← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Steelers DEFEAT Ravens to clinch AFC North & No. 4 seed in NFL Playoffs
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human the volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John Mittlekoff three and out podcast brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches and brought to you by the AFC north champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. What a night. What an incredible ending of that game. That, that was as wild of a fourth quarter as you will ever see. That. That was, that was entertainment. That was theater. That was fun. So we'll dive into the game. Obviously all the different aspects. Tomlin, Rogers, Lamar, the ending, the play calls, the missed timeouts, the. It was bananas. The missed defensive assignments. Not exactly a defensive clinic on on that fourth quarter. But we got new. You got the Falcons firing everybody. You got Philip Rivers, a coaching candidate. You got the Raiders with the number one overall pick. You got the Chiefs drafting in the top 10. We know the order of the games next weekend. So let's we're going to be talking a lot of football. That that's what we will do tonight. And you guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen. Apple, Spotify, I don't know any other platforms, but if you listen on other platforms, subscribe there as well. If you listen on Collins feed, because Three and Out has their own feed, subscribe to the YouTube channel. We will still have content there. We will be on Netflix I think in a week. So I will update everyone with the the Netflix situation. I think that starts next Monday or Tuesday, but we will button that up over this week and I will funnel you the information how this is playing out. If you type in my name, if you go to Netflix, it comes up kind of cool. But make sure you subscribe. Remind yourself on that too and dive into what we just witnessed. Now, Sunday Night Football is the number one show in America now. It's all relative. Obviously football is really popular. Television shows are not nearly as popular as they were. Like when I was a kid in the 90s when 40, 50 million people would watch main episodes all together around the country. Cable TV wasn't as big. Streaming didn't exist. Obviously a lot has changed. That being said, Sunday Night Football still absolutely crushes. It would have been a big deal 30 years ago with the amount of people that watch it. So I said last week and I'll take the L. I have no problem. I'm wrong all the time. Tell my wife, honey, I was wrong. I say it to you guys, I was wrong. I'm not afraid to admit that I can be an idiot. I can have bad takes and I thought it was insane that The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens got the Sunday night game in Seattle, and San Francisco, who are playing for the number one seed, got Saturday night. But that was the right decision. And midway through I was like, this game is badass. And you guys know where I stand. Love violence, love physicality. I love any sort of rivalry where there's like a true hatred. It's why I gravitate so, so much to college football. The sec, Ohio State, Michigan. I've always loved, like Duke, North Carolina, the hatred between, like Kentucky and Louisville when Coach Cal and Patino were there. Like, I love true, passionate hatred towards someone else. I love it when I read stories in business about two people competing and they hate each other and there's like a legit rivalry. Like, I just, I don't know, something about it really does something to me inside that it's like, makes me feel something, it creates emotion in me, which, you know, as you get older, it's harder to, to emote. And watching that game when I first got in the league, that, that was, that, that, that it wasn't a rivalry. That that was a, you know, it was like criminal activity on the field. It was, it wasn't safe. You know, back in its heyday in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and that game tonight had a feel to it that you just don't feel that often in Pittsburgh. You have this legendary guy that you know, might be going out, he's got a broken hand against this other player that, you know, he's a multiple time mvp. People are talking about trading him. The game's kind of weird. And the second half, just the fourth quarter alone. Now if Nick Saban or Belichick or some defensive guru was here, they were probably puking in their mouth watching the blown coverages and situational football not being executed correctly. But if you're just on your couch and listen, I was a Steeler fan tonight, midway through the season. I put $100 bet and I parlayed it. The New England Patriots, the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers to win their divisions. That $100 just paid me $7,000. Beside a Bryson DeChambeau U.S. open and some like crazy touchdown parlay. That's easily the greatest return I've ever got on a parlay. I was on the edge of my seat, I was screaming at the TV at the end of the first half when I felt like they fucked it up with that stupid play. Then of course they go right to Jason Garrett and he goes, I love the Play. It's like, Jason, you cannot go laterally in a situation like that, especially against a team. Hello. Is not in there putting Hayward, putting the other Hayward and I know it had been stuffed early and just shove it right down their throat. What did they do later in the game? They did that and it worked. Obviously that was a disaster. I saw, I thought I was screwed. And you know, I, I think tonight was a pretty awesome Aaron Rodgers performance. When you factor in the DK Metcalf, who the hell knows where he was tonight watching this game. I, I saw someone, Matt Williamson, who I think scouted a long time ago in the NFL, lives in Pittsburgh. I don't know if he would consider covers the Pittsburgh Steelers, but is just still involved in the media. Dialed in on the Pittsburgh Steelers and I saw something on Twitter over the last couple days and he said, listen, DK Metcalf obviously isn't the best wide receiver in the league, but you could make the argument, given the, the team and the way it's constructed, he's the most important wide receiver in