3 & Out - INSTANT REACTION: Jordan Love & Packers DEFEAT Bryce Young & Panthers on TNF, NFL Week 8 Predictions,Titans & Bears BLOCKBUSTER Trade + NFL Week 8 Mailbag

0:01 The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middlecoff, Three and Out Podcast. Happy Halloween. Happy Fugazi Friday. Happy, if you're a Green Bay Packer fan, nice win. Dominated that game. We will dive into it. We will also dive into, there was a huge trade today. Kind of capped off the week. We had Buckner, Nelson, and then Jeffrey Simmons. Went for multiple first-round picks, so we will dive into that. We'll dive into the Sunday slate, four boxes. We will do a couple mailbag questions, maybe a fugazi, and maybe a couple fugazis. And that'll be the old podcast. So you guys know the drill. If you listen on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe to 3NOW.

0:58 We're up on Netflix. You can hit the alert button, never miss a show. Also, put content on YouTube. Go check it out. And let's just dive into the Green Bay Packers. At one point in time in the second half, they were in cruise control at 27-10. Dominate this game. And listen, I was guilty like everyone else. A lot of respect for the Packers and LeFleur. They've had two Thursday night games. It's not even Halloween. The NFL schedule, that's pretty insane. I get it. Some of these teams are traveling, these international games. Everyone's schedule when you're a marquee brand and a big team, you're going to get some bad draws. Seattle had to play the Niners four days later. They had a Thursday night game on the

1:46 road in Denver. Obviously, the Niners and the Rams start in Australia. But two Thursday night games, one week three and one week eight, that's pretty nuts. And everybody and their mother. And listen, Green Bay, I've seen them play live. And Philly and Oakland and San Francisco, their fan base is enormous. They might be a tiny little market. They are a major American sports brand. And their fan base is huge. And they were not happy after getting destroyed by Atlanta. And I was like, I don't know, man.

2:20 I've always defended LaFleur. I think he's solid. I'm not acting like he's Bill Walsh or Andy Reid here, but he's done a pretty good job. But it was like, if this is the way this thing's going to go, you're in some trouble. They have righted the ship. They're not only 5-3 now and dominated this game. It does feel like Micah Parsons is coming right around the corner.

2:41 So I will say this about Matt LaFleur. Two things that are really, really important. He's an offensive guy and an offensive coordinator, and his quarterback looks like a star. Jordan Love, beside a couple passes, it does feel like Jordan can get on cruise control a little bit and no one throws more YOLO deep balls than Jordan. Now, granted, he's hitting a lot of them. And God, he loves himself some Matthew Golden, which your boy somehow sat on his fantasy team tonight because I thought he was not going to play and then I wasn't really paying attention.

3:17 Then he plays, starts dropping the ball. I'm like, I'm glad I didn't. One thing Jordan Love will force feed that man the ball. 13 targets, 7 catches. And he doesn't care, which is smart. It's the way to build this guy up because they need him. Because Christian Watson, does anything sum up the NFL more than Christian Watson is a star? I mean, this guy, a lot of people question, like, you're going to give that guy that contract?

3:39 Has been worth every penny. You talk about a dynamic player, perfect for Jordan, who wants to just fling that thing 50 yards down the field. Even on the play that he got injured, turns out maybe he wasn't injured, but everything was okay. Beautiful ball, beautiful catch. Watson's a stud. Big third down play late in the game to essentially ice it. But he's a quarterback guy, and his quarterback looks like a stud. And I think now we have several years removed when they made the move from Aaron Rodgers.

4:11 Little rocky, but there is no disputing him pretty well established in 2026 as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC. Is he perfect? No. Is he going to turn over the ball? Yes. Is he going to throw some interceptions? He's going to have double digits this year for sure. I think tonight was his sixth. But here's what I know. He's going to throw me a boatload of touchdowns. And he had the one over the middle.

4:35 Was it to Tucker Kraft? It was like a Josh Allen Mahomes BB dart. Obviously, he can have the beautiful deep balls down the field. His understanding of the offense at this point in time, the relationship he has with his play caller... is just on point. And again, another night, 66 total rushing yards. Despite getting Josh Jacobs back, who got a red flag, if you get arrested for domestic violence, and then when you return, you essentially admit it with your coach that something happened, as you sue so the video can't get out, and it just kind of goes away.

5:15 And football fans now are pretty accustomed to just being numb to it, whatever, just move on. To do a handcuff celebration? Tough look. But they still can't run the ball. 21 carries, didn't even have 40 yards. He has nowhere to go. They're not a good pass blocking, or excuse me, run blocking offensive line. But I did see some metrics the last three weeks. They have done a much better job with Jordan Love protecting him. He was not sacked one time. Now the Panthers aren't exactly... You know, the 85 bears in terms of pressure. But the play calling with Jordan Love from LeFleur, that was impressive tonight. On a short week, they sliced and diced him. And the other thing, Matt LeFleur had never worked with Jonathan Gannon.

6:02 It's not like they were previous friends from a stop 10 years ago. Oh, they crossed paths when they were with the Redskins in Shanahan. Or they were GAs together back in the day like LeFleur was with Robert Sala. They've had this long-standing bond. Happens a lot in the NFL. How'd you know to hire this guy? Well, once upon a time, we worked together at Western Carolina. We were both 23 years old and we shared a desk. Or we were both quality control guys for the Jags back in 2012. No, they've never worked together. And he lost Halfley, who had been one of the better defensive coordinators the last couple years. It's hard to replace defensive coordinators. And for as much crap as he took early in his tenure,

6:50 with some of the guys he hired to run his defense, for a while it was Joe Barry, his buddy. He has hit it out of the park with Halfley. And Jonathan Gannon tonight, to me, for as good a love was... I thought Gannon was the star of the game. That looked like a Flores, Todd Bowles in his prime performance.

7:10 He had so many guys standing at the line of scrimmage. Bryce in that offensive line had no freaking clue what was going on. They had no clue which way it was coming. They didn't know where the pressure was. You know, A gap, B gap, C gap, multiple blitzers, no blitzers, guys dropping back. You talk about flummoxing a quarterback, making him look... He made Bryce Young look like a practice squad player tonight. He made Dave Canales look like a coach.

7:35 David Tepper should think about firing. That was belt to ass. Jonathan Gannon was remarkable. And he's been pretty good most of the season, but tonight... If he can keep that up with Parsons coming back, I mean, if they can generate, and I get it, the Panthers offensive line, you got like a couple third stringers in there. The left tackle's getting spun like a dreidel. Bryce Young, you hit him early, he just kind of Crumbles, gets the happy feet. He's not very athletic, so it's not like he can make plays out of nowhere like a Lamar or a Josh.

8:11 He's a small pocket quarterback. That's what he is. I think it throws people off because you're like, oh, run around. Well, he's not a run around player. This is a guy that wants to play in the pocket. He wants to play just like Jordan Love. Sit in the pocket and make throws. Problem is he's 5'9, 5'10, can't see anything.

8:25 So if you get pressure in his face, as Jonathan Gannon was doing all night long, I'm looking on the box score, it says six sacks. If you told me don't look at the box score, how many times was Bryce Young sacked? I would have said 11. It felt like every other play. And when he wasn't sacked, there were guys all over him, which forced him to skip the ball, which forced him to throw balls into no man's land. That was a clinic. I'm recording this right after the game, so usually a lot of these teams post the The post-game locker room with the coach. I kind of edited it down a little bit to cut out some of the swear words. Usually a couple game balls.

9:04 It's always fun. I enjoy that content. If he doesn't give a ball to Jonathan Gannon, I might have to take back all the kind things I said about LaFleur and kind of his muscle flex of doing a really good job. Because you get credit. We don't give it enough. But for making that hire. And that hire has been...

