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December 28, 2024 47 mins

John opens the weekend by answering your questions in this episode's massive mailbag. John dives into what the Bears should do if they want to actually succeed, should the Steelers move on from Tomlin, what should the Broncos focus on in the draft, and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas. Hopefully everyone's currently having

(00:22):
a great Honikah and getting ready for a little thing
we call the New Year. Right around the corner. Twenty
twenty five, the world is flying by. That is that's
crazy to even say that out loud. That it's like
it's normal just saying twenty twenty five. They're gonna be
people in like two thousand and ninety eight that are
gonna go God, those people in twenty twenty five are

(00:44):
so old, because that's what I would have been doing
about people in the twenties, in the nineteen twenties. But
we're rocking and rolling New Year's right around the corner.
I did not watch. I think I saw probably less
snaps of the bear Seattle then any primetime game since
I've been doing three. I mean, I didn't really watch

(01:06):
the game. We were out family friends dinner, then kind
of hit the bars or just some of the neighboring
restaurants for more cocktails. And your boys still got it.
And then we got a little phone call. The dog
got in a tussle, So we came back a day
early because some bites of the year the other you know,
hopefully she gave more than she took, but missing the

(01:26):
tooth and there's blood and she had to go to
the vet, so you never know. It was little lollies.
She looked at her funny, she's down to brawl. But yeah,
that's kind of sums up my last twenty four hours
on about three four hours sleep, not even that, I
guess if you count the plane. But now we got
football on Saturday, we got more football on Sunday, and

(01:48):
we will cap it off as everyone back where I
just was was not very excited for. But forty nine
Ers could get curb stomp Monday night against the Lions,
which is in theory a great eight Monday night game
when they set the schedule, when it turns out to
not be a very good one. So we'll talk a
little ball, answer some of your questions. We'll go rapid
fire again. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their family and had a

(02:10):
good time. Whatever the heck you guys did. Question for
the mailbag. I'm a Steeler fan and I want to
be grateful for never having been in the shoes of
teams like the Jets, the Giants, the Raiders, the Jags,
the Bears, or Browns fans shoes. If you were a
GM for a franchise, what characteristics are you looking for
in a coach and who would you hire for your team?

(02:34):
You know, that's a good question. I I think it's
a combination of a lot. I think the leadership standpoint
and people push back, what does leader of men mean?
It clearly means something right like Dan Campbell to Andy Reid,
to Sean McVay, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh. Demiko is a

(02:56):
great look like you have to have leadership ability, but
you also have to have talent. Talent's probably the wrong
way to describe it, but I do think it is
a talent that you acquire the more and more reps
you get. When you are the top of the org chart,
adversity is hitting you NonStop, So like, how can you

(03:17):
handle when shit is hitting the fan? And that is
something that you just aren't quite prepared for as a
position coach to the level of being a coordinator, and
then as a coordinator, it's a different world as the
head coach because you don't have to worry about the
other side of the ball, and when someone gets injured,
it's not your call, and you're you're usually not that

(03:39):
involved with who comes in. Obviously, the more and more
you are at work for somebody and develop Like Ben Johnson,
I'm sure they ask him questions if for player acquisition,
but most coordinators don't just have final say on personnel.
So and then I've always said this, like when a
guy on defense, if you're the if you're Ben Jonson,

(04:00):
gets a DUI, it's just not your problem, Like that's
for Dan to deal with. Honestly, even Jamison Williams when
all the stuff's going on with him and just getting
penalties and pissing people off, and like that's Dan's thing.
That's on Dan, And honestly, it's probably on more Randall

(04:20):
Antoine Randall Ll than it is on Ben Johnson. I'm
just using him as an example that like, how could
I possibly know what he can do. It's like if
Mike McCarthy's available, if I was a GM, I'd go God.
I mean, I know he can handle a lot of shit.
I've seen him deal with Rogers for a decade now,
I've seen him deal with Jerry Right. I'd say the
same thing about Vrabel, like I've seen him lead a

(04:42):
team handle offense and defense. And I don't mean like
play calling, I just mean like dealing with coordinators. So
I think that ability to handle the entire org chart
is really really important, and I think most of the
best guys do that. You know, obviously Andy is a
master at it from a leadership standpoint to his team

(05:04):
and his coaches. Saban was really good at that. I
just don't know how. I've never been in a head
coaching interview, but how he could prove that he has that.
And obviously most of these head coaches come from a
coordinator position, but it's just or like a high level
position coach. It's got to be like an educated guess.

