Belichick's Master Plan (Hour 2)

Our number two of our radio program that's right it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Let's head out to the guest line right now and we'll welcome in a man that coached at Mississippi State and also was the head honcho at Florida and that of course is Dan Mullen who's now doing a great job on ESPN and you can see him tonight.

South Alabama at App State on the call. Coach always great to have you on. Thanks so much for doing this and how you been?

Doing great, doing great. Excited. This should be a fun game tonight. South Alabama scored 87 points last week and most in over 30 years in a college football game and but anytime you head up to Boone, North Carolina, you got a team that could score points.

It's physical. That is a winning program in Appalachian State, so I expect to be a high scoring fun game for tonight's matchup. You know I've seen you on the studio a lot and I've caught you a little bit in the booth. I know it's now been three seasons since you haven't been a head coach and you've been enjoying this broadcasting stuff it seems. Oh I enjoy it. I love being in the game. Love talking about football, you know, getting it. I've gotten to go call games at some different locations, schools I haven't been to, so I've really enjoyed that. I have a great studio crew. We get a great setup, get to watch just about every college football game that's played on a Saturday all in front of us, so I'm enjoying it.

We're having a lot of fun. You want to coach again though, right? Like you don't think you've coached your final game, right? Well you never say never, you know. I mean it's all, you know, as everybody knows a lot goes into it and you know it kind of seems easy like, oh let's just go coach some ball.

There's a lot. It's a family decision for everybody in the family to be involved. It's making sure you're the right fit for the program wherever you would go back. You know, the right opportunity presents itself.

You never know. And let's be real, a lot less stress doing the games on TV than having to do NIL trans report on all that jazz now. You're always right on TV, right? Even if you're wrong, you're still right. Everybody forgot what you said the next week. No, I think in some ways college football, I think there's a benefit having been out of it for the coaches that maybe have been out and not dealing with it all on a daily basis to see the transformation over the last couple years, seeing it from afar, not trying to adjust one day to the next, seeing it from afar and how NIL has affected things, how you run your programs. Programs run differently now.

You know what NIL is all about, how to utilize the transfer portal, and being able to see that from afar I think is very beneficial. Dan Mullen here with us. So you were at Florida, obviously, and you had Chris Leake and Tim Tebow. So you know how that dynamic works.

Now, unfortunately, Quinn, you were hurt once again. Arch Manning going to start this weekend coming up in a few weeks, right? There's Oklahoma on the schedule.

There's Georgia on the schedule for Texas. How do you kind of think about this two quarterback dynamic? And I'll give credit to SARC because when Arch went there, we all thought this was going to be a distraction. This hasn't been a distraction in the slightest.

It's actually been a good thing. Yeah, and it's credit to SARC and credit to Arch Manning and the Manning family as a whole of understanding what's important, which is development. The one thing that made people forget is that the most important thing about playing the quarterback position is development.

And so I think they understand that. Don't rush. You rush onto the field until you're ready to play. It's a very different situation than we had with Chris Leake, who was a starter, and Tim Tebow came and played you know, five to 10 plays a game in a specific package. These two guys very similar skill sets in what they do.

And so you know, I think it couldn't have happened at a better time. For SARC, you never want a player to get injured. We got Louisiana Monroe and Mississippi State and home then a bye week. And I think it's, it's pretty cut dry that you have the opportunity now for Arch Manning to come in, go through not just starting a game, go through all the preparation that goes into being the starting quarterback, right? I mean, he's this week, he's coming into meetings, he's running the ones in the huddle. You know, everybody's looking to him on the team as the guy, I'm sure he's got his media's increased greatly this week, then it has another week. So there's a lot of responsibilities that come with being the starting quarterback. And so he's getting to experience that over the next couple of weeks. But I think the second that Quinn Ewers, I don't think they're gonna rush him back. You know, but I would be very surprised if he wasn't their starting quarterback to play Oklahoma in a couple weeks. Yeah, I'm with you.

And that's the other thing. Like, I know we always joke is Texas back, Quinn has brought Texas back, they went to the college football playoff last year. Injuries have been a problem. I know what the hype is going to be when Arch lights it up on the field, assuming he does this week, and then maybe next week, and then the Manning name and all that like, there's intrigue to see Arch play. But I would be surprised if after a game or two, Steve Sarkeesian goes, Yep, Quinn Ewers, everything you've done. We're gonna have Archie Serpius, the starting quarterback. Yeah, and the benefit is that you know, Quinn has had dealt with injuries every single season. And so that the opportunity now for them to have two starting quarterbacks, there's a lot of football, especially, you're getting into the 12 team playoff this year. You know, there, there's a lot of football to be played and to have two guys that you feel comfortable with. Dan Mullen here with us, you know, the good moments in coaching, you know, the bad moments in coaching, you've seen everything. Billy Napier at Florida, what is there left to say?

