Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down all the NFL and College Football Playoff action!
They start with Brock Purdy throwing another terrible interception late in the game against the Dolphins and why the 49ers would be crazy to offer him the bag (4:00). They contrast Purdy’s performance to another amazing game from Sam Darnold and agree the Vikings would be crazy to let him leave in free agency (10:00).
Despite the loss to the Lions, they offer some optimism for Bears fans for the future of Caleb Williams… if the Bears find the right head coach (23:30), and they debate whether the Lions high-flying offense can power them through the amount of injuries their defense has suffered (29:00).
They laud the Commanders and Jayden Daniels for making the turnaround from “laughing stock” to playoffs after their comeback win over the Eagles (31:00) and Michael Penix Jr. for looking pro-ready in his debut for the Falcons (38:45).
They debate whether the Rams are capable of winning a first round playoff game (45:45) and whether the Jets should consider Aaron Rodgers offer to take a pay cut to return next season (56:15). They credit Lamar Jackson for having one of the best games of his career in a huge divisional win over the Steelers and argue he should receive far more accolades than the criticism he currently receives (1:04:15).
They pivot to the first round of the College Football Playoff and why it wasn’t surprising to see so many blowouts (1:15:00). They rip Indiana for their gutless game plan in which they were just trying to avoid being embarrassed rather than win (1:22:00), and Colin changes his prediction for who ultimately hoists the trophy (1:25:30). Finally, they look ahead to the quarterfinal round and predict the winners (1:30:00).
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The volume. Let's talk about something really really important. If you're ever injured, check out Morgan and Morgan's America's largest injury law firm, and they're there for you. Over one hundred offices nationwide. Think about that, more than a thousand lawyers with over twenty billion. That's a b twenty billion dollars recovered for over five hundred thousand clients. Things happen in life unexpectedly. Submitting an injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is really really easy. Like winning in the NFL is hard, we know that quarterbacking in the NFL is hard, Submitting a claim is easy. You're ever injured, check out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go to for Thepeople dot com, slash Colin or dial pound law from your cell phone. Pretty easy. That's for the people dot com slash Colin or pound law pound five to nine from your cell Morgan and Morgan has a proven track record of fighting for you to get a full and fair compensation if there's an unexpected accident in your life. This is a paid advertisement, all right, We got an hour plus here. John Middlecof, former NFL scout with the Eagles. His podcast is three and out, so let's just start with the late games. We got college football to talk about a lot at the end as well. So Miami beats the forty nine Ers twenty nine to seventeen. I thought this was a perfect example of a game that San Francisco was a little bit healthier. Miami's a finesse team, forty nine ers have a lot to play for, and for the second game in a row, brock Purty with a really ugly pick. I'm telling you now, this team makes more big mistakes like Ricky Piersoll lining up wrong, negates a big debo play that would have given them the lead. So it's not all on brock Purty. And it was a good day for Kittle and Deebo, so he's getting the ball to the right people. But that last interception by brock Purty, how can you watch that and think, yeah, I'm gonna give this guy fifty large. I mean, I'm watching Sam Darnold here literally looks like a poor man's Josh Allen, playmaking athletic, tough, taking a beating. They doesn't have a great run game, and Justin Jefferson looks like Randy Moss will get to that. A lot of this on San Francisco is as the roster has been diminished and aged. They don't have anything special at quarterback. That's the world I see right now.
Yeah, speechless On that last throw, Colin, I just I don't know. We talked about this last week when he threw the pick to end the game against the Rams. Kyle Shanahan defended it last week during you know, leading up to this game. I'm sorry, I'm not throwing go routes to Juwan Jennings with the game on the line. That's not his style and there was nobody in the vicinity of that throw in the Miami game. So to throw that ball as he's getting destroyed. We talked about this last week. He's got to hang his head on being an elite decision maker. That's right, right. He does not have the physical tools of the of the high end guys, and this year in big spots, he has made poor decisions. Like you said, I mean throughout the game. He's he's a solid game manager. They did a good job today of throwing the ball to Debo getting the ball the debo. Debo looked like the guy they gave sixty million to a couple of years ago Kittle. But some players that aren't schemed up, they need him to rise above it and he just can't. And this is why you can't make a decision before you get all the information. And listen, I mean, Kyle's the boss, and if he's dead set on paying brock Perdy, if I'm Jed York and the guy's cutting the check, like, we got to have a serious conversation about this before we We just watched Tua. Who they are in that situation? Do they want to be paying him one hundred and sixty hundred and seventy million dollars? Of course not. He's not good enough either. And I just think the amount of money we're talking right, it's not a fifty million dollar contract or seventy million dollar contract. You're guaranteeing at minimum. What they're talking about one hundred and eighty one hundred and ninety million dollars. Because his representation has an argument, well, look at Trevor Lawrence. He got two hundred million dollars guaranteed. It's like, Okay, that's true, but I can't do that. Why just because someone else makes a poor decision, Am I going to make a poor decision. We've seen everyone argue that with Deshaun Watson. Just because Jimmy HASLM gave him two hundred thirty million dollars fully guaranteed, doesn't mean we're going to do it. So I get the markets, the market, but I'm not I don't want that market for that guy. And this notion of like you don't have anyone else, well, he's got another year under his contract. So let's just this year's a disaster for the forty nine ers. It's one thing to miss the playoffs, to lose this game in Miami, I mean they lost more guys today, but Kyle Shanahan, I mean that they are now destined to be under five hundred. The Rams headed to the playoffs surely again.
And by the way, and the Rams with a very young defense, they're not paying anybody. And now that Pukah's free for another two years, Kyron Williams, look how many Rams are productive and they're not paying anything. To think about that, I mean Puka, Kyraen Williams young, the two defensive verse, I mean they're curl. The safety is one of the guys that makes money. There's nine Rams. Now they pay Cup and Stafford. There's nine Rams don't make any money and they're productive. Anybody that's slightly productive for the Niners. I mean they're opening up the wallet too, like going forward. I look at the Rams future and they're gonna win the division this year and I'm like, boy, I would love to have that roster. I think San Francisco I said this six weeks ago. I think they're worse off than they think. I think they have a real issue.
Well, part of the reason I think they fell obligated to Brandon Ayuk was because of his connection with the quarterback, and he made him and brock At such a good rapport and then his leg got snapped. So that's a big picture problem. It wasn't just a broken leg. I mean, you're talking about an acl and it was a devastating knee injury, and now you have the question with the quarterback. The other thing is the forty nine Ers have been a great place to play quarterback because they had all these yard after the catch wide receivers and their defense was awesome. Well, now it turns out Drake Greenlaw's Ray lewis junior and when he's out on the field, they get shredded. I mean, they get destroyed in the run game. So they need a quarterback. Well, okay, we need a top six to seven quarterback to help carry us. And listen, I like the guy I've defended them. But this is a business. And once we start talking these crazy numb and I don't care about the average per year and all that bullshit, the amount of guaranteed money at minimum. Once you start talking the tuas and the Trevor Lawrences, I just I have to press pause. And these last couple of weeks were pretty glaring, Colin, pretty glaring because they're trying to win these games. We're not tanking here, like they are desperately trying to win these last two games.
And Deebo was productive and Kittle was productive, and Jennings is on the field like, don't give me this. We're all beat up. It's like you got three of your best weapons. And I'm not talking cluster injuries. This isn't like the Rams early on when Pooka, Cooper Cup and three of the offensive lineman were out. That's not what we have here. We're missing Christian McCaffrey. And again when the protection breaks down with brock Purty. He is barely out running three hundred pound guys like he is there. You know, somebody told me once when it comes to quarterbacks in the NFL, there's got to be wow to be a franchise guy like you can watch. And let's pivot now to the Vikings beating Seattle twenty seven to twenty four. When you watch Sam Darnold, you can see wow. And I remember, even when he was with the Jets, I would tell people you can put a two and a half minute YouTube tape together of his Jets highlights and there are is shit on there. You're like, oh my god, flying left, throwing across his body, and he and his connection to Justin Jefferson, who had ten catches, one hundred and forty five yards and two touchdowns. I honestly, I don't know how you let Donald go. How do you break this tandem up?
