JJ McCarthy’s Renaissance, Chiefs Worst Game With Mahomes, NFL Week 8 Preview

0:03 It's time for the Emirates NBA Cup on Prime. Every Friday, Prime's bringing you the best matchup of the tournament from group play all the way through the knockout rounds of championship. Each week, we've got you covered with everything you need to know before tip-off. So let's get into this week's Cup Friday preview. It starts with group play. All 30 teams split into six groups of five. Three groups per conference based on last season's standings. So it goes to show that every game matters all the time. Each team plays four group play games, which determines the eight teams that advance to the knockout rounds. The last two teams standing compete for the cup championship. Being played at Butler

0:47 University's historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana's basketball cathedral. First game, good one. Knicks Sixers, 7 p.m.

0:57 Eastern.

0:58 Knicks won the Emirates Cup last season.

1:01 Remember that?

1:02 New York will want revenge against Philly, who beat them on ring night at MSG. Second game, Lakers-Warriors at 10 Eastern. Lakers routed the Warriors during tip-off week, and things got a little chippy between Luka and confident rookie Yaxel Lindenborg. Now the Warriors are on their home court and looking for revenge for that loss. So that's it for this week's Emirates NBA Cup Friday preview on Prime. We'll be back next week with another as the tournament continues. Don't forget Friday, Nick Sixers, Lakers Warriors, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, only on Prime. The Colin Coward podcast presented by Bud Light.

1:46 Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Two-time Super Bowl champ, two-time Super Bowl MVP. I talked to Phil Sims today, by the way. I love Phil Sims. You know, he just cracks me up.

1:56 He's great.

1:58 Um, And I watched J.J. McCarthy. I watched Michigan because I loved hardball. So I watched almost every start, especially the big games. And I watched him in Minnesota. I've never seen him look like that. I mean, I was texting Eli. I was texting friends. I'm like, he was the one guy out of that draft. I'm like, I don't buy it. He didn't initiate offense at college. I want my college quarterback staff to carry it. What do you make of that? What am I supposed to believe?

2:27 Is that the truth?

2:29 I mean, that's the way he's looked the last two games. In the fourth quarter of the game before, gets in there. I mean, at that situation, hey, kind of nothing to lose.

2:37 Get in there, go slinging.

2:39 And he was playing confident, I think. And so I think that was so helpful to get him those reps, get him into that game.

2:48 A lot of time for a quarterback, when.

2:49 You're running your two-minute drill, hey, these are probably the plays that– you know, you, you, you've run the most of these plays. They're kind of basic plays. Sometimes the defense is a little bit simpler. They're not blitzing as much. You can get the ball out. You don't have to be so perfect and like go run, run, just throwing on third down that now you're throwing it every day.

3:08 And you can be, you know, throw a complete completion doesn't matter.

3:10 So I think it got them into a great rhythm and all now all of a sudden he's playing confidence, playing free.

3:16 He can still run and great plays that way.

3:18 So I think just, you know, sometimes for that young quarterback, just to change the scenery and, uh a change of offense um and you know maybe i think now he's done a great job of kind of understanding the plays that he likes what he's comfortable what he does well and he seems um you know it's been impressive so i i'm i think you have a you know a right to be excited i think you know giants fans are obviously very excited watching him.

3:42 Play yeah the do you remember your first game um As a pro that you really, Eli, you felt like, oh, now you're a humble guy, so I'm sure you didn't think I've got it mastered. But go to your first game as a pro and it was just a Sunday and you were spinning it. You felt confident and it was just everything kind of worked.

4:05 Yeah.

4:06 Yeah, and I think it was probably like my fourth start.

4:10 We played the Steelers at home, coming off a bad game against Baltimore. And I remember I kind of had a meeting with our offensive coordinators and quarterback coach that week. The week before played terrible. Baltimore, I said– I just feel like I've been running plays that, you know, that Kurt Warner really liked.

4:28 You get no reps.

