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eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome in. So we're going to do an hour or close to it with John middlecof former NFL scout three and out. I'm going to start with about ten minutes here on Jim Harbaugh. My thoughts before I get into the NFL stuff, because I have strong opinions on that. I thought, what the Big Ten did you know as Jim Harbaugh is flying to Penn State with his team was really second tier? I just don't think that's the
way you do business. It felt overly punitive, considering it goes sort of against what the Big Ten handbook says on cases like this. But I thought there were multiple things in that game. Jim Harbaugh's teams, I believe now are undefeated when he's not on the sidelines, and that is a really great sign for a business. The boss can be gone and the business cranks, and that's Jim Harbaugh. It is dependent on his personality and culture, which creates resiliency,
efficiency and toughness, but game management. He has a very good staff behind him, and they win again on the road decisively when he's not there. Big ups for Jim Harbaugh. I also thought running twenty six straight times in the second half was almost a middle finger to the conference. It was about saying, we don't even have to throw the ball. I don't even have to be on the sidelines, and we're gonna end a conduct. We're gonna suffocate a really good top ten twelve team in Penn State. I
thought that was a message. I did not think that was a coincidence. Jim Harbaugh, and he's done this in his entire career, will send messages. And I know he burns hot. I know he's not perfect. I know he wears people out. I have said, everybody speeds on the four or five in Los Angeles. You don't want to go ninety sunglasses in a maserati taunting law enforcement. Did Michigan go over the top? Appear so? But you can't
convince me. A nineteen ninety four rule that none of you knew is suddenly embezzlement and forfeit wins and fire the coach. The other thing that jumped out to me is find me the great college football coaches have been pristine. Want to go back and look at some of the methods of Bear Bryant or Barry Switzer, or would he Hayes. Jimmy Johnson was polarizing Blunkeye fans, Urban Meyer, really great coach Nick Saban. They wear people out, They're tough. I
mean Pete Carroll one of the great college football coaches. Ever, when he left there was all sorts of NCUBLEA issues around the program. So I'm not looking for pristine Okay, In the NFL, coaches have to deal with wacko, impulsive, ego infested owners. And in college football you got to deal with needy donors Los Angeles phone book, thick, NC doublea handbook. You have to deal with seventeen hours of practice.
Kids are emotional. They come from all different backgrounds. I think Jim Harball you can see his coaches crying on the sideline in Rich's coach enriches players, elevates young people's lives, and I think that's such an important part of college football, coaching, basketball, men's, women's, whatever, it is enriching their lives. But if you're looking for pristine, wrong business. Our churches aren't pristine, okay. Wall Street's not,
Silicon Valley's not. College sports is not a lot of handouts, folks. For years and years they were paying players. Now they are legally right. That's why it's so balanced now because not just the SEC is paying players. The idea that Jim Harbaugh is the bad guy in all this, all of this is laughable to me. And I also thought
about this. The Big Ten sees itself as like, you know, either the most important conference certainly I'd argue it is because it's located right in the middle of the country, massive tradition filled universities Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin. But it's really become a two team conference. Penn State, though doesn't win these kind of games. It's Michigan, Ohio State.
And I think Big ten fans think by adding Michigan, Washington, Oregon, USC UCLA, they look at the South California schools and then they look at Washington and Oregon is sort of like Oregon plus Michigan State, ish plus no. Right now, Washington and Oregon have as good at coaches as maybe they've ever had, and they are Ohio State. You're adding two Ohio states to the conference. I don't think Big
ten fans get this. Every time Washington has had an elite coach, Don James National title, Rick Neuheizel won Rose Bulls, Chris Peterson got to the playoff, Caitlin de bores when's the last time they lost on like a sixteen to seventeen game winning street. Same for Oregon since Phil Knight got involved. Mike Bolotti with Jeff Hedford number two in
the country. Mike Bolotti with Chip Kelly, blew people out, Chip Kelly, Mark Helfridge get to a Natty and right now with Dan Lanning, I think there's an argument that Oregon, he's the second best team in the country to Michigan. They're in that Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Texas class. In my opinion, I'd take him against Texas and Alabama. Not sure what against Georgia, but it would be close. So the Big Ten.
Maybe it's the perfect time for Jim Harbaugh exit if he wins a national championship or even if he doesn't. But the truth is for him to continue to win when he's not on the sidelines. It shows the formidable culture that he's built. Running and just running in the second half, to me was a sign to the conference that we will do it our way, that Michigan football, power football, regardless if I'm on the sidelines, will prevail. I wish Maryland and Ohio State the best of luck.
But listen, man, if you're looking for pristine, you got to be kidding yourself. I mean, Buckeye fans, slow down on pristine. Woody Hayes smacking a player during a game. Love Herbenmeyer, all sorts of noise when Urban was there. Jim Harball's not the bad guy. Hey, we all make mistakes again. Jimmy Johnson polarizing, Barry Switzer, Pete Carroll, Lou Holts. These are not These are not perfect jobs or perfect men. But I loved, I loved. I don't generally root in
these games. I just like a good TV product. I loved not only that Michigan won Hardball won, but how they won. And now for our segment called Making It Look Easy, brought to you by Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, brock Purty off of Buy Did he make it look easy or what? Nineteen and twenty six almost three hundred yards three passing touchdowns, brock Perty had one hundred and forty nine passer rating. Making it look easy? Morgan and Morgan makes it very easy to
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Premium monthly retail plan prices. Former NFL scout He's on the volume one of our phaves. We're going to roll for about an hour tonight. John Middlecoff joining us, So let's start with something that I know irritates the hell out of both of us. The Chargers gave up five hundred and thirty three yards and about eight and a half yards of play to Jared Goff and the Lines, who, by the way, were off a bye. I thought it was my favorite bet of the week. It was a push.
It was at minus one Monday, but by Friday I get blazing five. I got minus three. But listen, this is not an easy team to defend. Although Baltimore did it. They were off a bye, but the ease in which Detroit scored quickly in the second half Derwin James and I say this all the time when I watch a coach, do your players get better? We tend to think that good players in the NFL like they're set, like they can't be coached. Derwin James between the between the penalties,
getting beat and all. Obviously he can be sporadic in terms of availability. I don't think Derwin James. I wouldn't resign him. I mean, I like him, but I wouldn't pay a safety that anymore what you have to pay Herbert. I am just it's John. At some point we have to acknowledge. I like Jared Goff. I like this old line. They're not eight and a half yards of play good right.
I think the defining thing of the Brandon Staley ten year so far as the defensive coordinator while he's the head coach, he calls the defense has been in big spots. Guys are wide open, and I think as a coach it doesn't matter what you know, and guys like Brandon Staley, I'm sure on a white board, just like Josh McDaniels who was fired last week, knows a lot like their football knowledge, understanding every yard, every landmark, where everyone's supposed
to be, what you're supposed to do against this. If this happens, do your players know? That's what coaching is. That's what separated Belichick for twenty years. His players always knew what's to do. Andy Reid now with mahomes the player for his whole career, but now they've gone up a level that he has the quarterback. And you watch Brandon Staley in that last drive, the first play that game, guys wide open, goes for forty yards and then ultimately
getting field goal position because of that play. And I think it's always going back to the playoff game what happened against the Jacks. They had an enormous lead and then blown coverage, blown coverage, and listen, most guys aren't Deon Sanders, Dureel Reeves, dvs are there, they get plays made on them. Football is hard. But when no one's around you, that's the problem with USC's defense the last couple of years, Like there's not even a soul around.
