July 29, 2025 • 50 mins
Danny Parkins fills in for Colin
Are the Steelers set up for success this season?
Why more people should be in love with QB Justin Herbert
Will an in shape Luka Doncic make a difference for the Lakers?
Danny lists his top 10 NFL teams heading into this season
Guest: Nick Wright
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome in, It's the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
the great Colin cow Herd. Hey let me come back,
presented burn the place down completely yesterday. The schedule is
that I'll be in tomorrow as well. We'll see how
the next three hours goes. Appreciate you watching, Appreciate you listening.
We've got a great show for you. Ayj Perzinski gonna
(00:48):
join us in about twenty five minutes. Jeff Schwartz, Ben Owen,
and my guy Nick Wrights Nickel. Maybe a bit it's
being wrong in a sports cover for the first time ever.
Coming up in just over an hour. They'll probably not.
I'll defend my ranking of Justin Herbert in just a
few minutes. But I'd like to begin by talking about
(01:12):
the biggest boomer Bus team in the NFL this year,
and that is the Pittsburgh Steelers, because man, I get
why they made the move, but I right off the top,
I'm going to make a confession if I give the
Steelers the vote of confidence, and I am. I like
(01:33):
what they've done this offseason. It's actually made sense to me.
I have to also admit to you, for the last
four years consecutively, I have predicted that the Steelers would
have their first losing season under Mike Tomlin, and I've
been wrong time and time and time and time again.
(01:54):
So now I'm like, I think this is a playoff team.
I think this team could win a playoff game. I
think Aaron Rodgers is a little cuckoo, but he's objectively
better than Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett and Duck Hodges
and Mitch Trubisky. Like I agree with the conventional wisdom.
(02:16):
If Mike Tomlin can get you a winning record with
those quarterbacks, he should be able to do better with
Aaron Rodgers. But I think that's just the tip of
the iceberg here. I thought that when he signed that
contract and it was a weird number and he signed
for thirteen million bucks. I was like, there's more coming.
(02:38):
They're not done. And then they made the huge trade
with Ramsey and John hus Smith and they upgraded their squad.
And I think the John hu Smith, while not the
sex of your name, that is the move that really
does create some versatility for their offense. DK Metcalf true
(02:59):
number one. Play your twelve personnel with your two tight ends.
With Friarmuth and John Husmith on the field, they can
block for Aaron because I don't know if you've heard,
he's on the wrong side of forty jalen Orn. I
actually think is an upgrade in the backfield from naj Harris.
I think that there is a real opportunity here for
this offense to be good. They won't be top five
(03:22):
in the NFL, but a good offense. And then when
you combine that with we know all the talent they
have on defense and the excellent regular season coaching that
they get, I think it made a lot of sense.
But we all would agree also that it's boom or bust.
And it feels like, based on what Aaron Rodgers has said,
this is a one shot deal, one year contract. He's
(03:44):
a mercenary. He got married. He says, what I'm done
with football, you'll never see or hear from me again.
I have my doubts. The guy said he loves privacy
and then invited a documentary crew with him into the wilderness.
So I got my doubts. But we'll see. And as
for now, it seems like a one year hired gun situation.
(04:05):
The Steelers general manager Omar Kahn, who's on with Rich Eisen,
he was asked about it. He said, it might be
a little more than that. Obviously, you know, we have
to see how the season goes.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
But I absolutely you know, he's a young forty one,
and you know we're obviously taking it year by year,
and that's where we're at.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So I assume this is a one year deal. And
my question though, is, let's say I'm wrong again about
the Steelers and they're not as good as they clearly
think they can be. Because you only do this if
you think you can end you're going on nine year
playoff drought without a playoff win. That's the only reason
(04:47):
you sign up for the circus. That is Aaron Rodgers,
for the appearances, for the offseason, for the three month
holding pattern, for all of it, right, because you believe
your team is ready to win multiple playoff games in January,
and this is the missing piece. It's the only reason
you sign up for the circus if they're wrong, and
(05:09):
then I guess if I'm wrong, And this is the
first losing season under Mike Tomlin, and it is like
the Jets season last year and they win six seven
games are non competitive against good teams. Aaron Rodgers is
not even a top fifteen or twenty quarterback in the NFL.
(05:30):
Is there any scenario where the heat shifts to Mike Tomlin?
And I'm not saying they're going to fire him, because
clearly the Steelers don't fire anyone. It's maybe the single
most unbelievable fact in all of football that in the
history of the Pittsburgh Steelers they've had three head coaches.
It's remarkable. But if I just told you that a
(05:56):
head coach, it had been eight seasons since they had
won a playoff game, and in that time they were
zero to five in the postseason. And in that time
he had had five offensive coordinators and eight different starting quarterbacks,
(06:16):
and as the defensive coach in those playoff games, he's
given up forty plus to Blake Bortles and Baker Mayfield
and getting boat raced by Patrick Mahomes and it's like,
oh my god, some of these are great quarterbacks, some
of these are not. Some of these you were favored,
some of these you weren't. You're a thirteen win team,
(06:38):
you bounced immediately in the postseason. Any other coach and
any other organization would be on the hot seat. And
again they won't fire him. But if it doesn't work
with Rogers and Tomlin becomes more of the reputation of
high floor, low ceiling, he can only win big if
he has a Hall of Fame quarterback in his prime.
(07:03):
They're always going to be too good to draft one
because he will have you at eight or nine wins
as a floor. So what is his path to getting
Drew Aller or Arch Manning or a top five Piket quarterback?
And they'll just be in this middle purgatory space in
(07:24):
the NFL with nowhere to go from here. So I
think this is going to work, and they'll win ten
to eleven games, maybe win a playoff game, Like that's
my definition of working. They're not a super Bowl team.
I don't think that they have that high of a ceiling.
But I think they're a double digit win team that
can win one playoff game and end that drought. But
then the question is, and then what, Because the whole
(07:48):
thing is the standard is the standard? Excellence is the standard?
Ten wins in a Wild's card win is not excellence.
And then they're still in the exact same situation they
found themselves in coming out of last year with no
long term answer at quarterbacks. So while I expect success,
the much more interesting questions is what happens if there's failure.
(08:10):
The pushback I got yesterday from my top ten quarterback
list was mostly from Eagles fans who are upset, and
I respect it and love it, and it's a passionate
fan base, but it was also centered around my guy,
Justin Herbert. And I will fully admit to you that
(08:31):
I sit down on my couch on Sundays and I
just watch eleven straight hours of football, and then I
watch Monday night and Thursday night, and I watch all
these games, and then I rewatched them and all that,
and I come from it from more of the analytical
and number side, but then I just actually love watching
the games. I don't fancy myself a scout anything like that.
(08:52):
But I will say Justin Herbert passes the eye test
as much as any quarterback I've ever seen. I am
just so utterly convinced that this dude is a superstar,
and that he has been the victim of Anthony Lynn
and Brandon Staley and bad special teams misses and incompetence
(09:15):
and terrible injury luck around him, and two bad playoff games,
one terrible comeback allowed by the Jaguars, and then last
year the four interceptions against the Texans. Can't sugarcoat it, though.
Two of those interceptions were off his receiver's hands and
there was a bit of a snowball effect there. But
I watched this guy and I am just convinced that
(09:38):
he's one of the best players in football. And if
he was just in a better situation, everybody would know
that and it would become conventional wisdom. And now they
hire a true winner in Jim Harbaugh. Last year, Justin
Herbert has over five hundred pass attempts, which was down
because hardball likes to run the ball, but he had
(10:00):
over five hundred pass attempts and three interceptions. He had
more interceptions in that one playoff loss than he had
all season. It was a true outlier, worst case scenario performance.
And so I'm trusting my eyes on this one and
a belief in Harbaugh. They were the number one scoring
(10:22):
defense last year. They draft Hampton, they're going to upgrade
the rushing attack. I love the pick of Trey Harris,
the deep threat, speedster form on the outside. Maconkey's a
stud arguably the best tackle duo in the NFL outside
of Philadelphia. Detroit might have something to say about it,
but it's a top three tackle duo in the NFL
at a minimum. This is the year, and this is
(10:45):
the year for what you say. This is the year
for Justin Herbert to stay on the Peyton Manning track.
Peyton Manning was in a bit of the wilderness early
in his career, different coaches, a bunch of interceptions, no
playoff success, and if you study it, and I know
(11:08):
some people will say different era of the NFL in
terms of volume of passing, and that is true. But again,
a guy in Peyton who clearly passed the eye test
but didn't have the team's success early on in his career.
If you look at years one through five of Peyton
and years one through five of Justin Herbert. It is
(11:33):
shocking how identical it is. Herbert forty one and thirty
eight win loss record, Peyton forty two and thirty eight,
both of them winless in the playoffs. Herbert owen two
through five years, Manning oho to three. Their team scored
twenty four points per game. They threw basically the same
(11:53):
number of touchdown passes one thirty seven to one thirty
eight through five years in their career. And again, I
understand more passing in today's football than then, but the
playoff numbers were also remarkably similar in terms of the
types of struggles, more interceptions than touchdowns, lower pass or rating,
(12:15):
lower completion percentage in the playoffs versus the regular season.
But in year five Peyton got Doungeee. In year five
Herbert got Harbaugh and things started to change. And in
year six for Peyton, he's co MVP of the league,
He's in the AFC Championship game, he's you know, forty
(12:36):
two hundred yards, They're scoring twenty eight points per game.
It was the arrival of the Peyton Manning that became
one of the greatest to ever throw a football. And
I will be holding Justin Herbert to that standard. This
is the last stand because I fully acknowledge at some
(12:58):
point the results need to be there in terms of
team's success. But I am as convinced today as I
was after his rookie year when he set the NFL
record for touchdown passes as a rookie with thirty one.
