The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John middlecoff three and now podcast. Hopefully everyone's having a great day. I think my game plan when the day started was just to do a mailbag and I'm going on with Colin after the Notre Dame, Ohio State National championship game. So I was just gonna do a big mail bag today because we got so many questions. But right before I sat down on my desk to bang that out, Ben Johnson was hired as the Bears coach. So I said, well, we can't do a football podcast without doing some Ben Johnson to the Bears content, So we will talk about that off the top. I just kind of wrote down some of my thoughts. Obviously, it's I mean, there's no way it's a great day if you're Bears fan for what's been a rough time. But we'll dive into the good, the bad, the ugly when it comes to Ben Johnson, the hype staying in the division. Obviously Ryan Poles looks like he's keeping his job, those two working together, two young guys, the pressure on Caleb, the pressure on the team. Tom Brady I guess couldn't close the deal, And yeah, so we'll do some of that and then we'll do a mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those d dms, if you are the person that's shot me the DM that said I know a guy that knows a guy in the Bears organization. Ben Johnson will be the coach yesterday, so that would have been Sunday. You got some good connections. Couldn't run with it because I didn't know who the guy. I'm not a newsbreaker, but I was like, damn and it came true. So you never know who's gonna have a scoop in their back pocket. Other than that, I think the game plan will just be podcasts this week. I mean, we should see a bunch of guys get hired hopefully, so we'll have some storylines. Obviously. The two big games this Sunday, Washington going to the Philadelphia Eagles. Think about their owner in Washington, who owns the Sixers as well. Who the Eagles are the Phillies team for sure, that's the number one team, but the Sixers are a big deal and he's kind of turned him into a running joke. And it's one thing to own another team in the Eagles division. When they suck. Now you're going to potentially block them from going to the super Bowl. It's gonna be an interesting week for Josh Harris very if he were to win the game, I think Eagle fans would demand he sells the Sixers, which is again not going well at all. They are a disaster this year. And I think he's most well known for the owner that supported created and wanted the process. And obviously I would say the heavyweight fight. Many are going to think it's the super Bowl. I would the Eagles a chance to win the Super Bowl. Challein's got to play better. But Chiefs Bill, that's a that's a great game. That's a that's a great game, big moment for Josh Allen. Because Josh wins, he would jo join Joe Burrow and Tom Brady as the guys to take down mahomes In in championship games. So we will we will discuss that as the week goes on as well. So make sure you subscribe to the podcast if you listen on Collins Feed, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel as well if you like our content. And other than that, let's talk some ball and congratulations if you're a Chicago Bear fan in the simple fact that the last twelve months. I guess the last twelve months weren't because you got Caleb, but I would say the post Kleb Eber flu season had to be as shitty as it gets. I mean, that's just I've been watching sports for thirty plus years, rooting, watching gambling, seeing the ebbs and flows, seeing it all, and that that's about as low as you get that you talk about, especially when you come into a season with hype. So we'll just dive into that. I think that's the headline story here is that Chicago Bears have hired Ben Johnson. I started to believe again, like I'm not some insider here, just reading reports from insiders that Tom Brady was giving him the you know, a full on pitch, and Ben Johnson was more than intrigued. It was like he was inclined to take the Raider job. And I told Colin on Sunday night that that's insane. They have no quarterback. I just saw a quote from Max Crosby that's like, yeah, I got no guaranteed money left. We got a lot to talk about. And it wasn't just like, I want more money here. I think Max Crosby will inevitably be traded this offseason, and it's probably the right move. Just blow that shit up, nuke the Raiders. But from a job stand point, they got no quarterback. They have no direction to get a quarterback. And the reason you would have been taking that job was for Tom Brady, who lives in Florida, so you'd be going into the job every day. Now, they started interviewing what we think was his buddy, Adam Peters right hand man, who has been in Detroit for twenty five years, so you thought, well, if they hire him, Ben Johnson gets his GM. That's not what he gets here in Chicago, like he has to work with Ryan Poles. But clearly he just looked at it. I would rather take my chances to resurrect Caleb's NFL career. At least we have a quarterback under contract who was just the number one pick in the draft and widely considered fair or not, right or wrong. The best prospect we've seen in a long time, long time would be strong. I mean Trevor Lawrence was viewed really highly. Shows you what being the best prospect you know doesn't always pan Out now sometime, Andrew Locke, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Matt Stafford. But I totally understand they got good defensive pieces. And it's to Chicago Bears. I mean, it's one of the biggest cities in America. It's a die hard sports city and the number one team in that city is the Bears. And they have some historic teams. I mean, the Chicago Bulls had a guy named Michael Jordan. The Chicago Cubs are just, I mean one of the more more high profile baseball teams. I know they've been down recently, but obviously when THEO and they won that World Series, it was a really big It's just a great sports down And like I understand being intrigued by it. If you're Ben Johnson clearly got a lot of money, but it you know this division really well. Like if you just think about, like what's his advantage taking this job, It's like he knows this division like the back of his hand. Think about it. He's been calling, you know, offense, so he's been game planning against the Bears defense, which now is his defense, the Lions defense, like every day in training camp for three years and seeing him every day in practice obviously, the the Green Bay Packers and the minutes to Viking. So his comfort level with the personnel in the six games honestly couldn't be higher, and not just his comfort level with the personnel, but his comfort level with the coordinators. He got to face Halflee twice this year. Obviously he knows Flores now, he's seen him a couple of years in a row. And regardless of who you know, we assume Aaron Glenn is either gonna get the Jets, the Saints, one of the Jags. One of these jobs he is going to know, maybe not the next coordinator unless it's a guy that they elevate from the staff, but he's like, they're not going to drastically change what they do, so he's gonna be very comfortable there. And anytime you make the transition from a coordinator to a head coach, most guys and it's a little weird, honestly, Like I don't blame him for doing this, because when you look at the landscape, I didn't think any of these jobs are any good, the Jags, the Raiders, the Bears. But I do get staying it's an easy comfort level, but like those are your guys like you've just been in the trenches with them trying to win a super Bowl for the last twelve, you know whatever, twelve plus months, really eighteen, and you got so close. You're the number one seed this year, and now you just bounce. I mean, it's part of the gig, right, There's only so many jobs open. But oftentimes that guy like leaves the conference or definitely leaves the division. So anytime you get a divisional you know, carryover like that from an assistant coach always adds like an element of intrigue. And so if I'm a Bears fan, one just the simple fact that we got the number one guy, we got the number one guy on the market. The Raiders wanted him, the Jags wanted him. He didn't even interview with the Jets. They definitely would take him. If he said I want your job, they would hire him tomorrow. The Saints would obviously take them. I don't even know what Jerry's doing. That'll be a conversation for another day. But you got the number one head coach on the market. You celebrate, You celebrate this, and I think Lions fans had just come to grips with well before the last couple of weeks, like this guy was gone, he was going to take a job, And if anything, you should be lucky that you got this extra season with them. And we'll dive into them in a second. But it's an overall great day day for the franchise, which, let's face it has not had many great days in recent memory, you know, beside like the trade Ryan Poles pulled off. But in terms of coaches, you know, the eber Flu situation. This year was a coaching disaster from Ebraflu's getting fired to them last year. They fired a bunch of coaches during the season. They've just had a lot of weird shit going on. Obviously, they elevated Thomas Brown, he's completely over his head. The team looked even worse. It was a sad state of affairs. And when you have like the NFL is very lucky right now that they're not beholden to these big markets, right like the Niners sucked this year. Who cares, doesn't matter. The Bears haven't been good in a decade, the Jets, the Giants, they've sucked a lot recently. And the league just keeps on trucking along. Like last year, the Saturday night game was Niners Packers, and this year it was the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders, two franchises that have not been important to the league over the last twenty five years, and a little less people watched than last year. I don't know, two of the most historic franchise in the league. But you're not beholden to you. Like the NBA, the Major League Baseball, it's Dodgers, Lakers, Celtics, the Yankees. You need those teams or you got no fucking chance. No one will watch the Oklahoma City thunder Hell, the Denver Nuggets, who have been really good. People just don't watch it. That's not the case in the NFL. And like, if you can get like if Dave Ball could ever get the Giants rolling, if whoever gets the Jets job can get it rolling, If Ben Johnson can roll with the Chicago Bears, you like to become a legend. I don't think people quite understand, probably outside the DC area, how big a deal it is for Dan Quinn and Jaydon Daniels to rest wrect that franchise. This isn't some random This is not like resurrecting the Jags. It's just not you know, so resurrecting that franchise and have them in a game is a really really big deal. So the pressure, like there's no disputing the pressure on Ben Johnson, for as cool as this moment is, starts pretty quickly. And this is not like you take over the Raiders job. There aren't really that many expectations