← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd Podcast - Shorthanded 49ers STUN Eagles, Josh Allen Is ALL-TIME Great, Caleb Looks Like Elway, SEC Dominance Is OVER
01:03:58
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- [00:00]
John Middlekoff
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
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- [00:04]
Colin
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- [01:24]
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- [01:51]
John Middlekoff
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- [01:51]
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- [02:37]
Colin
Josh Allen is the Louisiana Hot Sauce Player of the week. 306 total yards, three touchdowns in Buffalo's win over Jacksonville. The Bills got their first road playoff win in 33 years. The original Louisiana hot sauce. I love this stuff. Perfect balance of peppers, vinegar, salt, wings, nachos, burgers. I put it on my eggs. Hit any tailgate food. Bold, handcrafted flavor of the original Louisiana hot sauce. That's Louisiana hot Bayou some. I love that line. All right, John Middelkoff, former NFL scout, joining us. Four for four. Four great playoff games. The league is just fine without the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. That's the differ between the NBA and the NFL. Between baseball and the NFL. Mahomes burrow Lamar Jackson out. Best wild card weekend I ever remember. Four for four. San Francisco and a superior coaching staff beat Philadelphia 23 to 19, by the way. The Eagles went up 13 to seven and then they went three and out in four of their next five drives. I thought it was really an indictment. This is, you know, John, like the truth eventually comes out. The fact that Kyle Shanahan can go into this game, lose George Kittle early, doesn't have Warner, doesn't have Bosa, hasn't had IUK all year. You go into pretty much a stack roster. You could argue the weather favors Philadelphia. They don't, they don't like to throw the ball. Purdy throws two picks and San Francisco wins. The gap between Shanahan and Sirianni. I still contend Sirianni's a coordinator, but you know what I mean. Doug Peterson won a Super bowl with Nick Foles. Shit happens. I thought it was such an indictment on the Philadelphia offensive staff.
- [04:38]
John Middlekoff
Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the worst playoff losses you'll ever see. I mean, the 49ers, they lose their best player with what in the first quarter with the torn Achilles. So the ramifications, the ripple effects, that has me's best friends with use check McCaffrey. They don't flinch. Sirianni doesn't do anything to impact the game. That's right. He doesn't call the place. So it's, it's, it's Kevin Patola and Vic Fangio against Kyle and Robert Sala, which is a massive advantage. The Eagles, you know, it's reported this morning, Lane Johnson, right, was going to go and then he couldn't go. Well, that doesn't impact this game because the 49ers can't rush the passer. You know, Charles Haley ain't walking through that door to me to get two interceptions from Brock, especially the one in the second half. The Niners are up by by one Point, they're in full control. There's what, seven, eight minutes left to go when he throws that interception. Colin, against a good playoff team, that game would be over. On the road it would. But the Eagles, there are two interceptions. They got three points total out of it. They can't move the ball at the end. You can always manipulate a little bit when you go in that two minute up tempo. Most teams in the NFL move it more than they normally do, but with that much talent on the field. And listen, A.J. brown is a fantastic talent, but if you're going to talk that much and hate on your quarterback that much and make that much money, you got to come through. Because listen, if the Niners lose this game, that Purdy would have, you know, bore some responsibility. You can't turn the ball over in the second half because you're in the game. The game's weird. You got a shot, but you got to give him credit. They got the ball back. He drove right down the field. He made a big run. He made some big throws. Mental toughness right there, Colin. And great coach.
- [06:14]
Colin
By the way, you know, I've defended Darnold on interceptions. Brock Purdy had two today. He still outplayed Jalen. Hurts. I just don't. Oh, and by the way, one of Purdy's picks was awful. The other one, you know, it's windy. I give, I give both these quarterbacks a pass. I mean, A.J. brown, twice they threw the ball down the field. He was like a center fielder that lost it in the lights. Like he, you know, the ball's moving. He's a part returner almost. He can't, he can't quite get it. Again, Purdy throws the ball down the field. You almost have to bake in one bad pick a Sunday for Purdy. Like that's just kind of who he is. And that's why I always say about Darnold. Matt Stafford, he throws some really ugly picks. But I'll tell you this. Here's the thing about Purdy, it doesn't affect him. He is, he's not affected by interceptions because he has so much confidence. First of all, how about the, I mean, the opening drive? Here's the coaching. San Francisco, the opening drive. I mean, devastatingly brilliant. San Francisco 7 nothing. The trick played a Jennings. Probably the best timing for an over the top. I mean, I'm not talking like a hook and lateral, you know, or, you know, there's some stuff in the red zone that's cute, but it's like 12 yards. That was a Big trick play. I'm not. You know what I thought of when I saw that? The last time I saw a trick play so perfectly called, it was Edelman. Patriots, Ravens. Remember that? Throwing out to the flat. Edelman throws it to double pass. I think he threw it to either Chris Hogan or.
- [07:43]
John Middlekoff
It might have been Amadola. It was Hogan or Amidola.
- [07:46]
Colin
Yeah, like that's what it reminded me of. Like oh my God. That says that takes a special kind of offensive coach because you know you have that thing in the bag. You probably wanted to use it three times. I thought between the opening drive, the trick play and Purdy's perseverance to overcome the picks, not care about just it. It to me it was just a master class in winning a rough, tough, few mistake road game. That's how you win in the NFL when you don't play perfect.
- [08:15]
John Middlekoff
Well, listen, Kyle in niner land, right? It's a, it's an intense fan base. The expectations are high, can get criticized. He was 8 and 4 coming into this game in the playoffs. Now he's 9 and 4. And the difference, you know, Sirianni had a good playoff record coming into this, but we all look at their team and go, yeah, it's a lot of Howie Roseman. Like you watch this game, you're like, yeah, that's Salah and Kyle with, with Purdy and use check. DeMarcus Robinson, Colin, they're throwing the guys number 81. There's not a soul in America beside the guy's family that's ever heard of the player, you know, Eric Kendricks felt like was out of the league a couple years ago. They're on, as Brady said, they're on their seventh, eighth, the ninth. Linebackers, they have no pass rush. They are dead last in the league. You know, like the jets last in the league in interceptions. 49ers are last in the league in pass rush. But we all go. It's not really their fault. They're just missing everybody. You know that Nick Bose is third on the team in sacks. He hasn't been on the play the game in three months. So I think today was, you know, people try to argue for Sirianni and listen, he's won a lot of games, but if you pulled everyone in the NFL, I mean the two coaches today, it ain't even close. And this was. Say what you want about Kyle and this is the thing I always respect. We'll get into McVeigh. A lot of these young coaches, they get pass happy. You saw Liam, these are fantastic. Coaches, Kyle's old school man. He will run it even early in the game. It's like, Kyle, call some passes. He is, he is wired much more like a guy from his dad's era. And that plays to the playoffs. And what did they do tonight? They made this game weird. And the Eagles, they've played in that game, what, 17 times this year. They ended up winning a lot of them. But today they got into a spot where like this coaching staff and Brock, a lot of experience, mental toughness. We'll talk about this, I'm sure, during the draft time upstairs. You and I have talked about this before, just playing the position, but I thought when he threw that pick, I'm like, oh, my God, he's going to, but he's not. Mental experience, like, that's why they like him. You know, even me, I was like, I'm like, they're going to lose this game. And he drove him right down the field.
