Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Best of The Week: Michigan-WMU WILD ending, NFL Week 1 Primer, Season predictions

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Best of The Week: Michigan-WMU WILD ending, NFL Week 1 Primer, Season predictions · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume. What is going on? This is John Middlecoff
0:17
Speaker 1: from three and out podcast. And this is the best of,
0:21
Speaker 1: of my favorite takes our best takes as we head
0:24
Speaker 1: on into football season. So let's just dive right into
0:30
Speaker 1: the Western Michigan, Michigan game. And what else can be
0:36
Speaker 1: said that hasn't been said at this point in terms
0:38
Speaker 1: of what a travesty that was? And the game felt over,
0:43
Speaker 1: it looked over, the statement that came out about their replay.
0:48
Speaker 1: My main takeaway, who I'm truly gutted for, are the
0:52
Speaker 1: players on that team, because that's the tight moment Now,
0:58
Speaker 1: I would imagine 10 years ago, pre-NIL and pre-Portal, Western
1:02
Speaker 1: Michigan was a 10-win team last year. Squads like that
1:06
Speaker 1: get rated every year. So it probably is a way
1:10
Speaker 1: different demo in terms of where guys are from on
1:14
Speaker 1: the roster present day than maybe years past. Because I
1:17
Speaker 1: typed that bad boy into AI and they only got
1:19
Speaker 1: 11 guys on the roster from the state of Michigan.
1:24
Speaker 1: Maybe that number used to be higher. I'd have to
1:27
Speaker 1: do like a research project to find that out. But
1:29
Speaker 1: my guess would have been like 25. So this isn't
1:33
Speaker 1: necessarily these guys that play for this program are going
1:36
Speaker 1: to live in the state the rest of their life.
1:40
Speaker 1: And everywhere they go, we are part of the team
1:43
Speaker 1: that beat the University of Michigan. Even though this isn't
1:47
Speaker 1: the mid-90s powerhouse, couple years ago powerhouse, they're obviously not
1:51
Speaker 1: that good. But I don't care. Because when Appalachian State
1:56
Speaker 1: beat the University of Michigan, it's an underdog story that
2:01
Speaker 1: we still speak about to this day. Now, you could
2:04
Speaker 1: argue that aged pretty well because it turns out Appalachian
2:07
Speaker 1: State was a big-time program. They elevated up. But I
2:10
Speaker 1: think this dynamic is different. Because while the guys on
2:14
Speaker 1: the team... might not stay in Michigan for a long
2:18
Speaker 1: period of time, and who knows, could disperse all over
2:20
Speaker 1: the country. I bet a large percentage of Western Michigan
2:24
Speaker 1: grads live in the general area, whether it's the state
2:28
Speaker 1: of Michigan or the Midwest. And that would have been
2:32
Speaker 1: a seminal moment for the school till everyone that's associated
2:36
Speaker 1: with the school, whether they went there, whether their future
2:40
Speaker 1: children will go there, will have till the day they die,
2:43
Speaker 1: and now that doesn't exist. Because my dad loved UC Davis.
2:49
Speaker 1: And they were, at the time, Division II's program. Then
2:53
Speaker 1: they went up to Division IAA. And they upset Stanford
2:56
Speaker 1: one year. In Stanford. Well, Stanford's terrible. No one confuses
3:02
Speaker 1: Stanford as some program, despite that little stretch with Harbaugh
3:07
Speaker 1: and David Shaw, as this program that should be in
3:10
Speaker 1: the national championship hunt. that if they don't go to
3:14
Speaker 1: the playoffs, people are going to get fired. So part
3:18
Speaker 1: of the draw, I mean, I watched every snap of
3:21
Speaker 1: that game. I told my wife, if I'm going to
3:24
Speaker 1: be a very present dad on Saturdays, because Sundays is
3:28
Speaker 1: not really possible. It's much more of a workday. Saturdays,
3:30
Speaker 1: a little pleasure, a little work. Listen, we need the
3:33
Speaker 1: four boxes. She hates the four boxes on TV. I'm like,
3:37
Speaker 1: I can't just watch one game. I got to be
3:39
Speaker 1: watching the four games. YouTube TV does a great job.
3:42
Speaker 1: I got the four games going on. And after a while,
3:45
Speaker 1: I clicked to the big picture because I couldn't believe
3:47
Speaker 1: it was happening. And that's a tight moment that those guys,
3:52
Speaker 1: all these guys that graduate from this program, that even
3:56
Speaker 1: if they transfer to different schools, when you get interviewed
3:59
Speaker 1: at a finance job, everywhere you go, when you tell
4:03
Speaker 1: someone that I played at the Western Michigan program, they go,
4:08
Speaker 1: were you on the team that beat Michigan? And now,
4:11
Speaker 1: I mean, that moment is going to live on forever?
4:15
Speaker 1: Them getting the second back and Underwood throwing the touchdown pass,
4:18
Speaker 1: which was a hell of a grab. I mean, it was...
4:22
Speaker 1: One thing that's underrated in... the Hail Mary play is
4:27
Speaker 1: typically it takes an elite catch. Like it's rare that
4:33
Speaker 1: you just hit the guy in stride or the guy's
4:35
Speaker 1: wide open, right? Even Caleb was it last year when
4:38
Speaker 1: he kind of did the rollout against the Rams and
4:41
Speaker 1: the DB fucked up and Komet just kind of was
4:43
Speaker 1: right there by himself. That doesn't happen very often. Remember
4:47
Speaker 1: the Rodgers famous Hail Mary against the Cardinals when I
4:50
Speaker 1: think Richard Rodgers was his name. You're usually high pointing
4:54
Speaker 1: the ball in traffic, falling onto other bodies. It is
4:58
Speaker 1: a fantastic play. But I think the problem is, and
5:02
Speaker 1: I'm by no means some Michigan hater. I've always somewhat
5:06
Speaker 1: supported them over the controversial things that happened over the
5:10
Speaker 1: course of the last three or four years. not Sharone
5:13
Speaker 1: more withstanding. I'd ideally not like my football coach banging
5:18
Speaker 1: the assistant in his office when he's married with three
5:21
Speaker 1: kids at home, but that's a topic for a different day.
5:27
Speaker 1: I think those kids, obviously the coach, that is a
5:31
Speaker 1: seminal moment in their life. For a lot of us professionally,
5:36
Speaker 1: when you have a great opportunity, when you're in a
5:39
Speaker 1: big moment, sometimes you don't even realize it till you
5:41
Speaker 1: look back later. And you go, that was a butterfly
5:45
Speaker 1: effect moment for my life that changed me on the trajectory,
5:51
Speaker 1: on the path that I'm on. But at the time,
5:54
Speaker 1: even if you're cognizant of it, you don't quite, it's impossible. Typically,
5:59
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that there aren't individual instances where it's like,
6:02
Speaker 1: you're meeting with this guy, we land this business. I
6:04
Speaker 1: just saw one of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikel Bridges,
6:09
Speaker 1: their college teammate now works at, I don't know if
6:14
Speaker 1: it's Fidelity or Goldman Sachs or one of the big finance,
6:17
Speaker 1: he's in money management. They all just move their money
6:21
Speaker 1: to him. Like once those guys called and said, we
6:24
Speaker 1: all want you to represent us, I'll promise you this,
6:26
Speaker 1: when that guy took his book of business back, like
6:29
Speaker 1: how many clients you had? I got these four guys,
6:32
Speaker 1: average income's about $ 47 million, and they have a combined
6:36
Speaker 1: $ 400 million in cash in the bank, you know, or
6:40
Speaker 1: in the stock market. That's my book of business. That
6:43
Speaker 1: guy got elevated up the totem pole fast, and I'm
6:46
Speaker 1: sure he's no dummy, he realized it. But in sports,
6:50
Speaker 1: when you're in a game, like these guys, I went
6:52
Speaker 1: to Fresno State. When you played a UCLA, when we
6:56
Speaker 1: played a Wisconsin, that program has played a million big schools.
7:00
Speaker 1: Everyone in that program understands that week, you don't need
7:03
Speaker 1: Newt Rockne speeches. You don't need win this one. for
7:07
Speaker 1: your family, for your parents, for the school. Everyone knows
7:10
Speaker 1: what's on the line. Those speeches typically are like when
7:14
Speaker 1: you're playing an average opponent or someone that you might like,
7:16
Speaker 1: hey guys, let's wake the bleep up. When you're Boise
7:21
Speaker 1: State playing Oregon, when you're Western Michigan, listen, Western Michigan
7:24
Speaker 1: isn't like some two-win team. I don't watch much MAAC football.
7:29
Speaker 1: but they won 10 games last year. Clearly they're a physical, well-coached,
7:34
Speaker 1: they ain't scared of shit. Now they were aided by
7:36
Speaker 1: the quarterback play, but man, that's a moment for that
7:39
Speaker 1: coach and those players that they would have the rest
7:42
Speaker 1: of their lives. And now it just doesn't exist. And like,
7:47
Speaker 1: do I think the Big Ten conspired to make that happen?
7:50
Speaker 1: I mean, clearly on their video evidence, which I'm still
7:53
Speaker 1: yet to see, But like, it's hard to take it seriously.
7:58
Speaker 1: It was, I said this last night, like Uncle Dennis,
8:02
Speaker 1: who's Kawhi's guy, that was just caught red-handed, right? Even
8:07
Speaker 1: he would watch that. It's pretty shady. Like that's... That
8:11
Speaker 1: doesn't add up, you know? If you got no dog
8:14
Speaker 1: in the fight, and let's face it, at the point
8:17
Speaker 1: where you're not a Michigan guy, you're kind of rooting
8:20
Speaker 1: for the upset because you understand the history behind it.
