September 4, 2025 • 34 mins
Colin looks at the start of the NFL season between the Cowboys and the Eagles and why Jerry Jones is to blame for Dallas falling off that last 30 years compared to the perennial contenders in Philadelphia. He shares his final NFL predictions with 3 new teams breaking onto the scene in 2025. Plus, Greg Cosell from NFL Films joins the show to tell Colin a disturbing trend he’s noticed with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
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Episode Transcript
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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 Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
ANFL season starts tonight. Eagles about to hammer the Cowboys
in several hours. Greg Cosel one hour from now, we
are livebing Los Angeles, wherever you may be, however you
may be listening.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Thanks for making us part of the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay Jmax season starts tonight one hour. I'll give you
my final predictions for all the divisions. Not a lot
of move. I didn't make one move. I have a
new division winner coming up. But some alar sounding in
Dallas with the Cowboys. Little alert them alarms going off.
The thing about the NFL, if you had to define
(01:10):
what the most important stuff in the NFL is, it's
really are you focused and obsessed with winning? You can
make a lot of mistakes. Hire the wrong person, fire
the wrong person. Are you obsessed with winning over everything else?
And never allow anything to get in the way of that.
(01:33):
Tom Brady famously would not drink a single beer during
the season. Bill Belichick's mantra no days off. Andy Reid
drawing up plays off season. He's not on hunting trips,
He's not on fishing trips. He is all off season,
as is Sean Payton drawing up and designing new plays.
(01:56):
Going to YouTube look it up nineteen fifty five Rose
Bowl tapes to draw up place obsessed with winning? And
yet Troy Aikman finally saying it, the former Cowboy Great,
finally admitting it that Jerry is not obsessed with winning.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Having the Cowboys as a discussion point is meaningful to
him and team. If people aren't talking about the Cowboys,
then he'll do things to stir up. So he he
kind of walked into that and has given the impression
that that supersedes winning.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
In the NFL, the good teams, if they sniff selfish,
if they sniff anything that's not completely about the obsession
to win. Antonio Brown was to me the most talented
receiver arguably in the league. Steelers got him out of
the room, got him out of the room. Tom Brady
got him out of the room. Actually at his house.
(02:57):
The room. Seanyon goes to Denver. Russell Wilson has his
own quarterback office. He sniffs it's more about Russ than
the team. Whether that's fair or not. That office is
gone day one, Russell's gone year two. Cam Newton distracted.
No back to back winning seasons ever, despite his talent,
(03:19):
ended very quickly if anything gets in the way, and
with Jerry finally Troy Aikman and others admitting it, Jerry's
selfish and he's not obsessed with winning. It's about his vanity,
it's about his drama. He puts it ahead of the team.
How about that article a year ago where Cowboy players
former Cowboy players came out and acknowledged it was distracting
(03:41):
to have tours during practice at the facility. So Belichick said,
do your job in Dallas. It's wave to the tours.
That's not about winning. You can do a lot wrong.
I mean, Eagles signed Carson Wentz to a massive deal,
got rid of him soon thereafter.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But they're obsessed with it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Howie Roseman's obsessed with it. And I think what happens
is when you have a distracted owner and an owner
that lacks discipline in the in the workplaces that I've worked,
it always bleeds down. Who's the most penalized team in
the NFL the last five years, The Dallas Cowboys. They're
not focused, they're not disciplined, and they're not obsessed with winning.
(04:23):
And what makes it worse is the one team more
than any other in this league I could argue is
obsessed with winning is the Philadelphia Eagles. If you go
to the Cowboys' last Super Bowl appearance nineteen ninety six,
from that day to today, the Eagles have twenty playoff wins,
the Cowboys have five. The Eagles have eight conference championship appearances,
(04:46):
the Cowboys have zero. The Eagles have four Super Bowl appearances,
and the Cowboys have again zero. That since the Cowboys
last Super Bowl title. Do you know every team in
the NFC, every single team in the NFC in the
last thirty years, has reached the conference championship except the
biggest brand, the Dallas Cowboys. And it goes back to
(05:06):
lack of discipline. They are not obsessed with winning. Jay
Glazer has said this, it's almost unhealthy. The great ones
in this league. The Belichicks and the Brady's, and the
Peyton Mannings and the Mahomes and the Andy Reids and
the Sean Payton's, the Hardbaws. It's almost unhealthy. It is
more important than almost everything else in their life. More
(05:31):
Troy Aikman on Jerry.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm sure that.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Jerry and the Jones family and everyone is tired of
talking about the fact that they haven't been to a
championship game, let alone the Super Bowl in thirty years.
The fact that the Cowboys are a soap opera three
hundred and sixty five days a year that then becomes
the scoreboard.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Hey, Philadelphia can become noisy too. I'm not Sayingiladelphia is
not noisy. I mean they got a coach going after fans,
going after staff man.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I'm not saying.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Philadelphia is not noisy, but you always know what matters
in Philadelphia above everything, doub bull ues. It's not the
case with the Cowboys and Jerry. So I'm reading an
article in the Chicago Sun Times that's one of the
six newspapers still left in America, and it's interesting they're
talking about Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson and the opening
(06:31):
line by this reporter is the more Bears quarterback Kleb
Williams explains how much he's learned from the new coach,
Ben Johnson in the last seven plus months. The clear
it is how little he was taught as a rookie
an off season in preseason with Ben Johnson has been
like grad school for Caleb Williams. That will continue for
the rest of the season, if not longer, heading into
(06:52):
the opener Monday against the Vikings. So we were talking
about this this morning. We've all had bad bosses. I've
been very very lucky. I've had one. I've had overwhelmingly
great supportive bosses and mentors, very lovely, lucky knock on
wood or whatever this new set is built from. I've
had great bosses, but I had a bad one. And
they make everything harder. They hinder momentum. Two steps forward,
(07:16):
three back. And I think sometimes we all know there's
really good coaches and really bad coaches. We know there's
really good owners and bad owners, really great quarterbacks and
bad quarterbacks. I think the gap in coaching, the problem
with it is it affects everybody. I mean, Caleb Williams
last year as a rookie quarterback, essentially, let's be honest,
(07:38):
was sent into the wilderness without a compass.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
They gave him a.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Couple of flashlights and a dark tunnel. Find your way.
Bo Nixon, Denver got human GPS. Sean Payton, he got
a shirtp of climbing this mountain. Caleb Williams, good luck,
it's dark? Is that water is a What do I
(08:02):
see up there? That's the difference, the gap in coaching.
If you go to the first quarterback taken since twenty twenty,
the last five years, and this counts Caleb, Bryce, Young,
Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow. Just to show you how hard
it is for number one picks in the pressure, they're
twelve and forty seven and one, okay, and that includes
(08:22):
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's the guy that got to a super Bowl. It
is hard.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I mean, all you have to do is look
at Sam Darnold with the Jets and the Panthers, and
then Sam Darnold with Kevin O'Connell thirty five touchdowns and
a one h two pass already, look at Geno Smith career, Reborn,
Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnald. It is so hard, So my
hunch is with Caleb Williams, he is going to be
(08:51):
the best version of Caleb Williams. And now whatever that
is in the NFL, if it's a notch below Jayden Daniels,
that's okay. This is a franchise that's never had a
four thousand yard passing quarterback. They've never had a quarterback
throw for thirty touchdowns. So if he becomes an A
minus quarterback in Jaden Daniels's best in class, he becomes
second or third best quarterback. It's still a franchise quarterback.
