October 31, 2024 • 34 mins
Colin credits the Dodgers for winning the World Series after some disappointing exits and why this LA team finally showed some toughness to finally get over the hump. He issues a warning to the Jets ahead of their Thursday Night game against the Texans. Plus Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to break down the struggles Colts QB Anthony Richardson has dealt with prior to his benching
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go. It is a Thursday. We are ready
to roll in Los Angeles, where we had fireworks late
into the morning. This is the Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be watching. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jmax all In. On Halloween, I went
as America's honesty broker. That is my annual tradition as
(00:49):
the man you can trust in trying times with anxiety
on the precipice and you your Cobra Kai. I take it,
Strike fast, strike hard, no mercy. Okay, It's like the
New York Jets or the Dodgers. Last night. Yes, well, uh,
happy Halloween, everybody. Greg co selling one hour, Greg Co
selling one hour. Let's start with this. Two things seemed
(01:10):
very very clear watching the World Series Number one The
Yankees make a lot of mistakes, and most of them
seemed to happen in the fifth inning last night, with
a five to nothing lead, the New York Yankees unraveled.
First Aaron Judge dropping a routine fly ball, basic fundamentals,
(01:31):
he'd just broken out of a slump, absolutely jaw dropping.
That was followed shortly thereafter by the Yankee shortstop Anthony
Volpe bouncing a ball to third again routine play. How
about this? Followed bizarrely by Garrett Cole miscommunication not covering
first base. That's day one of spring training stuff. The
(01:52):
El Segundo Little League team had that stuff buttoned up.
What's going on? Suddenly a five nothing Yankee lead. They
could have been out of the inning if Garrett Cole
gets to first evaporated first, there's Freddy Freeman, Yes, Freddy Freeman,
the MVP two RBI single. Now it's five to three,
(02:13):
followed by Taosta Hernandez. Remember early this year in New
York in the regular season, he owned the Yankees. He
did it here, drives in two with a double. It's
five to five, all five runs unearned, all five of them,
and we are tied. It didn't end there we go
to the eighth inning, a huge break. Otani was struggling
(02:36):
with his confidence. He comes up and the Yankees let
him off the hook a catcher's interference. Crazy. Otani in
this situation had struggled all series. Next batter up, wouldn't
you know it, Mookie Betts. Mookie Bets with a sack fly.
(02:57):
Dodgers take their first and only lead at six. So
that's the first thing we noticed the Yankees making a
lot of mistakes. The second thing is the Dodgers proved
literally they weren't just rich and talented. They were resilient
outfielders moving to the infield because of an injury Tommy
(03:18):
edmund or role players being inserted to the starting lineup
Keick Hernandez or your star Walker Buehler on two days
rest being asked to close eight different Dodger pitchers last
night pitched forty Over the course of a season, every
move Dave Roberts, the manager made worked or if it
(03:41):
didn't the bullpen game, it was part of a bigger plan. Yes,
the Dodgers have an A. Norman's payroll. Yes they outbid
people for stars, but half of them, especially the starting staff,
seemed injured. All year this organization. It had been lamented
for years. They didn't play inspired, they weren't resilient, but
(04:03):
yet they led the National League in come from behind wins.
Very early on. This team proved a resilience beyond the money,
beyond the expectations. Here capped by Walker Mueller, who we
thought would start in Game seven, Nope, raised his hand,
(04:24):
all take the mound and sealed the Dodgers' eighth World
Series title.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Here it is the Dodgers, a strikeaway. Start the party,
Los Angeles, your Dodgers have on the World Series.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
I'm proud of the fact that we got more out
of our players. Certainly we got a lot of talent,
went through a lot of stuff, but I just saw
a different gear in our guys, a fight and it
didn't matter circumstances, who was taking the baseball, who was
taken in at that the score didn't matter. There was
fight and so that's something that I wanted to pull
from our guys. And they performed.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Whinning the World Championship, coming from down five runs in
the fifth, down one run in the eighth.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
What does it say about this championship team?
Speaker 6 (05:21):
I mean, obviously resilient, but there's so much love in
this clubhouse. That's Karen that won this game today. That's
what it was. It was love, it was grit. I mean,
it was just a beautiful thing. And I'm just proud
of us and I'm just happy for.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Us well as far as the Yankees go. I was
reading this this morning. They're the only Major League Baseball
the New York Yankees all in the same game, regular
season or postseason since earned runs became an official stat
in nineteen thirteen. They're the only team to blow a
five plus run lead, allow five plus earner and runs,
(05:58):
commit three airs, a bock and catcher's interference. Wow. Now,
once Aaron Judge hit that early home run for the Yankees,
it did feel like everybody could finally exhale. Right, he'd
been struggling if the if Aaron Judge can't hit, the
series is over, and then he hits a bomb. But
(06:20):
the Dodgers, from the Padre Series, the Mets series, the
World Series stayed even keel good or bad. The Yankees didn't.
You could feel the stress with the Yankees the entire series.
Aaron Judge felt stressed out. Aaron Boone pulling Garrett Cole
in Game one created anxiety. In Games one to five
with Garrett Cole, New York had leads in later innings,
(06:44):
but it never ever felt like they were under control,
and it always felt like it would come crashing down.
And it did. The stress, the anxiety and the pressure.
Now Aaron Judge his first ever air, first ever playing
center field. I mean, you don't think that stress created
(07:05):
the entire series. The Dodgers felt loose and inspired, maybe
because they've been there before, and the Yankees felt uptight
a back catchers interference, short hopping a ball to third,
not covering first. We've seen it with Mahomes and Brady.
Experience matters, especially in those high leverage situations. The Dodgers
(07:27):
had been here, dominating their division for years and winning
in the postseason, not always the World Series, but winning,
and the Yankees haven't. Outside of the American League Central,
they just don't want a lot of playoff series anymore.
This became a nightmare on one hundred and sixty first Street,
and there was a Freddy terrorizing everybody. His name was
(07:47):
Freddy Freeman. But more than anything, even more than Freddie Freeman,
it was the stress, the mistakes and the unraveling The
only game the Yankees won in this World Series was
the Dodger bullpen game. And let me rephrase that, the
Dodger's lower tier bullpen game. Even their ace, Garrett Cole,
(08:13):
finished two starts without a win. Here's Aaron Boone after.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Yeah, we just had a bad inning. You know, Garrett
was amazing, kept picking us up. You know, obviously a
few mistakes really cost us in that inning. It happens,
and and and that hurts. But that's also baseball.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
By the way, I don't think I've never seen and
we find out statistically it never happened. I've never seen
something happen in the fifth inning like that. Aaron Judge
first air a drop fly ball, the short hopped the
third not covering first. That was the crazy stuff. Then
a balk, then catchers interference. But one of the advantages
of not going to a game because you don't see
(09:02):
this when you're at a game. But going to a
game is more fun, especially a World Series game. But
one of the advantages of not going to a game
you see things on TV that you wouldn't notice when
you're there, and you could sense the stress. You could
you could sense the anxiety from the Yankees, and you
could simultaneously see the looseness and the joy and the
inspired effort of the Dodgers playing with a chip on
(09:24):
their shoulder despite this massive payroll. And I thought it
was very obvious last night as it all came crashing
down for the Yankees in the fifth and the eight innings.
