August 18, 2025 • 32 mins
Colin reacts to an impressive outing from Caleb Williams in his first preseason action of the year and what this tells us about our expectations for the Bears under first year head coach Ben Johnson. He tells you why he was right about Taylor Swift and the NFL but wrong about Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. Colin talks to former Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt about the new look Bears offense and how he would handle the drama that surrounds Shedeur Sanders trying to make the Browns roster.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is a Monday. Now
we're getting football games. Now, we're getting opinions. Now, we're
getting what looks like the makings. Okay, maybe not Buffalo
in Kansas City, but it does look like we're getting
kind of a feel for what's happening one hour from
now where Colin would write where Colin was wrong. John
(00:47):
Middlecoff is joining me this week for four days. Jmac
is on VACA and we'll come back the following week. So, John,
I don't remember a preseason game Bill's Bears, which turned
out to be at that I was more interested in
watching the first two series. You feel that way.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, that was the Bear super Bowl last night and
it went well.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It was Buffalo can't get to a super Bowl. Bears
had Theirs in preseason, not ideal for both. So Caleb
Williams of the Chicago Bears, I thought he looked decisive.
I thought he looked sharp. At one point he dirted
a ball on a screenplay smart play, get out of that,
get out of the negative plays. I think, basically, if
you're a Bears fan, it's been a rough camp. It's
(01:28):
a new system, a new coach. It hasn't been pretty.
Even at Friday's practice there were false starts. It was
a bit ugly. So it's a big sigh of relief.
There's a new system. Caleb likes to freelance. His coach
does it not necessarily want that from his quarterback. So
last night Caleb Williams actually looked a little bit like
(01:49):
Jared Goff. He quarterback like Jared Goff. He dirted the
ball on screens, he got rid of and out of trouble,
no negative plays. When he had a guy over and
he hit him. Now we know he's not Jared Goff.
I honestly feel like Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. And
you'll see this sometimes where you'll see a crazy talented artist.
(02:10):
Mary's an accountant, and it's not ever perfect that doesn't
mean it can't work. I mean Andy Reid is a creative.
Mahomes is a creative that's perfect. I think Sean Payton
feels like bo Nix can run my play, but he
can also run on his own. That feels perfect. Ben Johnson,
(02:30):
I feel he's got a little bit of Kyle Shanahan
run my play, and Kyle Shanahan's great, but you're gonna
have to let Caleb breathe. So to me, this whole
relationship is about because we know that Ben Johnson is
gonna win the first several arguments in this. Ben Johnson's
(02:51):
a new coach. It's not a rich ownership group. They're
not flushing him out. Caleb struggled his first year, so
Ben comes in with leverage but offense of coaches. And
Andy Reid would tell you this, when you get somebody
as gifted as Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen
and Caleb Williams with that kind of horsepower, with that
kind of firepower, it is your job as a coach
(03:13):
to figure out how to maximize all that amazing play
all you need because I think Caleb's got a little
Brett farv All you need is for that player mahomes Lamar,
Josh Allen, Brett Farv to be amenable to throwing on
time and on schedule and avoiding negative plays. I don't
(03:34):
care how gifted you are. Josh Allen's not great if
he's not on time, he's not on schedule, and there's
negative plays. Last year Caleb was none of those consistently.
So you don't You don't have to be a perfect
fit with Ben Johnson. But nobody succeeds in this league
running around. It's not high school or college defensive ends.
Here run four, five, five. They can catch you and
(03:57):
they'll punish you, and they'll lean on you and sit
on you, drive you into the ground whether it's legal
or not, and you won't play long. Go ask Lamar Jackson,
who suddenly in year two and three put on waight.
Go ask Michael Vick, who started staying in the pocket.
I think Caleb Williams comp when I watch him, is
a little Brett Farv. You gotta let him be a
little bit of a gunslinger. You gotta let him be himself.
(04:19):
But Brett Farv mostly played on time, played on schedule.
He threw a lot of bad picks far through a
lot of bad picks. You could get away with that
in Farv's era. I think offensive coaching is smarter. I
think turnovers are more punitive. So I think this is
a marriage stylistically that is not perfect. But I know Caleb.
(04:40):
I like Caleb. I think he's coachable. But it may
never be. It may never be Stafford and McVeigh, or
read In Mahomes or John Harbaugh and Lamar, or it
just feels like what a good marriage. I don't know
if this ever will be, but what you saw was
a glimpse of what it can be when Caleb is
(05:02):
on time and on schedule and just get out of
the negative place so much. It's almost like being somebody
that runs a movie studio. Not everything has to be
Good Fellas, Not everything has to be Avatar. What you're
trying to avoid is that Disney movie, John Carter. You're
just trying to avoid a three hundred and fifty million
(05:24):
dollar disaster as a studio head. Not everything needs to
be Moulin Rouge and be a hit. It doesn't all
have to be that. Just avoid the potholes. That is
largely quarterback play. That is largely what Belichick says about Brady,
no negative plays. It was either you know, second and
six or second and four. It was never second fifteen
(05:45):
and third and eighteen. Get out of that stuff. And
I thought when he dirted the screen pass, I thought,
oh that's perfect. That's growth from last year. Just just
dirting the screen path. You're like, okay, that last year
he would have tried to make.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Something out of it.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Now, in Ben Johnson's school of offense, get out of
the play, give up the play, don't extend the play,
just get out of there.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Here was Caleb after a month ago.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
I think I've grown a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
My mind set is, you know, keep growing. If that's
handling everything at the line, handling everything you know and
taking things off other people's plates, you know, that's what
it is. And being able to do that consistently over
the next couple of years is you know important.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So I saw the media. It was partially media and
partially like people online. So the quarterback battling now now
the Cleveland Browns and Kevin Stefanski, and I like Kevin
Stefanski a lot. But you got to offer some clarity here, guys.
You gotta tell us what's going on, Because we're getting
into a t Bow situation and this happens a lot.
(06:51):
I've seen this in the NFL with Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick,
Tim Tebow. Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback. Now. Years ago,
Parcells said one of the rules of drafting was don't
draft a celebrity quarterback.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, that that's over. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Half of these got Baker Mayfield, I mean Sam Darnold
out of USC beating Penn State and a Rose Bull.
He becomes a celebrity. Half these guys are making seven
million bucks in college. Arch Manning's a celebrity. Get over it.
Draft him. So but but but this still holds true.
You don't want a celebrity backup quarterback, and that hurt
(07:29):
Tibo and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England with
Bell Belichick, is you know I like you, Cam. We
can't have a superstar backup. You guys who love Shador
in Carolina wearing his jerseys, you're making him into a celebrity.
So if I'm a coach and I have to choose, Okay,
Joe Flacco's starting, Dylan Gabriel may be easier to deal with.
