December 3, 2018 • 48 mins
Colin compares the Patriots to Starbucks because they are consistent no matter where or when they play. He thinks Aaron Rodgers got exactly what he wanted but not necessarily what is best for the Packers moving forward. Plus, former Packers WR Greg Jennings talks about Mike McCarthy being fired and Super Bowl Champion Trent Dilfer explains why the Steelers are no longer a Super Bowl contender. Presented by Perky Jerky.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. This Sun of Monday
(00:24):
is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
It is great to have you, and Joey Taylor is
joining me on a Monday, one hour from now. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, It's great to
be here. Good morning, Good morning. By the way, I
want to talk about the Packers in a second, put
(00:45):
New England up first. I want to talk about this.
I grew up in Seattle, the home of Starbucks, and
I've known people throughout the years that worked at Starbucks,
like a couple executives. And you know, one of the
secrets to a great business. You can be in Seattle,
you can be in Shanghai, you can be in Sacacas,
Staten Island. It doesn't matter. They look the same, the
(01:08):
coffee tastes the same, the service is the same. That's
a good business. It's not like you get a Starbucks coffee.
Here the bean is burnt and over there it's Starbucks.
Like a good business is consistent. I remember I moved
fifteen years to go to Connecticut. I didn't grow up
a Patriot fan, and at this time, the Patriots weren't
a dynasty. And I started watching New England games every snap.
(01:29):
And you know, I was in that area with New
England and the thing that was always remarkable to me
about New England and I've never seen anything in the
NFL like it. It's the same team every week. I
could take yesterday's video of that game against Minnesota, put
it back eleven years ago. Looks the same. It's the same.
It's the same team. No penalties, they don't turn it over,
(01:49):
they never fumble, They're very good on third down, they
generally have good pass protection, terrific situationally. And they went
in Foxborough by about ten And here we are in December,
third week fourteen, and I'm looking at the box score
last night. The second leading wide receiver in the NFL.
Adam Feeling held at twenty eight yards. Mister one hundred
(02:10):
yards held the twenty eight yards at one point screaming
at Bill Belichick because he was so upset. And here's
New England averaging nine point seven yards of pass, seven
yards of play, seven for fourteen on third down, and
dominated time of possession. They took away Minnesota's great asset.
Adam Feeland got somebody yelled at the coach, Bill Belichick.
(02:31):
It's the same darn team, the only team in the NFL.
You could literally tape the tape of yesterday's Vikings game,
Viking Patriot game. Just take the tape of it eight
years ago, looks the exact same. It's a Starbucks. Doesn't
matter what city you go do. A well run business
is a replica of itself, over and over and over.
(02:51):
You don't want to go to a coffee shop or
a brigger joint where in one place that's sloppy in
a mask, the other place it's pristine and clean. Yesterday
was methodical and mundane and meticulous. It was New England.
And here it is December third, and I'm sitting to
myself thinking, Houston, Oh, you think they're gonna go to Foxborough.
They've never wanted New England. Pittsburgh can't close out close games.
(03:12):
Kansas said he's not the same team without Kareem Hunt
and the LA Chargers. I mean, that was fun last
night Foxborough. Eleven degrees trusted him. That thing wasn't even
in doubt last night. And here's the other thing that's amazing.
We get caught up in stars. New England had nine
guys catch a football. Nine they had seven guys carry
(03:34):
the ball, so they had sixteen different people catch or
carry the football. And I feel when I watched New
England play is I grew up in my life. My
childhood was fine, but there was a little chaos. I
want how to step dad get into a fist fight
with his brother on Thanksgiving. There was a lot of
craziness and divorces in my life, and I've got a
therapist about it for years and years. I don't like
(03:55):
a lot of chaos. I get up, I eat the
same thing, work out the same time, go to bed
the same time. I'm not a big drama guy, not
a big fan of drama or dramatic people in every
NFL franchise, to me, feels like a version of bitcoin.
I mean, even the good organizations like the Saints had
a three year drought. The Steelers have had years. They're
just not they can't get it together. Even the good organizations,
(04:16):
the Packers now are a mess. And here is slow
and methodical and meticulous, almost mundane New England. And by
the way, let me just throw these out there, because
this morning I wake up and I look at the
AFC and I think they're gonna win the damn thing again.
New England's gonna win the AFC again. Their drama off
season nipped it in the bud. Here we go Philip
(04:38):
Rivers oh for seven in his career against Brady Ben
big Ben two for eight the franchise for the Texans,
oh for the franchise against him, Andrew Lux oh for
six against him, and Patrick mahomes is oh for one.
I mean, there are teams and there are people in
this league. The Steelers are certain one of them almost
(05:01):
addicted to drama. Hey men, every week there's a story
it's bitcoin. Oh my god, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, He's
like they're addicted to drama. What is remarkable about New England?
And I've never seen anything like it in my life
in the National Football League, the consistency. It is the
same team every year. It's not just Belichick. Didn't look
(05:24):
like that in Cleveland with Belichick. It's not just Brady,
because they had it with Matt Castle, they just weren't
as good. It is a combination of both ownership, coach,
quarterback culture. It's absolutely remarkable. And I look up and
down the AFC playoff picture right now, and I'm sorry,
but I'm taking New England once again. I think the
(05:48):
Chiefs are gonna stumble here down the stretch. Their schedules brutal,
the Patriots schedule and their divisions easier. But I mean,
I just I don't have any drama. They got rid
of it in the off season by October. Here we go,
Here comes IBM and cleats, Here it comes Google in
a helmet. I'm just the same thing. Incredible, incredible. Let
(06:09):
me shift gears to this. Mike McCarthy got fired yesterday.
That's where it doesn't have any Green Bay like that.
That's pretty strange, right, Like Green Bay is one of
those places they take care of their own, They take
care of their players. If they have to dismiss somebody,
they often don't even fire them, They just move them
to different cubicle. This is kind of a classy, refined organization.
Small town takes care of their people, and they just
(06:32):
pushed him out middle of the season. Right. And by
the way, this of course means all of Aaron rodgers
problems are solved, right, And it was all McCarthy, okay,
because they lost Arizona yesterday. That was all on McCarthy.
It should be noted that Aaron now makes thirty three
(06:54):
million a year. None of the top six highest paid
quarterbacks in the league current lead their division. There's a reason,
because you can't afford other good players. Aaron's gonna be
the highest paid or second highest paid guy in this
league for several years. Breeze, Ben Brady take pay cuts.
Aaron is not, and so he's gonna be forced to
play with the younger, cheaper players. And Aaron Rodgers does
(07:17):
not like younger players. He's a highly cerebral guy who
gets worn out from this rookie from you know, Louisville,
or this rookie from you know, Washington State. He gets
worn out. By the way, He's had two major injuries.
And this is what I think is interesting that everybody's like, well,
(07:39):
he just needs Sean McVay, he just needs Matt Nagge,
he just needs the next young Sean Payton. Really, you
think that a newbie is gonna walk into Aaron Rodgers,
thirty six year old hot shot coordinator, first time head coach,
is gonna walk into Aaron Rodgers, and Aaron's like, oh here,
(08:01):
take my career, go ed, Hey, it's your team, not mine.
No no, no, no, no, no no, no no no, that's
not the way it's gonna work. This will always be
Aaron's team. For nine years, all I've been hearing is
Aaron can do no wrong, and we got the problem
out of here now, Mike McCarthy. So we'll obviously go
(08:22):
fifteen and one, fourteen and two, But I'll tell you this.
You look around the quarterbacks who are really hitting it
right now, Goff, Mahomes, Watson, Luck, Breeze, Brady. All of
them have very coachable personalities. All of them have an
(08:42):
excellent relationship with somebody offensively to Shaun and Bill O'Brien,
Brady and Josh McDaniels, Goff and McVeigh, Patrick, Mahomes and
Andy Reid, Drew Brees and Sean Payton, Andrew Luck and
Frank Wright all have a very coachable, amenable personality all
(09:03):
of them. All of them have an excellent offensive partner.
And this is the rub. Aaron's never had that great
offensive partner. Is anybody considered Aaron's not real coachable? And
(09:23):
there's a reason, all these years in the NFL, he's
never had a great partner. Like if it takes this long,
you're ten years into a career and you've never had
the perfect partner, maybe it's you. I mean, Goff found
a partner immediately, and Drew Brees found a partner immediately,
And boy Tom Brady had multiple guys he worked with immediately,
(09:46):
and Joe Montana had a guy immediately, and John Elway,
by his second head coach, had a guy he worked
with immediately. But folks, I know one thing. Difficult people.
The richer they get and the more famous they get,
the more difficult they get. Go ask Jimmy Johnson about
Marino at the end. Go ask the guys Brad Childress
(10:09):
who coach Farve at the end. Go ask anybody who
coached Jay Cutler at the end. Wealth and fame doesn't
make difficult people easier. To coach if after ten years
you've never had that relationship, that's almost like a guy
(10:31):
in his late forties who's not married. It's not everybody else,
maybe it's him. So you can keep telling me all
the issues are solved now with Aaron Rodgers and what
I've said from day one about Aaron, I don't doubt
for a second he's far Marino level talented. But he's difficult.
(10:53):
He is difficult, and the issues will not all be
solved for this thirty five year old, twice injured, highly expensive,
doesn't want to work with newbies, legendary guy. They're not
all going to be solved. I think he'll win a bunch.
I think it'll be interesting. I think he's a Hall
of Famer. I say over and over it's great to watch.
(11:17):
But if you think everybody solved now, come back in
a couple of years. It's not that the vision's never
been tougher. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. So that
Chargers game last night, that Steelers Chargers game was crazytown,
But ask yourself, when's the last boring game the Steelers
(11:41):
played it was Week eight. Yesterday was a great example
of the difference between the Patriots and the Steelers. The
Patriots were playing a game that was Fox's Game of
the Week. It's Brady, it's Minnesota, the world's talking about it.
It was almost boring the Steelers game against the Chargers.
Steelers are favorite and for the third straight week Jacksonville
(12:01):
Denver Chargers, it's crazy town at the end of the games.
They've had one kind of mundane performance since Week eight.
