← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Mike Tomlin’s Future, Lamar’s Leadership, and a New Era in College Football
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This is an iHeart podcast. Thursday night Football is on. This week it's an AFC clash as the Baltimore Ravens meet the Miami Dolphins. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern, and it's only on Prime Video. Not a Prime member. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.comamazonprime for details. Look, if you smoke or dip, I'm going to give you a few good reasons to try Zen Nicotine Pouches. First, Zyn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand, and Zyn offers an unbelievable rewards program. There's a lot of options for nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen. Visit zen.com find to find Zyn at a store near you. Again, that's zyn.com find Zyn spelled Z Y N this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
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This is Colin Coward from the Herd With Colin Coward, a wingman flies close with unwavering dedication. At Folds of Honor, a wingman stands with families of Americans fallen or disabled heroes. The burial flag given to their grieving family is folded 13 times. As a wingman, your $13 monthly donation provides scholarships to their spouses and children. 13 folds $13 Become a wingman Join today at foldsofhonor.org the volume.
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What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John Middelkopf three and Out Podcast I'm doing great and I'm excited to talk a little football because my brain has been working today and it kind of led me to the AFC North. Have some thoughts on Mike Tomlin and the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I saw some quotes from Lamar Jackson. I was like, you know what I like that. So I want to talk about something he said about the ping pong tables as well as college football and a growing industry that didn't recently exist that now does that. I think more people that aren't quote unquote GMs or number twos in the NFL personnel world should be all over. And it's college football where money is flowing for their future GMs. So we'll talk about that as well as the Middle Cop Mailbag at John Middlekopf @johnmittlekopf is the Instagram fire in those DMs and get your questions answered here on the podcast that will be the show today. So you guys know the drill. If you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to the podcast three and out wherever you may listen. Spotify, Apple, you guys know the drill. YouTube. All of our content is up video wise, so if you want to watch any of it, just go to the old YouTube account. Make sure you press subscribe and let's talk a little football. But first, you know I got to tell you about my friends, my partners and the official ticketing app of this podcast. Here's the thing. They are slinging football tickets. So do you want to go to an NFL game? Do you want to go to a college game? Because it doesn't get any easier than using the ticketing app. Game Time. Here's the thing. It is extremely easy to use. I can type in do I want to go to Oregon, usc? Do I want to go to, you know, Texas versus Georgia? Do I want to go to the Raiders? Because I'm going to Vegas to watch the Chiefs play. Whatever game you want to go to, you just tap the venue, you tap the team and they have tickets as low as $100 so you can get them for cheap. And here's the thing with Game Time, they don't fool you. The price you see is the same price at checkout. Already has the fees included. So take the guesswork out of buying professional football tickets. With Game Time, download the gametime app, create an account and use the code John. That's Joa Gen for $20 off. First purchase terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code John for $20 off, swipe, tap, ticket and go, baby. Download that app today. Well, let's start with Mike Tomlin. I've been thinking a lot about this after hammering them last week as a home dog, something Mike Tomlin has been famous for, not just covering the spread when he's a home underdog, but has basically a 70% winning percentage, just winning the game outright. It's literally called the Tomlin spot. It's one of his great attributes. And before I dive into this, let me say this. I have a ton of respect for the guy. He's had a remarkable career. And I've been saying this for the last couple years. Just because you get a divorce doesn't mean there aren't going to be other girls that like you and want to marry you. Right. We saw Andy Reid get fired immediately get another job and turn his his chief's tenure alone and is a Hall of Fame career. So Mike Tomlin, if he ever became available, would be the number one choice for all these franchises. I'm looking at you New York Giants, but I'm over saying they should fire Mike Tomlin. I don't believe the Pittsburgh Steelers ever plan on saying we fired a head coach. They love saying We've had three guys over 75 years. Great. How many playoff games you won recently? Well, we haven't won one in a decade. But the standard is a standard. Like we have to acknowledge it's not really working. And they put all their chips in the middle of the table, which I admire. I say it over and over again. Whether it's the draft, whether it's the way you live your life, whether it's the way you invest in stocks, any person that leans aggressive, you're going to get a thumbs up from me. I admire that mindset. But what the Steelers are doing is kind of the opposite at this point. And when you look at their schedule, it's like, listen, it's the NFL. It's hard. Like it's, it's, you go 10 and seven. That is impressive. But when you do it year after year after year and you're making the playoffs and then you get to the playoffs and then you get routed, it's like. Well, it kind of feels like the hamster wheel. And the only thing you're bragging on is we never lose. Well, okay that and that's commendable, but you're not making any progress. Meanwhile, multiple teams in your division, right. The Ravens have rattled off playoff victories. The Bengals a couple years ago went to the Super Bowl. So you have been lapped in your own operation. Now you go, well, we're better than the Browns. Well, Whippedy do like big time accomplishment. We have to acknowledge that if they lose this week to Indy, they're a home dog to Daniel Jones and Indy, who are as hot as any team in the NFL. Where are we going with this thing. And I think for the first time, because the betting odds have been like, hey, the Ravens are still favored. The Ravens are still favored. And you start doing the math, you're like, the Ravens aren't going to win this division. All of a sudden, I'm recording this on Tuesday, you look up Wednesday night, if they beat the Dolphins, they will have three wins. They'll be three and five. If the Steelers lose to the Colts on Sunday, they'd have four wins. And if the Bengals beat the Bears, beta, four wins as well. So it's not like this thing that looked like a lock a couple of weeks ago is not making any progress. You're like, well, actually, you've kind of come back to earth. And here's the biggest problem. The Steelers are going to beat some bad teams. Congratulations. When they played the Seattle Seahawks, who are a playoff team at home earlier in the season, they lost by two touchdowns. When they just played the Green Bay packers at home, who are not only a playoff team, but a team that looks like they could win the super bowl, they lost by double digits. Now when they're playing the Colts, if the same thing happens and the dust settles and they have lost 30 to 17 or 28 to 15, it's like you aren't even in the same ballpark as the good teams. We've seen them the last two years in the playoffs against the Bills and the Ravens get thoroughly embarrassed, get curb stomped, get just, yeah, you're making the playoffs, but you're not even remotely close to what we're doing. And now you look at the last four years of Tomlin. 