3 & Out - Tua’s Respect Problem, Coaching Hot Seats, and Rodgers’ Field Frustration

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Episode: 3 & Out – Tua’s Respect Problem, Coaching Hot Seats, and Rodgers’ Field Frustration
Host: John Middlekauff
Date: October 16, 2025

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Main Theme

This episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd (hosted here by John Middlekauff on the "3 & Out" podcast) tackles three major topics: the controversy and lack of respect surrounding Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, the reality of NFL coaching hot seats and the less-than-inspiring candidate pool, and Aaron Rodgers’ harsh criticism of NFL field conditions. Through direct analysis and personal insights, Middlekauff explores how leadership, perception, and business realities shape today’s NFL.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tua Tagovailoa’s Respect & Leadership Dilemma

[03:00 – 15:00]

• Tua’s Ceiling & Perceptions:
  Middlekauff sets out to defend Tua following criticism over his comments about a players-only meeting. He’s candid about Tua’s limitations—“No one's ever compared him to Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Like he's a middle of the road quarterback that can play well in decent weather, struggles in bad weather...” (05:20).

• Players-Only Meetings:
  Middlekauff is skeptical about the value of these meetings, noting that NFL players already spend 70+ hours a week together:

  “A player's only meeting typically is like offensive guys or defensive guys. You're around your guys constantly... Your entire life is a player’s-only meeting. It's kind of stupid when you really think about it.” (06:05)

• Military Parallels & Organizational Hierarchy:
  He draws a parallel to the military in terms of hierarchy and accountability within teams, emphasizing the coach’s role as the “head of the snake.”

  “A good organization, once the season starts, knows that [the coach] is the head of the snake.” (07:11)

• Dolphins Culture Issues:
  The Miami Dolphins are depicted as a “rudderless ship,” with owner Stephen Ross critiqued for a lack of football acumen, resulting in a culture where discipline and leadership are lacking.

  “Mike [McDaniel] told you last year...‘I can't get people to stop showing up late. Fines do not work.’ I was like, this thing’s done. The moment the head coach acknowledges people won’t show up... it’s never going to function.” (07:40)

• Intangibles Over Talent:
  Middlekauff emphasizes the importance of character, wiring, and intangibles for player success. He notes that most players “need to be led,” and exceptional, self-motivating leaders like Peyton Manning or Troy Aikman are very rare.

• Tua’s Burden:
  Tua is wrongly forced into a leadership role he’s not suited for.

  “He has enough trouble just completing the bang eight over the middle of the field. Can we just have someone else be a leader? I don’t know, the head coach?” (18:47)

• Accountability for Franchise Leadership:
  The real issues, in Middlekauff’s view, are at the ownership and coaching level, not with Tua:

  “This doesn’t all fall on him. He’s just attempting to do whatever he can because no one else will.” (10:44)

2. NFL Coaching Hot Seats & Candidate Pool Realities

[15:00 – 29:00]

• Cycle of Firing & Hiring:
  There's a modern trend of owners easily firing coaches due to enormous franchise wealth:

  “Paying a guy 5, 10, $20 million to go away is pocket change. It’s created a culture... they can fire and hire people without hesitation anymore.” (10:55)

• Dwindling Quality among NFL Candidates:
  Middlekauff reviews a list of current and potential replacements and is unimpressed, with Mike McCarthy rated as the best among a weak class:

  “When I looked at this list that The Athletic put out, Mike McCarthy was by far the best candidate...That’s not exactly Bill Walsh.” (12:04, 14:10)

• Cautionary Tale for Coaching Changes:
  He warns against “grass is greener” thinking, especially when “replacing one guy kind of with the same guy,” such as Harbaugh with McCarthy.

• Comparison to College Football:
  Middlekauff notes that, in contrast, college football has more exciting coaching options due to recent success stories and the ability to pay top dollar.

• Unquantifiable Leadership:
  He stresses that leadership cannot be measured, but you know it when you see it:

  “Leadership, that characteristic, which is hard to quantify, it’s impossible. No one knows. But you know it when you see it. You feel a presence.” (20:04)

• McDaniel’s Credibility:
  Skeptical of Miami coach Mike McDaniel as a leader:

  “How is a 28-year-old guy who’s a multimillionaire... going to take you seriously? They just can’t. It's clear by the team that they don't.” (18:15)

• Second-Chance Coaches & Crisis Management:
  Coaches with prior head experience, like Andy Reid, are valued for managing crises—a skill not learned by coordinators.

3. Aaron Rodgers’ Frustration over Field Conditions

[26:14 – 29:00]

• Poor NFL Field Standards:
  Aaron Rodgers called the Steelers’ field “borderline unplayable.” Ben Roethlisberger and Middlekauff both criticize universities and NFL teams for not prioritizing top field conditions for multi-millionaire athletes:

  “How does it make sense that I can go on my phone and basically have anything delivered... but these NFL teams worth billions of dollars, let me repeat, billions of dollars...” (26:39)

• Family Ownership & Outdated Mentalities:
  He laments the frugality of old-school family owners who, despite enormous wealth, still allow substandard turf and field practices to persist.

• NFL vs. MLB Financial Models:
  Middlekauff compares the NFL’s league-wide revenue sharing as its unique competitive strength, contrasting it with MLB’s “independent operator” model that fuels competitive imbalance:

  “The Steelers playing the Bengals, the Arizona Cardinals benefit... In baseball, they're kind of like independent operators... that is the strength of the NFL.” (29:23)

4. Mailbag – Rapid-Fire Q&A

[38:17 – 64:22]

Middlekauff answers audience questions with his signature bluntness and insight, covering:

• 49ers’ O-Line Philosophy:
  Kyle Shanahan prioritizes skill positions over O-line, a philosophy Middlekauff thinks won’t change (38:17).

• Ravens’ Playoff Hopes:
  Realistic but tough outlook for injury-riddled Ravens, skepticism about stringing five wins together even when key players return (39:03).

• Transitive Property in NFL Fandom:
  Dismisses comparisons based on one team beating another, given the NFL's week-to-week chaos (41:00).

• Personal Life vs. Societal Milestones:
  Advises not to succumb to social pressures around marriage/kids—focus on personal and financial stability (42:57).

• International NFL Games:
  The NFL chases TV revenue regardless of fans' opinions—boycotts won’t matter (44:39).

• College Coaches & Program Advantages:
  Realities of college hiring—money, NIL, and school resources matter more than deep alumni ties (47:26).

• Steelers’ Playoff Chances:
  Defense and running game are key; questions about QB durability in cold weather and suggestion to upgrade at RB before playoffs (52:25).

• Coaching Limitations in Dallas:
  Jerry Jones’ insistence on control narrows the type of coach Cowboys can hire (54:54).

