← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - What happened in Buffalo, John Harbaugh introduced in New York, Jeff Hafley goes to Miami
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human RingCentral's AI receptionist uses voice AI to answer on the first ring so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself@ringcentral.com RingCentral Voice of your business the volume. What is going on everybody? John Middlecop 3 Now podcast how are we doing my friends, my people out there in the real world? Hopefully you're sleeping well and catching some Z's that I am not. But today we will power through and talk some ball because some stories breaking out of Buffalo about the details of the power struggle who was clearly won by the front office. I found time to watch John Harbaugh's press conference, made some notes there. Jeff Halfley, who was just hired by the Miami Dolphins, did something that's pretty interesting, that deserves a lot of credit for Bob Kraft had some comments and we will do a a mailbag as well. At John Middle Coff at John Middle Cop is the Instagram fire in those DMS and get your questions on the show. Me and Colin have done multiple podcasts this week. Did one last night, did one Sunday night. I've done podcasts Saturday, Sunday, Monday, doing one Tuesday. All the videos are up on Netflix, so go check them out. And yeah, hopefully everyone's doing well. And let's I guess before make sure you obviously all of our videos are up on Netflix. Go check that out. Apple, Spotify, if you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe so you never miss a podcast. And we'll be talking some National Football League. And that's what we'll do today. So let's dive right in. Let's let's dive into Buffalo. And it's been pretty well documented. 48 hours after the firing, there was a power struggle, which happens a lot. It happens in Fortune 500 companies, it happens in people's homes. And it obviously happens in professional sports, especially football. And anytime you have a GM versus a coach, the questions being asked are simple. Are the players good enough or is the coaching and scheme good enough? And in Buffalo, it's been widely reported that there was a meeting within the last month with the gm, the owner and the coach. And the coach claimed they did not have enough talent to win the super bowl. And clearly The GM who got the owner to agree with them, did not agree, were not on the same page. And after that meeting, over the next several weeks, I think it's fair to assume that some, you know, jockeying for position took place by the general manager. And listen, if you look at Brandon Bean's resume, he started as a PR guy, so he kind of knows how to manage up, which is a very important skill. You got to know how to manage up. If you're a coach, you're constantly dealing with an owner. But. And listen, I am pro. Sean McDermott. I think he's a really good coach, and I also understand why you're allowed, and it's not that crazy to fire him after the run they had of not getting over the hump. I've said pretty consistently, though, that giving the general manager, not just keeping him, but promoting him and giving him a raise seems pretty crazy from the outside, especially when he's only personally drafted. Two other Pro Bowlers not named, Josh. Josh Allen, like, that's kind of a problem. And I think he'd be the first to say, well, I probably have on defense, my coach ain't developing these guys. He's not taking them to the next level. And that's clearly where the arguments are starting. And it's always easier for all of us, including people in these buildings, to make suggestions than actual decisions. And when you're an owner, Steve Basatti just did it, and that wasn't some backstabbing going on. Eric Dacosta and John Harbaugh were best friends. That was an owner going rogue. Steve. Eric Dacosta did not want to fire John Harbaugh. Steve Bushotti did it, and everyone knows it. And he said, put it on me. It was my decision. You're like, okay. Mike Tomlin looks at him, I'm out. That's Mike Tomlin's decision. The owner, like, it's. It's not Brandon Bean's call whether you fire Sean McDermott. It's on the owner, and he pulled the trigger. And now, to me, moving forward, there are two major question marks, because this has happened before. Brandon Bean is not the first general manager to be chosen over a coach. I once saw it when I got out of the NFL and started working in radio in the Bay Area. Jed York chose Trent Balky over Jim Harbaugh. It did not go well. They went with Jim Tomsula, then Chip Kelly, then Trembalki got fired. And obviously everything changed when they brought in Kyle and John Lynch. But sometimes it works. Jeffrey Lurie once did it with Howie Roseman, kicked him to the other side of the building, then realized it was a moronic decision, went back to Howie. They've been to three Super Bowls and won two since the Seattle Seahawks ownership. Now it used to be Paul Allen who's obviously passed away and his, his daughters now run it pretty clear they who they chose last. A couple years ago they chose John Schneider over Pete Carroll. And that was 100 the right decision. Here is my question. Is Brandon Bean dynamic enough to be John Schneider and Howie Roseman? Because so far he's, he's proven to not be. So when you do make that decision, it better be with a dynamic general manager. And to me, Brandon Bean just simply is not that guy. At least what he has demonstrated so far in his career. So when you make that decision, you better be making the decision with an elite personnel man. And in this modern day kind of age of football, just a dynamic human. There are a lot of videos going viral of a bitching and moaning with, you know, radio guys. Pff put out one of their former employees said he used to always call in if the grades were too low. It's like, are you worried about the wrong things? Because from my standpoint it sure looks like it. And I also think here's the other big question and this is why when I saw Trent Balky get fired and he's been fired twice in these situations is no one would take the job because no one wanted to work for him. It's pretty clear that the owner views this guy as the most important guy in the building. So if I'm a coach with options and obviously every coach alive would want to coach a player like Josh Allen. But do I want to work hand in hand and essentially for Brandon Bean? Because to me that's the question all these coaches are asking right now. Now last year Shad Khan when he kept Trent Balky and then was asked is he safe no matter what if the coach that you want does not want to work with him? And remember on a zoom meeting he's like, yeah, we, we, we would be open to making changes. And Trent Balke just kind of freezes. If, if everything's on the table, then whatever, it doesn't really matter like the Giants who we'll get into. John Harbach said the job was Joe Shane. There's doesn't look like a problem. Now granted he doesn't have to answer to him, but still sung his praises today and that's what I'm be fascinated to see moving forward that if they are willing and if they have the capability to land exactly who they want with Brandon Bean there right now, who, let's face it, two things can be true. And this is, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse firing a guy after nine years with an all time great player not being able to get over the hump. It's not the first time and it's definitely won't be the last time a coach in that situation has been let go. That is not even that weird. Right? But I think the question mark is that when you have a guy that's not some like hall of Fame gm, how does he get to maintain the power and extend and essentially gain more? That was the head scratching part to this entire thing. And that's why I think most people on the outside go snake in the grass. And you could also argue that part of these industries, especially something like pro sports, when there are two people at the top of the food chain, there's always going to be backstabbing, there's always going to be jockeying for a position and if you win the power struggle, people are going to call you a snake. And you have to be okay with that. There's no perfect way to handle these situations. It does feel like this situation though was a little shady from one guy who didn't really deserve the benefit of the doubt. Watched Harbaugh's press conference today and I, I jotted down some notes Sometimes coward had this saying way back in the day, holding a grudge is like chain smoking hate. And I try to think like that because the old me in my younger years held grudges. And once you hear that, it really, as you get older and you get a little more experience, there's a lot of truth to that. Like why are you holding a grudge over something that doesn't even matter and you don't even talk to the person, just let it go, move on with your life. And sometimes when coaches get fired, there can be rightfully so, a bitterness, big chip on your shoulder of anger, not, not of excitement and desire to for your next task. Belichick is a good example of that, the bitterness. And he's a bitter individual curmudgeon. You could feel it, it was palpable. When you watched him that year out of football, his hatred toward Robert Kraft and some of it was justified. I'm not, I'm not anti Belichick. He's in my opinion the best coach over that dynasty I've ever seen. I mean people try to act like it was Brady, obviously. Brady had a huge part in it. But if you watch the Patriot Dynasty, Belichick was a fucking genius. But the way he handled the bitterness and the anger post the firing was like, bill, you gotta move on, bro. You made, like, $250 million. He won six Super Bowls. Like, it ends all. Most things do in life. And when I saw John Harbi, I didn't know exactly what type juice he would bring to the press conference beside, you know, saying the right things. But you saw a guy that held no ill will toward the Ravens. You saw a guy who felt very fortunate to have had that opportunity. I saw a guy, and I think Jim has turned into this, too, that, like, is coaching much more with happiness than anger. I mean, Jim really, I think, had this problem in his younger years. There was, like, this edge and this kind of wall around him. If you watch Jim now, he is a dramatically different human than he was 10, 15 years ago. It ain't even close. In a better way, Jim today is a way better coach than he was with the 49ers, where in all fairness, while they made the wrong