Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Coaching Differences between Ben Johnson & Nick Sirianni, Raiders have HUGE opportunity vs. Chiefs, NFL Pre-Week 4 Mailbag

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Coaching Differences between Ben Johnson & Nick Sirianni, Raiders have HUGE opportunity vs. Chiefs, NFL Pre-Week 4 Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecoff, Three
0:18
Speaker 1: and Out Podcast. How are we doing? Hopefully everyone is
0:21
Speaker 1: doing well, enjoying life, living life. I've had 24-plus hours
0:27
Speaker 1: to let Monday Night Football, Ben Johnson, Sirianni kind of marinate.
0:31
Speaker 1: A couple thoughts there. Something that happened in that game
0:35
Speaker 1: that I think relates to the Patriot situation at quarterback.
0:41
Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley, and he's all over my Twitter feed and
0:46
Speaker 1: Instagram feed because of these videos from Dan Lanning. And...
0:53
Speaker 1: Not an ideal spot for him, to say the least.
0:55
Speaker 1: We'll do some mailbag questions as well. At John Middlecoff.
0:58
Speaker 1: At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those DMs.
1:01
Speaker 1: You guys know the drill. If you listen on Colin's feed,
1:03
Speaker 1: subscribe to 3 and Out. We're up on Netflix. You
1:05
Speaker 1: can hit the alert, never miss an episode, and put
1:08
Speaker 1: a bunch of content on YouTube as well. So my
1:11
Speaker 1: top five teams so far through week three will be
1:14
Speaker 1: on YouTube tomorrow. So go check that out today. Go
1:17
Speaker 1: check that out, and let's just dive right into the podcast. Obviously,
1:23
Speaker 1: if you're a Bears fan right now, you are really
1:26
Speaker 1: high on the hog. You feel great. Not because your
1:30
Speaker 1: team is 2-1. Not because, you know, your offense has
1:35
Speaker 1: proven that they can score 59 points with Caleb Williams.
1:39
Speaker 1: They can win a game with the third string quarterback.
1:43
Speaker 1: It's just the franchise is coming off a season where
1:46
Speaker 1: they won the division. But it's really because of the
1:50
Speaker 1: head coach, who... let's face it, is a star who
1:54
Speaker 1: is excellent at his job. And if I was hiring
1:58
Speaker 1: a coach in college or in the pros, I'm kind
2:03
Speaker 1: of looking for a football nut job. I saw Saban
2:06
Speaker 1: say this. He's doing a promotion for his documentary, six-part
2:10
Speaker 1: documentary that's going to be like the last dance for
2:14
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, but the version of the Alabama program. It's
2:17
Speaker 1: probably going to be really, really good. And he made
2:20
Speaker 1: a comment, I think it was to Greenberg, who was
2:23
Speaker 1: doing an interview with him. They're like, football coaching is
2:26
Speaker 1: not a normal job. It's a lifestyle. Because you work
2:33
Speaker 1: an insane amount of hours. You spend all your time,
2:38
Speaker 1: especially if you're a play caller, developing game plans, developing plays,
2:43
Speaker 1: and mentoring, coaching players. and being around your players and
2:48
Speaker 1: your assistant coaches. And it's not the healthiest lifestyle. It
2:53
Speaker 1: really isn't. But balance during the season isn't a big
2:59
Speaker 1: part of the gig. And I spent several years working
3:03
Speaker 1: in the office in Philadelphia. I saw it firsthand with
3:05
Speaker 1: Andy Reid. His competitive football stamina was unlike anything I'd
3:11
Speaker 1: ever seen. The amount of hours he could put in
3:14
Speaker 1: was nuts. And you obviously have to be addicted to
3:18
Speaker 1: the sport. And I would say most guys are, right?
3:22
Speaker 1: Even the coaches that aren't winning a lot are putting
3:24
Speaker 1: in crazy hours. But what Ben Johnson brings to the table,
3:28
Speaker 1: and Case Keenum talked about this after the game, was
3:32
Speaker 1: throughout the week, and Case even said, he said he
3:34
Speaker 1: silenced his phone, that the only two people that would
3:38
Speaker 1: buzz if they called or text were his wife and
3:41
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson. And he's like, you can guess who I
3:44
Speaker 1: heard from more. I think he was alluding to the coach.
3:48
Speaker 1: And he said throughout the week that Ben Johnson was
3:52
Speaker 1: really high on some of the plays, some that worked
3:56
Speaker 1: and led to touchdowns or were touchdowns. The case was like,
3:59
Speaker 1: I wasn't really that comfortable with. And I was like,
4:02
Speaker 1: I didn't quite see it the way he saw it.
4:05
Speaker 1: But he would keep talking to me. He would convince
4:08
Speaker 1: me and I would get on board. And looking back,
4:10
Speaker 1: he was right. And I think the power of an
4:15
Speaker 1: offensive coach is their ability to work with the quarterback,
4:20
Speaker 1: make him believe in what he's selling, because what he
4:23
Speaker 1: is selling, he knows will work against that defense. It
4:27
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that every play call is going to work,
4:30
Speaker 1: because obviously they will not. Sometimes it could be your
4:33
Speaker 1: own error, even though you scouted the defense correctly, or
4:38
Speaker 1: other times it could be Their defense that you thought
4:41
Speaker 1: they were going to play, they did not play, and
4:43
Speaker 1: the play ran right into defenders. There's a lot of
4:46
Speaker 1: different variables here. But when I watched Ben Johnson, and
4:51
Speaker 1: you saw him last night, it was the polar opposites
4:54
Speaker 1: of the two guys. Because when I see Ben after
4:57
Speaker 1: the game in the locker room, you see his emotions,
5:00
Speaker 1: you see his intensity, even for the brief two-minute conversation
5:04
Speaker 1: I had at the combine. He's a very serious cat.
5:09
Speaker 1: I would guess around the halls of the Chicago facility,
5:15
Speaker 1: not a huge bullshit artist. Not just shooting the shit.
5:20
Speaker 1: Quality I have. I enjoy BSing. You want to talk
5:24
Speaker 1: some ball? You want to talk stock market? You want
5:26
Speaker 1: to talk whatever? I'll shoot the shit with you. I
5:29
Speaker 1: enjoy that in a lot of different settings. Ben Johnson
5:33
Speaker 1: doesn't give off those vibes. And when I watched him
5:37
Speaker 1: last night after he, I think he would admit like
5:42
Speaker 1: the play call, the not executing at the goal line,
5:46
Speaker 1: they get stopped, they get stopped and they don't even
5:48
Speaker 1: get points, right? They choose not to kick a field goal.
5:53
Speaker 1: He's mad at himself, but he's not showing it because
5:57
Speaker 1: the entire team takes your personality, right? So if you
6:01
Speaker 1: start freaking out on the sideline, everyone freaks out. I
6:06
Speaker 1: think you learn having a young child, if he bonks
6:11
Speaker 1: his head or injures himself, if you make it a
6:15
Speaker 1: bigger deal, he will make it a bigger deal. But
6:19
Speaker 1: if you keep your composure, and again, my kid's not
6:22
Speaker 1: even nine months old yet, but we've had a couple
6:24
Speaker 1: instances where it would be like, oh my God. But
6:28
Speaker 1: if you start doing that, the cries even get louder.
6:31
Speaker 1: If you start acting like everything's okay, he can mentally
6:35
Speaker 1: just follow your lead and not freak. It goes back
6:39
Speaker 1: to the play where Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson in
6:45
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. It's that famous video of Bill Belichick
6:49
Speaker 1: where it looks like the Patriots are going to lose
6:52
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. And his pulse rate looks like 75.
6:56
Speaker 1: Completely unfazed. And the Patriots, because of his even keel nature,
7:02
Speaker 1: feels like they always took that on. Look at Andy
7:05
Speaker 1: Reid over the years with Patrick Mahomes. Does he show
7:08
Speaker 1: much emotion on the sideline? I'm not even factoring in
7:12
Speaker 1: their ability to develop plays, get guys open. I'm just
7:16
Speaker 1: talking about their mannerisms. Even though Ben Johnson, unlike probably
7:22
Speaker 1: Bill and Andy, is more likely to want to just
7:25
Speaker 1: go nuts. But from a psychological standpoint, he knows all
7:30
Speaker 1: these guys looking at him. If he does that, that
7:32
Speaker 1: can be a problem. Where on the flip side, you
7:36
Speaker 1: had Sirianni, who is not developing any of these plays.
7:41
Speaker 1: He is the CEO, culture setter, tone setter, leader of
7:46
Speaker 1: the team. And he is going nuts. Losing his composure.
