← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Reaction to Aaron Rodgers & Steelers DOMINATING Tua & Dolphins on MNF
01:18:05
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- [00:00]
Jenna Kim Jones
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Odoo Advertiser
Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
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- [00:47]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
- [00:49]
John Middlekauff
All.
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Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance, echo, drum beat. Everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola, that's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [01:34]
Colin from Colin Coward Podcast
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- [02:42]
John Middlekauff
This is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and jules. For the second season in a row I partnered with T Mobile's Friday night 5G lights powering up hometown football across America. This year T mobile invested over $4 million in prizes to help schools take their Friday nights to the next level. Now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. A huge congrats to Derrick's High School and in Derrick's Arkansas, home of the outlaws and your 2020 5T mobile Friday night 5G lights champion. They scored a home field upgrade, Gronk Fitness weight room, a 2026 tailgate party and an all expense paid trip to the SEC Championship game. To every school that competed, posted and rallied your communities. Thank you and a big thanks to T Mobile for making it all possible and helping communities shine under the Friday night lights. This season may be over, but the story isn't. Stay tuned for season three in 2026, the volume. What is going on everybody? John Middelkopf three and out podcast brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches. How are we doing? Probably better than TUA and the Dolphins who just kind of got worked by Rogers and the Steelers. Aaron had a good night. Looks freezing cold out there. 80 degrees today in Scottsdale. I think the low of 7 degrees in Pittsburgh so I couldn't really relate sitting on my couch. But I respect Rogers playing with a broken hand slinging that pill all over the place. Two on the other hand they get there three weeks early, they go train in Alaska. It is not going to matter. I have seen enough. Micah Parsons injury is now confirmed. Torn acl. Some thoughts on the Packers I got an interesting direct message today about older quarterbacks playing in the NFL. Why we've been so quick to give up on young guys. We'll dive into that as well as a little mailbag at John Middlekopf. At John Middlekopf is the Instagram. We will do a little mailbag today and yeah that'll probably wrap us up for this this Monday pod. But other than that if you listen on Collins feed make sure you subscribe to three and out feed. I appreciate all of you that do. We also got a YouTube channel. We go live. We'll be live Thursday night. Massive massive game. Rams Seattle potentially for the number one seed. So we will be live after that. We put all of our content on there as well so make sure you subscribe and and yeah but before we dive into some football, you know I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast. Listen, I have nothing but respect And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I have the utmost respect for you. If you are a football fan in the Midwest or the northeast and you attend games in November, especially December or January, those fans day at Pittsburgh. Listen, I've been to a lot of games against the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Raiders playing the 49ers. They show up on the road, but they show up at home in freezing cold conditions. So if you ever want to go to a game, Buffalo Bills fan, a Patriot fan, a Ravens or a Steeler fan, Eagles fan, and any of these, Chicago, I mean, you, you guys might be hosting playoff games, got a big game this weekend. Game time easiest app to use. Tickets low as $100. When you check out the price you see in the stadium, in the arena, whatever game you're going to, they do basketball, concerts, you name it. Every single event is the price you pay at checkout. Cannot recommend them enough. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with gametime. Download the Game time app, create an account and use code john to for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account, redeem the code Johan for $20 off down the Gametime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Let's dive into the game. You know, Aaron, the game kicked off and it was freezing cold. You could tell when Scott Van Pelt and Kelsey and Ryan Clark and almost said booger, but it wasn't bugger, it's Marcus Spears. We're on the field. They looked like they were wearing 10 layers. You could see their breath saying it was like 15 to 16 degrees. One of our producers at the volume for the show, Noah lives in Pittsburgh, said it was 7 degrees when they woke up this morning. It's freezing cold. And listen, I'm a west coast guy, I like the heat, but I've lived in Philly. I lived in Kansas City my senior year in college during the fall, like I understand. Daniel Jeremiah, who calls games on radio for the Chargers, I think either put out on Twitter or said something on radio that he thought the field in Kansas City felt like concrete. These places in the Midwest, these place in the Northeast, in December it's freezing cold. And then when you factor in, if it's windy, you can't even imagine playing football in these conditions. Those of you that live in, you know, in those areas, you understand it. But there is a big difference just going outside, getting in your car, going to work or picking up your kids than playing a football game. Like it's, it's pretty hard. And in the Scouting community, there is a reason we talk about arm strength and velocity. It doesn't matter as much if you're playing at SOFI Stadium. It doesn't matter as much if you're playing in San Francisco. It doesn't. Drew Brees did not have a great arm, played his whole career in a dome. Jared Goff, I mean decent arm benefits a lot from playing in Los Angeles and now playing in a dome in Detroit. Look at his record career outside, not as great. Why? It's more difficult. And when you don't have a really strong arm to pierce the coal, to pierce the wind, it can be hard to function. Who's the greatest quarterback of all time? Tom Brady. What did he hang his hat on through a tight spiral? Threw it hard. Pierce the win. Most of the best quarterbacks, especially in the Internet era in that region of the country had big arms. Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Tom Brady, eli Manning, Donovan McNabb. Like you need a big arm to get through the wind and the cold, but no one likes playing in this weather. Aaron Rodgers spent what, 17, 18 years in green Bay where it is there might not be, I mean Detroit, maybe Minnesota would be colder, but they play in a dome. Maybe Buffalo, but Buffalo feels like it snows more often than it gets that frigid sleet. And in Green Bay he's played in countless games in the low single digits. And he said tonight he won his 59th game tonight in cold, inclement conditions. And he said it sucks. And it got me thinking, like no one likes doing it, just like in life, right? I read a study recently that most the majority of self made multimillionaires get up before 6am Most human beings I've met, even successful ones, like to sleep, but it's kind of the price of admission. If you want to be good at something, you kind of need to work hard. And most people get up early. I mean it kind of comes with the territory. As you get older, you don't want to be fat. What do you need to do? Eat healthy. What does that usually mean? A lot of salads, a lot of vegetables. I like steak, I like pizza, I like ice cream as much as the next guy. But if I want to lose weight, I got to mix in some salads. It sucks. Kind of what you got to do if you're going to be a good functional quarterback in the NFL. You have to play well outside in cold weather. No one likes doing it. Does that look fun? Of course not. Can you imagine how much it hurts when you get hit in those conditions, running backs and wide receivers over the middle, it's miserable but you have to do it. There's no way to get around it. And when you play in the AFC, you look at Aaron Rodgers even at 42 years old and tonight he was brilliant. I mean he looked fantastic, but I've said forever. Aaron Rodgers At 42, the velocity in which he throws a ball, as long as he doesn't have a major injury as he gets older, once he retires from football, if you grabbed him at 62 years old, he is going to be able to sling that pill. Why? He just has a powerful arm. Dan Marino, same thing. If you just got Dan Marino to throw a 15 yard out route, he would throw the ball with more velocity than Tua Tonga by Loa and you know the problem for Tua is he's from Hawaii, played at Alabama, great weather, not cold. Now he plays in Miami where I think they said the night it was 77 degrees today. I live in Scottsdale, it was 79 degrees today. When I took the dog to the grass this morning about 7:45 in the morning it was kind of hot. How can I relate to what I just witnessed in Pittsburgh? Newsflash, I can't. Here's the problem for Tua. Despite playing eight or nine games depending on the season in Miami, he plays in a division with Buffalo, New England and New York. He plays in a conference with the AFC north where they're all frigid temperatures coming around early November, Kansas City, which might be the coldest place in the conference and he's played there countless times in all these spots in cold weather and he looked terrible. Meanwhile, a 42 year old, now you could say hey John, he's one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the league. True. He's also 42 years old and he has a broken left hand and he had no trouble tonight functioning at all. Let's be real, he has one wide receiver on his team now. He has multiple tight ends that are pretty good. One of them is a 300 pound guy that probably could easily transition to right tackle and for my money could probably be a Pro Bowler. I mean I text couple people in the NFL. They're like his physical attributes. He could make that transition. Listen, he's fun to watch, hard to tackle. My recommendation to Darnell Washington would be just Google Spot Track or what any of the contract websites and click on the tight ends and their contracts and then click on the tackles in their contracts. So again it's Fun catching the ball. Cool. Scoring touchdowns, awesome breaking tackles. Those guys make a lot more money. And this game, if you want to, you know, break the NFL down, not for long, can end at any moment. You might as well cash in. But listen, to each their own. But tonight was a great display of. You cannot function with one player. And one guy, even at 42 years old, who is a far cry from his prime, was completely unfazed by tonight. And you know, obviously the Steelers listen just on the game specifically, that was impressive because early on in that game, Mike McDaniel brings these guys to the snow, right. A couple days ago, they practice outdoors and it's fun. It makes for great highlights. And TROY Aikman and ESPN's Running With it and I'm watching with my wife. We're smiling. It's, it's, it's funny. It's, it's, it's good television. It doesn't mean shit if your quarterback has a pea shooter arm. And that's exactly what we watched tonight. And by all accounts, two is a good guy. He's not a very good player. And the final score, if you didn't watch a snap of the night, you could click on the box score, you could click on the final score, you could click on his numbers. You're like, God, he must have done pretty well in that. No, he was atrocious. One guy looked good. The other guy, for the majority of the game, until they were down 28 to 3, they almost refused to call passes for. Why? Because they've basically avoided him for the last couple weeks. And when, when you draft people high. I think we've learned a couple lessons in recent years, really, over the course of the last decade. Stop drafting 5, 9, 5 10, 5, 11 quarterbacks top of the first round. That's. You're bound to get fired doing that. This is a big man sport. You, you don't need to be 6, 6. But it's going to be very difficult to play quarterback at a high level if you're under six feet because all your offensive linemen are six three to six, six. Just do basic math. You can't see it's been a huge problem for a lot of quarterbacks. Hell, it was just on display in the NFC south with Tyler Schuck making more big plays down the stretch than little Bryce Young.
