October 15, 2020 • 46 mins
-Andy Dalton can severely diminish Dak Prescott's value
-Nick Saban has completely separated from all other College Football coaches
-Colin's 8 team Super Bowl bubble
-Jimmy Garoppolo is developing a 3rd flaw which could mean he's done with the 49ers
Guests: Greg Cosell, NFL Films
Cameron Jordan, Saints DE
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It is
(00:24):
a Thursday. We are alive in Los Angeles. This is
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. We're on Fox Sports Radio and right here
on FS one. One hour from now, NFL Meet Sandwich.
If you bet football, if you play fantasy football, or
(00:45):
you just love football, Greg ko Sell in one hour,
I think the smartest ten minutes of football conversation we
have all week. Frank Bogel, coach of the Lakers, and
thirty minute stops by I told you I saw him
at Walgreen's earlier this year in law. How bizarre is
that the coach of the Lakers to pull his mask down.
He's like coward. I'm like Frank Vogel, you go to
(01:06):
Walgreens too, boy Taylor's joining meets Special Lakers tooth Bastes.
I thought it was so random. I'm like, I'm in
the whole city of Los Angeles. I'm in the Walgreens
right next to Okay, we're the only two people in
the store. Well, I'm sorry. He's happy to be back
in bases, over joyed. So it's great to have you in.
So it's very interesting. This is a weekend of clarity
(01:28):
in the NFL. There's a lot of big games, the pretenders.
We saw Buffalo Tennessee play the other night, and it's like,
maybe Buffalo is a little bit of a pretender. Tennessee
is absolutely legitimate. And we're gonna see Green Bay in
Tampa Bay and all these games this weekend in Cleveland
and Baltimore. You know, it's very funny. The Dallas Cowboys
play Arizona. The schedule gets pretty weak for them right now,
very winnable games, and the feeling is Dak has gone
(01:51):
and Andy Dalton's in. I want to remind you that
white year replacements due will often define you when you
don't go to work. So when Drew Breeze got hurt
last year, Teddy Bridgewater came in went five, and oh
what did it do? It got Teddy Bridgewater a franchise
quarterback contract, and it also affirmed that Drew Brees and
(02:13):
Teddy Bridgewater it's not much of a gap. And it
turned out that Teddy's now winning and Drew's not winning
anymore in New Orleans with a better roster. When Cam
Newton missed the Kansas City game this year, didn't play,
oh my lord, Oh my god. That's a bad football
team without Cam Newton. So Breeze not playing probably hurt
(02:38):
his status. Cam not playing totally elevated his status. So
what will it do for Dak Prescott. The feeling is
Andy Dalton, and we've seen this act before. It's not
very good. Put this old dude to rest this you know,
he'll play a couple of games. And in fact, Patrick
Peterson Arizona Great Play are saying, hey man, we just
(03:01):
want to force this cat to throw the ball this weekend.
Stop the running. We definitely got to stop the running
and force not saying that he can't do it, but
you know, we have to force Andy Dalton to beat us.
We feel if you take the ball out of Ezekiel's
Eliot's hands, there's more opportunities for bad things that happened
when the ball is in the air. That's interesting. If
(03:24):
I asked you, I'm gonna throw this out there, Dak
and Dalton, which one has had this season with the
most touchdown passes? That would be obvious. That would be
Andy Dalton thirty three in dysfunctional Cincinnati with a defensive coach.
All right. Which guy has had the most back to
back double digit win seasons, Well, that would be well,
(03:46):
Dack's never had that. That would be Andy Dalton for
seasons in a row. And by the way, he was
in a division with Pittsburgh all was competent and Baltimore
usually competent. Everybody know that Andy Dalton's thirty two, no
major history of injuries. He chose Texas because he's from there.
(04:07):
He's from Katie, Texas. Andy Dalton's not a stiff. You
watched last week, right, You watched that last drive and
you're like, your expectations of Andy Dalton are so low,
and all of a sudden, you watch that drive and
it's like, I'm not saying he's his mobile is Dak,
but you watch the tape, look at the film, look
at these throws, that's a big boy NFL throw. Watch
(04:31):
this throw. It seems to me that's a that's a
big boy NFL throw. He's thirty two. The Cowboys schedule
now is the weakest in the league. For the next
few weeks Arizona that it's Washington beat up Philadelphia faced Pittsburgh.
Then they get a buy but then it's a lot
(04:51):
of Washington and Cincinnati and forty nine ers can't get
their act together and home against Philadelphia and close the
season out. Andy Dalton when he was in Cincinnati equally
dysfunctional to Dallas with a defensive coach, a conservative coach.
We called Mike McCarthy a conservative coach. But when Annie
was in that division six seven years ago and they
(05:12):
had a bunch of weapons, he wasn't asked to He
wasn't asked to carry the franchise. He was asked to
be a distributor. He kept winning the division. So Teddy
Bridge Drew Brees not playing didn't do him any favors
helped Teddy Bridgewater. Cam not playing did him huge favors.
(05:33):
I just want to remind you the first four years
in the NFL, Dack and Andy Dalton, we threw the
numbers out. It's the same, dude. Now, I think Dak.
I'd take Dack over Dalton, and I've over the years
been much tougher on Dalton than Dak because they called
him the red rifle and I'm like, he doesn't deserve
a nicknames. Let's get off the red rifle nonsense. But
the idea there's this massive gap there really isn't. Dalton
(05:56):
was drafted higher. Dalton had a very productive college career.
Dalton has had more double digit win seasons. Dalton's had
the more touchdown passes in one season. And he is
a distributor. He's a distributor, and this team is built
frankly for somebody who's a distributor. So it's interesting. Arizona's
(06:18):
takeaway this weekend is, yes, force Andy Dalton to throw.
That's actually, when he had good weapons, the best thing
he did in the hardest way to beat him. All Right,
So Alabama coach Nick Saban is gonna miss the game
this weekend against Georgia. It's by far and away the
best game of the weekend. It's probably going to be
the best college football game this season. It's really really good, right,
(06:40):
It's it's going to be in the on a short
list of great games. So Nick Saban's got COVID. He
came out and he said, listen, protect we don't know
how we got it. We wear a mask, We socially distanced.
He was very responsible, but they got it. Here's what's remarkable.
The average NFL star player is not worth a point.
The average college football player is not worth half a point.
(07:02):
Nick Saban, by just not being in the stadium Saturday,
it changed the line two and a half points. Now,
I want you to think about this. The assistant that
will take it over as Steve Sarkisian. He has coached
two major programs, has a winning record as one bowl games.
Alabama has also had the same system in for ten
twelve years. This is not a new system. And because
(07:25):
he can't be there just for the game, it almost
changes it by a field goal. The gap between Nick
Saban now and the second best college coach, and I'll
get to that in a second. I mean, he's literally
would this happen with any other coach? He had Zoom
meetings this week. He was coaching him this week on Zoom.
The system's installed, Start's been there for years. This is
(07:46):
unbelievable that it's almost a field goal difference, and it's funny.
One of the things I always liked about Saban. There's
a sense that he's rigid, but the truth is he's
really not. He's evolved his offense every year. Every year.
He's made the life for his student athletes really amazing.
They really support their kids academically, they support them emotionally.
(08:08):
I was talking to a therapist yesterday about this. In football,
Saban offers layers and layers and layers of therapists, life coach,
life strategist. Alabama football players go into very productive lives.
He's never at an NCAA violation of note. Very few
of his kids get into trouble. He's lost twelve coordinators,
(08:31):
That's what I counted this morning. Now, think about that,
when Pete Carroll and Mac Brown at USC in Texas
legendary programs, when they started losing coordinators, the programs were
never the same. Urban Meyers an amazing coach when he
lost Charlie Strong, and I think like at Dan Mullen
Florida never felt the same. Nick Saban's lost twelve coordinators,
(08:53):
hasn't missed a beat, no nc double A stuff, mostly
good kids going to productive lives. He keeps evolving offensively.
He's just missing the game this week, just the game.
He's there on Zoom meetings, the offense is installed and
the fox bet. Those guys are like, oh, it's like
(09:15):
three points, that's two and a half points. The only
coach in my lifetime that really is close to him,
and this is somebody I have a lot of respect
for because I know Nick and I like Nick a
lot is Tom Osborne. His last five years at Nebraska,
he went sixty and three and his last year thirteen
and no walk off. One of the great teams of
all time. He's to me the second best coach in
(09:35):
the history of college football. And one of the reasons is,
like Nick Saban, he really evolved. Woody Hayes became kind
of a relic. Joe Paul was kind of a relic.
Some of these guys like you know and people I like,
like Bobby Bowden, they're not really running the program. You know.
They show up and signed five or six kids. They
show up to the house mom and dad like him.
But the coordinators are running the offense. The coordinators are
(09:56):
running recruiting, The coordinators are running the program. Nick Saban
is like sixty six years old, because he's just not
going to be at the game changes the spread significantly.
It's like this guy is just separated. I mean, to me,
it's Saban, it's Osborne, probably Bear Bryant, and then you
(10:19):
can argue over the last one. But I was shocked
by he has a head coach as an assistant who
is one Bowl games and one at two programs. He's
got a defensive system that's been in forever. He's also
not only lost coordinators, they often go get jobs in
his conference, take all his secrets and coach against them
and they're still there. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine
(10:42):
you work at a company it could be coke. You'll
lose many executives. They go over to the other place,
they go up against you. They know all your trade secrets.
At PEPSI you'd have you'd be a struggle, right Like,
Oh my gosh. They Nick's coaching against his former assistance
every other weekend. No dip in the quality of the
prom It really is remarkable. I've watched these great programs Florida, Texas, USC, Nebraska.
(11:08):
If they lose a top coordinator or two and the
program just goes down. He's lost eleven or twelve. I
lost count this morning. I think he's had seven offensive coordinators.
And he's coaching against Lane, and he's coaching against Kirby Smart,
and he's coaching against the kid at tennis. See every
weekend he faces somebody that has all his trade secrets
(11:29):
remarkable which coach well? Be sure to catch live editions
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So I do Super Bowl bubbles and I usually wait
for about a month to watch it. And my Super
Bowl bubble, I always believe there's eight teams good enough
to get to a conference championship. And if you're good
enough to get to a conference championship, then you're good
(11:51):
enough to win. So four teams get to a conference championship.