No team in the NFL empties the tank emotionally every
week like Pittsburgh every week. And I don't think you
can do this. I don't think you can play at
(12:25):
this level of drama every week. The Golden State Warriors
have a lot of drama, but they are so separated
from the rest of their sport. In the NFL, it's inches,
not feet. But think about teams this year that have
been really dramatic. Green Bay and Jacksonville in the tank, Philadelphia,
Oakland in the tank. Pittsburgh has so much talent they
(12:48):
can overcome a lot of the fireworks and theatrics, but
I think it's going to wear them out. Two teams
in the NFL this year had some real drama in
June the Seahawks and the Patriots. Pete Carroll got it
out of the room. Belichick figured out a way to
soften it, and both are great Patriots. Seattle Humming. You
(13:15):
ever watched those shows? Real Housewives of Orange County, Real
Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives? You ever seen those shows?
And they're flipping tables at lunch? Like you ever notice
for those shows, like three women go out for lunch
in New York and they're throwing sham pane glasses at
each other and flipping tables, and You're like, it's eleven
(13:36):
forty five on a Tuesday, what's happening here? You ever
notice for those shows? All the divorces on those shows.
I mean, I know I live in a country now
that's outraged about everything. Every fifteen minutes there's an outrage,
but it wears on you. And I just think Pittsburgh,
every game is closed, every game is tight, there's I
(13:56):
just don't think this is last. I picked them to
win the Super Bowl and I'm watching them yesterday. Could
they have a week where a game is over with
eight to go? Could they have a week when the
last play of the game isn't everything. I think it's
going to wear them out. And you look at the mundane,
meticulous nature of their arrival New England, which had all
sorts of drama and got rid of it. And then
(14:17):
we all thought Lavian Bell was the problem. And he's
out of town. There's more drama. The games are crazier
that Mike Tomlin talked about it after the game. I mean,
even officiating. Here's Mike Tomlin. We didn't establish rhythm in
the beginning of the second half. We had a couple
of drives killed by penalties, holding penalties. Its catastrophic. You know,
(14:42):
I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. I'm gonna do that
because I send enough money to New York. I mean,
at the end of the game, off sides, off sides,
off side, that Mike Tomlin doesn't want to talk. It
should be noted the Steelers joy still play, argue the
best team in the NFC on the schedule of the Saints,
(15:03):
and the best team arguably in the AFC, the Patriots.
How much drama? How many wild finishes can a team
deal with? I mean, the thing about the Rams. You're
watching the Rams this year and most of their games
are sealed with about eight minutes to go. It's a
nice flight back. You don't hear a lot from him.
(15:24):
At some point this has to put. You can't empty
the tank emotionally. Every Sunday, be sure to catch live
editions of the Herd Weekday said noun Easter, not a empacific.
Greg Jennings was a multiple time pro bowler, won a
ring with a Packers a decade in the NFL as
a top flight wide receiver. He is joining us via
the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, so the Packers
(15:45):
fire Mike McCarthy. My takeaway, which used to be a
hot take but I hear now everywhere, is I don't
think Aaron's the easiest guy in the world to coach.
Am I wrong? Absolutely not, absolutely not. When you have
a guy who holds so much in his own hands
(16:06):
because of his talent, his ability, his skill set, and
now because of his pocketbook, it's going to be a
challenge for the Green Bay Packers to go out and
find a coach who is willing. Not who's willing, because
every a lot of coaches will be willing, but who
can take on the task of coaching not only the
(16:26):
Green Bay Packers, one of the most storage franchises in
all of football and all of sport, but Aaron Rodgers
with him on the downslide of his career. You know, Greg,
because he signed that contract that's gonna guarantee that his
teammates are going to be younger. You can't afford expensive guys.
(16:49):
I think Aaron is hard to play with for young players.
I want to go back to your career as you
grew with Aaron, made a little more money, had now
established yourself as an elite receiver. Take me back to
your first two years with Aaron, when you didn't have
all the coin, when nobody knew who Greg Jennings was.
(17:10):
Is he hard to play with when you're new, when
you're young, when you're not established. Well, I think the
difference for me was I entered the Green Bay Packer
organization with Brett Farvee as my quarterback. So once Aaron
took over, you know, I had had a couple of
years under my belt and had started to make a
(17:32):
name for myself and so we as a receiver group,
we as an offense, we had success. And then incomes
Aaron Rodgers, who we knew who was going to be
a very very good talent, and he didn't prove us
wrong or himself wrong. And I think for me, when
I look at young guys on that team with Aaron Rodgers,
(17:52):
that quarterback, he's going to have to understand that I'm
going to own it. And what I mean by that
is I have to deflect everything off of my young
guys because I want to protect them. I want them
to grow. I have to learn how to be a nurturer.
I have to learn how to take the blunt of
the hit as well as the experience all the success
(18:16):
and praise that comes with things. And I think that's
one thing that young guys will struggle with with Aaron
Rodgers is he's not always been willing to say that
was me, that's my fault, let me take the let
me take that off my young guys shoulder, that was
all on me. Is the Green Bay job? Is it
a great job? I mean, let's face it, small town,
(18:39):
only thing in town. They don't go get a lot
of free agents. They've got their own culture. They like
the guys they draft. If I said to you, Greg,
if you went into coaching and there were ten jobs available,
Is Green Bay a great job, because I think a
lot of people think it is. But is it? You know,
it's a great job because you have the opportunity to
(19:02):
leave one of the most story franchises in all of football.
In this situation, it is a job that you think
of with great detail. Meaning not only am I taking
on the Green Bay Packer organization, but I'm taking on
Aaron Rodgers. I'm taking on one of the faces of
(19:22):
the National Football League at thirty five years old, and
I have to overcome what Mike McCarthy, what all the media,
what we all saw Mike McCarthy was unable to do,
which was to get the best out of an Aaron
Rodgers talent that he possibly could. Can you do that?
(19:43):
And can you handle what comes with not doing that?
If you choose to take that job. You know, it's
very interesting. You're in a very unique position, Greg because
you played with a legend who had a stack of money,
was the most popular guy in the world, Brett Farve
at the end, and then you were introduced to a
young Aaron And I've heard, you know, Jimmy Johnson with
(20:03):
Dan Marino, Brad Childress with an old Farv. It's those
guys are they have a strong point of view on
life when they're young. By the time they get rich
and famous and old, they're tougher. Go back to your
Farve years the last couple because I think Aaron's entered
that territory rich, popular, established, iconic. Was Brett in the
(20:26):
last couple of years. I know it was great with you, Greg,
but was he sometimes difficult? I think Brett Farr was
definitely difficult for coach McCarthy coming in. McCarthy and I
Mike McCarthy and I came in to Green Bay at
the same year. His rookie year was my rookie year.
And what I what I noticed and I experience with
(20:47):
that is when you enter into a relationship with someone
and you have no type of rapport with them, it's
even that much more difficult and challenging. The luxury Mike
mc arthy had was that he had a relationship with
Brett Farre going dating back to his early coaching days,
and so the Green Bay Packers understood, we can bring
(21:09):
this guy in because he's going to have Brett's attention.
And I think when you look at Aaron Rodgers and
you look at the comparison with Brett farre that's the
only thing that's different here, or that's the number one
that's Yeah, that's the number one thing that's different. There
is gonna be no coach that really has a relationship
with Aaron Rodgers. So you're gonna be coming in starting
(21:31):
from scratch, a guy who who has one of the
highest IQ's in all of football, who believes that he
knows just about everything, if not all of everything. Can
you can you be thick enough, thick skinned enough, strong willed,
and strong minded enough to butt heads with that at
times and tell him, no, this is how we're gonna
(21:52):
do it. This is what you need to know, and
this is how I can help you grow. That's going
to be the challenge for the Green Bay Packers. Can
they find that coach that can do that? You know,
the division, no previous relationship. Yeah no, it's said, listen,
I think you're bringing up the stuff that I questioned,
the idea that you're gonna bring some you know, Sean
McVay hotshot in and say, okay, tell Aaron how football
was invented? Uh, you know, I just don't see that
(22:13):
working out. Let me ask you this though, Let's go
to physically with Aaron, he just turned thirty five yesterday,
a couple of shoulder surgeries. Do you believe he's got
four to five years left of great quarterback play or
do you watch him now and think you know, physically
he's back nine, he's hold eleven. What do you see
(22:33):
physically with Aaron? Physically? I definitely see him on the
back nine. Back eleven is good. It's safe to safe.
But here's the thing when you when you watch Aaron
Rodgers and you look at what he can do physically,
If he can stay healthy, he can be elusive and
(22:55):
he can be electric. My question is, and I've mentioned
this before on your show, where I think in order
for Aaron to continue to play into his early forties,
as he has mentioned that he would like to do,
he has to become a more pure pocket passer. Yeah,
stop going outside the pocket, outside the tackles, and taking
(23:19):
those extra hits, because when Aaron Rodgers has been hurt,
it has come to his ability to extend the plays,
get outside the pocket and then expose himself. If he's
willing to become a more primary pocket passer, then yes,
I think he can play at a high level, extremely
high level for the next four or five six years. Yeah. Good,
(23:42):
that's so. That's kind of what I believe too. It's
not like he's not a pocket guy, but he is
a jazz musician. He's an ad libber. He goes off
script and he gets you a lot of home runs
that way. But that's that's how the guys track him
down and drive his shoulder into the truth. Greg Jennings,
great talking to you, Bud. Thanks so much. Absolutely one
more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
(24:04):
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. College
football's got its final four set. This is the final
four that we bought into a week ago. A couple
of weeks, last couple of weeks we've been on a Bama, Clemson,
Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, and so that's the final four
we got. We said Georgia had to beat Alabama. It's
(24:26):
not fair that if you lose to Alabama, Alabama should
not have to play a couple of weeks later. That's
not fair. And we didn't buy into Ohio State because
and the committee agreed with us. Here you can't lose
to Purdue by twenty nine points. What the committee really
told you, and this is what we talked about. I
preached this Friday. This is what I preach Friday. I said,
(24:48):
ugly losses are more harmful than a goodwin is helpful
because everybody, even bad college football teams, have impressive wins.