immediately, like you're gonna get a long grace period. Now I would imagine he's gonna have a long contract, So I'm not acting like he would get fired if he struggles. But the expectations, it's why ever Flus and everyone got blown out because the expectations are gonna be really, really high. They're gonna go. We got a lot of good players. We said, the number one overall pick in the draft, we got some caps face time to roll. You don't you don't need to win twelve games right away, but we have a better roster than the Commanders, right and the Commanders in year one with just credible coaches, people that knew what they were doing, a new GM with a lot of history that knew what he was doing, or in the NFC Championship game, we don't even want that. Can we just compete for a wild card spot. Can we just be like the last couple weeks of the season, have a chance to make the playoffs, have a chance to get nine or ten wins. That is a successful first season. But those are kind of gonna be the expectations. There's no like, well, his first year he went four or five wins because he's basically being hired and rightfully so, to fix and get this quarterback good and this offense to not look as putrid as it did last season. The problem is is when his offense was rolling these last couple of years in Detroit, their offensive line was elite. I mean, no team in the league played their six offensive lineman more than them, So you skipper, so their offensive line to protect a quarterback. Now, granted, Jared Goff is a lot different player than Caleb Williams, but like their offensive line with the Chicago Bears is was like embarrassingly bad. And part of it was Caleb holding the ball too long and the pressure on him to get that out of them. Part of what they did in Detroit with this offense, Like here's the thing, Caleb, We're bringing my offense Like this offense works, so can you run it now? Obviously you can't just be too stubborn as a coach, like what type things Caleb likes you would be I mean, you would not be doing your job if not only you ask him, but you implement some of that in your offense. Because he's a different player than Jared Goffin. He's not as accurate. But there are gonna be elements like we like snapping the ball, getting the ball out of our hands. That is what we do won because we're gonna have to do it with the offensive line, and two because like that's how I play and that's what I want to do. And obviously running the ball was such a huge part of what Detroit did. That's something that this year with starting with Ryan Poles, I mean, they built a passing team. They built a team that was like in theory, was trying to play like a dome team, and Dan Campbell built a dome team that actually was built to play outside. Obviously, the injuries took its toll on their defense, but in terms of offensively, they could play like the Ravens. We'll run at forty times in the game. Even though Todd Munkin in the playoffs never does that. He's obsessed with passing. But again, another conversation for another day. The thing that makes me a little nervous and all reports as of recording this is he's going to hire Dennis Allen as his defensive coordinator. Excellent defensive coordinator. The best part about the NFL not everyone's meant to be a number one. We've seen Dennis Allen try to be a head coach. It's not for him. But the best part about being a great number two is it pays a premium in the NFL. This wall Street on grass. Dennis Allen will make three or four million dollars being the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. And he's an important guy for Ben Johnson given that he's been a head coach multiple spots, and someone to lean on when you have questions about what to do things. Because anytime you go from coordinator, I've been saying this forever, go from coordinator to head coach. It changes obviously financially your life, but it changes the way you do business because every day is not just about sitting in a film room and drawn up plays for Saint Brown Laporta and Jamier Gibbs. Like you might have a player that gets a DUI that only plays on special teams. That's now your problem. You might have a coach who's kid sick and needs to leave who on the defensive side of the ball, that's your problem. You might have something happen to the owner he wants to meet with you out of the blue. That's on you. Everything Dan Campbell dealt with now Ben Johnson has to deal with. And while Ryan Poles now has been a general manager for a couple of years. I looked at their ages before I hopped on. Ben Johnson's thirty eight, Ryan Poles is thirty nine, So like, these are two really really young guys. Obviously, Ben Johnson's never been a head coach before, and you would say Ryan Poles like has been a little over his head at times being a general manager. So the pressure on these two guys that are under forty in a division full of high level coaches, high level players, well run operations is gonna be a big, big challenge. And back to what I said about like this is a pre sure job. This is a job where just a lot of people are talking about you, a lot of people are working are just kind of looking at what's going on. And a huge reason for that is Caleb Williams. So like, there's just gonna be a lot of eyeballs and a lot of people like I don't necessarily care about the Chicago Bears. I'm going to follow them really closely. You know, this is a this is a national team. The moment they got Caleb Williams, we're paying attention. We're judging them how we were judging him this year. Not because of Matt Eberflus. No one cares about Matt Eberflus. He's one of the worst coaches we've ever seen, good defensive coordinator just over his head as a head coach. But in terms of the story with Caleb Williams, like you had to pay attention if you're in the football business. So I'm just fascinated to watch these two guys who you know, Ben Ben Johnson gets a clean slate, But there's like, assuming Ryan Poles keeps his job, does he know what he's doing? Does he know what he's doing? Because Ben Johnson came from a place where we hammered home physicality upfront, which is I rn it because Ryan pulls an offensive lineman he blocked from Matt Ryan at Boston College. But yet he built his team like he was a wide receiver or dB, Like we build it on the perimeter instead of building it in the middle right, which most offensive lineman? Like why do you think Andy Reid over the years loves signing and drafting defensive and offensive lineman because he was an offensive lineman? Like that's who he is. Dan Campbell, where did he line up the line of scrimmage as a blocking tight end? I mean, that's his baby, you know, Jim Harbaugh, which is all we make fun of him that And I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated years ago that I think one of his teammates, either at Michigan or one of his teammates when he first got drafted to Chicago Bears, they said, you realize early on Jim Harbaugh was just a linebacker in a quarterback's body, and some guys are wired differently. And I'll be fascinated to see Ben Johnson's influence. You know, did he think like Dan Campbell or did he just call plays based on the players that Dan Campbell and the GM bill. I don't know, but I'm not trying to poo poo any of this. This is an awesome moment if you're a Bears fan. Cool moment for the NFL because this is a guy that I think we've seen a short list of him over the years, Like Kevin O'Connell was not as famous when he was higher as this. Sean McVeigh definitely was not. I mean, we have seen guys, some of them have flopped and some of them made it right. Shane Stiket had a lot of hype because he was the offensive coordinator on a team that was kicking asid and taking names in the Super Bowl, and he got the job and he's clearly it feels like by year two a little in over his head. Josh McDaniels couldn't have been a more famous offensive coordinator over the years. Got his second opportunity with the Raiders and was an abomination. We've seen guys like Kyle Shanahan a ton of hype, same type deal with Ben Johnson, have success. But the one thing Kyle did when he got the Niner job is he got a clean slate. There wasn't any pressure because the team it sucked and he got to bring in his GM. This is one of those like you kind of gotta marry like it's an arranged marriage with Poles that you got the Kevin Warren factor and you just got like, let's talk about the elephant in the room here, Ben Johnson. If Caleb's is not any good, it's not gonna be Ben Johnson's fault. And if Caleb is good, he's gonna get a lot of credit. So before it was like Caleb's gonna save the Bears, those days are over. Caleb is now in a partnership with Ben Johnson. And if we saw Ben Johnson last year or excuse me, well we obviously saw Ben, but we saw Caleb without coaching was a bad I mean, was borderline unplayable a lot of the games. Like it was like, you're gonna lose if this guy's your quarterback. So now if he's good, like Ben Johnson's gonna get i mean, at minimum, be a fifty to fifty shareholder in this operation. It was kind of like Sean McVay when he got Jared Goff with the Rams. We saw Jared Goff as a rookie, he didn't even look like an NFL player. Then Sean McVay showed up. They start running the ball and Jared Goff was a good player, Well, who got a lion's share of the credit? Sean McVay, that's gonna happen here. And if if you're Caleb, like, if it goes well, you're glad to share the credit because that means your team's winning and everything's going well. If it doesn't go well, no one's gonna be like, well, Ben Johnson doesn't know what he's doing as an offensive coordinator because we've seen him as an offensive coordinator with Jared Goff, who got kicked to the curb be awesome. So I'm fascinated by the, uh, you know, the dynamic of the conversation here because we talk about pressure. There's pressure on the organization. There's pressure now on Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles. There's a ton of pressure on Caleb Williams. And a huge, huge reason for that is Jayden Daniels just had the greatest rookie season we've ever seen. We have never seen a rookie quarterback who's been asked to do this much carry a team to the NFC champion game. I want to say they got no shot against the Eagles, but I think at this point in time, you would you'd be crazy to even utter those words. It might just be a stay away as a bet, right, But like, I don't know, how would you not give him a shot? He's fucking good. What would Howie Roseman do right now? Would he trade Jalen Hurts trade up for Jayden Daniels? What do you think what happens if? Obviously you can't during the playoffs. But I'm just saying, like, if that conversation happened at the combine, who says no? Obviously there's one guy that says no, and it's Adam Peters. Harry Roseman's like, do you want me to send him on a bus? Or do you want me to drive him? Or do you want Big Dom to fly him? Like how do you want me to get him there? I mean, that's but that's what we're