And I think there's eight teams at any one point
in the NFL season after the first month, and then
it was two or three that are close but not
quite there. They miss a component. So this is my
first Super Bowl bubble of the year. Here it is,
this is official. The Rams, Bills, and Saints are close.
(12:13):
In fact, the Rams and the Bills played to the
last play of a game. In the AFC, it's New
England with Cam Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, and it
just so happens. In the NFC, it's Tom Brady, Aaron
Rodgers and the Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. I will
say this morning, green Bay to me feels like the
(12:35):
best team in America and the least flawed team. And
there's a reason for it. There's three stats that are
very important and Green Bay is really good at all
of them. Number one, green Bay leads the NFL and
yards per play almost seven yards of play. What does
that mean? They're explosive, they can get cheaper touchdowns, free touchdowns,
They make things happen. Number two is third down conversion rate.
(12:55):
They're top five in the NFL. What does that mean?
Generally means you have a good offensive and you get
a push on third and short. You have a veteran
quarterback who can audible in and out of trouble. They
have Aaron Rodgers. And the third thing is what they
call sack deferential. Their top three in the NFL, meaning
they get to your quarterback and you don't get to
theirs So those are three stats. They're very good. I
do not believe they have a hole. I do worry
(13:18):
about Davonte Adams health, but every other team has a hole.
Seattle in Tennessee, in my bubble, neither as a pass rush.
Let's be honest about Tampa Bay. There's some mobility issues
with the quarterback they have, and their discipline is frighteningly
bad at times. With Tampa New England no deep threat,
it tends to be kind of run centric. Baltimore doesn't
play well from behind, and Kansas at Pittsburgh keeps beating
(13:40):
bad teams and letting them stick around Kansas City. Why
do they keep falling behind? It's almost as if psychologically
Kansas City feels like Patrick will save us. You can't
keep falling behind by ten and fourteen points. That's just
not the way it works. You can't do it in
this league. You're gonna end up facing with your defense
and offense that just keeps the ball away and you
lose games. So I think we have a best team
(14:02):
in the NFL, Green Bay. I think we have close. Cleveland.
Pittsburgh plays this weekend. If Cleveland wins, then I think
I would get them closer to the bubble. But it's
New England, Baltimore, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, And I've got some
reservations on Pittsburgh, but I trust them right now defensively
more than I do Buffalo's defense in LA's defense, and
I think they're more explosive offensively potentially the New Orleans offense.
(14:25):
So my eight are New England, Baltimore, Kansas City, Pittsburgh,
Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Seattle, and the Green Bay Packers. Yes
I put Tennessee in there after they bludgeon Buffalo. What
am I supposed to not be impressed by? They're doing
everything well. They don't have a pass rush, but they
do everything else really well. Be sure to catch live
editions of the Herd weekdays and newon Easter, not a Empacific.
(14:48):
I have this theory that it's always the third thing
that makes you leave a relationship, or a restaurant or
a town. I'll give you an example. Los Angeles is
very expensive and the traffic is not good, but the
food's great and the weather's great, and there's a ton
to do. Have a lot of people stay here. New
(15:10):
York was interesting with COVID. New York's had a lot
of people leave. Why because it's really expensive, it's really crowded,
and when you couldn't go to the cool stuff that
New York offers and they shut it all down. Weather
ain't great. You get to a oh, it's a third thing,
like a restaurant. I'll go and think it's a little expensive,
the food's a little fatty, but unless the service is lousy,
(15:34):
I'm going if it tastes great. So the third thing
in a relationship, you know, he's he doesn't make any
money and he doesn't shower regularly. You could live with that.
But if he's a jerk, then she dumps you. So
don't be a third This is the Jimmy Garoppolo thing.
Jimmy Garoppolo and San Francisco. So Jimmy Garoppolo has a
(16:00):
judgment issue. Adult film star franchise quarterback not good enough.
John Lynch was pissed, so was his coach. He's got
a judgment issue, makes him bad throws judgment. Also, we
kind of can be inconsistent week to week, half to half.
Here's another problem now, and this is why I think
he's in trouble. It's not missing the receiver in the
(16:21):
super Bowl folks, he's hurt again, and Kyle Shanahan said
yesterday we are we would bench him again if he's
hurt in his division. Jared Goff got the crap beat
out of him for three years at Cal. He got
the crap beat out of him when Jeff Fisher was
the coach. Jared Goff's taken a lot of hits. Never
missed a start. Russell Wilson College pro, never missed a start.
(16:45):
Kyler Murray College pro, never missed a start. I looked
it up this morning. Jimmy Garoppolo now is missed seventeen starts.
It's that third thing, the judgment too, say, don't give
teams Baker Mayfield, Johnny Manziel, Jamis Winston, don't give him
(17:07):
bad judgment because that you come into a room and
they got a mark. Because as a young quarterback you're
going to be inconsistent. So you're up to two. You
give him a third, they're out. Like Baker Jamison, Johnny
came in with judgment issues. You've got a check. That's
like going into a relationship and she knows the people
you've dated, and she knows he's occasionally a jerk. You
(17:28):
got to check against you in the relationship. You haven't
even gone out on a date yet, So Garoppolo his
judgment flawed. That was a really bad situation as a
Niner quarterback of superstar potentially in the league going out
with an adult film star. I'm not judgmental. I'm not
a moralist. Anybody else fine, not my franchise quarterback. Then
we've seen inconsistency in his play. Okay, y'all, Yeah, yeah,
(17:51):
he's mis seventeen starts. Last week they took him out.
He camp play like you're getting to a point where
and that's why Carson went has a longer runway. You know,
Carson Wentz has been inconsistent and he's got some injuries.
But I can't think of a third They like him.
He works hard, he's got the arm, the talent. So
(18:11):
this is the situation for Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo.
You're starting to get me into a third check. And
that's just the way it's always worked for I've always
been like with friends, I can be okay if you're occasionally,
I'm Doug Gottlieb's friend. He's always late. He's late every time.
So there's a check against him. Two more. He's done.
He's already got a check. He's late for everything. You
(18:32):
invite dug over at seven at seven forty five, I
just now lie show up at six. He gets there
at seven fifteen, where everybody else is there. But you
get to that third check mark, that's when you leave cities.
I left Connecticut. Winter's awful, most boring state in the world,
nice people, most boring state in the world. And at
(18:52):
the end it didn't love the workplace. Boom boom boom.
Okay him out right. So if LA starts it's being
nineteen degrees, I'm out of here because the weather and
the food and the people are keeping me expense, traffic
not great. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
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(19:13):
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Greg ko Sell has been working for forty one years
at NFL Films. You bet football, you're a fantasy football player.
There's nobody like him. We call it our NFL meet Sandwich.
And he is joining me now live. So let's go
(19:34):
to I said earlier today that Green Bay feels like
the least flawed team i've seen. I like Seattle in Tennessee,
but they have no pass rush. Pittsburgh is beating bad
teams and letting them hang around. You know. I like
Kansas City, but could just stop falling behind by double
digit on a regular basis. But I look at the
(19:57):
Baltimore appears to play better with a lead from behind.
And then I look at Green Band, I'm like, they're
good on third down six point eight yards of play
the sack differential. You can't get to their quarterback, they
get to yours. But we all pay attention to the
floor and Aaron Rodgers, and we should. But I look
at but when you look at the tape of them,
(20:19):
do they have a flaw? Because I can't see it yet.
With Green Bay, well, you know what's really interesting Colin
And by the way, nice facial hair, thank you. But
what I really what's really interesting about Green Bay is
they do not play very much man to man coverage,
And in today's NFL you always think that, hey, you
(20:40):
have to be able to play man coverage in this
league to be really really good on defense, and they don't.
So it's not necessarily a flaw. It's just something that
I find fascinating when I watched them, and it's obviously
a choice made by Mike Patton. He's got two corners
in an Alexander and King, who I think can line
(21:00):
up and play man, but they just don't do a
lot of that, so it'll be interesting. But offensively, they're
fascinating now because the Matt Lafloor influence is clearly present
in the motion in the play Action Pass game. It's
this is now Matt Lafloor's offense that Aaron Rodgers is
executing at a very high level. And if you notice
(21:21):
through the first four games, because they've had a buy
so they're four and oh, you don't see Rogers running
around as much. There has not been as many improvisational
Rodgers plays. There's been far more pocket throws. Here's a
team that's good, but there's something that doesn't quite work,
and it's Pittsburgh. I know they run to the ball,
(21:43):
they're very athletic defensively, but they don't average much yard
per play. They let bad teams hang around. I'm not
a I you know Tomlins of veteran Big Ben's good
the defense. So they are one of those teams that
they could win playoff games. I don't doubt that, but
I'm something missing for me, and you look at the
film on the Steelers. What am I? What's missing that?
(22:05):
I just don't feel well. I think that their corners
have been a little up and down this year. Hayden
and Steven Nelson. I think they've had good moments but
also some bad snaps. The past game has been interesting.
They've got a ton of weapons, and at times you'll
see scheme to plays like the game seiling touchdown to
(22:26):
Claypool this past week was a clearly scheme to play
based on what they had gotten throughout the game against
the Eagles. But they've not really been explosive as a
passing team this year. Given their weapons, I think that's
the next step for their offense, and maybe they're just
sort of working that in as the season progresses. Obviously
(22:46):
it was a different kind of offseason and training camp,
but it's not an offense that has really been explosive,
and I think they have the people to do that.
