Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Best of The Week: Colts Fire Ballard, NFL Week 7 Primer

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Best of The Week: Colts Fire Ballard, NFL Week 7 Primer · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:14
Speaker 1: What is going on? This is John Middlecoff from the
0:17
Speaker 1: 3 and Out podcast and this is the best of
0:21
Speaker 1: of my favorite takes, our best takes of as we
0:24
Speaker 1: head on into football season. Big news of the day
0:27
Speaker 1: that the Indianapolis Colts have fired Chris Ballard and are
0:30
Speaker 1: now looking for a GM. Dan Patrick, after the news
0:34
Speaker 1: came out, guy in the loop, knows a lot of rich,
0:37
Speaker 1: famous people, knows a lot of people in powerful positions,
0:41
Speaker 1: said the Indianapolis Colts not only will but have. reached
0:45
Speaker 1: out to Peyton Manning and want him to be the
0:48
Speaker 1: grand poobah and run the operation, I think a little
0:50
Speaker 1: bit a la John Elway years ago in Denver. And
0:54
Speaker 1: because he's no longer a player, they have mechanisms now
0:58
Speaker 1: that the dad was never willing to do that maybe
1:01
Speaker 1: the daughters would be open to of doing some sort
1:04
Speaker 1: of equity. You can buy in, become a little bit
1:07
Speaker 1: of a part owner and be the boss of this operation,
1:11
Speaker 1: which to me feels a little PRE. This is an
1:15
Speaker 1: organization that is currently a laughingstock. They just lost to
1:19
Speaker 1: a team that didn't sniff 200 yards. That a team
1:23
Speaker 1: that we all agree is god-awful. Where they, I'm pretty sure,
1:26
Speaker 1: had a 13-0 lead at home. They got embarrassed. And
1:31
Speaker 1: Chris Ballard knew this in the beginning of the season,
1:33
Speaker 1: was on his contract year, and was competing for his job.
1:37
Speaker 1: They probably had to make the playoffs for him to
1:39
Speaker 1: keep it, which would have meant an extension. Same with
1:41
Speaker 1: the coach who is now also, who was already on
1:44
Speaker 1: the hot seat, who I would say is a dead
1:46
Speaker 1: man walking. Like Shane Steichen is not going to be
1:48
Speaker 1: the coach in 2027. I think it is fair to
1:50
Speaker 1: assume that. And I think a lot of people around
1:55
Speaker 1: the league, I heard Albert Breer say this, there's a
1:59
Speaker 1: potential Stefanski situation where it's like, don't be shocked when
2:02
Speaker 1: he gets a job. We'll get into the Eagles later,
2:05
Speaker 1: but if Sirianni loses his job, that seems like a
2:08
Speaker 1: pretty easy transition. You already know him, you've had success
2:11
Speaker 1: with him, and he can call plays. And then when
2:13
Speaker 1: you factor in, it's not like, it doesn't feel like
2:16
Speaker 1: there's many Ben Johnsons and Kyle Shanahan's in the market.
2:21
Speaker 1: I would say the two top coaches, assuming Tomlin wants
2:24
Speaker 1: to get back in, and there is no guarantee. Every
2:27
Speaker 1: time I see him, it's like, God, he's looking a
2:29
Speaker 1: little slimmer. He's got a big smile on his face.
2:31
Speaker 1: As he said, I get full-time pay for part-time work.
2:34
Speaker 1: Life is fucking good. I was thinking last night watching
2:37
Speaker 1: him on Sunday Night Football. It's like, you think that
2:40
Speaker 1: city looked good after 12 years of coaching. Can you
2:42
Speaker 1: imagine the work he's done in the last nine-ish months
2:47
Speaker 1: on that city? I mean, he's probably added like... three
2:50
Speaker 1: cities the size of New York City since. So who knows?
2:54
Speaker 1: We have seen guys before take some time off. Hell,
2:57
Speaker 1: Gruden took like 10 years off. So that will be
3:00
Speaker 1: yet to be determined. But the Eagles, I'm just using
3:02
Speaker 1: them as an example, don't have a history of hiring
3:05
Speaker 1: defensive coaches. The one thing just on a GM job opening,
3:11
Speaker 1: they don't open nearly as much as coaching jobs open, right?
3:16
Speaker 1: When you think about it, most GMs get multiple coaches.
3:21
Speaker 1: Just look around the league. Joe Shane was on a
3:24
Speaker 1: second coach. Hell, John Spitek, second coach. That's not usually
3:29
Speaker 1: the way it works. Their turnover, they have longer leashes.
3:33
Speaker 1: They also have huge advantage. They get to sit with
3:36
Speaker 1: the owner way more than the coach. They speak more
3:40
Speaker 1: the language of ownership than the coach because they deal
3:44
Speaker 1: with the contracts. They deal with the money. Coaches are
3:47
Speaker 1: dealing with three, four defenses and you know, gun runs
3:52
Speaker 1: and they speak a language that hell someone who's worked
3:55
Speaker 1: in football does this for a living. I don't understand it.
3:58
Speaker 1: We hear when these guys rattle off the play call,
4:01
Speaker 1: it's like, what did he just say? What just came
4:05
Speaker 1: out of his mouth? And that's what's so unique about
4:07
Speaker 1: this sport. And I, My initial take when I see
4:11
Speaker 1: this headline, it's sexy. It's going to get people to click.
4:15
Speaker 1: And I'm not even saying Dan Patrick's wrong. He's just
4:17
Speaker 1: saying what he's hearing. And, of course, they would reach
4:20
Speaker 1: out to Peyton Manning. I'd be a little surprised. I
4:23
Speaker 1: really would. One thing Peyton Manning has going for him is, one,
4:27
Speaker 1: didn't his kid just enter high school? Like, wouldn't you
4:31
Speaker 1: bet on his kid being in the mix of being
4:34
Speaker 1: a name that we start hearing about going to some
4:37
Speaker 1: big-time colleges over the next couple years? Pretty sure he
4:40
Speaker 1: left Denver a couple years ago, which also is something
4:45
Speaker 1: to acknowledge that when he got cut from the Colts
4:49
Speaker 1: and went to Denver, he made Denver his home post-playing.
4:54
Speaker 1: It's not like he moved back to Indianapolis. No shot
4:57
Speaker 1: at Indianapolis. I love, let me repeat, love the city
5:02
Speaker 1: whenever I go there for the combine. It is my
5:04
Speaker 1: type city. It's not massive. It's easy to get around.
5:08
Speaker 1: My only beef is the airport's a little far away
5:10
Speaker 1: from downtown. But again, that's nitpicking. It's beautiful by all accounts.
