This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Let's go! Our iHeart radio music awards are coming back. Thursday, March 26th, live on Fox. Watch as we honor the biggest stars from all genres of music that you loved listening to all year long on your favorite iHeart radio station and the iHeart radio app. Hosted by Budakris. Icon award recipient John Mellencamp. Innovator award recipient Miley Cyrus. With performances by Alex Warren, Kaylani, R�������������������� and listen at iHeartRadioStations across America and the free iHeart app. I'm Daniel Alarcón and this is my friend who is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Alarcón and John Green on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. I'm a fan of the NBA and college basketball. I'm kind of perusing the internet all day. I took a chill day. It was a big weekend. And I'm seeing a lot of this. Sam Darnold didn't do anything in that Super Bowl. And you are right. He did not throw a pick. He did not look nervous. He did not get rattled. He did not have a fumble and he did not take multiple sacks. You're right. I'm wrong. He didn't do anything. For the record, the last eight Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, only one threw for over 300 yards, Mahomes. I thought Kyle Shanahan nailed it on the pregame show when you're as good as Seattle is. You play by different rules. Yeah, Sam's a stud. And you know, us having him for a year, I think we get a little too much credit for what we did. We didn't do anything for him. We just gave him a platform to where we could take the pressure off him for a year. And I think him watching that, Sam's always let it rip. But when you let it rip all the time and you're always trying to win the game, a lot of times you keep both teams in the game. And I think that's really what's changed with him. He picks and chooses better. He's got a really good team. And when you have a really good team, you don't always have to try to win it. That's right. Sam Darnold in the playoffs did not have a turnover for a month. 700 yards, five TDs, no picks and scrambled. That is exceptional quarterback play. Do you know the two Super Bowls where Brady threw for the most yards? He lost one and fell behind 28 to three in the other and needed the greatest, most miraculous catch of his career, Julian Edelman in Atlanta to win that one. Oh, let me remind you that Drake May set an NFL Super Bowl quarterback record this past Sunday. Drake May threw for more yards than any quarterback in a single quarter in NFL history. Did you know that? 235 in the fourth. Just think he played well. Sam Darnold didn't get in the way. And let's be totally honest why you have this opinion. Men are very proud animals. We are very proud. You thought Sam Darnold was a bust. You were proved wrong and you don't want to admit it publicly. That's why everybody always talks about you ever gone to the internet? Rigged. Rigged. No, you lost a bet. Your team lost. If the NFL is rigged, they're doing a terrible job. Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Matt Stafford were not in the Super Bowl. Sam Darnold and Drake May were. The NFL is doing a horrible job of rigging it. So football is the ultimate complementary sport. And when you have a stacked roster, not having a turnover for a month is exceptional quarterback play. Audibling into stuff that works and out of trouble. So you can tell me Darnold didn't do anything and I will push back by your right. No fumbles, not multiple sacks, never rattled, no interceptions. Didn't do any of those things. Drake made it all of them. So you know I like Darnold and you also know I like analytics. But I think this is something that I'm not sure people realize this. For years on this show, I've talked about analytics, not analytics. Football is much closer to UFC than it is a math class. It has a regulated level of violence and sometimes tough wins, tough or wins, intimidation wins. Analytics don't prove any of it. So Seattle does not go for it on fourth downs. In fact, the three teams that went forward in the NFL, the fewest times on fourth down, the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. If bow nicks doesn't get hurt, Denver is probably in the Super Bowl and the Texans. And there was a moment in this game, late second quarter, fourth and five for Seattle and they chose to punt. And analytics said it's a go either way decision. Seahawks led 6-0. They brought on the league's most highly paid punter and he pinned New England deep. Analytics said it's a go either way. And as I watched at my take-away, I said no it's not. It's a 100% punt. Because New England couldn't move the ball. Why would you give them a field position break? Their longest drive was 28 yards. You don't give struggling offenses the break in the life preserver they need. That's a 100% punt. Secondly, it's not like the Seahawks were dominating on big offensive downs. The Patriots defense got tired but for