Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / INSTANT REACTION: Caleb Williams & Bears SHUT DOWN Sam Darnold & Seahawks on MNF, NFL Post-Week 8 Mailbag

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INSTANT REACTION: Caleb Williams & Bears SHUT DOWN Sam Darnold & Seahawks on MNF, NFL Post-Week 8 Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Volume. What is happening, my people? I'm Jon. This
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: is the 3 and Out Podcast. Hopefully you are doing well,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: enjoying life. Kind of like the Bears, who made a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: massive trade, and then the guy showed up and dominated
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: with Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. What a time to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: be a Bears fan. It's got to feel pretty good.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Rough night to be a Seattle Seahawks fan. Darn a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: little iffy. The offense struggling. The defense, I would say,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: looks human at home, at night, which typically doesn't happen
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: under Mike McDonald. But we'll dive into that game. We'll
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: do a big mailbag. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Fire in those DMs, questions answered here on the show. And, yeah,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: we'll talk a bunch of football. You guys know the drill.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: If you listen on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to 3NOW. You can watch us on Netflix. Hit the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: alert button. Never miss a show. And we're posting content
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to the YouTube page, so go check that out. And
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: let's just dive into Monday Night Football. What a time
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: to be a Bears fan. I mean, it doesn't get
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: much better. You know what hit me tonight was this
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: isn't the biggest win of the Ben Caleb year and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a half. That's clearly the playoff game against the Green
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Bay Packers. You could argue this is the most significant win.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Because unlike that game, I think every Bears fan would agree,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I think most people in the NFL would agree, their
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: defense was not good enough to win a Super Bowl.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You watched tonight and you went, whoa. Is Jeffrey Simmons
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the best player in the NFL? We'll get to Caleb
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and Ben, and they were both incredible tonight. I mean,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the steps and the improvement Caleb has shown in his
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: short time with Ben Johnson is eye-opening. You could tell
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Troy Aikman, who is pretty critical sometimes of quarterback play,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was blown away. But, you know, Ryan Poles early on
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: made some weird moves that did not work. You know,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Chase Claypool, like all GMs, you make mistakes. No one
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: bats a thousand. And the moment they got rid of Eberflus,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: they took a deep breath, they got Ben Johnson on board,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: They have been a high-level operation. And I live in Arizona,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: ton of people from the Midwest. I know a lot
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: of Bears fans that are in my immediate life. Obviously
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: working with Colin, who's acquired them as his squad. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: feel like I've watched every Bear snap of the Ben
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Johnson era very closely. Trading two first-round picks... even if
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: you're getting Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White, I mean, it's
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: a big moment, right? It's a franchise-altering trade. If you're
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a poker player, it's putting everything in the middle of
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the table. If you're an investor, it's allocating all your
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: funds to said business, said stock. And that's what Ryan
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Poles did. And I think for a lot of people,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: They just hadn't seen him play because who the hell
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: over the last couple of years is watching Titans games?
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: It happens a lot in college football when you'll be
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: watching Kirby Smart, Signetti, Dan Lanning, whoever, one of the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: top teams over the course of the last couple of years.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: You go, who is that guy? I'm like, oh, we
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: landed him from Western Michigan. He was all conference player.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: And now he's the best player on our team or
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: one of them. And he's going to be a top
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: 20 pick. Remember when Jared Verst was dominating at Florida State?
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And everyone's like, where's this guy from? They're like, Albany. Who? Where? Yeah,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: he played at Albany. He's going to be a top
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: 15 pick. And Jeff Simmons, I was thinking about it
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: tonight watching the game. He's 6'4, 300-plus pounds. He's got
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a 7-foot wingspan. But what really, from a scouting perspective,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: and Pohl's relationship with Borgonzi in Tennessee... goes back to,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: they work together with the Chiefs. So he knows them well.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Kind of both the big trades, Jeff Simmons tonight and
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Quentin Nelson, both the GMs with the Titans and the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Bears and the Colts' new guy, Dodds, and John Snyder
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: have worked together. I think it helps make these deals
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: come to fruition. But if you are going to be
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: an all-pro, and many would consider Jeff Simmons last season
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: had the best year of his career, He was not
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: playing for a competitive team. They drafted fourth. They could
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: have made the argument for the shittiest team in the league.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: They were every bit as bad as the Raiders. So
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: if you were going to be an all-pro defensive tackle,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: it's one thing at end, like Miles Garrett, you just
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: kind of get to rush. It's fun. In the middle,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: you're getting double teamed. That sucks. It is way easier
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: to be like, I'm going to take these games off.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to play that hard. That's why when
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: you scout college players, big-time prospects that are on teams
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that are not winning and they still dominate and they
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: still play hard, you're like, that guy's wired the right way. Well,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: he was an all-pro on a team that drafted fourth overall.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: That was a complete laughingstock. That was a joke that
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: fired everybody. They fired their coach like three or four
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: games into the season. So when you talk about football
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: character and they said how good of a guy he was,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: team captain, just his play based on who he's playing
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: for Damn. And tonight, listen, Monday Night Football, my mother
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: can get up for that game, but he was, it
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: was eye-opening how dominant he was. And this guy, I mean,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: what a muscle flex tonight for the Bears' operation. Their
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: general manager just makes the biggest trade so far of
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the year, I guess, since Miles Garrett, or I mean,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: right up there with him. And he immediately is the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: best player on the field. The offensive play caller who's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the head coach just works Mike McDonald, who is a
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: great defensive coach. Caleb Williams has, and this is, Ben
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: deserves credit for this, and so does Caleb, has transformed
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: his game into like, The mastermind, like this guy's mastered
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Ben's offense, like we talk about Purdy with Kyle. Yet
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: he has the physical attributes of Josh Allen in terms
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: of throwing, in terms of breaking tackles, and like the
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: speed to run around like Lamar Jackson before the injuries.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: You're like, is this kind of the perfect player? As
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a buddy texted me tonight, like, It's got a little
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: bit of a vibe of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: in the early days. Like, what is going on? Aikman
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: said it tonight. Hiring Ben Johnson is the best thing
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: that could have happened to Caleb Williams' career. And listen,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I was dubious early on. He's coming from golf, timing
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: rhythm offense. That's not how Caleb played. And within a
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: year and a half, that opening drive of the game
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: was an absolute clinic from the standpoint of complete control
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: of the offense. The head coach came into this environment going, listen,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: this is probably the hardest place to play or every
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: bit as hard a place to play as any other
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: place in the NFL, especially at night, primetime. They went
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: for it on a fourth down. They drove right down
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the field, scored a touchdown. It was like 17 plays, seven,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: eight minutes, set the tone for the entire game. Like,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: we're here. This quarterback's real. He's on a completely different
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: level now. The offensive weaponry we have. You know, the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: head coach championed Luther Burden during training camp. What was
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: his quote during camp? How Luther Burden's playing, I would
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: buy stock. And every single game, that dude is making plays.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: And offensively, they are just a juggernaut. And they're missing
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: one of their most important key cogs in Menungai, who's
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: going to come back and will just add to the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: running game. Swift's an excellent player. They're also missing a
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: tight end who plays a ton, Komet, who's out with
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the knee. So what a performance to go into that environment.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And you could tell early on, You know, the one
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: thing I appreciate, if you go to the Lions-Vikings game,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: if you go to the Chiefs-Bronco game, and you go
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to this game tonight, I watched a lot of football
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: this weekend. Some of these games, it's like, this ain't
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: a playoff game. Those three games, you could feel early
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: on the violence on the field. It's like, this is
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a violent game. That hit early in the game when
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Darnold slid and he got leveled and they didn't throw
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the flag. Listen, obviously it should have been a flag,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: but I was like, okay, sit down, honey, bring me
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: my dinner. I ain't moving. This is awesome. And the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Bears are ready for it. And last year, I mean,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: think how many games the Bears, you know, it was just,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it was a lot of crazy offense. Their defense was atrocious.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: They feel like a much more complete team. And I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: think a huge reason, obviously, adding Simmons takes their entire
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: defense to another level. It makes everyone on that front
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: dramatically better. Exponentially, immediately. Like, it's like, you add him,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: they take a huge step. And I know there was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a lot of buzz out there, like, and they showed
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: polls during the game on the phone. And it's like,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: is he making another deal? And everyone's like, Khalil Mack, listen.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: obviously health permitting, but adding Jeffrey Simmons will make all
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: those guys play at another level. Their DBs, especially their corners,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: are just not good. Jalen Johnson just can't run. The
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: rookie from Texas was out tonight, so you're playing Stevenson,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: who's not very good. To me, I'd be sniffing around DBs.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Can we find a corner to go with the front four,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: which now with Simmons is going to be pretty elite
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: because he's elite. He had moments tonight where you're like,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: is this essentially prime Aaron Donald that's like two and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a half inches taller and 20 pounds heavier, but equally