5:15
Speaker 1: There's some super nice areas in the suburbs, golf courses. Obviously,
5:20
Speaker 1: Peyton can live wherever he wants. But I would be
5:23
Speaker 1: a little surprised of the guy I just saw a
5:25
Speaker 1: clip of going to Neyland Stadium with some other famous
5:29
Speaker 1: guys who seems like he's really enjoying life, who you
5:33
Speaker 1: can't turn on a game without during Monday night football,
5:37
Speaker 1: Thursday night football, during the weekend, and not see commercials
5:40
Speaker 1: with the guy still involved. So his business operation, just
5:45
Speaker 1: in terms of marketability, is still high as ever. He's
5:48
Speaker 1: printing money as an advertiser or as a front man
5:51
Speaker 1: for advertisements. And he has a big-time company, Omaha Production,
5:56
Speaker 1: that has a massive deal with ESPN. So this isn't
6:00
Speaker 1: anything about financial means of like, you know, he's made
6:03
Speaker 1: some bad investments. I'm not saying every investment the guy's
6:06
Speaker 1: made is perfect. But this is not one of those
6:08
Speaker 1: situations like you could argue now he's making as much
6:10
Speaker 1: money as he's ever made. It's just going to be like,
6:13
Speaker 1: does he truly miss it? Does he miss the juice? Well,
6:18
Speaker 1: one of his things is why he and Eli want
6:20
Speaker 1: to do the Manning cast was like, yeah, you know what?
6:23
Speaker 1: I don't really want to fly around and call games.
6:25
Speaker 1: My life's too good. I've made too much money. There
6:28
Speaker 1: was a story I once heard when I was in
6:30
Speaker 1: the NFL. Tom Condon, as famous of an agent as
6:34
Speaker 1: anyone not named like David Falk in the 90s and
6:37
Speaker 1: the 2000s, represented Peyton Manning. And a story I used
6:41
Speaker 1: to hear, him and Bill Polian used to go at it.
6:44
Speaker 1: And he'd basically tell Bill Polian on the phone during
6:47
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning contract negotiations, not enough, not enough. And Bill would,
6:53
Speaker 1: you know, old, curmudgeon, angry guy, would be like, how
6:57
Speaker 1: do you want me to build the team? And Tom
7:00
Speaker 1: would essentially hang up and go, it's not my fucking problem.
7:03
Speaker 1: Make that number go up. Peyton was, I would say,
7:07
Speaker 1: the opposite of Tom Brady. Two guys whose careers paralleled
7:11
Speaker 1: each other. They were rivals. Tom Brady, I would say,
7:14
Speaker 1: is famously known for taking discounts, at least on the
7:17
Speaker 1: salary cap. Who knows what was going on on the side,
7:20
Speaker 1: which all four. Kawhi's problem wasn't that he was doing
7:24
Speaker 1: shady shit. It's like, bro, just do an advertisement or
7:26
Speaker 1: two on Twitter. They wouldn't have been able to catch you,
7:29
Speaker 1: but he refused. Peyton had no problem doing any of that, right?
7:33
Speaker 1: And I just think from a financial standpoint, Peyton wouldn't
7:37
Speaker 1: be doing it for the money. And the one thing
7:40
Speaker 1: that goes along with this life is you don't have
7:43
Speaker 1: a life. John Elway was at the office every single day.
7:48
Speaker 1: John Elway's golf game went out the fucking window. John
7:52
Speaker 1: Elway's days of just going out and drinking beers at
7:55
Speaker 1: the game didn't exist. And he probably was having a
7:59
Speaker 1: little more fun than some of these lifer GMs. But
8:04
Speaker 1: it's not a job, it's a lifestyle. And Peyton, like Tom,
8:10
Speaker 1: are good examples of when they played, they had no
8:13
Speaker 1: life during the season. They grinded 24-7. Remember, part of
8:17
Speaker 1: the reason Peyton Manning liked Adam Gase is because when
8:22
Speaker 1: he was at his house studying film at 1 o'clock
8:24
Speaker 1: in the morning, he could text Adam and he'd get
8:26
Speaker 1: a text immediately back. That was like Tom's deal with
8:30
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels. They could communicate at all hours of the night.
8:33
Speaker 1: Drew Brees and Sean Peyton. Remember Eli used to talk about, yeah,
8:37
Speaker 1: Tuesday's an off day for the players, not the quarterbacks.
8:41
Speaker 1: And does he want that? Also, if you are the
8:46
Speaker 1: Colts and you have hit rock bottom, you got bent
8:51
Speaker 1: over by Daniel Jones, you have a roster full of
8:53
Speaker 1: aging players and you're going nowhere fast. Shouldn't you be
8:59
Speaker 1: in the mix of like, who's the next Howie Roseman?
9:02
Speaker 1: Who's the next John Schneider? Who's the next guy who's
9:05
Speaker 1: been doing this as a profession for a long period
9:08
Speaker 1: of time to get us going in the right direction?
9:12
Speaker 1: than just trying to make the PR higher. Because my
9:16
Speaker 1: first initial thought was like, I would doubt Peyton would
9:19
Speaker 1: take this job. And if he did, I would view
9:22
Speaker 1: it closer to Tom Brady. Like, yeah, I'll buy a piece.
9:26
Speaker 1: I'll kind of, you know, be a part of the organization,
9:30
Speaker 1: but I'm not coming into the office and grinding 13, 14,
9:32
Speaker 1: 15 hours a day, basically 10 months a year. Because
9:37
Speaker 1: as a GM, the season ends. It's chill for the coaches.
9:41
Speaker 1: That's when your season starts. Senior Bowl, Combine, free agency,
9:45
Speaker 1: the draft, the meetings. It never ends. It's why I give, listen,
9:51
Speaker 1: John Lynch is highly paid. Some sources will tell you
9:55
Speaker 1: he's the highest paid GM in the league. He doesn't
9:58
Speaker 1: need to be doing this. Now, he's paid a lot
10:03
Speaker 1: of money for those services, but it's like, God, I
10:06
Speaker 1: give him a lot of respect. He could be with
10:09
Speaker 1: his feet up in San Diego if he wanted to,
10:11
Speaker 1: but he likes to juice. It's not like Peyton hasn't
10:14
Speaker 1: had these opportunities and he's passed on. Same with Tom. Like,
10:18
Speaker 1: if Tom truly had wanted to do, like, listen, I
10:20
Speaker 1: respect Matt Ryan. And Matt Ryan said when he got hired, like,
10:23
Speaker 1: I'm going to go into the office every day. Like,
10:25
Speaker 1: this is going to be my full-time job. Quit CBS.
10:29
Speaker 1: And I would bet if you were having a beer
10:31
Speaker 1: with Matt Ryan, it's like, God, this job is a
10:32
Speaker 1: little different than I thought as a player. I don't
10:35
Speaker 1: just get to like, yeah, just go to the steam
10:37
Speaker 1: room and the hot tub and the cold tub, just
10:39
Speaker 1: hang out for like an hour in the middle of
10:40
Speaker 1: the day. Like, no, that's not really the way this
10:42
Speaker 1: thing works. Plus, everyone's looking at you as the boss.