You don't have to deal with a nonsense. So this weekend,
(07:52):
Dylan Gabriel went on camera and said something that people
blew way out of proportion. So here's what he said.
You gave us some fabulous wisdom on how you tune
out the noise and you don't let it infiltrate your stop.
Will you share that with everybody at home? Yeah, I
(08:12):
think it's just part of it.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
You know, there's entertainers and there's competitors, and I totally
understand that, and my job is to compete and that's
what I'm focused on doing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That was not a shot at Shador Sanders. Shame on
everybody that said it was.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Do not.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You're hurting Shadeur. You're turning a non circus into a circus.
When he said that he was taking a shot at us,
he was taking a shot at guys like me. He
was saying, listen, there's people that talk about this stuff
in the air. They're entertainers. I'm a quarterback, and I
don't know exactly who blew it out of proportion. But
(08:47):
when I was on my phone all weekend, the first
three or four hours of this, until I did some dickta,
I'm like why is he taking a shot at Shador?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
He wasn't.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So essentially everybody proved Dylan Gabriel's point, which is all
about clicks and look at me and no nuance. He
was not taking a shot at Shador Sanders. He was
taking a sh and he wasn't even really taking a
shot at the media. He was describing what the media is.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Entertainers.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They got to get ratings, they got to drive revenue. Yeah,
guilty is charged, Like I try to do a good
job of it, but like I want the most entertaining topics.
So the truth is about these guys. I have two
strong opinions. I think Dylan Gabriel's size is an issue.
I would have a hard time building around him. He's small,
he's serious, and he's business like like. I like his
(09:36):
temperament more than Shadur, who's silly and kind of goofy.
But I think Shadur was underdrafted. Shadour is bigger. I
think he moves well. I would choose Shadour over Dylan Gabriel.
But Kevin Stefanski, he liked the seriousness, the accuracy, and
the way he ran an offense. Dylan Gabriel at Oregon
I don't think either is transformational. And here's the thing.
(09:57):
What NFL gms really want from quarterbacks. They want you
to be Andrew Luck great and boring. Brady was mostly
boring when he played, Peyton Manning got really really funny
when he retired. Most of your great quarterback even Mahomes
with a huge personality, kind of hides in the offseason.
They want you to be great and boring. If you're
(10:18):
not great, and neither one of these quarterbacks is, you
can't be the life of the party. I've said this
for years. There's two rules about backup quarterbacks in the NFL.
If I have to use you for two games, can
you win one? Can you just win one of the
two games?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I need you?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Two of my starters out for four Cooper Rush great,
he can win half the games. Starters should win sixty
five percent of the games. If they're great, Lamar, they
win seventy five percent of the games. And the other
rule about backup quarterbacks you should be able to put
a baseball cap and sunglasses on in your local mall,
walk around and nobody knows who you are. You can
(10:58):
never be a headline tebou, headline backup cam headline, Kaepernick headline,
Shadeur's becoming that and this story again, you think it
helped Shaduur, it's hurting him. This story hurt You know
what the staff is saying in Cleveland this morning that Jesus,
maybe we just got to get out of this nonsense.
(11:20):
Let's just get out of this nonsense. We got people
thinking Dylan's taking shots. They'll get out of this business
because Chador's not good enough. Tibau was not good enough
to deal with the nonsense. So this was a prime
example of sometimes you squeeze so tight. Shadure's my guy,
and I love Shadur, and that guy's trying to get Shadour.
(11:44):
You're making this is such a negative for Shador Sanders.
This is what happened with Tibo. He take his shirt
off and walk through practice and it was four live
shots at ESPN, and after a while coaches are like,
you know what, I had a coach tell me this.
I kind of like him for the locker room, him
and the roster. He's a he's a he's a good
football player, but God, who wants that circus? I mean,
(12:07):
you want a playoff game in Denver against Pittsburgh beat
Tomlin and they're like, we're getting out of this business.
Tibo could have been a backup somewhere. Nobody wanted the
nonsense and that's what this was, all right, John uh boy,
I gotta tell you we don't want to take too
much from the preseason. I'd be a little worried if
I was Dallas a little no Micah, No, Trayvon Diggs.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Good luck, Bryan shott Nimer.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
There there is going to be. There is an art
to knowing when you know. They call it. It's a
funny line, the Irish exit when you leave a bar
and you don't tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, I've mastered it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm married to an Irish girl, so we've mastered leaving
the party and not given everybody a heads up. Some
people know when to get off the train, when to exit.
Mike mcca arthy. A lot of you rolled your eyes
at Mike McCarthy. In six months, Mike McCarthy maybe a
leading candidate for other NFL jobs. We'll talk about that
(13:09):
coming up.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
He's Mike Carmen.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I'm Dan Byern.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
That's right, Dan.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sit starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
the competition.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
meet Dan Byer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Colin Wright, Colin wrong. We do it every Monday. Here
we go where Colin was right. Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, Yeah,
they looked really, really good. I just think John Snyder
the GM, they've had three straight, back to back to
back great drafts. They're just too good. If Jackson Smith
and Jigba the Ohio State Buckeye, if he can become
(14:05):
a number one, and they think he is, I don't
think they have a unit that's a problem. This Gray's able.
This offensive lineman they got, Oh my god, he's moving
Chris Jones around me. He's a loaf of bread. So Seattle,
Darnold look comfortable. I think when you watch the Seahawks.
They are a top five or six roster. I really
(14:26):
believe that. Where Colin was Row, I'll give myself another
wrong on Jackson Dart. He just looks roddy poised. I
mean you put him on a field and you watch
the Justin fields and you see a big, big gap.
I think a lot of it's coaching, but I felt
he was more of a mid second round guy. I've
always felt the Giants talent is I think they're a
(14:46):
quarterback away. But he is better and more comfortable than
I thought he would be.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Even in the.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Preseason where Colin was right, I've said the Bengals ownership
gets in the way of Joe Burrow. Reportedly they're shopping
outside pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, who, by the way, when
he was not on the field last year for Cincinnati,
they were thirty second in the league of defense. You
can't ask Joe Burrow to have to win a track
(15:14):
meet every Sunday. Now, Kansas City figured it out. They
hire Spags, they got a great defense, and if Mahomes
is off, they can still win a game. So this
is what I've been saying for years. I think this
year for Burrow, if they don't make the playoffs, he's
going to demand to move.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Where Colin was raw, There's.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Two things in life I know aren't good for me,
but I can't help myself. Cigars and Joe Milton. He
didn't have a very good performance. The kid's got a cannon.
He is so mercurial, he is so up and down.
He's all over the map, and this was not good.
Took a sack, took a safety. I know, I know,
(15:53):
I've been tongue in cheek for years, but I'll tell
you about it. He'll have one or two preseason throws
that looked like Lway, and I'll take a wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What if I said about Mike McDaniel. I know he's smart,
but the Dolphins feel like a bowl of jello. Where's
the meat in the culture, Where's the meat in the sandwich?
