Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / INSTANT REACTION: Jordan Love & Packers DEFEAT Bryce Young & Panthers on TNF, NFL Week 8 Predictions,Titans & Bears BLOCKBUSTER Trade + NFL Week 8 Mailbag

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INSTANT REACTION: Jordan Love & Packers DEFEAT Bryce Young & Panthers on TNF, NFL Week 8 Predictions,Titans & Bears BLOCKBUSTER Trade + NFL Week 8 Mailbag · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: we doing? John Middlecoff, Three and Out Podcast. Happy Halloween.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Happy Fugazi Friday. Happy, if you're a Green Bay Packer fan,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: nice win. Dominated that game. We will dive into it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: We will also dive into, there was a huge trade today.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Kind of capped off the week. We had Buckner, Nelson,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and then Jeffrey Simmons. Went for multiple first-round picks, so
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: we will dive into that. We'll dive into the Sunday slate,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: four boxes. We will do a couple mailbag questions, maybe
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a fugazi, and maybe a couple fugazis. And that'll be
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the old podcast. So you guys know the drill. If
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: you listen on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe to 3NOW.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: We're up on Netflix. You can hit the alert button,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: never miss a show. Also, put content on YouTube. Go
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: check it out. And let's just dive into the Green
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Bay Packers. At one point in time in the second half,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: they were in cruise control at 27-10. Dominate this game.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: And listen, I was guilty like everyone else. A lot
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of respect for the Packers and LeFleur. They've had two
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Thursday night games. It's not even Halloween. The NFL schedule,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that's pretty insane. I get it. Some of these teams
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: are traveling, these international games. Everyone's schedule when you're a
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: marquee brand and a big team, you're going to get
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: some bad draws. Seattle had to play the Niners four
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: days later. They had a Thursday night game on the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: road in Denver. Obviously, the Niners and the Rams start
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in Australia. But two Thursday night games, one week three
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and one week eight, that's pretty nuts. And everybody and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: their mother. And listen, Green Bay, I've seen them play live.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And Philly and Oakland and San Francisco, their fan base
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: is enormous. They might be a tiny little market. They
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: are a major American sports brand. And their fan base
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: is huge. And they were not happy after getting destroyed
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: by Atlanta. And I was like, I don't know, man.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I've always defended LaFleur. I think he's solid. I'm not
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: acting like he's Bill Walsh or Andy Reid here, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: he's done a pretty good job. But it was like,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: if this is the way this thing's going to go,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: you're in some trouble. They have righted the ship. They're
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: not only 5-3 now and dominated this game. It does
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: feel like Micah Parsons is coming right around the corner.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: So I will say this about Matt LaFleur. Two things
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: that are really, really important. He's an offensive guy and
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: an offensive coordinator, and his quarterback looks like a star.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Jordan Love, beside a couple passes, it does feel like
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Jordan can get on cruise control a little bit and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: no one throws more YOLO deep balls than Jordan. Now, granted,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: he's hitting a lot of them. And God, he loves
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: himself some Matthew Golden, which your boy somehow sat on
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: his fantasy team tonight because I thought he was not
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: going to play and then I wasn't really paying attention.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Then he plays, starts dropping the ball. I'm like, I'm
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: glad I didn't. One thing Jordan Love will force feed
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: that man the ball. 13 targets, 7 catches. And he
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't care, which is smart. It's the way to build
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: this guy up because they need him. Because Christian Watson,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: does anything sum up the NFL more than Christian Watson
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: is a star? I mean, this guy, a lot of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: people question, like, you're going to give that guy that contract?
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Has been worth every penny. You talk about a dynamic player,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: perfect for Jordan, who wants to just fling that thing
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: 50 yards down the field. Even on the play that
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: he got injured, turns out maybe he wasn't injured, but
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: everything was okay. Beautiful ball, beautiful catch. Watson's a stud.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Big third down play late in the game to essentially
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ice it. But he's a quarterback guy, and his quarterback
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: looks like a stud. And I think now we have
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: several years removed when they made the move from Aaron Rodgers.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Little rocky, but there is no disputing him pretty well
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: established in 2026 as one of the best quarterbacks in
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the NFC. Is he perfect? No. Is he going to
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: turn over the ball? Yes. Is he going to throw
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: some interceptions? He's going to have double digits this year
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: for sure. I think tonight was his sixth. But here's
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: what I know. He's going to throw me a boatload
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of touchdowns. And he had the one over the middle.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Was it to Tucker Kraft? It was like a Josh
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Allen Mahomes BB dart. Obviously, he can have the beautiful
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: deep balls down the field. His understanding of the offense
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: at this point in time, the relationship he has with
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: his play caller... is just on point. And again, another night,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: 66 total rushing yards. Despite getting Josh Jacobs back, who
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: got a red flag, if you get arrested for domestic violence,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and then when you return, you essentially admit it with
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: your coach that something happened, as you sue so the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: video can't get out, and it just kind of goes away.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And football fans now are pretty accustomed to just being
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: numb to it, whatever, just move on. To do a
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: handcuff celebration? Tough look. But they still can't run the ball.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: 21 carries, didn't even have 40 yards. He has nowhere
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to go. They're not a good pass blocking, or excuse me,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: run blocking offensive line. But I did see some metrics
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the last three weeks. They have done a much better
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: job with Jordan Love protecting him. He was not sacked
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: one time. Now the Panthers aren't exactly... You know, the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: 85 bears in terms of pressure. But the play calling
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: with Jordan Love from LeFleur, that was impressive tonight. On
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: a short week, they sliced and diced him. And the
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: other thing, Matt LeFleur had never worked with Jonathan Gannon.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: It's not like they were previous friends from a stop
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: 10 years ago. Oh, they crossed paths when they were
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: with the Redskins in Shanahan. Or they were GAs together
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: back in the day like LeFleur was with Robert Sala.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: They've had this long-standing bond. Happens a lot in the NFL.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: How'd you know to hire this guy? Well, once upon
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a time, we worked together at Western Carolina. We were
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: both 23 years old and we shared a desk. Or
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: we were both quality control guys for the Jags back
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: in 2012. No, they've never worked together. And he lost Halfley,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: who had been one of the better defensive coordinators the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: last couple years. It's hard to replace defensive coordinators. And
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: for as much crap as he took early in his tenure,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: with some of the guys he hired to run his defense,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: for a while it was Joe Barry, his buddy. He
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: has hit it out of the park with Halfley. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon tonight, to me, for as good a love was...
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I thought Gannon was the star of the game. That
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: looked like a Flores, Todd Bowles in his prime performance.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: He had so many guys standing at the line of scrimmage.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Bryce in that offensive line had no freaking clue what
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: was going on. They had no clue which way it
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: was coming. They didn't know where the pressure was. You know,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: A gap, B gap, C gap, multiple blitzers, no blitzers,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: guys dropping back. You talk about flummoxing a quarterback, making
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: him look... He made Bryce Young look like a practice
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: squad player tonight. He made Dave Canales look like a coach.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: David Tepper should think about firing. That was belt to ass.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon was remarkable. And he's been pretty good most
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: of the season, but tonight... If he can keep that
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: up with Parsons coming back, I mean, if they can generate,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and I get it, the Panthers offensive line, you got
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: like a couple third stringers in there. The left tackle's
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: getting spun like a dreidel. Bryce Young, you hit him early,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: he just kind of Crumbles, gets the happy feet. He's
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: not very athletic, so it's not like he can make
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: plays out of nowhere like a Lamar or a Josh.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: He's a small pocket quarterback. That's what he is. I
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: think it throws people off because you're like, oh, run around. Well,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: he's not a run around player. This is a guy
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: that wants to play in the pocket. He wants to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: play just like Jordan Love. Sit in the pocket and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: make throws. Problem is he's 5'9, 5'10, can't see anything.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: So if you get pressure in his face, as Jonathan
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Gannon was doing all night long, I'm looking on the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: box score, it says six sacks. If you told me
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: don't look at the box score, how many times was
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Bryce Young sacked? I would have said 11. It felt
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: like every other play. And when he wasn't sacked, there
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: were guys all over him, which forced him to skip
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the ball, which forced him to throw balls into no
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: man's land. That was a clinic. I'm recording this right
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: after the game, so usually a lot of these teams
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: post the The post-game locker room with the coach. I
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: kind of edited it down a little bit to cut
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: out some of the swear words. Usually a couple game balls.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: It's always fun. I enjoy that content. If he doesn't
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: give a ball to Jonathan Gannon, I might have to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: take back all the kind things I said about LaFleur
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and kind of his muscle flex of doing a really
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: good job. Because you get credit. We don't give it enough.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: But for making that hire. And that hire has been...
