December 17, 2024 • 18 mins
Colin reacts to the Monday Night Football double header!
He starts with the Bears, and calls them a “broken franchise” and has the perfect coach in mind to fix them (3:30). He weighs in on his rough year of picking football games in “Blazing 5” (14:00) and looks at the terrific 2024 class of rookie quarterbacks and why the quarterback talent entering the league has closed the gap between the “haves” and “have not’s” (16:00).
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:21):
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What time is it? Game time? All right? Little Monday
night football reaction Welkins beat the Raiders. Not much to say.
(01:02):
Kirk Cousins is really struggling. Not sure why they don't
put Michael Pennix in he was a highly experienced college
quarterback from Indiana to Washington, played with NFL receivers and
offensive linemen with an NFL level head coach, Kaitlin de Boor,
who I think is really really good. He'll get Alabama
Hammond by next year. I don't get it. Raheem Morris
(01:22):
defensive coach. Maybe he doesn't sense the urgency. I don't
know if there were promises to Kirk Cousins, but if
Michael Pennix isn't better than Kirk Cousins, then that's a
wasted or miss on a first round pick because right
now Kirk Cousins does not have his fastball. Let's talk
about the Chicago Bears. So they lost to the Vikings.
(01:43):
I didn't think Sam Darnold played particularly well, but he's
getting the ball to TJ. Hawkinson, Jordan Addison, and Justin Jefferson,
so he's getting the ball to the right people. I
thought he was a little high, missed some throws, but overall,
Minnesota was picked for third or fourth. I mean, it's
all gravy at this point. First, let's start with the
Chicago Bears. There are a couple franchises in this league
(02:06):
that are just broken, and I think the Chicago Bears
are top of the list. It's a broken franchise. The
mccaskeys are arguably the worst owners in the league, oldest
and among the poorest. Really out of touch. Kevin Warrens
the president. I've been told for years, highly political. Charles
(02:28):
Robinson of Yahoo reporting today that you know somebody that
seeks power and to retain power. That's a little what
I was told years ago. Don't know him personally, but
that's what I've been told from two sources. I trust
Ryan Poles is young. You know, I'm hit and miss
on polls. I love the Monte Montes sweat deal, the
(02:51):
DJ More deal. I don't think he's the problem in
the organization. I think Ryan Poles is struggling with the
people above him. But a great example of the dysfunction,
so Matt Eberflues, a defensive coach, was fired. Well, defensive
coaches don't have the offensive connections that offensive coaches do.
(03:16):
I mean, there is a reason Andy Reid keeps hiring
really good offensive coaches right like their offense. Now, Reid
does most of the play calling, but Doug Peterson got
a head coaching job. Matt Naggy got a head coaching
job and by the way, got Mitt Trubisky to the
playoffs twice. So you can say all you want about
Matt Naggy. You die for Matt Naggy now in Chicago.
(03:38):
And then there's a reason that Belichick had to rely
on Josh McDaniels. When Josh left. You know, Bill was
scrambling to find an offensive coordinator. But Sean McVay can
find one every two years. So Thomas Brown was under
Shane waldron Well. Ibra Flues doesn't have a lot of
great offensive connections, clearly because when Shane waldron Lef left
(04:00):
Chicago of Seattle, he was criticized. They rolled their eyes
at him. He went to Chicago, it was a mess
with Caleb Williams. Then Thomas Brown, who's a bright young guy.
He coached with the Rams, but you know he is
an interim head coach. He's had. This is his third
different job this season with the Bears. I mean, hr
is probably asking him to slow down so they can
(04:22):
get his paycheck, right, I'm not going to blame him,
but eber flu selected this staff and it's not very good.
I think it's a broken franchise. And you know, my
take is, if you're really honest about it, you know
what they remind me of. I was thinking about it tonight.
They remind me a lot. The Bears are the Chargers
last season where they had a talented young quarterback, some
(04:46):
really nice pieces, but major cultural issues and what did
they do. They went and got Jim Harbaugh to fix it.