7:53
Speaker 1: Losing his emotion. And listen, I'd be a hypocrite if
7:58
Speaker 1: I said I have not been in situations and still
8:01
Speaker 1: battle that where I can't control my emotions. And as
8:05
Speaker 1: you get older, you realize, whether it's just your family
8:08
Speaker 1: looking at you, whether it's a professional setting, whether it
8:11
Speaker 1: could be a personal setting, a lot of times you're like,
8:14
Speaker 1: I got to be calmer in that situation. Because absolutely
8:19
Speaker 1: freaking out doesn't do any good. And one thing I
8:24
Speaker 1: noticed last night and throughout his career so far with
8:27
Speaker 1: the Bears is Ben feels very in control. And Sirianni
8:34
Speaker 1: does not. Sirianni can't control his emotions. And it goes
8:39
Speaker 1: back to some of their big wins. When he freaks
8:42
Speaker 1: out on the sidelines. Even last week against the Titans.
8:45
Speaker 1: When they won, he went nuts running off the field.
8:50
Speaker 1: Which again, I'm not anti-celebrating the victory. A lot of
8:54
Speaker 1: coaches just do it in the locker room. They don't
8:57
Speaker 1: do it, you know, on a road stadium on the sideline.
9:01
Speaker 1: And I think when you look at those two guys,
9:04
Speaker 1: obviously Ben is in a different stratosphere when it comes
9:08
Speaker 1: to offense. Because it's his. It's clearly not Sirianni's. But emotionally, like,
9:15
Speaker 1: That matters. And I think one thing, and I'm sure
9:19
Speaker 1: the Eagles have talked to Nick, and Nick probably understands,
9:22
Speaker 1: it's like you can't be a hothead on the sideline,
9:24
Speaker 1: good or bad, because that doesn't benefit anybody. It really doesn't.
9:30
Speaker 1: And I can't even imagine being a Bears fan and
9:36
Speaker 1: thinking of all those years where you're just stuck kind
9:42
Speaker 1: of like Andy Dufresne in the tunnel of shit And
9:45
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't see any end in sight. We
9:49
Speaker 1: just keep crawling. This is miserable. No matter what we do,
9:54
Speaker 1: we can never get the right coach. We can never
9:56
Speaker 1: get the right quarterback. We can never get the franchise.
10:00
Speaker 1: to be like, every single year we're going to matter.
10:03
Speaker 1: And now that you have it, it's called football heaven.
10:08
Speaker 1: It's as good as it gets. It doesn't mean you're
10:10
Speaker 1: guaranteed to win every year. But when you get in
10:13
Speaker 1: that situation, you go, this is pretty fun. this is
10:17
Speaker 1: pretty awesome. And you can go into games, because I
10:20
Speaker 1: would imagine most Bears fans, their expectation for the Monday
10:24
Speaker 1: night game when Case Keenum's starting was pretty low. But
10:28
Speaker 1: after you have a moment like that, you go into
10:30
Speaker 1: basically every game, unless there's catastrophic injuries all over the
10:34
Speaker 1: place leading up to it, we're like, we can win
10:37
Speaker 1: this thing. Why? Because we got the right head coach.
10:42
Speaker 1: And speaking of right head coach, The Patriots hiring Vrabel
10:47
Speaker 1: and then year one going to the Super Bowl was
10:50
Speaker 1: a major success. An incredible accomplishment, even if their path
10:55
Speaker 1: was a little easier. And despite their quarterback playing bad
10:59
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and getting a backup quarterback in the
11:03
Speaker 1: AFC Championship game, who cares? You won those games, you
11:07
Speaker 1: celebrate it, and you go, been here before, back again.
11:12
Speaker 1: But this year, it is unraveled for Drake May. He
11:16
Speaker 1: is statistically, I mean, leads the league in turnovers. And
11:19
Speaker 1: the eye test is just atrocious. And I can only
11:23
Speaker 1: imagine what the talk is in Boston like, what's going
11:27
Speaker 1: on here? Was last year the fluke? Because what we're witnessing,
11:32
Speaker 1: it doesn't get much worse. And I was thinking about
11:36
Speaker 1: Case Keenum last night. Because I watched the post-game press
11:40
Speaker 1: conference for Ben Johnson. And he said, every... it's typically
11:44
Speaker 1: Saturday night, but because they played on Monday, it was
11:46
Speaker 1: Sunday night. They do a quarterback meeting with the coaches.
11:52
Speaker 1: And I think they go over the game plan, go
11:54
Speaker 1: over the first 15, and they just rattle through everything
11:57
Speaker 1: they've done throughout the week, play-wise. And he said, the
12:01
Speaker 1: crazy part about that meeting is Case Keenum ran the
12:04
Speaker 1: whole thing. We didn't even talk. Like, myself as the OC,
12:09
Speaker 1: the quarterback coach, like, he just ran it. And Clearly, he, again,
12:16
Speaker 1: played an incredible game, awesome moment, and we'll see how
12:20
Speaker 1: it plays out this week if he keeps starting. But
12:23
Speaker 1: I started thinking, because I had a buddy yesterday send
12:26
Speaker 1: me this tweet from ESPN Stats and Info, and it
12:32
Speaker 1: said that teams who started their non-week number one quarterback,
12:37
Speaker 1: so the Bears, Case Keenum, The commanders, Marcus Mariota, Jameis
12:43
Speaker 1: got his first start against the Titans. All the backups
12:46
Speaker 1: that started, Drew Locke, week two against the Cardinals, are 6-0. And...
12:56
Speaker 1: Anytime you win a game with your backup quarterback, it
12:58
Speaker 1: feels like two wins. It's better than a normal win
13:02
Speaker 1: with your starting quarterback. It is an uplift for the
13:05
Speaker 1: entire franchise, especially in the fashion that Drew Locke did
13:09
Speaker 1: it or Case Keenum did it. The confidence that that
13:14
Speaker 1: builds in the organization is unquantifiable. But I also, I'll
13:19
Speaker 1: never go back, or I go back all the time
13:21
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs. When they got rid of Alex Smith
13:25
Speaker 1: and they were going to insert Patrick Mahomes as their
13:27
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, one thing they were dead set on is
13:32
Speaker 1: to get a backup that was older and married. Because
13:37
Speaker 1: they wanted to get a mature guy who would be
13:41
Speaker 1: comfortable in his role, but would be a great mentor
13:45
Speaker 1: for a young player. Not only to show him how
13:48
Speaker 1: to study, how to prepare, just to be a good example,
13:53
Speaker 1: but to just be a grown-up in the room. And
13:56
Speaker 1: that kind of matters. Because think about when you're young,
14:00
Speaker 1: and even if you're in a job with zero pressure,
14:05
Speaker 1: let alone the pressure that some young quarterbacks have throughout
14:08
Speaker 1: the NFL. Most human beings can't relate to that. But
14:13
Speaker 1: I don't care who you are. When you get hired
14:15
Speaker 1: out of college and you're 22, 23, 24 years old,
14:19
Speaker 1: and you get a real job, whether it's a corporate setting,
14:23
Speaker 1: whether it's a smaller business, whatever, and you're like, this
14:26
Speaker 1: is a, you know, a role with some responsibility. It
14:29
Speaker 1: can be daunting. It can feel like there's, you know,
14:33
Speaker 1: I don't want to say the weight of the world
14:35
Speaker 1: on you, but it can be overwhelming. And it's the
14:37
Speaker 1: first time, you know, you're just kind of on your
14:40
Speaker 1: own and other people are depending on you. And, you know,
14:44
Speaker 1: we all have had bosses at one point in time,
14:47
Speaker 1: a little like parents. After a while, you're like, okay,
14:51
Speaker 1: I get it. The message, sometimes you do better learning
14:55
Speaker 1: from other people. Why do you think kids sometimes listen
14:59
Speaker 1: to their friend's parents more than their own parents? Or
15:02
Speaker 1: their coach more than their dad? Because sometimes that other voice,
15:07
Speaker 1: even if the message is the exact same, resonates more.
15:11
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's any different when it comes
15:13
Speaker 1: to it's why any good coaching staff, any good organization
15:18
Speaker 1: wants to have a veteran player around a young quarterback.
15:21
Speaker 1: Because that guy isn't just an extension of the coaching staff.
15:24
Speaker 1: It's someone for him to lean on when he goes
15:29
Speaker 1: through hard times because that individual he can relate to.
15:33
Speaker 1: And Caleb Williams, the moment Ben Johnson got the job,
15:36
Speaker 1: what did he do? He convinced Case Keenum to essentially
15:38
Speaker 1: not retire and be in the room. And he wasn't
15:42
Speaker 1: even going to be the backup quarterback. What did the
15:45
Speaker 1: Raiders do when they got Fernando Mendoza this year? They said,
15:48
Speaker 1: we need to have a veteran player. Kirk Cousins, come
15:52
Speaker 1: on down. Fernando Mendoza was the number one overall pick.
15:58
Speaker 1: The Raiders have been a joke. And they're like, we
16:01
Speaker 1: need someone to mentor him. We need someone for him
16:04
Speaker 1: to watch. We need someone around him, in his vicinity,
16:09
Speaker 1: every single day. And obviously, you know, ideally he's a
16:13
Speaker 1: good player and you're winning games. It's gone pretty well
16:16
Speaker 1: so far. But it wasn't about week to week winning
16:20
Speaker 1: and losing. It was honestly, I would imagine, 80% about
16:24
Speaker 1: Fernando Mendoza. Because that matters. and having someone who can
16:31
Speaker 1: relate to the things you're going through, even if they
16:33
Speaker 1: weren't the number one overall pick. They've just been in
16:36
Speaker 1: a situation where they weren't starting, tried to learn this league,
16:41
Speaker 1: what it takes, what the expectations are. And I look
16:44
Speaker 1: at Drake May, who you go, well, he's got veteran coaches.
