November 12, 2024 • 33 mins
Colin looks at the Dolphins remaining schedule after their win over the Rams on Monday night and believe they could be the sneaky team to make a run in the AFC. He gives you his Herd Hierarchy ranking the top 10 in the NFL after week 10. He talks to former Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt about Chicago firing their offensive coordinator as rookie QB Caleb Williams regresses and struggles once again
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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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 on a Tuesday that is getting more
interesting by the tweet, live in Los Angeles. It's the
Herd wherever you may be, and however you may be
listening or watching. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Nick Wright. In one hour from now, former Bears and
Dolphins coach Dave Wanstadt stops by Herd Hierarchy forty five
(00:49):
minutes from now. Well, a dud by the Rams last night,
jaymaca complete, absolute Doug. But it did feel like to
me three fifteen Dolphins win over the La Rams. It
was the rare NFL game in the middle of a
season that I thought could have turned around a franchise,
(01:11):
and this happens in the NFL a lot. I'll get
to that in a second. But to his healthy he
was tremendous on third down. Should have beaten Buffalo. And
they dominated a Rams team on the key down, third
down offense, third down defense. And remember this, schedules matter.
The schedule gets really easy for the Dolphins, Jets twice,
(01:33):
Brown's new England Raiders easiest remaining NFL schedule. So every
season there is a team in about Week nine, ten
to eleven that catches fire. Last year it was the Rams.
Remember they won seven of their last eight. They were
a bad team, unhealthy, then they got hot, went to
the playoffs. Twenty twenty two, it was the Bengals. Bengals
were back and forth. They were four and four, got
red hot, went twelve and four, lost close to the
(01:56):
Chiefs in the AFC Championship. Remember the Brady Buckers. People
forget this. They were seven and five going into the
week thirteen by and the schedule lightened up Detroit Atlanta
a couple times. Detroit wasn't as good as they are now.
All of a sudden, Bruce arians Brady are clashing. They're
seven and five, they go into a bye, they get
(02:17):
red hot. This happens every year. And I look at
Miami schedule. I look at the way they played, they
should have beaten Buffalo. The schedule gets weak. Listen, the
Rams have a great coach, an excellent quarterback, and a
good young roster, especially on defense. And I mean that game.
I don't care what the score was. The Rams were
(02:38):
chasing the Dolphins for three and a half hours. That
was the Dolphins game from the very first drive. And
you know what I've said before, there are limitations to
what Tua can do. But in that second half and
on third down, he went for the game nine of
twelve for one hundred and forty yards just on third down.
(02:59):
And that is an excellent, young, albeit young, excellent Rams
defensive front, and he tore them apart. So we can
say what we want about Tua. He may have limitations,
but I watch him in Buffalo on the road, then
fly cross country against that Rams defensive front, and Tua
was exceptional. This is a good team and the rest
of the division New England's going nowhere Jets or man overboard.
(03:21):
Buffalo has already won this thing three weeks ago, so
like this is a real time for Miami. I've seen
Cincinnati do this. I saw Brady won a Super Bowl.
I saw the Rams do it last year, Rams schedule
gets harder. This may have been the game that starts
them careening down the wrong path. But I felt, and
I don't feel this a lot. You get to like
week ten and eleven, you kind of know what you have.
(03:43):
But Ta didn't play. They were banged up, they couldn't
be healthy, and their backup situation at quarterback in Miami's
actually one of the worst in the league, so backup
quarterbacks not very good. Schedule was tougher. Now the schedule
lightens up. Two is healthy. I gotta be our. I
watched that game last night, and I have high regard
for the Rams staff. They got worked, they got out
(04:05):
coached out, hustled out, toughed outplay stafford wasn't as good
on third down as two it was. Here's two after
the game and what the win could mean.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I think it's, you know, a testament to the character
of this team. We've come a long way through, however,
many losses in a row. The resilience of this team,
with the external noise, everyone counting us out. You know,
hopefully this is an opportunity for us to.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Not waste.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You know, hopefully we can go on a run with
this win and find our rhythm towards the back end
of the season.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, Jets twice. They're a mess, Raiders mess, New England, Limited,
Cleveland mess, all on the schedule, quarterbacks backed schedule, weekends,
and the rest of the division outside of Buffalo kind
of a mess. I like where Miami's at. Big win
for them, all Right, So this morning we knew something
(05:02):
was coming. Something had happened, the first of many moves
over the next few months. Shane Waldron Bears offensive coordinator out.
It doesn't really matter whose fault it is. So Chicago's
got a lot of things working against him here. Number
one is, you just missed on another young quarterback, Justin Fields,
and you screwed that up. Although I don't think he's
(05:23):
nearly as good a prospect or a player as Caleb Williams.
But you missed on that. See, you're not gonna you
don't get any excuses. Now you don't get a guy. Well,
we missed on Trubisky, we missed on Justin Fields, we
missed on Caleb Williams. No, it's coaching. The second thing
is Caleb Williams. Maybe he wasn't Andrew Luck as a prospect.
Maybe he wasn't even Joe Burrow as a prospect, but
(05:44):
most executives thought the dude could really play. His comp
was Mahomes, Trubisky and Justin Fields. You're off the hook
a little because they haven't done anything since they left Chicago,
so it's like, wow, they weren't very good. Caleb Williams
is way closer to Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence, and Joe Burrow.
NFL executives, if they didn't love him, they thought he
(06:05):
was a really good, solid prospect. And here's the other thing,
And I think everybody listening or watching the show knows this.
This doesn't help either. Bow Nicks is getting better. He
outplayed Mahomes this weekend. He's getting better fast. Jayden Daniels
he looked good by week two. So all of a sudden,
you start, you know, you start making comps and you're like,
this is an indictment on the franchise. And the other
(06:27):
thing is it is easy to blame the quarterback. And
I do think all the little flaws with Caleb Williams
runs around a little too much accuracy, a little inconsistent.
They're all flaring up now, you know. I mean Jaden Daniels.
He's a little thin. Will he stay healthy. He did
get banged up for one game, but he came. You know,
(06:48):
he's available bow knicks, not a great deep ball arm.
We've seen that scouts usually know what they're doing, especially
when they all conversion a player and all have similar
opinions Caleb's. The two nflgms I talked to on Caleb
are like big time athlete, worry about his consistent accuracy.
We've seen that he has been a big time athlete.
(07:09):
But it's your job as a football staff to develop
young players. It's like parenting. You know what you're getting into.
You draft a young quarterback, even if they're gifted. You
have a gifted child, it doesn't ensure success. And the
other thing that is really working against Chicago is Caleb. Everybody,
we may forget it now. He had a three game
(07:30):
stretch earlier in the season where we saw the talent. Yeah,
he had a three game stretch where he completed seventy
four percent of his throws. So we know he's talented.
We saw it when he had less practices and less
games and less reps. So he has just falling off
a cliff and that's going to go to the coaches
and so something clearly is not working. And you know,
(07:51):
yesterday we had a guest on Matt hasselback eighteen years
in the league. And again you can point fingers at
whoever you want. Some of it, absolutely no question is
on Caleb.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
I would say ninety percent of it is on the quarterback.