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Zyn Nicotine Pouches Advertiser
Why?
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John Middlekauff
Because Bryce Young's five foot nine, Tyler Shuck's like six foot five. And I just think tonight you watch tua, his arm is just not functional in the cold. And we have enough evidence now this is not going to change. And the Dolphins as a team, like through two quarters, right until the end of the half, it looked like, is there much of a difference from a physicality of the Dolphins defense and the physicality of the Steelers defense? And the answer was no. The Dolphins were actually playing really well. I was like, I'm really impressed. They're showing some heart. Even Troy Aikman was like, these guys have not quit. He's like, hell yeah, they have not. Mike has done a, you know, deserves credit for keeping his team fighting and came to this situation in the cold weather where historically the franchise, well before he got there, never had a shot, which I've always understood. Like, I completely understand as human beings. If you're in la, if you're in Northern California, if you're in Arizona, if you're in Miami, and then you just go to Kansas City in late December, like, there's no practice that can get you ready at home for that. It doesn't exist. It's way easier to go from the cold to the warm than the warm to the cold. But there are simple things, like if your arm is weak, it is not like Matt Stafford now plays in Los Angeles, right? Last year in the playoffs, where was he? Philly. In a cold weather game. He had no trouble. Why? He has a massive arm. He throws 98 miles an hour. He's unfazed by the weather. Even though all of his career either in Detroit in a dome or now in LA in a dome. It doesn't impact the majority of his games, but his skill set. If he would have been drafted once upon a time by the Ravens, by the Steelers, by the Chiefs, by the Bills, he would have been fine and Tua simply is not. Just like a lot of other quarterbacks that have average to below average arms, they can't function in these moments. Meanwhile, you got Aaron Rodgers doing this with his eyes closed. He'd be able to throw in this weather. Even as he said, I don't like this. I'm from California, I live in Malibu in the off season. Like, I like the warmth. Most humans do, but I. Tonight is my overall takeaway was like, I didn't necessarily like have any different thoughts on the Steelers. Like, I don't think they're going anywhere. I hope TJ Watt in this dry needling. I'm glad I didn't kill him or anything. Thank God that they got him to the hospital, you know, fast enough and hopefully he can come back and their defense can, can be strong. But if I was A betting man. I would say they're one and done in the playoffs now, potentially, they could draw someone like the Chargers who are missing a bunch of offensive linemen and maybe they have a chance, you know, to win that game. But like, if they play the Bills, if they play the Houston Texans, I do not think they're winning those games. Chargers is a game they could win, though. I, you know, Jim Harbaugh, Jesse Minter, Justin Herbert, like, I think they have a coaching and quarterback advantage now. Both quarterbacks have broken left hands. Maybe I just give it the slight edge to Herbert and the youth and his ability to, you know, run. I mean, Rogers can still move around a little bit, but he's not scrambling much. And, and yeah, so, like, I view the Steelers the same. They've kind of rided the ship over the last couple of weeks, beating the Ravens, winning tonight. They have another big game this week against the Lions. I think they are going to be rooting heavily for the Patriots this week to take, take down the Ravens. And, you know, I think it's all going to come down to just based on the simple math, unless the Ravens lose the next two weeks and the Steelers win the next two weeks, then, you know, Week 18 won't matter. But I think if we're all betting man that that game, week 18 will be winner wins the division and is the four seed. And you know, unless Lamar can flip it back to two years ago, I think most people are going to bet against those two teams, whoever wins it in the first round. And right, right now, I give a slight edge to the Steelers, but especially because that game's in Pittsburgh and felt like their fans again. I never get mad at fans. You know, when they booed Tomlin. Channel Fire Tomlin. When you look crappy, it's like they're, they're booing. Jalen hurts. And the Eagles, they, they're the defending champs. Yeah, they just went three and out 17 straight times. What were they supposed to do? Cheer? Bake them some cookies? Like, what are we talking about here? But I just think that the Dolphins don't have a choice. And I understand he still got guaranteed money on his contract next year. And that contract at the time was insane. It's aged even worse. I thought the same thing about Kyler Murray. I mean, those two contracts will go down. Obviously, the, the result and the, the ending of Russell Wilson. It was an awful contract, but I did understand them doing it. Like, if I was in Denver shoes, I would have done everything they did to acquire Russell Wilson. Most people would have, right? But when it came to Tua and when it came to Kyler Murray, those are two contracts. Like, are you guys sure you guys don't need to do this right now? You can play it out another year. And for Tua, that's one they clearly regret. And listen, I don't say this with any joy, I really don't care, but I would cut him this offseason. You know, obviously you would love to trade him. I think he's a borderline untradable player. You never say never. Because we have seen guys like, oh what are they not going to be able to get rid of this guy? And sometimes they can. Maybe you have to attach a pick, maybe like two and a third just to unload them for like a sixth. But you can't roll this guy back because the team actually turned around when they started playing defense and running the ball and avoiding having him throw. You'd be like, well, Johnny threw a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter. It's like, yeah, watch the first three quarters of the game, it was 28:3 for a reason and he was a big part of it. Because they couldn't, they can't function in the passing game because one, he can't scramble. That's the other thing. You know, for this little guy with a pea shooter arm, he's got no athletic ability, right? Aaron Rodgers, at the same age as Tua, even regardless that he had a great arm, could really move and keep plays alive. Like, was a fantastic athlete. Tua brings none of that to the table. I think sometimes you watch to like when he just moves a couple steps, you think, oh, there's some. No, he's closer to like Jared Goff than he is some of these mobile quarterbacks. That's the crazy part. Like, I mean it's, listen, it's easy to play Monday morning quarterback and once we have the results and no different information, but to think that once upon a time, and in fairness, I think Tom Tesco, who's buddies with everyone in the end or everyone in the media has told every, like he would have taken Tua as well. But two went a pick above Justin Herbert. Think about that guy. Six foot six, huge arm and can run high character guy, accurate passer. I mean that's, that's, that's an all timer. But Miami made this selection. A bunch of people have lost their job since and Mike is still kind of surviving because he's really good at scheming the run. But I think this offseason, if they can't trade them. They got to cut them. It's just time to cut bait and move on. Right? You just, sometimes you just got to make a tough decision and you know, it's. Listen, the Steelers are going to be in a similar situation this off season. Like, is Rogers coming back? Maybe he will if Tomlin's coming back and try to run it back. Even though I don't think much would change with their team. Maybe they could, you know, invest in some more weapons. But listen, you got quarterback