Colin Cowherd Podcast - Chargers Brand Is “Losing”, Rams Overachieving, Bills Not A Playoff Team, Broncos ARE A Playoff Team, College Football Playoff

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sixty eight hours after issuance. SES Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com, slash Basketball terms for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, good hour tonight with John Middlecoff, former NFL scout for the Philadelphia Eagles, will be joining me in about ten minutes. Talk obviously about the Bills discouraging loss to Philadelphia or Philadelphia's basically game plan week after week to be outplayed for large stretches of games

and then come back to win. We'll talk about that some Jim Harbaugh, Michigan football, some college football, the big playoff picture overall. What Russell Wilson and Sean Payton now they are a playoff team and the hottest team in the AFC, the Denver Broncos. What do the Seahawks do with Geno Smith? It's obviously now he has regressed to the mean, as they say, So a lot of things to talk about. I want to start with the Chargers

losing to the Ravens. So I went back during the game because it just felt like it was going to be a close ending. It ended up being a Ravens win by double digits. But if you go back to last year, the LA Chargers have lost eight games by three or less, and they've lost their last seven in fact, by three or less. So I've said it's not man overboard with head coach Brandon Staley. It's not as though

they're not competitive. But just think about this. Right now, the Los Angeles Chargers have the same number of wins as the New York Giants in a quarterback league when they are now on Tommy DeVito, their third quarterback. Now, I know a lot of you people just love to say, well Justin Herbert, you know he is overrated. Let's say he is at six five two forty, super mobile. You saw his run up to the left sideline tonight, big fast kid, huge power arm. Would you not take him?

Over all? But about seven guys in the league. I mean, if you watched Desmond Ritter or are you watching what's happening in these games? Are are you watching Zach Wilson or Tim Boyle Is? Backup? You know, are you watching Will Levis? You take Justin Herbert over all, but about six guys. But you know what's interesting right now in the AFC playoff picture, only Tennessee, the Jets, New England,

all really bad at quarterback, are below the Chargers. If you want something to change in any business, you have to make changes. So again, I'm not a guy that calls for the firing of a head coach, but once again, end of a game, they really got a break because John Harbaugh, the Ravens should have gone for it on that fourth and short instead of trying to go up by six. You're better off getting a first down, forcing the Chargers and you will all their timeouts and any

of the game that they got a break. John Harbaugh made a rare clock management mistake. They really did make a mistake. That's and I think Baltimore's as well run as any organization in football. He may have been thinking, nobody's gonna score touchdowns against our defense, but that's generally they should have gone for fourth and short, picked it up, forced the Chargers to burn all their timeouts. Be that

as it may. They went on to win anyway. But I think the Chargers are at a point now where and maybe this was last year, but their brand is like mismanagement. Their brand is blowing wins, their brand is underachieving. That is a lousy brand to have, and it's a really bad brand. In Los Angeles, which we've talked about before, is a very distracted sports market. The beach, the weather, the mountains, proximity to Vegas, Scottsdale. Lots to do here,

the Dodgers, the Lakers, the Clippers. You got soccer, you got hockey, you got major college basketball now USC and UCLA. There's stuff to do. There's a lot of things to do here. And if you don't win, people move on. There's another NFL team sharing your building, and right now that team, the Rams, has a better record than you, and they're in a rebuild year. So I think in a very distracted market, the Chargers are getting to a

point now where their brand is just futility. And I know inside the building, and this is the downside to having an owner the Spanos family, where their kids work in the building, is that everybody, you know, it's like any family business. Everybody kind of walks on eggshells, knows what to really say in crisis. But they have a major crisis on their hands. The brand, which has never been a powerful brand to begin with. They were playing

in a soccer stadium a couple of years ago. The town they were in a few years ago, San Diego. Now many of those fans resent the Chargers. So it's not a very good brand to begin with. But in Los Angeles it's getting lost. It's just it's not must see. In fact, you know tonight, Lamar Jackson's as big a draw as the Chargers are. So at some point if market share and you know, a local viability matter, it's

just becoming a bad brand. A really talented quarterback, a handful of talented players, now it would help if they had a deep threat. They drafted Quinton Johnston out of TCU. He's been very slow to develop. It just it looks like a bit of a miss. He doesn't look kind of buttoned up when he's out there. There's very littly can do. He's not on the field regularly, so they drafted him to replace eventually Mike Williams, a deep threat who just can't stay healthy. Williams got hurt again and

Quinton Johnston's not ready to play. That has absolutely hurt this offense. Yet you know, they go on a lot of these long drives because it's the only way they can score Keenan Allen, Justin Herbert, Austin Eckler, and you know you're hoping for six yard gains from Gerald Everett, you know, and underneath stuff. So it's not nearly as viable as it could be if Mike Williams was healthy. And because Quintin Johnston has not been a hit as a first round wide receiver pick, there's some limitations to

begin with. But I think you have to make a move at some point with a head coach. If you want results to change, you have to make changes. Feels very simple to me. And now a segment we called making it look easy. Matt Stafford made it look easy. Four touchdown passes against the Arizona Cardinals, some of the

best play calling of the year by Sean McVay. Just like Matt Stafford made it look easy, so does Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, one hundred offices nationwide, eight hundred lawyers, and through the years they have made fifteen billion dollars for their clients. In claims, you will get a fair and reasonable return. Morgan and Morgan has been fighting for the People for over thirty five years.