10:48
Speaker 1: As a player, clearly you are a leader. But as
10:51
Speaker 1: the boss, from the secretary to the scouts to the
10:54
Speaker 1: assistant coaches, everyone looks at you. And if I could
11:00
Speaker 1: give advice to Carly, Ursae, Gordon, assuming that Peyton Manning
11:05
Speaker 1: says no to this or is not interested or this
11:08
Speaker 1: doesn't come to fruition, hire the best possible people in
11:13
Speaker 1: the league. Do a full-on search like all these other
11:16
Speaker 1: teams do. You've had Chris Ballard for a long time.
11:18
Speaker 1: I don't know him personally, but everyone seems to like him.
11:23
Speaker 1: His downfall clearly was couldn't find a quarterback. And then
11:28
Speaker 1: kind of thought he did and then gave the guy
11:30
Speaker 1: $ 90 million guaranteed on a torn Achilles. I thought that was, listen,
11:35
Speaker 1: you never want to make deals out of desperation because
11:37
Speaker 1: typically they blow up in your face and this one
11:39
Speaker 1: blew up in his face. Like he got... the Josh
11:44
Speaker 1: McDaniels things would have been a disaster, but he wasn't
11:47
Speaker 1: the only guy that tried to hire him. A lot
11:48
Speaker 1: of people were trying to hire him constantly. The Niners
11:52
Speaker 1: tried to hire him. He said, no, they got Kyle Shanahan.
11:55
Speaker 1: The Raiders hired him, blew up in their face. He
11:58
Speaker 1: tried to hire him and he turned him down at
12:00
Speaker 1: the altar. It happens. Everyone was on this guy because
12:04
Speaker 1: it was believable. It's like, well, he's changed his life.
12:06
Speaker 1: He's looked in the mirror. He's a nicer guy. Players
12:09
Speaker 1: like him. And then now he holds a record of
12:12
Speaker 1: the only guy to have a two different jobs as
12:15
Speaker 1: a head coach in the NFL and not make it
12:18
Speaker 1: through year two either time. And then obviously the Shane
12:22
Speaker 1: Steichen thing, like you just, you don't have a quarterback,
12:25
Speaker 1: you got no chance. And that's the situation they're in.
12:28
Speaker 1: So this Colts, I would say trajectory is, this is
12:35
Speaker 1: going to be a rough year. I think it's going
12:37
Speaker 1: to get worse before it gets better. But my gut
12:40
Speaker 1: says Peyton Manning doesn't take this job. Life's too good.
12:43
Speaker 1: He's making too much money. And the stress of this, like,
12:47
Speaker 1: why would he want to take that on? He had
12:49
Speaker 1: the stress of being the lead dog in the league
12:51
Speaker 1: with Tom for almost 20 years. The other big story
13:08
Speaker 1: of the day is the Eagles PR nightmare. And I
13:11
Speaker 1: want to defend Nick Sirianni. And you know, it's not
13:14
Speaker 1: like I'm some Nick Sirianni backer here. You could make
13:18
Speaker 1: the argument that he is one of the luckiest men
13:22
Speaker 1: in the history of America. Be the equivalent of like,
13:25
Speaker 1: who was your college roommate? Yeah, this guy started Google.
13:29
Speaker 1: One day he asked me, he's like, hey man, you
13:31
Speaker 1: got any spare change if you want to invest in
13:32
Speaker 1: this company? I think it's going to be big. And
13:33
Speaker 1: I gave him 20 grand. And then 10 years later,
13:35
Speaker 1: it was $ 800 million. I didn't have to do shit.
13:39
Speaker 1: They just put me in the room with them first
13:42
Speaker 1: day of college. He was my doormate. I mean, it's like,
13:47
Speaker 1: that's how you made your $ 800 million? Yeah, I gave
13:49
Speaker 1: a guy $ 25, 000. I actually heard a story once about
13:53
Speaker 1: from a guy in the finance world. I played golf
13:55
Speaker 1: with him one time. good guy. And he told me
13:59
Speaker 1: there's a pro sports owner. I'm not going to tell
14:01
Speaker 1: you which sport, but he's a pretty famous guy. And
14:05
Speaker 1: he's pretty outspoken and arrogant. He bumps his chest out there.
14:10
Speaker 1: And said that a lot of his wealth came in
14:13
Speaker 1: the business he was in because of a decision his
14:16
Speaker 1: partners made that essentially invested in one of the biggest
14:21
Speaker 1: companies in the world, When they were essentially being built
14:25
Speaker 1: in a garage, you got in on the ground floor for,
14:29
Speaker 1: you know, a couple hundred grand. And that thing became
14:32
Speaker 1: the majority of the wealth of their firm. And, you know,
14:36
Speaker 1: he gets a lot of credit for it. But from
14:38
Speaker 1: what I was told, he had nothing to do with it.
14:40
Speaker 1: Which again, being partners with the right people, making decisions,
14:43
Speaker 1: happens to a lot of our lives. But sometimes things
14:47
Speaker 1: just go well for you and you didn't have that
14:49
Speaker 1: much to do with it. Pretty rare. I would say
14:53
Speaker 1: it's very rare. Like you look at Andy Reid, where's
14:56
Speaker 1: his success come? Well, he's created a lot of it.
15:00
Speaker 1: I would say he has been a driving force in
15:02
Speaker 1: the success that has followed throughout his career. Sirianni would go, well,
15:07
Speaker 1: he got hired, which was a desirable place. No one
15:10
Speaker 1: else was going to hire him at the time. And
15:13
Speaker 1: he inherited a Hall of Fame general manager, an owner
15:15
Speaker 1: willing to spend a ton of money, and within a
15:18
Speaker 1: couple years, one of the most talented rosters in the NFL.
15:23
Speaker 1: But today he's being peppered about this situation that Jalen
15:25
Speaker 1: Hurts is now out for the year, which I don't
15:28
Speaker 1: know why once he had the blood clots in his calf,
15:31
Speaker 1: anyone thought he was going to return. My neighbor, retired doctor,
15:35
Speaker 1: I thought he was retired, but I always see him
15:36
Speaker 1: on the phone like talking with patients and other people.
15:40
Speaker 1: But he tells me he's retired from Philadelphia. Diehard Eagles fans.
15:45
Speaker 1: Saw him at the grass the other day walking our dogs.
15:48
Speaker 1: And he's like, yeah, I don't I don't. This was
15:50
Speaker 1: before the news came out about the lung blood clots
15:53
Speaker 1: in his lung. This one was in the cap. He's like,
15:55
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be back this year. No, no chance.
15:58
Speaker 1: And then it comes out the blood clots in the lung,
16:00
Speaker 1: the story about the hospital and not sleeping all night.
