3 & Out - The emergence of Sam Darnold, Patriots HR with Mike Vrabel, Mailbag

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd – 3 & Out (Jan 27, 2026) Main Theme:
This episode, hosted by John Middlekauff, dives deep into three main storylines: the unlikely ascension of Sam Darnold to the Super Bowl, the Patriots' resurgence under Mike Vrabel, and a wide-ranging mailbag covering NFL hot topics and some personal “Dad Diaries.” The tone is candid, reflective, and often tongue-in-cheek, mirroring Middlekauff's no-nonsense, conversational style.

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Sam Darnold’s Cinderella Story (03:00–21:00)

• Darnold’s Unlikely Journey
  • Middlekauff opens with how the NFL world tends to polarize quarterbacks, yet Sam Darnold stands out as a rare, “pure” comeback story.
  • Darnold—a high pick, failed Jets QB, dumped by Carolina, then backup in San Francisco—now finds himself starting in the Super Bowl for Seattle, defying the typical backup narrative.
• Comparison to Other QBs
  • Most successful QBs (e.g., Mahomes, Allen, Hurts) rise quickly; Darnold had to “eat it and be a backup.”
  • “It’s very, very rare...that we just see a guy gets drafted high, bounces around, becomes a backup for no money, a couple years later, he is a key cog in a team that’s going to the Super Bowl.” (10:38)
• Darnold’s Performance and Character
  • Lauded for his play in the NFC Championship (340 yards, 3 TDs vs. Rams): “No one can say shit.” (12:03)
  • “Tell me the last time you heard anything negatively said about Sam Darnold. I can’t remember.” (12:28)
  • High character, genuine friendship with Josh Allen—remains humble despite vastly different QB trajectories.
• Middlekauff’s Personal Anecdote
  • Ran into Darnold at Super Bowl last year: “What a fucking awesome comeback story. He’s like, ‘I really appreciate that, man.’” (13:38)

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Mike Vrabel: The Patriots’ Home Run (18:53–29:10)

• Vrabel’s Coaching Arc
  • Success in Tennessee despite challenges: “He didn’t do that with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. He did that with Ryan Tannehill, who is like a poor man’s Alex Smith.” (21:00)
  • Titans' ownership criticized for firing Vrabel due to personal dislike, despite his results.
• Coaching Realities
  • Describes NFL coaching as a “football marathon” with relentless pressure.
  • “Hiring a coach and hiring a GM is like picking players—an inexact science. No one has any clue who’s going to be good and who’s going to be bad.” (18:53)
• Patriots Hit the Jackpot
  • Vrabel’s one-year sabbatical allowed New England to scoop him up: “…and then by the following January, you’re in the freaking Super Bowl.” (25:10)
  • Patriots fans should be “very, very grateful that this whole situation played out the way it did.” (24:46)

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The Eagles OC Job: Boom or Bust (29:10–33:15)

• High Pressure, High Reward
  • “I don’t ever remember a job that was just so boom or bust.” (29:22)
  • OC job in Philly viewed as risky: “If it goes well, obviously it jolts me. If it doesn’t, can it derail the momentum that I might have?” (31:40)
  • Noted turnover: “You can either excel in this job, you become a head coach…or you don’t have success in this job and you immediately get fired.” (29:38)
• Coaching Pipeline Insight
  • Once in the coordinator “cycle,” you keep getting jobs, but the Eagles OC gig doesn’t carry that safety net.

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Quick “Dad Diaries” (33:15–36:50)

• Humorous Parenting Anecdote
  • Talks about reading black-and-white picture books to his newborn, learning that babies only see high-contrast colors at that age: “I was just reading these little books...not knowing he can’t even see the color!” (35:32)
  • Parenthood lesson: “You learn something every day.” (36:27)

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Mailbag & Listener Questions (36:50–66:59)

Switching NFL Teams (37:00+)

• Listener debating leaving the Steelers for another franchise; Middlekauff is pragmatic:
  • “If it’s strong enough, the bond… it’ll never truly leave you. But if it’s not, then just, I don’t know… date other people.” (38:50)

Coaching “Bridges” (42:32)

• Bridge coaches less common than bridge QBs, but sometimes necessary if the job is unattractive enough. Texans and Browns used this strategy.

NFC South Outlook & Saints (43:08)

• “That division…should be way more competitive in 2026…you’ve got to win 10 games to win the division.” (44:55)

Eagles’ Culture & A.J. Brown (45:45)

• “I don’t know if their culture is broken…I think a mistake they made is the AJ Brown saga.” (46:06)
• Hints the real fix was trading the WR and letting Jalen Hurts take leadership.

Creative Trade Proposals (49:15)

• Swapping DJ Moore for Kayvon Thibodeaux: “That’s a tight move. If you’re Chicago, you are highly entertaining right. And if you’re the Giants, you got some offensive pieces.” (50:22)

Dealing with Social Media (52:12)

• “I unfollow people all the time…go live life.” (53:05)

Vikings’ Regret Over Darnold (55:00)

• “It’s gotta hurt. You signed him, he started, threw 35 touchdowns, and you were 60 minutes away from being the No. 1 seed…”

Should NFL Playoffs Be in Domes? (57:15)

• Middlekauff sides with tradition: “This is an outdoor sport and weather plays a huge factor in the history of playoff games.” (58:23)

2025 Super Bowl: The Most Unlikely Matchup? (59:45)

• Both Seattle and New England defied all preseason odds. “In August, if this would have been your pick, most people would have thought you were a little crazy for sure.” (63:11)

Special Teams Neglect (64:26)

• Rams, Packers, 49ers are “the worst special teams units in the league” because their offensive-minded coaches don’t “even pretend to care.” (65:27)

Can Darnold Join the Top QB Tier? (66:00)

• “He would have a lot of momentum going into next season… he’s immediately in that crew… Jalen, Purdy.” Confidence could propel him as a late-bloomer.

QB Class of 2018: Darnold Bests Lamar, Josh Allen (66:25)

• “Can you believe Sam Darnold is the only quarterback from the ‘18 draft class to make the Super Bowl? Pretty nuts.” (66:45)

Perception & Branding: Mike McCarthy Debate (end)

• McCarthy’s record mirrors Harbaugh/Tomlin, but he’s branded as average: “If he wasn’t coaching football, what would he be doing? Like running an HVAC company? That’s the way people talk about him.” (end)
• “Branding, perception… really matter. And the Steelers clearly don’t care that much about that…” (end)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Sam Darnold:
  “And there’s something just, I don’t know, pure about the Sam Darnold situation.” (14:03)
• On Mike Vrabel:
  “Props to Mike Vrabel. What a badass.” (27:56)
• On Parenting:
  “Most of you can relate—anyone with young children…and even when you sleep, your sleep is not like it was pre-children.” (33:28)
• On Steelers Fan Loyalty:
  “Start loosely dating… see how it goes… you should be allowed to date other people if you are just there by family connection.” (39:45)
• On Special Teams Neglect:
  “Three offensive coaches that call plays—they can’t even pretend to give a shit (about special teams).” (65:27)
• On NFL Playoffs and Weather:
  “I like weather games. I mean, even when San Francisco used to play at Levi’s or at Candlestick, they had historic rain games… To me that’s just part of the sport.” (59:07)
• On Mike McCarthy’s Image:
  “His branding is bad... If he got on GLP-1s and lost 50 pounds, I do wonder if we talk about him differently, fair or not, because he gets branded, unlike Tomlin and Harbaugh, yet they're all three, like, essentially the same guy.” (final segment)