9, 7 and 1, 9 and 8, 10 and 7, 10 and 7. And now if I was a betting man, I say this team feels 9 and 8ish. But you go, they have the highest pay. I saw James Harrison said, something's not adding up here. Most money dedicated to defense and the defense is atrocious. I'd even add Mike Tomlin is a defensive guy. When you watch these, like, hard knock clips, what room is he in? He's hanging out in the defensive meeting room like that's his, you know, his baby, right? But he can go. Well, hey, it's the defensive coordinator calling it. And I think there comes a point in time and I'm not blaming this all on him. I don't know. I'm not in that building. How much pull he has on the roster. Obviously he has some, but this roster is extremely flawed. They're old on defense one and two. Offensively, they clearly whiffed on the running back from Iowa, at least for this year. He's not going to help him. They're depending on Jalen Warren, who I, I like the guy, but he's, you know, he's a two. And they got one wide receiver in like seven tight ends like, like they're just not explosive enough if they get down to come back. And they're going to be down in some games, clearly with that defense. So now you look at it go, well, you lost Seattle, you lost to Green Bay. If you lose the Indianapolis, you still have home games remaining against the Ravens and the Bills. If you can't win any of these games, isn't it fair to ask ourselves, is it finally time? And I understand this organization, the pride they take and never wanted to say we fired them. If you're Mike, like, why do you want to continue this? Why do you want to go along with a team that needs to be blown up? More than likely that even if you're able to get to 10 wins and get to the first round, you're going to be one and done. You have a 41 year old quarterback, so there is no future. You got old guys. Even the best player on your team is kind of hit or miss now some of these games. Why he's old and you just invested 100 million into the guy. And I have nothing but respect for T.J. watt, but we just got to call a spade a spade. Like some games he looks like Miles Garrett. Other games he's nowhere to be found. That happens two aging players. Cam Hayward is in his mid to late 30s. So you look at this team, you go, there's not really much future if you were Mike Tomlin and obviously you're trying to win this week, but if you don't, and then all of a sudden it turns into you're fighting till the, till the end just to win the division and then you lose in the first weekend of the playoffs when you go, maybe it's time for a fresh start. If I love coaching and I love this profession, like, what's the point of doing this? And if you're the Steelers, like, is it time for some new blood? Mike Tomlin, once upon a time gave you that 15, 17 years ago. So I'm looking at the Steelers, who a lot's changed in a couple weeks because you're watching them play, you go, I just, this defense is atrocious. And anytime you have an atrocious defense, you can lose to anybody, let alone the good teams. You saw the packers have one good Half scored at. Will you watch this Colts offense coming in. They are going to be so freaking excited to get to the stadium on Sunday morning. They will. They'll take Ubers. They won't even wait for the bus. They'll be like, hey, guys, I'll see you there. I got to get there. So you look at this operation. Mike Tomlin has a legendary record as a home dog. It's like 70%. And now we see last week, same thing. Didn't. Only didn't cover, lost outright. Feels like it's probably going to happen again. And then you got the Bills not far away. And obviously, if you can't beat the Ravens, what's the point? Is it time to just nuke this thing? So if you're a fan, I would imagine there are a lot of people that over the years have wanted to defend him because he's a likable guy. And obviously his resume early on in his career was awesome. Those teams were stacked. Those teams were absolutely loaded. Now his teams are kind of average, and it feels like when he's playing better competition, they don't have a shot. And obviously, you know, he always, in. In fairness, the CEO head coach, like, he's very dependent on his coordinators. But a huge part of what he brought to the table was the leadership, was the moxie, was the bravado, was leading the group of men out to battle. Well, if that no longer is a point of difference, what's the point of this? And I think you're at a point where it's just kind of running on empty. And that happens to a message. Right? There's a reason. Like, you know, I can't imagine still being at my house for. At 40 years old, listening to my parents tell me what to do. Like at 18, 19, 20 years old, 17 years old, you go out on your own and you kind of figure it out. And I think coaching, a lot of people said it was 10 years, you know, and the message kind of runs dry. Well, if this week gets ugly, I think it's starting to set. I think we have to acknowledge that the message is, is done. And he no longer has the same juice in that locker room to kind of rally the troops as he once has, once had. And I think it would be time for a fresh start. Speaking of a fresh start, Lamar Jackson had some pretty interesting comments. Obviously, it became. It became a story last week that they had removed the ping pong tables. Well, they play on Thursday night. And one of my favorite stories from last week was, you know, the Lamar Jackson saga that I guess if you're running scout team and you're a starter, it's an automatic limited participation designation. And that's where the Ravens screwed up because Lamar wasn't taking all the first team reps. And the moment you don't as a full time starter, that auto limit, you get a limited designation next to your name and they didn't do it. Ultimately, guys like Florio who feels like they've made million dollars off football, they want it to burn to the ground. I'm not one of those people and I wasn't offended because this didn't happen an hour and a half before the game. Like this is just like the NBA. No, we found out a day before the game that he wasn't going to play. And here's the difference. In football and basketball, when a guy doesn't play, you know two things. One, he's injured. Like no one goes. I bet Lamar's not hurt. No, Lamar, Lamar Jackson's injured. And two, even if that guy's not around, the team will do everything humanly possible to try to win the game. That's exactly what happened. Ravens won the game. But Lamar had some interesting comments that I got to say I really respect because let's just, let's just hear this is, this is Lamar Jackson on removing the ping pong tables. I told Kaneko, our head equipment guy, I told him to take all the games, the ping pongs, the ping pong tables, and turn the TVs off. If we could have taken out the TVs, they'd have been out too. I appreciate everything. Mr. Steve, I think that's Steve Bushadi, the owner for putting that all in for us, but we had to focus. I don't want to say people don't take their job seriously, don't get me wrong, but I didn't feel it was time for that. We got a lot of work to do. And he ended it with this. We're not going to have them the rest of the year. We'll probably have them next year, summertime OTAs or something, but right now that's not the focus. I think any coach worth their salt in the history of sports has always said this, my message and discipline. And anyone that, you know, GMs would say this or owners about hiring good coaches. Is that their message and their discipline? They set the tone for the entire organization in football and ideally in basketball and baseball too. I think we've lost it in baseball and in basketball. It's a lot of players have More juice in the coach. But the good teams, the coach sets the tone and their message can only go so far. It's what people said for decades, the power of the Patriot way. Obviously, Bill ruled with an iron fist, but the standard in which he held Tom to everyone else had to fall in line. And then Tom preached that way to everyone else. So it was like the synergy between the top to the top player, streamlined down to the rest of the group was pretty elite. And I think any coach in the NFL would tell you this. And I remember Dan Campbell a couple weeks ago was like getting emotional about his team and he was saying, listen, the reason we're so good is because our best players like the best players on our team. Pretty clear. He's talking about Penne Sewell, Aiden Hutchinson, St, Brown, Gibson, Montgomery, Jared Goff, LaPorta, Brian Branch. He's like, are the hardest workers by far? Period. Or as a kid say full stop. And when you have a player who's the best player on your team, the leader of your team, preaching the message, like at the end of the day, did they lose games because guys were playing ping pong? Of course not. Especially an organization like the Ravens, who have been winning for decades. But when, when Lamar Jackson goes, listen, I need to kind of throw a curveball here. I need to mix it up a little bit. And who knows, maybe that came through Harbaugh or through Eric dacosta, through Lamar. But at the end of the day, it gives Lamar Jackson ownership of the team. And I would say the best teams have buy in from the locker room, AKA their best players in that locker room, because everyone else follows suit. It was like last year when Mike McDaniel was like, yeah, you know, I'm