This is a Hall of Fame level talents. And I thought,
what Jim Harbaugh said over the weekend is how I
(13:22):
felt about the entire Chargers organization ever since they lucked
into Miami drafting Tua over him. The rest of you
got to catch up to that guy.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
This is from the heart, This is the truth, justin.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Herbert's biggest weakness is all of those that he's counting
on on offense, coaches, offensive line playmakers, receivers, running backs.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
To get up to his level.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
You know. That's that's that's I wake up every day
to try to get to his level. So if you
put us as the as the number one duel, I
mean it's.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Ninety just ten amen, Amen. Peyton. Manning was the system.
He went to four super Bowls with four different head coaches.
That was what it was. He got to a place
where he had such dominance and such control of the
game that wherever he went, he was the system. I
(14:21):
think Justin Herbert can do that and is on his
way to doing that. And if the rest of the Chargers,
which I expect them to under Harbaugh, catch up to
him just a bit, don't put the shackles on him.
Let him throw, work off your run game, work off
your defense, and let that guy be one of the
best throwers of the football that I've ever seen. I
(14:42):
think he's absolutely in the running for the MVP, and
I think they're absolutely in the running to win playoff
games this year, even being in the division with the
Kansas City Chiefs. I expect Justin Herbert to stay on
the Peyton Manning track by the end of this football season.
AJ Persinskke you going to join us coming up in
about ten minutes. Luka, Doncic is looking good. There is
(15:05):
no doubt about it. We saw the pictures yesterday on
the show. But my god, some of you are overreacting
and golageous. Oh little nuts, that's next. I'm a hurts.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (15:26):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (15:32):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blobber list lame and me.
Speaker 7 (15:49):
Well, you know what, it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna life
and relationships, and if Rich and I are arguing about
something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue
on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
There you go, over promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us listen over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Welcome back to the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
Colin rank my top ten NFL teams heading into the
season coming up in just over twenty minutes. Then Nick
Wright will join the show from First Things First. Very
much looking forward to doing that and looking forward to
joining First Things First as they expand to three hours
coming up this football season. But yesterday I think I
(16:58):
showed the power of the Lakers and the power of
late July that a magazine cover could come out that
is straight pr and everyone would go insane, Like Luka
Doncic was on the cover of Men's Health, and Luka
(17:19):
Doncic looks shredded. He looks like skinny Luca and you
put those pictures up. And we've seen him a little
bit this offseason. We saw him with the Yankees, We've
seen him out and about a little bit. He's like, Oh,
Luka Doncic figured out what a barbell was, he learned
about intermittent fasting. He apparently is drinking less and smoking
(17:45):
less hookah and you know, being a professional athlete, and
all of a sudden, it's, oh my god, professional athlete
works out in the off season. And I guess I
didn't fully realize that in a year where Luca was
traded and arguably the craziest trade in NBA history, when
(18:07):
he had a significant calf strain that is often a
precursor if you do not fully heal it to blowing
out your achilles see Tyrese Halliburton. And he took his
time coming back from that, and it had an impact
on his conditioning, appearance, all of those things. I feel
like people forgot who Luka Doncic was. Like, Luca is awesome,
(18:33):
and I love Chris Broussard and I can't wait to
chop it up with him more on the regular on
first things First, But when we had him on Heard yesterday,
you would have thought that Luka Doncic was reborn based
on these pictures.
Speaker 8 (18:47):
When I saw this article, saw how Luca looked, read
it about you know, how he's changed and this summer's
different for him. I gave a big shout out to
Lebron James, like this, this is a testament to Lebron
James's example and the impact it had on Luka doncis.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I think he played with.
Speaker 8 (19:09):
Lebron and saw wow, as much physical ability as Lebron has,
as much natural ability, as much size and strength and
athleticism as Lebron has naturally, he goes above and beyond
to become the player he is.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Even though Luca didn't say that in the article. And
maybe this is a little media insight, but getting a
magazine cover it's not that difficult for a list superstar
athletes and celebrities like this was a puff piece. This
was the superstar athlete equivalent of, like you ever break
(19:54):
up with someone and then hit the weights because you
want to have that revenge. Look be you know New
Year knew me. Luca got dissed by the Mavericks. They
leaked a bunch of stuff to the media about his professionalism,
and he's putting this out there to show him what
they missed. This is the superstar athlete equivalent of getting
(20:15):
dumped working out and then posting a shirtless pick with
pecks and biceps on Instagram, something I would know nothing about,
not because I've never been dumped, but because I have
no biceps or pecks. But the poise this the point
is people forget that Luka Doncic. I mean people act
like the guy doesn't play basketball. Before last year seventy
(20:36):
games played, sixty six games played, sixty five games played,
sixty six games, sixty one seventy two plus his international schedule,
Luka Doncic plays basketball a lot. Really, Oh, now that
Luka Doncic is intermittent fasting and doing bicep curls, I'm
gonna bet him for MVP. Luca was already a really
(20:59):
safe favorite type of bet for MVP. We have saw
him two seasons ago carry the Dallas Mavericks to the
NBA Finals. We have seen him average thirty four nine
to ten in a season two years ago. Like list
(21:21):
of best players in the NBA, whatever your order is, Jokic, SGA,
Jannis Tatum, Luca, I know Lebron was six and MVP voting.
I know Donovan Mitchell was first team All NBA, but
Luca didn't play enough games to qualify. He was traded
(21:42):
in the middle of the season. He had the cap injury.
It was weird year, but I think most people would
agree that Luka Doncic is in the conversation for being
a top five player in the world, So good for
the professional athlete working out in the offseason. Maybe he'll
start a little faster, but he's not gonna get better
(22:05):
at defense. And I don't think it's possible for him
to get much better at basketball than averaging thirty three
nine to ten. So I'm just a little confused as
to what we're talking about here. I it's pr it's spin,
(22:25):
it's image control, it's damage control. It it doesn't have
to be anything more than that. And I am just
I expect even if Luka Doncic, I would have seen
him at the Hookah Bar, if that would have been
the thing, if he would have been on the cover
of instead of Men's Health, he would have been on
(22:45):
the cover of Hookah magazine. I would be like, man,
Luca could win MVP next year because he's Luka Dodgic,
that the talent is enough where he can win MVP.
But Men's Health is apparently supposed I didn't know. I
didn't know being on the cover of Men's Health was
supposed to change the way that we all felt about
(23:07):
one of the five greatest offensive players in the sport
and arguably one of the five greatest all around players
in the sport because he's doing bicep curls and shoving
all of his meals into eight hours a day. But
I'm learning things as we go throughout this life. I
wanted to change gears here a little bit and talk
(23:29):
about an honor the life of Ryan Sandberg, the Hall
of Famer from the Chicago Cubs, who passed away yesterday
at sixty five years old. And I knew Rhino a bit,
and I'll tell you my connection to him in a second.
(23:51):
But he was a larger than life figure in Chicago.
He was the reason why many men, many people in
Chicago and frankly around the world, became Cubs fans. When
he won his MVP award in nineteen eighty four, the
Cubs had not been to the playoffs in thirty nine years,
(24:14):
and so he wins that MVP there on WGN the superstation,
and people are watching Wrigley Fields come to life, and
this incredibly professional ballplayer. It's a cliche, play the game
the right way. He was just a model of consistency,
(24:36):
and he was He was a humble superstar. And people say,
never meet your heroes I was a little young for
Ryan Sandberg to be a sports hero of mine. But
my older brother was significant, was sixteen years older than me,
(24:57):
and he actually he married someone whose father was very
close to Ryan Sandberg. And so when I was the
best man in my brother's wedding at fifteen years old,
Ryan Sandberg was at the wedding, and so I gave
a best man speech at the wedding, and I didn't
(25:18):
talk to Ryan Sandberg about it at the wedding. But
many years later, when I'm doing media in Chicago, and
Rhino would come on the show and he was a
Cub's ambassador, and he would do things. He would say,
you know, Margaret really liked your toast. Margaret was his wife,
and I'd be like, well, what about you, Rhino. He
was like, Margaret really liked your toast. Like he just
(25:40):
had this subtle ability. People who knew him better said
he was a prankster. He didn't really give off the
hilarious image too much publicly, but if you knew him
a little bit, he would. But the thing about him
was he just loved being a Cub and he loved
Cubs fans, and so people would come up to him
(26:02):
all the time and pay him a compliment, and he
would always give them the time of the day, ask
them their name, ask them about him. And I went
back and yeah, So this picture that we're showing now
on FS one. It was crazy because about this time
last year, Ryan Sandberg came on the radio because I
(26:23):
do this cancer event in partnership with the Cubs called
Cubs for a Cure, where I broadcast for twenty four
hours straight. It's coming up in two days on Thursday
on the Score in Chicago, and Ryan Sandberg came in
because we knew he had been battling cancer, and he
very emotionally announced that just that morning he had had
a scan that was clear and his doctor said he
was cancer free, and he cried and it made national
(26:45):
news and we raised over a million dollars that weekend
with all of it going to cancer research. And we
took that picture. That's the president of Business for the Cubs,
Crane Kenny, with us on the field and it was
just this like beautiful celebration. And then eleven months later
he passes away from cancer, and it was just it
was gut wrenching because people when they talk about him,
(27:08):
if you didn't know him. You talk about the Sandberg game,
Bob Costa says it was the best baseball game he
ever called, and it was unbelievable. You know, he hits
two home runs and the ninth and tenth off Bruce Souiter,
and you know, the Cubs win twelve eleven and extras.