J Mack, we don't do a ton of baseball on
this show, but I would say this, and I'll talk
about this later. Jan Soto is on the market. It
has been reported the Dodgers are very, very interested in
(09:45):
adding Juan Soto to Freeman, to Kershaw, to Betts, to Otani.
And I will tell you if any New York Yankee
fan is outraged by that, never forget ten to fifteen
years ago. The Hot Stove League was essentially the Yankee
Red Sox League. That's all it was. Yankee is just
outbidding everybody when they had the cable advantage with the
Yes network. That's all gone. The Yankees are a smarter
(10:08):
front office. They have more money the Dodgers are now,
and they're gonna use it. You think he gets Otani
type money in the same neighborhood. Oh, I think Sodo
will end up being. I think Otani is more global,
and I think merchandise. I mean, I was reading a
story yesterday where the World Series ratings were bigger in
Japan it was in Crazed. So the merchandise that Otani
(10:29):
can fuel is just different. I think it's different. But
I think Sodo is regarded is as fair as the
best young talent in the sport, and so that market
is in any sports league. You could be Aunt Edwards
Wemby Sodo. It doesn't matter what sport it is, You're
gonna get paid handsomely. All right, coming up, Hey, We've
(10:51):
got good news. I swear to you, Greg co Sell.
In one hour, we have good news coming up for
the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
days and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
App now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great
rates none of the ball. So here's good news for
New York. The New York Jets are going to win.
Tonight on Thursday Night football at home against the Houston Texans.
The New York Jets are going to win. It's gonna
be twenty four to twenty twenty seven to twenty three.
They're going to win by about a field goal four points.
(11:28):
Young quarterback c J. Stroud of Houston, too many things
line up against him on the road. Short week. Receivers
are all banged up. They can't protect him. You know it,
just this is a New York Giants win home. Teams
have done very well on Thursday night football. So when
the Jets win tonight, all I ask because they will win.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
C J.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Stroud by the way home, he's ten and two in
his career. Road he's under five hundred. Everything dips, completion percentage,
yards per game, touchdown passes, passer rating dips. He's just
he's like a lot of young quarterbacks. He is really good.
Potentially when everything's lined up, you put them on the road.
I can't quite hear missing a receiver, protection breaks down
(12:08):
c J. Stroud. My guest, Jets are pretty good on
early downs. Defensively, it'll be a lot of third and
longs for c J. Stroud. Protection will be an issue.
Jets will win. All I'm asking is, when you win tonight,
could you have a moment. I'm not asking for much
of humility, just a moment because the last time you
went on Thursday night, again at home, short week against
(12:29):
a team that wasn't in the right spot to win
New England. The next several days, New York Media and
Jets Nation had the composure of a nine year old
after eating two pieces of birthday cake. Just take a
deep breath. You're a two and six football team. You
do not have the infrastructure or leadership from the owner,
(12:50):
the head coach, the offensive coordinator to be an elite team.
You are now in survival mode at two and six.
You'll be three and six after tonight. There's two or
three teams in the AFC. Let's not even count the
whole league. In the AFC, there are two or three
elite teams Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo. Then there's another three
or four teams that I think are very good and
(13:11):
could win a playoff game if things line up Texans
if they're health either not now, Chargers and the Steelers.
And there's one team in the AFC I think it's
going to be good next year, but they're a little
young at quarterback, need another draft. The Denver Broncos. You
do not qualify as any of those, and you'll win tonight.
Because the circumstances line up, you are closer to the Raiders. Yes,
(13:32):
the Raiders and the Colts and the Bengals. That's what
you are. You're in that group of eight or nine
teams in the AFC, Miami, Raiders, Bengals. You're not Buffalo,
you're not Baltimore. You're not Kansas City. You're not the Chargers.
You're not the Steelers. You're not the Texans when they're
healthy and playing at home. You're not that either. You're
(13:54):
not Denver because you can't get young at quarterback. It's
a bad quarterback draft class. You're not getting you and
Eron's here probably for another year. So let's take a
deep breath. After the Mets collapsed and the Yankees collapsed,
and the Giants have collapsed and the Jets have collapsed. Hey,
Karl Anthony town was good last night. Here's here's the
(14:14):
good news. You can win tonight. You will win tonight.
Take a deep breath. Here's Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
At two and six.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Aaron, what is your frame of mind right now?
Speaker 5 (14:24):
It's got a win day?
Speaker 8 (14:26):
What message would you have for your fan base?
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Smile, show up, trust, leave and Rudi us On as
far as you can. We need that noise, and we're
trying to rectify this as quickly as possible. You know,
it's been frustrating for everybody, but there's still a lot
of season left.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Twenty seven, twenty four, twenty seven, twenty three, twenty four
to twenty it's gonna be all. It's gonna be okay.
But but but but that's all it's gonna be. It's
gonna be three and six, not six and three. It's
gonna be okay tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to the show.
Say nice things in a Friday morning about the Jets.
But I did that a couple of weeks ago about
the Patriots, and you freaked out. Don't freak out. This
(15:06):
is a spot home veteran quarterback, short week off a
humiliating loss, so you're totally inspired. You won't be looking
ahead to anything.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I think the Dodgers sort of smelt blood once they
tied it up with all those Yankee miscues in the fifth.
I think everything shifted for Los Angeles, and I think
Dave Roberts and everybody thought, Okay, they're reeling, they're tight,
it's palpable. Let's finish this puppy off. We don't have
to go back to Los Angeles with Yamamoto and Walker Buehler.
If we have to use Walker Buhler at the end
(15:41):
of the game to wrap it up, we will. That's
what happened, And here's what it sounded like from Joe Davis.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
The Dodgers A strikeaway start the party, Los Angeles. You're
Dodgers have on the World Series.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You were down five to nothing tonight. What is it
about this group that makes it so resilient?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know, there's just a lot of ways we can
win baseball games.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Obviously, the superstars we have.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
On our team and the discipline just kind of all
adds up.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And that's a beginning, you know, that's just wild. Yeah.
So the Yankees eventually the anxiety, the stress, which started
in Game one when Garrett Cole went eighty eight pitches,
he was humming. They pulled him out, and a lot
of critics, a lot of pushback. You lose when your
(16:41):
ace is on the mound. And from that point forward,
it felt like it was the Dodger Series. Even last
night when it was tied late Dodgers take a one
run lead. You knew they were going back to Los Angeles.
You knew they would have no more Garrett Cole to face,
and there their elite relievers would be used. So I
thought it stacked up as an eventual Dodgers win. It
just happened. I thought, I thought it happened in New York.
(17:04):
I always like when the team wins at home. But
congrats to the Dodgers their eighth World Series championship. And
with that Greg Cosell forty five years NFL film. Okay,
so Caleb Williams had been in a three year, three
week role. We looked pretty good, no panicking, feet, were steady.
(17:24):
They had kind of refined looks for him. And then
he goes to Washington off of By and it's a mess.
Their first six or seven drives nothing worked. So we
don't think of Washington as having elite defensive personnel. What
did the commanders and Dan Quinn do to completely flummox
(17:45):
the Bears offense?
