← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Steelers-Texans REACTION, Coaches on 4th Down, Tony Romo STINKS at broadcasting
00:58:42
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Levar Arrington
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John Middelkopf
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Levar Arrington
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Richard Sherman
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- [02:50]
John Middelkopf
The volume Foreign. What is going on everybody? John Middelkopf three and out podcast brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches. I just witnessed the Pittsburgh Steelers get obliterated by the Houston Texans. Oh my gosh. That was even worse than I envisioned and I did not envision great things for them. So we will dive into the Steelers Tomlin Rogers Is that it? Can the Texans make a run? Lot a lot of other stuff going on. John Harbaugh was paid a visit by Chris Mora who is John's brother. So something to keep an eye on. Micah Parsons comes out to defend LaFleur. We had Tony Romo who's just getting crushed on the Internet for sucking at broadcasting and this lady that told Liam Cohen, good job. Have a great off season. You did great. Keep your head up. I do. I do want to talk about that viral situation with big Js and just what would I appreciate about that room and what I look forward to getting out of it with as a consumer. So that will be the show today, talking to football. The Netflix. It was a little delayed this morning. It should be should be bright and early tomorrow from a video standpoint. This podcast from a video standpoint. But yesterday's episodes up on Netflix, this one should. I think the plan is to load like 6:00 My Time AM 8 Eastern Every single day. So keep an eye for that. Make sure you subscribe. Obviously podcasts are up rocking and rolling from a sports standpoint up on Netflix and if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to this podcast so you never miss a thing. Like yesterday we had a big show talking about Sirianni and the 49ers and a couple days away from having a kid. So buckle up, let's just talk some football. Tonight the Pittsburgh Steelers were murdered. They were destroyed. That game wasn't even close. I thought the last couple years against Josh Allen, against Lamar Jackson. Losing both those games by multiple scores was a clear sign that the Chiefs were the best team in the afc. Then you had the next tier which were those two. And in the first round of the playoffs, back to back years, you weren't even within two touchdowns of them And I've been saying this for a while, listen, coaching a lot like relationships, you kind of know when it's over. But a lot of times even when you know it's over, it still lasts a little bit longer. Now in sports for those to continue, like you can't win four or five games and Mike Tomlin has made a career now of going 9 and 8 or 10 and 7, like he is never going to not be competitive. We know that next year Aaron Rodgers retires. They could land Mac Jones, they could land Malik Willis, and I would bet on the Steelers to be a nine or ten win team. They're never going to bottom out even with these older players that they will figure it out. They're not going to suck. But what does that get you? Feels like it puts a band aid on this situation that this once proud franchise that used to compete go toe to toe with the great Ravens teams, with the great Patriot teams, even though they couldn't really be the Patriots in the playoffs, but in terms of the regular season, they were really, really good. And this last decade has been an embarrassment. And you watch tonight that they basically tried to hold this thing together with guys at the end of their career. You know, a lot of people in the league thought given TJ Watt all that money this year was crazy. We understood he's been one of the best players on your team and in the league, the best player on your team and one of the better players in the league over the course of his career. But he's an aging veteran trending the wrong way. You know, trading for Jalen Ramsey, who by the end of the year wasn't bringing much to the table. I don't blame you for signing Aaron Rodgers. At 42 years old, you didn't have any other options. But as I told Coward this morning, if this was a Disney movie, I would have picked Rogers and Tomlin to win the game. This is the NFL and that was the outcome I expected. I'd argue it was worse, especially as the game went on. I'm like, is he going to get injured? The, the one thing with the Steelers is for a long time they were great with wide receivers. They could find guys all over the draft. They always had dudes then this year they trade with what I would consider one of, if not the best. Definitely. If you just factor in this year, you'd say he's the best GM during the 2025 season, when John Schneider calls you to make a deal for a guy going on to his third contract, that should be like when Billy Bean calls you or Sam Presti calls you, hang up the phone. They gave DK Metcalf, they gave a second round pick and they gave him $150 million. Now we'll see with the suspension, they can get out of guarantees. My guess is they cut him this offseason. He obviously had a horrendous drop on what should be for a high end wide receiver, a play you make with your eyes closed. But here's the problem. DK Metcalf is actually like the poor man's version of Terrell Owens. Do you know the knock on Terrell Owens didn't have great hands. Like wasn't Chris Carter, wasn't Marvin Harrison, but he was good enough. And obviously from a physical standpoint, he was unstoppable once the ball was in his hands. DK Metcalf definitely doesn't have good hands because even the late drop that he had, I don't even know if they considered it a drop. When Aaron Rodgers scrambled to his left and let that ball fly, which, God, he still throws a beautiful spiral. At first you're like, that wasn't even close. And then they show the slow motion version. It literally split his hands. It's like I, I, I learned a long time ago when I got involved in college recruiting and then through the NFL, guys with bad hands for good teams are complete stay aways because you can't play the position if you can't catch. You could play defensive line if you're a little bit shorter, you could play certain positions if you lack certain physical characteristics, but you can't play wide receiver at the highest of level. And when they make that trade, they expected him to be a star. And you saw tonight, he's just not, you know, and I'm not even factoring in him kind of screwing over his team, forcing them to go all in in that Ravens game where clearly they got lucky to win with the miss field goal, where if he plays against the Cleveland Browns, they win the game, but he's not available. And I just think, I'm not putting all this blame on Mike Tomlin. Only people in the building know his pull and power when it comes to players. Clearly he has some, if not a lot. But this team is extremely poorly built. I mean, they really are. And relative to the other teams, when you factor in how dependent they are on this aging legend, they got no shot. But here was the thing with the Steelers, when they were really, really good, which is most of my life, definitely in the early, throughout the 2000s and then for five, six years in the 2010s, they had dominant defenses. Their front was unblockable. Their linebacker play wasn't just fast, it was physical. And they had DBs up the wazoo. You watch him tonight, you know, the underrated part of the night, because Aaron Rodgers takes so much oxygen, you know, in the conversation. And listen, it's. It's a star quarterback league. They get discussed the most. They're. They're like Hollywood actors or, you know, star singers or rappers or whatever, right? They. They are the headliners. But, like, you know, the headline of the Steelers defense stinks wasn't good last week against the Ravens when they were blowing coverages left and right to