Mike Florio
Appearances
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah, that's a good question. That's well done. I wear what they send me. If the Lions want to send me something, I'll wear it. I've gotten stuff from the Buccaneers. I've gotten stuff from the Eagles. Now, this week, I don't know if I had something from the Lions. I'm not sure that I would wear it. You know, I used to wrestle with this idea that we have to appear neutral at all times.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
But over time, I've realized that from Greeny to you, to, doesn't Berman, I don't know who Berman, Berman loves the Bills, like- What an honor to be included in that group. Yeah, but people don't shy away from whatever it is that drew them to the NFL in the first place. We're not Rob Lowe. We didn't start following the NFL because we're fans of the NFL.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
We all had a team, and mine is very deep-seated, 50-plus years. I saw those purple helmets. I didn't know what the thing on the side was, but I loved it. I love Chuck Foreman. I love Fran Tarkenton, so- The rare good years take me back to when I was like 9 or 10 years old.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
vikings would tell you they'll make their decision when they have to and that sounds like a smart ass remark but they don't have to do anything for now and they always have the franchise tag available if they would try to work out some sort of deal with now at one point i thought they would let him go see what else is out there because there aren't a lot of teams that will be definitely looking for a new starter and would pay someone starter money on the open market also i think there's a general sense that
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Sam Darnold's performance, at least as of a few weeks ago, might have been artificially boosted by Kevin O'Connell and that you can't replicate that with another team. But something happened, I'd say in the second half of the game against the Cardinals, where Darnold access to higher level of performance.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And when you hear what Kevin O'Connell says, when you see that video where they went nuts and dumped water all over him after the win against the Packers, they can't let him out of the building. Jason Garrett turned to me at one point, I think even before that game, and said that you can't let this guy leave. Everybody's looking for a franchise quarterback.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
When you have a guy who's playing like a franchise quarterback, You can't let him leave. They can figure out whatever they're going to do with J.J. McCarthy. If they have to franchise tag him, so be it. If they can work out a contract, so be it. But you can't let him go when he's gotten as good as he's gotten in his first year in the system because he'll be even better next year.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I think all options will be on the table if and when they decide Sam Darnold is the guy. He's only 27. I know. It feels like he's been around forever. And he turns 28 next June. So this is a guy you could have for 5, 7, 10 years. And you drafted J.J. McCarthy because you're looking for a franchise quarterback. And then one kind of stumbled into your lap.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
So if there's a team out there that's willing to make the Vikings an offer that they won't refuse, then... then you do it. If it gives you opportunities to get young players, cheap players, high draft picks, if you can do that, then it's easy to justify. And look at what the 49ers did. They gladly threw Trey Lance overboard because they stumbled into Brock Purdy. And, you know...
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
There's no one to blame. Shit happens. We stumbled into Brock Purdy, and he's so good that we can't let him go. We can't bench him. We can't go with Trey Lance. So they give Trey Lance away for nothing in comparison to what they gave up to get him. And I think the Vikings get a hell of a lot more for J.J. McCarthy than the 49ers got. for Trey Lance if that's what they decide to do.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Or they could just play it out a couple years. You could let Darnold be the starter for two more years, let McCarthy learn for a total of three years, and then flip to McCarthy at the appropriate time. What would that be? 2027, McCarthy becomes the starter. That's another option that I think is on the table.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And there's an argument out there that the Vikings should tag and trade Sam Darnold and just go with McCarthy. But the big unknown with McCarthy is we don't know if he can play. He's like any other unscratched lottery ticket at this point. We know Darnold can play. We don't know that McCarthy can. So it becomes dangerous to move on from Darnold and hand the ball to McCarthy.
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Although I think O'Connell would do a pretty good job of getting the most out of McCarthy if he had to.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Isn't it weird that they just refuse to use him? At one point, I thought it was a bizarre sort of, we don't want people to realize how good he is so we can sign him back to be the backup next year. But at some point, it's just ridiculous. You just put the guy out there. His contract expires after this season. He's going to be a free agent. And...
