Prime Cuts - Seahawks Dominant, Bears In Trouble, Ohio State #1? Chargers Look BAD

0:03 Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title sponsor of the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. All right, former NFL scout John Middlecoff is joining us. Weird, weird, and at times sad Sunday.

0:27 Let's start.

0:29 Vikings 9, Bears 3. The Vikings, four sacks, are the lone unbeaten team in the NFC North. They were picked for fourth. I said before the season, if they finish first or fourth, I wouldn't be surprised with either. Brian Flores, I mean, it was a 6-3 game at half, Minnesota. So this was one of my Blazing Five picks. I had a great day today on Blazing Five. But it was one of my picks because Brian Flores– flummoxes. He is now the defensive coordinator nobody wants to face. But the bigger story, this was the most promising Bears offense in the history of their franchise. And Caleb Williams looked like he was going to run in for a touchdown, comes up, slides, writhing in pain. You cross your fingers

1:18 that it's just a hamstring. If it's an ACL season over hamstring injury, Those can be six to eight weeks. Pro athletes heal very quickly. I mean, you're just kind of take on just the devastation for Chicago.

1:33 Yeah, I mean, it was a really sloppy game even before he went out, right? I mean, the Bears did not look good coming off 59 points. He had the one interception where he threw back across his body over the middle of the field. You know, a lot of the talk leading up all week was Ben Johnson kind of gets in his own head against Flores. Flores got guys coming from every single angle. But when he goes down, I mean, the first thing I thought is Achilles, and then they show him in tears being carted back to the locker room. You're just thinking, players know. So when it comes out that it's a hamstring, there's a big difference between a pulled hamstring and doing something like ripping it off the bone or something really bad to get

2:12 the guy to cry. Now, Caleb's been pretty durable. You've followed his career since high school.

2:17 He never gets hurt, yeah.

2:19 Not a guy that gets hurt, so maybe you feel something that you're not used to feeling and you freak out. I mean, that happens a lot in the NFL, right? Guys go down, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, he's out for the season. Then he's back in the game a couple series later. So some guys that aren't used to being injured, I think, can maybe get in their own head about it. Because when you see the tears coming down his face, yeah, I think everyone's thinking he's just done for the year. Tyson Badgett, you know, I think had a chance on that final drive.

2:48 Yeah.

2:49 To lose and score, what was the final score? Nine to six or nine to three?

2:54 Nine to three. First of all, the Bears had a fumble at the two. The Bears had too many offensive penalties, a lot of operational stuff. So, I mean, it was, you know, Chicago didn't look well. But again, Minnesota put so much pressure on you. They blitzed at a 70% rate. And so, listen, and Caleb's still a young player. I mean, and so... Blitzes are hard to pick up unless you're Patrick Mahomes and you've seen every play. So, listen, you cross your fingers on this stuff. You know, it's the best division in football. And Minnesota, there's an argument they have the best. I mean, between Andy Reid and Spags and Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores, those may be the two best, you know, coaching combos in the league so

3:42 it they're a tough out I mean there's not a lot we can say you just cross your finger and listen a lot of injury Jaden Daniels got hurt today but Jaden Daniels doesn't have the national prestige DC doesn't play like Chicago Chicago is such a blue blood you know there's so many big rivalries in the NFL and but none bigger than Chicago and Green Bay and Chicago and Minnesota those NFC North games are just you know they're legacy games So it hurts the league. By the way, ratings first week were down 13%. I think some of that, like today, the red zone early window was awful. The football was just awful. But there's not a lot you can say other than you cross your fingers because the Chicago Bears being good, it's an interesting story. And it's

4:26 a heartbreaker. So I'm going to go to the second game of the day of note. New England beats the Steelers 20-3. Aaron Rodgers took multiple shots. Through two games, the Steelers were averaging 3.8 yards of play. Today, they had seven punts. DK Metcalf looks like a shell of himself two years ago. Boy, when John Snyder moved off him, traded him to Pittsburgh, you're like, we didn't know at the time, John. It's like, is JSN a one? JSN today, three touchdowns. He's unguardable. I mean, literally nobody in the league can guard him. DK looks like he's totally shot.

5:03 Aaron Rodgers had a 60 passer rating. You know, it's a little bit like Favre. If you go to Favre's last season, if you remember it, he got old.

5:12 Really, really fast.

5:15 He fell off a cliff. I kind of feel watching Aaron the last two weeks like, and this is not a great offensive line. They don't have a great run game. Boy, it feels like John through two weeks. This is the early part of the season. It just doesn't feel good.

5:30 That offense feels like it's stuck in concrete the last two weeks. They're a tough watch, Colin. I mean, their defense is actually playing pretty well, giving them a chance. I mean, TJ Watts looked young. Without them, they have been– it was ugly today. I mean, he was getting peppered. He got hit a couple times. The one, the blindside hit.

5:48 I was like, is this going to end his day? But, I mean, he kept staying in there. These last couple years, like, I don't know what Aaron is trying to prove. I mean, his team, I know he loves DK Metcalf, but DK Metcalf through the first two weeks has been a disaster, an absolute disaster. I said at the time when they traded for him and paid him a bunch of money, I'm like, you're going to trade with John Schneider for a guy that he drafted and already extended? and then go all in like he's a No. 1 wide receiver, which is not really his deal. He doesn't catch the ball.