16:48
Speaker 1: He's got Mike Vrabel, former player. He's got Josh McDaniels
16:51
Speaker 1: and coached Tom Brady for 20 years. Okay. A lot
16:54
Speaker 1: of these staffs have that. Patrick Mahomes got Andy Reid,
16:57
Speaker 1: who had been a successful guy for 20 years. And
17:01
Speaker 1: they still value get Chad Haney in here. And so
17:05
Speaker 1: I look at Drake May, it's like, well, who's his backup?
17:07
Speaker 1: Tommy DeVito. Think how crazy that is. Like, that is
17:14
Speaker 1: mismanagement by the Patriots. To not have some version of
17:20
Speaker 1: a veteran player who used to be a longtime starter
17:24
Speaker 1: and now is just a backup. You know, Mariota, clearly
17:28
Speaker 1: the commanders valued him on the field because they have
17:31
Speaker 1: to have a little contingency plan. Because Jaden's injury history,
17:35
Speaker 1: they re-signed him this year after being the backup. But
17:38
Speaker 1: he also fits that bill. Actually to perfection. And Jaden
17:44
Speaker 1: Daniels can ask Marcus Mariota anything. You know why? Because
17:47
Speaker 1: Mariota's kind of seen it all. No different than Caleb
17:51
Speaker 1: with Case Keenum. And I just look at the Patriots
17:56
Speaker 1: situation that no one could have foreseen it being this bad.
18:02
Speaker 1: I would agree with that. Like this is the worst
18:05
Speaker 1: case scenario. But they put themselves in a situation where
18:09
Speaker 1: it's like his own room can't even help him out.
18:14
Speaker 1: What's Tommy DeVito? I mean, to me, when I think
18:16
Speaker 1: of Tommy DeVito, he is most famously known for the
18:19
Speaker 1: agent that looked like a guy that would have been
18:21
Speaker 1: either in Tony Soprano's Crew or someone that Tony Soprano
18:24
Speaker 1: would have put in a lake. So I think that's
18:28
Speaker 1: an underrated part about the NFL, building a position group
18:32
Speaker 1: the correct way, and nothing is more important than the
18:35
Speaker 1: group of the quarterback room. Look at the Oregon Ducks.
18:40
Speaker 1: They truly valued having a backup quarterback, despite having a
18:44
Speaker 1: guy coming into the season that had a very, very
18:48
Speaker 1: good chance to establish himself as the number one quarterback.
18:51
Speaker 1: And they went, we need to get a veteran guy. Obviously,
18:53
Speaker 1: it costs a lot of money, but no one would
18:58
Speaker 1: have batted an eye if they're like, well, just have
19:00
Speaker 1: our four or five star young guy as the backup. Like, no,
19:03
Speaker 1: we're not doing that. And it came to fruition against
19:08
Speaker 1: USC and dramatically benefited potentially the outcome of their season.
19:15
Speaker 1: So I think if I'm a Patriot fan, I go,
19:17
Speaker 1: how does Tommy DeVito, like, how do we not have
19:19
Speaker 1: internal help? Like, how do we not have a Flacco
19:23
Speaker 1: type guy, someone in that room beside the coaching staff
19:28
Speaker 1: who could help the kid out? Because right now he's
19:31
Speaker 1: swimming upstream without a paddle. He's drowning and nothing that
19:36
Speaker 1: those guys seem to say works. And the other thing
19:39
Speaker 1: is the confidence, how it goes. Who's going to help
19:42
Speaker 1: him get that back? Well, think about when you're going
19:45
Speaker 1: through it as a young employee somewhere. You hate your
19:50
Speaker 1: boss or, you know, something going on weird at work.
19:53
Speaker 1: Who do you usually talk to about that? People you
19:56
Speaker 1: work hand in hand with. People in the military talk
19:59
Speaker 1: about this all the time. I don't fight for the
20:01
Speaker 1: general back at the base. I battle for the guy
20:04
Speaker 1: next to me that's hand in hand down in the trenches.
20:08
Speaker 1: Just like, basic human, the way we're wired, right? So
20:12
Speaker 1: I think the Patriots and Elliot Wolfe and Mike Vrabel,
20:18
Speaker 1: they could have done a better job of having that
20:20
Speaker 1: room a little more situated just to benefit Drake May emotionally.
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Speaker 1: I think AFC. Those days are done. It's all, like,
22:31
Speaker 1: interconnected now. And CBS does NFC games. Fox does AFC games.
22:37
Speaker 1: There's just a lot of carryover. And you don't know
22:40
Speaker 1: week to week. exactly who's going to be on what station.
22:43
Speaker 1: Not that it matters. It's easy to find. But I'm
22:46
Speaker 1: used to the branding, the sounds, and it's no longer
22:49
Speaker 1: like that. Sunday, teams are all over the place, which
22:53
Speaker 1: is what it is. CBS had the opportunity. I mean,
22:58
Speaker 1: there are two big games on Sunday afternoon coming up.
23:04
Speaker 1: And it's the Chiefs, the undefeated Chiefs, and the undefeated Raiders,
23:09
Speaker 1: and the Broncos and the 49ers. Now, the Chiefs, once
23:14
Speaker 1: they got good with Patrick Mahomes, passed the Cowboys as
23:18
Speaker 1: the number one rated team. But like for 20 plus years,
23:22
Speaker 1: the Raiders haven't been good. So if you're playing the Raiders,
23:26
Speaker 1: obviously the Chiefs brand is really strong. But you'd go, eh,
23:31
Speaker 1: I'll just go with the two really good teams. But
23:33
Speaker 1: that's not the case right now. And the Raiders would
23:38
Speaker 1: not be the number one draft pick by the networks
23:41
Speaker 1: in a primetime game, at least of right now. They
23:43
Speaker 1: can earn that if they keep playing well and have
23:46
Speaker 1: turned into a real franchise moving forward. But CBS chose
23:50
Speaker 1: this because of Kansas City and the power of their brand,
23:55
Speaker 1: the amount of eyeballs that come to their games is real.
23:59
Speaker 1: I mean, it speaks for itself. The numbers are well
24:01
Speaker 1: documented over the last six, seven years. But this is
24:05
Speaker 1: an incredible opportunity for the Raiders to get Jim Nance
24:09
Speaker 1: and J.J. Watt to get the game of the day,
24:12
Speaker 1: to get the national game in Vegas, and you're undefeated.
24:19
Speaker 1: Because I think a lot of people go, yeah, this
24:21
Speaker 1: team's kind of interesting. Jenty, really good player. We know
24:25
Speaker 1: Crosby's a stud. Brock Bowers is a favorite of anyone
24:29
Speaker 1: that plays fantasy football. N'Kobe Dean's crushing it. But are
24:34
Speaker 1: they really that good? Are the Raiders really... Are we
24:38
Speaker 1: talking a 10-11 win team? Or is when the dust settles,
24:41
Speaker 1: they're going to win seven? I don't know the answer
24:45
Speaker 1: right now. Because when Kirk Cousins plays better defenses, is
24:53
Speaker 1: this going to be sustainable? As the season goes, I
24:56
Speaker 1: don't know. But I do know what we've seen through
24:59
Speaker 1: three weeks has been extremely impressive. And now that Bauer's back,
25:03
Speaker 1: their offense, I mean, they got two legit tight ends,
25:05
Speaker 1: a running back. I know Beck, I think, broke his arm,
25:08
Speaker 1: which is not ideal. Their wide receiver group is very questionable.
25:12
Speaker 1: And I think there's some question marks with the overall
25:15
Speaker 1: secondary slash pass rushers. Actually, their secondary's playing pretty good.
25:20
Speaker 1: But beside Crosby, like, do they really have a lot
25:22
Speaker 1: of juice? This is an incredible moment for them. This
25:27
Speaker 1: is one of those where it's like you could really
25:30
Speaker 1: announce yourself to the league. Because we saw the first
25:33
Speaker 1: two weeks the Chiefs got up for those games. Prime time,
25:36
Speaker 1: trying to reestablish themselves. Little bit of a sleeper against
25:39
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. I don't know if you've seen the viral
25:42
Speaker 1: clip of Jeff Halfley going to the press conference. And
25:46
Speaker 1: I never saw the clip of how many people were
25:48
Speaker 1: at the press conference. My guess would be less than five.