finding guys and they're still showing up late. You just do the math. You're like, well, it's probably not a practice squad guy who couldn't be cut at any moment showing up late to the meeting. It's probably not a guy making a million dollars whose salary is not guaranteed showing up late to the meeting. Who would it be? You start looking around, it's like, well, the highest paid guys. Who are those? Jalen Ramsey, Tyree Kills. It was pretty easy to do the math, right? And it's like you got a locker room problem because your best players, who are always going to be your highest paid players, if they're not listening, you're fucked. And I listen. I've said I was out on the Ravens and I was out on the Ravens, but now I watched this and Part of it was because I'm like, oh, the Steelers are going to cruise the 10 or 11 wins in Washington last week against the packers, watched them two weeks ago against the Bengals, getting ready for them to play the Colts. Like, I have zero faith that they're doing anything. What the hell is the difference between them right now and the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens? I don't think there is any. And they haven't even played the Ravens yet. Now, granted, they've played the Ravens well over the years, so it doesn't guarantee that, like, the Ravens are going to sweep them or anything, but that thing feels like a house of cards. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson, who's a guy in his late 20s, who's going to be there his entire prime, taking ownership of this team. You got, listen, this is why this organization consistently wins playoff games, you know, and this is why, you know, the Steelers, in fairness, like, what's it, what's Aaron Rodgers going to do? Like, take the TVs out of the locker room? Some guys on the team like, what the fuck are you doing? So I, that's, I've known a couple people that have worked for the Ravens over the last three or four years, and the things I've heard about Lamar Jackson, I'm like, yeah, I get it. You know, I don't think he just, obviously his physical attributes, you know, as a runner and an athlete are pretty special. But, like, you don't just dramatically improve as a passer that much without being all in 24, 7, 365. That is what the price of admission is to be great. And listen, I'm now maybe I'm back on the Ravens bandwagon because I'm surely off the Steelers. 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 sportsbook 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 Bet's 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 $5 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. 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A wingman never leaves your side. They've got your six. Come what may. Folds of Honor proudly provides the same unwavering support for families of American heroes. A Folds of Honor Wingman donates $13 a month which becomes life changing scholarships for the spouses, sons and daughters of fallen or disabled. U.S. service members and first responders join their ranks today as a wingman. More than 3,000 scholarships have been made possible by wingman donors, preserving legacies and opening doors for the next generation. Your $13 monthly gift is profoundly symbolic. 13 represents the number of times a flag is folded before given to grieving families of American heroes. Each fold a symbol of sacrifice, of honor, of remembrance. Let's lock arms around these families and turn the symbol into something more education, opportunity and hope. Become a wingman today@foldsofhonor.org and last but not least, you know, we've seen a dramatic change in college football. And I think I've listened to a lot of college football content in the last couple days. I mean, my YouTube algorithm is just feeding me different content from all over America. Different mainly from, you know, Southern podcasts, sec, everyone's takes, everyone's opinions. I have just been taking it all in. I just, I can't get enough of a coach getting fired. The drama, $50 million, it's, it's everything. I love football, capitalism, just touchdowns, I mean, everything about it. Dudes leaving in their $200,000 car after their fingerprint doesn't work to get into the building. It's like, inject this shit into my veins. But two things. First and foremost, the sport 10 years ago. So saying hey, Brian Kelly back in 17, 18, 19 really doesn't parallel that much now in terms of building your roster and the way that you can deal with players. Because back then they were stuck. If they wanted to transfer, they had to sit out a year. And also if they wanted to transfer, you know, a lot of times academically was a pain in the ass to get different credits to carry over and to be eligible. Clearly now there is no such thing as the academic calendar. The academic calendar still exists. But in terms of your transcript when you transfer doesn't mean a goddamn thing. I fully believe, and I haven't asked anybody in college football that you could have a 0.0 for multiple years and transfer to any school that wanted you to play football, which I'm all for. Like, you know where I stand on some of these classrooms and academia in college. I mean, talk about scam zone. But one thing that has changed, and when I first got involved in college football, there was no such thing as a gm. There really weren't personnel people. Ed Manowitz, who is now Jimmy Sexton's right hand guy, was one of the first of its kind and he was like essentially the player personnel guy for Nick saban in like 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12, kind of during the, the launch of the dynasty. He ended up coming to work for the Eagles. How I got to know him and now has worked with Jimmy Sexton and represents Lane and Sark forever. But those jobs didn't exist. Well, now they not only exist. I was texting with a buddy in the NFL today. I said, how many guys do you know that you saw on the road or have known over the years that went to college football and became GMs? And he started rattling off guys. He's like, this guy went to Florida, this guy went to Nebraska, this guy went to Northwestern. All these power four jobs. I'm like, well, what do they pay? Jim Nagy, who's a longtime scout, ran the Senior bowl, is now at Oklahoma. He stole guys from the NFL. He's like, well, some of the top power four jobs start at like eight, nine hundred grand. Obviously. Mike Lombardi with Belichick's making one and a half. I said, that's the starting point over the last couple of years, kind of where we're at. What do you think that number is going to be in 10 years as revenue sharing and everything grows double? So if, like the, if the going rate for a job at a top 2030 program right now is 750, 800 grand, who's to say that number won't be one and a half million dollars? Because that's what we pay for coordinators. And if this guy's running, you're recruiting when you factor in the money and in some of these programs. And Josh Pate was on my program, I said, on my program, on my podcast on here, talking about it probably a month plus ago. He's like, a huge shift that's going to take place is these GMs are going to become the power brokers and they're going to help lead the coaching searches in the future. And I've always hated the word networking. I've always thought it was like, kind of hollow. It feels very political, feels very fake. Like you just get to know someone in a fake way. The older I get, though, it's extremely important professionally to get places through connecting. I like that word more. Connecting. But as my wife says, like, your network is your net worth. And in her real estate business, it's very true. And honestly, the reason she's at this luxury real estate brokerage now is because of someone that I followed on Instagram and he followed me and he was he is one of the top producers in the state of Arizona. He's an absolute, he crushes it. And he was a pretty legendary college athlete and he's a big football guy and we've DMed over the years and one day I just DM him, hey, would, would you go to lunch with Maria? Just pick her brain because she was like kind of looking to transition, kind of level up. And that's how it all started. And you guys listening that are in sales, that are in any different sort of industry, meeting people, having coffee, having lunch, starting business relationships, not knowing where they're going to lead is the lifeblood for most of us. I mean, hell, you're listening to me through Colin Coward, so at least a lot of you. And without that relationship, who knows where I would be at now? I think I'd be doing okay, but I, I probably wouldn't be here. Like I'm, I'm not arrogant or egotistical enough to act like that. So your connections