6:20 His hands are pretty hit or miss. He's not as dynamic anymore as he used to be with the size and the speed. They cannot run the ball. I mean, they're anemic running the ball. Remember, once upon a time, Bruce Arians got fired– from the Rooney's because he passed too much even though they were lighting everyone up and competing to win the Super Bowl they want that what the Rooney family wants is a good defense and to run the ball well McCarthy if you go back his history he likes passing the ball you know he's he's a little more Arians than he is Kyle Shanahan but man I mean Rodgers at this point in time can't move he even admitted it I saw a podcast with him a couple weeks ago with a local Wisconsin guy.

7:03 He's like, yeah, one thing I can't do that I could in Green Bay is I cannot move nearly as well. And it shows because even when he goes now to scramble outside the pocket, random defensive linemen hawk him with ease. And that used to be his superpower. That's what separated him from Brady and Manning just as a pure player is that scramble ability to throw. And that no longer exists.

7:26 And then in the pocket, he's not throwing to Antonio Brown and Plaxton. Their receivers stink. I mean, he's forcing it to the rookie from Alabama a lot. I was high on them. High would be strong. But I was a believer in them coming in. I'm out. I mean, your offense can't. They got no chance. They're not going to implode, I don't think, but... That's tough, Colin. I mean, the Falcons, who stink. I don't blame you if you didn't watch much of that game today. I have Bryce Young and Fantasy, so I was painted. They're awful. They're going to be right there with the Miami Dolphins, and they gave them a game.

8:03 Okay, so this is really becoming the story of the NFL in terms of, wow, Raiders got a safety at the end, 26, Chargers 14. The Chargers are 0-2, and their next seven games at Buffalo, at Seattle, Denver, at Kansas City, at the Rams, Houston, at Baltimore. They're in big trouble. And two things are true. Justin Herbert's not playing well. But also, Jacoby Brissett, they couldn't get him off the field. Seattle totally shut him down at Arizona today.

8:33 And Kirk Cousins made multiple throws. Cody White, a scout team-wide receiver, had two touchdowns against the Chargers. Jesse Mentor jettisons the Chargers, now the head coach of the Ravens.

8:49 Like, it is a problem.

8:50 I mean, John, I am watching them today. Keaton Mitchell and Marion Hampton. Hampton had a bad fumble. They have a semblance of a running game. But Justin Herbert, listen, it's easy to go. Oh, Herbert's getting married. He's dating a celebrity. He's distracted. I think it's a convergence of things. I don't think their O-line's great. Jesse Mentor's departure has been huge. When a scout team guy, you can't solve him.

9:16 And I'm happy for Cody White. The kid, he made one of the catches. It was a Vegas magic trick. That end zone catcher, like how in the hell did he catch it? But they're cousins. Third down, big throws. Nothing is working for them. The Mike McDonald mystery. Are they putting too much in his plate? Is Mike McDonald, did he come in believing the personnel offensively? I like Trey Harris. Quentin Johnson's a nothing burger, tied in their average.

9:46 Running backs are good, nothing special. I mean, how do you explain this offense that they got their tackles back and everything else is regressed?

9:55 Yeah, and even Joel didn't play well today. He was kind of getting worked. I had a personnel guy tell me against the Arizona game, their guard, center guard, looked like practice squad rejects. You know, like they watched the film last week, practice squad rejects. Today, their offensive line kind of had a vibe like that. If you can't block inside in 2026, a lot of people have a lot of good interior pass rushers. And then, okay, well, your tackles are good. Well, you're facing Max Crosby, who's, let's face it, a little pissed off the way the offseason went. He got, you know, declined on the trade.

10:26 He's kind of showed up. you know, ready to prove it. It feels like he's.

10:30 Trying to prove Baltimore wrong.

10:32 But did you hear the stat that Kirk Cousins is the first Raider quarterback to throw game one and two, three touchdowns in each game since Kenny Stabler? I mean, this is, you know, you got to give Kubiak credit because I think most franchises, and this is probably where Brady, the owner's not on everybody. Like we're not starting Mendoza.

10:54 It's unheard of anymore to draft a guy one overall and not start him immediately. It's literally happened to every single guy, I think, for the last seven or eight years that was drafted number one overall. And it's kind of letting everyone take a deep breath. It feels like there's a little pressure off them. I thought they thoroughly outplayed them, just like Arizona did last week. The Chargers right now stink. I mean, they are not a good football team. It's like when you watch Tampa, it's like something's off. You watch the Chargers, you're like, something's off.

11:22 And it's kind of like Pittsburgh. They feel slow when you can't block Herbert's force and things. They're weapons. You've talked about this for a long time with Jim Harbaugh, and this goes back to Stanford through the 49ers.

11:35 Never had good receivers.

11:37 It's not his thing.

11:38 He doesn't have a feel for it.

11:39 And I'm not opposed to taking Joe Alt over Malik Davis. I'm all for that. But then he brings over Ortiz, who's a high-level personnel guy, but where does he come from?

11:47 Baltimore.

11:48 Who's their first-ever Pro Bowl wide receiver? Zay Flowers last year. They never believed in it.

11:53 So their core.