Well, to me, you can't. And I've been hammering this home for a long time. And it's not just Justin Jefferson Jordan Ddison. I mean, these two guys are gonna combine probably for twenty five touchdowns. So your best player and one of the best players in the league, and I don't know where Jordan Addison ranks on their team, but he's he's closer to the top than the tenth player. So the only goal you have as a team is to find the right quarterback, whether you draft that guy, whether you trade for that guy, whether he lands in your lap as a ten million dollar bridge quarterback and you turn out to kind of strike oil. Who cares? Right? The forty nine ers party was a good example of that a couple of years ago when they were able to pivot, they made the trade for Trey Lance. It blew up in their face, brought pretty fell into their lap at mister Irrelevant, and they were able to make back to back conference championships in a Super Bowl. So yeah, it sucked losing those first round picks. Who cares if JJ McCarty do they win that game with a rookie quarterback on the road in Seattle, in that environment, in the wet no chance? And Gino I thought was playing pretty well. I mean that drive before Sam let him. It's like Seattle, that was a kitchen sink game for them, right, they ran the fake punt that they had to. I mean, this was their season felt like it was on the line a little bit today, and I just don't understand how you could even contemplate letting this guy walk out of out of the building and maybe they'll go we'll see at the sea of the playffs. You were in a position the Detroit Lions are having the best season the history of the franchise, and you can take him out, right, you can. I listen at the end of their season. You know he still got the Packers next week. That's gonna be a really hard game. Obviously Green Bay. It's a short week, so a little advantage Minnesota. But I can't I couldn't even imagine having the conversation, honestly, because I would be much more inclined to have if I got to give the Trevor Lawrence contract to that I wouldn't want to do it, and I would love to give the Baker Mayfield contract, but I gotta keep that guy in the built. How could you look justin Jefferson in the face and be like, don't worry this this young guy. I know he tore his knee and then need an another surgery, but we got you, man, right when you're on the cusps of being I mean, they're one of the best teams in the NFL right now, Colin, it's not even debatable.
Yeah, And unlike Detroit, they're healthy. Unlike the Eagles, they have no drama. I mean, if you start looking at like unlike Kansas City, they got better protection, you start looking at this team. Like I kept waiting earlier in the year, Week five, six seven, I said this thing, it won't it won't last. Sam. I love him, but he can get reckless. I'm going to read you a stat here this. I think this was the sixth game this year that Sam had multiple touchdown passes. Yeah, the last sixth game. It's the seventh game this year for Darnald with multiple touchdowns and no picks. He only had four of those in his career. So now again, neither one of us is denying that. Kevin O'Connell is a big part of this. But it's more than that. When you watch Sam on that final drive, he got the you know what kicked out of him. He's making plays. It's a deep ball to Jefferson he ran for that first down. Like you were seeing the entire Sam Darnold package, his toughness, his playmaking, his legs, his vision, his playmaking, his deep ball arm. Like you that last drive. If you've never seen him play and you watch the last drive, you'd be like, who's this tough kid he's got. I've said this, I thought his comp coming out. I didn't think he was nearly as good as Andrew Luck, but I said there's some Andrew Luck was a big, tough, thick kid who, by the way, threw a lot of picks. Andrew could get a little reckless. Now he's better than Sam, I'm not denying that, But when you watch him, there's a just an innate playmaking ability. There's a courage to the way Luck and Darnold play like they're going to take chances and throw the ball in windows because they have such trust in their arm strength, and that in his career has gotten him in trouble. But I'm I'm watching that today and I know I'm writing some notes down on the Darnald late fourth quarter drive, and I just think it encapsulates what makes Sam Sam.
Do you remember, I think it was the second game of the season. They played the forty nine ers and he threw like one hundred yard touchdown. They were pinned and he threw a bomb and the momentum started so strong early for him, most people went, there's no way he will be able to continue this, and we're basically at Christmas and he is doing I mean, what he just did on that final drive. Because you just listed all those characteristics. The intangibles at quarterback are also, i say, or defining separator and toughness is a quality we don't talk enough about quarterback. That is clearly not a question mark with him obviously resonating with his teammates. But I just get back to how could you look all the good players on your team in the eye and go, this guy doesn't give us the best chance. Just figure it out. That's all these players are gonna care about it.
And by the way, this is not a great roster Defensively, it's kind of okay. So they're they're they're getting in these games where Sam becomes really pivotal because they can't. I mean, he's had a lot of these fourth quarter drives. It's not a dominating defense. It's it's with Brian Flores. They'll take risks, they turn, they take the ball away. But he's in a lot of these close games they have put him to the This is not like Jared Goff early in the season where you could just turn and hand it off with a dominant OH line. They lost their left tackle. Aaron Jones isn't washed, but there's not a ton left. So a lot of this offense is very Sam reliant. These wins are Sam reliant.
Well, because they have explosive wide receivers and he's got a huge arm and he's willing to let it rip. The other thing is like the way they fell into this. They didn't mortgage everything on Sam and then draft JJ and they have one hundred million dollar contract like the Falcons did, and now we're going to eat a bunch of dead money. They did this, and then JJ McCarthy fell to him and they got aggressive and they got him and it just worked out. And then it turns out like just figure out who the best one was. You know, Atlanta's in this weird spot where they're gonna have to eat a bunch of money, waste money on his contract. Like, no one blames Minnesota for drafting JJ McCarthy, but once you find this, like this guy was drafted. Kirk Cousins was a third or fourth round pick right he was thirty seven years old. This guy was a third overall pick who obviously his career got derailed. But in terms of size, arm strength, and now production, I mean, he's gonna throw my guests over under thirty seven ish touchdowns and they, I mean they easily could go into the last week of the season with a chance to be the number one seat. One of the chances that JJ McCarthy in the next couple of years leads to the number one seat one coming off injury, and two he was a project. He didn't even have to He never had to play like that in Michigan. Part of the thing was like we got to expand him. You know, he's got to he's got to learn to kind of carry us, you know, as time goes on, because that's not how he played in college. Like Sam's been used to that day one with the Jets and now that it's kind of come together mentally. But the play, I mean, that throw to win the game to Justin. He's their best player, is Justin Jefferson by and he's one of the best players in the league. He looks like peak Randy Moss right now with that guy. Yeah, so how you break that up? I just don't. I don't think you can. I don't think you can look your team in the eye, and I don't think you can do that to your fans.
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Okay, I want to talk. It wasn't one of the closer games, but I think it deserves discussion. Detroit beat Chicago thirty four to seventeen, So Caleb was pretty good twenty six to forty three hundred and thirty two yards. Since Week eight, he's got ten touchdowns and no picks. I mean, he's lost his head coach, his play caller. It's been massive controversy. He's in the best division in football, so you know, first of all, my take is this, this is a mess. We've got like the third coach this season, Like it's a mess. We can all say that this is a mess, but Caleb is six rushes, forty throws. He's not throwing picks. And if you go back to his first year at USC and go to Oklahoma, that was always one of the remarkable things. And that's a trait of mahomes generally higher risk quarterbacks luck you know Elway, Josh Allen, you know, risk reward quarterbacks. You get a lot of turnovers. This is as bad if they hire let's say Rabel, this is the most chaos he'll ever be involved in. He's not throwing picks. Since Week eight does not have one, and again trailing in all these games, they only win one way. Now they have to win by shootout, so everybody in the ballpark knows they're throwing the football. That's my first takeaway. The second takeaway was did you notice Detroit with the like fake fumble? And Peter Schrager has something on his Twitter account he said, you think maybe Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator, is showing off for the Chicago brass and guys, I'm available because it was funny. They didn't need to use that. You could argue, just save that for a playoff game.
What are you doing save for the Bikings game to win the division?
Probably, But it is when Schreger put that, I thought that is kind of interesting, is it not.
I think you have to judge Caleb right now as like a draft prospect because every game they're down fifteen to nothing, twenty nothing before you even blink. So a lot of his big passes, which you could his arm strength jumps off the TV screen. But Detroit's defense with the injuries right now is pretty putrid, so you can throw on him. And it's just when he is making these great plays, the games already out of hand, so you're just judging him like can I mold that talent? Can we and the team? And even Ben? I saw Ben Johnson gave some quotes this week just seeing him on cross tape. Obviously his talent is it's a tangible thing to watch. I do have a hard time like winning football, like they got a long way to go, the whole franchise. It is just because he's talented. We've seen a lot of talented quarterbacks and bad spots get to rail. I think best case scenario, if I'm a Bears fan, you look at this year like the Rams that first year with GoF with Jeff Fisher, and just keep your fingers crossed that you can land to McVeigh, whether that's variable, whether that's Ben Johnson into a complete turnaround, because they are. I thought early in that game it had one, two, three can Coon written all over it. The team is in disarraye I mean they have some parallels to the Jets where they fired Eberflus and they got dramatically worse. You know, then more got put on the plate of the offensive coordinator. But like he's not playing it. To me, it's hard to judge, Like what does that look like when it's seventeen to seventeen, you're playing a real scheme defense in the third quarter, Like he's not in any of those environments. So you're just you're gonna have to base it on can I mold that talent and can I improve the team because right now, none of their plays really matter. Like you said, it's it's more positive than negative. Sound like he's throwing three picks a game. But I have a hard time judging anything with the Bears. Besides just they're the ultimate dumpster fire right now. It's pretty sad because you watch some of these teams like the tight Every time you look up the Titans or the Raiders or the Jacks, like they have a lot of bad players playing. You watch the Bears like they got really good players, Like if they get the right coach, you could see them being a nine or ten win team because they have absolute more high end starters. But they are just in such disarray early in this game, in every game they play, I mean, they've been down twenty four to nothing to Niners, sixteen nothing to the Lions. They're down again twenty to nothing before the even the end of the first half today, and it's just like, what does this game even mean? And then all of a sudden, if you're the other team, you kind of you're like, let's be careful here, like you said, well the free alarming that Ben did run that trick play in that spot, Like why would he do that?