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: as quick and equally as dominant? Because that's how he looked.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Going up against the second year player who's really good,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: who's drafting the first round. It wasn't even a fair fight.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: He was, you know, you could make the argument Caleb was,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: but I would be stunned if Simmons isn't getting a
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: game ball in that locker room when Ben Johnson goes
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: viral tonight for that moment. So what a muscle flex
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: for the brass. From Ryan Poles to Ben Johnson to
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Dennis Allen, who's doing a fantastic job. You talk about
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a group that is just, they played tonight with a
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: physicality that Seattle plays with, that they matched them. And
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Simmons set the tone, but everyone else followed. And as
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the game went on, it was harder for Seattle to
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: do that because Leonard Williams gets the stinger. It was just,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: there was a violence to the night that was really
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: pretty special. And the play calling and the timing, when
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you look at the two play callers, Sam Darnold is
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: not built to play if you can't outrun the ball. Now,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Seattle's got some limitations because Shahid's out. Their receiving group,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: beside JSN, who is elite, is not even close to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: what the Bears are rolling with. So if JSN isn't
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: open and he can't force it, he got frenetic tonight.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: He feels off kilter in these moments. He got bailed
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: out on the one interception in the red zone. that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: there was holding when they brought in the backup DB
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: for Jalen Johnson. It's a bad pick. Didn't count, but
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: it was like, that was a bad throw. And I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: don't think he threw it knowing he was getting the flag.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Could be wrong, but I don't remember Caleb really putting
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the ball in harm's way. Couple times, you know, leaves
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: a little high over the middle of the field when
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: he's really putting some torque on it. But I thought
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: for the most part, completely under control. It's like, He
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: probably wouldn't say I've mastered the offense, but his comfort
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: level from whatever it was last year feels to be
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: in a different universe this year. His accuracy is dramatically better.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Some of the basic throws, like the quick slant, I
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: think it was in the second half to Loveland. It
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: was like DB draped over him. Ball has to be low.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Numbers are below. You got to hit him in stride,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: right in the pocket. It's like, God, he's thriving in
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the pocket. We know he can make... the out-of-this-world hero plays.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: He's been doing that probably since he could run, like
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: at seven, eight years old. So those plays are something
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: he has in his back pocket like few do. Where
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: you become a great player is just do the basic
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: things with ease. And that to me is the step
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: he's taken this year. It's like the basic things come
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: easy to him. And him and Ben Johnson, when you
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: factor in his play calling, his play designing, it feels
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: like no one hits that jailbreak screen for big plays
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: like Ben Johnson. He did it last week, you know,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night against the Patriots to burden. He did
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: it again tonight to, was it Raymond he hit? And
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: they just do it nonstop. And they have his feel for, like,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: there's like a mixture of instincts. And you're not born
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: with it because no one's born to coach football. But
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: at a young age, you just have a feel for
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: play calling. And you watch Fleury like he has some
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: individual nice calls, but there are also stretches where it's like,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: what's going on here, buddy? You know, you're down multiple scores.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Why are you running the ball? You know, when you
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: got to go 80 yards and your running game doesn't work.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I know your passing game has some limitations, but you
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: got no choice here. Now, I don't know if the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: head coach is in his ear trying to tell him
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: to establish the run at that point in time, but
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a head scratcher. It
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: really was. And one guy is Alita's job and the
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: other guy is trying to learn on the job. And
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you can tell it's a challenge. And when you can't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: run the ball, and obviously the Bears aren't running it,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: you know, without Menungai as dominant as they did last year.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I do think once you get them back, It just
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: adds a physical element, though. Swift, I mean, had some
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: big explosive plays tonight, obviously scoring touchdowns. He did his job.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: But I think once you bring him back to the fold,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: there is no disputing. Unlike last year, the Bears are
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a legit Super Bowl threat. Like, I do think it's
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: healthy and okay for Bears fans to go, we can
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl. With that level of quarterback... who
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: is just, that level of play is like on the road,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: in that environment, against that personnel and that coach, that's
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: MVP shit. That is, that's a muscle flex. That's like,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I have this in the bag now. You know I
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: can scramble around, close my eyes, and throw it 50
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: yards down the field for the greatest catch you'll ever see.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: But I can also slice and dice you from the pocket.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Then it becomes game over. Oh, and our defense. Like,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Dennis Allen's a really good defensive coordinator. And a huge
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: part of defense, I don't care at any level, but
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: definitely in college and the pros, you got to have
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the Jimmys and the Joes. Like what Flores is doing
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: is remarkable, but it's that you're going to get to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: a point where you're going to play, you know, other
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: elite teams on offense and you've got to have some
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: elite players. It's why I would imagine polls are still
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: working the phones trying to, you know, add something. But,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you know, this game was weird because at one point
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: in time, Bears are up 20-9. Ben's dialing it up.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: They're dominating. Seattle had gone three and out, like, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: think four of their first six drives. And then they called, like,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: a bullshit offensive PI on JSN who was just, God,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: he's good. He is out of this world as a talent.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: He is, I mean, it's like football porn watching him
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: run around and get open, especially when he's got no help.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: They call the PI. Then they kick the field goal.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: They get it blocked. A couple plays later, Lawrence causes
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the fumble on Loveland. Then they throw the interception, but
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: it gets overturned or it doesn't count because of the holding.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: They score a touchdown. They throw a two-point conversion. All
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's 20-17. You're like, this is a game.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Then they scored. The floodgates just opened. That's what the
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Bears can do to you. They can score so quickly
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: once they get some momentum. And I just, like I said,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I think the Packer win is obviously the best win
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: given what was at stake. You could argue this is
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: the most like significant in terms of this is real.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Even after the Packers, think how many guys they were
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: missing at the time. It wasn't a great Packer team.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: It was more about what that win symbolized, beating that team,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the rivalry in Chicago. It was probably a religious experience
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: for Bears fans, and they deserved it. Tonight was, we're
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: as good as anyone in this fucking league. We don't
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: have to play in these 48 to 45 games like
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: they were going to have to win a lot last year.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: We can play defense. And the number, like, I would
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: say one of the biggest keys to making a Super
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Bowl run, it's like one of the biggest keys to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: winning the national championship, is you've got to play defense.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I don't care how good your offense is, how great
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: your play caller is, how great your quarterback is, you've
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: got to play defense. And they're a legit Super Bowl threat.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And tonight, like, clearly Seattle's defense is not quite as good.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: They're not as dominant in terms of their secondary, their
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: coverage units. Leonard's out. Their front isn't quite as unstoppable
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and unblockable. They currently have the same record as the Rams.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, the 49ers played the Raiders this week. They
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: are in complete control of this division. They've already beat Seattle.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: They've already beat the Rams. They have a three-game lead
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: on both teams. They've obviously already beat the Cardinals as well. So,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, they just have a commanding lead in this division.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: which is big, which is really, really important when you
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: look at the NFC. Part of the problem for the Bears,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: their path because of their division is hard. I mean,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: we'll see how the Lions' injuries and more information comes
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: out about Jack and Brian Branch, some of the other guys,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: where they're at from a health standpoint, but obviously their
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: offense is elite. The Packers, you're getting Micah Parsons back
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: this week, and the Vikings, who have already beat them,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: are just tough fucking out. The division's really hard. And
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Seattle has not even played the Rams yet. So those games,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I would imagine both those two teams make the playoffs.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: They feel like two playoff teams to me, but they
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: feel like two wildcard teams to me. And the one
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: thing is like, you've got to find a way to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: get Sam settled down. Because I would say this year,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: unlike last year, he just looks frenetic. And a huge
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: reason is, one, I mean, Kubiak is just a much
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: better play caller than Brian Fleury. But they could run
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the ball last year. And right now, that's part of
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the reason they go in and they add a future
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Hall of Famer in Quentin Nelson, a guy who's going
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to get a $ 100 million contract this offseason. But a
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: guard can only do so much. It's on the running backs,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: it's on the scheme, it's on the play calling. Every
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: time that he would call these pitches and try to
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: get to the edges because they thought they had an
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: advantage against the Bears, either Dennis Allen had it sniffed
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: out from a play calling standpoint, or their players just
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: aren't good enough to block them. And there was no daylight.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: It was like surprising the one time in the second
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: half when Charbonnet busted out like a 10-yard run. It's like, whoa!