decision going with Trent Bulkey over Jim Harbaugh, he was extremely difficult to deal with back then. That part is undeniable. And I watched John Harbaugh, and I go. And he's always, listen, the Harbaughs are a little crazy. And I always get really emotional because having been around Jim when he was coaching the 49ers, not personally, but just going to practices, going to games, Jack Harbaugh was always there. And John Harbaugh today spoke. Jack was there as well. The way they talk about their father, honestly, makes you a little sappy as someone that lost his dad years ago and someone that just had a son who, ironically, I named him Jack. But I just think they're. The love they have for their dad, it's like you. They can't even. The excitement they have when they talk about their father is really, really special. And it's something very admirable that, you know, anyone should aspire as a father to get that type love from their sons because they idolize their father, idolize their dad. And when you watch John Harbaugh, to me, you're not getting, like, this guy that had been somewhere forever, that's in his mid-60s, that anger. That's angry. You look at John 1, he's in fantastic shape. He looks young. If you had no clue who the Harbaughs were and you just looked at John Harbaugh, you'd Be like, hey, he's 56 years old, he's not in his mid-60s. He, he looks fantastic. His energy is fantastic. You know, one thing with Pete Carroll that I'd heard, obviously he's older than John Arbaugh was definitely a little out to lunch with the Raiders, but like his age started showing, wasn't quite as sharp, which is understandable. You get into your mid-70s, you're not quite as quick as you were at 58, at 63, and you, you see John Harbaugh like you're getting this five year, hundred million dollar contract, you're going to get good five years out of the guy. And if I was a Giants fan, the guy who deserves the most credit on this and texting a couple people that were there today, Chris Mara led this thing. I think I've been saying the, the, I, I call him the Mars. It's actually the Maris Chris Mara, who, with John being sick, Chris has always kind of held who's John's brother a personnel role. And I think there were talks once upon a time, and I've mentioned this before, about him becoming the gm and they realized they don't want to be like the Cowboys with the GM they can't fire. But he's very involved in the personnel department that you watched him talk today. He was the driving force of getting in his car last week and driving down to John's house. And he talked about it today as Tom Coughlin set the whole thing up, was like he was the drumbeat behind this. And the one thing when you watch John is you just assume like Joe Shane is a dead man walking. I don't think John's coming in with that mindset. I, I really don't. I've been saying that he's probably screwed. And listen, there's no guarantee that he's safe. I think he's on his last year of his contract, so he's going to have a year to prove to John not only knows what he's doing, he's dynamic with trades, he's good in the draft, he's good with free agency, he's good at evaluating his own team. He's got a lot of pressure on him, but I think it's pretty clear if you take John at face value that he's definitely open to working with this guy and excited to. So if I'm Joe, obviously the ownership gave me a second lease on life, which they easily could have fired me, but, but John's going to give me a chance. And now it's Incumbent on me to prove my worth. Because, let's face it, that hard knocks part of the reason, I think a lot of us don't take Joe Shane that seriously. It might be fair not, but the Giants allowed that to come out of the video. It was pretty embarrassing. It really was. I mean, him looking at John and saying, oh, he's going to go to the Bears, he's not going to go to the Eagles. And John going, I don't think I can sleep at night. If the Eagles signed him and then the Eagle signed him and he ran for 2,000 yards and they won the Super Bowl, I mean, it was not an ideal situation. Like, it's, it's hard to shake that. But I do think if anyone can kind of resurrect his career, take the stink off him, it's John. And a good personnel guy is only as strong as his coach. So I, I do think that Joe is going to get a fair shake from his new coach, who, as Chris said, is the most important cog in the wheel. And they love pushing back on this notion of like, who cares? Who has personnel control? It kind of matters because if we're not on the same page about a player in free agency or the draft, if I have it in my contract that I get the final say, then I get the final say. Of course it's collaborative. We're meeting constantly. I, I've been in these meetings. I've seen it happen. I saw for years Howie and Andy meet every day. It happens with Andy and Veech or Schneider and McDonald or whoever, the coach in the GM meet every day, year round, let alone the free agency, the draft, they even spend more time together. But who has the final set when you're walking up there, who grabs the card from the board? Now it's much more digital. Who takes the mouse and picks the player? So that to me does matter. Everyone loves saying it doesn't matter. It does. Who has the juice, who is at the top of the org chart? Because historically with the Giants, the GM always was. Look at Buffalo. Clearly, who's at top, the gm. So to me, the Giants made a change, and rightfully so. And the guy that deserves credit for that is Chris. Because if you watch the press conference tonight and you watch Chris's press conference, who did kind of a side meet up with the media like he was a lead dog in this. And my question, question, the only question I have with the Shane Harbaugh thing working out is, does Chris Mara like Joe Shane? I keep saying mar. I think Mara does he? Because it doesn't really feel like all his chips are in the middle of the table on this guy. Like he's a big bl. John is. John likes him, but does Chris. And that to me is something that if you're Joe, you got to manage that relationship and somehow. And who knows, maybe Northeast guy, little rough around the edges, maybe he won't ever let you in. But that if I'm Joe Shane, even if John starts to come around on me, if Chris wants you out and Chris has taken a bigger role with John, being sick is definitely something to keep an eye on. But when you look at the NFC east, you got Sirianni, who's been to a couple Super Bowls, but can't coach offense and has nothing to do with the offense and obviously has nothing to do with the defense and doesn't even have the juice to tell his defensive coordinator when it's okay and not okay to say things because Vick will do whatever he wants. So in a weird way, I know he's had a lot of success, but as we just saw in that game against the 49ers, like he can get out coached in the blink of an eye. Brian Schadenheimer, we have absolutely no clue. I mean, literally no clue. And depending on how this offseason goes, if they don't dramatically fix the defense, they got no shot, zero. And Washington's got a lot of question marks. I mean, a ton. They were the oldest team in the league last year. They don't have a second round pick. What offense are they going to build around Jaden? Can Jaden stay on the field? They just got more question marks than they do. Is Dan Quinn that dynamic? So I think if you're a Giants fan, don't expect super bowl this year. But I think the Patriots, you never know in one off season, division a little down. They won the division out, the Bills. And the Bills have Josh Allen. So I would say if I'm a Giants fan, my expectation, I think it's safe to say standing here on January 20, winning the division has to be on the table. It has to be on the table. So we'll see how their schedule breaks out. But I'd be pretty fired up watching John Harbaugh, especially after the coaching stretch that you guys just had. There is just a Tom Coughlin and a Bill Parcells like feel to the guy. He was born to sit at the head of the table. Pat Shermer's not ahead of the table guy. Brian Dayball, who knows, right? And it Would not shock me at all if Day Ball's back with Buffalo, assuming him and Josh have a good relationship. If they don't, then he has no shot to get that job. But as of right now, you cannot confidently say Brian Dabel is a head coach. Pat Shermer? Definitely not. McAdoo, definitely not. Joe Judge? No chance. So like you have to have in the NFL or the highest level of college guys that belong at the head of the table. Kurt Signetti belongs at the top, right. Kirby Smart. They're born leaders in the Harbaugh family. Raised by Jack. He created two guys that were just born to lead the troops. Are they perfect? No. Do they call plays? No. Are they very dependent on their coaching staff and their coordinators they hire? Of course they are. But John's proven to be pretty good so I, I, I would bet on it being successful pretty quickly now, depending on how far they can go. That's going to be dependent on Jackson Dart ceiling, which I think is a major question mark. Staying healthy, what type offense you're going to build around them, how Malik Neighbors comes back scaboo like that injury, does that have any ill effects or is he completely fine? They have some good pieces on their defensive line, obviously have a big draft coming up. Need to kind of flip some things around and add some impact players. But I would be extremely bullish on the short term success of the New York Giants. I think there are a lot of similarities with his brother showed up with the Chargers and they were immediately good. Now have they made runs in the playoffs? They have not. They've been bounced two years in a row in the first round. But if I told Giants fans right now that next two years you make the playoffs, you're bouncing the first round, they would 1 million percent sign up for that. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bay. Folks, Playoffs, they've been nuts and I hope you've been cashing in on these unexpected moments. On Hard Rock Bet, two teams this weekend will punch their tickets to the big game. And when it comes to these standalone matchups, there's nothing better than betting a same game parlay. 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You must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida? Call 1833 playwise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it gambling problem call 1-800- gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia I'm John Paulk.