the league to his team. Because if you watch the all 22 and you see the way he plays, how much you have to focus on him, obviously they have no body type like that and they definitely have no speed like that. And obviously dk, when he's playing well, can be a big time impact player. When you remove him, it's Adam Thielen who's like as old as me, Scotty Miller, Friarmouth, who's a good player, mvs, who, how long has he even been on the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Aaron Rodgers just found a way and listen, there was that stretch in the second half where like I, I'm doing this right after the game, so I'm not gonna see the press conference. I'm sure he's going to be asked about the timeout situation, whether the headset went out or whatever. But there were like when you are trying to with the opponent, which in my lifetime, no one obviously is better than Aaron Rodgers at the line of scrimmage saying blue 58 blue video. And then they could jump off sides. He messes him with the, the clock, he runs it down knowing that they'll jump whatever was not working. And he blew two timeouts. And I'm thinking to myself, if this was any other quarterback, hell, if this was just Lamar Jackson doing it, he would get eviscerated. Aaron's looking at the sideline screaming at his helmets like, hello, Aaron. The helmet goes dark even if it's not working at 15 seconds you're screaming at them at like three seconds. This is kind of on you. I thought that was going to come back to bite him in the ass end of the game. They get the ball back with a couple of minutes. They don't have any timeouts. It still drives them right down the field. Now we'll get into both. You know, I mean, it was pure fireworks at the end of the game, right? It was 10 to 3 at halftime. It felt like 17 points might win the game. Coming at a half, it's like, I think 17 points could win this game. You know, the Steelers have always corralled Lamar pretty well in terms of scrambling around for whatever reason. Maybe it's, you know, Stuckey's always thought he's a big Raven guy, that there's a comfort level they have playing him where a lot of people, you know, his record against the NFC is incredible because it's an uncommon opponent. You don't see him, you're not used to his speed. There's no one in the league like him that can run like that. Who, when he's on passing the ball is so accurate and has the touch, his feel for the pocket. He's just, I mean, he's one of the most unique players in NFL history, but they're pretty comfortable doing it. And you know, Aaron scoring these touchdowns and you're like, okay. And he did it multiple times in the second half and then boom. Jalen Ramsey, who's one of the great defensive players of his generation, it sure looked to me on the second touchdown where Zay Flowers is open by the, I don't know, the size of Pennsylvania, no one's even remotely close to him. That, that was Jalen Ramsey biting on the run or biting on the play fake. And obviously no one's behind him and Lamar just lays it up. But on the previous touchdown where he hit Zay Flowers when he was on Patrick Queen in a one on one situation, which obviously is not conducive to good defense and not advantageous to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is advantage Ravens. That's one of the greatest plays Lamar has ever made. And the crazy part is I watched that replay so many times is Highsmith, who is a really good player, plays it well. You know, a lot of times when you have running lanes on Lamar, guys run up right on any mobile quarterback, it's. They lose, as coaches say, gap integrity and they're just flying fucking around. And quarterbacks just have to move up. How guys like Sam Darnold and Brock Purdy take advantage of it let alone guys like him. He broke down. He broke, he stopped his feet and he was going to wrap him up. I thought he was going to like slam to the ground. Then all of a sudden Lamar emerges and it's like the irony of this game and Tomlin's pumping his chest and Rogers hugging everyone, that is. And I was a steal. I was a die hard Steeler fan tonight. That's one of the luckiest wins I've ever seen in my entire life. Their defense blew two coverages. Obviously the field goal kicker missed the kick. They blew an all time easy sack on one of the great mobile players of all time where they literally had him wrapped around by two guys who were not like coming out of control. One of them was stopped and is a high end edge rusher. The last play that looked like ended the game on the past to likely which was a beautiful kind of just dime by Lamar. Great play by likely to high point that thing. I mean it's beautiful. That's, that's pro football at the highest level. But again, Jalen Ramsey stepped too slow and it felt like the Pittsburgh Steelers who are getting this throwback performance out of Aaron Rodgers who's just conducting himself down the field like he's Peyton Manning or Tom fucking Brady in terms of his mental acuity, but he still has this arm. They got a couple running backs, they got no firepower. He's just making it happen. It's like the Steelers defense going to lose him the game. The Steelers defense is going to hand the Ravens this game and Lamar Zay Flowers and likely are just going to steal it from. Because you guys who are this defensive organization who you know have been desperate for just a functional quarterback and you're getting this quarterback play against your arch rivals and the defense is going to blow it for you and the guy missed the kick and it's, it's one of those situations where I think we underrate and I'm sure I do sitting on my couch. I mean Boswell's I think would widely be considered the best one. I mean there's so many good kickers. The Jags kicker is incredible. So there are a lot of good kickers, but clearly one of the best kickers in the league. When he misses the extra point, clearly the wind's pumping, gets in your head again. I think with kicking you can use golf, you get on a tee box, there's a bunch of wind, it messes with you. I don't care if you're Scotty Scheffler, if it's me or you. I think it's no different for a kicker. You kind of overthink it and I don't care who you are, a rookie in that