← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Dak Prescott & Cowboys UPSET by McCarthy & Vikings on SNF + NFL Week 15 Reaction
00:59:00
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- [00:00]
Sophie Cunningham
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
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- [00:34]
Colin Coward
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- [01:04]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
A matchup we got, y'.
- [01:05]
John Middelkopf
All.
- [01:05]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beatin everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
- [01:25]
John Middelkopf
Mmm.
- [01:26]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [01:54]
John Middelkopf
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- [02:20]
Colin Coward
Hi, it's Colin from the Colin Coward podcast. I've been around long enough to know quality when I see it. Or in this case, when I taste it. Tito's handmade vodka. Good stuff. No flash, no gimmicks. Smooth, clean tasting. Made the right way. Tito's made in Austin, Texas. Real attention to detail. I like to keep it simple. Tito's soda. One lime. Lot of ice, Refreshing, easy. Summer, winter, spring. Totally versatile. Always works. Listen, baseball season's here. The perfect time to kick back with some Tito's. It's what I pour. You should too. Distilled and bottled by 5th Generation Inc. Austin, Texas. 40% alcohol by volume. Savor responsibly the Volum.
- [03:15]
John Middelkopf
What is going on everybody? John Middelkopf 3&out podcast how are we doing everybody? We are presented by my good friends and partners. Zone pouches slammed about 20 of those throughout the day starting at about 7am this morning up until the Sunday night game. Really enjoyed football today. We had a lot going on. We just watched JJ McCarthy have an excellent game. We'll lead with that. And then we obviously had to I mean one of the greatest players of this century, Terror's ACL today and Patrick Mahomes, Micah Parsons. All indications are he tore his ACL as well. So some Devonte Adams got injured. Christian Watson got injured. We had some major, major injuries that will have not the Mahomes thing because they got KO'd out of the playoffs, but some ripple effects. I mean the packers had a devastating day. The Patriots also had a devastating day given they were up 21 to nothing and could have won the division. And then Josh Allen happened the Broncos and Bo Nix, I mean had his like defining moment as a quarterback today. So far in the NFL you had the Bears now look like they could win the division. You got the 49ers who are still alive for like the number one seed. The Eagles got some life. Pete Carroll just probably needs to retire. So we got a lot of football going on that we will talk about. If you're listening on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe. If you're watching on YouTube or if you want to watch on YouTube, make sure you subscribe as well. Never miss a thing. We will be live after the Dolphins Steeler game on Monday night, so keep an eye for that but just dive into the Sunday night game. I've been very hard on J.J. mcCarthy as everyone has. He looked for much of his time while he played. I mean he was injured a lot like a player that you can't function with. And over these last couple weeks, and we talked about this once, it's clear they weren't making the playoffs. Is there had to be some sign of progress this last month or else it would cause a very chaotic off season for them because they would have a major question at quarterback. They could not just run it back and say J.J. mcCarthy is starting because they have a locker room. They have people on the team making a ton of money who are big time players. You have to be able to look in the eye and say we are trying our best to win. It's why the Colts signed Philip Rivers and not some random quarterback on a practice squad. How could you Look Jonathan Taylor in the face and go were trying because you couldn't. Even if Philip Rivers, like, at least you can say we believe this is our best option. And he's even at 45 years old and chubby, better than a bunch of dudes on practice squads and he knows the offense, right? So JJ McCarthy to look especially Justin Jefferson in the eyes this off season and go, we're going to keep rolling with this at quarterback. There has to be some substance behind it. And over the last couple of weeks, and specifically today, this is I. I'm going to get a lot of. It's the Cowboys defense, it's Dallas's defense. And listen, I'm no Matt Eber flu fan and they looked a lot like they looked before the trading deadline earlier in the season. Didn't look great. But I thought J.J. mcCarthy, relative to his standards was exceptional. I mean he was balling tonight. He, he made the best throw of his career on his first touchdown pass when he rolled left, threw across his body as Collinsworth broke it down, let the ball rip before his wide receiver was out of his break. Countless times tonight and it's. We know he has a good arm, right When I know he's working through some Mechanics. But like JJ McCarthy has a strong arm. The question with him and clearly Kevin o' Connell over the course of the year has told the broadcasters his problem has been changeups. His problem has been layering the balls. His problem has been the touch passes. And tonight countless times he did that. He had Hawkinson on a ball that was beautiful over the shoulder. He had another play down the sideline, I think to Naylor on a back shoulder play. There was a beautiful concept drawn up by Kevin o' Connell obviously has showed his athletic ability running for some first downs. I think they even mentioned on the broadcast that clearly the Vikings starting with Kevin o' Connell believe that it's safer to dive head first when you're going for a first down than it is the slide because you can kind of control at which angle you kind of go. I was like, ah, kind of makes some sense. But listen, I was impressed. Who and if you're a Vikings fan, like you should be like, okay, there's something. The season's lost. We're not going to the playoffs. More than likely we're going to have an under 500 records. But like we drafted this guy really high. It looked extremely bleak a couple weeks ago. His statistical profile comp to Jamarcus Russell like that. That wasn't a subjective like opinions being thrown out on the shows. Like he reminds me of jamarcus Russell. This is the next jamarcus Russell. That's not what was happening. Literally his profile statistically in terms of drop back and success rate and you know, playing the position paralleled only jamarcus Russell the way he played the position. So it was, no one could argue it was a major problem. And I don't know if whatever Kevin o' Connell has done to settle him down, get him to play a little looser. And again, I understand the opponent tonight was not good. It felt like he would drop back and you could count five Mississippi's for you to even see a cowboy guy around. But that's not what this is about. Like this game today, like the outcome of that game, like at the end of the day, once Philly kind of got their mojo today and you start, they're not going to lose to Washington in either one of those games. The Dallas wasn't catching them. Right. Dallas is a 78 win team and that's fine. Right? They traded Micah before the season. They got a lot of issues still and holes to fill this offseason. Like I, I, I think water finds its level. We're starting to like if their offense isn't perfect, they're going to have issues. Their defense is not dependable. But, but JJ ripped it. I, I, I, I was impressed. I, I thought like, okay, this