The MMQB NFL PodcastChargers Rough Outlook & Realistic Dolphins Takes
Conor Orr is joined by Rohan Nadkarni to offer up a reasonable outlook for the future of Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins before getting into the Chargers losing in another one score game, if the Bears see a future with Matt Eberflus as head coach, Rohan's scorching Bill Belichick take, and the rest of the week eleven slate
Hello, and welcome to the m MQB NFL Podcast.
I'm Conroor.
Albert Brier is away, but like any good substitute teacher the week before a holiday, we're here to screw around. We've got my friend Rohan nod Prini here, are prestigious NBA staff writer and Miami Dolphins fan. We're we're throwing. We're throwing a movie on today.
I thought this was more of a next man up vibe. No, I didn't, really, I didn't realize it. You had to set the bar so low. You know, I came in ready with takes. I'm you know, I watched a lot of Red Zone yesterday. So yeah, absolutely, so I'm ready to rock. Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't, you know, call someone while they were on the team bus, which you know, on the way home, which apparently is the thing Albert every week, which like shout out to him. Man, But you know, I got takes.
I'm this is exactly what I'm here for. So this is a this is a reciprocity from Rohan gets all of my NBA takes, and so I have I've said this on the show before. I have not watched a complete NBA game since I would say, like September of twenty ten. But I have a lot of thoughts, namely, you know.
That the NBA season starts in October, right, it was a it was at got it, Okay, I covered.
The nets for three weeks. But then it was right when they were going to try to trade for Carmelo Anthony. And then when it turned out they didn't get Carmelo Anthony, the newspaper was like, we're not devoting any resources to this team because they're going to move to Brooklyn. They're not going to be in New Jersey anymore. But for three weeks, I was betted man Troy Murphy, Chris Humphries when he was dating Kim Kardashian, Oh gosh, who was the Devin Harris. Yeah, yeah, I was, yeah, ig, I was all in on that team. Man. I knew a little bit about basketball at that point. But yeah, rohan'scot the brunt of my NBA take now, which is that the thinness and tallness of these uh I don't know what you would call them, like alien men, is completely unsustainable and we need to go back to the days of like Eddie Curry and Shaquille O'Neal well.
First of all, I would love to see Eddie Curry and Shaquille O'Neil and Zach randof times back in the NBA. Secondly, I will say that I do think it's very hilarious that last week Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren played each other and the rivalry was built up entirely off the back that they're both really tall and skinny, Like we don't we don't do that for any other position where it's like these guys have the same body type, therefore they must be rivals. It was like Chet and Wemby are both so tall and so lanky, and what's funny is wem bin Yama is like a generational prospect. People are talking about him like is he the most type prospect since Lebron. Chet is a good prospect, But he's not a franchise savior. He will probably never be the best player on the Thunder as long as Shake Gill justs Alexander is there. But simply because they're both tall and skinny, they have to be rivals. And the third Yeah, I just want to add you also get a lot of my NFL takes, specifically my rants about the Miami Dolphins. So it's it's a little bit of a two way street.
What really embarrassed me. And you know when you when you work in a place like this, you're always looking around and you're feeling self conscious because you're like, I'm among the most elite sports writers in the world, and when you have loud takes that turn out to be so wrong. Like Van you came on when back when he hosted this show with Gary and the Dolphins got tight Hill and I have you on. I'm like, this is gonna be terrible. This isn't gonna work Tyreek. Hill's gonna be hurt. They're just gonna be checking it down to him until they bang them up. They're not gonna be able to get them open in space. This isn't gonna be a vertical offense. Turns out to be one of the most vertical offenses in NFL history. And life is pretty good for you as a Dolphins fan right now.
You know, it's good relative to where this team has been for the last twenty three years, especially since the start of this century. You know, we remember the Dave wantstet Here's here, Well, Cam Cameron, we've been through a lot, Nick Saban, a lot of quarterbacks. Shout out to Gus Farott for that nine and six starting record he put up Under Nick Saban, you know, we've been through it all. Having said that, we're not getting ahead of ourselves down here, all right. There's a lot of season left. We played, you know, November and December is where you got to prove it. Dolphins have some big games coming up on the schedule. They got the Dallas Cowboys at home. It's another measuring stick game. We're gonna be playing the Baltimore Ravens, another top team in the AFC. So I'm happy about where the Dolphins are. I think myself and the team we all have the right attitude, which is, you know, they haven't proven anything yet and there's a long way to go. And that's what I love about this team. They're not drinking their own kool aid. Even though people like you and the media want to build them up just so they could tear them down a few weeks later. That's not happening with us in the team, all right.
I love watching this from afar because I'm incapable of loving any sports team enough to go. I used to be a complete Notre Dame truther and I would watch like.
The Oh my god, I didn't know that about you. That's terrible. It was a dark That's one of the worst truthers you could be.
Isn't it the worst?
It's bad.
Yeah, Oh my gosh. I mean like the things that used to come out of my mouth in regards to that, And like my dad and I would be like, yeah, we're not watching the Fox pregame show because this guy's a Notre Dame hater and he doesn't tell it like it is. Oh my god, like just taking a back and realizing that. But where are you on the bell curve? Because one of my favorite things about watching NFL fan bases from afar is we got we start here on the very left side of the screen, which is no one pays attention to us, no one talks to us, okay, And then we get to the point where you reach the top of the bell curve, the success bell curve, which is the media is trying to tear us down. And then you reach the other side of the bell curve again, which is no one talks about us. And you know, I think the most the worst fan bases that I remember going through this. Were the Panthers in twenty fifteen when they reached the Super Bowl, the Cardinals two years ago when they had the luckiest season in NFL history, and Kyler Murray made the playoffs, and then you know they Cliff Kingsbury got an extension the Seahawks during the legion of Boom Run. How are Miami Dolphins fans handling this? Because you guys have a cool head coach. Every player that's on the field is like extremely superhero style gifted, Like this is a lot of fun. But are you, like, are you aware of of the bell curve at this point?