environment with what's on the line clearly fucking blew it. I mean there's no way around it. He blew the game because the Ravens took advantage of every screw up. The Steelers had Lamar hitting Zay twice. They obviously made an incredible play when he hit likely to win the game. And it came down to that and it didn't happen and the Steelers come out victorious. Now I think if you're a Steeler fan, you go, Rogers is really digging deep right now. And how embarrassing the previous week was because it was that that loss to the Browns is, that would have been remembered for a long time if they lost tonight because this whole situation could have been avoidable. But winning this game makes you forget all about that. And you know, they say the, you know, the victors usually are the people right in history and you can scrub that thing a little bit. It's not going to be a point where you talk about much. And the irony too is the Steelers being this defensive franchise kind of like the Bears, who again are not good at defense anymore either. But that's the identity of the organization. It blew it for him. It really did. I mean the secondary was just what is going on? What is up with these defensive calls? And it didn't matter. And that's the crazy part about sports is sometimes you can do the stupidest shit and you could have this legendary person in Aaron Rodgers make these great plays and you can still lose or vice versa. You can screw up and, and all of a sudden you're looking up and you get lucky and that's the way the cookie crumbles. Even my wife, when he missed the field goal, he's like, she looks at me and goes, NFL script writers, NFL script writers did that. I'm like, listen, I push back against that conspiracy theory that everything is pre planned, but if you wanted to convince me that thing was like pre planned in a writer's room sometimes last night, if that was possible, I would believe it because that would be something to keep people on their edge of your seats. Sunday Night Football, those two brands, one of the greatest players of all time in Aaron Rodgers, this multiple time MVP, that's still in his 20s, that was, that was awesome. And I do think Aaron Rodgers, they validated a little bit. Not that it was the wrong move, they didn't have any other options. But like, let's face it, signing him getting to the playoffs, winning that game with him. What was he tonight? 31 of 47. Obviously the game winning touchdown pass which the dude slipped on. But he had so many big passes. Passes to Friarmouth pass to MVS behind him. Just some clearly great conducting at the line of scrimmage, changing plays. I thought Jalen Warren tonight was. His stat line does not reflect at 14 carries for 66 yards. That guy was running his ass off. He also, he also had five catches for 33 yards. So he basically had 20 touches. Gainwell made some plays. Calvin Austin, Friar, Mo. It just, it was kind of the ultimate team effort with the, with the guy conducting it. And I listen, I. Steelers, I'm going to pick the Houston Texans in that game. But that was a really cool moment, really cool quarter. Just, just thrilling. And obviously Aaron Rodgers, which I would guess next week, you know, if they lose, will be the last game of his career. I know there have been some reports about him coming back. Hard time seeing that. But, you know, who knows? The Steelers love doing kind of the same thing over and over. You know, it felt like when he was lining up to kick the field goal, is that going to be it for Mike? Like, is that it for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh losing that game the way they would have lost it on defense when, you know, at the end of the day he's a defensive guy. Hell, he goes back, he's a secondary coach. And it just felt like, you know, Florio reported before the game that TV could be in his future. I have a hard time seeing that. I think teams you're going to go work like studio show, go call a game for Amazon. The New York Giants pay $15 million a year. Tennessee Titans pay $50 million a year. There'd be teams lined up to hire Mike Tomlin. So I have a hard time seeing him take a TV gig. Maybe, maybe that would have happened, but it just felt like this is how he's going to go out against this team. And now it kind of flips around. You know, I think you start asking the questions like, is there a chance the next couple of days we read a story that, you know, John Harbaugh and the Ravens are going to have a long closed door meeting. Because I know one thing, this story that has just not gone away about this Lamar Jackson, they even kind of alluded to it on the broadcast. Some fraction, something's a little off. I listen, I have no inside information, but clearly something's a little off. I know this. I've been a sports fan. Well, Before I ever worked in pro sports or college sports, well, before I ever got paid to talk about them. You do not get rid of Lamar Jackson before you get rid of a lot of other people. And you would have to be high on drugs to get rid of Lamar Jackson before you got rid of the coaching staff. That's not the way sports work. And you saw tonight glimpse of Lamar Jackson when he made that play and broke out of those two guys, they were going to sack him for a big loss. Would have flipped momentum and honestly would have been. The Ravens would have been in shambles. If that sack would have. That place would have been gone nuts. And when he scrambled around and throws a fucking dime and Zay walks in the end zone, I went, we've honestly had discussions that this guy would be on the trade block. What are we talking about? That conversation is done. If you're Steve Buschati, if you're part of the ownership group, other people go cut other players, get rid of coaches. But I'm sorry, at least for the time being, Lamar Jackson would be a pretty sacred cow in the organization because those guys with his ability, like sometimes with runners, you. You see guys that just lack other qualities, whether they're not accurate, they don't have any touch. You know, some of these fastball throwers that can't throw a change up. I think the thing that makes Lamar pretty special now, he does some plays that the play to Hopkins when he was