Speaker 8 (17:49):
It really wasn't magical, Colin. I mean, the pass rush
was really strong. Williams was under a lot of duress
at this point in his career too, even plays where
there were people around him, but it wasn't by NFL standards,
what you'd call big time pressure. He's not necessarily ready
to handle that. You know, we've talked about this. There's
(18:10):
a big difference, and I think it's important to make
this distinction. There's a big difference between being able to
get out of the pocket and make plays, which he's
very very good at. We saw him do that later
in the game on a pass I believe to Keenan Allen.
But there's a big difference between that and moving efficiently
and effectively within the pocket, and he's not quite ready
(18:32):
for the second part of that, moving efficiently and effectively
within the pocket to kind of find a quieter space
to throw the football. So he was under a lot
of duress in this game, and it was just a
pass rush that was really a big factor. The left
tackle Jones went out after eighteen snaps. They put in
a rookie at left tackle who really had a hard time. So,
(18:55):
you know, I think overall with Williams, the main thing
for him as he continues his development and he's going
to be a very good player. I don't think there's
any question about that is how quickly and how well
he can see things clearly and decisively and deliver the football.
And that's very often the case with young quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Speaking of one that's struggling, Anthony Richardson. Now people are saying, well,
Josh Allen after ten starts wasn't great, But I thought
Josh Allen was slowly building and growing. Anthony Richardson, forget
the turnovers, and that can't stay healthy. I think he's
struggling from the pocket more now with Shane Steichen in
good weapons than he was a year ago. What do
(19:35):
you see on film?
Speaker 8 (19:37):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of things with him,
Kyle and number one, I think he's really struggling to
understand the route concepts and the read involved in the
specific route concepts versus the specific coverage. So therefore his
eyes are not in the right place. And if you
just wait a beat, as you know, half a beat
(19:57):
in the NFL, and your eyes are not in the
right place and your timing is off, you're going to
really struggle. So that's the first part of it. The
second part of it is he's just not at this
point in time a naturally accurate thrower to the football.
He's very scattershot. He misses too many routine throws, and
(20:18):
it's really really difficult to be successful when you miss
routine throws. So again, this is a difficult situation. Neither
you nor I are in their building. We don't understand
the day to day. But this is not a bad
football team. And given the state of that division and
the state of the AFC, they may believe, as they should,
that they have an opportunity to be in the playoffs. Yeah,
(20:40):
and you sort of walk that fine line between quarterback
quarterback development and hey, we've got a chance to be
in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah. Now that's what I said this week. I think
the Colts could win that division. I like their personnel.
A team I was really wrong on, and I was
wrong on Mike Tomlin. I've criticized him for years and
many defensive coaches for being out of touch tone after
the offense. But Justin Fields had a winning record and
he said, no, I'm moving on to Russell Wilson. It
would have been very easy because Justin Fields is popular,
(21:11):
young and relatable to the locker room. Yes, it would
have been very easy to stick with that. And Mike
Tomlin is a defensive coach sensed urgency. A lot of
these defensive coaches don't. And I got to give Mike
Tomlin credit. So what is Russell Wilson doing now in
the last couple of weeks that maybe justin Fields wasn't
because the offense it looks more big play and more
(21:33):
efficient to me.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
Yeah, and it is. And keep in mind, it's still
foundationally a run first offense. In the last two games
that Wilson has started on first down, Najee Harris has
carried the ball twenty six times and done extremely well.
So this is a run first offense. They've put Wilson
under center. He's been really good under center. Play action
(21:57):
boot has become a significant part of their offense. And
the other thing, clearly is he does throw the ball
down the field, so he better takes advantage of their weapons. Yeah,
both pickens. And of course we're seeing Austin who I
remember watching him coming out of the University of Memphis
and I thought he could be a good pro in
the right situation. So we're seeing an under center offense,
(22:18):
which is really not a major part of NFL teams
these days, but they put him under center to play
to his straints because Wilson at his core, that's what
he does best when it can be defined for him
in under center play action. You define the reds and
the throws much better. He's not at his best as
a shotgun quarterback where you're asking him to be a
(22:39):
higher level progression reader. So now you're playing to his strength.
You're getting the ball to your weapons, and you're still
starting with the run game. And Najee Harris, I think
he's looked better this year than he has at any
point in his NFL career.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So I have said the Steelers remind me of the Chargers.
They're not the Ravens, the Bills of the Chiefs, but
the Steelers do too many things well right now not
to be a playoff team. And I feel with the
Chargers and the Steelers, they're good enough to win a
playoff game, probably not get to a conference championship. So
I watched this week and I thought the Chargers and
Hardball were smart to let Justin Herbert run a little
(23:16):
because they really lack weapons. What do you see what
the Chargers going for? Yeah, I mean they just don't
have a lot of guys on the perimeter.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
No, they don't. I mean, it's Palmer, it's McConkie, it's Fojoko,
it's Shalen Rieger. They don't have what you'd call big
time weapons. Mcconki will be a very good player, but
he's not a true number one type. So what they've
done a lot this year. It's Greg Roman, as you know,
is the offensive coordinator, and he's basically, to some degree,
replicated what he did in Baltimore because they have a
defensive tackle named Scott Matt Lack who is now a
(23:47):
full back. He's played one hundred and fifty one snaps
on offense this year, so he's essentially their Patrick Ricard,
Patrick Riccard everybody knows from Baltimore. So now they run
a very similar style offense, a lot out of two backs,
with the fullback being Matt Lack. So the pass game
is still kind of a work in progress. So they're
(24:08):
a very physical running team. They play at a base personnel.
It'll be interesting as the season progresses if they try
to expand the pass game. There's no question from a
talent standpoint that Herbert can do that, but right now
that's not the way they're playing, and you could well
be right it could be a function of the fact
that the weapons are somewhat lacking on the perimeter.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, so it's interesting with Kansas City. They don't have
a high ceiling offensively, am I even Worthy, who I like,
feels like more of a gadget guy or an occasional
deep guy, not a volume guy. But despite that, their
efficiency in high leverage moments third down, fourth down is insane.
(24:48):
So why can they do in high leverage moments what
they don't necessarily do consistently? Okay, cords of a game, it's.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
A great question. I don't know if I have a
great answer to the why, but you're one hundred percent right.
The reality is that on third down they're one of
two teams in the NFL that have converted over fifty percent,
Tampa being the other, the team they play on Monday Night.
But they're very, very good on third down for a
couple of reasons. Number One, they do have some really
well schemed third down concepts that present clean throws for
(25:22):
Patrick Mahomes, and that's what you're always trying to do
for your quarterback. And secondly, it's the Mahomes factor. You know,
it's very much like Josh Allen. It's the Mahomes factor.
You know, you get him moving, making plays outside of
structure very difficult on a defense. I remember speaking to
a defensive quarterly natter a couple of years ago and saying,
(25:42):
with quarterbacks like Mahomes, Alan Jackson, you really have two defenses.
The first two to two and a half seconds of
a play and then the next two to three to
four seconds of a play. And those second two to
three four seconds are really really difficult to defend from
a discipline standpoint. So despite the fact that they look
very often out of sync in the past, game is
(26:03):
I think we would both agree. The fact is on
third down they've been really, really good and that's allowed
them to sustain enough in conjunction with their run game
and a really good defense to be an undefeated team.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So you get to a point, I've said this before,
hard to win a World Series without a good bullpen.
