3 and Out with John Middlekauff3 & Out - Best of Podcast: Jay Gruden, Robert Saleh gets fired, Belichick to UNC
What is going on everybody, happy holidays to all! What a year we've had and what an NFL and college season it's been. We've put together a special little bonus episode highlighting some of the best topics and stories from the season, from our interview with Jay Gruden, to Robert Saleh getting fired, and the surprise of it all, Bill Belichick going to UNC. That's all here and more!" #Volume #Herd
The volume. What is going on? Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Honka. Hopefully everyone's having a good day, a great week. And what a year we've had, and what an NFL season has been so far. I've had a blast. Lot of football watching has been had. We put together a little special bonus episode highlighting some of our favorite topics, some of my favorite takes from our interview. We had Jay Gruden on to Robert Solah getting fired. To the surprise of it all, who would have ever thought, sitting here a year ago, six months ago, hell, a month ago, that Bill Belichick would be the head coach of North Carolina. So it's all here, okay, very very excited to have on the best athlete in the Gruden family, Jay Gruden, Jay Live from Virginia. How you doing.
I'm doing good, doing good. I don't know. My brother was a pretty good athlete there until right after high school he stopped growing. I kept growing a little bit to gout to be six foot, but he was a damn good baseball player and football player for sure.
I was looking at your arena League Bio. I'm born and raising Davis so right by Sacramento, and I saw you had a quick stint there in the early nineties before you became an arena league legend and rattled off some MVPs and championships.
I gave it a shot with the Sacramento Surge, did not work out, so I went played arena balls more fun.
Is arena league? Was it just the time? Obviously television has changed the game, But like you would think that that would kind of work. If it worked in the nineties, it would have a place today. What do you think happened there?
I think we just missed our window too early. It was a great league when I was in a Players are getting paid a lot of money, coaches were getting paid pretty good. It was very competitive. We're getting guys right out of the NFL as soon as they get cut, we get them even before going to the CFL. I think we just got a little too big for our breeches. The franchise tags went up to like sixteen seventeen million dollars. The owners could never recoup that because they were guaranteed TV money or the NFL is going to buy in as used as a developmental league, and neither one of those things happened, So the owners kind of lost their ass and they had to get rid of it.
When I worked with the Eagles, Matt Naggi had just got there and he had a good career, and I remember watching him spin the ball. I'm like, I don't know if he could move like an NFL player, but clearly in the arena league, you guys had a lot of guys that could spin it. In twenty twenty four with the Internet, obviously, Warner kind of made the transition, But do you think there would have been more The scouting staffs are way bigger now, would have been more guys make it because I would imagine I mean you see the XFL, the USFL, I mean guys are getting shots left and right.
Yeah.
I think some of the ninety rosters too.
Yeah, for sure, for sure, a lot of guys would have got more opportunities to play where they don't get that opportunity once they get cut in the NFL or trying to get on the XFL. But this is a great opportunity for skilled guys, especially wide receivers defensive backs, to really show their skill. You gotta be able to cover in that league. I mean you got to change direction and do some things, and pass rushers as well, and then offensive linemens. Some guys could develop as guards or tackles in the league as well. Just you know, given guys, young guys opportunities to play more is a benefits. That's why I hope the UFL works out, because there are going to be some guys that can emerge from that and be big time helps in the NFL.
How much time do you and your brother spend talking about quarterbacks?
Not as much anymore. We still do quite a bit from time to time, but he's got his own show now going on. But we we love talking football. It's all we know. So that when we get together, we're talking football, plays, protection, schemes, all that stuff, and that we'll maybe swing a golf club but love the quarterback position and study that.
How's the golf game?
It was going pretty good till to day. I played terrible, but uh it's it's go all good. I'm about a five and a cat four and a half, and oh, I don't think I'll ever get in below that because I'm not a good enough hunter. I don't make any huts, but I can get around from t green pretty good. I don't get a lot of doubles, but make a lot of pars and bogies, an occasional birdie. If I chip in, you beat John, Yeah, I beat him like a drum. You know, got a new hip so I can really beat it.
