Full Transcript for INSTANT REACTION: Bears SURVIVE Bucs on SNF, NFL Week 9 Reaction: 49ers DOMINATE Raiders, Packers DESTROY Patriots, Giants DEFEAT Eagles in NFC East Showdown

cooler. I like that game because of the violence of it on defense. A couple of those hits that Devin Bush had in the open field, it's like, sign me up for that. The play Reuben Bain had that KO'd Luther Burden, It's like, that's the football that I like. That every yard is contested. That if you're not holding onto the ball with both hands, it might come out to the ground. And as a quarterback, like both guys, you're going to be running for your life. And I do think if you're Ben Johnson, for the first time in a while, you escape with a win, which is the most important thing by a mile. That is the goal of your job. It's not style points. It's not winning the turnover margin. It's not winning, you know, the yards, the first down. All that stuff, all the stats that you'll hear right off over the next, none of that matters if you lose. But when you win and you move on, but you kind of get humble pie around your building. And for the first time in a while, it knocks everyone down a peg. We're not the greatest thing since sliced bread. We're not going to be the greatest offense of all time. We just got embarrassed at home as an offense on Sunday Night Football. But this is a team game. And our defense picked us up. And they played out of their mind as well. Jalen Johnson had a play that probably was the difference in the game. Because if Tampa just punts on that drive instead of giving six, who knows? They might just force another punt and get the ball back. Instead, Baker throws it right to Jalen. He runs, kind of walks, he's just not that fast anymore, to the end zone. And it was a huge flip in the night. And to me, it was the difference, when you look at the totality of what we just witnessed, it was the difference in the game. Was Baker's mistake leading the six? Because at that point in time, their offense couldn't score a touchdown. They couldn't even get in the field goal range. They couldn't move the football. And this gets back to Todd Bowles. When you're in that environment and your offense is so bad, and I think on third down, they were like two, what were they on third down? They were two of 12. It felt worse. It felt like every time he dropped back on second and eight or third and eight or third and 10 or second and 10, They had absolutely no shot for a first down. There were periods where you're like, why don't they hand it to number seven more often? He is by far the best player in your offense. And then as the game went on, he made some of the best plays in the game. Look, I like DeAndre Swift. I feel like Bucky Irving is on a completely different level. This version of Bucky Irving in 2026 is one of the best running backs. Pure rudders of the football. Inside runs, outside runs, pitches, sweeps, inside zone, hit off tackle, reverse course, cut it back, and then you factor in game well too. They have a dynamic rushing attack. I don't know if I would have called that many passes. And the offensive coordinator was a little all over the map. But it was 24-13. At the end of the third quarter, they were on the 12-yard line. It was fourth and four. And Todd was validated when he kicked the field goal at the end of the first half. And he described it to Melissa. He's like, listen, we're getting the ball. So if we kick a field goal there and we score, that's a 10-point swing. Between the end of the first half and the start of the second half. And that's something that Belichick Patriots always used to really hammer home. I think they used to call it like the eight minute, like the last four minutes, the first half, first four minutes, you can gain a huge advantage in the game. And it paid off for Todd. And it made sense. He said, if we weren't getting the ball and we were kicking off, I would have gone for it. Like, okay, you honestly don't hear that many coaches be that candid about their thought process. But when it's fourth and four and you're down 24 to 13, And you are, and listen, I understand you have punked him for a couple of periods or a couple of quarters, but there is going to be a series because at any moment he can hit a big play. Like, clearly he has that in his back pocket. And he's proven that throughout his young career is how well he plays late in these games. Thought you got to be a little more aggressive. And they leave the offense on the field, but it's clearly a, you know, we're going to run it down to a delay a game. call HUD-HUD hike starting at five or six seconds, and hopefully they'd jump offsides. How about you run a real play? That was the time that, like, you've got to be aggressive because you'd already thrown a pick six, but you got all these gifts because these turnovers kept coming, and he's not. And Todd Bowles is an elite defensive coordinator. I mean elite. That is as good of a defensive mind as we have in the NFL. The way he coaches us up, the mentality in which they play, the violence in which they fly around. The coaching in that game between Dennis Allen, who's also a high-end defensive coordinator, we know Ben Johnson is good, and Todd is really, really good. Problem is Tampa's offense, they have no passing game. It doesn't really exist. Baker hit Tez Johnson on the deep bomb, but other than that, they basically did nothing. You had no faith whenever they would drop back to pass. Even as it was off for the Bears, and they were just discombobulated. Every time Caleb dropped back to pass, I still expect a first down throw. As the game went on, I got a text from a buddy that was like, Baker looks like he's not going to make it through this game. He looks exhausted. He looks beaten up. He looks broken down. Every time a series would end, he's kind of limping, a little light gallop thing with grimaces on his face. You go, is this guy okay? Is this guy going to be able to finish the season? Because Tampa, like Chicago's a playoff team. We know that for a fact. And this is a good test because they've already lost a couple division games, right? They

got smoked by the Packers when Caleb was out. They got beat in the Minnesota game at home in the rainstorm when Caleb popped the hammy. And those two teams, Packers defense, Mike is coming back. Their defense is playing pretty freaking good. And their offense, like the Bears most weeks, is unreal. And we know Minnesota is just a weird, tough team to play. And then Detroit, you could just get into a shootout with them. They're just loaded on offense. I don't know defensively if they're going to be good enough, but the division is no joke. So this is a good test of like, we got to button some things up. Because if we want to win the division and not be a wild, that was one big advantage for the Bears last year. First playoff game, where was it? Soldier Field. Even the second playoff game where they, I mean, almost pulled off a crazy win against the Rams. It's a lot more difficult to go on the road and play these games. Not saying they can't. They just proved last week they went to Seattle, hostile environment, and pulled off the win. Menungai will be back. Simmons will get more and more comfortable. But this type game where you really got to figure out some of these blitzes, you are going to face teams like Tampa with the team speed that Caleb just can't run around like a gazelle and just annihilate you. And it also proved like Rome dropped a ball tonight that went right through his hands. Burden got mollywhopped on that play. Swift got destroyed. I mean, they got pretty lucky tonight that Tampa's offense was so bad. If they would have played some of these other higher-end NFC teams, given their performance, they would have lost. 100% would have lost. Kalief Raymond muffed the punt. It, like, bounced off him, off his helmet, and somehow it landed back to him on the ground. So, what a game. I mean, that was... Sometimes that's healthy. You know, sometimes that's really, really healthy to have a game like that. And if you're a good coach, the next couple days are going to be ugly in Chicago's facility. Probably be a little uncomfortable with the offense. Not that Ben hasn't been coaching these guys hard, but when you're kicking ass and taking names, people are screaming at you. We're human beings. It's like, guys, calm down. We got this. We got this big guy. How would these guys not have been saying that and thinking that? Now it's like you kind of got to shut your mouth, put your head down, and just kind of listen and take notes to whatever he's saying. Because, you know, Caleb looked human for the first time in a long time. which is a credit to Tampa, which is why Tampa should win that division because their defense is incredible. But offensively, it's really, really tough. Now, they're lucky they play in the polar opposite of the NFC North, which is loaded, right? I mean, the Bears