- [10:14]
Colin
I mean, they also had a really bad punt that Philadelphia got a field goal out of two interceptions. There was every reason in the world to lose this game. You, you could have.
- [10:24]
John Middlekoff
Sky Moore caught a punt at the five yard line tonight. What are you doing?
- [10:28]
Colin
I, I, honestly, I, I will say, I, I'm not into firing people. That's not my thing. I mean, there's, there's times when you see certain coaches, you're like, okay, they're totally over their skis. Brandon Staley was about as hard as I've ever been in a Coach, Tom, and that's not what we have here. But I do think there's a discussion. Sirianni's barking it. I mean, A.J. brown, this is embarrassing. I mean, San Francisco walked in. And remember, Vic Fangio is a respected defensive coordinator. This falls on Sirianni and the offensive staff. I mean, you and I both know that Jalen hurts. I mean, I always laugh. People in Philadelphia, they know the truth. I run into Eagle fans everywhere in this country and they're always like, you're too nice to Jalen hurts. And I always say I love his intangibles. I think he's a great kid, great at the podium, great leader, tough, resilient. And he does throw a nice deep ball. But you can see the limitations here. On that final drive, two balls were almost intercepted. I mean, they, I thought they were going to score. I'm like, oh, my God, they got that hurts. Got that huge Dallas Goddard completion. Then Devonta Smith and I'm like, oh, oh, okay. San Francisco's tired. They're at Home. And then all of a sudden he sails one, then another one's almost intercepted. And he is a very limited. If you take out the deep ball, he is a pretty limited pocket quarterback. And Brock Purdy is not. Brock Purdy gets banged up a lot. Brock Purdy can be a bit reckless. Brock's pretty damn good from the pocket. He's pretty good in a muddy pocket.
- [11:59]
John Middlekoff
And the, the other thing is Tom was showing that with the wind. Throw it down. Well, it's like Tom, you're 656-6-6, so you could look down Brock. Brock can't like he can't even attempt that to throw it down. He's just not tall enough. But the one thing Purdy does that Jalen just no longer does is leans into his legs. There were times if Jay. If the Eagles wanted to win this game, Jalen should have had 15 carries today because the 49ers never would have stopped it. They're playing with third stringers at linebacker. They're playing with a guy that probably thought he was retired two years ago, but he doesn't want to run. He the conversation. 49er fans know a lot about this, the Russell thing that happened, right? I want to be a pocket quarterback. Russell, lean into your skill, your skills, an all timer. You're the greatest playmaker we've ever seen. Jalen's a great playmaker, but he won't. He just wants to play like Tom Brady in it. It does not work. And the OC's done. I mean he's one thing in Philly. They will not tolerate that. He'll be, I'm sure fired in the next 48 hours. He was already in trouble, but it's. You could bring in Kellen Moore, you can bring in Shane Psychic if he's not going to move. I don't care if Walsh is calling the offense. They're going to have problems because look, you know, Kyle's offense is predicated a lot on Purdy and Purdy has no problem. He'll take off and run. It's not like. Well, I don't. I want to prove I'm a. What do we got to do to win? Well, Jalen today to beat this team, you know Saquon that they were selling out to stop Saquon. He had some moments, but then he gets banged up. Just take off, bro. They, they, they were not Jalen. You know, unlike Lamar and Michael Vick, these guys that were like track star speed, Jalen actually is much more like a Frank Gore. But his instincts as a running back are elite when he's in the open field. But he hates doing it. Clearly he doesn't, he doesn't want to.
- [13:41]
Colin
Do it pretty now four of his five playoff wins are game winning drives.
- [13:48]
John Middlekoff
You got to give him credit column that that was impressive.
- [13:50]
Colin
I I was saying when he threw his second pick first one was ugly. Second one, it's windy. It's, it's man to man coverage. I have always defended Darnold. I remember when Purdy on Monday night football game had three picks against Carolina and I said he's not healthy. You can tell the ball's dying. Purdy's ball doesn't die. Remember he threw those two over the middle picks. They both died. They were both behind the receiver. And I said this isn't the real Purdy. Purdy's ball doesn't die. He's got a good arm. He doesn't have a great arm but he's got a good arm. He also was 5 for 7.126 passer rating once they lost Kittle I I'm I by the way I've seen Purdy in the last month win twice without Kittle. So that to me is growth. They had Trent Williams but I, I this Shanahan has a real offensive philosophy. I'll go back to Nick Sirianni. What is his. You don't see, you see the coaching with Kurt Signetti. You saw the coaching today with Kyle Shanahan. You don't see it with Sirianni.
- [14:47]
John Middlekoff
What is he well, can I and how he's probably going to get mad at me about this. But they made a mistake. AJ clearly wanted out. It was not going well. They should have traded him at the trade deadline because one thing that was very evident today is the for the 49ers guys and by the time they were, you know, halftime of this game it's, it's use check McCaffrey's probably 60%. Some random wide receivers, they're 10 toes deep all in. They are going to go down swinging. They are all to get Trent Williams is playing probably 70% with a hamstring. It is no point. They, they really like each other. AJ Brown's like drop some balls like whatever. You know I'll be gone anyway in a couple months. Anytime you bring that in, you got him and Sirianni barking at each other and listen, I know Brady's like hey, emotions. There's this different between just emotions players these two, this whole thing now John.
- [15:38]
Colin
Wild for two years. Get him out of here. Devonte Smith is A number one. Goddard is one of the top six tight ends in Saquon. This is a team that doesn't need a number one. They've got one in Devonte. Devonte is a low one. AJ's a higher one. But I think what bothered me was the effort, you know, because A.J. brown complains a lot and he, he had that ball that he kind of lost. So they went back to him and he did it again. And that's when Sirianni raced down. It was if to say, bro, you are barking a lot. We threw you a ball twice, you went over two. And those are catchable balls.
- [16:16]
John Middlekoff
That thing, that thing just catches up to you, you know, And I think today was very, very evident about the fractures internally. Because the one thing you say, their defense is really good. I mean, the Eagles defense took a trick play. I mean, it took, you know, their offense just going three and out, punting constantly. Their defense was fine. They had a defense that you could win a Super bowl with. They feel like the crappiest talented offense I've ever seen because there's no disputing the talent they have on the offense. Right. I mean it's, it's really hard to watch. But they don't have a coach. The play caller, first time calling plays, just completely outmatched. You saw Robert Sala, who, I mean, it sucks for 49 people. He's probably going to get a head job. You know, I think that his jets tenure felt like it aged better with every game they played. You know, Sam Darnold too. I just think that, that, that was, that was one of the best Kyle Shanahan jobs you'll, you'll ever see. They, they had one against Green Bay, remember in a cold game against Aaron Rodgers, he had won the mvp and they blocked a punt, but that team was much better. This team had no business. They would have probably been in a game against Carolina like, let alone the talent of that Eagle team on the road in the, in the, under the lights that for as great of a win as this for Kyle and the 49ers, and it is, that's one of the worst playoff losses you'll ever see. It really is. When you factor in the talent here.