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I mean, Cooper Rush hasn't been bad and Cooper Rush has a good one loss record. But it's just odd to me that Trey Lance hasn't been able to earn playing time. And I don't know what the Cowboys ultimate motivation is. And, you know, who knows what they're going to do. And I think Jerry Jones loves the fact that we don't know what they're going to do.
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And and we talk about what they're going to do, whether it's about Trey Lance, whether it's about Mike McCarthy, whether it's about anything. He just wants to give us things to talk about.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Jerry Jones has said that it's something that will be a topic next week, and they love to take over the news cycle if they can. I could see Jerry Jones dropping his decision on Mike McCarthy during a playoff game or right before a playoff game. Remember, the Dak Prescott contract, the news of that hit during the pregame shows before the first Sunday of the regular season.
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
He knows how to commandeer the news cycle, and I think at some point next week, we'll find out whether or not McCarthy's coming back. But... because that contract expires.
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Mike McCarthy, if he wants to, when you think about everything Jerry Jones has put him through, forcing him to coach out his contract, saying, I think people work better if they're under pressure and all the other crap that he's had to deal with. Wouldn't it be great if somebody else was interested in Mike McCarthy? And he just said to Jerry Jones, I don't want your job. Go find somebody else. And
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And Jerry would like at least the dance, at least the drama, because he loves it when the Cowboys are able to consume our attention, even in a year when they're horrible. Not horrible, but they're worse than they were expected to be. They're still commanding our attention. But McCarthy will be a free agent and could go anywhere he wants.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
They draft the contracts so that they usually expire in February or something like that. I can't imagine he wouldn't be available to talk to other teams right away, that he would need some sort of dispensation from the league. But because it happens so rarely, it's a great question, and I'm going to make a mental note to find out exactly when he's a free agent.
Pardon My Take
Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
We assume it's after the game, but that's a good question. Your instincts are good, BJ.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Good question. You're making me proud of him, son, to start 2025. But I assume that he's free and clear, but he might not be because these contracts are written to expire at a certain date, usually after the regular season ends. And he may be strapped if the Cowboys want to play hardball.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
If you're done, obviously if you're still alive – He's not going to get hired out from under you in the playoffs. Right. But when you're done, does it end then? Or is there some artificial buffer that gives the Cowboys exclusive negotiating rights while all the other jobs fill up? It's like, hey, sorry, Mike, there's no other jobs out there for you. You got to take our offer.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Right after they fired Matt Eberflus, I started poking around to figure out what the Bears would be doing, where they'd be looking, what their focus would be, would become. And I was told in no uncertain terms, their number one objective is to get the most out of Caleb Williams over the long haul. They view him as a franchise quarterback. They just need to get the most out of him.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And the person I spoke to that caused me to say, so you're getting an offensive guy. You got to get an offensive guy because Otherwise, you get a defensive coach who hires an offensive coordinator. Things start going well. The offensive coordinator says, see you later. I'm going to go be a head coach somewhere else. Find another offensive coordinator to get the most out of Caleb Williams.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You want a Sean Payton, Drew Brees situation. I was told they're not closing any doors when it comes to which side of the ball the coach comes from. But yeah, offensive coach seems to be the message that the Bears are sending as it relates to this desire to get the most out of Williams. But these palace intrigue questions are real. We've seen them before.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And Ryan Poles isn't going to want to hire the guy that's going to eventually push him out the door. He doesn't want a guy that he's not going to be on the same page with who's going to come in, have success, and try to take over. And it's critical that the GM and the head coach be on the same page. They should have equal accountability.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
There should be no avenue for the GM to try to undermine the coach if things are going poorly, no avenue for the coach to undermine the GM. And that's unfortunate if – If that's true, and I saw that as well, if Ryan Poles is going to be disinclined to go after Ben Johnson because he wants to protect his own turf, that's when you have to ask the tough question. Do we just hit the reset button here?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, what's harder to find? A good GM or a good head coach? What's more important? A good GM or a good head coach? I actually don't know. I don't know. I honestly... I think it's a good coach. I think a good coach goes a long way toward making up for bad personnel decisions. Look at Bill Belichick. He was such a good coach, he was able to make up for shitty personnel decisions that he made.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, and that's why I think Bill Belichick ultimately had no one interested in him, because even if he comes back without final say over personnel, okay, fine. This GM who's 30 years younger than him is gonna draft a guy that Belichick doesn't want, so Belichick's gonna put him at the bottom of the depth chart.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
