Episode Transcript
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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 It is a Wednesday.
Tom Brady is stopping by Wednesday live in Los Angeles.
It's the Herd wherever you may be, and however you
may be listening or watching, or whatever mood you may
be in. Thanks for making us part of your day.
(00:48):
Tom Brady. In one hour from now, Sean McVay, the
RAMS is stopping Buyer Show. Jim Harbaugh was here earlier
and listen. This is always the strangest day of the
year to host. Every four years, I host a show
after an election, and half of my audience is having
(01:08):
the time of their lives, and half of my audience
is depressed and somber and miserable. It's always the strangest
day to host a show. And you know, I texted
my son this morning. Take a deep breath, you know,
hang around people that make you smile. I felt like
mister Rogers, you know, it's just like, you know, take
a deep breath. I root for the country is what
(01:29):
I always root for. I think one hundred percent of
our audience is excited because we got Brady on the
show today. Come on, don Brady, there you go. We
can get better than that that. You sound like jim'llood
By McVeigh like, come on. So I thought this was
something so for years and years, speaking of debates and
political the Cowboys quarterback Dack Prescott. He's one of those players.
And I don't know why, because he's got a little
(01:50):
bit of a melt tost personality. He's not polarizing, he's
not really outspoken. He seems like a nice guy. He's
just not a controversial figure. I mean, he just controversy
finds him, mostly because he's a Dallas Cowboy quarterback. And
you know, Tony Romo is another guy. Tony Romo laughs
a lot on TV. I think Tony Romo's funny. I
don't see Tony Romo as controversial. Oh but being a
(02:13):
Dallas Cowboy quarterback, it was Tony Romo was debated constantly
by the way.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I think Tony Romo was underrated.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I've always felt Vax a little bit overrated, but I
mean he's mostly he's a B plus quarterback. But I
thought this was interesting. So Vic Fangio is the defensive
coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the sharpest guys
in the NFL. He's seen every quarterback. He's older, he's
been around the league forever. And they asked him this week,
what will it be like facing Cooper Rush, the backup
(02:43):
quarterback instead of Dak Prescott. And his answer was, Eh,
won't change anything. Excuse me, I beg your jargon. What Hello,
it won't change anything. I mean, if Patrick Mahomes was out,
Carson Wentz was in, I think the Chiefs would look
to say, I mean, if Lamar Jackson was out and
(03:03):
Josh Johnson was in, you think the Ravens would be
the same offense, even B to B plus quarterbacks. If
Baker Mayfield's out and Kyle Trask is in Tampa can't
score you, you think Kyle Trask is taking the Chiefs
to overtime on Monday Night. You think Kyle Trask is
doing that Baker Mayfield did. He's a BB plus quarterback.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Tua.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
We don't even love Tua. You don't even love Tua.
He was out the backup. They couldn't score. Miami with
a brilliant offensive coach, with Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddell could
running backs couldn't score. Yet when Dak Leaves and Cooper
Rush comes in, undrafted twenty seventeen, undrafted two to three
star athlete, Central Michigan quarterback, not Michigan, not Michigan State,
(03:47):
Central Michigan directional school, same offense, and you'll wonder why
there's those of us that say, what are you doing
paying Dack Like Patrick Mahomes. Cooper Rush has had six
starts in Dallas. He had a stinker once against Philadelphia.
So let's go to the five games of the six,
the five games that he won, because everybody has stinkers.
Mahomes has bad games in the five of six games,
(04:12):
the five games he won, his passer rating ninety six,
touchdown to interception five to one.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Those are Dax numbers.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
He's the backup, and there's no market for Cooper Rush.
It's not like he's this hidden gem that the trade
deadline people are seeking Cooper Rush.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
He's a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So this goes and really proves at the core the
film doesn't lie that Dak is living off the affinity
Jerry Jones has for him, and he's living off an
early reputation based on weapons when he wasn't paid very much.
Dez and Amari Cooper and Zeke in his prime and
the Cowboys top offensive line in the league for about
a five year run. He's living off that. I mean,
(04:57):
Sean McVay moved off Goff. Goff's than Dak. Alex Smith
was in Kansas City and he Reid moved off him.
He's certainly as good as Dak, and Jerry Jones just
keeps filling up that bag for Dak Prescott. But ultimately
Vic Fangio, who's seen every quarterback in this league for
fifteen years, is like Dak Cooper Rush.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's the same offense.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So when quarterbacks are young, and this is a cautionary
tale for another team in the NFL, when quarterbacks are young,
they're cheap, and when they're cheap, you can stockpile talent
in their roster and then once you pay them, you
have to get rid of those weapons. Even a great
quarterback like Joe Burrow can't do it alone. Cincinnati doesn't
have a good enough players. But keep your eye on
(05:41):
San franciscoing Brock pretty. It's a prime example. San Francisco
going Brock pretty. Brock makes nothing. The roster is loaded.
