← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Lions dominate the Vikings, Playoff picture is set, Mayo out in New England
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John Middlekauff
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Jon Stewart
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John Middlekauff
What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John Middlekop three and Out Podcast hopefully everyone is having a great day. It's a beautiful day, especially if you're a Lions fan. Tonight had to be one of the more enjoyable nights of your life. Honestly, it might be the best if you've been watching this team for a long time. That was cool. So congrats to Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn. Incredible defensive performance. The players the season. I mean they won 12 games last year, had the greatest year in the history of the franchise, won two playoff games. Somehow they came back million injuries and won three more regular season games and now are the number one seed. The NFC goes through Detroit. Meanwhile the Vikings, their quarterback who we all anointed and was playing out of his you know what kind of melted down tonight. Darnold was not good. So we'll dive into Darnold. Kevin O'Connell getting worked by Aaron Glenn A story early Today about Kevin O'Connell getting traded if he doesn't get paid, it's like, what are we doing? Minnesota? I didn't go on with Colin today as I usually do on Sunday because he's flying back from Chicago. So after the afternoon games I recorded, you know, Gerard Mayo getting fired, Denver winning, some other stuff that had happened. So I basically reacted to this game hit on a couple the playoff schedule and a couple things like Jim Ursay, the Miami saying the coaches are coming back. And then the second half of the podcast will just be the reaction that I had after the afternoon games and it'll just make the podcast. So talk a lot of football. I think I'm going to record a podcast tomorrow with Colin. So that's the game plan again. I mean what, what a, what a night for the Lions. If you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to Three and Out. If you like YouTube, many of you do. I we all use it. So subscribe to the YouTube channel of our content is up there as well. And before we dive in to the Sunday Night Football game, I had someone either a DM or tweet @ me that they already used. My friends, the official ticketing app of this podcast. Game Time on a pair of tickets to the Bills. They're going to a Bills home game. I've never been to a Bill's home game, but I can't imagine during the playoffs with snow, with the cold, how much fun that is going to be. And listen, this is the start. If you're a Bills fan for what you thought was last year, right? You got a home playoff game against the Chiefs in the second round. You lost. Well, now you're going to have a home playoff game against Denver and then ideally a home playoff game against the Ravens. So if you want to go to one of these playoff games, I've been to a ton of NFL playoff games over the years. They're just fantastic. They're so intense. There's so much on the line. It's a seven game series in 60 minutes. I cannot recommend it enough. Obviously, if you're a big college fan, Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State, and you want to try to get to one of these games Thursday or Friday, download that Game Time app. They will take care of you. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets. Like I said, download that app, create an account, use the code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code johan for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Let's Start with the Lions, because there had been a lot of talk. Kevin oconnell's the coach of the year. That's all I've been hearing. And listen, I didn't necessarily disagree. Done a great job, resurrected Sam Darnold's career, but he got punked tonight. And he got punk tonight, not just by a head coach, Dan Campbell, who resurrects the wrong word. The Lions were dead. They were an irrelevant franchise. They were a losing franchise. They were a place where players and coaches went to get fired and cut and have their careers end. The two best players in the history of the franchise, I would say in my 40 years of life, easily one of the most famous NFL players, they both retired at 30 years old. They both quit. They both said no mas. It's one thing for it to happen to one guy, Barry Sanders, then it happened to another, Calvin Johnson, and it was like Dan Campbell came in guns blazing. Everyone's like, ah. And even last year felt like, oh, this was an awesome year. It was really fun. They had a chance to beat the 49ers and kicks the field goal. We talk so much about the word culture, and I think it's such a fun conversation because there is no way to quantify it. There is no way to, you know, put it on paper or to. You can talk about it as much as you want to another person. You can attempt to describe it all you want, but it is difficult. But you know when you see it. And if you've been following football, you saw it for 20 years with the Belichick Parady Patriots. You've seen it for the last five or six with the Kansas City Chiefs. And this year, it's been on full display with the Detroit Lions. Half their defense is on injured reserve. Broken legs, broken feet, broken arms, rolled ankles, hamstrings, you name it. Guys went down one after another. Thing that I love the most about football, and people think it's cliche and coaches use this a lot, but it is so true. It's the ultimate team game. You need other units and the other side of the ball and other coaches to pick you up when you're having a bad game, when you're having a bad month, when someone gets injured. And for a long stretch of this season, the offense has carried the Detroit Lions, Ben Johnson, Jared Goff, and that total unit carried just last week on Monday Night Football. Think about that. The Detroit Lions played Monday Night Football six days ago, five hours away from where they just played a game. And Dan Campbell, and everyone's like, why don't you just rest your guys? He's like, that's not what we do here. That is not the attitude and that is not the way we've built this team. Not only did he not do it, he ended up gaining some momentum, getting a nice win against the 49ers in what turned out to be a shootout where his offense dominated. Jared Goff looked brilliant and their defense looked atrocious, but they got a couple big turnovers from Joseph, who tonight made an enormous play. It'll be a play that most people won't talk about, but Cam Akers busted a run, and at one point in time during that run, you're like, he's going to score a touchdown. And Joseph kind of corralled him off around the 10 yard