I was thinking, you know, your brother really came on the scene right with that crew in Green Bay and farv and I remember talking to Marty morning Wig and he's he thought far of as the best player he ever saw during that stretch. And obviously from a physical gift standpoint, you could argue, I mean, he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest throwers of the football is athleticism. But when I think about the quarterbacks you've had, and even your brother, right success with rich Gannon and then he coached Derek Carr. You had Andy Dalton as the OC and Cincy and then you had Kirk Cousins, you trade for Alec Smith. It's kind of like you go the opposite the car with the quarterbacks you like. Is that just that's just the timing where you were at the time, what was available or did you guys you specifically with Dalton, Cousins and Alex who was really good before he got injured, were you guys like six and two that year.
I mean we had two game lead to division and he broke his leg, and then Colt mcgoy broke his leg the next game after that, so we were down to Josh Johnson. It was a rough stretch there for about a year.
So I guess the question is do you lean you can deal with a little lesser arm quarterback if they're accurate, or is that just the cards you were dealt in those given situations.
Well, Cincinnati's really the only quarterback I picked me and not myself, but Marvin Lewis and I spent a lot of time in that draft. We had a second round draft pick, and Blaine Gabbert was in that draft. Obviously, Cam young Christian Ponder, Jake Locker was in that draft, so we had to sit there in the second round. We had to wait for any to fall. We're just hoping to goodness that he would fall. I thought Seattle was gonna take him at twenty nine, but they took James Carpenter lineman and the other choice was Ryan Mout or Colin Kaepernick. And I really wasn't too involved in the zone reads and all that stuff at that time, so I really needed somebody to come in and start as a rookie because Christianer what's his name to the quarterbacks that he wasn't coming back.
Carson Palm, Yeah.
Carson Palmer said he was not coming back. No better. So we had Jordan Palmer on the roster and Dan lef Fever was all we had on the roster. So we had to get a starter. So we had to wait till the second round. And Andy was perfect because he started four years at TCU. They had a lot of different variances in their system. He was under center, He's in a shotgun play action quick game. I understood protections, and I knew that he could handle the offense at a faster rate than anybody else. Because it's also the strike shortened season, so we didn't have a training camp or at OTAs in the offseason. We just had to come to training camp, put the offense in. He had to learn it and start from day one. So he was perfect for us. When I got to Washington, we obviously had Robert and Kirk, so they were my guys that we had to develop. My job was to develop Robert first, but as time went on, it was clear that Kirk was the better pastor of the football and understood the game a little bit better and was more healthy. Robert, you know, after he broke his leg was never quite the same. Probably, and then obviously when we lost Kirk, I found out on Twitter, my son found on Twitter we traded for Alex Smith. I have no idea. You know, my son comes running, Hey, you guys, he's got Alex Smith. I go, what what do we give up for him? I guess a third round draft pick in Kendall Fuller and Kendall Fuller's are starring Nickel.
Uh.
Yeah, I wasn't happy about them. I loved Alex. I loved coaching Kirk, but really Andy's the only one I hand picked for myself, and that was really the only guy left Forrest to hand pick.
Well, I think there's a lot there by the time, let's start with cousins who this probably come out on Thursday. But I had just had the big comeback. Do you think he became a better player or was coming into his own? Was he a different guy once he had been in Minnesota a couple of years and the guy we've seen probably the last three plus years pre Achilles than the guy that you experienced, or as as he looked the same to you.
I think he looks the same. He's obviously he gained more confidence than everything that he does. He's a perfectionist when it comes to footwork and preparation, and he wants to know exactly why plays are in and the timing, anticipation, all that stuff. He's really good at that. I think when Kirk really turned the corners, when he gained confidence in himself. He was always second fiddle here. Everybody wanted Robert Robert Robert, nobody ever talked about Kirk, and then when the competition actually was going on, he still felt second fiddle because the fans really wanted Robert to succeed and they were kind of against Kirk all the way. And then Kirk started playing good. Once I announced him as a full time starter, he didn't have to look over his shoulder. I think that's when he really took a huge jump as far as his production and his fear of not throwing interceptions and all that stuff. He got rid of all that, just played the position and really took over. We went nine to seven, went to the playoffs. He had a fabulous year and helped me get an extension. Then he went on his way, and we went on our way.
On the Cousins situation on Monday night, you know, they struggled in the red zone in their couple trips and just I mean, he's new to the team, but that final drive, it's pretty clear in that situation when a team has probably a buck forty plus kicking it out of bounds, you get the ball at the thirty, you're one pass away from being pretty close to midfield. And clearly, you know, vic Fango, in my opinion, has been one of the better defensive coordinators. I don't know for a long time, but felt like they were pretty soft, you know, and the safeties were way back, and those holes were pretty easy for Kirk when they were not getting any pass rush. What did you see on that final drive that made it so easy for the Falcons that was stealing candy from the baby?
