Takes

Caleb Williams is better than Jayden Daniels going forward and will have the better career

I honestly think that we're all gonna become winners. And I'm gonna say it... He [Caleb Williams] is so much better than Jayden Daniels. I did not say Caleb Williams played so much better [this year]. I said he's so much better... I think Caleb Williams going forward is going to be the better quarterback. I'm talking about the future.

The modern RPO-heavy NFL is 'Friday night high school offense' that gets quarterbacks killed

I don't like passing plays with the offensive line run blocking. I don't like seeing quarterbacks getting their ass knocked off because of this ridiculous protection offense that I'm watching. That's what RPO stands for me... I don't wanna see Friday night offense in high school all day Saturday and then see it on Sunday. I wanna see these NFL quarterbacks drop back to pass, throw an array of routes with different route trees and audibles.

Jared Goff is playing like Joe Montana

I don't even think it's close. I did a thing with the Detroit Lions last week. I think Jared Goff is starting to look like Joe Montana to me. He plays with continuous movement. He completes almost every single pass. He's tough as hell. He has continuity in the same system... I got Goff way up there on my list.

Mike Tomlin is a great coach because he is a consistent motivator and not a 'basket case'

I think number one, he is a great communicator. He is a great motivator and he is very consistent and he is not a basket case. ... Nobody's a better competitor than Tomlin. He is a guy that'll fight you till the end, whether you wanna fight or not.

Jerry Rice is the greatest player of all time because he never caught a bubble screen

Jerry Rice [is number one all time]. The thing that Jerry Rice... you hear about some of these receivers now, you know, their stats and all this. Jerry Rice never caught a bubble screen. I don't know if Jerry Rice caught three quick screens either. He didn't want those routes. He was running patterns, man. And the greatest thing about Jerry Rice is I really believe he loved the misery.

Drake May has a long way to go because the Patriots have no firepower at receiver or a good offensive line

When it comes to Drake May, I just, I think they have a, a long way to go with their offense. They really don't have much firepower at receiver. They don't really have a great offensive line and they're playing behind a little bit.

I'm putting a bounty on anyone who dunks on Bronny James in an NBA game

I'm gonna put a bounty out there. If you can dunk on Bronny, then I will... you get a, an open spot on Pardon My Take and I will say you can join the show as a guest to discuss the dunk. Okay. And I will send you a Pardon My Cheesesteak... with all the fixings.

The fumble-through-the-end-zone touchback is a good rule

I stand by my take that. That's a good rule. Yeah. I I like the fumble through the end zone fumble recovered in the end zone for Touchback.

Lamar Jackson is already a Hall of Famer

I, yeah, I think [Lamar Jackson] probably already is [a Hall of Famer]. I'm not saying if Lamar retired right now he's in the Hall of Fame. But I'm saying the way that he's played. If this keeps up Yeah. like anywhere close to what he's been then Yeah, he's the Hall of Famer.

The regular season still matters in the 12-team playoff era

I have not watched a single big time game, whether that be Georgia-Texas, Georgia-Alabama, Oregon-Ohio State, any of these games and thought to myself while watching it, well this is lame 'cause we're gonna see them play again.

Minnesota has the coolest collection of athletes of the last 20 years

Minnesota Sports because they recreated the old Randy Moss KG picture with Anthony Edwards and Justin Jefferson. And I know Minnesota sports are sad state, don't win things, but they might have like the coolest collection of athletes in the last 20 years, like compared to anyone else. They had KG, they had Randy Moss, they have Anthony Edwards, they have Justin Jefferson. They had Joe Mauer.

The 'flattening' of college football is making it a better sport with more parity

The flattening out of college football with the NIL and transfer portal, it's great. It's great because you get, it feels like anyone could beat anyone at this point. And it's not just watching a sport where there are two or three teams that can conceivably win and no one else.

Nobody cares about October basketball

Who gives a fuck about October basketball? ... It matters maybe like 1%.

Brian Thomas Jr. might be the best rookie wide receiver in the NFL.

Brian Thomas might be the best rookie wide receiver now that Malik Nabers missed a couple games. Marvin Harrison is like, either he scores three touchdowns or doesn't catch a ball. Brian Thomas is the real deal looking awesome.

Tank Bigsby has one of the coolest names in the NFL.

Tank Bigsby deserves more credit for being one of the coolest names in the NFL... His real name is Cartus. Cartus is pretty solid... Cartus Bigsby. He is Cardi B.

Fans have every right to cheer for Deshaun Watson's injury.

They cheered when he went down. I got no problem with that... he's a bad guy. I'm not gonna be like, oh, Boohoo Deshaun Watson... people being happy about it, I don't have any problem with people being happy about it either.

Jaden Daniels wearing a team jumpsuit on the sidelines counts as being in 'street clothes.'