• Comparison to 2015-16 Broncos:
  Steelers’ defense isn’t quite at historical Broncos level, but could follow a similar formula for success if the D-line dominates (57:49).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tua and leadership:

  “TUA asked to be act like he's Peyton Manning. What are you doing? He has enough trouble just completing the bang eight over the middle of the field. Can we just have someone else be a leader?”
  — John Middlekauff, [18:47]

• On coaching candidate scarcity:

  "When I looked at this list that The Athletic put out, Mike McCarthy was by far the best candidate. And let me say this, I don't think he's a terrible candidate...But that's what we're dealing with here."
  — John Middlekauff, [14:10]

• On NFL owners’ mindset:

  “These people have no. They don't speak football. They don't understand football. It's why businessmen...can finagle their way in...and have incredible amount of power. Right? Because those people speak numbers, those people speak business. What the owner speaks, and the owner has no clue about football.”
  — John Middlekauff, [09:45]

• On NFL field conditions vs. finances:

  "How does it make sense that I can go on my phone and basically have anything delivered to my front door, from food to TVs to a car, within 24 hours? [But] these NFL teams worth billions of dollars...we’re still at the point where we’re talking about fields, grass or turf…”
  — John Middlekauff, [26:39]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Tua Tagovailoa’s Leadership/Respect Problem: [03:00 – 15:00]
• NFL Owners & Organization Problems: [09:45 – 13:00]
• Coaching Hot Seat and Poor Candidate Pool: [15:00 – 22:00]
• Leadership in NFL Head Coaches: [20:04 – 22:00]
• Aaron Rodgers on Steelers’ Field: [26:14 – 29:00]
• NFL Financial Model vs. MLB: [29:23 – 31:00]
• Mailbag Q&A: [38:17 – 64:22]

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Overall Tone & Style

Middlekauff keeps his analysis blunt, opinionated, and laced with humor and real talk drawn from personal NFL and scouting experience. There’s cynicism regarding ownership and leadership culture but a strong respect for the rare figures—coaches and players—that actually get it right.

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This summary captures the episode's major insights, actionable football talk, and memorable quotes, giving a rich sense of the full conversation for anyone who missed the episode.