big picture, question marks. That's never a place, you know, a great place to be. Now, luckily for the Steelers, they can function and win with their guy right now, right? Even though he's old and not nearly as good as he once was, he still, he still got some bullets in the, in that chamber and he was letting him fly tonight. And he made some beautiful passes. The touchdown to DK was just, just a great ball between a couple of defenders and obviously DK did the rest. Just a freak show. But they did a really good job coaching tonight because if you stop the run for Miami, they got no shot to beat you with the pass. And Gainwell had some big plays tonight. Jalen Warren, who was sick, I think a couple days ago, came up on the injury report, was running hard. Obviously DK and the tight ends were making plays. But like, you should beat Miami, right? I mean, at the end of two months ago, most people thought they were the worst team in the league. Now clearly they're not. Listen, Mike McDaniel, people make fun of him because he's kind of dorky looking. He knows what he's doing. I'll promise you that. You don't work for a decade with guys like McVeigh, Kyle, the LaFleur brothers. Like, Mike really knows what he's doing. I've talked to Kyle use check about it. George Kittle about him back when I used to interview those guys when I lived in the Bay area. Like, Mike McDaniel was extremely well thought of inside the 49er locker room. From a player standpoint, like, he's really bright when it comes to the run game. And you just listen, he got by for a couple years when he had peak Tyreek Hill, but you just, you can't function with this guy. And that was on full display tonight. So congrats to the Steelers who definitely control their own destiny. And Mike Tomlin just refuses to have a losing record. Couple other things before we get out of here. You know, you get a lot of credit. Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, right. I have Listen, for me, he's one of the best players I've ever watched, any sport. But this year, when he broke his hand to come back like he did, and even tonight, there were a couple moments where he's kind of grimacing. It's like there is no one can argue. You see this with Rivers, like, no one ever disputes. And as a football player, like, there are some industries, like, you want to be known as, like, so and so. If you work in finance, like, this guy's got balls. This guy is not afraid to take some big swings, right? If you're a football player, I think most people want to be known as a couple of things. Obviously, a winner or a winning player. And like, that was a tough sob that that was the guy I could go to war with. And anytime you get that label as a player like that, that goes with you for a long way. And clearly, Rogers, you watch him this year like no one, not that anyone ever did, but, like, at 42, he does not need to be doing this to rush back with the broken hands. Like, that's, that's pretty badass. I, I would say the same thing about Herbert. And the difference is, like, Herbert's, because of his team, like, and because he's younger, is running a lot more. It's like this dude stiff arming guys with a cast on his left hand. Two weeks ago against the Eagles, he's diving head first. Like, this is insane. Like, you do not need to do this. But proving your toughness to your teammates and your coaches is a big part of football, and it gives you a lot of, like, extra credit. The way we discuss and talk about you as a player, your career, your legacy. I think the same thing goes for coaches, right? Let's use Kyle Shanahan as an example. More than likely, the 49ers are not going to make the Super Bowl. So just based on the results of a season, this will not be his most successful season as a 49ers coach. Right? He's made the Super bowl multiple times, 2019 and 2023. Hell, there's a decent chance that the 49ers, if they're the fourth, you know, the sixth seed, they could lose in the first round of the Eagles. Like, that's not inconceivable, right? Because the guys they're playing with, but to me, this is one. And I. You could be like, well, John, they have. Their schedule hasn't been as hard as, as some previous years. Yeah, they've. They've played some easy teams, but they've also played without guys making $35 million or star pass rusher. Their first round pick from Georgia, their Hall of Fame middle linebacker. Their defense is a bunch of guys that most casual NFL fans couldn't point out of the lineup. They had to win countless games this season with Michael McCorkle Jones, aka Mac Jones. If I would have told you at the beginning of the season, Mac Jones is going to start about half the games for the 49ers. What's going to happen? You're like, you're screwed. Season's over. Oh yeah. Brandon Iuk is basically going to get kicked off the team. Debo gets traded. So they're playing with Juwan Jennings who then gets injured. They have to print Kendrick Bourne who gets cut from The Patriots and DeMarcus Robinson who suspended the first couple of games because of the Dewey. Oh yeah, and they throw for like 400 yards against the Rams on the road on a short week and beat him with Mac Jones thrown to those guys. George Kittle's also injured. He's on short term IR because he pulled his hamstring. You get a lot of credit for doing that as a coach. Why? Because it's really difficult now. Obviously the best coaches, if you give them the best teams, are going to be better than most people. It's why when you give McVeigh or Kyle or Andy or Sean Payton or Vrabel loaded teams, they're typically going to be locks for the playoffs. But when you have injuries to a team, star defensive players, star offensive players, it can derail you and it can derail you fast. Foreign. You know where I bet on sports during the holiday season? Hard Rock Bet. Not just because they're the presenting sponsor of our show, but because they make it easy to bet on my favorite teams, players and leagues with a few simple tabs, especially with their brand new for you page. It recommends picks based on my favorites and who I like to bet on. I open up the app, go to my for you page, find a bet I like and bam, my bed is placed. That easy. You sign up today and bet $5 on any game and if it wins, you also score 150 in bonus bets. A winning bet plus an extra 150 to bet with. Now that's spreading some holiday cheer. Plus, Hard Rock bet fills your stockings with new promos and every single day. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets. Not a cash offer offered by Seminole Tribe of Florida in Florida Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. You must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-833-play- wise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-809 with it gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia.
- [29:58]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
- [29:59]
Zyn Nicotine Pouches Advertiser
All.
- [30:00]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit chant echoing drum beatin Everybody showing that school pride. A game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
- [30:20]
John Middlekauff
Mmm.
- [30:20]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [30:44]
John Middlekauff
Warning.
- [30:45]
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Jenna Kim Jones
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- [33:22]
Jenna Kim Jones
Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet, it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.
- [33:32]
John Middlekauff
Clean the world. We have almost 10,000 hotels that operate our soap and plastic recycling program and we have created and distributed 90 million free bars of soap to children, families, mothers in 127 countries across the globe.
- [33:49]
Jenna Kim Jones
It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.
- [34:02]
John Middlekauff
Best stat of all is that the death rate to children under the age of five dying to hygiene related illnesses has decreased or by more than 60% since the day we started.