If you're leaking runs in the late innings against elite teams,
you're not gonna win it. It's hard to win a
Super Bowl, Asthma Holmes with a bad o line. When
you have a good old line, it not only matters
to get a lead. A great O line helps you
with a lead, you can sustain drives, you can kill
(26:38):
the clock. It's not just for scoring, it's often for
game management and killing the clock because Detroit's going to
score points a lot of times. It's let's burn eight
minutes and not give the ball back to an elite quarterback. Sure,
what can Green Bay do to slow down the locomotive
known as the Bear or the Lions O line and off.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Yeah, Well, to me, the Packers are one of the
most fun defenses to watch. Jeff Hafley's done a great job.
One thing that's become a trend in the league, and
the Packers are right in the forefront of it is
six and seven man defensive front looks. So now the
offense has to protect that. But what they often do,
and the Packers are great at this, is they'll show
(27:21):
a seven man front and at so now it's seven
on the front, four on the back end. So what
they'll do is then they'll drop out three and it
becomes seven on the back end in some form of
zone coverage and a four man pressure. Okay, they're really
good at that kind of disguise. The late rotation. Xavier
McKinney is a master at being able to do that.
(27:42):
He's a terrific player. Beyond the interceptions, he's just a
really savvy, smart player in coverage. So they're really really
good at that. Those are the kinds of things that
they do every week. They'll do it against the Lions.
They'll try just to slow down GoF. All you have
to do is slow down a quarter back as he's
dropping back by half a beat and you may have
(28:04):
an advantage. The bigger issue though, for them, I think,
will be defending their run because the one thing about
the Lions we always talk about golf, but their run
game is really good.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah, okay, this is a selfish question. I don't know
if anybody else cares. But I picked the Broncos. I
picked the Denver Broncos. I said they may not be
a playoff team, but the idea of Vegas has them
at five wins. Peyton's too good of a coach, they
have weapons. Yep, there's too many players here. I like
they may win eight or nine to five is ridiculous.
(28:34):
So so far, so good. But I want to talk
not just about Peyton, but about the defense. It's mostly
the same guys as last year and they're getting tremendous pressure.
What are they doing with the Broncos defense.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Yeah, they are getting tremendous pressure in advance. Joseph's always
been one of the best. He's their decoordinator, one of
the best in the league at kind of creating pressure
and scheming pressure, and that's what they're doing. They've got
a pretty good group as well. I mean, they've got
Cooper on one side. On the outside, they've got Benito,
who came out of Oklahoma, player I really liked a
(29:09):
few years ago as pressure players. They do a really
good job with their disguise, how they get to their pressures,
their overload concepts. I think their blitz rate is among
the highest in the league and they're really good doing that.
So this is a really good defense and they're getting
quality corner play. Obviously, we know about Patrick certain they
(29:30):
many think he's the best corner in the league. Yes,
Iday Riley Moss came out of Iowa and he's played
on the other side this year, and while he's had
a few bad moments with some penalties, he's developing into
a quality corner. And you can do so much more
on defense when you feel good about your corners and
they feel good about their corners.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, Cirtain's an incredible talent. Okay, you know I've said this.
I have defended Kyler Murray for years. I don't necessarily
trust him in big games, but I think he throws
beautiful ball. I think he's a more athletic Russell Wilson
and Russell's prime. He's elusive, and last week I thought, no, no,
they may beat the Niners. They'll go to Miami lay
(30:09):
an egg and then Kyler in the second half. They
I mean, between Harrison Connor Kyler McBride, they've got pieces
offensively and they move the pocket constantly. So is it
just my eyes or has Kyler been a little more
consistent this year? Greg? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (30:30):
You know, Colin, I think he'll always be a little inconsistent,
and there's some weeks you'll be uncertain as to what
you will get, simply because of the way in which
he plays, because of his size. He's always going to
be a little frenetic. He's always going to move at
times will be unbelievable when he does that. Other times
it doesn't quite work out. But he does throw a
(30:51):
good ball. I mean last week in the fourth quarter,
he was ten for eleven yep for over one hundred yards.
He made some really impressive throats from the pocket. You know,
you really have to define it for him from the
pocket so that when he hits that back foot he
feels as if he can release the ball because if
he has if he feels he can't release it because
he's smaller and the bodies start to get closer, he's
(31:13):
going to move. Yeah. But what I think they've done
really well and it's what second or third year I
think with this staff, is it the second year? I
but anyway, with the coordinator, they've done it. They've done
a great job now with the spacing in their route
concepts and I've talked about that a lot when it
comes to a team like the Lions. They're doing a
(31:33):
really good job in Arizona with that and you saw
it last week and that really helps define the reeds
and the throws for Kyler Murray, and that's what you
really need to do so that he can play a
little more settled from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, I want to see the play of the week
is kinder to Marvin Harrison, who's been a bit inconsistent,
but in his big games, he's been money and again
their offense they got pieces. So let's go to the
big play they do.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
Yeah, let's go to the play right now, because this
is a perfect example, Colin of what I'm speaking about
with routes spacing, and I think that that's something that's
overlooked a lot when you talk about past games in
the National Football League, is the spacing of routes against
zone coverage. So what we're going to see here is
you're going to see Kyler in the gun where he
is a good part of the time, and this is
(32:18):
going to be what we call a three by one set,
and Marvin Harrison is the boundary X, the single receiver
to the short side of the field. Now, this is
going to be a four man route concept. We're going
to map out the routes here so you can see
all the routes once they come up together. It's a
four man route concept. In Harrison is he's the one
who's going to run the crossing route from the back side. Now,
(32:41):
the defense here is going to end up playing Cover two,
So you're going to see the two deep safeties that's
obviously a part of Cover two. You're going to see
the middle hole defender. He's going to run the seam,
and then you're going to see the two corners who
are flat defenders. They don't run with vertical routes, are
flat defenders. So now you know, I wanted to talk
(33:04):
about the route spacing here, which I think is so
important and so critical for a quarterback, not for any quarterback,
not just a shorter quarterback. So what you see is
you see the outside vertical here attacking that void. Then
you're going to see the scene route and that's going
to attack a void in the middle of the field.
So now you're attacking different voids in the coverage. Then
(33:26):
you're going to see the flat route attacking a short
outside void, okay, And then you're going to see Marvin's route.
He's working across the field okay, So now you're working
to one side of the field and you're attacking voids.
Now that's Jaylen Ramsey. He's an underneath defender here. His
eyes are forward, but he's responsible for Marvin Harrison's route
(33:47):
into that void. But because Harrison is coming from the
other side, Ramsey does not have eyes on him, so
Harrison works into that void. So you can see how
the route spacing created a big void for Marvin Harrison.