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For years I was the poster boy of the conversion therapy movement, the ex gay who married an ex lesbian and traveled the world, telling my story of how I changed my sexuality from gay to straight. Once upon a time I was on 60 Minutes, Oprah, the front cover of Newsweek, and you might have heard my story, but you've never heard the real story. So join me as I peel back the layers and expose what happened to me in the midst of conversion therapy to shine a light on what the X Game movement does to people and the pain it continues to cause. I lost 150 pounds because if I.
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Couldn'T control my sexuality, I was going to control my weight. It sounded like, and this is the word I used, a cult.
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And as I look too at the harm I did from within. Listen to Atonement, the John Paulk story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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Jeff Hay, who I think I've told this story before. Guy Haberman, who came on the show last year. We used to go to a lot of Niner practices during the 2010s and and even through the 2020s. I I haven't been in the last three or four years but for about a decade straight went all training camps every once in a while during OTAs and I'll never forget when Chip Kelly got hired, went to a couple practices and there was this DB coach who just kind of looked goofy and nerdy and then Chip got fired and most of the coaches got fired and that DB coach was still Around, I'm like, this guy just, I don't know, I, I, you can't judge a book by its cover. And I remember asking around and everyone was like, he's really impressive. He's a good young coach. And a couple years later he's the defensive coordinator Ohio State. And then he becomes a head coach at Boston College. And a couple years ago was a big, big story and a big, big deal when Matt LaFleur fired and his good friend as the defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, and hired a head coach from college who had never been a defensive coordinator in the NFL. But I think Jeff Halfley deserves a lot of credit because sometimes professionally, you have to be selfish. You have to think about yourself first. And when he left Boston College, which is probably one of, if not the worst jobs in power four in college football last year with Bill o', Brien, who say what you want about him, has proven to use take the Texans to the playoffs every year, like he's a real coach. Went 2 in 10 in the ACC, by far the worst conference in the country, 2 in 10 and went 1 in 7 in the ACC. Like, that's pretty bad. It's a dog job. But he went, I'm a head coach. It's not like he was making signetti money. So he's making a couple million bucks. But he leaves being the head guy to be the defensive coordinator because his path toward another job at BC's, let's face it, stepping stone job. Would he ever get the Florida job? Would he ever get the Ohio State job? He had no chance there. He had a better chance as a defensive coordinator with the packers, who, let's face it, during the Rogers era, have always been pretty bad on defense. Right? When's the last time they had a good defensive coordinator? It'd been a while. So he goes there, he resurrects the defense and immediately becomes one of the top candidates on the market. But he deserves credit for making that decision, which can't be easy because when he leaves Boston College, he's screwing over a lot of people that he hired who I'm sure if we went back and looked, A lot of guys got fired when Billy O came in. A lot of turnover there. A lot of people move their families to follow him that did not get to come with him to Green Bay. So this gets back to the decisions and suggestions. It is, it is really hard. I don't care when it comes. I'm seeing it with my child and making decisions with doctors and just basic things, let alone big, huge professional Decisions when you're the Boss that impact 10, 20, 50 people, sometimes you got to be selfish. And Halfley was, and he's benefited from that. And now he's the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Think about that. A couple of years ago, he was the head coach of a team that had no chance to have any, any success in the acc. Two years later, he's the head coach of an NFL team. Like that's how fast it happened in that decision, looking back is beyond genius. And I, I think you see sometimes one big change in college football before you could coach at the Mac or the Mountain west. And that job was a great stepping stone. Right. Chris Peterson. Boise State. Washington. What's his name? Brady Hoax. San Diego State? Michigan. I'm not saying it always worked, but I'm Nick Saban. Kent State. Worked his way to Michigan State. Cleveland. Right. Moved his way up off the little jobs. Those jobs suck now because of the transfer portal. And if your team is not equipped to pay guys and have the financial resources, you don't have a snowball shot in hell. So I think Halfley realized that he was an early adopter of kind of seeing the landscape of the sport, and he directly benefited that quick. Now, obviously, he had to prove his worth and was clearly one of the better defensive coordinators. If you watch Halfley's press conference, he's really, really impressive. It's why when lafleur got extended a couple days ago and I think, I don't know if Guta Kins, but when I'm recording this has officially been extended or not, but he's going to be. So those guys aren't going anywhere. The packers really, if they're going to move off the floor, had one logical choice and that was either they were going to fire LaFleur to hire Halfley, or they were going to keep LeFlore. They were not going to go on a coaching search and interview Mike McDaniel or Sala or just all these random Matt Naggy, those guys. That's not how the packers are going to operate because Guda Kins wasn't going anywhere. So they were either going to elevate halfway or they were going to keep LaFleur. I truly believe that. I don't have sources on this, but it's pretty clear, right. I think most Packer fans would agree those were their two options and I don't blame them for deciding what they decided. And now I think there's a lot of pressure on them hiring a defensive coordinator. You're going to have Parsons back. There's going to be a lot to work with. You're going to have defensive coordinators very interested. I've had people in the NFL kind of tip me off. They would. They said they would be stunned if former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonard was not their defensive coordinator in whenever the Denver Broncos are done. I think he's their DB coach right now for Sean Payton. So keep an eye on Jim Leonard being the next defensive coordinator of the Green Bay packers again. There are a couple other guys they're interviewing, but that would be my expectation and I think that would be a really good hire because I do think there's going to be pressure on the floor. They have. They went all in on Micah Parsons, rightfully so. But when you make those moves like got to work out now, their situation is clearly much better than the Colts who went all in on Sauce Gardner. Like, who would you rather have, Sauce Gardner or Micah Parsons? Would you rather be the packers or the Colts? So it didn't. They got bounced in the first round, though. They probably could have won that game. Right? I think if you're a Packer fan, I. I would be and it's tough. This season was a high high and then an awful low low. It. It turned on