4:30 And so I was like, this is not the offense that the plays I was running in preseason. I said like, here are kind of my eight to 10 favorite plays. These are the plays that I've run the most. I know what the progression are. I know the timing of the plays. I feel like I can get completions and sure enough. They're like, well, let's run those plays. That's what we want to hear. We need that, you know, that information from you. And, and so, um, And that next week also run those plays.

4:55 I know where to go. I know when, Hey, when am I hanging on this? Or when do I get to my check down?

4:59 When am I going to wait for the second option to get open or, or wait for this receiver? Hey, he's got to win for me. I don't have a check down on this one. I'm going to hang a little longer. So it's just kind of knowing those, those little nuances of the offense. And I, you know, I think that's the, that's kind of what you want to do with a young quarterback is, who's just getting in there hey run the plays that he likes there might be other plays you might think as a coordinator this should work or this has a chance but hey run the plays that your quarterback feels comfortable he's going to know where to go with the ball he can play confident he can play fast in at the second guess and say oh i know you're calling this double move

5:35 and coach really likes this play and you know in practice i threw it to this this guy and i better try to do it to please him you don't want that you want do you want the quarterback to be comfortable.

5:45 You know, there was a moment Mike Tomlin was talking about John Harbaugh. Sometimes you need an ax to kill a mosquito. First of all, Tomlin's so good. Like he's just the best. It's so good. He like speaks a paragraph in eight words and it always lands. But it's funny. Harbaugh's like, Scataboo, not playing. Scataboo playing and he sent a message. And I remember hearing this one time that coaching is like parenting. You have to send messages, but never hold a grudge. And, you know, John's like, I'm pissed, but not that long. I need you to play. Was Coughlin that way a little bit? Like sometimes it's like, listen, I'm going to do and the team maybe is like, you're not playing Scataboo. You're not playing a guy. Do

6:28 you remember it was a Coughlin, a message sender?

6:32 Yeah, no, 100%.

6:32 I mean, he benched guys. He was big on fining people. But he didn't like, hey, you got fined or you got penalized. But, hey, once you pay your fine or what you did, what you had to do and kind of serve your punishment, hey, now we're kind of on a clean slate.

6:48 And you go out there, you have a good week of practice.

6:50 You're doing the things you're supposed to be doing this week, you're fine in my book and understand, hey, we need you and we need you to play well.

6:56 And so that was his kind of deal. He had his rules.

6:58 He had the things that he was very– you know, whether we're concerned about particular about, and if you.

7:04 Just kind of did those things, right.

7:06 Like he was like, how you wore your socks at practice, guys, just wear your socks a certain way.

7:10 It doesn't matter.

7:11 Like it's not worth getting on his bad side over a pair of socks.

7:14 Okay. Like let's do this.

7:16 Let's do the things that we know are his pet peeves. Like stay away from those things. There's some things he's cared about some things he doesn't. And once you kind of realize what that was and you like football and you worked hard, you showed that you, you cared about the team, putting the team first and, And then he was good.

7:35 So Kirk Cousins has been starting. And quarterbacks get the blame when they lose. I don't think it's on Kirk. I think the Raiders are real thin. And by week six and seven, you're losing guys. And the thin teams just don't have a second great corner. Be that as it may, I think you started rookie year like week 10 or 11, if I recall.

7:56 Yeah, yeah.

7:58 Did you learn anything? Can Fernando Mendoza learn anything? And did you learn anything watching, not playing?

8:04 I think you learn.

8:08 A little bit, but you don't learn the things you need to learn. You can kind of learn this. Obviously, I think having Kurt there this year, hey, this is how a professional does this. This is how he prepares. This is the questions he's asking in meetings. These are the things, how he handles receivers, works with protections and changes things up and does all those things.

8:28 You can learn, but now you got to go play the game.

8:31 And he's not going to be able to make certain checks or change protections that much. He might be throwing hot more or he can scramble around and create plays. But I think you need that live action eventually to just make kind of prepare you if, I mean, I don't think now's the right time.

8:48 I mean, I think Curtis is playing well.

8:49 But they get to the point where they lose a few more and you get to kind of make those last kind of five games. And, you know, they're maybe not, if they're not in the playoffs hunt necessarily, yeah, you got to throw Fernando in there.