25:52
Speaker 1: And I think it really rattled Halfley. He's like, where
25:54
Speaker 1: is everybody? And one of the reporters is like, well,
25:56
Speaker 1: it's Miami Heat media day. So it was clear, like, yeah,
26:01
Speaker 1: you're not that important right now. And if in three
26:03
Speaker 1: years the Dolphins are a legit squad, they got a
26:07
Speaker 1: star quarterback, that won't be the case. But I think
26:10
Speaker 1: for a guy that had just spent the last couple
26:13
Speaker 1: years for the Packers, that had to be like, God,
26:17
Speaker 1: we're not the number one option in this town. You
26:20
Speaker 1: got to earn that. And the thing with an NFL team,
26:22
Speaker 1: if you get good, it will matter. And that's the
26:26
Speaker 1: interesting part about Vegas. Like, I think I read a
26:30
Speaker 1: headline today that the NBA is looking for $ 12 to
26:34
Speaker 1: $ 13 billion for the NBA team in Vegas, which to
26:39
Speaker 1: me seems pretty nuts. But Vegas is a very, very
26:43
Speaker 1: hot market when it comes to sports teams. Obviously, the
26:46
Speaker 1: A's are moving there. The Raiders have been there for
26:48
Speaker 1: a while. The stadium's awesome. the concerts, the commerce that
26:52
Speaker 1: comes through there, even if it's kind of been up
26:55
Speaker 1: and down for us normal people that used to just
26:57
Speaker 1: travel there to hang out. I maybe was more my
27:02
Speaker 1: single days, but I'm not as inclined to do that. One,
27:06
Speaker 1: I don't need to go to a sports book to dabble. Two,
27:11
Speaker 1: the prices in what used to be, especially for younger people,
27:15
Speaker 1: when I was in college, one, I'd get like a
27:17
Speaker 1: $ 59. 99 flight to Vegas. And two, you could stay at
27:21
Speaker 1: just random hotels for under $ 100. And you didn't need
27:25
Speaker 1: that much money to gamble. You could easily find $ 5
27:29
Speaker 1: blackjack tables and food was relatively cheap. That is not
27:33
Speaker 1: the case anymore. So the dynamics and the economics of
27:36
Speaker 1: the areas change because they're all Fortune 500 companies now
27:40
Speaker 1: and they're trying to squeeze every dollar and it's like
27:42
Speaker 1: $ 25 coffees. But people will still fly there for these
27:46
Speaker 1: big events. I've done it before. I've been to multiple
27:49
Speaker 1: concerts just flying to Vegas. I know a ton of
27:52
Speaker 1: people that have gone to the Sphere. I have yet
27:54
Speaker 1: to hear anyone not have the time of their life
27:56
Speaker 1: and be blown away by the power of that thing. And,
28:00
Speaker 1: you know, the Raiders were kind of the first. In
28:05
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, I know they have an NHL
28:07
Speaker 1: team there who's actually pretty good. But the NFL is
28:10
Speaker 1: in a different stratosphere. And this game's at Allegiant. I'm
28:14
Speaker 1: going to be fascinated, like, is this 80, 90% Raider fans?
28:20
Speaker 1: Because the one thing with this stadium is a lot
28:23
Speaker 1: of people travel from out of town to make a
28:26
Speaker 1: weekend of it. And whether it's Bronco fans, whether it's
28:30
Speaker 1: Packer fans, Steeler fans, Chiefs fans, it's a pretty big
28:35
Speaker 1: moment for this franchise. And I can't wait to watch
28:38
Speaker 1: this game. Last but not least, before we do the mailbag,
28:43
Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley, clearly Saturday afternoon slash night did not go well.
28:50
Speaker 1: I would say it ended in an embarrassing fashion with
28:54
Speaker 1: the player taking out Dante Moore, the celebrating and him
28:57
Speaker 1: staying on the sideline the entire time and it being
28:59
Speaker 1: so ugly. Within the next day, they had to suspend
29:02
Speaker 1: him for a game. And he did not get suspended
29:04
Speaker 1: for the hit. He got suspended for acting like a clown.
29:09
Speaker 1: Losing sucks. When you put a game on a pedestal,
29:14
Speaker 1: which the USC Trojans did, and then you lose in
29:18
Speaker 1: front of millions of people, when people already question you,
29:22
Speaker 1: it is even worse. I'll use Ole Miss as an example.
29:27
Speaker 1: If somehow they wouldn't have pulled out that game against
29:29
Speaker 1: LSU and LSU would have made enough plays and lost,
29:34
Speaker 1: it would have been tough because there's no disputing that
29:37
Speaker 1: Ole Miss had put that LSU Lane Kiffin bat on
29:40
Speaker 1: a pedestal. I don't even disagree when Lane says that
29:43
Speaker 1: was their Super Bowl. It kind of was. And when
29:46
Speaker 1: it is your Super Bowl, you got to win it.
29:48
Speaker 1: And Lane, or excuse me, Lincoln, with all these articles,
29:52
Speaker 1: all these statements, had put that game on a pedestal.
29:56
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like Oregon put that game on a pedestal.
29:58
Speaker 1: it mattered because college football, you only get so many
30:01
Speaker 1: of these, they already had a loss, but USC put
30:04
Speaker 1: all their chips in the middle of the table. And
30:07
Speaker 1: then by the end, it felt like they were getting
30:08
Speaker 1: clowned on the field in the second half, especially the
30:11
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. I would say what I, and I got
30:14
Speaker 1: this DM and this kind of sparked me thinking about
30:18
Speaker 1: it because I've seen a ton of these clips online
30:21
Speaker 1: today said, uh, John, uh, As a Ducks fan, I'm
30:28
Speaker 1: curious if you've seen the Oregon vs. Them video montage vs.
30:32
Speaker 1: USC and what are your thoughts on the contrasting styles
30:36
Speaker 1: of the two programs? If not, wow, it's an amazing
30:40
Speaker 1: 22 minutes. I haven't seen the entire 22 minutes, but
30:45
Speaker 1: I've seen a ton of different clips. Two-minute clips of
30:48
Speaker 1: his pregame talk on Monday or Tuesday addressing the team.
30:54
Speaker 1: I've seen the four-minute clip of him, Dante getting KO'd,
30:58
Speaker 1: him being on the field, him corralling the group and
31:02
Speaker 1: kind of doing a football version of a prayer, getting
31:06
Speaker 1: their mind right. I've seen his second-half speech. I know this.
31:11
Speaker 1: If I was a super rich guy who was stroking
31:15
Speaker 1: checks to USC to buy these players, to build this
31:18
Speaker 1: massive suite facility, the last three or four days, Saturday night,
31:25
Speaker 1: up until all these videos, my money would stop. Because
31:30
Speaker 1: part of spending all this money on Lincoln Riley was
31:35
Speaker 1: to get to the point and have a program equivalent
31:39
Speaker 1: with Oregon. Yet I think we all have to acknowledge,
31:42
Speaker 1: and I say this all the time about tough guys.
31:46
Speaker 1: As an offensive guy, you know, Steve Sarkeesian or Lane
31:52
Speaker 1: couldn't beat up like Mike Vrabel or D'Amico Ryans. But
31:57
Speaker 1: I think those two guys are good examples because they're
31:59
Speaker 1: both offensive guys like Lincoln. Their careers were created in
32:06
Speaker 1: the 2000s under Pete Carroll at USC. And we talk
32:11
Speaker 1: a lot about Reggie Bush and Matt Leiner on those
32:15
Speaker 1: USC teams. I would say the defining attribute of those
32:19
Speaker 1: teams is they would break you in half. Because all
32:23
Speaker 1: their guys on defense looked and were NFL players. And
32:29
Speaker 1: even as those guys left in the next group of
32:32
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews, Ray Maluga, and Brian Cushing, which were on
32:37
Speaker 1: the front page of Sports Illustrated, It was like they
32:40
Speaker 1: were looking for violence every single Saturday. So while Sark
32:45
Speaker 1: and Lane, I wouldn't consider like Kirby Smart, crazy-ass former
32:50
Speaker 1: defensive guy, they do value the defensive player, what it
32:56
Speaker 1: takes to be violent, physical, and future NFL bodies on
33:00
Speaker 1: that side of the ball. And they use their money
33:03
Speaker 1: now with NIL to buy those guys, right? Lane did it,
33:06
Speaker 1: he's doing it at LSU, and obviously Sark does it
33:09
Speaker 1: at Texas. And I watched Lincoln versus Dan Lanning and
33:16
Speaker 1: I go, the gap between these two programs, emotionally, mentality-wise,
33:24
Speaker 1: if I was a USC booster, I'd be embarrassed. And
33:28
Speaker 1: I just, you don't change that. Because ultimately, Lincoln trained
33:33
Speaker 1: from Mike Leach, who obsessed over offense. And when I
33:39
Speaker 1: view Lincoln, that's what he cares about. Discipline doesn't give
33:43
Speaker 1: a shit. Defense doesn't give a shit. And ultimately, when
33:47
Speaker 1: those things don't matter that much to you, the message
33:51
Speaker 1: you have for your team can never be the version
33:54
Speaker 1: of what Dan Lanning tells his team. Because when you
33:59
Speaker 1: watch Dan Lanning lead the group, you're like, this is
34:02
Speaker 1: kind of how I'd want my football coach to operate. Like,
34:05
Speaker 1: if I had a kid I mean, I do. But
34:08
Speaker 1: if he was good enough, if Jack was 18 years
34:10
Speaker 1: old right now, was a massive football recruit, and could
34:14
Speaker 1: go wherever, I'd be like, ideally, West Coast, easier travels.