(05:26):
So I don't have a great answer. But the number
one higher slash draft picks, slash free agent signing you'll
ever make as a GM if you get the tasked
with the ability to pull the trigger, would be the
head coach, because it's impossible to be a good GM
without a good head coach. It's impossible, and you can

(05:47):
become a legend if your head coach is good and
you get the right guy. Obviously, picking quarterback and picking
players is really important, but those guys typically look a
lot better when you have good coaches and good coaching staffs.
Huge fan of the Pope, just had to come here
and ask a question about my sorry ass Chicago Bears.
I wanted to pull up well he asked this question

(06:08):
just I don't know if he's even gonna reference it,
but uh, the Fox score. I haven't even looked at
the box score for this game. I've been a diehard
fan living in Wisconsin seeing my girlfriend's family are all
diehard Packers fan, and I absolutely envy their continuous success.
It keeps me up at night to be honest, while
my team falls to the Pitts. One of the biggest

(06:30):
jokes of a franchise in the league. I'm only twenty
two and the only real success I've seen is eighteen.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
You guys are.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Pretty good in eighteen. I mean, the defense was elite.
What do the Bears need to do to get back
to dominance. I know it's easy to say sell the team,
but that simply isn't gonna happen. I don't like the
order of command in the front office, and this seems
like a big problem from a guy like Ben Johnson.
Where do Bears goes next? Thanks?

Speaker 2 (06:52):
John?

Speaker 1 (06:52):
I also don't think Caleb is the problem, and he is,
without a doubt the future. He just needs to be
coached up all the talent. Is there one more thing
as well? We're four and eleven technically now four and twelve.
It's cold the day after Christmas and the Chicago fan
base damn near sold out the stadium all to have
three points. Does George McCaskey even care though? So Caleb

(07:14):
went sixteen to twenty eight for one hundred and twenty
two yards in less than four and a half yards
attempt and a nice little pick That number jumps out.
He was sacks seven times. Jesus, Yeah, I'm with you
to sell the team. Thing is it's a fun thing
for fans to say. It's not a realistic thing to say,

(07:35):
or it's not a realistic thing to happen. It's a
great chance, listen, it's a great fan base, it's an
incredible sports city. But they're really down and out and
I could throw a guess, hey hire Mike Vrabel, Hey
hire Ben Johnson? Who knows? Who knows? Because as long
as the front office is kind of weird, it could

(07:58):
be really, really difficult. I saw the one clip I
did see. We were at a bar and I looked
up and they were showing poles. Poles get shows in
all these games. If I was Polls would be like,
I do not want the camera on me when we're losing.
What it feels like? I mean, how many games The
Bears are four and twelve and they started they had

(08:23):
four wins. I mean, they haven't won a game one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine ten. They've lost ten straight games and their last
game of the season is against the Green Bay Packers.
They've lost ten straight games. That's pretty wild. I mean,

(08:45):
that's and as we see, to lose ten straight games,
you do have to get a little unlucked. You do
have to have like random wild stuff happen. But when
you become so bad you start going wasn't even that
wild and random? Is this kind of who they are?
So yeah, I mean, I I have no clue. The
more and more I think about the Bears, I think

(09:05):
a lot of people are circling it hoping they get
in and kind of take over. And I don't think
Kevin Warren's going to allow that. So if you're Ben
Johnson watching this, I guess there's two ways to look
at it. Are you going to risk your you know,
your coaching stardom of all the options on this when
you've kind of had a front row seat in that
division of seeing how shitty they are, or you can

(09:26):
look at it on the flip side and go, well,
if you do take it over and within a couple
of years they're in the playoffs, you're getting talked about
like your Kyler McVeigh. So I feel your pain, bro,
huge fan. I don't know if you saw the last
heard hierarchy, but some people found it questionable. He had
the Packers ahead of the Lions and Vikings. Also, I

(09:49):
got in an argument with some of my friends and
they thought it was crazy. This guy went hung the
left and he hung a right that they thought I
was crazy when I says Miles Eric could beat Islam Macachevez,
I'm definitely screwing up that name in a UFC fight,
your thoughts actually more of a street fight, not UFC. Well,

(10:13):
let me just look up. This guy is Lom Macachevy's Oh,
I know who you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
I know this guy.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I mean I know what he looks like. This guy
weis one hundred fifty four pounds. He weighs and listen,
I mean complete, don't. I'm not like trying to diminish
him being a complete badass one hundred and fifty eight pounds.
Miles Garret's like six ' five to eighty. They're just
one thing with fighting. There is a reason they do
weight classes. It's like when I see I'm sure a

(10:42):
lot of you guys over beers with like cousins or friends.
Connor McGregor, Jake Paul comes up, and you go, Jake
Paul weighs like two hundred and thirty pounds. Jake Paul
is big, like he's not Gregor was fighting Chad Mendez. Connor,

(11:04):
he's six foot one, How much does he weigh? Two
hundred and thirty pounds? Connor McGregor, Wait, I mean Connor
weighs one hundred and seventy Like that's that's a pretty
big difference. So I think sometimes could Islam beat Miles

(11:25):
Like obviously, I think if he connected, he could knock
him down. But I do think it would be like
Miles has And I'm not diminishing like how great, Like
you don't you can't just compare fighters to non fighters,
But there is a massive, massive size advantage there and

(11:46):
obviously my it's not like my, No, I don't know
miles fighting ability. But I'm just saying, if you take
me a guy from the NFL with miles physical characteristics
six four sixty five two eighty just elite strength, speed,
and you tell me he's like a tough guy, Like
he's just tough, I do think it would be tough.

