Colin Cowherd Podcast - Steelers QB Controversy? Jets Hit Turbulence, Are The Giants…Good? Broncos A Playoff Team? USC’s Loss “Unacceptable”

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a professional quarterback. There's always been like to me, he's always been sort of Kirk Cousins, but more popular, moves a little better, It doesn't throw quite as accurately, but these are professor quarterback and you give him a final drive and fifteen plays later without really much CD lamb and Dallas wins the game. So it's really an embarrassing loss for Pittsburgh. And now, I mean, listen this, they

make one more stop and they win the game. So but I went and look, Terry Bradshaw retired the former Steeter great in nineteen eighty three, and it's twenty twenty four. So in that time, the Steeters have had twenty five quarterbacks. From Bradshaw's retirement until Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, one big ben has been exceptional. Now Cordell Stewart had his moments, or a Tommy Maddox or a Bubby Brister, Mike tom Zach,

but they've had one really high end quarterback. They've had multiple great tight ends, receivers, linebackers, defensive alignment running backs, they draft wide receivers very well, safeties, corners. They've had one exceptional quarterback and that's kind of it. So you're watching them tonight pass for ninety seven yards, and again, George Pickens should have ninety seven yards. I'll argue all day long, it's not the personnel. I mean, Arthur Smith,

the coordinator made Ryan Tannehill a pro bowler. Five years ago. Ryan Tannehill left Miami, went to Tennessee and nobody had him in high regard, and he ended up having a really nice career second half of his career, and Arthur Smith made him a pro bowler in the AFC. You know, that was before you know, Lamar and Mahomes had become Josh Allen had become stars. But nonetheless, you know, Brady took one of those spots every year, so it's not

him and Dallas didn't play well. I didn't think offensively, I think they looked functional, which the Steelers didn't. But they just they're just outdated. Offensively, they don't.

running backs, corners, mid round, late round guys. But they're not good enough a quarterback and couldn't beat the Giants at home. And I mean, look at Dallas was without Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence Dak didn't play particularly well and Pittsburgh at home passed for ninety seven yards you know, end of the you know, the big scoring drive for

the Steelers tonight. I mean, just to show you how pitiful it is, they benefited from hit on Justin Fields where the cowboy defender his helmet did not hit Justin Field's helmet, nor was it particularly a late hit. It was just a hit that officials were I guess, uncomfortable with because it was violent. I don't get the penalty. It was a bang bang play. There was no helmet to helmet collision and it was a penalty. Without that

fifteen yards, they likely don't score the touchdown. So twenty seventeen, you know, Dallas wins this game on you know, last play of the game, and that's betting. I'm two and two going into the Saints in five and a half points tomorrow, and what I think will be a really interesting game without Rashid Rice, it'll be fairly low scoring mostly now the Chiefs win that way. But you know, it's what I've found with the Steelers, Mike Tomlin and

Justin Fields. They're actually a perfect match because you'll never make Tomlin fans or Justin Field fans. You'll never talk them out of their devotion, regardless of what they see. And uh, you know, Tomlin, they're still clinging till we've never had a losing record, all right, if that's your standard. Uh. And Justin Fields, I mean, he's a big, tall, runs around well, has a pretty good arm, but I just

don't think he sees the field particularly well. I don't think he's terribly accurate, although more so now than ever. And you know, the good news is when you look around to the Cowboys and Steeters, because I think we watched two. You know, when Mike and DeMarcus Lawrence come back, Dallas feels like a low end playoff team to me. Pittsburgh doesn't. And again you know Dak with Ceedee Lamb,

competent receiving crew, not great, but competent. Brandon Cooks comes back, you know, Dallas may sneak into the playoffs, although Washington's really good and the New York Giants are no pushover. I'll talk about that game the Seahawks lost to the New York Giants and the Pacific Northwest with John middlecoff here in a couple of minutes. But you know, I guess the good news for both the Steelers and the Cowboys is who's really good?

up steam. But there really isn't a dominant team so far. There are dominant units, but not dominant teams. So we have a long way to go. And you know, I just but ninety seven yards passing with those weapons on a cowboy versus a cowboy defense, that is all beat up is a bad look. But again, the Tomlin fans one quarterback since Terry bradsch are retired has been exceptional and they've either drafted, traded for acquired twenty five Sperkstein

our quarterbacks. And I will say this about Russell Wilson. You know, they they these these broadcast crews have production meetings before games and they you know, so they get some information and over the course of a game, that information comes out through the broadcasters or sideline reporters, and you know, they made it sound throughout the course of the game a couple of different times than you know, Russell Wilson, they showed him a lot earlier. You know,

Russell Wilson will get his shot. But I mean he had a calf injury. You know, it's it's he didn't break a collar bone, it was it was a calf injury. So you know, I think the coaching staff and Arthur Smith right now like the more athletic, taller, younger justin fields and I think if he would have won tonight, they would have stayed with him. But these losses give Russell Wilson an opportunity to get the job. But it's I mean, how long does a calf injury take for

a professional athlete. I don't know. This is a long time to be out that drama with a Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation is I just think starting. It's just starting. So congrats to the Cowboys again. Back through for almost three hundred and fifty yards. And the one thing I always liked about Dak and I really do appreciate this about Dak, and it's kind of the opposite of Aaron Rodgers. You can't tell in the middle of a game if