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Timestamps (Select Highlights)

• 03:00: Sam Darnold’s unusual journey to Super Bowl QB
• 10:38: Rarity of high-pick QBs bouncing back as late bloomers
• 12:03: Darnold’s character and uncontroversial reputation
• 18:53: Coaching hires & Mike Vrabel discussion begins
• 24:46: Patriots benefit from Vrabel’s unplanned sabbatical
• 29:22: Eagles’ OC: boom or bust job description
• 33:15: Humorous “Dad Diaries” anecdote
• 38:50: Listener wants to “quit” Steelers fandom
• 46:06: Should the Eagles just move on from AJ Brown?
• 52:12: Social media overload and pruning your feed
• 55:00: Vikings’ regret in letting Darnold leave
• 58:23: Weather vs. Dome playoff debates
• 63:11: The most unlikely Super Bowl matchup
• 66:00: Darnold’s place in the QB hierarchy after a ring?
• End: Mike McCarthy, branding, and coaching perception

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Summary Conclusion:
This episode delivers sharp NFL insights through stories of redemption (Darnold), managerial competence (Vrabel), and organizational dysfunction (Eagles OC, Steelers coaching). Middlekauff’s playful, honest delivery keeps the episode both substantive and entertaining—mixing hard-nosed football talk with relatable real-life asides and an always-active mailbag.

Transcript

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

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[John Middlekauff]

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[Joel and Matt (How To Money Podcast)]

Hey, it's Joel and Matt from how to Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back prices, they're still high and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right, yeah. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

What if mind control is real?

[John Middlekauff]

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

[John Middlekauff]

When you look at your car, you're gonna become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

[John Middlekauff]

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you get someone to join your cult?

[John Middlekauff]

NLP was used on me to access my subconscious mind.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

A new podcast, exploring nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic Programming. Is it a self help miracle? A shady hypnosis scam? Or both? Listen to mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Couric]

If you only listen to one thing to make sense of the news this year, make it this. The final episode of this season of Next Question pulls together the most important conversations of the year. You'll hear David Graham on Project 2025 on the plethora of presidential pardons, Tina Brown on the year's biggest scandals here at home and across the pond, plus much, much more. It's a crash course in the last 12 months, how we made it through the year, and a look at what might be coming in 2026. Listen to next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[John Middlekauff]