There's a lot of ways that the coach and the GM can butt heads if they don't have a shared vision for the players they need, the systems they run, and equal accountability. So we either both fail, or we both succeed.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
So look, if there's any truth to an idea that Ben Johnson wants to make a power play on the way through the door, or he'll make one once he gets some wins, and that creates hesitation. If there's anything other than making the Bears as good as they can be that's influencing these decisions, that's a sign of a dysfunctional team.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Because as you said years ago, and I use it all the time, and I attribute it to as much as I can, dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You know, there isn't like a clear, obvious list of definite openings. We've been waiting for Jacksonville ever since their bye week. And it felt like it was a done deal going into the bye week. For whatever reason, Shad Khan, the owner of the team, didn't fire Doug Peterson then. But it was such a bad season.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Can't imagine him coming back for another year, especially after Khan in late August said this is the best team the Jaguars have ever compiled. How do you live with that statement and say, oh, it's fine that we were four and 13 or whatever the record is. So I think Jacksonville is at the top of the list. New England is one to watch, although I think Gerard Mayo is going to get another year.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Devin McCourty was on PFT Live on Tuesday and he spent some time around that team this year and he got the impression that guys in the building aren't sure what's going to happen. So if Gerard Mayo is safe, he hasn't gotten the memo yet.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And I don't know what the Patriots are thinking there, but they could decide in theory, they could decide to just rip the bandaid off and move on after one year and try to hire somebody like a Brian Flores. whose ship seemingly will be coming in this year, whether it's Chicago, whether it's New England, whether it's somewhere else.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
The other ones that would stand out, and I'm running through the divisions in my mind here, we look at the Giants as a place where how can you justify doing nothing if you're John Mara when they had one of the worst seasons in franchise history? What a way to celebrate your 100th anniversary as an organization with your franchise record longest losing streak.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
If they lose on Sunday, it'll be the record for the most losses in a season. And those are the big ones. The cults are another one that I think has come onto the radar screen recently. And I was asking someone today who's among the pool of candidates to take these jobs. And the message I got is there's always a few surprises.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And that's got me wondering what people on the inside who are in the process of being interviewed at some point, whether they might know about where things are going to pop open. But we see it every year. It's a surprise when there isn't a surprise opening during that hiring cycle.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I didn't mention the Raiders and I should have because it feels like something's going to happen in Las Vegas. But you have to factor in the owner. And Mark Davis tolerated that. losing football under John Gruden because John Gruden was his buddy.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And if Antonio Pierce is now Mark Davis's buddy, Mark Davis will tolerate losing football because there's multiple ways to define success as an NFL team. One is how much money are you making? And the Raiders are making more money than they ever have before because they're in Las Vegas. They got that prime market and they're making a ton of money.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Stadium's always full, even if it's not Raiders fans. So I don't know what his tolerance is for being
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
perpetually a non-contender if it's high if it's higher than it seems then antonio pierce is out after one year but that one is weird especially when you throw in the tom brady influence or lack thereof and when will tom brady be more involved and mark davis says we're not going to bother him while he's still working for fox and they've got the super bowl so that one is just kind of got a weird vibe to it because you don't know what the owner really wants with the cardinals you look at 105 years they've never had a coach
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Longer than six seasons. They've had two guys, Jim Hannafin and Ken Wisenhunt made it six seasons. Nobody else made it that long. Gannon's got two years. This year was a disappointment relative to how they started. I think he gets one more year. But that's the thing with these jobs. You always have to factor in ownership because it's one group, typically one person making the decision.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And you can have, you know, 10 people make 10 different decisions with the same set of facts.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, he's one of the voters. Thank you.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I know we live in a time where standards don't matter anymore and just do whatever you want to do. It doesn't care. Nobody cares. But when you think about this, the idea that any owner of an NFL team would have a vote on league-wide awards It's preposterous. It would never even be a conversation. No one would ever even have the guts to suggest it.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And with Tom Brady, what I can't understand is, is he like the NFL's version of Michael Scott who has no self-awareness whatsoever? Or is he hyper aware of the fact that he can do whatever the fuck he wants and he's going to do it? I think I think that's probably that. Yeah, but there's a chance he just kind of he just kind of, you know, nobody ever tells me no.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