he's playing well or not. He's unbothered by interceptions. Dak doesn't care. Dak's made a fortune, He's won a lot of games. He's not deterred if he has a couple of bad picks. He doesn't have crappy body language. I mean, ceedee lamb and him jawed in the game. It doesn't affect how he plays. Dak is very much Kirk Cousins. Smart reads the entire field, nice distributor of the football, a real leader, excellent intangibles, and doesn't get overly emotional

in games. You know he's not. He'll pump a fist once in a while, but you know he and CD are struggling in the second half, and he's got picks. He almost fumbled the game away down to the goal line, but he's just unbothered by it. Good plays, bad plays, and that's He's really one of the models of the personality, the EQ, the emotional quottionent that you really need as a quarterback. You can't tell. I mean, you can tell when Aaron Rodgers throws a pick. You could zone me

into a game in the third quarter. I could watch Aaron's body language and tell you how to not watch the game, how he's playing. You can never tell. With Dak Prescott. He's a total grown up. And the Cowboys needed that tonight because they were before that fifteen play drive. It was choppy, it was turbulent. They're on the road. They seedee Lamb vanishes in the second half, so you know Dallas doesn't have a great run game. I mean, a full back now has become a crucial element to

their offense. So credit to Dak being a pros pro. Will we watch Kirk Cousins do it on Thursday, You watch Dak do it on Sunday night. Professional quarterback play, unemotional, smart, make the play the throw in the biggest moment of the game. Tip of the cap. Now for a segment called making it Look Easy, brought to you by Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. Today Lamar Jackson did so. He finished twenty six to forty two, four touchdowns,

another fifty five yards rushing. That's crazy pass for almost three hundred and fifty yards, and a comeback win against the Bengals in Cincinnati. Just like Lamar made it look easy, sodas, Morgan and Morgan makes it easy to submit a claim. Over one hundred offices nationwide, over eight hundred lawyers. Listen, they have made fifteen billion dollars. They've recovered that proven track record fighting to get you full and fair compensation. Morgan and Morgan have been fighting for the people for

over thirty five years. If you're ever injured, go to Fourthpeople dot com, slash colin or to a pound five two nine check out America's largest injury law firm. Winning in the NIFA Fella is hard, but hiring Morgan and Morgan is easy. All right, crazy weekend, We're going to spend ninety percent of it on NFL. John Middelcoff, as we do every Sunday, former NFL scout with the Philadelphia Eagles three and outs his podcast. He joins me every Sunday night. Our Week five reaction is presented by Uber

Eats get almost almost anything for game day. So I'm I want to just start with the first game of the day, the Jets. So the Minnesota Vikings beat the Jets. I was it twenty three to seventeen. And Jets got off to a really bad start, as they've been prone to do this year. Even though those are supposed to be the scripted plays and where you get off to pretty decent starts offensively, they didn't. And I've got reams and reams of notes here. Sam Darnold had a bad pick.

There were opper tunities. But so already New York media wants to fire Sala, Robert Sala, So let me just defend him. And I don't think he's a great coach. He hasn't proven to be one. Because the general manager whiffed on Zach Wilson and a left tackle, they had to basically desperately give the franchise to the best free agent quarterback they could find, which was Aaron Rodgers. So Aaron had the power to bring in Nat Hackett. I

don't think Robert Sala wanted to. So his GM put him in a situation where he's dealing with a relationship with an oc he wouldn't have hired. I mean Nat Hackett's you know, reputation is what it is. We know he's got an impulsive owner. Now Alan Lizard's had multiple drops today. That's on Aaron. But Hassan Reddick, this defense is good. They somebody finally shut down Minnesota. How good would they be with Hassan Reddick? So I look at Saul and I think you can blame him. But John,

I do this all the time. Are you as a coach, Matt Eberflus, are you good with your side of the ball. We finally found a defense that slowed down Minnesota today. I might take is sla is having to overcome GM mistakes, an impulsive owner, and Aaron's age, which he's just not what he used to be. You're kind of smirking. Would you run him out of town?

are awful. Yes, And these last two weeks you saw him against Denver, who turns out Denver playoff team defense. They're pretty impressive. And then obviously Minnesota really really good on defense. He looked really old. Yeah, you know, he looked really old and he could move around. He's definitely you know whatever's going on with his lower leg, it was he talked about it coming into the game. He got rolled up. But the magic is gone. I mean those back shoulder throws, I mean the throw that ended

the game. There were the pick six, little fluky that happens sometimes when you just kind of throw it in the guy. But the other two picks the way the game ends. When has he ever been so off with the wide receiver on that throw that that was really bad. But his other pick, which is a layered throw, which I would say Aaron Rodgers is as good as anyone in the history of the sport. Down the scene between two defenders, and it was it looked like a remedial quarterback.

What they do air mail? I mean, the receiver has no shot and you're just going I just don't see it. And the other thing is how did they get his swag back? And this was when he was younger pre Achilles in Green Bay. They started running the ballway and you're watching the last two games. I mean, I don't think they've accounted for like seventy total yards and they don't even try. I mean, you're just at this point in time, forty years old, the way he was playing today.

