3 & Out - 49ers Survive Commanders on Monday Night Football, Colts Fire GM Chris Ballard, Eagles PR Problems & Rams in Trouble

0:01 The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middlecoff, 3NOW Podcast. The 49ers somehow, by the skin of their teeth, pull out a crazy victory. And don't implode in the second half to Jaden Daniels, Dan Quinn. And I wouldn't say the most buttoned up situational football team, but hey, they got rolling there for a little bit in the second half and it did become a pretty entertaining game. I definitely got a comment on the Trey Hickman intro with Joe Buck. Bunch of other stuff going on. Chris Ballard, the Colts, fired. Peyton Manning take the job. Dan Patrick said they're going to go after him. Jaden, not Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hurts. Crazy story.

0:59 We'll do some mailbag questions. At John Middlecoff, at John Middlecoff, the Rams. I think half their team went on injured reserve today. Absolute disaster in Los Angeles. Currently four games back of the 49ers. Other than that, you guys know the drill. Subscribe. If you listen on Colin's feed, you can watch us on Netflix. We put a bunch of content on YouTube as well. And let's just dive into Monday Night Football. Not going to lie, it was starting to cross my mind when Jaden was driving late in the game. 49ers are going to lose this thing. They're going to lose 24-23. But after completely dominating the first half, 20-3.

1:43 And a moment goes viral for the commanders of Dan Quinn and clearly Jaden Daniels, who we'll get into a little later, are probably going to need to spend some time during the bye week on situational football, knowing when it's fourth down, not third down. It just felt they were imploding. The Niners were rolling. And honestly, it all kind of flipped. When Mike Evans, injured as Achilles, went in early, the 49ers after that, and by all, I'm recording this right after the game, reports are that Achilles is still intact, which it was pretty clear the way he was able to walk. I don't think he tore his Achilles. Even Kobe, when he tore it, he could barely walk. The thing's sore, not ideal. I would imagine

2:29 they give him this week off playing Atlanta 6-0. You know, you can just take a deep breath. The Rams and Seattle have a combined seven losses. You have a four-game lead right now on the Rams and a three-game lead on Seattle. And they both come to you. I think you just can take a complete deep breath and give him essentially two weeks off. Just let him rest that.

2:52 He's a war daddy. Nothing but respect. I'm thinking tonight, I've been watching the 49ers closely since I was a kid in the early 90s. If you have to go best free agent signings, they've had a lot of great acquisitions. A lot of them have been through the draft. Steve Young was a trade. Trent Williams was a trade. Christian McCaffrey was a trade. Obviously, a ton of draft picks.

3:15 I would say Deion Sanders, Justin Smith. Mike Evans only played six games, but holy shit, he's an unstoppable force. He goes out. They can't muster anything in the second half. I'm not trying to be negative because you're 6-0. You're one of the handful of the Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings. Obviously, the Vikings coming off a bye week who have not lost a game. There is not a soul... For any team that when the season starts, you'd go, hey, first six games, would you sign up for 6-0? Everyone would. Obviously, the 49ers have lost some bodies. Their quarterback up until the first half tonight was playing great. I think Kyle had a really, really rough second half. I don't know what was going on with a guy who is very

4:03 pro-running the football and After the second half starts, Washington goes four plays and they punt. The 49ers get the ball back up 20-3. 11 plays, 65 yards, 6 minutes, kick a field goal. 23-3, which at that point in time, Jaden had not played well. They were in complete control of the game. You're like... Just milk some clock, run the ball. They were having success with McCaffrey, who I know had fumbled. Sometimes on that punch from behind, obviously Fred does it a lot. They get paid a lot of money too. It was a great play. I don't know if that spooked them. I don't know what happened.

4:45 But then the 49ers are up 23-3. Washington goes on a fantastic drive. Jaden kind of settles down, scores 23-10. The next two drives, the 49ers run six pass plays. Three and out, boom, Washington scores 23-17. Three pass plays, boom, Washington's driving, which, listen. You know, we can debate. Should they have kicked a field goal? They still had the three timeouts. And then kick it off and try to get a stop. The 49ers had done nothing. I understand you're playing Shanahan and an MVP level quarterback. Despite them having a couple weird series going for it. They get bailed out by a PI. or a defensive holding, which was pretty ticky-tack. Now, I understand if you're a Washington fan, you go, Fred Warner's going helmet-to-helmet every single play. I go, yeah,

5:38 he plays by 90s rules. I'm not as bothered by helmet-to-helmets. They don't bother me as much. I don't get bothered by non-PI calls on third and fourth downs. It is an epidemic currently in the NFL. We read the stats a couple weeks ago by Warren Sharp. It's shattering records. The amount of third and fourth down, first down calls, even the night. They mentioned after that play that it had happened four times on third or fourth down to the Commanders against the Niners. Some of them I get.

6:09 It's just blatant. Other times, you've got to let them play defense. But then it looked like he hit Traylon Burks in the corner. Great play by Malik Mustafa, who had an incredible game. One thing the 49ers breed... is there is a violence to the way they play. Obviously, their core guys, you know, Kittle, obviously the way McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Fred Warner. But if you are drafted there, there is an expectation of a way to play. Kalon Black, boom, from Indiana. Lower your shoulder, hit the hole, even Aikman tonight.

6:43 Got in a good mood as the game went on. I was like, I love this guy. Because if you watch football and you watch him run the ball, you're like, that's my type player. Hand him the ball, hit the hole and get downhill. Which again, baffled me by why Kyle, who the first thing you think about with him is running the football, really got away from it. And you would have think like Purdy would look at him like, hey, coach, you want to call a run? And who knows? Their game plan against this team, weak corners. But with Mike Evans out, you got some random wide receivers. Kittle had gotten rolled up with his ankle earlier. It's like, hey, man, if we're going to go three and out, just run the ball three times. I bet we might gain a

7:20 first down, burn some clock and just settle this thing down. But the game completely flipped. It got weird. And Jayden Daniels really heated up. And they got extremely, even to me, Kyle, at the last possession they had when they punted after going three and out. It was a tough spot because they had the two timeouts after burning the one when the clock was stopped. Is they took a delay a game on the punt. And there was a minute left.

7:48 You have three timeouts. Like, I don't think anyone's going to kill you if you burn one there. Like, just call a timeout. Give a free delay of game. Move back five yards in that spot. What if the fucking guy shanks it or something? Like, every yard's pretty precious at this point, especially kicking back to a team that doesn't have any timeouts. I was bad. I don't know if...

8:12 Dan Quinn, through osmosis, just being across a 53-yard gap between him and Kyle, if he just gave him some of the superpowers of game management and game philosophy, I don't know what happened. But hey, a win's a win. The 49ers survived. Extremely ugly. Obviously, I would say their most bizarre half of the football. And I think what was so bizarre about it is how dominant they were in the first half. I mean, 20-3, it would have been more if McCaffrey doesn't fumble. They were driving right down the field. They were dominating that game. Their defense was not giving them an inch. They had nowhere to go.

8:50 And obviously, the Terry McLaurin injury is pretty devastating. I mean, they brought up that air cast immediately, which is just terrible. I mean, that guy's a badass. He's been one of their best players for almost a decade now. one of the more respected guys in the league. Half the 49ers went over to him when he was getting in the cart.

9:09 I'm not holding the commanders. They've had a bunch of injuries already, losing their left tackle before the season even started, but once that second half and the 49ers really sputtered, I thought Jaden Daniels Really looked good. I mean, he was sitting in that pocket, delivering strikes. He was excellent.

9:29 I mean, at one point in time, late in the fourth quarter, he was 15-17 in the second half. Just delivering touchdowns, delivering strikes. Honestly, his couple misses, they could have been big plays as well. I thought he was mostly brilliant. Now, he is going to, with his coach, you know, that's the thing with Kyle. It's like that delay of game. When you win the game and you're 6-0, no one cares.

9:52 Right?

9:52 That's the thing. You'll get asked about it. He'll probably be a little edgy about it. He'll be kicking himself, but it'll be forgotten about in a day. But the Dan Quinn moments, when the negativity and the things are going wrong, it's going to be hard to ever forget that him on the sideline in the first half thinking it's third down and calling for the field goal, which...

10:14 It's hard to know exactly, and we'll see what Jaden says. By the time most of you are listening or watching this, you will have known what he said. Did he think it was third down as well? Are they communicating that it's third down? Is the offensive coordinator, who's young, feels a little maybe over his head with everything going on?

