00:00on the Wise Heart Ride. We make it right. Call Kyle Wright hotline. Albert Breer of the MMQB
00:06joins us now. Albert, welcome back to the show. What's up, guys? Oh, just living in a sea of
00:14disappointment between the Browns and Buckeyes. Are you writing off the Buckeyes playoff hopes
00:18after this USC loss? I didn't want to find out a lot about him on Saturday. You know, it's
00:27interesting because at this point, outside of number four, I'm not sure where exactly
00:35the team's superpower is. I think they've got to figure that out fast. I know there are
00:43encouraging signs on defense, like leading up to last week, but then last week goes down
00:49the way I went down. I think you need a little bit of help. It's hard to believe. I'm like
00:56a freshman corner, but like getting Jay Timmons back would really, really help. And we'll
01:01see what happens with Buckeyes to his health. Yeah, it's just kind of a weird point to be
01:08at where if you can like hit the gas now and beat up on Oregon, you're probably looking
01:15at this a lot differently. And now all of a sudden you should probably win the last three
01:18games. Whereas if you wind up losing this one, like then I think you're asking some other
01:24bigger picture questions. So I'm asking this because it's just the overall state of college
01:29football. And so much of the talking points have been the shrinking gap between the Blue
01:34Bloods and other college football programs. I'm curious about what that's going to, the
01:39impact that's going to have on the college coaching market. Could that shrinking gap between
01:43teams like Ohio State and UCLA and Indiana, do you think that could maybe chase a coach like
01:51Ryan Day to the NFL where maybe it feels a little safer and maybe a little lesser work
01:58these days?
02:00I mean, I don't know. It's always hard to say with that stuff, right? Like I, I'd say
02:06like the thing that's chasing college coaches away more now would probably be NIL and all
02:12the demands of recruiting and all that different stuff. You know, like, I think it's, I think
02:16it's just, you know, I, one thing I hear a lot from NFL coaches is that, yeah, we work
02:22a lot, but we also have our time off and we work to find hours and when we're home, we
02:27can be home. And I don't know that's always the case with college coaches because there's
02:33just like an endless amount of demands on their time now and for all kinds of different
02:37reasons. And, you know, like a bigger percentage of their time is spent not coaching football,
02:43you know, than, than, than, than the NFL where like the NFL for the most part, there's
02:49there to be football coaches, you know? So there, I'd say the gap between the two jobs,
02:55between the job of a college football coach and an NFL coach, they've never been the same,
03:00but I'd say the gap between what one job is and what the other job is, is growing because
03:06of all the non-football stuff. And that, like, I think generally is what winds up, what winds
03:13up pushing a lot of guys away from the college game into the pro game. And even to the point
03:18where, you know, we've seen it now where guys who are head coaches at the college level,
03:22Jeff Hathaway is a good example of it. We'll take, you know, steps down. We'll go in, if
03:28they're a head coach, be a coordinator. If they're a coordinator, they'll be a position
03:31coach at the NFL level because, you know, the NFL is just different in a lot of different
03:36ways. And, and, and, and the demands of it are, I think a little bit more palatable
03:42with, you know, having a family at home.
03:45Albert, the Steelers obviously sucked, but is that just one loss or do the Browns have
03:49bigger problems now?
03:52Yeah, for right now, I'd say it's one loss.
03:56Steelers are playing really well. And I, I think the Steelers, the one thing about the
04:00Steelers that I think makes them a tough matchup for the Browns, the Browns are so young
04:04and the Steelers are not, you know, the Steelers have experience all over the place and they've
04:12got nuanced schemes and they're able to adjust and change a lot on the fly and throw a lot
04:18at you. And so for a young team, that's a really difficult matchup. They were able to manage
04:23it the first time because the Steelers weren't playing very well. But I think now you're starting
04:29to see like the idea of how the Steelers were built, which the narrow path to walk, because
04:35like when you're an older team, it's hard to stay healthy. It's hard not to wear down at
04:38the end of the year. So we'll see how this all plays out, like through the rest of November
04:42into December and January. But, you know, right now they've been able to manage the roster
04:48to a point where they're relatively healthy and that's allowed them to leverage all the
04:53experience they have with a coaching staff that's got some pretty complex stuff in the
04:57team standpoint. Albert, I saw you touch on the Justin Herbert stuff on the MMQB and
05:06I thought it was interesting because everybody kind of thinks like, yeah, it's not really
05:09a conversation. The Chargers are 0-7 though. There's a chance they could move to 0-8. And
05:14I saw you make the point of like, well, Jeffrey Simmons wasn't available until Ryan Poles called
05:20down to Borgonzi and said, hey, how about two firsts? So if the Browns were interested in
05:25Justin Herbert, how can they keep the Chargers from hanging up the phone on a Justin Herbert
05:30deal the way the Bears did to the Titans?
05:34Yeah, I mean, it'd be hard, right? But like, I mean, I think you have to, I mean, you'd be
05:40talking at least three first round picks, right? And then like, what else? Like, I just, I don't
05:48think there's any way the Chargers would say yes. But the point I was trying to make is like,
05:52there's almost, there's almost no reason not to. If you don't have a quarterback, you
05:57really like, you know? Okay. Like, let's see. And if they say no, they say no. But, but
06:04there's really, I don't see why you wouldn't at least try. And chances are the conversation
06:11is going to be a short one for the last 90 seconds. And like, at that point you walk away
06:17and that's that. But at the very least, you knew you tried, right? Like how, how bad would
06:23you feel if you were a GM right now who loved Jeffrey Simmons, who could use Jeffrey Simmons
06:27and you didn't go to every length? Like the Giants, for example, I'd say they sleep relatively
06:33well at night knowing at least we made those phone calls. You know, at least Joe Shane called,
06:40called Mike Borgazzi, at least the head coach, and it's sort of a faux pas what he did, but
06:45at least the head coach called the other team's owner. And it didn't work out, but, you know,
06:50at least we swung. And maybe your one second guess if you were them would be like, well,
06:54we should have put something on the table. And they didn't, you know, like, but, you know,
06:58at least you tried. And I think like what happened with the Titans and Bears is a good example
07:03of like, I guess it's like that. I was going to say Michael Scott. I know it's Wayne Gretzky,
07:11but the Michael Scott thing, right? He missed a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.