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I would say, I mean, based on tonight and some
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: other games, been really, really good. Really, really good. I mean,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you even go back to that Vikings game where they
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: were up 22-10 and it kind of unraveled. That was
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: not on Jonathan Gannon. That was on Love and LaFleur.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: So I think Jonathan Gannon, if you're a Packer fan,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you're going, hey, is there any sort of move? There's
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a reason they were in on Quinn Nelson. that we
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: can make to just improve our offensive line incrementally. Like
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: we're not going to go from what we're seeing running
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the ball to all of a sudden being a top
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: three or four rushing team. Can we just improve? and
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: get Micah back? Cause I, if Micah Parsons would have
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: played tonight, there's a chance that when the ambulance dropped
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Christian Watson back off, like WWE style, Bryce would have
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: been headed there. They would have killed him. So props
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to the Packers five and three. Now, um, Two Thursday
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: night games. Still pretty crazy. Schedule's not easy, though. Long week,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: but at Patriots. Then they play the Vikings again, which
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: is going to be massive at home. At the Rams.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: At the Saints. Bills. Still got a game against the Bears.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Got a game against the Lions. I would say, worst case,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: they're nine wins. Best case, 11-ish. It's hard to see
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: them winning the division if they can't run the ball,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: but that was impressive. I think you've got to give
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a hat tip if you're a Packer fan of the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: coaching staff. That was really good. And on the flip side,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Dave Canales, you know, the issue, and we said this
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: last week with Trinidad against Texas, when little quarterbacks struggle
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and get hit, they look really, really bad. They look
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: like they're getting engulfed. There was a stretch for a
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: couple quarters in this game that If I didn't do
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: this for a living, I probably would have... I don't
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: know if I'd turn the game off because I love football,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: but I probably would have started screwing around doing some
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: other stuff and not taking notes. The Panthers' offense these
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: last two weeks is pretty rough. And by no means
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: do I act like some schematic genius. That is not
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: my thing. But when you watch Jordan Love and them
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: play offense, they get them in the shotgun and they
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: run an NFL... I would say spread type offense when
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: they spread it out with their wide receivers and they
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: let Jordan Love, couple steps, pick where you want to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: let it rip. Bryce Young, every play, they are pressuring him.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: It felt like at rapid rates and they're running like RPOs.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: They're running play action. You're down like multiple scores and
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you can't block anybody. What are you doing? And then
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: he pulled the ball back and all of a sudden
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: two guys would be in his face. How about just
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: run a normal shotgun, spread it out, you have good
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: wide receivers, hopefully give him some throwing lanes so he
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: can see, and play it that way. But it felt
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: like Canales never changed. As Bryce got hit a lot
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: like last week, it just unravels. He can't, it just
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: feels like it's, they're just smothering him and it's enclosed
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and there's nowhere for him to go and he can't
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: run away and then he can't get any zip on
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the ball. And this is, this is why physical skills,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: like you don't need to be Josh Allen to be
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: a great player. But physical skills matter, right? Because when
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: times get tough against the best teams and you're not
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: able to set your feet, because I thought early on
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: in the season, like God, his arm looks stronger. Well, yeah,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: when he can step and set his feet, he can
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: deliver a strike. But if he can't, as you saw tonight,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: he gets no zip on the ball. I mean, he
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: could barely get the ball to within a couple-yard radius
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of some of the wide receivers. Even one of the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: biggest plays of the game, when they went fourth down
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: midfield late in the game, where they were down eight points,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: He was off platform and the ball bounced to his
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: wide receiver. You know, because he doesn't have the natural
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: arm strength to throw off one foot to kind of
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: just be an elite NFL player. Because he doesn't have
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: those skills. And you saw tonight with the two players
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: coming back on and off the field. Jordan Love, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: it went Favre, Rodgers, Jordan Love. I like Jordan Love.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Really good player. He's not those guys. But he's pretty
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: freaking good. And most Packer fans, I would say, feel
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: pretty confident. Like, hey, we got a quarterback on a
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: big contract and he's really good. We feel good about it.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: It's hard to watch him play and then Bryce Young
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: play and go, yeah, we should give him a massive contract.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: It's these last couple weeks. And it's not all his fault.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: The play caller matters. When you can't block, it's going
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: to make it look worse. But he does not have
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the skills to overcome that and create. And to me,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: part of paying a guy a lot of money, there
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: has to be some creation there. Jared Goff is the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: last of a dying breed. That player does not exist
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: anywhere in college football. I'm not going to say never,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: but I mean, I watch football all day Saturdays for
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the last eight, nine weeks. I don't see any guy
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: that just can't move, sits in the pocket. And that's
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: what Bryce is. He just happens to be five, nine
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and a half, five, 10. And it doesn't really work
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: when it's like, hey man, you got to bail us out.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Can't against a good team, against an elite defensive coordinator. Hell,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: the best player on their team is on the sidelines
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: in sweats. Can't even rush you. That was a rough watch.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: And no one would argue, like, McMillan, he'd start for
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: every team in the league. Coker, I mean, I've been
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: blown away watching that guy this year. Chuba Hubbard, guy's
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: a stud. I'd take Hubbard on my team any day
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of the week. But the quarterback, every time that I won,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I'm like, God, I'm starting to like him again. You
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: watch the last four days, you're like, oh, contract, I
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: don't know. It leaves you a little something to be desired.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: And it sucks because I, listen, Awesome dude. Tough as shit.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Just physical limitations. And physical limitations shows up in moments
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: like this. And it was on full display tonight. And
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I put it all on him. I thought Canales looked
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: like a deer in the headlights. What the fuck was
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: going on there? You've been coaching offense for 20 years.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: These are the plays you're running? Give him some sort
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: of easy, complete... Do something. They felt like they kept
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: doing the same thing over and over. And Gannon's like, uh...
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Another Flores-type play. And it was just crushing him. Embarrassing.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Really was. I mean, the South... Al Michaels, pretty bad.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: There was a play where Golden... I think he thought
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Golden caught it. And it was... I don't know the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: angle he's at from the press box. I mean, he
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: should be looking at the monitor too. He had no clue.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: He thought he caught it, went silent for like five seconds.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: They were like all jogging back to the huddle. He's like, incompletion.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And I hate beating up on Al. My mom's almost 80. Listen,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: you put anyone at that age in that position, it'd
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: be terrible. It's probably on Amazon Prime. You shouldn't be
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: rolling out Al Michaels. That's rough. But what might be
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: rougher is the NFC. Eight and nine, you're going to
• 16:54
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• 17:03
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• 17:17
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• 18:01
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• 18:05
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• 18:11
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• 18:16
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• 18:22
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• 18:26
  Speaker 1: an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: did want to start. Jeffrey Simmons traded the Chicago Bears
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: for multiple first-round picks, which is just a massive transaction
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: whenever that goes through. It's not that often, but the
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Bears have done something very similar when they traded for
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Khalil Mack. Obviously, they are equipped in 2026 with Caleb Williams.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Back then, they had Mitch Trubisky. Different times. And, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Khalil Mack was going into a second contract. Simmons is
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: currently on his third contract. But I had a big
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: picture thought on just this week. And it does feel
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: a little bit like some of these teams in the
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: league are the minor leagues and the teams in the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: big leagues are taking advantage of them. You know, I
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: was around the Oakland A's in the peak of Billy Bean.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: It was like his third iteration of the group, well
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: after the movie had come out. And it wasn't his fault.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: But they could not compete year in, year out in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: terms of extending players like the Yankees, like the Giants.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: like the Dodgers, like all the big market teams because
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: they didn't have the money. Their franchise didn't generate any
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: revenue and their owner wasn't going to come out of pocket.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: So every couple of years they would trade all their
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: sweet players. The Tampa Bay Rays spent less than $ 100
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: million on their payroll this year. They were just in
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the World Series. And Billy Beane's teams were always going
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to the playoffs for like 20 years. They could never
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: go on a Tampa-like run, but they were extremely successful.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: But it was understandable because they did not have the
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: financial means of the Yankees, the Red Sox, all those
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: type teams, right? And I think the NFL is in
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: a different financial stratosphere because the Titans, the Colts, whether
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: their owners are as rich as the Haslams or Paul
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Allen forever before he died, you just go around the league. Obviously,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: there are different levels of personal wealth, but in terms
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of money to run your franchise, to acquire players, to
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: extend players, it's never an issue. When you look at
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: all the guys that got traded this year, or excuse me,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: this week, Nelson, Buckner, and Jeffrey Simmons today, it wasn't
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: because the teams couldn't afford to keep them. It was
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: because they were a disaster. Because honestly, they're both kind
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: of a joke. And it kind of made me think
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: of when I was a kid, we didn't have cable
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: in my house. We had like six channels, right? ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and like PBS or whatever channel six was. And then
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: like this local television show. I remember on Sunday, my
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: dad was a big outdoorsman and he loved this show
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: called Nature. And it was just about animals. And the
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: best episodes, I'd watch it with them. This is probably early, mid-90s,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: is when they just did the big predators, right? They'd
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: follow a pack alliance. And I was thinking, you know,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: today with the Bears, the 49ers in Seattle, all just stealing. Obviously,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the Bears had to pay for it. but some of