And people talk about ten time All Star, nine time
Gold Gloves, silver Slugger, MVP, whatever it is when they
(27:30):
say never meet your heroes, and then he actually is
to so many a sports hero and he's everything you
want and more. It's just rare. So I wanted to
play a quick bite from his Hall of Fame speech
because I really think it encompassed how he approached the game,
but really how he approached life. Here's Rhino I.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
Was taught you never ever disrespect your opponent, or your teammates,
or your organization or your manager, and never ever your uniform.
Make a great play, act like you've done it before.
Get a big hit, look for the third base coach,
and get ready to run the bases. Hit a home run,
(28:15):
put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases.
Because the name on the front is more a lot
more important than the name on the back, that's respect.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I had an opportunity to talk to Ryan Sandberg on
the radio when it had been announced that he was
getting a statue at Wrigley Field, and what was the
position going to be? Was it going to be hitting
home run from the Sandberg game? Was it going to
be him turning a double play that he was famous for?
And he said he thought it was going to be
more about defense, and it ended up just being him
in the ready position because he just wanted to be
(28:52):
ready to be a pro, and that encompassed who he
was lost over. He cut through, He mattered to a
lot of people. Barack Obama posted a tribute Hall of
Famer and Cubs stalwart Ryan Sandberg wasn't just a great
baseball player. He was a class act who never cheated
the game. Everyone in Chicago, including White Sox fans, will
(29:14):
miss him deeply, and it's so true. He was a
humble superstar. He wanted to meet you, he wanted to
talk to you, and he deserved so much more than
sixty five years of life. Rip Rhino.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Our number two of the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins from
FS one and soon to be First Things First coming
at you from LA. I'll be in for Colin tomorrow
from Chicago. We have Nick right at First Things First
joining us for his normal appearance coming up in just
a couple of minutes, which is truly surreal, I would
(30:00):
say for both of us, given that the first time
we ever hosted together was doing a Syracuse Providence basketball
postgame show on waer In College Radio. So we'll have
some fun coming up in about five minutes, where I
assume Nick will just agree with every brilliant thing that
I say and we'll keep it moving or not. But
(30:20):
before we get to Nick, we will begin with my
top ten teams heading in to the upcoming football season,
because if not now, when and we'll see if Philiberts
made to feel a little better. Number ten, it's the
Chargers of Los Angeles. You know what I think of
(30:41):
Justin Herbert, You know what everyone thinks of Jim Harbaugh.
Did you know they were the number one scoring defense
in the NFL last year? If they just get a
little bit more explosive on offense, and I think Hampton
and Harris their two draft picks will help, and year
two under Harball will help. They take the leap offensively.
(31:02):
They get a little bit of health luck, which every
team needs. The Chargers. I expect him back in the
playoffs and maybe he'd be rising up this list over
the course of the season. Number nine the Washington Commanders.
I think better team, worse record, nine to one score
victories last season. Jayden Daniels is a superstar. I liked
the Tunsil addition. We'll see about Debo and how he fits.
(31:26):
I don't know if you can win that many close
games again, but I think they got the right coach,
the right quarterback. Obviously, a tough division with Philly and
Dallas will be better. I think they're a better roster
and a worse team. Number eight the San Francisco forty
nine Ers. It's time to bounce back. Brock Perdy, to me,
(31:48):
should not be quite as polarizing as people make him
out to be. But he actually impressed me when he
lost some of the stuff around it. He's not a superstar,
he's not a top ten quarterback, but in Kyle Shanahan's offense,
he's got good post that processing. You can get the
ball out quick, and I think that's enough, assuming the
rest of their stars stay healthy. Kittle, Trent Williams, and
(32:09):
namely Christian McCaffrey, who's the key to everything, and frankly
a cheap code in Kyle Shanahan's offense. Number seven, Just
be competent on defense, Cincinnati Bengals, your offense is super
Bowl caliber. You went three and four in games where
you scored thirty or more points last year. Figure it
out with Hendrickson. Have Shamar Stewart hit you upgraded at
(32:32):
defensive coordinator because you just had to. In the Super
Bowl era for teams that lost five or more games,
the Cincinnati Bengals most points per game and losses. Any
team they scored twenty eight points per game in their
losses last year. Just be the twentieth best defense in
the NFL and you'll be fine. Number six. I can't
(32:53):
quit this Rams team. I think them in the Niners
is going to be a great battle all year long.
Offensive line health concerns me. Stafford's a stud, Mcvey's a stud.
The Devonte Adams ad is great, and Fisk and verse.
They didn't have a first round pick this year, but
their draft hit tremendously last year. If you've they're the
linebacker or the tight end they hit in the second
(33:15):
and third round. If they can just add one more piece,
they were the team that gave Philly the best challenge
really the last four and a half months of football.
I think they're right there as a contender. Number five.
Maybe this is too low, but it's the Baltimore Ravens.
It was a historic offense last year when you combine
running and passing, but their inability to get it done
(33:38):
consistently in January, once you get up to this level
concerns me from the quarterback on down. But this team
has a legitimate argument for being the best roster in
the NFL. Hopefully for Ravens fans, this is the year
they break through number four. But I still have the
Bills in front of them, both because of their playoff
(33:59):
his I happen to think Josh Allen is better than
Lamar Jackson, and they just have been bludgeting people. It's
the team with the best point differential in the NFL
over a sample of five years, and it's not close.
You'd say, oh, I would assume that would be the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are third The Ravens are second. They've outscored
(34:19):
opponents by five hundred and fifty five points in the
last five years. The Bills have outscored their opponents by
nearly eight hundred points the last five years. Their regular
season juggernaut. Can they break through in January? Number three?
Speaking of a team I can't quit. I think we
were robbed of a Lions Eagles NFC Championship game last year.
The Detroit Lions come in at number three. This offense
(34:43):
should be electric. I think Ben Johnson is a bigger
ad for the Bears than he was lost for the Lions.
If they just had normal bad luck for health on defense,
we would have seen them in the NFC Championship game
last year. They gave up thirty one points per game
their last six games of the year. Injuries caught up
to them. Number two the Kansas City Chiefs. Their defense
(35:04):
is electric. They've got the best quarterback, they've got the
best coach. They've improved their offensive line, especially if they
can stay healthy. They now have a little death where
Shee Rice Hollywood Brown Xavier Worthy played zero snaps together
last season. If the explosiveness can return to the Chiefs offense,
I expect them back in the Super Bowl. Number one,
the Philadelphia Eagles are the best organization with the best roster.
(35:27):
My guess is Eagles fans will not be nearly as
happy about this ranking as they were upset about the
Jalen Hurts ranking. But winning more than seventeen games and
rushing for more than three thousand yards, it puts you
in company with the eighty five Bears, the seventy two Dolphins,
the ninety eight Broncos, and last year's Eagles team. It's
a tough combination and it's one that's going to win
(35:47):
you a ton of football games. There's your top ten
teams heading in to this football season, which now allows
us to be joined by my friend and now coworker
and colleague at First Things First, Nick, Right, Hey, buddy,
what's up.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
What's it going?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
It's going well.
Speaker 10 (36:05):
I really liked I really liked your top ten teams,
and I think it's really cool that you were able
to just run back the exact ten teams you loved
last year.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Just add the Washington to it. That's all your.
Speaker 10 (36:18):
Teams, and yes, every single one, you're doing the same
thing everyone's doing. You know, who's gonna be good. The
teams that I thought were gonna be good last year.
This is your same list as a year ago at this.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Time of year, plus Washington.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
I did not have the Eagles at one. I did
not have the Eagles winning the division last year. I
was very wrong about Dallas. So the number one team,
you know, I'm gonna honor the Super Bowl. I do
have a lot of respect for the Bengals and the
Niners to bounce back. You could admit it. It's a perfect list.
Speaker 10 (36:51):
Okay, So let's talk about the two teams because I
do find it interesting the two teams that weren't good
last year that you think are gonna be good this year. Okay,
because I have different teams that and your total abandonment
in faith of the Bears is a total topic for
another day. Why will this season be different for the
(37:11):
Bengals than last year? What's one reason?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
New defensive coordinator.
Speaker 10 (37:20):
I don't know that it's an upgrade. I mean, I
guess that's the hope. I just feel I feel like
the Bengals. I don't know how their offense can't be
better than it was, right, and so maybe it stays equal.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
I mean, you are more in the.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Mainstream than I am on the Bengals this year, because
most people seem to think they're a real threat. Last
year was an aberration. They'll get back to being a
contender ish, But I don't see why I would believe that.
I think the defense is maybe going to be worse
than last year, having with Trey Hendrickson not there right now,
(37:57):
I don't know that they had an upgrade at coordinator,
and the offense played basically perfectly last year.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Like so I don't I feel like.
Speaker 10 (38:05):
The Bengals are doing have the exact same plan they
had a year ago, except now the guys are more expensive,
and we're supposed to think that's gonna make them better.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
I don't buy them for real.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Well, listen that if you score that many points historically,
you're just supposed to be much better. I'm not saying
that they're going to win the Super Bowl with a
terrible defense, but if you've got a great offense, you're
supposed to be a better team than last year. I
figure your biggest beef was going to be with the
Niners because of your just unrelenting, unflinching stance and hatred
of Brock Purty Well listen.
Speaker 10 (38:37):
It's not hatred, but I you know, there's certain things.
It's so interesting where And I asked this question this
morning on What's Right the podcast, which is at what
point does someone's public perception ship from being a hater
to being correctly skeptical. The reason I did not buy
(39:02):
into Brock Purdy when he nearly won MVP and got
his team to overtime of the Super Bowl in twenty
twenty three was very.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Simple, and that you know what. I thought.