talking about. And you go, we've seen a lot of this. No, we've never seen this ever in the history of the game seen this, and let's face it, it's never been easier to play football. So like, you're never a bad quarterback when you make a bad pass like Jalen Hurts through a hospital ball yesterday to DeVante Smith and throughout the majority of my life, DeVante Smith just gets laid out it's an incompletion and said, now it's fifteen yard penalty. So all the rules are for the quarterbacks. And I'm not trying to act like Jalen shouldn't have thrown the ball. But ten years ago, no one cares that DeVante's is laying there buckling his chin strap and hops back up and runs to the huddle. Instead, now seven flags come out, It's like, oh, is he okay? Is he okay? And I get it the league doesn't want to get sued. They're making too much money. But let's face it, that's never how the game's ever been officiated up until recently, because you just put your offensive player in harm's way. And now that's the big benefit why playing quarterback. What Tom Brady said is dead on the money. It's never been easier. The rules are on your side. So it's like, hey, Caleb, now you've got an offensive coordinator. They drafted Rome, you got dj under contract, you got col combat like, you got real players on offense. I mean, look what Jaden's dealing with. You got Terry McLaurin then, who like a backfield by committee, A McCaffrey brother who played like three different schools in college. You got Brown's not bad from unc Ertz is thirty eight years old. I mean, what are we talking about? And so it's like, hey, you're the guy that everyone was blowing, not this guy. The Bears didn't even bring this guy in for an interview, and Adam Peters got just barbecued for bringing in all five of them. It's like, isn't that his job to scout all these guys ultimately picked the right one? Who cares if he took all five of them to top golf? You just get to know them. That's his job. It's pre draft process. So I think if Jayden just keeps playing a well, it's like this is a problem. Yeah, I'm I'm just fascinated to watch this all play out. So congrats to the Bears got the number one guy. It's crazy, like you see another I saw a headline the Colts have hired lou Ammaruno. Coordinator hires. When a head coach hiring happens, you know, a head coach is a ten out of ten. A coordinator higher feels kind of irrelevant, even though like that's a good hire. I think lou Aramruno is a good coach and clearly the the Colts are desperate for defense. Congrats to the Bears. Man, that's just just a cool football moment that this story had. Felt like they had no shot who they're gonna hire. They' gonnaen up with Mike McCarthy, and they ended up with Ben Johnson. NFL Playoffs, we're talking about the NFL playoffs. You bet we are. Get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is a key to winning in the NFL playoffs, and the key to you scoring big is betting on them at DraftKings, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready to place your first bet, Try betting on something as simple like a player to score a touchdown. Go to DraftKings Sportsbook app and and make your pick. Here's another reason to watch your favorite players crush it in the playoffs. New customers bet five bucks to get two hundred in bonus bets. 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The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John middlecoff three and now podcast. Hopefully everyone's having a great day. I think my game plan when the day started was just to do a mailbag and I'm going on with Colin after the Notre Dame, Ohio State National championship game. So I was just gonna do a big mail bag today because we got so many questions. But right before I sat down on my desk to bang that out, Ben Johnson was hired as the Bears coach. So I said, well, we can't do a football podcast without doing some Ben Johnson to the Bears content, So we will talk about that off the top. I just kind of wrote down some of my thoughts. Obviously, it's I mean, there's no way it's a great day if you're Bears fan for what's been a rough time. But we'll dive into the good, the bad, the ugly when it comes to Ben Johnson, the hype staying in the division. Obviously Ryan Poles looks like he's keeping his job, those two working together, two young guys, the pressure on Caleb, the pressure on the team. Tom Brady I guess couldn't close the deal, And yeah, so we'll do some of that and then we'll do a mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those d dms, if you are the person that's shot me the DM that said I know a guy that knows a guy in the Bears organization. Ben Johnson will be the coach yesterday, so that would have been Sunday. You got some good connections. Couldn't run with it because I didn't know who the guy. I'm not a newsbreaker, but I was like, damn and it came true. So you never know who's gonna have a scoop in their back pocket. Other than that, I think the game plan will just be podcasts this week. I mean, we should see a bunch of guys get hired hopefully, so we'll have some storylines. Obviously. The two big games this Sunday, Washington going to the Philadelphia Eagles. Think about their owner in Washington, who owns the Sixers as well. Who the Eagles are the Phillies team for sure, that's the number one team, but the Sixers are a big deal and he's kind of turned him into a running joke. And it's one thing to own another team in the Eagles division. When they suck. Now you're going to potentially block them from going to the super Bowl. It's gonna be an interesting week for Josh Harris very if he were to win the game, I think Eagle fans would demand he sells the Sixers, which is again not going well at all. They are a disaster this year. And I think he's most well known for the owner that supported created and wanted the process. And obviously I would say the heavyweight fight. Many are going to think it's the super Bowl. I would the Eagles a chance to win the Super Bowl. Challein's got to play better. But Chiefs Bill, that's a that's a great game. That's a that's a great game, big moment for Josh Allen. Because Josh wins, he would jo join Joe Burrow and Tom Brady as the guys to take down mahomes In in championship games. So we will we will discuss that as the week goes on as well. So make sure you subscribe to the podcast if you listen on Collins Feed, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel as well if you like our content. And other than that, let's talk some ball and congratulations if you're a Chicago Bear fan in the simple fact that the last twelve months. I guess the last twelve months weren't because you got Caleb, but I would say the post Kleb Eber flu season had to be as shitty as it gets. I mean, that's just I've been watching sports for thirty plus years, rooting, watching gambling, seeing the ebbs and flows, seeing it all, and that that's about as low as you get that you talk about, especially when you come into a season with hype. So we'll just dive into that. I think that's the headline story here is that Chicago Bears have hired Ben Johnson. I started to believe again, like I'm not some insider here, just reading reports from insiders that Tom Brady was giving him the you know, a full on pitch, and Ben Johnson was more than intrigued. It was like he was inclined to take the Raider job. And I told Colin on Sunday night that that's insane. They have no quarterback. I just saw a quote from Max Crosby that's like, yeah, I got no guaranteed money left. We got a lot to talk about. And it wasn't just like, I want more money here. I think Max Crosby will inevitably be traded this offseason, and it's probably the right move. Just blow that shit up, nuke the Raiders. But from a job stand point, they got no quarterback. They have no direction to get a quarterback. And the reason you would have been taking that job was for Tom Brady, who lives in Florida, so you'd be going into the job every day. Now, they started interviewing what we think was his buddy, Adam Peters right hand man, who has been in Detroit for twenty five years, so you thought, well, if they hire him, Ben Johnson gets his GM. That's not what he gets here in Chicago, like he has to work with Ryan Poles. But clearly he just looked at it. I would rather take my chances to resurrect Caleb's NFL career. At least we have a quarterback under contract who was just the number one pick in the draft and widely considered fair or not, right or wrong. The best prospect we've seen in a long time, long time would be strong. I mean Trevor Lawrence was viewed really highly. Shows you what being the best prospect you know doesn't always pan Out now sometime, Andrew Locke, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Matt Stafford. But I totally understand they got good defensive pieces. And it's to Chicago Bears. I mean, it's one of the biggest cities in America. It's a die hard sports city and the number one team in that city is the Bears. And they have some historic teams. I mean, the Chicago Bulls had a guy named Michael Jordan. The Chicago Cubs are just, I mean one of the more more high profile baseball teams. I know they've been down recently, but obviously when THEO and they won that World Series, it was a really big It's just a great sports down And like I understand being intrigued by it. If you're Ben Johnson clearly got a lot of money, but it you know this division really well. Like if you just think about, like what's his advantage taking this job, It's like he knows this division like the back of his hand. Think about it. He's been calling, you know, offense, so he's been game planning against the Bears defense, which now is his defense, the Lions defense, like every day in training camp for three years and seeing him every day in practice obviously, the the Green Bay Packers and the minutes to Viking. So his comfort level with the personnel in the six games honestly couldn't be higher, and not just his comfort level with the personnel, but his comfort level with the coordinators. He got to face Halflee twice this year. Obviously he knows Flores now, he's seen him a couple of years in a row. And regardless of who you know, we assume Aaron Glenn is either gonna get the Jets, the Saints, one of the Jags. One of these jobs he is going to know, maybe not the next coordinator unless it's a guy that they elevate from the staff, but he's like, they're not going to drastically change what they do, so he's gonna be very comfortable there. And anytime you make the transition from a coordinator to a head coach, most guys and it's a little weird, honestly, Like I don't blame him for doing this, because when you look at the landscape, I didn't think any of these jobs are any good, the Jags, the Raiders, the Bears. But I do get staying it's an easy comfort level, but like those are your guys like you've just been in the trenches with them trying to win a super Bowl for the last twelve, you know whatever, twelve plus months, really eighteen, and you got so