9:25 I would say, I mean, based on tonight and some other games, been really, really good. Really, really good. I mean, you even go back to that Vikings game where they were up 22-10 and it kind of unraveled. That was not on Jonathan Gannon. That was on Love and LaFleur. So I think Jonathan Gannon, if you're a Packer fan, you're going, hey, is there any sort of move? There's a reason they were in on Quinn Nelson. that we can make to just improve our offensive line incrementally. Like we're not going to go from what we're seeing running the ball to all of a sudden being a top three or four rushing team. Can we just improve? and get Micah back? Cause I, if Micah Parsons would have played tonight, there's a chance that when the ambulance dropped

10:07 Christian Watson back off, like WWE style, Bryce would have been headed there. They would have killed him. So props to the Packers five and three. Now, um, Two Thursday night games. Still pretty crazy. Schedule's not easy, though. Long week, but at Patriots. Then they play the Vikings again, which is going to be massive at home. At the Rams.

10:33 At the Saints. Bills. Still got a game against the Bears. Got a game against the Lions. I would say, worst case, they're nine wins. Best case, 11-ish. It's hard to see them winning the division if they can't run the ball, but that was impressive. I think you've got to give a hat tip if you're a Packer fan of the coaching staff. That was really good. And on the flip side, Dave Canales, you know, the issue, and we said this last week with Trinidad against Texas, when little quarterbacks struggle and get hit, they look really, really bad. They look like they're getting engulfed. There was a stretch for a couple quarters in this game that If I didn't do this for a living, I probably would have... I don't

11:21 know if I'd turn the game off because I love football, but I probably would have started screwing around doing some other stuff and not taking notes. The Panthers' offense these last two weeks is pretty rough. And by no means do I act like some schematic genius. That is not my thing. But when you watch Jordan Love and them play offense, they get them in the shotgun and they run an NFL... I would say spread type offense when they spread it out with their wide receivers and they let Jordan Love, couple steps, pick where you want to let it rip. Bryce Young, every play, they are pressuring him.

11:55 It felt like at rapid rates and they're running like RPOs. They're running play action. You're down like multiple scores and you can't block anybody. What are you doing? And then he pulled the ball back and all of a sudden two guys would be in his face. How about just run a normal shotgun, spread it out, you have good wide receivers, hopefully give him some throwing lanes so he can see, and play it that way. But it felt like Canales never changed. As Bryce got hit a lot like last week, it just unravels. He can't, it just feels like it's, they're just smothering him and it's enclosed and there's nowhere for him to go and he can't run away and then he can't get any zip on the ball. And this is, this is why physical skills,

12:44 like you don't need to be Josh Allen to be a great player. But physical skills matter, right? Because when times get tough against the best teams and you're not able to set your feet, because I thought early on in the season, like God, his arm looks stronger. Well, yeah, when he can step and set his feet, he can deliver a strike. But if he can't, as you saw tonight, he gets no zip on the ball. I mean, he could barely get the ball to within a couple-yard radius of some of the wide receivers. Even one of the biggest plays of the game, when they went fourth down midfield late in the game, where they were down eight points, He was off platform and the ball bounced to his wide receiver. You know, because he doesn't have the natural

13:33 arm strength to throw off one foot to kind of just be an elite NFL player. Because he doesn't have those skills. And you saw tonight with the two players coming back on and off the field. Jordan Love, you know, it went Favre, Rodgers, Jordan Love. I like Jordan Love. Really good player. He's not those guys. But he's pretty freaking good. And most Packer fans, I would say, feel pretty confident. Like, hey, we got a quarterback on a big contract and he's really good. We feel good about it.

14:05 It's hard to watch him play and then Bryce Young play and go, yeah, we should give him a massive contract. It's these last couple weeks. And it's not all his fault. The play caller matters. When you can't block, it's going to make it look worse. But he does not have the skills to overcome that and create. And to me, part of paying a guy a lot of money, there has to be some creation there. Jared Goff is the last of a dying breed. That player does not exist anywhere in college football. I'm not going to say never, but I mean, I watch football all day Saturdays for the last eight, nine weeks. I don't see any guy that just can't move, sits in the pocket. And that's what Bryce is. He just happens to be five, nine

14:52 and a half, five, 10. And it doesn't really work when it's like, hey man, you got to bail us out. Can't against a good team, against an elite defensive coordinator. Hell, the best player on their team is on the sidelines in sweats. Can't even rush you. That was a rough watch. And no one would argue, like, McMillan, he'd start for every team in the league. Coker, I mean, I've been blown away watching that guy this year. Chuba Hubbard, guy's a stud. I'd take Hubbard on my team any day of the week. But the quarterback, every time that I won, I'm like, God, I'm starting to like him again. You watch the last four days, you're like, oh, contract, I don't know. It leaves you a little something to be desired.

15:36 And it sucks because I, listen, Awesome dude. Tough as shit. Just physical limitations. And physical limitations shows up in moments like this. And it was on full display tonight. And I put it all on him. I thought Canales looked like a deer in the headlights. What the fuck was going on there? You've been coaching offense for 20 years.

16:02 These are the plays you're running? Give him some sort of easy, complete... Do something. They felt like they kept doing the same thing over and over. And Gannon's like, uh... Another Flores-type play. And it was just crushing him. Embarrassing. Really was. I mean, the South... Al Michaels, pretty bad.

16:22 There was a play where Golden... I think he thought Golden caught it. And it was... I don't know the angle he's at from the press box. I mean, he should be looking at the monitor too. He had no clue. He thought he caught it, went silent for like five seconds. They were like all jogging back to the huddle. He's like, incompletion.

16:39 And I hate beating up on Al. My mom's almost 80. Listen, you put anyone at that age in that position, it'd be terrible. It's probably on Amazon Prime. You shouldn't be rolling out Al Michaels. That's rough. But what might be rougher is the NFC. Eight and nine, you're going to have a really good chance. 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. And if your team was doing well and you wanted to cash out, they'd lock the trade and take a huge fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market.

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18:16 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. I did want to start. Jeffrey Simmons traded the Chicago Bears for multiple first-round picks, which is just a massive transaction whenever that goes through. It's not that often, but the Bears have done something very similar when they traded for Khalil Mack. Obviously, they are equipped in 2026 with Caleb Williams.

19:07 Back then, they had Mitch Trubisky. Different times. And, you know, Khalil Mack was going into a second contract. Simmons is currently on his third contract. But I had a big picture thought on just this week. And it does feel a little bit like some of these teams in the league are the minor leagues and the teams in the big leagues are taking advantage of them. You know, I was around the Oakland A's in the peak of Billy Bean.

19:36 It was like his third iteration of the group, well after the movie had come out. And it wasn't his fault. But they could not compete year in, year out in terms of extending players like the Yankees, like the Giants. like the Dodgers, like all the big market teams because they didn't have the money. Their franchise didn't generate any revenue and their owner wasn't going to come out of pocket.

19:58 So every couple of years they would trade all their sweet players. The Tampa Bay Rays spent less than $ 100 million on their payroll this year. They were just in the World Series. And Billy Beane's teams were always going to the playoffs for like 20 years. They could never go on a Tampa-like run, but they were extremely successful.

20:18 But it was understandable because they did not have the financial means of the Yankees, the Red Sox, all those type teams, right? And I think the NFL is in a different financial stratosphere because the Titans, the Colts, whether their owners are as rich as the Haslams or Paul Allen forever before he died, you just go around the league. Obviously, there are different levels of personal wealth, but in terms of money to run your franchise, to acquire players, to extend players, it's never an issue. When you look at all the guys that got traded this year, or excuse me, this week, Nelson, Buckner, and Jeffrey Simmons today, it wasn't because the teams couldn't afford to keep them. It was because they were a disaster. Because honestly, they're both kind

21:07 of a joke. And it kind of made me think of when I was a kid, we didn't have cable in my house. We had like six channels, right? ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and like PBS or whatever channel six was. And then like this local television show. I remember on Sunday, my dad was a big outdoorsman and he loved this show called Nature. And it was just about animals. And the best episodes, I'd watch it with them. This is probably early, mid-90s, is when they just did the big predators, right? They'd follow a pack alliance. And I was thinking, you know, today with the Bears, the 49ers in Seattle, all just stealing. Obviously, the Bears had to pay for it. but some of the best players in the league, right? And like the

21:54 Lions don't hunt other Lions. The Lions don't hunt the crocodiles in the river. They hunt the zebras, the gazelles, the warthogs, the things that in theory are easy to kill and cannot kill them. And that's what this week felt like a little bit. Seattle, John Schneider, Mike McDonald. The 49ers, Kyle and John. And then today, Ryan Poles, who now has a superstar head coach in Ben Johnson, taking advantage of the Warthogs and the Zebras. I mean, the franchises that have no shot. You circle them like they're your prey, and then you take them out. And this deal is obviously a lot different than the other two deals because Quentin Nelson and DeForest Buckner are free agents.

