3 & Out - Thursday Night Football Preview, J.J. McCarthy Starts for the Giants, Josh Jacobs Return Update & Middlekauff Mailbag

0:01 The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middlecock, The Renown Podcast. Hopefully you are doing well, enjoying life. We have a big show coming up. We got a lot going on. We got a game tonight. Bears hosting the Patriots. Pretty good one. Some thoughts on that one. Uh, JJ McCarthy, the return of JJ McCarthy cannot hold the former Wolverine down long. He's starting for the giants. Josh Jacobs has returned international madness. We'll do some mailbag questions. Notre Dame's always coming up. People are pissed off that they are just playing nobody. And then when they do play somebody, they lose. Uh, You guys know the drill. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those DMs. But if you listen on Coward's feed,

0:59 make sure you subscribe to Three and Out. We're up on Netflix. You can hit the alert button, never miss an episode. And we throw a bunch of stuff on the YouTube channel. Appreciate everyone that's subscribed there. Let's just dive into a little Thursday Night Football. I have a pretty simple philosophy when it comes to these games. Obviously, week one, we now have Wednesday and Thursday games. I don't count that midweek game as a disadvantage for anybody.

1:25 You're coming off training camp. You can manipulate the schedule. Now, the cutdowns, you have multiple weeks. It's a normal game. It's honestly no different playing on Sunday. It's an advantage if you play the next Sunday because you get a longer rest, especially when you win. But to me, once you make it past the end of September into October on– The Thursday road team is at such a big disadvantage.

1:51 It's borderline immeasurable. I mean, you saw it last week with Seattle coming off a game against San Francisco. The disadvantage they were at playing on a short week is you don't get to practice. Veteran players talk all the time. As you get older, sometimes... you need more time to take care of yourself physically, right? I, we all notice if you go to the gym, sometimes you'll look over and you'll see like the 70 year old guy before he does anything. We'll spend a lot of time on the mats. just stretching it out. He can't just hit the weights like he probably could when he was 35 years old. Well, it's no different as a veteran player if you're a 34-year-old defensive lineman or wide receiver. You're

2:39 seeing it with Mike Evans every single week. He's not even able to practice. He can just play in the games. You're not even ready to go by Wednesday's practice of a normal week. Players say it all the time. As their career goes on, What I have to go through to just feel semi-normal for Wednesday's practice on a Sunday week gets pretty intense. Well, on these weeks, the Patriots fly on Wednesday. And you get no practice really because, especially a team like that, they have a million injuries.

3:11 Lost a wide receiver. AJ comes back. They lose Dobbs. They lose multiple offensive linemen. They lose a corner. They lose multiple safeties. So now you have these guys that aren't used to starting that are starting, that you have to implement the game plan and you only practice a walkthrough. Oh yeah, and you're playing another good team. Now this philosophy goes out the window a little bit if it's like a shitty team against a high-end team. Like a couple years ago, I think the Dolphins hosted the Bills. Yeah, I mean, I like the away team. But when you tell me it's the margins between the two squads are relatively even, two playoff teams, two eight-win teams, obviously division games, the Browns are involved. But I love the Bears in

3:52 this spot. And I think the home situation is a huge reason for it. Losing a bunch of defensive backs against Caleb. We've seen two of his three games. Minnesota fans get so offended when you go, yeah, week two was weird. It was an awful weather game. Here's a newsflash. If there's an awful weather game and the Minnesota Vikings are involved, it's advantaged them. Because if you're playing the 49ers, if you're playing the Chiefs, if you're playing whoever, because your defense, the way you play, and that game's going to neutralize the quarterback. So your offense doesn't need to be great because it's going to be a low-scoring game no matter what, and that's how you play. So it's like, all I've gotten was like, you just don't give the

4:36 Vikings any credit for it. No, I'm saying that played right into their hands. If that game had been in Minnesota, based on what we saw week one and what we saw last week when Caleb's playing, fucking advantage the Bears because their offense is unreal. So, and I give Vrabel a lot of credit. He's got some issues. You know, he's not the most faithful man it looks like. You know, likes to smoke cigarettes, can't be healthy for you. But the guy psychologically knows human beings. And this goes back to when he was a Patriot captain to now dealing with Drake May. Because as that confidence started wavering, you're like, ugh, this thing could get weird. And he fixed it right away.

5:18 And it's not exactly like he's throwing to Edelman and Gronk. I mean, A.J. Brown's been gone the whole time. Romeo Dobbs, his Patriot career has not gone well. And now he's injured. So I just don't think that the Patriots... can score with the Bears. Because we've seen the Bears when they're on, I mean, they're scoring 24 points and a half. You know, they were up 31-7 last week against a team that had been fucking rolling. So if you tell me Caleb's healthy, at home, Thursday night game, like two and a half, three points, I'm hammering the Bears. And listen, that's no, and I don't hold anything against you, like, New England go on win 11 games, compete to win the division, be the five seed. I don't think anything of you differently.