Listen to Jalen Ramsey, the former Dolphin, talk about moving
away from Miami.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
I do appreciate the Dolphins and them working with me
and David, you know, not just hey, this team called
and you know we're gonna see you here and this
and that, Like it wasn't any of that. It was
very open communication. Y'all been good to us. I've been
good to y'all. Like, let's do it the right way.
Let's go to a team that's gonna be able to compete.
Let's go to a team where there's a lot of
(16:42):
respect for the head coach.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Interesting, go to a team where there's a lot of
respect for the head coach. Feels like a little shade
thrown at eminem where Colin was real. You know, I've
downplayed Matt Stafford's back injury. Uh it feels more seriou
is he's out at practice today, but they don't really
have a contingency plan. Stetson Bennett's not the answer, and
(17:06):
you know Jimmy garofflows aged quickly. So this multiple reporting
today that I trust is they're crossing their fingers on
this stuff. Like there's a reason they're keeping them out
of practice because when he had a practice with thirty
snaps the next day he couldn't practice. So this is
probably more serious than I've let on where Colin was right,
(17:27):
I've said at the minute Taylor Swift started showing up
on TV, guys, she is great for football. She's going
to expand the base. Listen to this the Chiefs. Principal
owner Clark Hunt said last week, our fan base used
to be fifty to fifty men and women. It's now
fifty seven percent of our fans are female, probably the
(17:47):
highest in the National Football League. So she has expanded
the fan base. There was this sense that she's gonna
turn a lot of guys off. Never bought into that.
She is a stimulus package with a microphone. She is
great for every business. She's likable, she's gifted. She seems
(18:08):
to deeply want to learn and know a lot about football. Guys,
take a deep breath. We're all gonna be okay with
Taylor Swift where Colin was right Well, triviaon Henderson, the
running back out of Ohio State, I didn't understand how
you could not draft him before. Quinshawn Judkins, the over
Ohio State running back. Well, from what I've seen in
(18:29):
the preseason, he may be the steal of the draft.
So of the two Ohio State backs, He's a better receiver,
he's a better pass blocker, he's a better runner. He
was also better in high school. Early in college he
was a five star running back. He has been really
really good for New England. So and we had said
this last year. Like very few guys, last year was
(18:51):
a week draft. There were very few players in the
draft that jumped off the television when you watched him.
Henderson was one of them. And I think they have
got They've got themselves. The steal of the draft a
home run. I would not be shocked if he's not
a top five or six running back in the league,
because running backs age quickly in the NFL. For the record,
(19:11):
the Browns now are officially naming Joe Flacco is their
Week one starting quarterback against the Bengals. Yeah, we knew that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
What four and oh last year in the preseason. So
they're all fired up about what happened. Dave Wanstad, who's
the last Bears coach to win a road playoff game
six years in Chicago five with the Dolphins, last head
coach to win a playoff game, So listen, it's I
guess my take is because of the style that Ben
(19:47):
Johnson demands. It's a very precise, exact style. He's like Shanahan.
He wants his play run. And because of the style
of Caleb Williams, which is a little Brett Farv. It's
a little ad lib. I don't think they're a perfect marriage.
I think it can work. But you've been at practice.
You said it was pretty rough a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, and Caleb and Ben everybody in Chicago. Here, I
am in Chicago. Do you recognize, as said colin microphone
right here. Okay, I'm gonna but I uh and Caleb,
everybody's admitted that it's been the last week that he's really.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Turned a corner as far as uh uh, you.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Know, how he's performs, how he's grasped the offense, everything
about his play has gotten better. And so that's a
real positive. When you said how did the game start?
I could have turned it. Think about this. He was
up under center, which everybody in Chicago has been screaming about.
The tailback. Was that what I call a dotted position?
You know where he would be if it was a
(20:49):
two bac eye formation. They fake a running play, you
see Caleb's athletic ability on the move, and they throw
the ball the first round draft pick. I mean that
was that was enough for me to see right there,
I could have turned the TV office that I saw enough,
let's get ready for the next game. So my point
is though that I think Ben really he understands that
(21:11):
Caleb is a good enough athlete that he's gonna have
enough movement plays for him. And at the same time
we saw it going into the third quarter, they had
twenty one runs in twenty nine passes, so they are
going to be balanced and run the football. If he
does those things, it's a quarterback friendly offense and I
think Caleb can really excel in that type of environment.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But let's could I argue this that the backup Tyson
Bagent is a better fit actually for the offense that
Ben wants to run. He's not as talented, But you
could make an argument that if you had if and
again they're gonna play Caleb. This is not a quarterback controversy.
(21:55):
But my argument is when you the far of even
with Mike Holmgrien far could frustrate a coach that Caleb's
style coach is going to frustrate Ben Johnson at times.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Well, I don't know that yet. I don't think anybody does. Okay,
and Benjor had a great camp. I mean, if you
went every day and I don't have the day I
was up there, I was standing on the field, we
were talking. I was Ryan Poles, and Beju took him
down the field and scored a touchdown. And I said
to Ryan, well, at least you know you got a backup,
and he says, oh, we definitely got a backup. So
my point is that he had an outstanding camp. Okay,
(22:32):
and they recognize that, but I really think that keep
in mind last night, Caleb, Okay, we know the numbers
he was didn't see it against pressure. That to me
is what separates quarterbacks. Now, Caleb said, okay, I had
a good day. You know that every time they blitzed him,
it wasn't a real good result.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
That's when he threw his incomplete.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Passes opening Day against Minnesota Monday night. Brian Flores, he
is a blitz thing. So that's gonna open up a
whole nother light for us to look at and say, Okay,
Kenny handle the blitz. Because everyone talks about Jared Goff,
But if you look at Jared Goff's numbers against the blitz,
(23:14):
they're really good.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
They really are good.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
So I think that's gonna probably be a big deal.
How far Caleb can advance at least progress this first year.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Not only were you a head coach, you worked with
a great head coach, Jimmy Johnson. And I think I
told you this privately, probably over a little Italian dinner
or cocktail a couple of years ago. I said, I
think Mike McDaniel's smart. I'm not doubting the smart thing,
but I need my head coach. I need him to
be a CEO, and I've been doubting him for a
couple of years. I'm like, I know he's got all
(23:47):
the motion, but Miami's a hard place to win. As
you know, it's a distracted market. It's got perfect winter weather,
it's got a lively port players. It gets loose very
quickly there. And I think maybe Mike McDaniel in boring
Indianapolis right would be a better fit than distracted LA.