16:04
Speaker 1: My first thought was, would this have happened if they
16:08
Speaker 1: were just sent him to a Philadelphia hospital? Or if
16:12
Speaker 1: he had been in Jacksonville, Florida and been in the States?
16:15
Speaker 1: I don't know. No one knows the answer to that.
16:17
Speaker 1: But I think it's a fair thing to ask. If
16:20
Speaker 1: we had sent him to a local hospital, like if
16:22
Speaker 1: he had just gone to Honor Health, where I'm sitting
16:25
Speaker 1: right now, or the Mayo Clinic, Would he have come
16:28
Speaker 1: back at four in the morning and been like, everything's good, man.
16:31
Speaker 1: Just don't sleep. I don't know. Whoever that doctor is
16:34
Speaker 1: that gave that okay feels like his medical license should
16:39
Speaker 1: be in question. But when coaches say, I'm no medical doctor,
16:44
Speaker 1: it's not my decision. This is in the 70s. This
16:47
Speaker 1: isn't when a guy is injured, you're like, don't be
16:50
Speaker 1: a pussy, shake it off and get out there. Those
16:53
Speaker 1: days are done. Especially a guy like Jalen Hurts who's
16:56
Speaker 1: making 50, 60 million dollars a year. That once he
17:00
Speaker 1: goes away to the doctor, it is completely out of
17:02
Speaker 1: your hands. It's why during the draft process, during the season,
17:07
Speaker 1: when a doctor says he can't go, He can't go.
17:11
Speaker 1: There's no way. I'll just tough it through. And guess what?
17:14
Speaker 1: And we've learned this for a long time because one
17:15
Speaker 1: thing was clear, which thank God nothing terrible happened. Obviously,
17:20
Speaker 1: blood clots in his lungs. That could be game over.
17:24
Speaker 1: I mean, the worst possible situation here. We talk a
17:27
Speaker 1: lot about these situations like coming back from injury too early.
17:31
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons. It's like tearing another Achilles, tearing a calf,
17:36
Speaker 1: tearing a hamstring, overcompensating. These aren't life or death situations.
17:40
Speaker 1: This clearly is. You get them in your lungs, boom,
17:43
Speaker 1: game over. It's a wrap. The plane flight home could
17:47
Speaker 1: have been a disaster. Very fair for everyone to go,
17:51
Speaker 1: what the fuck is going on? So Sirianni, because the
17:55
Speaker 1: head coach and talks like four times a week, that's
17:57
Speaker 1: part of the deal in the NFL, is getting peppered
17:59
Speaker 1: with these questions. He doesn't control any of that. The
18:03
Speaker 1: doctors do. The trainers do. And to me, someone dropped
18:09
Speaker 1: the ball on this situation and they're going to pay
18:11
Speaker 1: for it. Clearly. The Eagles have fired doctors before. My
18:15
Speaker 1: guess is doctors are getting shit canned again. Unless, you know,
18:19
Speaker 1: based on the information that I have seen, And just
18:22
Speaker 1: following the league. I know this, and this is what
18:25
Speaker 1: the Eagles should do. I actually think it's unfair to
18:28
Speaker 1: throw Sirianni out there to get peppered about Jalen Hurts
18:32
Speaker 1: in this situation with all the information because people are
18:35
Speaker 1: going to want answers. And clearly he's had more information
18:40
Speaker 1: based on things that doctors are telling him, but he's
18:42
Speaker 1: not saying anything. But it's not his call. If they
18:46
Speaker 1: knew he had blood clots, like, well, just don't go
18:48
Speaker 1: to bed. That's where it's like, what? The guy didn't sleep.
18:52
Speaker 1: It was like, well, he kind of slept. He got back.
18:55
Speaker 1: Even Jalen's like, it was a bizarre situation. And think
18:58
Speaker 1: about Jalen, right? He's seen it all in his football career.
19:02
Speaker 1: The guy was benched after going 26-2. Starting quarterback at
19:07
Speaker 1: mid-dynasty at Alabama. Got benched. Didn't see his job back
19:12
Speaker 1: until the following year in the championship game or SEC
19:16
Speaker 1: championship game when Tua got injured. And then on the
19:20
Speaker 1: flip side in the NFL, he essentially did that to
19:22
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz. So this is a guy that is not
19:25
Speaker 1: giving up his spot for anything, which is how a
19:28
Speaker 1: lot of football guys think. So it's on the doctor
19:31
Speaker 1: to take it out of their hand and go, you
19:32
Speaker 1: can't play. But to think that coaches have the juice
19:37
Speaker 1: with players of his stature. So, I mean, I feel
19:40
Speaker 1: like I'm defending a guy that I don't even think
19:42
Speaker 1: can coach. And I think inevitably gets fired. But he
19:47
Speaker 1: is going to get destroyed on social media. I would imagine.
19:51
Speaker 1: I just don't put this on Sirianni. I really don't.
19:56
Speaker 1: This is on the doctors and their situation of completely
20:00
Speaker 1: fucking up. And they got extremely lucky that this didn't
20:04
Speaker 1: turn out to be, I mean, potentially one of the
20:07
Speaker 1: worst moments in the history of the sport. And obviously
20:11
Speaker 1: everyone talks about how do you let him fly back
20:13
Speaker 1: on the plane on those eight, nine hours from London
20:15
Speaker 1: to Philadelphia. This is a massive, massive ball drop by
20:21
Speaker 1: everyone involved in the medical community. But to think, I mean,
20:24
Speaker 1: Sirianni can't even call an out route. You think he
20:26
Speaker 1: knows how to diagnose blood clots? You think he knows
20:29
Speaker 1: how to diagnose? What are we talking about? I just
20:32
Speaker 1: think sometimes these coaches, and this is why you get
20:35
Speaker 1: paid a lot of money, You get thrown out in
20:38
Speaker 1: situations that you had nothing to do with and you
20:41
Speaker 1: got to answer for. Obviously, this is a situation that's
20:45
Speaker 1: not going to go away. I think in a perfect world,
20:49
Speaker 1: the easiest way to kind of slow it down is
20:52
Speaker 1: like throw out the person that made the decision. Obviously,
20:55
Speaker 1: not the dude in London that probably has nothing to
20:57
Speaker 1: do with the team, but like your doctor who was
20:59
Speaker 1: probably traveling with you, your training staff. Other teams have
21:03
Speaker 1: done that and let them kind of describe the information
21:07
Speaker 1: they got had, maybe an information that they fucked up
21:10
Speaker 1: on that maybe a scan didn't show. Who knows? I'm
21:13
Speaker 1: no medical doctor either. Just went to a couple state schools,
21:16
Speaker 1: got a couple degrees, no big deal. But I don't know.