- [34:13]
Jenna Kim Jones
Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [34:27]
John Middlekauff
The thing I respect the most about the packers is just over the course of my life, how consistent they've been. And they've had one message basically starting with Holmgren and Ron Wolf through the group they have now. What happened on Sunday was pretty bad, right? I mean there's no way around it. Just if you're a fan of the NFL and if you're people like me that aren't even a fan of the packers, but had some money on them to make deep runs. It's probably over and it would be a little stunning now if they make a Super bowl, right? Hell, it's, it's going to be hard for them to win the division. I mean, I would imagine as this week goes, most people, pundits, fans, people that watch football, be like, I bet the Bears beat him at home. And this is when you kind of can up your stock as a coach. And lafleur, who came into the season kind of on a prove it year for the guy, right? The new president said so, like, yeah, we're not extending the GM or the coach. GM's not going anywhere. But I do think that Matt LaFleur, over the course of these next three games and even in the playoffs, like, his expectations aren't super bowl or bust anymore, but I would say if he's able to win the division, hell, make it to the playoffs and win a playoff game, I think a lot of people would give you a lot of credit. Jeff Halfley, their defensive coordinator, who, let's just say there are six job openings this off season, will probably interview for five of them. Well, if your defense losing Micah Parsons over the next couple of weeks doesn't skip a beat, looks really good. And in that playoff game, Maybe you're the 7 seed or 6 seed or who knows how this thing breaks. You don't host a playoff game. You got to go on the road and your defense dominates and you guys win a playoff game and you're a big reason for it. I think that only ups your stock. So like a player who is injured, we give a lot of extra credit to. It's no different with coaches. Part of the reason Andy Reid obviously had a lot of early success with the Eagles, but one of the things that really turned him into a legend, you know, early on for being an offensive guru was like, Donovan McNabb would get injured and he would just take guys like Jay Feely or Jeff Garcia late in his career and just like rattle off wins and still sneak into the playoffs and it didn't really matter. And I think lafleur, who still has his quarterback, who still has some of his core guys on offense and defense, like, they're not done. Like, it's not over. Like, if you are a really good coach and you're a guy that's expecting the packers to give you, you know, 12 to 15 million dollars a year, a huge extension for the next five or six years, and if you're Halfway. A guy that thinks I can't miss defensive coordinator. Because guess what? Most of these teams you're going to aren't going to have Rashawn Gary and Micah Parsons. They're going to have bad players. That's why they're shitty. So I'm fascinated to see like I like these. I've watched a lot of halfly press conferences over the last month. A lot of you guys forward them to me. He's clearly a very, very impressive guy. There is no arguing that. And he's done an excellent job as a defensive coordinator for the Packers. But I think these two guys right now can kind of rally the troops as the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator. You know, obviously he's the head coach as well as the play caller. But I think a lot of people, and I'm guilty of this too, a Packers done, season's over. That's not the way football works. Now you might not just rattle off a bunch of victories and end up in the super bowl, but like you could still win 11 games, win the division and win a playoff game and get a lot of credit from your fan base and from your new president and from just internally people in your organization. So I think I don't blame LaFleur last night when he was interview interviewed in the postgame press conference, when he looked like he saw a ghost, when he looked like his, you know, his life was about to end. We all would have acted the same way. But part of being the leader, part of being essentially the commander of chief of, you know, football team is like you got to shake that frown, turn it upside down, you know, fucking put on a smile and figure shit out and do it fast. And you play the Bears on a short week, you don't have a choice because a lot of people are going to be watching this game on Saturday night. Especially when you factor in the college football playoff games in the afternoon night are atrocious. I mean got we potentially like a 50 point blowout at night. So all the eyeballs are going to be on you. And if you win that game, I think a lot of people all over the country, just fans of football would be very, very impressed and it would go a long way to this, to this potential world where you get a big extension this offseason because you would have earned it. That's what high level coaching is. When things don't go your way. You give me Peyton Manning, you give me Lawrence Taylor, you give me, you know, Ladanian Tomlinson, you give me Tony Gonzalez, you give me Some loaded team. I could coach that team, but that's not the NFL. This is not college football where the best teams all got the sweetest players. A lot of people got injuries. Held the year the packers won it with Aaron Rodgers In 2010, my first year with the Eagles when they beat us in the playoffs in rattled off a bunch of victories, all of a sudden they won the Super Bowl. I think they had like 20 or something guys on injured reserve. They had a ton of guys hurt. Kind of put Mike McCarthy on the map and elevated his status to a completely different level in the NFL because of what he did that season with all the injuries. So I'm fascinated to watch the packers. And the more and more I think about it, I got to be pretty careful to not just count them out. And last but not least, I want to end on this because I got this DM from, from Roger and I, I thought it was pretty interesting. For those of you watching, we'll maybe put it up here on the screen. Is Roger shot me this on Instagram and it said, why are there so many old quarterbacks starting in the NFL? Year after year, hundreds of college kids are drafted by NFL teams. And typically the highly drafted QBs are projected to be stars. And because of their super athletic ability. Yet year after year, these talents like Fields, Anthony Richardson and others eventually get passed over for older players. Flacco was fun for a minute. Aaron Rodgers can't take a hit. Philip Rivers just the latest to get signed off the couch. Where are all. Where did all the young talent go? And why are NFL front offices perpetuating this trend? I've been thinking a lot about this because I think, I think it's pretty easy. Anyone that follows Gruden on social media or just obviously since when he used to do the ESPN quarterback camps, there was a video, I think it was last off season going into the draft. So it would have been like, you know, maybe March of this year. He had Jackson Dart in the ffca, the Fire Football Coaches of America. And he did what he used to do on ESPN where they kind of just you know, talk football. And he had Jackson Dart give him the snap count from Ole Miss. That's where Jackson Dart played for Lane Kiffin, who was just the number one coaching candidate in college football, and I would say widely considered currently the top, if not the top two or three offensive guy in the sport on Saturdays. And Gruden, who the video of Vinny Testaverde just went viral of him doing snap counts and getting guys to jump offside and it sounded a lot like football in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s. Then Jackson Dart did the snap count and it was a clap. And Gruden's like, well, what does it sound like when it's on two? And he gave him two claps. Because college football, which that's where the NFL gets their talent, is producing guys in offenses that is pretty simplistic. And a lot of the clapping, they look over to the sideline and get the play from the coach that tells them to run the play they're giving them because they've already looked at the defense. So all the manipulating on the field that let's say Aaron Rodgers or Philip Rivers can and will do, they have never been taught to do that. And historically, when I worked at Fresno State, one reason the NFL scouted our team so heavily and we produced so many guys in the NFL, because we ran an NFL offense. We ran an offense that looked like every team in the NFL. Now college, back in the late 2000s and definitely the early 2010s, everyone started spreading it out. Now in the NFL, teams still spread it out, but their terminology, it is much more complicated than what a lot of these offenses for. Lincoln Riley that have a couple words as a play call. You have heard all these quarterbacks over the year, you're spit out these play calls and they have like 15 to 20 words and they're giving you multiple options, the line of scrimmage. And here's the other thing. Forever in college football coaches, the profession from an assistant standpoint has always been very nomadic. But I bet if you went back in the 80s, the 90s and even the 2000s, a lot of the good programs had pretty consistent head coaches. And even as coordinators came and went, the scheme stayed pretty specific. So if you ran an NFL operation, right, like Pete Carroll at USC or what Boise State was doing with Chris Peterson or Pat Hill or Bobby Bowden or wherever you just went around Nick Saban, it was a consistent message your entire career. Well, now the transfer portal exists. So these players are transferring all over the place. Coaches, because of this crazy money, the nomadic nature of them leaving jobs to just go to other jobs that a lot of people think aren't even like a vertical leap happens more and more. So guys progress in college to learn complicated stuff doesn't really exist. And then the amount of stuff that they actually learn because they're jumping ship from place to place, your knowledge actually isn't as vast. And then once you get to the NFL, while you spend A lot of time in the classroom. There are a lot of limitations on practice time. Because of the CBA that was passed back in 2011 or 2012, double days don't exist. The amount of time that you could wear pads in practice during the season has been limited greatly. And if you break that, people on your team union reps will turn you in so you can spend time in the classroom. But let's face it, the majority of human beings, especially in an industry like football, learn on the field. So even if I take information from the classroom, if I don't get the opportunity, as coaches would say, to rep it at practice, it's hard to improve. And I also think the money in the NFL has never been greater. So before coaches would get more time, partly because if you signed a four or five year contract, I would never fire you after two years because I wouldn't want to pay you to not work. Now, paying you to go away means nothing. I think someone reported this like Albert Brer did at an owner's meetings. Maybe like 22 years ago or a year ago, Roger Goodell stood up in front of all the owners and gave the total of money that they were paying coaches to not work. And it was like hundreds of millions of dollars. But to these guys, in this world of an NFL that's making billions upon billions of dollars, it actually wasn't that much money because teams do it all the time because financially doesn't impact them at all. So I do think the turnover with coaching, the nomadic nature now of players, and over the course of the last 10, 15 years, the expansion of the quote unquote spread has, I would say, changed the gap between the NFL and college more than ever. So these guys get to the pros. And I remember when Phil Savage used to run the senior boys, good friends of mine, and he. What they always do at the beginning of the of the week is the coaches go to the quarterbacks, right? And you get quarterbacks from Oregon to smaller schools, you name it, all over the country raise your hand if you've ever been under center. Most guys don't raise their hand and that includes high school football. So I think the gap of the training for which you have to be retrained once you get to the pros, and then time isn't really on your side. You know, Colin has, has a theory and I don't think he's totally wrong, is most guys, if you start as a rookie, you get to like your second year Thanksgiving. Teams have kind of made a decision whether we're going to keep rolling with you. You're going to be a franchise quarterback. We're going to have to pivot. And we've seen in recent, you know, years that some guys with the physical abilities you use. Anthony Richardson, clearly he was just completely over his head. And maybe one day, years from now, he'll figure it out, but he ain't going to figure it out for the Colts. And when. When he is able to come back and I saw a report today that he's, like, been cleared and they can open the practice window. If he was physically ready and completely cleared Today, they would 100% start Phillip Rivers at 44 and 275 pounds over Anthony Richardson at 23 years old. Why? Because they trust Rivers upstairs. And some of these guys, they don't learn anything in college because that's not really the way they're coached. And then they get to the pros and it becomes so mental, and you have so much catching up to do, but you also have to improve physically, and there's just not time. And we've seen recent examples of the Sam Darnolds and the Baker Mayfields and the Daniel Jones. You just kind of get lost in the shuffle. And when you lose your confidence, I don't care whether you play football, whether you podcast, whether you sell insurance, when you lose your confidence, it can be tough to get it back as a younger person. And you have to spend time just building that confidence back up, let alone learning your craft. So I think part of the thing that these older quarterbacks bring to the table is they can speak the same language as the coach. And whether we agree or disagree with that, coaches really value that. They always have and they always will. If I don't trust you out on the field, it's hard for me to play you, especially with our season on the line. So you use Joe Flacco. Well, why did the Bengals trade for Joe Flacco in the middle of the year? Because they were desperate to try to win games and they thought he gave them a better chance. Some random young kid around the league, why did they call Philip Rivers back? Because they think Philip Rivers gives them a better chance than Anthony Richardson. They believe that to their core. And clearly, most of these times, I don't hear anyone in the locker room bitching and moaning about the decision, because usually the players agree. So I just think times have changed dramatically, the development. There's not that much time to develop. And I think part of the blame on that comes on the players, because back in 2011, they were adamant. They needed more time off, they needed no double days. They didn't want to practice and the owners were glad to give it to them because they kept more money in their pocket. And the players fought for something that actually not only did not have financial value, but limited the upside of future players in the league. And I think over the course, it's like sometimes governments make decisions. It's like, well, our heart was in the right place, but yeah, it didn't work. So, yeah, your heart was in the right place, but your decision, the law you passed or the decision you made in some, you know, city ordinance was a complete failure. So fucking give yourself a thumbs up for having your heart in the right place, for saying, we tried. This is a results oriented business in the decision that happened back to CBAs ago, I would say has had major, major ripple effects on the quarterback position when it comes to the development of young players.