- [17:37]
Colin
Sirianni preaches, win the turnover battle, you're at home, you win the turnover battle. I mean, think about that.
- [17:45]
John Middlekoff
You get a second half interception, George.
- [17:46]
Colin
Kittle gets hurt, the niners have a 27 yard punt, everything lined up and you still couldn't win. And again, I'll say it, when you watch Great coaching. You can see the coaching through the television. Vic Fangio's coaching. I can see Brian. I can see Brian Flores coaching defensively. Hyper, aggressive. I have no idea what the Eagles offensive philosophy is. That's why they are so coordinator dependent like McVeigh and Shanahan. Andy Reid are not coordinator dependent. Harbaughn, his career hasn't been coordinator dependent. Nick Sirianni is completely, utterly coordinator dependent. And in the end, 23 1990ers win, by the way.
- [18:34]
John Middlekoff
So I got one for you really quick, Colin. I mean, if you were Philly, you know, he worked from 1998 to 2007 for the Philadelphia Eagles, would you be very interested in John Harbaugh because he's just a way better.
- [18:46]
Colin
Oh, God, yes.
- [18:47]
John Middlekoff
Sirianni, but.
- [18:48]
Colin
But I don't know if Howie Roseman wants somebody that has that much personality, culture and power. Like Howie struggled with Chip Kelly. Remember, he battled with Chip because Chip sees the world differently. Harbaugh's not coming in and having a GM that makes all the calls. I think he'd be great, but I don't think he works. Kevin Stefanski, who doesn't have any interest in the personnel, like an Andy Reid, like, he's very respectful of the position. Stefanski wants the coach. Oh, I could see Stefanski going there in a heartbeat.
- [19:23]
John Middlekoff
They already got the defense set up. You got the defensive coordinator under contract. You got the players. You got players on offense. I think, listen, the OC has been a polarizing individual all season long. I think this Sirianni thing will get loud here in the next. And that's Philadelphia, by the way. It's what makes the city great.
- [19:40]
Colin
49Ers now will go to Seattle. Seattle is a six and a half point favorite according to Hard Rock Bet. The Rams will be a 4 1/2 point favorite at the Bears. I don't know. I think I would.
- [19:55]
John Middlekoff
You said a Rams are four and a half point favorite.
- [19:57]
Colin
Chicago. I think I would probably take both dogs. I would take the Niners plus six and a half to keep it close. Although you can prepare now knowing Kittle's not going to play. That hurts. Also. Also, this is a really physical game. Let's just wait for injuries on San Francisco bears plus four and a half. I'm telling you, soldier Fields, 26 miles from my house. It's like I could hear the place at the end of that. That place was wild. Four and a half is a lot of points. It's going to be really cold and crappy weather. Yeah. Yeah.
- [20:32]
John Middlekoff
I think I like the, I feel like the, the Angels and the football gods are just hanging out in Chicago this year. So I, I wouldn't touch the Bears at this point. The Niners, you know, Chicago, I would say the thing with Chicago and the 49ers, their seasons were both validated Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, Sunday night like this, they're playing with house money. The thing you would say with Chicago, they just still have more firepower, you know, dressing out on game day. So you can never count them out because offensively, I mean, Loveland looked like Kelsey in his prime. The other receivers they have, I mean, Caleb's magic. It does feel like the 49ers. It's going to be hard to not be out of gas after, after losing George Kittle, who really is the heartbeat of the operation. He's so good. Terry's Achilles. I, I, I'd be, I, it's a pretty good spot for Seattle. You just killed them. I think you'll get some fight, but I would imagine that's not going to be a nice weather game. Seattle mid January and I don't know, they don't have the game times, do they?
- [21:29]
Colin
No, not yet.
- [21:31]
John Middlekoff
I, I would say that's a pretty good draw. I'm sure we'll get into the Rams, but you know, the, this might open up a little bit for the Rams. Get the Eagles defense out of there. You know, they get a lineup if they can take care of Chicago, which is going to be difficult with a matchup with a team they know very well in Seattle. So they, they, they got life after yesterday. God, they looked weird.
- [21:54]
Colin
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- [23:23]
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- [24:23]
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- [27:09]
Colin
Buffalo Bills 27, Jaguars 24 by the way, Josh Allen while trailing today went 14 of 16 with 133 passer rating and three total touchdowns. You know, Josh Allen was 90% of the bill's yards, LeBron esque, 5 for 5 and 65 of 66 total yards on the game winning drive. You know, playing from behind on the road, being totally dependent on one guy isn't a recipe for success. You know, somebody had Said it. Whoever won that game is going to win. Is going to win the afc. I don't believe it. I mean, listen, Josh Allen is as good a football player as I've ever seen in my life. I mean, I'll just say that he's an as good a football player in the history of the game. I put him. I think he's better than Elway. I think he's better than Marino. I think he's. I think he's more talented than Mahomes. I just don't know how long. Forget a superhero. He's like Zeus. He's like a God among gods. Like it's just a different level of player. What was your big take? I mean, by the way, he got checked for concussion. He twisted his knee so he was not playing in 100% and yet he wins in Jacksonville. What'd you make of it?
- [28:22]
John Middlekoff
I thought he like everyone, he was remarkable. That that was. The Jags are really good, like really good. Now their quarterback was a little shaky and that was a big difference in the game. I thought Josh, I mean Josh dominated the game. They cook, who is, you know, one of the better non quarterback offensive players in the league had 46 yards on the ground. But part of that's Jacksonville. It's hard to run against him. I just thought Buffalo, all their chips going into this game were on him being A plus and he was. His stats don't even do him justice, right? This is the one touchdown in the air. He ran for two. But the tush pushes which bit them in the, you know what against the Chiefs, right. And they were mentioned this on the broadcast. They told Dance Spagnolo last year, he likes to go left on the tush push. They knew it was coming and he was just gaining. I mean the one that went almost 10 yards, I don't know where you stood, but when they had a minute left and the Jags only had one timeout, I probably would have knelt it and ran that thing down to like 25 seconds and then tried to just three tush pushes because they had the timeouts. Their kicker in Jacksonville can kick it from like 80 yards. The Bills defense is obviously they made a great play, but I thought that was pretty bold just to score that fast. But yeah, I mean, I thought, you know, Jokic, it's much more of an NBA operation. Steph Curry, LeBron, Kobe in his prime. Just a guy that's completely unstoppable. You don't really see that, right. Because Peyton Manning or Tom Brady's teams were much More balanced. That's not the case.
- [29:50]
Colin
Well, the Bears did it and we'll get to them in a minute. But the Bears scored very, very quickly. And so I think sometimes in these playoff games, I mean, Jacksonville doesn't get to the playoffs much. They just want the points. You know, they're just going to take the point. Chicago doesn't get to the playoffs much. They're facing Green Bay. If we can take a touchdown. That's what Lincoln Riley said when they took the lead on Illinois. It's like, we're on the road. I'm going to take, we're going to go for the touchdown. So I'll never rip a staff for doing that. Like sometimes you're like, guys, this is foreign territory. I know. I'm not like, I thought Ben Johnson got too cute in his coaching. I think Liam Cohen was like, let's just get it in the end zone. Let's not worry about it. If they beat us like that, then, then we lost to an all time great. You know, when I. It's funny about Buffalo. So like I didn't think Jacksonville played poorly. They did get beat by the Rams soundly earlier this year. Jacksonville's one of those teams and I really failed to buy into them all year until the last two weeks when they beat Denver. I was like, okay, I can't deny this. Do we take something from this? Because they were. Buffalo was a favorite in this game and I didn't get the line. I said, I don't understand the line. I think it should be like, I think Jacksonville should be like a three point favorite, not a point and a half dog. Like I thought the line was four.