10:33 Do they just not know basic situational football? Because it is pretty hard to function when you don't know that. I do give some grace in certain situations. Like late in the game, when the clock is stopped. It was, I think, 4th and 8. It was the play the Niners ended up getting the penalty on. It was 4th and 8. Well, they call the timeout when the clock is stopped after an incompletion. Well, they had two timeouts, and they had the two-minute warning. So I give them a little bit of grace. And if you're going to go for it on fourth and eight and choose not to kick the field goal, that is an extremely important play.

11:20 And whether you're rushed to the line, whether you don't see anything, that's one of those that's like, okay, you can live with big picture if all these other things don't happen. Like at the end of the game when– The 49ers were clearly doing a really good job of doing the classic, I think they call it a muddle rush, where they rush up the field a couple yards. They didn't want Jaden to just run around and throw the ball.

11:46 In the second half, he was able to do that a little bit, especially on some play-action plays when you get him out moving because he's accurate on the move, and he can just gain a lot of ground away from your defenders running because he's such an elite athlete. So they kind of kept him in the pocket, and for a lot of it, he was shredding them. Right?

12:02 He's a good pocket quarterback. But it felt like he's in between sometimes. Like, should I take off? Should I hold the ball? And late in the game, when you don't have any timeouts, and everyone's running vertical on the... on the play that he got flagged for, it's like, listen, he starts getting, he's fucked. He doesn't have any momentum to set his feet to even get the ball, you know, past the line of scrimmage, out of bounds. It was just a tough spot. But those are the tight moments when everything else has kind of snowballed the avalanche down the hill of the situational football, the situational football. My overall take is like, I'm going to give the Niners a little bit of pass in the second half. Had

12:47 a shitty half. They played six games. For the majority of them, they have dominated. It's like, okay, if you say you're through close to the middle end of October and you've had one poor half of football and it didn't cost you the game, big picture, who cares? I do think when you look at the commanders, and this gets back, and it starts with the head coach. Honestly, even that third down, fourth down play where Dan Quinn and Jaden, they throw it out of bounds. Jaden comes right to the sideline, and he's smiling again. Dan Quinn survived.

13:18 There were some rumors that if they had gotten blown out, would he lose his job this week? And when it was 20-3, you're like, if this thing ends like, 40 to 10 it'll be hard to like really slow down everyone calling for your gig but after that game like they played their ass off they did well it's pretty clear like Dan's just too nice. And you kind of feel it with the Jaden situation. You know, there has to be some sort of accountability. And this is, as a wise man once said, the standard is the standard.

13:55 And Mike Tomlin's a free agent. I'm going to keep pointing that connection. He played college football there. And listen, I've been saying over and over, if you just watch him, there's no guarantee that he's going to come back. He's making a ton of money. He looks happy. He's probably playing the shit out of Minecraft. But their owner, he sits next to Bob Myers. Bob Myers during the games.

14:18 Bob Myers was the guy that hired Steve Kerr. Bob Myers was an agent hiring big-time players. Bob Myers is the type of guy that is going to think big. Bob Myers is one of the leading guys that helped land Kevin Durant. So if this Dan Quinn thing continues to not work out, and I don't see how it's going to change, they're 1-4-1. with some promise, right? I mean, Sonny Styles needs some work on in the passing game, right?

14:45 I mean, they didn't hit him on a kiddle play. It's like he just gets lost in space. But if it's coming downhill, if it's tackling, if it's going sideline to sideline, I'm with Troy Aikman on that one. I'm a big fan. Like, I do think if you can really, and can his instincts ever get to like the Fred level?

15:02 But there are questions about Fred coming out. Fred Warner, what he is now, just cracking skulls every play. And again, I enjoy that. I miss 90s football violence. I am never going to apologize for it. I'm not going to cry, and I wouldn't have cried if it was reversed, if Sonny Styles was doing that. It doesn't bother me as much.

15:20 I have a much bigger issue with the grabbing and the holding and the penalties constantly in the passing game. The violence of hitting, I'm all for. I want that to return. I've said over and over, quarterbacks now get bailed out without hospital balls. They can just throw it wherever. The game has been dumbed down so much. So it's not going to bother me that much, and I love the violence in which Sonny Siles plays. Now, if his instincts ever get to the level, you know, of the Freds, of the Luke Keekleys, he can be a dominant, dominant player. So, you know, Washington has a quarterback. They've got a star piece to deal with on defense, but this is going to need a lot of work. And, you know, they're

15:59 two of their best players. One just went off in an air cast, and the other's missing the season with, what is it, torn triceps or whatever happened during training camp. But, you know, this is where there are no moral victories in football. And this is where last week, you know, losing like that, this wouldn't hurt as much. Like if they had come into this game, instead of being 1-4-1, they would be 2-3. And you'd be like, you know what? One, they'd be very much alive, right? Very much alive in the division. But it feels like a little bit of a letdown. You know, we got oh so close. And if anyone goes, ah, the Niners just played like shit, which they kind of did, especially in the second half.

16:40 And the defense really just pooped out. Went from a couple notes I wrote down is the first half had a little preseason vibe. It was like kind of had a varsity versus JV. Just like, God, this is pretty bad. And I give the Commanders credit. They made it a very entertaining game. And I know every 49er fan was on the edge of their seat. I'm getting texts from people at the game. My wife's pacing around the house.

17:07 It's like, this is way too weird. I'm like, yeah. Honestly, I thought they were going to score. I kind of thought at one point on the second to last drive when Jaden had the ball driving that they were going to win 24 to 23. And it'd just be one of those like, Kyle, what the hell? Did you just have an all-time mental brain fart? I think the one knock sometimes with Kyle is he spends so much time You see it on his face. He doesn't sleep. This guy's just game planning day after day after day. I've heard him in an interview maybe a year ago. By Friday, usually in the NFL is a lighter day. You're home by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. He says, I just get home, walk right to the bed, and I immediately take a nap. I get back up at 5

17:56 or 6 because I'm just so exhausted. And I think he's, my game plan is so correct. It's going to work. And their game plan tonight was throw it. Because we can throw it on these wide receivers. The running game was working, but we can take advantage of these wide receivers. But you had a big lead. Just take advantage of the run. Just call some run plays. I don't know if he's, he's definitely not trying to run up the score against his buddy Dan. I just don't know what happened. Now, there were less possessions the way it played out, but bizarre.

18:26 Other than that, God, Malik Mustafa had a great back-to-back place. I mean, that tackle in the hole and then that play on Traylon Burks who clearly got, I don't know what he hurt, but that could not have felt good falling that high on the ground. He almost made catch of the night. I mean, that was just an incredible effort.

18:46 Just a great football play by both guys. To go high point the ball, Mustafa to keep his hand in there and play on the ball and ultimately let his hand in the ground kind of caused the incompletion. probably saved them. I mean, because if they catch that, who knows? I mean, I think we're having a very, very different story right now. One thing, Fred plays by the mid-90s rules.

19:08 I have said that before. I'll say it again. It's just refreshing. We just don't have enough violent football players anymore. And that's the 49ers' point of difference. If you're going to play for their defense, and Raheem Morris is another guy, there's a lot of credit. When they lost Robert Sala after the success he had with all the backups, it's just really hard to replace. I mean, look at Dan Quinn.

19:28 He's just going through coordinators, doesn't know what to do. Kyle loses Sala, who has been extremely successful for him twice, and just replaces him with another buddy, Raheem Morris, who's probably been better, definitely in terms of diversity of what they do. You know, Robert Sala just, you kind of knew what you were getting, Mo. weeks, but his guys played hard and very, like, everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to do. Raheem Morris is bringing guys from all over the place, standing guys up, moving guys around.

20:00 Their defensive line, listen, I understand it wasn't a scheme fit. Think about this. The 49ers' best interior pass rusher by a mile is Osa Adigazua. And the reason they got him is the Cowboys last year gave him a three-year $ 60 million contract. Maybe it was four years $ 80 million, guaranteed $ 40 million. He got a contract extension because he earned it. He generates a ton of pressure as a defensive tackle. Great one-gap interior pass pressure. Christian Parker is like, doesn't fit my defense, which there's probably some truth to that.

20:33 He's a 4-3 defensive lineman, not a 3-4 guy. But I'm a Cowboy fan. It's like, did we need to change around our defense to get rid of our good pass rushers for fucking this guy? And the 49ers are like, yeah, we'll give you a third for a guy already under contract making $ 20 million a year. If your guy hit free agency, make more than that. Like, that's one of those that you can take advantage of teams like the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers have taken advantage of the Cowboys multiple times in trades. They traded Trey Lance for a fourth round pick. He could never win the backup job there.