will see Minnesota tomorrow. Packers will look incredible. And Detroit is just humming along, going to be an 11-12 win team. It's the opposite. I mean, Atlanta's terrible. Carolina's worse. So, you know, Saints somehow won. I mean, this division is just, it's there to be had, though. You know, you get to 7-10, you probably win it. The other thing, any other crazy things? I mean, there was just, some of my notes was like, they blitzed Caleb on 3rd and 10. They got him. Then they blocked the punt. They got the ball back at the 50, but then they punted, and then they got another interception. I said Tampa's defense just makes shit happen. Bears offense is broken. Then Baker throws a pick six. It was 17-13, and Tampa's just right there throwing blows. The Bears defense, I mean, they came through. I mean, Simmons, that one hit he had on Baker looked like a gladiator. when he was elevated in the air parallel to the ground and hit him and Baker just flew back. I don't think any guy in the league gets destroyed by two defensive linemen at once like Baker Mayfield. He takes these sacks that just feel more vicious and violent than the majority of quarterbacks. A lot of quarterbacks he's kind of rolled up on. Caleb a lot of time will get his cleat you know, kind of fingertipped and he'll fall. Baker's standing there and it's just like a wall of gladiators coming on him. And he's almost like, fuck it, I'm just going to take these guys on. He'll just stand there and get destroyed. Happens over and over. A lot of respect for him. His toughness is elite. But man, is he going to be able to get up? Do you think he'll even make it to the plane? Will someone have to carry him to a seat? What a game. I still can't believe Todd Bowles. He just gets so conservative. And Mike Tomlin, I'm going to red flag this. Mike Tomlin at halftime, after Bowles kicked the field goal, Maria Taylor comes to him and was like, Mike, what do you think of Todd's decision there? And Mike essentially says that in games like this, you got to like kind of think outside the box and do extraordinary things. And what he was trying to say is Todd should have gone for a touchdown there instead of a field goal. And I started thinking, I'm like, I feel like I've been watching the Steelers on Sunday night and Monday night football for 20 years with Mike Tomlin. And listen, maybe PFF and the stats won't back me up, but I feel like he was as conservative as they come. And if I reversed it and I put Mike Tomlin for the last 18, 19 years when he was a Steelers head coach in that situation, he's kicking the field goal. Like Mike, let's not act like you're Dan Campbell and going for like some gunslinger on all these fourth downs. And I appreciate it. Like Mike's over there saying stuff, but it's like, Are you being a little disingenuous? Because I have literally seen you in that spot with good defenses and average offenses and you would kick the field goal, which I had no problem with. But you came to Mike Tomlin like it was coming to Dan Campbell who just got fired from the Lions. Like, I would have gone four on fourth down. That's what we did in Detroit forever.

Mike, that's not what you did in Pittsburgh. You were conservative. Like, I want Ben Johnson's a good example. Typically, Ben Johnson, I feel like, is a pretty aggressive coach. But tonight, he's playing Baker Mayfield, and their offense is completely struggling. They cannot throw the ball beside the one big pass. Passing game is not a threat. And you could make the argument they did not give it to the Bucky Irving enough. He had 20 carries. Probably should have had like 32. And there were a couple times when Isaac punted. I feel like he punted in some spots tonight. he normally goes for. Because the game dictates what he does, right? Which to me is a good coach. The game dictates what he does, right? If you're meeting with somebody, you got to feel out their personality before you just bust out a one-liner, right? You don't want to pull that out and be like, ooh, this probably shouldn't have said that. He's going to church tomorrow. That's not going to fly. We're not getting that deal. You've got to have a feel for the room. And Ben Johnson, to me, has a feel for the room. Todd, a lot like Mike Tomlin, they're going to be conservative. When all else fails, they will lean conservative. And you could argue big picture, if you're defense elite, not a crazy direction to just lean on. And against a lot of teams, he probably would have been fine tonight. But you are playing the Bears who at any moment, like the last drive, you bust the covers, they can hit a big play because they've got explosive players. And Caleb can hit wide open guys. So, I just got to red flag the Tomlin thing. Tomlin acting like he was Mr. Fourth Down over there. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe numbers will back me up. But I feel like he was Kingfield goal like Mike. Bro, be aggressive here. And he's over there just shitting on Todd Bowles. If I was Todd, I might shoot Tom in a text and be like, bro, calm down. Calm down, Mr. Media. I need to tell you about this new prediction market called Polymarket. It's the best way to trade in sports. In the past, if you wanted action on the game, you'd put some money in. And if your team was doing well and you wanted to cash out, they would lock the trade. Or take a big fee. But Polymarket is a prediction market. It's a stock exchange for sports. Buying in and selling out on your terms. I've tried them all. Trust me. And Polymarket is simply the best prediction market. Better than DraftKings, FanDuel, Kalshi, you name it. They're so confident you'll never go back to the other guys. They're giving you a free 25 bucks. on your first trade when you deposit $ 10. And now they've launched a new feature, Squads, a group chat where you can see everyone and what they're trading on. Check the link in the description to join my squad today and sweat every NFL Sunday with us in the Polymarket app. So download the Polymarket app today and use the code when you sign up. That's code 3OUT, code 3OUT. 3-O-U-T. Code 3-O-U-T to get $ 25 free after you deposit just $

10. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com slash TOS for more information. The Polymarket US app serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. Let's dive into the 49ers. And they're now 7-1. They traded for DeForest Buckner, and their defense was awesome today. Caused multiple fumbles. They must do a Mike Tyson drill at practice because Fred Warner's been doing the peanut punch forever. They got other guys on the team now doing it, and it worked at the goal line. They had several interceptions on Cousins. It wasn't really a fair fight. And I think one thing with the 49ers, who, of course, on multiple text threads is like, well, can they make it out of the game without an injury? And with four minutes left in a blowout game, they lose this stud defensive tackle, Rookie Halton, who had been awesome so far this season. He gets carded off. I didn't even see the play, but it clearly didn't look good. Air cast, we just have to assume, gone for the year. So the 49ers, even when things are going really well, you always have that in the back of your mind. Can they make it out of the game without an injury? I'd say that's a common theme in the sport, but it feels like it affects the 49ers more than just about any team. And you could argue it's a blessing in the sense that you still got a couple days for the trade deadline. And I would imagine the 49ers, we got John Harbaugh who's calling everybody. We got the Chicago Bears who are surely going to be extremely continue to be active. I think some of these AFC teams are going to be sniffing around. I do wonder though, and this is what's going to be telling because they usually say deadlines, you know, create deals. If you look back on last week, right? When the Chicago Bears traded for Jeffrey Simmons, they made an offer. Well, I mean, some might say that they couldn't refuse. Others said that they just They were only going to deal with one team. They were buddies, and they gave it to them. They gave them two first-round picks. That's a really good deal. Clearly, the other two, DeForest Buckner and Quentin Nelson, who's now injured, are kind of friends doing deals. Both expiring contracts, a little unique. I think the 49ers have to think long and hard. You have this group of star players who are older. And you're not going to have a two or three year longer stretch than you have right now. You're 7-1. Both your two division rivals have four losses. And they haven't even played each other yet. So you just assume, let's just say they split. That's five losses for the Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. And that assumes that they win out. So you got a pretty good buffer to win this division pretty, I would say, seamlessly. Football, things get weird, but having a three-game stretch