This can't be normal, you know. And I think that's the Brandon Staley ultimately his undoing because Herbert today had a little bit of a muscle flex Like this is the reason I'm one hundred and seventy hundred and eighty million dollar quarterback. Keenan Allen's been fantastic this season, clearly playing injured. You can have a quarterback at that level, Like you said, Jared Goff resurrected his career. Everyone has a lot of respect if you like football, for what
he's done. But Herbert's on a different level. But his defense is just better.
Yeah, Quintin Johnson had a touchdown today, which is big for the Chargers because you know, and I call the Chargers and asked him. They're like, we really like him. But the TCU offense was different than the Chargers offense completely, and we're asking a lot of our receivers. That's why even Palmer year two, year three, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, they've been in the system. Gerald, this is a hard offense. We at Kellen Moore. Now we introduced a new offense.
So I was happy to see that happen. Yeah, and I think, you know, people can believe what they want about quarterbacks. I mean, Jordan Love had two picks today lost and people will say, oh, he made some great throws, you know, Justin Herbert was throwing dimes all over the field. Loses and people will say he's overrated. I felt today, I mean, the Spanos family and Tom Tellsco. Have been frustrated.
I mean, I could tell you that that with some of what's gone on, great disappointment and the money spent on the defense and the inability for it to make stops. But I thought today I thought, I mean, Herbert marched down the field, doesn't have Mike Williams, doesn't have that offensive line. I thought he was stupendous. You know, it's funny I told you this. Obviously there's a communicator. We don't think Brandon and Staley's a dumb guy. There's a
communication gap between brand that and the players. When you get Mike Vrabel, Dan Campbell and Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin, there's almost a physical presence, or with Pete Carroll, John Harball, sort of a legendary presence. They they're like almost brands. With Brandon Staley, he's a smart guy. Is he willing to confront a player? He's a smaller guy. Is he willing to confront a player? Is he willing to bark?
Is he willing to use willing to use volume? Because I don't understand how you can have veteran players and older expensive defense in the wrong spot. Is he willing to call players out? And by the way, Vrabel is Tomlin is Pete is Harbaugh? Is that part of this whole thing is connecting. I mean, I know guys Greg Olsen told me Pete Carroll's meetings, you didn't make a sound. There was reverence toward Pete, Andy Reid. He will bark at Mahomes. He's intimidating, you know, spolstra Kerr. These guys
will snip, they'll get after you. Staley to me is sort of this intellectual to players respect him. They may know he's smart, but a lot of times John, I've had bosses they're smart, it doesn't with me.
And that's what I wonder that. There was a famous story when I worked in the in the Eagles office about Andy and a high draft pick at offensive line. This would have been the mid two thousands, basically getting in a shoving match. I don't know if it lasted that long. But Andy's enormous, this offensive lineman a tackle enormous, and the whole place kind of moved right, the whole building.
And you bring up Steve Kerr, think of think how Steve is perceived on the outside very progressive, liberal, outspoken, feels like he resonates with a certain crowd. Yet from a sports crowd. He's famous for fighting. Michael Jordan had a historical knockdown drag out with Draymond once upon a time in Oklahoma City that went public. A ton more that are not public. And part of it, like you said, is Brandon Staley really willing? You got to be confrontational.
That's part of the sport, and it's the football in general is probably the most uncomfortable of them all because use of the power coaches yield. Right. You know, in basketball some coaches not everyone has Steve Kerr or Spolstro's poll. But in football, all the head coach can always bench a player at any moment or he's in charge. Even if you work for Jerry Jones, the coach has a lot of poll over you. And you watch Brandon Staley,
like are players intimidated by this guy? And nothing ever changes? And listen, I have nothing personal against the guy. People sayn't hate him. I just you know, I just watched his thing over and over.
Now.
The one thing I read flag is you know, the media is not that difficult to deal with. If you just call him by their first name, you can get on their great graces and he was good at that, so I and that was the phony element I saw it, and with the San Franciso Giants with Gabe Kapler, because ultimately, if you win or lose, who cares what they think about you. That's what you're paid there to do. And he's just struggled at that. And now you know, this
year's been hanging on by a thread. And when you have this quarterback. There's a couple of players I think that are pretty polarizing who are pretty good, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert, and I think, oh, I got a couple of texts to day about Trevor Lawrence are like, yeah, there's some intangible stuff I wish he had a little more of. I think he can be a little overrated. One guy. I never hear that from. I don't care. It could be the Chiefs, the Eagles are just other
random teams. Everyone supports Justin Herbert as a player. There's no he is not polarizing internally in the NFL. Good teams, bad teams, in middle of the road teams. Everyone's stamps this guy is a baller, right, He's in that crew of what gets universal agreement, and you know you wasted his rookie contract. Now you're paying him big money. Luckily, the way football is, he can play at this level for a long period of time. But the time is now.
I mean, what are we doing. Whether it's Jim Harball, whether it's I don't know exactly who the coach is, but you have to upgrade. It's not even debatable.
Yeah, And I think when you look at the big picture of the NFC, let's pivot a little bit to the Lions. I do think they match up with the NFC. I think that offensive line will be formidable against Philadelphia, San Francisco in Dallas. Now, I don't know if they'll win there, they've got a shot. But I'll say this about the Lions. In the NFC, it's about line. The best on lines in football are arguably Philly, Detroit, Dallas. You can make an argument those are the best three.
So you have to have some bit of a pass rush or you'll get engulfed. And by the way, Dallas great pass rush, Philly great pass rush. San Francisco. Now, Chase Young had a great pass rush. You have to have an offensive line and you have to have a path rush. In the NFC, in the AFC, it's a battle of quarterbacks. It's a battle of brilliant coaches and quarterbacks. But Detroit online pass rush, veteran quarterback weapons. I think
Detroit matches up with everybody, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lamar Jackson. No, I don't, but but I when you start looking at that NFC John, I think they can beat anybody.
Well in a dome. They're very potent because their quarterback is proven. You get them outside in inclement weather, back to college, all through his pro career. It can go off the rails. But in a controlled environment. What does Detroit have you said, not just an offensive line. They are loaded with weapons that all balance each other out. You got Jameis and Williams, speed guy, Saint Brown can go across the middle and make place happen. How good
does the young tight end Laporta. Look, they have multiple running backs Montgomery. They just drafted Gibbs high. So you got weapons everywhere that all compliment each other with different skills. So to me, the only question mark could they go outside and win in Philly? I don't see that because it would be cold and potentially bad weather, and that's kind of Jared Goff's bugaboo. But we've talked about this before and I said it weeks ago. Just look at
their schedule that they could thirteen fourteen wins. They could definitely compete for the one seed, and if they control their environment, they're more than likely. I think there's a decent chance that worse, they're the two seed. That means you get two home playoff games, right, we get the first round and the second round. Now that second round game could be a two to three to them in
the Niners. Obviously they would probably they would be the underdog in that game if it came down to it, but like you said, they would definitely have a chance to win, and in a dome. Jared Goff, this version of Jared Goff's pretty impressive.
Yeah, going forward on fourth down, they absolutely have a culture, they have a mindset, they're aggressive. They this is what I really respect about Dan Campbell. I know exactly what they are. They're not in Miami where you get a different team based on opponent. Take the Baltimore game out. I know what I get from Baltimore every Sunday, tough, physical, can run. Goff has some limitations, not a ton don't love their secondary. You can beat them over the top.
They're usually gonna win in you know, the twenty eight, twenty seven, thirty one, twenty nine. That's kind of where they're at. But I know what I get from Detroit. I got no idea. I thought I knew what I got from Jacksonville. I have no idea what I'm getting from some of these teams like Dallas week to week, Buffalo week to week. I have no idea what I'm getting. So to me, when I watch a team, it's like, what are you? Oh, I know exactly what Detroit is.