line, but Aker still had so much momentum and even the angle to kind of push him out with a stiff arm. Joseph grabs his arm, pulls him on top. Honestly, like a lion on the Serengeti, jumps on his entire body, brings him down at the five yard line. Do you know what happened? They did not score a touchdown, as they didn't anytime that they entered the red zone tonight. But that play, symbolic, was very symbolic of something that would have happened over multiple decades with the New England Patriots. We never quit, we never give up, no matter what happened. And tonight, a team where everyone goes, God, their offensive coordinator is the apple of everyone's eye. He is the guy that every team wants to be their next coach, the next Kyle Shanahan, the next Sean McVeigh, the next Kevin O'Connell. And Aaron Glenn tonight with it now, he got Anzalone back, but with a group that is battered and bruised, missing several key starters, and obviously their best defensive player on the sideline with a shattered leg, said, we are going to fuck you up. And in that first half, that game plan that Aaron Glenn had tonight, that ultimately propelled them for their second division championship and honestly punked Kevin O'Connell and Sam Darnold. He blitzed over half the passes in the first half and was getting home at almost a 60% clip because he said, you know what, we can't just play regular defense. We just tried to do that last week against Kyle Shanahan and they were averaging like seven yards of play. We got no shot. I got to throw the kitchen sink at you. And we're going to be aggressive and I'm going to call blitz after blitz after blitz. And you know what? The culture and the vision of this franchise and the way that Dan Campbell has led them for Years now. They were ready to go, they were flying around from the jump and obviously the defense was working tonight. The display by Aaron Glenn was as good of an individual display on defense as you've seen all season long. That was incredible to watch. And to me, Aaron Glenn, Dan Campbell. And then the second half, once the Lions kind of settled down, an incredible 4th and 2 call to get Gibbs a touchdown to make it 17 to 9 from Ben Johnson just became a total team effort. It was like it's on like Donkey Kong and we're just better than you. And especially at home in Detroit, we're not losing this game. And then 179 turned into 24 to 9 turned into 31 to 9 and a game that at halftime, which was 10 to 6 and honestly just felt really intense. Just a classic kind of old school game. Minnesota struggling in the red zone turned into an absolute bloodbath and you know, the floodgates opened and we're going to look back at this box score and go, that was a one sided affair. And really it wasn't because the defense kept the Lions in that game. Jared Goff at one point in time in this game before they scored a touchdown on that fourth down, had two interceptions and didn't have a passing touchdown because the only touchdown they had scored was a handoff to Gibbs on like an outside zone where he ran the ball in. If you would have told me at one point in time during the game, he would have no touchdowns and two picks. And both picks were atrocious. One was, you know, basically in Minnesota's red zone when they were backed up, which again did not lead to a touchdown. And the other one was just an atrocious middle of the field bomb that Harrison Smith picked off relatively easily. Jameson Williams wasn't even close. I would have said Minnesota is probably up 10 plus points and it wasn't the case because of the defensive effort by Aaron Glenn. And when you're a head coach and when you're building an organization, it's about so much more than just draft picks where the Lions have crushed. I mean, how good is Anzalone? How good is Jameson Williams? What a young ascending player he's turning into. How good LaPorta is. Jameer Gibbs ended this season with 20 total touchdowns. To put that into perspective, up until the last couple games last year, it was a legitimate conversation. Could Christian McCaffrey win the MVP before that epic meltdown? Not by him, but Purdy and Kyle against Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. And it all swung to lamar. But Christian McCaffrey last year had 21 total touchdowns. Jameer Gibbs had 20. I remember on draft night, how can the Lions take a running back at 12? How's that one aged? And also because they went from 6 to 12, they added Laporta as part of that. So what they've done with Jared Goff, how good their offensive line is, what a stud. Saint Brown is over the middle. But tonight was about the defense, the culture, the effort, the physicality, the violence in which they were playing with the advantage they have at home. And it was a treat to watch as someone who loves the sport of football, as someone who loves the business of football, in terms of building the team, signing players, drafting players, building the coaching staff, that had to be one. I mean, you'd have to be really, really, really old. I would say the majority of Lions fans last year was really cool. Winning playoff games, that's about as cool of a night as you're going to have to win 15 games to send the Minnesota Vikings now on the road. Right before I started this podcast, I saw Dan Campbell went up to Kevin O'Connell saying, See you in two weeks. You know, he's basically assuming that the Lions will beat the Rams. I wouldn't go that far. And then the Bucks will play the Eagles. But we got a long way to go to see how it all plays out. But that's a devastating loss for Minnesota because your quarterback. And listen, I'm not one to just like overreact on one game. You have a bad game, it happens. It happens to all good players. I mean, halfway through this game, Jared Goff looked like he was imploding. So football is really hard, especially on the road. But Sam Darnold was really, really bad tonight. Through the first half, he had overthrown. And Collinsworth mentioned this on the broadcast, overthrown. And that's his miss high. Eight passes. Eight passes. And after the first half, he was 1 for 9 for 3 yards inside the Detroit 10 yard line. That display that we saw in the red zone tonight was an abomination. And I saw a couple still shots of like Jordan Addison getting open. It felt like he was seeing ghosts a little bit. And it just felt like he was off his rhythm, his timing. And he picked a bad night to have an awful game and Aaron Glenn and the defense took advantage of it. But you know, listen, I don't, I don't pivot off anything I've said throughout the season. He's earned that right. Every single human alive at the beginning of the season with Sam Darnold Being the starter would have signed up for a season where he throws whatever, 33, 34 touchdowns and win 14 fucking games. Like this