To ask him to throw at forty five ish times is not a winning formula. And let's face it, Colin, these quarterbacks and his resume was way better than Russell Wilson and obviously Deshaun Watson. But great quarterbacks never become available. That never happens. The reason Peyton Manning became available they thought his neck was broken. Yeah, right. Bill Belichick said, listen, you guys don't think I'm crazy. I'm shorting a forty

two year old player. It's very rare that like oh Josh Allen and his primer Lamar changes teams, that's not what happens. So we now have a long list of Russell disaster. Obviously Deshawns has a chance to be historic disaster. And this Aaron Rodgers thing. Last year, old guy got hurt, freaky okay, and this year you're just seeing him play decent competition and they just feel overwhelmed. I mean they

really do, but it's he's not good enough. He's not good enough to mask their issues, like you said, with their offensive coordinator and their personnel.

think about this. Denver, with a worse roster and a rookie quarterback, has a better record and has beaten the Jets head to head with boon Knicks, who, by the way, I watched the day again. They're not asking him to do a ton, but athletically bo Nicks is moving. Boone Nicks is picking up, He's moving the chains. That's an average roster that Vegas had at five five and a half wins. So Denver's beaten them in New York, has a better record one again today and is actually starting

to figure it out offensively. So I think I think your point is true, is that when you talk about I mean, I think Matt Stafford has kind of like Aaron. He's still he doesn't move as well, but I think he's mechanics are better and he's got a better head coach. But you most of these guys not named Brady John may age really fast and Aaron gull hit today. He was in pain the last quarter and a half of that football game.

lot leading into the season. You know where he would rank in the AFC, the overall landscape of the quarterbacks, and you know, a lot of people freak out when you say, hey, seventh, eighth, ninth guy, give or take somewhere in that region. The last two weeks, he hasn't sniffed being a top twenty quarterback. Obviously, last week he even admitted he was atrocious. And today you just see his physical limitations. He's not able to move like he

once did. You know, beside Garrett Wilson. They're solizarre dependent and when they're not running the ball, he can't just go. It was really glaring today because again, we had a football game start for us at six thirty in the morning, so right when the ten am game starts, and you just go from that because that basically ran right up till ten and then all of a sudden, it's Lamar and Joe Burrow and you go. You know, for a

long period of time. Even these guys have been good for a while now too, but a couple years ago, Aaron was ahead of them, winning MVPs or right there with them, the superstars of the league. And then you're watching those two guys and you just witnessed Aaron. You're like, he feels like, I didn't watch this, but Willie May's on the Mets or something now his version of it, and it's just I don't think that you can circumvent his age if you can't run the ball, because his

game was very predicated on him moving around. And there's a couple of times I think he knows, like I can't get away like I used to, and he kind of just plops and it was a he just looks old. He looks weathered, Colin. He looks weathered.

this franchise historically has been about relevance. And it's like I always call him the low self esteem sports franchises. You know, Cleveland gets desperate. Deshaun Watson's contract. You know, we've seen NBA franchises like this, the Jets, Mets, historically, the Yankees had a big signing. We have to have one this organization. Now you start looking at it, I think they have to draft a quarterback in the AFC Mahomes,

Allen Lamar Burrow, C J. Stroud, Justin Herbert. You know, it was okay, let's get Aaron some help next year. They have to draft a quarterback. There's no question they have to draft a quarterback.

So you know, I don't know if you saw the report today, did Mark Davis? You know, most of these teams it's like, listen, I hire my GM. You do what's best for the organization. Mark Davis like, we will not take anything less than a second round pick, which I understand where he's coming from, but that kind of shows you the dysfunction of the Raiders. He's the one making the call on the compensation, but maybe the justice

kind of give in. Well, they're not gonna be a top five drafting team, right, They're still gonna win games, So you're not drafting high enough to probably get the premium guy, which is already a pretty questionable quarterback draft, so you're more likely to be where they just were twelve to fifteen. So giving up that second round pick or your two third round picks or whatever that's valuable,

you know, capital to move up. So I now that's the problem though, So internally, these guys are fighting for their lives, yeah, because they can just see getting fired coming right down, you know, the railroad tracks at him. So maybe they're like, screw it, take the pick, Mark, And if I'm the Raiders and I could get the Jets pick, that's that seems pretty crazy to me. And I also think if you're DeVante Adams, you know you go with Aaron, It's like, is he gonna retire after

this year. It just it feels this is the problem about how much limited equity the franchise had together that once you go through a little adversity, like the Niners right now are in shambles. Yeah, but at the end of the day, Fred George Kittle, Trent Willings, all you guys have played together for so long, and the Patriots or the Chiefs when they go through bumpy roads, like sometimes it's like, hey, guys, we've been doing this for a while. Everyone with the Jessic I just got here,

you just got here. We've played four games with Aaron total. It's just it's it feels like a ticking time bomb because of this situation hanging over the head with the with the executive and the coach, and then Aaron's ah, and he's just kinda I don't want to say he's poudy, but he's just his body language is not grey right now.

so Donald is allowed to have some. You know, he throws the ball down the field. Sam has receivers that can make plays. I thought overall, Minnesota really really controlled the game in the first half, got into Aaron's head, and then it was just holding on. I kind of feel like that way with the New York Giants, even though we thought the game was in doubt, I feel like it was the Giants' day. Their own line was just controlling Seattle's injury plague d line. So Minnesota's undefeated.

I don't take anything negative. You're not going to run through this league. I mean, good God, Bama got beat by Vandy. You're not going to run through this league and not have really bad halfs. So I don't have any take on Minnesota. They won.

win because they get handed to victory by Sam Darland, and that did not happen today.

think Washington's for real. And when they housed Arizona, people sold, but Jesus Arizona, Murray Harrison and Wilson McBride the tight end. Connor's a freaking beast at running back. He is, He's a good player. This offense. I don't know if they're a playoff team. I don't know if they're brilliantly coached, but they're gonna beat teams. They just have too many players. Kyler Murray after the interception of Bosa standing still in freezing would drive me insane if I was a head coach.