One thing with Dan Campbell, I remember a couple of years ago before the Lions got good. I remember watching an interview and I think this's a big difference between him, let's say, and Brandon Staley. And he said that several years I think it was through maybe five that he worked for Sean Payton as his assistant head coach. He said, one thing I learned from him is in my nature and trained from Bill Parcells as a player, was to
be very conservative. Run the ball, punt the ball, play nineteen eighties nineteen nineties football, and I saw with Sean Payton that willingness to go for it in certain spots, to be aggressive, and he changed my perspective on that. So when I watched the Lions when they go for it to me their mindset and listen, you could argue it's just the numbers. I feel it's different than when Brandon Staley just feels like haphazardly, like we just go for it because that's always what we do. We go
for it no matter what. He saw the lines today steal the game with going for it, and I think he would give Sean Payton credit and he has before for changing that mindset. So from that old school kind of meadhead parcels to kind of being a young progressive mindset and mixing and blending them together. The physicality with that kind of outlook on the sport of football. That's like the Lions, I mean, cal they're looking like a
thirteen or fourteen win. The Detroit Lions winning thirteen fourteen games. Yeah, insane.
Vikings don't have a quarterback right now. For the future, Kirk Cousins won't be it. Bears don't say what you want about Jordan Love, that's not it, and they'll probably stick with him for another year. So this is one of these things where they could become the Packers. Packers always had good old lines, above average quarterback play, good enough weapons, not always great defenses. Favi an Erin rarely had great defenses, right, But this to me, they always
had good front offices. I think the front office. I think they've really done a good job in the front office where their top picks especially, they've hit home runs. And they've also been much like their playing style, they've been hyper aggressive as drafters, running back at twelve, linebackers like a nineteen eighty eight draft, and running backs linebackers. So it's like, you know, I I don't know. It's like Baltimore has that with me. Baltimore went and drafted
a safety in a center in the first round. You know, two positions you generally go later. But if you have self belief, I think Detroit does. They're in a good spot all right. San Francisco annihilates Jacksonville. So there are these moments. There are certain things in the NFL that are true. Andy Reid on a buye, Shanahan rested healthy team on a bye. Should we look at this for Jacksonville. I'm a little bothered by it because it's okay if
a Seattle or Detroit plays Lamar Jackson. There's nothing in the league like him. NFC teams have no idea. He's like seventeen in one. But you're at home, you were rested, you were healthy. That game was never competitive like I and I have been a huge Jags fan, I gotta be honest with you. I didn't like what I saw.
I think it was a perfect storm. I wouldn't put the stamp of approval that this Jags team is going to go to the AFC Championship game, but I'm going to give him a little bit. Throw that thing in the trash can. They got the forty nine ers coming off three losses. Their John Lynch said last week their team looked like they were running with concrete in their shoes. They looked so slow. They were desperate for a buye. Everyone needed to take a deep breath. Their defensive line,
Colin was really underachieving. You know, when the Yankees lose, they're paying all their hitters to hit home runs. When they don't hit them runs, you're just gonna lose. When the forty nine ers don't stack the quarterback. The amount of money they have. The highest paid defensive lineman in the league in Bosa, they gave Hard Grave forty you know, twenty million dollars a year, forty guaranteed this offseason. The highest paid free agent defensive linemen, they just trade for
Chase Young. Eric Armstead makes sixteen million dollars a year. They're all in on that group. When that group doesn't dominate, and I know statistically they were like leading the league in pressures, it did not look the same when I witnessed today. Nick Bosa is a good example. He was statistically pressures wise, having a good year. When you watched him, you went, he doesn't look like TJ. Watt and Miles
Garrett right now. Because a great pass rusher, it doesn't matter what you throw at him, right That's why Belichick always pushes back when people compare someone to Lawrence Taylor. You could throw seven people at him. He's hung over, He's still sacking the quarterback. So there are no excuses. Now you put Chase Young over there. Nick Bosta look
like the one hundred and twenty five million dollar man. Again, if that's the case, the Niners are potent because Fred Warner is the best linebacker in the league, who Funga is a fantastic playmaker. So to me, that defensive line they are built to play from ahead. Brock perty today he's if he doesn't turn the ball over, he's a really explosive quarterback. He averaged over eleven yards of completion. They pushed the ball down the field. Yes, he is
not afraid to throw the ball down the field. And they have made NFC Championship runs with dinking and dunking and playing defense. So when you push the ball down the field, that's the team that was kicking the shit out of everybody the first five weeks. But it starts with the defense. And when their defense dominates like that, like Trevor Lawrence, you know, kind of went to a shell.
But I got news for you. I think besides, like Mahomes and Josh Allen and maybe Lamar, most people are getting destroyed and they have no shot, and even those guys might lose if that's the performance. But Trevor Lawrence becomes much more predestriate when you're peppering him every play, which the forty nine ers, did.
You know It's funny. You know, for years the Ravens and the Niners have had these like constant injuries in camp and in preseason, and you just wait for him to get healthy. And I wonder the two downsides to Shanahan's style. Number One, half the league is using it now, so the element of surprise. Now he's the genius behind it, right, So it's copycat versions of that offense, but there's less of an element of surprise. A lot of people are using it. So his window for a couple of years,
nobody's doing it. I'm doing it.
That's over.
So that hurts a little. And that's why quarterback becomes so valuable because in these close playoff games, it's just it's a play by a Herbert, it's a play by Mahomes or a birl like it's a play. The second thing is that physicality is word of the trademark of his dad and Kyle. And we got another you know, eight weeks regular season, six seven weeks regular season, and I watched them today and I said, that version, that's the best team in the league.
Yeah, that's the.
Best team in league. But even their practices are intense. Their entire culture, like Baltimore's intense Baltimore and San Francisco. There's a reason they're always hurt. And I looked at the Niners today and I thought, if you gave me the mat team, yeah, that they're going to get to the NFC Championship. But I wonder, and you knew this team very well, is that can can Kyle? Can you take the foot off? Can you give McCaffrey a week off? Can you rest debo? Is it in them now? The
schedule is not. It's not in them. So it's like you're you're asking, you know, you marry the you marry the party animal, and then you're upset that he's the party animal. That's what attracted you to the party animal. It's like, this is who they are. I just don't know if they'll be healthy by the end. They never feel like they are.
Yeah, Kyle's established who he is. I mean, he will run Christian McCaffrey into the ground because that's his best player. And I think you saw today a lot. Why do the Eagles win so many games the last couple of years because for the most part, A. J. Brown, Deante Smith, Dallas godd have been on the field and no team's going to have three better players than that, and that's been the difference in a lot of their wins. Right now, whatever,
they're eight and one. Well, the forty nine ers. You removed Trent Williams, who's basically like Shaquille O'Neill in the NFL in his prime, and Deebo Samuel, who becomes their second best player behind McCaffrey and George Kittle, you know, and Brandon Ayuk. They're unstoppable. But you remove those two guys, as you saw the last couple of weeks, they become a little more pedestrian and their margin ferrer is a lot slimmer. But to me, Kyle is wired like a
guy that would have been in the eighties. They would have been coaching against Buddy Ryan and Bill Parcells and Bill Wallah. He would have fit. He would have a lot in common. You know, Kyle's viewed as this young guy with his whole crew. He's an old soul. To me, he has much more in common with Belichick and Pete Carroll, guys in their seventies in terms of philosophically, the way
he looks at football, which makes sense. What did he grow up around Mike Shanahan in the eighties and nineties in the NFL being at practice, being around that, and Mike Shanahan was notoriously somewhat of a conservative coach. Why running And like you said, the difference also Kyle and some of these other guys, they all run the same place. Kyle does have better players, But there's a collegiate element where yeah, a lot of teams run certain things in college,
but do you have Alabamahouse States personnel? Because when he's rolling out Debo and he's rolling out McAffrey and he's rolling out Aus, it's not really a fair fight. And what's the Jacks are pretty good, Like, the Jacks have a lot of good offensive personnel that they couldn't even begin to sniff. The group that came in motivated. That's the other thing. This is a group of guys that
have won a lot of playoff games. Everyone's you know, dragging him through the mud, and rightfully so they've been pretty embarrassing the last couple weeks they came out. They probably would have beat any team in the league today given what was on the line.