season has been a wild success. But it won't feel like that if they lose next week. So the pressure of the night gets amplified throughout this week and it's going to feel and be put on him because this is ultimately a business. And if he has another one of these games on the road with the LA Rams. Listen, I know the way these guys talk. I interact with a lot of them through text message. Like the conversation, the GMs, the front office, they will have. Things get weird and things get weird fast. I wouldn't necessarily pivot off two games, but that's the way sports, that's the way business often works. What is the latest bad or good taste in your mouth? And especially because they show J.J. mcCarthy on the sideline. Like if he has back to back games like this one that cost him the one seed and one that gets some bounce from the playoffs, I would say everything would then be on the table if he bounces back. They beat the Rams, he throws a couple touchdowns and looks like his previous self. I think this will be somewhat of an outlier. You lost the Lions on the road, not that big a deal. But next week against a really good defense, a really good front, it's going to be hard. And he's got to shake this off fast because the guy we saw tonight did not look like the guy we had been seeing in the previous weeks. The guy we had just saw a couple weeks ago against the Green Bay packers, slicing and dicing them, making just big throw after big throw. The guy several weeks ago we saw against Seattle throw that game winner down the sideline to Justin Jefferson tonight, he wasn't even close on the majority of his passes and it cost him like to go into the red zone that many times with clearly one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL. And listen, it's a failure on Kevin O'Connell as well. It's a team effort. Like the coaching staff from Detroit tonight. Flores did actually have a pretty good job. Flores was keeping them in there. Like you hold Detroit at home to 10 points at halftime and you've been to the red zone multiple times. Like that's on Kevin O'Connell, not on Flores. But eventually the dam broke and Flores defense fell apart, you know, down the stretch and obviously Jameer Gibbs started running down their throat. Goff hit some passes and you know, the rest is history. But you can't overcome when you're that bad in the red zone. It can't happen. So tonight, Kevin O'Connell, Sam Darnold, going to be a tough night sleeping. And listen, I'm not necessarily blaming this on Kevin O'Connell, because I can't imagine, like, he was behind this, but clearly he's going to want to get paid this offseason. There was a report this morning by Jay Glazer that he's going into a contract year, and Minnesota hasn't talked to him about a contract extension. And sometimes coaches can be a little hypocritical because all they tell their players, the team, the team, the team. We focus on the team. We deal with business at another time. And then this story comes out. It's like teams could trade for Kevin OConnell. It's like if. Listen, I hope Kevin O'Connell had nothing to do with it and honestly was pissed off because he should be. That's fucking embarrassing. If anyone in Kevin oconnell's world, his agent, any part of his, like, inner circle is pushing that story on the day of the biggest game he's ever coached, like, that cannot happen. Meanwhile, the Lions are in the hotel room, arm in arm, army paint, getting ready, 10 hours away from the game, and Jay Glazer is talking about Kevin O'Connell getting traded. That's like Bill Parcell's New England Patriots shit, mid-90s. Like, that cannot happen. And honestly, even if I had nothing to do with I'm Kevin O'Connor, I would come out and be like, I am staying with Minnesota. That's not going to happen. Like, this is like, coaches sometimes are no different than players, clearly. I'm sure he's wildly underpaid. And then that story comes out and people would trade for him, which they would. Why would Minnesota ever let him go? He probably wants 15, 16 million dollars. So it's going to be a contentious negotiation this off season, but for that story to come out and then for you to get worked by Aaron Glenn, who is not even a head coach yet, but, like, legitimately kick your ass and embarrass you in front of, I'm sure 15, 20 million people. Tough look like, Tough, tough look. That's just. That's. That's pretty embarrassing. Like, if I was a Vikings fan, I'd be kind of pissed off. The story comes out, and then it plays out like that. Like, especially offensively, like we're that big of a joke. I don't know, man. That one that's going to sting for. For his awesome as that feels. If You're a Lions fan. It doesn't get any better. Like obviously winning the NFC championship or win the super bowl would get better, but just in terms of the last 50 years, for as putrid as the franchise been, the guys retiring at 30 years old, first ballot, hall of Famers, everyone constantly making fun of you. You guys being the butt of everyone's joke on Thanksgiving for most of our lives. To having that happen on Sunday night and working that guy who's everyone's like Kevin O'Connell, he's Bill Walsh. It's like, no, we're going to blast your ass. And that's what we did. And Sam Darnold to just melt down like that. What a performance by Aaron Glenn. If I was the Lions, I would take his sheet, his game plan, and I would want to frame it and put it somewhere in the facility because that's a historic night for the franchise. It really is. And I think it's that much more meaningful given that it obviously it's a divisional opponent who's had way more success than you over the years. Like that, that's, that's a memorable moment for the defense. And same same thing with the Gibbs, like the draft pick, the organization, Brad Holmes. That was awesome. That was sweet. So congrats to the Lions massive win. The number one overall seed. Really quick. We'll just hit on the playoff games now that we know them. Everyone knew this was going to take place. Like this was the biggest lock in America, that on Saturday afternoon the Chargers would be playing the Texans. And I think I like the Chargers in this game, though I haven't, I haven't thought that much about most of these games beside one. But everyone knew Texans, Chargers was a lock for Saturday afternoon. Steelers, Ravens. I don't think there's any human being and I mentioned this on Saturday night that can view Mike Tomlin and the Steelers having any chance against Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh. I feel this thing's about the final score is going to look a lot like this game Sunday night. I would expect it to be like 35 to 10, 28 to 7. Like I just don't think this thing is close. And Saturday night prime time Steelers, man, I just, I don't see how