- [50:41]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
- [50:43]
John Middlekauff
All.
- [50:43]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody showing that school pride. A game like this, yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.
- [51:02]
John Middlekauff
There.
- [51:04]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [51:28]
Zyn Nicotine Pouches Advertiser
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- [52:33]
Jenna Kim Jones
Of unrivaled basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.
- [52:48]
Odoo Advertiser
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- [53:51]
Jenna Kim Jones
Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.
- [54:01]
John Middlekauff
Let me start by saying it's a great day to be a gray shirt team Rubicon. You know, it truly is a team. Those folks, myself included, all had one desire which is helping folks in disaster. Trying to be a little bit of hope in a really, really bad situation.
- [54:15]
Jenna Kim Jones
It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can. We give just that nugget of hope helping other people. For some of our gray shirts, it's during a time when they need help and by helping others, it helps them. Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [54:54]
John Middlekauff
We're gonna do a little Middle CF Mailbag at John Middlecoff at John Middelkopf Is the Instagram fire in those DMS and get your questions answered on the show. Very, very easy to do. Again, just my Instagram account dm's wide open fire in them and get your questions answered here. Like Tyler question for the pot. See how easy this is. Is it in the realm of possibility to trade Chris Jones for Mac Jones and a third or fourth round pick? Chiefs are obviously going to need a quarterback for at least half the season, if not the entire year. Mack won't resign after next year to be a backup again after he balled out in the games that he started for the Niners. And Chris Jones likely isn't going to get an extension from the Chiefs after this contract. Or is this the type move that the Chiefs just play who they've got and hope to hit on some relatively higher draft picks? I don't hate where your mindset is. I do think the Chiefs are going to trade Chris Jones as offseason. I don't think the 49ers is a fit for a couple reasons. One, they proved last year that they desperately attempted to get way younger and they got rid of a bunch of veteran guys that were already their guys that they really liked. I mean every time you watch the defense play for Denver, I mean Greenlaw is solid but I mean Hu Funga looks incredible and it was not easy to let those two guys go, right? Especially Greenlaw. I mean they like flew to his house. But Chris Jones makes a ton of money and his cap hit is massive and these deals are complicated. I think the 49ers one, you know, I think they would entertain Mac Jones offers this offseason, especially Purdy. I get it was the Titans, but I mean if he plays like that, I mean you just, you're paying them a lot of money for a reason. You need to use these assets. But I think they will desperately try to get younger and I just don't think they have the financial flexibility to take on a guy who's going to want an extension at enormous money who's an older player. I mean they're already dealing with with Bosa who makes a ton of money. He's coming off an injury, Fred's coming off an injury. So they just proved right their first two draft picks in 24 were, I guess 20, 25, you know, Mikel Williams who hurt ACL and Collins, the big defensive tackle from Texas. I think they'd just be more likely to just draft the defensive lineman in like the first round defensive tackle, you know More of a pass rusher than a run stuffer like, like Collins. But I don't think Chris Jones would be an option for them. I actually think when you look at the Chiefs last year they traded Joe Tuney to the Bears. I think Chris Jones would probably end up at a place with a team that has a lot of financial flexibility with their quarterback. I think what the commanders would make some sense. You know, the Atlanta Falcons look for a team with a rookie quarterback contract who can, who's going to be trying to win immediately and can handle maybe. And again, I have to check their cap space, but I don't think the Niners will be in business of trading for an older veteran player who makes a ton of money and who's going to want a new contract. But I like where your head's at. I think the 49ers would be more likely to trade Mac Jones. One, it would take a lot to get them but like I think they would need a second day pick and they, they would just want to utilize that asset for a cheap guy that would be a starter. Right. So if you get like, hey, some good team, second round pick, I guess a good team probably wouldn't be likely to trade for him, but I don't know. I honestly haven't really thought about his destination. That's probably more of an off season idea. I'm also hesitant to give him away. I mean he's just such a great insurance policy for Purdy. Now. I think you could also argue like, well, two of the last three years they've been in really good shape. Darnold didn't have to play but like clearly they would have won games with Darnold if they had to and they were forced this year and they won games with Mac Jones. But we also saw last year like they, it was a lot of like Dobbs and Kyle Allen and it's, it's hard, it's not an easy game to play. So I personally would be inclined to keep them unless I was blown away. I mean if you get like pick 40 or something. Yeah. In your opinion, who's the greatest tight end of all time? Kelsey may have the postseason stats, but these last couple years he has been slowly falling off. I just want to bring up his stats the last two years because I actually think they look a lot better than the way people talk about him. He by no means has been as bad, I think as people think because when you say fall off, he's going to end this year with 80 catches, probably 1,000 yards and six, seven touchdowns. And even last year he had 97 catches for 823 yards. Now, relative to what he once was, I hear what you're saying, I mean, he's not near the dominant force that he once was. I would say this in my adult life watching this, you know, in the last 20 plus years, 25 years. Because I think if you go back to like the 80s and 90s, I just don't feel as confident discussing those players. You know, obviously Shannon Sharp, you know, an all time great receiving tight end. Same with Tony Gonzalez. I think you almost have to put them in two categories, right? Like most running backs to be a Hall of Fame running back. Even if you're a pass catcher like Marshall Falk. No one disputed that Marshall Falk could just carry the offense between the tackles or outside the tackles, like carrying the ball. Same thing with Ladanian Tomlinson, who is excellent catching the ball. Same thing with McCaffrey, right? But like Adrian, Adrian Peterson, also Hall of Famer or will be like catching wasn't his thing. Derek Henry, same thing. Like they are true Bell, cow, hand on the ball. I think with tight ends there are literally two styles, right? Tony Gonzalez, who's a Hall of Famer, is. You had to have a blocking tight end on the roster. I forget his first name. Something done back in the day with the Chiefs because Tony Gonzalez like wasn't holding the point of attack on the edge to make sure that you could run sweeps and outside, you know, runs, right? So like Kelsey's the same thing. And I think if you break it into pass catching tight ends, Kelsey is right there, if not the greatest with that group of great pass catching tight ends. And then they're like more of your all around guy. And to me, Gronk in his prime was an unstoppable force. And I would say Kittle is right behind Gronk of like being an all around tight end now if you could get in their prime now part of those guys is like they get banged up a little bit more. Like George Kittle, like there will be games when he's pulling on defensive ends throughout the game, right? Crushing line, they just ask him to have a physical load that those other guys just aren't asked to do. So I think you almost have to break it into two categories. And you know, when you're a pass catching tight end, only not that Travis hasn't blocked, but that's not his thing. It's almost like you're a DH, but you're DH hitting 60 home runs, right where The Gronks and the Kelsey's, they're essentially like a six offensive lineman. So I would say over the course of the last couple decades, it's pretty clear that it would be, it would be Tony Gonzalez, Travis Kelsey, Gronkowski and George Kittle are other guys that stand out to me. I think right now, George looks, he looks like an unstoppable force. I mean, physically, he's even said he's in the best shape of his life. The after the catch that you get, like part of Travis's after the catch was he was like an NBA player. He was so fast, he was so elusive. You know, Gronk and George like, buckle up, buddy. Because we are lowering our shoulder now, Gronk, it felt like he used to get upended so often and would get injured a lot. Remember by the end he had like a Barry Bonds brace on his elbow. It just depends kind of the offense you want to run. And like Travis Kelsey is more suited for Andy Reid and George Kittle's more suited for Kyle Shanahan. Right pass happy offense, run heavy offense. Is Michigan the most corrupt athletic department of college sports? Well, I think we would all agree with this. Sharon Moore made his bed. I mean, literally. Actually, it wasn't his bed. It looked like probably his office desk. Because when you're sleeping with the assistant, like, where do you think it's going down, right? It ain't motels, maybe on the road, but during the week these guys work a lot. And if you're programmed like Michigan, you ain't playing that many road games. So it's a lot of action in the office. But if you would have beaten Ohio State and they were in the playoffs, do you think Sharon Moore would be in jail right now or whatever the hell that was where that thing that went viral at the end of the week, no, he would have not been fired. But that's also college athletics, that's also sports, right? I mean, the name of the game is to win. And when you don't, or