in life change where you go. I mean, look at the sport of football. How many guys get fired who are down and out? They get taken care of by their GM buddies or their coaching buddies. And one piece of advice I would give to any guy on the road and this could be a successful guy. This could be a guy that a team is, you know, they're SEC Scout and they're paying them $300,000. Or this could be a guy that just broke in that's making $80,000 and all these guys are working during the season, 90 hour weeks. It is a grind. This college football personnel thing is only going to grow. And the money there, based on some of these buyouts is they approach it with much more of a cavalier attitude than some of these NFL teams. Because I know a lot of people that have worked in scouting for a long time and have won Super Bowls that have to fight for like $10,000 raises. Yet in college football, you see the money getting thrown around. It's wild. And every time that I went into a school, especially a bigger program, obviously when you're dealing with the head coach, you're on your best behavior and you go above and beyond. Like that's of course. But when you're dealing with these coordinators, these are relationships. Like, it wasn't that long ago that Clark Lee or Mike Elko were defensive coordinators, right? Dan Lanning, not that long ago was the defensive coordinator for Kirby Smart. Once upon a time, Lincoln Riley was Bob Stoops offensive coordinator. Things change and they change really fast. Hell, Two of the highest paid coaches in the country, Sark and Lane were offensive coordinators for Nick Saban. Ryan Day, not that long ago, was Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator. So these guys become head coaches and they need personnel people and college now. Like, if I needed a personnel guy, I would definitely be talking to these NFL guys, because a huge part of personnel now is the transfer portal, which essentially is like a hybrid of college scouting and free agency. It's what these guys have been trained to do. You go, John, what about the high school recruiting? Well, you have such a big staff, you could hire someone to help you with that initially. And let's face it, most of the way these guys talk is like that is kind of secondary. Not saying that you don't need to know that and that still isn't important. But that is something you can get up to speed on. And eventually these GMs are going to run point on all this. No different than less need or Howie Roseman, you know, or John Schneider running their personnel meetings. That's inevitable and that empowers the coach to have more time. But I think a lot of these people, and I know this, when I got to the NFL, I'm like, I'm so glad to be out of college football that the personnel stuff, one, there aren't even jobs and two, it's like you just get to a point, you're capped, you have a ceiling. Well, it's changed because it is hard to move up in the NFL. And I know a couple people that obviously I know some GMs, but I also know like number twos and a lot's out of their control. Right? You hope to get interviews and then even once you get interviews, you never know, they might hire someone else. I saw Adam Peters for years get interviews and them hire other people. It took him a long time and he'd had Super Bowls with like multiple different organizations. He couldn't have been any more qualified to be a gm. So it's, it's not like coaching. It's way easier to move up in the coaching ranks. In personnel sometimes you can kind of get capped and you can feel stuck and the amount of money they're throwing around. You know, Jim Nagy at Oklahoma, I think his three year contract is like 800-900-A million. I might be off on the stagger of that, but it is like a three year contract worth two and a half million dollars. That's 20, 25. When these positions literally just got started a handful of years ago. I mean, hell, one thing I've started doing for the podcast is like following some of the top GMs on Instagram. And I look, they don't even have that many followers. They're kind of like under the radar. I'm like, start dming with them. I'm like, they're actually pretty easy to get in contact with. I get a lot of people that ask me for advice. How do I get involved in football? Well, if you're at a college somewhere and you want to work a football, there's never been an easier time ever to get into the personnel world in college. But some of these scouts, and it can be a bitter group in, in fairness, totally understand why you work your ass off. You don't make that much money relative to the coaches. It's, it's not just a six month a year gig. You're working ten months a year. You're, you're away from your family all the time. You can become a GM in college much easier than you can become a GM in the NFL. And some of these places, they pay seven figures to live in towns where you could buy a mansion for a million dollars. And here's the other thing. You don't think you then become more desirable of the NFL, especially if you, you know how to work with the coaching staff, you're working with the head coach, I'm sure on staffing you are running a budget to buy players who are a lot of these guys, you're at a good enough program are going to go on to the NFL. You're probably the point liaison for all the GMs, assistant scouting directors that come through your program. It's just a, it's just a fascinating world that is in the very beginning it was like anyone that's podcast over the last five, 10 years, if you've got into the business of podcasting, for example, like I've been podcasting for almost, probably eight and a half years and it feels like I've been doing this for a long time and like we're pretty far into it like this. We're so new into the landscape of this industry, it's not even funny. Because if you think about it, our competition is radio. The more and more I can keep stealing money away from radio as they bleed dry, right? As they get less and less listeners, as younger people no longer consume them, as every generation now has a car that connects to the phone, they're fucked. But we're still another decade, another two decades. Like, it's not like they're just going away tomorrow. So it takes time and we'll look back in 30 years. It's like, okay, wiped them dead. But it takes a little time and it's no different than any new industry. It doesn't happen overnight. And I just think this is an area that a lot in the scouting community should be making much more of an emphasis to get involved at to change their financial landscape. Thursday Night Football is on and it's only on Prime Video. This week it's an AFC clash as the Baltimore Ravens meet the Miami Dolphins. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with Football's Best Party TNF tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Ravens and the Dolphins Thursday at 7pm Eastern only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com Amazon prime for details.
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Become a wingman today@foldsofhonor.org okay, let's do a little thing we like to call the Middlekopf mailbag at John Middlekopf at John Middlekopf is the Instagram fire in those DMs questions answered here on this little old podcast. We will start with if Ohio State goes back to back or three Petes, could Ryan Day be a candidate for an NFL team? He would clearly be one of the best coaches in college, has a good offensive mind and is a good leader. I also feel like Heartline is bound to be a head coach and could be a good fit. Love the pot. I think Ryan Day, if the Tomlin divorce ever were to happen, the Steelers would have to be insane not to talk to Ryan Day at this point in time. He's worked in the NFL as well. Was with Chip with the Eagles. Was with chip with the 49ers. I mean Ohio State at this point is a NFL program and as a lifelong hater of Ohio State, I, I, I actually appreciate, I mean they're so good and they're so well run and it's just a, it's a high level operation so you can't, there's, it's hard to hate when you're that dominant. It's like Hayden saving at Alabama or Tiger woods or Tom Brady's like they're just kicking everyone's ass. And yeah, I mean I think that he is. I mean he can turn down interviews. Here's the thing. Ryan Day makes 10, $11 million and if that number keeps going up with other coach like if Lane someone gives Lane Kiffin or you know, if Oklahoma were to fire Venables and hire like Josh Hype will bring him home 12, 13 that his number will he'll get matched him and Kirby will whatever the highest number is they will be paid the highest number and he's the boss of the best program in the country. So it's like it have to be a pretty. It have to be like when LaFleur