11:54 Philosophies are like, well, out-tough you. Well, I'm watching them right now. They're not out-toughing anybody. I'm not the biggest old Marion Hampton guy. He had a couple of hardcore runs today. Put it on the ground again today in a big spot. And they're like you said, wide receiver, your best wide receiver is a little slot guy who's a good player, but outside they stink. Their defense is you have no, how about there was a wide open guy that cousins like didn't quite, you know, cousins arm probably pretty average at this point in time. Didn't step in.

12:23 They got lucky. I feel like it could have been worse. Just like last week. The score does not reflect what you witnessed. I would say for basically of the eight quarters of football, it feels like they've got shoved around at least seven of them. And part of Jim Harbaugh, You know, it's like John Harbaugh, Dan Campbell, Mike Vrabel.

12:41 It's like part of their whole deal. Like, I'm a tough guy. Well, I watch Vrabel. Okay, it's team stuff, right? John Harbaugh's team stuff. Dan Campbell's team looks pretty soft right now. Jim's feels really soft. Well, what do you do? Like, what does Jim know how to do? He can't. He's not a scheme guy. That's Mike. And like, you know, a lot of Mike's success, you go back to the Niners, you go early on with Miami.

13:03 Yeah.

13:03 Like Tyree kill and Jalen Waddle with the Niners. He had Debo Samuel, George Kittle. Like, I mean, they, you know, they've had died. Raheem Mozart was an excellent running back, you know, when they made the Superbowl. The personnel, to me, no explosive plays. Herbert presses doesn't look that good. And defensively, they don't scare a soul. I mean, last year they won a lot of games kind of like the Patriots today. Yeah, a quarterback would be okay, but we're just going to smother you and win this thing 17-9. They have no chance.

13:35 I mean, when Kirk Cousins is slicing and dicing you with practice squad guys, what do you have, one career touchdown coming into the game, they said, and you had two today? You've been in the league four years? I mean, that's– I just don't know what Harbaugh– but I also don't want to hear, like, is Harbaugh in the hot seat? Like, this is Chargers. They're paying Jim a boatload of money, his assistants a boatload of money. Like, he's the coach for a while, but sometimes you can't coach yourself out of personnel. Like, their personnel right now, the eye test through two games, Colin, if you just watch the league, feels a little off, I would say, a little off for sure.

14:07 Okay, so the Jags came into the game– Denver today with a nine-game regular season winning streak. And they controlled the first two and a half to three quarters. But Denver comes back to beat the Jags 20 to 13. This is what they did a lot last year with Bo Nix. So in week one, I said, this can't be what Bo Nix is. Everybody in this league falls out of love very quickly with players. Bo Nix was awful in week one. And he, in the second quarter, he had a very nice drive. Bang, bang, bang. Then he threw off his back foot, had an ugly end zone pick. And I'm like, Sean Payton is going to lose his mind with this. But in the second half, he settled down. But I will say this. In week one, John, I think we both said this. Mark Schlerer said this

14:53 on FS1. Like, what are they trying to do? Will Jalen waddle today? Did you watch? 10 targets, 138 yards. Today, when you watch Denver, you could see we're going to go with Jalen Waddell. We're going to intentionally get him the ball, throw it in his direction around a dozen times, and it worked. This team has an elite coach, I think really nice, Franklin Mims. Sutton, Jalen Waddell, Ingram. They have really nice weapons. To me, that's top five or six.

15:28 Tight end, wide receiver talent. They go very deep at wide receiver. I think they have a couple of running backs I like. They used a backup running back today. He was sub plus. We know they have a pass rush. Their corners today made three or four huge plays on Trevor Lawrence throws. So I thought this I thought this was big. I thought they took control of the game the last quarter and a half. I thought Bo Nix settled down. I just think, oh, they only had three points at half. I mean, this was a problem last year where Bo could be really uneven. But I thought the second half, I said, okay, last week's an outlier.

16:04 This is what they're mostly going to be. And I thought they played a very good second half.

16:09 Well, at one point in time at halftime, it kind of felt like they're going to lose this thing like 24 to 6. They're just going to get boat raced, and we're going to have to start asking, is Denver even any good? I know they're playing good teams. The Jags are clearly pretty good, and they've got good personnel, but it was really ugly. When it was 13-3, he hadn't played well at six quarters. I was thinking, this thing is going to unravel fast there, and they have this new young coordinator. What really bailed them out is Lawrence kind of matched Bo Nix with an awful pick, threw it right to the Denver DB.

16:41 He did.

16:42 And then they went right down and scored and tied the game. The momentum shifted. I don't want to say their season was saved. It's only week two, but it felt like it shifted the momentum of the early part of it. I mean, their season was a train wreck through six quarters. And Trevor has a lot of confidence against them. You would say for whatever reason, this team from Jacksonville, all these guys sucking air on the sideline.

17:04 They showed up. Liam Cohen's confident against Sean. It was like, God, they just have their number. And that pick and Trevor played excellent. You go back to the game last year. He was good early in this game. I was like, geez, that pick for whatever reason, the Jags never looked the same after. And Denver and Bo Nix found some momentum, drove them right down the field. Their defense made some plays.

17:24 But I thought Brian Thomas Jr., he was horrendous today. Dropped balls, did not make plays. I forget who was calling the game. They were crushing him.