So San Francisco take a look at Dallas. Is that
Dak is living off Jerry's affinity for him, He's living
off those early weapons and reputation. Defensive coordinator who's seen
(06:01):
every quarterback in this league for over a decade, Cooper
Russian Deck, it'll.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Be the same offense. And it will.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
By the way, so last night it was the first
one Tom Brady again in fifty minutes. It was the
first college football rankings came out. And so it's you know,
college football is really become mostly with a college Football playoff,
it's going to become a two conference sport SEC and
(06:28):
the Big Ten. It's gonna look much more like because
this is what the TV partners want. It's gonna it's
gonna look like the NFL, AFC, NFC. I mean, you'll
have the Big twelve, the ACC, the Pac twelve's already dissolved,
but it's gonna be Big twelve, Big ten and the SEC.
And there is this thing. It's I would call it
the illusion of inclusion. So everybody feels great. Last night
(06:51):
the rankings come out for the twelve team playoff.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Everything look at Indiana awesome?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
That is oh byu the little guys awesome. If Boise State,
I love it, Boise State, you really think Boise State
or Indiana today? Indiana would have to open up at
Tennessee and then play neutral field games against Ohio State, Georgia, Texas.
We really think Indiana is gonna run through that. But
(07:18):
the one thing I looked at, and I don't care
what the rankings say, Oregon's the best team I've seen
in the country. And every time I see Oregon, the
more impressed I am with him.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
But I thought it was interesting that I've watched the
same games the committee has and are they trying to
be PC or whatever their analytics say? Ohio State two,
Georgia three. If they played tomorrow, who would you take?
I would take Georgia all day long over Ohio State.
Better coach, better quarterback, better defense, better conference, and Georgia's
(07:47):
quarterbacks not even plan well. But he'll get drafted. So,
I mean, I looked at that thing yesterday. Penn State
is six. You really think they can play for the Natty?
So you can create a thirty team playoff. It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter that Indiana is nine to zero and
BYU is eight, and oh they don't have enough NFL
bodies And football is different than basketball, and even because
(08:09):
there's so much violence that you get guys hurt every game.
So if an Indiana or a BYU or a Boise
State has to play three or four games in a
row against these high end teams, it's fall apart physically.
Even in basketball, where you don't have that level of violence,
if you have one great player. I remember covering David
Robinson when he played at Navy, like one great player.
(08:31):
Even in college basketball, it always ends up down to
the elite eight one seeds, two seeds, three seeds, four seeds,
and maybe one you know, eleven or twelve dark horse seed.
So I see Miami here. Everybody's excited about Miami. Miami
is a vote for cam Ward and nostalgia. You're thinking Miami,
Michael Irvan Miami. That's not what they are. You take
(08:52):
cam Ward off this team They're a five six win team.
They almost lost a cal The four teams at the
top of this Georgia, Oregon, Texas, Ohio State. Those were
the preseason one, two, three four. I forget the order,
but preseason won two, three four. So but I would
say this when I looked at this, my first take is,
(09:13):
who would really trust Ohio State over Georgia if they
played tomorrow? How could you Georgia wins those big games?
Ohio State? Then what's the biggest game this year for Georgia?
The Texas game? Backed against the wall on the road,
humiliated Texas. You think Ohio State's going to Austin and
humiliating Texas, No they're not. You think Georgia's going to
Oregon and giving up thirty five points? I don't so
(09:38):
remember half of Ohio State's fans want the coach fired,
Their quarterbacks arguably the weakest of the four biggest programs
right now, top four in the country, and they end
up short in all these big games. So as I
watched that, I thought, I don't know who could watch
Georgia beat Texas? How could you watch that game? I
(10:00):
understand Oregon's undefeated, but of all the one loss teams.
How could you watch that game and have Georgia below
Ohio State. It feels, you know, the committee is trying
to make sure analytics watch the games. Ohio State's not
going to Austin and doing that to Texas that it's
I mean, they went to Penn State and struggle with
(10:22):
the Penn State team that's average at quarterback, below average
at wide receiver, and didn't play particularly well. I mean
that you had fans at Penn State yelled at the coach,
James Franklin. He had to confront one of them. All right,
Jay Mac, we got some stuff today. You know, I
haven't talked to Tom Brady in about six weeks, six
(10:43):
seven and maybe eight weeks. Didn't he come on right
before the season. He came on right before the season.
He was great, by the way.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
In ten weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
So Tom's gonna make another another visit, and I'm interested
to ask him about Kansas City because Kansas City is
eight their first time they've ever been eight to no.
But it still feels like they're kind of trying to
figure out what the heck they are. And Tom was
on a couple of great teams and you think, yeah,
a couple. But you think when you're eight, no, you
think you got your act together. But I don't think.
(11:14):
I think Kansas City is till really trying to figure
out what to do with Xavier Worthy. They got backup
running backs, They're a little dinged up on defense. I
don't think Kansas City knows what they are yet.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Remember when the Brady Moss team was undefeated and everybody thought, oh,
they could use a loss before the playoffs, and they
didn't have a loss. I wonder if that applies to
the Chiefs Bills game in two weeks. Yes, because if
the Bills don't knock them off, you look at the
schedule and Kansas City's probably gonna be fourteen to know.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I will say this, if you look at how the
Chargers play, you can make an argument they are they
are kind of built. They're a little Kansas City where
they're a light at wide receiver, great defense, great head coach,
excellent quarterback, and can.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Run the ball.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I think the Chargers feel like they're already they're model.