But let's let's it's a huge win for them. Let's talk San Francisco. I thought their offense. I mean, if you looked at the box gol I did right before I came on, I mean, it was even if you didn't watch the game, you'd say, oh, it's a great game, twenty four to twenty three, but it did feel like it was a game in which San Francisco had in the bag and let's slip away.

lot of that zone read stuff. It throws the Niners d lineman off because they are so quick to get upfield and all of a sudden, the crease. The Niners defense has not been the same.

field when you got eighty five wide open. But defensively, Greenlaw got hurt in that Super Bowl and they are just not the same as a run defense. You can run on them the physicality. They still hit hard, but usually it's guy six seven yards down the field right, and if Boston the d line doesn't sack the quarterback basically wants to drive, which is hard for them when they're playing a guy like Kyler Murray who can scramble around.

They just look like, I don't want to say, a shell of themselves, but they are a watered down version of the defense we've seen for the last three years. And that's with Fred Warner playing at a really high level. But I think you feel green Laws miss and let's face it, just over time, like this dynasty not a dynasty, excuse me, that's that's Chiefs. This run of the Shanahan era is like there's a lot of film on these guys, now, yeah,

you know, so it's it gets more difficult. People know what party likes to do, what Kyle likes to do. And defensively, they've had a lot of It's not like they have a spags right or a Flores. I mean, they just elevated this guy who's been a lifetime position coach that I'm safe to say no one else was ringing down the doorbell to hire. Well.

solve the riddle at half. It's just better coaching. So I look at I think that's a great point by you, and I also I also think, you know, there are certain guys I can't quit. I'll get to Lamar later. I think he's just a remarkable player. Kyler Murray, you have to make decisions in this league. You would hope you'd never have to make it with a quarterback maturity commitment. But John, you look around this league, there are not

a lot of Kyler Murray's. Let's say he's Let's say he is, and I think he throws a better ball than Lamar, but I think he's about eighty percent of Lamar Jackson in terms of elusiveness, movement, playmaking. He brings the same headache to a decordinator. You're never quite sure. I mean, you can't cheat. That's why Connor, you can't cheat on him. And that's I've said this about it is people hung around with Jay Cutler, who didn't have Kyler Murray's ability for a long time because of the

arm strength. Where are you on Kyler Murray? I mean they're stuck with a contract. I mean him not moving on the Bosa pick, just staring at it is like bad, Like that's really bad. In the film room, I.

of a tease like he is fair. He's an excellent talent. Do I think you can build a sustainable winning team with him? I'm not sure you can't.

go go, and he's Iroll and Lazard and Alan. It's not that Aaron's not playing hard, but you can see his emotions. You know, Brady would pump his fist after a touchdown or he'd yell briefly on the sidelines, but he was fairly robotic emotionally.

that height is something pretty hard to overcome. Yeah, and in a game when I can core value or you're just not running it at well, which he was today, I don't trust him to be able to do what Lamar consistently does because I think there's a big difference in whatever Lamar is sixty three. I mean that's you know, almost a five inch gap between the If you told me Kyler Murray was Lamar's height, I don't. I still think that what Lamar's intangibles are pretty special.

five nine. That's why he runs around and he god he's a fun player to watch.

all their timeouts. So what you'd want to do is run the ball in the line, run it into the line, run in the line, force the Texans to use all their timeouts, punt it away, and they'd have, you know, sixteen seconds. Instead, the Bills through the ball three times, givvy Houston just enough time to get it and kick a field goal and win. So this stuff was and I don't like to crush coaches. John on game management, Andy Reid took heat for years. I don't know your injuries,

I don't know your game plan. But there are things I think that it's fair to criticize coaching. I think there's I mean, like, listen the Cowboys. Seventeen seconds they're running a quarterback draw. It's like, that's not the play, especially when you watch Kirk Cousins in Atlanta meticulously line up this past Thursday to win, like that's how a

veteran team does it, and a veteran quarterback. But I watched that game management by the Bills as they lose to the Texans, and there's no I mean, it's Buffalo's fine. I mean, this is a good organization. They're going to win this division. I mean New England's awful, the Jets aren't very good, and Miami's quarterback play is you know, suboptimal.

But I was sitting there thinking, and I like McDermott, but I'm sitting there thinking that one's on MCDNERHM and Josh Allen won't say it, but do you believe against the John Harbaugh A Jim Harbaugh a Demiico Ryans and Andy Reid in maybe a year of Sean Payton. Do you trust Sean McDermott.

I can't trust the Bills. And I've been one of Josh Allen's biggest fans, but it's hard to say he's you know, based on today, you couldn't say he's better than Lamar. That's what I mean. It was one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. He was atrocious today. So part of it to me, and this is always the pushback from the anti analytical number people

of like are we sure in this situation? Like I get the overall picture, but it's like you're pinned your quarterback I think at the time was like nine for twenty seven, yeah, which again I don't remember him playing such a bad game, and to throw it three times when your quarterback's playing poorly. To me, if he's rolling and that's the pushback, I think the Zach Taylor's gonna get It's like your guy is humming. So you had your decisions have to be dictated off what's going on in the game.

started really slow, looked terrible. I mean it looked at one point in time if if Houston was gonna play, well, they're gonna lose forty to ten in this.

And I think that is a mistake that clearly he didn't say it, and he let his offensive coordinator, who I think's done a pretty good job. Yes, he's taken over. Not really debatable. That is one that's an embarrassing moment when your quarterback's playing like he was playing, and your offense was playing like it was playing. They were running the ball. Well, maybe who knows, Maybe you bust like a fifteen to twenty yard run and then maybe you take a shot. But you got to take a deep breath.