It just seems like it's not a matter anymore of if he's going to get fired just when he's going to get fired. That's the hard part of college football. Obviously, I'm excited for that game. It's Mississippi State, Florida this week.

Dan Mullen. But you know what I think Florida looks and what Florida is very different now than when I was there even a couple years ago, they finally have a football facility, which is kind of a head scratcher in today's world, right? Didn't people have it like 20 years ago? No, they did. You know, they finally just opened it right when Billy Napier got hired, they moved into a standalone football facility. So they were way behind that way.

I think now, you know, he has the benefit of having administrative support. They've tripled the budget to catch up with other schools. So I think they've invested a lot in trying to catch the program up into getting it maybe. You know, I think a lot of people like, Oh, we've done all this we must be past everybody.

I think they just finally caught up with some other schools. And you know, I don't know that the answer is keep changing coaches every couple of years. You know, I think there's, you know, I think when you look back in history, you would have had a lot of Hall of Fame coaches not not make the Hall of Fame, nevermind, you would never heard of them.

You know, if they weren't giving more than their first couple of years to build a program. And so I think, you know, there's a lot of AV sometimes get to have a quick trigger and the fans want to that instant success now. You know, we'll see. Let's see how the rest of the season plays out. I don't I don't I don't I'm not always a big proponent of firing a coach earlier in the middle of the season unless there's someone on staff that you want to replace him with that you think could be the next head coach. Because if not, you know, there's there's issues once the head coach is fired.

Some of the players you know, they're like, Oh, do we finish the year do we go to the portal there? There's a lot of questions of who's steering the ship for that program just to get you through this season. But you know what the conversation is now right Florida fans and I understand it and I get it. They're already speculating on who could be the next coach. The big sexy name has been Lane Kiffin who's doing a great job right now at Ole Miss. Like, do you think Lane would leave Ole Miss where he has them going right now to eventually take over Florida? You know, it's pretty funny when I got let go of Florida a couple years ago, they asked me and I said, Hey, I'd go hire Lane Kiffin right now.

I said, you're gonna get rid of me. I'd go hire Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss right now. He kind of has that little bit of that, you know, Florida, you know, they love points. He's going to continue the offense to run points is walking in. You know, they walk in walking in with an Anthony Richardson, you're walking in with a top five draft pick a quarterback. So the program's in good shape offensively that way. There are some some high powered receivers committed and on the roster. And so I think he would have been a great fit right off the bat.

But that was several years ago, you know, and he's now gotten all this to, you know, being in playoff contention. So I don't know if that's something that would interest him or not. It'd be, you know, you never know in the coaching profession why maybe someone's making a decision, they're going to have their personal or whatever reason to do it. But you know, I think a couple years ago, he probably would have taken the job and offered it to him. Wait, so when they were firing you, and I know you had a long relationship with Florida, they asked you who should replace you?

I think we're just talking. I said, Hey, you know, because you're getting let go. And there's still a game left for the season.

So I said, Hey, you know, I mean, I said, it's a very simple deal. Greg Knox, interim head coach, you know, I mean, he's assistant head coach, he's going to walk in, not going to miss a beat. He went let him do a victory over Florida State the next week. And, you know, I think he was a guy in place that thought, you know, that that could walk in and do that and take over as the interim head coach immediately.

You know, just ask that question, because I mean, I'm concerned for my coaches and your concern for the players. You know, and saying that I said, Hey, you know, I said that you guys got to go hire a coach. And I told that to the athletic director, I go hire Scott, Scott, I go hire Lane Kiffin, if I were you right now, because, you know, I mean, you want to Florida one's points, they love that kind of that swagger, that attitude that spur used to brag everybody, you know, the coaches that all the coaches been successful there have had.

And I thought he would kind of fit right into that role and help move them forward, especially if they were given the administrative support, finally have a facility have a budget, you know, let him create a recruiting budget that's competitive and, and have that support, he would do well with it. You know, it's kind of crazy, like five years ago, if I got on the radio, Dan Mullen, and I said, Hey, a coach at Ole Miss shouldn't leave for Florida, I would be told them like the biggest idiot in the world. But now at the landscape of the sport, you know, it's, it looks like it's a lateral move, or it could even be a step down from what Lane has right now at Ole Miss.

