The volume This week on Prime Cuts, Chad Milman, Sharper Square, Nick Wright was great on Jalen Hurts and being the best face of a franchise ever, Lebron, James and Moore. In my Top takes of the Week, I want to start with the Denver broncos. You know when Sean Payton came out and took that shot at Nathaniel Hackett, everybody freaked out, WHOA, that's over the top. Baron Rodgers stuck up for his buddy. Chean Peye does know anything. Nathaniel
Hackett and the Jets last forty drives one touchdown. Meanwhile, Russell Wilson has taken Nathaniel Hacketts. Russell Wilson eighty four passer rating, sixteen touchdowns, eleven picks. Russell now is a one to four passer rating. It's all the same dudes, eighteen touchdowns, four picks. Nathaniel My kid is not a
good football coach. Sean Payton's a great football coach. Listen to the passer ratings of Russell Wilson's career from twenty eighteen to on one to eleven, one O six one O five, one oh three eighty four one oh four, try to find the Nathaniel Hacket year. The Jets offense is now the most unwatchable offense. I'll make the argument that Zach Wilson's the least effective quarterback starting quarterback I've seen in the NFL and maybe in my life. Nathaniel
Hackett Sean Payton was right. What you're watching in Denver's amazing, and in Russell Wilson, they've beaten the Chiefs, maybe the best team in the league. The Bills hammered the Jets today and the red hot hottest team in the league in terms of winning Street Minnesota Vikings three weeks in a row, three games in a row. It's it's coaching. It's the same guys, isn't it amazing? That's why you know it. We all know the quarterback leads this league.
That's why I never bought into Russell Wilson is washed. It's impossible. You can't go from one O four one O three, one O three, one O three.
Can't play.
It doesn't make any there's no historical precedent. So Russell tonight made the throw of the night to Courtland Sutton, who also made a great play. Had that really good? Was it third or fourth down. Little lob over the linebacker was called interference, but caught anyway by the Broncos under heavy, heavy pressure because of Brian Floores as blitz packages for the Vikings kept dumping it off to p Ryan in the backs and then New some running himself.
I mean all the Russell Wilson stuff in Seattle's back, the playmaking, the good deep ball, the good decision making. Here's the thing with Russell Wilson. Sean fixed him, or should we say Sean got him back on the freeway, the Russell Wilson interstate. This is how he's played at college, Seahawks and Broncos, with one exception than Nathaniel Hackett year. I mean, go back to Wisconsin, Seattle, this Denver. So it has been the same player.
Now.
I don't think he looks quite as twitchy as before, not quite as twitchy, but you're seeing basically the same stuff.
You know.
The other thing to remember, if you go back to Russell Wilson's real prime, probably four years ago, We've got a lot of new quarterbacks in the league who are explosive and dynamic and big and tall, and they move well. So the quality of the quarterback play in the NFL has gone up, I think over the last five to ten years. So this was a real team. Today Minnesota's a real team. I mean Josh Dobb's a backup quarterback. You know, historically there's a reason put him under pressure.
He's not quite as dynamic, not as dynamic. But you know, I look at Russell Wilson twenty seven to thirty five, two hundred and sixty yards. He doesn't make mistakes, get you in and out of plays, moves well, play maker, the laterals, the quick screens. But it really is for all this stuff about out you know, Sean Payton, it was too much ego. What you were watching is great coaching, from Hackett's disaster to the first three weeks of the year where it was a bit of a mess zero
to three to this now. It's fun to watch.
And I know a lot of you.
Are saying, we'll calling you. You know you like Sean Payton, so of course this is what you think. No, what I like is really smart offensive coaches.
That's what I like.
I mean, look at the look at the offenses right now that couldn't close out games today. Bears defensive head coach Jets mess. Seahawks defensive head coach Ron Rivera Washington swept by the Giants this year.
Yikes.
Pittsburgh defensive coach Kenny Pickett is not getting better. In fact, I'll get into this later, but you watch Pickett and Jordan love One is getting better every week. Jordan love One's getting worse Kenny Pickett. Look at the coaching cultures Packers offensive culture, Steeters defensive culture. So I don't think Russell Wilson would have gotten better this year with just
anybody Nathaniel Hackett coaching. But to be able to take Russell last year into Russell this year, the dramatic improvement. I don't think you can do that with a defensive coach.
I don't.