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the best players in the league, right? And like the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Lions don't hunt other Lions. The Lions don't hunt the
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: crocodiles in the river. They hunt the zebras, the gazelles,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the warthogs, the things that in theory are easy to
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: kill and cannot kill them. And that's what this week
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: felt like a little bit. Seattle, John Schneider, Mike McDonald.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: The 49ers, Kyle and John. And then today, Ryan Poles,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: who now has a superstar head coach in Ben Johnson,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: taking advantage of the Warthogs and the Zebras. I mean,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the franchises that have no shot. You circle them like
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: they're your prey, and then you take them out. And
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: this deal is obviously a lot different than the other
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: two deals because Quentin Nelson and DeForest Buckner are free agents.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Simmons is under contract till 2031. And next year,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I think it's $ 27 million. The following year, it's like
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: $ 29 million. This is the type of player who they
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: literally just extended. The Bears don't have to give a
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: $ 20 million signing bonus to Jeffrey Simmons for this new
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: contract because the Titans did it. They already paid a
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: large portion of that salary this year. And sometimes in life,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you got to put your chips in the middle of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the table. And when you have a high-end coach in football,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: in professional football, you could argue in college now with
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the transfer portal at NIL, you should not hesitate. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: when you have a quarterback on a rookie deal, that
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: should even accelerate your risk profile. to go from conservative
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: to what will it take? Because Quentin Nelson and DeForest
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Buckner were there to be had, right? Free agents, veteran players.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Quentin Nelson's going to need an enormous contract this offseason. Buckner,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: if he keeps playing like he is right now, will
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: get a shorter-term deal, but the price for Buckner's services,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: even if it's a two-year contract, probably talking like $ 50 million.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I think what made this deal really unique is, well,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: what about the first round picks? Because anytime you see
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: two first round picks, you go, whoa. That's part of
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: having the star head coach and the young quarterback on
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the roster whose ceiling is clearly as high as the sky. Yeah,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: we'll figure it out. Think about the 49ers. They traded
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: DeForest Buckner once upon a time. Then they also traded
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: for Trey Lance and got rid of two other first
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: round picks. If you wanted to count Trey Lance as
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: one of those, a total of three. So with Buckner,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: with Trey Lance, you're talking almost four first round picks
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: if you count Javon Kinlaw giving them next to nothing.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And guess what happened? Didn't matter. They went to NFC
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Championship games. They went to a Super Bowl. And this
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: year they look poised to make another Super Bowl type run. Why?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Because they got Kyle Shanahan. And when you have a
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: star head coach and a nucleus of good players, you'll
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: figure it out. You know the type guy that can't
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: overcome losing first round picks? Would be a coach like
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni, who has benefited from a cupboard being full
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: of high end talent. He wouldn't have been dynamic enough
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to figure it out on the fly. Why? Because he's
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: not a dynamic enough coach. Is there a big risk
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: involved with this? Of course. There isn't any transaction. Especially
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: one where you're giving up premium assets. But I'd also
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: argue that the drafts now are so hit or miss
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: year to year because you never know who's coming out.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Before the NIL transfer portal, you had a pretty good idea. Okay,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: this is going to be the crop of guys. Underclassmen,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: you know, fourth year guys that have an extra year
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: but are just ready to go. And you could stack
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: it pretty well. Nowadays, you have no clue. Hell, Dante Moore,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: who just got KO'd for the season. Would it be
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: that stunning if you're like, yeah, he returned. Oregon gave
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: him six and a half million dollars and he wanted
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to make sure his stock was high. Not saying that's
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: going to happen, but it's definitely on the table. Where
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: years before, he never would have gone back to college
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in the first place, let alone it even being a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: conversation that, yeah, I could see him coming back for
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: a big check. It happens all the time. Drew Bestemaker
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: could be the number one overall pick. Or he could
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: just stay in college, as Bud Elliott said, could be
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the first $ 10 million quarterback. Kamario Taylor got surgery on
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: his turf toe. And most people assume that he is
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: going to leave Mississippi State for greener pastures, despite him
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: being from there and idolizing that program, money talk, shit walks.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: What do you think his price point is going to
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: be on the open market? He's not draft eligible. But
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: my point is, is the landscape of the draft has
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: changed dramatically. And when you have a star coach and
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: you know, for the most part, unless disaster strikes, which
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: it could at any moment, you're going to be drafting
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: in the 20s. Worst case scenario for the Bears, you
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: don't win the division, you lose in the first round,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that picks 23. Best case for the Bears, you make
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: a run to the conference championship, the Super Bowl, you're
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: talking somewhere 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. Well, we just
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: saw Sean Payton's like, yeah, no one near good enough
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: in the draft. So we'll give our late 20s pick
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: and we will acquire Jalen Waddell. So when I looked
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: at the Bears making this move this morning, I was like, okay,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: they were clearly the driving force on this. This was
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: not a player like Buckner or Nelson that we had
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a flashing light sign for sale. This is someone that
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: you're going to have to take from them, make them
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: an offer. As Vito Corleone said, make an offer they
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: can't refuse. And this is the type of offer that
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: they couldn't refuse. And really, I hear a lot of people,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: all their chips are in the middle of the table
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: for this year. I would disagree with that. I think
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: it's the next couple years. Because he's under contract. Caleb's
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: continuing to get better. If you lost in the second
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: round or got your ass kicked in the conference championship game, one,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: that is an incredible season based on what the Bears
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: were previously. But two, you still have that guy on
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: your roster. So part of the power of making this
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: trade is you have a guy... on a cost control contract,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: who's coming off an all-pro season in 25, who, if
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: he stays healthy, is a lock to be an all-pro again, who,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: by all the film gurus and my buddies in the league,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: best defensive tackle in the league, who's 29 years old,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: it's proven, a lot like Quentin Nelson, that we've seen
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: some offensive linemen play really well into their 30s. We've
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: seen some interior defensive linemen who take football seriously, who
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: stay in shape, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, guys have success 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: So you feel pretty good about that. And he's a
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: durable player. And then obviously he fits a massive, massive
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: need for them. A pass rusher on the line of scrimmage,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: which is clearly a pretty big hole for them. They
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: generate pressure because Dennis Allen has to blitz a lot.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: And the other thing, when you add a guy like this,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: it takes a little pressure off everybody else. So when
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: you add a great player, it can make average players
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: go to above average because no one's even thinking about
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: them in terms of the game plan. But to me,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: this is, it's a bold play in the sense that
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: anytime you give up multiple first round picks, it's aggressive.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: But I think given the current state of the franchise,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: given where they're going to be the next couple years,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: given how many guys they have on their team who
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: are ascending players, young players that are also under contract,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: this is not a roster that's going to dramatically turn
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: over next season. Yeah. And you got the coach that
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: if he was a free agent, 28 teams in the
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: league would do anything to sign. And a lot of
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: those teams have coaches they would fire him yesterday. So
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: this is the power of Ben Johnson. And this is
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the power of Caleb Williams. Because we've seen them make
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: this move for a guy younger and equally as dominant. Honestly,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Khalil was better when they acquired him, right? But they
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: didn't have a quarterback. And Nagy, who looks like he's
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: a pretty damn good coach to me this year, I
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: think he'd be the first to say, I wasn't nearly
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: as good then. He's not as good as Ben Johnson
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: is now. Yeah, let's take the risk. Let's make the move.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: And I think now we have the NFC is pretty
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: wide open, right, between a handful of teams who are
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: all extremely well run. And the key is, obviously, quarterbacks
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: who are really good. I mean, Purdy's been an MVP candidate. Caleb,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: when he's been on the field, has been incredibly special
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: and taken a jump. His completion percentage, which was a
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: major question mark, has become a strength this year. And
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: when Menungai comes back, their running game is elites. The
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: question on the defense. And the easiest way to make
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: a secondary look better is to brush the passer. But
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: this is, you pull this trigger when you got Ben Johnson.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: And you take advantage of a team that's, let's face it,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: it's kind of a joke. And the Tennessee Titans, who
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: make this trade, I also think this signals, like, let's
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: face it, they made a draft pick a couple years
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: ago and it's been a complete disaster. Like, you wouldn't
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: make this move if you believed in the quarterback. But
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: in what world could you believe in the quarterback, given
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: how he's played, how the team looks, and just the
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: overall trajectory of the franchise? And, you know, you get
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: these extra picks, which probably be somewhere in the mid
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: to late 20s. You know, best case scenario for Bears
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: in the 30s. But I also think this signals like
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: this franchise is down bad. I mean, really bad. and
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: they are heading into a new stadium next year, probably
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: feels like some of their lowest moments that you can
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: ever remember. That they're going to go in there. I'm
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: sure they're going to have a new quarterback. I would
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: imagine if the owner lets this kind of operation make
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: this trade. Because think about this. They're what? One and six.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: They are god-awful. They look best-case scenario win four games.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, most NFL teams, if they just have a heartbeat,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: can win two with their eyes closed. But if I
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: was Ben Mann right now, I'd say three wins. I'd