when people think you aren't good enough, they're going to look for a reason. And the difference of college in the pros is like they will start falling, tailing you around. And boosters. The other thing is when you. Here's where I would back you up on the corrupt thing. When you're doing what he was doing with someone in the office, everyone knows. I mean, I can't tell you how many people I've texted over the course of the last week of like, oh, yeah, we were hearing Rumors over the last month. These are just like NFL scouts that go through Michigan four or five days throughout the fall. People talk. I mean, football is a lot like a high school. There aren't that many people. Everyone kind of knows each other. Rumors spread like wildfire. And listen, Jim Harbaugh is a pro guy. So anytime you get into business with pro guys, they don't view the rules. I, I don't take any of the rules in college seriously. It's like, wait, this guy got pinched for giving a guy a cheeseburger? I mean, that literally happened to Jim. Gave the guy some food, got him an Uber ride home. Like that's what we were talking about. We're now like, you can give, you know, Bryce Underwood, what signed a $20 million contract. So most corrupt. Probably not. They're just no different. They're all the same. They are all the same. If you're winning, we will look by everything. The moment we don't win, we're going to have problems. Or the moment people that control the money, which leads us to winning, start going, we don't want this guy to coach. We have to pivot. But if you think he was getting fired if he beats Ohio State, I just, I would just adamantly disagree. I don't give a shit what they say. No one believes that, that if he would have won the game and they were playing this week against, you know who they have played, maybe they would have played Oklahoma. Michigan. Oklahoma. He's coaching the game.
- [66:09]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
What a matchup we got, y'.
- [66:10]
John Middlekauff
All.
- [66:11]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance, echo drum beat and everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, Crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like a band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning con. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [66:56]
Jenna Kim Jones
Love the night. Reach for Zyn After Dark. A limited cocktail inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down. Try Zinn's Mojito Spiced Cider. An espresso martini. Nicotine pouches. Find them at select retailers. Available while supplies last. Zinn After Dark. Bring on the night. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Season two of Unrivaled basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two sponsored by Samsung Galaxy tickets tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.
- [67:41]
Odoo Advertiser
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- [68:44]
Jenna Kim Jones
Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.
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John Middlekauff
Clean the world. We have almost 10,000 hotels that operate our soap and plastic recycling program and we have created and distributed 90 million free bars of soap to children, families, mothers in 127 countries across the globe.
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Jenna Kim Jones
It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.
- [69:23]
John Middlekauff
Best stat of all is that the death rate to children under the age of five dying to hygiene related illnesses has decreased by more than 60% since the day we started.
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Jenna Kim Jones
Listen to the Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [69:49]
John Middlekauff
Looking ahead to the draft, which teams will be looking to draft? Fernando Mendoza I go for the Browns and I'm really hoping we build a team around Sanders. I just don't see that happening with the jackass Stefanski. What would you do if you were the Browns if Jimmy Haslam did Picture Door over Stefanski is there A world where he would hire Deion to be the head coach. Sign me up for that. I mean sign me up for that. If he hired Deion Sanders, that would be. I mean as a someone that talks about football for a living, I'm in. Now can you fire Stefanski, a guy that's a two time coach of the year for Dion, who I would say this year was an absolute debacle at Colorado. Probably not. So I'd be. But you never put anything past Jimmy. If the Browns have the number one overall pick, which weird things happen these last couple of weeks. Now granted they. Let's look at the, the draft order right now. I think it's the Giants, right? The good thing if you're the Brown. If you're a team that is thinking about doing a, you know, drafting a quarterback, the Giants and The Titans are 1 and 2. Well, the Giants are not taking a quarterback and the Titans, given that they just hired the dude from the Chiefs, Borgonzi, and then he drafted Cam Ward, you would think no matter what, even if they go, we like Fernando Mendoza coming out of college better than Cam Ward, which I would imagine most people in the NFL do. A little cleaner of a prospect in terms of his play. I mean Cam does make some nice plays, but sometimes like what is going on, hard to pin it at all, if any on him. I mean the organization is a disaster. But I would say Cam Ward's on scholarship next year. Like he's getting next year no matter what. So then you got the Raiders who would definitely draft him. You got the Cardinals, I would say that would definitely draft him. And you got the Browns and you got the Jets. So depending on how this shakes out, like if one of those teams not named the Browns get the number one pick, you don't even have to worry about it. Now if it's the Giants and the Titans in some order, one or two would the Browns that have the Jags pick because of the Travis Hunter trade, would they trade up to get Fernando Mendoza or would their owner be like, hey, just give Shador season and not even necessarily about Shador, but let's just keep building up this team. This team is horrendous and maybe trains Miles Garrett and just kind of restart this whole thing. My guess right now, if they do not get the number one overall pick because I think if they get the number one overall pick, they will 100% draft a quarterback. And Shadore Sanders probably be on a different team next year because he's not, he's not going to Be the backup. He's just too famous of a guy to rookie quarterback. So my guess right now, assuming they don't get the number one pick, is that Shador Sanders, the quarterback room is like Shador, Dylan Gabriel and Deshaun Watson, which sounds crazy, but I mean, there have been reports he's going to come back. And part of it is financials. Like, you can't cut him and take like $100 million dead cap. It might as well just roll it back, I guess, if he's matured or something. So I do think you'll probably be safe. And Shador more than likely will be the starting quarterback or have an opportunity. I mean, it did not go well on Saturday. Still got some games left to be in a competition. I mean, he didn't have a competition. Maybe there's just a competition with him and Gabriel. Assuming Stefanski is gone. But even if Stefanski is gone, are a lot of people trying to get this job? I don't know. I don't even know what to make of the Browns at this point. I just know their organization is. Is a complete train wreck. And that's not Chador's fault. I mean, he. He came to a place. That's embarrassment. As a Packer fan. Where do I go from here? Our season is over. Making the divisional round would be great. At this point. It feels like I'm about to watch a lame duck team limp into Cancun. So what should I do now with the extra time? Any ideas? Injuries suck. You know football, this isn't the NBA, right, Where Micah Parsons would be like, losing Luca or something, or Steph, you would be. You'd have no shot, right, to do anything in the playoffs. Football's one game and you're. I look today you're. You're favored against the Bears in Chicago. Now, part of that might just be history, but part of it is like, your defense is still really good. You know, we'll see the news over the course of the week on Christian Watson. He still got Josh Jacobs. He did, I think, get a couple offensive linemen injured. But it's not inconceivable that you could win that game. And then if you win the game, if you just win like one of your last two and maybe the Bears like lose to the Niners, all of a sudden you win the division. So I think you got to be careful about just saying our season's over now. Are you going to win the super bowl without Micah Parsons? Probably not, right? I think we would agree your super bowl chances Got dramatically impacted. Can you still win the division? Yes. Can you still make the playoffs and beat a team in the first round? A couple of years ago, you went into Dallas, no one thought you would win, and you smoked them. So I think you got to be careful about, like, your season's over. I said that yesterday, but I meant from. I had a ticket on them going to the Super Bowl. I just think that's pretty unrealistic now. Could they win a playoff game 100% the team they're going to roll out? We have seen teams way worse historically win playoff games. That. That's a fact. So I would just. I would just try to enjoy these last a little less expectations. You don't need to, you know, watch these games on the edge of your seat. But how sweet would it be to sweep the Bears, especially go into Chicago after. I mean, Micah, this year has been one of the best players in the league. So it's. It's a devastating blow. But now there's a lot of pressure on your defensive coordinator, on your offensive coordinator and thing in football, like you just never know. I mean, coaching plays a huge part. Schemes, trick plays. Maybe you bust out like a fake punt. With Mahomes out, at least half of next year does that all but ensure Kelsey retires. Some thought he might have another year left if he didn't want to end it this way. But if Mahomes isn't playing, I don't see him coming back. I think it's impossible to even guess. If he told me, you know, there were some complications and they played it