the first quarter and a half they were excellent. I mean, JSN was invisible. Nobody could stop him all year. Patriots did. And the third thing, Seattle went a month with no turnovers and a defense creating points. You punt the ball. Winning the game, not winning arguments on the internet is the key to football. Too many people want to go on the internet and sound smart. Do you realize the last three Super Bowl champions each kicked four field goals in their respective Super Bowls? Take the points if you are exceptional anywhere. If you have a significantly better defense, the Chiefs from 2022 to 2024 had an exceptional defense, Steve Spagnola. They won two Super Bowls. They appeared in three Super Bowls. Do you know where they were on going forward on fourth down? Second few was in the league. You know who went for it a lot? The Jets and the Titans. The Dodgers aren't winning the World Series because of analytics. They've got more money and a smarter GM and they buy better players. Everybody talks about analytics in the NBA. Oklahoma City is the dominant team in the sport. They're middle of the pack. Oklahoma City is built on defense and one exceptional score and a great GM and coach. They're not winning with three pointers. Seattle is so extraordinarily uniquely coached and deep special teams, defense. They don't play by the same rules everybody does. You don't go for it on fourth and five. That's not a go either way call. That's a pin Drake made deep. They can't put first downs together. Pin him deep. Take the points. Nine nothing felt like 24 nothing. Six nothing felt like 14 nothing. Football is much closer to UFC than math class. Sometimes intimidation, tough, getting into the psyche or the head of your opponent. Drake May is an accurate thrower. You watched him in that game. He was intimidated. He didn't want to get hit. Drake May was rattled. He was nervous. He was intimidated. That doesn't show up in analytics. Pin him deep. Here's Sam Darnold on not carrying the load and field goals in the Super Bowl. Because of the guys in the locker room, because of our coaching staff working their butts off every single day. That's why we're all here. Offense again. I feel like we didn't play as good as we could have. I certainly didn't play as good as I could have, but our defense had her back, our special team had her back and we got the win. So I'm not anti-analytics and not everybody can play by Seattle or Denver's rules. But all year long, Denver was a remarkable fourth quarter team. And I think Sean Payton's feeling was our defense is so exceptional. We're going to take the points. We're going to end drives. We're going to punt. We're not going to take big risks. I will open up the playbook in the fourth quarter. I will take more risks. Some to our demise in the fourth quarter. But there are teams in this league this year like Denver and Houston and Seattle going for it makes no sense. Kansas City for a three year period with Spag's defense. They never went to Andy Reed Mahomes. They rarely went for it and go for it. Why? I know everybody loves math. Okay. A lot of times in this sport, momentum is huge and Seattle's defense was in Drake, May and Josh McDaniel's head. Don't let him off the hook. Jay Mack, last night a refreshing LeBron James coming out and admitting we're not very good. Did you hear that? I did hear that. Yeah. They played great against OKC fell down the stretch struggle. SGA didn't play. Neither did Luca. Austin Reed is coming off the bench still on a minute's restriction. Wouldn't it be nice to watch an NBA game and the stars play? I mean, listen, man, it's a long season. 82 games. What do you want? Funny because I watched the Super Bowl and all the starters were playing and they tackle each other. I mean, it's a four month season. He played 17 games versus 82. Come on. What are you bagging on the NBA for? Come on. I'd love to see the stars occasionally show up. Who are you? Charles Barkley? What's going on? Come on. It was a great game last night. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in New Neeson, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS one and the I heart radio app. Stugots here. I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow and I have brought it here to I heart. I'm also doing a live radio show from three to five p.m. Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stugots and Company live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of phone calls. I love you guys. It's one of my favorite. A lot of interaction. Guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you can expect from Stugots and Company and Stugots and Company live. So listen to Stugots and Company live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review Stugots and Company and God bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can check all of those out on the I heart radio app Apple podcast for wherever you get your podcast. Hi, on Fox watch as we honor the biggest stars from all genres of music that you love listening to all year long on your favorite I heart radio station and the I heart radio app hosted by ludicrous icon award recipient John Mellencamp innovator award recipient Miley Cyrus with performances by Alex Warren, Kailani, Lainey Wilson ludicrous Ray TLC salt and pepper and invoke. Plus Taylor Swift makes her first award show appearance this year. I cry eyes cry Elizabeth Taylor is happy for real deep in its forever also gold medal Olympian Alyssa Lou, Neo, Nicole Scherzinger, Nikki Glaser, somber weezer and more. Watch live on Fox Thursday, March 26th, Eddie seven central and listen to I heart radio stations across America and the free I heart app. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of the Fault in Our Stars and now I guess also as the co host of the away and a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcón, a writer and journalist and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love on our new podcast, the away and we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very dependable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak and above all, its beauty. Together, we'll find out why of all the unimportant things football soccer is the most important. Listen to the away and with Daniel Alarcón and John Green on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. So I'm going to get the Nick right in five minutes, but I thought it's the way too early five up five. I love this idea. Okay, so five teams and it's not just going to be record. You are going to feel differently about these teams positively next year. And then five teams and some of the teams that I have going down are our teams that will be good, but I don't think they'll be a special. So we're going to play five up five down. Let's start glass half full. I'm going to tell you why I'm at my core. First of all, five up. The New York Giants is the easiest pick on the board. I like their roster. Top 10, O line, top 10, D line and 11, according to PFF. They were one in seven in one score games. Jackson Dart now gets an elite coach and a culture center. They have the number five overall pick. They can trade down and accumulate more picks. Their lines are good enough. They got to get a right tackle, a tight end, probably another weapon, Scataboo, Jackson Dart, four and 13 Giants are my pick to double their win total. They'll look different by mid September. The commanders, same division. They get Jaden Daniels back. They were five and 12. I don't know if they're going to win 10 games, but they have a lot of cap space. They're the oldest team in the NFL. The commanders are going to be a different looking team. Again, seven one score games. They won only two. Dan Quinn is solid, if not exceptional. Cap space lost a lot of close games. They get their quarterback back. Just don't forget how gifted he was as a rookie. The third team is the Detroit Lions at nine and eight. They're going to get back into the 12 win territory. I love. I was surprised. It didn't get more positive feedback. The higher of Arizona's offensive coordinator, Drew Petsing. Didn't anybody else watch Arizona this year and go? How the hell are they scoring all these points with Jacobi Bressette? He's clever. Maybe not Ben Johnson, but their stars are locked up. Goff is still in his prime. Amaran Saint Brown, Panayasul Hutchison, Gibbs on a rookie deal were not a very good team in close games. Dan Campbell had to take over the offense. This is still an elite front office that drafts well and acquires well. They're going to get their mojo back. They struggled at OC nine and eight to probably an 11 or a 12 win team. The Chargers. Now they were 11 and six and they may only go 12 and five. They will feel different. Mike McDaniel, probably the best coordinator higher in the sport. They get both offensive tackles back and both are way above average. Third most cap space. They have drafted well with Jim Harbaugh. Again, they have been a defensive first team that survives offensively that we're not considering a Super Bowl team. Next year, they'll be an offensive led team that won't be as good defensively, but you will feel very early in the season. Oh, this team could win the Super Bowl. Whether they do or not, they'll have a totally different feel. And finally, an easy one. The Kansas City Chiefs. Two years ago, they won every close game. Last year, they lost every close game one in nine. You know, you're going to get in the middle somewhere around there. Also, their offensive tackle position when Josh Simmons wasn't playing and he's really talented was a mess. He's back. Mahomes is healthy. Travis Kelsey, I argued for him to return one more year. Listen, you just have to be honest about it. When you're drafting at the bottom of rounds, it's really hard. GMs will tell you after about the 18th pick, you wish you could just have more second and third round picks. They're going to be fine. They're going to improve six and 11. My guess becomes 11 and six. Here's five down. Houston 12 and five. They have dominated their division the last two years, 10 and two. That's not happening again. That's not happening again. Tennessee is going to be much better. Jacksonville is really good. They've also been five and nine the last couple of years against teams that make the playoffs. I love CJ Stroud. I think he throws the prettiest ball on some Sundays in the league. He has regressed to an 89 passer rating guy who turns the ball over way too much. They will be good as long as D'Amico Ryan's is the coach, but I don't think they feel the same. I don't think offensively they've got the right rhythm. 