Speaker 10 (39:13):
It was a such a stack team with such a
brilliant play caller that I had real questions what would
he look like if some of those pieces chipped away?
And then, by the grace of the sports gods, we
got to see exactly what he would look like if
he didn't have all those weapons. And the team finished
(39:36):
what in last place in their division, second to last
in their division, won six seven games, and now everyone's
like just wants to pretend that didn't happen. And you
are more optimistic about the Niners this year than I am.
You're right about that, because I thought they One of
the reasons people and credit you for not being one
of them, it seems are buying into the Broncos so
(39:58):
much is because of two Niners defenders that they took.
The Niners defense lost massive personnel at each and every level.
The wide receiver room right now is super banged up,
and they are desperately relying on Christian McCaffery, who's awesome
but a huge injury risk and the oldest tackle in
the league. And so a lot of folks rationale for
(40:21):
the Niners is they won't be as injured as they
were last year, and my answer is, well, they're not
as deep as they were last year, and I do
think they are one of the more injury risk, you know,
higher injury risk teams. So no, I'm not a Niners
believer for the second consecutive year.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
With Kyle Shanahan Christian McCaffrey when they play together, not
the Kyle Shanahan plays, but when McCaffrey plays for Kyle Shanahan.
You know what I'm saying. They win seventy five percent
of their games. They're twenty three and eight when McCaffrey
is out there eight and twelve, and he's worth about
four points per game. It feels to me like that
coach with that player is a cheat code, which is
(40:59):
why I am to still believe in them. But if
we're going to just react to my lists, I know
you want to, and I know we've done it on FtF,
We've done it on your couch, We've done it the
text and group chat. Explain to me why Justin Herbert
isn't the fifth best quarterback in football because he passes
(41:19):
my beautiful eye test.
Speaker 10 (41:20):
I mean just because when you are as close to
year ten as you are your rookie year, when you're
the same college recruiting class as Nicky Bosa and the
same draft class as Justin Jefferson, you have to be
judged on what you've actually done, not what you theoretically
could be and what you Justin Herbert sick of fans,
(41:44):
and I think he's a good player. What you guys
all refuse to admit is, for most of you, three
or four of the last five years, you have gone
into the season not just talking about how good Herbert is,
but how good the team is, how dangerous the Chargers are,
(42:05):
how stacked it is. And then the year ends they're mediocre.
He's bad in the big spot and everyone's like he
needs more help her and so, and you said it
last year, they had the number one defense in the NFL.
They had the good offensive line with the now the
(42:26):
highest Maade left tackle in football, Joe al To right tackle,
a great coach, and he could not get out of
his own way against the Texans team that was dying.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
To be beaten in his hands.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Nick, you're not kidding, You're not serious, You're not serious.
He was awful. He was awful in that game.
Speaker 10 (42:46):
And here is to me, and I'm not, you know,
known as a jail and herdskuy. But what I do
think is fair is last year the Chargers ass Justin
Herbert to be the quarterback that Jalen Hurts was for
Philadelphia in twenty twenty two when they made their first
(43:07):
Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
We're gonna run the ball, We're.
Speaker 10 (43:10):
Gonna throw it sparingly, we're gonna play great defense, don't
turn it over, and three or four times a game
in the playoffs, make big plays. And Jalen Hurts executed
that exact playbook almost flawlessly, to the tune of playing
neck and neck to Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Justin
(43:31):
Herbert was asked to do that and had one of
the worst games of his life against the Texans and
folks just want to pretend it didn't happen. We've seen
Herbert play in three either playoff or winner take all games,
because the Week eighteen game against the Raiders couple of
years a few years ago, and he has been bad
(43:51):
in all three of them, and he's five.
Speaker 5 (43:54):
Years into his career.
Speaker 10 (43:55):
I know he's talented, I know he throws a beautiful ball,
but at some point it has to be about what
you've actually accomplished. And even though I'm not the biggest
Jalen Hurts guy in the world, having Herbert ahead of
Hurtz and.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
Stafford is mortifying and it.
Speaker 10 (44:13):
Makes you question why do we actually play the games like.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Real quick? If the trade was offered Jalen Hurts for
Justin Herbert.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
The Eagles would say, no, you're out.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Of your minds, You're out, You're out of your mind.
The guy is more talented. He would be able to
hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley just like Jalen
Hurts Cain, and instead of quarterbacks they would just Aj
Brown and Devonte Smith Moore.
Speaker 10 (44:48):
Can I ask you can I let's stay here? Then
do you think if we're going to play in this
make believe world that last year, if Jalen Hurts was
the Chargers quarterback, they would have beaten the Texans, because
I do if you got Texans, no hold on, because
the only because the only reason they lost was the
(45:08):
four interceptions?
Speaker 5 (45:10):
Would they have justin Herbert?
Speaker 3 (45:11):
That was an outlier, terrible game. The guy threw over
five hundred passes in the regular season and had three interceptions.
Speaker 5 (45:17):
Right, But Danny, that doesn't mean something. Danny, if you
if you.
Speaker 10 (45:23):
Went before, you go back to the first time you
were filling in for Colin, if you had never, if
you had never dropped an F bomb in your entire
the entire year of doing live radio, and then and
then in the first hour of doing the Herd you
dropped three.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Would that be bad luck? Or would that be ooh,
the moment got to them?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Your coward level analogies. That's fine, but you follow.
Speaker 10 (45:52):
Like the and so I don't agree with you that
they eat now. I do think that if you didn't
have a team built yet like you were, that's a
different question. Would the Eagles trade Herbert for Hurts is
a different question than I am starting a team from scratch.
What player do I think is more malleable.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
It is okay, But if we're doing a top ten list,
if every player was available to be drafted, yeah, thirty
two general managers.
Speaker 10 (46:24):
Justine wouldn't take Herbert fifth, but you certainly wouldn't take
him fifth.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
You would take it before Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 10 (46:30):
Maybe maybe, but that's then hes okay, So he at
some point again, the accomplishment much must matter, that's first
of all, and second of all, you can't by that metric. Danny, though,
who would you take ahead? I don't know if anybody
would take him. If we're talking about for long term,
would take him ahead of Jayden Daniels. And if we're
(46:52):
talking about for short Duram would take him ahead of
Matt Stafford. So like, you just love him, You'll never
quit him, You've always loved him, and just the audience
needs to know, like for some reason, you're a justin
Herbert guy.
Speaker 5 (47:04):
It's a weird guy. It's a weird thing, but it's fine.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
All right, speaking of a guy who is one of
your guys, but I feel like he should be everybody's guy.
Professional athlete works out in off season. I didn't know
was worthy of a cover story, Like why are people
rushing to bet Luka Doncic for MVP, like you, I've
seen the guy carry a team to the NBA Finals
and average thirty three to nine to ten. He all read,
(47:31):
didn't I didn't know that public opinion on him had
slid so much that we were that we were doubting
Luka Doncic, that I needed to see him intermittent fast.
I guess I missed that.
Speaker 10 (47:42):
Oh, you're watching too many old justin Herbert at Orgon,
because that's where the whole media has been.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
That's insane.
Speaker 10 (47:50):
Luka Doncic in the span of ten months, went from
in like the probably the first person named in the
after joke or who's the best player in the league
discussion to basically a past his prime, fat alcoholic in
the public eye.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
And it's really unbelievable.
Speaker 10 (48:10):
Twelve months ago today, not a person in the world
thought Shay or Anthony Edwards was better than him, And
then prior to this cover story, it seemed like everyone
had just decided Shay and Anthony Edwards were better than him.
I listen, Luke. The amount of Luca had a down year.
(48:31):
It coincided with the first major injury of his career.
A truly I think traumatic event in being traded that
shocked him and threw him off, and he was and he.
Speaker 5 (48:43):
Was out of shape, but it came on.
Speaker 10 (48:45):
The heels of the best season regular and post of
his life. Where as you mentioned, he won the scoring
title average thirty four to nine and ten single handedly
led a team you shouldn't a single handed lea Kyrie
was good, you know, led a team to the NBA Finals,
and made his fifth All NBA First Team, which, for
(49:07):
the record, is more than Steph or Chris Paul have
in their career and is only one less than Kevin
freaking Durant, who's been unbelievable for almost twenty years.
Speaker 5 (49:21):
That's how good Luca is.
Speaker 10 (49:23):
So but I do think it's noteworthy that he took
it to heart that last year he was a little
out of shape.
Speaker 5 (49:29):
It didn't go the way he wanted.
Speaker 10 (49:30):
And for the most notable part of that story, other
than the fake news about his forty two inch vertical,
was that the gym he has worked in every summer
since he was a teenager did not have weights in
it until this year. He just went there involved and
then so now he brought it weights. So I think
that is good and now listen is the bit of
(49:51):
osmosis of spending a few months around Lebron and realizing
he's get in shape. Probably, but I'll give Luca credit
for it.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Anyway, We've come along way from Syracuse Providence postgame shows
on waar, my friend. I cannot believe that coming.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Up, but I think your takes were better than I
gotta tell you. I think we need to go back
and get some of those tapes.
Speaker 10 (50:13):
Unless there was some lacrosse player who had never done
anything in his five year college career and you're like,
he's better than Gary Gates. I don't know, but yeah,
I can't wait. It's gonna be really cool to be
working with you every day for the first time since,
you know, in twenty years.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 10 (50:31):
I'm gonna love it, and it's going to be even
more exciting when Herbert goes eight to nine and you're like,
but actually he.