So I'm just going to do whatever I want to do. And I never stopped to think that there might be some ramifications here that are a bad look for me.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It's one thing to be a fan of a team and set that aside when it's time to do the right thing. It's another thing to have a fiduciary duty to that team as a part owner who holds 10% of the equity. It's impossible. You know, when I practice law, there are two types of conflict of interest. Wait, you practice law? Shut up.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I mean, if I just say it without the setup, people will think, what the fuck does this guy know? Shut up about the legal system. There are certain conflicts of interest that can be waived once the client understands what they are. And then there are some that just cannot be waived.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And the idea that an owner would be voting on league wide awards, that seems to be a non-waivable inherent conflict of interest. And I think after the season, the AP will find a way to clean it up. I think it just fell through the cracks. And it wasn't until last week that they were like, oh, shit, he still has a vote. And he's officially an owner now.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Give back to me when you buy about 300,000 more shares.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It's not a matter of rumblings. It's just a matter of feel. And it's a matter of what patterns have we seen in the past? And it also depends on how the playoffs go. Yeah. If the... And I don't want to turn this into a bigger thing than it would be, but there have been occasions in the past where maybe it's run its course between the Ravens and John Harbaugh.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And there's been rumblings in the past at times that maybe it's time for a fresh start for everyone. If they go one and done in the playoffs this year, would that vibe return? I wouldn't rule it out.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Last year, Mike Tomlin, there was a lot of what's he going to do, and we reported at the time that he wasn't going to make any decisions until their playoff run was over, and when it ended, he made a pretty quick decision to come back. If they go one and out again, does he continue to renew his vows with the Steelers? I don't know.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
There isn't the same noise this year as there was last year, but you just never know when everything's going to align, and it's either the guy wants out, or the team wants to make a change. And there's only so many years that I think a guy can make it. It's amazing how long Harbaugh and Tomlin have been where they are in today's NFL.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And sometimes you can just make the argument for both sides that it makes sense to have a fresh start. And I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying that's how surprises happen because things go on behind the scenes, unrelated to losses, unrelated to failed performance that cause people to say, we just need to do something else here.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
My read on the Browns situation is pretty simple. A couple of years ago, what was it, 2022, they got into the Deshaun Watson pursuit. There were four teams. And credit to the Texans. They took a situation where a guy hadn't played football in a year. And they created a four-team competition for his services. And they pre-qualified them for the loan when you're buying a house.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You had to tell us ahead of time what you're going to give us in trade, and we have to say it's OK. And once we know it's OK, we'll let the four of you figure it out with Deshaun Watson as to where he's going to go. And it was the Browns, the Panthers, the Saints, and the Falcons. And once it got out that the Browns were involved, that destroyed their relationship with Baker Mayfield.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And then Deshaun Watson said to the Browns before any of the teams, I'm not interested in you. So I think that's the moment that ownership said, forget it. We're going to make this guy. an offer that there's no way he's going to say no to it. Five years, 46 million per year, fully guaranteed. And they've been working to justify that horrible contract and trade.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Three first round picks plus three other picks given up. Worst trade and sign deal in NFL history when you factor in what they gave up, what those guys could have been, and the money that's tied their hands and the salary cap issues. I just think it's been stubbornness that's kept Deshaun Watson under center. And I think Jimmy Haslam, who's
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I believe at the root of it, the owner of the team, I think he's he's sufficiently flexible to realize it's not the fault of Andrew Barry, the GM or Kevin Stefanski, the head coach. They were just doing what Jimmy Haslam wanted them to do. That that's happened before. And it doesn't insulate people when it's time for folks to get fired. But Haslam's already indicated back in December.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