they keep it close. Broncos at Bills. Anytime Buffalo hosts a playoff game, feels like they host a lot of Sunday morning wild card weekend playoff games. They hosted one last year. Two years ago they hosted the Dolphins in this spot. So this is kind of the Bills morning spot with Nance and Romo the afternoon. I think will be Brady and Burkhart. Packers, Eagles. Packers. I don't know what's going on. They had some injuries. You know, Christian Watson got hurt today. Jordan Love got banged up today. So we'll have to monitor their injuries. This game is actually pretty interesting. Props to Baker Mayfield, who threw a bunch of touchdowns this year, led his team back to the playoffs again hosting the Commanders and rookie sensation, my bald brother, Dan Quinn. It's just a solid wild card weekend playoff game. And then the Rams. The Rams now have hosted this Monday night playoff game multiple times. A couple years ago, Kingsbury, they played that game against Kyler Murray. I think I remember correctly. They kicked their ass. But they're hosting the Vikings. That's a pretty good game. Earlier this season, I think on a Thursday night the Vikings went out there and lost. So I got to dive more into these games. I briefly looked at the lines. Obviously the Bills are big favorites. The Ravens are big favorites. The Ravens feel like I'd be stunned if that game's close. Honestly, I really would. Chargers, Texans could see that thing being close. I think it's going to be hard for Bo Nicks to go on the road to Buffalo and be competitive. The packers. Listen, something's off with the Packers. I'd be stunned if the packers win that game. Commander's Bucks no, really. Thoughts in the Rams Vikings I got a. I got to take a deep breath off what I just witnessed because sometimes in football, this isn't baseball or basketball, you don't get to play every day. We don't have that much data. Right. Just once a week. And that it's hard to get those images of Sam Darnold air mailing people all over the field. I could see, you know, Kevin O'Connell who's a Sean McVeigh guy. Little advantage Sean McVeigh there. So you're going to need another big game out of Flores to keep minute. But other than that, a couple other quick things. Jim Ursay I saw this clip of Jim Irsay. I don't know, it wasn't a wheelchair. It was like this stand up thing with wheels and he was kind of sitting on it. Honestly, it looked like Joe Biden or something getting wheeled around. It was a pretty tough scene coming out of the locker room and he had said, I don't know if he told reporters that that both Jim or say or excuse me, that Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen will return again. When you see this visual, you go, I'm not sure. Say he's got a lot going on There. So I think the Colts have been a very controversial team over the last 10 days. After McAfee put that out, after they had that gutless loss to the Giants, I think it's even above those two. I think their owner, who's always been a kook, I think physically, you know, he got. He was in the hospital a while back. I think it's all falling apart. And I think this organization's got a lot of issues. I mean, big picture, their quarterback got hurt early in the season, tapped out of a game in the middle of the season. Now his back issues, he's crawling around his house like, I don't know what the hell they do. I really don't. I mean, I feel for Colts fans because I don't think there's a light at the end of the tunnel right now. And Steven Ross, who once wanted floors to tank. So we get Joe Burrow, who I've always defended for that move because it just was the right move. Said that. So you can never. You never know with Steven Ross. Like, he can change his mind, I guess. Same thing with Ursay, though. I don't even know if IRS say is the one putting out these statements. Could be his kids with, with the Dolphins. I'm going to take them at face value. They put out a statement saying that Chris Greer and Mike McDonald or Mike McDaniel will return. So basically, as we sitting here on Sunday night, we're essentially waiting on the Cowboys. Jerry, I was actually in my last night before I went to bed. I just couldn't really. I couldn't really sleep. So I watched the last episode that I had missed a Landman. And Jerry Jones is in the show. He actually does a pretty good job. Like, it was. I remember looking at Maria, it was like 11:30 at night. I'm like, I think that was a pretty good scene with Jerry crying, talking about his family. Actually felt a little more like, coherent than he often does when he's on the radio or giving a. A locker room speech to the. To the Big Jays. But he's a wild card. Who. I mean, your guess, good as mine with that situation. We know Doug Peterson's going to get fired. No one gives a shit about the Jags, the Giants, obviously, up in the air. Schefter, like, kind of did this thing, I guess Chris Mortensen used to do about leaning whether guys were staying or going. And he. He was basically leaning with the Giants and the Cowboys that both guys were going to stay. The Raiders would also be a team to keep an eye on but Mark Davis, you know, not all these teams operate at the same pace, so we'll just have to kind of wait and see what happens. I don't feel as confident that beside the Jags, there's going to be a ton of action tomorrow. I mean, there could be, but they're also. I'm not going to be surprised if there is not. So we'll just have to. We'll have to buckle up and wait and see. NFL Playoffs we're talking about the NFL playoffs. You bet we are. Get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Scoring touchdowns is a key to winning in the NFL playoffs, and the key to you scoring big is betting on them at DraftKings, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready to place your first bet? Try betting on something as simple like a player to score a Touchdown. Go to DraftKings Sportsbook app and make your pick. Here's another reason to watch your favorite players crush it in the playoffs. New customers bet five bucks to get 200 in bonus bets instantly score big during the NFL playoffs with the DraftKings sportsbook. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use the code JOHN. That's code JOHN for new customers to get 200 in bonus bets instantly. 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You can count on T Mobile to help keep you connected from big cities to small towns on America's largest 5G network. Switch the T Mobile keep your phone and they'll pay it off up to 800 bucks per line via prepaid card. Learn more@t mobile.com heap and switch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device credit service port in 90 plus days with device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Cart has no cash access and expires in six months.