They had did such a good job with this last week,
and I think this is one thing we'll continue to
see and this will allow Colin, as you said, maybe
(34:10):
Kyler Murray to be a lot more consistent on a
week to week FASIS because the reds and the throws
will become much more defined.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yep, good stuff. Greg co Sell, forty five years at
NFL Films as Owa's Greg. Thanks for checking in on
a Thursday. I appreciate it.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go. It is a Thursday. We are ready
to roll in Los Angeles, where we had fireworks late
into the morning. This is the Herd wherever you may be,
however you may be watching. Thanks for making us part
of your day. Jmax all In. On Halloween, I went
as America's honesty broker. That is my annual tradition as
(00:49):
the man you can trust in trying times with anxiety
on the precipice and you your Cobra Kai. I take it,
Strike fast, strike hard, no mercy. Okay, It's like the
New York Jets or the Dodgers. Last night. Yes, well, uh,
happy Halloween, everybody. Greg co selling one hour, Greg Co
selling one hour. Let's start with this. Two things seemed
(01:10):
very very clear watching the World Series Number one The
Yankees make a lot of mistakes, and most of them
seemed to happen in the fifth inning last night, with
a five to nothing lead, the New York Yankees unraveled.
First Aaron Judge dropping a routine fly ball, basic fundamentals,
(01:31):
he'd just broken out of a slump, absolutely jaw dropping.
That was followed shortly thereafter by the Yankee shortstop Anthony
Volpe bouncing a ball to third again routine play. How
about this? Followed bizarrely by Garrett Cole miscommunication not covering
first base. That's day one of spring training stuff. The
(01:52):
El Segundo Little League team had that stuff buttoned up.
What's going on? Suddenly a five nothing Yankee lead. They
could have been out of the inning if Garrett Cole
gets to first evaporated first, there's Freddy Freeman, Yes, Freddy Freeman,
the MVP two RBI single. Now it's five to three,
(02:13):
followed by Taosta Hernandez. Remember early this year in New
York in the regular season, he owned the Yankees. He
did it here, drives in two with a double. It's
five to five, all five runs unearned, all five of them,
and we are tied. It didn't end there we go
to the eighth inning, a huge break. Otani was struggling
(02:36):
with his confidence. He comes up and the Yankees let
him off the hook a catcher's interference. Crazy. Otani in
this situation had struggled all series. Next batter up, wouldn't
you know it, Mookie Betts. Mookie Bets with a sack fly.
(02:57):
Dodgers take their first and only lead at six. So
that's the first thing we noticed the Yankees making a
lot of mistakes. The second thing is the Dodgers proved
literally they weren't just rich and talented. They were resilient
outfielders moving to the infield because of an injury Tommy
(03:18):
edmund or role players being inserted to the starting lineup
Keick Hernandez or your star Walker Buehler on two days
rest being asked to close eight different Dodger pitchers last
night pitched forty Over the course of a season, every
move Dave Roberts, the manager made worked or if it
(03:41):
didn't the bullpen game, it was part of a bigger plan. Yes,
the Dodgers have an A. Norman's payroll. Yes they outbid
people for stars, but half of them, especially the starting staff,
seemed injured. All year this organization. It had been lamented
for years. They didn't play inspired, they weren't resilient, but
(04:03):
yet they led the National League in come from behind wins.
Very early on. This team proved a resilience beyond the money,
beyond the expectations. Here capped by Walker Mueller, who we
thought would start in Game seven, Nope, raised his hand,
(04:24):
all take the mound and sealed the Dodgers' eighth World
Series title.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Here it is the Dodgers, a strikeaway. Start the party,
Los Angeles, your Dodgers have on the World Series.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
I'm proud of the fact that we got more out
of our players. Certainly we got a lot of talent,
went through a lot of stuff, but I just saw
a different gear in our guys, a fight and it
didn't matter circumstances, who was taking the baseball, who was
taken in at that the score didn't matter. There was
fight and so that's something that I wanted to pull
from our guys. And they performed.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Whinning the World Championship, coming from down five runs in
the fifth, down one run in the eighth.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
What does it say about this championship team?
Speaker 6 (05:21):
I mean, obviously resilient, but there's so much love in
this clubhouse. That's Karen that won this game today. That's
what it was. It was love, it was grit. I mean,
it was just a beautiful thing. And I'm just proud
of us and I'm just happy for.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Us well as far as the Yankees go. I was
reading this this morning. They're the only Major League Baseball
the New York Yankees all in the same game, regular
season or postseason since earned runs became an official stat
in nineteen thirteen. They're the only team to blow a
five plus run lead, allow five plus earner and runs,
(05:58):
commit three airs, a bock and catcher's interference. Wow. Now,
once Aaron Judge hit that early home run for the Yankees,
it did feel like everybody could finally exhale. Right, he'd
been struggling if the if Aaron Judge can't hit, the
series is over, and then he hits a bomb. But
(06:20):
the Dodgers, from the Padre Series, the Mets series, the
World Series stayed even keel good or bad. The Yankees didn't.
You could feel the stress with the Yankees the entire series.
Aaron Judge felt stressed out. Aaron Boone pulling Garrett Cole
in Game one created anxiety. In Games one to five
with Garrett Cole, New York had leads in later innings,
(06:44):
but it never ever felt like they were under control,
and it always felt like it would come crashing down.
And it did. The stress, the anxiety and the pressure.
Now Aaron Judge his first ever air, first ever playing
center field. I mean, you don't think that stress created
(07:05):
the entire series. The Dodgers felt loose and inspired, maybe
because they've been there before, and the Yankees felt uptight
a back catchers interference, short hopping a ball to third,
not covering first. We've seen it with Mahomes and Brady.
Experience matters, especially in those high leverage situations. The Dodgers
(07:27):
had been here, dominating their division for years and winning
in the postseason, not always the World Series, but winning,
and the Yankees haven't. Outside of the American League Central,
they just don't want a lot of playoff series anymore.
This became a nightmare on one hundred and sixty first Street,
and there was a Freddy terrorizing everybody. His name was
(07:47):
Freddy Freeman. But more than anything, even more than Freddie Freeman,
it was the stress, the mistakes and the unraveling The
only game the Yankees won in this World Series was
the Dodger bullpen game. And let me rephrase that, the
Dodger's lower tier bullpen game. Even their ace, Garrett Cole,
(08:13):
finished two starts without a win. Here's Aaron Boone after.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Yeah, we just had a bad inning. You know, Garrett
was amazing, kept picking us up. You know, obviously a
few mistakes really cost us in that inning. It happens,
and and and that hurts. But that's also baseball.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
By the way, I don't think I've never seen and
we find out statistically it never happened. I've never seen
something happen in the fifth inning like that. Aaron Judge
first air a drop fly ball, the short hopped the
third not covering first. That was the crazy stuff. Then
a balk, then catchers interference. But one of the advantages
of not going to a game because you don't see
(09:02):
this when you're at a game. But going to a
game is more fun, especially a World Series game. But
one of the advantages of not going to a game
you see things on TV that you wouldn't notice when
you're there, and you could sense the stress. You could
you could sense the anxiety from the Yankees, and you
could simultaneously see the looseness and the joy and the
inspired effort of the Dodgers playing with a chip on
(09:24):
their shoulder despite this massive payroll. And I thought it
was very obvious last night as it all came crashing
down for the Yankees in the fifth and the eight innings.