is an NFL quarterback and it's something to build on if he does that. A couple more games going to the off season, you can just have a positive outlook and emphasize everything. This off season, OTAs being big into training camp and we can keep working on the improvement. He can keep getting these reps. I mean you go on the road in the NFL whether you're playing the Titans or whether you're playing the Houston Texans having success creating confidence. Because the way you create confidence is to do well on the field, right? You can't fake it. Right. You have to do it. And clearly I don't know if he had lost his confidence earlier or this year, whether it was the injuries, whether it was obviously mechanically he's working through some things and he still is. It's a little funky but I listen. He made a lot of big time throws tonight. There was a deep bomb early in the game. Just let it rip. But to me it's the touch throws. Like no one questions his just pure arm strength. Even one tonight where he made a beautiful throw and then he overthrew Jefferson on like a deep out route on the right corner. It's like the guy can throw it hard, right? It's all about touch plays. That's how you have success in the NFL, right? Some of the great plays of Patrick Mahomes career or Lamar Jackson's career, Josh Allen's career aren't always just the drive throws. Sometimes it might be a scramble, throw it over a linebacker and hit a guy in stride. And he did that multiple times today and now he's got to build on it. And we know the Vikings are well coached, right? They have an excellent head coach, they have an awesome defensive coordinator, they have a well structured organization, they're consistently good over the course of, I don't know, 30 plus years of my life, from the 90s to the 2000s and 2010s. They consistently have good, well run teams, well coached teams, deep rosters, you know, quarterback play. When they've had good quarterback play, they've been good. And typically they've had to, you know, sign guys like the Farve thing, the Cousins thing over the last 15 plus years. But a homegrown guy now, I think they're, you're not, you know, writing this in Sharpie that he's just going to be your starter for the next seven years. But like this is a positive and before you can run, like before you run a 5K, you might have to prove to yourself you can run a mile or help a couple laps, right? So I mean the bar's pretty low here. We're not looking for John Elway or Joe Montana. We're just looking to win a couple games, throw a couple touchdowns and complete a couple third downs on third longs, on different looks, different concepts and just be like, okay, he can do that. Check that off the list. So congrats to JJ McCarthy. A huge part of playing football, just like a huge part of life is when shit hits the fan, when things are not going well. And the hard part about a football player, it typically a lot of them are young, right? So it's forcing you. It's easier for us as you go through life and tough things happen, you know, you become a little hardened. But it's a lot easier for me to do it at 41 years old than it was for me to do it at 26, at 29, at 32. Right. Experience, you're able to grow on that. Sometimes as a young player, it's all thrust on you. And he was like, the one thing I will defend. It is tough being a young player put in a position on a good team. It's way easier to just Go to the Cleveland Browns or, you know, the Arizona Cardinals or the Tennessee Titans and nothing matters. Like, listen, I was a fan of Cam Ward at Miami, but I don't even know what, like nothing matters that they're doing like nothing with the Vikings, you know, these, like everything to start the season mattered. A lot of eyeballs. They were a 14 wins team last year. They've been a really good team under Kevin o' Connell and it's just a lot of pressure even coming from Michigan where you've won the natty. Now, granted, you won the natty by defense and running the ball and not much on you. And then you go to a place where the coach wants to throw the ball all the time and that's fine. That's what he. His philosophical belief on winning football games. But to execute that at the highest level is difficult. And going on the road in Dallas, you can throw at me all you want about defensive statistics. I don't give a shit. That was a positive for Dallas. I don't think there's that much to say. You know, when their defense plays crappy, their offense has no margin for error. And their offense was just a little off tonight in George Pickens these last couple of weeks. I mean, what happened in Detroit last Thursday, everything that led up to this, how they talked to him and then he just kind of feels like he's a little MIA again, I think because with Dallas now it's the big picture stuff, right? And they clearly got a couple picks and this, this Packer thing, which we'll talk about in a minute, could get a lot better on their side. The Micah trade, I mean their season is, could just completely unravel. I mean, it's not, it's not impossible for the packers to miss the playoffs. I think it would be unlikely. But if they lose these next couple of weeks, this thing could get away from and get away from quick. And to me, if you're Dallas now, you're just better off losing, but you're just better off losing these games, right? And it's pretty clear now, the Eagles, I know officially they haven't won the division, they've won the division. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to be the three seed, right? They are going to host a game and more than likely this upcoming week against Commanders. They will get a hat and T shirt and this thing will be over. And you know Dallas's flaws. You know, when Dax on, he looks awesome, when he's a little off, it doesn't quite look as good. And I just think that when you go, the Pickens thing was real. Like the plays he was making, he was just, he was balling. And whatever happened over the course of the last, I don't know. I don't know if it happened during the week leading into Detroit, during Thanksgiving week. I don't know because he was awesome that Thanksgiving Day game against the Chiefs. And it's all kind of unraveled. And the problem is, is that position is. It's not a cheap endeavor, right? I mean, it's expensive to get into business with wide receivers. Ask the 49ers about their situation with Brandon Iuk. Like, they gave him $75 million, then he just went MIA and they tried to steal $25 million back. And I said at the time, like, this guy's catching 74 balls a year. But that's kind of the going rate, right? I mean, that's the going rate for these guys. Like, even if he's not a top tier guy, at minimum he's still making 22 to 25 million dollars a year. And I think at this point in time, if you're the Cowboys, like, is this what we want to get into business with, right? Because they have a bunch of high level guys. Like, I see how hard CD Lamb plays and how hard, you know, Dak and Ferguson, like, do you trust this and paying him more money? And I think the answer is, Mike Tomlin will tell you. You see, I tried to tell you, I told you guys and I think it's pretty clear, like, you got to be smart about doing business this off season when it comes to paying a lot of money for, you know, for that player, especially a position where you can find guys in the draft pretty easily. Like you should be able to find guys in the second, third, fourth round that can be really, really productive for you immediately to go along with the other weapons that you already have under contract. And I don't know, you know, Quinn and Williams was hurt tonight. So I think if you're Dallas now that like you ain't making the playoffs. I don't