close. You're the number one seed this year, and now you just bounce. I mean, it's part of the gig, right, There's only so many jobs open. But oftentimes that guy like leaves the conference or definitely leaves the division. So anytime you get a divisional you know, carryover like that from an assistant coach always adds like an element of intrigue. And so if I'm a Bears fan, one just the simple fact that we got the number one guy, we got the number one guy on the market. The Raiders wanted him, the Jags wanted him. He didn't even interview with the Jets. They definitely would take him. If he said I want your job, they would hire him tomorrow. The Saints would obviously take them. I don't even know what Jerry's doing. That'll be a conversation for another day. But you got the number one head coach on the market. You celebrate, You celebrate this, and I think Lions fans had just come to grips with well before the last couple of weeks, like this guy was gone, he was going to take a job, And if anything, you should be lucky that you got this extra season with them. And we'll dive into them in a second. But it's an overall great day day for the franchise, which, let's face it has not had many great days in recent memory, you know, beside like the trade Ryan Poles pulled off. But in terms of coaches, you know, the eber Flu situation. This year was a coaching disaster from Ebraflu's getting fired to them last year. They fired a bunch of coaches during the season. They've just had a lot of weird shit going on. Obviously, they elevated Thomas Brown, he's completely over his head. The team looked even worse. It was a sad state of affairs. And when you have like the NFL is very lucky right now that they're not beholden to these big markets, right like the Niners sucked this year. Who cares, doesn't matter. The Bears haven't been good in a decade, the Jets, the Giants, they've sucked a lot recently. And the league just keeps on trucking along. Like last year, the Saturday night game was Niners Packers, and this year it was the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders, two franchises that have not been important to the league over the last twenty five years, and a little less people watched than last year. I don't know, two of the most historic franchise in the league. But you're not beholden to you. Like the NBA, the Major League Baseball, it's Dodgers, Lakers, Celtics, the Yankees. You need those teams or you got no fucking chance. No one will watch the Oklahoma City thunder Hell, the Denver Nuggets, who have been really good. People just don't watch it. That's not the case in the NFL. And like, if you can get like if Dave Ball could ever get the Giants rolling, if whoever gets the Jets job can get it rolling, If Ben Johnson can roll with the Chicago Bears, you like to become a legend. I don't think people quite understand, probably outside the DC area, how big a deal it is for Dan Quinn and Jaydon Daniels to rest wrect that franchise. This isn't some random This is not like resurrecting the Jags. It's just not you know, so resurrecting that franchise and have them in a game is a really really big deal. So the pressure, like there's no disputing the pressure on Ben Johnson, for as cool as this moment is, starts pretty quickly. And this is not like you take over the Raiders job. There aren't really that many expectations immediately, like you're gonna get a long grace period. Now I would imagine he's gonna have a long contract, So I'm not acting like he would get fired if he struggles. But the expectations, it's why ever Flus and everyone got blown out because the expectations are gonna be really, really high. They're gonna go. We got a lot of good players. We said, the number one overall pick in the draft, we got some caps face time to roll. You don't you don't need to win twelve games right away, but we have a better roster than the Commanders, right and the Commanders in year one with just credible coaches, people that knew what they were doing, a new GM with a lot of history that knew what he was doing, or in the NFC Championship game, we don't even want that. Can we just compete for a wild card spot. Can we just be like the last couple weeks of the season, have a chance to make the playoffs, have a chance to get nine or ten wins. That is a successful first season. But those are kind of gonna be the expectations. There's no like, well, his first year he went four or five wins because he's basically being hired and rightfully so, to fix and get this quarterback good and this offense to not look as putrid as it did last season. The problem is is when his offense was rolling these last couple of years in Detroit, their offensive line was elite. I mean, no team in the league played their six offensive lineman more than them, So you skipper, so their offensive line to protect a quarterback. Now, granted, Jared Goff is a lot different player than Caleb Williams, but like their offensive line with the Chicago Bears is was like embarrassingly bad. And part of it was Caleb holding the ball too long and the pressure on him to get that out of them. Part of what they did in Detroit with this offense, Like here's the thing, Caleb, We're bringing my offense Like this offense works, so can you run it now? Obviously you can't just be too stubborn as a coach, like what type things Caleb likes you would be I mean, you would not be doing your job if not only you ask him, but you implement some of that in your offense. Because he's a different player than Jared Goffin. He's not as accurate. But there are gonna be elements like we like snapping the ball, getting the ball out of our hands. That is what we do won because we're gonna have to do it with the offensive line, and two because like that's how I play and that's what I want to do. And obviously running the ball was such a huge part of what Detroit did. That's something that this year with starting with Ryan Poles, I mean, they built a passing team. They built a team that was like in theory, was trying to play like a dome team, and Dan Campbell built a dome team that actually was built to play outside. Obviously, the injuries took its toll on their defense, but in terms of offensively, they could play like the Ravens. We'll run at forty times in the game. Even though Todd Munkin in the playoffs never does that. He's obsessed with passing. But again, another conversation for another day. The thing that makes me a little nervous and all reports as of recording this is he's going to hire Dennis Allen as his defensive coordinator. Excellent defensive coordinator. The best part about the NFL not everyone's meant to be a number one. We've seen Dennis Allen try to be a head coach. It's not for him. But the best part about being a great number two is it pays a premium in the NFL. This wall Street on grass. Dennis Allen will make three or four million dollars being the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. And he's an important guy for Ben Johnson given that he's been a head coach multiple spots, and someone to lean on when you have questions about what to do things. Because anytime you go from coordinator, I've been saying this forever, go from coordinator to head coach. It changes obviously financially your life, but it changes the way you do business because every day is not just about sitting in a film room and drawn up plays for Saint Brown Laporta and Jamier Gibbs. Like you might have a player that gets a DUI that only plays on special teams. That's now your problem. You might have a coach who's kid sick and needs to leave who on the defensive side of the ball, that's your problem. You might have something happen to the owner he wants to meet with you out of the blue. That's on you. Everything Dan Campbell dealt with now Ben Johnson has to deal with. And while Ryan Poles now has been a general manager for a couple of years. I looked at their ages before I hopped on. Ben Johnson's thirty eight, Ryan Poles is thirty nine, So like, these are two really really young guys. Obviously, Ben Johnson's never been a head coach before, and you would say Ryan Poles like has been a little over his head at times being a general manager. So the pressure on these two guys that are under forty in a division full of high level coaches, high level players, well run operations is gonna be a big, big challenge. And back to what I said about like this is a pre sure job. This is a job where just a lot of people are talking about you, a lot of people are working are just kind of looking at what's going on. And a huge reason for that is Caleb Williams. So like, there's just gonna be a lot of eyeballs and a lot of people like I don't necessarily care about the Chicago Bears. I'm going to follow them really closely. You know, this is a this is a national team. The moment they got Caleb Williams, we're paying attention. We're judging them how we were judging him this year. Not because of Matt Eberflus. No one cares about Matt Eberflus. He's one of the worst coaches we've ever seen, good defensive coordinator just over his head as a head coach. But in terms of the story with Caleb Williams, like you had to pay attention if you're in the football business. So I'm just fascinated to watch these two guys who you know, Ben Ben Johnson gets a clean slate, But there's like, assuming Ryan Poles keeps his job, does he know what he's doing? Does he know what he's doing? Because Ben Johnson came from a place where we hammered home physicality upfront, which is I rn it because Ryan pulls an offensive lineman he blocked from Matt Ryan at Boston College. But yet he built his team like he was a wide receiver or dB, Like we build it on the perimeter instead of building it in the middle right, which most offensive lineman? Like why do you think Andy Reid over the years loves signing and drafting defensive and offensive lineman because he was an offensive lineman? Like that's who he is. Dan Campbell, where did he line up the line of scrimmage as a blocking tight end? I mean, that's his baby, you know, Jim Harbaugh, which is all we make fun of him that And I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated years ago that I think one of his teammates, either at Michigan or one of his teammates when he first got drafted to Chicago Bears, they said, you realize early on Jim Harbaugh was just a linebacker in a quarterback's body, and some guys are wired differently. And I'll be fascinated to see Ben Johnson's influence. You know, did he think like Dan Campbell or did he just call plays based on the players that Dan Campbell and the GM bill. I don't know, but I'm not trying to poo poo any of this. This is an awesome moment if you're a Bears fan. Cool moment for the NFL because this is a guy that I think we've seen a short list of him over the years, Like Kevin O'Connell was not as famous when he was higher as this. Sean McVeigh definitely was not. I mean, we have seen guys, some of them have flopped and some of them made it right. Shane Stiket had a lot of hype because he was