took over the packers, right. You have to be the Pittsburgh Steelers, even like the New York Giants, who I think would be very interested in him. If they fire day ball, you'd be like, well that place just fires everybody. Let me do. I feel comfortable leaving Ohio State to go there. Now when you make that move, like if you want to scratch that itch once, you've got to. And I'd say the same thing about Kirby Smart. Once you've accomplished what you've accomplished, if you ever want to come back, if it gets weird, you're the number one candidate on the market by a mile. So I, I think he'd have that going for him big time. I do think that his name is going to be in the mix. I mean if Steve Sarkeesian, now I know he disputed the report but like people have been interested in him. Their season is not going well, right. They, they should have lost to Kentucky. If Kentucky scores at like the two yard line. They were up down 17 points in Starkville to Mississippi State. Their schedule, they still have to play Georgia. They played Vanderbilt. It's either this week or next. They're probably going to lose that game. They still play Georgia. They play Texas A and M. I mean they got some Ls on that schedule. Sark might go 7 and 5 this year. You can't be spending $30 million for a roster given Arch Manning, $8 million giving the highest paid or one of them coaching staff right there with like Oregon, Ohio state and probably LSU and probably Georgia and go 7, 5. It just won't be tolerated. So whenever I hear these coaches are like we need more time. The money bought the time, buddy. Like the reason like Sark is making $10 million for seven straight years. It's like there is no time. And if we fire you, we got to pay you to go away. But it's like we gotta be patient. If I hear one former coach say that one more time, I'm gonna puke. Yeah, I would have been patient back when we just brown bagged a couple kids. 20, 20K. Now we have a 28 million dollar roster. Well, we got to pay the roster that again next year and the following year and the following year. So yeah, our patience is thinned. So 7 and 5 is no longer tolerated ever around here with the premiums we're paying. That's, that's how the private sector works. When you start investing a ton of money, if things do not work Heads roll, right when there's pressure to succeed. This isn't one of those, like tech companies where it's like, hey, we'll give you five years. You don't even need to turn a profit. That's not the case in college football. Question for the pot. Big Cardinal fan. I think we're done with Kyler Murray and ready to move on. What do you think of this and what do you think we should do at the quarterback position? Draft 1 in 26, roll with Jacoby. Draft 1 in 27. Well, the elephant in the room with the Cardinals is, isn't Kyler Murray as much as like, are they going to fire these guys running the show? Like, does the gm, I always screw up his name from New England and Jonathan Gannon, like, are those guys going to get fired at the end of the year? Is Jonathan Gannon, does he get fired and the GM get to hire a new coach? I think that complicates things dramatically. So before I can answer about Kyler Murray, like, who's running the show? Because if it's brand new people, he's gone for sure. If it's those guys and they're like on a one year situation to try to survive, who knows? I mean, he could, maybe he does stay. I think this all gets back to though. This is a franchise that always loses and I wish they were better. I mean, obviously I live here, but are the Cardinals even the most popular team in North Scottsdale where I live? I don't think so. Most of my neighbors are like Midwest fans because that's where they're from. Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City, Seattle, Canada. I mean, the Cardinals honestly feel like an afterthought in the world that I've lived in since being in Arizona now for four years. And I think it all gets back to the owners. A clown, I mean, a loser, right? And it's his family. They just suck. And the franchise is going to continue to blow as long as he owns the team. If he ever sold the team, who knows, maybe it could be resurrected. Just wanted to take a minute to sincerely thank you for being so open about losing your debt. Just lost my father this spring. I quit my job to spend two months with him and he only lasted a few more. Your words inspired me to take advantage of every second that I could. I burnt through some savings in the process, but I wouldn't trade time with him for anything. You know what you realize when these people go off to heaven and they die is your savings account doesn't follow you. And at any moment it all could end for any of us. So there's a small percentage of people, especially the older you get, that you go, yeah, this is someone that means a lot to me. This is someone that's been in my corner, especially a parent from day one. Parent, brother. As you get older, your wife, your children, but. And obviously your friend's circle. Typically I would, for most well adjusted people, probably shrinks a little bit as you get older. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I think it's really important to, to really value the time you have with people, especially as, you know you're coming down the home stretch. And as Scott Van Pelt once said, and something I'll never forget is you don't truly become, and I think he heard this from someone else, is you don't truly become a man until your father dies. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. And everything that you do positively after that moment is a testament to that guy. Chargers fan the team occasionally gets mocked for having a smaller fan base. As far as interactions go with your channel, do you see fewer questions from Charger fans? I. It's hard for me to answer that question. I mean, I get questions from all over the map. I think that's a. I don't think I could accurately tell you based on questions in DMS or comments where you guys rank inside a fan base. Part of it is like San Diego historically, you know, it's just less people live there than some of these major markets. So you're gonna have less fans than Chicago. You haven't been good at the highest level in one championships, like over the years, like the Steelers or the Packers. Anytime you're a transient franchise, Rams, I mean, the Raiders are the best example. Like, people fall off. It's like, why are the Lakers such a big brand? It's like, well, they've been winning championships in LA for, I don't know, 60 years, right? Like, why are the 49ers a big deal? Well, once Joe Montana completed that pass, they never moved. And since 1981, until 2025, like, they've been a stalwart in an area. The New York Yankees, I don't know, they're the New York Yankees. So part of the charge is like, San Diego, now you're in la, it's like Vegas, Oakland, la, it's like, you can't. Once you start moving, you're just going to lose people. If someone ever threatened to be like, yeah, we're going to move the Philadelphia Eagles to a different city, there'd be a mutiny. Like legitimately, people would die. I'm saying that with a straight face, but I would say the same thing about Chicago. I say the same thing about any of these major teams. You're not taking my team. It wouldn't be tolerant. The only teams ever get talked about moving would be like the Sacramento Kings are going to get moved to Seattle. Can you imagine saying that out loud about like the Knicks or the Lakers or the Boston Celtics? So part of like being a transient team is there's a little unseriousness to you. I mean, there just is question about your bald expertise. Do you use a handheld electric shaver or do you use a traditional razor to keep the head tidy? Second, my fiance and I are planning to relocate from Colorado to Scottsdale in the next few months from someone who has lived there for a while. What recommendations would you have for specific locations in the city, I. E. North, South Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, etc. I shave with a Mach 3 or 5. I think it's technically the Mach 5 now. And I just do it in the shower, you know, obviously if I'm ever doing something socially like a nice dinner party, something where it's like you would just naturally shave four. That's when I shave my head. So I probably do that, you know, two, three, four times a week depending. But I do it in the shower and I do it with. I don't need a mirror to do it at this point in time. Scottsdale, I think it just depends what you want. Like I don't know how old you are, if you're younger and you want to be toward the hustle and bustle of Scottsdale, obviously, like South Scottsdale toward Tempe, where Arizona State is. Got