If you're ever injured, go to four the People dot com, slash Colin, or dial Pound five to nine to check out America's largest injury law firm. Winning in the NFL and is hard, but winning with Morgan and Morgan they make it look easy. The Rams right now, believe it or not, are in a dog fight for a wild card spot in the NFC. And so this this was a team Vegas had their over under at about five.

And I had said in the off season I had to talk myself out of putting them in the playoffs because I said, if you have a really smart offensive coach and a really talented quarterback and at least one big time weapon Sean McVay, Matt Stafford coover Cup. You know, they had a couple offensive linemen I liked and could tie to end Tyler Higbe. You had a couple of touchdowns today against Arizona. I'm like that, that's a team

battling for the playoffs. But because they had so many young players defensively, you know, my takeaway was they probably won't they won't stop people. Well, Raheem Morris has been a great defensive coordinator for them. But it's really the Rams kind of ironically have become the opposite of the Chargers. Where the Chargers are constantly underachieving, the Rams are the opposite. I mean, if you really look at what this year was outside of Aaron Donald, it is a bunch of kids.

There is no money on the defensive side at all, and they're playing very well now. They were physically controlled by the Philadelphia Eagles, a stacked, often veteran roster. Outside of that, they have been in every game this year and have beaten teams swept Seattle, and it's just coaching mcveaon's Pete Carroll. Stafford's better than Geno Smith. But the Rams, I mean, even if you go back to their Super Bowl year, it took Matt Stafford. You know, they were

struggling a couple of blowout losses. You know that they had cam Akers, who they liked but didn't love. He had a bit of a fumble problem. They almost blew that game in Tampa because of cam Aker fun. You know, it was a team that had Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, but Jalen Ramsey would bite and get burned over the top a lot that was a team that was trying to kind of figure and find its way, and they

eventually did for a Super Bowl. But I mean, I would say for a majority of the year, we did not look at that Rams team as a super Bowl team. They had some ugly, ugly losses and they just kind of find ways to win. With Sean McVay. Now he struggles in the regular season against Kyle Shanahan of the forty nine ers. They just don't match up particularly well with them. But outside of that matchup, I'm watching the Rams this year. The play calling, Now, Arizona's not a

great team. Nobody thinks they are. The play calling today though, I mean, Cooper Cup is not one hundred percent. If you watch the game today, he is his first catch of the game, he's limping. They got Williams backed Kyron Williams are very nice running back, very shifty, very clever, and that gives them kind of a one to two punch at running back and wide receiver. But this is a team that I would argue doesn't have a single great player in their prime. Aaron Donald's not, Cooper Cupp

is not, Matt Stafford's not. Rob Havenstein is a good good right tackle, but he's not in his prime. They don't have a single great player in their prime. Now go to the Philadelphia Eagles. In contrast, Jalen Hurts, great player in his prime. AJ Brown great receiver in his prime, Davonte Smith excellent player in his prime. Their left tackle young player PFF top graded left tackle in his prime. That's just on the offensive side. So Philadelphia is stacked

and will probably win the Super Bowl. If you go to the forty nine Ers. Fred Warner I thinks in his prime, late prime, but you know Bosa in his prime, Debo in his prime, Brandon Ayyuk just moving into his prime. Brams don't have one. So this is a team. There are certain teams in this league that are being one buffalo another that kind of find ways to lose. You know. The Rams being a viable playoff team with this roster is I mean they've been moving offensive line pieces around,

going to get running backs off the street needed. Pooka Nakua, the fifth round wide receiver early when Cooper cup was out to produce offense on the perimeter to two at Well was a bus seemingly at wide receiver. He's now semi viable big play receiver. They are just coaching and drafting and development, and I mean in the same building. You've got a team that finds ways to lose and a team that finds ways to win. There's no way the Rams should be a more viable playoff team this

year than the Chargers. Again, Chargers justin Herbert in his prime. They're left tackle Slater in his prime. It was a great players Derwin James in his prime, Bosa in his prime. You know several high players Rams don't have won. They have good players, no great players though, in the middle, in the meat of their career. All right. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout on the Three and Out podcast for the volume Let's start. Philadelphia plays about as poorly as

they can possibly play. This is the team you used to scout for. They have made sort of an art form out of sluggish wins. It's probably why I think I give them. I'd make them the favorite to win the Super Bowl this year. I thought they were so. In fact, it was my DraftKings bet of the week. I thought Buffalo and four and a half was a great bet. Did you have your doubts in this one? Because it was so sloppy.