And let's be honest about Jacksonville. So I've seen him get hammered by San Francisco, can't beat Kansas City. I still think they're a baby step away. I agree it's not a giant step from being Cincinnati. I just don't think they're there yet, So you know. And the other thing is, I like Trevor Lawrence. I love college football so much that I think, you know, part of me. I don't think Trevor's as good as Andrew Luck, but
I think he's really really good. I don't think Cayleb Williams is probably as good as Andrew Luck, maybe as good as Trevor. But one of the things that Luck and Trevor Lawrence sharon common and this is one of the criticisms I've heard about both early, but I didn't think it was I wasn't going to question it on the air. Do they live for football? They love playing it? Andrew Luck gave up the sport, has no there's no fallacy here that anybody thinks, oh he misses it dearly.
Trevor Lawrence has said publicly like I love playing football, but it doesn't define me. Gms and owners don't want to hear that. Coaches don't want to hear that. And sometime and I think Trevor's a great competitor. But I do look at sometimes Trevor Lawrence and I don't see quite the fire I would love. But I mean, I mean, who am I to say that? But Brady is forty four.
He brings Colin Colin he said, he said it once upon a time, he said football is not everything to meet or what I might be butchering his exact Well, but remember around the draft, Yeah, he said those works. And let's use today as an example. You had one of the best prospects of the last twenty years, Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, and you had mister irrelevant, right, And I would say one defining characteristic of Brock Purdy. Why Fred Warner, Why
George Kittle, Why Christian McCaffrey. Who are wired like Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reid, Bill Belichick addicts, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning. Brock Purty fits under that football is everything to him. Yeah, you know, it means absolutely everything to him. And that's the thing with Trevor Lawrence. He's so much more gifted than everyone else. Is there a little bit of a basketball element like his talent? Six four, six y five, good arm, naturally accurate, can move. It's easy. Showed up
Clemson in the middle of their dynasty, immediately starts. The other guy gets told that transfer brock Perty's begging for scholarships. You know comes third string. That there's an element. And we've talked about this a lot before. Most of the quarterback that are having a lot of success are not the number one overall pick Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. But Peyton's even more of an example because he played for as long as he did is an all time outlier.
Most of the best quarterbacks are usually kind of random picks.
Yeah, I think Jacksonville is a playoff team. They'll be fine. Although I think and I want to talk about Bengals Houston Texans because this was a spot. This is one of the bets I should have taken. I should have taken Houston. Plus the point everybody told me to take this because you know, Cincinnati had beaten Buffalo Ravens next and this is that classic Sandwich game. Is that I don't want to hear any excuses for Daniel Jones. I don't want to hear it for Jordan Love or Kenny Pickett.
I watched every snap of that thing today. C J. Stroud is so accurate, so impressive. He had a bad pick, very much like Andrew Luck shrugged it off, had zero effect, very short memory. And listen, we all know Burrel great. But I gotta tell you something. When I watched CJ. Stroud, that was a real moment. That is a better roster on the road. Bad pick, bounce back, marched down the field with no time left. Now, if Boyd could catch, maybe it's a different outcome. But I gotta tell you, John,
I looked at him. You know, it's funny his comp was Jared Goff with a little more mobility. Well if I told you you know, if you think about that, that's like, well, hell if GoF had mobility, maybe like a top eight quarterback.
Right.
So I watched Stroud and I'm just like, I'm sold. I mean today was just like that last drive. It's like, man, I am sold on him.
Well, you and I have been talking about it all season long. The separating factor what makes guys have success that are drafted high or not their ability to layer those throws. It's not the Brett faarv seventy yard on a rope, you know, into double coverage. Most guys can't do that. Can you layer the throw over an underneath the fender, whether it's a corner or a linebacker, and then a safety behind him and put it in there. And a lot of guys can't. Most guys can't, and
most guys can't consistently do it. This guy does it with the East and let's face it with the Thursday night game with Bryce on display. And this when I got out of football and went to radio and started to going to a lot of baseball games and basketball games. And I knew this being so many NFL games. But the importance of size in pro sports, the outliers of small guys is so small, like Steph currz considered a small guy. Steph Curry six's four and now he's jacked,
But he's not that small. He's not Isaiah Thomas. You know, he's not as small as you think.
Listen, I'm I'm I'm six two. I'd be like the fifth tallest president in the history of the country. And I've been around Steph Curry twice. He's bigger than me and fifteen pounds heavier.
I remember going to Giants baseball games seeing Hunter Pence and Madison Bumber and the size of these guys, and you see Bryce Young, I just don't see how that's gonna work. He is so small that it's one thing to be Kyler Murray small, but he's two hundred and twenty pounds and he's faster than every guy on the field. So he has things that he could hang his hat on. Even today, I'm watching some of his highlights. I don't know if he's one hundred percent, but he's still faster
than every one in the Atlanta Falcons. Bryce is not that fast, doesn't have a great arm anyways, one hundred and seventy pounds, and when Javon Hargrave or some of these defensive linemen fall on you, he's there's no way to just get back up. You watch DJ Straud, He's big, he can move, and throwing is the easiest part of this game. It just comes like, I don't even think it's that debatable. I'm not trying to We're only in November.
The Texans wouldn't even pick up their phone call if they try to do a trade, And how would Carolina not have a redo on that? And is that just David Temper forcing it? Because I'd say the Houston Texans, who also really like Bryce Young. Sometimes you need a little luck. Hell, the Chargers would have taken to a
he's on your team, that's all that matters. They should be doing cartwheels that this guy, the way it all played out, fell to them, because I don't see any chance Bryce Young could be like a quarter of as good as guy Well.
And also, Ohio State has a history. Think how great Ohio State football has had and they've never had a great NFL quarterback. And part of that is because Ohio State, outside of Michigan, has significantly better talent than everybody in their conference. Alabama's great even during their run, LSU, Georgia, stacked Texas and m didn't have the coach stacked Ohio State faces one game a year and they out recruit historically Michigan that they're even.
So c J.
Stroud five star tackle a lot of time, five star receivers, heartline recruits better than anybody in the country at wide receiver. So there's a reason Ohio State it's not usc similar Matt Lioner, it barely got touched in college. There is a reason it's not really living an NFL experience. So CJ. Stroud. My thing was, these Ohio State quarterbacks are talented, but god, they all put up gigantic numbers, but his accuracy is just today he had a coup and now it helps
Demiko Ian's great coach, Tank Dell. Holy moly, is that pick what? So like sometimes you need he's got juice? Bryce Young has no jewice Bryce Young. Herbstreet saidate the other day, he goes, they ran one offense, they're transitioning to another, and they have none of the players, so it's going to be really ugly. Some of this for
Houston is they had a very good offseason. They sign in free agency, if you remember John, some B level players, and I remember saying on FS one, I was like, they're having a quietly They picked up about six seven rotational starters, you know, guys that will play. So then you head on Tank Dell. So I will say CJ's got a little better talent that I think. I think Houston's pretty got some juice, don't you think a little bit?
