January 21, 2020 • 37 mins
If you are a Jimmy Garoppolo doubter then Colin can't help you because clearly you don't have an eye for talent. He argues that the pressure in the Super Bowl is on the Chiefs not the 49ers. He thinks the Packers may have hired the wrong coach in Matt LaFluer and explains why. Plus, he talks about Aaron Rodgers with former NFL QB Danny Kanell and The MMQB's Albert Breer tells Colin a great story about how Jimmy G ended up in San Francisco.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd
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every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching herde is
the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go to Tuesday. We're packed
(00:26):
live in LA. This is the Herd wherever you may
be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Oh. A week from today, we'll
be on our second day in beautiful Miami. I have
been scheduling cocktail parties and dinners in Miami, and I
(00:48):
tell you, when you tell these celebrities that you don't
have time for him, it gets very emotional and hide demand.
I had to turn out a lot of celebrities and
I said, listen, it's uncomfortable listening to a celebrity cry.
We are packed for all next week. We have a
massive set. It's unbelievable, and Joy Taylor is joining me.
I'm so excited for Miami. I'm very excited I'm gonna
(01:08):
get to see some family, a lot of old friends.
I was there for ten years. Are you gonna wear
like some tropical shirts? Oh yeah, that's who I am
because I have a whole Miami wardrobe plans. I bet
you do. So let me start about this. I don't
think it's terribly difficult to spot talent. You know American Idol,
Remember that great show that was on Fox. They dominated TV,
domestic TV for about a decade. There's a reason they
(01:30):
only gave people about forty seconds to audition. That's about
all you need about forty seconds. You can be lousy
lounge singer could make a decent career out of it.
Or Carrie Underwood. It doesn't take much to figure it out.
I mean, I'm not a big music guy. I sat
there for years watching American Idol, and you can just
spot it, sometimes in fifteen seconds, sometimes if they're awful.
(01:53):
The first note, my wife used to be in the
restaurant business, helped build some restaurants. She can walk into
a restaurant and I said this before. I've been with
my wife almost fifteen years. She'll walk into a restaurant
ninety seconds. He's like, big hit, big miss moderate success,
never been wrong. That's what she knows. Every scout I
know likes Jimmy Garoppolo. Fifty percent of the fans are
(02:14):
struggling with it, folks. He got to a Super Bowl.
He carried this team in the middle of the season
when they fell apart physically. I'm not a stat guy.
I'm an eye guy watch the games. But here's a
stat for you. He is eighth in the NFL and
passer rating. That's losing both of his offensive tackles this year,
(02:35):
losing his all world tight end. With so many young
receivers they don't trust, they had to go get Emmanuel
Sanders at the trading deadline in the toughest division in football,
with the most brutal gauntlet of a schedule the last
two months, and he completed sixty nine percent of his
throws and as the eighth best passer rating in football. Okay,
(02:55):
there's your stat. Their schedule was brutal. The Packers schedule
Bowl was Cupcake City. Kansas City got schedule breaks, not
San Francisco. It was brutal at the end of the year.
By the way, Kyle Shanahan, we all admit you're all
saying this Oh, Kyle Shanahan's the reason they're winning is
(03:16):
four and twenty without Jimmy Garoppolo. He's twenty one and
five with him in San Francisco, Colin, That's not fair.
What coach can win without their star quarterback? I don't know.
The Saints went five and oh without Drew Brees this year,
the Eagles won a Super Bowl when Carson Wentz got hurt.
Belichick won eleven and five without Tom Brady and the
(03:40):
Steelers on their fourth quarterback. This year we're in a
playoff hunt week sixteen and seventeen went eight and eight.
Carolina without Cam was spitballing it for about week twelve.
You can win in this league with backups. You just
can't win Super Bowls generally, but you can win with backups.
(04:02):
Kyle Shanahan is a brilliant coach. Four and twenty without
Jimmy Garoppolo. What are you not seeing? I got down
this rabbit hole last night with some buddy and he's Oh,
Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is a talented kid, but he's
defined by shrinking in big spots. Will he beat New Orleans? Yeah?
(04:26):
Even a crappy real estate agent can sell a nice house. Occasionally,
we define kirk Cousins by he kind of shrinks in
big spots. Doesn't mean he can't win an occasional one.
I want you to think about. Remember the Vikings were
thirteen and three with case Keenum. You could make the
argument that Kirk Cousins, it's about the coach, the receivers,
(04:48):
the roster, the defense. They were thirteen and three before
kirk Cousins got to town Okay, San Francisco. In the
three years before Garoppolo, two of those were Shanahan were
eight thirty five. I don't know, Like I listen they
say studies have shown that ten to fifteen percent of
people don't get sarcasm. They don't even get sarcasm. So
(05:10):
I don't think it's crazy to think that fifty percent
of the public can't figure out if a quarterback has
it or not. But I can remember when it's not
just about winning. I remember when Tibo won in a
winning streak and I worked at the other place, and
I would go on the air and be like, are
you people crazy? This is not a franchise quarterback. I
remember when Vince Young one and I told people, are
you people crazy? You can't win fifteen years with Vince
Young at quarterback. I remember watching Russell Wilson win his
(05:33):
second year and going, oh crap, we got another great quarterback.
I don't think it's that hard. If you just go
to wins, that's a little bit of a barometer. But
you can't do it solely on wins, because Tebow one
in Vince Young one Mark Sanchez won games. But I
don't understand the Garoppolo stuff. Did people not watch the
middle of the season. Okay, so San Francisco in the
(05:56):
middle of the season lost both of their tackles, their
Pro Bowl tacks. They lost Kittle, they had injured receivers,
they lost Quan Alexander d Four, they lost multiple people,
they lost their Pro Bowl fullback. Garoppolo had to carry them.
And by the way, if you forget how tough their
schedule was, I think people are forgetting how tough their
(06:17):
schedule was. The last eight games, here is who San
Francisco face. The Packers twice, Baltimore, New Orleans, the surging Falcons, Minnesota, Seattle,
and a Rams team fighting for their playoff life. And
Garoppolo completed sixty nine percent of his throws against them.
That's the toughest eight game stretch in the National Football League.
(06:40):
What is everybody not seen? Trent Dilford yesterday on Jimmy g.
You go back to the middle of the football season.
Jimmy and G's the reason they won football games. They
didn't win to spite him. So just because he didn't
have flashy numbers doesn't minimize his impact on the forty
nine ers season. You judge at quarterback, you don't just
(07:00):
judge it for a couple of games. You look at
the entirety of the season. I think he's really had
a great year and he's the right quarterback for this team. Yeah.
I read these comments on is it because he's good looking?
Just because he's got a great coach? All legendary quarterbacks
have great coaches. What did Joe Montana do without Bill Walsh?
What did Bradshaw do without Chuck Noll? What did Aikman
(07:23):
do without Jimmy Johnson? Won a Super Bowl? Won with
Barry Switcher and probably wanted to strangle him the whole time.
What did Dan Fouts do without Eric Coreel. You don't
think Andy Reid helps Patrick Mahomes. Of course coaches matter,
but if you can't spot Jimmy G's talent. You're the
person that watchs the American Idol and sat there with
somebody with a bad voice and we're like, I don't know,
(07:44):
sounds like a superstar to me. Some people just can't
see it. I don't think it's that hard. Let me
shift to this. I like the Niners to win the
Super Bowl. I think it's close. I think it's exciting,
and I do think the lead up to the Super Bowl.
I think they played a much tougher schedule at the
end of the year San Francisco. Both teams are healthy.
I like the fact they're coming in as an underdog.
(08:06):
I like their defensive line better than Kansas City's D line,
and I actually like their offensive line better than Kansas
City's offensive line. Obviously, Mahomes is a superstar. Jimmy Garoppolo
super talented. He's not Patrick Mahomes, but he's really talented.
But the discussion is, and I think this does matter
when you have two teams that are both great, and
(08:27):
they're both really really good. I mean, nobody's gonna be
surprised if the Niners win or if Kansas City wins.
I like San Francisco buy an inch. You know. That's
how much I like him. And again it's mostly online play,
not on anything else. I just I feel I get
a good enough quarterback and a great coach, and I
have an big edge on the D line and actually
(08:47):
a slight edge on the old line for San Francisco.
But here's the other thing that I think can matter.
I think teams do occasionally get tight the pressures on
Kansas City, not because they're a favorite. Ask yourself this,
what are the headlines the day after the Super Bowl
(09:10):
if San Francisco loses. So let's create a headline. San
Francisco loses to Kansas City. Here's the headline. Jimmy Garoppo, No,
but the future still bright. Jimmy GE's young, Shanahan's young.