They talked about that. Whatever it is, the deep thigh Brews or the injury that he's dealing with, it's not something that you know, you just you got a pain tolerance. Maybe as the game goes on he gets a little looser, Yeah, because early on in games, there is no elite player who plays as crappy in the first half as Jalen. You look up at his stats early on in the first half, he barely had over he had under forty

yards passing. Yeah, and then all of a sudden, you look at the end of the game, you're like, I thought the guy was awesome. You know, it's he's been a he's been a crazy roller coaster ride and it goes back. You know, Josh Allen can't play much better. I mean John Elway meets Cam Newton today. But yeah, you know, the Bills just find ways to lose games this year.

I've compared them to Mike Tyson, like they don't. You know, Tyson at the end didn't have a jab, you know, left himself wide open, but he had this vicious power and so he you know, he swung from the heels. It was a little bit like Tiger coming out of his shoes as a golfer. It just made up if the irons were off. And I look at Buffalo and I think, listen, you're not gonna there's not gonna be a game this year that Philadelphia probably won't play that

poorly for a half. They I mean, they may say there can be sluggish, and to me, if Buffalo can't win this game. I mean, right now, John Denver is the hottest team in the league. Buffalo's if if, if the Chargers win tonight, does Buffalo feel like a playoff team to you?

great example. Their defense let him down. To me, the final drive that led to the sixty yard field goal and then the final drive that led to the touchdown in overtime. I don't understand why you completely just let them get easy completions when all game long you have been playing normal defense. Yeah, they beat it, they beat it. It's a rainstorm, that field is slippery. Okay, if they make hit some miraculous play, you tip your hat. But to just play, you know whatever, eight ten, twelve yards

off and give them completion after completion after completion. With this offense, they're too potent once they get close you saw on the final touchdown with Jalen Hurts. At any moment he can run it. And obviously they just got in field goal range. And honestly, if it wasn't for a Hall of Fame center making a couple shitty weird plays the pre snap that cost him couple of yards, they would have had a fifty yard field goal drove the field pretty easily. So yeah, I do not think

Buffalo is a playoff team. I'm with you, Denver is playing much better on defense. And there's a belief. I don't see how you lose this game. If you're Buffalo and have any belief, you know that's I think this. You start looking around, you go what what else can we do?

this in a bit. I mean what Sean McVay is doing with this rickety rebuilt old or too young roster, with the rams he's manufacturing points. I never feel like the Chargers, despite killing more the Chargers or the Bill's manufacture stuff. It's just Herbert, go make throws, Keenan Allen, go make catches. Josh Allen, be great and listen. There's no you know again, if you're gonna lose to anybody at Philadelphia, late is about as good a loss as the NFL has. But I also think that there is

something to be said about. You know, Buffalo's not Green Bay. You have an owner and free agents would go there. But John, let's be honest about this. I think you have about four more years of Josh Allen in his prime because he takes too many shots, and then all of a sudden it's like it's not the same and his contract's going to get bigger. I just kind of feel like they've blown it. I feel like I don't feel like Herbert's blown it yet because they could get

the right coach. I don't think Buffalo's ever gonna move off.

You can't really hit the quarterback as much anymore. But he did have the one play when Reddick got him early in the game, he got slammed like it was nineteen eighty five. Yeah, I just wonder the NFL football is a team game ultimately, even if you have pon. There's a reason Peyton Manny didn't win as much as

Tom Brady. His teams were never as good. Yeah, And I remember hearing stories when I was in the NFL that Tom Condon would get on the phone with Bill Pollian and Bill's like, we're not going to be able to buy any players, and Tom would say more more. And Peyton was always paid a premium and their teams always had major flaws and listen, Tom Brady looks like he's doing pretty well financially right now. Took a little bit less and his teams were much more stacked, and

that was a huge difference. And honestly, it wasn't until the end when Peyton got to Denver that he probably played on the most complete teams. But he was older. Can you imagine him in his peak in younger days, it would have a John Elway.

hard to have much. I do think there's an emotional toll that losing in football takes on you, right It's it's one thing if you lose a game, Like if the Eagles would have lost this game, they could easily just shake it off. I think the Bills are at the point where that might just be the crushing blow for their season.

And it's two years too late because if you would have put a running game on that team a couple of years ago, maybe they're not playing at Kansas City in the second round of that game is in Buffalo, and they're the number one seed. But like you said that, there's a window because of the way finances work in the NFL, these contracts are not just equal year to year, right look at Deshaun Watson. This year's twenty million on the cap, next year it's sixty three. Like these swings

dramatically impact your team. So's it sucks if you're a Bills fan because they've been a franchise that was so terrible for so long and they get this franchise quarterback and now it feels like their finest moment was the blown thirteen second game to the Kansay Chiefs.

is a team that could use a week off. So this win is not just another w It goes a long way in the NFC home field advantage race.