a little more vibrant life. Paradise Valley is extremely expensive. It has massive lots. I mean, you get home selling for 10, 15, $20 million down there. It's just not a cheap place to buy a home. But who knows? Maybe you're rich. I would say North Scottsdale, where I live is kind of slower paced. It's truly the suburbs. I mean, Paradise Valley technically is too, but it's pretty slow. I mean, a lot of golf courses, some nice restaurants. It's. It's got some mountains, it's beautiful, but it's, it's not much happening, right. A lot of boozers up here, but they, they frequent a couple places. Yeah, I mean, I. I'm a North Scottsdale guy. I. I have been before I ever moved here. I knew when, before I was moving here. This is where I wanted to live in this general vicinity and where I'm at right now, I, I, I don't know how long I'm going to be here, but when I do move, it'll just be up the road to places closer to the mountains. But I, North Scottsdale is one of my favorite places on Earth, and I just manifested that shit. And I said, I'm coming, and actually didn't manifest. I literally just copped in a car and left. And. Best thing I ever did. And her, obviously, was a huge part of that. Let's, let's be real. She, she got me here. You're starting a franchise, and you get to choose any current coach to sign for the foreseeable future. Where would Mike McDonald fall in your rankings? I'm not sure there's a better defensive mind. This is a good question. I, I think he's a stud, and if you took him above a bunch of the offensive guys, I would understand, and I don't think I would lose much sleep. I would be inclined to take the offensive guys. The guys I know can coach the quarterback. Right? Like, I, I think that matters. You saw last year, they had to fire the offensive coordinator. Gino threw like 20 touchdowns, and they were all out of whack, and they were a pretty good team. But, like, Mike is clearly good with the team and he's awesome with defense, but, like, when the quarterback gets out of whack, he can't really do anything well. Kyle Shanahan can win games with Mac Jones. Andy Reid can win games with Jeff Garcia, you know, and Michael Vick out of prison. Sean McVeigh has won games with Jared Goff and Matt Stafford, so he's living pretty good life. But he, Listen, obviously he's good with the quarterback, Kevin o'. Connell. I mean, it's getting a little rough, but we've seen him with Darnold, we've seen him with Kirk Cousins, you know, win games. LaFleur, what he's doing with Jordan. Love speaks for itself. That's a powerful thing, man, because the most important guy, you know, obviously your gm, your head coach, and your quarterback. But, like, when I get a awesome head coach, who is the offense is his baby? Like, look at Sean Payton. Like, Bo Nix is kind of all over the map. It's like he's going to win 14 games this year. He'd be like, well, his defense is awesome. True. But I think a lot of average defensive coaches that, that offense would, they would be screwed. So I think it's really, really important to be able to coach the quarterback, but he would be the lone guy that if you're like, hey, I'd rather have Mike McDonald than Kevin O', Connell, like, yeah, I'm not going to argue with you. I'd rather have Mike McDonald than some of these guys. Like, I get it. He's a stud. And who knows, maybe in a couple years. Like, who's to say they couldn't rattle off playoff victories this year? Speaking of the Seahawks, what are your thoughts on the Seahawks in the past few years? I felt like Geno kept them to be a pretty average team with Sam. They look way better, but I still feel like they aren't in the top level of teams. So what is the outlook in Seattle? See, I think. I disagree. I mean, I think they're built. I think they can win the division. They lost the Niners at home, but they usually could have won that game. The Niners, I mean, got a little lucky to win it. Obviously, the Niners were healthier then. They did lose Kittle in that game, but so they get the commanders coming up. I like the Seahawks. They get the Cardinals. I like the Seahawks. So, I mean, you could be a couple games away from being 7 and 2. Then you go to the Rams. That is a massive game. Then you get the Titans. That's a win. Vikings, that's probably a win. Then you get the Colts and the Rams and the Niners again at the end of the season. So you got. I don't think we're going to know that much about you with the schedule. I think those Rams games are pretty big, and it's probably going to determine the division. I mean, the 49ers are just. Are playing with me and you right now. So it's. When you factor in the Niners injuries and it's like, is Mac Jones going to start 12 games for him? It kind of feels that way. You go, I don't see why Seattle can't. Can't win the West. And I definitely think, like, Seattle can win a playoff game this year, you know, for a couple years at the end with Pete, when they were making the playoffs and being one and done, like, this team feels better than that now. It's football. Like you could, especially if you're the 5 seed. You could lose to, you know, whoever you're playing. So it'd probably be the bucks in that scenario. It'd be the Rams, the Eagles and the Packers. So, I mean, you're going to get a tough first game no matter what. But if you have to play the Bucks in the first round. Like that's a game you can win when you're on with Colin. Two topics seem to come up a lot. The first round quarterback bust to reclamation project stories like Baker Donald and the Joneses and how inconsistent Caleb has been through the first year and a half. Am I crazy to think those might be two sides of the same coin? You can bet some smart offensive coach would love to see the Bears move on from Caleb and turn him into the next Baker Mayfield. He's only 23. Can we pump the brakes and let him develop a bit? I get the teams want instant returns from first round quarterbacks, but Jaden and Lux rookie years are outliers. Here's the problem with that argument. Baker Mayfield in college dominated throwing the ball from the pocket. Dominate, I mean, was an unstoppable force. A lot of Caleb's special plays have been running around and it's his physical gifts. The way he plays is not the way like Sam Darnold right now is slinging the ball from the pocket. Caleb has never played that way. So how often do guys that never played as pocket quarterbacks become pocket quarterbacks? Russell Wilson never could and when he was a pro Bowler he was making all these crazy plays outside the pocket the couple years desean Watson was good, same thing. So if Caleb is going to be good, he's going to have to play like those guys. Now if your argument is he can become that, I'd say yeah. Desean did it for like two years and Russell did it for like six. But they feel like outliers in the course of the career of that type player. So I would, I'm going to bet against it. Not saying that he's going to be like out of the league, but like that style of play historically does not work. And you're watching Caleb, he has no feel for like timing or touch, none. So it's like you can improve accuracy a little bit. Look at Josh Allen, you know, Google like Warren Moon's career got a little bit better as he got older. You definitely can improve working on accuracy a little bit. You can't just, you know, become Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, but you definitely can become a more accurate player. But when you watch him play, his style of play doesn't really translate to resurrecting a career and becoming a star. So I have a hard time seeing it. Not my style of quarterback, but I'm not going to write off like he's out of the league and do I believe other people will try to work with them 1 million percent. And who knows, maybe they could structure the offense more toward that. Typically, most of the good offensive coordinators run a pretty structured passing game, right? Let's not even count the guys that are run first. Like I think when obviously Kyle Shanahan's run first, you know, I think if LaFleur's running backs are healthy, he wants to run first. But like Sean McVay pass guy, like they're pocket passers. You know, Andy Reid lets Patrick play like that a little bit, but he's kind of an outlier. Sean Payton, a lot of pocket passes. Kevin o', Connell, a lot of pocket glasses. So it's just these guys want to call like in the structure of the offense and he's just not a structure of the offense player. This is like, people think I like can't stand the guy. I don't even give a. I wish he was good. I, I would like to watch, I like to watch good players. I don't like to watch, I don't like to watch scrubs. I don't like to watch guys throw incompletion after