January 15, 2026 • 40 mins
The New York Giants are reportedly hiring Super Bowl champion John Harbaugh to be their next head coach. Colin Cowherd explains why this was clearly the correct choice and why he was the best fit to turn around the franchise who has the second worst record since 2016.
7x Super Bowl Champion and Fox Sports NFL analyst Tom Brady joins the show ahead of the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. He breaks everything down:
- Seahawks QB Sam Darnold facing off against the 49ers defense
- How will Matthew Stafford and the Rams handle the Bears in freezing cold temperatures?
- What to expect from his Patriots and Drake Maye as they look to get their first playoff win in 6 years
Colin also discusses Josh Allen’s path to potentially winning his first Super Bowl and why this would be a historic achievement.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go. It is a Thursday. Tom Brady stops
my live in twenty minutes. This in Chicago is the Herd.
Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. John Harbaugh five
year deal, is going to be the head coach of
(00:51):
the New York Giant. And that's where we begin today.
If you want to go from a bad team team
in the NFL to a good team in the NFL,
there's only one thing you can absolutely control. Hire the
best coach on the market, whatever it costs, whatever it takes.
(01:14):
You can draft a quarterback top five. He could stink.
Players get hurt. Coaches don't. John Harbot is the best
resume and is the best culture builder on the market,
and the Giants smartly hired him first, meaning they'll get
the best pick of the assistant coaches and coordinators on
the market. There's very little you can control in the NFL.
(01:39):
You can control hiring the first coach, getting the best assistance,
and hiring the best resume. Yes, I know New York
is a tough market. The media is scary, but that's
not why the Jets and the Giants have been Hasmatt
spills for a decade plus. They have been because they
went cheap and a sperimental at head coach. The last
(02:02):
time the Giants were good, it was Tom Cofflin, who
coached at Boston College at the time, beat Notre Dame
who was number one, and went to Jacksonville. There was
no experimenting. He was a leader, a culture builder, successful.
I look at Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets.
You're not asking him to coach, You're asking him to
fix a completely broken culture. And I don't think Aaron
(02:24):
Glenn's good enough. And clearly all the guys after Conflin
weren't good enough. These nine coaching openings in the NFL
now eight, they're not looking for scheme guy. They're not
looking for guy that's good. In the whiteboard, they're looking
for CEOs. Okay, Harball, this is a job for a hardball,
(02:45):
Like Jim to the Chargers, John to the Giants, this
is a job for a hardball. The Giants didn't need
an offensive coordinator, they needed a crisis coordinator. And similar
to Mike Vrabel and New England, the day you higher
John Harbaugh, he is immediately the best coach in the division.
(03:06):
Say it out loud, Nick Seriani, Brian Schottenheimer, Dan Quinn,
John Harbaugh. In a couple of those instances, it's not
even close. And the Giants had a lot of pieces.
So for four years in a row, I have picked
a team successfully four for four pat in the back
(03:29):
that would double their win total. The New York Giants
this morning, four and thirteen this year are minimum double
the win total next year. My guess they get the
ten to eleven because like when Brady went to Tampa
and Tom Brady could have chosen any team, but he
(03:50):
chose that Tampa team that was about five hundred, that
had a star receiver, that had really good pass rushers,
Like the Giants had a pretty good old line. Left
tackle was good, but they needed a right tackle, and
the Bucks drafted Tristan wurs Well, what do you know.
The Giants need a right tackle and it is an
(04:13):
unbelievably good edge rusher and offensive tackle draft. Sometimes you
get lucky. The Giants need what this draft provides. In fact,
they could move down a couple of spots, accumulate more picks,
and perhaps still get one of the two best tackles
on the market. Weapons they've got them winning coach. For
(04:39):
the last several years, the Giants have been hiring Belichick
tree guys, finger crossers, coordinators. None of it works. Harbaugh's
proven confidence, proven culture builder. And I know you don't
want to hear this. I know you're looking this morning
down at the New York Jets, But the Giants are
(05:00):
the Jets since Coughlin, with a trophy room, with better
archive footage, you have been the Jets. Now the Jets
are still trying to dig their way, and the Jets
seemingly keep grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. But the
Giants officially didn't get a scheme guy. They got a
(05:24):
culture guy, Vrabel Jim Harbaugh. This is a job that
needs not Superman, harball man, and they got him. Here's
Albert Brewery yesterday on Harball and the Giants.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
The Giants job, how attractive it is is largely dependent
on what you think of Jackson Dart. That said, they
have a lot of other things with the Giants, Like
you said, franchise left tackle and Andrew Thomas, franchise receiver in.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Molik neighbors.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
On the defensive front, I mean, my goodness, Brian Burns,
Abdulla Carter, Dexter Lawrence, you have a chance to be
dominant up front right out of the shoot. And this
is why, like the last couple of years, I felt
like they were the team right on the edge. But
if you love Dart, I think it's got everything that
you'd want, statele ownership, all of that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
All right, Now, let's talk about a team that is
still looking for a coach. And whereas the Giants bottomed out,
they didn't want to for all these years, the Steelers
keep saying we're not bottoming out. The Steelers have this
under five hundred phobia, which is remarkable because there's four
(06:33):
times evidence right in front of them. Think about this,
four division winners. I'm not talking just playoff teams. Four
division winners, Bears, Patriots. Jaggs Carolina lost twelve games last season.
This isn't the NBA where you're drafting eighteen and nineteen
(06:55):
year olds. They're not even mature enough, old enough. At
the Hotel Bard, I've a cock tail. This isn't baseball
where there's nobody you can draft on a college that
comes into your Major League baseball team and changes outcomes.
This is the NFL, where it happens all the time.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, always talks about this that
(07:18):
people overestimate the downside to risk and failure. It's never
as bad as you think. Kyle Shanahan four times in
San Francisco has been under five hundred. Think about that.
Is he a failure four times? Would you rather be
(07:38):
San Francisco or the Steelers since twenty seventeen. I don't
think it's close. For the record, the Texans bottomed out
the next year. They had double digit wins. That's the
team that just beat you on Monday Night. And also
nine of the fourteen playoff quarterbacks are top ten picks.
(08:00):
You can get a Lamar Jackson, maybe you're lucky and
Aaron Rodgers falls out of cow, but seventy percent of
the playoff quarterbacks were top ten picks, meaning it's okay
to have a bad year.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The NBA in baseball doesn't take years. NBA makes trading impossible.
The NFL encourages it. So the Steelers have convinced themselves
their house is charming. Yeah, maybe we'll fix just you know,
one of the guest rooms. It's like, no, you've got
turquoise tile in three bathrooms, in the kitchen. You see
(08:36):
your house as charming. A lot of other people see
it as outdated and weird. It's time to take a
swing Pittsburgh. They've fallen in love with the house. And
the house isn't just a couple of screws there, a
cabinet shelf there, You've got turkoise tiles all over the place.
(08:58):
Art Rooney on the Rebuild.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Standards, try to compete to win a championship every year.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I'm not going to say, well, you know, we're going
to take a couple of years to figure.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
This out and then well then we'll try to compete.
So I think you try every year.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I mean, and as I said, some years you have
the horses to really get there.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Some years you don't. But you try every year.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, you got four examples this year. Division winning teams
that have twelve losses last year. This isn't basketball football,
it's not any other sport. It's the NFL. Go look
at the Houston Texans' recent history. Go look at the
New England Patriots. It takes about one year to be bad.
That's about it. One year at six and eleven, you
(09:39):
compete your butt off, you lose some close games. Six
and eleven, you get the eighth pick. But if you
start looking we put it up for the TV audience
where they draft, you may look into Lamar Jackson, but
it's much easier to get that quarterback, or at least
the starting point top ten, eleven, twelve pick. Then you
(10:00):
don't have to give up the entire farm to get
to four. So the Texans were three and thirteen, had
the number two pick.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
C J.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Stroud, Demiko Ryans. What do you know? Ten and seven?
It just I don't know what they're afraid of. It's
the under five hundred phobia. I don't get it. I
never have there's major evidence that one. Remember the Rams
won the Super Bowl. Then they thought were too expensive,
We're too old, We're gonna have two year rebuild. It
didn't even take two years. I think there were five
(10:30):
and twelve one the next year they've been a playoff
team since. So the Rams and I had talked to
people in the building. They thought it was probably a
two year deal to get younger, less expensive, and rebuild
around Matt Stafford. It took a year, that's all it took.