I don't think you can. I mean, look at how quickly Sean McVeigh got Baker Mayfield to be good, had two days of practice. Look at what Kevin O'Connell did with Josh Dobbs who didn't get a practice. Look at what Sean Payton has done to course correct Russell Wilson. I don't think any of this stuff is a coincidence. So we as we pivot back to Justin Fields, my
takeaway is they're going to have the first pick. And because they lost again this was a winnable game they lost, they're probably going to have the first pick in the fifth or sixth pick. So there, Eberflus is done. That's done. I don't know about the GM, but Eberflus is done. This is not one of the richer ownership groups. Virginia mccaskey's the old owner, one of the poorest owners. She relied on Bill Pollian to hire eber Flues. I think he's done. It's going to be really interesting.
The idea.
If you're not going to take Caleb Williams, okay, there's no question somebody else will take it, so you could I mean, here's where you could say, Chicago goes okay, we're gonna stick with Justin Field.
I wouldn't.
I think Caleb Williams is absolutely better. I think he's more accurate, he's more natural, he's equally as athletic. He's a power thrower, and he's never been hurt, and he gets banged around by us. He's crappy offensive line, So I'm I am. I think if Andrew luck was a ten prospect, he's an eight and a half to a nine justin Fields was a six. I would do it in a heartbeat. Plus Fields has been in the NFL several years. He's been hurt a lot, like a lot.
So but my thing is you could get for that pick. If you want to keep Fields, John, you know you're get at least two first at least two firsts.
But to me, it makes no sense to not start the clock over right because the one of the most powerful things a rookie quarterback has is the contract. Well, Fields next year will be going into year four, and I mean, this guy's not getting some long term contract. So even if you got to unload him for a fourth round pick to the Atlanta Falcons, who cares? Because I think you're playing with house money with the second pick.
Then who knows.
We've seen some of these teams last year. The Lions are a good example. They went from like six to twelve, picked up an extra high second round pick and got their starting tight end. So you can utilize that to gain more picks. Because they did screw up, you know, in my mind, trading for sweat just given they could have just paid him that contract on the open market and use a second round pick.
A second round pick are so.
Valuable, but with some of their maneuvering, maybe they're viewing we could play around and gain some picks back if we use that second round pick to move back seven spots, you know, to take an offensive lineman at twelve and get an extra second round pick.
So I guess I could see some logic there if that's what they end up doing. But yeah, I mean I would be stunned. Now.
I think the big picture question is gonna because he's already been out there, is the Eli Manning, John Elway?
Are they going to demand?
Are you know that we're not gonna go there?
We're a long way.
I think it's a little harder to do when things have not gone super well for you as a player, even though it's not all your fault. But you look back at Eli Manning. It's not like Ole miss was.
Going twelve to zero when he was playing there, right right, but he did have the Manning name and.
His brother was already a superstar. John Elway's another example. I mean, I'm pretty sure what was Stanford like six and six when he came out to the pros, So you could argue, yeah, there's seven and five who cares. I mean, it's just the prospect is separate from the program, which is true. So yeah, I mean I think Kayleb Williams the way this has played out, I thought Drake May had a pretty good shot a month ago, but holy shit, he's been a lot worse yesterday against a
Clemson defense, which is really good. He just hasn't looked as good. And that's that's part of evaluating the probable. The more games you play, the more information I get on you, especially when you play better teams. Sam Hartman this year transfers Notre Dame. God, could this guy be like a second round pick? Because his first couple of games looked incredible. They were playing nobody, then they started playing people, and he looked like an undrafted free agent.
By the way, Pennix and a rain Storm made a couple of huge throws in that game. Husky, Yeah, Husky's never had the ball, but Pennix. To me, Caleb's the best quarterback I've seen. Pennix throws the prettiest ball, bow knicks feels like the best leader. Drake May's got talent, but you know it's fallen off. So you and I both agree we would take Caleb number one, if we were the Chicago.
Bears without a yes right now, yes.
So I was thinking leagues do better when they have, especially star driven leagues, the English Premier League, the NBA, when they have iconic stars. I think the NBA and owners would have to sign off on this because short term they'd make less money. Is that if Lebron James could win a title this year, if he had a three game first round series, a three game second, a five game conference, and a seven game finals. When you ask Lebron to have a seven gamer and his team,
it's hard to sweep even crappy teams. So Lebron can't give you twenty great postseason games. He could give you eleven.
Sure, he could give you eleven.