(09:13):
But he'll be the best he can be. But anybody
listening to me or watching me that has had a
bad boss, they just get in the way of success.
So Caleb Williams has a great drive followed by bad
coaching and a clunker. And I just think there's such
an advantage for a Jadeen Daniels having a Click at Kingsbury,
or a JJ McCarthy having a Kevin O'Connell bo Nicks
(09:38):
having Sean Payton, for anybody that's had a bad boss.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And it's hard enough to scale Mount Kilimanjaro even with
a great shirt up. So here is Albert Breer earlier
this week on realistic expectations. Let's be realistic here. It's
a tough schedule for Caleb and the Bears.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I think there is a world where you can get
them over five hundred, but because of the division that
they play in, it's a tough ask. And because the
schedule they have again, it's a tough ask. Having to
play the other North Division makes it difficult. So I
would say, like, if I'm a Chicago fan, what I'm
looking for as an ascending team at the end of
the year with a quarterback who's playing well.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I said, I'm being optimistic. I think they split their
division games, which the Bears rarely do. I think they're
nine to eight. I don't think that's overwrought, over hyped.
Nine to eight Jmack feels about right to me. Again,
if you put them in the AFC South of the
NFC South, I think eleven and six is on the table.
(10:48):
But Minnesota's roster is probably better green Bay by NFL executives,
and the NFC was just voted number two behind Philadelphia.
Detroit's offensive line and offensive personnel is in a short class.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You know, we're the best teams in the league.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So I think nine and eight feels like, Okay, we
got the coach right, we got a franchise quarterback that
to me in Chicago with their history, that feels very
very good to me.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
You and I have been doing this long enough. You
don't make sweeping conclusions after week one. That being said,
if the Bears can't beat JJ McCarthy at home and
Caleb and Ben aren't on the same page, I would
adjust that nine and eight down to like Morris six
to seven wins. I mean, they got they have to
win this game called or at least look good if
they lose thirty twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
This isn't college football where Texas can stumble, but their
next three games are basically versions of San Jose State. Yes,
like in the NFL, if you lose at home to
a division rival, that can become a three game skid,
and then you.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Get the media in Chicago swirling.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
You're on a short week because you're playing Monday night football,
and then there's panic, Oh my gosh, here we go again.
And I think Chicago's probably one of the teams that
needs a win in Week one more than anyone else.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Greg Cosel in one hour from now. How good is
it to have football back Thursdays from this point I
barely prep by and drive in. I'm sitting eating breakfast
in the car at z Z Street. We come back.
We gave you a hint, a sniff of this yesterday.
(12:23):
You see that number for college football was significant. Yep,
that and a thought on the Eagles heading into tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 7 (12:41):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller with me and a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in
God's name is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's
a spin off of it. Ben Mather Show a coult
hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if
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indist in media, sports and more every week explore some
(13:03):
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Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh, here we go, it's hour two it's a Thursday.
NFL season opens tonight. Baby, we are live. It is
the her j Mac Greg Cosel will be joining us
in less than five minutes, So Jmack, I make my
final predictions on the opening Thursday. I've got one change,
a new division winner, and I'll explain why. But over
(13:32):
the course of the offseason, I make a prediction after
coaching hires and free agency, then after the draft, then
I get one kind of in the middle of preseason,
and then here this one. Are you ready to go
fire away? Okay we start. Here's my predictions for this year.
We start in the AFC, an easier conference to predict
because the top quarterbacks are so good. In the AFC East,
(13:55):
I'm going Josh Allen and the Bills, Patriots' most improved
team gets a wild card team, maybe not good enough
to win a playoff game, but coach and rosters much better.
Dolphins third, I'm going with that just because of Tua
and an offensive coach. I think the Jets rosters good.
I don't know what Aaron Glenn is. They just lost
their best or second best offensive lineman. I'm staying put
(14:17):
with that one. ABC North again, I think it's fairly predictable.
Ravens arguably best operation in the sport with Lamar, I'll
go with the quarterback and Joe Burrow next, although like
J Mack, I worry about how they start and their
offensive line. Aaron and the Steelers will be around five
hundred or a game above or below, and the Browns
are in a rebuild. I love their coach in GM.
(14:38):
I like Joe Flacco, Miles Garrett's amazing, but they're four
ABC South. I'm just gonna go with what I know.
Demiko Ryans hell of a coach, and I like c J. Stroud.
Rebuilding the old line worries me.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Stroud's a gamer. Step back a little last year, but
it wasn't his fault. He couldn't keep wide receivers healthy.
Jaguar second, I'm like J Mack. I like him, but
I know I ever love them Titans. Third, Colts don't
know what quarterback they're going to use. That's scary. Their fourth, well,
they do know what quarterback and it's not a great one.
AFC West, I think it's very difficult. I think you
have four really good teams. I think the Broncos have
(15:12):
the best roster Kansas City Reid and Mahomes. Once again,
I don't know a rookie left tackle. Joe Tooney's gone
worries me. Also, wide receiving Corps no Rashi Rice, Travis
Kelsey getting old. I think the Broncos will look very
clearly early in the season like a Super Bowl contender.
Chargers losing Rashawn Slater the left tackle worries me greatly.
(15:35):
Joe alt moves over, but now they've got a right
tackle issue, and the Raiders will be the best fourth
place team in the division. So Bill's Ravens, Texans, Broncos
are the division winners. Patriots Bengals Chiefs are wild card teams.
New England Bengals are both new playoff teams NFC. Again,
I think it's pretty static. Eagles, Commanders, Giants, Cowboys. I
(15:59):
actually have said this if they if the Giants get
B to B plus quarterback play, they're gonna shock some people.
They're gonna They're gonna go toe to toe with Washington.
But I don't know if Jackson Dart's ready, if Russell
Wilson falters. But I do like the Giants roster. I
love Abdul Carter and their defensive front. It's nothing but
(16:20):
dogs up front. I think in the NFC North again,
we I'm just gonna kind of roll with the quietest offseason.
The Green Bay Packers young still, but I like their
first pick, another wide receiver for Jordan Love. Lions have
two new coordinators, but I love almost everything else about
the organization. Bears, Vikings all know a lot more after
(16:43):
Monday Night, third and fourth, respectively. NFC South is not
a very good division. The Saintal stink. I'm not sure
the Bucks are as good as a lot of the
NFL execs and better stink. But I trust Baker, I
trust the GM, I trust the roster is weird. I've
spent more money on the Falcons losing bets. I don't
(17:04):
know what Atlanta is. I'll just wait till Thanksgiving. Panthers
are better than people think. I'll put them third, Saints fourth,
NFC West. Here's my big change, Rams. I'm going to
have them winning the division again. Bottom line is they
won the division last year. Despite starting one to four,
they still won their division. No team played more rookies
last year, and their defense the last month of the
(17:26):
season was second best. With all those rookies. It was
second best scoring defense in the NFL last month. It'll
be better. It's had a great camp. Seattle. The reason
I moved them from first to second. They have the
cheapest offense in the NFL. They don't have a number
one receiver. Gray Zabel is a potential impact offensive lineman,
(17:46):
but their online last year stunk, so I don't think
they have the firepower again. I think Seahawks can win
nine games. I think the Niners could win nine and
Seahawks win the tiebreaker. I don't think there's a big
gap in this between the Rams, Seahawks, Niners, and Cardinals.