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Didn't know they had that in the back. Obviously, Price
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: coming back off injury didn't really do anything. There's just
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: no daylight. There's nowhere to go. And I know a
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: lot of people are like, should John Schneider go all
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: in for Jonathan Taylor? It's like, well, you know, or
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: like a top receiver. Do you feel good enough about
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: your play color? Or do you want to keep your
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: picks in your back pocket? Because, you know, you got
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: some older players. Lawrence, as I said, tonight's going to
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: retire after this season more than likely. You know, Leonard
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Williams getting up there in age. You just want some ammunition.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: You're already paying multiple guys a lot of money. I mean,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: is Fleury a guy if you go 9-8 or 10-7
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and you either miss the playoffs or you're one and done? Like,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: is he for sure keeping his job? I just think
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: you want to have some optionality. Like, for the Bears,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Ryan Poles could smell it. Like, we're freaking close. So
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: when you're close, what do you do? You take a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: swing for the fences. And there's no guarantee. It's football.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Injuries happen. You just never know about personality fits. I'm
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: being a little hyperbolic based on one game, but holy shit.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: It could not have gone better. I think literally it's
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: impossible for his debut game on the road, Monday Night Football,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: for it to have gone better for Jeff Simmons and
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Ryan Pulse. What a banner night. for the Chicago Bears
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: general manager for their head coach and their quarterback. Massive win, 6-2.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Times are good in the Windy City. Let's dive into
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the rest of the pod. I need to tell you
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: about this new prediction market called Polymarket. It's the best
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: way to trade in sports. In the past, if you
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: wanted action on the game, you'd put some money in.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And if your team was doing well and you wanted
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: to cash out, they would lock the trade or take
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a big fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market. It's
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: a stock exchange for sports, buying in and selling out
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: on your terms. I've tried them all. Trust me. And
• 22:49
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• 22:56
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• 22:59
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• 23:02
  Speaker 1: on your first trade when you deposit $ 10. And now
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: they've launched a new feature, Squads, a group chat where
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you can see everyone and what they're trading on. Check
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the link in the description to join my squad today.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: And Sweat every NFL Sunday with us in the Polymarket app.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So download the Polymarket app today and use the code
• 23:28
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• 23:31
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• 23:38
  Speaker 2: 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: can occur. See polymarket.com slash TOS for more information. The
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Polymarket US app serves as an independent software provider and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: exchange and clearing organization. Yesterday, the Jack Campbell injury. You know, we,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and I'm as guilty as anyone with this. The way
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: we discuss football injuries when someone, you know, tears a labrum,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: tears an Achilles, breaks an arm, Lamar Jackson breaks a
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: thumb or whatever he ended up doing. Out for this
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: turf toe, the Ravens season's over. We all acknowledge that
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: big picture is going to be fine. He's not only
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: going to play again, he'll play well again. He'll get
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: another massive contract, whether it's from the Ravens or someone else.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: And for most of these guys, unless it's a catastrophic
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: knee injury, which happens less and less with the improvements
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: in modern medicine and the surgeries and the rehab, most
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: of these guys come back. Now, are they ever quite
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: at the same depending on their age? Obviously, there are
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of variables. And then there is a situation
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: like what happened with Jack Campbell. And I just saw
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: a clip of Dan Campbell speaking to the media, I
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: think on Monday. And as of recording this, they have been...
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Mysterious is an unfair way to describe it because it's
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: a very sensitive subject. And I think why a lot
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: of us go... When guys get the neck-head injury where
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you're like, well, is he moving? Did something catastrophic happen?
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I would say typically, at least in recent memory, we
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: have got an update by the end of the night that, hey,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: he's moving all of his extremities. It's trending in the
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: right direction and everything's okay in terms of a movement standpoint.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: We haven't got that yet. And... While Dan had mentioned
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: that everything's trending in the right direction, things are on
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the up and up, they have been extremely hesitant, and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I totally understand being measured in this situation because clearly
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: it was extremely serious as teammates were crying, of really
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: saying much, which I think has made this situation scarier.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And we don't get these that often, and we spend
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: so much time of like, is Sirianni going to fire
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator? They really got to pay Mike Norvell
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: $ 50 million to go away? This guy sucks. Trade this guy.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: This is an extremely violent game, and you have these
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: situations that could potentially be life-altering. And it's pretty rare,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: even in the NFL, right? Obviously, the DeMar Hamlin situation
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: years ago was different, but dude almost died on the field.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: And miraculously he came back and, you know, by the
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: next year he's playing. I mean, it was an incredible story.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And it's easy to laugh about now. But I think
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: most of us that consume football, obviously those of us
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: that do what I do for a living, will never
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: forget where we were when that moment happened. And it's
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: got to be one of the most jolting things I've
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: ever seen on a football field. And... while they're not
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: apples to apples, it was pretty clear that how they
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: kept coming back and then going back to break, like
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: this is not good. And I think it brings to light.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is an extremely violent game and the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: league has been proactive. The sport has been proactive down
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: to high school football. I mean, when I was a kid,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: you padded football, you could play in like elementary school
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: and junior high. We had, it was called, I don't
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: think it's no way in Davis. I've said this before.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: They're calling it. It's called junior midgets, midgets. And I mean,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of towns did it and they ran the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: same offense building up to when you got to JV football,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: high school football. So it was like a seamless transition,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: which now they have changed that to become much more
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: flag football centric. And I think, and I'm guilty of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: this as well, complaining about the NFL and, becoming, you know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: like a flag football league. But there is no officiating
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the pure collisions out of the game. And stuff that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: sometimes feels extremely violent, guys hop right back up in
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: no one's face. And then a tackle like that happened
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: in the Lions game, which I think most, I bet
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Lions fans would agree with this, the collision with Branch
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: and the defensive linemen felt more vicious than and violent...
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and the collision... jumped off the television... more than the
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Jack Campbell tackle... but... it's hard to... and I've... even
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: when I worked in the NFL... I watched the game
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: from the press box... or... I guess Howie's box... if
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: it was... you know... a big enough game... you know...