And when I watched Lebron the other night in what was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen against Dylan Brooks, where he was easily the best player on the floor and virtually unstoppable, and I'm like, oh, he can still do that. He cannot do it eleven. He cannot do it twenty one times in the postseason. Is that if you pulled back and people say, well, what if stars would lose? Well, stars lose in March Madness.
March Madness gets exceptional ratings because their sudden death is that you went to a three game series and another three the best players would still win. You start with two games home floor, whatever you had to do, it would ensure that your biggest stars as they age, had a greater chance in singular games to be amazing. Injuries happen as you get older. Lethargy, Yeah, you lose energy. And I thought to myself, the NBA should, and I
think Darryl Moray has discussed this. To share a page from March madd I mean March madn The quality of college basketball is awful, but March Madness gets big numbers on guys that can't play at a high level because of the urgency. So my takeaway is the NBA should consider shortening the series dramatically to elevate not just the urgency, but to extend Lebron, Steph great old players to win.
We are there's a funny thing. So I don't dislike that idea at all. There is also a funny thing that is happening because of what Lebron's doing right now. People don't no one is making the point, what Stephan k Dee are doing is damn near unprecedented at their age, because a guy so much older than them is doing what Lebron's doing. Steph is thirty five. He might be the best he's ever been. Kd is thirty five. He he is not quite the best he's ever been, but
still the most reliable, best player on that team. The only reason the Suns have a real chance is because he's there, obviously alongside Devin Booker when Booker's able to play, which's not those guys are not. It is not normal for those guys. I mean, Michael Jordan was thirty six in his last game, but it was he thirty six or thirty five his last game of the Chicago Bulls. He was. But again, like those code things, people don't believe this. When I say it, I'm gonna I want
to make sure I get it exactly right. Kobe Bryant in was born in August of seventy eight. So the reason I'm saying that is this, And again keep in mind the context of of how old Stephan kd are. So he's born in August of seventy eight. Kobe Bryant the last playoff game he ever played. The last playoff game he ever played was in April of twenty twelve, So Kobe's last playoff game ever, he was thirty three. Kobe, who we feel like played and was great forever, was
thirty three in his final playoff game. Stephan Durant are unbelievable at thirty five. Lebron turns thirty nine in forty days and is still there's not six guys in the league.
Nick, he'd make right now, He'd make all NBA first team, yes year, right.
Now, right that's what absolutely listen, he is. There are a there is a very select few guys who have clearly surpassed him. It's Jokic, has Yannis, has An embeed in the regular season. Has I'd rather have thirty nine year old Lebron than em beating the postseason. I finally would, No, But right now, all NBA first team would be Tatum's having a great year, sure, Jokic, Lebron, probably Luca, absolutely Luca and the other guard.
Yeah.
I mean, if you didn't have to do positions, I was gonna say Steph would be the other guard, and then like, yeah, the Yannis has to be on there as well, so maybe somebody. The point is he's one of the guys. He's at that age, he's still one of the guys. And because he's doing it at this age, I mean, only six other guys ever played in year twenty one, like the the Lebron stuff is And I tweeted about it that Dylan Brooks Knight. I was like, we are just he had back to back around thirty
five point games on crazy high efficiency. And I'm like, man, Lebron, if we were to be like, hey, year twenty or later, show me any player the best thirty games in NBA history. Lebron's got like twenty six of them now the and last year. So last year, the oldest player in the league was Yadonnis Haslom, who was a coach who they just left on the roster. Lebron is not like you know almost or what he's literally now they did Goodella retired.
He's literally the oldest player in the league, the oldest player, and I understand. I think the other thing that made us maybe a little numb to it, even though different sport is what Brady did, which is totally remarkable, and Brady is what he did. It's unimpeachable. It also feels to me different in that because he was a quarterback. The athleticism being an old guy, if you could stay upright, is totally different. Yeah, Lebron is doing fucking pardon me,
chase down blocks. He is bullying Dylan Brooks. He like it was a big deal that Alburn Shongoon, who's the hell of a player, muscled Lebron off the block for the game tying shot. And I thought, I'm like, Shingoon is a guy who's twenty two, who people are like he's a future All Star and everyone's amazed that he was able to out muscle the oldest player in the league. It's just and I don't I Yeah, you can get hurt,
he can get dinged up. I people, this is one of those things people will clip and mean me for and make fun of me for. But I don't care. I just don't think he'll ever be bad. I don't see what he might. He's not always going to be this, but I don't see a scenario where he plays and he's bad like all the other legends. Jordan wasn't. To be fair, Jordan was never bad.