I don't if the Cardinals won eight and the Rams
won ten, that could be the difference. I only have
(18:08):
one new team making the playoffs in the NFC. It's
the Seahawks. I only have three new playoff teams. The
NFL average is closer to five, but I have argued
that number has been going down in recent years. Why
because it's becoming a more quarterback dependent league, and if
you've got a great quarterback or a very good one,
(18:30):
you are more predictably a playoff team. So it used
to be there were six new playoff teams. Then five
playoff team. It's getting down to four, and I think
this year it's three. So as the quarterback becomes more
important and offensive coaches have a better relationship with that quarterback,
the league is getting, at least not on a week
(18:50):
two week basis, but on a macro level, a little
easier to predict. And with that Greg Cosel forty six
years NFL films, allright, let's start Tonight's the big one
Philadelphia in Dallas. Sure, Okay, Brian Schottenheimer's offense, you've seen
a lot of it in your forty six years, especially
in the last fifteen years. Does it match with Dak
(19:12):
Prescott's skill set?
Speaker 8 (19:16):
Well, I think they're going to have to have some
kind of meaningful, viable, sustaining run game. You know, I
spent earlier this week watching literally all of Dak Prescott's
throws from last year before he got hurt, and I
was kind of disappointed. There's something wrong with his lower body, Colin,
you know, and this was before he got hurt. He
(19:37):
was very tight hipped, he was very heavy footed. He
threw the ball much better to his left than to
his right. He really he was lifting his feet off
the ground making a lot of throws. He did not
look very good last year. Now with Pickens there, they
have a true boundary.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
X receiver, that single receiver to the short side of
the field, which allows C. D.
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Lamb, who's a terrific player, to be what he's best at,
which is kind of a movement motion receiver that can
line up in multiple positions.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But I don't know.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
I think their defense has some significant questions versus this
Eagles offense, which is really really efficient. It would not
surprise me at all tonight if you saw the Eagles
come out, no huddle, tempo and throw the football because
there's a lot of changes on that Cowboys defense, including
the decoordinator.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I want to ask you about Philly. Last year
Eagles thirty six plus carries per game. After the buye
they ran more and threw less. You said you think
they'll run. I think their personnel, I think they could
do anything. I mean, I like their tight ends, I
like everything does their personnel. When you watch Jalen Hurts.
They as a staff on the bye week said we're
(20:59):
going to run more throw less. You probably agree with
that decision.
Speaker 8 (21:06):
I mean, I think it fits who they are and
what they are. They've got the best O line in
the league. They have basically the same offense back. The
only true change is at right guard, where Steen played
meaningful snaps last year. Anyway, so they've got the same
group back. They are a run first football team. I
think the fact that they are so good on fourth
down and they go for it on fourth down, literally
(21:29):
when they get to the fifty yard line, they go
for it if.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
It's fourth and fourth or less.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
I think that impacts what they do on third down,
which has run the ball more than any team in
the league on third down between four and eight yards.
That really impacts the way defenses have to play them.
And I think that within the context of how they
play offense, Jalen Hurts is highly efficient. You know, they
do not turn the football over and Hurts. The running
(21:56):
element that Hurts brings both by design within the context
of their run game and as a scrambler is You
cannot overlook that that is so much a part of
their offense and who they are. They're very, very difficult
to defend.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So I want to go to another game this weekend
and maybe the Marquee game Baltimore and Buffalo. I think
Baltimore's got the second best roster in the league. That's
just what my eyes tell me. After Philadelphia, and we
always think of Baltimore, Well, they're run heavy, it's Dereck Henry,
it's Lamar. But I think we would both admit Lamar's
gotten better in the pocket. But do you think especially
(22:31):
when they go on you know, when they play Buffalo
in these big teams, they've gotten a little They've gotten
a little tight at times with Kansas City, do you
think the essence of the Ravens is like the Eagles,
they are a run team first, or do you feel
differently about because really, if you took a Baltimore and
Philadelphia had a lot in common. But do you see
(22:51):
a lot of things in common?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
You know, It's funny.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
I watched a lot of Lamar this summer, and I
thought that their offense, he threw the ball well. I
thought Monkin did a really good job with their route
concepts and combinations to present.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Really clean throws for Lamar.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
You know, they played in the Divisional playoffs last year
these two teams, and it was a very odd game.
As you may remember, Josh Allen threw for less than
one hundred and thirty yards. And in that game, the
Bills dominated on the ground. They controlled the game running
the football, which you would not expect against the Ravens defense,
which is very, very good. And actually what we saw
(23:28):
a lot in that game was the Bills be very
aggressive with pressure against the Ravens offense. Usually games don't
work out exactly the same way when teams meet so
close together like that. But the Ravens, I mean, they're
a really good football team, you know. You know, people
get wrapped up and who makes the Super Bowl and
obviously they haven't, and they haven't won an AFC Championship
(23:50):
game obviously, but there's it's not a team with many
weaknesses at all.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You know, last year Josh Allen only completed about sixty
three percent of his throws, which was twenty fourth in
the league. I don't it doesn't. I've always said the
lines like sixty two percent. He also adds a dynamic physically,
so I don't worry a ton about it. And now
he has James Cook. But let me ask you, when
you look at that number for all his talent, was
(24:15):
it mechanics, footwork or was it just lack of dependable
receiving targets.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Well, I think the one thing they were lacking last year,
which they're hoping they rectified this year with the development
of Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer now being there coming
over from the Chargers, is they really didn't have one
on one winners last year. And I think that that
impacts a quarterback obviously, because when you get man coverage,
you know, I remember having this conversation years ago with
(24:41):
Troy Aikman, and he said, when it's one on one
on the outside, your receivers have to win, and they
did not really have that.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Guy.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Shakiir is an excellent slot receiver, that's who he is.
He's very good at it, but he can't really be
your number one weapon over the course of his season.
They just didn't really have received on the edge who
could win one on one, and that absolutely impacts your quarterback.
So I don't think that completion percentage number is really
indicative of anything truly important about Josh Allen.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, let's talk Green Bay Detroit so I think I
certainly felt this way. I loved all their young receivers
and tight ends. But then they go in the first
round and they go after a wide receiver, a kid
from Texas.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I liked that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
So my take was, oh, what is that telling me
they may not like their receiving cores as much when
and I maybe I overvalued all their young guys Christian
Watson can't stay healthy. But I like their tight ends.
I really like their running back. What did it tell
you when they drafted a wide receiver. Am I overvaluing
all their young receiving talent?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know what, Colin?
Speaker 8 (25:47):
It could be that they had Golden rated as a
top ten player on their board, and when he was
there at whatever number they drafted, they said, we have
to stick to our board.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
That See, that's the stuff we don't know. We started
reading into all this.
Speaker 8 (25:58):
I personally really like Matthew Golden's tape coming out of Texas.
I thought he was an ascending player as the year
progressed in college.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
When I did him for the draft, I really really
liked him.
Speaker 8 (26:09):
The other player in that offense that I think really
is a player to watch this year is the tight
end craft draft is a really good player. He's pretty athletic.