And that's why Mike Rabel's the higher Vrabel is Dan Campbell,
less reckles. He's Jim Harbaugh, but to this point hasn't
been as successful. He's a really smart guy. He's a
(05:07):
culture changer. There's no bullshit with him. He's very honest
and very upfront, and he got to an AFC championship,
you know, with Tennessee. So I just think Vrabel's the
call here. Vrabel, you know, and I've talked to Mike
about this. Vrabel is the kind of guy that will
(05:28):
come in and the only thing that would get in
his way is a Kevin Warren level executive that was
trying to retain power. If Frabel has some saying personnel,
he's pretty good at that and has a great relationship
with the general manager who he can answer to. And
trust I think Rabel could win immediately. I think, you
(05:51):
know again, I'll say this, the Bears have a Chargers
feel now. The Chargers are not going to go from
what they were last year to a Super Bowl. Need
another draft. They have to hit on another receiver, maybe
another tight end, another running back. They need more pieces offensively,
and the Bears with Rabel are not winning a super Bowl,
especially out of that division. And I think the Bears
(06:14):
need to shore up the offensive line, but more than that,
you know, maybe another edge rusher. More than that, I
think it's just a cultural modification is what they need.
But it's rough. I mean, you can say what you
want about the Jets and Woody Johnson and I think
he's one of the weaker owners, but they have a
good roster. Aaron's played well in the last three to
four weeks. He's had one hundred plus passer rating I
(06:35):
think on average over the last four weeks. The Giants
have issues, but you know, there's some pieces there that
defensive front and l Mars don't want to fire Brian
Dable because they've run through coaches, but the team looks
like they've quit. But with Chicago, there's just I mean,
there's just not much to like. I like Montes Sweat
and Jalen Johnson. I like Caleb Williams. You know DJ
(06:59):
Moore if the running back. There's some Pete Cole comment,
there's some pieces I like, But I don't know what
you do other than hire Mike Rabel. This is not
a job for a coordinator. Give me a break. You're
not going to get a Ben Johnson here, Bobby Slowick.
It's not going to turn this thing around. You're a
mile from that. And I'll make this argument, I think,
(07:19):
And I talked to Mike Vrabel about this, and my
suggestion to him is, I'm not sure if I take
a job this year, I think next year you could
have much more attractive openings. If Joe Burrow is getting
really tired of Zach Taylor, the coach of Cincinnati, they
won't fire him at the end of this year, But
if Joe Burrow makes demands, Zach Taylor's in trouble next
(07:42):
year for Joe Burrow to ream Zach Taylor out, knowing
he's on TV the way he reamed him out. Burrow's
got no time for this nonsense in Cincinnati, So that
job could be open next year. I think Mike McCarthy
in Dallas, I think he's probably saved his job, right,
he's probably saved it. And if Dallas can move Michael
Parsons get a couple of first round picks, hit on
(08:03):
those you know, who knows. But also I think that
could be open. So, you know, seven different coaches get
whacked every year. I just don't like the job openings.
I love Caleb Williams Chicago. To me, is it feels
like quicksand for a coach. You know, Jacksonville's got an opening.
(08:26):
There's a reason everybody fails here in Jacksonville. It just
since Tom Coughlin left, it's just dead coach walking. Nobody
works there. So there's got to be something systemic within
the organization. And I think what you're really seeing now.
And I was having this discussion this weekend with somebody
(08:49):
I respect a lot, and he said, you know, you
just you start looking around this league and it's just
the power of ten. There's about ten good gms, ted
good oders, ten good quarterbacks, ten good left tackles, and
I just don't like. If you're Mike Vrabel, I don't
like what's out there. I love Chicago. It's a great city.
(09:09):
They're good pieces. But man, anybody watching this show, watching
this podcast, or listening, it does not matter how good
the employees are. If ownership and management is sideways, it
doesn't matter. I've said this before. I've been really fortunate.
I had a really good ownership in Las Vegas my
(09:30):
first job. Obviously, ESPN and Fox are well run companies.
At Portland, I thought we had good ownership, good management.
I worked in Tampa for a couple of years and
really really talented people in the newsroom, photo journalists, producers, reporters, anchors.
(09:52):
It was not the employees. I thought management was a
circus and I'll just it at that, and you couldn't
overcome it. And it was a real learning moment for me,
is that the employee base was the best I'd ever
worked with. At the time, I thought there was just
so many talented people. Our sports department was just really fun, clever,
(10:16):
smart people. But you can't you can't, like in Chicago,
it doesn't matter if Rabel's the coach and he's trying
to change things eventually, if people are political upstairs, I
mean it's it's like, look at the Jets, they fire
Robert Sali the best coach on the staff. I mean,
going into a game against Buffalo, if they won it,
there they were in first place. I mean they fired
(10:37):
Joe Douglas. Well, Douglas got Devonte Adams, who's playing great now.