But eight college football teams don't get beat by thirty
by per don't. Okay, So, Ohio State, the committee told
you that George's ugly loss to LSU eliminated them. It
(25:11):
wasn't the Obama game. If Georgia beat LSU and lost Obama,
they be in this thing. The committee told you that
Georgia's loss coupled with Obama's loss, or Obama's went over Georgia,
those two you're out in Ohio State. You're not going
to overcome a twenty nine point loss. And I agree
that none of those five teams ahead of Ohio State
(25:33):
would lose to Purdue by thirty points. But here's the
other thing. So now here we have our final four, Obama, Clemson, Oklahoma,
Notre Dame. That's who I think should be in, and
I think it should be Georgia five in Ohio State six.
I'm great with that, and that's what the committee saw.
But I hear now a little complaining about this Georgia.
(25:53):
I mean, come on, I watched that game. They are
every bed as good as Alabama. Well, perhaps Apps. But
remember this in the South, there are two things SEC
teams do. They refuse to play a ninth conference game
like other conferences, they only play eight, and they argue
(26:16):
that's because it's so tough down here. And then they
also face more cupcakes out of conference, and there are
argument is, well, it's so tough down here. Okay, fine,
so we're gonna let you play one less conference game,
and we're gonna allow you more cupcakes. I mean, did
you see who Georgia played out of conference this year?
(26:37):
It was typical Middle Tennessee State, Austin p u Masks.
I mean, forget Georgia Tech, that's an in state rival.
If you're gonna be allowed to face one less conference game,
all right, okay, you got it, and face three absolute cupcakes,
all right. Then I'm gonna judge your season on a
(26:58):
handful of huge games. And Georgia, you had three big
games this year Florida, LSU and Bama and you went
one and two, I wouldn't judge you so harshly. But
if you're gonna have the SEC won't play a ninth
conference games, faces more cupcakes than everybody. They always have
an in season by right before the big game. All right,
(27:20):
we'll give you all those, but then I'm gonna come
down on you hard on two or three big games
and you had three biggies. I mean, I don't talk
about Kentucky. Nobody gives a rip about Kentucky football. In Kentucky,
I mean nobody cares. I'm gonna judge on three games
Florida beat him, LSU blown out, Bama beating one and two,
can't go one in two, and your three big games
(27:40):
because you got three weeks this year against Middle Tennessee
State and Austin p and UMass that were weeks off.
Then you have, you know, a buye And I'll give
the Southern teams all that, but then I'm gonna I'm
gonna judge your season on one or two games where
I'm not gonna for everybody else and so and in
the end, I thought the committee did a good job.
I thought the finals say everybody always bangs on the
(28:02):
committee if I have to hear Dickie V and somebody
rail on the College Basketball Committee, they do a great job.
If those guys in college basketball didn't know what they
were doing, then you'd have nine seeds and eight seeds
and seven seeds in the final four. You ever notice
who's in the Final four? One seeds, two seeds, three seeds,
four seeds. Because the seeding's good. All the media does
(28:23):
is act outrage a bunch of phony fake news. Every year.
If you go to the Elite eight, it's always seven
of the eight teams or one seed, two seed, three seed,
four seed. Maybe they'll be like a seven seed. That
means the seeding was good. And you can say what
you want, But the bottom line here is, once again
the committee got it right and they did something that
I think is very very important for all of us
(28:44):
to remember. It's not your wins what the committee looked
for in your worst moment, how bad were you Because
in the history of college football the last twenty eight years,
no national champion and chip team has ever gotten blown out. Ever,
now they've lost. Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech. I
(29:07):
watched that game. It wasn't a blowout. It was two
really good football teams and it was a two score game.
You cannot lose by thirty to Purdue. Okay, LSU lost
to Alabama like twenty nine. Nothing. You're out at home,
done over. You can go to the Outback Bowl, you
can go to the Sugar Bowl. Not playing for the
national championship. Kirk Herbstreet defended Georgia's case to be in
(29:30):
the playoff. Here it was I think the committee has
said that two losses is too much for Georgia to overcome.
This is a historical moment as far as evaluating a
committee and moving forward because the eyeball test. To me,
clearly Georgia is a top four team. But at some
point you have to go with what is instead of
what might have happened. I agree with that too. I'll
(29:52):
say it again. If Georgia doesn't get blown out by
LSU they lose in overtime, and if they scheduled out
of conference Wisconsin Utah and they won those games, I
may think of it differently. But when you go three
and four Cupcakes and you won't play a ninth conference game,
I'm a judge. You're really harshly on one or two
(30:14):
or three and you were one and two Georgia. In
those three you were one and two. I'm your season
boils down in the sec to a couple of games
because you're not willing to play big dogs out a conference.
You won't even play average schools at a conference, and
you won't play a ninth conference game. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
(30:37):
the iHeart Radio app every Monday at this time. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, Where Colin was right.
You know you pay Kirk Cousins twenty eight million, it's
the double whammy. You're paying him too much and he
can't deliver in big spots. Last night was week four
yards per pass. He had a third and eleven. Last
night a big third and eleven late in the game.
(30:59):
He could not get rid of that ball fast enough
to a slant pattern. I mean, in the end, when
you pay twenty eight million, you better be getting all
world performance, because even Breeze, Brady and Ben have taken
pay cuts two more years for Kirk Cousins at twenty
eight large, they're now six to five and one. It's
a good roster, Adam Feeling twenty eight yards. I mean,
(31:23):
Kirk Cousins, it should be noted as six two two
hundred pounds. You know, Carson Wentz is six four and
a half two thirty five not a physical specimen, and I,
you know, only to pay him that much. I like him,
but I always thought there's a lot of fools gold
here where Colin was raw. I think this year a
lot of times I start cool and then get hot
(31:46):
and betting. My Blazing five is on a two week
losing streak. I didn't think Lamar Jackson would be three
and zero. I didn't think Andrew Luck and the Colts
would be shut out, and I didn't think the Vikings
would be barely competitive. I mean, listen, Blazing five. I'm
gonna have to fire some employees in the Blazing five
staff because right now they're not getting it done. How
(32:06):
the hell did Andrew Luck get shut out? That game
was beyond I almost threw a shoe at the television
this weekend. Not very strong for his MVP case. It's
like that strugging emoji's moving up a little higher where
Colin was right. The final four in college football, what
we predicted it would be a couple of weeks ago, Bama, Clemson,
Notre Dame in Oklahoma. Oklahoma does not have a great defense.
(32:30):
I'm not saying they do, but a wizard as a coach,
a lot of great playmakers, tremendous mobile quarterback. They'll make
Alabama sweat a little. And the committee rewarded Oklahoma for
only having one blemish on their schedule, a very good
team in Texas that will go to a good bowl
(32:51):
and they avenge the loss. Meanwhile, what the committee said
and I agreed with was Ohio State's twenty nine point loss,
coupled with the fact that Ohio State, what did they
do well all year? Not running the football, not defense,
not coaching, a lot of drama. I think Ohio State
(33:12):
was a very good football team in the last two games.
I thought they were very good against Michigan and very
good against Northwestern. I thought Oklahoma, outside of a game
against Army, pretty much gave me a good effort all year.
Got it right where Colin was row Yeah, as Joy mentioned,
my MVP thing got screwed up. I had Breeze and
(33:32):
Andrew Luck running away with it. Well, Drew at his
worst game ever and Luck got shut out. Fellas, I
got ten points combined, and Mahomes, by the way, I
let his team in rushing and had four touchdown passes.
It's not that I don't like Mahomes. I do. I've
just been a little cooler on his ad living style
than everybody else. He's a tremendous talent. But I saw
(33:53):
him place I'm in college, in my sources of oat
he's a little loosey goosey. He's got a perfect system
now with Andy, he's got a great deep thread or two.
He's got Travis. You know, it's all perfect for him.
And we've seen guys like Dak when it's all perfect,
be great. But I think Mahomes wrapped up the MVP
yesterday where Colin was right. Listen, Baker Mayfield, bummer. You
(34:19):
don't get to face Cincinnati every week. We told you.
Now he's gonna face on the road a real defense
in Houston and come back to earth three picks in
the first half. Cleveland as an offense had four turnovers.
Baker got shut out in the first half. By the way,
he made some really nice throws. But here's what I
didn't like, and this is what I've never liked about Baker.
(34:40):
Baker had a little success. Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap,
last ten games. Okay, Baker was very quiet when he
was losing early. He was a professional. Baker had a
little taste of success oh Cincinnati in Atlanta's defenses. Lamar
tore up at Lanta's defense. Lamar's a kid, just like
you're a kid. But Lamar, I'm not hearing anything from
(35:04):
Lamar Jackson. I don't Lamar Jackson's won three straight. I
don't hear a peep out of him. Baker Mayfield went
in a little winning streak. Well, this is reality, Baker.
There's a lot more Houston Texans than there are Bengals
defenses in the NFL where Colin was raw. Pete Carroll
should be coach of the year in the NFL, he
(35:24):
should be coach of the year. I've said this with Pete.
I think Pete's gonna be a Hall of Fame coach.
I'm not doubting that won a national title in college
and a Super Bowl. I'm not doubting that. But I've
been told through the years by veteran players, his sort
of raw, raw energy wears skin with older players, well,
He has done a masterful job. He got rid of
some of the older noisier players and this is a
(35:45):
younger defense. They played discipline, they played with great energy.
This is a perfect team for Pete Carroll and he
is I think rebooted the running game. And right now
they're a five seed. They're red hot. They've got some
good home games coming up. Listen. I always thought Pete
was a good coach, but I thought a lot of
his stuff it had about a you know, it's like
a seven year window and then the divorce hits with Pete.
(36:07):
But he has rebooted it and he should be really
proud because this is a no mistakes run, the football
assignment defense, no drama. Congrats to Pete Carroll where Colin
was right. Listen to my knock on Cam Newton has
always been I'm not doubting you're talented, but dude, you're
a You're a roller coaster. They were six and two,
(36:31):
they're now six and six. He had four picks yesterday
against one of the worst defenses known to man, Tampa Bay.
He has never had back to back winning seasons, but hey,
he looked cool coming into the stadium. Nobody looks cooler
and nobody's nobody looks cooler than Cam, but I don't
want to hear abody doesn't have weapons. DJ Moore is
a terrific young receiver. Devin Funchius is a very good receiver.