scrambling. I don't know if he thought Hopkins was going to keep running. I don't know if he just brain farted. That. That was a bizarre play. But he has stuff in the bag that I've been watching football. I'm 40 years old for, you know, well over 30 years, but 30 years that I can remember. I don't ever remember what he has in the bag. Seeing very often, if ever at all. And the ability to go toe to toe with the best teams in the league and the biggest spots on the road. Again, you fire coaches before you trade star players. That's the way it goes. So the conversation to me, if I'm operating around the Ravens, starts with Harbaugh before it starts with Lamar Jackson. If there's a fraction. I'm not comparing Lamar Jackson to John Elway, right? John Elway had been to multiple Super Bowls early on in his career. But I will say this, the best move Pat Boland ever made, there was a fraction. And I'm not saying that John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson are at odds where they literally hate each other. If you've watched the John Elway documentary, Dan Reeves and John Elway had a closed door meeting because Mike Shanahan, who was the offensive coordinator told both we need to have a talk and you guys should tell each other how you feel. And they both told each other again, this is the head coach and John Elway the star quarterback. I hate you. And it never recovered. And then Pat Boland realized, I mean, Dan Reeves was going to trade John Elway and Pat Boland fired Dan Reeves, who, you know, pretty good coach. I mean, took teams to super bowl, took the Atlanta Falcons super bowl like this. Wasn't not talking about Brandon Staley here. We're talking about a very, very accomplished coach. Hard headed, stubborn, kind of reminds me of a Harbaugh. And you know, you watch Harbaugh and listen, I, I would throw Tomlin in this too. They're not perfect. They got some floss. You know, they're pretty dependent on their coordinators. Both these teams, you know, are not nearly as talented as they used to be. I mean, the Ravens, once Kyle Hamilton goes out, who knows? I mean, do the Steelers win this game if Kyle Hamilton doesn't get hurt again as tonight. A Pittsburgh Steeler fan, I would have to admit probably not. But he goes out, never root for injuries, but wasn't mad because that was their only shot. But he's also by far, it felt like their most impactful defensive player. You know, Roquan Smith's good guy, good player. Wiggins, starks, the young DBs, good players. But they used to have these defensive lines. Now I get in. Buque's been, you know, on injury reserve all season long. They used to have Holodina, Terrell Suggs, they used to have so many elite guys up front. That's just not the case. I mean you got Jalen Warren breaking tackles like they're the Arizona Cardinals, not the Baltimore Ravens. So that, that was as great and a thrilling and a lucky win that was for the Pittsburgh Steelers. You could argue it's one of the all time kick in the dick losses you'll ever see when you factor it's on the road against a rival to go to the playoffs and you have, I don't want to call it quite a chip shot, but a extremely easy field goal to make. A field goal so easy to make. You had no problem just taking a knee with like 15 seconds left and you weren't trying to get any closer because we all realized you were close enough. Guy was going to make it until he didn't. And the other crazy part is, you know, the Ravens, a huge part of the Lamar Jackson era and definitely a huge part of the John Harbaugh era is they were defined by one of the greatest kickers we've ever seen. You know, in his heyday, if Justin Tucker came out there, there wouldn't have been one soul in that building that wouldn't have started packing their shit to leave, heading to their car because the game would have been a wrap. And I, I still thought it was a wrap, but it's rookie kicker miss honestly wasn't even that close. So what a game, what a night that that that was, that was a muscle flex night for the NFL. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet, the official sportsbook partner of the AFC south champion Jacksonville Jaguars. Duvall is going to be jacked up this weekend. You know what I love doing with these standalone playoff games? Same game parlays, baby. Lock in one matchup at a time and stack your picks. Maybe a quarterback throws 250 yards, maybe a running back hits 100. Tight end punches in a touchdown. Got you covered. And if you miss kickoff, do not worry. Hard Rock Bet has live in game betting so you're never too late to the action. Find a winner or grab a player prop you meant to play and live bet between snaps. It's just that easy, baby. So if you haven't tried your first bet yet at Hard Rock Bet, there's still time for you to get 150 in bonus bets. If you win, just place a $5 bet and if it hits, you get not only your winnings but also an extra 150 in bonus bets. That's Hard Rock Bet. Download it now and make your first deposit today. 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 1833-playwise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1809 with it. Gambling problem, call 1800 GAMBLER Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Today was an embarrassment. Today I don't watch that much NBA anymore, if at all to be honest with you. I just don't really have time and I do listen to a decent amount of NBA content. I like the drama of the league. Clearly one issue they've had for a long time is Tanking. And you have so many games the season, so long. Baseball has this too, where none of the games matter and you just have teams that don't try. One thing that really resonated with me today, the NFL is extremely lucky that just the nature of the sport that I. You know, players. I mean, Max Crosby was on a record a couple weeks ago. Like, no one cares about draft picks that. Not that NBA players do either, but you can really manipulate it a lot easier. That today felt like an NBA slate in the middle of March when 12 teams aren't trying and they're all playing each other. And it's just an unwatchable product, because that's what the NFL was today, an unwatchable product. And this is someone who loves football, who's dedicated my life