22:45 Jeffrey Simmons is under contract till 2031. And next year, I think it's $ 27 million. The following year, it's like $ 29 million. This is the type of player who they literally just extended. The Bears don't have to give a $ 20 million signing bonus to Jeffrey Simmons for this new contract because the Titans did it. They already paid a large portion of that salary this year. And sometimes in life, you got to put your chips in the middle of the table. And when you have a high-end coach in football, in professional football, you could argue in college now with the transfer portal at NIL, you should not hesitate. And when you have a quarterback on a rookie deal, that should even accelerate your risk profile. to go from conservative

23:33 to what will it take? Because Quentin Nelson and DeForest Buckner were there to be had, right? Free agents, veteran players. Quentin Nelson's going to need an enormous contract this offseason. Buckner, if he keeps playing like he is right now, will get a shorter-term deal, but the price for Buckner's services, even if it's a two-year contract, probably talking like $ 50 million.

24:00 I think what made this deal really unique is, well, what about the first round picks? Because anytime you see two first round picks, you go, whoa. That's part of having the star head coach and the young quarterback on the roster whose ceiling is clearly as high as the sky. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Think about the 49ers. They traded DeForest Buckner once upon a time. Then they also traded for Trey Lance and got rid of two other first round picks. If you wanted to count Trey Lance as one of those, a total of three. So with Buckner, with Trey Lance, you're talking almost four first round picks if you count Javon Kinlaw giving them next to nothing.

24:40 And guess what happened? Didn't matter. They went to NFC Championship games. They went to a Super Bowl. And this year they look poised to make another Super Bowl type run. Why? Because they got Kyle Shanahan. And when you have a star head coach and a nucleus of good players, you'll figure it out. You know the type guy that can't overcome losing first round picks? Would be a coach like Nick Sirianni, who has benefited from a cupboard being full of high end talent. He wouldn't have been dynamic enough to figure it out on the fly. Why? Because he's not a dynamic enough coach. Is there a big risk involved with this? Of course. There isn't any transaction. Especially one where you're giving up premium assets. But I'd also

25:26 argue that the drafts now are so hit or miss year to year because you never know who's coming out. Before the NIL transfer portal, you had a pretty good idea. Okay, this is going to be the crop of guys. Underclassmen, you know, fourth year guys that have an extra year but are just ready to go. And you could stack it pretty well. Nowadays, you have no clue. Hell, Dante Moore, who just got KO'd for the season. Would it be that stunning if you're like, yeah, he returned. Oregon gave him six and a half million dollars and he wanted to make sure his stock was high. Not saying that's going to happen, but it's definitely on the table. Where years before, he never would have gone back to college in the first place, let alone it even being a

26:07 conversation that, yeah, I could see him coming back for a big check. It happens all the time. Drew Bestemaker could be the number one overall pick. Or he could just stay in college, as Bud Elliott said, could be the first $ 10 million quarterback. Kamario Taylor got surgery on his turf toe. And most people assume that he is going to leave Mississippi State for greener pastures, despite him being from there and idolizing that program, money talk, shit walks.

26:37 What do you think his price point is going to be on the open market? He's not draft eligible. But my point is, is the landscape of the draft has changed dramatically. And when you have a star coach and you know, for the most part, unless disaster strikes, which it could at any moment, you're going to be drafting in the 20s. Worst case scenario for the Bears, you don't win the division, you lose in the first round, that picks 23. Best case for the Bears, you make a run to the conference championship, the Super Bowl, you're talking somewhere 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. Well, we just saw Sean Payton's like, yeah, no one near good enough in the draft. So we'll give our late 20s pick and we will acquire Jalen Waddell. So when I looked

27:19 at the Bears making this move this morning, I was like, okay, they were clearly the driving force on this. This was not a player like Buckner or Nelson that we had a flashing light sign for sale. This is someone that you're going to have to take from them, make them an offer. As Vito Corleone said, make an offer they can't refuse. And this is the type of offer that they couldn't refuse. And really, I hear a lot of people, all their chips are in the middle of the table for this year. I would disagree with that. I think it's the next couple years. Because he's under contract. Caleb's continuing to get better. If you lost in the second round or got your ass kicked in the conference championship game, one,

27:59 that is an incredible season based on what the Bears were previously. But two, you still have that guy on your roster. So part of the power of making this trade is you have a guy... on a cost control contract, who's coming off an all-pro season in 25, who, if he stays healthy, is a lock to be an all-pro again, who, by all the film gurus and my buddies in the league, best defensive tackle in the league, who's 29 years old, it's proven, a lot like Quentin Nelson, that we've seen some offensive linemen play really well into their 30s. We've seen some interior defensive linemen who take football seriously, who stay in shape, Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, guys have success 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.

28:44 So you feel pretty good about that. And he's a durable player. And then obviously he fits a massive, massive need for them. A pass rusher on the line of scrimmage, which is clearly a pretty big hole for them. They generate pressure because Dennis Allen has to blitz a lot. And the other thing, when you add a guy like this, it takes a little pressure off everybody else. So when you add a great player, it can make average players go to above average because no one's even thinking about them in terms of the game plan. But to me, this is, it's a bold play in the sense that anytime you give up multiple first round picks, it's aggressive.

29:24 But I think given the current state of the franchise, given where they're going to be the next couple years, given how many guys they have on their team who are ascending players, young players that are also under contract, this is not a roster that's going to dramatically turn over next season. Yeah. And you got the coach that if he was a free agent, 28 teams in the league would do anything to sign. And a lot of those teams have coaches they would fire him yesterday. So this is the power of Ben Johnson. And this is the power of Caleb Williams. Because we've seen them make this move for a guy younger and equally as dominant. Honestly, Khalil was better when they acquired him, right? But they didn't have a quarterback. And Nagy, who looks like he's

30:13 a pretty damn good coach to me this year, I think he'd be the first to say, I wasn't nearly as good then. He's not as good as Ben Johnson is now. Yeah, let's take the risk. Let's make the move. And I think now we have the NFC is pretty wide open, right, between a handful of teams who are all extremely well run. And the key is, obviously, quarterbacks who are really good. I mean, Purdy's been an MVP candidate. Caleb, when he's been on the field, has been incredibly special and taken a jump. His completion percentage, which was a major question mark, has become a strength this year. And when Menungai comes back, their running game is elites. The question on the defense. And the easiest way to make

30:58 a secondary look better is to brush the passer. But this is, you pull this trigger when you got Ben Johnson. And you take advantage of a team that's, let's face it, it's kind of a joke. And the Tennessee Titans, who make this trade, I also think this signals, like, let's face it, they made a draft pick a couple years ago and it's been a complete disaster. Like, you wouldn't make this move if you believed in the quarterback. But in what world could you believe in the quarterback, given how he's played, how the team looks, and just the overall trajectory of the franchise? And, you know, you get these extra picks, which probably be somewhere in the mid to late 20s. You know, best case scenario for Bears

31:42 in the 30s. But I also think this signals like this franchise is down bad. I mean, really bad. and they are heading into a new stadium next year, probably feels like some of their lowest moments that you can ever remember. That they're going to go in there. I'm sure they're going to have a new quarterback. I would imagine if the owner lets this kind of operation make this trade. Because think about this. They're what? One and six.