(36:52):
Greg Olson's gonna make the Hall of Fame arguably at
tight end, and McCaffrey has been terrific. And they're old
lines above average. Tired of hearing about the excuses you
can't be in this league eight years and me throwing
four picks against the division rival, and you know all
their players. You faced Tampa Bay twice a year, you
know their schemes, you know their Tom Brady knows Miami,
(37:17):
the Jets, and Buffalo. Those are the games. Tom knows
every trick in the book for those teams. That was
classic roller coaster Cam. They just didn't look prepared to
play where Colin was raw. Atlanta was my Super Bowl pick. Now,
they had some injuries early, but come on, man, you
cannot have this level of offensive talent and in four
straight weeks score sixteen, nineteen, seventeen, and sixteen points. I mean,
(37:44):
there's just way too much talent on this team. And
I don't really know who to blame. I'm not in
that locker room. But even if they had health, because
I thought in the first month I could blame injuries.
I mean they came in on crutches. It's more than that.
It's there. They're too finesse. Matt Ryan's not played. Well,
maybe it's Sark and Matt Ryan, but you know, I
(38:06):
just I over valued the stability of Matt Ryan's second year.
Was Sark, they're a mess. And then and they got
way too much offensive talent to be scoring in the
teens at home where Colin was right. I went to
the Chargers draft room this year and everybody thought I
(38:26):
was being a homer, and I said, Derwin James is
going to be the steal of the draft. And every
NFL source I had said, man, you were in the
right draft room tonight, because Derwin James is great. I
think he could be a top three safety in this league.
I'm serious. Last night he was unbelievable. And now the Chargers,
(38:51):
for all the doubters out there, they didn't have their
best player offensively, they didn't have their star Melvin Gordon
running back. And it doesn't matter because they had Jackson,
a seventh round rookie who was great. But Derwin James
put on a clinic and validated why I said when
I was in that Chargers room, the steel of the draft,
not because I was there, was Derwin James. He is
(39:13):
absolutely incredible where Colin was right. Well, Cam Baker, Rogers
and Ben went oh for four yesterday. Football's hard, It's
even harder with drama. Baker Mayfield kept that Hugh Jackson
story alive for an extra six days, and Big Ben
(39:35):
kept that interception in Denver alive for another five days.
I was talking about it on Friday. You know who
wasn't dramatic this week? Russell Wilson and Tom Brady. Okay,
quarterbacks are the leader of a franchise. They're like presidents.
You're sopposed to be fire extinguishers, not gasoline. And the
(39:55):
dramatic four and I talked about him last week. Cam Baker, Rogers,
Ben noise, drama, theatrics, Oh for four yesterday. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon.
Easter not a Empacific. Okay, I want to go to
my guy A Trent Dilford decade and a half, a
(40:16):
Super Bowl, Pro Bowl joining us via the Coward Global
Satellite Network. All Right, what kind of coach does Aaron
Rodgers need? Trent Well, I think that's a a coach
that has a lot of sophistication. A coach sick can
intellectually match him. A coach is gonna work as hard
(40:36):
as him and invest as much into their offense, being creative.
A coach is gonna make his job easier. And I
think that's the crux of this whole thing is that
if you go back and look at Aaron Rodgers' career,
going back to cal where Jeff Petford coached him, he
was very coachable Jeff. You get Jeff on the show,
Jeff will tell he's his coachable as he player he's
(40:56):
ever had. But he pushed the coaching staff every single
day to bring their best stuff when he first got
to Green Bay. And he's backing up Brett Farve. One
of the friction points when Brett and him was Aaron
wanted to be coached. Aaron wanted to be He wanted
to grow as a player, He wanted to inspire the
scout team that he was running. He wanted to enhance
his game. So he was hard to coach in the
(41:18):
sense that he demanded a lot, but he wanted to
be coached. His first few years as a starter, that
staff was on edge. McCarthy was still heavenly involved in
the offense. It was created, it was cutting edge. It
did allow him to do his job the best, and
Aaron was very coachable and very engaged. And then this
last four to five years and we talked to him
at the other place, calling this isn't new news. It
(41:39):
might be new news to some people, this is old
news to me and you we knew four and five
years ago. There was real frication there. There was some
stuff that Aaron didn't feel as if that coaching staff
was as invested as much as he was, that was
giving him and his offense the best stuff each week,
and that now it culminates in Mike McCarthy getting fired.
(41:59):
So answer your question, it needs to be somebody that
can come in there and say, hey, Aaron number one,
I'm the head flipping coach, and my job is to
get the most from the least and the best from
the best. And most of this group is the least,
but the best is you, and I'm gonna demand the
best from you. But I'm also gonna give you new
tools to be more successful. And that's all McVeigh does,
(42:20):
That's all Naggie does, that's all McDaniels does, That's all
Sean Payton does to this day is they try to
get the most in the least and the best from
the best. And it comes getting the best from the best.
It takes a certain amount of intellectual property. It takes
a certain creativity to help back quarterback make that job
a little bit easier than it is. Steelers, Chargers. I
(42:41):
swear to God, every Pittsburgh game they give everything emotionally.
There are no easy games. They're all drumming. I said,
they're like the housewives of New York City. They're flipping
over tables and throwing champagne at each other at lunch.
I mean, doesn't that take a toll on the Steelers
After a while? Every game comes down to the final play.
You've been on teams that were in blowouts and close games.
(43:04):
Can you just keep playing like this emotional level through
the playoffs? Drama creates inconsistency. Lack of drama creates consistency.
I'm sure we're going to segue at some point and
talk to your love buttons. The Patriots, Yeah, and they
lack drama. Therefore they're consistent. The Steelers are inconsistent because
there's always drama around whatever they're doing. Even their head coach,
(43:28):
who tries to be so stoic and tries to be
so stern, he creates drama with some of his commentary,
So they create drama. They're inconsistent on the field. The
great teams are the big college are pro. They try
to eliminate every aspect of drama because they know that'll
turn into consistency between the lines. And I'm watching New
England last night. I said, I could take that game
from last night and replace it with one from six
(43:51):
years ago, and it looks the exact same. They do
the same thing. They take away your weapon, very few penalties,
no fumbles. They're good situation. Their pass rush is inconsistent,
but always seems to be pretty good in a big
third down. What do you make of their consistency, Well,
they forever they've mitigated risk, right, They've taken risk out
(44:12):
of the equation. They're like a great investor. I have
a lot of very very wealthy friends that are great investors,
and those great investors don't take on risk. They're actually
very careful with risk. But they'll outvet the things they're
researching to invest in. They'll do more research, we'll talk
to more people, and they'll take just steady gains. And
I think that's what the Patriots do, is that they
take all the big risk out of it. They're gonna
(44:34):
outwork their opponent. They're gonna vet their opponent a little
bit better, and they're gonna say, hey, we'll take small
little margins over and over and over, week after week,
year after year, and know that that's going to lead
to victories that we're gonna be sitting pretty atin. We're
never gonna put too much out there on the table.
We're never gonna risk too much that we may get exposed.
That's what they do offensively, that's what they do defensively.
(44:56):
That's nice game plan against against Minnies. I'm sorry, yesterday's game,
playing as Minnesota was as simple as you could possibly be.
Play really saw or come up and blitz everybody. Play
really soft or come up and blitz everybody. I mean,
it was that way all game long. That's as simple
as it gets. But they knew that when they blitzed everybody,
it would force on the fourth and eleven for the
(45:16):
ball to come out at two yards. They know that
on first and second down they want to play action,
push the ball fifteen twenty yards down the field. They
were going to give up those plays, so they know
you better than they know yourself. That takes away the risk,
and then they're just gonna They're gonna be willing to
take steady gains over and over and over. The team
that you like before the year, and you said this
a couple of months ago, the Chargers are the best
(45:37):
team in Los Angeles. Lord Derwin James could be Rookie
of the Year Physically, I mean, that second half was
unbelievable offensively. Philip Rivers after the game was talking like
he was twenty three years old. His energy's unbelievable. I mean,
you must that was a tip of the cap to you.
They were exactly in the second half what you said about.
(45:59):
Why what did you spot two months ago? They were
they were Patriots in the second half. They played Patriots
type football, if that's even a word. They came out
they made huge halftime adjustments, especially in the run game.
In the run game, they went to a spread offensive
run game, giving the ball to the back, offset from
the whole he was attacking. They forced him a personnel
(46:21):
group and they wanted him in. They play actioned off
that they threw the ball underneath the team, Allen, they
made great adjustments. But what they did more than the else,
they just executed. And we use our words a lot
with New England. We don't. We use it a lot
with a lot of other teams. They just came out
and for one half of football, executed to the highest, highest,
highest level you possibly could. Pittsburgh didn't give them that game.
(46:43):
Ben didn't fumbled around, they didn't throw it to the chart,
they didn't the Pittsburgh didn't make a ton of mistakes.
They just got outplayed, out executed. It felt very much
like watching a second half of a Patriots in a
big game. Yeah. By the way, I still think New
Orleans is the best team in the league. Who do
you think disagree that? Okay, I still think they're the
best team in the league. It's funny, it's all that
(47:06):
kind of you know, Rams, Patriots Chiefs. I kind of
feel that I haven't talked to you since the Cowboy
thing on Thursday night. Do you feel differently about Dallas
or do you think there's still kind of a low
ceiling team. I still think they're a low ceiling team.
I think they're very good, and I said that when
I first made that comment that they're a high floor,
low ceiling team. I think they're gonna make the PLAYFFS
and they're gonna win their division. But I don't think
and they might even make their first playoff game interesting.
(47:29):
But I don't think we can talk about him as
a championship football team. I think he's talking about championship teams.
You're talking about the Patriots, Chargers, maybe Chiefs in the ANFC,
NFC Rams, Saints. Yeah, I would I would have put
the Steelers in that conversation a few weeks ago. But again,
that drama, that inconsistency gives me pause. I think this
(47:51):
time of year we need to change the conversation between
who's good and who can be great. And there are
certain indicators when you're looking at teams that have the
chance to be great. Quarterbacks obviously one play faller quarterback relationship,
but critical down stops on defense, the ability to get
off the field, holding teams to field goals, end a half,
end a game. Look at the teams that play great
(48:13):
end a half, end a game, those will probably be
the teams that are playing in the super Bowl. Great
stuff decade and a half in the NFL A super
Bowl Pro Bowl trend deal for good stuff, Buddy, Thanks brother,
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. This Sun of Monday
(00:24):
is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you
may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
It is great to have you, and Joey Taylor is
joining me on a Monday, one hour from now. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, It's great to
be here. Good morning, Good morning. By the way, I
want to talk about the Packers in a second, put
(00:45):
New England up first. I want to talk about this.