Yeah, you never know. I mean, it is I think, but I think coaching a lot of decisions, it's very personal for a lot of people, you know, where they're at, where they're at within the program, the relationship where they're headed, the support levels, they have their what they, you know, and there's a lot that goes in to make out how to make that decision. And there's an awful lot that goes into doing it's not just a simple decision.

It's not just this job is better than that job. And one of those, there's an awful lot of things that go into that decision. Dan Mullen here with us one more on Florida, I saw urban say the other day, urban Meyer, obviously that that ship has sailed. I don't think that surprises anyone that knows that relationship. I still can't believe he's not in the ring of honor. But how did you kind of process when you heard urban say that the other day when it's thrown out to know an urban really well, I don't know that you know, he wants to get back on the sidelines ever. You know, I think he enjoys his gig that he does on the morning show doing the TV stuff and being around football. So I don't know that you see him on the sidelines anywhere. And I know John Gruden made it clear that he wants to get involved in the coaching game as a head coach.

How do you think Chucky would be on a coaching sideline in college? Oh, you know, it's interesting. I think probably, you know, I would have said it's been a rough adjustment before. You know, because it's a very, it's a different game. You know, not not the game that's played, not the X's and O's.

I mean, that's very similar. But how you go about running the program in the organization, I mean, from an NFL setup to a college setup, there's a lot of differences, whether it's the recruiting, the NIL, you know, there's all the recruiting involved. You don't just sign players, there's no you don't jump into a free agency mid-season.

Someone gets hurt. Guys got to go to class and do other things. So I think there is a there is a big learning curve for guys coming to the NFL to go to college. Get into some of the games this weekend. I know you're on the call for South Alabama Ab State tonight, wrapping up with Dan Mullen, the former coach at Mississippi State and also Florida, Tennessee. I'm not saying they're the best team in the country, but they've been the team that's impressed me the most. I saw what they did early on up against NC State and the difference in the score was very encouraging.

Now they have Oklahoma. What do you kind of expect out of that game this weekend? You know, I think it's you'd love to say it's a big test for Tennessee, their first big test, but I thought they were tested at the NC State game by a quality team. It was a close game until right before halftime.

They had a they scored a defensive touchdown that kind of blew the game open. But I think that's one of the things for Tennessee that what's impressed me, obviously, no one a Josh Heifel offense. They have Nico Malayaba that can really is a great fit for him and the pronunciation. By the way, I think that's the best I've heard his name pronounced. Yeah, you know, I coached at Utah. I've had a bunch of Polynesian players as well.

And but also, you know, when you're doing the TV, you got to know some of the names. But no, I think he's a great fit. But their defense has been really impressive. You know, Oklahoma started fast and then kind of, you know, kind of lived through the rest of the game and then finish the game off. You're not going to be able to do that against Tennessee. You're gonna have to come out and play four quarters of defense against them to keep them in it.

And you're going to have to find a way to score points because they're going to score some points. When you get to USC Michigan, I know Michigan made the quarterback change. I thought Alex was going to start the season and ended up being Davis Warren. Is there any hope for Michigan in this game up against USC? Because that offense obviously has been a big problem for them out of the game. But as I was surprised as you were, I thought Alex would be the guy I thought you'd see boy, they're going to get to kind of a little bit of a quarterback run package, play action with him.

I think it's hard to adjust to that in one week. If they haven't been doing that already, coming into the game, I would say, you know, looking at this game preseason, I thought, okay, this will be a tricky one. But you know, the Michigan is going to keep making some statements here. You know, they're gonna play great defense, they're going to score enough and control the tempo of the game and run the ball and be really physical. I've been disappointed with Michigan, you know, where they're at what they've done and the steps, they've taken giant steps backwards, it looks like, you know, you knew they were weren't going to be as good as they were last year. But you figured, hey, we're going to sort out and figure out our offense.

They've kind of taken a jump or a leap backwards. Where USC on the other hand, looked really impressive to look better that they're they're much better coming into this game. USC is much better than I expected at Michigan's much, much worse than I expected.

So I think it's tough matchup, obviously. You know, you're a Southern California team, you're heading to the Midwest, I you know what, on that one, I what I should check, I haven't checked the weather report, which can always be an issue for, you know, for USC, the kids and Southern, the Southern kids going to play in cold up north weather. But how they've been executing how they've been playing, you know, I'm going with USC on that one. When I get to the Big 12, I know Utah plays Oklahoma State this weekend, going into the season, there's like seven or eight teams that you could probably make a case to win the Big 12. I made the case for Kansas State. Who do you like the best in the Big 12 this year?