It would have been weird to say this a year
ago with Brandon Staley, but if you look at the
Chargers today, they are the Chiefs. The strength is the head, coach,
the quarterback, maybe one weapon you love, great pass rush,
(12:18):
excellent defensive personnel.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
A lot of it.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Young.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
So there are poor Man's Chiefs. But I don't think
they're that poor. I think, I know, I think they're
pretty darn close.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
They go to Arrowhead and win, I mean, quite the same.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Tampa Bay went to Arrowhead this week without Chris Godwin
and Mike Evans, and there were moments in that game
I thought Tampa, I mean, was Tampa's last drive with Baker,
You're like, you got a champce going for two and
win this game.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
If Bulls goes for two and they get it, we're
not even talking about this.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
He's being unefeated. Yes, right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Tom Brady twenty three years best quarterback to ever played
the game. So I was thinking about this tom as
I'm watching Kansas City. I still feel like I said,
they're they're like an electric vehicle that's only charged about
fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
They're not.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
They're kind of trying to figure out what they are.
Back up running back. They don't know what to do
with Xavier Worthy. They just kind of go back your
Randy Moss team Boom. You knew very early at special
But did you ever have a team that won a
Super Bowl but in the middle of a season you
didn't quite know what the offensive identity was, Because that's
(13:34):
what I watched when I watched the Chiefs.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
I actually think they do have a great offensive identity.
I think they look the game's about winning. We talk
about points, you talk about you know, yards, and and
you talk about penalties and defensive stops. To me, at
the end of the game, do you have more points
than the other team. That's the maturity of a great
(13:58):
team and a great organization.
Speaker 6 (14:01):
I played on a lot of teams.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
Some were a lot of offensive strengths, some had a
lot of defensive strengths.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Some years we were kind of.
Speaker 7 (14:08):
Middle of the packet both, but we played well situationally,
third down, red area, two minute every year. That's the
best part about the NFL is the constant transition, the
constant change. Now you see they add DeAndre Hopkins at
the trade deadline, so.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
It's like.
Speaker 7 (14:26):
In the end when you have Patrick Mahomes and it's
a one score game. Everyone's always betting on the Chiefs. Now,
can someone get away from the Chiefs. I don't know,
because that defense plays so well. But I don't think
Patrick Mahomes is a lesser player because he doesn't have
twenty five touchdowns at this point. It's just he's not
playing with guys that can produce that from the receiver position.
(14:50):
So that naturally Patrick's job is to and I covered
him a few weeks ago when I said the job
of the quarterback is to manage all the variables of
the game, game and the season, injuries, whether the rhythm
of the offense, and then ultimately go out there and
make the plays that puts you in a position to win.
And that's what winners do, and certainly Patrick is that.
(15:12):
And then he's got Andy Reid there, who's as great
of a coach you know, in NFL history. He's on
the kind of the Mount rushmore of coaches. So you
have this consistency of this organization from owner, general, manager, coach, quarterback,
and then to me a defensive coordinator in Spags that
the way that defense plays puts them in a position
(15:32):
to win every single week. So it's obviously they can
be beat. There's probably games where they could have been
beat this year, but every game is decided by a
few plays, and the reality of the Chiefs team is
they always find a way to make the plays when
it matters.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know, I remember when Randy Moss played with you,
when you guys brought a new player in and you
had talked at the time. You're like, you know Belichick
and you were like, he's just smart and he knows football.
So obviously DeAndre h. Hopkins doesn't know the entire playbook yet.
But I'm watching them and I'm like, especially that play
in the back of the end zone, I'm like, God,
you'd think they've had fifty practices. What is it about
(16:10):
certain receivers with you? Like Moss or or DeAndre Hopkins?
They don't have to know the playbook? But yet I
felt like had I just landed on the planet and
watched it, I would have never guessed he just showed
up at the facility. What was it with Moss? What
is it with a veteran receiver that a young receiver
just couldn't do?
Speaker 6 (16:31):
And that's a great question.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
So the reality is, is a great receiver, well, any
receiver that's a veteran knows what a knows what a
practice weeks looks like. If they know how to run
all the routes in the offense, now they may not
know exactly where to line up because everyone has their
variations of words and descriptive words they use to get
people aligned, to get the protections organized, and them to
(16:55):
call routes. Some people use number systems people use, some
people use word that people have to memorize. Some people
use a one term word that tells everybody what to do.
Kansas City does it kind of a myriad of different ways.
And then once DeAndre can really comprehend that, he's going
to say, oh, okay, that's what I used to call
(17:15):
this outcut in Tennessee was like this, or in Houston
it was like smith. But in Case it's like this.
But I still know how to run the route. So
you have these veteran players that have the experience to
run the routes, to know the offenses. It's not like,
you know, when he played for Tennessee, the field was
a different size. You know, it's the same rules, it's
(17:37):
the same routes. It's ultimately just how you call him.
So once he gets out there and he's confident in
what he has, you know, he's going to look like
DeAndre Hopkins always has, which is you know, he's got
good quickness, he's got great catch radius, he's got this
ability and the situational place to make catches like that,
and certainly as a rhetoric target.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
And I just think if you look.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
At the Chiefs and their injuries, at the receipt for
position to add someone like DeAndre who has that veteran
presence and.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
No game is going to be too big for him.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
He's playing a lot of big games, so that always
gives a quarterback a lot of confidence. I remember playing
with certain rookie receivers literally it was like the first
day of OTAs and I'd call like, hey, run a
slant and he looked at me like a slant, okay,
And that's kind of the most generic route look since
we're running those in in in parking lots, you know,
(18:29):
with your friends. And there was a few guys I
play with that would they they'd start the route slow,
then they'd speed up into the break, then they'd slow
down coming out of the break, and then they'd look
for the ball and I'd look at him and be like.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
What the hell was that?