Like if I'm coaching the quarterback. They were at nine
sacks yesterday, I'm putting at least six of those on
the quarterback. And just like with Russell Wilson, like we're
sitting here talking about the deep ball to Mike Williams,
he knows like that's a blitz situation. Like Caleb, he's
a young quarterback. So I'm not trying to throw stones
at him because of the mistakes. I'm not surprised by
(08:25):
the mistakes things. Just expectations are going to be higher
because you do have guys like Jaden Daniels playing such
good football, bon Nicks is playing good football, Drake May's
even playing good football, and so I think the Boo
birds are going to be out with Caleb.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I don't disagree with that. But because you missed on
Trubisky and justin fields, because Caleb has had some really
good weeks this year, and because of the Bear's history
screwing up quarterbacks, it doesn't really matter if it's Caleb's fault,
it's parenting. You got to be up for the challenge.
This is your job to deal with challenges. There are
no easy kids. They're easier kids. There are no perfect
(09:01):
easy kids. It is a challenge and so that's where
we're at today. Shane Walderin's out. I think there's more
to come. I don't buy that Eberflus is safe. But
and you know, I'm not a fan of defensive coaches.
I would go the other way with an offensive coach.
But in fairness, Sean McDermot has had success as a
defensive coach with Josh Allen. John Harbaugh is not an
(09:22):
offensive coach with Lamar Jackson. Mike Tomlin has had a
great turnaround season offensively with Russell Wilson. Raheem Morris is
working with Kirk Cousins. They lead their division. So you
could go defense again, but as I pointed out, for
years with Chicago they're still living off the eighty five Bears.
It's a very defensive, blue collar, tough guy culture that
(09:45):
is fine, Dave wantstat one there, but I think it's time.
If you look at the end of seasons, the four
coaches left, the eight coaches left, it is overwhelming the
offensive guys, and you've got to fix this kid. You
gotta fix him. I mean again, if you don't end
up giving him him an extension in four years, that's
(10:07):
going to be really an indictment. You may just have
to go to the market and buy somebody. But this
is this may not be a perfect player, but he's
way closer as a comp to a Maholmes, who people
privately thought was a star, thought was the next Farve
a lock A Burrow than he is Trubisky and justin Fields,
those guys had Trubisky. I didn't even get the Dariski thing.
(10:30):
I'm not a scout like I didn't get it at all.
So there we are. Also, I will say this, Jim Harbaugh,
for all the owners and gms, if you're thinking about
hiring a coach, what the Chargers did should be duplicated.
There's no more Harballs on the market that we know of,
but it should be duplicated. Herd hierarchy top of the Hour.
(10:54):
I was Jay MC. I was Actually, I like the
Rams last night. I was I was price. It was
a fairly lifeless performance. Like I never after the first drive,
Miami just went down the field, clever reverses movement, touchdown.
I thought the Rams were out of sorts for almost
the entire game.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Week ten was strange the whole week around the league,
and it was like the Dolphins were one of the
worst defenses in the league for much of the season,
and they were incredible last night. They were everywhere. No
Rams receivers open all night. Stafford was really under pressure.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
The Dolphins were thirty first in sacks. Didn't blit. The
Rams were healthier in the old line. They got enormous
pressure with four.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
I don't know McDaniel clearly, I don't want to say
saving his job, but listen, they were bad. They weren't
a bad place Miami, and now they're all of a
sudden in the wild card mix that I think Thanksgiving
game against the Packers right kind of got very interesting. Yeah, well,
we'll say about the Dolphins, I don't know if I
can trust them yet.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, it was. It was a really interesting night.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (12:04):
Here we Go, heard Hierarchy. Time's go the top.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Ten NFL teams according to College number ten.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Listen the Commander's reality struck Jaden Daniels fifty percent completion
percentage only two hundred and forty two yards. They were
the second best team in the field. Even getting a
botched fake punt. They couldn't win. But I think between
coaching and Jaden Daniels, they will somehow sneak into the playoffs.
May not win. I thought this weekend was sort of
(12:37):
a reality check on what they are a little too
young quarterback, but they are the number three scoring offense.
But now they've lost in the Steelers and the Ravens
and Tampa. When they were healthy, they're about the tenth
best team in the league. Number nine Arizona Cardinals. I've
never trusted them. I sort of kind of do now.
They scored on five straight drives to open the game
(12:58):
against the Jets, four of them seventy plus. They're patient offensively,
and they've really figured out the defense. They stopped the
Chargers offense when they came to town. He completed seventeen
straight passes at one point. I've been saying all year,
I love their weapons. Do I trust the franchise upstairs ownership,
Not really, But I will say in terms of offensive talent, receiver,
(13:19):
tight end, back, tackle, quarterback, they're really really good, really
really good. That went over the Niners in Santa Clara
was not a fluke. Number eight the Niners because Christian
McCaffrey's back by an inch over Arizona. Five different players
had fifty plus receiving yards and that's without Brandon Auk
the rest of the year. So they're sprinkling around. Ricky
(13:40):
Piersoll's making an impact here, Deebo. The Jets sweeps don't
work as well, but they've got some nice target George Kittle,
by the way, like old Gronk Kelsey. You think he's gone. No, No,
he's not. They're four and zero when Brock Perdy doesn't
turn it over, meaning the margins have gotten very thin
for them. Kansas City doesn't have to play perfect to
(14:03):
win San Francisco kind of does. They got lucky this weekend.
Number seven the Steelers. I was wrong. I admitted I
thought this organization was tone deaf to offense they have
the number. They are a great second half team. They
are on a four game winning streak. Russell Wilson has
brought the deep ball back. They don't make mistakes. It's
(14:24):
like the Seahawks. Light, tough at home, physical defensive culture,
nice run game, quarterback that moves and over the top.
Now they can burn you if you don't play them. Honest,
I was wrong. Number two scoring defense. I think this
team's a playoff team. I missed on them. Steelers at seven.
Number six a team that reminds me of a lesser
(14:46):
version of the Chiefs. The Chargers great coach, great quarterback,
good enough offensive line, little light on weapons, excellent defense.
Are they as good situationally as the Chiefs? Nobody in
the world is. But they have had five plus sacks
in three straight games. It is remarkable. This was the
worst defense in the league last year. Same players. They
(15:07):
bring in Jesse Minter and a new head coach. They've
had talent, They've had talent for years. Finally Herbert has help.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Number five.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I'll give it to the Eagles. They're five and zero
since the buy three straight road wins by twenty plus points.
I think they have the best roster in the league
better than Detroit because I think three of their best
young players defensively are all kids. They're all you know,
Mitchell the cornerback from Toledo, Jalen Carter, Dean from Georgia.
This team is stacked. This roster has great players that
(15:40):
are older, great players in their prime Philadelphia, and great
young players. I don't think there's any roster as good
as Philadelphia. They're six to zer one. A. J. Brown
plays Philadelphia Eagles at number five, number four. The Ravens.
Here's what I love about their story. Remember the Lamar
can't pass in the pocket wrong, Lamar can't play from behind. Yeah,
(16:03):
they have three wins this year, trailing by ten plus points.