The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John Middelkoff three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well out there in the real world, enjoying life. And we'll talk a little football today because Sam Darnold's in the Super Bowl, Mike Vrabel's in the Super Bowl. Both these guys were kicked to the curb, kept their head up. And now our AFC and NFC champions, the Eagles, are looking for an offensive coordinator. We got the dad Diaries. I learned a little lesson about these little books you read children. They're not for you, they're for them. And we'll do a little mailbag at John Middlekopf. At John Middlekop. Is the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered here on the show. Show. I'm gonna do a massive mailbag for the next couple days. So fire in those DMs in the next 24 hours and I will read get your questions involved here this week. So again at John Middlekop. Fire in those DMs. Questions answered here on the show. Other than that, you guys know the drill. We're on Netflix, so go check that out. Make sure you hit the little subscribe button on Netflix. You can never miss a podcast. So if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to three and out feed that separate feed. And other than that, probably it. So we're gonna have podcasts all week, and then I'll be in San Francisco for a couple days next week and come back and waste management is going on as well. And then the Super Bowl. So we'll just, we'll just keep firing through, keep our head down and keep swinging. But let's dive into some football. Appreciate everyone that listens. That has told your friends about this, that has watched on Netflix has been. It's been really cool. They keep inviting me back, so we'll keep coming. I do want to start with, I think sports now, like most things in society, become so polarizing. The amount of people that talk about it now, especially football, you can't just have a player and be indifferent on. Every guy ultimately becomes polarizing. You know, unless you're Patrick Mahomes and you just rattle off super bowl victories. We nitpick Lamar. We nitpick Josh Allen. I mean, it's part of the gig, right? And I think football has been driven, I mean, really my entire life, but definitely of the Internet age, by the superstar quarterbacks. And I've said for a long time that Manning and Brady are the magic and bird of my life, their importance to this sport. They were two of the Driving forces that helped take the popularity to the next level over the explosion of the television ratings and the TV boom of the last 20 plus years. They're the two most famous players right there with Aaron Rodgers, actually I don't even know he, he wouldn't be Michael Jordan, but he played a role in that as well. And football's full of superstar quarterbacks, right? The famous, no doubt about it, hall of Famers to guys like Josh and Lamar who have not won, who haven't even been to a Super Bowl. But we all acknowledge MVP level players, all time great talents. No doubt about its stars. And it, it's very rare that we just get a genuine story. I mean even think about two guys have been to Super Bowls the last couple years in the nfc. Jalen Hurts pretty polarizing player instead of just being a great story second round pick. Most people like myself thought he was never going to last in the NFL, has been to multiple Super Bowls, has played well in those games. Obviously one one makes a ton of money like is a no doubt about it success story yet he's probably one of the most polarizing guys in the league. Purdy was the last pick in the draft. They throw a party for the slot in which he was drafted. It's called Mr. Irrelevant down in Southern California. And he's gone on again to be an incredible story. Full time starter, massive contract, ton of wins, has won playoff games, just was a quarterback for a massive underdog on the road against the Eagles, a team that had way more talent than his team. Yet we're constantly going back and forth on these guys. Yet there's something just kind of pure about Sam Darnold because typically even Purdy and Jalen hurts like they're on the teams that drafted them. They became starters immediately in their young careers and never relinquished the spot. Obviously the, the Allens, the Lamars, the Mahomes became superstars pretty quickly. And then the all time great guys like Peyton Manning was the number one overall pick and within a couple years was clearly one of the best players in the league. Tom Brady won a Super bowl in two years into his career, right? Roethlisberger was in the super bowl two years into his career, right? Aaron Rodgers within a couple years of starting was a Super bowl champ for the Green Bay packers and replaced Brett Favre. The Sam Darnold thing is not normal. Well, he was drafted high and the jets if you remember drafted from six. They were at six. They traded up to three well before the draft. They didn't even know who they were going to take, I think they gave like three second round picks. Turns out they drafted a very talented player. Just when you go to the jets as Aaron Glenn's figuring out, everyone fails and everyone gets fired and there's a stink that gets put on you that's hard to shake. But let's face it, he goes to Carolina, weird situation there. They end up bringing in Baker Mayfield and then has to reset his career like most of the top guys, like he just played Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford has been a starter from the moment he got into the NFL. Now he earned way more credibility once he left the Lions. But anyone worth their salt realized he was an elite talent. And no one ever thought like, God, I just think he's got to be a backup for a year. Sam Darnold took one year like $3 million to go to San Francisco and be. Technically he was competing with Trey Lance for the backup job. But that was never the case. And I think it's very, very rare, right? The Trent Dilfers, the Brad Johnson's, like no one ever thought those guys were good. Sam Darnold was once anointed as like the savior of the jets and then he had to go kind of eat it and be a backup quarterback. And even last year when he signed his one year $10 million contract, the moment they signed JJ McCarthy or excuse me, drafted him, I would imagine early on in, in August, especially when JJ was playing well in the, in the preseason games before he got injured, people like, let's just start the kid. Caleb's starting Jaden, starting Drake May I guess he didn't start right away, but like most people, and I agree with them, like just start the rookie you learn by doing in this world. So put him out on the field. And then Sam got to play and never relinquished it. But let's face it, even based on last year, it's like, well, he had Justin Jefferson, he had Kevin o', Connell, he had Jordan Addison, everyone made excuses. And then this year it's like, well, he's got the number one defense. You throw for 340 yards in an NFC championship game against Matt Stafford, Puka Nakua and Devonte Adams and leave them in tears after the game like no one can say shit. And the one thing I would say in a league where everyone eventually bad mouths someone else, it's hard not to have someone say something bad about you. Tell me the last time you heard anything negatively said about Sam Darnold. I can't remember and I know a lot of people in the league I have never heard anything negative surrounding his name. Well, he can pout. Well, he can be a downer. I heard someone mention something the other day. I got a lot of buddies interviewing for these GM jobs throughout the NFL, and we were talking about a specific player, and he's like, yeah, you know, some of the rumors going around on him aren't quite as flattering as the. As the media narrative surrounding them. Like, oh, didn't know that. That's never been said about Sam Darnold. Super high character, great guy. I mean, one of his best friends in the league is Josh Allen because they came out the same year. Think about that. Imagine befriending a guy in your draft class. He goes on to be not just the. One of the faces of the league, but clearly one of the most important guys in the business of the National Football League. In Josh Allen, he's a poster child for the league. He's talked about constantly around the league. He's playing in the league's biggest games. And your career just flounders. You just become, I don't want to say a laughing stock, but someone that no one took seriously, fair or not. And even in your moment of success in 2024, people go, well, look at the way it ended. Finally had some big games, couldn't get it done. And I'm probably guilty of that, too. I ran into him last year in the super bowl in New Orleans, stayed at the same hotel, and I just went up to him. I think he was there. It might be his now wife, fiance. I said, man, that was congrats on the year. Not that you need to hear from, but I just thought, like, what a fucking awesome comeback story. He's like, I really appreciate that, man. And I saw him a couple more times, Jared Goff and all these guys are buddies. And I was just thinking, like, we don't get many of these stories because typically when your career gets derailed in the NFL, it's hard to battle back at quarterback at other positions. It happens all the time. But typically, you get thrust in. You're just a backup. Mariota Jameis. You see a lot of high picks stay in the league for a long time, but they don't go on to be like, yeah, this guy's going to be a starter for a long time, and he's favored to win the super bowl, and no one would be shocked if he throws for like, 300 yards at Levi's Stadium here in a couple weeks. And I don't think we get enough about just kind of genuine good stories anymore. And there's something just, I don't know, pure about the Sam Darnold situation. Because we've seen this time and time again. Guy gets drafted high, failed, kind of doesn't become that relevant the rest of his career. It's very, very rare that we just see a guy gets drafted high, bounces around, becomes a backup for no money. Couple years later, he is a key cog in a team that's going to the super bowl for the first time in a decade plus. And most people, I would imagine, by the time the game comes around, will pick Seattle. And part of it's going to be the confidence that you have in the quarterback after you what you just saw him do against the Los Angeles Rams in the biggest game of his career, 340 yards, three touchdowns. Honestly, didn't make any bad decisions in that game. Played smart. Even his sacks were smart. Like just hold the ball, go to the ground. CJ Stroud could take some notes. And we all get better. Like, you learn a lot about yourself. Anyone listening can relate. Some of our adverse times are worse than others. Some of ours are public, right? If you're in a, in a profession like Sam Darnold's, most of ours are not. No one knows about beside maybe some friends and some immediate family. But you get, you define your life by how you bounce back from the rough times, from the bad times. Not when everything's going well. Everyone's in love during the honeymoon phase. Tell me three years in with a, with a child who's screaming all the time, not sleeping, that that'll define your relationship and how it's going to go. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. Florida's sportsbook. The Big Game matchup is set. And I can't wait to see Seattle take on New England. Hard Rock BET has all the different ways you can get in on Sunday's action here in a couple weeks. Here's what I'm liking right now. Think I'm gonna lean Seattle kind of big. I think that pass rush is going to overwhelm the offensive line. Want to check some touchdown parlays? I think Darnold's going to keep humming. So if you haven't signed up yet, there's never been a better time. This week they are launching some brand new offers for new customers. Plus, Hard Rock is kicking off with 7 million dollar big game bonus parlay available to all users. 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[Joel and Matt (How To Money Podcast)]

Virginia, New Year New goals and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt and I'm Joel. We are from the How To Money podcast and every week we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

What if mind control is real?

[John Middlekauff]

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

[John Middlekauff]

When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with someone. Such good feelings.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

[John Middlekauff]

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Can you get someone to join your cult?

[John Middlekauff]

NLP was used on me to access my subconscious.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.

[John Middlekauff]

It's about engineering consciousness.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Mind Games is the story of nlp, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all, nlp, might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[John Middlekauff]

On June 11, 1998, a deputy from.

[Katie Couric]

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing.

[John Middlekauff]

It's an all out manhunt for John Ajay. Every search and rescue team in LA.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

County has been called in to help. Within days, tips started flooding into the sheriff's department.

[Katie Couric]

The rumor around the drug scene was that a deputy was taken care of. Is this the story of a man.

[John Middlekauff]

Who just got lost in the desert?

[Katie Couric]

Or of a cover up in the.

[John Middlekauff]

Inside the nation's largest sheriff's department. A homicide captain saying, detective, do not find out if this guy's guilty or innocent. Who does that?

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert.

[John Middlekauff]

Do you have any advice for us while looking into this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone.