that he's not going to change coach or GM. That's not binding. But the Browns are kind of off that radar screen because of the things Haslam had said. But dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. And maybe Jimmy Haslam wakes up one day next week and says, screw it. I'm going to get a clean sweep here and start over.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah, I don't know that it would be the same as if like a Mike Tomlin got fired. I think if Mike Tomlin would ever get fired or leave Pittsburgh, they'd be lining up out the door to try to hire Mike Tomlin. But two-time coach of the year, you're right. That's a misleading award. Coach of the year just means you're the head coach of the team that surprised us the most.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And anytime the Browns do anything good, it's a surprise. So let's make him coach of the year. But still, to do well amid the dysfunction that is the Cleveland Browns is impressive.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
That's been the vibe for about a month now, that the two no brainers who will have options to coach next year are Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel. Beyond that, we just don't know how it's going to shake out.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And Vrabel has been linked to the Raiders because once Tom Brady is done with his season and he's whispering into Mark Davis's ear, Vrabel is the guy that Brady would want because they're friends and it goes back years. There's a point Sims has made, and I think he's right. I think Vrabel would be perfect for one of the New York teams.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Because Vrabel's got the right personality to deal with the New York fans and the New York media. It's almost like Parcells, where he just doesn't fuck around, and he can be abrasive in a charming way. That's how Parcells was. He'd say things that were hostile, but it was kind of funny. And I think Vrabel would be good if he wants to subject himself to that. I don't know.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Do you want to subject yourself to being the head coach of the Jets? Do you want to be the head coach of the Giants? I don't know. But I think a guy like Vrabel, and there aren't many guys like this, he would do well in that market.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And I think both of those teams need to be considering very seriously trying to make a run at Vrabel because that may be exactly what they need to stabilize things in the eyes of the media and the eyes of the fans.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, who was it? Wasn't that one of the justifications for firing him in Tennessee? It was some weird shit like that. Again, dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. I think Brian Callahan could be done in Tennessee just because look at how erratic they've been and look at the rash decisions they've made in Nashville with head coaches. They never should have fired Mike Vrabel.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
But I think Vrabel offended the owner in some way. And, hey, that's the reality of working for a mom-and-pop shop, multi-billion-dollar football operation that's run like a family food truck. Not just that one.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
His name has been on the fringes of the chatter for two months now. Here's the reality, though. Set aside the emails. And, you know, it's been three years and we've seen people come back from from worse than the emails. And I'm not justifying it. I'm just saying the passage of time causes things to dissipate. He still has active litigation against the NFL and Goodell.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
So what you have and we talked about the Browns earlier when they made that big contract offer to Deshaun Watson, it pissed everyone off because now we got to have more guaranteed contracts for quarterbacks. There's still an arbitration that's looming or pending over not giving players guaranteed contracts. Thanks to what the Browns did.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
If you hire Gruden, you're going to have some pissed off people at 345 Park Avenue.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
headlined by the guy that runs the show whose name's on every football so you better be damn sure that this is something that's going to work because there's going to be blowback one way or the other and maybe they settle the case beforehand i don't know but it's it's a lot there and this is the other side of it too and i love gruden i love gruden but when you start looking at his his history as a coach sounds like you don't love gruden okay i i've defended him vehemently in this litigation it's put your gun up max
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Go ahead. Hey, hey, just let me say this. Look at his regular season win percentage. Compare it to Jeff Fisher's. That's all I'm saying.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Listen, and compare Mike McCarthy's win-loss percentage to Gruden's. That's all I'm saying. That's the difference. Fat. All right.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Wouldn't it be something if Mark Davis hired him back? Yeah. Let me just say this, too, because I don't think people understand this. In this age of legalized gambling, somebody decided five games into a season in 2021 to peel off emails and to weaponize them to get John Gruden fired. Forget about whether it was right or wrong. Somebody fucked with the integrity of a season five games into it.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I mean, if you had a futures bet on the Raiders to make the playoffs, although they did win the Super Bowl, whatever the case may be, they're always so big on the integrity of the season. Somebody connected the NFL and not many people had access to those emails. specifically said, I want this guy out five games in.