← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Jordan Love & Packers DOMINATING Jayden Daniels & Commanders on TNF
01:45:44
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John Middlekauff
This is an iHeart podcast on Fox One. You can stream your favorite news, sports and entertainment live all in one app.
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Matt Jones
It's raw and unfiltered.
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Tyler Barnes
This is the best thing ever.
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Matt Jones
Watch breaking news as it breaks. Breaking tonight, we're following two major stories.
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John Middlekauff
And catch history in the making. Debate drama touchdown. It's all here, baby. Fox one, we live streaming now. You can make a difference in someone's life, including your own with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, healthcare, retirement options and free training.
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Tyler Barnes
They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime. Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply. That's oregonhomecarejobs.com.
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John Middlekauff
Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix. Tools scattered everywhere and boom. You realize you're missing a part. It's okay because you know, whatever it is, it's on ebay. They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes. Whatever you need. And it's guaranteed to fit. Which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. All the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. Ebay. Things people love.
- [01:39]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be in and entertaining and twice a week. That is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [02:13]
John Middlekauff
The Volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlekop three and out podcast. Just watched a little Thursday Night Football. The Green Bay packers are red hot. They trade for Micah Parsons. They're two and oh, they. The score doesn't quite even reflect what we. They dominated the Washington Commanders tonight. That was an ass kicking. So two home games, two wins. Green Bay looks like, if not the best team, one of the best teams in the league. So props to them. We'll dive into Washington as well. Some other stuff going on around the NFL. Purdy, he's injured. Mac Jones in. It's actually not funny. The Chiefs, The Eagles, Mike McDaniels. Which. That thing's getting a little weird. The kickoff rule. Stucky joins us as he does every Friday. So recorded that before the Thursday night game. I also recorded a mailbag but that'll probably come out this weekend. The audio version, the video version, they'll both be up on podcast feed and out on the YouTube page. So I knew I skipped it yesterday, but I tried to bang out some of your questions. So no mailbag today, just some night reaction and then long talk with Stuckey about gambling and some different plays. A lot going on. I mean there's early on in the season, everyone's playing. Obviously got a full slate for college. So let's buckle up and get ready for some football. If you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to three and out. I need you to do that. And if you like watching the video, slash, I mean a lot of you guys listen podcast wise on the video, you can just subscribe to the YouTube channel. I listen to a lot of podcasts on YouTube, so you can do that as well. So subscribe to all of our channels. Never miss anything because we're doing a lot of content. Why? It's football season, that's what we do. But first, before we dive into any football, you know, I got to tell you about my friends. You, you know, I got to tell you about my partners. Game Time. You want to go to one of these games? Whenever I'm watching a Packer game, I go, God, it's got to be pretty awesome to be a season ticket holder there. To live somewhere in the Midwest and make it to every. To make it to Lambeau Field, the tailgate, to go to these games. Your team's always good. You want to go to one of these games anywhere around the country, college or pro, any other sport as well. You can search by the team, you can search by the event, you can search by the arena. It doesn't get any easier. You guys know the drill. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code John. That's John for $20 off. Your first purchase terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code johm for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. You know the funny part about the NFL is even when a game and to me, the major difference with the NFL in college is like when one team is kicking someone's butt in college, typically the score reflects it. Now, not every game an ass kicking is 60 to nothing in college, but like if I am dominating you for three quarters, I am typically up several scores. Like it's not even a close game yet in the NFL through three quarters. I think by the End of three quarters, they might have been even. But at one point in time, with a couple minutes left, the graphic comes up that the Green Bay packers tight end Tucker Kraft had more yards than the entire Washington Commanders offense, who have Jaden Daniels, offensive rookie of the year, Debo Samuel, who's playmaker. Terry McLaurin, who's making $30 million a year, they got some firepower. And Zach Hertz, who's pretty legendary tight end and still actually playing pretty well for an older guy. When I was actually me and my wife went to see the baby doctor, there are all these pictures of the babies and the earth's baby was up there. So I've always had a soft spot for Zach Ertz. But that offense tonight was horrendous. And the Green Bay packers kicked their ass and they were still only up a touchdown. But then the Green Bay got the ball back, scored 24 to 10, and the game was basically over. Then I think, and I do believe this, I liked them coming into the year. I thought they had a chance to be really good. You guys know that one of my favorite bets before the year was them to win the division. And that was before the Micah Parsons trade. Obviously, once they traded for Micah Parsons, I've been saying this, the best part of that trade for 2025, it's just Kenny Clark for Micah Parsons straight up. Those draft picks are in the future. It's like time value money. It's like me giving you $100 for you giving me $200 later. But that later is not coming for a year. So right now it's Kenny Clark for Micah Parsons straight up, which is a trade that any human would make for this individual season. And obviously tonight Micah Parsons look like Lawrence Taylor coming off the edge against the rookie. But I do think it's fair to say that if this was college, the Green Bay packers would be the number one team in the country. And last year it was clear because for a long time in the McCarthy era, right up into the LaFleur offense has never been their problem. Obviously, when you have Aaron Rodgers for years winning MVPs and one of the best players in the history of the league, you're going to be really good. But they transition very smoothly into Jordan Love. Offense is not going to be their issue. They always build good offensive lines. Even if they have to mix and match their wide receivers, they figure it out. They find tight ends, they're just, offense is going to be good and defense has been the question. And they get Jeff Halfley, who's Kind of thrown in his hat in the ring these first two weeks of. I thought last year was like, this is a guy that left Boston College because of the nil situation. It's like, he's never going to be able to win that much. He'll probably just get fired. He comes to Green Bay, he knows that, like, that's a better opportunity to up his stock to go to either a bigger college or even, best case scenario, one day be an NFL coach. And last year, if you would ask me, I'd be like, I bet he's going to be in the mix with another good year to interview for the top college jobs. If it keeps going like this, he's going to be one of the top candidates this offseason. Because that defense tonight, the speed in which they played, how well they tackled, how close their defensive backs are constantly, you know, to the wide receivers, it's not like, you know, Washington has no firepower with Debo and McLaurin, but that defense looks excellent. And they were hammering it all night. To me, what I saw, and this happens sometimes when Lamar plays Pittsburgh, the only team that is comfortable playing him with his speed, and he typically in Baltimore, doesn't play that well against him. It's because they always have speed on the outside. And tonight Jaden Daniels usually looks so much faster than so many teams he plays. And tonight I would say he looked, I don't want to say pedestrian from an athletic standpoint, but he looked much more normal. And I think that was more of a reflection with just how fast and physical Green Bay is. But the defense was solid, was good. Last year. You add Micah Parsons to this unit, the speed and they've had leads. The other thing, they've started two straight games. They kind of remind me last year, the Minnesota Vikings. The, the. A huge part of the Minnesota Vikings success early in the season and this kind of just snowballed as the year went, is the confidence for Sam Darnold was like through four games. They were dominating early in games. They were putting up a ton of points and he had like 12 touchdowns through four weeks. Same thing last week. Couple touchdowns early, Jordan Love this week, couple touchdowns early. The offense and Jordan Love, it's like they're just rolling early in these games. Now both of them have been at home, but like the offense gets a lead and then they are built. They have a, basically a $200 million pass rusher in Micah. They have Rashawn Gary, who is an excellent player. They have several other guys really in their front seven who Are fast, physical, just naturally get up the field, guys. And they were engulfing him tonight and play after play after play. And I give Jaden a lot of credit because I've been hammering this home forever. The most important aspect of a quarterback that we never talk about is toughness. And Jaden Daniels stood in there tonight and got the shit kicked out of him. He was getting peppered. And I don't know how much he weighs. When he gets on the scale, he probably weighs a little bit more than he looks because he's a taller guy. But this guy's not built like, you know, Cam Newton or Ben Roethlisberger. Like he's pretty slender and he's just getting popped, popped, popped. And he kept hopping back up. But when this team gets a lead on you, it's different. I think they're a little more complete. And obviously Jordan loves not Peyton Manning. But the way this thing is built right now, remember when they had a couple pass rushers for years in Indianapolis or when Peyton, you know, got to Denver and they had DeMarcus Ware and von Miller and now you got Micah Parsons and Rashawn Gary. It's like buckle the bleep up. We are coming because in these third and everyone in the stadium, everyone on their couch knows they're passing. This is probably one of the last teams you want to see in Washington night. You know, when you throw out a rookie and listen, it's part of, part of life in the league. You get drafted high, you're our best option. You get thrown to the fire. And week two, short week on the road, Micah Parsons 188 million back is okay, kid. Like Cliff said, good luck. I'll give you help occasionally, but go get him, Tiger. And go to the ground is what he did because Micah Parsons went right around him. And let's face it, Cliff's offense is. I've never been a huge fan. Respect the guy, don't respect the scheme. I think it is extremely soft. But their quarterback so good they can overcome it. The problem with soft schemes, and this was early on, you know, maybe Chip, Chip has morphed a little bit. But you know, definitely Cliff over the years, when you play physical fronts, they annihilate you, right? Physical fronts have an advantage no matter who they're playing. But when you play this spread it out offense, you better have big time pass protection because if you don't and they got good pass rushers, it's on like Donkey Kong. And that's what was happening to the Oregon right tackle. And I know, you know, Herb Street's trying to be nice. You know, he used to play left tackle. And listen, sometimes it's like maybe that guy's not even ready to be a starter. He just has no choice. But here's the thing, you know, in the NFL, if he's not ready, we saw it last year with the Chiefs, they put out the second rounder from byu and then like half the season in there, like, this is not possible. He gets benched. And when you have expectations, I say this all the time, bad teams, the Panthers, the Dolphins, whoever, it doesn't really matter. Let the guy sink or swim. Keep rolling him out there, good teams. If he can't get it done against the best players. And we are playing a much harder schedule this year. And obviously Mike is on the upper echelon of guys we're going to play. But if he's a liability and going to get my quarterback killed, we at least have to look at other people, right? If he's just not ready. And listen, sometimes you're just not ready as a rookie, right? It's not like he was the seventh overall pick. He was a mid pick in the 20s. But tonight that was eye opening. And the other thing is, you know, a good offensive coordinator, what they will do is they will find your weakness. I remember Belichick, remember a couple of years ago they did like the top 100 players of all time. And he was in there the whole time. And you know, different position guys like Ed Reed would show up. Brady and I think Peyton Manning showed up. It was cool. And I remember one time Rich Eisen asked him a question. And the one thing Bill's pretty good at, even when he's grumpy, is just kind of keeping things simple. He's like, football's not that complicated. Like, think the Art of War. We try to get our strengths on your weaknesses, and we try to hide our weaknesses from any strength that you may have. Like, this is pretty basic game, even though it is extremely complicated. When you have a weakness on defense in the secondary and you are a good offensive coach with a capable quarterback in passing game, you attack that guy relentlessly. I don't care if you have Jerry Rice and Randy Moss out there, or you have the group of pretty capable, solid, talented young wide receivers that the packers have, and that's what they did to Marcus Lattimore. And I never have an issue with someone being aggressive in the trade market and that Washington found themselves last year in a situation that they haven't typically been in Right. And they have new administration all of a sudden. We're really good. And they got aggressive with the corner. It turns out he's old and he can't play anymore. And sometimes your body, like there are certain positions when your body leaves you when it comes to speed. Like you can get away with it at wide receiver if you're a great route runner. Like what 40 time do you think Keenan Allen runs? I'll promise you this. It's closer to five. Oh. Than it is four, six. But he can get open like, so what? He's not that fast. He knows where he's going. You don't know where he's going. And he's a great route runner. Devonte Adams, never been a blazer. You cannot function when you are not fast at corner. Not possible. Especially if I'm going to put you in one on one situations. And LaFleur and the packers, as that game went on, they went