So they played Cleveland this week. I think Stefens. I
think Stefens. It's so funny. Last week, first half, I
thought Baker played an exquisite half of football. Second half
(23:06):
he reverted to some Baker stuff. What was the difference
between the first half and second half on what they
were calling? I think, quite honestly, and again you know me,
I don't do hot controversial takes skol and I say
what I see on film, I quite honestly don't believe
Baker Mayfield has played that well. Their four and one
(23:26):
and their run game has been really good, and Stefanski
has great concepts in the past game that are executed
really well. But I think Baker is playing a little fast,
both mentally and physically. I think he needs to slow
down his entire process. He overstrides at times because he
plays so fast, and he throws those high fastballs. He's
(23:48):
a very talented kid. I think he's got a really
good arm. We've seen him be exceedingly accurate throughout his
career at times. But I think that for them to
get to where they believe I'm sure they can get to,
he's going to have to play a lot better than
he's playing now. So it's funny about Andy Dalton first
(24:10):
four years in the league. He and Dak's numbers. I mean,
they just mirror each other. They really do it's interesting,
and I think there's this sense now that well, let's
let's let's taper the offense down a little. But the
truth is Andy, when he had weapons, he's not going
to carry a team. But when he had weapons in
Cincinnati was very efficient and he can make most of
(24:31):
the throws. And I watched that. I watched that last
drive last week and I thought, oh, this is this
is a franchise quarterback. This is not He's only thirty two, Greg,
there's a lot of there's a lot of throws in
this arm. Will the offense, in your opinion, change dramatically
with Dalton instead of Dak Well, to me, they have
to make a decision as to how they want to
(24:51):
play based on their defense. Colin, their defense has not
been very good and it gives up a lot of points.
So normally, normally when your defense is like that, you
try to at least to some degree, limit the number
of plays that it's on the field. And you do
that by running the ball. And it's not as if
(25:12):
they don't have a good back or can't run the ball. Now,
Dak is a really good quarterback and he put up
huge numbers. I had a coach tell me that in
this offense that Andy Dalton could essentially do what Dak does. Now,
whether that turns out to be numbers, that's not the point.
The point is can he run the offense efficiently? And
(25:35):
I believe he can. Clearly they have weapons and they
have a great back who My sense is they need
to lean on a little more, not because of Dalton,
but because of their defense. We'll make Cowboy fan it's
pretty optimistic for Cowboy fans listening to our show. So
one of the surprises of the weekend for me was
how Washington so easily dismantle, how the Rams so easily
(25:59):
dismant An told Washington, Goff mostly had good pressure. This
is a very capable defensive front for the Washington football team.
And I came out of that game and I thought,
they're gonna go east again. They're gonna get pushed around
up front. Goff's gonna be pressure. And after that game,
I'm like, I'm I think maybe I'm under selling the
Rams a little bit. They've done something offensively. There's a
(26:21):
I don't know, it just feels like maybe there's the
girly situations gone. Something is working this year that I
didn't see last year. Are they healthier? Is it schematic?
But they are more forceful. It feels like to meet
point of attack this year. Well, I think you're seeing
a young coach continue to develop with his scheme. Every
(26:44):
coach has basic concepts and schemes that they use because
coaches coach what they know. But then you build upon those,
you expand those, and I think you're seeing a young
coach doing that. McVeigh is one of those coaches who
is just kind of a lunatic in a good way.
He loves this stuff, he works at it. You're seeing
an expansion of basic principles. How they get to those
(27:07):
principles at times is different. They had to play this
week that's very reflective of that, when Gerald Everett lined
up as an eye formation fullback and ran around and
ended up catching it for forty yards. So they're just
taking their basic concepts and adding and tweaking and expanding.
And I think offensively they're one of the most overlooked
(27:28):
teams in the league because people have this narrative about
Jared Goff that he's not a great player and there
is a programmed element at times to his game, no question,
But they're doing more things, and Goff happens to be
a very good thrower. Yeah, no, there's no question. I
always felt there's a Matt and Ryan quality to him.
Some limitations, but I think he throws a beautiful deep ball,
(27:48):
and when he's in a rhythm he throws He and
Russell Wilson throw two of the prettiest deep balls in
the league. It's just a soft, catchable ball that always
seems to get the guy in stride. So here's an interest.
First impress are really important. So my first impression of
Ryan Tannehill in Miami is he's okay, He's kind of athletic,
He's okay. Okay. Then he goes to this staff and
(28:10):
in his last seventeen games, his numbers look a lot
like Lamar Jackson's last seventeen And I'm not saying I'm
not saying he's that quarterback, but is it possible that
he was miscast in Miami and with this staff he's
a very capable player. Well, he wasn't bad in Miami.
There's the sense that he was bad. And by the way,
(28:31):
he's a better thrower than Lamar Jackson. But he's a
talented kid, and I think it's a case of a
really good mix between scheme and player, because they're an
offense that starts with Derek Henry. In terms of what
they do, both from a personnel standpoint and a formation standpoint,
a lot of two tight ends, sometimes three tight ends
(28:53):
when everybody's healthy. They play with a fullback at times,
so play action is a major part of what they do.
And then you add in the fact that he's got
movement ability both by design with the play action boot
game and the ability to make second reaction plays. And
one other point which is often overlooked when people talk
about quarterbacks, he's been very accurate. His ball placement has
(29:17):
been consistently precise, as we see watching these highlights, and he,
to me is a really solid quarterback in a really
good system. Worried about Josh Allen after that game Tuesday,
anything you see that bothered you, Well, I'm not worried
about him personally. He's been phenomenal against man coverage this year,
(29:38):
and in that game, the Titans played over seventy five
percent zone and I think you're seeing that to some
degree with Patrick Mahomes as well. You're making these quarterbacks
have to read it out and throw through tighter windows.
They're certainly capable of doing it, but even Mahomes. Mahomes
has been leaving the pocket prematurely. I think for Josh
Allen and I said, I don't think watching the tape
(29:59):
he had a bad game. But I think you're just
making these guys have to go through the process a
little longer, and sometimes they don't want to go through
the process and they know they can move, so they
move and they all make some great plays. We know
Mahomes can do that and Alan can do it too,
but it just they have to go through the process
differently versus zone than versus man. Where versus man you
(30:20):
pretty much say, hey, I know it's man, and here's
the guy I want to throw too, here's the matchup.
I like, Yeah, Raiders slowed down Mahomes enough. It was
the upset of the weekend. Again, what on the film?
What jumped out to you in the Raiders upset of
the Chiefs. Great zone coverage, great eye discipline, A particular
concept against Kelsey when he was the single receiver to
(30:42):
the boundary that was really really effective because they played
zone to the three receiver side and matched up to
Kelsey with a corner on the single receiver side, So
some really good concepts. I thought they played with great
eye discipline. That's what you must do. It's i discipline
in leverage in your zone concepts. When you play against
(31:02):
the Chiefs, you can't play man they have too much speed,
so you play zone and it all comes down to
discipline and leverage and assignment football. But there's been three
games this year in which Mahomes has not quite been Mahomes. Now,
he's always going to throw a lot of yards college,
but the Chargers, the Patriots and the Raiders played a
lot of zone coverage and he was not as comfortable
(31:25):
and he starts to move when he doesn't need to.
And as I said, he'll make plays. He's the most
special quarterback in the league talent wise. But ultimately, if
you can get him out of his structure, then you
feel you have a better chance. Okay, finally, Derek Carr,
and I've said this before to you and others, is
that you know there's this there's a sense that Derek Carr.
(31:48):
I think he's like a little more athletic. He's kind
of reminds me of Kirk Cousins. They're a little reluctant sometimes, yeah,
a little reluctant. But I think Derek's a good athlete.
I think he throws a pretty all. He's got a
little I said, he reminds me a little of Tony Romo.
He's got a little ability to move with his feet
and get out of coverage. So what did you see
(32:10):
from Derek Carr, the often criticized quarterback. Another case where
I think this scheme is really helping him now that
he's been in Gruden's system for a number of years.
Gruden does a great, great job with his use of personnel,
his formations. You know, Gruden loves to what we call
the illusion of complexity. It's a lot of personnel, a
lot of formations to get to basic concepts. And I
(32:32):
think cars getting more comfortable. He's not a tonal, loose guy.
You have to define it for him. And I think
he's feeling much more comfortable within that system. And you know,
we can get to our big play of the week now,
because it was from last week against the Chiefs and
it was a great example. They got a blitz. So
let's go to the play and show it. And by
(32:52):
the way, it's a it's a rejuvenation here of Nelson Aglar,
but here you see a blitz with Damian Wilson Ben Nieman.
They're gonna blitz. So now what happens here is in
blitz coverage you see the two safety's Thornhill and Matthew.
They're going to match up. It's kind of a zone
match situation and Agilar is going to run the deep post.
(33:12):
So what happens here is Matthew does not have him
man to man the way you think of man to man,
but it's a zone match based on their routes. So
what happens is is Matthew matches up to Aglar and
you can see on the other side you're going to
get Thornhill. He's going to match up to Darren Waller
running the crosser. Again, it's a zone match. He's not
(33:34):
in a pure man situation, but you have to match
up to routes, and Aglar just beats Matthew vertically and
it's a great throw. But here's a defined throw, and
that's a great example of how you set it up.
You know what you're going to get defensively, and you
know how Spagnola Ste Spagnola plays it, and you get
a big play. Yeah, Nelson had some drop issues in Philadelphia,
(33:58):
but he's certain bunch. Yeah, but he's talent that he
can run, He's got a catch radius, he can make plays.
There's no question Greg co sell absolute pleasure. We all
got smarter. Good Cnu, Thanks Colin, appreciate it. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one
and the iHeart Radio app. It is pretty amazing. My
(34:19):
next guest is going to be a first ballot Hall
of Famer. He's been in the NFL for ten years.
He's been a Pro bowler for half of them, never
missed a game. He's like Tony Gonzalez on the defensive side.
He just doesn't miss games. And he's a real team leader.
There's a lot of good defensive players in the NFL.
There's not dozens of great defensive leaders, and Cameron Jordan,
(34:42):
the Saints defensive end, is absolutely one of those. They
have a bye week this week, which is actually for players.
It's it's a little bit of a break. You don't
get many of those. And Cam Jordan is now joining us,
so you know, it is interesting that there are great
defensive players. But when we think NFL cam quarterback a leader,
the coach is the leader. But when I think of you,
(35:05):
I'm like, no, you're a vocal guy. You're a verbal guy,
is a defensive leader. Do you ever feel like you're
the Drew Brees on the defensive side and that your
words matter, they're impactful, and you're a mentor to a
lot of players. I look at myself definitely not in
the category of Drew Brees and in any sort of fashion,
just because you know that that focal point of quarterback,
(35:26):
he handles all checks, he handles the energy, he handles everything.
Everything that Drew does sets him apart. I think that,
if anything, I just make sure to bring the energy.