incompletion. That's not fun. You know, I'm not trying to be bitter about being paid to watch football. I try to enjoy it. But sometimes you're watching back quarterback player. Like this sucks. I Wish we had 25 star quarterbacks instead of seven. But I don't know what to tell you. I mean I just think there are and I've, I'm not just coming into this. Like I watch football on Saturdays and I, I major in west coast football. I watched a lot and I was, I'm an Oklahoma guy so I go back to Oklahoma, which I don't really judge you as an 18 year old freshman. But now looking back to like what he started doing, like he's a freelance player and he's a freakish talent because he's got a huge arm and he's athletic and strong, but he's just not a natural rhythm passer. And you're just going to flip that switch at 24, 25? I don't know. Are you surprised at all by the commanders having a down year? Did people really think they were going to take the next step, as in going to the Super Bowl? They had one hit wonder written all over them. That's a great question. I, I do think their GM thought they were going to be good and aggressively made moves for that. Laramie, Tunzel, Debo Samuel. Last year when they traded for Lattimore, I mean they've they've aggressively acquired some veteran guys now making it back to back NFC championship games. I, I think it would have been a little shocking to have them not be nine or 10 wins. But again, their quarterback's missing games. So once your quarterback starts missing games, hard to win games. Your backup quarterback and depending on how the schedule shakes out, it's like, okay, we got to play our backup quarterback. Oh, we got to go to Arrowhead on Monday night. That's an L. We gotta play Seattle Sunday night. That's an L. So it's like when you don't have your starting quarterback and we'll see if Jaden plays this week, you're not gonna win many games, you know, and then on top of that, like McLaren's missed games. Tunzel just left the game. Their defense looks old and slow. You know, football, things can change fast and a guy can go from being a solid player to just old real, real quick. I think that's what happens when you look at, you know, Bobby Wagner. You just watch him play. He's like, God, this guy looks old. Which I'm not trying to be a hater at all. I have nothing but respect for the guy. But it just happens to players in the blink of an eye. Sometimes injuries and sometimes it's like looking a little slower to like, damn, he can't move. Question for the bag. Two weeks ago, there was a quite the uproar from Caleb fans over Troy Aikman about his game on Monday Night Football. Everything Aikman said is still being highlighted by analysis by an analyst. Do you think the uproar was due to Aikman hitting a nerve? I think anytime you win, right? And it feels like, which is weird. Like, I understand why LeBron has a lot of fans. It's like, yeah, he's a 25 time All Star and won multiple four championships and been to nine finals. Like, I'm not the biggest fan, but I understand if someone loves basketball and wants to defend them. Like, okay, I get it. How could you be like, I'm a Caleb stan? Because Todd McShay and Mel Kuiper had him number one on the draft board because he won the Heisman. Like, what's like, I get if you're like, hey, I'm defending Lamar Jackson, okay, totally understand it. Like all these people on the Internet. Maybe it's just a Bears fan and you're just defending your quarterback. Trachman has won some of the biggest games in the history of the league. Trachman won multiple Super Bowls. The number one Overall pick has played against or broadcasted the games of every quarterback that has mattered in the last 45 years. Think about that. Elway, Montana, Marino, Jim Kelly, Farve, Young, to all the. I mean, he's literally called the Manning, Brady Rogers era, Roethlisberger, Breeze. Like, he's called all these guys games. He knows exactly what it looks like. And he's not me. Just like, hey, this guy kind of worked in the league, understands football and big personality. No, this motherfucker laced him up, threw dimes to Michael Irvin against some of the best teams I've ever seen, the San Francisco 49ers, and beat them on the road to Candlestick to go to the super bowl. And then one super bowl and then won the Super Bowl. So it's like, he's so mean. As does anyone that talks about football on television have more equity to talk about quarterback play? Anybody? Tony Romo, Chris Collinsworth, Kirk, Herb street, you name it, than that guy. And the answer is no. He has more equity and more knowledge and more understanding of anything that comes out of his mouth when it comes to quarterback than anyone that talks about the. The position by a wide margin, based on his resume and based on just listening to the guy talk like he knows what he's talking about when it comes to quarterbacks. So if it's that he was offended that, hey, you know, X, Y and Z at 10 o', clock, you're meeting with the coordinators. This time, you're meeting with the players. He's been doing this now for multiple decades, calling games, right? So when someone doesn't show, especially the quarterback, he probably goes, well, Manning always shows. Brady always showed, Mahomes always showed. Like he's used to, like, all the guys always show. And this guy not only doesn't show, he's like, text me the next day. Like, who do you think you are? Now, listen, I'll be the first to say the players and him getting ready for a game. Like, I'm not trying to act like you should just throw away your prep to go meet him, but that's part of the job. And that clearly pissed Troy off a lot. And then Troy saw what I see. It's like something's a little off here. And then because Jaden Daniels fumbles a snap and they win the game, everyone starts, you know, blowing the Bears. It's like, well, I mean, we have to acknowledge it. I got a little lucky to win this game. Not that, you know, you could argue, whoever won that game, who cares? I'd argue both teams aren't that good. But I think this notion that Aikman is just some unknowledgeable hater is kind of laughable because one as a player resume speaks for itself. As a broadcaster kind of been doing it a while, has a pretty good idea of what it looks like, right? And I'm not even just talking about calling the games. I'm talking about the interactions. You know, if it's Monday night, Saturday and Sunday at the facility, the production meetings, you just no showed them what I'd be interested. Like how often do you guys know show? I bet the answer at quarterback is slim to none. I think a lot of people around the league thinks Caleb's into Caleb. And listen, LeBron's into LeBron. You produce, no one gives a shit. You know, Lane Kiffin's in the Lane Kiffin. You win, no one cares. You start losing, stuff comes up, man, that's part of the gig. Thursday Night Football is on, and it's only on Prime Video. This week, it's an AFC clash as the Baltimore Ravens meet the Miami Dolphins. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight presented by Verizon. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. It's the Ravens and the Dolphins Thursday at 7pm Eastern, only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details. 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A wingman never leaves your side. They've got your six, come what may. Folds of Honor proudly provides the same unwavering support for families of American heroes. A Folds of Honor Wingman donates $13 a month, which becomes life changing scholarships for the spouses, sons and daughters of fallen or disabled. U.S. service members and first responders join their ranks today as a wingman. More than 3,000 scholarships have been made possible by wingman donors, preserving legacies and opening doors for the next generation. Your $13 monthly gift is profoundly symbolic. 