(12:06):
The disadvantage of the small guy would be am I
not just think the Steelers can still win a playoff game,
or dare I say too? I know it looks dire,
but they played three of the best and most physical
teams in less than two weeks. Pair of this with
their own physical practice habits, and how Tomlin and his
teams notoriously are bad on short rest. With the mini
by they now need normal rest moving forward, I think

(12:29):
they can turn the season around. They're just no way
the defense regressed that much that fast. The offense still
put drives together. They just sputter in the red zone.
I think the main problem here is if they are
the sixth seed, they are gonna draw the Ravens. And
do you like him against the Ravens? Like, I just

(12:51):
think that's a terrible matchup, So do I think Pittsburgh.
You know, the Chargers play like the Patriots and the Raiders. Baby,
the Chargers season the Chargers, Yeah, Patriots, Raiders. So I
think there's a decent chance. We can't assume the Chargers

(13:13):
are gonna be eleven and six. The Steelers have one
more game minutes against the Bengals in Cincinnati. Now, doesn't
mean they're not gonna win it. But if I was
betting right now, I would guess the Chargers are the
five and the Steelers are the six. And we know
that the you know, the Bills they are. I mean,

(13:35):
they're gonna be the two, and obviously the Ravens are
gonna be the three. Texans basically locked in at the four.
So could they win two? I think they could have
if they if they played the Texans.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
But let's say they played the Texans and the Ravens
and the Bills won, so they would be playing in
the second round. The Steelers would play the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
They just left twenty nine to ten at home when
the Chiefs had four days rest too, What were they
gonna do? Off? A bye question for the mailbag. Lifelong

(14:09):
Steeler fan and my friends constantly give me shit for
saying the Steelers the Steelers should part ways with Mike.
When it comes to facing elite coaches, it is night
and day difference in the scheming and execution. It happens
against Brady and Belichick for years, and now it seems
to be happening against Mahomes and Reid. Tomlin reminds me
of Pete Carroll. They both won a Super Bowl early,

(14:31):
got to another and lost, and they just have been
riding that Super Bowl ever since and have been average
at best. Am I nuts for thinking they should part ways?
Where does Tomlin deserve another three or four years for
having a winning record and being one and done in
the playoffs. Also, with how many turnovers Russ has the
last few weeks, should we look at Fields? Isn't he hurt?

(14:53):
I mean, I think two weeks ago I didn't look
at the inactives. Was Fields the backup for the Chiefs game?
I know it was injured the you know, the couple
days before. Also with how many turnovers Russ had. The
whole point of Russ was he was going to be
more efficient on offense. But he's averaged two turnovers three
or four weeks in a row. Now I think it's Tomlin.
Conversation's difficult because I think they're staring you know, I

(15:17):
know the last question was could they win a couple
of games. I think they're staring at the same fate
they've had for like six straight years. Get to the playoffs,
win ten games, head home, It's like, what are we doing?
And part of it, you know, was the end of
Roethlisberger's run and they haven't had a quarterback since. Obviously
Russ is pretty med and you just have to wonder, like,

(15:39):
you know, Tomlin, could he have an Andy Reid moment
right go somewhere and take his career to another level?
Now the difference is like Andykulls plays Mike is really
you know, the Super Bowl champion version of Dan Campbell.
I don't know. I mean, I'm done saying they should
part ways or when I say part ways, like a

(16:01):
mutual divorce. And then Tomlin gets hired immediately. But if
you're Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Like.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Are you better off just coaching the Steelers and doing
this year after year after year and it's part of
your fame? Is like you're the head coach of the Steelers,
or do you want to go somewhere where you have
a better chance to win and use a and have
a quarterback, because like, what's their quarterback situation going to
be and how does it improve? I was listening to

(16:28):
your podcast post Christmas about Green Bay's team is so
close knit because there's nothing else to do. You're spot on.
My son is a lacrosse player at Army West Point,
so there isn't a ton to do outside of classwork,
lacrosse practice, and hanging out with the guy at the fence.
They're a lacrosse center. Army doesn't always get the most