Speaker 5 (50:36):
Throws such a tight spiral.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
It is a very tight spiral. Nick Right will be
watching on First things first, thank you, my friend.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio 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 3 (00:27):
Welcome in, It's the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
the great Colin cow Herd. Hey let me come back,
presented burn the place down completely yesterday. The schedule is
that I'll be in tomorrow as well. We'll see how
the next three hours goes. Appreciate you watching, Appreciate you listening.
We've got a great show for you. Ayj Perzinski gonna
(00:48):
join us in about twenty five minutes. Jeff Schwartz, Ben Owen,
and my guy Nick Wrights Nickel. Maybe a bit it's
being wrong in a sports cover for the first time ever.
Coming up in just over an hour. They'll probably not.
I'll defend my ranking of Justin Herbert in just a
few minutes. But I'd like to begin by talking about
(01:12):
the biggest boomer Bus team in the NFL this year,
and that is the Pittsburgh Steelers, because man, I get
why they made the move, but I right off the top,
I'm going to make a confession if I give the
Steelers the vote of confidence, and I am. I like
(01:33):
what they've done this offseason. It's actually made sense to me.
I have to also admit to you, for the last
four years consecutively, I have predicted that the Steelers would
have their first losing season under Mike Tomlin, and I've
been wrong time and time and time and time again.
(01:54):
So now I'm like, I think this is a playoff team.
I think this team could win a playoff game. I
think Aaron Rodgers is a little cuckoo, but he's objectively
better than Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett and Duck Hodges
and Mitch Trubisky. Like I agree with the conventional wisdom.
(02:16):
If Mike Tomlin can get you a winning record with
those quarterbacks, he should be able to do better with
Aaron Rodgers. But I think that's just the tip of
the iceberg here. I thought that when he signed that
contract and it was a weird number and he signed
for thirteen million bucks. I was like, there's more coming.
(02:38):
They're not done. And then they made the huge trade
with Ramsey and John hus Smith and they upgraded their squad.
And I think the John hu Smith, while not the
sex of your name, that is the move that really
does create some versatility for their offense. DK Metcalf true
(02:59):
number one. Play your twelve personnel with your two tight ends.
With Friarmuth and John Husmith on the field, they can
block for Aaron because I don't know if you've heard,
he's on the wrong side of forty jalen Orn. I
actually think is an upgrade in the backfield from naj Harris.
I think that there is a real opportunity here for
this offense to be good. They won't be top five
(03:22):
in the NFL, but a good offense. And then when
you combine that with we know all the talent they
have on defense and the excellent regular season coaching that
they get, I think it made a lot of sense.
But we all would agree also that it's boom or bust.
And it feels like, based on what Aaron Rodgers has said,
this is a one shot deal, one year contract. He's
(03:44):
a mercenary. He got married. He says, what I'm done
with football, you'll never see or hear from me again.
I have my doubts. The guy said he loves privacy
and then invited a documentary crew with him into the wilderness.
So I got my doubts. But we'll see. And as
for now, it seems like a one year hired gun situation.
(04:05):
The Steelers general manager Omar Kahn, who's on with Rich Eisen,
he was asked about it. He said, it might be
a little more than that. Obviously, you know, we have
to see how the season goes.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
But I absolutely you know, he's a young forty one,
and you know we're obviously taking it year by year,
and that's where we're at.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So I assume this is a one year deal. And
my question though, is, let's say I'm wrong again about
the Steelers and they're not as good as they clearly
think they can be. Because you only do this if
you think you can end you're going on nine year
playoff drought without a playoff win. That's the only reason
(04:47):
you sign up for the circus. That is Aaron Rodgers,
for the appearances, for the offseason, for the three month
holding pattern, for all of it, right, because you believe
your team is ready to win multiple playoff games in January,
and this is the missing piece. It's the only reason
you sign up for the circus if they're wrong, and
(05:09):
then I guess if I'm wrong, And this is the
first losing season under Mike Tomlin, and it is like
the Jets season last year and they win six seven
games are non competitive against good teams. Aaron Rodgers is
not even a top fifteen or twenty quarterback in the NFL.
(05:30):
Is there any scenario where the heat shifts to Mike Tomlin?
And I'm not saying they're going to fire him, because
clearly the Steelers don't fire anyone. It's maybe the single
most unbelievable fact in all of football that in the
history of the Pittsburgh Steelers they've had three head coaches.
It's remarkable. But if I just told you that a
(05:56):
head coach, it had been eight seasons since they had
won a playoff game, and in that time they were
zero to five in the postseason. And in that time
he had had five offensive coordinators and eight different starting quarterbacks,
(06:16):
and as the defensive coach in those playoff games, he's
given up forty plus to Blake Bortles and Baker Mayfield
and getting boat raced by Patrick Mahomes and it's like,
oh my god, some of these are great quarterbacks, some
of these are not. Some of these you were favored,
some of these you weren't. You're a thirteen win team,
(06:38):
you bounced immediately in the postseason. Any other coach and
any other organization would be on the hot seat. And
again they won't fire him. But if it doesn't work
with Rogers and Tomlin becomes more of the reputation of
high floor, low ceiling, he can only win big if
he has a Hall of Fame quarterback in his prime.
(07:03):
They're always going to be too good to draft one
because he will have you at eight or nine wins
as a floor. So what is his path to getting
Drew Aller or Arch Manning or a top five Piket quarterback?
And they'll just be in this middle purgatory space in
(07:24):
the NFL with nowhere to go from here. So I
think this is going to work, and they'll win ten
to eleven games, maybe win a playoff game, Like that's
my definition of working. They're not a super Bowl team.
I don't think that they have that high of a ceiling.
But I think they're a double digit win team that
can win one playoff game and end that drought. But
then the question is, and then what, Because the whole
(07:48):
thing is the standard is the standard? Excellence is the standard?
Ten wins in a Wild's card win is not excellence.
And then they're still in the exact same situation they
found themselves in coming out of last year with no
long term answer at quarterbacks. So while I expect success,
the much more interesting questions is what happens if there's failure.
(08:10):
The pushback I got yesterday from my top ten quarterback
list was mostly from Eagles fans who are upset, and
I respect it and love it, and it's a passionate
fan base, but it was also centered around my guy,
Justin Herbert. And I will fully admit to you that
(08:31):
I sit down on my couch on Sundays and I
just watch eleven straight hours of football, and then I
watch Monday night and Thursday night, and I watch all
these games, and then I rewatched them and all that,
and I come from it from more of the analytical
and number side, but then I just actually love watching
the games. I don't fancy myself a scout anything like that.
(08:52):
But I will say Justin Herbert passes the eye test
as much as any quarterback I've ever seen. I am
just so utterly convinced that this dude is a superstar,
and that he has been the victim of Anthony Lynn
and Brandon Staley and bad special teams misses and incompetence
(09:15):
and terrible injury luck around him, and two bad playoff games,
one terrible comeback allowed by the Jaguars, and then last
year the four interceptions against the Texans. Can't sugarcoat it, though.
Two of those interceptions were off his receiver's hands and
there was a bit of a snowball effect there. But
I watched this guy and I am just convinced that
(09:38):
he's one of the best players in football. And if
he was just in a better situation, everybody would know
that and it would become conventional wisdom. And now they
hire a true winner in Jim Harbaugh. Last year, Justin
Herbert has over five hundred pass attempts, which was down
because hardball likes to run the ball, but he had
(10:00):
over five hundred pass attempts and three interceptions. He had
more interceptions in that one playoff loss than he had
all season. It was a true outlier, worst case scenario performance.
And so I'm trusting my eyes on this one and
a belief in Harbaugh. They were the number one scoring
(10:22):
defense last year. They draft Hampton, they're going to upgrade
the rushing attack. I love the pick of Trey Harris,
the deep threat, speedster form on the outside. Maconkey's a
stud arguably the best tackle duo in the NFL outside
of Philadelphia. Detroit might have something to say about it,
but it's a top three tackle duo in the NFL
at a minimum. This is the year, and this is
(10:45):
the year for what you say. This is the year
for Justin Herbert to stay on the Peyton Manning track.
Peyton Manning was in a bit of the wilderness early
in his career, different coaches, a bunch of interceptions, no
playoff success, and if you study it, and I know
(11:08):
some people will say different era of the NFL in
terms of volume of passing, and that is true. But again,
a guy in Peyton who clearly passed the eye test
but didn't have the team's success early on in his career.
If you look at years one through five of Peyton
and years one through five of Justin Herbert. It is
(11:33):
shocking how identical it is. Herbert forty one and thirty
eight win loss record, Peyton forty two and thirty eight,
both of them winless in the playoffs. Herbert owen two
through five years, Manning oho to three. Their team scored
twenty four points per game. They threw basically the same
(11:53):
number of touchdown passes one thirty seven to one thirty
eight through five years in their career. And again, I
understand more passing in today's football than then, but the
playoff numbers were also remarkably similar in terms of the
types of struggles, more interceptions than touchdowns, lower pass or rating,
(12:15):
lower completion percentage in the playoffs versus the regular season.
But in year five Peyton got Doungeee. In year five
Herbert got Harbaugh and things started to change. And in
year six for Peyton, he's co MVP of the league,
He's in the AFC Championship game, he's you know, forty
(12:36):
two hundred yards, They're scoring twenty eight points per game.
It was the arrival of the Peyton Manning that became
one of the greatest to ever throw a football. And
I will be holding Justin Herbert to that standard. This
is the last stand because I fully acknowledge at some
(12:58):
point the results need to be there in terms of
team's success. But I am as convinced today as I
was after his rookie year when he set the NFL
record for touchdown passes as a rookie with thirty one.