9:01 And it's really just to prepare him for next year.

9:05 And those five games that you have to, footage of you running your base plays you have you know you're seeing blitzes you see that feel the speed of the game just having that for him to know what he needs to work on during the offseason during the OTAs next year during training camp so he can go into that next season and can win some games and doesn't have to go through kind of those rookie struggles so you know you saw it with Peyton his rookie year.

9:31 Went 13 and or three and 13, year two, 13 and three.

9:37 We went five and 11 my rookie year.

9:39 Next year, 11 and five win the division.

9:42 So, you know, you can make those quick change where you need to get your quarterbacks in playing time.

9:47 You know, it's interesting. I was with my wife in an Irish bar in New York, watching you guys lose to the Patriots. I think it was the final game of the regular season. And then you came back and beat them in the Super Bowl. And I I remember that game because people think that New England team was unbeatable because their record was so good. But the Baltimore almost beat them that year. You gave them trouble at the end of the year. Philadelphia gave them trouble. Now, and I say that because the Bears are going to play the Seahawks. And I watched the Seahawks beat Kansas City this week. Seattle is the kind of team at home where it's like, turn the lights off, the game's over.

10:23 Whereas when you played New England, their record was great. But if you really watched them at the end of the year, the physical teams, you and the Ravens could push back. So I say that because I'm going to watch, I watched Kansas City play Seattle and I've never seen Andy Reid team do nothing. are there times, and they may have not won a championship, but were there teams that you played, had been in games, that you just knew it was a buzzsaw and it wasn't a winnable game?

10:54 I mean, I felt like two series in, I'm like, Seattle looks ticked off. Kansas City, like, Kansas City's in big trouble. Are there games in which you just throw it out? You're Andy Reid, guys. We're not going to talk about it. It's just, that's not who we are. That's a buzzsaw.

11:10 Yeah, I mean, that's just, when you're playing, 17 games in a season, you're going to have weeks where, you know, it just, you never got into a rhythm. You never caught your breaks. You know, you kind of called the wrong plays at the wrong time. You have a drop here. You just, whatever reason, it just didn't go your way.

11:29 It wasn't sloppy necessarily, or you just got out physical or just, you know, the, you know, the breaks didn't go your way. And you just, you know, sometimes you get your butt kicked and it just happens and you got to look at it.

11:42 And, hey, kind of make some quick adjustments.

11:45 But, yeah, sometimes you just got to, hey, let's flush that one. Let's get back to work. Let's fix some things. But let's just, hey, let's get back to playing our style of football and have a great week of practice and move on and play better this week and everybody be committed to that. And that's just kind of part of it. And, you know, certain teams– They can do that.

12:06 Seattle is one of those defenses. They're good on defense. They've got a good coordinator. They've got a good scheme. They can embarrass you. They can out-scheme you a little bit and get you in some bad plays, and they did that.

12:17 The other week.

12:18 I went and watched Caleb Williams live, the New England game in Chicago where I live now, and the reason I did it is because I did this with Shohei Otani. I did it with LeBron. There are certain athletes that when you watch television and you're like, okay, they are– a notch better than other pro athletes. I want to see them live. And Caleb live is even more impressive.

12:41 I said, we know Drake Mays good on TV and in person. I saw the same guy. Caleb's different in person. It's just, his arm's a little bigger, even the misses, the velocity. And you played with so many great players and against them. Was there a player, Eli, in your career, it could have been a teammate or an opponent, that you saw him on film and you did your homework, And then you got into a game and you're like, wow, that's a better pass rusher than the film says.

13:13 I think Ed Reed.

13:16 I'm thankful we didn't have to play the AFC that often and play that division because you kind of saw in one film and he was smooth and you're kind of watching and you're like, well, I don't think Ed's doing the right thing here.

13:29 Like maybe that was a bust we could take advantage of. And then you.

13:32 Realize he was just smarter. He just knew like how to read eyes. He knew like, hey, you're definitely not running fast. I'm playing cover two on the left side. They're running certain routes.

13:42 You're not throwing over there, so he would cheat to the middle. He was just.