Absolutely? Now, in all seriousness, there's a lot of online Dolphin fan behavior that I cannot condone. Like, there are some awful Twitter accounts. It's like finns receipts and like not just to single out fins or seats, Like, there's some awful ones that it's like an NFL person can't tweet about a quarterback without them replying about Tua And to me, it's like it's really embarrassing, it's really unbecoming. They like ruin it for me a little bit, and I hate it. I really don't like it. There are some really bad and annoying Dolphins fans out there who just have to make everything about Tua. I'm of the opinion like I was watching Bradley Cooper narrate an intro to the Sunday night game between the Eagles of the Dolphins, and I'm like, this is way too much attention. I don't like people talking about the Dolphins like this. This is not my experience as a football fan. Put my games on at one pm on a Sunday and the Dolphins wearing their whites, whether they're on the road or home, That's what I'm comfortable with. I do think it has been funny though at the same time for me, someone who works in media to watch the coverage of the Dolphins this year and see kind of the talk to TV debate shows, say after three weeks into season, or the Dolphins the best team in the AFC, Like, I never believe that. As a Dolphins fan. I was like, I'm not taking us over my homes. What are we doing here? Like it? But there's also like an arc that teams like this follow where they get up to a hot start and you see on kind of the debate shows, is just the best team and then like, you know, they lose a couple of tough games on the road, and it's like this team's actually a fraud. So I do think it works a little bit both ways. Like there are talking points by people who maybe aren't necessarily like immersing themselves in film and tape of this team who fire off takes that I think then fuel kind of what that fan bell curve you're talking about, where people kind of act irrationally. So I'm not gonna sit here and say I've never had any irrational Dolphins takes. As someone who texts you how I feel about the Dolphins, you know, I'm not particularly leaded person about them, but I you know, I'm not one of these people that's like getting into the replies of Mina crimes and being like, oh, remember that thing you said about two or three hundred and sixty four days ago and eighteen hours and twelve minutes, like I remember, and it's like, bro, you need to, like, you know, go touch some grass. So it's it's been funny to watch. Having said all that, you know, you continue to disrespect the team. Our old Kerry Garry Graham continues to disrespect the team. I just I don't Bill Barnwell, I'll throw Mina in there. You know, thank you for whoever in a you know, I put them all in there. Though the disrespect, we hear it, we see it, and you know that we got to prove it on the field. At the end of the day, I think the team's proving it on the field.
We're going to get into some post Sunday storylines in a second, but I want to see. I want to test out what's coming next for the Dolphins for you, and I want to see if you think this is accurate. Okay, we have Dolphins in season, hard knocks coming, Okay, hate.
I'm gonna watch every second of it. But there's nothing good comes from your team being on hard knocks.
Never. Never.
I don't need people like to a poor suite, adorable to A just wants to mind his own business, okay, and now people are gonna be all in his business. People are gonna be talking about, you know, everything he does on a personal level. I don't like it. Leave to a alone.
This is just an aside, but I was talking to someone about hard knocks once and basically it was like a friend of a friend of a friend, and it turned out like someone was basically positing the idea like what if when hard Knocks shows up? If my team ever had to do hard knocks? What if hard Knocks showed up and I just had all the doors locked and they just couldn't get in, and I practiced indoors every day and I made them film the outside of the practice facility, and that was that. And it occurred to me that, like, wow, that's a thing that you like. What would hard knocks do?
I think Roger Goodell would come down and put his hand on the team owner's shoulder. I don't think that that's that's the you know, the long arm of the NFL's law I think prohibits you specifically from doing something like that.
Excuse me, but but here, so here's here's my next phase of takes and and and so much like I heard this back in back in the days when radio is important, that a song would.
Get really popular to throw the entirety of radio under the bus, like.
Before before, like every radio station.
Don't get me wrong, I hate those freaks just as much as the next guy.
But yeah, yeah, but but but a song used to get popular in like DC or Philly, right, and then it would spread everywhere else and then like six months later. So I do think that that's the same for sports talk, and right now New York we're going through something similar. So I think this is what's gonna happen to Miami. We're going the Dolphins are gonna crest in terms of success this season, and we, including probably me, are going to write why can't more coaches be like Mike McDaniel, Right, that's gonna be peak Dolphins, okay, And then a few weeks later there maybe it's a rocky end of the season, maybe it's an early playoff exit something, and then it's Mike McDaniel needs to be tough for play right, that's gonna be the the.
Horrible in all, Isn't it kind of insane that we can sit here and predict that and say that's gonna happen. And I just wish that, like common sense, people wouldn't succumb to the narrative, and that kind of includes NFL owners and GMS, And I hope Mike McDaniel, beyond what he does scheme wise, is just the coach of the Dolphins for the next ten years because of his approach to motivation, his approach to leadership I think is like really unique, and it would be interesting to see a team foster or that and not succumb to the narratives. And it's gonna be very interesting because I'm with you. There's there is going to be a Mike McDaniel backlash. You and I both know it that as soon as things get a little rocky, there is going to be a Mike McDaniel backlash. And I'm faster, Yes, why does he's got a light into these guys? You know this this You can't lead all men with this approach. Blah blah blah. And I'm fascinated to see how the team handles it because you and I both know those things are silly. You and I both know those things are silly. It's it's low hanging fruit, and I'm fascinated to see if and when it happens. Yeah.
So in New York where Albert and I talked about this a little bit last week, where everyone's saying that Robert sala is too soft now and Robert Saul literally tackled his starting quarterback yesterday on the sidelines.
Skin Robert sala is like, listen, I am no New York Jets fan, let me get that straight. You know that team is garbage. That franchises garbage. They play in like a garbage ass part of New Jersey. They're not even your Jets, like they can all know, they can all fall into like a bane induced pit for all I care. Having said that, Robert Sala people are like the skuy They need a new coach. I've seen people tweet like he's a loser, he's not a winner, you know, all kinds of crazy stuff. We all agree they have maybe the worst certain quarterback in the NFL, like bottom three.
Oh, I think the worst by a fairly wide Okay, yeah.
There, And they are competitive and they've somehow won four games. I think he's doing a remarkable job in New York considering the quarterback circumstances he's had to deal with. Like, I would be thrilled if the Jets fried Robert Sala, because that guy can coach the hell out of a defense clearly, and be the fact that he's won as many games as he has the last couple of years with such a terrible quarterback. It's like somehow Zach Wilson's been using it as an indictment of him. It's absurd.