Transcript

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App, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middlekop three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well as we head into Thursday night. Mike, Tomlin taking on Flacco and the Baltimore, I mean the Cleveland, the Cincinnati Bengals, his third AFC north team. Tomlin's not happy about it. Do like the Steelers tonight and we'll get into something. Roger said earlier that just made me shake my head as well as a couple things I want to hit on, I want to defend to a little bit and I think we always think the grass is going to be greener on the other side. And I read an article today that went before you fire your coach, I just want you to realize the coaching candidates in this cycle, one is Mike McCarthy, who might be the best. Like that's not exactly Bill Walsh, you know, sitting out there on the open market. So we'll dive into some football stuff and yeah, we'll also be live after the Thursday night game like we are after the Sunday night game like we are after the Monday night games. I guess we got another double header, so buckle up. A lot of football going on and let's enjoy it. But I do want to start with TUA because I'm at the point now where I'm going to defend him in this situation. Listen, we know who he is as a player, right? No one's ever compared him to Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Like he's a middle of the road quarterback that can play well in decent weather, struggles in bad weather and is going to turn the ball over sometimes because he has not the greatest arm, but he's better than, you know, 10 to 15 quarterbacks on a weekly basis if the weather's on his side. But the other day when he said his comments about the players only meeting, people freaked out and said he was throwing people under the bus. One Players only meetings in football are kind of stupid given that you're at the facility Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday for probably a combined 70 hours. The amount of time especially like a player's only meeting typically is like offensive guys or defensive guys. You're around your guys constantly in the meeting room, in the team meeting room, in the cafeteria, in, on the practice field. Like your entire life is a, is a player only meeting just the position coaches are there some of the time, or strength and conditioning coach are there some of the time you're constantly talking to your teammates. It's kind of stupid when you really think about it. And the other thing is football parallels the military. Not in the sense that you can die. I mean technically you could die playing football, but it's not life or death like it would be for an Army Ranger Or a Navy SEAL or, you know, someone in the Air Force. But in terms of the hierarchy, you know, the head coach is the boss and everyone knows it. And a good organization, once the season starts, knows that he's the head of the snake. And I think when you look at this dolphin situation, Mike told you last year, he's like, I can't get people to stop showing up late. Fines do not work. I was like, this thing's done, it's over. So you can run it back. But the moment the head coach acknowledges people will not show up to his team meetings on time, it's never going to function. And the reason guys aren't showing up to the team meeting on time is because my buddies that are scouts right now on the road, they say they spend way more of their time accumulating information on the player off the field, his wiring, his character, all the intangibles than they do sitting there breaking down tape of the player. Obviously you want to get the player right, but when you're dealing with first, second day picks, most guys can play. The reason a lot of them fail isn't because they're not strong enough, isn't because they're not fast enough. Not saying that doesn't happen a lot of the time. It's the intangible stuff, and that's on the general manager to draft and sign the right type players in your building. Most guys are not Peyton Manning, most guys are not Troy Aikman. They can MF every single player, unfazed, lead the group to the promised land. Whether a coach is around or he's not around, most guys need to be led. There's a reason, like Seal Team 6 doesn't set the mission, someone does above their head and they are just tasked with executing it. It's no different than a football team like Patrick Mahomes doesn't need to rally the troops seven days a week. That's what they pay Andy Reid to do. And like the Dolphins, in a lot of these franchises, I think we have a point. And it's almost a problem because these owners are so flush with cash they can fire and hire people without hesitation anymore. Paying a guy 5, 10, $20 million to go away is pocket change to me or you. And it's created a culture because these people have no. They don't speak football. They don't understand football. It's why businessmen, for organizations that are on their second or third generations, like Kevin Warren with the Bears, like this president with the Titans, can finagle their way in Rich McKay with Arthur Blank and have incredible amount of power. Right? Because those people speak numbers, those people speak business. What the owner speaks, and the owner has no clue about football. And if they can fool that owner and thinking they know a lot about football, they can take control of the operation. And that's what's happening all over the league. And Steven Ross and his franchise feels like a rudderless ship out there in the Atlantic Ocean, which is kind of warm and nice and, you know, you got some, you know, string bikinis walking around the beaches. But this football team, thank God Mario resurrected the college team, because this team is just a joke, and it's all falling on Tua, who I'm not trying to act like. And maybe there's been some people online saying he's been late to meetings in his past. I don't know. I'm not there. But this doesn't all fall on him. He's just attempting to do whatever he can because no one else will. I do think we got to be really careful this offseason. About. Just like John Harbaugh is a good example, let's say the Ravens end up with five, six wins and just have a season from hell, there is going to be a large contingent of people saying, fire him. I did this last year with Mike Tomlin. I said, listen, no one with a brain would say Mike Tomlin is a bad coach, but has his time run out in Pittsburgh? Does his message run flat? And we can debate whether that actually happened or not. Obviously, this season's going pretty well, but, like, there are candidates. There's a specific candidate you can resurrect and get your offense into the modern world. Ben Johnson, one of the best OC candidates in recent memory. And you could argue Vrabel is just a version of Tomlin. So that would be replacing one guy kind of with the same guy. But maybe he gave a fresh message. I was just open to the possibility. Clearly, the Steelers were not. Well, kind of similar situation here in Baltimore. It's like, hey, has his message ran flat? Did he miss his window? If this season continues to go really bad, let's get rid of John Harbaugh and hire Mike McCarthy. Arthur Smith, I love him. But Matt Nagy, like the crop of coaches, unlike college football, like Penn State, is going to go all in, probably for Kurt Signetti or Matt Rule, a guy that played linebacker for them and has won at countless schools. When Florida fires Billy Napier, they're probably going to go after Lane Kiffin, a guy who is setting records for the amount of Wins in a short period of time at a program that's never good. Ole Miss, like there are real good candidates in college football due to South Florida, the, due to Tulane, obviously. Matt Campbell, like there are legitimate candidates. If you're a big school to go land a guy, whether you dominate and win the press conference or not. He, the, the resume speaks for itself on a lot of these guys. Not necessarily true when it comes to the NFL. And when I looked at this list that the athletic put out, Mike McCarthy was by far the best candidate. And let me say this, I don't think he's a terrible candidate. He can coach quarterbacks, he can be the offensive coordinator while being the head coach. And he's proven he can win a lot of games in the regular season now over the long period of time now since the early 2010s, his resume in the playoffs hasn't been that great. Lost some big time games that he was favored to win even in Dallas twice. Lost at home in the first round. The Green Bay packers and San Francisco 49ers. Pretty devastating losses. Right? So he leaves a little something to be desired. You could argue what the hell's the difference between McCarthy and Harbaugh and Tomlin and some of these, like, if you're gonna, you might as well just keep the guy that you feel comfortable with. But that's what we're dealing with here. And I, I think it's universal. Get rid of this guy. And some of these guys, like Mike McDaniel, obviously you're gonna fire him. Zach Taylor, if you keep losing, is gonna get fired. But you fire Brian Callahan, who's taking that job, you were just paying them. And listen, most people in society would give their left, you know what, to make $3 million a year if you're a head coach in the National Football League. I mean, what's the average, what's the average rate? $9 million. If you average it out, there are 10 probably plus guys making over $13 million. How many people in college football make seven to eight, let alone nine or 10? So when you pay someone like that, you're showing we don't think he's any good. You'd be like, well, it's just negotiation. It's just leverage. Well, it's just showing you you're getting a guy that has no options and that you won't hesitate to fire in a couple years because it won't be, you know, very cost prohibitive in terms of you losing money. Right? He's like, whatever, give him a couple million See you later. Well, it's like if you're the Titans, you have this young quarterback. Like, why don't you just call Steve Sarkeesian or Lane Kiffin