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: say three wins. So you're going to win three wins
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: with one of the best players in the league that
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: it doesn't even matter. So you might as well take
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: advantage of his value. Because if he were to get
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: hurt and if you would think about doing it this offseason,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: it would be too late if there was an injury,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: which is always possible in the NFL. But I think
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: this is a pretty big reflection of this franchise, where
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: they're at. And I give Poles and the Bears credit.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Because well-run operations, you can offer them. I gave the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: example of the real estate agent that hit me up
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: about my house. I don't want to move. If I
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: did want to move, I would be responding with much
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: more realistic offers. But I gave him a number like
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: 3x my house's value. Hell, it might be 4 given
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the interest rates right now. And he's like, yeah, good
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: luck to you. I'm like, yeah, good luck to you too.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Because I didn't want to move. You could make an
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: offer to a lot of people in different businesses, for
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: their homes, for anything. And if they don't want to
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: sell it, they're just like, no, I want what I have.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: And this gets back to Jerry Jones' line, you can
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: say what you want about him. This is something I'll
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: never forget. Because he said, and listen, his franchise, we
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: can make fun of them all day long, and they
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: deserve a lot of it. But in terms of a businessman,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: he's pretty impressive. And he said, I've never gone wrong
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: paying a premium for a premium. And I think this
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: goes for anything in life. How many times have you
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: tried to go cheap on something? It could be a couch.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: It could be a car. It could be a pair
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: of shoes. It could be a house. It could be
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: renting a place. And you're like, God, I regret that.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: That's a mistake. And listen, just because you pay a
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: premium doesn't guarantee anything. But I think when you're talking
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: about a blue chip defensive lineman, you feel pretty good
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: about it. They paid a premium, but they're getting a premium.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: And it should help the Bears dramatically. Before we dive
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: into some of the weekend's games, it's Fugazi Friday. A
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: couple things jump out to me. Halloween's here. Obviously, Halloween
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: for me, it's never been a big holiday for me.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Now having a baby, not that he can really participate
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: probably for a couple years, it's going to become a
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: big holiday there for a little stretch. Those of you
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: with little kids, it's like their Super Bowl, rightfully so.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: I remember being young, the candy, it was incredible. I
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: do think candy's diminished. A little bit. My wife just
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: brought home a couple bags. You know, that Milky Way.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: I feel like that chocolate's not quite as good. Maybe
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: they're going a little cheaper on the ingredients. But trying
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: to get a baby to wear a Halloween costume. And
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I think about this for dogs, too. It's really for
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the parents to try to show them off. The dogs
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: hate Halloween. Whenever you put some sort of costume on them,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: babies will just not, you can't put a costume on them.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: The only thing you can do is get like a
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: sweat outfit or normal clothes that have the pattern on it.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: She tried to get this cow outfit. He was ripping
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: it off like that. We just find a pair of shorts,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: pair of sweatpants, sweatshirt with the cow patterns. Put that on.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: He won't know. The WNBA was really mad at the
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks for not going out of their way and
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: just giving the arena to the, I think, the Atlanta Dream.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: And they had to play a game at 9.30 a.m.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Pacific Standard Time in the WNBA Finals. And I read
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: this article on The Athletic, which was fucking laughable. And
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: this Candace Parker, I think her name, not the basketball player,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: but like the journalist, She was kind of she was
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: trying to be nice, but also saying like this is
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks should have done the right thing, even
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: though they're not owned by the right people. And one
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: thing in there was that the WNBA team had reached
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: out to the Hawks to see if they could work together.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: And they're like, yeah, we never heard back. Is that
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: supposed to be a shot at the Atlanta Hawks that
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: they never called you back? You need them. They don't
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: need you. So I don't know what they teach you
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: in business 101... That you should learn when you're like
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: 10 fucking years old. That if you need something from
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: someone else... One, it's not guaranteed that they're going to
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: give it to you. But two... You need to do
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: everything in your power to get a hold of them.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah, they probably declined your call. Deleted the voicemail.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Deleted the email. One, because they know they go on
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: record and they say no. People like you will be
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: critical of them. But two... Maybe they got other stuff
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: going on. I don't know. They got a roster worth
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars. The game the night against
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: the Cavs, also a roster worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Their franchise is worth more than your entire league, which
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: your league has never been valued at more. I read
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: it was like $ 5 billion. Safe to say the Atlanta Hawks,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: if they were on the open market, would go for
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: as much or not more. So no, they're not going
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: to move their game around for you, especially when there's
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: no synergy between the two franchises. This is not Joe
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Lacob owning the Valkyries and Joe Lacob owning the Warriors
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and get into a position where he could move a
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: game if he so chose to, which I doubt he
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: would because you make dramatically more with the NBA team. Again,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: this is a business, not a charity. Doing things for
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: quote-unquote PR and a good look is the most overrated
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: thing in America. It is so dumb. But to complain
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: that someone didn't call you back when it's your issue
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: is like whoever was in charge of making that phone
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: call and then complaining deserves to get fired because they
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: are an idiot. The other thing is this cannot end
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: soon enough and I think next Tuesday is election day.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: These political ads. You cannot watch anything now with just
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: being inundated with if you vote for this guy. He
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: will kill your family. He will bury your children. And
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: he will not only take all your money, he will
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: then tax you. And all the money you don't have,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: just on the value of it. And then you're like, okay,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: that ad's over. Then another ad comes. This guy. He
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: wants to come, take your car away, make you walk everywhere,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: and then charge you per step. It's like, guys... And
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I get it, like, you know, the tactics. I do
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: think the political tactics are now just mirroring social media.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: And it is unbearable to watch. And it's unbearable to think,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: and I don't like going down these rabbit holes about
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: the people funneling all the money into these political ads
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: or these PACs that get a lot of money, the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: tax dollars, money laundering. I'm not even going to go there.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: It's like, are we indirectly paying for all this stuff
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: in some weird way? but God, I can't take the ads.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: And listen, the way my brain works, do you know
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: who loves election cycles more than anybody? The television networks.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Do you know how much ad spend they get for
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: these ads over and over and over again? I mean,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: there will be games on, on Sunday night football of markets.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: You don't live on that. Clearly they know that people
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: are watching that game and you will get out of
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: market politicians. It's like, I God make it end, please
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: make it. I would much rather turn on the television
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: and see some 70 year old talking about taking some
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: pill to get hard. I mean, you could give me
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: anything but what they're funneling down. I just... I think
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: I speak for most people. I just can't take it anymore.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to watch the game. I mean, make
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: it stop. And thank God in what happens every one
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: of these cycles is there is an end date. It
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: ends immediately. But God, it feels like they've ramped it
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: up tenfold to what it used to be. Maybe I'm being...
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Naive would be the wrong word because I've lived through it,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: but prisoner of the moment... But holy cannoli. Can I
• 40:29
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• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Terms and conditions apply. Okay, let's dive into the weekend games.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: We've struggled the last couple weeks. We have the Saints.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Thank God. The Giants, the Niners, and the Texans. On buys,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: we have, for the first time in several weeks, no
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: international game. So there's no Rodgers complaining about going over
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: the day before, sneaky shots at the Roonies, even though
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: it was a big Pittsburgh game. We don't have to
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: get up super early. And I think we're rewinding the
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: clock Saturday night of Halloween. But let's dive into the
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: four box. And we got Baltimore, Buffalo, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Arizona, Dallas, Minnesota, Detroit,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Vegas at the Jets, the Browns at Pittsburgh, Atlanta at Tampa,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: and Indy at Jacksonville on the 11 a.m. hour. This
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: one was pretty easy for me. We'll go in order
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: that I'm most excited. I think Tampa, Atlanta is a
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: pretty good game. You know, it's actually a massive game.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Because if Tampa wins, all of a sudden they're 3-5,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: they would have a lot of life. I'm recording this
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: before the Carolina game, but even if Carolina wins, they'd
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: only have one more win. And if you're Tampa, you're
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: just like, 9-8 is winning this division. So this is
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: not one of those where we've got to dig ourselves
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: out of the hole and try to get to 11 wins.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: We got to get to a number so high just
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: to ensure that we'll get a wire. This division to me,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: if you go 9-8, I feel like you have an
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: extremely good chance of winning it. I mean, we saw
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: last year 8-9 won it. It does feel like there'd
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: probably be one win more at least this year, but
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: you never know. These teams have to play each other.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: I would have told you I think Carolina, hell, I did.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I bet on Carolina in that game. And then they played,
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: you know, when they played Tampa and they were down
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: 33-6 at half. But my question is, and this gets
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: back to last week, the 49ers didn't touch Penix. And
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: they had three pressures the entire game. And when he's
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: untouched with their weapons, he's just a big-time player. He's
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: a very accurate thrower in a clean pocket. He has
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: been since college. He has been going back to Indiana.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: If you do hit him, you throw their entire operation off.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: And the one thing Bowles will do, he's not quite...