Zay Flowers and Lamar Jackson. And it definitely wasn't good tonight if it wasn't for one of the more bizarre quarterback performances you will ever see out of C.J. stroud. And we'll get into him here in a little bit. That defense was shredded, and that was for about half the game without easily their best offensive player, Nico Collins, who got absolutely KO'd by the ground. And I think big picture when it comes to the Texans, you know, it's gonna. It's gonna be a short turnaround for him to clear concussion protocol. I think it's pretty fair game to assume that he will not be available this upcoming weekend. Now, because of the way their team is built, as long as their quarterback doesn't turn it over, they should be in every game. You know why? Their defense is awesome. Their defense looks like what the Ravens and Steelers used to look like. But here's the thing. The Ravens prove that, like, you know what? Eventually we just got to pull the plug and try something new. And a lot of people will argue is, like, you know, this. This could be a lot worse, but could this be better? Could we actually be better off with someone else? I look today, because sometimes he's been there for so long, you think, you know, John Harbaugh's 63, 64 years old. Mike Tomlin's 53 years old. He, like, John Harbaugh, if he became available, would be the apple of all these teams. I. And obviously, Mike would only work for credible franchises. There are some available operations that he would not even be interested in. But if he is available, and Schefter reported this a month ago that, like, listen, they're not going to fire him, but they would be open to trading him. And then there were some other rumors like, he would be open to television if I'm Mike Tomlin. And listen, it's hard, like he's prideful. I've been fired. In the NFL, it happens literally to everybody. Belichick's been fired, Andy Reid's been fired. You name it, they have been canned. It's part of the business. It's very unique that way. You can work 20 hours a day, 52 weeks a year. You can grind. You could be the first one there, the last one out the building, give all your effort, pour everything you have into the operation, and you lose, you get canned. That's part of the gig. And somehow with this Pittsburgh. And listen, he deserves credit because they never lose, but they're going nowhere fast. So I just wonder if you're him, why do you want to keep doing this? Especially now when you're looking at this team with all these older players with this financial cap situation that isn't great, with your best wide receiver is not a dependable human. You have no quarterback. And it's not like you're drafting in the top five to acquire one of the top couple guys. Assuming that another quarterback comes out as well as Fernando Mendoza, that the future looks pretty dark, it looks pretty bleak. And while they've had some pretty embarrassing games over the last couple years, you could argue this one might take the cake. 30 to 6 at home to a quarterback in the first half that fumbled four times. He gave you two of them. He also threw an interception that hit your DB in the numbers. Like they gave you three turnovers. It was playing out like a classic. Like, oh, just weird stuff happening. And this, you know, it was at one point in time, seven to three, seven to six, like, God is a weird game. Until it wasn't. And they could only hold the rope for so long until that thing broke because their team stinks. That has to be one of the worst 10 and seven teams you'll ever see. They have no chance of doing anything in the playoffs. None. Like the packers, for example, they went 9, 7 and 1. You wouldn't even compare those two teams to each other. The packers were a real playoff team who could win a playoff game. The Steelers were not. I believe that they would lose to all other six opponents. I also believe if they played the Ravens 10 times with the team the Ravens rolled out with Lamar Jackson on that Sunday, they lose most of those. And if the Ravens, who Steve Boschotti has entered the chat of being, you know, running an operation like the Miami Heat, like the Pittsburgh Steelers, like the Green Bay packers, like the LA Dodgers or the New York Yankees, they are one of the organizations that you would Say is cream of the crop, well run stable, has unlimited resources. We'll do whatever it takes. And you factor in that Aussies there and they're like, we gotta get. You're just done, John. Not because we think you're some bum, but it's time to change. Why can't the Steelers do that? And I'm done saying they should, because I don't expect them to do so. I'll say this. If you're Mike Tomlin, get out now, man. Like, ask for a trade. Sean Payton saw the writing on the wall and he just quit. He said, peace deuces. I'm just going to retire. He didn't retire. He just wanted out of there. But he couldn't really force a trade. Probably felt a little bad. Mickey Loomis was his boy. So he just quit for a year. He always wanted to come right back. What did he do? He immediately jumped back in. And they essentially had to trade for him. So Mike Tomlin could do something like that, or he could just be like, hey, that Atlanta job is pretty interesting. I wouldn't mind moving my family to Miami. Like, hey, the Giants. If John harbor doesn't come there, I'm interested. I see you got a lot of pieces. Your division doesn't look that difficult, especially after watching the Eagles the other night. Hey, give me a bus. It just makes sense. All things, you know, in life literally come to an end, right? There are two guarantees in life, taxes and death. And in the NFL, most people tell you get fired. Most players tell you. Like most guys get cut. The overwhelming percentage of players end their career through a release. I'm talking hall of Fame players. There's a small percentage of guys that just, like, retire on their own. That's not usually the way it works. And same thing with coaches. So I. I think this thing has come to a screeching halt. Tonight was really, really ugly. They have had some really embarrassing moments at home. 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. 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- [19:05]
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Richard Sherman
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- [22:05]
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- [23:02]
John Middelkopf
One thing that I read in the Athletic did a big like deep dive into the Baltimore Raven situation like the last the Sunday Monday Tuesday of the John Harbaugh kind of exit. And one theme in there is the owner started noticing that the crowds weren't as good. And they had just lost some internal momentum with their own fan base. And obviously in sports. Same thing with the business I'm in. The worst place you can ever be is the people that watch you, the people that are fans of your team, they become apathetic once apathy sinks in, and they don't care. I had a wise man tell me one time, when it comes to dating advice is, listen, if she hates you, that ain't the worst thing, because she's thinking about you. Obviously, the best case is she loves you, but the moment she stops thinking about you, it's a wrap. And that's what it kind of feels like. The Steeler fans have kind of come to grips with. It's like this same old song and dance over and over and over. Yeah, we're not the Arizona Cardinals, right? We're not the Tennessee Titans. We're never going to bottom out and be some laughing stock like the New York Jets. But this also isn't really fun. And Mike Tomlin has to know that. He's been around football his entire life. And I understand being the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers comes with great prestige, right? It's. It's a real big job in this country. The NFL is one of our biggest businesses in America, and he's the head coach of one of its most important franchises. So it's easy for me to say, like, hey, just go to the Atlanta Falcons. Like, there's a little different animal. You know, it's like coaching the SEC or coaching the Big 12. You know, it's like some things come with a little more credibility. But I think they're at the point now that if you're Mike Tomlin, you got to ask yourself, like, maybe you go to them and go, it's time. But let's just go our separate ways, because I'll be fine. I'm 53 years old. If I took a year off on TV, his stock would skyrocket. They just announced Al Michaels is coming back to Amazon, which love Al Michaels, absolute living legend. I wouldn't say he's actually, you know, still throwing 98. You know, he's. He reminds me of Tim Lince. First came on the scene. 