(24:08):
But I think their cultures off. I don't like their
I don't know what they are. Is that a fair
criticism you coached in Miami? You know it's a distracted market.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, Miami is a little different you.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
And obviously the thing that they didn't like about me,
I never got caught up in that because we were
a running team with Ricky Williams. He led the league
in rushing. Okay, so we were going to play defense
and run the ball. Miami was and we were winning games.
Miami almost sometimes seemed to be happier when they would lose,
when when they weren't running the ball Marina was throwing.
(24:42):
They'd lose thirty five, thirty four, and people would say, well,
it was an exciting game.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I mean, you know so, so you're right.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I mean the culture down here is to throw it
when I had my doubts, and it really surprised me
because McDaniel supposedly he was in charge of the running
game at San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Go back two or three years ago.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
That playoff game, I think it was against Buffalo and
they had their third team quarterback in there, kids from
Kansas State, I believe it was, and they threw the
ball with their thirteen quarterback. I think it was three
or four times, you can look up the numbers, more
than they ran it. And they lost the Buffalo in
that playoff game. And that was a big red flag
(25:24):
to me, big red flag to me. And I think
another way that a coach can lose your team by,
what's happening on the field.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
We're talking about the physicality, but.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Also by what happens off the field sometimes from a
press conference standpoint and launch year, you know, with Tyreek Hill,
I mean, they had an outside shot of the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Let's be real, you know, it's a lot of things
had to happen for them to get in.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
But they still were playing for a possible playoff game
their last game of the season. And Tyreek Hill doesn't
go win on the field the last two or three sessions.
And I'm watching the press conference and they asked Mike, Well,
what happened to tire and he says, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I didn't I haven't talked to him yet. Boy.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
You know, if you're a player, that just doesn't give
you a you know, a good grasp. But you got
your hands around this thing. And I think it's it's
caught up with them. So hopefully they can rebomb, but
it's gonna be a tough one.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, Staff just sent this to me. Skyler Thompson threw
it forty five times in a playoff lost to Buffalo.
Skyler Thompson at you, Yeah, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Made now?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But what are you doing? Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So I had said this. I think Shador Sanders is
probably more my cup of tea as a quarterback. He's
a legit six two. He's accurately moves. I don't like
the celebrity stuff. Joe Flackell was named starter today. Coach
Parcels used to say, no celebrity quarterbacks, but I think
that ship has sailed some of these nil guys.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Cut arch Manning is going to be a celebrity quarterback.
You just got to. If you're a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
At you know, Michigan or Notre Dame, you're gonna be
a celebrity quarterback?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Are you? Would you?
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I mean, what would you do with a situation? Do
you like Sador over Dylan Gabriel? Dylan's a little more serious,
is a little more playful? What do you do in
the backup role in that team? If you run the team?
Flacko's your guy? Do you keep four guys?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
No? I don't think you can keep four guys. I
really don't, you know, I don't.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
Kenny Pickett was my pick to come out of this,
not just because he's the pick guy like me, but
he was my pick when it started that he was
going to cut surfacing this thing as the starter, and
obviously injuries or whatever happens, so it sounds like that thing.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Has gone old.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Sanders has the most talent in my mind just watching
them both play. As far as the personalities, god, I mean,
I don't know, you know, unless he's a distraction the
members on the team, which I don't think he is.
I think Sanders is probably your second best option and
Gabriel will he ever did better? And that's the question mark.
(28:01):
I think, you know what's the upside on Gabriel? And
I love them just like everybody wants to talk about
at Oregon. You know, the guy had seventy five percent
completions or whatever it was. But is that you know,
is he about as good as he's going to be
right now?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Can he improve? I don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
That's a real tough one. I try to keep the
personalities out of it as long as they're doing all
the right things in the classroom and on the field.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
So you didn't worry too much about, you know, if
some guys are quirky and some guys aren't, you try to.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Just eliminate that.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Well, yes, as long as it's not affecting your football team.
From the standpoint, Are they on time for meetings? I mean,
do they know what they're doing on the field or
are they practice? Are they getting in early and staying late?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
If they're doing.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
All those things, you know, I think sometimes you know
that off the field stories will get blown out of
proportion to one extent. You know, that's a tough one.
That's a tough one because Gabriels not going to back away.
I mean, you know, you got two good, young, talented quarterbacks.
Maybe you need to play them both and you.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
And see what falls.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
Because the tough thing is flack those Probably it's gonna
be tough with Joke and last the whole season, whether
he just gets tired, he gets hurt, or whatever happens.
So you got to be looking at thing if you're Stefanski,
and you got to be saying, who can can win
here and finish the season for me and win enough
games to give us a playoff runner, save my job
or whatever the situation is.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Who can win games for me? Who do I have
the most confidence in?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Because this thing with Joe hopefully at lasts, but it
probably won't.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
He may not have confidence any of the three, To
be quite honest with you.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So we got into this discussion. John Middlkov, my buddy
here is a former scout, and we got we were
talking about Ashton gent and he's just he is tough, Dave.
He is, he runs right, he looks reminds me of
Adrian Peterson. He is like a missile. He is seeking contact.
He's five seven, five eight whatever. What do you tell
(30:05):
a running back? I mean, when you're coaching men, you're
seeking guys who like physicality. But there are positions in football,
like quarterback and running back where I feel like I look,
I'll show you the clips of Ashton Genty. He is
just getting throttled. And I think to myself, how does
a coach send the message live for another day to
(30:27):
a power running back.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I don't know if you do. I think it's just
in their nature.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
And you know, Ricky Williams, let's just use it as
an example because we were talking Dolphins. You know, I
remember my first year we had Thurman Thomas, who I
signed as a free agent.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
He was done at the Bills. So I was using.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Thurman and third done and Ricky in first and second don.
After about two games, Ricky came in my office and
said coach, what are we doing here? And I said, well,
you know you're playing verse the second. I'm trying to,
you know, keep everybody fresh. I want the ball. I
want the ball. So I think the great running backs
(31:09):
they want the football. Can you change their style? I
wouldn't try that. I would not try that. I think
you got a great back, you hand him the football
and you try to win as many games as you can.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I mean that, that's, in my opinion.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
The philosophy I came up with looking at the Eric
Dickerson's and I played with Tony Dorsett and we saw
Emmitt Smith first hand. I was with him, as you
know for four years. The great backs, they're gonna win
games for you. And we all know you throw at
the score points, but you got to run at the
close out games. And Jenti's he's one of those guys.
He will close a game out and win it for
(31:45):
you if you got the lead.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Dave wantsta. You know you look good in that chair.