8:23
Speaker 1: I do think point spreads, you know, week one when
8:27
Speaker 1: you're four touchdown underdog, like, you have no clue who's
8:31
Speaker 1: good and bad. You know, you really don't. Like some
8:34
Speaker 1: teams that you think are good are not nearly as good.
8:37
Speaker 1: And then some random teams are way better than you think,
8:40
Speaker 1: especially at the groupified level. But that just, that blows.
8:45
Speaker 1: I mean, that sucks for those guys in that program
8:48
Speaker 1: that have spent, like Michigan, the last four or five
8:51
Speaker 1: weeks in training camp, grinding their ass off up early,
8:55
Speaker 1: you know, going to bed late, just grinding it through
8:59
Speaker 1: getting ready for this moment. And they showed up and
9:01
Speaker 1: they came through. That's the other thing. You know, in football,
9:05
Speaker 1: you know when your moment's there and you either are
9:07
Speaker 1: going to produce for 60 minutes or not. You're either
9:10
Speaker 1: going to put a good foot forward and be in
9:13
Speaker 1: the game, or like a lot of teams yesterday, or
9:16
Speaker 1: on Saturday, if you're listening to this on Monday, get
9:18
Speaker 1: the living you-know-what kicked out of you. And Western Michigan
9:22
Speaker 1: showed up to play. And I think the other glaring
9:25
Speaker 1: thing of that travesty that was that game was if
9:32
Speaker 1: I ran a major program with big money behind it,
9:35
Speaker 1: like a school like Michigan, Part of the devastation of
9:39
Speaker 1: last night is Bryce Underwood is not on Kyle Whittingham.
9:44
Speaker 1: He has absolutely nothing to do with Bryce Whittingham. He
9:47
Speaker 1: obviously wouldn't have recruited him at Utah. Way too big
9:50
Speaker 1: of a recruit. And he just inherited the guy. Whose,
9:54
Speaker 1: you know, rookie freshman season was, I think, canceled out
9:59
Speaker 1: a little bit because like oh the head coach who
10:01
Speaker 1: was trying to bang everything that moved wasn't focused that
10:05
Speaker 1: the program wasn't disarray it almost got put on Sharon
10:08
Speaker 1: more more than Bryce but anyone that watched Michigan last
10:11
Speaker 1: year was like I don't know something's missing like something's
10:14
Speaker 1: just off I said the same thing with Arch and
10:17
Speaker 1: we'll get into him later, but usually over time, especially
10:20
Speaker 1: in college more than the pros, Like, you could see
10:24
Speaker 1: an 18, 19-year-old guy take a huge leap season to season.
10:27
Speaker 1: You're like, okay, this is a different player. There are
10:30
Speaker 1: a small percentage of guys, anyone that, I don't blame
10:33
Speaker 1: you if you didn't watch much of it, but Keelan Russell,
10:36
Speaker 1: you know, from Alabama. At first, I'm like, you know,
10:39
Speaker 1: what's going on here? And he's an eight, you know,
10:42
Speaker 1: redshirt freshman. As the game went on, you're like, okay,
10:45
Speaker 1: there's a lot to work with here. This is something.
10:49
Speaker 1: I never once last year watching Michigan went, I think
10:53
Speaker 1: there's something there. I went, I don't know, this is
10:55
Speaker 1: a major red flag. I don't know how anyone that
10:58
Speaker 1: watched that game, especially Michigan fans, would go, this guy's
11:01
Speaker 1: got dramatically worse. Like, sometimes regression is, I think, an
11:07
Speaker 1: overused term, right? It's easy in all of our worlds,
11:12
Speaker 1: like in mine. Are we gaining more revenue than we
11:14
Speaker 1: did the previous year? Are we gaining more listeners and viewers?
11:19
Speaker 1: Do we have more sponsors? Like, most of our industries...
11:23
Speaker 1: It's pretty easy to make an objective, like black and white, quantify,
11:31
Speaker 1: are we growing or dying? Sometimes with quarterback play, it's like, yeah,
11:35
Speaker 1: he looks a little bit better, but he looked worse.
11:38
Speaker 1: He looked worse. They gave him like $ 12 to $ 15
11:41
Speaker 1: million out of high school. And if you think that
11:44
Speaker 1: drafting guys out of college is different, which it clearly
11:48
Speaker 1: is at any position, especially quarterback, high school is way harder.
11:54
Speaker 1: And the one thing that's very evident in college football
11:59
Speaker 1: that a guy like Bryce Underwood, DJ Lagway, somewhat of
12:04
Speaker 1: an Anthony Richardson guy, Jackson Arnold, who's bounced around now.
12:10
Speaker 1: Some of these like athletic. This guy's a freak. He's
12:14
Speaker 1: got a huge arm. He can throw it 700 yards.
12:18
Speaker 1: He can beat DBs in races. That's great. But at
12:22
Speaker 1: the highest level of football, and I would say that
12:25
Speaker 1: is big time Division I football, like the Big Ten,
12:27
Speaker 1: the SEC. If you're playing the right teams, Miami or
12:31
Speaker 1: Texas Tech or whoever the good teams are in the
12:34
Speaker 1: Big 12 and the ACC. You got to be able
12:35
Speaker 1: to play quarterback. That means be calm, deliver the ball accurately.
12:41
Speaker 1: Like the most important part of being a quarterback is
12:46
Speaker 1: not hitting some like the Jeremiah Smith had an unreal
12:50
Speaker 1: go route. And he's clearly going to be like a
12:53
Speaker 1: top five pick next year. Probably would have been the
12:56
Speaker 1: last like two years. But like most quarterbacks, if they
13:01
Speaker 1: just throw five go routes and you give them a
13:03
Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith guy, and I'm not trying to diminish Julian
13:05
Speaker 1: Sane at all. It was a nice pass. They kicked
13:08
Speaker 1: the shit out of him. But you're just going to
13:10
Speaker 1: throw a go route down the sideline to a blue
13:12
Speaker 1: chip guy. You're going to hit some of them and
13:14
Speaker 1: they're going to look really good. But where you really
13:17
Speaker 1: make your money is when it's like third and six
13:20
Speaker 1: and we're running a couple short to intermediate routes. Can
13:24
Speaker 1: you just hit the guy in stride who might only
13:26
Speaker 1: be open for a split second to get a seven,
13:28
Speaker 1: eight yards and keep the sticks moving? That is the,
13:31
Speaker 1: and obviously in the red zone, third down, red zone,
13:35
Speaker 1: critical areas, be accurate. And you're watching this guy, he's
13:40
Speaker 1: not only inaccurate, it ain't even close. The thing that
13:44
Speaker 1: jumps out to me is he's not like some dynamic athlete.
13:49
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's a bad athlete, but you watch
13:51
Speaker 1: him run around, you go, This isn't like Lamar Jackson
13:54
Speaker 1: or Kyler Murray in college. This isn't even Jalen Hurts
13:57
Speaker 1: in college. My takeaway is I don't see it. And
14:02
Speaker 1: like I said, this is not Kyle Whittingham's problem. This
14:04
Speaker 1: guy was already on the roster, paid huge money. I
14:08
Speaker 1: know nothing about their backup, who is Notre Dame starting
14:10
Speaker 1: quarterback's brother, who I guess is a four-star recruit. And
14:14
Speaker 1: who knows? Maybe he hasn't been good in camp either. He's,
14:16
Speaker 1: I think, a freshman. I don't think you can keep
14:19
Speaker 1: rolling this guy out. I think you just got to
14:22
Speaker 1: punt on these things. It's become more complicated now with
14:25
Speaker 1: the NIL, but there is not, like, I'd bet $ 1, 000
14:29
Speaker 1: right now, Bryce Underwood has multiple other schools in his future.
14:34
Speaker 1: He's a lock to be on another team next year,
14:36
Speaker 1: and then that probably won't work out and he'll be
14:37
Speaker 1: on another team. And I feel somewhat bad, like pre-NIL,
14:42
Speaker 1: and you were just giving the guy 10, 15 grand
14:43
Speaker 1: under the table. It's like football, it's hard. Once you're
14:47
Speaker 1: making millions of dollars, you're kind of held to a
14:49
Speaker 1: different standard. And honestly, when I watch these games, I
14:52
Speaker 1: view it much more like the NFL, much more transactional,
14:56
Speaker 1: much more Wall Street, you know, on grass. Like that
14:59
Speaker 1: was the thing with Michigan watching them. There's not a
15:02
Speaker 1: starter on Western Michigan. Whoever their highest paid starter is,
15:07
Speaker 1: he'd probably be the poorest guy in Michigan's two deep.
15:11
Speaker 1: Those are the thoughts that now go through my mind.
15:13
Speaker 1: That's the world we're in. And I know everyone says, well,
15:16
Speaker 1: once the game starts, it just becomes about football. Yeah,
15:18
Speaker 1: kind of. Once it's, you know, Indiana, Ohio State, or
15:23
Speaker 1: Texas playing LSU. But in these games, I'm sorry, my
15:27
Speaker 1: financial brain is viewing it, well, this quarterback's making $ 3
15:31
Speaker 1: or $ 4 million a year, and it looks like he
15:34
Speaker 1: would not start on any top 50 program in the
15:38
Speaker 1: country if there was no money involved and you just
15:41
Speaker 1: had to go win a job. Because I don't even
15:44
Speaker 1: see anything there. And I think Michigan has a massive,
15:48
Speaker 1: massive problem. Kyle Whittingham, as a West Coast football follower,
15:54
Speaker 1: Utah back in the day was in the WAC, then
15:55
Speaker 1: they've gone to the Mountain West, and then they moved
15:57
Speaker 1: to the Pac-12. He was the coach there starting in 2001.