17:33 It was Shularith, I think.

17:35 I don't think it was Shularith, but they were just, I mean, he was not good.

17:39 Well, Bo Nix in the fourth quarter, 8 for 10, 137 passer rating, 88 yards. This is what Caleb and Bo did last year. Bo was a very good late-game quarterback. Yeah, and Ross Tucker's right. He has been a big disappointment. It just feels like it's not working. There are some guys that mentally just– Guys get into space where they have drops. They lose confidence. You know, at wide receiver and cornerback positions, you're on an island, John. Guys lose confidence.

18:07 I mean, it's the reality of what it is.

18:12 I'm impressed with Liam. I think Liam Cohen's pretty good. I mean, he's got nothing out of him. I mean, they obviously, I'm sure, regret the Travis Hunter move. They're very dependent on Parker Washington. They lose ETN this year. They're a well-coached good team. They're not a team going away. I mean, Denver should win this game at home, week two.

18:31 They should win this game, especially coming off getting their ass kicked last year. I came away, I know the Jags unraveled in the second half a little bit after that pick, but Liam Cohen's the real deal. I'm impressed. I think they're going to have a very, very good chance to win that division. I mean, Houston's 0-2. We'll see what happens to the Colts tonight. The Jags... They'd probably still be my pick as we sit here today to win that division with Houston kind of in shambles.

18:58 Cincinnati Bengals last few years would do anything for a defense. Two games in, they appear to have one. They bought one. Through two games, the Bengals' defense has eight sacks, four forced fumbles, and a touchdown. Cincy will look to continue its dominant defense next week against Aaron Rodgers, who looked old, and the Steelers. That was anything for brought to you by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. I need to tell you about this new prediction market called Polymarket.

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20:03 just 10 bucks. So download the Polymarket app. I've tried them all. Promo code's Colin, C-O-L-I-N, when you sign up to get 50 bucks free after you trade just 10 bucks. OK, as Arizona dominates the Chargers in week one, they go home. Seattle beats them 31 to 7. So JSN is unguardable. He had three different touchdowns. He had he had the move of the day as a wide receiver in the first quarter. I know you saw it. I mean, it was just I mean, the guys the guys route tree.

20:42 He's got 68 branches. Third quarter, he had a leaping touchdown in the end zone. Then he finished with a third. He is, to me, he and Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, that's the three best receivers to me in the NFL. And I will say this. Drew Locke is interesting. So John Snyder brought him back, John. You know that.

21:03 They had Drew Locke. They let him go.

21:04 They brought him back. And I may not love Drew Locke as a starter to build around, but as a backup, With that offensive line, that defense and that culture and JSN, I thought he was steady. I mean, listen, I've always said, if you bring your backup in and you can win half your games, your starters should win 60 to 65% of your games if you have a franchise guy. Can your backup win 45 to 50? If you lose him for four, can you win twice? I'm not sure Sam Darnold wins 31 to seven today. I thought Drew Locke was steady. Again, he knows where to get the ball.

21:40 I think he's grown up, John. I thought he was a little bit of a, you know, he was a little bit of a JV personality. He wasn't a grownup. He was kind of the cool guy. Had a Jay Cutler thing or a Johnny Manziel thing. Trying too hard to be cool. It's like, he's grown up. He's been humble.

21:55 He's humble.

21:56 He appears very grateful for the opportunity. And I thought Drew today looked like the kid you thought you were getting out of Missouri, where he's got a good arm. He sees the field pretty well. He can move a little bit. I think he has an above average arm. But for Seattle to go there with a backup and kick the you-know-what out of an Arizona team that manhandled the Chargers, Seattle is the only team in the league that's better on the road than at home, and I can't explain it.

22:25 Well, he's already earned his salary this year. If not, you know, he's underpaid because I give him like a win and a half for the first game because he wasn't the starter going in yet. He had to start series two. So he, it's not like he got the reps and today throw three touchdowns.

22:41 To me.

22:41 If you have a good team, your backup is so valuable because you could insert that guy. If he just plays solid and he was better and solid today. Oh, he was going to have a chance to, you're going to have a chance to win a lot of games. And, He's no dummy. Hey, throw the ball to 11. Hey, uh, throw the ball to 11 and throw it again to 11.

23:01 I would say JSN. I don't even know Jerry Rice. Like what's his comp. He is incredible. He's an unstoppable force, deep intermediate catching balls over the middle. There's really nothing he can't do. Um, I mean, you know, what's funny is we talk forever about member Belichick could never draft a wide receiver, could never do it. Look at Seattle.

23:23 I mean, they get DK in the second round, flip him and replace him with JSN. I mean, their ability to have high end guys. And today, you know, this goes back to like Matt Jones last year. When you have a good coaching staff and good personnel, there is a lot less pressure on a backup. Like we're not expecting you to be Josh Allen. Just run the plays that are called. Just, you know, don't make mental, dumb mistakes.

23:49 Jacoby had a bad mistake today through some picks. And it's just, he just wasn't as good as he was last week, which it's going to be way harder.

23:56 Here's the other thing.

23:57 Hey, Drew. Our defense is awesome.

24:00 You don't have to do that much.