And you know, I've got guys like Damarrow Davis, who
of course is an All Pro right behind me and
play the way he does, and you know I let
him be the quarterback of the situation. I just want
(35:47):
to bring juice every play and every time I touch
the field. It's that love the game that you know,
I hope to never never love love for What's interesting,
because you say you want to bring juice for the
first time in your life, you're playing with no fans.
How do you create the juice when you're playing to
an in an empty stadium. I'll say, now, we got
the manufactured sound, right, We've got the seventy decibels of
(36:11):
low music. At that point, it's just it's us. It's
really really take it back to the if we had
to play at midnight in the middle of the park,
you know, in the back alley, we played football against anybody,
and it's that same mentality that we take everywhere we
go with us now. Um, it's it's sort of chilling
to be in the Superdome and not have the fans
behind you, not have you know, seventy thousand people cheering
(36:34):
you know who that gonna beat them, Saints. Um. And
at the same time, you know, we still have a
job in a mission to complete. So we got to
take that in our mindset and create our own energy
and our you know, we can't have juice, we gotta
have we to have more. You know. It's interesting. So
I've never been a fan of NFL preseason. I don't
I mean, I like, I don't want my star players
just go to Bahamas, go on vacation, show up Labor Day.
(36:57):
But I was watching the game the year day with
my wife, and my wife was like, man, there's a
lot of guys hurt this year. And for the first
time in my life, I was like, maybe they need preseason.
Maybe they need to bang into each other for about
you know, four quarters. So, now that you've played your
career with nine preseasons and one without CAM, do you
think there is value in the preseason? Shouldn't we shorten it?
(37:20):
How do you view it now? I don't know. I
haven't played much preseason honestly, since no ever. I think
the most I think I've played is two maybe three
preseason games. I've normally played like one one and a half.
But I definitely think you know, the COVID impact of
it all has has changed how guys were able to
(37:42):
work out and get after it. You talked about, you know,
COVID really hit America somewhere in March and guys start training,
you know, March, April, May, June. You hit training camp
and it was like you you were taken out of
most people's compared with norm situation on how to work out,
how to stay, how to keep his shape, how to
go about being football ready. And you know, I think
(38:06):
it's sort of I think it's sort of shown, um,
just in terms of how guys may not have had
the same access to treatments, rehabs and abilities to be
on their their normal schedule. How do you prepare for
a season? You know, you interer in a division now
with some veterans Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Brees and Matt Ryan.
You faced a lot of veteran quarterbacks. Generally for a
(38:27):
guy like you, you're looking your chops if you get
a rookie quarterback. But justin Herbert cam there's there's something
to it. Man, He's got a whip. Kind of your
impressions on what you saw from a kid who in
his third or fourth NFL start on Monday, Yeah, I
mean he's talented. I like to say, you know, we
(38:48):
hit him, but seventeen eighteen, nineteen times, Yeah, and he
was still out there rolling, taking hits and slinging the rock.
He's he's looking, he's looking special. I think he could
develop into a special quarterback getting years to come. I
sort of, you know, talk to him after the game.
I was like, you might be the slowest, you know,
quarterback out of Oregon. And that's not saying much because
you're still running like a four six five. You know, Yeah, No,
(39:11):
he isn't. I'm watching some of the tape here. He's
got he's got an arm on him, that's for sure.
When when you look a lot of people have said
it's kind of Drew Brees, and many people believe it's
Drew Breeses last year. I mean's he's got He's gonna
have broadcasting options as you are. If you want him,
he's gonna be able to do that. Does it feel
like to you with Drew? Does it feel like kind
of a special year this year? Knowing one of the
(39:34):
great quarterbacks top ten quarterbacks of all time? This may
be it. You may be playing in his last year
top one. Um. Yeah, I'd say he's, you know, one
of the top one quarterbacks if I had to, if
I had to go my mindset of great quarterbacks, Drew
Brees and Drew Brees. Um being said, I don't know
if it's last year. Uh, you know, you talk about
his completion rate, you talk about you know, everything that
(39:55):
he does. Um is what quarterback passing rate is probably
over one hundred completion rate right now is probably sitting
at but seventy percent plus, Um, everything that Drew does
is elite. Uh so when he decides to hang him up,
he's going to go right into Canton. But in terms
of is this year special because of it maybe his last,
(40:16):
I have no idea. I've never had to worry about
playing without Drew Brees, so I won't start worried about
it now. Yeah. So you average, you know, you get
a ten to fifteen sacks every year, and you know
it's and you're one of the guys in the NFL
that's a reliable sacker, a one a game. And when
when you get into this we are now in a
more offensive league. The team's pass more than ever. I
(40:41):
would imagine, Well, I would think, do you this can
create more sacks for you? The current NFL is more
spread out, it's faster, it's no huddle, it's more passing.
As a defensive player, do you think it now plays
into your skill set, in into your strains? Um, you know,
as far as as far as what we catch, you
(41:02):
know what we see now we're you know, we had
the Tom Brady, we had Aaron Rodgers. This you know,
the the fast quick release off the first read if
not checked down, you know, um, type offenses. This is
something that we're dealing with that guys aren't hitting those
you know, eight nine yard drops of old Now it's
like a five yard drop where they start in the
shotgun and then it's then it's a two step in release. Um.
(41:24):
The you know, it's it's it's hard pressed to sort
of take away at quarterbacks first read now and you
got receivers that are overly athletic and can go win
these fifty fifty balls. Um. At this point, it's sort
of it's sort of becoming a hassle when you know
that you could get to the quarterback, which they have
such a fast release, it does sometimes does not affect
them at all. So you play out. You can hide
them behind play actions and boots, et cetera. Yeah, so
(41:46):
you play behind. Uh, you play ball. You played Teddy
Bridgewater in about ten days, two weeks, and then you
play Brady after that. Um, have you ever faced Brady
before we cool wedge? That's right, Yeah, that you faced
the old man week one. So we've already started our one. Okay,
(42:07):
cut off one, So let me let me ask you
you faced Tom Brady, give me give me your thoughts
on was he did you sense age, did you sense well,
how was Brady different than facing a Justin Herbert, facing
a Teddy Bridgewater, facing guys you faced. What was it like?
Could many most believe Brady is the best of all time?
Does he manipulate the line of scrimmage? I mean, what
(42:29):
what is it like to face Brady as the leading
sacker on a football team? Um, I'll say, are these
sacker is Trey Henderson. He's got like four and a
half sacks in five games right now. He's been rolling
coming off this edge high. I tried to tell him, like,
take advantage of all opportunities. Uh, if I'm catching a
double and you catch a single, win your singles. And
he's winning them at a high rate. Shout out to
(42:50):
Trey Henderson. Um, but we've talked about Tom Brady and
what he's able to do. I mean, there's no there's
absolutely no noise. They came into the Superdome with zero fans.
You know, on enormous season we expect seventy thousand. That
that changes everything up right there. But there his ability
to out of what the line, his ability to controls
offense and also have the weapons of you know, Mike
Evans and Chris got Gulin and you know at the
(43:13):
time Leonard Fournette and I mean they're sort of stacked
back there. Um, lastly with McCoy all the weapons that
he had, and think Gronkowski of course, you know, Kno,
gron comes out of out of it and he has
all these available options and I think he used them well.
So the second time around, without saying too much, I'm
(43:34):
sort of excited to play him again. Yeah. By the way,
you've got a new podcast with mark Ingram called Trust Levels. Uh,
Trust Levels. That is the new podcast with mark Ingram,
your former teammate, by the way, Yeah, that's my brother.
For former teammates, Like, you know, we got drafted together
in two thousan eleven. I was sleeping on his couch
the first like a couple of weeks in New Orleans
till I found the place of my own because he
(43:56):
was already he was already training there in the offseason.
Him could come from Bamaay, you know, he had trained
in New Orleans offseason, then get drafted by New Orleans.
I come to New Orleans and it's a lockout year.
So I'm like, you know, we really don't have too
much contact with the Saints. It was an instant bond there.
You know, that's been my been my dog and turned
into a real life brother for me. So it just
made most sense. It was like, you know, we're gonna
(44:17):
get on this podcast. I was like, who better to
do it then with with my guy who not only
brings up the juice on offense, who is an amazing,
you know, running back, Pro Bowl caliber running back and
also backs up everything that he says and what he
does on the field, and he's a even you know,
he's an even better dad and person off the field.
So it was just a no brainer. We started at
(44:39):
the trust levels, big trust levels, and uh, you know,
we released four episodes and we're gonna keep on pushing.
I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of
talent and a lot of fun being had. From our
first guest from Ak to you know, this week's guest
being Bobby Wagner. It's like we're just chilling with all
our friends. What we're doing here. Colin, Well, you know
we were talking during the break that you're lucky. I mean,
(45:02):
you're obviously talented, but the Saints are well run and
I've I've had guys like t J Hushmnzada come on
my show and his career. He you know, it was Cincinnati.
They were sharing cups, uh and not the kind of
drink out of So if you if you ever thought
to yourself, do you do you like when you were
going through COVID do you ever sometimes kind of knock
on wood and think to yourself, Man, I landed. I
(45:24):
landed in a good spot. Uh. You know, if anybody
ever talks to my agent, he'll tell you, like all
I prayed for was somewhere warm, and I ended up with.
I ended up in New Orleans. Um, and it's been,
you know, amazing. I got to learn from the likes
of you know, Jonathan Film, a Roman harp or Will
(45:45):
Smith rest in peace when he first game. You know,
when I first came into the league, Um, I had
you know, Sean Rodgers, Brave Franklin, I had all these vets,
Cedric Ellis that they sort of took me under the wing.
I was like, this is how you become a pro.
And I don't I don't know about any other franchise.
I never how to worry about it. I know what
I talked to other guys around the league. It's like, Yo,
this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing.
I'm like, yo, that's not what the Saints do. This
(46:06):
is how we do things. And they're like, man, this
sounds like you know, they show love. You've got you
got probably two handfuls worth. The teams that you know
are running really well from top to bottom. And I'm
happy to be a part of this. I don't have
to look outside and be like, oh, I wonder what
they're doing over there. I'm just happy being on the green, green,
green grass over here. Now, the Benson families always treated
(46:26):
their players and coaches incredibly well. Uh, it's Cameron Jordan.