They ran our Nascar kindsted up with a spin and the dagger behind it, and he hit the spin for a game of ten and they come back to no head and they played two deep Philadelphia in the corner jumps a flat route like a like a rookie would do, I guess, and they threw the Dan Bencher out right over the top of for game about twenty five, and then they played really soft. The one thing I think had it been me is defensive corner. I know they got a rookie corner out there, but the guy can't really move right now. You got to bring some kind of pressure, and they brought a four man rushing weren't even getting close to him. And Kirk Cousins probably would be the best seven on seven quarterback in the National Football League. Is accuracy and anticipation and he can set his feet and throw the ball. He is accurate as all to get out, so you have to get him off his spot. If you don't get him off a spot, and he can step into a throw and see it, there's nobody as accurate as Kirk. He proved that last night.
Yeah, that was That was a big time drive for him early in the season with a new team. Going back to the Dalton situation. Who's in the news this week obviously is going to start. But I think it's been talked a lot about with these rookie quarterbacks, the logic of red shirtingham which doesn't really happen anymore, right, and throwing them right into the fire. Dalton falls under that category. Had played a ton clearly a mature guy, kind of like a Dak Prescott or a Brock Purdy. Not your normal rookie, is it safe to say. But still there is a big transition period. Did you get like you said, you just didn't really have a choice. Is that an ideal situation? How do you attack that from a coaching standpoint? Because do you see these I mean, Caleb's really struggling getting crushed. Bo Nicks looks kind of over his head right now, and Jaden's just kind of running around.
Yeah, you know, it's tough. Everybody's different, every quarterback is different, and then you have to protect them with the scheme. And you look at some of these coaches calling these players. They're throwing nine bubble screens a game. I'm like, dang, challenging guy a little bit. But you know, Andy was just a very bright guy. Another thing we had the good fortune of we had a really good defense, and I didn't feel the pressure to score every time we had the ball or convert every third down. I'd ran a draw sometimes on third and eight or screen of the back or whatever it might be, and punted and try to get the ball back, so we had really good defense, Our special teams was good, and Andy did not turn the ball over and kept us in games. We won nine games this first year. He won ten the second year and eleven or third year, and then I got the job of Washington. So every quarterback is different how they handle it. Andy was really well prepared on protections and knew where to go with the football. Not the most accurate guy all the time, but very smart and handled a lot of information and did a great job. Some of these quarterbacks, you know, they I don't know if they can handle it or not. There's so many different things nowadays. You know, in college they're clapping their hands or looking at the sidewinds or doing anything with protections. Now all of a sudden, they're might trying to Mike point or not Mike point. I don't know who's free. And it's just a long way to go, a long process for these guys to get comfortable. They want total knowledge of the position. Right now, I don't think any of them are. I think they're just snapping the ball, letting the center call everything, and then a free rusher comes. He just throws it away or scrambles so these guys have a long way to go, a lot of talent, but you know, even some of the second year guys are struggling. We just you know, saw Will Evans every game he has a terrrible interception or a fumble or something like that to cous his team. So, yeah, these guys are struggling, but they just got to keep playing until they get it.
You bring up a pretty good point. Your Cincinnati teams were really talented, good offensive line, you just drafted aj Green, your defense was stacked. But Andy, I mean hit the ground running, and you look at Bryce Young, unlike your roster back in Cincinnati or the Niners or what Dak took over pretty terrible. But on individual plays, Bryce looks, I mean, let's face it, horrendous. So when you saw that decision, he couldn't be any worse really through the first two games, even independently of what's around him. Is that you worked for a place where the owner had a lot of opinions to getting involved. Clearly that's going on in Carolina. What was your first reaction when you saw that?