34:18
Speaker 1: And it was Lane Kiffin, or excuse me, well, Lane Kiffin.
34:22
Speaker 1: But let's say Dan Lanning and Lincoln Riley desperately wanted him.
34:26
Speaker 1: It would be a no-brainer. I don't care what position
34:28
Speaker 1: he plays. I'd want him to go play for Dan
34:31
Speaker 1: Lanning over Lincoln Riley. because of everything I've witnessed on
34:36
Speaker 1: those videos. We've been seeing him for years. But Lincoln
34:39
Speaker 1: can't do that. He can't create that because that's not
34:41
Speaker 1: who he is. You hear coaches talk a lot about
34:45
Speaker 1: being authentic. And I think that matters in every walk
34:49
Speaker 1: of life. Now more than ever. In a day and
34:51
Speaker 1: age where frauds and phonies and political acts, and I
34:57
Speaker 1: don't mean actual political acts, I mean people operating for like...
35:03
Speaker 1: playing politics on TV in the sense of like a newscaster.
35:07
Speaker 1: I've used this example before. If you turn on the
35:09
Speaker 1: news in like 1992, everyone kind of looked the same, smiled.
35:12
Speaker 1: They're completely fake. It's like they did not actually talk
35:16
Speaker 1: or operate like that in the real world. I think
35:18
Speaker 1: what the consumer demands now in 2026 is like, act
35:22
Speaker 1: how you actually are. I don't have to like you,
35:25
Speaker 1: but like at least just be true to yourself. And
35:27
Speaker 1: it's why I think, you know, whenever you hear like
35:30
Speaker 1: a podcast or someone's like, yeah, their whole thing's scripted.
35:33
Speaker 1: You're like, are you serious? It's scripted? Like, I respect
35:38
Speaker 1: the business Call Her Daddy built, but I saw this
35:41
Speaker 1: clip of this actress that went on a bunch of
35:43
Speaker 1: shows to promote. She's like, yeah, a couple of the shows,
35:46
Speaker 1: we just sat down and started talking. Call Her Daddy
35:48
Speaker 1: was completely scripted. It's like, listen, I respect the money
35:52
Speaker 1: you're generating, but I don't view you the same, you know?
35:57
Speaker 1: And I think there's something about Lincoln that's like, just
36:02
Speaker 1: doesn't have it. At the highest level. You know, and
36:07
Speaker 1: you watch Dan Lanning, and who was he around? Saban, Kirby.
36:13
Speaker 1: Those guys aren't faking shit. They don't have to pretend
36:16
Speaker 1: to be a tough guy. Because of their standard, what
36:20
Speaker 1: they demand within their program, how they think, how they're wired.
36:24
Speaker 1: You know, Dan Lanning went on this long kind of rant,
36:28
Speaker 1: long would be strong, couple minute rant in front of
36:31
Speaker 1: his team early in the week about the USC juice boxes.
36:37
Speaker 1: And he's like, how fake is this energy? Like, what
36:40
Speaker 1: is this? We don't do that here. We just create
36:43
Speaker 1: the energy. We just create the mayhem. And I think
36:48
Speaker 1: Lincoln's trying to manipulate it because at his core, he's
36:52
Speaker 1: They say that if you just walk George's campus during
36:56
Speaker 1: a football practice, like you're just walking the campus, you
37:00
Speaker 1: can hear Kirby Smart because he is going apeshit. He's
37:06
Speaker 1: been doing that for 25 years since he's been coaching.
37:09
Speaker 1: He's not faking and manipulating his energy at practice. He's
37:13
Speaker 1: a nut job. His players know it, and they demand
37:17
Speaker 1: it in terms of what is expected to play for
37:20
Speaker 1: their program. Well, USC's offense is great. Well, this isn't
37:26
Speaker 1: just offense. I mean, this is football. So how's your defense?
37:31
Speaker 1: How's your team discipline? How's your program operate? And I
37:36
Speaker 1: think this all gets back to... I've said this forever.
37:39
Speaker 1: There are some outliers. Culture and proximity where you're born
37:46
Speaker 1: and where you coach matters. And if I think about
37:50
Speaker 1: most of the best coaches... at least over the internet era,
37:54
Speaker 1: in college football on the West Coast, they've been from
37:58
Speaker 1: the West Coast. Pete Carroll was born in California. He
38:03
Speaker 1: went to the University of Pacific. Throughout his life, he
38:06
Speaker 1: feels like a California guy. Jeff Tedford, Southern California, born
38:12
Speaker 1: and raised, played at Fresno State, coached at Oregon, coached at,
38:15
Speaker 1: obviously head coach at Cal. It kind of worked. Chris Peterson,
38:19
Speaker 1: Boise State and Washington. Where is he from? Northern California.
38:23
Speaker 1: Went to UC Davis. And if you think about the South,
38:28
Speaker 1: Nick Saban's from West Virginia, but kind of felt like
38:32
Speaker 1: a Southern guy. That's why he fit in at LSU
38:34
Speaker 1: and obviously fit in at Alabama. Kirby Smart, Dabo Sweeney forever,
38:40
Speaker 1: Jimbo Fisher. Just listen to their names. You know, and
38:45
Speaker 1: I think that matters. Urban Meyer was a guy that
38:48
Speaker 1: kind of bounced around. Coached at Utah, coached at Florida. Obviously,
38:52
Speaker 1: Nick Saban has success at Michigan State. He could have
38:55
Speaker 1: coached anywhere. Sark probably feels like Texas is as far
39:02
Speaker 1: east as that guy can go. And honestly, Austin, I've
39:05
Speaker 1: only been there for less than three or four days
39:08
Speaker 1: throughout my life, but definitely has more of a West
39:11
Speaker 1: Coast city type vibe than like, Texas South, you know,
39:16
Speaker 1: and Lincoln's a small town, Texas guy who became a
39:21
Speaker 1: star at Oklahoma. Does that feel LA USC to you?
39:29
Speaker 1: So I, I do think those videos coming out make Lincoln,
39:35
Speaker 1: and listen, are they going to pay him $ 67 million
39:37
Speaker 1: to go away? I don't believe that. He's going to
39:40
Speaker 1: be the coach for several years. But pretty embarrassing little
39:44
Speaker 1: stretch that doesn't really seem like anyone's going to have
39:47
Speaker 1: any ability to change. Starting with Lincoln Riley. Because you
39:50
Speaker 1: can't change who you are. I can't change. I can
39:54
Speaker 1: adapt some the way I do certain things. And you
39:58
Speaker 1: kind of have to as you get married and you
40:00
Speaker 1: have a kid. Like you got to change your ways
40:01
Speaker 1: a little bit. But there are certain things about me
40:04
Speaker 1: that are never going to change. Just like if you're
40:06
Speaker 1: listening and you're 35, 40, 45, 50. Certain things about
40:10
Speaker 1: you that are never going to change. And at this
40:13
Speaker 1: point in time Lincoln Riley ain't changing anything. being more disciplined,
40:16
Speaker 1: being more of a hard ass, being a tough guy,
40:19
Speaker 1: because you can't change that. Okay, let's do a couple
40:35
Speaker 1: of mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff, at John Middlecoff is
40:37
Speaker 1: the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered
40:40
Speaker 1: here on the show. Mailbag. Why don't people believe in
40:44
Speaker 1: the Vikings yet? They're exactly what everyone thought Houston would
40:47
Speaker 1: be before the season. Below average quarterback, mediocre run game,
40:52
Speaker 1: one elite wideout, and a game-breaking defense. A lot of
40:55
Speaker 1: people were high on Houston going into the year, and
40:59
Speaker 1: many bet them to be the number one seed. But
41:02
Speaker 1: now that exactly what's supposed to happen in Houston is
41:08
Speaker 1: happening in Minnesota, and we're not getting any love. Fair question. Listen,
41:14
Speaker 1: 3-0 is 3-0. You never apologize for it. I do
41:16
Speaker 1: think it's not sustainable to throw for 150, 175 yards
41:20
Speaker 1: and win all these games. You know, you do play
41:23
Speaker 1: in a division with– you can beat the Bears in
41:26
Speaker 1: a rainstorm. If you played them in more of a
41:28
Speaker 1: normal September game, like are they scoring three points? You know,
41:34
Speaker 1: you just beat Tampa. I mean, you're going three and out.
41:36
Speaker 1: It felt like every series. That game was a tough watch.