And everyone's saying now that he needs to yell at his players more. And my thought is, you know, as as dad of two small kids, the strongest dad moments are the moments when every part of your brain is going yell at them, yell at them, yell at them, and you don't right, And I feel like it's so much harder to do what Mike McDaniel's doing, to do what Robert Saul is doing and just be a genuine human being all the time instead of screaming at people like like Bill O'Brien, just screaming at Mac Jones. Does that look like it's getting you guys anywhere? No, you know, I don't know. I don't like it yelled at.
And what you There are guys who maybe yell, but even you look at the quote unquote yellers. Now, whether it's a Dan Campbell, who I don't know is necessarily yeller, but Dan Campbell fits the mold of what people expect out of a football coach, right, Mike Rabel, These are guys who are still able to connect with players.
Mike Rabel's like hugging people like as they walk off the field.
You know, yes, like that in a way that goes beyond the Bill O'Brien types. Clearly, you know this old school head football coach, So I'm with you. I think the Jets would crazy. Like the guys had the worst quarterback in the league for two years. The guy they built their entire team around, their entire offense around, literally their entire offense around, hired his personal friend to be offensive coordinator, brought in his friends at receiver, goes out four plays into the season, They've somehow still won four games. They're what a game and a half behind the Buffalo Bills, and we want to get rid of It's to me unbelievable.
Unbelievable kind of a nondescript Sunday as far as things go. But I had to do something that I don't like, which is I had to suggest or to write about the firings of two head coaches, which I think may be coming or at least going to be talked about a lot. And I want your takes on those first of all, Chicago Maddyberflus, Like, again, this brings me no joy, because the firing of a head coach brings with it the displacement of like the entire staff. Yeah, it's not good. It's not something that I enjoyed talking about, but it's something that we are going to talk about. And after you blow a game against the Lions where you're up twelve points with four minutes to go, I feel like, and now you're gonna have two top five picks coming into next year. That's one of those where it's kind of like, okay, it's it's probably you know, you probably got to think about shaking things up at this point.
Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I'm with you. It's not really something I really write about in the NBA either.
It happens way more in the NBA.
It does. Yes, I mean it's that's a whole different. You know, in the NBA, it's much harder to get rid of the players, so the coach is usually the first scapegoat. I do think that for the Bears, if you're looking at two top five picks, and probably the number one pick because of the Carolina deal, which somehow is not getting talked about enough, is just maybe one of the looking at like one of the worst trades in NFL history. Not only did they end up sacrificing a chance to draft Caleb Williams or Drake May. They also made the wrong pick seemingly between Bryce Stung and CJ. Stroud. But we're not talking about the Panthers right now. For the Bears, you have a chance to like historically reset your franchise this year. I mean, look at what the texanstef with Stroud and Tank Dell. I mean, they got two guys who have completely turned around their offense. Like I thought, Damiko Ryans. I was excited for Jamiko Ryans. I loved him as a player, excited that he was getting these head coaching interviews, and I was like, don't take the Texans job. That franchise is a dumpster fire. But they picked the right quarterback and things look immediately different. So if you're the Bears, you have a chance to get a quarterback, maybe a Marvin Harrison junior, some other incredibly high impact player in the top five. What is ebra flu shown that lends you to believe he's gonna be the right coach to kind of bring the best out of those guys, especially with the way people have criticized how Justin Fields has used his us using the offense. I don't know if Fields is a lost, cause I think he's talented, and I think he's had kind of a bad hand to play with in Chicago. But I think if they're gonna reset the top of the roster the way they are, you kind of have to reset the coaching staff with that.
I posited yesterday that I thought, next to having your team actually succeed and start going to the playoffs, having your team have the first and like fourth picks in the NFL draft is the next best thing about being a fan, right, Like, how jacked would you be if you're like, I'm getting a quarterback and Marvin Harrison junior and you're just you're probably just on cloud nine that whole time, probably just feeling great all off season.
Absolutely, I listen, I wanted the Dolphins to tank that year. They ended up, you know, they got two in the draft the next season or the next year, Like it doesn't really happen in the NFL, And I get it, you know, for a lot of reasons, I don't think it's realistic to kind of undergo tanking the way it's done in the NBA. But I'm with you, if you're a Bears fan, aren't two isn't yesterday kind of the perfect result. If you're a Bears fan, that game was highly entertaining, but we still lost at the very end. Like that's kind of what your your ideal situation is at this point.
It's it's so crazy. I mean, I remember being down in Miami for the tank for two things, and people were fired up about it. They were angry. I went to hard Rock Stadium as a fan and wrote about it. I got a cuban and I got a beer. It was nice. I bought a ticket for like seven dollars.
But yeah, and they couldn't even tank properly.
No Brian Flores.
I've I've said some just genuinely terrible things about Brian Flores group Jazz I really liked him. It's just so funny. I'm just such a meathead when it comes to being an NFL fan, because, like, realistically, he was clearly a talented coach in the sense that he got the most out of those terrible Dolphins rosters, but was so mean to Toua that as soon as he left, the guy took off. And he's like, yeah, Like every interview to a does when they have a National TV game is like, yeah, you know, like Mike mcganna is the first persons really believed in me. And it's like what he's like he encourage which just me like, let's me play through mistakes. And it's like, uh, okay, this is not really a kind of a And I don't think two is the kind of guy who's like trying to sub people. I think he's just very honest. But I think it's like probably the first coach he's had in his life that's like actually likes him.
I So that leads me into the second one, which is everyone's talking about Brandon Staley Chargers blew another game, and well what I get.
That postgame press conference was uncomfortable too.
He's getting hot. Yeah, And so my thought is you cross into a threshold where and I'm amazed that most coaches don't do it sooner. And I call it the Joe Judge threshold where all like you're you're getting mad, you're getting mad, you're getting mad, and like it's funny. It's like a beat reporter who used to cover a team on a daily basis. I hadn't considered the fact that like they hate us all on an individual level until until that moment where like the one guy that you don't like ask the question and you're mad, and you didn't get enough sleep the night before and you lost, and the coffee wasn't good this morning, and you're just like, God, damn it.