where these two teams have to play each other, you feel pretty good about that. And you've already beat them both twice. And they both have to come to you. So let's just say, coin flip, you win one of those two games, you're in a great position. But this goes back to the Ryan Poles thing, when he's like, when we looked at all the teams that had won a Super Bowl, they all had a dominant, dominant interior pass rusher. and we needed one. You watch Chris Jones today. I know the Chiefs defense had been struggling against the Jets. When he turns it on, he can look like Reggie White. He can look like an unstoppable force. You just can't block the guy. And you can move him all around. You can put him over tackles. You can put him over centers. You can put him over guards. He can play up and down the defensive line. He's a lot like, I actually think J.J. Watt, I listened to a decent amount of that game day, his broadcast. I don't even know what game he was calling. I'm just kind of flipping around the four boxes. JJ was so unique because you could line him up anywhere. And the 49ers just kind of have guys that play specific positions. Now, there aren't really Jeffrey Simmons out there, but I think they've got to be really, really aggressive. And I would quadruple down on the defensive line. Like, I would go all in on that position. You don't need to trade for a wide receiver. And this talk about Cousins and his trade value... I know today was a tough game, but I have a hard time seeing anyone trading anything of value for him. And if you're the Raiders, they have been steadfast. And Mark Davis was just on CNBC talking about how much respect he had for Cousins, how good a job he was doing with Fernando. I would be stunned if he's traded. The Raiders are a flawed team. They don't really have wide receivers. Their entire offense is predicated on the two tight ends, who are awesome, even though they both fumbled today on back-to-back plays. The running game, what happened today with Genting? I mean, in fairness to him, every time they hand him the ball, there's like seven people behind the line of scrimmage. He had six carries for 25 yards. I mean, they were killing him. The one thing with Jenty... And listen, the 49ers tackle pretty well. I mean, Greenlaw and Fred Warner... I mean, Fred's probably the best tackler in the NFL for a linebacker. But like you watch Bijan this morning, you just watch some of the good running backs throughout the league. They can break a lot of soft tackles. Like if you're getting squared up by a guy in the NFL, It's going to be hard. I don't care if you're Bijon, if you're McCaffrey, if you're Gibbs. But when I have a position where I'm one-on-one with you, or we're going to an angle, and you're going to touch me, right? So you're going to have a chance to tackle me. Those guys make a lot of plays in those situations. Jenty does not. When Jenty gets touched, he goes down immediately. And that's the one concerning part. And listen, we've...

I guess I was going to say we've seen smaller running backs thrive, but they've all had elite skills. I mean, you could argue one of the greatest players in the history of the league was Barry Sanders, not a very tall guy. Also built like a tank. If you go way back to Darren Sproles, in his heyday, he ran like a, he was like a rocket ship. He was so explosive and so strong. Genting, to me, just looks like a little running back. And you saw the 49ers guys get around him, it's like, goes down immediately. And I think things just pop, right, for the elite talents. Some guys like Jordan Watkins in the 49er game, he's been on the Niners for several years, been in and out of the training room, been injured a lot, has really gotten his chance to play over the course of the last couple games. And has jumped off the television screen. He's been awesome. Purdy likes him. Clearly Kyle's starting to like him. And they're throwing him the ball. And he's excelling. That's not abnormal. A lot of guys that are mid-round picks take years to finally, and I'm not even saying he's going to have a long career, but to like have a moment. Brock Bowers had no moments. He hit the field and immediately dominated. You know, it's like, this guy's something. And what was he? Super high pick. Nick Bosa drafted high immediately. Like, holy moly. And I just get really, even McCaffrey back in the day, you just knew it right away. You don't need to box score scout these guys. You can just watch you go. That's something. I would say right now Ashton Gentry looks like just a guy in the NFL. And honestly, compared to some teams that have several running backs, you're like, would he even play for these guys? At the way he's currently operating. With his skill set. I don't know if he really would. Not that explosive. Doesn't break any tackles. It's not all his fault. You go back to Saquon in New York. There were a lot of years where it was like, well, he's got nowhere to go. But there was the soul alive that knows anything about football that went, you know, it's... Saquon just sucks, right? It was like, well, he's got nowhere to go. You could see his talent. You could see the burst. You could see the explosion. And that, to me, is what you just don't see with him because it doesn't really exist. It's kind of crazy. So the 49ers just destroy the Raiders 7-1 heading into the Dallas Cowboy game where I would guess they're going to be a massive, massive favorite in that game because Cowboys aren't that good. The other game that, I mean, I like the Packers in this spot, but I didn't see this coming. They obliterated the New England Patriots. Jordan Love right now is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. No team in the league, it feels like, shoves the ball and just throws bombs as much as Green Bay. LeFleur gets a lot of credit. Now, I've been singing his praises now for a couple weeks. Back was against the wall. Everyone was shitting on them. O-line sucked. They got thoroughly embarrassed at home on that Thursday night. Hell, a couple weeks ago, they lost a weird game to the Lions. And it's like they haven't really flinched. And Parsons, you know, when he comes back, obviously not this next week, the following week, Their defensive line really jumps out right now. So you add him to that unit, their defense today, I mean, Drake clearly did not play well. It's enjoyable. As someone that grew up in an era of football where if a quarterback put the ball in a compromising spot, you would get sent to the hospital. Like, you would get knocked out. So the best quarterbacks had to be very, very careful where they placed balls. So when we talk about decision-making, right? Like Brock Purdy's a good decision-maker. Jared Goff's a good decision-maker. In this modern game, but they don't really need to worry. There's not a threat of throwing over the middle because half the guys are not going to hit you because they don't want to get a flag. And then the other guys, if they do hit you, it's immediately a 15-yard penalty. And there was a play today where... it might have been 33 Williams, absolutely decleted a guy in the Patriots. And Brady was offended by the pass. He's like, you just, you can't throw that ball in that spot. And I'm like, Tom, well, you were taught that. But in this modern day game, there aren't spots you can't throw to because these guys are defenseless. They don't even think like that anymore. And then they immediately throw the flag. Well, it was a clean hit. It just was a violent hit. And that's one thing that pisses me off about football in 2026. College and pro. When there is a violent collision, the official just throws the flag. It's just immediate flag. It's like, this is football. This is a collision sport. That guy's job is to tackle this guy. But you got to be careful about tackling. And you better do it right or you're going to get a 15-yard penalty. And they picked it up, and as the game went on, Brady just kept saying, he is the turnover-worthy plays. This guy is, like, you watch Jordan Love play today, and you watch Drake May, he's just throwing to the other team all the time. I mean, he had three interceptions in the first half. I mean, at one point in time, it was 24-7. To have it 24-7 in a game where your quarterback's throwing a bunch of picks... And Tom Brady's showing back up to Foxborough, gets a standing O. Gronk's getting a celebration. Edelman, bunch of guys. It's a really big moment. It's a big game. It's like a playoff level game. You're a playoff team. They're a playoff team. And, you know, they end up scoring again. It's 24-14. But they were kind of in it. But you're like, I don't think they can stop them. And they couldn't. Because I'll take the L on this one. They gave Christian Watson the contract this offseason. It was like, God. I love the guy's speed, and I know he stretches the field, and I know he makes a bunch of big plays, but can you depend on him? He has been...