[Podcast Host (Mind Games Trailer)]

Listen to Valley of shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Couric]

As we head into 2026, it's safe to say that 2025 was a year like no other. So much news, so much disruption and yes, so much division. That's why we're wrapping up this season of Next Question with a look back at everything that's happened. Things are coming at us with such a velocity and we thought it was important to take a moment, connect the dots and explore what it all means. We're summing up the first year of Trump's second term with David Graham on Project 2025 and how many of the goals have been implemented. Richard Haass on foreign policy and the changing world order. Jessica Valenti on reproductive rights and the terrifying consequences of abortion bans. Tina Brown on the year scandals here and across the pond. The President has upended everything from pardons to the press, so we're covering it all. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[John Middlekauff]

And speaking of relationships, Mike Vrabel Hiring a coach and hiring a GM is like picking players in inexact science. No one has any clue who's going to be good and who's going to be bad. They just don't. Same thing with coaches, same thing with players. But when you get a coach and it's clear the guy is good, it's on you to go through a rough year or two because it's inevitable in football. Most people are not just going to be Belichick and Brady and over a 20 year span missed the playoffs two times in 18 years. That's, that's not normal. You might have a year where people get injured and you win seven games. You might have back to back years where you win 13 or 14 games. Welcome to football. Andy Reid had just been to five of six Super Bowls, just won six and 11. Kyle Shanahan last year went six and 11. It comes with the territory. This sport is very, very difficult. Everyone's gunning for you 24, 7, 365. That's if you're bad, let alone if you're good. And then everyone's thinking about you. Game planning and drafting tried trying to stop you. So Mike Vrabel, who hit the scene in Tennessee and immediately had success, started winning right away within a couple of years is winning playoff games, eventually became the number one seed. He didn't do that with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. He did that with Ryan Tannehill, who is like a poor man's Alex Smith. So what he accomplished was awesome. Then he had a rough won seven games, won six games, and the owner immediately fired him. And a huge reason was, well, he wasn't a nice guy. Well, this isn't a profession full of nice guys. You kind of need some. In a perfect world, everyone would sing Kumbaya and be friends and hold hands. But that's not this world football. It's contentious. People are angry. People don't really sleep. Mike McDonald just admitted he sees his young son 30 minutes to an hour during the work week. And he wasn't asking for sympathy or trying to throw a pity party. He was just simply saying is I work a lot. I don't get to see my young son really at all. I make time on a Thursday to get home early to see him for an hour. This profession is not normal. People on Wall street can't relate these hours. Never, ever relent. It's just week after week after week. As someone once described Bill Belichick to me, there is a football marathon and the treadmill starts late July and the speed never stops. And guys like Belichick and Saban was like this. Never break stride until it ends. And obviously college is different than the pros. The pros don't really end till the draft. And even then, you immediately go into rookie minicamp and OTAs. It's nine, 10 months straight. And during those five plus months of the season, it's fucking insane. I've lived it, I've seen it. And I can't imagine going back and the respect and admiration I have for people that are able to do it for decades upon decades in the grind. These coaches are nuts. They are honestly a little nutty upstairs. That's what it takes to do this job. Just like I would imagine most successful people in competitive industries aren't normal. It's why they separate from the package. But a football coach really asks for two things. Right, Mental stamina and the grind of a season, but also the ability to lead, to tell people things they don't want to hear. It's just a natural argumentative position. You're going to be in arguments on a daily basis that there is no avoiding confrontation. And most good organizations would tend to gravitate, saying there's no growth without any confrontation. We're trying to grow and get better. And Mike Vrabel, of course, he's a confrontational guy because he's a football guy and it comes with the territory. Some people like Pete Carroll or Andy Reid can do it more with a smile on their face. And some people like Belichick, Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan are much more grumpy. But there is no disputing. They're all taking the same tactics of seeing problems, attacking problems and pissing people off on a daily basis. So when the Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrabel, they proved they have no clue what they're looking for. Because everyone with a an ounce of common sense went, you're never going to do better than this. This is as good as it gets. And he's a really, really high level coach. Part of the reason you're falling apart a little bit, you made a financial decision on AJ Brown, which obviously backfired, but your quarterback position is not set and you need to figure that out. And they were not willing to let Mike Vrabel figure that out. And I think as we look back a couple years, that was clearly a mistake. And that to me is a direct reflection of Amy Adams who fired him. And all the stories came out well, he wasn't nice enough to her. Well, how's it going? People been nice to you the last couple years? Is that, is that fun? Is that a good world to live in as the owner of a football team that everyone smiles at you and pretends to like you while you get the shit kicked out of you on a weekly basis. Is Mike Vrabel perfect? No. Is he, you know, Bill Walsh? Probably not. But is he freaking really good at his job? And the chances like Robert Sal, nice guy, good football coach. The chances he's ever as good as Mike Vrabel, slim the none. And I just think when you look back, if you're a Titans fan, you go, what the hell just happened? I think if we look back, how did Mike Vrabel take a year off coaching? How are they not teams throwing bags of money at him last season? New England Patriot fans should be very, very grateful that this whole situation played out the way it did. The guy was just available. He just took the year off and coached a little on the side with Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns in an off year, and then you immediately get him in a year later. You know, you hire them in January, and then by the following January, you're in the freaking Super Bowl. Even if you were high on the Patriots, which most people were, because we thought they were going to be competitive with a good coaching staff and an easy schedule. 10 wins, not this many wins. Not. Not the number two overall seed, not the Super bowl, or not the AFC champions. So props to Mike Vrabel. What a badass. The Eagles offensive coordinator job, I don't ever remember a job that was just so boomer bust. Like we have four years of evidence. You can either excel in this job, you become a head coach, Shane Steich and Kellen Moore, or you don't have success in this job and you immediately get fired. And you're not an offensive coordinator like typically. And I've said this story before, but I had a coordinator tell me one time that the reason people jump at, quote, unquote, bad jobs is because once your name gets in the cycle, you just become an offensive coordinator. Bobby Slowik, right, He took the Texans job, gets fired, boom, just offensive coordinator again with the Miami Dolphins. And once you get in that rotation, people view you as a coordinator. You just stay coordinators at different spots. Right. Brandon Staley is a good example. Might never be a head coach again, but he'll just be a coordinator wherever he wants. And those jobs pay millions of dollars. It's why a lot of position coaches take the opportunity. Like, I don't think that's a good defensive coordinator job. Well, if people start viewing me as a defensive coordinator, even if I get fired, someone else will hire me as a defensive coordinator. And with the Eagles job, that's not necessarily true because I. Look, Brian Johnson, their offensive coordinator from a couple years ago, is an assistant coach with the Washington Commanders, where obviously Cliff has been the coordinator the last several years. And they just. I think they already hired an offensive coordinator, young guy, so he's not even their offensive coordinator there. Kevin Petula, I think we all agree will 100% not be calling plays for any team in the NFL in 2026. So if it goes wrong, your career kind of gets derailed a little bit. And when you get your first opportunity, like, you're actually better off taking a job that's a little under the radar than this job, unless you believe in your skills and you know that you can get a job because the pressure on this gig, there might not be a coordinator job in the NFL that is under a bigger magnifying glass, especially given how the guy's coming in this year because you're replacing a guy that was really shitty. So the bar's a little lower. But if you don't have success, you will get fired immediately. And they just interviewed, I saw Charlie Weiss Jr. Who is Lane's right hand guy who like they're on the right people. They wanted Mike McDaniel. They're talking to all the right guys. I just wonder if a lot of people are weighing their options and go this is a pretty big risk. This is a pretty big risk. And if it goes well, obviously it jolts me. If it doesn't, can it derail the momentum that I might have? And I, I'm fascinated to see who they're going to end up hiring. And I, I would imagine it's been a little more difficult for them to get someone to jump in the boat than than they had originally imaginated. Imagined it would be. Okay, before we dive into the the middle cuff mailbag. You know, when you don't sleep that much, your brain pistons just don't fire at the same speed. Now one thing that's been pretty clear in the 10 plus days since he's been at home, you just don't sleep that much. And even when you sleep, your sleep is not like it was pre children. Most of you can relate anyone with young children and I think as your kids get older you, you probably forget about that a little bit. It's just nature of life, right? You remember the good, you don't, you don't focus as much on the bad. Clearly we probably don't need as much sleep, at least just to basic functions of life. But I'm someone that I struggle to get a get by with four or five hours. So even last night she's like well you got six or seven. I let you sleep through the night because I was doing with him up until about midnight. But starting at about 1 o' clock till let's say 7:30 in the morning, I'm still waking up periodically. You're hearing them cry, you're hearing them change. The sleep is just, it's really, really hard, very hard on her. There is no disputing that. But you just chug along, you just keep swinging your pick and you just take a day by day and you're like, hey, eventually we'll be out of this phase. But one thing is we bought A bunch of these books, these black and white books that just are like animal books or, you know, what's