You've got to force him to take timeouts. And again they kicked me fifty nine yard field goal, so the time would not have been on their side. You would have been overtime. Now there's no guarantee you go to overtime. Shit, anything could happen, but that is a it's hard for me to take the bills. I was high on him after three weeks, but these last two weeks, especially today, it's like, well.

people to talk about it. But I I can't remember the last time I watched a head coach in the NFL not just make an It wasn't a mistake, it was a belief. It was a now we're gonna do it, first, on second, on third, It's like, Sean, what are we doing here?

couple of years? Specific coaching things, specific coaching things like that's really been the difference of them who knows, you know, super bowls of coin flip game usually, but like being in a Super Bowl and getting run in the second round up whatever with thirteen seconds left, like that's kind of been there. You watch today. It's not like we just didn't have enough talent, or we're not we don't have enough good players. No, it's like specific coaching things

now has been the Bill's downfall. And in this sport, this isn't baseball where you can blame the GMS because they were setting the lineup. This isn't basketball where the star player can do whatever he wants, like in football, the head coach. There's a reason they get so much money and so much praise because they do control so much.

think mechanically, I think he's more coachable. I mean, he does mechanically get off the reservation, but he gets pulled back in. He's clearly a coachable kid. He's he's into the right stuff. But you probably only have four great years left of just like and then all of a sudden, it's like Travis Kelsey says, then you're on your fourth surgery. You know, your second ankle surgery, your third shoulder surgery.

special player. Today was pretty bad. Yes, they're not going to win with their quarterback going nine to thirty. They got no chance against the Texans or just a random NFL team.

And my take watching Caleb is and I said this before the season. I said, I don't know if they'll win more than seven games, which is what Justin Fields won, because I do believe Minnesota, Detroit and Green Bay the division's better young team's all good. But I said, you'll feel better about the seven wins. And I think today because Carolina was playing pretty damn good football. Two things today. Once again, we have to give Matt Eberfluse credit.

a high school thing. They didn't get anything out of it. But if I was a Bears fan today and they only went seven, I feel like I have a franchise quarterback.

a competitive, frisky team that competes in the wild card. Absolutely, they had no chance early on with him overthrowing and not having much confidence in their passing game. But if they can run the ball and he can add the explosive play element. Because their defense is when the dust settles, if they stay healthy, they're gonna be a top five ish defense in the NFL. And when you have a great defense. You see this with the Broncos. You see

this obviously with the Bears. Like your quarterback doesn't have to have a great game like that's they could carry you and all of a sudden, it's you know ten ten in the fourth quarter. You just have to make a player or two. That's always The Niners got away with a lot of that over the year, especially with Jimmy Garoppolo. Well they were just being a thirteen to ten game, then one big run you win twenty ten.

But when your defense like today with the Bengals and the Ravens, both those teams, I would imagine on Monday, we should never go to overtime when we score thirty eight points, Yeah, we should win the game by seventeen points when the clock keets doubles. That was a game. But there's no that was That was insane. But the Bears don't play like that. They can rush the pass or they're stout up front and they get their dbs are really good. I was texted with a coach who

played them early in the season, an assistant coach. He's like, their defensive backs a good cause. So if you have good defensive backs in twenty twenty four, that's just that's the Broncos. They have really good defensive backs. Well, half the teams are obsessed with passing, and watch the Packers. What do they want to throw the ball? Obviously the Vikings want to throw the ball we know the Lions

like throwing the ball. So if you can you know, defend the pass with DBS and you have a good pass rush, you're going to be a serious, serious problem. And to me, Caleb, you know, parties kind of was doing this today. That hero ball. Sometimes it's just a couple of steps, get rid of the ball and if nothing's there, just thrown out of bounce. Yeah, you know, not everything has to be Lamar can get away with it. But some of these guys that start doing the three sixties.

I mean that used to be a Russell Wilson thing. And I think players, you know, on the offensive line have been like, just get rid of the ball, right, you know what what are we doing? Because every sweet play you hit, three or four of them screw up and you get sacked or you maybe throw a pick or so. I yeah, I think the Bears the Panthers kind of came back to earth today. Yeah, but part of that was the Bears defense. So I yeah, nice little win.

this is five straight weeks. I thought his first game, Uh, he looked a little nervous. I thought, the second game he looked frenetic. I thought the third game he looked more under control. I thought last week, Okay, there it is. And I thought today I was like, if that's what he was just today with the parts he has Keenan Allen comes back, I'm like, oh, they'll win eight games, they'll be a there'll be it, they'll be out. They'll spoil somebody's season in December, no question.

who knows. I mean, they kind of control their own destiny. If all of a sudden they go three and three in those games, maybe get an upset on the road and win a couple at home. I don't think it's inconceivable they get around that nine number.

and you start looking at numbers, I worry. Sometimes there is some leakage with the Packers defense, although they are taking it away, and Jordan Love had a it wasn't a Will Levis moment because I don't think it was nerves. I think he thought, I don't want a safety here.