They're a playoff team the next year. It happened. Since
Tom Brady's around the corner. J Mack, I know you
(10:52):
don't love Big Blue, but John Harbaugh, this is a
job for a Harball Jim West John in New York.
It feels like it's gonna work. Get the right tackle,
you got the rush ends Burns and Abduall Carter, you
got the weapons and Scataboo and neighbors, and the left tackle,
(11:14):
Jackson Dart. Stay out of the blue tent. I'll call
it right now. Ten and seven.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Okay, So it's interesting. I just looked up their opponents
for next season. Are you ready for this time? We
don't have to schedule order.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
But we have the opponents. Okay, all right, I know
you're terrified. Finally we can't get into it. Do I
get the Dallas Cowboys twice.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
You do get the Cowboys twice, yes, and Washington as well,
But you have the AFC South Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Two of those teams made the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
But then the tough one the NFC West Colin Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Cardinals.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They have two trips as of now to the.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
West Coast at Seattle at the Rams, they also have
to go to Houston for the rest, and they have
to go to Detroit as well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
For the record, Stafford'll be thirty eight if he's the starter.
And the Rams almost lost to Carolina twice this year.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
They did almost by the way, So eight of the
Giant seventeen opponents are playoff teams this year.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Half, what's a big deal.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
That's a brutal schedule, my friend, Hi, I'll push back
against the ten wins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, I mean the schedule. People always go their schedules easy. Well,
couldn't I argue Brock Purty and the Niners have an
easy schedule. That's why successful. You st to have to
win the games. Well, New England's schedule is I don't know.
I watched them in a playoff game. You got to
win the games. I don't care how easier schedule. It's
not college football. There's not you know, a committee on
this stuff. San Francisco had an easier schedule. I watched
(12:42):
the Niners play this year when they lost all those
players to injuries. How easy was? It didn't look that
easy to me? And they were still banging on people.
So I think you got to win game everybody. Oh,
New England's schedule is. I watched them last weekend dominate
a playoff game against Jim Harbon Herbert. I think they're good. Oh,
we got a lot of stuff. Tom Brady is around
(13:04):
the corner.
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And the Seahawks Niners game. I was thinking about it
this morning, and there's so much pressure on Sam Darnold
to get that first you know, big playoff. But I'm
like nervous for him.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's Thursday.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It just this game feels so big. Division rivals Shanahan
and Mike McDonald and with that, Tom Brady is going
to be there forty nine or Seahawks for Fox. This
is a I mean, this is honestly this game is
I mean, I feel it like I It's Thursday and
(14:14):
I can feel it. What do you make Because I've
defended quarterbacks who throw picks. Stafford's had seven and seven games.
I've defended Andrew Luck for years. You were an outliner.
You didn't throw a lot of them. Purty does, Donald does?
How do you explain Donald's struggles with interceptions in mostly
big games? How do you explain it?
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Well, it's certainly a problem, I think when you get
to these big moments in big games, whether that's you know,
certainly playoffs or some of these games have happened at
the end of the year determined whether going to get
in or not. The margin of there when you play
good teams is just very small, so that's where the
fundamentals come into play. You have to, you know, in
order to throw the ball accurate, okay, and if you
(14:57):
throw it accurately, make a decisions, you're not going to
a lot of interceptions. So, like you know, Aaron Rodgers
is a great example of that. If your mechanics are
a little off where you're not you know that accurate,
and you get late in the season, there's a little
wet conditions, a little windy conditions, you're playing against a
defense that's got a good rush and a good coverage scheme,
(15:18):
so you're a little unsure where you're throwing. That's where
all the problems come into play. So it's over time
you need to refine your techniques so that when you
get these big moments you're as accurate as you can
possibly be because you have the least margin of eric.
And then you need coaches that are stressing you in
(15:39):
practice all the time so that you learn to deal
with the stress emotion that you feel when you need
to perform at a high level.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
So this is not a.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Game where you know, it's very hard to overcome turnovers
in the NFL. Last week I think was very much
an anomaly for the forty nine Ers. They lost the
turnover battle to the Eagles and still won the game.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
The Eagles played very poorly. We covered that game.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
The forty nine Ers are gonna have to play a
great game against Seattle. This defense is entirely different than
the ones that they've faced. And you saw what happened
in the Week eighteen game with the Niners and the Seahawks.
Niners just couldn't break any tackles. There wasn't much option
in the past game. I'm really interested to see how
coach Shanahan kind of devises a game plan that gives
his guys the best opportunity possible. The loss of kill
(16:25):
last week hurts, but everyone's been kind of writing the
Niners off all year. They've won i think eight of nine,
which is ridiculous considering all their injuries. But I'm really
excited to go up there and check this game out
in Seattle. It's going to be so loud, this place
is going to be rocking. This is going to be
one of the great games of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You know, it's funny they're going to go in as
an underdog. Tom, You did not go in as an
underdog very often. But I said earlier this week, I
can see Seattle, and this is what you went into
games knowing you were the better team and being cautious.
In fact, if you go look at your Super Bowl history,
not a lot of first quarter scoring. You had a
quarterback to advantage. You quarterback, you get a coaching advantage.
(17:07):
You often were at least as good, generally the better team.
So my take is, if I'm Seattle, my thing is
Seattle's going to play kind of cautiously thinking we got
the deeper, better roster. We're at home. How do the Niners?
And again, you weren't in this position a lot. They're
not as deep as Seattle, and they're on the road
and they come out of a physically exhausting game against Philadelphia. Yeah,
(17:29):
when you were the rare underdog, does it change the
game plan, the mindset of how you attack it Early?
Speaker 7 (17:36):
I think there's a part of the game where you
realize this is playoff football. There's nothing tomorrow that's guaranteed.
There's sixty to seventy plays left in this game. Look
with Seattle's defense, last time the Niners played them, they
had like less than fifty plays. I think it was
like forty three plays or something in the game. They
lost the time of possession almost two to one. So
it's really interesting to see this game because how challenging
(18:01):
it's going to be for these forty nine ers to
go in there as the underdog, coming off last week's
game and then still having to emotionally get up for
an environment that is really hostile to the opposing team.
The Niners can do it. They've been there before. They
played the Seahawks a lot. It's not like there's going
to be some intimidation. It's just do they have enough firepower?
(18:22):
Do they have enough Can they just find a way
through complimentary football? Through what they've done defensively? I thought
defensively last week they were just awesome. They played so hard.
They have such a great play style of the Niners defense.
They can play that way again and biden enough time.
The forty nine Ers have shown a little magic late
in the season that they can figure out how to
come back and win a lot of these games.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Even if it's really close.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I remember you and Peyton Manning both faced that great
Seattle defense. It got bad for Peyton really fast, but
I do remember, I remember how you attacked it, and
you made sure when you're receivers caught the ball, move forward,
don't go sideline the sideline they'll strip the ball. And
(19:05):
I do feel Seattle has that because Witherspoon is so
aggressive and so strong. The way to beat I'm wondering
if the way to beat this Seattle is a little
like the way you beat them, which is guys five
yards four yards of the pap is fine, don't try
to get I mean, I think this Seattle defense looks
a little like the one you face, which is hyper aggressive,
(19:28):
seeking turnovers super fast. Do you see any similarities.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
They close space as well as any defense inn we
as soon as the ball's caught, boom, there's guys on him.
There's linebacker's hitting you. Ernest Jones been phenomena. Reek Willens
got tremendous speed, he covers up so much wrong with
Thespoon's phenomena. Eve unworried that the rookie is insane. They've
got this kind of swarming defense wherever the ball goes.
It's like there's these like scud missiles that are just
(19:54):
flying in to hit the ball carrier.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
It's it's a fascinating defense.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
And then they got one the most underrated defensive lines
in the league. I think the interior defensive line is phenomenal.
They've got four edge guys they rotate in that are
all kind of unique. They have different traits. They really
challenge the tackles. There's a reason why they were the
top scoring defense in the league. They just have really
suffocated these offenses by taking the space and just making
(20:21):
the field feel like it's so much smaller. So they
haven't allowed like one hundred yard rusher in you know,
a season and a half or something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
It's been insane.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
Their tackling is good, their pass defense is elite. Their
coverage schemes are really tricky for the quarterback. You need
a very kind of diversified set of weapons on offense
in order to move the ball. And they don't give
up a ton of big plays, so they're gonna have
to drive the ball down the field. The Niners are
going to have to keep it a low scoring game.
Look in the Week eighteen game, it was thirteen to
(20:51):
three at one point, and then the ball got intercepted
when Perty threw it to McCaffrey.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Ball got batted up in the air. Could have been
thirteen ten, could have been very tight.