12 and five to me becomes like what nine and eight, 10 and seven, but you never feel like they're a Super Bowl team. I would say the Patriots. Okay, 14 and three is not happening. AFC is going to be much better. The Chiefs will be better. The Chargers will be better. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Jacksonville is only getting better in Liam Cohen's second year. They're not going 14 and three. My guess, they're closer than 10, 11 wins. Also, it's the Dan Marino thing. They got to solve their offensive line. Dan Marino with Don Shul never got back to a Super Bowl. It was a really bad year. I mean, they got, let's be honest, if bow nicks plays, they probably don't make the Super Bowl. They were completely overwhelmed by Seattle. It wasn't necessarily close. I love Vrable. Drake mays good, but you start looking at the AFC. That's just too many good quarterbacks. There's too many good coaches. There's too many good coordinators. They take a step back. 49ers who I love 12 and five. George Kittle probably not available till midseason. Robert Sala had an unbelievable year as defensive coordinator. Bosa aging, getting hurt more often. What are they going to do at receiver? Brandon New York's gone. John Jennings is a free agent. What are they going to do? Christian McCaffrey comes off a 450 touch season and he is now 30. So again, they did it with Smoke and Mears last year. They'll be fine. I don't think they're at 12 and 5 team. Cowboys, 7, 9 and 1, I think they unravel. They're a mess. Jerry Jones, the businessman. How can you be this big of a mess? They're 29 million over the cap. They want to pay George Pickens. That's going to cost you $29 million. Worse defense in the NFL. They're spending an NFL high 70 million on their interior defensive line and an NFL low 6 million on their edge rushers. How are they this big of a mess? Stop trying to get discounts, hire a real GM, pay big money for a coach. 7, 9 and 1, they're going down. And finally, Philadelphia at 11 and 6. How many coordinator changes can you make? You just had a top offensive line coach say, I'm out. You've got some older offensive linemen who are getting banged up increasingly and may, may decide at some point, I'm out. I think they've been doing it a little bit just on Howie Roseman's roster. But I don't feel Siriannis an elite coach. I don't care about the record. And I think the books in on Jalen Hertz, not beloved in the locker room. I've got that sourced. I also, I think he struggles throwing the ball down the field. I said it yesterday. You don't want to give Sam Darnold any credit. Darnold sits in that pocket, doesn't turn it over in the last month and throws the ball right into the heart of the defense. I'm sorry on the market. I think GMs take Darnold over Jalen Hertz. So Giants commanders, lion chargers, chiefs up, down Texans Patriots, Niners, Cowboys, Eagles. I also think Tennessee should be better, but I'm not ready to commit just yet with that. Nick Wright joins us live. First things first. Anything jump out to you? Any big whiff by me? Well, so I have a question, but first an observation overall, I think it's a great list. It is, it did make me smile that all the teams you have trending up or teams that missed the playoffs or dealt with massive injury, except for, of course, the 11 win chargers that all we got to do is move on from Anthony Lynn and Justin Herbert will show you who he, oh, Brandon Staley is the prop. Darn it. Jim Harbaugh will fix, that ain't it. No, it was all Greg Roman's fault. Now, Mike McDaniel will fix it. You Harbaugh, I mean, you Herbert guys are just something else. Like I am starting to think maybe you, Greece Sam Monson's palms. So he voted for Herbert for MVP. You might be the man behind the mirror in that I am. But otherwise, I think it's a really good collection. I do. My question is this, because I was surprised. I don't necessarily think it's wrong. I was surprised you didn't have Baltimore or Cincinnati on trending up. So tell me. Okay. So Baltimore, Lamar wants a new contract. Okay. I'm sorry, but I'm concerned too. Yeah. And we, we just saw it with Josh Allen. No pro bowlers on defense. I think even Brett Veets and the chiefs, when the quarterback's a big quarterback hit, you're not going