It felt when Schreeger put that, I thought, it's not it's pretty good take. Jamiir Gibbs had twenty first half carries, so there's no Montgomery now. And my first take was I went and looked, I'm like Jesus, they're just giving this guy the rock every play, and you know, I love the run game, but you got to have two studs Kyen Williams for the Rams, like Blake Korham. If they don't trust him, whatever it is, they just don't give him the ball much. I mean, Kyen Williams twenty five carries is what he does, and he's a smaller back. I'm looking at Jamiir Gibbs. He's more the lightning right He's he is kind of the home run hitter. I look at this and I think if they got to the NFC Championship, you got two more weeks, then you got two playoff games. Boy, he better not get hurt because he's gonna have to carry the ball because with this defense. Let's be honest, John, you don't want you don't want golf throwing forty times. You want to close these games that you don't want your defense on the field. You want to keep that defense that injury really Lions defense on the field. Gibbs carrying it twenty times in the first half. My first takeaway is how sustainable is that.
I think getting the home field advantage for them is bigger than any team in the league, including the Chiefs, who feel, you know, like more likely they're going to get it now. They are desperate need of some guys coming back on defense, because this is not a seven game series. And if your offense has an off half against the Packers, against the Eagles, against one of these good teams, against the Vikings in a playoff game, you would be in trouble because those teams can score. So like, I have a hard time watching that Lion's defense, and who knows. I mean, they keep showing the ir list every single week, nineteen guys you know on injury reserve. Their offense is pretty pretty freaking good though, even without Montgomery. I mean, Laporte is a stud, Jamison Williams just one of the faster guys in the league. Obviously, Saint Brown is just an incredible over the middle, and they have an offensive coordinator who's just a lita's job. I mean, the cohesion they have. But I don't know if they can win the NFC with all these injuries. I just think it's really really we saw it in college football. If you get into a cold weather situation, if they they could easily be the five seed. I mean, we'll see how these next fifteen to twenty days play out, But you got to go outdoor. It's not as high as scoring. You gotta play defense. We know they can run the ball, but you gotta be able to play defense, and they would be able to play defense if everyone was healthy. But it's just not And I it would be pretty sad because of how great of a season they had. But it's an all time like, it's pretty remarkable that their record is their record, given the the injuries didn't start last week. I mean they've been going for a month plus and even back Dayden Hutchinson a long time ago. So it's I give Dan Campbell a lot of credit because a lot of teams would have just cracked a little bit and they just found a way. I mean, they came out today and listen, obviously the bear stink. They came out today ready to kick ass and take names.
Are Week sixteen Reaction presented by Uber Eats. Get game day deals all season long on Uber eats. It's time to look at this weekend's tastiest matchup. In this week's Sunday Night Football, brought to you by Uber Eat, Washington beats Philadelphia thirty six thirty three. There's an asterisk because Jalen Hurts had a concussion. Kenny Pickett came in. Kenny Pickett was okay. Actually his first pass was a home run down to aj Brown. Smart gett evenw where to go with the ball. But so this is the second year in a row where a tire fire of a franchise. Last year it was Houston, this year it's Washington, laughingstock for a decade plus. You bring in a new coach, a sharp offensive coordinator, a very good rookie quarterback who's taken second and you're going to make the playoffs, and it's like, this is why the NFL is king. And if you watch Jaden Daniels who ended up with five touchdown passes against the number one defense Philadelphia, there was that game winning drive and there was some turnovers early, it was pretty choppy, but if you watch that game winning drive, you're like, yeah, that's what a franchise quarterback looks like.
And I just go back to this.
It's one of the things. I mean, ask this kid to throw the ball thirty nine times against a very good defense and you know, Philadelphia had a big lead, so that's a tough environment. Great defense, well coached, teamed, good pass rush. I think if I'm you know when people said the reason I picked the Commanders to make the playoffs, well, I think it was my every year I pick a dark horse team to make the playoffs, and the reason I picked Washington, And I said, if you go back and look at how bad the previous owner was and the previous GM and the previous coach, you had to clean out everybody. I don't know if Washington can win a playoff game, but I thought today and again Jalen hurts concussion is out, I think they're like Tampa. I think they're a really live dog in the playoffs, do you yeah.
I mean the quarterback's pretty remarkable, you know, for his great Obviously, Lamar Jackson's become one of the best players we've ever seen. But this guy is better as a rookie than Lamar was as a rookie. Now, in fairness, Lamar had only played a couple of years in college. This guy was there for five plus years. But he is much more polished year one than Lamar. And his game is somewhat similar, right, I mean his legs today he made some huge plays with his legs huge and like listen, Jalen went out and that's huge. I mean, I'm not a big candy pick a guy at all. But he's not playing Jalen Hurst. He's playing Vic Fangio in that defense, which is I mean, not just healthy and awesome defensive line, and he was he was carving them up. I think he he's blown me away. I always hesitate to think rookies are going to take the league by storm. That's why everyone Caleb, I say, this league is so hard. He to do that at this point in time in the season, This season wasn't on the line or whatever, but they easily could have lost this game. Everything was gonna be okay, and he just wouldn't let him loose. And they are and he's throwing to guys. A couple guys I don't even I follow this stuff for a living, Like who's that? You got to google them, right, and it's it's not Christian McCaffrey. It's his brother, Luke McCaffrey. And Terry mclaurin's a really good player, but he's nott Justin Jefferson and those guys, I mean, those two look like Montana and Rice when they're connect Their cohesion year one is just out of this world. And like you said, It is amazing. You know, in football, so many people go, why doesn't Virginia McCaskey sell, or why doesn't Mark Davis cell It's like, guys, you would much rather have this six or seven billion dollar asset and live your life through the asset, which is going to be completely the same as having all the cash and you have to give half the cash to the government and no one then cares about you, and you're completely irrelt. These people don't sell if they don't have to. You know, Dan Sneyder basically had to. They got lucky that it all played out that way and they just got a real franchise again. But what really separates you, you know, Dan Quinn's clearly solid, is when you get a special quarterback, it changes your franchise forever looks. I think Sean mcdermot's good and their GM is good, but Josh Allen is the reason that the Bills are the Bills, right, and this guy is going to be the reason that this franchise. I mean, there's if you had to pick a quarterback for the next ten years in that division, you wouldn't hesitate to pick Jaden over Jalen, and Jalen's a good player. Yeah, Jack's a good player too.
Yeah, Jayden's better already. I think I trust him more from the pocket.
And I'm not even talking money. I'm saying if they all made the same amount of money, if all things were equal. I know one guy is on a rookie contract. I'm saying, even if that didn't exist, you would take him. I mean, his physical characteristics. You know, Jalen's a good runner. This guy's a much more explosive runner. Jalen's more of a power runner. And like you said, he is. His accuracy, you know that was one of the things coming from college. He was great deep ball thrower. Well, yeah, he had Molik Neighbors and Brian Thomas. I mean, two guys did have a chance to be like all pro players in the NFL. You're like, how's this going to translate to the NFL? And it is because it's like third down plays, accuracy over the middle. It's obviously he can throw the go route, which he has done all season long, but like it'll be third and seven, it'll keep a play alive and hit erch or someone over the middle. You're like, damn and Kingsbury, what a great hire and This just gets back to ownership. What happened. The Raiders only offered him a two year deal. They were kind of low balling him. The new owner comes in, Hey, we'll guarantee you three years, ten million dollars. Come here, come work with the number two overall quarterback. Cool. I'm there. So it's like we don't talk a lot. We do that a lot with like free agency or you should have traded up for this player in the draft. But coaches Mark Davis would only offer him a two year deal. Why because Mark Davis knew that he might fire his coach. Well, if you're going to live in that world, you're gonna lose out on a guy. Now. Would that have changed much for the Raiders? Who knows. But Antonio Pierce wanted him and then all of a sudden something changes and he's with Washington and safe to say that that was that was a huge moment for the franchise Land in Kingsbury because him, I mean, he's so good with these running and mobile quarterbacks. Yes, were the year. Is it even a question now or him Bo Nicks? Because I thought Bo Nicks kind of surpassed him. And it feels like Jayden after this win.