It's not Jefferson's fault, but he looks like Justin Jefferson or something. I mean, he's just an unstoppable player. He has elite speed. He's going to be faster than every DB he goes against. And he just makes play after play after play. And obviously the go routes and the post routes, if he gets a step and Jordan puts it on him, which he's been doing all season long, it's going to be fireworks. But to me, it's like the stuff across the middle of the field. It's the out routes. It's like the complete game. And then you throw in Golden with him, who's an all-time fantasy pickup by your boy. Those two guys with Jordan Love, it's like, yeah, we can't really run the ball. We don't care. It doesn't matter. As of, they actually, Caleb Johnson had 68 yards. They ran for 129 yards somehow. I mean, about seven different guys had runs. Jacobs got banged up because of his hand on the stiff arm. But their offense right now, I don't feel like there's anything quite like it in the league. Because when he goes back, he wants to throw a bomb. And more than likely, he's going to throw a bomb. And there's a decent chance, unless Golden drops it, they are going to complete a lot of these. You know, part of the reason I think fans, and I'm guilty of this, why don't they go deep more often? Because the deep ball is not viewed as a high completion pass. It's extremely low. Right? Very, very low. Yet, and I don't have the stats in front of me, but it feels like the completion percentage right now when they push the ball downfield is extremely high. And a large percentage of these guys' touchdowns are coming on like 15, 20-yard-plus throws in the air. It's remarkable. I mean, they look fucking good. They look really, really good. Like, listen, the 49ers are good. They played the Raiders who are on a playoff team. At home, off a bye. It's why I like the Niners and the points. It was like, this is a good spot for them. This game was on the road, big spot. I like the Packers, but I mean, it's going to be a tough game. It's going to be a slugfest. No, it's not going to be a slugfest. It's going to be, we're going to score on you at will. We are going to embarrass you. And all these people that wanted LeFleur fire are going to be like, yeah, we're doing a really good job. You know, him and Jordan Love, great rapport, great connection, great play calling. Think how many teams want their play caller fired. Michigan just fired the play caller who's like the highest paid OC in college. And they're all excited. Now they want the head coach fired. It's the nature of the sport. Ryan Day losing, fire him. Sirianni. fire him! Harbaugh, fire him! I'm not acting like I'm above it. I love it when people in the media are like, I'm not one to say it should cost him his job. It's like, shut the fuck up. This is football. We're not saying they should fire the coach's assistant who's taking his phone calls making $ 75K. We're like, yeah, the coach making $ 10 million sucks. He's highway robbery. These are grown-up conversations. You know, people in corporate America, CEOs of public companies, when the stock doesn't perform, you get canned. I mean, it's just a nature of the beast. It's cutthroat. Part of the world we live in. So I have zero, zero hesitation saying like, yeah, this guy might need to go. I'm kind of coming around on Jim Harbaugh. But LeFleur, like I did understand, like it's getting kind of weird. He shut everybody up. And they got a ton of momentum. Today was really, really impressive. That was fun to watch. It really was. Let me tell you about my good, good friends at Captain Morgan. Because I want you to make the captain a feeling. Not a mascot, but a movement. The switch you flip when the night hesitates, instilling Captain While You Can as the instinct that overrides autopilot. Captain is the adventurous spirit that cuts through hesitation, leading the way into uncharted territory. That gut feeling that says, we're all here together. So why not? It's now or never. So, Captain while you can is about turning hesitation into action, getting people to stop overthinking and just go for it, baby. It positions captain as the trigger that starts the moment, not just something you bring to it. Speaking of coaches fired, you could convince me today that the chargers had a, uh, 1-2-3, trade me please. 1-2-3, we quit. 1-2-3, we hate it here. 1-2-3, this is worse than Brandon Staley. The Brandon Staley era ended in memorable fashion. They got blown out by the Raiders on a Thursday night game. It was like 100-0. I mean, literally, I think it was like 68-10 or something. It was a crazy score. And Staley and Telesco were fired the next morning. Now, it had been building, right? Staley was over his head. It wasn't going well. This feels equally as bad, if not worse. And if Jim Harbaugh's name was Jim Middlecoff or, you know, Bill Johnson, just a random coach, I think he probably would have already been fired. And he definitely might get fired after this game. But he's Jim Harbaugh. And his resume is really impressive. And he makes a ton of money. And I've said all along, I don't know. I have a hard time seeing them firing him. I can't see them trading Justin Herbert. You watch games like today, you go, I wonder if everything's on the table. This is a debacle. There was a play late in that game. The Texans scored, I think, to make it. 30-9. Then they scored again to make it 37-9. Then the Chargers scored a couple of useless touchdowns. Looked like guys stopped. Looked like guys just tapped out. And listen, when things are going rough, I wasn't immune to this when I was young. If you're part of an organization, a company, an office, and things are going really, really bad, if You think you're going to get laid off if a company's going under. It's easy to, people mail it in. Welcome to society. We're dealing with human beings. These aren't AI robots, right? So if you're getting your ass kicked, I don't care who you play for, you

might not give the same effort. Because you go, well, they wouldn't do that for Saban. Or they wouldn't do that for Belichick. Well, how many times those guys were their teams involved in ass kickings? Not many. It never happened. So week after week after week of getting your teeth kicked in, sometimes you just wave the white flag. And once you wave the white flag, it can get really, really ugly in football. Because you can't half-ass it. It's impossible. You can go through the motions in a basketball game. You can definitely go through the motions in a baseball game. You can't really do it in a football game without getting exposed and spotted on... On film, on TV. It's just so evident and obvious. And you're watching today, you're going, uh, uh, uh, that's kind of Jim sound. Uh, it's like this thing, this is a wrap. You might need to send a nuclear bomb into this and blow the whole thing up. So I know they've been adamant. We're not trading any, we're not trading Khalil Mack. I've even said like, I'd be stunned if they trade Herbert. At this point in time, the next couple days with the Chargers, nothing will shock me. Nothing. Because the Texans, who are 2-5, had a really rough year. Looked like they're a future Super Bowl champ. I mean, they even break a sweat? That was Herbert's running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Either getting sacked, throwing interceptions, getting crushed. Every single game, he's on the sideline getting work done because he's getting killed. He's playing like crap. Their offensive skill guys just kind of stand there. Offensive line can't block a soul. I've been watching the Chargers for a long time living on the West Coast. I mean, a long time. The amount of Charger, Raider, Niner games I've seen in my lifetime over the last 30 years, you know, before I started getting these direct, I guess it's YouTube TV or whatever, the package. For most of my life, I just watched the local games, right? I mean, that was a world I grew up in. You just watch the games that were on television. And the games that were on television were a lot of Charger games, a lot of Raider games, A lot of 49er games. And the Raiders took a lot of shit for a long time because they used to look like that under Al Davis and toward the end of Al Davis and then early on in Mark Davis' tenure. That's what the Chargers are. That's where they feel like they're going. Nowhere. And it's getting really, really bad. I'll promise you this. Never lived in LA. I've never even lived in Southern California. But I got a pretty good beat on those people. I went to college with a lot of them. I know many that live there now. I have spent some time there over the last three or four years for weeks on end doing Colin's show, around the community, rubbing elbows with the people. They