21:20
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this situation is definitely not going
21:24
Speaker 1: to go away, and this is one that people are
21:28
Speaker 1: going to dive deep on. This is like Pablo Torre
21:31
Speaker 1: written all over it. I need to tell you about
21:40
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21:44
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21:46
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21:50
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23:20
Speaker 1: let's dive into Sunday and might as well just start
23:23
Speaker 1: with the game in France. I think we can all
23:26
Speaker 1: agree that this feels a little nuts. I was listening
23:31
Speaker 1: to Albert Breer was on with Dan Patrick. It came
23:33
Speaker 1: in my algorithm. And he mentioned that the league has
23:36
Speaker 1: had a lot of traction, clearly, in London. That's been successful. Germany, Spain,
23:42
Speaker 1: they feel really good about. Roger Goodell from the owners' meetings.
23:46
Speaker 1: was thrilled with the Australia experience. I mean, they got
23:50
Speaker 1: 100,000 people at 1030 in the morning on a Friday.
23:52
Speaker 1: I promise you they're doing that thing again. My guess
23:55
Speaker 1: is Australia becomes a yearly thing unless like Tokyo gets involved,
23:59
Speaker 1: which I think would have to be in that similar spot.
24:03
Speaker 1: But I would be stunned if we don't get Australia
24:06
Speaker 1: week one every year. I said that after the game
24:08
Speaker 1: and I feel pretty confident about that. Now, I think
24:12
Speaker 1: this France thing and I was in the car and
24:16
Speaker 1: I was listening to something that potential, you know, some
24:21
Speaker 1: chaos planned for Saturday in France. But I would imagine, like,
24:29
Speaker 1: both these teams don't want to be there. The Saints
24:32
Speaker 1: have been there all week, I think, on the outskirts.
24:36
Speaker 1: They left from New York after beating the Giants. The
24:40
Speaker 1: Steelers are taking some red-eye, you know, on, like, Thursday night.
24:43
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. I... I would lean the Steelers here.
24:48
Speaker 1: I would like the Saints more if this was just
24:50
Speaker 1: a normal home game, but I don't know. This is
24:53
Speaker 1: just one of those that it feels like I'm prepared
24:57
Speaker 1: for anything. I have no strong takes. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers
25:01
Speaker 1: played really well this year. There is no disputing that.
25:04
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers has looked good. Him and McCarthy, button heads
25:09
Speaker 1: in the one game against the Browns, and that going viral,
25:12
Speaker 1: did not faze them. Like, old married couples can get
25:15
Speaker 1: in arguments that would cripple a young relationship. That couple's unfazed.
25:21
Speaker 1: Once you've been through the ringer with your significant other,
25:24
Speaker 1: some things that look crazy are not crazy to them.
25:27
Speaker 1: So I did believe when both guys came out after
25:30
Speaker 1: the fact, like, yeah, we're fine. Like, I believe it.
25:34
Speaker 1: And Aaron's into this. I give him a lot of
25:37
Speaker 1: credit for, at this point in time in his career,
25:41
Speaker 1: battling his ass off. And Jalen Warren's been awesome. Kamara's
25:46
Speaker 1: banged up, so their running game could be an issue.
25:48
Speaker 1: You know, Shuck, who made some plays in that game,
25:52
Speaker 1: but he's got a banged up hand. I'll lean the
25:55
Speaker 1: Steelers here. Okay, let's go four bucks, which again, there's
26:00
Speaker 1: a lot of Cleveland at Titans, Dolphins at the Jets.
26:06
Speaker 1: I mean, the Giants are a massive underdog with J.J.
26:10
Speaker 1: McCarthy going to Houston, which I think is kind of
26:12
Speaker 1: an interesting game. Not making my four bucks, but Houston's
26:16
Speaker 1: defense has looked pretty bad. They've also played pretty good quarterbacks.
26:21
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, okay, Daniel Jones, somewhat of an outlier,
26:27
Speaker 1: and Dak Prescott. Like, they got lit up by three
26:30
Speaker 1: guys making $ 55, $ 60 million. I mean, I do wonder,
26:37
Speaker 1: and then even last week against the Jags, like Trevor
26:39
Speaker 1: Lawrence has completely resurrected his career over the last year
26:43
Speaker 1: and a half under Trevor Lawrence. I would say J.J.
26:45
Speaker 1: McCarthy's a little bit different animal. uh if you want
26:49
Speaker 1: to go counter you'd be like hey i'll take the
26:50
Speaker 1: points little risky you know he hasn't even been there
26:53
Speaker 1: that long right think about his struggles in 2000 uh
26:57
Speaker 1: what would have been 2025 he started 10 games for
27:02
Speaker 1: for the vikings like he had been there the entire
27:05
Speaker 1: time right i know he was banged up and missed
27:07
Speaker 1: the season but like he was in meetings he knew
27:10
Speaker 1: the offense like how long has he been with the
27:12
Speaker 1: giants Has it even been a month? So it's like
27:15
Speaker 1: the understanding of the offense, the rapport with the offensive players.
27:19
Speaker 1: I mean, this is his first week truly repping with
27:22
Speaker 1: these guys. He could go on to look better as
27:26
Speaker 1: the season goes on, and this game could be a disaster.
27:30
Speaker 1: So that's not going to make my four bucks. The
27:32
Speaker 1: four games are going to go as follows. The Niners
27:35
Speaker 1: at Atlanta, which I do believe is a really tough
27:38
Speaker 1: spot for the 49ers. You know, anytime you're going west
27:42
Speaker 1: to east, off a short week, they played Monday night.
27:45
Speaker 1: The defense was on the field a ton. Mike Evans, who,
27:50
Speaker 1: you know, everyone's like, Purdy's the MVP. And then Mike
27:52
Speaker 1: Evans leaves like, maybe Mike Evans and Purdy should share
27:55
Speaker 1: the MVP. Mike Evans is pretty important. Now, as I'm
27:59
Speaker 1: recording this, you know, status is up in the air.
28:02
Speaker 1: To me, this is pretty black and white. You're 6-0.
28:06
Speaker 1: like how about you got the bye next week how
28:08
Speaker 1: about you just take a deep breath how about you
28:11
Speaker 1: say hey Mike we're holding you back from yourself you're
28:14
Speaker 1: taking the week off this is one of those games
28:18
Speaker 1: when the dust settles and you look back if you
28:20
Speaker 1: win 12 or 13 games it's okay to lose this
28:23
Speaker 1: game Now, that's not how football teams approach it. That's
28:27
Speaker 1: definitely not how Purdy and Kyle and any of those
28:30
Speaker 1: guys look at it. And definitely not how Mike Evans
28:32
Speaker 1: looks at it. Like I would have said, hey, Mike,
28:35
Speaker 1: you're not feeling great. Take the commander game off. But
28:38
Speaker 1: clearly he didn't feel that way. He couldn't practice. And
28:41
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden he's limping to the locker
28:43
Speaker 1: room before halftime. So it would not shock me at
28:45
Speaker 1: all if he attempts to play. The connection of being
28:48
Speaker 1: in this division, playing this opponent, might mean something to him.