You don't start going off. You know, it's a it's really a miracle. It doesn't happen more often, right, And And to be honest, like I I take great pride in trying to ask good and thoughtful postgame press conference questions. Yes, And I have a lot of respect for beat writers, and they have a different job than someone like me. He kind of gets to swoop in and maybe be bigger picture and we don't have to answer to an angry fan, et cetera. And I didn't hear the question that was asked Brandon Staley, and I'm just gonna assume it was a fair one. But also like after a loss, like you know, I've covered the NBA Finals, and it's like you got to ask questions after a loss, and you want to ask about strategy, and yes, sometimes like it's I look at myself and I'm like this is absurd. Like I'm at the NBA Finals and I'm gonna question a strategic decision that Eric Sploser made like, I'm sure he's more like, what is this, you know, idiot doing? But you try to be thoughtful about it and ask a good question. But sometimes I'm like, it's sometimes it's a little silly what we're doing after the escapes it is. And again I don't know who asked that question, and I hope it was asked well. But sometimes it's like, sometimes I don't blame the coaches either. Let me just put it that way. Sometimes I genuinely do not blame them because it's like literally us, like, you know, sitting in the stands eating hot dogs. I wouldn't have run it on that play, you know. It's like, sometimes I don't fully blame it, especially in football when it's like such a such a complicated sword on a play to play basis that it. I'm surprised Ry and Sally hasn't blown up earlier.
This came full circle for me last year when and I promise I'm not saying this as as a humble brag. It's an avenue into something else. But I had I just completed a marathon.
Uh yes, I know.
Sorry, And so I'm sitting at my kitchen table and my dad comes over and he said, your time was better than it was last year and I said yeah, and he said, is that because you worked harder? Or is that because this course is viewed as a lot easier than the last one that you're ink And in that moment, I'm like the court, you know, you're just like your whole body is aching, and then you're just like you feel it inside of you and you're just like you want to talk about oh gays of the course, you know, And I could like I barely contained myself then, and I'm wondering, like, how did these coaches do this on a day to day basis where you're just like like they must walk in there and be like if he asked about the cornerback, like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna flip out.
I'm just gonna flip out.
So for me, I don't think a lot of people view this as a final straw. And with Joe Judge, I know for a fact it was like that guy was gonna come back, and then he just started going off on everything and the giants are just like, yeah, we can't, we can't have you do this. I I like, because as a reporter, we should expect to be engaged in that manner, Like we shouldn't expect the plexiglass between the two of us. Like if we ask a question of an angry person, we should expect an angry answer, and we can't be like, oh that reply, you know, and it's just no, man, you're pissed off, you know.
And it's like something that also frustrates me not to get make this into an entire conversation about our industry. That is, that is great stuff for your story. I was like Brandis Stilly was upset when asked about this, and this is what he said in angry tone, like that's good stuff. I remember I was at a Phoenix Sun's game and uh it was after they lost in human milliating fashion in a game seven, just blown out at home Luka Doncic, Like within six minutes everyone knew the game was over. Luca scored more than the entire Sun's team in the first half of a game seven.
Is Luca the guy in the Mavericks of the Nuggets Mavericks Okay.
Jokiches Nuggets don doubt so after the game, this was crazy. So first, someone like DeAndre Ayton was the Sun's center, and he didn't play a lot in the second half, and someone asked Many Williams about it, the son's coach at the time, and he gave the most terse, like coach. I don't remember the exact quote now. He was either like it was a coach's decision or he just straight up said no in the most terse, uncomfortable manner. Montego normally very like, you know, you know, gives long answers, you know, not short with the media. Was just like and it was there was a you could pin drop silence after that question, but it was good, like it was a good answer because of it, Like it's it's said as much then as if he had answered the question with three hundred words, you know what I'm saying. But to go to my point about people asking bad questions, at some point later in the press conference, like Mani one is just clearly upset. He's probably thinking I might get fired for this, and some guy goes, MANI, how did this happen? I took all that not to burst out laughing, and Mani Olins was so mad and he's like, what do you mean? And he's like, you guys lost by like thirty How happen. It was a dying dude. But uh, yeah, I don't. It's uh, I don't blame these coaches, but Brandon Staley. We could get back to the point. And here, you know, I obviously it's a Dolphins fan. I have a vested interest in the downfall of Justin Herbert. It's like that meme where it's like someone's downfall happening and then someone to the side smiling, and it's like me because I prayed for it. So even though I have a vested interest in the Herbert downfall, so that that's my caveat to the situation, I think he's obviously an incredibly talented quarterback. And again, this is the thing Dolphins fans do. They get online. They look at Herbert's record, they see his record in close games, and they say, this guy's terrible, when he's the reason this team is keeping it close. You know, I will say that I'm I'm curious to hear your take on this, because I do agree. I think Staley's clearly on the hot seat. I'm assuming you don't follow the celebrity gossip account Domeoi on Instagram. No, they said after week two they got an anonymous submission that Staley was on the hot seat, which is the funniest thing of all time. It's a celebrity gossip account that just gets like anonymous tips about like relationship rumors, and yeah, yeah, this is the only sports related thing I've ever seen on there, outside of obviously like Taylor and Travis, but that's not even sports related at this way. Yeah, but I thought that they would be in a better position this year because everyone was hyping up them adding Kellen Moore's offensive coordinator, and that hasn't really been the fixed people thought it was. So I was curious your impression to that, because I think we all agree if they don't make the playoffs this year, Staley is likely gone. But what is Kellen Moore's culpability because Staley is kind of in charge of their defense. You know why hasn't that clicked in your opinion?
Is there is there an NBA equivalent to the Chargers. And here's what I'm talking about, right, So the Chargers have since twenty thirteen. They're eighty three and eighty nine, and it's not just this season or last season where like all these games come down to like a point or two it's been happening for like a decade, yes, right, And so isn't there a tweet?
Is it from like two thousand and nine or nineteen, or there's an old tweet that goes around every Sunday that's like, why is every Chargers game like this? Yes? It gets retweeted, yeah, constantly.
And so my thought is, you know, Brandon Staley and every Chargers coach is in like a perpetual lose, lose situation where you come in and you post a top five offense, which they do every year, and then they're like, well you should do that because Justin Herbert's your quarterback, and then you don't play as well on defense and be like yeah, okay, then you got to get fired because like Justin Herbert has to win a super Bowl because he's amazing. And then at what point does anyone look around and they're like, yes, Roster's got like a couple of good players, but like a lot of them are old. Like is this team actually good? Like, is there an NBA team that everyone thinks is really good but they're not good? Does that make sense?