to either working in it or talking about it, who loves watching it. This morning was embarrassing, and I had a buddy who covers the league pretty closely for a team, and he said, you know what's crazy? The morning slate, as the season goes, can be really, really bad. It sometimes gets, I would say, overshadowed by some cool late moments in the witching hour with Scott Hansen. But there's a lot of bad football being played because they've emphasized these primetime games so much, rightfully so. And CBS and Fox put so much into the matchups in the afternoon that look, this season, how many bad teams there have been. I mean, the amount of teams that won three, four, five games, it's pretty crazy. There was a lot of slop in the league. And today, a lot of these teams just went full NBA. They just tanked, which I don't blame them for doing. Like, I would have done the same thing if I was in their shoes. No different. If I was on a bad NBA team, I would tank two to try to get Cooper Flack. I don't blame anyone for doing it, but I'm not in their shoes. I'm in the consumer shoes. I just like sitting on my couch and watching football like millions of people. And I tried this morning, and I was, like, falling asleep. I'm like, this is. Thank God this is just once a year. Because I'd argue if that was a couple times a year, we'd have a serious problem on our hands. And that's where I think tonight was so big. It kind of wiped that stink away, because that stink was bad. That was something that I would not have been able to forget for a while if it wasn't for Rogers, Lamar, the Steelers, the Ravens, the drama of that game. It's where if you were a conspiracy theorist, you could be like, someone's controlling something I don't think's happening. But I, you know, I dabble enough, a little tinfoil in my head, I can be convinced. You know, I, I would never discount anything. I, I. Listen, you guys want to have a meeting? Shoot me a zoom link. But, man, Steelers are in the playoffs. Tomlin survives. Aaron Rodgers gets another 60 minutes of football. I don't know if we're on John Harbaugh watch, but it's definitely, definitely something to keep an eye on. You know, rap sheet and Adam Schefter's Twitter machines, see if, you know, there's something going on. Because I think it's about to get weird because once Lamar made that play, I don't know how the owner could even entertain any ideas if, like Lamar, or excuse me, Eric Dasta, John Harbaugh, like, knocked on his door and like, hey, we got an idea. You know, we called the Raiders, you know, number one overall pick Max Crosby and like two twos. You'd be like, yeah, I'm just going to keep Lamar Jackson. That's, we're, that's what we're going to do here. So you guys can go find another team that might be entertained, do dumb ideas. But we're not going to do that here. And I'm not even saying they want to do that, but there's just been enough. This isn't just like from one Reddit stream. It just got weird. And I thought Lamar answered the bell down the stretch. Obviously, big time. So does a flower. So did likely those plays were, I mean, you like fell off your couch. Like, is this really happening? Unless you're rooting for the Steelers and you just want to go like, where is the defender? What are we doing? Let's bang out some other topics before we get out of here. Big news today, at least the first of the the gate opening on what is considered Black Monday tomorrow. Though sometimes it kind of materializes over the course of the week. Arthur Blank, who's old as shit, put himself in his own hall of Fame last year, which is an all time move. Actually read an Instagram thread on him and how him and his partner started Home Depot. Pretty incredible. Like he's, I don't think we talk enough about his, his business story, you know, how he started from scratch and what he created after being fired from another company with a buddy. It's, it's a pretty awesome story. But as an owner, it does feel like they're pretty lost. And over the Last five years with Arthur Smith and Raheem Morris. It doesn't feel like any team has underachieved more. And this team like the reason Raheem Morris got fired. And I saw, listen, I've known Mike Silver, who wrote for SI and now writes for Athletic, for a long time, covered the NFL forever. He loves Raheem Morris just like everyone loves Raheem Morris. And he was on the X channels, as my mom calls it, defending, saying, this is crazy. Only got two years. He just won his last four games. When Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenow made the decision in a month span to give Kirk Cousins four years, $180 million and $100 million guaranteed of Arthur Blank's money and then a month later draft a quarterback number eight overall, which I'm not acting like I didn't like him. I did, but the NFL did not. He was off a ton of draft boards. He had major injury concerns and a lot of people just questioned his overall talent. Like most people I knew if they did have him on the draft board, did not have him in the first round. They took him eight overall. That move or those two moves didn't blow up in their face. It was like a nuclear bomb in the organization and it has been a disaster. Michael Penix, now two years later is, has a torn acl. That's the third time he's torn it. Kirk Cousins, who by far, once he started playing was better than he was last year and was better than Penix, but they're not going to bring Cousins back because he makes like 40 plus million dollars a year. So they're kind of in quarterback no man's land. And it's like, okay, yeah, they tied for first in the division. The division was eight and fucking nine. That is an embarrassment. In most divisions you would have been four or five, six games behind the number one team in your division. You wouldn't have sniffed second. So going eight, nine is not an accomplishment at actually when you watch them against the Rams, when you watch them against the Bills, it's kind of an embarrassment. So I, I have no qualms or issues with those two guys getting fired because any, any human in life, when you are in a situation, especially a pressure pack situation, and you make a massive decision, we make, we all make a lot of decisions