Joe Douglas missed on a quarterback. But Joe Douglass. That
Jets roster they've got, dudes, I mean they really do.
They're going to get another very good first round pick
this year. They've got a left tackle for the future,
they've got their corner, they've got weapons. I mean, they
(10:59):
can really be selected. The Jets could move down in
the first round and get four or five. You know,
if they moved down and got another second round pick
or a second and a fourth round pick, you could
have five new starters on the team next year. And
I think the Jets, I mean, they really have their weapons.
They have their left tackle, the Penn State kid, a
couple of good receivers, good corners, pass rushers. So I mean,
(11:22):
I I mean I thought saw when Joe Douglas were capable.
They're both out. So there's nothing you can do if
upstairs is messed up. There's just in my experience in life,
there's nothing you can do, you know. It's I make
picks blazing five, and I had another terrible week. Generally,
I've been doing this blazing five thing for like twenty years,
(11:44):
and on average I hit about fifty six percent, fifty
five fifty seven percent. This is my worst year easily.
I don't know why. I've just struggled all year long,
but I'm actually it's funny because on the bigger preseason
predictions for division champions, I've actually had the best year
I've ever had. I had Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore and
the Texans winning their division. If Baltimore beats the Steelers Saturday,
(12:08):
I'll be four for four. Heading to the last couple
of weeks, I had Philly, the Rams, Green Bay, and
the Falcons winning their divisions. Philly and the Rams du lead.
Green Bay and the Falcons still have a shot, although
Atlanta right now they'll beating the Raiders tonight. They got
to get quarterbacks solved. My two dark horse teams were
Washington and Denver. They'll both make the playoffs. So I
(12:32):
actually have in terms of predictions, I think I've had
a really good year. I don't know why I'm struggling
so much. I've just been out of rhythm. You know.
The weekends I take favorites, they go belly up. The
weekends I take dogs. I have the wrong ones. But
I love doing it, and I always feel bad. I
don't mind losing money. I don't like anybody else to
lose it. But I'm'm picking football games for so long.
(12:56):
An old story. When I first moved to Las Vegas,
I had no money, I was out of college, and
I drove down to Vegas in a blue AMC Pacer
that later caught fire. A couple of years later, on
Charleston and Oak Streets in Las Vegas, I had Texaco
station I pulled in my car was on fire. And
(13:16):
I remember when I first moved to Vegas, I'd never
met football games, and so I was a huge Pack
ten fan, and so I really started hitting on a
lot of Pac ten picks because all the games weren't televised.
I knew the Pacific Northwest teams really well because I
was from there. I remember one year I think I
was like ten and one on Oregon State games. I
(13:38):
just could not miss on the Beavers. And I just
love picking football games. But I have stunk this year.
And what's interesting is that Nick Wright and Danny Parkins
at FS one have both been on fire, hitting like
sixty five percent. So congrats to those guys. But you know,
my overall takeaway really on the playoffs this year is
(14:00):
there's not a lot of surprises. I mean, right now,
I have If Baltimore beats the Steelers Saturday, i'll have
six of the eight teams I picked to win the
division winning and Green Band and the Falcons close. What
is pretty clear, and the reason I picked those teams
to win the division was like head coach and quarterback.
And so I think the one thing I look at
(14:22):
this year is a real positive. I think Caleb can play.
I think Jayden Daniels can play. I think Boon Nicks
can play. My guess is JJ McCarthy can play. I
don't know what the hell's going on with Michael Pennix,
because I really liked him out of college. I thought
he was a bigger, stronger, better deep ball to and
TWOA is more than capable, but he just can't throw
the ball deep down field. He's not good against pressure
(14:43):
or really elite defenses are in cold weather, you have
to qualify everything with Tua. I think Panicstows a much
better sharper deep ball, stronger, longer, just a bigger athlete.