16:01
Speaker 1: So for 25 years, the majority of that time, I
16:06
Speaker 1: guess he took over when Urban left, so it would
16:07
Speaker 1: have been 2005 or 2006. was not Alex Smith playing quarterback.
16:13
Speaker 1: They were not producing guys getting drafted number one overall.
16:16
Speaker 1: They won a lot of guys or a lot of
16:19
Speaker 1: games with guys like Snoop Huntley, who I'll promise you this,
16:23
Speaker 1: the Huntley I watch now in the NFL is a
16:26
Speaker 1: dramatically better player than the guy was in college. Utah
16:30
Speaker 1: won a ton of games with grit, with guile, with
16:33
Speaker 1: elite defenses, with a bunch of guys that were two-
16:36
Speaker 1: and three-star recruits that became NFL players at the defensive
16:40
Speaker 1: line position, the linebacker position, corner, at running back at
16:43
Speaker 1: tight end, out of nowhere. And it wasn't because of
16:47
Speaker 1: the quarterback play. So if you saw the look on
16:51
Speaker 1: Kyle Whittingham's face, like, what did I sign up for here? Because, again, I...
16:58
Speaker 1: I guess it is what it is. He just stinks.
17:00
Speaker 1: You know, there's nowhere. He stinks. And for them to celebrate,
17:05
Speaker 1: which I get it, we're human beings. You win the game.
17:08
Speaker 1: But it was. You guys are rushing the field. And
17:10
Speaker 1: I don't even blame the fans. Because if you stayed
17:14
Speaker 1: that long for that performance, especially that second to last play,
17:19
Speaker 1: you thought the game was over. You're a sophomore at Michigan,
17:23
Speaker 1: some future millionaire at Wells Fargo or Goldman Sachs, just
17:27
Speaker 1: going to be some finance bro, and you're just sitting there.
17:33
Speaker 1: I was going to say Natty Lights. There's no way
17:34
Speaker 1: they're drinking that. They're probably Coors Lights and Tito's Vodka.
17:38
Speaker 1: And you're like, I can't believe this is happening, especially
17:40
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Speaker 1: I did want to fire through. One thing I thought
19:53
Speaker 1: I'm going to do every week is just do my
19:56
Speaker 1: morning four box. And typically, I got a couple TVs
20:00
Speaker 1: in this office. I got a big 60-incher, and then
20:03
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20:06
Speaker 1: in the mornings, you know, especially on the weeks where
20:09
Speaker 1: there aren't that many buys, there are a lot of
20:12
Speaker 1: games going on on Sunday morning. So I try to
20:15
Speaker 1: put the main games that I want to watch with
20:17
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20:19
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20:23
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20:26
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20:28
Speaker 1: going to do right now is go, this is my
20:31
Speaker 1: morning four bucks. And I actually think this week is
20:35
Speaker 1: pretty easy. It's Baltimore at Indy, Bills at Houston, Lions
20:38
Speaker 1: at Saints, and Tampa at Cincy. And then Chicago, Carolina,
20:43
Speaker 1: there are some other crappy games going on into the morning.
20:45
Speaker 1: Might just get the small TV by itself. I mean, Jets, Titans,
20:50
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. No shade at either franchise. That's probably not
20:54
Speaker 1: getting much of my oxygen. Maybe I'll throw it up
20:58
Speaker 1: there with Chicago, Carolina, but... I wanted to go through
21:01
Speaker 1: those four main games. And just what I did is
21:04
Speaker 1: I wrote down some questions. Because that's kind of go
21:07
Speaker 1: into the season. Like, we don't know that much. Like,
21:10
Speaker 1: you're just kind of asking questions or wondering what it's
21:13
Speaker 1: going to look like. Like, with the Ravens at Indianapolis.
21:16
Speaker 1: Let's start with Indy, who is a home dog. Like,
21:19
Speaker 1: they were really good with Daniel Jones. They were one
21:23
Speaker 1: of the greatest offenses we'd ever seen. I think statistically
21:26
Speaker 1: they technically were. Up to the point in which he left.
21:29
Speaker 1: Are they going to be that team? Because if they
21:31
Speaker 1: are that team, they're going to be a problem. The team,
21:35
Speaker 1: once he left, they had no shot. Right. And by
21:38
Speaker 1: the end, they had, you know, 45 year old Phillip
21:42
Speaker 1: Rivers who actually made some plays, you know, being their quarterback.
21:46
Speaker 1: So I just I want to know with Indy, like,
21:50
Speaker 1: who are they? Are they the team with Daniel Jones?
21:53
Speaker 1: Was that a mirage? Is he going to resort back
21:56
Speaker 1: to kind of the crappier player that we once knew?
21:59
Speaker 1: Is he and Shane Steichen just a good fit? I
22:02
Speaker 1: got no clue. I really don't. I'm very, very intrigued.
22:06
Speaker 1: And to me with Baltimore, I hear a lot of people,
22:10
Speaker 1: whether it's different podcasts, different posts, you've just seen it out.
22:14
Speaker 1: A lot of people are picking the Ravens to make
22:17
Speaker 1: it to the Super Bowl and definitely be one of
22:19
Speaker 1: the top three or four teams in the league. Which, listen,
22:22
Speaker 1: they got an all-time great talent at quarterback. Metabuke, who
22:29
Speaker 1: a couple years ago, when they were elite on defense,
22:31
Speaker 1: was their best defensive player with Hamilton. What's he look
22:34
Speaker 1: like with the neck? I saw he was a limited participant,
22:38
Speaker 1: I think, on Wednesday's practice. I didn't look on Thursday.
22:42
Speaker 1: But is he just back to being a dude? And
22:46
Speaker 1: I get back to like Mike McDonald, who is, I
22:50
Speaker 1: think we all agree, one of the elites now in
22:52
Speaker 1: the league. Like that guy, when you see Mike McDonald,
22:55
Speaker 1: you go elite head coach. His first year, like little bumpy.
22:59
Speaker 1: They had a stretch where they lost a bunch of games.
23:01
Speaker 1: I think five out of six games. and it's not easy.
23:05
Speaker 1: They missed the playoffs. Now, they were 10-7, and that's
23:07
Speaker 1: kind of what I pegged the Ravens to do. Now,
23:10
Speaker 1: the difference is they had Geno Smith, they got Lamar Jackson,
23:14
Speaker 1: they had Ryan Grubb, they got Declan Doyle, but Ryan
23:17
Speaker 1: Grubb never called plays in the NFL. Declan Doyle's never
23:19
Speaker 1: called plays in the NFL. I just got some questions.
23:23
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm prepared to be wrong. I mean, I
23:25
Speaker 1: don't know. I do know this. Whoever wins this game,
23:30
Speaker 1: if Indy beats Baltimore... People are going to be like, okay,
23:34
Speaker 1: Indy's legit with Daniel Jones. It's clear. He's their quarterback.
23:38
Speaker 1: They're a legitimate playoff threat. And if the Ravens win,
23:41
Speaker 1: it'll validate everyone that's thinking they're sweet. Because going on
23:44
Speaker 1: the road week one, Indy's not an easy place to play.
23:48
Speaker 1: They've got a bunch of good players. I think whoever
23:51
Speaker 1: wins this game, there's one other game, I would say,
23:54
Speaker 1: in the morning slate that you're really going to be
23:56
Speaker 1: feeling good. But it's like, okay, this is a legitimate
24:00
Speaker 1: playoff team. Bills at Houston. I was watching, doing a
24:05
Speaker 1: little babysitting duty this morning. My man just, we are
24:09
Speaker 1: in the trenches sleep-wise. We're trying to transition some sleep training.
24:13
Speaker 1: We regressed. I mean, we got some issues. So sleep
24:18
Speaker 1: patterns are all over the place. I could be, you know,
24:21
Speaker 1: reading the iPad at like four in the morning. But
24:24
Speaker 1: I saw a stat on television that Josh Allen and
24:27
Speaker 1: his career is one in four against the Texans. And
24:29
Speaker 1: I remember a couple years ago, because we went live
24:32
Speaker 1: right after me and Colin, there was a game that
24:34
Speaker 1: like Sean McDermott screwed up at the end. I thought
24:38
Speaker 1: it was at the end of the game, punted, or
24:39
Speaker 1: something weird happened. But I vividly remember last year when
24:43
Speaker 1: Josh Allen got sacked eight times. And it felt like
24:45
Speaker 1: he could have been sacked 30 times. And this is
24:49
Speaker 1: like my main question with Buffalo is like, can they
24:52
Speaker 1: handle this front? Sometimes you see it in basketball. You
24:56
Speaker 1: definitely see it in football. Some teams are just bad
24:59
Speaker 1: matchups for the other team for whatever reason. And it
25:02
Speaker 1: does feel like Buffalo. I mean, again, I have it
25:05
Speaker 1: seared into my memory. I think it was a Monday
25:07
Speaker 1: night football or Sunday night football. It was a massacre
25:11
Speaker 1: of jobs. I've never seen Josh Allen look like me
25:14
Speaker 1: or you back. He had no shot. Typically he can
25:16
Speaker 1: run away and break that. You ain't doing that against
25:18
Speaker 1: these guys. So I just, that one's hard to shake.