This is a Hall of Fame level talents. And I thought,
what Jim Harbaugh said over the weekend is how I
(13:22):
felt about the entire Chargers organization ever since they lucked
into Miami drafting Tua over him. The rest of you
got to catch up to that guy.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
This is from the heart, This is the truth, justin.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Herbert's biggest weakness is all of those that he's counting
on on offense, coaches, offensive line playmakers, receivers, running backs.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
To get up to his level.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
You know. That's that's that's I wake up every day
to try to get to his level. So if you
put us as the as the number one duel, I
mean it's.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Ninety just ten amen, Amen. Peyton. Manning was the system.
He went to four super Bowls with four different head coaches.
That was what it was. He got to a place
where he had such dominance and such control of the
game that wherever he went, he was the system. I
(14:21):
think Justin Herbert can do that and is on his
way to doing that. And if the rest of the Chargers,
which I expect them to under Harbaugh, catch up to
him just a bit, don't put the shackles on him.
Let him throw, work off your run game, work off
your defense, and let that guy be one of the
best throwers of the football that I've ever seen. I
(14:42):
think he's absolutely in the running for the MVP, and
I think they're absolutely in the running to win playoff
games this year, even being in the division with the
Kansas City Chiefs. I expect Justin Herbert to stay on
the Peyton Manning track by the end of this football season.
AJ Persinskke you going to join us coming up in
about ten minutes. Luka, Doncic is looking good. There is
(15:05):
no doubt about it. We saw the pictures yesterday on
the show. But my god, some of you are overreacting
and golageous. Oh little nuts, that's next. I'm a hurts.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (15:26):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 7 (15:32):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blobber list lame and me.
Speaker 7 (15:49):
Well, you know what, it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna life
and relationships, and if Rich and I are arguing about
something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue
on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
There you go, over promising and remember you could see
on YouTube, but definitely join us listen over Promised with
Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Welcome back to the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
Colin rank my top ten NFL teams heading into the
season coming up in just over twenty minutes. Then Nick
Wright will join the show from First Things First. Very
much looking forward to doing that and looking forward to
joining First Things First as they expand to three hours
coming up this football season. But yesterday I think I
(16:58):
showed the power of the Lakers and the power of
late July that a magazine cover could come out that
is straight pr and everyone would go insane, Like Luka
Doncic was on the cover of Men's Health, and Luka
(17:19):
Doncic looks shredded. He looks like skinny Luca and you
put those pictures up. And we've seen him a little
bit this offseason. We saw him with the Yankees, We've
seen him out and about a little bit. He's like, Oh,
Luka Doncic figured out what a barbell was, he learned
about intermittent fasting. He apparently is drinking less and smoking
(17:45):
less hookah and you know, being a professional athlete, and
all of a sudden, it's, oh my god, professional athlete
works out in the off season. And I guess I
didn't fully realize that in a year where Luca was
traded and arguably the craziest trade in NBA history, when
(18:07):
he had a significant calf strain that is often a
precursor if you do not fully heal it to blowing
out your achilles see Tyrese Halliburton. And he took his
time coming back from that, and it had an impact
on his conditioning, appearance, all of those things. I feel
like people forgot who Luka Doncic was. Like, Luca is awesome,
(18:33):
and I love Chris Broussard and I can't wait to
chop it up with him more on the regular on
first things First, But when we had him on Heard yesterday,
you would have thought that Luka Doncic was reborn based
on these pictures.
Speaker 8 (18:47):
When I saw this article, saw how Luca looked, read
it about you know, how he's changed and this summer's
different for him. I gave a big shout out to
Lebron James, like this, this is a testament to Lebron
James's example and the impact it had on Luka doncis.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
I think he played with.
Speaker 8 (19:09):
Lebron and saw wow, as much physical ability as Lebron has,
as much natural ability, as much size and strength and
athleticism as Lebron has naturally, he goes above and beyond
to become the player he is.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Even though Luca didn't say that in the article. And
maybe this is a little media insight, but getting a
magazine cover it's not that difficult for a list superstar
athletes and celebrities like this was a puff piece. This
was the superstar athlete equivalent of, like you ever break
(19:54):
up with someone and then hit the weights because you
want to have that revenge. Look be you know New
Year knew me. Luca got dissed by the Mavericks. They
leaked a bunch of stuff to the media about his professionalism,
and he's putting this out there to show him what
they missed. This is the superstar athlete equivalent of getting
(20:15):
dumped working out and then posting a shirtless pick with
pecks and biceps on Instagram, something I would know nothing about,
not because I've never been dumped, but because I have
no biceps or pecks. But the poise this the point
is people forget that Luka Doncic. I mean people act
like the guy doesn't play basketball. Before last year seventy
(20:36):
games played, sixty six games played, sixty five games played,
sixty six games, sixty one seventy two plus his international schedule,
Luka Doncic plays basketball a lot. Really, Oh, now that
Luka Doncic is intermittent fasting and doing bicep curls, I'm
gonna bet him for MVP. Luca was already a really
(20:59):
safe favorite type of bet for MVP. We have saw
him two seasons ago carry the Dallas Mavericks to the
NBA Finals. We have seen him average thirty four nine
to ten in a season two years ago. Like list
(21:21):
of best players in the NBA, whatever your order is, Jokic, SGA,
Jannis Tatum, Luca, I know Lebron was six and MVP voting.
I know Donovan Mitchell was first team All NBA, but
Luca didn't play enough games to qualify. He was traded
(21:42):
in the middle of the season. He had the cap injury.
It was weird year, but I think most people would
agree that Luka Doncic is in the conversation for being
a top five player in the world, So good for
the professional athlete working out in the offseason. Maybe he'll
start a little faster, but he's not gonna get better
(22:05):
at defense. And I don't think it's possible for him
to get much better at basketball than averaging thirty three
nine to ten. So I'm just a little confused as
to what we're talking about here. I it's pr it's spin,
(22:25):
it's image control, it's damage control. It it doesn't have
to be anything more than that. And I am just
I expect even if Luka Doncic, I would have seen
him at the Hookah Bar, if that would have been
the thing, if he would have been on the cover
of instead of Men's Health, he would have been on
(22:45):
the cover of Hookah magazine. I would be like, man,
Luca could win MVP next year because he's Luka Dodgic,
that the talent is enough where he can win MVP.
But Men's Health is apparently supposed I didn't know. I
didn't know being on the cover of Men's Health was
supposed to change the way that we all felt about
(23:07):
one of the five greatest offensive players in the sport
and arguably one of the five greatest all around players
in the sport because he's doing bicep curls and shoving
all of his meals into eight hours a day. But
I'm learning things as we go throughout this life. I
wanted to change gears here a little bit and talk
(23:29):
about an honor the life of Ryan Sandberg, the Hall
of Famer from the Chicago Cubs, who passed away yesterday
at sixty five years old. And I knew Rhino a bit,
and I'll tell you my connection to him in a second.
(23:51):
But he was a larger than life figure in Chicago.
He was the reason why many men, many people in
Chicago and frankly around the world, became Cubs fans. When
he won his MVP award in nineteen eighty four, the
Cubs had not been to the playoffs in thirty nine years,
(24:14):
and so he wins that MVP there on WGN the superstation,
and people are watching Wrigley Fields come to life, and
this incredibly professional ballplayer. It's a cliche, play the game
the right way. He was just a model of consistency,
(24:36):
and he was He was a humble superstar. And people say,
never meet your heroes I was a little young for
Ryan Sandberg to be a sports hero of mine. But
my older brother was significant, was sixteen years older than me,
(24:57):
and he actually he married someone whose father was very
close to Ryan Sandberg. And so when I was the
best man in my brother's wedding at fifteen years old,
Ryan Sandberg was at the wedding, and so I gave
a best man speech at the wedding, and I didn't
(25:18):
talk to Ryan Sandberg about it at the wedding. But
many years later, when I'm doing media in Chicago, and
Rhino would come on the show and he was a
Cub's ambassador, and he would do things. He would say,
you know, Margaret really liked your toast. Margaret was his wife,
and I'd be like, well, what about you, Rhino. He
was like, Margaret really liked your toast. Like he just
(25:40):
had this subtle ability. People who knew him better said
he was a prankster. He didn't really give off the
hilarious image too much publicly, but if you knew him
a little bit, he would. But the thing about him
was he just loved being a Cub and he loved
Cubs fans, and so people would come up to him
(26:02):
all the time and pay him a compliment, and he
would always give them the time of the day, ask
them their name, ask them about him. And I went
back and yeah, So this picture that we're showing now
on FS one. It was crazy because about this time
last year, Ryan Sandberg came on the radio because I
(26:23):
do this cancer event in partnership with the Cubs called
Cubs for a Cure, where I broadcast for twenty four
hours straight. It's coming up in two days on Thursday
on the Score in Chicago, and Ryan Sandberg came in
because we knew he had been battling cancer, and he
very emotionally announced that just that morning he had had
a scan that was clear and his doctor said he
was cancer free, and he cried and it made national
(26:45):
news and we raised over a million dollars that weekend
with all of it going to cancer research. And we
took that picture. That's the president of Business for the Cubs,
Crane Kenny, with us on the field and it was
just this like beautiful celebration. And then eleven months later
he passes away from cancer, and it was just it
was gut wrenching because people when they talk about him,
(27:08):
if you didn't know him. You talk about the Sandberg game,
Bob Costa says it was the best baseball game he
ever called, and it was unbelievable. You know, he hits
two home runs and the ninth and tenth off Bruce Souiter,
and you know, the Cubs win twelve eleven and extras.
