# Mike Florio on the Chargers, JJ McCarthy, The Rams, Jayden Daniels

An episode of [Softy & Dick Interviews](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1245866571), 1 Oct 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/98a2599f-cd9b-4f2a-9be4-b22c00e585f2/907d6469-cef5-4bda-9f13-b2f100f49399/1f1d80ad-837c-4e27-90e7-b4d600052a96/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=26b16ce4-8fab-44ea-88d4-b2f100f493bc

Mike Florio joins the show to talk about the winless Chargers, whether JJ McCarthy will start for the Giants, whether Nick Sirianni is on the hot seat in Philadelphia and how long the Titans can roll with Cam Ward at quarterback. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: It's time for our weekly conversation with Pro Football Talk's
[0:04] Speaker 1: Mike Florio, brought to you by Simply Seattle. Tired of
[0:07] Speaker 1: buying and repping the same old Seattle sports gear everyone
[0:10] Speaker 1: else has? For the best Seahawks, Mariners, Krakens, Sounders, Storm,
[0:15] Speaker 1: not to mention the largest Sonics collection in the world,
[0:18] Speaker 1: check out simplyseattle.com. Now with Mike Florio, here's Softie and Dick.
[0:23] Speaker 2: All right, here we go on a busy Wednesday afternoon.
[0:26] Speaker 2: Right here on 93.3 KJR FM. Big thanks to our
[0:29] Speaker 2: friends at SimplySeattle.com. Don't forget, whatever it is you got
[0:32] Speaker 2: your eye on, KJR 15 for 15% off anything at SimplySeattle.com.
[0:38] Speaker 3: How dare you?
[0:39] Speaker 2: The king of the NFL media, the undisputed heavyweight champion
[0:44] Speaker 2: of the pro football press corps, ProFootballTalk.com, PFT Live, our friend,
[0:49] Speaker 2: Mike Florio. Michael, how are you?
[0:52] Speaker 3: Is that a new intro?
[0:53] Speaker 2: Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
[0:57] Speaker 3: Impressive.
[0:59] Speaker 2: There's a story behind that, by the way, that I
[1:02] Speaker 2: will tell you off the air. And once I tell
[1:04] Speaker 2: you off the air, Dick, you know why. I'll tell
[1:07] Speaker 2: you off the air, you'll understand. But we're going to
[1:09] Speaker 2: keep it off the air, and I will explain to
[1:10] Speaker 2: you off the air why we're doing it. All right?
[1:12] Speaker 4: The dramatic music's pretty good.
[1:13] Speaker 3: I think I know. Gotcha. All right.
[1:15] Speaker 2: Well, Mike Florio's with us. Mike, let's talk about this
[1:18] Speaker 2: game with the Seahawks and Chargers on Sunday for a
[1:20] Speaker 2: little bit. Dick and I were just talking, you know,
[1:22] Speaker 2: what's more dangerous, a pissed-off Seahawk team or a desperate
[1:25] Speaker 2: Charger team at 0-3? How surprised are you to see
[1:29] Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert rolling in here at 0-3
[1:32] Speaker 2: on Sunday, man?
[1:33] Speaker 3: Well, it's stunning when you consider that they got the
[1:37] Speaker 3: pair of FCS schools at home to start the season,
[1:41] Speaker 3: and they lost to both of them. That's what's stunning.
[1:44] Speaker 3: They got a meat grinder after week two, but... There's
[1:49] Speaker 3: some stats that they're the first team to lose back-to-back
[1:52] Speaker 3: home games against teams that won fewer than 20% of
[1:55] Speaker 3: their games in the prior year since the 1926 Racine Tornadoes.
[1:59] Speaker 3: That's how long it's been for the planets to line
[2:02] Speaker 3: up the way they did for the Chargers. And the
[2:04] Speaker 3: Chargers just seem broken. And it's not just any one thing.
[2:07] Speaker 1: It's institutional.
[2:09] Speaker 3: And, look, the biggest change, offensive coordinator. Greg Roman got fired,
[2:15] Speaker 3: longtime assistant of Jim Harbaugh. They bring in Mike McDaniel,
[2:20] Speaker 3: and I suspect at some point we will hear reports
[2:24] Speaker 3: that Herbert and McDaniel do not get along. They are
[2:29] Speaker 3: two dramatically different personalities, and I suspect that at some
[2:34] Speaker 3: point Herbert has thought, if not eventually outright said, somebody
[2:39] Speaker 3: tell that guy to shut the hell up. Because McDaniel
[2:41] Speaker 3: goes on and on and on and on and on.