Just wondering. Well, I think it's wide open Kansas State, I think it's an excellent football team, Oklahoma State where they you hate to doubt them. You know, with Mike Gundy, they find ways to win games every single year. They they have an explosive offense, you know, where's Ollie Gordon business here?

You know, we're still waiting for him to explode back onto the scene. And when he does that offense going to be even more potent again. And then obviously, Utah, and you know, I've been coming in the newcomer to the league, but you know, Kyle Whittingham's defenses, they're, they're going to be more heavy. Morgan Scali, their D coordinator, they're gonna be blitzing you from every direction, they're going to be big and physical up front. So they're not, you know, I mean, when you go play that, you're gonna sit there and say, Okay, well, maybe they'll, you know, they didn't load the box up, we can run the ball. They got some big men playing defensive tackle, and you're not moving them. And all of a sudden say, Okay, we can't run it, let's throw it.

And then look out because they're dialing up blitzes coming from every different direction coming after you. So, you know, I love cam rising, hopefully, he's back. And when he's back, he kind of brings that extra kind of it factor to the team that I think Utah is going to find a way to pull it out this year. last thing I'll ask you, we got your game tonight, South Alabama at state tomorrow, there's Illinois, Nebraska, Saturday, we got a bunch of good games that we talked about. But I'm already on to next week, we got Georgia on a buy, we got Alabama on a buy. We know Georgia looked a little vulnerable against Kentucky. But you know, Kirby smarty amenity loves that because now he can actually coach up his kids and they could listen. And then Alabama.

Hey, I we all love saving, right? Saban's a legend. He's the goat. But I thought the player that would benefit the most from having a new coach come in like an offensive minded coaching Caitlin DeBoer is Jayla milro. I had Georgia, Alabama this year in the championship game, I thought a little people, some people were looking over Alabama, but I can't wait for that one. Give me an early thought in the next week. Well, I do. I agree. I think you know, Georgia has gotten away a lot with this kind of they limp through games again, and then they kind of pull away late. And what you saw against Kentucky last week, they might not have the offensive firepower to pull away late this year, you know, you know, they're gonna play great defense. So, you know, it's not a surprise that going into the third quarter, it's a it's a low scoring close game. And then last year, what we're used to seeing them is Oh, they kind of wear you down and then hit a couple of explosive plays.

So we haven't seen that as much with Georgia this year. Where you know what, when you play a team like when you play Kirby smart defense, you got to be able to throw the ball down the field and have explosive plays. And then you got to be able to run you got to be consistent running the ball but create some big hits. Well, you know what, I think they have the ability to get the ball down the field with their wide outs. And Kayla, the board does a good job of that is stretching you vertically down the field to make big plays. And all of a sudden, once you start defending that now Jaylen Melrose, his playmaking ability is going to allow you to have those explosive plays. George is not gonna let you go on 1213 plate yard 13 play drives against you. But if you get the explosives, you win the game.

And the interesting one is, if Alabama can hit those explosives, I don't know that Georgia have the offensive firepower to stay with them in the game. Great breakdown. I know we're still a whole week to get through this weekend and then next week as well. Dan, enjoy the game tonight. We appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah, great to be with you.

Have a great day. There is Dan Mullen joining us on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. How about that? When he got fired at Florida, he was having a conversation and he recommended to Florida to hire Lane Kiffin all those years ago. I was not expecting that answer from Dan Mullen and that would have been a heck of a hire. And now Florida is just hoping that when that job does open up that Lane Kiffin will say yes right now.

I still feel like he's going to stay as the head football coach at Ole Miss. Alrighty, we'll take a time out when we come on back on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Eli Manning is on the Hall of Fame ballot. I think Eli Manning is a Hall of Famer, but Stu has put together a list of some quarterbacks that he wants to ask me about.

Eli or that QB. We'll get to that when we come on back. Not update time first. We'll take a time out and we'll be back after these short messages. Early returns on our poll question.

I can't speak today for some reason. What must the Jets do at the bare minimum for this season to be a success? Be in the Super Bowl, be in the AFC title game, win a playoff game, make the playoffs.

5 is be in the Super Bowl, 8 be in the AFC title game, 33% win a playoff game, and 54% say make the playoffs. I think it's win a playoff game for the Jets. We'll see what the Jets are made out of tonight. Going up against an inferior Patriot team. Pats can win this game. I don't think it's impossible for New England to win this game tonight.