in life. Some of them be, you know, the results of those decisions have little to no impact on our professional situation. And some of them will make or break us. And their quarterback decisions two years ago broke them. That's the Way it works. Just like I saw with the 49ers. If Brock Purdy would not have been drafted in the seventh round, the 49ers would have been screwed. They would have had a major, major problem. But the football gods threw them a bone. The football gods did not throw these guys a bone. Right when Michael Pennix got thrust in there, he just couldn't really play. And when Cousins, you know, had to play last year wasn't any good. And then this year they just started losing to bad teams. They had one of the worst special teams we've ever seen. And yeah, they started playing better at the end of the season. Too little, too late. You ever get into a fight, a really bad fight and then try to apologize and she won't listen to you? Yeah, you can try to apologize after the fact. It's not good enough. So I understand them firing him. I would fully expect Matt Ryan to be some sort of made up role where he is between the gm, between the coach and Arthur Blank. That would be the expectation moving forward. I saw a report from Rap Sheet today that Philip Rivers will essentially garner interest to be a head coach in the NFL. Let me say this, I do think Philip Rivers could immediately start tomorrow and be a good head coach of the NFL. He understands players, he understands personnel just from evaluating them on a game plan. For 20 plus years he's now been a coach I get at a high school level. But he understands just like the feeling of standing on the sideline with a headset. I would have would bet on Philip Rivers working, but if I was Philip Rivers, because calling the plays on game day, I'm sure he'd be good at it. I'm sure working with the quarterback and the offensive skill guys would be come very naturally to him. But you know what being a head coach is. On Monday afternoon you get a call. Your starting defensive tackle just had a family member claim that he, he blasted her in the face with his fist because she turned down the air conditioning from 70 to 68 degrees. A wide receiver just had a chef sue him for sexually assaulting him. You're starting safety just wrapped his car around a telephone pole and got a dui. Your offensive line coach, his wife just left him and mentally he's in shambles. Your GM is just in an awful mood and you got to deal with them like that is being a head coach. Oh, and you have a billionaire family who again, a billionaire family who literally everything they do in life is free. I one time heard someone describe what it's like to Be a billionaire. And they're like, imagine every. Everything in life is free. I'm like, that's a great way to sum it up. And what a way to live. You know, you just, no matter what room you go into, if you want to buy that, you're like, I can't afford that. That's who you work for. A family where literally everything in the world to them is free. And most of them, even if they are nice people or whatever, you lose a little touch of reality. And it is not easy. In what world would Philip Rivers want to deal with that? He's made hundreds of millions of dollars. He has 10 freaking kids. He has a son who's going to be a senior who by all accounts is going to be a high end recruit. He's got another son who's a ninth grader who I would bet on probably eventually becoming a high end recruit. Why does he need that stress? You know why Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh or a lot of those guys do it. That's how they've made their money. That's where they make their millions of dollars. Phillips already made the millions. Now if he did want that headache because it's unavoidable, I would respect the shit out of him. Tom Brady, you know, bought into a team. Like he's going to be really hands on. Hands on. Dude's like playing golf in Florida again. I don't blame him at all. I'd be doing exactly what Tom is doing. I'd be playing golf, I'd be hanging out with Alex Earl. I'd be living life as well. But Tom Brady doesn't want to act like John Elway did 10 years ago. Every day in the office, every day dealing with all the shit. Deal with your scouts, deal with your gm, deal with your coaches, deal with the college draft, deal with free agency, dealing with your own team, dealing with the agents, dealing with the owners. It's a pain in the fucking ass. Pays well. You get a lot of praise when things go well. But most of the days are not just game day after a win in the locker room, high fiving everybody. Most of the days are long, no one's paying attention and shit is hitting the fan left and right. So this is one of those things. Awesome headline. Kind of interesting because I think we both all agree Philip Rivers could be a head coach in the NFL if he wanted to do it. There is no doubt in anyone's mind. And if there is a doubt in your mind, then you probably don't know what you're talking about no offense. I mean might be a good human, but you just don't understand football. But I just don't see at this point in time why he'd want that on his plate. Speaking of Rivers, the Colts announced I about a couple nights ago I couldn't sleep and I, I got up, it was like three in the morning and I just started scrolling the Athletic and there was this long article about Ursay's daughter Carly who owns, runs the team now. And there were a lot of quotes in there from Shane Syke and Chris Ballard and it was clear that they all like each other a lot. So when I saw the news today that they're coming back. Chris Ballard's never won the division in nine years. Obviously Shane Steichen hasn't made the playoffs this year. They started 8 and 2. They don't have first round picks. They, I don't even think they've won a game after that. Pretty sure they, yeah, they lost today. So they went 8, 9. Disastrous season. Again, the jets have their first round pick. I don't know if you saw the stat at halftime on Sunday Night Football of quarterbacks against the Jets. 36 touchdowns, no interceptions. 