24:02 These guys, they will bring us a couple balls back. I was, I expected Seattle to win this game. You know, early on, Arizona came to play. I mean, Arizona's got some good players.

24:14 They have no depth, but they got some decent.

24:15 Seattle sits on a completely different world.

24:17 Yeah, Seattle, guys, I mean, Drew Locke's a great example. Seattle has so much. Arizona's got six or seven. Jeremiah Love, Trey McBride, they got six or seven really good guys. Marvin Harrison is nowhere.

24:26 To be found.

24:27 I mean, Michael Wilson, I mean, he is MIA. He just, and I'll tell you, that's a shocker. Like some of these guys that are busts in the NFL, you're like, what happened? I thought Harrison was, now he wasn't a big separator. He had a big body. He was good after the catch. He was just a big, strong guy.

24:43 His dad was a legendary receiver. He is, he's a bust. He just can't, I mean, they've got, he's about the fifth best target they have. And I, you know, I just, I look at Seattle and I think, this is why the draft remains important because Seattle doesn't miss on their first two or three picks and they got two of everything. Okay.

25:03 Cowboys hammer the commanders 37 to 20. It was pitch and catch for Dak. Washington had a pretty good pass rush in the first half, but Dak finishes with four touchdowns, no picks 26 of 31. You know, Jaden Daniels gets hurt again and it's the elbow again. So it's, He's missing, what, 15 games last year or 10 games last year?

25:27 I'll have to look it up.

25:29 I think I'm getting to the point when you have a reputation or a concern. And you live up to that concern. So when he came into the league, we all talked about it, John. He had kind of a Teddy Bridgewater build. You're like, now, he was feeling it today early. When Jaden takes off, he is like Lamar Jackson light. He will outrun every safety and linebacker and defensive end you have on your roster. Multiple times, guys had angles on him for Dallas today, and he just gets to the corner. Jaden is a special athlete. Okay, San Francisco 35, Miami 13. I think Malik Willis has talent.

26:09 I don't think he has much around him outside of running back. I was thinking about that. Remember the show Deadliest Catch about crab fishermen in the Bering Sea? Deadliest Catch is anybody that plays receiver for the Niners. Demarcus Robinson got carted off today. It's like I don't even know how to explain it.

26:31 Don't even test him.

26:32 I don't even understand this organization. Like, they're just wide receivers cannot stay healthy. But I will say something. As I've said before, and maybe I'm just being a smart aleck, but Shanahan is such a great coach that the whole Brock Purdy thing is, folks, he got Jimmy Garoppolo to a Super Bowl. He made Mac Jones, you know, look really, really highly capable last year. But I will say this season so far, I think Brock Purdy's been sensational. Today, 20-22.

27:02 He was 287 yards.

27:04 He was perfect. I mean, two touchdowns, no picks. John Brock Purdy's decision-making. There's something, you know, we talk about this. Some guys don't see the field. There's an argument to me. Brock sees the field like Brady saw it. I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, but his ability, he'll do this from time to time where his shoulders, he will be off to the right, leaning right. He's going to throw the ball right. And I don't know how he does this.

27:33 And he will just turn and fire to the running back to the left. I mean, almost without looking. His understanding of the scheme and the routes, you can see why Shanahan falls in love with him, John. He makes the right throw. And he's got a better arm than Garoppolo did. And he's also, he's got kind of that Bo Nix thing. He's kind of sneaky athletic. When I'm watching him today, and I know it's Miami, but the first two weeks of the season I mean, they had 20, 23rd quarter points. I mean, they score quickly with him.

28:07 And I'm watching the Niners.

28:08 I'm like this.

28:09 I get why Shanahan falls in love with him. He just makes the right throw to the right place almost every single time.

28:21 He he said this. The broadcast has said this back to back weeks. I think he's telling them in their meetings he wanted to get back to his rookie year. He said over the course of the last season and a half, he got a little too much of a gunslinger mentality instead of doing what was right on the offense.

28:38 I agree.

28:40 And now he knows the offense like the back of his hand, and he has one of the great play callers of his generation do what he tells you. And when you need to, you can ad lib. He had a play today, Colin, where he pump faked and then side-armed it to Mike Evans. For a big first down, which Mike Evans sneaky had to leave the game with a hip, questionable to return. I don't think he ever did, but something to keep an eye on. that he threw the first two games. But this is his high end.

29:07 When Brock is on, he is an elite player. His problem is he's had some dips. He has some gunslinging interceptions.

29:14 He does.

29:15 Today, I mean, Miami's really bad. And the 49ers, what I'm impressed by, you come back from Australia, you're playing what I think is going to turn out to be the worst team in the league. And you treat them like a JV versus varsity. This is the NFL. I mean, you can have some weird games. If you would have told me this is 13 to 13 and a half and Niners are in a weird game, like totally believable.

29:35 Week two, this team's not dead yet. And they put their foot on their throat early. And like they came out of halftime, Kittle. One thing I think Seattle... And this is a big, you know, Puka brings us the table, some of their defensive linemen. But, you know, the Rams and Sean are a little, not finesse, but they like throwing it around a little more sexy. There is nothing sexy about Seattle and the 49ers, the way they think about football, the way they coach football, about the way they want to play football. They want to hurt you.