- [31:10]
John Middlekoff
Points off, but I think, I think it flipped by kickoff. I think it was like Jags minus one. So I think a bunch of money came in on Buffalo over the course of the weekend.
- [31:20]
Colin
I did think early in the game Sean McDermott and his staff, I could see the plan. Like I thought they came and energized because they'd struggled all year as a first half team. But I watched the first half and I was like, I kind of, I kind of felt like I was watching the plan and I was like, okay. Because my, my fear all week I was like, oh, I could see it being 21 to 3 and Jacksonville just coming out home. Playoff game. Buffalo's a slow starting team, but I thought Buffalo's first half, it's not just the end of the game. I thought they played a really strong first half. It was imperfect. But you know, I said all year Long. I don't trust Jacksonville. They're just really. They're squirrely. I don't trust them. Did you feel like it was like, are you disappointed with the Jags or do you feel like, you know, it's just the first Liam Cohen step? And this is. It's always been about steps and playoff football.
- [32:18]
John Middlekoff
Well, their team is really talented, but their quarterback had been lights out the last two months of the season. I mean, he had been in December. He was. There was not a hotter team coming into the NFL and he was a massive part of it today. I thought he was all over the map. I mean, obviously he made some nice passes, but there were passes he was putting into harm's way constantly. There was a gap. This happens in NBA series a lot, right? Pick the team with the best player is usually the old adage when gambling on a playoff series in the NBA. That was kind of my logic in this game because I think if you reverse the quarterbacks and pushed Josh Allen on the Jags, Jags would win this thing like 35 to 10. They would kill him. It would. If you told me Josh Allen was on the Jags roster, I think the Jags would cruise to the super bowl in the afc and Trevor had, like, taken the step and like, okay, this is the guy that we had kind of anointed. They gave $200 million to last year. And today I thought actually they got a little pass happy. I get when McVay does it, it's like, I don't always agree, but it's like, he's got Stafford, he leans on him. Okay. Or Andy, he's got Mahomes. Like, Trevor was shaky. You. You were. They were running it for over six yards a carry. ETN had 10 carries for almost 70 yards.
- [33:30]
Colin
John, the.
- [33:31]
John Middlekoff
The Tutin guy had four carries for 50 yards. He was in. His longest run was 20. So it's not like he had a 40 yard run. They were having. The Bills are not. They have a lot of guys on defense. Beside, their D line's good, but their safeties and linebackers aren't exactly, you know, John lynch and Ray Lewis. So you can push the. That's the thing with Baltimore. When they lost him last year, it's like, how did you guys not just lean on them? When you get past happy in the NFL, look at the diners. Weird things can happen. DB can kind of stay in your hip pocket. A ball gets tipped, a ball's picked. And I thought, you know, Liam Cohen, I understand his quarterback had a bunch of momentum but you can feel it out in the game like hey, Trevor's a little off. And the other thing that benefited Buffalo is you watch Chicago, you watch Philly where you are, it's freezing cold. I mean people were in the pool there. That benefits Josh Allen to play in a 70 degree day.
- [34:18]
Odoo Advertiser
Yeah.
- [34:18]
Colin
And the other thing is when I look at that game is that like I love Parker Washington. I mean the fact that he was a six round pick, there's so much talent in this league. Kittle's a fifth round pick, Parker Washington is six. I think Brock Purdy's a seventh, I think Jennings is a six or a seventh for the 49ers. There's so much damn talent in the NFL. I mean there's so much talent just spread across the world. Parker Washington is, I'm trying to think of the great AB was a six round draft pick. The great Mel Gray was a six round draft pick. Parker Washington, six round draft. Like there's been great players in the sixth round at wide receiver and that's a position there's just a lot of, you know, especially in the last 10 years. But when I look at Trevor Lawrence is, I think it was one of those things. He was so good as a freshman at Clemson beating Alabama. He was so good in high school, he was so good in college that I think I always just put him in this elite Andrew Luck class. And when I watch him play I think he's really good. He's not a great talent. He's a good quarterback. His arm is good. It's not great. His athletic ability is good. It's not, it's, it's not like a plus plus. I think he's a good quarterback but I think I've just overvalued him because I liked him so much in college. I was, I mean you beat Nick Saban in the dynasty as a freshman and you're like key to the game. It's like I just couldn't unsee that. And I just. For years. And it's funny because Greg Cosell very early came on my show. It was like year two of Josh Allen and he goes, Trevor Lawrence is not close to Josh Allen. He goes, I'm just telling you what the tape says. Josh Allen is going to be so much better. And I'm like really? Okay, well I mean Trevor's banged up and I think I've just always overvalued Trevor who is a good quarterback, but he's not. You watch Caleb Williams on a couple of Those throws that 4th and 8 throw with 540 left by Caleb Williams is one of the best throws I've ever seen in a football game by a quarterback. A right hander, throwing, moving left. I'm just watching him like I don't even know what the. And then they show it from behind Caleb and you're like, what the hell did he see? Like, how did he do that?
- [36:27]
John Middlekoff
Well, there are three guys, there are three guys in the league that could have pulled that off, obviously Caleb, Josh and Justin Herbert. And now looking back, Josh and Justin Herbert, I think we'd all agree are just pure talent wise, as talented as any human beings that have played in this league. When you talk about size, speed and arm, you know, velocity thing with Trevor Lawrence, he's much closer to the, to the Manning crew in terms of arm strength. Philip Rivers in his prime, but he's not that accurate. He's not Mr. Accuracy. So like part of it is like he was with this great prospect like Luck or Peyton Manning because that was the buzz when he was coming out. But part Luck had a better arm and was much more of a physical player. You know, Trevor has some times when he's running, he gets tackled like he goes down, you know, Josh gets tackled, he's flying forward. But I'm looking this year he threw 60%. And I, I think Brady and Peyton Manning be the first to tell you, like, you watch this league now, if you're not in the high 60s with the rules on your side, that's a problem in an offensive oriented league. And they're pretty loaded offensively with talent. So I listen, he's much improved. I think the thing that you have to be excited for if you're Jacksonville, you know, I had him in like that. To a world like this guy making a lot of money, he's. You can win with him if you build the team. But like, I ain't betting on this guy in a playoff game when he's playing Josh Allen or Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson because there's a gap there that's pretty wide.