28:53
Speaker 1: Also a big game for Raheem Morris. I don't care
28:55
Speaker 1: who you are. Life's going pretty good for Raheem Morris. Hell,
28:58
Speaker 1: life's been good for Raheem Morris. Football, he's made a
29:01
Speaker 1: ton of money. He's had a lot of success as
29:04
Speaker 1: an assistant coach. Clearly the head coaching situation in Atlanta
29:08
Speaker 1: was a disaster. And they made a horrendous quarterback decision
29:12
Speaker 1: in the Cousins thing off the injury, and then the
29:14
Speaker 1: Pennix draft pick at eight. And it blew up in
29:16
Speaker 1: his face and it cost him his job. And life's
29:20
Speaker 1: good right now in San Francisco, but like, you don't
29:22
Speaker 1: think he wants to win this game? Imagine sitting in
29:25
Speaker 1: an office and having people tell you, you're not good enough,
29:28
Speaker 1: pack your shit and get out. And I know they
29:30
Speaker 1: probably said it in nicer words than that. But if
29:33
Speaker 1: you're a competitor, I mean, if you're a prideful human,
29:37
Speaker 1: I've been fired. I've looked across that. desk with the
29:40
Speaker 1: HR person and the boss that said, yeah, you're not
29:43
Speaker 1: welcome here anymore. Even if you think those people are idiots,
29:47
Speaker 1: even if you think those people are incompetent, you never
29:50
Speaker 1: forget that moment. And that drives you. And whenever you
29:53
Speaker 1: need a little ounce of motivation in life, I'm not
29:57
Speaker 1: even talking football. Anyone who has been laid off, fired
30:01
Speaker 1: or whatever, you never forget that moment. And every once
30:05
Speaker 1: in a while, you just kind of think about it
30:06
Speaker 1: to get a little extra juice. I can't imagine in
30:09
Speaker 1: a profession like football where you get to just straight
30:12
Speaker 1: up play them. Now, Matt Ryan, Stefanski, obviously they have
30:17
Speaker 1: no connection, but a lot of these players were there.
30:19
Speaker 1: He should have a very, very good understanding of the
30:21
Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses of the entire offense. I mean, their
30:25
Speaker 1: whole core unit is the same, and specifically Penix. Because
30:29
Speaker 1: one thing's pretty clear, if you can get into Penix's feet,
30:32
Speaker 1: he's done. Get around his feet. He's completely thrown out.
30:36
Speaker 1: If he has time to throw, he can look really good.
30:39
Speaker 1: As he just did against the Bears in a bunch
30:45
Speaker 1: of hollow yards down 31-7. Playing a bunch of prevent defense.
30:48
Speaker 1: I don't even count some of those numbers. And the
30:50
Speaker 1: Bears fumbled to give him the ball to make the
30:52
Speaker 1: score closer than it actually was. But we have seen
30:56
Speaker 1: when you can get around him, he completely unravels. unlike
30:59
Speaker 1: some of the other guys in that draft, that can
31:02
Speaker 1: move around. I mean, you see Caleb and Drake and
31:05
Speaker 1: even Jaden on Monday night. If he just kind of
31:07
Speaker 1: can scramble to keep a ball alive, Pennix cannot do that. Now,
31:11
Speaker 1: the key against Atlanta is you've got to slow down B.
31:13
Speaker 1: John Robinson that might be, I would say, right up
31:17
Speaker 1: there as the most purely talented player in the NFL.
31:21
Speaker 1: So when he gets going, and I talked to an
31:23
Speaker 1: assistant earlier this year, who played him is like, you
31:27
Speaker 1: can have great defensive calls and it doesn't even matter,
31:30
Speaker 1: which is what happens with a great running back. You
31:33
Speaker 1: can have the perfect call and he can cut it back.
31:35
Speaker 1: He can make a guy miss. He can run a
31:37
Speaker 1: guy over. He can just beat a guy to the corner.
31:40
Speaker 1: So to me, you slow him down and then just
31:43
Speaker 1: start setting the house at Pennix. Drake London's become an
31:46
Speaker 1: excellent player, but You know, if Mike Evans is out,
31:49
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting how this offense looks. You know, Debo's out,
31:52
Speaker 1: Evans is out. I mean, basically all their offensive weapons
31:54
Speaker 1: are out in terms of the receiver unit, right? Stribling,
31:57
Speaker 1: their first draft pick is on IR, right? And he's
32:00
Speaker 1: still in a boot as of like last week. Debo Evans,
32:04
Speaker 1: I mean, that's your top three wide receivers. So you're
32:07
Speaker 1: Brandon Cooks and Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. I mean,
32:11
Speaker 1: you're pretty dependent on some random guy. So it basically
32:13
Speaker 1: just becomes a Kittle-McCaffrey game, which is fine. I mean,
32:16
Speaker 1: those guys are, elite players, but it's asking them to
32:20
Speaker 1: do a lot. And the one thing McCaffrey hasn't really
32:23
Speaker 1: had feels like in a while, it's just like, hey,
32:27
Speaker 1: can you get us like 150 yards? And maybe it's
32:30
Speaker 1: a little bit more committee, right? Him and Kalon Black
32:34
Speaker 1: of just like, hey, can the two of you guys,
32:36
Speaker 1: 30 carries, 140, 150 yards, slow this game down? But
32:42
Speaker 1: I think the sexy pick is Atlanta here plus the points,
32:45
Speaker 1: but tough spot for the 49ers. The travel, the Monday
32:49
Speaker 1: night game, Atlanta just played at home. But who knows?
32:54
Speaker 1: Is Atlanta the team that looked really good for a
32:56
Speaker 1: couple weeks, or were they the team that just laid
32:58
Speaker 1: an all-time egg against the Chicago Bears, who don't have
33:02
Speaker 1: as good of a defense as the 49ers? Indy, Minnesota.
33:07
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this this morning. I think Indianapolis
33:11
Speaker 1: is on quit watch. This is an incredible spot for
33:15
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Coming off a bye, at home against a team.
33:19
Speaker 1: Every clip I saw over the last 24 hours for
33:24
Speaker 1: a Colts player was discussed about getting traded. Do you
33:29
Speaker 1: expect to get traded? Their defensive linemen, Quinn Nelson, any
33:34
Speaker 1: wide receiver with a pulse, Jonathan Taylor. That now that
33:38
Speaker 1: Chris Ballard has been fired, could all you guys get fired? Slash,
33:43
Speaker 1: not fired, traded, excuse me. Ballard got fired. Shane Steichen
33:47
Speaker 1: feels like he's destined to get fired. But you can't
33:50
Speaker 1: tell me internally in this locker room, like I've seen,
33:52
Speaker 1: you know, the natural, it happens a lot with the
33:56
Speaker 1: interim coach bump, right? Their record historically is pretty good.
34:00
Speaker 1: That first week and then it kind of levels off.