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And that's something that I hope his lawsuit goes forward and we find out who did it because I think there's a lot of accountability there that may never be properly meted out and hashed out because that's as wrong as it gets as it relates to the overall integrity of a given football season to take out a team's head coach five games into it.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I don't know that it was him. I don't know. Because, look, the accusation is it was the league and that Goodell was part of it. And until we get a chance to see how the lawsuit plays out, we won't know. It shouldn't be hard to recreate who it was that took those emails and sent them to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal with the clear goal of taking out Gruden.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It could have been Dan Snyder. It could have been Roger Goodell. I don't know that Bruce Allen even had access to those emails by then. Because what happened was they had the investigation. What's her name? Beth Wilkinson. She did her investigation. They had the emails. Somebody who had access to the 600,000 documents found those, removed those, leaked those, and took out Gruden.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You're getting old. You're getting your turn of 50 this year.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Happy birthday month. Thank you.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
How is it that Big Cat's going to be 50, but you're only going to be 40? I don't understand how that works.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Mike, you're short.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And before they had the real bad loss to Tampa Bay, 32-9 in the wildcard round, they lost all those games down the stretch. But for, what was it, the Christmas Day game against the Giants, they lost all their games after starting 10-1. And it didn't happen then. Remember that shot of Jeff Lurie sitting in the suite in Tampa Bay? Who could forget?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It was like this perfect combination of rage and amazement and confusion all in one. And we were waiting to see whether or not they'd fire him and try to go after Bill Belichick. It didn't happen then. I think they've been good enough now that even if they get blown off the field. And do you really think – they're one of the most talented teams out there. I can't imagine that happening.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
But there's just enough weirdness that happens with Sirianni. You know, the stuff with Zach Ertz, giving the fans the business after the Browns game. What else? There was a clip after one of the games where he was trying to talk to somebody on the sidelines and they were openly ignoring him. There's just enough weird there that makes you wonder how sustainable it is.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
But then you look at the record. That's the thing. You look at the record, he's damn good. Is there a situation where they're good despite him and they'd be even better with somebody else? I don't think Jeffrey Lurie wants to roll those dice.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It's going to be a continuous loop. It's going to be all day Christmas Eve and all day Christmas Day. Look, the numbers speak for themselves. And I don't know what the numbers would have been if the two games on Netflix had been on broadcast TV. Would they have hit 30 million? Would they have been 35 million?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
We got 38.9 or 39.8 million who watched Giants-Cowboys, a shit Thanksgiving game in that middle window. These were real games. Steelers-Chiefs, real game. Ravens-Texans, I mean, until they started playing it, real game. If those would have been on regular TV, the numbers would have been even worse. And the NFL went easy on them.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
They didn't play on New Year's on Christmas Eve, and they didn't play a game on Christmas night. I think the bottom line is Christmas football is here to stay whatever day of the week. Jerry Jones made it clear last week. We already knew. They're going to play whenever Christmas is. Wednesday is the hardest day to pull it off. The other days they're going to do it. Here's the question I have.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Because in the past, when Christmas lands on a Sunday, they play the bulk of the games on Saturday. I wonder if the next time Christmas lands on a Sunday, and it's not for like another 10 years, will they just say, fuck it, we're doing our regular schedule on Sunday. Everybody's in the pool. It's Christmas. It's a Sunday. We're not going to shy away from that.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
We're going to completely and totally own it. That would rock.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
would probably split it evenly yeah because you want it to be like appointment television for certain games on christmas otherwise it's just your full-blown schedule think about it your full-blown schedule on a day when everybody is is home and everybody's looking for something to do let's tune into red zone let's flip on this game let's go i mean the numbers could go through the roof in comparison to what they ordinarily are but it's not like until 2033 or something like that so you know some of us will be dead by then do you
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I think it's like the old line from Mad Men when Jon Hamm says, I don't even think about you. Okay. I think that's his reaction.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah. And it's going to keep getting bigger and bigger. I mean, the NFL is by far the biggest attraction in the United States and they want to make it global. It's a hundred year thing. We'll definitely be dead by the time it comes to full bloom. But, you know, there would have been a time when people would have laughed at the idea of football overtaking baseball in the United States.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And I'm sure deep down they'd love to overtake soccer one of these days. That'll probably never happen. But I would have said the same thing in the 70s about baseball and football.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, the Eagles, the Lions, the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
