
Speaker 1: then it's like, well, you got to be careful. No,
54:52
Speaker 1: you don't. Jared Goff's not a mobile quarterback. Ben Johnson's like,
54:55
Speaker 1: I've coached a non-mobile quarterback before. He just happened to
54:58
Speaker 1: be the number one pick and an excellent player. You know,
55:00
Speaker 1: it's like, you don't think Ben Johnson thinks highly of
55:03
Speaker 1: Jared Goff. So I just think sometimes that you get
55:07
Speaker 1: in these situations that's like, Jerry just says what everyone's thinking. Now,
55:14
Speaker 1: sometimes he says some crazy stuff. But any of the
55:16
Speaker 1: comments based on the Rio de Janeiro game against Baltimore,
55:20
Speaker 1: he's 100% justified to say. Now, I think sometimes where
55:23
Speaker 1: he gets in trouble is, you know, when things are
55:27
Speaker 1: going kind of well or there's some gray area. Like,
55:30
Speaker 1: there was no gray area with that situation. And there
55:33
Speaker 1: is pressure on this Cowboy team because, one, Eagles are
55:37
Speaker 1: leaking serious oil. The Giants quarterback situation is a disaster.
55:42
Speaker 1: I mean, they just traded for a guy whose team
55:45
Speaker 1: drafted him 10th overall within a couple days, scathing article
55:48
Speaker 1: about him. And, you know, the commanders just aren't that talented. And,
55:53
Speaker 1: you know, their quarterback is going to try to play
55:55
Speaker 1: with a brace on his arm. So, like, if not now,
55:59
Speaker 1: then when? And here's the other thing with Jerry is
56:02
Speaker 1: just a couple years ago, they won 12 straight games,
56:05
Speaker 1: three straight years. Now, obviously, Micah played a huge role
56:08
Speaker 1: in that, in their coaching staff. McCarthy and Dan Quinn
56:12
Speaker 1: coaching the defense, you would say, I mean, on paper,
56:16
Speaker 1: by far, it's a more impactful duo than Schottenheimer and
56:22
Speaker 1: Christian Parker. But you lose to an 0-3 team, even
56:26
Speaker 1: if the 0-3, to me, there are differences of 0-3 teams.
56:29
Speaker 1: I think we would all agree that if you pulled every,
56:34
Speaker 1: let's say, Team with a winning record. Right now. And
56:38
Speaker 1: you talk to their coach and said, who would you
56:40
Speaker 1: rather play next week? The winless Dolphins or the winless Texans? Right? Clearly,
56:48
Speaker 1: every human would pick the Dolphins. But, like, this team
56:52
Speaker 1: has flaws. And if you do go 0-4, like, just
56:55
Speaker 1: do the math. There's 13 games remaining. For you to
56:57
Speaker 1: go 10-7, which... We've got a long way to go,
57:01
Speaker 1: but does that guarantee you most years a spot in
57:04
Speaker 1: the dance, even with the extra team, is you'd have
57:10
Speaker 1: to go 10-3. Your next 13 games, is a team
57:13
Speaker 1: going 10-3? And you go, well, they went 12-5 last year,
57:16
Speaker 1: similar spot. True, but I think if you just play
57:20
Speaker 1: that game every single year, you can get yourself in
57:22
Speaker 1: trouble really, really fast. You know, I heard someone say this,
57:25
Speaker 1: and I haven't done a good job thinking of it,
57:29
Speaker 1: under this lens is, you know, in the previous iteration
57:34
Speaker 1: of the playoff setup, where only six teams made it in, right,
57:38
Speaker 1: per conference, the Packers would have missed several years. So
57:43
Speaker 1: I give LaFleur a lot of credit when I go
57:45
Speaker 1: look at his record, he makes the playoffs every year. Well,
57:47
Speaker 1: some of those years he's the seventh seed. So if
57:49
Speaker 1: you're the seventh seed back-to-back years, or three or four years,
57:53
Speaker 1: or two or three years, It's kind of an accomplishment,
57:56
Speaker 1: but is it as impressive as it sounds when you
58:00
Speaker 1: really take a step back? Probably not. I don't know
58:06
Speaker 1: what to make of this Dallas-Houston game. I talked about
58:11
Speaker 1: this yesterday. I don't feel it was great about my
58:14
Speaker 1: Dallas pick because of the unit in which I was
58:18
Speaker 1: depending on the offense, which obviously has looked pretty good.
58:22
Speaker 1: in the most crucial situation, their play caller, that's what
58:25
Speaker 1: he came up with. It's like, how does he not
58:28
Speaker 1: have something in his back pocket? And he just didn't.
58:31
Speaker 1: And it's clearly going to be more difficult in theory
58:35
Speaker 1: against this defense. So this is a fascinating game. And
58:39
Speaker 1: I would say the other fascinating game, and I know
58:42
Speaker 1: they're one and two, is I saw some clips today
58:46
Speaker 1: of Puka back at practice. Again, it's just practice film.
58:49
Speaker 1: He's just running some slants and some in-routes. Did look
58:52
Speaker 1: like he was moving pretty good. And the one thing
58:54
Speaker 1: that happened last week against Denver is they were hitting
58:57
Speaker 1: some big plays. And that was with Puka in street
59:00
Speaker 1: clothes on the sideline. It's kind of just been Devontae
59:03
Speaker 1: for a couple weeks. It's like, I'll carry the load.