Outside of Joe Staley, Richard Sherman, the team's young. The
(09:31):
defensive lines all twenty five years old and younger. George
Kittle's young. It's a bunch of kids. This is the
beginning of a rebuilding San Francisco that finally got the quarterback.
This is a young roster again, outside of Richard Sherman
and Joe Staley, Emmanuel Sanders. This story They've already paid
their quarterback. They've already paid their quarterback. They don't have
(09:53):
to worry about that. Now here's the headline. If Kansas
City loses read it and weep Andy Reid couldn't win
the big game. What's gonna happen? Now? We're paying Mahomes
forty four million a year. You know, some of those
veteran players we just can't afford anymore. Told you this
(10:16):
wouldn't work, and he doesn't develop running games. What are
the headlines after this game? Narratives will start to cling
to Andy and the Chiefs. There are no narratives here.
There's no narratives. I mean, if Garoppolo loses to Patrick Mahomes,
welcome to football for the next decade. Mahomes is gonna
(10:37):
beat virtually everybody. He's gonna beat everybody, even the great quarterbacks.
He's gonna mostly beat even Travis Kelsey after the win,
talked about the narratives that are on the Chiefs. I
love coach of read Man. He's he's definitely a part
of the motivation. You know, we're sick of here and
(10:58):
what immedia says about him, how he can't get the
big one done and you know what, We knocked one
off the list, got the Lamar Hunt Trophy back here
in Kansas City for the Hunt family, and you know
where we still got one more to one more go
to knock off the list. I do think when you
wait two weeks for a game, you can come in tight.
And I do think the pressure is more on. Kansas
(11:21):
City may not decide the game, but when people are
asking and I'm reading and I'm hearing, you know who's
got a little feel where this is gonna be a
little tight. I think San Francisco can come in here
with house money, play their butt off. They got three
veteran guys, They've paid their quarterback Shanahan, Garoppolo or here forever.
Young receivers are here forever. Kittle, if he can stay health,
he's here forever. The right tackle here forever, the young
(11:43):
corner Witherspoon, here forever. I think it's a different vibe
leading up for San Francisco than I do Kansas City.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
dayson noon Eastern a Empacific. So Kobe Bryant said something yesterday.
I watched the Lakers last night, AIDI didn't play. Boston
was hot, Lebron struggled, They got you know what, kicked
out of him. It happens. It's the NBA. It was
(12:03):
Boston's night at home Lakers. Lebron went and saw his
son play earlier in the day. Maybe not focused, who knows.
Lebron had a rare night where he stunk. I mean
by Lebron standards, not by anybody else's standards. He had
thirteen assists and about fifteen points. Kobe Bryant was talking
about Lebron James the other day, and there's this sense.
And I do think Kobe sometimes rolls his eyes at
(12:23):
Lebron's race to social media. He grew up in a
different generation, and I do think Lebron kind of looks
at Kobe and thinks, I'm better than you, even though
people like you here more. I don't think they're ever
going to be best friends. But Kobe came out and said,
you know, when Lebron came to LA, he's now a Laker.
He's part of a brotherhood, part of our fraternity. We
should embrace him, Appreciate this guy, celebrate what he's done
because it's truly remarkable. Here's what's funny, I live in
(12:45):
Los Angeles. Lebron doesn't feel like a Laker. Kobe doesn't
Magic and Kareem and Riley, and Lebron feels like the
new NBA, which is he moved here for business and
basketball decisions. But he doesn't feel like a Miami Heat.
He feels like a Cavalier. When I think of the Lakers,
I think of their announcer, Chickern, the late chick Cern.
(13:07):
I think of Kobe, I think of Magic. I think
of James Worthy. I think of Jerry West, I think
of Gail Goodrich. I don't think of Lebron. He came
here for business. Part of his business was basketball. That
is not a downside. But I don't think Kevin Durant
feels like a Warrior. Rick Berry does, Steph does, Clay
does the NBA and I got into this conversation the
(13:28):
other day with a friend and he asked, why are
the NBA ratings down? I like the NBA, and I said,
so do I. The players are good guys, I said,
but it's different. The NFL does a very good job
to create a sense of community. The franchise tag NFL
owners did that because even if you're a great quarterback,
and your contract is done, I can keep you around
(13:49):
for a couple of years. It's a sense that Mahomes
he's not a great quarterback. He's a Chief, and Aaron's
a Packer, and Ben's a Steeler, and Rivers was a
charger and breezes at and they don't even come up.
The NBA empowers the individual. It is more of a
me league over a week league than I have supported
all NBA stars I've moved around. I would be an
(14:12):
utter complete hypocrite to not defend professional mobility. The downside, too,
it is you sometimes feel disengaged when you move around
for better jobs in your life. And I don't think
Lebron feels like a Laker. I think he feels like
a really talented superstar basketball player that currently lives and
(14:33):
plays in Los Angeles. I think it's one of the
strengths in the NFL where people are loyal to brands.
There are multiple great brands. The Bears are a great brand,
the Packers are a great brand, the Cowboys, the Eagles,
the Saints. There's great branding in the NBA. Lakers are
(14:54):
a big brand, kind of the Celtics, and then it's
about the dude, the star who is always ready to
pack his bags. That's why you have a handful of
NBA players who are absurdly rich, and most NFL guys
mahomes will be very rare hit the lottery. Look at
(15:14):
the Lakers today, though Frank Vogel, Lebron, Danny Green, ad
Rondo doesn't feel like Lakers. It feels like rented parts.
You cross your fingers, hope they're healthy late and win
a title. It's not a knock on the current players.
It is a reality of the current NBA business model.
(15:36):
It doesn't feel like community. It feels like the empowerment
of individual stars. They get rich. I'm not sure big
picture it helps the sport one more herd. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. I haven't talked to Danny
(15:59):
Cannell in a while. Play in the NFL for six years.
He and I disagree a lot, but I always fired
him to be fascinating. He was on First Things First
this morning, and he's terrific. Joining us via the Coward
Global Satellite Network brought to you by Mercedes Bands the
best or nothing. Okay, I'm tired of defending Jimmy g.
Kyle Shanahan was four and twenty without him, and he's
twenty one and five with him. You know, I don't
(16:20):
think he's far. I don't think he's Mahomes, but I
do think he's a notch above a dak In a
Kirk Cousins. What say you, Yeah, I think that's a
pretty accurate assessment. He's not a greatest of all time,
Yet those two guys you mentioned him, I think are
in that conversation for top ten quarterbacks in the history
of the game. But I don't really get the criticism
(16:42):
of Jimmy Garoppolo going into this game. I guess I
understand because he was only asked to throw it eight
times in the NFC Championship game. But why is it
a knock against him If in the playoffs his team
is able to completely dominate the line of scrimmage on
both sides and they have the luxury of not relying
on their quarterback to have to throw it forty times.
I think that's a good problem to have. But what
(17:05):
I've seen from Jimmy Garoppolo three times this season, He's
been over three hundred yards passing. Twice of those came
against Arizona Cardinals. I would throw those aside. But his
most impressive performance is the game that he had against
New Orlean Saints. That was you know, two of the
top teams in the NFC were squaring off. He's going
against a Hall of Famer and Drew Brees. He had
(17:25):
to go into a hostile environment against a really good
Saints defense, and what do he do? He went toe
to toe with the Hall of famer and put up
forty eight points and beat him by the way. But
most impressive, more than the four touchdowns and the one
interception Colin was the last drive of the game when
he stepped on the field. If you watched him, he
looked like he belonged and he was not overwhelmed by
(17:48):
the moment and said he was cool calm drove his
team right down the field for the win. I think
he's more than capable of winning this game for the
forty nine. You know, it's interesting. I want to talk.
I'm going to get to Kansas City and his second
but it's interesting. I think the Green Bay Packers listen.
Tennessee loses and we're all like, I get it. Baltimore
lost in the playoffs and we're like, okay, they're young
(18:10):
New England loses. Were like, well, they're old Green Bay loses.
I still don't know if Matt Lafleur's great offensive numbers
came down from McCarthy, but I think you and I
may agree on this. Aaron Rodgers generally avoids criticism the
State Farm commercials, the good looks, the ring. I said yesterday,
(18:32):
I think Aaron's a baylor. I think he bails on plays,
bails on teammates, bails on throws, bailed on a coach.
His road record is abysmal compared to his contemporaries, and
I think some of it is the road is hard.