For sure they've drafted. Well, they're gonna have a ton of money. You know, the Cowboys never have any cash base to sign free agents because Jerry's always overpaying his own guys. If they ever did, people would love to go to Texas in no state income text Houston. Now, if they can take advantage of these next couple of years, could have a chance to kind of load up, make some bold trades. They got some picks from the Deshaun Watson's thing still coming in, they'd have a chance. They
got a star coach. I heard what Herbstreet said. The only thing I would disagree because I don't disagree that their offense looks terrible and their lack of talent, but there is a physical characteristic attribute thing at the highest level of pro sports that you go. It's gonna be difficult for them. So even if they get the right offense, they upgrade an offensive coordinator, how they fire Frank and get a better coach? When does that what it looks like to all of us, how miniscule the guy is
gonna work. Even if C. J. Stroud hadn't been this good, his body type, his movement, we've seen that before. Well, just seen anything like Bryce before, and like Bryce coming out of Alabama. I'm not trying to act like I'm some genius. I thought he was sweet, but it ain't working, and it doesn't even look like it has a chance.
To listen, fran Tarkenton was small, but nobody drafted small guys after Fran. It's more of a copycat league now, Like that was just a unique player Georgia, fran Tarkanden ran around. It was not like seven eight guys drafted after it. It was six four six ' five guys that could throw the ball down the field did not move. The truth is Russell Wilson got, Johnny Manziel drafted, Baker drafted, Kyler drafted. He got a lot of these guys drafted.
And we've watched I think fairly. Even though Russell over the last three weeks has been better because they've established a run game under Payton, he's lost his juice. It's just it's just the bottom line is when you're that small in this league, it doesn't take as many hits. Christ I saw Cam Newton ben age thirty three. You're like, WHOA, that doesn't look anything like it that at twenty nine. So it's like Ben got old fast, Cam got old fast.
Josh Allen's got about three more years of this, yeah, and he's for sure and he's six six, two sixty so I do think with Bryce and your point on Kyler is right. For the record, Kyler's been banged up several times. Kyler did not want to run in the playoff game. It's like, you know, five ten guys don't want to run.
While I was texting with a college scouting director on Thursday night and I or textabout Bryce, he said, you know, his comp if he was going to be the best version of himself, was gonna be Russell. So the difference is Russell weists two hundred and twenty five pounds, yes, right when he was young, and he also inherited and got to go to a team that immediately had a great running back. Because remember early on Russell got to grow in the team and had a great defense. But
Russell's arm is way stronger than Bryce's. Russell had a very very strong arm and was thick. That's the thing that really concerns me is the size. When you watch CJ. Stroud, what he does translates it. Even if he just maintains doing what he is, if they do a good enough job around him, you get the more athletic Jared Goff
and the other thing was CJ. A lot of times if you have a one off game in college that's so much different than everything else You've ever seen a lot of times when guys at like Mountain West schools and they get to play a big time school and are good or bad, you put a lot of emphasis fair, not just because the level of comp CJ's game against Georgia, You're going, is that who he is? Could he do that? But he never had to do that against Iowa and Wisconsin. But it turns out can that is him?
That was herb against Wisconsin they never ran him. And Tom Telesco with the Chargers went and said, I asked him, why didin't you run him? And they're like, we didn't have a backup if he got hurt. We didn't have anybody else. Well, that's what Ohio State said, was Stroud. We didn't really think we had a guy that would We couldn't lose him. So Stroud and Herbert against Wisconsin and Georgia, we all went, whll whoaa time out. I get that too, So size the arm, the accuracy. So
I thought it was impressive. Okay, I want to talk. Let's talk some Patriots Colts morning game. Not a great game to watch, but horrendously bad Mac Jones interception that could have won the game for New England, and on the following series they put Bailey Zappi in, which is a total statement by the organization. Bill O'Brien was harping and yelling and screaming on the sideline. I think it was third quarter with mac Jones listen. I thought Mac
had an opportunity. I thought New England was a perfect spot for him, play within a system, good defense, run game. I thought it worked. He's regressed. I have been told that the cheap shot stuff, the Grace and Allen stuff. He was called out by an offensive lineman last year at practice. They're like, dude, you do that to people, They're gonna do that stuff to us. I have also been told that Belichick really turned off. They have struggled a hard coach him. You know, Brady grew up in
a big family. You could hard coach Tom Mac is not as available to that. He's not willing to be as hard. He didn't come from as big a family, so coaches have struggled. When they get on him, he sort of kind of pivots, pouts, is not kind of accepting of it. Tom flourished, loved it. A lot of great players do. They like to be coached. Jeors loves it. He doesn't necessarily love that. So that Bailey ZAPPI to me, I wouldn't be shocked if they started Zappy next week.
But you know, my dad used to say this all the time, lubri Kate, don't agitate. Your employment will be based. Hands will be raised when you're not in their room.
Yeah.
I don't think the coaches like him. I don't think the teammates like him. I think his judgment is poor. You know, judgments.
It's c J.
Stroud and maybe it's just his accuracy. But you know, I just watch mac Jones on that fourth down he short armed it. I mean he looked intimidated, he was backpedaling. I thought that play, I thought they may have just decided on that play it's done.
I thought at the beginning of the season that Mac Jones is going to get everyone fired. And he's honestly been way worse than I imagined it going. And he's been objectively the worst, one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. I mean, the interceptions he throws on a consistent basis or just are insane. It's one thing to push the ball into a spot when you're you know, down late in the game. It's another thing in those spots where he's not even close. And whether his confidence
now has waned, whether it's completely unraveled. But I never thought he was that good. I thought drafting a guy at fifteen that to me has fourth fifth round attributes. You know, It's why you can't take just stats in college and just plug him into a spot. Oh, this guy's the first rounder because he threws. Look who's thrown to. I mean, they had two straight years where all four of their wide receivers got drafted in the top fifteen, all
four wide severs in top fifteen. Think about that. I mean, that's I don't think Ohio State has that in the bag right now with the group they've just had. So and then the COVID year, which he exploded. I think one thing we learned and you saw that today. Trevor Lawrence today was standing. That year fooled us all. Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Trey Lance didn't play. We still don't know what the hell Justin fields is, but I think it's fair to say we're leaning He's not gonna be the
quarterback of the Bear. So that was wrong. But that year specifically for Alabia, I mean, they had such an advantage. The schools were shut down. Albama didn't shut down. They never stopped lifting, they never stopped training. That was in the peak of their powers. They were going through quarterbacks. They had a bunch of cohesion. They had a bunch of high character guys like Landon Dickerson and will Anderson leading the charge, and DeVante Smith was around who was
like the heartbeat of the team. It was built like an NFL team. You know what Saban's doing right now, They're about to go eleven and one is incredible because they don't have the talent like that team winning like he was stacked. He had a squad and I think mac Jones. It's just one of those classic you look back in college really benefited from it. And let's face it, Belichick was desperate because when Tom left, which Bill was clearly forcing him out, which listen, Bill copied Walsh. He
did the same thing. The difference is Walsh always had a replacement around Bill just get out of here. Jimmy was already gone. What the hell was he gonna do. He played the one year with Cam Newton, who was a shell of himself. He got into a situation in the draft where he didn't have a choice, and he drafts the guy at fifteen. He's just not good enough and he's definitely not good enough to overcome average to below average around him. And that's what their offensive lines
hit or miss. Skilled guy's a wide receiver. Bill the GM is let Bill down the coach big time.