So this game, honestly, with Detroit LEAC and Oil probably borderlines, solidifies their spot as the number one seed, which is huge. We saw it last year the Niners had to go to Philadelphia's. This is not Levi Stadium. I mean it was rainy, it was cold. Yeah, not a soul in that stadium left it. The area embraces the ugliness, and it's just they're now built to play like that too.

as you said, leak's oil. San Francisco's also got some really tough games to the stretch and also Super Bowl. So like even in a even in like a cosmic way, what they if you could, if you could literally take a want and go, okay, give Philadelphia a couple of weeks to get rest and healthy, because I think San Francisco has the best roster. But listen, if you told me San Francisco Philadelphia today and it's in Philadelphia, I think it's one of the great games we've seen in

recent years. But I'd have to lean Philly.

I mean, let's face it, Sirianni's get a little over the top for my liking, but Jalen is actually much more coach like in his mannerisms and the way he conducts himself as a player. You never they score touchdowns, unfazed, not celebrate. If you're an Eagle fan, to have that Carson Wentz situation and to pivot to this guy, it's just it's an all time football Havn't throwing you a bone move because that's a pretty special player.

down the field. I need you to run. The game plan was clearly run the football screen it mitigate their pass rush. With Cleveland a lot of screens, Russ, anytime you can run. They were trying to keep the Cleveland defense as passive as they could on screens, and Russell running slowed him down a little bit. But as I watched that game, I think this is it's Listen. We always knew that Sean Payton had a winning record with Bridgewater, Taysom Hill, Drew Brees. I don't know if he did

with Jamis Winston, but it was close. So he's won with different, stylistically different guys. But Russell Wilson is absolutely and I know this to be true, he's a difficult quarterback for Sean Payton. His style isn't Sean's. This isn't what Shawn would hand pick right, and so it's just different.

I watched that game today and I'm like, it is amazing when a quarterback plays to his straints, how good Suddenly Denver's roster looks Simmons the safety, Sir Tan DJ Jones in the middle, by the way, Mims can be wildly explosive. Courtland Sutton's always been talented. They'll get Dulsitch back at tight end, but they're tied end. Made a great Cats today. Williams and p Ryan are really wrong,

very similar style backs, both can catch o line. I thought today that a pretty good job of protecting Russ. Suddenly the quarterback play. You look around and you're like, oh, you know what, Denver's pretty good. How good are they? Do you think? Well?

We saw it with Nathaniel Hackett, who's proven not to be a very good play caller, either overwhelmed by everything else. Early on in the season, everybody and their mother are saying, you advanced joke, seventy points, you gotta fire him. He was able to just kind of ride out the storm locker room lawyer, some older guys with big money probably

doing who knows what to his younger players. Frank Clark, Randy Gregory, get out of my locker room when you watch him to day, Cleveland easily has been not just the best defense in the NFL, but the most physical defense in the NFL. I thought Denver was every bit

as physical flying around with rushing people. So he has maintained a level of improving Russell and getting Russell to just go more like he was in his younger days in Seattle, and the defense which again Colin, they scored twenty points in the game and still lost by fifty, Like that could be a firefule defense on its own, but he's stuck with him. You watch Vance Joseph right

now these last couple weeks. Their defense is playing really good, so that you know the Raiders are just they're just okay. The Chargers you can never trust. Obviously, the Chiefs are gonna be fine. But you look at the AFC. I mean, I do not trust Pittsburgh at all. I mean, at one point in time in the game, I thought, is this Mike Tomlins last year? Like this is this all she wrote for him? You know, he just fires a coordinator. They're down early to Jake Browning. Jake Browning's beating them.

Now they ended up coming back and their offense looked a little bit better, but no one cares how many yards you get when you score sixteen points. Right at the point of that, you gotta score some points, which you cannot trust them to do.

John defense is young and fast, They're running the all. It's a screen run game, so that's kind of bulletproof against bad weather. And I look at them and I think, oh, I could see them going to Baltimore. I could absolutely see them going. I take Kansas City out of it, but I mean Miami. If Miami and Denver played today, I could see that getting being a completely ugly you know. First of all, the past best.

of looks old. And this is the NFL where you don't always see it coming. I mean, he's one of the greatest players of all time. He's one of my favorite players to watch, but he's looked his age a little bit and he's no longer and their receivers are young. There was a report today they've had to do some extra filmwork about some adjustments. That's a work in progress. Maybe it's just like Belichick and Brady didn't win the Super Bowl every year. Remember the Jets got him one year.