That's why Russell Wilson's a great road quarterback. He is
just a fighter to the last play. Is my criticism
(18:55):
unfair of Aaron, No, I don't think it is. I
am on board with you on this one. And at
thirty six years old, I think Aaron Rodgers has to
do some self evaluation and look at his not a
style of play, because he's insanely talented. He can still
make all the throws, but in his style of leadership.
And I think Aaron Rodgers, you've heard some rumblings from
(19:18):
his teammates. Some guys have defended him, and that's great,
but you have heard some teammates say, well, you know,
that's the smartest guy in the room, and he's not
afraid to let you know it. And it's never Aaron's fault.
And I thought, on full display when adversity strikes, that's
when you, as a franchise quarterback and somebody who is
considered one of the best to ever play, that's when
you have to inspire your teammates. And it's not fun,
(19:42):
but that is your job. And for Aaron Rodgers to
pretty much have an attitude of indifference throughout the first
half and the body language and I'm not a huge
body language guy, but it can permeate on the sideline.
And by the time he got his game turned around,
it was too late. And I saw the play where
he fumbled this nap and he walked away from it,
did not even make one iota of effort towards the ball,
(20:05):
didn't even yell at anybody to alert his lineman that
the ball was on the ground. I was astounded. I'm like,
this is that's the way a quarterback reacts in practice,
not in the NFC Championship game. And I was catching
a little bit of heat of it from some critics
saying no, no, no, there was no chance he got
the ball. And I was with Trent Green and Steve Burline,
two guys who played a long time in the NFL,
and I said, am I crazy on this? Or should
(20:27):
Aaron at least have dove dove and tried to get
on the ball. And they were like, absolutely, And even
if you don't have a chance to get on the ball,
at least you show your teammates. I'm willing to sacrifice
and do whatever it takes to win. So I thought
that was a really negative message. Kind of the body language,
the lack of effort, the indifference was an alarming sign
for Aaron Rodgers. And I think he needs to do
(20:48):
some self reflection or he'll be the most underutilized the
piece of talent that's ever played the quarterback position with
only one Super Bowl to show for. It's interesting. I've
known people through the years that have a relationship with
Aaron and he'll just ghost you if you push back
and criticize him. He doesn't like discomfort. He can be
passive aggressive. It's his personality. He'll drop you as a
(21:09):
friend if you criticize him, and I think that creates
sort of an aloofness and a shield around him. And
I've been saying this for years. I don't doubt he's
a Hall of Famer. I don't think he's a great leader.
I think Russell Wilson is. And I think his lack
of leadership for Aaron is starting to show in his
road record where it's really hard to win. Okay, let's
go to Kansas City. We got about three minutes left.
(21:30):
Das sense though Mahomes and read it feels like there
is a little pressure the Andy Reid can't win narrative.
The Mahomes is the best of the two quarterbacks. They've
got the pressure on him, right, Yeah, it's not even close.
I mean, when you hear a Travis Kelsey after the
NFC Championship game reference Andy Reid's playoff history and the
(21:53):
knock against him, they are aware of what it would
mean for Andy Reid to win a Super Bowl. So
I do think it is firmly there. I mean, Kyle
Shanahan's still a baby in the coaching circles. You know,
he's got a young quarterback too. There have been John
Lynch have this contract, they're gonna be together. I think
they expect they're going to be back, and so did
the Chiefs. But for Andy Reid specifically, look at what
it would do for his resume, his Hall of Fame legacy.
(22:16):
If he wins this Super Bowl. I think he's a
lock to get in the Hall of Fame. If he
comes up short, it's a much right longer road for
him to get in, and he'd probably have to coach
another ten years and add to the total win total.
So that's where I think it's a massive importance for
them to win. I have a take for you that
I think you might like because I think the Kansas
City Chiefs are similar to the Golden State Warriors when
(22:39):
they started their dynasty. They're a young team. I think
Patrick Mahomes is similar to Steph Curry the way he's
changing the way the game is played. They're fun, They're
incredibly an offensive juggernaut, and yet they're better defensively than
people give them credit for. And they will make some
mistakes which the Warriors did earlier and throughout while they're
embarrassing people, they'll have turnovers. No, they always had the
(23:01):
confidence they could win. Yeah, and similar to the Warriors.
I do think the Chiefs are about to go on
a run where they get multiple super Bowls. Yeah. No, no, Danny,
I think you're I think the Warriors take is one
that we've talked about. Mahomes feels like he's kind of
changing the parameters on what a quarterback can do. I
mean I liked Andrew Luck. He didn't look like this
good stuff. Danny Canal love having you on the show. Buddy. Thanks,
(23:22):
anytime you want to come on, just tell us, all right,
next time, I want to do it in La though.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeart Radio app. I've been very
critical of Aaron Rodgers and you know, I mean, they're
chief heads. They you know, middle of the country. You're mean,
you're a coastal guy. You hate Aaron, No, you don't.
(23:43):
I think Aaron can be condescending. I think Canal points
out what I point out. I don't think he's a
great leader. I think he's a great player. He's Jay
Cutler with way more talent, doesn't get along with all
those teammates, condescending aloof And I think he's a Baylor
as a person. He bales on frenzy, bales on teammates,
bails on goaches, he bails on plays, And I think,
But here's the thing about Aaron Rodgers. Are we sure
(24:06):
Matt Lafleur can coach? Tennessee's offense got better without him?
Now you can setch Ryan Tannehill. Green Bay's got slightly
worse with him. Well, it's a new system. Even though
I disagree in both cases, I'll just give you those.
Here's what concerns me. Green Bay was a lousy second
(24:27):
half offense with Aaron Rodgers. They were twenty sixth in
the league in fourth quarter scoring, and they weren't a
bunch of close games they needed points. They were thirteenth
in second half scoring, twenty sixth in the fourth. Seattle
Seattle down three offensive linemen and three running backs. I mean,
(24:48):
Seattle was on a third string center outscored him twenty
to seven at Lambeaux. So is it that not concerning
Aaron Rodgers was out rained this year? Why they didn't
have a tough schedule, and they played several awful defenses.
They got a tony yards on a lousy Cowboy defense,
a tony yards on a loudy Raider defense. They got
(25:11):
a lot of yards on a Kansas City defense at
the time that was all banged up. Isn't that concerning?
Here's what I worry about, Matt Lafloor. So the first
thing I look at when you hire a new offensive coach,
do you get a pop? Sean Payton's first year in
New Orleans NFC championship pop. Andy Reid's first year in
(25:34):
Kansas City two and fourteen to eleven and five pop. Now,
those are legends, but a great offensive coach, Sean McVeigh
to the Rams pop. I got no pop from him
this year. Historically, even Chip Kelly, who you criticize Philadelphia
with backup quarterbacks, you got a pop. Kyle Shanahan didn't
(25:58):
win a lot of games, but go back to his
first two years when he had was it Nick Mullins
And we were all saying on the air, how's George Kilo?
Is this open? How are they competing against anybody? With
Nick Mullins at quarterback? They looked clever. I got an
initial schematic IQ pop. I didn't get that this year.
(26:20):
First thing that worries me. The second thing is with
great offensive coaches, they give you all the great ones
give you a pop. It's like whoa, whoa whoa Rams McVay, whoa,
whoa whoa Chip, Kelly, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Matt Naggie.
By the way, in Chicago, I had that written down,
Remember Naggie. First year. We would go on the air
(26:41):
regularly and say it's a bunch of smoking mirrors with Traubisky,
but it's damn fun to watch. It doesn't look like
anybody else's offense. By the way, Bruce Arians came to
Tampa this year, Jameis Winston a lot of picks, but
good lord, that offense was all sorts of dizzying throws.
I got no pop. Here's the second thing. Defensive coordinators
(27:03):
never figure out the great offensive minds. Nobody's ever figured
out any read Belichick still can't figure him out. Nobody's
figured out Sean Payton, Drew Brees got hurt on five
and oh with Bridgewater. Nobody's figured out Bill Walsh. No
nobody figured out Kyle Shanahan. He was good at every stop.
You don't figure out great offensive people because great offensive
(27:25):
people tend to be very cerebral. They're evolvers, they're adapters,
they're constantly scheming, staying ahead of defense. But here's the
other part. I not only didn't get a pop from
the Flour's offense. People started figuring it out. They were
a bad second half team. People figured it out off
the script, and in their last four games, Green Bay
(27:45):
scored twenty one, twenty three, and twenty That's what Aaron
Rodgers the offense second halfs. Later in the year, people
started to figure it out. So we can blame Aaron
for everything. This was a guy that went to Tennessee.