the offensive coordinator on a team that was kicking asid and taking names in the Super Bowl, and he got the job and he's clearly it feels like by year two a little in over his head. Josh McDaniels couldn't have been a more famous offensive coordinator over the years. Got his second opportunity with the Raiders and was an abomination. We've seen guys like Kyle Shanahan a ton of hype, same type deal with Ben Johnson, have success. But the one thing Kyle did when he got the Niner job is he got a clean slate. There wasn't any pressure because the team it sucked and he got to bring in his GM. This is one of those like you kind of gotta marry like it's an arranged marriage with Poles that you got the Kevin Warren factor and you just got like, let's talk about the elephant in the room here, Ben Johnson. If Caleb's is not any good, it's not gonna be Ben Johnson's fault. And if Caleb is good, he's gonna get a lot of credit. So before it was like Caleb's gonna save the Bears, those days are over. Caleb is now in a partnership with Ben Johnson. And if we saw Ben Johnson last year or excuse me, well we obviously saw Ben, but we saw Caleb without coaching was a bad I mean, was borderline unplayable a lot of the games. Like it was like, you're gonna lose if this guy's your quarterback. So now if he's good, like Ben Johnson's gonna get i mean, at minimum, be a fifty to fifty shareholder in this operation. It was kind of like Sean McVay when he got Jared Goff with the Rams. We saw Jared Goff as a rookie, he didn't even look like an NFL player. Then Sean McVay showed up. They start running the ball and Jared Goff was a good player, Well, who got a lion's share of the credit? Sean McVay, that's gonna happen here. And if if you're Caleb, like, if it goes well, you're glad to share the credit because that means your team's winning and everything's going well. If it doesn't go well, no one's gonna be like, well, Ben Johnson doesn't know what he's doing as an offensive coordinator because we've seen him as an offensive coordinator with Jared Goff, who got kicked to the curb be awesome. So I'm fascinated by the, uh, you know, the dynamic of the conversation here because we talk about pressure. There's pressure on the organization. There's pressure now on Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles. There's a ton of pressure on Caleb Williams. And a huge, huge reason for that is Jayden Daniels just had the greatest rookie season we've ever seen. We have never seen a rookie quarterback who's been asked to do this much carry a team to the NFC champion game. I want to say they got no shot against the Eagles, but I think at this point in time, you would you'd be crazy to even utter those words. It might just be a stay away as a bet, right, But like, I don't know, how would you not give him a shot? He's fucking good. What would Howie Roseman do right now? Would he trade Jalen Hurts trade up for Jayden Daniels? What do you think what happens if? Obviously you can't during the playoffs. But I'm just saying, like, if that conversation happened at the combine, who says no? Obviously there's one guy that says no, and it's Adam Peters. Harry Roseman's like, do you want me to send him on a bus? Or do you want me to drive him? Or do you want Big Dom to fly him? Like how do you want me to get him there? I mean, that's but that's what we're talking about. And you go, we've seen a lot of this. No, we've never seen this ever in the history of the game seen this, and let's face it, it's never been easier to play football. So like, you're never a bad quarterback when you make a bad pass like Jalen Hurts through a hospital ball yesterday to DeVante Smith and throughout the majority of my life, DeVante Smith just gets laid out it's an incompletion and said, now it's fifteen yard penalty. So all the rules are for the quarterbacks. And I'm not trying to act like Jalen shouldn't have thrown the ball. But ten years ago, no one cares that DeVante's is laying there buckling his chin strap and hops back up and runs to the huddle. Instead, now seven flags come out, It's like, oh, is he okay? Is he okay? And I get it the league doesn't want to get sued. They're making too much money. But let's face it, that's never how the game's ever been officiated up until recently, because you just put your offensive player in harm's way. And now that's the big benefit why playing quarterback. What Tom Brady said is dead on the money. It's never been easier. The rules are on your side. So it's like, hey, Caleb, now you've got an offensive coordinator. They drafted Rome, you got dj under contract, you got col combat like, you got real players on offense. I mean, look what Jaden's dealing with. You got Terry McLaurin then, who like a backfield by committee, A McCaffrey brother who played like three different schools in college. You got Brown's not bad from unc Ertz is thirty eight years old. I mean, what are we talking about? And so it's like, hey, you're the guy that everyone was blowing, not this guy. The Bears didn't even bring this guy in for an interview, and Adam Peters got just barbecued for bringing in all five of them. It's like, isn't that his job to scout all these guys ultimately picked the right one? Who cares if he took all five of them to top golf? You just get to know them. That's his job. It's pre draft process. So I think if Jayden just keeps playing a well, it's like this is a problem. Yeah, I'm I'm just fascinated to watch this all play out. So congrats to the Bears got the number one guy. It's crazy, like you see another I saw a headline the Colts have hired lou Ammaruno. Coordinator hires. When a head coach hiring happens, you know, a head coach is a ten out of ten. A coordinator higher feels kind of irrelevant, even though like that's a good hire. I think lou Aramruno is a good coach and clearly the the Colts are desperate for defense. Congrats to the Bears. Man, that's just just a cool football moment that this story had. Felt like they had no shot who they're gonna hire. They' gonnaen up with Mike McCarthy, and they ended up with Ben Johnson. NFL Playoffs, we're talking about the NFL playoffs. You bet we are. Get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is a key to winning in the NFL playoffs, and the key to you scoring big is betting on them at DraftKings, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready to place your first bet, Try betting on something as simple like a player to score a touchdown. Go to DraftKings Sportsbook app and and make your pick. Here's another reason to watch your favorite players crush it in the playoffs. New customers bet five bucks to get two hundred in bonus bets. 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Okay, let's do a little thing we like to call the mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms, get your questions answered here on the show. And yeah, let's talk, because easiest way to get a hold of me my Instagram dms. Fire in them, and we will start with Sam, how badass is this Eagles RAMS game? I'm with you on winter football games. They're the absolute best. Just chilling on my couch watching these two teams to see who's mentally tougher in addition to physically better. Can't beat it. I saw aj Brown said that he wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy to have to play in those conditions. I've told the story, I think before, but it's not really even a story. You know, when you're a scout or what you work for a team usually on game day, and I would say the Eagles are probably more buttoned up in terms of like what our dress code was. Then some teams always jealous, like the Packers in the Raiders and kind of wear whatever you want, but you know, you wear a suit to the games. Only had one at the time, And I remember when it first started getting cold, probably about November, and you show up in the suit and on the East Coast and for those of you listening that live there, you guys have those big overcoats, right, so you have your coat and then you have that long kind of like trench coat thick that just keeps you warm. Like I didn't even know what that was. We never have those in Calibari. You wouldn't even need them. At most we had like a ski jacket. You know, if you hunted like a hunting jacket, but you wouldn't have those like nice kind of corporate coats, right to either go to work or take your lady out for a night on the town. And I remember being on the sideline getting there like two hours before game. I couldn't feel any part of my body. I had to go to the heaters because it was so cold. And that's the cool part about Philly is like it's the best part about the good teams in the NFL right now, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens, obviously the Eagles, you just the Packers. Forever. You just get conditions, and conditions don't always have to be snow or rain. It could just be it's seven degrees you cannot feel your body, and then you factor in the snow. That first scene when Saquon bust his first run and scores a touchdown and as he's kind of he entered the end zone on the left side and then he kind of hung a right and ran down the end zone and the snow just started falling. I'm like, this is about to be badass, cool moment for the Eagles to win that game in the snow awesome moment, I thought too for the Rams to play like that in the conditions, just a fantastic viewing experience, I like in the Super Bowl. I'm recording this part before the National Championship. Totally understand putting those things in a controlled environment. But plaf games first round, second round, third round, give me the candittis all day long. Question for the back. With Ben Johnson becoming the new head coach of the Bears, do you think he'll be a success like McVeigh or be Adam Gase? Two point oh. I'd be stunned if he was Adam Gase two point oh. I mean one thing with Adam Gase is he was Peyton's guy, and Peyton was the guy, like being his reference, calling everybody trying to get him a job. And obviously he's smart and had worked for Sabin. But Adam Gase clearly had some issues in terms of just the interaction aspect, like struggle with the media. Struggle. Just felt like he was just on the struggle bus with certain things when it came to communication. It does feel like Ben Johnson, if you would have watched his press conference a year or two ago, probably a little less confident than he was. I watched him a lot this season, felt like he grew into himself. And listen, he's thirty eight, thirty nine years old or four years ago, no one even knew who he was, so it takes some time. I would say Sean McVay, it'd be pretty tough. Sean McVay is a one to one. Just his energy, his his vibe. I mean, Sean McVay is an outlier. I would say, best case scenario, he's more Kyle. The thing with Kyle is Kyle had been a had been an offensive coordinator in the league for like ten years before the Niners hired him, had been calling plays for a long long time, and had been multiple places. So I don't think we're gonna see Adam Gase, but