I grew up in Seattle, the home of Starbucks, and
I've known people throughout the years that worked at Starbucks,
like a couple executives. And you know, one of the
secrets to a great business. You can be in Seattle,
you can be in Shanghai, you can be in Sacacas,
Staten Island. It doesn't matter. They look the same, the
(01:08):
coffee tastes the same, the service is the same. That's
a good business. It's not like you get a Starbucks coffee.
Here the bean is burnt and over there it's Starbucks.
Like a good business is consistent. I remember I moved
fifteen years to go to Connecticut. I didn't grow up
a Patriot fan, and at this time, the Patriots weren't
a dynasty. And I started watching New England games every snap.
(01:29):
And you know, I was in that area with New
England and the thing that was always remarkable to me
about New England and I've never seen anything in the
NFL like it. It's the same team every week. I
could take yesterday's video of that game against Minnesota, put
it back eleven years ago. Looks the same. It's the same.
It's the same team. No penalties, they don't turn it over,
(01:49):
they never fumble, They're very good on third down, they
generally have good pass protection, terrific situationally. And they went
in Foxborough by about ten And here we are in December,
third week fourteen, and I'm looking at the box score
last night. The second leading wide receiver in the NFL.
Adam Feeling held at twenty eight yards. Mister one hundred
(02:10):
yards held the twenty eight yards at one point screaming
at Bill Belichick because he was so upset. And here's
New England averaging nine point seven yards of pass, seven
yards of play, seven for fourteen on third down, and
dominated time of possession. They took away Minnesota's great asset.
Adam Feeland got somebody yelled at the coach, Bill Belichick.
(02:31):
It's the same darn team, the only team in the NFL.
You could literally tape the tape of yesterday's Vikings game,
Viking Patriot game. Just take the tape of it eight
years ago, looks the exact same. It's a Starbucks. Doesn't
matter what city you go do. A well run business
is a replica of itself, over and over and over.
(02:51):
You don't want to go to a coffee shop or
a brigger joint where in one place that's sloppy in
a mask, the other place it's pristine and clean. Yesterday
was methodical and mundane and meticulous. It was New England.
And here it is December third, and I'm sitting to
myself thinking, Houston, Oh, you think they're gonna go to Foxborough.
They've never wanted New England. Pittsburgh can't close out close games.
(03:12):
Kansas said he's not the same team without Kareem Hunt
and the LA Chargers. I mean, that was fun last
night Foxborough. Eleven degrees trusted him. That thing wasn't even
in doubt last night. And here's the other thing that's amazing.
We get caught up in stars. New England had nine
guys catch a football. Nine they had seven guys carry
(03:34):
the ball, so they had sixteen different people catch or
carry the football. And I feel when I watched New
England play is I grew up in my life. My
childhood was fine, but there was a little chaos. I
want how to step dad get into a fist fight
with his brother on Thanksgiving. There was a lot of
craziness and divorces in my life, and I've got a
therapist about it for years and years. I don't like
(03:55):
a lot of chaos. I get up, I eat the
same thing, work out the same time, go to bed
the same time. I'm not a big drama guy, not
a big fan of drama or dramatic people in every
NFL franchise, to me, feels like a version of bitcoin.
I mean, even the good organizations like the Saints had
a three year drought. The Steelers have had years. They're
just not they can't get it together. Even the good organizations,
(04:16):
the Packers now are a mess. And here is slow
and methodical and meticulous, almost mundane New England. And by
the way, let me just throw these out there, because
this morning I wake up and I look at the
AFC and I think they're gonna win the damn thing again.
New England's gonna win the AFC again. Their drama off
season nipped it in the bud. Here we go Philip
(04:38):
Rivers oh for seven in his career against Brady Ben
big Ben two for eight the franchise for the Texans,
oh for the franchise against him, Andrew Lux oh for
six against him, and Patrick mahomes is oh for one.
I mean, there are teams and there are people in
this league. The Steelers are certain one of them almost
(05:01):
addicted to drama. Hey men, every week there's a story
it's bitcoin. Oh my god, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, He's
like they're addicted to drama. What is remarkable about New England?
And I've never seen anything like it in my life
in the National Football League, the consistency. It is the
same team every year. It's not just Belichick. Didn't look
(05:24):
like that in Cleveland with Belichick. It's not just Brady,
because they had it with Matt Castle, they just weren't
as good. It is a combination of both ownership, coach,
quarterback culture. It's absolutely remarkable. And I look up and
down the AFC playoff picture right now, and I'm sorry,
but I'm taking New England once again. I think the
(05:48):
Chiefs are gonna stumble here down the stretch. Their schedules brutal,
the Patriots schedule and their divisions easier. But I mean,
I just I don't have any drama. They got rid
of it in the off season by October. Here we go,
Here comes IBM and cleats, Here it comes Google in
a helmet. I'm just the same thing. Incredible, incredible. Let
(06:09):
me shift gears to this. Mike McCarthy got fired yesterday.
That's where it doesn't have any Green Bay like that.
That's pretty strange, right, Like Green Bay is one of
those places they take care of their own, They take
care of their players. If they have to dismiss somebody,
they often don't even fire them, They just move them
to different cubicle. This is kind of a classy, refined organization.
Small town takes care of their people, and they just
(06:32):
pushed him out middle of the season. Right. And by
the way, this of course means all of Aaron rodgers
problems are solved, right, And it was all McCarthy, okay,
because they lost Arizona yesterday. That was all on McCarthy.
It should be noted that Aaron now makes thirty three
(06:54):
million a year. None of the top six highest paid
quarterbacks in the league current lead their division. There's a reason,
because you can't afford other good players. Aaron's gonna be
the highest paid or second highest paid guy in this
league for several years. Breeze, Ben Brady take pay cuts.
Aaron is not, and so he's gonna be forced to
play with the younger, cheaper players. And Aaron Rodgers does
(07:17):
not like younger players. He's a highly cerebral guy who
gets worn out from this rookie from you know, Louisville,
or this rookie from you know, Washington State. He gets
worn out. By the way, He's had two major injuries.
And this is what I think is interesting that everybody's like, well,
(07:39):
he just needs Sean McVay, he just needs Matt Nagge,
he just needs the next young Sean Payton. Really, you
think that a newbie is gonna walk into Aaron Rodgers,
thirty six year old hot shot coordinator, first time head coach,
is gonna walk into Aaron Rodgers, and Aaron's like, oh here,
(08:01):
take my career, go ed, Hey, it's your team, not mine.
No no, no, no, no, no no, no no no, that's
not the way it's gonna work. This will always be
Aaron's team. For nine years, all I've been hearing is
Aaron can do no wrong, and we got the problem
out of here now, Mike McCarthy. So we'll obviously go
(08:22):
fifteen and one, fourteen and two, But I'll tell you this.
You look around the quarterbacks who are really hitting it
right now, Goff, Mahomes, Watson, Luck, Breeze, Brady. All of
them have very coachable personalities. All of them have an
(08:42):
excellent relationship with somebody offensively to Shaun and Bill O'Brien,
Brady and Josh McDaniels, Goff and McVeigh, Patrick, Mahomes and
Andy Reid, Drew Brees and Sean Payton, Andrew Luck and
Frank Wright all have a very coachable, amenable personality all
(09:03):
of them. All of them have an excellent offensive partner.
And this is the rub. Aaron's never had that great
offensive partner. Is anybody considered Aaron's not real coachable? And
(09:23):
there's a reason, all these years in the NFL, he's
never had a great partner. Like if it takes this long,
you're ten years into a career and you've never had
the perfect partner, maybe it's you. I mean, Goff found
a partner immediately, and Drew Brees found a partner immediately,
And boy Tom Brady had multiple guys he worked with immediately,
(09:46):
and Joe Montana had a guy immediately, and John Elway,
by his second head coach, had a guy he worked
with immediately. But folks, I know one thing. Difficult people.
The richer they get and the more famous they get,
the more difficult they get. Go ask Jimmy Johnson about
Marino at the end. Go ask the guys Brad Childress
(10:09):
who coach Farve at the end. Go ask anybody who
coached Jay Cutler at the end. Wealth and fame doesn't
make difficult people easier. To coach if after ten years
you've never had that relationship, that's almost like a guy
(10:31):
in his late forties who's not married. It's not everybody else,
maybe it's him. So you can keep telling me all
the issues are solved now with Aaron Rodgers and what
I've said from day one about Aaron, I don't doubt
for a second he's far Marino level talented. But he's difficult.
(10:53):
He is difficult, and the issues will not all be
solved for this thirty five year old, twice injured, highly expensive,
doesn't want to work with newbies, legendary guy. They're not
all going to be solved. I think he'll win a bunch.
I think it'll be interesting. I think he's a Hall
of Famer. I say over and over it's great to watch.
(11:17):
But if you think everybody solved now, come back in
a couple of years. It's not that the vision's never
been tougher. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. So that
Chargers game last night, that Steelers Chargers game was crazytown,
But ask yourself, when's the last boring game the Steelers
(11:41):
played it was Week eight. Yesterday was a great example
of the difference between the Patriots and the Steelers. The
Patriots were playing a game that was Fox's Game of
the Week. It's Brady, it's Minnesota, the world's talking about it.
It was almost boring the Steelers game against the Chargers.
Steelers are favorite and for the third straight week Jacksonville
(12:01):
Denver Chargers, it's crazy town at the end of the games.
They've had one kind of mundane performance since Week eight.