21:03 And they get Osa for a third. I probably would have given up a second for that guy. He's been fantastic. So 49ers, like I said, move to 6-0. Commanders, 1-4-1. I think when you suck, that tie feels worse on the record. If you're going to end up with 9 or 10 wins... and you end up making the playoffs like it was the Packers last year or a couple years ago, it's not as bad. It actually feels kind of good. Sometimes it actually is a big difference maker late in the season because you have the same amount of wins as another team, but they got two losses, you have a tie. So you get the seventh seed, they get the eighth seed or whatever. When you end up with like three or four wins and that tie is also there, It feels worse. I think I'd just

21:47 rather have the loss, you know, than just see that. It's like, God, anytime you have that third dash or, you know, that third number with the second dash, I think it's just a rough look when you don't have many wins. The other thing, the last thing on this game is typically during Monday Night Football, you know, I don't have the volume that loud. Usually by halftime, we're putting them to bed. We eat in the first half.

22:12 Not that I'm not listening, but it's not like blaring in the house. Tonight, I had that thing loud. And I was sitting there at 5 o'clock. And I would say most Mondays, depending on my schedule, sometimes I'm finishing the second half of the podcast before Monday Night Football game. So I usually go in and turn the TV on about 5, 10, 5, 12, like 5 to 3 minutes right before the game starts. I never watch Joe and Troy play. Kind of open up. I did tonight. I'm like, I ain't missing this thing. And I'm sitting there, and they go to those two guys. And I'm sure many of you have seen it. One thing I do respect about Troy Aikman is clearly a very prideful, legendary football guy.

22:55 Hall of Famer. Extremely successful and wealthy. If he lost this gig tomorrow and didn't get another penny for broadcasting the rest of his life, he wouldn't notice. Like, he ain't struggling... To pay the mortgages, even if he might not even have one. He might be paying cash for homes. He's good, right? But, like, I'm not going to pretend.

23:16 I'm not going to cause a scene. But I'm also not going to pretend everything's just hunky-dory. And they go to him. And Joe is just in full form like a normal broadcaster. And you can tell Troy was pissed. And Troy couldn't fake it. And I appreciate guys who can stay professional. Because he was. Once the game starts, you're not looking at him. It sounded very professional. I kind of wish ESPN would have had a little cam in the corner. Just a booth cam. I would love to see their body language. Because after the initial opening, you're like, God damn, Troy's fucking pissed. He couldn't even fake it. Then I come, maybe it was, I kind of told Maria what was going on. She's like, oh yeah, I saw Joe Buck. She's really into Dancing with the

24:02 Stars this season. She's like, oh, Joe was a guest judge on Dancing with the Stars. And it's like the one thing with this media world, once you start making huge money, it's like, yeah, ESPN has a million shows. Disney has a million shows. ABC has a million shows. Like Joe's saying, yeah. Because not that long ago, probably in his late 20s, early 30s, when he was calling St.

24:24 Louis Cardinal fill-in games, he's probably making like 50, 60, 70K, working every single game, just grinding his ass off calling baseball games. And now he's making $ 18, $ 20 million calling Monday night football? You want me to call Dancing with the Stars or be a guest judge? What time? I'll fly myself there. Troy's just not going to do that.

24:45 And listen, some former athletes will not do any of that stuff. I don't remember seeing Tony Romo anywhere. Ever. But he was making whatever, $ 18 million calling games. Didn't do anything else. It's like sometimes you got to kind of play the game. Not all of us want to play politics, but you get to a certain level of wealth. Hell, even at the bottom where it's like, hey, they're going to like this. And if you work in a corporate structure, sometimes appeasing people is what you have to do. But when you start making that much money, when you have the work ratio relative to the pay ratio, and I'll promise you this, when you become one of these big broadcasters, there can't be a better ratio in American history in

25:22 terms of time worked, And what you are getting paid currently. It's like, what time you need me to get up? Greenberg, I'll be there. Like, Troy's not going to play that game. And whoever they hire next year, whether it's Kelsey, Olsen, whatever, like, you'll see that guy all over ESPN. He'll be on McAfee.

25:38 He'll be on Stephen A. He'll be on First State. He'll just be on all these things throughout the year. Because it's like, hey, we're giving you $ 20 million. We're going to need more than just 17 nights of work. in Troy's little old school, it's like, yeah, it's like not doing that, which I respect, but it's like, maybe that's why this is coming this way. But I, I did really enjoy the, um, the cold shoulder on the open.

26:01 Like if you kind of, if you had read the story, you're looking for it and you're like, Oh my, I see it. That is some angry body language. Uh, and Joe just kind of pretended like nothing was wrong and they just went about their night and, and called the game. But, Yeah, what a night. I need to tell you about this new sports trading app called Polymarket. It's the best way to trade in sports. In the past, if you wanted some action on the game, you'd put some money in.

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27:34 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com slash TOS for more information. The Polymarket US app serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. The big news of the day that the Indianapolis Colts have fired Chris Ballard and are now looking for a GM. Dan Patrick, after the news came out, guy in the loop, knows a lot of rich, famous people, knows a lot of people in powerful positions, said the Indianapolis Colts not only will but have reached out to Peyton Manning and want him to be the grand poobah

28:31 and run the operation, I think a little bit a la John Elway years ago in Denver. And because he's no longer a player, they have mechanisms now that the dad was never willing to do that maybe the daughters would be open to of doing some sort of equity. You can buy in, become a little bit of a part owner and be the boss of this operation, which to me feels a little PR-y. This is an organization that is currently a laughingstock. They just lost to a team that didn't sniff 200 yards. That a team that we all agree is god-awful. Where they, I'm pretty sure, had a 13-0 lead at home. They got embarrassed. And Chris Ballard knew this in the beginning of the season, was on his contract year, and was competing for his job.

29:20 They probably had to make the playoffs for him to keep it. which would have meant an extension. Same with the coach who is now also, who is already on the hot seat, who I would say is a dead man walking. Like, Shane Steichen is not going to be the coach in 2027. I think it is fair to assume that. And I think a lot of people around the league, I heard Albert Brewster, say this, there's a potential Stefanski situation where it's like, don't be shocked when he gets a job. We'll get into the Eagles later, but if Sirianni loses his job, that seems like a pretty easy transition. You already know him, you've had success with him, and he can call plays. And then when you factor in, it doesn't feel like there's many Ben

29:59 Johnsons and Kyle Shanahan's in the market. I would say the two top coaches, assuming Tomlin wants to get back in, and there is no guarantee. Every time I see him, it's like, God, he's looking a little slimmer. He's got a big smile on his face. As he said, I get full-time pay for part-time work. Life is fucking good.

30:18 I was thinking last night, watching my Sunday Night Football, It's like, you think that city looked good after 12 years of coaching. Can you imagine the work he's done the last nine-ish months on that city? I mean, he's probably added like three cities the size of New York City since. So who knows? We have seen guys before take some time off. Hell, Gruden took like 10 years off.

30:42 So that will be yet to be determined. But the Eagles, I'm just using them as an example, don't have a history of hiring defensive coaches. The one thing just... on a GM job opening, they don't open nearly as much as coaching jobs open, right? When you think about it, most GMs get multiple coaches. Just look around the league.

31:05 Joe Shane was on a second coach. Hell, John Spitek, second coach. That's not usually the way it works. Their turnover, they have longer leashes. They also have huge advantage. They get to sit with the owner way more than the coach. They speak more the language of ownership than the coach because they deal with the contracts. They deal with the money.

31:29 Coaches are dealing with three, four defenses and, you know, gun runs. And they speak a language that, hell, someone who's worked in football does this for a living. I don't understand it. We hear when these guys rattle off the play call, it's like, what did he just say? What just came out of his mouth? And that's what's so unique about this sport. And my initial take when I see this headline, it's sexy. It's going to get people to click. And I'm not even saying Dan Patrick's wrong.

32:00 He's just saying what he's hearing. And, of course, they would reach out to Peyton Manning. I'd be a little surprised. I really would. One thing Peyton Manning has going for him is, one, didn't his kid just enter high school? Like, wouldn't you bet on his kid being in the mix of being a name that we start hearing about going to some big-time colleges over the next couple years? Pretty sure he left Denver a couple years ago, which also...