in the sea? Just basic. Like, this is a fish, this is a shark, this is a dolphin. So I took one of these little books. They're like little squares, probably like 3 by 3 inches or something, and they're black and white. And I'm just sitting there, he's kind of on my arm lap, and I'm just reading him the book. This is a dolphin, this is a shark. And I'm. I'm looking at the book and he's just kind of staring off into space. And she's like, do you know that you have to put that book in front of him? Like, what do you mean? She's like, it's color coded in black and white for a reason. Babies are colorblind. All they can see is black and white. And when you look, when you put the book close to his eyes, you'll see he will, you know, lock in and he will look at the different colors and kind of go around. You just reading this is a cow, Moo, moo, moo isn't really doing anything if you're not showing him the picture. I'm like, I gotta be honest, I did not know that. So I was just reading this little book about pigs and owls just out loud, like, he can understand what's going on when the whole point of the exercise is to put the color coding of the black and white in front of his eyes so he can. I don't even know what it's considered, but, you know, latch on intellectually, I guess, and try to grow his brain. Because if you see like, those things that you lay them on with the things hanging above them, they're all in black and white as well. Because that at 10, 20 days old, that's what he sees. Instead of me just reading this book out loud to essentially myself while he sits there like, what are you even talking about? So you learn something new every day. And that was a pretty embarrassing moment because I thought, God, these, these books, what's the point of them? But makes a lot more sense when you realize the color coding is really what is. What is there for. And then eventually you start putting the word cow with. With the shape cow or pig with the. With the shape pig kind of makes some sense. So anyone that didn't know that if you're getting about to have a baby and you get those little black and white books, make sure you show the baby the pages as you read them to him. Or her. Okay, let's go. A little mailbag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff. Is the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered here on the show. We will start with Josh. Quick background. I'm born and raised in South Florida. Got my BA from the Gators University of Florida and my Ms. From A M. Lived in College Station for a couple years. Well educated man. I grew up a Steeler fan because family but I've got zero actual ties to Pittsburgh and have never been there. The McCarthy hired today was honestly the last straw. This team refuses to change or adapt. I can't do it anymore. I'm officially done being a Steelers fan and trying to decide between the Texans or the Bucks. Curious what your honest thoughts are. Well, we had someone pre Netflix so this probably would have been a year ago. It was either at the end of Belichick, it probably was Gerard Mayo when they asked if it was okay to leave the franchise if he could drop the Patriots. I think the guy was like 30 years old. It's like bro, you just from, from 12 years old or essentially I, I guess it would have been 18 plus years after you were like 11 or 12. You saw the greatest run in the history of sports in the prime of your sports loving kind of life. It, it, it doesn't get any more pure when you're in your teens of just pure love of football and your team was just rattling off Super Bowls. You don't get to leave the Patriots especially this guy was from Boston. In your situation. I'm more open to the conversation of if you just get like part of the sport team. The teams that I grew up loving were teams that I grew up around. If you get your teams from family, I don't know if I'm as strict on that rule. And if you don't want to like the Steelers anymore just because your dad and grandpa like them and you have no ties to Pittsburgh and I don't think it's that crazy. And clearly if it's strong enough, the bond between that team, it'll never truly leave you. It won't. But if it's not, then just, I don't know. I think the Texans with Demo and Nick Casario are well run and not going away anytime soon. I think the Pittsburgh Steeler thing, I will say this, I think the McCarthy hire is better than you're giving it credit for. But nothing is going to change. You guys are just going to do the same thing over and over again and get no closer to beating any of the top teams, I would agree there. And it becomes a pretty frustrating exercise. So I'm not against dropping a team. Like, if you tell me, hey, I'm 35 years old, I'm a Jets fan, I can't do this anymore, what am I going to say? Like, stick with it, like, you're fucking out of your mind. I wouldn't waste my energy watching that operation. The Steelers, like, you've had it pretty good, but I take it you're in your 20s. Most of your life they've been really competitive. You haven't seen them lose. But it is frustrating to think, like, are we starting to trend the wrong way? And is this not going to be fun? But I actually think the McCarthy hire, the problem is you're probably more likely to win nine or 10 games next year than you are three games, which would be the best thing for the health of the franchise. Big picture. So I believe if you're born there and you grew up rooting for them and you're just mad at them, like they're kind of with you for life, but in your situation, I would just start loosely dating, be like, hey, I'm still married, but we're living separately and we're okay to date. I. I'm, I'm allowed to go on a date, like, start either pick Tampa or pick Houston and just see how it goes. And maybe you'll feel it's not quite as strong of a connection as you thought and you'll gravitate back toward Pittsburgh. But I think you're in a position where you should be allowed to, to date other people if you are just there by family connection. As many teams are securing and looking for head coaches. Do some teams have, quote, a bridge head coach mentality like they can with quarterbacks? I'm sure it has happened. The Raiders just did that with Pete Carroll. But a lot like a quarterback, there is no guarantee with a bridge, it can completely blow up in your face. So I would say that most teams are trying to find the best head coach they possibly can that they can win with relatively quickly. And if you look at most of the hires, like, the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy because they're trying to win. The Giants hired John Horbach because they thought he was the best coach. Atlanta thought that Kevin Stefanski is like a star in Cleveland. Him, right. They think they got a gem in Jeff Halfley, the Browns and the Cardinals, who knows? But it, you know, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel, most of the Liam Cohen, most of these teams are Hiring guys thinking they can be really good. So I would say it's pretty rare. The the bridge quarterback is way more of a thing than the bridge coach. The Texans did it for a couple years because no one would take their job. The Browns might have to do it because no one will take their job. Like the Browns could probably hire Pete Carroll. Fresh new dad like yourself. My big boy is Dominic. Already getting nicknamed Big Dom by Eagles fans. Hang in there. I feel you on the first couple weeks. By a month it gets easier. Sort of Saints fan. Just curious if you think Shuck and Moore can get us to the playoffs in the next couple years. It's funny like I I on the kid thing, you just can't. It's gonna get easier. Think of the millions upon millions upon millions of people who have had children and raised children. Now we could argue how good they were at raising the children, but still people have done it. So it's like everyone's gone through this or most people in society at one point in time in the history of this world have done it. Every time I want to get mad or complain, it's like can't be that hard. A lot of people that can barely walk across the street have raised a child. Again, we can, we could argue how well they did, but they've still done it. They've kept them alive, which is clearly your number one goal. Keep them alive and feed them. It's pretty basic at first. I would say on the Saints you would think the Bucks will be better, right? They how would they lose seven of their last eight? Atlanta. They do have a lot of talent on their team. Who's their quarterback? Carolina is clearly pretty feisty. If they get better at defense because offensively they're not bad. It's not easy like that division actually in a weird way for a team that just won it at 8:9 should be way more competitive in 2026. Usually when you have a team that goes under.500, you're like that division's a joke. It's actually not that bad. A lot of good players, a lot of competent coaches, a lot of explosive high end playmakers. So you probably, my guess is sitting here on January 26, you got to win 10 games to win the division. So more than likely to make the playoffs, you'd have to win the division and go 10 and 7. What's up baby daddy? Mailbag Question Would the Eagles be better off hiring an adult CEO like Salah to run their team? The players hate each other and the offense just failed to score 20 on the Niners practice squad. Obviously, they've had past success, but if Sirianni is a CEO and their culture is broken, why keep them? I don't know if their culture is broken. I think a mistake they made is the A.J. brown saga. They wanted to have their cake and eat the entire thing, too. And it was clearly off with him and Jalen, and they could have traded him at the trade deadline, and they chose not to because in fairness to them, they wanted to win another super bowl. And they were better off winning the super bowl or giving themselves a chance in their minds with AJ on the team than trading him and having a second round or four. AJ Right. I wonder if we look back, they would have been better off just separating that situation. I mean, you couldn't watch a game without his commercial coming on, which essentially felt like he was talking right to Jalen. It's okay. People don't like each other. I. I never understood when Brandon Graham came out why they tried to backtrack it. We don't like everyone we know. We don't like everyone we work with. Especially in situations where you're with each other all the time. Called human beings. People grow apart. People don't see eye to eye. Especially if I think that you're not good enough and we're in a position where I'm dependent on you. It comes with the territory. And I think if he. If Howie had to do over, they would have traded A.J. brown during the season. And you know how he could have just got some other random wide receiver to come in and somewhat fill that void. And I. I think that Sirianni obviously didn't get fired, but is going to be given. Like, let's remove A.J. brown and whatever tension was created by that situation and add whoever's going to take our offensive coordinator job and see if we can get some. Some cohesion back. Because the cohesion was off and it was clearly between the quarterback and the wide receiver. Well, we all know who they're going to choose this off season. It ain't going to be the wide receiver. So it's going to be 100 jalen show. There's gonna be a lot of pressure on him. And part of. With your quarterback, like, he's got to set the tone. He's the culture setter. We talk about culture and character, and all that stuff typically starts with a quarterback.