And people talk about ten time All Star, nine time
Gold Gloves, silver Slugger, MVP, whatever it is when they
(27:30):
say never meet your heroes, and then he actually is
to so many a sports hero and he's everything you
want and more. It's just rare. So I wanted to
play a quick bite from his Hall of Fame speech
because I really think it encompassed how he approached the game,
but really how he approached life. Here's Rhino I.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
Was taught you never ever disrespect your opponent, or your teammates,
or your organization or your manager, and never ever your uniform.
Make a great play, act like you've done it before.
Get a big hit, look for the third base coach,
and get ready to run the bases. Hit a home run,
(28:15):
put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases.
Because the name on the front is more a lot
more important than the name on the back, that's respect.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
I had an opportunity to talk to Ryan Sandberg on
the radio when it had been announced that he was
getting a statue at Wrigley Field, and what was the
position going to be? Was it going to be hitting
home run from the Sandberg game? Was it going to
be him turning a double play that he was famous for?
And he said he thought it was going to be
more about defense, and it ended up just being him
in the ready position because he just wanted to be
(28:52):
ready to be a pro, and that encompassed who he
was lost over. He cut through, He mattered to a
lot of people. Barack Obama posted a tribute Hall of
Famer and Cubs stalwart Ryan Sandberg wasn't just a great
baseball player. He was a class act who never cheated
the game. Everyone in Chicago, including White Sox fans, will
(29:14):
miss him deeply, and it's so true. He was a
humble superstar. He wanted to meet you, he wanted to
talk to you, and he deserved so much more than
sixty five years of life. Rip Rhino.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Our number two of the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins from
FS one and soon to be First Things First coming
at you from LA. I'll be in for Colin tomorrow
from Chicago. We have Nick right at First Things First
joining us for his normal appearance coming up in just
a couple of minutes, which is truly surreal, I would
(30:00):
say for both of us, given that the first time
we ever hosted together was doing a Syracuse Providence basketball
postgame show on waer In College Radio. So we'll have
some fun coming up in about five minutes, where I
assume Nick will just agree with every brilliant thing that
I say and we'll keep it moving or not. But
(30:20):
before we get to Nick, we will begin with my
top ten teams heading in to the upcoming football season,
because if not now, when and we'll see if Philiberts
made to feel a little better. Number ten, it's the
Chargers of Los Angeles. You know what I think of
(30:41):
Justin Herbert, You know what everyone thinks of Jim Harbaugh.
Did you know they were the number one scoring defense
in the NFL last year? If they just get a
little bit more explosive on offense, and I think Hampton
and Harris their two draft picks will help, and year
two under Harball will help. They take the leap offensively.
(31:02):
They get a little bit of health luck, which every
team needs. The Chargers. I expect him back in the
playoffs and maybe he'd be rising up this list over
the course of the season. Number nine the Washington Commanders.
I think better team, worse record, nine to one score
victories last season. Jayden Daniels is a superstar. I liked
the Tunsil addition. We'll see about Debo and how he fits.
(31:26):
I don't know if you can win that many close
games again, but I think they got the right coach,
the right quarterback. Obviously, a tough division with Philly and
Dallas will be better. I think they're a better roster
and a worse team. Number eight the San Francisco forty
nine Ers. It's time to bounce back. Brock Perdy, to me,
(31:48):
should not be quite as polarizing as people make him
out to be. But he actually impressed me when he
lost some of the stuff around it. He's not a superstar,
he's not a top ten quarterback, but in Kyle Shanahan's offense,
he's got good post that processing. You can get the
ball out quick, and I think that's enough, assuming the
rest of their stars stay healthy. Kittle, Trent Williams, and
(32:09):
namely Christian McCaffrey, who's the key to everything, and frankly
a cheap code in Kyle Shanahan's offense. Number seven, Just
be competent on defense, Cincinnati Bengals, your offense is super
Bowl caliber. You went three and four in games where
you scored thirty or more points last year. Figure it
out with Hendrickson. Have Shamar Stewart hit you upgraded at
(32:32):
defensive coordinator because you just had to. In the Super
Bowl era for teams that lost five or more games,
the Cincinnati Bengals most points per game and losses. Any
team they scored twenty eight points per game in their
losses last year. Just be the twentieth best defense in
the NFL and you'll be fine. Number six. I can't
(32:53):
quit this Rams team. I think them in the Niners
is going to be a great battle all year long.
Offensive line health concerns me. Stafford's a stud, Mcvey's a stud.
The Devonte Adams ad is great, and Fisk and verse.
They didn't have a first round pick this year, but
their draft hit tremendously last year. If you've they're the
linebacker or the tight end they hit in the second
(33:15):
and third round. If they can just add one more piece,
they were the team that gave Philly the best challenge
really the last four and a half months of football.
I think they're right there as a contender. Number five.
Maybe this is too low, but it's the Baltimore Ravens.
It was a historic offense last year when you combine
running and passing, but their inability to get it done
(33:38):
consistently in January, once you get up to this level
concerns me from the quarterback on down. But this team
has a legitimate argument for being the best roster in
the NFL. Hopefully for Ravens fans, this is the year
they break through number four. But I still have the
Bills in front of them, both because of their playoff
(33:59):
his I happen to think Josh Allen is better than
Lamar Jackson, and they just have been bludgeting people. It's
the team with the best point differential in the NFL
over a sample of five years, and it's not close.
You'd say, oh, I would assume that would be the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are third The Ravens are second. They've outscored
(34:19):
opponents by five hundred and fifty five points in the
last five years. The Bills have outscored their opponents by
nearly eight hundred points the last five years. Their regular
season juggernaut. Can they break through in January? Number three?
Speaking of a team I can't quit. I think we
were robbed of a Lions Eagles NFC Championship game last year.
The Detroit Lions come in at number three. This offense
(34:43):
should be electric. I think Ben Johnson is a bigger
ad for the Bears than he was lost for the Lions.
If they just had normal bad luck for health on defense,
we would have seen them in the NFC Championship game
last year. They gave up thirty one points per game
their last six games of the year. Injuries caught up
to them. Number two the Kansas City Chiefs. Their defense
(35:04):
is electric. They've got the best quarterback, they've got the
best coach. They've improved their offensive line, especially if they
can stay healthy. They now have a little death where
Shee Rice Hollywood Brown Xavier Worthy played zero snaps together
last season. If the explosiveness can return to the Chiefs offense,
I expect them back in the Super Bowl. Number one,
the Philadelphia Eagles are the best organization with the best roster.
(35:27):
My guess is Eagles fans will not be nearly as
happy about this ranking as they were upset about the
Jalen Hurts ranking. But winning more than seventeen games and
rushing for more than three thousand yards, it puts you
in company with the eighty five Bears, the seventy two Dolphins,
the ninety eight Broncos, and last year's Eagles team. It's
a tough combination and it's one that's going to win
(35:47):
you a ton of football games. There's your top ten
teams heading in to this football season, which now allows
us to be joined by my friend and now coworker
and colleague at First Things First, Nick, Right, Hey, buddy,
what's up.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
What's it going?
Speaker 3 (36:05):
It's going well.
Speaker 10 (36:05):
I really liked I really liked your top ten teams,
and I think it's really cool that you were able
to just run back the exact ten teams you loved
last year.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Just add the Washington to it. That's all your.
Speaker 10 (36:18):
Teams, and yes, every single one, you're doing the same
thing everyone's doing. You know, who's gonna be good. The
teams that I thought were gonna be good last year.
This is your same list as a year ago at this.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Time of year, plus Washington.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
I did not have the Eagles at one. I did
not have the Eagles winning the division last year. I
was very wrong about Dallas. So the number one team,
you know, I'm gonna honor the Super Bowl. I do
have a lot of respect for the Bengals and the
Niners to bounce back. You could admit it. It's a perfect list.
Speaker 10 (36:51):
Okay, So let's talk about the two teams because I
do find it interesting the two teams that weren't good
last year that you think are gonna be good this year. Okay,
because I have different teams that and your total abandonment
in faith of the Bears is a total topic for
another day. Why will this season be different for the
(37:11):
Bengals than last year? What's one reason?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
New defensive coordinator.
Speaker 10 (37:20):
I don't know that it's an upgrade. I mean, I
guess that's the hope. I just feel I feel like
the Bengals. I don't know how their offense can't be
better than it was, right, and so maybe it stays equal.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
I mean, you are more in the.
Speaker 10 (37:35):
Mainstream than I am on the Bengals this year, because
most people seem to think they're a real threat. Last
year was an aberration. They'll get back to being a
contender ish, But I don't see why I would believe that.
I think the defense is maybe going to be worse
than last year, having with Trey Hendrickson not there right now,
(37:57):
I don't know that they had an upgrade at coordinator,
and the offense played basically perfectly last year.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Like so I don't I feel like.
Speaker 10 (38:05):
The Bengals are doing have the exact same plan they
had a year ago, except now the guys are more expensive,
and we're supposed to think that's gonna make them better.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
I don't buy them for real.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Well, listen that if you score that many points historically,
you're just supposed to be much better. I'm not saying
that they're going to win the Super Bowl with a
terrible defense, but if you've got a great offense, you're
supposed to be a better team than last year. I
figure your biggest beef was going to be with the
Niners because of your just unrelenting, unflinching stance and hatred
of Brock Purty Well listen.
Speaker 10 (38:37):
It's not hatred, but I you know, there's certain things.
It's so interesting where And I asked this question this
morning on What's Right the podcast, which is at what
point does someone's public perception ship from being a hater
to being correctly skeptical. The reason I did not buy
(39:02):
into Brock Purdy when he nearly won MVP and got
his team to overtime of the Super Bowl in twenty
twenty three was very.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Simple, and that you know what. I thought.