They were like twenty third in the league offensively, he
(28:07):
took over, they went to twenty fifth. Mariota pre Mariota
with So forget the Tannehill thing. I just saw two
things this year that I think are problematic. I got
no pop. We're Aaron Rodgers, who's a smart guy who
can pick up playbooks quick. And I also think teams
started figuring them out at half and figuring them out,
(28:30):
figuring them out green Bay in the second, third, fourth
quadrant of the season. So I think it's I don't
know if he's the right guy. I just don't know.
I think they had a very easy schedule this year
and got a ton of breaks with their health and
their schedule. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine. A Empacific senior reporter
(28:51):
lead content guy for the Monday Morning Quarterback, Albert Brear,
joining me via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So, Albert,
you know this whole Tom Brady thing I'm old discussing
when he retires. But I do think the transition potentially
of moving. I didn't buy into it initially. I just
can't see Giselle saying, yeah, let's move the family to Indianapolis.
But but I read a story this weekend from a
(29:13):
Boston reporter at NBC that said Tom is kind of
over being the thirteenth highest paid quarterback in the league.
He sacrificed a lot. And that's the kind of thing
where I have seen even athletes I love and respect. Yeah,
there is a respect card on the money. That made
me think this thing is real with Tom. What did
(29:33):
you make of that story? Well, you use the right word,
com The word is respect. This isn't about money. It's
about respect. And I take it back to what happened
in July when they gave him that pay bump. Really
the problem there, the reason Brady was upset coming out
of that negotiation, It wasn't about money, it was about years.
He wanted them to them to get him to the
(29:55):
end of his career and ensure that he would finish
his career with the Patriots. And for the first time,
wording you heard coming out of ownership was uncharted territory. Now,
that sounds logical for me and you. But if you've
given an organization twenty years, how are you going to
read that like you're going to say to yourself, will
wait a second. I just gave you two decades. I
had how much value to your franchise. I put six
(30:16):
Lombardi trophies in your trophy case. And now you're talking
about me creating uncharted territory for you. So I think
that there's a there's a respect thing here that I
think was part of it in the summer, and certainly
as a result, is a part of it now. And
if they're not going to give them the years, then
it's going to have to be made up for with
money and look like I've said this to you a
(30:37):
few times. Calling he enables everything about their program. The
fact that they can coach him hard enables them to
coach everybody else hard. The fact that he's taken less
money in the past enables them to ask others to
take less money. All this stuff is sort of part
of the twenty year relationship between the Patriots and Brady,
and I think when things broke down over the summer,
it's sort of got Brady to look at it and say, well,
(30:59):
wait a second, this is a two ways three Let
me throw this at you. Let's say he looks around,
he doesn't want to move to Indie Chargers move on
in Draft two, are justin Herbert and you look around,
he doesn't want to live in He's above Tamper Jacksonville.
Would there be the potential that Tom looks around, he
doesn't get the money or the years from New England,
(31:20):
the teams, the Carolinas, the Chargers, they move on in
draft people and Tom just said, you know what, I'm out.
Is there any chance of that? Like, I'm done, I'm
forty three, I've got my money, I'm not playing. I'm
not playing for that dollar figure. I don't think it's
I don't think it's his intention now to retire. I
will say that I do. I think that there's the
potential that he looks at his options, doesn't like them,
(31:42):
and maybe decides to hang it up. Yeah, I think
that's possible. I mean, there's been a couple of things
that he said. He said he doesn't want to suck
right like, so if he feels like he's losing it,
and I think he'd be comfortable walking away. And I
don't think he wants to be in a situation where
he's with the team that isn't going to be competing
at the highest level. And so I do think that
there are a couple of ba that need to be checked.
One of course, is feeling that he can continue to play.
(32:03):
I think that box is already checked. And then the
other part of it is finding a winning situation for
himself and call him. The one thing I would point
out here that I think is sort of an important piece.
You know, you talk about the real estate where he's
going to live and everything else. He has a kid
who lives in New York. His son Jack lives in
New York City, and I think ultimately because of that,
because Giselle likes New York City, that's eventually going to
(32:25):
be where they're going to settle. So let's just put
this in real life terms for you. Right say you
didn't know where you were going to work over the
next year, but you didn't know where your family is
going to be for the next twenty years, what would
you do with your family. You'd probably move them to
where they were going to be for the next twenty
years and say, you know what, I'm going to be
the one who's going to move around over the next
year or two while I continue to work. And so
I think there's certainly a chance that Brady says, with
(32:47):
this family, we're going to put you in the New
York area for right now, and I'm going to go
where I need to go work wise. And I certainly
think some of the teams that you mentioned there could
be on the table, the Chargers, the Titans, with the
relationship with Mike Rabel, you know, I think there are
some winning situations out there. But I don't think he's
just going to go somewhere to go somewhere. By the way,
I want to throw you. You were in this living
(33:08):
breathing situation with Jimmy Garoppolo. This is not a surprise.
Take us back to when we know why. You know,
Tom wanted him out and he wanted more years, and
Garoppolo wanted to play. But watching Garoppolo now, this is
what Bill Belichick saw, I imagine, yeah, you know. I'll
take you back to twenty seventeen and the combine in
(33:32):
Indianapolis in February. Kyle Shanahan and Bill Belichick sat down
and they were talking about a number of different things,
as coaches do during the combine, things that might happen
in free agency, in the draft, and Jimmy's name came up,
and Bill stopped Kyle and said, non starter. He's not
on the table. We're not moving him. Fast forward eight months.
The Niners, I believe at this point, where and eight
(33:55):
oh and nine, and they were coming off a really
bad loss of Philadelphia Eagles. Kyle is driving into the
office in California. It's five in the morning. He gets
a text from Bill Belichick says, call me when you
get in. He calls Belichick and Belichick says, here's the deal.
I don't want to negotiate. I don't want to talk
about it. You're gonna have Jimmy for his second round pick.
Kyle almost drops the phone. Kyle then walks into John
(34:15):
Lynch's office says the Lynch, the only concern I have
is that he's not signed beyond this year, so this
might be a little bit of an unstable situation at quarterback.
Lynch responds, that's what the franchise tag is for. He
goes back and calls Belichick and the deal is done.
And so the big question you have then is how
did he go from untradeable in February to all of
a sudden being moved for a second round pick in October,
(34:39):
particularly when I was told that the Cleveland Browns were
willing to move the pick they got from the Houston Texas,
which wound up being fourth overall for Garoppolo. And to me,
the easiest answer Bill Belichick wanted to do right by
Jimmy Garoppolo and put him in a place where he
thought he could succeed. He's got tremendous respect for Kyle Shannon,
and I also think that Bill Belichick looks as Jimmy
(34:59):
Garoppolos development as part of his legacy. So by putting
him in San Francisco and making him look good. It
would look make Dot Belichick look like the winner in
that whole situation. Well, that was a great story. I
love stories like that. I like hearing about That's like
a mob story where somebody gets called on the phone
in the car on the way to work and big
stuff happens. I love that. Albert Breer, I want to
ask you about this. Andy Reid is one of my
(35:23):
favorite coaches ever. But but there is a sense with
me that there's narratives if if they lost, that would
come down hard on Andy Reid. He's given Belichick problems.
He's had B to B minus quarterbacks and gotten out
of two Super Bowls. I think Garoppolo, I mean, Mahomes
is obviously the best he's ever had. Is you know,
(35:44):
if when you look at Andy Reid, when you talk
to people around the league, you do more than I do.
I think they're rooting for Andy. I think coaches around
the league are rooting for Andy. Just your thoughts on that. Yeah,
he gets tremendous respect around the league. Like obviously, the
first part of it is how great he's been as
(36:04):
a coach over the years. But there's a second piece
of this too, and what he's given to the profession.
And if you look at his tree and the people
who've come out of his tree and succeeded, guys like
John Harbaugh and Ron Rivera, He's not only a great coach,
he's been a great developer of coaches. And you've seen
executives come out of the Eagles front office now the
Chiefs front office. You see Chris Ballard, the success that
(36:24):
he's having in Indianapolis, and so there's almost like this
professional development like area that Andy Reid's excelled and beyond
is the success in the football field. And so there
are a lot of indies people out there across the league,
and even people who haven't worked with Andy have a
tremendous respect not just what he's done as a coach,
but also what he's done for the business of football.
And so I think that's why you've got so many
(36:45):
people out there Rudy for Andy Reid. The crazy thing
about it, Colin is, you know, you mentioned sort of
his record and everything else. The guy is elite in
just about every area. There's one hole. It's game management.