25:23
Speaker 1: And to me, it's like, are they going to be
25:27
Speaker 1: able to handle this defense? Because they could not handle
25:29
Speaker 1: them last year. And the other thing on the Houston
25:32
Speaker 1: side is like, Houston won that game. I think the
25:34
Speaker 1: final score was like 23-19, which is kind of crazy
25:38
Speaker 1: given that he was sacked eight times. It shows you, like,
25:39
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bills are a really good team. And
25:42
Speaker 1: I think they're going to be really good again. But
25:45
Speaker 1: they won that game with Davis Mills. You know, Davis Mills,
25:50
Speaker 1: he threw two touchdowns. The big question mark is, like,
25:55
Speaker 1: what is C.J. Stroud? Is he good? Is he worth
25:58
Speaker 1: giving a huge extension to? You know, by all rumors
26:01
Speaker 1: and stuff on the internet, make of it what you will.
26:04
Speaker 1: It's like, he ain't into the Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold extensions. Well,
26:08
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, C.J. and David Mulgetta, I don't think
26:10
Speaker 1: they're into the $ 200 million extensions, so... You better play
26:13
Speaker 1: better if you want to see that. I think Houston's defense,
26:17
Speaker 1: like for as good as Seattle is, I think Houston's
26:19
Speaker 1: defense is on a different level. And Seattle's the cream
26:22
Speaker 1: of the crop. I think it's the best defense in
26:23
Speaker 1: the league. Picked them on a fantasy team. I think
26:26
Speaker 1: Willie Anderson's going to be defensive player of the year.
26:28
Speaker 1: It all comes down to, like, can this guy just
26:30
Speaker 1: be a game manager? No one's asking you to be
26:33
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. I think that's been hard for C.J. Stroud.
26:35
Speaker 1: You're the second pick in the draft. You see all
26:37
Speaker 1: the elite guys. You're like, I'm one of them. He's like, actually,
26:40
Speaker 1: you're not. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like, bro,
26:43
Speaker 1: you can make hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't
26:46
Speaker 1: want to say dinking and dunking, but just managing the
26:49
Speaker 1: offense with this franchise. And I'm fascinated to see how
26:53
Speaker 1: this looks. Because I would say this. Houston's a dog
26:59
Speaker 1: at home, which to me is like, guys, I mean,
27:02
Speaker 1: we just saw this game last year. If Houston wins
27:05
Speaker 1: this game, they'll feel great, but it's like we beat
27:08
Speaker 1: the Bills before. Like their issue has been some weird
27:11
Speaker 1: other games. Jacksonville they've had some weird games against for sure.
27:15
Speaker 1: I do think this would be a bigger win for
27:18
Speaker 1: the Bills just given their history against this team. Like
27:23
Speaker 1: eight sacks. I mean, that's really, really bad. Lions and Saints. Listen,
27:31
Speaker 1: I'm a sucker when I pick you. I thought I was,
27:36
Speaker 1: you know, not a lone wolf, but kind of out
27:39
Speaker 1: on my own out there. Everyone I see is picking
27:41
Speaker 1: the Saints. And listen, I'm actually going the other way now.
27:44
Speaker 1: A lot of good vibes in Tampa, but we'll get
27:46
Speaker 1: to them in a second. If the Saints beat the
27:49
Speaker 1: Lions at home, that is an incredible win. I mean,
27:54
Speaker 1: this is one of those, if you like the Saints
27:57
Speaker 1: to win the division, and a lot of people think
27:59
Speaker 1: that winning that division is like 9-10 wins. Most people
28:04
Speaker 1: aren't picking them to win this game. I don't even
28:07
Speaker 1: feel good. I would not pick the Saints. This is
28:10
Speaker 1: probably a stay away from me. But I am fascinated
28:13
Speaker 1: to watch. Like, okay, Tyler Shuck. People like me, a
28:16
Speaker 1: lot of people around the league, everyone's like, this guy's
28:18
Speaker 1: pretty good. Listen, a lot of people do it as
28:21
Speaker 1: a rookie. Hell, Drake may beat the crap out of
28:24
Speaker 1: the crappy teams, and people start giving him MVP votes.
28:26
Speaker 1: They start playing playoff teams like, who is this guy? So,
28:30
Speaker 1: and the Lions aren't exactly the 85 Bears here. I'm
28:35
Speaker 1: fascinated to watch Tyler Shuck. And for the Lions, like,
28:39
Speaker 1: your offense should be unstoppable. This... Indoors, where you play,
28:45
Speaker 1: you should look so fucking fast. I'm excited to just
28:50
Speaker 1: watch this Lions team this year. I think their offense
28:53
Speaker 1: has a chance to be, I mean, top in the league.
28:57
Speaker 1: And everyone took Jameer Gibbs number one in fantasy. Say
29:00
Speaker 1: Brown is, I don't know... A lot of people's just
29:04
Speaker 1: like favorite player for what a badass he is. They
29:07
Speaker 1: got it all. I mean, they got star left tackle,
29:09
Speaker 1: really good quarterback. I think Jared Goff, if their offense
29:12
Speaker 1: lives up to what I think it could be, could
29:13
Speaker 1: be the MVP. But this is a game to kind
29:17
Speaker 1: of get the Lions swag back. It's not like, you know,
29:19
Speaker 1: you're going on the road and beating the Eagles or
29:21
Speaker 1: beating the Rams or beating Seattle. But this is a
29:24
Speaker 1: good start to the season. Go on the road. Dan
29:26
Speaker 1: Campbell used to coach here forever with Sean Payton. Get
29:29
Speaker 1: a win and get out. This is fascinating to me
29:33
Speaker 1: because I have the Saints to win the division. And
29:37
Speaker 1: And maybe this is like we have a long time
29:39
Speaker 1: to kind of get it before the games start, and
29:42
Speaker 1: you have a lot of time to think, and it's
29:43
Speaker 1: like a lot of things to happen. I mean, Vitavia
29:46
Speaker 1: requested a trade, and Baker Mayfield was pissed. And yesterday
29:49
Speaker 1: I see a press conference with Jason Light and Baker Mayfield.
29:52
Speaker 1: They're laughing, they're hugging. Vibes are great. I mean, they've
29:55
Speaker 1: given two contract extensions to probably their best two players,
29:59
Speaker 1: not named Worfs. And I do feel like they got
30:02
Speaker 1: some good vibes. Now, the problem with Tampa... Listen, I
30:06
Speaker 1: like Todd, but did they make these extensions to have
30:11
Speaker 1: a good roster so when they call Mike Tomlin here
30:13
Speaker 1: in four months, are they a team that's going to
30:16
Speaker 1: have a new coach even if they won 10 games
30:20
Speaker 1: and were one and done in the playoffs? Is Todd Bowles,
30:24
Speaker 1: what's he going to have to do to keep his job?
30:26
Speaker 1: Is making the playoffs enough? That's kind of the elephant
30:29
Speaker 1: in the room with this team. Because the one thing
30:31
Speaker 1: you would say is player-wise, They got good vibes going.
30:35
Speaker 1: And I defended this yesterday. They gave him $ 110 million
30:38
Speaker 1: over the next three years in guaranteed money. Tua Tonga-Vailoa
30:43
Speaker 1: got way more. Jordan Love dwarfed that just like three
30:46
Speaker 1: years ago. So the contract to me is pretty team-friendly
30:51
Speaker 1: when it comes to the position for a guy that's
30:52
Speaker 1: established himself like top 14, 12 quarterback. So I'm fascinated
30:59
Speaker 1: to watch Tampa. I just think everyone thinks their coach
31:01
Speaker 1: is going to get fired. Like, that's the number one
31:03
Speaker 1: kind of elephant in the room with that franchise after
31:06
Speaker 1: signing all these guys. And then Cincy, like, I think
31:10
Speaker 1: they're going to be awesome. They have no excuse to
31:12
Speaker 1: not be awesome. Their defense should be dramatically better. You
31:17
Speaker 1: would think they get an inspired Dexter Lawrence kicking ass
31:20
Speaker 1: and taking names. I mean, their offensive weaponry is Jamar
31:25
Speaker 1: Chase is a Hall of Famer. T Higgins is as
31:28
Speaker 1: good of a number two as you'll find in the league. Brown,
31:30
Speaker 1: the running back can kind of do it all. I've
31:33
Speaker 1: had pro scouts tell me their offensive line is way
31:35
Speaker 1: better than the way people talk about them. You know,
31:38
Speaker 1: bro holds on the ball. He takes some sacks. This
31:40
Speaker 1: isn't five scrubs up there. So to me, this is like,
31:47
Speaker 1: you got to win 12, 13 games and you open
31:49
Speaker 1: at home. There's a franchise that starts slow all the time. I, I,
31:56
Speaker 1: I always make fun of whenever I'm walking by the
31:58
Speaker 1: TV and, you know, one of these talking head shows,
32:01
Speaker 1: and I've seen some must-wins. Must-win for Josh Allen. Must-win
32:06
Speaker 1: for this. Like, there's no such thing as a must-win
32:09
Speaker 1: game one. I do think it's extremely important for Cincinnati
32:11
Speaker 1: to win this game, to get some positive momentum, to
32:14
Speaker 1: get some, you know, everything rolling in the right direction.