13:46 Such a natural, just attracted to the ball. Seeing the bounce his way and for him to make plays. He was the scariest person. I just didn't want to throw near him because I knew if the ball wasn't perfectly thrown and hit a guy, my guy right in the number, somehow he was going to.

14:07 End up with it.

14:10 If you listen to this show, you know I love football, love the NFL, love the stories, especially love the people who serve our communities every day. That's why we are proud to see Bud Light, the NFL, and the Folds of Honor continuing their support of first responders and their families. For 16 years, this partnership has helped raise more than $ 39 million for scholarships benefiting the spouses and children of fallen or disabled first responders. Now think about that for a second. These families have already sacrificed so much. These scholarships help ensure educational opportunities and dreams that can still be realized. So to the families of our nation's first responders, thank you for your service, sacrifice, and commitment to others.

14:49 To learn more or see how you can help support the mission, visit BudLight.com slash Folds of Honor. Bud Light. Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch. Bud Light. Beer.

15:03 St.

15:03 Louis, Missouri. The Emirates NBA Cup is back on Prime. For the next five Fridays, Prime is your home for tournament group plays. Every team battles for a shot at winning the Emirates NBA Cup. All starts Friday at 7 Eastern. Can't miss doubleheader Jalen Brunson, Carl Anthony Town, the defending NBA champ Knicks, take on LeBron James, Jalen Brown, and the New Look Sixers squad. If that's not enough... The second game of the night features two of the most electrifying shot makers on the planet. It's Luka and the Lakers against Steph and the Warriors. Start your weekend off right with the Emirates NBA Cup action. The quest for the cup begins Friday at 7 Eastern, only on Prime.

15:41 The Knicks and Sixers, the Lakers and Warriors, this Friday on Prime. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com slash Amazon Prime for details. All right, Week 8 Predictions presented by Polymarket. Sign up for Polymarket with code COLIN. Get a $ 25 bonus with a $ 10 deposit. Game 1 Ravens at the Bills. You can trade the Bills to win by more than 3.5% at 46% right now on Polymarket. I like mystery with my movies, not my quarterbacks. I don't know when Lamar's available.

16:16 I'm constantly confused. So I kind of like the Bills here with a little extra prep time. What say you on that one?

16:24 Yeah, I mean, you know, Bill's coming off a bye week. I don't think they've lost a game after a bye since I was playing.

16:30 I mean, it's been like.

16:31 11 years or something crazy.

16:33 So they're strong. You know, obviously, it's really, you know, two of the best.

16:38 Running backs in the game with this one. And then, yeah, just not knowing with Lamar, Josh Allen's I mean, he gets a rushing touchdown every week.

16:47 He's just a playmaker.

16:48 If it comes to the fourth quarter, that's, you know, he's going to take over this game if it even gets to that. So Bill's defense, a little shaky. They're not getting the pass rush. They're not getting the, you know, the productivity and they're banged up a little bit after the bye.

17:03 Hopefully get a few guys back, but yeah, the bills bills are playing well. And, and you just trust Josh Allen so much.

17:10 Okay, I think this is a fascinating game. Chiefs at Broncos. So Broncos were humiliated by Kansas City in the opener. That's about as bad as Sean Payton loses. But the Chiefs, that was Andy Reid's worst loss in five years. So they both have a chip on their shoulder. Trade the Chiefs to win it 52% right now in Polymarket. I think I like Kansas City. Where do you land?

17:32 Yeah, Kansas City, again, like we talked about, coming off a loss, kind of an embarrassing loss.

17:38 They're going to be hungry. This is a big game in the division.

17:42 This is kind of, hey, who's going to be first in the division right here? So, you know, the Broncos, they're playing better. The offense is getting back there a little bit, but they're just not– They're not totally there offensively and clicking on all cylinders. I think Spagnola draws up good game plans against them.

18:01 They play really well, really fast.

18:03 So I kind of like the Chiefs to rebound off this one.