30:06 The 49ers offensive players want to hurt you. I mean, George Kittle seeks contact. Debo Samuel seeks contact. That's which is, I think, part of the attrition they face is their violence. Seattle benefits from their young cores a little younger so they can.

30:20 Take the hits.

30:20 I mean, George has been playing a long time, but he had a play today right down the middle. He threw a guy off him, ran for the longest play of their season. And obviously McCaffrey, I think sometimes you think about McCaffrey. If you're not watching him every single week, like McCaffrey is a physical player.

30:34 Oh God. Yes.

30:36 You know, so their mentality, their culture, they got Arizona next week. Who is by no means a slouch. You know, they, the score today, they were, I think Seattle would tell you they're better than the score flex. They, they're not bad. The Niners win that. There's a big game coming up with Denver in a couple of weeks. And the Niners probably going to be three and Oh, going into that game.

30:53 49ers got feel pretty good. The other thing is, When you lose guys, I'm a big believer in this. Offensive guys, you can give Andy, you can give Shanahan, you can give McVay some random players on offense and they can manipulate it. I don't think you can really manipulate defense. You need the Jimmys and the Joes to go with.

31:10 The Xs and the Os.

31:11 Mike McDonald's scheme wouldn't look the same with Miami's personnel. You can't get by with average. That's why the SEC defenses tend to be good. It's like, they got good defensive coaches? Well, they got the best defensive players. And I think when Fred Warner, Drake Greenlaw is like his Robin who looks way better than he did last year in Denver. Bosa back. Their defensive backs are doing well.

31:33 The 49ers defense looks... Their offense has never really been their issue. It's like... If Fred is on the field, if Bosa is on the field, they win a lot of games when 97's there because that guy comes around the edge and Fred tackles everybody. Good start for the 49ers, and we'll see tomorrow the Rams. That Australia game, you heard McVay, like, we're never going back. I don't want to go back either. Kyle can't really say that because they won, so he's being a little more diplomatic, but they don't ever want to go back. No one wants to go on a 15-hour flight. Who are the Cowboys and the Ravens are playing in Brazil this week? You would gladly avoid that if you could. Anytime you can win after that long travel game, I think you're feeling

32:16 pretty good regardless if you're playing, I don't know, one of the worst teams maybe we'll have ever seen.

32:30 So USC Oregon's interesting. Joel Klatt said something really interesting on my show today. He said, listen, in college, you don't get three preseason games. to build your physicality. In college, you don't get joint practices to build your physicality. He goes, you build your physicality at practice. And if your offense is a finesse, counter, trappy, deceptive offense like Lincoln Riley, you build your physicality up front defensively in the Big Ten in October. So it's interesting. He says the reality is, and I was thinking about Saban about this. So Saban takes over Alabama. The first 10 years, it's a run program and defense. They were just physical. Then the program at the end gets kind of cute and pretty. It's

33:27 a quarterback wide receiver offense. They spread it out. And even with Saban, it's not quite as physically dominating. Why? No preseason, no joint practices. The culture as the sport changes, even Saban's team, not that they were finesse, but Georgia comes in and Texas comes in. You're like, they look more like them than looking separate because the sport change, even Saban couldn't create the physical nature to the level earlier.

33:59 When it was a run program, it became smartly spread it out, pass more first round receivers and quarterback. So my thing about Lincoln is if he's the head coach and he's calling the plays and he is a great play caller, this is never going to be a top eight defense. It's never going to be Notre Dame.

34:17 It's never going to be Georgia.

34:20 Should it be better than it was at Rutgers? And I do think, I don't know who's going to win this game. They're very good in LA. Oregon has shown me over 10 years, 12 years, they can win these big games. USC hasn't. But my take is, is there validity in what Klatt said, which is no preseason, no joint practices. Your toughness is built in practice. And this offense.

34:45 It's pretty tough.

34:48 I worry a whole lot more about Oregon using that logic because Oregon's got a whole lot returning. Oregon is the unit that had all the dudes coming back, so they shouldn't, in theory, need to be establishing much of anything. If you tell me USC needs more runway to do that, yeah, what he's saying makes perfect sense. I'm listening to him talk through you, and he's talking about USC, and my mind's on Oregon the whole time. And they just so happen to play this weekend because there's a whole lot to what he said that's true. And it's not just with USC. You're watching a number of places out here where the lack of preseason in college football bears itself out in a very ugly way when the season begins.

35:32 And some of them will pull the nose up eventually and some of them won't. The whole he hasn't done it thing with Lincoln, to me, is fascinating. Because there are a lot of people in the old college football public out there that they kind of marry have not with cannot. And I have never convinced myself that Lincoln cannot.

35:54 I do acknowledge he has not. I do not believe that he cannot simply because he has not. But you know what, Colin? Everything they say about Lincoln... a toned-down version of it can be said about Lanning. The difference is Lanning's had a little bit more in-your-face regular season success. They won the Big Ten their first year out there.

36:13 They've gone to the playoff. They've gotten smashed once they were in the playoff. But there's a lot of the same questioning there. It just feels like the public has accepted a whole lot more proof of product with Dan than they have Lincoln Riley. But I agree with you. That's why Gary Patterson coming in for Danton Lynn– was one of the most important moves, non-head coaching moves, that was made in the spring and summer, or winter, I guess it was. Because if they can be serviceable, if they can be opportunistic, I remember that 2019 LSU defense.