Their issue is they are so bad in the secondary
that they can outplay you. Remember the Raiders came from
behind to beat them. This team is so bad on
the back end. You don't have to be great everywhere
in the NFL. You can't be terrible anywhere. You saw
last night the Rams Corners. They have to draft one
(16:24):
in the first second, third round, first third. They don't
have a second round pick, but Baltimore. I love the
growth of Lamar. I love them offensively, but that back
end is an issue. I have them at four. Number
three the Lions by an inch, seven game winning streak.
Jared Goff is having the season for all seasons. Actually,
I don't love or trust their defense, but on third
(16:45):
down their defense is excellent, only allowing a thirty one
percent conversion rate. They played poorly and one on the
road on Sunday Night football. I think I respect them
now more than ever, but I don't necessarily trust them
situationally as much as I do with Kansas City. Team
Number two the Bills. Now they're all banged up a
(17:07):
wide receiver. I think Kansas City's going to beat them
this weekend, but they lead the NFL and plus thirteen
turnover differential that's come back when healthy. I like their
receiving core. Don't love it, but I like it now.
Amari Cooper, Keon Coleman, Dalton Kin Kaid may not play
for Kansas City. That spells trouble, but I think this
(17:27):
is the best version of Buffalo. Doesn't mean they're going
to beat the Chiefs, but it's the best version of it.
Not as much reckless, more balance offensively, still well coached defensively.
Number one, fifteen game winning streak dating back to last season.
I think it's the best third down offense. It's the
(17:49):
best situational team since the Brady Belichick Bucks. I think
they're actually a little better at wide receiver than anybody
wants to admit. D hob Juju Smith Schuster, Travis Kelcey,
Kareem Hunt can catch out of the backfield. Isaiah Cheko's
coming back. So I think the offense. I mean, if
they had Rashid Rice right now, they wouldn't have d
Hop and I think they'd be fine. They're a little
better at receiver than last year in the year before.
(18:11):
I don't think it's an emergency. But I also think
all those young defensive players now are a bit older
and wiser. I think it's the best team in the league.
Their defense is not allowed a single point when trailing
in the fourth quarter of this season. So when you're great,
sometimes it's hard to stay focused. But when you need
their defense to be great, and when you need them
to block a kick and when you need a goal
(18:33):
line stand, they are off the charts. There is our
herd hierarchy Green Bay. I have at eleven, didn't watch
them play, moved them back. I like what I saw
with the Commanders.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
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Speaker 1 (18:53):
Thirty nine seasons, NFL College coaching Experience, former Bears head
coach and a Dolphin's head. We thought he was perfect today.
Has a great relationship with Matt Eberflus, who is on
the ropes in Chicago. Our friend Dave wan Status now
joining us long. So let's start with this mess about
(19:14):
you know, three weeks ago, four weeks ago, Caleb's playing well,
He's completing seventy four percent of his throws, and then
it just goes sideways.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
What happened, Well, when they beat Jacksonville, went into the by,
everybody was giddy around time, and Caleb was playing good.
You're you're right, Colin. But you know, in that Jacksonville game,
they were like twenty nine runs, twenty nine passes, and
that's what made me excited. And then since then, you know,
(19:46):
it's it's been two to one pass and here's the problem. Okay,
there's a lot of problems, but here's what happened in
my opinion Shane Waldron, and I was all into shamee.
Keep in mind, the Bears interviewed seven, yes, seven offensive
coordinator candidates, so Ryan Pools was on every trip, so
(20:09):
it was him and Flues, so they are both in
on this, and they made the decision on Shane. So
I jumped on board. Okay, I'm gonna support you because
Shane was with Pete Carroll, defensive guy and he wants
to run the ball. Shane was with Bill Belichick, obviously
defensive guy wants to run the ball. So I said,
this guy is going to be balanced, and so I
(20:32):
was all excited about it. And then they cut the
fullback in training camp and get rid of the fullback
and the offensive line coach, who I think is a
heck of a coach. He's a protege of Chris Forster,
who's the line coach with the forty nine ers. So
I'm saying to myself, oh, I don't like the fields
of this. So as we get moving forward, now they
(20:53):
got four offensive linemen on you know, inactive. One gets
hurt and they got the same gameplay. Here's where the
mistake is. And I've been through this. When you've got
offensive linemen that either inexperience, hurt or just aren't as good.
That's where your game plan has to start. And the
(21:13):
Bears have done it backwards in my opinion. In other words,
you got to sit down and say, Okay, what can
the guys do that I have calling and what can
they have some success with? Because if they can't be successful,
nothing else mattered. Right, Okay, now this is what we
can do with them. Let's add the runs, let's add
the passes, and now let's go win a football game.
(21:35):
And I got to tell you a quick steort. When
I was at the Dolphins two thousand and one, I
believe it was Tennessee had never lost down there at
that stadium, their new stadium, and it was McNair and
Eddie George and the freak on defense Curse and the
whole group. Great team, And we went down there to
open up the season, all right, and Chang Daily was
my offensive coordinator and Tony Wise was a line coach.
(21:57):
They came in and said, Coach, we can't block these guys.
We can't throw the ball on third down, we can't
drop back. I was like, are you serious. The chance says,
let me tell you something every time we get in
third done, it's gonna be quarterback draw, running back draw.
You're gonna see more screens this week. And you've ever
seen your life, coach, If we drop back, the quarterback
will have no chance. We can't win. Well, look at
(22:19):
the final score and look how it all ended up.
We did not throw a drop that path, play action
screens and run the ball, and unfortunately the Bears offensive
line that's where they're at. Yeah, and they do it
backwards here.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's Have you lost any confidence in Caleb Williams
or do you still think he's the real deal.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
You know what he understands what happens is press conference.
The first thing he said afterwards, he says, I made
mistakes today that cost us. You know, when he threw
the one to DJ Moore, he was supposed to hand
it off. Okay, made a bad read. But the one
that really bothered me because quarterbacks got to know when
you are in the red zone, this is this is football. One.
(23:01):
Oh what in my opinion, you know, you don't take
you don't get a sack, you don't throw take a
chance on interception, don't change a snapcot because we got
three points red zone Alert Okay football one oh one,
and he takes a sack when they were in the
red zone, and he said it though, that's the point
that I like, I made a major mistake. We were
in the red zone. I should have gotten rid of
(23:23):
the ball. So he understands football intelligence wise when he
does make a mistake. Yeah, but right now he you know,
he's holding the ball a little bit too long. There's
no question about that. And remember these days at USC Okay,
he was facing more drop eight rush three than anybody
in college football because he wanted to hold the ball
(23:45):
and get the play. And there were some underneath throws
that were open to Cole comment the tight end to
the running back DeAndre Swift, and he didn't take it. Yeah,
he forced that thing and made a bad throw to
DJ Moore or somebody. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
No, that was a knock on USC that he wouldn't
take the layups, he wouldn't take the gimmeis yep, yep,
you know you're you're absolutely right. That was the knock
on him, and and and you're right and he and
he has shown a little bit of that now. Russell Wilson,
I mean, listen, I didn't buy Pittsburgh. Mike's a great coach,
but I thought the offense. I thought they were tone
(24:20):
deaf to offense the last three or four years. Couldn't
get the run game, the O line, the OC right.