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: I would say he doesn't have to do it like Flores,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: but he will make the quarterback uncomfortable. And every time
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: I looked up last week, it felt like Bryce was
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: getting just demolished and just engulfed. And Bryce is a
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: better athlete in terms of movement-wise, not that he's a
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: great one, than Penix. So to me, that's the question mark.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: If they can rattle with Penix, because last week he
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: was untouched and he sliced and diced him. It was
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: kind of a joke as the game went on. But
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: to me, if Tampa gets some momentum off that win
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: and generate pressure, I like Tampa in this game. Number two,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: who would have thought that Cleveland and Pittsburgh would be
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: for first place in the division? I mean, I was
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: just watching some clips of some of the Steelers players.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: You can tell, and part of it is, you know,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: you played them earlier in the season, you lost in
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: kind of embarrassing fashion. They're 5-2. They have a bunch
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: of young, high-end players. This is a massive game. And
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: when I saw the stat, and obviously anyone in Cleveland
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: or Pittsburgh knows because it's been a running total for
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: a long time, and maybe when they played in that
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: playoff game, the Fugazi year when there weren't any fans,
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: I'm sure we were talking about it a lot, but
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: this is five years later. The Cleveland Browns have not
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: won a game in Pittsburgh in the regular season In
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: 22 attempts. Pittsburgh Steelers have won 22 straight games in
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh against Cleveland. That is an insane stat. That feels
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: a little Belichick-y in the Jets. But I feel like
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: his carried over to a way in road. Like Bill
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: didn't lose to him for like eight straight seasons. In
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: both games. You know? This... I like Pittsburgh a lot
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: in this spot. I really do. And you could see
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: the players, the seriousness, like Cam Hayward. I think they're
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: approaching this bad boy. Not that they wouldn't in years past,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: but let's face it, the Browns have kind of been
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: a joke many of the years. They've typically had to
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: take the game seriously against Lamar, the Ravens, and Flacco.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: And then once Burrow got there and Andy Dalton, those
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: were the two teams. Even though this rivalry, that's a
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: weird thing about sometimes NFL rivalries. it's like they still
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: mean a lot to the owners, but there can be
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: stretches of like, are the Chiefs and the Raiders rivals? Well,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: like in theory, the history of the league, yes. But
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: if you just look over the last like 20 years,
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: and definitely since Andy Reid got there, like one team's
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: a high-end franchise, the other doesn't sniff the playoffs, right?
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Same with them and the Broncos. Like I remember like,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: this is a Raiders-Broncos rivalry. And then Peyton Manning would
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: roll in, they'd win like 50 to 10. He'd be like, oh.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: These aren't really equals. And this is how this game
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: has been for a long time. They haven't been equals.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: And now, at least based on record, they are. The
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: underrated part about the... Whenever I see someone's like... And listen,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I like Peter Schrager, but I saw a clip... that
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: his show put out of like, could they have to
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: pay and extend Deshaun Watson? Guys, have you watched Deshaun
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Watson play? Like statistically, everything he does adds up to
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: like bottom third to bottom of the league in terms
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: of quarterback rankings. He is not a good player. Now
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: they have good players around him, but under no circumstance,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: I'll promise you this, are the Cleveland Browns going to
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: give Deshaun any more money whenever this contract is done?
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: I feel very, very confident on that one. But last
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: time they played, he didn't beat them. He tried to
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: get the game away in the second half because he
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: completely unravels. And if you watch him in stretches when
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: he's bad, he's really bad. But they have really explosive
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: players that you can get to around the line of
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: scrimmage and then they can do more. I mean, Concepcion
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: has been, his speed jumps off TV. Jumps off TV. Now,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Jared Verst was taking some shots. You know, saying like,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: you know, they were chipping and double teaming me. And
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: then I saw Cam Hayward's like, is that against the rules? Like,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: welcome to the NFL. What do you think fucking happens
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: to TJ Watt and Miles Garrett? It's like, this is
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the league, buddy. And if you're going to be their
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: best edge rusher, yeah, people are going to bring more
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: attention to you. So I like Pittsburgh in this spot.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: I by no means take Cleveland. I'm not looking past
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: them at all. I do think there's got to be
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: water finds its level. Deshaun's going to have one of
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: these games. And listen, having those explosive players, do you
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: totally trust the secondary of Pittsburgh to run around with
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: those guys in space? No. But I think Deshaun's due
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: for one of those two picks, fumble, just disastrous games.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: And historically, history would tell you that typically happens in Cleveland.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: This game is pretty fascinating because Minnesota's the last unbeaten
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: team in the NFL. Their quarterback play has been atrocious.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: But everyone's been talking about it, rightfully so, Flores. I
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: said this yesterday. I don't think he's the assistant coach
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: of the year. I think he's the coach of the year.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: I would give him the, as of October 29th recording this, like,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: who's your coach of the year? Well, it's like, I'd
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: want to go with the defensive coordinator. Here's a problem.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: Since 2021, or excuse me, I guess the last three years,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: so that'd be 2023. So 23, 24, 25. Or maybe
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: it's 24, 25, and then this year. No quarterback is
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: better against the Blitz than Jared Goff. He's thrown 21
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: touchdowns and three interceptions over that period of time. He's
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: the number one quarterback ranking, and he's number one in
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: pass yards. This season, only Brock Purdy has as many
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: touchdown passes, eight, as Goff does against the Blitz. He
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: is a dominant player against the Blitz. Well, here's why.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: Because last week, you know, Daniel Jones, he's probably not
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: the athlete right now that he was a year ago
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: before he got injured, just coming back off the injury.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: But Daniel Jones is viewed as a good athlete. And
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: I think when you blitz athletic quarterbacks, if you do
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: scheme them up correctly, it can throw them off because
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: they'll see something and they are more likely to see
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: like a one read and then move to keep the
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: play alive. When you cannot move, Brady, Peyton Manning, you
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: go the history of the non-mobile guys. They know they
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: got to get rid of the ball. So that entire week,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: there is no, well, if this doesn't work, move away.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: If the blitz is coming to your left, scramble right,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: or vice versa. Jared Goff knows he has to get
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: rid of the football. That's his only way to survive
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: when people are pressuring him. That's it. Because he can't
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: run away from me or you. Which is his greatest strength.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: It's why these elite quarterbacks that have never been able
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: to move always dominated so much against the Blitz. Because
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: they had to dial in the game plan going in
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: that week knowing they were going to get a bunch
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: of pressure. And Jared Goff knows that on a given week,
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: if you're a team that can't get a lot of
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: pressure with your down four guys, that you're going to
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: have to bring guys. And then throughout the week with
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: his offensive coordinator, they're building hot routes. They're using their
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Laporta or Amon Ra across the middle. Throw it to
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: the running back out of the backfield and just get
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: the ball out of your hands. And I just think
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: this is a terrible matchup for Minnesota. Their last three games, 15, 23,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: 16 points. And it feels like it's been pulling teeth
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: in a couple of those games to get to that number. Now,
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: last week, they had a play that was overturned on
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: a holding where he hit Jordan Addison late in the
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: game that instead of 16, that number could have been 20,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: I guess. They might have scored a touchdown if there
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: was like three minutes left in the game. Maybe they
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: run the ball in. But still, you're talking about Vikings
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: fans have to agree. When you watch Kyler Murray, there
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: isn't just a lot to be desired. You go, you
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: understand this is the player now. And you go, this
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: is it? What happened to this guy that was one
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: of the great athletes that have ever been drafted in
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: the NFL? There will never be a guy with his
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: size profile that everyone's like, yeah. It wasn't even a question.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: I would take him 1-2 because he was such an
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: elite athlete. I don't even think he hit 300 in college.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: And Billy Bean took him 9th. just because of the
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: physical upside with how explosive he was. He could be
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: a plus defender. He could be steel base guy. If
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: he does make contact, I mean, you look at that
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: dude for the Tampa Bay Rays. Tell Maria, that guy
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: looks like a defensive back. There aren't athletes like that
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: in baseball anymore. So, fuck, ball gets on the ground.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Dude's already at second base. And by the end of
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: the series, I mean, he looked sweet. But I just
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: think when the thing you hang your hat on as
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: a franchise, which has worked incredibly well this year, we're
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: going to blitz every play. Literally. It's not like, bro,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: he blitzes like half the time. No, he's like, he
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: keeps approaching low 80s, mid 80s, high 80s. So is
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: this week he's not going to blitz his mutts? Is
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: he going to throw a curveball and go, well, we
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: can't do that to Goff because he'll burn us? I
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: think that's the knock on the personnel. It's like, well,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: their talent. This is not peak Mike Zimmer years where
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: their defense was loaded with dudes. It's why Flora's been
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: so incredible. I think there's a big overachievement aspect to
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: this team, which speaks to his brilliance as a coordinator.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if that pitch works against this team.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: And based on Goff's numbers, it 100% does not. And
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: then the weakness of the Vikings, like, well, they're secondary defense. Like,
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray going to make you pay? Because the Vikings
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: get to 25. Can you get to 26? If they
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: get to 24, are you in the teens? It's why
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: I like Detroit big in this game. This last game,
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: on paper, is incredible. I don't really know what to
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: make of it. Lamar's practiced the last couple weeks. He's
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: obviously playing. But the way he was playing before he
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: rolled his ankle or got rolled up on, I guess
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: the guy tackled him from behind in the Titans game,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: you've just been like, this guy's MVP contender. And then
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: you take the weeks off. It's been weird. And here's
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: the other thing. It's kind of crumbled around him. I
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: saw Wink Martindale, the former defensive coordinator for the Vikings,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: or excuse me, the Ravens under Harbaugh, was kind of
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: shitting on him. It's like they just look like they
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: have no leaders. It's like, damn. And no franchise. I
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: think this year they are first in point differential in
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: the first half and dead last in the second half. Now, granted...