J Mack, we don't do a ton of baseball on
this show, but I would say this, and I'll talk
about this later. Jan Soto is on the market. It
has been reported the Dodgers are very, very interested in
(09:45):
adding Juan Soto to Freeman, to Kershaw, to Betts, to Otani.
And I will tell you if any New York Yankee
fan is outraged by that, never forget ten to fifteen
years ago. The Hot Stove League was essentially the Yankee
Red Sox League. That's all it was. Yankee is just
outbidding everybody when they had the cable advantage with the
Yes network. That's all gone. The Yankees are a smarter
(10:08):
front office. They have more money the Dodgers are now,
and they're gonna use it. You think he gets Otani
type money in the same neighborhood. Oh, I think Sodo
will end up being. I think Otani is more global,
and I think merchandise. I mean, I was reading a
story yesterday where the World Series ratings were bigger in
Japan it was in Crazed. So the merchandise that Otani
(10:29):
can fuel is just different. I think it's different. But
I think Sodo is regarded is as fair as the
best young talent in the sport, and so that market
is in any sports league. You could be Aunt Edwards
Wemby Sodo. It doesn't matter what sport it is, You're
gonna get paid handsomely. All right, coming up, Hey, We've
(10:51):
got good news. I swear to you, Greg co Sell.
In one hour, we have good news coming up for
the city of New York.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
days and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
App now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great
rates none of the ball. So here's good news for
New York. The New York Jets are going to win.
Tonight on Thursday Night football at home against the Houston Texans.
The New York Jets are going to win. It's gonna
be twenty four to twenty twenty seven to twenty three.
They're going to win by about a field goal four points.
(11:28):
Young quarterback c J. Stroud of Houston, too many things
line up against him on the road. Short week. Receivers
are all banged up. They can't protect him. You know it,
just this is a New York Giants win home. Teams
have done very well on Thursday night football. So when
the Jets win tonight, all I ask because they will win.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
C J.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Stroud by the way home, he's ten and two in
his career. Road he's under five hundred. Everything dips, completion percentage,
yards per game, touchdown passes, passer rating dips. He's just
he's like a lot of young quarterbacks. He is really good.
Potentially when everything's lined up, you put them on the road.
I can't quite hear missing a receiver, protection breaks down
(12:08):
c J. Stroud. My guest, Jets are pretty good on
early downs. Defensively, it'll be a lot of third and
longs for c J. Stroud. Protection will be an issue.
Jets will win. All I'm asking is, when you win tonight,
could you have a moment. I'm not asking for much
of humility, just a moment because the last time you
went on Thursday night, again at home, short week against
(12:29):
a team that wasn't in the right spot to win
New England. The next several days, New York Media and
Jets Nation had the composure of a nine year old
after eating two pieces of birthday cake. Just take a
deep breath. You're a two and six football team. You
do not have the infrastructure or leadership from the owner,
(12:50):
the head coach, the offensive coordinator to be an elite team.
You are now in survival mode at two and six.
You'll be three and six after tonight. There's two or
three teams in the AFC. Let's not even count the
whole league. In the AFC, there are two or three
elite teams Kansas City, Baltimore, Buffalo. Then there's another three
or four teams that I think are very good and
(13:11):
could win a playoff game if things line up Texans
if they're health either not now, Chargers and the Steelers.
And there's one team in the AFC I think it's
going to be good next year, but they're a little
young at quarterback, need another draft. The Denver Broncos. You
do not qualify as any of those, and you'll win tonight.
Because the circumstances line up, you are closer to the Raiders. Yes,
(13:32):
the Raiders and the Colts and the Bengals. That's what
you are. You're in that group of eight or nine
teams in the AFC, Miami, Raiders, Bengals. You're not Buffalo,
you're not Baltimore. You're not Kansas City. You're not the Chargers.
You're not the Steelers. You're not the Texans when they're
healthy and playing at home. You're not that either. You're
(13:54):
not Denver because you can't get young at quarterback. It's
a bad quarterback draft class. You're not getting you and
Eron's here probably for another year. So let's take a
deep breath. After the Mets collapsed and the Yankees collapsed,
and the Giants have collapsed and the Jets have collapsed. Hey,
Karl Anthony town was good last night. Here's here's the
(14:14):
good news. You can win tonight. You will win tonight.
Take a deep breath. Here's Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
At two and six.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Aaron, what is your frame of mind right now?
Speaker 5 (14:24):
It's got a win day?
Speaker 8 (14:26):
What message would you have for your fan base?
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Smile, show up, trust, leave and Rudi us On as
far as you can. We need that noise, and we're
trying to rectify this as quickly as possible. You know,
it's been frustrating for everybody, but there's still a lot
of season left.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Twenty seven, twenty four, twenty seven, twenty three, twenty four
to twenty it's gonna be all. It's gonna be okay.
But but but but that's all it's gonna be. It's
gonna be three and six, not six and three. It's
gonna be okay tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to the show.
Say nice things in a Friday morning about the Jets.
But I did that a couple of weeks ago about
the Patriots, and you freaked out. Don't freak out. This
(15:06):
is a spot home veteran quarterback, short week off a
humiliating loss, so you're totally inspired. You won't be looking
ahead to anything.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I think the Dodgers sort of smelt blood once they
tied it up with all those Yankee miscues in the fifth.
I think everything shifted for Los Angeles, and I think
Dave Roberts and everybody thought, Okay, they're reeling, they're tight,
it's palpable. Let's finish this puppy off. We don't have
to go back to Los Angeles with Yamamoto and Walker Buehler.
If we have to use Walker Buhler at the end
(15:41):
of the game to wrap it up, we will. That's
what happened, And here's what it sounded like from Joe Davis.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
The Dodgers A strikeaway start the party, Los Angeles. You're
Dodgers have on the World Series.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
You were down five to nothing tonight. What is it
about this group that makes it so resilient?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know, there's just a lot of ways we can
win baseball games.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Obviously, the superstars we have.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
On our team and the discipline just kind of all
adds up.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And that's a beginning, you know, that's just wild. Yeah.
So the Yankees eventually the anxiety, the stress, which started
in Game one when Garrett Cole went eighty eight pitches,
he was humming. They pulled him out, and a lot
of critics, a lot of pushback. You lose when your
(16:41):
ace is on the mound. And from that point forward,
it felt like it was the Dodger Series. Even last
night when it was tied late Dodgers take a one
run lead. You knew they were going back to Los Angeles.
You knew they would have no more Garrett Cole to face,
and there their elite relievers would be used. So I
thought it stacked up as an eventual Dodgers win. It
just happened. I thought, I thought it happened in New York.
(17:04):
I always like when the team wins at home. But
congrats to the Dodgers their eighth World Series championship. And
with that Greg Cosell forty five years NFL film. Okay,
so Caleb Williams had been in a three year, three
week role. We looked pretty good, no panicking, feet, were steady.
(17:24):
They had kind of refined looks for him. And then
he goes to Washington off of By and it's a mess.
Their first six or seven drives nothing worked. So we
don't think of Washington as having elite defensive personnel. What
did the commanders and Dan Quinn do to completely flummox
(17:45):
the Bears offense?