It's unlikely, but if you run the ball with Ramondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson and you have a good enough defense, you keep the ball away from Aaron Rodgers and company. And through the first two games of the season, I've been more intrigued by the Jets offense, even though it hasn't been stellar compared to this Jets great defense that they have. And the first two games of the season, the Jets defense has not been any good. And you kind of look at the Jets. I don't think tonight you'll walk away feeling great about them, but if you want to show me you're more of a contender than a pretender, you don't even make this game close and you blow out the Patriots. And I say that wearing an Andre Tippett jersey, hoping the Patriots kick the Jets ass tonight.

Okay. But that's just the reality of the situation. So I had some of the hall of fame guys get released yesterday where they it's a whole process. And I don't know if it was like semifinalists or just like who's the guys that go from a buck 50 to 50, however they want to call it. But Eli Manning, obviously first time on the ballot, he is eligible and he made this round of cuts or whatever it is. So when you get to Eli Manning, he's very polarizing, even though Eli isn't a polarizing player when it comes to the hall of fame debate. I don't know if he'll get in on the first try. I don't love the whole, I only five guys get in a year, but I don't love the whole first ballot hall of Famer debate. Oh, this guy's a hall of Famer, but he's not a first ballot hall of Famer. You either are hall of Famer or you're not.

So I always think that's a little bit stupid. I will find it funny when Eli probably will get in on the first try. I like, if you put a gun to my head, Zach, does Eli get in on the first try?

Yes. That Eli has a chance to get in on the first try, but Terrell Owens had to wait three or four years, which was absolutely ridiculous and one of the biggest shams in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But when you look at Eli, regular season, he was not a great quarterback.

But in the postseason, when you go on two runs where you win two Super Bowls and you win two Super Bowl MVPs and you defeat the greatest dynasty in the history of the NFL, you're getting in the hall of fame. And also statistically, even though I don't think we have reviewed Eli as a top five quarterback in the regular season, all time he's top 10 in passing yards and passing touchdowns as well. So yes, I do think Eli Manning is a Hall of Famer. If I had to compare Eli to a player, not a person, a player in another sport, I would say he's the, what Kurt Schilling is the baseball is what Eli Manning is the football.

Take the politics aside, I'm not saying, you know, Kurt and Eli see eye to eye in the political world and how they conduct themselves. I'm saying as a player, Kurt Schilling was probably a better regular season pitcher than Eli Manning was a regular season quarterback. And in a crazy way, Kurt Schilling is one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time. I don't know if Eli's one of the greatest postseason quarterbacks of all time, but the point is really good regular season player and Kurt should be in the Hall of Fame. The reason he's on the Hall of Fame is I don't even want to say just politics, but when you talk about like lynching journalists, and then you ask those journalists to vote you in the Hall of Fame, even though I don't even, I'm not defending anything, Kurt Schilling has said, let me be abundantly clear on that, but I think we should just keep the focus on baseball when it comes to Kurt Schilling and Kurt Schilling's had a lot of despicable things and has said a lot of despicable things. But for me, the Hall of Fame is that I've always stood by this.

It's about what you did on the field and are you an all time great or are you not? But Kurt Schilling in the regular season was a very good regular season pitcher. But if it was just based off the regular season, he didn't have the postseason career that he's had. He would never be in the conversation for the Hall of Fame. But when you factor in being a very good regular season pitcher and one of the most feared postseason pitchers of all time, winning three world series. Yeah, that's what gets him into the Hall of Fame. That's what makes him his case.

And we'll see if he gets in one day. For Eli, it's similar. Really good, really good quarterback. Like solid quarterback.

You could do a lot worse. You could also have in the regular season a lot better. But postseason wise, you can't tell the history of the NFL if you exclude Eli Manning out of the Hall of Fame. Because the unstoppable force for 20 years were the Patriots. And Eli Manning beat a team that was 18-0 on the verge of history and then also played him again four years later and beat them again.

And in those runs, he was magnificent against Green Bay, against San Francisco, the grittiness he did show. I know you have the Tyree play and then you have one of the great throws in the history of the game to Mario Manningham. So Eli Manning, to me, is a Hall of Famer. But Stu, you have compiled a list of quarterbacks from like the last 15 years or so that you think it could be a conversation, Eli or that quarterback. And I'll give you my answers on this right now. So what do we got cooking?

All right. How about his NFC East counterpart, Tony Romo? Who would I rather have? I'd rather have Eli Manning. Tony Romo was a really good regular season quarterback. If he had a great postseason career, all right, maybe it's a closer argument. But Tony Romo, it's kind of similar how I view Dak Prescott.