- [37:50]
Colin
He's not in it. He's not a first year guy. And that's okay. He's not Justin Herbert. I don't think he's C.J. stroud. C.J. stroud's accurate like, like Trevor's. I think to your point, his, his delivery is a little long. I just don't think he's a terribly accurate thrower. And by the way, either is Caleb, but Caleb gives you so much horsepower that you can't, I mean I, I've said this, and let's just go to that game. Chicago 31, Green Bay 27, 900 total yards is. And, and I had said this after the game, I did a, like a YouTube hit and I said, and you know the boxes that Elway checked. Durable, unbelievable in the fourth quarter, huge arm. We'll throw some picks, but not that many. You never really looked at him as. He was accurate, but that wasn't his game. His game was durable, tough, smart, great in the fourth, doesn't get hurt, doesn't throw picks in the big spots late in games. That's kind of Caleb Williams. Like, I know, you know, Green Bay fans all want to fire Matt LaFleur, but the truth is Green Bay fans are a little delusional, John. With Favre and Aaron Rodgers between those two for 30 years. They got, they got two Super Bowls and only three trips. They don't get free agents, they don't pay like other teams often do for coordinators. When you don't have an owner, you can't make those decisions on the tarmac like Stan Kroenke can make. And when I look at Green Bay, once they lose Michael Parsons, it's okay. But they lost also Kenny Clark and Micah Parsons because Kenny Clark in the trade of Dallas. And at the end of that game. You know this, John. By the time you get to the end of a playoff game, it's three and a half hours of football. Your defense usually isn't at its best. Those big uglies up front are tired. And Caleb Williams had a little extra time. He moved out of the pocket four or five times and he just. Those guys are tired. These are 330 pound guys. And so, I mean, everybody, everybody wants to pile on, but I think what the Bears did Saturday, John, this is what they are. They've done this like six times. This is what they are.
- [39:59]
John Middlekoff
Yeah, I mean, listen, you've been talking about this. I talked about it last night on the podcast. Is, you know, Caleb part of. When you discuss a draft prospect and you talk ceiling. He has one of the great arms we've ever seen. He's one of the great playmakers we've ever seen. Physically, his ability to move is elite. I'm talking behind the line of scrimmage, move and run. Jordan Love was a first round pick at the end of the first round. You know, Jordan Love is like Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins. Good player, solid. But his physical skills, and he was a project once upon a time. They're okay. He's Got solid arm, pretty accurate when he's in rhythm, can kind of move. Definitely not the best athlete in his own quarterback room. Right. So it's, he's fine. But like you saw the physical gifts like both that both those two teams shit was kind of hitting the fan. You need to make some stuff happen. And, and one thing Caleb, why you can't really nitpick on the accuracy right now. And listen, he's been inaccurate a little bit, right? Some balls are flying. He makes up for it with these huge plays. And obviously the play might be play the year so far on that 4th and 8, I mean save their season, right? 27, 16, 4th and 8. He throws it over. When you really watch it in slow motion. There are three guys in yellow right in front of him. One guy. But you have to put it like layer the throw. It's crazy. It's one of the great throws you've ever seen. But so many other plays as the game went on, he kind of gets rolling. You've been saying he's a momentum player. Well, his momentum with this talent is unstoppable. Like Trevor Lawrence momentum player too. But he can only do so much when Josh Allen gets momentum. Holy. You know what, the avalanche is coming and there is no stopping it. And the thing with the Bears, even unlike the Bills, like Loveland has a chance to be an elite player in the NFL. D.J. moore had some drops, but he's been a high level NFL player now for what, five, six years. Roma Dunes a was a top 10 pick. They got DeAndre Swift had the best year of his career. The other running back, seventh round pick has been fantastic. I mean they got so much talent. They got great guard, center guard for smaller, shorter quarterback. Big picture. I think they did lose their left tackle though at the end of the game. Ruptured Achilles or something. So that's, that's not, that's not ideal. But luckily this is the thing with the Josh Allens, the Caleb's even purdy they've had. You got to be able to move. Jordan Love doesn't really. He's not a bad athlete but he's much closer to me to like 35 year old Dak Prescott than he is to these mobile quarterbacks.
- [42:21]
Colin
Well, the other thing is the first half is a coaching half. To me, the first half, second half, you do need players to make plays because you're off the script. Yeah, the first half Green Bay dominated. So don't blame Matt LaFleur. That was basically when Jordan Love was in rhythm on script on Game plan. Jordan Love was really good in the second half. Ben Johnson overthought the first half. A little desperate on the. Going for it deep in his own territory. But in the second half, that's a player's half. That's a Josh Allen half. That's where Caleb Williams has shined. That's where John Elway shined. That is not a knock on, on, on Ben Johnson. But I thought Matt LaFleur won the first half. Okay. The second half is okay. Quarterback versus quarterback. The gap between Caleb and Jordan Love was substantial. Like it was. It was a cleanup hitter and a six hitter. Like it was like, wow. And I actually thought Ben Johnson got out coached and that has not happened a lot this year. I thought, I thought the first two, two and a half quarters, I thought, I thought Matt LaFleur did a good job. But I do think. Ask yourself people right now. And I guess the Bears are more the topic than the Packers. But would, Would, would Matt Leflore get a job instantly? Yes. Despite blowing a 21 to 3 lead, he'd get a job in 48 hours. Be very careful. Green Bay. Favre got one Super bowl title. Aaron Rodgers got one. And by the way, the NFC is much better now than three years ago. It's real. Okay. The Detroit Lions team that beat Aaron Rodgers, remember that game when they had a chance to win and go to the playoff? Yeah. Detroit's going to land Mike McDaniel at coordinator. They're going to be back. Chicago's for real. The Rams are going nowhere. Philadelphia is going to get a legit coach or an offensive coordinator. So it's like, take a deep breath, Green Bay. Don't pull a Cleveland fire Stefanski. And Stefanski is the leading candidate for half his jobs. Chicago now will face the Rams. So the Rams, here's the good news for Chicago. Matt Stafford, especially on the road, he'll throw an ugly pick. Their special teams are a liability every other game. Like also Luther, Burton, Roma, Dunze, Colston, Loveland. I don't love the corners. I think the Rams safeties are pretty good. I think their corners are. It's probably going to be their first or second draft pick. I, I think Chicago's got a fighter's chance in this game. I really do. I think the Rams are really good. I mean, Puka was. We'll get to that in a sec. Unstoppable. But I think the Bears match up okay against the Rams at home.
- [44:55]
John Middlekoff
Yeah. The One thing Sean McVeigh will do that, you know, LaFleur tried to run the clock out in the second half kind of. He's in full and they couldn't. And Dennis Allen deserves. And the players deserve a lot of credit. They just. I don't know how many Josh J. Yards he ran for minus the kickoff return, but had to be under 20. He had nowhere to go. Shamay won't care. He wants to pass and sometimes he will lean on Stafford too much. But the Bears DBs are pretty bad right now, right?
- [45:20]
Colin
Jalen Johnson, they also lost their best like linebacker there. They lost an edge guy. So it's like, oh brother.