And Mike's a defensive guy. I gotta be honest, did
you think Russell Wilson still had something in the tank?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Look at his numbers from last year? Call and I
said this when they traded for him. I think the
guy had twenty six twenty seven touchdowns, Yeah, and like
eight interceptions, which is three to one. I think he
was three to one touchdowns interceptions. That's good football, that's
playoff football. So I thought he did for sure. And
I think what's happened here in Pittsburgh. Now. You know
(24:57):
when anytime you got a Super Bowl ring and you
go into the huddle and you teams behind her, it's
even its close, and and you know he's got the outgoing,
confident personality. Uh, and he comes into the huddle, I
think everybody believes that, hey, we're gonna get it done.
So I think it's as much as attitude. And give
Arthur Smith a lot of credit, the offensive coordinator they
(25:18):
hired that Mike hired her from Atlanta. He's doing a
heck of a job with that offense, run and passed.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. I remember year one with the Dolphins, didn't you
go like eleven and five or something.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, eleven to five, and then we had won the
division and then beat UH one a playoff game, beat
the Colts. Yeah so, and then lost to UH lost
out in Oakland at the time, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So you turned it around in one year, Harball. This
was the worst defense in the league. Now they're rated
number one. It's the same players. What did he do?
What is it?
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Coach? Jim Harbaugh for a quarterback head coach, he has
never gotten caught up. I mean we saw his teams
at Michigan, and you know I do Big Ten Network
every week, and so I talked to Jim regular he
was when he was at Michigan coach. They didn't throw
a pass fourth quarter and half the game against Penn State.
(26:17):
Against Penn State, they just ran it. So my point
is that his style and his philosophy and the fundamentals
that Jim works on. I don't want to use the
word old school, okay, but he believes in physical running
the ball and playing defense, and he's never gotten caught
up in all this wide open spread stuff, and he
(26:39):
does what he believes in and he gets the results.
The guy is Guy's fantastic. They don't commit many mistakes,
they don't turn the ball over much, and they're just
going to get better and better there.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So I said, it happens about once a year. It
happened to the Rams last year where they got hot.
They got healthy and hot middle of the season one
seven of eight, almost beat the Lions. We saw the
Bengals do it in twenty twenty two. We saw Brady
do it. Week thirteen by Bucks were seven and five.
Bye week came out. Schedule was easy. A couple of
Falcon games got rolling. I watched the Dolphins last night
(27:15):
and I'm like, boy, they were good on third down
two is healthy? Do you buy him? Or is it
a lot of sizzle for you? Do you buy Miami?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
No? I mean, I hope they turned. I got to
see more. I got to see more. And the Rams
are a good team. I mean when the Rams played
the Bears here it was earlier in the year and
all their star receivers were I didn't even know who
the receivers were for the Rams at the time. But
they played the Bears, and I tell you, Stafford and
those guys went up and down the field on the Bears.
(27:48):
The Bears won, but it was a last minute win. Yeah,
so I'll give the Dolphins defense credit for that. You said,
third dot third down was really the only statistic that
they played better. In my opinion that when you look
at the big picture, than the Rams. I got to
see more Colin.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, they're a little sizzily. You don't always feel like
he gets sad. You get a little sizzily to me, Yeah, hey.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah they are. And you know we got to see
him against a tough fiscal opponent when they played Buffalo.
Things will get separated in my opinion, in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All right, I want to go back to the Bears.
So you know, I prefer in twenty twenty four an
offensive coach. They had Naggie. I thought he was pretty good.
They ran him out of town. He got Trabisky to
the playoffs twice. They didn't like him, he was too
soft whatever. I thought he was pretty good, not great,
pretty good. And now they've got a defensive guy. Would
(28:43):
you go get Rabel Belichick a big name? Would you
go young offensive guy, would you go college guy, if
they make a change, is there a direction you think
they should go?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
No?
Speaker 4 (28:59):
And I'm gonna say that because obviously I'm a defensive guy.
And and but you know the expectations of the Bears
football team coming into this season. There was really two
boxes that needed to be checked. It was number one,
obviously with this offense, we got to score enough points
to win the game. We didn't get that done. And
then the development of Caleb Williams. So if you get
(29:21):
you know whoever, in my opinion, offense defense, I hope
it's Fluse. You know, here's what has to happen with
Flus this. If he wants to get this thing turned,
in my opinion, he needs to let Eric Washington take
over the defensive play call. Just just bear with me
for a second. And he needs to be in every
darn the offensive meeting this week. Got a new play
(29:42):
card and he needs to go in there, Colin and
he needs to say, this is what I see my offense.
Our jobs on the line. I'm the head coach. I
want these many play actions, these many runs, and this
is this is what I want. So figure out what
the best plays are inside of this bas and he
needs to be in there. I think it's it would
(30:03):
give the players a shot in the arm. I think
it would give the coaches a shot in the arm
and let Eric wark and as a head coach, I mean,
I still can't get over I think you know when
Shane Walter and we handed the ball to an offensive
lineman on the one yard line, how did you know?
How does Matt let that go on? To me? That
was grounds right there to make a change. It would
(30:25):
have never happened with me or Jimmy or the guys
that I know as head coach. They've been time out?
You serious?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, tell me?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Tell me did I hear that play role? You know?
And before that we run we run an option on
the five yard line, you know option football. You don't
pitch the ball when you get down there inside the ten.
The defense is too darn close to here. There's going
to be a turnover. So, I mean, you know, there
was some offensive decisions that I thought were terrible. But
(30:55):
you know, Fluse now is the head coach. He needs
to be tuned in the boat and he needs to
oversee both and not call plays. Hey, I don't know
what the best play is calling, but I want to
run it here or I want to throw it deep here.
You're the coordinator, you call the deep play we want,
but I want to throw it deep. That has to happen.
(31:17):
That he cannot just turn this thing over to a
new coordinator and just go back to coaching defense. He
won't survive. He's got to be involved in everything from
this day out.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Dave wantstat he never ages. I swear you go out
with him the stories. You never age. You're the exact
you look the exact same as when I met you
nine years ago.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It must be jan or good cocktails.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Cigars, cigars, d Bradshaw, Bourban cigars and steak right here.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
That's what all the good stuff?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yep, yeah, Dave wants that. One of my favorite people.
All right, coach good stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's a good point though, what he just made you
gotta be on the headset. You can't. I mean, was
that funny when he's like, you're handing the ball off
to the center.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Did I see that? Right?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I listened. I think Mike Tomlin mostly trusts his offense.
But when Tomlin went out and said, justin fields, I
know we're winning I'm going Russell. That's controlling your team.
That's a big boy move, and not every coach in
the league could get away with it. Tomlin's got trophies,
Tomlin's a you know, he's a big presence. Nobody's gonna
mess with Mike. But that's one of the coaching moves
(32:32):
of the year. It's so easy to look at the
Steelers now and go, well, anybody could have done that.