6:11 Even Seattle last week. I don't think Seattle sucks. I think that's a spot that anyone in their situation coming off the Niner game loses that game. I think we have to be very careful, and I'm guilty of this, writing the obituary of someone's career. And I'd argue this for young people in general. Sometimes, you know, the road to where you want to go is pretty windy. Not everyone is just like Mike Tyson or Tiger Woods on top of the world at 20 years old, right? Even successful people, it takes years, years to kind of get it going. And I think playing quarterback, it's easy to do this and I'm guilty. You could have any time in your life things don't go well, you can make an excuse for it. You can say, oh, that guy

7:06 fucked me. You know, this situation hadn't happened. Oh, I had this job lined up and, you know, the 08 financial crash happened and they yanked the offer and I didn't have a job and I was unemployed for the next three years. You can blame anyone for anything at all times. We're all guilty of it. And it's the easiest thing to do in life. You can do it with JJ McCarthy. They didn't give him enough time. Kevin O'Connell wasn't open-minded enough. Kevin O'Connell didn't change his offensive philosophy to build on the strengths that JJ brought to the table. He just coached his scheme for JJ. And it was kind of a weird mix. They should have stuck with him. They should have given him the benefit of the doubt over Kyler and old Carson Wentz. You

7:50 can make a million excuses for him. But the bottom line is if they hadn't traded him to the Giants, he was never going to play this year. And now he gets an opportunity to start for a team that won because of their division, which is in shambles. They have a very good chance to win it if he is just okay. And this is actually not an awful spot to be the quarterback. They have Malik Nabors. They have Isaiah Likely. Like, a couple weeks ago, those two guys combined, I think, for 22 catches. You would say Isaiah Likely. I mean, I'm trying to think of, you know, Kelsey's older now. Kittle's an all-around tight end. You know, you'd say Bowers is kind of the cream of the crop.

8:36 But I would say likely he's a top two or three just receiving tight end. Just pure route runner, getting open, playmaker. I think he's pretty special. That was a fantastic signing. Honestly, I do wonder if the Ravens had a redo, would they have just found a way to get rid of Mark Andrews and just kept him? I think they have to want to do over on that one. But it's too late. And now he gets a chance to just shut everybody up. And think about the NFL. especially in 2026, there's so many injuries. Your career, you're always a broken ankle, a ripped knee, especially a quarterback. Once a backup comes in, if you're the third string quarterback, three or four picks from that guy, an implosion in a quarter from you

9:24 getting in the game. And then once you get in the game, it's on you to figure it out and make the most of it. Now, this is, in theory, a tough spot. You're playing the Texans, a massive underdog. This Texas defense doesn't exactly parallel last year. They have been getting smoked on a weekly basis by the other quarterback.

9:40 They've given up a ton of big plays. You can throw on them. You can be successful. So, the other thing is, J.J. gets to go to a guy who's, like, John Harbaugh knows what he's doing. They also have Matt Nagy, Greg Roman, and Brian Callahan. So... you can nitpick all of them individually, but, like, as a group, that's a pretty good offensive melting pot of experience of guys who have seen some different shit. I mean, Roman, both Harbaugh brothers.

10:13 Nagy spent forever with Patrick Mahomes. And, you know, Callahan wasn't that long ago was coaching Joe Burrow. So I just think sometimes we write an obituary for a career. Like, it's over. Dead. It's done. It's like, well, what if he starts the rest of the year and actually is okay? His career is just immediately resurrected. It happens that fast.

10:40 When you're young, it's like sometimes you've got to play the long game. And J.J. didn't even have to. You know, his career was over and then boom, he's starting for a team that actually might not be bad. I saw Matt Stafford today. I hate when players do this. Stafford on the Rams rash of injuries. He said, everybody sees these and they're on their fantasy team or whatever. And they're like, ah, I got to trade this guy in and out now. And we're like, well, that guy's worked his ass off for this the last 18 months to get this opportunity. And I'm just reading the quote. I didn't see the audio, so he could have been tongue-in-cheek a little bit. But I do think players, and then I think the media agrees with them about fantasy and

11:26 gambling and prediction markets and everything has been the downfall of the way people talk. It's like, I've watched the Rams for a decade treat their franchise like a fantasy football team. of all the teams in the sport of football. In basketball, Daryl Morey's done it forever. Baseball, the big market teams, the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Red Sox, Phillies, whatever.