(16:48):
talented players, but because they play for each other and
truly care for each other, they made it to number
one and Division one college lacrosse last year for a
couple of weeks. Family toughness in tradition is their team
on them, and they live in so many parallels with
the Packers. It's funny. Someone I saw like a YouTube
comment when a guy was like, you can tell middle

(17:10):
cops never lived in a small town.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
It's just because it's a small town doesn't mean there's
not stuff to get into.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Not.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Actually, yeah, guys, I grew up in one, and uh
so I grew up in a small town, and I've
lived in several, from Fresno to obviously Davis for almost
eighteen years. My point wasn't that like you can't get
in trouble, Like obviously you could still get you know,

(17:38):
have issues if you're an idiot, but there's not as
much to do relative to Scottsdale or Vegas, or Miami
or Dallas or I don't know, just Minnesota. Just go
around the bigger cities and it's clear, I mean that
they have a pretty special cohesion. It's a huge point
of difference for the franchise, which is obviously led by

(18:01):
their ability to pick quarterbacks, which is the most important one.
I don't think Ben Johnson's trick fumble play against the
Bears was about him auditioning. It just seemed like a
divisional opponent praying upon a week and clearly inferior team.
The media would have you believe he'd run the play
against some team that is well coached. What's your take

(18:22):
on why he ran it there? This was yesterday, Well,
they came out the clip. I think it wash. It's
been a long couple days, but I'm pretty sure it
was Jordan Love. So part of when you game plan
right with Ben Johnson or any offensive or defensive coordinators
getting ready for an opponent, especially a divisional opponent. You

(18:44):
have so much cross tape of watching the Packers and
Lions on offense and Minnesota against them. I guess he's
on the Lions, so it would be it'd be the
Packers and it'd be Minnesota against that defense. So he
watches a ton of Jordan Love and Sam Darnold and
Kevin O'Connell on the floor against them. And there was

(19:05):
a play I think where Jordan Love basically fell either
tripped or just dropped the ball as he was going
back to like do a play action, and then everyone
stopped and he picked it back up and he threw
a touchdown. So they basically just copied it, and Jared
Goff said that Ben Johnson came to him because he
saw it on cross tape. He's like, this would work
because they all stopped and he went to him and said,

(19:28):
do you think we could run a play where you
intentionally fumble? I think he texted to him maybe like
Monday or Tuesday, and Jared Goff said, no, I don't
think that's a good idea. So they made it the
fake fumble. But I just think he ran it because
he literally saw that defense screw up against the fumble.
I mean, it's it's fun to, you know, give our

(19:51):
different opinions, you know, moments after the game, but as
the more information come out, like it's pretty black and white.
He saw it on tape. It worked, and they kind
of they manipulated their version of an organic moment for
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(20:13):
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Speaker 1 (21:46):
I want to ask you a question about the Patriots.
This is Josh from New Zealand, specifically, whether you think
it would be an attractive job if Mayo were to
get fired Unfortunately, I think Craft will keep Mayo for
at least one more year, but on the off chance
he gets fired. Do you think the Pats is an
attractive job. Drake May has shown an absolute that he

(22:07):
absolutely has franchise quarterback potential. They're projected to have the
most cap space in the NFL during the off season,
are probably gonna have a really high pick. Do you
think guys like Rabel or Ben Johnson would be interested?
And do you think that Jonathan craft meddling is off put?
Sorry if there are some grammar spelling mistakes, Hey, listen

(22:29):
preaching the choir here, homie, I'm not sober and I'm struggling.
A little guy's been boozing, but you're the man. Okay,
I appreciate the question. I think that the Craft family,
and this is the difference with the Bears, Like, Okay,
Jonathan Craft has opinions. Let's say Stephen Jones has opinions.
Let's say all these kids differently. They are the family

(22:50):
of the team, of the people that own the team.
So like I'm sure many of you listening work for
companies that are family run, and it's like, yeah, maybe
the dad is the guy that is the ultimate decision maker,
but if he's not around as much, or maybe he's
a little hands off like the kids have some pull

(23:12):
and even if they have to go through the dad
on big time things, you still know the kids. His
name is on that check, whether you like it or not.
And I think I have less of an issue with
the with the owner kid and obviously the difference between
like Woodi's kids or teenagers, which I understand as a

(23:32):
human being. You're like, I really got to listen to this.
But Jonathan Kraft, you know it's he's going to own
the team, so it's a little less crazy if you
feel like you have a good relationship with him. And
I think that Mike Rabel makes a lot I mean,
he's just got putting the ring on her. He obviously
was a legendary piece of their championship, the start of

(23:54):
the Dynasty three championships, a starter, just a stud I
think he makes a lot of sense. And I also
think if you're Ben Johnson you'd be pretty interested there too,
because there's a little less you know, the one thing
with Caleb Fair or not because now he played into it,
I mean when his agents were asking for equity in