to have a running get. You're going to have a hole. And I believe the NFL's not about being great everywhere. You can't be terrible anywhere. If you're terrible at left tackle, New England chiefs this year when Simmons is hurt. It's just impossible. The coaching's too good. So, and by the way, I like New England and I like the Texans. But the AFC, let's be fair, had a down year. It's going to be noticeably healthier and better next year. Well, and I don't know if you, so I think Patriots right now, and it will, I know we'll talk about the Super Bowl, but I think the Patriots are probably worse than a coin flip to get back to the playoffs next year. And it's not because they were frauds. It's not, I like Drake May. I love Vrable. But to go from literally the softest schedule in the NFL this, this century. Century. And the second softest in 50 years to next year. They had their road games, Colin. They of course have their divisional road games, which Buffalo's one of them. And their other road games are Detroit, the Chargers, the Chiefs, Chicago, Seattle and Jacksonville. So they play six non-divisional road games, four against playoff teams, and the two non-playoff teams are the Lions and the Chiefs. So like that, that schedule, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it���� Well, listen, you don't, this is, I mean, people can say you're not objective. This is the one, I shouldn't say the one, but this is one thing that you can say everyone was wrong but me, Colin Cowherd. Like you get to take a victory lap on this, buddy. You never, you never relented in believing this was possible and no one else thought it was possible. So, I will, I give you full credit on that because you deserve it. Now where he falls in the quarterback hierarchy is this. Yesterday, I thought you did, you did an interesting thing about just comparing him within the NFC because the AFC is kind of stacked with the quarterbacks and the NFC is stacked with the great teams. Exactly right. That's just how it has fallen. So Stafford's better than him. I understand they won. Yeah, Stafford's better than him. But Stafford's old. So if you were to say, if the question is, hey, NFC quarterbacks you want for the next three to five years, Stafford's out of it. And then it'd be like, would I rather have Darnold or Hertz? I would rather have Darnold. Would I rather have Darnold or Purdy? I would rather have Darnold. Same. Dak is a question. Dak, I think Dak has shown more but Dak has never had anything close to the NFC championship game Darnold just had and he's older. So then it becomes Darnold against the younger guys. Darnold or Golf, that's a coin flip to me. And then the younger guys, Caleb, Jaden, Jordan Love, who's about his age but feels young as he didn't play much. Like so, those are all debates. It's remarkable that those are debates. But you hit on, I think, the most important point. He led the league in turnovers and then in week 18 with the one seat on the line, didn't turn it over, first playoff game didn't turn it over, going bar for bar with Matt Stafford in the NFC championship game, which if that was the real Super Bowl, he was the MVP of that game and then he did what Drake may wasn't able to do in the Super Bowl, avoid the disaster and he had three or four times in the Super Bowl, Colin, where I was like, oh, he's going to get sacked and he escaped it just enough to get the ball off, which is all that team needed. It felt to me, Colin, like Mike Vrabel's game plan was, Sam Darnold's going to give it to us. That's right. We just have to avoid disaster, be concerned about offense. Darnold will give it to us. The very first throw of the game, I thought he gave it to him. The very first throw, I thought it was a big six. No, but it got through and he never made a mistake like a big mistake the rest of the way. You know, it's funny. We had a resurgence of defensive coaches and I do think it's funny. Liam Cohen got more votes for Coach of the Year than Mike McDonald because we can see offense. We can see Shanahan's motion. We can see Liam Cohen's elevation of Trevor Lawrence and Liam was on last week, brilliant guy. We can see McVay's offense. You can't really see what a defensive coach does. You're like, well, they draft well. And RG3 was on the show on yesterday and talked about that is that we tend, I mean, there's Mike McDaniel in Miami for two years was the talk of the leak because it was like, oh my god, it's clever. Mike McDonald's like, well, I mean, he's not McVay or Shanahan, but he's a heck of a coach. And I wonder if we have take out Andy Reed, take out Andy Reed and you said all these great young coaches has McVay and Shanahan have they met their equal in Seattle? Well, so that's, I think it's a great question because the Mike McDonald, what his defenses have done since he's been with Seattle, 11 games against young quarterbacks. Those young quarterbacks are one in 10 averaging less than 16 points a game. If