13 represents the number of times a flag is folded before given to grieving families of American heroes. Each fold a symbol of sacrifice, of honor, of remembrance. Let's lock arms around these families and turn the symbol into something more education, opportunity and hope. Become a wingman today @Folds of Honor.org I think we could win the division as a Bronco fan, but I'm still worried about the Chiefs. Now Sertain is out for at least a few weeks. That's changed our whole defense. Do you think we can overcome and keep the momentum? What adjustments will Vance Joseph, what's his name? The white corner wanted to say Riley Green, but that's a country music star number 21 who leads the league in pass interference. I mean, the other day it felt like he was getting PIs on every single play. So losing your star DB is, is a blow. I love the Broncos this week against Houston. Riley Moss, love them. I mean, I think, you know, last week the 49ers, their entire defensive line boses on injured reserve. Huff, who just dominated the Falcons, pulled his hamstring on the last play of the game. He did not play. They're playing multiple rookies who just are probably running on fumes. The rest of their defensive line was just atrocious and CJ ate him alive. Well, the Broncos defensive line and just pass rush in general is elite. So I think this is an awful matchup for the Houston Texans who have a bad offensive line. How do you block an elite pass rush? You don't now with bad offensive linemen. So I do think in short term you're going to be okay. Obviously if you're a Bronco fan, I mean you're, you're rooting heavily for the Bills to win this week. Let me look at Denver's upcoming schedule. So you got, we got the Texans this week in Houston. Then you get the Raiders, you haven't played the Chiefs yet. Then you get the Chiefs commanders Raiders. I mean you got a lot of patsies in here with the Chiefs games. So your tough remaining games are two Chiefs games, the packers and then depending what's on the line for that last game against the Chargers, which is in Denver. But you obviously get the Chiefs one of the games at home and you get the packers at home. So if you win this Texan game and you're what would your record be? 7 and 2, you're in pretty good shape because then you get the Raiders at home on a short week Thursday night, which who knows, I mean they could be, you could be a 10 point favorite in that game. And then you get long rest into the Chiefs game, which is at home as well. So that's this Texan game is pretty big because it can propel you to the Raider game. So if you win the next two games, you're eight and two go into that Chiefs game. Now the Chiefs, they play this week and then they got to buy the next week. So they're coming off a buy and you're coming off the mini buy. So it's not a huge advantage, I guess. Let me double check that on the Chiefs because the Chiefs, they play the Bills 112 in their next game's the Broncos. So they get a buy as well. So that's something to keep an eye on. Why the 1pm Eastern Games this season been so lackluster? Is it just a lot of bad teams in the league or because of Monday night doubleheader? I don't know. I mean I think sometimes when you get the Monday night doubleheader and you start getting the buys, you just have less options. So if you do have five games going at once and you get three blowouts, it's like you're pretty beholden to a couple other games. And if the other games that are good are like the jets, the Bengals kind of sucks. So I think there's a little randomness to it. There are obviously a lot of bad teams, ton of injuries I think is a huge factor, a lot of injuries. But there have been some bad football. I mean there's, I'm not trying to be negative Nelly here, but we've all watched some bad football over the last couple weeks. Question about the Giants. All signs are pointing to Joe Shane and Day Ball getting fired. Should they hire a head coach that is experienced to get a respectable level guy or a young guy that's a boom and bust potential. I'm telling you I'm going to start putting this together now. If the Steelers season goes south which it's going to back it could potentially start to go south hard. Doesn't Mike Tomlin make a lot of sense Doesn't Mike Tomlin make a lot of sense? Bring Mike Tomlin. He could bring Arthur Smith. I just think Mike Tomlin the New York Giants like if you're going to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers, why not try to go resurrect the Giants? Start fresh. Bring your own gm I don't know and just I'm kind of rooting for that to happen. I'm a Vikings fan but my boss a Packer fan, someone from North Hollywood's calling me. We got dictates my progression. We got into a debate about what's worse seeing a team fumble multiple backs Vikings or having only one championship with Rogers who is arguably a three top three quarterback of all time. I think it's the latter. I think the packers are spoiled so rotten. I also think that Jordan Love is a B quarterback. In short, I hope the packers enter a dark plague filled winlessry. That's not going to happen. I think it's it's disappointing if you're a Packer fan to only have two Super Bowls with Rodgers and Favre over a 30 year period but you basically won. I mean over those 30 years it felt like they made the playoffs 25 of them. They won a bunch of playoff games over that period of time. They win the division all the time. I think what the Vikings situation is if Sam Darnold becomes a consistent Pro bowl player that's going to be one thing that's going to be hard to stomach. I think that's got if Sam Darnold leads Seattle to like several playoff victories over the next couple of years wins the division and your team is just quarterback list and this JJ McCarthy thing blows up in their face. The the packers is not even debatable. That argument you and Colin were talking about Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams and you mentioned how you'd be curious to see how Johnson ranked the 24 quarterbacks. Since I'm a Bronco fan it got me wondering do you think Ben Johnson would trade Caleb for Bo Nix? Maybe I'm biased but I feel like he would make a trade in a heartbeat. P.S. keep up the good work. It's a great question. I I don't know how he would have Ranked the guys because Bo Nix, I wouldn't say is the most accurate guy. And Bo Nick style, like he's actually much more athletic than he is like what he had in Jared Goff. Now just because he had a bunch of success with Jared Goff doesn't mean that's like his ideal type player. Maybe he would really like a more mobile type guy. Listen, if I wanted to defend Caleb Williams, I like Bo Nix. I know his numbers look pretty good, but you watch him play, he struggles a lot too. I mean he's, he's very hit or miss now and he's on a way better team with, you know, he's at Sean Payton now for two years. So I don't think there's a lock that Ben Johnson would have liked either one. You know, in terms of like if he had the number one overall pick, my guess is he would take Drake. May would be my guess. Or Jaden Daniels over those guys, but who knows? And you know, I bet if you asked him, he, he might not really watch those guys because he's the offensive coordinator during draft time. You're not wasting time ranking the quarterbacks when you're evaluating other positions that your team needs. He probably spent a lot of time on O linemen, on skill guys, on self scouting, on, on other stuff than he did ranking quarterbacks they clearly were never going to draft. So if you asked him, he'd be like, honestly, I didn't really evaluate either coming out. That's what his honest comment might be. It's like, how would you rank these guys coming out of college? He'd probably go, I'd have to go rewatch them because I didn't really focus on them. I think you'd be shocked. Like good, good teams, their coordinators, most of them don't spend that much time like banging out the film on those players. It's kind of a waste of your time. The volume. Look, if you smoke or dip, I'm gonna give you a few good reasons to try Zen nicotine pouches. First, Zyn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. And Zyn offers an unbelievable rewards program. There's a lot of options for nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zyn. Visit zen.com find to find Zyn at a store near you. Again, that's zyn.com find zyn spelled z y n. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Toyota is all in all season. And with Toyota game day giveaways, the official automotive partner of the NFL is giving football fans the chance to win big by making free predictions on which big plays will happen during the second half of every Sunday night football game. Prizes include Brock Purdy's favorite Toyota Sequoia, NFL Shop gear and more. 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Void where prohibited.
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Ends 28:26 Open to legal residents of the 50 US states and DC 18 and over. For complete details, how to enter prizes and official rules, visit toyotasgamedaygiveaways.com there's nothing.
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This is Colin Coward from the Herd With Colin Coward, a wingman flies close with unwavering dedication. At Folds of Honor, a wingman stands with families of Americans fallen or disabled heroes. The burial flag given to their grieving family is folded 13 times. As a wingman, your $13 monthly donation provides scholarships to their spouses and children. 13 folds $13 Become a wingman join today at foldsofhonor.org this is an I Heart podcast.