Uh.
He was inefficient at the end with the Wizards wasn't great, but he wasn't bad. Kobe at the end rest his soul was bad. Dirk at the end was bad like most of the guys who played at the end.
KG at the end with Jar had bad posture. Yeah, slumbering back Jabar.
Was still really good almost to the end, but at the very end was bad.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't is I can't if he's this at thirty nine and year twenty one, even if he falls off by fifty, like, I don't know. I think he could just keep playing, and I don't think he'll be bad. I just don't think he'll ever be bad.
When I did the hat on backwards stuff, I believed it. I liked keep bringing it up because I thought it was so obnoxious and funny because we've all put our hat on backwards cleaning the garage or hitting the golf, like we've all done it. But I leaned into it. But I truly believed it that if you stand at the podium on Wednesday, that it does matter. You have the bank behind you, City Bank for the Baltimore Ravens.
What you say and how you say it matters. It's why if the CEO goes on MSNBC and looks drunk or tired, the stock price goes down. Like it matters, You're the face of the franchise. I'm going to make the argument that in the history of the league, Jalen Hurts is the single best podium quarterback I have ever seen.
Go watch the tape last night.
He is so insanely articulate, so succinct, so the words almost manicured. I mean, I've watched him. I'm like, I've never looked that good.
No, that's that.
And by the way, you it's it's increscble and people, people, it's increble. People make make fun of me. He is so good at the podium.
I if I own the Eagle, I am like, that's my face of the franchise. He is so buttoned up, so on point, respectful, and I I've never seen even Brady had days where he looked like a disheveled I've never seen, by the way, and it mattered.
It matters, n And you know it's so Colin. This came up actually in the commercial break of our show today because in we played sound from Hurts and we played sound from Mahomes and during the one of the commercial breaks, Wilde said he was like, Mahomes is one of the only quarterbacks in the league that after this stretch for his team. When Mahomes is like, I believe in these receivers, we will get it right where he was like, I totally believe him. Like that what Mahomes is,
Mahomes believes he will fix this. And then with hurt every time Hurts talks, we're like, well that was perfect.
You're perfect and you One of your old bits that actually was used it as an FS one commercial was the quarterback face thing that the better looking kid gets more snaps and then it leads to all these things than.
Being the quarterback, him being good looking helps matters. This goes back the charisma thing I was saying about the movie stars. And if people think we're overstating it, the flip side is go watch Mac Jones at the podium. You know, oh my god, he doesn't he It's not that he thinks his team is com or whatever. He is questioning am I any good? And it is it is oozing out of him, just absolutely losing out of him.
So like Jalen, I think Jalen I didn't actually hear this take on your show today because I didn't consume any of your show today except the part I was on because I was in mourning from my chiefs. But I I think Jalen I don't want. I don't want to say he's getting a pass this year because he's not playing poorly, so he doesn't need a pass. But Jalen, in my opinion, and maybe it's because his knee is hurt. Despite the Eagles being nine to one, his play has
taken a hit from where it was last season. And I truly believe one of the reasons in a world where we criticize everyone, especially quarterbacks, there is almost no Jalen Hurts criticism is because everyone respects him so much and looks at him and is like, yes, oh, I believe in him. I believe in that kid.
I saw a video of him and I tried to stay off X but I saw a video of him with I think a date or a girlfriend.
She was gorgeous, and.
I looked at him and I was like, that guy. He looked if you told me, oh, he's running, he's a CEO. It tonight is a foundation dinner.
He looked, so you'd believe it professional.
It was a date, and I got to tell you, and I've said this, there are certain people that are just better in front of people I and I know I got shipped for years. It matters that Carson Wentz had on backwards. Not good enough, It's not a good enough.
Listen. I'm glad you said the thing you said off the top, which is, we say what we believe and if we truly believe it. This is I shouldn't speak for you. For me, I say what I believe, and if I am steadfast in that belief and it generates a reaction, I really lean into it, you know, if I am, If I am so in a total non you know, different, totally different than the hurts thing or the hat on backwards thing. I I know my opinion on brock Purty irritates people, but I believe it in
the marrow of my bones. So I talk about it probably more often than I would have to, because to me, it threads the needle of its topical. I deeply believe
it and generate's reaction. The the thing what I found so interesting about not to rehash shit from eight years ago, however long it was, but the blowback to your backwards hat thing, as you put it, is every single person, to varying degrees, agrees with you, not to like, not on the specific necessary trigger of a backwards hat, but the point of if you are the face of my franchise, running my company, the forward facing guy, how you present yourself not only matters, but tells me about how much
I can trust you. That is a universally accepted tenet of life.