But I think we have a chance to go five
for five with quarterback. And this is not a great
quarterback year in college. But if the quarterbacks go four
(15:06):
for five or five for five this group of quarterbacks,
it will be the third draft since around twenty eighteen
where you've had multiple first round quarterbacks hit. And I
don't think we'll ever get to a saturation point where
you know everybody's got their quarterback. But I don't remember
a time where there were this many good quarterbacks. I mean,
(15:30):
I mean, even Aaron Rodgers in the last month has
been unbelievable. Jordan Love, Jaylen Hurts. This weekend was sensational.
You know, bo Nicks makes mistakes, but he's clearly a
franchise guy. His toughness, his athletic ability. He's got a
better arm I think in the pros and I thought
he had in college. So I think, big picture, as
(15:51):
the league's become more have and have nots, I think
we had another bumper quarterback draft class. I only saw
JJ McCarthy in the preseason, but in the couple appearances,
I thought he was really quick, really nimble, and he
reminded me a little bit of Sam Darnold that he
was really aggressive. And I think Kevin O'Connell's proven the
(16:14):
Vikings head coach, he can coach a lot of that
out of you. And another part of this quarterback journey
is there's better quarterback coaches. I mean this, so I
think the guy down in Tampa, Liam Cohen under Baker Mayfield,
who was briefly in Los Angeles, I think he's going
to get looks. I think the quality of offensive coaching
has really improved. That's why you're seeing Donald and Baker
(16:36):
Mayfield a rebirth. I think there's sensational coaching offensively. I
didn't feel that fifteen years ago in the NFL. I
think it's everywhere, and I think the talent's everywhere. So
I mean, yesterday we had a really ugly one o'clock window.
It was the first time all year I was bored
watching the NFL where I thought, man, this is just
(16:58):
a batterly window. But I mean this weekend, the college
and the pro games this weekend, starting Friday night in
the en at Notre Dame. The next Friday, Saturday Sunday
could be the most sensational three day stretch of football
any year, and a lot of it is because of
quarterback play and very sharp offensive coaching. The volume well,
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The volume. Game Time is focused on togetherness this holiday season.
That means when you bring people together at live events,
the experience is that much better and it is the
perfect gift. Game Time has a new feature called game
Time Picks. It makes getting tickets for live events even easier.
Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you
(00:21):
only incredible deals on great seats, so you don't have
to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. The game
Time guarantee you'll always get the best price. If you
find tickets in the same section and row for less,
game Time will credit you one hundred and ten percent
of the difference. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets.
With game Time, all you have to do is download
the game Time app. Takes twenty seconds. Create an account.
(00:41):
Use the code colin col i in for twenty bucks
off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account.
Redeemed code is colin twenty bucks off. Download game Time today.
What time is it? Game time? All right? Little Monday
night football reaction Welkins beat the Raiders. Not much to say.
(01:02):
Kirk Cousins is really struggling. Not sure why they don't
put Michael Pennix in he was a highly experienced college
quarterback from Indiana to Washington, played with NFL receivers and
offensive linemen with an NFL level head coach, Kaitlin de Boor,
who I think is really really good. He'll get Alabama
Hammond by next year. I don't get it. Raheem Morris
(01:22):
defensive coach. Maybe he doesn't sense the urgency. I don't
know if there were promises to Kirk Cousins, but if
Michael Pennix isn't better than Kirk Cousins, then that's a
wasted or miss on a first round pick because right
now Kirk Cousins does not have his fastball. Let's talk
about the Chicago Bears. So they lost to the Vikings.
(01:43):
I didn't think Sam Darnold played particularly well, but he's
getting the ball to TJ. Hawkinson, Jordan Addison, and Justin Jefferson,
so he's getting the ball to the right people. I
thought he was a little high, missed some throws, but overall,
Minnesota was picked for third or fourth. I mean, it's
all gravy at this point. First, let's start with the
Chicago Bears. There are a couple franchises in this league
(02:06):
that are just broken, and I think the Chicago Bears
are top of the list. It's a broken franchise. The
mccaskeys are arguably the worst owners in the league, oldest
and among the poorest. Really out of touch. Kevin Warrens
the president. I've been told for years, highly political. Charles
(02:28):
Robinson of Yahoo reporting today that you know somebody that
seeks power and to retain power. That's a little what
I was told years ago. Don't know him personally, but
that's what I've been told from two sources. I trust
Ryan Poles is young. You know, I'm hit and miss
on polls. I love the Monte Montes sweat deal, the
(02:51):
DJ More deal. I don't think he's the problem in
the organization. I think Ryan Poles is struggling with the
people above him. But a great example of the dysfunction,
so Matt Eberflues, a defensive coach, was fired. Well, defensive
coaches don't have the offensive connections that offensive coaches do.