That's not true. You get a winning record, the players
like fields, he's more athletic than Russ. You're winning. You know,
the Browns look bad, the Bengals are choppy. People would
have said, hey, Jess, I remember when it happened. Ninety
percent of the people were like, you can't go to Russ,
and Mike's like, now, I'm gonna go with Russ. That
(32:53):
is the coaching move of the year so far in
terms of personnel, just saying no, I'm gonna Nobody liked
that move big. They didn't like that move. Steven Fans
didn't like it. Tomlin liked it. That's why I would
have Hardball one, Tomlin two, Dan Quinn three my NFL
coach of the Year so far. Big boy move, big
time move,
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
Foxsportsradio 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 on a Tuesday that is getting more
interesting by the tweet, live in Los Angeles. It's the
Herd wherever you may be, and however you may be
listening or watching. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Nick Wright. In one hour from now, former Bears and
Dolphins coach Dave Wanstadt stops by Herd Hierarchy forty five
(00:49):
minutes from now. Well, a dud by the Rams last night,
jaymaca complete, absolute Doug. But it did feel like to
me three fifteen Dolphins win over the La Rams. It
was the rare NFL game in the middle of a
season that I thought could have turned around a franchise,
(01:11):
and this happens in the NFL a lot. I'll get
to that in a second. But to his healthy he
was tremendous on third down. Should have beaten Buffalo. And
they dominated a Rams team on the key down, third
down offense, third down defense. And remember this, schedules matter.
The schedule gets really easy for the Dolphins, Jets twice,
(01:33):
Brown's new England Raiders easiest remaining NFL schedule. So every
season there is a team in about Week nine, ten
to eleven that catches fire. Last year it was the Rams.
Remember they won seven of their last eight. They were
a bad team, unhealthy, then they got hot, went to
the playoffs. Twenty twenty two, it was the Bengals. Bengals
were back and forth. They were four and four, got
red hot, went twelve and four, lost close to the
(01:56):
Chiefs in the AFC Championship. Remember the Brady Buckers. People
forget this. They were seven and five going into the
week thirteen by and the schedule lightened up Detroit Atlanta
a couple times. Detroit wasn't as good as they are now.
All of a sudden, Bruce arians Brady are clashing. They're
seven and five, they go into a bye, they get
(02:17):
red hot. This happens every year. And I look at
Miami schedule. I look at the way they played, they
should have beaten Buffalo. The schedule gets weak. Listen, the
Rams have a great coach, an excellent quarterback, and a
good young roster, especially on defense. And I mean that game.
I don't care what the score was. The Rams were
(02:38):
chasing the Dolphins for three and a half hours. That
was the Dolphins game from the very first drive. And
you know what I've said before, there are limitations to
what Tua can do. But in that second half and
on third down, he went for the game nine of
twelve for one hundred and forty yards just on third down.
(02:59):
And that is an excellent, young, albeit young, excellent Rams
defensive front, and he tore them apart. So we can
say what we want about Tua. He may have limitations,
but I watch him in Buffalo on the road, then
fly cross country against that Rams defensive front, and Tua
was exceptional. This is a good team and the rest
of the division New England's going nowhere Jets or man overboard.
(03:21):
Buffalo has already won this thing three weeks ago, so
like this is a real time for Miami. I've seen
Cincinnati do this. I saw Brady won a Super Bowl.
I saw the Rams do it last year, Rams schedule
gets harder. This may have been the game that starts
them careening down the wrong path. But I felt, and
I don't feel this a lot. You get to like
week ten and eleven, you kind of know what you have.
(03:43):
But Ta didn't play. They were banged up, they couldn't
be healthy, and their backup situation at quarterback in Miami's
actually one of the worst in the league, so backup
quarterbacks not very good. Schedule was tougher. Now the schedule
lightens up. Two is healthy. I gotta be our. I
watched that game last night, and I have high regard
for the Rams staff. They got worked, they got out
(04:05):
coached out, hustled out, toughed outplay stafford wasn't as good
on third down as two it was. Here's two after
the game and what the win could mean.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I think it's, you know, a testament to the character
of this team. We've come a long way through, however,
many losses in a row. The resilience of this team,
with the external noise, everyone counting us out. You know,
hopefully this is an opportunity for us to.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Not waste.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You know, hopefully we can go on a run with
this win and find our rhythm towards the back end
of the season.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, Jets twice. They're a mess, Raiders mess, New England, Limited,
Cleveland mess, all on the schedule, quarterbacks backed schedule, weekends,
and the rest of the division outside of Buffalo kind
of a mess. I like where Miami's at. Big win
for them, all Right, So this morning we knew something
(05:02):
was coming. Something had happened, the first of many moves
over the next few months. Shane Waldron Bears offensive coordinator out.
It doesn't really matter whose fault it is. So Chicago's
got a lot of things working against him here. Number
one is, you just missed on another young quarterback, Justin Fields,
and you screwed that up. Although I don't think he's
(05:23):
nearly as good a prospect or a player as Caleb Williams.
But you missed on that. See, you're not gonna you
don't get any excuses. Now you don't get a guy. Well,
we missed on Trubisky, we missed on Justin Fields, we
missed on Caleb Williams. No, it's coaching. The second thing
is Caleb Williams. Maybe he wasn't Andrew Luck as a prospect.
Maybe he wasn't even Joe Burrow as a prospect, but
(05:44):
most executives thought the dude could really play. His comp
was Mahomes, Trubisky and Justin Fields. You're off the hook
a little because they haven't done anything since they left Chicago,
so it's like, wow, they weren't very good. Caleb Williams
is way closer to Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence, and Joe Burrow.
NFL executives, if they didn't love him, they thought he
(06:05):
was a really good, solid prospect. And here's the other thing,
And I think everybody listening or watching the show knows this.
This doesn't help either. Bow Nicks is getting better. He
outplayed Mahomes this weekend. He's getting better fast. Jayden Daniels
he looked good by week two. So all of a sudden,
you start, you know, you start making comps and you're like,
this is an indictment on the franchise. And the other
(06:27):
thing is it is easy to blame the quarterback. And
I do think all the little flaws with Caleb Williams
runs around a little too much accuracy, a little inconsistent.
They're all flaring up now, you know. I mean Jaden Daniels.
He's a little thin. Will he stay healthy. He did
get banged up for one game, but he came. You know,
(06:48):
he's available bow knicks, not a great deep ball arm.
We've seen that scouts usually know what they're doing, especially
when they all conversion a player and all have similar
opinions Caleb's. The two nflgms I talked to on Caleb
are like big time athlete, worry about his consistent accuracy.
We've seen that he has been a big time athlete.
(07:09):
But it's your job as a football staff to develop
young players. It's like parenting. You know what you're getting into.
You draft a young quarterback, even if they're gifted. You
have a gifted child, it doesn't ensure success. And the
other thing that is really working against Chicago is Caleb. Everybody,
we may forget it now. He had a three game
(07:30):
stretch earlier in the season where we saw the talent. Yeah,
he had a three game stretch where he completed seventy
four percent of his throws. So we know he's talented.
We saw it when he had less practices and less
games and less reps. So he has just falling off
a cliff and that's going to go to the coaches
and so something clearly is not working. And you know,
(07:51):
yesterday we had a guest on Matt hasselback eighteen years
in the league. And again you can point fingers at
whoever you want. Some of it, absolutely no question is
on Caleb.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
I would say ninety percent of it is on the quarterback.