59:05
Speaker 1: Puka can't do it. Feed me the pill. Well, now
59:08
Speaker 1: you bring him back into the mix. This is a
59:11
Speaker 1: Philly defense that just doesn't get near the quarterback. All
59:16
Speaker 1: the stats in terms of pressures, obviously sacks, and just
59:20
Speaker 1: the eye test kind of speak for themselves. They paid
59:24
Speaker 1: a lot of money for Jordan Davis and for Jalen
59:27
Speaker 1: Carter to And, you know, half that game I didn't
59:31
Speaker 1: have the audio up loud, but you don't hear their
59:33
Speaker 1: names called very often during these games. And specifically Jalen Carter.
59:40
Speaker 1: Part of the reason he was such a fascinating kind
59:43
Speaker 1: of test case in that draft is everyone agreed, based
59:48
Speaker 1: on pure talent for this draft, he's the best player
59:50
Speaker 1: in it. But major question marks off the field, a
59:54
Speaker 1: ton of teams that obviously could have used him passed
59:57
Speaker 1: on him. Then the Eagles get him, and over the
59:59
Speaker 1: course of a couple years, it was clear when he's on,
1:00:02
Speaker 1: he's an unstoppable force. And had some weird moments because
1:00:06
Speaker 1: he's a little bit of a roller coaster. That's why
1:00:08
Speaker 1: he did not go one or two. That's why he
1:00:11
Speaker 1: was there toward the end of right around pick nine.
1:00:15
Speaker 1: Is that where they picked him? Pick nine? And you
1:00:17
Speaker 1: just don't feel his presence as much now after they
1:00:19
Speaker 1: paid him a boatload of money. Like if I'm Howie
1:00:23
Speaker 1: and Vic, like that guy, especially with all these veteran
1:00:27
Speaker 1: players gone over the years, their edge pressure is not
1:00:30
Speaker 1: what it was a couple years ago. I mean, a
1:00:32
Speaker 1: huge part when we talk, you know, Jalen takes a
1:00:35
Speaker 1: lot of shit. I think he's kind of been a
1:00:37
Speaker 1: similar guy throughout his career when people thought really highly
1:00:42
Speaker 1: of him and people think not as highly of him
1:00:45
Speaker 1: after games like last week. He didn't play that great
1:00:47
Speaker 1: in the Titans game. He had a couple awesome drives.
1:00:51
Speaker 1: He also essentially threw a pick six in the red zone.
1:00:55
Speaker 1: You know, so, and the Titans stink. I mean, they
1:00:58
Speaker 1: are terrible. And I get it, it was 700 degrees
1:01:00
Speaker 1: on the field. Guys' cleats were burning off. But like,
1:01:04
Speaker 1: Jalen's had, obviously he's played well in the Super Bowl,
1:01:07
Speaker 1: but he plays in a lot of games that kind
1:01:09
Speaker 1: of look like that. He just usually has some magic
1:01:12
Speaker 1: in him in the second half, and they're able to win.
1:01:15
Speaker 1: But this team is not nearly as deep, and this
1:01:18
Speaker 1: is what happens when you pay a quarterback to, is
1:01:22
Speaker 1: you kind of got to cut some costs. And then
1:01:23
Speaker 1: you start depending on some younger players. Well, that year
1:01:27
Speaker 1: they had, you know, countless guys. A couple of them
1:01:31
Speaker 1: are retired. Another one plays for the Patriots after getting
1:01:35
Speaker 1: $ 25 million a year. And you're very dependent on the
1:01:38
Speaker 1: other two guys who are on rookie salaries who are
1:01:41
Speaker 1: now making a lot of money. So if those guys
1:01:44
Speaker 1: aren't creating a bunch of havoc in the backfield, and
1:01:47
Speaker 1: one thing we know about Matt Stafford, a lot like
1:01:49
Speaker 1: what Ben Johnson said about Jared Goff, is if he's
1:01:53
Speaker 1: not moving. So if you're pressuring him, you can throw
1:01:56
Speaker 1: him off. If you can get him off the spot, he,
1:01:59
Speaker 1: unlike some of the other guys like Goff and Cousins,
1:02:02
Speaker 1: because his arm's so strong, can still make throws, but
1:02:05
Speaker 1: that is your best chance to throw him off, right?
1:02:08
Speaker 1: Is to move him around. Well, they're the one team,
1:02:11
Speaker 1: or one of the teams in the league that just
1:02:13
Speaker 1: doesn't get close to the quarterback. So if you're not
1:02:15
Speaker 1: going to touch him, and now Puka's back, could be
1:02:17
Speaker 1: a long day. And that's... You know, McVay's a little
1:02:23
Speaker 1: back against the wall. You got Aaron Donald, who I
1:02:27
Speaker 1: wasn't just trying to be, you know, opposite of everyone
1:02:31
Speaker 1: else and just have a counter take to try to
1:02:34
Speaker 1: stand out. I just truly went, this guy took off
1:02:38
Speaker 1: a couple years, had not been playing football, and is
1:02:42
Speaker 1: going to come back. And we expect him to look
1:02:45
Speaker 1: like he previously looked, where he's one of the greatest
1:02:48
Speaker 1: players to ever play. Like, we all agree that Aaron
1:02:51
Speaker 1: Donald would have thrived in any era. And in his
1:02:55
Speaker 1: own era, he dominated. So you're getting him back, and
1:02:58
Speaker 1: your expectations are like, well, they're getting back a plug-and-play.