[2:43] Speaker 3: You ask him what time it is, and he'll give
[2:45] Speaker 3: you a 15-minute answer. And he's charming, but I don't
[2:48] Speaker 3: think Herbert He's down with that. And I suspect there's
[2:50] Speaker 3: a personality conflict. The offense isn't working. Nothing is working.
[2:55] Speaker 3: And the Seahawks got the wake-up call this past weekend against...
[2:59] Speaker 3: The question is, did the commanders expose something that the
[3:02] Speaker 3: Chargers could take advantage of? The reality, though, is the
[3:04] Speaker 3: Chargers are barely functional right now. I don't know if
[3:06] Speaker 3: they could take advantage of it, even if there is
[3:08] Speaker 3: some blueprint in what the commanders did to Seattle's offense
[3:12] Speaker 3: and defense.
[3:13] Speaker 4: So weigh in on that conversation Safi and I were
[3:16] Speaker 4: having before you came on. The level of fight... left
[3:20] Speaker 4: in the chargers because the seahawks have not been the
[3:21] Speaker 4: type of team that goes up on you two touchdowns
[3:24] Speaker 4: and and cruises they usually kind of play with you
[3:27] Speaker 4: for a while and then put you away in the
[3:29] Speaker 4: second half so i think the chargers at least score
[3:32] Speaker 4: wise will be in this game for the second half well.
[3:36] Speaker 3: It's just got to be difficult mentally to find a
[3:38] Speaker 3: way to hit a reset on the fly after you
[3:41] Speaker 3: lose the first two games you should have won and
[3:43] Speaker 3: then you go to buffalo they give you the ball
[3:44] Speaker 3: three times in the first half you're up 10 nothing
[3:48] Speaker 3: you lose the game and The same problems keep resurfacing.
[3:52] Speaker 3: They just aren't good enough right now. And so you
[3:55] Speaker 3: got to fly back to LA from Buffalo and then
[3:58] Speaker 3: you got to go up to Seattle. And I just don't,
[4:02] Speaker 3: I don't know that they can do it. Now, look,
[4:05] Speaker 3: we all thought that Seahawks would beat the commanders last week.
[4:07] Speaker 3: The one thing we learn about the NFL every week
[4:10] Speaker 3: is whenever we think we have things figured out, we
[4:12] Speaker 3: find out in dramatic fashion that we don't know anything,
[4:15] Speaker 3: but we, This is the worst time to catch the Seahawks.
[4:19] Speaker 3: If the Seahawks had won last weekend, then this is
[4:22] Speaker 3: where we get into what I call correction Sunday territory.
[4:25] Speaker 3: You know, the Dolphins could beat the Vikings on Sunday,
[4:27] Speaker 3: for example. The Vikings shouldn't be 3-0. Now the Dolphins
[4:30] Speaker 3: are bad enough to be 0-3. But any given Sunday
[4:33] Speaker 3: or Monday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday, I need
[4:36] Speaker 3: to change that cliche. Basically, any given day except Tuesday.
[4:39] Speaker 2: Right.
[4:41] Speaker 3: One team can beat another. No doubt.
[4:43] Speaker 2: Well, Mike Florio is with us, courtesy of SimplySeattle.com. And Mike, J.J. McCarthy,
[4:48] Speaker 2: since we last spoke, traded to the Giants for a
[4:51] Speaker 2: 2027 draft pick. Will they give him, do you think
[4:54] Speaker 2: John Harbaugh gives him a chance eventually to take over
[4:58] Speaker 2: that gig? I know it's Jameis for now, but how
[5:00] Speaker 2: serious are they about letting J.J. win that job until
[5:04] Speaker 2: Jackson Dart comes back?
[5:06] Speaker 3: Depends on what Jameis Winston does. And it also depends
[5:10] Speaker 3: upon how McCarthy reacts to the fact that for whatever reason,
[5:14] Speaker 3: it didn't work for him in Minnesota. And it could
[5:17] Speaker 3: be him. It could be how they handled him. Jim
[5:20] Speaker 3: Harbaugh loves JJ McCarthy. Jim Harbaugh said earlier today, to
[5:24] Speaker 3: no surprise, he and John spoke about McCarthy before the
[5:28] Speaker 3: Giants traded for him. And maybe John Harbaugh's style will
[5:32] Speaker 3: work better with JJ McCarthy, get him to respond better.