97, 98 winning Cy Youngs. By the end, it's going about 80 miles an hour. But you put Mike Tomlin with them. You know, Herb Street's done a commendable job. He's tried. He's not an NFL guy. You put Tomlin. That situation a couple of years ago. They wanted Sean McVeigh get a big personality. He'd have every job opening in America lined up for him if he doesn't, like, you know, any of the options this year. But this Pittsburgh thing is just clearly over. And when it comes to the quarterback, clearly they thought at the end of the game that this is Aaron Rodgers last game. He's told people that, you know, I think he's been saying this, that he believed this would probably be his last season. Watching that game and watching him get the living, you know, what kicked out of him, you start asking yourself, like, what are you doing this for? What do you have to prove? You got the MVPs, you've won the Super Bowl. You're clearly one of the great players in the history of the league. I know sometimes it ends a little poorly. The jets thing was such a joke. People forget. I saw him live in the peak of his career countless times. He is as good as it gets, you know? And listen, I think you could almost say he underachieved in a weird way, because he probably should have gone to more Super Bowls. I mean, hell, he went to countless championship games. And the famous one in Seattle where they had the big lead and they blew it, that definitely was theirs to get. I thought their team, when they lost to Tampa in 2020, should have won the Super Bowl. I think they were the best team in the league. So they're probably a couple of teams, but that probably Peyton Manning probably tell you about a couple teams that he had that, you know, should have hoisted the Lombardi, and they didn't even make it to the Super Bowl. So it comes with the territory. It's pro sports. It's hard. But I think if you're him and you're getting peppered tonight by Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter, who look like Lawrence Taylor meets Reggie White, you start asking yourself, well, I'm not doing this for the money, because I played this season for $10 million. I've accumulated hundreds of those. So, like, I don't need the money. Clearly, you know, for the first time in several years, he definitely flew a little under the radar. I saw someone tweeting. The most fascinating part of Aaron Rodgers is he's easily the most famous human, especially in this country, that wears a wedding ring, that we have no clue who his wife is. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt that she exists, but we don't know. And he's a complex individual. I mean, I tried to watch the Netflix documentary about Ayahuasca. My wife made me turn it off about halfway through episode two. But I stand by as a player, it didn't get any better than him in his prime. I grew up on Brett Favre and by the time he hit a stride, he owned my favorite team, the 49ers. Marty Morningwig told me once when I worked for the Eagles, and I think Andy reiterated this, that in his prime, 95, 96, 97, when he won three straight MVPs, you'd be hard pressed to ever find a player in NFL history who was better than him in those moments, for those, that three year stretch and they upgraded a quarterback when they, when Aaron Rodgers, you know, hit his stride for a decade. That's how good Aaron Rodgers was. And historically I think most people would argue that if you were just ranking quarterbacks, right? Brady, Montana, Mahomes, Marino, Elway, whatever. Most people putting Rogers above Farf. So I, and I would, I think if you were taking both guys in their prime, I think Rogers was better. And that's, I think Favre is remarkable. I mean we're talking about guys somewhere between like 4 and 6. That's how good the packers have had it for back to back years. Shows you Jordan Love. I said forever. I was very lucky. Like when I was in high school, Steve Young got KO'd and I just got Jeff Garcia for like four or five years and he was going to Pro Bowls. Now he's not Steve Young or Joe Montana, but you just get, you just go from a legend to a Pro Bowler. Do you know how lucky you are? You know what the Cleveland Browns would do just for like the 15th best quarterback in the NFL? You know what the Arizona Cardinals would do just for like a 10 year starter? You know, most. I don't think the Kansas City Chiefs had ever drafted a Pro bowl quarterback before Patrick Mahomes. So it's very, very difficult to do. And that's, you know, the Steelers found this guy from Miami of Ohio who became a superstar and a dominant hall of Fame player. And they haven't been the same since he left. And Aaron did a, I thought admirable job. You have to respect a guy playing through like Justin Herbert's trying to prove himself right. People, everyone's ripping him today. Can't win a playoff game this year. Breaks his arm or you know, hand or wrist just like Aaron Rodgers and just battles through it. Why he's, he's trying to prove to his own coach, to his own organization, prove he's worth the money, prove he can win a playoff game. Aaron Rodgers has nothing to prove, absolutely nothing. And he was out there getting the kicked out of him with the, you know, cast on his left hand for the last couple months. Without him they would have no shot. So you know, listen, this is usually how it ends. Like I, I wasn't alive when Willie Mays finished his career for the Mets like a lot of these guys. Emmett Smith played for the Arizona Cardinals. A lot of legendary hall of Fame players don't go off on the podium with the Lombardi trophy in their hand like John Elway. Peyton Manning won a Super bowl his last year, struggled to make, you know, a 20 yard out route throw. Tom Brady is last year, didn't his team go 8, 9 and get boat raced by the Cowboys in the playoffs? I think Dak Prescott threw five touchdowns in that game and Brady got the crap kicked out of him there. It's like, what are you doing this for? Brady's like, I love football. Rogers clearly loves football, but he can't move like he once could. He'll be able to throw the ball. I've said this forever about Dan Marino. I bet if you just get through Dan a ball and probably a little red man in his, in his mouse, get him lubed up, he could still rip a 30 yard strike like he could 20 years ago. Aaron Rodgers gonna be able to throw a bullet when he's 65 years old, but he can't move anymore. And you're a human being, you don't really want to get hit anymore. So you're much more or you're much less likely to stay in there for that extra quarter or half second. Brady was clearly like that, which I totally understand. If I was in my mid-40s, kids like Brady, married like Rogers. Like I'm not letting Will Anderson, who the Texans are about to give $150 million, hit me in my sternum and put me in a hospital that I like. I have no desire to do that. But to play quarterback at the highest level, you can't. Those thoughts can't even cross your mind. And that's why you watch these guys in the prime of their career. Josh Allen, Mahomes, Lamar, they're just playing and forever for Rogers, he was just playing and like those guys, he was better than everybody. And his just playing was borderline unstoppable. And the packers actually let him down several years with bad defenses. He's got to be watching now. They get Jeff Halfley. Like if he ever had a defense like they've had the last couple years, they probably have multiple