Like if I'm coaching the quarterback. They were at nine
sacks yesterday, I'm putting at least six of those on
the quarterback. And just like with Russell Wilson, like we're
sitting here talking about the deep ball to Mike Williams,
he knows like that's a blitz situation. Like Caleb, he's
a young quarterback. So I'm not trying to throw stones
at him because of the mistakes. I'm not surprised by
(08:25):
the mistakes things. Just expectations are going to be higher
because you do have guys like Jaden Daniels playing such
good football, bon Nicks is playing good football, Drake May's
even playing good football, and so I think the Boo
birds are going to be out with Caleb.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I don't disagree with that. But because you missed on
Trubisky and justin fields, because Caleb has had some really
good weeks this year, and because of the Bear's history
screwing up quarterbacks, it doesn't really matter if it's Caleb's fault,
it's parenting. You got to be up for the challenge.
This is your job to deal with challenges. There are
no easy kids. They're easier kids. There are no perfect
(09:01):
easy kids. It is a challenge and so that's where
we're at today. Shane Walderin's out. I think there's more
to come. I don't buy that Eberflus is safe. But
and you know, I'm not a fan of defensive coaches.
I would go the other way with an offensive coach.
But in fairness, Sean McDermot has had success as a
defensive coach with Josh Allen. John Harbaugh is not an
(09:22):
offensive coach with Lamar Jackson. Mike Tomlin has had a
great turnaround season offensively with Russell Wilson. Raheem Morris is
working with Kirk Cousins. They lead their division. So you
could go defense again, but as I pointed out, for
years with Chicago they're still living off the eighty five Bears.
It's a very defensive, blue collar, tough guy culture that
(09:45):
is fine, Dave wantstat one there, but I think it's time.
If you look at the end of seasons, the four
coaches left, the eight coaches left, it is overwhelming the
offensive guys, and you've got to fix this kid. You
gotta fix him. I mean again, if you don't end
up giving him him an extension in four years, that's
(10:07):
going to be really an indictment. You may just have
to go to the market and buy somebody. But this
is this may not be a perfect player, but he's
way closer as a comp to a Maholmes, who people
privately thought was a star, thought was the next Farve
a lock A Burrow than he is Trubisky and justin Fields,
those guys had Trubisky. I didn't even get the Dariski thing.
(10:30):
I'm not a scout like I didn't get it at all.
So there we are. Also, I will say this, Jim Harbaugh,
for all the owners and gms, if you're thinking about
hiring a coach, what the Chargers did should be duplicated.
There's no more Harballs on the market that we know of,
but it should be duplicated. Herd hierarchy top of the Hour.
(10:54):
I was Jay MC. I was Actually, I like the
Rams last night. I was I was price. It was
a fairly lifeless performance. Like I never after the first drive,
Miami just went down the field, clever reverses movement, touchdown.
I thought the Rams were out of sorts for almost
the entire game.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Week ten was strange the whole week around the league,
and it was like the Dolphins were one of the
worst defenses in the league for much of the season,
and they were incredible last night. They were everywhere. No
Rams receivers open all night. Stafford was really under pressure.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
The Dolphins were thirty first in sacks. Didn't blit. The
Rams were healthier in the old line. They got enormous
pressure with four.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
I don't know McDaniel clearly, I don't want to say
saving his job, but listen, they were bad. They weren't
a bad place Miami, and now they're all of a
sudden in the wild card mix that I think Thanksgiving
game against the Packers right kind of got very interesting. Yeah, well,
we'll say about the Dolphins, I don't know if I
can trust them yet.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, it was. It was a really interesting night.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a empassive. On Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Here we Go, heard Hierarchy. Time's go the top.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Ten NFL teams according to College number ten.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Listen the Commander's reality struck Jaden Daniels fifty percent completion
percentage only two hundred and forty two yards. They were
the second best team in the field. Even getting a
botched fake punt. They couldn't win. But I think between
coaching and Jaden Daniels, they will somehow sneak into the playoffs.
May not win. I thought this weekend was sort of
(12:37):
a reality check on what they are a little too
young quarterback, but they are the number three scoring offense.
But now they've lost in the Steelers and the Ravens
and Tampa. When they were healthy, they're about the tenth
best team in the league. Number nine Arizona Cardinals. I've
never trusted them. I sort of kind of do now.
They scored on five straight drives to open the game
(12:58):
against the Jets, four of them seventy plus. They're patient offensively,
and they've really figured out the defense. They stopped the
Chargers offense when they came to town. He completed seventeen
straight passes at one point. I've been saying all year,
I love their weapons. Do I trust the franchise upstairs ownership,
Not really, But I will say in terms of offensive talent, receiver,
(13:19):
tight end, back, tackle, quarterback, they're really really good, really
really good. That went over the Niners in Santa Clara
was not a fluke. Number eight the Niners because Christian
McCaffrey's back by an inch over Arizona. Five different players
had fifty plus receiving yards and that's without Brandon Auk
the rest of the year. So they're sprinkling around. Ricky
(13:40):
Piersoll's making an impact here, Deebo. The Jets sweeps don't
work as well, but they've got some nice target George Kittle,
by the way, like old Gronk Kelsey. You think he's gone. No, No,
he's not. They're four and zero when Brock Perdy doesn't
turn it over, meaning the margins have gotten very thin
for them. Kansas City doesn't have to play perfect to
(14:03):
win San Francisco kind of does. They got lucky this weekend.
Number seven the Steelers. I was wrong. I admitted I
thought this organization was tone deaf to offense they have
the number. They are a great second half team. They
are on a four game winning streak. Russell Wilson has
brought the deep ball back. They don't make mistakes. It's
(14:24):
like the Seahawks. Light, tough at home, physical defensive culture,
nice run game, quarterback that moves and over the top.
Now they can burn you if you don't play them. Honest,
I was wrong. Number two scoring defense. I think this
team's a playoff team. I missed on them. Steelers at seven.
Number six a team that reminds me of a lesser
(14:46):
version of the Chiefs. The Chargers great coach, great quarterback,
good enough offensive line, little light on weapons, excellent defense.
Are they as good situationally as the Chiefs? Nobody in
the world is. But they have had five plus sacks
in three straight games. It is remarkable. This was the
worst defense in the league last year. Same players. They
(15:07):
bring in Jesse Minter and a new head coach. They've
had talent, They've had talent for years. Finally Herbert has help.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Number five.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
I'll give it to the Eagles. They're five and zero
since the buy three straight road wins by twenty plus points.
I think they have the best roster in the league
better than Detroit because I think three of their best
young players defensively are all kids. They're all you know,
Mitchell the cornerback from Toledo, Jalen Carter, Dean from Georgia.
This team is stacked. This roster has great players that
(15:40):
are older, great players in their prime Philadelphia, and great
young players. I don't think there's any roster as good
as Philadelphia. They're six to zer one. A. J. Brown
plays Philadelphia Eagles at number five, number four. The Ravens.
Here's what I love about their story. Remember the Lamar
can't pass in the pocket wrong, Lamar can't play from behind. Yeah,
(16:03):
they have three wins this year, trailing by ten plus points.
Their issue is they are so bad in the secondary
that they can outplay you. Remember the Raiders came from
behind to beat them. This team is so bad on
the back end. You don't have to be great everywhere
in the NFL. You can't be terrible anywhere. You saw
last night the Rams Corners. They have to draft one
(16:24):
in the first second, third round, first third. They don't
have a second round pick, but Baltimore. I love the
growth of Lamar. I love them offensively, but that back
end is an issue. I have them at four. Number
three the Lions by an inch, seven game winning streak.