Yeah, And I also think some of it is this. So Bill lost the best player ever, Brady, the best tight end arguably ever, Gronk, the best offensive line coach arguably ever, Dante Scarnekia, and Josh McDaniels high end oc in a two year period. The truth is that's just too much brain power the opposite side of the ball. Now, Sean McVay lost Bobby Wagner Jalen Ramsey. What if he'd lost Aaron Donald and Raheem Morris, an excellent assistant left This ram defense would be awful. Thank god Donald can
still play and Raheem Morris is a tremendous coordinator. Bill lost the best quarterback, tight end, o line coach. And it's the other side of the ball. And so you know, to some degree Shanahan this year after sla and Demko Ryans, I don't think Steve Wilkes is quite as good as those twos. And even who is the personnel, the defense
isn't the same. So you know, it'd be easy to bash Belichick, but when you lose multiple if you would have lost Demiko Ryans, Bosa, Fred Warner and Hafunga, that defense isn't the same.
The other thing is everyone's shitting on Bill because it was all Tom, and obviously Tom played a huge role. There is no coach in the Hall of Fame beside Parcels who had the Hall of Fame quarterback of defense in Lawrence Taylor, Walsh, the home grin Andy. They all have incredible Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Now Belichick seventy one, seventy two years old, well, let's face it, this thing's over. You're not going to transition whenever I hear we'll bring
in a personnel guy. So a seventy two year old that's made hundreds of millions of dollars, who's been doing this, who's been in the NFL since nineteen seventy five, it's just gonna yeah, just bringing this forty three year old assistant GM from San Francisco and he can picked the players all coach like, that's not working this thing. Listen, this was never gonna be easy. It's always ugly at the end. Phil Jackson with the Knicks, I know he
was an executive, the same thing. It just it. Usually you don't get a Swan song, you don't write off. Usually it's Gardner Minshew kicking your ass in Germany. And I know mac Jones thrown picks, and this is it. I think it's over. And I think Robert, I don't know exactly know how they're gonna word it, mutual, depart firing. I can't imagine Belichick being the head coach in twenty twenty four. I can't because I don't. I don't think he's gonna be open to changing. And they're if you're them,
why even bring Let's just start start new. I do think you could trade them. Couldn't you trade them for just a pick, give him another spot to Washington or Chicago, or take the contract, take Bill for a couple of years and see if he's got nothing left.
Hey, Trey Lance, we're not sure he can play a lick got a fourth round pick. You can get a fourth round pick out of mac Jones. Again, I think if Bill retired and they hired Ben Jonson from the Lions and hit or went and bought like a DeVante Adams.
I think you have a nine win team.
It looks a lot different. Not great, But I do think some of this is brain power out of the building. Bill's gonna do things his way. They do not have a number one receiver. I'd argue they don't have a two. They've got they've they've got a bunch of guys. They don't have a number one tight end. The O line is really young and for one of the rare times hurt a lot. I mean they drafted three guards. They hurt a lot. So I think mac Jones I don't. I don't think Trey Lance can play in this league.
I think mac Jones can at a lower level eighteenth best quarterback, but I think he can play. But I do think right now.
But do you think Bill's coaching somewhere else next year? Do you think?
No, He's got a compound in Nantucket, He's got one hundred million net worth. He's not a spender. You know, he's got his dog, his girlfriend, he's got his nantucket. Probably he's got a place, probably down in Jupiter FLOORID or something like that. Bill likes to golf, and frankly it'd be different. There are some coaches who can pivot from coaching to the front office. Parcels in Miami took a one and fifteen team and won eleven games, basically
replacing the bottom third of his roster. You know, gave Tony Sparano the gig and they want eleven games.
That's not really Bellich hat Riley did it? You know like that.
Abs Yeah, I don't think. I don't think that's Phil Jackson's strength.
Bill's not good at it. Bill's not good at identify. I had a personnel guy telling me the problem Bill has is when it gets closer and closer to his draft day, he doesn't listen to anybody. And then that last week he gets on the phone and calls his buddies that are all the head coaches, and then just goes in on guys that the people in the building are. Bill, We've spent all this time working, you were in agreement, and then you pivot last second, what are we doing?
That was that's what I heard happened with Nikhil Harry. He called Herm Edwards and it was like the scouts, you know, the guys were like, no, that's a third round, that's a late second and he called Herm. And by the way, they've got some Bama guys. I mean, if you go look urban guy Bama guys, it's your source. I'm sure as accurate because I heard on Nikhil Harriet was like the scouting department pushed back, and to.
Me, there's nothing wrong in using the coaches, like, for example, the Niners with Brandon Ayuk. He ran really slow at the combine, but they liked them, so they leaned on Herm Edwards, who was like the godfather to John Lynch's son. And Herm's like, I'm telling you he's fast. You can don't worry about that speed. But they didn't trust him for the evaluation of picking him. They just trust him as a source to supplement some things that they wanted
to make sure they were right on. Where Bill just changes the draft board on his own, Dan Snyder style goes rogue. All of a sudden, you have a guy drafted in the third and fifth round that were undrafted free agents and the personnel department's like, what was the point of our last twelve months? And ultimately Bill doesn't give a shit about them. It's why a lot of guys the moment they could get out left. The other thing is it was fun when you were winning. You're like,
you know, he's miserable. We don't make as much here, but you're winning rings. It'll set you up for life. Those days are over. And as you saw that, it's I expect Robert Kraft because what would Bill what was he always known for being ruthless a year early instead of a year late. They could copy that from Walsh. That was the way he ran the franchise for twenty plus years. Why wouldn't the Crafts do that with him? Right? They've paid him an ungodly amount of money. Firings at
this point are never easy. But he's got fifty three you're talking about seventy two year old guy. I mean, he's got two and a half decades, which unheard of in football.
All Right, Cowboys Giants are last NFL thoughts. Listen, I think I had this belief. It's a theory, and I think it's right. Is that Brian day Ball and Joe Shine the GM. They didn't want to give Daniel Jones that money. They didn't want to Mara feeling he had an Eli Manning feel he almost look alike. He's a better athlete, but they look alike. So he makes a decision. He can't fire day Ball or the GM. He can't.
It's his decision. So it's like they always say in divorces, whoever wants the divorce, there's a psychology that person that wants to divorce feels guilty. You can get a better deal of the divorce hearings and proceedings because the person who wants the divorce can often feel guilty. I think the Mars know John Marrono's I stuck these guys and there's nothing you can do. So I think everybody's safe in New York. I like Dable a lot. I like the GM. I think he's had he didn't draft Daniel
Jones and Dallas. I mean Dallas was the best pick on the board probably today. I mean, they play that's a great home favorite. They they are great with the lead, they're great playing downhill. They're what Buffalo was about two years ago. Buffalo now they.
As scored the Giants this year, calling by seventy five points, I think six.
But by playing this kid, they they're at two wins. So the Bears have Carolina's pick. Carolina plays a lot of home games against Tampa in Atlanta. Yeah, schedules. We think they may play Green Bay. I think Caroline is gonna win enough game. They beat Houston, but I kind of look at the Giants and I don't know if they win another football game. Maybe they do, but I think it's really clear now. I think they're going to draft the quarterback. The question becomes bo Nicks feels like
he's sort of separated. Pennix has the injuries, that Bow's your third pick now. Jalen Daniels at LSU, I think he has moved from second round to first. I think he's moved into the first round. People think he's frail. My takeaway is, I don't know. I watch him run, I watch him throw, high school, college, two conferences. It works everywhere. Hard coaches, by the way, herm defensive guy,
Kelly the Screamer, it works everywhere. But if Caleb and Drake and I believe they're top two, I think Bow has cemented himself he makes no mistakes again, to conference dominant, to conference success, he's third. You don't want to get into a bidding war, but I started looking last week at all those teams at the top. I can argue Giants if they don't beat New England when they when they meet, Giants have maybe one more win. I think they're going to draft a quarterback.