I think it had to be done. You know, I think when you look at a quarterback, you look at his progress and what's he doing good? What can we build on? And I didn't see one thing when it comes to the quarterback position that you felt like you'd get build on with Bryce. I mean, his arm talent didn't look there, his decision making didn't look very good. His his capability didn't look very good, his stature in a pocket, his knowledge of the game thrown into coverage. There was just nothing that I saw him getting better at. That's the problem that I had with Bryce. He'd love to see him Okay, he's getting rid of the ball quicker, he's anticipating some throws, but he's taking sacks, he's missing throws, he's throwing bubble screens in a dirt. There was just really no redeeming quality. I think they had to do it. I think the team you have to do that as a coach. And very similar when I made the move to Kirk. You know, the team sees the film, they're watching the film, and if you don't make a move, you're gonna lose respect in the locker room from your players. And I think that's why I coach Canalis had to make that move.
So what happens now, does he just run the scout team, do you treat it a little bit different than a normal backup quarterback.
I take it like a man and understand, Hey, I didn't play very good. You know, he's got to he's got to point the finger to himself first directly and then get in the meeting room and continue to develop. If and he gets hurt tomorrow or next weekend, he's a back in the in the fire, so he's got to continue to prepare himself like a pro. Understand that he's very He's a young player still, and if you look around in the league at some of these quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield, he's on his fourth team already, so uh, there's still time for him to develop. And he just got to be patient in the process, believe in the process, but really make himself better and understand the game.
You talk about about Colt when he was there with Alex and I think Cousins And then I get asked this question a lot, and I think from just a pure evaluation standpoint, from a scouting standpoint, like talent is probably not the most important factor when you look at a backup quarterback. You know your quarterback guy, OC head coach, what do you look for in a backup quarterback beside like what he's going to cost relatively or salary, all things being equal, what's an ideal backup quarterback?
Well, you have to make sure he's ready to go and play if something happens. I have know first hand quarterbacks get hurt all the time. You look at last year, I think nineteen of them got hurt.
So, yeah, sixty six guys played or something.
That's number they got to play. But you also have to have somebody that's knowledgeable of the game because he's not going to get a lot of reps. He's not going to get even in training camp. I want my starter to get most of the rep I gotta get him ready and he's going to have to learn based on what he sees and when he comes into games and have to be prepared. So you got to have a guy that you know he's going to be prepared and understand your system. Be supportive of the starter, help you with some idea. Sometimes a lot of backup quarterbacks like Colt, those guys had good ideas for third down or red zoner play action passes, whatever it might be. Just be involved in the process of teaching and working with the starter, and when your time's ready, you better be ready. And you got to count on that guy to be ready despite hardly ever talking to him like okay, this is you're always talking to the starter, but you're talking to him as well, and he's got to understand that and be ready. My first year Assistinnati Bruce gret Cawsi was our backup. He was perfect, he was always ready to go, very smart. He got called in the first game against Cleveland, came in in the second half, had a great odd ball to get us a first down, and then threw a touchdown past to aj Green to win it. So and always very supportive. Never ever was there any controversy between the starter and the backup quarterback. Everybody knew their place and that's important as well.
Would you say they'd have to be right there with like the kicker and the punters, the lowest maintenance guy in the building.
Yeah, yeah, but they you don't want You want them to be a little bit more active in helping the receivers and young receivers and offensive linemen and all that stuff. They they're like another coach on the field. You want that type of backup in your building. That can really help out and see the game in the big picture and really help out and help the head coach. And hey, you know, like I had Bruce and Colton, those guys are great. They help out in lots of different areas, not just playing quarterback and worrying about themselves.
They really are a hybrid role, right coach player because ideally they never take a snap.
Yeah that's ideally, you know, but they have a lot of knowledge. You know, the quarterbacks usually one of the smartest guys on the team, and they can help out. And as a coach, you gotta you know, they'll help you with the pulse in the locker room as well. You know, they're not snitches, but they will help you with the pulse of the locker. Hay, you know you're a little too rough on these guys that they might want to take a day off or go a little lighter or whatever it might be. They have just a great idea of the pulse of the locker room and they're a big help in a lot of different areas.
I got this question recently and I thought it was pretty fascinating. As a head coach, whether you're calling the plays or not, we often see the guys write little notes throughout the game. What typically are you writing down during the course of the sixty minutes.
On the game plan? You're just writing down play that you called, or what happened, or what coverages you might have seen. Maybe percentage of coverages you're seeing on third down. You know you have different categories on third and two to five. Okay, we got mad on this one. We got mad on this one, so you know they might play their cover three on the next one or whatever. Just little notes to yourself, or you're making notes on play, like if you got a star player, you haven't got them a ball yet. You got to try to find the plays that are best suited to get him that ball. And a lot of different things to getting right on. Sometimes right down the referees name that guy just gave you a bad call at guy's name is Bill. I'm and to get after Bill and his next rife. You know a lot of things you get right down on there.