(03:16):
I mean, there is a reason Andy Reid keeps hiring
really good offensive coaches right like their offense. Now, Reid
does most of the play calling, but Doug Peterson got
a head coaching job. Matt Naggy got a head coaching
job and by the way, got Mitt Trubisky to the
playoffs twice. So you can say all you want about
Matt Naggy. You die for Matt Naggy now in Chicago.
(03:38):
And then there's a reason that Belichick had to rely
on Josh McDaniels. When Josh left. You know, Bill was
scrambling to find an offensive coordinator. But Sean McVay can
find one every two years. So Thomas Brown was under
Shane waldron Well. Ibra Flues doesn't have a lot of
great offensive connections, clearly because when Shane waldron Lef left
(04:00):
Chicago of Seattle, he was criticized. They rolled their eyes
at him. He went to Chicago, it was a mess
with Caleb Williams. Then Thomas Brown, who's a bright young guy.
He coached with the Rams, but you know he is
an interim head coach. He's had. This is his third
different job this season with the Bears. I mean, hr
is probably asking him to slow down so they can
(04:22):
get his paycheck, right, I'm not going to blame him,
but eber flu selected this staff and it's not very good.
I think it's a broken franchise. And you know, my
take is, if you're really honest about it, you know
what they remind me of. I was thinking about it tonight.
They remind me a lot. The Bears are the Chargers
last season where they had a talented young quarterback, some
(04:46):
really nice pieces, but major cultural issues and what did
they do. They went and got Jim Harbaugh to fix it.
And that's why Mike Rabel's the higher Vrabel is Dan Campbell,
less reckles. He's Jim Harbaugh, but to this point hasn't
been as successful. He's a really smart guy. He's a
(05:07):
culture changer. There's no bullshit with him. He's very honest
and very upfront, and he got to an AFC championship,
you know, with Tennessee. So I just think Vrabel's the
call here. Vrabel, you know, and I've talked to Mike
about this. Vrabel is the kind of guy that will
(05:28):
come in and the only thing that would get in
his way is a Kevin Warren level executive that was
trying to retain power. If Frabel has some saying personnel,
he's pretty good at that and has a great relationship
with the general manager who he can answer to. And
trust I think Rabel could win immediately. I think, you
(05:51):
know again, I'll say this, the Bears have a Chargers
feel now. The Chargers are not going to go from
what they were last year to a Super Bowl. Need
another draft. They have to hit on another receiver, maybe
another tight end, another running back. They need more pieces offensively,
and the Bears with Rabel are not winning a super Bowl,
especially out of that division. And I think the Bears
(06:14):
need to shore up the offensive line, but more than that,
you know, maybe another edge rusher. More than that, I
think it's just a cultural modification is what they need.
But it's rough. I mean, you can say what you
want about the Jets and Woody Johnson and I think
he's one of the weaker owners, but they have a
good roster. Aaron's played well in the last three to
four weeks. He's had one hundred plus passer rating I
(06:35):
think on average over the last four weeks. The Giants
have issues, but you know, there's some pieces there that
defensive front and l Mars don't want to fire Brian
Dable because they've run through coaches, but the team looks
like they've quit. But with Chicago, there's just I mean,
there's just not much to like. I like Montes Sweat
and Jalen Johnson. I like Caleb Williams. You know DJ
(06:59):
Moore if the running back. There's some Pete Cole comment,
there's some pieces I like, But I don't know what
you do other than hire Mike Rabel. This is not
a job for a coordinator. Give me a break. You're
not going to get a Ben Johnson here, Bobby Slowick.