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: wives weekends... though I was single at the time... but
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: stuff like that... I've never watched an NFL game... from
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the sideline... except when I started going to the... when
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I did a... the radio... And at Candlestick, I don't
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: think they do this around the league anymore. They used
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: to allow the media to go on the field with
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: five minutes left in the game. And I've been to
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: a million training camp practices and regular season practices and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: college practices. But practice in a game is a lot different.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: And I'll never forget Monday Night Football, the last game
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: at Candlestick, it was the Falcons against the 49ers. And
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Matt Ryan was leading them down the field. And I
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: just remember the speed of in which from the snap
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: to when he had to get rid of the ball
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: because the pass rush was on. all over him. And
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I did this for a living. I scouted these players.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I then talked about these players. It was as eye-opening
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: experience as I'd ever had in the game up to
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: that point. I think it was 2013. And the game
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: was kind of... it ended essentially with Matt Ryan throwing
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: what was considered the pick at the stick. I think
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: it bounced off Roddy White and Navarro Bowman picked it
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: off and went the other way. And I actually, me
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: and Guy Haberman were standing right next to Chris Berman
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: at the time. And I just remember the speed and
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: the size and the game was definitely more violent in
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: terms of the league, the way they officiated was completely
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: different in 2013 than it is in 2026. but it does,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know if humanize is the right way to
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: put it, but I think it brings into light that,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: you know, I heard someone say this recently, that the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: crazy part about the sport of football in college, but
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: definitely the pros, because it's a job and you can
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: get cut at any moment. I mean, you kind of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: can in college football now, but truly like if you
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: have a bad game and you're not one of the,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: handful of players on a bigger contract you can just
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: be released on Monday a lot like us like we
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: can just get fired right we just show up to
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: work and it's like hey uh Bill needs to see
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: an HR that that's the NFL unlike these other sports
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: where every penny is guaranteed on these contracts I mean
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: in basketball it's like players options I pretty rare to
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: get players options in the NFL you're kind of fighting
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: for your job on a weekly basis definitely on a
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: yearly basis right? You can go from the penthouse to
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the outhouse, back to the penthouse to the outhouse, over
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and over in football. And to watch a guy's career
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: and life be altered, I think we talk so much
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: about these injuries. Like, oh, he's on injured reserve. He
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: can come back in four weeks or he can rehab.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Maybe he'll be back in two months. And we just
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: kind of become numb to it. But Basically, every game
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: in the pregame locker room, when you say a pregame
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: prayer or you say a pregame kind of pump-up speech,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: you kind of know that some of the guys you're
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: going out to battle with are not going to be
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: in the locker room when you come back. And that's
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: on a weekly basis. It is extremely rare in a
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: football game that someone doesn't get injured, especially nowadays, that
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: someone doesn't go into the locker, KO'd for the game.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: And I thought this last week, I mean, the level of,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: let's face it, you had to have a little mental insanity.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many people, how many workplaces, Christian Watson
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: on Thursday night was spitting up blood, went to the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: hospital in an ambulance and said, I want to go
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: back and play. And they're like, well, everything looks pretty good.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: You can if you want. And sat in the shotgun
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and they drove him back and he ran back on
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the field and played. so I, I, I don't know
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: if we quite give the players, uh, you know, truly
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: enough credit, what they're truly putting on the line every
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: single week. I mean, I, like everybody, you hope Jack Campbell,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, the captain of the team, clearly someone as
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: important of a person in that locker room. I think
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Dan and Aiden Hutchinson and Amin Ron, all those guys
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: would agree as they've had during this run in terms
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: of leadership, intensity, setting the tone. Um, And you just
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: hope everything's going to be okay. Because this is the
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: worst case scenario, potentially. I mean, again, he sounded pretty optimistic,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: but they've just refused to say anything concrete about, well,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: everything's going to be okay, this is where he's at.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Which is really scary. And yeah, it's an eye-opening moment
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: in the NFL season, that's for sure. Okay, let's bang
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: out some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff, at John Middlecoff
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: is the Instagram fire in the DMs. This guy is
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: basically a Rams fan, and he gave all these different
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: trade options because Devontae's out. And you feel it when
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you watch the Rams. Like, can you just throw it
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: to Puka every play? I mean, it is, you know,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: you watch the Bengals, for example. It's like you got
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: two guys to throw it to. Most teams, the Cowboys,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: two guys to throw it to. Even... Even, let's say,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. Trey McBride, Mike Wilson. Right now, the
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Rams feel like if we're not hitting runs, we've got
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: to throw it to 12. And gave some long shots
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: of Garrett Wilson, Zay Flowers. I think Zay Flowers, they
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: just extended him. You'd have to eat so much dead
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: cap because it would all accelerate. I don't think you
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: can trade him. Unless you're completely blowing the whole thing
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: up and it doesn't feel like they're doing it. but
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: one thing that he ended this question with was starting
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: to feel like Herbert could be Stafford's successor in Los
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Angeles more than Burrow, just putting it out there now.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: I hear a lot of people like in 49er land,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: like could the 49ers land Max Crosby? In my short
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: time around the Raiders brass and Mark Davis and some
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: of his people, I would say 0% chance they would
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: ever make a significant trade with the 49ers. Even now
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: that they've moved out of the geographical area in which
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: they shared and have their own place in Vegas. Unless
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: they offered like three first-rounders, two seconds, and two plays.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: It's just not happening. I think there's some similarities, even
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: though I wouldn't call the Chargers and the Rams rivals necessarily,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: like the Raiders and the 49ers had that feel when
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: they were both in the Bay Area. You could not
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: trade Justin Herbert to the Rams. That would be just
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: a non-starter. Plus, they don't have picks. They don't have
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: a first rounder this year. They don't have a second
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: rounder next year. Their ammunition... in terms of what they
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: could trade for a significant quarterback, went out the window
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: when they traded for Myles Garrett. And I think they're
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: in a weird spot given that they got Ty Simpson,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: who they drafted number 13th overall. Now granted, over the summer,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: someone told me if they ever got the opportunity for
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: one of the top guys, they would not hesitate just
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: because they drafted Ty Simpson. Obviously, things could change if
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Ty played whenever Stafford quits and looks awesome and he's
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: You obviously just ride that out. But... I think the
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Rams are kind of committed to the operation. I mean...
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: This is their squad. They need Myles Garrett back. Like
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: that should... In theory significantly help them. But clearly he's
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: pretty banged up because he's missed a lot of time.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I mean it's... What is it? November 2nd? We'll see
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: if he practices this week. As you mentioned you believe
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs should take a big swing on a wide receiver. However...
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: It seems incredibly unlikely seeing Veach's aggressiveness in the trade
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: market post-Mahomes rookie contract. The team has nine picks in
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: the next year's draft. Do you think they could trade
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: three first-round picks in several seconds to draft Jeremiah Smith,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: considering how desperate they are at wide receiver? Or do
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you think they can finish rebuilding the roster post-Jones and Kelsey,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: moving off and building a new offense more around Kenneth
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Walker and Mahomes while adding pass rush juice in free agency?
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: You know, this was supposed to be somewhat of a
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: transitional year for the Chiefs. They just drafted three guys
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: in the top 40. You bring Eric Biennemi back, Mahomes
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: coming off the injury. I think before the season started,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: if you said, hey, The Chiefs go 11-6 and are
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the sixth seed, given that they're coming off a disastrous
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: season where they had to move off some pieces. They
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: got a little older. You go, that's a good trend.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: And then you start 5-0. Kenneth Walker's on this pace
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: to break Barry Sanders' rushing records. You're like, God, how
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: good can this team be? And they got their ass
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: kicked in Seattle. Last night's game, when you're up 24-13
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, is a pretty big kick in
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the you-know-what. That's one I would imagine Coach Reed, Mahomes,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Kelsey's quotes after the game, that they couldn't have been thrilled.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I do think once he hurt his knee, they want
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: to extend his career to play at a high level
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: for another decade. Well, he's 30 years old. Mahomes is
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: no longer the 25-year-old hotshot. I mean, this guy's, you're
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: going to blink and all of a sudden he's going
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to be 34, 35 years old. And the easiest way
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: to extend that is to run the ball and play
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: good defense. Now, defensively, big picture, they're going to be okay.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: They have a star defensive coordinator. They got some young pieces.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: They will keep building on that. To me, the Jeremiah
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Smith thing, if they are a, they'd be a tough
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: out in the playoffs. But let's say they don't last long,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: and they win a first-round game, and they're out in
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: the second round. They win 11-6, and they're a wild card.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: They're drafting somewhere in the mid-20s. So to get from
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: the mid-20s up to the top two or three is
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: borderline unprecedented, especially in the modern-day trades. It's not realistic.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I think they're more likely to use that pick to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: get their equivalent of trade for Jalen Waddell, right? Like
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the way that the Rams traded for McDuffie. That's where I,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: my idea is simple. If you're the Jets and you have,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I think I saw today, pick six, five, and 10,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: you don't need four first round picks, right? So we
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: will give you our second this year and are first
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the following year. So you have multiple seconds, three firsts,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: and then the following year, you still have two first-round picks. That,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: to me, makes a lot of sense. And it's a
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: way for Vietz to be extremely aggressive. But I think
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: you've got to balance it. You don't want to just,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: I would say, blow your load on something that you
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: kind of regret. And we have seen trades where teams
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: have regretted it. So there aren't that many players who
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: are truly worth the moon and the stars. I mean,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith would be, but no one's trading back that
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: far that's drafting that high that sucks that much. Because
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: if you go, okay, I'm drafting second, and I'll take
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: the Chiefs, two ones, two twos, two threes, they're going
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to be good, and those picks are going to be
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: in the 20s, and I no longer have Jeremiah Smith.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: who I probably need to sell to my fan base
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit. So I think that's an unrealistic even option,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: even though I kind of like where your mind's at.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: I haven't heard it yet, but why not Lamar Jackson
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: for Justin Herbert blockbuster? Both teams are in a tailspin.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Both of these teams' quarterbacks need a fresh start. Minner
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: was with Herbert at LA. Lamar can be a star
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: in LA, perfect for both teams. Jim has great teams
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: in SF with a mobile quarterback. I just think these
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: things are pretty rare. I think if a guy like
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson or Justin Herbert's traded, they are much more
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: likely to get traded for a hall of draft picks
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: than to take a guy because Herbert's under contract. One,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: he has a no trade clause. So that complicates it.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: And Lamar, the chargers would essentially just have to give
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Lamar the contract they gave Herbert and add 30% to it.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: So I don't hate what you're saying. And I think
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: in other sports, baseball and basketball, those would be like
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: talking points, but, I would say when you look at
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: these football ones, the crazy part about Jared Goff and
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Matt Stafford's trade, Jared Goff was the throw-in. The trade
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: for Stafford was really the two first-round picks. And I
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: know the Lions, you know, we love Goff. I think
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: it's easy to say that now. At the time, Goff's market,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: given his contract, was not very big. I don't think
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: they could have traded Jared Goff at that time for
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: a first-round pick. Think how crazy that sounds now. But
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: things change dramatically. And that's the thing. Football's a lot
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: like the stock market. Things kind of can rollercoaster up
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: and down. And guys' contracts play a huge, huge role.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: Part of the reason Simmons, where I heard someone, was
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: it Glazer, tell the story about a lot of guys
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: were calling the Titans going, is he available? Is he available?