32:27 is something to acknowledge that when he got cut from the Colts and went to Denver, he made Denver his home post-playing. It's not like he moved back to Indianapolis. No shot at Indianapolis. I love, let me repeat, love the city whenever I go there for the combine. It is my type city. It's not massive. It's easy to get around. My only beef is the airport's a little far away from downtown. But again, that's nitpicking. It's beautiful by all accounts. There's some super nice areas in the suburbs, golf courses. Obviously, Peyton can live wherever he wants. But I would be a little surprised of the guy I just saw a clip of going to Neyland Stadium with some other famous guys who seems like he's really enjoying life,

33:15 who you can't turn on a game during Monday night football, Thursday night football during the weekend and not see commercials with the guy still involved. So his business operation, just in terms of marketability, is still high as ever. He's printing money as an advertiser or as a front man for advertisements. And he has a big time company, Omaha Production, that has a massive deal with ESPN. So this isn't anything about financial means of like, you know, he's made some bad investments. I'm not saying every investment the guy's made is perfect. But this is not one of those situations like you could argue now he's making as much money as he's ever made. It's just going to be like, does he truly miss it? Does he miss the juice? Well,

34:00 one of his things is why he and Eli want to do the Manning cast was like, yeah, you know, I don't really want to fly around and call games. My life's too good. I've made too much money. There was a story I once heard when I was in the NFL. Tom Condon, as famous of an agent as anyone not named like David Falk in the 90s and the 2000s, representing Peyton Manning. And a story I used to hear him and Bill Polian used to go at it.

34:26 And he'd basically tell Bill Polian on the phone during Peyton Manning contract negotiations, not enough, not enough. And Bill would, you know, old curmudgeon angry guy would be like, how do you want me to build the team? And Tom would essentially hang up and go, it's not my fucking problem. Make that number go up. Peyton was, I would say, the opposite of Tom Brady. Two guys whose careers paralleled each other. They were rivals. Tom Brady, I would say, is famously known for taking discounts, at least on the salary cap. Who knows what was going on on the side, which all four. Kawhi's problem wasn't that he was doing shady shit. It's like, bro, just do an advertisement or two on Twitter. They wouldn't have been able to catch you.

35:11 but he refused. Peyton had no problem doing any of that, right? And I just think from a financial standpoint, Peyton wouldn't be doing it for the money. And the one thing that goes along with this life is you don't have a life. John Elway was at the office every single day. John Elway's golf game went out the fucking window. John Elway's days of just going out and drinking beers at the game didn't exist. And he probably was having a little more fun than some of these lifer GMs. But it's not a job, it's a lifestyle. And Peyton, like Tom, are good examples of when they played, they had no life during the season. They grinded 24-7. Remember, part of the reason Peyton Manning liked Adam Gase is because when

36:04 he was at his house studying film at 1 o'clock in the morning, he could text Adam and he'd get a text immediately back. That was like Tom's deal with Josh McDaniels. They could communicate at all hours of the night. Drew Brees and Sean Peyton. Remember Eli used to talk about, yeah, Tuesday's an off day for the players, not the quarterbacks.

36:24 And does he want that? Also, if you are the Colts and you have hit rock bottom, you got bent over by Daniel Jones, you have a roster full of aging players and you're going nowhere fast. Shouldn't you be in the mix of like, who's the next Howie Roseman? Who's the next John Schneider? Who's the next guy who's been doing this as a profession for a long period of time to get us going in the right direction?

36:55 than just trying to make the PR higher. Because my first initial thought was like, I would doubt Peyton would take this job. And if he did, I would view it closer to Tom Brady. Like, yeah, I'll buy a piece. I'll kind of, you know, be a part of the organization, but I'm not coming into the office and grinding 13, 14, 15 hours a day, basically 10 months a year. Because as a GM, the season ends. It's chill for the coaches.

37:24 That's when your season starts. Senior Bowl, Combine, free agency, the draft, the meetings. It never ends. It's why I give, listen, John Lynch is highly paid. Some sources will tell you he's the highest paid GM in the league. He doesn't need to be doing this. Now, he's paid a lot of money for those services, but it's like, God, I give him a lot of respect. You know, he could be with his feet up in San Diego if he wanted to, but he likes to juice. Like, it's not like Peyton hasn't had these opportunities and he's passed on.

37:59 Same with Tom. Like, if Tom truly had wanted to do, like, listen, I respect Matt Ryan. And Matt Ryan said when he got hired, like, I'm going to go into the office every day. Like, this is going to be my full-time job. Quit CBS. And I would bet if you were having a beer with Matt Ryan, it's like, God, this job's a little different than I thought as a player. I don't just get to like, yeah, just go to the steam room and the hot tub and the cold tub, just hang out for like an hour in the middle of the day. Like, no, that's not really the way this thing works. Plus, everyone's looking at you as the boss.

38:30 You know, as a player, clearly you are a leader. But as the boss, like from the secretary to the scouts to the assistant coaches, like everyone looks at you. And if I could give advice to Carly, Ursae, Gordon, assuming that Peyton Manning says no to this or it's not interested or this doesn't come to fruition, hire the best possible people in the league. Do a full-on search like all these other teams do. You've had Chris Ballard for a long time. I don't know him personally, but everyone seems to like him. His downfall clearly was couldn't find a quarterback and then kind of thought he did and then gave the guy $ 90 million guaranteed on a torn Achilles. I... I thought that was, listen, you never

39:18 want to make deals out of desperation because typically they blow up in your face and this one blew up in his face. The Josh McDaniels things would have been a disaster, but he wasn't the only guy that tried to hire him. A lot of people were trying to hire him constantly. The Niners tried to hire him. He said no, they got Kyle Shanahan. The Raiders hired him, blew up in their face. He tried to hire him and he turned him down at the altar. it happens.

39:45 Everyone was on this guy because it was believable. It's like, well, he's changed his life. He's looked in the mirror. He's a nicer guy. Players like him. And then now he holds a record of the only guy to have, uh, two different jobs as a head coach in the NFL and not make it through year two, either time. And then obviously the Shane Steichen thing, like you just, you don't have a quarterback. You got no chance. And that's the situation they're in. So this Colts, um, I would say trajectory is going to be a rough year. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

40:22 But my gut says Peyton Manning doesn't take this job. Life's too good. He's making too much money. And the stress of this, why would he want to take that on? He had the stress of being the lead dog in the league with Tom for almost 20 years. The other big story of the day is the Eagles PR nightmare. And I want to defend Nick Sirianni. And you know, it's not like I'm some Nick Sirianni backer here. You could make the argument that he is one of the luckiest men in the history of America. Be the equivalent of like, who was your college roommate? Yeah, this guy started Google. One day he asked me, he's like, hey man, you got any spare change? If you want to invest in this company, I think it's going to be big.

41:16 And I gave him 20 grand. And then 10 years later, it was... $ 800 million. I didn't have to do shit. They just put me in the room with them first day of college. He was my doormate. I mean, it's like, that's how you made your $ 800 million? Yeah, I gave a guy $ 25, 000. I actually heard a story once from a guy in the finance world. I played golf with him one time. Good guy. And he told me there's a pro sports owner. I'm not going to tell you which sport, but he's a pretty famous guy. And he's pretty outspoken and arrogant. Like, he bumps his chest out there.

41:52 And said that, you know, a lot of his wealth came in the business he was in because of a decision his partners made that essentially invested in one of the biggest companies in the world when they were essentially being built in a garage. got in on the ground floor for a couple hundred grand, and that thing became the majority of the wealth of their firm. And he gets a lot of credit for it, but from what I was told, he had nothing to do with it.

42:23 which again, being partners with the right people, making decisions, happens to a lot of our lives. But sometimes things just go well for you and you didn't have that much to do with it. Pretty rare. I would say it's very rare. You look at Andy Reid, where's his success come? Well, he's created a lot of it. I would say he has been a driving force in the success that has followed throughout his career. Sirianni would go, well, he got hired, which was a desirable place. No one else was going to hire him at the time. And he inherited a Hall of Fame general manager, an owner willing to spend a ton of money, and within a couple years, one of the most talented rosters in the NFL.

43:05 But today he's being peppered about this situation that Jalen Hurts is now out for the year, which I don't know why once he had the blood clots in his calf, anyone thought he was going to return. My neighbor, retired doctor, I thought he was retired, but I always see him on the phone like talking with patients and other people.

43:23 But he tells me he's retired from Philadelphia. Diehard Eagles fans. Saw him at the grass the other day walking our dogs. And he's like, yeah, I don't I don't. This was before the news came out about the lung blood clots in his lung. This one was in the cap. He's like, he's not gonna be back this year. No, no chance.

43:40 And then it comes out the blood clots in the lung, the story about the hospital and not sleeping all night. My first thought was, would this have happened if they were just sent him to a Philadelphia hospital? Or if he had been in Jacksonville, Florida and been in the States? I don't know. No one knows the answer to that.