Okay? So an NBA team that's good every year but never quite gets it done, and they people think.
Is way better than it actually is because of like one or two people that we know who they are.
I would say the closest comp and it's not a one to one, is the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, who have the reigning MVP and Joel Embiid, even though he kind of won the MVP only because people were tired of giving it to Jokic, even though Jokic then ended up winning an NBA championship and embarrassing everyone. But the Sixers have probably a top five most talented player in the entire league in Embiid, but every year they lose in the second round of the playoffs. They've never made a conference finals with him, and every year he gets some kind of freak injury. They've lost in two crazy game sevens, three crazy game sevens, once because Ben Simmons refused to shoot, once because Kawhi Leonard hit the crazy shot, one of the crazy shots in NBA history, another time because James Harden and Joel Embiid completely no showed in Boston after blowing a Game six. So I'd say they're very seventy six Ers esque and that they have an elite elite talent, a talent that probably ninety nine percent of other teams in the league would take. There's probably maybe three teams in the league that wouldn't take Justin Herbert as their quarterback. You know, four maybe, And Yeah, there's kind of this glass ceiling that if you're a fan of the team, where you examine it really closely. I do think there are explanations, right, Like, you know her it's not to take away from embiid for example, like he does get hurt, those are legitimate injuries. Herbert is very good, Like they were up huge in that Jacksonville game. It takes like a lot of series of steps to blow something like that. So I'd say that's kind of the closest comp I don't know, man, I'm just I'm curious who they bring in because you know, More was supposed to be the fix. You elevate him. Do you bring in an offensive Gruz and gonna bring in his own staff? Is there another Shanahan Tree guy out there that you can bring in to maybe you start running. You know everyone's doing motion, et cetera, all this stuff. Is that Is that the answer? At the same time, like if they if the rookie forgive me if I get his name wrong, Quentin Johnston Johnson, if he makes that catch yesterday, we're having this conversation. That's how that's that's how thin the margin is in the NFL. And between Staley getting fired and Herbert needing help to Oh no, they're they're right in the hunt. And if they beat they got a big game next week. I think it's against an NFC team, But you know, they win that game, they're kind of right back in on everything. Or might be the Ravens. Sorry, they're playing the Ravens next week. Like, if they they make that catch yesterday, they beat the Ravens next week, It's like everything's fixed. That's how then the margin is. So you know, the Sixers did finally change their coach this summer. I do think Staley the Wells just poisoned for this guy. Like I think even if they go on a run here short of doing what like short of an NFC championship game, like they kind of have all the amo they need to get rid of them.
Right, did you like him? I mean, you lived in LA for a time, you were you were an LA guy for a while. Did he did he embody the spirit of LA's.
They're in a tough SIME community. I was gonna say they're a tough spot in LA because to the extent that they are football fans in LA that don't care about another team first, they care about the Rams and McVeigh. McVeigh is not necessarily like a personality, but he has an aura, right, he has the offensive genius label. They obviously had that epic game against the Chiefs, which happened in LA. They had like kind of the league's most exciting offense for a while. So they've just always been a second class citizen. Second class citizen if anything. Staley has had like no personality, even though he does, like for a while he was doing stuff that we want cool NFL coaches to do going forward on fourth down, I know, etc. Being aggressive. But again, like that's what's so funny to me, the difference between the NBA and the NFL. The NBA, they play eighty two games. Within a single game, they're like one hundred possessions. In the NFL, the margin is so thin and there's so much more randomness and luck than people are kind of willing to admit because it is such a high variance game that the Charge. Even though it feels like a pattern, it feels like a trend. Have just been on the wrong end of some very high profile losses, mistakes decisions that it really looks a lot worse than I think it really is.
Like you know, he said yesterday in the press conference, and it sort of hit me and it's, yes, it's obvious, but he's like, yeah, all these games are coming down to three point losses, Like so we're almost winning all of these games, and it's just like, oh yeah, you like there's a world out there where you have like nine wins already this season, you know, And I mean.
That Dolphins game. You know, they're like first week of the season, Dolphins defensive line had done nothing all day. The Chargers were running right through them. The last possession of the game when they just need a field goal, the Dolphins get like two sacks back to back and again, like you have to execute. I get it. I'm not giving the Chargers a pass, but like the timing of things like that are just can be so crazy, like that that game took the best throw of to his career. When he climbs the pocket and hits Tyreek running down the right sideline. It's just it's it's inches. It really is inches.
So we're moving on to some of the other some of the other noteworthy events of this weekend. Tommy DeVito, Rohan, I mean, I don't know how how much you've been following.
Well, he hit like the Italian finger emoji celebration, for lack of a better phrase, iconic.
I love it like he is. Giants beat the Commanders thirty one nineteen. I feel like that is probably my favorite remaining Josh Dobbs, but they lost on Sunday, and so you kind of had peak past or Not, which I think is now over and now we're we're in peak de Vito, which is very fun and enjoyable before that ends. I really like that. I'm trying to think of what else. I mean, the rest of this weekend was sad.
I mean, it was the none of them, none of it's no super exciting matchups. I mean the best games tonight Eagles Chiefs. Can we talk about how Sam Howe is leading the NFL in passing yards? What is happening there?
I'm I'm wondering if so we the NBA kind of abandoned the super team thing, right, that's done.
Uh. Yes, and no. A couple of teams are trying it, most notably the Phoenix Suns. But the most recent champion was not a super team.
No, the Nuggets are not a super team. Correct, The Nuggets are the most recent champion. Correct?
Correct?
All right, good that was I was worried there for a second. I was like, ah, maybe, like the definitely not the Knicks. I would know if the Knicks won the NBA Finals. But are the Knicks good?
They're all right, they're solid.
Okay, so they're like the.
They're a fun team. They're a fun team. Okay, No, the Vibes are better. They're not like the Chargers. They're like they're like, they're not the Texans because they're not young. But like, who's a team that's like they're kind of like the Vikings in the sense of like no one takes them very seriously, but everyone enjoys their games.
Okay, yeah, I could do that. I actually did. I watched like the tail end maybe of one of the first Knicks games of the year. They were beating the Wizards maybe by like twenty points, and then they lost in the fourth quarter somehow, which was not great, but.