or some. Those guys wouldn't even accept your phone call. They. They make 3 or 4x. What you were just paying the head coach that you just fired, and guess who they answer to? Nobody. They're the boss. So you can't even go down that road. When I was with Philly and they fired Andy Reid, they had their sights set on two guys. First, they went after Bill o' Brien at Penn State. He turned him down. He'd only been there a year. And then they got Chip Kelly, a guy that, looking back, not a great hire. But at the time, everyone wanted. So I. I just think, you look around this class, it's not great. There does not seem to be a Ben Johnson, some offensive coordinator that's just a shooting star. There are guys like Joe Brady that, depending on the week, you watch him pretty good, pretty bad. Clint Kubiak, couple years ago, fired. You know, it's like, I. This league's weird. And I. I think all these teams now, they. They just are. There's never been more pressure, right, to try to win because the amount of money, you're guaranteed to make money, win or lose. But if you are a competitive team, it is. It's so lucrative to your bottom line. The aggression from these owners, it's like, well, we just got to upgrade. Well, and when you upgrade, it's awesome. You know, the Patriots hiring Mike Vrabel, Shock. That worked. No shit. That. That was going to work. But that's not most of these situations. I think Arthur Smith's pretty impressive guy. His story's pretty cool. Worked his way up the Titans. By the end, he was the best offensive coordinator in the league. But he became a head coach. Probably not all of his fault. Left a lot to be desired, you know? And at the end of the day, when you're the head coach slash offensive coordinator and you're cool with running Desmond Ritter out there, I just don't take you as seriously anymore. You could argue that Matt Nagy winning some games with Mitch Trubisky that can't complete of like the nine routes on the route tree, like seven of them. Not that bad. But if I tell you that you, you know, the Ravens fired John Harbaugh and hired Matt Nagy, you would be like, what? Seriously? So I just think we got to be very, very careful when it comes to these situations. And listen, some of these Guys are going to get a second opportunity. And the other thing is when you give a guy a second opportunity, you know he knows that he can handle stuff, right? Because he has sat at the chair where when a guy gets a dui, when a guy just disappears from your franchise, like the situation with Josh Simmons right now, I have no inside information that you don't have. I've just seen that he disappeared and they know where he is. They don't know when he's coming back. Guess what? Andy Reid has experience dealing with situations like that. Maybe not apples to apples, this situation, but he's seen this before, a time or two. So while some coaches would just freak the you know what out, I might as well like, what the fuck am I going to do now? Instead, Andy can take a deep breath. We can handle it. We'll figure out. Here are our options. And no one prepares you to do that as an assistant coach or as a coordinator because that's not your job. And this gets back to the TUA thing. Like TUA asked to be act like he's Peyton Manning. What are you doing? He has enough trouble just completing the bang eight over the middle of the field. Can we just have someone else be a leader? I don't know the head coach, but he's wearing these weird ass capri pants that are up to his knees. I mean, how could you wear those? And I am pro. The, the jogger pants, obviously they look better on a taller, skinnier guy. I have a pair from Vuori that I kind of wear to travel around, but they go down to my ankles. You can't really tell if they are just like kind of, you know, sweat type pants or joggers, the way he's wearing them. Big cat, put this out. You can't be one in five and wearing these pants. I completely agree. Like that look is. You can't suck that bad. You can't be. How is a 28 year old guy who's a multimillionaire, who is married with a kid going to take you seriously? But they just can't. And it's clear by the team that they don't. Right? And that's what all these teams are tasked with doing. How can I hire a coach that everyone can follow? Because leadership, that characteristic, which is hard to quantify, it's impossible. No one knows. But you know it when you see it. You feel a presence. I've been lucky enough to work for Pat Hill and Andy Reid and when they walked in a room, they had a presence to him. I Can't imagine sitting in a room when some of these guys walk in. You're like, I'm supposed to take this guy Mike McDaniel seriously? And people think I'm shitting on the guy. He's a smart offensive mind. He has no business being a head coach. Hell, Robert Sala has a presence to him. Obviously he's, you know, a good leader of men when he's dealing with the defense. Not a good head coach. You know, it's ex. It's like a quarterback. It's extremely hard to do. We can nitpick Lane, right? He used to have this happen. I watched a documentary. He's clean and sober. His team's kicking ass. I know he knows how to be a head coach. He's been a head coach of big programs, been a head coach a little programs. He's dealt with Nick Saban. Like, I know the guy can handle some stuff. I'd say the same thing for Sark. Is it perfect? No. But can he handle a lot of stuff? Hell yeah. Ryan Day, I'm Ohio State hater, but I respect what they're doing up there. It's a pressure packed gig. We saw the pressure with James Franklin, cracked the whole program. It split in half like the Titanic and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. They hit serious adversity because they had built up all season. And I've seen a lot of different people. Should he have been fired? Should he not have been fired? Once your team legitimately quits on you, when you've put all your chips into the table, like you've lost all your money, it's over. You don't have any more hands to play. You don't have any more chips. And that's what happened to Penn State, right? And that's why last week against the Rams, I was like, you know what? We have a long resume. John Harbaugh, I don't care if he's got me and you out there playing defense. They're going to play hard this game. And what do they do? For a long period of time, it was three to three and the Ravens were playing their ass up. They just don't have enough bullets in the gun. And they eventually, you know, lose by double digit points. But it's like that was. It's like, okay, I respect that. It's like, listen, I had a couple people forward me the social clip that I sent out about the Browns and Mike Tomlin, talking about Andrew Barry, treating these players like widgets. Like, you traded Joe Flacco, you traded Joe Flacco to an in division rival who if their quarterback's healthy, is a preseason, I don't know if they're quite a Super bowl contender, but they're definitely just like, you know, a contender in the division, a contender in the conference to win double digit games. And you just give them a capable quarterback, a guy that you deemed starting quality week one and even if he's not going to start because you want to start the younger guys, his value as a leader to teach these guys like how to be a pro in the league. But you don't give a shit about that because you actually don't care. You're like a stock manager. You're just treating all these guys, they're all widgets to you in everything's value. And you can say, well, John Howie kind of operates like that. Clearly not. Have you seen the type guys that they have built that team around and they balance it with the character, with the crazy guys, with some of the flyers, like they cognitively think about that. I know a lot of people in that organization. So if the reason they bring in Jalen Carter, because they knew they had Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis right around them, they would not have done that if they didn't have any of that infrastructure there yet. Andrew Barry, just like in the Cleveland Browns and I'm not going to beat a dead horse on this one, but they are operating a little bit like the Sam Hinkey 76ers and no one in the NFL takes them seriously. And clearly I think Kevin Stevens, he's kind of caught in the middle because even he, when they traded him was like, yes, didn't quite see that one coming. And you look back, you're like, oh, Tomlin worked with Stefanski once upon a time in Minnesota because you never hear a coach just shit on someone else in the NFL like that. And I think he's kind of standing up for his guy because Andrew Barry, this, you know, Harvard former player, not NFL player, but college player, is really much more like a Theo Epstein or you know, the guys running the Dodgers. Here's the difference. Those guys win, you can't lose and keep acting like you're smarter than everyone else. It ain't working. It is not working at all in team building as a front office is really, really important. And you see some of these people have no fucking clue what they're doing. And then these fans, I feel bad. You watch the games like the same thing every week. And it starts with the head coach and the GM that these people are placed in jobs that just have no clue. So I guess I come around to maybe Mike McCarthy's not that bad of an option. You could do way worse. 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Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida? Call 1-88-Admt-IT in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants to help, call 1-809 with it gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia if you smoke or dip, I'm going to give you a few good reasons to try Zinn Zyn Nicotine Pouches first, it's America's number one nicotine pouch brand, and Zyn offers a robust rewards program. There's a lot of options for nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zyn. So if you go to zyn.com find that's z y n.com find to find Zinn at a store near you. This product does contain nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[E]