Speaker 7 (21:00):
Instead, one little mistake like that, one little batted ball
and the game is over.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So Matt Stafford Texas. Then he goes to Georgia. Then
he goes to a dome. Now he's in La It's
not exactly the harshest environments in his life. And there
he goes and I've told you this before. I thought
you were the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen
in my life. But Stafford's whole career has been domes
(21:26):
in warm weather. And it's so far and it Sunday
is supposed to be feel like minus nine for you,
you know, Michigan, New England. But I remember, I've told
you before. I see pregame shots of guys you faced
in Foxboro and I'd be like, oh, Tom's won. It's
an hour before we get Tom's one. How do you psychologically?
(21:48):
How do you psychologically when the environment's not ideal? How
do you get out of that space and not think
about it and not let it affect you?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Yeah, it's a great question, Colin, and it's it's almost there.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, there could be a mental part to it. A
lot of it is.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
There's a physical element to dealing with the cold. It's
not just mental toughness. It's also the team that has
the advantage is the one that practice is in it
all the time. And when we were in Foxboro, we
practice outdoor. We had like a nice indoor facility. We
used to look at it all the time and be like, man,
why don't we ever go in there? It's been a
nice actually maybe going and Bill would be like, we're outside,
(22:25):
you know, And it's just your body acclimated over the
course of a long season to you know, the warm
weather in the summer, as it dropped through the fall
and then into the winter, you had to deal with
twenty degree weather, fifteen degree weather with twenty mine on
hour winds, and over time you just learned how to
deal with I knew exactly how many layers of clothes
(22:46):
to put on per the temperature, and I was always going, Okay,
you don't want to be like Roufi from Toy Story,
where you got so much damn clothes on you can't
move the ball. So you've got to be still have
just enough layers on to keep you warm, but not
too much where you feel restricted in anyway. You know,
the big lineman they got so much insulation. You know,
they got a lot of body fat, so they're not
going to be the ones that are cold. But it's
(23:06):
kind of the skill players that have, you know, got
to use their hands and the gloves and all kind
of the fine motor skills you need in the really
cold weather. And Matt did play in Detroit for a
long time and in that division, you did go outside
to Chicago in Green Bay. It's not like he hasn't
played in it. But I will say when I went
to Tampa after my time in New England, it didn't
(23:27):
take me very long to get very soft to the
cold weather.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And we ended up going.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
To Green Bay in the NFC Championship game my first
year and very fortunately the game wasn't that cold. It
was like thirty two thirty four degrees at kickoff, It
wasn't minus nine. That is really cold. And that's a
big advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions.
Now for the last six weeks, it's been terrible weather
(23:53):
in the Midwest. They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold.
Caleb looked like it was just like he was playing
at the coliseum in LA. He's firing that ball over
the field and he's a really unique player.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
They've got a.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
Really unique team if there's a team that can figure
it out. And I love the Rams all year with
their kind of their diversification of what they do in offense,
tight ends, receivers, run game. Everyone touches it and that's
the moving target. Sean keeps everyone off balance. This is
going to be another terrific matchup. I'm so excited to
(24:26):
see the winner of this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Oh same here. So Josh Allen, you know you can do.
I remember an ELI team that went on the road
and kept winning road games. Burrow got to a super
Bowl with a bunch of road It's hard. So you know,
Buffalo's already jammed up in the Northeast. Then they go
down to Florida, then their home. Now they go out
to Mile High and I'm thinking to myself, man's and
(24:49):
now Josh is not one hundred percent. They're down to
three active wide receivers. And then part of me thinks, oh,
that's that's what Superman needs Now's the phone booth? Go
to your career? Was there a game where you're down
two receivers, it's a second straight roadie, you mostly at homes,
and that you really felt, man, we are this thing
is holding on by a thread. I've got a slot
(25:12):
receiver from Boise State. I'm crossing my fingers. James Cook's
a ankle doesn't go. Did you ever have a moment
like that and what did it play into it emotionally
and physically how it turned out?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah? Interesting.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
We twenty thirteen, we had kind of a rash injuries
in that season. Gronk got injured, we were down. We
went to Denver in the championship game, we lost all
our backs. We brought in Stephen Jackson to play. It
was just a hard year, losing backs, losing tight ends,
kind of offensive line in and out. We're dealing with
(25:46):
rookie receivers on the road in the championship game, and
we still made it a game.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
It was really close.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
I mean, we really could have made some plays early
in the game to kind of give us a little momentum,
but because we didn't play very well early. I remember
I missed the pass to Julian across the field on
kind of that would It gave us a lot of moment.
You just get behind, and when you get behind and
you don't have all your weapons, it's really hard to
dig yourself out of a hole. Like even a Niner
(26:13):
game against the Eagles last week. The Niners have been
very you know, obviously so many injuries, they've been beaten
up all year long. They go into the Eagles and
they got off to a good start. They went down
the field and scored right away, and I was like,
Holy chow, this is awesome. You know, I wasn't expecting
that against that kind of great Eagles defense. But that
just injects a lot of life into, you know, the
(26:36):
visiting team, and it also deflates the crowd of the
home team because they're like, oh god, so right away
you shut them up. So that's what I think Buffalo
needs to do. I know they're depleted. Their pass game
has been a little volatile this year. They do have
an incredible run game, a very good run blocking offensive line,
and they've got a really challenging Broncos defense. They're going
(26:57):
against another defense that's very similar to Seat, a really
unique structure of defense, really well coached. They're always on
the details of nuances, and then you know, Josh has
got a great opportunity to you know, this is this
is the game for him. I mean, yeah, there's a
lot of career defining games for quarterbacks, and when you're
(27:17):
a veteran quarterback and you're not dealing with Patrick Mahomes anymore,
and that's been kind of a bit of a kryptonite
for the Bills over the years. They're looking at like, Okay,
this is this is the time for you know who.
They feel Josh one of the best quarterbacks in ac
to go out there and have his year. He won
the MVP last year. It's got a great chance to
go on the road. I know he's a little bit
(27:38):
under man, but you know that happens and Denver may
not have everybody. Denver could lose somebody in the first
quarter of the game. You don't know how it's going
to play out, but it's hard to it's hard to
not love the Buffalo Bills in this story. And you know,
I think it would be just incredible for their fan base,
who have been you know, so enthusiastic stick about this
(28:00):
team to finally get over the hump and then make
it to you know, a championship game. It's gonna be
a tough battle, but it's just again another great game.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You're former a dynasty, the Patriots and the Texans. I
think i'd feel better about it for Drake May if
it was year seven. Famously, you had talked to Jay
Laser at one point it was in camp, and you said,
you know, I think I've seen everything. I've got the
answers to the test. You don't have that Drake. Drake
May doesn't have the answers to all the test questions.
(28:31):
And Houston's defense, maybe it's not the Ray Lewis, Ravens,
Tom you can turn the sound down. It just looks longer, faster,
and stronger that everybody in the league. It's it is
justin Herbert looked out overwhelmed. Do you worry that Drake
just hasn't faced anything close to this this year?
Speaker 4 (28:52):
Well? It is interesting.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
I think the Patriots, you know, they haven't had you know,
I would say when you look at their schedule of
the quality of competition hasn't been you know what some
other teams may have it Now, that doesn't matter because
that's not the Patriots' fault. You know, you play who's
on the schedule, and however those teams are playing. You know,
they line you up and you've got to go out
there and be who you're going to be. You're now
(29:13):
into the final eight. Who's the best eight teams in football?
They've earned it. The teams that got the buy had
the best seasons in their conferences. The teams the other
three teams that are playing per conference have already won
a playoff game. They're riding high on confidence. They feel like, hey,
we can hang with anybody. And I thought the Patriots
played awesome last week too, and the Patriots had had
(29:34):
a great game. I mean, this is going to be
you know, I'm not Drake is a really poised, composed kid.
The Patriot organization knows how to deal with these type
of atmospheres. The fan base they are Bi've been waiting
for this since I left. It's going to be rocking Foxborough.
It's a tough place to play, it's going to be cold,
(29:56):
but this defensive Houston is ridiculous and they could put.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
A a lot of pressure on you. So I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
I'm excited about how what does Josh do to try
to keep some of the risk, you know, mitigated from
from what Drake's done this year. And Drake's played phenomenal
and he's throwing the ball so well, so accurate.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Downfield throws are awesome.