Are you ever writing down like so and so looks terrible. We got to make mention of this he's out of shape, or this coverage is a bad.
Can't all do it? I used to take my phone out there sometimes and make notes on my phone. People think I was on the phone, but I would make notes on that play to and walk through. We got we gotta go over that protection scheme, or we got to make sure we find a third corner because our third corners aren't very good on special teams and they can't run and things like that. Yeah, oh yeah, you make those notes all the time as ahead coach.
Well, Jae, I appreciate you taking all the time, and go have fun on the putting green. Work on that putting stroke and you know you'll be breaking seventy five before you.
Knowcome back to the claw. You know I went across. I'm regular. I'm now on the claw. I don't know what it mean.
Yeah, anytime you're on the claw, I know you got a lot of things going through your head. On the pudding shrup. Okay, Jay, thanks man, have a good one.
Thank you.
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Okay, the story of the day, Robert Salah gets fired, and I think before we dive deep in any angle here, objectively, he was a really really bad head coach. Nice guy people like him. Was a good coordinator for the forty nine ers, but as a head coach of the New York Jets, wins and losses speak for themselves. He's twenty and thirty six, and when you watch him, you constantly ask yourself, what is he doing now? I was thinking about it this morning, that certain guys, younger coaches, get their opportunity and become a CEO head coach. And we've pushed back on it over the years. A lot of you guys say you're so anti CEO coaches. Look at Tomlin, look at John Harbaugh. Well yeah, look at them. They went to stable, well run, winning organization. We have a long history. If you become the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which only three guys have done over the last like sixty years, you're gonna win. What about the Baltimore Ravens Well John Harbaugh turns out he comes from football royalty when it comes to coaching, as Jack Harball produced to elite coaches, and he got to go work for I don't know, Ozzie Newsom he inherited a team with Ed Reed ray lewis not a bad spot. Robert Sala went to a place that at a first time general manager, an owner who most people that have been around him, that have worked around him, that just know about the Jets thinks an awful owner in the National Football League doesn't mean he doesn't have money, doesn't mean that he want fund certain things, but in terms of like clearly pretty impulsive and when you work for him, more than likely you're not gonna win. Because I think there's a pretty consistent theme in the NFL that Robert Sala, if he was going to have success as a head coach, he could not have overcome this situation. You cannot overcome poor ownership. Stefanski tried and eventually had bit him in the ass because now that contract really kicks in. Godspeed Kevin. Now Robert, you know, did not even make it to this Monday Night Football game. Don't totally blame him, like this wasn't gonna work. It simply was never gonna work. And I was thinking about the GM. The reason that Aaron Rodgers was on the team is because they had the number two overall pick once upon a time, and they've drafted over the last three or four years a lot of really good players. They've been pretty good at personnel. But they whiffed on Zach Wilson. Now, if you wanted to argue, well, who else should they have picked? Trey Lance, He's even worse than Zack Wilson, justin fields that wouldn't have worked with the Jets. Mac Jones career backup. Yeah, the options weren't good, but he's paid to know that and he's paid to not screw that up. So yeah, Robert Salah has been bad. But they are in this situation because Joe Douglass essentially had to go to the blackjack table with all the money he had and choose to put it on black or red to save this situation. That's what he attempted to do because the Zach Wilson, the quarterback situation for the team blew up in his face, and because of this weird situation of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers him getting kind of butt hurt that they brought in Jordan Love even though they paid him a bunch of money, and I'm acting weird. And then he finally wants a trade. It's like, yeah, he's available, but he's also thirty nine years old. In the last year that he played for the Packers didn't go that well, and the previous year one of the best teammates he's ever had in terms of a player, said like, I need to get out of here because I don't think this guy's going to be around anymore in Devonte Adams. So it was kind of getting weird. So you were banking on Aaron Rodgers to essentially save your reputation and save your coach's job because you were headed toward disaster. And when you put whatever amount of money, if it's all the money you have on black or red, yeah it could hit and it could double your money. If you got one hundred thousand dollars to go buy put for a down payment on a home, you could walk right into casino put it on red. If that thing hits, you got two hundred k. But if that thing misses, you got nothing, and it turns out the risk with this player given what you have surrounding him in terms of Robert Salah, and then when you get Aaron Rodgers, he forces you to hire a specific offensive coordinator. It's always going to come up the opposite color. And this was attempting to put a band aid on a bullet hole. And Aaron Rodgers at thirty nine forty years old, is simply not good enough to cover this up. Think about Tom