11:52 But in football, typically, it's pretty organic. Even if you look at the Eagles over the last couple years, most of the guys, their core group of guys, Jalen draft pick. Their entire offensive lineman, homegrown draft picks. Saquon was an addition, but he didn't cost that much. Goddard drafted, Devontae Smith drafted, the DBs drafted, all the defensive linemen drafted, including Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham, who'd been there forever. Football is a lot different than these other sports. Yet the Rams treat everyone like they're a widget. And then Stafford is going to be like, well, fans don't give a fuck.

12:31 They just see this guy, like take this guy out, trade this. No, I'll promise you this. The fans look at your roster differently no differently than your coach and your GM, who have proven year after year after year, they don't give a flying fuck. I mean, they don't care at all. Literally this offseason, because one of the guys you just lost was Devontae Adams, who looked like ripped a hamstring pretty bad. They had to tell Devontae, actually, hey buddy, we might trade you for A.J. Brown. You mean the guy that was just an all-pro pro bowler? Well, he's actually coming off a year where he kind of quit on his team and demanded a trade. That's pretty weird, but that's who we're going to trade you for. Even

13:16 though high character, team leader, just led the league in touchdowns. So if this goes down, you're gone. And then the fans get lectured that they don't give a shit about any of these people? Your own front office has proven that. That they don't care. Which again, I'm not saying it's right or wrong. This year is clearly backfiring in their face.

13:40 Making all these moves, right? Going the wrong way fast. But this notion that the fans that play fantasy football care any less than like less need. They would trade everyone on this team in a heartbeat if they thought they could upgrade. They don't give a shit about any of you. I mean, Jared Goff's a great example. They just got rid of four of you. And I'll promise you this, if they could trade you for Jared Goff right now, because he's younger and playing well again, and they could have him for the next four years back, they would. Because it looks like your career is going the wrong way. How do you think they're talking about you behind closed doors? I'll promise you this, it was a great guy, great family. Just, yeah, it's going awesome.

14:26 Do you think that's what they're saying? I doubt it. I actually know for a fact they're not, because that's not how people talk. And the fans always get such a bad rap in this stuff. Where it's like all the GMs... All the coaches... Talk the exact same. I've said forever. I think one reason it was so easy for me to transition... And I'm a born media guy.

14:50 I'm a born... I was born to do this. I just took a detour... Before I got into this part of my career. But... The conversations I've had with my friends... the conversations I have on this podcast are no different than the conversations I had when I worked in college in NFL football. The conversations are all the same. What do you think those people talk about? What do you think Les Snead and Sean McVay talked about today? How well Stafford's doing? Or like, are we fucked? I mean, we've seen them before. Of all the teams in the league, like, Could we do something crazy? Your team is basically run like a fantasy football team. The Packers better hope that video never gets out. Because I watched Josh Jacobs talk today.

15:47 I watched Matt LaFleur talk today. Without saying the words, he hit her. They both basically said, mistakes were made. Three, four seconds can change your life. Morally, like I've said forever, I don't watch football for them to teach me life lessons. I'm not going to have my son watch the NFL to teach him how to live his life, to be a mentor for his life. That's my job as a father.

16:14 The NFL's job, and I'll teach him this young, and I've known this now for a while, has two main agendas. Make more revenue and win football games. If Josh Jacobs was a backup, a practice squatter, He would never get a second chance. But his talent outweighs his problems. And clearly, this video, they feel pretty confident it's never going to get out. Because if there is something damning on the video, they won't have to fold their franchise. They'll just eventually have to cut them because of the PR nightmare. But they clearly feel like they don't care. Because the reason they don't care is Matt LaFleur, he's got to win games.

16:54 That's his only job right now is how do I win more games? How do I get us to the playoffs? Because if I don't, I could get fired. So I could take a moral stance and be like, I don't stand for that, which I don't actually think he does. Like, do I think Matt LaFleur is like, I'm pro hitting women? Of course not. But his role, his job, success and failure are determined by wins and losses come Sunday every week and sometimes Thursday where they play multiple Thursday games.

17:24 And he also coaches in organizations whose standard is extremely high. They're used to winning the division and making the playoffs all the fucking time. And his best chance is with Josh Jacobs at running back, not these other scrubs that they've been rolling out all year. Which is a bad job by the personnel department to not have other just credible running backs. But I don't blame LaFleur for going, we're going to accept this guy back. I don't look at the NFL through some lens of purity. I look at the NFL no different than any entertainment operation. That's all it's there to do. And on their side, it's about money and their entertainment is based, you know, success on wins and losses. And that's definitely what his job

18:13 is there to do. But, you know, there's been enough smoke about him, the legal action behind the scenes to make sure this video never comes out. I would not trust that. We have seen these videos. There's always a price. TMZ and these people are willing to pay. If you're the Chicago Bears, I mean, shit. If I was a team in the division like the Lions or the Bears, I would be utilizing my Dom-type guy to be like, how do we get this video public? That's the world we're in. I mean, it's a dirty game. I mean, what do you think Belichick would have done 10 years ago?