- [45:26]
John Middlekoff
Now who's the, the heart and soul of the defense From a, from a leadership standpoint, calling the defense, they lose their left tackle, which is not ideal, you know, against a team with some good pass. Yeah, listen, the Rams went through a weird stretch yesterday. I mean they look like the team that for a couple quarters against Arizona, you're like Sean McVeigh had the look on his face like, I might just go to Amazon here in a week. What are we doing? Guys like this is. But, but where you can take advantage of Chicago is those widers. I mean Puka. I don't think we've ever seen a receiver quite. That plays like him. And Devontae's a pretty special number two. Their tight ends all catch the ball well. They got multiple running backs that can catch the ball. He can call screens. This is a more buttoned up unit than Green Bay. But like it's not like you get the Rams coming in with a ton of momentum. I, I kind of came away from that team. It's like, yeah, I could see the Rams win the nfc. I could also see them losing to anybody. And like you said, it's going to be a freezing cold thing. Here's that. That this fan base, like there aren't that many. Look at Jacksonville today. It just looked like a ho hum NFL random October Sunday. The Bears game feels like LSU at night. Like it feels like something pretty, which is cool. In this day and age where you get online, everyone hates each other. Like everyone coming together. I can't even imagine the experience of those people walking out the stadium, all going to bars after. It had to be like a religious experience being at that game against that team. So the crowd is going to be. I would put it against anyone because they have nothing to go back on. Like at least Seattle's. Like a lot of the season ticket holders have seen super bowl level teams. Look at this Bears team. I mean this is like Caleb didn't even get 4,000 yards. He still threw for more yards than any guy in the history of the franchise right this season. So I just think that environment, like you can tell Eagles fans, I don't think they like this team because they didn't trust Sirianni. They didn't trust Jalen. Hurts this Bears team. I I just think that environment is going to be pretty special come come next week. That is not an easy place to play.
- [47:29]
Colin
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- [48:24]
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- [51:05]
Colin
Get almost anything you need delivered with UberEats. What do you mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken parm delivered. A day at the lake? That's a no. A Philly cheesesteak? Very much a yes. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no. A burrito bowl? Happily, yes. All right, delivery is on its way. I use it regularly. How about the Clear Skies? Can't deliver that. But French fries? Yeah. A little escape? No. Delicious bowl of grapes? Yeah. How about a freshly cut lawn? Can't help you there. But barbecued prawns? Order it now. Get almost almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. C app for details. You know, here's another advantage the Bears will have. I was thinking about this today is that, you know, there's not many pocket only quarterbacks left because Purdy actually really moves exceptionally well. He really does pretty. Really moves. He's a real athlete. Jared Goff and Stafford, you and I talked about this could have been last week. If the initial play doesn't work for the Rams, it's over. And sometimes Matt will uncork a really bad throw. You go look at the last two drives for the Bears, John. If the play doesn't work, you have a separate play. Caleb Williams, just, just, you know, Roma, Dunze, Luther Burden, Colston, Loveland. The Bears are young. Those guys are all young. They haven't dealt with NFL injuries. I mean, Burden's a rookie. Loveland, Roma, Dunzick. Dude, they got kids out there. Those guys are high energy guys. And it kind of turns into a 7 on 7 drill when the play breaks down. So you get Ben Johnson's play design and play calling. Oh, it doesn't work. Okay, we have a second play. The Rams have a play. And if it doesn't work, that's the end of the play. And so four and a half points at home with that Ram secondary. I just, I mean, I watched Josh Allen today and then I watched Caleb Williams last night, and I think you and I know this. It feels like the Rams peaked about six weeks ago. They're just not quite tight. They had an injury. Kevin Dotson didn't play. So they had a couple mistakes on the offensive line. They just didn't. Didn't feel. I mean, I was sitting there at one point thinking, Carolina's going to beat the Rams twice. I don't understand the league. I don't even understand it.
- [53:44]
John Middlekoff
Same. I. They just aren't as dominant as a pass rush. I think as we thought they were going to be. I mean, they sacked Bryce.
- [53:50]
Colin
I want to talk about this.
- [53:51]
John Middlekoff
He's not the. He's not the most mobile guy. And even he got away. Caleb's a completely different animal in terms of movement.
- [53:56]
Colin
34, 31. Rams do beat Carolina. So I keep hearing about Chris Shula. Oh, boy. This is. Remember when Brandon Staley was there? Oh, this, this, this Staley guy. And I keep saying, guys, Raheem Morris. Oh, he was around. McVeigh. This guy's magic. No, he's fired again. I keep hearing about Chris Shula. Carolina went 4 for 4 in the red zone. Carolina. There were multiple times Carolina on third down made huge plays. It's like I got nothing against Chris Shula, but I felt all year that the Rams pass rush has kind of underachieved. I just, I don't. I have a hard time Watching the Rams defense and seeing the great coaching, I see the talent. Young, Verse, Kobe, Turner, Puna Ford. I see the talent now on offense with McVay. I see the coaching. But this defense, to me, feels like it should be a little now. It was very good on the final drive when they could pin their ears back and Bryce Young was under duress. Then you're like, okay, that. But that it should look like that during the first, second and third quarters more often is my point.
- [55:11]
John Middlekoff
You know, one thing that stood out to me in a couple weeks ago, they. When they lost to Atlanta on Monday night, Aikman mentioned something on that broadcast. He said that McVay called verse into his office because he wanted to show him that he's playing well, even though he doesn't have that much to show for it. To me, that shows. Like, you know, I mean, I was like, well, is there. Not that there's fractures internally, but this guy was supposed to be one of the ne. I don't know, the next Khalil Mack. I would have bet on him to take a huge step and be one of the most dominant players in the league after last year. And you just watch these games and you don't feel his specific presence. And, you know, sometimes power guys, they just. I. I don't know, I thought his power was just so overwhelming it wouldn't matter. But they are going. If they're going to win the NFC these next couple weeks against two, you know, it's going to be really hard for the Niners to win, but probably against Sam Darnold and obviously Caleb Williams, they're going to have to just get constant pressure, and it's going to have to start with him. Like, he's got to take over these games. And you're watching Carolina now. Listen, McMillan's really talented player. That Coker kid playing out of his mind. Leggette was a high pick. I mean, they got the running around.
- [56:20]
Colin
Absolutely.
- [56:22]
John Middlekoff
But if you hit Bryce, he should fold. He's not very big, and they couldn't get around him and he was just making plays. So I'm kind of out on the Rams just because something's just off. I can't put my finger on it. But, you know, when you watch it, you go, I don't know. Something's weird because that. The way the game started, you think they're going to win this thing. 30 to 10, and they're up 17, 7, driving. He goes for it, doesn't get it. They come back and score. And up until the last, like, Five minutes of the game. They, they were kind of against the ropes way too much against the team that listen, give, give hat tip to Carolina for fighting. But they, they had, they should not be able to hold it within three. The Rams were ten and a half.
- [56:58]
Colin
Points there and, and again, Rico, Dowdle, T Mac, they've got some offensive talent and Bryce Young, here's my question. What do you do with Bryce Young? I mean he's good enough to win that division. He's not good enough to win a lot of divisions. I feel like he would be one of those great bridge quarterbacks. He's a little small for me. He's about 5, 11. He did not have a big arm. He moves exceptionally well. The players like him. He's supposed to be. He's really a good kid. Like he's all in. I don't know what you do with him. I think if you're Carolina, if it was a great quarterback class, maybe that solves it. It's not. So my take is do you just extend him, try to get a team friendly? What do you do?