36:43 Once that offense caught fire, you knew this doesn't have to be 85-bear stuff. They need to be good enough. Let's be situational in the red zone. If they can get to that point, and on the other side, I'm watching a minimum baseline of physicality be executed, and I'm watching a lack of turnovers plague Jaden Maiava in these big games because that's what I'm watching this Saturday. I'm leaning USC to win the game, and there's this voice in the back of my head, What if those turnovers pop back up? But then there's a louder voice that says, what has Oregon shown you to respect this specific year's team on the road anywhere or at home? So I agree with what he said. I've just got this strange belief in USC this Saturday. And if they screw it up,

37:26 it's on them. It's not on me.

37:29 Darian Mensah is the best quarterback I've seen in college. I was talking to, I think you'll like this. I was talking to an NFL executive. couple of weeks ago. And he said, he's worried that CJ Carr has the same runway as JJ McCarthy. He said, the defense is so good. The running game last year was so good.

37:49 The coach is so good. The schedule is so weak. Like where will CJ Carr initiate offense and pull his team to wins like Fernando Mendoza? Like where will he do this on this schedule? It's like, he'll have to wait for the playoff because they're going to roll through everybody but Miami. They're going to roll through people. The defense is just, I mean, you go back to Saban days.

38:10 It's like best corner, best safety, best linebacker. I mean, Notre Dame's defense is the real deal. So they're not going to be challenged. And you and I know this. It really helps if your college environment and experience asks you, like Mensah, Tulane, and Duke, carry the offense. Carry Saturday non-Sunday players to wins and productivity. I think Mintz is an unbelievable number one pick. And I say this going into Arch Manning. If he was Arch Pate, Arch Cowherd, Arch Gilbert, I'm watching Arch Manning and I have Eli on the show.

38:51 I love him.

38:54 This Tennessee game, this becomes another referendum to me. I'm sorry, but this is hard to win in college on the road. I'm still not sure about Arch. I still, I'm waiting for the plant my flag moment. I'm still not there. Are you?

39:12 No, no, I don't even think he's played well this year. I am so sick. I went back and watched every snap of the UTSA game last week. It was not good, man. It was not good at all. Now, you could say like out of the corner, oh, that's a letdown spot. Okay, if the guy's got an established track record, you know, if Fernando Mendoza late in the year had a little bit of an off week, okay, he's proven himself to me already, and he would go on to prove himself several times more. Arch hasn't. And the other thing you'll notice...

39:42 You ask a lot of the NFL guys about this. They'll say he's not being harassed every other play. He's got some clean pockets to throw out of, too. It's not there. And what's there is the name on the back of the shirt. What's there is tools. What's there is potential. That's all well and good. But I'm going to this Tennessee-Texas game Saturday. And there's going to come a couple of times. third and long, fourth and medium, to his credit, the same stuff that happened against Ohio State, that he's got to come through and on the road for them to win. Now, here's the thing about Ohio State that kind of confuses me as it relates to his future. So there's no discounting how incredible that comeback was.

40:23 But if you'll notice the, the pedal only went down to the floor, once they abandoned any pretext of their offensive structure, everything they tried to do that you would consider the Texas offense failed. It just hit a brick wall all night. Then they eventually, you know, there's kind of throw the playbook in the air. All right, take it to the playground. That's when he comes from behind to win. And again, It's great when it works, man.

40:48 But everyone knows that's why you don't have a playground playbook because it's not sustainable. It's like when you're watching FSU Bama last week. They went into that thing and Norvell took two weeks and said, we got Deuce Robinson on our team. He's a future Sunday guy. Let's just throw the ball up to him. And they did. And it worked a couple of times. But it also went to the other team a couple of times because that's not a sustainable strategy. So like this Saturday, he's going to face Jim Knowles, who is a DC that has seen this before. He's going to get a bunch of different looks. He's going to be in front of probably the most hostile crowd we've seen in college football so far this year. And yet he's got the two tailbacks

41:25 from the portal. He's got a really good offensive line. He's got racehorses at receiver. Everything, theoretically, you would need to prove yourself on that stage he's got. It's got to happen. It can't be theoretical forever. It's eventually got to happen.

41:39 So your top 10 Josh Pate power rankings... Ohio State 1, Georgia 2, Texas 3, Notre Dame 4. Notre Dame is going to be hard to evaluate until they play Miami. I'm sorry. Ole Miss, I buy into them. Miami, LSU, Indiana, Alabama, Oregon. I don't have a problem with any of it. I just don't know what Oregon is. I think generally NFL and college, I need three games, four games, and let's.

42:04 See what you are.

42:04 Yeah, you have Ohio State number one. Not to nitpick. Red zone, third down, even against Kent State.

42:15 I watched about.

42:15 45 minutes of that.

42:18 God bless you, by the way. God bless you.

42:21 I know.