32:17
Speaker 1: It's been the opposite in recent history. Two years ago
32:20
Speaker 1: when they went 9-8, they started so bad, and their
32:23
Speaker 1: defense was atrocious. So... I do think Cincinnati, they should
32:28
Speaker 1: be a team that is dropping 30 plus points a game,
32:31
Speaker 1: right there with the Lions. And then the last morning
32:34
Speaker 1: game that I find pretty fascinating, Carolina, no offense, something
32:38
Speaker 1: about the brand, it just does nothing for me. It's
32:40
Speaker 1: like the Orlando magic. Or I'm trying to think, there's
32:43
Speaker 1: just certain franchises in sports that like no emotion is
32:48
Speaker 1: created inside me. Like when you say the LSU Tigers
32:52
Speaker 1: or the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees,
32:55
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, like... You kind of feel
32:59
Speaker 1: something as a sports guy. When you say the Carolina Panthers,
33:03
Speaker 1: I feel nothing. You know? So that brand, I have
33:08
Speaker 1: no problem if you get good enough. And listen, no shade,
33:11
Speaker 1: but same thing with Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, if they get
33:14
Speaker 1: good enough, I have to just suck it up and
33:17
Speaker 1: consume them. I did last year. Parker Washington's on my
33:21
Speaker 1: fantasy team. But I just... I don't know. I mean,
33:26
Speaker 1: I'm watching this game for Caleb and Ben Johnson. Maybe
33:29
Speaker 1: my expectation, I saw Dave Tepper thinks they're going to
33:32
Speaker 1: be really good. They've had a bunch of injuries. The
33:35
Speaker 1: Bryce experiment, time will tell. Yeah, I don't know. I
33:40
Speaker 1: don't really know what to say there. So my four
33:43
Speaker 1: bucks for sure in the morning is Ravens, Indies. Raven
33:46
Speaker 1: at Indies, Bill at Houston, Lions at Saints, Tampa at Cincy,
33:51
Speaker 1: and then I'll give Chicago Carolina with some of the
33:53
Speaker 1: other slop in the morning. I think it's Jacksonville, Cleveland, Jets, Titans.
34:00
Speaker 1: Sneaky must win for the Titans. Like if you can't,
34:03
Speaker 1: if the Titans can't, and I, listen, I just said,
34:06
Speaker 1: because if you can't beat the Jets at home, Who
34:10
Speaker 1: are you beating? Who? I would say most people probably
34:14
Speaker 1: have them going 0-6 in the division. 1-5 at best.
34:20
Speaker 1: If Cam Ward is as bad as people think he's
34:23
Speaker 1: going to be, I mean, he hasn't been good. Preseason
34:26
Speaker 1: did not go well. So it could get weird. Some
34:30
Speaker 1: of the afternoon games, it's like Chargers, Cardinals. I mean,
34:35
Speaker 1: I saw Jeremiah Love is number two on the depth chart.
34:38
Speaker 1: I just... That really bothers me, stuff like that. I
34:44
Speaker 1: have no problem making a guy earn it. I've given
34:46
Speaker 1: this story before. Eric Reid, whose brother Justin Reid played
34:50
Speaker 1: for the Chiefs forever, Eric Reid, LSU guy, got drafted
34:53
Speaker 1: in the first round by the 49ers when I first
34:56
Speaker 1: got in the media world. And Vic Fangio had him
34:59
Speaker 1: running with the threes in OTAs. And by training camp,
35:01
Speaker 1: he's running with the twos. It's like, Vic, you have
35:04
Speaker 1: an open safety spot. You just drafted this guy in
35:06
Speaker 1: the first round. He's going to be starting. What happened
35:08
Speaker 1: in week one? Eric Reid was a starter. I have
35:10
Speaker 1: no issue with that. When you draft a guy high,
35:13
Speaker 1: a blue chipper, and I'm not saying Eric Reid's as
35:15
Speaker 1: good as Jeremiah Love, but my point is, big-time school guy, like,
35:19
Speaker 1: you draft this guy third overall, if this guy's not
35:21
Speaker 1: on the field week one, snap one, and he's fully healthy,
35:25
Speaker 1: shame on you. You guys are fucking idiots. I mean, losers.
35:29
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Losers. I know you sign free agent running back.
35:34
Speaker 1: No one cares. You draft this guy third overall, put
35:37
Speaker 1: him on the field. You can't convince me he doesn't
35:40
Speaker 1: know the offense. I just do not believe that. And
35:43
Speaker 1: I'm not even saying they're saying that, but I don't
35:45
Speaker 1: know what the justification would be. It's like super high
35:47
Speaker 1: character guy. What's your knock? He doesn't know the offense.
35:50
Speaker 1: He's lazy. Like what, what are you telling me? Cause
35:51
Speaker 1: I know he's the most talented running back. You have
35:53
Speaker 1: get them on the field. Like if you tell me
35:56
Speaker 1: after this year, everyone in Arizona gets fired. I think
35:58
Speaker 1: that's definitely on the table. GM and new coach. It's
36:03
Speaker 1: going to be a disaster. Um, Week one, you know,
36:08
Speaker 1: disasters can look decent week one. Pete Carroll beat New
36:11
Speaker 1: England last year. By the end of the season, it
36:13
Speaker 1: was like they were a laughingstock. Packers at Minnesota is
36:17
Speaker 1: a very, very interesting game. I would say Packers in
36:20
Speaker 1: Minnesota and the big game in Philly are just, what's
36:23
Speaker 1: this going to look like? I think starting with Packers
36:26
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, I don't know. With Green Bay, a ton
36:30
Speaker 1: of new players. You're missing your best player who's out
36:33
Speaker 1: until who knows when in October in Micah Parsons. Pretty dependent.
36:38
Speaker 1: You have this Josh Jacobs situation. He pleaded no contest. Like, bro,
36:41
Speaker 1: if there's a video, you ain't coming back. So I
36:46
Speaker 1: hate shorting the Packers because even on bad years, they
36:50
Speaker 1: win nine games. I just think that I don't feel
36:53
Speaker 1: great about it. I don't. In Minnesota, I don't feel
36:56
Speaker 1: great about either. Like to me, these are in some
36:59
Speaker 1: order three and four in that division. In some order.
37:02
Speaker 1: I don't know what. I guess this game will tell
37:05
Speaker 1: us something. at least early on. Big picture, I don't
37:08
Speaker 1: think the Kyler Murray experiment is going to play. I mean,
37:10
Speaker 1: is Kyler Murray playing all 17 games? And if he doesn't,
37:12
Speaker 1: then Carson Wentz comes in, who actually has kind of
37:16
Speaker 1: resurrected his career just still in the league, but shell
37:20
Speaker 1: of what he used to be. And the Eagle game
37:24
Speaker 1: is like your home opener against a team that universally
37:32
Speaker 1: everyone thinks sucks. They lose one of, if not, I
37:36
Speaker 1: don't know, second best player in their left tackle. Most
37:38
Speaker 1: people think their O-line's terrible. They have been to the
37:41
Speaker 1: joint practices where they have gotten worked. Jaden's got this
37:45
Speaker 1: weird thing going where he's like, I'm going to prove
37:47
Speaker 1: all you guys wrong after, you know, the stuff with
37:50
Speaker 1: LSU happened. Defensively, I'm very big on Sonny South. I
37:55
Speaker 1: would have drafted him much higher than he got drafted.
37:58
Speaker 1: I'm shocked the Giants passed on him a five. I
38:00
Speaker 1: think the Titans could have taken him a four. He
38:03
Speaker 1: looked atrocious in the preseason. Now you'd be like, well,
38:06
Speaker 1: it's the preseason, John. And I agree, but like part of,
38:09
Speaker 1: like David Bailey. See him in the preseason, you're like,
38:11
Speaker 1: holy shit. I see clips of Caleb Downs at practice,
38:15
Speaker 1: like picking off Dak left and right. I just like, see,
38:18
Speaker 1: this guy just looks swimming. And again, I'm not crushing
38:22
Speaker 1: him for the pick. I loved the player. I would
38:25
Speaker 1: still bet on the player, but a little concerning. So
38:29
Speaker 1: that to me puts the pressure on the Eagles where
38:31
Speaker 1: all their home games are pressure packed. I got my
38:33
Speaker 1: guy Acho trying to take down Big Dom. It's like, Acho,
38:37
Speaker 1: no one's taking down Big Dom. What are we doing here, buddy?
38:43
Speaker 1: Some things are meant just to keep to ourselves. Let's
38:48
Speaker 1: just keep some things to ourselves. I know some people
38:53
Speaker 1: that know some people at the Combine. Goodell is not
38:57
Speaker 1: a fan of Dom. I just put it that way.
39:00
Speaker 1: Which like, Rods, just make your 50 mil, leave the
39:03
Speaker 1: big fella alone. And Acho like, bro, some things are
39:07
Speaker 1: meant to stay unsaid. Just keep it yourself. What a
39:11
Speaker 1: fucking moronic thing to say out loud. Bro, he didn't
39:16
Speaker 1: even say him, but as like everyone assumes it's him,
39:18
Speaker 1: it's like, bro, just keep it moving. You got this
39:23
Speaker 1: new offense. Jonathan Grenard, you know, has been at practice. Like,
39:29
Speaker 1: he probably should win this game by double digits. I mean, seriously.