at him like relentlessly and he was getting flagged, he was getting completions, and that's a problem. So if you look at, you know, right now, Green Bay, it feels like they have a bunch of strengths, right? A bunch of guys they've drafted, they've acquired, are playing really well. They signed Josh Jacobs. What is Josh Jacobs? A freaking beast. Like, he's a guy to hand him again. Hand him again. He's one of the. He's so good. Like, this is to me, the way I judge, like top running backs. Even when you know as the game's going, one score, maybe within 10 points and, and you give it to a guy and he gets like 2 yards, 2 yards. And it never crossed your mind, like, that wasn't even a bad play call. I'd give it to again because he's one good block. He's one broken arm tackle away from that being 17 yards. And the more and more he wears on you, it's like a fighter. Not everyone, you know, Derek Henry is a little Mike Tyson. He hits you with that, right, that 80 yard run, it breaks you. Well, most running backs don't have that speed that they're going to run, you know, Saquon, Barkley, Derek Henry. But a guy like Josh Jacobs is just like, I'm going to keep jabbing you in that side and eventually you're just going to go down, be in so much pain. And that's what he feels like. He wears on you out. And then it opens it up for, you know, some of the young wide receivers and the tight end. But like, you watch Green Bay, they Just are a more complete team. Like, I still love the quarterback for Washington, but you see some weaknesses. They trade a high pick for Lattimore, can't play. They draft this guy at to play offensive tackle for them. You know, relative to a high end guy, it looked like it was a lot. Now I'd have to go back and really study. Last week, maybe he clearly did better against the New York Giants, who supposedly have a good, you know, pass rush. So maybe it's just, hey, Michael Parsons, peak of his powers, fresh legs. I'm not burying the kid by any means, but if you're going to be good, you know, you can't really hide tackles. I can get away with guards and centers because I can double team, but a tackle, even if I'm chipping or helping a tight end, there are going to be a lot of times where it's just kind of him and him and the guy. And in this league, like every team, if not Micah Parsons or Max Crosby, they have a group of guys that they can throw at you. And listen, Halfley, I can't sing that guy's praises enough. That wasn't ass kicking. This guy's good. I got to be honest. I remember years ago, he was on the staff for Chip Kelly with the 49ers. And I used to go to these practices and I remember looking at him. He's pretty small, skinny, just kind of looks kind of geeky. But I remember thinking like, God, this guy, this guy. And then Chip got fired and Kyle Shanahan kept him, and he was on the staff for a couple years. I remember talking to someone about him like this. I'd never met him. I didn't know anything about him. I was just judging him off the way he looked like this skinny little white guy who's coaching dbs. And if he went to practice, like he's coaching his ass off, I remember asking someone, they're like, I'm telling you, John, he's actually a pretty good coach. So I was like, hey man, I can't judge a book by its cover. And then he goes on to Ohio State and look at him now, he's a stud. So I my first just judging him on the practice field. I'm like, this guy. Now you got to be careful. You know, Kyle's in a lot of like Mike McDaniels, Jeff Halfley type guys running around. So if you just judge all these like little guys screaming, you think they all suck and they all end up becoming head coaches. So to me, Jeff Halfley, man, he's on a trajectory right now. Green Bay better enjoy it. Like this is a Super bowl level team because this guy's going to be interviewing this offseason for sure. Top college jobs, because he's already been a head coach in college. But to me, like, the NFL teams are going to start sniffing around what he's doing. It's not even debatable. And listen, I know he's got good friends in the media, don't know him personally, but they tried to push last year Cliff Kingsbury. Cliff Kingsbury cannot be a head coach. This offense, like, you cannot hire this guy to run this offense. Like, they can't on short yardage, run a play where a quarterback's under center. It doesn't exist. And I know there was a play tonight where Austin Eckler got it. I think it was like 4th and 1 or might even been like 4. But it's like it's 4th and 1 and you're running a gun run against an excellent defensive front. And thank God, like, Echler kind of like got an extra little juice and kind of rolled around. What are we doing? How can anyone, I don't pretend to know more X's and O's than this guy, but in what world do we go, hey, short yardage, midfield gun run. Like, how over the course of your career coaching football, have we never come into the meeting room or on the field? You know what, let's just try some sort of downhill run under center. Even if it's not like, I'm not even advocating having Jaden do tush push or quarterback sneak. Just a normal short yardage run under center that successful teams have been running forever. How's that never come up? No, we, we don't do that. If your everything is, especially in a sport of football, like, we do not do that. Totally understand. If it's like, hey, guy hits a chick, we don't draft those guys. Totally on board. But if your thing is like, yeah, short yardage runs quarterback under center, we don't do it. You can't coach it. We probably could, but we don't even try. Like, I'm out on your offense. I just am. And I thought tonight, like, Jaden, such a talented player, he would work and you and I could be calling plays for him. But that offense, man, I, I don't know. Now you can say it's the best defense in the league, but my Green Bay looks fantastic. They really do. And I feel pretty good. I also think we got to be careful now, you know, the way we look at the Lions that everyone wrote off that this, this their defensive speed and their defensive pass rush. They're going to be an awful matchup for them because Goff definitely can't move. Like even tonight Jaden had a lot of problems running away because they could kind of catch him or at least get close to him. And their team speed really threw him off. Jared Goff can't move more than a couple yards. Like he has to play within the pocket. So I think we got to be careful about just, you know, kind of writing off and burying the Detroit Lions as like a seven win team this year. That that could be an outlier situation. And they're just going to lose to Green Bay because to me, Green Bay is even going to be faster indoors. I've always said this about the packers, even before their defense was good, but definitely not. They've always had speed at wide receiver. They've had athletic guys on defense. They just weren't that strong. Now they have like strong speed guys on defense. With Parsons and how good Gary's playing, I mean, granted he's been on the team, but I'm really high in Green Bay. You don't want to peek too early. Hell, we saw the Saints last year. They were team of the year through two games didn't work out that well. Everyone was fired by like Thanksgiving. So obviously it's not going to happen here in Green Bay. But my overall point is like, you got to keep getting better. And the good thing for them is like they've had back to back games or why weren't you guys up like 30 to nothing? So they've kind of sputtered out a little on offense. They've definitely left some points on the board. But man, that defense. Jeff Halfley, great hire. This is where the floor deserves credit. And this is why I'm so high on this team. It's like their organization is just so well run. It's just like, what an impressive hire where everyone's like, they got fires. Boy, Joe Barry, which couldn't have been easy. I don't care who you are. I think it's so easy for us. And I'm guilty of this too. Like, fire this guy. It's like, well, yeah, this guy's been one of the best friends in my life for the last 15 years. Like, I love this guy. I love this human being. I love this guy's family. Like, like that's kind of important in life. The problem is once you start mixing those relationships in business, like it does get complicated. That's that's also part of life. But I think we think these things are a little easier than they actually are. So obviously that was hard. But once he did pull the trigger on that, to go out and make a decision that no one saw coming and then to have this work out and they showed the visual tonight of Gudekens and Ed Policy, it just feels they got. They just got some pretty good synergy going and they have for a long time. But how do the packers always mix and match different people? Whether it was Ron Wolf and Holmgren, Ted and Mike and now. And now Gudekins, lafleur, Ned Policy, it just. They're good at like, you know, they're like a matchmaker of putting these guys together. Then they get along and it just kind of works. Lafleur went nuts early in the game when the guys screwed up the field goal. You know, go for a situation. I remember going to a Titans practice. It would have been Mike vrabel's like, first OTAs. And I was there for. I've told this story before for like a bachelor party, but I went like a four or five days early. I had John Robinson, the former gm, on the podcast, played a little golf, screwing around. Check out Nashville. But I remember LaFleur was kind of this, you know, young up and comers, his first ever offensive coordinator job, thinking like, God, this guy's a pretty big red ass. He was screaming at people that was like Mariota. They had Dion Lewis, Derrick Henry. That was before Derrick Henry was good, like Luan. I mean, they had some good players, but I just remember this guy. And I've been to a lot of NFL practices, you know, some offensive coordinators. Like, if you go to a 49er practice, Kyle Shannon's not screaming at a bunch of people. You know, you go to a lot of practices, like Gruden would scream at people. I'm trying to think like, you know, even Harbaugh, Greg Roman, it was it. They weren't screaming at you. You went there. It's like LaFleur was just screaming at people. And sometimes he's kind of got that. That in him. He's got a little edge to him. I've. Lafleur's really grown on me over the years. So props to the Packers. Big win. And I'll say this. I give you a little grace. You should lose this game. If you are a road team on Thursday night football week two or week 12, that's really difficult. And when you are a road team on Thursday Night Football against a good team, like if you're a road team on Thursday Night Football and you got to play Miami or Carolina or you know, you have to get on a plane and fly several hours, that is not easy because you basically throw a white flag to Wednesday, right? You work out Monday, Tuesday and then you travel Wednesday. So they get all of Wednesday to kind of do like slow walk through stuff and just operate a little more normal. It is a massive advantage to be the home team on Thursday night. It's, it's a enormous advantage when you get later in the season so you get a little less room for me to like give you a free pass. But on the road Thursday night Football, Green Bay, not, not an easy spot. But this is where also a lot of people are questioning, you know, Washington a little fluky last year won those one score games. Like Stuckey had mentioned, all the fourth downs they got, what were they like 20 or 23 last year and they weren't all like fourth and inches. So it's going to be something to watch. But as long as you got Jaden Daniels, I'm not writing you off. I do think though the longer Cliff, you know his offense historically like the more and more you see of him, it's a little easier to get after so entertaining game Foreign we are extremely excited to announce our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. Everyone knows and loves their hotels and casinos, but now you can use the top rated Hard Rock Bet sportsbook to place all your NFL bets this season. Hard Rock Bet is the only legal sports book in the state of Florida and is also available in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois and Colorado. With more states to come, you can also play on Hard Rock Bets online casino if you are in New Jersey. As we gear up for the NFL season, sign up for Hard Rock Bet and make a five dollar bet and you'll get 150 in bonus bets. If you win, head over to Hard Rock Bet, sign up and make your first deposit today. Payable in bonus bets. Not a cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe in Florida. Offered by Seminole hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. Must be 21 plus physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-88-ADMT-IT in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants to help, call 1-809 with it gambling problem call 109-1-800- GAMBLER Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. You can make a difference in someone's life, including your own, with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, health care, retirement options, and free training. They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime. Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply. That's oregonhomecarejobs.com.
- [28:02]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're gonna get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that?
- [28:28]
John Middlekauff
Yes.
- [28:29]
Matt Jones
Might want to go back to the Colts stadium.
- [28:30]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I might want to go back.
- [28:31]
Matt Jones
To the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we had with pretzels was working pretty well.
- [28:35]
John Middlekauff
It's worked for generations.
- [28:37]
Matt Jones
We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is spry. I wouldn't fight him. I would listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [29:04]
West West Prop
All right, West West Prop here from Hood Politics with prop podcast. You already know our get down. If you grew up in our urban areas of comfort, of struggle, you understand politics much more than you giving credit for feds taking over American cities, government. Hop out, boys, hopping out the van, snatching up your Theo and them two wars that was supposed to be solved in 24 hours. Jerry just out here mandering all over the place, the turfs and of course, the Epstein of it all. Well, this week we decided to shoot our shot, and boy, did we pull up from the logo to see if we could get somebody to come tap in with us. And the one and only Jamil Hill pulled up from the Spolitics podcast to keep it a whole century in America. What sells in politics are narratives and and storylines. It's like we treat politics like we treat sports, which is part of the reason why we're in the situation we're in right now. Listen to the Hood Politics with Prop podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [30:00]
Tyler Barnes
I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello and we're the Solid Verbal College Football podcast.
- [30:06]
John Middlekauff
College football season is here and you know what that means.
- [30:11]
Tyler Barnes
Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween.
- [30:16]
John Middlekauff
Uh huh. But fear not, the Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback.
- [30:24]
Tyler Barnes
Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [30:30]
John Middlekauff
Whether you're a die hard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [30:46]
Tyler Barnes
We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.