44:00 But I think it's a fair thing to ask. If we had sent him to a local hospital, like if he had just gone to Honor Health, where I'm sitting right now, or the Mayo Clinic, Would he have come back at four in the morning and been like, everything's good, man. Just don't sleep. I don't know. Whoever that doctor is that gave that okay feels like his medical license should be in question. But when coaches say, I'm no medical doctor, it's not my decision. This is in the 70s. This isn't when a guy is injured, you're like, don't be a pussy, shake it off and get out there. Those days are done. Especially a guy like Jalen Hurts who's making 50, 60 million dollars a year. That once he goes away to the doctor, it is completely out of

44:45 your hands. It's why during the draft process, during the season, when a doctor says he can't go... He can't go. There's no way. I'll just tough it through. And guess what? And we've learned this for a long time because one thing was clear, which thank God nothing terrible happened. Obviously, blood clots in his lungs. That could be game over.

45:06 I mean, the worst possible situation here. We talk a lot about these situations like coming back from injury too early. Micah Parsons. It's like tearing another Achilles, tearing a calf, tearing a hamstring, overcompensating. These aren't life or death situations. This clearly is. You get them in your lungs, boom, game over. It's a wrap. The plane flight home could have been a disaster. Very fair for everyone to go, what the fuck is going on? So Sirianni, because he's the head coach and talks like four times a week, that's part of the deal in the NFL, is getting peppered with these questions. He doesn't control any of that.

45:45 The doctors do. The trainers do. And to me, someone dropped the ball on this situation and they're going to pay for it. Clearly. The Eagles have fired doctors before. My guess is doctors are getting shit canned again. Unless, you know, based on the information that I have seen, And just following the league. I know this, and this is what the Eagles should do. I actually think it's unfair to throw Sirianni out there to get peppered about Jalen Hurts in this situation with all the information because people are going to want answers. And clearly he's had more information based on things that doctors are telling him, but he's not saying anything. But it's not his call.

46:28 If they knew he had blood clots, like, well, just don't go to bed. Like, that's where it's like, what? Guy didn't sleep? It was like, well, he kind of slept. He got back. Even Jalen's like, it was a bizarre situation. And think about Jalen, right? He's seen it all in his football career. The guy was benched after going 26-2.

46:46 Starting quarterback at mid-dynasty at Alabama. Got benched. didn't see his job back until the following year in the championship game or SEC championship game when Tua got injured. And then on the flip side in the NFL, he essentially did that to Carson Wentz. So this is a guy that is not giving up his spot for anything, which is how a lot of football guys think. So it's on the doctor to take it out of their hand and go, you can't play. But to think that coaches have the juice with players of his stature. So, I mean, I feel like I'm defending a guy that I don't even think can coach. And I think inevitably gets fired.

47:29 But he is going to get destroyed on social media, I would imagine. I just don't put this on Sirianni. I really don't. This is on the doctors and their situation of completely fucking up. And they got extremely lucky that this didn't turn out to be, I mean, potentially one of the worst moments in the history of the sport.

47:53 You know, and obviously everyone talks about how do you let them fly back on the plane on those like eight, nine hours from London to Philadelphia? This is a massive, massive ball drop by everyone involved in the medical community. But to think, I mean, Sirianni can't even call an out route. You think he knows how to diagnose blood clots?

48:11 You think he knows how to diagnose? What are we talking about? I just think sometimes these coaches, and this is why you get paid a lot of money, you get thrown out in situations that you had nothing to do with and you got to answer for. Obviously, this is a situation that's not going to go away. I think in a perfect world, the easiest way to kind of slow it down is like throw out the person that made the decision. obviously not the dude in London that probably has nothing to do with the team, but like your doctor who was probably traveling with you, your training staff, uh, other teams have done that and let them kind of describe the information they got had maybe an information that they fucked up on that maybe a

48:54 scan didn't show. Who knows? I'm no medical doctor either. Just went to a couple of state schools, got a couple of degrees, no big deal. Uh, but I don't know. I mean, I think this situation is definitely not going to go away. And this is one that people are going to dive deep on. This is like Pablo Torre written all over it. Everyone has fun with fuck them picks and laughs about it and makes t-shirts about it. And, you know, Les and Sean have always kind of like embraced it. Like I've always thought it was a little arrogant.

49:28 Like I've always thought, you know, you guys acted like you reinvented something. Like you traded Jared Goff and two first round picks for Matt Stafford. Other teams were trying to do the same thing. You just had Jared Goff as an asset, right? And then it cost you the number six overall pick the following year. You just traded a cost-controlled asset. In fairness, Jared Versa, you know, doesn't have a sack this year, is clearly not doing as well as he did for the Rams with the Browns, but had been an ascending player, had been a guy with, you know, could have been a consistent pro bowler, wasn't as good as Myles Garrett, but was an elite run defender, and had been an extremely durable player, and was cheap,

50:12 with a first round pick, a second round pick, and a third round pick for a guy who now can't play at all. Who's not only injured, but there is no timetable for his return. And then when you're doing all this, like we're going all in, you draft Ty Simpson. A smaller quarterback who had, I would say, less than half a season of production of going, yeah, this guy's a really good player, finished the season banged up. And was also, if he had been fully healthy and wanted to return, Alabama was not going to make him the starting quarterback next year.

50:49 Why?

50:50 Because they wanted to go with Keelan Russell, who clearly is way more talented than Ty Simpson. And I'm not trying to shit on Ty Simpson, but I stand by this. It's one of the most arrogant, insane picks in the history of the league. I truly believe that. It's based on his profile of a one-year starter with his physical attributes.

51:12 It's nuts. In hell, you'd be like, well, it's a long-term plan. If a guy was talented, he should show up and beat out Stetson Bennett in a heartbeat with his fucking eyes closed. Look at Jalen Daniels. Shows up, beats everyone else out. Now we can debate how good the guy is, but he like wins the job. Like this guy can't win the job. And today was worse than Sunday when they got embarrassed by the Arizona Cardinals because that's what happened. They got embarrassed. They lost Devontae Adams, who we saw leave that game, for six to ten weeks, who was going to have a procedure done on his hamstring.

51:49 So I think it's fair to say that's closer to ten weeks, which, if you do the math, could be the season, than it would be six. They lost multiple defensive linemen. Kobe Turner had to go to IR. Puna Ford's triceps out for the year. And their kicker, who got knocked out of the game, which I would say of the four guys, easiest guy to replace, you just sign some other kicker. on IR done for the year.

52:14 That's a disastrous day. And you trade it for Myles Garrett, who can't play. Meanwhile, you don't have your first round pick. This season could not be going any worse. And the other elephant in the room is Stafford has kept doing this like one year type deal. It's like, well, I'll see how this year goes. He does look a little old this year. He's still good, and when you watch him on the right drive, elite arm, the accuracy, the red zone passes a couple weeks ago against the Bills who can't cover a soul. We're still elite. I'm not trying to act like this guy is out of the league talent-wise at this point in time, but it doesn't quite look as good as last year. I don't see how anyone would argue that. And I also think when

53:03 they do all these moves, the pressure that was added is multiplied several times over and they are clearly not handling it well there is no disputing that it was clear with with Oregon it's like something's off you could debate like.

53:22 The actual reason but it is one thing that is not arguable is like they're fucked up I mean they got very very lucky.

53:32 To win that game like one o'clock in the morning with Dylan Raiola who they're paying a lot of money and he had to come in because they had to bench the other guy because he was terrible So I just look at the Rams and go, you know, sometimes arrogance and pumping your chest out. Like, let's face it, Ben Johnson does it. And then he went in with Tyson Bajet to Lambeau Field and got his teeth kicked in.

53:53 A little bit of a humble pie. Now he bounced back and treated Kevin Stefanski like a JV coach because I think Stefanski's one of the most overrated coaches in America. And Michael Penix, I mean, God, when that guy's off– And I was a Michael Pennick supporter coming out of Washington, but I'm out. I mean, you just can't play in the league when you can't move. If you get any pressure on the guy, he just folds like a tent, and he actually goes in the tent a lot. But this Rams, the hype machine behind it and the results now, I just don't think they could have been on more opposite ends of the spectrum. And by no means did I predict them sucking. I did not predict them sucking, but I, I, I, I felt pretty confident going. Everyone

54:42 is too. Football does not work like these other sports where you just plug and play guys. Team chemistry matters, uh, coming together in the scheme matters. The repetitions playing together really matters and everything just looks off. You know what I mean? And it goes back to like Puka just disappears to the wellness place. Um, Miles Garrett just can't really practice because he's injured in training camp, and now he's just out. The arrogance, and I repeat the arrogance, don't give me a fucking science, of going to Australia the day before is one of the craziest things that's ever been done in the NFL from a non-on-the-field perspective.