39:32
Speaker 1: You got Fangio against Jaden Daniels, who you played a
39:35
Speaker 1: couple years ago in that NFC Championship game and you
39:38
Speaker 1: curb stomped him. Like, this is a game if you're
39:41
Speaker 1: Philly and you're going to get back to your kind
39:43
Speaker 1: of get your swag back that you lost last season. 28, 13,
39:52
Speaker 1: something like that. Like, you dominate this game. You get
39:56
Speaker 1: Jalen looking good. You run the ball. And everyone's just, okay,
40:01
Speaker 1: Jalen's going to be good in this offense. They can
40:03
Speaker 1: run the ball again. Saquon had a buck 40, a
40:05
Speaker 1: couple touchdowns. Jalen threw a touchdown and ran one in
40:10
Speaker 1: on the tush push, which now they might be calling
40:12
Speaker 1: offsides pretty easily, which I got no issue with. The
40:15
Speaker 1: other thing is the game, the night ends with Dallas,
40:18
Speaker 1: the Giants. I'm just not as high on the Giants
40:23
Speaker 1: this year as most. I think they're still pretty flawed.
40:26
Speaker 1: We've got some unknowns. I've got to see Malik Nabors.
40:29
Speaker 1: Is he back to being the guy that was at
40:31
Speaker 1: LSU and then early on before he got his knee injury?
40:34
Speaker 1: Because if he is, then it's okay. I might change
40:37
Speaker 1: my tune a little bit. I still wonder about their
40:39
Speaker 1: run defense, the coaching. It's not like John Harbaugh was
40:44
Speaker 1: a dominant guy last year. It was kind of rough.
40:49
Speaker 1: So I... I think Dallas has a chance to be really,
40:53
Speaker 1: really good. Also some unknowns there. Got new pieces on defense,
40:57
Speaker 1: new defensive, first-time defensive coordinator. I got to be fair,
41:00
Speaker 1: like if I'm going to question guys like Declan Doyle, 30-year-old,
41:03
Speaker 1: never called plays, I got to say the same thing
41:06
Speaker 1: with Christian Parker. I think he's 34, 33, young guy, up-and-comer,
41:12
Speaker 1: but never been in that seat. And, you know, Declan
41:15
Speaker 1: Doyle with the Ravens, Christian Parker with the Cowboys. You
41:18
Speaker 1: see this with the Eagles coordinators. There are certain gigs–
41:21
Speaker 1: A lot of fucking people are paying attention. You're the
41:23
Speaker 1: OC for Lamar. You're the OC for Jalen Hurts. You're
41:28
Speaker 1: the DC for the Cowboys. This ain't the Arizona Cardinals.
41:32
Speaker 1: You got a lot of folks paying attention. You are
41:36
Speaker 1: a hot button topic for all of us because it's fascinating.
41:39
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I mean, you're just one of the main
41:41
Speaker 1: topics in the league. So I've heard great things. I
41:46
Speaker 1: think the Cowboys are fired up on them. They definitely
41:48
Speaker 1: have better personnel because we know the offense is going
41:50
Speaker 1: to be good. It all comes down to that side
41:52
Speaker 1: of the ball. Okay, let's do some predictions. I've been
42:08
Speaker 1: thinking a lot about this. I spend so much time thinking, well,
42:11
Speaker 1: I've got to leave people out. If I take the
42:14
Speaker 1: AFC and NFC West to get three teams in the playoffs...
42:19
Speaker 1: What do I do? So I've just spent so much
42:22
Speaker 1: time thinking about my wildcard teams because I've been pretty
42:26
Speaker 1: confident about my division winners. So if we just go,
42:29
Speaker 1: we'll start the AFC and we'll make our way through
42:31
Speaker 1: the NFC. AFC East. I'm just betting on Josh Allen
42:35
Speaker 1: until I'm wrong. Now, you'd be like, well, you were
42:38
Speaker 1: wrong last year, Middlecoff. Yeah, I was. And the coach
42:41
Speaker 1: got fired. Like, I'm pretty confident that Josh Allen, he's
42:46
Speaker 1: the best player in the division. I think he's the
42:48
Speaker 1: best player in the league. I think most people would
42:50
Speaker 1: agree with me. In the peak of his powers. And
42:53
Speaker 1: I'm just picking him on a yearly basis to win
42:55
Speaker 1: the division. Doesn't mean he's going to win it every year.
42:57
Speaker 1: Didn't last year. But I feel pretty good about my
43:00
Speaker 1: spot when I picked Josh. I also talked to Joe
43:03
Speaker 1: Brady at the Combine. I'm just a believer. Guy's got
43:07
Speaker 1: some swag. I think he's really good at his gig.
43:10
Speaker 1: Jim Leonard, always been a fan of. Defensive coordinator, former
43:12
Speaker 1: safety for Rex. I think they're going to be good.
43:16
Speaker 1: This is one I feel very confident on this. I
43:19
Speaker 1: think this team can win the Super Bowl. I think
43:21
Speaker 1: they definitely could be in the AFC Championship game. I
43:23
Speaker 1: think they are going to be a major, major factor
43:25
Speaker 1: in the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm a believer. Now, they have
43:28
Speaker 1: started slow, it feels like, every year, which can be
43:31
Speaker 1: a problem. I need them to start fast. They got
43:34
Speaker 1: week one. That game's going to be a little tricky,
43:36
Speaker 1: you know, playing the Bucs. But I love the Bengals
43:40
Speaker 1: this year. I love them. And let's not forget, like,
43:43
Speaker 1: It's like, well, what about the Ravens or McCarthy and
43:45
Speaker 1: the Steelers? Both those two games, a game could have
43:50
Speaker 1: ended in a tie week 18. Let's not act like
43:54
Speaker 1: those two teams were beating the shit out of everyone
43:56
Speaker 1: last year, especially the Ravens. AFC South, this is actually
44:00
Speaker 1: probably the easiest pick. I think the Houston Texans, CJ
44:03
Speaker 1: Stroud could play like me and they'd win 11 games.
44:05
Speaker 1: If he just plays solid, this team could win 14,
44:08
Speaker 1: 15 games. I think their defense, which has consistently been
44:13
Speaker 1: is going to be the best in the league in 2026.
44:15
Speaker 1: The AFC West, I'm just going to ride Denver. You
44:20
Speaker 1: could convince me on the Chargers. The Chiefs still have
44:23
Speaker 1: too many question marks to put them back in there.
44:25
Speaker 1: I think they're probably a year away from getting back
44:27
Speaker 1: in that conversation. But I mentioned this to Coward. You
44:31
Speaker 1: removed the quarterback. So you just took all 32 teams.
44:34
Speaker 1: No one has a quarterback. But you have your entire
44:37
Speaker 1: roster non-quarterback. I think you could make the argument Denver's
44:41
Speaker 1: the best team in the league. just roster-wise. So I'm
44:44
Speaker 1: going Bills, Cincy, Texans, Denver. In the NFC, I've been
44:49
Speaker 1: hammering this for a while. I'm not pivoting now a
44:51
Speaker 1: couple days before the season. I'm taking the Cowboys. I
44:55
Speaker 1: don't like the Cowboys. I love the Cowboys. Now I'm
44:57
Speaker 1: betting on this young hotshot defensive coordinator, Christian Parker. I'm
45:01
Speaker 1: betting on Caleb Downs. I'm betting on some of these...
45:04
Speaker 1: This defensive line coming together more as a unit than
45:07
Speaker 1: Micah's gone because last year was an abomination on defense.
45:11
Speaker 1: We know their offense is going to be awesome, even
45:13
Speaker 1: though all pro guard just had a finger injury. It's
45:16
Speaker 1: out a month. Listen, we can fill in with a guard.
45:19
Speaker 1: We can make it happen. Not ideal on one of
45:22
Speaker 1: your good players, but it is what it is. I'm
45:25
Speaker 1: betting on this defense just being middle of the pack
45:28
Speaker 1: because I think they're going to have one of, if
45:29
Speaker 1: not the best offense in the league. And I think
45:32
Speaker 1: you go back and forth with them and Philly. I
45:35
Speaker 1: just got question marks in Philly. You know, I mean,
45:38
Speaker 1: this new offensive change is dramatic. Like, you see it
45:43
Speaker 1: in college a lot, right, where a prominent program will
45:48
Speaker 1: just change its offense. And sometimes it works, and other
45:52
Speaker 1: times it is an abomination. Now, I've never disputed that
45:56
Speaker 1: the Eagles roster isn't high-end, but I'll give Nick Wright
46:01
Speaker 1: credit on this one. I heard him say this. I
46:03
Speaker 1: don't know if it was TV or with Colin on
46:04
Speaker 1: a podcast. There's probably not a team in the league
46:08
Speaker 1: that has a bigger swing of wins and losses than
46:11
Speaker 1: the Eagles. You can convince me it works and Philly
46:14
Speaker 1: wins 13, 14 games. You can convince me it just
46:18
Speaker 1: unravels and their roster is still too good. They go 8-9.
46:23
Speaker 1: So to me, they're probably 9, 10 wins because I
46:26
Speaker 1: think their defense is going to be so awesome. I
46:27
Speaker 1: just got too many question marks on offense. You're just
46:29
Speaker 1: telling me this guy, it was all the coordinator? It
46:31
Speaker 1: was all the coordinator and A.J. Brown. I don't know.
46:34
Speaker 1: The quarterback is just– and part of it is can
46:36
Speaker 1: you run the ball? Because last year they couldn't. So
46:40
Speaker 1: this offense in theory is easier to run the ball.