If you know, maybe someday they're gonna you know, my
days could be numbered. You look pretty good in that
authority of chair.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I'm gonna look back here in the Tofano's restaurant in
about five hours.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Okay, in that chair in little Italy. So that's thick
about that.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Okay, I'm totally jealous, by the way, completely jealous. Dave wantsday,
good seeing you.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
What a good friend, what a good guy. Everybody all right,
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 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is a Monday. Now
we're getting football games. Now, we're getting opinions. Now, we're
getting what looks like the makings. Okay, maybe not Buffalo
in Kansas City, but it does look like we're getting
kind of a feel for what's happening one hour from
now where Colin would write where Colin was wrong. John
(00:47):
Middlecoff is joining me this week for four days. Jmac
is on VACA and we'll come back the following week. So, John,
I don't remember a preseason game Bill's Bears, which turned
out to be at that I was more interested in
watching the first two series. You feel that way.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, that was the Bear super Bowl last night and
it went well.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It was Buffalo can't get to a super Bowl. Bears
had Theirs in preseason, not ideal for both. So Caleb
Williams of the Chicago Bears, I thought he looked decisive.
I thought he looked sharp. At one point he dirted
a ball on a screenplay smart play, get out of that,
get out of the negative plays. I think, basically, if
you're a Bears fan, it's been a rough camp. It's
(01:28):
a new system, a new coach. It hasn't been pretty.
Even at Friday's practice there were false starts. It was
a bit ugly. So it's a big sigh of relief.
There's a new system. Caleb likes to freelance. His coach
does it not necessarily want that from his quarterback. So
last night Caleb Williams actually looked a little bit like
(01:49):
Jared Goff. He quarterback like Jared Goff. He dirted the
ball on screens, he got rid of and out of trouble,
no negative plays. When he had a guy over and
he hit him. Now we know he's not Jared Goff.
I honestly feel like Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. And
you'll see this sometimes where you'll see a crazy talented artist.
(02:10):
Mary's an accountant, and it's not ever perfect that doesn't
mean it can't work. I mean Andy Reid is a creative.
Mahomes is a creative that's perfect. I think Sean Payton
feels like bo Nix can run my play, but he
can also run on his own. That feels perfect. Ben Johnson,
(02:30):
I feel he's got a little bit of Kyle Shanahan
run my play, and Kyle Shanahan's great, but you're gonna
have to let Caleb breathe. So to me, this whole
relationship is about because we know that Ben Johnson is
gonna win the first several arguments in this. Ben Johnson's
(02:51):
a new coach. It's not a rich ownership group. They're
not flushing him out. Caleb struggled his first year, so
Ben comes in with leverage but offense of coaches. And
Andy Reid would tell you this, when you get somebody
as gifted as Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen
and Caleb Williams with that kind of horsepower, with that
kind of firepower, it is your job as a coach
(03:13):
to figure out how to maximize all that amazing play
all you need because I think Caleb's got a little
Brett farv All you need is for that player mahomes Lamar,
Josh Allen, Brett Farv to be amenable to throwing on
time and on schedule and avoiding negative plays. I don't
(03:34):
care how gifted you are. Josh Allen's not great if
he's not on time, he's not on schedule, and there's
negative plays. Last year Caleb was none of those consistently.
So you don't You don't have to be a perfect
fit with Ben Johnson. But nobody succeeds in this league
running around. It's not high school or college defensive ends.
Here run four, five, five. They can catch you and
(03:57):
they'll punish you, and they'll lean on you and sit
on you, drive you into the ground whether it's legal
or not, and you won't play long. Go ask Lamar Jackson,
who suddenly in year two and three put on waight.
Go ask Michael Vick, who started staying in the pocket.
I think Caleb Williams comp when I watch him, is
a little Brett Farv. You gotta let him be a
little bit of a gunslinger. You gotta let him be himself.
(04:19):
But Brett Farv mostly played on time, played on schedule.
He threw a lot of bad picks far through a
lot of bad picks. You could get away with that
in Farv's era. I think offensive coaching is smarter. I
think turnovers are more punitive. So I think this is
a marriage stylistically that is not perfect. But I know Caleb.
(04:40):
I like Caleb. I think he's coachable. But it may
never be. It may never be Stafford and McVeigh, or
read In Mahomes or John Harbaugh and Lamar, or it
just feels like what a good marriage. I don't know
if this ever will be, but what you saw was
a glimpse of what it can be when Caleb is
(05:02):
on time and on schedule and just get out of
the negative place so much. It's almost like being somebody
that runs a movie studio. Not everything has to be
Good Fellas, Not everything has to be Avatar. What you're
trying to avoid is that Disney movie, John Carter. You're
just trying to avoid a three hundred and fifty million
(05:24):
dollar disaster as a studio head. Not everything needs to
be Moulin Rouge and be a hit. It doesn't all
have to be that. Just avoid the potholes. That is
largely quarterback play. That is largely what Belichick says about Brady,
no negative plays. It was either you know, second and
six or second and four. It was never second fifteen
(05:45):
and third and eighteen. Get out of that stuff. And
I thought when he dirted the screen pass, I thought,
oh that's perfect. That's growth from last year. Just just
dirting the screen path. You're like, okay, that last year
he would have tried to make.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Something out of it.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Now, in Ben Johnson's school of offense, get out of
the play, give up the play, don't extend the play,
just get out of there.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Here was Caleb after a month ago.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
I think I've grown a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
My mind set is, you know, keep growing. If that's
handling everything at the line, handling everything you know and
taking things off other people's plates, you know, that's what
it is. And being able to do that consistently over
the next couple of years is you know important.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So I saw the media. It was partially media and
partially like people online. So the quarterback battling now now
the Cleveland Browns and Kevin Stefanski, and I like Kevin
Stefanski a lot. But you got to offer some clarity here, guys.
You gotta tell us what's going on, Because we're getting
into a t Bow situation and this happens a lot.
(06:51):
I've seen this in the NFL with Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick,
Tim Tebow. Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback. Now. Years ago,
Parcells said one of the rules of drafting was don't
draft a celebrity quarterback.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, that that's over. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Half of these got Baker Mayfield, I mean Sam Darnold
out of USC beating Penn State and a Rose Bull.
He becomes a celebrity. Half these guys are making seven
million bucks in college. Arch Manning's a celebrity. Get over it.
Draft him. So but but but this still holds true.
You don't want a celebrity backup quarterback, and that hurt
(07:29):
Tibo and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England with
Bell Belichick, is you know I like you, Cam. We
can't have a superstar backup. You guys who love Shador
in Carolina wearing his jerseys, you're making him into a celebrity.
So if I'm a coach and I have to choose, Okay,
Joe Flacco's starting, Dylan Gabriel may be easier to deal with.
You don't have to deal with a nonsense. So this weekend,
(07:52):
Dylan Gabriel went on camera and said something that people
blew way out of proportion. So here's what he said.
You gave us some fabulous wisdom on how you tune
out the noise and you don't let it infiltrate your stop.