They got taken down every once in a while. And maybe just this even watching today against the Raiders, who I don't think are very good. Was a pretty tight game for a while. Now the Chiefs are ultimately better. They got a better coach and obviously a better quarterback. But you watch him, you go, I don't know, because if Travis is no longer an A plus player and let's say he's a BB minus player, well the rest

around there. They're so dependent on their defense, which is good, yes, but you know, you go against Lamar, you go against that like the game could get weird and all of a sudden you just lose a nineteen to seventeen playoff game. And that's what I think they've opened themselves up to for the first time. To me, Travis flying to Taylor and being it has nothing to do with that is simply I just he's a thirty four year old guy

with a lot of miles on his body. He's starting to get banged up, and he's his game very predicated on athleticism, right to eat, movement, speed, explosiveness, and it just feels like a step flow this year.

a two. And a lot of this, a lot of this stuff is that these guys come out of college John they're not always like Josh Allen. They're not always particularly well coached. They don't have the route tree down. They just need time, I mean tight ends. Historically struggle in year one were some receivers, you know, the great ones like Jamar Justin Jefferson can make an impact in most cases, though, it's because the quarterback's really good, right, it helps to have Burrow or even a veteran like

Kirk Cousins. But I just look at Kansas City and I said this last week. They've moved into the second phase of the dynasty. The first phase is Mahomes is cheap. They can play down twenty one up twenty one. It's they look faster, smarter, and they have a ton of weapons. Phase two, they've entered Travis Kelcey. Their best player is wobbling. They've had to move off players because of Mahomes now as expensive. Their defense is the best it's been. So

they're now carried kind of by their defense. And so it's like Phase two for the Patriots was no super Bowls. Now they got to them, they were closed. But Phase one was Tom was a game manager becoming a big time player defense. Phase two was the Randy Moss Welker, which was explosive, almost offensive lad and then Phase three was Tom Edelman Gronk. He got his favorite weapons ever, excellent o line play, and it was a combination of

they could be explosive, but they weren't as explosive as Moss. Right, and I think with Kansas City, they're just not as explosive. They can't play down twenty one nothing to teams. So that's why, By the way, that's why if you've noticed John, they don't experiment as much. They're pretty good on script early now because I think they know, you know, I think initially with Patrick, you you could roll the dice. I think they come in scripted. They need a lead.

easily a second best offensive player. You could argue if Kelsey's not elite anymore, he's every bit as good as him, at least impactful to the offense. So I think big picture, in the offense, they're gonna dress tight end in the offseason. Andy historically is always big game hunted. You know, he traded for tell Owens once upon a time. He always drafts skill guys high. I think tight ends and wide receivers are. You're gonna be a huge point emphasis for

them this offseason because this quarterback's not going anywhere. And the difference with Tom Right, they did get him Randy in his prime, but for the most part he dealt with underneath wide receivers. Loved it that way. Mahomes is a deep ball thrower, Like if you're gonna make if Diggs isn't on the team next year with Josh Allen, you're gonna want a player that can get down the field because that is a massive strength and he's willing to do it. So I would expect them to be

pretty aggressive this offseason for getting more speed. But it's it's going to be difficult the way, you know, just they're white. You can only do so much. I don't care how great a coach Andy is to have these guys make plays like when Rice made that player I got. I haven't seen a Chief do this in a while.

I mean they may and take Harrison. I could see them keeping Marvin Harrison because he's so good, but I could also see them getting a boatload of picks and going and getting other receivers. I'm not sure which way they'll go. Harrison so gifted, so Randy Moss they probably do. And so the third team there could be a bidding war for that. It's New England, whatever it is. New England's going to draft a quarterback. But Seattle is one of those teams. They don't have a lot of holes

on this roster. I could see if I ran the Seahawks. I thought watching Geno Smith, who's you know, regressed to the mean. He is what he is. He was. He bombed people, forget how badly he bombed in New York. He was awful, like like not maybe not Zach Wilson bad, but he was awful. And so eventually, you know, people get a year of film on him. You know, you can see some of his teammates barking. People are getting frustrated. Seattle has enough depth at running back, at wide receiver,

I even think at corner. I wonder if Seattle just says we're going all in, all in on getting up there and getting that quarterback, maybe bow Knicks, or if New England took a bone Nicks over Drake May. Because Seattle is one of those teams that's very hard to do, bring a rookie quarterback in and give up massive draft capital and players. But if Seattle said, we'll give you a you know, we'll give you a DK Metcalf. We got these two young receivers, we'll go draft another. It's

a good receiver draft. We'll give you DK Metcalf. We'll give you to the number ones. I think it makes Seattle's got They've drafted so well John for two straight years. They've hit about eight home runs. I wonder if Seattle just says we can give up some draft picks here.