- [30:51]
John Middlekauff
Listen to the Solid Verbal college football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, couple couple other topics, a couple other things around the National Football League rap sheet put out within the last 48 hours. That Brock Purdy is out two to five weeks. Which I gotta be honest, I'm not, I'm not questioning his reporting. I mean he's, he's a big J and he's great. His job, I like little rap sheet but 2 to 5 is kind of weird. It's like that could be like a week or that could be a month and a half. Usually it's like 6 to 8, 1 to 2. John lynch came out today and said they're viewing it more week to week. I do think this Purdy was good last week. Like obviously he threw the game winning touchdown. He just had a really good game. Except he did throw two interceptions. I thought one of them was really bad. The other one was just good defense but he was really good last week. And Kittle gets KO'd in the game so he doesn't have him for a long stretch of the game. Juwan Jennings gets hurt. Like it was a, it was impressive out. Purdy's a really good player. When you pay a guy a lot of money though, like here's the one concern I have for Brock when it comes to just the long term view. He's kind of been hurt a lot. You know when I think Patrick Mahomes, I think Josh Allen, I think Lamar Jack, these guys, these guys miss games. When are they ever miss. I was thinking, I was watching something last night on Devin McCourty. This clip came up like Devin talking to Florio. So I just googled Devin McCourty and I went to his game log page for his career. I was like Adding it up, this guy played like 12, 13 years. I'm pretty sure he missed like four total games. A huge part of football, whether you're Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or whether you're just A safety like McCourty is your availability. And I don't blame. No player wants to get injured. Of course not. But he's had some. Like he got injured a couple years ago, missed three games in the middle of the season, obviously got injured in the NFC Championship game. He got injured here. It's just a little concerning, especially when it comes out of the game. It wasn't just like, hey, this freaky thing the guy landed on him. It's like, well, he threw the game winning touchdown, he came back in the game, did victory formation, and then the next day you say he's got a toe and a shoulder. I, I just, that's tough. But this is also why they kind of value the backup quarterback position. Here's the thing, the 49ers who love this guy, and rightfully so, Brock's really good, credible story meshes great with Kyle gave him a bunch of money for two of the last three years. Like they've taken the backup quarterback job pretty seriously. Three years ago it was Sam Darnold. They love the guy. And this year was Mac Jones, someone that Kyle Shanahan really wanted to draft a number three overall when they kind of talked him out of it to go with Trey Lance, neither pick would have been good. But I do think this is, this is also why you pay Kyle Shanahan. I said it's about Ben Johnson. If the Caleb thing is a disaster, which still got a ways to go, not looking great. But that's why you gave Ben Johnson five years, $13 million a year, because the offense is his baby and he's going to figure it out. He's worked with countless different quarterbacks. We know Shanahan has won games with a ton of different guys. And it's going to be really hard because arguably, especially right now, their best player in offense is George Kittle, who hasn't pulled hamstrings out a month. And Christian McCaffrey got more touches last game in terms of rushing attempts and pass targets than he had since like 2022. It's like you can't ride this guy like a Secretariat when he just basically missed all season last year with Cavs and Achilles and his Cavs still. So Kyle Shanahan, Mack Jones, and this is where you get a lot of credit as an organization. We'll talk about Philly here In a minute when teams are willing to spend big money. Like Robert Sala was on the fence. He was thinking about going a different couple places and the 49ers gave him a ton of money. You know, there's a decent chance he's the highest paid defensive coordinator, if not tied with Fangio as the guy making the most. And he carried him in the first game in terms of like random guys making big plays. And you got to invest in your coaching staff when you have the opportunity to get big time coaches because you're going to have injuries. I mean, if you're watching tonight, guys were dropping like flies. It's like we got a guy carded off. We got Eckler tearing his Achilles. Now, granted, Thursday night game, but this is a consistent theme in the NFL. Just you just watch a random game. It feels. It'd be stunning if the cart doesn't come out once a game and how many times, you know, six, seven guys throughout the course of the game go to the tent. Now a large percentage of those guys come back, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes the guy's questionable. You saw tonight, Reed, shoulder boom out wise knee out, Echler, Achilles out. These guys are probably out. I mean, Reed might be miss. I don't know if he broke a collarbone. Five, six, seven weeks, the other two guys out for the season. So like that's how fast it happens. So that's where you really got to rely on your coaching. Because right now you only got so many options. Practice squad guys, you got to coach these guys up and no one's going to feel sorry for you and no one's going to make any excuses. Well, we had a bunch of guys injured. Yes, part of the league. Now, obviously some teams have more guys injured than other people, but this is why I bet on the 49ers to be pretty good this year was their schedule. Well, it's like Mac Jones, Spencer Rattler, Godspeed, buddy. Chiefs and the Eagles. There was a fantastic article on the the Athletic about the Philadelphia Eagles and how they operate financially. And essentially that Howie and Jeffrey, they have over 30% of their salary cap in 2025 in dead money. We talk a lot about dead money. The Eagles have a ton of dead money because guys like Jason Kelsey, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, these guys are retired. Well, you got to pay a credit card. And when you buy these guys or, you know, extend their contracts, the Eagles push it all down. So when these guys randomly retire a little earlier than you thought, it all gets accelerated. Well, you have to pay the Bill, you've already actually paid them in real money. But on your salary cap, it comes due. And it doesn't matter because the whole premise of this article is how willing Jeffrey Lurie is to take his cash and manipulate the salary cap because he'll give you big signing bonuses and then you push it over the course of the cap. And this is what I've never understood about the NFL. I understand, and it's in this article. It's basically like, you know, Cincinnati takes a lot of shit. Pittsburgh Steelers are the same. They don't pay these huge signing bonuses. And I was thinking about it driving around today. You know, Jeffrey Lurie bought this team in the late 90s, so the majority of his life, all he's known as cha ching, cha ching, cha ching. The money flows, as Howie called it. It's called interest free loans. We know the money's coming, we just got to pay it later. We're not worried about, you know, going belly up about not being able to make our payments. We see the guaranteed money. I do think the Rooneys and the Browns and some of these old school families that have been in the NFL for so long, they're wired like it was back in the day. And in fairness, back in the day, 60s, 70s, the 80s, obviously the television money was way different. You were very predicated on gate receipts and people coming and contracts. Even in the documentary with Jerry Jones, that's like the mid-90s signing Deion Sanders, these contracts, I think he got like a $10 million signing bonus. So within 25, 30 years, the economics of the league have changed. I mean, gone to a different universe, money wise. But you know, the money's guaranteed and, you know the money's there. So I don't understand these teams not taking advantage of what the Eagles are doing. Like, the reason the Eagles have a really good roster this year is because their owner is willing to take money that he's getting from the league. He doesn't have to do anything. Like, you're just getting free money for the league, being part of this television revenue that's impossible to go over because the cap is like not even 50% of that amount of money that you're getting or right around there. So you have so much room to spend because your other expenses, your coaches don't cost that much relative to players and no one else in your building costs anything. So the Eagles, the reason, like this week, they're favored. They should. It should have been a disaster. And as people were saying in this article, like they're Just a team on tilt. But if you're paying elite players and they're playing elite, it's going to work. And that's what Howie and Jeffrey have done. And that's why they come in like with a pretty good chance to be a Super bowl type team again because they are utilizing all this money the NFL is making. I, I think a lot of teams, it's crazy reading this article are just like, what are you doing with the money? Like pocketing it, like putting it in brokerage account. Like you guys are all living in the biggest house on the block. You got this asset worth billions of dollars. I don't understand not investing it back into the team, especially when you get the opportunity to pay good players. And it just, it just shows you a lot of these owners are not. And here's the thing, it's not like Mike Brown is like buying seven houses in Italy and has some $200 million yacht parked neck to Bezos, like, where's all the money going that he gets from the league? I just don't quite get it. I think, and I've said this forever, when you have the disease of being cheap, even when you get to the wealth level of these guys with guaranteed money coming in, you don't shake it. It's a disease you do not shake. It's not curable once you pass a certain point in your life. And clearly some of these teams have it. And I'll give Clark Hunt and the Chiefs credit. They were notoriously known for being a little cheap. I do think they have done a better job. Obviously Coach Reed and Patrick Mahomes have inspired them. You know, Spags makes big money now. Obviously they pay their players. You know, Carlos just got a huge contract. They pay multiple offensive linemen big contracts. Obviously Patrick has 10 years, $450 million and who knows, you know, I mean, he's making so much. The guy's just printing money. But I do think this is, I do believe in championship character, in championship blood. Even though when you watch that game against the Chargers didn't look great. I mean, their defense got shredded offensively. You know, Worthy's kind of up in the air right now. And I felt bad. I saw some of Travis's comments. He was just like, it's embarrassing for me. I'm a 13th year pro. I know the landmarks to be at. I got to pay attention. I can't run into him. And obviously Travis a lot bigger than him. So if I'm going to run into him, I'm going to take him out and I hurt the guy. It sucks. It's like on me especially a guy that we really need. So it's like their offense, everyone kept saying, like, what's up with the Chiefs offense? It's not that complicated. Worthy got hurt three plays in and let's face it, their version of a star receiver relative, like Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, of course not. But Rasheed Rice relative to their team, really good. And he's. He's suspended. So if I take away your two top receivers and your tight ends old and you know, you don't have a great running game, what do you think it's going to look like? I can have John Elway or Peyton Manning in their prime. Like, you're not going to score that many points. So worthy is very, very important. But they like, it's tough to start owing to. Because someone has to win between the Chargers and the Raiders. And if the Chargers beat the Raiders on Monday night and you were to lose, if you're the Chiefs, you're all of a sudden this isn't basketball or baseball. So like two games back, whatever. It's early in the season. Football, all of a sudden it's like we're three and one year, one and three. Like it can get kind of bigger than you think. Really, really fast. So there is some pressure here on the Chiefs at home longer week. Obviously the Eagles did too, you know, to win this game. And this is. This is where the championship character. The championship medal and just the. And they've done this a lot. And this is why they parallel the Patriots so much. The Patriots won a lot of weird, ugly games over the course of their 20 years. Not everything. This wasn't like Alabama in their peak. I mean, this is the NFL. Sometimes you got to pull games out of you know what. And all of a sudden you look up at the scoreboard and it's like, you know, 23 to 19, you're like, we didn't even play good, but let's. We get take a win. And that. That's what I think the Chiefs have to find a way to do. Obviously, Jalen Carter didn't get suspended, nor should he. If I agreed with, you know, getting kicked out of that game was basically he didn't play snap. So that might as well be a suspension. But you imagine he's going to be motivated. Luckily for the Chiefs, you know, they're center and guard pretty good. But I'm pretty fired up to watch that game. Couple more things before we get out of here. I do think we have Pretty early. This is going to get ugly. Watch. I would rank this team number two and a pretty distant number from number one. But you know, Brian Callahan, listen, he could play Denver 10 times in Denver, he's probably losing that game 10 out of 10 times. His rookie making his first start like he's never win that game. But he's getting crushed for the sequence. Pinned up against his own goal line for going three and out in like the blink of an eye giving up a touchdown. He clearly didn't know the rules. He even admitted it with an elbow relative to knees, you know, for a catch. It just. The GM there, Borgonzi that came from Kansas City did not hire him. So anytime you have kind of that overlap of like we just drafted quarterback number one overall, that I'm betting on being pretty good player. I'm betting on at minimum at the end of the season going, you know, Cam Ward is a guy that a lot of people would like to work with. A lot of people would like to coach in Nashville. Incredible, incredible place. Sign me up. If I was a coach, I would go there yesterday. So it would be a job that would have a lot of people lined up with strong interest. So you got new gm, you got this young quarterback and there is some pressure on this guy to start looking capable now. I like him this week plus five and a half, but I did the same thing last year and they kept losing. So if you tell me that the Rams beat the living, you know what out of them, I think that situation could get a little weird for Callahan and he could be in one of those, you know, kind of rare positions where it's like he's a two and done coach. Everywhere I clicked over the last three or four days, my YouTube algorithm, my Twitter algorithm, my Instagram algorithm, anything football wise was about Mike McDonald or Mike McDaniel sucking the team, sucking them. Doing players only meetings after week one to. It's just, it's pretty, everyone's taking pot shots. And listen, I, I take no joy. I feel a lot of guys, people are kicking him when he's down. Like I've been making fun of this guy for a little bit for just being like kind of an overrated media fabrication. I do think some of the clips I've seen, it's become kind of sad. Like I, I take less joy in it now saying like this guy's. They're really terrible, they're an embarrassment, but it's gonna get really ugly. And now the masses have kind of swarmed in and who knows, maybe the Patriots aren't good. Maybe they can pull a game out of, out of nowhere and all of a sudden the Dolphins win at home. But if you tell me they lose at home by a touchdown, by 10 points, even if the Patriots aren't good, I just think this thing's going to grow and grow and grow and get so ugly. And the reality is these owners, you know, they spend way more time at home watching tv, listening to radio when they're driving around, having their buddies send them articles like they're not at the office, just locked in a film room, kind of out of touch with reality. Right. They are much more in touch with the fan base Reddit. I mean they are dialed in of all the conversation outside the building. So whether it's the guy's kids telling them, I think that plays a huge role. And I think Mike's clearly in major trouble. I want to end on this. I got this DM on Instagram, we do mailbags. We'll have one out this weekend at John Middlecock firing those DMs, but it kind of is a introduction to what I wanted to talk about. And he said, john, I've got a weird question and I'm not sure you can answer this, but with the new kickoff rule, I've noticed almost every team using backup running backs to return kicks. Does this have to do with the new kickoff return becoming more of a run play and with both teams lining up straight across from each other five yards apart? And that's a great, great question because tonight you saw Debo Samuel, who is, you know, widely considered a wide back, as in a wide receiver, running back combination. And anyone who's been by Debo, he's built much more like a running back than he is a wide receiver, but he's tailor made to do that. Now granted he did that in college. He's, he's a good return man. But if you look around the league, you are using players who you would use on offense, not just special teams only type guys to return kicks. And Garofolo tweeted out this week about this rule or about what's going on early on in the season. The teams have seen the impact of the kick return. The average starting field position for the kickoff is basically the 30 yard line, 29.7 and entering last night's game going into Monday night, the Highest in Week 1 since 2000. Well, this offseason one thing they did is the if you get a touchback, it goes to the 35. So if you're watching kickoffs throughout the weekend and watch it this upcoming weekend. They are basically kicked in the landing zone every time now. Because if I just kick it through the end zone and you start at 35, you're one explosive play away from being at the 50 yard line. So you're basically the kickoff and a good offensive play from being at midfield with only one offensive play. That's insane. The touchback used to be at the 20 yard line. So to get to midfield you would have need several explosive plays. And even if you're not doing explosive plays, it would take you, you know, potentially seven, eight plays to even gain 30, 35 yards. Now I screw up the kickoff, boom, you're close to midfield. So the rule change and this is where the NFL deserves a lot of credit. They are very proactive with trying different stuff. And years ago, Belichick deserves flowers on this one was like, we can't keep kicking the extra point from the two yard line. It's like 99% accurate. It's a wasted play. Why do we even have collisions? So they moved it back and what happened? It went from like 99 to like 91. And that 8, 9% difference is more impactful because you're always like a little on your edge, especially in the second half. That a guy could miss the pat. Well, the kickoff rule. And listen, a lot of traditionalist coaches that have been around a long time did not like it. And I get it, because they thought like it would just ruin the play. It just wouldn't exist. Special teams was basically going to go away. It actually is resurrected special teams because no one participated in this. They would just kick through the end zone 20 and then they even try to kick it to the 25. They're like whatever. The 25. Well, you go to the 35 now, it kind of makes me think, so if you're going to force me to kick it into that little landing area, I'm not just going to put some random guy like me or you back there on my, on my 53 man roster. It's like Debo, go back there, right? Whoever on your team, the backup running back, maybe like a, you know, a thicker safety or DB that has some return skills in college. But we're going to take that play very, we're going to take that play seriously. Like an offensive play. And I would imagine anyone, you know, the media guys that go to, or if you as a fan go to training camp, that period is much more serious in practice. You have much more data now. But like the blocking area, if you Block it. Well, I really might only have to make a guy or two miss. Right? You know, the old kickoff speed was such a huge impact. You know, having Dante hall or Devin Hester or way back in the day, Deion Sanders, guys like that, because you got this running head start and it was like I needed a lane. Well, now it's much more like a running play where I need a gap, but I also shiftiness. And this is where the running back element comes in, you know, breaking little arm tackles, because the guy's not running full speed. He's only running 10ish yards, and really he's breaking or shedding a tackle that the guy's right in front of him, you know, trying to. Trying to just neutralize them. So I, I think the play last year was kind of a work in progress. This year, with the tweak of extending the touchback, you know, toward the offense's goal line, has just kind of added some fireworks. And I find this play used to just, you know, if you got up, you had to take a leak. If you got. If you came back and you missed the kickoff and you're like, oh, they're on the 22 yard line. You miss nothing. Now you kind of feel like something could happen. I mean, tonight, all of a sudden, Debo. I'm screaming Maria. Because she loves Debo. And he, I thought he was, for a split second thought he had a chance, but not quite fast enough anymore. But he took it to like, well past the 50. So he's a good example. I think a lot of guys like him that are versatile players that are offensive, like, you know, running backs or have that skill based in college, are going to be utilized. You know, in that play. You can make a difference in someone's.