Hey, it's Ed Helms. And welcome back to snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu every single episode.

[A]

32 lost nuclear weapons you're like, wait, stop.

[D]

What?

[A]

Ernie Shackleton sounds like a solid 70s.

[E]

Basketball player who still wore knee pads. Yes, it's gonna be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of guests. The great Paul Scheer made me feel good. I'm like, oh, wow, Angela and Jenna, I am so psyched you're here.

[A]

What was that like for you to soft launch into the show.

[E]

Sorry, Jenna, I'll be asking the questions today.

[A]

I forgot whose podcast we were doing.

[E]

Nick Kroll. I hope this story is good enough to get you to toss that sandwich. So let's, let's, let's see how it goes. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[F]

What's up everybody? This is Snax from the Trap Nerds podcast and we're bringing you the horror every week all October long.

[A]

Kicking off this month, I'll be bringing you all my greatest fear inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Solid Hill. Me and Tony bringing backfire team on Left 4 Dead 2 and we just gonna be going over some of the greats.

[F]

Also in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movie and figure out why black people always gotta die first.

[D]

The Umbral Reliquary invites any and all fool brave enough to peruse its many curiosities. But take heed. All sales are final. Weekly horror side quests written and narrated by yours truly with a full episode read and a comment special.

[F]

And we will cap it off with Horror Movie Battle Royale, Jason versus Freddy, Michael Myers versus the Alien Thing with the Little Tongue Monster. October, we're doing it Halloween style. Listen to the Trap Nurse podcast from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[D]

I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology Podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation. Like you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it. If it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to just say like. Like you go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just drink the extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walking the other way. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denial is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving, meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the Psychology podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[A]