[5:35] Speaker 3: You know, the problem with McCarthy is he's got one pitch.
[5:39] Speaker 3: in his arsenal and it's fastball and he never really
[5:44] Speaker 3: got away from that on a consistent basis and to
[5:46] Speaker 3: be successful in the nfl you have to be able
[5:49] Speaker 3: to throw lobs you have to be able to throw
[5:51] Speaker 3: off speed you have to be able to throw sometimes
[5:53] Speaker 3: different arm angles you got to make decisions about how
[5:56] Speaker 3: you're going to get the ball to the guy you're
[5:58] Speaker 3: not going to throw a ball through a guy and
[6:00] Speaker 3: Too many times we see him crank up in this
[6:03] Speaker 3: long windup and fire the ball, and it just hasn't worked.
[6:06] Speaker 3: And also, he gets injured too often. There's a lot
[6:08] Speaker 3: of similarities between him and Jackson Dart. McCarthy got hurt
[6:13] Speaker 3: several times last year, missed six games due to injury
[6:17] Speaker 3: in 2025. His big shot at proving that he deserved
[6:20] Speaker 3: to be the Vikings starter. The smart teams in the NFL,
[6:25] Speaker 3: when they make a mistake, they admit it and they
[6:27] Speaker 3: move on. And that's what the Vikings have done. And
[6:30] Speaker 3: now they just have to hope that McCarthy doesn't become
[6:31] Speaker 3: a Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield or Daniel Jones in New
[6:36] Speaker 3: York or elsewhere, because that'll just make one of the
[6:39] Speaker 3: worst first round quarterback draft blunders of the century even
[6:43] Speaker 3: more glaring if somebody else turns him into what the
[6:45] Speaker 3: Vikings couldn't.
[6:46] Speaker 4: Mike, we just saw an embarrassing performance from the Philadelphia Eagles.
[6:49] Speaker 4: I mean, backup quarterback, 27-7. The Eagles have scored no
[6:54] Speaker 4: points in the first quarter this year and six points
[6:56] Speaker 4: in the third quarter.
[6:56] Speaker 2: Those are the quarters that you're supposed.
[6:58] Speaker 4: To have the planning going in and before the game
[7:00] Speaker 4: and halftime. I mean, what's Nick Sirianni's job status if
[7:06] Speaker 4: this Eagle team goes 7-10, 8-9 and misses the playoffs?
[7:11] Speaker 3: Well, but they've been to the playoffs every year, and
[7:13] Speaker 3: he has been very good in September. It was a
[7:15] Speaker 3: rare September loss for him on Monday night. He's breaking
[7:19] Speaker 3: in yet another offensive coordinator, and they're on this weird
[7:22] Speaker 3: pendulum swing where one year the coordinator does well enough
[7:25] Speaker 3: that he becomes a head coach somewhere else, and then
[7:28] Speaker 3: the next offensive coordinator gets fired, and then the next
[7:32] Speaker 3: offensive coordinator gets a head coaching job, and then the
[7:34] Speaker 3: next guy gets fired. And there's a lot of pressure
[7:36] Speaker 3: on Sean Manning, who's never been a coordinator before. They
[7:40] Speaker 3: had a hard time finding someone who wanted that job
[7:42] Speaker 3: because of all the pressure that is on that position
[7:45] Speaker 3: to get more out of Jalen Hurts and ultimately to
[7:48] Speaker 3: avoid the kind of year that could, could happen. potentially
[7:51] Speaker 3: result in Jeffrey Lurie deciding to make a change it
[7:55] Speaker 3: would be something though he's won a Super Bowl he's
[7:57] Speaker 3: been to two how much grace do you get as
[8:00] Speaker 3: you continue to try to figure out a way to
[8:03] Speaker 3: have an offense and a coordinator who is going to
[8:05] Speaker 3: be there long enough to get the continuity you're looking
[8:08] Speaker 3: for I almost think that Sirianni if it really is
[8:11] Speaker 3: a bad year He'll get another chance with another quarterback,
[8:16] Speaker 3: and he'll be on the hot seat next year. I'd
[8:19] Speaker 3: be very surprised if he'd be fired after this year.