All right, very good Week four and one. Sharper Square, Chad Millman, CEO, Action Network, All odds provided by DraftKings. Okay, this is my second favorite pick of the week, and I like the Colts minus two and a half hosting the Bucks so really smart offensive coaches off a bye. Now, I took Philly over Kansas City because both coaches offensive and Sirianni's now four and zero off a bye, so I thought it muted some of the advantage. But I get a really sharp offensive coach off a bye against
the defensive coach. No buye, Todd Bowles. I thought it was one of my stronger plays. I'm going to take the Colts minus two and a half at home rested, reasonably healthy.
Sharper Square.
No consensus. The early reporting I've heard is that wise guys like the Bucks that they've been playing better than people are giving them credit for that. Baker has been keeping his team in games a lot of times. If you look at some of these games, even last week against San Francisco, they were a player or two away from covering. You look earlier in the year they were playing the Eagles, they were six point dogs, they were
a couple of Mike Evans drops away from covering. Like this is a team that has consistently been hanging around so and that's with good teams. So now if they're going to be playing a mediocre to a bad team whose defense is not very good, who are still playing? Gardner Minshew, it's an odd thing to be backing the Colts as a favorite. With Gardner Minshew, I feel like you are leaning a little bit too much into the new coach theme and not necessarily the players on the field theme.
I'm gonna take Arizona minus one hosting the Rams. So it's one thing to play the Rams when Cooper cup is hurt in the game, another thing preparing when you're not going to face him and you know it. Poka Nicota is a great story, but he doesn't separate. They don't have a separating receiver. He's a zone beater. In the end, Rams are still a rebuilding roster. Arizona beat Atlanta, tough, out played really well at times. Against Houston, they're at home.
The Rams were completely outplayed for three quarters. Seattle just can't get stops on third down. Arizona will I'm gonna take Arizona Kyler Murray at home sharper score.
So it's a little sharp.
And what I mean by that is the wise guy started playing Arizona when they were underdogs at home. They've been really impress with Kyler Murray in the two games he's been back, especially last week. He kept them in that game. They covered that game at five and a half, which was a big number. The wise guys started betting early in the week on Kyler Murray against the Texans. So now you're looking at a game in which Kyler
Murray and the Cardinals are now favorites. Right, So if you think the Cardinals are going to win, you're still going to be on the right side because you're betting the minus one. I will tell you that historically, the trend is when a team flips from being an underdog to being a favorite. The numbers work against them. So what you really need to be thinking about is why didn't I get this number a little bit earlier because
you would have liked it more at plus one. I get you got to like play the lines that are in front of you right now, but there's a lot of games on the board to play where you're not trying to buck some trends.
I'm going to take the Saints plus one at the Falcons off of bye. I think they have a much better roster. I think there's a little turmoil inside of Atlanta. I think Arthur Smith is smart, but he's outspoken, blunt. I'm not sure the team loves him. I think this is a experienced quarterback, better roster off of by older team in spots getting a little healthy. Younger teams don't need that buy when they're playing well, they want to play the next week. Older teams always appreciate time off.
I think I take the Saints as a one point dog Sharper square.
It's like you're trying to pick the corner TV games. I don't know what's going on here.
Well, I'm picking what I like.
Well, look, I think New Orleans is the right side. I agree, Desmond Ritter is not an NFL caliber quarterback. They have not been using Djon Robinson in a way that anyone thought they would. I mean, this was a guy that everyone expected to be a runaway for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
And don't you think the guys in the locker room are wondering why they're not using him. He's obviously a huge house.
Yes, you have to be thinking if you're a player in the Falcons right now. Wait a second, Arthur Smith was a genius when we were using Corderyl Patterson. But we've got a talent who might be once in a generation and we can't figure out how to get this guy in space and make him the perfect weapon for everything we want to do when we don't have a quarterback who can really throw the ball downfield. So, yeah, the Saints are the right side here because you're getting
them off of by they're older. You know. The challenge here is that Derek Carr has been terrible in the red zone, and the reason the Saints have gotten better in the red zone and they started to turn their season around is because of Taste's hell. I will also tell you Dennis Allen the past twenty years one hundred and forty something coaches in the NFL, he is one of the least profitable against the spread in any capacity.