Yeah, I think there. I wrote down obviously the Eagles and they play at the Saints as a loss. The Pats game and the Packers game, those are huge swings. I don't think the Packers are winning many more games and clear the Pats. So those three matchups of Packers Giants Pats Giants are gonna have enormous implications because, like you say, Carolina's defense actually pretty solid. They got some pretty good personnel. If Bryce has a good day or maybe two over the last two months, they could win
a couple games. Still, they would be my betting favorite. I would say the Pats and the Giants. I mean, Giants are really if they roll up. If Tommy DeVito starts every they will lose every game. To me, Tyrod Taylor, if he ever were to come back, he would be a little bit of a while. If the Vito starts every game, they will not win.
But if bone Knicks is your third, I think it creates a And I'm feeling this more and more. I text two people this weekend because Jordan Palmer told me Friday. I heard he said Bonix is your third. And I text two people over the weekend and they were both like, just don't go to the Auburn tape. This kid's an athlete, he's married, he's accurate, he's decisive. Some of it's Oregon scheming.
But I think now I if I think the Giants have the fifth or six pick, I'll say that Giants Patriot game, don't be shocked if the Patriots start Bailey's appy.
Well, to me, the Giants feel like Drake may, don't They that organization that feel, you know, Caleb, some of the previous stuff, I can see John Mora getting a little too high and mighty on it. But I would say that losing out makes a lot of sense for them. Losing out makes a lot of sense for the Pats too. Yeah, I mean, I think these quarterbacks going three. I do think that the discussion for the top quarterback Listen, Caleb's really really talented is definitely in play depending on who
you talk to. He is not thirty two for thirty two number one. This is not Trevor Lawrence, Ran Andrew Luck That. I don't know every GM in the league or every scouting director, but you get a lot. You just talked to five different people, you get different opinions. So and the bow Nicks is another good example, right, kind of a late bloomer. And that's what happens. This is a stock right as you play games, you can increase your stock. Jayden Daniels, I'm sitting there on my
couch watching this Florida game, going, holy shit. This guy's running around like he's Michael Vick throwing dimes down the field. You said, the knock on him is frail. A guy that weighs one hundred and seventy five pounds, that's five ft nine, just got drafted number one overall. So you tell me Jayden Daniels at LSU and the sec same thing as bright, like, can't go in the top ten.
I mean, come on, well, and this is something to think about, is that. Here's the one thing I'll say about and I think Caleb's really unique talent. But Oregon State. Last year he sort of pouted on the sidelines, the fingernail stuff, crying after the game, and he is now a little bit of his hero ball is the old line has. Oh, they're huge, huge disappointment for USC. They thought they had four NFL guys. It's been a no.
It's not their defense. Bet, it's been a problem. Somebody gets through in every snap, Somebody misses a block in every snap.
There was yellow in the backfield every play last night, every play.
Yeah, and Oregon's wouldn't have been a recruiting five star guy. Oregon is the one program over the last ten years with Crystal Ball and Landing. They'll go to LA and they'll steal the best player in the state. They'll take it right from USC. So Oregon's got better players. They got better players than Washington, Utah, USC, UCLA. Oregon's got the best players in the conference. They can match up with everybody, including Michigan in my opinion, wouldn't beat it,
but could match up. But I when I look at Caleb, I think the knock on him because I've texted people and asked him. They're like, hey, he's a highly emotional player. So is Mahomes, and Mahomes is saved because of Andy Reid. When he goes off the fairway, Andy brings him back. And what somebody texted me the league is, if he gets the right coach, he'll be fine. Got a Sean Payton, he goes to Chicago, gets a rookie coach, you know,
because they have Carolina's pick. You're like, okay, you trust Chicago, you trust the rookie coach. So the take on Caleb is if he gets a coach that a respected guy that can bark a little, it'll be fine. He's just too damn talented. I mean, he's a power thrower. At six and a half feet tall, he's a power thrower, but he does go I mean, what would Mahomes be like with Brandon Staley, who can't get the defense right now? He'd be productive. But Herbert's pretty easy to coach. John
He's almost mechanical. He's I mean literally he is just every throw looks the exact same. Mahomes goes off the rails. You know every year he get like he did it against Denver. I'm gonna just make stuff up and play flag football. Andy. Next half he plays against Miami reels him right back in. So I think Caleb is more coach dependent than I thought that he could go sideways with the wrong guy in a Chicago.
I think anytime that your team kind of gets unraveled in college, people start asking questions. And I do think it's a healthy thing sometimes to really dive in to a prospect. I've said this the whole time. He's not a flawless process. This isn't Lebron James coming out of high school, or Bryce Harper in the draft or what
Andrew luck was. He's under six feet tall, so there would just be questions even if it had gone perfectly in USC was undefeated, obviously, I mean they're programs and shambles. Can I give you a take? Yeah, I don't think Lincoln Riley really works in LA. I think they may. I have no problem. Oh I like that, Like they shouldn't have done it. They should have hired him. It was a no brainer. You had to buy his house
one hundred and twenty million, given where they were. But USC, let's face it, when they had Pete Carroll a lot of juice, Like it's an energy place, right, it's a bright lights. It's like Vegas it's just you need to entertain. And Lincoln is more Texas, more Oklahoma, Texas A and M job opening. I actually think he fits more that culture's where he's from, both pressure cookers, which now he's at Oklahoma. But I would say A and M and USC are a little probably more rabid, a little crazier,
obviously more money. I think that job makes more sense than him at USC now. I don't have a great replacement Lane Kiffin actually more bright lights. Guy is open to whatever, can just kind of handle some shit, is not afraid to talk. I don't know there's something missing with Lincoln in that market. I mean, he's in your backyard. He is a good coach. I'm not just trying to act like he's a village idiot now because he's had a rough year. But I don't think you really think
it's working. And I don't see a quick fix. And if they wouldn't have had Caleb, who is just an all time great college player, we'll see how great his NFL career is. I think they're like a four win team. I mean they are terrible. Colin the last night would have been they wouldn't have moved the ball. I mean they would have had No. I don't think he works, and I think A and M and who knows. Maybe they don't have money because they're paying Jim Moo seventy
five million. They have to hire the duke guy for cheap whatever, just to get the train back on the tracks. I just think he makes more sense. I've always had a theory geographically in college, Urban's an outlier. He went to the south and ward for the most part. Our buddy mcawaine went to Florida, was having some success. They ran him out of town. Think of the guys in the south. Kirby Nick grew up in West Virginia, like where your region's Matt Think about the northeast. The guy
Ryan Day feels like an Ohio state Northeast guy. Jim Harbaugh went to Michigan. The west. Think of the guys Pete Carroll, West Coast guy, Chris Peterson, West Coast guy, Ballotti, Tedford. I think regions matter, and I think I look at Lincoln Riley, I just feel he's out of place. I just feel he's out of place.