last year? Because of the trade they were at number five, They easily could have got to three and taken Anthony Richardson, who would have kind of been their version of Josh Allen from years before. Remember I pissed Russell Wilson off when they were thinking about sniffing around trying to get up and get him, and they didn't do it, And I think they're not gonna make that mistake again. And I'm with you. You remember to beat Trough. Once upon a

Time got from the twenties to get Julio Jones at six. Andy, Once upon a time came from the mid twenties, get up I think ten or twelve whatever, Mahomes was, I think they're gonna have to do that because they are. The Niners are much better than them. But one major difference is bruck Perty's better than Geno Smith. Yes, right, so it's like you can't forever with Russell Wilson for whatever reason. Back to Harbaugh through Kyle, they kind of

owned the Niners. They beat the Niners all the time. Well, the Niners are now, including the playoffs, four to ozho in the last year and a half, and it's most of those games have not felt that close. They've had moments in the game, but over the totality the sixty minutes, the Niners have separated themselves and they're kicking Geno Smith's ass.

And I think that was a big reason why why the Rams kind of soured on golf is when you're not a super mobile guy and don't have a super high ceiling, the Niners hass rush can just a golfew and Stafford helped the you know, obviously the Rams in that NFC Championship game. Gino has not been able to overcome that and honestly hasn't looked very good against them

at all. Beside a moment a drive here and a drive there, but the game and ultimately, if you're them, you know you're a couple of players away, probably from being a super Bowl contender, but you have no chance to beat the forty nine ers to win the division, who are probably gonna run the table again and win the division by several games because of that player. So historically they've been one of the most would you say them Andy Reid, Howie Roseman more aggressive organizations? Haven't all

worked Jimmy Graham, Percy Harvin. Why the hell wouldn't they do that for a quarterback? So I'm with you. They have, you know, a DK Metcalf, maybe one of their corners, not the rookie, but they got a guy that they could throw in there to also intrigue with maybe two to one to just throw hail Mary, because without that position, you could have two dk Metcalfs and Gino Smith. You're probably getting bounced in the first round no matter of one.

a veteran player, a productive player. Draft picks even in the first round thirty percent miss. So I think Seattle could give a team, you know, one of those teams in the top five or six, and just say here, we'll give you a star receiver. We'll give you our number two corner. We draft very well, we develop well, Pete always has, and we'll give you two ones that to me would be much more enticing than a million draft picks.

to keep plays alive. Yes, and you know when you look at the other teams Seattle Detroit that aren't Dak Prescott can move, Jalen Hurts can move, Brock Purty can move. I'm not talking. You know, Jalen runs more than Dak in Brock. Those guys extend the play outside the tackle and usually you can't cover forever. You know, the receivers. These guys practice so many of these kind of you know,

scramble drills. You hit them, it feels like more than half the time on a big play, and if you don't hit them, you get a lot of pass interferences. So to me the mobility, And look at this draft class, right, Bo Nicks, Drake May, all these guys who moved McCarthy were to come, Kayleb Williams athlete Penix would be the one guy who's more of a throwback, and he's he throws such a beautiful ball. But it's just hard to draft a guy who's not a great movement guy in

today's day and age. Isn't it all right?

for the Lions. It's a big part of that. But be that as it may. Green Bay has drafted very good young receiver tight end talent excellent from Musgrave, Watson, Dobbs. There's some really nice players here. So let's start with the Packers and then we'll pivot to the Lions. I said this with Kenny Pickett. I feel like I've just I see what he is and I don't think you can win big. Do you have a different opinion of Jordan Love today, John as a former scout.

Charger game away short week on the road Thanksgiving. That's you're a long way into the season. Your body's probably a little tired. Those first couple drives Collin Kenny Pickett, and let's you throw Mac Jones. Who's worse than Kenny Pickett. They don't have the physical characteristics of this guy, Like this guy does have a big power arm, moves really well. Yeah, these I tend to like because I come from the Andy Reid school of the more physically gifted guys and

try to figure it out. But those guys miss just as much as the low, you know, ceiling high floor guys. But at least one a guy kind of hits like Jordan Love has been lately. You go, God, they might have God, they might be alive. What if they're actually kind of good? Because offensively they have a lot of

speed outside right, a lot of speed. An offensive head coach who's literally calling the so he can impact the guy like ultimately Mike Tomlin or Belichick like they Oh, they could yell at the quarterback, they could motivate the quarterback, but they can't impact the play calling on a play to play basis. The head coach is in full control there him and Jordan. It's why you see if you watch a Packer game when it was going bad, now that's watching going good. Those guys spend a lot of

time together. So yeah, I'm much more bullish on it, because how could you not be if you just watched the last two weeks, whether you thought he was bad, which I did, you go that guy looks like a really good quarterback. Now can he maintain it into December? Time will tell he gets a long break. He should be more arrested this this upcoming week, but there's no disputing he has been. He kicked their ass. Now that they are not playing very well at all, that secondary

is a major problem. It's hard. I have to drop them above the other three teams, obviously the Niners, Dallas and Philly, because they that secondary like they will get beat by any of those three teams pretty easily. If that's the way they're gonna play, but this is the NFL. Man Thursday night or Thursday morning in Detroit, it's a huge, huge, when's the last time a home game we went in for Detroit thinking oh, they were a huge favor in

that game, and they got worked. The final score was not as close as what we witnessed.