safe and he just doesn't play next year. I could see it if you told me that he is cleared and ready to go week one. I can see it. I just think it's a great unknown. We have no clue how many games he'll miss. I mean, at one point in time, we thought Joe Burrow. Most people thought like, oh, he's not coming back. And he came back like seven games left. So, you know, he came back on Thanksgiving. A lot of people talked originally when he got injured is Joe Burrow's not going to be back till the middle of December. So I think with these injuries, everyone's body is different. I can't even begin to assume when he's going to come back. I also think we're going to learn a lot these next couple weeks with Travis. You know, I think he's very prideful player. I saw a clip of his podcast with Jason. Him kind of losing it in frustration after that play. Who Was it against oh, the Texans yet play where he dropped the ball and they picked that kind of ended the game, you know, I think. And he said like, I've, I've never had an issue of like working through situations and just grinding and working and things always work out for me. And this year, for whatever reason, it's just not so. I mean usually that's like, well, father time is most people say, I mean it's a fact is undefeated. You get older, you're not quite as crisp. Players around, you feel a little faster because you're not quite as fast. But I would say sitting here right now, for those of us that just follow football and follow kind of the directions of stories, I. I'd be a little surprised if Travis Kelsey does not retire this offseason. I think if Gardner Minshew starts these next three games, which all signs point to him doing, how hard are the Chiefs trying? You know, are they putting guys on ice? Like is Chris Jones just playing out the string? Is, is Travis Kelsey, is there a chance that he announces his retirement over the next couple weeks and kind of gets a send off at home? Because that would be something to keep an eye on. Their schedule here is at the Titans vs. The Broncos at the Raiders. So maybe that Bronco game, it's almost like I announced before, like I'm going to retire at the end of this year. So they can kind of, you know, throw him a party and have a moment for not just one of the greatest players in franchise history, but one of the great players in league history and obviously one of the most important players on one of the most important teams of the Internet era. So I keep an eye over the next 7ish days. If something breaks of like, you know, Travis has told everyone he intends to retire. This is going to be his last home game in Kansas City. Because I think if I'm him and I had been on the fence, this might push me over. But I would that place. That's an easy way to kind of like have a pretty cool moment in a shitty season. Maybe moms comes out in a wheelchair. Can we put some doggone inner Philip Rivers respect on Herbert's name? And more so the Chargers and as a whole, these have been back to back weeks. They've battled in ugly games and beat the two teams in the last year. Super Bowl Herbert is stiff arming dudes with a broken hand. The defense is lights out. I'm tired of the media making a storylines of these games being so and so lost. Opposed to the Chargers well, here's the thing. The Eagles losing to you with a quarterback with a broken hand, no offensive line was a pretty big story. The Chiefs not going to the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, obviously for the first time with Mahomes not being in minimum, the AFC Championship game, let alone super bowl, is a massive story. Now, part of it is like, you're the Chargers, so when you play teams like the Chiefs or the Eagles and something crazy happens on their end, they're just a bigger story. But Jim Harbaugh is. Listen, anyone with the brain before Harbaugh got there knew Herbert was a stud. But anyone arguing that Herbert was overrated or listen, obviously he had a bad playoff moment against the Jags. No one argued that. His coach is also Brandon Staley, who was like running defenses where guys were wide open. Jim Harbaugh is one of the best coaches of his era. Like, he's one of the rare guys, if he ends up winning a Super bowl in the NFL, to do both. I mean, we have seen guys go to college, to the pros and be like, ah, this is a fish out of water. Sabin, Steve Spurrier, who are all time great college coaches, and Saban's the greatest college coach of all time. And we've seen the reverse. Urban Meyer didn't even make it through a year in the NFL. So, you know, look at Chip Kelly. I'd say a pretty big flame out in the National Football League over the course of his career. And I just think that Harbaugh's a legend, man. I saw it firsthand when I lived in the Bay Area when he was coaching the Niners. He's just. He's nuts, but he's freaking elite. He's. I know his brother has a Super bowl and he doesn't. I think he's better than his brother. And I feel pretty confidently about arguing that. Now, if you want to base on the one game in the Super Bowl, John beat him. No one can argue that. But if you gave me just all teams were even, I would take Jim seven days a week over John Harbaugh. I don't think you could find a Raven fan right now that wouldn't want Jim Harbaugh to be the coach. I mean, even look at Greg Roman gets Greg Roman. They pass all the time. Now, one thing that you always get with Jim, too, despite being a quarterback like John is a defensive guy, right? He was a special teams defensive guy with Jim Johnson with the Eagles before he got hired with the Ravens. Jim's a quarterback, yet his Teams always run the ball and play defense. I just think Jim's a superstar. And it got a little weird there for a minute at Michigan, but by the end, he's winning an addie. And his record with the Niners speaks for itself. And beside in this. In the Internet era of starting in 2000, Kyle's the only other guy that won there. And Stanford, like, we talk a lot about what happened at Indiana. Now, what he's done in Indiana, overall, he's the number one seed is more impressive than what Jim did. But when he took over Stanford, they were 1 in 11. By the time they left, they were in a BCS game. And when he handed the program off to David Shaw, one of his assistant coaches, they were like a top five team for like five straight years, winning Rose Bowls. So Jim Harbaugh, I saw him. I remember going to a game where I grew up in Davis, that's right by Sacramento. School called UC Davis. And at the time they were division. It was division two. They weren't even D1 double A, I think. So they used to play the University of San Diego. Maybe they were one double A. I forget when they exactly moved up, but they played this University of San Diego. And I remember my dad was home for Thanksgiving from Cal Poly, and he's like, you want to go to a football game on Saturday? Yeah, let's go. He was a big. My dad loved UC Davis. He would have been pretty fired up. They were on ESPN last week and kind of got worked. Actually did get worked. They could. They couldn't stop the run. They had, like, almost 300 yards running on them. But their coach actually is pretty impressive guy. Former quarterback, UC Davis worked at. At Boise State and I think at Cal or Oregon. Like, he's got a pretty good resume. He's a guy to keep an eye on. Tim Plow, I think his name is. But Jim Harbaugh rolled in with Josh Johnson and they didn't lose. And I don't think they lost that season. And then he got immediately hired to Stanford and the rest history. So I think the story is just Jim Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh is a freaking stud. To get this team to the playoffs, given the injuries they've had, is pretty. Is pretty unreal. And your quarterback, I don't think. I mean, I. Who. Who doesn't think Justin Herbert is good? I don't. I just don't understand where that contingent was ever created. Like, do we both watch football? Because if we do, like, you can't really have that argument you should talk NBA. Just top events. I know your specialty is not in, quote, the arena, but I'd love to hear your views on the NBA. I was thinking about this because I. When I. I usually take screenshots to kind of corral the DMs that I'm going to talk about before I do it. So it does. It's easier to do than just scroll through the Instagram app. I loved the NBA growing up. I mean, I grew up right by the Sacramento Kings. I was probably 20 minutes away from Marco Arena. Grew up in Michael Jordan era, obviously, the 2000 Kobe, Shaq, you name it through, you know, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, Draymond. I went to a bunch of those games when I lived in the area and did radio. I don't think I've watched an NBA game this year. I mean, I've seen bits of pieces, but, like, I've never in my entire life watched less. And part of it is you get older, you do this for a living. I spend so much time watching football, the couple quote, unquote, off nights I have, like, I just can't watch sports really on, like, Tuesday or Wednesday. Right. We're probably doing other stuff, kind of. Especially I'm having a child now. I do kind of keep up with the league. Like, I'll listen to, like, Simmons or Windhorse, but I just don't watch it anymore. I mean, I was thinking about this during the baseball season, and the World Series was incredible. I mean, I've been glued the last couple of years to baseball playoffs. I don't think I watched nine innings of a baseball game all season long, total. And I grew up. I love the San Francisco Giants. They were by far right there with the 49ers as my favorite team as a kid in Barry Bonds. I mean, if you grew up where I grew up, he was like Jesus with a bat. We didn't care that he did steroids. We just wanted him to hit bombs. And I just don't care. I don't know. It's like something has left me where part of it is. I just. I can't. I just don't get to watch it as much. I just found out the NBA cup just finished. I didn't even know what was going on. So, I mean, I'll be the first to admit I just don't watch as much. I watch more college basketball this year than I have the NBA. Even, like the Warriors, I kind of fall them through, like, the ESPN.com app on my phone. I'll just say, oh, I'll just kind of watch it that way. Now granted, they're not very good.