- [30:39]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. The Daily Show Podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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John Middlekauff
Okay, let's, let's go around the league lot has happened over the last couple hours. I think. I don't want to say it was out of nowhere because there has been growing buzz. I feel like my YouTube algorithm pumps me a lot of Boston stuff. Not sure why, but I ended up consuming a lot of it. And there's been a lot of talk about Gerard Mayo not surviving. And then it became official before the afternoon games even ended. And I think last week, when Vrabel ended his contract early, interviewed with the Jets, a lot of people in Boston went, this was kind of a flashing light to, hey, Robert, you're going to have to shade or get off the pot on this one. You're going to have to come get me fast, because I got a lot of options and I want to come to you. You have a player that I want to coach in the quarterback, a quarterback that would be the number one pick in this draft. And as we saw today, there was like, you know, the Patriots is going to lose against the Bills backups to get the number one overall pick. You can never bank on that, you know, in the NFL. But clearly, I think based on the statement that came out, it was very long from Robert Kraft. That thing was written yesterday. This guy was fired before this game was ever played today. And I'll say this about the Patriots, because they showed a list of all the one and done coaches. You don't look at that list and go, yeah, they screwed up there. Yeah, they would like to have that one back. All those guys, it was the right move. We all know it. It's like this guy's just not good enough. Now, in Gerard Mayo's case, unlike some of these other guys, like Urban Meyer, had no business in the NFL. Jim Tomsula was a position coach at most. Maybe Gerard Mayo, if he coached longer and had more experience being a position coach and a coordinator, coached outside of the Belichick umbrella, which, let's face it, is an immediate, you know, direction toward failure. Right? They put you on a track that goes right toward disaster. If you're under his umbrella. Josh McDaniels, I mean, Flores was running out of town. Obviously, the big boy in Detroit. Patricia, I saw that Dan Campbell has more wins this season than Matt Patricia's three seasons. But I will say this about Robert Kraft, and you never know with old guys. Big ego, stubborn. The older you get, like, once you get my age, you've seen a lot of different scenarios. Like, people try to save relationships with children. People chase bad investments with more money. And sometimes when the milk is spilled, you just got to clean it up and move on. And I think Robert Kraft and they knew this, and this last month has been really, really bad. And the other thing is, when you have this quarterback, you can't afford to screw it up. Now, all signs point to Mike Vrabel. I would expect Mike Vrabel to be the next head coach. He was just inducted into their ring of honor. He has a very good relationship with this general manager. But there was a report today that Elliot Wolf is going to stay and when. One of the lists of Mike Vrabel's demands was having a working relationship with his general manager and having a good, open line of communication with that individual. So we'll have to see how that plays out. Maybe that's not something that's set in stone, but I think when the Patriots look, they go, this is not. We're not in a good direction under a guy that doesn't know what he's doing. And sometimes you hire a guy who just doesn't know what he's doing. You watch football long enough, we've seen it, right? There are guys that just have bad years and then just go like, this is not going to work. And it's hard. It is really, really difficult. I talk about it all the time with, you know, people talking about Ben Johnson. He's the hot coordinator. The likelihood that Ben Johnson is going to be good as a head coach is like, under 50, 50. What he has to deal with in Detroit is unlike anything he's going to have to deal with. Being the head coach, he then, with the gm, run the draft. He then has to deal with all the guys that get in trouble. He then has to deal with guys pouting and are pissed off on the opposite side of the ball. That's his baby. It is not apples to apples, right? You just hope the guy has the leadership skills, the ability to handle it. And there's just a. You know, at the end of the day, you just. You never know until you get put in that seat. And most guys get exposed. And they had a close working relationship with this guy because they drafted him. He'd obviously been a close part of the Patriot family as a player. Then he worked around New England in the media. Then they hired him as an assistant coach. And Robert Kraft said last year, I knew five years ago he's going to be the, the heir apparent to the hoodie. And less than a year after making him filling in the shoes for Bill Belichick, he's fired. And now it looks like Mike Vrabel is going to be the guy that replaced the guy that replaced the guy. And if you're Drake May, hopefully this is as bad as it gets because let's face it, like, it's not like Gerard Mayo got an easy landing spot. The roster was really bad. And then after the Drake May pick him and Elliot Wolf immediately screwed up the draft like they made a move that was disastrous. Passing on lad McConkey for Polk, who was not good. McMillan. And this is what I said when they drafted him. It was such a head scratcher. It's like Polk was the guy, the third guy on his own college team. But the Patriots now officially open and I think the Mike Vrabel buzz is going to grow and grow and grow. Last night when the Steelers lost to the Bengals, bagels were alive. But you started looking at it, you're like, I kind of like Wentz and the points. Clearly I was wrong on the four box today. That game in Denver was switched