I mean, we don't necessarily mention him when we talk
about the highly athletic tight ends in the league, but
he's pretty close to that. They're a pretty good offensive team.
Love is I watched a lot of love as well
(26:31):
this summer. You know, I still think at times his
lower body mechanics and causes him some problems, but there's
no question this kid can play off his back foot
and drive the ball both in the middle of the
field and outside the numbers. I like the fact that
he's an aggressive thrower. They'll be really interesting because of
their defense as well. Now we know they have Micah Parsons.
(26:52):
Last year they had one of the highest stunt percentages
with their defensive line of any team in the league.
And now that they have Micah Parsons and another year
with linebacker Eddrian Cooper another player to watch. He was
a great pass rusher as a blitzer at Texas A
and M, and he sort of had to get his.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Feet wet last year as a rookie. This could be
a really intriguing defense as well.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay, so the Lions go out and replace both coordinators.
Philadelphia did that a few years ago, and by week
ten or eleven they were a mess. I am not
a huge fan of replacing a star coordinator with somebody
in the building. I think you have to make a
global search right go everywhere.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
They were comfortable in the building. When you watched Ben
Johnson's Wizardry last year, was it more about personnel or
his play calling? Because it felt like to me, in
big spots he was really top of the class.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
I find play calling to be something that's very difficult
to talk about because I always feel like you'd have
to be in the building all week to understand how
they go about putting a game plan together. To me,
when I watched that offense and Ben Jonson, and to
me what stands out is just the spacing of the
route concepts, how it really beautifully defines the reads for
(28:07):
the quarterback because the spacing is so good. I mean,
football is still a game because we don't think of
it unlike let's say basketball or hockey, where you can
see the whole field basically all the ice. You can't
see the entire football field. But it's still a game
that's played and can find space and therefore spacing and balance.
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
(28:29):
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage,
and that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Now I would imagine conceptually they're not going to change
very much at all. Goff understands that offense exceptionally well,
and there may be no quarterback better in football throwing
between the numbers at the intermediate level. So now it
(28:52):
comes down to how the new coordinator calls a game,
and that's impossible to know until we see it, and
even then we might not know because we're not there.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So Kansas City and the Chargers play overseas, and we
all know how great Andy Reid is and Patrick Mahomes is,
and we know how good Joe Tooney was, and this
team averaged twenty two points the last two seasons. That's
what they averaged with Andy Reid and Mahomes, And that
leads me to believe this personnel is being elevated and
(29:24):
it's not very good.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I would say they have drafted the defensive side brilliantly.
They have missed like every team in the league, they've
missed on wide receivers. But if you would have told
me reading Mahomes and Travis Kelsey Joe Tooney averaged twenty
two points the last two years, I'd be like, what
is wrong? My take is the left tackle and the
receiving corps. It feels like they're bailing water. What does
(29:48):
the film say about the Chiefs personnel.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, they were very condensed as a pass game.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
We know Mahomes can make special plays at any point
in the game. He's just a special player with maybe
the best sense of spatial awareness of any quarterback we've
ever seen. But their left tackle position, which is now
where rookie Josh Simmons from Ohio State. Their left guard
is Sue Mattea, who's not really played left guard.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
He was a tackle in college.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
And the Chargers last year caused some problems for them
with their defense.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I watch both of those games.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
The first game they played a ton of zone because
they did not have Derwin James, and they caused problems.
The second game, they had Derwin James and played far
more man because James can match up to Travis Kelsey.
But I would expect in this matchup they will test
the left tackle and the left guard. There'll be a
lot of stunt concepts. They'll put Khalil Mack on the
(30:40):
left tackle. I mean this is an interesting matchup as
far as the pass rush versus this offensive line.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
All Right, Drake Man New England I think is going
to be a wild card team. I think coaching upgrade
three hundred million in free agency, and I just think
Vrabel's better with person Eldon Belichick was in his last
six or seven years. I think they've updated, upgraded virtually everything.
What did you see? Give me something about Drake May
(31:09):
that you really found promising greg on film, and then
something that he absolutely has to work on.
Speaker 8 (31:16):
I would say two things that I really noticed on
film and studying him this summer was just innate toughness
in the pocket.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
And I don't think you can teach that. I think
the guys that.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
Are willing to stand and deliver when there's people around
them and they know they're going to get hit, I'm
not sure you can teach that.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
He's got that.
Speaker 8 (31:32):
The other thing I'm not sure that you can teach
players is just a natural willingness to throw the ball
into tight windows.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
They see those throws.
Speaker 8 (31:41):
As viable throws and Drake may seize those throws as
viable throws. The one thing I'd love to see him
get a little better at is just I thought his
ball placement was at times a little erratic. Yeah, I
wouldn't call him scattershot, but I thought that there were
a few too many layups that he missed that he
cannot miss at this left.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, it's it's it's such a you know, the NFL
is so funny. You can do so many things wrong,
but if you find a good young quarterback, it erases
a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It's like, if Drake May can play like will you
and I think he can, they don't need to have
a great receiving corps. I mean, it's just, I mean,
it's just it's so interesting in this league. I was
talking about my predictions the league has become such a
quarterback dependent league. But I also I was watching the
other day there was a list of the top offensive minds.
(32:33):
I think the offensive coaching in my opinion, throughout the league.
I think they're more smart young offensive coaches that I've
ever seen. Does the film belie that? Does your film
think your concepts are better and smarter?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Well?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Here's how I'd answer that. I think that they're really good.
There's very few.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Quarterbacks, even the ones we think are great, because I
talked to coaches that have no flaws in their game
at all. There's very few guys like that.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
So I think what really good offensive coaches do, besides
being able to scheme well designed plays, is understand the
strengths of their quarterback and how to minimize the limitations
or flaws. And I think that's absolutely critical for coaches, because,
as I said, if you speak to coaches, no coach
will tell you, Oh, this guy's perfect, he's got no
(33:22):
flaws in his game.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
No coach talks like that.
Speaker 8 (33:24):
And I think that's the absolute key to getting the
most not only out of your quarterback, Colin, but out
of your team. I think the Eagles are maybe the
best example of that. I mean, I watched their tape
this summer, and I thought the way they ran their offense,
allowing Jalen Hurts to do what he does absolutely really
well and play to high level efficiency, was a phenomenal
(33:46):
coaching job. Playing to the strengths of the quarterback and
the overall offense and the overall team.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
And I think that's one reason they're so good.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah. Well, I hope you're as fired up as we are,
and I know you are. Forty six years NFL Films.
Can't wait for tonight. Greg is always great. Sen you thanks, Colin,
appreciate it. Yeah, it's uh, I just football is just different.
I have a smile on my face perpetually from like
Labor Day until February twentieth. Well maybe that's because I'm
(34:19):
working with you.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Oh wow, wow, Oh my goodness. It's a nice coming.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Oh.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
I know.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Listen, this is the optimistic nice column. You know, it
depends on the night. Tonight. I am home bed early
breaking down tape.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
This is this big night.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
That's the beauty of being out here in California. You
could be to bed at like nine o'clock and watch
the entire game. Here you go.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
That's nice.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio and noon to three Eastern nine am to
noone 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 Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
ANFL season starts tonight. Eagles about to hammer the Cowboys
in several hours. Greg Cosel one hour from now, we
are livebing Los Angeles, wherever you may be, however you
may be listening.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Thanks for making us part of the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Okay Jmax season starts tonight one hour. I'll give you
my final predictions for all the divisions. Not a lot
of move. I didn't make one move. I have a
new division winner coming up. But some alar sounding in
Dallas with the Cowboys. Little alert them alarms going off.