guys know who can be and who isn't. And so sometimes when I watch Jordan he's a little loose, And I think because he got away with it in high school college, probably gets away with it at practice, and you can see in games sometimes he just gets away with it. But I will say this, when you watch a lot of these quarterbacks that don't work. One of the things that just jumps out to you is they're just not gifted. There's not a lot of secret sauce there.

Matt job Right, Yeah, Jordan Love moves really well. I don't think he has a huge arm, but it's a good arm. But he moves easy. It's it's just very easy for him to drift outside and head up field. And it's like you know that that also John buys you for about two years, buys you time at the line of scrimmage, is running for first downs.

take a deep breath, keep loading up the team. On the flip side, One thing I wrote down on Thursday night, like Gino was really impressive, and the more we've got to know him as a starting quarterback, he's an easy guy to root for, how he conducts himself, just the way he's just handled the ups and downs of his career. He's just not good enough. And to me, ultimately, you know, at least with Jordan, I don't know if he is either, but he's young. There's a lot to work with. He's

not making up. He's gea Now. Gino makes a lot of money. So the Seattle it's been impressive how they've pivoted away from Russ and they've kept maintained well. Now they played the Cowboys on Thursday night. I don't know about you. I don't like him in that game. You know, all of a sudden, they're kind of leaking oil and you go, it's not They got talent everywhere. Now, they've done a good job of drafting. They already had some players when he showed up. But he's kind of their problem.

And they're gonna win enough games where it's eight or nine, maybe they're the seventh seed. How are they going to get a quarterback draft? Hope to draft a guy in like the second round and keep their fingers crossed.

was embarrassing. This game was embarrassing. Where there is I mean you start looking around at the coaches that have rings, the Belichicks and Andy Reives, the Sean mcvays, there is an intellectual level Sean Payton's that you start getting upstairs to the highest levels of these games, and they're all situational, and I just wonder, is Dan more emotion driven? There's nothing wrong with it. Pete Carroll can do some of that,

but Pete's legendary for his meetings and situational football. This franchise, to me right now, Detroit feels like have they emotionally peaked? Do they have a second gear? Well?

It's always been a point of differentiation when Bill and Tom work together, as like Bill could impact schematically every position, every unit. Well, Dan, now they're going through a little adversity. They're good enough that they're gonna end up winning some you know, more than enough games to win the division and host a playoff game. But like, do you feel as good now about them in the first round of

the playoffs? Definitely not in the second round if they got to go on the road to let's say San Francisco. And to me, it gets back to I'm a Dan Campbell guy because I do think the people that believe in you matters to me. And Bill Parcells and Seohn Payton were his two biggest proponents. But he does have a flaw. Like most offense, like Andy Reid, doesn't know that much about defense in terms of relative do I think what the average person's gonna think? Why he needs

a strong defensive coordinator. When you give them spags, when you give him Jim Johnson, he's kicking a lot of ass, taking a lot of names. Well now they because of personnel, some injuries. I don't really know what Dan can do right because his specialty like, okay, motivate the D line,

but the secondary is more about pure scheme. You know, it's all my mind versus your mind, putting our guys in position, and that's gonna be a fatal flaw for them just moving forward because he doesn't have a pitch there.

really well. They just couldn't make stops and so but here's my takeaway is that everybody wants to play that four team Michigan, Georgia, and Oregon. They don't want to play each other first, Like, right, you want to play that four team. And so my guess is Texas. If they went out, Texas is your four because they beat Alabama and Alabama and should be. I would take Ohio State to beat them, but Ohio State lost late Texas.

the year. You're not the same team, So backup quarterbacks not I don't think going to compete against Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, and you can say whatever you want about that, but that's just the reality of it. I mean, the odds will change now. So if Florida State gets in you and I know that's who all those teams want to play first. They want to play Florida State first. But I was thinking about this, if it's if you're thinking about Oregon, or let's just say it's Georgia and Michigan

and they both went out. Could I not make the argument that Michigan's ability so that it's the duality of life, your weakness becomes your strength. Michigan's ability to win two huge road games without their coach on the sideline actually would make me say I think Michigan's number one that in a weird way, it would get them the number one set over Georgia. Is that crazy?