I'll end on a couple of quick things. The Steelers, their field. Rogers called it borderline unplayable. The big fella, Ben Roethlisberger, came out and said that the University of Pittsburgh needs to build their own stadium. Little small one like 25k and just get out of there. I don't know. Obviously, the economic situation, I'm sure the university pays the Steelers. I can't imagine it's a lot of money. Like, it's not like the Rooneys are dependent on that income to pay TJ Watt. If I just had to take an educated guess, a couple hundred thousand dollars a game, maybe, I don't know. So if you play six home games, you do the math. I mean, we're not talking 2 million max. Maybe a million for the year. I don't know. Whatever the rent is. How does it make sense that I can go on my phone and basically have anything delivered to my front door, from food to TVs to a car, within 24 hours? Get these NFL teams worth billions of dollars. Let me repeat, billions of dollars. If the Pittsburgh Steelers just went on the open market, what would they go for? Whatever the number is, add 50% to it. Because, one, they never come on the open market, and if they did, they would be overpaid for. Right. Based on whatever the quote, unquote valuation was. This isn't the 2025 housing market. I see it with my wife right now. Everyone's, you know, it's like, hey, buddy, your house isn't worth a million dollars anymore. You know, you bought this thing 20 years ago. You paid $300,000 for it. You're desperate to get. You've already paid off the majority of your mortgage. You're thinking you're getting $900,000 profit. No, lower that bad boy to 875. Interest rates are high. Take your profit and move on. But if you think you're going to be waiting a long, long time, unless interest rates precipitously drop the next 612 months, which doesn't really feel like that's going to happen. All I hear is everyone talking about it never happens. So if you want to get your house sold and you want to still make a profit, like, you can drop the price a little bit. This isn't 2021. Times have changed. Adapt. That's not football. Their prices only go up. And I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are no different than a lot of these franchises. I've said this forever. These families that bought These teams decades ago, 50s, the 60s, they do struggle with the current valuations of everything because they don't operate like that. Look at the jets and the Giants when it comes to their turf. Can you imagine paying players hundreds of millions of dollars and go, yeah, we're not on the best turf or we're not. We don't take care of our grass. We let someone else play on it the day before. It's like, you know what happens when a major comes to your golf course? They shut down play a couple weeks before. I play where waste management is. Guess what? They kick us off the course 10 days before the tournament starts. Why? To get the course ready for the pros. So to have a college team play on your field the day before, it's pretty insane. And it's simply just a money grab. That can't be that much money. So I just don't understand where. We're still at the point where we're talking about fields, grass or turf when it comes to these NFL teams, but we constantly are, every single week. It's nuts. I mean, it really is. I just don't comprehend it. But it clearly is not going away because at their soul, that frugal nature does not change, regardless of the money flowing in. And last but not least, I took a gummy last night for the first time. Probably like, I don't know, a year, maybe not quite a year. Maybe like eight, nine months. And it was like this thing, this new sponsor we got sent me some of their stuff, and it hit me. I didn't quite look. I thought it was cbd, it was actually thc. And I was. I was floating, watching the Dodger game. And I was just thinking that it's pretty unfair what they've done, how good they are. And, you know, the thing. And I got a lot of texts when it came to, you know, I know a lot of Giants fans, and they don't want to see the Dodgers, who I think we all have come to grips with. If they're going to pitch like this, they are going to walk to a World Series championship. And they're rolling out last night, Ohtani's buddy from Japan, that goes a complete game that they paid $350 million to. They got Blake Stell, who they paid a ton of money. They got Glass. Now they have all these guys, they paid a bunch of money, and their business model's broken. And I don't blame the Dodgers. I commend them, right, for making a lot of money, spending a lot of money. That's the whole point. If you're a fan, like, I want you to be all in. But a lot of these Franchises. And I saw it forever, like with the Oakland A's, it's like, why don't we spend more? Because the franchise doesn't make any money. So just because the owner is rich from other business endeavors, if he invests in this franchise, there's no guarantee he's going to make the money back. And more than likely he will not. So I think the one thing football has and we should be, and this is, you know, my mind's just racing. I getting all these thoughts I'm trying to, trying to balance, you know, not be too negative in my head. Positive thoughts and writing down things that are firing into my head about what I want to talk about for the next couple weeks on the podcast. And these football theories. Football really figured it out is their ability to spread the wealth and the partnership of the television revenue and the universal umbrella that everyone financially benefits from. The Steelers playing the Bengals. The Arizona Cardinals benefit, the Jacksonville Jaguars benefit, the New York Giants benefit. We're in baseball. They're kind of like independent operators that are combined as a league and basketball somewhere in the middle. Right? Because the Lakers don't have much in common with the Memphis Grizzlies, where at the end of the day, the Cincinnati Bengals wanted to give Joe Burrow $300 million. They gave him $300 million. They wanted to give Jamar Chase $150 million. They gave him $150 million. That's just not the case in baseball. And you're watching like the Dodgers, if they win a World Series this year, they're going to be the betting favorite again next year. They're not going away and they're just going to keep doubling down. Where in football, like what the Chiefs did, why it's so incredible them making five of the six Super Bowls is that shouldn't be the case. Everyone's operating with the same amount of draft picks. Everyone's operating with the same amount of cap space. You just choose how you get to, you know, use those resources. The Dodgers have the ability to have like five 300 to 400 plus million dollar players. There's like a handful of teams that don't have a payroll above like $75 million, let alone the capability to sign one of those players. So props to them for just putting all their chips in the middle of the table and utilizing all their assets. And I think football, and this is, this is going to be the question with college football, is how do we get everyone operating and rowing in the same direction where the television deal for the SEC and the Big Ten and the Big 12, we're all together and we're all sharing in these revenues. And the hard part is that they're at the point where they've been, even though they've been in conferences, they've been independent in the sense that Ohio State goes were way more valuable than Minnesota, let alone Rutgers. Well, yeah, the Cowboys are more valuable than the Jags and are more valuable than the Cardinals. Just like the packers generate more revenue than, you know, the Miami Dolphins for the league in primetime games. But guess what? When the television money gets distributed, they all get the same check in the mail. And that is the strength of the NFL. And that's why I think, you know, sports like baseball, which obviously the pace of the sport, unless you're stoned out of your mind on the couch like myself, you're like, this is incredible. It's slow. And as someone that grew up loving baseball, I don't think I watched 9 innings all regular season. I've watched, I watched a decent amount of the Dodger playoff games just because, listen, I'm supposed to hate them, but I mean, Ohtani, who looks like crap right now, is just, I mean, he's incredible. I freaking love Mookie Bets. And I'm old school. I like watching a Pitcher Just go 7, 8, 9 innings in a playoff game and just shove it right down your throat like, that was badass to watch last night. And, and yeah, just. I just pains me to say this, but I think the Dodgers are going to win in a World Series. If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zyn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons. Zyn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zyn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zyn. Check out zyn.com find to find Zen at a store store near you. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[E]

Hey, it's Ed Helms. And welcome back to Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu every single episode.

[A]

32 lost nuclear weapons you're like, wait, stop. What? Yeah, Ernie Shackleton sounds like a solid.

[E]

70S basketball who still wore knee pads. Yes, it's gonna be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of guests. The great Paul Scheer made me feel good. I'm like, oh wow, Angela and Jenna, I am so psyched you're here.

[A]

What was that like for you to soft launch into the show?

[E]

Sorry, Jenna, I'll be asking the questions today.

[A]

I forgot whose podcast we were doing.

[E]

Nick Kroll. I hope this story is good enough to get you to toss that sandwich. So let's, let's, let's see how it goes. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[F]

What's up everybody? This is Snax from the Trap Nerds podcast and we're bringing you the Horror every week all October long.

[A]

Kicking off this month, I'll be bringing you all my greatest fear inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Solid Hill. Me and Tony bringing back Fireteam on Left 4 Dead 2 and we just going to be going over some of the greats.

[F]

Also in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movie and figuring out why black people always got to die first.

[D]

The Umbral reliquary invites any and all fooling brave enough to peruse its many curiosities. But take kid. All sales are final. Weekly horror side quests written and narrated by yours truly with a full episode read and a commentary special.