Jared Goff is having the season for all seasons. Actually,
I don't love or trust their defense, but on third
(16:45):
down their defense is excellent, only allowing a thirty one
percent conversion rate. They played poorly and one on the
road on Sunday Night football. I think I respect them
now more than ever, but I don't necessarily trust them
situationally as much as I do with Kansas City. Team
Number two the Bills. Now they're all banged up a
(17:07):
wide receiver. I think Kansas City's going to beat them
this weekend, but they lead the NFL and plus thirteen
turnover differential that's come back when healthy. I like their
receiving core. Don't love it, but I like it now.
Amari Cooper, Keon Coleman, Dalton Kin Kaid may not play
for Kansas City. That spells trouble, but I think this
(17:27):
is the best version of Buffalo. Doesn't mean they're going
to beat the Chiefs, but it's the best version of it.
Not as much reckless, more balance offensively, still well coached defensively.
Number one, fifteen game winning streak dating back to last season.
I think it's the best third down offense. It's the
(17:49):
best situational team since the Brady Belichick Bucks. I think
they're actually a little better at wide receiver than anybody
wants to admit. D hob Juju Smith Schuster, Travis Kelcey,
Kareem Hunt can catch out of the backfield. Isaiah Cheko's
coming back. So I think the offense. I mean, if
they had Rashid Rice right now, they wouldn't have d
Hop and I think they'd be fine. They're a little
better at receiver than last year in the year before.
(18:11):
I don't think it's an emergency. But I also think
all those young defensive players now are a bit older
and wiser. I think it's the best team in the league.
Their defense is not allowed a single point when trailing
in the fourth quarter of this season. So when you're great,
sometimes it's hard to stay focused. But when you need
their defense to be great, and when you need them
to block a kick and when you need a goal
(18:33):
line stand, they are off the charts. There is our
herd hierarchy Green Bay. I have at eleven, didn't watch
them play, moved them back. I like what I saw
with the Commanders.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
One more Herd. 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 (18:53):
Thirty nine seasons, NFL College coaching Experience, former Bears head
coach and a Dolphin's head. We thought he was perfect today.
Has a great relationship with Matt Eberflus, who is on
the ropes in Chicago. Our friend Dave wan Status now
joining us long. So let's start with this mess about
(19:14):
you know, three weeks ago, four weeks ago, Caleb's playing well,
He's completing seventy four percent of his throws, and then
it just goes sideways.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
What happened, Well, when they beat Jacksonville, went into the by,
everybody was giddy around time, and Caleb was playing good.
You're you're right, Colin. But you know, in that Jacksonville game,
they were like twenty nine runs, twenty nine passes, and
that's what made me excited. And then since then, you know,
(19:46):
it's it's been two to one pass and here's the problem. Okay,
there's a lot of problems, but here's what happened in
my opinion Shane Waldron, and I was all into shamee.
Keep in mind, the Bears interviewed seven, yes, seven offensive
coordinator candidates, so Ryan Pools was on every trip, so
(20:09):
it was him and Flues, so they are both in
on this, and they made the decision on Shane. So
I jumped on board. Okay, I'm gonna support you because
Shane was with Pete Carroll, defensive guy and he wants
to run the ball. Shane was with Bill Belichick, obviously
defensive guy wants to run the ball. So I said,
this guy is going to be balanced, and so I
(20:32):
was all excited about it. And then they cut the
fullback in training camp and get rid of the fullback
and the offensive line coach, who I think is a
heck of a coach. He's a protege of Chris Forster,
who's the line coach with the forty nine ers. So
I'm saying to myself, oh, I don't like the fields
of this. So as we get moving forward, now they
(20:53):
got four offensive linemen on you know, inactive. One gets
hurt and they got the same gameplay. Here's where the
mistake is. And I've been through this. When you've got
offensive linemen that either inexperience, hurt or just aren't as good.
That's where your game plan has to start. And the
(21:13):
Bears have done it backwards in my opinion. In other words,
you got to sit down and say, Okay, what can
the guys do that I have calling and what can
they have some success with? Because if they can't be successful,
nothing else mattered. Right, Okay, now this is what we
can do with them. Let's add the runs, let's add
the passes, and now let's go win a football game.
(21:35):
And I got to tell you a quick steort. When
I was at the Dolphins two thousand and one, I
believe it was Tennessee had never lost down there at
that stadium, their new stadium, and it was McNair and
Eddie George and the freak on defense Curse and the
whole group. Great team, And we went down there to
open up the season, all right, and Chang Daily was
my offensive coordinator and Tony Wise was a line coach.
(21:57):
They came in and said, Coach, we can't block these guys.
We can't throw the ball on third down, we can't
drop back. I was like, are you serious. The chance says,
let me tell you something every time we get in
third done, it's gonna be quarterback draw, running back draw.
You're gonna see more screens this week. And you've ever
seen your life, coach, If we drop back, the quarterback
will have no chance. We can't win. Well, look at
(22:19):
the final score and look how it all ended up.
We did not throw a drop that path, play action
screens and run the ball, and unfortunately the Bears offensive
line that's where they're at. Yeah, and they do it
backwards here.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's Have you lost any confidence in Caleb Williams
or do you still think he's the real deal.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
You know what he understands what happens is press conference.
The first thing he said afterwards, he says, I made
mistakes today that cost us. You know, when he threw
the one to DJ Moore, he was supposed to hand
it off. Okay, made a bad read. But the one
that really bothered me because quarterbacks got to know when
you are in the red zone, this is this is football. One.
(23:01):
Oh what in my opinion, you know, you don't take
you don't get a sack, you don't throw take a
chance on interception, don't change a snapcot because we got
three points red zone Alert Okay football one oh one,
and he takes a sack when they were in the
red zone, and he said it though, that's the point
that I like, I made a major mistake. We were
in the red zone. I should have gotten rid of
(23:23):
the ball. So he understands football intelligence wise when he
does make a mistake. Yeah, but right now he you know,
he's holding the ball a little bit too long. There's
no question about that. And remember these days at USC Okay,
he was facing more drop eight rush three than anybody
in college football because he wanted to hold the ball
(23:45):
and get the play. And there were some underneath throws
that were open to Cole comment the tight end to
the running back DeAndre Swift, and he didn't take it. Yeah,
he forced that thing and made a bad throw to
DJ Moore or somebody. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
No, that was a knock on USC that he wouldn't
take the layups, he wouldn't take the gimmeis yep, yep,
you know you're you're absolutely right. That was the knock
on him, and and and you're right and he and
he has shown a little bit of that now. Russell Wilson,
I mean, listen, I didn't buy Pittsburgh. Mike's a great coach,
but I thought the offense. I thought they were tone
(24:20):
deaf to offense the last three or four years. Couldn't
get the run game, the O line, the OC right.
And Mike's a defensive guy. I gotta be honest, did
you think Russell Wilson still had something in the tank?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Look at his numbers from last year? Call and I
said this when they traded for him. I think the
guy had twenty six twenty seven touchdowns, Yeah, and like
eight interceptions, which is three to one. I think he
was three to one touchdowns interceptions. That's good football, that's
playoff football. So I thought he did for sure. And
I think what's happened here in Pittsburgh. Now. You know
(24:57):
when anytime you got a Super Bowl ring and you
go into the huddle and you teams behind her, it's
even its close, and and you know he's got the outgoing,
confident personality. Uh, and he comes into the huddle, I
think everybody believes that, hey, we're gonna get it done.