He's gonna be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Good
luck to you and your bye week. Enjoy it. I
know not everything in America is open, but there's a
few restaurants open. Have some fun, and thanks for coming
on the show. I appreciate it. I wish I could
hit a restaurant. I'm gonna stay safe and try and
complete this this season. COVID free
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you 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 Herd.
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It is
(00:24):
a Thursday. We are alive in Los Angeles. This is
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. We're on Fox Sports Radio and right here
on FS one. One hour from now, NFL Meet Sandwich.
If you bet football, if you play fantasy football, or
(00:45):
you just love football, Greg ko Sell in one hour,
I think the smartest ten minutes of football conversation we
have all week. Frank Bogel, coach of the Lakers, and
thirty minute stops by I told you I saw him
at Walgreen's earlier this year in law. How bizarre is
that the coach of the Lakers to pull his mask down.
He's like coward. I'm like Frank Vogel, you go to
(01:06):
Walgreens too, boy Taylor's joining meets Special Lakers tooth Bastes.
I thought it was so random. I'm like, I'm in
the whole city of Los Angeles. I'm in the Walgreens
right next to Okay, we're the only two people in
the store. Well, I'm sorry. He's happy to be back
in bases, over joyed. So it's great to have you in.
So it's very interesting. This is a weekend of clarity
(01:28):
in the NFL. There's a lot of big games, the pretenders.
We saw Buffalo Tennessee play the other night, and it's like,
maybe Buffalo is a little bit of a pretender. Tennessee
is absolutely legitimate. And we're gonna see Green Bay in
Tampa Bay and all these games this weekend in Cleveland
and Baltimore. You know, it's very funny. The Dallas Cowboys
play Arizona. The schedule gets pretty weak for them right now,
very winnable games, and the feeling is Dak has gone
(01:51):
and Andy Dalton's in. I want to remind you that
white year replacements due will often define you when you
don't go to work. So when Drew Breeze got hurt
last year, Teddy Bridgewater came in went five, and oh
what did it do? It got Teddy Bridgewater a franchise
quarterback contract, and it also affirmed that Drew Brees and
(02:13):
Teddy Bridgewater it's not much of a gap. And it
turned out that Teddy's now winning and Drew's not winning
anymore in New Orleans with a better roster. When Cam
Newton missed the Kansas City game this year, didn't play,
oh my lord, Oh my god. That's a bad football
team without Cam Newton. So Breeze not playing probably hurt
(02:38):
his status. Cam not playing totally elevated his status. So
what will it do for Dak Prescott. The feeling is
Andy Dalton, and we've seen this act before. It's not
very good. Put this old dude to rest this you know,
he'll play a couple of games. And in fact, Patrick
Peterson Arizona Great Play are saying, hey man, we just
(03:01):
want to force this cat to throw the ball this weekend.
Stop the running. We definitely got to stop the running
and force not saying that he can't do it, but
you know, we have to force Andy Dalton to beat us.
We feel if you take the ball out of Ezekiel's
Eliot's hands, there's more opportunities for bad things that happened
when the ball is in the air. That's interesting. If
(03:24):
I asked you, I'm gonna throw this out there, Dak
and Dalton, which one has had this season with the
most touchdown passes? That would be obvious. That would be
Andy Dalton thirty three in dysfunctional Cincinnati with a defensive coach.
All right. Which guy has had the most back to
back double digit win seasons, Well, that would be well,
(03:46):
Dack's never had that. That would be Andy Dalton for
seasons in a row. And by the way, he was
in a division with Pittsburgh all was competent and Baltimore
usually competent. Everybody know that Andy Dalton's thirty two, no
major history of injuries. He chose Texas because he's from there.
(04:07):
He's from Katie, Texas. Andy Dalton's not a stiff. You
watched last week, right, You watched that last drive and
you're like, your expectations of Andy Dalton are so low,
and all of a sudden, you watch that drive and
it's like, I'm not saying he's his mobile is Dak,
but you watch the tape, look at the film, look
at these throws, that's a big boy NFL throw. Watch
(04:31):
this throw. It seems to me that's a that's a
big boy NFL throw. He's thirty two. The Cowboys schedule
now is the weakest in the league. For the next
few weeks Arizona that it's Washington beat up Philadelphia faced Pittsburgh.
Then they get a buy but then it's a lot
(04:51):
of Washington and Cincinnati and forty nine ers can't get
their act together and home against Philadelphia and close the
season out. Andy Dalton when he was in Cincinnati equally
dysfunctional to Dallas with a defensive coach, a conservative coach.
We called Mike McCarthy a conservative coach. But when Annie
was in that division six seven years ago and they
(05:12):
had a bunch of weapons, he wasn't asked to He
wasn't asked to carry the franchise. He was asked to
be a distributor. He kept winning the division. So Teddy
Bridge Drew Brees not playing didn't do him any favors
helped Teddy Bridgewater. Cam not playing did him huge favors.
(05:33):
I just want to remind you the first four years
in the NFL, Dack and Andy Dalton, we threw the
numbers out. It's the same, dude. Now, I think Dak.
I'd take Dack over Dalton, and I've over the years
been much tougher on Dalton than Dak because they called
him the red rifle and I'm like, he doesn't deserve
a nicknames. Let's get off the red rifle nonsense. But
the idea there's this massive gap there really isn't. Dalton
(05:56):
was drafted higher. Dalton had a very productive college career.
Dalton has had more double digit win seasons. Dalton's had
the more touchdown passes in one season. And he is
a distributor. He's a distributor, and this team is built
frankly for somebody who's a distributor. So it's interesting. Arizona's
(06:18):
takeaway this weekend is, yes, force Andy Dalton to throw.
That's actually, when he had good weapons, the best thing
he did in the hardest way to beat him. All Right,
So Alabama coach Nick Saban is gonna miss the game
this weekend against Georgia. It's by far and away the
best game of the weekend. It's probably going to be
the best college football game this season. It's really really good, right,
(06:40):
It's it's going to be in the on a short
list of great games. So Nick Saban's got COVID. He
came out and he said, listen, protect we don't know
how we got it. We wear a mask, We socially distanced.
He was very responsible, but they got it. Here's what's remarkable.
The average NFL star player is not worth a point.
The average college football player is not worth half a point.
(07:02):
Nick Saban, by just not being in the stadium Saturday,
it changed the line two and a half points. Now,
I want you to think about this. The assistant that
will take it over as Steve Sarkisian. He has coached
two major programs, has a winning record as one bowl games.
Alabama has also had the same system in for ten
twelve years. This is not a new system. And because
(07:25):
he can't be there just for the game, it almost
changes it by a field goal. The gap between Nick
Saban now and the second best college coach, and I'll
get to that in a second. I mean, he's literally
would this happen with any other coach? He had Zoom
meetings this week. He was coaching him this week on Zoom.
The system's installed, Start's been there for years. This is
(07:46):
unbelievable that it's almost a field goal difference, and it's funny.
One of the things I always liked about Saban. There's
a sense that he's rigid, but the truth is he's
really not. He's evolved his offense every year. Every year.
He's made the life for his student athletes really amazing.
They really support their kids academically, they support them emotionally.
(08:08):
I was talking to a therapist yesterday about this. In football,
Saban offers layers and layers and layers of therapists, life coach,
life strategist. Alabama football players go into very productive lives.
He's never at an NCAA violation of note. Very few
of his kids get into trouble. He's lost twelve coordinators,
(08:31):
That's what I counted this morning. Now, think about that,
when Pete Carroll and Mac Brown at USC in Texas
legendary programs, when they started losing coordinators, the programs were
never the same. Urban Meyers an amazing coach when he
lost Charlie Strong, and I think like at Dan Mullen
Florida never felt the same. Nick Saban's lost twelve coordinators,
(08:53):
hasn't missed a beat, no nc double A stuff, mostly
good kids going to productive lives. He keeps evolving offensively.
He's just missing the game this week, just the game.
He's there on Zoom meetings, the offense is installed and
the fox bet. Those guys are like, oh, it's like
(09:15):
three points, that's two and a half points. The only
coach in my lifetime that really is close to him,
and this is somebody I have a lot of respect
for because I know Nick and I like Nick a
lot is Tom Osborne. His last five years at Nebraska,
he went sixty and three and his last year thirteen
and no walk off. One of the great teams of
all time. He's to me the second best coach in
(09:35):
the history of college football. And one of the reasons is,
like Nick Saban, he really evolved. Woody Hayes became kind
of a relic. Joe Paul was kind of a relic.
Some of these guys like you know and people I like,
like Bobby Bowden, they're not really running the program. You know.
They show up and signed five or six kids. They
show up to the house mom and dad like him.
But the coordinators are running the offense. The coordinators are
(09:56):
running recruiting, The coordinators are running the program. Nick Saban
is like sixty six years old, because he's just not
going to be at the game changes the spread significantly.
It's like this guy is just separated. I mean, to me,
it's Saban, it's Osborne, probably Bear Bryant, and then you
(10:19):
can argue over the last one. But I was shocked
by he has a head coach as an assistant who
is one Bowl games and one at two programs. He's
got a defensive system that's been in forever. He's also
not only lost coordinators, they often go get jobs in
his conference, take all his secrets and coach against them
and they're still there. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine
(10:42):
you work at a company it could be coke. You'll
lose many executives. They go over to the other place,
they go up against you. They know all your trade secrets.
At PEPSI you'd have you'd be a struggle, right Like,
Oh my gosh. They Nick's coaching against his former assistance
every other weekend. No dip in the quality of the
prom It really is remarkable. I've watched these great programs Florida, Texas, USC, Nebraska.
(11:08):
If they lose a top coordinator or two and the
program just goes down. He's lost eleven or twelve. I
lost count this morning. I think he's had seven offensive coordinators.
And he's coaching against Lane, and he's coaching against Kirby Smart,
and he's coaching against the kid at tennis. See every
weekend he faces somebody that has all his trade secrets
(11:29):
remarkable which coach well? Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app.
So I do Super Bowl bubbles and I usually wait
for about a month to watch it. And my Super
Bowl bubble, I always believe there's eight teams good enough
to get to a conference championship. And if you're good
enough to get to a conference championship, then you're good
(11:51):
enough to win. So four teams get to a conference championship.