Speaker 7 (30:17):
His escapability, his ability to move in the pocket, his
relatability with this teammate, there's so much to love about
him as a player. And that's why the Patriots are
in this position. So they they're very high expectations in Foxborough.
I mean they're not believe me, they don't think that.
You know, they're thinking one thing, that they're going to
go in there.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
And kick some butt. But Houston's going to have a
lot to say about that too.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, I remember, and I think it's hard because you
were so good to the very end. Two years after
you're retired, you would have still been a top six quarterback.
Aaron I thought had a really good year all things
considered that he lost DK metcalf. The on line was
a work in progress, not a consistent run game, more
of a defensive culture. And I remember your retirement video.
(31:02):
It was emotional. You were on the beach, you were
sitting down by yourself, did you and so Aaron's in
that space. Now, did you have an epiphany? Was it
a drive around the block? Did you wake up? Was
it a dream? What got you to the I can
still play, I could still win a lot of games,
and I could still met the playoffs. I'm going to
call it a career. Do you remember the moment, because
(31:23):
I think Aaron could have a moment like that in
the next three weeks.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Yeah, I was. You know, my last season was tough.
Speaker 7 (31:29):
I was going through I had a lot of you know,
just a personal you know, a family issue, and it
was a challenge and it was a very you know,
it just took a lot out of me in terms of,
you know, my ability to continue to play.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And I you know, it's.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
I had twenty three years of it, so I didn't
feel like I was missing anything retiring. I felt like, okay,
this time, I always had a goal. Forty five was
forty five years old. I wanted to spend time with
my kids. I felt like, okay, you know, now it's
time for me to be at all my kids games.
You know, they've been enough to their dad of their
dad's games, and Aaron's got his own decisions. He's got
to make he doesn't have kids. You know, he's trying
(32:08):
to navigate what he wants to do post career. It's
hard to give up football too. It's something that we're
really good at. It's something you love to do. You
love being out there with your teammates. And I told
a friend the other day, when I got older, I
almost enjoyed practice more than playing, because playing it was
almost like it was a relief to win. And everyone
(32:31):
who's out there. I was like, what's another win going
to do for people? You know, it's never satisfying, even
for me, you know, sometimes winning and not winning like
you would expect. So I understood at that point, I
probably in my last season, like okay, this is this
is going to be my last time. I try to
put as much as I could into it. I felt
like I owed it to my teammates and coaches to
give them everything I had. I wish it could have
(32:53):
been a little bit better at the end, but it
was just a unique situation, a unique year from me.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
And Aaron's got that too.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
I mean, Aaron's got his own ways that he deals with,
you know, trying to find solutions, and you know, I
know it's it's he's done some different things in the past.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
I'm sure he's trying to.
Speaker 7 (33:12):
Figure out because football is like a marathon the season.
Everyone loves to run the first four miles of the marathon,
and everyone loves to run the last two miles of
the marathon. But it's those middle it's those middle twenty
miles that are hard because kind of the shine wears
off after about a month, and now you've got to
(33:33):
dig deep into your preparation, into your you know, into
your body work, your treatments, you're you know, you've got
to dig deep at your team is over. Because it's
such a long season, you need to work really hard
over the course of the off season to kind of
callish your body for what it takes to be an
NFL player. So to me, it's do you want to
make the commitment year round because if you don't, well,
(33:55):
then it's never going to turn out well when the
season happens. In order to be a great NFL player,
you've got to commit and be foey in and that's
the only way your team's going to have a chance
to win, especially when you're starting quarterback. And only Aaron
can decide that for himself.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, Niners at the Seahawks the Pacific Northwest. I mean, honestly,
it's just you can see the game, you can see
the environment. You've had a great year at Fox, and
the world will be watching my friend, great job today
and I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 7 (34:29):
I got the best team on the field, our team
at Fox, our whole crew. We love being up there,
we love working together, we love kind of bringing our
love of the game to the fans. And where you're
going to see us Sunday afternoon or Seasday, Saturday night.
It's gonna be awesome. I'm bringing my ear plugs. It's
going to be loud. That environment is so cool. I
(34:50):
mean my ears are still ringing from the last time
I played at that stadium, and it's going to be
rocking on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All right, Tom Brady seven trophies, great and Bud.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
See you, Bud. I'll see you hopefully next week.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All Right, that was really good stuff. There's a ton
of good stuff there. Yeah, I mean, Aaron's now married.
I mean, it's just there's a lot of different things
that go into play. I don't know, but it's Tom
at the end when he retired, was still a top
seven eight quarterback. That's it's one thing if you're falling apart.
(35:25):
But Brady didn't have a lot of injuries. You know,
you just make decisions and it's life happens. H Man
that that forty nine or Seahawk game, that is one
for the ages, wet. How lucky that we get last week.
I mean, the games were credible in Chicago.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
It's the hurd.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and newon Easter, not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Obviously Saturday, it's Buffalo and Josh Allen at Denver. Think
about this, if Josh Allen was to win a Super Bowl,
listen to this journey. He would have beaten the Jags
on the road Jags number eight defense. He would then
have to beat Denver on the road cross country number
(36:12):
three defense. He could eventually face the Houston Texans on
the road number two defense, and then eventually could face
the Seattle Seahawks neutral site the number one defense. If
he wins, it is an all time list. This with
a wide receiver room that's down to three active players.
Brandon Cooks is one of them. He arrived Week thirteen,
(36:35):
Keon Coleman's another one. He appears to be a bust.
It'll be a slot receiver and cross your fingers. So
this journey is this is an all timer.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
The good news is if you look at the quarterbacks remaining,
there's a lot of talent, but there's one old guy
that doesn't move around and a lot of inexperience. Bow Knicks,
Drake May, Sam Darnold doesn't have much of a rich
playoff history. Caleb Williams, brock Perty. It's pretty clear when
(37:13):
you look at that list, who's got the most firepower.
Here was bow Knicks this week on facing Josh Allen.
Speaker 8 (37:21):
He's incredible. He's a you know, MVP of the league
for a reason. You know, he continues to make play
after play when sort of the game's not necessarily looking
like he can make the play. He just goes out
there and you know, does superhero stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
It's one of those things.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
Where he can do it all at a at a
high level, and it's it's always been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You don't want to say now or never, but now
would be a good time because Mahomes is probably back
into it. Justin Herbert probably gonna have both his tackles.
Next year. Uh my guess is Joe Burrell or Lamar
or both will be back in it. It's not an
now or never, but I mean it's going to be
a big lift. It's a lot of the best defenses.
(38:03):
His wide receiver group is breaking down, and Josh is
probably eighty percent to this point. I was really surprised
by how they played at Jacksonville. I really was. I thought.
I mean I watched Jacksonville play parts of every game
and three to four full games, and I thought they
were more consistent they were at home. Trevor Lawrence wasn't
(38:23):
making mistakes. Emmanuel Sanders, a former teammate of Josh Allen,
talked about him yesterday to close our show out.
Speaker 9 (38:34):
He's six foot five and just just a machine and
then just a rocket of a arm. He was one
of the best teammates that I had. I truly enjoyed
being around and it was always light energy, like always
having fun.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Yeah, when we get in the game, he would turn
it on, but it was always.
Speaker 9 (38:49):
Fun to go out and compete with him because you
know that he was gonna give it as all. And
that's why I always respected Josh and you know the
success that he's having, it's no surprise because he wants it,
and I know how bad he wants that Super Bowl two.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, and Emmanuel talked about but you know, you tend
to think players make the coaches. But Emmanuel said, really,
the coaches largely make the players. Now, I think that
is to a degree true. I think Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald,
Reggie White, Calvin Johnson, Josh Allen would win anywhere in
(39:26):
professional football. Now Wyoming, he didn't win, but he didn't
have you know, he wasn't as good as he is now. Obviously,
there are a handful of players who aren't really reliant
on systems or coaches to be successful. Now, you may
not hoist a trophy without the great coach, the Jimmy Johnson,
you know, without the without the Belichick, the Andy Reid.
(39:48):
But Josh is one of those players that kind of
falls into a Lawrence Taylor, Calvin Johnson, Aaron Donald, Reggie White.
It doesn't it doesn't really matter where you put him.
It doesn't matter you give offensive co defensive coach, less
than stellar coordinator. They're just different. He is just different.