Speaker 8 (17:49):
It really wasn't magical, Colin. I mean, the pass rush
was really strong. Williams was under a lot of duress
at this point in his career too, even plays where
there were people around him, but it wasn't by NFL standards,
what you'd call big time pressure. He's not necessarily ready
to handle that. You know, we've talked about this. There's
(18:10):
a big difference, and I think it's important to make
this distinction. There's a big difference between being able to
get out of the pocket and make plays, which he's
very very good at. We saw him do that later
in the game on a pass I believe to Keenan Allen.
But there's a big difference between that and moving efficiently
and effectively within the pocket, and he's not quite ready
(18:32):
for the second part of that, moving efficiently and effectively
within the pocket to kind of find a quieter space
to throw the football. So he was under a lot
of duress in this game, and it was just a
pass rush that was really a big factor. The left
tackle Jones went out after eighteen snaps. They put in
a rookie at left tackle who really had a hard time. So,
(18:55):
you know, I think overall with Williams, the main thing
for him as he continues his development and he's going
to be a very good player. I don't think there's
any question about that is how quickly and how well
he can see things clearly and decisively and deliver the football.
And that's very often the case with young quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Speaking of one that's struggling, Anthony Richardson. Now people are saying, well,
Josh Allen after ten starts wasn't great, But I thought
Josh Allen was slowly building and growing. Anthony Richardson, forget
the turnovers, and that can't stay healthy. I think he's
struggling from the pocket more now with Shane Steichen in
good weapons than he was a year ago. What do
(19:35):
you see on film?
Speaker 8 (19:37):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of things with him,
Kyle and number one, I think he's really struggling to
understand the route concepts and the read involved in the
specific route concepts versus the specific coverage. So therefore his
eyes are not in the right place. And if you
just wait a beat, as you know, half a beat
(19:57):
in the NFL, and your eyes are not in the
right place and your timing is off, you're going to
really struggle. So that's the first part of it. The
second part of it is he's just not at this
point in time a naturally accurate thrower to the football.
He's very scattershot. He misses too many routine throws, and
(20:18):
it's really really difficult to be successful when you miss
routine throws. So again, this is a difficult situation. Neither
you nor I are in their building. We don't understand
the day to day. But this is not a bad
football team. And given the state of that division and
the state of the AFC, they may believe, as they should,
that they have an opportunity to be in the playoffs. Yeah,
(20:40):
and you sort of walk that fine line between quarterback
quarterback development and hey, we've got a chance to be
in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah. Now that's what I said this week. I think
the Colts could win that division. I like their personnel.
A team I was really wrong on, and I was
wrong on Mike Tomlin. I've criticized him for years and
many defensive coaches for being out of touch tone after
the offense. But Justin Fields had a winning record and
he said, no, I'm moving on to Russell Wilson. It
would have been very easy because Justin Fields is popular,
(21:11):
young and relatable to the locker room. Yes, it would
have been very easy to stick with that. And Mike
Tomlin is a defensive coach sensed urgency. A lot of
these defensive coaches don't. And I got to give Mike
Tomlin credit. So what is Russell Wilson doing now in
the last couple of weeks that maybe justin Fields wasn't
because the offense it looks more big play and more
(21:33):
efficient to me.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
Yeah, and it is. And keep in mind, it's still
foundationally a run first offense. In the last two games
that Wilson has started on first down, Najee Harris has
carried the ball twenty six times and done extremely well.
So this is a run first offense. They've put Wilson
under center. He's been really good under center. Play action
(21:57):
boot has become a significant part of their offense. And
the other thing, clearly is he does throw the ball
down the field, so he better takes advantage of their weapons. Yeah,
both pickens. And of course we're seeing Austin who I
remember watching him coming out of the University of Memphis
and I thought he could be a good pro in
the right situation. So we're seeing an under center offense,
(22:18):
which is really not a major part of NFL teams
these days, but they put him under center to play
to his straints because Wilson at his core, that's what
he does best when it can be defined for him
in under center play action. You define the reds and
the throws much better. He's not at his best as
a shotgun quarterback where you're asking him to be a
(22:39):
higher level progression reader. So now you're playing to his strength.
You're getting the ball to your weapons, and you're still
starting with the run game. And Najee Harris, I think
he's looked better this year than he has at any
point in his NFL career.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
So I have said the Steelers remind me of the Chargers.
They're not the Ravens, the Bills of the Chiefs, but
the Steelers do too many things well right now not
to be a playoff team. And I feel with the
Chargers and the Steelers, they're good enough to win a
playoff game, probably not get to a conference championship. So
I watched this week and I thought the Chargers and
Hardball were smart to let Justin Herbert run a little
(23:16):
because they really lack weapons. What do you see what
the Chargers going for? Yeah, I mean they just don't
have a lot of guys on the perimeter.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
No, they don't. I mean, it's Palmer, it's McConkie, it's Fojoko,
it's Shalen Rieger. They don't have what you'd call big
time weapons. Mcconki will be a very good player, but
he's not a true number one type. So what they've
done a lot this year. It's Greg Roman, as you know,
is the offensive coordinator, and he's basically, to some degree,
replicated what he did in Baltimore because they have a
defensive tackle named Scott Matt Lack who is now a
(23:47):
full back. He's played one hundred and fifty one snaps
on offense this year, so he's essentially their Patrick Ricard,
Patrick Riccard everybody knows from Baltimore. So now they run
a very similar style offense, a lot out of two backs,
with the fullback being Matt Lack. So the pass game
is still kind of a work in progress. So they're
(24:08):
a very physical running team. They play at a base personnel.
It'll be interesting as the season progresses if they try
to expand the pass game. There's no question from a
talent standpoint that Herbert can do that, but right now
that's not the way they're playing, and you could well
be right it could be a function of the fact
that the weapons are somewhat lacking on the perimeter.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah, so it's interesting with Kansas City. They don't have
a high ceiling offensively, am I even Worthy, who I like,
feels like more of a gadget guy or an occasional
deep guy, not a volume guy. But despite that, their
efficiency in high leverage moments third down, fourth down is insane.
(24:48):
So why can they do in high leverage moments what
they don't necessarily do consistently? Okay, cords of a game, it's.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
A great question. I don't know if I have a
great answer to the why, but you're one hundred percent right.
The reality is that on third down they're one of
two teams in the NFL that have converted over fifty percent,
Tampa being the other, the team they play on Monday Night.
But they're very, very good on third down for a
couple of reasons. Number One, they do have some really
well schemed third down concepts that present clean throws for
(25:22):
Patrick Mahomes, and that's what you're always trying to do
for your quarterback. And secondly, it's the Mahomes factor. You know,
it's very much like Josh Allen. It's the Mahomes factor.
You know, you get him moving, making plays outside of
structure very difficult on a defense. I remember speaking to
a defensive quarterly natter a couple of years ago and saying,
(25:42):
with quarterbacks like Mahomes, Alan Jackson, you really have two defenses.
The first two to two and a half seconds of
a play and then the next two to three to
four seconds of a play. And those second two to
three four seconds are really really difficult to defend from
a discipline standpoint. So despite the fact that they look
very often out of sync in the past, game is
(26:03):
I think we would both agree. The fact is on
third down they've been really, really good and that's allowed
them to sustain enough in conjunction with their run game
and a really good defense to be an undefeated team.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So you get to a point, I've said this before,
hard to win a World Series without a good bullpen.