32:14 They are god-awful. They look best-case scenario win four games. I mean, most NFL teams, if they just have a heartbeat, can win two with their eyes closed. But if I was Ben Mann right now, I'd say three wins. I'd say three wins. So you're going to win three wins with one of the best players in the league that it doesn't even matter. So you might as well take advantage of his value. Because if he were to get hurt and if you would think about doing it this offseason, it would be too late if there was an injury, which is always possible in the NFL. But I think this is a pretty big reflection of this franchise, where they're at. And I give Poles and the Bears credit.

32:53 Because well-run operations, you can offer them. I gave the example of the real estate agent that hit me up about my house. I don't want to move. If I did want to move, I would be responding with much more realistic offers. But I gave him a number like 3x my house's value. Hell, it might be 4 given the interest rates right now. And he's like, yeah, good luck to you. I'm like, yeah, good luck to you too.

33:19 Because I didn't want to move. You could make an offer to a lot of people in different businesses, for their homes, for anything. And if they don't want to sell it, they're just like, no, I want what I have. And this gets back to Jerry Jones' line, you can say what you want about him. This is something I'll never forget. Because he said, and listen, his franchise, we can make fun of them all day long, and they deserve a lot of it. But in terms of a businessman, he's pretty impressive. And he said, I've never gone wrong paying a premium for a premium. And I think this goes for anything in life. How many times have you tried to go cheap on something? It could be a couch.

34:00 It could be a car. It could be a pair of shoes. It could be a house. It could be renting a place. And you're like, God, I regret that. That's a mistake. And listen, just because you pay a premium doesn't guarantee anything. But I think when you're talking about a blue chip defensive lineman, you feel pretty good about it. They paid a premium, but they're getting a premium.

34:20 And it should help the Bears dramatically. Before we dive into some of the weekend's games, it's Fugazi Friday. A couple things jump out to me. Halloween's here. Obviously, Halloween for me, it's never been a big holiday for me. Now having a baby, not that he can really participate probably for a couple years, it's going to become a big holiday there for a little stretch. Those of you with little kids, it's like their Super Bowl, rightfully so.

34:47 I remember being young, the candy, it was incredible. I do think candy's diminished. A little bit. My wife just brought home a couple bags. You know, that Milky Way. I feel like that chocolate's not quite as good. Maybe they're going a little cheaper on the ingredients. But trying to get a baby to wear a Halloween costume. And I think about this for dogs, too. It's really for the parents to try to show them off. The dogs hate Halloween. Whenever you put some sort of costume on them, babies will just not, you can't put a costume on them.

35:16 The only thing you can do is get like a sweat outfit or normal clothes that have the pattern on it. She tried to get this cow outfit. He was ripping it off like that. We just find a pair of shorts, pair of sweatpants, sweatshirt with the cow patterns. Put that on. He won't know. The WNBA was really mad at the Atlanta Hawks for not going out of their way and just giving the arena to the, I think, the Atlanta Dream.

35:46 And they had to play a game at 9.30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time in the WNBA Finals. And I read this article on The Athletic, which was fucking laughable. And this Candace Parker, I think her name, not the basketball player, but like the journalist, She was kind of she was trying to be nice, but also saying like this is the Atlanta Hawks should have done the right thing, even though they're not owned by the right people. And one thing in there was that the WNBA team had reached out to the Hawks to see if they could work together.

36:19 And they're like, yeah, we never heard back. Is that supposed to be a shot at the Atlanta Hawks that they never called you back? You need them. They don't need you. So I don't know what they teach you in business 101... That you should learn when you're like 10 fucking years old. That if you need something from someone else... One, it's not guaranteed that they're going to give it to you. But two... You need to do everything in your power to get a hold of them.

36:44 So yeah, they probably declined your call. Deleted the voicemail. Deleted the email. One, because they know they go on record and they say no. People like you will be critical of them. But two... Maybe they got other stuff going on. I don't know. They got a roster worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The game the night against the Cavs, also a roster worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

37:04 Their franchise is worth more than your entire league, which your league has never been valued at more. I read it was like $ 5 billion. Safe to say the Atlanta Hawks, if they were on the open market, would go for as much or not more. So no, they're not going to move their game around for you, especially when there's no synergy between the two franchises. This is not Joe Lacob owning the Valkyries and Joe Lacob owning the Warriors and get into a position where he could move a game if he so chose to, which I doubt he would because you make dramatically more with the NBA team. Again, this is a business, not a charity. Doing things for quote-unquote PR and a good look is the most overrated thing in America. It is so dumb. But to complain

37:47 that someone didn't call you back when it's your issue is like whoever was in charge of making that phone call and then complaining deserves to get fired because they are an idiot. The other thing is this cannot end soon enough and I think next Tuesday is election day. These political ads. You cannot watch anything now with just being inundated with if you vote for this guy. He will kill your family. He will bury your children. And he will not only take all your money, he will then tax you. And all the money you don't have, just on the value of it. And then you're like, okay, that ad's over. Then another ad comes. This guy. He wants to come, take your car away, make you walk everywhere, and then charge you per step. It's like, guys... And

38:39 I get it, like, you know, the tactics. I do think the political tactics are now just mirroring social media. And it is unbearable to watch. And it's unbearable to think, and I don't like going down these rabbit holes about the people funneling all the money into these political ads or these PACs that get a lot of money, the tax dollars, money laundering. I'm not even going to go there.

39:03 It's like, are we indirectly paying for all this stuff in some weird way? but God, I can't take the ads. And listen, the way my brain works, do you know who loves election cycles more than anybody? The television networks. Do you know how much ad spend they get for these ads over and over and over again? I mean, there will be games on, on Sunday night football of markets.

39:30 You don't live on that. Clearly they know that people are watching that game and you will get out of market politicians. It's like, I God make it end, please make it. I would much rather turn on the television and see some 70 year old talking about taking some pill to get hard. I mean, you could give me anything but what they're funneling down. I just... I think I speak for most people. I just can't take it anymore.

39:58 I'm just trying to watch the game. I mean, make it stop. And thank God in what happens every one of these cycles is there is an end date. It ends immediately. But God, it feels like they've ramped it up tenfold to what it used to be. Maybe I'm being... Naive would be the wrong word because I've lived through it, but prisoner of the moment... But holy cannoli. Can I tell you about my new friends at Trees.com? Do you know that they're America's largest and most trusted online nursery?

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41:56 That's an additional 20% off. Better plants, better growing at trees.com using 3 and out at checkout. That's T-R-E-E-S dot com, code number three and out. Valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, let's dive into the weekend games. We've struggled the last couple weeks. We have the Saints.

42:27 Thank God. The Giants, the Niners, and the Texans. On buys, we have, for the first time in several weeks, no international game. So there's no Rodgers complaining about going over the day before, sneaky shots at the Roonies, even though it was a big Pittsburgh game. We don't have to get up super early. And I think we're rewinding the clock Saturday night of Halloween. But let's dive into the four box. And we got Baltimore, Buffalo, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Arizona, Dallas, Minnesota, Detroit, Vegas at the Jets, the Browns at Pittsburgh, Atlanta at Tampa, and Indy at Jacksonville on the 11 a.m. hour. This one was pretty easy for me. We'll go in order that I'm most excited. I think Tampa, Atlanta is a

43:13 pretty good game. You know, it's actually a massive game. Because if Tampa wins, all of a sudden they're 3-5, they would have a lot of life. I'm recording this before the Carolina game, but even if Carolina wins, they'd only have one more win. And if you're Tampa, you're just like, 9-8 is winning this division. So this is not one of those where we've got to dig ourselves out of the hole and try to get to 11 wins.

43:38 We got to get to a number so high just to ensure that we'll get a wire. This division to me, if you go 9-8, I feel like you have an extremely good chance of winning it. I mean, we saw last year 8-9 won it. It does feel like there'd probably be one win more at least this year, but you never know. These teams have to play each other.

43:56 I would have told you I think Carolina, hell, I did. I bet on Carolina in that game. And then they played, you know, when they played Tampa and they were down 33-6 at half. But my question is, and this gets back to last week, the 49ers didn't touch Penix. And they had three pressures the entire game. And when he's untouched with their weapons, he's just a big-time player. He's a very accurate thrower in a clean pocket. He has been since college. He has been going back to Indiana.