(24:14):
the franchise, even if it didn't get very far, Like
if you throw that out there, that stays with you
for a while, especially when things are shitty. It's one thing.
It's like, hey, do you know who Peyton Manning in
nineteen ninety eight asked the Jim Mersey for one percent.
Everyone would have crushed him in ninety eight. By two
thousand and five, you're like, yeah, this guy should ask
for ten, right, So he just puts it added pressure

(24:36):
on you, and it's like he's like this lightning rod
individual player, a little like Russell Wilson because of kind
of their style. Honestly, a style is a little like
Russell Wilson back in the day. He's got a stronger arm.
Russell I think was more of a natural runner, but

(24:57):
both of them could be a little herky jerky, and
it was just a roller coaster ride with Russell right now.
Russell was good, you know, Caleb just to be half
as good as Russell's bad days in the mid twenty tens.
He's got a long way to go. But there's a
lot that comes with that. And I just wonder if
if the patch job was available, if you were Ben Johnson,

(25:18):
it's kind of a just an easier route could be
wrong created this just to write you, Bud, seems like
each year. Recently, we have a quarterback who seemed dead
in the water but has a career resurgence like Gino
last year in Sam Donald this year. Who is the
next quarterback that will follow this trend? I would throw

(25:39):
Baker in there as well. I think Sam Donald, we
have seen Gino's before, an older guy late in his
career just go on to be solid. Now, some guy
you know, rich Gannon is the best example. He was
a guy that had obviously won an MVP, took a

(26:00):
team to Super Bowl. Geno's not going to do that,
but at thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, you get
your shot. We have seen a lot of guys and happens,
a lot that are drafted high, that change teams and
become solid players. And we've also seen a lot of
them just suck. But I think when you look at

(26:22):
the standings, like who's really I mean Tua, I mean,
could would Rogers get credit if next year the Jets
won nine games, they had a new coach and he
was their starting quarterback and he threw thirty touchdowns? Will
levis no chance. I don't know if there really is

(26:44):
a guy Kyler. Every time I watch Kyler, these last
couple weeks, he kind of looks like shit, he's just
he feels like throw nine picks. It feels like he's
throwing like fifteen. It's a good question. I don't know
if there's a Sam Darnold Baker right now. And part

(27:04):
of that is those guys, you know, we're just drafted
high and bouncing around, like who's drafted high right now?
Bouncing around? You know it ain't Mac Jones and ain't
can't he pick It ain't anyone from that draft class.
They're just those guys just aren't good enough, even Fields,
a lifelong Bronco fan from Oakland, California. The rivalry with
all my Raider friends growing up was awesome. First off,

(27:27):
heard you looking for a synonym for astronomical. One of
my favorites is one metric fuck ton. I like that,
as in Jesus Trevor Lawrence makes one metric ton of
money for a guy who's never thrown thirty touchdowns. Feel
free to use that one. I like it. Second, you know,
I got to ask you about bo We've seen that
he can lead an offense in Sean Payton's system, but

(27:50):
how high do you think his ceiling truly is ever
since Manning retired, a super Bowl is seemed so far
out of reach. But do you think we can get
back there with Bow under center? I think, and I
get it, like that's all the matters trying to win
a championship. I think if he can lead you to
the playoffs these next couple of years, you're in pretty

(28:12):
good shape. And if by his third year, once you
kind of free yourself of the Russell Wilson situation that
you can be aggressive his third and fourth year, then
you could be a super Bowl contender because your defense
is good, your head coach is good. Obviously, you know
Sean Payton was always great at getting weapons, finding guys

(28:33):
all over the draft. I mean they're literally doing it
right now on the team. You know, this year, even
if you lose in the first round of the playoffs
by fifteen points, it wasn't to make the playoffs. What
an incredible year. I think they'll be viewed as a
nine to ten eleven playoff level team again next year,
depending on what happens the offseason. And then I think
that third and fourth year, like his years for Broke,

(28:55):
when they can kind of build up the team because
they're gonna have way more money to spend. It just
more flexibility. So one thing you gotta be careful though.
And it's different because Sean Payton, we just know he's good.
Bobby Slowick has kind of come back to earth. Sometimes
young players can have down years after a good year,

(29:18):
you know, to be a really good player, Like that's
what makes Josh Allen, Lamar Mahomes like. They just do
it every single year. TJ. Watt, you know, Fred Warner
just go around Lane Johnson, go around all the best players.
It's like every year they're gonna be good. Every year
they're gonna be good. And sometimes with a young player,
they bounce onto the scene. You're like, oh, good player,
Like Justin Jefferson bounce.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
On the scene.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
He's awesome. And then you just like, I do it again.
I do it again. I do it again. You're like, yeah,
this guy's gonna be an all time great. And some
guys bounce on the scene and then their second year
you're like, what's going on here? And sometimes it's coaching,
sometimes it's maybe they're sneaky injured. I think next year
is huge for him because there's gonna be tangible pressure.