- [57:39]
John Middlekoff
I think Schefter said they're picking up his fifth year option. I did the math. It will work out to about two years, $32 million. So I'm not into giving him one of those two Jordan Love extensions. But Daniel Jones got $15 million this offseason. So essentially you're buying two years of bridge quarterback play while you keep figuring out they do have some talent on their team. Six weeks ago I'd have been like, that's insane. You watch him down the stretch you go, listen, you could do way worse. You clearly like him, figure it out as you go. But I don't think you can ever give him one of those big contracts. He's just not. It's hard to play in the league at 5:10, a buck 80, you know, when you don't have a great arm, you're not that mobile.
- [58:18]
Colin
He.
- [58:19]
John Middlekoff
It's actually really impressive what he's even able to do. I mean he was a huge recruit, goes to Alabama, played well. He's pretty remarkable story when you just look at how good he is with his size. I don't think we'll ever see that again, do you? A guy that small get drafted that high and just be a starter in the league for as long as he's going to be. It's. It's kind of an outlier situation. But I think financially I have a hard time ever seeing him getting a massive contract.
- [58:42]
Colin
He feels very much a mid-30s, a baker, a Darnold contract. Darnold at this point is underpaid, regardless of what you think of him. No, I'm with you. I think, you know, again, I think, I think the Bears have a real shot against the Rams. I really do. I kind of agree with you that I think Philadelphia is a little bit. Or Philadelphia took a chunk out of the Niners. I just don't know. If the Niners, you fly all the way back home, then you fly up to Seattle, and Seattle's sitting there. Now, the good news is the Niners, fresh off a win, will probably be very good. In the first couple of drives of the game, Seattle could come out be very rusty. I didn't like the fact that Seattle had a bye week. They're too young. They want to play. Those bye weeks are. I mean, we saw this in college football. The bye weeks hurt teams outside of Indiana. Well, that's because it's young athletes. Young athletes want to play. If you have an old team, you know, like San Francisco this week, they'd be great getting time off. But. But Philadelphia was, you know, you give somebody like that time off, I don't think Denver or Seattle will be better necessarily. I think it makes them more vulnerable. But I think over the course of a game, I think the Niners, I think they'll just, you know, they're going to take too many shots. That feels like a game that San Francisco could lead like 13, 10 at half. And then Seattle, just relentless athletes, pressure. Purdy gets hit as a bet. All of a sudden you look up and it's like, okay, now it's 30, 20, and San Francisco's out of gas with about eight minutes to go.
- [60:12]
John Middlekoff
Well, typically in the NFL, when a team, I think, you know, from a gambling standpoint, when a team gets blown out late in the season by a team and plays them again, the score is much closer.
- [60:21]
Colin
Right?
- [60:21]
John Middlekoff
And these guys know each other really well. I do think Kittle's a massive blow in their run game situation. That's really, really hard to overcome. But, yeah, I mean, the Niners at this point have nothing to lose. So anytime you play a team, you ask Philadelphia, a team with not much to lose at all, all the pressures on you of the pie chart, 100% of the pressure today was on Philadelphia. And as the game got weird and weird, all the 49ers want to do is just keep it weird, keep it close. Same thing with Seattle. If you're, if you're down 13 to 10 at halftime, that is a gigantic Win. I mean, you know, it's, it's.
- [60:55]
Colin
And you could see John, you could see Seattle's game plan coming in as guys, we have the better roster. We're at home. Yeah, it's going to be very conservative game plan. We're going to win this game. You could see Mike McDonald saying, Guys, we're going to win this game in the third quarter. Let's not make any mistakes. So San Francisco probably comes in pretty aggressive. Seattle comes in super conservative. So if I had to bet anything, I would bet the Niners in the first half. But I do think there's just a wave of Seattle athleticism and youth and health and their roster is completely healthy. I think at some point. Rosters, when you have a good head coach, Mike McDonald's several notches above Nick Ceriani, they have good coordinators, a good culture. I think Seattle wears them out.
- [61:40]
John Middlekoff
Not shocking really. Thinking about it, The NFC west, who had the one seed, the five seed and the six seed are three of the four teams left. And there's a pretty good chance, you know, if somehow the Bears football angel doesn't show up when they play the Rams, that it's going to be an NFC West, NFC championship game, which we've seen so many times over the last 10, 15 years. Right. Going back to Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, through McVeigh and Shanahan. So I just think that the travel for these teams, right. I mean, look at the 49ers going to Seattle, what a couple hour flight. I mean, the Rams, that's all. The one thing I will give the Rams a little bit of that is a you playing this 8, 9 team. I don't know. I've never made the flight from LAX to Charlotte, but it's minimum five hours. Like it's, it's a long trek. Right. And George Kittle talked about this last week when they lost. When you play these playoff games against these, the 49ers had a 4 1/2, 5 hour flight to go to Philadelphia. These are long trips, you know, it's why it's such a big advantage for Seattle and Denver. You just kind of sit there and wait. So. And you let the other team get to live and you know what beat out of them. Like even the Rams, like, well, they played. They were ten and a half point favorite. Yeah. They had to really strain to win that game. So it's just now sometimes you use that as momentum. We've seen the Eli teams make crazy runs, right. As wild cards. And sometimes you run out of Gas. So it's no different with the Bears. Like that's. They've had a pretty crazy emotional month plus wins and I mean that Niner loss. Then you saw them come out really flat against the Lions, but then they came storming back and then last night I just don't know how much emotionally they can ride the. I've never. Because the commanders didn't have as much offensive talent as the Bears do.
- [63:22]
Colin
I feel like offensive talents exceptional.
- [63:27]
John Middlekoff
Yeah. Just so it's. They're much more serious. But for them to make this one with their defenses because it did feel when they were down 21 to 3, you're like they've had a remarkable season. They have the star coach but you're going to get destroyed.
- [63:39]
Colin
Well, listen, even Ben Johnson, it was, it was even Ben Johnson's coach, he got, he was like, I don't want to give the ball back to Green Bay. I'm going to go for it at our 32 yard line. I mean that's just basically he was telling you I'm not giving their defense an opportunity to have a bigger league. Like he didn't trust his defense. Dennis Allen does deserve credit. I thought the second half, it was much more, much more aggressive game plan. All right, a couple of college thoughts. So a week from now, on Monday, a week from Monday, Indiana is going to be potentially the third straight Big Ten team to win the national championship. Third straight year an SEC team doesn't even make it. And it's really interesting. I went and looked today. Six of the seven top quarterbacks next season, Dante Moore, Mayava Underwood, Sand Sellers Soaresby, the Big 12 kid that goes from Cincinnati to Texas Tech. Six of the top seven outside of Arch Manning are non SEC quarterbacks. Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Mission, Michigan with Whittingham is going to be a very good football team immediately. They have a ton of talent. Say what you want, they stock the cupboards. So Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan should be top 10 teams next year. USC, Washington are as talented as they have been in the last five or six years. That Washington had a great recruiting class. They've been good in the portal. SC just had the number one recruiting class. So I think USC, Washington, Penn State are somewhere between 10th and 15th or 16th is I was told this weekend by an agent that he said listen, SEC coaches privately, they know it's over. Like they just know. You see Alabama lost two stars now they went to the sec, they went to Texas oil money. But it was funny when I watched Ole Miss because I watched Georgia this year not only lose to Ole Miss, lose to Bama once, but they could have lost to Tennessee, Florida and Auburn. Like they just weren't the same team. Is that it's interesting to watch Indiana now, and I think we have to be honest about it because Mark Cuban just wrote a 12 or 15 million dollars check. Indiana now is a national power. Ohio State's now a national power. Oregon is not playing Indiana. If Oregon was playing anybody else not named Indiana, they're a national power. Michigan, with Whittingham will be a really, really, really good team. Like John, I think when I look at it now, and this is why the world changes, I was watching the story on Boeing today and everybody's like, Boeing now? In the last six months, Boeing was a wreck nine months ago. It was just a mess. It was completely dysfunctional. Boeing just turned it around. You can do this in business and you can now do it in the transfer portal. I think everybody has to just realize right now, Indiana, between their coach and their nil, is a better football program than anybody in the sec. They have a better coach and they have easier access to massive eight figure capital annually. That is hard to wrap your brain around. But I'm sitting there watching Indiana and I'm like, just. If you put George's uniform on Indiana, you'd be like, this is unbelievable. This is what they are now. Indiana is with Signetti and their nih. Last year they got in, they didn't have big money. They had James Madison players and they made the playoff. So I guess my takeaway on all of this is Indiana is now just give the uniforms to Ohio State. This is what they're going to look like every year. Right.