The thing about the NFL, if you had to define
(01:10):
what the most important stuff in the NFL is, it's
really are you focused and obsessed with winning? You can
make a lot of mistakes. Hire the wrong person, fire
the wrong person. Are you obsessed with winning over everything else?
And never allow anything to get in the way of that.
(01:33):
Tom Brady famously would not drink a single beer during
the season. Bill Belichick's mantra no days off. Andy Reid
drawing up plays off season. He's not on hunting trips,
He's not on fishing trips. He is all off season,
as is Sean Payton drawing up and designing new plays.
(01:56):
Going to YouTube look it up nineteen fifty five Rose
Bowl tapes to draw up place obsessed with winning? And
yet Troy Aikman finally saying it, the former Cowboy Great,
finally admitting it that Jerry is not obsessed with winning.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Having the Cowboys as a discussion point is meaningful to
him and team. If people aren't talking about the Cowboys,
then he'll do things to stir up. So he he
kind of walked into that and has given the impression
that that supersedes winning.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
In the NFL, the good teams, if they sniff selfish,
if they sniff anything that's not completely about the obsession
to win. Antonio Brown was to me the most talented
receiver arguably in the league. Steelers got him out of
the room, got him out of the room. Tom Brady
got him out of the room. Actually at his house.
(02:57):
The room. Seanyon goes to Denver. Russell Wilson has his
own quarterback office. He sniffs it's more about Russ than
the team. Whether that's fair or not. That office is
gone day one, Russell's gone year two. Cam Newton distracted.
No back to back winning seasons ever, despite his talent,
(03:19):
ended very quickly if anything gets in the way, and
with Jerry finally Troy Aikman and others admitting it, Jerry's
selfish and he's not obsessed with winning. It's about his vanity,
it's about his drama. He puts it ahead of the team.
How about that article a year ago where Cowboy players
former Cowboy players came out and acknowledged it was distracting
(03:41):
to have tours during practice at the facility. So Belichick said,
do your job in Dallas. It's wave to the tours.
That's not about winning. You can do a lot wrong.
I mean, Eagles signed Carson Wentz to a massive deal,
got rid of him soon thereafter.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
But they're obsessed with it.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Howie Roseman's obsessed with it. And I think what happens
is when you have a distracted owner and an owner
that lacks discipline in the in the workplaces that I've worked,
it always bleeds down. Who's the most penalized team in
the NFL the last five years, The Dallas Cowboys. They're
not focused, they're not disciplined, and they're not obsessed with winning.
(04:23):
And what makes it worse is the one team more
than any other in this league I could argue is
obsessed with winning is the Philadelphia Eagles. If you go
to the Cowboys' last Super Bowl appearance nineteen ninety six,
from that day to today, the Eagles have twenty playoff wins,
the Cowboys have five. The Eagles have eight conference championship appearances,
(04:46):
the Cowboys have zero. The Eagles have four Super Bowl appearances,
and the Cowboys have again zero. That since the Cowboys
last Super Bowl title. Do you know every team in
the NFC, every single team in the NFC in the
last thirty years, has reached the conference championship except the
biggest brand, the Dallas Cowboys. And it goes back to
(05:06):
lack of discipline. They are not obsessed with winning. Jay
Glazer has said this, it's almost unhealthy. The great ones
in this league. The Belichicks and the Brady's, and the
Peyton Mannings and the Mahomes and the Andy Reids and
the Sean Payton's, the Hardbaws. It's almost unhealthy. It is
more important than almost everything else in their life. More
(05:31):
Troy Aikman on Jerry.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I'm sure that.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Jerry and the Jones family and everyone is tired of
talking about the fact that they haven't been to a
championship game, let alone the Super Bowl in thirty years.
The fact that the Cowboys are a soap opera three
hundred and sixty five days a year that then becomes
the scoreboard.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Hey, Philadelphia can become noisy too. I'm not Sayingiladelphia is
not noisy. I mean they got a coach going after fans,
going after staff man.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I'm not saying.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Philadelphia is not noisy, but you always know what matters
in Philadelphia above everything, doub bull ues. It's not the
case with the Cowboys and Jerry. So I'm reading an
article in the Chicago Sun Times that's one of the
six newspapers still left in America, and it's interesting they're
talking about Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson and the opening
(06:31):
line by this reporter is the more Bears quarterback Kleb
Williams explains how much he's learned from the new coach,
Ben Johnson in the last seven plus months. The clear
it is how little he was taught as a rookie
an off season in preseason with Ben Johnson has been
like grad school for Caleb Williams. That will continue for
the rest of the season, if not longer, heading into
(06:52):
the opener Monday against the Vikings. So we were talking
about this this morning. We've all had bad bosses. I've
been very very lucky. I've had one. I've had overwhelmingly
great supportive bosses and mentors, very lovely, lucky knock on
wood or whatever this new set is built from. I've
had great bosses, but I had a bad one. And
they make everything harder. They hinder momentum. Two steps forward,
(07:16):
three back. And I think sometimes we all know there's
really good coaches and really bad coaches. We know there's
really good owners and bad owners, really great quarterbacks and
bad quarterbacks. I think the gap in coaching, the problem
with it is it affects everybody. I mean, Caleb Williams
last year as a rookie quarterback, essentially, let's be honest,
(07:38):
was sent into the wilderness without a compass.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
They gave him a.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Couple of flashlights and a dark tunnel. Find your way.
Bo Nixon, Denver got human GPS. Sean Payton, he got
a shirtp of climbing this mountain. Caleb Williams, good luck,
it's dark? Is that water is a What do I
(08:02):
see up there? That's the difference, the gap in coaching.
If you go to the first quarterback taken since twenty twenty,
the last five years, and this counts Caleb, Bryce, Young,
Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow. Just to show you how hard
it is for number one picks in the pressure, they're
twelve and forty seven and one, okay, and that includes
(08:22):
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's the guy that got to a super Bowl. It
is hard.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I mean, all you have to do is look
at Sam Darnold with the Jets and the Panthers, and
then Sam Darnold with Kevin O'Connell thirty five touchdowns and
a one h two pass already, look at Geno Smith career, Reborn,
Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnald. It is so hard, So my
hunch is with Caleb Williams, he is going to be
(08:51):
the best version of Caleb Williams. And now whatever that
is in the NFL, if it's a notch below Jayden Daniels,
that's okay. This is a franchise that's never had a
four thousand yard passing quarterback. They've never had a quarterback
throw for thirty touchdowns. So if he becomes an A
minus quarterback in Jaden Daniels's best in class, he becomes
second or third best quarterback. It's still a franchise quarterback.
(09:13):
But he'll be the best he can be. But anybody
listening to me or watching me that has had a
bad boss, they just get in the way of success.