[Joel and Matt (How To Money Podcast)]

They.

[John Middlekauff]

They kind of get to set the tone of the. Of. Of the locker room. And now the pressure is going to fall on Jalen, which is going to be fascinating to see which why there's a ton of pressure on the new offensive coordinator. What do you think about a change of scene trade DJ Moore for Kayvon Thibodeau. Moore's clearly not the top dog in Chicago and Kayvon has not worked out well as relative to his draft position would hope for. As a Giants fan I do think he has been underutilized and at the same time he is more solid than he will ever be good he will ever be good or great trade would help Chicago defense and the Giants offense. That's type trade I'm talking about. Those are the type moves. I can't speak for the Giants and how John will think but to me if you're the Bears you're going to use one of those guys to get defensive help. And whether it's a draft pick to draft a defender or just essentially swap salaries, I think Kayvon's fifth year option is I don't even remember off top of my head, 15, 16, 17 million somewhere in there and I think DJ makes high teens, maybe low 20s. So you know can Kayvon just give them another solid defensive lineman? He's pretty good against the run. I've always thought he was a little stiff as like an edge rusher but like you said he gets to kind of change a scenery, take a deep breath. Contract year that's a tight move. If you're Chicago you are highly entertaining right. And I think if you're the Giants you got Malik coming back Wandell like they already got some offensive pieces. Maybe you want to add another guy. You know John's had versatile players like DJ I don't even do we know who their offensive coordinator is yet in New York? I don't think we do. I'm assuming it's going to be Todd, but yeah, Fugazi Friday idea. I believe social media was a way to keep in touch, show off the family and post about what's on the grill. Lately it just feels like a platform for old co workers, old people and my mother in law to grandstand their political opinions. Is it a reach to just tell people or if they keep posting their politics on social the way they get deleted or is it just okay to just do it and not tell them? I unfollow people all the time. Like I'm not trying. Human beings weren't wired to get the amount of information if you spend a lot of time scrolling. There is no way our brains were wired to take in that much information that quickly and I'm as guilty as anyone over the years scrolling, but I have found myself unfollowing more and more people. If there's some sort of professional connection, maybe I'll mute, but especially people that aren't in my life. Just because we went to high school or college together and you're just going off 24 7, it's like, bro, you're a manager at Whole Foods. Like, I focus on your family. So I, I, I, I delete and unfollow people constantly. If you're just, if you're relentless, like, listen, you got your own opinions, I don't care. We don't have to agree. But if, if that's your thing, like, bro, get a life, put down the phone, go into society, hang out with some people, go spend some time with your children, with your significant other. If you're single, go on some dates, get a life. I think too often people are just firing away posts like, none of this means anything. None of these posts mean anything. Now you could argue, what does any of it mean? Yeah, fair point. That's why I, I've made a huge the second half of this decade. Put your phone down, Go live life. I don't beat a dead horse at this point, but how dumb are the Vikings for letting Darnold walk? It already felt like a big miss, but now it's even worse. Foreign. It's gotta hurt. It's gotta really hurt because unlike San Francisco signed him for a backup, you signed him, he started and he threw 35 touchdowns and you were 60 minutes away from being the number one seed with him as the quarterback. The chances that JJ could ever do that are slim to none. And after one year, it's, there's not even a question. The chance that jj, I mean, he's got so far to go because mechanically you're like breaking his whole throwing motion down. So it, it's gotta hurt. It's gotta hurt. The, the only way for it not to haunt the franchise forever is JJ has to become a serviceable player. Just Ryan Tannehill, Alex Smith, a guy that's like, hey, he's never gonna be Josh Allen, but he could throw me 28 touchdowns. If we do a good job building the team, we can make the playoffs. If JJ is not that good, it's, it's a, it's an all time disaster because they were having the conversation and they decided to let him go. I know this is completely utopian and will never happen, but what are your thoughts on NFL playoff games getting to be played in a dome stadium? Is it just, it's just disappointing to see bad weather determine the results of a playoff game. And no, not a Broncos fan, there are plenty of dome stadiums they could use. Mini New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, indy, so far, etc. It would level the playing field and make all the playoff games based on scheme and talent, not rain or snow. I hear you. And clearly the second half of that game is as egregious of a winter game as you're ever going to see. When you factor in, I mean, blizzard conditions, you can't see the wind is pumping, snows everywhere in your eyes. But my pushback is like, this is an outdoor sport and weather plays a huge factor in the history of the playoff games. And playing in cold weather is a point of difference for a lot of these teams. Ask the Chiefs over the last half decade how many home games worked to their advantage being freezing cold. It's worked in Denver's advantage in years past. And in the weather is so unpredictable. Like a week ago it was 50 degrees in Denver. So I would chalk it more up to that. Feels like an extreme situation. And I have a hard time changing everything based on one extreme. Was that game decided on the field? Not really, because the second half was a joke. But am I going to let one half of football impact like the previous week, playing that game in Chicago when it was freezing cold, like, that was a test of wills. And historically, these playoff games in Kansas City and Philly and Baltimore and New England weather is a point of difference for that home team. Right. So I hear what you're saying, but I like weather. And it feels like one day we'll be playing all football games in a dome. And I think they'll. That will suck. That. That really will. I. I obviously didn't agree with. Or I mean, I'm not like, disputing what you're saying about that specific game, which is as extreme as you're going to see. But on the aggregate, I like weather games. As someone that doesn't like the cold, as a consumer, I like consuming. And we're the lifeblood of the league. Without us watching these games, we provide the money, your time and attention sitting on the couch watching the game, we provide all the money. All the owners would be the first to tell you the TV money is our bread and butter. That's where we build our wealth. And I just think the weather games are better than the dome games. I'm not a huge dome fan in general. Like, I would much rather watch a game outside than I would cold or just normal weather than a dome Game it's not normal football just perfect elements. Part of football is the elements play a factor whether that's September in Miami when it's 100 degree humidity. Remember when Notre Dame played Miami the first game of the season and it was like 110 degrees humidity on the field. Like I. That has to, that has to mean something and it does to me as a football. Crazy rain games. I mean even when San Francisco used to play at Levi's or at Candlestick, they had historic rain