Speaker 7 (18:43):
You know, like, there's such a there's such a learning
curve that needs to happen from a rookie player, Whereas
when you get someone like DeAndre, you go, Heyjndre, run
a slant and it looks like a slant.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
It looks great, it's fluid, it's smooth, you can play it.
So with a rookie, there's such arning curve.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
There's so many things to learn that you're never going
to get that type of production in a short period
of time of the rookie that you can get with
a veteran unless that's just a very special rookie. And
I've had some of those. Those guys, to me, are
more anomalies than kind of what the norm is.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I know you probably haven't sat and watched too many
Denver games or Bears games, but when with the young quarterbacks,
obviously they grew up in a different environment than you
seven on seven camps, way more snaps by the time
they're fifteen than you had. But go back to your career.
I remember you doing an interview with Jay Laser once
and you're like, I've seen everything.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Dude, you could throw anything at me.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
When was the time in your career? You're pretty a
learned guy, You're very committed. How long did it take?
You know they always talk about things slow down a little.
How long Mahomes said it was year three? What was
it for you?
Speaker 7 (19:56):
The answer is it progressively gets more and more. And
I would say maybe at year one it's fifty percent
of the way that you want it, and then year
two it's sixty percent, and ultimately you're trying to get
to one hundred percent. But even I think for Patrick,
if I look at his situation and his development, he
was very lucky to sit behind and Patrick, let me
(20:17):
get us out of the way.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
He is a phenomenal player. To me, is you know
he lamar Josh Allen.
Speaker 7 (20:23):
You're talking about the upper echelon, as we all know,
and Patrick is going to go down as one of
the greats ever for a number of reasons. But if
I look at him, he went to college at Texas Tech.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
He had Cliff.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
Kingsbury there with him for three years, an NFL caliber coach,
running a lot of NFL caliber type calls and methodologies
by what he's doing, so he three years of that,
then he goes to the Chiefs and he's got Alex
Smith as the guy that's ahead of him, who's a
phenomenal player, great leader, does everything the right way. And
(20:55):
then he's got Andy Reid at his as his play caller.
So it's like there's a reason why it all works,
and there's this development that happens and why Patrick has
been able to ascend so quickly, and he would have
found a way to ascend at some point anyway.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
I'm just saying I could never have reached.
Speaker 7 (21:15):
This area of growth that I needed to, whether that
was your one or three or five. It was accelerated
because of all the things that I had in place
when I was in college. I ran a pro style offense. YEA,
I got drafted, I had Bill Belichick teach me, I
got to sit behind Drew bledsoe. I worked really hard
to learn all those things and embrace the challenge. And
I think when you're a young quarterback, ultimately that's what
(21:37):
you're trying to do. Be in a situation where you
can learn, grow develop. It's all about mentorship. It's all
about the people that come in your life. I see
Bo Nicks from Denver. He's got Sean Payton there as
a phenomenal coach. He's going to get great coaching, They're
going to have great scheme. A lot of times the
first reads for him are going to be open because
he's got a great play caller that knows how to
(21:59):
design things. So then you go on the other side
of it. You know, I've seen a lot of quarterbacks
that don't make it. Maybe they wouldn't have made it anyway,
but I'm just saying there's a potential that they could
look at Sam Darnold. Now he's playing really well in Minnesota.
He's got a good he's got a good coach, he's
got a good scheme, he's got some good receivers.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
He's playing well.
Speaker 7 (22:18):
You know, when he was at the Jets, he didn't
have all those things quite in place. So we always
have to look at I think the physical makeup of
these young players. What are they capable of? Ay, do
they have good arms? Do they have great arms? You know,
are they athletic? Can they get out of the pocket?
Can they And then to me, there's a mental element
that always comes into quarterback play. And I said in
this last game against Green Bay, was watching Green Bay
(22:40):
Lions this last weekend. I said, there's no way for
me to really see sustained success in the NFL at
the quarterback position if you don't have total control of.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
What's being done out on the field.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
If you're expecting your coach to call a play from
the sideline and that play is going to come into
your helmet, you're gonna call it, You're gonna walk to
the line of scrimmage, and that play is gonna be successful,
regardless of the defense of Look, you're out of your mind.
That's not the way it works. The defense calls plays
to stop you, and they have their own tendency. So
(23:14):
it's up to the quarterback ultimately to decide, Okay, I
got a play called, I see what the defense is doing.
Is this play gonna work or not. If it's gonna work,
you run it. If it's not, what do I need
to do to survive the down or what do I
need to do to put us in a position to
be really successful? That, to me, is the operational control
(23:35):
the quarterback's need. And the problem is with the development
of height of college programs. Now they're not getting developed
in the same way. Now they get to a pro
program and a lot of the NFL programs there, there's
so much money going around, you know. The need to
develop is guys can sign one or two contracts and
not develop and still make a great living. So I
(23:57):
would love to see the quarterback play continue in you
to evolve and grow. It's only going to come from
more time on task, more time with your coaches, more
understanding of what your roles and responsibility are. You're supposed
to develop a tool kit as a quarterback to deal
with what you see on the game every single day.