other super bowl appearances, especially in some of the years when they had just awesome offenses. But I think it's fair to say it's over. And I think the NFL's very. Been very good at this. Not that they control any of it, but they've always had a wave of guys leave and then new guys come in and, you know, the Rogers, Brady, Manning Rivers, Eli Roethlisberger, those guys all phased out and Mahomes, Josh Lamar, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert. You know, a lot of these guys just showed up and they've carried the mantle. And obviously the NFL has never been more popular and the offense has never been easier to play. But, you know, if you, if Aaron Rodgers, in the prime of his career, could have played with some of these rules, it wouldn't have been a fair fight. I sound like, get off my lawn, old guy. But it's just a fact. Like, watch some Michael Jordan highlights. They could tackle you in the mid-90s. Guy never fucking missed a jump shot. And I think Aaron Rodgers just can't move like he wants. Good. So he's kind of a sitting duck. But his understanding of the game, knowing, like, their team just had no chance. Kind of, kind of sad the way he's going out. But it's just, like I said, it's usually the way it happens. Other than that, on this game, obviously, the Houston Texans advance. They let me, let me pull up the schedule here because we have a divisional round and they will play the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon. So hopefully I'm. My baby is born. I'm home. Hopefully I'm home Saturday so I can watch those games. Especially the Niner Seattle game. She already bought him like a little niner onesie, so hopefully we're back for that. But, you know, it's out of my hands. As the pediatrician told me, you got to just take your hands off the steering wheel and just let them guide you. So the, the, the. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but if we can't, just, hopefully I'll see you guys on Sunday. And that would be Houston at New England, which Houston's defense can win a Super Bowl. There's. There is not a front like that playing right now in the league. Seattle's front is pretty good. It ain't that they don't Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson. That's, that's. I actually. And for those of you that are watching on Netflix, which probably some of you guys have also listened to, podcast, when John Schneider came on, I remember a couple games they played Seattle relatively early in the year. And I remember texting him about Houston. He's like, bro, their defense, the team, speed and physicality they have. And he started listing the names of their linebackers and secondary. He wasn't even talking about their front. And Will Anderson is just. He's someone you build a franchise around, and he's not even as good as Daniel Hunter. And they have multiple corners. I don't even know what could position. You'd consider Petrie playing, like, do it all. I was telling my wife tonight, it's like. It's kind of like a hu funga, but better in the open field. But in terms of physicality, playing downhill, they will knock the crap out of you. The question with them is their offense and specifically the quarterback. Because C.J. just pure talent. He can make individual plays where like, God, that's beautiful. That's a great throw. And then he could make plays like, is that the worst play I saw all weekend? He had four fumbles in the first half. Now, granted, they picked a couple of them up. He also lost two in. The interception was horrendous. And I think part of the problem for the Texans is they are built to have a guy like Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer or even like, this version that the 49ers had a Mac Jones was like, I know my role. Tell me what to do. You know, the problem for C.J. is he goes, I'm the second overall pick. I'm a player. I can make plays. And he's not totally wrong. He has the skill set to make plays. But this team does not need a playmaker. Because sometimes when you're making plays, hell, Mahomes, Lamar, Josh, all these guys, bad things happen, and we cannot afford. With the way we're built, we don't need to give them the ball. We don't need to give them any more possessions. Because our defense, when the possessions they have will dominate them. Just run the offense, be careful with the ball. Worst case scenario, throw it away. Take a sack, bro. Like, there were times tonight where it felt like he was playing on a team that needed a guy to score four touchdowns on his own. It's like, cj, that is not this game. And you look across in d', Amico, I mean, the guy was born to be a coach. Even at halftime, he was, like, positive about CJ strategy. Like, yeah, we just need to hold on to the ball a little better. Hold on the ball a little better to make you drop the ball four times. One of them was a bad snap, but the other two, they were very preventable. Now, you could also argue calling a flea flicker in the first half. I don't pretend to be some former offensive coordinator or some schematic genius, but part of a flea flicker typically is a little later in the game. So everyone bites on the run, you know, because you've been running it throughout the game. You don't just need the DBs to bite. You need the defensive line to respect it. Well, the defensive line didn't respect it at all. And CJ just gets obliterated. So I. You could put that one on the offensive coordinator more than the quarterback. But holy moly. CJ was trying to hand the Steelers the game. And this goes back. They're so bad, he could have given them three more turnovers. It wouldn't have mattered. The Steelers had two. I think they had two conversions on third down all night long. They were like 2 of 13 or 2 of 14. They were horrendous. So I just think the question mark now with the Houston Texans is the quarterback and him going on the road to New England. Listen, I just don't trust him. And now Nico Collins is surely out, but the defense alone can win them a game. And I just wouldn't bet against this Houston Texas team. So on initial thought, that is going to be a very, very difficult matchup for Drake May. Chargers defense is good. This defense right now is elite, and they literally will hurt you. So if New England wins that game, they could win the whole thing. But I think Houston's defense alone, if C.J. and the offense can just give them, I don't know, 10 points and maybe they can account for another touchdown and they get to like 15, 17 points range, I think they can win the game. Hell, you just saw for most of the game yesterday, it's not like New England was scoring. So I think I like Houston in that game. Now, big picture, could they make a Super bowl run? Hard to say that with. With the play that we just saw to the quarterback, because he just makes too many poor plays. Even there was one where he like stepped up in the pocket. It was beautiful. He kind of scrambled around, then stepped up. Nico Collins was running all by himself. And CJ's not. This isn't Caleb Williams where he's throwing 100 miles an hour all the time. Like, in theory, touch should be a huge part of his game. All you had to do is just like that. That should be a throw that C.J. stroud the player makes 90% of the time. And I don't know if Kevin Garnett could have caught that ball so that that's what would make me concerned about the Texans. Because from a, from a well, they're well coached. I mean, d' Amico's a stud, their defense is elite, their offense plays hard. I mean, Christian Kirk tonight was awesome. Woody Marks was running his ass off. But Nico Collins is surely going to be gone for this game. But who knows, maybe Christian Gonzalez will too. So we'll have to keep an eye on that matchup. But listen, you should be fired up. Typically they win in the first round. It's at home when they're the four seed. So going on the road in a cold environment and winning a game was a final score, 30 to 6. Picking off Aaron Rodgers and probably his last career pass is something you can be pretty excited about.