- [67:11]
John Middlekoff
Someone forwarded me a tweet from Connor Stallions Harbuz, old guy, basically saying that, you know, the local car dealership can no longer just put $20,000 in a bag and hand it to a kid. Right? Because the minimum, I mean, you're talking. You see some of the prices on these players. I didn't know this until the other night. Indiana has more alumni or, you know, it's disputed, but definitely top two or three than any school in the country. And all the other schools beside Arizona State are all Big Ten. So if you just do the math, if I have the most kids graduating for decades, I'm just going to have a higher percentage of people that are going to do well. And at these schools, even if you don't like sports that much, I had friends from high school that went to Oregon, that went to Arizona, and I wouldn't call them like sports diehards. They're very passionate about their school. And when Arizona or Oregon, when these schools make runs in basketball or football, they are bound by that school. And like that's a huge advantage for Ohio State, for Michigan, the size of their alumni base and let's face it, like how many billionaires are SEC graduates Now that could change their, you know, their application base has dramatically grown over the last 10 years. But so those guys are 30, 28. I mean it's going to take some time.
- [68:25]
Colin
LSU's number one booster is a personal injury attorney. Well, you can't compete with Larry Ellison at Michigan and Mark Cuban, the biggest Georgia booster. Rest in peace. He was a beloved guy. He was a bourbon distributor. Again, awesome career. But you're talking about now Big Ten schools. This is something I talked about three years ago. Car dealer. A big car dealer is the number one or number two guy in the SEC that is not that guy's number eight. Number 10 in these. Michigan and Notre Dame have endowments that are top 10 in the country. There's just billionaires everywhere. USC right now, forget the fact they get the $90 million check. They're building a $300 million facility. They're buying the best class in the country. They have more money than they know what to do with.
- [69:13]
John Middlekoff
Well, why do you think Cal and Stanford hired Andrew Luck and Ron Rivera? I think Cal has more billionaires than any other school in America because if they hired John Middlekoff to be the GM of Cal football, that guy not going to pick up my phone call. If Ron Rivera calls, not only would pick it up, hey, come down to Google and have lunch with me. Right? Andrew Lux getting all these guys to pick up. So these schools, I'm just talking Cal and Stanford. So think of the advantage they have over every SEC program. So if they can get money in, they immediately can compete with those schools that like that's Texas's big advantage. I think I saw Stuart Mandel or someone said that by all signs point to them having a 40 plus million dollar roster. They have unlimited money. Same thing with Texas Tech. The Texas Tech quarterback that they just signed. They had to pay Cincinnati a million dollar buyout to get his services. He had a buyout clause in his contract. So they gave him $5 million and they gave Cincinnati or the Nil or however it worked out, a million dollars. Well, they can do it because they got the billionaire guy who is all in. And honestly I've seen some of their. I saw this Interview on Instagram with this guy going around at a Texas Tech away game. And a lot of their boosters are oil guys, are very successful individuals.
- [70:25]
Colin
Texas Tech, Texas, Texas A and M. It's Texas money. Texas has a massive economy. So the big time, if you, I mean, Texas Tech has far greater money than anybody in the SEC not called Texas and Texas A and M. Alabama just lost, just, I think it was a star running back. They lost over the course of the weekend. They thought they had him, he committed, Texas came in, boom, we'll take him. So, I mean, what would the SEC be now without Texas and Texas A and M? They'd be the Big 12. They can't compete.
- [70:58]
John Middlekoff
Yeah. When Greg Byrne put out the tweet, kind of begging for money a year ago, you knew, like, whoa, that's pretty crazy. I mean, that's. Can you imagine some of these other programs doing it? But I don't even blame him. He probably feels desperate. What else is he going to do? Put a Venmo account, link it to Alabama?
- [71:13]
Colin
Two other schools that are loaded, Notre Dame and Miami from the acc. So they have, they are. So it's not just, you know, three or four Big Ten teams. It's Texas Tech, it's Miami, it's Notre Dame. So, I mean, there's so many great high school programs and coaches and players in the big, in the SEC footprint. They're always going to have good players. But I was told this weekend by somebody, this is, this is, this is somebody that is in. He's like an agent for. I mean, he had a big weekend this weekend with a couple of players. I can't tell you who they are, but there's a wide receiver that plays in the ACC that's going to get paid by a Big Ten team. And it's a lot of money. And I can't disclose the player or the money, but he's in this world and it's like, there's so much money in the Big Ten right now. There is so much money. All right, John Middlekoff, former NFL scout Three and out. Go crush it. Let's go watch the Patriots. Chargers.
- [72:14]
John Middlekoff
We got, we got Netflix starting tomorrow. Colin. So with the. The three and out podcast will be on Netflix starting tomorrow. So we're rocking and rolling. A lot of people have asked. I will. This doesn't change at all with me and you and doesn't change anything from the audio, but Netflix, we're. We're rocking and rolling tomorrow, so come a long way here. Let's keep it rolling.
- [72:31]
Colin
I'LL be watching. All right, the Hard Rock pick John I think I'm going to take the Steelers at home. Mike Tomlin on Monday night minus three. What I worry about Houston is they settled for a lot of field goals in the red zone. And you know, I love CJ Stroud, but between Gainwell, Friarmouth, Jalen Warren's had a really interesting year. DK Metcalf is back. It's Aaron Rodgers at home. He's not making a lot of mistakes. Tomlin is a dog. I think I'm going to take the Steelers plus three. I didn't. I've been saying all year how dangerous Houston is, but I can't. I can't unsee that second half of the Steelers over the Ravens. I think I like Pittsburgh.
- [73:18]
John Middlekoff
Yeah, if this was a Disney movie, I would take Aaron Rodgers, but it's not. I like the Houston Texans and I like them big. So Rogers had a hell of a career. I think it comes to a screeching halt on Monday night.
- [73:29]
Colin
Yeah, well, that Texans pass rush.
- [73:33]
John Middlekoff
Gonna be a problem.
- [73:34]
Colin
Great stuff. The Volume.
- [73:41]
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