like a winner. I mean, they like this Laker team. That's why they like Kobe and Shaq. That's why they like the Dodgers. One, no one cared to begin with, but if you're going to play like this, no one's going to pay attention. And is it getting worse before it gets better? Because there is no getting better this year. Like you can blame Mike McDaniel. Like this feels bigger than him. This feels like organizationally, you know, has Jim lost it? Which is crazy to say, but it feels like overnight, like he got no pulse on his team and they've quit on him. What else happened today? I don't ever remember a player. who has been involved in situations that have knocked other players out for the season. Remember when Mahomes' leg went two different directions? Today, Mahomes, on a throw, I'm sure many have seen the highlight or are watching the game, got his arm hit right as he was throwing. Same thing that happened to Brock Purdy a couple years ago. Brock Purdy needed elbow surgery, and because it was the offseason, was out until the middle of training camp. If that would have happened week one, he would have missed the entire season. So when I saw Mahomes do that, I went, oh my God. He just tore his UCL. His season's over. The Chiefs are done. Because that's the way he acted, and that's the way it looked. Then he gets to the sideline. He kind of shakes it off, asks for a football, starts throwing. Next series, he's back. And then they never look back. And they beat the living piss out of the Jets, who early on I started thinking, like, are the Jets the best 3-14 team in league history? Because they got a bunch of offensive skill guys. They got David Bailey running off the edge. And then they just became a really bad team. And Kenneth Walker and Travis Kelsey look good today. And Mahomes just somehow, he's just, he's a Gumby. You can't injure him. You cannot hurt him. Like, it takes, it's... kind of crazy looking back, but it actually isn't. Guy tore his ACL and was back working out during like OTAs. I mean, think about that. Like he was out of practice at OTAs. Some people just recover faster. I don't know what to say. This goes back to Adrian Peterson and some guys have an injury and it ruins their entire career. There's no way to quantify it. There's no way to understand it. It's just the makeup, I guess, of our bodies, our ligaments. If that happens to most NFL players, they're done. Done. Not him. He's fine. It's like Sam Darnold gets some of these random injuries like the hip, now the quad. I feel like Mahomes would be like day to day. I mean, I wouldn't miss a game. It has nothing to do with pain tolerance or toughness. It's like, yeah, my body just recovers overnight. It's wild. But the other thing with the Chiefs, I mean, I guess Andy, to start his press conference after the game, addressed Butker and said, don't ask me any questions. I'm going to deal with it. I don't have anything to tell you guys. But at halftime, Butker missed a kick, but there was an offsides. Of course, there was the Jets. Then he missed the kick again. And I think it was Tracy Wolfson asked Andy what he needs to see from Butker. And he says, it'd

go through the uprights. And he just walked off. I mean, he was like kind of smiling. It was kind of crazy. I guess it makes sense. They bring in Justin Tucker to the practice squad. Tucker's just on the sideline walking around. Gotta be a little weird. It's like if you think you're coaching or playing for your job and Carly Ursae is just standing there during the game, gotta be a little weird vibe. Like you just work with humans. You ever worked in an office with your boss hanging over your shoulder? It's not easy to do, right? You ever try to do something with anyone knows this as a parent, like do something with the baby and your wife's staring at you. It's like, am I screwing up? Am I doing the wrong thing? You didn't give me the handbook. I don't know what to do. And this Butker thing, my guess, I think it's hard for them because they've been through so many games, been on the team for so long. Sometimes you just lose it. Like sometimes it happens in baseball with pitchers. It happens in basketball with guys' legs. And it clearly just happens with kickers, right? It's not like his kick is going, a 50-yard field goal is going 30 yards. Like his leg doesn't work. No, his leg works. He just can't make it happens. I know a bunch of people in golf to get the driver yips, the chipping yips, it gets in your head and kicking is, you know, a rare profession where the majority of time in your job, you're just standing there and thinking about what you have to do. And it's a tiny, tiny percentage of time that you actually have to do said job, right? The, Even at practice, you don't even do that much. But when the games come, the only thing that matters is can you make the kicks. And currently, Butker just simply cannot make the kicks. Which doesn't matter when you're playing the Jets. Doesn't matter at all when you're playing the Jets. But it will matter if you're playing the Bills. It will matter if you're just playing real games against other real teams. And it wouldn't stun me at all if by the time you're listening or watching this, that Butker has been relieved of his duties and released. Which I think, you know, this is where Coach Reed's really good at this type stuff. And he's very loyal. You know, I mean, look at the loyalty to guys that produce. I mean, this is a bottom line business. But the loyalty he's shown to Kelsey, they gave him a big contract after a terrible year. You know, the loyalty he's had to Chris Jones, again, great player, but There's no thought of moving on from him. Hell, I thought last offseason, like, you know, I'd probably trade Chris Jones. Chiefs didn't. When I was at the combine talking, they wouldn't even entertain it. It's not even a thought that crosses their front office's mind. We're not trading this guy. We're not getting rid of this salary. We don't care. We want him on our team. What he means to us. And I think there's been probably a longer leash with Butker. Because of the way that their natural loyalty is the core group. I do feel like today that leash might have broke. And maybe he gets another week because it didn't cost him anything. And it also depends what does Justin Tucker look like? You know, roaming around at practice hitting field goals. Only they know because the media doesn't come out to practice during the season. But it feels like the end of the road. As Boyz II Men once said. Giants-Eagles. What up? I mean, this is the other thing with modern quarterbacks. Back to Brady and the hospital balls. Historically, guys, there was a small percentage of guys that ran, right? So if you were a running quarterback, like when I was a kid, it was like Steve Young, Randall Cunningham. Most guys didn't run. So if they did, they would just hit the ground. They never wanted to risk it because you also could get killed. Now we see a bunch of guys that it's like, bro, you need to get on the ground. And we've seen that with Jackson Dart over the course of his short time in the NFL. It's like, man, this is not, you're not playing Vanderbilt here. You have to be very, very careful of being a little more cautious with your body because your body, if you play well, will pay everyone in this building on the team. The coaching staff, the front offices, mortgages for the next decade plus. 15 years. People will build remodels and second homes because of you and your body. That is the pressure on you. Well, he gets injured. JJ comes in. JJ and Jackson Dart have some similarities. Both a little reckless. And JJ today, when he got injured, he just... He like lowered his shoulder and then turned his body. It's like, bro, this is, I get the Eagles are down bad, but they got a lot of guys on defense that will shatter your insides. And that's what it looked like had happened. And then all of a sudden, Jameis comes in. Jameis actually played pretty well. I think he went like six or seven of eight, threw a touchdown. Like Jameis, perfect role for Jameis is, now he's got some reps. So like when he came in in the Rams game, He was so rusty, he couldn't have looked any worse. Definitely feels like he's got a better flow, probably understands the offense better. Comes in, perfect guy. If your quarterback goes down for a quarter or two or a game, throw in Jameis. You're like, I'm thinking, did he just shatter ribs, spleen, insides? Is he going to, they're going to have to put him on injured reserve. Then all of a sudden I look up, he comes storming out, high-fiving his offensive linemen. And I went, you know the easiest, quickest way to create a bond, I mean a true bond, with a member of the Harbaugh family, the easiest way to do it is to show them that you're tough. The toughness factor for that family to me will go longer than any physical attribute you may have playing football. When he did that and came back out, I went, John's going to really like this guy. John's going to feel validated in not just the move acquiring him, but the type guy that they got. A guy that I