the blink of an eye the moment that Parsons tore that acl. I do think big picture over the next couple years, the packers are going to be a real factor and I think they have a very good chance of being right back in the mix. Obviously they can't have as many injuries. They just had to be competing for like the number one seed. I. I will bet on the packers assuming this offseason goes relatively well to be really good coming into 2026. And. And last but not least, Robert Kraft, I think he was on with one of the local stations, I think is Wei, and they have a clearly have the biggest Patriot game in many years this weekend. He's fired up and they were talking to him about just NFL stuff and he had mentioned that 18 games are happening. He didn't say, you know, we're still no 18 games are happening. We're gonna have two preseason games. We've been talking about that forever. That's inevitable. I don't love that because clearly more guys now get injured than ever because of the way they practice or AKA not practice. And I think we watch so many teams that don't have any players left that are hard to watch. And even, you know, when you really look at the television schedule throughout the year, there are a lot of awful games On Sunday morning, the NFL really gets carried by its primetime games Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night games have been had much better matchups in the afternoon window with Fox and CBS that typically get a Sunday night level game. But there are a lot of terrible games. And as the season goes and some of these teams lose a bunch of games because they lose a bunch of players, it can be a long season. So I think we're right at the tipping point of like who's to say if they go to 18, why wouldn't they entertain 20, why wouldn't they just say why do we have any preseason though? Let's just play 20 regular season games. So it's definitely something to keep an eye on. But the other thing that he mentioned was we are going to have an international series. Every team in the league is going to play an international game. And I've been saying for a long time because if you just look at the way Thursday night played out once upon a time, like when I got in the league in 2010, I, I don't quote me on this. I think there were like two or three or four Thursday night games. They started dabbling. NFL Network got a couple, Mike Mayock used to be, I think Eisen and Mayock used to call him. I remember maybe my second year we played Seattle, like Thursday night games. They were just dipping their toe into it and then it grew and grew and grew and now it has, it's Monday Night Football. It's just on Thursday night. Like they have its own package. Well, over the last couple years they've been growing and growing and growing. It was like, do you know what they were going to do? They're going to have either 15 or 16 or whatever, a full package like Monday or Thursday and have a 6:30am Pacific Standard Time football game, you know, starting in September, all the way through December. And Kraft mentioned that every team in the league is going to be forced to play an international game. And my first reaction to that is clearly Thursday you're at a disadvantage if you're the road team, especially as the season goes. If you're playing a Thursday night game week three, it's not as bad as playing one week 16 when you're Seattle and you got to play the Texans. I mean it's long travel, short week. The disadvantage though you have from a time zone standpoint of these international games. Think of Philip, all the teams on the Eastern seaboard, their flight, their flight to the uk London is five hours. It's basically a cross country flight. Well, if I'M coming from Seattle or I'm coming from San Francisco, or I'm coming from Los Angeles or I'm coming from Vegas, it's double the amount of time we're in the air. So the International Series big picture should really benefit. If you suck, it doesn't matter. But all the competitive teams on the Eastern seaboard, the Bills, the Patriots, the Eagles, if the Giants get good, you know, Tampa, now, the Jacksonville is pretty solid. I mean, not more than pretty solid. They won 13 games. They're good. Like, that's a big advantage for them because of the limited flight relative to your counterparts. And it's going to be fascinating how they match up these international games. Like, should west coast teams, or at least you should only be able to play a team one time zone away. Or like, if I'm Seattle, do I get forced to play New England over there? Because if that's the case, like, I'm at a huge disadvantage. But the one thing the league has shown and Roger Goodella shown, they don't give a shit. They do not care about competitive advantages. I saw Kurt Warner today on Twitter saying that it is insane how the playoff matchups go in terms of time. Like, teams that play on Sunday have to play on the next Saturday. Teams with a buy get to play Sunday night. It's like, what are we doing? And my answer is, Kurt, like, this is all about the television networks that time rest. The league has proven they don't care about practices. When the players said, we don't want double days anymore, teams were like, cool, less money for you. We'll give you the double days. And that was a negotiation. All they care about is money, which in fairness, if you're in the league office, and this is Belichick's problem forever with the league office. He's like, they, they don't have anyone that's ever ran a football team, that's general managers, a football team that's been a coach on a football team. Because that ain't what they're thinking about. They're just thinking about the profit margin, how much cash can we make? That is their goal. And in fairness, that is what they've been tasked to do. And they're really good at it and they keep growing it. And this package maybe on Netflix, all of a sudden you see they've sold an international package for you pick the number, $5 billion a year. It's basically games that would have been at 10am Pacific or 1pm Pacific that were already being played that they just take and they put in the morning. So they just created billions of dollars out of nothing because that stuff was already happening. So get ready. Which I'm not a huge fan of. Like, selfishly, as someone that watches a lot of football, you know, I kind of like to ease into my morning. I like to get a little workout on a Sunday morning before I don't leave the couch for, what is it, 12 and a half hours. But, and this is always the question mark, is there a line of diminishing returns when it comes to football? The NFL has proven that they will push and push and push and go up against that line and one day that dam will break and we'll go. That was the tipping point. But I clearly, they don't feel they're close to that yet.
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I'm John Paulk. For years, I was the poster boy of the conversion therapy movement. The ex gay who married an ex lesbian and traveled the world, telling my story of how I changed my sexuality from gay to straight. Once upon a time, I was on Six60 Minutes, Oprah, the front cover of Newsweek, and you might have heard my story, but you've never heard the real story. So join me as I peel back the layers and expose what happened to me in the midst of conversion therapy to shine a light on what the X Game movement does to people and the pain it continues to cause.
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I had lost £150 because if I couldn't control my sexual, I was going to control my weight. It sounded like, and this is the word I used, a cult.