- [52:17]
Matt Jones
Life, including your own, with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, health care, retirement options, and free training.
- [52:28]
John Middlekauff
They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime.
- [52:34]
Matt Jones
Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply.
- [52:38]
John Middlekauff
That's oregonhomecarejobs.com.
- [52:45]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones. And I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're gonna get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big take away from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that.
- [53:11]
John Middlekauff
Yes.
- [53:11]
Matt Jones
Might want to go back at the Colts stadium.
- [53:13]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I might want to go back.
- [53:14]
Matt Jones
To the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we had with Pretzels was working pretty well.
- [53:18]
John Middlekauff
It's worked for generations.
- [53:20]
Matt Jones
We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is spry. I wouldn't fight him. I would listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [53:46]
West West Prop
All right, West West Prop here from Hood Politics with Prop Podcast. You already know our get down. If you grew up in our urban areas of comfort, of struggle, you understand politics much more than you give and credit for. Feds taking over American cities, government. Hop out, boys hopping out the van, snatching up your Theo and them two wars that was supposed to be solved in 24 hours. Jerry just out here mandering all over the place, the turfs and of course the Epstein of it all. Well, this week we decided to shoot our shot and boy did we pull up from the logo to see if we could get somebody to come tap in with us. And the one and only Jamil Hill pulled up from the Spolitics podcast to keep it a whole century. The American public is used to being entertained. We're a consumption society, so what Trump figured out is entertain them and they'll never question you. Listen to the Hood Politics with Prop podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
- [54:43]
John Middlekauff
What's up everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here and I'm Bucky Brooks on Move the Sticks. We take you inside the game, from scouting reports and player development to team.
- [54:51]
Matt Jones
Building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.
- [54:56]
John Middlekauff
Every week we study the tape, talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.
- [55:02]
Matt Jones
It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots. From college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow, we break down the.
- [55:09]
John Middlekauff
Draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day.
- [55:14]
Matt Jones
Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year.
- [55:20]
John Middlekauff
Whether you're a die hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond.
- [55:27]
Matt Jones
The box score, this podcast is for you.
- [55:30]
John Middlekauff
Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. As we, as we head into week two, I know the people are excited because he's back this season. He, he laid the foundation last week. Week one, we were talking a little off air. It's his difficult even college early on to get a feel for, you know, the transfer portal. You got so many new players can be difficult, but this man is locked and loaded. My main man from the Action Network stuck. You can find him big bets on campus, the Action Network podcast, and just firing away tweets whenever games are going on. Stuckey, what's up, bro?
- [56:18]
Tyler Barnes
What's going on in. We're in the heart of the grind now and for the foreseeable future. So, yeah, football's back. It's just like a couple days prep as much as possible, try to find a nap. And then it's like five days games. It's beautiful. Thursday, we got Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And then eventually we'll get some like Tuesday and Wednesday action. It's the best time of the year, so it's good to be back.
- [56:45]
John Middlekauff
Sometimes I. Yesterday I crashed, like, sometimes Wednesday, midweek, I just really, you know, you peak. You know, I tell my wife, like, sometimes I got a peak at night, so, you know, in the morning kind of leave me alone because we got games going on. I got to do reaction podcasts. It's like, you know, an NBA player, they take naps in the middle of the day. Because I got a peak at that tip off. That's. That's how I view football season for my couch.
- [57:07]
Tyler Barnes
That's my, my schedule. I like, I'll watch games at night and then I might lay down for like an hour after all the games are over and like maybe midnight to 1 in the morning. And then I start working at 1 in the morning, just going through as many games as possible. And then I just go as far into the day as I can until I just need to take a little nap and then keep going.
- [57:34]
John Middlekauff
Are you on Eastern time?
- [57:36]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. And so like my schedule is during. Football is insane. Like, I'll have. Sometimes I'll have like dinner at three in the morning. So, like, there is no consistency to it. I just try to go as long as I can. And then Thursday's podcast day and Friday's cleaning everything up, final bets. And then.
- [57:55]
John Middlekauff
So you basically live like a civilized domestic life, right? You're married, you got a kid on the way, but you also like live like you're in the casino.
- [58:04]
Tyler Barnes
Yes. You know football and college basketball. Yeah. During, like the summer. I used to grow.
- [58:10]
John Middlekauff
That's nine months a year.
- [58:11]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, during the summer. So like April. And then I got to do a lot of prep work, but I could do that like more normal hours. Like April, May, June, July, part of August. Like, I'll sleep normal, normal hours. And although I'm always at night now. Well, and so is my wife. We go to bed at like three in the morning when there's nothing going on, but. And she works in the bar industry. And I'm like, I've always been that way. So it kind of works. But then we like, travel. I hang out with her and I will, you know, go biking, eat healthy and. But then football starts and it's. Then I'm betting the Titans, like just irresponsible things.
- [58:49]
John Middlekauff
Yeah. It is important, whoever your significant other is, to have similar, like, life schedules.
- [58:54]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, right.
- [58:55]
John Middlekauff
It'd be difficult. I remember in my, in my youth, you know, you just, you dabble around Delilah's in Philadelphia, the strip club. It's like if you ever, you know, got into a serious relationship, you realize the timing, you know, of, of their work, your work are off. So it does help when you're a normal older person and you're on the same schedule as the other one, because it'd be. It'd be difficult if someone's up and you're trying to sleep or vice versa. But she's a better.
- [59:18]
Tyler Barnes
She thought she found me on Twitter, followed me. We used to go back and forth and then that's how we met. So she knew what she was getting into. Like there was no, no, no hiding. And she bets so she, she gets it. So like, I'm very lucky in that aspect.
- [59:31]
John Middlekauff
Okay, let's. Let's dive into some football. Obviously. All lines here brought to you by Hard Rock Bet. And we'll start on. On Saturday, which we actually got some, you know, pretty good. I thought last week a little bit of a dud. I was just thinking about college football. You, you probably live for like the. On the East coast, the USC, Michigan State in a week or two or whenever. That game is that 8 o' clock kickoff that everyone's freaking out. You're like, this is, this is right in my wheelhouse. And I used to remember when I lived in Philly and would go out on Saturday nights. I mean, back when I, I could, I could hang and you'd look up the TV at like one in the morning and it'd be the third Quarter of Boise State versus Oregon State. You're like, this is awesome.
- [60:08]
Tyler Barnes
Yes. That I always tell people that I love that when I go out. Like, I mean, I'm married, I'm washed up, I'm old. Like, what am I, what am I? Not talking to any girls at the bar. So, like I want to be at the bar with a drink and then have money on a game, watching a game. But even when I'm home and I don't go out, I am a. I'm. I have. No matter what, no matter how bad the game is, I have to watch until the last game. Like last week it was like Hawaii, Sam Houston state till like 2:40 in the morning. But I like that part of it. Then hours are weird for me. So, like, it's easier to say when it's like that. But yeah, having a game on at 1 in the morning.
- [60:45]
John Middlekauff
That game's next week, right? That everyone's bitching and moaning about. Or is that in two weeks? Because I looked, I thought it was this week because everyone was up in arms, but it's not this week. I think it's in a couple weeks.
- [60:53]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, I think it's in two weeks.
- [60:55]
John Middlekauff
Yeah. I mean, I, I have a couple rules I, I've developed. If your game goes into a rain delay or a lightning delay or a hurricane delay, and it's not like the opening night of college football or I mean the NFL, like the Eagles, where you just. It's the only game on. But it happened in college. It obviously happened in the NFL.
- [61:12]
Tyler Barnes
I'm out.
- [61:14]
John Middlekauff
Like, I'm just, I'm out. Especially if I don't have money. You're on my fantasy team or you're not a team that I care about. And it's hard for me to put any value in that game. And I also think in college when people like, oh, USC might be good or so. And so might if you play nobody. I put no value. Like, I know Penn State's good, so then. But. But I'm not putting value in them. Just beating the, out of people. That's what they should be doing. So when you get like uga, Tennessee or this week, A and M, Notre Dame, even usf, like, clearly they got a Boise feel to them. They go on the road and they beat Florida, who might end up six and six and the coach might get fired in three or four weeks. But that is an incredible win. Right? I mean, Florida's riding high. They start thinking, obviously, probably looked ahead to LSU now looking back, I mean, clearly. But let's let's start there. I know you love it's, you know, you're in Kentucky so you know, you got the, the big school, especially basketball school. Carry yourselves like winners, but you have a spe. A soft spot for the little guy. And listen, I'm, I'm Fresno State. Pat Hill, Boise State, grew up at UC Davis. So I appreciate when usf like that is an enormous moment for that human being. Honestly, it probably changed his life. Right. So like if they go on to have a good season, like there's a pretty good chance he's coaching not just at like a decent school, like an elite school next year. Like you'd say what right now, 50, 50 chance that if he has a great season.
- [62:39]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, could end up going to Florida. I mean he's building that program up. Byron Brown, potential pro quarterback, he was just hurt last year. He was really good two years ago. But he's recruiting well, building up that roster already in South Florida. So depending on what happens with Napier.
- [62:55]
John Middlekauff
Maybe can you go, can you go back to back weeks though? You know at Florida this game's clearly harder at Miami, but they're getting 17 and a half points. That number's pretty big. But also it's like, God, are they going to run out of juice?
- [63:05]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, I played Miami, Miami here. I. It's a tough spot. Miami's coming off a buy. They're obviously not going to overlook them. Like they're ranked now. They just saw them beat Florida which is an embarrassing loss. And South Florida's had two back to back ranked wins. Like it's not a deep team. Like that is. This is a lot to ask. Their third straight ranked team. It's not a terribly deep team. It's still a group of five team and they've already done what they needed to do. Like now they can just go 10 and two win the American. They can, they can drop this game. They can drop one more. They win the American with the hardest non conference schedule in the country. Three ranked teams and they win. The American have a ranked win over Boise and a win at Florida. They're in. There's no one else that's, that's passing from the group of five. What does that mean here? Number one they could wear down and they, they don't play to just keep it competitive. Like last year they got blown out in the second half. I remember they lost 50 to 15 because they play fast and goal is aggressive and he's not just going to be like, you know, I want to lose by 17. Like if they lose by 28, 35. He's fine with it. But I just. So that they could really wear down here, especially in the second half because Miami's gonna be able to block them. One of the best offensive lines in college football. Beck looked really good against Notre Dame. They have some really exciting weapons on the outside. On the defensive side, South Florida can't really run it. They lost a lot of backs from last year. That's kind of their weakness. Their running game is Brown, their quarterback. But Miami's gonna be able to just drop back in coverage here, take away the explosive play which is all south. South Florida's. Their coach came from Tennessee, so their offense looks like the Tennessee offense. It's like wide splits, they go fast, they want to hit explosive plays, vertical shots downfield. Miami's gonna be able to play coverage and get pressure with their DNS, who are elite against their tackles. When South Florida's in passing downs, that's just going to lead to like a lot of three and outs and Miami's gonna have the ball a ton. It's a third straight ranked team, so I just see South Florida eventually falling apart and just wearing down. But if I'm South Florida and I'm looking at this, I know I, you know, Sega gosh always plays to win. But you might just in the back of your head say maybe let's not run Brown as much. He was hurt last year. You just need him to stay healthy. You've already did what you needed to do.
- [65:10]
John Middlekauff
Is he the, is he genty for them? Like, is he the guy that's just going to carry their team? Yes, I know he's a quarterback, but you know what I mean. Yeah, he's their star.
- [65:18]
Tyler Barnes
In that Boise game, he was like running over guys for like 40 yard touchdowns. He had one called back that was on a, on a BS holding. But yeah, if he gets hurt, it's, it's over. But he's, he's really special so you might not run him as much here. Like he's gotten hit a lot the last two weeks. So like if they get down, it might be like, hey, let's try to hand it to our backs a little more often. So I, I think Miami ends up pulling away here and winning by three touchdowns.