By the way, Brady was one of those. He won
with Charlie Weiss. He won in Tampa with Bruce arians
(40:11):
you know, he went with Josh McDaniel. Some guys are
just going to succeed, but to get to the trophy room,
that's generally when you really need somebody to accompany you,
a kingmaker at some level. But if you look at
the potential journey for Josh Jags Defense, Denver Defense, Texans Defense,
Seahawks defense three neutral or three road one neutral, that
(40:35):
is a lift
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
noone Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio 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 (00:28):
Here we go. It is a Thursday. Tom Brady stops
my live in twenty minutes. This in Chicago is the Herd.
Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. John Harbaugh five
year deal, is going to be the head coach of
(00:51):
the New York Giant. And that's where we begin today.
If you want to go from a bad team team
in the NFL to a good team in the NFL,
there's only one thing you can absolutely control. Hire the
best coach on the market, whatever it costs, whatever it takes.
(01:14):
You can draft a quarterback top five. He could stink.
Players get hurt. Coaches don't. John Harbot is the best
resume and is the best culture builder on the market,
and the Giants smartly hired him first, meaning they'll get
the best pick of the assistant coaches and coordinators on
the market. There's very little you can control in the NFL.
(01:39):
You can control hiring the first coach, getting the best assistance,
and hiring the best resume. Yes, I know New York
is a tough market. The media is scary, but that's
not why the Jets and the Giants have been Hasmatt
spills for a decade plus. They have been because they
went cheap and a sperimental at head coach. The last
(02:02):
time the Giants were good, it was Tom Cofflin, who
coached at Boston College at the time, beat Notre Dame
who was number one, and went to Jacksonville. There was
no experimenting. He was a leader, a culture builder, successful.
I look at Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets.
You're not asking him to coach, You're asking him to
fix a completely broken culture. And I don't think Aaron
(02:24):
Glenn's good enough. And clearly all the guys after Conflin
weren't good enough. These nine coaching openings in the NFL
now eight, they're not looking for scheme guy. They're not
looking for guy that's good. In the whiteboard, they're looking
for CEOs. Okay, Harball, this is a job for a hardball,
(02:45):
Like Jim to the Chargers, John to the Giants, this
is a job for a hardball. The Giants didn't need
an offensive coordinator, they needed a crisis coordinator. And similar
to Mike Vrabel and New England, the day you higher
John Harbaugh, he is immediately the best coach in the division.
(03:06):
Say it out loud, Nick Seriani, Brian Schottenheimer, Dan Quinn,
John Harbaugh. In a couple of those instances, it's not
even close. And the Giants had a lot of pieces.
So for four years in a row, I have picked
a team successfully four for four pat in the back
(03:29):
that would double their win total. The New York Giants
this morning, four and thirteen this year are minimum double
the win total next year. My guess they get the
ten to eleven because like when Brady went to Tampa
and Tom Brady could have chosen any team, but he
(03:50):
chose that Tampa team that was about five hundred, that
had a star receiver, that had really good pass rushers,
Like the Giants had a pretty good old line. Left
tackle was good, but they needed a right tackle, and
the Bucks drafted Tristan wurs Well, what do you know.
The Giants need a right tackle and it is an
(04:13):
unbelievably good edge rusher and offensive tackle draft. Sometimes you
get lucky. The Giants need what this draft provides. In fact,
they could move down a couple of spots, accumulate more picks,
and perhaps still get one of the two best tackles
on the market. Weapons they've got them winning coach. For
(04:39):
the last several years, the Giants have been hiring Belichick
tree guys, finger crossers, coordinators. None of it works. Harbaugh's
proven confidence, proven culture builder. And I know you don't
want to hear this. I know you're looking this morning
down at the New York Jets, But the Giants are
(05:00):
the Jets since Coughlin, with a trophy room, with better
archive footage, you have been the Jets. Now the Jets
are still trying to dig their way, and the Jets
seemingly keep grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. But the
Giants officially didn't get a scheme guy. They got a
(05:24):
culture guy, Vrabel Jim Harbaugh. This is a job that
needs not Superman, harball man, and they got him. Here's
Albert Brewery yesterday on Harball and the Giants.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
The Giants job, how attractive it is is largely dependent
on what you think of Jackson Dart. That said, they
have a lot of other things with the Giants, Like
you said, franchise left tackle and Andrew Thomas, franchise receiver in.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Molik neighbors.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
On the defensive front, I mean, my goodness, Brian Burns,
Abdulla Carter, Dexter Lawrence, you have a chance to be
dominant up front right out of the shoot. And this
is why, like the last couple of years, I felt
like they were the team right on the edge. But
if you love Dart, I think it's got everything that
you'd want, statele ownership, all of that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
All right, Now, let's talk about a team that is
still looking for a coach. And whereas the Giants bottomed out,
they didn't want to for all these years, the Steelers
keep saying we're not bottoming out. The Steelers have this
under five hundred phobia, which is remarkable because there's four
(06:33):
times evidence right in front of them. Think about this,
four division winners. I'm not talking just playoff teams. Four
division winners, Bears, Patriots. Jaggs Carolina lost twelve games last season.
This isn't the NBA where you're drafting eighteen and nineteen
(06:55):
year olds. They're not even mature enough, old enough. At
the Hotel Bard, I've a cock tail. This isn't baseball
where there's nobody you can draft on a college that
comes into your Major League baseball team and changes outcomes.
This is the NFL, where it happens all the time.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, always talks about this that
(07:18):
people overestimate the downside to risk and failure. It's never
as bad as you think. Kyle Shanahan four times in
San Francisco has been under five hundred. Think about that.
Is he a failure four times? Would you rather be
(07:38):
San Francisco or the Steelers since twenty seventeen. I don't
think it's close. For the record, the Texans bottomed out
the next year. They had double digit wins. That's the
team that just beat you on Monday Night. And also
nine of the fourteen playoff quarterbacks are top ten picks.
(08:00):
You can get a Lamar Jackson, maybe you're lucky and
Aaron Rodgers falls out of cow, but seventy percent of
the playoff quarterbacks were top ten picks, meaning it's okay
to have a bad year.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
The NBA in baseball doesn't take years. NBA makes trading impossible.
The NFL encourages it. So the Steelers have convinced themselves
their house is charming. Yeah, maybe we'll fix just you know,
one of the guest rooms. It's like, no, you've got
turquoise tile in three bathrooms, in the kitchen. You see
(08:36):
your house as charming. A lot of other people see
it as outdated and weird. It's time to take a
swing Pittsburgh. They've fallen in love with the house. And
the house isn't just a couple of screws there, a
cabinet shelf there, You've got turkoise tiles all over the place.
(08:58):
Art Rooney on the Rebuild.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Standards, try to compete to win a championship every year.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I'm not going to say, well, you know, we're going
to take a couple of years to figure.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
This out and then well then we'll try to compete.
So I think you try every year.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I mean, and as I said, some years you have
the horses to really get there.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Some years you don't. But you try every year.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, you got four examples this year. Division winning teams
that have twelve losses last year. This isn't basketball football,
it's not any other sport. It's the NFL. Go look
at the Houston Texans' recent history. Go look at the
New England Patriots. It takes about one year to be bad.
That's about it. One year at six and eleven, you
(09:39):
compete your butt off, you lose some close games. Six
and eleven, you get the eighth pick. But if you
start looking we put it up for the TV audience
where they draft, you may look into Lamar Jackson, but
it's much easier to get that quarterback, or at least
the starting point top ten, eleven, twelve pick. Then you
(10:00):
don't have to give up the entire farm to get
to four. So the Texans were three and thirteen, had
the number two pick.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
C J.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Stroud, Demiko Ryans. What do you know? Ten and seven?
It just I don't know what they're afraid of. It's
the under five hundred phobia. I don't get it. I
never have there's major evidence that one. Remember the Rams
won the Super Bowl. Then they thought were too expensive,
We're too old, We're gonna have two year rebuild. It
didn't even take two years. I think there were five
(10:30):
and twelve one the next year they've been a playoff
team since. So the Rams and I had talked to
people in the building. They thought it was probably a
two year deal to get younger, less expensive, and rebuild
around Matt Stafford. It took a year, that's all it took.
They're a playoff team the next year. It happened. Since
Tom Brady's around the corner. J Mack, I know you
(10:52):
don't love Big Blue, but John Harbaugh, this is a
job for a Harball Jim West John in New York.