55:23 It's like, let's just use some common sense. We were flying to a different hemisphere. They are playing the game at 10 a.m. in the morning the following day. Like, Kyle Shanahan has been living on a different day than you for a week. He didn't have to put out his injury report on the Wednesday in Australia because he argued, well, it's only Tuesday for Sean McVay, so I will wait to put out mine when he has to put out his.

55:50 And he was right, and the NFL granted him that. But that was the extreme measure based on the time zones. And... It started with that Australia game. You could argue that was just a bad omen. You're really going to approach this like this? As people in the league have texted me back when it happened, they just send a couple scouting assistants with some whoops, had them run around for a couple days and see how the readings were. How could you possibly have them go on a five-mile jog and see how they recovered? How could you, there's no way to prepare for what those guys were going to be asked to do in the actual game. And clearly it backfired. And it has now derailed their entire season.

56:34 There is no arguing that. They got a gift in game two when Jackson Dart gets KO'd on the first series of the game. And Jameis Winston, who's clearly a rollercoaster ride, played what had to be one of the worst games we've ever seen played in the NFL. I mean, it was, even for his standards, it couldn't have been much worse. But this is a team staring a top-ten draft pick right in the face. The problem is they don't have it. The Browns do. And those are the type things, and I mentioned this yesterday, of like, you're Sean McVay, you're going to, do you really believe in Ty Simpson? Do you really think he's a long-term answer at quarterback? You think he's a guy that can keep you playing with the top young players at quarterback position

57:27 in the league? I don't know. Let's do some mailbag questions. How does the replay assist work? This is Mohammed. Like, is there anyone who knows how it works? I'm not one of those Rams fans who believe the league is rigging the game against them. They deserve to be two and four. But there has to be some consistency with the assist. Last week against the Bills, they call roughing the passer on Stafford, which they never call. Stafford has had one roughing the passer penalty over the last two years.

58:11 And immediately they picked it up because they said replay assist reviewed it, and there was no head contact. And again, the Cardinals, their player lands on the Rams player, and there is no review. They might have scored anyway, but it just ended the game right there. I agree. I do think that play didn't determine the outcome, but it was an egregious call. I do think there are just people in New York or the league office that are in communication with each game. And their job is to look at the monitor. We saw this, what game was it?

58:45 Was it Ohio State-Indiana? I think it was the Big Ten. And the on-the-field ref consistently, they would play the audio. So you could hear the guy at the home base, wherever that is, Indianapolis, Chicago, in communication with the on-field ref. Now when he would go to the sideline and talk. And the on-the-field ref consistently had no clue what was going on. It was like he didn't even know the rules.

59:11 And when I watched that, and this was a massive game, I kind of thought, do some of these guys, based on their little fatigues running around, the pressure, completely over their heads? Because that's what it kind of feels like sometimes. Listen, the... Officiating in football is atrocious. It is over-regulated right now.

59:37 It's over-officiated. Every time you look up, there's a flag on the field. And listen, we read the stats, was it last week or two weeks ago from Warren Sharp? It's clearly the biggest downs, the third downs, the fourth downs in the red zone. You know, calling off touchdowns or on third and eight, giving them a free first down.

59:58 It's egregious. And it has jumped the shark of like, okay, let's PI. Not everything has to be a flag. And then now you've got all these fans, myself included, you're just kind of on the ropes, right? You get mad about when a flag's not thrown. You get mad when too many flags are thrown. It's completely out of whack right now. And I don't know how you kind of contain it, how you kind of roll it back. It feels like it's just... It's out of control. And it does feel like a lot of these officials, listen, it's easier to officiate the game to run game management from your couch. It's easier for the official in the league office or in the conference office when he's sipping a coffee with his feet up eating a bagel to get

1:00:56 it right. I do understand the pressure of being on the field. These games are hot or they're cold. You've got a lot going on. But that is your job. And this gets back to the NFL. I'm sorry. You guys know where I've stood when it comes to money in the NFL. I totally understand certain fights. I get the NFL. We're fighting guaranteed money. Not every contract is going to be guaranteed. I get it. This is a league that is... the outcome is so tied to injuries, guys get injured. Like I would fight that too, if I was on their side, but I've never understood the grass field thing. It's like, guys, what are we talking about?

1:01:36 A couple million dollars. How much are we actually talking to make officials full-time? And the answer is more than they would like to spend because that also comes with health insurance, uh, other things that they would have to pay for that. They just make you part-time. Well, it's like you get part-time officials, you get part-time results. And that's what it feels like it has become. That no one knows what's going on, ever. Somewhat of a random question, but what are your thoughts on pugs? I've always wanted to get one, but my partner doesn't seem eye to eye with me. No, they shed more than the average dog and have health issues, but feel like I am at the point in life that it's either now or

1:02:18 30 years from now as to when I could raise one for its entire life. We have a, uh, a pug zoo. Well, Maria adopted it before. Well, she, she, uh, what's it called? Uh, she fostered it and then she became connected to it. Just kept it before I ever met her. And it's a pug zoo. So it's a pug body, like the fat body with kind of the zoo fluff. We say in my house, the, the pug makes her chubby and the zoo makes her fluffy that I have been around big dogs my whole life, mainly labs, who also shed a lot and have a lot of energy.

1:02:59 But I always thought, like, I'm a big dog guy. And then I got around this pug zoo, and I just become part of my family, and I can't imagine living without Lolly. So I'm a huge pug guy. Now, you know, the pugs typically have the shorter hair. Lolly gets really, really fluffy, but chillest dog ever. I mean, sometimes I grab Jack and I point him at Lolly, and he's also like hitting her and grabbing her, and she's just been awesome. There were times when I was like, Lolly, I wouldn't even blame you if you bit his little toe, bit his little hands. He's fucking with you. But I'm a huge fan. Once you get a little dog for the first time when you've been, you know, most of your experience has been bigger, full-sized dogs, I tell my

1:03:50 mom this all the time, who lost her lab Callie within the last year. I think Callie was like 13 or 14 years old. It's like, just get a small dog. They're really easy and chill. Big believer in them. I'm 25. And in 15 plus years of watching the NFL, it feels like a parody of who can win it all grows year over year. But this year, it feels bigger than ever before by a big margin. Right now, after six weeks, clearly looks like the Chiefs and the Niners, I'm recording this part before the Monday night game, Super Bowl, that should be the favorite. But after those two teams, it looks wide open. And not because we have a lot of teams overperforming, it feels like a lot of teams are underperforming. What are your thoughts on the parity

1:04:40 in the league? Well, I do think injuries plays a massive, massive part. Like, let's use the Browns and the Ravens currently have the same record, right? The Browns just beat the Ravens in Cleveland, which was a game that we were all over. It's like, hey, things get weird there. Let's take the Browns in this game. I'll be honest, when it was 10-0, I regretted it. I'm like, this is stupid. But... Snoop Huntley is who we thought he is.

1:05:10 He ain't Lamar. So Lamar's just going to miss games. They could lose whenever. You also like the Patriots, who clearly if Drake Mays is going to play like that, are going to be really good. But early in the season, he looked like a shell of himself. So I think part of it is you never know week to week what you're going to get. The Jacks, they... I mean, I guess they went 1-1 in London, but it feels like they could have lost both. They could have won both.

1:05:43 I think part of football, the majority of these games are going to be within a score, like heading into the fourth quarter. I don't know if the stat's the same, but like five years ago, it was like 80-plus percent. And some of it is injuries play a huge factor. We have more injuries than ever in the NFL. I mean, star players get hurt in August. And by the end of September, it's like guys are missing all over the place on injury reserve. There's also not that many great coaches.

1:06:15 You know, I was thinking about the college quarterbacks. Because someone, I saw something on the X, the everything app, Twitter. that said, if you think it's bad now, look what is currently playing in college football. The NFL should get ready. We have a quarterback problem. And I go, eh, I don't know about that. Because there have always been guys in college who you would have been like, this guy's not going to be a good NFL player. And then go on to be 15-year NFL starters. We saw one last night. Dak Prescott played at Mississippi State. A lot of people thought, like, this isn't going to work. He's been a starter ever since his rookie year. Josh Allen played at Wyoming, could barely throw 50% completion percentage. Now,

1:07:05 looking back, it's like, well, it wasn't all his fault. But still, he couldn't get Fresno State and San Diego State to give him college offers. So Jordan Love went to Utah State. Brock Purdy went to Iowa State and was the last pick in the seventh round. So you just don't know how things are going to play out.