He's elite developing quarterbacks, he's elite place He's elited designing
an offense, he's elite at putting together a team, he's
elite at setting up an organization. And there's just, for
(37:06):
whatever reason, been this one hole in game management. And
it's going to be really interesting to see what happens
in the super Bowl. If that gets tested and he
can pass that test, maybe he can finally plug that
one hole in his resume.
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to
three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and FS one. 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 herde is
the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go to Tuesday. We're packed
(00:26):
live in LA. This is the Herd wherever you may
be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Oh. A week from today, we'll
be on our second day in beautiful Miami. I have
been scheduling cocktail parties and dinners in Miami, and I
(00:48):
tell you, when you tell these celebrities that you don't
have time for him, it gets very emotional and hide demand.
I had to turn out a lot of celebrities and
I said, listen, it's uncomfortable listening to a celebrity cry.
We are packed for all next week. We have a
massive set. It's unbelievable, and Joy Taylor is joining me.
I'm so excited for Miami. I'm very excited I'm gonna
(01:08):
get to see some family, a lot of old friends.
I was there for ten years. Are you gonna wear
like some tropical shirts? Oh yeah, that's who I am
because I have a whole Miami wardrobe plans. I bet
you do. So let me start about this. I don't
think it's terribly difficult to spot talent. You know American Idol,
Remember that great show that was on Fox. They dominated TV,
domestic TV for about a decade. There's a reason they
(01:30):
only gave people about forty seconds to audition. That's about
all you need about forty seconds. You can be lousy
lounge singer could make a decent career out of it.
Or Carrie Underwood. It doesn't take much to figure it out.
I mean, I'm not a big music guy. I sat
there for years watching American Idol, and you can just
spot it, sometimes in fifteen seconds, sometimes if they're awful.
(01:53):
The first note, my wife used to be in the
restaurant business, helped build some restaurants. She can walk into
a restaurant and I said this before. I've been with
my wife almost fifteen years. She'll walk into a restaurant
ninety seconds. He's like, big hit, big miss moderate success,
never been wrong. That's what she knows. Every scout I
know likes Jimmy Garoppolo. Fifty percent of the fans are
(02:14):
struggling with it, folks. He got to a Super Bowl.
He carried this team in the middle of the season
when they fell apart physically. I'm not a stat guy.
I'm an eye guy watch the games. But here's a
stat for you. He is eighth in the NFL and
passer rating. That's losing both of his offensive tackles this year,
(02:35):
losing his all world tight end. With so many young
receivers they don't trust, they had to go get Emmanuel
Sanders at the trading deadline in the toughest division in football,
with the most brutal gauntlet of a schedule the last
two months, and he completed sixty nine percent of his
throws and as the eighth best passer rating in football. Okay,
(02:55):
there's your stat. Their schedule was brutal. The Packers schedule
Bowl was Cupcake City. Kansas City got schedule breaks, not
San Francisco. It was brutal at the end of the year.
By the way, Kyle Shanahan, we all admit you're all
saying this Oh, Kyle Shanahan's the reason they're winning is
(03:16):
four and twenty without Jimmy Garoppolo. He's twenty one and
five with him in San Francisco, Colin, That's not fair.
What coach can win without their star quarterback? I don't know.
The Saints went five and oh without Drew Brees this year,
the Eagles won a Super Bowl when Carson Wentz got hurt.
Belichick won eleven and five without Tom Brady and the
(03:40):
Steelers on their fourth quarterback. This year we're in a
playoff hunt week sixteen and seventeen went eight and eight.
Carolina without Cam was spitballing it for about week twelve.
You can win in this league with backups. You just
can't win Super Bowls generally, but you can win with backups.
(04:02):
Kyle Shanahan is a brilliant coach. Four and twenty without
Jimmy Garoppolo. What are you not seeing? I got down
this rabbit hole last night with some buddy and he's Oh,
Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is a talented kid, but he's
defined by shrinking in big spots. Will he beat New Orleans? Yeah?
(04:26):
Even a crappy real estate agent can sell a nice house. Occasionally,
we define kirk Cousins by he kind of shrinks in
big spots. Doesn't mean he can't win an occasional one.
I want you to think about. Remember the Vikings were
thirteen and three with case Keenum. You could make the
argument that Kirk Cousins, it's about the coach, the receivers,
(04:48):
the roster, the defense. They were thirteen and three before
kirk Cousins got to town Okay, San Francisco. In the
three years before Garoppolo, two of those were Shanahan were
eight thirty five. I don't know, Like I listen they
say studies have shown that ten to fifteen percent of
people don't get sarcasm. They don't even get sarcasm. So
(05:10):
I don't think it's crazy to think that fifty percent
of the public can't figure out if a quarterback has
it or not. But I can remember when it's not
just about winning. I remember when Tibo won in a
winning streak and I worked at the other place, and
I would go on the air and be like, are
you people crazy? This is not a franchise quarterback. I
remember when Vince Young one and I told people, are
you people crazy? You can't win fifteen years with Vince
Young at quarterback. I remember watching Russell Wilson win his
(05:33):
second year and going, oh crap, we got another great quarterback.
I don't think it's that hard. If you just go
to wins, that's a little bit of a barometer. But
you can't do it solely on wins, because Tebow one
in Vince Young one Mark Sanchez won games. But I
don't understand the Garoppolo stuff. Did people not watch the
middle of the season. Okay, so San Francisco in the
(05:56):
middle of the season lost both of their tackles, their
Pro Bowl tacks. They lost Kittle, they had injured receivers,
they lost Quan Alexander d Four, they lost multiple people,
they lost their Pro Bowl fullback. Garoppolo had to carry them.
And by the way, if you forget how tough their
schedule was, I think people are forgetting how tough their
(06:17):
schedule was. The last eight games, here is who San
Francisco face. The Packers twice, Baltimore, New Orleans, the surging Falcons, Minnesota, Seattle,
and a Rams team fighting for their playoff life. And
Garoppolo completed sixty nine percent of his throws against them.
That's the toughest eight game stretch in the National Football League.
(06:40):
What is everybody not seen? Trent Dilford yesterday on Jimmy g.
You go back to the middle of the football season.
Jimmy and G's the reason they won football games. They
didn't win to spite him. So just because he didn't
have flashy numbers doesn't minimize his impact on the forty
nine ers season. You judge at quarterback, you don't just
(07:00):
judge it for a couple of games. You look at
the entirety of the season. I think he's really had
a great year and he's the right quarterback for this team. Yeah.
I read these comments on is it because he's good looking?
Just because he's got a great coach? All legendary quarterbacks
have great coaches. What did Joe Montana do without Bill Walsh?
What did Bradshaw do without Chuck Noll? What did Aikman
(07:23):
do without Jimmy Johnson? Won a Super Bowl? Won with
Barry Switcher and probably wanted to strangle him the whole time.
What did Dan Fouts do without Eric Coreel. You don't
think Andy Reid helps Patrick Mahomes. Of course coaches matter,
but if you can't spot Jimmy G's talent. You're the
person that watchs the American Idol and sat there with
somebody with a bad voice and we're like, I don't know,
(07:44):
sounds like a superstar to me. Some people just can't
see it. I don't think it's that hard. Let me
shift to this. I like the Niners to win the
Super Bowl. I think it's close. I think it's exciting,
and I do think the lead up to the Super Bowl.
I think they played a much tougher schedule at the
end of the year San Francisco. Both teams are healthy.
I like the fact they're coming in as an underdog.
(08:06):
I like their defensive line better than Kansas City's D line,
and I actually like their offensive line better than Kansas
City's offensive line. Obviously, Mahomes is a superstar. Jimmy Garoppolo
super talented. He's not Patrick Mahomes, but he's really talented.
But the discussion is, and I think this does matter
when you have two teams that are both great, and
(08:27):
they're both really really good. I mean, nobody's gonna be
surprised if the Niners win or if Kansas City wins.
I like San Francisco buy an inch. You know. That's
how much I like him. And again it's mostly online play,
not on anything else. I just I feel I get
a good enough quarterback and a great coach, and I
have an big edge on the D line and actually
(08:47):
a slight edge on the old line for San Francisco.
But here's the other thing that I think can matter.
I think teams do occasionally get tight the pressures on
Kansas City, not because they're a favorite. Ask yourself this,
what are the headlines the day after the Super Bowl
(09:10):
if San Francisco loses. So let's create a headline. San
Francisco loses to Kansas City. Here's the headline. Jimmy Garoppo, No,
but the future still bright. Jimmy GE's young, Shanahan's young.
Outside of Joe Staley, Richard Sherman, the team's young. The
(09:31):
defensive lines all twenty five years old and younger. George
Kittle's young. It's a bunch of kids. This is the
beginning of a rebuilding San Francisco that finally got the quarterback.