Well, and it does matter that Washington's in that Cowboy Philadelphia Giant Division. Those are big games. You know, it's Bo's playing against Mahomes. But I think sometimes Jayden got off to a hot start and Jaden's getting is closing it with dramatic wins. So it probably now is back in Jaden Daniels court. But you know, you can do so many things right in this league, and if you don't have quarterback right, you're screwed. It just doesn't matter and a chance, you know, I mean a great example is that as the Colts, I think they have a really good roster, but you know they won a game today with seven completions. Like Anthony Richardson, I was texting an executive in the league today and I'm like, you just you got to go after Sam Darnold. You can't win in this league completing seven and eight passes. That's you can tell by what a coach calls what he thinks of his quarterback. And like the Colts don't want to throw the ball, they just don't want to throw the ball. So when I look at Jayden Daniels, I think the thing that blew me away Day one was I remember early in the year they were having him throw from the end zone, and Sean Payton has bon Nicks throwing from the end zone, Like the Kingsbury doesn't care. He'll have that kid at the four yard line, roll out in the end zone.
You don't care.
And like what you're telling me is is he's a veteran. That was this week's Sunday Night Football, brought to you by Uber eat has, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Uber eats has the best game day deals all season long. Order now for game day. I saw Michael Pennix today. He looked like an eight year vet. He had a pick that wasn't his fault. Atlanta dropped some passes. But I watched Michael Pennox today, you know, and again thirty four to seven over the Giants, but eighteen to twenty seven, a couple hundred yards. You could just see the poise in the accuracy. I mean, I thought Pennix looked pretty good. I thought even twice he threw the ball away and I was like, oh yeah, he even he even had acumen, and like he was very quick, very quick. You know, he's got these mits for hands, so he can almost palm the ball. He's you know he can. He's a pocket quarterback. But I don't look at him like goffer Tua because just the way he played in crappy outdoor, whether it's Indiana and Washington, he's got huge mits. I think his ball cuts through rain and wind. But I watched him today and it was sort of like even when he was throwing the ball away, it was like, oh, he's totally under control.
You know, think about this quarterback class. They all, I know, that was only his first start, and a lot of people are like, well, his penix's box score wasn't great, Like did you guys watch the game? Watch the game? He looks light years better and more his arms more lively and quicker than cousins. My question was, why didn't they make this move three weeks ago? Right? You know, why did they wait so long? You know you know what they wait million dollars?
The Arthur Blank wrote a check and he's like, guys, we got a lot of heat for this. We better squeeze every last ounce of juice out of that check. I think it's basically the owner. It's like, okay, now they may have waited one game too long. But I think when you write that check, because I said, I thought Cousins was good until Thanksgiving next year, and he made it to about Thanksgiving this year and he fell off a cliff. But I think that's the reason.
I was listening to a podcast this week for a guy that used to work with Steve Cohen on his trading desk, and Steve's big thing always was when you see a loser, you have to pivot or we're just going to lose more money. And I think if they end up missing the playoffs, they rode that the money was already spent. You already did it, The mistake already happened. You made this draft choice. Who I think Schrager or someone reported he hadn't been getting any reps. You know, in practice, the backup doesn't get many reps. And when you have a veteran like Cousins, he got no reps all season, I mean with the scout team. But you're not running your own offense. So he's just thrown into the fire today when he's been over servicing the defense. This is not like there's not a rotation going on in the NFL. So he's just thrown to the fire. And this was a thing with Pennix. He was a ready made guy. This is a twenty four year old who's been playing college for ten years. He was a He wasn't a JJ McCarthy or Drake May project. I think this we see all the time over the last decade, these these draft classes that have three or four guys to get drafted in the first round, and usually half of them after the first year. We're like, ugh, oh, yes, all these guys. I mean, obviously, Caleb's physical abilities jump out. Jayden has got to be one of the best rookie quarterbacks in recent memory. Drake May I mean, he's dealing with a shit show there. And you watch that first drive today throw a beautiful touchdown against the Bills. You're like, God, I understand why if males fired, a lot of people would be interested in this job. You watch Penix, You're like, god, this kind of looks like Washington, like just his manner reasons. Bo Nix has gotten better and better and better and better. And that's the thing where it's like, you're just gonna risk the percentages aren't on your side that oh yeah, JJ's also gonna hit. And all six of these guys are gonna be good players. When you got Sam Darnold in your lap, I think back to the Donald thing. At minimum you got a franchise because you kiss think let him hit the open market and get do a bidding board. No, you just franchise them and then figure it out from there. Minimum. If you're not, if you can't just extend them, which I would do.
Yeah, I think when I watch Panics today as Atlanta one thirty four to seven, first thing is poised, second, his accuracy, not to throw, afraid to throw the ball down the field. But it goes back to something Herbert first game. You could see it. Burrow first, second game, you could see it. C J. Stroud second game, you could see it. Mahomes first game year one, week seventeen you could see it. Even Lamar when he came in week eleven for Baltimore, You're like, holy shit, what is that? That doesn't look like anything We try to talk ours. I mean, I was talking to Giant fans four years into Daniel Jones and they're blaming, and I'm always like you if a guy is an if like if the ONLD line's great, and if he's got he's not a guy, and like it's like anything else, if you have to talk yourself into stuff, then it's not really it's not true. You watch Pennix today, I would absolutely stand behind that guy's gonna play for ten years in this league if if injuries don't get in the way. That's a ten year starter and a multiple Pro bowler.
I think, if I'm Arthur Blank today, I go, are we not a nine or ten win today? If Penix had just been our full time starter and we had that ninety one hundred million dollars that we gave Kirk Cousins to allocate on other positions that we desperately needed, and then this offseason, because no one's going to trade for a twenty seven and a half million dollar, thirty seven year old player that's declining that we're gonna have to cut and then have a thirty five million dollar dead cap in the second year of our rookie quarterback. I mean, it's just it's pretty bad business. And when you look at the last couple of years of teams that needed some bridge quarterbacks, right the Bucks last year, they get Baker Mayfield for four or five million dollars this year and they make the playoffs. This year, you get Sam Darnold for ten million dollars boom. You're competing for the number one seed, and we paid a guy coming off an achilles who clearly that injury has affected his biomechanics of his arm strength, which is extremely weak. Isn't it interesting?
Aaron was bad early, he's better now. Kirk was good early, he fell off the cliff, so their bodies have reacted differently to it. Aaron actually in the last four weeks has been pretty damn.
Good because far superior athlete.
Yeah, that's probably it.
Yeah, yeah, I think that has to be it. I mean far superior, like a guy in if you're just ranking him, you know, if Lamar's a ten, you know, Aaron's like a seven. And Kirk for NFL standards, what's Kirk three two? I mean it's pretty low. And did you have that number that Remember he threw a pick six? What it was his charger game and it was it was the slowest pass of the year in the NFL or something. And I truly listen, I'm no doctor or trainer, but clearly that's affecting him because I thought last year, before he got hurt, his arm strength was much stronger than it was early on in his career, and I think they they kind of bet on that guy when in the history of sports, and I know we have gotten I would say a little spoiled because of Tom's run at forty five. Let's just put in Lebron. Those guys are outliers. Most guys when they have an injury, fall off a cliff, and that's what happened to Cousins. And I truly believe that you had all these new people and then they fell in love with Pennix after the signing, and it was I hated the move at the time because I thought Pennis, if you would have drafted Drake may or JJ McCarthy been like, okay, Pennis was not a sit behind a guy, just start them immediately and I listen, maybe they wouldn't have been good enough, but I know just watching him, he's way more talented this year and today than Cousins. I don't even think it's close.