No team in the NFL empties the tank emotionally every
week like Pittsburgh every week. And I don't think you
can do this. I don't think you can play at
(12:25):
this level of drama every week. The Golden State Warriors
have a lot of drama, but they are so separated
from the rest of their sport. In the NFL, it's inches,
not feet. But think about teams this year that have
been really dramatic. Green Bay and Jacksonville in the tank, Philadelphia,
Oakland in the tank. Pittsburgh has so much talent they
(12:48):
can overcome a lot of the fireworks and theatrics, but
I think it's going to wear them out. Two teams
in the NFL this year had some real drama in
June the Seahawks and the Patriots. Pete Carroll got it
out of the room. Belichick figured out a way to
soften it, and both are great Patriots. Seattle Humming. You
(13:15):
ever watched those shows? Real Housewives of Orange County, Real
Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives? You ever seen those shows?
And they're flipping tables at lunch? Like you ever notice
for those shows, like three women go out for lunch
in New York and they're throwing sham pane glasses at
each other and flipping tables, and You're like, it's eleven
(13:36):
forty five on a Tuesday, what's happening here? You ever
notice for those shows? All the divorces on those shows.
I mean, I know I live in a country now
that's outraged about everything. Every fifteen minutes there's an outrage,
but it wears on you. And I just think Pittsburgh,
every game is closed, every game is tight, there's I
(13:56):
just don't think this is last. I picked them to
win the Super Bowl and I'm watching them yesterday. Could
they have a week where a game is over with
eight to go? Could they have a week when the
last play of the game isn't everything. I think it's
going to wear them out. And you look at the mundane,
meticulous nature of their arrival New England, which had all
sorts of drama and got rid of it. And then
(14:17):
we all thought Lavian Bell was the problem. And he's
out of town. There's more drama. The games are crazier
that Mike Tomlin talked about it after the game. I mean,
even officiating. Here's Mike Tomlin. We didn't establish rhythm in
the beginning of the second half. We had a couple
of drives killed by penalties, holding penalties. Its catastrophic. You know,
(14:42):
I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. I'm gonna do that
because I send enough money to New York. I mean,
at the end of the game, off sides, off sides,
off side, that Mike Tomlin doesn't want to talk. It
should be noted the Steelers joy still play, argue the
best team in the NFC on the schedule of the Saints,
(15:03):
and the best team arguably in the AFC, the Patriots.
How much drama? How many wild finishes can a team
deal with? I mean, the thing about the Rams. You're
watching the Rams this year and most of their games
are sealed with about eight minutes to go. It's a
nice flight back. You don't hear a lot from him.
(15:24):
At some point this has to put. You can't empty
the tank emotionally. Every Sunday, be sure to catch live
editions of the Herd Weekday said noun Easter, not a empacific.
Greg Jennings was a multiple time pro bowler, won a
ring with a Packers a decade in the NFL as
a top flight wide receiver. He is joining us via
the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, so the Packers
(15:45):
fire Mike McCarthy. My takeaway, which used to be a
hot take but I hear now everywhere, is I don't
think Aaron's the easiest guy in the world to coach.
Am I wrong? Absolutely not, absolutely not. When you have
a guy who holds so much in his own hands
(16:06):
because of his talent, his ability, his skill set, and
now because of his pocketbook, it's going to be a
challenge for the Green Bay Packers to go out and
find a coach who is willing. Not who's willing, because
every a lot of coaches will be willing, but who
can take on the task of coaching not only the
(16:26):
Green Bay Packers, one of the most storage franchises in
all of football and all of sport, but Aaron Rodgers
with him on the downslide of his career. You know, Greg,
because he signed that contract that's gonna guarantee that his
teammates are going to be younger. You can't afford expensive guys.
(16:49):
I think Aaron is hard to play with for young players.
I want to go back to your career as you
grew with Aaron, made a little more money, had now
established yourself as an elite receiver. Take me back to
your first two years with Aaron, when you didn't have
all the coin, when nobody knew who Greg Jennings was.
(17:10):
Is he hard to play with when you're new, when
you're young, when you're not established. Well, I think the
difference for me was I entered the Green Bay Packer
organization with Brett Farvee as my quarterback. So once Aaron
took over, you know, I had had a couple of
years under my belt and had started to make a
(17:32):
name for myself and so we as a receiver group,
we as an offense, we had success. And then incomes
Aaron Rodgers, who we knew who was going to be
a very very good talent, and he didn't prove us
wrong or himself wrong. And I think for me, when
I look at young guys on that team with Aaron Rodgers,
(17:52):
that quarterback, he's going to have to understand that I'm
going to own it. And what I mean by that
is I have to deflect everything off of my young
guys because I want to protect them. I want them
to grow. I have to learn how to be a nurturer.
I have to learn how to take the blunt of
the hit as well as the experience all the success
(18:16):
and praise that comes with things. And I think that's
one thing that young guys will struggle with with Aaron
Rodgers is he's not always been willing to say that
was me, that's my fault, let me take the let
me take that off my young guys shoulder, that was
all on me. Is the Green Bay job? Is it
a great job? I mean, let's face it, small town,
(18:39):
only thing in town. They don't go get a lot
of free agents. They've got their own culture. They like
the guys they draft. If I said to you, Greg,
if you went into coaching and there were ten jobs available,
Is Green Bay a great job, because I think a
lot of people think it is. But is it? You know,
it's a great job because you have the opportunity to
(19:02):
leave one of the most story franchises in all of football.
In this situation, it is a job that you think
of with great detail. Meaning not only am I taking
on the Green Bay Packer organization, but I'm taking on
Aaron Rodgers. I'm taking on one of the faces of
(19:22):
the National Football League at thirty five years old, and
I have to overcome what Mike McCarthy, what all the media,
what we all saw Mike McCarthy was unable to do,
which was to get the best out of an Aaron
Rodgers talent that he possibly could. Can you do that?
(19:43):
And can you handle what comes with not doing that?
If you choose to take that job. You know, it's
very interesting. You're in a very unique position, Greg because
you played with a legend who had a stack of money,
was the most popular guy in the world, Brett Farve
at the end, and then you were introduced to a
young Aaron And I've heard, you know, Jimmy Johnson with
(20:03):
Dan Marino, Brad Childress with an old Farv. It's those
guys are they have a strong point of view on
life when they're young. By the time they get rich
and famous and old, they're tougher. Go back to your
Farve years the last couple because I think Aaron's entered
that territory rich, popular, established, iconic. Was Brett in the
(20:26):
last couple of years. I know it was great with you, Greg,
but was he sometimes difficult? I think Brett Farr was
definitely difficult for coach McCarthy coming in. McCarthy and I
Mike McCarthy and I came in to Green Bay at
the same year. His rookie year was my rookie year.
And what I what I noticed and I experience with
(20:47):
that is when you enter into a relationship with someone
and you have no type of rapport with them, it's
even that much more difficult and challenging. The luxury Mike
mc arthy had was that he had a relationship with
Brett Farre going dating back to his early coaching days,
and so the Green Bay Packers understood, we can bring
(21:09):
this guy in because he's going to have Brett's attention.
And I think when you look at Aaron Rodgers and
you look at the comparison with Brett farre that's the
only thing that's different here, or that's the number one
that's Yeah, that's the number one thing that's different. There
is gonna be no coach that really has a relationship
with Aaron Rodgers. So you're gonna be coming in starting
(21:31):
from scratch, a guy who who has one of the
highest IQ's in all of football, who believes that he
knows just about everything, if not all of everything. Can
you can you be thick enough, thick skinned enough, strong willed,
and strong minded enough to butt heads with that at
times and tell him, no, this is how we're gonna
(21:52):
do it. This is what you need to know, and
this is how I can help you grow. That's going
to be the challenge for the Green Bay Packers. Can
they find that coach that can do that? You know,
the division, no previous relationship. Yeah no, it's said, listen,
I think you're bringing up the stuff that I questioned,
the idea that you're gonna bring some you know, Sean
McVay hotshot in and say, okay, tell Aaron how football
was invented? Uh, you know, I just don't see that
(22:13):
working out. Let me ask you this though, Let's go
to physically with Aaron, he just turned thirty five yesterday,
a couple of shoulder surgeries. Do you believe he's got
four to five years left of great quarterback play or
do you watch him now and think you know, physically
he's back nine, he's hold eleven. What do you see
(22:33):
physically with Aaron? Physically? I definitely see him on the
back nine. Back eleven is good. It's safe to safe.
But here's the thing when you when you watch Aaron
Rodgers and you look at what he can do physically,
If he can stay healthy, he can be elusive and
(22:55):
he can be electric. My question is, and I've mentioned
this before on your show, where I think in order
for Aaron to continue to play into his early forties,
as he has mentioned that he would like to do,
he has to become a more pure pocket passer. Yeah,
stop going outside the pocket, outside the tackles, and taking
(23:19):
those extra hits, because when Aaron Rodgers has been hurt,
it has come to his ability to extend the plays,
get outside the pocket and then expose himself. If he's
willing to become a more primary pocket passer, then yes,
I think he can play at a high level, extremely
high level for the next four or five six years. Yeah. Good,
(23:42):
that's so. That's kind of what I believe too. It's
not like he's not a pocket guy, but he is
a jazz musician. He's an ad libber. He goes off
script and he gets you a lot of home runs
that way. But that's that's how the guys track him
down and drive his shoulder into the truth. Greg Jennings,
great talking to you, Bud. Thanks so much. Absolutely one
more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
(24:04):
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. College
football's got its final four set. This is the final
four that we bought into a week ago. A couple
of weeks, last couple of weeks we've been on a Bama, Clemson,
Notre Dame, and Oklahoma, and so that's the final four
we got. We said Georgia had to beat Alabama. It's
(24:26):
not fair that if you lose to Alabama, Alabama should
not have to play a couple of weeks later. That's
not fair. And we didn't buy into Ohio State because
and the committee agreed with us. Here you can't lose
to Purdue by twenty nine points. What the committee really
told you, and this is what we talked about. I
preached this Friday. This is what I preach Friday. I said,
(24:48):
ugly losses are more harmful than a goodwin is helpful
because everybody, even bad college football teams, have impressive wins.
But eight college football teams don't get beat by thirty
by per don't. Okay, So, Ohio State, the committee told
you that George's ugly loss to LSU eliminated them. It
(25:11):
wasn't the Obama game. If Georgia beat LSU and lost Obama,
they be in this thing. The committee told you that
Georgia's loss coupled with Obama's loss, or Obama's went over Georgia,
those two you're out in Ohio State. You're not going
to overcome a twenty nine point loss. And I agree
that none of those five teams ahead of Ohio State
(25:33):
would lose to Purdue by thirty points. But here's the
other thing. So now here we have our final four, Obama, Clemson, Oklahoma,
Notre Dame. That's who I think should be in, and
I think it should be Georgia five in Ohio State six.