This is a young roster again, outside of Richard Sherman
and Joe Staley, Emmanuel Sanders. This story They've already paid
their quarterback. They've already paid their quarterback. They don't have
(09:53):
to worry about that. Now here's the headline. If Kansas
City loses read it and weep Andy Reid couldn't win
the big game. What's gonna happen? Now? We're paying Mahomes
forty four million a year. You know, some of those
veteran players we just can't afford anymore. Told you this
(10:16):
wouldn't work, and he doesn't develop running games. What are
the headlines after this game? Narratives will start to cling
to Andy and the Chiefs. There are no narratives here.
There's no narratives. I mean, if Garoppolo loses to Patrick Mahomes,
welcome to football for the next decade. Mahomes is gonna
(10:37):
beat virtually everybody. He's gonna beat everybody, even the great quarterbacks.
He's gonna mostly beat even Travis Kelsey after the win,
talked about the narratives that are on the Chiefs. I
love coach of read Man. He's he's definitely a part
of the motivation. You know, we're sick of here and
(10:58):
what immedia says about him, how he can't get the
big one done and you know what, We knocked one
off the list, got the Lamar Hunt Trophy back here
in Kansas City for the Hunt family, and you know
where we still got one more to one more go
to knock off the list. I do think when you
wait two weeks for a game, you can come in tight.
And I do think the pressure is more on. Kansas
(11:21):
City may not decide the game, but when people are
asking and I'm reading and I'm hearing, you know who's
got a little feel where this is gonna be a
little tight. I think San Francisco can come in here
with house money, play their butt off. They got three
veteran guys, They've paid their quarterback Shanahan, Garoppolo or here forever.
Young receivers are here forever. Kittle, if he can stay health,
he's here forever. The right tackle here forever, the young
(11:43):
corner Witherspoon, here forever. I think it's a different vibe
leading up for San Francisco than I do Kansas City.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
dayson noon Eastern a Empacific. So Kobe Bryant said something yesterday.
I watched the Lakers last night, AIDI didn't play. Boston
was hot, Lebron struggled, They got you know what, kicked
out of him. It happens. It's the NBA. It was
(12:03):
Boston's night at home Lakers. Lebron went and saw his
son play earlier in the day. Maybe not focused, who knows.
Lebron had a rare night where he stunk. I mean
by Lebron standards, not by anybody else's standards. He had
thirteen assists and about fifteen points. Kobe Bryant was talking
about Lebron James the other day, and there's this sense.
And I do think Kobe sometimes rolls his eyes at
(12:23):
Lebron's race to social media. He grew up in a
different generation, and I do think Lebron kind of looks
at Kobe and thinks, I'm better than you, even though
people like you here more. I don't think they're ever
going to be best friends. But Kobe came out and said,
you know, when Lebron came to LA, he's now a Laker.
He's part of a brotherhood, part of our fraternity. We
should embrace him, Appreciate this guy, celebrate what he's done
because it's truly remarkable. Here's what's funny, I live in
(12:45):
Los Angeles. Lebron doesn't feel like a Laker. Kobe doesn't
Magic and Kareem and Riley, and Lebron feels like the
new NBA, which is he moved here for business and
basketball decisions. But he doesn't feel like a Miami Heat.
He feels like a Cavalier. When I think of the Lakers,
I think of their announcer, Chickern, the late chick Cern.
(13:07):
I think of Kobe, I think of Magic. I think
of James Worthy. I think of Jerry West, I think
of Gail Goodrich. I don't think of Lebron. He came
here for business. Part of his business was basketball. That
is not a downside. But I don't think Kevin Durant
feels like a Warrior. Rick Berry does, Steph does, Clay
does the NBA and I got into this conversation the
(13:28):
other day with a friend and he asked, why are
the NBA ratings down? I like the NBA, and I said,
so do I. The players are good guys, I said,
but it's different. The NFL does a very good job
to create a sense of community. The franchise tag NFL
owners did that because even if you're a great quarterback,
and your contract is done, I can keep you around
(13:49):
for a couple of years. It's a sense that Mahomes
he's not a great quarterback. He's a Chief, and Aaron's
a Packer, and Ben's a Steeler, and Rivers was a
charger and breezes at and they don't even come up.
The NBA empowers the individual. It is more of a
me league over a week league than I have supported
all NBA stars I've moved around. I would be an
(14:12):
utter complete hypocrite to not defend professional mobility. The downside, too,
it is you sometimes feel disengaged when you move around
for better jobs in your life. And I don't think
Lebron feels like a Laker. I think he feels like
a really talented superstar basketball player that currently lives and
(14:33):
plays in Los Angeles. I think it's one of the
strengths in the NFL where people are loyal to brands.
There are multiple great brands. The Bears are a great brand,
the Packers are a great brand, the Cowboys, the Eagles,
the Saints. There's great branding in the NBA. Lakers are
(14:54):
a big brand, kind of the Celtics, and then it's
about the dude, the star who is always ready to
pack his bags. That's why you have a handful of
NBA players who are absurdly rich, and most NFL guys
mahomes will be very rare hit the lottery. Look at
(15:14):
the Lakers today, though Frank Vogel, Lebron, Danny Green, ad
Rondo doesn't feel like Lakers. It feels like rented parts.
You cross your fingers, hope they're healthy late and win
a title. It's not a knock on the current players.
It is a reality of the current NBA business model.
(15:36):
It doesn't feel like community. It feels like the empowerment
of individual stars. They get rich. I'm not sure big
picture it helps the sport one more herd. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. I haven't talked to Danny
(15:59):
Cannell in a while. Play in the NFL for six years.
He and I disagree a lot, but I always fired
him to be fascinating. He was on First Things First
this morning, and he's terrific. Joining us via the Coward
Global Satellite Network brought to you by Mercedes Bands the
best or nothing. Okay, I'm tired of defending Jimmy g.
Kyle Shanahan was four and twenty without him, and he's
twenty one and five with him. You know, I don't
(16:20):
think he's far. I don't think he's Mahomes, but I
do think he's a notch above a dak In a
Kirk Cousins. What say you, Yeah, I think that's a
pretty accurate assessment. He's not a greatest of all time,
Yet those two guys you mentioned him, I think are
in that conversation for top ten quarterbacks in the history
of the game. But I don't really get the criticism
(16:42):
of Jimmy Garoppolo going into this game. I guess I
understand because he was only asked to throw it eight
times in the NFC Championship game. But why is it
a knock against him If in the playoffs his team
is able to completely dominate the line of scrimmage on
both sides and they have the luxury of not relying
on their quarterback to have to throw it forty times.
I think that's a good problem to have. But what
(17:05):
I've seen from Jimmy Garoppolo three times this season, He's
been over three hundred yards passing. Twice of those came
against Arizona Cardinals. I would throw those aside. But his
most impressive performance is the game that he had against
New Orlean Saints. That was you know, two of the
top teams in the NFC were squaring off. He's going
against a Hall of Famer and Drew Brees. He had
(17:25):
to go into a hostile environment against a really good
Saints defense, and what do he do? He went toe
to toe with the Hall of famer and put up
forty eight points and beat him by the way. But
most impressive, more than the four touchdowns and the one
interception Colin was the last drive of the game when
he stepped on the field. If you watched him, he
looked like he belonged and he was not overwhelmed by
(17:48):
the moment and said he was cool calm drove his
team right down the field for the win. I think
he's more than capable of winning this game for the
forty nine. You know, it's interesting. I want to talk.
I'm going to get to Kansas City and his second
but it's interesting. I think the Green Bay Packers listen.
Tennessee loses and we're all like, I get it. Baltimore
lost in the playoffs and we're like, okay, they're young
(18:10):
New England loses. Were like, well, they're old Green Bay loses.
I still don't know if Matt Lafleur's great offensive numbers
came down from McCarthy, but I think you and I
may agree on this. Aaron Rodgers generally avoids criticism the
State Farm commercials, the good looks, the ring. I said yesterday,
(18:32):
I think Aaron's a baylor. I think he bails on plays,
bails on teammates, bails on throws, bailed on a coach.
His road record is abysmal compared to his contemporaries, and
I think some of it is the road is hard.
That's why Russell Wilson's a great road quarterback. He is
just a fighter to the last play. Is my criticism
(18:55):
unfair of Aaron, No, I don't think it is. I
am on board with you on this one. And at
thirty six years old, I think Aaron Rodgers has to
do some self evaluation and look at his not a
style of play, because he's insanely talented. He can still
make all the throws, but in his style of leadership.