(24:18):
I've seen Jared Goff again covering him this last game.
It was awesome to watch in La. He had a
great system, he had McVeigh to learn under. He brought that.
He comes to a phenomenal program in Detroit right now,
where to me, they're doing a lot of things the
right way. Their offensive coordinator Ben Johnson says, all Righted,
we're going to put more and more on your plate.
We're going to give you a great opportunity to succeed.
(24:39):
And you have to have the ability to process a
lot of information, which is one of jared strengths, to
actually implement all those things and when you do it well,
to me, that's what gets you to. That's what gives
you a great chance to win every single week in
the NFL.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So Bill Belichick's had a couple of weeks ago when
asked about Detroit, He's like, they've got everything offensively. You
hope they make a mistake. And you just called the
game and green Bay's got a good team. It looked
like older brother, younger brother, let me teach you how
to play football. Go back, I mean Detroit O line, tackles,
run game, tight end, quarterback. Go back to your career,
(25:16):
because I felt like green Bay very quickly was like,
we're a little out of our elements here. This is
a really really yeah, So go back to your career.
Was there ever a team you played and you may
not have said this to your teammates, but you thought
to yourself, I'm not sure they have a weakness like that.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
That is Pro bowlers everywhere.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I watched Detroit's offense, Tom, I don't know what the
weakness is, deep ball, slants, slots. Did you ever face
a team like that when you looked at the personnel
and thought it's almost a perfect offense.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
I would say the only I would say the early
Colts offenses we faced. They had Saturday. They had turned
Glenn tight End. They had Pollard, they had at times
Dallas Clark. They had Marvin, they had Reggie, they had Stokeley,
they had Edgrin. They they were so good and I'm
(26:15):
lucky I didn't have to go against them. I mean,
to me, it was great. Belichick would say, guys, listen,
this would be a Wednesday meeting. Understand this. They are
gonna move the ball on us. They're too good. They
got so many guys, they're gonna go up and down.
We need to play good red area defense, and we're
gonna work on red area defense on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,
(26:38):
because that's gonna decide the game. They're gonna get the
ball down there. Which is a great humility from a
coach who's a defensive coach, who's essentially the coordinator, to say,
these guys are so good, we're not gonna just, you know,
pull the wold Over eyes and think that we're gonna
keep these guys the two hundred and forty yards offense
they're gonna have. They're gonna have yards. What we need
(27:01):
to do is keep the points down. If we can
keep the points down and offensively, we can control the game,
we can run the ball, and then we can score points.
We're going to give ourselves a best chance to win.
That to me is complimentary football.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
Right. So when you.
Speaker 7 (27:15):
Play the Lions, the only way to beat them is
to play a style where the offense compliments the defense
and then the kicking game does their job. Sometimes when
you punt, you play great field position. Okay, offensively, the
best defense against the Lions offense, to me is the
meet is possessed the football. You don't want to make
(27:36):
it a track meet against a team that can run it.
They throw it to their tight end, they throw it
to their receivers. When they get Jamison William back, they
have the explosive receiver. So there's so many and they
go for anun fourth downs so often they you got
to stop them for four downs, not just three, which
is a really hard thing to do. So there's a
lot of challenges that the Lions are presenting. And look
(27:57):
the one game they did lose this year, they were
one of six in the red area.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
That's right against the Bucks, yep.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
So so to me, they got a they got a
great offense, they and they got a lot of humility,
they got a great culture to me, they're doing so
many things the right way in the NFL right now.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So you're calling the San Francisco game this weekend, when
when you know, and I think Brock's a good player,
but I also think and the and the you're a
great example of this. Executives miss all the time on
players Antonio Gates and Tony Romo weren't drafted. There's players
all over. I watched a kid for the Rams this weekend.
Some undrafted safety had his fourth pick. There's talent everywhere.
(28:34):
What was the thing when the first the first time
you saw Brock Purty. Obviously you weren't wowed by his size.
His arm strength is good enough. What was the first
thing that you saw I wouldn't see this. You would
see this and you thought that guy's pretty good. Like,
is there something that you see because you played the
position a tell like in poker, that you were like, yeah,
(28:56):
that this kid's gonna work.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
Sure, So I think it's poise and composure. It's calm
under chaos. That's what the quarterback needs to do. And
he walks into that huddle, he needs ten other guys
looking at him. Go all right, man, you're you're totally
under control. And whatever you say we're going to do
to our best league is because we know you're going
to deliver. And they all have that confidence in Brock
(29:22):
is a player, and you're right, Brock's not the biggest.
His arm strength isn't like Aaron Rodgers. But if he
can play with anticipation in this offense, to me, even
studying in the last few days, is a lot different
than the one that they had last year and the
year before. They had so many weapons. The last couple
(29:43):
of years. You know, Brock essentially was a point guard
out there just delivering balls to halfbacks and flip it out.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
There to de bone gain yards.