Yeah, So Rams beat the Jets nineteen to nine. Another strange, ugly first half for Stafford and McVeigh, which you know your first half is your scripted half. A really rough first half, but they had a great fourth quarter. The Jets hat a fourth quarter league and just evaporated. The Rams are seven and four and one score games and the Jets are three and seven and one score games. So the Jets have been in games and they can't make plays late, and that was typical today. It was penalties. You know. It's it's interesting. They got Tyler Higbee, their top tight end back, so that's another weapon. So the Rams for the first time all year are completely healthy on offense. They have all their starters back. This was the first game. But it's funny they're healthy and they're hot. It was the third straight game with no sacks allowed. So I think we would both agree that when Stafford's upright and not pressured, he's a top four quarterback in the league, and he he is sensational. But when I watch them and then I watch you know, it's funny. When you watch the Rams win, what I see is coaching excellence, Like they just don't make a lot of mistakes. Now, Kyraen Williams got an unsportsman like penalty today that killed the drive and they settled for a field goal. But it didn't it wasn't punitive, it didn't cause a loss. But do you I watch the Rams and I'm like, they're five players away. I just I think they're good enough to narrowly win a playoff game. But Minnesota's so good. Detroit and Philly have much better rosters. I think green Bay is just getting better. Like on a weekly basis, Can the Rams win a playoff game because they're gonna win their division?
Well, more than likely they're gonna be the three seed in green Bay is gonna be the sixth. That's a pretty tough first round matchup. I would take green Bay and green Bay is pretty well suited to play indoors and score a lot of points, right, I mean, that's some serious team speed. What did they do last year when they played indoors against the Cowboys? They lit up that scoreboard. So if Love's on, that's a tough draw for the Rams. Back to back years getting the Lions and the Packers more than likely. Because I don't think McVeigh gets enough credit for this. Right. We talk a lot about him being this great young schematic guy with Kyle, and I mean, Kyle's taking a hit this year. But you know Andy, way back in the day when he first got hired in Philly. Last year they were three and six and went seven in one. I think their one loss was like to the Giants. This year, they were one and four. Now, granted that was a lot of injuries, but I don't give a shit. If you have a lot of you're one and four. I mean, that's a pretty deep hole to dig out of. And now they're more than likely gonna win eleven games, right, They got Arizona coming up, who's just not very good, and Seattle might just be done by that point in time and that game might not even matter. Is this guy kind of like a younger version of Tomlin in terms of leadership and holding guys together. And I think we got very lucky because clearly he came close. I don't blame him. I mean, someone starts throwing fifteen eighteen million dollars in front of you to go call one game a week on Thursday night, the Amazon thing, and he turned that down, and he stayed, and we've really seen him rise to the occasion these last couple of years, because, like you said, I like the Jets. I had money on the Jets today just because that West Coast team they had just had a huge win that put him in position. Even like they were, they controlled their own destiny. You're coming five hours morning kickoff in New York, New York. The Jets have actually been playing better. Acted that game to be weird, and it was for a long time, but ultimately the kareem rose and they separated, like you said in the fourth quarter. But I think McVeigh is like a young Tomlin to just the adversity, being able to just handle different guys. Now he's proven that he can handle sweet Vets Hall of Fame guys like Stafford or Aaron Donald, but all these young guys he made, you know, I think it was hard for him to have best friend become the defensive coordinator. They've been freaking awesome on defense. I mean, this young guy I tacked around the league and everything. I hear the violence from Verse and Fisk, the two Florida State guys, which just people love those two guys around the league, just the violent, violent group.
I mean, they need a number one corner. They may take a corner in the first round, and they need an offensive tackle and a boundary receiver. But if they get a number one corner, dude, that means they got two more years of pay nobody on this defense. This is the young you know how We've been saying the Packers is the best young offense in the NFL. The Rams have the cheapest, most economical, best young defense that need in a lockdown corner. But I don't know if they can win a playoff game because I think the AFC is better at the top. I think the NFC is deeper. In fact, let me throw this out to you, the playoff picture today. I think this is right. Baltimore would open at Houston, Denver at Pittsburgh. Would it be Minnesota or Green Bay at the Rams?
Let me bring up the playoffs. I think it's Houston. It's yeah. Technically Pittsburgh has the three seeds, so it would be Houston Baltimore. It'd be Pittsburgh Chargers and Broncos Bills, and the NFC would be Rams, Thackers, Minnesota, Bucks, Eagles Washington, which would be a tough game for the Eagles.
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And after you watch.
Penix today, I don't think there's any question Jayden, you know. I mean, so it's like Green Bay the Jets. They're in a weird spot, like there's not Aaron's plan pretty well now and he and Devonte are cooking. Yeah, I think I think you don't have a choice. I think he's moving better. I think you're stuck with Aaron.
Yeah, I didn't hear what your thoughts were on the article that came out. But you know, the Jets, they're such an easy target right now that any story you read is just one hundred percent believable. There's nothing crazy enough that can come out. I do think people would be stunned how many of these owners. Now, some of these owners are older, so their children like Jonathan Craft, you know, in their fifties, or Stephen Stephen Jones. But those that have younger children who can be the most honest with a billionaire, they're kids. I was watching Charlie Woods play with Tiger Woods today. Charlie can say things of Tiger that no one else can because everyone else that their owner talks to is on their payroll. So I think you know the story about the Madden rating, it sounds really like whoa provocative and crazy. I think these owners get told crazy things by their children all the time, and that goes for Jonathan Craft to robber Craft and Steven Jones to Jerry It's it might not be Madden ratings, but these people have ideas that are unfiltered, and I think the Jets aren't that much different than the majority of these teams with just these owners that are just kind of living and because forever as an NFL owner, you you know, when I was a kid, people when the nine to forty nine ers were playing a candlestick, the de Bartolos had family money. But it's not like the forty nine ers. The league wasn't making as much. They were very dependent. These guys have monopoly money. Now even the poor owners are billionaires. So winning and losing. Used to have to win to generate money. Well, now even if you lose, you're still getting the five hundred million dollars and your team's gonna still make some other money in you know, extra revenue streams, so you don't have to worry about winning to make money. So you're like, I kind of that's my theory on why some of these owners no longer. In the eighties ninety seventies, you hire whatever coach you thought would make sure or give you the best chance to win, even if he was a complete asshole. Now it's like, you know, we're making money no matter what. I'd rather have a guy that you know, might listen. So I wondered, like everyone was turned off by Belichick because of that, you know, Vrabel and I don't blame for Rabel, Like, listen, I know what I'm doing here playing in the league for fifteen years. I played at Ohio State. Like, my ideas are my ideas. But I think you kind of have to be a politician a little bit now to even get hired because these owners like don't want to deal with it because I can't go broke no matter what.
Well, it's funny when Harbaugh took the Chargers job. You know, some people saw it as a risk, but I know Dean Spanos and I know their history because we grew up with it on the West Coast. He was never a meddling guy. He had a reputation. I thought it was earned that he was cheap a lot of first round holdouts. But once he moved into Sofar and he pays a dollar rent a year, and Stan Kronkey is footing the bill. They're rolling in cash and he's not cheap, and they're paying for players, and they're paying Herbert and they're they paid Harbaugh that job. I was thinking the other day the three best JO openings I could think of in the last ten years. Lafleur to Green Bay was a great job. Aaron in his prime I would say Mike McCarthy, you know Dak was in his prime, are close to it. It's a pretty good job. And then Harbaugh to Herbert and Rashaun Slater, the left tackle is a pretty good job. Most of these jobs are awful. I don't think because of Woody Johnson and because of a lot of reasons in Chicago, I think those are the two best jobs, one for personnel the Jets and the other just because of the quarterback. But are you sure Vrabel should take either one of these jobs?
No, No, absolutely not. I mean the Jets have proven to go to a place where coaches die and because their owner does I mean his kids. That's real, Like he's given it in part of that article, which I didn't, I just assumed he was going back overseas. He's not going Donald pick someone else. So Wood he's staying. So every day when you go to the office, Wood, he's there in Chicago. You have to answer to Kep and warned like that's that's not like that's a fact right now, Like that's that is what happen is happening. I also think Jim, you know the version of Jim that we saw with San Francisco, where I think most people describe him being the crazy. He's completely different now when you watch some of these post games, you know, after wins and he's he's pointing at John Spanos, he feels much lighter. I feel like much and I know he's driven in the chip on his shoulder to win, but he feels less trying to take on the world than I think he was a decade ago. And who knows, maybe that's with money, maybe that's with win the National Championship, aud and maybe being around college kids and his dad. I think the last six it's a little different atmosphere than the NFL, you know, really seeing guys because most of his players aren't going to the league, right They're going to be citizens in society, and I bet that just it just gives you a little life perspective. He feels like a different human being. Where you know Rabel. I'd want Rabel as my coach, But I just wonder some of these owners, like I don't know if he's gonna listen to me. These guys want because money now is no longer the Jets can win four games for the next ten years, and what he's print in cash, so and he's given you his opinions, like, let's face it, what he's got some vibes of Dan Snyder in Washington. It's a little different, but there are some similarities. Who would want to do that?