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: Is he available? And I guess when Ryan Poles called,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: it wasn't like, is he available? It's like, hey, we
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: are interested and our offer is starting with two first
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: round picks. So it's not like knocking on the house,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: is it for sale? It's more like, hey, knocking on
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: the house, we will pay you $ 2 million for this house.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Does that whet your whistle? Does that get the pistons
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: firing upstairs? Right? So I think... I just think it's
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: very difficult with contracts. To me, if Lamar is not
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: on the Ravens, he's got a haul from some of
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: these crappy teams. The Jets, the Dolphins, the Cardinals. A
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: team willing to just give a haul and give him
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: a massive contract. The other thing is, it's not necessarily
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: player empowerment, but if you were going to trade for
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson... you would be ready to break them off
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: with like a four-year contract extension at like $ 60 million
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: a year. Guaranteeing them probably a couple hundred million dollars.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: And that's the only way the trade is going down,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: which would happen in the offseason. I look at a
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: team like the Cowboys, who seem to have decent personnel
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: on defense, at least on paper, yet can't seem to
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: stop a nosebleed. Then you have a team like the Vikings,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: whose defense is dominant and it feels like they're winning
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: games almost single-handedly. How much of the difference between these
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: two teams comes down to personnel and how much is
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: a result of Flores being an elite defensive schemer? Is
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: Flores just getting much more out of his players than
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: other defensive coordinators? Or is Minnesota's personnel that elite? I
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: think most Vikings fans would agree with me. that they,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: just going back to the Zimmer era, had way better players,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: had impact Pro Bowl elite guys. When you have, on
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: a weekly basis, blitzing between 80 and 85% of the
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: offensive snaps, I mean, that's unprecedented. I don't think anyone
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: else in the league is approaching 50%. And that shows
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: you it's kind of like basketball teams. Like, hey, we
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: don't have in college. Like, we don't have Kentucky's personnel.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: We don't have Duke's personnel. So we're just going to
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: press your full court. We're going to run and gun
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and shoot a bunch of threes. Like, you have to
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: come up with a different scheme. Mike Leach, back to
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: Hal Mummey. Like, why did they create this? crazy spread
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: passing offense because they did not have the players of
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the top schools. So the only way to compete with
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: them was to have a point of difference. And I
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: think Flores, who, one, studied and coached under Belichick for
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: like decades, multiple decades. I think he got hired in what,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: like 04 or 03? And then he was with them
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: basically until he left for the Dolphins job. He was
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: with them, I think, like 15 plus years. So maybe
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: not two decades, but a long, long time. And his
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: understanding of principles, knowledge of, I would say, spaces, coverage,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: run schemes, gap control, all that stuff, he's going to
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: know it pretty well. You couldn't even add up the hours,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: how much time he spent in the meeting room with
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Belichick talking defense. And clearly he's put his own spin
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: on it, but his knowledge of what he's doing, he
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: couldn't understand it anymore. where Christian Parker's a good example of,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: they hired him because he runs Vic Fangio's scheme, but
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: he's not Vic Fangio. Like Flores is running Brian Flores' defense.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Christian Parker's running someone else's defense. And if you Google it,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: it's not like Christian Parker studied under Vic Fangio for
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: 20 years. So the complete, and part of that defense
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: is actually not being that aggressive. It's just literally being
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: in the right spots. And a lot of times, Vic
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Fangio's best units have been, I got better players than you.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Because I'm not going to blitz very often. We run,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: I would say, a handful of coverages. And we kind
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: of do the same thing every time. But we have
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: better Jimmys than the Joes. And we have mastered our assignment.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: When I'm watching the Cowboys, it's like DBs are passing
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: off wide receivers to Eric. Even the multiple touchdowns yesterday,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: it's like no one's even around the guy. So clearly
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: your team, and this is, you know, sometimes coaches, they're like, well,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: I spent so much time grinding tape, throwing a Copenhagen
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Diet Coke and just watch tape in a dark room,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: hours on end, till the cows come home. It's like, well,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: that's good. Glad you know it. Do your players know it?
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Because if they don't, what a waste of time. And
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: whatever he's telling these guys, they just don't know. It's
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: one thing if you're in a one-on-one situation and you
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: just get mossed. Or remember a couple weeks ago when
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: Darnold hit JSN and Mansard Delanes all over him. It's like,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: what's he going to do? It's good coverage, great throw.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: It's like basketball. Sometimes great offense is just going to
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: beat great defense. Or good defense. It's another thing where
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: it's like, I'm throwing it to a wide-open player. that's
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: just killing grass by himself. And that to me, it's
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: like when you watch Flores' defense, like yesterday, you're playing
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: the Lions. They have, Jamison Williams has really become a
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: high-end player. And there's, he's just going to be faster
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: than you. And same thing with Gibbs. Like he is
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: right now one of the best players in the NFL.
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: And there's not much you can do. He's better than
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: you in a one-on-one situation. But early on in that game,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: he's throwing curveballs. It had Goff swimming. It's just hard
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: to handle. Clearly, the downfall of the Vikings is the offense.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: It's not Flores. So I just think Flores is pretty unique.
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: I just like my coordinator, whether it's my DC or
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: my head coach, that to be his baby. Like McVay.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: No one goes, well, McVay just copies Shanahan. No, McVay
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: has his own offense. Andy Reid's offense has always changed.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Sean Payton's offense is his baby. It doesn't mean it's
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: always going to work, but his knowledge of that, it's
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: impossible for him to just hand that off to somebody.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: I think part of it is you have to create
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: your own playbook. Mike McDonald is not running Wink Martindale's playbook.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: I'm sure if you asked him over some beers, he
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: would tell you all the things that he learned under him,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: that he loved, and then he's made it the things
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: that he philosophically believes in. And that's created the Seattle
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: defensive playbook. Same thing with Ben Johnson. They run Ben
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: Johnson's offense. And I'm always hesitant when you hire Sean Mannion.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: He's kind of running someone else's offense. Now, he probably
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: has good knowledge of it, but it's also hard to
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: have a good knowledge when you haven't been coaching that long.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: There's a big transition, in my opinion, from playing to coaching.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: Why is weight always a topic of discussion for McCarthy,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: but not Andy? I understand that Andy's resume far exceeds Mike,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: but Andy is arguably heavier. Andy's lost some LBs. Not
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: to mention Tomlin and Sean Payton aren't necessarily slim, like
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: your man crush Liam Cohen. I'm just trying to find
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: an excuse why McCarthy... gets labeled this average coach when
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: his resume is like all these other guys. And the
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: only thing I ever come up on is like, well,
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: he doesn't really look the part. And Andy's been big
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: his entire career. There's a softness with Andy when it
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: comes to the media and just his interactions with people.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: I've never been able to understand it. I don't. I'm
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: just trying. I'm kind of grasping at straws. Because would
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: McCarthy be treated the same if he looked like Kevin O'Connell?
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Because you give me these other examples, but they're treated
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: completely different. John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, Sean Payton,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: Andy Reid. None of those get treated like Mike McCarthy.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Everyone's almost stunned. Mike McCarthy's 6-2? Well, yeah. Most seasons
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: of his career, he probably starts 6-2. That's actually the norm.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: It'd be abnormal if he was... you know, three and five.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: This is usually what he does. I don't know. He just,
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: I've never been able to wrap my head around it.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: Colin used the example that he's like a Midwestern police officer.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: I don't have a great answer for it. I do
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: think there's something to the way him and Aaron broke
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: up and he was labeled like the meathead coach and
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: Aaron was like the intellectual savant. At least that's what
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the way it got portrayed at the time. And it's
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: like carried with him. Because again, he went to Dallas
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: three straight years. Won 36 games in three years. Won
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: the division two out of three years. No one talks
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: about that. I would like to know why you're so
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: hard on Bo Nix. The Broncos got through the hardest
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: six game stretch four and two. They now lead the
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: division after beating the Chiefs. I understand the questionable play
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: at times. But it seems like it completely discredits his
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: undeniable success in your eyes. They are down in every game.