It feels like it's gonna work. Get the right tackle,
you got the rush ends Burns and Abduall Carter, you
got the weapons and Scataboo and neighbors, and the left tackle,
(11:14):
Jackson Dart. Stay out of the blue tent. I'll call
it right now. Ten and seven.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Okay, So it's interesting. I just looked up their opponents
for next season. Are you ready for this time? We
don't have to schedule order.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
But we have the opponents. Okay, all right, I know
you're terrified. Finally we can't get into it. Do I
get the Dallas Cowboys twice.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
You do get the Cowboys twice, yes, and Washington as well,
But you have the AFC South Jacksonville, Houston, Indy, and Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Two of those teams made the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
But then the tough one the NFC West Colin Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Cardinals.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They have two trips as of now to the.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
West Coast at Seattle at the Rams, they also have
to go to Houston for the rest, and they have
to go to Detroit as well.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
For the record, Stafford'll be thirty eight if he's the starter.
And the Rams almost lost to Carolina twice this year.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
They did almost by the way, So eight of the
Giant seventeen opponents are playoff teams this year.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Half, what's a big deal.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
That's a brutal schedule, my friend, Hi, I'll push back
against the ten wins, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, I mean the schedule. People always go their schedules easy. Well,
couldn't I argue Brock Purty and the Niners have an
easy schedule. That's why successful. You st to have to
win the games. Well, New England's schedule is I don't know.
I watched them in a playoff game. You got to
win the games. I don't care how easier schedule. It's
not college football. There's not you know, a committee on
this stuff. San Francisco had an easier schedule. I watched
(12:42):
the Niners play this year when they lost all those
players to injuries. How easy was? It didn't look that
easy to me? And they were still banging on people.
So I think you got to win game everybody. Oh,
New England's schedule is. I watched them last weekend dominate
a playoff game against Jim Harbon Herbert. I think they're good. Oh,
we got a lot of stuff. Tom Brady is around
(13:04):
the corner.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
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Speaker 1 (13:39):
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And the Seahawks Niners game. I was thinking about it
this morning, and there's so much pressure on Sam Darnold
to get that first you know, big playoff. But I'm
like nervous for him.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
It's Thursday.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It just this game feels so big. Division rivals Shanahan
and Mike McDonald and with that, Tom Brady is going
to be there forty nine or Seahawks for Fox. This
is a I mean, this is honestly this game is
I mean, I feel it like I It's Thursday and
(14:14):
I can feel it. What do you make Because I've
defended quarterbacks who throw picks. Stafford's had seven and seven games.
I've defended Andrew Luck for years. You were an outliner.
You didn't throw a lot of them. Purty does, Donald does?
How do you explain Donald's struggles with interceptions in mostly
big games? How do you explain it?
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Well, it's certainly a problem, I think when you get
to these big moments in big games, whether that's you know,
certainly playoffs or some of these games have happened at
the end of the year determined whether going to get
in or not. The margin of there when you play
good teams is just very small, so that's where the
fundamentals come into play. You have to, you know, in
order to throw the ball accurate, okay, and if you
(14:57):
throw it accurately, make a decisions, you're not going to
a lot of interceptions. So, like you know, Aaron Rodgers
is a great example of that. If your mechanics are
a little off where you're not you know that accurate,
and you get late in the season, there's a little
wet conditions, a little windy conditions, you're playing against a
defense that's got a good rush and a good coverage scheme,
(15:18):
so you're a little unsure where you're throwing. That's where
all the problems come into play. So it's over time
you need to refine your techniques so that when you
get these big moments you're as accurate as you can
possibly be because you have the least margin of eric.
And then you need coaches that are stressing you in
(15:39):
practice all the time so that you learn to deal
with the stress emotion that you feel when you need
to perform at a high level.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
So this is not a.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Game where you know, it's very hard to overcome turnovers
in the NFL. Last week I think was very much
an anomaly for the forty nine Ers. They lost the
turnover battle to the Eagles and still won the game.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
The Eagles played very poorly. We covered that game.
Speaker 7 (16:02):
The forty nine Ers are gonna have to play a
great game against Seattle. This defense is entirely different than
the ones that they've faced. And you saw what happened
in the Week eighteen game with the Niners and the Seahawks.
Niners just couldn't break any tackles. There wasn't much option
in the past game. I'm really interested to see how
coach Shanahan kind of devises a game plan that gives
his guys the best opportunity possible. The loss of kill
(16:25):
last week hurts, but everyone's been kind of writing the
Niners off all year. They've won i think eight of nine,
which is ridiculous considering all their injuries. But I'm really
excited to go up there and check this game out
in Seattle. It's going to be so loud, this place
is going to be rocking. This is going to be
one of the great games of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You know, it's funny they're going to go in as
an underdog. Tom, You did not go in as an
underdog very often. But I said earlier this week, I
can see Seattle, and this is what you went into
games knowing you were the better team and being cautious.
In fact, if you go look at your Super Bowl history,
not a lot of first quarter scoring. You had a
quarterback to advantage. You quarterback, you get a coaching advantage.
(17:07):
You often were at least as good, generally the better team.
So my take is, if I'm Seattle, my thing is
Seattle's going to play kind of cautiously thinking we got
the deeper, better roster. We're at home. How do the Niners?
And again, you weren't in this position a lot. They're
not as deep as Seattle, and they're on the road
and they come out of a physically exhausting game against Philadelphia. Yeah,
(17:29):
when you were the rare underdog, does it change the
game plan, the mindset of how you attack it Early?
Speaker 7 (17:36):
I think there's a part of the game where you
realize this is playoff football. There's nothing tomorrow that's guaranteed.
There's sixty to seventy plays left in this game. Look
with Seattle's defense, last time the Niners played them, they
had like less than fifty plays. I think it was
like forty three plays or something in the game. They
lost the time of possession almost two to one. So
it's really interesting to see this game because how challenging
(18:01):
it's going to be for these forty nine ers to
go in there as the underdog, coming off last week's
game and then still having to emotionally get up for
an environment that is really hostile to the opposing team.
The Niners can do it. They've been there before. They
played the Seahawks a lot. It's not like there's going
to be some intimidation. It's just do they have enough firepower?
(18:22):
Do they have enough Can they just find a way
through complimentary football? Through what they've done defensively? I thought
defensively last week they were just awesome. They played so hard.
They have such a great play style of the Niners defense.
They can play that way again and biden enough time.
The forty nine Ers have shown a little magic late
in the season that they can figure out how to
come back and win a lot of these games.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Even if it's really close.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I remember you and Peyton Manning both faced that great
Seattle defense. It got bad for Peyton really fast, but
I do remember, I remember how you attacked it, and
you made sure when you're receivers caught the ball, move forward,
don't go sideline the sideline they'll strip the ball. And
(19:05):
I do feel Seattle has that because Witherspoon is so
aggressive and so strong. The way to beat I'm wondering
if the way to beat this Seattle is a little
like the way you beat them, which is guys five
yards four yards of the pap is fine, don't try
to get I mean, I think this Seattle defense looks
a little like the one you face, which is hyper aggressive,
(19:28):
seeking turnovers super fast. Do you see any similarities.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
They close space as well as any defense inn we
as soon as the ball's caught, boom, there's guys on him.
There's linebacker's hitting you. Ernest Jones been phenomena. Reek Willens
got tremendous speed, he covers up so much wrong with
Thespoon's phenomena. Eve unworried that the rookie is insane. They've
got this kind of swarming defense wherever the ball goes.
It's like there's these like scud missiles that are just
(19:54):
flying in to hit the ball carrier.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
It's it's a fascinating defense.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
And then they got one the most underrated defensive lines
in the league. I think the interior defensive line is phenomenal.
They've got four edge guys they rotate in that are
all kind of unique. They have different traits. They really
challenge the tackles. There's a reason why they were the
top scoring defense in the league. They just have really
suffocated these offenses by taking the space and just making
(20:21):
the field feel like it's so much smaller. So they
haven't allowed like one hundred yard rusher in you know,
a season and a half or something like that.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
It's been insane.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
Their tackling is good, their pass defense is elite. Their
coverage schemes are really tricky for the quarterback. You need
a very kind of diversified set of weapons on offense
in order to move the ball. And they don't give
up a ton of big plays, so they're gonna have
to drive the ball down the field. The Niners are
going to have to keep it a low scoring game.
Look in the Week eighteen game, it was thirteen to
(20:51):
three at one point, and then the ball got intercepted
when Perty threw it to McCaffrey.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Ball got batted up in the air. Could have been
thirteen ten, could have been very tight.
Speaker 7 (21:00):
Instead, one little mistake like that, one little batted ball
and the game is over.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So Matt Stafford Texas. Then he goes to Georgia. Then
he goes to a dome. Now he's in La It's
not exactly the harshest environments in his life. And there
he goes and I've told you this before. I thought
you were the best cold weather thrower I've ever seen
in my life. But Stafford's whole career has been domes
(21:26):
in warm weather. And it's so far and it Sunday
is supposed to be feel like minus nine for you,
you know, Michigan, New England. But I remember, I've told
you before. I see pregame shots of guys you faced
in Foxboro and I'd be like, oh, Tom's won. It's
an hour before we get Tom's one. How do you psychologically?