07:17Albert, what do you think's happening with Justin Herbert? I mean, when you're 35th out of 35,
07:22or 35 out of 35, excuse me, in EPA, you're 34 out of 35 in PFF and pass rating's no
07:28better. Like,
07:28what is it? It's more than just Harbaugh and McDaniel and the offensive line and the players
07:33around it. What's happening here? Yeah, I think what all of the analytics don't account for is
07:39the scheme issue that they have there. And I'd say right now, they're in a little bit of a crisis
07:45of scheme in that, like, I'm not sure they know exactly what they are, who they are. And like,
07:51I think that because of that, like what they should be good at, they haven't been good at,
07:57and that's running the ball. You see how they've invested since Harbaugh's been there.
08:00They drafted Joe, although, even though they already had a big ticket offensive tackle
08:06and Rashawn Slater. So now they got two of those guys, they drafted a running back in the first
08:11round, you know, and going, you know, and getting Omari and Hampton. And so they invested so much in
08:17trying to get the run game right. They went and got Cole Strange in the off season. And for one
08:22reason
08:22or another, the scheme marriage between Jim Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel has not worked. And so, like, I have a
08:31hard time, like, really killing Justin Herbert for it. He takes his share of the blame.
08:36Um, I just, I, like, I've said this to you guys before, the way that people talk, the way in
08:44the league, the people in the league talk about Justin Herbert.
08:48And, you know, I say this because there were years where I would hear the same stuff from coaches, from
08:53scouts. Like, no, Matthew Stafford's really good. You know, and it's the same thing. It's the way that people talk
09:00about Matthew Stafford when he was in Detroit is the way that people are talking about Justin Herbert now.
09:05And that's people who know, who study it, who are paid to evaluate it. And so, like, that's the one
09:10thing that gives me pause. I see what everybody else does. But I also think, like, sometimes he seems to
09:17come down to the environment that you're in, the circumstances around you. And I don't think any of that's very
09:24good right now for Justin Herbert.
09:27Albert, the Bears got a nice win on Monday Night Football and Jeffrey Simmons. Bears debut last night. I think
09:34it's their best start in, like, 20 years or something like that. I actually am just pulling that one out
09:38of my rear end. But how many teams right now are you taking over the Bears and the NFC?
09:53I mean, like, last night, I might have said Seattle before last night, but I guess it's hard to do
09:59that now when they won by 17 in Seattle's place. I mean, either the Bears are definitely, like, have elevated
10:06into the upper class.
10:07You know, and I think in the end, like, if you ask me who it is now, it's San Francisco.
10:13Like, I think in the end, what we're going to see is we're going to see teams from the north
10:18and we're going to see teams from the west. And so, it's going to be Chicago. It's going to be
10:22Green Bay. I think Detroit has the ability to get there. Minnesota, I'm a little less certain on, you know,
10:30but I think Minnesota's okay. I think Minnesota's a contender.
10:37You know, and then the three teams at the top of the west, San Francisco, Seattle, and the Rams. I
10:42think all those teams are positioned to finish strong and, like, be in the hunt at the end. I think
10:50the NFC can be super competitive in the west.
10:54Albert, is there a chance Amara's point is final down as a Raven?
11:00Yeah, it's not impossible. You know, I think the women are saying, you know, overall, this is the no-tag
11:06clause that he has for 2028. And so, like, I, you know, and knowing that he was not all that,
11:16he didn't want to negotiate a new contract last offseason.
11:20And so, they sort of let it go. And the Ravens are willing to deal. I think Lamar didn't really
11:26want to deal yet. Doesn't mean he doesn't, he won't want to eventually, but didn't want to deal yet.
11:31And now, like, you're going to be one offseason away. Like, if he doesn't play again this year, then you're
11:37talking about him, you know, coming off another injury.
11:41And, like, I think the Ravens will explore doing a contract with him. But if he doesn't want to, like,
11:47I think, like, then you've got to start asking yourself, okay, like,
11:50do we put ourselves in a position where this guy's going to walk away from nothing? Or do we want
11:56to, do we need to turn the pace now? So, I don't think it's impossible.
12:01Like, I think the Ravens want to do a deal with him. I think the Ravens want to keep him.
12:04I think the Ravens want him to be their quarterback in the foreseeable future.
12:08But it takes good angle on that. And, like, if Lamar wants to be a free agent in 2028, then,
12:16you know, I think that that definitely has to change the calculus a little bit if you're wrong.
12:21Albert, great talking with you, bud. We'll talk to you next week. And hopefully we're talking about an Ohio State
12:26win, and I wouldn't hate a Browns win on top of that.
12:30I, you know, I, like, from your lips to God's ears on us being in Oregon, I need to be
12:36in a better mood next week for sure.
12:37Yeah, right here with you, buddy. All right, Albert Breer there, the MMQB on the Weishart, right? We make it
12:42right. Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