It's not going to turn this thing around. You're a
mile from that. And I'll make this argument, I think,
(07:19):
And I talked to Mike Vrabel about this, and my
suggestion to him is, I'm not sure if I take
a job this year, I think next year you could
have much more attractive openings. If Joe Burrow is getting
really tired of Zach Taylor, the coach of Cincinnati, they
won't fire him at the end of this year, But
if Joe Burrow makes demands, Zach Taylor's in trouble next
(07:42):
year for Joe Burrow to ream Zach Taylor out, knowing
he's on TV the way he reamed him out. Burrow's
got no time for this nonsense in Cincinnati, So that
job could be open next year. I think Mike McCarthy
in Dallas, I think he's probably saved his job, right,
he's probably saved it. And if Dallas can move Michael
Parsons get a couple of first round picks, hit on
(08:03):
those you know, who knows. But also I think that
could be open. So, you know, seven different coaches get
whacked every year. I just don't like the job openings.
I love Caleb Williams Chicago. To me, is it feels
like quicksand for a coach. You know, Jacksonville's got an opening.
(08:26):
There's a reason everybody fails here in Jacksonville. It just
since Tom Coughlin left, it's just dead coach walking. Nobody
works there. So there's got to be something systemic within
the organization. And I think what you're really seeing now.
And I was having this discussion this weekend with somebody
(08:49):
I respect a lot, and he said, you know, you
just you start looking around this league and it's just
the power of ten. There's about ten good gms, ted
good oders, ten good quarterbacks, ten good left tackles, and
I just don't like. If you're Mike Vrabel, I don't
like what's out there. I love Chicago. It's a great city.
(09:09):
They're good pieces. But man, anybody watching this show, watching
this podcast, or listening, it does not matter how good
the employees are. If ownership and management is sideways, it
doesn't matter. I've said this before. I've been really fortunate.
I had a really good ownership in Las Vegas my
(09:30):
first job. Obviously, ESPN and Fox are well run companies.
At Portland, I thought we had good ownership, good management.
I worked in Tampa for a couple of years and
really really talented people in the newsroom, photo journalists, producers, reporters, anchors.
(09:52):
It was not the employees. I thought management was a
circus and I'll just it at that, and you couldn't
overcome it. And it was a real learning moment for me,
is that the employee base was the best I'd ever
worked with. At the time, I thought there was just
so many talented people. Our sports department was just really fun, clever,
(10:16):
smart people. But you can't you can't, like in Chicago,
it doesn't matter if Rabel's the coach and he's trying
to change things eventually, if people are political upstairs, I
mean it's it's like, look at the Jets, they fire
Robert Sali the best coach on the staff. I mean,
going into a game against Buffalo, if they won it,
there they were in first place. I mean they fired
(10:37):
Joe Douglas. Well, Douglas got Devonte Adams, who's playing great now.
Joe Douglas missed on a quarterback. But Joe Douglass. That
Jets roster they've got, dudes, I mean they really do.
They're going to get another very good first round pick
this year. They've got a left tackle for the future,
they've got their corner, they've got weapons. I mean, they
(10:59):
can really be selected. The Jets could move down in
the first round and get four or five. You know,
if they moved down and got another second round pick
or a second and a fourth round pick, you could
have five new starters on the team next year. And
I think the Jets, I mean, they really have their weapons.
They have their left tackle, the Penn State kid, a
couple of good receivers, good corners, pass rushers. So I mean,
(11:22):
I I mean I thought saw when Joe Douglas were capable.
They're both out. So there's nothing you can do if
upstairs is messed up. There's just in my experience in life,
there's nothing you can do, you know. It's I make
picks blazing five, and I had another terrible week. Generally,
I've been doing this blazing five thing for like twenty years,
(11:44):
and on average I hit about fifty six percent, fifty
five fifty seven percent. This is my worst year easily.
I don't know why. I've just struggled all year long,
but I'm actually it's funny because on the bigger preseason
predictions for division champions, I've actually had the best year
I've ever had. I had Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore and
the Texans winning their division. If Baltimore beats the Steelers Saturday,
(12:08):
I'll be four for four. Heading to the last couple
of weeks, I had Philly, the Rams, Green Bay, and
the Falcons winning their divisions. Philly and the Rams du lead.
Green Bay and the Falcons still have a shot, although
Atlanta right now they'll beating the Raiders tonight. They got
to get quarterbacks solved. My two dark horse teams were
Washington and Denver. They'll both make the playoffs. So I
(12:32):
actually have in terms of predictions, I think I've had
a really good year. I don't know why I'm struggling
so much. I've just been out of rhythm. You know.