I'm great with that, and that's what the committee saw.
But I hear now a little complaining about this Georgia.
(25:53):
I mean, come on, I watched that game. They are
every bed as good as Alabama. Well, perhaps Apps. But
remember this in the South, there are two things SEC
teams do. They refuse to play a ninth conference game
like other conferences, they only play eight, and they argue
(26:16):
that's because it's so tough down here. And then they
also face more cupcakes out of conference, and there are
argument is, well, it's so tough down here. Okay, fine,
so we're gonna let you play one less conference game,
and we're gonna allow you more cupcakes. I mean, did
you see who Georgia played out of conference this year?
(26:37):
It was typical Middle Tennessee State, Austin p u Masks.
I mean, forget Georgia Tech, that's an in state rival.
If you're gonna be allowed to face one less conference game,
all right, okay, you got it, and face three absolute cupcakes,
all right. Then I'm gonna judge your season on a
(26:58):
handful of huge games. And Georgia, you had three big
games this year Florida, LSU and Bama and you went
one and two, I wouldn't judge you so harshly. But
if you're gonna have the SEC won't play a ninth
conference games, faces more cupcakes than everybody. They always have
an in season by right before the big game. All right,
(27:20):
we'll give you all those, but then I'm gonna come
down on you hard on two or three big games
and you had three biggies. I mean, I don't talk
about Kentucky. Nobody gives a rip about Kentucky football. In Kentucky,
I mean nobody cares. I'm gonna judge on three games
Florida beat him, LSU blown out, Bama beating one and two,
can't go one in two, and your three big games
(27:40):
because you got three weeks this year against Middle Tennessee
State and Austin p and UMass that were weeks off.
Then you have, you know, a buye And I'll give
the Southern teams all that, but then I'm gonna I'm
gonna judge your season on one or two games where
I'm not gonna for everybody else and so and in
the end, I thought the committee did a good job.
I thought the finals say everybody always bangs on the
(28:02):
committee if I have to hear Dickie V and somebody
rail on the College Basketball Committee, they do a great job.
If those guys in college basketball didn't know what they
were doing, then you'd have nine seeds and eight seeds
and seven seeds in the final four. You ever notice
who's in the Final four? One seeds, two seeds, three seeds,
four seeds. Because the seeding's good. All the media does
(28:23):
is act outrage a bunch of phony fake news. Every year.
If you go to the Elite eight, it's always seven
of the eight teams or one seed, two seed, three seed,
four seed. Maybe they'll be like a seven seed. That
means the seeding was good. And you can say what
you want, But the bottom line here is, once again
the committee got it right and they did something that
I think is very very important for all of us
(28:44):
to remember. It's not your wins what the committee looked
for in your worst moment, how bad were you Because
in the history of college football the last twenty eight years,
no national champion and chip team has ever gotten blown out. Ever,
now they've lost. Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech. I
(29:07):
watched that game. It wasn't a blowout. It was two
really good football teams and it was a two score game.
You cannot lose by thirty to Purdue. Okay, LSU lost
to Alabama like twenty nine. Nothing. You're out at home,
done over. You can go to the Outback Bowl, you
can go to the Sugar Bowl. Not playing for the
national championship. Kirk Herbstreet defended Georgia's case to be in
(29:30):
the playoff. Here it was I think the committee has
said that two losses is too much for Georgia to overcome.
This is a historical moment as far as evaluating a
committee and moving forward because the eyeball test. To me,
clearly Georgia is a top four team. But at some
point you have to go with what is instead of
what might have happened. I agree with that too. I'll
(29:52):
say it again. If Georgia doesn't get blown out by
LSU they lose in overtime, and if they scheduled out
of conference Wisconsin Utah and they won those games, I
may think of it differently. But when you go three
and four Cupcakes and you won't play a ninth conference game,
I'm a judge. You're really harshly on one or two
(30:14):
or three and you were one and two Georgia. In
those three you were one and two. I'm your season
boils down in the sec to a couple of games
because you're not willing to play big dogs out a conference.
You won't even play average schools at a conference, and
you won't play a ninth conference game. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
(30:37):
the iHeart Radio app every Monday at this time. Where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, Where Colin was right.
You know you pay Kirk Cousins twenty eight million, it's
the double whammy. You're paying him too much and he
can't deliver in big spots. Last night was week four
yards per pass. He had a third and eleven. Last
night a big third and eleven late in the game.
(30:59):
He could not get rid of that ball fast enough
to a slant pattern. I mean, in the end, when
you pay twenty eight million, you better be getting all
world performance, because even Breeze, Brady and Ben have taken
pay cuts two more years for Kirk Cousins at twenty
eight large, they're now six to five and one. It's
a good roster, Adam Feeling twenty eight yards. I mean,
(31:23):
Kirk Cousins, it should be noted as six two two
hundred pounds. You know, Carson Wentz is six four and
a half two thirty five not a physical specimen, and I,
you know, only to pay him that much. I like him,
but I always thought there's a lot of fools gold
here where Colin was raw. I think this year a
lot of times I start cool and then get hot
(31:46):
and betting. My Blazing five is on a two week
losing streak. I didn't think Lamar Jackson would be three
and zero. I didn't think Andrew Luck and the Colts
would be shut out, and I didn't think the Vikings
would be barely competitive. I mean, listen, Blazing five. I'm
gonna have to fire some employees in the Blazing five
staff because right now they're not getting it done. How
(32:06):
the hell did Andrew Luck get shut out? That game
was beyond I almost threw a shoe at the television
this weekend. Not very strong for his MVP case. It's
like that strugging emoji's moving up a little higher where
Colin was right. The final four in college football, what
we predicted it would be a couple of weeks ago, Bama, Clemson,
Notre Dame in Oklahoma. Oklahoma does not have a great defense.
(32:30):
I'm not saying they do, but a wizard as a coach,
a lot of great playmakers, tremendous mobile quarterback. They'll make
Alabama sweat a little. And the committee rewarded Oklahoma for
only having one blemish on their schedule, a very good
team in Texas that will go to a good bowl
(32:51):
and they avenge the loss. Meanwhile, what the committee said
and I agreed with was Ohio State's twenty nine point loss,
coupled with the fact that Ohio State, what did they
do well all year? Not running the football, not defense,
not coaching, a lot of drama. I think Ohio State
(33:12):
was a very good football team in the last two games.
I thought they were very good against Michigan and very
good against Northwestern. I thought Oklahoma, outside of a game
against Army, pretty much gave me a good effort all year.
Got it right where Colin was row Yeah, as Joy mentioned,
my MVP thing got screwed up. I had Breeze and
(33:32):
Andrew Luck running away with it. Well, Drew at his
worst game ever and Luck got shut out. Fellas, I
got ten points combined, and Mahomes, by the way, I
let his team in rushing and had four touchdown passes.
It's not that I don't like Mahomes. I do. I've
just been a little cooler on his ad living style
than everybody else. He's a tremendous talent. But I saw
(33:53):
him place I'm in college, in my sources of oat
he's a little loosey goosey. He's got a perfect system
now with Andy, he's got a great deep thread or two.
He's got Travis. You know, it's all perfect for him.
And we've seen guys like Dak when it's all perfect,
be great. But I think Mahomes wrapped up the MVP
yesterday where Colin was right. Listen, Baker Mayfield, bummer. You
(34:19):
don't get to face Cincinnati every week. We told you.
Now he's gonna face on the road a real defense
in Houston and come back to earth three picks in
the first half. Cleveland as an offense had four turnovers.
Baker got shut out in the first half. By the way,
he made some really nice throws. But here's what I
didn't like, and this is what I've never liked about Baker.
(34:40):
Baker had a little success. Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap,
last ten games. Okay, Baker was very quiet when he
was losing early. He was a professional. Baker had a
little taste of success oh Cincinnati in Atlanta's defenses. Lamar
tore up at Lanta's defense. Lamar's a kid, just like
you're a kid. But Lamar, I'm not hearing anything from
(35:04):
Lamar Jackson. I don't Lamar Jackson's won three straight. I
don't hear a peep out of him. Baker Mayfield went
in a little winning streak. Well, this is reality, Baker.
There's a lot more Houston Texans than there are Bengals
defenses in the NFL where Colin was raw. Pete Carroll
should be coach of the year in the NFL, he
(35:24):
should be coach of the year. I've said this with Pete.
I think Pete's gonna be a Hall of Fame coach.
I'm not doubting that won a national title in college
and a Super Bowl. I'm not doubting that. But I've
been told through the years by veteran players, his sort
of raw, raw energy wears skin with older players, well,
He has done a masterful job. He got rid of
some of the older noisier players and this is a
(35:45):
younger defense. They played discipline, they played with great energy.
This is a perfect team for Pete Carroll and he
is I think rebooted the running game. And right now
they're a five seed. They're red hot. They've got some
good home games coming up. Listen. I always thought Pete
was a good coach, but I thought a lot of
his stuff it had about a you know, it's like
a seven year window and then the divorce hits with Pete.
(36:07):
But he has rebooted it and he should be really
proud because this is a no mistakes run, the football
assignment defense, no drama. Congrats to Pete Carroll where Colin
was right. Listen to my knock on Cam Newton has
always been I'm not doubting you're talented, but dude, you're
a You're a roller coaster. They were six and two,
(36:31):
they're now six and six. He had four picks yesterday
against one of the worst defenses known to man, Tampa Bay.
He has never had back to back winning seasons, but hey,
he looked cool coming into the stadium. Nobody looks cooler
and nobody's nobody looks cooler than Cam, but I don't
want to hear abody doesn't have weapons. DJ Moore is
a terrific young receiver. Devin Funchius is a very good receiver.