44:28 If you do hit him, you throw their entire operation off. And the one thing Bowles will do, he's not quite... I would say he doesn't have to do it like Flores, but he will make the quarterback uncomfortable. And every time I looked up last week, it felt like Bryce was getting just demolished and just engulfed. And Bryce is a better athlete in terms of movement-wise, not that he's a great one, than Penix. So to me, that's the question mark.

44:56 If they can rattle with Penix, because last week he was untouched and he sliced and diced him. It was kind of a joke as the game went on. But to me, if Tampa gets some momentum off that win and generate pressure, I like Tampa in this game. Number two, who would have thought that Cleveland and Pittsburgh would be for first place in the division? I mean, I was just watching some clips of some of the Steelers players.

45:25 You can tell, and part of it is, you know, you played them earlier in the season, you lost in kind of embarrassing fashion. They're 5-2. They have a bunch of young, high-end players. This is a massive game. And when I saw the stat, and obviously anyone in Cleveland or Pittsburgh knows because it's been a running total for a long time, and maybe when they played in that playoff game, the Fugazi year when there weren't any fans, I'm sure we were talking about it a lot, but this is five years later. The Cleveland Browns have not won a game in Pittsburgh in the regular season In 22 attempts. Pittsburgh Steelers have won 22 straight games in Pittsburgh against Cleveland. That is an insane stat. That feels

46:14 a little Belichick-y in the Jets. But I feel like his carried over to a way in road. Like Bill didn't lose to him for like eight straight seasons. In both games. You know? This... I like Pittsburgh a lot in this spot. I really do. And you could see the players, the seriousness, like Cam Hayward. I think they're approaching this bad boy. Not that they wouldn't in years past, but let's face it, the Browns have kind of been a joke many of the years. They've typically had to take the game seriously against Lamar, the Ravens, and Flacco.

46:50 And then once Burrow got there and Andy Dalton, those were the two teams. Even though this rivalry, that's a weird thing about sometimes NFL rivalries. it's like they still mean a lot to the owners, but there can be stretches of like, are the Chiefs and the Raiders rivals? Well, like in theory, the history of the league, yes. But if you just look over the last like 20 years, and definitely since Andy Reid got there, like one team's a high-end franchise, the other doesn't sniff the playoffs, right?

47:20 Same with them and the Broncos. Like I remember like, this is a Raiders-Broncos rivalry. And then Peyton Manning would roll in, they'd win like 50 to 10. He'd be like, oh. These aren't really equals. And this is how this game has been for a long time. They haven't been equals. And now, at least based on record, they are. The underrated part about the... Whenever I see someone's like... And listen, I like Peter Schrager, but I saw a clip... that his show put out of like, could they have to pay and extend Deshaun Watson? Guys, have you watched Deshaun Watson play? Like statistically, everything he does adds up to like bottom third to bottom of the league in terms of quarterback rankings. He is not a good player. Now

48:02 they have good players around him, but under no circumstance, I'll promise you this, are the Cleveland Browns going to give Deshaun any more money whenever this contract is done? I feel very, very confident on that one. But last time they played, he didn't beat them. He tried to get the game away in the second half because he completely unravels. And if you watch him in stretches when he's bad, he's really bad. But they have really explosive players that you can get to around the line of scrimmage and then they can do more. I mean, Concepcion has been, his speed jumps off TV. Jumps off TV. Now, Jared Verst was taking some shots. You know, saying like, you know, they were chipping and double teaming me. And

48:44 then I saw Cam Hayward's like, is that against the rules? Like, welcome to the NFL. What do you think fucking happens to TJ Watt and Miles Garrett? It's like, this is the league, buddy. And if you're going to be their best edge rusher, yeah, people are going to bring more attention to you. So I like Pittsburgh in this spot.

49:02 I by no means take Cleveland. I'm not looking past them at all. I do think there's got to be water finds its level. Deshaun's going to have one of these games. And listen, having those explosive players, do you totally trust the secondary of Pittsburgh to run around with those guys in space? No. But I think Deshaun's due for one of those two picks, fumble, just disastrous games.

49:31 And historically, history would tell you that typically happens in Cleveland. This game is pretty fascinating because Minnesota's the last unbeaten team in the NFL. Their quarterback play has been atrocious. But everyone's been talking about it, rightfully so, Flores. I said this yesterday. I don't think he's the assistant coach of the year. I think he's the coach of the year.

49:52 I would give him the, as of October 29th recording this, like, who's your coach of the year? Well, it's like, I'd want to go with the defensive coordinator. Here's a problem. Since 2021, or excuse me, I guess the last three years, so that'd be 2023. So 23, 24, 25. Or maybe it's 24, 25, and then this year. No quarterback is better against the Blitz than Jared Goff. He's thrown 21 touchdowns and three interceptions over that period of time. He's the number one quarterback ranking, and he's number one in pass yards. This season, only Brock Purdy has as many touchdown passes, eight, as Goff does against the Blitz. He is a dominant player against the Blitz. Well, here's why.

50:36 Because last week, you know, Daniel Jones, he's probably not the athlete right now that he was a year ago before he got injured, just coming back off the injury. But Daniel Jones is viewed as a good athlete. And I think when you blitz athletic quarterbacks, if you do scheme them up correctly, it can throw them off because they'll see something and they are more likely to see like a one read and then move to keep the play alive. When you cannot move, Brady, Peyton Manning, you go the history of the non-mobile guys. They know they got to get rid of the ball. So that entire week, there is no, well, if this doesn't work, move away.

51:17 If the blitz is coming to your left, scramble right, or vice versa. Jared Goff knows he has to get rid of the football. That's his only way to survive when people are pressuring him. That's it. Because he can't run away from me or you. Which is his greatest strength. It's why these elite quarterbacks that have never been able to move always dominated so much against the Blitz. Because they had to dial in the game plan going in that week knowing they were going to get a bunch of pressure. And Jared Goff knows that on a given week, if you're a team that can't get a lot of pressure with your down four guys, that you're going to have to bring guys. And then throughout the week with his offensive coordinator, they're building hot routes. They're using their

52:00 Laporta or Amon Ra across the middle. Throw it to the running back out of the backfield and just get the ball out of your hands. And I just think this is a terrible matchup for Minnesota. Their last three games, 15, 23, 16 points. And it feels like it's been pulling teeth in a couple of those games to get to that number. Now, last week, they had a play that was overturned on a holding where he hit Jordan Addison late in the game that instead of 16, that number could have been 20, I guess. They might have scored a touchdown if there was like three minutes left in the game. Maybe they run the ball in. But still, you're talking about Vikings fans have to agree. When you watch Kyler Murray, there

52:42 isn't just a lot to be desired. You go, you understand this is the player now. And you go, this is it? What happened to this guy that was one of the great athletes that have ever been drafted in the NFL? There will never be a guy with his size profile that everyone's like, yeah. It wasn't even a question.

53:01 I would take him 1-2 because he was such an elite athlete. I don't even think he hit 300 in college. And Billy Bean took him 9th. just because of the physical upside with how explosive he was. He could be a plus defender. He could be steel base guy. If he does make contact, I mean, you look at that dude for the Tampa Bay Rays. Tell Maria, that guy looks like a defensive back. There aren't athletes like that in baseball anymore. So, fuck, ball gets on the ground.