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: three of those games Lamar hasn't played, but that was
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: a bugaboo for them the last couple years. They would
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: just unravel. And I think there are some negative question
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: marks that are just coming up around this team. Obviously
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: the Lamar, Kawhi, like weirdness with injuries. But just when
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: you watch them play, you're like, are they missing something?
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Was it? Because I heard, I don't, I forget who
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: said it, but they brought up a good point, like,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: Look at the Ravens right now. They fired John Harbaugh.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: He is like, because everyone just said he was the problem.
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: John Harbaugh was their issue. And listen, I'm a big
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: believer sometimes you need a fresh start. It's called life.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: It'll run its course. But he's with the Giants kind
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: of making chicken salad out of chicken, you know what,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: with his quarterback situation and how hard they play and
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: how buttoned up they are and just some of his
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: moves like the scataboo move. Well, you have Jesse Minter.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: You have a 31-year-old offensive coordinator. And now they're starting
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: to feel some pressure. And then, you know, you desperately
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: need a win. Lamar's back. You got to go to Buffalo? Now,
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: they're coming off a bye. Should be fresh. I don't know.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: This is a stay away for me from putting money
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: on it. But I don't trust Baltimore right now. Now,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: if you tell me Lamar just hits the ground running,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: he's exactly where he was before he got injured, I'd
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: be like, yeah, thank you. this thing should be a
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: down to the wire game. But how can a guy
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: that just told everybody that he felt weird and he
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: wasn't close to 100%, part of the reason he just
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: didn't play in this game, he's just healed now? He's
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: going to be completely fine? Like, does the athleticism just
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: come all the way back? He's not worried about the
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: ankle at all? There's a high ankle sprain? He said
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: it was. They kind of, like, what's going on? So,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: this is, Buffalo's in a position right now where it
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: does feel, especially, let's just assume the Steelers win. They're 6-2.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden, if you're the Ravens, you'd
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: be 4-4. They would be clear out ahead of you.
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: Which would be a little problematic. Not that the Bills
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: are worried about the Steelers, but this is a chance
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: which they would benefit from. You kind of got this
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: team against, they're just kind of against the ropes. You're
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: coming fresh. You got some momentum now. Your quarterback's balling.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: You kind of hit him with an overhand Mike Tyson
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: right and just knock him to the ground. Because at
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: 4-4 with a young, inexperienced head coach would be a
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: pretty tough spot. Would be a pretty tough spot to
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: come back from. Any of the other games interest me?
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: I do think the two teams have just made the trades.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: I was a week early on the Colts' quit watch.
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Would anyone be shocked if Jacksonville just runs them out
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: of the building? One, they've always had trouble in Jacksonville.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: And two, this is the type of deal in a
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: locker room where just everyone's thinking that has a pulse,
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: like I could get traded on Monday. Are they going to–
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: is Jonathan Taylor playing in this game? Like if they
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: got some serious offers over the course of the next
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: couple days and they go, let's wait and see what
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: happens to our team Sunday– Do you just inactivate him
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: and just be like a wait and see approach? Because
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: if he's not. playing, you just lost your best O-lineman,
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: you just lost your best defensive lineman. I don't know.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: I could see this thing being a bloodbath. And the
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: Titans just stink to begin with. But I was watching
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: the clip of Robert Sala today. He's like, you know,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: we had to tell everybody this is what happens when
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: you're 1-6 and One and six could turn into two
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: and 13 pretty quickly. And I think the Titans who have,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: you know, they've battled, but you remove him, who was
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: by far their best player, quarterbacks getting peppered about his
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: footwork every week and people thinking he sucks. He keep
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: thinking he's good. It's bizarre. You know, it's weird. Like
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: the Titans brass of reporters, like their core group, kind
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: of coming after him. He is going the opposite of like,
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: I'm like Lamar and Josh. He's not saying that, but
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: he's like, I'm good. It's not my fault. It's just weird.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: It's bizarre. I'm out. Arizona-Dallas, that game could be terrible. Vegas-Jets,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: that game's terrible too. The afternoon games, I've seen a
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: lot of people with big opinions about how could Andy
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: Reid sign Justin Tucker? One, I say it all the time,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: if you're looking for your NFL teams to set the
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: moral standard for society, you're wasting a lot of time
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: and effort. Like, it's on you to parent your children.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Teach them wrong and right. The NFL's not going to
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: do that. They care about winning games and making money.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: Everything else is white noise and a bunch of BS.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: But I saw Coach Reed's like, well, he started a suspension. Like,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: what the hell? Everyone just took back, and again, I'm
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: recording this part before the Thursday night game. Josh Jacobs
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: admitted without essentially saying it, like, yeah, two or three
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: seconds can really derail your life. Matt LaFleur last week, like, yeah,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: it's not an ideal situation. Hopefully learn from it. And
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: then he's boom, backscores, touchdown. People are like, Jacobs is back.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson's been the quarterback for two years, whatever, since
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: he got back from suspension. And he has doubled the
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: amount of the complaints, and he paid them all to
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: go away. So it's like, if everyone else, no one
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: else gives a shit, why should you? But why would
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: they sign Justin Tucker? It's like, well, you're just bringing
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: the practice squad. Why not some random kicker? Because they
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: want to get Butker back making field goals. And the
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: only way to do that, they feel like they're out
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: of ideas. Light a little fire under them. Well, if
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: you bring John Middlecoff, or Billy Lopez from one of
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: these team's practice squad, or some random guy on the street,
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: do you think Butker thinks that guy can beat him out?
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: Of course not. But if you bring in Tucker, who,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: before everything happened, looked like a Hall of Famer, I mean,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: probably still a Hall of Famer, but in there, that's gonna, okay,
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: I better get my shit together, because they will get
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: rid of me Despite my longevity and resume in Kansas City,
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: if I don't start making some kicks. Like to me,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: it was 100% a motivational tactic. And like, yeah, they
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: got a bunch of bad PR. Half the teams in
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: the league just, we saw two prominent teams bring back players.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: We're like, yeah, not ideal, but too good to pass up.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: Watson's been, Watson made $ 230 million. Started for the Browns.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: We're like one of the stories of the league. So
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: I can't just sign a kicker and put him on
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: the practice squad. I just, I think sometimes the reaction
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: to this stuff, everyone else is doing it. You know,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: it's why Lane Kiffin is like, Lane, you can't sign
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: these pro guys. It's like, well, no, no one else
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: is doing it. You're the only one doing it. If
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: you're the only one doing it, then yeah. But literally
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: every team does it. And the teams that say like, no,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: we're above that bullshit. No one is. I did see
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: my guy Shane sent me a tweet that, I don't
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: remember this, but in June, the Patriots were playing the Dolphins,
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: where historically they've had some weird games, that Elliott Wolfe
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: over the offseason acknowledged that A.J. Brown had a degenerative
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: knee condition, but the Pats still signed off on it medically.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: Fast forward to this week, and Brown has a knee
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: issue that's flared up, and his status for Sunday's game
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: is up in the air. I do think that trade
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: was absolutely insane. And I get it, the first rounder's
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: in two years, but part of the reason, remember the
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Rams were in on it, they were going to get
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: rid of Devontae, and they're like, yeah, his knee, no way.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: But why do you think the Patriots did it? Because
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: the boss is not Elliot Wolfe. The boss is Mike Vrabel.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: And Mike Vrabel's not worried about three years from now.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: He's worried about trying to win right now. But if
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: the knee ain't working, and when you watch him play,
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: doesn't even feel like he's playing that hard, not an
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: ideal situation. Honestly, kind of like the Dolphins in the
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: points this week. Okay, let's do a couple quick predictions
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: by my friends at Pauly Market. And I mentioned this earlier.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: I was a week early. Quit watch on full display
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: this weekend. The Jags to win by 10.5. I'm going yes.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: $ 100 plays 201. I could see the Colts folding like
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: a cheap 10 here. Just a complete unraveling of a
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: franchise in front of our eyes. Liam Cohen, Trevor Lawrence,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: foot to throat. The Steelers. You just got to ride
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: the trend, baby. 22 straight years. I think they make
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: it 23. I think they win this game by 10
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: plus points. Especially lost earlier. Bunch of motivation. Steelers to
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: win by three and a half points. Hit yes. $ 100
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: pays 197. Maybe my favorite game of the weekend. It's
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: simply just a matchup. Jared Goff versus the Blitz. Advantage,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: Jared Goff. The Lions, at home, minus three and a half. Yes,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: $ 100 pays $ 203. If you want a little extra, I
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: also do not hate the Titans to fold against the Bengals.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: The big spreads, but I just think these two teams
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: just fracturing at the seams. Let's do a couple quick
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: mailbag questions and then get out of here. John, who
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: says no to this trade? Herbert for the Jets, first
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: round picks. I think the Jets would do that. I
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: think they would try to keep one of them and
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: give like a future first rounder. Here's the problem with
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: the Chargers. Unless Herbert just completely falls off a cliff
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: and looks unplayable, who's going to play quarterback for them?