Yeah, if I was Mike Rabel's agent, I'm not I because if you go and look one year from now, Joe Burrow could need a new coach. I means think about it, like like Dak could need a new coach. There's there's I mean, Jalen Hurts and Howie Roseman can need a new coach. Like there there were a year and I keep saying this John Andy Reid's health. If Andy Reid won a third straight I'm not sure you know, I don't. I don't know.
I think he's look at slim right now, Colin. I saw I saw a side shot. He looks good. I don't know.
What if Sean McDermott gets bounced early that job could I think next year you have potentially three or four really interesting jobs. I I'm just saying, if I'm Mike Vrabel, I'm not sure I want these jobs.
I don't necessarily subscribe to this line of thinking, but it does feel like a lot of people. You know, you get that one year window where you either pounce right. Mike McCarthy did that, like fired coaches in Green Bay. People would come over and he kind of got the buzz going, or you kind of go into the media and keep your name out there. Rabel's you know, Frable's not a big pump is chest out on TV. He's working for the Browns. It's not really his style. But I think most people would say, you start going a couple years away, you somewhat get lost in the shuffle if you're not front and center, you know, because every year there's a couple of new young offensive coaches. I don't necessarily think that way, but clearly some of these owners and people, you know, the agents around the league think that's kind of risky.
You know.
I think some coaches get worried about that. All of a sudden, you get lost out of the shuffle. And with him, he's always got the connection. If anything goes where with Ryan Day, I'm he'd be their number one call. And luckily for college athletics, that pays one hundred million dollars, so he's always got that on the back burner. But I think you got to be careful with that, because all of a sudden, you could look in a couple of years, in a couple of cycles, and maybe he's kind of out of the loop. Yep.
I want to talk about one game yesterday and then we'll get to college. Ravens thirty four, Steedter seventeen. And I was thinking about Lamar Jackson until Steph Curry was the MVP of the Finals and did it without KD. So he won a championship pre KD. But then when KD arrived and appeared to be kind of the big shot maker for the Warriors, it to some degree hurt the overall image of Steph. Not the brand, but kind of the image. And then KD leaves, and you know, being the MVP of a finals, you know in the Celtics, I think like, finally, you and I knew it, everybody knew it, but it finally gave him credibility that was long overdue as the greatest shooter of our lifetime. And you know, there were people I remember NBA players, they had a poll several years ago. It's like four years ago. Half thought Westbrook was the better player than Steph Curry, which was remarkable to me. But I feel like Lamar Jackson is become little Steph Curry, Like we're just nitpicking, and we just you know, Steph Curry's not a great defender. He didn't have a major body take away the three point shot. What is he? Lamar Jackson is winning seventy six percent of his games, And I understand the postseason struggles, but there are great coaches who struggled in the postseason. Dan Marino struggled in the postseason. John Elway for a year, struggled in the postseason before Terrell Davis right like he was getting blown out in Super Bowls, he was losing playoff games. I just Lamar had one hundred and fifteen passer rating against the Steelers yesterday, and I think we're getting to a point where we're not celebrating. I mean, Steph Curry is the best shooter and handler of my lifetime. Lamar Jackson is the most athletic quarterback of my lifetime. And he made a couple of plays against Pittsburgh and I'm just like, come on, man, this this thing. And you know, Jay Flowers isn't a huge target. Mark Andrews, He's got good targets now, not great. I don't know. I think I feel like I've been defending. Usually I don't have to defend great players. I feel like I'm constantly defending Lamar Jackson.
I've been critical just because in the big spots he's let you down. You know, last year in the playoffs was Taylor made for him and he just got frenetic. I thought yesterday was one of the finest performances of his career. And he's thrown four or five touchdowns and three fifty four hundred yards. I don't care about the box score because one they took away his running ability and where he evisceerates the majority of these teams that he doesn't play that often is he runs and throws on you. Well, yesterday couldn't run because what are the stealers take away from him because their edge is are so fast and they're so used to playing them. It was like, we're gonna let Derek Henry run, but you are not gonna run wild if you got a pass. And he was so much calmer than he was the last time he played him, and the way he was against the Chiefs where he got really frenetic and he eviscerated them, and I thought like if that version of Lamar plays a playoff game against the Bills or the Chiefs, like this team can win the AFC, Like that version of a guy completely calm, like, Okay, I don't have to run for eighty yards today. I'm not gonna run. I'm gonna dominate because sometimes against them, or he doesn't freak out against like the Giants the previous week that was that was like a high school game for him. And he plays like that against a lot of opponents, and then the Chiefs and then the Steelers stride his career have kind of been as kryptonite, and he felt like early on he're like god is and he just he just calmed down and it was like, I'm going to dominate you. And the Steelers got a serious problem, right and they can't cover anybody that's back to back weeks. And Lamar's like, I'm gonna destroy you, like and I'm gonna make this look like I do against everyone else. And he kind of threw his hat back in the ring of the MVP. I mean, he's having part of the reason he won the MVP las year because it was an awful group, like the competition for the for the award wasn't great. He threw twenty four to twenty five touchdown this year, he said, by far, I think having the best season. Brady mentioned on the broadcast, He's like, I think they're doing way more complex stuff in the passing game. And obviously it helps when you got Derek Henry run a wild but I thought just his calmness were in last year in that Chiefs game, it's like he freaked out. And a guy on the Raven staff kind of described it to me. It was like, it's like he's playing Tiger Woods. He was down a couple of shots and then he just pressed and you could feel it, and so did the offensive coordinator last year, those two of them in that game, it was like, we're good. We're good, and I'm better than that guy. And listen, is he better than Mahomes or not. He can play just as good as him as long as he stays calm and he did yesterday. And if he plays like that and their defense. The other thing this is where the good teams, you know, bad teams freak out and they do chaotic stuff, like I gotta fire this coordinator. Zach Orr, first time coordinator, replacing one of the best defensive coordinators we've seen in recent memory. It was really bad early, like this is not sustainable. They've moved Kyle Hamilton back. Their defense is played a lot better. The organization is pretty stable. There's like, take a deep breath, everybody. We believe in everybody, Lamar. It's like, put more on my shoulders. Put more, and now you see them as like god when they play like this, I mean, they are a real threat. Right and listen what the Chiefs are doing this year. I honestly don't know how they're doing it, but it's one of the great coaching jobs in the in the history of the league. But the Ravens and well, you know, the Bills. I kind of give them a little bit of a pass today playing the Patriots, but it's gonna be hard, and I think they're gonna need They're gonna need Lamar to be exceptional because you're gonna have to beat the Bills. You don't have to be Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. And more than likely for them on the road right that Week two or the Divisional round would be in Buffalo. Obviously, the AFC Championship more than likely. I mean, I think the Chiefs are gonna beat the Steelers here in a couple of days in Arrowhead, and if he did that, it would kind of I don't want to they wipe away everything, but we wouldn't talk about the past if he's able to take down Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes on the road. I mean, that was a defining moment for Patrick Mahomes last year, right going to Buffalo and then going to Baltimore. It was really it felt like the icing on his cake. He's like twenty eight years old. It's like, how do you do that? And I think Lamar has an opportunity because their offense when that think's humming. I mean, the Steelers are struggling little bit defensively, but they're still pretty good, and they just they toyed with them. It felt like, didn't it.
All?
Right?
Let's talk college football? So road teams Tennessee hammered, Indiana doutless performance. Boy does at Kurt Signetti talks a big game and does him back it up? Smu Hammered. Clemson did throw it for three hundred and thirty six yards, but they were outmatched. I thought the best get bet of the weekend was Texas minus twelve and a half at home, and I thought Clemson played about as well as they could and they still got beat by fourteen. But I want to say this, so this is a twelve team playoff that will become fourteen pretty soon and maybe sixteen. The reason we have the playoff it was negotiated, like these aren't the twelve best teams in terms of NFL athletes.
That's not what it is.
The reason this is allowed is because there was a lot of negotiation. The Mountain West gets involved. Everything was negotiated. So it's not going to be seven SEC teams and five Big ten teams. That's not what it's going to be. But the other thing is most of my life I remember arguing this. I'm not even sure if I was at Fox or ESPN, but I used to be against the playoff because my argument was always this, have you ever thought in your life the sixth best team in college football by the end of the year could beat the number one team? And my answer is no. I mean when Nick Saban's fifteen year run, most of his teams there were only two to three teams in the country that could.