Brady, the most recent all time great quarterback to change teams, and he was a little older than Aaron. Now, unlike Aaron, his game wasn't predicated on moving around. But he got to go to Tampa, who you could argue had not been well, they had not made the playoffs in like a decade. But he did inherit some random Tampa Bay coach. He got Bruce Arians, a guy who'd proven to be pretty damn good. Well, Bruce is an offensive guy, so what's pretty important for an offensive coordinator? Just like Robert sala the opposite side of the ball, he's a defensive coordinator, Hire someone because you're gonna have nothing to do with that side of the ball. Who's Bruce arians Boy, Todd Bowles. So when Tom Brady signed that contract in Tampa Bay, obviously he was viewed as the savior, just like Aaron Rodgers. But he was inheriting, like the Jets, good players, but a really, really good coaching staff. Aaron Rodgers did not. Aaron Rodgers inherited a head coach in Robert Salad that you'd never say never, But he's not going to be a head coach for the foreseeable future. And no team, college or pro will ever dream. And if they did wake up from that dream, it would be considered a nightmare of making Nathaniel Hackett their offensive coordinator. And this isn't personal, Like I don't know the guy. Hell, I wanted to root for him, bald guy UC Davis, like that's where he went to school, It's where I grew up. But you just he's just terrible. He is not good at his job. And that listen. He's not alone. There are a lot of football coaches in the NFL and in college who are stealing because these jobs pay so much money, and most of them are glorified pe teachers. They wouldn't sniff any job making a quarter of what these guys course a tenth. Nathaniel Hacket's probably making one point five two million dollars to be the offensive coordinator with the New York Jets. It's like he's looking golful at his job. So in no other spot in the private sector could you be that bad at your job, make that much money and hold a position. But the one thing Nathaniel Hackett is going for him is that the quarterback fights him. That's the reason. That's his job security. So if in the next couple of days he's gone, it's clear that the quarterback turned on him, like the quarterback turned on Robert Solow. I don't totally buy him. Robert Sala was completely over his head. Every time Robert Solo went to the podium, he found himself a foot in his mouth And listen, I talked for a living. I enjoy coaches that will say some shit. It makes my job easier. But I also understand when Belichick or Andy Reid goes up to the podium and says nothing. What do they benefit from for saying things? Belichick said it the other day, like, listen, we're obviously thinking one thing, but in what world would it benefit me? My team, my players, the coaching staff to go up there and say it's a cadence issue, especially when you know cadence is one of Aaron Rodgers bread and butter. It's such a BP fastball to go, you know what, We're gonna have to take a look at this. We'll meet and talk about it the next couple of days and work on into practice. We feel pretty comfortable that we'll be able to get it figure out. And he could have do he could do that all the time, but he never chose to do that. He always would say, oh, he's in Egypt. Oh this is going on, Zach Wilson, Ah, this is happening. And he always felt that he was stepping in it. And why does that happen because a guy is not ready for the job. And we have all been put in position I would imagine in jobs we weren't quite ready for. That's part of life. I mean, that's part of moving on up in the world. But when you get put into a position where you're the boss, like you're not middle management, you don't have a couple of people answering to you, like the entire organization is looking at you, and you are unprepared and you don't know how to handle it. You got no shot, and you definitely got no shot when you're with an organization as dysfunctional and as you know, losing and failure is now interwoven within the Jets. It's part of the culture. Like they also play in New York, where there's some other teams. The Yankees, who I was watching the game last night, might lose the Royals. They easily could, and then it'll be like Aaron Boon, they can never win. True, they're not winning in the playoffs, but I do think there's some merit to what Billy Bean said a long time ago, like baseball's kind of random. My shit doesn't always work in the playoffs. Like I know this. I watch the Yankees. They're in the fucking playoffs every year. They're pretty good. They kind of know what they're doing. Are they gonna beat the Royals who knows it's baseball? Are they gonna win the next round against the Guardians? I don't know. I mean, does they have a couple bad pitching outings, does judges back go cold for three weeks? But I feel pretty comfortable as a whole the Yankees are gonna be fine. I have zero faith that the Jets are gonna be fine, Absolutely none, And like if Olbrick gives them a little life, they'll probably lose against the Bills. Who they hire, like who's coming in here? You know? Will they hire William Belichick? He clearly despises this organization. I don't think there's any amount of money they could pay him to get him to accept this job. But like this, ultimately, if we look at the last couple of years from Zach Wilson to the trade with the Packers, like this moment this morning, this is the Jets. This is who this franchise is. They are much much closer to the Raiders than they are the Ravens, the Chiefs, or the Bills. I mean, let's just call a spade or spade that their