- [65:45]
John Middlekauff
Plus, you know, obviously Florida just had not just a devastating loss, it'd be a rough loss at home to a non power 4 school. But to me, everything that was on the line, the hype coming in. You and I talked about him last week, like could they be a French playoff team. But there was the elephant in the room about the coach. Like he was riding high after the end of last year and after week one. But it flipped immediately back to what it was like at this time last year. So they're going to lsu. That game's kicking off. I mean, it's going to be dark. That's a place where LSU price feeling themselves. Listen, if you. You have LSU to win the national championship, this is obviously a pretty, you know, historic rivalry in college football. These two teams play each other every year. But I don't know, I mean, I. Seven and a half points a lot. But if LSU really is that good, what if this is when Florida kind of breaks? Like, is it inconceivable that this is like a 40 to 13 game and billion ape was fired on Sunday or Monday morning?
- [66:43]
Tyler Barnes
It's hard for me to see that. Like. So this is. This year is wide open, by the way. Like, you could tell me. Usually it's like, you got to tell me one of three or four teams that are going to win the national title. I think this year, as of right now, this could change. And it's. This is because there's so many young quarterbacks like all these. A lot of these top teams have quarterbacks that we just don't know about. We do know about Nussmeier at lsu. We know about Aller, Penn State. But a lot of the other top teams, it's like, yeah, you know, it's all. They're all young guys.
- [67:07]
John Middlekauff
Oregon's guy More who hasn't really played, played much.
- [67:10]
Tyler Barnes
So that's. There's like eight teams. You could tell me and I'd be like, okay, I can see it. So my pick as of right now is lsu. Now that's subject to change. And after watching Clemson last week, maybe that. Maybe that first game was more about Clemson than LSU. I mean, Clemson, basically, we were down 16. Nothing at home, Detroit. And that the yardage was equal at the end of the game. They got a couple turnovers in the second half and flipped it. But they look rough. Last week, LSU against Louisiana Tech, offense didn't look great. That running game's still not there. So the offense is still like a work in progress. I do think the defense is significantly improved, but I did that. Florida plus seven and a half. Napier has done this before. He has the. And they might have been looking ahead a bit because they looked unfocused.
- [67:54]
John Middlekauff
How could they? How could they not? Yeah, because they're thinking, they win this game, they're 3 0. They're a top 15 team.
- [67:58]
Tyler Barnes
Yep, they took them lightly. Black was still really young. He has up and down games. He did this last year. And if you're after some of these games early this season his teams have bounced back. They will get a really really important piece back in. Caleb Banks one of the he argued could be a first first round draft who hasn't played yet this year. I'm 90 sure he'll be back. They need him on the defensive line Florida and there's a chance that LSU will be without their starting center. And if that's the case they gotta move over this kid DJ Chester who's not an SEC caliber center. The the original starting center was a transfer who was really good was going to upgrade the position. He got hurt last week against LA Tech. This kid Chester was getting pushed back by Law Tech's defensive lineman. So if Banks is back and then and Nussmeier can't run so he's not a mobile quarterback. That's the one kind of slight on him. And what might hold him back in the NFL because everyone is you want mobile guys now if Florida can get pressure up the middle this LSU offense this might end up being like a slog. So I, I think Florida bounces back here. I took the seven and a half. There's a chance that just look that LSU Clemson game is more about Clemson. So I'm going to take the seven and a half by a little low in Florida might get a little healthier. LSU might have some offensive LSU also their tight end probably going to be outtrade as green. Good red zone threat. So one of Nussmeier's most reliable targets is out. So I took the seven and a half year. Napier has historically been pretty good as an underdog.
- [69:32]
John Middlekauff
I remember one of your bets last year was to start the year A and M to make the playoffs wasn't like 7 or 8 to 1. And they were in the mix up until that last week, that first game of the season. I remember texting a buddy in the NFL he's like that quarterback play. It was Riley Leonard versus the. What was his name? Wagaman or whatever who ended up getting.
- [69:51]
Tyler Barnes
Bent Wegman who's who plays tomorrow night. He's the Houston. Houston starting quarterback now.
- [69:55]
John Middlekauff
Yeah. So I mean he got bench. They up, they upgraded obviously A and M. I mean they have been loaded since you know Jimbo Nil star. They start paying dudes. They have a really good roster. Is this a must win spot for you know Notre Dame getting Six and a half at home or, you know, favored by six and a half at home. This, you know, you look at their schedule, I was at the gym this morning and I looked up and they were kind of going through. If they were to lose this game even at 10 and 2 now, maybe they just the Notre Dame brand, they give them the 12 seed, but their schedule doesn't look great. You know, really, this is a kind of important game for them, especially coming off that pretty devastating loss against Miami.
- [70:30]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, it's close to a must win. I'm not going to say it is a must win, but a 10 and 2. Do you lose your the two hardest games in your schedule? Now? USC looks really good, so I mean, they could lose that game now, but that, that would be like the only game the rest of the schedule that you're like, okay, this is a great win. So it'll probably depend on like what happens elsewhere. And they will have like the momentum, having 110 in a row, but it's going to be dicey. And you could also say it's a must win for Texas A M now. They're going to have opportunities to get back in the sec, but their schedule is brutal. They're in the sec. So like, if you get this win in your pocket. Yeah, just that. That's huge as far as like trying to get in that large. So. Yeah, interesting game. Marcus Freeman has been very, very good with time to Prepare. He is 120 against the spread with 7 plus days to prepare and that includes season openers and this is coming into the year. So I guess he's 121 now because he didn't beat Miami. But he's historically been very good off the bike. He's 60 against the spread after a bye week, so he's been very good. They had a bye week. You know, you had your, your freshman quarterback get a start on the road. You can work on some things. I do think they probably unleash their backs here. Texas A and M's run defense hasn't looked great. They lost a bunch of guys to the NFL on the defensive line. So I think you're going to see like Notre Dame go heavy, run sl. I haven't bet this game yet just because the spot for Notre Dame is good. If I had to, I'd probably take the seven. But I have a sneaky suspicion that this is going to go over 49 and a half now. Texas a M under Elko, he's like taking more over the defense issue. A really good defense coordinator. Their Defense was pretty bad last year. It hasn't been great and it gets bad competition so far. So that concerns me a bit. We'll see how he plays this. Generally speaking, he wants to, like, play a shell defense, prevent explosive plays. So Notre Dame might be able to just run up and down the field. There's still some uncertainty with the quarterback. Marcel Reed, the A and M quarterback, he still has questions as can he throw? There's young receivers who have looked good but against bad competition. So a lot of uncertainty in this game. Huge game for both teams. Small lean to the over, small lean, I guess, to A and M. Catching seven, but nothing strong. I haven't played anything yet.
- [72:54]
John Middlekauff
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- [73:24]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week. That is exactly what you're gonna get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that.
- [73:50]
John Middlekauff
Yes.
- [73:50]
Matt Jones
I might want to go back at the Colt Stadium.
- [73:52]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I might want to go back.
- [73:53]
Matt Jones
To the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we have with pretzels was working pretty well for generations. We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's go. I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is spry. I wouldn't fight him. I would listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [74:25]
West West Prop
All right, West West Prop here from hood politics with prop podcast. You already know our get down. If you grew up in our urban areas of comfort, of struggle, you understand politics much more than you give him credit for. Feds taking over American cities, government Hop out, boys hopping out the van, snatching up your Theo and them two wars that was supposed to supposed to be solved in 24 hours. Jerry, just out Here, mandering all over the place, the turfs and of course the Epstein of it all. Well, this week we decided to shoot our shot and boy did we pull up from the logo to see if we could get somebody to come tap in with us. And the one and only Jamil Hill pulled up from the Spolitics podcast to keep it a whole century. Because in America, what sales and politics.
- [75:08]
John Middlekauff
Are narratives and storylines.
- [75:10]
West West Prop
It's like we treat politics like we treat sports, which is part of the reason why we're in the situation we're in right now. Listen to the Hood politics with prop podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [75:22]
Tyler Barnes
I'm Dan, he's Ty.
- [75:23]
John Middlekauff
Hello.
- [75:24]
Tyler Barnes
And we're the Solid Verbal College football podcast.
- [75:27]
John Middlekauff
College football season is here and you know what that means.
- [75:33]
Tyler Barnes
Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween.
- [75:38]
John Middlekauff
Uh huh. But fear not, the Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback.
- [75:46]
Tyler Barnes
Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [75:52]
John Middlekauff
Whether you're a die hard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan.
- [76:08]
Tyler Barnes
We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.
- [76:13]
John Middlekauff
Listen to the Solid Verbal college football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, let's dive into the NFL. A lot of divisional matchups this weekend, Stucky. We got obviously, I mean an all time meltdown would be strong, but you're up 15 points with whatever four or five minutes to go. I mean one of the best players of his generation fumbles the ball. Kind of freaky issue, but let's face it, the two, two games in a row now the Ravens have looked dramatically better than the Bills and they lost. It's crazy. So because my take was going to be, hey, if football was a seven game series, the Bills would have no shot. But then it's like, well, they've played three games and the Bills have beat them twice in the last three. But it does feel a little freaky. But let's dive into that game. Obviously coming off a devastating loss. This is, you know, the Harbaugh Tomlin. They're good at like rallying the troops and stuff. I don't see how you can bet Joe Flacco in the Cleveland Browns. Listen, week one, every team comes but 11 and a half points is a lot. Now this game's at Baltimore but these divisional games we talked about, like it's just tough. And this is. Listen, if Cleveland ends up with a four win team the first month they're going to have belief in that locker room. It's the NFL. They're relatively healthy. I mean I that that number is pretty big, bro.
- [77:42]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, it's a tough game for what it's worth. Dogs and matchups of Owen 1 teams, which this is even though it probably should be a matchup of one and zero teams. Both teams lost by one, they missed extra points. They were the better teams in their game. But underdogs in OH teams that are zero and one in week two underdogs in those games are 53, 28 and three against the spread since 2003, 65%. So you know, divisional dog catching double digits. The Browns defense did look good last week. So yeah, if I had to play it I would probably take the Browns. But what I did play is I did play the over. I played over 45. Couple reasons. One, that lumber is just too low for the Ravens offense. The Ravens offense is a juggernaut. They're gonna. They basically score like 30 plus every week. Unless they put the Steelers then the game's like 17 16. But they've scored 30 plus in 12 of their past 15 games. 15 of their past 18 games dating back to the start of last year have hit at least 45 average of 53 in those games. And here the, the Browns are going to throw the ball a ton like so you, you might get a Flacco pick six a key mistake. But they're gonna, they're gonna. They. He threw it 45 times last week in a 1716 game. Like so they're gonna come out chucking. It's by the way this is like revenge weekend. You got Flacco going back to Baltimore for Baltimore's 30 year anniversary of stealing Cleveland's team. It's first time Flacco's back in Baltimore in a non Ravens uniform. Chiefs Eagles super bowl Ben Johnson versus the Lions McCarthy Pennock's national title rematch. DK Metcalf back for the Seahawks. So a lot of narrative revenge games on Sunday. But the other thing worth noting here.
- [79:21]
John Middlekauff
Titans, rams Super Bowl 99.
- [79:23]
Tyler Barnes
One of the best Kevin Dyson the The one a small thing here is that both teams might end up being extra aggressive which could be a small edge. The Browns because they know that they're big underdogs here, so they might end up going forward on fourth down a little bit more. And they know that they have a kicker that they might not be able to rely on because they didn't cut Schmidt. And then the Ravens, all the talk all week has been about all the blown leads over the past three, four years, all the double digit fourth quarter leads and it just happened. They just blew up 15 point lead, up 99% win probability at a 15 point lead with, I don't know, six to go. So do you think that if they're up 14, 15 this week that they're gonna. So at the end of the game you might get a, like an extra punched in touchdown instead of like the team that's up two touchdowns just goes run, run, run, punt.
- [80:16]
John Middlekauff
Can you answer, can you answer me this? I don't know what year it was, but they like were ahead of the curve and being super aggressive. And then last week they kind of had like their potential. Belichick, Kevin Falk versus Peyton Manning moment. Like this guy was unstoppable at the time. Like he was on. Were you stunned that he got so conservative in that moment? I know he's not the play caller, but it's pretty easy for John to be like, hey, at the start of that drive, hey, Todd. I mean this is what I want. We're going fucking pedal to the metal. And it felt like he went more old school. John Harbaugh 2012, like, let's get really conservative. And this was Belichick way ahead of the curve when Falk would he drop the ball or tripped or whatever happened. Looking back, like when you're playing Josh Allen, Peyton Manning in the peak of their powers, they're going to beat you. This is like basketball now, especially with the rules where good offense beats good defense. When a guy is that hot, right?
- [81:10]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. I mean he punted 4th and 3 at their own 38.
- [81:15]
John Middlekauff
But to me, even the sequence was.