- [40:47]
Public Investing Advertiser
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- [41:57]
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- [42:58]
Richard Sherman
Is Richard Sherman from the Richard Sherman Podcast. Ready or not is the tactical first person shooter where you take command of a SWAT team and every decision matters. I reunited with my Legion of Boom teammates Cam Chancellor, Cliff Favreau, Michael Bennett and Walter Thurman to go through real SWAT training and see why over 13 million players are into this game. 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 PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. Play now and feel the weight of the badge.
- [43:46]
Sports Analyst
All right, time to break down the stats from this week's major games. Mike, let's talk about switching up the lineup. I switched to T Mobile with their new Family Freedom offer. That's not why we do this man. I'm trading up from AT&T and making a power play with T Mobile. They paid off my family's four phones up to $3200 and gave us four new phones on the house. Wow. Game changer.
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- [44:36]
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- [44:44]
John Middelkopf
Let's get to a story I saw today that I said, oh, there's something there. Chris Mara, who is John Mara's brother, unlike most owners to my knowledge in texting around with people really likes football, like fancies himself as a football guy, likes personnel, is technically like one of the high up personnel executives on the Giants and someone told me that years ago they had thought about just making him the general manager, but cooler heads prevailed and they realized you don't want a GM that you can't fire because the guy owns the team. And the Giants playing in the NFC east, have a good idea what that. That looks like with Jerry Jones creates a lot of stories that are just unnecessary and a lot of noise. So they always name a general manager. Joe Shane is the current gm, but Chris Maher views himself as a personnel man. Once upon a time, someone told me that Chris Mora, back when Jerry Reese was there, he would have him and his scouting staff, and then, like Morrow would have a little personnel staff. So he's every bit the owner that John is, too, but he likes personnel. The draft, going over players, and he went on a solo mission to John Harbaugh's home in Baltimore. And the first thing I thought of when I read that headline is, that ain't good if you're the gm. Because if he wanted to pitch the. If I was the owner and I was going to John Harbaugh's home when the GM is running the coaching search, you would think that he would bring him along. Especially because it's been reported that Joe Shane and John Harbaugh had a conversation last week. I would imagine, because obviously John is going through cancer treatment and probably unable to be as active as he would normally be. As they go through a lot of these coaching searches, I mean, they been running through coaches, you know, like you do practice squad players over the last decade, that Chris is kind of pretty important in this whole thing. And if he's not that big on Joe Shane, and clearly John Harbaugh, if he wants his own guy, would clearly be comfortable telling him when he's sitting on his couch over a cocktail. So my guess is this. If John Harbaugh told Chris Mara, which multiple people have reported, he's interested in the Giants job, Joe Shane and a lot of Giants fans asked this question. It was very fair to ask, how does Brian Dabel lose his job and the guy that came with him as a package deal keep his job? And there's not really been an answer. Well, the answer might be, is John Harbaugh might force his hand on that one and put Joe Shane. With Brian Dable no longer employed by the New York Giants. So the longer this thing goes, I do have a hard time seeing John Harbaugh coach for the Miami Dolphins. I've said this forever. I've been there a couple of times. It's beautiful. I mean, it's. It's hard to beat South Florida. I can't even imagine what it's like having, like, John Harbaugh level, level money. The neighborhoods you could shop in, the life you could lead. Harbaugh's a football guys man. When Jim Harbaugh got the job for the Chargers, he lived in a Winnebago. He lived in a trailer park with Greg Roman and he loved it. Jim Harbaugh would coach an NFL team if they had a good quarterback in North Dakota. John Harbaugh feels like a Northeast guy. John Harbaugh's lived in the Northeast from 1998 to 2025 when he got hired by the Philadelphia Eagles and up through last week when he was fired by Steve Bushotti. He does feel if he truly wants to win and he's, he doesn't just want $100 million and just a little less pressure because that's what Miami would be. But from a pure football standpoint, especially if the Giants are like, hey, man, if you want to bring one of your homies from the Ravens to run personnel, clearly Ozzy's produced a lot of good little underlings who have gone on to be GMs and know what they're doing. If you want in, we'll do it. If I was a betting man right now, assuming all the reports are true about that, that conversation and time they spent going well, I would say Joe Shane would be in major trouble. And if John Harbaugh is the next coach of the New York Giants, I think it would be stunning if he kept his gig. And if he did, it would be one of those situations where he held on for like eight months and he was neutered at the draft and has no juice and is essentially a dead man walking, which happens constantly. We. I remember when I was living in the Bay Area, it happened with Jon Gruden and Reggie McKenzie. Now, Jon made the mistake and I like Mike Mayak a lot. But hiring a guy that had never worked in the NFL as a personnel man, obviously John would surely hire someone from the Ravens who trained their guys as well as anyone in the league. So I, I think if you're Joe Shane and you saw that story, especially if you didn't know about it, probably not sleeping great. And the other coaching story, you know, Schefter reported on Monday morning that Matt LaFleur, all signs are that they will figure out a deal. And clearly Matt wants a big race and a big extension. A lot of Packer fans are frustrated that they can't figure it out in the playoffs. They've had some devastating losses. I mean, there's, there's no disputing that the game To Tampa years ago with Rogers. They lost a game a couple years ago to the 49ers, where they were kicking their butt in the second round of the playoffs. And nothing was worse than giving up 25 points in the fourth quarter, too. It's weird calling them their hated rival, but the rivalry, well, it's a historic