18:09 Yeah. Historically, you can't play from behind and win. Denver does at a rate that doesn't make any sense. So I like Kansas City. Finally, Bears at the Seahawks, game of the week. You can trade the Bears to cover at three and a half at 47% right now. I will say this. I think the Quentin Nelson move, I think it's big. The hole in that team was one guard position, and maybe they could use a little bit of help at the number two receiver. Cooper Cup feels a little like a three at this point. Boy, it's hard to win in Seattle.

18:45 Yeah.

18:47 I think I'd hedge. I think I like the Seahawks. How about you?

18:50 Yeah, this one, I'm excited, obviously. We're calling this one. And these teams are both so good and so interesting. When Caleb Williams has started, they're scoring him, you know, 30 points a game when he finishes. And I feel like Seattle... And these are both like two teams you don't really want to play. And you don't really worry about their records. You see Seattle four and three.

19:13 They've looked good. They've looked bad.

19:15 Darnold still kind of will turn the ball over. He'll force things. But he makes some big plays. And Jackson Smith and Jacob is the best receiver, I think, in the NFL right now. He gets open every single time. He did it last week against Kansas City.

19:29 Every play.

19:30 Crazy.

19:30 He's open.

19:31 You know, obviously getting the run game going for Seattle. Their defense is good. They throw a bunch of different looks. But Caleb Williams, like you talked about, he's exciting. He makes every throw. And even when a defense has a better call than he does or a better blitz, he makes the guy miss, makes a big play.

19:47 They have every sort of play action.

19:50 And what you forget about with Chicago, they're the best running team in the NFL. You're getting explosive runs every time that sets up the play action. They're just in such good sync. I expect this to be an awesome game. Both defenses are kind of exotic. They can do this stuff. They can create big plays. And both offenses can make explosive plays also. So I think it's going to be a lot of action. I think there's going to be interceptions.

20:14 I think there's going to be big touchdowns. There's going to be a lot going on. It'll be an exciting game, a close game. I kind of like Seattle at home also.

20:22 I've always been a defender of quarterbacks that are aggressive but throw picks. You threw a few. Namath did. Elway did. Andrew Luck, who I love, did. Darnold did. In fact, my only criticism I've ever had of Aaron Rodgers is sometimes I always feel after he throws a pick, he gets a little safe. I want my guys throwing down the field. If you have the arm strength. Some guys don't.

20:42 Doing a Darnold game, when he throws that pick in the end zone– Did you know, and does he know when he let it go? That's trouble. Do you generally know early with a pick? Or just like, hey, man, we always say this about quarterbacks. You've got to throw a guy open. Well, that means the guy's not open.

21:01 So you've got to bake in picks, right? Like, doing a Darnold game, what do you make of the picks?

21:07 I love it just because— you know, like you said, it doesn't seem to bother him in the sense that, I mean, you know, it bothers him afterwards. He does not want to throw interceptions, but when he's playing the game, he's going to be aggressive and you don't see him, you know, make a bad play, make an interception. All of a sudden he gets gun shy or, or, you know, all of a sudden he's looking downfield for a second and becomes kind of check down Charlie. No, I mean, he trusts his receivers and, uh you know he's gonna throw it down the field he's gonna be aggressive and you know because of it they make some big plays and they get things going um and i think he does benefit when they get that run game going oh

21:45 yeah stuck in third downs all the time and doing that you know it is going to help him you know you saw how he played in the super bowl last year like it's all there and i think they want him to stay aggressive and you know the coach mcdonald's done a great job kind of Hey, keep throwing it. Keep throwing guys open. Defense, we got your back a little bit. And I think that's a good way to play.

22:07 You know, you don't want to, you know, sabotage and put the defense in bad spots. But I think, you know, I think, you know, it's going to help him long term in this offense. If these receivers, everybody knows, hey, he's throwing it to me. I got to keep fighting to get open.

22:22 Yeah, it also helps when you have a defense that can protect you as long as you're not throwing it deep in your own territory. The better the defense, the more risk I want my quarterback to put his arms around. Eli Manning, two-time Super Bowl champ, two-time Super Bowl MVP. As always, Bud, great seeing you.

22:37 All right, Colin. Always fun, pal.

22:42 This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.