off. I don't even think midway through the third quarter. Not sure what the final score was, but it was flipped at 31, nothing. I think it went to 38. Nothing. Not even sure if the Chief scored a point. That was a complete ass kicking. And the Denver Broncos are going to the playoffs. And what a big muscle flex for the AFC West. Not counting the Raiders, they have three coaches. I don't think any division in football could take their three highest paid coaches and would get even close to the number of Andy Reid who's probably making about 20 million. Sean Payton who's making 18 and Jim Harbaugh who's making 16, $17 million. I mean you're talking $50 million worth of coaching. Obviously the Chiefs have been the best team in the league for basically the last half decade. The Chargers were a joke. Boom. Jim Harbaugh immediately in the playoffs, the fifth seed. I haven't seen the line. We'll talk about the playoffs a little bit later, but I would imagine they're going to be favorite in that game in the Broncos who are probably going to be one and done in the playoffs. Not a soul picked them to make the playoffs. I mean, they're over. Under was five and a half. So when we talk about this, when you go cheap at coach, you are playing the Russian roulette of we could really suck. This could not go well. When you pay Sean Payton $18 million a year, your floor is really, really high. There's no guarantee you're going to win a Super Bowl. Hell, there's no guarantee you're going to win playoff games. But more than likely, after a couple years, if you give him a little power and juice to do what he wants to do, you're going to be in the mix. And when I say in the mix, like the playoff mix, and as you see by the lack of competitive teams this year, the 49ers went 6 and 11. They had the worst season I can remember in a long time. It was atrocious. It just couldn't get any worse. They didn't even crack the top 10. That's how bad this year the shitty teams in the NFL were. And Sean Payton, Boom. Everyone. Oh, the dead money Bo. Nick sucks. Playoffs. Playoffs. So this is, you know, I think all eyes now kind of go to the Raiders. Are they going to stay loyal to Antonio Pierce? They're in a division with a Hall of Famer. I mean, at the end of the day, probably three hall of Famers. And Andy Reid might go down as the best coach of all time. Jim Harbaugh is easily on the short list of most versatile of all time. And Sean Payton is one of the better offensive minds of his generation. So it's like, yeah, you can just keep doing this. You can keep chasing this bad investment. You're probably going to keep getting your ass kicked. And it goes back to, like, I give the crafts. Like, they really liked him. They went with them. The only reason Mark Davis hired Antonio Pierce is because devonte Adams, who's no longer on the team and by the start of this season wasn't even that high on Antonio Pierce. And Max Crosby said, we want this guy hired last year. And now Max Crosby has said throughout this season, like, if we don't start winning, I'm going to want out. So the Raiders got a lot of, look in the mirror, Tom Brady, help us fix this, because we are a shit show. Chargers dominated them today. I thought the coolest moment of the day was Mike Evans getting the thousand yards late in the game at one point in time, when Baker shovels the ball to Bucky Irvin for the game winning touchdown and the Bucks for about, I would say 75, 80% of this game look like shit. Offensively, it was like, are they going to lose this game? Luckily, the Atlanta Falcons are going to Atlanta Falcon. And last year I was like, this will never happen to us again. They won seven games. They won eight this year. They had an increase of one game year to year. Meanwhile, they invested the eighth pick who it's not, I'm not putting this on Michael Pennix. I like Michael Pennix. And $90 million to Kirk Cousins. What an epic failure by the Atlanta Falcons. So even if the Bucks had screwed around and lost that game, they still would have won the division because Atlanta lost in overtime to the Fighting Bryce Youngs, who accounted for five touchdowns. Every other play you looked at, you're like, this guy looks good. I mean, he had to be the game, best game of his career in the NFL. I don't even think that would be debatable. Bars low. But he was, he was slicing and dicing. I think he threw three touchdowns. He ran for a couple more. It just made some unreal place. So I've been saying this for a while. Props to Bryce Young for resurrecting his career and the embarrassment that is the Atlanta Falcons. But, but the Bucks, who once they got rid of Brady, I mean, Brady retires, it's like, what are they going to do for them to make the playoffs back to back years and win the division back to back years with Baker Mayfield. What an incredible job by Jason Light, the general manager, Todd Bowles, the coach, obviously, Baker resurrecting his career. The Mike Evans moment was just such a genuine, you know, kind of cool. It was just awesome. You know, it's just one of those things that made you smile. The whole stadium is going bananas, the teams going bananas, all for, you know, 11 straight years at 1,000 yards a clip. And this year, obviously, he had that bad hamstring injury on Monday Night Football, missed several games. So for him to do it was really, really cool. At one point in time, Jalen McMillan, the rookie wide receiver who had an awesome touchdown, did this first down celebration that I think the referees thought were two guns and all he was doing was pointing for first down. And they called it a 15 yard penalty. I mean, it's hard to think like one. The penalty was egregious. It was like, what are we doing? Like the 15 yard weapon penalty, I think is. Honestly, it's one of those things a lot like targeting, like probably should be scrapped. Like, who's that for players. I would imagine the overwhelming majority of players are gun owners. We've seen the demo of football