I could you see Matt Naggy. Just it feels like this is not going that well potentially. If I was gonna bet is it gonna be successful or fail? I would just bet fail. My favorite football podcast, If the Eagles lose this weekend, do you think Howie would swoop into the Ben Johnson sweepstakes. I'd love to see the Eagles have an offensive mind start steering the sho we let Shane syken get Away would love to see this. This was this morning, which clearly isn't gonna happen. I think the moment they won that Packer game and we're just in the second round and he won another playoff game, Sirianni was coming back. Sirianni was coming back. Assume I want to see what happens with Kellen Moore. There was a report out today that Schottenheimer might get the Cowboys job, which to me feels a little crazy. But trying to keep track of what Jerry's gonna do is like what a waste energy. So maybe Kellen, maybe he's trying to do that to mess with Kellen Moore. Kellen Moore's asking for too much. But I think in a perfect world, if you're Howie, you just bring back this entire team and both your coordinators are feeling pretty good. Question for the mailbag, big fan, big Eagles guy from California. I understand Mahomes and Allen play a different sport than Jalen. There's no disputing that, but after this divisional round, they all had pretty much the same stat line, Yet Jalen gets criticized for not being able to throw, and the other two are praised for winning. Why do you think the media shifts in the way that these quarterbacks are discussed? Thank you well. I would say that their history as throwers is just a little bit longer. I mean, Mahomes could have a game where they win throws for seventy yards. Like once you rattle off three Super Bowls, you've won a couple MVPs. Like we've seen it. He doesn't have to prove anything anymore. Like he's not in the prove it mode, he's in the win it mode. Starts stacking up chips. Josh Allen is a pretty long resume of throwing a lot of touchdowns and being a dynamic thrower of the ball. So on an individual game basis, we're not gonna ebb and flow with a take. You know, Josh Allen, I don't know, ran for multiple touchdowns and played awesome football in a game where his team, let's face it, probably isn't as talented as the Ravens. So like I'm just judging it differently when you watch Jalen, I give everyone in that game a little bit of a path because of the conditions. But I think big picture, we have to question, like Jalen is not the thrower of these guys. And I don't mean like when he's scrambling around and throws the ball down the field, like he can throw the ball. I just mean as a consistent passer within the pocket. I think we have to acknowledge it's not really his game. Luckily, he's on a team that's so fucking stacked it doesn't matter all the time. Love and intern Jackson. The fact that he pestered you on the golf course and you gave him a shot he had I think he had picked my brain. I had picked his brain. We had done some golf videos. My guy named Luis, who's camera guy who I had asked Jackson for some advice. People he knew that are kind of in that world because Jackson's follow him on Instagram. Jackson's hustling, and so he pointed me in a direction. He was just he just came up to me. I was hitting some golf balls and I realized the guy was passionate. You could feel it, and hell I was once that guy. Just a lot of passion. This is a good question. Question when you lost your hair, did you go through any period of grief or such as being anxious about it. How old were you when you committed to shaving it? Watching your content and hearing you discuss it in a matter of fact way really helped me get over losing my hair to join the bald brotherhood. I think for most men that are having some follicle challenges at any point in our life. I started losing my hair in college. I remember being at cal Poly, not listening in class, probably reading the newspaper, the cal Paly newspaper, not like a newspaper I don't even know if those exists on campuses anymore, and just looking down and seeing hair fall out. And I came from a family of bald men, so and I think it comes from your mother's side. Well, her dad was bald, and everyone on her side was based bald. My cousins were bald. I knew I was in trouble, So yeah, I mean I was insecure or anxious, you could use any way to describe it. For years, you hold on and then you just get to a point where it's like, what are we doing? And you just shave it? And you know, I think the thing you're most insecure about any young person listening to this that's kind of going through that, which I imagine is a decent amount. Is you're like, especially if you're single, like can I still get laid? Like our girl's gonna want to go out with me? Like that's probably your biggest insecurity. Uh, And just am I gonna look funny? Because I like when I was in junior high and in high school, I had a buzzed head A lot of the time. I felt like, but you don't even it's not even crossing your mind, like how I look with this or without that? And then you get a little older, you grow your hair out a little bit, and it just becomes Then you get you know, in the professional world, and you know, you put some gel in there, and all of a sudden he starts going away. So you just you don't really have a choice. Sometimes I mess with Marie. I act like I'm gonna get go to Turkey and get the plugs I've I mean, it feels like all the rage right now, everyone flying over there getting plugs for like four or five thousand dollars. Really and really, if you do it with them, I think they take care of you. I've heard is very intriguing. But then I think, well, then I'll just be another guy with hair. So the bald's in right now. Especially in the podcast world, the number one podcaster is a bald guy, obviously the rock. So I'm just I'm just gonna ride the bald wave. I shaved it with like a buzz basically had like a zero probably for a couple of years before I took I took like the mock three or five razor to it, which is now I do just shave it today. Actually, question for the back twenty six year old dairy farmer from Wisconsin. Do you think there are a lot of NFL front offices that, rather than playing for championships, are trying to play it safe and just be competitive to keep their jobs. Seems like big swings can win you a Super Bowl or get you fired if they don't work out. I think there are a lot of guys who hesitate to put their nuts on the table and take a big swing because they are worried about losing their job. Yes, and they would rather just be a competitive eight to nine tennis win team compete for a wild card than ever have the upside of being a dominant, dominant team because if it backfires, it could be a disaster. And that's I would say, making big trades. I mean, I mean, look, when McVeigh got to the Rams, they started taking big ass swings. They started swinging for the fences, and it took a while for it to work, but it eventually did. Andy Reid's been taking big swings since he got the Eagles job. I mean, you go look back to Terrell Owens and he's never been afraid of that. And are they all gonna work out? Of course not, but you cannot be afraid to mix it up. And that means that goes both ways. Trade for a player, or trade a player or away. And I think the younger and younger the GMS get, I do think the more inclined they are. One The money's pretty big right now. So if I become a GM and I sign a four year contract at four million dollars a year, you know, after taxes or whatever, I got three or four million dollars for sure in the bank. And obviously I've been an assistant GM. I'm a g I'm making a lot of money. So like, even if I do get fired, I'm gonna be okay, and my family's gonna be Okay, they can. My kids can still go to private school. We had a nice house. We're gonna be okay. But if I make a swing and this works, I'm gonna get it. Took balls. It's probably easier for Andy than it was for Veach, but I think Veach has been around Andy so long. When they traded Tyreek Hill, it's like, damn, man, this is that's pretty ballsy and it's the best thing that they've done. I would say, minus Patrick Mahomes of the Run and Beach was, you know, making seven figures at the time, but now he's going to make a lot of money, contract extensions, huge raises because of what happened these last two years into now. So I mean, look at Howie. I mean, people, whenever the Eagles go through tough times, you know, the finger gets pointed to him, rightfully, so, but look at how good he is. Like anyone could have had Saquon Barkley for like thirty It's like, okay, he wanted to go to the Eagles, true, but they were offering him twenty seven million dollars guaranteed. Someone could offered him thirty eight forty. Anyone in the top eight could have drafted Jalen Carter, Zach Bond. All these defensive coordinators watched him as a free agent. They could have been like, you know what, we should move him positions. Gotta have balls, I think once you're making a lot of money. I always do this in gambling, you know, Like if I have one hundred dollars bet and it's parlayed and it's gonna pay me like five grand, I always let it ride for the most part because I'm like, well, the high of watching this event is worth it for me. On losing one hundred dollars, I'm basically paying one hundred dollars for the entertainment, and every once in a while they hit, it's an incredible feeling. But if I bet ten grand and I have the chance and it's getting weird and I have the chance to cash out mid game just to get my money back, sometimes I do that because I don't want to lose. Not like I bet ten grand on games. Let's say, biggest bets I usually make are like up to five grand. I bet four thousand dollars on Penn State. That sucked, But I should have cashed out there at one point in time when they were up but I was like, I thought they were gonna win, and then it backfired and I was furious for like forty eight hours. And that's lost a decent amount of money. I mean, I'm not just throwing around four grand on Penn State. I'm still pissed at them. Luckily, I battled back this weekend and got about half of that back. But I think part of it is and you take a risk, like what is on the line and forever, like losing this job. In the nineties, you know, gms weren't multi millionaires, so it's like, I want to keep this job for a long time. But you become a multi millionaire, it kind of changes. You've got something to fall back on, so you might as well. I don't want to say Gopher broke because you don't want to make bad decisions. You don't want to be an idiot, But you also, like, what's the whole point of this? Try to win? Like that's why everyone gets into this business to try to win games or Super Bowls. Right, Like Borgazi leaves the Chiefs to go to the Titans. Probably a lot easier for him to make that move. It's like, well, he's got a bunch of rinks. I mean, the guy's been to a lot of Super Bowls, won three rinks. So even if he's got to pack up his office and leave before this season