So real quick. You're already You're like you're seeing the Dobbs coasters on its way down. You didn't enjoy that game last night? That was a good game.
Well, this is a thing where so you and I can predict narratives. Right, We've been doing this for a long time and when we're surprised, it's great. Right, But now you have the pregame feature, you have the in depth Dobbs interview, you have Sunday Night Football. Was Dobbs dad cam the.
Whole right, right?
Did they see that?
Yeah?
And by the way, and I mean his parents seem like incredibly supportive people. But I mean I think Josh Dobbs's dad was like a senior VP of some very large bank, like very successful person. And it's so funny to watch, like you know, I mean, on one hand, you have some of these parents who like show up in the jersey and.
Adrian Hutchinson's dad called him ut just maybe one of the funniest. There was so much Aiden Hutchinson parents cam. They were miked up the first game of the season.
Well there was there was Tyson badgean dad cam. Were you privy to this one?
Oh? That was? Then they played the Chargers.
Tyson Dadgens Badgeint's dad is a world champion arm wrestler.
That's right, yes, yes, And then we also had some divito dad Cam last week against.
Dad Cam was amazing, But this Josh Dobbs dad cam was so funny because like he's so independently successful and like not that any of this I'm sure is boring to him, but he's a very stoic looking.
Person time and like it just not reacting.
It's probably it's like a little bit like my parents, like when Sports Illustrated comes in the mail and they're like, yeah, well he could have gone to law school, you know, could have could have been a doctor. Yeah, yeah, you know, but this is cool. You know, this is fine. This is this is something we can tell other people about, I guess. But yeah, so once you do that, yes, yeah, it's over right right right and and now and and I think what happens is, well, how.
About the Broncos though? Are are you intrigued? Like are you taking them seriously? All right?
Let me, I'll close out my dobs thought, and then I'll sandwich in my Broncos thoughts. Close out my dobs thought. What happens is when we do this, when we have the dad cam, when we have the feature interviews, when we get the nickname. Now, Josh Dobbs has to become more than just Josh Dobbs, right, But he's always been Josh Dobbs. Like Josh Dobbs has always been pretty good and really smart. I mean he almost won like a random playoff game for the Titans like two years ago when same situation. They signed him for like two weeks before that happened and threw him out there. And he's capable, you know. Now if he doesn't win every game, we're like, oh, I guys, sucks, you know, why do we care? Why do we care about him? Overrated? But like we're the ones, we're the ones rating, so it's our fault, you know. And so I don't know. I pray that the Josh Dobbs thon continues because it's just like one of those genuinely heartwarming things.
Dude. He I also think he's talented, like he was making some big time throws in that game. It's just so funny because anytime I see a quarterback like him, I'm just like with the Footy nine ers, we undefeated with him worse or the same. That's like, I just think about that for every quarterback now, And that's not a dissent party. I'm just saying Dobbs has been that. I mean, this guy's coming in freaking cold without his top receiver and it's not like he's been a passenger in these wins.
Yeah, yeah, you're right. But as far as the Broncos go, here's what amazes me about Denver.
And I'm I bet the Dolphins beat them by set fifty and don't get any credit for it.
Yeah, no one talks about that at all.
Well, here's okay, no, if I please, if I could police put on my teal and orange tinfoil hat for a moment here. Yes, is obviously there's we know the narrative, the Dolphins can't beat any good teams, blah blah blah. Entering tonight. Now, granted, these two teams have to play each other, but did you know the Dolphins have a better point differential than the Chiefs and the Eagles.
I mean I would have guessed it just because they scored seventy points.
Okay, and listen, they blew the doors off the Broncos, a team that since beat Buffalo, Minnesota and Kansas City. Okay, you look at the Dolphins losses like look at a team like the Jaguars. The jaguars best win is like against a Bills team that everyone thinks is mid that had to fly to London while the Jats have been there for two weeks already. Okay. A lot of these teams that people think are great don't have impressive wins or have just a head scratching loss, and the Dolphins don't have any of those. Okay. You know, the Dolphins were down their top two cornerbacks and three offensive linemen and we're driving with the chance to tie the game in Philly before tow It throws a pick. Maybe there was a pass inference, maybe not. We don't talk about the reps in that game. The Chiefs get a ton of credit for beating the Dolphins, even though Mahomes was Tua was no worse than Mahomes in that game. We look at the stats that both offenses put up fourteen points in a half and we're shut out in the other. That game comes down to a fluke fumble lateral play that maybe was an incomplete pass. So it's like people like to talk about the Dolphins losses, and then they also don't get any credit for their wins. They beat Carolina, Carolina beat Houston. Okay, that's their only win. It's just week to week. Anything can happen. And I'm not saying people don't give talk about the Dolphins seventy point effort. But like the Broncos, town they can, they can beat these teams, and they got absolutely rocked by the Tay And it's like when we have the fraud conversation, I just like to throw that out there, like I don't know how that makes them any more fraud on some of these other teams. But anyway, like the Broncos are firmly in the hunt right now, are they not. They're five and five.
Yeah, I think they're in the mix. So here's my here's my I'll give credit to the Broncos. But here's the thing. I'm very nervous because I have been running my mouth on the Broncos all season. And have you ever done that where like, you know, you're writing a couple things and you feel pretty good throwing some elbows in the paint, and then all of a sudden, the other team starts coming around and I would say in terms of like meanness, they're outside of the Browns. There hasn't been a team that I've been nastier to than the Broncos this year. I liked I mean, I'll admit it. I mean, you know, I liked Nathaniel Hackett. I thought that that was. Yes, yes, I thought the Russell Wilson thing was. I thought that whole thing was a Russell Wilson you know, lead crash.
Right, fascinating. Yeah, so I thought it was a We hired Nathaniel Hackett because we thought we were getting Aaron Rodgers. We didn't get Aaron Rodgers. We had to pivot and instead hired the most maybe one of the most cluelest people. This is when I knew the Broncos were like truly and well cooked. And it was the first game of the season when it was like, we're playing for a field goal in Seattle. Instead of Russell Wilson, instead of letting the quarterback, they traded war playing it's this former team, one of the most highly paid players in this position. Instead of letting them win the game, they played for the field goal. I was like, oh, yeah, they're done. This team's done. But in that moment.