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And as I look too at the harm I did from within, listen to atonement. The John Paulk story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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Okay, let's do, let's dive into the mailbag. Add John Middle Coff, Instagram. Fire in those dms. Get your questions answered on the show. From a scout's perspective, is Mendoza's past attempts a red flag? Going back to 2010, the only first round quarterbacks that weren't asked to throw at least 25 times a game were Tebow, Trey, Lance. I almost said Mike McCarthy, J.J. mcCarthy, and Christian Ponder. If you make it 30, Adam, E.J. manuel, Blake Bortles, Newton, Mariota, Anthony Richardson, Jake Locker. That's a, that's a pretty good question. Let's. Why don't we do this? Let's pull up Fernando Mendoza. One thing that is really big with scouting quarterbacks, I think that we've seen over the last couple years is experience. Like a lot of these guys now come from spread offenses. So it's fair to say that their pass attempts are a little inflated in the sense that they've thrown way more passes than the old days because you're in a pass heavy offense. But if I just go to Fernando Mendoza's playoff run, Ohio State 23 attempts, Alabama 16 attempts, Oregon 17 attempts and or excuse me, Oregon 20 attempts and last night 27 attempts. So he threw over 25 times one game. Even games like Purdue where they won 56 to 3, he threw 17 attempts. He has a lot of games where he's 20, 22, 21, 23. They were a run heavy offense and obviously a great defense with good special teams. I think in a perfect world you want to build the team. If you're the Raiders, where I'm not depending on Fernando Mendoza to play like Josh Allen because he doesn't have that skill set, I can't ask Fernando Mendoza to do Caleb Williams things. He can't do that. He's not Lamar Jackson, he's not Patrick Mahomes. He is much closer to and I've been saying this Jared Goffer, Dak Prescott, which there's nothing wrong with those two guys. When the Cowboys have been well built, they won 12 or 13 games and they hosted playoff games. Jared Goff's teams have hosted playoff games. So Fernando Mendoza is in the world of a guy who is not going to carry you. I do believe he can be a good player because if you're Jared Goff or Dak Prescott, like those guys have been to Pro Bowls, those guys have made a ton of money. Are they going to be hall of Famers? No. Is Fernando Mendoza probably going to be a Hall of Famer? No, he's not. Do I think he can be a really, really good starter in the NFL? Yes. He's a much better thrower than Tebow, Lance or Christian Ponder. J.J. mcCarthy has a fundamental issue with the way he threw the ball. That's why they have tried to change his mechanics. Right. If his mechanics were good, I think JJ'd be a pretty interesting player. They he's like a golfer. They had to completely change his swing. Like you don't have to change Fernando Mendoza's swing. His throwing motion is fine. So I think there are some comparisons there to jj, except JJ was a complete rebuild and that's not the case with Fernando Mendoza. I also think Fernando Mendoza has proven to be a better passer than JJ McCarthy. I would not compare him to Bortles. Mariota was not an accurate player. If you watch Mariota in college, I didn't think he was that accurate. He had guys wide open. Their team was so stacked. To me, Mendoza is a much better prospect than Mariota coming out. Anthony Richardson had 12 career starts. Jake Locker just was not very accurate. So I, I, I would not compare Fernando Mendoza to those players. I do think there are some similarities with J.J. mcCarthy in terms of the offense and the teams he played on, but I do think he's a better thrower of the ball than JJ because you don't have to change his throwing motion, which to me it's kind of derailed. JJ McCarthy question for the Mailbag As a football fan who's never witnessed their favorite team win a championship, what's the silver lining on why we love this game that rips our heart out so often? Example I'm a Niner fan, born in 87 and a Miami Hurricanes fan. I was 8 years old the last time the Niners won and a freshman when the U1 doesn't really count. But the amount of heartbreak over the years from both teams is like, man, when's it going to be our time? It's like continuing to date a woman who consistently cheats on you. I think it's a little different than that because if she's cheating on you, she clearly doesn't like or respect you. Your team's not cheating on you. They're trying to win, they're trying to do the right thing. Part of being a sports fan is going to end in not always heartbreak, but not, well. It's just not going to end in a championship. The overwhelming majority of teams won't win championships for a long period of time. Hell, you go through bad stretches where your team's not even in the playoffs or not even in the mix. This is an entertainment medium that we're kind of emotionally drawn to because we've loved it since we were young. It's probably one of the rare things in life that you love really young and then you love throughout your life. Think how many things and how many kind of different stages you go through from 8 to 14 to 20 of things you're into and then things you're not into. You know, from video games to, I don't even know, dirt bike. You just name it, right? And then you just kind of age out of. I like football as much now as I did when I was 12 years old. Watching it on the couch, watching like Steve Young or Terrell Owens or Brett Favre, and I would imagine a lot of people agree with that. So I, I think it's just something we signed up for to entertain us that kind of fills some part of our life. I I I I It's hard to explain, but we don't watch sports thinking we're going to try. I mean, in a weird way, it's probably one of the rare things that we can convince ourselves something's going to happen that more than likely, and the overwhelming evidence has proven out over time, won't actually happen. And that makes it fun. There's. There's something powerful and hope. There's something powerful and dreaming because even if your team wins a championship, like for Indiana, it was clearly pretty special, but like, it's like you get joy and then you just kind of move on. And same thing with losing. I think it's more about the entertainment values of the games and getting to know your team, the players, the guys you root for. There's just a positive element for the negativity, that kind of the influx into your soul and your body after the top. Like if you're a Bills fan, I think most Bills fans would agree. The last seven or eight years of the Josh era of having these teams constantly being one of the best teams in the league and in the mix has been pretty satisfying. Have has been pretty awesome. Knowing that when you turn on a Bills game 17 games a year, that more than likely 12 or 13 of them you're going to win is a pretty fun experience. And the anticipation going to the big games kind of makes it worth it. So where I think really sucks is when your team is just always consistently bad. Like, that would not be fun. That would be hard. Congratulate. Congratulations on the child. As a Chiefs fan, I was frustrated with Nagy and the offense for the past couple years. B Enemy will help the offense greatly and B Enemy could also develop Jeremiah Love if drafted by the Chiefs, into one of the best running backs in the league. What do you make of the hire? Well, I haven't talked to Nagy about this, but he clearly didn't sign his contract last year thinking one, they would win big and he would get a big raise or he would just become a head coach. And neither happened. I started texting around yesterday, like, does Naggy have a job? Because they have a new OC and B Enemy. So Nagy's not the OC anymore. Is there a spot for Nagy on the staff? Kind of a weird deal and I think most people anticipated him getting the Tennessee Titans job. Well, that didn't happen. My bald brother, Robert Sala got it. So I think Matt Nagy's situation's pretty in flux. One thing b enemy brings to the table and the Chiefs people always told me about it like he's a hard ass, he's kind of old school. And I do wonder if Andy thought that they lacked a little just urgency in the building with a guy like that. And I think bringing him back just to kind of get on guys. They're going to have a lot of new young players next year with the high draft picks. I'd be a little stunned if they drafted Jeremiah Love Knight. I really would. Because to me you have the opportunity to get an impact lineman. And one thing that's proven true, like if you could get an impact lineman or an impact running back, you always go the impact lineman. So whether that's an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman. But if I was a betting man right now, assuming they stay, I think where they draft ninth, I think they take a lineman there assuming there's a guy worthy of the pick. But if all things are equal, there's either a tackle and obviously he'd probably play right. You got Simmons. Both guys could play both spots. If there's a tackle or a pass rusher that is an equal grade to Jeremiah Love. You have to take one of the linemen. You get a running back later. Look at Menunji. I mean he's a seventh round pick part look at Isaiah Pacheco, seventh round pick. Like I can find running backs later in the draft. Congrats on becoming a dad. Godspeed. Trust me, I need it right now. Not because it's just not sleeping. Not because anything bad happened. But not sleeping is kind of tough. Even though you kind of like get this inner David Goggins where you're just up at 2am bouncing your kid around the bedroom like this would never have happened pre child. I just would have been asleep for the last five hours. But