Play with them.
Clemson with Trevor Lawrence s Ordashawn, Ohio State, Georgia, maybe an LSU team that could play with them. So by the time you would get to like the fifth, sixth, seventh team, especially if the first round was in Tusca Loosa, they were going to kick the holy hell out of anybody they played. So the idea that Ohio State or Penn State or Notre Dame in a home game, now we go to neutral sites, we'll have an upset this weekend. But my take is we're overreacting a little bit. Now. Again, I thought Tennessee in Indiana would play close because I thought weather would be such a factor, but it was just cold and clear. But we've got to be honest about this. When Pete Carroll was rolling at USC or you know again the Nick Saban or Kirby Smart for about a three year run, there weren't five teams that could go toe to toe with them. The only thing maybe be the Natty game a Michigan or in Ohio State. So I think this was not predictable. But I think we're overreacting because coming up now, John, now we've got neutral sight games. I could I would bet almost anything. We're gonna have an upset. One of the underdogs is gonna win. I think we're overreacting a bit to a twelve team playoff that was negotiated. You're just gonna get some Boise States in this thing and some ACC teams in well.
I think I think it's twofold. First. I can't expect it to be perfect year one. This isn't year six, this is year one. On the flip side, I see a lot of pushback of everyone complaining that you shouldn't complain, we should celebrate this, and it's like, I don't know. I mean, this all exists because millions upon millions of people give their time to be entertained. And I've been watching football my entire life and I don't ever remember before this year watching Indiana, and Indiana didn't get the benefit of the doubt right in most people's eyes, because it's like, we don't know you. You don't have any NFL players. Who did you beat this year? In the NFL? If you make the playoffs, it's impossible to not beat some good teams. Plus even the bad teams you're beating are full of pros. I texted around some college scouting directors I said, how many combined NFL players do SMU in Indiana have? And he said, I will have to see some All Star game stuff, but probably five total. I said, South Carolina, Ole, Miss Alabama. He'd say probably on average low end seven for a team. I mean Bama eight nine. So the talent, the physicality, like Tennessee got their asking. If you just watched Tennessee move around. The quarterback is a young, frenetic player right now. Their talent on the team is immense. And Indiana we basically lumped in the Big Ten and the SEC as equals. And because Washington, who was in the Natty last year, lost their coach and all their players, wasn't any good. USC was supposed to be good, not any good. Michigan obviously lost seventeen NFL guys and their coach fell off a cliff. So they had three SEC teams Penn State, obviously, Oregon, Ohio State, but the rest of the conference for it was really bad. Right, So it turns out Indiana, like I just think they're not very good relative to the SEC teams, Like I don't think they could beat any of them, and I think, but they went eleven and one and some of these other teams went nine and three. This is in the NFL records. Like I said, we're comparing apples to cheeseburgers. So trying to do these records because in theory it makes sense. Well they're eleven in one, because that's how it's always worked, And I just go, I don't know. So I think we look back at it. In Indiana and SMU, two things can be true. Indiana had a remarkable season, the best season in the history of the school by a mile, and they're probably not a top twenty, Like are they better in Colorado? I just looked at the top twenty five yesterday. It's like, well, Colorado's got a top ten quarterback probably one, and the best player in the country. Indiana, I'm watching them, like do they even have a pro their solid defense? SMU, I mean that was like JV Verus farsity. Yeah, I mean their quarterback was completely overwhelmed and the ACC is terrible, so of course it's overwhelmed. They don't have the talent. Who did they beat? So I think that moving forward, just because you have two more wins in a bad conference, this isn't the NCAA tournament where they're sixty four teams like whatever, just throw this team the seventh seed. We only had twelve spots, and I thought we got pretty let down for a lot of people that dedicate a lot of time that they don't even have the horse in the race. They just want to be entertained. You're like, this doesn't look right.
Well, and also it's gonna get potentially worse because if you really look at Washington, they have an excellent young quarterback and Jetfish had a great recruiting year. So Washington's going to be interesting team.
Next year. They'll be back.
They'll be a top twenty team. Michigan just go the best quarterback, and again they've recruited at a very high level. Michigan will be viable. I just saw this week and USC went and bought to SEC defensive linemen, so I and their schedule is pretty weak by Big Ten standards. So my takeaway is the Big Ten, to your point, was top heavy and very weak. I don't think it'll be that next year. I think Ohio State will still be great, but I think Michigan, USC, Washington will be much better. And I think Oregon's and Penn State are going to remain powers. Because Landing and James Franklin are top ten recruiters easily in the country. So I think this year we got Indiana, not that it's a one off I did. I kind of felt like when I was watching Indiana play, it's not that they lost, it's that if I told you it was twenty seven to seventeen and you didn't watch the game, you'd be like, Okay, that was a game. Indiana was so gutless, punting down three score second half in plus territory. I think it really it was the way Indiana lost, which was like we just we know we can't compete. We don't want to be humiliated, so we're just gonna try. I think that really pissed people off. It was like, Okay, if you're gonna play like that, just put Ole miss in the trial.
I thought of a rule that if you were on the fence of a couple teams, that you have to have minimum more than two guys on each side of the ball that would start for your opponent. And did Indiana have four guys on their starting twenty two that would start for Notre Dame DoD They have one? Maybe how many guys on SMUs starting eleven on offensive defense would start for Penn State two maybe where that's the that's the argument for or Ole Miss, South Carolina and Alabama. Yeah, they might not have won, probably wouldn't have, but I know the talent discrepancy, Like I don't have a big issue with Tennessee getting their askit because I don't think the talent discrepancy. Obviously Ohio State's better and I mean could win the National Championship pretty easily, but like Tennessee, you could tell physically it's like a quarterback is throwing the ball over the map. They got NFL players all over the field. So I could live with that game. I can't live with the Indiana game, where it's like I've never watched this program. I've been watching college football for three decades and I can I do this for a living, so I know, well, they don't have any talent, so it's like what's going on? And then Signetti, I think some of his comments to Sabin before the game, bragging it out. I looked at their schedule, they go two Penn State, two, Oregon to Iowa, and like you said, the Big Ten is going to be better, that game is going to be circled. The big ten coaches are going to want to beat the shit out of him. I will be stunned. Six and six. They are going to be a target next year, and I hope they enjoyed this year because it's not going to be like that moving forward. I'll promise you that.
So before we get to the quarterfinal games, I do think we have a potential upset. Listen Tennessee, Ohio State Ryan Day. The critics couldn't go back to their Reddit boards. But here's what I really took away. Clemson, they deserve credit. They fought to the very end, and they don't have again, they don't have transfer portal guys, and they don't recruit. Even when Dabo was winning a Natty, they didn't recruit like Alabama and Georgia LSU. They never have. They just don't and they don't use a transfer portal. So I think Dabbo's a hell of a coach. But my takeaway on that is if Ohio States, if Will Howard is as good as he was against Tennessee, I don't know how Texas stops them. I mean, Clemson was throwing the ball all over the yard, they were throwing it up the sideline, out of the backfield, seam routes. I mean, when you think of Clemson, you don't think three hundred and fifty yards passing. I know Texas won thirty eight twenty four, but that twenty four points. I looked at that and I thought, Jesus Texas plays Arizona State next thirteen and a half point favorite. Maybe that's not an issue, but if I'm Ohio State in my passing game, I after this weekend, Ohio State's my favorite to win the national championship, not Texas. I was almost dismayed. Not just that Clemson through but the variety of throws, the third down throws, the wide open targets in the middle of the field. It was startling to me.
Well, their quarterbacks really come along. I mean, he's the guy to keep it if he goes back to school. I mean, I think he'll be in consideration to have a chance to be a really high draft pick in twenty twenty six. That kid's really gotten a lot better since that first game at Georgia, and last year was pretty bumpy. I like kid club Nick a lot, and they had one of the great I think freshman recruiting classes at wide receiver in recent memory, those couple five star kids. But to me, Sark has had to coach around Quinn Yewers a lot of the year. And you see that when we talk about coaching with some of these young rookie quarterbacks. What do you call on third and seven? Or are you willing to call something aggressive on second and ten? Are you just trying to throw like a screen or you know, a draw play. I think he coaches around Quinn. You were because to me, he is a pretty big roller coaster. You don't know what you're getting series to series, and this is where you know the seeding. When Ohio State's on. I mean they showed up in that game, you went, holy hell, oh no. It was like they were hitting guys like they were you know, Dre Greenlawn and Fred Warner. It's like the defense, how good Jeremiah Smith is? Will Howard looked like Peyton Manning. I mean, he was one of the better games of his life. Yeah, and Ryan Day listen, they'd had a long time to soak up that loss coming at home. I listened. I picked Tennessee. Five minutes into that game, you went, this could be fifty to nothing. This team is going to try to injure everyone inside. Can they keep that up again again? You know, Dan Lanning, this is where Oregon got screwed. They have to play that team in their opening game after rose Ball two, which is not a huge advantage because it's not like Ohio State fans aren't used to travel into that game. Which is a cool game that the rose Ball gets Oregon.