(30:00):
There's no denying you got to sneak up on some people.
Early on in the season, no one thought the Broncos
are gonna be that good. I mean, shit, you're over under.
It was like five games and now you're gonna win
probably ten. This is another Bronco question a huge Bronco fan.
In your opinion, what should be the team's top priority
this offseason. It seems to me that we have a
lot of good across the board, but only two or

(30:22):
three great players. What position groups should we hit the
hardest in the draft? Well, your offensive line is good,
and quarterback obviously is a stable guy. He just drafted him.
Your secondary is excellent. Now your pass rusher with Benito
looks like a guy who's gonna compete for Defensive Player

(30:44):
of the Year. I'm trying to look at I love
Javonte Williams in college, and obviously he got injured, and
it's just not quite the same. If you could give
this team, it's kind of crazy that they are. You
guys are nine and six. I'm gonna end up my
guess would be ten and seven, and you're not gonna
have a running back with probably over six hundred yards.

(31:08):
You know, Sean Payton, if he could get a star
running back. I would guess they draft a running back
this offseason. The other thing is, you know, Sutton's a
really good player, but your second leading receiver is Gavonte Williams.
So actually, I'll give Javonte. You know, he's he's productive

(31:31):
in the passing game, but he averages less than three
point seven yards of carry, does have four touchdowns, but he
has forty seven catches. I think you need a little
more juice in the passing game. Tony Franklin drops the ball.
Mims is kind of sweet when he's in space. Moms
kind of grown on me. Boomer sooner. I think it's

(31:53):
more offense because, I mean, are most of your defensive
guys in her contract. You never have enough pass rusher.
So to me early, I bet you guys drafted a
running back high. If you guys are, I would say,
if you guys are drafting, let's say you're one and

(32:13):
done in the playoffs and drafting like nineteen twenty. Now,
I don't know if he'll be there, but warn the
tight end, I think you'd be in the mix. The
Penn Sa kid. Remember Sean Payton had what's his name
from Miami Jimmy Graham, tall tight end, pretty quarterback, friendly player.
Now that the Pats have the second pick in the draft,

(32:34):
who do you think it's possible they would purposely drop
the next two games to attempt to secure the number
one pick. I don't even think they have to. I mean,
next week eighteen, they're playing the Bills. Who do the
Patriots play? This week? The Patriots play the Chargers. I mean,
you're just gonna lose. I think if you get the
number two overall pick, I think I would just draft

(32:57):
Travis Hunter, assuming like the quarterback gos one. If the
Giants were to take you door Sanders, which we can
talk all we want about the Giants being a bad franchise.
You think the Sander family is gonna turn down New York.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
City, I think they would go.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
If I'm the Patriots, I don't even think I would
get cute. I think I just draft Travis Hunter, and
I get Travis Hunter to go with the Oregon corner Gonzales.
He can play wide receiver. I just I get so
much excitement with my fan base. I think it's I'm
not overthinking that one. Now, who knows, like, who's our coach,

(33:37):
who's your GM. They even have a GM. Right now,
here's a good one. Are you and Colin that fucking
stupid question? Mark? Good lord? They just give anyone a
microphone to talk about sports. Actually, you can just go
to Best buying parts to them. They don't give you it.
You gotta gotta buy them. They're not There's not like
a microphone score a store where they just hand them
out for free, So you have to purchase credit card,

(34:00):
debit card, cash check. Hey John love thepot. A few
questions as a Charger fan. When Jim Harbaught was hired,
I read heard that it was going to be three
or four, three to five year run with him because
his act wears people out. What exactly does that mean?
Is it the association with players or the front office?
Does he have full control of the franchise like Belichick?

(34:23):
What is the extent of his quote unquote power. Also,
given the immediate impact he's had, do you see him
being the coach for the Chargers the next ten plus years?
That narrative is based on the Niners and the Niners,
but it had some players the front office they wanted
to kill each other, and him and the owner were

(34:43):
It was not pretty at the end. But he just
coached at Michigan from I mean the Niners essentially fired
him in twenty fourteen, and he coached there up until
January of twenty twenty four so now it's college. Obviously,
he coached for a long time before the transfer portal.
But you have guys three or four years and they're gone.