Aaron's old and he's not. And I looked at Stafford today and I'm watching all these guys run around and Lamar and Brock Purty and Kyler Murray, and it does limit what the Rams can do now no Cooper Cup and Pooka. But Cooper Cup now is injured regularly. That's like part of him, and so they need tackles, they need they need a number one corner. But as I watched that game, I think Green Bay feels like last

week in the second half. In this week, between Reed and Craft and Jordan Love, they got some really nice offensive pieces. They have some and you know, not everybody's healthy. But it makes me think about this game today. Would you waste a top draft pick for the Rams to get the quarterback, or do you just give Stafford one more draft because they have a first of two thirds of four to three six's, they could get him more weapons. What would you do if you ran the Rams? Would

you draft a quarterback? I mean, he's one of the last pocket dudes in this league.

and that's some of the most legendary plays. Or outside the pocket throwing the ball right, and Stafford feels much closer to Aaron's age than he does Kirk Cousins age. I would like this might just be the year. What they're doing, honestly, even just being competitive these last couple weeks against the Bears and the Packers was pretty impressive. But there's a four point swing, right if he takes a safety instead of the pick six as twenty four to fifteen at the end of the game. It's actually

not as close as it feels. Yes, so it's kind of a freakish play there. I would again, I don't really love these quarterbacks, so it's like I'm watching Carson back. Yeah, I don't really see it. Quinn Ewers, I can't even watch. He's injured. Now. We'll see if he comes back this weekend's Oklahoma. That's back to back years of being an injured guy. This is in college. He hasn't been in the SEC that long. And hell, I don't even think he's played an SEC game yet because he got hurt

before it even started. And I don't think got hurt.

bowers and you can see it. He doesn't have his safety valve. So I think Shaudur is the greatest talent. Cam Ward's right behind him. He's fascinating. But let's be honest. The Rams they don't have the draft capital to move up and teams aren't moving back. You have to have a quarter who's gonna ge what do you have to give up to move to like the number one or two pick?

And I think historically you go back to Walsh, you go with Belichick's mindset to Brady of when he shored them. Now it blew up in his face. I think you can't go wrong shorting older, weathered guys that have been hit a lot. And he's how often, even when he's playing his best at the end of games, he kind of limping off the side of the field. I mean, that's that's like a go to move for his career, just because the punishment he's taken.

they didn't ask him to do much. And I thought, and I think this is why Matt Lafleur, I mean, fifteen to twenty six, two hundred and twenty four yards he ran three times. I think because of the injury in Willis playing. I thought last week's first half he was overwhelmed. Second half he was better. And I thought in this game Green Bay came in and felt, listen, we're gonna win this game. We're just gonna slow play it. I'm not worried. But he's not off to a great start, are you at all? To me?

as good as it gets, right. But also when it's in the air, because it's that player, you think that he just throw a pick in a triple coverage and he can get really loosey goosey with the ball just kind of flying all over the map. So it's like when I watch him by the end of the year, because he had sacked so many good games, you had a lot of trust him in him as a player, and by the time the playoffs came, he's like, this is one of the best players in the league. When

I watched him. Right now, I don't trust him, Like when he drops back, I think anything could happen. And whether that's obviously he got injured, but remember even before he got injured in that Eagle game, he just I don't know if it's Russ. I don't know if it's trying to prove the money because whatever the way he was playing last year, there was a freeness to it, but there's also a control. He wasn't turning the ball over. You know, he puts a lot of balls into Harm's way,

Colin's that's my thing. But he could make up for it because with that power arm and obviously they got I mean, they got some pieces that they're a team that if if their defense just played solid. I mean, Jacobs was running really well today. Obviously the wide receivers Tucker with the sweet long touchdown that they could be a problem. But they need him because the NFC, let's face is pretty wide open right now.

Every week games you can't miss. Coverage begins at seven Eastern with Football's Best Party TNF Tonight Thursday Night Football Tonight. If you're not a Prime member, no problem, sign up thirty day free trial, cancel anytime Thursday Night Football and it's on Prime Video. Restrictions apply Seamazon dot Com slash Amazon Prime for details. So the New York Giants controlled the Seahawks all day, even when it was ten to ten, and they go on to beat Seattle twenty nine to

twenty blocking a kick up in the Pacific Northwest. So this was this is the one game I've lost so far. But as we do this, I thought Seattle No Moleague Neighbors Singletary was banged up. But I will tell you when you watch the Giants, they're old lines and d lines. They've committed to those in the draft and in acquisitions. I mean, Daniel Jones twenty three to thirty four, two touchdowns, two fifty seven. He rushed eleven times or carried eleven times.

I thought that is as good as Dan And that's without malite neighbors John, Like, I watched that today and I'm not surprised by much. Bandy beating Bama. You know, USC losing, Yeah, yeah, USC losing the way they did the Giants that was twenty nine to twenty. It it felt like they were the better team. And you've got to give this team credit. They have an offensive coach on like the Jets. Their defensive line is excellent. When I watched the Giants, I think they're well coached. I

think they're limited. But Daniel Jones, he moves, he's big, he's healthy. Now, what did you make of that win? It's something.

no one ever like he's not Josh Allen Mahomes. He's not a deep ball thrower, but he's not turning the ball over. There was one time I looked up and he would lowered his shoulder. Yes, So, I mean, I think he's playing just pretty solid. Now, you know, are they good enough? Like what does that mean? I don't know. I mean Seattle, think about played Monday night in Detroit. I don't know, what's that flight? Four and a half hours, you lose, you get back, kind of your classic come

out the gates not playing that hard. New York off a long week because they had just played Thursday, looked like the fresher team.

never dynamic and pretty. And I love Phil Simms and Eli, but there's a Hostetler quality to Daniel Jones. And years ago when I worked at the other place, I used to call them the accounting firm of the NFL. Even when they have a great earnings report, it's boring. They're a boring team. But I don't think you can deny. We have to be totally honest about this, Brian Dabole, and in New York it's just harder to coach. I mean, if he was going through what Doug Peterson's going through

the last two months, he'd be done. He'd be out with a Trevor Lauren, he'd be fired. When I watch that offense again, I'm watching Sean Payton score thirty fourth day with bow Nicks, They're just squeezing every ounce. Then I watched Josh Allen have a terrible day. So I look at the Giants and I'm like, they have what kind of the Jets don't, which is a really good offensive coach. They get the most out of their talent. There's really no drama. The HBO series didn't help, but

there's not a lot of drama around them. They're boring. I don't love Daniel Jones, but I will say this, he'd have a market because of what Brian Daboles done.