Speaker 7 (29:50):
And then he's got iuke, you know, catching in cuts
and running for lodges. Oh you forgot about kittle boom,
We're gonna throw over the top of you there. This
offense has been in and out of a lot of
their great players, and I think getting McCaffrey back is
so important for this offense because he provides that passing
threat out of the backfield that they just haven't had
this year. So now the defense has to come up
(30:12):
closer to the line of scrimmage to defend the run
with Christian as well as the pass, and that to
me opens up more of the intermediate and deeper parts
of the field for Bruck where they've kind of been
throwing more of these intermediate type targets on the field,
which I don't think is necessarily the strength of that offense.
So if they can get back, if they can get
Christian back playing well with Mason and.
Speaker 6 (30:34):
McCaffrey, wow, that's a great group.
Speaker 7 (30:36):
Then at receiver, obviously lousen Ayuk is a brutal loss,
but they drafted Pears in the first round.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
He's going to get his legs underneath him.
Speaker 7 (30:45):
You still got Jennings, who to me is one of
the most underrated receivers in the NFL. To perform so
well in the Super Bowl, they have a ton of
confidence in him and then debo his versatility.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
You still got yu Chek who's a.
Speaker 7 (30:57):
Ridiculous chess piece for Kyle, and then you have Kittle,
who can turn up from time to time and go,
Holy the Cat. We almost forgot about him, and then
not to mention a phenomenal offensive line. So they still
have all the pieces in place. Now they've kind of
always seemed to turn around their season around the bye week.
Speaker 6 (31:16):
This is when they need to do it. They just
had their bye week.
Speaker 7 (31:19):
We'll see, you know, if they get green Law back
on defense, that would be a huge boost. Unfortunately, what
they really missed on defense they lost Hardgrave. They lost
this interior rusher. So now it's really kind of a
one man show with Bosa on the perimeter. But if
they can get green Law back and get him playing
close to the way that he was playing in there
(31:39):
with Warner, you have one of the best handems in
the league, if not the best, at linebacker. They rush
the quarterback a little better, and then that's safe that
secondary unit, which has always got a lot of tight coverage,
they can capitalize on offensive mistakes. So I would never
count out the forty nine ers. I think they're so
well coached. They got a great system in place, a
great culture of guys that know how to win. You know,
(32:02):
those are all the things you look for with the Niners.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Seven Rings.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Tom Brady Fox Sports taking time first today. Tom, I
appreciate it, man, Thank.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
You, thanks calling. Great talking to you, partner. All right,
I'm here for you anytime, you know that.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
All right, Thanks Tom, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Well, he's been an NFL Coach of the Year in
a Super Bowl winning coach. His coaching tree is already magnificent.
Sean McVay rams head coaches Jordan airry Is, there's Sean McVay.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 6 (32:36):
How are we doing?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I'm doing great, I'm doing good.
Speaker 8 (32:39):
So you complain, we're just getting ready for Monday night. Now.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, So I have to ask you a question. This
is my big question.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
So I and I don't know the answer to this,
and I'm fascinated by this question. And I want you
to take my audience a little behind the scenes. You
play Seattle, it's a rough first half. You're struggling to
run the ball. It just it's road, it's loud, it's tough,
and nothing's quite. You don't get your footing under you,
so it takes you about two minutes to get into
the locker room, helmet off, guys, get something, and you
(33:08):
have about seven eight minutes to get it right. And
then you come out in the second half you're inspired,
you make defensive plays, you're getting your footing, you're running
the ball. What did you say or what did you adjust?
Because you look like a different team, Sean, how much
can you do it? Whatever you did worked, what can
(33:29):
you do and what did you do against Seattle?
Speaker 6 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (33:33):
I think you know when you look at it, Colin,
it's a tremendous credit to our players. Obviously, we put
ourselves in that situation by a lot of uncharacteristic errors,
jumping off sides giving them opportunities for free plays.
Speaker 8 (33:44):
Losing our pois where we lose one of our best players.
Speaker 9 (33:47):
And there were some things structurally that they were doing
defensively that we weren't really putting our players in favorable spots.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
So you just.
Speaker 9 (33:53):
Address the truth. You say, here's what's going on. We're
not going to beat ourselves. We get the possession coming
out of the half, continue to do the things that
are in alignment with playing quality football, and our offense
goes right down the field, makes it a thirteen to
ten game. Defense gets a stop, we would have loved
to have punched it in for a touchdown, but three
series later, it's thirteen to thirteen with two offensive possessions
(34:14):
and one defensive possession. And you know, we did some
things that were uncharacteristic. But I do think this is
a resilient group. They're mentally tough, they stay in the fight,
and in eight weeks we've had a lot of different
experiences that are reflective of that.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Listen, everybody misses on draft picks, but you guys have done.
I mean, I'm watching your safeties. Your third round pick
has a pick six, a couple pick. The kid from
Tennessee's undrafted. You guys have hit on a lot of
Poka Nikua. Fifth round. We all know Stafford's good. There's
certain guys you can see like how long does it
(34:47):
take you? I mean, Jared Verse, I watched them at college.
I watched them the first game. I'm like, that guy
is going to be a problem. That guy's I can
figure that one out. But like Poka Nikua or McCullough
the safety, how many practice as Sean, do you need
to turn the less snead and go, oh boy.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
We got baller here? If we may have found a
gem here.