And I think there's eight teams at any one point
in the NFL season after the first month, and then
it was two or three that are close but not
quite there. They miss a component. So this is my
first Super Bowl bubble of the year. Here it is,
this is official. The Rams, Bills, and Saints are close.
(12:13):
In fact, the Rams and the Bills played to the
last play of a game. In the AFC, it's New
England with Cam Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, and it
just so happens. In the NFC, it's Tom Brady, Aaron
Rodgers and the Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. I will
say this morning, green Bay to me feels like the
(12:35):
best team in America and the least flawed team. And
there's a reason for it. There's three stats that are
very important and Green Bay is really good at all
of them. Number one, green Bay leads the NFL and
yards per play almost seven yards of play. What does
that mean? They're explosive, they can get cheaper touchdowns, free touchdowns,
They make things happen. Number two is third down conversion rate.
(12:55):
They're top five in the NFL. What does that mean?
Generally means you have a good offensive and you get
a push on third and short. You have a veteran
quarterback who can audible in and out of trouble. They
have Aaron Rodgers. And the third thing is what they
call sack deferential. Their top three in the NFL, meaning
they get to your quarterback and you don't get to
theirs So those are three stats. They're very good. I
do not believe they have a hole. I do worry
(13:18):
about Davonte Adams health, but every other team has a hole.
Seattle in Tennessee, in my bubble, neither as a pass rush.
Let's be honest about Tampa Bay. There's some mobility issues
with the quarterback they have, and their discipline is frighteningly
bad at times. With Tampa New England no deep threat,
it tends to be kind of run centric. Baltimore doesn't
play well from behind, and Kansas at Pittsburgh keeps beating
(13:40):
bad teams and letting them stick around Kansas City. Why
do they keep falling behind? It's almost as if psychologically
Kansas City feels like Patrick will save us. You can't
keep falling behind by ten and fourteen points. That's just
not the way it works. You can't do it in
this league. You're gonna end up facing with your defense
and offense that just keeps the ball away and you
lose games. So I think we have a best team
(14:02):
in the NFL, Green Bay. I think we have close. Cleveland.
Pittsburgh plays this weekend. If Cleveland wins, then I think
I would get them closer to the bubble. But it's
New England, Baltimore, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, And I've got some
reservations on Pittsburgh, but I trust them right now defensively
more than I do Buffalo's defense in LA's defense, and
I think they're more explosive offensively potentially the New Orleans offense.
(14:25):
So my eight are New England, Baltimore, Kansas City, Pittsburgh,
Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Seattle, and the Green Bay Packers. Yes
I put Tennessee in there after they bludgeon Buffalo. What
am I supposed to not be impressed by? They're doing
everything well. They don't have a pass rush, but they
do everything else really well. Be sure to catch live
editions of the Herd weekdays and newon Easter, not a Empacific.
(14:48):
I have this theory that it's always the third thing
that makes you leave a relationship, or a restaurant or
a town. I'll give you an example. Los Angeles is
very expensive and the traffic is not good, but the
food's great and the weather's great, and there's a ton
to do. Have a lot of people stay here. New
(15:10):
York was interesting with COVID. New York's had a lot
of people leave. Why because it's really expensive, it's really crowded,
and when you couldn't go to the cool stuff that
New York offers and they shut it all down. Weather
ain't great. You get to a oh, it's a third thing,
like a restaurant. I'll go and think it's a little expensive,
the food's a little fatty, but unless the service is lousy,
(15:34):
I'm going if it tastes great. So the third thing
in a relationship, you know, he's he doesn't make any
money and he doesn't shower regularly. You could live with that.
But if he's a jerk, then she dumps you. So
don't be a third This is the Jimmy Garoppolo thing.
Jimmy Garoppolo and San Francisco. So Jimmy Garoppolo has a
(16:00):
judgment issue. Adult film star franchise quarterback not good enough.
John Lynch was pissed, so was his coach. He's got
a judgment issue, makes him bad throws judgment. Also, we
kind of can be inconsistent week to week, half to half.
Here's another problem now, and this is why I think
he's in trouble. It's not missing the receiver in the
(16:21):
super Bowl folks, he's hurt again, and Kyle Shanahan said
yesterday we are we would bench him again if he's
hurt in his division. Jared Goff got the crap beat
out of him for three years at Cal. He got
the crap beat out of him when Jeff Fisher was
the coach. Jared Goff's taken a lot of hits. Never
missed a start. Russell Wilson College pro, never missed a start.
(16:45):
Kyler Murray College pro, never missed a start. I looked
it up this morning. Jimmy Garoppolo now is missed seventeen starts.
It's that third thing, the judgment too, say, don't give
teams Baker Mayfield, Johnny Manziel, Jamis Winston, don't give him
(17:07):
bad judgment because that you come into a room and
they got a mark. Because as a young quarterback you're
going to be inconsistent. So you're up to two. You
give him a third, they're out. Like Baker Jamison, Johnny
came in with judgment issues. You've got a check. That's
like going into a relationship and she knows the people
you've dated, and she knows he's occasionally a jerk. You
(17:28):
got to check against you in the relationship. You haven't
even gone out on a date yet, So Garoppolo his
judgment flawed. That was a really bad situation as a
Niner quarterback of superstar potentially in the league going out
with an adult film star. I'm not judgmental. I'm not
a moralist. Anybody else fine, not my franchise quarterback. Then
we've seen inconsistency in his play. Okay, y'all, Yeah, yeah,
(17:51):
he's mis seventeen starts. Last week they took him out.
He camp play like you're getting to a point where
and that's why Carson went has a longer runway. You know,
Carson Wentz has been inconsistent and he's got some injuries.
But I can't think of a third They like him.
He works hard, he's got the arm, the talent. So
(18:11):
this is the situation for Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo.
You're starting to get me into a third check. And
that's just the way it's always worked for I've always
been like with friends, I can be okay if you're occasionally,
I'm Doug Gottlieb's friend. He's always late. He's late every time.
So there's a check against him. Two more. He's done.
He's already got a check. He's late for everything. You
(18:32):
invite dug over at seven at seven forty five, I
just now lie show up at six. He gets there
at seven fifteen, where everybody else is there. But you
get to that third check mark, that's when you leave cities.
I left Connecticut. Winter's awful, most boring state in the world,
nice people, most boring state in the world. And at
(18:52):
the end it didn't love the workplace. Boom boom boom.
Okay him out right. So if LA starts it's being
nineteen degrees, I'm out of here because the weather and
the food and the people are keeping me expense, traffic
not great. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
(19:13):
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Greg ko Sell has been working for forty one years
at NFL Films. You bet football, you're a fantasy football player.
There's nobody like him. We call it our NFL meet Sandwich.
And he is joining me now live. So let's go
(19:34):
to I said earlier today that Green Bay feels like
the least flawed team i've seen. I like Seattle in Tennessee,
but they have no pass rush. Pittsburgh is beating bad
teams and letting them hang around. You know. I like
Kansas City, but could just stop falling behind by double
digit on a regular basis. But I look at the
(19:57):
Baltimore appears to play better with a lead from behind.
And then I look at Green Band, I'm like, they're
good on third down six point eight yards of play
the sack differential. You can't get to their quarterback, they
get to yours. But we all pay attention to the
floor and Aaron Rodgers, and we should. But I look
at but when you look at the tape of them,
(20:19):
do they have a flaw? Because I can't see it yet.
With Green Bay, well, you know what's really interesting Colin
And by the way, nice facial hair, thank you. But
what I really what's really interesting about Green Bay is
they do not play very much man to man coverage,
And in today's NFL you always think that, hey, you
(20:40):
have to be able to play man coverage in this
league to be really really good on defense, and they don't.
So it's not necessarily a flaw. It's just something that
I find fascinating when I watched them, and it's obviously
a choice made by Mike Patton. He's got two corners
in an Alexander and King, who I think can line
(21:00):
up and play man, but they just don't do a
lot of that, so it'll be interesting. But offensively, they're
fascinating now because the Matt Lafloor influence is clearly present
in the motion in the play Action Pass game. It's
this is now Matt Lafloor's offense that Aaron Rodgers is
executing at a very high level. And if you notice
(21:21):
through the first four games, because they've had a buy
so they're four and oh, you don't see Rogers running
around as much. There has not been as many improvisational
Rodgers plays. There's been far more pocket throws. Here's a
team that's good, but there's something that doesn't quite work,
and it's Pittsburgh. I know they run to the ball,
(21:43):
they're very athletic defensively, but they don't average much yard
per play. They let bad teams hang around. I'm not
a I you know Tomlins of veteran Big Ben's good
the defense. So they are one of those teams that
they could win playoff games. I don't doubt that, but
I'm something missing for me, and you look at the
film on the Steelers. What am I? What's missing that?
(22:05):
I just don't feel well. I think that their corners
have been a little up and down this year. Hayden
and Steven Nelson. I think they've had good moments but
also some bad snaps. The past game has been interesting.
They've got a ton of weapons, and at times you'll
see scheme to plays like the game seiling touchdown to
(22:26):
Claypool this past week was a clearly scheme to play
based on what they had gotten throughout the game against
the Eagles. But they've not really been explosive as a
passing team this year. Given their weapons, I think that's
the next step for their offense, and maybe they're just
sort of working that in as the season progresses. Obviously
(22:46):
it was a different kind of offseason and training camp,
but it's not an offense that has really been explosive,
and I think they have the people to do that.
So they played Cleveland this week. I think Stefens. I
think Stefens. It's so funny. Last week, first half, I
thought Baker played an exquisite half of football. Second half
(23:06):
he reverted to some Baker stuff. What was the difference
between the first half and second half on what they
were calling? I think, quite honestly, and again you know me,
I don't do hot controversial takes skol and I say
what I see on film, I quite honestly don't believe
Baker Mayfield has played that well. Their four and one
(23:26):
and their run game has been really good, and Stefanski
has great concepts in the past game that are executed
really well. But I think Baker is playing a little fast,
both mentally and physically. I think he needs to slow
down his entire process. He overstrides at times because he
plays so fast, and he throws those high fastballs. He's
(23:48):
a very talented kid. I think he's got a really
good arm. We've seen him be exceedingly accurate throughout his
career at times. But I think that for them to
get to where they believe I'm sure they can get to,
he's going to have to play a lot better than
he's playing now. So it's funny about Andy Dalton first
(24:10):
four years in the league. He and Dak's numbers. I mean,
they just mirror each other. They really do it's interesting,
and I think there's this sense now that well, let's
let's let's taper the offense down a little. But the
truth is Andy, when he had weapons, he's not going
to carry a team. But when he had weapons in
Cincinnati was very efficient and he can make most of
(24:31):
the throws. And I watched that. I watched that last
drive last week and I thought, oh, this is this
is a franchise quarterback. This is not He's only thirty two, Greg,
there's a lot of there's a lot of throws in
this arm. Will the offense, in your opinion, change dramatically
with Dalton instead of Dak Well, to me, they have
to make a decision as to how they want to
(24:51):
play based on their defense. Colin, their defense has not
been very good and it gives up a lot of points.