18:49 If the team that he was worried about beating him out for the division was in that situation. They would have done everything humanly possible to make that video come out. I say this all the time about the Vrabel-Russini thing. Who do you think sent the PR? Vrabel's not divorced. Doesn't look like Russini's divorced. That news would have got out.

19:09 So I think it's fair to say that it wasn't one of their significant others. Probably someone in the league. If it's not one of those two, they're significant others, which, you know, if I was going to do that to embarrass my significant other, if she was cheating on me and I sent a PI to get that, that would have been the icing on the cake of the divorce.

19:33 You wouldn't do that and then stay with her, right? So I think it's fair to say there's a decent chance, assuming both wife and husband stayed with Vrabel and Rossini, that it was someone in the NFL. So if I was involved in the NFL with one of these other teams, why wouldn't you do everything possible to make this video leak and make it so this guy has a short-lived career with the Packers? Because I don't think they would have a choice. But again, they don't care what's on the video. They don't. Just like no one in the NFL cares. And again, that doesn't mean they're pro-beating women or hitting women or whatever happened on this video. We don't know. It is suspicious when he's actively making sure

20:16 that video doesn't become public. Because if it was just like an arguing match and, you know, obviously if there's a strike involved, it just feels like it's a game over because we have precedent set with Ray Rice. I need to tell you about this new sports trading app called Polymarket. It's the best way to trade in sports.

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22:36 be like, yeah, probably avoid that right now. Probably not somewhere I'd want to go. Maybe skip it. Maybe we could circle back a year from now, right? The NFL is like, Steelers Saints, head to play a game. This is Jalen last week. I was reading an article. Jalen, the hospital he went to and the doctor he saw is in charge of some of their international soccer teams, right?

23:02 The high price. I don't know exactly what soccer teams he works with, but let's just assume the big ones, right? With multi-million dollar players. I was reading my guy Ethan Strauss' substack today and he brought up a good point. The doctors that deal with Manchester City, Manchester United, whoever, you know, you pick the teams. Probably a little different vibe when looking at some of these soccer players than some of the football players that end up at the hospital. Anyone that watched the Falcons game last week, when a guy got stretchered off and I had it on mute and Maria had the audio on in the house and I went back in, I'm like, I think a guy just broke his neck. She said, I guess they said that

23:49 he moved his hands. And then Stefanski says, back at practice today. Obviously the Dante Moore play, whatever, three or four weeks ago. Looks like he's dead. And in all these towns, in all these cities where we play football, college and pro, the main hospital there that is connected, I would say has a large experience of seeing all sorts of shit. Players come in there that are like in bad shape. That's just not the case in soccer.

24:19 I'm not saying you can't have a serious injury in soccer, but But there's a violence in football that just doesn't parallel fucking the EPL. Let's be real. And I said this a couple days ago. Are we in this situation if Jalen Hurts is in a normal hospital that's used to dealing with NFL and college players? I think it's fair to say maybe not. I don't know for sure, right?

24:46 Are we in a situation where I would imagine most of these players are If you polled every single guy, 53 guys, 53 guys, all the coaches, do you want to go to France this week? What would the poll be back? Especially if it was anonymous, so they didn't piss anybody off. Would it be 100 to 0? 100%? Let's stay in the States to 0. Let's not travel there.

25:12 And this gets back to the Packer thing. Packers aren't alone. Every single team is like that. Every single one. If this guy can help you win, they will look past stuff. So that's what we're dealing with here. The NFL. Because I was thinking about this today. Do they want to build a fan base in France? The answer is no.

25:37 But they can't play in London every single week. But what do they want? They want an international package with 15, 16 games that start at 6.30 in the morning. And what do they get this week in France? Pittsburgh at New Orleans in France, 6.30 in the morning. Which, when you have a baby and you live on the West Coast, you never miss a kickoff. It's a long day of football.