you take his time in his two years in Baltimore and then to Seattle, where he's running defenses, quarterbacks in their first game, first time seeing his defense, 10 and 33 again averaging less than 16 points per game. I think there are a couple of things that are working against Mike McDonald from like a PR perspective. One is what you're alluding to. Offense seem like the, the, the nerds who cover football of which I'm kind of one, lean offense, the analytics lean offense. It's like candy. It's like candy. Right. A guy like, you mentioned McVay and Shanahan all go at level lower up until 15 days ago, Kevin O'Connell was considered a far above Mike Mcdonald on the coaching hierarchy because he's the quarterback whisperer guy. Kevin O'Connell, but Kevin O'Connell had a team that had Sam Darnold last year and they got clocked in their first playoff game. They didn't build it out like this. So I think that has worked against him. And the other thing that I think honestly has worked against him is East Coast versus West Coast publicity bias. I think if he were the coach of Washington and he would have more, the Washington commanders rather than Washington state, I just think the fact that Seattle plays a lot of those 405 Eastern games. They're not like a front of the marquee team. He rode a little more in anonymity as opposed to Vrable, who obviously was a celebrity player, you know, a famous player, I should say. But the fact that he's on the East Coast with the Patriots while McDonald's on the West Coast with the Seahawks, I mean, I think Vrable is a great coach. But the level of the PR machine for one versus the other going into the Super Bowl was a little too much. Like, I had to read three articles, Colin, they're like, guess what Vrable did the practice before the Super Bowl? You're not going to believe it. Middle of practice, he called his players off the field for an extended halftime and even played bad bunny on the speakers. It's innovation. We've never seen him like guys. He didn't invent practicing for the long halftime. But Vrable, who's an excellent coach in Boston, famous guy, got a lot, a lot of cred leading up to the Super Bowl. McDonald, not so much. The, there's so much here. The, I want to ask this Laker question because we've got a lot of football and we've got nice, see the clock. So the NBA makes it hard to trade. The NFL does not. And because of that, like Darren Peterson plays for Kansas, draft him. I don't, I don't care that he's not available much. You draft him. He's a 3 and D player. It's a 3 and D league. I don't care that he misses games. He was sick. People get sick. He has cramps. He looks like Kobe draft him. I don't care. Christian McCaffrey missed a sunbowl. People freaked out. It was one of the best college backs I've ever seen draft Christian McCaffrey. So we were saying this with the Lakers. I was reading the LA Times this week as I'm prone to do. I love the newspaper industry. Of course you even pantomime. You were reading out on your phone. You, the all the broad sheets. You were on, you're in Chicago on the L train reading a physical Los Angeles Times bumping into people. I get it. I love it. You painted the picture. And Laker fans in the letters to the editor, they all know the problem. Like every letter was, were atrocious defensively. They're all offensive guys. And I said, Laker fans know the problem. I don't think they know the wrecking ball they need. I said, I think JJ Reddick's good and Luke is excellent. I would move everybody. O KC Detroit, San Antonio elite defenses, three best teams in the league. You're pretty. LeBron came out last night and to his credit said, you know, the differences. They can play hard for 48 minutes. We can't, we can't do that. When you look at the Lakers and LeBron, how do you part gracefully? Bronny, LeBron, how do you make that whole thing work? So it's gracious. You bring the wrecking ball in. Is this going to be one of those clunky awful? That's no way to treat a star exit. No, I don't think that'll be it. Cause I, LeBron's finished his contracts up after this year will be a free agent. And I think he'll leave. LeBron is finished. Every contract he's ever had, he's honored every contract he's ever had. He's never been traded, never demanded a trade. And I think he'll finish his time with the Lakers. But I think the Lakers story is of this last half decade is that of massive missed opportunity because the Lakers, now this deadline, they made a marginal move trading for Luke Conard. But from the championship until the Luca trade, they just stood pat every year at the deadline. They always were more worried about Max Cap Space down the road when this is no longer calling a Max Cap Space League because no great players hit free agency. Great players used to, if they wanted to change teams, let their contracts expire. Now they're like, team that I don't want to be on, can I have that extension? Oh, we signed it. I'd like to be traded, please. So