rivalry. It never really mattered that much. It feels like it's gone 0 to 60 fast. This Ben Johnson LaFleur thing is. Is pretty fun. So Micah Parsons came out and the pack. The packers aren't one of those teams with, you know, this trading picks for players. If anything, over Rogers era, they were the most conservative team in the league when it came to personnel. They pumped their chest about Charles Woodson. Like, Charles Woodson didn't have a big market when they signed him. He became like, resurrected his career, became a superstar, kind of validated his hall of Fame career. But when they acquired him, it wasn't like when they acquired Reggie White in 1993. Right. It was kind of slim pickings for Charles at the time. And I think this Micah Parsons thing was out of their comfort zone. And listen, it was the right move. He was awesome for them and injuries happen. It sucks. But when he came out today and said, part of the reason that I wanted to come here, not only okayed the trade, but wanted to sign a big extension was because of LaFleur and went on and on and on, that's just not a normal player saying that, like, that's just going to hold a lot of juice. And they don't have an owner. So for Ed Policy, who's never run a team before, just this year becoming the president for. For Murphy, I think that puts a lot of pressure on you to kind of keep it going. So unless there are internal things that we don't know about, which don't seem to be the case, packers obviously blow some late games, not great. And they got. I'm not acting like LaFleur is the perfect coach, but when Micah Parsons did that, I went, I don't think they're going to be able to move on from. And let's face it, they moved on from who are they going to hire? But it feels like that kind of solidified like, he's going to be okay. A couple other things around the NFL, I do think we have a little bit of like an epidemic of these coaches going for it. And I think there's a consistent theme. I've always said you'll never meet a fan who in big spots late in games don't want their coach to be aggressive, right? Go for it. Go for the kill shot. Like I would say most fans on their couch or at the game, you heard it tonight. When Roger stayed on the field early in the game for a fourth down, they ended up getting it. I think the thielen you get loud standing ovations. Most human beings aren't like just kick the field goal. But I do think that we've jumped the shark a little bit when it comes to the first half of these games. Part, part of the reason you do that in the second half is, hey, your defense is playing like crap. Hey, you can't get a stop to save your life. Hey, we're down X number of points. A field goal doesn't do us any good here. You start doing the math, you're like, hey, you're going to need two touchdowns to even tie this game. But in the first half of games, you have no clue how the thing's going to play out. You have no clue as the game goes, if someone's going to get injured, if something is going to substantially change. From a schematic standpoint, as teams often do, if a team that looked like, you know, the greatest offense you've ever seen goes to a team that can't gain a yard, it happens all the time. Yet Liam Cohen, Sean McVeigh and Ben Johnson, all in their games early on went for it, I thought pretty recklessly on fourth down and Liam Cohen, and obviously he lost, you know, he goes for it. Trevor Lawrence is down whatever, a couple inches short of the of the line. Josh Allen drives them down for a touchdown. So it's a 10 point swing in the game. This is the first half. This isn't the fourth quarter where it's like, hey, we're up four points, let's make it 11, let's end them. This is the first half. It's a seven to three game. Just take the points, make it a 10, three game, you're up a touchdown. Sean McVeigh, it was 17 to seven. A field goal makes it 20 to seven. You're playing Bryce Young, not Cam Newton and Luke Keakley. Like what are we talking about here? And Ben Johnson went for it on his own 30 yard line. It's like, Ben, it's freezy cold. Let's just see how this situation plays out with the Packers. They're not going to score in every drive. And what happened in the second half? Punt, punt, punt, punt. And I think all three of those guys have in common. They're offensive Play callers, which, let's face it, they don't respect or think about the kicker. You know why they think about touchdowns? Who respects kickers? Defensive guys.
- [55:17]
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- [55:17]
John Middelkopf
Because they're coaching that side of the ball and they want to play in a lower scoring game and they think about the sport in a lower scoring mindset. Yet all these guys, touchdowns, touchdowns, touchdowns, and what do they also like to do, especially Cohen and Sean McVay, pass the ball. I just think we got to be a little more careful in the first half of games. Dan Lanning did this a couple weeks ago against Texas Tech. You have no clue how the game's going to play out. So if you get a chance to make it nine to nothing when it's six to nothing, like that might really matter. And for Dan Lanning, it did. His, the team he was playing couldn't even score a touchdown. But in this notion of like, well, that's just what they do, that's such a dumb mindset. I, I don't respect anyone. It's like, well, this is just what I do. Well right now, in whatever situation you're in, whether it's football, whatever you do in life, if what you need to do calls for something else and you don't do it, then I just think you're an idiot. I think you're stubborn. And anytime that a coach is stubborn, it will come back to bite them in the ass. So I think some of these offensive coaches need to balance, like take a field goal. Now I get if it's like a 50 yard field goal, windy conditions in December, in January, I get it. But some of these guys are passing on like 20 yard chip shot field goals. When they have the lead in the second quarter. I, I, none of us can see ahead how the game's going to look. No one had the packers offense just doing nothing for the third quarter, but that's the way it played out. Those points or punting the ball would have really mattered. The other thing for the Bears, now I get Ben Johnson wasn't there. You didn't draft a punter in the fourth round. Liam Cohen, you have one of the best kickers in the league, like Sean, you're up 20 to 7 against the Panthers. Is there a soul on this earth that would have believed they could have come back when you went up 20 to 7. No, there is not. So I don't think there's going to change. But I do think a lot of these coaches have gotten a little reckless in the first half of games when it comes to passing on field goals.