- [81:17]
Tyler Barnes
Just, yeah, the whole thing from first to third down. I mean, Lamar apparently had the option to keep it, but didn't. But yeah, I agree, wasn't aggressive enough. Lamar was cooking that defense the entire game. But Even on the 4th and 3, I would have went for it. And I think every model would have said to go for it. And even if you just look at it as a basic fan just saying you're gonna punt the ball back to Josh Allen and he just needs to get in field goal range, like you would have been better off not getting it and then giving up a touchdown on the next play and then getting the ball back with a chance to win or tie if they got the two, like you'd been better off than that, than punting it and then letting Alan go and drain the clock and kick a field goal to win it. That was like the worst case scenario. So, yeah, I was shocked. And they have like analytics guys. They have a guy that tells them. But the thing is that these coaches, sometimes they just Revert back. Mike McDonald said their model said to go for it 4th and 1, and he overrode it and they kicked the field goal and it ended up costing them in the game. So, like, what's the point of having the model? I mean, I guess it's like one input, but yeah, that's. He overrode his model. I'm assuming Harbaugh did as well. I was shocked. So I assume that the Ravens are going to be. There was a game where Lamar like convinced him to go for it against the Chiefs one year that won in the game on fourth down at home, I expect, at least in the short term.
- [82:42]
John Middlekauff
The one thing though, I would say, I would say in that game, it's a no brainer. You got Lamar, you've been kicking ass. The Seattle thing, he could go, well, Kittle's over in shorts and a T shirt. Our defense has been smoking hell, Trent Williams, let alone their offensive line.
- [82:58]
Tyler Barnes
And they don't. And the 49ers don't have a kicker.
- [83:00]
John Middlekauff
So we go up three, don't have a kicker. They got 10 total points. So I, I do think in the flow of the game, in, in the Ravens game, it had a feel of like, this is like a video.
- [83:09]
Tyler Barnes
It was gonna get it. Yes. I actually didn't fully disagree with the Seahawks field goal kick. Especially when you consider that like the 49ers are probably incapable of kicking a field goal to tie it with Moody. And congrats, by the way. You don't have to.
- [83:25]
John Middlekauff
A new kicker only about two years too late.
- [83:27]
Tyler Barnes
But how about that draft? What a draft?
- [83:31]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I mean, pretty bad. I mean, we dive into the dice here in a minute. They somehow, they entered all three preseason. Everyone's dropping like flies. The week one ends, they somehow Kittle is out for a month and Purdy throws the game winning drive in there on victory formation. Then Monday, it's like, yeah, he's out for two to five weeks. Only the Niners, I mean, you could never like, if it'd be like Sean McDermott's like, oh yeah, Josh Allen's out two to five weeks we just saw him play. It's like, yeah, he was fine, but now he's not. Like, only the Niners. That's insane. So. But I don't even care. I mean, I have no take on Mac Jones versus Spencer.
- [84:07]
Tyler Barnes
I'll give you the worst take that you'll ever hear.
- [84:10]
John Middlekauff
I'm waiting.
- [84:11]
Tyler Barnes
That line came down to three. The total's dropping. I'm waiting to see how low it gets into the 30s. I'm gonna. I might bet the over my feet. The thinking is it's still Shanahan. The Saints defense isn't great. Like, he's still gonna.
- [84:23]
John Middlekauff
He like, he likes Mac Jones.
- [84:25]
Tyler Barnes
He does like Mac Jones. He'll be able to draw up. They'll be able to score some points here. The Saints offense, it looked okay last week. Kell Moore can still call offense. They went super fast. So they're gonna. It's gonna be like hide. When they say to the ball, they went. They were the fastest team in the NFL last week. So they're going high tempo. So like indoors two good play callers. This gets into the 30s. Ugh. It's so gross. Like a Mac Jones dispenser Rattler over. Like, it just makes me cringe. But that's what I'm looking at there. That. That's all they.
- [84:55]
John Middlekauff
The Niners did play a legendary game the first time they made the Super bowl in 19 against Sean Payton and Drew Brees with Jimmy Garoppolo, who probably played the best game he's ever played as a 40.
- [85:03]
Tyler Barnes
I remember that game. Yeah.
- [85:04]
John Middlekauff
In New Orleans. And he just. He made plays like he was like, I don't know, like Tom Brady or something. It was crazy. Great game. The Niners historically have had some great games against the Saints in the regular season and in the playoffs. Now that's back with Sean Payton and Harbaugh and some better Kyle teams. But Mac Jones, Spencer Rattler, Week two. Buckle up. Let's. This game's fascinating. Like, I'm out on Caleb Williams. Not that he's just going to be out of the league, but like the hype. It's just like you just can't play like that. Especially in this situation. Like with this coach. It's just not going to work. Like people don't flip the switch of all of a sudden. Yeah, you just sit in the pocket now and pick you apart. Like, that's not how he plays. You can't do that overnight in confidence and everything. It's already spinning. It feels like. But the Lions, my take on that game is. I know everyone's like, oh, they just totally suck now. That was such a big spot for the Packers. They had lost this team twice last year. You had just got Micah Parsons, who's back immediately is healthy. Of course. It's almost like they wouldn't have given him $185 million if he would have had a bad back. It's like, guys, you see how much money they just gave him. Like, what are we talking about? But I. The Lions, like, you know better than me. Like that, that offensive line, I mean, it's pretty scary. Like, that's a big difference. And that is the one concerning part, because golf can't move. And unlike Caleb Williams, who honestly is a better athlete than even I realized, guff's the, you know, new version of Kirk Cousins. Like, when it's on, it's on, but when you start hitting them, it crumbles like a cookie. That's the one thing that leaves me. But, you know, Dan Campbell off these spots. Like this got Dan Campbell, who's like the younger version of Mike Tomlin written all over it. Right. Especially at home.
- [86:42]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. 100 against the spread after their last 10 losses under Campbell. This is a tricky game for me. Like, yeah, I want to sell both teams right now. Like, Caleb is still too inaccurate. He's still hasn't like, fully grasped what Johnson wants to do. I'm not saying he can't get there. I didn't think it was going to happen overnight, but there's still. There was still too much of a gap to work where I thought he has to. Where he has to go to where he is right now. So I'm curious to watch just like that develop.
- [87:13]
John Middlekauff
Part of my issue too is just kind of watching from afar. I don't think the head coach. This sounds crazy because he just accepted the job, like, really likes this guy. Like, he doesn't really fit with what.
- [87:23]
Tyler Barnes
He wants to do. It's a complete.
- [87:24]
John Middlekauff
That's what I'm saying. And how often do we see in football where like that creates such an ugly just relationship when the football mesh, this could be other positions too, with, you know, big name players. When it doesn't work, it just gets weird and it gets ugly and it just grows as the season goes. Yeah, we see it all the time.
- [87:42]
Tyler Barnes
Yep. It's. Yeah. And like, he's still his off. He's. He's still his off. Target rate percentage is still way too high. And like I. They have to figure out a way to marry the fundamental operation of A Ben Johnson offense and then Caleb Williams, his off script plays. How do you do that? I don't know. Can they find the optimal way? Because like him doing the off script plays like then he's not running the like. So I don't know. It's. It's going to be a work in progress. The Bears also have a ton of defensive injuries worth monitoring. Jalen Johnson, they had two starting corners out. Their two best corners route last week against the Vikings they had a linebacker out as well. One of their defensive starting defense tackles didn't practice yesterday. So they have a bunch of defensive injuries. They're on a short week. It's not a great spot going to Detroit indoors where golf plays better. But I'm, I'm not running to the window to bet Detroit right now. It's a team I was selling coming into the year. Part of it was the coordinators and look, it wasn't just the coordinators. They lost Ben Johnson and then they lost Tanner extra and who went to the Jets. I mean look at that offense last week they were electric. So they lost like a lot of the brains and last week the offense. Two, two major problems you highlighted. One, it's the interior offensive line. If you get interior pressure on golf done, it's over. There's not. There's no recourse for him. And if. And there's. There was no easy buttons and there was no creativity and innovation. It doesn't mean that they can't get there, but it was very troubling. Like he dropped back, I don't know, 40 times to 450 yards. Like I get the packers are good, but the packers don't have any like Pro bowl corners. I mean it would. Gibbs had like 10 catches for 30 yards. Again, it looked like a completely different offense. And a lot of that, some of that was the scheme stuff. Maybe they'll get there. But a lot of that was the interior pressure that the run game still wasn't as good up front and the play action doesn't work as good as, as well. And like they have two new guards. They kicked their worst offensive lineman into center. Like and they had an all world center before they lost their best guard. So like that's a problem. So yeah. And then what throws a wrench into this is like the Johnson familiarity. Like so the lion staff knows what Johnson likes to do but then Johnson knows the Lions defensive personnel. So that's an interesting chess match but not a team. I'm. It's probably a better spot for the Lions. It's like indoors that Bears coming off a short week, they have injuries. So gun to my head, I'd go Lions, but I'm probably not betting it. Two teams that I just don't want to put my money behind it right.
- [90:17]
John Middlekauff
At this moment, this is the biggest red flag line. I think just something's just off. Here is the Pats, you know, because you would have said what was the look ahead line two weeks ago in this game?
- [90:29]
Tyler Barnes
Pat's Dolphins probably Dolphins minus three.
- [90:35]
John Middlekauff
So it's. There's getting normal respect like old school line of just the home team favored. To me, I would have thought that maybe I had too high hopes for the Patriots. But one thing that I might have to come around on that people have been calling me out. I just assumed like, oh, Josh McDaniels, we've seen him for decades. Offensive coordinator, he's really good. And then they're like, well, remove Brady and then dive into obviously his head coaching spots. I don't, I don't know. That ram spot. In 2011, they were statistically the worst offense. So he has some moments where if Tom and Bill aren't standing right next to him, it gets really weird. And it also might be the quarterback who. I thought. I think Drake May is going to be a pretty good player. What if he's not? You know, what if he's not? Because I thought last game, I don't give a shit what his stats were. The eye test was, it was like, whoa. Now, part of it, you could argue their personnel is not great, but a lot of hype for this guy. A lot of hype for this team. You know, variables. Not exactly. This isn't like Sean McVeigh or Kevin O'. Connell. I mean, this is an old school conservative coach. But like, I would assume that like the Patriots should dominate Miami, but you're like, well, they've actually statistically over the years not done as well down there. Even with Bill and Tom. Yeah. And what if. What if the Patriots just aren't good?
- [91:52]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, it's. Brady hated playing. I mean, there is an advantage for Miami home field advantage early in the season with the humidity, the sun on the other sideline. So like there's part of that. Brady like literally had his worst games every year in Miami.
- [92:05]
John Middlekauff
It seemed like I desperately want to take the Patriots here, but it's it.
- [92:10]
Tyler Barnes
You could not pay me to bet the Dolphins right now as Patriots are nothing. But the, the Patriots have like, they, they still have issues. We'll see if Christian Gonzalez goes. They need him back in the secondary. I don't think he's going to play. But the Dolphins are a mess. Like that was as bad of a season opener as you will ever see in Indianapolis. And coming into the year, like we knew that these problems existed across the roster. Like the offensive line is one of the worst in the NFL. Now they have some injuries they're dealing with. Their secondary is beyond repair. I mean now they. They lost Storm Duck who was like their number one corner somehow, but they lost K who was probably their best corner in camp. They traded Ramsay, they traded Holland. Like their sector's mess. They're relying on like guys that they picked up two weeks ago. So what did they do last week against the Colts? They just blit. They blitzed like 60 of the time like they did because they're just like, we don't trust anyone to cover. But their secondary is horrendous. And like Tyreek Hill has clearly lost the step. This is like a very val. Like there's a chance that the Dolphins are like a two win team. Like they. They what they need. They need to blow this up. And like the two. His performance was even more concerning in that this is like the system. Like he's. He knows this. The. The McDaniels system. And he looked like it was the first time he was running the system. I mean he was throwing it right to the Colts. He was bad. So like the. Hill's already going nuts on the sideline. The. The offensive line's a mess. The secondary is a mess. So I would trust the Patriots much more. It's Patriots or nothing. I went until further notice. And you know me, I will bet on any bad team. I'm used to my college football card this week I have bets on Eastern Michigan who just lost a Long Island. I bet Northwestern against Oregon. I mean you.
- [94:01]
John Middlekauff
I bet you're not afraid you're.
- [94:04]
Tyler Barnes
I'll bet any bad team. I will not bet the Dolphins right now. So Patriots are nothing.
- [94:11]
John Middlekauff
Well, that, that's where. When we go week to week. Like you said, looking back at lsu the first couple weeks we might have overvalued who they were, you know, beating Clemson.
- [94:20]
Tyler Barnes
Right.
- [94:20]
John Middlekauff
Well, Indy, you know, cruises do. I mean Indy's. I mean a real NFL team. And Daniel Jones has proven like if he's playing okay, you can win games with him. But like that game could just be. Not matter at all. And now they play Denver Bo Nix. I mean that was as bad of a game as probably played as a pro. I mean that was a joke. It was just an atrocious effort. But he has one of the best coaches in the league whose offense is his baby. Like the offense is Sean Payton's. So you go, listen, I bet on that guy to figure it out, to motivate, to get him in the right head space. The guy not to go in the tank. Plus, I would say this about Bo Bo, like some of these quarterbacks, they've seen a lot of shit in college. I mean, the guy who had like 75 starts, had a transfer, ran out of Auburn. So mentally I'm not necessarily worried about him going into the tank. Maybe like a Drake May or Caleb. But like, I just think this Denver defense, I mean, every time you looked up in Tennessee, unless Tennessee might not be that good, but that defense is. So they got to have the fastest defense in the league. Like when you factor in all 11 guys, their team speed. This could be a spot where you know they're favored on the road. But couldn't you see them hold Indy like into single digits in this game and just swarm them?