Part of me is like like the NFL, like there's always a there's like always a there's always something right. And so in that moment, I was like, Okay, is is Hacket like I'd love to kick this sixty seven yard field goal right now? Or is he like?
No? I think he was. I think he was like, I look, I have a big football No, I'm big football brain guy, and like we're so tough they were gonna kick this field goal, and it's like, I'm not. I think. Shout out to our coworker Jimmy Trayna, who tweeted yesterday like Natanio Hackets gotten a huge pass for this Jets season, which I agree completely. The best thing that happened in Nathano Hacket was Sean Payton being mean to him. Now, I'm no Sean Payton fan. I've heard maybe some unsavory things about how he treats people. Uh, but the best thing that happened Nataniel Hacket was Sean Payton being mean to him. Because now no one everyone feels too bad saying something about Natana Hackett. I'm sorry I keep derailing us about the I jumped.
I'm just saying I got swept up in the whole thing. And then Sean Payton comes out and says all this stuff to us, say today, and then they start one and four and he says, you know, never has an organization been embarrassed like it was with Nathaniel Hackett. Then I was like, oh, you gave up seventy points. That's pretty embarrassing. And then you know all this stuff, and I was just carrying on and carrying on, and now they've won a couple games and I'm just I'm nervous. That's all.
Listen, it happens. When the Mini Heat went up three to zero against the Boston Celtics, I was like, I'm preparing all my Boston media mafia jokes I'm getting. Then the Heat lose three in a row and I'm like, oh God, not like this. I was. I was fully prepared to move back to India just because of the impending Boston media victory lab. I was prepared to just be back in Mumbai, you know, selling chili cheese toast on a street corner. They live in my best life.
That sounds delicious. But yeah, So here's where I'll pivot and say that I give the proco so much credit because I think about two people in particular. One is Vance Joseph, where so you used to be the head coach of the Broncos. They refuse to give you a quarterback. They were like, here's brock Osweiler, deal with it. And of course you get fired right because the team is bad, and you know, it was like this aged roster that they built for Peyton Manning and then they were just like, yeah, Vince Joseph, you figure this out. And so they fire him, and then they bring him back as the defensive coordinator under Sean Payton's You're already back in a place where like there's still some of the same people in the building who you know supported your firing, and then you go out there and you give up seventy points to the Dolphins, Like what part of you is like I'm going to work the next day like I'm done, Like I am completely and totally being like, hey, Sean, why don't you just cut me loose here, I'll take the back end of my contract. You can make yourself look like a tough guy. I'm gonna go to Like, you know, I don't know what's like a good trendy vacation destination. Where do you go to Loom?
Loom I think is where people but I think I think Shaloom's already getting overplayed.
Okay, all right. I heard next is maybe like someone is saying Turkey, is that a thing?
I still refer to it as constantinople personally, that might be problematic. I don't know. I would love to go to Turkey. I think the food there is supposed to be.
People talk to me like like if people who you know, they're just like, well, you know, like you know. I was saying I'd love to go to Greece one day, and everyone's like, yeah, Greece is so it's so like last year. They're like it's like they're like it's like Iceland now, like no one goes there, And I was, I don't go anywhere I go.
They make you feel so stupid for being like Greece really like like.
I live in New Jersey and sometimes I go to Pennsylvania exactly that's my vacation. Yeah, so I would like to go anywhere. I'll I'll take it. So yeah, I give him a lot of credit, And I give Russell Wilson a lot of credit because that guy last year had his own office. He had his own cubicle, and then imagine going to work one day and then that thing is just full of boxes and they're like, pack your shit, buddy. You're standing in You're you're working in the office floor with everyone else fighting for spaces to charge your cell phone. Like Russell Wilson, he's married to Siara and now he's got to like, I know, just share the common space.
You know.
I give him a lot of credit. I would have quit then too.
No, it honestly is an impressive turnaround, especially when you lose the way they haven't. That was the Dolphins wasn't only their bad loss, Like they gave a huge comeback to the commanders couldn't get the two point Like I hate giving uh, I don't say I hate. It feels weird to give Sean Payton credit, but it could be really easy to let go of the rope in those situations, and the fact that everyone's kind of stayed on board is pretty impressive for sure.
All Right, so we're we're winding down here. I want your like hottest NFL take that remains in your soul before we get out of here, because that's that's what I need. To keep me going right now, just.
That Bill Belichick is a massive fraud. Like never never, ever, ever ever mentioned him in the same breath as Don Shula ever again. You know what Don Shula did is he won in multiple places across multiple eras and wasn't propped up by a quarterback for twenty years. Okay, Bill Belichick is a fraud. He sucked in Cleveland. Okay, he had a few good years with Brady there. Yeah, sure they had. You know, Roger Goodell was like a close personal friend of their owner. They got the benefit of every of every questionable call they got the benefit of at home for twenty straight years, and every AFC East fan can attest to it. I saw the Dolphins get favorable calls at home against the Patriots, and I was like, Wow, this is what it feels like. This is incredible. This was as good as I thought it would be to see the Patriots on the other end of some of these questionable calls. I hope he goes somewhere else and sucks too, Like, yeah, bring your son with you as a defensive coordinator. Hire little Nepo baby son as your defensive coordinator. Goes suck somewhere else, hire your old friends who can't coach in positions that they don't belong in. Yeah, Bill O'Brien, Matt Patricia, how inventive. It's a joke. He's a bad coach. He's a bad GM. I hope, I hope they fire him. It would have been hilarious if they fired him midseason. I hope he goes. I would love nothing more than for him to go to the Chargers and suck there too. I'm just tired of it, Just completely tired of it. He's getting Mike McDaniel was coaching circles round him. And don't even get me started on the Boston Beat writers who are like Matt Jones is just as good as Tua are, Like, oh man, the Patriots really dodged a bullet by the Dolphins drafting Tua. Blah blah blah. Tula undefeated against Bill Belichick. Okay, you think if he was such a great coach, he could have beat this guy once, if he was just this Hall of fame, you know, just never mention him next to Don Shula ever. Again, He's not gonna get the wins record. He's a fraud. He's a bum. You know, good riddance. Get out of here, goy. If you gave you know who could have won a couple of Super Bowls with Tom Brady, Rex Ryan? Okay, Oh, Rex Ryan? How many AFC Championship games with next? Rex Ryan? Make it too? With Mark Sanchez? Okay, Mark Sanchez? And you're telling me this guy is what two and eight with Mac Jones. Give me a break, dude, give me a break. This guy's had to do his job for once the last few years and he's been absolutely terrible at it.