1:03:02
Speaker 1: Even if it's not like Hall of Famer, he could
1:03:04
Speaker 1: be a Pro Bowl-level guy. It's like, well, how does
1:03:07
Speaker 1: his body respond? What's he going to feel like the
1:03:09
Speaker 1: day after the game? Older players feel differently than younger players.
1:03:14
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this today. Some guys, like, some
1:03:19
Speaker 1: people's body, I guess, as Brady would call it, pliability, flexibility,
1:03:24
Speaker 1: maybe it's their bone structure, maybe it's just their God-given,
1:03:29
Speaker 1: the way they're constructed. If the same player got hit
1:03:33
Speaker 1: the same hit, some guys get a serious injury and
1:03:36
Speaker 1: other guys bounce up. It's remarkable how that happens. And
1:03:41
Speaker 1: there's not really much explanation for it. Especially if you go,
1:03:44
Speaker 1: both guys train hard, It's not like one guy mails
1:03:47
Speaker 1: it in. They both eat well. They both rehab well.
1:03:49
Speaker 1: They both do the cold plunge. They do everything humanly
1:03:53
Speaker 1: possible on every given week and throughout the year to
1:03:56
Speaker 1: get ready to play football. Yet on the same play,
1:03:59
Speaker 1: if you put two different players in, the same type
1:04:01
Speaker 1: hit or the way their body would stretch or be flexed,
1:04:06
Speaker 1: one guy might tear a knee or break a bone
1:04:08
Speaker 1: and the other guy just pops right up. And as
1:04:11
Speaker 1: you get older, your margin for error on that stuff
1:04:15
Speaker 1: all becomes neutral. Everyone's kind of become similar. I saw
1:04:18
Speaker 1: Case Keenum tell the part of my take, guys. Every
1:04:21
Speaker 1: hour that went by on Tuesday morning, I got more
1:04:25
Speaker 1: and more sore. He's 38 years old. So I think
1:04:29
Speaker 1: the impact of Aaron Donald, I always thought was a
1:04:32
Speaker 1: little oversold. And again, maybe I was being more pessimistic.
1:04:35
Speaker 1: I clearly was being more pessimistic than most. But it
1:04:39
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like he's exactly... in his prime defensive player
1:04:44
Speaker 1: of the year ass kicker. And now it's like a
1:04:45
Speaker 1: back's a little tight. I mean, what are you getting
1:04:48
Speaker 1: out of him? And obviously the Miles Garrett disappearance is
1:04:51
Speaker 1: not ideal with the injury. And who knows when he
1:04:53
Speaker 1: ever comes back? I mean, there's just, to me, the storyline,
1:04:57
Speaker 1: like to me, New England Buffalo, that's all about New England.
1:05:00
Speaker 1: Like I already know Buffalo's good. And if Buffalo plays well,
1:05:03
Speaker 1: I expect them to dominate. And I think the story
1:05:05
Speaker 1: is going to be like, could this really get weird
1:05:08
Speaker 1: for Vrabel? Could this really get weird with him and
1:05:11
Speaker 1: Drake Maye? The Houston game, both those two teams are storylines.
1:05:16
Speaker 1: Dallas Jerry, Brian Schottenheimer, defensive coordinator, trade for this guy,
1:05:19
Speaker 1: Houston going to go 0-4. LA and Philly, it's kind
1:05:23
Speaker 1: of the same thing. The pressure on both teams is immense.
1:05:29
Speaker 1: This Eagles thing, there was a report, not even a report,
1:05:33
Speaker 1: Seth Joyner said it. Listen, I'm not acting like I
1:05:37
Speaker 1: know this for a fact. I don't. First time I
1:05:39
Speaker 1: ever heard of it. It kind of went viral on
1:05:40
Speaker 1: the internet. The reason that Sean Mannion is in the
1:05:44
Speaker 1: booth is so Nick Sirianni can kind of keep him
1:05:50
Speaker 1: at bay and Jalen, when he comes off the field,
1:05:54
Speaker 1: can't just bypass Sirianni, go to the play caller. and
1:05:58
Speaker 1: try to dictate the terms of the offense or whatever.
1:06:00
Speaker 1: It's just harder. You've got to go over, get on
1:06:02
Speaker 1: the phone. I don't know how much truth to that
1:06:05
Speaker 1: or not, though the way he laid it out, I
1:06:07
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, I can see that. I don't know
1:06:09
Speaker 1: if it's an insecurity of Sirianni. You would think if
1:06:13
Speaker 1: the guy, wherever he wanted to be to give the
1:06:16
Speaker 1: offense the best chances, that's where he would be. But
1:06:19
Speaker 1: the situation simmers over fast. And the other thing is,
1:06:22
Speaker 1: if you want to be glass half full, you'd be like,
1:06:25
Speaker 1: this is a team that won a Super Bowl. This
1:06:27
Speaker 1: is a team a couple years ago. That does feel
1:06:30
Speaker 1: like a distant memory. And the closest thing we have
1:06:34
Speaker 1: of what this team has accomplished is the implosion that
1:06:38
Speaker 1: was last season. And the offense, which I don't know
1:06:42
Speaker 1: if they ended up leading the league, but I mean,
1:06:43
Speaker 1: toward the end of the season, they lead the league
1:06:45
Speaker 1: in three and outs. And then you just watch them play.
1:06:47
Speaker 1: They just go three and outs still all the time.
1:06:49
Speaker 1: it's a short sample size to even try to gauge that.