games. One against eli Manning in 2011 with Harbaugh's first year, they had one against the Cowboys in the 90s. Torrential drown poor. Like to me that's just part of the sport. It's like golf. Some days you just get 88 degrees, no wind. Some days it's freezing cold and windy. Some days it's raining like it's, it's just, it's an outdoor sport. Watching conference championship weekend Pod reaction with Colin. You guys heard you talk about how Seattle was 5 and 1 to just win the division. So I was thinking based off of off season predictions and odds, is this super bowl one of the most unlikely matchups in NFL history. Not uncommon for one team to come out of nowhere and make a run. But both teams basically being Cinderella has got to be history in itself. You know, Seattle won 10 games last year. Now they changed their quarterback, but they were not a two or three win team. They went 10 and 7 and the team that won their division went 10, 7, 2. So it's based on the odds they were an outlier or an extreme. Extremely unlikely to win their own division. Right. Five to one chance to win the NFC west, which I mean it came down to the last game of the season. So it wasn't like super easy. And New England, they had just been so bad the last couple of years, but they got a real coach, they got a real offensive coordinator and it was like hey, could the young quarterback take a step. He was an MVP candidate. And defensively they're clearly pretty good and their schedule was pretty easy. But if you factor in both teams, like think of a lot of the matchups recently. Chiefs, Eagles, Chiefs, Niners, Chiefs, Eagles. Cincinnati was definitely kind of came out of nowhere in burrow second year but they played the Rams who had just traded for Stafford, which wasn't that abnormal. A lot of Patriots, Rams, a lot of Patriots, a lot of Peyton Manning. So yeah, I mean it's in recent memory it's probably one of did not see that coming. Most people at the beginning of the year would not have believed that the Patriots in Seattle would be the super bowl matchup. So I think it's fair to say in the Internet age, it's got to be one of the more unlikely teams. I would imagine if people were bullish on Seattle and New England, most people would have said both teams can make the playoffs. Probably like a one and done operation. One was the one seed, one was the two seed. It's not as unlikely once the season started playing out because they were both good. But in August, if this would have been your pick, most people would have thought you were a little crazy for sure. But this was also a weird year. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes did not make the playoffs. The Lions, who had been one of the best teams in the league for two years running, did not make the playoffs. The packers were the seven seed. The Bears were the two seed. You know, so it's the Jags not only won the division, were one of the best teams in the league. You could argue this year was one of the great curveball years in recent memory for the mailbag. About time McVeigh starts caring about special teams. It cost them the super bowl draft defense backs and get a special teams coordinator Disclaimer I know everyone thinks Bill is the village idiot, but one of the his team captains was Matt Bleep and Slater, so Bill definitely valued all three forms. So Matt I had money on the ramps. I defensive guys like special teams. They value special teams. You won't find defensive coaches like John Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel, Bill Belichick that don't value the defensive side of the or the special team side of the ball. It's a big deal to them because it's kind of defense punt kickoff. Like you're covering your tackling, you're setting gaps like they like that stuff. There's a physicality element to it. The worst three special teams. Someone sent this to me in the NFL, so it's pretty remarkable how much worse the packers and Rams have been at special teams compared to everyone else in the 2020s. So this is I don't know the metric, but the 49ers, Green Bay packers and Rams are the three worst teams in the league. What do they have in common? Three offensive coaches that call place they can't even pretend to give a shit. They really can't. And I've seen Kyle forever. I don't know what he's done the last couple years didn't even come out during special teams portions. They just did not care. They don't take it seriously and it shows. You get what you emphasize. They would never be that bad at offense. Can you imagine LaFleur, McVeigh or Kyle having like a year of the most embarrassing offense? Of course not. Because it would never be tolerated. And if it was that, they would, there would be huge like ramifications may happen to one year to McVeigh. When Stafford got injured and they fired everybody, he got like a brand new staff. He was so. He almost quit. He almost went to Amazon. He literally almost quit. So you know, Kyle's like, oh, we need a kicker. He just drafted kicker in the third round. Like, bro, that's not how you fix it. Come on, emphasize. You, you, you set the standard. Because all these coaches, what do they talk a lot about? Offensive defense. Even though they're all offensive coordinators, they hold their defensive players to a high standard. They do not hold their special teams players to a high standard. Just a fact. Or else they wouldn't all three be the worst units. Think about that. The Niners, the Packers and the Rams for the last five years, the worst special teams units in the league. I mean, if that doesn't say at all, I don't know what else does. They were all three, a little crew. And I'm sure they, they love talking offense, they really value defense, but they just do not care about special teams. They can't even pretend to care. And it shows. One time in a Niner press conference, Tim Kawakami asked Kyle that and he got so offended. It's like, well, we drafted a kicker in the third. It's not about just drafting a kicker. Like you said, Belichick made Matthew Slater his team captain for a decade. A decade. You know why? Because when we walk through this door from Vrabel to Brady to Gronk to McCourty, Slater is every bit as important. Those coaches would never do that, ever. They need to start or else it's going to always cost them. The Sam Darnold performance was Mahomes and Alan, like, if he wins a ring and plays well in the super bowl, where would you rank him as a quarterback? It's a great question based off this one year. I mean, he would have a lot of momentum going into next season. Of like, would you rather have Sam Darnold or Dak Prescott? Would you rather have Sam Darnold or Jared Goff? Like, he, he's, he's immediately in that crew, you know, Jalen Purdy. There's always this crew of the top guys, right? Mahomes Allen, Lamar, Burrow, Herbert. Regular season, playoffs, you know, it's a different story. But the guys that are widely considered, and then there's like the next crew of like eight guys that we kind of waffle up and down on. You win the super bowl like now, is he going to have like a seven year career of just every year being like a Pro bowl level guy? I don't know. I wouldn't bet against it. Now that he's got momentum, confidence, a powerful thing, any young person, once they kind of get going in the right direction, you kind of build off that and it, it exponentially can build on itself and grow. And, and when you lose your confidence, you feel like you're never going to get it back. And when you get it, it's, it starts kind of just building on year after year. I mean, part of being a great player in the NFL is doing it every single year. So it's like, can he have a three year career with Seattle this year? The next couple years where he's just a really good