(21:48):
How do you psychologically when the environment's not ideal? How
do you get out of that space and not think
about it and not let it affect you?
Speaker 7 (21:55):
Yeah, it's a great question, Colin, and it's it's almost there.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, there could be a mental part to it. A
lot of it is.
Speaker 7 (22:03):
There's a physical element to dealing with the cold. It's
not just mental toughness. It's also the team that has
the advantage is the one that practice is in it
all the time. And when we were in Foxboro, we
practice outdoor. We had like a nice indoor facility. We
used to look at it all the time and be like, man,
why don't we ever go in there? It's been a
nice actually maybe going and Bill would be like, we're outside,
(22:25):
you know, And it's just your body acclimated over the
course of a long season to you know, the warm
weather in the summer, as it dropped through the fall
and then into the winter, you had to deal with
twenty degree weather, fifteen degree weather with twenty mine on
hour winds, and over time you just learned how to
deal with I knew exactly how many layers of clothes
(22:46):
to put on per the temperature, and I was always going, Okay,
you don't want to be like Roufi from Toy Story,
where you got so much damn clothes on you can't
move the ball. So you've got to be still have
just enough layers on to keep you warm, but not
too much where you feel restricted in anyway. You know,
the big lineman they got so much insulation. You know,
they got a lot of body fat, so they're not
going to be the ones that are cold. But it's
(23:06):
kind of the skill players that have, you know, got
to use their hands and the gloves and all kind
of the fine motor skills you need in the really
cold weather. And Matt did play in Detroit for a
long time and in that division, you did go outside
to Chicago in Green Bay. It's not like he hasn't
played in it. But I will say when I went
to Tampa after my time in New England, it didn't
(23:27):
take me very long to get very soft to the
cold weather.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And we ended up going.
Speaker 7 (23:33):
To Green Bay in the NFC Championship game my first
year and very fortunately the game wasn't that cold. It
was like thirty two thirty four degrees at kickoff, It
wasn't minus nine. That is really cold. And that's a
big advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions.
Now for the last six weeks, it's been terrible weather
(23:53):
in the Midwest. They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold.
Caleb looked like it was just like he was playing
at the coliseum in LA. He's firing that ball over
the field and he's a really unique player.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
They've got a.
Speaker 7 (24:04):
Really unique team if there's a team that can figure
it out. And I love the Rams all year with
their kind of their diversification of what they do in offense,
tight ends, receivers, run game. Everyone touches it and that's
the moving target. Sean keeps everyone off balance. This is
going to be another terrific matchup. I'm so excited to
(24:26):
see the winner of this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Oh same here. So Josh Allen, you know you can do.
I remember an ELI team that went on the road
and kept winning road games. Burrow got to a super
Bowl with a bunch of road It's hard. So you know,
Buffalo's already jammed up in the Northeast. Then they go
down to Florida, then their home. Now they go out
to Mile High and I'm thinking to myself, man's and
(24:49):
now Josh is not one hundred percent. They're down to
three active wide receivers. And then part of me thinks, oh,
that's that's what Superman needs Now's the phone booth? Go
to your career? Was there a game where you're down
two receivers, it's a second straight roadie, you mostly at homes,
and that you really felt, man, we are this thing
is holding on by a thread. I've got a slot
(25:12):
receiver from Boise State. I'm crossing my fingers. James Cook's
a ankle doesn't go. Did you ever have a moment
like that and what did it play into it emotionally
and physically how it turned out?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Yeah? Interesting.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
We twenty thirteen, we had kind of a rash injuries
in that season. Gronk got injured, we were down. We
went to Denver in the championship game, we lost all
our backs. We brought in Stephen Jackson to play. It
was just a hard year, losing backs, losing tight ends,
kind of offensive line in and out. We're dealing with
(25:46):
rookie receivers on the road in the championship game, and
we still made it a game.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
It was really close.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
I mean, we really could have made some plays early
in the game to kind of give us a little momentum,
but because we didn't play very well early. I remember
I missed the pass to Julian across the field on
kind of that would It gave us a lot of moment.
You just get behind, and when you get behind and
you don't have all your weapons, it's really hard to
dig yourself out of a hole. Like even a Niner
(26:13):
game against the Eagles last week. The Niners have been
very you know, obviously so many injuries, they've been beaten
up all year long. They go into the Eagles and
they got off to a good start. They went down
the field and scored right away, and I was like,
Holy chow, this is awesome. You know, I wasn't expecting
that against that kind of great Eagles defense. But that
just injects a lot of life into, you know, the
(26:36):
visiting team, and it also deflates the crowd of the
home team because they're like, oh god, so right away
you shut them up. So that's what I think Buffalo
needs to do. I know they're depleted. Their pass game
has been a little volatile this year. They do have
an incredible run game, a very good run blocking offensive line,
and they've got a really challenging Broncos defense. They're going
(26:57):
against another defense that's very similar to Seat, a really
unique structure of defense, really well coached. They're always on
the details of nuances, and then you know, Josh has
got a great opportunity to you know, this is this
is the game for him. I mean, yeah, there's a
lot of career defining games for quarterbacks, and when you're
(27:17):
a veteran quarterback and you're not dealing with Patrick Mahomes anymore,
and that's been kind of a bit of a kryptonite
for the Bills over the years. They're looking at like, Okay,
this is this is the time for you know who.
They feel Josh one of the best quarterbacks in ac
to go out there and have his year. He won
the MVP last year. It's got a great chance to
go on the road. I know he's a little bit
(27:38):
under man, but you know that happens and Denver may
not have everybody. Denver could lose somebody in the first
quarter of the game. You don't know how it's going
to play out, but it's hard to it's hard to
not love the Buffalo Bills in this story. And you know,
I think it would be just incredible for their fan base,
who have been you know, so enthusiastic stick about this
(28:00):
team to finally get over the hump and then make
it to you know, a championship game. It's gonna be
a tough battle, but it's just again another great game.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You're former a dynasty, the Patriots and the Texans. I
think i'd feel better about it for Drake May if
it was year seven. Famously, you had talked to Jay
Laser at one point it was in camp, and you said,
you know, I think I've seen everything. I've got the
answers to the test. You don't have that Drake. Drake
May doesn't have the answers to all the test questions.
(28:31):
And Houston's defense, maybe it's not the Ray Lewis, Ravens,
Tom you can turn the sound down. It just looks longer, faster,
and stronger that everybody in the league. It's it is
justin Herbert looked out overwhelmed. Do you worry that Drake
just hasn't faced anything close to this this year?
Speaker 4 (28:52):
Well? It is interesting.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
I think the Patriots, you know, they haven't had you know,
I would say when you look at their schedule of
the quality of competition hasn't been you know what some
other teams may have it Now, that doesn't matter because
that's not the Patriots' fault. You know, you play who's
on the schedule, and however those teams are playing. You know,
they line you up and you've got to go out
there and be who you're going to be. You're now
(29:13):
into the final eight. Who's the best eight teams in football?
They've earned it. The teams that got the buy had
the best seasons in their conferences. The teams the other
three teams that are playing per conference have already won
a playoff game. They're riding high on confidence. They feel like, hey,
we can hang with anybody. And I thought the Patriots
played awesome last week too, and the Patriots had had
(29:34):
a great game. I mean, this is going to be
you know, I'm not Drake is a really poised, composed kid.
The Patriot organization knows how to deal with these type
of atmospheres. The fan base they are Bi've been waiting
for this since I left. It's going to be rocking Foxborough.
It's a tough place to play, it's going to be cold,
(29:56):
but this defensive Houston is ridiculous and they could put.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
A a lot of pressure on you. So I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
I'm excited about how what does Josh do to try
to keep some of the risk, you know, mitigated from
from what Drake's done this year. And Drake's played phenomenal
and he's throwing the ball so well, so accurate.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Downfield throws are awesome.
Speaker 7 (30:17):
His escapability, his ability to move in the pocket, his
relatability with this teammate, there's so much to love about
him as a player. And that's why the Patriots are
in this position. So they they're very high expectations in Foxborough.
I mean they're not believe me, they don't think that.