you kind of just turn into this, this different human being we all have in us that when we're pressed in certain situations don't have much sleep. Unlike like a Vegas trip or a guy's golf trip. That's like a drinking bender where you don't sleep. There's not really alcohol involved in, in this situation. I'm just terrified. I haven't even had a cocktail since I had a kid. I haven't had a drink. I had a beer. I haven't had anything. I might need one Belichick to the Bills. I would have said a couple years ago. Yeah, I, I think after the last 18 plus months there's no way that could happen. You couldn't hire Bill Belichick with the Jordan situation, with how ugly North Carolina was last year. I don't ever remember a guy who is such a legendary force in his profession falling off a cliff faster. I it was just widely regarded like this guy's one of the greatest coaches in the history of coaching any sport. You pick the sport as Bill to now I, I think he's unhirable because. Let's play this exercise. If, if North Carolina needed to coach today and Bill Belichick was available, would they hire him? I think it's pretty clear the answer would be no. I hope you're having a great day. I was thinking about some of the greatest turnarounds in college football history. Schnellenberger, Miami, Snyder, Kansas State, Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech and Signetti Indiana. Given that the Hoosiers won the national championship last night, do you consider Kurt Signetti did the best turnaround in college football history? Those ones that you just listed, Miami, Virginia Tech aren't really apples to apples because you had to recruit and then you had to develop. You had to have guys, you got them out of high school and then a couple years later they became stars. The way that Signetti did it, which is incredible and it's one of the most genuine cool stories in a long time. Indiana, the worst college football program in the history of the sport, just fucking won the national championship and beat Ohio State, beat Alabama, beat Oregon, beat Miami in four straight games. To host that thing above their head like that, what a run. Alabama, who just had a 18 year dynasty. Oregon, who's been, I know they haven't won a national championship, have been a pretty consistent, I don't know, top five team the last 20 years, definitely top 10 team the last 20 years. And Ohio State, who you'd probably say over the course of the Internet era has been the most consistent program in the country. That's who they beat on their run. Think how crazy that is. I It's really remarkable. But he can just poach guys from other teams. So it's obviously Mario Cristobal did the same. All these teams are. So it's. It was harder back in the day if you took over Indiana. If Signetti did this 10 years ago, this would not have been possible. Even if he was the same exact coach with the same exact staff, they couldn't have been this good because he couldn't have just landed the players. And I'm even talking about like the guy gets from the Mac, the guy he Gets from you pick school. His starting center came from Notre Dame. He was the backup. They couldn't transfer and play immediately and obviously the NIL has impacted the the whole thing. But I think two things can be true. It's really hard to compare Signetti to the previous pre nil. It was just a completely different world because when you Transferred in Division 1, you had to sit out a year unless you were grad transfer, meaning you already had your graduate degree. Like Carson Beck. Carson Beck could have transferred anywhere he wanted for decades. Right. That was always the rule. But I don't. Did Fernando Mendoza. Did he have. He might have had a degree account, so he might have been eligible as well. But if he didn't, don't quote me. I might be. I, I thought he did. But if he didn't have his degree, he wouldn't have been able to transfer and play right away. Which again, they are not alone. Everyone's doing this, but it's more realistic. It's more realistic now than it ever was before. If he had done this in like 1996, it would have truly been the greatest thing in the history of sports. It would have been like Rudy walking on and then getting drafted fourth five years later. Right. It'd be like that guy. Yeah, he just became the best player in college. He just turned into J.J. watt. You're like, what, Rudy, Rudy Rudiger? Yeah, he's number four pick in the draft. He's like, that's not. No, that would have been Indiana. What do coaches, players in front office generally think about the officiating in the NFL? McDermott speaking out a little bit like he did seems like an outlier and people probably don't speak out as much because they will get fined. But do players, coaches and front office people think referees are as bad as the media wants us to believe or fans think that it is? What do they say behind the scenes? It seems like referees are generally right and like playing, they do it right most of the time and feels like players who drop a pass, miss an easy kick or throw a bad pick. Sometimes referees make a bad mistake. Honestly, I, I don't get as consumed with the referees as a lot of people. It's just part of the game. I rarely like will text with an assistant coach or assistant GM and they talk that much about the officials. I, I really believe that it's a pretty big waste of energy to worry that much now when it impacts you, you get mad and you get furious. But like, what are you going to do? Like, there's not much you can do. It's somewhat out of your control. It's, I think, the same about, like, politics and taxes. Like, I'm just. I try not to complain. I really do. I used to complain a lot, and then I just moved to Arizona. I'm like, complaining does nothing. Either do something about it or shut the fuck up. And I think. I think coaches, they spend less time talking about it publicly because it has no. It doesn't change the thing. Now, do they talk to the league office in the off season at these meetings? Do they make them? Of course. But screaming about Sean McDermott, part of why he was doing that, he knew his kind of job was on the line, and he knew that he was in major trouble. He was kind of desperate. But I think the reason you don't see that as much is because nothing good is going to come out of it. Just because I complain doesn't mean my tax rate changes. You know, just because I complain doesn't mean I'm going to owe less on my property taxes. But, like, you can make a big deal about it. And a lot of people get on the Internet, everyone's complaining about everything. It's like, you don't control any of this. And I think a coach will tell you, I don't really control what referee is going to call or not. If they made the wrong call and I can challenge it, I will, but if I can't, I'm going to get mad. But then we got to move on. Like, life goes on. Next play happens, there's still game to be played. So I think more people focus on, like, what's next. Then clearly there have been situations like the PI. What was that? The Ram Saints game years ago. Which you have the right to be incensed and go berserk. But a lot of these, like, they're kind of judgment calls. Some people might think it's PI, some people might think it's not. Some people think it's holding. Some people might think it's not. We spend too much time talking about it. I also think most officials aren't that good. And I'd be the first to admit it's. It's a difficult job to have, but we try to keep the human element in, even though it's pretty clear with the replay. But the replay has actually made things more complicated. Just it. I don't know. I. I think it's just something we talk a lot about. Nothing ever changes. Congratulations on becoming a father. I have three boys of my own. Enjoy the journey. Question for the Mailbag. Huge Bronco fan. I know Stitty hasn't thrown a pass in the NFL since 2023, so I don't have high expectations for the AFC championship game. I'm curious to know your thoughts going forward with Bo. Knicks. Do you think they'll be a legit contender going forward? Do you think that Bo Nix will develop and looks better as the time goes in Peyton's system? I think the sad part if you're a Broncos fan is if Bo Nix is. There you go. We easily could win the Super Bowl. Doesn't mean we're going to. We also easily could lose the game to the Patriots with Bo Nixon. But like this, this is our super bowl. To be one. All four teams obviously believe that, but it's. The shitty part about that broken ankle is I've seen a lot of people and Sean Payton's trying to talk this into existence when you haven't thrown a regular season pass. I didn't even know that was the date. I knew it was obviously not this year. I guess clearly last year Bo Nix played all the games. Is to be thrown in. It's one thing to be thrown in. Week four, maybe you get a crappier opponent. You're. You're starting quarterbacks out a month and you get a couple weeks to kind of ease your way in this win or go home in the AFC Championship game against a team that's won a ton of games. The pressure and then the crowd kind of turns on you if it's not going well. It's a. It's a really tough spot. Wouldn't wish it upon anybody in his shoes. It's not even fair. And you know, if it goes shitty, I think people will kind of be like, oh, this guy sucks. And he might not even be that bad in terms of like, be a solid backup in the regular season. But being thrust in this moment is really, really difficult for a guy that's never even really been a full time starter. I mean, he started some games, but I don't think anyone ever looked at Jared Stidham as a starting quarterback. Congratulations on the new baby. Happy to hear your birth went well. Maria sounds like a badass and the kind of woman men go to war for.
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True.