53:27 Dude's already at second base. And by the end of the series, I mean, he looked sweet. But I just think when the thing you hang your hat on as a franchise, which has worked incredibly well this year, we're going to blitz every play. Literally. It's not like, bro, he blitzes like half the time. No, he's like, he keeps approaching low 80s, mid 80s, high 80s. So is this week he's not going to blitz his mutts? Is he going to throw a curveball and go, well, we can't do that to Goff because he'll burn us? I think that's the knock on the personnel. It's like, well, their talent. This is not peak Mike Zimmer years where their defense was loaded with dudes. It's why Flora's been so incredible. I think there's a big overachievement aspect to

54:18 this team, which speaks to his brilliance as a coordinator. I just don't know if that pitch works against this team. And based on Goff's numbers, it 100% does not. And then the weakness of the Vikings, like, well, they're secondary defense. Like, Kyler Murray going to make you pay? Because the Vikings get to 25. Can you get to 26? If they get to 24, are you in the teens? It's why I like Detroit big in this game. This last game, on paper, is incredible. I don't really know what to make of it. Lamar's practiced the last couple weeks. He's obviously playing. But the way he was playing before he rolled his ankle or got rolled up on, I guess the guy tackled him from behind in the Titans game, you've just been like, this guy's MVP contender. And then

55:11 you take the weeks off. It's been weird. And here's the other thing. It's kind of crumbled around him. I saw Wink Martindale, the former defensive coordinator for the Vikings, or excuse me, the Ravens under Harbaugh, was kind of shitting on him. It's like they just look like they have no leaders. It's like, damn. And no franchise. I think this year they are first in point differential in the first half and dead last in the second half. Now, granted...

55:39 three of those games Lamar hasn't played, but that was a bugaboo for them the last couple years. They would just unravel. And I think there are some negative question marks that are just coming up around this team. Obviously the Lamar, Kawhi, like weirdness with injuries. But just when you watch them play, you're like, are they missing something?

56:02 Was it? Because I heard, I don't, I forget who said it, but they brought up a good point, like, Look at the Ravens right now. They fired John Harbaugh. He is like, because everyone just said he was the problem. John Harbaugh was their issue. And listen, I'm a big believer sometimes you need a fresh start. It's called life.

56:24 It'll run its course. But he's with the Giants kind of making chicken salad out of chicken, you know what, with his quarterback situation and how hard they play and how buttoned up they are and just some of his moves like the scataboo move. Well, you have Jesse Minter. You have a 31-year-old offensive coordinator. And now they're starting to feel some pressure. And then, you know, you desperately need a win. Lamar's back. You got to go to Buffalo? Now, they're coming off a bye. Should be fresh. I don't know.

56:55 This is a stay away for me from putting money on it. But I don't trust Baltimore right now. Now, if you tell me Lamar just hits the ground running, he's exactly where he was before he got injured, I'd be like, yeah, thank you. this thing should be a down to the wire game. But how can a guy that just told everybody that he felt weird and he wasn't close to 100%, part of the reason he just didn't play in this game, he's just healed now? He's going to be completely fine? Like, does the athleticism just come all the way back? He's not worried about the ankle at all? There's a high ankle sprain? He said it was. They kind of, like, what's going on? So, this is, Buffalo's in a position right now where it

57:35 does feel, especially, let's just assume the Steelers win. They're 6-2. Then all of a sudden, if you're the Ravens, you'd be 4-4. They would be clear out ahead of you. Which would be a little problematic. Not that the Bills are worried about the Steelers, but this is a chance which they would benefit from. You kind of got this team against, they're just kind of against the ropes. You're coming fresh. You got some momentum now. Your quarterback's balling.

58:08 You kind of hit him with an overhand Mike Tyson right and just knock him to the ground. Because at 4-4 with a young, inexperienced head coach would be a pretty tough spot. Would be a pretty tough spot to come back from. Any of the other games interest me? I do think the two teams have just made the trades.

58:34 I was a week early on the Colts' quit watch. Would anyone be shocked if Jacksonville just runs them out of the building? One, they've always had trouble in Jacksonville. And two, this is the type of deal in a locker room where just everyone's thinking that has a pulse, like I could get traded on Monday. Are they going to– is Jonathan Taylor playing in this game? Like if they got some serious offers over the course of the next couple days and they go, let's wait and see what happens to our team Sunday– Do you just inactivate him and just be like a wait and see approach? Because if he's not. playing, you just lost your best O-lineman, you just lost your best defensive lineman. I don't know.

59:17 I could see this thing being a bloodbath. And the Titans just stink to begin with. But I was watching the clip of Robert Sala today. He's like, you know, we had to tell everybody this is what happens when you're 1-6 and One and six could turn into two and 13 pretty quickly. And I think the Titans who have, you know, they've battled, but you remove him, who was by far their best player, quarterbacks getting peppered about his footwork every week and people thinking he sucks. He keep thinking he's good. It's bizarre. You know, it's weird. Like the Titans brass of reporters, like their core group, kind of coming after him. He is going the opposite of like, I'm like Lamar and Josh. He's not saying that, but

1:00:01 he's like, I'm good. It's not my fault. It's just weird. It's bizarre. I'm out. Arizona-Dallas, that game could be terrible. Vegas-Jets, that game's terrible too. The afternoon games, I've seen a lot of people with big opinions about how could Andy Reid sign Justin Tucker? One, I say it all the time, if you're looking for your NFL teams to set the moral standard for society, you're wasting a lot of time and effort. Like, it's on you to parent your children.

1:00:36 Teach them wrong and right. The NFL's not going to do that. They care about winning games and making money. Everything else is white noise and a bunch of BS. But I saw Coach Reed's like, well, he started a suspension. Like, what the hell? Everyone just took back, and again, I'm recording this part before the Thursday night game. Josh Jacobs admitted without essentially saying it, like, yeah, two or three seconds can really derail your life. Matt LaFleur last week, like, yeah, it's not an ideal situation. Hopefully learn from it. And then he's boom, backscores, touchdown. People are like, Jacobs is back.

1:01:10 Deshaun Watson's been the quarterback for two years, whatever, since he got back from suspension. And he has doubled the amount of the complaints, and he paid them all to go away. So it's like, if everyone else, no one else gives a shit, why should you? But why would they sign Justin Tucker? It's like, well, you're just bringing the practice squad. Why not some random kicker? Because they want to get Butker back making field goals. And the only way to do that, they feel like they're out of ideas. Light a little fire under them. Well, if you bring John Middlecoff, or Billy Lopez from one of these team's practice squad, or some random guy on the street, do you think Butker thinks that guy can beat him out?

1:01:52 Of course not. But if you bring in Tucker, who, before everything happened, looked like a Hall of Famer, I mean, probably still a Hall of Famer, but in there, that's gonna, okay, I better get my shit together, because they will get rid of me Despite my longevity and resume in Kansas City, if I don't start making some kicks. Like to me, it was 100% a motivational tactic. And like, yeah, they got a bunch of bad PR. Half the teams in the league just, we saw two prominent teams bring back players.

1:02:27 We're like, yeah, not ideal, but too good to pass up. Watson's been, Watson made $ 230 million. Started for the Browns. We're like one of the stories of the league. So I can't just sign a kicker and put him on the practice squad. I just, I think sometimes the reaction to this stuff, everyone else is doing it. You know, it's why Lane Kiffin is like, Lane, you can't sign these pro guys. It's like, well, no, no one else is doing it. You're the only one doing it. If you're the only one doing it, then yeah. But literally every team does it. And the teams that say like, no, we're above that bullshit. No one is. I did see my guy Shane sent me a tweet that, I don't remember this, but in June, the Patriots were playing the Dolphins,

1:03:20 where historically they've had some weird games, that Elliott Wolfe over the offseason acknowledged that A.J. Brown had a degenerative knee condition, but the Pats still signed off on it medically. Fast forward to this week, and Brown has a knee issue that's flared up, and his status for Sunday's game is up in the air. I do think that trade was absolutely insane. And I get it, the first rounder's in two years, but part of the reason, remember the Rams were in on it, they were going to get rid of Devontae, and they're like, yeah, his knee, no way.

1:03:58 But why do you think the Patriots did it? Because the boss is not Elliot Wolfe. The boss is Mike Vrabel. And Mike Vrabel's not worried about three years from now. He's worried about trying to win right now. But if the knee ain't working, and when you watch him play, doesn't even feel like he's playing that hard, not an ideal situation. Honestly, kind of like the Dolphins in the points this week. Okay, let's do a couple quick predictions by my friends at Pauly Market. And I mentioned this earlier.