26:05 But that game's not terrible. Not great. I mean, we'll dive into the slate tomorrow, but there's a lot of Cleveland at Tennessee, Miami at New York. So, yeah, man, I just... I don't know what to say. These international games. What a pain in the ass if you're in the league. I'll bang out a couple quick mailbag questions. Speaking of bad teams, this is from Mike. Mike Isola. I wonder if that's Frank's kid. How would you go about fixing the Jets? The team has shown signs of improvement this year, but I still question if Glenn is the guy. I do think an offensive-minded coach would elevate the team since we have invested multiple first-round picks on offense, What do you think of Darren Mugisi? I actually think you have

26:55 a lot of good players. Your running back room is good. Brees is one of the better running backs in the league. Didn't he just sign a contract this offseason? And Braylon Allen is just a really good backup. Garrett Wilson is, I would just say, a very, very solid NFL player. Superstar, no, but he's good, right? He's not like Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase, but he's in that next tier. If he's on every team in the league, he'd start for every team in the league. You draft Sadiq. Omar Cooper, last week I look up and Geno's throwing him a bomb. Actually, underthrew him a little bit. Touchdown. I'm not a huge Donnie Mitchell guy. You kind of have to catch to play a receiver. Just Cooper and Sadiq, two young pieces.

27:40 And Garrett Wilson, how old is Garrett Wilson? He's 26 years old. So they got a core running back and their weapons pretty good. Offensive line's not bad. They just need a quarterback. And they need a lot of help on defense, obviously. But the Aaron Glenn thing, I would imagine he would get fired. But I think one big difference this time than some of the other guys they've ran through, part of Sala, Woody hated him. Woody didn't hire him. They never hit it off. Something about their personalities.

28:13 And it didn't work. And I do think that Woody and this guy get along well. I don't know if there's some connection there that he played forever for the Jets, but it does feel like there's a little respect. Now, does that mean if you go five wins that you survive? Probably not. The other thing is, look at Munkin. I would say the two Browns and the Jets, they feel like they have some young nucleus, some young players. Both have some limitations, but Todd's doing a pretty good job.

28:51 And it does feel like Aaron Glenn. You always get to a point where when does Mugie try to jump off the boat with Aaron Glenn or shove him overboard? if he thinks that the owner's turning on him and goes, well, I got it handled. We got some picks coming up, right? Because they have, they have the best cowboy pick, which I mean, if the Cowboys keep playing like they're playing, that could be good. I don't know if there's necessarily a quarterback that saves them and they're too good. Like they're not going to get the number one overall pick.

29:31 So if you look at the quarterbacks that are going to be in this draft that I feel confident are going to be in the mix to be top Five picks. you would say Trinidad Chambliss who plays the Texans, not the Texans, but the in Texas this week, the Texas Longhorns, which I think he is going to, you know, Colin Simmons is out. He's going to look good. I think when the dust settles, he would be now that now the quarterback's out for Jeremiah Smith, My bet would be Trinidad Jambliss winning the Heisman Trophy. I would say Jeremiah Smith was going to win it, but the quarterback situation could derail his hopes. And Mensah would be the other guy to keep a close eye on to be like a top five pick. Dante Moore is in major question

30:16 right now. Like... If that's a devastating concussion and cost him a season, do you feel comfortable? One, he wasn't even playing that well. To draft him really high? I'm not saying it derails his opportunity to be a top pick, but it definitely calls everything into question. Who else is in the mix to be a high pick? Mestemaker at Oklahoma State. I had an executive tell me, he's been starting in college football for a year and a half.

30:43 He never started a high school football game. Can we just let everything breathe for a second? Obviously, Arch, no chance. You watch Josh Hoover the other game against Ohio State? Honestly, if you watch him this season, he's kind of been hit or miss. I think the quarterback play is in major question. So you can just keep building this team. Yeah.

31:11 I think that's the main problem. Quarterback and coach. You can have good players. Look at the Bears. Like, Imagine if you just put Glenn and Geno Smith on the Bears and you gave Ben Johnson and Caleb to the Jets. What would you say? What would every Jets fan say? We're fucking going to the playoffs. I'd give you a chance at two and four if you just inserted those two guys. And we would all bet against the Jets.

31:42 So the importance of those two guys, I've told this story before, but someone on the Jets staff told me that early on in Joe Douglas' career when he made all these trades and they hit on a bunch of picks. Garrett Wilson, Brees Hall, Sauce, some of the offensive linemen, Quinn and Williams, they were just hitting on dudes. But he's like, if we do draft a quarterback high and we miss on that guy, so of eight guys, we go seven of eight, but the quarterbacks are missed, we're all going to get fired. But if it's reversed... We hit on two guys of the eight or nine, and one's the quarterback. We're getting extensions. That's the power of this business. And the Jets and Browns are good examples.