1:06:52
Speaker 1: But like, if things don't dramatically change, they are going
1:06:57
Speaker 1: to be in the mix to lead the league again.
1:06:59
Speaker 1: So you got to run the ball. And I don't
1:07:03
Speaker 1: know what happened last week. I thought it was embarrassing.
1:07:08
Speaker 1: And I talked about this after the game of like,
1:07:09
Speaker 1: Saquon's working here. Like, just stick with it. If you're
1:07:13
Speaker 1: going to go three and out, just give him the
1:07:15
Speaker 1: ball three times and see if he can break a run.
1:07:17
Speaker 1: And when I say break a run, I don't mean
1:07:18
Speaker 1: 50 yards. Like, 12, 15, like your explosive plays can
1:07:22
Speaker 1: come from the run game. And that's a huge part
1:07:25
Speaker 1: of kind of the Shanahan tree guys, especially Kyle is
1:07:29
Speaker 1: running the ball, you know, man in green Bay guy.
1:07:32
Speaker 1: Like that's, that's a huge problem for Matt LaFleur. They
1:07:34
Speaker 1: can't run the ball. If you can't run the ball,
1:07:37
Speaker 1: the offense, if you are a run oriented coordinator and like,
1:07:43
Speaker 1: that's a problem. And I think Sean Manion's kind of
1:07:46
Speaker 1: lost in no man's land. I saw some people saying
1:07:48
Speaker 1: that they kind of shifted the second half offense, more shotgun.
1:07:52
Speaker 1: I mean, I would say shotgun is, is much more
1:07:55
Speaker 1: a part of that tree in 2026 than it would
1:07:59
Speaker 1: have been 20 years ago. I mean, it's a huge
1:08:00
Speaker 1: part of the NFL. Quarterbacks are comfortable in that. I
1:08:03
Speaker 1: got no problem being shotgun. I got no problem with
1:08:05
Speaker 1: shotgun runs, but just run the ball. So this could,
1:08:11
Speaker 1: this could get really weird, really fast. And I've, I'm fascinated,
1:08:14
Speaker 1: especially these home games, right? Like, they'll start booing. If
1:08:22
Speaker 1: you told me they went three and out on their
1:08:24
Speaker 1: first series, they would boo. They would 100% boo. And
1:08:30
Speaker 1: they'd be justified to do it. Because everyone in the
1:08:33
Speaker 1: crowd who's paid a lot of money to be there,
1:08:36
Speaker 1: if I'm looking right now, the cheapest get-in price, I mean,
1:08:40
Speaker 1: you're talking to sit at the top is like $ 175.
1:08:43
Speaker 1: So to have a good seat at Link, to go
1:08:46
Speaker 1: to this game, I mean, it's really, really expensive. Parking,
1:08:48
Speaker 1: what you pay. These fans, to me, I've always said
1:08:51
Speaker 1: this since experiencing being around them, kind of get a
1:08:54
Speaker 1: bad rap. They love football, they're excited for football, and
1:08:58
Speaker 1: their expectation is now pretty high. They have a lot
1:09:01
Speaker 1: of high price guys and they've seen a lot of
1:09:04
Speaker 1: those same core guys have a lot of success, but
1:09:07
Speaker 1: what they've witnessed lately has not been good. And the
1:09:10
Speaker 1: other thing is coming off that bears game is really,
1:09:13
Speaker 1: really bad. I mean, McVay's coming off a game where
1:09:16
Speaker 1: I saw you admitted this week, that the NFL told
1:09:19
Speaker 1: them they should have called a defensive pass interference. It's like,
1:09:22
Speaker 1: do we really want all that stuff out there? You
1:09:24
Speaker 1: guys are balls deep with all this gambling, prediction markets,
1:09:28
Speaker 1: and everything involved, and you're coming out and saying that?
1:09:31
Speaker 1: That's why I said after the game, like, that's a
1:09:34
Speaker 1: pretty big moment. Because it wasn't just pass interference. The
1:09:37
Speaker 1: guy picked it off. So... There are some bad games
1:09:55
Speaker 1: as well, even though I think jets at Chicago's kind
1:09:58
Speaker 1: of interesting Arizona at the giants. That's might be a
1:10:01
Speaker 1: rough watch, uh, green Bay at Tampa. I mean, if
1:10:04
Speaker 1: green Bay just stinks and you're watching undrafted free agent,
1:10:08
Speaker 1: not great Titans at Baltimore Titans might be one of
1:10:13
Speaker 1: the worst teams we've seen in recent memory. The afternoon
1:10:17
Speaker 1: does have two great games. Um, Niners versus Denver. I mean,
1:10:22
Speaker 1: Purdy's playing the best football of his career. He's had
1:10:24
Speaker 1: the best three-game stretch of his career. He's not only
1:10:27
Speaker 1: in complete control of the offense, his coach, who historically,
1:10:31
Speaker 1: I always thought, could get a little conservative when things
1:10:33
Speaker 1: were going well. And I actually think, looking back, it
1:10:36
Speaker 1: was more of an indictment of, like, he never trusted
1:10:38
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo. And there have been stints, even with Brock,
1:10:41
Speaker 1: where you're like, bro, you could trust him a little
1:10:44
Speaker 1: bit more. I would say, so far this season, the
1:10:47
Speaker 1: trust level is a 10 out of 10. Now we'll
1:10:50
Speaker 1: see how it plays out with some of these injuries
1:10:52
Speaker 1: in this game. If the Niners get aggressive or try to,
1:10:56
Speaker 1: you know, get by with one or two, you know,
1:10:58
Speaker 1: Trent Williams, I would guess plays, you know, Mike Evans.