fans. They're all gun owners. Like, who's anti the guns? The media that covers the league. Like, what are we doing here? And in what world do we make it subjective that the referee gets to pick and choose what a weapon is and not with your fucking fingers. Like sometimes the NFL and these elitists in Park Avenue in New York are living in fucking LA LA land. And this is one that feels like it's jumped the shark, but luckily it didn't cost him and because again, he was just pointing for a first down, which at the time was a massive first down. But that, that really got me fired up because I was like, listen, if you're going to lose, okay. But tech to call in this penalty in this situation when it wasn't even what he was doing feels like we've kind of lost the plot here and we got to reign this in because I'm not sure what this is for and what the point of this whole thing, like what what the end game here is to accomplish. But the Bucks will host a playoff game and for the second straight year and you know, as long as you got now they, they had some injuries today as well, but Baker threw a couple more touchdowns and just, just an awesome story.
- [44:36]
T-Mobile Representative
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- [45:13]
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. The Daily Show Podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [45:58]
John Middlekauff
I mentioned this last night and I don't know if I articulated it well enough when I said that Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers should get a divorce. Like, it's time. I'm not saying like Mike Tomlin should go on the unemployment line. You would trade Mike Tomlin? Mike Tomlin is a tradable asset. Someone that might be able to get you like a first round pick and a second round pick and like, I don't know how anyone can watch the Pittsburgh Steelers and think like, oh, they're making progress, yet Mike's value is really, really high. Do you know what the Chicago Bears would do for Mike Tomlin? And it was well reported on all the morning shows by all the big Jays, like teams are going to sniff around like they did last year, but probably even more aggressively this year, especially when Lamar Curb stomps the Steelers here in six or seven days to trade for Mike Tomlin. The Bears aren't getting Mike Vrabel, right? They're not getting Mike Vrabel. Why not trade for Mike Tomlin? You talk about an inspiring hire. A way to just get the fan base back into this. Now would you part with your top 10 pick? I'd sure. Think long and hard about it because these five and six win seasons, no matter how much talent you have, sucks. And the one thing you know, Mike basically guarantees you, which is no longer, like, it's not good enough for the Steelers anymore. Just winning nine, 10 games and never going under.500. Do you know what the Chicago Bears would do to just every year go 10 and 7? So would they trade their first round pick? I would. I mean, I would immediately. What does the first round pick guarantee you anyway? So I just think that. And who knows, maybe it wouldn't cost that much. Maybe you could get them for two seconds, I don't know. Obviously there are several variables. He'd have to want to go there. But if the Steelers are like, listen, maybe it's time that we do something dramatic. We've had three coaches from 100 years and we're just in kind of in mud now. We're not going anywhere. We're not making any progress. And we have this coach that still has value. We don't necessarily want to fire him, but maybe it is time for a change. And if you're the Bears, you would drive to Pittsburgh and pick Mike Tomlin up and hand them a couple second round picks immediately. So you know, part of the thing, like when you look at Sean Payton who quit on the Saints, who said, I quit and went to work in tv, so when he wanted to come back to Denver, why they had to give a First round pick was like, that wasn't, like he was on the team. And like, want, like, that was, that was pretty messy. That was pretty ugly. Like, he basically told the Saints, yeah, I'm shorting your organization. I think you're going to suck. This thing's going to fall apart. I don't care what he wants to say. Like, we just have to be real about this and I want out. I don't blame him. Like, even though he was a huge part of the reason they were in that scenario, but the Mike Tomlin thing is definitely going to be less messy. But I don't see how you wouldn't entertain them. And like, if you're the Steelers, like, if you're Ben Johnson, you should be all over, like, hey, I'd go to Pittsburgh. I go be their head coach if I, if I'm finally going to take a chance on a spot like that. That makes sense. And then we try to go get a quarterback. We found out today that the Tennessee Titans, once Gerard Mayo wins the game, then gets fired before he even leaves the building. He ruined the Patriots top pick chances. Obviously that went out the window. The Titans lose and they get the number one overall pick. I have a soft spot for Nashville, Tennessee. I'm getting married there in a couple months. I think it's an incredible place if you are the top pick. One, if you're Shador Sanders or Cam Ward, which I would imagine is going to be one of the quarterbacks, maybe Drew Aller, I guess if he has a couple more good games and comes out, you're going to make 38, $40 million and it's a no state income tax state. So if you had gone to New York, for example, like you end up paying 55% of the government. You're a minority stakeholder in your own NFL contract. So you go to the Titans because all these teams suck. You are a majority stakeholder in your own contract. Like, that's kind of a big deal when you're talking these astronomical amounts of money and people ask middle go, why are you always talking about taxes? Because when you're talking about millions, hell, you could be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Kind of important and kind of makes a big