A (38:17)
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.