So normally, normally when your defense is like that, you
try to at least to some degree, limit the number
of plays that it's on the field. And you do
that by running the ball. And it's not as if
(25:12):
they don't have a good back or can't run the ball. Now,
Dak is a really good quarterback and he put up
huge numbers. I had a coach tell me that in
this offense that Andy Dalton could essentially do what Dak does. Now,
whether that turns out to be numbers, that's not the point.
The point is can he run the offense efficiently? And
(25:35):
I believe he can. Clearly they have weapons and they
have a great back who My sense is they need
to lean on a little more, not because of Dalton,
but because of their defense. We'll make Cowboy fan it's
pretty optimistic for Cowboy fans listening to our show. So
one of the surprises of the weekend for me was
how Washington so easily dismantle, how the Rams so easily
(25:59):
dismant An told Washington, Goff mostly had good pressure. This
is a very capable defensive front for the Washington football team.
And I came out of that game and I thought,
they're gonna go east again. They're gonna get pushed around
up front. Goff's gonna be pressure. And after that game,
I'm like, I'm I think maybe I'm under selling the
Rams a little bit. They've done something offensively. There's a
(26:21):
I don't know, it just feels like maybe there's the
girly situations gone. Something is working this year that I
didn't see last year. Are they healthier? Is it schematic?
But they are more forceful. It feels like to meet
point of attack this year. Well, I think you're seeing
a young coach continue to develop with his scheme. Every
(26:44):
coach has basic concepts and schemes that they use because
coaches coach what they know. But then you build upon those,
you expand those, and I think you're seeing a young
coach doing that. McVeigh is one of those coaches who
is just kind of a lunatic in a good way.
He loves this stuff, he works at it. You're seeing
an expansion of basic principles. How they get to those
(27:07):
principles at times is different. They had to play this
week that's very reflective of that, when Gerald Everett lined
up as an eye formation fullback and ran around and
ended up catching it for forty yards. So they're just
taking their basic concepts and adding and tweaking and expanding.
And I think offensively they're one of the most overlooked
(27:28):
teams in the league because people have this narrative about
Jared Goff that he's not a great player and there
is a programmed element at times to his game, no question,
But they're doing more things, and Goff happens to be
a very good thrower. Yeah, no, there's no question. I
always felt there's a Matt and Ryan quality to him.
Some limitations, but I think he throws a beautiful deep ball,
(27:48):
and when he's in a rhythm he throws He and
Russell Wilson throw two of the prettiest deep balls in
the league. It's just a soft, catchable ball that always
seems to get the guy in stride. So here's an interest.
First impress are really important. So my first impression of
Ryan Tannehill in Miami is he's okay, He's kind of athletic,
He's okay. Okay. Then he goes to this staff and
(28:10):
in his last seventeen games, his numbers look a lot
like Lamar Jackson's last seventeen And I'm not saying I'm
not saying he's that quarterback, but is it possible that
he was miscast in Miami and with this staff he's
a very capable player. Well, he wasn't bad in Miami.
There's the sense that he was bad. And by the way,
(28:31):
he's a better thrower than Lamar Jackson. But he's a
talented kid, and I think it's a case of a
really good mix between scheme and player, because they're an
offense that starts with Derek Henry. In terms of what
they do, both from a personnel standpoint and a formation standpoint,
a lot of two tight ends, sometimes three tight ends
(28:53):
when everybody's healthy. They play with a fullback at times,
so play action is a major part of what they do.
And then you add in the fact that he's got
movement ability both by design with the play action boot
game and the ability to make second reaction plays. And
one other point which is often overlooked when people talk
about quarterbacks, he's been very accurate. His ball placement has
(29:17):
been consistently precise, as we see watching these highlights, and he,
to me is a really solid quarterback in a really
good system. Worried about Josh Allen after that game Tuesday,
anything you see that bothered you, Well, I'm not worried
about him personally. He's been phenomenal against man coverage this year,
(29:38):
and in that game, the Titans played over seventy five
percent zone and I think you're seeing that to some
degree with Patrick Mahomes as well. You're making these quarterbacks
have to read it out and throw through tighter windows.
They're certainly capable of doing it, but even Mahomes. Mahomes
has been leaving the pocket prematurely. I think for Josh
Allen and I said, I don't think watching the tape
(29:59):
he had a bad game. But I think you're just
making these guys have to go through the process a
little longer, and sometimes they don't want to go through
the process and they know they can move, so they
move and they all make some great plays. We know
Mahomes can do that and Alan can do it too,
but it just they have to go through the process
differently versus zone than versus man. Where versus man you
(30:20):
pretty much say, hey, I know it's man, and here's
the guy I want to throw too, here's the matchup.
I like, Yeah, Raiders slowed down Mahomes enough. It was
the upset of the weekend. Again, what on the film?
What jumped out to you in the Raiders upset of
the Chiefs. Great zone coverage, great eye discipline, A particular
concept against Kelsey when he was the single receiver to
(30:42):
the boundary that was really really effective because they played
zone to the three receiver side and matched up to
Kelsey with a corner on the single receiver side, So
some really good concepts. I thought they played with great
eye discipline. That's what you must do. It's i discipline
in leverage in your zone concepts. When you play against
(31:02):
the Chiefs, you can't play man they have too much speed,
so you play zone and it all comes down to
discipline and leverage and assignment football. But there's been three
games this year in which Mahomes has not quite been Mahomes. Now,
he's always going to throw a lot of yards college,
but the Chargers, the Patriots and the Raiders played a
lot of zone coverage and he was not as comfortable
(31:25):
and he starts to move when he doesn't need to.
And as I said, he'll make plays. He's the most
special quarterback in the league talent wise. But ultimately, if
you can get him out of his structure, then you
feel you have a better chance. Okay, finally, Derek Carr,
and I've said this before to you and others, is
that you know there's this there's a sense that Derek Carr.
(31:48):
I think he's like a little more athletic. He's kind
of reminds me of Kirk Cousins. They're a little reluctant sometimes, yeah,
a little reluctant. But I think Derek's a good athlete.
I think he throws a pretty all. He's got a
little I said, he reminds me a little of Tony Romo.
He's got a little ability to move with his feet
and get out of coverage. So what did you see
(32:10):
from Derek Carr, the often criticized quarterback. Another case where
I think this scheme is really helping him now that
he's been in Gruden's system for a number of years.
Gruden does a great, great job with his use of personnel,
his formations. You know, Gruden loves to what we call
the illusion of complexity. It's a lot of personnel, a
lot of formations to get to basic concepts. And I
(32:32):
think cars getting more comfortable. He's not a tonal, loose guy.
You have to define it for him. And I think
he's feeling much more comfortable within that system. And you know,
we can get to our big play of the week now,
because it was from last week against the Chiefs and
it was a great example. They got a blitz. So
let's go to the play and show it. And by
(32:52):
the way, it's a it's a rejuvenation here of Nelson Aglar,
but here you see a blitz with Damian Wilson Ben Nieman.
They're gonna blitz. So now what happens here is in
blitz coverage you see the two safety's Thornhill and Matthew.
They're going to match up. It's kind of a zone
match situation and Agilar is going to run the deep post.
(33:12):
So what happens here is Matthew does not have him
man to man the way you think of man to man,
but it's a zone match based on their routes. So
what happens is is Matthew matches up to Aglar and
you can see on the other side you're going to
get Thornhill. He's going to match up to Darren Waller
running the crosser. Again, it's a zone match. He's not
(33:34):
in a pure man situation, but you have to match
up to routes, and Aglar just beats Matthew vertically and
it's a great throw. But here's a defined throw, and
that's a great example of how you set it up.
You know what you're going to get defensively, and you
know how Spagnola Ste Spagnola plays it, and you get
a big play. Yeah, Nelson had some drop issues in Philadelphia,
(33:58):
but he's certain bunch. Yeah, but he's talent that he
can run, He's got a catch radius, he can make plays.
There's no question Greg co sell absolute pleasure. We all
got smarter. Good Cnu, Thanks Colin, appreciate it. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one
and the iHeart Radio app. It is pretty amazing. My
(34:19):
next guest is going to be a first ballot Hall
of Famer. He's been in the NFL for ten years.
He's been a Pro bowler for half of them, never
missed a game. He's like Tony Gonzalez on the defensive side.
He just doesn't miss games. And he's a real team leader.
There's a lot of good defensive players in the NFL.
There's not dozens of great defensive leaders, and Cameron Jordan,
(34:42):
the Saints defensive end, is absolutely one of those. They
have a bye week this week, which is actually for players.
It's it's a little bit of a break. You don't
get many of those. And Cam Jordan is now joining us,
so you know, it is interesting that there are great
defensive players. But when we think NFL cam quarterback a leader,
the coach is the leader. But when I think of you,
(35:05):
I'm like, no, you're a vocal guy. You're a verbal guy,
is a defensive leader. Do you ever feel like you're
the Drew Brees on the defensive side and that your
words matter, they're impactful, and you're a mentor to a
lot of players. I look at myself definitely not in
the category of Drew Brees and in any sort of fashion,
just because you know that that focal point of quarterback,
(35:26):
he handles all checks, he handles the energy, he handles everything.
Everything that Drew does sets him apart. I think that,
if anything, I just make sure to bring the energy.
And you know, I've got guys like Damarrow Davis, who
of course is an All Pro right behind me and
play the way he does, and you know I let
him be the quarterback of the situation. I just want
(35:47):
to bring juice every play and every time I touch
the field. It's that love the game that you know,
I hope to never never love love for What's interesting,
because you say you want to bring juice for the
first time in your life, you're playing with no fans.