32:29 You can't watch them. If I just got Kyle Shanahan on the phone, I said, hey, look at the Jets and Browns today. You could have five of their players. It would probably be a hard decision just picking which players he'd want. Because they both have a ton of young, sweet guys. But when your quarterback is bad, you know, Munkin knows, like Munkin's a real coordinator. And even you watch him and Deshaun, like there's only so much he can do. If either team could get a solid quarterback, they'd be okay. It kind of seems like Hertzkamp might feel a little jaded or at least disappointed by how they handled the health with the blood clots. Could he be a sleeper pick to trade to the Vikings if he does not want to play for the Eagles again

33:19 after this situation? I, they would not, if they were at all, okay, the way that I perceive this, I have no inside information. I haven't talked with anyone with the Eagles since this happened. Probably not a good time to reach out. Who do you think was one of the guys pushing the hardest to play? My guess would be Jalen Hurts. I'm giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.

33:44 No one knew how serious the blood clots were or they wouldn't have let him play. But again, I can never discount, never been to London. If my life was on the line, not where I'd want to be. I could pick about 50 hospitals in America that I would choose to go to before I went to this London hospital. Not saying they got a bunch of idiots. But if I was in a situation like Jalen, and I would imagine Jalen would agree, that wouldn't be the first hospital he would choose to go to if all options were on the table. But the one thing about Jalen is he's not just, he wants to play no matter what.

34:19 Because it goes back to his entire career. I don't think that he views the Eagles, again, this is just from the outside, his agent would not have done a joint statement with the Philadelphia, he wants to be the quarterback for the Eagles. I believe that Jalen Hurts will desperately want, whenever he can come back, to continue to be the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Whether that's a different coach, whether that's different teammates, I think that's where he wants to play. I also think Jalen's kind of like a bright lights, big city, kind of likes the pressure. Look, played in fucking Alabama for Saban. Then he transferred to Oklahoma.

34:59 And I'm not saying Minnesota's not a pressure-packed environment, but Philly's kind of a one-on-one. I think if they were truly at odds, and Jalen thought that they royally fucked him, like, hey guys, I got a blood clot, and they're like, no you don't, you're playing, I do not think they would have come out with a joint statement. Could be wrong, could be naive, but I don't think Jalen's side would have. Like, it doesn't feel, as of I'm recording this, like Jalen and his side is about to sue the Eagles. Now, maybe things change, but... Where I'm sitting, my guess is when he can get right, he wants to play for the Eagles. I know that seems crazy to some people, but that's what I believe. I keep hearing the narrative

35:43 around the Eagles is, quote, the division is still winnable. What incentive is there for them to win the division, to get bounced in the first round, and have a worse draft pick? The thing about the NFL, and college is no different, but no one's trying to lose any games right now. The Eagles are not thinking about draft picks.

36:05 That's just not factoring in. Howie, in the back of his mind, has the 28 draft with the 2-1s and the 2-2s. But this game against the Cowboys, Monday Night Football, right? Yeah, in Philadelphia. Home game, Dallas, Philadelphia. the Eagles are going to desperately try to win. Now, maybe they just suck.

36:29 Maybe this Tanner McKee's awful. But if you don't think that Howie, Sirianni, Vic Fangio are going to do everything this week to try to win that game, I don't know what to tell you. So it's not even about winnable division. I don't even think they're thinking about winning the division right now. They're just thinking about how can we beat the Cowboys? Where I think in basketball, you would just pivot and start tanking. Or do a soft tank.

36:58 There is no soft tank in Philly. One, it's just not how they operate. It's not how any of these teams operate. Even the Dolphins, if you watch Halfley's press conferences, he's trying to win these games. They're just not good enough. Tampa. It's like, well, Tampa should just mail... You think Todd Bowles is mailing this in? Todd Bowles tried to go up three touchdowns in the games like Todd kicked the field goal. He's like, fuck this. Showing everybody. That's just not how any of these guys think. Which is why, or partly why, I think football kind of resonates with us.

37:38 There's no quit or tank in anybody in October. Not in the NFL. It's too hard. You work too hard. The days are too long to just mail it in. I heard you say everyone had a price last week or the week before. I don't know if they can even listen, but what's the price for Kirk Cousins? What's the price on Kirk Cousins for the Raiders? And you think people like the Eagles are calling. I think Kirk Cousins stays on the Raiders this year. I don't definitely– if you're the Eagles, you just roll out Tanner McKee, see what you got. They drafted a dude from North Dakota State, I think. You'd play him. If you're the Eagles, you're not trading for Kirk Cousins. To me, a team that would trade for Kirk Cousins would be like if

38:36 Jared Goff went down or the Chiefs. It's like a team that was trying to make the playoffs. A team like the Eagles, you just play– you have young core guys– Tanner McKee's been on the team for years. You're not trading for Cousins. At what point do we demand? Honestly, I don't think Cousins has that much value around the league. Like, is it worth it to them to get rid of Cousins?