I was looking at Washington schedule. Obviously they get a resounding win today. They get the Ravens coming up, which is going to be difficult. Then they play the Panthers, the Bears at the Giants, so that division could get weird because they could just have a record, you know,

be like six and three. Then all of a sudden, if you just split a Cowboys or the Eagles and one of those teams, like they're already kind of fighting their way, you know, behind Washington right now, just because boom, what you know, they just start three and one, four and one, All of a sudden, you look up, they're five and two and the numbers are just kind of on your side. And then when I play you, if I already got a two game lead, you have no margin for air if I'm the Cowboys or the Eagles.

And let's face it, like the Giants are not just some locke l to both those two teams, that's right. I mean, hell, they almost beat the Cowboys the other night. There's no telling. If they just play the Eagles on a random you know, Sunday or Monday night, they won't lose that game. That being Philly, like, they are not just some pushover joke four win team. Now, I don't think they're a playoff team by any means, but could they win seven eight, I mean, he did it a

couple of years ago. To me, it's this, can Washington maintain this when they start playing better teams and New York like that. That's an impressive win to go on the road to Seattle. And like you said, the score was close. If you were watching the game, it wasn't feel that close. Seattle did not look good. That's by far when you say Seattle they looked off today.

I thought they should have done it last year. I argued last year was the year to go out and get Pennix.

don't think anybody in Seattle. I thought Pete. When Pete Carroll said yeah, I can win with Gino and Drew Locke, It's like, that's a defensive coach. And I think when defensive coaches tend to lack a little urgency at quarterback. That's why I was so surprised that Tomlin moved off Kenny Picket so fast. It was like, you know, mcveahta had four starts and moved off him. So okay, let's there's a couple of different things to talk about here.

I listen, we could talk about Ravens Bengals. I talk about so much Ravens football that I'll do that more on TV tomorrow. I do want to discuss this because Denver hammered the Raiders thirty four eighteen. They now have a better record than the Jets at three and two, with a rookie quarterback and as This was one of my takes this offseason. The best over bet was Denver because I think their roster's okay, not great, but they are generating a pass rush without a Pro Bowl guy

up front. And I watched Bonicks had a touchdown pass drop today and this is the difference between defense.

is doing a Brian Dable. He's squeezing every ounce out of this roster. What is Bonick's ceiling? Who is he to you?

you know, the Saints. I think they're gonna have a good season, and he's he's been playing well this season. So I think he's under that mold. Now he's a better athlete than both those two guys. Yes, Derek. You know, when Derek was young, he had some pretty good pop in his arm. I always say he's got more arm strengthen Bo. But he'd never had a coach of Shawn's you know level.

Because they are I get it. They're playing the Raiders and minschhew and O'Connell. But that was okay, you removed that brock Bowers play early in the game. Once they got to the second quarter, they took control and they came out of halftime and that was they curb stopped him. I mean they absolutely throttled them in the second half.

they're on a heater, they're vulnerable. I in fact, I like the points in the Saints tomorrow. They're just not beating anybody. Denver is I mean, it's thirty four eighteen and they dropped the touchdown. I think their personnel, you know, I like this GM Patton. I didn't love the Russell Wilson move, but I'm in fairness, I liked it when they made it. I didn't know Russell was going to drop off the cliff. I kind of like Denver's players.

card at any moment. I mean there's been multiple times this season when Rogers went down and you're like, is he gonna get back up? I mean that happened today when he got bent over. Yeah, is this season over? And even if his season he plays in all seventeen games that they are by no means no lock to win nine games. The Browns, a playoff team from last year, is an absolute train wreck right now. I mean has the worst quarterback situation slack vibes going on right now

because of the negativity surrounding that situation. So I think you just look at the landscape of the AFC Cincinnati, who obviously is pretty good. I mean they got a pretty special offense, but you start playing a numbers game all of a sudden, you two and five. How do you ever get back? You can't. You're not able to win enough games in a row when you have that big of a flaw as a defensive football team. That's what's crazy about the Ravens is like where did their

defense go? But Cincinnati like that has like they're they're not good on defense, and it's hard. I don't care if you got Joe Burrow, Jamar Chason T. Higgins who all looks fantastic. If your defense is that bad, well, the Broncos are like, hey, we're gonna have some games when the when the kid throws for seventy five yards and you know what will when the fucking thing sixteen to thirteen. We got no problem to it. Like Cincinnati doesn't even have that capability. Harbaugh in theory would Yeah,

but Joey Bosset is already sitting in a suite. You know, the injuries have kind of unraveled, and you know you got Herbert limping around. It's hard this team. Just the speed of Denver's defense. Oh no, they to do more of a deep dive on their defensive roster. I don't even know some of their players besides certain who is I mean, what does he look like right now? Like Charles Woodson meets Rod Woodson in this prime? Yeah? How good does he look?