think it's the worst thing to just keep losing out, get a hype draft pick and just see what happens to Green Bay and just reset this offseason, which I actually think has been a pretty positive, pretty positive year for the Cowboys, like pretty respectable. They made the mic a trade. Most people thought they were going to be like a three win team. They'll probably end up with seven wins. They had a tie against the Packers. It was a pretty respectable year given the circumstances. Your Your head coach that everyone thought. And I'm probably guilty of this too. I'm like, what are you doing hiring this guy? It's proven to be pretty solid and he's definitely a good offensive play caller. Statistically, they lead the league in yards per game. I think they're like second or third in points per game, which is his side of the ball in part of defense. Like, obviously you, your defensive coordinator has a big impact, but like, Fangio looks a lot better when he's got really good players. I've seen Fangio bad players and not go well. Like, Robert Sala is doing a badass job this year. They just gave up 24 points against one of the worst teams, if not the worst team in the league, the Tennessee Titans. So I think part of it, and my point is Consolid doesn't have any players right now. So, like a huge part of defense is the Jimmy's in the Joes. Now, once you got the Jimmy's in the Joes, if you pair them with the X's and the O's, you got yourself the Houston Texans. But you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit on defense. You can manipulate stuff on offense. You can't do it on defense. And they just need some more, some more firepower. Obviously they need an edge rusher to go along with their defensive tackles. DBs are actually, I mean, they have a couple defensive backs that, you know, worth keeping, but other than that, like, they seem a lot of help. They need. They just need players over there, which I would imagine they draft heavy, heavy defense and even same thing with, with free agency, because tonight was pretty bad. I mean, he made J.J. mcCarthy look like Joe Montana at times. You know where I bet on sports during the holiday season? Hard Rock Bet. 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- [21:10]
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- [21:42]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
- [21:44]
Richard Sherman
All.
- [21:44]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody showing that school pride game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
- [22:04]
John Middelkopf
Mmm.
- [22:05]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like a band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that hb. See you pride going.
- [22:29]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [23:00]
Sophie Cunningham
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- [23:38]
Richard Sherman
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- [24:34]
John Middelkopf
The big stories of the day, though, I mean, the headline story of the league today were the two major injuries, starting with, I would say, the league's most famous player. He's on the leagues. I mean, the Chiefs are going to officially now miss the playoffs, but they have become the biggest brand in the league over the last five or six years. And obviously Patrick Mahomes is the superstar quarterback on the team towards acl. Which if I would have told you three months ago that Patrick Mahomes would have torn his ACL in the middle of December, your first reaction would have been that's going to have major ripple effects on the AFC playoffs. Because over the last however many years, beside Joe Burrow, none of these guys have been able to beat him. He's beat Josh Allen four times in the playoffs. Obviously. Two years ago he beat Lamar in Baltimore. You know what he did last year? He just, he's an unstoppable force. When the playoff games come and you just been like, well, even if the Chiefs didn't win the division, there wouldn't have been a soul that would have thought that they wouldn't have been a wild card team. And they have simply had the year from hell. And the Patrick Mahomes ACL injury feels like, I'd say the cherry on top of the year from hell. But it's more than that. I mean, it's, it's late December. I know, and I'm guilty of this too. You start doing the math in your head about how long a guy's going to miss. But I do think we go back to Adrian Peterson when he came back in like a month or whatever it was from his ACL injury. That's not normal. Everyone reacts and Responds to these injuries differently. We have seen guys that, you know, try to battle back too quickly, injure other parts of their leg. It happened to, you know, it's different sport. But Klay Thompson was returning from an ACL injury and, and tore his Achilles. We saw Daniel Jones had a broken leg, tore his Torres Achilles. You just this guy's your franchise. I mean literally, he changed the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs, he turned them into like the Dallas Cowboys meets the Green Bay Packers. The moment he began starting, he made Andy Reid, a guy that was viewed as someone that could never win the big one, become a three time champion. Now you could argue never win the big one. Like Andy Reid's resume before Patrick Mahomes was pretty awesome, but he turned him into a living legend. I mean one of a guy that's going to go into the hall of Fame and be considered right up there like Bill Walsh. You know, Bill Walsh won three Super Bowls. I think sometimes we talk about Bill Walsh like he won five, he won three. George Seaford won the last of the 80s and then won another one in 1994. So I just think this injury is one if you're Kansas City you're just extra cautious on and your franchise goes as far as this guy takes you. Now, let's face it, on the field over the last couple years, he hasn't quite been as dominant. So maybe there's an element of reset here. I think if you're the Chiefs now, I've been saying this last week when it was clear they weren't going to make the playoffs, like you're actually better off losing out. Now I don't even think you have to argue, just lose out. I mean, just Minshew came in kind of a tough spot, obviously through terrible pick where it wasn't even close to getting to Kelsey. I mean, he basically hit Derwin James in stride. But I think if you're the Chiefs, not only do you want to lose out, you're actually contemplating depending on how it goes. Like if the Raiders look like they could have the number one pick, would you actually try to screw them and let them beat you? So you derail their draft hopes of getting potentially Fernando Mendoza and getting a, you know, franchise quarterback. But there's no way around it. I mean, if you're a Chiefs fan, this year has been awful. They've been tough to watch at times. They've had just devastating losses. And to see him down on the ground like that and to see the visual of him being held back to the locker room by the trainers, Rick Burkhall, Burkholter, who is the Chiefs trainer, who I've known since Philly. He's been with Andy, I think like 25 years. It's just, it's just terrible. And it's a blow for the NFL. There's just no way around it now. A little lucky that this only happens with a couple games left and they're not going to be in the playoffs. And also like an ACL injury. I saw Jordan Schultz put this out there. That same thing with Tom Brady, his ninth year in the NFL. Now, now Tom tore his acl. What was it, Week one against the Chiefs, ironically, I want to say Tony Pollard. It wasn't Tony Pollard, but it was, it was the Pollard. I'm pretty sure he played at ucla. Hit him, hit him in his lower leg. This was a little