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As a father of four myself, the craziest thing about becoming a dad is how movies and books is how movies and books that you've watched and read a million times somehow hit different. For example, I can't read Dr. Seuss to my kids without tearing up. I now find myself taking the Dad's side in the movie Beethoven. It is I think one thing I saw when my father passed things with, about people with their fathers really emotionally hit you different then for most of your life it doesn't even, you're like odds Ken Griffey and his dad with LeBron and Bronnie. And when you're missing your dad, even if you think like Bronnie is no business in the NBA, there was part of me thinking like that's pretty cool, man. That's pretty cool. And for those of you that still have your father, that sometimes that stuff doesn't even cross your mind. And then you factor in once you have a son and you get put on the other side. I'm, I'm with you. I mean I can just see I, I got teary eyed watching John Harbaugh talk about his dad Jack today. Just the power of that and the, the, the admiration I had for how much his sons love their father and how I would want to be in the shoes with one day. Especially if we have another kid and have another son, have two boys that look up to me like that as a mentor or someone that guided them through life. I mean that's, that's really all we're trying to do. Right? My football related question is this. As a Jets fan, is there any hope? I'm already getting hyped up for the draft, but is it all pointless? How would you fix the franchise? Everyone says the owner needs to sell, but that's not happening. I, I, I don't know. I'm not saying you're hopeless because football and you can turn it around with a couple players, but I think if you go back to the last time you guys were good for those couple years, you had a lot of good players, but clearly Rex was pretty good coach. You had Rex calling the defense. Your defensive personnel was awesome. Schottenheimer was a good offensive coordinator back then. You led the league in rushing. Is your coaching staff good enough? Like that would be my to not have an interception when your head coach is a DB guy. And Wilkes, who ended up getting fired, was also at his core a DB coach as well. It's like, do they have any clue what they're doing? Clearly offensively they're in major trouble when you don't have a quarterback. But if, if you're coaching staff even, because I think when the year started we'd all agree they have good individual players. But the coaching staff feels like it might suck. And I want to like Aaron Glenn. I thought what he did in Detroit was awesome. But just because if you were a good coordinator does not guarantee you'll be a good head coach. And he was a good coordinator. And then he gets to the jets, he's like, I'm not calling the place. It's like, well, Aaron, that's why we hired you. You fucking beat Minnesota with seven practice squatters, three plumbers and a deli master as your starting defense. And now you're just like, I'm just going to roam the sidelines? How does that make any sense? And I feel like Aaron Glenn had this big chip on his shoulder of like, I'm not just a play caller. I'm the head coach. I'm the boss. Because Bill Parcells is his mentor, which I respect. I remember Robert Sala did the same thing. He got hired with the Jets. He's like, I'm not calling the defense, Robert. That's why they hired you. You notice all these offensive guys, they get hired, they still call the plays. That's what Mike McDonald gets hired. He calls plays. I want my star coordinator who becomes a head coach to do both. Call the plays lead. Morning, John. I listen to every episode and love the pod. Question for the Back on today's pod, you said you see Miami dominating the ACC and saying the conference sucks. As a Virginia alumni, I think it's freezing cold. Take. And you're part of the problem. The ACC of schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cal, SMU with a ton of nil money and endowments and the S. The ACC went 95 in bowl play. Full disclosure, Bulls mean nothing to me in this world with opt outs transfer portal, they don't mean anything to me. I might have been a little over aggressive. I agree your conference isn't as bad as I hyped it up to be. But when we rank the conferences, your conference is the worst. Your conference is 100% the worst. That's not debatable. You almost did not get a team in a 12 team playoff. Say that out loud. You okay? Virginia, you lost to a team that went 8 and 5. I guess they were 8 and 4 going in the game. But Cal. Use Cal as an example. If you're using Cal, bring them to the table. Then we can't have this discussion. Miami has no business to not dominate this conference. Virginia Tech should be better. They've also been a joke recently. And even if they do get better, James Franklin has proven that he can beat no good teams. So Miami should dominate them. I'll give you SMU, but what, what did SMU do? This year, guys. Didn't they, they go 8 and 4. Am I, am I screwing that up? SMU. Where's SMU? Southern Methodist. They went 9 and 4, so they won their bowl game. So let's see. Virginia went 11 and three. SMU went 11 and four. The Pittsburgh Panthers went nine and five. Nine and four. Nine. You have a lot of teams that won bowl games that went 8 and 4. I just don't think your conference is that good. Clemson's falling off a cliff. Florida State sucks. You're the fourth best conference. You just are. And that you need Miami desperately to be really good. Listen to your most recent pod and the dad Diaries really hit home. I, I, I love that you said I'm part of the problem too. I, I'm not against the acc. I, I root like, I hope all these conferences are sweet. I'm not like I went to Cal Poly and then Fresno State. I'm not, hey, middle cops. Is a Big Ten guy or an se. I don't care. I'm honestly, I swear, unbiased with this all. If the ACC was good, I'd be the first to say it. Do you think anyone's like, hey, we're playing Virginia. Watch out. We get, get ready for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Fuck are we talking about? Use Cal as your example. The endowments. Okay, you got the money. Is you think Cal's gonna spend it on football? This ain't brown bags. Given desean and Marshawn a little cash in a brown bag, are they willing to pay millions of dollars? Not just for the quarterback, for the entire starting lineup? Maybe time will tell. If they are, then they can be good. But based on what? On the football side, there's some scuttlebutt on the Raiders Internet that Jesse Minner may be the favorite for the job. Totally unconfered by anybody reputable. Should I have concerns about a rookie quarterback with a defensive head coach? Would love to hear your take. I think the key for the Raiders is to just get someone who's good. If that happens to be a defensive coordinator, fine. But is. Is Jesse Minter the next Mike McDonald or is he the next, you know, pick. Failed coordinator? So to me, if you hire the defensive coordinator. Mike Vrabel was once a defensive coordinator for Houston and then became the head coach for Tennessee. Worked out pretty well. Aaron Glenn's a good example of like, clearly feels like he's over his head. So to me, it all comes down to, I don't know. I'm not interviewing these guys. Even when you interview Someone you don't know. There's a reason all these guys that are getting hired have been previous head coaches. Because you go, well, Vrabel, I know what I'm getting. Salah, he's, he has experience. I think he'll be better the second time around. Stefanski, coach of the year, that you feel way better. John Harbaugh. When you hire these first time coordinators, there is just a great unknown. If as a defensive guy, how will he handle offensive players? How will he handle everyone looking at him? How will he hire a staff? So I, I don't know. I, I think it's. There's always risk involved. But it took risk to hire Sean McVeigh. How'd that work out? It took risk in trying to think. Once upon a time, the Philadelphia Eagles hired a run game tight end coach from the Green Bay Packers, Andy Reid. How'd that turn out? The Baltimore Ravens hired John Harbaugh special teams coordinator. Mike Tomlin was a first year defensive coordinator for Minnesota. They weren't even that good on defense. He was 34 years old. So sometimes you got to take risks. But for every Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, there are a lot of Joe judges. So I don't, I don't know. I think you just, you just got to hire the right guy, whoever that is. That's on Spy Tech, that's on Brady. These guys have been around football their entire lives. Both of them are Michigan guys. They've been around champions. Brady's the greatest champion we've ever seen. He's seen it all. I don't know. They just got to get it right. I think they'd be the first to tell you. That's probably why they going through this long process. I'm an Indiana native, lived here my whole life. You mentioned a column last night that Indiana people have always been football people and that's 100% true. But some history. Football was always second to basketball until about 