Will you share that with everybody at home? Yeah, I
(08:12):
think it's just part of it.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
You know, there's entertainers and there's competitors, and I totally
understand that, and my job is to compete and that's
what I'm focused on doing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
That was not a shot at Shador Sanders. Shame on
everybody that said it was.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Do not.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You're hurting Shadeur. You're turning a non circus into a circus.
When he said that he was taking a shot at us,
he was taking a shot at guys like me. He
was saying, listen, there's people that talk about this stuff
in the air. They're entertainers. I'm a quarterback, and I
don't know exactly who blew it out of proportion. But
(08:47):
when I was on my phone all weekend, the first
three or four hours of this, until I did some dickta,
I'm like why is he taking a shot at Shador?
Speaker 3 (08:55):
He wasn't.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
So essentially everybody proved Dylan Gabriel's point, which is all
about clicks and look at me and no nuance. He
was not taking a shot at Shador Sanders. He was
taking a sh and he wasn't even really taking a
shot at the media. He was describing what the media is.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Entertainers.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They got to get ratings, they got to drive revenue. Yeah,
guilty is charged, Like I try to do a good
job of it, but like I want the most entertaining topics.
So the truth is about these guys. I have two
strong opinions. I think Dylan Gabriel's size is an issue.
I would have a hard time building around him. He's small,
he's serious, and he's business like like. I like his
(09:36):
temperament more than Shadur, who's silly and kind of goofy.
But I think Shadur was underdrafted. Shadour is bigger. I
think he moves well. I would choose Shadour over Dylan Gabriel.
But Kevin Stefanski, he liked the seriousness, the accuracy, and
the way he ran an offense. Dylan Gabriel at Oregon
I don't think either is transformational. And here's the thing.
(09:57):
What NFL gms really want from quarterbacks. They want you
to be Andrew Luck great and boring. Brady was mostly
boring when he played, Peyton Manning got really really funny
when he retired. Most of your great quarterback even Mahomes
with a huge personality, kind of hides in the offseason.
They want you to be great and boring. If you're
(10:18):
not great, and neither one of these quarterbacks is, you
can't be the life of the party. I've said this
for years. There's two rules about backup quarterbacks in the NFL.
If I have to use you for two games, can
you win one? Can you just win one of the
two games?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I need you?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Two of my starters out for four Cooper Rush great,
he can win half the games. Starters should win sixty
five percent of the games. If they're great, Lamar, they
win seventy five percent of the games. And the other
rule about backup quarterbacks you should be able to put
a baseball cap and sunglasses on in your local mall,
walk around and nobody knows who you are. You can
(10:58):
never be a headline tebou, headline backup cam headline, Kaepernick headline,
Shadeur's becoming that and this story again, you think it
helped Shaduur, it's hurting him. This story hurt You know
what the staff is saying in Cleveland this morning that Jesus,
maybe we just got to get out of this nonsense.
(11:20):
Let's just get out of this nonsense. We got people
thinking Dylan's taking shots. They'll get out of this business
because Chador's not good enough. Tibau was not good enough
to deal with the nonsense. So this was a prime
example of sometimes you squeeze so tight. Shadure's my guy,
and I love Shadur, and that guy's trying to get Shadour.
(11:44):
You're making this is such a negative for Shador Sanders.
This is what happened with Tibo. He take his shirt
off and walk through practice and it was four live
shots at ESPN, and after a while coaches are like,
you know what, I had a coach tell me this.
I kind of like him for the locker room, him
and the roster. He's a he's a he's a good
football player, but God, who wants that circus? I mean,
(12:07):
you want a playoff game in Denver against Pittsburgh beat
Tomlin and they're like, we're getting out of this business.
Tibo could have been a backup somewhere. Nobody wanted the
nonsense and that's what this was, all right, John uh boy,
I gotta tell you we don't want to take too
much from the preseason. I'd be a little worried if
I was Dallas a little no Micah, No, Trayvon Diggs.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Good luck, Bryan shott Nimer.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
There there is going to be. There is an art
to knowing when you know. They call it. It's a
funny line, the Irish exit when you leave a bar
and you don't tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, I've mastered it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm married to an Irish girl, so we've mastered leaving
the party and not given everybody a heads up. Some
people know when to get off the train, when to exit.
Mike mcca arthy. A lot of you rolled your eyes
at Mike McCarthy. In six months, Mike McCarthy maybe a
leading candidate for other NFL jobs. We'll talk about that
(13:09):
coming up.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
He's Mike Carmen.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I'm Dan Byern.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
That's right, Dan.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find
the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup, sit starts,
fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate
the competition.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Carmon and
meet Dan Byer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Colin Wright, Colin wrong. We do it every Monday. Here
we go where Colin was right. Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, Yeah,
they looked really, really good. I just think John Snyder
the GM, they've had three straight, back to back to
back great drafts. They're just too good. If Jackson Smith
and Jigba the Ohio State Buckeye, if he can become
(14:05):
a number one, and they think he is, I don't
think they have a unit that's a problem. This Gray's able.
This offensive lineman they got, Oh my god, he's moving
Chris Jones around me. He's a loaf of bread. So Seattle,
Darnold look comfortable. I think when you watch the Seahawks.
They are a top five or six roster. I really
(14:26):
believe that. Where Colin was Row, I'll give myself another
wrong on Jackson Dart. He just looks roddy poised. I
mean you put him on a field and you watch
the Justin fields and you see a big, big gap.
I think a lot of it's coaching, but I felt
he was more of a mid second round guy. I've
always felt the Giants talent is I think they're a
(14:46):
quarterback away. But he is better and more comfortable than
I thought he would be.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Even in the.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Preseason where Colin was right, I've said the Bengals ownership
gets in the way of Joe Burrow. Reportedly they're shopping
outside pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, who, by the way, when
he was not on the field last year for Cincinnati,
they were thirty second in the league of defense. You
can't ask Joe Burrow to have to win a track
(15:14):
meet every Sunday. Now, Kansas City figured it out. They
hire Spags, they got a great defense, and if Mahomes
is off, they can still win a game. So this
is what I've been saying for years. I think this
year for Burrow, if they don't make the playoffs, he's
going to demand to move.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Where Colin was raw, There's.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Two things in life I know aren't good for me,
but I can't help myself. Cigars and Joe Milton. He
didn't have a very good performance. The kid's got a cannon.
He is so mercurial, he is so up and down.
He's all over the map, and this was not good.
Took a sack, took a safety. I know, I know,
(15:53):
I've been tongue in cheek for years, but I'll tell
you about it. He'll have one or two preseason throws
that looked like Lway, and I'll take a wrong on that.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What if I said about Mike McDaniel. I know he's smart,
but the Dolphins feel like a bowl of jello. Where's
the meat in the culture, Where's the meat in the sandwich?