[8:23] Speaker 2: Mike Florio is with us. Mike, are you starting to
[8:25] Speaker 2: notice maybe a crack in the armor in LA with
[8:28] Speaker 2: the Rams? I mean, you know, McVay, they blow the
[8:31] Speaker 2: lead against Denver. He cuts his press conference off way early,
[8:34] Speaker 2: like two minutes in. He's still complaining about the PI
[8:38] Speaker 2: call from the game over the weekend. I mean, are
[8:41] Speaker 2: we starting to kind of notice maybe a little bit
[8:43] Speaker 2: of chink in the armor down there at all?
[8:46] Speaker 3: Well, the aberration was the week one game. They mishandled
[8:51] Speaker 3: the travel plans. They looked like they hadn't even gotten
[8:54] Speaker 3: off the plane for the game against the 49ers. They
[8:58] Speaker 3: looked very good in week two against the Giants. Of course,
[9:00] Speaker 3: it helped that the Giants lost their starting quarterback early
[9:02] Speaker 3: in the game. But they could have and should have
[9:04] Speaker 3: won the game on Sunday night. And I think McVay
[9:07] Speaker 3: understands his temper enough to know that there are certain
[9:11] Speaker 3: circumstances where he's not able to suppress it. And so
[9:14] Speaker 3: he rushes into the press room before the reporters can
[9:16] Speaker 3: get there. You wait for the first log. You say
[9:18] Speaker 3: thank you very much and you leave. Because if he
[9:21] Speaker 3: had had a bunch of questions that he was answering,
[9:23] Speaker 3: he may have said something that would have gotten him
[9:24] Speaker 3: fined because obviously there were a few controversial calls near
[9:27] Speaker 3: the end of that game. And we saw him after the.
[9:30] Speaker 3: The crazy game last December on the Thursday night against
[9:33] Speaker 3: the Seahawks. He was a little more blunt, a little
[9:36] Speaker 3: more candid than he usually is. So I think he
[9:38] Speaker 3: was trying to avoid that. They just got to get
[9:40] Speaker 3: it together and they got to win and they have
[9:41] Speaker 3: to go to Philly. What a big game this is
[9:43] Speaker 3: where the Eagles have been exposed a little bit. The
[9:46] Speaker 3: Rams are at one and two and then the Rams
[9:48] Speaker 3: host the Buffalo Bills the following Monday night. So we're
[9:52] Speaker 3: going to see a lot of Rams games this year
[9:53] Speaker 3: in primetime. We've already seen three out of three and
[9:57] Speaker 3: they need to turn it around if they're gonna live
[9:59] Speaker 3: up to that promise and potential wasn't all that long
[10:02] Speaker 3: ago that we're ready to just cancel the season and
[10:04] Speaker 3: give them the trophy.
[10:05] Speaker 4: That's right if you're Dan Quinn uh when do you
[10:08] Speaker 4: bring Jaden Daniels back and is he gonna wear a
[10:11] Speaker 4: brace on that elbow to prevent hyperextension again I was
[10:14] Speaker 4: surprised he didn't wear it already you know going into
[10:18] Speaker 4: this season.
[10:20] Speaker 3: Well, I guess they thought it was healed, and I
[10:22] Speaker 3: don't know what the treatment options were for it last year.
[10:25] Speaker 3: There's something there because the injury happened almost the exact
[10:29] Speaker 3: same way, falling down, putting your left arm out to
[10:32] Speaker 3: brace yourself, and the elbow dislocates. It happened at the
[10:35] Speaker 3: goal line against the Seahawks last year on the Sunday
[10:37] Speaker 3: night game. Happened when he tripped at the line of scrimmage.
[10:40] Speaker 3: He got stepped on his foot, fell down, puts his
[10:42] Speaker 3: hand out, braces himself, and it dislocates the same way.
[10:45] Speaker 3: And he's got that big brace. He was at practice today.
[10:48] Speaker 3: I think your ride with Mariota As long as you can.
[10:51] Speaker 3: He looked great this past weekend. Ride him until he
[10:54] Speaker 3: cools off. Let Jaden Daniels heal. The subtext of all this,
[10:58] Speaker 3: it's Daniels' third season. And he's trying to put together
[11:03] Speaker 3: the kind of performance that unlocks a contract that pays
[11:06] Speaker 3: him in excess of $ 50 million a year. And if
[11:08] Speaker 3: he's not playing, that's a problem. So there's going to
[11:12] Speaker 3: be a lot of pressure, and his mom's his agent.
[11:14] Speaker 3: There's going to be a lot of agitation to get
[11:17] Speaker 3: him back on the field. Dan Quinn just wants to
[11:19] Speaker 3: save his job. He wants to win. And I think
[11:22] Speaker 3: what Mariota did this past Sunday is enough to earn
[11:24] Speaker 3: him an opportunity to keep it going until he cools off.