- [95:28]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, it could just be your classic like Daniel Jones game under pressure and.
- [95:32]
John Middlekauff
One of like 17 to 7 type game or something.
- [95:35]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, this is a big, like, this is a revenge weekend now. This is a revenge spot for the Colts. I bet the Colts last year against the Broncos, they should have like, they were like catching like four. Jonathan Taylor drops the ball going into the end zone.
- [95:48]
John Middlekauff
I remember that.
- [95:49]
Tyler Barnes
And then their wide receiver threw a pick six somehow 80. Mitchell like just threw it right to the Broncos have returned it. But yeah, that defense, they have the coverage on the back end. It starts with certain. And then they're able to. They can stop the run and then it's third and long and then they can play cover to bring pressure. And like Cammore was under pressure like 50 of the time. By the way, I did bet the Titans this week. I think, I think he fared well given the circumstances. You know, he lost his tackle during the game. He was under pressure the whole time. He didn't make any catastrophic mistakes. He looked poised. There's a bunch of drops. He wasn't put in the best situation, but he looked poised there in first road start in Denver. Not an easy place to be. They almost blew the COVID for us last week because Callahan, I'm gonna rent rant for 10 seconds. Some of the worst coaching I've ever seen. Like first he said in the presser he didn't know one elbow equals two knees. Like I am entered a 30 yard catch. He didn't Challenge it. Because he said, oh, you need knees and elbows. No. And then at the end of the half, one of the worst coaching decisions I've ever seen is Denver punted down 6:3 and the Titans had the ball at the 5 with 40 seconds to go. And Denver only had two timeouts.
- [96:57]
John Middlekauff
You run the ball, you take knees.
- [96:58]
Tyler Barnes
You can take knees. You run the ball three times and you go to the half up six three. With your rookie quarterback in Denver, he dropped. They dropped back three times. Incomplete. Incomplete. Sacked at the one, had a punt from the one. Denver scored it, returned it to the 20 and scored a touchdown. You just gave them free seven points. Luckily, somehow Tennessee returned the kick 70 yards with like two seconds ago and got a field goal out of it. They lost four net points out of it. Horrendous. Anyway, I had to get that off my chest.
- [97:25]
John Middlekauff
He seems like a nice guy. You know, he grew up in the Bay Area. Is there a chance he's got no clue what he's doing?
- [97:29]
Tyler Barnes
I.
- [97:29]
John Middlekauff
Yes, as a head coach, I mean, I would imagine he knows offensive quarterback play, but as a head coach, completely over skis.
- [97:36]
Tyler Barnes
Yes, I would agree with that. The Titans are better. Like they're off the interior lines better. Their special team's way better. They were really. They're. They have a really good offensive line coach. Tackle's still a question. Although they upgraded a left tackle. Defense is good. Like it's need was playing. Their D line is good. But back to the Colts, Broncos. Yeah, this could just be like old Daniel Jones, right? When he's under pressure constantly in New York, it's just. It just all falls apart. He. He could make a bunch of mistakes here, but do I trust Bo Nix to bet him as a road favorite? Not sure. I don't know if I can get there. He looked really poor and like last year, you gotta remember they beat one playoff team all year. If you remove week 18 when the chief sat everyone and he needs like to be playing from ahead and like so like last week he could have thrown a couple pick sixes that were dropped. It was bad. But I agree with you, like he's a seasoned guy. I don't worry about him mentally. So I can see the Denver play.
- [98:31]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I mean that quarterback class went from like all time historic to be like, well, I know Jaden's sweet. McCarthy gave me a quarter. I'm not done with Pennix. Still like him. I've loved him for years at Washington, so I'm rooting for him. And he's. You can tell like he's, he's okay. He's not going to be awful. But how. What's his ceiling? I think that was always a lot of pushback from like the NFL people. But you got Caleb, you got May, you got a lot of people that were betting against Bo Nix from the jump. So when he plays a game like that, and let's face it, that game, that's as bad of a game like Tua's getting shit on. You could argue Bo Nix was worse than Tua. I mean the pick, he looked like.
- [99:09]
Tyler Barnes
The rookie in that game. Even though Cam Ward had like less. Fewer passing yards, some of Nick's reads and like it was bad.
- [99:17]
John Middlekauff
One thing about the Rams is it's that, it's that classic like 10am kickoff for a West coast team. It's like a four hour flight from. It's just a long hard on your body clock. I just think that's, you know, it's not like the Rams playing preseason. Their body clock, they got to play their first game at home. It's just, it's just an interesting spot. Now again, like Tennessee blows this and they get, they lose by 10 plus, like I'm not betting on them anymore. I will be out because I did this last year. I wrote them the first couple weeks. I'm gonna ride them again this week. I'm with you. Let's get to the main event, the super bowl rematch. He's not an underdog at home, I would imagine very often. You know, I think everyone's writing off the Chiefs. It's like, guys, they've been playing like this for a couple years and in fairness. And even Travis, like I knocked out my own guy. That's on me. I mean that's kind of. And they were kept saying it during the broadcast like Andy told us. Andy told us. And he's not one of those like, you know, Belichick here where he's hiding all his secrets. He's, he's in those meetings chopping up with the guys like Xavier Worthy is a huge part of this game plan. He just disappears. This isn't some random guy. That was their first round pick. Oh yeah. And their second round pick where she Rice. That looked excellent towards acl slash, got suspended. So it's like, yeah, this is their offense and Travis is old. That leaves me concerned. But this team has a lot of championship character. That defense got shredded. Are they just bad on defense now? I have a hard time believing that. Obviously, you know, Chris Jones can be a little bit of a hit or miss player but also Philly's coming off this game while they won't kind of an embarrassing situation. So I think they're going to be motivated. But Kansas City at home, that place doing the chop. I just have a hard time like I'm going to take the Chiefs plus points. I've learned my lesson over the years though. I for the first time I really don't feel that great about this.
- [100:59]
Tyler Barnes
I I'm with you. By the way. Two other notes. Colts defense is improved because they got rid of Gus Bradley. So like they're not just cover three basic. And the Rams might be about both their guards who are really important, especially if you can get into your pressure with that D line on Stafford who can't really scramble. So those are two things that could work. And especially with the Titans if the Rams guards are out, that's big. But I'm with you on the on the Chiefs. Mahomes 12 and 2 against the spread as an underdog covered by like 6 points per game is like close to 90 against the spread. I get it. Worthy I assume is not going to play. Rice is out. Your running game isn't great. You know, look in their secondary has some questions but you just. It's just. It feels like it's gonna be one of those Chiefs games. They've extra time to repair. There'll be like a ton of Mahomes scrambles. They'll be like these methodical drives. This kid Thornton will have like a deep touchdown or something and then they'll just work the middle of the field. The Eagle safeties are vulnerable and the Eagles defense lost a lot. Like it's not the same Carroll defensive line. It's not. They still have questions at the second cornerback spot and I don't like the Eagles offense. This could be a situation like two years ago. I get it's not. They still have Saquon Barkley, so it's going to be better. But two years ago, Brian Johnson, the offense coordinator, it was a disaster. And you have a new office coordinator after losing Kellen Moore. It looked bad last week. Now it's only one game. But like there was no creativity. It was. It was ugly. And the Chiefs can stop the run. That's where they've been really good at the past year and a half. So. And is A.J. brown fully healthy? He was in Devonte Smith. They were dealing with injuries. They just were just. They decided not to throw to him. I don't know. But the Chiefs super bowl revenge give me all the narratives at home. A little extra time to repair. Eagles do too, but I'll trust Reed a little bit more with that. And of course their defensive coordinator, Spagnola. I'm taking give me the, the point, the point and a half with Mahomes. It'll just, it feels to me it'll be like one of those games where people on Twitter are like cursing like they'll get one call. They'll end up winning on, by, on like a walk off field goal by two on an ugly game. So yeah, do you need me points at home with Mahomes. If there's anyone who's just gonna will his team to a win with like you and me, receiver, it's gonna be Mahomes in this spot. So yeah, I bet the Chiefs with you.
- [103:27]
John Middlekauff
You can make a difference in someone's life, including your own with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, health care.
- [103:36]
Tyler Barnes
Retirement options, and free training. They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime. Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply. That's oregonhomecarejobs.com.
- [103:56]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining and twice a week that is exactly what you're gonna get. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Looks like something that should not be sold. Oh, my. So that was my other big Colts takeaway. They sold that.
- [104:22]
John Middlekauff
Yes.
- [104:22]
Matt Jones
Might want to go back at the Colts stadium.
- [104:24]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I might want to go back.
- [104:24]
Matt Jones
To the drawing board on that. Yeah. I thought the shape we had with pretzels was working pretty well.
- [104:29]
John Middlekauff
It's worked for generations.
- [104:31]
Matt Jones
We're just here trying to enjoy it. We hope you all will join us throughout the year. And let's see.
- [104:35]
John Middlekauff
Go.
- [104:36]
Matt Jones
I hope I'm as youthful as Pete Carroll is at his age. He's a young 73. He is a young 73. He is spry, I would say. I wouldn't fight him. I would listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
- [104:57]
West West Prop
All right, West West Prop here from Hood politics with prop podcast. You already know our get down. If you grew up in our urban areas, a comfort of struggle, you understand politics much more than you giving credit for Feds taking over American cities, government hop out boys hopping out the van Snatching up your Theo and them two wars that were supposed to be solved in 24 hours. Jerry just out here mandering all over the place, the turfs and of course the Epstein of it all. Well, this week we decided to shoot our shot and boy did we pull up from the logo to see if we could get somebody to come tap in with us. And the one and only Jamil Hill pulled up from the Spolitics podcast to keep it a whole century. The American public is used to being entertained. We're a consumption society. So what Trump figured out is entertain them and they'll never question you. Listen to the hood politics with Prop podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
- [105:53]
John Middlekauff
What's up everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here and I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game. From scouting reports and player development to.
- [106:02]
Matt Jones
Team building philosophies, coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters.
- [106:07]
John Middlekauff
Every week we study the tape, talk to decision makers and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.
- [106:13]
Matt Jones
It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots. From college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow.
- [106:19]
John Middlekauff
We break down the draft, analyze matchups and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day.
- [106:24]
Matt Jones
Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction and the trends that shape the league year after year.
- [106:30]
John Middlekauff
Whether you're a die hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond.
- [106:38]
Matt Jones
The box score, this podcast is for you.
- [106:41]
John Middlekauff
Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. One thing that throws me off about this Monday night doubleheader, which I'm not going to complain anymore. I, I was cool with just the one game, but what are you going to complain about two games? It is difficult when they do the overlap which they in a couple weeks that like basically they're only separated by an hour. This is just a legit one team. One game kicks off at 4:00 Pacific standard time and the other one's right after. So it's, it's a little easier to consume Tampa but, but that's not always the case. I looked ahead. In a couple weeks they're going back to that staggered thing which I think sometimes they do that when they're shittier matchups. This is pretty good matchups here. Start with the first game. You know, Baker obviously had the huge touchdown. The Game winner. Yeah I thought Atlanta got a little lucky to be wrong because they did look like penalties but they had like 75 plays from like the five yard line to at the end of the game obviously he missed the field goal. I'm just the Atlanta, I'm just out on that organization but you know Tampa listen you get a win on the road against a divisional opponent who beat you last year, you got to be feeling pretty good. Houston, the offense still didn't look great. Defensively they're going to be pretty damn good. I don't know. I mean this game I have a hard time trusting what's going on Houston offensively offensive line wise they CJ Stroud just hasn't looked like the same guy since the rookie that we saw kind of take the league by storm.
- [108:18]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah I I like and by the way I agree with on the Monday night because like I watch a million games all weekend as do we all Saturday, Sunday I'm in my basement, I have a bunch of screens. Monday I want to go in my family room. I want to have one like that's what I just want to have one game on and that's it like Sunday night, Monday night. So like if there's back to back I don't that's perfect to me but.
- [108:39]
John Middlekauff
Yeah I don't like it's clearly not just it's more than an experiment at this point it feels like something inevitable like the next TV deal or we get just Monday night doubleheaders.