different. Kind of a non, Well, I guess he got kind of bent back on a, on a tackle. Now his knee was already kind of felt like not doing great. But man, I, I, I would say though the bigger injury given the impact on 2025 was Micah Parsons and a lot like Patrick Mahomes when he's laying there on the ground, it's like, you know, it maybe you watch football long enough, obviously the non contact stuff, it tends to be pretty clear. But I don't remember a team, I mean at one point in time today they were up 23 to 14. It felt like in full control of the game. And it's like, you know what, the packers coming off that big win came on the road to Denver, came out the gate swinging and they just looked really good. Josh Jacobs is making Josh Jacobs look like Marshall Falk today. Catching balls down the sideline. He had a big touchdown run. Josh Jacobs a badass. Talk about a war daddy. Josh Jacobs could play on my team any day of the week and 100 times on Sunday and he was dominating that game. And then Jordan Love throws the pick over the middle of the field. Christian Watson, also major injury. We don't quite know the results of that. I think they said he was going to go to the hospital when they get back to Green Bay. They said a chest, not a, not a shoulder because I think most people when he's laying on the ground assume that he broke his collarbone. So maybe he did something else. We'll see if that's a season ender because that would be devastating. Then they score and they take the lead and then Michael Parkinson's terror is acl. It's like what just happened. Honestly, I don't remember a team that we would have all agreed, like, this team 100% can win the Super Bowl. They have a dominant running back who can run and catch. They have more than enough wide receivers, even though their star tight end is missing, they've done enough to fill that. And their defense is unreal. Led by a $40 million a year pass rusher who just looks like he shot out of a cannon every time he pass rushes. Then their fastest guy on offense just taken back to the locker room who's injured, who just gets injured a lot anyway. So you're just like, that's not good. But when Micah Parsons was on the ground, honestly, I just felt like their season's over. That was my first response. And then I didn't see the clip till halftime of the Sunday night game. When they show LaFleur he looks like he saw a ghost, how would he not? He's was literally coaching a season that was one. He knows he has a team that's in a weird way, like get to the super bowl or bust. I would say minimum NFC championship or bust. He's also kind of coaching for a contract extension. I mean, part of this whole season was Matt LaFleur is not under contract after this year. I mean, he's got a one year left, but like this kind of extension time, he's either getting an extension after this year or as the new president kind of alluded to before the season, like, we're going to have to make a decision. And he's no dummy. He, he sees the reality. I, I, I just lost a guy that scored four, five touchdowns in four weeks. Who's the fastest guy? One of the fastest guys in the league. And I lost a guy that we traded two first rounders for, gave $188 million. Who's fucking dominated the majority of the season and been the best player on our defense, which has been one of the best defense in the league. And now we're playing the Bears, who got their mojo back against the the Browns and are going to be pretty confident playing us because they just took us down to the wire a week ago. And all of a sudden I look up, I go, well, the Rams and Seattle both have 11 wins. They play Thursday, one of those two teams going to have 12. And the 49ers are playing Philip Rivers. So more likely they're going to have 11 wins at the end of the year, at the end of the week. So if we lose the Bears, we're probably not going to win the division. The Chicago Bears are And listen, the Lions are technically still alive, but we either could be the seven seed, which is probably likely, or miss the playoffs. Like this thing could become a disaster and become a disaster fast. So I don't blame them. It's the one thing I've never missed about leaving football is just injuries. Like, what are you supposed to say? Next man up. I always thought is the dumbest, the dumbest thing that's ever said in the NFL. Like, there is no next man up for Mike Parsons. There's no next man up for Patrick Mahomes. There is no. You go back to, what was his name? Dick Vermeil, when Trent Green got hurt and he said, Kurt Warner's our starter and we will win with Kurt Warner. That's the only time that's ever really worked. Like most guys, when Trent Green goes down, Kurt Warner turns out to be like John Middelkoff and you just lose every game and then you never hear about that player ever again. 99% of the time they do not turn out to be Kurt Warner. They turn out to be a backup who gets exposed when you play good teams. And LaFleur knows it and you could see it on his face. We're fucked. I mean, no way around it. And it sucks. Like, you know, and it's not lucky for the Chiefs because they just lost Patrick Mahomes to an acl, but their season was over, right? So it sucks. You don't want to lose a 30 year old superstar quarterback to a torn ACL, but you were not going to the playoffs. So it just sucks that he's injured, right, for the Packers. I mean, halfway through this game, Matt Lafor had to be thinking like, we're not only going to win this game, we're going to beat the Bears next week. We're going to get the number one seed and we're going to win the freaking nfc. And then we're going to win the super bowl. And I'm going to become a legend. I'm gonna be like the skinny kind of millennial version of Mike Holmgren. That's what I'm gonna be. I'm gonna get a statue in this franchise one day. And then it flipped. And that's how fast things happen in professional sports, especially in football, where in any given play someone could just be lost. Like at any given play, it's like Daniel Jones is laying there. It's like, what's his injury? Well, he's got a broken leg and a torn Achilles. Career could be altered. Never be the same again. That's how fast it happens. And I think a lot of these injuries, maybe it's just the world we live in. We have so many cameras. You just know when you see it. And there wasn't a soul that watched Micah Parsons laying on that ground that thought like, oh, but just tweaked the knee. We all thought the same thing. He just tore up his knee. He's done, it's over. And it just, it sucks. There's nothing you can even say unless you're a Packer fan. And then you just say a lot of swear words and throw things at the wall and hopefully. Well, TVs are cheap. I just bought a couple. They're actually extremely cheap for like the inflationary times we live in where everything costs an arm and a leg. I mean, you can't even find a sandwich for like under 20 bucks. You can find like an 80 inch TV for like $375. So if you did break your TV, at least, you know, you go on Amazon actually just get it delivered to your house. I think you pay like $50, they'll even hang the thing for you. But before we move on really quick, I do need to tell you about my friends and my partners. Game Time. They're the best in the business. I've been using this ticketing app for as long as you guys have known me. And because of doing this, I haven't been able to go to any football games lately. But been to concerts, been to multiple NBA, NHL games because of them. I know a lot of you guys have gone to football games and I hope you had a good time and I hope you didn't pay that much because you can find tickets as low as $100. The tickets you see when you're searching, you want to search like, I'm going to Lincoln Financial Field, I'm going to SOFI Stadium. Whoever the opponent is, wherever you want to sit, it gives you sight lines. And the price you see when you purchase the tickets or when you click on it is the price you pay when you check out. There are no hidden fees. The price. Price you see is the price you pay. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code John. That's Johan. For $20 off terms apply again. Create an account. Johan, $20 off down the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Parsons thing I just still can't quite get over. That's just. That sucks. I mean, it's the packers. If you're Roger right Now, I mean they're a cash cow for the league. You want them playing in big games. And like I said, I mean I, I was wrong in the Bears. I believed in the coach, but you know, I was not a. Not a believer in the quarterback. Didn't think it was going to work with the coach. He has been excellent. Caleb's made so many plays over the last month. The. I mentioned this to Coward when we recorded like the mental fortitude they showed going into that game today. And I get it, you're playing the Browns, but to show up and just beat the living, you know what out of them was like this, this team's for real. I don't know if I'm picking them to win the super bowl, but after the devastating injuries with the packers sitting here on December 14th, I mean I like them to win this week against Green Bay and I like him to end up winning the division. And that's all of a sudden the Bears are going to be the 2 seed. I think how crazy that is. I think last year didn't they lose like 10 straight games? They fired eber flutes the day after Thanksgiving. A year later they are, I mean, let's face it, a game away from essentially winning the division and probably being the 2 seed. I guess not inconceivable if Seattle and the Rams both lose a game or two that they could have the number one seed. It's not out of the realm of possibility. What a turn of events. I mean speaking of a team that might get the one seed, I mean Puka Nakua is like the Polynesian wide receiver version of George Kittle. He's just, I don't ever remember a receiver quite like him, how physical he is, how tough he is a tackle, just what a all around baller the dude is. I mean he's really good. But it does help to have help. And when you have Devonte with him, you can't like throw three, three guys at Puka Nakua, right? Because at any moment Devonte can just make sweet catches, score touchdowns, like he's a Hall of Fame level guy. And when I looked up today and saw Devonte get a flat tire in that hammy what looked like pulled it again. And you know, Sean said after the game that he wasn't going to rule him out for this week. The problem is this week is in four days and typically you don't pull a hamstring, especially when you've had reoccurring hamstring injuries and go on the road. And I haven't checked the weather but it's probably be cold and wet in play. So the problem is is Seattle does have a bunch of DBs and an excellent defensive coordinator. And to me that entire game plan is like, listen, there is no way Puk is going to have like 10 for 140 on us. It's just not going to happen. We're going to try to keep them like 50 yards and we will double cover them every single play. I don't care what formations you do, we're going to have two guys designated to them and make these other tight ends in your two running backs beat us because that if you told me the Rams went and fully healthy now their defense has issues but Seattle is not playing well on offense. Sam Darnold was was not good for a lot of today. Now clearly the Colts had some life with Rivers, but that devonte Adams injury is pretty big specifically for Thursday, which if you're the Rams and you sweep Seattle and Seattle still has to go on the road and play the 49ers pretty big. So I mean I think this game to me with devonte out is a total total coin flip. The other injury is the 49ers play the Titans who are just atrocious. I mean they are really, really bad. There are plays were like is this really happening? They also, they also had some positive plays as well. Part of it is the 49ers defense. They got a lot of randos out there, but offensively the Niners look incredible. And part of it is George Kittle's as good as he's ever been. George Kittle right now looks like a combination of like the physicality of Pete Gronk with the ball skills and you know, running ability with the ball in his hands of like peak Travis Kelsey. I mean he looks like an unstoppable force. McCaffrey is just slow and steady. Like he's not quite as explosive as he was a couple years ago, but he's still unreal. Player Juwan Jennings dominated Ricky Pearsall, who obviously they drafted in the first round two years ago, got derailed early last year because he got shot. But if you remove the gunshot wound, which I saw, I think the doctor that removed the bullet. So the crazy part about that is it was an inch or two away from being, you know, catastrophic for the guy's life. But he's battled a bunch of other injuries from hamstring injuries to shoulder injuries to knee injuries. And he rolled his ankle today, he hurt his knee at the end of the game and Kyle said he might have re injured his pcl, which is a problem because if this team's going to make some noise, which they still can. Like it's not inconceivable if Seattle were to take down the Rams on Thursday night, like they could still win the division because they still play Seattle. Week 18. Now they still got to beat the Bears in a couple of weeks, which is not going to be easy given how well the Bears offense is playing. But their success is going to hinge on their offense dominating and their defense just doing enough. And part of their offense dominating is like Brandon Iuk. Kyle's like, yeah, we haven't seen him in forever. Haven't seen him forever. I don't even know where he is. Right? It's like he not coming back. This thing's a disaster. But we already knew that. Like he's been MIA the whole time. Like they were depending on Kendrick Bourne, who was literally in NFL circles. What you call when a guy's unemployed, like he's on the street, even though technically down on the street, like a homeless guy. I mean he's multimillionaire, but he's on the street waiting for a job and they offered him what and he's, he's coming and he's produced. But Ricky Pierce hall is a better player. And you get Piersall with Jennings, with McCaffrey, with George Kittle. Like they got a Kyle Shanahan high end offense. And if they're going to make noise, which they can win a playoff game for sure, they're going to need them. And that's something to definitely monitor couple. I mean, at one point in time today, the New England patriots were up 21 to nothing. 21 to nothing. I swear to God, they were up 14 nothing before you even blinked. Are the Bills about to lose this game like 50 to 10? Honestly, at the end of the first quarter it felt like that. And I know they got Josh Allen and you can never count them out. It's easy that after the game, but I don't. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Bills fan that said 10, 15 minutes into that game that you thought you were going to come back to win. It felt like you were about to get boat raced. And then Josh Allen happened. Here's my overall take. I'm not a big awards guy. I, I don't really rarely bet those. Even though I dabbled this year. I mean, because Baker Mayfield thing did look pretty tasty. It doesn't matter that much to me, like whether Peyton Manning won seven MVPs or four MVPs or Brady or Favre. Like, I know what I saw. Like, I have a pretty good feel for when you watch a guy, as most fans do. And there were years when Michael Jordan didn't win the MVP and other guys did, but there wasn't a soul alive that thought Michael Jordan was the best player in the NBA, right? And I think when you watch football, you can give it to Stafford, and Stafford's has an unreal season. You could give it to, you know, at one point in time a couple weeks ago, it's like, Jordan Love could win it. There is not a soul in the NFL. I don't think there's a fan in the NFL. They would say, Josh Allen isn't the best player currently playing in the league. He is an unstoppable force. So whether he wins the MVP or not, he's the best player in the league. And we all know it. It's why I think awards and listen, it's. It'd be a, you know, feather on the cap for Stafford to win the mvp. So now we'd have a Super Bowl. An MVP after the shitty years in Detroit, even though they weren't that shitty because he ultimately got paid, like $300 million to lose a lot. But, you know, as a player, you. You want to accomplish things as a team and as an individual, and he's going to be given the opportunity if they can, you know, play well Thursday night and finish this season strong. It looks like Matt Stafford's going to win it. Matt Stafford's not better than Josh Allen, and we all know it. And what Josh Allen did today, when he flipped that switch, they went five straight drives, five straight touchdowns. He's making plays with his legs, he's throwing these dimes. He's keeping plays alive. Scrambling to throw was. It was just fun to watch. And if I was a Patriot fan, that thing went from we are kicking the, you know what out of these guys to when they took the lead late in the fourth quarter. And then you scored immediately on the Trayvon Henderson run. So you're like, maybe it was destiny. We were down four points, and then Henderson hits it and we're up three. And then what happens? Allen takes you right down the field with a lot of James Cook. They score again, and Josh McDaniels, I think you guys ran seven more plays, called one run. I had a couple people DM me. They were like, we were gashing these guys in the run game, and he just didn't run it. And the one run of those seven plays went for five yards and they got really pass happy. I don't know if Drake just got skittish if guys weren't open. Obviously it's cold, it's snowing. Josh is unfazed. But Drake's a young player. This isn't exactly the, you know, Gronk, Edelman, Randy Moss and Troy Brown running around out there. And it crumbled. And it crumbled on him fast. I mean when they went turned it over on downs late in the game, it was ugly. It was really, really bad. So it's just one of those moments where you're like, it's tough, you know, I mean the worst case scenario is like the Blue Jays in the World Series. When you start looking at like your dad, your buddies, just whoever you're watching the game with are like, we're about to win the World Series. Nothing gets worse than that. I think they were, they had the lead in the World Series with two outs to go. Like that's, that's worst case scenario. But you got three quarters of football, you're killing them and you're going, we're going to win the AFC east in on December 14th against the Bills and Josh Allen. Do you know how awesome that's going to feel? And everyone's kind of feeling it and there's probably a little cockiness that comes back from, you know, the decades of watching Brady and Belichick just curb stomp people just win this division year after year it's like we're back and then you weren't back and Josh Allen beat you. Now I still think the Patriots can win the division obviously just based on math, but shows you man, you just can't count this guy out. And I would say the same thing for Denver when they're down 2314 and they weren't really playing that bad, but Jacobs has hit a couple big plays and you thought, listen, like this isn't the end of the world. The Patriots had lost, so you maintain that number one seed but this team's coming off, you know, big win. It's like, are you just not as good as the Packers? And then Jordan threw that pick and then it just flipped. And like I said, you know, earlier, I haven't watched every Bonix game. I definitely didn't watch many at Auburn. Clearly it didn't go well for the majority of it. You know, a lot of with in fairness like the Oregon, the offense was the offense and you know, a lot of people gave him shit for throwing the ball behind the line of scrimmage. He put up great numbers and they were a really good team. But what he did today is nothing like I've ever seen that guy play football. That was as good of a game as I would imagine he's ever played. And when you factor in the opponent, that's easily the best game of his life. And he needed it because, like, Denver has a championship defense. They have a coach who is comfortable being in the playoffs, right? There's no questioning the head coach running a playoff team, and there's no questioning their defense. But when your quarterback is not dependable, like, things can get weird in the playoffs because you have a crappy half, your season can be over. All of a sudden you throw a pick or a pick six, you find yourself down 17 to three, you just. You can't get back and you lose. And if he's going to play like that, like that team can win the super bowl if he plays like that. No one's beating Denver. If Bo Nix is going to be good, they will be the AFC champions, especially if it has to go through Denver. There's a reason Denver beat the Patriots so many times in the Belichick era. There's a reason that Peyton Manning got him right? They're very, very difficult team to beat on the road. Going to Mile High fan base is crazy. It's loud, it's intense. The weather plays a factor and you know you're playing an excellent defense. So I, I haven't been sold on Bo Nicks because he hasn't played well. And you've watched him, you went, he can't function with this if he plays like that. I mean, that looked like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes in his prime. Like, that was. That was an elite performance for majority of the game. He was playing well, too, as Michael was out there. And then when Michael went out, it was truly on like Donkey Kong. He was. I don't think he was sacked today. Passes on the run, obviously. Some. Just some beautiful over the shoulder, deeper, deeper balls that he has missed on a ton to Cortland Sutton. He made an unreal scramble to his right where he split like these two defenders that were like 10ft above ahead of him. There was one of the best passes probably ever made in his NFL career. When you talk about touch, but he was, he was. He was brilliant today. He really was. That was. I saw some Packer fans on the Internet. It was like, like the football gods come down, just, just throw him a bone. For some of his earlier performances because that was. That was awesome. It looks like the Patriots now, you know, have a little work to do when it comes to that number one seed. But listen, if I were told any Patriot fan, would you be cool with having the number two seed? For sure. Now at this point in time, if. If it does get away from you and you end up not winning the division, that would feel pretty devastating. Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Deadman, a knives out mystery with an all star ensemble cast for his most dangerous case yet. When young priest Judd Dupleny is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it's clear that all is not well in the pews. Written and directed by Rian Johnson. Critics are calling it the sharpest Knives out movie yet. Watch Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives out mystery. Now in select theaters and on Netflix. Rated PG13.