ends, it's easier to do it when you've won three super Bowls in the last five years. If you hadn't won one, you're like, well, I'm making a lot of money being Vich's number two. Is this the right job? Well, I've already won three super Bowls. We've been to another one, Like, is a fourth one really gonna change my life? I'm making Let's just pick a number nine hundred thousand dollars as the number two. The Titans are offering me a five year contract at three and a half four million dollars a year. That's gonna change my life. I get to It's not like I got to go to some shitty city. I get to go to Nashville as a Super Bowl champ and run the organization. So I think everything is based on timing. And if you're him, like you've already won, You've made a lot of money. Now you might as well. You don't have to do it right away, but over the course of like twenty four months, you should have an idea if something pops up that I think could be a game changer, I'm gonna think long and hard about pulling the trigger. Very sad Ravens fan. I agree with your take with Colin that Lamar played well. I think my take was he played better than he has in the past. Right in the past he was atrocious, he was not. He was good in the second half. I mean he was good on that final drive. He looked much more like himself at points yesterday than he has in previous games. But the turnovers were killer. You said it with another coaching loss. So my question is do the Ravens move on from Harbaugh and try to get a fresh voice in the locker room. I'm thinking about how the Eagles won after getting rid of Andy and if it would help. If not, what can the Ravens do to get over the hump. Thanks for the quality content. Yeah, I really thought yesterday was they had a little success on that first drive throwing, and I actually think that ended up being their demise because they stuck with the past so much throughout the game. Whor it's like, guys, hand the ball to twenty two, have Lamar keep it. Do the game plan that you just did against the Steelers. Try to run it fifty times for four hundred yards and win the game, even if the score is not as high, win the game twenty forty twenty. But it was like, now we got to pass, we got to pass, and what happened He made a killer mistake on throwing the pick. Now they ended up not getting points out of that pick, if memory serves me correct, But still that ruined the possession and obviously the fumble. I watched Lamar after the game, who was obviously I don't want to say. I would say Dan Campbell was distraught. I would describe Lamar as being pissed off, and rightfully so. I mean, he knows what was on the line, and he was really mad at himself, and he took accountability and ownership on the interception. He called it awful, didn't look off the safety and throw it right to him. And he said on the fumble, He's like, it was an RPO. So I couldn't throw it because our linemen were downfield, and I just tried to make a play and the ball slipped out of my hands. But that play slipping out of his hands. Von Miller picks it up that that did lead to a touchdown and it went to fourteen to seven, which was a deciding moment in the game. So when I see these people arguing defending Lamar or whatever, he was better than he has been in the past. But in that moment, this is where the coaching thing. Why wouldn't you have just ran it NonStop? How about the two to two point conversions? I saw John Gruden on a clip talking about, like listen in the in the freezing cold, in that moment, that guy's exhausted. Obviously he should catch the ball. He's paid fourteen to fifteen million dollars when he's healthy. Mark Andrews is I don't know, I mean a top four or five tight end in the NFL definitely has been throughout points in time of his career. He's a really good player. He's a winning player. But like there's a margin forreerr there. We have seen that player, not specifically that player, but in situation falling back dropped the ball. It's cold, it's harder to grip. How would they not run it twice? With Derrick Henry, who looks like he's in the prime of his career in this game, he was awesome in this game. It was like, keep handing him the ball. He's bigger than their defenders and he looked fast. To me, the first two pointer where Milano tipped the ball and they didn't that was crazy. They literally scored by just rushing it right down the field, and then they get to the two point they call pass. It's like, well the guy was open. Yeah, he didn't complete it because the ball was tipped. Hand the fucking ball off. I don't think John Harbaugh is gonna get fired. I think John Harbaugh's good, but I think offensively, what I don't understand about John Harbaugh. If that was Jim, they would have ran the ball forty times and they would have won an ugly game. I don't know understand, like what's going on. Just run the ball. Just did it against Pittsburgh, your bitter rival, and you just bludgeon them to death. Why wouldn't you do that against the Bills. I don't get it, And I do think it gets back to on that first drive when they score a touchdown with Lamar making some passes, They're like, oh, he's gonna be fine today. It's not about that. Just just win the game. That's why the Bills played like that. We're not gonna turn the ball over. We're gonna get into an ugly game once we got the lead. Play smart, no picks, no fumbles, hold onto the rock. I mean, why the Rams loose awful turnovers down the stretch. If you were Titans fan, what would you say they should do with the first overall pick in order to maximize their chance of getting back in the playoffs in the next few years. You know, their new GM was with the Chiefs during the Patrick Mahomes draft time, right. He was there when they drafted Patrick, so he knows about the conviction in that office when it came to that player. Brian Callahan was in Cincinnati when they drafted Joe Burrow number one overall. So both these guys have seen quarterbacks change the lives of everyone around them. Brian Callahan is the head coach of the Tennessee Titans because of Joe Burrow. Mike Borganzi is the general manager of the Tennessee Titans because of Patrick Mahomes. Obviously there are other variables there, but they'd be the first to tell you that Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes are the most important players in the history of their career as coaches, so as the number one pick, if you don't have one hundred percent conviction to take cam Ward, I would not do it. I would not do if there are questions, I'm not risking it because for as awesome as Burrow and Mahomes and some of the we have seen other guys destroy people's career and literally rail it. So I would have no problem. I don't care what the media says. I would just sell my owner on this. We don't like this guy enough. If we don't, and if you do draft him, But to me, that is the number one conversation, do we take this guy number one overall? I don't think you can take Shador Sanders number one overall, and I don't think he would go one overall. I think he's I think when the dust Sattles will end up going somewhere between like three to ten. I think a lot of people struggle with guys like him who physically like he's not Jade Lamar athlete by any means. Hell, he's not even bo Nix as an athlete, and his arm is like, okay, it's like Jared Goff. And again, I'm a Chador fan. He's a good player. But when you take guys like that number one overall, it's it's pretty risky. I'm much more inclined to take the Traites guy number one overall. But again, like I gotta like the guy. I had a scout text me the other day like, I couldn't take cam Ward in the top fifteen. So all all these players, they're gonna be people with second round grades on these guys. There were people last year with Pennix and bo Nicks that thought they were second rounders. So like, you gotta be cool if you also pass on them. That like cam Ward is going to go to another team and he could be awesome. So it's like, do you have enough conviction to do that and live with it? Hell, the forty nine ers and the Bears passed on Patrick Mahomes. How'd that worked out? Not good? So I would I would spend the majority of my energy over these next month of evaluating cam Ward. I bet Borgazzi has watched him, but nowhere near Like they were never gonna draft him Kansas City. So it's like, yeah, I've seen him on some cross tapes. Maybe I wrote him up, but did I really study him? I'm talking about really studying. It's like Adam Peters last year when he went to Washington, I think he said during his introduction press conference, like, yeah, I just I need to really watch these quarterbacks because he hadn't washed them in San Francisco to the level in which you have to watch them. And then at the end of the day he made a decision. And that's the hard part about this year. It's like Jayden Daniels, Drake may Kleb Williams, they all would go hiring these guys with Washington going for the NFC title after revamping their entire franchise top down, we now see how important the big four of football are. The owner, the GM, the head coach, and the quarterback are all four pillars of football. And if you could pick your current fantasy big four, who would it be interested, Well, there's just not a better one right now than the Chiefs. I don't even think that's arguable. You know, for twenty years it was Robert Kraft, it was Bill Belichick coach, and GM and Tom Brady, and right now I think it's clearly Clark Hunt, who I don't even know what he's necessarily doing, but it's if the owner is just solid. He's not like he's not really influencing football. He can ruin football, but he can just be solid and stay out of the way. And that's what I think Clark does a lot of the time. You know, it's Andy Mahomes of beach. Is it even close? I think the Bill's really been underrated. I really do. With McDermott, Josh and Brandon Bean like they've done a really really good job. They really have. I mean they have been. This is they're what third AFC championship or second in twenty twenty they lost to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game in twenty twenty one. That's they lost the thirteen second game in the AFC Divisional round. Last year, obviously they lost in the division round. So this is the second time they have played the Chiefs four times in the playoffs since twenty twenty. I said it to Colin. I'll say it again, like this is the new rivalry Bill's Chiefs. Now, it's been one sided. Can the Bills finally win? If you believe that you can get the Bills as an underdog. I've been telling my buddies to start listening to you. I like you, Steve question, why did you ever get into scouting in the NFL? Seems like a well paying profession and would you ever go back to it? Just surprised because you seem really knowledgeable regarding NFL players. It's actually not a great paying job. It is once you start working your way up. You know, my buddies now that are in their mid thirties or early forties are making good livings. But when you first get