I've always said that street clothes is, if you're wearing clothes that you would wear on the, like to the game... I'm defending my take that I know is wrong because there's something of deep, deep down that I want it to be true.

Dave Canales should have his 'quarterback whisperer' tag revoked.

I would like to formally remove the tag quarterback whisperer from Dave Canales for at least one full season... You were brought in to whisper to Bryce and you did not whisper effectively enough to Bryce.

The AFC as a whole is currently bad, with 70% of the league's 'sucking' teams in that conference.

I think that just proves, yeah, the AFC is bad. The AFC, you can, it's basically, it's going to be a competition between the Bengals and I don't even think, I think the Bengals are gonna be in the playoffs... Seven of the 10 teams that suck are in the AFC.

Aaron Judge is not a 'true Yankee' unless he wins a World Series.

Aaron Judge, I will absolutely a hundred percent say that he is not a true Yankee if he doesn't win a World Series. That's a fact.

Thursday Night Football is at its best when the games are objectively terrible

Thursday night football should be bad. Yeah. We should just embrace the bad and just like, just bathe in just shitty gross football. 'cause you know, you got all the football coming up, it's like the entry point to the weekend. I kind of enjoyed the fact like even that first pass that Bo Nicks had where he split his wide receivers that were both [open].

I apologize to the Buccaneers; my previous hatred was 100% caused by 'Che Bias'

I've retracted my take. I've done some soul searching about the Buccaneers. I apologize for saying the Buccaneers aren't very good. It is a hundred percent Che bias. I sat with Che for an entire game watching him and it just, it sits with you and it really eats away at you.

The Packers' all-white 'Winter Warning' uniforms are a disgusting affront to football

The Packers going with the all-white uniforms and all-white helmets are a disgusting affront to football color rush. It's a disgusting front. The Green Bay Packers—and I hate them—their football jerseys and color scheme are football. They should never do any type of gimmicky alternate bullshit. If you're a Packers fan, you should be disgusted by this.

Winning the Pro Bowl should grant players a 'reverse card' on the franchise tag

Especially think about the guys that are in that game... Or no franchise tag. Like they get basically an Uno card reverse on a franchise tag if you win the Pro Bowl. I feel like that—Roger Goodell, give us a call.

Tom Brady makes football easy by simply throwing to the void in zone coverage regardless of the route depth

It was more so the way in which he just simplified everything. Like if, if if I'm running a corner route and it's zone coverage and there's a massive void in the defense, like when I come outta my corner route, like turn around, I'm gonna throw the ball. ... Whereas Tom was like, almost at times like recess. ... I turn around and he is like, 'bro, what are you doing? There's no one there. Like, turn around.' ... Gronk for sure would've done that.

A head coach cannot have a beard as long as Jeff Ulbrich's

I don't think you could have a beard that long as a head coach. I'm just saying in terms of if you're looking at a head coach, like if you're mocking up a head coach, when are you drawing in a massive beard? The beard just doesn't give head coach vibes.

College football is better than it has ever been

I have a belief now that college football is better than it has ever been. And I know there was a lot of handwringing going on with all the changes happening. But we're now in a spot and there's gonna be more change. I get it. Expansion, all that stuff with the NIL. The NIL and the portal flattening it out. So it doesn't feel like this year, maybe Texas, but it doesn't feel outside of Texas that there's those like two or three super teams that no one has a chance against.

The Ryder Cup pricing is a mistake that ruins home field advantage

People are very upset about the prices for the upcoming Ryder Cup. Next summer at Bethpage... it's $750 for a day. Normally I would say golf fans probably have expendable money... but this is such a fuck you and a mistake to trying to get a home field advantage. If you price out rowdy New Yorkers who want to go to the Ryder Cup and scream heinous shit at all the Europeans, you've completely ruined this.

Eli Manning is the greatest big-game quarterback I have ever seen

People argue with me, I get it. But he's the greatest big-game quarterback that I've ever seen. I mean the way he approached things and the fact that he really accepted the challenge. He wanted the challenge... I've seen him do it under any circumstance you can imagine.

The Doug Pederson and Nick Foles pairing is the craziest Super Bowl winning duo ever.

Are we gonna look back and say Doug Pederson and Nick Foles was the craziest Super Bowl winning combo of all time? It is the craziest thing. ... Doug Pederson is going to get fired probably mid-season here.

The Browns are publicly shaming Deshaun Watson by forcing him to continue playing quarterback.

What if we're just thinking about it wrong? What if this is just the Browns actually doing justice in a public shaming way. They're like, he's so bad. And we know he is so bad he can't play quarterback. We're just gonna make him continue to play quarterback and publicly shame him because that's the only justice he'll ever have. ... The only way that the league can punish him? Make him continue to play quarterback.

Nick Sirianni is having a mental breakdown.