143 like 70% completion percentage. That's, that's really bad. I mean that's, I, I got nothing. Like, I'm not anti Aaron Glenn. I was rooting for him, always really liked him on the lines. I thought he did a great job. I think it's hard to argue that's one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the league. No interceptions. You inherited a team with Sauce Gardner, with, with pass rushers, no interceptions. That, that is a record, you know, like a record that will stand forever. Like Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, Cal Ripkens, you know, whatever. 10,000 straight games or whatever it was Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points. And we go on and on like some of these probably going to stand forever. I saw some of Jerry Rice's records. Nobody, and I promise you nobody is ever, ever breaking the jets record. No one will ever match that. You couldn't break it, but you could match it. It will never be matched, I promise you that. What will, what, what was I guess didn't have to be matched is the, the Vegas, Las Vegas Raiders. We knew going into the game because the Cowboys today who yanked Dakota went full tank again. I don't even blame them for doing it. I would have done it too. Once the Giants win that game, who also I think went from 2 to 5 or 6. I forget exactly where they're drafting, but obviously, you know, not ideal now. Jackson Dart, Brian Burns, none of those guys care about a draft pick. The Raiders have the number one overall pick. We're going to watch, you know, Pete Carroll. Most people assume that within the next 24, 48 hours Pete Carroll will either be forced into retirement or be fired. And Fernando Mendoza will be their be their quarterback. Because it was announced tonight that Kurt Signetti in Indiana had signed, I think TCU's quarterback Hoover and he will replace Fernando Mendoza, who's going to the draft. Who will be the number one overall pick and will be the starting quarterback for the Vegas Raiders in 2026. The only question is who's going to be their coach. Some rumors about Brian Flores and Day Ball. I think they will want an offensive head coach. If Stefanski got fired, would they be interested? We'll just have to keep an eye on that. And the Chiefs, who went to five Super Bowls in six years, had one of the worst seasons of all time for them. But they have the ninth pick in the draft. And I think what's scary about that is this is going to be a chance for them to a catalyst for them to continue the dynasty. If you tell me that the Chiefs are going to continue to be really, really good in the high end team, this Jeff, this draft will change the franchise and I think they can do this two ways. You can go from nine to like four pretty easily. If you're them, you could just, hey, we'll give you next year's first round pick and just a team that, you know, like the Giants that need to accumulate assets, come back and all of a sudden if a couple quarterbacks go high, we end up with potentially the best pass rusher or best offensive lineman in the draft. A guy that we couldn't have dreamed of acquiring for the last 15 years. We've never ever the best player in the, you know, arguably in the league and one of the great draft picks in franchise history. We Pat, we drafted Patrick Mahomes 10 and we had to come up from the 20s. Now we're at nine. We can go up, we can get an, we can get an all timer or can we go from like 9 to 14 still draft way higher than we ever envisioned we'd be drafting, accumulate another second round pick and start nailing some high end guys that are cheap. So now we got a first rounder, we got a couple second rounders and we can maneuver. But I think the Chiefs are a lot of the usual suspects. High, lot of crappy franchises, but the Chiefs to me are by far the most fascinating team drafting in the top 10. And you know, whenever I text my buddies on their staff, you know, we just BS about players. They're always just talking about it, you know, hypothetically, like, yeah, we really like that guy, but obviously we were never going to draft him. Now beside three or four players, they have to really evaluate all, you know, Caleb Downs, Bane. I mean, all the guys that, yeah, they write up and they put on the board, they're never drafting those players. Now it's like they're. They're a real conversation. Which to me adds an intrigue like, of course the Titans are drafting high. They suck. You know, they always suck. And I think that job, I think that franchise, you know, a lot of franchises get picked on. The jets, the Raiders. I don't think we pick on the Titans enough. They are just an abomination of an operation. And there's going to be a lot of pressure on Borgonzi. That clearly got a bunch more juice over the weekend in some power struggle with the Chad Brinker guy. And now he answers the owner. He doesn't answer that guy who claimed they were friends. But anytime this happens, it always gets weird when you lose whoever their next head coach is. Cam Ward got hurt today. Just weird situation. And I guess we will end on this. There was no bigger lock and I stand by what I said. If you go under.500 and win a division, you should not host a playoff game. It's very simple. I had people tweeting at me like, you're just jealous. The 49ers have to. This has nothing to do about anyone. I don't care who has to go on the road or plays a home game. You should not be able to host a playoff game. If you go under.500, that reflects your division. Because winning the division is a big deal. It's hard to win the division. Why? Because usually there are multiple double digit win teams in the division. Seattle won a division with the fifth and the sixth seed. Right. Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles won a division against another with another team that ends up they played in the NFC championship game. The Denver Broncos won the division like the Chargers were nipping at their heels all season long. And I just think when you have another division where all the other teams are under.500 as well, like, that's a joke division. It just is now. I don't think this is going to change anytime soon, but I did. I was an idiot that once the Panthers made It today they were playing that first game in the afternoon on Saturday which is historically the worst game on paper of the weekend. And there's already I think like a 10 plus point spread for the Rams. That was a no brainer. I did think the Bears, packers and the Niners Eagles would be Fox and Sunday night, but clearly Amazon. I think there's a decent chance either Fox or Amazon had the number one overall pick and they picked Bears packers at night because that is just that environment in Chicago at night. Freezing cold, the pressure on the floor, trying to get a contract extension. He wins this game. It would shut a lot of people up. The Bears. I listen anytime you get a home game you want to win. They've already had a pretty incredible season. Obviously to beat the packers would be the icing on the cake. You win this game, it would just be, I mean an all time first year for Ben Johnson. You beat the packers twice, once in the playoffs at a home game. It'd be pretty cool. I do think the Eagles I saw Sirianni was asked about it. It's hard because they're benching a bunch of guys. They're playing a bunch of backups. He had to look up there and see the bears are down 16, nothing and going there is a big difference between the two and the three seed. Having two home games or only having one, to me that's a game changer. Now you could argue, well the Bears could lose. Well, they could. Or they could just win and then you win and then you got to go there. So I, I was honestly stunned and I get it. You're playing a backup quarterback who. I thought Tanner McKee was a little better. He didn't play that well today. Whenever I would kind of peek at the game, I just assumed they would win even with their backups. And then all of a sudden it's like 24:17. I'm like what is going on? But obviously the, you know the Eagles play the 49ers in the, in the day game on Sunday. I think it's. Is it. I have to look now I'm confused. I'm like thinking out loud what's the NFL schedule? Got a lot on my mind right now. It's like blinking. So we got Buffalo, Jacksonville. I, I thought they would give Josh Allen a Sunday night game. Little surprised. I get Jacksonville is not the sexiest quote unquote, you know, name market. I think Jacksonville is a fun team to watch. They have been kicking ass and taking names. I was if you would have told me these three Games would have been on Sunday, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Niners, Philly, Los Angeles, New England. I think I would have guessed the Chargers in New England would have been the morning game and they would have put Josh Allen at night. And I would have guessed that for Fox and Tom Brady just would have taken Philly and the Niners in the afternoon game. So I, I am a little surprised. And I, I get it's, you know, Drake May, Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh. Not saying that there's not star power in the LA New England game, but I, I thought that Josh Allen's almost like, I don't know, like LeBron, Steph Curry, you know, Shohei, just like a transcendent name in this sport that is just such a TV rating magnet that he would have trumped those two guys, but clearly he didn't. And then obviously the Monday night game, Pittsburgh at Houston. My initial thought is just, I like Houston a lot in this game. I think that, I think Houston's a very live dog to be a major, major problem in the afc. I haven't thought that much about all these matchups. I do think the Niners, it's going to be really, really difficult. I think Jacksonville is just having an incredible, they are so good. But to get Josh Allen and I get it, the Bills have looked weird. I'm not even counting today, but just, it's been a weird season. The Keon Coleman situation, you know, you draft this guy high, he gets, he's inactive all the time. Their defense just looks shitty. So often the weapons aren't great beside Cook, but I just have a hard time betting against an all time great quarterback, especially who's going to be well rested. Jags defense is good. I think that game, that's, that's an excellent morning game that, that really is. And I think Green Bay, Chicago is just great theater. I, I would say the Steeler. If I had to rank some of the great games of the year, regular season, just off the top of my head, I would say that Bears packers game where they came back at the end was just, I was on the edge of my seat and it wasn't even the greatest game, but it was just, the atmosphere was just so cool. Saturday night, Niners, Bears, Pittsburgh Ravens. I mean, we've had the Seattle Ram game. We've, we've had some great primetime games. And to me, what makes a primetime game is like the venue really comes into play. It's a huge point of difference for college football, right? When you get some of these primetime night games like LSU at. Lsu, right at, you know, at some of these venues that are just really, really cool. It's kind of where the SEC thrives because their home games are just so badass when the lights are on. And I think we got, you know, the New England. That's a place that they've hosted a lot of night playoff games. You know, Chicago has not. But that's just an incredible venue and obviously Pittsburgh will be rocking. So we'll talk a lot about these games as the week goes on. Obviously, as people get, you know, fired and rumors fly, we will have you covered and I will formulate opinions and thoughts on anything that comes across the NFL wire. So have a great night. Hopefully everyone had a enjoyable 2025 regular season. Probably not. If you're like a Titan, Cardinal, Giant fan, Jets fan? Definitely not Raider fan? No chance. Chiefs fan. Probably not really either. But you know, if you're like a Patriot fan, it was pretty cool. You know, if you're a Bears fan, it was pretty badass. So it's all about perspective, you know, whoever you are, we will talk tomorrow. Have a good night. See you. The Volume Toyota is All in all season and with Toyota Gameday Giveaways, the official automotive partner of the NFL is giving football fans a 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. Visit toyota.com NFL to learn more. Toyota let's Go Places no purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Ends 28:26 Open to legal residents of the 50 US states and DC 18 and over. 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