owner is just a more wealthy East Coast version of the Raiders. Well well, well, Belichick to North Carolina. I was thinking about I think about this a lot, the importance, and I've benefited greatly from this, the just when you say the word timing and timing being on your side, It's benefited me personally, you know, in a professional way greatly, and obviously some of the great business stories in the history of America, from Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos to Elon. Timing has been a huge part of their success. Like Tesla doesn't exist if it's nineteen eighty, but he has the idea. The way everything's worked, you know, I would say economically where some of these states are moving, you know, in terms of what they're pushing. It benefited him. He got huge tax breaks from California to build this and start his company, and it helped lead Tesla into just great, great, of very fruitful time. Obviously, Jeff Bezos starts a company that is selling books online. Well, part of the idea behind that was he realized the brick and mortar was in trouble, and then as time went he adapted his company and now they sell everything. But it really wouldn't have worked without I don't know, the Internet, which changed the game. Think of Apple, Like you could argue the most important invention of my lifetime, like the car, the wheel, fire lights, all that shit was already invented by before I was born. Definitely, the most impactful one has to be this phone, which they clearly have a market share on. Right if you sit down with one hundred people, I would say close to. It's shocking when you don't see one of them having an iPhone. Now, obviously it wouldn't be one hundred percent, but I would guess if you just grabbed one hundred people, that number is much closer to ninety than it is seventy, and potentially closer to one hundred than it is eighty. So I've benefited from that what I'm doing now. When I got out of radio, if it would have been nineteen ninety three, this would not have existed. I couldn't have done a radio show, which are podcasts. Obviously that is different, but in create a studio from my home, it wouldn't have been possible, partly because the Internet didn't exist. I wouldn't have been able to distribute it. You wouldn't have been able to find me. I remember the first time I heard who Chris Russo and Mike Francessa were, and I started listening to them on the internet. Well when I was a kid, when they were crushing it in New York in the late nineties. I was a sports radio junkie, but you didn't have access to people outside of your market. You didn't even know who they were. I remember the first time I ever saw Jim Rome's picture, I'm like, that's what he looks like. Imagine now listening to someone in an audio form and not knowing what they look like. The access we have to a visual of what a guy looks like is so easy. You google them, you go to their Instagram account, basically pull up their podcast to their picture. When I was a kid, you listened to the radio, You had no clue what anyone looked like in talk radio. Obviously musicians you did. And timing has changed the world right when it comes to Internet and the businesses associated with the Internet. Well, when you look at North Carolina like they benefited a lot from they're one of the only jobs open right now that has a lot of money behind them. And Bill Belichick clearly was looking ahead and realizing, I'm probably not going to get an NFL job, or it's not worth the risk of I might only have one or two interviews and there's no guarantee. Im So the old adage of bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, and he jumped at it. But there is no disputing that North Carolina historically is not a great college football job. It's not bad. It's had its moments. But when you think of top I don't know forty college football jobs, I don't even think you would Listen, North Carolina. Now the world has changed with nil. There is a giant elephant in the room with a massive job potentially opening Ryan Day after he lost to Michigan. Listen, there were already some question marks. Regardless of what the media wanted to tell you. Once he lost that game, no one surrounded with that program, alumni, booster or people working as chancellors, board of directors or athletic directors could look at the guy the same. They just can't. He's got a game here in about eight nine days at home against Tennessee. If he loses that game, you can't convince me that they wouldn't rather have Bill Belichick than Ryan Day coaching. Though, here's the problem. You can't fire Ryan Day today because you still have this game. But there is a very very good chance that if he loses that game, you're like, we would have easily fired him for Bill Belichick. Now, we'll see as the information comes out. Was a huge sticking point for Bill making his son the coach in waiting. I don't have this information at the time I'm recording this. But even if they wouldn't, you can't convince me if Bill goes because he's willing to take a college job. Obviously he literally just did. He's cool with it. He's all in that he wouldn't have taken Ohio State, and Ohio State people wouldn't want him over Ryan Day. Because what is the big question mark right now with Ohio State. It's not money, It's not a nil. I just read a report that North Carolina. One of their sales pitches the bill was we'll go from four to five million nil. We'll get that bad boy up to twenty. Ohio State paid twenty this year. Without blinking an eye, I saw the print out of the highest paid coaches assistant coaches this year in college football.