1:04:25 I was a week early. Quit watch on full display this weekend. The Jags to win by 10.5. I'm going yes. $ 100 plays 201. I could see the Colts folding like a cheap 10 here. Just a complete unraveling of a franchise in front of our eyes. Liam Cohen, Trevor Lawrence, foot to throat. The Steelers. You just got to ride the trend, baby. 22 straight years. I think they make it 23. I think they win this game by 10 plus points. Especially lost earlier. Bunch of motivation. Steelers to win by three and a half points. Hit yes. $ 100 pays 197. Maybe my favorite game of the weekend. It's simply just a matchup. Jared Goff versus the Blitz. Advantage, Jared Goff. The Lions, at home, minus three and a half. Yes,

1:05:22 $ 100 pays $ 203. If you want a little extra, I also do not hate the Titans to fold against the Bengals. The big spreads, but I just think these two teams just fracturing at the seams. Let's do a couple quick mailbag questions and then get out of here. John, who says no to this trade? Herbert for the Jets, first round picks. I think the Jets would do that. I think they would try to keep one of them and give like a future first rounder. Here's the problem with the Chargers. Unless Herbert just completely falls off a cliff and looks unplayable, who's going to play quarterback for them?

1:06:20 So what do you do? Just draft? Hopefully we don't even know who's coming out in the draft. You just wouldn't have a quarterback. So what do you even do as a franchise? I think they might. I think the Jets would come around to saying yes. I think the Chargers would say no. I mean, the Jets, they have good players. Until you get a franchise quarterback, none of it matters. They've been in a similar position five, six years ago, maybe a little less, four or five years ago, when all those guys were super young. They had a bunch of core guys who were sweet, but they had no quarterback. When you have no quarterback, you have no future.

1:07:00 The one thing with the Chargers is if he does play well, like next year has a good season, they could be good. The Titans just traded Jeff. I don't know how to feel. Obviously, I want it all to end, but we got two first-round picks and a fourth. Do you think it needed to be done? Because I do think Borgonzi has a plan. But last time we traded away our best player, we got Traylon Burks, who had less touchdowns than A.J. Brown, had Super Bowl appearances. I think Traylon Burks, I know he got hurt against the Niners. Actually, he's kind of resurrected his career. Again, the bar was pretty low. Making these trades is... Fun's probably the wrong way to put it, but can be exhilarating. But I saw the Raiders trade Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper and

1:07:46 then draft a bunch of terrible players. Josh Jacobs was by far the best guy they drafted, and he didn't even sign a second contract with them. So... You can have all the picks in the world, but if you don't have a franchise quarterback, and then you miss on the other picks, none of it matters. None of it. So...

1:08:08 I don't know. I mean, this is... I don't know Borgonzi. Met him really briefly at the Combine. Bunch of mutual friends. Seems like a high-level guy. But he went all in for Cam Ward and he compared it to Patrick Mahomes. And he looks much closer to Mitch Trubisky on a good day. I mean, he's been terrible. It's obvious that the Vikings' success is mostly the work of Flores. If at the end of the season... He's getting head coaching offers from other teams. Do you think Minnesota would fire Kevin O'Connell in order to promote Flores? We have used examples of Dan Quinn, Kyle Shanahan. Clearly Dan Campbell is better than Dan Quinn, but should they have just hired Ben Johnson? John Harbaugh, Mike McDonald, right? It never happens.

1:09:03 If you win and you're in the play, Sean McDermott, Joe Brady, they're not going to fire you. They're just not. And the only way for the Vikings to figure this out is to figure out the quarterback position. And that is like, Separate from everything that happened in Miami with him refusing to tank, taking the money, suing the league.

1:09:29 Flores was awful with the offensive. I mean, I remember hearing stories before he ever sued the league. It was like, is this seriously happening? And maybe he's changed. But I heard the same thing about Josh McGann. The Belichick guys always claim they change. They never change. Flores is an elite defensive mind. One of the best in the league.

1:09:47 But you can't run a franchise if you can't deal with the offensive staff and the quarterback. And people are like, well, he was right about Tua. No, Tua was making the playoffs for a while. If he would have got that Tua-level quarterback before he started getting knocked out with his defense, they would have been a solid team. You have to find a way to deal with the offensive guys. And I think sometimes these defensive mentality individuals struggle. Offense is cerebral.

1:10:14 It's much more chill. Quarterbacks don't get screamed at all the time. Unless you're Tom Brady. Those guys saw Tom Brady get treated like a linebacker. That's not normal. It doesn't happen anywhere else. Unless it's the offensive coach yelling at them. When the defense guy yells at you constantly, it feels a little different. There are reports that Ben Johnson will yell at Caleb, but ultimately, Caleb knows Ben Johnson's an offensive genius. So I do think there are questions with if you remove everything on Flores and just look at him as a coach. Like if you're interviewing him, like how are you going to handle the offensive staff in the quarterback position? Because you become the head coach.

1:10:57 That's a very, very vital. That's the heartbeat of the franchise. It is. Like what Minnesota's doing, which speaks to how incredible he's been. We all agree it's like not sustainable. Been a while, but the Bengals back from the depths of hell it appears. Feels like the first time in a decade they were strong on both sides of the trenches.

1:11:22 What should be their metric of success for the season at this point? I would say 11 to 12 wins. I think ideally you're like, I want to win the division. That should be the goal sitting here today. The Bengals aspire to win the North. And then if you win the North, it would probably depend where you're... If you're the one seed, your goal's got to be to win the conference. If you're like the three seed, bare minimum, win a playoff game, and then we'll see who we're playing, and then we can kind of judge it from there.

1:11:57 Like if you're an underdog in that game, it's hard to crush you if you lose. But... I would say bare minimum, playoffs, win a playoff game. I would say highest level of aspirations would be win the division and win the conference. But I think if you go 11-6 or 12-5, you're the five seed. You win a playoff game and then you go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs or the Bills or whatever and you were to lose, I think that's a pretty successful season. I think it varies how it looks over the next month or two. Because if you just start winning all these games, your expectation would be like, we can win the Super Bowl. And the Super Bowl is wide open. Super Bowl is wide open this year. It's why you just saw all these

1:12:46 teams getting really aggressive. And I read something on social media that's like, get ready, it ain't over. Been a Titans fan since I was young. I've experienced the highs, the heartbreak, and what feels like an endless cycle of rebuilding. At what point do we start blaming bad luck, coaching changes, or the quarterback position and start questioning the culture and decision-making at the top? Nashville isn't the problem. Other small market teams have figured out how to win. So what is fundamentally broken inside this organization and what needs to change for the Titans to finally become a sustainable winner instead of just keep starting over? It does feel like the owner's a clown. The owner's a clown. I mean,

1:13:27 they've just fired a bunch of executives, uh, following Jared Stillman on social. He's just crushing that Burton Nahill or Nihill, the president. It's just a dysfunctional organization. And typically that starts with the owner. Because when things get weird internally, you know, I mean, just a year ago they had Chad Brinker, who was a former scouting executive, be their business president over Borgonzi. They've always got weird shit going on.

1:14:00 I would say their most consistent couple year stretch is when they just had John Robinson, their GM, football guy, Mike Vrabel, head coach, football guy. It felt like they were left alone and they excelled for a couple years. But it does feel like Amy Adams is kind of a loser. I mean, it really does. I mean, these people, they not only grew up rich, they kind of grew up famous. Because that's the owner of the Titans. Everywhere she goes. Every time she eats dinner at the country club.

1:14:38 Every time she's out and about in the community. Even around other rich people. It's like, hey, that guy owns the whatever. The big construction company. The big real estate company. The seven restaurants. Is that guy, even if he's worth hundreds of millions of dollars... You're still pointing out that person owns the NFL team. And I think that's better life.

1:15:10 And I'm not saying Clark Hunt feels like a pretty high-level guy. Jeffrey Lurie grew up rich. So I'm not one of those people that acts like just because your circumstance is better than a lot of other people that it's going to automatically determine you're going to be a loser. But clearly some of these people are losers. I mean, Woody Johnson is a rich kid. It's weird because he's old, but he's a rich kid. Doesn't feel like he's the most buttoned up human. Some people, I just also think it's about how their parents acted. You can say the Chiefs are cheap, but like Clark Hunt, you ever heard, like he just seems like a pretty normal, impressive guy.