41:41
Speaker 1: Flores has been incredible. Incredible. I'd say the difference you
41:47
Speaker 1: and Houston, like, ironic because Daniil Hunter used to be
41:51
Speaker 1: on your team, but Turner from Bama looks good. But, like,
41:57
Speaker 1: Turner and Will Anderson and Stingley, like, they got some high,
42:05
Speaker 1: high-end guys. It feels like you guys are manipulating it more,
42:09
Speaker 1: which is coaching, It's like, how sustainable is this? Are
42:13
Speaker 1: they really about to win 10 or 11 games? Or
42:15
Speaker 1: is this going to come somewhat stabilized a little bit
42:20
Speaker 1: because their offense is so bad? And now Jefferson's out.
42:23
Speaker 1: So even just the threat of him, I mean, I'm
42:25
Speaker 1: assuming he's out for this week. Who knows? Maybe it's,
42:28
Speaker 1: we'll see. I mean, I'm recording this on Tuesday. We'll
42:31
Speaker 1: know the next couple of days. Like, is he probably
42:33
Speaker 1: out this week? Is he out two weeks? Is he out,
42:35
Speaker 1: is he a game, you know, week to week? Is
42:37
Speaker 1: he day to day? Time will tell. But 3-0 is 3-0.
42:44
Speaker 1: I think the Vikings are a little like the Raiders
42:48
Speaker 1: where people are going, is this real? The difference is
42:52
Speaker 1: the Raiders are like scoring a bunch of touchdowns. After
42:57
Speaker 1: Case Keenum's stellar performance against the Eagles, who do you
43:01
Speaker 1: think the Bears will start versus the Jets? The staff
43:04
Speaker 1: loves Tyson, but should they ride the hot hand? I
43:07
Speaker 1: talked about this last night. and you watch Case's post-game
43:12
Speaker 1: press conference, he kind of tiptoed around it a little
43:15
Speaker 1: bit too. You could tell he's not 100% confident he's
43:20
Speaker 1: ever going to start again. That's why I think this
43:23
Speaker 1: moment was so big. And he clearly loves Tyson. He's
43:28
Speaker 1: been around him now two years, so they've become very,
43:30
Speaker 1: very close. It's a unique relationship when you're not playing
43:33
Speaker 1: at that position because it's not like you can rotate.
43:37
Speaker 1: If I had to guess right now, I would guess
43:42
Speaker 1: that Tyson starts. I would guess Tyson starts. If we're
43:47
Speaker 1: doing like polymarket percentages, it's not like 80-20, it's probably 60-40.
43:54
Speaker 1: You know, a young player who, if he starts and
44:01
Speaker 1: does well, you also have in your back pocket the
44:03
Speaker 1: value of the guy. that this offseason, if he goes out,
44:08
Speaker 1: if Caleb's out a couple more weeks, and Tyson balls out,
44:12
Speaker 1: could you flip him this offseason for a second round pick?
44:16
Speaker 1: So I think you've got to take that into consideration.
44:18
Speaker 1: I mean, at the end of the day, he is
44:21
Speaker 1: the third string quarterback. And you knew he's the third
44:25
Speaker 1: string quarterback for a reason, because I bet Ben would
44:27
Speaker 1: tell you, Tyson's just a better... More just skilled guy
44:32
Speaker 1: we think could be better player. Now, can he, could
44:34
Speaker 1: he have played like that? No guarantee. And that's the
44:36
Speaker 1: hard part about these situations. But I would guess that Tyson,
44:41
Speaker 1: if he's fully healthy and can, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
44:45
Speaker 1: I think they would go with him. against 60-40, which
44:50
Speaker 1: seems a little crazy. Like, why would he just go
44:51
Speaker 1: with the hot hand? Well, listen, there are economic impacts
44:55
Speaker 1: of this. There are draft impacts of this. Like, if
44:58
Speaker 1: over the offseason you could flip Tyson, if he has
45:01
Speaker 1: a couple sweet games for, like, a top 40 pick,
45:06
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you can use your pick and
45:07
Speaker 1: the top 40 pick. to add to the defense, to
45:11
Speaker 1: trade for a veteran player. So there's like a balancing
45:15
Speaker 1: act here. And if you're Ben Johnson, like you're going
45:17
Speaker 1: to be this head coach for the foreseeable future. A
45:20
Speaker 1: lot of coaches live day to day, week to week.
45:23
Speaker 1: I do think when you are Andy Reed, Sean Payton,
45:26
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, it's easier to balance the short
45:29
Speaker 1: and the longterm. And you can have a conversation with
45:32
Speaker 1: your GM where some places they, it'd be hard to
45:34
Speaker 1: have that conversation. So my guess would be in, would
45:39
Speaker 1: be Tyson. As someone who was born in 02, and
45:44
Speaker 1: I began watching football after the Packers won in 10,
45:48
Speaker 1: what was the physicality like in the 90s and early 2000s? Well, son,
45:54
Speaker 1: let me tell you. When I used to strap it
45:56
Speaker 1: up against Elway and Marino, it was, you can YouTube it.
46:03
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just YouTube big hits from the 90s.
46:07
Speaker 1: It was, I would say the best way you could
46:10
Speaker 1: describe it is on any given pass play, someone could
46:16
Speaker 1: get stretchered off the field. And the reason they used
46:21
Speaker 1: to call balls over the middle, balls the go-route shot
46:27
Speaker 1: against the hole between the corner and the safety, potential
46:31
Speaker 1: hospital balls, because the guy would end up in the hospital.
46:36
Speaker 1: Now as a quarterback, you don't really spend that much
46:39
Speaker 1: time thinking, I'm laying my guy out to dry. Where
46:43
Speaker 1: the NFL that I grew up on is if you
46:46
Speaker 1: laid a guy out over the middle, he was going
46:49
Speaker 1: to get knocked out. Now, the differences back then is
46:53
Speaker 1: there was no concussion protocol. There was no blue tent.
46:55
Speaker 1: They'd come to the sideline. They'd give him some smelling salt.
46:58
Speaker 1: He'd shake it off and he'd go back in the game.
47:01
Speaker 1: And then years later, he'd be like, I don't even
47:02
Speaker 1: remember the second half, which clearly from a safety standpoint,
47:05
Speaker 1: not great. But that's how it was. There were no
47:11
Speaker 1: protective measures. There was no such thing as defenseless wide receiver.
47:19
Speaker 1: You know why? Because the wide receiver knows when he
47:22
Speaker 1: went over the middle that the defenders can hit him.
47:26
Speaker 1: There wouldn't have been a penalty when Jalen Hurts got
47:30
Speaker 1: decleted yesterday. Patrick Mahomes would have been slammed in the
47:34
Speaker 1: ground and the referee wouldn't have thought about throwing the flag.
47:38
Speaker 1: So I think the emphasis of flags on these hits
47:42
Speaker 1: is something that didn't exist. There were not flags when
47:47
Speaker 1: guys got killed. You were just killed. I would say
47:51
Speaker 1: that is the number one biggest difference now. When you
47:54
Speaker 1: see a big hit now, the first thing you think
47:56
Speaker 1: is that's going to be a penalty. And for the
47:59
Speaker 1: majority of time, whether you're talking quarterback or you're talking
48:02
Speaker 1: skill guys down the field, a flag gets thrown. I
48:06
Speaker 1: just don't think it was very often at all flags
48:08
Speaker 1: were ever thrown. I look at Kirk Cousins, who is
48:13
Speaker 1: thriving for a relatively low price, and I ask, why
48:17
Speaker 1: do teams still succumb to the pressure of starting these
48:20
Speaker 1: first-round rookies ASAP? We have several examples of redshirt situations working. Mahomes,
48:27
Speaker 1: Jordan Love, Carson Palmer, and many examples of young quarterbacks
48:31
Speaker 1: getting immediately thrown to the Lions and struggling. What really
48:35
Speaker 1: drives me crazy is when we're told that certain players
48:38
Speaker 1: are projects, yet they barely get time to, quote, develop.
48:42
Speaker 1: We knew that Cam Ward was rough around the edges.
48:45
Speaker 1: Everyone is crapping on him 20 games into his NFL career.
48:48
Speaker 1: He's had three head coaches and a meddling owner already.
48:51
Speaker 1: And he's not Steve McNair. What a shocker. Can we
48:53
Speaker 1: just wait a minute before handing out the bus labels?
48:58
Speaker 1: I get the media pressure to throw them to the Lions,
49:00
Speaker 1: but who cares what they think? I wish the coaches
49:03
Speaker 1: in front offices had the balls to say, quote, he's
49:07
Speaker 1: not starting year one, end of discussion. What do you
49:10
Speaker 1: say about this? Well, it's twofold. The coaches, like J.J.
49:19
Speaker 1: McCarthy didn't get traded to the Giants because the media
49:23
Speaker 1: said he sucked. The team thought he sucked. So Anthony
49:27
Speaker 1: Richardson didn't get benched for Daniel Jones last year because
49:32
Speaker 1: the media didn't think he knew what he was doing.