[11:28] Speaker 3: Because I was impressed. I was stunned that we saw
[11:31] Speaker 3: what we saw from Mariota. But, you know, he's still
[11:33] Speaker 3: got a high... degree of physical skill. He's only 32
[11:37] Speaker 3: and he's got the experience from all these years of
[11:40] Speaker 3: playing and being around football. So I'd let it ride
[11:43] Speaker 3: and let Daniels get healthy.
[11:45] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[11:46] Speaker 3: And they're going to have a decision to make after
[11:48] Speaker 3: this season about his future.
[11:49] Speaker 2: All right, real quick, before you go quickly, speaking of
[11:52] Speaker 2: the future, how much longer will the Titans be rolling
[11:54] Speaker 2: with Cam Ward before they just say enough is enough?
[11:58] Speaker 3: Well, what's their alternative?
[12:00] Speaker 2: I don't know. Who's their backup?
[12:01] Speaker 3: Who's their backup?
[12:01] Speaker 4: I have no idea.
[12:02] Speaker 2: Who is it?
[12:05] Speaker 3: It's Mitchell Trubisky.
[12:06] Speaker 2: Okay.
[12:07] Speaker 3: Legend.
[12:08] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[12:08] Speaker 3: Legend. Here's what happens. And this is why I don't
[12:12] Speaker 3: like the draft. When you are the top prospect in
[12:15] Speaker 3: any given draft, that means the worst team in the
[12:18] Speaker 3: league has dibs on you. And you get pulled against
[12:23] Speaker 3: your will into an organization that you wouldn't choose to
[12:27] Speaker 3: work for. And in no other industry do you not
[12:30] Speaker 3: have that kind of freedom to decide where you are
[12:32] Speaker 3: going to take your talents. And we've seen quarterbacks get
[12:36] Speaker 3: ruined by bad organizations. Cam Ward hasn't had a chance
[12:40] Speaker 3: to really develop into the guy that he can be.
[12:42] Speaker 3: And as Robert Sala, the coach of the team today said,
[12:45] Speaker 3: he thinks he's got PTSD from all the sacks he
[12:47] Speaker 3: took last year. And what that means in this context
[12:50] Speaker 3: is it screws up your clock. So if you're in
[12:54] Speaker 3: the pocket and you're looking for an open receiver and
[12:55] Speaker 3: the game's on the line, instead of waiting for the
[12:58] Speaker 3: guy to pop open you think the walls are closing
[13:01] Speaker 3: in even when they aren't and you make a throw
[13:03] Speaker 3: prematurely it gets intercepted and the chance to win a
[13:06] Speaker 3: game becomes a loss that's what i think has happened
[13:08] Speaker 3: to him and they just got to get this figured
[13:11] Speaker 3: out i think he's got the potential and the ability
[13:14] Speaker 3: but he's got nothing around him and there's plenty of
[13:15] Speaker 3: quarterbacks if they were on that titans team right now
[13:18] Speaker 3: they'd be in the same predicament.
[13:19] Speaker 2: This is why you build the rest of the team
[13:21] Speaker 2: first and then go get the quarterback, just like the
[13:24] Speaker 2: 2012 Hawks. That's the blueprint, Mike. I'm telling you, look
[13:27] Speaker 2: it up. All right, great stuff. Appreciate it.
[13:29] Speaker 3: And that's why if you are bad enough to earn
[13:31] Speaker 3: the first overall pick in the draft, unless you're convinced
[13:34] Speaker 3: it's a generational talent that is going to be able
[13:37] Speaker 3: to thrive despite who's around you, you trade that pick
[13:40] Speaker 3: and you get more picks and you address all your
[13:42] Speaker 3: other needs.
[13:43] Speaker 2: No doubt. Yeah, build it from the inside out, man.
[13:45] Speaker 2: All right, Mike, great stuff. We'll talk in a week, buddy.
[13:47] Speaker 2: Thank you. Thanks, Mike.
[13:49] Speaker 3: Bye.
[13:49] Speaker 2: All right, Mike Florio with us right there. We're going
[13:51] Speaker 2: to break. Factor Fiction brought to you by the Lucky
[13:54] Speaker 2: Eagle Casino and Hotel. It's Wednesday, our pick of the day,
[13:57] Speaker 2: coming next on 93.3 KJRFM.

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