And I think Aaron Rodgers, you've heard some rumblings from
(19:18):
his teammates. Some guys have defended him, and that's great,
but you have heard some teammates say, well, you know,
that's the smartest guy in the room, and he's not
afraid to let you know it. And it's never Aaron's fault.
And I thought, on full display when adversity strikes, that's
when you, as a franchise quarterback and somebody who is
considered one of the best to ever play, that's when
you have to inspire your teammates. And it's not fun,
(19:42):
but that is your job. And for Aaron Rodgers to
pretty much have an attitude of indifference throughout the first
half and the body language and I'm not a huge
body language guy, but it can permeate on the sideline.
And by the time he got his game turned around,
it was too late. And I saw the play where
he fumbled this nap and he walked away from it,
did not even make one iota of effort towards the ball,
(20:05):
didn't even yell at anybody to alert his lineman that
the ball was on the ground. I was astounded. I'm like,
this is that's the way a quarterback reacts in practice,
not in the NFC Championship game. And I was catching
a little bit of heat of it from some critics
saying no, no, no, there was no chance he got
the ball. And I was with Trent Green and Steve Burline,
two guys who played a long time in the NFL,
and I said, am I crazy on this? Or should
(20:27):
Aaron at least have dove dove and tried to get
on the ball. And they were like, absolutely, And even
if you don't have a chance to get on the ball,
at least you show your teammates. I'm willing to sacrifice
and do whatever it takes to win. So I thought
that was a really negative message. Kind of the body language,
the lack of effort, the indifference was an alarming sign
for Aaron Rodgers. And I think he needs to do
(20:48):
some self reflection or he'll be the most underutilized the
piece of talent that's ever played the quarterback position with
only one Super Bowl to show for. It's interesting. I've
known people through the years that have a relationship with
Aaron and he'll just ghost you if you push back
and criticize him. He doesn't like discomfort. He can be
passive aggressive. It's his personality. He'll drop you as a
(21:09):
friend if you criticize him, and I think that creates
sort of an aloofness and a shield around him. And
I've been saying this for years. I don't doubt he's
a Hall of Famer. I don't think he's a great leader.
I think Russell Wilson is. And I think his lack
of leadership for Aaron is starting to show in his
road record where it's really hard to win. Okay, let's
go to Kansas City. We got about three minutes left.
(21:30):
Das sense though Mahomes and read it feels like there
is a little pressure the Andy Reid can't win narrative.
The Mahomes is the best of the two quarterbacks. They've
got the pressure on him, right, Yeah, it's not even close.
I mean, when you hear a Travis Kelsey after the
NFC Championship game reference Andy Reid's playoff history and the
(21:53):
knock against him, they are aware of what it would
mean for Andy Reid to win a Super Bowl. So
I do think it is firmly there. I mean, Kyle
Shanahan's still a baby in the coaching circles. You know,
he's got a young quarterback too. There have been John
Lynch have this contract, they're gonna be together. I think
they expect they're going to be back, and so did
the Chiefs. But for Andy Reid specifically, look at what
it would do for his resume, his Hall of Fame legacy.
(22:16):
If he wins this Super Bowl. I think he's a
lock to get in the Hall of Fame. If he
comes up short, it's a much right longer road for
him to get in, and he'd probably have to coach
another ten years and add to the total win total.
So that's where I think it's a massive importance for
them to win. I have a take for you that
I think you might like because I think the Kansas
City Chiefs are similar to the Golden State Warriors when
(22:39):
they started their dynasty. They're a young team. I think
Patrick Mahomes is similar to Steph Curry the way he's
changing the way the game is played. They're fun, They're
incredibly an offensive juggernaut, and yet they're better defensively than
people give them credit for. And they will make some
mistakes which the Warriors did earlier and throughout while they're
embarrassing people, they'll have turnovers. No, they always had the
(23:01):
confidence they could win. Yeah, and similar to the Warriors.
I do think the Chiefs are about to go on
a run where they get multiple super Bowls. Yeah. No, no, Danny,
I think you're I think the Warriors take is one
that we've talked about. Mahomes feels like he's kind of
changing the parameters on what a quarterback can do. I
mean I liked Andrew Luck. He didn't look like this
good stuff. Danny Canal love having you on the show. Buddy. Thanks,
(23:22):
anytime you want to come on, just tell us, all right,
next time, I want to do it in La though.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeart Radio app. I've been very
critical of Aaron Rodgers and you know, I mean, they're
chief heads. They you know, middle of the country. You're mean,
you're a coastal guy. You hate Aaron, No, you don't.
(23:43):
I think Aaron can be condescending. I think Canal points
out what I point out. I don't think he's a
great leader. I think he's a great player. He's Jay
Cutler with way more talent, doesn't get along with all
those teammates, condescending aloof And I think he's a Baylor
as a person. He bales on frenzy, bales on teammates,
bails on goaches, he bails on plays, And I think,
But here's the thing about Aaron Rodgers. Are we sure
(24:06):
Matt Lafleur can coach? Tennessee's offense got better without him?
Now you can setch Ryan Tannehill. Green Bay's got slightly
worse with him. Well, it's a new system. Even though
I disagree in both cases, I'll just give you those.
Here's what concerns me. Green Bay was a lousy second
(24:27):
half offense with Aaron Rodgers. They were twenty sixth in
the league in fourth quarter scoring, and they weren't a
bunch of close games they needed points. They were thirteenth
in second half scoring, twenty sixth in the fourth. Seattle
Seattle down three offensive linemen and three running backs. I mean,
(24:48):
Seattle was on a third string center outscored him twenty
to seven at Lambeaux. So is it that not concerning
Aaron Rodgers was out rained this year? Why they didn't
have a tough schedule, and they played several awful defenses.
They got a tony yards on a lousy Cowboy defense,
a tony yards on a loudy Raider defense. They got
(25:11):
a lot of yards on a Kansas City defense at
the time that was all banged up. Isn't that concerning?
Here's what I worry about, Matt Lafloor. So the first
thing I look at when you hire a new offensive coach,
do you get a pop? Sean Payton's first year in
New Orleans NFC championship pop. Andy Reid's first year in
(25:34):
Kansas City two and fourteen to eleven and five pop. Now,
those are legends, but a great offensive coach, Sean McVeigh
to the Rams pop. I got no pop from him
this year. Historically, even Chip Kelly, who you criticize Philadelphia
with backup quarterbacks, you got a pop. Kyle Shanahan didn't
(25:58):
win a lot of games, but go back to his
first two years when he had was it Nick Mullins
And we were all saying on the air, how's George Kilo?
Is this open? How are they competing against anybody? With
Nick Mullins at quarterback? They looked clever. I got an
initial schematic IQ pop. I didn't get that this year.
(26:20):
First thing that worries me. The second thing is with
great offensive coaches, they give you all the great ones
give you a pop. It's like whoa, whoa whoa Rams McVay, whoa,
whoa whoa Chip, Kelly, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Matt Naggie.
By the way, in Chicago, I had that written down,
Remember Naggie. First year. We would go on the air
(26:41):
regularly and say it's a bunch of smoking mirrors with Traubisky,
but it's damn fun to watch. It doesn't look like
anybody else's offense. By the way, Bruce Arians came to
Tampa this year, Jameis Winston a lot of picks, but
good lord, that offense was all sorts of dizzying throws.
I got no pop. Here's the second thing. Defensive coordinators
(27:03):
never figure out the great offensive minds. Nobody's ever figured
out any read Belichick still can't figure him out. Nobody's
figured out Sean Payton, Drew Brees got hurt on five
and oh with Bridgewater. Nobody's figured out Bill Walsh. No
nobody figured out Kyle Shanahan. He was good at every stop.
You don't figure out great offensive people because great offensive
(27:25):
people tend to be very cerebral. They're evolvers, they're adapters,
they're constantly scheming, staying ahead of defense. But here's the
other part. I not only didn't get a pop from
the Flour's offense. People started figuring it out. They were
a bad second half team. People figured it out off
the script, and in their last four games, Green Bay
(27:45):
scored twenty one, twenty three, and twenty That's what Aaron
Rodgers the offense second halfs. Later in the year, people
started to figure it out. So we can blame Aaron
for everything. This was a guy that went to Tennessee.
They were like twenty third in the league offensively, he
(28:07):
took over, they went to twenty fifth. Mariota pre Mariota
with So forget the Tannehill thing. I just saw two
things this year that I think are problematic. I got
no pop. We're Aaron Rodgers, who's a smart guy who
can pick up playbooks quick. And I also think teams
started figuring them out at half and figuring them out,
(28:30):
figuring them out green Bay in the second, third, fourth
quadrant of the season. So I think it's I don't
know if he's the right guy. I just don't know.