1:07:26 Fernando Mendoza just went one. I don't know. I'm a fan. I'm rooting for him, but there's no guarantee how good he's going to be. Like, will he ever be as good one day, not like this current version, but like of Kirk Cousins' career? I think the Raiders would sign up for that right now. Cam Ward just went number one overall. The guy stinks. You know, I mean, Jackson Dart went in the end of the first round, looks way better than Cam Ward, but he can't stay healthy.

1:07:53 So for every Caleb and Jared Goff, guys that go number one overall, there are a lot of like Tyler Shuck, who statistically actually is having a really good season. But he went to like seven different colleges. And now he's got 12 touchdowns through six games. He's averaging two touchdowns a game. And he's 65% completion percentage. I mean, when it's all said and done, he'll probably throw 35 touchdowns.

1:08:19 And it's not, I wouldn't put their shitty record on him. Their defense has been atrocious. So I think football's weird that way. You just, even Lamar Jackson was a 30-second pick in the draft. The Ravens passed on him. In the first round, they took someone else. I heard you ask, are the Packers back? Do you think the answer to that question is the game against the Panthers? I feel like if the Panthers match... Up well against us it'll tell us if we are the best of the bad teams or the bottom of the good teams The touchdown drops and penalties have me worried for the Lions game next week So the Packers who have won three straight, their next... This is a tough little stretch here. At Detroit, home against the Panthers. At New England, home against the Vikings.

1:08:57 I would say at 4-2, if you can go... If you go 2-2 in that stretch, you're going to be a playoff team. You'll be 6-4 with games coming up against the Rams who are in shambles, Saints whose defense sucks. You've still got the Dolphins. You'll be able to get to 9 or 10 wins. If you go 3-1, you could win the division. If you go 1-3, then things could get a little weird. I'm with you. If you lose this Detroit game, not the end of the world, even though you are kind of built to be an indoor team, I know he dropped some touchdowns. Watson, definitely golden.

1:09:54 But those two guys in a dome, I mean, that's... Is Jacobs coming back? Your offense could be pretty sweet. Because one thing is like, well, Detroit, they have a good offense, no defense. Shouldn't Jordan Love light them up like Christmas tree? I think it's a good call. I think the key of this four-game stretch, minimum 2-2, 1-3 would be a problem because it means you're losing the playoff teams. Three and one would be excellent because you're like, we're beating playoff teams. And two and two, you're just holding serve and like headed to a wild card game, which would be impressive after. I mean, that Falcons game was a pretty low point. When is the media going to stop with Kevin O'Connell being a quarterback whisperer? It

1:10:38 was Kyle and SF that rehabilitated Sam Darnold. J.J. McCarthy looked pretty good yesterday with the Giants, and the only reason the Vikings are 5-0, not 0-5, is because of Flores. Definitely isn't because of Kyler's improvement being under Kevin. Isn't it time to start asking for receipts on this quarterback whisper notion about him? I'll push back on the Darnold thing a little bit. Sam was the backup, you know?

1:11:04 So while Kyle and Purdy and Kubiak and those guys clearly uplifted his confidence, it's not like he threw 35 touchdowns for them. Pretty sure that he played week 17, I think their last game, because they had a bye all wrapped up. Kevin O'Connell gets credit for Sam Darnold. That was his first year starting rehabilitating his value. Because even when they signed him, Like, he went to the Niners for a couple million dollars, and then they gave him $ 10 million. Which was, you could say, still a little bold. It was the best $ 10 million relative, I mean, to how much backups get paid we've ever seen. To get a one-year deal like that and get 35 touchdowns?

1:11:51 So he gets credit for that. But I'm with you. I've always said, little overrated. Little overrated. Good coach. A lot of teams would want him. He also gets credit for hiring Flores. Like part of being a head coach is like part of being a GM, like being a GM, like the draft. Well, what about free agency? What about the coach you hired? What about, you know, your scouting staff?

1:12:13 What about helping your coaches out? There's so much else that goes under that umbrella. It's like, well, what about the coach or the quarterback of the offense? Well, he also hires a staff and he hired Brian Flores. There's a flag every single play. The NFL is getting ridiculous. Dak got bailed out for a terrible interception because of a joke roughing the passer. Is this going to eventually catch up to the NFL? I fear the game I once loved is becoming unwatchable. Holy shit. Not just with the game, but all of the ones I've watched today and what the hell is going on. I think we all think this. We're like, how is this possible to be this clunky? How does it feel like it's getting worse every year? And I just saw 17 million people

1:12:58 watch Thursday Night Football, Seattle, Denver. I mean, the ratings keep going up, or at least keep sustaining. Football kind of has us by the you-know-what. Where else are we going to go? Sometimes I think when I'm watching... just football for hours on end, Saturday morning through Sunday night. I mean, I thought about it Saturday. We got up, right?

1:13:24 Jack wakes up, watch a little game day, a little big noon, watch football starting with the Ohio State game, all the way through the BYU-Notre Dame game. And then I go, yeah, let's just throw on a show. Go to bed. While I'm still checking the Oregon score on my phone, fall asleep about 10.30. I am up by 6.15 in the morning, have a cup of coffee with Jack on the couch, watching kickoff to the 6.30 a.m. kickoff, watch football all the way through the end. I literally watched the kneel downs in the Packer-Cowboy game. Now, I'm a bad example. I'm doing this for a living, but I think I would be finding ways to consume maybe not as much, but I would still watch a ton.

1:14:09 And we just complain. It's one of those things like If you have a bad meal at a restaurant, you can just find somewhere else to eat. If you're in a terrible relationship, you can just dump her and try to meet someone else. Where are we going to go? Where else are we going to go? And the answer is we got nowhere to go. They got us. They truly do. I did watch some of Mobland the last couple nights. late at night trying to kind of calm down.

1:14:42 I stayed up way too late on Sunday night because I was like, you know, I need to decompress. So she's passed out by the time I get back in the room at like 10.15, finishing up podcasting 10.30. Brush my teeth, wash my face. You're kind of amped up, you know, when you're talking to football. So I just grab my phone, put a little earpiece in, watch like, I'm just going to watch like 20 minutes. Then all of a sudden I look, it's like midnight. I've banged out like an episode and a half. I'm like, oh.

1:15:09 Then all of a sudden, at about 5.15, you hear, you're like, holy shit, I regret staying up that extra hour. After the Rams-Cardinal game, the Rams losing their kicker, then having their punter get an extra point, why don't teams try to get someone who can do punt and kick, essentially combining the position? That's a good question. I've always thought because if you have a kicker punter who's the same guy, well, if that guy gets that injury, what are you going to do about the other? One thing the other guy can always step in for the other guy.

1:15:42 If your punter goes down, your kicker can technically punt. If your kicker goes down, we just saw the punter could kick an extra point. But if the guy's the same human being and he snaps his leg, tears his ACL, breaks his shoulder trying to tackle somebody, you don't have that human being. What do you do? The answer is you'd be screwed. So I do think that's somewhat the reason.

1:16:06 But that would be a great question for a guy like Chris Ballard. He's got some free times on his hands. I was thinking today, when he comes in, a company like that, I'm sure she calls him into his office, HR is there, you've got to go through the formal process. In a situation like that where you've been there forever and they have a good relationship, Is he in tears? Like, because it's emotional. Anytime, even if it's not going well, you're told you're fired. You're told this is over. You spent so much time and, you know, sweat equity in the operation. Does she allow you to go talk to everybody, say goodbye? Do you just get escorted out of the building?

1:16:52 I don't know. I was thinking about that today. My guess is they probably allow him to go say some goodbyes. Does he too prideful? Does he just walk out? Was it one of those coming to the office where he had a pretty good idea? This could be all she wrote. As someone texted me today, like for as much as it probably sucked for him today, what didn't suck is the way his 401k looks after those 10 years. I had people like, I was like, how much do you think he's made over the last 10 years? Text a couple people. They're like, yeah, my guess would be like 30 to 40 million. He's doing okay. Probably won't be a GM again though. Is the pre-fit prevent defense outdated?

1:17:37 I get the idea of not letting up a big play, but when the offense starts at 35 and get a PA PI flag, when you breathe on a wide receiver, shouldn't the defense just play the same defenses? P.S. If you think some stuff has changed now that your son is crawling, you're in for it. When he starts walking, I would agree. Uh, He pulled himself up the other day for the first time and stood up on the table.