39:04 To me, if I ever start Fernando Mendoza, I'd want to keep Cousins around. And I mean this year, right? Like in three weeks. Let's say the Raiders keep losing games. They're just not good enough. I'd kind of want him there for mental support. I would argue if I'm the Raiders, Cousins value in that room, starting and then if I got to transition the last month or two of the season, to just to kind of be by his side is pretty valuable. Giving him away for like a fifth round pick, I don't think that's worth it. At what point do we demand Notre Dame joins a conference? Seems like every season is the same. They play nobody and dominate and get elevated to the top five team. I feel like we all here with college football is how we need

39:53 to get things under control, change, and expand the playoff. But I think the current state of college football is producing the best games I've ever seen. Yes, the big programs can just buy elite players for smaller programs, but also high recruits that aren't getting playing time have the ability to go to smaller schools. I saw someone recently, I think, commented on either something a post we had, like a social post, or maybe I saw this somewhere else.

40:23 It was definitely something I said. And basically talking shit of like, financial independence is what everyone in our country strives for. And I think because I ripped Notre Dame for like having, oh, something I did with Coward. They, you know, the volume posted like a clip. And I was ripping them like, yeah, they have all this financial independence, but they're not a normal human being. They're in a business, financial independence, which at least with the 12 team, 24, whatever, but it cost them last year. Their financial independence last year, yeah, they got richer, but they got left out of the playoffs because the two teams, the only two good teams they played that made the playoffs, they lost to. And

41:16 that could easily happen again. BYU could be a playoff team, and definitely Miami's going to be a playoff team. And if they lose both those games, they could easily get left out again. Even if they truly are one of the best 12 teams. But, yeah, they get more money. They're an operation. Like, BYU's a good example. Now, they don't have the television market in terms of the fan base that Notre Dame does. Like, Cowboys, Yankees, Lakers, whatever. But, like, financially...

41:45 BYU ain't hurting. Like, they financially, their pockets, because of the church, go a little deeper than, example, the Big 12 school that's 30 minutes away from where I'm sitting. Arizona State or Arizona or Colorado, right? But the power of them being in the conference and every single year playing the other conference games, which on a given year, Oklahoma State could be good, Utah could be good, Arizona State or Arizona could be good. If you play Texas Tech, obviously it rotates every year. You don't play every team.

42:19 But my point is, being in the conference is the power. The unity of the NFL. Does Jerry Jones need the Arizona Cardinals or the Jacksonville Jaguars to make money? Of course not. But as a unit, they pool their money, pool their resources, and make more big picture. And Notre Dame just playing the schedule on NBC against a bunch of 10 of the 12 games being fucking awful. And then the big games they have, they lose. And we're supposed to feel sympathy? It's like, well, they got their financial independence. Well, yeah, they're not like a retail company.

43:02 They're not a deli. They're not a human being with three kids. They're a college football team. who competes against these other college football teams who are not independent, who are in these conferences that share the revenue for the greater good of their own resume, right? Like, let's face it, Ohio State, do they need fucking Rutgers or Maryland? No.

43:26 But does their resume look better when they play Indiana and Michigan and, you know, typically Penn State and Iowa, the teams that are good every year? Of course. Where Notre Dame just picks and chooses. And then because of the luck of the draw, they have to schedule years in advance. Like yeah, Michigan State a decade ago would have been a good game. In 2026, it's a terrible game.

43:49 North Carolina game actually is aging a little better because Belichick is doing a pretty good job. But like some of these games that you schedule, like Wisconsin 20 years ago would have been an incredible game. Now it's not as bad, but if they end up 7-5, not great. So I just think Notre Dame, this is bigger than Notre Dame though. This is simply, we watch football on Saturdays and we watch football on Sundays. And on Sundays, everyone plays everybody. Like look at this week. The Colts play the Vikings. The Vikings are in the NFC North and the Colts are in the AFC South. But every year what happens? You rotate divisions. You get strength of schedule.

44:36 You get this 17th game that rotates out of conference. So it's like the Chiefs are playing the Seahawks. Why? Because the AFC West and the NFC West play each other this year. Right? Then you get like the Packers and the Lions and the Cowboys and the Eagles. That's like Tennessee-Bama. That's like Indiana-Ohio State or Oregon-USC. And it just, it's always that way. That there's no, well, you know who the Texans are playing this week? Uh... The Birmingham Stallions, you know? No! You just play other NFL teams. And in college, you're playing some FBS teams, you're playing some FCS teams, you're playing some Power 4 teams, and then Lane Kiffin's like, oh, the ninth schedule. How about everyone just play everybody? And everyone make more money? But instead,

45:23 you have all these competing ideas, all these universities that think differently, and you get all this chaos. It's fucking laughable. 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? I don't know about you, but I added some ficus trees to my backyard. We tried to add to the feng shui, the vibe. And, you know, you work with a landscaper. They give you these quotes. You're like, am I totally getting screwed? And then I went to Trees.com.