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What a matchup we got, y'.
- [53:33]
John Middelkopf
All.
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- [53:53]
John Middelkopf
Mmm.
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Richard Sherman
This is Richard Sherman from the Richard Sherman Podcast Let me tell you about Ready or Not, the tactical first person shooter where you take command of a SWAT team and feel the weight of the badge. Recently I reunited with my Legion of Boom teammates Cliff Averill, Cam Chancer, Michael Bennett and Walter Thurman. We partnered with Ready or Not to go through actual SWAT training and film the whole experience. Watch it now at the Richard Sherman Podcast YouTube channel. Here's what makes this game different. It's not just mindless run and gun. Just like the Legion of Boom built an elite defense on strategy and teamwork, Ready or Not demands the same mentality. You're commanding a SWAT team, clearing rooms, protecting civilians, making tactical calls. As a coordinated team with 18 missions that challenge you in completely different ways, every operation demands that same discipline and and teamwork. Best part? Try it for free for a limited time on PlayStation and Xbox. Go solo or squad up with five players in full crossplay support. If you want strategic, high stakes action that rewards elite tactics and fast thinking, then this is the game for you. Try Ready or Not for free today on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.
- [56:54]
John Middelkopf
A couple other quick things story today about the Bengals. I mean, I didn't follow the weather hour by hour over the last couple days in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I guess there's a league rule. Mike Florio pointed out that if it snows, the team has to remove snow from the seats for the fans. Right? You just, you pay a crew and they come. I don't know exactly what they do. Knock it off. It's not like they're carrying it out of the stadium. They're just knocking it off and clearing the seats. The Bengals did not do that. They paid nobody to do anything and the seats were covered with snow, which is a league violation. Now the Bengals pushed back. It wasn't as bad, but I think it's a clear reflection that everyone thinks their owner is the cheapest human alive. And I've said forever. I think when you are really, really wealthy and you're still really cheap, it's a disease. It's. It's no different than we could list a million diseases. It is a disease. You do not shake that. I mean, there are notorious stories still about, like, Tiger woods and Michael Jordan being cheap. It's like, you guys are billionaires, but you don't shake it. It's something you carry with you your entire life. We all know people, maybe not billionaires, but people that do well successfully or, you know, successfully financially and just will not pull out their wallet. And I truly believe it's a disease. And Mike Brown has it. Like, Mike, whether you like it or not, you're a billionaire. Now. Your team's worth billions of dollars. Your team generates just from the media deal, $450 million a year. Your team's payroll is not even, you know, it's like half that. So when we know you ain't paying many executives because it's all your family running it. So I just think it's pretty embarrassing. And then his team got embarrassed, and Lamar shown some signs of life for the first time. It felt like in a month. It was like, okay, this is kind of Lamar Jackson that we all know and love, and we'll see tomorrow with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, you know, the Ravens team, the last couple weeks has just been terrible, partly because Lamar has not played well. He did look a lot better today. Made some beautiful deep passes, his day flowers a couple times. When their passing game gets going, it open it up for Derek Henry. You start running around like he's a freaking thoroughbred. When. When that gate opens and he starts kind of galloping and those strides are covering like eight yards per every two steps, you're like, holy shit, this guy's a monster. So watch out for the Ravens. A couple other quick things. Shador Sanders was obviously not good today, and I think the problem for him is the Browns. You know, there are so many bad teams, they're not guaranteed to have the number one pick. I mean, technically, right now they're like the fifth or sixth pick. There are going to be a couple of teams like the Giants, like the Titans, who are not going to take quarterbacks. Obviously, the Raiders would take a quarterback, but the Browns don't necessarily control their own destiny of getting a quarterback, but they do have a couple picks. Now, that Jags pick will probably be somewhere in the 20s, so. But they do have that as ammo to move up a little bit if, you know, if the Giants or whoever Want to move back, but you have days like today. It is now. One of his interceptions was not his fault. It literally went right through Jerry Judy's stomach and Jalen Johnson just grabbed it and picked it off in the end zone. But he had some other. He had. The other two picks were atrocious and obviously the team's terrible. I just think it's going to be very, very difficult for him to show enough. Whether this regime stays or is gone and new people come in for them not to be extremely aggressive to try to get. Now Fernando Mendoza is the only quarterback that comes out and the Raiders have the number one overall pick. It will be a moot point because they'll. They will just draft the kid. And if Dante Moore goes back to school. We saw Sellers went back to school with nil. A lot of these quarterbacks go back to school and you just kind of roll back with Gabriel Shador and that's kind of your quarterback room with Deshaun Watson, I guess, coming back and you just kind of roll it over. But that just shows you this team is really, really bad. I mean that was. The Bears clown them today. They embarrassed him. And I think one of Shador's problems is. Is. And we talk about getting rid of the ball and it was a knock on him in college. Well, in the Big 12. Not many good defenses in the Big 12, you know, in the NFL, Chidor is athletically is much closer to like a Kirk Cousins than he is to like a Bo Nix. He's not a runaround guy. He is a pocket quarterback. You have to get rid of the ball quickly. When you try to run around, scramble. That is not going to work out well when you have your skill set. He didn't get his father's athletic ability. Clearly. He got his moms right. I think they've even joked about it as a family. But when you're going to throw a bunch of interceptions down the stretch, your team keeps losing. You're just not like next year's in major question