(36:52):
Greg Olson's gonna make the Hall of Fame arguably at
tight end, and McCaffrey has been terrific. And they're old
lines above average. Tired of hearing about the excuses you
can't be in this league eight years and me throwing
four picks against the division rival, and you know all
their players. You faced Tampa Bay twice a year, you
know their schemes, you know their Tom Brady knows Miami,
(37:17):
the Jets, and Buffalo. Those are the games. Tom knows
every trick in the book for those teams. That was
classic roller coaster Cam. They just didn't look prepared to
play where Colin was raw. Atlanta was my Super Bowl pick. Now,
they had some injuries early, but come on, man, you
cannot have this level of offensive talent and in four
straight weeks score sixteen, nineteen, seventeen, and sixteen points. I mean,
(37:44):
there's just way too much talent on this team. And
I don't really know who to blame. I'm not in
that locker room. But even if they had health, because
I thought in the first month I could blame injuries.
I mean they came in on crutches. It's more than that.
It's there. They're too finesse. Matt Ryan's not played. Well,
maybe it's Sark and Matt Ryan, but you know, I
(38:06):
just I over valued the stability of Matt Ryan's second year.
Was Sark, they're a mess. And then and they got
way too much offensive talent to be scoring in the
teens at home where Colin was right. I went to
the Chargers draft room this year and everybody thought I
(38:26):
was being a homer, and I said, Derwin James is
going to be the steal of the draft. And every
NFL source I had said, man, you were in the
right draft room tonight, because Derwin James is great. I
think he could be a top three safety in this league.
I'm serious. Last night he was unbelievable. And now the Chargers,
(38:51):
for all the doubters out there, they didn't have their
best player offensively, they didn't have their star Melvin Gordon
running back. And it doesn't matter because they had Jackson,
a seventh round rookie who was great. But Derwin James
put on a clinic and validated why I said when
I was in that Chargers room, the steel of the draft,
not because I was there, was Derwin James. He is
(39:13):
absolutely incredible where Colin was right. Well, Cam Baker, Rogers
and Ben went oh for four yesterday. Football's hard, It's
even harder with drama. Baker Mayfield kept that Hugh Jackson
story alive for an extra six days, and Big Ben
(39:35):
kept that interception in Denver alive for another five days.
I was talking about it on Friday. You know who
wasn't dramatic this week? Russell Wilson and Tom Brady. Okay,
quarterbacks are the leader of a franchise. They're like presidents.
You're sopposed to be fire extinguishers, not gasoline. And the
(39:55):
dramatic four and I talked about him last week. Cam Baker, Rogers,
Ben noise, drama, theatrics, Oh for four yesterday. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon.
Easter not a Empacific. Okay, I want to go to
my guy A Trent Dilford decade and a half, a
(40:16):
Super Bowl, Pro Bowl joining us via the Coward Global
Satellite Network. All Right, what kind of coach does Aaron
Rodgers need? Trent Well, I think that's a a coach
that has a lot of sophistication. A coach sick can
intellectually match him. A coach is gonna work as hard
(40:36):
as him and invest as much into their offense, being creative.
A coach is gonna make his job easier. And I
think that's the crux of this whole thing is that
if you go back and look at Aaron Rodgers' career,
going back to cal where Jeff Petford coached him, he
was very coachable Jeff. You get Jeff on the show,
Jeff will tell he's his coachable as he player he's
(40:56):
ever had. But he pushed the coaching staff every single
day to bring their best stuff when he first got
to Green Bay. And he's backing up Brett Farve. One
of the friction points when Brett and him was Aaron
wanted to be coached. Aaron wanted to be He wanted
to grow as a player, He wanted to inspire the
scout team that he was running. He wanted to enhance
his game. So he was hard to coach in the
(41:18):
sense that he demanded a lot, but he wanted to
be coached. His first few years as a starter, that
staff was on edge. McCarthy was still heavenly involved in
the offense. It was created, it was cutting edge. It
did allow him to do his job the best, and
Aaron was very coachable and very engaged. And then this
last four to five years and we talked to him
at the other place, calling this isn't new news. It
(41:39):
might be new news to some people, this is old
news to me and you we knew four and five
years ago. There was real frication there. There was some
stuff that Aaron didn't feel as if that coaching staff
was as invested as much as he was, that was
giving him and his offense the best stuff each week,
and that now it culminates in Mike McCarthy getting fired.
(41:59):
So answer your question, it needs to be somebody that
can come in there and say, hey, Aaron number one,
I'm the head flipping coach, and my job is to
get the most from the least and the best from
the best. And most of this group is the least,
but the best is you, and I'm gonna demand the
best from you. But I'm also gonna give you new
tools to be more successful. And that's all McVeigh does,
(42:20):
That's all Naggie does, that's all McDaniels does, That's all
Sean Payton does to this day is they try to
get the most in the least and the best from
the best. And it comes getting the best from the best.
It takes a certain amount of intellectual property. It takes
a certain creativity to help back quarterback make that job
a little bit easier than it is. Steelers, Chargers. I
(42:41):
swear to God, every Pittsburgh game they give everything emotionally.
There are no easy games. They're all drumming. I said,
they're like the housewives of New York City. They're flipping
over tables and throwing champagne at each other at lunch.
I mean, doesn't that take a toll on the Steelers
After a while? Every game comes down to the final play.
You've been on teams that were in blowouts and close games.
(43:04):
Can you just keep playing like this emotional level through
the playoffs? Drama creates inconsistency. Lack of drama creates consistency.
I'm sure we're going to segue at some point and
talk to your love buttons. The Patriots, Yeah, and they
lack drama. Therefore they're consistent. The Steelers are inconsistent because
there's always drama around whatever they're doing. Even their head coach,
(43:28):
who tries to be so stoic and tries to be
so stern, he creates drama with some of his commentary,
So they create drama. They're inconsistent on the field. The
great teams are the big college are pro. They try
to eliminate every aspect of drama because they know that'll
turn into consistency between the lines. And I'm watching New
England last night. I said, I could take that game
from last night and replace it with one from six
(43:51):
years ago, and it looks the exact same. They do
the same thing. They take away your weapon, very few penalties,
no fumbles. They're good situation. Their pass rush is inconsistent,
but always seems to be pretty good in a big
third down. What do you make of their consistency, Well,
they forever they've mitigated risk, right, They've taken risk out
(44:12):
of the equation. They're like a great investor. I have
a lot of very very wealthy friends that are great investors,
and those great investors don't take on risk. They're actually
very careful with risk. But they'll outvet the things they're
researching to invest in. They'll do more research, we'll talk
to more people, and they'll take just steady gains. And
I think that's what the Patriots do, is that they
take all the big risk out of it. They're gonna
(44:34):
outwork their opponent. They're gonna vet their opponent a little
bit better, and they're gonna say, hey, we'll take small
little margins over and over and over, week after week,
year after year, and know that that's going to lead
to victories that we're gonna be sitting pretty atin. We're
never gonna put too much out there on the table.
We're never gonna risk too much that we may get exposed.
That's what they do offensively, that's what they do defensively.
(44:56):
That's nice game plan against against Minnies. I'm sorry, yesterday's game,
playing as Minnesota was as simple as you could possibly be.
Play really saw or come up and blitz everybody. Play
really soft or come up and blitz everybody. I mean,
it was that way all game long. That's as simple
as it gets. But they knew that when they blitzed everybody,
it would force on the fourth and eleven for the
(45:16):
ball to come out at two yards. They know that
on first and second down they want to play action,
push the ball fifteen twenty yards down the field. They
were going to give up those plays, so they know
you better than they know yourself. That takes away the risk,
and then they're just gonna They're gonna be willing to
take steady gains over and over and over. The team
that you like before the year, and you said this
a couple of months ago, the Chargers are the best
(45:37):
team in Los Angeles. Lord Derwin James could be Rookie
of the Year Physically, I mean, that second half was
unbelievable offensively. Philip Rivers after the game was talking like
he was twenty three years old. His energy's unbelievable. I mean,
you must that was a tip of the cap to you.
They were exactly in the second half what you said about.
(45:59):
Why what did you spot two months ago? They were
they were Patriots in the second half. They played Patriots
type football, if that's even a word. They came out
they made huge halftime adjustments, especially in the run game.
In the run game, they went to a spread offensive
run game, giving the ball to the back, offset from
the whole he was attacking. They forced him a personnel
(46:21):
group and they wanted him in. They play actioned off
that they threw the ball underneath the team, Allen, they
made great adjustments. But what they did more than the else,
they just executed. And we use our words a lot
with New England. We don't. We use it a lot
with a lot of other teams. They just came out
and for one half of football, executed to the highest, highest,
highest level you possibly could. Pittsburgh didn't give them that game.
(46:43):
Ben didn't fumbled around, they didn't throw it to the chart,
they didn't the Pittsburgh didn't make a ton of mistakes.
They just got outplayed, out executed. It felt very much
like watching a second half of a Patriots in a
big game. Yeah. By the way, I still think New
Orleans is the best team in the league. Who do
you think disagree that? Okay, I still think they're the
best team in the league. It's funny, it's all that
(47:06):
kind of you know, Rams, Patriots Chiefs. I kind of
feel that I haven't talked to you since the Cowboy
thing on Thursday night. Do you feel differently about Dallas
or do you think there's still kind of a low
ceiling team. I still think they're a low ceiling team.
I think they're very good, and I said that when
I first made that comment that they're a high floor,
low ceiling team. I think they're gonna make the PLAYFFS
and they're gonna win their division. But I don't think
and they might even make their first playoff game interesting.
(47:29):
But I don't think we can talk about him as
a championship football team. I think he's talking about championship teams.
You're talking about the Patriots, Chargers, maybe Chiefs in the ANFC,
NFC Rams, Saints. Yeah, I would I would have put
the Steelers in that conversation a few weeks ago. But again,
that drama, that inconsistency gives me pause. I think this
(47:51):
time of year we need to change the conversation between
who's good and who can be great. And there are
certain indicators when you're looking at teams that have the
chance to be great. Quarterbacks obviously one play faller quarterback relationship,
but critical down stops on defense, the ability to get
off the field, holding teams to field goals, end a half,
end a game. Look at the teams that play great
(48:13):
end a half, end a game, those will probably be
the teams that are playing in the super Bowl. Great
stuff decade and a half in the NFL A super
Bowl Pro Bowl trend deal for good stuff, Buddy, Thanks brother,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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