Speaker 9 (35:08):
Yeah, you know what, I think it's the way these
guys carry themselves. And then obviously there's the evaluation on
the field, but he gets also having a vision, you know,
less in his group and working in collaboration with our
coaching staff. I think there's a vision when you on
board these guys, whether it be draft picks or even
some of these undrafted free agents. But you know, you
talk about a guy like Jalen McColl that has.
Speaker 8 (35:27):
Four interceptions as an undrafted free.
Speaker 9 (35:30):
Agent out of Tennessee, he just had a demeanor about
himself where he was a man.
Speaker 8 (35:35):
There was a prototype in some of these guys that
we wanted to onboard. We had a real vision for Puka.
Speaker 9 (35:39):
Now if you said that I know he would be
that good, we would have used a lot earlier pick
on him.
Speaker 8 (35:44):
But there was a vision. And then there's a mental
and there's a physical toughness, and there's.
Speaker 9 (35:48):
Just a competitiveness that these guys have in the most
important moments, and that's what we want to continue to do.
I think when you look at the you know just
what a cyclical league.
Speaker 8 (35:57):
This is.
Speaker 9 (35:58):
Tough people last in this league, tough players and just
tough people in general, and those are the kinds of
guys we want on board.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Now, you're a very young defense. It's obvious. You and
less sat down a couple of years. You knew Aaron Donald.
It was getting close to the end, so you started
using a lot of your top picks defense. You haven't
missed on any They're all good. They're just levels of
very good. When you have a young defense, they're gonna
make more mistakes. They're kids, they're twenty three, twenty four
(36:24):
years old. As a coach, do you bake that in?
Are there things you won't ask a young defense to do?
Do you coach twenty four year old defensive players different
than you coaching Aaron Donald? Or when you go get
a Von Miller? How does it affect your coach? Because
your defense it leads the league in sacks by all
the you know, rookies and young players, but they're all kids,
(36:47):
they're getting better every week.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
How do you coach them differently?
Speaker 6 (36:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (36:52):
I think you want to understand what can they handle?
Speaker 9 (36:54):
And really, regardless of whether that's pros that have been
planned for a while, whether that's these rookies set year players,
you know what's their capacity?
Speaker 8 (37:02):
What can they handle? And then in a lot of instances,
it's a race to maturity.
Speaker 9 (37:06):
And I think a lot of these guys are meeting
that and you continue to learn sometimes trial by air.
I do think that we've done a great job. You know,
Chris Shula deserves a ton of credit Collin for the
identity that I think we're starting to play with. We're
not perfect by any stretch, but I think there's a
confidence and these guys just keep swinging, you know, and
a lot of instances what I've been really impressed with
(37:26):
when we've been on a three game win streak, there's
been some instances where the defenses had to get stops
and offensively we're trying to get things going. But I
never since any sort of frustration from those guys. They
just go out, they make sudden change stops. They just
continue to play. They make the offense nap it one
more time. And I love working with this group.
Speaker 3 (37:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
I had Pete Carroll on once and I said he
totally disagreed. I said, Pete, I want aggressive quarterbacks. If
a guy's throwing thirty two times and I get a
pick every week, if he's taken shots down the field,
I'm okay with it. Now. Pete to defensive coach, he
seals the world differently. But one of the things I
like about Stafford and Matt's brilliant. But Matt, I don't
think it's reckless. I just think Mac takes risks and
(38:05):
he's comfortable with them, but you have to be comfortable
with them. Matt is very unique in that he forgets
his interceptions, He has a short memory, doesn't seem to
care much.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
It's very Andrew luck had that.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Are there ever any times with Matt you have a lead,
you have something and you say, hey, this we may
we may bring it back down, or you just trust
him implicitly at any point in the game.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
Oh, there's total trust, you know, but there's a great
rapport that exists.
Speaker 9 (38:34):
I think one of the best things you mentioned is
if the mistake occurs, which is an inevitable play in
the quarterback position, he's got a no flinch mindset and
he's ready to come back and be aggressive but smart.
But there's opportunities and I think he understands based on
the intent of.
Speaker 8 (38:48):
The play calls.
Speaker 9 (38:49):
You know, when we got that ball back in overtime,
you know, we go play action, we go keeper, run keeper,
and he could feel the aggressiveness and really it's like, hey, man.
Speaker 8 (38:59):
Go this game. Let's go in this.
Speaker 9 (39:01):
Let's have that mindset of mentality, and this guy is that.
That's one of his best traits. But there is a
flow to the field of games.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
You know.
Speaker 9 (39:09):
You look at the Raiders a couple of weeks ago,
our defense had control, their offense was turning it over.
Speaker 8 (39:14):
We were a little bit.
Speaker 9 (39:15):
More conservative, and so I thought he had a good
feel for that. But that's what you love if you
have to be able to reign it back based on
how we want to be able to play the game
and ultimately.
Speaker 6 (39:24):
Come away with the win.
Speaker 9 (39:25):
But that aggressive nature, that fearlessness, that ability to be
able to move on from one play to the next,
that's one of the things I think that separates the greats,
and he certainly is one of them.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You know, we had an election yesterday and I always
think about this. You have so much diversity in your
locker room. There may not be bosses in America to
have a more diverse workforce than NFL coaches young, old, black, white.