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: And I would say they're down in these games because
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: of him. Like, everyone has a bad game. Everyone has
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: a bad podcast. Everyone listening has a bad day at work.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: It's part of life. Every one of his games looks
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: the exact same. And I think we have to acknowledge,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: this goes back to college, he's not a very good
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: pocket quarterback. And part of these comebacks come from him
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: just making plays, which there is no denying that Bo
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: Nix can run around and make a play. I think
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: I saw today his passer rating when trailing in the
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter is like the best in NFL history. He
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: has all these comeback wins, including yesterday. But like, why
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: are they always in this situation when they're clearly just
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: a good team? Because during the week or during the game, Right?
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: Definitely during the week, they build a normal game plan,
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: and then it doesn't function that well for him. And
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: then at the end, he just has to run around
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: and make things happen, which he does, which he gets
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: credit for. His comeback victories are because of his playmaking
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: down the stretch, which I would say typically is him
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: running around outside the pocket. When he has to make
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: a throw inside the pocket, I think you would all
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: agree that he doesn't excel. Here's the other thing, Bronco fans.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: If you're older than like 20, you saw Peyton Manning.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: So you have seen a great quarterback orchestrate an offense.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: I think we'd all come to agreement that this is
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: not even in that ballpark of like, how do you
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: watch these games and go, what is going on? I've
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: never seen anything quite like it. But I have come
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: to grips with, he's not a very good pocket quarterback.
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: He's not going to be accurate from within the pocket.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: There is an element of like Russell Wilson. Maybe Russell
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: felt a little more magical, but like you could never
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: call Russell a bad player when he was struggling within
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: the pocket, when he was making plays outside the pocket.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: And when you post like all the comments, if we
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: ever do a social cut of like, this is not sustainable.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: People have been like, this is the team for the
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: last two years. Well, yeah. This is how you're going
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: to play quarterback for the next 10 years with this guy?
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: You're going to give him $ 200 million? Yes. I'm not
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: acting like the guy's a scrub, but we have to
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: all come to an agreement that he's the most clutch
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL. Well, he's literally in this situation
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: every week because of his own undoing. And he made
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Davis Webb, everyone's like, he's an idiot. The offense looks
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: the exact same because you just run normal plays and
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: he can't consistently do it. It's like, well, he wins.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: And he makes some big plays with like five, six
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: minutes left to go in the game. So maybe you just, hey, listen,
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: if you get a fourth quarter, if you could just
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: have him for the fourth quarter, he'd be your pick.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: You do not want him quarter one, quarter two, or
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: quarter three. I mean, what do you want me to say?
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen, 2.0. Hey, John, me again. Love to hear
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on Kevin O'Connell and if he should be
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: on the hot seat. All the missed quarterbacks and now
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: choosing Kyler and getting rid of JJ and using him
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: as a scapegoat. When do people start calling first job? 6-1. Listen,
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: the J.J. McCarthy thing, let's see how it plays out
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: over the next month. Let's let him breathe a little bit.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Is that what you winos do? Take off the cork
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: and go, let it breathe. Let it breathe. We just
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: got to let it breathe. But that could look worse
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: and worse. I think I saw Kyler's hurt, hamstring, which
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: he's not playing well regardless. Yeah, I... If he wins
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: 11 games, you guys are in the playoffs. The coach's
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: job is to win. It just is. Now, can we
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: remove the quarterback guru label? Can we remove, you know,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: his statement that everyone was just loved? I mean, the
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: media ate it out of, you know, they couldn't get
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: enough of it. The quarterbacks don't fail organizations. Organizations fail quarterback.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: If JJ becomes just a solid player this year for
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the Giants and they make the playoffs, It'll be a
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: tough one for... Kevin's going to have to delete that
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: off the internet. But if he wins double-digit games during
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, he's 100% not getting fired. He's another guy,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: if he gets fired, he would immediately get hired. Broncos
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: fan here. Love the show. But... At what point is
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: everyone going to realize the fourth quarter comebacks are a
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: feature to compensate for their flaw? Peyton knows that Knicks
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: can't slice and dice all four quarters. So he wisely
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: lets his D keep them close and lets Knicks cook
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: for a quarter. It's not luck, it's the plan. Why
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: wouldn't you just run the helter-skelter offense then all game
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: long And be up by 10 in a lot of
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: these games instead of being down. I do wonder, and
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: only Sean and Davis Webb and the other players on
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: the team truly know this. Does he look pretty good
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: at practice running the normal plays within the pocket? And
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: then in the game he is not completing them? And
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: skipping wheel routes and stuff like that? Like, is that happening?
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: And you go, God, he's getting into practice and then
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: the game comes and it doesn't. Or do the practices
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: look like the games? Because you can't, a lot of
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: his comeback stuff, you're not really running in practice, which
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: he gets credit for. He's an instinctive player. He clearly,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: whatever he does to keep his heart rate low and
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: stay under control and stay calm in the moment, like
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: that is a positive attribute. We see a ton of
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: guys that are down 10, 14 points in these games
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: week after week, never ever come back, never make any plays.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to shit on the guy, but we
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: also have to like call it for what it is.
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: He plays on an extremely talented team with a Hall
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: of Fame coach who is also known as an offensive genius.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: And every single week, his games kind of look the same.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: Every single week for years. It's crazy. If they win
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl like this, it would be one of
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: the most incredible accomplishments I've ever seen. I'm just not
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: a huge fan of inaccurate quarterbacks within the pocket. It's
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: why I was kind of iffy on Caleb early. It's like, this,
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: because I'm a big sustained guy with a young player.
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: Because it's like, well, I'm going to have to give
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: this guy a big contract. I'm going to build my
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: franchise around him. Can you just build a franchise around
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: just a guy that plays well two drives a game
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter? Harder to have a high level
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: defense when you're paying your quarterback a lot of money.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: I have moved my opinion of what quarterbacks used to
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: look like to what they are now. The dual threat guy.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: The run around make play guy. That's a huge component
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: of all these players. But I also like that player
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: to be able to dominate when he has a nice
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: pocket to deliver strikes down the field. And I think
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: we would all agree that when he releases the ball
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: out of the pocket you don't have that much faith
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of times balls are going to be completed.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: A lot of Denver Vikings talk today. This is on
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell. Did they think they were the only reason
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: they had success with Sam Darnold? Did they think that
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: they could replicate the success they had with Darnold and
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: any other quarterback? I'm staring at the Lions-Vikings score and
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: can't come to any other conclusion that with a decent quarterback,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: the Vikes would be a heavy Super Bowl favorite. Isn't
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: that what the Seahawks did last year? Darnold plus dominant defense? Well,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: I will support... When they drafted J.J. McCarthy, they did
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: it a month after they signed Sam Darnold. They signed
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: Sam Darnold in free agency. The draft is a month
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: or month and a week later. So Sam Darnold had
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: never played a snap for them when they drafted J.J. McCarthy. And...
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: I think anytime a guy gets injured, you just rely
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: on the hope and the trajectory in your mind what
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: you had for the guy when you picked him really high.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: So JJ's injured that entire season. Sam dominates. But that
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: ends on the negative note. So when you're making the
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: transition and the Seattle Seahawks offer a big contract, you go,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: we just picked this guy high. Probably a little higher
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: in our own supply, given that Cousins and then now Sam,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: we know what we're doing. We can do it with
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: this guy. But there is just, I would say, the
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: risk there is you don't know. There is no evidence
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: in the NFL that this guy is going to be
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: able to play well. And then you start struggling. Your
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: personalities start clashing a little bit. Egos get involved. You
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: probably resent him a little bit because maybe he doesn't
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: carry himself like Cousins and Sam. Well, of course, he's young.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: He's immature. Those guys were older, had been through the ringer.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: So it's a natural, I would say, collision course of personalities.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: And it just doesn't work. I completely understand why they
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: gave up on him. We're not going to deal with this. Now,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: your best option was Kyler Murray. I'll defend him here too.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: What were their other options? Signed Gardner Minshew? You don't
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: have many options where they found themselves. They are very,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: very lucky that Flores in the defense is that good
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: because it could be worse. Think about that. It could
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: be worse. But I don't think it was cocky. I
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: just think it's a natural move that most teams would
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: have made in their shoes. Mike from Mobile, Alabama, home
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl. Been there a couple times. I'm
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: 31 and old enough to remember when Manning and Brady
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: ran an offense as if they created it. Checks of
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: the line, route changes based on coverage they see. Watching today,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like any quarterbacks of this generation have
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: as much command of their offensive playbook in order to
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: take advantage of the coverage. Am I crazy? There's probably
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: something to that. Now, when you close your eyes and
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: you think of Brady and Manning, most of us remember
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: them in the peak of their powers in their 30s. So,
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: you know, when you think, honestly, the last images I
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: have of Peyton really dominate, we're in Denver. The guy
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: had played in the NFL for how many, he got drafted, what, 98?