- [57:35]
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- [58:45]
Odoo Advertiser
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- [59:46]
Richard Sherman
Is Richard Sherman from the Richard Sherman Podcast. Let me tell you about Ready or Not, the tactical first person shooter where you take command of a SWAT team and feel the weight of the badge. Recently I reunited with my legion of boom teammates Cliff Averill, Cam Chancer, Michael Bennett and Walter Thurman. We partnered with Ready or Not to go through actual SWAT training and film the whole experience. Watch it now at the Richard Sherman Podcast YouTube channel. Here's what makes this game different. It's not just mindless run and gun. Just like the Legion of Boom. Built an elite defense on strategy and teamwork. Ready or not demands the same mentality. You're commanding a SWAT team, clearing rooms, protecting civilians, making tactical calls. As a coordinated team with 18 missions that challenge you in completely different ways, every operation demands that same discipline and and teamwork. Best part? Try it for free for a limited time on PlayStation and Xbox. Go solo or squad up with five players in full crossplay support. If you want strategic high stakes action that rewards elite tactics and fast thinking, then this is the game for you. Try Ready or Not for free today on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
- [61:05]
Sports Analyst
And S. Alright, time to break down the stats from this week's major games. Mike, let's talk about switching up the lineup. I switched to T Mobile with their new Family Freedom offer. That's not why we do this, man. I'm trading up from AT&T and making a power play with T Mobile. They paid off my family's four phones up to $3200 and gave us four new phones on the house. Wow. Game changer.
- [61:32]
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Introducing Family Freedom. Our lowest cost will switch our biggest family savings all on America's largest 5G network. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com FamilyFreedom up to $800.
- [61:46]
T-Mobile Advertiser (Terms)
Per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone 16 128GB829 99 eligible trade in eg iPhone 11 Pro for well qualified credits end and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel contact T Mobile.
- [62:04]
John Middelkopf
Okay, couple other things. One thing that has gone pretty viral and I, I kind of noticed it, but I, I wasn't, I didn't have the volume up that loud and I was just, I don't know, I was just watching the game more than listening to Nance and Romo. But there were a couple moments when I was like, what? What did he just say? Tony Romo a couple years ago was just considered the greatest thing in the history of broadcasting. He knew all the plays, he had a big smile. It's like, God, it's kind of nice to have a guy just having fun. And a couple years later it feels like universally everyone thinks he stinks. And I was as guilty as anybody when Tom Brady first started. I'm like Tom. One thing I didn't understand about Tom, I do get it. I think once you become this famous, once you become kind of the level of a celebrity of Tom, it's hard to balance on and off the camera, like the guy Edelman and Gronkowski and his, his buddies get to see off the camera. We don't get that guy when the camera's on. He just can kind of turn on every once in a while. Now you kind of get it a little bit more. Maybe he's become a little more relaxed. Sometimes you see him on podcasts or when he goes on with Colin, he can be really good. And it felt like he was really uptight. And in fairness to him, he'd never done the job. And we, and I, again, I'm guilty as anyone on this. I held him to a really high standard. They gave him 30, 37 and a half million dollars a year. They gave him a $370 million contract. So I'm sorry, I was expecting like John Madden meets Joe Montana and that's not really what we got. But there is no disputing by this time. Tom is extremely relaxed and it does feel that we just kind of get to hang out with Tom Brady watching a, a football game now. And he went pretty viral for, you know, the clip he had with throwing the ball and you can kind of give him some nerdy stuff, let him hang out, let him enjoy the game. He kind of made a scream when Juwan Jennings on the pass, like, he just kind of hit a stride. He's just, I don't know if he's a $37 million broadcaster, but, but he's good and he's Tom Brady, so it works. Tony Romo, obviously, he said at the beginning of the game that Jacksonville winning would be like Carolina winning when by the time the game kicked off, they were fav. And Jacksonville, by all accounts, anyone that watched them play over the course of the last two months, they were playing as well as any team in the league. And I, you know, Tony's making all these sounds. I think what he's tried to pivot to is tried to become this big personality, like this fun. John Madden was that way, right? And John Gruden was kind of that way too. Now John Madden's been gone for a while and hasn't called games in almost two decades. But it always felt like John Madden really knew what was going on and really knew the players and coaches, like, personally. So it felt like he was describing you to them. I don't know how much film John Madden watched in the 90s and 2000s. But I never felt like he didn't know what he was talking about. And then obviously his personality is a one of a kind, right? He's like a Hollywood actor. And Gruden had some of Madden's just kind of big personality, but everyone knew this guy was getting up at the crack of dawn to watch every game both teams had played. That he would know. It's why his Gruden grinders would be a bunch of random players. He would geek out on the football aspect of it. Whether he was calling the Jags game or whether he was calling the 85 Bears playing the 85, 49ers, Joe Montana playing Walter Payton, he knew it all. And thing is, Tony Roma doesn't feel like he knows it and he doesn't feel that cool when he's doing his stuff. And he's with Nance, who really is much more of a buttoned up, old school, play by play guy. It's just not really working. And for the first time I kind of agree with a lot of people, like, God, this is, this is weird. It's just kind of weird. And the other thing is like doing a Jags game for them, not as easy as doing the Bills, doing the Chiefs, doing the Broncos, you know, doing the good teams they typically do. Like how many Bills in Chiefs game. They know that team like the back of their hand. He doesn't know the Jags. You got to do a lot more work to catch up on what's going on there. So I don't know how to fix it, but I do agree with a lot of people it's not really working. And speaking of the Jags, I want to end on this. This lady in their press conference went pretty viral for basically giving Liam Cohen a standing ovation, telling him to hold his head high. He did a remarkable job. And all those things are true. What Liam Cohen did this year is pretty remarkable. I think he's one of like three coaches to in his first year take a team from four wins to 13 plus wins. One of them was George Seifert who took over like a Super bowl champion. I forget the other one, but it was a list of like multiple time super bowl champions. What he did with the Jags is remarkable. I also thought that moment could only happen to a team that none of us take that seriously. That view the Jags as kind of like a team that you would see in the movies, like the branding you would see in any given Sunday. Can you imagine someone getting up in the press conference after Nick Sirianni just lost to Kyle Shanahan and saying that, can you imagine someone at Soldier Field being in the press conference to Matt LaFleur and saying that you can't because it wouldn't happen. It never has happened, it never will happen. And listen, I'm not a journalist. I don't do journalism. I do podcasting. I say whatever I want. Now I in a weird way do some because I'm texting people in the NFL and in this profession constantly to get information that then I shape what I'm going to talk about. Like I'm not just willy nilly throwing shit at the wall a lot of the time, but