(35:05):
He does not. I mean, he's very obviously he has
a lot of juice when you're picking a player, but
they have a GM which is his guy or brother's
guy from the ravens Ortiz Joe Ortiz, bald guy. I
also think Jim has part of the thing with Jim
with forty nine ers and he was like, this is Stanford.
I think he had one of the biggest chips on

(35:25):
his shoulder in the history of sports player or coach,
and he was a former player. He was this intimidating presence.
He's a weird cat, so I think he can really
just and he's just a football I mean, he's just
a complete addict. So it's when you're kind of weird

(35:45):
and you're like that, I think it can be hard
on some guys, but I think we got to put
that thing to bed. I think we put that thing
to bed based on Michigan and just based on the
way he carries himself. Now he's a I think he's
just dramatically lighter person. I think he's a lot lighter.
He was really intense with the Niners, and I was

(36:06):
going to a lot of those games as practices. He
not the coaches are intense, but I just mean he's
He feels like a different human being to me. So
I think that had a lot of substance behind it.
At Stanford and the Niners piss a lot of people off.
Players included with a lot of players, you know, some
of them liked them, some of them didn't. And I

(36:27):
think it's kind of mellowed out over time. And look
at now his staff. You know, Navarro, Bowman's on the staff,
Goldsen the former Safeties on the staff. I think a
lot's changed. I love the bod. Listen to every episode.
I decided to put together a middle coof dictionary of
phrases you say often and always make me laugh. Mollywop

(36:49):
equals smash, destroy, annihilate, curb stomp, see Mollywop, money talk,
shit walks, money speaks louder than words. One two, three,
can coon they've checked out and given up Sisters of
the poor at School of the Blind. A week's schedule
of opponents, couldn't hit water sitting in a boat, highly
inaccurate passer by a country mile wide margin every day

(37:11):
of the week and twice on Sundays. Easy decision that
you make without hesitation, circle, jerk or slurp.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
I think I appreciate that, Okay.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
A couple more questions, a few of my buddies having
a couple of beers, and the buzzed up debate became,
if all three of us were on the field for
every play, three extra players. I think we got this
on something similar like this before. What effect would it
have on a team over the course of a year,
thought you'd be, the guy asked, Assuming we know the

(37:55):
plays and didn't get holding, off side or other pen empties,
could three thirty five year old five ten to six
foot guys add a win to a team's record? Side note,
don't have to read aloud. We decided at best we'd
get in the way to help prevent block field goals
on the edge or in a hail Mary scenario. I

(38:19):
would say this because we've got a similar question before.
You guys would get hurt. I guess you guys would
all be injured. So if you're on defense, yeah, the
hail Mary thing even that, I don't know if you're
bringing much of the table there field goal, Like what

(38:40):
would you really be doing on the field goal, because
there's guys on the edges coming off the edge, and
you don't have the strength or the size up the middle.
So I wouldn't even want you in any of those
positions on the edge or up the middle. And if
I just put three extra guys on defense, I just
like would if you know, Derrick Henry broke a run,

(39:00):
it was running right at you, he could injure you.
What if Trent Williams came loose and was blocking you
and threw you into the water cooler, because he would
lift you up and toss you. You wouldn't be you know,
unlike a If I'm like a dB for the Lions
or whatever in the sweet offensive tackles coming after me,

(39:21):
I'm still athletic enough where I can avoid them. I
can dip under him. Hell, I could even just run
away from him. You're not able to do any of that.
So these, if any of these offensive linemen get their
hands on you. You're just in major, major trouble. And like,
I think we underestimate these guys when they get thrown
to the ground. The muscle aren't body armor they have

(39:45):
on them. I'm not talking to the pads. I'm talking
about their own muscle. So I don't think you would
have a long shelf life. I think I'd be shocked
if you just started week one, assuming we're talking to NFL,
not college, I think you'd all be on injured reserve
by I don't know, early October. The other thing is

(40:10):
do you practice, Like, do you lift with the team,
so are you getting sore? You know, these guys' bodies.
I just I don't think you would last long. Do
you think the Seahawks have an ownership problem or is
it just a coaching problem? They have lost all the
primetime games this year in games that are must win

(40:30):
for playoff selection, Well, they just won one. This question
was asked before Thursday night game. I don't think they
have any problem. I just think they're not quite as
good as a lot of these other teams. And it's
still pretty solid. I mean, you're you're looking at a
team that is going to have a winning record for
the third straight year. I think they went nine to eight,
nine and eight last couple of years, and they're about

(40:53):
to nine and seven. They get a pretty big advantage playing.
I guess the rain Ms play Saturday Night. In regards
to quarterback contracts like Watson and Cousins Russell last year,
why don't we see teams offer to take on the
contract for a draft pick compensation similar to Oswiler. Example,

(41:18):
the Patriots have one hundred and thirty two million in
cap space in twenty twenty five, the brown send Watson
and a second and fourth round pick to the Patriots
to take on that contract. Well, I don't think so. Essentially,
you're buying the contract. Why would the Patriots, you know,
to take on a hideous contract Let's say Russell last