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: So what do you do? Just draft? Hopefully we don't
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: even know who's coming out in the draft. You just
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have a quarterback. So what do you even do
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: as a franchise? I think they might. I think the
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: Jets would come around to saying yes. I think the
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: Chargers would say no. I mean, the Jets, they have
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: good players. Until you get a franchise quarterback, none of
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: it matters. They've been in a similar position five, six
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: years ago, maybe a little less, four or five years ago,
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: when all those guys were super young. They had a
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: bunch of core guys who were sweet, but they had
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: no quarterback. When you have no quarterback, you have no future.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: The one thing with the Chargers is if he does
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: play well, like next year has a good season, they
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: could be good. The Titans just traded Jeff. I don't
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: know how to feel. Obviously, I want it all to end,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: but we got two first-round picks and a fourth. Do
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: you think it needed to be done? Because I do
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: think Borgonzi has a plan. But last time we traded
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: away our best player, we got Traylon Burks, who had
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: less touchdowns than A.J. Brown, had Super Bowl appearances. I
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: think Traylon Burks, I know he got hurt against the Niners. Actually,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: he's kind of resurrected his career. Again, the bar was
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: pretty low. Making these trades is... Fun's probably the wrong
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: way to put it, but can be exhilarating. But I
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: saw the Raiders trade Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper and
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: then draft a bunch of terrible players. Josh Jacobs was
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: by far the best guy they drafted, and he didn't
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: even sign a second contract with them. So... You can
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: have all the picks in the world, but if you
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: don't have a franchise quarterback, and then you miss on
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: the other picks, none of it matters. None of it. So...
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, this is... I don't know Borgonzi.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: Met him really briefly at the Combine. Bunch of mutual friends.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: Seems like a high-level guy. But he went all in
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: for Cam Ward and he compared it to Patrick Mahomes.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: And he looks much closer to Mitch Trubisky on a
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: good day. I mean, he's been terrible. It's obvious that
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: the Vikings' success is mostly the work of Flores. If
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: at the end of the season... He's getting head coaching
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: offers from other teams. Do you think Minnesota would fire
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell in order to promote Flores? We have used
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: examples of Dan Quinn, Kyle Shanahan. Clearly Dan Campbell is
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: better than Dan Quinn, but should they have just hired
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson? John Harbaugh, Mike McDonald, right? It never happens.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: If you win and you're in the play, Sean McDermott,
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: Joe Brady, they're not going to fire you. They're just not.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: And the only way for the Vikings to figure this
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: out is to figure out the quarterback position. And that
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: is like, Separate from everything that happened in Miami with
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: him refusing to tank, taking the money, suing the league.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: Flores was awful with the offensive. I mean, I remember
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: hearing stories before he ever sued the league. It was like,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: is this seriously happening? And maybe he's changed. But I
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: heard the same thing about Josh McGann. The Belichick guys
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: always claim they change. They never change. Flores is an
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: elite defensive mind. One of the best in the league.
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: But you can't run a franchise if you can't deal
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: with the offensive staff and the quarterback. And people are like, well,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: he was right about Tua. No, Tua was making the
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: playoffs for a while. If he would have got that
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: Tua-level quarterback before he started getting knocked out with his defense,
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: they would have been a solid team. You have to
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: find a way to deal with the offensive guys. And
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes these defensive mentality individuals struggle. Offense is cerebral.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: It's much more chill. Quarterbacks don't get screamed at all
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: the time. Unless you're Tom Brady. Those guys saw Tom
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: Brady get treated like a linebacker. That's not normal. It
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't happen anywhere else. Unless it's the offensive coach yelling
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: at them. When the defense guy yells at you constantly,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: it feels a little different. There are reports that Ben
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: Johnson will yell at Caleb, but ultimately, Caleb knows Ben
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: Johnson's an offensive genius. So I do think there are
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: questions with if you remove everything on Flores and just
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: look at him as a coach. Like if you're interviewing him,
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: like how are you going to handle the offensive staff
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: in the quarterback position? Because you become the head coach.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: That's a very, very vital. That's the heartbeat of the franchise.
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: It is. Like what Minnesota's doing, which speaks to how
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: incredible he's been. We all agree it's like not sustainable.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: Been a while, but the Bengals back from the depths
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: of hell it appears. Feels like the first time in
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: a decade they were strong on both sides of the trenches.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: What should be their metric of success for the season
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: at this point? I would say 11 to 12 wins.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: I think ideally you're like, I want to win the division.
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: That should be the goal sitting here today. The Bengals
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: aspire to win the North. And then if you win
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: the North, it would probably depend where you're... If you're
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: the one seed, your goal's got to be to win
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: the conference. If you're like the three seed, bare minimum,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: win a playoff game, and then we'll see who we're playing,
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: and then we can kind of judge it from there.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: Like if you're an underdog in that game, it's hard
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: to crush you if you lose. But... I would say
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: bare minimum, playoffs, win a playoff game. I would say
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: highest level of aspirations would be win the division and
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: win the conference. But I think if you go 11-6
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: or 12-5, you're the five seed. You win a playoff
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: game and then you go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs or
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: the Bills or whatever and you were to lose, I
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: think that's a pretty successful season. I think it varies
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: how it looks over the next month or two. Because
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: if you just start winning all these games, your expectation
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: would be like, we can win the Super Bowl. And
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl is wide open. Super Bowl is wide
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: open this year. It's why you just saw all these
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: teams getting really aggressive. And I read something on social
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: media that's like, get ready, it ain't over. Been a
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: Titans fan since I was young. I've experienced the highs,
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: the heartbreak, and what feels like an endless cycle of rebuilding.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: At what point do we start blaming bad luck, coaching changes,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: or the quarterback position and start questioning the culture and
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: decision-making at the top? Nashville isn't the problem. Other small
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: market teams have figured out how to win. So what
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: is fundamentally broken inside this organization and what needs to
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: change for the Titans to finally become a sustainable winner
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: instead of just keep starting over? It does feel like
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: the owner's a clown. The owner's a clown. I mean,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: they've just fired a bunch of executives, uh, following Jared
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: Stillman on social. He's just crushing that Burton Nahill or Nihill,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: the president. It's just a dysfunctional organization. And typically that
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: starts with the owner. Because when things get weird internally,
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, just a year ago they had
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: Chad Brinker, who was a former scouting executive, be their
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: business president over Borgonzi. They've always got weird shit going on.
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: I would say their most consistent couple year stretch is
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: when they just had John Robinson, their GM, football guy,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel, head coach, football guy. It felt like they
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: were left alone and they excelled for a couple years.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: But it does feel like Amy Adams is kind of
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: a loser. I mean, it really does. I mean, these people,
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: they not only grew up rich, they kind of grew
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: up famous. Because that's the owner of the Titans. Everywhere
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: she goes. Every time she eats dinner at the country club.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: Every time she's out and about in the community. Even
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: around other rich people. It's like, hey, that guy owns
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: the whatever. The big construction company. The big real estate company.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: The seven restaurants. Is that guy, even if he's worth
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars... You're still pointing out that
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: person owns the NFL team. And I think that's better life.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying Clark Hunt feels like a pretty
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: high-level guy. Jeffrey Lurie grew up rich. So I'm not
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: one of those people that acts like just because your
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: circumstance is better than a lot of other people that
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: it's going to automatically determine you're going to be a loser.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: But clearly some of these people are losers. I mean,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: Woody Johnson is a rich kid. It's weird because he's old,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: but he's a rich kid. Doesn't feel like he's the
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: most buttoned up human. Some people, I just also think
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: it's about how their parents acted. You can say the
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: Chiefs are cheap, but like Clark Hunt, you ever heard,
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: like he just seems like a pretty normal, impressive guy.