If you're leaking runs in the late innings against elite teams,
you're not gonna win it. It's hard to win a
Super Bowl, Asthma Holmes with a bad o line. When
you have a good old line, it not only matters
to get a lead. A great O line helps you
with a lead, you can sustain drives, you can kill
(26:38):
the clock. It's not just for scoring, it's often for
game management and killing the clock because Detroit's going to
score points a lot of times. It's let's burn eight
minutes and not give the ball back to an elite quarterback. Sure,
what can Green Bay do to slow down the locomotive
known as the Bear or the Lions O line and off.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Yeah, Well, to me, the Packers are one of the
most fun defenses to watch. Jeff Hafley's done a great job.
One thing that's become a trend in the league, and
the Packers are right in the forefront of it is
six and seven man defensive front looks. So now the
offense has to protect that. But what they often do,
and the Packers are great at this, is they'll show
(27:21):
a seven man front and at so now it's seven
on the front, four on the back end. So what
they'll do is then they'll drop out three and it
becomes seven on the back end in some form of
zone coverage and a four man pressure. Okay, they're really
good at that kind of disguise. The late rotation. Xavier
McKinney is a master at being able to do that.
(27:42):
He's a terrific player. Beyond the interceptions, he's just a
really savvy, smart player in coverage. So they're really really
good at that. Those are the kinds of things that
they do every week. They'll do it against the Lions.
They'll try just to slow down GoF. All you have
to do is slow down a quarter back as he's
dropping back by half a beat and you may have
(28:04):
an advantage. The bigger issue though, for them, I think,
will be defending their run because the one thing about
the Lions we always talk about golf, but their run
game is really good.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah, okay, this is a selfish question. I don't know
if anybody else cares. But I picked the Broncos. I
picked the Denver Broncos. I said they may not be
a playoff team, but the idea of Vegas has them
at five wins. Peyton's too good of a coach, they
have weapons. Yep, there's too many players here. I like
they may win eight or nine to five is ridiculous.
(28:34):
So so far, so good. But I want to talk
not just about Peyton, but about the defense. It's mostly
the same guys as last year and they're getting tremendous pressure.
What are they doing with the Broncos defense.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
Yeah, they are getting tremendous pressure in advance. Joseph's always
been one of the best. He's their decoordinator, one of
the best in the league at kind of creating pressure
and scheming pressure, and that's what they're doing. They've got
a pretty good group as well. I mean, they've got
Cooper on one side. On the outside, they've got Benito,
who came out of Oklahoma, player I really liked a
(29:09):
few years ago as pressure players. They do a really
good job with their disguise, how they get to their pressures,
their overload concepts. I think their blitz rate is among
the highest in the league and they're really good doing that.
So this is a really good defense and they're getting
quality corner play. Obviously, we know about Patrick certain they
(29:30):
many think he's the best corner in the league. Yes,
Iday Riley Moss came out of Iowa and he's played
on the other side this year, and while he's had
a few bad moments with some penalties, he's developing into
a quality corner. And you can do so much more
on defense when you feel good about your corners and
they feel good about their corners.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, Cirtain's an incredible talent. Okay, you know I've said this.
I have defended Kyler Murray for years. I don't necessarily
trust him in big games, but I think he throws
beautiful ball. I think he's a more athletic Russell Wilson
and Russell's prime. He's elusive, and last week I thought, no, no,
they may beat the Niners. They'll go to Miami lay
(30:09):
an egg and then Kyler in the second half. They
I mean, between Harrison Connor Kyler McBride, they've got pieces
offensively and they move the pocket constantly. So is it
just my eyes or has Kyler been a little more
consistent this year? Greg? Yeah?
Speaker 8 (30:30):
You know, Colin, I think he'll always be a little inconsistent,
and there's some weeks you'll be uncertain as to what
you will get, simply because of the way in which
he plays, because of his size. He's always going to
be a little frenetic. He's always going to move at
times will be unbelievable when he does that. Other times
it doesn't quite work out. But he does throw a
(30:51):
good ball. I mean last week in the fourth quarter,
he was ten for eleven yep for over one hundred yards.
He made some really impressive throats from the pocket. You know,
you really have to define it for him from the
pocket so that when he hits that back foot he
feels as if he can release the ball because if
he has if he feels he can't release it because
he's smaller and the bodies start to get closer, he's
(31:13):
going to move. Yeah. But what I think they've done
really well and it's what second or third year I
think with this staff, is it the second year? I
but anyway, with the coordinator, they've done it. They've done
a great job now with the spacing in their route
concepts and I've talked about that a lot when it
comes to a team like the Lions. They're doing a
(31:33):
really good job in Arizona with that and you saw
it last week and that really helps define the reeds
and the throws for Kyler Murray, and that's what you
really need to do so that he can play a
little more settled from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, I want to see the play of the week
is kinder to Marvin Harrison, who's been a bit inconsistent,
but in his big games, he's been money and again
their offense they got pieces. So let's go to the
big play they do.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
Yeah, let's go to the play right now, because this
is a perfect example, Colin of what I'm speaking about
with routes spacing, and I think that that's something that's
overlooked a lot when you talk about past games in
the National Football League, is the spacing of routes against
zone coverage. So what we're going to see here is
you're going to see Kyler in the gun where he
is a good part of the time, and this is
(32:18):
going to be what we call a three by one set,
and Marvin Harrison is the boundary X, the single receiver
to the short side of the field. Now, this is
going to be a four man route concept. We're going
to map out the routes here so you can see
all the routes once they come up together. It's a
four man route concept. In Harrison is he's the one
who's going to run the crossing route from the back side. Now,
(32:41):
the defense here is going to end up playing Cover two,
So you're going to see the two deep safeties that's
obviously a part of Cover two. You're going to see
the middle hole defender. He's going to run the seam,
and then you're going to see the two corners who
are flat defenders. They don't run with vertical routes, are
flat defenders. So now you know, I wanted to talk
(33:04):
about the route spacing here, which I think is so
important and so critical for a quarterback, not for any quarterback,
not just a shorter quarterback. So what you see is
you see the outside vertical here attacking that void. Then
you're going to see the scene route and that's going
to attack a void in the middle of the field.
So now you're attacking different voids in the coverage. Then
(33:26):
you're going to see the flat route attacking a short
outside void, okay, And then you're going to see Marvin's route.
He's working across the field okay, So now you're working
to one side of the field and you're attacking voids.
Now that's Jaylen Ramsey. He's an underneath defender here. His
eyes are forward, but he's responsible for Marvin Harrison's route
(33:47):
into that void. But because Harrison is coming from the
other side, Ramsey does not have eyes on him, so
Harrison works into that void. So you can see how
the route spacing created a big void for Marvin Harrison.
They had did such a good job with this last week,
and I think this is one thing we'll continue to
see and this will allow Colin, as you said, maybe
(34:10):
Kyler Murray to be a lot more consistent on a
week to week FASIS because the reds and the throws
will become much more defined.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yep, good stuff. Greg co Sell, forty five years at
NFL Films as Owa's Greg. Thanks for checking in on
a Thursday. I appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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