[F]

And we will cap it off with Horror Movie Battle Royale, Jason versus Freddy, Michael Myers versus the Alien Thing with the Little Tongue Monster. October, we're doing it Halloween style. Listen to the Trap Nurse podcast from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[D]

I'm Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, host of the Psychology podcast. Here's a clip from an upcoming conversation about exploring human potential. I was going to schools to try to teach kids these skills and I get eye rolling from teachers or I get students who would be like, it's easier to punch someone in the face. When you think about emotion regulation, like, you're not going to choose an adaptive strategy which is more effortful to use unless you think there's a good outcome as a result of it, if it's going to be beneficial to you. Because it's easy to just say like go blank yourself, right? It's easy. It's easy to just drink the extra beer. It's easy to ignore, to suppress seeing a colleague who's bothering you and just like walk the other way. Avoidance is easier. Ignoring is easier. Denial is easier. Drinking is easier. Yelling, screaming is easy. Complex problem solving, meditating, you know, takes effort. Listen to the Psychologist podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[A]

Okay, let's go. Mailbag at John Middlekop at John Middlekop is the Instagram fire in those DMS questions answered here on this little old podcast we will start with I actually a bunch of people forward me this and I saw it online is Kyle Shanahan did the injury report today and it took 32 seconds and he took six breaths. So it just shows you the 49ers, there never ever been anything quite like that. Here's the question from Eric. How terrible would the 49ers offensive line. Oh, with how terrible the 49ers offensive line has been, do you think Kyle Shanahan will change his philosophy on being able to scheme around a bad O line? I really don't. I think his organizational philosophy is skill guys over guys up front. Obviously if he get a start left tackle, he'll do that, but he doesn't value those guys over skill guys. He's admitted it. His offensive line coach has admitted it. They value wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, guys they could impact with the ball in their hand more than offensive linemen, which to me is insane. It's harder to find good offensive line, especially now more than ever. But is Kyle Shanahan going to change his philosophy? At the end of the day, he's the boss, right? So John lynch, they answer to him like he's in control and what he wants to do. You know, as my dad said, when you start paying the mortgage, I'll listen to you. I'm going to use that on my child too. And he's right. So it's like I don't think Kyle's going to change, not at this point in time. Even though the Ravens are one in five and the defense has been abysmal, I still have hope they can make the playoffs. The Bengals and the Browns are terrible and the Steelers haven't played anyone and I would bet a lot of money they start losing when they play tougher teams. They will get Lamar back after the buy and should be able to win their next five games against the Bears, Dolphins, Vikings, Jets, Browns, which would put them at 6 and 5. The defense is obviously a concern, but they get turned around last year and only gave up 17 points. The Rams, despite the offense being awful with Cooper Rush. I don't think you guys even if get healthier, obviously you get Lamar back, you're not going to lose every game. But I can't just. You're going to look as abysmal as you've looked with a bunch of injuries to just get Lamar back and rattle off five victories. Like remember you lost a lot of games with Lamar Jackson Metabuque is not coming back. Like there's no replacing that individual. You've had other injuries in your secondary. Now, like you said after the buy, maybe some guys get healthy, but you guys early on were a little healthier and also losing. So you definitely can just get back into the mix with a couple wins. But I, I cannot with a straight face, go five straight wins. I don't care who you're playing, you have not shown. Now should you beat the Browns and the Jets? Sure. But I don't know if you're as a lock to beat the Vikings or the Bears. You know the Dolphins can score. The Dolphins just scored what, 26. What they lose 2926 against Chargers 26, 23. I forget the final, yeah, I forget the final score. But they can score. But again, I wouldn't say your season. There's some one in five teams where season's over, your season's not over, but you're in major trouble in your margin for error. You can't blow one of those games that you're going to be favored in. In my opinion, the Chargers are in stage two of a process rather than stage 10. The building blocks of the team is still young. There's a reason they didn't go nuts in free agency in the last two years. And are you still confident that Jim Harbaugh will win a Super bowl before he retires? Yes, I think Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert will win a Super bowl in the next five years. I do believe that this year with some of the injuries going to be tough, but I think they're Farther along than 2. But they're definitely probably in the middle, not at 10. As a packer fan who lives in the metro Detroit area, I'm surrounded by Lions fans who always seem to use the transitive property of equality. We're getting deep now when telling you how bad your team is. Example, Green Bay lost to Cleveland and then the following week Detroit wins against Cleveland. Therefore Detroit is better than the Packers. The NFL is one league where there is where this theory is not applicable. There are too many variables that can change on a week to week basis. Do you use the transitive property to compare teams? And I'm totally in agreement. One thing I've learned being around the NFL on any given Sunday, that's what makes the sport so appealing, is like even when you're having a bad season, how often do does like a four win team get a cool upset in December? It happens all the time. You're dealing with human beings. It's very physical. Game plans can just be bad. Obviously teams especially on like Monday night or Sunday night, if you get primetime games, you're a bad team. Injuries play a huge part. It's very, very difficult to play that game in the sport. I would say the same thing for college football. You know the other thing is when you're a good team, right? Detroit, Green Bay, obviously the Chiefs, the Ravens, any team that has sustained success over a while, you're getting everybody's best shot. Every single team is throwing the kitchen sink at you this year, the Eagles, every time they play. What do you think they're saying all week long talking about the defending champs? We're going to take down the defending champs. So there's a motivational, you know, factor here. Big fan of the show. I love when you talk sports, but I like even more when you talk about life. I'm 29, single, make six figs as a project manager dudes living aerospace company in the US and part of me feels like a failure. But I'm not married and don't have any kids. I know you're recently married with a kid on the way. Congrats. But did any part of you feel like you were behind in life in your 30s without a family? I would say I have a lot of qualities that I wish I could change about myself and I'm envious of other people either in my life or that I see from afar that I could add, I would say one quality I always had and I still have this even with a family, is I've never really compared my like personal life professionally. You're constantly gauging yourself against others. But I never really. My brother got married in 2018. He's five years younger than me. He has a six year old and a three year old. You know that it honestly did not bother me at all. Now part of it too. And you sound like I don't live around my family. Like I moved away when I went to college, I never came back. Obviously I've gone back, but I just meant like I don't live in where I grew up. I don't know, I just. That's just one quality that never fazed me. I just was so tunnel vision on myself. And I'll say this for anyone that does not have children that are thinking about it, you sound like you're doing pretty well at 29. But to have a child, you better have some financial wherewithal. I would not have been able to have a child at your age. I couldn't have done it. So that part of it was that, you know, for all throughout my 20s, then even my early 30s, I, I knew that honestly I wasn't even set up to get married, you know, financially. I, I just didn't feel stable like you're, you're stable then. I, I was a huge believer like some stuff's out of your control in life, you know, professionally, personally. And I, I, I've always like when you try and you push and, and you want something so bad. Typically the universe gives you the opposite and it's hard. We're all human beings. You're 29 years old man, you got a great job, you're making some coin, you'll be fine. You'll, you'll age well. Typically men in your situation do so, you know, just hit the gym, stay good looking and you'll be all right. Have you listened to a recent episode where a Broncos fans seem frustrated with the NFL London game? I'm curious to know whether you think there would be a point at which fans from the US would actively protest the expansion of international games and whether the league would even care. As a Manchester United fan, I could not imagine the league a league game being played in the US or anywhere located abroad. I'm also interested your thoughts on how many GMS. How many quarterbacks GMs across the league would you draft ahead of how many quarterbacks GMs you miss a period or comma. I see what you're saying would take Drake May. Do you think he has a special talent or does this run remind you sort of like a Jordan Love before he got paid. I don't think the league gives one. You know what what fans think about these international games. All they care about is television product. And if people are watching these morning games, which I don't know, I haven't seen the ratings on them, I'm sure they're not doing bad. They're not going to stop and I think they plan on selling the package to make the owners and players more money. And that's what I expect to happen. So I hear you actively boycott. It's just not going to, it won't have any factor. What you said about Drake May, I've been pretty impressed. I mean he looks pretty good, schedule shitty but the talent on his team's not great. I think part of watching him part of watching Caleb the other night or Jaden Daniels is like. It's. It's pretty. Like the physical characteristics, it's pretty evident. You know, Caleb, it was. It was clear early. Like, this guy can really move. He's got a huge arm. Then it's about playing winning football, making winning plays, making smart plays. One of the best plays of Caleb's career is on that scramble late in that game when he hit the ground. Like that was really impressive. How many guys brain fart and run out of bounds? Happens all the time. So what game was I? Oh, I was watching Ole Miss earlier this season. His quarterback did that, ran out of bounds, and Lane almost had a conniption. But, you know, part of playing winning football is more than just throwing a deep bomb. It's about making smart plays. You know, what did Bobby Knight say? Dumb loses more games than smart wins. You know, obviously the spectacular plays, the scrambling to your right. Throwing the ball deep is impressive, but he seems like he's got a chance to be the total package. And Frable won a lot of games with Ryan Tannehill. Ryan Tannehill is not as good as this guy. Or at least this guy has the opportunity to be way better than Ryan Tannehill. And it does feel like Josh is kind of finding his stride with Drake. I'd be pretty fired up if I was a patriot. I think he'd go pretty high. I think he'd go, you know, not factoring in. If you factored in age, you know, my homes would. Josh Allen, Lamar would still all go 1, 2, 3 in some order. I think Burrows major curveball now with the injuries, he might not go as high. Herbert would go really, really high. Then I think it'd be up for debate. And you know, the Jaden Daniels, Drake, May, C.J. stroud a couple years ago you said would have been a lock. You know, I. I'd have to text around, you know, the vibe on him. It's not all his fault, but he hasn't played as well as I think the hype. So, I mean, things change. Like, I said this the other day. Like, I don't litigate Patrick Mahomes on a weekly basis. People like, why aren't you? Why are we going nuts on Josh Allen? Because he's an elite. You know, I said this the other day, and I'm going to hammer this every day this year. Like, we don't, you know, try to determine the guy's season based on one week. When you're Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, now we nitpick them harder in the playoffs and stuff. But like on a weekly basis it's like, why doesn't he get the same smoke that Tua gets? Did you hear what just came out of your mouth? Got a mailbag question for you. As a Nebraska guy, what do you think about Rule to Penn State? Personally, I think Rule is extremely overrated and hasn't won anything and would be happy to see him move on outside of his relationship with the Penn State ad, don't see how you could sell that to their fan base. You know, I think part of like I played there, it means a lot to me. I think that's