Listen to Jalen Ramsey, the former Dolphin, talk about moving
away from Miami.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
I do appreciate the Dolphins and them working with me
and David, you know, not just hey, this team called
and you know we're gonna see you here and this
and that, Like it wasn't any of that. It was
very open communication. Y'all been good to us. I've been
good to y'all. Like, let's do it the right way.
Let's go to a team that's gonna be able to compete.
Let's go to a team where there's a lot of
(16:42):
respect for the head coach.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Interesting, go to a team where there's a lot of
respect for the head coach. Feels like a little shade
thrown at eminem where Colin was real. You know, I've
downplayed Matt Stafford's back injury. Uh it feels more seriou
is he's out at practice today, but they don't really
have a contingency plan. Stetson Bennett's not the answer, and
(17:06):
you know Jimmy garofflows aged quickly. So this multiple reporting
today that I trust is they're crossing their fingers on
this stuff. Like there's a reason they're keeping them out
of practice because when he had a practice with thirty
snaps the next day he couldn't practice. So this is
probably more serious than I've let on where Colin was right,
(17:27):
I've said at the minute Taylor Swift started showing up
on TV, guys, she is great for football. She's going
to expand the base. Listen to this the Chiefs. Principal
owner Clark Hunt said last week, our fan base used
to be fifty to fifty men and women. It's now
fifty seven percent of our fans are female, probably the
(17:47):
highest in the National Football League. So she has expanded
the fan base. There was this sense that she's gonna
turn a lot of guys off. Never bought into that.
She is a stimulus package with a microphone. She is
great for every business. She's likable, she's gifted. She seems
(18:08):
to deeply want to learn and know a lot about football. Guys,
take a deep breath. We're all gonna be okay with
Taylor Swift where Colin was right Well, triviaon Henderson, the
running back out of Ohio State, I didn't understand how
you could not draft him before. Quinshawn Judkins, the over
Ohio State running back. Well, from what I've seen in
(18:29):
the preseason, he may be the steal of the draft.
So of the two Ohio State backs, He's a better receiver,
he's a better pass blocker, he's a better runner. He
was also better in high school. Early in college he
was a five star running back. He has been really
really good for New England. So and we had said
this last year. Like very few guys, last year was
(18:51):
a week draft. There were very few players in the
draft that jumped off the television when you watched him.
Henderson was one of them. And I think they have
got They've got themselves. The steal of the draft a
home run. I would not be shocked if he's not
a top five or six running back in the league,
because running backs age quickly in the NFL. For the record,
(19:11):
the Browns now are officially naming Joe Flacco is their
Week one starting quarterback against the Bengals. Yeah, we knew that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
What four and oh last year in the preseason. So
they're all fired up about what happened. Dave Wanstad, who's
the last Bears coach to win a road playoff game
six years in Chicago five with the Dolphins, last head
coach to win a playoff game, So listen, it's I
guess my take is because of the style that Ben
(19:47):
Johnson demands. It's a very precise, exact style. He's like Shanahan.
He wants his play run. And because of the style
of Caleb Williams, which is a little Brett Farv. It's
a little ad lib. I don't think they're a perfect marriage.
I think it can work. But you've been at practice.
You said it was pretty rough a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yeah, and Caleb and Ben everybody in Chicago. Here, I
am in Chicago. Do you recognize, as said colin microphone
right here. Okay, I'm gonna but I uh and Caleb,
everybody's admitted that it's been the last week that he's really.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Turned a corner as far as uh uh, you.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Know, how he's performs, how he's grasped the offense, everything
about his play has gotten better. And so that's a
real positive. When you said how did the game start?
I could have turned it. Think about this. He was
up under center, which everybody in Chicago has been screaming about.
The tailback. Was that what I call a dotted position?
You know where he would be if it was a
(20:49):
two bac eye formation. They fake a running play, you
see Caleb's athletic ability on the move, and they throw
the ball the first round draft pick. I mean that
was that was enough for me to see right there,
I could have turned the TV office that I saw enough,
let's get ready for the next game. So my point
is though that I think Ben really he understands that
(21:11):
Caleb is a good enough athlete that he's gonna have
enough movement plays for him. And at the same time
we saw it going into the third quarter, they had
twenty one runs in twenty nine passes, so they are
going to be balanced and run the football. If he
does those things, it's a quarterback friendly offense and I
think Caleb can really excel in that type of environment.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But let's could I argue this that the backup Tyson
Bagent is a better fit actually for the offense that
Ben wants to run. He's not as talented, But you
could make an argument that if you had if and
again they're gonna play Caleb. This is not a quarterback controversy.
(21:55):
But my argument is when you the far of even
with Mike Holmgrien far could frustrate a coach that Caleb's
style coach is going to frustrate Ben Johnson at times.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Well, I don't know that yet. I don't think anybody does. Okay,
and Benjor had a great camp. I mean, if you
went every day and I don't have the day I
was up there, I was standing on the field, we
were talking. I was Ryan Poles, and Beju took him
down the field and scored a touchdown. And I said
to Ryan, well, at least you know you got a backup,
and he says, oh, we definitely got a backup. So
my point is that he had an outstanding camp. Okay,
(22:32):
and they recognize that, but I really think that keep
in mind last night, Caleb, Okay, we know the numbers
he was didn't see it against pressure. That to me
is what separates quarterbacks. Now, Caleb said, okay, I had
a good day. You know that every time they blitzed him,
it wasn't a real good result.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
That's when he threw his incomplete.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Passes opening Day against Minnesota Monday night. Brian Flores, he
is a blitz thing. So that's gonna open up a
whole nother light for us to look at and say, Okay,
Kenny handle the blitz. Because everyone talks about Jared Goff,
But if you look at Jared Goff's numbers against the blitz,
(23:14):
they're really good.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
They really are good.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
So I think that's gonna probably be a big deal.
How far Caleb can advance at least progress this first year.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Not only were you a head coach, you worked with
a great head coach, Jimmy Johnson. And I think I
told you this privately, probably over a little Italian dinner
or cocktail a couple of years ago. I said, I
think Mike McDaniel's smart. I'm not doubting the smart thing,
but I need my head coach. I need him to
be a CEO, and I've been doubting him for a
couple of years. I'm like, I know he's got all
(23:47):
the motion, but Miami's a hard place to win. As
you know, it's a distracted market. It's got perfect winter weather,
it's got a lively port players. It gets loose very
quickly there. And I think maybe Mike McDaniel in boring
Indianapolis right would be a better fit than distracted LA.
(24:08):
But I think their cultures off. I don't like their
I don't know what they are. Is that a fair
criticism you coached in Miami? You know it's a distracted market.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, Miami is a little different you.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
And obviously the thing that they didn't like about me,
I never got caught up in that because we were
a running team with Ricky Williams. He led the league
in rushing. Okay, so we were going to play defense
and run the ball. Miami was and we were winning games.