can go to war with. A guy that will play injured. Because when he went to the sideline and tried to throw the warm-up throw, and as the ball left his hand, he immediately cringed. I mean, probably almost buckled to his knees. Because of whatever that pain was. And listen, it's pretty clear he went into the locker room and got a shot of something, of the good stuff. And came out and played right through it. And then because they're playing the Eagles, who have lost seven straight games, and I saw a stat today that if Joe Milton didn't run the ball, I think he ran for like 65 yards, had a couple nice runs, pretty good athlete. They averaged a little over two and a half yards. If you remove his runs, their average yard per play on an offensive play was like 2.6 yards. We made so much fun of this offense with Jalen Hurts over the last couple years. It is way worse without him. And I don't blame the Eagles for benching McKee and going with Joe Milton. Like, what are their moves? What else can they do? Like, some of you guys with great hair, you can do so much different shit. You can slick it back. You can spike it up. You can cut it short. You can highlight it. You got a lot of different options that look a lot of different ways. I got none of those. I have one pitch. I'm bold. And if I grow it out, it looks like a cul-de-sac. It's an impossible look to rock. I have one look and it's shaving my head every couple days. That's all I got. It's the only pitch I got. It's like the Eagles got nothing. They got no other pitches. This is it. I mean, the best player on the field today, Arvel Reese. You know, it's funny. Ohio State's getting crushed. It's like, This is the Transfer Portal NIL era. I don't care how good your that. Look how many guys they've just lost the NFL over the last two years, but they just lost Arvell Reese who in an NFL game had 10 tackles and three sacks and his hit on Milton, which is your classic, probably why Milton never plays. Because the guy's coming, and I guess Kayvon Thibodeau said after the game, he screamed at Joe Milton, you're going to get lit up on this play. They all knew it was coming. He's got no clue it's coming. Your classic just wasn't a blind side. I mean, he could see it. It was from the right tackle side, untouched. I mean, it's hard as you can get hit. That guy looks like, man. I mean, what? I mean, was he 20, 21 years old? The talent in that body is immense. The Eagles are just screwed. You just got to ride it out, suck, and retool. I just don't think they're getting offered anything for any of these players. You never know with Howie. Could he do some crazy trade for Jordan Davis or Jalen Carter? Those would have huge financial ramifications because they just gave those guys big contracts. So I have a hard time seeing it, but he's done crazier things than before. The other thing is someone's got to take the phone away from John because... I think John's motivated by a couple of things. One, he's a football coach. He wants to win. He has a team that at this point in time, I mean, the commanders, no team, worst late game team in the history of football. Eagles might not win another game. And the Cowboys are just, I'd be lying if I said I was super locked in on that game, but not shocking at all that they were in a barn burner with the Colts, who have literally traded two or three of their best players, have a quarterback who stinks, and a running back who probably wants to get traded, afraid to say it, and still might get traded. Weird spot. And a coach that is a dead man walking. And the Cowboys, we're going toe-to-toe with them today. I mean, no one was stunned. I didn't put any cash on the game. Just because it's like, I take the Colts plus six, but that was the play. I'm just staying away from this thing. But we're winning this division by a couple games. We're going to cruise to this thing. But I just don't think the Giants are in position to trade a second round pick for Jonathan Taylor. And I like Jonathan Taylor. But what does it tell you that they were the only team in the league that offered that? But you're not a player away. You've got good running backs. I know Scadaboo's banged up right now, but your team's fine. If you can find some diamond in the rough deal for a fourth rounder at some position, okay. But to me, year one, and this is the problem with making coaches the boss of everything. He does not care. I was listening to Bill Simmons talk to Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers just, he, he, he, and he was talking about other sports and he, he's like, everyone hypes up picks. Picks are important. Picks are very important. It's the longevity of your franchise. And it's not just, well, we, we don't have our first round pick this year. It's the flexibility that pick allows you to have. You can trade up, you can trade back to get cheaper labor. So if you get Jonathan Taylor for like a, Third round pick and you're a playoff team. Okay. But a second round pick, a couple bad things could happen. All of a sudden you win eight games. Like this team is not good enough to be fishing around in those waters. And I think most general managers who ran this team would be pretty deliberate, would be just slow and cautious. John's like on the Autobahn right now in a Ferrari, you know, thinking he's fucking going to lap Lewis Hamilton. It's like, well, just tap the brakes, my man. But there's no one there to have him tap the brakes. And with every win, it just gains a little juice. And this is, listen, you can make fun of Joe Shane all you want. His job is hard. The job of having a guy making that much money with that big of an ego and has accomplished that much and try to tell him like, yeah, I don't think this is a good idea. We've all been in these spots where you're in a meeting and And you are way lower on the food chain than the other guy. But you want to come out and like more than just give your suggestion, like truly give your opinion. Just be like, this

is stupid. But it's like, I don't feel comfortable saying that. And that's probably the position he's in. Where he's just not comfortable going, this is a, we got to pump the brakes here a little bit. The Giants are liable to do anything over the next couple days. Because of that man. The picks are his, and if you will pick up his phone call, he will trade you. One thing I will say about the Rams in Denver, who went to Carolina and who went to Washington and got wins, anytime you go west to east and you play that early kickoff game and you get a win, no style points. Get a win and get out of there. And for the Rams... The last play of the game, they ran this end around to Puka, who just... Puka had 19 targets today. Matt Stafford had 43 pass attempts. He basically had half the pass attempts go to Puka. He is a dominant player. And he injured his knee. I mean, they say they fear it's... They were confident. They're not fearing it to be an ACL. I'm trying to think how exactly it was worded. I wouldn't re-watch the play because, I mean, like most people didn't notice. That's pretty scary. If Puka Nakua is injured for a foreseeable amount of time, that would be dead. They're fucked. Simply put, they are done. He is their offense. They throw to him every play. And it makes sense. I throw to him every play too. Can't be stopped. So, and I know it's easy. It's like, It's like the 49ers. Why is the guy in the game? Well, you only have so many players. Someone has to play. Why are you doing that to Puka? I don't know. We thought it would work. We didn't intend on him getting injured. What if I just handed it to Kieran Williams or Blake Corum? They could get their leg snapped. It's football. It happens. He got hit in the knee and kind of didn't look good. I mean, no way around it. So on a day that should have been pretty celebratory, You go east. Washington's actually a sneaky, decent, bad team. The defense has been playing pretty good. And you get a win. Miles Garrett comes back. I think he had three sacks. Every time I looked up, I had them on the smaller TV. As the game was going on, you just felt 95. You're like, geez, he looks good. And when it was nut cutting time, he was teeing off. One of his sacks, he came from inside. He ran like a little Euro step. I'm like, geez, he looks good. Fresh legs, for sure. Some of these other guys he's playing, a little heavier legs. They've been playing half a season. But