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: When did he get to Denver, 12 or 13? You know,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Tom Brady, like his separation era... really where he became
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: compared to Peyton, came after Randy got there, and then
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: really once those guys left and him and Julian and
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Gronk just dominated. Those guys had both decade plus of experience.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: So I do think there is some of that with
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: when you watch Josh Allen play, when you watch Patrick
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: Mahomes play, their command of the offense. But you're also
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: talking like, I mean, I would say Tom Brady and
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: Peyton Manning are two of the most unique sports figures
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: of my life. I mean, it's like, well, no one
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: really shoots quite like Curry. Well, there is no other
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: Steph Curry. There aren't many Peyton Mannings and Tom Brady's
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: or what Aaron Rodgers became in Green Bay. I mean,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: you're talking about the greatest quarterback of all time, two
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: other guys that have a very good argument to be
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: two of the other top five guys. Right? Mahomes, I think,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: Still has a long runway to really solidify that. Josh Allen,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: if he wins a Super Bowl or two in Buffalo.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, it takes a lot of reps.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: There just aren't many of them. There just aren't. Can
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: you discuss the following? It's widely considered that the most
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: important position is quarterback and that the best quarterbacks are
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: in the AFC. But with that being the case, why
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: does it feel the best teams are coming out of
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: the NFC? I feel like the Seahawks, Niners, and Bears
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: all feel closer to a Super Bowl than any team
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: in the AFC. Your thoughts? Well, I'm recording the mailbag
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: before the Monday night game. I will say this, that,
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, Purdy is an MVP candidate. Caleb, assuming he's healthy,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: is probably going to win an MVP. You know, Sam Darnold,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: I think we'd probably, depending on who you asked, last
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: year had games where he was a top 6-7 quarterback
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: and had games where he was like 15-20. but he
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: had the best defense in the league. And then down
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: the stretch, he had a running back that became one
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: of the best running backs in the league. And a
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: coordinator who became a head coach and the best defensive coach.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of variables, right? Purdy has become
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. He also
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: has Kyle Shanahan, one of the best coaches in the NFL.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: Look at Caleb. He's got Ben Johnson, who is easily
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: one of the best coaches in the NFL. He's got
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: Dennis Allen, who's an excellent DC. So all this stuff
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: factors in. Where it's like Joe Burrow, he's got Zach Taylor,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: who I think most people think is pretty average. Now
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: he does have the two wide receivers who are incredible.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: You know, Josh Allen has no defense. Mahomes has no
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: wide receivers. So I think they're just... One thing in
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: football that's different than these, definitely like basketball, for example,
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: if you just have one of the best quarterbacks, like
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: if football was basketball, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Josh,
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: they would all, like you would just need to get
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: them some decent running mates and that team would dominate.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: Where football, you are dependent on a lot of humans.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: How about all these kickers? I mean, all these kickers
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: are missing kicks left and right. The NFL is not
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: college football. You're going to play in a lot of
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: tight games. When Butker misses the kick, it's like, that's
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: a big deal. I got a baby boy on the way.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: May 2027. Congratulations, my man. Our first child. Any advice?
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: I would... So you got some time. Let's see, it's November, December.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: You got like, what, five months? I would really enjoy...
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: your guys time together, assuming she's having a pregnancy where
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: she's not just like bedridden or in shambles, like just
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: enjoy the downtime, the ability to go to restaurants, the
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: ability to just do whatever you want, whenever you want
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: in terms of like, take a nap on the weekend,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: go for a walk. Your life in a great way,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: just dramatically changes. And, One thing I've learned from having
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: a child and being around a lot of my family,
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: my cousins, my brother, my close friends, all having kids,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: until you have it, no one can tell you anything
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: to get ready for it. But your life just, you
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: honestly have way, you feel way, I would say the
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: purpose in your life. You feel like more, I don't
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: even know if fulfilled is the right way to put it,
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: but there's definitely just, Something that you carry that you
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: just did not carry before. You've almost been an independent
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: contractor most of your life and then you feel the
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: the weight of being like the, the CEO or president
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: of the company, which is your family, which is a motivating, inspiring.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: There's like a level of love and anxiety and stuff
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: that I feel feels that I didn't even know I
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: have that I get on now on a daily basis,
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: but there's no preparing for it. Like I'm not, There's
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: no handbook for this. But I would really try to
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: enjoy your time together while it's just you two. You
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: take for granted, in the middle of the Saturday, do
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: you want to go get lunch? Do you want to
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: go for a walk? I don't know where you live,
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: but hey, do you want to go this weekend, get
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: in the car and drive three hours to the mountains?
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: or get on a plane and go to San Diego
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: or Miami, or again, it all depends where you live,
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: but just things that are not really options, especially early
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: on when the baby's young, or even if they are options,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: it just becomes a lot more difficult. So just, I
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: would say really, really soak this time in, uh, because it's,
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: it's challenging on the relationship in the sense of you're
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: not sleeping as much, uh, it's a lot on her.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, it is, it's, it's very taxing. The breastfeeding, the,
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: the connection and the baby's need of her compared to
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: you is, is just different, especially early on as they
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: get it. Like Jack now is becoming a little more
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: of a dual threat. It's crazy. My mother-in-law was just
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: in town and he's so calm for her. I mean,
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: he just, he's just so relaxed with her mom. They'll
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: just chill. And then she leaves and he just turns
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: back into like a Tasmanian devil meets Wolverine meets like
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: grizzly bear. But congratulations. It comes up on you fast.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: Enjoy it. Enjoy this time. Soak it in. If the
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: Ravens miss the playoffs again, do you think Bashadi would
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: fire DaCosta? And if he did, considering you've said about
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: DaCosta being a different kind of guy and not well-liked
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: around the league, do you think he'd have a second chance?
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he's not well-liked around the league.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: I do think his personality is probably less.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know like his click with other GMs and
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: how close, like you get to know some of these GMs.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: They have like two or three really close friends as
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: other GMs. And those are like literally like some of
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: their best friends in the world. You know, I, I
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: think DaCosta is kind of a, a lone operator and
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: I could be wrong on that, but clearly the way
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: he's handled some of these things over the years, which
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: owners like though, like, the owner wasn't mad at being like,
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: you know, having second thoughts on this, let's not make
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: this trade. You think Bashadi was mad about that? Well, hey,
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: if you don't want it, fucking send him home. So
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: what's funny is the way sometimes your peers feel about you, right?
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe it, I'm sure Spytek was furious, but his owner wasn't,
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: the guy that signs his checks. And I think the
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: other owners don't hate it either. So to be a
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: good GM, if I was going to defend DaCosta, Like,
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: to be a good leader in a lot of industries,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: you're going to piss people off. So, yeah, I think
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: he'd have a really, really good chance to get rehired.
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: But I don't think he gets fired. I think... This
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: still feels a little bit like a stretch, but let's
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: just assume Lamar Jackson is on another team in the
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: somewhat near future. I think he would get another quarterback.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: But he was... by all accounts, John Harbaugh's best friend.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: I don't think I remember John Harbaugh ever saying DaCosta's
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: name since he left. Which I don't blame him. Anytime
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: you get in these breakup situations, you feel a guy
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: backstabbed you or pushed you out or went into survival mode.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: And listen, people go into survival mode in jobs that
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: pay a lot less than these. So once you get
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: a position, a power that pays a premium... DaCosta ain't alone.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of guys will do whatever it
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: takes to keep that gig. Because there is no gig. Like,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: if DaCosta got fired at the end of the year,
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: there is no guarantee that he would just be a
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: GM in 2027. I would be a little surprised if
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: he didn't get another opportunity, but one, GM jobs don't
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: come open that often. It's way easier as a coach.