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: People like him. Tough to negotiate with. He pinches pennies,
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: but look at Amy Strunk. I mean, what is, what
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: a joke. Given all your contacts around the league, I'm
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: curious what the general perception of Loomis is amongst NFL executives.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: A lot of Saints fans want him gone, but he's
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: had some solid draft picks over the years. Plus, as
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: you've mentioned, good GMs are much harder to replace than
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: people realize. If you were running the Saints, what changes
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: would you make? Would you move on from Loomis? It's
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: a good question. I do think if you move on
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: from Mickey, and you just hire some young hotshot or whatever,
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: how long does Kellen have? Is then Kellen going to
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: get fired, and then you're just going through the same cycle?
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: It does feel like you have a little something with
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: this quarterback. Your defense right now is atrocious. You sign,
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: I call him ETN, his real name is HN. He
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: pulls his hammy immediately. right? So like your big free
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: agent signing on offense gets injured and you have the
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: eighth overall pick, which I, I listen, I thought it
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: was pretty crazy when they took them, but they did.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: And he just can't play. And it does feel like
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: Jordan Tyson's more likely to miss the season than catch
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: 15 touchdowns, right? At this point. So it's going to suck,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: but I'd probably run it back one more year and see,
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: you know, you lost a, did the left tackle, uh,
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: He's been out forever after he hurt his ankle. I
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: would guess they get next season. The Bills have had
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: a terrible run defense for years and multiple different coordinators.
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: It's gotten even worse this year with Joe Brady when
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: he took over. Is it the scheme or lack of
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: talent at linebacker? Who's the best linebacker over the last
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: 10 years you guys have had? Milano, whenever he was healthy?
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: I think a huge part of run defense, especially now,
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: teams lean on pass-rushing defensive linemen. Do you have linebackers
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: who can fly sideline to sideline? Because a lot of
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: the run game now is horizontal, not vertical. So look
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: at Fred Warner. He makes every tackle. Look at I'm
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: trying to think of it. Look at the guys in Seattle.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: Ernest Jones, tackling machine. And Eamon Warren, their DBs tackle.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: So you need to have good tackling DBs. Do your
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: DBs and linebackers tackle? Because if they don't, you're going
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: to have problems. Even the Rams. I feel like Landman's
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: a pretty good tackler. The Chiefs, you're watching Sunday night.
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: You see Bolton attack off-tackle runs. The guy's coming at
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: you like he's Ray Lewis. I'd have to really ask
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: around people that have advanced scouted their team what their
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: issue is. A lot of it gets down to linebacker play.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: Do you have impact linebacker play or not? And can
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: your middle to, like when you had Poyer, who was
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: the other, you had the two safeties there for a while.
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: They were pretty physical tacklers. That helps. But now because
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: so many people, especially against your past defense, you can
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: throw in the corners. You got to leave those guys back.
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: What if the NFL banned the kneel down? I've never
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: really been a fan of a team leading and being
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: able to drain the clock. What if the quarterback kneel
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: was banned and you had to run the ball? I'm
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: not there with you. Couldn't I just hand it off?
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: What if I did a quarterback? What if my quarterback's running?
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: Like I do a quarterback power and I go two
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: steps and I hit the ground. What if I just
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: hand it to my running back and he just hits
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: the ground? I mean, that's part of the game. I mean,
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: I You know, you get four downs, 40 seconds of down.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: It's just... The tush push, which is now dead. I mean,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: that tush push for them is a nightmare. It got called...
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: The Cowboys got called offside, but they fumbled it. It
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: would have been a... I mean, McKee got destroyed. The
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: tush push is dead. But like that, I understood people going,
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: you know, this doesn't really feel like football. Because it
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: didn't really. Like, this is not the NFL I know.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: The kneel downs... I mean, the victory formation is the
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: best formation in the sport. So I disagree with you there.
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: We will end on this. Do you think Brian Kelly
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: gets another job? I guess on paper, he would make
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: sense for Rutgers or Maryland. But do you think with
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: how embarrassing the way he flamed out at LSU was,
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: and the fact that Notre Dame hasn't missed a beat
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: since he left, he's just kind of viewed as toxic?
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: I think he's kind of viewed as rich and lazy.
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: He got one of the best jobs in all of America,
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: college or pro. They give you unlimited resources. You have
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: unlimited talent pool in your backyard, and he didn't try
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: it recruiting. And he's not a play caller, right? He's
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: a CEO. So shouldn't you be the recruiter? Underrated part
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: about Notre Dame, the pool in which they recruited from
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: when he was there, he's not recruiting every kid in
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: the country. Because there was an academic standard at Notre
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: Dame that you had to fall under. So he was
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: really recruiting against Harbaugh and David Shaw at Stanford. He
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: recruited against Michigan. He wasn't recruiting for certain players against
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: LSU and Ohio State and Florida and Georgia and Bama.
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: They weren't recruiting the same defensive back. They weren't recruiting
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: the same wide receiver. Might recruit the same center or quarterback.
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: maybe even running back, but it was actually easier. LSU,
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: Ohio State, Georgia, Bama, Texas, Oregon, SC, you recruit everybody
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: with a pulse that can play. So I think he
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: kind of proved he was lazy. So if I give
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: a guy $ 100 million and he went into the job
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: kind of being lazy, you don't think he's going to
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: be lazier now at a school with way less resources?
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: My take is unhirable. Resume speaks for itself. It was
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: a different world. Like when he won at Cincinnati. Probably
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: had some hustle to him at Cincinnati. And then he
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: made it at Notre Dame. You know, I think a
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: lot of human beings, it's what makes Saban so unique.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: It's like he never stopped. Up until he retired, he
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: never stopped. And he even says in the documentary, like
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: I was on the fence because I knew we had
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: a bunch of guys coming back. We were going to
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: be good. No one that worked for Saban speaks about
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: him differently like the guys that were like Cignetti that
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: was around him in like 07 and 08 any differently
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: than like Pete Golding speaks about him in 2021. The
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: way they describe the guy, the work ethic, the consistency
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: is the exact same. People are like, Brian Kelly wouldn't
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: take recruiting calls. Coaches would walk in and be like, yeah,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking to him. I just don't think he
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: gives a shit. So old, so rich. He just, I
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: wouldn't touch him. I really wouldn't. And I'd honestly be
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: stunned if he took, like, why would Brian Kelly take
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: the Rutgers job? Just because he's addicted to being in
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: control of a bunch of people in an organization? He
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: doesn't need the money. He's not going to win there.
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: No one's winning at Maryland. No one's winning at Rutgers. Nobody.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: You could be semi-competitive at Baylor, but what are you
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: really doing? I think most of these jobs are terrible.
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: What a lot of these jobs are to me is
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: stepping stone jobs. If you're the Memphis guy or you're
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: a coordinator, I need my shot to spring me. It's
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: like Will Stein, Kentucky. That's a catapult job. Where can
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: I go from here? Can I be the next coach
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: at Alabama? And the answer is, if DeBoer has a
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: couple bad seasons, the answer is yes. Yes, you can.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: Will Stein's thinking, if Sark gets fired, could I be
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: the next coach at Texas? And the answer is yes. Yes,
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: you can. It's like Bob Chesney. I know he's been
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: pretty loyal to UCLA and he's saying all the right things,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: but if in two years Michigan calls, I would say, Bob,
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: you're insane. I grew up a UCLA fan. I've watched
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: that program in the mid to late 90s. I love
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: the O'Bannon twins and Steve Lavin and Jason Campono married
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: a girl from Davis high school, Ashley Klein. I think
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: they're divorced now, but, uh, actually went out drinking one
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: time with him when I lived in Philly and he
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: was playing for the Sixers. Actually pretty good time. Tim
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: Legler was there. Uh, the big center from Washington, the
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: big white guy was there. A bunch of Sixers there.
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 1: We had, we had a couple of buddies from the Eagles.
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: I think some Eagle players were there as well. Bar
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: was hopping that night, but I, uh, Yeah, I just
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: think most of these jobs. Like in the NFL, the
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: Jags job's awful. You make Trevor Lawrence good, good gig.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: Jets job stinks. You get the next, you know, star
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: quarterback or next top 10 quarterback, you'll be good. College
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: football's not like that. College football's got way too many variables.
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: I just think that if Brian Kelly accepts one of
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: those crappy jobs, the guy's a nut job. Which he
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: might be. Because he doesn't need the money and he
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: ain't going to win there. So what's the point of it?
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: Just because you want to yell at people? Which does
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: feel like he likes doing. Adios. Have a great weekend.
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: We will talk Sunday.