Like really good in the regular season, but you know there's limitations. And I don't think you ever view any of those guys as top three quarterbacks, but you know that it's going to have a miserable ending in some capacity. So yes, I'd rather have Eli Manning over Tony Romo. What about Eli or someone else that was in his draft class, Big Ben Roethlisberger? Ben Roethlisberger. Ben Roethlisberger was the better regular season player. He was thought of more than Eli Manning in the regular season. And also Big Ben did find a way to win two Super Bowls.

So I would rather be Big Ben. And another guy from that draft class, another quarterback from that draft class, Eli Manning or Philip Rivers? I love Philip Rivers.

I do. Philip Rivers is a gamer. He's a warrior. He is tough as nails playing that AFC Championship game up against the Pats on a torn ACL. And he was a better regular season quarterback than Eli Manning. But in the postseason, that's the difference. Philip Rivers, what did you do in the postseason?

What did you do in the postseason? I'd rather be Eli Manning over Philip Rivers. Eli Manning or Matt Ryan?

Oh, that's a good one. Because Matt Ryan won an MVP. If Matt Ryan won the Super Bowl against New England when he was up 28-3, I think the answer would be Matt Ryan. But he didn't. He choked it. And Matt Ryan's career, unfortunately, when you think of Matt Ryan, as good of a quarterback as he was, and maybe underappreciated at times, if you say, what's the one moment that you remember Matt Ryan's career associated with?

It's choking a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. So I'd rather be Eli. Eli Manning or Donovan McNabb?

Number five will always love you. I love Donovan McNabb. Really good regular season quarterback.

Was always there in the postseason. Bunch of NFC Championship game losses. Lost in the Super Bowl. I'd rather be Eli Manning. Eli Manning, two Super Bowl MVPs, two Super Bowl Championships. It's Eli over Donovan McNabb. But Donovan McNabb was a very good quarterback. What about Eli Manning or Stafford? Oh, boy.

That's a good one. Stafford won a ring with the Rams, was on those dreadful Detroit Lions teams. Has only made one Pro Bowl.

Oh, that's good. I think, see, that's close. But no like individual outstanding award for Matthew Stafford. That's as close as close could be. I'll go Eli slightly over Stafford. What about Eli Manning or Joe Flacco? Very similar. We're guys that were good in the regular season.

No one ever viewed them. This is going to be intentional as elite. I know that's very, what's the word, contentious that I'm talking about. Conversational, not conversational.

What's the word I'm looking for? Controversial. My brain is fried today. I'm stupid today. I'm just going to be honest with you.

You're already at MetLife Stadium. Yeah. Mentally. I've had a week.

All right. So I would say with Joe Flacco, it was similar to Eli. No one ever viewed them as great in the regular season. But in the post season, I'll tell you, as a Pats fan, I fear Joe Flacco more in the post season than Peyton Manning. And it ain't even close.

Not even close. But I would say Eli because of the two Super Bowl MVPs. You know, Flacco won a Super Bowl.

He won the Super, he won the Super Bowl MVP, I think. Yeah. But I'd rather go Eli just because of the two. And they're both against the Pats.

All right. Last one. Eli Manning or Russell Wilson? See, that one's tough.

You want to know why? If Russ didn't have the last three years, I think it may rather be Russell Wilson. But the last three years have happened. And Eli had an ugly end too with the whole McAdoo situation.

But you know what? Russ does have that kind of Matt Ryan feel to him. Where if you look back at the career of Russell Wilson, like Stu, let's do a little exercise here. Russell Wilson, first moment you think of on the field. The Seattle Super Bowl victory of the Patriots. Well, the loss, you mean? The loss, yes.

The interception. Yeah, the loss. I mean, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

That's the first thing you think of. With like Matt Ryan, great career, but 28 to 3. And at least Russ won his Super Bowl. And he was a nine-time Pro Bowler. But with Russell Wilson, even when they won the Super Bowl, and this was an insecurity he had, you thought more Legion of Boom, Marshawn Lynch, Pete Carroll. There were other things you thought of. So because of that, when I think of Eli, I think of the two Super Bowls, two Super Bowl MVPs.

I'd rather have the career of Eli Manning than the career of Russell Wilson. It is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll come on back. A storyline that was flying under the radar from Monday Night Football.

Am I looking too much into this one? I'll get to it on the other side. Update time first. Here he is, the act man, Rich Ackerman. Zach Gelb's show, Infinity Sports Network. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes. Up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam and just a few health questions.