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: The other thing is, like, When a lot of people
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: around the NFL think of their success, it's really tied
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: more to Ozzie Newsome. What's the pie chart over the last,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: because DaCosta's been there the whole time too, 25 years.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: Let's just go to the Harbaugh era. Ozzie Newsome, John Harbaugh,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: Eric DaCosta. It feels like Eric DaCosta would get the
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: smallest amount of pie. And now he can't, all the
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: pie chart of success or failure feels like it's kind
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: of toward him. He was a GM. He hired a mentor.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: He's built this team now for the last several years.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: This is his squad. You could also say, well, I mean,
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: Lamar this year rolls his ankle and then breaks his
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: thumb or whatever. Most people aren't winning in that situation.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: Tough deal. Why do we not see more games flexed
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: out of prime time? I get that Philly and Washington
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: are big markets, but that first half was not very
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: fun to watch. One thing that I think people don't
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: quite understand about flexing is Sunday night football doesn't get unlimited,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: we can just take a game from the other partners.
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: So if you think about yesterday, Denver against the Chiefs. That,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: on paper, or Lions against the Vikings, is a much
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: better Sunday night game. Everyone would agree. Going into the day.
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: But CBS and Fox aren't just going to give up
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: that property. So I don't know the exact rules, but
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: there are certain games that CBS and Fox do not
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: have to give up. Sometimes it's out of their hands.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: I think the NFL gets a certain amount they can do.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: But NBC does not just have an unlimited amount of,
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: we can just take this game from the other partners.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: Because if you're CBS and you're putting Jim Nantz and
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: you're like, I don't want to trade you. I don't
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: want to send these guys to one of the other
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: crappy games that day. So that plays a role. Fox
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: and CBS spend a lot of money too. And if
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: you notice those two games, like where were Tom Brady
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: and Kevin Burkhardt? Detroit. Where were Jim Nance and J.J. Watt? Denver.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: Like they would not have traded for Washington and Philadelphia.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: Zero chance. And they just don't get unlimited trades. I'd
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: have to chat GPT at the exact mechanisms in which
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: it worked. But I know that plays a factor. I've
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: been a listener for a few years and I'm surprised
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: that you moved away from one of your core values
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: in regards to your analysis of Bo Nix. For years,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: you have talked about winning being the only thing that matters.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: Bo is now six wins away from moving into first
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: all time in wins for a quarterback in their first
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: three seasons. He was one freak injury away from the
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Has your sports perspective changed And now winning
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: is no longer enough. And players have to play at
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: a certain level for style points. While playing for you
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: to consider them a winner and not a quote, UFL quarterback.
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: I do not consider Bo Nix a UFL quarterback. But
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: I do think there's a fine line of like, if
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: you look at the best quarterbacks over the last 20
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: plus years, right? Most of them win a lot. Peyton Manning,
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson when
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: he plays. And I think everyone would be on the
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: same page of being like, guy's a winner. Because he's
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: a winning player. Consistently. Week in, week out. When those
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: guys are healthy. Right? Baker Mayfield won a game yesterday.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: He went 0 for 3. Even though he had a
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: better passing rating than Michael Penix. Incredible stat. which I
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: don't even know how it's possible. I've never quite understood
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: passer ratings, but regardless, he won the game. And now
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of momentum for them. I don't think
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: anyone would be stunned if Tampa kind of gets on
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: a run here and ends up 9-8 and wins the division.
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: If you watch Joe Burrow, who won, and Baker Mayfield,
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: who won, and Bo Nix, who won, do those guys
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: all it's like all the same? And while I do
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: believe that wins and losses as a quarterback, like good
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks don't lose over the course of their career. Unless
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: you're like Matt Stafford and you're in a disastrous situation
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: in Detroit. I would also say that Denver's situation is
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: pretty incredible. They have a Hall of Fame coach, They
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: have studs everywhere on defense. They just have a really
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: good team. They have a really good team. And Bo
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: Nix makes a lot of losing plays. And then he
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: makes up for it by making miraculous plays in the
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: big moments, which is important. Which the clutch gene, as
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: Skip Bayless would say, he's got ice in his veins.
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: There is no arguing that when all the chips are
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the table, your back's against the wall,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: it's like, hey, we better get it done right now
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: or we are going to lose. He typically comes through.
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of that is him just
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: running around and making plays, which he's great at. But
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: like last year, Caleb Williams, he did some of the
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: most miraculous things I've ever seen in my entire life. Oh,
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: and I've been watching football that I can remember for
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: 30 plus years. But playing like that, for Caleb to
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: become a Hall of Fame player, He was going to
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: have to figure out the little things to be a
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: great player. Play within the pocket. Be accurate within the pocket.
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: Be accurate on easy throws that sometimes he was missing.
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: And then this year, when he's been on the field...
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: And again, I haven't seen the Seattle game. Which, who knows?
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: It's not going to be easy. He became... He improved
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: on it. Like, you saw a tangible improvement. I say
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: this all the time about Lamar. The Lamar who, before
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: he rolled his ankle against the Titans... is a dramatically
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: better player than the guy you saw the first couple
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: years of his career. One of those years, he won
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: the MVP in the league. And this version is in
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: a different universe than that player because he keeps improving.
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rod, these guys got better
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: as their career went. Now, it's a smaller sample size,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: but Bo Nix feels the exact same as he's been
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: for three years now. Like, he's just the exact same player.
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: Which he's mastered the art of just making plays in
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Which matters. It's why they've won these games.
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: But part of the reason they're losing is because, well,
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: the team sucks. He's just making plays. It's because of him.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: So it's just... I'm not going to argue that he's
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: like some superstar. Would Denver Bronco fans be comfortable giving
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: him $ 200 million right now? Would you do that after
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: this season? Even if he won the Super Bowl? He's
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: a flawed player with a clutch gene. He's a flawed
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: player with a clutch gene. But I also think that
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: people think I hate the guy. Like I view him
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: like he's Daniel Jones. Of course not. Honestly, it's kind
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: of maddening that this guy with the physical skills that
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: plays or feel pretty basic on the NFL level for
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: the good players in which he's going toe-to-toe with And
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: it feels like he just misses them constantly. I don't
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: understand it. And I think it gets back to people
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: talking about some of his college career. Why did Oregon
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: have him just throw behind the line of scrimmage? Because
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: he's pretty good at just the basic stuff of just
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: throw a guy just behind the line of scrimmage. But
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: if you ask him to slice and dice you from
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: within the pocket, he cannot do that. And he is
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: no closer to doing that now than he was years ago.
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: He's the exact same. He's definitely maybe feels more comfortable
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: running around at the NFL level. because he does it
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: as an elite level when he's down 10 points in
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. But are those offensive plays, or is
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: that him just like, fuck it, I'll make something happen.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: But when I scheme open Jalen Waddell on a drive
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: throw within the pocket, he's going to skip it to him.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: He did it yesterday. And that is the type of
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: stuff to me who's been watching football for a long
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: time and now doing this for a living and seeing
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: what wins and loses in the biggest moments. You've got
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: to hit that play. It is– you're not going to
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: always flip the coin and always get heads, and you're
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: always going to win that game. I know he's had
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: this incredible run, but, I mean, honestly, they easily could
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: have lost if they don't call the offsides and they
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: just give Mahomes a touchdown. The Broncos lose, which wouldn't
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: have been his fault that Emmitt Johnson took it out
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: to the 50 and they drove right down the field.
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: That's the thing with football. And coaches say this all
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: the time. Quarterbacks, like coaches, get too much praise and
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: they get too much criticism. And Bo Nix is clearly just,
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: I would say, one of the most polarizing players in
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: the NFL currently. Because he's a hard one to truly evaluate.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: Is he actually good? What is going on for three quarters?
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: I still don't know. I don't have the answer to you.
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: I actually kind of do. I mean, I don't think
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: he's comfortable playing within the pocket. That's not his skill set.
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: And when I talk to scouting buddies and people in
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: the league, that was kind of the knock on him
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: going back to when he was a young player at
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: Auburn through Oregon. You're not comfortable just having him carry you,
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: you know, read, you know, go through your progressions one
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: to two to three to four and just make the
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: right decisions up and down the field. That's not what
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: he brings to the table. He probably really is closer
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: to Russell Wilson, you know, back in Seattle a decade ago.
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: run around and just make miracles. And he clearly makes miracles,
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: you know, when their team's down. Week after, you know,
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: throughout his whole career now. I think, what is that,
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: 15 comeback victories through his first two and a half seasons?
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: Which is crazy. But these last two years, part of
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: the reason they're down is him. We'll end on that. Adios.
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: See you tomorrow. The Volume.