How do you create the juice when you're playing to
an in an empty stadium. I'll say, now, we got
the manufactured sound, right, We've got the seventy decibels of
(36:11):
low music. At that point, it's just it's us. It's
really really take it back to the if we had
to play at midnight in the middle of the park,
you know, in the back alley, we played football against anybody,
and it's that same mentality that we take everywhere we
go with us now. Um, it's it's sort of chilling
to be in the Superdome and not have the fans
behind you, not have you know, seventy thousand people cheering
(36:34):
you know who that gonna beat them, Saints. Um. And
at the same time, you know, we still have a
job in a mission to complete. So we got to
take that in our mindset and create our own energy
and our you know, we can't have juice, we gotta
have we to have more. You know. It's interesting. So
I've never been a fan of NFL preseason. I don't
I mean, I like, I don't want my star players
just go to Bahamas, go on vacation, show up Labor Day.
(36:57):
But I was watching the game the year day with
my wife, and my wife was like, man, there's a
lot of guys hurt this year. And for the first
time in my life, I was like, maybe they need preseason.
Maybe they need to bang into each other for about
you know, four quarters. So, now that you've played your
career with nine preseasons and one without CAM, do you
think there is value in the preseason? Shouldn't we shorten it?
(37:20):
How do you view it now? I don't know. I
haven't played much preseason honestly, since no ever. I think
the most I think I've played is two maybe three
preseason games. I've normally played like one one and a half.
But I definitely think you know, the COVID impact of
it all has has changed how guys were able to
(37:42):
work out and get after it. You talked about, you know,
COVID really hit America somewhere in March and guys start training,
you know, March, April, May, June. You hit training camp
and it was like you you were taken out of
most people's compared with norm situation on how to work out,
how to stay, how to keep his shape, how to
go about being football ready. And you know, I think
(38:06):
it's sort of I think it's sort of shown, um,
just in terms of how guys may not have had
the same access to treatments, rehabs and abilities to be
on their their normal schedule. How do you prepare for
a season? You know, you interer in a division now
with some veterans Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Brees and Matt Ryan.
You faced a lot of veteran quarterbacks. Generally for a
(38:27):
guy like you, you're looking your chops if you get
a rookie quarterback. But justin Herbert cam there's there's something
to it. Man, He's got a whip. Kind of your
impressions on what you saw from a kid who in
his third or fourth NFL start on Monday, Yeah, I
mean he's talented. I like to say, you know, we
(38:48):
hit him, but seventeen eighteen, nineteen times, Yeah, and he
was still out there rolling, taking hits and slinging the rock.
He's he's looking, he's looking special. I think he could
develop into a special quarterback getting years to come. I
sort of, you know, talk to him after the game.
I was like, you might be the slowest, you know,
quarterback out of Oregon. And that's not saying much because
you're still running like a four six five. You know, Yeah, No,
(39:11):
he isn't. I'm watching some of the tape here. He's
got he's got an arm on him, that's for sure.
When when you look a lot of people have said
it's kind of Drew Brees, and many people believe it's
Drew Breeses last year. I mean's he's got He's gonna
have broadcasting options as you are. If you want him,
he's gonna be able to do that. Does it feel
like to you with Drew? Does it feel like kind
of a special year this year? Knowing one of the
(39:34):
great quarterbacks top ten quarterbacks of all time? This may
be it. You may be playing in his last year
top one. Um. Yeah, I'd say he's, you know, one
of the top one quarterbacks if I had to, if
I had to go my mindset of great quarterbacks, Drew
Brees and Drew Brees. Um being said, I don't know
if it's last year. Uh, you know, you talk about
his completion rate, you talk about you know, everything that
(39:55):
he does. Um is what quarterback passing rate is probably
over one hundred completion rate right now is probably sitting
at but seventy percent plus, Um, everything that Drew does
is elite. Uh so when he decides to hang him up,
he's going to go right into Canton. But in terms
of is this year special because of it maybe his last,
(40:16):
I have no idea. I've never had to worry about
playing without Drew Brees, so I won't start worried about
it now. Yeah. So you average, you know, you get
a ten to fifteen sacks every year, and you know
it's and you're one of the guys in the NFL
that's a reliable sacker, a one a game. And when
when you get into this we are now in a
more offensive league. The team's pass more than ever. I
(40:41):
would imagine, Well, I would think, do you this can
create more sacks for you? The current NFL is more
spread out, it's faster, it's no huddle, it's more passing.
As a defensive player, do you think it now plays
into your skill set, in into your strains? Um, you know,
as far as as far as what we catch, you
(41:02):
know what we see now we're you know, we had
the Tom Brady, we had Aaron Rodgers. This you know,
the the fast quick release off the first read if
not checked down, you know, um, type offenses. This is
something that we're dealing with that guys aren't hitting those
you know, eight nine yard drops of old Now it's
like a five yard drop where they start in the
shotgun and then it's then it's a two step in release. Um.
(41:24):
The you know, it's it's it's hard pressed to sort
of take away at quarterbacks first read now and you
got receivers that are overly athletic and can go win
these fifty fifty balls. Um. At this point, it's sort
of it's sort of becoming a hassle when you know
that you could get to the quarterback, which they have
such a fast release, it does sometimes does not affect
them at all. So you play out. You can hide
them behind play actions and boots, et cetera. Yeah, so
(41:46):
you play behind. Uh, you play ball. You played Teddy
Bridgewater in about ten days, two weeks, and then you
play Brady after that. Um, have you ever faced Brady
before we cool wedge? That's right, Yeah, that you faced
the old man week one. So we've already started our one. Okay,
(42:07):
cut off one, So let me let me ask you
you faced Tom Brady, give me give me your thoughts
on was he did you sense age, did you sense well,
how was Brady different than facing a Justin Herbert, facing
a Teddy Bridgewater, facing guys you faced. What was it like?
Could many most believe Brady is the best of all time?
Does he manipulate the line of scrimmage? I mean, what
(42:29):
what is it like to face Brady as the leading
sacker on a football team? Um, I'll say, are these
sacker is Trey Henderson. He's got like four and a
half sacks in five games right now. He's been rolling
coming off this edge high. I tried to tell him, like,
take advantage of all opportunities. Uh, if I'm catching a
double and you catch a single, win your singles. And
he's winning them at a high rate. Shout out to
(42:50):
Trey Henderson. Um, but we've talked about Tom Brady and
what he's able to do. I mean, there's no there's
absolutely no noise. They came into the Superdome with zero fans.
You know, on enormous season we expect seventy thousand. That
that changes everything up right there. But there his ability
to out of what the line, his ability to controls
offense and also have the weapons of you know, Mike
Evans and Chris got Gulin and you know at the
(43:13):
time Leonard Fournette and I mean they're sort of stacked
back there. Um, lastly with McCoy all the weapons that
he had, and think Gronkowski of course, you know, Kno,
gron comes out of out of it and he has
all these available options and I think he used them well.
So the second time around, without saying too much, I'm
(43:34):
sort of excited to play him again. Yeah. By the way,
you've got a new podcast with mark Ingram called Trust Levels. Uh,
Trust Levels. That is the new podcast with mark Ingram,
your former teammate, by the way, Yeah, that's my brother.
For former teammates, Like, you know, we got drafted together
in two thousan eleven. I was sleeping on his couch
the first like a couple of weeks in New Orleans
till I found the place of my own because he
(43:56):
was already he was already training there in the offseason.
Him could come from Bamaay, you know, he had trained
in New Orleans offseason, then get drafted by New Orleans.
I come to New Orleans and it's a lockout year.
So I'm like, you know, we really don't have too
much contact with the Saints. It was an instant bond there.
You know, that's been my been my dog and turned
into a real life brother for me. So it just
made most sense. It was like, you know, we're gonna
(44:17):
get on this podcast. I was like, who better to
do it then with with my guy who not only
brings up the juice on offense, who is an amazing,
you know, running back, Pro Bowl caliber running back and
also backs up everything that he says and what he
does on the field, and he's a even you know,
he's an even better dad and person off the field.
So it was just a no brainer. We started at
(44:39):
the trust levels, big trust levels, and uh, you know,
we released four episodes and we're gonna keep on pushing.
I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of
talent and a lot of fun being had. From our
first guest from Ak to you know, this week's guest
being Bobby Wagner. It's like we're just chilling with all
our friends. What we're doing here. Colin, Well, you know
we were talking during the break that you're lucky. I mean,
(45:02):
you're obviously talented, but the Saints are well run and
I've I've had guys like t J Hushmnzada come on
my show and his career. He you know, it was Cincinnati.
They were sharing cups, uh and not the kind of
drink out of So if you if you ever thought
to yourself, do you do you like when you were
going through COVID do you ever sometimes kind of knock
on wood and think to yourself, Man, I landed. I
(45:24):
landed in a good spot. Uh. You know, if anybody
ever talks to my agent, he'll tell you, like all
I prayed for was somewhere warm, and I ended up with.
I ended up in New Orleans. Um, and it's been,
you know, amazing. I got to learn from the likes
of you know, Jonathan Film, a Roman harp or Will
(45:45):
Smith rest in peace when he first game. You know,
when I first came into the league, Um, I had
you know, Sean Rodgers, Brave Franklin, I had all these vets,
Cedric Ellis that they sort of took me under the wing.
I was like, this is how you become a pro.
And I don't I don't know about any other franchise.
I never how to worry about it. I know what
I talked to other guys around the league. It's like, Yo,
this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing.
I'm like, yo, that's not what the Saints do. This
(46:06):
is how we do things. And they're like, man, this
sounds like you know, they show love. You've got you
got probably two handfuls worth. The teams that you know
are running really well from top to bottom. And I'm
happy to be a part of this. I don't have
to look outside and be like, oh, I wonder what
they're doing over there. I'm just happy being on the green, green,
green grass over here. Now, the Benson families always treated
(46:26):
their players and coaches incredibly well. Uh, it's Cameron Jordan.
He's gonna be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Good
luck to you and your bye week. Enjoy it. I
know not everything in America is open, but there's a
few restaurants open. Have some fun, and thanks for coming
on the show. I appreciate it. I wish I could
hit a restaurant. I'm gonna stay safe and try and
complete this this season. COVID free
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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