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47:02 using the code 3, the number 3, and out at checkout. That's an additional 20% off. Better plants, better growing at Trees.com using 3 and out at checkout. That's Trees, T-R-E-E-S,. com, code number 3 and out. Valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. We'll end on this. Thank God. Chris Ballard's reign of terror has ended. I understand that Luck retired and he cooked the Colts. But we have wasted what seem to be amazing rosters on short-term 8-9, 9-9, no playoffs. I hope the future turns around. I think Shane has till the end of the season. You know what's funny is I always liked him. I've never met him.

47:57 Never talked to the guy. There was a clip going viral yesterday where... The Colts, and you know this, Colts do a great job in the offseason of doing these behind-the-scenes videos, the combine, the draft prep. It's elite. I watch a lot of this throughout the league. You could argue theirs is the best. And Chris is very present in these videos and good. He's interactive. It's excellent. But, like, you look back and you go, he had a comment when they got Latu, the kid from UCLA. I think he was a Miami transfer. And he was, like, laughing that we got the best pass rusher in the class.

48:39 And I think Byron Murphy, who is easily one of the best defensive linemen in the league, was, like, the next pick. And, you know, they play– one's an edge rusher, one's a defensive tackle, but– If you just were going to take one of the two players, standing here today, every person in the league, including Ballard, would take Murphy.

48:57 But the point is that you watch that. He was very, very confident about the moves and the decisions he would make. And a lot of them just started backfiring. And I wonder, you know, the Anthony Richardson thing was forced by the old man. He didn't necessarily want to take him, but he did. And, but he also did things. like a Donnie Mitchell where I had people in the NFL. I was like, I would never draft that guy. You're like, why can't catch, you know, doesn't have good hands and he plays wide receiver. It's like, that's probably a problem, you know? And I think some people thought he was arrogant in like, uh, He was arrogant in a humble way.

49:41 Part of it was like that kind of Southern, I don't even know, it's like a Southern Midwestern kind of draw. He just had a, when you heard him talk, you knew it was Ballard, right? And the quarterback situation, you can only hold on to like, hey man, I got fired. You just got fired? Well, no, like eight years ago I got fired, but haven't worked since. Like that's kind of on you. Right? It's like, yeah, man, I got a divorce. Fuck, I'm down and out, bro. Man, you just got a divorce? No, I got a divorce like 17 years ago. It just derailed my life. Like, eventually, it's on you to figure shit out. Right? Something awful happens to you tomorrow, you get a little grace. If something awful happened to you seven years ago, like, seven

50:30 years later, it's time to fucking pull up your bootstraps and figure some shit out. It's like, I've heard about Andrew Luck for a long time. Andrew Luck's been retired forever. Forever. Josh McDaniel screwed you, which in a weird way was probably, he probably did you a favor. But still, you plan on hiring him, he committed, and then he backs out.

50:53 That was 2017. I mean, that was almost a decade ago. And I'm not saying Ballard's even using this as excuses, but every time he was talked about, it's like, well, it's like this happened, this happened. That was like 2017, 18 range. It's 2026. October. It's almost... We are... We're about 70 days away from 2027. I don't want to hear about 2019. No one cares. I think Caleb Williams is like in high school then. What are we talking about? So... Yeah, I mean, good for you guys. It's just time for a change. I think the question's going to be, how desirable is this bad boy? Are you getting the best and the brightest? Are people lined up? I also think it's going to depend, like, who are you competing against?

51:47 Who are you competing against? And, like, what are our options? I would say Sean McDermott. I think a guy like Sean McDermott, just get a guy that knows what they're doing. You guys kind of just need to get the train back on the tracks. I would say he would make a lot of sense. I would imagine a guy like that is going to have a very, very good chance of getting the job. Actually, if I had to guess right now, Sean McDermott's the next coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

52:17 This segment is presented by Trees.com. Use the code the number three and out. That's three and O-U-T at Trees.com. Now's the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. We mentioned this guy earlier and you got to be very careful about writing off a career because J.J. McCarthy is going to get the chance to grow. He's barely played.

52:47 You look back at Minnesota, missed his entire first year. Second year's a nightmare, and he did not play well. Got soft benched. They claimed he was injured. It got weird. This year, couldn't even win the backup job. Now he gets to play for the Giants with a coach that the family has been invested in this human being. The family knows J.J. McCarthy, his parents. This is a great spot for him. He's got neighbors. He's got Likely. He can hand it to Scataboo. If J.J. McCarthy is going to work this next couple months stretch, I don't see why he couldn't grow like Trees.com. The Volume.