That is amazing. I God, I could not disagree with you more, but I love the Like it's just perfect. It's the perfect take. It really is, like because the Belichick thing he's got.
He's got like a worse win percentage than Ron Rivera without Tom Brady. Wow, he's he's like he's in fucking sorry, he's in. He's in like the Jeff Fisher zone. Oh now, Brady. If you combine his Browns record versus his non Brady record, it's like, yeah, dude, he's freaking Jack del Rio, Like, okay, wow, Jack Jack del Rio made David Garrard look like a pro bo QB. Just yeah, give me a break. This guy's supposed to be the greatest coach of all time, better than Don Shula. Give me a break.
Man, Now, what are you gonna do when he breaks Don Shula's record?
Well, is he gonna? Is he gonna live? Is he gonna coach until ninety five? Is that? What is that the plan? Because it's his current rate. I don't see it happening.
So Bill Belichick has three hundred career wins. And for a second, because I remember I remember him getting the three hundredth against Buffalo like like a month ago and being like, oh, so he's probably got like four or five more that I have to add on to this list. But no, I forgot. The Patriots have not won since October twenty second, so he's got twenty eight to go.
This is.
So let's see twenty eight wins.
It's seven wins a year for four years. You know what his record is without Brady? By the way, what is it? Eighty two and ninety eight? Wow? Bom okay, absolute bomb eighty two. Let me get the win percentage on that real quick? Oh god, yeah, just you know, everyone's this is the problem with our generation today, Connor. Everyone's in a rushed crown people. You know, everyone's in a rush to say this is the new best thing. Blah blah blah, you know, the new hot Put some respect on Don Shula. Okay, how about that?
He's seventy one, Okay, turned seventy two on April sixteenth.
He has a four fifty five win percentage without Brady. Don't make me look at the coaches who have a better win percentage than that, because it will, it will humble this man.
Would you? So what would it take for Bill Belichick to earn your respect at this point.
Past Shula without you know, a cheat nass quarterback. Let's start there, like, don't don't film opponents, don't deflate the ball, and win a few games. You know who's I genuinely think is a better coach than Bill Belichick. And this is a little bit of a take, but I'm being one hundred percent serious, Andy Reid. I think Andy Reid is one hundred percent of better coach than Bill Belichick. This guy won with Donovan McNabb, He won with Alex Smith. He made a J. Pheely, He made the Dolphins straight a second round pick for Aj Feely because he made Aj Feely look good he almost beat the undefeated Patriots with aj Peely one year. True story. I think Andy Reid is a better coach. He's won in more places with different people, and now he finally has the generation's best quarterback and lik what he's doing like minimum AFC Championship game every single year, you know, just yeah, the Patriots. The best thing that Patriots had going for them was just like Jedi mind trick voodoo thing where they just fooled opposing teams into making boneheaded mistakes. Every time they played in Foxborough or again, they'd get like the D fourd roughing, the passer call, you know, called in their favor. That was That was the secret sauce. That plus Brady, who I have the ultimate respect for Brady who immediately left and won a Super Bowl, which was just a fantastic middle finger. And by the way, whose decision was it to get rid of the greatest quarterback of all time? It wasn't Robert kraft Man. This is hot.
I really this is like the perfect way to end the show than you like. It really really is. I can support I actually wrote that a couple of weeks ago. By the way, so you don't think I'm a total. I do think that Reid is probably on his way to becoming possibly the greatest coach, and he will. I think he's got a much better coaching staff, I think.
So he's got well, he doesn't just well, okay, he doesn't just hires. He hires. He did hire his son, which obviously you know, we're not going to get into that tragedy. But he doesn't only hire cronies, you know. I think that he's done a good job of actually trying to build a real coaching staff, which is I think a legitimate criticism of Belichick the last couple of years.
So he's sixty five, so that's six years until he's old. You know. So let's say you win, you know, ten games a year for the next six years.
That's at least and you know, you could probably been someone in for eleven frankly.
Man who would have thought and he and you'd be okay with him passing down sula.
Andy Reid. Yes, Andy Reid, lovable, great coach, great personality, isn't trying to big time people as far as we know, you know, isn't writing letters to Donald Trump at least. So yeah, Andy Reid, cool as hell. We love Andy Reid a worthy successor to Don Shula in the wins record. Belichick, get out of here. Okay, let me just put it this way, Mike McDaniel. You could say two is not good, You could say two is not a top ten quarterback. Whatever. You can have your criticisms with Tua with two a tongue of bailoa. Mike McDaniel has made the Dolphins a top five offense in the NFL, with Tyreek obviously too. But you know, took this quarterback that no one wanted. People were trying to bench, We were trying to send her the Arena League, and just look at the splits and to us now played twenty three games under Flores, twenty three games under McDaniel, Tua has like twice as many touchdowns under Mike Keano that he did under Buying floors. Like, the difference is stark. It's unno debatable what McDaniel's in for his career. Is there any chance any chance too would be where he is now if Balichick was his coach?
Oh my god, Well, but we kind of saw it right. I mean, like Flores is a Patriots coach, right, Belichick probably would have benched him three or four times, you know, right and destroyed.
Simple as that, Simple as that, man, I love it.
So he closes it out with a complete takedown of arguably one of the best coaches in NFL history, then slips in a little to uh at the end. This is exactly why we wanted Rohan to come on the show. Thank you so much, buddy. Please come back and I will continue to just give you.
Please put me on. I'll come on weekly. I would love for Breer to be subjected to my takes next time, se like, what the hell is happening here?
I'm gonna make a Rohan Brier Cross Talk episode and it's gonna be incredibly successful. Thank you guys so much for listening. As always, if you're listening to this before Thanksgiving, have the happiest of holidays. Please check back. We'll be covering football all throughout the holiday weekend because now we have a Black Friday game. And be sure to check out the Gilberto and Matt Show, which is always in the middle of the week. Leave us a rating interview and helps everybody find the show, and we'll see you next Monday.