You know, they're thinking one thing, that they're going to
go in there.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
And kick some butt. But Houston's going to have a
lot to say about that too.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Finally, I remember, and I think it's hard because you
were so good to the very end. Two years after
you're retired, you would have still been a top six quarterback.
Aaron I thought had a really good year all things
considered that he lost DK metcalf. The on line was
a work in progress, not a consistent run game, more
of a defensive culture. And I remember your retirement video.
(31:02):
It was emotional. You were on the beach, you were
sitting down by yourself, did you and so Aaron's in
that space. Now, did you have an epiphany? Was it
a drive around the block? Did you wake up? Was
it a dream? What got you to the I can
still play, I could still win a lot of games,
and I could still met the playoffs. I'm going to
call it a career. Do you remember the moment, because
(31:23):
I think Aaron could have a moment like that in
the next three weeks.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Yeah, I was. You know, my last season was tough.
Speaker 7 (31:29):
I was going through I had a lot of you know,
just a personal you know, a family issue, and it
was a challenge and it was a very you know,
it just took a lot out of me in terms of,
you know, my ability to continue to play.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
And I you know, it's.
Speaker 7 (31:46):
I had twenty three years of it, so I didn't
feel like I was missing anything retiring. I felt like, okay,
this time, I always had a goal. Forty five was
forty five years old. I wanted to spend time with
my kids. I felt like, okay, you know, now it's
time for me to be at all my kids games.
You know, they've been enough to their dad of their
dad's games, and Aaron's got his own decisions. He's got
to make he doesn't have kids. You know, he's trying
(32:08):
to navigate what he wants to do post career. It's
hard to give up football too. It's something that we're
really good at. It's something you love to do. You
love being out there with your teammates. And I told
a friend the other day, when I got older, I
almost enjoyed practice more than playing, because playing it was
almost like it was a relief to win. And everyone
(32:31):
who's out there. I was like, what's another win going
to do for people? You know, it's never satisfying, even
for me, you know, sometimes winning and not winning like
you would expect. So I understood at that point, I
probably in my last season, like okay, this is this
is going to be my last time. I try to
put as much as I could into it. I felt
like I owed it to my teammates and coaches to
give them everything I had. I wish it could have
(32:53):
been a little bit better at the end, but it
was just a unique situation, a unique year from me.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
And Aaron's got that too.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
I mean, Aaron's got his own ways that he deals with,
you know, trying to find solutions, and you know, I
know it's it's he's done some different things in the past.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
I'm sure he's trying to.
Speaker 7 (33:12):
Figure out because football is like a marathon the season.
Everyone loves to run the first four miles of the marathon,
and everyone loves to run the last two miles of
the marathon. But it's those middle it's those middle twenty
miles that are hard because kind of the shine wears
off after about a month, and now you've got to
(33:33):
dig deep into your preparation, into your you know, into
your body work, your treatments, you're you know, you've got
to dig deep at your team is over. Because it's
such a long season, you need to work really hard
over the course of the off season to kind of
callish your body for what it takes to be an
NFL player. So to me, it's do you want to
make the commitment year round because if you don't, well,
(33:55):
then it's never going to turn out well when the
season happens. In order to be a great NFL player,
you've got to commit and be foey in and that's
the only way your team's going to have a chance
to win, especially when you're starting quarterback. And only Aaron
can decide that for himself.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Well, Niners at the Seahawks the Pacific Northwest. I mean, honestly,
it's just you can see the game, you can see
the environment. You've had a great year at Fox, and
the world will be watching my friend, great job today
and I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I can't wait to watch.
Speaker 7 (34:29):
I got the best team on the field, our team
at Fox, our whole crew. We love being up there,
we love working together, we love kind of bringing our
love of the game to the fans. And where you're
going to see us Sunday afternoon or Seasday, Saturday night.
It's gonna be awesome. I'm bringing my ear plugs. It's
going to be loud. That environment is so cool. I
(34:50):
mean my ears are still ringing from the last time
I played at that stadium, and it's going to be
rocking on Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
All right, Tom Brady seven trophies, great and Bud.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
See you, Bud. I'll see you hopefully next week.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All Right, that was really good stuff. There's a ton
of good stuff there. Yeah, I mean, Aaron's now married.
I mean, it's just there's a lot of different things
that go into play. I don't know, but it's Tom
at the end when he retired, was still a top
seven eight quarterback. That's it's one thing if you're falling apart.
(35:25):
But Brady didn't have a lot of injuries. You know,
you just make decisions and it's life happens. H Man
that that forty nine or Seahawk game, that is one
for the ages, wet. How lucky that we get last week.
I mean, the games were credible in Chicago.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
It's the hurd.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
and newon Easter, not a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Obviously Saturday, it's Buffalo and Josh Allen at Denver. Think
about this, if Josh Allen was to win a Super Bowl,
listen to this journey. He would have beaten the Jags
on the road Jags number eight defense. He would then
have to beat Denver on the road cross country number
(36:12):
three defense. He could eventually face the Houston Texans on
the road number two defense, and then eventually could face
the Seattle Seahawks neutral site the number one defense. If
he wins, it is an all time list. This with
a wide receiver room that's down to three active players.
Brandon Cooks is one of them. He arrived Week thirteen,
(36:35):
Keon Coleman's another one. He appears to be a bust.
It'll be a slot receiver and cross your fingers. So
this journey is this is an all timer.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
The good news is if you look at the quarterbacks remaining,
there's a lot of talent, but there's one old guy
that doesn't move around and a lot of inexperience. Bow Knicks,
Drake May, Sam Darnold doesn't have much of a rich
playoff history. Caleb Williams, brock Perty. It's pretty clear when
(37:13):
you look at that list, who's got the most firepower.
Here was bow Knicks this week on facing Josh Allen.
Speaker 8 (37:21):
He's incredible. He's a you know, MVP of the league
for a reason. You know, he continues to make play
after play when sort of the game's not necessarily looking
like he can make the play. He just goes out
there and you know, does superhero stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
It's one of those things.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
Where he can do it all at a at a
high level, and it's it's always been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You don't want to say now or never, but now
would be a good time because Mahomes is probably back
into it. Justin Herbert probably gonna have both his tackles.
Next year. Uh my guess is Joe Burrell or Lamar
or both will be back in it. It's not an
now or never, but I mean it's going to be
a big lift. It's a lot of the best defenses.
(38:03):
His wide receiver group is breaking down, and Josh is
probably eighty percent to this point. I was really surprised
by how they played at Jacksonville. I really was. I thought.
I mean I watched Jacksonville play parts of every game
and three to four full games, and I thought they
were more consistent they were at home. Trevor Lawrence wasn't
(38:23):
making mistakes. Emmanuel Sanders, a former teammate of Josh Allen,
talked about him yesterday to close our show out.
Speaker 9 (38:34):
He's six foot five and just just a machine and
then just a rocket of a arm. He was one
of the best teammates that I had. I truly enjoyed
being around and it was always light energy, like always
having fun.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Yeah, when we get in the game, he would turn
it on, but it was always.
Speaker 9 (38:49):
Fun to go out and compete with him because you
know that he was gonna give it as all. And
that's why I always respected Josh and you know the
success that he's having, it's no surprise because he wants it,
and I know how bad he wants that Super Bowl two.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah, and Emmanuel talked about but you know, you tend
to think players make the coaches. But Emmanuel said, really,
the coaches largely make the players. Now, I think that
is to a degree true. I think Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald,
Reggie White, Calvin Johnson, Josh Allen would win anywhere in
(39:26):
professional football. Now Wyoming, he didn't win, but he didn't
have you know, he wasn't as good as he is now. Obviously,
there are a handful of players who aren't really reliant
on systems or coaches to be successful. Now, you may
not hoist a trophy without the great coach, the Jimmy Johnson,
you know, without the without the Belichick, the Andy Reid.
(39:48):
But Josh is one of those players that kind of
falls into a Lawrence Taylor, Calvin Johnson, Aaron Donald, Reggie White.
It doesn't it doesn't really matter where you put him.
It doesn't matter you give offensive co defensive coach, less
than stellar coordinator. They're just different. He is just different.
By the way, Brady was one of those. He won
with Charlie Weiss. He won in Tampa with Bruce arians
(40:11):
you know, he went with Josh McDaniel. Some guys are
just going to succeed, but to get to the trophy room,
that's generally when you really need somebody to accompany you,
a kingmaker at some level. But if you look at
the potential journey for Josh Jags Defense, Denver Defense, Texans Defense,
Seahawks defense three neutral or three road one neutral, that
(40:35):
is a lift
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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