1:11:04
Speaker 1: Do you want to rush him back when you're playing
1:11:06
Speaker 1: at Seattle next week? But that's not, this is not
1:11:09
Speaker 1: how football thinks. I mean, the simple reality with football,
1:11:13
Speaker 1: football players, football teams, this is not these other sports
1:11:17
Speaker 1: where you get an unlimited amount of games. Mike Evans
1:11:19
Speaker 1: would be like, if I can play, I'm going to play.
1:11:21
Speaker 1: You guys signed me, paid me to play in these games. Specifically, Denver.
1:11:27
Speaker 1: Team with, you know, one of the best defensive backs who, if,
1:11:31
Speaker 1: you know, you need me, one, just so he covers
1:11:34
Speaker 1: me and opens up the rest of the offense and
1:11:36
Speaker 1: maybe gives us an advantage that you can throw me
1:11:38
Speaker 1: some balls on him. You know, Trent, it's like, if
1:11:41
Speaker 1: I'm good to go, I'm going to play. That's typically
1:11:44
Speaker 1: how it goes. Especially for good teams. Maybe bad teams
1:11:47
Speaker 1: later in the season, it's not worth it. But, you know,
1:11:51
Speaker 1: if you win this game, the momentum they would have
1:11:53
Speaker 1: going into Seattle would be pretty high. Pretty high. So,
1:11:59
Speaker 1: you know, Denver, you just... There's no team that you
1:12:02
Speaker 1: have less of a field that probably is going to
1:12:04
Speaker 1: end up like 11 or 12 wins. And they have
1:12:07
Speaker 1: a lot of– it's kind of like the Eagles. I've
1:12:10
Speaker 1: seen this song and dance. You know, the first half,
1:12:13
Speaker 1: Bo Nix is horrendous. They really haven't played that many
1:12:17
Speaker 1: good quarters of football. I mean, they were getting worked
1:12:20
Speaker 1: in that game. Worked. And then even when they had
1:12:23
Speaker 1: some big moments, it's like the Rams came right back
1:12:26
Speaker 1: and made plays. Yes. So I don't quite know what
1:12:30
Speaker 1: to make of Denver. I do like their personnel. In theory,
1:12:34
Speaker 1: I like their coaching staff, but let's face it. You're 31,
1:12:38
Speaker 1: 32 years old, and you've never called plays. It's kind
1:12:42
Speaker 1: of a double-edged sword, right? Sometimes you get your first
1:12:45
Speaker 1: job really young in the NFL. Just like most of
1:12:49
Speaker 1: us in life, you don't really get to choose, right?
1:12:52
Speaker 1: It's why a lot of guys, first-time coordinators, sometimes get
1:12:55
Speaker 1: it in shitty situations. They don't have a quarterback, they
1:12:58
Speaker 1: don't have good personnel, and then they just run a
1:13:01
Speaker 1: terrible offense and get fired. Now you'd much rather have
1:13:06
Speaker 1: the talent around you, but when you get a gig
1:13:09
Speaker 1: like this, which is pretty unique, ton of pressure, magnifying
1:13:14
Speaker 1: glass on your franchise, And your head coach is known
1:13:18
Speaker 1: as one of the greatest play callers of his generation.
1:13:21
Speaker 1: Shattered records with Drew Brees. Punted on Russell Wilson and
1:13:24
Speaker 1: looked like a genius. Drafted Bo Nix when everyone called
1:13:26
Speaker 1: him an idiot and had the best record in the
1:13:29
Speaker 1: league last year. Or, I guess, in the AFC. So,
1:13:35
Speaker 1: this is a tough one. The best part about this
1:13:37
Speaker 1: week is, besides New England-Buffalo, if you're like, Buffalo plays well,
1:13:40
Speaker 1: New England's got no shot. Jacksonville, Cincinnati, coin flip. L.A., Philly,
1:13:46
Speaker 1: could see that go either way. Dallas, Houston, no clue. Niners, Denver. Like,
1:13:52
Speaker 1: I'd go, yeah, the Niners are humming, but this feels
1:13:55
Speaker 1: like a little different animal than I would definitely say
1:13:58
Speaker 1: Arizona and Miami. So the level of play. Now, you know,
1:14:04
Speaker 1: Kyle last week, first play of the game, hook and ladder.
1:14:07
Speaker 1: It's like he's going to have something up his sleeve,
1:14:09
Speaker 1: but he also– If you go, hey, you've got to
1:14:13
Speaker 1: win one of these next two games, clearly you would
1:14:16
Speaker 1: choose Seattle. Divisional matchup. They already have a loss. You'd
1:14:21
Speaker 1: be 2-0 in the division. You'd win a road game.
1:14:26
Speaker 1: A road division game, I mean. And this is a
1:14:30
Speaker 1: big game for Denver. I just think just to play well.