holy moly. If you told me that version's back with Puka healthy, the Rams were going to be a problem. But you remove Puka, even if you add Miles, that is devastating. And I'm as big of a Puka fan as anyone you'll meet. He is... He's everything I'd want in a football player in terms of his playing style, his physicality, how reliable he is, just how versatile he is, how tough he is. That sucks. And Denver, your classic Denver game, you know, it felt like they should just hammer him early. Bo throws a terrible red zone pick. And you're like, this game's getting weird. Then it's 14-13 and the Panthers are driving. You're like, they're going to lose? And then Bryce is making plays, getting comfortable. What is going on? You're really just going to lose this game and let Bryce Young slice and dice you? And then the craziest interception I've ever seen. Because it looked like an incomplete pass. The play was over. They came back from break. Sean Payton had challenged it. The guy that picked it didn't even know he intercepted it. Bounced off a guy's hand. I think he clearly thought it. Bounced off the ground. Challenge it. Win it. Bo leads him right down on a touchdown drive. Leads him on another touchdown drive. And it's just like, the final score is a little closer than what I witnessed in the second half. Denver took over. And then Benito ended the game. But that was, I guess you just gotta live with the bad thing. You know, Bo's gonna do something dumb He's going to make some bad plays, but once they got that interception, he flipped a switch. And listen, I mean, there are some teams right now, Denver, the Packers, the Niners, Chiefs kind of got their swag back a little bit today. I mean, it was the Jets. But, I mean, Denver's 7-2. What are the Packers right now? The Packers are 6-3, but, God, they feel– They feel closer to the 49ers at 7-1 than they do even Seattle at 5-4. Seattle's defense is good, but offensively, without Sam, today was a little bit of a struggle. Could definitely run the ball, it feels like, out of a little more juice with Price and Charbonnet back. The Cardinals, there's no, wasn't a snowball's chance in hell they were going to go up to Seattle and win a game with Gardner Minshew zero. But you know, if once drew lock was starting a couple of days ago, you're like, okay, this game could get weird. It did kind of get weird. I do appreciate like, it's funny. People want things out there, right? Um, Who wants the Jonathan Taylor the Giants tried to get him? Probably the Giants want him to be known. I'm not trying to source guess, but my guess is that John Harbaugh and Jay Glazer talked. Because John's trying to land some people and he can't get a deal done. And he's pissing them off. Who do you think told Jay Glazer that they tried to get Trey McBride over the weekend? Or over the last couple days? Maybe it was going on last week. Sean Payton. And I don't blame them. I'd want Sean Payton too. And I'd say this if you're the Cardinals. You're going nowhere. It's not like this guy, you know, this isn't like having, I don't even know a good analogy. Like, you know, when they gave Kobe contracts at the end just because they were terrible, but they needed people. Like, whether you have Trey McBride or not does not change the business of your franchise. So, yeah, if Sean McVay tried to get him for like two twos or something, of course not. But what did he offer you? You're telling me you wouldn't trade McBride for multiple ones? Your team is going nowhere fast. You have no

future. You're in a division with three of the elites. Your owner sucks. So I totally understand Sean and the Broncos. Who knows? Maybe these people are just... I mean, why not? What else you got going on? Like the same thing with Jonathan Taylor. I understand a little bit more with the running back because you can just hand him the ball 20, 25 times a game. But you do need someone. Like, you just have a new coach in Arizona. Like, LeFleur's not getting fired, you wouldn't think. Obviously, everyone in Indy's going to get fired. You want some people there. At least, hey, listen. Whatever our minimum price is on Jonathan Taylor. I've heard Pellisaro say that they want, like, the McCaffrey or Breer. It's like the two, the three, the four, and the five. I think the 49ers gave him the two, three, and four, and then a five the following year, which was a lot at the time. And clearly the market for Jonathan Taylor is not near what people think it probably should be. But like, what are you willing to give him up for? Because no one's giving you a first round pick. Would you give him for a two and a three? Or is his value to you to have on the team in the offseason so you get credible people go, yeah, there's something there. Because if you just have no players, this Daniel Jones situation that's impacting your cap, defense stinks. Who would want that job? Probably not many people. So I do understand if the owner is the one saying we are under no circumstances can we not at least feel like we got a good haulback. I get that. And listen, I understand Arizona telling him no. But what was he offering? Because to me, it'd be like give me two ones and a two, I'd have to think long and hard for it. Because I'm going to win five games. I suck last year. I suck every year. So at least if I get multiple picks, maybe I have the chance to fire my general manager and kind of reset the franchise. Not much to say in the Lions game. They covered, but it was... The Dolphins play hard. I'll say this. The Dolphins do play hard. Let me tell you about my friends at Whatnot. Whatnot is a live auction for things like vintage jerseys, trading cards, old video games, you name it. I recently purchased a vintage jersey on Whatnot. And you go, you can interact live with the seller. So you are watching them show you the product live on Whatnot, whether it's opening the pack of cards, I was looking for a vintage Sacramento Kings Spud Webb jersey. It was my favorite player when I was like seven years old. Love Spud Webb. Met him one time in Davis, California. I'm like, God, this guy's not that much bigger than me. And he won the dunk contest. I want to get his jersey to kind of reminisce about my childhood. So I went on Whatnot and I found it and I watched the live auction and I bid on it and I won it. It is that easy. You literally watch the person showing the item that you're looking for. Once you can find it on, you scroll around, you type in what you're looking for, and then you

can interact and comment with other people that are either auctioning on it or just watching the bidding. Cannot recommend it enough. So get $ 20 off your first purchase right now. Search Whatnot, that's W-H-A-T-N-O-T, in the App Store. Download, sign up, and start finding things you've been chasing. Terms apply. We can end on a couple quick college things. Yesterday, one of the viral videos, probably around lunchtime where I'm at, maybe even, I guess it was earlier, probably like a little brunch, is Lane Kiffin, whenever he walks into the stadium at LSU, he always has famous people around him, right? And this week, Shaquille O'Neal went to LSU. Angel Reese, Paul Skeens, LSU. You get people that went to the school Livy, Paul's girlfriend. Totally get it. But what I don't quite understand is you bring Kevin Costner, who is from Southern California, who's obviously, you know, acted his whole life, who went to, I'm pretty sure he went to, like, he didn't go to college. He went to, you know, theater school. He's a theater kid. He has no relation to LSU. So you just wanted someone really famous. And then you paint Alabama's locker room pink. Which you're messing with them. Okay. But like, is Kirby Smart doing that type of stuff? Which, again, if you're going to be a circus, if you're going to be a reality television show, it's cool on TV if you get big ratings, right? In football, all that stuff is fun and games until you start losing. And they gave Lane $ 90 million. They paid Brian Kelly, whatever, $ 50, $ 60 million to go away. And they paid his roster like $ 40, $ 45 million. One of the highest paid rosters in the country. Which I think the way they had to do it, because they don't exactly have multi-billionaires cutting them check, I think they're using like taxpayer money. And then you play Alabama against Kalen DeBoer, and you go, listen, it's not easy to replace Nick Saban. And it's been rocky. Because the standard was so high I mean, it's like replacing Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos. Like, good luck. Much easier to place the CEO at Mr. Pickles, the local sandwich shop. Like, Kalen DeBoer's job was basically impossible because there was no way he was going to match that. Yet he's done a pretty freaking good job. He's beat Kirby multiple times. He went to the SEC Championship last year. He won a playoff game on the road last year. And this year he scores 21 unanswered in the second half and wins 31-13. And Lane Kiffin's resume now looks very, very similar to James Franklin, who everyone makes fun of as a guy that can never win a big game. But somehow Lane's branding, because of the reality television show and the circus element to his whole thing, Kind of absolves him from the way we talk about some of these other coaches that can never get over the hump. And I'm not talking to national championships. I'm just talking win big games. At home. I remember Kalen Dubourne. who I'm pretty sure was 3-0 against Dan Lanning, beat him twice in his last season