Nick Sirianni after the game or while the game was still going on, looked into the crowd and started basically getting in an argument with the Eagles crowd... Has he lost his mind? He also shaved his head. Which which is a classic sign of losing his mind. ... Siri's showing up today. I think that everybody thought the same thing. Like this is, we saw what happened with Britney Spears. Is Siri in a conservatorship?

Chris Godwin is an elite receiver who needs more respect.

Chris Godwin deserves to be given more credit for being awesome... we just need to throw some more respect on Chris Godwin's name because he's been very good this year. He's had a very good career and I think he got kind of forgotten a little bit.

I give Drake Maye a solid B-minus for his first career start.

I'm gonna give Drake Maye a solid B-minus. ... [A] bad interception. ... He did get pressured a lot. He did, you know, get thrown into the fire. But he threw a couple really nice deep balls. A couple mistakes. But it was, it was exciting.

The Texans might actually benefit long-term from Nico Collins being out because it forced Tank Dell and Joe Mixon to step up.

My idea that the Texans might actually end up benefiting long-term for Nico Collins being out this tank dell had his best game of the season. Joe Mixon was a awesome, again... I think the Texans are gonna be better off [because of the variety of scoring].

Dak Prescott is an 'ass' quarterback.

The Cowboys, they're just ass. Dak is ass. He's had some big time games where he's been ass. ... He put them in a hole that basically they weren't able to get out of. He was horrible.

I find myself actually liking LeBron James after watching the 'Starting Five' show on Netflix.

I have been watching, there's a lot episodes, so I'm, I'm not finished with it. But the NBA starting five show on Netflix. ... I do find myself like liking LeBron... He's funny. ... Like he's just, it's just the, he's funny. He's just a big goof.

The Phillies are in a downhill spiral and their window is closed

Philly's lost the game. They looked like shit. It's exact same thing that went on from 2009 to 2011 of the Phillies... and then what I am saying, yes, it is the same thing. Like it is just a downhill spiral with no World Series. There's no hope. There's no hope. And the window's closed for every team.

Michael Jordan would destroy LeBron James in a one-on-one game

I think [Michael Jordan] would destroy [LeBron James] in one-on-one. That's just me. [Jordan] would just out-intangible him. He would out-trash talk him. LeBron could not carry Jordan's sneakers.

Tim Tebow would have won a lot of games if an NFL team ran his college offense

If I run his college offense, I'm going to win a lot of games in the National Football League. He'll never make a Pro Bowl, but I want that guy on my team... nobody ever gave him a shot [after Denver]. Nobody ever gave him a shot. I, I just believed in him winning football games.

Stephen A. Smith has the greatest gift of gab in the history of television

He has the greatest gift of gab in the history of television in my view. You just knew right away he's going to let me say that to him. [Stephen A. Smith] is the perfect foil for me.

Michael Jordan was the worst team builder in the history of sports

Michael Jordan as the team builder in Charlotte, who was the biggest disaster of a general manager in the history of sports. The greatest performer and player in the history of sports was the worst team builder in the history of sports for low those many years in Charlotte. Because he couldn't see why can he play and he can't.

LeBron James was born without a clutch gene

The poor man was just born without a clutch gene, and we see it again and again and again. MJ or LeBron? Stop it. Don't even go there because it's offensive to me. You would put those two in the same sentence because LeBron could not carry Jordan's sneakers.

The Patriots are starting Drake Maye specifically to sell throwback jerseys

Do you think this is because they're wearing the throwbacks and if they win, they're going to sell a shit ton of Drake Maye [jerseys]? Patriots throwbacks... You're absolutely right. Because why wouldn't you do it against the Jaguars?

Bob Costas is horrible at broadcasting baseball and should stop

Bob Costas... He just sounded, he's broadcasting the Yankees-Royals series and he sounds horrible... He has all the money. He doesn't need to do it. I don't get why he chooses to do it.

Coaches and organizations fail quarterbacks more than the players fail them

I really believe that so many of these quarterbacks are really talented. They just get put in bad situations... I think that organizations and offensive coaches and offensive coordinators have failed quarterbacks more than quarterbacks have failed organizations.

The 2024 Texans haven't even played their best football yet despite a 4-1 start

The crazy thing about the Texans, I don't think the Texans played their best game and they're four and one and look for real... it doesn't feel like they've put together a full four quarters yet and they're four and one.

Jaden Daniels is the fourth best quarterback in the NFL

I think that Jaden Daniels is the [fourth] best quarterback in the NFL. It's around fifth... it's fourth.

Gervon Dexter is better than Jalen Carter

Are we ready to have the conversation that Gervon Dexter's better than Jalen Carter? We who has significantly better stats than Jalen Carter. I'm just wondering if you want to have that conversation now.

Max's pessimistic Phillies-Mets prediction is 'early onset Fleming'

There's gonna be multiple moments where like you and [Frank the Tank] are doing the same thing. And, we can be like Yeah. Early onset Fleming.