46:42
Speaker 1: I know the Cowboys' offense is elite. And it's kind
46:44
Speaker 1: of an offensive league. That kind of matters. The NFC North,
46:48
Speaker 1: who I'd probably pick to be the one seed– You know,
46:51
Speaker 1: I think in the AFC, it'd be sincere Denver to
46:53
Speaker 1: be the one seed. In the NFC, I think I'd
46:57
Speaker 1: go Detroit. I think Detroit's going to be awesome. I just,
47:02
Speaker 1: you know, last year, he just made a mistake. He
47:06
Speaker 1: hired his buddy and the players turned on him. And
47:09
Speaker 1: the one thing I respect about the kind of the
47:11
Speaker 1: modern day NFL, like players have a lot of juice, right?
47:14
Speaker 1: Players in college and the pros have a lot of power.
47:17
Speaker 1: 20 years ago, 30 years ago, the equivalent of Dan Campbell,
47:20
Speaker 1: The players, this isn't Magic Johnson or John Elway here.
47:25
Speaker 1: I don't think they could have forced the coordinator out,
47:28
Speaker 1: but it was clear. I saw this a couple years
47:30
Speaker 1: ago with the 49ers with the defensive coordinator. When Fred
47:33
Speaker 1: Warner turned it on, you're done. And that happened in Detroit.
47:37
Speaker 1: And I think Drew Petzing, I watched a lot of
47:39
Speaker 1: Arizona down the stretch because there weren't that many games
47:42
Speaker 1: in the afternoon window on Sundays. They didn't win a lot.
47:47
Speaker 1: But offense wasn't the problem. Jacoby was slinging that thing around.
47:50
Speaker 1: Mike Wilson, who just got a big contract, lapped Marvin Harrison.
47:55
Speaker 1: I'm a believer in Detroit. I think offensively they are
47:59
Speaker 1: going to be unbelievable. Now defense, they obviously had to
48:04
Speaker 1: cut a first-round corner because of the kidnapping thing, and
48:07
Speaker 1: John Schneider's like, come over! But I'm a believer. I'm
48:12
Speaker 1: a believer in Dan Campbell. Maybe I've watched too many
48:15
Speaker 1: interviews on YouTube with them. I think they're going to
48:18
Speaker 1: be excellent. This is a little bit of my sleeper pick,
48:21
Speaker 1: even though I've heard so many people pick this team.
48:22
Speaker 1: It's no longer a sleeper. I don't like the Saints.
48:25
Speaker 1: I love the Saints. I think the Saints, you're looking
48:28
Speaker 1: at 10-plus wins. I think Tyler Shuck is going to
48:30
Speaker 1: be a quarterback that is consistently talked about moving forward. Now,
48:38
Speaker 1: we have a couple issues. Some of the injuries on offense,
48:41
Speaker 1: Jordan Tyson, who I'm depending on zero. And Chris Alave, like, has,
48:47
Speaker 1: rightfully so, like a concussion thing in his contract because
48:51
Speaker 1: he's had a lot of concussions. But if Alave's on
48:53
Speaker 1: the field, like, I think that guy's a pro bowler.
48:56
Speaker 1: Their tight end's good. They sign Etienne. Kamara got hurt.
48:59
Speaker 1: It's like, Kamara, well, they signed Travis Etienne, who I
49:02
Speaker 1: think is a big reason I don't like the Jags
49:04
Speaker 1: as much because he was such a big kind of blanket,
49:08
Speaker 1: a safety blanket for Trevor Lawrence. So Dallas, Detroit, New Orleans,
49:13
Speaker 1: and I'm just sticking with what I know. And Seattle,
49:18
Speaker 1: I'm just not picking the ramps. I just I just
49:21
Speaker 1: don't think it's that easy I know everyone does and
49:24
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're not going to be good I'm
49:26
Speaker 1: not saying that the game won't come down I think
49:28
Speaker 1: they play the second to last week of the season
49:31
Speaker 1: which is like January 3rd I think it has a
49:34
Speaker 1: lot of similarities to this year where we have seen
49:37
Speaker 1: now pretty consistently in the NFC that a game a
49:41
Speaker 1: couple years ago was Detroit-Minnesota. I remember years before that,
49:46
Speaker 1: multiple times, it's been Seattle-San Francisco. It was Seattle-San Francisco
49:50
Speaker 1: technically last year. Seattle-San Francisco in 2019. I think we
49:55
Speaker 1: get some similarities this year with that Seattle-Rams game at
49:58
Speaker 1: the end of the season dictating it. And I'm just
50:01
Speaker 1: leaning Seattle. We'll stick with the Rams on the wildcard teams.
50:06
Speaker 1: I'll take the Rams. I think then we have a
50:09
Speaker 1: group of teams in the Bears, the Niners, the Eagles,
50:12
Speaker 1: and Green Bay. I'm not picking Green Bay. They've won
50:17
Speaker 1: nine games two of the last three years. Now, you
50:20
Speaker 1: would say they punted the last week of the season. Okay,
50:23
Speaker 1: but this is not some team that is just rattling
50:26
Speaker 1: off 12, 13 win seasons. They have a ton of
50:29
Speaker 1: turnover on their team. The best player on their team,
50:31
Speaker 1: the reason they don't have a first-round pick, who is
50:34
Speaker 1: going to contribute to this team, is currently not going
50:36
Speaker 1: to be available for who knows how long. Which, I'm
50:40
Speaker 1: not a doctor. I just follow sports, so I feel
50:43
Speaker 1: I have a good understanding of timelines. All these other
50:45
Speaker 1: guys with all these injuries and all these positions are back.
50:49
Speaker 1: And you'd be like, well, quarterback's different. Okay. George Kittle
50:53
Speaker 1: tore his Achilles. And it looks like he's going to
50:56
Speaker 1: play here in a couple days. I might think, was
50:58
Speaker 1: his injury actually worse than we thought? Are they just
51:01
Speaker 1: being extra cautious because of how much they gave up? Like,
51:05
Speaker 1: I'm not acting like Green Bay is going to be
51:06
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins this year. I just don't think they
51:09
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. So then I'm basically down. If the Rams-Seattle,
51:13
Speaker 1: you know, Seattle wins it, Rams give them the first
51:15
Speaker 1: wild card spot, is down two, three teams. The Bears,
51:19
Speaker 1: the Niners, and the Eagles. I'm going to lean the Bears.
51:23
Speaker 1: I got it wrong last year. Early in the season,
51:25
Speaker 1: I'm like, Caleb and Ben's not going to work. By
51:27
Speaker 1: the end of the season, I'm like, this is magic.
51:29
Speaker 1: And once he becomes a more consistent passer, like this
51:32
Speaker 1: is going to work. Now the Bears have some question marks.
51:33
Speaker 1: You know, Kobe Bryant gets injured basically out for the season.
51:38
Speaker 1: Pretty dependent on some random guys on the defensive line.
51:42
Speaker 1: I just think offensively, I just think Ben Johnson's too good.
51:47
Speaker 1: I'm going to give the Niners the edge over the Eagles.
51:49
Speaker 1: Because they play the second to last week of the
51:52
Speaker 1: season on NBC. It's a Sunday night game. And I
51:56
Speaker 1: think that's a little loser leaves town. Winners in the playoffs.
52:02
Speaker 1: Because I think, to me, the Bears, Niners, Philly all
52:05
Speaker 1: kind of hover around 10-ish wins. And I saw that
52:11
Speaker 1: song and dance last year. More than the 49ers in
52:14
Speaker 1: a must-win game having to go to Philly. What happened
52:17
Speaker 1: in the playoffs? So... I could be wrong on Philly.
52:22
Speaker 1: I'm not a Philly hater by any means. I think
52:24
Speaker 1: their roster's fantastic. I just think they got a lot
52:26
Speaker 1: of moving parts. I think the NFC, I mean, look
52:28
Speaker 1: who we're talking about. It's just way deeper. I don't
52:33
Speaker 1: have the Packers to make the playoffs. Packers make the
52:35
Speaker 1: playoffs every year. You know, I'm just going to not
52:37
Speaker 1: have Kyle Shannon in the playoffs. Last year, he won
52:40
Speaker 1: 12 games with me and you playing defense for half
52:42
Speaker 1: the season. So it's hard to do, but Philly's out.
52:48
Speaker 1: Let's go wildcard teams. in the AFC. LA is just
52:54
Speaker 1: a football town. USC's back. Rams are the, you know,
53:00
Speaker 1: everyone thinks they're going to go 20-0. To me, the Chargers,
53:05
Speaker 1: if you convince, you could convince me the Chargers win
53:07
Speaker 1: the division. If you want to take the Chargers to
53:10
Speaker 1: win the AFC West, all for it. Not even against it.
53:14
Speaker 1: Might dabble on them a little bit. But I just
53:17
Speaker 1: think that the Chargers are a lock to be good. Now,
53:20
Speaker 1: their ceiling, the pressure in the playoffs, Jim, Herbert, got
53:26
Speaker 1: to win a playoff game. But regular season, you tell
53:28
Speaker 1: me they got their tackles back. You know, I'm not
53:33
Speaker 1: the biggest old Marion Hampton fan, but I was texting
53:35
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah, who calls the Charger games, who's at every practice.
53:39
Speaker 1: He's like, bro, he's pretty solid. He's a good outside
53:41
Speaker 1: zone runner. He's a physical player. He's fine. He's not,
53:44
Speaker 1: it might not be Earl Campbell or Adrian Peterson, but
53:47
Speaker 1: he's going to be a good player. It's like, okay,
53:48
Speaker 1: maybe I'm being a little too harsh. but Chargers to
53:52
Speaker 1: me are a block playoff team. I mean, they couldn't
53:55
Speaker 1: have had any more injuries they did last year, and
53:57
Speaker 1: they were in the playoffs. You know, I think the
54:00
Speaker 1: Chiefs are a pretty polarizing team because last year went
54:02
Speaker 1: so bad. They got, you know, dad bod Travis Kelsey.