1:14:34
Speaker 1: One issue I think we all have is like, yeah,
1:14:36
Speaker 1: you've turned it on for a half twice, but you've
1:14:39
Speaker 1: looked anemic and specifically your quarterback. Now, this is the
1:14:45
Speaker 1: Drake May thing. Like, well, is his shoulder okay? You know,
1:14:47
Speaker 1: Bo next to me physically looks pretty good, but is
1:14:51
Speaker 1: there still some lingering like, ah, you know, I'm still
1:14:54
Speaker 1: not feeling 100%. You could say that, but it's like,
1:14:59
Speaker 1: I've seen you fully healthy and you look just like
1:15:00
Speaker 1: this as well. So, Hufunga's coming home. He's one of
1:15:04
Speaker 1: my favorite players in recent. I love that guy. Talano
1:15:07
Speaker 1: Hufunga is a complete badass. I guess I lean the
1:15:11
Speaker 1: Niners there, but you would think Denver is going to
1:15:17
Speaker 1: play better. But as long as you have this first-time
1:15:20
Speaker 1: coordinator calling plays, I mean, it should be a pretty
1:15:22
Speaker 1: big advantage. Raheem Morris has a lot more experience than
1:15:26
Speaker 1: Davis Webb. A lot more experience. So, like, this is
1:15:31
Speaker 1: a big– Bosa's out. That's the other thing. It's like
1:15:35
Speaker 1: you're playing with a bunch of random defensive linemen. Now,
1:15:38
Speaker 1: Fred's one of probably, like, non-quarterback on defense, top three
1:15:42
Speaker 1: or four defender in the league. But the pass rush,
1:15:50
Speaker 1: I don't want to say non-existent, but it dramatically changes
1:15:54
Speaker 1: when 97's in street close, which he will be. And
1:15:59
Speaker 1: then last but not least, I mean, this is pretty cool.
1:16:06
Speaker 1: Growing up in the 90s, so much of Monday Night Football,
1:16:10
Speaker 1: when I think about it for the AFC, felt like
1:16:13
Speaker 1: John Elway, Mike Shanahan, Marty Schottenheimer, the Kansas City Chiefs,
1:16:18
Speaker 1: some of just John Gruden once he got Rich Gannon.
1:16:24
Speaker 1: I This rivalry, and I know Andy was extremely close
1:16:31
Speaker 1: with John Madden, who he spoke at his wake at
1:16:35
Speaker 1: the Oakland Coliseum. He's told me stories about when he
1:16:39
Speaker 1: first got the job in Philly, talking to Al Davis
1:16:41
Speaker 1: on the phone. Coach Reed, I think obviously when they
1:16:46
Speaker 1: played in the Super Bowl a couple years ago, which
1:16:48
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine Al Davis rolling over in his grave,
1:16:52
Speaker 1: the Chiefs were practicing them in the Eagles. They got
1:16:57
Speaker 1: the Raiders facility. Now, this is three or four years old,
1:17:03
Speaker 1: so it's not like they were staying in Alameda. I
1:17:06
Speaker 1: saw a clip today of Al Davis. Hope this game
1:17:14
Speaker 1: is good. We know the Chiefs are good, and we
1:17:18
Speaker 1: know if they had a game that really, really matters.
1:17:21
Speaker 1: We've seen them on Monday night and then on Sunday
1:17:23
Speaker 1: night football, and they just fucking brought it. I gave
1:17:26
Speaker 1: them a little bit of a pass last week. It's like, yeah,
1:17:29
Speaker 1: you're playing the Dolphins, you know, on 10 a.m. A
1:17:32
Speaker 1: little different vibe than the first two games. This one's
1:17:35
Speaker 1: pretty easy to get up for. Here's the other thing.
1:17:38
Speaker 1: The Raiders and Crosby have had a little thing over
1:17:40
Speaker 1: the years going back and forth with the homes. They
1:17:44
Speaker 1: have upset the Chiefs several times in Andy's tenure. Like
1:17:49
Speaker 1: most of Andy's tenure in Kansas City, the Raiders haven't
1:17:51
Speaker 1: been good. But one year they were 0-10. They beat
1:17:54
Speaker 1: them on Thursday Night Football. A couple years ago they
1:17:57
Speaker 1: beat them in that, was it Christmas Eve game or
1:18:00
Speaker 1: Christmas Day game when Mahomes, I think through the pick six,
1:18:03
Speaker 1: was to Jack Jones. And he walked into the end zone.
1:18:06
Speaker 1: I think that game was in Kansas City. So this is,
1:18:09
Speaker 1: to me, one for Kelsey and Chris Jones and Mahomes.
1:18:13
Speaker 1: Andy's not some huge, like, speech giver during the week
1:18:17
Speaker 1: but this you don't need one this week this is
1:18:20
Speaker 1: one of those where it's like this this is important
1:18:23
Speaker 1: and this is also just if you're the chiefs before
1:18:26
Speaker 1: this franchise can get any momentum going because right now
1:18:29
Speaker 1: they got some momentum they don't even just feel like
1:18:32
Speaker 1: a good story like they feel like obviously got some
1:18:34
Speaker 1: really good young players they're not even playing their quarterback
1:18:36
Speaker 1: yet so now here's the thing with cousins probably the
1:18:44
Speaker 1: most I think he's the most immobile quarterback in the NFL.
1:18:49
Speaker 1: Just look at him. at all the– Kyler, Bo Nix, Herbert.
1:18:54
Speaker 1: Goff couldn't even move better. Yeah, he easily is the
1:18:57
Speaker 1: most immobile quarterback. Daniel Jones. It might not even be close.
1:19:03
Speaker 1: Who would even beat– Geno's a better athlete. He's a
1:19:04
Speaker 1: better athlete. Stafford maybe. I feel like Stafford, if you
1:19:09
Speaker 1: just did a foot race, Stafford's beating them. Spag is
1:19:13
Speaker 1: a guy that likes to blitz. And to me, you
1:19:16
Speaker 1: are bringing the heat in a situation against this guy.