because if they do draft a quarterback really high, are they going to keep Shador Sanders the backup? Now typically with a 5th round pick, you'd be like, yeah, just keep him, keep him around and he'll just compete for the backup job with someone else. But Shador is so much more. They could draft Fernando Mendoza. Shadora is more famous than Fernando Mendoza, which is just, just a reality. And he's definitely a bigger talking point. And it's just one of those situations that like this thing could just get weird and it can get weird fast and you can kind of feel it coming if there are games like today are going to keep happening, these last couple of games of the season, and last but not least, you know, sometimes. And listen, I've never been in my mid-70s, but I've also never been worth $100 million and probably more. And I think when you look back at Pete Carroll, he was forced out of Seattle and he's a prideful guy. He didn't want to quit and he didn't have a choice. The problem is, is when he was forced out, he refused to wave the white flag. He was desperate to do whatever it took to get back involved. Now the problem was is that his options basically didn't exist. Teams didn't want him until one team was pretty desperate, didn't have any other options to hire a coach, and they hired Pete Carroll. Turns out it's the Raiders and Pete Carroll is adamant. And every time I see him talk, he's like, all I've ever done is win. All I do is win. The problem is now you're just losing. And you had a team that didn't even get 100 yards of offense today. And I, you know, typically like Willie Mays on the Mets, you know, some of these famous players that, and I'm not comparing, I wouldn't compare Pete Carroll quite to Willie Mays, but you know what I mean. You know, if LeBron next year finishes career like the Atlanta Hawks or whatever, sometimes things happen and you just forget about them with time. And it is true, like, this season is not going to define Pete Carroll's career by any means. Super bowl champ, he's a national champion, he's, he's coached and drafted hall of Fame players, Heisman Trophy winning players, legend. But it's over. And this is a guy that should have just rode off in the sunset, been a rich guy, enjoyed himself in Southern California, maybe taught a class at usc, hung out by the beach, maybe done some TV for Fox in studio if he, if he needed to get his football itch on. But he was adamant, like I, I have to coach and it shows you which I, which I do respect. And I would put Belichick, it's, you know, Belichick, it feels like a little more scandalous with the Jordan Hudson thing. But, like, these guys just couldn't tap out. He just refused to go. And sometimes you just got to go and he didn't. Oh, I also wanted to hit on one more thing. Philip Rivers, he cried after the game. I actually think he gave A really good message that he basically admitted that he was a little nervous and questioned, like, was a little scared, like what was it going to look like? In my first, you know, reaction was it actually was way better than I thought. And there was this picture of him before the game where he probably looked. My guess is he weighs 265, 270 pounds. I mean Phillips an enormous guy. Like 270 pounds on him actually isn't that big, but it's definitely way bigger than he used to be. He's never moved great his arms, you know, it was never great either, but probably not as good as it was 10 years ago, but functional I guess. And he went out there and tried and I think a lot of people in his position were like, I'm not going to go out there embarrass myself because the easiest thing is to go take the worst case scenario. And that's not what he did. And he's teary eyed after the game, I think because he's like, this was. I bet he didn't sleep this much or much this week, right? Anticipating this. His brother's there, his son's there, and the video of his team in Fairhope, Alabama watching the game, cheering for him. He throws the touchdown, he gives a big fist bump. He was basically dinking and dunking all game. I also think a huge part of signing him and playing him was trying to give life to the team. Like a huge part of being a head coach or a gm. When you hear like you've got to know your locker room and know how the players are thinking or responding. They had to be teetering on just all quitting because once Daniel Jones goes out, Anthony Richardson is injured, Riley Leonard's also injured. It's like, what do we even do? What was this all for? And Philip Rivers. I think a lot of people, including myself, kind of laughed at it. I mean it was, it was insane. They signed a 44 year old high school coach who hadn't played in the NFL in four, five years. But I felt like a couple quarters in every single quarterback, former quarterback, whether at college or definitely in the NFL in their 40s and their 50s were watching that game and had a little smile and part of them had to be like, could I still do that? Could I still throw a couple first downs? I mean there was that viral video of Vinny Testaverde with, with John Gruden getting down, doing the hard count and you could just see in his eyes as he went on and on. It's like, God, Vinnie, if You needed a third and eight. Vinnie thinks it deep down in his mind he'd give it to you. And Philip even mentioned it after the game when they said what was it like to get hit? He's like, honestly, I wanted to get hit. I told my wife a couple years ago, one thing I miss is releasing the ball and getting blasted by a defensive lineman. My wife's like, you're sick. And he's like, I know I am. Part of it is it doesn't hurt as much. I mean he's Philip Rivers is exactly Bryce Young. I mean he is a massive human being. I just thought that was a cool moment. It was cool they kicked that 60 yard field goal. Now part of it at the end of games now when you leave a team 40, 50, 60 seconds, even if they don't have timeouts with this new, with this new kickoff rule is you're going to get the ball at minimum at the 30. And a lot of times I like the 40. So you're just like one big completion away from kicking a game winning field goal, which is exactly what happened. And last but not least, Monday Night Football. I'm taking the Miami Dolphins plus three on the road. Freezing conditions partly because they don't need two to throw. They have been winning without them. Run the ball. Why? I also like HN multiple touchdowns I'm going the Dolphins plus three. I'm going HN multiple touchdowns and the fighting Mike McDaniels potentially get back to seven and seven. Be one of the great stories in the NFL. Adios. See you later. The volume. And Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. 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