No, it's interesting. He got very prickly with the media and it was like, dude, this is not Norman. There's a lot of stuff to do. If you look at the history of Los Angeles, think about the managers or coaches that were successful. Tommy lasorda very successful Phil pat Riley, Pete Carroll, Sean McVay. These are big personalities. They steal some of the glamour from their team. Don't hog it, but they are. I mean, Pete's like media get in here, Snoop dogg La is a big city Riley, the McVeigh,
Pete Carroll. They feel like they're big city guys. They can handle it.
New York.
I watched when I lived out in Connecticut, New York in Golf's people. Joe Judge was engulfed. Joe Tory is kind of a good looking made his money parcels, a little bit of an attitude. Tom Coughlin smart, going to pushback New York. There's a toughness in New York. I mean, Joe Tory wasn't great day one, right he had he was doing Angel games. He had think he had a losing record. If I recall when he took over, so
he'd been through the wars of Major League Baseball. Tory was a grown ass man like he nobody was gonna push Joe around. And I think in New York there's a toughness and you have to have a thick skin and you have to push back because Boston falls in love with everybody when they arrive. And even if you're Ted Williams, they hate you when you leave. New York tests you, and if you can pass the test, they love you for life. So they're the opposite of Boston.
There's no Boston sort of sucks up to you. You came and love us, We love you. Then they hate everybody New York once you win the crowd, Parcels is minted for life. Los Angeles is funny and I'm no expert on Los Angeles. Lives here eight years. You know, we both know Los Angeles pretty well, but the guys that work here sort of embrace Los Angeles. Don't close your practices. I remember talking to urban Meyer one time privately about the USC job, and I said, this is
not Gainesville. Can't close your practices, like we'll just do other shit. We won't go to your practice, like like I like Chip Kelly, but he's apathetic. He didn't like recruiting, and so UCLA is invisible. Like he doesn't play it up.
He's not Wait, he hates it. I mean he won't do it. He refuses. You know, it's part of it. I think you got to do it.
And I think sometimes with Lincoln it's this sort of Hey, I want to control stuff, like like he did a lot of this this year. Hey we're close. It's not that bad, Lincoln. This is a sophisticated market. People here bail on you. I mean outside of the Dodgers and Lakers, people bail on teams. Here, they bail on you fast. He's trying to sell us something like like like it's Oklahoma, Like it's the only thing we have. Dude, Alex Grinch over his head. I was watching the Lions Chargers today.
I'm like, did Alex Grinch get hired?
Like?
What are we doing here? It doesn't work. So I do think I like Lincoln, but don't try to sell la on this sort of Hey we're close. Where that No, this looks like Clayton, That's what it looks like.
Well, think about the fifty year old guy goes Lincoln. I watched Pete Carroll's team. They had ten out of their eleven starters were always top three round draft picks. I know what tackling looks like. Where at Oklahoma they were so glad to have a dynamic offense, right, he revolutionized them. They needed him. It's like, hey, Lincoln, we won national titles here, We've produced first round offensive players
many times. You're not gonna be the first guy to send a guy in from this program to get drafted number one. Overall, we've had some quarterbacks along the way. Just walk through hard to Chaull and I think he really struggled at understanding. It's like Lebron, like, we're comparing you to Kobe, not some other person. This is hard. It is difficult play for the forty nine ers like Joe Montana, Steve Young. That's that's the barrior. And I just think there is a where you grow up dictates
your personality. And listen, I got along in the East Coast because I can be edgy and yeah, sometimes my personality relates to the Philly, New York guy, but at my core, I can also have the Californi and you chill like, that's what I grew up around for eighteen years being in Sacramento, California. Lincoln grew up. I don't know the exact city, but somewhere in Texas. Then he went to Lubbock. It's ingrained, and then he spent all that time at Oklahoma. I understand they gave him so
much money. It was an incredible opportunity. I just don't like, Okay, Caleb Leeve, what are they gonna do? Like, by the way, he's gonna be way better next year, I don't see it.
Here's the other thing in his offense, which which isn't sort of the There there are elements of Mike Leech's offense, but it's not for sure air raid. That top defensive coordinators they don't they don't want to work for a coach like that because I mean, look at look at the history of defensive coordinators of something that looks like the air raid, their career goes into the can. So it's I don't think. I mean, there's there's that guy
that's at Oklahoma State. Derek Mason's a good coordinator. In San Diego State has a good one. But when you start spreading the ball out, a lot of these defensive coordinators they want to be head coaches. They don't want an offensive coach. They want physicality, and you know that's why by the way, hardball his gut. That's why Urban, that's why Nick Saban. He gets great coordinator, lose him, get another because that style, that physicality for a defensive coordinator.
It feels like the NFL, like Lincoln's offense. Lincoln doesn't. That's not the NFL. That's college and I think it's gonna be a hard and plus usc LA's expensive. What do you gotta pay a guy here two and a half million? They're not gonna pay that for a DC.
No, because they make one point eight two in the SEC, which is dramatically cheap or less taxes to live. So I'm with you, And the other thing is listen, you and I will both make fun of the Big Ten. Sometimes they're speed beside, like Ohio State and Michigan, But that is a physical conference. And if Lincoln has a quarterback, that's not a top two round and maybe a fourth
round or one year. If you're at your team the physicality, you're gonna run into some losses on the road if you don't have the ethos of be a tough and physical team and the way you practice. Clearly we've seen at Oklahoma now at US he's not even debatable. You're just not gonna be a tough team. So the only way to win is to just out recruit everybody, and that's he's gonna recruit itself. But Dan Lanning's recruiting his ass off. We know a lot of state recruits his
ass off. We'll see what you know, Harbaugh. I mean, do you think Harbay's gonna leave now? With all this going on? He's kind of a wild card. You know.
The NFL is tough man Chicago. Everybody says, oh Chicago, they have the oldest and one of the poorest owners.
That's it. They're gonna pa him fifteen million. I don't know.
And then you start looking around at all the Yeah. I mean, if Brandon Staley left, then it's really really attractive.
Right.
But the last great job was Matt Lafleur getting Aaron Rodgers kind of late prime but prime. McCarthy getting dak Zeke and that all line. That's a hell of a job. The Chargers with three pass rushers left tackle the center. That's a pretty good job. But let me tell you something, there gonna be a lot of want that job in the Spanos family never spent that kind of money, never on a coach, but.
Would and Dean would he be willing because they went through it a little bit with AJ Smith and Marty and Harbaugh's way crazier than that version of Marty. But Marty was a big personality. Wasn't just into super ideas from everybody starting with the owner. And Harbaugh definitely isn't just coming into a think tank on a weekly basis. Oh, Dean and your sons. You feed me with some information. So it's more than just paying him. It's more just do you want to deal with them? And you've been
talking about this at Michigan. He's he guarantees you to win. He's four for four, but there is more that comes with it. And let's face it, these owners are so rich now you know, It's like I could win with Harbab, but I'd rather try to find someone else for a little cheaper and then listen.
I don't think that the sons are vital in the front office. I do not think the Spanoss would hire Harbor. I think they'd give it to Kellen Moore on a cheap idel and he could, he could succeed. I think he's bright. I think they're very good red zone team now they weren't a good red zon own team last year. They are a good red zone team. They were a bad second half offense last year. They're a good second half offense. A Kellen Moore is clearly working. And by
the way, that was with Mike Williams. They don't have Mike Williams, so I mean that's Mike's a big, big downfield target. That's why they drafted Quentin Johnston. You know, Mike was getting older, getting beat up. So it's all very fun, Okay, john middle cough three and out. We're gonna do an hour now on Sundays, closer to it because we get great feedback. We see the numbers, and Buddy, this was just a lot of fun. I love this man.
Well, we watched football weekend, Colin, we might as well talk about it, right, all right, man?
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