(41:41):
year and obviously the Shaun's way worse. I think you
have to include multiple ones, and if you're the Browns,
you need those ones to try to get the hell
out of the situation because you're not gonna have any
cap space. And even or I mean, you know, trading it,
it accelerates the dead cap. So even if the cap

(42:02):
space changed a little bit, all the guaranteed money accelerates
in it. It makes it a problem, I think legally,
obviously it's been it's it happened with the Austweiler trade.
You're not supposed to be able to essentially buy picks.
You know, in the NBA, you could just buy a
second round pick, which I'd have no problem with. Honestly,

(42:23):
I'd be interested to hear like, not Goodell, but maybe
some owners or even gms why they think the logic
behind just not allowing, Hey, we don't want our fourth
round pick, We'll give you a million bucks, right, you
want my second round pick, give me ten million dollars.
I guess the NFL probably wouldn't want These guys don't

(42:46):
need the money, and I don't know why anyone would
sell a relatively high pick. I'll do it one more.
I appreciate your football takes, however, you love the crap
on Ryan Day feels like you should give him a
lot of props Tennessee for what he did at Tennessee.
I did I did that wasn't ask kicking. And let's

(43:07):
face it, he beats the crap out of Tennessee and
then he beats Oregon. He's in pretty good shape. If
Ohio State is to win the national championship, which is
obviously right in front of him. It'd be hard to
say anything negati about Ryan Day. I mean, you beat
Tennessee at home, you beat Oregon, a team that has

(43:27):
not lost and already beat you this season more than
likely than you play Texas, and then you probably play
like Notre Dame, Penn State or Georgia. It would be
I mean, he'd be unprecedent because we've never seen a
team play in a four extra games in the playoffs.
I mean, the max we've seen his two. So you
get two extra games and they beat good opponents. I

(43:49):
don't know. I feel bad for Oregon that they get
this draw, but I almost feel in a weird way.
Sometimes you know, when you're in a bye week, people
forget about you if your opponent's coming in off a
big win and you get to fly under the radar.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
A little bit.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
I think Oregon's pretty good, and obviously Ohio State is two,
I mean clearly, but they do have a flaw. I
mean they're missing offensive lineman. They can't run the ball.
If Will Howard's gonna throw it on you with those
sweet wide receivers, you're gonna put him in one on
one coverage like good luck. There'd be a lot of
NFL corners that couldn't cover that kid one on one.

(44:26):
I would imagine Oregon, who is run by Dan Lanning,
who learned from Kirby Smart, is going to have a
pretty good game plan. And I think a lot of
people you watch the closer this game gets, are going
to pick Ohio State, And this is you know, I
picked Tennessee. I was hating on Ohio State. I'm not hating.

(44:50):
I mean, obviously, listen, they are as talented as any
team in the country. But I think everyone's gonna pick
Ohio State based on that last performance and based on
people just organ and play, even though I saw him
the week before, or we could have two weeks before
against Penn State running wild and their quarterback looked like
Tua the Alabama version, big game because one of those coaches,

(45:15):
it'd be a big l for.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Dan Lanning too.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
I mean, you're talking about a guy he hasn't won
that many big games either. I mean, these are two
of the biggest ones of his short career. Ohio State
in the regular season and Penn State in the in
the championship, game he beats Ohio State again, people forget
about those losses to Washington to bar really quick. But
I do think I like Oregon in that game because
I just think people are going to overreact to what

(45:40):
we witnessed a team that had just gotten their ass
kicked by and I saw Saban say this, He's like,
people at Ohio State are so obsessed with Michigan. So
I think he would struggle with that because he tried
to like every game mattered, the process of it all mattered.
Obviously Auburn is a huge game, but those LSU Sole's
all miss every team they're played. He wasn't a guy

(46:02):
like I don't think he would have coached at Ohio
State what he became because he would have struggled with
everyone putting all the chips in the middle table on Michigan.
And he even said, like their fans are obsessed with Michigan. Well, yeah,
it's kind of a big deal. Duke in North Carolina
obsessed with each other? Right, I say, UCLA USC but
it's just not true. Yankees, Red Sox forever, right, Raven

(46:26):
Steelers forever. It's a really big deal to the fan base.
And you saw it with Michigan this year there they
had an awful season, I mean a terrible year, and
once they won that game, it doesn't feel that terrible.
It actually felt like they made progress. Now, part of
it is that that game's at the end, because if

(46:46):
they had the same season, and obviously the game is
always at the end, but let's just say it was
Week one and they had beat Ohio State and they
had the crappy season, it would be much harder to stomach.
But I like Oregon, have a great Saturday. I will
talk to you guys Sunday because we've got a bunch
of NFL games on so we will talk soon.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
The volume
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