It doesn't matter, Simon, and you have so many different people, Sean,
We've gone through things culturally. We see stuff after a
(39:55):
night like last night, do you address it not? I mean,
you have grown ups in your locker room. Some of
these guys have never lived in California, They're from Florida.
Stuff's happening. You've navigated crisis injuries, cultural changes. Do you
address it? Do you address it privately publicly? How does
a guy like you, who is really the face of
the franchise in these big moments, with all these unique personalities,
(40:19):
do you address it or do you just let it
play out?
Speaker 9 (40:23):
I think you want to have a pulse of what
the reactions are and if there's guys that want to
be able to talk about it, you want to give
guys a voice. I think being able to listen and
then be able to react accordingly. You know you don't
want to be unequipped to handling different situations, but I
know that it's about.
Speaker 8 (40:38):
Listening, learning, and then you're able to lead.
Speaker 9 (40:40):
And so I think you always want to be able
to understand whatever it is that you're navigating through.
Speaker 8 (40:47):
Try to really see it through an empathetic lens.
Speaker 9 (40:49):
And if it is something that guys want to be
able to discuss, I'd like to think there's an open forum.
But having a temperature and a pulse for the vibe
of your building, whether that be players, coaches, staff, whatever
it might be. If there is something, I think you
got to be able to meet the truth head on.
You can't be afraid of some of those conversations where
you need to be able to have honesty but also
the ability for guys to be able to get things
(41:10):
off their chest.
Speaker 8 (41:11):
And that'll never change.
Speaker 9 (41:13):
Regardless of whatever that is that we're navigating or whatever's
going on in the real world that's outside of the
framework of just focusing on football.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
You have really unique relationships, Sean McVay for our radio audience,
you have very unique relationships with coaches. Your coaching tree.
I'm looking at it today, it's like half of these
guys are my favorite guys in the league. I think
Kevin O'Connell's brilliant, Lafleur's terrific, and they're all different personalities,
but I like all Raheem Morris I thought was a
great pick by Atlanta. I think he's a defensive coach
who has an offensive sensibility. Is it's weird you kind
(41:46):
of got to people know the Sean McVay secrets when
they coach under you. Is it weird to coach against
guys that know your playbook. They know your personality, they
know your risk tolerance. Do you like facing former assistance
or do you just think all week this is the worst?
Speaker 8 (42:06):
Yeah, I think I think it's a blessing.
Speaker 9 (42:08):
I think we've had a lot of guys that have
come through here that have influenced me and our building
in a positive way and then gone on to do
great things, whether that's as coordinators or head coaches, and
so it's a challenge, you know, being able to kind
of onboard as many different people, but you attract quality people.
I don't know that you really think about it that
way as much as when you're in the right mindset,
you're saying, what.
Speaker 8 (42:28):
A cool thing this is to be able to see.
Speaker 9 (42:30):
People you love and care about that have positively influenced
you go do their thing elsewhere, and all those guys
you mentioned really happy for them. You know, we've happened
to play a couple of those guys. We don't play
the Falcons this year, but it is strange, but you know,
once the game's kicked off, it's about focusing on our
team verst their team, and trying to see if we
can come away with the result.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
We're hunting up finally you have a great energy and
it's a long season.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
I mean it's it is all you're it's just moving long.
It is so long. Do you ever get up? This
will be the final question.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Is there ever a moment with your new family they
ever wanted to call Less up and say Less, I
just need to take Wednesday off?
Speaker 3 (43:09):
We got or do you ever do this? Do you
ever go? Guys? You go to Stafford, you go to
Cooper Cup? Do you ever just go? Guys?
Speaker 1 (43:16):
I feel it this team's tired. How do you measure that?
I mean, the NFL adds another week. I mean it
just it just feels like it's a lot. How do
you address that? When you sense a fatima?
Speaker 9 (43:31):
I think being able to ask questions? You know Reggie
Scott are are you know?
Speaker 8 (43:36):
I lean on him heavily?
Speaker 9 (43:37):
Who you know oversees our sports performance department? You ask
the players questions. Shoot, I know I'm feeling it a lot,
you know these these games, but but you do you know?
The important thing is I think I have gotten better
and we've gotten better collectively. As the staff is saying, okay,
you know, working all these hours, if you're not sharp,
if you're not fresh, if you don't have the right
vibe and energy for the players, then you're wasting your
(43:58):
time and so and more attention to get in your
rest and understanding the things when you're like, all right, man,
I'm irritable.
Speaker 8 (44:04):
I'm not the most fun guy to be around.
Speaker 9 (44:06):
Let's go get a workout in, or let's make sure
you get some rest tonight and get out of the
office a little bit earlier. I think I've improved by
no means have I arrived in that arena. But it
is a long grind. But you always want to remember,
like my man Andrew Whitworth said, it's always a blessing,
never a burden.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Yeah, well, I love him.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Rams, host of Dolphins, just loved having you on the show.
Haven't had you on yet. I just you know, I'm
such an admirer. I really appreciate you taking ten to
twenty minutes for us today.
Speaker 8 (44:31):
Coach, Well, feelings are mutual. I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Colin all right, Sean McVay really really brilliant young coach
of the LA Rams