1:19:20
Speaker 1: And can we just corral that? I mean, their wide
1:19:22
Speaker 1: receiver group is not great. That is a position that
1:19:25
Speaker 1: big picture they're going to need to address. My guess
1:19:28
Speaker 1: is this offseason, I guess if they were drafting higher,
1:19:33
Speaker 1: you would be in the mix for probably never going
1:19:36
Speaker 1: to draft high enough to get Jeremiah Smith, but Becker
1:19:39
Speaker 1: out of Indiana, Coleman out of Texas, like a guy
1:19:42
Speaker 1: like that, and probably buy a guy in free agency
1:19:44
Speaker 1: as well. Like they're going to need to double down
1:19:46
Speaker 1: on that position for Fernando. But right now it kind
1:19:50
Speaker 1: of is what it is. I mean, they are very
1:19:53
Speaker 1: dependent on their two tight ends. Their two tight ends
1:19:54
Speaker 1: are good, especially Bowers is an elite player. And he
1:19:57
Speaker 1: can throw the ball to the running back. So to me,
1:20:00
Speaker 1: the game plan is pretty simple if you're the Chiefs, like–
1:20:03
Speaker 1: How would we, if we were playing Travis Kelsey in
1:20:07
Speaker 1: his prime, cover him? No team would have a better idea,
1:20:11
Speaker 1: at least to attempt, than Steve Spagnuolo because he's seen
1:20:13
Speaker 1: him every day in practice his entire career since he's
1:20:15
Speaker 1: been in Kansas City. And, you know, the running back
1:20:19
Speaker 1: is just a really good player. He's had some drops
1:20:22
Speaker 1: this season, but in theory, he's a good pass catcher.
1:20:28
Speaker 1: This is fun. This is fun. Now, maybe it doesn't
1:20:30
Speaker 1: turn out. Like, Would it shock anybody if Chiefs win
1:20:34
Speaker 1: this game by 10-plus points? No. If we were looking
1:20:38
Speaker 1: at this game before the season started, this would not
1:20:42
Speaker 1: have been a game that many people would have circled.
1:20:45
Speaker 1: This would have been a game you go, where do
1:20:47
Speaker 1: you think in the afternoon Jim Nance and Tony Romo
1:20:51
Speaker 1: would be? And if you were ranking them, you would
1:20:55
Speaker 1: have said probably in San Francisco for Denver Niners, in Seattle,
1:21:01
Speaker 1: because CBS has Chargers Seattle, and then this game would
1:21:06
Speaker 1: have been third, but that's where they're going, which sucks
1:21:09
Speaker 1: for the Bay Area Raider fans, because the Niners are
1:21:12
Speaker 1: playing in CBS, meaning if you don't have the package,
1:21:15
Speaker 1: you do not get the game on television, but the package,
1:21:18
Speaker 1: I highly recommend it, four bucks, and I would imagine
1:21:21
Speaker 1: many people will get it, they want to watch the game,
1:21:22
Speaker 1: or go to a bar, or whatever, but I'm not
1:21:25
Speaker 1: a huge bar guy to watch games. Just maybe you
1:21:29
Speaker 1: do this for a living. I need to think and talk.
1:21:33
Speaker 1: Or I mean, I need to think so I can
1:21:35
Speaker 1: talk about what's going on. Even in one-off situations like
1:21:39
Speaker 1: Thursday night or Monday night, my wife was like, hey,
1:21:44
Speaker 1: you want to go to dinners and we can watch
1:21:47
Speaker 1: a game in the background on Thursday night? I'm like, eh,
1:21:49
Speaker 1: let's just order something. I just like watching it. But
1:21:53
Speaker 1: this would be one they're going to be some people
1:21:57
Speaker 1: pretty fired up. And it's going to be interesting for
1:22:01
Speaker 1: the home crowd in Vegas, right? Like, is this a
1:22:04
Speaker 1: 50-50 deal? Does this have like a SoFi vibe? Or
1:22:08
Speaker 1: is this just a lot of out-of-towners? A lot of
1:22:12
Speaker 1: Kansas City people flying in for the game? That would
1:22:14
Speaker 1: be my guess. Like, my guess is this is not
1:22:17
Speaker 1: going to feel like the Coliseum and be a Raider
1:22:19
Speaker 1: home game. Where you would be a little intimidated by...
1:22:26
Speaker 1: everyone there to even wear a jersey. A guy I
1:22:29
Speaker 1: played high school football with, Chuck Bonneau, his brother was
1:22:33
Speaker 1: Jason Fisk, longtime defensive tackle. Played for the Vikings and
1:22:37
Speaker 1: the Titans, the good Titans, with Eddie George and Steve McNair.
1:22:41
Speaker 1: The Titans were playing the Raiders on Monday Night Football,
1:22:45
Speaker 1: and he wore his brother's jersey. He's going to watch
1:22:50
Speaker 1: his older brother, Jason and I played at Stanford, Play football, right,
1:22:55
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Got to be pretty cool. We were
1:22:57
Speaker 1: probably ninth or tenth grade at the time. And I
1:22:59
Speaker 1: remember him telling a story the next day at school. Like,
1:23:03
Speaker 1: they started chanting Raiders. You know, I don't know if
1:23:05
Speaker 1: he went to get a hot dog or was, like,
1:23:07
Speaker 1: walking around the concourse. And he just looked around, and
1:23:10
Speaker 1: everyone was looking at him, just chanting Raiders, Raiders. And
1:23:15
Speaker 1: this is a high school kid. And I can't remember
1:23:19
Speaker 1: if he took the jersey off or just kind of...