Max Cap Space is not that useful because what is useful is either trade assets or going for it when you have great players. And I think the Warriors made the mistake of this two timeline nonsense and threw away the last few years of Steph's Prime. And I think the Lakers threw away the last couple years previously when LeBron was still a top three player in the league. Then they got Luca and they still didn't accelerate. They're like, no, we're going to wait, we're going to wait. Man, there is a very real chance that the best teammate Luca Doncic ever has in his Lakers career is LeBron James last year. And the second best one might be Austin Reeves this year to not try to fix what is obviously a fatal flaw of the roster, which is we have no defenders is baffling. And for them to be, and it's not even about LeBron, they are in back to back years, Colin, punting on a chance to win the title with Prime Luca Doncic. You have Prime Luca Doncic, you're like, this year's not the time. And honestly, if we don't pull off a Yanis Heist next year's probably not the time either. It's baffling. Hopefully the Dodgers folks that are taking it over have a more ticking time clock than Rob Blink has had. But yeah, they're not a championship level team because they can't, they got to score 135 to win against good teams. You're not going to win three rounds that way, let alone four. Hi buddy, you did a great job yesterday. You're going to have good shows all week and congrats. And we'll get to the Chiefs next week. I didn't want to burden you with that one. I wanted a Lakers take. Listen, I thought it was, it's nice for the whole NFL to see how the Chiefs have been carrying the AFC this decade. You see these Super Bowls when the Chiefs aren't in them? You see these AFC playoffs when the Chiefs aren't in them? Lot of stittum, macgers, stittum, Drake Mate, 10-7. You know, I mean, everybody miss Kansas City a little bit. It's fine, you're off, be back next year. See you soon buddy. All right. Nick Wright, first things first. Yeah, the, it was a clunky AFC playoffs. The NFC's were unbelievable. I was talking to my buddy in New York who is a Seahawk, a devoted Seahawk fan. And I'm like six most cap space, best defense, young coach, Darnold, team friendly deal. They've got the first, second and third round picks. They have about two to three needs. They'll answer all those. I'm not saying, I'm just saying Seattle is going to be really good next year and the year after. Then you don't know. You can't project three years out in pro football. You can project 24 months. That's fair. But if they lose one of two, Walker or Shahid, and what if they lose two of two? They lose both those guys. Shahid, you can lose. I mean, he, he, the punt return against the Rams essentially saved their season down 16 with eight minutes left in the game. Yeah. And then the kickoff return against the Rams. Walker's very, very important. Charbonne will be back. But also I think this Koubiak loss, Colin, I don't want to draw a direct parallel to what happened with Jared Goff and Ben Johnson, but we saw when you lose your offensive coordinator, that often sagged and predicted that. Okay. Goff was still fine. The problem you went from the best offensive coordinator and it dropped down. In house guy. So Clint Koubiak, I don't think is Ben Johnson. I think he's good. So you're not that high. And my, my, my gut is John Snyder and Mike McDaniel, Mike Mc, they don't. Choose guy down the hall. McDonald's. Now they may, they may, yeah, there's chatter. They're going to go in house for that. I don't love that. But my, my take is Ben Johnson was the best OC for three years. Clint Koubiak's a really good OC and the guy who replaced Ben Johnson, it didn't work by mid season. Campbell took it over. If you hire a guy that's not Clint Koubiak, but is capable, it's a really good roster and a really good GM. I mean, last year, Super Bowl team was Philly led by their GM. This year, Super Bowl is Seattle. Oh yeah. Philly lost their, lost their OC. Kellan Moore goes to the Saints. New OC total disaster. But still double digit wins. And it was a disaster. But the division was a joke. Washington fell off a cliff. Wow. I mean, you're almost selling me on the opposite of Seattle. Are they going to go to nine wins? That division is brutal. No, no, no. See, see how it's going to be good. Slinging Sammy D is coming back. Live in LA. Thursday, March 26th, Teddy Seven Central. And listen to I Heart Radio stations across America and the free I Heart app. I'm Daniel Alarcón, and this is my friend is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, cohost of the podcast, The Away End with my old friend Daniel Connor. Podcast, The Away End will share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why of all the unimportant things, football, soccer is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Alarcón and John Green on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