1:15:49 People like him. Tough to negotiate with. He pinches pennies, but look at Amy Strunk. I mean, what is, what a joke. Given all your contacts around the league, I'm curious what the general perception of Loomis is amongst NFL executives. A lot of Saints fans want him gone, but he's had some solid draft picks over the years. Plus, as you've mentioned, good GMs are much harder to replace than people realize. If you were running the Saints, what changes would you make? Would you move on from Loomis? It's a good question. I do think if you move on from Mickey, and you just hire some young hotshot or whatever, how long does Kellen have? Is then Kellen going to get fired, and then you're just going through the same cycle?

1:16:45 It does feel like you have a little something with this quarterback. Your defense right now is atrocious. You sign, I call him ETN, his real name is HN. He pulls his hammy immediately. right? So like your big free agent signing on offense gets injured and you have the eighth overall pick, which I, I listen, I thought it was pretty crazy when they took them, but they did.

1:17:10 And he just can't play. And it does feel like Jordan Tyson's more likely to miss the season than catch 15 touchdowns, right? At this point. So it's going to suck, but I'd probably run it back one more year and see, you know, you lost a, did the left tackle, uh, He's been out forever after he hurt his ankle. I would guess they get next season. The Bills have had a terrible run defense for years and multiple different coordinators.

1:17:46 It's gotten even worse this year with Joe Brady when he took over. Is it the scheme or lack of talent at linebacker? Who's the best linebacker over the last 10 years you guys have had? Milano, whenever he was healthy? I think a huge part of run defense, especially now, teams lean on pass-rushing defensive linemen. Do you have linebackers who can fly sideline to sideline? Because a lot of the run game now is horizontal, not vertical. So look at Fred Warner. He makes every tackle. Look at I'm trying to think of it. Look at the guys in Seattle.

1:18:26 Ernest Jones, tackling machine. And Eamon Warren, their DBs tackle. So you need to have good tackling DBs. Do your DBs and linebackers tackle? Because if they don't, you're going to have problems. Even the Rams. I feel like Landman's a pretty good tackler. The Chiefs, you're watching Sunday night. You see Bolton attack off-tackle runs. The guy's coming at you like he's Ray Lewis. I'd have to really ask around people that have advanced scouted their team what their issue is. A lot of it gets down to linebacker play.

1:19:10 Do you have impact linebacker play or not? And can your middle to, like when you had Poyer, who was the other, you had the two safeties there for a while. They were pretty physical tacklers. That helps. But now because so many people, especially against your past defense, you can throw in the corners. You got to leave those guys back.

1:19:36 What if the NFL banned the kneel down? I've never really been a fan of a team leading and being able to drain the clock. What if the quarterback kneel was banned and you had to run the ball? I'm not there with you. Couldn't I just hand it off? What if I did a quarterback? What if my quarterback's running?

1:19:56 Like I do a quarterback power and I go two steps and I hit the ground. What if I just hand it to my running back and he just hits the ground? I mean, that's part of the game. I mean, I You know, you get four downs, 40 seconds of down. It's just... The tush push, which is now dead. I mean, that tush push for them is a nightmare. It got called...

1:20:18 The Cowboys got called offside, but they fumbled it. It would have been a... I mean, McKee got destroyed. The tush push is dead. But like that, I understood people going, you know, this doesn't really feel like football. Because it didn't really. Like, this is not the NFL I know. The kneel downs... I mean, the victory formation is the best formation in the sport. So I disagree with you there.

1:20:43 We will end on this. Do you think Brian Kelly gets another job? I guess on paper, he would make sense for Rutgers or Maryland. But do you think with how embarrassing the way he flamed out at LSU was, and the fact that Notre Dame hasn't missed a beat since he left, he's just kind of viewed as toxic? I think he's kind of viewed as rich and lazy.

1:21:04 He got one of the best jobs in all of America, college or pro. They give you unlimited resources. You have unlimited talent pool in your backyard, and he didn't try it recruiting. And he's not a play caller, right? He's a CEO. So shouldn't you be the recruiter? Underrated part about Notre Dame, the pool in which they recruited from when he was there, he's not recruiting every kid in the country. Because there was an academic standard at Notre Dame that you had to fall under. So he was really recruiting against Harbaugh and David Shaw at Stanford. He recruited against Michigan. He wasn't recruiting for certain players against LSU and Ohio State and Florida and Georgia and Bama.

1:21:49 They weren't recruiting the same defensive back. They weren't recruiting the same wide receiver. Might recruit the same center or quarterback. maybe even running back, but it was actually easier. LSU, Ohio State, Georgia, Bama, Texas, Oregon, SC, you recruit everybody with a pulse that can play. So I think he kind of proved he was lazy. So if I give a guy $ 100 million and he went into the job kind of being lazy, you don't think he's going to be lazier now at a school with way less resources?

1:22:27 My take is unhirable. Resume speaks for itself. It was a different world. Like when he won at Cincinnati. Probably had some hustle to him at Cincinnati. And then he made it at Notre Dame. You know, I think a lot of human beings, it's what makes Saban so unique. It's like he never stopped. Up until he retired, he never stopped. And he even says in the documentary, like I was on the fence because I knew we had a bunch of guys coming back. We were going to be good. No one that worked for Saban speaks about him differently like the guys that were like Cignetti that was around him in like 07 and 08 any differently than like Pete Golding speaks about him in 2021. The way they describe the guy, the work ethic, the consistency

1:23:17 is the exact same. People are like, Brian Kelly wouldn't take recruiting calls. Coaches would walk in and be like, yeah, I'm not talking to him. I just don't think he gives a shit. So old, so rich. He just, I wouldn't touch him. I really wouldn't. And I'd honestly be stunned if he took, like, why would Brian Kelly take the Rutgers job? Just because he's addicted to being in control of a bunch of people in an organization? He doesn't need the money. He's not going to win there.

1:23:51 No one's winning at Maryland. No one's winning at Rutgers. Nobody. You could be semi-competitive at Baylor, but what are you really doing? I think most of these jobs are terrible. What a lot of these jobs are to me is stepping stone jobs. If you're the Memphis guy or you're a coordinator, I need my shot to spring me. It's like Will Stein, Kentucky. That's a catapult job. Where can I go from here? Can I be the next coach at Alabama? And the answer is, if DeBoer has a couple bad seasons, the answer is yes. Yes, you can.

1:24:32 Will Stein's thinking, if Sark gets fired, could I be the next coach at Texas? And the answer is yes. Yes, you can. It's like Bob Chesney. I know he's been pretty loyal to UCLA and he's saying all the right things, but if in two years Michigan calls, I would say, Bob, you're insane. I grew up a UCLA fan. I've watched that program in the mid to late 90s. I love the O'Bannon twins and Steve Lavin and Jason Campono married a girl from Davis high school, Ashley Klein. I think they're divorced now, but, uh, actually went out drinking one time with him when I lived in Philly and he was playing for the Sixers. Actually pretty good time. Tim Legler was there. Uh, the big center from Washington, the big white guy was there. A bunch of Sixers there.

1:25:14 We had, we had a couple of buddies from the Eagles. I think some Eagle players were there as well. Bar was hopping that night, but I, uh, Yeah, I just think most of these jobs. Like in the NFL, the Jags job's awful. You make Trevor Lawrence good, good gig. Jets job stinks. You get the next, you know, star quarterback or next top 10 quarterback, you'll be good. College football's not like that. College football's got way too many variables.

1:25:47 I just think that if Brian Kelly accepts one of those crappy jobs, the guy's a nut job. Which he might be. Because he doesn't need the money and he ain't going to win there. So what's the point of it? Just because you want to yell at people? Which does feel like he likes doing. Adios. Have a great weekend.

1:26:05 We will talk Sunday.