20 years ago. And then there's been a slow, steady move toward football takeover locally and it's completely happened. High school football has overtaken high school basketball. This is for sure now a football state. One thing you did not mention that was a huge part of this was Peyton Manning and the Colts. That was a huge catalyst in increased football interest here. I totally understand. Can you think of any comp in any place in any sport? Because I can't. Patriots didn't flip. Red Sox, Celtics, warriors didn't supplant the Niners. Yeah, I mean it's pretty unique. I Good point on Peyton Manning changed the game, made the Colts a very relevant big time franchise. And as football has really expanded, having one of the greatest players of all time and then even going right to Luck. So basically from the late 90s through the mid 2010s you reviewed as having one of the best quarter. I mean Peyton was right there with Tom and Andrew Luck was a star immediately. So that that matters. I. I think what Steph, I mean Steph Curry resurrected the warriors and made them into this powerhouse brand. But the Warriors, I, I was the Bay Area. Honestly, the baseball is just as big when they're good. But if the war, if Steph Curry disappeared tomorrow, the warriors do not sustain. They become irrelevant. Like they're not a big brand in the sense of you couldn't just put random players on there and the fans would care. The warriors really are Steph Curry. That's his power. It's like look at the Chicago Bills. Turns out it was Michael Jordan. And to me that's what Steph Curry was them where your example is like people love the Colts and because you guys have good sports fans in the Midwest. So these last however many years with Ballard has been pretty polarizing. You never really had Indiana football to root for because they've never been good. But if they had been, I do think it's pretty clear they would have been treated like one of the powerhouse in terms of support. Big Ten programs, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State are probably just way too historic. But the support would not have been an issue for Indiana. Even if they had just had a run of 10 years where they averaged like eight, nine wins. It would have been a really, really big deal. They just been the complete opposite. They couldn't have been any worse. I have a question for the bag. Why is Josh Allen getting so much praise this postseason despite being a major reason for the loss to the Broncos? He had three. He has a top three running back and a great offensive line, yet he seems to get a pass. In contrast, Mahomes was heavily criticized after losing the super bowl last year, even though he lacked a solid O line and a run game when he already has three rings. I thought Josh Allen got pretty heavily criticized. I thought people crushed him. He didn't play well. I do think people felt for him. Just the emotional outburst after the game I think was relatable. I think all fans and people that love the sport want to see is like, do you care as much as we do? And when you watch like I the Bill's reaction of guys in Tears. You went, listen, you just kind of felt bad sympathy for him. He did not play well. Relative to his standard. The Knox miss was crippling and that was probably the game. The end of the first half fumble was probably one of the worst plays of his career. In a big moment. It definitely was the worst play of his career. I would say so. I, I think people just felt for the guy that I. And I think this was the case last year when Mark Andrews dropped the ball for Lamar. People want to see Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen match Mahomes or try to. Did Mahomes get crushed or his offensive line sucked and got worked? I don't think, I don't think who's getting crushed. Also when these guys get crushed, what does that even mean? It's like, listen, Lamar hasn't played that well in the playoffs. We're going to replace him. What are we even talking about? You have bad games. Steph Curry's had bad games. LeBron James have bad games. Mahomes had bad game. It happens. It sucks. Shake it off and you move forward. Now when you're not good enough, people go, C.J. stroud, are you good enough? Are you sure you want to bring this guy back? What are other options? Because I, I think that's the extension of the conversation with a guy like C.J. shroud. Could we do any better next year? Could we trade him? Could we be open to different opportunities? You, you'd be not doing your job if you're not having that conversation. Lamar has a shitty playoff game or Josh Allen has a shitty playoff game. That's not the conversation to be had. So I, I think it's just, I, I, and I don't know what people say on some of these shows. I don't watch them. Especially now that dad and feeding out of a bottle, not me but feeding him in the bottle might have to hit the bottle if I keep not getting sleep. Big fan, fellow ball brother, father or two. Not to jump ahead a week, but do you anticipate the electrical substation to be a topic conversation leading in the Super Bowl? Very rare circumstances where other teams practice other teams facility with the super bowl being in Santa Clara. I said this to someone the other day. It is 1 million percent going to be a conversation during the super bowl and to me where it could just go to another level. I, I don't know the setup. If it's the AFC or NFC team practicing in the Niners practice field. What if that team refuses to take the field? What if the players aren't comfortable this story would go from like it's already 0 to 20 to like 0 to 60. Would 5x because it's out there. People are talking about it. But now the NERs are gone. If the super bowl team, whoever is tasked with practicing on the field and maybe they both do. I remember last year or I mean 10 years ago when they had it one practice San Jose and the other practice Santa Clara. So whoever practices at the Niners facility, if their players go I'm not comfortable doing this and we're gonna also practice at San Jose or something, this story would explode. How would you rank these coaching vacancies and what do you and who do you predict getting hired? Well, Buffalo and Baltimore are just when do you ever get MVP quarterbacks in their late 20s job availables doesn't happen very rarely, if ever. So I think those jobs are just unprecedented, almost pretty rare. I'm sure we could do a breakdown of the history of the league. How many MVP candidates or former MVP quarterbacks still in their 20s had a job opening? Maybe farve in the late 90s when Holmgren went to Seattle. I think Elway was already over 30 when Mike Shanahan got there. Maybe he was 30, but that would be similar. I mean it just doesn't happen very often. When Bill Walsh handed the job to George Seifert, when what's his name, Barry Switzer got the job from the Cowboys. Like it's those jobs are pretty, pretty unique. So I, I think those two jobs are in a different stratosphere even when you factor in the Bills and being and the power structure. But they're just pretty elite. I I think the Cardinals is an untouchable job. I think it's horrendous. I I wouldn't touch that job with a 10 foot pole. No quarterback division with McVeigh, Kyle and McDonald. An owner that is historically cheap. I couldn't touch it. Couldn't touch it. The Browns got just too much going on. No quarterback crazy owner. To me those jobs are bad, which sucks because Cleveland like that job should matter, but there's just too much going on there. Tennessee, I don't think Tennessee is a good job either. Way too big of a risk with a quarterback not sure he can play and an ownership that you just can't trust. Who else is open right now for the Bill, the Steve? I don't know if the Steelers are that good. No quarterback aging veterans that are expensive front office that has not been good lately. Which is crazy to say because historically the Steelers would be like oh, it's one of the best jobs in America. I don't know. We'll end on this. What is Malachi Tony? This. This guy is insane. He's stud. The scary part, if you're the ACC, is he's 18 years old. So now success is not just an upward trajectory. We saw what's his name, Ryan Williams, the wide receiver at Bama who looked like the equal to Jeremiah Smith. And this year he was terrible. So you're just not guaranteed to keep improving. But you watch Malachi Tony, you go, this guy was born to play football. Pretty elite, just all everything player. I mean, he can return, he can play in the slot, he can play outside, he can make guys miss, he can break tackles. Imagine him in a year in a weight program, a year eating, you know, with the. Just training his body to gain a little more muscle mass, maybe a little more explosion. Really work on his craft, hone the routes, which he's already an excellent route runner. Could be a pretty special player. You know, he's kind of got some like zay Flowers vibes, but maybe even better. He's not. I don't know if he's quite like his twitchy and powerful as Tyreek, but he's kind of in that world. He's got a chance to be a pretty special player. Wind on that one. Adios, people. The Volume. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.