So this is kind of a game where if you like it, you're still playing with fire.
All right, Generally I would take the hook Chargers getting three and a half at home, but I've been saying this for two months. I think the Ravens are probably the most complete team in the league. Mark Andrews won't play, but the Chargers defense made Jordan Love look special. It's a bad defense. I know it's the Hook. I'm there is no home field advantage for the Chargers. It does not exist. I think the Ravens could blow him out.
Sharper score early square.
The Ravens have not been the side for the wise guys this week. The number open at four and a half got bet down to four. Now it's down to three and a half. Look the Chargers. Nobody believes in Brandon Staley. We have said it all year. We don't think he's a very good coach. The wise guys consistently bet against him when he's a favorite, when he's an underdog, and there's there at home, it's a different scenario, and
their weapons on offense are just so good. And you talk about luck, right, what did the Packers have last week? They also had Keenan Allen dropping a third down catch near the goal line that would have put them in first in goal he dropped a touchdown pass. There were a lot of sort of inconsistencies in the way games normally play out that helped the Packers win that game,
in addition to the Chargers defense just being terrible. So the Wise guys like the Chargers here with the hook because they're dogs and it's the only get right spot they're gonna find.
Okay, there's always a game I completely miss on. The Denver Broncos game fascinates me, and I have a feeling that's it. I feel like I feel like Denver keeps kind of winning the same way where I'm not sure that the better team and then Russell makes a play, But then I look at their defense and it's really young and hyper aggressive. Simmons now is making instrumental plays. I already like their top corner of Patrick's Artan can Denver win again? Is that the dumpster dive I missed?
Now?
The Wise guys are on Cleveland in this game. The line open two and a half, it's been bet down to one and a half. There's a difference. And a couple of weeks ago, we talked about Cleveland and Baltimore, and I think I try to convince you that Cleveland was the side in this game and they ended up covering in this game. And the reason why I like Cleveland in this in that game was because their defense is offensive. And what I mean by that is they
have playmakers at every single level of the defense. It's not just Miles Garrett, who might be one of the best players in the NFL right now, but it's guys like Grant Delpit who are leading that team in tackles right and he is playing in the box, but he is also playing in coverage. They make plays that put the Browns offense in a position to score. They don't always have to be feel getting a kickoff going down seventy five hours or getting a punt from deep in
their territory. The Browns defense puts them in a good position. I can't say the same about the Broncos. They're better, They're making team, They're holding teams to fewer points their tackling is still really bad. We saw that against Minnesota they could not tackle anybody. And the Browns are a heavy rush team with Now and Dorian Thompson Robinson a very mobile quarterback. So the wise guys like the Browns here.
The only caveat I would say is that the number is moved, and so it's becoming harder and harder to bet on it. You're essentially betting on the Browns to win at this point.
Any other dumpster diving?
Can I interest you in the Las Vegas Raiders as eight and a half eight or nine, depending on where you're looking, point underdogs hosting the Kansas City Chiefs.
So look, yeah, the Chiefs.
They have been virtually unbeatable, and I like the Eagles to this past week. I think we made the Eagles last week an executive decision. And the second half in games, it's almost like Andy Reid recognizes that his receivers are not playmakers and so he's immediately playing the clock in the second half. They scored what two touchdowns in the second half. In the past five games, they had seventeen points at halftime. This past week ended the game with
seventeen points. There's a lot of stuff to unpack for this team. So now you're asking in a division game for them to go on the road and beat a team in the Raiders that still has a very aggressive defense in a very good pass rush and obviously one of the best defensive ends and edge rushers in Max Crosby. So and Aidan O'Connell has shown stuff right like he's throwing the ball downfield. He's not afraid, he's very active.
He can make throws. He's not mobile, but he can.
He can totally make throws.
So it's a big number.
And Patrick Mahomes, for all his success when he's favored by three or less, other than this past week when you and I decided to take the Eagles generally covers three and a half or more, he is way under five hundred against the spread. So this is a spot where you want to you want to fade Mahomes.
Yeah, I think this is a smart pick. Also, Antonio Piers is fighting and that staff is fighting for seven figure contractys. Right like Mark Davis probably wants to hire this staff because he's paying Gruden and he's paying Josh McDaniels. He would love to get a coach on the cheap, so this staff knows they've got probably a sixty five thirty five seventy thirty chance to land these jobs. Just show effort. I don't even think you have to win.