overblown in 2025. I mean these guys are making 8, 9, $10 million. You know, Mario Cristobal, I'm pretty sure grew up in the area, played there and then they offered him an unlimited amount of money and the conference, it was a much easier path at Miami than it ever was going to be at Oregon. So there were more variables than just like Miami's home, which obviously meant something. But I think when you look at Matt Rule, yeah, he played there in the early 90s like this, the modern day cell phone didn't exist. The Internet, nobody had it, so to say. Like I just think, I think that's overblown sometimes. And in 2026, for the next five years, the only thing that matters are nil ability to recruit, ability to pay coaches. If he gets a huge advantage at Penn State, then he should be very interested. If there's not a big advantage for him to go and he's comfortable at Nebraska and the AD likes him and he's, I mean he's got a chance to win 10 games this year at Nebraska, which would be incredible. You just stay. But all my friends that in the scouting business loved Matt Rule. Obviously did not go well for him in Carolina, doesn't really go well for many people there. But people have always thought really highly of Merle. I've never met the guy. Kind of like him from afar. I think the other thing is who are we comparing him to? Right. Saban's an outlier. You could have put Saban in his prime at any major program, especially in the south and he was going to win. He would have done that at lsu he did it. But he would have done at Obama he would have done it Florida, he would done a Florida State, he would have done at Clemson, he would have done it at all. The at Tennessee would have done it all if you. Texas would have hired him. He was an unstoppable force. But most guys aren't like, Ryan Day's. Really. What he's been doing is really impressive. But he's at the number one program in the country. They have the most money, they have the most prestige at this point in time. They recruit by far the best players. He has unlimited resources. You know, is Ryan Day, if I just put him at the University of Washington or at the University of Maryland, is he. I don't know. You know, I'm not saying it's gonna be bad, but college, Kirby has a huge advantage. If you put Kirby at, you know, let's just pick at. At Mississippi State, probably not gonna look the same as gonna be a Georgia, right? So Georgia has all the resources. They have incredible high school football. They will do anything for football. He's clearly a good coach. But, like, you benefit in college. It's easier to look better when you're at the top programs. You know, it's why it's really impressive what Signetti is doing. Even in an nil era. Like, a lot of people could add Fernando Mendoza, he was all over his ass. Why weren't some of these other programs, like, where was Florida State? Why didn't they offer the bag? They went after this dude from Boston College who's been terrible. So I just think that. I think it's all about money and not just. He makes a ton. I mean, about what you can pay the players and what you can pay your staff and the consistent nil money moving forward. If there's a huge advantage, he'd be crazy not to take it. Especially when you factor in that he played there and he met his wife there. But if there's not, like, stay in Nebraska, you could argue there's not that much difference, because there is to me. There's one program right now that's just in the Big Ten that's head and shoulders above everyone. That's Ohio State. Then right behind them is Oregon. Then like, listen, Michigan, they have a bunch of money. They have the prestige. I had no clue if their coach is any good. None seem like a nice guy, hardball guy, tough guy. But like, is he a head coach in this conference? Like, is Jerome Moore getting into the playoffs? I got no clue. I mean, I'm watching their young quarterback and I get. I'm not on Rivals.com. their receivers, the one freshman receiver, four is pretty talented. But, you know, by all accounts, it's. They're going to get better over the next couple of years. But does their coach know what he's doing? I don't know. I really don't. You know, USC feels like they're probably a year away from being a really factor. Maybe they're closer than we think. This week we'll find out in Notre Dame. But like Lincoln, be the first to tell you I got way more advantages right now with all this money than I would at some of these other schools. Texas Tech was always like a second, third tier program. Now they have unlimited money, they're dominating. Like it is very possible that you'll look up and Texas Tech will be in the Final Four. Like how do they do that? Because they have a billionaire paying defensive linemen in the transfer portal to come to their school. I mean, it's so the priorities now. It's like whenever I hear people talk about facilities at this point in time, like facilities should, all these facilities are fine. Let's focus in on what we can pay the players because that's how you land the players. And at the end of the day, college more than the NFL, is about the Jimmy's and the Joes, not the X's and those beside a couple games a year. Huge Steeler fan. Curious how seriously you're taking the Steelers right now. You seemed a little bearish on them earlier in the season. But with some of the top AFC teams dealing with injuries and the defense starting to look like its usual self, do you see them making a real push? Two questions I got for him. First and foremost the quarterback. 41 years old, it gets cold, right? Your home games in November, in December, it it's frigid. Now he's played in Green Bay is majority of his career he's a cold weather quarterback. But like once you get old, playing in the cold is easier on your body when you're 27, when you're 32 than when you're 41 years old. Especially when you've had some injury issues the last couple years. So to me it's like what does he look like in some of these freezing cold games late in the season at home on the road against the Browns or the Ravens? We don't know if he looks just solid. You're in good shape defensively. If your defense plays well, that translates. We know that does. But to me, what works in the cold? Two things, defense and running the ball. To me, do trade for running back in the next couple of weeks because depending on Gainwell, that seems a little risky. Clearly Caleb Johnson, I don't want to call it a lost season, but feels like he's not going to be what you'd hoped when you drafted him in the third round. He's not like you're starting running back and Warren, talented player, but like, you can't ride that guy in a playoff game if you get a good running attack. I do think you could win a playoff game. Could you compete for the afc? I guess you never say never, but I would say winning a playoff game when you haven't won one in however many years. And if you win a playoff game, meaning you beat the Chargers or the Chiefs or someone in the first round, that's a pretty incredible win. Like there's a pretty good chance when the dust settles. The wild cards are like the. In some, you know, form or fashion. Denver, Chargers, Chiefs, Jags. Like, those teams are all going to be hard to beat in the first round because they have a lot of strengths, good defenses, good coaching. So winning a game, assuming the Steelers win the division at, let's say, 11 or 12 wins, you're going to play Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh. Not John Harbaugh, Sean Payton, the Jag situation, which. That would probably be the team you'd pick. It would be what you would. You would 100% pick the jags over Denver, the Chiefs or the Chargers. So, yeah, I feel pretty good if I were you, Cowboy fan. I've been following the team for 15 years now, since I moved to Dallas at 10 years old. What it must feel like to be young again. Do you think an elite coach would come to Dallas with Jerry as the owner? I just feel like an elite coach would want more power and decision making and think that's not Jerry. Also, it limits the range of coaches we get. Yeah. I mean, it's not the coaches you Jerry chooses. Like, this isn't like recruiting. They don't choose you. Jerry's choosing them. So if you just look at the coaches they've been interested in the last couple cycles, like Mike McCarthy, who didn't have any other options. Schottenheimer definitely didn't have any other options and shot and has been fine. But you're not like interviewing the Mike Vrabels of the world. If John Harbaugh or Mike Tomlin were available. Like, you're not hiring those guys. Jim Harbaugh was available a couple years ago. Like, Jerry Jones was never going to hire Jim Harbaugh. Right. Pete Carroll types. And we can argue how good Pete is at this point in time. But, like, that's. Jerry's going to hire Brian Schneider, he's going to hire Jason Garrett. And, you know, Jerry's in his mid-80s. How much longer he will be going? I think the question mark is going to be when Stephen Jones takes control in at some point in time, when Jerry passes away, will he approach this differently and will he not do weekly radio hits? My guess is he probably won't. And he won't want to, you know, copy his dad in those situations. And it'll be a much more desirable place for a quote unquote top coach to come or a top GM to come. What if Jerry passed and like Howie Roseman became a free agent or, you know, a guy like that and you're just like, I'll pay you $20 million a year. Come run, my friend. If I'm Stephen, like, I'm all over stuff like that. This is a question mark about the Steelers. Was wondering your thoughts. I had a take on the Steelers when they signed Rogers. My take was this and it still is. Why aren't there more people talking about the Steeler team like the 1516 Denver Broncos with Peyton Manning at quarterback? They won the super bowl with a dominant defense and an aging quarterback. Because I was doing Raider stuff, I saw that team for three straight years live. They are now. I don't go to as many games over the last seven, eight years, but over my course of, you know, basically I would say for seven, eight straight years going to games on a weekly basis and so seeing teams all over the NFL. Obviously I was scouted for a couple of those years watching all the personnel. They're one of the best defenses of the last 25 years. There was not a player on that defense who was not good. They, their defensive line was just better than your defensive line. Right. And that's not a shot at your defensive line. That's their defensive line was unstoppable. They had Von Miller in the peak of his powers. DeMarcus Ware was still excellent. Malik Jackson was a monster. And Derek Wolf, the Cincinnati pass rusher was a good player. And their linebackers were good and their DBs were otherworldly. They had like three cover corners. They had you could hit back then they had say their defense was just better than your defense. So now is Aaron better in that version of Peyton Manning? Yeah. So I don't know if that team would parallel. It's not an apples to apples comparison is I guess what I would say. I think that team was better than you, but Peyton was way worse than Aaron. It's pretty remarkable that they won a championship with Peyton Manning that that version. Honestly, they should have won earlier when he was like healthy because that defense was just. It's Seattle's and the 49ers early on with Harbaugh are two of the more physical defenses I've seen the last 15 years. The Denver defense was by far the fastest. And I knew, you know, I remember talking to the coaches on the Raiders for a couple years. They're like, they just don't have a weakness. You know, they had a. Keep Talib, Chris Harris Jr. Bradley Roby, they had multiple safeties. I think one of them was a Ward, the Oregon guy who was just a hammer. Brandon Marshall was a good linebacker. Danny Trevathan, the kid from Kentucky, probably a kid now. He's probably in his mid-30s, but he was. He was young then. In DeMarcus Ware, they were really, really good. They were exceptional. So I would say they're better than you guys, but that's, I guess, somewhat of the mold of what you guys need to do. They could just. They could go into a game and being like, the opponent's going to not sniff 20 points. It's like, we're going to find out. I mean, maybe you guys are better than I think, and we'll find out as the season goes. When it got. When it gets cold, can you just dominate? Because if your defensive line is going to look now I. Cleveland's offensive line right now one of the worst offensive lines in the league. Because every other play it felt like there was a guy in the backfield. So if your defensive line on any defense, if the D line dominates, everyone in the backfield looks good. Like, you could make average corners look awesome when you're knocking the crap out of the quarterback every snap. So that. That's going to be clearly. Clearly your route to being an awesome team is to have the best defensive line in the league and just having an unstoppable front. You draft the kid in the first round, you go with TJ Watt, you got multiple guys on the other side with Highsmith and Herrick. Cam still solid at his age. So that if that. That unit just dominates, then, yeah, you guys gotta be tough. He'll be tough to beat. And as long as Aaron just play smart, doesn't turn it over like he normally does, you should be pretty bullish. So I'm. I'm excited to watch this game Thursday night.

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