42:21 Generally, my rule is I'm not watching junk I'm not going to talk about. But it's Ohio State. So there's like Notre Dame, Ohio State. I'm just going to watch their games. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss, everybody's watching. Texas, Tennessee, I'll be glued to it. but they're USC, Oregon, but there are games that I just feel like I just need to watch a really good team that could play for the national championship. Um, I don't know what to do with Ohio state. I, I, uh, that schedule gets really tough. I'll tell you something too, Josh, the one thing that travels, you know, this in the NFL run game and defense, if you can't run the ball on third and short, you're not winning road games. Like I that's my knock on Ohio state. It's like, uh, saying

43:07 doesn't give me any mobility. I don't know if they can pick up short yardage. Are they a weak one to you? I kind of feel like, God, I could put Notre Dame and then play tomorrow on a neutral field. I don't know what to make yet of Ohio State.

43:23 Yeah, the way I do those power ratings is like neutral field favorability as I see it right now. And so, yes, the answer to your question, 1,000%, it's a soft one. because I could go as far down as like eight, wherever I had Indiana. I don't know anything about Indiana yet, but if they, let's say they played Michigan this Saturday, I could see a result that said, okay, check mark. Yep, they're still the same they were last year. I could see that. Miami may very well be the best team in the country. I just, what I'm trying to think about, Ryan Day explained this very well two years ago, actually.

43:58 I was up there in the spring and they were going into the year they were about to win the national title. And he laid out in methodical detail how they had structured everything from practice schedules to psychology of team, to development, to practice regimen, where they tried to peak in December. And he said, this is the hardest thing to do because your instinct as a coach is is to go complete balls to the wall week one on.

44:24 And that's the old school way to do college football. And you can't do that anymore. Or else you're just going to get smoked in December from someone who did understand when to ramp it up at the right time. And that team, even though they lost to Michigan, they went on to ramp it at the right time. They won the national title. And I always have that in the back of my mind every September now. I'm trying to pace myself a little bit. I'm trying to look at which teams have the personnel groupings, which teams have good enough depth, which teams have the highest caliber personnel.

44:52 collective coaching staffs to where if it comes together for them, that's one I don't want to see. And unless someone overwhelmingly has grabbed that number one spot right now, it's going to be an Ohio state. It's going to be a Georgia. It's going to be a Texas. It's going to be someone like that. But unlike Miami and Notre Dame, you're right. Ohio state's going to get put up against the wall again, three or four times. And with, with a loss already, I could be a good team. That's a three loss team bordering on out of the playoff for all I know.

45:22 Isn't it interesting, you know, when Oklahoma and USC, when Lincoln left, and then here comes Brett Venables, isn't it fascinating like five years later, Venables can't fix the offense, it gets worse by the week, and Lincoln can't fix the defense. So what they were going into the job has largely not been that modified. It's like Lincoln's brilliant offensively, can he build a culture? Venables can recruit and build a defense, but the offense is a mess. And the fan bases, especially Oklahoma, because their coach bailed on them.

45:56 You know, like, you got dumped. Whereas USC doesn't care about Oklahoma. Oklahoma's still watching Lincoln Riley. And this is nothing against Brett Venables, but he is what we thought. Defense and recruiting and intensity, excellent. That offense is a mess, right? Like, I mean, hell, Texas has struggled to win big games in the Big 12. Where is Oklahoma now to you?

46:18 Lost for a little bit. Or in the SEC. Yeah, they're lost a little bit because I was talking this morning to someone who we were talking about teams that haven't delivered so far. And those fall into two categories. And I was actually talking about Oregon, but the same could be said here for Oklahoma. Sometimes there's sky-high expectation for a team. This could be NFL or college. They come out of the gate. A couple of early losses.

46:41 Everyone's asking what went wrong. And then after the season's over, you get sort of the postmortem. You talk to coaches or people you know inside the organization and they tell you, we kind of knew, man, like we kind of knew this and that wasn't right in the preseason. We knew we were a little overhyped. Then there's the other example.

46:59 This is Oregon right now. This is Oklahoma right now. where everybody in the building was convinced this is our year. Everyone in the building was convinced we got everything we need. Like I'm telling you, as recently as the Friday night before the Michigan game, I'm talking to people at Oklahoma. They are sky high about what they have the ability to do the next day and what they have the ability to do. And it's just dead on arrival. offense is dead on arrival. Whatever's happening with material practice is not translating the games, either that or they're blind and they don't know what they're looking at in practice. And I doubt that. So that's the concerning part because when even the coaching staff is shocked at the results, they

47:38 are or aren't getting on Saturday. That means they don't have an answer. That certainly means I'm not going to have an answer. Now, the one bailout with them is they still have a world-class defense. So they're And that that's the kind of game Georgia's favored by nearly two touchdowns. You've seen a million times, just like I have a very prideful program with a top five defense gets itself in wounded animal mode. And somehow offensively, they just scratch out 16 points and it's a late fourth quarter game.

48:09 And you're like, Wow, if they had a heartbeat of an offense, imagine what they could do. It's not there. And then the follow-up to go even further down the rabbit hole you presented, sort of the brain drain aspect of when you remove someone from an organization and then you look at the void they left. That's really how you can judge how valuable they were. Look at Clemson since Venables has left. Look at Georgia Tech right now once Buster Faulkner, the offensive coordinator, left. You talk about the offensive regression from OU once Lincoln Riley left. So there's no doubt those guys are studs on that side of the ball. It's just that's the second-to-highest rung of the ladder. And some of these dudes, when they climb

48:51 up one more rung, that's tough. It's really tough.