49:35
Speaker 1: The media does not influence decisions like that with coaches
49:39
Speaker 1: or front offices during camp and during the season. Not
49:44
Speaker 1: with that position. It just doesn't. Because that position is
49:49
Speaker 1: not only judged by those guys, it's judged by the
49:51
Speaker 1: rest of the locker room. Which is also a factor
49:55
Speaker 1: of it's easy to not start Mahomes when you have
49:59
Speaker 1: Alex Smith and your team has been making the playoffs
50:02
Speaker 1: with him at quarterback. It's easy to not start Fernando
50:06
Speaker 1: Mendoza when you have Kirk Cousins, who's been a starter
50:08
Speaker 1: in the league for 10 years and made $ 300 million.
50:11
Speaker 1: You know, the Carson Palmer, John Kitna thing probably wouldn't
50:16
Speaker 1: happen now. But who was Cam Ward's backup last year?
50:21
Speaker 1: Will Levis? Cam Ward was probably the best quarterback they
50:24
Speaker 1: had on the roster. So this gets back to not
50:28
Speaker 1: having a veteran guy around. where it's like, he's the
50:31
Speaker 1: best quarterback, for me to address the team, I have
50:34
Speaker 1: to name him the starter. Because the rest of the team,
50:38
Speaker 1: you can't go with a veteran quarterback when everyone knows
50:43
Speaker 1: the young quarterback's better. Now, when the guy, or it's close,
50:49
Speaker 1: it's easy to justify it. And when the guy is
50:51
Speaker 1: clearly better, no one thinks twice. But you have to
50:54
Speaker 1: do a good enough job of having that guy on
50:57
Speaker 1: the roster, because if like, I don't know why I
51:01
Speaker 1: keep using this name, but Joe Flacco. If the Titans
51:04
Speaker 1: just had Joe Flacco. Could Cam Warda beat him out
51:08
Speaker 1: as a rookie? Probably not. And I also think it's
51:13
Speaker 1: easy to say he's not playing year one end of discussion. Well,
51:17
Speaker 1: what happens? It's one thing when you're 3-0 or Alex
51:21
Speaker 1: Smith and you're going to the playoffs. But what about
51:24
Speaker 1: when you're losing every week? And it's you're 1-7. And yeah,
51:31
Speaker 1: the media and the fans. Like, okay, the fans pay
51:35
Speaker 1: the bills here. So people start getting mad. People start
51:38
Speaker 1: showing up. That impacts the owner. They go, what are
51:41
Speaker 1: we doing? I want to see the guy. There are
51:44
Speaker 1: a lot of variables with this stuff. The Mahomes example
51:49
Speaker 1: is the easiest one to not play him. They were
51:51
Speaker 1: literally good. They hosted a playoff game, which they lost
51:56
Speaker 1: to Mariota and the Titans. Kelsey got a concussion in
51:59
Speaker 1: that game, if I remember correctly. But I don't think
52:04
Speaker 1: it's as easy to do when your team sucks. Or
52:07
Speaker 1: if the guy is legitimately just good. You know, I mean,
52:11
Speaker 1: if the guy is legitimately ready to go, you just
52:14
Speaker 1: play him. And we have seen examples of guys struggle.
52:20
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning was terrible early on. And then by year
52:23
Speaker 1: three or four was elite. CJ Stroud, probably the best
52:29
Speaker 1: year of his career. Jaden Daniels potentially as well. So
52:33
Speaker 1: you just... There's a lot of unknown. And this gets
52:36
Speaker 1: back to the violence of the game. It's never been
52:42
Speaker 1: easier to play quarterback. You're not... They're not going to
52:47
Speaker 1: kill you. In theory. Physically. And you can throw the
52:52
Speaker 1: hospital balls and you'll get a pass interference. Michael... This
52:58
Speaker 1: is from Michael. Wouldn't John Gruden to Tampa be kind
53:02
Speaker 1: of sweet? I know I'm a dumb Raider fan, but
53:04
Speaker 1: he had Carr playing great football, top 10 offenses, and
53:07
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, between the 20s, the ball was moving.
53:11
Speaker 1: He struggled in the red zone because Derek and the
53:13
Speaker 1: O-line is glaring weaknesses personnel, which the GM Jason Light
53:18
Speaker 1: would cover. A thing Gruden is still great. I think
53:23
Speaker 1: Gruden is still a great offensive guru. Would love to
53:26
Speaker 1: see him with Baker and Jason Light running personnel. Gruden's
53:31
Speaker 1: YouTube last week going, or two weeks ago, going to Auburn, Florida, is,
53:37
Speaker 1: he's made, like, the one unique part about John is, like,
53:45
Speaker 1: he's better at this than me. He is just so...
53:49
Speaker 1: secure like selfies with random guys doing things on camera
53:54
Speaker 1: unfazed by it all he if there's a camera around
53:58
Speaker 1: he becomes just his natural self and i've known people
54:02
Speaker 1: that work for him with the raiders they say he's
54:04
Speaker 1: no different cameras off the way he operates the gruden
54:08
Speaker 1: we've always seen on tv coach is the same guy
54:10
Speaker 1: no matter where you go And he clearly loves football.
54:13
Speaker 1: The YouTube video he did going to the Auburn game,
54:18
Speaker 1: he's taking tours of fraternities. He's with the basketball team
54:22
Speaker 1: sizing them up. I mean, it's just entertaining. I do
54:27
Speaker 1: think there's some complication. He's suing the league over the
54:30
Speaker 1: leaks of Dan Snyder that got him fired. But the
54:34
Speaker 1: Buccaneers made him call a preseason game. It definitely is
54:41
Speaker 1: not the... craziest thing to think about. I would say
54:48
Speaker 1: it would be on the table for sure. Wouldn't shock me.
54:55
Speaker 1: You know, depending on what their options are. That John
54:58
Speaker 1: Gruden is the next coach. I wouldn't put it at
55:02
Speaker 1: a high percentage, but... After seeing, you know, he's suing
55:06
Speaker 1: the lead and the Glazers not only let him call
55:09
Speaker 1: a game, he was the play-by-play guy with Rondé Barber.
55:14
Speaker 1: And if you remember, Raider fans do, when he was
55:18
Speaker 1: coming back, it was basically choosing between the Bucs and
55:22
Speaker 1: the Raiders. It would be pretty nuts if his four
55:27
Speaker 1: NFL jobs were the Raiders, traded to the Bucs, he
55:31
Speaker 1: returned to the Raiders, and then he returned to the Bucs.
55:36
Speaker 1: I do think he values, he's making a lot of money,
55:38
Speaker 1: he's having a good time. He lives in Tampa. Be
55:41
Speaker 1: a pretty easy transition. I wouldn't bet on it, but
55:47
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say no chance not happening. He's bad at personnel.
55:54
Speaker 1: And from what I was told, I think he can
55:56
Speaker 1: be really stubborn with that. So if he's just like, hey,
56:00
Speaker 1: I don't pick the players, which I think is easy
56:02
Speaker 1: to say, because then he's like, well, You want me
56:04
Speaker 1: to cook dinner and you won't even let me tell
56:06
Speaker 1: you what to get at the grocery store? That's always
56:08
Speaker 1: the pushback. And it's like, hey, I'll let this guy
56:11
Speaker 1: do it. But he loves Baker Mayfield. That'd be fun.
56:19
Speaker 1: My guess is still Tomlin, but it wouldn't stun me.
56:27
Speaker 1: Long time listener. When a team commits a personal foul
56:29
Speaker 1: like the Bears did on Hertz, and the player is
56:32
Speaker 1: then required to be evaluated for a concussion, shouldn't there
56:36
Speaker 1: be a stoppage that gives the player being evaluated a
56:39
Speaker 1: chance to reenter? It seems like under the current rules,
56:43
Speaker 1: you could potentially be rewarding a cheap shot. Not that
56:46
Speaker 1: I'm saying the Bears hit was necessarily a cheap shot,
56:49
Speaker 1: but you could certainly argue it was. I do not
56:51
Speaker 1: think it was. It was a football play. He got decleted.
56:54
Speaker 1: He's a quarterback. That guy's a linebacker. And if you're
56:56
Speaker 1: going to go shoulder to shoulder trying to get out
56:58
Speaker 1: of bounds, you might not make it all the time.
57:00
Speaker 1: I got no issue with the shot. You throw the penalty, whatever.
57:05
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying. The problem is the league's
57:08
Speaker 1: business model is to play football. And if you stop, one,
57:13
Speaker 1: there's no guarantee that he's coming back into the game.
57:16
Speaker 1: So I guess what you are kind of hinting at
57:22
Speaker 1: is you stop the game until I get clarity. Can
57:24
Speaker 1: he reenter or is he out and I got to
57:26
Speaker 1: go with the backup quarterback? I think Sirianni's going nuts.
57:32
Speaker 1: It's like, bro, you could have manipulated the situation a
57:35
Speaker 1: little bit. Blow a timeout. Just slow everything down. Now,
57:41
Speaker 1: I don't know what the exact time was once they
57:44
Speaker 1: yank him off to when Jalen was ready to come
57:46
Speaker 1: back because he threw the interception. And it didn't feel
57:49
Speaker 1: like even when he threw the interception, Jalen was ready
57:51
Speaker 1: to come in or they would have ran him back in.