Speaker 10 (39:13):
It was a such a stack team with such a
brilliant play caller that I had real questions what would
he look like if some of those pieces chipped away?
And then, by the grace of the sports gods, we
got to see exactly what he would look like if
he didn't have all those weapons. And the team finished
(39:36):
what in last place in their division, second to last
in their division, won six seven games, and now everyone's
like just wants to pretend that didn't happen. And you
are more optimistic about the Niners this year than I am.
You're right about that, because I thought they One of
the reasons people and credit you for not being one
of them, it seems are buying into the Broncos so
(39:58):
much is because of two Niners defenders that they took.
The Niners defense lost massive personnel at each and every level.
The wide receiver room right now is super banged up,
and they are desperately relying on Christian McCaffery, who's awesome
but a huge injury risk and the oldest tackle in
the league. And so a lot of folks rationale for
(40:21):
the Niners is they won't be as injured as they
were last year, and my answer is, well, they're not
as deep as they were last year, and I do
think they are one of the more injury risk, you know,
higher injury risk teams. So no, I'm not a Niners
believer for the second consecutive year.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
With Kyle Shanahan Christian McCaffrey when they play together, not
the Kyle Shanahan plays, but when McCaffrey plays for Kyle Shanahan.
You know what I'm saying. They win seventy five percent
of their games. They're twenty three and eight when McCaffrey
is out there eight and twelve, and he's worth about
four points per game. It feels to me like that
coach with that player is a cheat code, which is
(40:59):
why I am to still believe in them. But if
we're going to just react to my lists, I know
you want to, and I know we've done it on FtF,
We've done it on your couch, We've done it the
text and group chat. Explain to me why Justin Herbert
isn't the fifth best quarterback in football because he passes
(41:19):
my beautiful eye test.
Speaker 10 (41:20):
I mean just because when you are as close to
year ten as you are your rookie year, when you're
the same college recruiting class as Nicky Bosa and the
same draft class as Justin Jefferson, you have to be
judged on what you've actually done, not what you theoretically
could be and what you Justin Herbert sick of fans,
(41:44):
and I think he's a good player. What you guys
all refuse to admit is, for most of you, three
or four of the last five years, you have gone
into the season not just talking about how good Herbert is,
but how good the team is, how dangerous the Chargers are,
(42:05):
how stacked it is. And then the year ends they're mediocre.
He's bad in the big spot and everyone's like he
needs more help her and so, and you said it
last year, they had the number one defense in the NFL.
They had the good offensive line with the now the
(42:26):
highest Maade left tackle in football, Joe al To right tackle,
a great coach, and he could not get out of
his own way against the Texans team that was dying.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
To be beaten in his hands.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
Nick, you're not kidding, You're not serious, You're not serious.
He was awful. He was awful in that game.
Speaker 10 (42:46):
And here is to me, and I'm not, you know,
known as a jail and herdskuy. But what I do
think is fair is last year the Chargers ass Justin
Herbert to be the quarterback that Jalen Hurts was for
Philadelphia in twenty twenty two when they made their first
(43:07):
Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
We're gonna run the ball, We're.
Speaker 10 (43:10):
Gonna throw it sparingly, we're gonna play great defense, don't
turn it over, and three or four times a game
in the playoffs, make big plays. And Jalen Hurts executed
that exact playbook almost flawlessly, to the tune of playing
neck and neck to Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Justin
(43:31):
Herbert was asked to do that and had one of
the worst games of his life against the Texans and
folks just want to pretend it didn't happen. We've seen
Herbert play in three either playoff or winner take all games,
because the Week eighteen game against the Raiders couple of
years a few years ago, and he has been bad
(43:51):
in all three of them, and he's five.
Speaker 5 (43:54):
Years into his career.
Speaker 10 (43:55):
I know he's talented, I know he throws a beautiful ball,
but at some point it has to be about what
you've actually accomplished. And even though I'm not the biggest
Jalen Hurts guy in the world, having Herbert ahead of
Hurtz and.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
Stafford is mortifying and it.
Speaker 10 (44:13):
Makes you question why do we actually play the games like.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Real quick? If the trade was offered Jalen Hurts for
Justin Herbert.
Speaker 5 (44:27):
The Eagles would say, no, you're out.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Of your minds, You're out, You're out of your mind.
The guy is more talented. He would be able to
hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley just like Jalen
Hurts Cain, and instead of quarterbacks they would just Aj
Brown and Devonte Smith Moore.
Speaker 10 (44:48):
Can I ask you can I let's stay here? Then
do you think if we're going to play in this
make believe world that last year, if Jalen Hurts was
the Chargers quarterback, they would have beaten the Texans, because
I do if you got Texans, no hold on, because
the only because the only reason they lost was the
(45:08):
four interceptions?
Speaker 5 (45:10):
Would they have justin Herbert?
Speaker 3 (45:11):
That was an outlier, terrible game. The guy threw over
five hundred passes in the regular season and had three interceptions.
Speaker 5 (45:17):
Right, But Danny, that doesn't mean something. Danny, if you
if you.
Speaker 10 (45:23):
Went before, you go back to the first time you
were filling in for Colin, if you had never, if
you had never dropped an F bomb in your entire
the entire year of doing live radio, and then and
then in the first hour of doing the Herd you
dropped three.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Would that be bad luck? Or would that be ooh,
the moment got to them?
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Your coward level analogies. That's fine, but you follow.
Speaker 10 (45:52):
Like the and so I don't agree with you that
they eat now. I do think that if you didn't
have a team built yet like you were, that's a
different question. Would the Eagles trade Herbert for Hurts is
a different question than I am starting a team from scratch.
What player do I think is more malleable.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
It is okay, But if we're doing a top ten list,
if every player was available to be drafted, yeah, thirty
two general managers.
Speaker 10 (46:24):
Justine wouldn't take Herbert fifth, but you certainly wouldn't take
him fifth.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
You would take it before Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 10 (46:30):
Maybe maybe, but that's then hes okay, So he at
some point again, the accomplishment much must matter, that's first
of all, and second of all, you can't by that metric. Danny, though,
who would you take ahead? I don't know if anybody
would take him. If we're talking about for long term,
would take him ahead of Jayden Daniels. And if we're
(46:52):
talking about for short Duram would take him ahead of
Matt Stafford. So like, you just love him, You'll never
quit him, You've always loved him, and just the audience
needs to know, like for some reason, you're a justin
Herbert guy.
Speaker 5 (47:04):
It's a weird guy. It's a weird thing, but it's fine.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
All right, speaking of a guy who is one of
your guys, but I feel like he should be everybody's guy.
Professional athlete works out in off season. I didn't know
was worthy of a cover story, Like why are people
rushing to bet Luka Doncic for MVP, like you, I've
seen the guy carry a team to the NBA Finals
and average thirty three to nine to ten. He all read,
(47:31):
didn't I didn't know that public opinion on him had
slid so much that we were that we were doubting
Luka Doncic, that I needed to see him intermittent fast.
I guess I missed that.
Speaker 10 (47:42):
Oh, you're watching too many old justin Herbert at Orgon,
because that's where the whole media has been.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
That's insane.
Speaker 10 (47:50):
Luka Doncic in the span of ten months, went from
in like the probably the first person named in the
after joke or who's the best player in the league
discussion to basically a past his prime, fat alcoholic in
the public eye.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
And it's really unbelievable.
Speaker 10 (48:10):
Twelve months ago today, not a person in the world
thought Shay or Anthony Edwards was better than him, And
then prior to this cover story, it seemed like everyone
had just decided Shay and Anthony Edwards were better than him.
I listen, Luke. The amount of Luca had a down year.
(48:31):
It coincided with the first major injury of his career.
A truly I think traumatic event in being traded that
shocked him and threw him off, and he was and he.
Speaker 5 (48:43):
Was out of shape, but it came on.
Speaker 10 (48:45):
The heels of the best season regular and post of
his life. Where as you mentioned, he won the scoring
title average thirty four to nine and ten single handedly
led a team you shouldn't a single handed lea Kyrie
was good, you know, led a team to the NBA Finals,
and made his fifth All NBA First Team, which, for
(49:07):
the record, is more than Steph or Chris Paul have
in their career and is only one less than Kevin
freaking Durant, who's been unbelievable for almost twenty years.
Speaker 5 (49:21):
That's how good Luca is.
Speaker 10 (49:23):
So but I do think it's noteworthy that he took
it to heart that last year he was a little
out of shape.
Speaker 5 (49:29):
It didn't go the way he wanted.
Speaker 10 (49:30):
And for the most notable part of that story, other
than the fake news about his forty two inch vertical,
was that the gym he has worked in every summer
since he was a teenager did not have weights in
it until this year. He just went there involved and
then so now he brought it weights. So I think
that is good and now listen is the bit of
(49:51):
osmosis of spending a few months around Lebron and realizing
he's get in shape. Probably, but I'll give Luca credit
for it.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Anyway, We've come along way from Syracuse Providence postgame shows
on waar, my friend. I cannot believe that coming.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Up, but I think your takes were better than I
gotta tell you. I think we need to go back
and get some of those tapes.
Speaker 10 (50:13):
Unless there was some lacrosse player who had never done
anything in his five year college career and you're like,
he's better than Gary Gates. I don't know, but yeah,
I can't wait. It's gonna be really cool to be
working with you every day for the first time since,
you know, in twenty years.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 10 (50:31):
I'm gonna love it, and it's going to be even
more exciting when Herbert goes eight to nine and you're like,
but actually he.
Speaker 5 (50:36):
Throws such a tight spiral.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
It is a very tight spiral. Nick Right will be
watching on First things first, thank you, my friend.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.