audio products in the game. They're ready to take care of you this football season, traveling to watch your favorite team or just streaming the game at home. Find the Blue Box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or go to JLab dot com. Love their stuff, the Blue Box. All right, So I want to give this some time. USC we usually do one big college football topic, and since I'm viewed as a USC homer, I might as well just embrace it.

was a Rose Bowl Minnesota. The stadium was full. PJ Flex say what you want, brings a ton of intensity. Those guys were jumping all over the place. Their running back was powerful. Us he's bad. Tackling is re emerged, which we thought it was done after the LSU game. It re emerged against Michigan. I saw it again this weekend. And now their offense is young. But when I watched the game plan, John not a lot of motion, not a lot of different sets from Lincoln Riley Miller. Moss

has been in that program now three years. Okay, this is not a transfer. He knows the offense. Uh, They've got some Really, their offensive line is young and at right tackle is a problem. But I gotta tell you, I have defended Lincoln to the end, and I defended, uh, I've defended I defend most coaches, and I think we all know that Lincoln's good offensively. But that loss is not just a loss, John. It feels like one step forward to back. I don't know if you overcome that.

I mean, you're essentially now with their schedule, they're not making the playoff and La quits and.

looked like they could. It just turns out Michigan's offense is future right and Wisconsin obviously is not very good on offense either.

they they've leaned into Mason Murphy for years. It's just too slow a foot, it's too many mistakes. He's a college kid, you know whatever, But you cannot be USC. I mean, you go to Oregon or Ohio State right now, and there's six tackles that are six six and above. There are six to seven four to five star tackles. One's a senior, couple of juniors. USC has two playable offensive tackles, a center backup left tackle, a kid that's not ready to play at right tackle in the NIL

era with USC's brand, that's on Lincoln. That's the offense that's not good enough.

so awesome. Well then they used nil to listen, maybe they're never going to practice like Jim Harbaugh in terms of running power for seventy minutes of a two hour practice. But you can just buy those guys. So what ohiose they do this offseason? They bought the kid from Bama like they start buying defensive players. Sark clearly, like listen, he's an offensive pass game guy, Like that's who he is at his court, which is fine, he's really good at it, but your defense in practice like that was

always a downfall of Mike Leach. Now he could never recruit at the schools to their level. But you don't create a physicality in practice when you're just passing the ball all over the place. Jim Harbaugh's teams are not physical by accident. That's because the way they practice is a physical practice, you know, six months a year. So what does Texas do? They have unlimited money, like ouse

they start opening the check book. Oregon, Now they've had defensive coaches and Mario's an offensive guy, but he's an oh line guy, and he thinks like that, They're just start paying people. And it's like if USC is gonna be on those guys levels Texas, Ohio State because they are going to be consistent powerhouses because they are opening enormous checks right now and paying a lot of money for players. And obviously Lincoln he is going to be able to figure out the offense over time. Yeah, like

that is his baby, he knows that. But defensively, they're going to have to be cutting huge checks for defensive players. Listen, that's kind of the name of the game.

Ohio State kid or the Alabama receiver. But and they're nil. They have thirteen million dollars. This is not a poverty program. They've got real money here. Washington's got seven and a half. They've got thirteen in the nil. So when I look at their situation, they don't have an elite defensive tackle or an elite They have one good center on offensive line. If you counted all their d O linemen and you had twenty guys. You have Anthony Lucas on the defensive side,

Monheim on the offensive line. They got two guys that are draftable.

seven games, right, they won seven and five. And then you go into the Big Ten, which like the PAC twelve last year, just has on a given game, if you're on the road at Minnesota at Iowa, like you can lose, right Like last year with Lincoln, like you went on the road to Arizona, or I guess Arizona came to usc but you know what I mean, Like the program was deep and on any given week Beside in theory, you should never lose to a Vanderbilt, whoever's

the bottom feeder. But the teams in the middle, and we can argue till we're blue in the face, what conference is deeper, the SEC or the Big Ten? I do know if any of those middle tiers six to eight win programs play well at home on a given week, they can beat most teams, especially now with the nil

and transfer Portal era. It's all kind of watered down the day and age of like the two thousand and one Miami hell just like three years ago, Kirby smart team with twenty five NFL guys starting on his you know two deep, like those days are done. Yeah, you look at Georgia now, they look like a show of themselves. Those early saban Bama teams. He kind of loaded up the roster. It doesn't exist anymore. So it's much more

water down. Which if you don't get it right in the nil, if you're not paying like the top guys are going to garner a lot of money, your talent is not going to be that much different. Because Minnesota can get a couple of transfers here and there, and all of a sudden it's like, ah, this teams not that good. Well, actually they got this guy from there and this other guy from there, and all of a sudden, you're down ten in the fourth quarter.

coming back to back, you know, winning this thing. And they pulled off one of the craziest comebacks you'll ever see. I mean, what an incredible win. And they're a good example. Like they got some money, they're buying some players well. Also, I'm like USC most well coached, but their talent deep.

You have no idea how good this cam Ward is. He just had no pros around him. So they're for real. Listen, it's hard to ask kids to go from Miami to col three thousand miles. A lot of these kids, I mean, when I was eighteen, had you been to had you been to the South?

watching them, you see bamul loose. I think Georgia is a shell of themselves what they've been so to me, it's like, obviously text Ohio State are really good, but we've seen college football. It's got a little NCAA tournament feel to it. Like I think there are seven eight teams once we get to the top twelve that if

Boise makes it, are you watching their running back? He looks like, I mean, the best player in the the guy used to having one of the most incredible seasons in like the history of college football, something you would have seen in like the eighties with like Barry Sanders.