34:03
Speaker 1: To me, the GM is not the same. But what
34:06
Speaker 1: the GM is, especially in a place like Indy, like
34:09
Speaker 1: he was in charge, all those players there, especially the
34:12
Speaker 1: guys drafted, the guys traded for, it's like they were
34:16
Speaker 1: handpicked by him. And now he's gone. Is there going
34:20
Speaker 1: to be some pressure from above to like, hey, let's
34:24
Speaker 1: detonate this thing. These are human beings. So I love
34:29
Speaker 1: Minnesota this week. And, you know, it's great. numbers approaching
34:33
Speaker 1: a touchdown but you can't convince me that after that
34:37
Speaker 1: loss to the titans and now they've spent all week
34:40
Speaker 1: like do you expect to be here in a couple
34:42
Speaker 1: weeks and they're all thinking like yeah i'll do whatever
34:45
Speaker 1: i'm just living where my feet are just saying all
34:47
Speaker 1: the cliche bullshit what do you think they're all thinking
34:49
Speaker 1: to themselves telling their wives telling their buddies like i'm
34:52
Speaker 1: probably gonna get traded and as they should i would
34:55
Speaker 1: trade every single player of value Because this job, one,
34:59
Speaker 1: it's not that desirable. And two, like, you don't have
35:03
Speaker 1: picks because of the Sauce Gardner trade. Think how crazy
35:05
Speaker 1: looking back that trade is. You know, sometimes when you
35:09
Speaker 1: just make a trade because you think it's a good deal,
35:12
Speaker 1: that's where it's powerful. When you make a trade because
35:15
Speaker 1: you're as desperate as the Colts were to trade for
35:17
Speaker 1: Sauce Gardner, it's like, jeez Louise. And I know they
35:21
Speaker 1: had a good record at the time of doing it,
35:23
Speaker 1: but then they get him, he immediately gets hurt, and
35:24
Speaker 1: then Daniel Jones goes down. And then it's just been
35:28
Speaker 1: a disaster ever since. And now Chris Ballard's at home
35:32
Speaker 1: just hanging out because of it. So this is less
35:36
Speaker 1: to me about the Vikings, who, one, I would like
35:39
Speaker 1: them in this situation at home, Indy, in normal circumstances.
35:43
Speaker 1: But to me, if they could find a way to
35:45
Speaker 1: get an early lead, and obviously, you know, Flores bringing
35:49
Speaker 1: the heat, fucking with DJ, who's kind of imploding. If
35:52
Speaker 1: they find themselves down in the first half, 10-0, 13-3,
35:57
Speaker 1: it does feel like one of those things that could
35:59
Speaker 1: completely crack. And the dam could open, and we could
36:02
Speaker 1: be looking at quit watch. Which, there are two types
36:06
Speaker 1: of quitters. One, people that just quit. We all know
36:10
Speaker 1: those humans that just tap out. And then there's a
36:12
Speaker 1: situation so weird, so bizarre, so fractured. I don't even
36:19
Speaker 1: blame these guys for thinking like... It's almost like when
36:23
Speaker 1: you have, you're working somewhere, but you have accepted another
36:26
Speaker 1: job and you're just playing out the string. They're probably
36:30
Speaker 1: not getting your best effort because you're mined somewhere else.
36:33
Speaker 1: How could that not be true for these guys? And
36:36
Speaker 1: I'm not saying these guys, like the one thing the
36:38
Speaker 1: Colts would have, I would agree with like Ballard and
36:42
Speaker 1: the people, you probably Shane Sykes. It's like you do
36:44
Speaker 1: have some pretty high level guys like DeForest Buckner, Quentin Nelson,
36:48
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor. I don't view these guys as like quitters.
36:52
Speaker 1: But I would understand if they're just a complete implosion.
36:56
Speaker 1: And that's what I expect. As long as the Vikings
36:59
Speaker 1: get an early lead, this thing could get ugly. For
37:03
Speaker 1: the Vikings. They're probably not a team that's blowing you
37:05
Speaker 1: out 40-3. But could this just be like a 23-6,
37:12
Speaker 1: just strangle them out? That would be my expectation. Tampa
37:17
Speaker 1: at Carolina. All signs look like Baker Mayfield is going
37:20
Speaker 1: to play. He's going to wear this glove. Still not 100%.
37:24
Speaker 1: I think I love Carolina in this spot. I mean,
37:27
Speaker 1: that was a pretty devastating loss for Tampa because they
37:31
Speaker 1: played so well. The defense was throttling the Steelers, and
37:36
Speaker 1: it just looked like, God, they're going to win like
37:38
Speaker 1: 19-6 or complete domination of a game that turned into
37:43
Speaker 1: a Steeler home game with an undrafted free agent, like
37:46
Speaker 1: kind of a cool moment. It felt like it was
37:48
Speaker 1: just going to be like, hey, Todd's rattling off a
37:51
Speaker 1: couple wins, short period of time, Thursday the Cowboys, then
37:55
Speaker 1: the Steelers. Like, listen, he still may be very much
37:58
Speaker 1: on the hot seat, but that's a pretty good little stretch.
38:01
Speaker 1: Your owner's pretty happy if you could back-to-back wins against
38:04
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and the Steelers. And then the quarterback just
38:08
Speaker 1: completely melted down. I mean, there's no other way to
38:11
Speaker 1: put it. The quarterback melted down, which is understandable. He's
38:14
Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent. So I would say Baker clearly
38:17
Speaker 1: is a better player. But one, he wasn't playing that
38:20
Speaker 1: well to begin with. And two, I was reading some
38:23
Speaker 1: quotes today. It's like, does he have full range of
38:27
Speaker 1: motion in the thumb and gripping the ball? He's wearing
38:29
Speaker 1: this glove. Makes me a little nervous. I don't like
38:32
Speaker 1: the Panthers. I love the Panthers. And honestly, the 25-14
38:36
Speaker 1: game last week does not reflect what we witnessed. That
38:40
Speaker 1: wasn't ass-kicking. Bryce has been exceptional this year. Chuba Hubbard
38:46
Speaker 1: gashed the Eagles. I just think this is a spot
38:50
Speaker 1: that Carolina at home, like if you're real, like if
38:54
Speaker 1: you're going to be a real playoff team, which I
38:56
Speaker 1: went from last year like, okay, they kind of got
38:58
Speaker 1: gifted 8-9, whatever, to like, Could this team win like 10,
39:02
Speaker 1: 11 games and be a team that, you know, in
39:05
Speaker 1: that first round is the three seed or the two
39:08
Speaker 1: seed or the four seed, wherever, probably not going to
39:09
Speaker 1: be the one seed, but be a team that you're like, yeah,
39:13
Speaker 1: they could win a game. I mean, hell, they almost
39:15
Speaker 1: did it last year. You have a huge advantage just
39:18
Speaker 1: having the home game in the wildcard round. But I
39:22
Speaker 1: think there's a potential by the time the playoffs come,
39:25
Speaker 1: they're a team that in the first round, depending on
39:27
Speaker 1: the matchup, it's like, yeah, they could beat the Lions.