out of town. He's they run a high level program, clearly, but for Michigan to play like at multiple times in that game when it was tied, a lot of teams without their coach and their leader would have crumbled, especially their quarterback had come into the game not playing well. That there was a togetherness of the group. Now, they obviously have a lot of guys that easily could have gone to the NFL. It's a very unique team. But that was as now they were at home. But to

win that game, I have a hard time. Georgia is clearly not as good that They're just not. You can't lose the caliber of NFL players for back to back years and be as good this year doesn't mean they haven't recruited the highest level and they're not gonna win more national championships. Nick Saban did win national championship every year. He skipped some years. And to me, Oregon, it's pretty crazy that Washington can't remember the last time they lost

a game Colin definitely in the regular season. It's been a while. By the time that game kicks off, what are they going to be a ten point underdog?

would say. I think Oregon's the best football team. I've seen him live twice. I've watched them on TV an uther two to three times. I think Oregon's the best team I've seen, better than Michigan.

But was closer to the guy that I think through the early half of the season when they were playing you know, the School of the Blind and who knows who people were talking about him as a first round pick. He showed flashes again and clearly outplayed the Ohio State quarterback. To me, Oregon has just been consistently the best team start to finish that they have had no hiccups because even their loss, he went God, they were incredible. It was just a fourth down play the easily could have.

I think are we underestimating Washington a little bit though, because defensively they've been a lot better the last couple of weeks. Offensively, they're so predicated on the pass that scares you a little bit that the balance isn't always there. But I do wonder because I think everyone and their mother's gonna pick Oregon and Hammer him ten to eleven point as a favorite. Could the game be a little club. There're gonna be a lot of Washington fans there this game.

I think it was sold out like three weeks ago, so this yeah, it's gonna be a bananas.

really off, but again Northwest cold, it's not. You know, he played at Corvallis in a rainstorm and then you know, on a short time he comes back in a huge By the way, all these underdogs Auburn against Alabama, you know, Ohio State was an underdog to Michigan. Listen, the underdog Alhos has an advantage Emotionally, you're just banging the drum all week. Nobody believes in US. So Washington State cam Ward played a great couple of great throws. Washington has

the ability to be outplayed and win. I thought they were outplayed by Oregon and they just won because I mean they listen. In the NFL outside of the Jet nobody has two elite corners well in college, forget about it. And so if you have three NFL receivers john, they're just they just have matchup. Even Oregon was was blanketing them and the guys made catches. So I think Washington has the ability and this is not all college. Good

teams have this. They can play poorly and win because of their passing offense.

by the end of the game. I do think, because next year's going to the twelve team, if the four team playoff was just gonna be let's just say a minimum, another decade going, it would be hard for them to do, you know, because then it would set the precedent of leading leaving un you know, undefeated power five team out.

I do wonder if the twelve team next year, it's easier for them just to go listen, your third string quarterbacks in, you're no longer the same team, because I think that would be pretty controversial, right because a lot of people are saying, well, what if Alabama, who easily could have lost, I mean, took great throw by mill Row, but they did not deserve to win that game. Obviously it's gonna be difficult for them to beat Georgia. But what if they do, then everyone's going to beat does

Alabama and Georgia? Then you know all the SEC haters get involved. Well, Texas beat Alabama. Now you can say that's Week three, but still, what's the point of the game. They played the game they beat him.

would fight against it. It's not good for them. But I just things change. The reality is Florida States now on a backup to a backup in a week conference. I don't buy it.

who knows what do and what they didn't. It didn't cross their mind for once that Chip Kelly was in trouble left no one cares. Harbass value to me is higher than ever. I would say it was down a couple of years ago. He's definitely got it back because they're running an NFL program. Honestly, Ryan Day really impressed me was that that wasn't impressive outing by Ohio State because they had got the knock, and I know he

freaked out at Lou Holtz earlier in the season. They were soft, like I don't think it was, you know, uncalled for by people questioning their toughness. And they're much tougher program. I mean, they're right there with Michigan. Now. Can you lose to a rival when you have the highest payroll for a coaching staff, when their head coach is at home in his shorts eating a hot dog. That's a tough. It's one thing to lose a hardbass straight up right. I think it's hard to lose to

the O line coach who's thirty seven years old. These Ohio State, these people pay so much money. It was kind of another take I have is listen, I understand for Casey Wasstererman is a very successful individual and for

whatever reason, loves Chip Kelly. But they had the opportunity they're going to the Big ten now to get rid of him and hire Jonathan Smith, who I think every Power five AD and every Power five head coach would say Jonathan Smith in twenty twenty three is a much better coach than Chip Kelly.

went to sleep. Cal kicked his ass, and let's face it, Cal plays a lot like a Big ten team, you know, physicality, what he handles Lincoln Well what's Lincoln more of a spread big twelve team. I don't know. I think that Chip Kelly's lost three or four some bad losses.

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