Get your free quote and check Ethos.com, not available in all states. I don't know if you caught this, Stu, and I don't know if maybe I'm looking really too deep into this, but I saw a video before the Eagles-Falcons game on Monday night that I was at. And on the field before the game was Matt Patricia and Bill Belichick. Now, Matt Patricia worked on the Eagles staff last year. He was eventually the interim defensive coordinator, replacing Sean Desai or whatever they wanted to call it. And Belichick is now out of a job. He was supposedly interested in the Eagles, but the Eagles never fired Nick Sirianni. And Belichick is now a media mogul, which is crazy because he despised the media for all those years. And Bill is a part of the Manning broadcast now, I guess.

But the Mannings aren't at the games. So he was in Philadelphia at the game, on the field, before the game, and then I guess went into the press box or some booth and they had him ESPN's call in the game, obviously, Monday night. And they had him do that hit, I guess, live from the stadium. But I don't think Bill needed to be there.

And I know he didn't need to be there to do the hit. So I asked, why was Bill there? I think that's Bill, once again, just trying to make himself as visible as possible. And Belichick, right, in this new era of coaching, you got to kind of be a player's coach, but you don't want to be too much of a player's coach where you can't be a doormat. He's in that mode right now where he needs to reshape his image, where we all know Bill Belichick is associated with greatness. We all know he's a six-time Super Bowl champion as a head coach. But I don't think that was just a coincidence why Bill Belichick was in Philadelphia on Monday night. I think he wanted to be there. I think he has a lot of mutual, there's a lot of mutual respect, Howie Roseman, Bill Belichick, Bill Belichick, Howie Roseman. And I think that was kind of Bill, you know, a dog will mark their territory where a dog will just take a number one, take a leak somewhere. I think that was Bill just kind of taking a leak a little bit and marking his territory saying, guys, I'm the new Bill Belichick. I'm the six-time Super Bowl champion.

Remember me? You know, I'm going to appear to be friendly with the media. I'm going to do all these jobs, smile on McAfee shows, smile on the Manning cast, do inside the NFL, have all these moments, right, that are fun moments where now I look like a different person and I've been like humanized a little bit. That's what I think Bill is doing. And I said this was going to happen the moment Bill was going to let go.

I said, if Bill doesn't get hired, Bill will go on one of these tours. Remember like McCarthy? I forget who they had come over, but they had someone go over his house and he said, oh, look at me embracing all the analytics, right? And oh, this is how McCarthy spent his year away. And it perceived that there was this image that now Mike McCarthy's an analytics guy.

Did that actually translate over to Dallas? No, he's the same Mike McCarthy as he was with Green Bay. So with Belichick, I think that's the one knock on him. Like a team like Atlanta didn't hire him because they feared that, right, a lot of those people in the organization were going to lose their job and Bill, right, he's not going to be able to coach the way that he coached in New England because the My Way or the Highway guy act in the year of 2024 doesn't work anymore. But Bill being in Philly last night is another visible moment, right? Bill missing football. Bill's chopping it up with the Manning brothers.

Fun, fun, rubbing elbows up. Belichick, he actually smiled. I can't believe it. And then I don't think it was a point by Bill that wasn't calculated because he knows Philadelphia, passionate fan base, Sirianni on the hot seat. Let me just be there and maybe the Eagles will go on out and have a great game. But if the Eagles don't have a great game, then you may have people saying what?

Fire Sirianni. And also, who were they playing? The Atlanta Falcons. I think that was Bill also being there if the Eagles did have a great game. Oh, Atlanta, Arthur Blank, you wanted to hire me, right?

You could have got me. So that was a kind of a win-win for Bill Belichick last night. Falcons suck in the game, let's just say. Oh, we should have hired Belichick. Why did we hire Raheem Morris? Eagles suck in the game. Oh, get rid of Sirianni.

Let's go get Bill Belichick. I thought that was a very calculated decision, Stu, for the hoodie, BB, to be in that building the other night. Yeah, it's a very stupid observation by you. And I was watching it.

It's funny. When they showed that those two, Patricia and Belichick, when they were honoring Nick Foles. Oh, did they? The ESPN broadcast did. And Scott Van Pelt. Oh, those two guys that were very, you know, instrumental in the Nick Foles success story or however they worded it.

And I thought that was funny. But you're right. You're right. Belichick, even though he is a part of the broadcast, the ESPN 2 Manning cast, there's no reason for him to be there. Hayden and Eli aren't even there. They're not there. If they were all there, I would get that.

But no, you're totally right. There's absolutely no reason for him to be there. That was definitely him trying to, you know, get his name and face out there more. It's actually a missed opportunity by the Manning broadcast to not have Peyton and Eli there.