I by no means consider myself a journalism at this point in time. I wouldn't even consider myself a media member. That being said, I have done that type stuff. I've gone to a ton of press conferences and got to know and would consider friends, people that cover teams as journalists, especially in the Bay Area. Tim Kawakami, Matt Mayoko, Matt Barrows, Anthony Slater, who covers the Warriors, Marcus Thompson, who covers the Warriors. These guys who I would consider are journalists. And all these guys have very close relationships with the coaches they cover, with the general managers they cover. And a lot of them with the players they cover, they know that they have dinners that no one knows about with them. They text with them, they have relationships with these guys. And obviously they also have to ask tough questions. I've seen Tim Kawakami just get into it with Jim Harbaugh. I would imagine if you asked Jim Harbaugh, he would say, I consider Tim Kawakami a friend. So listen, what I like as a consumer, I like when people are screaming at each other. I like, and we don't get as much anymore when the coach or the player would scream at the Big J and sometimes the Big J gives it back. That's entertainment to me. Ethan Strauss, who has one of the best substacks on the Internet, who's someone I would consider a friend, had a famous viral moment with Kevin Durant or Kevin started lighting him up like a Christmas tree. This is the big leagues. It's a weird gig that a lot of these teams and pro sports, you have those individuals questioning the coaches. Are you going to keep your job? Do you think the team should bring you back? That's not a normal environment that any of us live in. I don't have people on a daily basis of like, middle cuff. Do you think you're a good enough podcaster? Should you be retained, right? How many of you that are, like, working at Wells Fargo or some insurance company once a week, have a guy stand in front of you with the microphone and go, bill, do you think AFLAC should bring you back for Q3? Doesn't happen to any of us. But that's the job they're in, and that's the job all these people have chosen. And it just comes with the territory. And most of the coaches and the players know it and just deal with it. I do think, though, that's a reflection of the Jaguars more than this lady. Because I can imagine this lady I don't know, never heard of was probably excited for the first time or one of the only times in the last, like, 20 years. Whatever she does for a living actually mattered. People kind of cared because the team always sucks. They're always drafted high. If you did that in Phil when I was working for the Eagles, I might get. I'm pretty sure it was Les Bowen either attack Jeff McClain or Jeff McClain attack lesbo. There was a fight, fight in the locker room for open locker room to interview the players. And like, Asante Samuel was like, rooting it on. Like, that's what I enjoy that. That's what I want. I want there to be just. This is all entertainment like that. And listen, I like Adam Schefter. He's always been cool to me. He put that out there like it was some feelgood story. It's like, this isn't Little League. They were just hosting the Buffalo Bills as a favorite. They just won 13 games. Pretty sure they won their last eight games. They were the hot. You could argue they were the hottest team in the NFL coming into the playoffs, and they just lost because their quarterback played like, shit. This isn't. This isn't high school football, which I love high school football. This is the pros. And I just thought, I don't get as caught up by the rules. I'm more just like, that's kind of a reflection of that franchise. That just wouldn't happen at other places. You think someone did that to Mike Tomlin? Hey, Mike, I. I know you just got curb stomped by the Houston Texans. Thirty to six people are probably calling for your job. Your quarterback, who's 42, is going to retire. All the defensive guys in your team are really old, but, man, hold your head high, bro. You never lose. You are a true champion to me, they get laughed at. Someone just told Sirianni, like, just hold your head high. And the other reporters might have thrown them out. And I actually think fans find that entertainment yet. I'm looking at these comments on the Internet. It's like we need more of this positive reinforcement. Positive. They lost the fucking game. Like this isn't. Positive reinforcement. Is like when someone gets injured, like hold, you know, hold your head high. George Kittle man, you're going to battle back, right? Or Nico Collins, like prayers for Nico. Like hold your head high. You just lost at home. You won 13 games. Like there's no. We don't give ribbons out. So I, I just think that was, that could only happen to the Jags. I have a hard time seeing that happen in any other franchise. And I think it's less a reflection of the lady. I don't care about revoking credentials or any of that crap. But I just think that, I mean, Aaron Glenn got asked about his job starting like week three, up until week 18, every single week by like seven different people, every single press conference. Now granted, they sucked and he didn't have, they didn't have an interception. But like that's, I think most people appreciate that culture. It's like, what the hell's going on here? I think the people wanted to ask like, hey Liam, what just happened? What happened to your quarterback? But hey man, good job. Keep trucking the volume. Everyone deserves to be connected.
- [73:36]
Levar Arrington
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John Middelkopf
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Levar Arrington
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Levar Arrington
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John Middelkopf
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- [74:03]
Podcast Announcer
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- [74:38]
John Middelkopf
This is Julian Edelman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jewels. Sunday mornings I've got my game day ritual, coffee, lucky socks and now. New Morning Uncrustable Sandwiches it's all about.
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Levar Arrington
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John Middelkopf
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Levar Arrington
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John Middelkopf
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Levar Arrington
Whether you're on the couch, driving to the tailgate or heading to the locker room, New Morning Uncrustable Sandwiches are the MVP of snacks.
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John Middelkopf
Your new Sunday kickoff ritual starts here with New Morning Uncrustable sandwiches packed with 12 grams of protein.
- [75:40]
Richard Sherman
This is Richard Sherman from the Richard Sherman Podcast. Let me tell you about Ready or Not, the tactical first person shooter where you take command of a SWAT team and feel the weight of the badge. Recently I reunited with my Legion of Boom teammates Cliff Averill, Cam Chancer, Michael Bennett and Walter Thurman. We partnered with Ready or Not to go through actual SWAT training and film the whole experience. Watch it now at the Richard Sherman Podcast YouTube channel. Here's what makes this game different. It's not just mindless running gun. Just like the Legion of Boom built an elite defense on strategy and teamwork, Ready or Not demands the same mentality. You're commanding a SWAT team, clearing rooms, protecting civilians, making tactical calls. As a coordinated team with 18 missions that challenge you in completely different ways, every operation demands that same discipline and and teamwork. Best part? Try it for free for a limited time on PlayStation and Xbox. Go solo or squad up with five players in full crossplay support. If you want strategic high stakes action that rewards elite tactics and fast thinking, then this is the game for you. Try Ready or Not for free today on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
- [77:00]
Podcast Announcer
And S. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.