Two of them won.
Ohio State staff Chip Kelly makes two million dollars and their defensive coordinator makes about two and a half, so as two coordinators make NFL coordinator money. And they also have a wide receiver coach who's the recruiting coordinator making well over a million. So in terms of staff budget, in terms of nil, and in terms of prominence standing everything surrounded with it, Ohio State has it all part of taking the North Carolina job is Bill, There's gonna be some effort. Bill's going to have to put in to get the top players. Even with nil and you can sign the biggest checks, but it's still gonna take some time. Ohio State recruits itself. That has never been an issue my entire life. They've always got the best players. You give them, Bill Belichick, because the question mark with the program has been toughness, physicality. Where do they wilt when they play Michigan? Why because they're just not as tough. It's not in their souls, not in their ethos. What do you say when you think Bill Belichick, you think defense? That is truly his baby, building a program of tough guys. Honestly, when you think his offense, same thing. Tom Brady an underrated intangible, he asked, tough motherfucker, Julian Edelman, Logan Mankins, Rob Gronkowski, all the guys they had in the early the iteration in the early two thousands, tough guys North Carolina. I don't know how good he's gonna be, Like, I think their team's gonna be, you know, above five hundred next year. But I'm not predicting they're making the playoffs or anything. I think in the next couple of years they are going to be something to be reckoned with. But if you put him at Ohio State next year, like, what is honestly Bill's biggest advantage. He's smarter at foot everybody. Maybe Andy Reid's probably the one guy now who's elevated to his level, but Bill's ex's no's ability at every position is better than everybody. When you watch Ryan Day, it's like, well, he's a pretty good passing game guy, but the rest of the team defense little hit or miss toughness, definitely hit her miss, and it's like the running game since urban Meyer left has just not been the same, and it's not because of players. So I wonder if Ohio State and listen, there's nothing they could do. It's just kind of bad timing. They were a week away of why wouldn't they immediately call this guy? Can we fire Ryan Day and hire this guy? The problem is, as of December eleventh, it would be difficult to fire Ryan Day, And I think timing wasn't on their side because I wonder if this was a little different that you know, if Bill was willing, and there's some pressure on Bill to take this job because recruiting the transfer portals open. If he was a week away, then he could be the head coach at Ohio State. And even if they wouldn't acquiesce to your son's the coach and waiting well Bill went a national championship, they'd probably let him do whatever he wants. You want to make Steve the next coach. They literally just did it with Urban Meyer. Ryan Day had never done a shit. He'd been a position coach coordinator kinda you know, before he got to Ohio State a couple of years with Urban boom, he's the head coach. So if Belichick were to win a title with is what Urban did, they'd be cool with letting him hand it off. They literally just did it, and for their standards, they wish it was a little better. Still not bad, but I wonder if you're an Ohio State fan, you go, God, couldn't we just ahead Belichick? If I told you right now, if you're an Ohio State fan, would you fire Ryan Day today? Even going into this playoffs to hire Belichick even if it meant losing to Tennessee. Of course, you wouldn't because the reality is you might lose that game anyway, and then you'll probably be stuck with the guy for another year. And if I also told Michigan, or definitely, if I told Michigan Charon Moore, the ad and everyone associated with that program. If I told Penn State and James Frank, if I told Oregon, if I told Alabama, if I told Georgia, would you rather play Ryan Day or would you rather play Bill Belichick? Would it take them a second or two seconds to answer that question? So massive day for UNC. And if I was an Oho State fan, I'd be like, so Pelichick's cool with coming to college, Like he's actually doing the jump and we're stuck with Ryan Day and Chip Kelly and we might lose it home in a week to Tennessee. After Michigan just beat us, when their quarterback through for sixty yards, it's gotta suck. Talk to you guys soon. The volume