So Caleb Williams has a great drive followed by bad
coaching and a clunker. And I just think there's such
an advantage for a Jadeen Daniels having a Click at Kingsbury,
or a JJ McCarthy having a Kevin O'Connell bo Nicks
(09:38):
having Sean Payton, for anybody that's had a bad boss.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And it's hard enough to scale Mount Kilimanjaro even with
a great shirt up. So here is Albert Breer earlier
this week on realistic expectations. Let's be realistic here. It's
a tough schedule for Caleb and the Bears.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
I think there is a world where you can get
them over five hundred, but because of the division that
they play in, it's a tough ask. And because the
schedule they have again, it's a tough ask. Having to
play the other North Division makes it difficult. So I
would say, like, if I'm a Chicago fan, what I'm
looking for as an ascending team at the end of
the year with a quarterback who's playing well.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I said, I'm being optimistic. I think they split their
division games, which the Bears rarely do. I think they're
nine to eight. I don't think that's overwrought, over hyped.
Nine to eight Jmack feels about right to me. Again,
if you put them in the AFC South of the
NFC South, I think eleven and six is on the table.
(10:48):
But Minnesota's roster is probably better green Bay by NFL executives,
and the NFC was just voted number two behind Philadelphia.
Detroit's offensive line and offensive personnel is in a short class.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You know, we're the best teams in the league.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So I think nine and eight feels like, Okay, we
got the coach right, we got a franchise quarterback that
to me in Chicago with their history, that feels very
very good to me.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
You and I have been doing this long enough. You
don't make sweeping conclusions after week one. That being said,
if the Bears can't beat JJ McCarthy at home and
Caleb and Ben aren't on the same page, I would
adjust that nine and eight down to like Morris six
to seven wins. I mean, they got they have to
win this game called or at least look good if
they lose thirty twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
This isn't college football where Texas can stumble, but their
next three games are basically versions of San Jose State. Yes,
like in the NFL, if you lose at home to
a division rival, that can become a three game skid,
and then you.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Get the media in Chicago swirling.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
You're on a short week because you're playing Monday night football,
and then there's panic, Oh my gosh, here we go again.
And I think Chicago's probably one of the teams that
needs a win in Week one more than anyone else.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Greg Cosel in one hour from now. How good is
it to have football back Thursdays from this point I
barely prep by and drive in. I'm sitting eating breakfast
in the car at z Z Street. We come back.
We gave you a hint, a sniff of this yesterday.
(12:23):
You see that number for college football was significant. Yep,
that and a thought on the Eagles heading into tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern, non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Hey, it's Ben, host of the Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller with me and a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in
God's name is the Fifth Hour. I'll tell you it's
a spin off of it. Ben Mather Show a coult
hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if
you will a world will We chat with captains of
indist in media, sports and more every week explore some
(13:03):
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the
Fifth Hour with Ben Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh, here we go, it's hour two it's a Thursday.
NFL season opens tonight. Baby, we are live. It is
the her j Mac Greg Cosel will be joining us
in less than five minutes, So Jmack, I make my
final predictions on the opening Thursday. I've got one change,
a new division winner, and I'll explain why. But over
(13:32):
the course of the offseason, I make a prediction after
coaching hires and free agency, then after the draft, then
I get one kind of in the middle of preseason,
and then here this one. Are you ready to go
fire away? Okay we start. Here's my predictions for this year.
We start in the AFC, an easier conference to predict
because the top quarterbacks are so good. In the AFC East,
(13:55):
I'm going Josh Allen and the Bills, Patriots' most improved
team gets a wild card team, maybe not good enough
to win a playoff game, but coach and rosters much better.
Dolphins third, I'm going with that just because of Tua
and an offensive coach. I think the Jets rosters good.
I don't know what Aaron Glenn is. They just lost
their best or second best offensive lineman. I'm staying put
(14:17):
with that one. ABC North again, I think it's fairly predictable.
Ravens arguably best operation in the sport with Lamar, I'll
go with the quarterback and Joe Burrow next, although like
J Mack, I worry about how they start and their
offensive line. Aaron and the Steelers will be around five
hundred or a game above or below, and the Browns
are in a rebuild. I love their coach in GM.
(14:38):
I like Joe Flacco, Miles Garrett's amazing, but they're four
ABC South. I'm just gonna go with what I know.
Demiko Ryans hell of a coach, and I like c J. Stroud.
Rebuilding the old line worries me.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Stroud's a gamer. Step back a little last year, but
it wasn't his fault. He couldn't keep wide receivers healthy.
Jaguar second, I'm like J Mack. I like him, but
I know I ever love them Titans. Third, Colts don't
know what quarterback they're going to use. That's scary. Their fourth, well,
they do know what quarterback and it's not a great one.
AFC West, I think it's very difficult. I think you
have four really good teams. I think the Broncos have
(15:12):
the best roster Kansas City Reid and Mahomes. Once again,
I don't know a rookie left tackle. Joe Tooney's gone
worries me. Also, wide receiving Corps no Rashi Rice, Travis
Kelsey getting old. I think the Broncos will look very
clearly early in the season like a Super Bowl contender.
Chargers losing Rashawn Slater the left tackle worries me greatly.
(15:35):
Joe alt moves over, but now they've got a right
tackle issue, and the Raiders will be the best fourth
place team in the division. So Bill's Ravens, Texans, Broncos
are the division winners. Patriots Bengals Chiefs are wild card teams.
New England Bengals are both new playoff teams NFC. Again,
I think it's pretty static. Eagles, Commanders, Giants, Cowboys. I
(15:59):
actually have said this if they if the Giants get
B to B plus quarterback play, they're gonna shock some people.
They're gonna They're gonna go toe to toe with Washington.
But I don't know if Jackson Dart's ready, if Russell
Wilson falters. But I do like the Giants roster. I
love Abdul Carter and their defensive front. It's nothing but
(16:20):
dogs up front. I think in the NFC North again,
we I'm just gonna kind of roll with the quietest offseason.
The Green Bay Packers young still, but I like their
first pick, another wide receiver for Jordan Love. Lions have
two new coordinators, but I love almost everything else about
the organization. Bears, Vikings all know a lot more after
(16:43):
Monday Night, third and fourth, respectively. NFC South is not
a very good division. The Saintal stink. I'm not sure
the Bucks are as good as a lot of the
NFL execs and better stink. But I trust Baker, I
trust the GM, I trust the roster is weird. I've
spent more money on the Falcons losing bets. I don't
(17:04):
know what Atlanta is. I'll just wait till Thanksgiving. Panthers
are better than people think. I'll put them third, Saints fourth,
NFC West. Here's my big change, Rams. I'm going to
have them winning the division again. Bottom line is they
won the division last year. Despite starting one to four,
they still won their division. No team played more rookies
last year, and their defense the last month of the
(17:26):
season was second best. With all those rookies. It was
second best scoring defense in the NFL last month. It'll
be better. It's had a great camp. Seattle. The reason
I moved them from first to second. They have the
cheapest offense in the NFL. They don't have a number
one receiver. Gray Zabel is a potential impact offensive lineman,
(17:46):
but their online last year stunk, so I don't think
they have the firepower again. I think Seahawks can win
nine games. I think the Niners could win nine and
Seahawks win the tiebreaker. I don't think there's a big
gap in this between the Rams, Seahawks, Niners, and Cardinals.