Ohio states that may record the ratings for that game may set a college football non national championship record. I'm not joking.
I think if you're Oregon, you just go. We had the best season where the only undefeated team and Penn State gets to play Boise and Texas gets the players on the state and we got to play that the biggest payroll in the history of college football with NFL guys all over that we had to like knock down, drag out to beat at home. That's that sucks for them. Yeah, you know a team that's never won a national championship that if I told you right now they were getting a good draw, you would like them a lot more. But you're like, damn they they'd have to go through three tough games, right, They'd have to beat Ohio State, they have to beat Texas and then they probably have to beat Penn State or Georgia. I mean, that's that's a murderer's row. So and they had to beat Penn State, you know, to in the conference championship. So I listen, if if Oregon were to win a national championship, it would be really really impressive. I can't take Texas because of the quarterback, but they're on the team. I mean, there were that goal line stopped that they had basically end of the game. Again, they can really rev it up. I mean they got guys on defense. You're like, holy shit, and you know the skill. Their two running backs are really good, I extent quarterback. If you told me Caide Club Nick Clemson quarterback was Texas quarterback, I'd be like, watch out for they might be my pick. And I just is Will Howard going to play like that every game? Is he going to play like that against Dan Lanning's defense is if he does, they'll probably win. Right. If he's gonna If he's going to be Peyton Manning junior, then Ohio State's going to be a serious problem for anyone they're playing.
Okay, let's wrap it up. Penn State minus eleven against Boise State. I actually think jenty run he ran for almost tuner yards against Oregon. I think these are neutral site games. Now it's a whole different ballgame in college football.
Totally.
Yeah, the college football team. You know, the seventy percent of NFL games are one score, one possession games. That's not college football. Home teams win. I think Boise State. I think Boise State is going to be you know, Penn State maybe lulled to sleep opening with SMU at home blowing them out, and now they look at see Boise State hard to get that locker room revved up. SMU is a bigger name to some of those Penn State players than Boise State. They couldn't, you know, they don't even know help. Most college players out east don't know much about Boise State. Can Boise State hang with them? I think they can.
I do think Penn State's lucky that they got this generational player on Boise State. It's an easy one for the defensive coordinator circle. I mean, this guy had like a Barry Sanders Oklahoma state level season. So it's to me if they were much more of like the Kellen Moore, more of a complete team than a one man band. I think it would be a little different. You might look down upon them, but I think when you're playing a guy that just sitting next to Travis Hunter on that Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy, it's easier to get up. I also think, and this is my argument, Like listen, I started my career in the Whack, whichasically turned it into the Mountain West. The difference of size and strength on the line of scrimmage. We saw it in Indiana and SMU against You know, their two opponents at the Notre Dame and Penn State just overwhelmed them at the line of scrimmage on defense. And I don't know if Boise State their passing offense isn't good enough. So I'm putting ten guys in the box be like we are you gonna throw on me? And I think it's a very, very tough matchup for Boise State. I also think Penn State if this was the NFL and these games were out in the cold weather, I think Penn State and Notre Dame would be built for it. Play defense, run the ball down your throat, play like the forty nine ers did with Jimmy Garoppolo, We're just gonna freezing cold weather. Let's roll. I mean, you watch Notre Dame. They would love every game at nineteen degrees because that's in same with Penn State, freezing cold, snow, rain, That's how they would want to play. That's where these neutral site games, you know. I think Notre Dame is a good example. Like I actually kind of like them against Georgia, but then you put the dome. But you put them in a dome, it does take away there. Straight. If you told me that game was outside in a cold weather spot, I'd be like, George is in for it. In a dome team speed. Georgia is gonna be a little faster, but Notre Dame can definitely win that game. Listen. I love Boise State and rooting for him for a long time. I think this is a really, really tough matchup for them. Same with a state.
Yeah, listen, I think Penn State's gonna win. I think your point on Notre Dame Georgie is well taken. Texas should beat Arizona State. So I said before the year, I thought Oregon would beat Ohio State at auxon. I thought Ohio State would beat Oregon on the second matchup, I think I like Ohio State to win and cover against the Ducks.
I think one big difference between Penn State, Georgia, and Notre Dame then the other three top teams in Texas, Oregon, Ohio State. They are so explosive on the outside, like they feel like an NFL team at wide receiver in the skill position. Penn State and Notre Dame just don't. Penn State's tight end is gonna be a top twenty player, yeah, but they are not as explosive at the wide receiver position. So I mean, like you said, I think Oregon, Ohio State, I mean that could feel like the national championship game. And I think Texas, if the quarterback can just play under control, which he's proven he can't really for four quarters, they could be pretty I just don't trust them and Notre Dame Georgia, whoever wins that game, might be. Honestly, I kind of like the draw for Penn State. Penn State plays Boise, wins that game and then plays that Penn State and Texas are gonna get putent. I mean, their enormous favorites favorites in the second round are gonna be playing two teams that are gonna be coming out of a war zone. I mean Ohio State and Oregon and Notre Dame in Georgia. Bodies are gonna be left on the field in that game, right, So I think that is a massive advantage if both those If Texas and Penn State take care of business. I mean Ohio State pulled out their quarterback with nine minutes to go in the game.
Yeah, I think what we're going to see in this playoff, and let's go back to the playoff as a whole, is I think it's going to expand to fourteen teams and possibly sixteen. On any given Saturday, you may get three really great games between good teams. There's a lot of blowouts in college football. It's just the way the sport works. It's of all the American sports team sports, it's the most have and have not sport, even you know, baseball. Obviously now with the regional network's dying, it's getting more have and have not. There's like six teams that have money and like twenty six or twenty four that don't. But I think the neutral site games, I think Oregon and Ohio State is going to feel like USC Texas. Remember that game with the stealth fighters flying over where you have like eighteen pros. The first game was great. I think Ohio State Oregon becomes the game of the year. I also think it is hard to play perfect football back to back weeks. Ohio State was nearly perfect. It's hard to duplicate that on back to back weeks.
I also think that these guys have never played a season this long, right, I mean, a lot of these teams played in conference championship games. Some of the teams that didn't just play this first round. I mean you start looking ahead, they still got three more games. I mean, and you saw some just collateral damage, as you know, notre Dame at defensive lineman get banged up. You're talking about by the time you get to the semi finals, can you stay healthy enough, which which honestly could just be a determining factor for whoever wins it just a team with the most health because we've been hammering at home and these coaches have been these teams. The depth isn't near the same, you know, in the peak of the saban Era. So what I lost a first rounder, I got a nineteen year old first rounder behind them? Right, those days are done. I mean there's a massive drop off. Some of these teams are losing guys. Ohio State put a quarterback in the game when the yank Well Howard, he's in the transfer portal, and Ryan Day had to have a talk with this team like, hey, guys, are we cool with keeping him around? You know the cause these guys are in weird spots. Penn State's backup quarterback is gone, so and that's not obviously we talk a lot about the quarterbacks, but it could be you know, a backup linebacker, a freshman kid that might have had to be thrust in if someone got injured. So we got a long way to go. I mean, this is you see the NFL guys are dropping like flies in college. These guys aren't as big. They're not especially some of these guys at eighteen nineteen years old that are playing. Their bodies aren't as developed taking a lot of big hits. It's not like the violence in these games. It's that much different. I mean, how hard was Ohio State and No Dame and these teams hidden the physicality And honestly, I appreciate the one thing that jumped out to me about this weekend, which was obviously a pretty big letdown with the blowouts. Yeah, we talk about a lot about nil and people not having It feels like guys are mercenaries now, and maybe that's the case, but it does feel like the guys playing in the game are just all in and trying their one effort and you feel that, you know, the teams is not like ten. None of these teams took their foot off the pedal like pen Clemson just came back because they got NFL guys. It wasn't like Texas stuff trying right.
John Middlecoff his podcast is three and out.
Good job Buddy, Merry Christmas, going Merry Christmas.
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