deal. And I think the Titans, whenever they're well run, man, they're sleeping Giants, a place people want to play. And like I said this no state income tax is a really, really big deal. Also, that division sucks. So we'll see who they draft, I would imagine. I mean, as of right now, it has to be one of the, of the top two guys. But who knows? The Browns, you know, finally, I think they're going to be in a tough spot because if they take whatever quarterback the Titans don't take, do you want desean Watson around that guy at that point? Like, if you are comfortable with taking one of those two quarterbacks, I think you have to cut DeSean Watson. The toxicity of his situation, I just think you would almost have to eat it a lot like the Denver Broncos did. And clearly it's a lot more punitive in terms of the numbers we're talking because they're way bigger than Russell's. But I don't think you could have him around that guy and I don't think you could have him hovering around that situation. The negativity that surrounds the player, obviously on the field, he's just horrific. I mean, he's the worst quarterback in the NFL. And then just everything hovering around him off the field and the way the questions come around him, what it puts, the stress it puts on your locker room. So I would guess if they are thinking about and I mean it's way too early in the process, but if they end up going quarterback, that DeSean Watson would not be on the team in 2025 and they will just have one of the biggest dead cap situations in like the history of the league. And other than that, I want to end on this. Aaron Rodgers got his 500th and I think 501st touchdown. And there was this, there was this tweet going around last week that a lot of people I heard reference and it was funny that, you know, the jets getting Aaron Rodgers at 40 is a lot like you hooking up with your high school crush at 40 years old. The only problem is she's divorced, she has four kids and she's miserable. And the pushback I'd have, like when I was younger I might have ran with a couple divorcees. Like they can blow your mind and it can be a lot of fun. Just because she has four kids doesn't mean it can't be incredible. You know, inside the bedroom, the Aaron Rodgers, I would say experience was awful. Like it didn't get any worse. So I would not compare him to a 40 year old divorcee with 4 kids. I would compare him to a single person who's a really big weirdo at 40 years old. And it was just bad because you build up in your own mind how great it's going to be. And I think any guy has done this over the years and then if you ever get to hook up with that person and it under delivers, you're like, that was what a waste of my mind energy. And I think there's a sports element to this when it comes to Aaron Rodgers, because the moment you trade and get Aaron Rodgers and go, we got Aaron freaking Rogers, this is going to be awesome. Even if we don't win the super bowl, we'll just rattle off a couple 10 win seasons, we'll be in the playoffs, we'll just be, just be playing in real important games. And then you look up today and they're playing the Miami Dolphins backup quarterback and you're like, what? Why are we doing this? What is the point? How did this happen to us? How did we get stuck with this? How? And my guess right now as we sit here on January 5th, I would say it's probably under 50% he plays next year. And I would say it's a very, very small percentage chance that he's, that he's on the Jets. You say, well, he doesn't want to go out like that. Who wants to go out? It's not usually the way the NFL works. You know, no one ever wants to go out on a negative note. Everyone wants to go out on a high note and playing their best football. Most guys are kind of forced out. That's usually the way it works in the NFL. Remember Peyton Manning didn't want to quit. No one would call him back. That happened. And Aaron Rodgers, when you factor in all the other stuff, but I, in a weird way, looking up at that game and watching him, you know, throw this triple pass back to Devonte and watch Devonte just get absolutely crushed by a db. You went like, this is, this is sports most of my life. An old legendary player. The final year of his career is just a disaster. And you can quote the stats all you want. He had some moments in individual games. Most of them turned out to be losses. But when the jets traded for one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, they did not expect this. A year where their coach was fired, their general manager was fired, and by the end of the season, Aaron Rodgers going back and forth on a weekly basis, basically taking shots at ownership. And I think a lot of people probably inside Green Bay would say, yeah, not totally shocked that we ended up this way. And I just think you got to be very, very careful when you get older players to get your, get your hopes too high. Because sometimes when your hopes are too high, you get Aaron Rodgers on the Jets.
- [55:51]
T-Mobile Representative
The volume.
- [55:56]
John Middlekauff
Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate First. Like, you know to check you have the tickets in your wallet first before you drive two hours to the big game. Seriously, you had one job, now the closest you'll get to the 50 yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate Savings. Vary Terms Apply Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois Traveling to see your fave sports team is cool, but traveling with AMEX Platinum for the Big Game is even better. Right this way. With access to dedicated card member entrances at select events, you can skip the line. And with access to the Centurion Lounge he shoots a three, you can catch the next game on the way home. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more@american express.com with AmEx card member entrance access not limited to AMEX Platinum.
- [56:58]
Jon Stewart
Card Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.