at Washington, once in the Pac-12 championship game, where he was like an 8.5, 9-point underdog. He was not supposed to win the game. Nobody thought he was going to win the game. Then he went out and dominated the game. Then he played Texas in the first round of the playoffs, where he was also an underdog against Sark and Quinn Ewers, and he won. So, DeBoer, who is not Nick Saban, has a resume of winning Kirby Smart. He's beat a lot of teams that people thought he wasn't going to win. Then you get Lane Kiffin, who never wins big games, and then also loses games that he's favored to win at home. He did it at Ole Miss. He's doing it again at LSU. So, in on the road, lose to Kentucky, who's not bad, but we just saw Kentucky play Tennessee and get the crap kicked out of them. So it's going to be fascinating. Like what he did at Ole Miss was historic. The team had never won back-to-back seasons of 10 games. So they were happy to have his services. But when you go to LSU and the standard is minimum, we want to be competing for final fours. It's like all philip river is going to be the next coach at nc state and there's going to be a lot of people that's like this is crazy how are you hiring a guy that's never even coached in college we get he played but he's been coaching in high school it's like guys he's not taking over notre dame he's not taking over ohio state he's not taking over bama or georgia NC State has been in existence playing football for over 120 years. They have won, let me repeat, one 10-win season. This is not some dominant football program. Honestly, it's probably average at best and more than likely considered below the rest of the national landscape. It's like when Colorado took a chance on Deion. It's fucking Colorado. So, yeah, it was a no-brainer move for them. Just like NC State taking Phillip Rivers. Obviously, he played there. But even if he didn't have a son coming with him, I'd be like, hell yeah, do that. And do you know what else matters in this day and age? The ability to drum up money from people around the program. That really matters. Because all these players cost a lot of money. Your coaches cost a lot of money. Lane Kiffin has like 84 people on his coaching staff and personnel staff. And just football staff. I think it's the biggest staff in the entire country. But the momentum he had coming into that job is like, got a bunch of money. That matters in this day and age. Like Oregon, they got Nike money. Texas Tech now is Cody Campbell. Some of these programs, Ohio State must have a bunch of rich guys. Indiana, Mark Cuban and all these other billionaire guys cutting them checks. So the money factors in. And the problem for Lane is there's a lot of hype and flash and reality TV vibe, but there's not much substance. And the thing with football, more than most of our jobs, like a lot of you guys, if you get quarterly quotas you got to hit, but you got a little time between, you know, okay, I got another five weeks till the end. I got a little time. In football, once the season starts, every fucking week you're judged. Every freaking week you are judged. Most of us are not, right? I mean, technically as a podcaster or TV host or, you know, in kind of this bit, entertainer, maybe it's numbers, downloads, views, whatever. But there's nothing more concrete. Like, it's kind of, I would say, more fluid how it's determined good or bad. In sports, it's very black and white. You won or you lost. And holy moly, he loses a lot of these. I mean, holy moly. That's why Notre Dame. It did not matter how it was going to look, and they were kicking their ass early, and then Mensah and his buddy that he brought from Duke started lighting them up like Christmas tree. And you're watching, you're going, listen, there's no style points in this game. If you're Marcus Freeman, whether you win by seven, whether you win by 100, or whether you win by one, you just... Under no circumstances can you not have more points at the end of the game. That's the only thing that matters. And you could tell. You could feel it, honestly, the way he was carrying himself. You could tell he was a little tight. It was probably the biggest game he's ever coached. Entire season was on the line. That's the one thing about college. You don't really get that in the NFL in October and November. Season was on the line. He lose, it's over. No playoffs. And you could feel them, honestly, just on television, you could feel the place getting a little tense. That's why I thought, Mario, if you drive the field, go for two. You got nothing to lose. You're good. You're fine. You're making the playoffs. This guy, you beat him, it's over. And they found a way. They found a way. The other thing is, and we'll end on this, Michigan just fired the offensive coordinator. Now that the business is so big, like ultimately in the NFL, certain brands are good for the league to be like having success. But the Cowboys, which for most of my life have been the biggest brand in the NFL, have never do anything. Doesn't matter. The Chiefs are the highest rated team currently in the NFL in terms of television rate. Like they get the most eyeballs. The Bills are right there, right? The 49ers and Packers, massive historic brands. They've had seasons when they haven't been good, and it doesn't matter. Chicago Bears haven't been good the majority of the internet era. Now they are. So it's much more spread out. Who can carry you? And it's kind of like a community effort. College is not like that. The SEC needs Bama, Georgia, LSU, just like the Big Ten needs... Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon. They need the top brands to be good. It is extremely important. Michigan is not only not good, they're horrible. And I do think, obviously, the powers that be at Michigan can't be pleased. Hard to trust, though. They just employed Sharon Moore, who clearly everyone in the program knew what was going on, which I'm sure they did, too, and it's like nothing really happened. It's like, guys... The conference, and this is going to sound, I think Fox, you cannot have Michigan essentially become Rutgers. Because that's kind of what they feel like right now. Rutgers. And Kyle Whittingham, I have nothing but respect for him, what he did at Utah. Sometimes you're at a point in your life, and I'm not there, most of you aren't there, where you have so much goddamn money in your 60s or 70s, You do not have the same drive. You don't have the same fire. You might be doing something strictly out of spite because Utah essentially fired him. He wasn't going to be welcome back. They want to go with his defensive coordinator who is doing really well, right? I mean, it's BYU in the Holy Bowl. So they made him kick off at 10 a.m. Mountain Time because they wanted to put the SEC games and Notre Dame and everything, you know, later. I guess Notre Dame was on NBC, but all the SEC games on ESPN and the other slots. So they kind of got screwed. But Utah handled business. And they do not miss Kyle Whittingham. And you saw this with Pete Carroll. Legend. Pete Carroll built USC and Seattle from scratch. He built them both from scratch. But by the end, it was over. It was a wrap. Too rich. Lost his fastball. Just not the same. That's Kyle. And the other thing is, in college, Salt Lake City, the Utah program, isn't covered the same way Michigan is. And it does feel a little overwhelming for them. So I think everyone involved in the business of Michigan, the conference, the TV, the head of Michigan, this has to end. Because there's too much on the line for the conference for this team to be this bad. They're unwatchable. They're just not watchable. Like the Chargers, you can't watch them. Because if you watch them and your team's not playing them, You're like, why am I doing this? I'll go for a walk. Can I read a book? Should I go for a jog? Can I just turn off the television? This is terrible. That's what Michigan makes you feel inside. This is the worst product I've ever seen. Adios. The Volume.