I don't if the Cardinals won eight and the Rams
won ten, that could be the difference. I only have
(18:08):
one new team making the playoffs in the NFC. It's
the Seahawks. I only have three new playoff teams. The
NFL average is closer to five, but I have argued
that number has been going down in recent years. Why
because it's becoming a more quarterback dependent league, and if
you've got a great quarterback or a very good one,
(18:30):
you are more predictably a playoff team. So it used
to be there were six new playoff teams. Then five
playoff team. It's getting down to four, and I think
this year it's three. So as the quarterback becomes more
important and offensive coaches have a better relationship with that quarterback,
the league is getting, at least not on a week
(18:50):
two week basis, but on a macro level, a little
easier to predict. And with that Greg Cosel forty six
years NFL films, allright, let's start Tonight's the big one
Philadelphia in Dallas. Sure, Okay, Brian Schottenheimer's offense, you've seen
a lot of it in your forty six years, especially
in the last fifteen years. Does it match with Dak
(19:12):
Prescott's skill set?
Speaker 8 (19:16):
Well, I think they're going to have to have some
kind of meaningful, viable, sustaining run game. You know, I
spent earlier this week watching literally all of Dak Prescott's
throws from last year before he got hurt, and I
was kind of disappointed. There's something wrong with his lower body, Colin,
you know, and this was before he got hurt. He
(19:37):
was very tight hipped, he was very heavy footed. He
threw the ball much better to his left than to
his right. He really he was lifting his feet off
the ground making a lot of throws. He did not
look very good last year. Now with Pickens there, they
have a true boundary.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
X receiver, that single receiver to the short side of
the field, which allows C. D.
Speaker 8 (19:58):
Lamb, who's a terrific player, to be what he's best at,
which is kind of a movement motion receiver that can
line up in multiple positions.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But I don't know.
Speaker 8 (20:09):
I think their defense has some significant questions versus this
Eagles offense, which is really really efficient. It would not
surprise me at all tonight if you saw the Eagles
come out, no huddle, tempo and throw the football because
there's a lot of changes on that Cowboys defense, including
the decoordinator.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
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Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I want to ask you about Philly. Last year
Eagles thirty six plus carries per game. After the buye
they ran more and threw less. You said you think
they'll run. I think their personnel, I think they could
do anything. I mean, I like their tight ends, I
like everything does their personnel. When you watch Jalen Hurts.
They as a staff on the bye week said we're
(20:59):
going to run more throw less. You probably agree with
that decision.
Speaker 8 (21:06):
I mean, I think it fits who they are and
what they are. They've got the best O line in
the league. They have basically the same offense back. The
only true change is at right guard, where Steen played
meaningful snaps last year. Anyway, so they've got the same
group back. They are a run first football team. I
think the fact that they are so good on fourth
down and they go for it on fourth down, literally
(21:29):
when they get to the fifty yard line, they go
for it if.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
It's fourth and fourth or less.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
I think that impacts what they do on third down,
which has run the ball more than any team in
the league on third down between four and eight yards.
That really impacts the way defenses have to play them.
And I think that within the context of how they
play offense, Jalen Hurts is highly efficient. You know, they
do not turn the football over and Hurts. The running
(21:56):
element that Hurts brings both by design within the context
of their run game and as a scrambler is You
cannot overlook that that is so much a part of
their offense and who they are. They're very, very difficult
to defend.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So I want to go to another game this weekend
and maybe the Marquee game Baltimore and Buffalo. I think
Baltimore's got the second best roster in the league. That's
just what my eyes tell me. After Philadelphia, and we
always think of Baltimore, Well, they're run heavy, it's Dereck Henry,
it's Lamar. But I think we would both admit Lamar's
gotten better in the pocket. But do you think especially
(22:31):
when they go on you know, when they play Buffalo
in these big teams, they've gotten a little They've gotten
a little tight at times with Kansas City, do you
think the essence of the Ravens is like the Eagles,
they are a run team first, or do you feel
differently about because really, if you took a Baltimore and
Philadelphia had a lot in common. But do you see
(22:51):
a lot of things in common?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
You know, It's funny.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
I watched a lot of Lamar this summer, and I
thought that their offense, he threw the ball well. I
thought Monkin did a really good job with their route
concepts and combinations to present.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Really clean throws for Lamar.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
You know, they played in the Divisional playoffs last year
these two teams, and it was a very odd game.
As you may remember, Josh Allen threw for less than
one hundred and thirty yards. And in that game, the
Bills dominated on the ground. They controlled the game running
the football, which you would not expect against the Ravens defense,
which is very, very good. And actually what we saw
(23:28):
a lot in that game was the Bills be very
aggressive with pressure against the Ravens offense. Usually games don't
work out exactly the same way when teams meet so
close together like that. But the Ravens, I mean, they're
a really good football team, you know. You know, people
get wrapped up and who makes the Super Bowl and
obviously they haven't, and they haven't won an AFC Championship
(23:50):
game obviously, but there's it's not a team with many
weaknesses at all.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
You know, last year Josh Allen only completed about sixty
three percent of his throws, which was twenty fourth in
the league. I don't it doesn't. I've always said the
lines like sixty two percent. He also adds a dynamic physically,
so I don't worry a ton about it. And now
he has James Cook. But let me ask you, when
you look at that number for all his talent, was
(24:15):
it mechanics, footwork or was it just lack of dependable
receiving targets.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Well, I think the one thing they were lacking last year,
which they're hoping they rectified this year with the development
of Keon Coleman and Josh Palmer now being there coming
over from the Chargers, is they really didn't have one
on one winners last year. And I think that that
impacts a quarterback obviously, because when you get man coverage,
you know, I remember having this conversation years ago with
(24:41):
Troy Aikman, and he said, when it's one on one
on the outside, your receivers have to win, and they
did not really have that.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Guy.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Shakiir is an excellent slot receiver, that's who he is.
He's very good at it, but he can't really be
your number one weapon over the course of his season.
They just didn't really have received on the edge who
could win one on one, and that absolutely impacts your quarterback.
So I don't think that completion percentage number is really
indicative of anything truly important about Josh Allen.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, let's talk Green Bay Detroit so I think I
certainly felt this way. I loved all their young receivers
and tight ends. But then they go in the first
round and they go after a wide receiver, a kid
from Texas.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I liked that.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
So my take was, oh, what is that telling me
they may not like their receiving cores as much when
and I maybe I overvalued all their young guys Christian
Watson can't stay healthy. But I like their tight ends.
I really like their running back. What did it tell
you when they drafted a wide receiver. Am I overvaluing
all their young receiving talent?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know what, Colin?
Speaker 8 (25:47):
It could be that they had Golden rated as a
top ten player on their board, and when he was
there at whatever number they drafted, they said, we have
to stick to our board.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
That See, that's the stuff we don't know. We started
reading into all this.
Speaker 8 (25:58):
I personally really like Matthew Golden's tape coming out of Texas.
I thought he was an ascending player as the year
progressed in college.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
When I did him for the draft, I really really
liked him.
Speaker 8 (26:09):
The other player in that offense that I think really
is a player to watch this year is the tight
end craft draft is a really good player. He's pretty athletic.
I mean, we don't necessarily mention him when we talk
about the highly athletic tight ends in the league, but
he's pretty close to that. They're a pretty good offensive team.