player? I would bet on him being a really good player now. He's gonna, he's gonna have bad turnovers. I mean, he's gonna be turnover prone. But if he's throwing a bunch of touchdowns and comes through in playoff games, what else do you want? Dak Prescott has never done that in a big game like that. Dak Prescott's had one good playoff game in the last, you know, in the prime of his career. He had a good one when he was a rookie. But think of that stretch with McCarthy. He had the one playoff game against the Bucks who were terrible, or he threw five touchdowns, played the Niners twice, was atrocious. That Packer game in the first half was bad. Can you believe Sam Darnold is the only quarterback from the 18 draft class to make the Super Bowl? Pretty nuts. Pretty nuts. I, I think, yeah. I mean, Lamar and Josh had their shots. Lamar, two years ago. It doesn't get any better than that. You're at home, number one seed, best defense in the league. You're the mvp. Josh has had multiple shots, including this year. Just didn't get it done. I mean, it's, I don't know what else to say. No one would have had that on their bingo card. Hell, even, even Baker you would have bet on, you know, he had a bunch of momentum this year when the Bucks started fast and they look good. They were. What were they? 8 and 2. Question for the mailbag. What's the deal with the Rams fans? They're the most non impassioned fan base of a good team I've ever seen. I feel like championship weekend doesn't have a lot of juice. The country is not really invested in the Seahawks and their coach and quarterback. Rams fans seem to be pretty lackluster. The Broncos lost their starting quarterback and nationwide standpoint. I don't think the Patriots are moving the needle. Am I wrong about this take? I do think that Sam Darnold is a big time story and I think McVay nationally is bigger than he is in Los Angeles. Part of it is the Rams left LA for a long time. They left forever, right? They were there when I was really young and then they went to St. Louis and for a long time they were just the St. Louis Rams. When you're a nomadic franchise, it creates friction and people leave you, right? The reason the Steelers, the Bears, the Eagles, the Niners, the Cowboy, these teams that have been in one place forever, the packers, when moving is part of your thing. Like I'm sorry. And if you moved in the last like 10 years, it just creates. I don't even know the right way to describe it, but it, it's. No one wants to follow a professional franchise that's moving, especially in the Internet age. So I think that's part of it. Like their team wasn't there for a lot of people that are my age when you were growing up, they were the St. Louis Rams. Kurt Warner is not yours. Marshall Falk was not yours. So the teams that won the Super Bowl 20 plus years ago and they were good. Like you don't even get to claim those. The Raiders won a couple Super Bowls in Los Angeles. So it's like with the Raiders, the Rams, the Chargers, these teams moving, it's. I think that plays a massive, massive part in their fan bases. I got two questions on McCarthy and we'll end on this. Love the pod. So The Steelers hire McCarthy and the fan base in the media alike experience a complete meltdown. Am I crazy in thinking that this is an okay hire and might be shorter term or bridge play by Steelers ownership Obtain a young highly rated OC like a shield house. I think I'm saying that name wrong. It's the McVeighs guy. Not saying him specifically, but someone like that to mentor groom under McCarthy I get the Steelers always go long tenure at Headco, at head coach historically and maybe I'm just coping but it's got to be in the cards given that McCarthy is 62. Another question. Cowboy fan here. I don't understand all the hate for McCarthy. People forget but Jason Carrot was the king of 8 and 8. McCarthy takes over and he has way more success than Jason. Not saying that's a high bar, but he made the team better for sure. And the people often judge coaches on how they do after they leave. My opinion, Schottenheimer is neutral. I'm not convinced we upgraded a head coach, but Jerry can sell hope, which matters the most. Why do people hate on McCarthy? And he, he, he tweeted or sent me the tweet of McCarthy vs Harbaugh. 62 vs 63. 18 seasons as head coach. Basically the same amount of wins, 174 to 180. Playoff record 11, 11, 13 and 11, 10 win seasons. 11 and 11. And one Super bowl said that it's branding. McCarthy's branding is bad. Maybe it's he's overweight. Maybe it's people I don't know think he's not that smart. For an offensive guy who calls plays and works with a quarterback, find me a guy in his position that we don't consider intelligent. Kevin O', Connell, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, LaFleur, you know, Bruce Arians, like when I, when it comes to football, like this guy knows offensive scheme. Yeah. With McCarthy, no one talks about him like that. They talk about him like he's just like your next door beer drinking neighbor. Yeah. Like you said, McCarthy has all these seasons. 18. He has 11, 10 win seasons. He's coached the MVP at quarterback. He's coached the best years of Dak Prescott's career. He has won big time, consistently been a playoff coach, hadn't some one and dones in the playoffs. No one's disputing that. But he does not get talked about like John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin and I. The branding around him is not good. The PR campaign for him is not good. It's actually atrocious. Look at Robert Salo. Now you can blame the jets, but it did not go well. He had run ins with Rogers in terms of like the press conferences. He would say things and Rogers be like, he never told me that it was not smooth, it did not go well. Some of that was self inflicted by Robert Salt. But he's got a great PR campaign. I'm guilty of this because I'm like, God, Robert Sal is a badass. You look at Robert Sal, he looks like a player. Mike McCarthy, you know, looks like he could drop about 50, get on one of those stupid Eli Lilly commercials, say stop blaming me, I'm trying to eat a salad I just don't want to work out. AKA Lily. Just telling you, bend over, take that jab. If he got on GLP1s and lost £50, I do wonder if we talk about him differently, fair or not, because he gets branded, unlike Tomlin and Harbaugh, yet they're all three, like essentially the same guy. So branding perception in businesses like this really matter. And the Steelers clearly don't care that much about that because I don't think anyone else was hiring him. McCarthy wasn't going to take the Cardinal or Brown job, but yeah, I don't know what else to say, whether it's just his PR campaign, his look, the branding around him. I think it's a lot of different variables, but they're all negative. John Harbaugh gets fired. It's like fucking genius. John freaking Harbaugh. Well, what do we think about the Harbaughs? They're just a bunch of badasses. What do we think about Mike Tomlinson? Best leader of men since, like, General Patton, right? Mike McCarthy. Well, if he wasn't coaching football, what would he be doing? Like running an H VAC company? That's the way people talk about him. And then like you, you just list his accomplishments. He's basically parallels perfectly John Harbaugh's career. Get the way they're discussed. Couldn't be any more on the opposite ends of the spectrum. It's pretty wild. It's. I don't remember a guy this accomplished and also good with quarterbacks and calling offense that no one really respects. The casual fan people are emailing me, can I quit the Steelers? And even I was like, yeah, maybe you can, but I'm telling you, it's not going to be as bad as you think. The volume.

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