- [108:48]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah might be it would make sense. That's probably how you get the most amount of money possible which is all it's about at the end of the day. But I I really do like the Texans. One of my favorite bets of the weekend anything under three there's minus two and a half's all out there. So the Bucks last week they were one of the luckiest teams in in the NFL that won last week. Them and and the G and the Steelers the jets were like plus 8% net success rate. The Falcons were like plus 7%. I also played the jets against the Bills but the Bucks were not good like they were that Baker Mayfield had a couple big throws to Ibuka who's going to be really good but other than that they did nothing all day. They got they converted a fourth down at their own 30 in the game and then the Falcons got stuffed at the 50. The only two quarterbacks with a turnover worthy play rate of over 10 from last week Tua and Baker. I think the Falcons dropped four picks one one went through the hands on a touchdown but there was two others that were right in the hands. They easily could have got blown out of that game and obviously had the missed kick. Mooney didn't play and then you you lost Drake London during the game so like and then you still needed a last minute touchdown drive. It didn't look the same. Liam Cohen was definitely missed the run concepts were not the same and they're just not healthy right now. Yeah they don't have Tristan Worfs, they don't have Godwin, they don't have McMillan but because of worse they've moved their center to tackle their guard to center their other like they're all it's and they played the Falcons who like don't have a great pass rush so that's going to be a problem against the Texans pass rush. The Texans also have the corners to match up with Evans and Igbuka. I don't and like the run game is not there with this offensive line and without Cohen. So like I don't know how the Bucks really move the ball and I'm going to trust the Texans to do enough against this Bucks defense. It's not a great defense. Their secondary is gettable. The thing that gives me some confidence with the Texans offense this week I still need to see it but they did. I hated Slowik. They brought in a new offensive coordinator so obviously it didn't look great last week it looked that's putting it lightly looked awful but it was a horrendous situation. They lost before the game. Ed Ingram at guard with like an abdomen injury. They thought he was the he was ruled out before the game. He looked really good all all in preseason. I don't know why they did this but once he was ruled out they moved Titus Howard from right tackle to right guard and he's much better at tackle. They moved three different positions around and then during the game they're Howard got their right tackle got hurt then they had Fiser in there. It was probably the worst tackle in the league. Their center guys that probably out for the year. I don't know Andrews he got hurt. So they had like six different combinations like all these got different guys played tackles and this is the first game that's crazy whole all of camp the offensive line that they played with there's like one guy in the same position and they were going up against the Rams front nightmare scenario so they switched everything up. So I don't know if they're going to do that again. I there was a chance Ingram's back and then they, they'll have Patterson come in at center and I think he's just as fine as Andrew. So like I don't even think it was a big drop off there. He might even be better. But if they have Ingram back at right guard and then. But even if they go to this weird they at least get the practice with it. Yeah all week so. And I think the play calling will be better. So I think that there's some hope for the Texans offense in that respect. And the Bucks front isn't as good as the Rams front and their secondaries gettable. I think Nico Collins of a bounce back game. So I'm gonna bet it on the Texans at home. This Bucks offense just isn't the same right now. Lose the coordinator, offensive line injuries, some wide receiver injuries. So yeah, give me they were lucky last week and the Texans that you could say they were unlucky. They had all that happen and they sold the ball late.
- [112:40]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I mean they were in the game because it's not like the Rams scoring 30 points. I the one thing I think big picture with offensive line play in general, you know, and we've been talking about this probably for five to seven years is the, the draft classes have not been very deep. You used to be able to find a lot of really good guards and centers. You know there's still good tackles coming in the league, you know, especially in the first round. But there's a lot of guards and center depth. You used to be able to find Kelsey's and just solid players that would become Pro Bowlers past like pick 100 or 150. Now I think you ask these teams like it's terrible. Obviously a lot has to do with the offenses in college that we watch. They're all spreading it out.
- [113:19]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah.
- [113:19]
John Middlekauff
But I think, you know, you see 49er land, they're like Colton McKibbett sucks. Obviously he's not Lane Johnson, but I bet they would tell you relative to the rest of the league, it's really hard to find this player and the drop off for a guy that can start and like the backup, it's really big. So if your offensive line to begin with is not the Eagles, right. You're. It's got an average starter to begin with so the backup is really shitty. But all these defensive linemen the last four or five years have come in not just on the edge but inside. Think how many when I was in the NFL in like 2010, Colin Jenkins, there was like two or three guys that were Inside pass rushers. Most guys were like fat run stuffers.
- [113:57]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah.
- [113:57]
John Middlekauff
It's the opposite now. And even the fat run stuffers, like Sweat or whatever, Tennessee, they're fucking athletic.
- [114:03]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah.
- [114:03]
John Middlekauff
I feel like every team now might not have Aaron Donald, but they got dudes inside. You're watching that game the other night. Bears and Vikings, like, they got pretty good defensive tackle pressure and I just think that that's an area to watch and that's why some of this quarterback play, when you talk about unders, as time goes, these guys are getting injured. It's just something to keep an eye on because when backups come in, it could get ugly fast.
- [114:25]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. The who's. I always think of that guy. There was a huge. I mean I always think of like Sarah Gusa, Summer Ravens fans, Sam Adams. Yeah. There was a Packer that was huge. I forget his name.
- [114:35]
John Middlekauff
Gilbert.
- [114:36]
Tyler Barnes
Yes, Gilbert.
- [114:38]
John Middlekauff
That guy. Those guys don't exist anymore. They don't play because you watch college. Where do you see that in college? Like the 300 because people aren't running.
- [114:45]
Tyler Barnes
From Florida that the Bucks drafted who was like £450.
- [114:49]
John Middlekauff
Yeah.
- [114:49]
Tyler Barnes
Who might. Their only role right now might be like the, the tush push stopper. If they could find a way to use them. I don't know. But yeah, like Vita V is huge. He's super athletic. Sweat last week on a fourth and one made a move and blew up Nicks.
- [115:06]
John Middlekauff
It was crazy.
- [115:08]
Tyler Barnes
So, yeah, it's a different world. And you're right, I pay so much more attention now to offensive line injuries because some of the drop offs are scary bad. Like if the, like the, the Texans like they have like, like Fisher coming at right tackle, it's like nothing is going.
- [115:25]
John Middlekauff
C.J. get killed.
- [115:27]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. So yeah, it's a really astute point. Like there's the depth and the, the quality of the depth is just not where it once was. And a lot of that is due to the college game.
- [115:37]
John Middlekauff
But yeah, I think that leads to extensions like the Raiders, like, you know, Pete and John Spitek, you know, Colton Miller, he's not Trent Williams or anything, but it's like where we're going to risk letting this guy go. He wants a little more money. What else are we going to do, you know? So it's a no brainer. It's like, wait, we give him $60 million over three years? Boom. Here you go, buddy.
- [115:56]
Tyler Barnes
Well, that's, that's to bring up with the Jets. If you can hit on a tackle in the draft right away and then you're not paying them a ton of money.
- [116:05]
John Middlekauff
Like, is that guy a star?
- [116:06]
Tyler Barnes
They might have hit on it. I mean, he Memboo, he had 26 pass protection, snap pass for snaps, zero pressures, zero hurries, zero. Satson, he was going up against Watton Highsmith. He had a perfect clean sheet. So they might have hit there, which is huge. And yeah, once you, once you hit on a tackle in the draft, like just had. There's so many teams in the league. I mean, look at the Texans. The Texans can't figure out their offensive line. It's just an absolute mess. And then you have the Bucks. Like, you lose Worfs and it's just like, what do we do? We put. They put their center at tackle and you played some tackle at Duke, but like, it's the, the depth is just because they had this guy heck, who was the backup left tackle. And then they realized, like over the last two weeks that they're like, oh, this guy can't play. So, yeah, it can get ugly quick.
- [117:01]
John Middlekauff
Well, let's end with this. The, the second half of the doubleheader is, you know, this is why when everyone's like, I bet Harbaugh, he needs a receiver. It's like, guys, have you followed Harbaugh's career? He's not going to take Malik neighbors over alt. And obviously that saved him because no team was more equipped to lose a star left tax. Like, this is not an ideal situation, but we also have this other guy that's going to be an all Pro Pro bowl guy. And that's how it was. Awesome. So, I mean, they looked fantastic, right? I mean, Herbert looked, I mean, I don't know. Marino, Elway, I mean, he was, he was dominant in that game. Raiders look good, too. I mean, Gino, now, he can be very, you know, a little fire, you know, hot and cold, just. You never know. But that was hot. I mean, that was Jesus Geno slinging. Especially on the road, rainy conditions. Raiders look good. Now. The Pats might not be good. We know, even if the Chiefs have a down year, what's that? 10 and 7? Like, worst case scenario. That's an excellent win for the Chargers playing, I don't know, 15 hours away in Brazil and it was one of their own games. I was impressed by the Raiders. So, I mean, I, I like the Raiders at home. Plus three in this spot. Sometimes, I think sometimes in Vegas, right, when they're especially the Chiefs and the Broncos, they, they get a lot of those fans there. Chargers, you know, they're not exactly the, The Steelers or the packers when it comes to fan bases. So this is. This does benefit the Raiders a little bit from a crowd standpoint. I'm going to hammer the Raiders.
- [118:25]
Tyler Barnes
Not.
- [118:25]
John Middlekauff
Not. And I listen, I'm not anti the Chargers. Super impressing. They're going to be good. But I kind of like the Raiders in this spot.
- [118:32]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah, I don't hate it. It's not now situationally, it's early in the year. So like, this probably doesn't mean as much, but like the charters have a couple extra days of prep. The Raiders are across the country for whatever that's worth. But yeah, the Raiders offense, I think is going to be pretty good this year. They couldn't really run the ball last week, but Gino, I had the over in that game. I don't know how there was only like 25 points because, like there was terrible. So. But their offense is going to be pretty good. I think their offensive line has potential. And then obviously have Bowers. I think Bowers is good to go. He was dealing with an injury, but obviously you need him. Give you your tight ends. I like some of their weapons. And then you upgraded a quarterback. You have Genti, a running back. You should have some semblance of a running game. So their offense has a lot of potential. Their defense, the back end of their defense is real, real bad. So, like they're just gonna like play coverage, try to prevent explosive plays, and then they hope to force a turnover, get a Crosby sack. Like, that's how the. Patrick Graham is a good defense coordinator. There's just no talent in the secondary. So my. I'm really curious. I don't hate taking the points at the Raiders here. I do think they're just generally underrated across the board. Will the Chargers come out like they clearly just came out last week and they said we're gonna let Herbert cook. Yeah. So do they go back to their tendency and just. And the. The Raiders would like this and just. Are they just going to go back to run heavy, Let Herbert throw every once in a while. I'm very curious to see how they like, handle their past distribution this year. Like, was that just because it's like, hey, we're playing the Chiefs, we know we got to be aggressive. Let's throw. But because Herbert looks so good, so. And that Raider secondary is pretty poor, so. But Geno Smith indoors, by the way, has always. His play goes from like here to here. So getting out of Seattle and getting the play indoors now is pretty big. So, yeah, I don't mind taking the Points there.
- [120:20]
John Middlekauff
Yeah. Roman turned into like Kevin O' Connell or Sean McVeigh or Andy Reid.
- [120:23]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah.
- [120:24]
John Middlekauff
It was crazy. It was nuts. Well, Stucky, man, have a good week. Enjoy. No sleep and eating dinner at 3am we'll try and.
- [120:34]
Tyler Barnes
Yeah. Always a good time.
- [120:36]
John Middlekauff
Usually I cook a dinner. Or do you, like, just throw something in the microwave or you can't order or anything?
- [120:40]
Tyler Barnes
I'll cook. Probably order maybe like once or twice a week. My wife is a really, really, really good cook, so she usually I cook late and then I'll just eat leftovers. But she's pregnant now, so I usually will just cook something up. Sometimes it's just like some Trader Joe's frozen meals or. But she's a good cook. I'm a decent cook, so I probably cook like two, three times a week. Order a couple, maybe a frozen meal. A couple. But when she's not pregnant, she'll cook three or four times a week, which is nice. And then she cooks.
- [121:13]
John Middlekauff
Limitations. They have the limitations they have. Eating, it throws the.
- [121:16]
Tyler Barnes
I was like, God, it's. Yes.
- [121:17]
John Middlekauff
Your life's not easy. Yeah.
- [121:19]
Tyler Barnes
So. But she cooks. When she cooks, she'll make like a casserole like this big. And so then I'll have it for like three days. And that's huge during football. So, yeah, good shit. Good luck this weekend and I'll talk next weekend.
- [121:33]
John Middlekauff
Have a great night and talk to everyone Sunday, the Volume.
- [121:44]
Matt Jones
Hey, this is Matt Jones and I'm Drew Franklin and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [122:16]
West West Prop
All right, Wes West, Prop here from Hood Politics with Prop Podcast. You know, I get down. You come from the urban areas. You understand politics more than you giving credit for. Between Jerry out here mandering all over the place. Hop out, boys. Snatching up family members and two wars that was supposed to be done in 24 hours. Not to mention Epstein. We had to reach out to the homie Jamel Hill. Cause she gonna keep it a century in America. What sells in politics are narratives and storylines. It's like we treat politics like we treat sports. Which is part of the reason why we're in the situation we're in right now. Listen to the Hood Politics with Prop podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [122:53]
Tyler Barnes
I'm Dan. He's Ty.
- [122:55]
John Middlekauff
Hello.
- [122:55]
Tyler Barnes
And we're the Solid Verbal College Football Podcast.
- [122:59]
John Middlekauff
Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. Join us all season long as we.
- [123:09]
Tyler Barnes
Ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport.
- [123:12]
John Middlekauff
Listen to the Solid Verbal College Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We don't just love college football, Ty.
- [123:22]
Tyler Barnes
We live it.
- [123:23]
John Middlekauff
Hey everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here and I'm Bucky Brooks on Move to six. We take you inside the game, from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies.
- [123:33]
Matt Jones
To evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.
- [123:38]
John Middlekauff
We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.
- [123:44]
Matt Jones
It's everything you need to understand the.
- [123:47]
John Middlekauff
Why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.