into scouting, you are not making much money. You know, when I first got hired with the Eagles, I made twenty five thousand dollars. My second year pro scouting, I made forty five. My third year I made fifty. And you know I was twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine. So my friends just in private sector, in sales, working in tech, I mean, we're making hundreds of thousands of dollars at the same age. I mean, it wasn't even I was by far the poorest guy I knew of all the people I went to college with. Wasn't even close. So you make a lot of money once you get to a certain level, like once you become the college scouting director, once you become the number two, like an assistant GM, you make seven eight hundred thousand dollars. But I think the average scout, like just a college scout, I bet the average is low six figures, which again is not a bad living, but this is not a nine to five job. So if I'm paying you one hundred and ten thousand dollars and you're thirty seven years old and you have a wife and a kid, it's not like you're home a lot. You're working non You're working seventy eighty ninety hour weeks. You're going to games on the weekend all the time. Like it is a fucking grind. Even if you're making let's say you're a longer tenured guy and you're making one hundred and fifty two hundred grand, like relative to the time, you are spending a lot of time, and I mean a ton of time six seven months of the year. I mean you're having ninety one hundred hour weeks also gone you know part of that is you're driving or flying or traveling. Like it's I bet most professions given like working for these billion dollar corporations, given the time, if you worked, if you did the same thing at Goldman Sachs or did the same thing at Tesla or whatever. You would be making four x what you make working in football up until you get to a certain level. And even then, like once you become the college director, Okay, now you're making four hundred and five hundred thousand dollars. You are still working insane hours. That's the thing. Like coaches, it's like, okay, yeah, you work crazy hours. The quarterback coach is making nine hundred and fifty grand, The offensive coordinator is making two and a half three million dollars. You know it's it's the defensive coordinator. Like Vic Fangiel's, Okay, works eighty hours a week, he's making five million dollars, Siriani. People question what he's doing. He's probably making seven and a half eight Kevin O'Connell's mad because he's making seven and a half wants to make fourteen. You make a lot of money in coaching. Coaches make dramatically more than scouts. And I would say scouts don't work as much hour wise during the season because coaches hours are insane. But like if you're out of the playoffs right now, you're on vacation, like you get several weeks off. Scouts work January work, February work, March work, April. Okay, they work, so they work basically double the amount in terms of months. Just stand it up for my people. It's a hard job. It really is. And then the other thing is like, if you're a good coach, right, if you're a quarterback coach and you're making seven hundred fifty grand and you're thirty two years old and your quarterback starts bawling, everyone starts interviewing you to become an offensive coordinator. But if you're like the SEC scout for your team, like you do the South, and you're awesome, Like you're like nine out of ten, like you're a stud, Like you're like you know what you're doing. Who beside people on your team know, no one outside like on another team's no. So unless your agent's kind of gassing you up or you know some people in the media, no one knows how good you are. It's a weird profession. But no, I'm not going back well like doing this. This. This was my colleague and I just got into it randomly because I got you know, I played high school football. I just loved it. I mean I was terrible, but I just being with your friends, the sport, the practices. It was just there was something special about it. And I love football well before I ever started playing it as a young kid. And then you go to college and you realize you and playing sports your whole life, and you kind of have this void. And I just kind of got back involved with the athletic department at cal Poly, and I kind of got involved with the football program, and it just kind of, I would say, organically took off from there. Why are they are only three teams running the tush push? The play is almost unstoppable, and now the Ravens have shown it can be run with a tight end under center to eliminate the injury risk to the quarterback. Well, okay, let's take the Chiefs, because I guess you're saying that the Washington Commanders do it with Mariota. The Eagles do it obviously with Jalen. The Ravens do it with Mark Andrews. The Bills, I would say, do variations of it with Josh. I think the Chiefs Mahomes has gotten injured on the quarterback sneak before, and I'm sorry, like I'd rather punt than have Mahomes get hurt. Who would do that for them if you remove Mahomes. It's not really Kelsey's thing, you know, I mean 's Mark Andrews is just different body type, especially at this point in time. Could you have like Kareem Hunt do it, He's never done anything. I just don't know who on the Chiefs would do it. Could you just have could Chris Jones take the snap? Current graduate student from intern Jackson's all matter the University of Montana, go grizz. I'm a lifelong Cowboy fan, and as my dad grew up and filled my head with the stories of the good old days from the nineties my whole life, they've been mediocre. My question for the pot is this, realistically, what are the incentives that Jerry and the Cowboys ownership has to get back into Super Bowl contend contention? He has brilliantly positioned them as being this relevant in the media world, and always with the increased TV money, he is just printing cash no matter who our next coach is. I seriously doubt Jerry's desire to bring us back in the Super Bowl contention. PS tip for navigating waste management during the weekend. Coming down with some buddies and we'll be on the course Saturday. Probably gonna skip the sixteenth hole as we don't want to wake up at four am. But any tips, what holds the camp out at or the nightlife after the sun goes down something we can do best. I used to would have said the Front nine, but I would say one thing. Over the last couple of years. I feel like, even if I'm just not even there and turn on the television in the morning, the front nine is packed. But I would say nine, eight, seven, six, if you're able to get some passes into some cool situations. I mean, it's hard to beat seventeen and eighteen. That's it's already up right now. It's like a it's like one gigantic bar. But if you don't, you just have general admission. I think the Front nine go like hoole nine backwards. I think is tough to beat. Twelve probably underrated part three, and you can see them coming in on eleven hitting into that green as well. It's cool, hopefully the weather it's not, as it's not as cold this year. I would say I think Jerry, like Jerry definitely wants to win a Super Bowl. I think every human being would agree that if you said, Hey, Jerry, do you want to win a Super Bowl? When he says yes, he's not lying. So I take Jerry at face value if he wants to win a super Bowl, but he wants to do it his way, Like look to their inner Leslie Frazier, Brian Schottenheimer, what is this real life? Robert Sawa? What are we doing here? That's Jerry. He's gonna do it his way and it doesn't work at the highest level. Like they've had successful seasons. Like you said, they're a well run business. They're a well run entertainment entity. But when it comes to well he do absolutely anything he can to win a Super Bowl? No, he won't. And I think if you're a Cowboy fan, you almost just got to ride it out. You just got to ride out this Jerry dak era, which I think probably already peaked. I mean, do they have twelve games in them this upcoming season? I would say probably not. I think the big question mark this offseason is would they trade Michaeh Parsons And would that be the right move to trade Michaeh Parsons for a couple first round picks? Like would you trade him with the Detroit Lions for their two ones. Who knows, maybe not. Would you trade him to an AFC team? Would you trade him to I don't know. You pick a team that would be interested. I think you'd have to think long and hard about it. I actually think he makes some sense for like the Washington Commanders, but I don't think if you're Jerry, you'd trade him there. He makes a lot of sense for the Commanders, actually, but I just don't think you can do that. So I think you're kind of stuck in this mold of kind of is what it is. And there's a circus element to your team that years like this feel bigger than the actual team, which kind of sucks. But that's kind of Jerry's m O. It's like he's it's almost like he's Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg, right, Like he likes directing the show more than he cares about like at the end of the day, what happens to the movie. He likes being in there pulling some strings, making sure the picture looks like he wants to look like the picture, whether that's gonna be a good movie or a bad movie. He just wants it to be an entertaining movie. And he will never give up that director's chair. He's never given up the GM spot. He's never gonna be an absentee owner. At this point in time, I remember when they first from Hard Knocks. I think the Ravens were the first ever team on Hard Knocks and maybe the Cowboys were the second. And Jerry gives a speech at the beginning of training camp that was essentially like I could be anywhere in the world right now, but I choose to be here with you. I think that sums up Jerry very well. He likes telling you like I don't need to do this. It's like, yeah, Jerry, but you are doing it. Yes, you could be in Milan, you could be in Australia, you could be fucking wherever the hell you want to be. But you're always gonna be by the Cowboys, because that is at this point in time and up until you die, the identity of Jerry Jones, and not just like I'm the owner of the Cowboys. I control the Cowboys when we make a signing, when we make a trade, when we make a coach hire is what I want to do. What happened to the reports early on when they fired McCarthy. Jerry's kind of going solo. He's just calling people. Can you just see Jerry in his office with like even going dad, let's just can we just do something normal here. But anyone who's been around I've never been around a billionaire or eighty year old, but I've been around some successful older people. They usually get more stubborn. I mean they don't usually lighten up and give in that. It usually gets worse if they're that hands on, and it's I think we have some examples in recent NFL history. It could get a lot uglier like that. That that potential for that to happen, it's one hundred percent on the table. The volume