Like, I get it. That broadcast is supposed to be more conversational, more laid back, right? Like, sit down on your couch and just, you know, pop open a beer and watch football and talk about it in a fun way. But that game in particular, who cares if Peyton Manning's not there? You need Eli as more of the character, I think, than Peyton. Eli, to me, is the better broadcaster than Peyton. Peyton, when he was playing, like, Saturday Night Live, right?

Big personality. I think Eli is funnier. And I think Eli is better on the Manning broadcast. And, like, Eli loves playing that villain, like that unintentionally polarizing villain, because he's such a good dude. Like, when I had him on the Super Bowl, I'm like, oh, this guy ruined my life. And then he just looked at me and goes, yeah, we had the Screw Zach El play in that Super Bowl with the whole Tyree.

It wasn't like, he didn't put any glue on his helmet. We just said, yeah, let's go ruin Zach El's life. Like, I walked away from that interview, I'm talking to Eli, and I'm like, I can't hate this guy. Even though he gave me just two horrific losses that as a kid were definitely tormenting.

There's no doubt about it. But imagine if we had Eli in that building at Lincoln Financial Field the other night. Like, Eagles fans don't hate Peyton Manning. Belichick, they did hate Belichick, but then they got their revenge winning that Super Bowl.

So it's like one of those things where if you had Eli walking on the field before the game, the booze in Philadelphia would have been great. Right now, like, if you look at the Belichick market for next year. If I had to put you on the spots, though, I think there's three destinations that immediately come to mind. What would you say two or three of those destinations are?

I'm just curious if we have different thoughts here. I would say Eagles, Cowboys. I have two more, either Giants or Bears. Oh, OK. Those would be my four. I think those are the right four. You know, it's funny, earlier in the week I said Belichick and the Bears.

I threw that out there and then I forgot that I said it. I was going to go with the three right there. I was going to say Giants. I was going to say the Eagles and the Cowboys. I think Jerry Jones would do it.

Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman want more of a puppet as their coach. But when the puppet didn't work to winning you a Super Bowl like Sirianni's had success. First year made the playoffs, second year went to the Super Bowl, third year. I get it.

They were 10 and one. They were terrible down the stretch, but he's made the playoffs three times. So I can't say that's a disaster of a hire. However, with that being said.

When Sirianni had his flaws and he kind of lost control of the locker room, Belichick's the complete opposite of that. So I would think the Eagles ultimately would do it. And they have so much talent there. And then the Giants, man, I like Shane and Debal, but these first two weeks have been embarrassing.

You could be bad, but it can't be embarrassing. And it's been embarrassing. However, the Giants are so far away. I know Bill has a lot of respect for the Giants. Why would he go there? Like if you're those four teams that we just mentioned, Cowboys have a quarterback at least.

C.D. Lamb, Micah Parsons. You could tell me on the on winning games, maybe not winning a Super Bowl, but winning games in Dallas. And, you know, he wants to go get that Shuler record, which he's not that far off from the Eagles. You could talk to me and to Bill going there, winning a Super Bowl. The Bears, they got talent.

That line needs to be fixed. But you could talk to me about Belichick going there and winning games in three, four years and then riding off into the sunset. You may not have another Super Bowl, but you go to the playoffs. The Giants, they're so far away. They don't got a quarterback.

All right. You got Malik neighbors. You got some good defensive players. Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeau. You know, Brian Burns.

Bobby O'Kara. But there's not. The Giants are clearly the outlier there. When you look at those three teams, I would say if I'm Belichick, Eagles would be one. The Cowboys and the Bears is tough.

It's tough. I think for Bill, Cowboys would be two. Bears, he could run the entire show, but I don't think that's great for Bill. I would say the Bears would be three and the Giants would be four.

I think those are the four destinations. I do believe Belichick, though, will be coaching next year because the Falcons were interested. The Falcons wanted to hire him. But that image perception on Kenny coach in 2024, be the My Way Highway guy, all these TV appearances, people are looking at Bill like, oh, look, he's enjoying it so much. Bill knows what he's doing. He's not a dummy.

He's trying to trick you. And Bill will go back to pretty much being the same old Bill when he becomes the coach of wherever he does become next. But I do think like I would be very surprised if Bill doesn't get hired this cycle and Bill doesn't get another opportunity to be head coach. He's a legend. He's an immortal. He deserves that.

All right. This is Zach Gilp's show on the Infinity Sports Network. Someone that was drafted by Bill Belichick in New England. First round pick out of Florida. Dominic Easley is going to be joining us on the other side in studio. He was drafted by the Pats, did play for the Rams with McVeigh and also starred at Florida. So he'll join us on the other side. We'll do a little Billy Napier conversation, talk about the Pats and go around the entirety of the league as well with Dominic Easley.