No, well, yeah, I mean... Technically, right? Chip in the chair. You've seen wildcard teams win before, Mike. Fine, I know, but it feels like... It feels like there's a cluster of teams that rise above the rest.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You know, I've dealt with you for so fucking long. You're a smartass that just doesn't even register anymore. There's no dominant team. The Lions had some dominant wins earlier in the year. They beat the Jaguars like 52-6. They blew the Cowboys off the field. But since Thanksgiving when the Bears almost forced overtime, remember that game when the Bears like fucked up the – Timeouts.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
They're tough to deal with. They've been in close games pretty much every week since then. There is no team that's just going to show up and kick your ass like the 85 Bears. There's nothing close to that. So, I mean... You're going to have Chiefs fans, Matt.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
But they don't blow anybody out. The win over the Steelers was the most impressive win of the year by 19 points.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Oh, absolutely. But also Joe Burrow like transforms into a next level superhero in the playoffs roll around. And he's gone toe to toe with Patrick Mahomes multiple times. He's the only active player, only active quarterback who has beaten the Chiefs in the postseason. It really is amazing, though. And the Chiefs history and Mahomes doesn't make the Pro Bowl, which is.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
laughable at one level but you look at the numbers this year and you can see why he didn't but his worst outcome since he became a starter in 2018 is losing in overtime of the afc championship that's his floor i mean for a lot of teams they haven't even done that for the vikings since 1976 their best case scenario is losing in overtime in the nfc championship once Yeah, twice.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
That's his worst outcome. It's uncanny. So I agree. It's going to be very hard to go to Arrowhead Stadium and win, but they're not dominating people. That's the point. There's no one that's just showing up and kicking your ass each and every week.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Correct. I agree with you completely. And they might work it in a way that they avoid both of them. Maybe the Bills and Ravens end up playing each other in the divisional round, so they only have to play one of them.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Oh, I guess if the Steelers win.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
They could end up drawing the Ravens in the divisional round. So you think Bailey Zappi is going to beat Lamar Jackson? Well, no. Is it 17 and a half points? Wouldn't it be the Browns that would fuck up the last act of a clear tank?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
The other teams, they don't care. The Browns, organizationally, top to bottom, they want it, and they've done a good job of positioning themselves for it. So you're right. You're right. They win the division.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
They won't meet in the divisional round, and it would be if the Ravens win and the Bills win in the wildcard round, they'll end up playing each other in the divisional round, and the Chiefs will get the lowest team left. You're right.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
If you can avoid the Eagles, which is doable. I want the Eagles.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It's not crazy. I mean, you win, and you don't have to go to Philadelphia. You're going to go to LA or Tampa, right? Jaden Daniels, it feels like he's busted through the rookie wall. There was a period of time where he's either hurt or he's fatigued. Lately, he's been phenomenal. MVP chance on Sunday night.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, that's all right. They're doing better than anyone expected. And they fought through that lull that they slipped into. They slipped into a spot where it's like, okay, you know, the chariots turned back into a pumpkin. It's over for the commanders. They came out the other side of it and they've been winning. And a team like that can be dangerous.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
When you get to the playoffs and you're on house money and you don't give a shit and you just go out and play and you have confidence that you can make it happen. And Jaden Daniels has been You know, better than anybody expected.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
When we were at the scouting combine and we were meeting with defensive players and we asked as many of them as we could remember to ask, who's the best guy you ever faced in college? The SEC guys all said without hesitation, Jaden Daniels, because he's there and then he's gone. And we've seen it. We've seen it come to fruition.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
So with a guy like Jaden Daniels, because when we see low seeds in the past, make a deep run. The common denominator for those teams is to have a great quarterback. And even though he's a rookie, he's already in that list of great quarterbacks.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
You know, there's a way that the team that loses on Sunday night only has one road game in the playoffs. Because those wildcard teams could go in. You get the Packers at the Eagles. the Packers could win. You get the commanders at the Bucks or the Rams, they could win. And then the five seed wins at the four seed. All of a sudden, the teams left are one, five, six, and seven.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