So I think it's as much as attitude. And give
Arthur Smith a lot of credit, the offensive coordinator they
(25:18):
hired that Mike hired her from Atlanta. He's doing a
heck of a job with that offense, run and passed.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah. I remember year one with the Dolphins, didn't you
go like eleven and five or something.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, eleven to five, and then we had won the
division and then beat UH one a playoff game, beat
the Colts. Yeah so, and then lost to UH lost
out in Oakland at the time, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
So you turned it around in one year, Harball. This
was the worst defense in the league. Now they're rated
number one. It's the same players. What did he do?
What is it?
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Coach? Jim Harbaugh for a quarterback head coach, he has
never gotten caught up. I mean we saw his teams
at Michigan, and you know I do Big Ten Network
every week, and so I talked to Jim regular he
was when he was at Michigan coach. They didn't throw
a pass fourth quarter and half the game against Penn State.
(26:17):
Against Penn State, they just ran it. So my point
is that his style and his philosophy and the fundamentals
that Jim works on. I don't want to use the
word old school, okay, but he believes in physical running
the ball and playing defense, and he's never gotten caught
up in all this wide open spread stuff, and he
(26:39):
does what he believes in and he gets the results.
The guy is Guy's fantastic. They don't commit many mistakes,
they don't turn the ball over much, and they're just
going to get better and better there.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So I said, it happens about once a year. It
happened to the Rams last year where they got hot.
They got healthy and hot middle of the season one
seven of eight, almost beat the Lions. We saw the
Bengals do it in twenty twenty two. We saw Brady
do it. Week thirteen by Bucks were seven and five.
Bye week came out. Schedule was easy. A couple of
Falcon games got rolling. I watched the Dolphins last night
(27:15):
and I'm like, boy, they were good on third down
two is healthy? Do you buy him? Or is it
a lot of sizzle for you? Do you buy Miami?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
No? I mean, I hope they turned. I got to
see more. I got to see more. And the Rams
are a good team. I mean when the Rams played
the Bears here it was earlier in the year and
all their star receivers were I didn't even know who
the receivers were for the Rams at the time. But
they played the Bears, and I tell you, Stafford and
those guys went up and down the field on the Bears.
(27:48):
The Bears won, but it was a last minute win. Yeah,
so I'll give the Dolphins defense credit for that. You said,
third dot third down was really the only statistic that
they played better. In my opinion that when you look
at the big picture, than the Rams. I got to
see more Colin.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, they're a little sizzily. You don't always feel like
he gets sad. You get a little sizzily to me, Yeah, hey.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah they are. And you know we got to see
him against a tough fiscal opponent when they played Buffalo.
Things will get separated in my opinion, in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All right, I want to go back to the Bears.
So you know, I prefer in twenty twenty four an
offensive coach. They had Naggie. I thought he was pretty good.
They ran him out of town. He got Trabisky to
the playoffs twice. They didn't like him, he was too
soft whatever. I thought he was pretty good, not great,
pretty good. And now they've got a defensive guy. Would
(28:43):
you go get Rabel Belichick a big name? Would you
go young offensive guy, would you go college guy, if
they make a change, is there a direction you think
they should go?
Speaker 3 (28:58):
No?
Speaker 4 (28:59):
And I'm gonna say that because obviously I'm a defensive guy.
And and but you know the expectations of the Bears
football team coming into this season. There was really two
boxes that needed to be checked. It was number one,
obviously with this offense, we got to score enough points
to win the game. We didn't get that done. And
then the development of Caleb Williams. So if you get
(29:21):
you know whoever, in my opinion, offense defense, I hope
it's Fluse. You know, here's what has to happen with
Flus this. If he wants to get this thing turned,
in my opinion, he needs to let Eric Washington take
over the defensive play call. Just just bear with me
for a second. And he needs to be in every
darn the offensive meeting this week. Got a new play
(29:42):
card and he needs to go in there, Colin and
he needs to say, this is what I see my offense.
Our jobs on the line. I'm the head coach. I
want these many play actions, these many runs, and this
is this is what I want. So figure out what
the best plays are inside of this bas and he
needs to be in there. I think it's it would
(30:03):
give the players a shot in the arm. I think
it would give the coaches a shot in the arm
and let Eric wark and as a head coach, I mean,
I still can't get over I think you know when
Shane Walter and we handed the ball to an offensive
lineman on the one yard line, how did you know?
How does Matt let that go on? To me? That
was grounds right there to make a change. It would
(30:25):
have never happened with me or Jimmy or the guys
that I know as head coach. They've been time out?
You serious?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Yeah, tell me?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Tell me did I hear that play role? You know?
And before that we run we run an option on
the five yard line, you know option football. You don't
pitch the ball when you get down there inside the ten.
The defense is too darn close to here. There's going
to be a turnover. So, I mean, you know, there
was some offensive decisions that I thought were terrible. But
(30:55):
you know, Fluse now is the head coach. He needs
to be tuned in the boat and he needs to
oversee both and not call plays. Hey, I don't know
what the best play is calling, but I want to
run it here or I want to throw it deep here.
You're the coordinator, you call the deep play we want,
but I want to throw it deep. That has to happen.
(31:17):
That he cannot just turn this thing over to a
new coordinator and just go back to coaching defense. He
won't survive. He's got to be involved in everything from
this day out.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Dave wantstat he never ages. I swear you go out
with him the stories. You never age. You're the exact
you look the exact same as when I met you
nine years ago.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It must be jan or good cocktails.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Cigars, cigars, d Bradshaw, Bourban cigars and steak right here.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
That's what all the good stuff?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yep, yeah, Dave wants that. One of my favorite people.
All right, coach good stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
That's a good point though, what he just made you
gotta be on the headset. You can't. I mean, was
that funny when he's like, you're handing the ball off
to the center.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Did I see that? Right?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I listened. I think Mike Tomlin mostly trusts his offense.
But when Tomlin went out and said, justin fields, I
know we're winning I'm going Russell. That's controlling your team.
That's a big boy move, and not every coach in
the league could get away with it. Tomlin's got trophies,
Tomlin's a you know, he's a big presence. Nobody's gonna
mess with Mike. But that's one of the coaching moves
(32:32):
of the year. It's so easy to look at the
Steelers now and go, well, anybody could have done that.
That's not true. You get a winning record, the players
like fields, he's more athletic than Russ. You're winning. You know,
the Browns look bad, the Bengals are choppy. People would
have said, hey, Jess, I remember when it happened. Ninety
percent of the people were like, you can't go to Russ,
and Mike's like, now, I'm gonna go with Russ. That
(32:53):
is the coaching move of the year so far in
terms of personnel, just saying no, I'm gonna Nobody liked
that move big. They didn't like that move. Steven Fans
didn't like it. Tomlin liked it. That's why I would
have Hardball one, Tomlin two, Dan Quinn three my NFL
coach of the Year so far. Big boy move, big
time move,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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