The weekends I take favorites, they go belly up. The
weekends I take dogs. I have the wrong ones. But
I love doing it, and I always feel bad. I
don't mind losing money. I don't like anybody else to
lose it. But I'm'm picking football games for so long.
(12:56):
An old story. When I first moved to Las Vegas,
I had no money, I was out of college, and
I drove down to Vegas in a blue AMC Pacer
that later caught fire. A couple of years later, on
Charleston and Oak Streets in Las Vegas, I had Texaco
station I pulled in my car was on fire. And
(13:16):
I remember when I first moved to Vegas, I'd never
met football games, and so I was a huge Pack
ten fan, and so I really started hitting on a
lot of Pac ten picks because all the games weren't televised.
I knew the Pacific Northwest teams really well because I
was from there. I remember one year I think I
was like ten and one on Oregon State games. I
(13:38):
just could not miss on the Beavers. And I just
love picking football games. But I have stunk this year.
And what's interesting is that Nick Wright and Danny Parkins
at FS one have both been on fire, hitting like
sixty five percent. So congrats to those guys. But you know,
my overall takeaway really on the playoffs this year is
(14:00):
there's not a lot of surprises. I mean, right now,
I have If Baltimore beats the Steelers Saturday, i'll have
six of the eight teams I picked to win the
division winning and Green Band and the Falcons close. What
is pretty clear, and the reason I picked those teams
to win the division was like head coach and quarterback.
And so I think the one thing I look at
(14:22):
this year is a real positive. I think Caleb can play.
I think Jayden Daniels can play. I think Boon Nicks
can play. My guess is JJ McCarthy can play. I
don't know what the hell's going on with Michael Pennix,
because I really liked him out of college. I thought
he was a bigger, stronger, better deep ball to and
TWOA is more than capable, but he just can't throw
the ball deep down field. He's not good against pressure
(14:43):
or really elite defenses are in cold weather, you have
to qualify everything with Tua. I think Panicstows a much
better sharper deep ball, stronger, longer, just a bigger athlete.
But I think we have a chance to go five
for five with quarterback. And this is not a great
quarterback year in college. But if the quarterbacks go four
(15:06):
for five or five for five this group of quarterbacks,
it will be the third draft since around twenty eighteen
where you've had multiple first round quarterbacks hit. And I
don't think we'll ever get to a saturation point where
you know everybody's got their quarterback. But I don't remember
a time where there were this many good quarterbacks. I mean,
(15:30):
I mean, even Aaron Rodgers in the last month has
been unbelievable. Jordan Love, Jaylen Hurts. This weekend was sensational.
You know, bo Nicks makes mistakes, but he's clearly a
franchise guy. His toughness, his athletic ability. He's got a
better arm I think in the pros and I thought
he had in college. So I think, big picture, as
(15:51):
the league's become more have and have nots, I think
we had another bumper quarterback draft class. I only saw
JJ McCarthy in the preseason, but in the couple appearances,
I thought he was really quick, really nimble, and he
reminded me a little bit of Sam Darnold that he
was really aggressive. And I think Kevin O'Connell's proven the
(16:14):
Vikings head coach, he can coach a lot of that
out of you. And another part of this quarterback journey
is there's better quarterback coaches. I mean this, so I
think the guy down in Tampa, Liam Cohen under Baker Mayfield,
who was briefly in Los Angeles, I think he's going
to get looks. I think the quality of offensive coaching
has really improved. That's why you're seeing Donald and Baker
(16:36):
Mayfield a rebirth. I think there's sensational coaching offensively. I
didn't feel that fifteen years ago in the NFL. I
think it's everywhere, and I think the talent's everywhere. So
I mean, yesterday we had a really ugly one o'clock window.
It was the first time all year I was bored
watching the NFL where I thought, man, this is just
(16:58):
a batterly window. But I mean this weekend, the college
and the pro games this weekend, starting Friday night in
the en at Notre Dame. The next Friday, Saturday Sunday
could be the most sensational three day stretch of football
any year, and a lot of it is because of
quarterback play and very sharp offensive coaching. The volume well,
(17:21):
it's the most wonderful time of the year for getting
in on all the basketball, football hockey action at DraftKings
sports Book. It's the season of giving, so we're being
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Host
Colin Cowherd
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