The five seeds host in the divisional round game. And if the seven seed upends the Vikings or the Lions, the five seeds host in the NFC championship.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
That could happen.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Make sure you say the e-book. The print edition is at 99 cents. Paper ain't free. That was my New Year's resolution, my first one in 21 years, because I want to encourage people to read. People view reading as a chore. They view it as work. You do. I send you all my books. You never read them because you view it as work. You have association to school, and you don't want to do it.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Okay. Father of Mine is a mob tale set in West Virginia in the earth. All right, fine. Ask me about my fantasy team.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Well, read Father of Mine in the sequel. Once you finish Father of Mine, you'll want to read the next one. You're signing me up for another one? Wait, so what's the sequel? The sequel is Son of Mine.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Exactly. All right, the new Bible. Now I'm doing the next one, which I guess is essentially Revelation.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
It's a great title. Titles aren't protected by copyright law. You know how I learned that?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah, I think that would be. I think that would probably be pushing the limits of the law. That would require, what do they call that? It's a case of first impression.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
All the way to the Supreme Court. It's a little bit for a site. Legal minds from all over the world would be studying it.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I think Aaron Rodgers doesn't want to come back to the Jets, but he wants them to be the ones that break up with him. He's been needling Woody Johnson. Every time he's on McAfee's show, he says some snarky thing about Woody Johnson. No, I might be fired by a teenager. I think he wants them to end it, and then he'll see if anyone out there really wants him.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And if no one does, he's decided to retire. But if somebody that he deems worthy of his services wants him, and I'm fascinated by the possibility of him going to Pittsburgh. Remember that video of him and Mike Tomlin kind of making googly eyes at each other? It's like that Sopranos gif where it's Christopher and Patsy are doing this.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I feel like that tracks with what the Steelers are currently doing at quarterback, which is we don't know how to develop one. Let's just go find a veteran and plug him in. But if he finds a team that wants him and he wants to play for them, then he'll play for another team next year. And he'll use the Jets not wanting him as motivation.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
He says it, but I don't believe that he wants to play for the Jets again. He knows what a shit show it is there.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah. Yeah, which tells you his priorities are completely out of whack. They were horrible. He was injured all of last year. They were horrible this year. How does that become the best year of your life when you won a Super Bowl and you're a four-time MVP?
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Metalhead, great people.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
No. No, that won't happen. Why not? I guarantee that won't happen. Why? I'll just say this. There are more than a few people around the league who have figured out Aaron Rodgers and want nothing to do with him.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Oh. I didn't say that. I just said there's more than a few people who know that, you know, I don't – look, I'm – I got enough problems.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
I got enough problems. But I think there's a lot of coaches for whom it would be a hard sell, and you better be damn confident that you can coexist with this guy, and it's not going to completely fuck up your life and get you fired five weeks into the season like it did Robert Sala.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
No. Look, there aren't many guys who, once they've been the highest paid player in the NFL, who voluntarily accept being a backup. Flacco's like the only guy that's ever done that. Usually it's, hey, if I can no longer start, see you later. I'm out of here. I'm going to go count my money. The thing with Cousins, and this is why I think Rodgers might have a future, but Cousins won't.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Both had the torn Achilles. Both have less mobility than they used to have. Then again, Cousins never had much. Rodgers still throws it 40 yards on a dime with a flick of a wrist. Look at Cousins. He's got to like he's got to like muster every ounce of energy in his body from his toes to his fingertips to try to throw the football.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
And his body eventually rebelled against him this year because he was compensating for the torn Achilles tendon. So I just it just got to the point where I just can't do it anymore. And I've talked to people who said, you know what, there's a chance it just never comes back for him. He could be done.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Yeah, he does. He gets paid next year. He gets $27.5 million next year. He made $62.5 million this year. He gets $27.5 million next year, regardless of what happens with the Falcons. The only way he'd lose it is if he'd retire. And if he's stupid to retire, you force him to cut you and you take your $27.5 million.
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Mike Florio, College Football Playoffs, Week 18 Picks And Preview And Fyre Fest of The Week
Where are we this year? It's central time zone, so it won't be quite the ass-cracking dawn.