I think they had a very easy schedule this year
and got a ton of breaks with their health and
their schedule. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine. A Empacific senior reporter
(28:51):
lead content guy for the Monday Morning Quarterback, Albert Brear,
joining me via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So, Albert,
you know this whole Tom Brady thing I'm old discussing
when he retires. But I do think the transition potentially
of moving. I didn't buy into it initially. I just
can't see Giselle saying, yeah, let's move the family to Indianapolis.
But but I read a story this weekend from a
(29:13):
Boston reporter at NBC that said Tom is kind of
over being the thirteenth highest paid quarterback in the league.
He sacrificed a lot. And that's the kind of thing
where I have seen even athletes I love and respect. Yeah,
there is a respect card on the money. That made
me think this thing is real with Tom. What did
(29:33):
you make of that story? Well, you use the right word,
com The word is respect. This isn't about money. It's
about respect. And I take it back to what happened
in July when they gave him that pay bump. Really
the problem there, the reason Brady was upset coming out
of that negotiation, It wasn't about money, it was about years.
He wanted them to them to get him to the
(29:55):
end of his career and ensure that he would finish
his career with the Patriots. And for the first time,
wording you heard coming out of ownership was uncharted territory. Now,
that sounds logical for me and you. But if you've
given an organization twenty years, how are you going to
read that like you're going to say to yourself, will
wait a second. I just gave you two decades. I
had how much value to your franchise. I put six
(30:16):
Lombardi trophies in your trophy case. And now you're talking
about me creating uncharted territory for you. So I think
that there's a there's a respect thing here that I
think was part of it in the summer, and certainly
as a result, is a part of it now. And
if they're not going to give them the years, then
it's going to have to be made up for with
money and look like I've said this to you a
(30:37):
few times. Calling he enables everything about their program. The
fact that they can coach him hard enables them to
coach everybody else hard. The fact that he's taken less
money in the past enables them to ask others to
take less money. All this stuff is sort of part
of the twenty year relationship between the Patriots and Brady,
and I think when things broke down over the summer,
it's sort of got Brady to look at it and say, well,
(30:59):
wait a second, this is a two ways three Let
me throw this at you. Let's say he looks around,
he doesn't want to move to Indie Chargers move on
in Draft two, are justin Herbert and you look around,
he doesn't want to live in He's above Tamper Jacksonville.
Would there be the potential that Tom looks around, he
doesn't get the money or the years from New England,
(31:20):
the teams, the Carolinas, the Chargers, they move on in
draft people and Tom just said, you know what, I'm out.
Is there any chance of that? Like, I'm done, I'm
forty three, I've got my money, I'm not playing. I'm
not playing for that dollar figure. I don't think it's
I don't think it's his intention now to retire. I
will say that I do. I think that there's the
potential that he looks at his options, doesn't like them,
(31:42):
and maybe decides to hang it up. Yeah, I think
that's possible. I mean, there's been a couple of things
that he said. He said he doesn't want to suck
right like, so if he feels like he's losing it,
and I think he'd be comfortable walking away. And I
don't think he wants to be in a situation where
he's with the team that isn't going to be competing
at the highest level. And so I do think that
there are a couple of ba that need to be checked.
One of course, is feeling that he can continue to play.
(32:03):
I think that box is already checked. And then the
other part of it is finding a winning situation for
himself and call him. The one thing I would point
out here that I think is sort of an important piece.
You know, you talk about the real estate where he's
going to live and everything else. He has a kid
who lives in New York. His son Jack lives in
New York City, and I think ultimately because of that,
because Giselle likes New York City, that's eventually going to
(32:25):
be where they're going to settle. So let's just put
this in real life terms for you. Right say you
didn't know where you were going to work over the
next year, but you didn't know where your family is
going to be for the next twenty years, what would
you do with your family. You'd probably move them to
where they were going to be for the next twenty
years and say, you know what, I'm going to be
the one who's going to move around over the next
year or two while I continue to work. And so
I think there's certainly a chance that Brady says, with
(32:47):
this family, we're going to put you in the New
York area for right now, and I'm going to go
where I need to go work wise. And I certainly
think some of the teams that you mentioned there could
be on the table, the Chargers, the Titans, with the
relationship with Mike Rabel, you know, I think there are
some winning situations out there. But I don't think he's
just going to go somewhere to go somewhere. By the way,
I want to throw you. You were in this living
(33:08):
breathing situation with Jimmy Garoppolo. This is not a surprise.
Take us back to when we know why. You know,
Tom wanted him out and he wanted more years, and
Garoppolo wanted to play. But watching Garoppolo now, this is
what Bill Belichick saw, I imagine, yeah, you know. I'll
take you back to twenty seventeen and the combine in
(33:32):
Indianapolis in February. Kyle Shanahan and Bill Belichick sat down
and they were talking about a number of different things,
as coaches do during the combine, things that might happen
in free agency, in the draft, and Jimmy's name came up,
and Bill stopped Kyle and said, non starter. He's not
on the table. We're not moving him. Fast forward eight months.
The Niners, I believe at this point, where and eight
(33:55):
oh and nine, and they were coming off a really
bad loss of Philadelphia Eagles. Kyle is driving into the
office in California. It's five in the morning. He gets
a text from Bill Belichick says, call me when you
get in. He calls Belichick and Belichick says, here's the deal.
I don't want to negotiate. I don't want to talk
about it. You're gonna have Jimmy for his second round pick.
Kyle almost drops the phone. Kyle then walks into John
(34:15):
Lynch's office says the Lynch, the only concern I have
is that he's not signed beyond this year, so this
might be a little bit of an unstable situation at quarterback.
Lynch responds, that's what the franchise tag is for. He
goes back and calls Belichick and the deal is done.
And so the big question you have then is how
did he go from untradeable in February to all of
a sudden being moved for a second round pick in October,
(34:39):
particularly when I was told that the Cleveland Browns were
willing to move the pick they got from the Houston Texas,
which wound up being fourth overall for Garoppolo. And to me,
the easiest answer Bill Belichick wanted to do right by
Jimmy Garoppolo and put him in a place where he
thought he could succeed. He's got tremendous respect for Kyle Shannon,
and I also think that Bill Belichick looks as Jimmy
(34:59):
Garoppolos development as part of his legacy. So by putting
him in San Francisco and making him look good. It
would look make Dot Belichick look like the winner in
that whole situation. Well, that was a great story. I
love stories like that. I like hearing about That's like
a mob story where somebody gets called on the phone
in the car on the way to work and big
stuff happens. I love that. Albert Breer, I want to
ask you about this. Andy Reid is one of my
(35:23):
favorite coaches ever. But but there is a sense with
me that there's narratives if if they lost, that would
come down hard on Andy Reid. He's given Belichick problems.
He's had B to B minus quarterbacks and gotten out
of two Super Bowls. I think Garoppolo, I mean, Mahomes
is obviously the best he's ever had. Is you know,
(35:44):
if when you look at Andy Reid, when you talk
to people around the league, you do more than I do.
I think they're rooting for Andy. I think coaches around
the league are rooting for Andy. Just your thoughts on that. Yeah,
he gets tremendous respect around the league. Like obviously, the
first part of it is how great he's been as
(36:04):
a coach over the years. But there's a second piece
of this too, and what he's given to the profession.
And if you look at his tree and the people
who've come out of his tree and succeeded, guys like
John Harbaugh and Ron Rivera, He's not only a great coach,
he's been a great developer of coaches. And you've seen
executives come out of the Eagles front office now the
Chiefs front office. You see Chris Ballard, the success that
(36:24):
he's having in Indianapolis, and so there's almost like this
professional development like area that Andy Reid's excelled and beyond
is the success in the football field. And so there
are a lot of indies people out there across the league,
and even people who haven't worked with Andy have a
tremendous respect not just what he's done as a coach,
but also what he's done for the business of football.
And so I think that's why you've got so many
(36:45):
people out there Rudy for Andy Reid. The crazy thing
about it, Colin is, you know, you mentioned sort of
his record and everything else. The guy is elite in
just about every area. There's one hole. It's game management.
He's elite developing quarterbacks, he's elite place He's elited designing
an offense, he's elite at putting together a team, he's
elite at setting up an organization. And there's just, for
(37:06):
whatever reason, been this one hole in game management. And
it's going to be really interesting to see what happens
in the super Bowl. If that gets tested and he
can pass that test, maybe he can finally plug that
one hole in his resume.
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