Love is I watched a lot of love as well
(26:31):
this summer. You know, I still think at times his
lower body mechanics and causes him some problems, but there's
no question this kid can play off his back foot
and drive the ball both in the middle of the
field and outside the numbers. I like the fact that
he's an aggressive thrower. They'll be really interesting because of
their defense as well. Now we know they have Micah Parsons.
(26:52):
Last year they had one of the highest stunt percentages
with their defensive line of any team in the league.
And now that they have Micah Parsons and another year
with linebacker Eddrian Cooper another player to watch. He was
a great pass rusher as a blitzer at Texas A
and M, and he sort of had to get his.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Feet wet last year as a rookie. This could be
a really intriguing defense as well.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay, so the Lions go out and replace both coordinators.
Philadelphia did that a few years ago, and by week
ten or eleven they were a mess. I am not
a huge fan of replacing a star coordinator with somebody
in the building. I think you have to make a
global search right go everywhere.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
They were comfortable in the building. When you watched Ben
Johnson's Wizardry last year, was it more about personnel or
his play calling? Because it felt like to me, in
big spots he was really top of the class.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (27:47):
I find play calling to be something that's very difficult
to talk about because I always feel like you'd have
to be in the building all week to understand how
they go about putting a game plan together. To me,
when I watched that offense and Ben Jonson, and to
me what stands out is just the spacing of the
route concepts, how it really beautifully defines the reads for
(28:07):
the quarterback because the spacing is so good. I mean,
football is still a game because we don't think of
it unlike let's say basketball or hockey, where you can
see the whole field basically all the ice. You can't
see the entire football field. But it's still a game
that's played and can find space and therefore spacing and balance.
You hear floor balance in basketball all the time, but
(28:29):
that's critical for the passing game, particularly against zone coverage,
and that's where I thought Ben Johnson was an absolute master.
Now I would imagine conceptually they're not going to change
very much at all. Goff understands that offense exceptionally well,
and there may be no quarterback better in football throwing
between the numbers at the intermediate level. So now it
(28:52):
comes down to how the new coordinator calls a game,
and that's impossible to know until we see it, and
even then we might not know because we're not there.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
I want to ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So Kansas City and the Chargers play overseas, and we
all know how great Andy Reid is and Patrick Mahomes is,
and we know how good Joe Tooney was, and this
team averaged twenty two points the last two seasons. That's
what they averaged with Andy Reid and Mahomes, And that
leads me to believe this personnel is being elevated and
(29:24):
it's not very good.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I would say they have drafted the defensive side brilliantly.
They have missed like every team in the league, they've
missed on wide receivers. But if you would have told
me reading Mahomes and Travis Kelsey Joe Tooney averaged twenty
two points the last two years, I'd be like, what
is wrong? My take is the left tackle and the
receiving corps. It feels like they're bailing water. What does
(29:48):
the film say about the Chiefs personnel.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, they were very condensed as a pass game.
Speaker 8 (29:54):
We know Mahomes can make special plays at any point
in the game. He's just a special player with maybe
the best sense of spatial awareness of any quarterback we've
ever seen. But their left tackle position, which is now
where rookie Josh Simmons from Ohio State. Their left guard
is Sue Mattea, who's not really played left guard.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
He was a tackle in college.
Speaker 8 (30:14):
And the Chargers last year caused some problems for them
with their defense.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I watch both of those games.
Speaker 8 (30:20):
The first game they played a ton of zone because
they did not have Derwin James, and they caused problems.
The second game, they had Derwin James and played far
more man because James can match up to Travis Kelsey.
But I would expect in this matchup they will test
the left tackle and the left guard. There'll be a
lot of stunt concepts. They'll put Khalil Mack on the
(30:40):
left tackle. I mean this is an interesting matchup as
far as the pass rush versus this offensive line.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
All Right, Drake Man New England I think is going
to be a wild card team. I think coaching upgrade
three hundred million in free agency, and I just think
Vrabel's better with person Eldon Belichick was in his last
six or seven years. I think they've updated, upgraded virtually everything.
What did you see? Give me something about Drake May
(31:09):
that you really found promising greg on film, and then
something that he absolutely has to work on.
Speaker 8 (31:16):
I would say two things that I really noticed on
film and studying him this summer was just innate toughness
in the pocket.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
And I don't think you can teach that. I think
the guys that.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
Are willing to stand and deliver when there's people around
them and they know they're going to get hit, I'm
not sure you can teach that.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
He's got that.
Speaker 8 (31:32):
The other thing I'm not sure that you can teach
players is just a natural willingness to throw the ball
into tight windows.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
They see those throws.
Speaker 8 (31:41):
As viable throws and Drake may seize those throws as
viable throws. The one thing I'd love to see him
get a little better at is just I thought his
ball placement was at times a little erratic. Yeah, I
wouldn't call him scattershot, but I thought that there were
a few too many layups that he missed that he
cannot miss at this left.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, it's it's it's such a you know, the NFL
is so funny. You can do so many things wrong,
but if you find a good young quarterback, it erases
a lot of trouble.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It's like, if Drake May can play like will you
and I think he can, they don't need to have
a great receiving corps. I mean, it's just, I mean,
it's just it's so interesting in this league. I was
talking about my predictions the league has become such a
quarterback dependent league. But I also I was watching the
other day there was a list of the top offensive minds.
(32:33):
I think the offensive coaching in my opinion, throughout the league.
I think they're more smart young offensive coaches that I've
ever seen. Does the film belie that? Does your film
think your concepts are better and smarter?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
Well?
Speaker 8 (32:47):
Here's how I'd answer that. I think that they're really good.
There's very few.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Quarterbacks, even the ones we think are great, because I
talked to coaches that have no flaws in their game
at all. There's very few guys like that.
Speaker 8 (33:00):
So I think what really good offensive coaches do, besides
being able to scheme well designed plays, is understand the
strengths of their quarterback and how to minimize the limitations
or flaws. And I think that's absolutely critical for coaches, because,
as I said, if you speak to coaches, no coach
will tell you, Oh, this guy's perfect, he's got no
(33:22):
flaws in his game.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
No coach talks like that.
Speaker 8 (33:24):
And I think that's the absolute key to getting the
most not only out of your quarterback, Colin, but out
of your team. I think the Eagles are maybe the
best example of that. I mean, I watched their tape
this summer, and I thought the way they ran their offense,
allowing Jalen Hurts to do what he does absolutely really
well and play to high level efficiency, was a phenomenal
(33:46):
coaching job. Playing to the strengths of the quarterback and
the overall offense and the overall team.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
And I think that's one reason they're so good.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah. Well, I hope you're as fired up as we are,
and I know you are. Forty six years NFL Films.
Can't wait for tonight. Greg is always great. Sen you thanks, Colin,
appreciate it. Yeah, it's uh, I just football is just different.
I have a smile on my face perpetually from like
Labor Day until February twentieth. Well maybe that's because I'm
(34:19):
working with you.
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Oh wow, wow, Oh my goodness. It's a nice coming.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Oh.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
I know.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Listen, this is the optimistic nice column. You know, it
depends on the night. Tonight. I am home bed early
breaking down tape.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
This is this big night.
Speaker 6 (34:36):
That's the beauty of being out here in California. You
could be to bed at like nine o'clock and watch
the entire game. Here you go.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
That's nice.
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