57:54
Speaker 1: They're just not going to stop the game for five
57:56
Speaker 1: to ten minutes while the consumer's sitting there and they're
57:58
Speaker 1: just standing on this island. It's just not going to happen.
58:01
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying, and there's definitely a competitive advantage.
58:05
Speaker 1: If you're a defender and you do that and you
58:08
Speaker 1: just get a 15-yard flag and the backup comes in
58:11
Speaker 1: and then the outcome is the backup throwing a pick,
58:14
Speaker 1: but the league is not going to just halt the game.
58:19
Speaker 1: Which sucks. It's where I would defend the Eagles last night.
58:23
Speaker 1: That was a pretty big blow. They were kind of
58:24
Speaker 1: humming right there. Now you could also come back and say, well,
58:30
Speaker 1: they cut it pretty close on the touchdown before half.
58:35
Speaker 1: You often say the defense is about the Jimmys and
58:37
Speaker 1: the Joes. And I tend to agree. But is Brian
58:41
Speaker 1: Flores the exception? You go guy for guy in the
58:45
Speaker 1: Vikings defense and they're average at best. I can't remember
58:47
Speaker 1: the last time I've seen a defense this good while
58:50
Speaker 1: lacking any real top elite talent. Do you think he
58:53
Speaker 1: gets a head coaching job next cycle? I know a
58:56
Speaker 1: lot of fans in Green Bay would be happy to
58:58
Speaker 1: see him replace LaFleur. Maybe Minnesota keeps Flores over KOC.
59:04
Speaker 1: He's had one of the great three-game stretches you'll ever
59:06
Speaker 1: go see. That second half against Green Bay, what he
59:10
Speaker 1: did to the Bears in the rain, and then what
59:12
Speaker 1: he did to Baker the other day. I mean, Sam Darnold,
59:15
Speaker 1: I'm seeing ghosts. Baker was 100% seeing ghosts. Because guys
59:19
Speaker 1: were coming from everywhere. His offensive line couldn't block it.
59:23
Speaker 1: He was all out of sorts. That game was atrocious
59:28
Speaker 1: to watch, but also awesome to watch because of just
59:32
Speaker 1: the pressure Minnesota was putting on them. And the speed
59:36
Speaker 1: in which those guys land their blitzes. Like, you know,
59:40
Speaker 1: a lot of times you blitz from back where the
59:43
Speaker 1: linebacker's standing or like a safety or corner kind of
59:46
Speaker 1: creeping up. Their guys, ball snap, they're on the line,
59:49
Speaker 1: they're all going. And you don't know where it's coming from.
59:52
Speaker 1: So I think it just gets back to... I'll never
59:56
Speaker 1: forget an assistant coach told me years ago. I'm like,
59:59
Speaker 1: what's Flores' deal? And he's like, bro, the relationship he
1:00:04
Speaker 1: had with the offensive staff and the quarterback room, it
1:00:10
Speaker 1: was not great. The way he treated that kind of unit.
1:00:14
Speaker 1: When that unit is where your bread's buttered. Right? As
1:00:18
Speaker 1: a head coach. So as a defensive coordinator, all he
1:00:21
Speaker 1: has to worry about is defense. But when he's the
1:00:22
Speaker 1: head coach... His offensive coordinator and quarterback, clearly he hated Tua, which,
1:00:30
Speaker 1: you know, clearly Tua was never going to be what
1:00:33
Speaker 1: they hoped he would be at number five. But before
1:00:35
Speaker 1: the concussions, like Tua was a capable NFL player. And
1:00:39
Speaker 1: I think you got, if you tell me you can't
1:00:43
Speaker 1: treat or function with the quarterback position very well in 2026,
1:00:46
Speaker 1: I can't make you my head coach, no matter if
1:00:49
Speaker 1: you're the best defensive coordinator going. I think that's a
1:00:52
Speaker 1: knock on Fangio. It's like their mentality, their gruffness, their intensity.
1:00:58
Speaker 1: It's not very quarterback friendly. When you watch hard knocks
1:01:01
Speaker 1: with Mike, he's kind of got a lighter demeanor. You
1:01:08
Speaker 1: watch fans, you're like, God, how miserable are you, Vic?
1:01:12
Speaker 1: And I think Flores can be a little bit like
1:01:14
Speaker 1: that too. So that to me is the only question.
1:01:17
Speaker 1: In terms of understanding defensive football, he's elite. Elite. Elite.
1:01:23
Speaker 1: But to make you my head coach, like, well, what
1:01:25
Speaker 1: are you going to do with an offensive coordinator and
1:01:27
Speaker 1: my quarterback? And can you get along with them? Because
1:01:30
Speaker 1: if you can't, we just, we can't do this. And
1:01:35
Speaker 1: I think it's hard for the defensive mentality. The offensive
1:01:38
Speaker 1: mentality is different. They're not looking to kill you physically.
1:01:43
Speaker 1: Looking to run a sweet route, gain seven yards. Get
1:01:47
Speaker 1: a little leverage here. Run a fake route and get
1:01:49
Speaker 1: an easy little wheel route here for first down. Then
1:01:53
Speaker 1: do some high fives. It's a good question, though. I mean,
1:01:58
Speaker 1: two things can be true. And I don't know. I mean,
1:02:02
Speaker 1: I think eventually he'll get a second chance. This probably
1:02:06
Speaker 1: happens more with defensive coordinators than offensive coordinators. Like, how
1:02:09
Speaker 1: many guys are all-time great offensive coordinators but just suck
1:02:13
Speaker 1: at head coaching? I mean, I would have said Josh,
1:02:18
Speaker 1: but this year it ain't going well. It's pretty rare.
1:02:21
Speaker 1: It feels like most of the best offensive coordinators are
1:02:24
Speaker 1: pretty good head coaches. Even on the floor, we can nitpick.
1:02:26
Speaker 1: I'm like, he's had a pretty good career. Pretty good career.
1:02:32
Speaker 1: Defensive guys, though, it's hard to balance because a lot
1:02:36
Speaker 1: of them are curmudgeons. Just look at the last 10,
1:02:39
Speaker 1: 15 years. Like Mike Zimmer. You think Mike Zimmer's an
1:02:45
Speaker 1: enjoyable guy to be around every day? Does that look
1:02:48
Speaker 1: like a fun guy? Like, do I want to come
1:02:51
Speaker 1: to work and hang out with Mike Zimmer? I'm like,
1:02:54
Speaker 1: fuck no. Jesus. You know? No chance. Fangio, like, is
1:03:01
Speaker 1: he the most enjoyable human being to be around 24-7, 365?
1:03:05
Speaker 1: Probably not. Maybe floor is a little bit different, but
1:03:12
Speaker 1: I think the defensive thing, like, guys can be great
1:03:14
Speaker 1: defensive coordinators. And their personality. I think Spaggs, people really
1:03:19
Speaker 1: like him. He's very likable. You know? Quarterbacks like him
1:03:24
Speaker 1: on the team. Everyone likes him. That's a quality that
1:03:28
Speaker 1: you have to have as a head coach in this
1:03:30
Speaker 1: modern day football. It's very, very important. And that's a huge,
1:03:35
Speaker 1: huge knock on Flores in his time in Miami. Now,
1:03:40
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels pulled this. He's like, I started journaling. I
1:03:45
Speaker 1: know my flaws and I've worked on them. I've looked
1:03:48
Speaker 1: at myself in the mirror. I'm a different guy. And
1:03:51
Speaker 1: the Raiders were like, you are? Six years, $ 60 million.
1:03:56
Speaker 1: Josh is like, I'm the head coach of the Raiders.
1:04:02
Speaker 1: And by like the end of year one, people were like,
1:04:04
Speaker 1: what is going on here? He didn't even finish year two.
1:04:08
Speaker 1: I think he's the only guy in league history who,
1:04:11
Speaker 1: to have two head coaching jobs and not make it
1:04:14
Speaker 1: through year two both times. Think how much management has
1:04:21
Speaker 1: to hate you for that to happen twice. Guys get
1:04:26
Speaker 1: second chances, they're not good enough. Robert's solid. Maybe he's
1:04:29
Speaker 1: just not meant to be a head coach. Maybe he's
1:04:31
Speaker 1: just not a head coach. But it does feel like
1:04:35
Speaker 1: people like him. Dan Quinn. Maybe Dan Quinn is just
1:04:38
Speaker 1: not a head coach. Seems like a likable guy. If
1:04:44
Speaker 1: you're not going to be a head coach and not
1:04:46
Speaker 1: good enough and you're like a dick, it's tough. I
1:04:50
Speaker 1: think it's really hard. Not every day is kumbaya, rainbows, butterflies,
1:04:56
Speaker 1: and just having a party. It's football. It's intense. But
1:05:02
Speaker 1: there has to be some. Guys are kind of excited
1:05:04
Speaker 1: to come every once in a while to work. We'll
1:05:06
Speaker 1: end on that one. Have a great day. Adios. Talk
1:05:09
Speaker 1: to you soon. The Volume.