I think if they're consistently showing effort, I mean they overachieved. Last weekend they lost. That was a good loss for an interim coach as a big dog. As a good loss. Think about how about a twenty four to twenty lost Kansas City. He may get an extension right there.
Think about this.
Think about the Chargers who've had Brandon Staley, who has underperformed the defense that he is supposed to be a specialist in has been terrible. He has not gotten the best out of an unbelievably talented offense. The Chargers won't fight him because the Chargers are cheap and don't want to turn over the staff and have to pay two
coaches at the same time. The flip side is, you've got a Raiders team that is as consistently bad as the Chargers, but Mark Davis is willing to turn that staff over and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in excess coaching fees to try to find the winner. That's admirable either way, Like you're getting losers, but at least one guy is willing to spend to try to find the formula to win.
Such a good time of the year this is I'm not a big fan of wearing sweaters and sitting into a in a hot kitchen, so I don't love Thanksgiving. But I'll say this, I think the Michigan Ohio State game may get eighteen million viewers. I don't remember a college football regular season game that felt like this. There was a Georgia Bama game a few years ago that was close. Georgia hadn't won a title yet, and we
kind of felt like, yes was their team. But it's weird being on the Michigan side because if you're on the Michigan side, you are labeled as a cheater. And of course I have always been morally flexible, like all of us are, I just acknowledge it. Yes, so we all speed. We've all written off a glass of wine that really wasn't supposed to be on our taxes. We've all we've all, you know, shoplifted major appliances. I mean
those kind of things. I tend to think with Harbaugh, like Pete Carroll at SC He's always been a push the envelope guy. And I think College Sports Bill self falls into this. Remember the remember the claims. I think Jim Beaheim, I think I think the NFL would be far more punitive and they police you more arduously. But the nc double A is this fuzzy, nebulous bureaucracy where everybody suspects their neighbor is cheating a little. So I
think it promotes push the envelope among staffs. So I don't view myself as a morally this is not a morally conclusive stand that I'm backing a cheater. It is a push the envelope industry on Wall Street. You don't think guys go to lunch and share information. It's called insider trading. You think Martha Stewart was the last one to really do it, of note, And I think there are industries. I remember when I worked at ESPN, and you're supposed to leave a window open for rivals to
compete for contracts. So if you have the NBA, you can't renegotiate that there's a window where Fox or NBC or CBS could come in. I really think that's how it works. I really think presidents aren't going to dinner with the commissioners. Stop buy for cigars, some cognac. So I just think there are industries. Tech is another one. You read the Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson biography. It's day to day you're pushing stuff. It's poker playing, it's it's bluffs.
It's a bit of a grift, and so I think college sports almost promotes it with this fuzzy bureaucracy that gives unequal punitive punishment to certain programs. It's the old tark joke. The NCAA was so mad at Kentucky they put Cleveland State on probation. So it's like, I don't think I'm back in a cheater. I think he went over the line. Instead of going seventy eight on the freeway, it was ninety four with his middle finger out of the conference. But I'm not deeply bothered by it.
So look, Colin, we've all crushed up sleeping pills, put it in our parents' food, and then used their hand to sign the will that used to be going to your sister and now it's going to you.
That's totally fine.
I never understood what the big deal was with this particular scandal, because the saying goes, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Like we're going up in arms about sign stealing. Every single coach covers their mouth when they are putting the play into the game. You know why they do that because they know somebody's watching and is going to try to steal the sign like.
Also, also, everybody changes their signs and signals for big games. You know, Super Bowl, playoff games, Rose Bowl, Auburn Alabama. Those are the games you change. Ask Peyton Manning, you change the signs for those games now you can use them back to back if you're hosting Rutgers in Maryland. Okay, those games aren't on national TV. But the reality is these big spot games, Peyton Manning isn't doing the same signals that these guys change for playoff games, division rivalry game.
When you're playing the Ravens the second time, if you're the Steelers, you're not used in the same signs, same audibles.
Stuff changes constantly.
Helen, We've all broken into we've all broken into a colleagues email to send really inappropriate comments to your boss when you're both going for the same promotion. It's totally fine. That's what people do in the game of life, in the game of professional media, and in the game of football. You steal signs Happy Thanksgiving in to your brother.
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