Miami almost sometimes seemed to be happier when they would lose,
when when they weren't running the ball Marina was throwing.
(24:42):
They'd lose thirty five, thirty four, and people would say, well,
it was an exciting game.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I mean, you know so, so you're right.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I mean the culture down here is to throw it
when I had my doubts, and it really surprised me
because McDaniel supposedly he was in charge of the running
game at San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Go back two or three years ago.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
That playoff game, I think it was against Buffalo and
they had their third team quarterback in there, kids from
Kansas State, I believe it was, and they threw the
ball with their thirteen quarterback. I think it was three
or four times, you can look up the numbers, more
than they ran it. And they lost the Buffalo in
that playoff game. And that was a big red flag
(25:24):
to me, big red flag to me. And I think
another way that a coach can lose your team by,
what's happening on the field.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
We're talking about the physicality, but.
Speaker 5 (25:34):
Also by what happens off the field sometimes from a
press conference standpoint and launch year, you know, with Tyreek Hill,
I mean, they had an outside shot of the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Let's be real, you know, it's a lot of things
had to happen for them to get in.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
But they still were playing for a possible playoff game
their last game of the season. And Tyreek Hill doesn't
go win on the field the last two or three sessions.
And I'm watching the press conference and they asked Mike, Well,
what happened to tire and he says, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
I didn't I haven't talked to him yet. Boy.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
You know, if you're a player, that just doesn't give
you a you know, a good grasp. But you got
your hands around this thing. And I think it's it's
caught up with them. So hopefully they can rebomb, but
it's gonna be a tough one.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, Staff just sent this to me. Skyler Thompson threw
it forty five times in a playoff lost to Buffalo.
Skyler Thompson at you, Yeah, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Made now?
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But what are you doing? Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
So I had said this. I think Shador Sanders is
probably more my cup of tea as a quarterback. He's
a legit six two. He's accurately moves. I don't like
the celebrity stuff. Joe Flackell was named starter today. Coach
Parcels used to say, no celebrity quarterbacks, but I think
that ship has sailed some of these nil guys.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Cut arch Manning is going to be a celebrity quarterback.
You just got to. If you're a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
At you know, Michigan or Notre Dame, you're gonna be
a celebrity quarterback?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Are you? Would you?
Speaker 1 (27:01):
I mean, what would you do with a situation? Do
you like Sador over Dylan Gabriel? Dylan's a little more serious,
is a little more playful? What do you do in
the backup role in that team? If you run the team?
Flacko's your guy? Do you keep four guys?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
No? I don't think you can keep four guys. I
really don't, you know, I don't.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
Kenny Pickett was my pick to come out of this,
not just because he's the pick guy like me, but
he was my pick when it started that he was
going to cut surfacing this thing as the starter, and
obviously injuries or whatever happens, so it sounds like that thing.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Has gone old.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Sanders has the most talent in my mind just watching
them both play. As far as the personalities, god, I mean,
I don't know, you know, unless he's a distraction the
members on the team, which I don't think he is.
I think Sanders is probably your second best option and
Gabriel will he ever did better? And that's the question mark.
(28:01):
I think, you know what's the upside on Gabriel? And
I love them just like everybody wants to talk about
at Oregon. You know, the guy had seventy five percent
completions or whatever it was. But is that you know,
is he about as good as he's going to be
right now?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Can he improve? I don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
That's a real tough one. I try to keep the
personalities out of it as long as they're doing all
the right things in the classroom and on the field.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
So you didn't worry too much about, you know, if
some guys are quirky and some guys aren't, you try to.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Just eliminate that.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Well, yes, as long as it's not affecting your football team.
From the standpoint, Are they on time for meetings? I mean,
do they know what they're doing on the field or
are they practice? Are they getting in early and staying late?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
If they're doing.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
All those things, you know, I think sometimes you know
that off the field stories will get blown out of
proportion to one extent. You know, that's a tough one.
That's a tough one because Gabriels not going to back away.
I mean, you know, you got two good, young, talented quarterbacks.
Maybe you need to play them both and you.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
And see what falls.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
Because the tough thing is flack those Probably it's gonna
be tough with Joke and last the whole season, whether
he just gets tired, he gets hurt, or whatever happens.
So you got to be looking at thing if you're Stefanski,
and you got to be saying, who can can win
here and finish the season for me and win enough
games to give us a playoff runner, save my job
or whatever the situation is.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Who can win games for me? Who do I have
the most confidence in?
Speaker 5 (29:34):
Because this thing with Joe hopefully at lasts, but it
probably won't.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
He may not have confidence any of the three, To
be quite honest with you.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So we got into this discussion. John Middlkov, my buddy
here is a former scout, and we got we were
talking about Ashton gent and he's just he is tough, Dave.
He is, he runs right, he looks reminds me of
Adrian Peterson. He is like a missile. He is seeking contact.
He's five seven, five eight whatever. What do you tell
(30:05):
a running back? I mean, when you're coaching men, you're
seeking guys who like physicality. But there are positions in football,
like quarterback and running back where I feel like I look,
I'll show you the clips of Ashton Genty. He is
just getting throttled. And I think to myself, how does
a coach send the message live for another day to
(30:27):
a power running back.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I don't know if you do. I think it's just
in their nature.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
And you know, Ricky Williams, let's just use it as
an example because we were talking Dolphins. You know, I
remember my first year we had Thurman Thomas, who I
signed as a free agent.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
He was done at the Bills. So I was using.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Thurman and third done and Ricky in first and second don.
After about two games, Ricky came in my office and
said coach, what are we doing here? And I said, well,
you know you're playing verse the second. I'm trying to,
you know, keep everybody fresh. I want the ball. I
want the ball. So I think the great running backs
(31:09):
they want the football. Can you change their style? I
wouldn't try that. I would not try that. I think
you got a great back, you hand him the football
and you try to win as many games as you can.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I mean that, that's, in my opinion.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
The philosophy I came up with looking at the Eric
Dickerson's and I played with Tony Dorsett and we saw
Emmitt Smith first hand. I was with him, as you
know for four years. The great backs, they're gonna win
games for you. And we all know you throw at
the score points, but you got to run at the
close out games. And Jenti's he's one of those guys.
He will close a game out and win it for
(31:45):
you if you got the lead.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Dave wantsta. You know you look good in that chair.
If you know, maybe someday they're gonna you know, my
days could be numbered. You look pretty good in that
authority of chair.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5 (31:59):
I'm gonna look back here in the Tofano's restaurant in
about five hours.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Okay, in that chair in little Italy. So that's thick
about that.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Okay, I'm totally jealous, by the way, completely jealous. Dave wantsday,
good seeing you.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
What a good friend, what a good guy. Everybody all right,
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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