39:30
Speaker 1: They could beat the Packers in that 3-6 game. They
39:34
Speaker 1: could beat the Bears or whoever, the Seattle, whoever they're
39:38
Speaker 1: matched up against. So I'm really high on Carolina this week.
39:42
Speaker 1: I'm actually kind of excited to watch this game, partly
39:45
Speaker 1: because the bar is low. But the best game... of
39:50
Speaker 1: you could argue the day but definitely of the morning
39:52
Speaker 1: would be the Ravens hosting the Bengals now I'm assuming
39:56
Speaker 1: that Lamar is going to play because if he doesn't
39:59
Speaker 1: that sucks and this game becomes one it immediately becomes
40:02
Speaker 1: must win for the Bengals if you do get Tyler
40:05
Speaker 1: Huntley you know yesterday he wasn't spotted at practice today
40:09
Speaker 1: you know the media during the year is only allowed
40:12
Speaker 1: out for a short period of time so they get
40:14
Speaker 1: booted and then like once you start running your game
40:17
Speaker 1: plan stuff no one's out there And, you know, he
40:20
Speaker 1: was out of practice based on the point spread. Right.
40:25
Speaker 1: I do believe if Tyler Huntley was playing in this game,
40:27
Speaker 1: the Bengals would be favored. Now, Burrow historically against the
40:32
Speaker 1: Ravens is four and seven. So obviously that's against Lamar Jackson.
40:37
Speaker 1: And I would imagine all of them definitely in most
40:40
Speaker 1: of them. But this is a team that now a
40:43
Speaker 1: couple of years ago when they went nine and eight,
40:45
Speaker 1: They went 0-2 against the Ravens, and he threw nine
40:48
Speaker 1: touchdowns in the two games. So it by no means
40:51
Speaker 1: was his fault. But I was someone who was really,
40:54
Speaker 1: really high on this team coming in. This is a
40:57
Speaker 1: big spot for them. And even if you get Lamar Jackson, right,
41:03
Speaker 1: how good he looked before he got hurt in that
41:05
Speaker 1: Titans game. Same thing with Baker Mayfield. It's hard to
41:09
Speaker 1: just miss several games, right? with an ankle if you're
41:12
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson or a hand gripping the football if you're
41:16
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield and just hit the ground running against another
41:20
Speaker 1: good opponent. Right now, I think the argument would be
41:22
Speaker 1: Caleb did it. Caleb came back and looked pretty good.
41:26
Speaker 1: But I was talking to a buddy at the gym
41:29
Speaker 1: today who's a big Bears fan. He's like, well... He
41:31
Speaker 1: was throwing the ball exceptional, but you could tell movement-wise
41:35
Speaker 1: this was not the explosive runner. He was just slicing
41:40
Speaker 1: and dicing with his throw on the ball, like 26-26
41:43
Speaker 1: when he wasn't pressured. But he wasn't gashing him like
41:46
Speaker 1: it was Carolina Week 1, which is understandable coming off
41:49
Speaker 1: the injury. So a huge part of Lamar Jackson, who's
41:54
Speaker 1: obviously a much more high-end pocket passer at this point
41:58
Speaker 1: in time in his career, than the scrambling version early
42:02
Speaker 1: on when he hit the scene. But his game is
42:04
Speaker 1: still pretty predicated on moving around, keeping plays alive. And
42:08
Speaker 1: if an ankle injury is going to keep you out
42:10
Speaker 1: multiple weeks and still limit you at practice, like it
42:12
Speaker 1: does make me nervous. So this feels like almost too
42:15
Speaker 1: good to be true. Like if it's Huntley, auto bangles.
42:20
Speaker 1: even if it's Lamar, there's still some pressure on Cincinnati.
42:23
Speaker 1: You're getting a guy that probably isn't 100%. You're getting
42:27
Speaker 1: a team that the injury report as of Thursday afternoon
42:33
Speaker 1: was 15 guys from the Ravens on the report, one
42:36
Speaker 1: guy on the Bengals. So from a health standpoint, the
42:40
Speaker 1: Bengals coming off the bye are way, way healthier, which
42:45
Speaker 1: has to factor in. Both of them have, you know,
42:49
Speaker 1: the Bengals lost to the Steelers and obviously the Ravens
42:51
Speaker 1: lost to the Browns. So they're 0-1 in the division.
42:54
Speaker 1: You never want to fall to 0-2 because then you basically,
42:57
Speaker 1: I mean, got to play really well just to split
43:00
Speaker 1: and go 3-3. This is a big game. This is
43:03
Speaker 1: a massive game. To me, the Lamar Jackson thing, if
43:06
Speaker 1: he doesn't go, that'd be a disaster. If he does
43:09
Speaker 1: go and you lose, it does feel like all this
43:11
Speaker 1: early momentum after you look pretty good, like what the
43:13
Speaker 1: hell has happened? And you have these first-time coaches, first-time
43:17
Speaker 1: head coach, first-time offensive coordinator that I think are good.
43:20
Speaker 1: But you just start finding yourself a little bit behind
43:23
Speaker 1: the eight ball. The pressure starts mounting. Same thing with Cincinnati,
43:26
Speaker 1: but Zach Taylor and Golden, those guys have been there before.
43:30
Speaker 1: They understand what's at stake. It's pretty intense. I think
43:36
Speaker 1: I'm leaning Cincinnati here. But historically, it makes you a
43:40
Speaker 1: little nervous going into Baltimore. I mean, this is a
43:42
Speaker 1: game that Baltimore just normally wins. At home, against the Bengals.
43:49
Speaker 1: Say what you want about John Harbaugh. I have no
43:51
Speaker 1: issue with them firing him. It was time. John Harbaugh's
43:54
Speaker 1: feeling good about his spot in the league now. But, man,
43:59
Speaker 1: I think... This would be crazy if you just tell
44:03
Speaker 1: me all of a sudden the Ravens now are fighting
44:05
Speaker 1: an uphill battle because at one point in time, a
44:07
Speaker 1: couple games in, it's like, oh, Lamar was humming. They're
44:10
Speaker 1: playing the Titans, blowing them out. You're like, God, this
44:12
Speaker 1: team looks like 12 or 13 win team. And then
44:14
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you miss your quarterback for a
44:16
Speaker 1: couple weeks. I mean, they're pretty fortunate to have made
44:19
Speaker 1: a comeback in the Atlanta Falcons game. But I do
44:22
Speaker 1: think the injuries play a huge, huge role. So my
44:25
Speaker 1: four blocks would be Niners, Falcons, Indy, Minnesota, Tampa, Carolina,
44:29
Speaker 1: and since he had Bengals. The Volume.