54:05
Speaker 1: They got Mahomes coming back off the ACL. I AI'd
54:09
Speaker 1: it today. I'm like, how many times has Andy Reid
54:10
Speaker 1: been in the playoffs since 1999? The answer is 20.
54:15
Speaker 1: He's been to the playoffs half of my life. Andy
54:20
Speaker 1: Reid goes to the playoffs. 11 of those are with
54:24
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. What happened last year is beyond an outlier.
54:30
Speaker 1: Remove Philly, just say his Chiefs tenure. Like, I'm just
54:34
Speaker 1: betting on Andy Reid and Mahomes. And it's going to
54:38
Speaker 1: be a transition year. They had that a couple years
54:40
Speaker 1: ago when they traded Tyreek. They won the Super Bowl. Now,
54:43
Speaker 1: I'm not picking them to win the Super Bowl. I think, hell,
54:45
Speaker 1: it would be hard, you know, getting a seven seed,
54:48
Speaker 1: getting in at like 10 wins, that'd be an impressive
54:50
Speaker 1: bounce back, especially off, you know, your quarterback being injured.
54:53
Speaker 1: But I just, I got to pick the Chiefs to
54:56
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. And I like the Chargers more than
54:58
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, so they got to be in. Then all
55:00
Speaker 1: of a sudden I go, well, I only got one spot.
55:03
Speaker 1: The Patriots were in the Super Bowl last year, and
55:05
Speaker 1: I got the Bills winning the division. The Steelers were
55:08
Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year. I don't got them winning
55:11
Speaker 1: the division. the Ravens who honestly their schedule, if they
55:15
Speaker 1: beat the Colts, which I think is kind of a
55:17
Speaker 1: sneaky game. Uh, so I got Steelers, the Ravens and
55:21
Speaker 1: new England all for one spot. I originally put Indy
55:25
Speaker 1: in that mix, but like, I think if I just
55:28
Speaker 1: make a living, not riding Daniel Jones, I'll be okay.
55:32
Speaker 1: So I'll remove Indianapolis and just have new England, Baltimore,
55:35
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh for one spot. Uh, I think this a lot
55:38
Speaker 1: like the Niners Philly thing. They're all around nine, 10 wins. Uh, I,
55:43
Speaker 1: Who's the best quarterback of this bunch? Historically, over the
55:47
Speaker 1: course of his career, you would say Lamar. Drake had
55:50
Speaker 1: the better year last year. Aaron Rodgers, at this point
55:54
Speaker 1: in time of his career, is the worst of the three.
55:56
Speaker 1: Who's the best coach of the three? Well, I would
56:00
Speaker 1: say McCarthy's resume is better than Vrabel's, and we just
56:02
Speaker 1: know nothing about Jesse Minter. The other thing with the
56:05
Speaker 1: Ravens is first-time play caller. Sometimes that goes great. Ask
56:10
Speaker 1: the Eagles. Sometimes that is a nightmare. So I struggle
56:15
Speaker 1: with this one because I'm going to take the Steelers.
56:21
Speaker 1: I'm going to take McCarthy. I'm going to take one
56:22
Speaker 1: last ride Aaron Rodgers. And I think all three of
56:26
Speaker 1: these teams, it all comes down to tiebreakers. But I'm
56:31
Speaker 1: taking the Steelers with that last wildcard spot. So I
56:33
Speaker 1: got the Chargers, Chiefs, and Steelers in my wildcard. And
56:35
Speaker 1: I got the Rams, Bears, and Niners in my wildcard.
56:39
Speaker 1: My MVP. If I love the Lions... I also love
56:44
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, but I just think Jared Goff is your classic.
56:49
Speaker 1: I think Dak would fall under this a little bit,
56:51
Speaker 1: but I think if you polled most people, they would
56:53
Speaker 1: say Dak is better than Goff. I might disagree. Dak
56:57
Speaker 1: used to give you more mobility. We have just had,
57:01
Speaker 1: for a stretch, of just Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes,
57:05
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, these all-time
57:10
Speaker 1: great Hall of Fame-type guys. win MVPs. Every once in
57:16
Speaker 1: a while, you get like, Matt Ryan wins the MVP.
57:19
Speaker 1: Even Cam, by far, had the best year of his career,
57:22
Speaker 1: won an MVP. Cam feels less crazy than Matt Ryan,
57:26
Speaker 1: given that Heisman Trophy, won the National Championship, number one
57:30
Speaker 1: overall pick, higher ceiling than Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan was
57:33
Speaker 1: just more consistent, but I would put both those guys
57:35
Speaker 1: in a similar category of like, not quite the same.
57:39
Speaker 1: I would say Cam's got more star power than Matt Ryan,
57:41
Speaker 1: but both of them in the category of like, Yeah,
57:43
Speaker 1: it's not exactly Mahomes or Brady, you know. And I
57:48
Speaker 1: think if you like the Lions to be really good
57:50
Speaker 1: this year, and their offense on paper looks fucking fantastic,
57:53
Speaker 1: Jared Goff the last two years has 71 touchdowns. To me,
57:57
Speaker 1: so that's averaging about 35.5. If you can get to
58:01
Speaker 1: the point where that number gets to like 42, and
58:05
Speaker 1: this is a team that wins. I mean, a couple
58:07
Speaker 1: years ago he threw 37 when they were the one seed,
58:11
Speaker 1: and he had to. Because that's the other thing. Their
58:13
Speaker 1: defense is not going to be great. It's a little
58:14
Speaker 1: Trinidad Chambliss. I need you to score. Because if you
58:17
Speaker 1: don't score, we're not going to win. I think Jared
58:22
Speaker 1: Goff wins it. I'm going Jared Goff, MVP. Coach of
58:26
Speaker 1: the Year. I'm going Brian Schottenheimer. Because if you tell
58:32
Speaker 1: me the Cowboys win the East, I don't see how
58:36
Speaker 1: he doesn't win Coach of the Year. They're just... They're
58:39
Speaker 1: talked about too much. He's... It's just too... The microscope
58:46
Speaker 1: on that franchise and the lights on that franchise are
58:50
Speaker 1: just too bright. Plus, a couple years ago, everyone thought
58:52
Speaker 1: it was the biggest embarrassment of a hire of all time.
58:55
Speaker 1: So if you go from biggest embarrassment of a hire
58:56
Speaker 1: of all time to two years later winning the division
58:59
Speaker 1: against a franchise that is consistently... I don't know, what
59:03
Speaker 1: are the Eagles? Top three or four franchise in the league?
59:06
Speaker 1: Just consistently year in, year out over a 25-year period?
59:11
Speaker 1: I'm going Brian Schottenheimer. Defensive player of the year. This
59:14
Speaker 1: is actually a pretty easy one for me. I think
59:17
Speaker 1: this guy is going to be viewed when it's all
59:18
Speaker 1: said and done as one of the best players of
59:20
Speaker 1: all time. His play style, his violence, the unit in
59:26
Speaker 1: which he plays on, And just, this guy is a
59:31
Speaker 1: dominant player. Now, there are some sexier names. You know,
59:33
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett, could he win it again? But I'm taking
59:36
Speaker 1: Will Anderson. I think the Texans have the best defense
59:39
Speaker 1: in the league. And I think Will Anderson just jolts himself.
59:42
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a guy that was top three
59:45
Speaker 1: pick from Alabama, who just a blue chip recruit. No nonsense,
59:49
Speaker 1: no bullshit. I mean, everything you would want in a
59:53
Speaker 1: superstar player. In terms of the character, the work ethic,
59:57
Speaker 1: the no drama. Barely even hear the guy talk. I
1:00:03
Speaker 1: love this guy. I think defensive player of the year.
1:00:06
Speaker 1: He is going to have a massive season. Rookie of
1:00:10
Speaker 1: the year. Again, if I'm in on the Cowboys turning
1:00:12
Speaker 1: around on defense, I got to be in on Caleb Downs.
1:00:15
Speaker 1: And Offensive Rookie of the Year, a lot of these
1:00:17
Speaker 1: quotes coming out of Seattle. I like Seattle this year
1:00:19
Speaker 1: to win the division. Whether you like them to win
1:00:21
Speaker 1: the division or not, I think everyone would agree Seattle's
1:00:24
Speaker 1: going to be good. Well, if they're going to be
1:00:25
Speaker 1: good again, the running game was a huge part of
1:00:29
Speaker 1: their operation. Kenneth Walker's gone. Charbonnet's coming back off the injury.
1:00:33
Speaker 1: You know, the guy's a little under the radar in
1:00:36
Speaker 1: Jadarian Price just because he backed up the number three
1:00:40
Speaker 1: overall pick. So I like Price. I can see 1,000 yards.
1:00:45
Speaker 1: The other thing is, like, he's going to score a
1:00:47
Speaker 1: bunch of touchdowns. Like, would a jockey if he has seven,
1:00:50
Speaker 1: eight touchdowns? He's playing in all these marquee games. So
1:00:54
Speaker 1: I'm going Caleb Downs, and Price is my offensive and
1:00:57
Speaker 1: defensive rookie of the year. We'll end it on that. Adios.
1:01:03
Speaker 1: The Volume.