1:23:20
Speaker 1: They kind of sprinted away. But it got to a
1:23:22
Speaker 1: spot where... Not that he was, like, nervous for safety,
1:23:25
Speaker 1: but it wasn't... He wasn't comfortable. Let's just say that.
1:23:30
Speaker 1: I just remember the way he described it. Everywhere he looked,
1:23:32
Speaker 1: everyone was staring at him, chanting Raiders. So I... That's gone.
1:23:37
Speaker 1: I mean it is. And the Raiders sold out for that.
1:23:41
Speaker 1: Just like the Chargers sold out for that. There's nothing
1:23:44
Speaker 1: wrong with it. Like you just we just have to
1:23:46
Speaker 1: acknowledge that's what happened. Right? It's no different I would
1:23:51
Speaker 1: say at even home venues like Levi's Stadium that it's
1:23:57
Speaker 1: just a little different crowd. A little more wine and
1:24:00
Speaker 1: cheese than you would have found 15-20 years ago at Candlestick.
1:24:04
Speaker 1: Nature of the Beast. Same thing with The Golden State
1:24:07
Speaker 1: Warriors playing in San Francisco. The vibe of a game
1:24:12
Speaker 1: to go watch Steph now, a little different than Oracle 20,
1:24:16
Speaker 1: 15 years ago. It's the way the world works sometimes.
1:24:19
Speaker 1: But that also has a little bit of an impact.
1:24:22
Speaker 1: It just does. And we're never going back and it's
1:24:25
Speaker 1: going to happen to a lot of these places. I
1:24:29
Speaker 1: guess we can end on this. I saw a pretty
1:24:32
Speaker 1: good stat that the NFL team's that start 0-3 are
1:24:37
Speaker 1: over 65% against the spread in week four when facing
1:24:44
Speaker 1: a team with one outright win. So when I was
1:24:48
Speaker 1: looking to make some predictions on a little app we
1:24:52
Speaker 1: like to call Polymarket, I said, you know what? It's
1:24:57
Speaker 1: time to get in the mud. It's time to get
1:25:00
Speaker 1: down and dirty. It's like, middle guy, you gonna roll
1:25:03
Speaker 1: with Denver? You gonna roll with the Niners? You gonna
1:25:04
Speaker 1: take the Chiefs? How about the Buffalo Bills? Nope. No siree.
1:25:12
Speaker 1: If you don't like Minnesota to cover the 10 and
1:25:16
Speaker 1: a half against the Miami Dolphins in Minnesota, which I
1:25:22
Speaker 1: do not, $ 100 gets you $ 189. I can't believe I'm
1:25:27
Speaker 1: doing this. But I'm taking the Dolphins and the 10.5
1:25:31
Speaker 1: points in Minnesota. I'm just following the trend line. And
1:25:37
Speaker 1: sometimes you've got to follow the trend lines. It's time
1:25:39
Speaker 1: to get ugly. I'll give you another one. The Green
1:25:42
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. I do not like them to win by
1:25:46
Speaker 1: 3.5 points against an undrafted free agent led Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1:25:52
Speaker 1: $ 100 in that game pays $ 186. And last but not least,
1:25:58
Speaker 1: the ugliest of them all. I mean, it feels like
1:26:01
Speaker 1: this franchise is falling apart. At least we know the
1:26:04
Speaker 1: Dolphins are attempting to do this. And it's not their
1:26:08
Speaker 1: fault their star running back hurt his knee, but they're
1:26:11
Speaker 1: trying to be competitive in terms of effort, but not
1:26:16
Speaker 1: win any games. The Ravens in Baltimore hosting the Tennessee Titans. Again,
1:26:23
Speaker 1: NFL teams 0-3, 65% against the spread. going into week
1:26:27
Speaker 1: four against teams with at least one outright win. If
1:26:31
Speaker 1: you do not like the Ravens to cover the 10.5 points,
1:26:34
Speaker 1: $ 100 pays over $ 200. This is by far it, and
1:26:39
Speaker 1: I was on the Titans last week, and I felt
1:26:41
Speaker 1: good about it. I think Sala and Brian Dable felt
1:26:44
Speaker 1: good about it until Cam Ward let that ball leave
1:26:47
Speaker 1: his hands. And, you know, Sala, it's going to be interesting.
1:26:53
Speaker 1: It does feel like they started being very careful the
1:26:57
Speaker 1: way they discuss their young quarterback. And then after some struggles,
1:27:01
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, we're just, yeah, he might have PTSD.
1:27:04
Speaker 1: He's got to run more. Like they're starting to kind
1:27:07
Speaker 1: of go the other way. They're starting to trend of like,
1:27:11
Speaker 1: I don't have the patience to fake it. I don't
1:27:14
Speaker 1: have the patience to pretend something is going on that's
1:27:17
Speaker 1: not going on. And it's going to be interesting. Like
1:27:21
Speaker 1: this is kind of a, you could argue like, how
1:27:24
Speaker 1: many more games is the kid going to get? So
1:27:26
Speaker 1: I'm getting in the weeds. I'm following the trends. I
1:27:29
Speaker 1: feel dirty. I don't feel great. But sometimes you just
1:27:32
Speaker 1: got to let the numbers speak to you. And that's
1:27:35
Speaker 1: what I'm doing.