1:18:04 And then you had to jump behind him and catch him because he would have gone back and it would have been concussion protocol for sure. I think that is a fair question. People hated to prevent defense back when you could play defense. Why don't you just play normal defense? Especially if your defense has been having success. You don't need to go all out blitz, but just run normal defensive calls. I never understand where it's like, yeah, so we're in prevent defense. Like, guys, you're up 10 with five minutes to go. If you allow a quick score, like they still got three timeouts, how about you just play normal defense? I'm with you on that one. I know the Jets are hard to talk about. I saw Aaron Glenn at halftime when he was being interviewed coming

1:18:47 off the field was like, we get the ball coming out. And it was like, actually, they didn't. They got the ball to start the game. Maybe I misread that, but Aaron Glenn, he's in trouble. He'll be the defensive coordinator next year for the Lions. I just imagine he'll just go back. Do you think that someone like Steve Sarkeesian would be a good fit? No chance. You cannot. If Steve Sarkeesian gets run out of Texas, which he's in major trouble right now, pretty sure that Texas this week plays Ole Miss, who I would say has the best quarterback in the country. Ole Miss plays Texas in Texas, night game. I mean, if Texas goes 9-3, that would assume if they lost Ole Miss, they'd beat Mississippi State, Missouri, LSU, Arkansas,

1:19:41 Texas A & M, which I guess would be possible. I don't think you can lose to Oklahoma, Florida, and Ole Miss and still make the playoffs. Ole Miss would be your best loss. Oklahoma's terrible. I think Sark would be– you couldn't justify that in the New York market. He just got run out of Texas after having a $ 50 million– the highest paid roster in the country. Yeah, I don't think you can. Well, the Texans turned around this season.

1:20:10 Their next four fixtures look winnable, which would bring them to 6-4. The defense is still sadly questionable to the amount of points they could cede every game to sustain a good push into the playoffs. I would agree the major difference this year compared to last year, clearly their offense is playing pretty well. I mean, CJ Stroud's having a good season. Underrated part about the Texans start was like, CJ had to look good. Like his stats through six games, he's got nine touchdowns in one pick. I mean, his first pick, which, how about the cameraman in that game?

1:20:47 For some of you, especially on the West Coast, I don't know if you might have sleep in on Sundays, totally understand. But if you were up and watched that whole game, it felt like ESPN sent the C team. I mean, the cameramen had no clue about play-action fakes. They would just go with guys. The ball wouldn't be there.

1:21:07 And on CJ's pick to Travis Hunter, all of a sudden it's interception and Travis is going nuts. You're like, I want to see this pick. And then they had to show the replay because the cameramen missed it. And he just threw it right to him. He's having a really good season. 65%, nine touchdowns. Basically averaging like two sacks a game. He's been good. It's not like they have some dominant running attack. I guess Montgomery got hurt, but didn't play in that game because he was hurt.

1:21:39 But I kind of like Woody Marks. If six rushing touchdowns, I guess five if you don't count CJ's. Yeah, I would say... Their pass coverage clearly doesn't look as good. Last year it felt like Stingley was awesome, but Lassiter was a high-end number two. He was the equivalent of a number one corner for the number two corner on teams.

1:22:09 You could make the argument that he was the best number two corner in the league. Petrie was incredible, and the pass rush just dominated. How many sacks does Will Anderson have right now? No, seven and a half. He's a monster. Clowney, he's banged up. Where's the Neil Hunter? Three. I guess between the two of them, they got over ten.

1:22:34 William Anderson's a fucking monster. Okay, so yeah. You would assume the defense will get a little better, but it definitely looks a little off. Okay, last two questions about Arch. To comment here that maybe there is a talent identification problem. Would love your thoughts on the podcast. So the past six number one high school quarterbacks have been rough. We'll start in 21. Quinn Ewers, seventh round pick. 22, Drew Aller, third round pick. Obviously pretty underwhelming for the hype. 23, Arch. 24, DJ Lagway. 25, Bryce Underwood, benched. 26, Faison Brandon also benched.

1:23:22 And Lagway transferred. Arch Manning equals Arch Manning. I just think the quarterback position, we just talked about it. Brock Purdy was the last pick in the seventh round. Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins didn't sniff the first round. Lamar Jackson got passed by every team in the league. Like, no one knows. Cam Ward went number one overall. by a guy that had just been around Patrick Mahomes. I just think the position is so hard to play that identifying that... Bill Walsh drafted Gio Carmazzi over Tom Brady. Now, Tom Brady wouldn't have been his type quarterback because he liked mobile quarterbacks, but again, regardless. I just think that drafting NFL quarterbacks is hard. Imagine trying to identify guys

1:24:12 in high school. We see it all the time. I mean, every year some of these top guys are like Jackson Arnold, or you just go through, you see Dylan Raiola. It is really, really difficult. Because in high school, you are just so much better and so far superior to basically everyone you're playing against. If you live in a town, even if it's a big city like Dallas or Los Angeles, if there are a couple top-end quarterbacks, like this guy's going to Texas or this guy's going to Ohio State or this guy's going to Alabama, everyone knows this is the best quarterback in the area, regardless of the size of the city. And they usually come from Los Angeles, Texas area, Florida area, Georgia area, right? Occasionally Arizona, Northern California.

1:25:05 But if you are a quarterback, I think there's a quarterback at in Folsom in Sacramento that's going to Ole Miss. Maybe that's the modern day guy. I'm not as dialed in to recruiting. My point is, that guy's the best player every time he steps on the field in high school. Him or his teammate that is also going to the SEC.

1:25:23 And then you get to college and you get to wherever, you're then playing other elite teams with other elite players who have also been in the program for several years. So, I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's ever going to change. I really don't. I also think it's a good life lesson. Like, it ain't about where you start.

1:25:47 It really isn't. And I think a lot of people get obsessed with, you know, this guy started ahead of me or this guy was more highly viewed than me. It's like, well, prove them wrong. And now with the transfer portal as a player, you have every chance to prove everybody wrong. We'll end on this. There is no bleeping way that Arch is a high pick. He flashes, but I mean, he's almost the equivalent of an ugly chick who looks good at weddings. You're the scout, so obviously we'll defer to you, but after four years in the same program with that much continuity and a loaded roster, He feels like he has a little to no feel for the position. If you're a pro team money and brand aside, when do you draft them? Like to me,

1:26:34 he'd be a third day pick based on what I saw. Maybe you could justify it based on last year. Like drew Aller is a good example. A guy like that went in the third round, but to me, I I'm not using third round picks on crazy project quarterbacks who have not been good in college. Um, To me, it would be after the second day of the draft. So you're talking Saturday morning, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round. And to me, if you're doing flyers, I'm talking more like fifth, sixth, seventh.

1:27:04 If you just remove the name, if his name was Arch Middlecoff or Ray, you know, I guess Manning would still be his last name, but he's not Arch Manning. He's Billy Manning, not related. I mean, you're talking about a late round pick based on size, right? Athleticism and you know, ability to throw the ball far, but not accurate, doesn't see it. And I, listen, he would take, we talked about this last week, he would take this crap no matter what, he's the starting quarterback at Texas. $ 50 million roster, where they were thinking like, win the national championship.

1:27:38 But it is not going well. There is no rhythm to the offense. In my, like, I think you could just cut it down to very simple terms. If you are a high-end NFL player, You have stretches in your college career where you are dominating. You look back at Dak Prescott. Look how many games they were winning at Mississippi State. I bet if we dove back in, he played a big role in that. Let's look at Kirk Cousins.

1:28:06 Didn't Michigan State just go on one of the best several-year runs in the history of the program when he was there? Now, there's no guarantee all these guys have their flaws, but they were playing at a really, really high level. And Trinidad is a good example. It's like, you just watch him, you go, this guy dominates. And then you watch other guys, you're like, ah, something's missing.

1:28:29 Something's just not there. Which is, I would say, most guys. And there's nothing wrong with that. And young players like Keelan Russell. Rough start to Georgia settled down played better in the second half Tennessee terrible well yeah it's freshman true freshman year I guess redshirt freshman year on the road tough I would say the expectation next year for him would be way higher and if he's still having those issues you go yeah maybe he's just not as good as we thought You get a little grace as a younger player. But then by the second you're starting, the expectations are higher. You've seen it. You've played these guys.

1:29:07 You've played these coaches. You should have some understanding if you are a big-time talent. And Keelan Russell's a redshirt freshman. Arch is a redshirt junior. Been around football forever. He's compared to his uncles, which is not fair. Because he's not those guys. Not even close. Adios. The Volume