- [86:58]
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John Middlekauff
All.
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Jenna Kim Jones
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- [89:47]
Jenna Kim Jones
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Jenna Kim Jones
It's like magic you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna for the ripple effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.
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John Middlekauff
Best stat of all is that the death rate to children under the age of five dying to hygiene related illnesses has decreased by more than 60% since the day we started.
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Jenna Kim Jones
Listen to the ripple effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [90:53]
John Middlekauff
During the Bills Patriot game yesterday, we saw the difference between a battle tested quarterback and one with incredible potential from the human side. I can only imagine Drake was up all night thinking about that game. Do you think young football obsessed players like him latch on to moments like this as motivation, inspiration and place a chip on their shoulder especially for future matchups against the same team. Do you think Drake may has played a more important or meaningful game in the NFL career than this one up to date? Keep it up. It was by far the biggest game of his life. Like this guy didn't play at LSU or didn't play at Ohio State or Michigan. This guy played at North Carolina. So like North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Duke, like he's never. That's the biggest game of his life and partly they could have won the division. I listen when you're young you're going to lose. That's part of the NFL. They were an underdog against the Bills. They have Josh Allen, who's the reigning MVP, who Drake may aspires to one day be like 85%, 90% as good as if he is, he'll be a lock hall of Famer. So it was tough that there's no one disputing or arguing that. But like I, I think part of it, and this is why you pay Mike Vrabel so much money, is to calm everyone down. You know, people say this and you know there's so many people that have played or worked for Nick Saban that now, you know, do podcasts or work in the media. They all say Nick was awesome after losses, after wins is where you got to keep your head on a swivel, because he is on everyone's ass after losses. That's where it's like, hey, guys, everything's going to be okay. They had two bad drives at the end of the game, which is partly on Josh McDaniels, right? You got to call some runs, settle the kid down. Like, it's a tough spot for Drake May, right? Who clearly was just a little off at the end of the game. The whole offense was. But they still got by. No means. Like, this is part of the NFL, too. It's not even just like, you go in the lab, chip on your shoulder, it's like, bro, we got a huge game this week. We're playing the Ravens. On. What day is that? Is that Sunday night? Yeah, Sunday Night Football. Like, that's. I can't really dwell on this motivation. I got to lock back in. Whatever we screwed up at, I got to focus on. But we got to win this game because all of a sudden, we lose. We got the Ravens, the Jets, and the Dolphins, so we should win two of the last three. Now, I'm recording this before Monday Night Football, so we'll see how the Dolphins look. The Bills, who are one game behind them, have the Browns, then they host the Eagles, and they get the Jets. So, I mean, I. I think there's a pretty good chance that the Bills can run the table. Now, the Patriots, if they win this game, I think most people will think they'll run the table. But if they lose, like, it's. It's hard. You know, it's pretty difficult. All of a sudden, you went from, we could have won the division December 15th to now might come down to week 18. We got a win just to hold serve and, you know, I don't know what the tiebreaker is, but to just, you know, be the five seed so things can change quickly. And, you know, speaking of the Patriot Bills game is sometimes when you're playing Josh Allen right now, unless you have the 85 Bears defense, when he gets on a heater, there is no stopping him. He's the best player in the world at playing NFL football. There's not even. I don't even think there's a close second right now. So that's not on Drake May, right? The Josh Allen could not be stopped. But I do think it's really important this week for Mike Vrabel and Josh who you know, for a lot of Josh's career, especially over the last like 10 years, right from like 2000, whenever he came back in like 2011, 12 range, once Bill O' Brien went to Penn State and up until he left to the Raiders, it was a lot of Tom Brady, right? And even his one year that with the rookie year, Mack Jones, no one thought they were going very far. This Patriot team is like this Patriot team could win the super bowl, definitely could win the afc, could have been the one seed. And now you kind of get brought down to earth. So Mike Vrabel as a player and as a coach, ton of experience and Josh, same thing. To me, it's kind of on them to dial in with Drake and be like everything's going to be okay. We can't dwell on those last couple drives that were a disaster. And if I'm Josh, I put it on me like those are terrible play calls. I should have called. Maybe a draw, a quick screen, something to just make it easy on everyone instead of having you drop five, seven steps, scramble around like it was dumb. It was my fault. I'm not coaching Tom Brady here. I'm coaching a second year guy from North Carolina who up until the last month has just not played in big games in his entire life. So part of when you draft a player like Drake May and you go all in on a guy high in the draft, you're not just drafting the talent, right? He's tall, he's got a big arm, he throws a nice deep ball. You're also drafting the character. And you hear that word used a lot of. To me, character is like the wiring how you know, when it comes to mental toughness, when it comes to drive, when it comes to focus. And once you believe in that human being, you believe that he can handle stuff like this because that was a tough loss and it's easy for him, even though it's not his fault to put it on his shoulders. It was my fault. And that's why in this sport that is so, you know, predicated on the coaches playing chess, you know, and using the players like it's. Coaches are stars for a reason because they're calling the place. They're the ones putting the players in positions to make plays. You know, we've seen a lot of great players play for bad coaches and look terrible. Right. Because schemes and play calls can impact guys talents. And I think it's very, very important this week for Vrabel obviously to get his team refocused and specifically Josh to not let Drake May kind of unravel a little bit. Right? Because it was going so well and then of a blink of an eye this league is so competitive and you're playing, you know, the Bills who've won a shitload of games over the course of the last five, six years. Like that's not their first rodeo. That was this Patriot team's first rodeo and it kind of, you know, came to fruition as the game went on. So I think the guy that really needs to zone in is honestly less Drake May and more Josh and take accountability of like those are some awful play calls down the stretch.
- [97:49]
Jenna Kim Jones
The volume.
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Colin from Colin Coward Podcast
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- [98:24]
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- [100:40]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Teammates, Cam Chancellor, Cliff Favrell, Michael Bennett, and Walter Thurman to go through real.
- [100:45]
John Middlekauff
SWAT training and see why over 13 million players are into this game.
- [100:50]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Watch our training now at Richard Sherman Podcast YouTube channel. This isn't mindless running gun. The game demands elite teamwork and sharp strategic thinking. Just like what the Legion of Boom brought to the field every single game. Try the limited time free trial on.
- [101:08]
John Middlekauff
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.
- [101:11]
Coca-Cola Advertiser
Xbox N S. Play now and feel.
- [101:13]
John Middlekauff
The weight of the badge.
- [101:15]
Jenna Kim Jones
This is an I heart podcast.
- [101:18]
Odoo Advertiser
Guaranteed human.